Courage

Overcoming fear

Pushing past limits

Breaking free from a comfort zone.

It is not an appearance

It can be for anyone

If you dare enough

You can have Courage.

It is a simple act

Defying fear

Jumping off a waterfall

Plummeting towards the pool below

It seems to only take a jump

But it takes a strong person

It is courage.

It takes defeating the enemy

The distance between

The rocks and the water

The enemy is not always visible

But in courage the enemy is fear.

It can only be brought

By a person

Willing to beat the enemy

Fear can not control a person

But

A person controls courage.

Mother

A child's

Best memory is with their mother

She is their role model

To push past her failure

Follow her success

She will catch you

If you fall

Her love can be

Disguised as anger

She is

Loving and understanding

The most powerful woman

Mother

RR Edgar Street Killing

Often characters in books make decisions I don’t agree with. This is only natural because, not everyone thinks the same way. At the end of part one Ed from I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak makes a controversial decision. He questions what he should do and puts lots of thought into his decision. He has to decide if he is going to kill someone that has committed far too many wrongs. Ed decides to kill the character with a gun he got from the messenger. He kills a father of a family that lives on Edgar Street. The father abuses his wife after he comes home from the bar drunk almost every night. Ed is very nervous about killing him and almost changed his mind. I disagree with this decision and think he should have found a different solution. There may have been a solution that didn’t have to result in death.

If I was Ed I would have thought about other options than killing the man. Murder was not the only way to stop the man from abusing his wife. Ed could have tried to help the family first. He could have taken the mother and daughter out of the house and help them to become independent. Then the father might realize he loves his family and needs to become sober. He also could have tried to help the father get sober first. Ed could even try talking to the man and see if he could get him to at least try. Ed had many peaceful options but choose to take a more violent approach. The violent approach is not only wrong in my opinion but it could get Ed in trouble with the law. He could end up in jail for a long time. I think he should have found a way around killing the man. Violence was not the only answer to the family on Edgar Street’s problem.

I think Ed made the decision for a specific reason. He decided to kill the man because he felt an obligation to. Ed found the gun in his mailbox and knew what it meant. “I touch something cold and heavy. My finger touches the trigger. I shudder”(Zusak 80). Ed was given the gun by the messenger and he knew what the messenger wants him to do. He has success with Milla and Sophie so he feels as if he were ready to tackle Edgar Street. I think Ed is not ready to handle Edgar Street and makes the decision to early.

Ed might have made a mistake murdering this man. It is hard to decide because, the man has done so many horrible things. He abused his wife and is never a real father to his daughter. He had figured out how to solve Edgar Street but in a violent way. If I was Ed, I would have handled the situation differently. I would have tried to find a more peaceful way to finish solving the card. Ed did what he thought he had to do in order to complete the card from the messenger.

Charles Darnay

    Charles Darnay from A Tale of Two Cities is intelligent, honest, and careful. These characteristics can be represented by his brain, eyes, and mouth. His personality can also be shown by the shoes on his feet and the book in his hand. He shows he is intelligent throughout the reading so far. "... And Mr. Charles Darnay was established in England as a higher teacher of the French language who was conversant with French literature" (Dickens 99). This quote is pointing to Darnay's head because his brain is why he is smart. Being a teacher requires lots of skill and intelligence so it is easy to assume Charles Darnay is very smart. Charles Darnay carrying the book also displays his intelligence. The quote mentions how he is familiar with literature. Being able to read shows a lot of intelligence in itself. Charles Darnay was also a very honest man. I displayed a quote from his mouth because honesty usually comes from talking. "I wish to tell you what that is, and why I am in England" (Dickens 104). Darnay just wants to be honest with the man that could be his father in law someday. He shows his honesty by trying to tell Dr. Manette his true name even though Dr. Manette doesn't want to hear it. I drew shoes on Darnay to represent his past of trying to escape his family name. They are an important object in his past. They symbolize him running away from his family because, shoes are needed to run. Darnay's last trait is his carefulness. In general he is careful but specifically he is very observant. Charles Darnay seems to always be noticing things. "He was quiet and attentive; watched the opening proceeding with a grave interest; and stood with his hands resting on the slab of wood before him, so composedly" (Dickens 47). This quote about Darnay shows how he is careful to notice details in the court room. He also seems to be very careful with his wording while he is talking. He shows this especially while he was talking to Dr. Manette in the previous quote. The character of Charles Darnay is careful, honest, and intelligent throughout A Tale of Two Cities.

Light Vs. Darkness

     A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens displays a change in tone by using light and darkness. The tone of chapter 6 starts off pessimistic and as it goes on there are more signs of hope. Dr. Manette is most pessimistic at the beginning of chapter 6. He is in the dark and has no light from anyone or anything. "I want to let a little more light in here" (Dickens 30). Defarge says this to Doctor Manette right before he let Lucie in. Lucie symbolizes the light that was shining into Dr. Manette's dark room. Lucie was the first step to changing the tone of chapter 6. Lucie started to inflict her light onto her father little by little. Dr. Manette had figured out Lucie was his daughter by her golden hair. "His cold white head mingled with her radiant hair, which warmed and lightened it as though it were the light of Freedom shining on him" (Dickens 34). The quote shows how it's almost as if Lucie is transitioning her light to her father. An important part of the quote is the end when Dickens writes that she is the light of Freedom. If Lucie hadn't freed her father he would still be sitting in his dark cell. Even though Lucie helped her father a lot he is still not completely heeled. "The darkness deepened and deepened, as they both lay quiet, until a light gleamed through the chinks in the wall" (Dickens 36). The quote tells how Dr. Manette is still in darkness but everything is slowly getting brighter. Chapter 6 of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens starts pessimistic and ends hopeful because of light overcoming darkness.

Wine Shop

     Chapter five of A Tale of Two Cities seems to foreshadow something that may happen later in the book. Dickens describes a scene in Paris including lots of wine and some peasants. I think it is foreshadowing that the peasants will rebel against the government.  The incident started with one cask of wine. "A large cask of wine had been dropped and broken, in the street" (Dickens 20). The wine cask represents the government trying to restrain the peasants. The peasants were being mistreated by the government and no one was trying to get them out of poverty. The cask is the government breaking and the wine that flows out is the peasants trying to rebel. "The rough,  irregular stones of the street, pointing every way, and designed, one might have thought, expressly to lame all living creatures that approached them, had dammed it into little pools: these were surrounded, each by its own jostling group or crowd, according to its size" (Dickens 20-21). In this quote the sidewalk is the government and the wine is the peasants. The government is trying to keep the peasants under control similar to the twists and turns in the sidewalk. The wine just keeps going around the twists and can't be controlled like the peasants. "The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled" (Dickens 21). The quote represents how even if the government gets control over the peasants they will always remember  the event like how the street will always be stained. The chapter definitely foreshadows something big to come in the future.

Importance of Family

     In my opinion there is no perfect family. Every family is different but can still find its own perfection. "Any family is a big empty pot , save for what gets thrown in" (Kingsolver 31). This quote shows how a family can be what you make of it. If you embrace everyone in your family it will be a good soup but if you don't it will just be stone soup. 

     Families don't even have to be blood related. People could be married into a family of adopted in and they should be as much a part of the family as the people that are blood related. Families are a group of people that are happy together and are somehow bonded to each other.

     To me my family is everything. We share our good and bad days. We push through hard days and try to make good ones last longer. Laughter or tears we are still there for each other. I learn things from my family and my family learns from me. We share qualities and have our own. "Saturday! The last Saturday in their old home" (Smith 482). The quote shows how Francie and her family pushed through their rough days together and have made it to more cheerful ones. Katie is getting married and they are moving into a nicer home. They made it through their hard times because, they stuck together as a family.

     My family is the most important part of my life. We are all very close and spend lots of time together. I would consider my family my mom, dad, sister, nana, grampy, my aunts and uncles, cousins and their spouses, and even my dog. All these people and pets have qualities we all share. A family should share similar qualities and interests. We also have some qualities that are very different. One example is my cousin can sing very well but he's the only person in our entire family, other than his wife, that can sing. Evidence that we all share some qualities is that we are all extremely goofy. We like to joke around, laugh together, and smile so much it hurts. We like to make each other happy which, is what makes us a family. "I'm there too, witnessing a family fortune" (Kingsolver 1). The author tells a story of a boy who had a large cheering section. The section was so large because he had his step parent and step siblings at the game too. This family is very close even though the original marriages didn't work out. They are definitely making the boy happy as a family should do.

     One of the most important parts of being a family is being there for each other through tough times. If someone in your family is having trouble you should be right by there side. "Francie felt important being in sole charge" (Smith 333). When Katie is pregnant she needs someone to depend on. Francie is there for whatever she needs. Francie is a great family member for being there when Katie needs her most. When you have a family you should never feel as if you are facing your problems alone. Your family should get you through your problems and into better days. A true family member will be there to pick you up when you start to fall.