Never Give Up On What You Want

Authors Note: This is a “Theme Analysis” that is about the book “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. I think the theme in this story is Determination. Readers should look for the hints of highlights in the book and a book outline in the beginning.

                                                                   

Can you imagine your whole childhood being raised not to ask questions or be curious? Then one day having the opportunity to explore a different culture, would you do it? This is the problem that “Tris” faces in the book Divergent. All her life Tris was a curious child. It went against her nature not to ask questions or be curious about the world. She knew early on that she wouldn’t make it far in Abnegation, she didn't want to be there. Tris tried running away multiple times, but the authorities brought her back. She had no choice but to wait until she was 16, for the annual “Choosing Ceremony”. There she could either choose to stay in her home faction, the county she lived in, or she could transfer to a different faction and go through initiation, the process when you have to prove to the faction leaders that you belong there. The Theme in the book Divergent is to never give up on what you want, no matter what you have to do to get it.

In the beginning of the story Tris is always expected to be better than what she is. Because of her family she is expected to be something that she isn’t. Her dad is one of the Government figures in Abnegation. He especially enforces the rules of Abnegation. Tris never really had a problem with her father she always listened to him, cared for him, helped him there was no reason for her to go away because of her dad.       

Growing up in the Abnegation faction wasn’t always as simple and peaceful as it might seen. As a child you weren’t allowed to talk at the dinner table, you were forced to do anything possible to help somebody even if that meant giving up your rights.  There were many rules that Tris didn’t like, and she knew that she would have to make a choice. Therefore she was very determined to do her very best to get out of Abnegation. When the day finally came to choose her new home she chose Dauntless the faction of Fearlessness. The first task that she faced was overcoming her fear of heights by jumping off of a train over a deep trench and then jumping off the side of a building. She had to be trained to be a fighter. She was trained in hand to hand combat by fighting her classmates. She was taught how to shoot a gun and throw a knife. All of these she was determined to finish at a high rank.

She knew that if she didn’t finish within the top ten she would be factionless and live on the streets. For example Adolf Hitler is like the Abnegation government because, he was determined to kill all of the “Jews” and control Europe. And like any famous leader they all wanted something, whether it be power, strength, or just to be in control of people: they all were determined to get what they wanted; just like the Abnegation government is. like in the Hunger Games, Katniss is determined to win the games so she could see her sister again. Like these examples Tris is determined to do something with her life and to have somewhere where she’s accepted and looked up to.

We all want something in our lives. But most people think that their dream is impractical and they think that it won’t happen, so they don’t even go out and try. To be determined is to have some sort of drive to do something and want something so badly that they will go and get what they want. For most people the thing that they are striving for isn’t something too big it’s sometimes something like getting better grades, or a promotion, just little things like that. You always want something you just have to figure out what it is.

Percy Jackson (series) change

This is a Character Analysis piece. On the Percy Jackson book series. Readers should look for the lead-on's of the story and the good word choice. Readers should also look for the descriptive details. 

In the beginning of The Percy Jackson series  Percy, the main character is just a regular kid who has two huge secrets. They’re so big that he doesn’t even know about them. Until the day of truth Grover his best friend who is secretly a “Goat-man” has been watching over him making sure he’s in no harm’s way. Percy has an amazing gift, he can control the water. He can hold his breath while underwater for over 5 minutes and he can move the water anyway that his heart desires, but he doesn’t know that yet either. The other is his real dad is Poseidon or the "God of Water". You can understand why someone might want Percy dead, right. Being the son of one of the most important Roman gods, having control over any water that is in sight, and he is one of the top threats to the underworld gods.

When Percy eventually finds out who he actually is he becomes mad because nobody told him, yet they were doing the right thing because like it said in the book “A young demi-god who knows what he can do is very dangerous”.  Once he had some time to process that fact I guess it really clicked in his head about all of the sacrifices that his friends and family made. His attitude shifted and he became stronger than he was before he also became more considerate and caring. Once he decided that who he was, was ok he started to be a lot more confident and powerful. While at the camp he started to be nicer and more open to new ideas. His change kind of reminds me of The Maximum Ride series, because Max was kind of (well at least she thought she was) a regular kid and then a huge event happened and then she became a little too protective, but then after a while she started to loosen up in a similar way that Percy did. I think Percy made the biggest change in personality, he wasn’t just this ordinary kid that got pushed around by his stepdad anymore after he found out he became stronger and I think he finally felt as if he was important to the world. That change reminds me of the movie “Cyberbully” because Taylor Hillridge (a.k.a Emily Osmet) became stronger throughout the movie  and didn’t care what people thought of her.

At the end of the books it was obvious that Percy had become stronger and a lot more confident than he was before. You could tell that by the way he acted towards everyone he had a lot of confidence, he almost sounded like he knew exactly what was going to happen, where it was going to happen, and why. I wrote this because of the amazing change from a regular kid that got bullied in school to the hero to the world, son of a Roman god, and a kid with an extraordinary ability. 

My Day with the Founding Fathers

Me: Interviewer

Founding Fathers: “Interviewee”

Authors Note: This is an essay in the form of an interview. Readers should look for the hints of the Constitution and the different style of words.

Interviewer: Hello, today I will be sitting down with the Founding Fathers. We are going to ask them  some questions.

Interviewer: Well then let’s get started.

Interviewer: What do you think of our technology and electronics?

Interviewee: Your technology and information moves much too fast for us to understand.

Interviewer: Ha-ha. Now we have much more wireless technology then back them.

Interviewee: It’s magnificent how far your technology can travel, and how far it can go.

Interviewer: It is, it really is.

Interviewer: What do you have to say about how much we consume in comparison to 1776?

Interviewee: The generations of today definitely consume more and more each year, whether it be food, knowledge, or power.

Interviewer: Might I add that we now have more resources and opportunities than you had when you were growing up.  

Interviewee: That is true although the society of today is MUCH more wasteful, you have become a “throw-away” society. Back 1776 we didn’t have much, but when things broke we fixed them instead of throwing them away.

Interviewer: That’s true, now a days we get toys with our food. And even then we usually don’t even save them.

Interviewer: Ok let’s move on. How would you describe the pros and cons of society?

Interviewee: We can’t exactly describe what the goods and bads are about what the United States of America has become, that would create an uprising.

Interviewer: Ok we’ll move on then. What’s something today that you wish that you had when you were a boy?

Interviewee: We all agree that we would enjoy all of the new machines for farming, like tractors, milking machines, and heated farm houses.

Interviewer: That would’ve been helpful wouldn’t it, like instead of plowing the fields by hand you could have something to attach to the back of the tractor. 

Interviewee: Exactly.

Interviewer: Well that’s all the time we have for today, see you next time folks when I sit down with Martin Luther King Jr. Good night.

A Nice Surprise

Author's Note: This piece is a personal narrative of time I got my dog. Readers should look for the descriptive detail and all of the event leading up to the moment.

It was my turn I rolled the dice before I could see the number my mom had called my brother and I in to the kitchen. We didn’t make much of it. “C’mon sit down” my mom said with an urgent tone. We quickly sat down at the island as soon as my mom pulled out the shiny  camera, the clock read that it was a little past eight.“ Now I’m going to ask some questions” She said while slightly rubbing her finger over the record button.

My brother and I had no idea what was going on, but we went along with it. “ So where do you think dad is?” my mom said will a slight smirk on her face. “I don’t know isn’t he just stuck in traffic?” I asked. “No dad had to drive up to Green Bay, because we bought a present for you, it was going to be you Christmas present, but it arrived early.” Me and my brother exchanged glances. “Can you give us some hints?” my brother asked. “Okay, fine it’s about the size of box”. My brother immediately said “A gun?” My mom and I both gave a slight chuckle. “No, it’s not a gun.” “Really” my brother asked. He couldn’t seem to get in his brain that it wasn’t a gun.

“Just give us another clue” I say? “Why should you get another clue?” “ I don’t know maybe because that didn’t really help us.” “Ok fine, but first you have to go in the living room, by the tv” she said as her phone vibrated on the counter. Without a word we slowly walked into the kitchen and sat in front of the tv. A few minutes later I heard the door creak open and my mom’s head pop through. Then came my dad, he was holding something small, and golden looking. I kind of saw what my dad was carrying, but I had really no idea what it was.As soon as my dad turned the corner into the living room I think both of our mouths dropped open. We were both overwhelmed that there was a dog now walking in our living room. 

It was just so out of the blue, I mean you don’t expect to get a dog on a random day in November. I mean it’s not practical. My advice is to always expect the unexpected.

A nice weekend....

Authors Note: This is a personal narrative that I wrote about the time I broke my wrist. Readers should look for the descriptive details and the challenges that 

It was summer 2009 and my team and I were at the annual Grafton soccer tournament. Well it's actually not that exciting but there was only two teams in our bracket and one of them was us, so basically we only play one team the entire weekend. I'll just skip right to the story. So our first game it was raining and by the color of  the sky it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon, but there was no lightning or thunder so the games went on. 

                The first game was about to start and my team was stepping out onto the field. Our coach never wanted us to worry.. or even think about the weather, but you could tell by the way our parents were dressed like the world was going to end and then the sun was going to die that the weather was going to get bad. 

                The same as any other game you had to choose who got the ball first, the usual heads or tails never seems to fail. The ref through the coin up into the air and it was the other teams ball first. 

                The wait right before the game starts always feels like an eternity, but before I knew it the ref blew the whistle and the tournament was underway. The girl directly across from me… or my mark got the ball past to her, I went to put pressure on the ball when I blink and suddenly I'm on the ground. I got up and a sharp pain ran through my forearm and I clenched my teeth together so hard that it felt like they would all fall out, nobody saw what happened or what was happening and our coach wouldn’t let you come off the field unless you were called off or you were seriously hurt and in my case I was but again nobody saw that, so I had nothing to do but keep playing. I kept jogging up field not thinking about the games only thinking about my wrist. I was running back down field and got a glimpse of my wrist and I immediately could tell that something was really wrong.

After only a couple minutes o running up and down the field my wrist had almost doubled in size and was purple all the way around, and I guess my coach saw that and took me off the field.

No one knew how bad it actually was so the only thing that my coach could give me was a bag of ice. As soon as the ice touched my skin it was a relief but I had to take it off eventually. All of a sudden there was a large high pitched scream... it was the refs whistle which meant half time had come. 

                Sitting in a circle with everyone occasionally glimpsing up at you doesn't make anything better. I wasn't listening to a word that my coach was saying I was only thinking about the moment I had to take the ice bag off and if he would play me again when , but one question kept coming into my mind every time I looked down and the purple lump that stared back at me , I finally had to take the ice bag off, it didn’t feel the way I thought it was going to feel, I mean it still hurt it just didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

I hadn't even noticed that the second half had started, but I was sitting on the bench watching my team play/win and occasionally out of the corner of my eye I caught my coach and teammates looking at me for a few seconds, but I just ignored it and kept on watching. Finally my coach was looking at me about ten times a minute, and I guess I looked worse than I felt, but he told me to go to the medical tent anyway.

As soon as I got up everything around me turned blue and started moving in a really random weird way that I had never seen before I got really woozy and felt like I was going to throw up. I sucked it up, because I knew that there was chairs in the tent and I knew as soon as I got there I could sit down again. When I got there I found my mom there waiting for me, the sad part was there was no doctors or nurses in the tent it was just me and my mom sitting in a tent in the middle of a giant soccer park. After about ten minutes of just sitting in a chair next to my mom icing my wrist my brother came over and all he said was "watch" in a very mischievous tone, I had no idea what he was about to do.

He walks up to the little carts they had with different kinds of food asks the man working there for a cup of ice, still I had no idea what he was going to do. My brother always knows how to make me laugh when I'm feeling down and I will say when he grabbed the cup of ice and tiptoed up behind my dad and dumped the ice down his back.... let's just say that it worked. 

                After the game ended everyone on my team came over and asked the same exact question....." Are you OK?" I gave everyone the chance to ask it just so I could maybe cheer myself up. After they were all done I said only once "Mmmhh". Well we had another soccer game in a couple of hours so they couldn't leave but I could so my mom, dad, brother, grandma, and grandpa and I all left and everybody else in the car decided that they were hungry when we were halfway home so I had to sit in a restaurant eating nothing in fear of throwing up, and let me say watching my grandpa eat while I'm starving isn't the most appetizing thing, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.

 I told my mom that I had to go to the bathroom and politely got up from the booth and walked over to the bathroom.  I guess I was in there for longer than I thought because I heard the door open "Maggie"? I couldn't find the strength to say anything, I barely got out a grunt, which I guess she's used to because my brother does that all of the time. She found me just as I got up from the floor of the bathroom. I think she knew that there was something wrong I just don't think she knew what was wrong. The ride home was a very quiet ride for me basically because after that everyone decided that they wanted ice cream so we went to Dairy Queen and then a Pick and Save, followed by a gas station, and by the time I had gotten home it was around 9:00 at night.

Nobody really knew that my wrist was broken and neither did I and while I was sitting on the fluffy surface of the doctors examination table I was counting how many hours I was in the car with a broken wrist and not even knowing it.... I was in the car for a total of 6 hours with a broken wrist, and in that 6 hours  everyone else in the car got ice cream and lunch/dinner without me, and my mom refused to give me any pain medication. Oh yeah and in that time I still had to do all of my chores when I got home even though I fell asleep in the car four times.

                Anyway all I’m trying to say is that this was one of the moments that I remember the most I mean it’s not the most exciting either but the most exciting would take too long to write and quite frankly too long to read too, but this is one of the most not really exciting, but interesting things that has happened to me.