The Dilemma’s of Two Main Characters!

Author’s Note: In this essay, I will explain to my reader, how both main characters of two complete different books have the same problems happened to them I will Compare and Contrast on the characters.

Johnny Tremain was a normal boy who strained to earn money. Until, a mishap happened. It seemed threw out the book many mishaps were occurred in this book. Which reminds me of another book I have read called “The Lying Game” the main character; Emma Paxton also has had mishaps happen to her. They both have things in common and basically have the same things occurred threw out the book.

In the book, “Johnny Tremain”, Johnny has awful luck. He gets into a lot of dilemmas and threats. As in the “The Lying Game,” Emma Paxton, also gets into a lot of dilemmas and threats. Starting with Johnny, he was strained in a shop... but when he burned his hand really badly, so he can't work anymore. Another part in the book, when Johnny was in a dilemma was when, Johnny took the silver cup (his mother gave him) to his uncle to justify they were related. But, his uncle accused to the police, Johnny stole it from him. At that moment Johnny was arrested. As you can see Johnny is a very un-lucky person. As the same for Emma Paxton. In the beginning of the book Emma is apprehended by her foster brother that she took money from her foster mother. Emma is almost arrested when she takes a run for it. Later, she ends up switching places with her twin sister, Sutton. While, Sutton tries to figure out whom Emma and Sutton’s real mother is. Knowing later in the book they have more irritating positions to go through.

Johnny and Emma still have the irritating times in common, but they are also very different characters from personality to their actions. Johnny is a strong young boy. He has critical times to deal with but he is a true hero. I’m not saying he is a hero that people look up too. But in the book he did fight in the revolutionary war.  Having one hand, holding a gun. I would think that is very tough but for him he didn’t think about how hard it was or what he was going to succumb or not. All he was really thinking about was freedom for the United States. That showing, this book was taken place in the 1700's. Emma, she’s just trying to figure out what happened to her real mother. Why she was put up for adoption and Sutton wasn’t.

I thought both books were really good. Depending on what part you read in the book reminded me of the other. It was two different time periods and two different stories. But, they can be very comparable at times. Dilemmas or not… Everything happens for a reason.

The Silver Cup!

Authors Note- This essay is about a conflict that is resolved.

     In the book "Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes", there're many conflicts and some are resolved. The one I find is the most important in the whole book is the silver cup Johnny receives from his mother before she past away. The reason why he got it in the first place was to prove he was related to a wealthy relative. But, that all goes wrong when they meet face to face.

     Johnny, was given a silver cup right before his mother died. She gave that to Johnny to prove to him he was related to a wealthy merchant named Jonathan Lyte. Johnny approaches Jonathan Lyte and shows him the slver cup he received from his mother as evidence that they are related. However, Jonathan Lyte accuses Johnny of stealing it and has him arrested. Showing you,  that is the conflict of the story. But, it is resolved when Rab and Cilla help get Johnny cleared of the charges in court. After this Jonathan Lyte then steals the cup after Johnny tries to sell it to him. At this point Johnny takes up the offer of delivering newspapers.

     I found that Jonathan accusing Johnny was one of the big and main conflicts in the book. I know Johnny's mother was expecting that when she gave the silver cup to Johnny. But, predicting that there're may be bigger and worst conflicts to come in the future of the story.

Through The Eyes of Johnny Tremain.

Authors Note: American Revolution, through the eyes of Johnny Tremain, a young silversmith who is drawn into the war after meeting Rab, a daring young member of the Sons of Liberty.

      Johnny Tremain, is a 14 year old silversmith apprentice living in Boston during the 1770's. The owner, Ephraim Lapham, no longer wants to run the silversmith shop and so, Johnny is left in charge, other then the two apprentices. Johnny goes threw a lot threw out this book. Often, he gets bullied by the other apprentices and Lapham's daughters. There are many point of views from different characters. From the small characters to the main characters. I found reading from Johnny's point of view was the most interesting.

     One night, Johnny reveals his family secret to Cilla Lapham, who Mrs. Lapham want him to marry. Before Johnny's mother died she was related to a very wealthy merchant named Jonathan Lyte. She also gave Johnny a silver cup featuring the Lyte coat of arms but told him not to make any contact with them unless he became desperate to.

      As Johnny is creating a silver basin for the wealthy merchant John Hancock, Dove plays a joke on Johnny that was intended to be harmless but humbling. Dove hands Johnny a cracked crucible but the prank goes wrong and Johnny's hand is left deformed and burned terribly. No longer, is Johnny able to work as a silversmith. Johnny Tremain goes from the pride of the Lapham house to the burden. Mrs Lapham forbids Johnny from marrying Cilla and complains of having to house and feed him. In search of a new trade, Johnny comes across a print shop where a Whig newspaper, the Boston Observer is published. Johnny is intrigued by Rab, the nephew and apprentice of the owner Mr. Lorne. After Johnny tells the story of his accident Rab promises to give Johnny a job delivering newspapers if Johnny can find no better work.

In desperation, Johnny approaches Jonathan Lyte and produces the silver cup as evidence that they are related. However Jonathan Lyte accuses Johnny of stealing it and has him arrested. With the assistance of Rab and Cilla, Johnny is cleared of the charges in court. After this Jonathan Lyte then steals the cup after Johnny tries to sell it to him. At this point Johnny takes up the offer of delivering newspapers for Mr. Lorne.       As you can see, this is not all of the story. But, I find it very important and very interesting especially from reading it from Johnny's point of view. I find, the story  reminds me of a diary. It mostly sounds like a journal Johnny keeps there out the book.

What Is A Real Family?

Authors Note:  What’s it like not having a family? No parents to guide you and help you threw life? In the book “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton, the theme is Family.

       Family is one of the best things a person can have in life. Our parents help you to grow up into mature adults. Your may say you hate your siblings but everyone knows you love them. Family is super important to me and lots of other people around the world. “The Outsiders” explains lots of themes such as; Defying Stereotypes, Loss of Innocence, and the true definition of a Family.

In "The Outsiders", the greasers consider all of each other family. Some of them aren’t blood related. This makes no difference. Family can be anyone that you love. This can be friends or neighbors. Knowing I have an example. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania for 2 years. Not that long, I know. The neighborhood I lived in was barely new. Not many houses were built. Across the street my, best friend, Reina Elias lived. I considered her family my family. I am really close to her sisters and her parents are amazing! Over the summer, I went back to visit them. While my brother Zachary went to Boy Scout Camp. Reina and I talk about everything from boys to school. I consider her a sister and no doubt, were not even blood related!

  Greasers are their own family. But, I don’t think the Socs are. Most Socs probably have blood-related family and are living with their real parents. The Greasers are a family because they care about each other, stand up for each other, and love each other for who they are… Most Greasers don’t or didn’t have a great family at the beginning. They’ve had the rough path to start with. Ponyboy, Darry, and Soda pop, they had a great family at the beginning of their lives, and they knew it too. They loved their parents, and their parents respected everyone, but both parents unfortunately died, and they didn’t have them anymore. 

A great example of how they show that the Greaser’s are a family is in chapter one, right after Ponyboy got beat up by the Socs. And Darry had carried Ponyboy and said, “Are you all right Ponyboy?” And he started shaking Ponyboy just to make sure and Ponyboy says “I’m okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I’m okay.” And then Darry stopped shaking him instantly and said, “I’m sorry.” To me this little conversation in the book shows brotherly love between the two. Instantly that shows Darry caring about Ponyboy. To me, reading that shows a great example of family. What I mean by that is. If Darry didn’t consider Ponyboy as family he probably wouldn’t be as worried as he was. He was shaking Ponyboy to make sure he answers. If he shook Ponyboy and there was no reply. That pretty much would not be good.

Obviously, from reading the entire book you could tell that these guys are definitely a family from what they’ve said, and how they have acted upon these situations that have occurred.  Like I said before, family doesn’t have to be blood related people; it can also be friends and neighbors of yours; Perfect example about me and Reina. Family is an important theme to think about when you read "The Outsiders."

The Night I Killed Bob.

Author's Note- This is about Johnny murdering Bob from his perspective and how he felt as it all happened.

It was it. I saw them coming. Seeing the fancy cars and tough faces, made me quiver. I recognized his face, from the night he jumped me, Bob. I didn’t know what else to think. With me standing there scared out of mine. I couldn’t even, move my feet to make a run for it. Was this it? Are they finally going to finish the job and kill me?

Before you know it, it was the Socs, drowning Ponyboy and about to come at me. Their sly smiles across their face made me want to go hide be hide a rock and cry. I was a wimp. I knew I was a wimp because I sure did act like one. Without even thinking, I grabbed my switch blade in my pocket and jab it right into Bob’s heart. It went so fast, he didn’t even have time to yell. I backed away frozen, ready to get sick. What did I do?! Once all of the other Socs acknowledged what happened they jumped in the car and drove off. You could see the freighted looks on their faces. Finally, once in my life I felt like I did something good. Something that made me feels more powerful and less than a wimp. But, I looked down with blood all over all over my hands and Bob on the ground dead.

What did I do? I hate to even think this… “I’m a murderer.” I cried in a cracked voice. I was thinking to myself trying to figure out if I did something good or bad. I was defending myself and defending Ponyboy. I stopped thinking and looked around for Ponyboy. Then I saw him. Lying on the cement. “PONYBOY!!” I yelped as I ran over to him trying to get to choke out the water that he breathed in. I gave him a good couple pushes on his chest breathed in his mouth to give him air. Nothing worked. I gave up. Then I lied next to him and triad to take in what I just dine.

Ponyboy wakening up and coughing out water trying to catch his breath scared me. He looked at me looking confused. I looked down at my pocket knife. Ponyboy was looking too and seeing the blood all over. My hands were shaking so fast. Ponyboy took it from me and put it next to him. My face was pitching white.  I had to tell him what I did. When Ponyboy looked at me straight in the eyes, knowing for a second something wasn't right.

              Ponyboy wakening up and coughing out water trying to catch his breath scared me. He looked at me looking confused. I looked down at my pocket knife. Ponyboy was looking too and seeing the blood all over. My hands were shaking so fast. Ponyboy took it from me and put it next to him. My face was pitching white.  I had to tell him what I did. When Ponyboy looked at me straight in the eyes, knowing for a second something wasn't right.

 

We Need Resource Back!

That’s not good. You forgot what to do to solve the questions on our math homework?! Oh, you can just go see Mr. Felser after school. What? Oh you have to catch a bus? Well I don’t know what else to say. I know we should have the opportunities for that use during resource. But, the school has us locked up inside a classroom. Don’t you feel like you’re in prison? I sure do. We need resource to be back to the way it was because we all forget stuff in our lockers and we need to go to the bathroom too. I hate that I have to stay after school to finish work or ask for help. It’s crazy! We need a time during the day for us to ask for help, catch up in class and other usage and if you don’t agree with me by the time you’re done reading this, you will see why us students need resource.

Last year, resource was so helpful for us. We could walk to a class real quick and ask a simple question or finish a test/ project for class. Students need to go to other teachers for help on homework or help on any work in that class. If you’re not quite sure about what your homework is or if you need help on understanding on what we worked on in class. Most students will have questions on stuff in class; if we could have the trust to go to the other class, it be easier for students.

Therefore, while thinking about asking for help we can work missing work or we can work to catch up in class. I’ve had problems in the past where I needed to go to a class during resource to get caught up because I was sick or not at school, or because I can’t work as fast as other students, where I’ve needed to go and finish stuff. Most people have gone to other resources to work on a group project together. If you were working on a presentation or a group activity I’ve found it very helpful.

Another reason why we should have our old resource back because some people need to go to their locker, bathroom or sometimes the library to print something. There’s been sometimes where you forget something in your locker. If we had our old resource back we would have the opportunity to go where needed to go. I know one reason why we don’t have resource is because people have been fooling around but, if we can try to control that. Resource can help a lot of students. My locker gets messy and I need time to clean it out. I can’t clean it out after school. Also, people need to go to the bathroom. We can’t just wait until after school. People have to catch a bus or leave right away. I say “When you got to go. You go to go.”

I am writing to convince that the school will give us resource back. My reasons are to ask for help in a class, catch up on work in any class and other usages with all needs. Having helped in on homework from a teacher can help us in class. We can get work done for class and go to the bathroom or locker when needed. Explaining all the reasons why the school should have resource back to the way it was last year is not just help for the teachers but the students and their parents

7th Grade: Writing Circle

I decided to have my last writing circle about 7^th grade. When I was going to start in the fall all I can remember was having such a hard time opening my locker. Now I realize that when I go to my locker to get my back pack or my next classes work, I open it in just a few seconds. I remember when I set my locker up, when I saw my friends again. It was exciting! Now I look back to a current day and  in 4 days 7^th grade will be over. This was a fun and great year. I’m glad I spent my time in 7^th Grade in Asa Clark. Now I’m looking forward to 8^th grade!