Persuasive Writing

Ever since I was a kid I remember people telling me that abortion is wrong. Some people would say that if your taught or told something your entire life you’re going to agree with it because that’s all you know. That may be partly true, but I like to think that I’m old enough and know enough to have my own opinions. I’ve read the facts and I believe that in almost every situation abortion is wrong. People who are religious normally disagree with abortion the most. Well there are a lot of people who don’t believe in god or any religion that think abortion is wrong too.

People say that it isn’t taking a life because a baby isn’t a person until it’s born. Studies show that eighteen days after conception the human fetus has a heart, and at twenty-one days that heart begins to beat. Many people’s response to that fact would be that there’s more to being a human that having a heart. It may be true that there is more to life than having a heart but there isn’t a person who can live without one either. The truth is there are many scientific facts people can look at to show that abortion is a terrible thing. So scientifically when does a life end? Today, the definitive and final measure of the end of human life is brain death. This happens when there is irreversible cessation of total brain function. The final scientific measurement of this is the permanent ending of brain waves. Brain function, as measured on the Electroencephalogram, "appears to be reliably present in the fetus at about eight weeks gestation," or six weeks after conception.

In my opinion abortion is only okay in two situations. If a woman is raped and gets pregnant, for nine months that woman is going to have a constant reminder of that horrible event. In that situation I think abortion can be understandable. The other reason is if a woman’s life is in danger due to the pregnancy. If you get an abortion to save your own life then that can be understood. Other than that I don’t believe it can be okay. Most people who have an abortion do it because they got pregnant by accident and don’t want a baby. Well if you engage in sex you are taking that risks that you or that other person may get pregnant. If you are willing to take that risk then you need to be ready to take that responsibility.

Now saying everything that I’ve said I’ve never been in a situation where I had to make that choice. I’m sure that getting an abortion is a hard choice to make. I know that every year thousands of women have to make that difficult choice and I have nothing against the women that choose abortion. I’m sure that’s one of the hardest decisions a person can make and I feel for everyone who has to make it. At the end of the day though I guess I just see it like this, no matter what scientist or doctors say there’s no way I can be sure of when life begins. What I do know though is when it ends, and a human life is the most valuable thing there is, and its never okay to take that away from someone.

Realism

The Story of an Hour

This story does a really good job of showing you exactly what the characters are feeling, and gives you a good since of the environment around them. "She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky." This describes the character probably the best that it could. It’s not necessarily written in a way that people can relate to it but more in a sense that you can understand exactly what she is going through.

The Social issue here is how woman were treated back then. After rereading this story and learning to understand it a little better I found that when Louise (Mrs. Mallard) finds out her husband is dead, she is relieved. Its interesting that her name is only said once in the story and ever other time she is called Mrs. Mallard or she. This shows that she wasn't respected as an individual but only as her husbands wife.
The Battle with Mr. Covey

The writer displays the setting really well in this story. You can tell this takes place on a plantation, back when slaves were still around. This best description was when he described how being Mr. Covey’s slave had changed him. "I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!" I can’t imagine how much it must have sucked to be slave, but this gives a pretty good example.

The social issue is about racism and how bad slavery was back then. This shows you just how bad people had it back then. This guy was treated terrible, which all slaves were. "I told him as well as I could, for I scarce had strength to speak. He then gave me a savage kick in the side, and told me to get up. I tried to do so, but fell back in the attempt. He gave me another kick, and again told me to rise." This passage shows the cruelty that was shown to black people. In today’s time, even though a lot of us think we know what it was like for slaves, we really don’t. This story not only shows you how badly they were treated, but what happened when one man stood up for himself.

It’s easy to see the purpose of this story is to show people the struggle slaves went through. Even though slavery is no longer a part of our culture, it effected so many lives back then, and people need to know that. One of the darkest parts of our countries history isn’t something that should be forgotten. Forgetting about slavery would be like Jewish people forgetting about the holocaust. Even though its something terrible that happened, it happened, so we should never forget. I think the author wrote this to remind people how bad things were back then, so we can see how far we’ve come as a nation.

"The Catcher in the Rye"

One of my favorite books is "The Catcher in the Rye" and I think it’s a good example of modern realism. It’s about a teenage boy with teenage angst. The whole book is just him trying to make it through day after day. It shows relationships really well, and it is really easy to relate to. We all are teenagers at on point and it’s not always the best part of our lives.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is in chapter 10 when he is meeting an old girlfriend." I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can." The reason that is great is because it’s true and real. We’ve all been with a girl, and even if we barely know them, when were a teenage boy, we might think we love them. It’s realism because we’ve all been there, and when we read it, we can relate to it.

Dark Romanticism

Nathaniel Hawthorne
The main reason for him to be considered a Dark Romantic or against Transcendentalist would probably because of the man his great grandfather was. I can see how that would make him believe that not all people are good. The difference between him and Poe or Melville is that nothing really bad happened to him exactly or at least that I read. He just knew that his Great Grandfather was very bad man so he believed people weren’t all generally good and people are generally bad.

Herman Melville
If anyone saw what Melville saw it would be hard for him or her to believe in the Transcendentalist philosophy. He saw human beings eating other human being. When you see terrible things it can effect the outlook you have on life severely. Even though the cannibals we’re probably doing what they were raised to do, and what they thought was right, when a man that’s taught his entire life not to do those things, it would really change him.

Edgar Allan Poe
Poe is the only one on the list that had bad things happen to him. I know there’s no such thing as luck, but if there were, then he would have had the worst luck. He probably believed not only were people bad, but that god wasn’t too great either. Transcendentalist believed god spoke through them. Well Poe had so much taken away from him he probably either hated god or didn’t believe in him. Someone who loses everything isn’t going to see the good in anything, probably not even themselves. He wrote stories about people who got more and more evil, he probably was using himself as an example

I think I would fall somewhere in the middle between the Dark Romantics and the Transcendentalist. In my opinion the are no absolutes. No one is all good or all evil. What makes people different is that some of us choose to do the right thing and that some of us don’t. So I guess I believe that what you do or see in your life determines what you are and what you believe.

The Black Cat
I thought this was a pretty good story. I see why it’s said that Poe’s stories demonstrate a person’s descent into darkness. It demonstrates well how the Narrators anger go worse and worse. He starts out just hitting the animals, then kills Pluto, and then kills his wife. He just gets worse and worse until he finally gets caught always like it when a story wraps things up well. He killed Pluto, and then after killing his wife, the only reason he got caught was because of the other cat. I’m sure were supposed to believe the new cat is a reincarnation of Pluto or maybe just another cat that knows what he has done.

I can defiantly see how this is against Transcendentalism. They believed god did things through them and made them good. The story says that the character is bad and he just can’t control his anger. "I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket ! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity." This definitely sounds more to me like something evil was taking over. What he does is not something that god would want someone to do is help them do.

"But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan." That’s definitely not something the transcendentalist would believe burying an axe into his wife’s brain is something an evil person would. This is saying that this guy is not a good person. He’s a murderer, which is something that I doubt a Transcendentalist would ever write about. How could they that someone that would kill there own wife would be a good person or be part of god. I’m sure this probably really pissed transcendentalist off because it was saying that their beliefs were completely wrong.

Writing Three

The Community in Schools program has changed my life in so many ways. Two years ago I didn’t know if I would even graduate high school. Now I’m making good grades, and I am on the right track to graduation. It’s not that I’m not smart; I just haven’t always been motivated to go to school. Communities in Schools has made school seem like an important part of life that I don’t mind doing. I’ve always wanted to go to college and have a good future. I just hated going to school. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the people there, but I just couldn’t find the proper motivation to go. Now at Classic City High School, in Athens, Georgia, I’m enjoying school, and I’m on the right path to graduation.

One thing Community in Schools has taught me is that if I put my mind to it success I can go to school and make it through. If I work hard enough, I can accomplish anything. Its funny how at one school you can be bored, and somewhere else you don’t mind going. I’m not saying I look forward to going to school. I don’t think anyone actually looks forward to it, but I don’t dread it anymore. I can get up in the morning and not have any reason not to go.

Grades were never really a problem for me. Instead it was too many absences. I missed too many days of school. So even though I had good grades, I still didn’t get credit for the classes I had finished. The funny thing is that the attendance policy is even stricter at Classic City High School than it is at other schools. I still get up every morning, and get ready and go to school without feeling any dread about it. It might be because I enjoy the people here better, but it is just a completely different feeling. It feels a lot less depressing than other schools do. Instead of finding excuses not to go, I try to do what ever it takes to get there. I can’t be sure what my GPA would be in another school, but I wouldn’t be willing to bet it wouldn’t be better than it is here.

The Community in Schools program has also helped me by providing good things to put on my transcript for colleges to look at. The service learning program, which allows students to work within the community, would probably look best of all on my transcript. I did my service learning at an elementary school where I helped in teaching different grade levels and different students. My job was basically to be an assistant, but sometimes I actually got to help a kid learn something important. I am pretty good with kids because I have a much younger brother than myself. Not only was it a good thing for colleges to see or to help me learn it was also surprisingly enjoyable.

Communities in Schools has helped me out in many ways, and I owe that program my gratitude for helping me become the student I am today. I know I will graduate, go to college and have a future. I think better about myself than I ever have, and that’s saying something about a guy with a pretty big ego. I hope every student with a problem with school learn’s about Communities in Schools. Communities in Schools has helped me, my friends and many other student’s across the country get a second chance. Everyone deserves a second chance at least once in there life.

Transcendentalism

Each piece of writing had a different example of Transcendentalism. The whole point to this frame of mind is that people need to do as they think they should and not how other people believe they should. It’s different from Romanticism and Rationalist by saying live for yourself. The others were saying that we as a group should believe in God or Use what God gave us. It’s more like they wanted people to all see things the same way and wanted to all be a group of one. Transcendentalists believed do what you feel is right and believe in what makes sense to you.

"Nature"
I would have to say that in Waldoe Emerson’s "Nature", the whole point is to be one with nature and where we came from. If Transcendentalism is about God speaking to us through nature then this was definitely describing that. "I am nothing: I see all; the currents of the universal being circulate through me; I am a part or parcel of God." This is a perfect example of Transcendentalism in how he says he is part of god and God can see through him.

I guess by believing in this he thought poeple were generally good. I can see how that is a nice thought and all but I just don't really see how anyone could think that way. I mean life is hard now but from what i've heard it was a lot worse back then. The death rate was more likely and diseases spread faster. I couldn't think that way, but we are all different. It takes a lot of faith to believe in something that strongly.

"Self-Reliance"
The meaning of this passage isn’t all that similar to "Nature". It seemed to be more focused on accepting yourself for who you are. My favorite part would have to be the part he talks about being misunderstood. He give’s example’s of great men who were misunderstood but did great things. Then he says, "To be great is to be misunderstood". That’s a pretty cool way to look at things and it shows that transcendentalist looked at life with a much broader opinion.

He seemed to be the kind of person that believed if you followed your heart you would be okay and do the right thing. I think him saying "To be great is to be misindersood" meant that if you follow everyone elses opinion, the you won't be listening to god, sense god talks to you through your heart. So to be great, you'll listen to your inner self and not what everyone else tells you todo.

"Resistance to Civil Government"
This is also a good example of someone who believed people should think for himself or herself. He believed that if you don’t agree with something then you shouldn’t be a part of it. He also said it isn’t your job to stop it, just stay away from it. He made his example by not paying taxes to a government because he was against slavery. Unfortunately there isn’t really a place in the world where you can just live by your own rules, and not have to be apart of the government. All land is pretty much owned by someone.

He kind of pulled that off though. I read that he lived in a cabin in the woods for two years. He did this to distance himself from society, and of course the government. I thought it was interesting how he really seemed to follow Emersons outlook on life. The whole great equals missunderstood thing was something Throreu really lived by. He didn't want to be like everyone else, he wanted to live life his own way. He listened to his heart and noone elses. I'm sure a lot of people thought of him as kind of crazy back then, and they probably still would today.


Scenario Number 2

If I were in Chris’s shoes I would decide to do what would work out the best for me in the next couple of years. If your wife wasn’t supportive and decided you had to either choose to between a job as a teacher or her, then it would be a hard choice. I am a rather stubborn person so would probably take the job then possibly regret that decision a few years down the road. It does say though that she would be the one that would have to pay for his extra schooling so without her support you’d be screwed anyway and wouldn’t be able to return to school. I guess after a while though I would just ask her to support my decision and that and hope that she would, if not, I then I would just always wonder.

A transcendentalist on the other hand would probably say do what your heart is telling you to do and support yourself. For example Waldoe Emerson said in "Self-Reliance" that you should think for yourself and except yourself. He would say that if you didn’t go back to school and become what you wanted to be you would be going against yourself. You wouldn’t be doing yourself justice, instead you would just be doing what you thought would make everybody else happy. I believe he would tell you that you only get one shot at life, and you should do what you feel would make you the happiest.

Independent Reading

I just finished reading "Dexter in the Dark". The third book in the series is by far my favorite. The big mystery in this one was what exactly is Dexters "Dark Passanger". You find out that it has a large past and it is more than just a part of Dexter's mind because most of the book he is without it. Without his Dark Passanger you get to see a much more human side to Dexter, which sad and funny. This book is just as funny as the first to with Dexter having to worry about marriage. Overall it was a great book, I didn't love the ending, but it left me wanting more.

Independent Reading

I just started reading "Dexter in the Dark", the third book in the Dexter series. The first two books had murder mysteries and this one is no diffrent, the twist is you are getting to know the "Bad Guy" before Dexter does. At the end of a couple of chapter it calls him the watcher and he is following Dexter after he has seen him kill a victim. Jeff Lindsey, the author, is also doing a good job of keeping Dexter funny and sarcastic. So far the third book is just as good, if not better, than the first two