To Kill a Mockingbird essay

           "...In this country our courts are the great levelers, and in this country all men are created equal." To Kill a Mockingbird is based in a town known in the book as Maycomb. To Kill a Mockingbird is about the faults of our communities and how we balance them out. In the town lives a lawyer known as Atticus Finch, father of the main characters, who has to face a challenging opponent known as racism in court. Protecting a black man accused of a crime he didn't commit in the 1930s. This journey that Atticus undertakes in To Kill a Mockingbird makes him a hero because he had the guts to defend a black man in a time where most lawyers wouldn't really try to defend a black person and endures the feeling of almost loosing the people he loves.

           Maycomb is a old town in southern Alabama. Here Atticus has to be a lawyer and a father of two children. "If you concede the necessity of going to school, we'll go on reading every night just as we always have. Is it a bargain"(pg. 31). Then Atticus is called upon to defend a black man known as Tom Robinson in the book. In a town where racism is strong. “I’m simply defending a Negro...".(pg. 77) However Atticus knows without a doubt that he has as good of a chance of winning the trail as President Hoover does of winning an election against Mr. Roosevelt.“Atticus, are we going to win it?" "No, honey".(pg. 78)

           Atticus has a few mentors a long the way. Those mentors would be his children. His kids are one of the main reasons he took up the trial in the first place."... I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” His mentors would help him at times when he was taking on something he couldn't handle. One example would be the lynch mob that came for Tom. At which they met Atticus guarding Tom but in the end had to be helped with by his daughter, Scout.“Well, Atticus, I was just sayin‘ to Mr. Cunningham that entailments are bad an’ all..."(pg. 156) In her doing so the Cunninghams back off and Atticus gets a large amount of respect from them and later help him in the trial. But Atticus doesn't only make allies, in fact he gets a rather racist and drunken slob known in the book as Bob Ewell. “Too proud to fight, you nigger-lovin‘ bastard?”(pg. 221)

           Going back to the lynch mob, the lynch mob is also one of the trials Atticus has to go through to make sure everything goes as planned. “Nobody around here’s up to anything, it’s that Old Sarum bunch I’m worried about…"(pg. 147) After this action, the trial follows soon after the next day. Here Atticus is having to come up and face racism in the court. Here Atticus pulls out every trick in the book and even goes to great lengths so that the jury might consider Tom not guilty. He even gives a description of how the Ewells live and their ways. "“Yes, don’t you know anyone near your age, or older, or younger? Boys and girls? Just ordinary friends?” Mayella’s hostility, which had subsided to grudging neutrality, flared again. “You makin‘ fun o’me agin, Mr. Finch?”" (pg. 186) But at the end of it all Tom is found guilty. Even after all the effort Atticus put into the trial.Although he lost the battle, he did not loose the war. He planned to ask for a appeal, he thought Tom would have a better chance at a appeal than he would in the Maycomb courthouse. However the appeal never happened simple because Tom tried to escape prison forcing the guards to shoot him multiple times. "..He wasn’t Tom to them, he was an escaping prisoner.”(pg. 239)

            Although the trial is over, there is still an enemy who is willing to go farther than Atticus had thought. In his error of not realizing that the threat that this enemy made, Bob Ewell, was legit and he was going to carry out his plans. " ...Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life"(pg. 221) He does get Atticus but in a cowardly way. Bob Ewell attacks Atticus' kids."“Bob Ewell’s lyin‘ on the ground under that tree down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs. He’s dead, Mr. Finch.”"(pg. 270) In this happening, he realizes that everything isn't peachy and that he could of lost his kids that night if it wasn't for Boo Radley who is rather mysterious character that has been watching Atticus' kids for a long time. After the attack, scout tries to assure Atticus and Atticus thanks Boo for saving his kids.

            Atticus Finch is the real hero in To Kill a Mockingbird becuase he has the guts to endure and take on what others do not even want a part of. He defends a black man with all of his ability in a time when most lawyers wouldn't even try. He is also faced with certain pains that no man should have to go through and wills through it like a warrior. His actions in Maycomb had forced the problems that racism brings on and why it's wrong to show up in the middle of the town so everyone in Maycomb would be able to see it in a "little" building known as a courthouse.

Works Cited

            Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Warner Books: New York, 1960

Stuart Little Story

Ian Erlenbusch

2/11/15

4^th block

My Little Story

            The train started into the school slowly making way for toward my destination, The Great Library. I’ve only been there once when I was little and it seemed quite grand at the time but memory can be deceiving at times. So I am came back to capture it WITH THE POWERS OF A camera. The camera itself was expensive. It was a CANON EOS C500 4K Cinema camera. I have to make sure not to lose otherwise I will be lose a rather large amount of cash.

            It was a two hour train ride but it was worth it to see The Great Library and all of it’s “Glory”. The tables were huge, the lights like suns, and the room was gargantuan! The books were 3 times the height of a truck. The floor was speckled in spots that were of different color the size of my feet! I decided to get in a little tram they had set-up for giving tours, hoping it would be faster than walking. The bookshelves were the size of skyscrapers and the ceiling felt like it was miles up. The tour guide wasn’t amazing and I heard all I needed to know and took the pictures I wanted so I got off at the third stop and made my way back to the entrance. I had planned a flight over to The Commons a month before hand so I could have a first class seat. The airport was nearby and the flight wasn’t long so I was there in no time flat.

I got my luggage and went to the Holiday Inn to check into my hotel room since I knew it would take more time than I had to look around The Commons. I pulled out my laptop and ordered some pizza from Little Caesars. I decided not to try to explore the commons since it was getting late. The next day I went down to the little area I could eat in the hotel and ate 3 pancakes, a cinnamon roll, and 2 donuts so I was a bit more than full. Regardless I set out to The Commons. The Commons were even larger than The Great Library by 2 times. The tiles were the length of a car! The creases in the ground are so large that I have to step over them so I don’t trip. Walking over to one of the stadium sized trophy cases with my trusty camera; I took a picture of the soccer trophies. The room is so large that they provide carts for easy movement from case to case. I stopped in front of a what I think was a painting, it could have been a projection for all I knew. Regardless I took and pick and returned to the hotel to pack, sleep, and then check out to go to the next destination, The Stage.

            I checked out of the hotel and picked up a train ticket. The train ride would be a few hours long but it would be a bit more enjoyable than a plane. The train came equipped with all sorts of good things like plugs so I could charge my laptop so I could render my photos and check my social media since my phone was broken. They also came equipped with food carts but I was smart enough to bring my own stuff for the train ride. The ride went by quickly and I found myself already checking into the second hotel. The hotel was quite nice and even had a pool, not that I planned in swimming in it.  My rooms were rather neat and well maintained. I unpacked my things and ordered another pizza this time from Dominos.

            The next morning I found myself completely flipped around in my bed for some reason and my pillows were all over the floor. I didn’t think much of it, it wasn’t my problem but regardless I put the pillows on the bed and sort of but not quite fixed the bed sheets. I decided to take the stairs down instead of the elevator since I was only on the second floor and calling a elevator would take longer than just going down the stairs. As I exited the hotel I noticed that I forgot my camera but I didn’t need it really since the last area I was going to be at wasn’t hard to imagine nor remember. I got on a bus and in no time flat I arrived at the stage. It was rather large looking out over a sea of ominous seats that had no one sitting in them. It was more eerie than anything with the main color of the place being black. The floor was made of solid wood and in some places concrete. There was a huge piano in the corner and an elevated platform above me which had a elevator going up to it. Unfortunately I am afraid of heights and didn’t have any desire to go up there.

I wondered around a bit more but there wasn’t much more to see unfortunately the only thing left to see was a few rather large spot lights. For some reason I expected more than what was there and promptly left. With disappointment mocking me I returned to my hotel, got packed, and flew home. The trip was fun for the most part but I look forward to the next trip more so than anything.

Throne of Glass Review

          Throne of Glass takes place in a mythical world know as Erilea which is ruled by one man that won't stop until he has conquered the world. The protagonist is Celaena Sardothien who earned the title of Adarlan's Assassin. She was thrown into the salt mines of Endovier for one year just to be saved by the Crown Prince of Adarlan who is known as ,in the book, Dorian Havilliard. Dorian picked Celaena up for a tournament to become the king's champion. But why Celaena, well he picked Celaena as a act of Defiance to his father because his father had started to become questionable and Dorian often disagreed with him. The tournament would take place in the king's castle in the city of Rifthold. Here it would be that Celaena would be faced with several challenges.

          She was tasked with winning the tournament, hiding her relationship with the prince, and defeating the evil that lurked in the forgotten passages under the castle. During the tournament she becomes friends with the princess of Eyllwe known as Nehemia Ytger. The princess is there to learn the common tongue and their lifestyle but is really there to get information on Adarlan's troop movements in her kingdom. Nehemia is skilled in wyrdmarks, which is a power outside of magic and is very powerful. She hides her skill in wyrdmarks because magic has been outlawed by the king but magic happens to be gone completely gone anyways

        It is a overall good book that kept me wanting to read more and read the sequel "Crown of Midnight".


           

Fire Writing

Ian Erlenbusch           

2/11/2015

4^th Block

The Sweat Drenched Jamboree

            It was the middle of the summer, the year 2014. Ethan, John, AJ, David, Alec, and I came out of the woods drenched in sweat and dirt. We were previously shooting at each other with airsoft guns and running around the thirty acres of land AJ’s dad owned about 2 miles away from Spin Lake near Danvers. I was there because it was AJ’s birthday. We rounded AJ’s parents very large storage shed to see AJ’s father starting a flame. It didn’t start quite well so he smothered a piece of newspaper with some sort of gas. He lit the newspaper and tossed it into the pile of logs. My friends and I started to set up the tents as AJ father went back to his house. It didn’t take long to set up the small tent but there was a large tent as well. It took 15 minutes to set up but by that time the logs were being hugged by the flame. AJ’s father returned with the good ballpark hotdogs, buns, marshmallows, Crackers so we had something to place the molten marshmallows on, Hershey chocolate bars, Doritos, plates, and Mt. Dew.

            I waited for the fire to brew a bit more before I started cooking my hotdog. I don’t put my hotdog over the fire for long, because it will be cooked within 1 or 2 minutes. As I sat down, several birds started chirping in the woods. It was getting dark by the time we decided to start cooking marshmallows and coyotes started howling in the distance. I lighted my marshmallow on fire by accident and quickly tried to put it out while the guys started laughing because I was failing miserably to put it out. The marshmallow just fell off into the fire pit before it was put out. John said he had to wiz so we let him do his business when some of AJ’s dogs decided to pay David, Ethan, and I a visit which was nice. Looking into the Doritos bag, there weren’t many left so I just took the bag with me to my set and ate the rest of it. David and AJ started talking about knives and axes and sharpening them which eventually led to AJ running into the house to grab his machete and tomahawk so that David could sharpen them. John came back and sat down next to me. I was staring intently at the fire so I didn’t notice him at the time.

            It started to get cold and my sweat drenched jacket I forgot to take off wasn’t helping, so I took off the jacket and moved closer to the fire so I could utilize the heat it was producing. AJ finally came back with his stuff and let David sharpen them. I pulled out my torch so that I could go and snatch some Mt. Dew from the shed that was right behind me. As I was walking over I heard something from the trees about 60 feet away from me so I whipped my head around to see what it was. Two yellow eyes glared in the dark, so I hurried into the shed and out. John said” Why didn’t you get me one” to which I replied” because you don’t like Mt. Dew nor did you ask for me to get you a drink”. John then said” well can you get me something?” ”No, you have legs don’t you? Use them.”

            The fire started dwindling down so AJ added a fire-starter for some odd reason.” Why did you add an entire fire starter”, asked David. “Because I can’t tell the difference”, AJ said flatly. “What is the difference”, asked John but his question was ignored. “What time is it?” I questioned. David pulled out his phone and said “8:36.” “I am far too tired for it to be just 8:36!” I responded. “Running around can wear you down.” “But still, I could run around all day and still stay up till midnight”. John started crawling into one of the tents because he was tired and so did Alec which caused everyone else but me to unanimously vote to go to sleep which mad me a bit mad. I decided to roast one last marshmallow as everyone went to sleep. After that I crawled into the larger tent pulled out my phone and started playing Clash of Clans, which I am still addicted to. My phone promptly died so I closed my eyes and tried to sleep but all I could think of were the yellow eyes “staring into my soul”. I woke up to find that it was early morning and everything was fine. The fire still sizzled and popped as the fire starter had lasted long through the night.