Journal #3

If I was held hostage in the present day, it would be awful. The things that kidnappers do to their hostages these days are terrible. Kidnappers torture their hostages to get information out of them. For example, If i got a job as something really important, and got to know secrets that were not released to the public, I could get kidnapped. Terrorists or whoever had kidnapped me would torture me to get that information out of me. To be honest, I am weak. I would just give it up after a little while. Hopefully I would not get killed after releasing the information, because that is normally how it works. If some random guy kidnapped me and held me hostage for money, that would also be a bad experience. If the kidnapper really just took me and kept me it would not be as horrible as a experience, because they probably would not kill me. I would be so scared its unbelievable if I was actually kidnapped. Pure terror, all the time is what I would feel. Obviously I would listen and do what ever the kidnapper would tell me because I would be so scared that something bad would happen to me. You hear stores about how some hostages went against their kidnapper and escaped and lived happily ever after. I probably could not do that, I would just be too scared. I probably would not talk and really hole up inside myself and shut down as a defense mechanism. But probably if a good opportunity arose, I would do all I could to escape and get away from the kidnapper. If I did get away, going back into normal life would be extremely hard. I would always be looking over my shoulder to see if the kidnapper was there, or having flashbacks of the experience, like post traumatic stress disorder. All in all, being held hostage would be an awful experience, and most likely, I would not handle it well.

Puritan Reflection

Religion was very important to almost all of the people in history, and was a large part of the conflicts and controversies during the 17^th Century in America.  In fact, one of the main reasons for English immigrants coming to America was to have their own religious freedom. They were used to living in a Roman Catholic society in Englan, and, as we learned in World History, there were a lot of corrupt events between the Catholic leaders in the church that the public was oblivious to. Many people disagreed with several aspects of the Catholic religion claiming that they wanted to purify it. These people became known as the Puritans and quickly found themselves in America looking to start their new religion.

Mary Rowlandson was married to a reverend. She loved her family and her God, but her life changed one night when a battle, later called King Philip's War, swept through her village. She was kidnapped by Native Americans and was held captive for six months. She proved her strength early on by admitting, "I had often before this said, that if the Indians should come, I should choose rather to be killed by them then taken alive; but when it came to the trial my mind changed" (Rowlandson 82). Had it not been for her children, Mary probably would have done otherwise. Mary wanted to stay with them and tried to protect them.  Little did she know, she would be enduring struggles of hunger and strength along this unwanted journey. She later admitted, "I have thought since of the wonderful goodness of God to me, in preserving me so in the use of my reason and senses in that distressed time, that I did not use wicked and violent means to end my own miserable life" (Rowlandson 83). Her statement proves the amount of strength and guidance she was provided with through God, not to mention the protection she was given. During her captivity, Rowlandson survived an injury, lost a child, and was sold for as little as powder. However, she was able to find a positive out of her very dark past. "If trouble from smaller matters begins to arise in me, I have something at hand to check myself with, and say when I am troubled, it was but the other day, that if I had had the world, I would have given it for my freedom" (Rowlandson 85).

Anne Bradstreet is honorable considering the obstacles she faced and overcame in her life. It was considered unethical for women to be writers in the 1600's, which might be why she, like many other female authors in history, kept her writings to herself. When they were leaked to the public by her own family, Bradstreet was not happy. However, her work has proved itself for several decades. As a young woman, Bradstreet migrated to America. Her piece, "Upon the Burning House", made several religious references. She ended the 1666 piece by saying, "The world no longer let me love, My hope and treasure lies above" (Bradstreet 91).

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning House." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 91. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Journal #2

A long, long time ago in a jungle, there lived a group of monkeys. Now back then all monkeys ate were bananas. These monkeys ate their bananas with their feet as well as their hands! This was really an incredible sight to see. They spent all of their days swinging around branches at the tops of the trees, and eating bananas. These monkeys were not very social creatures, and did not have many friends outside of their species. One day a group of sloths made their way over to the monkeys village up in the trees, thinking noting of it, the monkeys continued to go on with their lives of eating bananas with their feet. One sloth went up to the leader of the monkey's village and reported, "What are you doing there with your feet?" The monkey leader replied, "Well, I am just peeling back my banana for lunch!" "But with your feet? That is so rude!" The sloth said. The monkey leader shrugged, "I do not see a problem with it." The sloth just shook his head and motioned to his troop to continue moving on through the forest. The monkey leader swung back to his tribe and never really thought about the conversation until the next week. That week the monkey leader was talking to one of friends who was a girl that he liked. He was trying to impress her and thought of his earlier conversation with the sloth. The monkey grabbed a banana on the tree next to him and began peeling it... with his hands. The monkey girl was shocked! "What are you doing?" The monkey leader simply replied, "Its a newfangled way to eat!" After his conversation with his girl friend, the monkey leader called his tribe to attention and explained the new way to eat and peel a banana. From that day on monkeys never again ate with their feet only with their hands! The were now polite creatures.

Journal #1

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago all creatures walked on land. Most of the animals were happy with their land habitats, but one animal was not: the fish. Walking on land was always hard for him, his scales made traveling around very difficult, because he was too slippery. The fish always felt like the land was not his real home. One day while the fish was taking a walk with some of his friends, the platypus, the elephant, and the giraffe. They came across a body of water they had not seen before. The elephant was the first to notice that something was different about this water, "Look friends, do you see that colorful plant-like creature at the bottom of the water?" The fish and his friends moved closer to the edge if the water, intrigued, to see what elephant had pointed out. "My goodness, you are right!" Fish exclaimed, "I have never seen anything like that before. I wonder what it is?" The rest of his friends expressed a similar interest and started thinking about was to get closer to the colorful creature, or try and bring it on land with them. Platypus suggested, looking at the nearby tree, "Well we could tie a whole bunch of branches together with those leaves, and lower it down to the bottom and try and prod it out." Giraffe and Elephant looked at the Platypus and said, "No way! That would never work!" Platypus became quiet, disappointed that they did not like his idea. Fish finally piped up with his own idea, "What if I went under the water myself, to see what the colorful creature really is." Fish's friends were wary of his idea. "What if you cannot breathe under water?" The fish thought about it and answered, "I will just hold my breath, it will be easy." Fish finished reassuring himself. His friends agreed and stepped back, giving him some space before he went under water. Fish approached the edge of the water and dove in, immediately he is overwhelmed with the feeling of water around him. Instead of fear, which he thought he would feel, he was overcome with happiness. Fish gasped and realized that he was able to breathe under the water! Fish moved his fins, and found out that he was now able to manipulate the water and swim around. Fish was overjoyed with this fact and almost forgot his purpose for swimming in the water in the first place! Fish started swimming closer to the colorful creature until he finally realized what it was. "Look! It's not a creature at all! It's a piece of colorful coral!" Fish exclaimed. Fish was so excited to tell the discovery of the coral and his new found swimming ability to his friends, but when he looked up at the surface of the water he saw that he had taken so long swimming that his friends had all left! Fish became very sad and felt lonely, so from that day on, Fish decided that he will never again talk to his friends on land. He will stay underwater to swim and make new friends and explore this new place for the rest of his life! And that's how the fish learned to swim.

The Moon is Down vs. The Old Man and the Sea

After (finally!) finishing all my reading this summer for Honor's English, I am taking my last blog to compare what I thought of the two required reads this summer. They were The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. These two books are so completely different from each other, I was glad I got the opportunity to read both of them. One, novel filled with war and invasion, and the other a coming of age story of some sorts about a man and his fish. Going into the summer I assumed that I probably would not like either of these novels. I ended up really liking The Old Man and the Sea, which totally surprised me. I normally never like books like this, with nothing really exciting happening to the characters, but for some reason I thought it was really meaningful. I thought that The Moon is Down was just okay. I have only read one Warish novel that I have really liked (The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, a story about a little girl whose parents were working for the Manhattan Project, building the atomic bomb) and this probably will not change. I do not like to read a whole bunch of fighting because I find it boring, and even though this novel did not have any fighting I still thought it was kinda boring.

I found that I did like a lot of the quotes in both novels and am going to talk more about a few again. "You're not a man anymore. You are a soldier. Your comfort is of no importance and, Lieutenant your life isn't of much importance. (Steinbeck 99). I have used this one twice already, but I just really think that its true. Back during World War II, people were expected to get drafted and fight in the war no matter what. And then in the war, they did not matter they were only used as numbers to try and win. "You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?" (Hemingway 105). This quote is very meaningful because it shows the confusion someone can have about killing or destroying something they love. I like this one because it really makes you think what is moral and what is not.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

 Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down. New York: Penguin Classics, 1942. Print.

The Moon is Down #8

For being a fictional novel, it is actually pretty similar to a few real life events during the war. The novel takes place in a small town in Northern Europe with invading enemy soldiers who are also at war with Russia and England. This is very similar to the real life event of Germany invading Norway during World War II. The novel also surprisingly represents the Norwegian resistance very well as the introduction of the novel states. I am also pretty sure that some of the rulings and the reactions from the people involved in the invasion are similar to real life reactions from people involved in WWII.

Obviously, considering John Steinbeck wrote this novel to be a work of propaganda during World War II, the war and its events inspired John Steinbeck to write The Moon is Down. He wrote the novel to help inspire people in invaded countries to act out against the people who invaded them and start their own resistances. For being such an accomplished author at the time this book was written, you know that Steinbeck really believed in the cause to write this novel. This novel is not known for its literally greatness like most of the other novels Steinbeck wrote, but just for the impact in made during the war.

One of the main relationships that the author includes in this novel is the commanding officer to his men in the military. The people in different ranks can be friends and get along really well but when it comes down to it, one has to outrank the other, and overrule them. "You're not a man anymore. You are a soldier. Your comfort is of no importance and, Lieutenant your life isn't of much importance. (Steinbeck 99). Lanser has to show his superiority over Lieutenant Prackle when he requests to go home. Another relationship Steinbeck writes about is a Mayor and his people. Mayor Orden has a great relationship with his people where they listen to him and respect him immensely. Normally in novels, the leaders are corrupt and bad towards the people, but this is not the case here.It is a nice change to see people actually respect their leaders.

Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down. New York: Penguin Classics, 1942. Print.

The Moon is Down #7

As with war novels written in any time, John Steinbeck uses suspense as a technique to keep his readers interested in his story. In a novel involving war you never know what can happen next. You do not know who will win what battle, who will attack where next, or what will happen to people on each side of the war during each event. In the novels open, Colonel Lanser is discussing what he wants to see happen during the rest of his and his men's stay in the town they invaded with it's leader, Mayor Orden. the Mayor says that he does not control how his people act, so he does not know how they will react to the invaders. "They are orderly under their own government. I don't know how they would be under yours. It is untouched ground-" (Steinbeck 15-16). This starts off the novel with the reader having no idea how the townspeople will react and continues on throughout the novel. the scene with Molly and Lieutenant Tonder is also very suspenseful because it just abruptly ends after Molly hides a kitchen knife under her skirt when Tonder knocks on her door. The reader does not find out what happens until almost two chapters later when Colonel Lanser offhandedly mentions that Lieutenant Tonder was killed.

Another topic that the author uses to keep his readers interested is his sense of mystery. The entire concept of the parachutes is very mysterious. the reader never finds out who sends them, or why this town was chosen to receive them. All we know is that this town is the only one to receive the parachutes because they are some kind of test to see if the parachutes will work if they are dropped everywhere. The parachutes include a stick of dynamite and a piece of chocolate, so people will keep looking for them and picking them up. I think that his is a really cool concept and it kept me interested until the end of the novel.


Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down. New York: Penguin Classics, 1942. Print.