Matt


 * My favorite poetic device in literature is irony. Irony is such a great device because when the audience believes one event is about to occur, the exact opposite happens. A book in which irony is used multiple times is //Macbeth//. Throughout the entire work the prophesies the witches give Macbeth are all ironic paradoxes. My favorite of those paradoxes is when the second witch says, "for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth." The is my favorite ironic statement because Macbeth believes he will not be hurt by anyone because everyone that is born must have been born by a woman. However, the witches prophecy is ironic because Macduff was born through a cesarian section, so technically he was not officially born of a woman, and he eventually killed the mighty Macbeth.


 * My favorite characterization in literature is from //True West//. In the beginning of the play, Austin is characterized by his "l ight blue sports shirt, light tan cardigan sweater, clean blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. Also, he has an Ivy League diploma and is an up and coming screen writer." The characterization of Austin is so critical to the entire text because his characterization is the complete opposite of his older brother, Lee who is characterized by his "filthy white t-shirt, tattered brown overcoat covered with dust, and dark blue baggy suit pants from the Salvation Army." The difference between the characterizations of the two brothers sets up the entire theme of the novel that no matter how different siblings may seem on the outside, there are always some characteristics that brothers share in their personalities.


 * My favorite quote in literature is from //1984//. Chapter one of the novel talks about what happens when someone speaks their own thoughts and "Big Brother" finds out about it. " People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word." This quote is my favorite in literature because it makes me think if your existence can actually be erased by the government. The government has so much power over people, and if our government ever becomes this way the world will encounter gigantic problems. It's a scary thought to think that some people actually "vanish" if they speak out against their government.


 * My favorite dialogue in literature is from the //Kite Runner.// When Amir and Hassan are standing on top of the hill and Amir is throwing pomegranates at Hassan, Amir says, "Get up! Hit me!...You're nothing but a coward!" Hassan then takes a pomegranate and hits himself with it and says, "Are you happy?" This dialogue between Amir and Hassan shows how loyal Hassan was to Amir. Even though Amir ordered Hassan to throw the fruit at him, Hassan not only did not throw the fruit at Amir, but he instead hit himself with the pomegranate. Hassan's loyalty throughout the entire text was extremely apparent. Hassan never did any injustice to Amir, even though Amir continually hurt and abused Hassan's friendship.

__**Friday**__
 * My favorite theme in literature is from the //Bluest Eye.// The theme of beauty as portrayed in the //Bluest Eye// is that the lighter skin a person has and the bluer a person's eyes are, the more beautiful they are. This is one of my favorite themes because it is such a controversial topic that has been around throughout the entire history of the United States. The idea that beauty is based merely off of outer appearance is completely shallow and wrong. My concept of beauty is what a person's character and personality are like and how willing and able they are to treat others the right way with respect and care.


 * A favorite line of my own writing is "I'm ambidextrous with my raps – There's nothing left I can't write." This is my favorite line because I think it's pretty clever and it took me a while to come up with it. Occasionally, I write little raps and one-liners because even though many rappers talk merely about girls, sex, and drugs, there are some that have inspired me to think of puns and ironic lines. Even though many rappers are portrayed as uneducated thugs, there are some that are fully educated and extremely intellegent. I hope to continue writing these raps becuase it gives me an oppurtunity to show others my wit and cleverness.


 * A conflict that I would be interested in writing about is the distribution of wealth in America. Even though the saying "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" is a cliche statement, it is the truth. In America, the top 1% of people hold approximately 42% of the nations money. I am a proponent of perseverance and building your way to the top, but this distribution is ridiculous. Some CEO to worker pay ratios in the United States is as high as 450:1, while in Europe the average is around 60:1. This unequal distribution of wealth is what has created many of the problems the United States faces today.


 * My favorite poetic device of my own is personification. "The sun's rays reached down and scorched my skin." This is my favorite poetic device because I love the sun and summer time and I wrote this personification after I got sun burnt last year. Personification is such a valuable device because it goes beyond telling a description; it actually shows it by giving an object human like characteristics.


 * A setting I would like write about is America sometime in the future. I would like to write about this setting because America right now is still one of the strongest and most powerful countries in the world; however, its powerful is slowly fading away and being taken over by China, India, and the Middle East. I think that eventually the politicians that run America will realize how great of a country it really is and transform America back into the powerhouse country it was back in the 1900's.


 * A theme I would like to address is the theme of the strength of a family's love. My family is the most important thing in my life, and no matter where I go or what I end up doing with my life, I will always be able to come home and be with my family. I don't know where I would be in my life without the love and support of my parents and sister and the rest of my extended family as well.

In my defense, I only did it because I was late for curfew, and I didn’t want to wake my mom up and get busted, but I had forgotten my keys when I left. I was at Kevin Dale’s house. A bunch of the guys were just hanging out, playing video games and eating some Doritos. Then Sam Oshana showed up saying that there was a killer party at Mary Kennedy’s house because her parents were out of town. We didn’t get invited exactly, but decided that maybe it would help our image if we made an appearance. It was a pretty great party, but I can’t go into details because I don’t want to get anyone in trouble and counteract the cool points I’m getting by being arrested right now. But, when I realized that it was quarter to midnight and I needed to get home, I looked around for Sam because he drove us all there, but I couldn’t find him. After fifteen minutes of running all over the house looking for him, I decided to just run home. It wasn’t that far, and I didn’t want to be any later. Along the way, I tripped on a stick and fell in the mud. Not only did I get mud all over my face, I also lost my glasses. I only found them when I heard the crunch of glass, picked up my foot, and realized that I had stepped on them. So that’s why I didn’t realize that I was climbing into the second story window of the wrong house. I thought something seemed a little off when I didn’t feel the soft, shaggy carpet that’s usually on the bathroom floor, but I decided to just brush it off since I had a few drinks at the party and was ready to call it a night. The farther I walked into the house, the more things seemed out of place. I didn’t hear the creak of the hardwood floors as I took each step or see the bright yellow glow from the nightlight my mother turned on every night before she went to bed. Once again, I thought nothing of these occurrences because I was too preoccupied thinking about cuddling with my pillow. The thing that finally grabbed my attention that something fishy was up was when I went to open my bedroom door and was greeted by a middle-aged couple reading the newspaper from the day before. I tried to turn around and run but it was too late, I already had a knee jabbed in my back and my hands pinned. In a matter of minutes, the police showed up, and I was violently thrown into the back of a squad car. I kept reiterating the fact that I was a good kid and was sorry for any problems I caused, but the broad shouldered, deep voiced African-American officer who kept calling me “bro” rudely quieted me. When we finally reached the police station and I was put behind bars, the officer asked me, “Bro, what the hell were you doing in that house, and why were you wearing a mask if you claim you weren’t breaking in?” Confused, groggy, and slightly irritated I told the officer I wasn’t wearing a mask it was just mud from a puddle outside. I might have said it with a bit of an attitude because the look I received from the cop was one of “You better shut the hell up kid or you’re going to be in this station a lot longer than you want to be.” Once my mother showed up I was relieved and terrified. Relieved of the fact that I was released from behind bars, but terrified of the fact that now I have to face my mother and the consequences following my actions. I eventually had to tell her the entire story about the party, the broken glasses, and unfortunately my foolish house mix up. Even though I was only grounded for two weeks, (I was expected much more than that) I will never forget that night. I learned many things that night: drinking distorts your decision making, middle-aged men can be quicker than you think, if you ever have mud on your face you should clean up or someone might confuse you as a criminal, and the last, most important thing, is if I had contacts this entire situation could have been avoided.

__//**Reflection:**//__ Initially when we were assigned to write a short story, I had no idea about what I was going to write about. After some searching on the internet, I finally found a topic that interested me. Even though I don't have any personal experiences with this situation, I decided to write a story about a kid who is at a party and eventually broke into the wrong house. I figured this would be a good idea for a story because I could use many literary devices as well as tell a good story. A few of the literary devices I used include: point of view, characterization, and descriptive detail. The story is told through the point of view of the main character who is unnamed, but is telling the story looking back on the event. Some characterization that is used is "broad shouldered, deep voiced" and "middle-aged." Finally, some of the details used are "creek of the floor," "soft, shaggy carpet," and "crunch of glass." I decided to use descriptive details because I felt that they enhanced the quality of the work.