Cowardice

A response to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

You’re investigating a murder; a man walking home from work was shot down in the night by a thief after the money in his pocket. You find that the killer had left behind the murder weapon while leaving the scene; a gun, owned by the manager of a nearby store. The gun’s recent history, coupled with a witness claim, leads the police to arresting the store owner, sending him to jail. Only after the alleged murderer had been sentenced do you realize that the ‘witness’ had been the real killer, fleeing from the country, framing the innocent and letting them suffer the punishment he was to cowardly to take; a perfect description of Injun Joe in Mark twains book, Tom Sawyer. Injun Joe might have been able to lie to the entire town while keeping a straight face, but Joe was the definition of coward as he persecuted the innocent Muff Potter to keep himself from harm. Cowardice is not how often a person runs away, it’s why they run away from events and obstacles people face.
When people run away, others call it cowardly, telling them running away makes a person chicken-hearted, but those are biased statements; running away doesn’t make a person cowardly, it’s the reasons for running away that make the difference. When a person picks a fight with a force greater than they are, they put themselves in a position where running away would be cowardly, as the person went out of their way to start something they turned out to be too craven to finish. If it’s the other way around, however, the greater force would become the coward, their decisions leading to the conclusion that they face only those smaller than themselves, being too scared to face forces that would actually have a chance against them; this would be a time when a person could run away honorably. Injun Joe displayed cowardice when he persecuted Muff Potter; Joe was the greater power, when he tricked Muff Potter into think he himself had been the killer, then again when he broke his promise to Potter and told the entire town his lie, being the only known person fully conscious at the time of the murder. Later, Injun Joe became the coward once more, as the man against the greater power, the town, when he used the window in the courtroom to escape the conflict he’d started by murdering Doctor Robinson.
Running away isn't always cowardly, but to eliminate an opponent's chance to walk away is always chicken-hearted as well as unfair. Beginning an encounter by sneaking up on a person and aggressing from behind is unfair and implies the person is afraid to let their adversary identify them. The person being ambushed doesn't know what's going on or that an encounter has even been started, making the confrontation unfair in favor of the aggressor, and abolishing chances for the person to walk away. When Injun Joe and his accomplice tried to assassinate the Widow Douglas, it was just like that; Joe’s plan was to sneak into the house in the middle of the night when Widow Douglas was asleep then attack her without warning, bringing as much torture to the widow as possible. Widow Douglas wouldn’t have a chance to run away or get help in an unfair fight against two grown men with intentions to kill, thus no one would know that Injun Joe had not yet fled the country, giving him an easy escape from the base act.
When cowardly decisions are made, such as running from the results of poor judgment, people can make up for them, but not get rid of them. Burglary is a terrible and cowardly act; people break into a house in the middle of the night, when the owners of the house are asleep or gone away, so that no one can see them steal another person’s property then run away and hide. If, however, by some miracle, a burglar would return stolen items, face to face with the one they stole from, the cowardice of the act would have been made up for, but the act itself would still be over the burglar’s head; they would still be eligible for a jail sentence. Muff Potter ran away like a coward, the reality of the act he’d fictitiously committed too much to bear, let alone the consequences for it, but with his return to the scene of the crime, the cowardice of Potter’s running away was forgiven, but neither of the acts themselves. However much it took Injun Joe to keep a straight face while he wove his lies, he remained a coward, having lied rather than given the truth, on top of his previous acts.
Cowardice isn't how much a person runs away, it's the decisions a person makes in life how they respond to the results. To be cowardly is to lack the heart to finish what is started, hiding from consequences of past decisions, cheating and lying a way to desires. People that oppress those smaller or feebler, using underhanded and sneaky tactics to persecute all others are cowardly as well. People should be fair and honest, seeing decisions through to the end, facing up to whatever happens along the way; with out these things, we’d live in a world where all people are cowardly, backhanded killers like Injun Joe, or worse.

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.