The Compound Book Project

The science fiction futuristic book called The Compound by S.A. Bodeen is a wonderful read. I think that the overall theme of the book is deception is evil. Throughout the book, the dad lies to and deceives his children in many of different ways. One example is that everyone had to be in a compound for fifteen years because there was a “nuclear bomb.” Six years into it, they find out there was no bomb, and the dad knew it all along, and could have gotten them out at any time. Throughout the book, the kids and wife slowly find out the truth of more deceptions and lies until they hate their father. His father regretted all the lies, because it caused his children and wife to hate him, and never forgive him. In this story, the main conflict is that the dad of this rich family is keeping them in a compound and won't let them out. They can’t make any decisions for themselves, because their father is the dictator and controls everything. At the end, despite their father trying to stop them, the family gets out of the compound. Overall, I believe that the theme of the book The Compound was that deception is evil. This is because in the story the father shows deception and is always tricking everyone, and in the end, the good prevail and the evil father fails.

The Ugly Caterpillar by Colton O'Connell

     There was once a Kingdom of butterflies, and the King and Queen had three little baby girl caterpillars. As time went on, two of the caterpillars grew big and beautiful, they were plump, and had lavender stripes on them. While the third was scrawny, wrinkled, dry and ugly. One day, their mom the Queen told them that she was getting old, and would need someone to take her place. She explained that the most beautiful butterfly, after they all cocooned, would take the throne.
     Time went by fast, and the pretty caterpillars were getting better looking, deeper colored, and more striped. They each thought they would win for sure. While the third one was still ugly, skinny, and blotchy. She new she would never even have a chance at winning.
     Finally, the day came and all three of them cocooned. The next days were filled with suspense for the whole Kingdom. Two and a half weeks later, the cocoons started to hatch open. The first beautiful caterpillar revealed herself as a gorgeous fuchsia butterfly. The queen thought that her first offspring would win for sure. Then, the second beautiful butterfly appeared, and it was just as gorgeous as the first, except chartreuse in color. The Queen thought that this was going to be a very tough decision. Finally, the scrawny caterpillar emerged butt first, in an awkward position. The queen was starting to feel bad, but then the little caterpillar turned around no one could believe their eyes! It was the most stunning butterfly they had ever seen. It had fuchsia, chartreuse, and periwinkle stripes, and had huge dazzling wings.
     The Queen was very proud and gave crown to the third butterfly, and the other two were gracious losers. The sisters of the new Queen became royal advisers, and they all lived happily 'til the end of their days.

We Breathed You In Poem Analysis

       I think that the poem "I Breathed You In" by Patti Tana was a touching piece. Symbolically, the author wants to tell the people that died on 9/11 that they will always be with us. The tone of this poem is kind of depressed yet good. While everyone is quite sad about everyone dying, they know that the lost will be forever remembered. When Tana says, "Now your souls reside inside our cells, our thoughts," she means that no matter what, everyone will always be part of us. Overall, I think this was a very well written symbolic piece of sadness and beauty.

The Pearl Theme

     The theme of the story "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck is that you don't always get what you want. This is shown threw the character Kino. He is constantly trying to get what is best for him and his family, but he always seems to fall short. Even though he is helped by his wife, his brother and luck. That is because you don't always get what you want. Like when Kino tries to sell his pearl for a lot of money. ""I am cheated," Kino cried fiercely. "My pearl is not for sale here." 

Constructional Response #2

The story “A Dark Brown Dog” by Stephen Crane is very well written but also gets quite depressing. It is told in the point of view of third person. The tone of “A Dark Brown Dog” is a sad one. It seems that the dog tries to be good but everyone beats him up anyway. Some word connotations are “despair” to describe the dogs feelings as he sinks to the ground. Another connotation is “terror” which describes the dogs eyes. The author says “His eyes grew wild with the terror of it.” This text being in third person really makes a different perspective than if it was in first or second. Like, we don’t really know all about any of the characters. All the author tells us about the main character is that he is a child. “A child was standing on a street-corner.” Lastly, the depressing tone of this story gives it a saddening feel. Like their is a heavy weight on your stomach.

The story “The Day I Got Lost” by Isaac Bashevis Singer is very strange and descriptive. It is told in the first person perspective of Professor Shlemiel, who is very forgetful. I think the tone of this piece is rather confused. He always seems to have lost something and is confused about what to do about it. Here are a couple dilemmas in the text, “Where is my pen,” “Where do I live,” and “Where’s my umbrella.” Here are some word connotations. “forgetful” describes how Professor Shlemiel is never remembering to do things. Another is “I am always misplacing things.” Misplacing also shows his forgetfulness in a pleasant way. The first person perspective is great because you always get to learn a lot about the main character and his habits, that is why it is so different from third person. Finally, the forgetful tone makes this story kind of funny. Overall, I think that the two texts, “A Dark Brown Dog,” and “The Day I Got Lost,” are very good stories that have many different qualities.