Janie

Zora Neale Hurston's story protagonist Janie, in the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God," seems to be lost in a sense. Janie wants to find love, however, she herself does not understand how she can find such a thing. For Janie, her quest for love is in relation to the first paragraph at the beginning of the story. "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. for some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time" (Hurston 1). Janie seems to be the Watcher, and her dream of achieving love can be described as being on that ship in the distance. So far, Janie's dream seems to be out of reach. Her first marriage with Logan Killicks was a love that she did not want to make. Upon meeting Jody, she made it her decision to run off and marry him. Only after learning that Jody had a different goal in life. Their indifference had changed their relationship and Janie was not to reach love. Janie is in a sense "The Watcher" (Hurston 1) waiting for her dream.

Classmates I am Thankful For.

I am thankful for my classmate Adam Flam, Alejandro Garcia, Andy Garcia, Juan Goodum, Kyle Yu, Quincy Hirt, Rivka Goetz and Sally Keller. Thank you Adam for bringing your ability to analyze everything Mr. McCarthy says and making it easier for me to understand. Quincy, thank you for adding an alternative perspective to the classroom discussions, and bringing a whole new idea about the topic. Kyle, thank you for helping Mr. McCarthy keep the class interesting and to keep me interested in the class. Juan, you have been blessed with the sneeze of a giant, no offense, and it keeps me alert in Mr. McCarthy's class, so thank you. Alejandro, thank you for adding your personality into the class, you give the class a new personality which I enjoy. Thank you Andy for your perspective of literature which helps take it to my understanding. Thank you Rivka for having a great understanding of literature to help me achieve a greater understanding of American Literature. Thank you Sally for bringing alternative ideas about the literature we are reading to give me an alternative point of view to see literature from. Finally, Thank you to the rest of Mr. McCarthy's first period English II class for being there so Mr. McCarthy has a class to teach. I am thankful for you all. Have a happy Thanksgiving, but you are probably reading this after Thanksgiving anyways. . .

principles we should keep

One of the principles we should preserve, today to post-apocalyptic time, is theft to be morally wrong. The concept to steal from another human being is unjust. Even in post apocalyptic times, theft is wrong because you are taking things another person could have spent countless hours working to obtain. Theft should remain immorally wrong no matter the circumstances. Thieves harm the people they steal from and possibly others connected to that person. There is the natural law of Self Preservation but we as a species have evolved intellectually and morally to understand that theft is wrong and should not be accepted, under all if not most circumstances.

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was one of America's most well known authors. Hemingway was a talented author who developed his skill in literature since his high school  career as a newspaper journalist. Hemingway, like most authors remained unknown, until he had written and published one of his finest works, The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway was a talented writer, but corrupted by the aftermath of World War I. Later in his life, after many successful stories he had written and published, Hemingway lost his "Hemingway style," or his style of writing in his stories. His greatest work, The Old Man and the Sea was Hemingway's "greatest" published piece yet. Hemingway was a man of youth, with a history of many wives, and divorces. Even after much success with his career as an author, on July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway committed suicide. Despite his death, his work of literature is still admired to this day.

6, 6 word stories.

The woman cried reading the letter.

They walked through the empty house.

Mittens found in pile of snow.

Vultures fly over the large city.

A coat floats in the ocean.

Bubbles float up from the lake.

John Proctor, Citizen of Salem

John Proctor, in my view, was a hero of the town of Salem. He is not a hero by definition, being a "person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities." John Proctor was willing to put his life down to stop the foolishness that was going on because he knew that innocent people were dying. Those people tried and hung because of "witchcraft" were most likely innocent to what they were accused of. In my eyes, he is considered a stooge because, a stooge is someone who is used by other people to get what they want. John Proctor was used for the purpose of being disposed of because he had different ideas. John Proctor was even pressured to turn over his land, in no relation to him being tried as a witch. John Proctor may have laid down his life for the better of his friends and other people, and he may be a hero in their eyes. However, in the eyes of the majority, his sacrifice was most likely under appreciated by the majority of the people because they didn't know what was going on. If they had known what he was sacrificing and learned his true motives, he would considered a hero. John Proctor would have been a person who would have been admired for his courage and noble qualities. That was the type of person John Proctor tried to be and his deeds died with him.

There Goes the Neighborhood.

My name is Inteus, chieftain of my village of the Choctaw tribe. The people of my village have lived in this land long ago. We are a strong people, great warriors. One day, Cherokee tribe comes to my village. They say men of white skin, come to our land and cut down trees, take our land. Cherokee chieftain asks for other tribes to help drive off the white men. These white men come from other land to take our lands. Many men from my tribe go to fight the white men.
White men strong, come with weapons of fire, many great warriors join the great spirits. Great warriors were we but white men too strong for the Choctaw Warriors. The great spirits of the land have been disturbed. If white men take our lands there will be no more land.
More white men come to our lands. They come to our villages and take our lands and my tribe must head west to make village again. White men trade with other tribes for fur to have strange items. White men also come to bring us their god. White men say their god gives them our land and the animals because white men deserve it all. My people die so white men can live on our land. I will unite the tribes to drive away white men and reclaim land from them and their god.

Me

My name is Brandon Nguyen. I went to the Whitney Young Academic Center but before that I went to James Ward Elementary School. It's a small and old school that not many people know about. I grew up in the South Side of Chicago, meaning I hate the Chicago Cubs because the White Sox are much better. My father is from Vietnam and he married my mother who is Chinese but was born here in Chicago. I have four siblings, all sisters. One of those sisters are older than me, the others are younger. I may sound like a "nerd" or a "geek" but I enjoy playing video games, watching anime, Trading Card Games like Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh, and shooting, not at people, but at targets on a shooting range. The United States Military is a big role model to me because of their values they all have. I enjoy eating phở, Vietnamese noodles with a soup broth, which by the way is really delicious if you go to the right place. My family "believes" in Buddhism but we really don't practice the religion so I guess we could be called Atheists. I haven't really found an interest but I know there is an unlimited amount of paths I can walk down and I hope to find that path one day, hopefully before I reach my Senior Year at Whitney Young.