A Clean, Well Lighted Symbolism

I think that the sort clip; A Clean, Well Lighted Place was stuffed with symbolism. It starts off in a cozy tavern/bar with an older waiter and a younger waiter. They were literally waiting on an old, suicidal man to finish drinking and go home. The old man was sitting in a corner, which symbolizes his own, solitary world. When most people sit in booths they are with family or friends, but this man was in a booth, alone which tells the reader how lonely he is. The younger waiter didn’t want to wait at all, and felt no empathy for the poor old man. This shows how youth is always moving without care, and that experience and wisdom comes with age. The opposite was with the old waiter. He was fine with letting the old man stay, and felt sorry for him. I was almost as if he has felt his pain before, and wanted the old man to have a solitary escape from his sorrow.

            The old man was a faded main character. He was the main focus, and yet far from it. Everyone is talking about him, and he occasionally appears, but the main focus is on waiters. The old man lives in the shadows, and his only way to  escape them is to come to this well lighted place. His next glass of brandy is his delicate life; clinging on until the last drop is spent. But there is no saying how it will end. Will it end with the glass tipping and all spilling in one instant? Or will it be the last sip from a once full glass. Once it ends, however it ends, the man heads back into the shadows… 

Argumentative Acquaintances

   The main characters in A Clean, Well Lighted Place, are very argumentative. They disagree on many things that don’t require correction. This is the same in the book White Fang,  Henry and Bill are two dogsled driving men, who are delivering something. In this task, they must trek through dangerous woods. Bill and Henry are constantly disagreeing about things that don’t really matter. Although they are still comrades, they still argue about unnecessary things. They are stuck with each other and are forced to work out their differences in order to get through the task at hand.

1 of 600

Half a league, half a league,
 Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
 Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
 Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
 Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
 Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
 Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,    
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
 Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
 All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
 Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
 Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
 Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
 Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
 All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
 Noble six hundred.

Author’s Note: This poem explains what happened to a small, light brigade of only 600 soldiers. Their leader had made a mistake and sent them into the valley of death (the  battlefield) even though they had no chance. The leader didn’t know it, but the brigade did…

        “Ride on, Ride on!” roared the gallant commander, “Press the fight my brigade!”

“But it’s useless!” men scream and shout in mutiny, “We will all die!” 

“It is better to die loyal then to live a coward!” I yelled. Still shouts of opposition, but we never broke stride. You didn’t have to be clairvoyant to know that we are all doomed. The sounds of cannons and whinnies roared. I remembered a poem that I had once heard a drunken man recite before drawing his last breath; Once more into the fray, into the last good fight I’ll ever know. Live and die on this day, live and die on this day. I chanted this throughout my mind. This will be my last fight. I have lived, and now I will die. Racing through the valley the hooves thunder. We charge, until we break the line…

This is it, this is the end. Fight onward, Fight till dawn. I look to my right, and see my friend -- a 15 year young boy -- spear an enemy. Throwing his arms up in his own victory, he is shot through the chest by a dying fellow. His insides are splattered upon my face, but I must move on. Left and right, death by death, we are depleting. The stink of carrion melts the nostrils. I pull my pistol, and fire. It hits an enemy and he drops like a ton of bricks. Surely he had a family. Surely he had sons

and daughters that will mourn at his funeral. I don’t take it as a heroic act. I killed men and destroyed families with mere bullets. I changed history with the movement of a finger. For better or for worse? No one will know. At least none of the six hundred.

 Snapping of gunfire and the screeches of men split the foggy noon air, and still we ride. The guns roaring, and earth flying, and still we ride.  The blood spraying and hope losing, and still we ride. Cannons hit home, torn to pieces, we no longer ride……

Sudden Stop

Author's Note: This is a sudden fiction piece based off the black and white picture we were shown a while ago.

A man stands, looking at all of the rushing people inside Grandview train station in New York. This whole world seems rushed to him. He wonders where the peoples’ journeys will take them. Soon, he wonders about his own life. Where will I go in this lifetime? Who will I meet? What is my purpose? While deep in a twisting thought of human existence, a man bumps into this lost soul.

            “Sorry,” he said apologetically.

            “That’s alright,” replied the young, confused man. When the rushing body passes, he realizes that the man hand  handed him something. It was a briefcase.

            “Excuse me sir!” he yelled, but it was no use. The building was packed with people, and he was long gone. He wandered the building for a while, and found a bench. He sat down, and examined the briefcase. It was a steel latching briefcase with no lock. I guess there’s nothing left to do but open it….

            “Click…. Cli-BOOOM!” went the briefcase, incinerating all in its path.

How Will it End?

I predict the future will not be all rainbows and sunshine for Bruno in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Bruno has made a friend, and that may cost him. There are many variables that can change his life. I think that it will take a turn for the worse.

            Bruno has a Polish friend that he enjoys visiting, named Shumel. Since Bruno lives in Germany and it is 1935, his country is enemies with Poland. I think that Bruno will be caught talking with Shumel, and Shumel will be killed. This may seem harsh, but that’s what it was like in Hitler’s rule. People were taken from their homes and made prisoners, just for being from a different country. This is the same in the book The Outsiders. Ponyboy is part of the greaser gang, who is rivaled by the soc gang. Ponyboy meets a soc girl who he soon becomes friends with. The socs mug and try to beat up Ponyboy, just for living on the other side of town and mingling with a soc. There is no doubt in my mind, that there will be severe consequences if Bruno is caught.

            Pavel is a very puzzling character. Pavel said that he was once a doctor; and this is very helpful because Pavel is extremely secretive about his life. Almost nobody knows about Pavel…. And that is what makes him such an important character. I think that Pavel is an Ex-Medic for the U.S. Army, and was now sent over to their enemies (The Germans) to be a spy. I think that one day Pavel will be discovered, and killed. This is almost the same in The Outsiders. Jonny has murdered a soc and must keep his secret, or he will be captured and sent to the electric chair for man-slaughter. So far, this doesn’t seem like a very happy book.

            There is no great way of predicting the future of the book, other than looking back at U.S. history. Many things have been kept from the reader. Whether it be important conversations, or answers to vital questions. It even cuts out the part where Pavel’s life is being explained. The few clues are just like our enemies. They are very secretive, and hard to predict. At the end of the day, (or the book) I see Bruno’s life getting worse.

Lose Yourself

Edited (Clean) Version of Lose Yourself By Eminem

Author’s Note: This piece explains the meaning of the song: Lose Yourself (edited) By Eminem

Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity                         
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?

Eminem always says his message or point of singing this song in the beginning of it. Right now he asks you if you have the preparation, and focus to achieve greatness in one opportunity. He tells you that in order for you to own  it, you must  lose all sense of the surrounding world in and literally lose yourself in this one moment……

Yo, His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's chokin, how everybody's jokin now
The clock's run out, time's up, over bloah

Eminem talks about what it is like to “Choke” or forget your lyrics, and now he goes on to tell you how important it is that you lose yourself in the moment and focus, so you don’t miss your only chance at success.

Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that easy
No, he won't have it , he knows his whole back city ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that, but he's broke
He's so stacked that he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again yo
This whole rhapsodyBetter go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him

Eminem now says that if you don’t capture the moment and fail, that you must not give up, and just start fighting again. He also strives AGAIN to drive the point that you can’t let the moment end.

[Chorus:]
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime,

He now strives yet AGAIN!!!! To tell you that this opportunity comes only once in a lifetime, and that you must lose yourself in the moment…….

Blind Leading

There can be good, and bad leaders. Some leaders strive for power, and some look after the welfare of their people. This can be a common theme in life, and also in the book: The Boy in The Striped Pajamas. In this book, there is a blind leader named Adolph Hitler.

Hitler strives for power, and glory to himself. This tears apart his country, and scars their past with war. He is destined to lose, purely because he is too selfish to care about the people working for him. This theme is the same in the book; The Hunger Games, President Snow rules for all power over his citizens of Panem. He is too focused on his control to see that there is an ever-growing rebel army plotting against him. Snow was unsuccessful because he killed off the people that he ruled. He forced them to kill each other to survive. Snow was soon out-numbered by his enemies.

            There is also a theme of good leaders in each of these books. Hitler’s enemy: America, has joined forces with others and looked after them, to assure a great alliance. These healthy nations fight as one to destroy these blind rulers. Again, this is the same with The Hunger Games. President Snow has scarred his people, and that causes them to rise up and follow a promising ruler: Katniss Everdeen. Katniss truly cares about the people of Panem. This causes them to follow her lead, and rise up against Snow. Katniss is powered by care and unity, which makes her the undeniable winner of the war.

            If you choose to become a leader - and want to be a good one - then you must love your purpose. A good leader would lay everything down on the line, if it would help their people. The reason that these bad leaders couldn’t succeed is that they cared most about themselves. Hitler used his own people as human shields, and Snow killed his people for power.  This teaches us that if you have selfishness in your life, that your goals will most likely not be reached.           i5 � n H�& (�& the side to hear it better. There was a wet sensation occurring by his left ear, and it was weird, because he could feel it. He swiped the affected area, and felt a kind of thick saliva. Steven was appalled, and looked up. The second his head moved, the beast lunged from the tree, and seized Steven’s neck. His life was now over. 

There's a Monster in the Woods

The deep growl made Steven shudder with an impenetrable fear. Maybe the rumors were correct, maybe there was a big brown beast lurking in the darkness of the woods. Maybe he was just hearing things, but he was sure that the cougar was there. He peered into the dark, but it was no use. The black of night covered him like a blanket of cement. Steven couldn’t see his hand inches from his face. He fumbled to find his phone and turned on the bright screen. What he saw would forever change him. It was Chance who stood there with, hackles up, lips curled, foam dripping from his mouth, growling at him.

“It’s okay boy.” Steven cooed, as the dog’s soul-piercing eyes stayed locked upon his. Suddenly, Steven detected movement behind Chance. He broke his gaze and connected with another…… it was a female dog, lying on the ground, with four puppies cradled against her. It turns out, that Chance was a father. The monster of the woods, was truly a mother. Steven slowly backed away from Chance, and made his way back home to tell his father.

The moment Steven turned to walk away, Chance leaped upon him and sunk his teeth in Steven’s shoulder.

“AHHHHHH!!!!!” Steven screeched as the huge hound shook him wildly. Suddenly, the dog disappeared, and so did the female with her pups. Steven found himself turned around in the darkness, which direction was home? Then he realized the paw prints in the dirt. These were WAY bigger than Chance’s. Chance must have fled the scene, and that meant that the cougar was the one who attacked him! Confused in the darkness, Steven didn’t know where to go, so he just ran. He ran, and ran, and ran. After a minute he started to slow from loss of blood. When he thought that his legs could take no more, he plopped to the ground in a mess of sweat and blood.

There was a growling coming from somewhere, but he couldn’t find it. He heard a slow drip, drip, drip, and leaned to the side to hear it better. There was a wet sensation occurring by his left ear, and it was weird, because he could feel it. He swiped the affected area, and felt a kind of thick saliva. Steven was appalled, and looked up. The second his head moved, the beast lunged from the tree, and seized Steven’s neck. His life was now over.