My School Writing
This page will house my school writing. Any school writing assignments or pieces will be here. I hope that you enjoy them and leave feedback in the comments.
Below is my first school writing assignment my One-Book One-School essay on Eleven. In this essay I focused on explaining how the theme always look for the good is displayed in the novel.
Elijah Kennedy
Ms. Greene
English C period
20 September 2019
Always Look for The Good
9/11, a tragic day in America’s history, a day of chaos and destruction, but good still won on that day of tragedy.That’s what we should be thinking about instead of all the hate and negativity. Eleven by Tom Rogers, is a fictional novel that follows the events of this day and a boy named Alex Douglas, A-Dawg for short. Alex turns eleven on 9/11. All he wants to do is sit in his room and play video games, and he wants a dog. He goes to school like every boy his age, but this day is a lot different. Alex learns many lessons throughout this day and grows into being a much better person. But, after saying hurtful things to his father than seeing what had happened, the only thing Alex has left is hope. Hope is what guides us through the darkness and Alex was very hopeful. Hopeful that his dad would come back. One of the lessons/themes that he learns is to appreciate the good when faced with something bad and negative. There are many examples in this novel where this theme is shown. I will use those examples to prove that this theme is a valid one and important in this story. I will choose to look to the good rather than sulk in the bad. Always find the good and hope during times of tragedy is the theme of Eleven.
In addition, I believe that this theme is very important to this story and the growth of Alex’s character. “ ‘It all depends on how you look at things, Mac continued, When Dottie started to slip away, all I could see was what I was losing. Now I treasure everyday with her.’ ” {Rogers pg 143}. I think this quote is saying that if you only focus on the negative things, then you never get to see the positive. As soon as you stop seeing all the negativity and unhappiness, you start to appreciate the good more. Mac shares this knowledge with Alex understands what it means. This theme is important to the story, because all Alex can think about is the bad things and if his dad will come home or not. Mac told Alex to look around at the things around him that still existed like the sky being blue and the dogs still barking. Alex learned this theme than started to look up to the good things instead of drowning in his sorrow, he started to have hope. And as he played with the planes with Mac, the sadness and confusion slowly drifted away. This theme plays a vital role in the growth of Alex’s character. Things were looking up for Alex now and he’s started to change from the little brat he was into a kid to appreciate the hope and happiness that he has and all the responsibilities that he now has.
Furthermore, Alex has just met Mac and they are conversing over the idea of Alex making deals with the universe. Mac then goes on to explain, “ ‘There’s always bad stuff and good stuff in the world. I guess it means keep searching for the good’ ” {Rogers pg 142} This means that there will always be bad people and bad things in the world, but the quote is saying it’s better to look for the good. This quote was very important to the story and resembled in a way to keep looking for the hope, that last bit of hope you might have just on to it and look around for more of it. Peer through the curtains of negativity and find the hope. This is really what Mac is trying to tell Alex. He’s trying to tell Alex to have a little hope that his dad will come home and that everything will be alright, because Mac knows it will or has hope. Compare it to if you’re having a really bad day, it makes the good days look so much better and you appreciate them more. .
Moreover, Alex has changed so much throughout this novel, from a senseless and nieve brat to a person who realizes that he has responsibilities, and has to be a real hero not a virtual one. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but he does know that it’s bad and he needs to keep his sister safe. Another quote by Dottie this time changes Alex even more. Dottie is the wife of Mac and some of her memory and sanity was lost in an accident. But before that happened, Dottie used to say things like this. “ ‘Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.’ ’’{Rogers pg 142.} This quote is projecting to the hundreds if not more, to fix their mistakes and look up to the good. This is once again important to the story and growth of Alex’s mindset and ways of thinking. In the sense that Alex know now knows not to say things like his dad wasn’t going to come home.
In conclusion, it’s beneficial to always look at the bright side of things and not sulk in sadness. It can help you find the hero in you and change your mindset completely. Having hope and looking for the good is what keeps us humans going, it’s what gets us through those bad days and makes us look forward to the good ones. Sure we can’t change the past and the horrible things that happened, but we can look to the bright side of the future. If we all just have hope. I compared this theme to my school week, I go Monday through Friday just wishing it was the weekend, then once it’s there I appreciate it. Alex made it through that day of chaos and his Dad did come home and they had a happy reunion. If we all just have hope and look for the good, that’s the best thing we can have in terrible times.
The Outcome Revealed
First, stalk the Old Man, then kill the Old Man, and finally disassemble the corpse. This was the thought process of the Narrator, in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart”. The story is about this Narrator who is obsessed with this Old Man, who seems to have certain qualities the Narrator doesn’t like. The gory detail that he goes into makes the story even more chilling. The Old Man inches closer and closer to death and with it comes more and more suspense in the story. As the story becomes increasingly horrifying the reader starts to recognize that the Narrator is an unstable, paranoid and insane person. The Narrator’s true nature and self are both revealed when the narrator decides to murder the Old Man, this justifies the initial outcome of the story.
The Narrator lacks the stability that any normal person would’ve had to be sensible do things that reflect normality. This instability leads to him developing an elaborate plot to murder the Old Man. Only an unstable person, like the Narrator would be able to plan and follow through with an action such as murdering someone, so serenely and easily. It’s almost as if it was easy for the Narrator to murder the Old Man. It is his instability in the end that also makes him out himself to the police. The text highlights this by stating,
“With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once — once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done” (Poe 11).
This proves to the reader that there is something abnormal about the Narrator, and that he does seem off. Only a very violent and unstable person would be able to go about a murder with such lack of sympathy and actually be happy after doing it. The Narrator has many different qualities that prove to the reader what kind of person he is. His actions really do change the outcome of the outcome of the story for the worse.
The Narrator has the trait of insanity which influences his choice to try to prove he is sane the entire story to the reader and to murder of the Old Man. He has this mind that is twisted and tries to persuade the reader the entire story that he is like any other ordinary person. Only a person that is insane would ever try to do this. This is also a sign of unreliability that the Narrator also has. The author states,
“True! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them.” (Poe 1).
This explains that the Narrator’s first words of the short story imply that he is immediately trying to persuade the reader that he is sane. Yet, the entire story that the Narrator tells proves multiple times that he is insane without coming out and saying it. The Narrator obviously is lost in the mind, but also very unreliable because of the fact that he cannot produce solid statements anywhere in the short story and has hallucinations. He doesn’t seem to have a solid grip or understanding of anything in the story and therefore proves to be unreliable and insane.
After feeling a guilt he has never felt before, the Narrator is paranoid to the point where he outs himself to the police for the murder of the Old Man. The Narrator feels extremely guilty, after murdering the Old Man. What he is feeling is very intense, and he thinks that he can still hear the heartbeat of the Old Man pounding in his ears after the murder. This proves that the Narrator is very paranoid after the murder. This specific trait, paranoia and the Narrator murdering the Old Man is what causes the outcome of him confessing to the police. The text states,
“Oh God! what could I do? I foamed — I raved — I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder — louder — louder!” (Poe 17).
The Narrator is experiencing an extreme guilt after murdering the Old Man. These feelings of guilt come after he murders the Old Man, yet the fact that he is paranoid is what causes him to feel this guilt. These feelings make the reader start to hear the pounding of the Old Man’s heart in his ears. This later causes the Narrator to confess to the police about the murder of the Old Man.
The Narrator’s true nature and self are both revealed when the narrator decides to murder the Old Man, this justifies the initial outcome of the story. This Narrator believes that he is completely sane, stable, and fine, when in reality he is the complete opposite. He is insane, unstable and paranoid. These characteristics cause him to do certain things that later alter the outcome of the story. He teaches us (the reader) that no human can act normal after a great guilt. The Narrator connects to people who have completely lost all grip on life in real life. People who really have no sanity left. Lurking in the shadows could be one of these people so keep your eyes wide open, because they might be right there and you’d never know.