The Rez

In the book, "The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian,"an adolescent Native-American boy,  by the name of Junior (a.k.a Arnold),  describes his journey and life going into his freshman year of high school. Arnold, lives on a reservation with his poor family that consists of his mom, his dad, and his sister, who later leaves. Junior, also has a best friend by the name of Rowdy, who is rather aggressive and lonesome. During an incident on his first day of school, and a conversation between his teacher Mr. P, he wants to set out to find hope and be successful. The reservation is very much so poor, impoverished, and everyone on the rez is bound together by their Spokane Indian culture. Arnold, wants to find hope and success, and ventures off from the rez in order to find that. Many communities, much like Junior's, is bound by something in way or another. They can be bound by race, culture, interest, etc. In my community there isn't a shared bond. Many people are very secluded and reserved where I live, much like myself. My community is very diverse and unique, which is a great thing, but we aren't knowledgable of each other and to be quiet honest, no one really cares about one another. So many people are concerned about themselves, and no one but themselves, which makes it difficult to communicate. Although Junior feels somewhat held back by being in such a close community, having a relationship with those you live around, is severely important. In my neighborhood people don't go beyond a, "Hey. How are you," or a ,"Good morning." But, they are not to blame. It takes 2 people to communicate. All in all, my community isn't as close as Junior's, but it's a "community" none the less.

Native Sons

Native Son is a novel written by Richard Wright, about a young black male,Bigger, in 1930's Chicago. Throughout the novel Bigger makes poor decisions, unfixable mistakes, and a life for himself that was cut short. In the book, Bigger kills two women, and raped one of them. Bigger case is brought to trial, and the jury deems Bigger guilty, and he is sentenced to death. If I were a member of the jury, I too, would've found Bigger to be guilty IF there was a significant amount of evidence behind the case. I believe that if you kill someone (unless out of self-defense), you too should have your life taken away, not via the death penalty, because that is not a belief of mine, but through getting life and jail, and being able to reflect on what you've done. But with reading the novel, I have a huge amount of sympathy for Bigger. And I hate this! Even though this book is fictional, murder is terrible and no one is given that right to take a life away. But I don't feel Bigger killed out of loving to kill and being a monster, he killed to have once in his life feel accomplished. Bigger is a man who throughout the book was fearful, lacking in confidence, weak, and intimidated. Once he had accidentally killed Mary, burned her, and knew something that no one else didn't he felt power. In Bigger's mind he accomplished something and he loved that feeling. Which is why he continued on to write the ransom note, rape and kill Bessie. Towards the end of the book, Bigger tells Max all he wanted to do was "do something." And he did. Of course, murder should never be the answer, but Bigger felt some type of meaning through killing. Which is what makes Bigger such a person to feel sympathy for.

Principles

Principles are extremely important to me. I appreciate what principles stand for and what they represent. One principle that rings substantially important to me is that you should always try. For most of people lives, they never grow the courage to do the things they once dreamed of doing. Being an astronaut, a singer, the president, or a superhero (okay maybe not the last one.) All of the dreams that we had when we were younger seemed so real and that one day, we'd become that amazing figure we'd once dreamt of being. But then all of that changes. Why it changes can be a number of things. The main thing though, is not willing to try. Try. That word as small as it may be, is one of the biggest words in my vocabulary.

'try (verb) 

: to make an effort to do something : to attempt to accomplish or complete something

: to do or use (something) in order to see if it works or will be successful

: to do or use (something) in order to find out if you like it

To try means to start. Begin. Effort. Guts. Integrity. Brave. These are the positive sides to trying. But there is also a negative. The negative side of the word try, is usually the side that makes people fearful of trying. To try means to ultimately deal with laziness, and failure. Trying is one of the bravest things anyone can do. To try means to not care what anyone thinks. To try means to fight for that astronaut, the singer, the president, and hell even that superhero. If you try and succeed, amazing. If you try and fail, amazing. You TRIED. You put it on the line. Simply knowing you put in effort, went for something, and tried, should be a success all on its own. Don't be afraid to try. Be who you want to be, and try.

Janie

In the story, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," we see the life of a woman by the name of Janie through her own eyes. It is set in flashback, starting from her life as a child, and progressing from then on. Janie is a quarter white, due to her mom getting raped grandmother getting raped by her slave master. Janie is an attractive woman and looks ageless to many. Janie got married at a very young age, to a man she doesn't love, and isn't attracted to, due to her grandmother wanting her to have stability and to make something of herself. Janie's relationship with Logan wasn't healthy, and when a man by the name of Joe came into her life, she fell for his charm and the way he treated her. Janie leaves Logan for Joe, and Joe ends up being no better than Logan. Joe became mayor of the town he and Janie moved to, and his new power brought Janie 20 years of insults and mistreatment. Once Joe died, and 25 year old man by the name of Tea Cake came into Janie's life, and Janie quickly wants to marry him. Janie has never seen what a healthy relationship is supposed to look like, because all the ones she's ever known have been terrible for lack of a better word. Janie is extremely gullible in this area of her life, because she never had anyone to tell her how it works, but more so just had her grandmother push her into what she thought was eventually going to turn into "love." Janie is definitely a character to feel empathetic for, because even at 37 she has no real guidance in her life, due to the fact it's always been someone telling her what to do. She is capable of so much, but doesn't see it because either people have degraded her and told her she would never amount to anything, or because her lack of self belief and drive Janie has a lot of growth to do and accomplish, and hopefully, she will find that confidence that will drive her to make better and healthier decisions for the overall course of her life.

Thanksgiving

I really enjoy my English II class, and the opportunities that it provides. There is so much to learn and to retain, and those to aspects make the overall class that much more enjoyable. With the class also comes many responsibilities. Such as class work, group work, reading assignment, writing papers, peer editing and more. I am grateful for Martyna, who is someone who helps me take on these responsibilities. Martyna is a friend who I have recently gotten to know, and am thankful for. Her intelligence is outstanding, and she is always there to remind me of things pertaining to class or out of class. Martyna is a source to consult with when I am confused or unsure, and she is always amazing in clarifying them and putting them into perspective for me. Martyna is an amazing classmate and furthermore an amazing person, and I am glad to have worked and continue working with her!

About Ernest

Throughout the month, I have gained a lot of knowledge pertaining to the writer Ernest Hemingway. Prior to reading the Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, I knew very little about his life and his perspective on life. Now, having some information pertaining to his life, I as a reader can now see why a lot of Hemingway's work has a nostalgic, sad, and empathetic tone to it. Hemingway faced a lot of having to find himself within his life. For starters, Hemingway from a very young age was dressed up as a female, and his mother was very harsh and controlling, which can tell a reader a lot about why he had a certain perspective on women in his writing. Also, Hemingway had a relationship with an older nurse whilst at war, and the nurse ended up calling it off with Hemingway once he returned home. This experience helped bring forth short stories such as, Farewell to Arms, and, A Very Short Story. Both are stories are about a soldiers first true love. This also helps tell the audience that Hemingway wasn't at all afraid to share his own personal life experiences within his writings. Hemingway as a person wasn't at all perfect, but no one is. One of the most flabbergasting things to me about Hemingway's life, were his multiple marriages. He was married 5 times; all due to the fact of not wanting to be with one woman, which is degrading in a sense. A lot of Hemingway's work was centered on this idea of death, highly due to the fact that he has experienced a lot of death in his life, from his mother dying to his father’s suicide. Hemingway was an amazing writer and story teller, but had a lot of inner problems that ended up overall affecting his life. Overall, I appreciate his brilliance and applaud his skills.

6 Words. 6 Stories.

1. Anger with one; no more earrings.
2. CVS Pharmacy; five long hospital days.
3. Stories told, and no more sleep.
4. Fear of failure; eighteen crying years.
5. One more fry; your daughters funeral.
6. New romance; spend allowance on earbuds.