My Escape to Freedom

Author’s Note: I wrote this piece to show my understanding of symbolism. While reading this, look for text evidence.

Shawn is a 14 year old boy that shares the same desires as other boys his age, there’s only one difference, he has Cerebral Palsy (C.P.). This is a condition that restricts him from controlling his muscles, therefore he has seizures often. When Shawn was 4 years old, his father left his family because he couldn’t bare to see Shawn in so much pain during his seizures. If only his dad knew he was experiencing everything but pain. “I don’t know when a seizure will strike, but when it does, it’s like a miracle. The images I “see” are from inside my head. It’s as though my eyeballs are turned around backward, looking into my brain, and what I see is everything I’ve dreamed, experienced, or imagined.” Due to Shawn’s  limited mobility, these seizures give him a chance to escape reality and to feel free. For Shawn his seizures symbolize freedom. 

Dreamland

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show my understanding of point of view. While reading this, look for content and look for good body paragraphs.

Caitlin: a 16 year old girl. On her 16th birthday her older sister Cass runs away from home.  In this book, Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen, she writes about how Caitlin and her whole family are heartbroken after they find out about the disappearance of their oldest daughter Cass.  This book is written from Caitlin's point of view, giving the readers opinions on how her sisters disappearance happened and how she deals with it.

The readers overall feeling while reading this is sympathy for Caitlin. Cass, her older sister, is basically perfect in every way. Caitlin just feels like runner up, always behind Cass. Cass: captain of the soccer team, class president, on the debate team and in student government… kind of hard to compete with that. Although Cass is amazing at everything and people get jealous of her, the reader can't help but love her. In a way, that's like my sister: smart, athletic, funny. I get jealous or mad at her sometimes, but of course I still love her.

Although the story is written in Caitlin's point of view, the readers feelings  towards the book would change if it was written in Cass's point of view. For example, if Cass felt trapped and suffocated in the life she was living: all of these extra credit activities; maybe her running away was for her own good. Instead of making her family happy, she decided to put herself first for once. Maybe the reader wouldn't feel as against Cass if they heard what she had to say.

Overall, the reader feels a bit of suspense, sympathy and laughter all throughout this book. It's the perfect book for a teenage girl with a sister, just like me. Caitlin feels really alone when Cass runs away, and I can't imagine how I would ever feel if my sister did that. This book is easy to relate to, and if not, it creates a lot of imagery to help you picture the story. The author, Sarah Dessen, should write another book to show Cass's point of view and her journey as she runs away. I'm not a huge fan of reading, but I would definitely read that book!

Him and Her

Author's Note- I wrote this piece to show my understanding of figurative language. While reading this poem, look for figurative language and voice.

Him: strong as a soldier.                                           Her: weak as a weeping willow.

He’d be fine without her.                                           She’d die without him.

He’s a player.                                                             She’s a lover and fighter.

He’s out partying with his buds.                                She’s face down on the bed crying.

He’s chugging sodas.                                                She’s shoving her face full of ice cream.

Woo! He yells with his buds.                                     Ouch! She whispers to herself.

His smile, dancing in the sunset.                               Her tears, running down her face.

   Analysis:

The tone that the author sets in this poem is sympathy for  the girl. She's heartbroken, moping around feeling like she's going to die; while he is out with his friends having the time of his life, without a care in the world, not even a care for her. Based on the tone that is set, the readers mood is going to be sad, but not a "my grandma died" sad, more of a "heartbroken sympathy" sad.

Another tone that the author sets is hatred, toward the boy. The reader doesn't hate him necessarily, they hate how he reacted to their break up: careless.  He breaks up with his girlfriend and he's just carefree about everything. She's sitting there crying while he's out with his friends. Because of the tone that's set, the reader feels anger toward the boy while reading this. The reader wishes that'd he'd just care more about her and her feelings.                                                                                                                                                                 

Life

Life is merely about happiness. If anyone tells you different, they aren't necessarily wrong, they just interpret life differently.  They live their life wanting money and to have everything in the world. Sure, that sounds nice and all, but is more always better? People who go about their life just looking for money and the easy way out don't truly live. There's a quote by John Lennon that I think really speaks the truth about life and happiness; "When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life." 

The Wild Days

Author's Note- I wrote this piece as a creative piece. While reading this, look for word choice and voice.

Saturday, 4:03 am

My heart racing, *Ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom*. My forehead sweating. My chest moving in and out so fast I swear my lungs are going to bust. Stumbling on broken branches and uneven path, I spring as fast as I can. Cars, lights, sirens: It's all just a few yards behind me. If I play this out right, I'll be fine. But if I make one wrong move... who knows how bad it could be.

Thursday, 1:32 pm

It was my last summer before college and I wanted it to be the best. I'd always hear about these crazy stories where people would do these crazy things you could only dream of. My friends were always on the wild side, while I was more of the "what if we get caught" kind of person. People thought I wasn't capable of such a big and risky task: sneaking out. I wanted to prove everyone wrong though. I had convinced myself I could get away with this. It was Thursday; tomorrow was the night that everything changed and I would be known as the rebel. 

Friday, 11:57 pm

Getting out your basement window's hard... but that's just the start of my adventure. In my little black bikini, ripped shorts, bright pink tang top, and Adidas flip flops. I struggle to squeeze my body through this little portal leading to a dark unforgiving place: outside. I quick jump to my feet and sprint up to the street. There waiting on the road was a big truck filled with a ton my friends and my boyfriend. I ran up to the car and jumped in. "Ya ready?," my best friend Holli said to me as she smirked. "Uh.. I guess so.," I said giggling a little. "Then let's go!," Holli yelled as she put the car in drive. We were headed to the Hotel around the corner and there was no going back now.

Friday, 1:21 am

The car slowly came to a stop on the side of the street in front of the Hotel. We all looked at each other and smiled, then threw the car doors open. Tip toeing through to wet grass, we approached the gate. "Oh god.. I can't jump this!," my voice sounded shaky. "It's okay, I got you.," my boyfriend told me as he put his arms around my waist to comfort me. Starting to blush, he picked me up and boosted me over the gate. Sitting on the top of it, I slowly tipped myself to the other side and kind of fell; I was alright though. After awhile of boosting and the guys helping everyone over, we were all standing next to the pool. "Let's go!," we all yelled. 

Friday, 3:25 am

"Wooo! This is the funnest thing I've ever done! Best summer EVER!," I said cheerily to my boyfriend as I grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him. I was having the best time of my life, without a care in the world. Our clothes: lying next to the pool on some chairs. At that point, I didn't care what would happen, I was just too happy! Then, suddenly a light when on by the pool and everyone stood still with all of our hearts beating out of our chests. "Whose there!?," some night guard yelled out. Our adrenaline  rushing, we all jumped out of the pool as fast as we could, grabbed our clothes and we were off. All of us: sprinting through trees and past houses. This night went from being the best night of my life to the most out of breath, adrenaline rushing night of my life. 

Summer Love

My heart:

warm and melting.

His eyes:

glisten in the sunlight.

The sun:

beats down on our fragile shoulders.

Our warm bodies get deeper and deeper,

into the cold unforgiving waters.

Teeth chatter from the chill.

Lips begin to turn purple.

"Marco,Polo!,"

we scream across the lake.

He holds me.

His arms around my waist;

the world is finally at peace.

This boy:

perfect in every way a boy could be.

He, was my summer love.

Nothing

What is nothing? It's a word, therefore it must be or mean something. How would you describe it? White, open, and airy. I think of a big white never ending room. But then again, white is something, and so is a room. Nothing is a hard concept to understand and just hurts my brain thinking about it. Even the word plays mind games with you. You think of nothing and you think of bare, vast land where no one lives and no one has ever been to. Somewhere unreachable, where only God can see. This place, called Nothing, is quiet and peaceful; a place you could only see in your wildest dreams.