“This is a formative essay on how Ponyboy Curtis is a dynamic character, which means that he will change throughout the story.”
Have you ever had a time in your life where you were completely innocent and then you did something wrong, it made you worse, and then you regained it again? Ponyboy from the book “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton, is a dynamic character, because he changes throughout the story. Ponyboy goes from being innocent, to losing his innocence, then getting it back again, that is how Ponyboy is a dynamic character. It is always good to regain you innocence somewhere in time, because it can make you a better person, to the people around you, your family and friends, and it’s just good for you in general.
In the beginning of the story from about chapters 1-4, Ponyboy Curtis the main character and narrator of the story, is completely innocent. Ponyboy has done no harm to anyone around him, he’s just a boy in a messed up world. He lives with his brothers, because his parents died in a bad car accident, his brothers are all he has in his life. Ponyboy is part of a gang called the Greasers; they have a rival gang called the Socials or Socs for short. Being the youngest member in the group he just follows in the footsteps of his brothers, which are also a part of the gang. So far Ponyboy is innocent and he has done no wrong to anyone, he’s just being a young 14 year old teenager living his life.
In chapter 4, this is where Ponyboy loses all of his innocence. Ponyboy loses it when Johnny and him are walking by this one park, then all of sudden a blue mustang comes speeding up towards them and then a group of socs got out including Bob and Randy from earlier that night. Then Bob grabs Ponyboy and starts drowning him in a nearby fountain, and then Ponyboy passes out. We don’t know what happens in the meantime because Ponyboy is the main character. Once he wakes up he notices Bob laying on the ground dead and Johnny holding a bloody switchblade in his hand, which is where Ponyboy loses all of his innocence. Everything is now bad for Ponyboy and Johnny, they are running from the law and they end up hiding in an old abandon church. That is not the life a 14 and a 16 year old should have, but I guess that’s what you kind of get for taking the wrong path and creating a gang like that. Yeah I know they don’t have families but you could still take the right path.
Now a little bit farther into the book Ponyboy regains his innocence, when him and Johnny save these kids from a burning church. He figures out that this is pretty much the end for Johnny, and because Johnny got hurt really bad when he was saving the kids, it ended up taking his life. The last words Johnny said to Ponyboy in the book was “Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold”, to my opinion I believe that Ponyboy changed and gained back his innocence when he saved those kids from the burning fire and once Johnny died. Ponyboy was starting to get really close with Jonny then he just dies, that was really hard for Ponyboy. Ponyboy finally started to believing in himself more and got his innocence back which made him think that what he has been doing in his life is bad, so he decided to take the right path.
In the end Ponyboy regains his innocence and everything goes back to somewhat normal, just three people less in the world. You can’t keep your innocence forever, but when you lose it, it is possible to retract it and gain it once again.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
“Stereotype theme of The Outsiders”
“This is a formative essay about how the people judge the Greasers in The Outsiders”
Have you ever been stereotyped for just being yourself, when you’re doing absolutely nothing wrong? It happens multiple times to all the characters in the Greasers, they get judged about being Criminals, and just being bad over all, when most of them aren’t at all; they have a soft spot. People shouldn’t judge other people because it isn’t right and it could really hurt someone.
Mostly every character in the book “The Outsiders” are misjudged and misunderstood, they all see them as criminals and bad people when they actually aren’t. Dally, one of the main characters in the gang of the Greasers, he’s from New York and he’s been in many other gangs and arrested many times before. Dally is one who puts up a bad example for the gang, he hasn’t really changed. One example of this is when the Church was on fire and the children, Johnny, and Ponyboy were trapped, Dally was going to just save Ponyboy and Johnny not the little kids in the fire. So that puts Dally on the bad side of the stereotype side when people talk about the gang, but Johnny and Ponyboy went and saved the children. Johnny put his life over the children, how is that bad? How does that make them criminals or bad people? Saving those children made them hero’s which made people change their thought about the gang just a little bit. Many people would consider the greasers as selfish, greedy, and criminals when most of the members couldn’t even hurt a fly, they just care about each other a huge amount. I think it’s just their looks that make people want to judge them, they wear leather jackets, have their hair gelled back, and they just look all tough and bad.
All the characters in “The Outsiders” has been judged at least once and it’s not alright. People shouldn’t judge other people unless they know what they are talking about, it can hurt people’s feelings and it can really make people angry when other people talk about people like that.
Have you ever been stereotyped for just being yourself, when you’re doing absolutely nothing wrong? It happens multiple times to all the characters in the Greasers, they get judged about being Criminals, and just being bad over all, when most of them aren’t at all; they have a soft spot. People shouldn’t judge other people because it isn’t right and it could really hurt someone.
Mostly every character in the book “The Outsiders” are misjudged and misunderstood, they all see them as criminals and bad people when they actually aren’t. Dally, one of the main characters in the gang of the Greasers, he’s from New York and he’s been in many other gangs and arrested many times before. Dally is one who puts up a bad example for the gang, he hasn’t really changed. One example of this is when the Church was on fire and the children, Johnny, and Ponyboy were trapped, Dally was going to just save Ponyboy and Johnny not the little kids in the fire. So that puts Dally on the bad side of the stereotype side when people talk about the gang, but Johnny and Ponyboy went and saved the children. Johnny put his life over the children, how is that bad? How does that make them criminals or bad people? Saving those children made them hero’s which made people change their thought about the gang just a little bit. Many people would consider the greasers as selfish, greedy, and criminals when most of the members couldn’t even hurt a fly, they just care about each other a huge amount. I think it’s just their looks that make people want to judge them, they wear leather jackets, have their hair gelled back, and they just look all tough and bad.
All the characters in “The Outsiders” has been judged at least once and it’s not alright. People shouldn’t judge other people unless they know what they are talking about, it can hurt people’s feelings and it can really make people angry when other people talk about people like that.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Letter To Ponyboy
Dear Ponyboy,
How is this whole experience going for you? I know you are probably going thought the worst time of your life at the moment, because I’m sure you are going nuts and you probably just want to get away from everything that is happening to you right now. Darry is probably going to be tremendously sorry once he figures out what he did was completely wrong, no one deserves to be hit for no reason. I’m sure Johnny feels even worse than you do; he’s the one who killed that soc in the first place. Bob deserved what was he was asking for, he should have been the one in the water drowning not a 14 year old boy like you. You did no harm to them, their girlfriends came on to you not the other way around, those stupid socs obviously couldn’t tell. You’re brothers will find out sooner or later, and they will come out to find you. If I were you I would just keep laying low in that old church, unless the feds figure out where you are hiding, but you should be fine out there. That old church is probably the best place for you to lay low right now, it’s in the hills all you are right now is a needle in a hay stack.
Well I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright and I just want to have a little chat with you, I hope everything goes well. Good luck to you and Johnny, stay out of trouble.
Sincerely,
Chase Seliger
How is this whole experience going for you? I know you are probably going thought the worst time of your life at the moment, because I’m sure you are going nuts and you probably just want to get away from everything that is happening to you right now. Darry is probably going to be tremendously sorry once he figures out what he did was completely wrong, no one deserves to be hit for no reason. I’m sure Johnny feels even worse than you do; he’s the one who killed that soc in the first place. Bob deserved what was he was asking for, he should have been the one in the water drowning not a 14 year old boy like you. You did no harm to them, their girlfriends came on to you not the other way around, those stupid socs obviously couldn’t tell. You’re brothers will find out sooner or later, and they will come out to find you. If I were you I would just keep laying low in that old church, unless the feds figure out where you are hiding, but you should be fine out there. That old church is probably the best place for you to lay low right now, it’s in the hills all you are right now is a needle in a hay stack.
Well I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright and I just want to have a little chat with you, I hope everything goes well. Good luck to you and Johnny, stay out of trouble.
Sincerely,
Chase Seliger
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
9/11/2001
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001 it started out like any other day in New York City, people were heading off to work, children were on their way to school, and people were just doing their everyday things. Then at 8:46 a.m. a loud Jet engine sounded all over New York and then a huge collision noise came from the World Trade Center, and as all the people looked up there was a huge cloud of black smoke pouring out of the North Tower. Most of the people thought the plane must have lost control, but they were wrong. That wasn’t the last attack on America there were more to come but our people didn’t know what was happening; there were 2 more, 2 on the World Trade Center and 1 on the Pentagon. September 11, 2001 was the day terror struck America and all its citizens.
Al-Qaeda (A well known Terrorist militia/organization) was the masterminds behind 9/11, they wanted to strike fear into all the citizens in our country as well as our government, and they wanted to show us Americans how strong they actually were. There leader and the mastermind behind the attack was the man named “Osama Bin Laden”, which our Navy Seal Team 6 already took care of him on May 2, 2011. The men who took over the planes were 19 members of Al-Qaeda, On Flight 11(North Tower) there were 5 Terrorists; Mohamed Atta, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail al-Shehri, Abdulaziz al-Omari, and Satam al-Suqami. On flight 175(South Tower) there were 5 Terrorists also; Marwan al-Shehhi, Fayez Banihammad, Mohand al-Shehri, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Ghamdi. On Flight 77(Pentagon) there were 5 Terrorists; Hani Hanjour, Khalid al-Mihdhar, Majed Moqed, Nawaf al-Hazmi, and Salem al-Hazmi. And on the last plane Flight 93(Crashed into a field in Virginia) there were 4 Terrorists; Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed al-Haznawi, Ahmed al-Nami, and Saeed al-Ghamdi.
Many people lost a friend, or a family member that day, and losing someone that quick can make people breakdown and feel like dying. There were exactly 2,977 (Plus 19 Hijacker) people who died that day and over 6,000 people were injured. All over the United States and also in some other countries there are memorials for the Twin Towers and all of the Innocent people who died for no reason at all. In New York City, New York at Ground Zero there is a memorial with lights that go into the skies at nighttime to resemble where the towers once stood. In Shanksville, Pennsylvania there is a memorial for flight 93, and in Arlington, Virginia there is a memorial at the Pentagon; Over 250,000 people visit all the Memorials a year.
There are many movies, books, videos, and other literature on 9/11’s events. One f the most known movies about 9/11 is “Flight 93”, it is movie about how the passengers try to take the plane back from the terrorists but they end up crashing into a felid in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. They have many non-fictional books on 9/11 for example “102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers” by the Authors Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, and “Memory Remains: 9/11 Artifacts at Hangar 17” by the author Francesc Torres. Many of the movies and the books have one really god awards, such as Grammy awards, Oscar awards, and many of the books have won the Nobel prizes. There are also many known heroes that day that saved a tremendous amount of lives, not just our firemen and police officer, but innocent people put other people’s life in front of their own. One much known hero is the Man in the Red Bandanna he saved around 12 people by himself, but sadly he died as the South Tower Collapsed; There were many more 9/11 Heroes.
Many lives were lost that day, lives of innocent people who did nothing to deserve what they got, children will now grow up without a mother or a father, a grandma or grandpa, a uncle or aunt, all because of that one day. All the people who died that day will always be remembered in our hearts, and we will never forget them.
Al-Qaeda (A well known Terrorist militia/organization) was the masterminds behind 9/11, they wanted to strike fear into all the citizens in our country as well as our government, and they wanted to show us Americans how strong they actually were. There leader and the mastermind behind the attack was the man named “Osama Bin Laden”, which our Navy Seal Team 6 already took care of him on May 2, 2011. The men who took over the planes were 19 members of Al-Qaeda, On Flight 11(North Tower) there were 5 Terrorists; Mohamed Atta, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail al-Shehri, Abdulaziz al-Omari, and Satam al-Suqami. On flight 175(South Tower) there were 5 Terrorists also; Marwan al-Shehhi, Fayez Banihammad, Mohand al-Shehri, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Ghamdi. On Flight 77(Pentagon) there were 5 Terrorists; Hani Hanjour, Khalid al-Mihdhar, Majed Moqed, Nawaf al-Hazmi, and Salem al-Hazmi. And on the last plane Flight 93(Crashed into a field in Virginia) there were 4 Terrorists; Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed al-Haznawi, Ahmed al-Nami, and Saeed al-Ghamdi.
Many people lost a friend, or a family member that day, and losing someone that quick can make people breakdown and feel like dying. There were exactly 2,977 (Plus 19 Hijacker) people who died that day and over 6,000 people were injured. All over the United States and also in some other countries there are memorials for the Twin Towers and all of the Innocent people who died for no reason at all. In New York City, New York at Ground Zero there is a memorial with lights that go into the skies at nighttime to resemble where the towers once stood. In Shanksville, Pennsylvania there is a memorial for flight 93, and in Arlington, Virginia there is a memorial at the Pentagon; Over 250,000 people visit all the Memorials a year.
There are many movies, books, videos, and other literature on 9/11’s events. One f the most known movies about 9/11 is “Flight 93”, it is movie about how the passengers try to take the plane back from the terrorists but they end up crashing into a felid in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. They have many non-fictional books on 9/11 for example “102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers” by the Authors Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, and “Memory Remains: 9/11 Artifacts at Hangar 17” by the author Francesc Torres. Many of the movies and the books have one really god awards, such as Grammy awards, Oscar awards, and many of the books have won the Nobel prizes. There are also many known heroes that day that saved a tremendous amount of lives, not just our firemen and police officer, but innocent people put other people’s life in front of their own. One much known hero is the Man in the Red Bandanna he saved around 12 people by himself, but sadly he died as the South Tower Collapsed; There were many more 9/11 Heroes.
Many lives were lost that day, lives of innocent people who did nothing to deserve what they got, children will now grow up without a mother or a father, a grandma or grandpa, a uncle or aunt, all because of that one day. All the people who died that day will always be remembered in our hearts, and we will never forget them.
Am I proud of my country?
Yes I am proud of my country, because you have the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and that we have the right to be what we want to be. Without the US, many people wouldn’t be here today and society would be completely different. Many other countries don’t allow any of those things, which make the United States of America the best country in the entire world.
The first reason why I am proud of my country is because we have the freedom of speech. Many countries in the world do not have the choice of freedom of speech, also in some countries if you try to speak your own opinion you can get killed. In America people are allowed to speak freely about any topic unless it’s about something bad for example killing someone. Many people like having the freedom of speech and some people move to the United States just so they can have that ability. Also there are some downsides to having freedom of speech, some people talk too much about things and actually can get people injured. Otherwise having the freedom of speech is a major plus, it’s just one of the things that makes our country extraordinary.
The second reason why I am proud of my country is because we have the ability to have our own choice of religion. There are a few countries in the world that don’t let you have the religion you want, you have to have the religion that they tell you to have. In our country we have the choice of religion, and there are tons of different religions in the United States from Muslim to Christianity. If we didn’t have the freedom of religion, a great amount of people would not want to live in the United States. At least we do and many people love their country that they live in. That just keeps adding on to why I am proud of our beautiful country.
Lastly, the third reason why I am proud of our country is because we can choose what our occupation is. In china you can’t choose what you get to be unless you are extremely smart, most people just end up working in factories for the rest of their lives. But not in America, you can be whatever you choose to be. There are so many different possibilities of what you can be in America, from a Firefighter to a business man; there are no restrictions in the beautiful country of the good old United States of America. There is the last reason why I am majorly proud of my country.
There are so many reasons why people love living in the best country in the world, It has everything you need and all the laws are fair. Those are the reasons why I am proud of my country.
The first reason why I am proud of my country is because we have the freedom of speech. Many countries in the world do not have the choice of freedom of speech, also in some countries if you try to speak your own opinion you can get killed. In America people are allowed to speak freely about any topic unless it’s about something bad for example killing someone. Many people like having the freedom of speech and some people move to the United States just so they can have that ability. Also there are some downsides to having freedom of speech, some people talk too much about things and actually can get people injured. Otherwise having the freedom of speech is a major plus, it’s just one of the things that makes our country extraordinary.
The second reason why I am proud of my country is because we have the ability to have our own choice of religion. There are a few countries in the world that don’t let you have the religion you want, you have to have the religion that they tell you to have. In our country we have the choice of religion, and there are tons of different religions in the United States from Muslim to Christianity. If we didn’t have the freedom of religion, a great amount of people would not want to live in the United States. At least we do and many people love their country that they live in. That just keeps adding on to why I am proud of our beautiful country.
Lastly, the third reason why I am proud of our country is because we can choose what our occupation is. In china you can’t choose what you get to be unless you are extremely smart, most people just end up working in factories for the rest of their lives. But not in America, you can be whatever you choose to be. There are so many different possibilities of what you can be in America, from a Firefighter to a business man; there are no restrictions in the beautiful country of the good old United States of America. There is the last reason why I am majorly proud of my country.
There are so many reasons why people love living in the best country in the world, It has everything you need and all the laws are fair. Those are the reasons why I am proud of my country.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Is skateboarding a sport?
Chase Seliger
10/11/2011
“Skateboarding is a sport?”
“This is an essay that informs and persuades people into believing skateboarding is a sport”
Is skateboarding a sport some people may ask, some people say yes and some people say no? Well in fact it is, there are many reasons why it is considered a sport not just a hobby. Although many people do not consider skateboarding a sport I think it is a sport just as thousands of people in the world.
First of all, Skateboarding has teams just as any other professional sports team out in the world for example football, soccer, and basket ball. There are many skateboarding teams; actually too many to list, but here are some examples of skate teams; for example there is the team Baker, Plan B, Alien Workshop, and DC. Many people know a lot of these brands because they are popular in schools and just in the regular teenage society. Also teams go to skate parks and they have competitions for either money or other prizes, just like other sports like football where they compete against other teams. There is one of the reasons why skateboarding is considered a sport.
Second of all, Professional and Amateur or Am for short, skateboarders get paid exactly the same way as professional players, the better they are the more they get paid. If you’re sponsored by really good brands you will make around $120,000 a year but if you’re not sponsored by amazingly good brands you should make around $50 to $80,000 a year which is still pretty good. So if you invest in that money you can have $600,000 in about five years which is more money than some professional players make.
Lastly, you need to have tons of skills to be good you can’t just stand on a skateboard and be good unless you’re born with it; it takes a lot of hard work and time to become good. It takes about 3 years on the average person to get good at skateboarding plus a few broken bones, there are actually less injuries in skateboarding than baseball, and football. They have camps for skateboarding just like other camps for sports, there are hundreds of them. You can’t just go out on any field, rink, or court without practicing first; it’s the same with skateboarding, once you work on it, you’ll get better and better.
Many people always say skateboarding is not a sport when you know what it is, and thousands of people can agree with me also, it’s no different to any other sport in the world, well except you don’t have to wear all this gear and you don’t have to use a type of ball to use. Some people skateboard every day of their lives, and they always will they find skateboarding as their sport and their lifestyle. Skateboarding will always be a part of my life as one of my favorite sports.
10/11/2011
“Skateboarding is a sport?”
“This is an essay that informs and persuades people into believing skateboarding is a sport”
Is skateboarding a sport some people may ask, some people say yes and some people say no? Well in fact it is, there are many reasons why it is considered a sport not just a hobby. Although many people do not consider skateboarding a sport I think it is a sport just as thousands of people in the world.
First of all, Skateboarding has teams just as any other professional sports team out in the world for example football, soccer, and basket ball. There are many skateboarding teams; actually too many to list, but here are some examples of skate teams; for example there is the team Baker, Plan B, Alien Workshop, and DC. Many people know a lot of these brands because they are popular in schools and just in the regular teenage society. Also teams go to skate parks and they have competitions for either money or other prizes, just like other sports like football where they compete against other teams. There is one of the reasons why skateboarding is considered a sport.
Second of all, Professional and Amateur or Am for short, skateboarders get paid exactly the same way as professional players, the better they are the more they get paid. If you’re sponsored by really good brands you will make around $120,000 a year but if you’re not sponsored by amazingly good brands you should make around $50 to $80,000 a year which is still pretty good. So if you invest in that money you can have $600,000 in about five years which is more money than some professional players make.
Lastly, you need to have tons of skills to be good you can’t just stand on a skateboard and be good unless you’re born with it; it takes a lot of hard work and time to become good. It takes about 3 years on the average person to get good at skateboarding plus a few broken bones, there are actually less injuries in skateboarding than baseball, and football. They have camps for skateboarding just like other camps for sports, there are hundreds of them. You can’t just go out on any field, rink, or court without practicing first; it’s the same with skateboarding, once you work on it, you’ll get better and better.
Many people always say skateboarding is not a sport when you know what it is, and thousands of people can agree with me also, it’s no different to any other sport in the world, well except you don’t have to wear all this gear and you don’t have to use a type of ball to use. Some people skateboard every day of their lives, and they always will they find skateboarding as their sport and their lifestyle. Skateboarding will always be a part of my life as one of my favorite sports.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Tom Sawyer
“Tom Sawyer”
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get someone else to do your work? In the short story “The Glorious Whitewasher” by Mark Twain, a boy named Tom Sawyer tricks many kids into doing his work, because he’s too lazy to do it himself. Tom Sawyer is probably one of the laziest book characters of all time.
All over the world people trick other people into doing their work every day. Like in the book “Among the Enemy” by Margret Patterson they make children work in labor camps, so they are basically taking advantage of those children, just like what Tom did in the story. Otherwise there aren’t that many books I know of that are really similar to Tom Sawyer, but “Among the Enemy” came to my mind right away.
On Wednesday January 13 2011, Barack Obama had an important speech on the shootings in Tucson, Arizona. Barack had a quote “The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives - to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents”. Barack meant that we all need to become better people, because of this tragedy.
In Pakistan they make little children work in factories for NIKE to build shoes, and soccer balls. There are multiple stages of manipulation, for example there is physiological, crowd, data, parental, media, and market manipulation. They all have a different meaning, Tom Sawyer used physiological manipulation; Tom tricked the kids into doing his work.
I always try to get out of my work when my parents tell me to do stuff, for example take out the garbage, or to give my animal’s water/food. I usually don’t get my ways but sometimes I do get away with it. Also, I actually just do it, just so my parents don’t get mad at me.
Tom Sawyer made other children do his work, because he was too lazy to do it, but he was very smart. Tom really knew how to make people do his work. Manipulation happens all over the world to different people, even people you know and yourself. Tom Sawyer tricked many people in his time, so that makes Tom one of the trickiest book characters of all time.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get someone else to do your work? In the short story “The Glorious Whitewasher” by Mark Twain, a boy named Tom Sawyer tricks many kids into doing his work, because he’s too lazy to do it himself. Tom Sawyer is probably one of the laziest book characters of all time.
All over the world people trick other people into doing their work every day. Like in the book “Among the Enemy” by Margret Patterson they make children work in labor camps, so they are basically taking advantage of those children, just like what Tom did in the story. Otherwise there aren’t that many books I know of that are really similar to Tom Sawyer, but “Among the Enemy” came to my mind right away.
On Wednesday January 13 2011, Barack Obama had an important speech on the shootings in Tucson, Arizona. Barack had a quote “The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives - to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents”. Barack meant that we all need to become better people, because of this tragedy.
In Pakistan they make little children work in factories for NIKE to build shoes, and soccer balls. There are multiple stages of manipulation, for example there is physiological, crowd, data, parental, media, and market manipulation. They all have a different meaning, Tom Sawyer used physiological manipulation; Tom tricked the kids into doing his work.
I always try to get out of my work when my parents tell me to do stuff, for example take out the garbage, or to give my animal’s water/food. I usually don’t get my ways but sometimes I do get away with it. Also, I actually just do it, just so my parents don’t get mad at me.
Tom Sawyer made other children do his work, because he was too lazy to do it, but he was very smart. Tom really knew how to make people do his work. Manipulation happens all over the world to different people, even people you know and yourself. Tom Sawyer tricked many people in his time, so that makes Tom one of the trickiest book characters of all time.
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