Mother to Son by Langston Hughes

Mother to Son by Langston Hughes is a poem about the hardships a mother faced and all the hard times she went through in her life. She is telling her son that even though it was alot but she is still standing and she got through it and she is telling her son to be strong and he will get through it, just like she did. It is a pretty powerful piece, it tells us about a strong woman who went through alot in her life, and that it was not an easy journey. The mother is the narrator of the poem, and she was directing this piece to her son, the reader.

The main point that she was trying to get across is that no matter how bad things get or how bad life gets it will get better and hopefully improve. She also wants her son to know to never give up, and to keep fighting. Because life is not a “Crystal Stairway” so to speak, and that life isn’t easy but she made it through and he can, and she loves him and she will be here.

Langston Hughes is the author of this poem, he has written many other short stories, poems, and other stories. He is really famous and very talented, one of his more well-known works is a short story called “Thank You Ma’am.” 

This poem and short story have alot in common. Langston Hughes is the type of author that likes to meaning, life lessons, morals, and such. You can tell from just reading any piece of his work to know. His short story, “Thank You Ma’am” and his poem “Mother to Son” have alot in common, life lessons, morals, and the stories behind them.

Both are about a strong woman, in one way physical, and in both ways mentally, emotionally, and more. Both women, in to completely different pieces with two completely different meanings, are protrayed in almost the exact same way. That both of them went through alot in their life and have been through so much, but yet there still standing.

Although, both women are protrayed almost the same in both pieces, the endings though and how the women are protrayed due to the endings are a little different. In “Thank You Ma’am”  the women, at the end is protrayed as a nice, kind, and head strong, and such. “In Mother to Son” at the end of this poem the woman is protrayed as a loving mother, and someone who want through alot in her life, a “survivor” meaning she has been through so much and yet she is still standing. Strong and doesn’t want her son to give up, she wants him to fight like she did, he’ll make it through.

Mother to Son and Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes are two powerful pieces, that show the strengthen of two women. They also have alot of meaning behind them, and morals, and life lessons.

If there be sorrow

If there be sorrow is a poem that reflects the story the Scarlet Ibis. The poem has to with the story because the narrator, Doodle’s sister, has a lot to do with it, because it made the readers of both the poem and the story think. They made them think about many different things, like was it worth help Doodle, with walking and being normal? also was it really for the narrtor or for Doodle’s sake that the narrator teach her little brother to be normal? Another thought, did the narrator do everything the wrong way, should she have just let him e cripple and did what she chose to do, with making him normal, and making him walk and everything was it worth it? was it his dream? did she help make his dreams come true? or did she just mess everything up.

Ministery of Magic from Harry Potter one of the greatest group of villains

The series of books and movies called the Harry Potter series, is about a boy who is a wizard and he goes to a school with other people, kids of all ages whom are also wizards. In the different books and movies there are always new villains, but throughout the wholee series there is a main group of villains made up of different characters from throughout the series.

In Harry Potter the ministery of magic isn’t really formed till the end, in the last couple of books and movies, but the people or villains that make up this group are characters throughout the whole series that come together to take Harry Potter down. The ministerie’s motivation for killing Harry is that when Harry was a baby, the leader of the ministery, Voldermort, killed his parents, but for some reason spared Harry, and marked him with a scar so everyone knew that he was who he was. Little did Harry know that it meant he was the chosen one.

Everyone knew that he was indeed the chosen one, and we learn towards the end that he is some how connected to the greatest villain, the one he hated, the one he  wanted renvenge on for killing his parents, Voldermort. Luckly, the connection broke and either could know what the other was going to do and where the important necklaces, so to speak were, there are 7 necklaces and they are the only things that together when they are all destroyed kill Voldermort, but that is the only way, so they both try to find them, one so he can kill the other, and the other so he can protect himself.

The ministry of magic or the group of villains who are on Voldermort’s side and try to help take down Harry, but is hard due to the fact he is the chosen one and everyone goes out of the way to help Harry and hid him and keep him protected.

There is one person in the group whom you  never know what side he is exactly on, Snake, he is a teacher at the wizard school and sometimes woud help Harry and protect him, but in the middle of the series he reveals he is in the ministry and to prove his loyalty, he kills the headmaster of the school, Harry’s menator, but also someone Snake looked up to and thought as a menator, he watched as a witch killed him. At the end though you still don’t know what side he is on.

The ministry of magic does everything to kill Harry because once he is dead, Voldermort becomes the most powerful person ever and the ministry will be like a government, they will benefit from power, and that is there motivation for killing Harry Potter.

Will human society run the risk of becoming a system of savagery, and fear?

Humans and human nature are very complex and unpredictable. So will human society run the risk of becoming a system of savagery and fear, like Jack is doing in the Lord of the Flies book. Jack starts his own tribe and most of the people on the island go with him and become slavages and become full of violence and fear and it ends up killing some people and teaching the littleuns that it is ok to kill and for that you shouldn’t feel gulity.

I mostly definitely think that the human society runs this risk and has already basically become a system of savagery, violence, and fear. I think that we have become or will become a “Jack” like society. In the way that, most places in the world are run like the way Jack ran his society, he used violence to show he was the cheif and the highest power. He would have his right-hand man beat up someone in his tribe, someone who has done nothing wrong, just to show he can and he is in charge, but he also did because he felt like it and that is what is happening alot all over the world.

Also, violence is another thing that has happened and that we have in common with how Jack used violence. He used it because, for him it was fun, and it gave him a rush of adrenaline. Although for him, when he used violence and killed, whether it was people or animals he felt nothing, no gulit, no sadness, he actually felt happy and proud. Sadly, that is what is happening to humans, it seems they just kill for the fun of it for that rush, ad that is a scary realization.

Lastly, fear is something we have taken advantage of, we use fear to get our way or control someone or a group of people to do what we want. Just like jack, who used the littleuns fear of the Beast to his advantage and he used it to get his way and control them.

So do i think we run the risk of becoming a system of savgery, violence and fear. I think we are already there and have been for a long time, we can tie alot with our society into Jack’s society in Lord of the Flies. That is a scary thing to think, but it is true, that is what our world has come to, using violence and fear to get your way or to have control, and becoming a world filled with slavages.

Golding’s look on Human Nature

Golding’s perspective on Human Nature is pretty accurate. By that, i mean that he shows that Sometimes depending on the situation, people are good and don’t cross eachother, but most of the time, we cross eachother and do things to get ahead, and we will do anything to get what we want.

Money, Politics, Jobs, and Standings are what everyone in life is obssessed with in life. We will do anything to get them, no matter the cost, but out of all of those the one that people go crazy about or are obssessed with is money. Money is the most important thing to people, it is basically life and death, and we do anything we can to get it, even if we must cross people or be mean and rude. It is insane how far we will go for it, no matter the cost.

Golding is not far off in his book, Lord of the Flies, which is about a group of boys stuck on a island, and they either work together or fall apart, which they just can’t seem to work together. The most logically reason why is because, that it is a few older boys and the rest are younger, and the older boys are fighting for power, and some don’t want to work as much, or want all the glory but don’t want to do any of the work. Like Jack, he is obssessed with killing a pig, and he finally is able to, but Ralph, the chief, is upset because they have plenty of food, and don’t need pig, but they do need shelter, and Jack doesn’t want to help, all he wants is the glory and praise for killing the pig. At the same time he wants the power of being the leader, but Ralph is, so he feels he is too good to help with building shelters.

This is how human nature is, in the real world, or in stories, no matter what, it is about getting ahead, and etting the most money and power someone can.

Trust… Are we able to trust people and tell when there good?

      Trust is a funny thing, and it means different things to different people. To some people trust is the most important thing in the world to them and to others it means nothing to them. I think for everyone though trust does apply to one thing, can we trust people to be good? Trust to me is a pretty important thing, i need to be able to trust others and i need to let people have faith that i can be trusted. When we must decide to trust others and decide if in our eyes and as a human being, they’re good people.  It is pretty hard to make that decision, and to know when some one is a good person. That is why you have to trust people and hopefully you’re not wrong.

   I was asked, Can we trust people to be good? and my opinion is some of the time yes, but with what this world came to be and how people are these days are, most of the time we lose the faith that there is any good in anybody. Now, that doesn’t mean that there is no good in people, that there all mean and evil, and don’t have a kind bone in their body. I don’t mean that at all.

     We may not see things the same way as others, and we have different beliefs, opinions, and thoughts o the way of life and the definition of good to us and what it means to us. I do think that there is good in very person and human being alive, but they may not show it in the same way we do and good to them could mean something totally different from what good means to us.

     So, in my opinion, yes there is good in every human being, but it could be a totally different meaning of the word good than  what the avaerage person must think it is. There is good in every human being or person alive but it may be a different kind of good than we’re use to, or they may have a different way of life, beliefs, morals, and values and good to them could mean something completely different than what we think it is. But yes, i do think no matter what type of good, we all have good in us, even though to some, they don’t think we have a kind bone in our body and think we’re evil and mean, but they don’t understand us.

Good People by W.S. Merwin

Poetry Out Loud

For my English Class I had to memorize a poem to recite. The poem is called Good People; by W.S. Merwin. It is about how some people are raised to know when bad things are going on to take action and do something, but most people, who are good people, just stand by and do nothing but mostly they feel helpless. It also explains why people sometimes just stand there and do nothing, but also they say that any who is smart, who might of gone to college, or people who for the most part are kind, warm-hearted people who have a lot of love to give and who have a huge heart. “From the kindness of my parents…” is more or less my favorite line, because it shows that the people who were raised right, the “good people” were raised with the understanding of helping others and how to love and give love and kindness to others and people who are suffering, they know how to lend a helping hand, and know how to do something when suffering is going on and can identify when someone is suffering. That is why I chose this poem, I feel it sent a message, that people need to help and need to realize there are those out there suffering, who could use a helping hand, love and kindness, maybe just a friend. Instead we chose to just let the suffering happen and stand there, helpless and do nothing.

 By W. S. Merwin

From the kindness of my parents   

I suppose it was that I held   

that belief about suffering   

imagining that if only   

it could come to the attention   

of any person with normal   

feelings certainly anyone   

literate who might have gone   

to college they would comprehend   

pain when it went on before them   

and would do something about it   

whenever they saw it happen   

in the time of pain the present   

they would try to stop the bleeding   

for example with their own hands   

but it escapes their attention   

or there may be reasons for it   

the victims under the blankets   

the meat counters the maimed children   

the animals the animals   

staring from the end of the world

My Holiday Season

I love the Holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. My religious background is Roman Catholic, so because Roman Catholic and Catholic are both branches of  Christianity, i celebrate the holiday Christmas. Growing up the holidays were always a huge deal in my family, Thanksgiving was and is always celebrated in the tradition way that i was taught, you get together with your family for the break and then you have a big feast. Lucky for me, both sides of my family are a huge part of my life, and also very involved. Every year i switch off what side of the family and what holiday i spend with them, It has been like that for as long as i can remember. This year i spent Thanksgiving with my grandparents that live in Louisana, my dad’s side, mostly all of his family live in that area. We weren’t able to see my Aunt, Uncle, or Cousins though, that is because there only involved and have contact with there mom’s side of the family (my dad’s older sister’s family) and so they spend Christmas with my grandparents, and with us when it is there turn for the holiday. For Christmas this year my mom’s parents came down from the Washington D.C. area, we spent Christmas together, than 2 days after Christmas we came to Clearwater Beach in Tampa, and met up with my mom’s, brother’s family, and her sister’s family. It was all the grandkids, parents, and grandparents. Next year, for Thanksgiving my mom’s side of the family, and my immediate family will go to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Christmas, my dad’s side of the family will either come down to our house, or we will all go to Louisana, where my grandparents live. No matter where i am or what side of the family i am with for the holidays all that matters is that were together and having fun, that is what makes the holidays special and important to me because it is the only time i get to see some of my family members. Holidays to me, aren’t about presents, food, or gifts, it is about being with family and loved ones that is why it is the most wonderful time of the year.

What i learned from the Odysses- Life lessons, Morals, and Values

Olivia Burks

English 1 Honors

D period

12/8/10

Lessons or General Idea I took away from the story of the Odyssey

            I learned a lot from the story of the Odyssey, I learned a lot of life lessons and morals and values from the Odyssey. One thing I learned, is that no matter the distance and time you are apart, true love is true love and if you love someone that much you will wait for them forever. Penelope, Odysseus wife, was willing to do that, wait for him forever, 20 years is close enough. From this story I also learned that, if you do something bad or mean, there are always consequences or repercussions to your actions. Also, if you do good things that you are awarded or what goes around comes around, is one saying or phrase you can use to sum up this story. Another life lesson you can learn from this story is that life is hard and you have to make tough decisions some times. A lot of times during this story Odysseus had to make a ton of tough decisions. But he did what he should have as a king, a leader, and as the captain of his crew, he had to make the right decision for him and his crew, even if that means he must sacrifice his crew, which he didn’t want to do. Being selfish and not being selfish is a big part of these story, because Odysseus doesn’t want to be selfish, he wanted to be a good leader, but at the same time he wanted to get home to his family, his wife and child, no matter how or what he has to do, he would do anything to get home to them. There are a lot more life lessons, morals, and values that you can learn from the story the Odyssey, but these are what I think are the most important and what you should learn for your life and to help make you a good person, like Odysseus and how to become a great leader like him.

Penelope’s Heartache

Twenty years is a long time to wait for someone, but i don’t care i love Oydessus and i still have hope he is still alive and will come rescue me and our son from all this suitors, that want to take his place as a king, husand, and father. I hope that me weaving and unweaving my husand’s death blanket will buy me extra time, i still have hope Oydsseus is alive. Although, i know it is nearly impossible that he is alive, it has been twenty years, but i still believe he is and i have hope that he is still alive. If i could i wish i could just throw these suitors, who want to take the place of my dear Oydessus, out. I can’t though, Itacha needs a new king and leader, Telemachus is not ready, to rule. I know i don’t want too but for my son and for the people of Itacha i must chose a husand to become king. So i told the suitors if they can string an arrow and shoot it through twelve small axe handle holes will be whom i marry. Altohugh, the only person i wanted to be married too is Oydessus, he is the person i ever loved and will ever love. I guess hoping and believing pays off, because that day, after twenty years Oydessus appears, to take his family, home, and crown back.