Final Blog: Chapter 28 - 31: Perspective of Atticus

Perspective of Atticus
Chapters: 28 - 31

It was the night of Scout and Jem's Halloween festival and Scout was going to participate in the costume pageant. Scout had a fantastic Halloween costume and looked very much like a ham. To me it looked like a ham with legs. It was kind of heavy and a little poky because it was made out of chicken wire, but it was hard as a rock. Aunt Alexandea seemed exhausted because she was the one that helped create and make the Halloween festival. She decorated for hours. Scout comes home and asks me if I will be taking her to the school Halloween festival. I say that I was exhausted because I have been going downtown everyday last week. I was exhausted and needed time to relax and focus on something else beside my work. I told her to ask Aunt Alexandra to see if she wanted to do it even though she seemed exhausted. Maybe she had a little more energy then I did, at least enough to walk Scout to the festival located at her school. She went to Aunt Alexandra but then quickly came back to me and started a tantrum. She was crying and getting very mad. I told her that I was sorry but I was just to tired. She probably didn't care that I was tired she just wanted someone to drop her off and pick her up. It was very inconvenient for me to bring her to the festival I was just to tired. All the sudden Jem gets into our little conversation and tells her that he will walk her and I have no choice but to agree. I didn't want her screaming, and causing a tantrum all night long. Especially if she wanted to show her marvelous costume off to people. She worked hard on that costume. Night time soon became and Jem and Scout were off to there festival. I told them to be careful. They shut the door and left. I started to read one of my books for a couple of hours and then relaxed and listened to my radio.

I was listening to music and getting relaxed. All the sudden I hear the door knock. It was probably Scout and Jem knocking on the door I thought to myself. I opened the door and I saw an unfamiliar face. I stared at him and he looked kind of familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it but I think that I saw him before somewhere else. He looked like a country men. As I look at his arms I see that he is holding my son Jem. I start to freak out and why his eyes were shut. As soon as I noticed Jem I was wondering where Scout was. Luckily Scout was write by him walking into my house. I tell the country man to come in and lay him into his room. Aunt Alexandra comes and she is wondering what happened. I immediately go call Heck Tate and a doctor and Aunt Alexandra runs into Jems room to see if he was okay and not dead. I thought it would be improbable for him to be dead though. They soon came over and the doctor analyzes Jem. He says that Jem had a broken arm and that he was just unconscious. When I heard that I was so glad that he wasn't dead. I go over to Jem and stare at him. Heck Tate comes over to me and leads me to the front porch. I follow him and he points at something. I follow his finger and Scout comes up behind me. I saw Bob Ewell dead on the ground with a kitchen knife stuck between his ribs. Heck Tate he is dead now and that he was a mad drunk. He tried to persecute your kids. Scout tells me her side of the story. As she was talking she said that Jem stabbed him but she wasn't sure because she was in her costume still and it was pitch black outside. As black as ink. I soon yell at say it was Jem to Heck Tate but Heck Tate said it was Bob Ewell that killed himself. He said that he was drunk and he stabbed himself. He tells me that to bring her ham looking costume over to her. As I go get it I noticed that they were teared and only gave him the big parts of the costume. He looked at it and assessed the scratches and dents. He said that it was Bob Ewell and showed me the marks that he did. He tried to strangle Scout. I didn't believe it.

After 1 hour of arguing the doctor and Heck Tate left and the country man left. I consented with Heck Tate's side of the story so he wouldn't argue more. Scout noticed that the country man was actually Boo Radely. I thanked him. I could tell that he wanted to leave but before he did I asked him if he was to pet Jem. Of course he wanted to. After her pet Jem he left and was at the door. Scout follows him and Boo asks her something. They leave together. After a while they come home and I read my book. Scout comes in and sits by me and asks her if I could read her the book. I said it was to scary for her but she said nothing was too scary for her. As my agreement I turned the book to the first chapter and began reading. After a couple minutes in the book she fell asleep and I walked her to her bed. She said to me that she wasn't sleeping and told me what happened in the book. She put her pajamas on and I tucked her into bed and said "goodnight" and shut the door.

Blog Extra Credit: Chapters 25-27: Perspective of Jem

Chapters 25-27
Perspective of Jem Finch

School is starting soon and I absolutely do not want to go through our old same routine again, school, play and study. One day Scout and I were playing and talking on the porch. I was talking about how much I hated school but I didn't think she was paying attention. All she was doing was looking at the ground. I stare at her and she starts to move her hand. She picks up a critter right in front of my face and almost smashed in between her fingers. It was unbearable to see her smash a harmless bug right in front of my face. I yelled at her before she tried to kill it and she jumped in shock. I waited until she looked at me and then started yelling at her. I said there was no reason that you should kill a harmless critter like that. The roley poley didn't do anything to you. Scout's faces was completely shocked and confused. She had no idea that was coming. She looked at me like I was a complete weirdo. I said to myself that there was nothing wrong with that. I am just becoming more mature and more of a gentlemen to keep my temper down. Meanwhile everyone hears the gossip that Tom Robinson escaped jail and got shot 17 times. I hated that case. Tom Robinson should have never been dead right now. He was a good negro and he didn't cause any harm. That case was inevitable to me.It were those two Ewell's that drived me insane. Those hypocrites.

One day there was a long article in the Maycomb newspaper about Tom Robinson's death. He talks about him being a good negro and all the good in him. As I was skimming the newspaper I noticed that he was trying to make the article readable an understandable for kids not just for adults. He really wanted everyone to notice and hear about Tom Robinson's death I thought. Soon summer was over and sadly Dill had to leave. It was fun teaching him how to swim and I hope when he comes back he will be better at it. Hopefully he will come back soon and not be stuck where he is now.

School has now started and as usual it was boring and unpleasant. It was so inconvenient. It ruins the whole day. Once your done with school you basically have to do school again. You have to study and do homework. It is such a pain. I was now in the 7th grade and school work become more work and it got much harder. This year I wanted to be a little more active and a little less bored. So I tried out for the football team. I tried out but they didn't accept me as a player but as the teams waterboy. Scout thought I was to young and to slender to join it. But I wanted to do something so I gave my consent to the coach and was now the waterboy for the football team. Finally school was over and I walk by the Radely House where I see the knot holes filled with cement in the Radely's yard. I remembered all the good times and cool things we found in that knot hole. We found soaps that looked like us, gum, money string and many other items. To bad we couldn't still be finding cool stuff in the knot hole everyday we walked home from school. As we get home Scout talks about her school day today. She said that she got a teacher named Miss. Gates who was her 3rd grade teacher. Scout said that she was talking about Hitler and what he was doing to torchure Jews. As she was talking I was thinking about my day and how I didn't make the football team. I was depressed and also embarrassed. I couldn't believe I didn't make it. I guess I wasn't good enough. Scout comes up to me and we start making a conversation but I didn't like what the conversation was about. It was about the Tom Robinson case. She knew that I hated talking about that so I yelled and got mad at her for talking about it. I always get mad. Tom Robinson should of one that case. He didn't do anything wrong. The only reason that he didn't win was because he was a black. He shouldn't of have been persecuted like that. I then tried calming my self down again and tried to think of something else.

To Kill A Mockingbird #7: Chapters 20-24: Perspective of Aunt Alexandra

Perspective of Aunt Alexandra
Chapters: 20-24

Today was the day I invited all the well mannered ladies in my missionary circle to come over for tea. I helped Scout get her into her beautiful dress that she had and told her to help out serving us refreshments and food with Calpurnia. Calpurnia was in a stiff, tight looking apron. She looked like she was ready to serve or cook anything that we asked her to. I knew that Calpurnia was going to need help cooking, clean and serve us fine ladies. I started helping them get ready for this day that I was so excited for. I haven't seen my missionary circle in such a long time. It's going to be great seeing their faces again. Soon all the ladies I invited came. They sat all in a seat with smile on their faces. We started by greeting each other and then someone started up a conversation. We talked about lots of things like Mrunas and what the children did their. The children were around 13 years of age. They were crawling with yaws and ear worms, they chewed up and spat out the bark of a tree into a communal pot and then got drunk. Right after we had that conversation everyone just went right to refreshments. I was starting to get hungry though but the refreshment was nice to have. It made me get a little more relaxed to have that refreshment. I see Scout looking confused going into the dining room or just staying out of the dining room and leaving us to our business. I was in a great mood today so I let her join us for refreshments. Maybe this will teach her on being a good ladie and to learn her manners when having a tea party. We then got in a different conversation. Our conversation was a little more boring then I thought. We were talking about business. I thought it was getting boring and so did Scout but my friends were simply enjoying the conversation. I complimented on Scout's beautiful dress and outfit that she was wearing. I started looking at her and it seemed to me that she wanted to go back to her normal pursuits. She then left because she said it was boring.I felt apprehension because I didn't want the ladies thinking that she was rude. I didn't want them saying that I was teaching her manners poorly. As we started talking more about our conversation about business are voices grew louder and louder. We started talking over each other and we started just raising our voices without evening noticing it. Caplurnia came in the room and served us some food. She was a great servant. Everything was so gentle with her. As the plate of food hit the table everyone put their hands in smiling. Everyone was craving for food. Everyone ate and no one started talking anymore. I guess everyone was very hungry I thought to myself. A couple minutes later I see Scout come in the room with a silver pitcher in her hand. It was so cute seeing her with the silver pitcher wearing her adorable dress. I couldn't help but smile. She set it beside me. I asked her, "Stay with us Jean Louise." As her agreement she sat next to Miss. Maudie. I was inevitable to her. I was always watching her to make sure she wasn't misbehaving but she just looked at everyone. I did the same and I was amazed on how much makeup that these ladies wear. They lips were caked with lipsticks. It was obscure. I never noticed that they put a lot of makeup on. Miss. Maudie then said something to Jean Louise. She said that she was nicely dressed today. I thought the same to. Everyone was so polite to Scout and she was nice to them. She started making a little conversation with some of these ladies to. I was becoming very proud of her.

A couple hours later we were talking about the Tom Robinson case and all the sudden Atticus comes home out of the ordinary. Atticus interrupts the tea party and called me in. I was wondering what he wanted because he was being very rude. He interrupted my time talking to my friends. I then dragged Scout and Calpurnia with me. He said that today something bad happen. In my mind I was immediatly shocked. He said that Tom Robinson the guy that I have been helping tried to escape jail. Atticus said he got out pretty quickly and ran fast but didn't run fast enough. He got shot 17 times and he fell to the ground and had no control. I see everyones faces but everyone but Atticus's face was shocked. Atticus didn't really have a shocked face but I can tell that he was sad and depressed. Atticus stood up for this negro and tried so hard to protect him. I thought his death was improbable. Getting shot 17 times is a lot. Atticus and Calpurnia left to announce Tom Robinson's death to his family.

Journal #6: Chapters 16-19: Perspective of Mayella Ewell

Perspective of Mayella Ewell
Chapters: 16-19

I was listening to the court case and I was getting scared that we weren't going to win. But I new that I was their secret weapon. I was listening to the other people arguing and I noticed that there were raising their voices every time they started to talk again. I also noticed that Atticus was keeping really calm and only raised or changed his voice every once in a little while. But not for long because me, Mayella Violet Ewell will take control of this case and will pumble Atticus and Tom Robinson to the ground, hopefully. I wanted to pumble the defendant so badly. I really wanted this. I was so prepared for this day. I took a shower and put on what of the most professional and most prettiest dress I could find. A few minutes after the arguing they called me up. They used my full name. "Mayella Violet Ewell" they said. Judge Taylor told me to tell everyone my side of the story and I simply did. As I walked down to the witness chair in confidence I had to swear to tell the truth but nothing but the truth. I never really thought that people actually listened to that rule but maybe they did because it was in a court room and people probably had a lot of pressure. I was looking around and almost everyone in the room was so prejudice but Mr. Finch.

As I sat in the witness chair I was soon asked a question. Mr. Gilmer wanted me to present my side of the story in my own words on the day of November 21st. I sat there and was speechless. I knew what to say but was to afraid to lose the case. They will track and use any word I say against me. Another question was asked to me. Mr. Gilmer asked me "Where were you at dusk on that evening?" I said "On the porch". They asked me so many questions and I was getting really annoying. How were these questions going to help me. They did nothing but annoy me. As I see the audience they seem very interested, worried, nervous and some were a little bored. I see children and the babies on mothers arms. Mr. Gilmer asked me what I was doing on the porch and I said "Nothing." It seemed that Judge Taylor was getting annoyed because I wasn't saying much. Judge Taylor then asked me if I can tell what happened. I didn't know what to say. I thought I had this case but I guess not. I was just to pressured. I obliviously burst into tears. Everyone was quite would be and they gave me a moment to cry. Judge Taylor said that was enough crying and told me not to afraid of anything. Just tell the truth he said. I then was brave enough to say my part of a story. This is what I said. I said that Tom Robinson was walking by my house. I was supposed to cut down my chiffarobe because my papa didn't want one but I thought I wasn't strong enough to cut it down. I felt encumbered. I then saw Tom Robinson and I thought he was a strong enough nigger to do it. "Come here," I said. "I got a nickel for you." He came to my yard, so I guess it was a yes. I first gave him my nickel and showed him what I wanted him to do. I heard footsteps almost like if they were running up behind me. He then took his hands and choked me. I was struggling and couldn't get his hand off of me. He was starting to cuss me out and talked dirt about me. I tried to hit him. But it was no use. I barely had enough energy. I then took a pause and spoke again. He slammed me on the ground and then choked me again. After that he took advantage of me. I said to Judge Taylor that I didn't really know much anymore. I said that I kind of passed out after that.

After a couple seconds we stopped talking about my side of the story. They then started asking me random questions again like how old I was. How was this supposed to help us win are court case. None of this made sense to me. I took a break from answering questions. I see Mr. Finch start to snicker and giggle a little bit. I totally burst out of my shell and highered my voice. I gave my evil eye to Atticus. I yelled stop making fun of me. Judge Taylor stopped me from raising my voice. I was glad he stopped me because I was going to say some inappropriate words in my upcomming sentences. Judge Taylor said, "Mr. Finch is not making fun of you. What's the matter with you?" I lowered my eyelids and give Atticus my death stare. I said "Long's he keeps on callin' me ma'am an sayin' Miss Mayella. I don't hafta take his sass, I ain't called upon to take it," I was getting really annoyed with him. There was something stealthy about Mr. Finch. Why would he be laughing. Mr. Finch started asking me stupid questions and repeating what I said. Mr. Finch then asked me how many brothers and sisters I had and I replied "seb'm." He then asked me dumb questions like if I love my father or how many years of school did I have. Questions that I thought were unimportant to this case. I wanted to say something to him but they had the right to say anything they wanted. They ask me and repeat the same questions all the time. Did you stand up for yourself when he choked you and questions like that. For half the time in the court room I felt that was the only questioned being asked to me. A couple minutes later it was break time for me and I was finally done answering these dumb questions.

Journal #5: Chapter 13-15: Perspective of Jem

Chapter 13-15
Perspective of Jem

Aunt Alexandra is staying at our house a relative that I personally don't really get a long with that well. She is kind of strict and always wants it her way. The first thing that she said was "put my bag in the front bedroom, Calpurnia." It seemed to me that she acted like Calpurnia was a nobody. She didn't even say please. I knew that Calpurnia was an older lady and the bags seemed very heavy so I decided to the task for her. As I walk to the room I try to hold the bags up as high as I can because I dont want Aunt Alexandra yelling at me for dragging her luggage on the ground. I start to walk a little quicker because this luggage is very heavy. I was encumbered by the luggage. It seemed like she brought her whole entire closet. As I got to the room I tried to gently put her luggage down. But it was so heavy I just let it drop. "Thump" the sound of the suit case made when I dropped it. I walk back to wear Miss. Maudie, Calpurnia and Scout were at. She then tells us "Didn't your father tell you." We both shook our heads. He probably he forgot I thought. He does forget a lot of things. Probably because he is old I thought. Aunt Alexandra said that she was going to spend time with us. She said she was going to help Scout be more like a lady and she was going to make me more like a gentlemen. I wanted to make an excuse but I couldn't think of one. I really didn't want to spend time with Miss. Maudie what so ever. I asked her if Uncle Jimmy was coming and he said he was going to keep the fort down.

It then quickly turned to Sunday and Aunt Alexandra was getting irritable on Lord's Day. As the afternoon slowly went by Scout and I here a car going up our drive way. We take a peak at the window and we noticed that Atticus was home. We were all jumpy and excited. We rushed to the door as quickly as possible. Once Atticus came out of his car Scout was the first to hug him. As I watched Scout hug him I heard Scout ask why Aunt Alexandra was here. He said "How'd you like for her to come live with us?" I was completely shocked I did not want her to stay with us. All she is going to do is boss us around. I am going to be miserable with her around. Atticus said that she was going to help me out and that she is doing me a favor. Atticus said that Aunt Alexandra is being very pensive for us. Atticus also told us not to antagonize her while she stays with us. As the days went on she was starting to bond with most of the neighbor hood. Miss. Maudie baked Aunt Alexandra a cake. Miss Stephanie Crowford had long visits with her and in afternoons she had coffee with Miss. Rachel. Even Mr. Nathan Radely came over and welcomed her to Maycomb and he looked at her complacently like he was happy that she is in Maycomb.. I was kind of happy for the first few weeks because she was always busy. A couple days later there was a lady that came to our house and she was talking to our Aunt Alexandra. She was one of our cousins. Her name was Cousin Lily. Scout came into the room and Aunt Alexandra asked Scout to have a little chat with her. Scout did not know her and was oblivious that she was one of our cousins. She almost ignore her and walked away. Aunt Alexandra called me in and I sat next to Scout. She pulled out a purple covered book. I looked at the book and it looked very familiar to me. I asked Aunt Alexandra if it was our Cousin Joshua that has been locked up for so long. She told us why he got locked up and everything and I was actually kind of interested in the story she was telling us. It was then bedtime and Scout came in. We were just chatting about random things like if we liked Aunt Alexandra living with us and stuff like that. Atticus then came in and sat on my bed. He started to make a conversation and told us that Aunt Alexandra is just here to help us be a little more grown up and help us prepare for the real life. He said that she only wants the best for us. He crossed her arms and paused. He took a breath and then told us to go to bed. Scout and Atticus left and I went to bed. Atticus said "Goodnight!"

Journal #4: Perspective of Calpurnia: Chapters 10 - 12

Perspective of Calpurnia
Chapters: 10 - 12
Everyone was out of the house and I was alone. I was getting bored because there wasn't much chores to do that Atticus assigned me to do. So to keep myself busy I started cleaning the house and started making food for them so when they came back home the had something to eat.

The next day Scout and Jem started running into the house saying that there is a mad dog on the loose. I immediately want to tell everyone about the situation. The first person that I went to was Atticus. I called him up at work and told him about the mad dog situation. He said he would be right there. After I hung up the phone I immediately tell everyone even Boo Radely, but Boo Radely wouldn't emerge. I wanted to tell as many people as I can. Atticus soon came home with the sheriff of Maycomb, Heck Tate. They said it was Tim Johnson who was basically the town dog. I stayed inside and watched because I didn't want to see a poor animal just be killed without knowing. He wouldn't know what hit him. I see Heck Tate take out his rifle and put in his bullets that were around his waist. I was to scared to watch but I watched anyways. As I watched the mad dog, Tim Johnson seemed to be going in circles and wondering up and down the streets. When I was watching Heck Tate it seemed to me that he was focusing in on Tim Johnson. From the window I saw him throw the rifle at Atticus and he nodded his head. I said to myself he probably couldn't shoot it because the mad dog was probably to far for him to get a good aim. I then see Attitcus take the rifle and focus for about 10 seconds at the dog. His glasses fell off and he completely ignored it. I said to my self that Tim Johnson was in great peril. He shot at the dog and he fell down. Turning away when Tim Johnson fell down. It was the most loudest sound I have ever heard. I then saw everyone come out but I stayed inside.

The next day I was back at the Finch's. Wondering what my chores were to do now. I have already made Scout, Jem and Atticus food so the next thing that I did was continued cleaning up the house. After a couple of hours Jem comes in mad while I hear Scout crying in the background. I had no idea what happened but I couldn't help but over hear Jem and Atticus's conversation. There voices were inaudible. All I really heard from the conversation was that Atticus was forcing Jem to do all of Ms. Dubose's needs for your punishment. Of course Jem didn't want to contradict him because he would lose anyways. I hate Ms. Dubose. I thought she was one of the meanest and racist lady I have ever met. She was a very racist woman I thought. But I cannot do anything about the way she thinks about people. Jem was off to read to Ms. Dubose for about 2 hours. He has been doing it for about 1 month now.

It has been a month and a half now and Atticus got a call. He told me that he has to be gone for 2 weeks for an important job. I was speaking to myself what I was going to do with Scout and Jem when Sunday came around because those are the days where I went to church. Scout over heard me and told me that they could behave and we are old enough to be responsible and not fool around. I said that it was okay for them to go to church. It was the day before Sunday and I was getting them all baths and making them set up their nicest clothes that they had so they can wear them for church tomorrow. I was helping Scout take a bath and when she was finished I got Jem in the bath tub and helped him take a bath. He then yelled at me saying “cant anyone take a bath without family coming in.” I then left him on his own saying that he was a grown up now and he doesn't need my help anymore. When both of them were done with their baths I immideatly told them to show me what they were wearing for church. Scout was going to wear a suit that didn;t match at all with his tie. I helped him find a matching tie. When it was Scout's turn, she needed a little help. Her dress was just not good enough. So I made some changes.

The hours went by fast and it was Sunday. I told Jem and Scout to get ready because we were leaving to go to church soon. A few minutes later Scout and Jem were ready to go as I expected. When we arrive at church I see all the men and woman taking off their hats and bowing to Scout and Jem, probably because of what good old Atticus is doing for Tom Robinson. It was all but one person that didn't take any effort to bow to them or to take off their hat. It was the person that I disliked the most, Lula. She asked me why those two white children were in a nigger church. But I ignored and didn't respond. She kept on talking to me but I tried to ignore her. Church was almost over and Reverned Sykes wants everyone to donate money to the reach at least 10 dollars. I donate 10 cents. He says that this is for Helen who was Tom Robinson's wife. This money was for her to take care of her children why her husband was stuck in jail. Revered Sykes still says that there is not enough money so he tells people to close the doors so no one runs away. He says I will not let anyone out until I get the 10 dollars. No one was taking their money puches out or their wallets and it was getting hot and stuffy in here. So I take my money puch and dig for coins. While I was digging through my money pouch Scout and Jem were so generous of them to give me their quarters to give to Reverened Sykes. It still took a long time but we made it to $10 and I saw the dissapointed faces on some who had worked hard for the money but were put on the spot to give it away. But I was so proud of Scout and Jem that they had aquired a good deed on helping an innocent black person, Helen. Most kids probably would never give away their money to a blak person but Scout and Jem did.

To Kill A Mockingbird: Post #3: Perspective of Atticus

Perspective of Atticus
Chapters: 8-9

I wake up this morning and all the sudden I see our windows frosted and our front yard to be covered with white snow. I must of have been dreaming because it hadn't have snowed in Maycomb, Alabama since 1885. I go to bed thinking it is a dream but all the sudden I hear my phone ring. It was Scout and Jem's school. I asked them what was going on and they said that they had school off because of a snow day. This was very rare and very unusual. Scout and Jem run up to me saying that its snowing outside. I tell them that school was canceled for the day and they were happy as I ever saw them. Of course they immediately run out side playing in the snow. For a couple of hours I see them trying to make a snow man. It didn't really snow much but they used all the snow they could. In about an 2 hours they had built a snow man. I come outside to look at it. I stare at it for a couple of minutes. It looked exactly ike Mr. Avery. Mr. Avery was not the nicest guy in our neighbor. I say to Jem and Scout that we have to disguise it because it looked like an exact replica or clone to Mr. Avery. Jem tries to fetch some things to make it look nothing a like to Mr. Avery. For a few minutes they get all the snowman new clothes and try to perfect it. The clothes looked very acquainted Making sure that nothing is cricked and nothing can blow away. It was probably one of the most windiest days that I have ever experienced in Maycomb, Alabama. Soon it was time for dinner.

That night I wake up Scout helping her put on her coat and bathrobe. I also woke a Jem to put on some warm clothes. They had no idea what the heck was going on. I take both of them and walk to the door. As I walk to the door it gets smokier and smokier. When we open the door Scout and Jem relize that Miss. Maudie's house has been caught on fire. The fire was massive. I saw all the neighbors running in and out of her house trying to save all of her furniture. I try to join and help her because I noticed that Miss. Maudie has been very kind to Scout and Jem. I run into her house and I notice a rocking chair in the corner of the house. It seemed special and it she might have been fanatical with this rocking chair because the rocking chair looked very old and precious to her. I took the rocking chair and head out the door. Several minutes later the fire truck comes in but it was almost to late. Her house was almost completely burned. All the sudden I see Boo Radely come up right behind my daughter, Scout. He has a blanket in his hand and he puts it around Scout. She looks like she didn't even notice that the blanket was put on her. After a few minutes I ask her where she got the blanket so she would notice it. She had no idea where she had gotten it and seemed to perplex. Jem tells her that Boo Radely put it around you. She had the most shocked face ever. Boo Radely comes up to me and explains all the stories about knot-hole and all the hidden gift that were in it. He also explained why the knot - holes were covered in cement. I tell Scout and Jem about the stories and why the put cement in the knot- hole. When I was telling them Scout just randomly threw up and told me that she couldn't believe that Boo Radely put the blanket around me.

The next morning Miss. Maudie was happy as ever. Even when her house got burned down. She was smiling and told us that she always wanted a bigger backyard and she hated the house anyways. I would consider one of my favorite neighbors.

Today is a big day for me. It was the day that I had to go to court. My job was to defend a black man being accused of raping a white woman. I thought that I had no chance of winning this argument but I had to try. I just hope that I do a good job debating. I had to entrusted with Tom Robinson case. Plus on top of that my brother Jack was coming into town for Christmas. When Scout and Jem came home from school they were suprised that their Uncle Jack was in town. Usually Scout was pretty calm and nice to Uncle Jack but I guess not. Scout just cussed Uncle Jack out. A couple days later Christmas had come. For Christmas I thought it would be a good idea to take Jem, Scout and my brother Jack to Finch's Landing. It was where my sister, Alexandra lives at and her husband. I tell Scout to play with their little boy Francis but she seemed kind of scared to approach him. I started talking to my sister, Alexandra. I look at Scout and they seemed to having the worse time with each other. Scout seemed so bored.I started to talking to my sister and her husband for a while. I hear my brother come up and yell Scout and heard a huge smack. It then clicked in my mind that she had been spanked. We arrive at home and I am just worried about my court case. I have a discussion with my brother Jack. I say to him that the black person, Tom Robinson is innocent but doomed.

Journal #2: Perspective of Jem Finch: Chapters 4-7

Chapters 4-7:
Perspective of Jem Finch

I was in school and like Scout I thought the days were endless and completely boring. They were long and tiring. Our teacher was about to start on a new lesson but luckily school time was over. It was time for me to go home. As I walked down the streets I get to the Radely House. Taking one big breath just in case something surprisingly happens to me. I try to evasion the Radely House so I don't get so scared and keep calm. As I walked completely pass the Radely House I started to walk a little faster to my house which was only a few steps away. As I got home I started to work on my homework that my mean and boring teacher had given me. A couple minutes later Scout had come home. As I looked at her I see her chewing something in her mouth. She tells me when she was walking by the Radely House she saw a tinfoil sticking out one of the oak trees in the Radely's front yard. She had grabbed them and she found 2 pieces of gum. I asked her if she was chewing the 2 pieces of gum in her mouth right now and she replied yes. I get my angry voice turned on and told her to spit the gum out immediately and she is trying to stop me saying that she made sure that it wasn't poisonous.We started to quibble. I told her that it still could be and to make sure I yelled at Scout to take the gum out of her mouth. My tyranny that I had put on Scout was so shocking to her that she immediately put it in the trash.

A few weeks later summer had begun and Dill had come back to Maycomb, Alabama. For most of the days we played games and just had fun. One of the games we played was with a tire. We would role the tire to each other. When it was Scout's turned she roled it as hard as she could to Dill but it was completely off from him. It ended up landing on the Radely House's steps. At this point everyone was completely shocked. This gave me an idea of another game but it involved messing with Boo Radely. We play for a couple of hours until my dad, Atticus shows up. He asks us if any of our games had to deal with the Radely's. I try not to tell the truth so I lie and say that none of our games are dealing with the Radely's.

As I play more games with Dill we start to become really good friends with each other. I hang out with Dill more then I hung out with Scout. I always thought that Dill was always more fun then Scout. We play games together, build things together and have fun together. We never usually played with Scout anymore because she would be always hanging out with Miss. Maudie. I was having a blast with Dill. After playing with Dill several hours I decided to make the games a little more exciting. What I was thinking was writing a letter to Boo Radely asking if he can come out of his house. Dill and write a letter and were about to put it under his door, but my dad Atticus shows up again and yells at us saying that he doesn't want us tormenting the Radely's anymore.

It was sad to say that it was Dill's last day in Maycomb, Alabama. For his last day I didn't obeyed my fathers orders and asked Dill if he wanted to mess with the Radely's. Of course he said yes but when I told him Scout over heard and of course she wants to join as well. I said that she could but she couldn't tell anyone. She said "yes". We all hop the gated fence to his backyard and see an old loose shutter. We go to the shutter and I teetered going up the steps to the shutter. Dill, I and Scout look through the creeky, old, loose shutter and see a man. A man with a hat on. We have just been looking at him for 5 minutes straight because we barely see Boo Radely. All the sudden we hear this loud noise. It was so loud that it almost made my ears bleed. We hop the fence. When it was my turn to hop the fence my pants got stuck. I tried so hard to get them off but I had no choice but to leave them there. As I run to my house to fetch some pants I see everyone in a circle around Mr. Nathan Radely. He was holding a black shiny sniper gun. Hopefully I can get all the info of what just happened from Scout.

Summer was finally over. I was a grade higher and Scout was in the second grade. Scout and I thought it was worse then last year. It was even more boring. After school one day I was going to get my pants that I had left when I had hopped the fence. When I got to the Radely House I saw my pants neatly folded on the side of the fence. I thought it was completely weird. Why would he want to come out of his house. Did he know that I tried to look through his house. I was completely freaked out. I went to tell Scout about it and she was wondering if he knew that we had snuck in his backyard and looked through his shutters. When we were passing the Radely house we see something knot hole in the oak tree. We saw a hidden present but we didn't take it just in case it was someones. After a couple of days no one had claimed it me and Scout decided to take it. A few weeks later we see another present in the knot hole. We pick up the present and they were two soap figures. They were carved in the shape of humans. We were looking at them and we noticed that they had the same traits of us. Scout figured out that the soap carvings were us. We were wondering who carved them and we were thinking Mr. Avery. In late fall we came back to the Radely House to the same oak tree and we found it covered with cement. I asked. Mr. Nathan Radely why is was covered in cement and he said that oak trees were dying.

Journal #1: Perspective of Walter Cunningham: Chapters 1-3

Chapters 1-3:
Perspective of Walter Cunningham.

I was working on our farm in Maycomb, Alabama going barefoot through barns and hog wallows taking and cleaning after our animals. Almost everyday working on our farm I was thinking about school and how it was coming up so fast. I didn't want to go to school what so ever and was the last thing on my mind. Going to school is going to be a bit eccentric then my daily schedule just working on my farm.

3 days later school had began worrying about my hookworms that I have gotten from walking through our filthy barns. Hopefully no one will notice even though I thought it looked pretty bad. I arrive at school and I see all the boys and girls in my class with some of them with their lunches beside their desk. I see my teacher Miss. Caroline with her red and white striped dress and high heeled shoes. Miss. Caroline soon begins to teach by starting to write her name on the board and introducing herself to the class. She starts to read a book about cats and I am not liking it one bit. Just sitting at a table was so boring for me. Not doing anything. No talking, no getting up out of your seat. Just writing and listening to her talk. Ms. Caroline was starting to irk me because she was making class so boring. I couldn't handle it. After she was done reading the book she started talking about the alphabet. I was getting really bored and was starting to get a headache. She asked us if anyone knew what these letters were. A tom boy in my class raised her hand and read the alphabet out loud. Ms. Caroline started to get a little frustrated at her and told her to make sure her dad didn't teach her anymore because she knew the alphabet pretty well. Miss. Caroline was pretty malevolent to Scout.It started to get a little more exciting in class I thought because they started arguing for about 5 minutes straight. Almost everyday Ms. Caroline caught her doing something bad. Either writing a letter to someone instead of printing or butting in other peoples conversations like she did to me. One day Ms. Caroline came up to me and asked me if I had a lunch. I turned around and I was nervous that people were going to notice that I had hookworms. I replied, "No Miss. Caroline I don't have a lunch." She was considerate enough to open her purse and give me a quarter, but I refused because I had no way of paying her back. My family got hit pretty hard by the Great Depression. We can barely pay off anything right now. Miss. Caroline asked me why I didn't take it and then the tom boy, Scout blurted out that I was poor and that I don't take anything that I cant pay back. Miss. Caroline got mad at Scout and punished her by whipping her with her ruler.

The next day around lunch time I was walking in the school yard. All the sudden Scout comes up behind me and takes me down wondering why the heck she is beating me up. She started to intimidate me and started rubbing my nose into dirt. It was very unpleasant but I was use to the smell. I smell dirt 24/7 when I was working on the farm. I was pretty indigenous to dirt. Her brother Jem stopped the fight and asked her why she did that to me. Scout replied that, that is what he deserves for getting me in trouble. Jem started going on that Scout was older then me and a lot taller then me. At around dinner time we went to the Finch house for my dad to discuss about farming issues. While having dinner I start to put syrup all over my food. When my food was covered Scout yells at me saying that was so gross. An African - American lady called Scout's name into the kitchen. Probably for yelling at me when I am just a guess.

The next day after having dinner at the Finch house I had to go back to school. School was such a pain I thought it was terrible and boring. A couple minutes into class Miss. Caroline starts to freak out randomly. Class was starting to get exciting again. Miss. Caroline says that there was a bug in this boy's hair. The boy was named Burris Ewell. I have noticed that he doesn't come to school a lot and that he is poorer then my family. Anyways Burris digged through his hair trying to find the bug in his hair. He takes the bug out of his hair and smashes it with his index finger and thumb right in front of Miss. Caroline. I thought it was pretty gross. Burris Ewell was not the nicest kid in my school. He was pretty mean half the time. Miss. Caroline began to teach again and started to bore the class and it felt like another day at school again.

Project Reflection

Immigration Project Reflection
By: Trent Smith

Literature Circle Books/ Blogs:
The book that I chose is A Long Way Gone by Ishamel Beah. My experiences of this book were surprising and shocking. I was surprised on how much killing and violence Ishamel Beah saw in this book. Not only did he had to see his family disappear and be taken away he also had to feel the pain of others suffering and also see the tragedies that others have lost. I thought this book was very shocking because the rebels did many bad and scary things to innocent people. They shot people for no apparent reason and they would laugh at them when they were either suffering from death or being tortured by them. It was like a second Holocaust that Ishamel Beah went through. I am glad that I picked this book. This book was not boring at all. It was very descriptive and detailed and this book really got the emotions out of you. He explained everyones feelings so well and so descriptive.
What I learned in this book, A Long Way Gone was about war. Sometimes you have to take risks to survive that you wont normally do in ordinary life. There was not many options that you really had if your stuck in war. You are strictly in or going to be in survival mode.
I would not want to change anything in this project. This project was pretty well done and is a good amount of work to do for an 8th grader. I wouldn’t want to add anything else. I thought it was great idea that we got to make a painting about our work because it was a great way to learn more about our work.
I actually liked the blogging part about the lit circle projects. It makes people make sure that they are doing all of their work and to make sure that your group is seeing your blog by commenting. I thought that blogging was great, it was easy and you got to read what people wrote, instead of people just reading it to you. I think that responding was a good idea because as I said before it makes sure that people are looking and reading your blog posts. It also shows other peoples agreements or disagreements when they comment on the quote and question you put on your blog. It is also a great way to read about what other people had to say.
I had no problem with blogging. It was an easy way for doing lit circles and was less stressful. We had tons of time at home to do our literature circle meeting posts and responses. A problem that I had was commenting though. Sometimes I commented and I clicked “comment” button, but when I commented it took a long time to refresh the page to show my comment and it said,“page error.” Then I tried pressing the “back” button and all my work was erased and I had to comment again. This happened a couple of times to me. I thought that my group members did a great job on commenting and also posting their lit circles. They gave me good feed back and answered the my questions with detailed information. They did fantastic.

Art & Literature:
I chose to make a book cover because I thought that would be the most fun and easiest thing for me to make. I thought that I could make a book cover because I thought the front cover makes people not only want to read the book, but it also has a story behind it and to find out why the book cover is like that you have to read the book. The original painting I wanted to do was a cultural component about the war, Africa and the situations he was in. I decided not to do this because I thought the viewer or the person that was looking at my painting would not get it at all. I thought it would be a little random to put different things that are not all related to one thing. I was also going to a famous painting. The famous painting that I chose was “The Scream.” I decided not to do that because many people did that painting already. Plus someone in my group was doing the same famous painting as me. So I was left with the book cover and I am very glad that I stuck with that choice.
I feel that there was a connection that was easily made between the art piece that I created and the book that I read. In the book it mainly talked about a kid going to war and the hardships and challenges he had to go through. This related to my painting because I painted a young boy in black holding a rifle gun. In the background I used camouflage warfare background, telling the reader or viewer that the little boy was in a war. So I thought that I made a really well resemblance to my book. My main goal was to try to make the reader understand that this book is about a little boy going to war and to make the reader say that the book cover basically tells the story and the book cover relates to the book a lot. I also wanted the reader to read the book to find out who really is the painted person in black.
I am absolutely surprised the way my painting turned out. It was amazing. I didn’t think that it was going to turn out this well because I would always mess up on tracing my sketch on the canvas board. I also had second guesses because at first I had no idea on how to make a book over. I am very glad that I stook with this idea and I am very proud of my art piece. I have been hearing many compliments from teachers and students too.
Something that would enhance my art piece is probably going back and putting multiple layers of paint on my canvas board.. My painting had some white spots, which I sadly forgot to paint over. Luckily there was not many spots on my canvas board that I had to fix. I would also want to put the “Gone” of my book title on the right side instead of the left side. Some people got confused because the “Gone” part was on the left side. I thought it looked good like that, but others got confused. I wouldn’t want to enhance or fix anything else. This part of the project is really fun. I thought that my painting turned out neat, organized and wonderful, I am very proud of my art piece.
I did not really learn much from my LC novel with art. I mostly learned about war and how cruel and harsh they were to others. They killed many innocent people. Maybe one thing that I learned was trying to make the book cover relate to the book. You want to make sure that the book cover related to the book because when someone reads it, and looks at the cover, the person that is reading it is going to be confused and thrown off. But I did not really learn much on my literature circle book with art.

Interview Process with Participant & Gift:
I thought that the interview process was kind of difficult. I had to ask questions that were really straight forward because my immigrant did not know how to speak English well. He did not answer most of my question because they weren’t really straight forward questions that he could answer. But he did a great job answering his questions in English. This also made it difficult for write questions because they had to be straight forward and also made it hard for me to write down the answers to question because he had a very heavy accent.
I went to the IRC so I didn’t have to interview him in 3 different ways, but I had to have a inperson interview twice. The first time I went to the IRC they were very friendly and treated me with tons of respect. I was very excited to meet my immigrant. When I started asking my immigrant some questions he was confused with several of them. He probably only answered 10 of my 25 questions I gave him. So it was kind of hard communicating. When he did answer my questions he had a very thick accent and a very soft voice, so it was hard to hear him. The second time I interviewed him, it was a lot better. He learned a lot of English and he translated better to me. I also made ure that most of my questions were very straight forward. It turned out to be difficult in the beginning but more smoother in the end.
Something that I learned that was unique about him was the clothes that he was wearing on the first day I met him. It looked like he was wearing a homemade shirt with a cultural looking vest over it. It looked very interesting and unique. Our clothes in America look so much different in Burma and Thailand. Something that we had in common is that he had 1 brother and 2 sisters, just like me. We both had a family a 6 and the same amount of brothers and sisters. A fact that I thought was interesting was they had no education in Burma/ Thailand. Most of the time they had to work. He worked on a farm. He worked with many animals like goats, pigs, horses, cows and chickens.
Learning about an immigrant that we interviewed and the things we learned in class really understood the life of an immigrant. They have to leave many of their cultures and traditions behind. They also have to remember many things like how to speak English, which is the hardest language to speak. Interviewing an immigrant really taught me the life of immigrant and the challenges they have to overcome. It isn’t easy as it looks.
I thought that making a gift was a nice and respectful idea to do for them because they took their time to help us on our project. My experience on making a gift for my immigrant was a fun thing to do. I made a scrap book for my immigrant because he talked a lot about himself. If you are making a scrap book you have to really go deep in your answers and pull out facts about his or her experiences come to America. Making a scrap book is difficult if you don’t plan out what is going to be on every sigle page of the scrap book. When I did my scrap book it was simply and quite fun to do. I already planned out what is going to be on every single page. I thought this was a fun experience because this is probably my first scrap book that I have completely finished and filled every single page of my scrap book with facts and pictures about him.

A Long Way Gone: Post #6

Quote #1: "I feel as if there is nothing left for me to live for." I said slowly. "I have no family it is just me. No one will be able to tell stories about my childhood." I sniffled a bit."
- Paragraph 1
- Page 167
- Said by Ishamel Beah

Response: I think that this quote relates to the question, "what hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?" I think the quote relates to that question because he does not have any family that he has right now. He has no one to look up to and no one for him to take care of. He is a very lonely boy and is probably very confused. He lost everything to his family and his friends to his home. Now he is thinking that life is over for him and he can't do anything in the life he is in. I think this is really sad because I would be shedding tears if I knew that my family was gone and my friends. But at least Ishamel has Esther.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: Ishamel is a very nice boy who wishes that none of this war would happen. He has lost almost everything. To his home, and his family all the way to the lost of friends. He is probably very confused on why they chose him to be in the war and to lose all of his family and other things that were dear to his heart.

Question: Do you think he is ever going to see his family again? Why & Explain.

Quote #2: "He scratched his head and mumbled something to himself. "I am sorry about bringing up this matter again. I know it will upset you, but I have to be honest with you," Leslie said. He walked around the room and began:"We cannot locate any immediate family member of yours, so we have to find you a foster family here in the city. I hope that will be fine with you. I check on you after you've completed your rehabilitation to see how you are doing in your new life."
- Page 170
- Paragraph 7
- Said by: Leslie

Response: I think this quote relates to the question, what hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?" I think it relates to this question because I think this is a big hardship that he has in his life. He basically has no family anymore. They cannot find one person. Now he has to be sent to a foster home which I think is more sad because he will never forget the old family he had. He is probably very mad because it is all the wars fault. The war is messing Ishamel's childhood up.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: Ishamel is having a very hard time taking everything in. He now heard that he has to be sent to a foster family because they cannot find anyone in his family that is around. He lost almost everything he had and he really wants to just give up on life at this point. He is a very brave boy and hopes that his bravery will give him the best for him. He is willing to anything for his family back.

Question: If you heard what Leslie said, how would you react? How would you feel? Do you think it would be hard to believe that all of your family is missing?

A Long Way Gone: Post #5

Quote: "She threw a package at me. I held it in my hand, wondering what it was and why she had gotten it for me. She was looking at me, waiting for me to open it. When I unwrapped it, I jumped up and hugged her, but immediately held back my happiness. I sternly asked, "Why did you get me this Walkman and cassette if we are not friends?" "And how did you know I like rap music?"
- Page 154
- Paragraph 3
- Said by Ishamel Beah

Response: I picked this quote because I thought that this quote kind of related to the question, "How do Americans treat the characters?" I think this question related to the quote because I think because he got taken out of the war he feels a lot safer and happier. Plus they are being really nice to him by giving him cool toys and rap music that he probably lost in the war. He is also making more friends easily.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: Ishamel is really happy and safe that he got to get out of this war. He does not show his happiness and kindness a lot to others and gives a mean attitude for no reasons sometimes. He gets kind of frustrated easily a little bit in the book so far.

Question: If you were in Ishamel's position and you got to get something by nurse Esther, what would you want and why?

Quote #2: "For than twenty-four hours we retreated and attacked, using the arms and ammunition from those we had killed.
- Page 156
- Paragraph 3
- Said by: Ishamel Beah

Response #2: I think that this quote relates to the question, "What challenges do the characters face upon their arrival?" I think this relates to that question because that is a challenge that he had to overcome. He was being surrounded by rebels and they already killed 5 of their men. They were in trees and bushes and even right in from of them trying to aim fire at Ishamel and his troops. I think that was a big challenge that he had to over come at an age like this.
(He is explaining what happened to him in the war to the nurse if you did not get what I was on.)

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: Ishamel is a very nice person. Right now he is summarizing in great details what he went through with his nurse. He explains his journeys with great details like it was yesterday. Ishamel always likes to see the good things in others and likes to see people having a good time and smiling. He loves to have friends and bonds well with others pretty easily. He is a great friend to have and watches peoples backs. He also does not want his friends feeling bad so he tries to make the best for everyone.

Question: If you were in Ishamel's position and you had to explain what you went through in the war with his nurse, would you try to make it sound good or make it sound horrible. Because Ishamel tried making it sound good because he did not want seeing his nurse cry. So what would you do and explain why?

A Long Way Gone: Post #4

Quote #1: "We stayed in a big unfinished cement-brick house a long with other boys. A large green tarp served as its roof, and we slept on the cement floor on tiny blankets that two people shared."
- Page 101
-Paragraph 3
- Said by Ishamel Beah

Response: This quote relates to the question, "what hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?" It relates to this question because he got captured by the rebels. Now he has to serve them by killing their own. He has to do whatever they tell them to do unless he wants the risk to be killed. He has to sleep in a small, unfinished cement brick house while sleeping on the cement floor. He barely had warmth and shelter. Next to them is where the rebels stayed at. They stayed in a bigger cement brick house but it was a little unfinished and broken. But it was better then the one that Ishamel had. If Ishamel ever wanted to escape it would be really hard because the rebels are watching their every move.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: Ishamel is doing not so well. He is only a kid and he has to deal with harsh punishments that he does not even know what he did wrong. Ishamel Beah is a very nice kid and he always like to see his parents happy. As much he wants to interrupt them he doesn't because he loves it when his dad and mom smile at each other and at him.

Question: If you were stuck in this position how would you feel and what would you do?

Quote #2: "I wanted to hold the moment longer, but not only to celebrate our victory, but because the smile on my parents faces that evening made me so happy that I felt every nerve in my body had awoken and swayed to the gentlest winds that sailed within me.
- Page 102
- Paragraph 2
- Said By: Ishamel Beah

Significance: This related to the question "what challenges do the characters face upon their arrival?" I think the quote related to this question because Ishamel does not have both parents aside him everyday. Seeing them right now made him probably feel good inside and if I was in his position I would feel the same way. It is a challenge that he has to face upon because he never really see's his parents everyday because of the war and because they are divorced he does not have both of him aside him everyday.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: Ishamel is a very nice kid and wishes to have his parents back together. It seems to me that he can't really stand his parents not together because he always wished that they were always together. Other then his parents he is struggling with the war. He really wants out. He can't stand taking a gun and killing his own kind because the rebels told him to. Also struggling for food and shelter. Everyday is a risk for his life.

Question: How would you feel if you couldn't see your parents everyday? Right now Ishamel is in this position and he does not really see his parents everyday.

A Long Way Gone: Post #3

Quote #1: "My body shook, my sight became blurred, and I lost my hearing for several minutes"
- Said by Ishamel Beah
- Page 121
- Paragraph 1

Significance: The significance of this quote is that when he gets deeper into the war he starts to take on more adult and bad type behavior because everything to him right now is life or death. He is going a little crazy right now because he is having drugs and cocaine. He is starting to get shaky and is having reactions to the drugs. No one is there to stop and him and to take care of him. He is losing it a little bit and he is not taking care of himself or being responsible. He needs his parents, his family and his childhood back.

Relation: This relates to the question "what challenges do the characters face upon their arrival?" and the question "what hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?" I think this relates to the question "what challenges do the charchters face upon their arrival" because when he arrives and gets deeper into the war you can see that they face a very bad war. It is getting more dangerous by the second and the rumors are getting worse everyday. He is losing it now and is having trouble taking care of himself. He is now taking drugs and cocaine. I thought this also related to the question "what hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?". I thought it related to that question because the character, Ishamel Beah is starting to get a little crazy. He does not know what to do now because he has no parents, family or company to tell him what is wrong from right. He is not taking drugs which is not a good thing for a kid at this age.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: So far in the book Ishamel Beah is not making good choices and I think he is missing his family and friends. He does not know right from wrong anymore and really doesn't have a clue what is going on anymore. He is taking drugs and cocaine which is not a good sign for a young age like him.

Question: Why do you think he is taking drugs? Why & Explain

Quote #2: Our job is serious one and we have the most capable soldiers, who will do anything to defend this country. We are not like the rebels, those riffraffs who kill people for no reason. We kill them for the good and betterment of this country. So respect all these men."
- Said by the lieutenant
- Page 123
- Paragraph 5

Singnificance: I think the significance of this quote was to teach people that killing people because they wanted something like drugs or to kill innocent people for no reason is not who they are. They are to keep our country safe and to defend it to your best. They kill people for reasonable causes not for unreasonable reasons.

Relation: I think this relates to the question "what challenges do the characters face upon their arrival?" I think the quote relates to this question because they have to keep control of themselves. They are getting a little over board on things like drugs. They are risking to kill people to get what they want which everyone know it is not good at all. They have to overcome this challenge because it is not right. It is very wrong to do that to an innocent person. They are getting to addicted to it.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: Ishamel Beah is having trouble with some things, mostly about drugs. He used to be a really nice kid who always wanted company and never did bad things. But not he is risking the chance to kill someone to get what he wants which is very cruel. He is killing innocent people for no apparent reason. He is getting to addicted to drugs.

Question: If you were in his position and you wanted something really bad that another person had would you kill them for it? Why & Explain.

A Long Way Gone: Post #2

Quote #1: People stopped trusting each other, and every stranger became an enemy.
- Said by Ishamel Beah (the author)
- Page 37
- Paragraph 1

Significance: I picked this quote because it related to the question, "What challenges do the characters face upon their arrival?" I also thought this kind of related to the question "How do Americans treat the characters?" I think this quote relates to the question"What challenges do the characters face upon their arrival" because when they came everything turned out bad to begin with. Now when we get deeper into the book and they get deeper into the war everything gets worse. Not even their friends and families can be trusted because the rebels told the children to kill them. Everyone is now a complete stranger and an enemy. No one does not want to take the risk to be killed. I think this quote relates to "how do Americans treat the characters." I don't think there were a lot of Americans where he is at right now because he hasn't immigrated yet. But I think it relates to this question because people heard rumors that the children were armed with guns and that the rebels told him to kill their families and friends. So everyone is scared of them and are trying to hurt them so they don't kill anyone.

Personal Connection: Character Judgment: I think that Ishamel Beah is a very nice boy that takes risks to survive this war. My feelings toward him are sad and scared. I would be scared for him because he has to be careful of not only soldiers and rebels but now innocent people to. Everyone is afraid that he is going to kill someone right out of the blue. I also feel sad for him because no child would want to be carrying a gun and be in a war at this age. To find your own food and to risk your life everyday to stay alive, and to might see their friends and family be killed.

Question: Do you think someone is going to be pretty close to killing Ishamel Beah because there is now a rumor that says that children carry guns and are forced to kill their friends and family?

Quote: "The silence in the village was too scary. I was scared when the wind blew, shaking the thatched roofs and I felt as if I were out of my body wandering somewhere. There weren't footprints of any kind. Not even a lizard dared to crawl through the village."
- Said by Ishamel Beah (the author)
- Page 46
- Paragraph 1

Significance: The question that I thought this quote related to was the question, "What hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?" I thought the quote related to this question because when they get to where they are everything was terrible. Now when they get to this village it is empty and Ishamel is very scared. This I thought was a hardship because he has to face various risky situations. If he thinks a lizard can't take one step into the village then there is probably something wrong. He probably thinks that there is someone there getting ready to shoot.

Personal Connection: I thought that this quote related to when I went to a haunted house on Halloween. I was abut 8 years old and they made you go inside the haunted house in groups of 3. I thought it was very scary and could not put 1 step inside that haunted house. I ended up not doing it because I thought it was to scary. I think it was my first haunted house I have even been to.

In the 7th chapter it said that they tied their feet together and tied there hands to their backs until their elbows touched and were going to drown them in the rive/lake. Ishamel Beah got out of it by telling him what rapping was. If you were Ishamel Beah how would you react if you saw all the people being drowned? Would you react?

Field Trip Reflection

From Haven to Home:

The purpose of this exhibit was to learn about the importance of Jews, some of their culture and some famous and important Jews. In this exhibit I learned numerous facts about Jews. Some of the facts I learned were that about 9,000 Jews fought in the Civil War for the Union and that 3,000 fought for the confederacy. I also learned that in 1654 a group of 23 children and adults arrived in a Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, which we call New York. The group of the 23 Jews wanted to seek a safe home. They were looking for a safe place to live in because the have been expelled by the Portuguese conquerers of Brazil. Pieter Stuyvesant wanted to expel the 23 Jews because he thought they would make a financial burden to the colony. I also learned that our first president, George Washington made sure that that Jews would have the liberty of their religion. Another interesting fact that I learned what the in 1924 the set immigration limits, Congress effectively closed “The Golden Door” to Eastern European Jewish immigrants. In 1841 the first Jew sat in Congress. Also in 1906, Oscar Stravs became the first Jew in the United States cabinet. Another interesting fact that I learned was in May of 1902 twenty thousand women from New York, Lower East Side broker into a kosher butcher shop and threw the meat into the streets, doused it with kerosene and set it to blaze. They did this because Jews ate different foods then what other people eat. Another interesting fact that I learned that the first Jews settled in Las Vegas around the year of the 1800’s and some of the famous Jews arrived in the early 1940’s. I also learned that in the year of 1869 the first loan was 500 dollars. I also learned that a Jew named Judah P. Benjamin was the first elected Jew to the United States senate. There were some many interesting facts that I learned about Jewish people that I have never really learned before.

Children of Immigrants:

The photo I chose was called, "Boy from Albania is fingerprinted upon arrival." This picture was a young Albania boy that was getting ready to get his thumb finger printed. The boy looked scared in a way and looked like he didn't know what was going on. The Albania boy was in the middle of the picture. Next him was a guy holding his thumb to get it stamped which covered most of the little boys body. Behind him was a guys arm looking like he was trying to reach over him. The reason why I chose this picture because the little Albania boy had a lot of emotions in his eyes. His eyes showed me 3 different emotions, sad, confused and scared. I think he was mostly sad and scared because he lad to leave his home and doesn't know what they are doing to him. I would be sad and scared to if I had to leave my foreign home. A quote that I chose was by Tamara Farnik. Her quote was, "America had anything we need: technology, goods. At least one person from every nation lives here. People immigrate to America because they know it's the land of freedom and a better life. I see Americas as a land of opportunities." I chose this quote because I thought it said a lot from one person. I also chose this quote because I thought that this quote could relate to everyone who is living in America. In America I think it is a land of opportunity's. We have everything that any person would ever wanted in technology and in goods and if we don't have it then someone has the freedom to make it. In other countries there are many rules and you don't have the amount of freedom you would have in America. I think this quote is saying that we have more freedom that other countries don't have. The personal essay that I chose was called "The Home of the Brave" by Mark Sena. In this essay it was a about a boy that lived in the Philippines that had to leave because the struggles they were dealing with over in the Philippines. So they immigrated to America. In the story he mentioned that it was hard dealing with immigration, but is needed. In America he learned our language, English and the traditions we do and eat. He stayed in America for 2-3 years. Here in America his little brother was born. After the struggles were over in the Philippines he moved back and forgot most of his language in the Philippines and forgot almost all the traditions he had in the Philippines. This was again a hard struggle for him to immigrate back but he wanted to.

A Long Way Gone: Post #1

Quote #1: "Two days after that visit, we had left home. As we now stood at the wharf in Mattru Jong, I could visualize my father holding his hard hat and running back home from work, and my mother, weeping and running to my little brother's school. A sinking feeling over took me.
- Said by the author.
- Page 11, Paragraph 5

Significance: This related to the question, "What challenges do the characters face upon their arrival?". This family is going to face a lot of new challenges, like missing there home and having to survive the war that they are in. When the authors family got to Mattru Jong the author saw people wounded, bleeding and running away, even little boys and girls were running with the large crowd saying the names of their moms and dads. The authors family walked six miles to were the grandma's village were at and when they arrived it was deserted and all they saw were the footprints left in the sand.

Personal Connection: I think that this family is going to have some hard struggles, especially the author, Ishamel Beah. So far I think that Ishamel Beah (the author) is very nice to his friends and family. As I was reading I can tell that he was scared and also sad because he had to leave his friends behind and is scared that he in a war. Ishamel Beah seems like a trust worthy person and also wants to protect his family. After a while Ishamel Beah starts to get week and has no food to survive off of. When he tries to find food he sees the dead bodies of others left behind and sees how awful they were badly hurt by the soldiers.

Question: Do you think that Ishamel is going to be captured and be badly beaten, hurt or tortured? Explain why.

Quote #2: "He was behind us, aiming his gun at our heads, and at some point he said, "If any of you makes a move, I will kill everyone. So don't even breathe too hard or it might be your last." He laughed and his voice echoed in the distant forest. I prayed that my friends and brother wouldn't make any sudden moves or even try to scratch an itch. The back of my head was getting warm, as if expecting a bullet anytime."
- Said by the author and soldier.
- Page 32, paragraph 1

Significance: This related to the question, "What hardships do the characters endure as they make a new life?". The hardships that Ishamel Beah is going through are pretty scary and intense when they are trying to make a new life somewhere else. Ishamel Beah's family totally switched to become a normal life to a huge disaster. The hardships that they face is being scared for their family every second of the day. The soldiers could kill anyone if they wanted to especially one of your family members so they could torture you and make you miserable. Another hardship they face is trying to find food without being captured of killed.

Personal Connection: This connection is not related to me but kind of related to my grandpa. My grandpa was in World War II and everyday of that war he risked his life. In this war he was captured by the Japanese and had to build a bridge called the Bridge of Kawi. I don't know the exact name of the bridge, but I think that is what its called. He had to build this bridge over and over again because they would always be bombing it. He didn't get much food. He probably got only a spoon of rice and spinach and that was it. This kind of relates to what Ishamel Beah is going through becuase he is strugglung for food and is risking everyday to stay alive

Question: Do you think that Ishamel Beah family is going to survive this war or do you think that a member of his family is not doing to survive this war? Explain why?

Immigration

My definition of an immigrant is a person who is born from another country that comes to a country legally. An example is if a person was born in Holland and moves to the United States. That would be called immigrating. Anything about moving to a different country is considered as immigrating.

A connection that I have with immigration is my mom's side of the family. My mom’s side of the family was originally from Holland but moved to the United States because they were tired of the weather there. It was to cold.

My mom’s side of the family which are my 2 aunts, my uncle, my mom, my grandma and my grandpa are all immigrants who originally were born in Holland. On the other hand my dad’s side of my family are all from the United States and didn’t really bother making a change in where they lived.

I really don’t know the answer to this question but I think it’s because they are tired of the weather and don’t like it. Also they might think its to dangerous to stay in their country and maybe they just want to move because they are tired of their home country and want to move to a more different place. To discover more places, animals, and historic things.

In San Diego I see a lot of effects dealing with immigration like languages like Spanish and foods like Chinese and Italian food. We have several foods and languages going around in San Diego. Also, some places in San Diego have immigration in them. We see people all around us with different races which means that someone in their family must of have immigrated to the United States. We also have people with different cultures like using chopsticks instead of a spoon. There are many different immigrants all around us.