Important

 Author's note- I can not remember the page the saying or quote was on.But it has a very important meaning that is true to our everyday lives and how people interact.
  "People only see what they look for and listen to what they want to hear."  Many times I find myself doing this and in some ways it is wrong  and in some ways it is right. Unfortunately I can not help my perspective on things as well as other people can not help their perspectives on life.In Maycomb county many folks only look to blame the people of the black race and only search for the bad in them however it is the whites who are the ones to be ashamed of because of their mislead and ignorant decisions.

Acceptance

Melinda slowly turned the crooked knob, taking a nervous step forward into the empty halls filled of terror. Luckily classes were in session which meant Mr. Neck wasn’t anywhere in sight. Melinda felt a sigh of relief traveling through her parched  throat. Melinda can’t remember the last time she felt any sort of relief. The novel Speak  by Laurie Halse,  speaks for many teenagers today, teenagers who are struggling with acceptance and forgiveness by their peers.

   Living without acceptance from others is very difficult. Except imagine living without it  everyday, as Melinda does. There are many reasons a person isn’t accepted by others, such as personality, reputation and mistakes of their past. As for Melinda her past haunted her, the taunts lasted all too long for something she had no control over. The exclusion, and the whispers, ate away at Melinda and her self-esteem -- emotionally, mentally and physically breaking her down. Unfortunately people don’t forget things in high school; reputations last as long as they take to build.

 There are various causes to Melinda’s struggle of acceptance; however the effects are numerous. Effect number one: she doesn’t talk and when she does, she isn’t really saying anything. Example A: “I close my eyes. Breathe,breathe,breathe. Don’t say anything. Breathe.” Clearly she is uncomfortable when attempting to speak up for herself. Effect number two, due to her past, her social life has completely been destroyed. Effect number three, school is not significant in any regard. Effect number four, depression: caused by loneliness, hurt, shame, exclusion and regret.  Last but not least, effect number five: her parents’ marriage, they are too busy on their own life too even care about their own daughter.

          Even though Melinda feels trapped inside her past, there are ways to get out and be set free. All Melinda needs to do is stand up for herself, tell people the truth and find people who make her feel good about herself. Once she can accomplish that, she will be surprised with the results. Eventually people will come to reasoning and apologize for being judgmental of her. No one deserves to be blamed or ridiculed for their long lost history.

      High school can either make or break someone.  Sadly in Melinda’s case it destroyed her mentally and emotionally but not completely. Instead of letting your mistakes hurt you, learn and prosper from them. Therefore things improve and you won’t have to search for acceptance or forgiveness; it will come to you once you are doing what is best for yourself.

Insanity

 Imagine life without true love and happiness. Existing is the way of living.  No voice, no opinions and no  triumph. However, it takes one brave citizen to attempt to revolutionize the ways of the buttress society.  How about Guy Montag, for example a firefighter who initiates fires instead of putting them out, or Harrison Bergeron, a boy born with god-given talents, but without the ability to use them, they are worthless. Even though these characters share many similarities, they have their differences as well.  Throughout Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron the main characters are frequently affected by their inhumane and dystopian societies; but nevertheless, they continue to fight for what they believe is right.

  In both stories, the effects of the unruly society are more than obvious.  There are various signs of brainwashing within their communities.  It is an understatement to say, that Guy Montag enjoys fires, and lives in a world where reading is illegal. The evidence of severe brainwash is on the very first page. “It was a pleasure to burn, to see things blackened and changed.”  Only people filled with sickening thoughts speak that way. Like Montag, Harrison experienced the brainwashing as well.  He was a perfectly normal boy, a natural athlete and intelligent, yet was in jail at only fourteen. The society forces him to believe he is just like everybody else, but deep down he knows he isn’t.  Even his own parents think he is an outcast to society.   Unfortunately for these two main characters, the society was an everlasting challenge.

 Although each character is negatively affected by their government, each rise above the system and their beliefs and opinions slowly change. At first, Guy Montag was just like every other firefighter in his station. He took to burning books and houses with immense pleasure. He never questioned the way he lived, until he met Clarisse, an outcast to society. Given a new perspective, he realizes how horrible of a person he is being and his beliefs and dreams soon transform. Therefore, he becomes a dynamic character. Before Harrison went to jail, he followed what everybody else did. That is until he outgrew the ways of his chosen life and realized his talents. Eventually his thoughts and perspectives quickly change, after he finds the courage to believe in himself.  Consequently, he is also a dynamic character. After putting his skills to the test, his disorderly government takes him away, puts him in jail and accuses him for the most foolish of reasons. Luckily Guy Montag and Harrison Bergeron found ways to alter their lives within an already damaged world.

Seeing that each character has their similarities, there is also one trivial difference, and that is between their destinies. When Montag lived the way society wanted him to. He had a house, a wife and the job of his dreams. After he met Clarisse, his feelings and ideas were altered about the world. Following that, he lost his home, his career, and his caring wife. However he gained more knowledge on the world and a newfound happiness; reading,that is ironically. Meanwhile Harrison never got to fulfill his destiny; his escape from jail is short lived and he was shot at the age of fourteen.  Harrison never gives up on what he believes, even though no one believes in him. He believes in himself and that is a true act of courage.

    Overall, living in any dystopian civilization isn’t simple or amusing especially when humans realize how putrid the world is. And for those who reach recognition like Harrison Bergeron and Guy Montag, eventually they will change for the better.  After everything is over, they can venture into  the unknown with their own original thoughts and dreams.

Conflict/Resolution

Author's Note: This piece is dealing with Conflict/Resolution. My ideas are inspired from the novel Speak,whose main character has many conflicts within her life.However she doesn't care enough to change,or  to make herself  better.
  One of the conflicts that Melinda carries, is the problem of stereotyping others,when really she is the one being stereotyped.My only solution: Melinda needs to let her guard down and  start letting people in. All she has to do is simply be herself because she will be surprised how much happier she will become and her confidence will grow. Although before she can do that she needs to let some things out that have been causing her to stay quiet for so long. Once she learns to express them, she will find happiness once again.

Cause/Effect

 Author's Note- I chose to use an  important event from the novel Well Always Have Summer. After choosing the event I realized the cause and the effects it had on the not only the characters but the story as well.

 Big Event- The morning when Bell decided to end her engagement, however that morning was the day of her wedding.

Causes- She was unsure because he cheated on her once and felt it was too rough to overcome.  Bella also realized her whole life was ahead of her that it was too rushed. Bella was confused on her feelings for Conrad. She hadn’t finished collage yet and didn’t have enough money. Both parents were not okay with it from the beginning.

 Effect- In order for something good to happen something bad has to happen first. The called off engagement offered relief to both Bella and Jeremiah’s parents. Bella realized she is no longer confused about her feelings and she made the right decision. Jeremiah was heartbroken. Conrad and Bella began talking again which soon recovered their hidden past. Eventually Bella found her true love and her passion because she made the right decision even though it was hard it changed her for the better. She finally felt she was in the right place

Comparative Essay preview

My comparative essay will be contrasting between a short story and a novel. I will be contrasting the Fahrenheit 451  novel with the  the short story   Harrison Bergeron, of which  both were  read in class.  The compare and contrast will be between the themes of government control and symbolism of irony.

Interrupted

“The votes are tallied, the results of your class president await in this very envelope,” announced Mrs.Bethtaker.

“Hurry up and grab my lip-gloss Molly, you know I have to reapply every five minutes.”  

“Well I can’t find it, so I guess you’ll be on stage with dry lips,” Molly says sarcastically.

“Our class president is… drum roll please.” The audience creates an orchestra of hands clapping, feet stomping and whistles echoing throughout the walls of the gymnasium.

“The 2016 junior class president is Miss. Hilary Stemple.” The cheers and hollers from the student body transform into yells and boo’s. Mrs. Bethtaker hushes the crowd with a stern look. Hilary makes her way through the crowd in her Tory Birch heels, practically tripping with every step.

The next evening, Hilary drove her two best friends to the mall. It was the least Hilary could do, after all she refused to do an ounce of work, and to her, looks were enough to get the job done. It was too much work for one person, organizing the running of campaigns building poster boards, tweaking the votes and writing her speech.  That’s what Molly and Lilly were for. Molly and Lilly were incredibly intelligent, so it was nothing to them as long as something was in return, such as a shopping spree to Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Coach.

Hilary made her way home in her pink mustang, she pulled up to the gated driveway and entered the twenty word password she personalized.  “Mom, I’m home,” screamed Hilary. 

“Hilary dear, I wanted to tell you I am so proud of all  your accomplishments, so how does a shopping spree next weekend to New York sound to you?” she requested excitedly.

“Oh mom, under one condition, you choose to fly at a reasonable time,” demanded Hilary.

“Okay dear, I will be right on it.” 

 “Thanks mom, I love you, goodnight” whispered Hilary.  

The next morning rolled around  a little later than usual.  She trotted to the bathroom ignoring the alarm clock that was flashing 12:02 p.m., ten minutes quickly passed and Hilary was still showering.

“Honey dear,” called her mom.

Another ten minutes flew by. Hilary had  just turned off the faucet to hear her mom screaming at the top of her lungs.“It’s a Monday, how dare you sleep in and miss school on purpose, after all you are the class president.”

 Hilary paused with such confusion, quickly drying off,  she frantically glanced at the alarm clock with shock. She didn’t mean to sleep in, but lately  she’s just been exhausted, all she wants to do is sleep, whenever she arrived at school she was desperate to find somewhere to take a quick take nap, now this too. Hilary knew something wasn’t quite right, although she carried on acting as if it was just the stress of being a class president. She continued her daily morning wake up routine, shower, wash face with Clinique 1-2-3 step, base coat of Mac minerals, then let it rest for ten minutes. Meanwhile she picked out one of the three outfits that were placed on the paisley couch the previous night. Before she headed for the door, Hilary  gently glided  her signature red lip stick contouring her preciously groomed lips.

Hilary managed to fight the exhaustion without a worry; mistakenly she thought it was just pressure from the exams. In the middle of the week  bruises suddenly started to  form all over her body, and  constant night sweats started to creep up as well. Even this didn’t concern Hilary, could anything?

Friday finally arrived, outside the yellow black checkered taxi sat alongside the gate of the mansion.  Ten suitcases of all sizes were crammed in the taxi, therefore an extra taxi was called for Penny and Hilary to have a place to sit.  Over the course of sixty minutes Hilary and her mom Penny were currently in the airport security line.  Within thirty minutes Penny and Hilary were seated comfortably in first class seats.

“Passengers please buckle your seat belts and prepare for takeoff, we will  be departing from Dallas, Texas in 30 seconds,” grumbles the captain over the loud speakers.

Hilary closed her eyes wishing that she was scanning the racks of Nordstrom’s junior’s winter wonderland collection. She felt the jerk of the plan as it jilted off the ground heading straight to New York city. Along with the tilt of the plane, out came her breakfast from Opal’s Café. Hilary panicked, luckily being  in first class,  it wasn’t too crowded or loud. Penny signaled for a flight attendant to assist in the clean- up of the unpleasant mess and dreadful odor. Hilary spotted tints of blood in her puke, she thought she was just dehydrated. Eventually the flight was over, Hilary and Penny reached the hotel just in time for Hilary to pass out in front of the following guests in the main lobby. “Hilary, Hilary, Hilary!” Can anyone call the police, she hasn’t responded for ten minutes now,” cried Penny.

 “Hilary Stemple, can you hear me?” implied the Doctor. Hilary opened her eyes finding herself strapped in endless cords and felt IV’s plunging through her veins. 

“What, what, where am I?” stutters Hilary.

“You are in the emergency room, you fainted in the hotel lobby last night.”  

“I what, how could this be, I felt fine doctor?”  

“Alright if you say so, can you stand up and walk for me please?” asks Doctor Harrington.  Hilary slowly sat up from the bed, and just like that she walked and walked until she couldn’t anymore. She collapsed to the cold tile floors of the hospital. Followed by a shriek with tears filling her eyes.

“Fine… I am sorry for keeping this from you and the nurses but I want you to check my blood for cancer, I think I just might have a sickness,” wept Hilary.

 Penny and Hilary stayed that night in the hospital, Hilary was too sick for flying home, the doctors knew it wasn’t safe, due to the realization that she was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid  Leukemia.  Hilary eventually returned to Dallas and resigned from class president. Followed by that, she gave her Varsity Cheerleading title away and dumped the boy of her dreams. Hilary realized that everything she once worked for was gone, all because of cancer. Fortunately Hilary was going to be okay since she was in the very beginning stages and her dad assured all the money for surgeries she needed. Hilary found herself unhappy as the months dragged by, no one came to visit, not even Molly or Lilly. She couldn’t believe it, she was still driving herself crazy that the cancer caused all of this. NO hair, pale, stick thin, ugly, and unpopular.  Lets just say Hilary had a lot to learn.

A year had passed since the diagnosis of Hilary’s cancer, and from that year she learned everything she worked for wasn’t real and not well earned.  In addition, Hilary realized she couldn’t be happier to have cancer, because within the short time of losing everything, she understood the person she was and that was never nice, pretty, funny or smart. Instead, she replaced the characteristics with fake, conceited, ugly and dumb. Hilary slowly started making small changes within her life. She gave away her wardrobe to a fundraiser for a church mission trip. She ran fundraisers and helped out at shelters. She never went shopping unless it was for someone else.  Only one last step needed to be completed before she could completely forget her past. She came across her old makeup set and the special compartment that carried her signature red lipstick. Opening the lid she remembered her last use was before elections of class president. This brought tears to Hilary eyes, followed by that she carefully walked down stairs , out the door and towards the campfire pit where everybody was celebrating her 18th birthday.  Hilary peered over the fire, slowly letting the compartment drop into the flames, where it belonged with the rest of her past.