In “Between the Shades of Gray” nothing more has really changed. They are still working all day, everyday of the week. More of the people in the hut village have signed the papers that say they are criminals and have 25 years hard labor. Lina’s mother and the old man wrote letters to loved ones and had the people who signed, send them from the post office in town. One day when they were in the field gardening, the commander needed someone to copy a map…and Lina volunteered. It was good that she volunteered because she got to see where they actually were and could report to the others. She got to see where they were going to end up and she heard all their conversations in the office. When she was done with the painting, they payed her in cigarettes. Lina kept feeling bad about the tension between her and Andrius so was going to give them to him as an apology but never got to. Jonas has just gotten really, really sick. Andrius has been sneaking food to him to help him stay alive for now. I’m really anxious to see what happens to Jonas. One literary device Ruta used would be a metaphor, “…and the curtain of falling snow” (204). The conflict of this section of the book would be an external conflict, (ch vs. nature) and it would be that they are in winter now and have to survive with the snow and no warm clothes what-so-ever.
Category Archives: Language Arts
First Moments -Free Verse Poem-
One second I turn my head
To lay my eyes on you,
Hearing the beating of my heart
Racing faster and faster
Beating harder and harder
Hoping you won’t turn around
Your eyes meet mine
Locking for what seems like hours
Neither of us blinking,
My cheeks burn with red
As I finally flash a smile and turn away
I glimpse again,
Without you noticing
All I can do is stare,
Realizing you’re perfect
As I look at you
I never want to look away,
Staring in a day dream
I block out all your imperfections
Butterflies run wild all over my stomach
How we would hold hands,
How we would spend all of our days at the beach,
How we would never leave each other’s side,
How my life would be complete
Because in the end,
Every blonde needs a brunette
2nd Journal Entry
In this section of “Between the Shades Of Gray“, Ona’s baby passes and they have to throw it out of the bathroom hole. She is an emotional wreck. About a month after that she is still grieving and one of the NKVD’s can’t stand it anymore so he just shoots her. They are on day 42. Lina, her mother, her brother Jonas, and everyone else that is in her train car, are brought to a little town of huts. They were not bought like the other train cars full of people, so they had to go into “hard labor”. The commander tells them that they have to sign a paper that says they have to agree to 25 years of labor for the Soviets and they have to sign it as criminals. No one signs it, yet no one is killed. They just want them to do all their dirty work. Near the end of the section it reveals that Andrius and his mother are working for the Soviets. Lina feels very betrayed. I predict that they will spend about another month there then go somewhere else and have to work there too. Lina’s internal conflict would be that she has to work for the Soviets and see things no one should ever see. She has to make decisions that a 15 year old shouldn’t have to make that could depend on her life. Like if she should walk over to her friends hut and try not to get caught or take food for herself while harvesting for the Soviets. “‘You’re giving me cigarettes?’ I asked ‘Well, what didn’t you think, that I had a roasted duck in my pocket?'” This was one of my favorite parts because Andrius is being really “smart” with her and sarcastic and it kind of made me laugh.
Grandparent Question and Answer
Interview Question and Answer for Grandparents:
1.) How was your 7th grade experience?
“It was 7th grade. Start of Junior high. ‘Scary’ and it was quite hard to get used to.”
2.) Where did you go to middle school?
“Started at Dana Middle and that lead to Corriea Jr. High.”
3.) Did you get good grades through school?
“I did ok…didn’t really try. Kind of at home. I usually got “B’s””
4.) Which did you like better, middle or high school? Why?
“I liked middle better. There wasn’t as much pressure as high.”
5.) What were your extra circulars like?
“Good. I was on drill team at hight school. There were fun dances to learn.”
6.) Did you know what you wanted to be when you were in 7th grade?
“Uhhhh…When I grew up you were either a nurse or got married so I got married and had a family.”
7.) Where did you go to high school?
“Point Loma (PLHS). 10th through 12th.”
8.) How was you high school experience?
“Good, need friends that I still talk to. Mostly Facebook.”
9.) Where did you live during your “grade school” years?
“Sunset Cliffs. There were three little houses on the hill. I was 15”
10.)What is your favorite memory from school?
“Always messing around with my friends and school dances.”
11.) Did you take AP and/or Honers classes in high school?
“There weren’t AP classes when I was in high school. We had honers but I didn’t take them.”
Ready, Set, Fly
I squirm, I crawl
I can’t do anything but that
All I see is what’s a foot ahead
I walk, I eat
I feast on plants
And nothing but that
When you hear crunching outside
It’s me
Most of my life I’m miserable
Not being able to do much
Held back, not doing things I dream of
I only see dirt and grass
Weeks pass
In my tiny space
Surrounded by warmth
When the sun beats on me
Wondering what I will see
When I’m bigger and better
Out I come
Into the world once more
But only this time,
Bigger and better ready to see more
Grandparents Poem
Distance doesn’t matter
When my thoughts
Always include you
Every time we see each other
We are gasping for air
After only being there
For half an hour
The comfort of your home
Always warm inside
From the brisk cold wind
Sneaking in from the outside
Response to Poetry
Four Skinny Trees by Sandra Cisneros is one of the most inspiring poems I’ve ever read. It’s not really about four trees, it is about four people that don’t feel they fit in and are outcasts. They have to work together to stay strong. The author uses different lines for examples of personification and conflict. The poem’s message is to always stay strong through everything because “Their strength is secret”(line 4).
Sandra included a deep internal conflict. She describes how the trees start to get frustrated. “They send ferocious roots beneath the ground”(4). They are starting to get mad that they don’t fit in. In this line they start to give up. “Let one forget his reason for being, they’d all drop like tulips in a glass”(6). The “trees” are giving up because they don’t want pain anymore. They forget to like how they live. They feel they have little friends and no one understands. The poem states, “They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them”(1). They think no one likes them. Each line shows an internal conflict because they don’t feel like they fit in and they don’t want to feel pain anymore.
Mr.Utterson Character Analysis
“Mr.Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile, cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse, backward in statement, lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet some how lovable” (Stevenson 1). In The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, written by Robert L. Stevenson, Mr.Utterson has many traits like being curious, trustworthy, and friendly. He uses these traits to help Dr.Jekyll and be a good friend and look for him when he couldn’t be found.
Mr.Utterson is one of the most curious people in the story. He wants to find Hyde when he “went missing” so he goes out every night to look for him. “In the course of his nightly patrols he had long grown a custom to the giant effect with which the foot falls of a singular person”(8). He is looking for Mr.Hyde by walking at night. Mr.Utterson also thinks Dr.Jekyll is Hyde. He says, “If he be Mr.Hyde, Than I shall be Mr.Seek”(8). He says this because they’re looking for Hyde. He is talking about if he’s Hyde or not. He is also curious when looking for Jekyll. He is asking Lanyon if he’s seen him. “Have you seen him?”(23). He is curious about Jekyll and concerned if he’s ok. These are many ways he’s shown being curious.
Mr.Utterson was a man of trust. Everyone trusts him with anything, for example when he was told not to open the letter he didn’t. The letter said, “‘PRIVATE: for the hands of J.G Utterson alone, and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unread.’ So it was emphatically superscribed, and the lawyer dreaded to behold the contents”(24). At that part he had just broke the seal but didn’t read it, he felt if he didn’t he would be disloyal but if he did it would cost him another friend. Mr.Utterson is also shown as being trustworthy when Dr.Jekyll explains how he trusts him. “I would trust you before any other man alive -Jekyll”(13). Jekyll is telling him how he trusts him more than anyone else and is a good friend. He also thinks of himself as a trustworthy person, especially with Jekyll. Utterson says, “You know me: I am a man to be trusted”(13). He’s talking to Jekyll, explaining to him that he can trust him no matter what.
Throughout the story Utterson is explained and shown as a good friend. The narrator describes what type of friends he has, “His friends were those of his own blood, or those whom he had known the longest”(1). The narrator is stating that he is very friendly and has had friends for a long time. Utterson is concerned about Jekyll, “Have you seen him? But Lanyon’s face changed , and he held up a trembling hand”(23). He got really concerned and cared about if Jekyll was ok. He hadn’t seen much of him. Utterson really wanted to help/take care of Jekyll. He asks, “Can I do anything? He inquired. We are three very old friends”(23). He wants to be there for Jekyll because he’s a friend, but doesn’t know where he is.
Mr.Utterson has many traits and uses them a lot. He is thoughtful, trustworthy, and being friendly perfectly describe him. Mr.Utterson plays the role of a loving, caring best friend to Dr.Jekyll and helps him through everything. These traits help him be the best person he could possibly be.
Prohibition Essay
Prohibition was the 18th Amendment that banned alcohol. This happened in 1920 and lasted a little over a decade until 1933. Most people agreed and helped pass the amendment because they didn’t believe in alcohol. There were a lot of effects to banning alcohol, most were bad.
There were a lot of causes to Prohibition. They include the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, crime, lack of production, and people wasting their money on alcohol. The Woman’s Temperance Union was a group of women that helped pass the amendment. They were completely against alcohol and didn’t want anything to do with it because they didn’t like how it made their husbands beat them. The waste of money on alcohol led to a lack of production. After work, men would go to a bar, or saloon of their choice and drink. The men wouldn’t come home until late at night, then would wake up late. This would lead to the lack of production; no work meant no products. When people would waste their money on alcohol they had no money for actual needed things. Another reason people wanted Prohibition was that people drinking caused a lot of crime. Fifty percent of crime was cause by alcohol. Drunk men would beat up their wives and children when they came home. But most of all it was unpatriotic to drink after WWI because much alcohol was made in Germany and they didn’t want anything to do with them after the war.