A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Final)

You're on the playground with the rest of your third grade class. You're playing with the rest of your friends when, suddenly, one kids runs up to you and says that he knows something you don't, you'll never guess what in a million years. You must guess a dozen different things before you finally give up and the kid says, with triumph in a mocking tone, that, for your information, THERE IS NO SANTA CLAUSE. The group of kids around you goes into a shocked silence, then, all at once, some of you're friends start crying, while others start shouting at the kid that there IS, in fact, a Santa Clause, and who did he think he was, saying something like that and ruining their Christmas. You just stand there and, suddenly, what the kid says makes sense; why you have to go to bed early, why your mom and dad stay up almost all night but never see Santa Clause, how the presents you ended up getting for Christmas had ended up in the closet that one year.Even worse, you realize that your parents had lied to you this entire time. In the years to come, you never will completely trust your parents because of this gain of experience in your innocence. Events that occur as a person goes from innocence to experience effect who they become in the future.

Innocence never lasts forever, for it must be replace by experience throughout a person's life. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, when Francie compared the baby to the old man, the baby symbolized her innocence and the old man, the coming experience. As she realized that the old man had once been a baby thus the baby would become an old man one day, she realized that she would one day be old, her innocence swapped for experience, like the old man, a thought that frightened her. Later, though, she lost some of her innocence to the doctor, who's scorn for the dirty child in front of him brings Francie experience, regardless of Francie's fear of losing her innocence. It doesn't matter if a person wants to or not, people lose innocence with the gain of experience every day, no matter what they do or where they are, as they grow and gain knowledge. Everything that happens brings experience, from spending time with friends, to being hungry, both of which are things that everyone has ,or will, have happen to them. In short, experience is unavoidable, as is the loss of innocence, to all.

The time when people go from innocence to experience is important for who they will become in the future. During her innocence, Francie was fascinated with the chalkboard erasers that a little girl would bring out everyday, but when the girl re payed Francie for admiring her by spitting in her face and calling Francie names when she didn't cry, Francie hated that girl, and because they reminded Francie of the girl, she hated chalkboard erasers from then on as well. It could have turned out differently; if the little girl had treat Francie with more kindness instead of spitting in her face, Francie and the girl could have been friends, Francie wouldn't have hated chalkboard erasers, and Francie might have ended up a teacher's pet, like she had originally planned. Francie might have gone from innocence to experience in a completely different way and could have ended up as a completely different kind of person. If a person likes something, snakes, for example, and nothing happens to make them think otherwise, they'd go from innocence to experience liking snakes, but if that person had something happen to them to turn them against snakes, something scary, hurtful, all around unpleasant, that person would, more likely than not, go from innocence to experience hating snakes. This is something that could completely change that person's life, from the friends they make to the job they take to where that person lives, which, in turn, would affect who they are in the future and so on. Going from innocence to experience affect a persons entire life, for better or for worse.

The gain of experience from innocence changes a person's perspective. It can happen slowly over time, or abruptly and all at once. The faster a person gains experience, the faster their perspective changes, and the better that person can see that the difference is like going from black and white to color. Francie Nolan found some things out over time; the fact that her mother doesn't know everything, how some people found the way her father came home drunk funny. These were no shock to her and she only saw these things over time, but other things she found out suddenly and they stuck with her the rest of her life. Joanna's baby being hit in the head with a rock helped her realize that there are things in the world that will try to hurt you and there are no exception for age or innocence. Receiving the flowers from her father shows that not even death can keep a father from loving his daughter. Once a person learns lessons such as these, they move further into experience, and can look back on their innocence and see the change of perspective they've acquired through experience in the form of decisions that didn't seem as foolish then, and beliefs that are now purely unbelievable. Since then, lessons have been learned, experience gained, the former way of seeing things forever modified. Francie always remembered her ordeal in the street and the roses from Johnny because what they meant to her was more than just memories, they were lessons that shouldn't be forgotten.

Everything must change with time, from the great Earth, to the people that inhabit it. People gain experience from the loss of innocence, though how experience is gained effects a person and stays with them for the rest of their lives. If a young tree is hit by lightning, the mark of past experience stays with it until the tree itself is no more. So to say, as a tree grows from a seed, so does experience grow from innocence, and so a child becomes an adult. This is how it is and this is how it always will be.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

You walk down the street a happy person. There's a check in your hand and a spring in your step as you walk into your home. You think of all the things you had to do to get that money; each was a challenge in its own way. Although the work was hard, it was worth it for the check you set on the table, and, though having the money simply handed to you would have been easier, you know that, in a way, knowing that you earned the check yourself is better. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Francie and Neely are proud to bring their first pay home, not because of how much they earned, but because they earned the money by standing up to the challenges at their jobs. Life is full of challenges but that's part of the reason it's so great.

If people stand up to challenges, they'll be rewarded. In the book, when Francie and Neely decide to have the biggest tree thrown at them, the way I saw it was, the tree stood for all the challenges in life that they had to face. The tree smashed into them, crushed them, almost brought Neely to his knees, but Francie and Neely found a way to stay standing through it all, and so, won the tree. The challenges that people have to face in life can do these same things and if people stand up to them, keep themselves from being knocked down, they'll be rewarded almost every time. Francie and Neely were rewarded with the tree, and in "Home", the father's sacrifices and hard work were rewarded with the benefit of being able to keep his house. Francie also had to go through a different kind of challenge at her first job, being accepted by the other workers. Francie had to find out why the others were taunting her, and when Francie did, her job was much easier and she had friends at her job with her.

Sometimes, overcoming a challenge can be more fun than getting the reward. Francie's challenge was earning money for her family so she tried two jobs and found that she liked going to work better than getting paid. At Francie's first job, she had plenty of friends to talk and have fun with while she worked, while at her second job, she was doing what she loved most, reading. In real life, people challenge themselves in a manner of ways, simply because they find it fun. Baseball is a challenge where the goal is either to hit the ball and get to the base, or to strike or tag the runner out, depending on which team the player's on. Baseball is something people do because it's fun. Every game is some kind of challenge, but some challenges are fun to do.

When people overcome life's challenges, they find pride in themselves and others. As Francie and Neely brought home their first pay, they were proud, not only of themselves, but of each other as well. Katie Nolan was proud of her children because they had managed to overcome the challenges presented to them. Once a student passes a test, they're proud of themselves and, sometimes, of their friends because they had over come the challenge of learning the information on the test, and are now smarter than before. Doing things yourself, no matter how hard, can be more satisfying simply because of that feeling of pride when you finish.

Challenges are part of every day life. They make life more enjoyable in a number of ways, from making games more fun to being the source of pride. Without challenges, life wouldn't be interesting, people wouldn't know what it is to be proud, there'd be no need for reward; life would be completely and utterly different in the worst sort of way. Francie's whole life is like the world's biggest challenge but Francie couldn't be very much happier unless Jonny Nolan could come back to life. She embraces challenges because challenges are part of life and defenitly do make life more enjoyable.

All Summer in a Day

You're walking through the hall, happening to see a kid by themselves opening their locker. You recognize them as the weird kid no one ever talks to because they're completely obsessed with something, never doing anything unless it's related to that certain thing. The kid doesn't have any interest in making friends, either. You also know for a fact that the kid is a bit insane. Suddenly, a group of kids comes up and grabs the kid. They over power the kid easily because the kid doesn't have any friends to help them and no one, including you, even tries to help. You walk right on by, wanting nothing to do with the strange kid being shoved in a closet, not noticing when they never show up to the next class. In All Summer in a Day, the author describes how, Margot went insane because she isolated herself because of her obsession. Obsession is something to be feared, because obsession leads to isolation, and when you isolate yourself, you lose the friendship of others, which is one of the most important things you can have.
When a person isolates themselves, they lose any friends they might have, or don’t make any friends at all. The person loses contact with any other people, increasing chances of going insane. In the beginning of All Summer in a Day, Margot refuses to take a shower, kicking and screaming, covering her head with her arms, afraid to let the water touch her. Water symbolizes life, so to be afraid of water means a fear of life, and if you’re afraid of life, there’s something really wrong with you, so you know Margot isn’t really alright from the beginning. On the day the sun came out, the children locked Margot in a closet, forgetting about her. Margot being locked in the closet symbolizes her isolation. She can’t get out of the closet and the other children won’t go in, thus, Margot is alone, cut of from the rest of the world, unable to be with anyone else, or to go anywhere other than where she already is. In the end, the author suggests that Margot either died, or went completely insane.
Obsession is something to be feared because it usually leads to isolation. In the story, the author tells you that the only thing Margot spoke, read, wrote, sang, or generally thought about was the sun. Margot wouldn't even play games with any one else because they didn't have anything to do with the sun. The other children thought Margot was weird and stayed away from her because she hardly ever sang or spoke and didn't know how to play games. Margot also stayed away from other people because no one else shared her obsession. No one else wanted to obsess over the sun, so Margot never did anything with any one, and so isolated herself from everyone else to an extent to where even the teachers never noticed whether or not she was there. Thus, Margot isolated herself because of her obsession, so, in a way, it was obsession that made Margot go kind of insane.
People should fear obsession and isolation because they lead to the loss of friendship. Friendship is important because it is powerful; there's strength in numbers in a number of ways, and when someone has friends, that person has less chance of going insane. Friends are people to have fun with, as well as people to talk to. They're as important to life as sleeping or eating. Without friends, people wouldn't have anyone to talk to, or anyone to have fun with, and if people don't have social interaction, they go insane. Friends also help each other. If someone needs help, their friends help them, like if a group of people gangs up on someone, their friends would help them. Also, the people in the group ganging up on the person would usually all be friends. It’s the power of friendship. Margot didn’t have any friends so didn’t have the power of friendship, thus was unable to keep the group of children from locking her in the closet.
Obsession should be feared, because obsession leads to isolation. Isolating yourself leads to insanity because you lose the friendship of others. When you lose the friendship of others, you lose the power that keeps people from going insane; friends are that important. Friendship is a powerful thing that’s hard to gain but easy to lose. It’s the greatest power a person can have. People should think more about holding onto it than obsessing over things that don’t really matter; think about it, but not obsess.

Veterans Essay

When is the right time to honor American Veterans? How often do you honor people who risk their lives for their country? Once or twice a year, on Veterans day or Fourth of July? What about all the time, every day of the year? Veterans risk their lives for their country and so should be honored every day.

American Veterans are some of the bravest people ever. They’re people who go into other countries to fight for America. Veterans go to places where they get shot at and sometimes killed because they try to protect their country. Some veterans come back from wars in wheelchairs or on crutches. Other don’t come back at all. But all veterans are ordinary people who some of the most extraordinary things.

Veterans are some of the bravest people ever and are honored for it. People honor veterans on Veterans Day and sometimes on the Fourth of July. On Veterans Day, people all over America honor the veterans fighting in current wars. On Fourth of July, some people honor the veterans of the American Civil War. They honor the brave thing veterans have done and are still doing.

American people honor American Veterans once or twice a year, but is that enough? Veterans give their lives for America. They deserve more than one or two days a year! Veterans deserve to be honored everyday, but not like with a big party. Americans can honor veterans everyday in little things. People who pray at night or before dinner can pray for the veterans fighting in current wars. More people could put American flags out in front of their house or maybe other places around the house. People can do little things like that to honor American Veterans.

Veterans are ordinary people with families, friends, hopes and dreams. They do brave and extraordinary things for their country. People all over America honor veterans once or twice a year and some might honor them even more often than that, but veterans should be honored even more than that. American Veterans should be honored everyday, in little things. People don’t have to throw a big party to honor veterans. They just have to show that they care.