Maximum Ride: Cause/Effect

The climax of Maximum Ride: Nevermore is that the sky is literally falling on them, and Max (the main character) and Fang (her boyfriend) go to where a huge tsunami is happening to try to stop it. They wind up getting hit by the tsunami and get washed up on the shore. Now, the reason that they even survived in the first place is because they have gills, and were able to swim to the shore underwater, and survive. Then they go to the other survivors of the tsunami (it was massive), and talk over all that happened. Which, in my opinion, is a lame ending.

One of the only reasons this all happened in the first place was because of a laboratory that Max called the School. At this place, they illegally experimented on kids, making them have 2% avian in them, so they have wings. The names of the people that got these wings are named Gaze, Angel, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and of course, Max. They form a group and run away from the school to a safe haven, and are safe for about 2 years, before a gang of other mutants come to drag them back to the school for more experimenting, and that’s where the story starts. But as the series progresses, Max realizes that she has to save the world from something, she doesn’t know what it is, but it’s something.

After the tsunami crashed onto the island that they were on, that was full of other mutants like them, they look around and see all the damage that it caused. They know that only a handful of the people that were on the island survived, and the book ends with them going to look for them.

Here’s some surprise information: Angel (The youngest of the group), was the one who told everyone the end of the world was coming. If she hadn’t told anyone that it was happening, and that they were all going to die, they probably would have. Also, if the flock (All the people with the wings) didn’t have gills, the book would’ve ended right there. Which in my opinion would have been better, because the ending of the book makes it seem like there could’ve been more to it, but there wasn’t. The ending should have been Max dying with Fang. A lot of the questions that were asked throughout the book weren’t answer, and I think the entire book could’ve been re-written with a better ending.

Furthermore, the ending of Maximum Ride was unsatisfactory. If the ending had been written better, the whole book would’ve been better, and I personally wouldn’t be so upset with it. The ending was terrible, and if the things that happened weren’t like how they were, I probably would have considered re-reading the entire series, because the books weren’t bad, up until the end.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place: Response

The thing with light and dark in this piece is that it describes two people. The older waiter and the younger waiter. The younger waiter represents the light, while the older waiter represents darkness. What I mean by this is that the younger waiter prefers to be en-coated in light, and surrounded by his friends, while the older waiter prefers the night time, and being alone. He agrees with the old man and wouldn't mind being alone to drink like him, while the younger waiter would rather drink with a group. This is another example of light and dark, seeing as light would technically mean happiness and groups of people, while darkness is typically considered aloneness and solidarity.

Breakthrough Reality Part 1 of Many

5 years ago

“Come on Alessa! You can do it!” The man said to his little daughter, watching as she made the effort to ride her bike without her training wheels.

“I know I can Daddy!” She called back to her father, blowing the hair out of her face.

“I’ll give you another push.” The little girl’s father said, coming over to her wobbling form and pushing on the back of the bike, satisfied when it moved forward, he let go and watched his little girl ride a bike for the first time.

“Daddy daddy! I got it!!” She said turning the bike this way and that, the tires trying to keep up with her frantic movements.

She smiled brightly, and lost her balance, collapsing onto  the cushiony carpet.

“Well, that should be good for today...” He said, picking her up from the ground and setting her on her feet, then taking the bike and putting it into the closet.

Alessa pouted, but stood up nonetheless, trotting over to one of the curtained windows.

While her father’s back was turned, she lifted up the curtain to take a peek of the outside.

“Alessa! Stay away from the window!” He dad snapped, lifting her up and carrying her away from the window before her eyes could see the outdoors.

“But daddy! I wan--” She began, only to be cut off by his angry voice.

“Alessa. If you step outside, something bad will happen... Something terrible.” He shuddered, and looked at the black letters that were forever tattooed onto his skin.

Human.

Chapter 1

My eyes fluttered open and I looked around my room, noticing how late in the afternoon it was.

“Where are they?” I thought to myself, standing up and stretching. I walked out of my room and to the living room, looking around for my parents.

Huh.

They left again.

They’ve been doing that alot.... Going outside I mean.

Oh jeez.

None of this makes sense to you, does it?

Alright. Let me explain for you.

I’m Alessa Caverly.

I have never been outside my home in my entire life.

I’ve lived behind locked doors and closed curtains, my parents training me to fear the unknown.

But let me share a little secret with you...

I actually really like the unknown.

Knowing that something out there might kill me kinda makes me excited.

When I passed their empty room, and when I couldn’t hear the sound of the radio coming from the living room, I knew something was wrong. Where they abducted by aliens or something?

Or worse...

Where they...

Oh god, I didn’t even want to think about it.

“MOM!!!” I called, and of course,  my attempts failed, the silence being my only reply. “Great...” I mumbled, running a hand through my brown hair.

I dragged my tired body to the kitchen where I opened up the cabinets, pulling out the box labeled “cereal”.

Then I grabbed a bowl, opening the box of cereal and filling it with the tasteless flakes of vitamins. Then I grabbed the milk and poured it in, making my cereal.

I sat down, putting a spoon in my cereal and getting a good mouthful.

Yup, this is my daily existence. Wake up, eat, lessons, eat, free time, sleep.

Day in day out, the routine never fails to take up my time and energy. My parents insist that it’s the “safest” for me, but what does that mean anyway? I’m safe right where I am.

Once I was done eating my bland cereal, I stood up from the table and went over to the windows, peeling back the curtain slowly. Of course, that’s when I realise that my dad put wood boards up on the window to block me from seeing the outside.

I sighed, putting my hand on the wood boards in defeat. Of course he did that. Typical. I thought to myself and went to the couch, plopping down and opening up my learning textbook and reading the next lesson.

A Cross Dresser and a Singer

Author’s note: If you realize it or not, real people have connections to fictional characters. Sometimes, they’re only alike in personality, other times they’re alike in their actions and things that reflect themselves. Also, a conflict with a real person can resolve in a way a fictional character may handle it. Today, I will be analyzing the conflict and resolution that made Lady Gaga into who she is today, and while doing that I will be comparing Lady Gaga (AkA Stefani Germanotta), to a character from one of my favorite Manga’s, Princess Jellyfish.

Situations in reality can often times result in a resolution that is similar to a fictional characters. For example, let’s take a situation that the author has been through. The author was bullied for quite some time, and with bravery and perseverance, she showed the bully that she was stronger, and made him go away. This resolution is similar to Maka Albarn’s way of defeating a terrible Kishin, who was known to be undefeatable. But, by using bravery, Maka defeated the Kishin with ease. The person and character this piece will analyze is Lady Gaga, and Kuranosuke, otherwise known as Kurako.

Lady Gaga, otherwise known as Stefani Germanotta, had been raised with music. She grew up with it, embracing it and loving it like it was her own child. Once she turned 14, she went to a very prestigious Catholic school in upstate New York, where she began to be bullied relentlessly. She got pushed into garbage cans, in lockers, and verbally abused also. Kuranosuke was bullied also, but not by his peers. Kuranosuke was bullied by his parents. He was verbally and physically abused by his father to be a politics buff like himself, even though he’d prefer to go into fashion. Stefani, a real person, and Kuranosuke, a fictional character, both have been through different types of bullying, both of them having to suck it up and deal with it. But, their resolutions aren’t what would be expected in this type of situation.

Both of these people, real and fictional, resolve their problems by improving their self esteem in a funny way. Stefani lets her talent envelope her, and she becomes Lady Gaga, the confident, self assured person that she had wanted to be for all of her life, but the school had held her back. She becomes fashion savvy, and vocally amazing, all with a little help from nightclubs and producers. Kuranosuke decides to basically tell his dad that he doesn’t care about politics, and he decides to start cross dressing as Kuroko, a fashion savvy rich girl who is confident, and friendly. As Kuroko, Kuranosuke becomes friends with new people, such as Tsukumi, who is the main character in the story. Kuroko is the person that Kuranosuke wishes he could be all the time, but around his dad, he still has to be Kuranosuke, thus the conflict comes back.

The resolution for both of these people, fictional and real, is to put on an alternate persona to the person they really are. For Stefani, becoming Lady Gaga is her safe haven, a person that she becomes where she can be herself with no limits, no restrictions. And for Kuranosuke, becoming Kuroko is the way to get away from his dad, and to be friends with girls who typically wouldn’t look twice at him. These people’s conflicts where almost exactly the same, and so was their resolution. For them, putting on an alternate persona fixed their problems that they had at school, or at home.

Never Surrender Take 2

The beginning of each chapter in Battle Dress, by Amy Efaw, you are greeted by a quote related to the military. Each quote demonstrates different kinds of  metaphors. All of which related to the army in some way, but they all have a way of affecting the reader.

Tone in this book is important in understanding the character. If you understand the tones she’s using as she talks, then you understand almost the entire book. For example, if the tone of the book seems a little hesitant, or scared, you’d know that the main character Andi is scared, or hesitant about something. I believe that tone in this book is amazing, because it makes up the book. The tone shows just how brave she is, and how smart she is.

Your cannot choose your battlefield,

The gods do that for you,

But you can plant a standard view,

Where a standard never flew.

~Nathalia Crane, “The Colors”

This quote, or stanza from a poem, is one of the first things you read when you begin reading “Battle Dress”. You don’t exactly know what it has to do with the book, and you don’t necessarily know what metaphors are in it. But, the entire stanza (or quote) is a metaphor. The first line, being, “Your cannot choose your battlefield”, doesn’t just relate to the army, is also relates to life in general. This being, the “Battlefield” being which path you take, because no matter what you do, your life will be a battlefield (at least in my opinion). The next line, which is, “The gods do that for you” is talking about how you don’t choose your destiny, gods do. But, in my opinion, you choose your own destiny, not gods, not your parents or friends... You do. I think that line is necessary yes, but I don’t quite believe in it. “But you can plant a standard view, Where a standard never flew.” I believe that is referring to your thoughts and opinions on things, and it doesn’t quite matter what anyone thinks, it’s what you think that matters in the end.

Your Momma was home and you left.

Your right!

Your Daddy was home and you left.

Your right!

That’s the reason you left.

Your right!

~U.S Army Marching Cadence

The poem above describes the main character, Andi Davis’s family life. Her parents are constantly fighting, making her home life really rough. I can’t really tell what figurative language this piece holds, but I can tell it’s almost like a personal metaphor for the main character, Andi. She says in the beginning that one of the main reasons she’s going to West Point is to get away from her crazy family, and be among a bunch of people who may be in the same boat as her. And as she goes along, she realizes that she’s there for even more than getting away from her family. The poem above summarizes her feelings in the beginning pretty well, considering.... Well, the entire poem. I think the author found this poem, and it really inspired her to make the character Andi the way she is.

There is no substitute for victory!

~General Douglas MacArthur, West Point class of 1903

This quote is only one sentence, and doesn’t really house any specific figurative language, but it does show the progress the character Andi has made since the first chapter. This quote was placed on Chapter 8, which is half way through the book. This quote demonstrates her growth from the first chapter, as well as another look into army life.

Your left, your right,

Your left, your right.

You’re out of sight,

You’re dynamite.

And it won’t be long

Till you get back home.

~U.S Army Marching Cadence

This stanza represents the end of the book. A metaphor in this stanza is “dynamite”. She isn’t dynamite, but she acts like it, meaning that she explodes with personality and such. I can totally see why the author would put this particular quote into the book because it really symbolizes that the main characters journey through the hardships of West Point is done, and she can go home again. Even though by then, she doesn’t want to go home. She’d rather stay with Third Platoon, her squad mates, her family basically. The sentence, “Your left, your right” is apart of an army march. Throughout the book, Andi is marching, listening to these words. And at the end of the book, she continues to march to these words as she goes into the stadium to meet her parents again.

Never Surrender

This has been said throughout the entire book. When Andi is at a part in her West Point life when she just wants to quit and go home, her squad leader Cadet Daily gives her a sort of pep talk and says, “Never Surrender”. In my opinion, this quote represents the entire book. While other people gave up, Andi get marching on, not letting the worst things get to her. Even though she wanted to quit at some points, she continued marching on. Never surrendering. Though she was a girl, and that set her back at West Point, she never let her gender hold her back, and kept pushing on. She didn’t surrender to her gender. When one of her squad mates, Hickman, began telling her she couldn’t do what he could, she proved him wrong and won a competition that only a select few in West Point can win.

She didn’t surrender.

This quote, in my opinion, not only applies to the harshness of the army, but applies to real life as well. For instance, if someone was bullying you, or if you were going through family troubles, thinking “Never Surrender” to yourself can truly make a difference between life, and death. If someone were to tell a person “Never Surrender”, if they were having a bad day, that may’ve saved their lives.

This book is about overpowering weakness and not letting your troubles lead your life. It’s about perseverance, courage, and strength. These are key attributes that people need to know how to do, it could very well keep you from suicide. Never surrender, as they say in the army... And as I’m saying now. Don’t surrender to the things bringing you down. Fight!