Red...

Most of the stories I read I felt that I could relate to. These stories were mostly extreme experience that each girl has had and while I can't say any of my stories are this extreme I still believe that I have been in some similar situations. I can relate to Country and The two of us because they describe their family dynamics. The way Alicia Davis describes her relationship with her dad is very similar to my relationship with my mother. I like my mom and I am obligated to my mom however most of the time we fight. We are too similar, personality wise, for us to get along most of the time; however just like Alicia, my mom and I bond over interests. I feel that this is the same with most adolescent kids and their parents. It is hard for adolescents to get along with their parents because the teen is trying to form their own identity and for this they need space; however, the parents are afraid of their child getting hurt or getting into trouble so they try to keep them close. This causes the fights between the child and their parents. Yet, they can bond over the smallest of interests, where even in the toughest times, can help remind them that they love each other.

The Two of Us by Hannah Morris is about Hannah's relationship with her twin sister. I do not have a twin, but I have a sister that is only 18 months older then me and we have a very similar relationship to Hannah and her sister. My sister is my best friend and I feel like we can understand each other when others can't. I know that I can trust her with anything and she will never betray me. I am very blessed to have this relationship with her because I feel that during adolescence most siblings and families in general tend to grow apart. Most of my friends, during adolescence, grew distant from their siblings and found them to be a nuisance or they realize that they never had a good relationship with them in the first place. I believe this is because during adolescence we do not want to be limited or told what to do. A younger sibling would have to be taken care of and an older sibling would over shadow them. I, however, found my sister to be my support and the person I turned to when things got rough.

My novel

I have read many novels and some of them I liked, while others I did not. I would try to take aspects of the novels that I did like and try to incorporate them into my own novel.

My novel would be pretty stereotypical (I have to admit). I would begin with to girls, Taylor and Bekah who are best friends. They do everything together and can even finish each others sentences. Then a bump in this smooth road appears in the form of a transfer student. This student is a gorgeous boy whom both girls like. At first they bond over this boy. They talk about him and tell made up stories of what it would be like if he was their boyfriend. Everything seemed fine until he started to like Bekah. This causes a rift between their friendship. Taylor get jealous and slowly starts to hang out with Bekah less and less. Taylor's whole personality changes for the worst. She begins to hang out with the wrong crowd and persuades her new friends to bully Bekah. Bekah does not understand why Taylor cannot just be happy that she is happy. Bekah is so happy with her boyfriend and they are truly in love; however she is sad because she has lost her best friend. This is the main conflict of the novel, which is whether she should choose her friendship or her relationship with her boyfriend. Bekah decides her boyfriend is more important and gives up on taylor. When Taylor is mean to Bekah, Bekah and her boyfriend retaliate back at Taylor worse then one could ever imagine. They spill her most personal secretes and spread rumors about her around the school. The novel will reach its climax with Taylor pulling a final prank exposes the evil side of Bekah and her befriend. Taylor comes up with a plan to show Bekah just how mean she has truly become and how her boyfriend is the cause of it. In the end the boy friend ends up betraying Bekah and leaving her alone in at a time when she needs him the most. Taylor feels bad for Bekah because she realizes just how lost she truly is and how she has no one left to help her. Bekah realizes how horrible a person her boyfriend is and leaves him. She runs to Taylor apologizing and Taylor forgives her. Taylor's life begins to reform and she stops being a trouble maker. She turns back slowly, with Bekah's help, into the sweet girl she once was. Bekah also turns back into her old self; however both girls are wiser and more mature. They make a pact that the next time they like the same guy neither girl will go out with him. This pact holds and both girls begin their senior year of high school. Everything has been fine between the two girls and their relationship is better then ever. As they enter in to their math class for the first time they look around and spot an unfamiliar face. It is an old friend that has grown up quite nicely. They turn and look at each other. Taylor smiles and jokingly say "dibs"; however taylor wasn't really joking. The end.

The plot in an overview would be two best friends who have something come between them. The tension builds up between the two friends until they are no longer friends. They fight and they fight until the tension or conflict is so great that they reach the climax of the worst prank and the failure of the boy friend. Then there is the reforming of friendship and the happy ever after, or so they think. The end!

part time indian

I believe that the humor in the book allowed for the main character to more relatable. I have never been a minority, nor have I ever really been discriminated against. So I could have found it very difficult to relate to Juniors experiences. It is one thing when you can relate to a person's experiences through detail and description, it is another to understand the situation and feel the effect it had on the person themselves. I could easily relate to Junior, because when I go through a rough time I also express myself through sarcasm. I can not say that it is witty sarcasm but it is sarcasm none the less.

I also feel that Junior, while in a very different situation, is also going through what a lot of high schoolers go through. When junior talks about how, when he first started at Reardan, the people on the reservation hated him and the people at Reardan hated him. This is similar to kids that for some reason or another do not feel like they fit in at their own high school. This applies to the cool kids and the not so cool kids. For example, Penelope is loved by almost everyone in the school however she still does not feel that completely fits in. This manifests itself as an eating disorder. In real life many students do not feel accepted in high school nor do they feel accepted at home. This could be due to teen hormones but the feels are still very similar to Juniors.

Thus, I feel Junior is a very realistic character by the way he acts and voices his problems and by the experiences he has gone through.

Betsey

I thought it was interesting that when the mom came home she thought she could just go back to her usual life. I was frustrated by the fact that she didn't seem to realize all the damage that she inflicted on her children. They became depressed and worried the entire time she was gone. Everyday they cleaned the house and did the chores to make sure the house looks good for her return. When she returns she take up right where she left off like nothing happened. She gives the girls the sex talk about how to be a proper lady and get a good man. The children especially Betsey does not respond like she had hoped. This is due to the fact that her mom was not there when she needed her earlier so her mentor changed away from her mother.

Another reason why I am frustrated is that the mom left the family after going through the ordeal when Betsey left. I don't understand how she can do that to her kids after she knows what it feels like to go through this. Not only that, she left her kids just after going through the experience of Betsey running away. The emotions should still be fresh in her mind and the panic she experienced has only just gone away.

Betsey's began to form an attachment to nanny. She looked up to her and respected her. This nanny respected Betsey in return and did not put the responsibility of the whole house on her shoulders. This allowed Betsey to grow more mature. When the mother returned it was like she was stifling Betsey all over again. This is why I don't like Betsey's mother.

OUTLINE

Thesis: Sports in literature leads to overly aggressive children, causes a hierarchy in the school, and shifts the focus of school from learning to athletics.

Body 1: Sports teaches young people to be overly aggressive.

At the age of 10 young boys are putting on football pads go onto the field and tackle each other.

As they get older their captains and coaches use vocabulary such as " go out there and kill them" or "slaughter them"!

This can be seen in a Separate Piece.

The school they go to uses sports to prepare the students for war.

Loosing is not acceptable to them because that is signifying that they wont survive the war.

They create a game that involves tackling, kicking, and other aggressive acts and it is supported by the teachers.

Body 2: Sports cause an uneven distribution of popularity leading to a hierarchy in the school.

Athletes (especially of football or soccer) gain popularity quickly after entering high school.

People start following his trends and his beliefs.

This allows him to get away with lots of acts that normally would not be permitted.

It is this that leads to bullying.

This can be seen in Speak where the popular athlete gets away with raping a girl.

He gets away with it cause the girl does not believe that anyone will believe her is she tells people.

They get away with it cause they are popular and everyone think that what they do is the right thing to do.

Body 3: Sports changes the focus of school away from education towards athletic success.

Athletes are popular and well liked.

They can get scholarships if they are successful.

Money and Popularity entices more students to join sports.

This shifts the focus from learning towards gaining that popularity and money by joining sports teams.

This can be seen in A Separate Peace where Finny is held up as the leader of his grade and his group because he is good at sports.

The teachers let him get away with skipping different parts of school because he is the ideal boy for the war.

This leads to more boys trying to be like him.

While sports does have its benefits to society and to children, however it can be quite harmful as well. Sports leads to over aggressive children, a hierarchy in the schools, and a shift from education to sports.

The Character Connection (Huck's review)

The ending of the book, when Tom Sawyer came back into Huck's life made me quite aggravated. I felt that Tom was immature, irresponsible and annoying. These emotions that I felt towards Tom shocked me. I began to look for a reason to explain why I was feeling these emotions. Eventually, after reading many of the critiques discussing how the point of view of this book adds to the connection between the characters and the reader, the reason came to me. Through out this book I had become attached, or connected to Huck. I had witnessed his horrible life with his father. I went through all the hard times with him and he opened up to me and let me know how he was feeling. I saw Huck mature through his actions and his thoughts. His life was not solely about him anymore. There were important people that meant a lot to him and through his actions he protected them swiftly and efficiently. This connection I made with Huck made me get mad when Tom Sawyer arrived back in Hucks life. Tom did not have people that he felt he needed to protect. He did not feel the urgency or the relationship between Huck and Jim. This allowed Tom to care more about the story that would eventually be told about his actions then the implications his actions would have on others lives. Not only that but he started to take away from all the maturing and learning Huck had obtained through his journey. This is what made me mad. Huck was regressing back into a boy when he had become so mature. Tom was slowing Huck's actions and protection of Jim.

If it had not been for the book being in Huck's point of view, his thoughts and feelings, I would not have made a personal connection with him. Without this connection I would not have felt protective over Huck nor made at Tom at the end of the book. This made me realize just how impressive Mark Twain's style of writing truly is.

21st century charlotte temple!!!

The most beautiful sophmore girl in St. Charles North High School was Charlotte Temple. Her father was a social worker who had strong ties with the church. Due to this, he taught Charlotte the lessons of abstinance and that if a boy loves her he will not pressure her. Charlotte was a good child and believed that what her father was wise and heeded his lessons. However, on her first day of second semester, this was all about to change. Montraville was the new boy in town and had just transfered to the school. Upon first sight of Charlotte, Montraville fell in love instantly. He made his feelings known immediately to Charlotte and the feelings were recipracated. They made plans to get together the next night at his house to watch a movie and get to know each other.
When Charlotte arived at Motravilles house he was ready with a drink in hand and a movie already playing on tv in his room. Charlotte asked where his parents were and was disturbed to find that they were not home. She planned on turning around right away and leaving, but Montraville began to explain why she should stay. Charlotte just couldn't resist him. She went up stairs and had a large drink of her soda only to realize that it had alcohol in it. She got quite drunk and Montraville took advantage of her to the fullest extreme. When Charlotte got home that night after being dropped off by Montraville she broke down and cried. She was to ashamed to tell her parents what happened but was to nieve to know what to do now.
Charlotte ended up pregnat and having to drop out of high school. She was unable to get a good job and ended up living in poverty for the rest of her life. Ever since she met Montraville she was depressed and unhappy.

Charlotte Temple

I was surprised that we were reading this book in American Lit. This book consists of mostly British and French people. The main part of this book takes place in Britain. Charlotte was brought up in british culture and the beliefs of the time about eloping and how shameful it is. They show Charlotte being courted by Montraville, and then transfers over to a flash back of how her dad courted her mom. After Charlotte leaves, her parents become the focus for a chapter and describe how a good british child should behave and how they are shocked that Charlotte eloped. Again, all of this has taken place in England. British culture is prevalent. This takes up over half the book.

Then the book goes back to charlotte who is on a boat now on her way to america. However, the British culture is still prevalent on the boat. However, the French woman, La Rue, starts to waver the British culture slightly. Charlotte however, is stuck in the British culture, which keeps the book stuck in british culture.

When Charlotte arrives in America she is kept alone in a house in the country. This stops the book from really showing any american culture.

This is why I did not get any american feeling out of this novel!

Good vs. Bad

I would like to write my paper on either the good bad boy idea or sports and the adolescent.

The good bad boy is portrayed in almost every teenage movie. There is this boy with the worst reputation, but ends up becoming the hero or the "good" guy in the end. I think this is a sort of tell all about how women like the idea of the bad boy. They like that he is unpredictable and just wants to have fun and do crazy things. However, they like the idea of taming the bad boy too. Having this guy be so in love with the character that he turns into the good guy and saves the day. This can be seen in many books in america. The Twilight books contain this theme along with many others.

Sports and the adolescent society have always played an important role in books. Sports create a macho man who is either the center of attention that every girl craves. They also play a sub role of being the guy who is inappropriate with the women around him. He is full of himself and uses that to his advantage with the women. This can be seen in speak where the God of the school who is an athlete raped the main character.

Sports also portray role models in books. They are the people that the athletes look up to and want to be like. They work hard everyday in their sport just to succeed and the sport becomes their main focus and some books deal with the success or failure of the athlete.

These are my ideas for my paper!

The rise and Fall of... us!

I thought it was interesting how the judicial system began to work after the legal age of consensual sex was raised. Before the law was enacted the legal age was around 10-12 years old and the major concern that pushed this law to be accepted was the amount of prostitution. I found this ironic considering that the amount of prostitution at that time was actually decreasing.

When this law was enforced it made the legal age of consent around 16. It was strongly enforced very soon after its enactment. Many young men who had gotten women below the legal age of 16 pregnant were now being brought before court and prosecuted. I thought this was a foolish thing to do because many of these young men were planning on marrying the woman. This means that they loved the woman enough to make right by her, in the sense of taking some of the social shame off of her. I feel however, that there was a greater concern that should have been paid more attention to.

Grown men, married men and well established men were rarely brought before the courts for statuary rape. This to me was a larger problem. These men were married and had kid. They would have sex with younger women to escape their families for just a short time. The problem is that if they got the girl pregnant he was not going to take responsibility for it and marry her. These men deserved to get prosecuted more then the men that were planning on getting wed soon after.

All information gathered from Hine, Thomas. The rise and fall of the american teenager. New York. HarperCollins Publishers inc, 1999. Print.