Nik

Nikolas Stasinopoulos E-IV AP


 * My favorite poetic device in literature is...
 * "We were masters of nature, masters of the world. We had forgotten everything—death, fatigue, our natural needs. Stronger than cold or hunger, stronger than the shots and the desire to die, condemned and wandering, mere numbers, we were the only men on earth. At last, the morning star appeared in the gray sky. A trail of indeterminate light showed on the horizon. We were exhausted. We were without strength, without illusions."** (//Night)// This whole book was an excellent novel. This specific quote utalizes repitition in order to show what the holocaust did to the men and women who had to go through such a horrible event. The diction used also just creates this image that night was unbearable because it meant that they were in the camps for one more day, and that goes along with the title of the novel.

 **“That dry summer, my shadow head sometimes wore the crowns of oaks and ash trees. My shadow fingers could touch the crows who sat hunched a quarter mile down the road. My shadow torso slid across pastures. But my shadow feet never went far from my real feet. My feet beat the dry roads and summoned dust from the brown gravel that had been dredged from creeks.”** (//Life at These Speeds)// This quote is describing how he ran during the summer after a tragic accident. I like this characterization of himm because of the repition and imagery of the shadows. I think that this character really is defined throughout the novel as a runner who is in the shadows and can't connect to everyone, just like how he cannot connect to his running.
 * My favorite characterization in literature is...

"**It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more."** (//Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince)// This quote, although from Harry Potter, really intrigued me the first time I read it. Dumbledore knows that he is going to die, but even knowing this he works to do what is right, and it isn't the death that scares him, but what comes after death. This unknown has confused humans for years and it has caused religions to form and wars to be fought, yet there isn't any way to really know what there is after life.
 * My favorite quote in literature is...

“Why am I sad?” he whispered. “Here?” She pointed down there. “There.”… “I was sad because I didn’t do anything with my life. I was nothing. I accomplished nothing. I was lost. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there.”… “Supposed to be there,” she said. “Where? At Ruby Pier?” She nodded… “Children,” she said, “You keep them safe. You make good for me.” (//The Five People You Meet in Heaven)// This dialogue between Eddie and the girl shows the simplicity and innocence that the little girl has. This dialogue really stood out because throughout the novel there wasn't much direct dialogue, but this dialogue captures a theme that Albom was trying to push, that there is a purpose for everyone and everything.
 * My favorite dialogue in literature is...

My favorite theme in literature is... My favorite theme comes from //The Golden Compass.// Throughout this novel the author tries to express a need for creativity and curiosity, I think that Pullman was trying to express that as individuals we need to figure out who we are and what we believe through our own experiences and that this will create our moral compass, hence the title of the novel. I really enjoy this theme because we live in a society of conformity where we are told what to believe, but through Lyra's experience she realizes what is right and wrong. _ ﻿  A setting I would write about is...  Anything that has a nature-esk setting within modern times. I love spending my time outside doing things that require me to be active. Any day is a great day to go outside, whether it is during the blizzard of 2011 or the heat wave during this past summer.

A conflict I would write about is... Being intrigued by science, I would like to write about something that may deal with the end of the world. that could be due to global warming or a meteor ending life as we know it. So, maybe a genre that I would like is science fiction!

A theme I would like to address is just like //The Golden Compass,// that people's experience shape who they are and it is up to us to decide who we become. Yes we are shaped by our surroundings, but it is our overall thoughts about the surroundings that form who we become.

**A favorite line of my own writing is...** "Remember those late nights, on facebook chat sophomore year and we were in chemistry and trying to figure out what S,P,D, and F really stood for? Well, those are the moments that we came together and worked as a group on something that not many of us really got, after all only 12 went on to take AP chem." This is from a speech I wrote for the Rotary Club, and I like it because it shows what kind of writer I am. I use simple language to make my point and I also like it because it makes me reminisce about everything we have been through as a class. It's an anecdote about our high school experience and what we really have accomplished.

My favorite poetic device of my own is... "Their strides became longer and faster, and all there was to listen to was the footsteps hitting the frost-bitten ground of that late October day and the controlled breathing of my competitors." This quote comes from a scholarship where I wrote about the conference meet. I like t his quote because it shows and doesn't tell kind of. I like that it appeals to feeling and sound, not just sight.