Author 1: Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton whom was born on 11 August 1897 in East Dulwich, South London, was one of the distinguished authors of children’s storybooks. She has sold over 600 million copies of her works which made her books one of the bestsellers. Besides that, her books have also been translated into over 90 different languages. Although she had a good relationship with her parents, but soon after, her parents were separated, and she and her siblings had to put on an act whenever people asked where their father went. Due to this, it affected her negatively, both emotionally and physically. As a result, she wrote about her traumatic experience in a book called The Six Bad Boys. Futhermore, after she got married, she found out that she could not conceive a child owing to her uterus not fully developed, which could have been one of the effects of her father leaving. Blyton attended a small school called Tresco, later she became a student at St. Cristopher’s School, and finally went to a music school which was the Guildhall School of Music. Blyton wrote a lot of story books and poems in between but her most remembered works were Noddy, The Famous Five and The Secret Seven series which were all published in the 1920s-30s. Moreover, other famous works of her were Adventures of the Wishing Chair and also The Enchanted Wood. Nevertheless, she ran into a controversy as her writings were not consistent and the speed of her works that she produced made others assumed that she had an army of ‘ghost writers’, which she strongly denied. Since she wrote on a variety of genres, including mystery stories, fantasy, biblical narratives and more, libraries and schools started to ban her works in the 1950s and onwards. Additional... ... middle of paper ... ...f the Baltimore Gun Club that decided to build a large enough gun that could launch a rocket to the moon, suggested by their president; Impey Barbicane. However, when an opponent of Barbicane betted that the project will fail, it motivated them to make it into a “manned” flight, which eventually turned it into an international race into space. Around the World in Eighty Days Around the World in Eighty Days tells about an adventure of Thus Phileas Fogg who sets out on his journey around the world with Jean Passepartout in order to prove that it is possible to travel around the world in 80 days. However, during his journey, he met many challenges from the transportations, locals, and even from his own group who tried to stop or delay them from succeeding. The places include Egypt, Suez, Bombay, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, New York and back to London.
In the book “The Boys of Winter” by Wayne Coffey, shows the struggle of picking the twenty men to go to Lake Placid to play in the 1980 Olympics and compete for the gold medal. Throughout this book Wayne Coffey talks about three many points. The draft and training, the importance of the semi-final game, and the celebration of the gold medal by the support the team got when they got home.
Darryl’s life is worth fighting for. “You can’t buy what I’ve got.” ‘The Castle’ directed by Rob Sitch, about one man, his family and neighbours on the verge of being homeless. Darryl Kerrigan, the “backbone of the family” won’t stand for that. Of course no one can buy what he has. He’s spent almost his entire lifetime building what he has, why should he give it up? Darryl’s way of life is simple yet filled with family values. 3 Highview Crescent is the home to Darryl, his wife Sal and their 3 children: Wayne, Steve, Tracy and Dale. (Wayne currently being in jail.) The house is made up of love, and simple family values. Darryl’s also added bits and pieces to it. He’s added on so much to the house, his own personal touch. His neighbours, also in the same bout are almost family to the Kerrigans. Jack and Farouk are another reason why Darryl’s ready to take matters into his own hands.
After reading the story, I found I had mixed emotions about it. To explain, when we were getting into detail and finally finding out what really happened the day of June 28th, I found myself completely interested and glued to the book. I also enjoyed the way the incident was explained because I felt like I was there watching it all happen from the great detail. I enjoyed Phillips style of writing because through his writing, he really came off as an intelligent person who is very familiar with the legal system. The book is an easy read, and I liked the non-pretentious style of writing. I did not find myself struggling with reading the book at all, which made the overall experience that much more enjoyable.
In the novel The Sisters Brothers, we learn a lot about the two brothers Eli and Charlie. Their violent history as professional killers as a job leads the readers to believe that killing is a part of them, and nothing will ever change that. In my opinion, I think Charlie would have the hardest time adjusting to living in a peaceful environment, and “’removed from all earthly dangers and horror” rather than Eli having a hard time. From what I know by reading the book, I’ve learned that Charlie Sister is more actively violent than his brother Eli. I believe this is true because in the book during the early beginnings of the story line, their commander they’ve been working with for such a long time gave the brothers a task, and Eli was more hesitant “What if Warms not there? ‘He’ll be there’ ‘What if he’s not?’ ‘God damnit he will be’ ” (Dewitt. 10). As this quote proves that Eli Sisters was more hesitant towards their task to kill Hermann makes me believe that deep down inside Eli wants to change the way they live, and Charlie would have more of a hard time. You could tell that Eli was more eager to find Warm, while Eli contemplated the “what ifs” scenarios. The possibility of Charlie being front man instead of Eli can play a part on why Eli is more resistant than Charlie. Also, the personality that Eli portrays is more of a caring, soft, tender heart but those personality traits can be misleading because Eli still participates in the acts of killing. Secondly, I believe Eli and Charlie cannot remove themselves from the life style they grew up in because; they’ve made many enemies along the way. Hypothetically speaking what if they do successfully open up their shop, and one of the customers they get happen to be an enemy, o...
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose I. Authors Background Stephen Ambrose was born in 1936 and grew up in Whitewater, Wisconsin, a small town where his father received the M.D. At the University of Wisconsin, he started as a pre-med, but inspired by a great professor he changed his major to History. After getting his M.A. degree at Louisiana State University, he returned to the University of Wisconsin to complete a Ph.D. Ambrose began teaching at the University of New Orleans. He started as a Civil War historian but changed to political history after President Eisenhower asked him to become his biographer. Since then, Ambrose has written more than twenty books. Among his best sellers are D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, Undaunted Courage and Nothing Like It in the World.
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate is the story of an African boy, Kek, who loses his father and a brother and flees, leaving his mother to secure his safety. Kek, now in Minnesota, is faced with difficulties of adapting to a new life and of finding his lost mother. He believes that his mother still lives and would soon join him in the new found family. Kek is taken from the airport by a caregiver who takes him to live with his aunt. It is here that Kek meets all that amazed him compared to his home in Sudan, Africa. Home of the brave shows conflicts that Kek faces. He is caught between two worlds, Africa and America. He feels guilty leaving behind his people to live in a distant land especially his mother, who he left in the midst of an attack.
Black Hearts tells the story of a few bad soldiers from 1st platoon, Bravo company of the 1-502nd Infantry Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, that was plagued with toxic leadership and lack of control over soldiers. The book documents the events that led to the ultimate demise of the soldiers involved in the horrific incident that occurred on March 12, 2006. Four soldiers were arrested in the brutal murder of an Iraqi family, which was a result of the lack of leadership and structure these soldiers received. Black Hearts takes a deep look into what happened to this troubled platoon and what unfortunate events occurred during their deployment.
While reading the fiction book, Good Kings Bad Kings I realized that there was a strong connection between what actually happened back in history to those with mental and physical disabilities. Even though the book was wrote to entertain, it also had me thinking about history. For example, while reading through the book I would relate back to some of the readings we read in class. These readings were “An Institutional History of Disability” and "Disability and Justification of Inequality in American History". Some of the key things that, also, stood out to me were the way the youth were treated, how workers were treated, how ableism was presented, and why people were put in these facilities.
A true war story blurs the line between fact and fiction, where it is neither true nor false at the same time. What is true and what is not depends on how much you believe it to be. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” from the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author provides various definitions to how the validity of a war story can be judged. The entire chapter is a collection of definitions that describe the various truths to what a true war story is. Unlike O’Brien, who is a novelist and storyteller, David Finkel, the author of “The Good Soldiers”, is a journalist whose job is to report the facts. Yet in the selection that we read, chapter nine, Finkel uses the convention of storytelling, which relies heavily on the stories the combat troops tell each other or him personally. Finkel attempts to give an unbiased view of the Iraq war through the stories of the soldiers but in doing so, Finkel forfeits the use of his own experiences and his own opinions. From O’Brien’s views on what a true war story is combined with my own definitions, I believe that Finkel provides a certain truth to his war stories but not the entire truth.
What is human nature? How does William Golding use it in such a simple story of English boys to precisely illustrate how truly destructive humans can be? Golding was in World War Two, he saw how destructive humans can be, and how a normal person can go from a civilized human beign into savages. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the theme of human nature to show how easily society can collapse, and how self-destructive human nature is. Throughout the story Golding conveys a theme of how twisted and sick human nature can lead us to be. Many different parts of human nature can all lead to the collapse of society. Some of the aspects of human nature Golding plugged into the book are; destruction, demoralization, hysteria and panic. These emotions all attribute to the collapse of society. Golding includes character, conflict, and as well as symbolism to portray that men are inherently evil.
William Golding’s book, Lord of the flies, begins with the central character stuck in a jungle of which he knows little about. Ralph as we later find out his name, is the athletic, level-headed, leader of the boys on the island. He is the emotional leader of the group, and he has a major influence on all of the other characters. Ralph is used as a sort of reminder of the old world. He reminds the boys that there are laws and rules and everyone must abide for survival. When the boys realize that they are not at home anymore and they being to rely on their natural instincts they lose the society that man-kind has created. Ralph is trying hard to keep the boys together because he knows if they are not the chances of being rescued become lesser.
Through attention to detail, repeated comparison, shifting tone, and dialogue that gives the characters an opportunity to voice their feelings, Elizabeth Gaskell creates a divide between the poor working class and the rich higher class in Mary Barton. Gaskell places emphasis on the differences that separate both classes by describing the lavish, comfortable, and extravagant life that the wealthy enjoy and compares it to the impoverished and miserable life that the poor have to survive through. Though Gaskell displays the inequality that is present between both social classes, she also shows that there are similarities between them. The tone and diction change halfway through the novel to highlight the factors that unify the poor and rich. In the beginning of the story John Barton exclaims that, “The rich know nothing of the trials of the poor…” (11), showing that besides the amount of material possessions that one owns, what divides the two social classes is ability to feel and experience hardship. John Barton views those of the upper class as cold individuals incapable of experiencing pain and sorrow. Gaskell, however proves Barton wrong and demonstrates that though there are various differences that divide the two social classes, they are unified through their ability to feel emotions and to go through times of hardship. Gaskell’s novel reveals the problematic tension between the two social classes, but also offers a solution to this problem in the form of communication, which would allow both sides to speak of their concerns and worries as well as eliminate misunderstandings.
Civilization can be destroyed as easily as it is created. Without the walls of society, humans are capable of committing actions that they would have never thought possible. Lord of the Flies focuses on a group of boys who are alone on an island without authority. The novel reveals what can become of humanity without the presence of authority. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the protagonist Ralph symbolizes leadership, civilization, as well as the loss of innocence. Ralph is the closest resemblance to authority that the boys have on the island. His appearance plays an important role in him signifying authority, “You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no evil” (Golding, 10). His appearance changes throughout the novel as well as his character. Ralph portrays the most significant character because the majority of the novel revolves around him. He becomes the leader of the group of boys in the beginning of the novel, until he starts to struggle for power with the antagonist, Jack. Ralph experiences a journey that causes him to lose his innocence and he discovers many things about humanity. Ralph’s symbolism of leadership, civilization, and the loss of innocence reveals what can become of society. Evil is within all of humanity, humanity can transition from civilization to savagery without the walls of society present.
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses fire, a conch, a pair of glasses, and several other items to symbolize the journal from civility to savagery.
The theme of this breathtaking novel is one of daring and persistence. On the whim of a wager, Fogg is sent around the world in the impossible time span of eighty days. Throughout the work, Fogg’s limitless persistence, entwined with his stereotypical English composure, astound the reader.