Promise Ring

I was given to Sally the night of her 16^th birthday. Jared told her that as long as she kept me on her finger, they would never be apart. Jared was 17 when he gave me to Sally and now 4 years later Sally’s in college and Jared, well Jared’s gone. It was a terrible night, the roads were slick with rain and hail. Jared was driving over to me and Sally, she just told him the day before that she was having his baby at 20. He cried with joy when she told him. He knew now that it was the right time to ask her what he’s always wanted to ask her. He wanted her to marry him. The police showed up to Sally’s door hours later. We both could tell that something was very wrong. He was dead. His car had flipped over 4 times and hit a tree.“We’re sorry, said the police, “we knew he meant a lot to you, we found this in his pocket.” It was another ring, just like me, an engagement ring. Sally has never been the same.

What Do You Live For?

Author's Note- a essay response to the novel, The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

The smell of brandy is everywhere, but even with all this delightfulness, the feeling of death clings to everything. The morning sun peaks over the horizon and he knows, we all know, that his time on this earth will soon cease to exist. His only reason for life was his faith, and he had failed, not only God, but himself, the only thing left for him is forgiveness. Prayer fills his mind, body, and soul as he is taken to his death, but not for himself, for his enemies. The wall of which many others' blood has been splattered and drenched across comes closer and closer, until finally its all that fills his vision. Words begin to flood like poisonous venom from the lips of the officers, it doesn’t matter what they are, just what they mean; death. Shots are fired and the pain is so intense that nothing but death can cure it, but he has forgiven his enemies and himself, so he journeyed on to a better life with God in his mind and forgiveness in his soul. In the novel The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene, the "whiskey" priest portrays nothingness, his life unvalued. Throughout the novel, multiple of different characters are shown, each living their own life is different ways, each believing in something either wholesome and pure or disgusting and evil.

Within the first few pages of the novel The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, you are introduced to the most human figure in the entire plot. The "whiskey" priest is a man on the run for believing in his faith. Although he isn't the most faithful priest, he still represents us as people. With our own flaws and mistakes, he shows that people are not perfect and everyone is searching for an escape. Most of us feel pain and suffer through hardships, and most of us don’t want to feel that. The "whiskey" priest gets his name from his alcoholism, which is his escape from reality. It is human nature to shield away from pain, to want to feel anything but it. Even though the priest is full of mistake after mistake, he still is true to his purpose. "There's a pain. To choose pain like that-its not possible. And it's my duty not to be caught"(40) This quote explains his reasons for his life; he knows that without an escape he would be caught sooner. Without him the people would have no hope and their faith wouldn't exist.

One of the younger characters in the novel, Carol Fellows, shows the most compassion and selflessness out of anyone. With her bright spirit and knowledge of right and wrong, she represents the selfless people of the world. When the "whiskey" priest appeared in her home, she immediately became kind and caring towards his needs. If we had more people like this in the world, then it would be a better place without unnessisary pain. Without selfishness and pride, the world would not be as cold as it is today. Carol Fellows is a gift, she makes people want to be good, to strive for it. Although she in young in age, her knowledge shines well beyond thoughs of her parents, who are afraid and concerned at all hours of the day.

Though they are close in age, the character Brigita, the "whiskey" priest daughter ,is far different form Coral Fellows. Brigita was born to a single mother in the times when that was uncommon. Her father was a priest who was not allowed to be to married, let alone produce a child. She only thinks of herself as unlucky to have come from such a broken life, which is what leads her to be cold. Cold is a word that every child shouldn’t be. A child is the symbolism of innocence and life, but Brigita shows the exact opposite of everything a child should be. "Now perhaps you'll go - go away altogether. You're no good any more to anyone,' she said fiercely. 'Don’t you understand , father? We don’t want you any more."(78) These bitter words, words that should never be spoken from a child's tongue, show the mass hatred towards her father and her un-childlike ways.

Evil and betrayal takes a whole new meaning in the character known in the novel as the mestizo, which is why he represents the evil way of life. Upon the priests first meeting of him, it is shown how the sneaky and conniving his true self is. He goes along with the "whiskey" priest to the city of La Candelaria, constantly trying to get the priest to confess to his true identity, showing nothing other then his evil ways. With evil in our lives, we can never truly be happy. With betrayal in our lives, who do we trust? The mestizo is a perfect example of why we do not completely trust each other, why we lock our doors at night, why we don’t always tell the truth. Evil is all around us in the world, without it everything, every way of life, would be different. Betrayal is what makes us human, everyone strives to achieve and advance in life, which is not possible without some form of betrayal.

As the novel, The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, comes to an end, the existence of so many different types of lives are portrayed. From living to the most honest true life, down to wanting nothing more then to gain, each life represents what goes on in our world every hour of every day. There are some who love and strive for good, and there are some who want destruction and self gain, but no ones reasons are exactly the same. If they were then we wouldn’t be known as individuals, and our world would be like something out of a science fiction novel. We need convictions and we need conventions to make our world function. Without differences in people we would be boring and dull. We would be normal.

Faith in Our Lives

an essay response to the novel Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

Water is rushing through the walls, fast, on all sides. The blue that once was so comforting now only fills you with the feeling of terror and shock. Even from up here it is obvious, everything you feared is reality, the ship is sinking. Everything and everyone you care about is missing. All signs point to death, but the small part is still hopeful that it will all turn out in the end. In the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the theme is quite easy to comprehend. With ever major point in the novel, the theme of faith relates to each in its own way.

With each chapter in the novel, Life of Pi, faith is important to every aspect , including the taboos that Pi, the main character, has to face. In the beginning of the novel, Pi showed his faith with one religion only; Hindu. Soon he is introduced other religion and believes in everything of all the religions. Before when Pi went to the other churches he was afraid of the trouble he would get into with his parents. Other religions were taboos, meaning that he was faced with taboos throughout the whole novel. Religions itself is a taboo and speaking of it was non-proper. Pi had to have faith in order to put the taboos aside and become what he really wanted to be, what he really wanted to have, which is freedom.

The way Martel shows a connection between animals and humans relates back to the theme of faith. In order to have animals and humans exist, there must be faith, the real connection between animals and humans. In this novel the animals and humans are the same but are not seen that way. With faith it is soon realized that God loves them both and they are in fact the same people, not two separate beings. Towards the end of the novel the problem of two very different sides of what happened on the life boat are explored. Each story could be a possibility, but the animals and people are in fact the same. When Pi sings Happy Birthday to his mother, although he believes she is not there, he subconsciously knew that she was really the orangutan, Orange Juice.

On the life boat in the middle of the ocean, Pi is stranded with a tiger which he calls Richard Parker, but Richard Parker was really created by Pi. The reason Pi made Richard Parker is due to him losing all his conventions and meaning to life itself. He created him as his alter ego to help him face what was hard for him to deal with otherwise. Pi turned almost into a true animal, an animal which relies only on instinct. We as people are animals, we build our own cages with conventions, so when all our conventions are gone we turn into everything that is wrong. His faith is the only way he could have survived that long, with or without Richard Parker. Without faith he would have given up right in the beginning and let the ocean take him.

Throughout the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, there are many different aspects to ponder over. In each one the theme of faith is coherent. Faith is what keeps everything in balance. If you believe in nothing, what is it that you're really living for? Believing in nothing is the worst kind of… Nothing would be here on this Earth if the beings on it didn’t believe; what created this Earth if you don’t believe in any type of faith? Scientists are all about the facts, but they have faith in science to tell them the right answers. Surgeons rely on years of medical training to save lives, they have faith in their lessons to keep lives from falling through the cracks. Faith is all around us, without it life is meaningless.

Fahrenheit 451

Scenario

A group of strangers get together and begin to watch a “reality” TV show. After it is over they slowly start to change their personalities and appearance. Soon there is a group exactly like the cast of the show. The same is happening with other shows, and although the shows are scripted the teens believe that the shows are real life. The world is forming into something that we never wanted, a world where there are no individuals and everyone is the same.

Fahrenheit 451 Project

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Relation to Fahrenheit 451


The novel Fahrenheit 451 is a perfect example of what will happen to our world if the government doesn’t provide us with the tools we need to create new television shows. In the novel the youth are care-free and reckless. With the reality TV shows portraying violence and crime, the kids and teens follow the example put in front of them to view, just like the teens in Fahrenheit 451. In the novel to problems were not fixed, but with for our society we still have a chance to go back to what we were before these bad TV shows.

Great Expectations Essay

The Satis House is but a few wispy remains as Pip, the main character, walks up to the spot that once was a major part of his life. So many different types of love had passed through that house, so much pain, so much loss. In the novel “Great Expectations” , by Charles Dickens, Dickens makes the theme of love throughout the novel coherent, showing that love is not only one, but many different types, each character portraying their own.

Joe Gargery, a man of simple meanings, shows a love for his brother-in-law, Pip, that is strong and unbreakable throughout the course of the novel. Although, after Pip inherited money, Joe was ignored by the one he showed only kindness and love to, still he showed him nothing but love. Even though Pip doesn’t deserve Joe’s love, Joe is forgiving and loving, despite the fact Pip acts embarrassed by his commonness. Joe’s love for Pip demonstrates his compassion for even the worst of people. When a man a work, Orlick, insulates Mrs. Joe, his wife, Joe punches him, but afterwards they have drinks together, proof that Joe is unable to hate of hold grudges, due to his compassionate character.

Miss Havisham, a bitter old women, has the cruel love of the pain in others, due to being hurt herself in the past. On the night of her wedding, Miss Havisham, learned that the man she loved was nothing other than a conniving man who was partners with her brother in order to rob her. Although his man, who is also Abel Magwitch, succeeds in robbing Miss Havisham, he took much more than her money, he took her kindness and love too. Magwitch left Miss Havisham a broken, miserable mess, which lead to her love of pain in others, to ease her own pain. When Miss Havisham brought Pip over to her house, she knew Pip would fall for Estella, her beautiful, adopted daughter, in fact she hoped for him to, because she trained Estella to break men’s hearts, to gain the satisfactory of knowing someone else is miserable also. Miss Havisham holds onto the past and cannot move on and let go of her pain, so she inflicts pain on others.

The theme of love many types of love is cleverly put all throughout the novel, “Great Expectations,” by Charles Dickens, having every character portray a different type. Love is not just one emotion, but many different types. In the novel every character loves someone of something, but not all love is positive. Many people believe that love is when you see that one person that you are going to spend the rest of your life with, when really, love could be when you see someone you dislike and watch them drop their books in the hallway at school, or when you see the person you despise struggle and suffer. Love, both negative and positive, is all around us, in everything we do, but many fail to notice.

Veterans Essay

The booming, crashing and screams of terror fill the mind of the aged man hunched over in the wooden rocker, shocked out of sleep. Just seconds ago he could’ve sworn he was running through a forest alight with smoke and fire, a gun in his hands. Just a dream, he thought, just another dream about the war so many years ago, it isn’t real, at least, not now. Military heroes, especially those who are nearing the final chapters in their life, deserve to be honored every day, not just on Veterans Day or Memorial Day.

What the people in the United States don’t seem to comprehend, is the fact that although we’ve heard stories about the war, us Americans will never know the suffering and pain of being ordered to take another person’s life, even for the good of our country. We will never know how it feels to leave behind a dying friend, and watch people you love thrown from the ground by an unsuspected bomb, or being told that you must follows orders, and question nothing. No one will ever be able to say “ I know how you feel,” until they have spent weeks, months, years in the everyday life of war. Military heroes need the respected everywhere they go, no matter the time or date, due to the fact that without these heroes we would not have the liberty to do a number of different activities, such as going to the church of our choice, or buying a candy bar the local supermarket. Many of us have grandparents or great grandparents who have served in the war. Almost all of the greatly dislike speaking of their time in the war, due to the fact that all of them have taken a life.

On days like Veterans Day and Memorial Day, hundreds of men and women gather to be celebrated. The heroes of this crowd should not only honored on these days, but every day, for without them, we would not be free. Without these heroes in our life, fighting for and with our country, we would not live in the same country that we live in today.

The Good Earth

Brown dust surrounds you as you glace around the soul remains of one pathetic rice plant, of what once was a bearer of foods, now just the dried up equivalent of a desert, yet Wang Lung, the main character, feels hopeful for what will come, at least his family is still alive. In the novel The Good Earth, the author, Pearl S. Buck, acknowledges the fact of which we may be satisfied with what we had, until we gain more, and lose our mean to our way of life.

Wang Lung starts out in the beginning of the novel a man of morals, but turns greedy and selfish, thus leaving an impact on his family. In the novel it states, “It has come out of the earth, this silver, out of this earth I ploughed and turned and spent upon” (p. 35). This quote clearly states that he, Wang Lung, has earned the right to spend his silver, the silver he has clearly earned. Soon after this quote Wang Lung slowly begins his journey to greed and deception, due to the fact he has started to enquire new wealth. Wang Lung’s family later in the novel begins to suffer and change, due to his greed, as when the two sons plot to sell the land he has worked all his life to earn. When the sons then lie and still show signs of proceeding in their plot, a plot sealed with a smile, against their father’s wishes, show how greedy and deceptive this family has become. What is even more outrageous is that this is supposed to be a family, a group of people who love and respect each other, but instead this family, especially the sons of Wang Lung, who hurt the only authority figure they have, the only one they have. How could such a man of morals fall into such a horrible cycle? A cycle beginning with the disrespect of his own father.

Not only does the gain of wealth leave an impact on Wang Lung’s family, but also upon himself. Wang Lung who has been living a life of greed finally realizes that without his land he would have no money, so he states “Where is my hoe and where is my plow? And where is the seed for the wheat planting? Come, Ching, my friend –come- call the men I go out to the land!” (p. 213). This proves that, yes he has become greedy, but he finally sees that his way of life, the life of wealth and greed, is wrong. Although Wang Lung realizes that he was mistaken to act in such a horrible manner, this does not make up for the hurt he has inflicted on the others around him, especially O-lan, and this took a great toll on him. As you read this novel you can actually see the remorse Wang Lung feels for his actions towards the people surrounding him, especially when he realizes that because he changed, so did the others, especially his family.

During the novel Wang Lung changes, this is a fact, but two people, Lotus and Pear Blossom, are bought into his life, further explaining this change. After Wang Lung moves back to his land, due to his new wealth, he starts visiting a luxurious teahouse. It is this teahouse that Wang Lung first spots Lotus, a beautiful woman who “works” there. Only later does Wang Lung realize that he is able to see this woman alone for the right amount of coins. This is what leads Wang Lung down the disturbing path of pleasure. When Wang Lung later purchases this woman, Lotus, he shows his unappealing need for items that are not a necessity. He, Wang Lung does not understand how wrong this diction is, especially since he already has an exceptional woman at home, O-lan. Then, another girl is brought into Wang Lung’s life, a young girl named Pear Blossom. This girl had been traded for some of Wang Lung’s land by her parents, a poor farmer and his wife. Soon Wang Lung and Pear Blossom form a bond and Pear Blossom becomes Wang Lung’s new concubine. This, however, is unacceptable, due to the fact that Pear Blossom is only around the age of 10. At the beginning of the novel Wang Lung would have never used a concubine or bought someone like Lotus, thus further explaining his change throughout the novel.

Throughout the novel you meet many characters, many of whom Wang Lung has mistreated at one point, but the most signifigent of all of these character would be his wife, O-lan. In the beginning of the novel when Wang Lung travels to attain his wife from the House of Hwang he is kind to her, proud to call her his wife. As the novel wears on Wang Lung slowly tears down a strong sophisticated woman, who, until the middle of the book, never shows emotion. Wang Lung had been seeing Lotus, the woman from the teahouse, for weeks. During his families time in the city to the south, O-lan had snuck into a wealthy mans house and taken his precious jewels during a raid. This is what gave Wang Lung the money for his items he did not need, including Lotus, for O-lan had given Wang Lung everything, except for two pearls, with she intended to turn into earring for her daughter when she wed. Later on in the novel though Wang Lung, once again showing his greed takes the pearls from O-lan, to give to Lotus, making O-lan weep. Many may feel that crying is normal, but in the case of O-lan, who never shows emotion, this is a horrible fault on Wang Lung’s part. Wang Lung does not see what a wonderful gift O-lan is, O-lan who in the middle of giving birth made sure that Wang Lung and his father had a warm meal on the table, who through all five births, handled every one as though it was preparing a daily meal, a woman’s duty. Not only until O-lan is on her death bed does Wang Lung truly realize his change and the toll it had taken on everyone surrounding him.

Pearl S. Buck, author of The Good Earth, acknowledges the fact that we lose our meaning to our way of life when we gain more, even if we are satisfied with what we have to begin with. The fact that Wang Lung treated everyone as if they were the only person in the room in the beginning of the novel does not make up for the fact he changed into a person with a small disregard to his surroundings. Change is the key word throughout the course of the novel, and Wang Lung went through a change without notice. Some may feel as if Wang Lung changed in a positive way, due to the fact he finally realized that land is the key to all of his success, but this is a mistaken knowledge, for although Wang Lung did realize this fact he noticed too late.