My Sister's Keeper- Literary terms.

Simile- a figure of speech using like or as to compare two or more unlike things.
Metaphor- a figure of speech where an implied comparison is made between two or more unlike things.
- Google.

Similes used:
1. "Do you miss it, Sara?" he asks quietly. "...Like i miss a root canal" I say." (page 28)
2. "I pick up the locket, resigned the seal the deal, and the strangest thing happens- my hand, it just clamps shut like the jaws of life." (page 9)
3. "Actually, that's not quite true- right now she doesn't have it, but it's hibernating under her skin like a bear, until it decided to roar again." (Page 10)
4. "It smells like the sweaty tongue of a hockey skate." (page 14)
5. "Anger glows around this kid like electricity." (page 21)


Metaphors used:
1. "I have an iron Lung" (page 18)
2. "The smile of a child is a tattoo." (page 27)
3. "When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail." (page 22)
4. "The room is a sea of dirty clothes and magazines and left-over Chinese take out cartons. (page 14)
5. "A women, I say, isn't all that different from a bonfire." (page 48)

The use of these literary terms in the story adds a positive effect. It makes it easier to understand how the characters act and react to certain events and news. For example, when Brain was lying like an obleke character in bed, we understand how he felt when he heard Kate's news that she had cancer.They are able to give you a deeper understanding of what is going on. If the author just wrote Brain was standing there, we don't get the same effect as when she adds in how he was standing. Literary terms help to enhance what you are reading, and make it easier to follow along to in a more creative way.

Someone's keeper

I feel like I am my friends keeper. When they need advice they come to me as if i am their older sister and i feel honored when I am able to help them. An example of this is with one of my friends she was having family and friend issues and told me about them and me and the help of her mom we were able to talk through them with her and resolve most of them so she was able to still have a strong relationship with them. Also i feel like i was the keeper of my friend Nadia because she had a friend who i thought would be a bad influence on her and she should not get involved with them. I pointed out the reasons why i felt the way i did and she listened to me. I feel like when i need one of them to be my keeper they are there for me, but most of the time i am the one that is their keeper and looking out for what is in the best interest for them. Lastly, I feel like I am my cousins keeper because he is only 4 so i feel like when i babysit him i watch out for him and keep him safe and out of trouble.

Intro to My Sister's Keeper by: Jodi Picoult

We are about to read My Sister's Keeper by: Jodi Picoult. She has written sixteen books, some of which I have read. She also writes books that she sells in places like Australia and the United Kingdom. She had a husband and she also has 3 children, all of whom live with her in New Hampshire. Picture Perfect, Mercy, Nineteen Minutes, House Rules, Handle with Care, are all some of her eight teen best selling books. She has been named as a New York Times, best selling author because of how liked her books are by everyone. Picoult studied at Princeton where she really started to enjoy writing. She wrote s couple of articles which got published into the magazine Seventeen. She did many jobs and then she attended Harvard University so she could get a masters degree in education and become a teacher. She got the New England Bookseller award for Fiction, because all of the books she has written are fiction. Lastly, her husband is Tim Van Leer.

http://www.jodipicoult.com/jodi-picoult-books.html

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A little bit about the book:
This book is about two girls named Anna and Kate. Anna goes through a lot of things like shots and surgeries so she can try and heal her sister Kate from the Leukemia she is suffering with. Anna matches er bone marrow, so she is able to give blood to Kate to try and help heal her. I think in the story, Anna is going to go through a surgery where most of her blood gets cleared out of her and put into Kate so she can have all new blood, because she wants her sister to live more than her. 

Free write blog

I think Chris was sort of crazy for escaping society for a higher degree of spiritual enlightenment. When Chris  tries to come back to society and civilization, he is socially awkward. He has been in the mountains and in the hiking phase for so long, he no longer knew and understood how to interact with society. Also, if after this, if he were to survive, if he wanted a job, he probably would not be able to because he can't communicate the correct way with people from the outside world. I don't think it was worth it for Chris to do this. Chris has many problems along the way. One of which includes death. I understand he was trying to escape reality, but what he did was a little too extreme. He was so smart to just leave and go out into a place he was not familiar with. Like mentioned in the book, he probably could have survived if it he was willing to go to the boy scouts for help on survival tips. I think, one big thing that kept him away for that type of help was that he was eighteen and would have been a little bit too old to, and this could have made him a little bit embarrassed to get stuck with younger kids. Also, they said in the book he hiked when he was little with his dad, so maybe Chris should have went to his parents and told them what he was thinking about doing, and his father may have been able to properly equip him for what he wanted to do. I would try the journey, but would take a different route then Chris did. If i were in Chris's situation, I would finish my schooling before I left, that way after I was done, I would be able to get a job, or work somewhere. Also, I would probably take my best friend with me because we do everything together, and that would keep me away from being socially awkward in the end. That would also keep me company, and it would be another person to help acquire food and anything else that needed to be done. Since she was a girl scout, she would be able to help me survive. A few reasons  I would want to escape would be because i was not doing good in school, or if me and one of my friends or family members got in a argument that could not be resolved and I just wanted time away from everything. However if i were to do something like this I would miss my friends that I would leave behind and family members because they mean a lot to me. Also, I would miss school because I enjoy learning new things and learning more things in the subjects I like the most. Also, I am looking forward to collage which would not even be possible without a good education.

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Traveling West.

If I were to travel anywhere west in the United Sates, I would like to go to Laguna Beach, California. There are many nice places in the United States to visit, but I like beaches the best. While I was there I would take surfing lessons, because I have never surfed before and would like to learn how to. Skim boarding is also offered and something I would possibly try. Also, I would like to go on the dolphin and whale watch. I always have been interested in marine life, and to see animals up that close would be really cool to do. Also, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center offers you to be able to see marine life up close, which is something that would also interest me. Lastly, while I was there I would want to do the hike through Laguna Beach’s wilderness park. As stated, there is a wide variety of animals that can be seen along this hike. To get there from Maryland, you can either drive or fly. I would fly because it only takes 5 hours to get there if you go out of BWI airport, where as if you drove it would take about two days or more because of the necessary stops you would have to make along the way. To go from Baltimore to California during the month of July for a week, the airfare would cost about $188 both ways for one person on a Southwest flight. The weather in California is hot year round. Even when it is raining, the temperatures don’t really get cold, just a little colder. Right now the temperature is 59 degrees but the rest of the week it gets a little hotter.

http://www.southwest.com/

http://www.lagunabeachinfo.com/things-to-do/attractions/outdoor-activities/

http://www.weather.com/






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Into the wild.

There is a boy who's name is Christopher and his body gets found on an abandoned bus located in Alaska. He got a collage education and after he was finished he traveled around a lot for his job. That is when he was found inside the bus. He was able to survive alone in the wild in Alaska for about 119 days until he finally gave up his battle and died. He ate Eskimo potatoes and they think he died from eating these. They were edible but they may have become more tough and less edible the longer they sat there. A major theme of this story is how to be accepted by people in the public. He hitchhiked down a long trail with only 10 pounds of rice and a rifle to keep people and animals away from him probably. After his death they found things along the trail that were his that may have described him a little more. This story seems interesting and i am interested to read it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_(film)

Definition essay

Maria 

Mrs. Zurkowski

English 9 Greens

5 February 2013

Conflict in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

            Conflict plays a huge part in the writing of stories, books, movies, etc. The term conflict defined by Salisbury University is, “an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scare resources, and interference from others is achieving their goals.” The definition of conflict according to Mariam Webster is, “a competitive or opposing action of incompatibles” and “a fight, battle, war.” An author may add some type of conflict to their story because it adds a little bit of suspense and makes you want to read on. Also, without some type of conflict in the story, there would really be no plot because you have to have events that lead to a conflict. If there is no conflict, it would be boring. Writers from long ago when books were just getting published to now apply conflict to their stories to make them more interesting. William Shakespeare displays conflict in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to make the play suspenseful and exciting for the audience to read.

            Shakespeare uses conflict in a couple of different ways throughout his play. For example, Hermia wants to marry Lysander because they are in love. However, Egeus Hermia’s dad wants her to wed Demetrius (act 1, Scene 1). This causes a problem because if she and Lysander are going to get married they have to escape to Lysander’s aunt’s house because it is only there, they can go, where Egeus won’t have a say in which his daughter has to marry. Demetrius states in (Shakespeare 2.1.195) “I love thee not, therefore pursue me not,” saying if Hermia does not like him that much to stop talking to him. This leads to the next conflict with Hermia. If she does not marry who her father wants her to marry, she is either going to be sent off to the nunnery and live her life unhappy there, or she will not be able to have children in the future. Egeus states “As she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death” (Shakespeare 1.1.43-45). It is after she says that she would much rather die as a virgin then be married to a guy she does not love then her father begins to realize how much she really does not like Lysander. Hermia says in (Shakespeare 1.1.65) “The worst that may befall in this case if I refuse to marry Demetrius.” Another conflict that happens in the play, that happens to be the climax, is when all four lovers Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena all begin to fight. All of the fighting happens because Oberon is using the love-juice which begins to mess the love square up, right when everything was going okay. Originally they would have fought over Hermia, but with the love juice they fight over Helena. This gets resolved when Oberon listens to both the boy’s thoughts, then everything is okay and the lovers fall in love with the correct person again. Without any of this the play would not have been enjoyable to follow along to.

            Today conflict occurs worldwide, in communities or states, and between friends and family. Siblings may argue over whose turn it is to do chores today and that can lead to a yelling battle that takes a parent to resolve. Also, a conflict in our country that is currently trying to be resolved is the issue over gun license. The president and congress are currently working to try to find a way to ban people in danger of committing crimes with guns after all the school shootings that have been happening, especially Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Then, a worldwide conflict is that the United States has a lot of troops over in Iraq, and we want to withdraw them from the area. Since we have begun talking about taking our troops out, Iraq has a lot of religious groups fighting each other because of differences. Lastly, there are countries that have the capability of building and sending out nuclear weapons. One that we know about is Israel, because troops have seen nuclear plants over there, but don’t know if they’re building nuclear weapons inside or not.

            Conflict is found all over. In books, plays, and even everyday life. From Shakespeare conflict with all the lovers, to worldwide problems like nuclear weapons and war, conflict is expressed. Some are positive conflicts where it could benefit you for the better although some can be bad and negative that could have the potential to hurt you. Conflict plays a huge part in our lives, although you may not realize how much it actually affects you.

Works cited:

"ConflictAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc.) Are Now Displayed on

            One      Page." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.

N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2013.

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine.

            New York: Washington Square P, 2003.

            
http://www.conflictdynamics.org/blog/2011/11/anger-and-conflict/