Melinda Speaks

Author's Note: This writing piece is on cause and effect. The book I used is Speak ,by Laurie Halse Anderson.

In the book Speak, a girl named Melinda, has something horrendous happen to her at a summer party. Melinda is bullied and pestered at school the next year do to what happened at the party. This causes Everyone at her school hates her, because she called the cops and get people in trouble, and she ends up busting the party. Now she has now friends and doesn't even talk to her parents.

The effect in this book is when the main character, Melinda, gets attacked again by the same boy who raped her at the party, but this time she fights back. Melinda fighting back and winning causes everyone to find out the Secret that happened to her, and attacker is finally revealed. Once everyone realizes what happened they begin to fell sorry for her.

Eric's View

Authors Note: This essay shows how the story could change if the point of view was different. The book I used was The bystander by James Preller.

In The Bystander, by James Preller a boy named Eric moves to a new city where he had no friends.  He never knew his dad because, at a young age, his father abandoned him and his mother. The author wrote the book in Eric’s point of view. In his perspective a lot of events show confusion and even rage about his new school and his dad.

The story Bystander is in  Eric’s point of view. From this perspective, a lot of events and characters that are described in a way that creates confusion against Griffin, Eric’s friend. As the reader progresses they start to begin to hate or have anger against Griffin, like when they had the huge fight at the cemetery. A major event shows happiness in the reader as Eric moves on and shows he’s not afraid.

One way that Eric’s point of view influences the reader's interpretation is the perspective  about griffin. He was nice as a friend until he snapped. Griffin was starting to bully Eric for no reason. They both got in bad fight in the middle of the book. Eric’s point of view shows the readers Eric’s life and first person. You as a reader would have a different emotion against Griffin if it was his story.

However, the reader would feel a lot differently about the major fight in the graveyard, if the novel was written in the point of view of Griffin. For instance, the reader wouldn't think he was the bad guy at school. The reader would show sorrow and even love for griffin about his life. Griffin was nice to hang out with and even outgoing. They might show his father being mean and a jerk for beating him up and showing no love to his only son. As the reader goes on they would hate and be disgusted to be Eric. He would seem weak, ugly, and a nerd with no life. The fight in the graveyard was for a cause, to show who was boss around school.   

As you can see, the point of view of a story forces the reader to see just one side of an event or topic. In The bystander , the narrator's perspective makes the reader change many emotions about Griffin if the point of view was his. The narrator's point of view shows Eric is good and that griffin was bad and a bully. 

Speak Up

Author's Note: This piece is about comparison on two books. My two books were The Bystander and Speak.

Eric in The Bystander by James Preller, is outgoing and quiet. He might be popular but he also gets bullied. Melinda in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, is shy, quiet, and unpopular. Both teens are quiet and get bullied. Melinda and Eric have many similar traits and different traits.

Melinda and Eric both get bullied. Melinda gets bullied for many reasons. Something tragic happened to her at a school party, and she is a cause for being bullied. Many people blame her for crashing a party but no one knows that Melinda got raped. Melinda also gets bullied for being shy, no one talks to her and barely looks at her. Eric gets bullied for a dark secret too. His father left his mother and Eric when he was 4 because his father had mental issues. He told a friend, but Griffin was a bully. Griffin spread Eric's dark secret around school.

Both are quiet and don't talk that much at school. Melinda is the quiet in class because she no friends to talk to. Near the middle of the school year she made a friend. Melinda over comes her quietness at the end of the year. Eric has a few friends and they are a popular. He doesn't talk much unless he's with friends.

Though Melinda and Eric have some similarities they are also different. Melinda is unpopular and shy. Eric is outgoing and popular. You could always be bullied or shy but no matter what this is a way to get through it.

Accelertaion

Acceleration by Graham McNamee was an intense and fast paced book. In the Toronto subway, Duncan is in charge of the ever growing lost and found department. There are always interesting things that turn up waiting to be claimed by their owners. One day he found a mysterious book full of secrets that contained dangerous things like murders and crimes. Small, Brown, and bound in leather the book was all about things someone may have done. The police didn’t think it was anything more than a story, but Duncan is convinced it’s real. Is Duncan determined enough to catch the dangerous criminal who wrote it?

The diary haunted Duncan, detailing not only what the sick person he calls, Roach, has done, but also what he is going to do. When Duncan reads further he comes across a description of a red haired woman that sits in the front of the train. As he looked up from the book he noticed there was a red haired woman in the front.

To get to the bottom of whether or not the diary is real, he decided to follow the lady to her house. He didn't find anyone else that might have tailed along. The red haired lady looked back; she was scared so she quickly walked to her house. By now he was sure the diary was true and it was midnight by the time Duncan got home. The next day while Duncan was working, a guy in glasses asked for a diary, he knew it was Roach.

Duncan followed him home and called his two friends for help. By the time Duncan’s' friends arrived the killer had already left his house. Duncan was determined to get the murderer arrested and stop him before he hurt anyone else. He made sure the coast was clear when he approached the killer’s creepy house. His friend picked the lock of the house. Duncan ran inside and looked around; he was on a mission to look for an ID so they could find the real name of Roach. He remembered the diary said his room was in the basement.

As Duncan approached the room, he heard the killer get home. There was a small room to hide in, but the guy knew something was wrong and searched the home until he found Duncan. Duncan ran under the guys legs, he ran up the stairs and up around the road. The man was chasing him and Duncan had nowhere to go except the subway. He ran down and fell in the tracks. The man jumped in and pushed Duncan around. Light began to shine on the two men, a train was coming. Duncan had no time to climb back up the track. He hid in the grooves of the track. Last thing he remembered was a loud scream. Duncan was unconscious and had broken bones. The killer was now dead. Duncan felt relieved that the killer was gone forever. His determination led to finding and eliminating the killer even when others didn’t believe him

Bystander

Eric was the new kid in his school. When you're new it's hard to know who to hang out with and to avoid. Griffin seemed like a cool kid to be with in school, he was funny and smart. After a while Eric finds out his friends deep dark secret. Griffin was not just a bully but a person that steals for fun. That was bad for Eric because Griffin will do anything to get back at someone. He even stole money and other thing from Eric.

The resolution was Eric got the courage to get his stuff back that Griffin stole. He went to Griffin's house and broke in. Eric quietly walked through the rooms to find his stuff, he finally got to Griffins room. Eric got his money back and other things. At school griffin didn't talk or look at him again.

Murder's Diary

Author's Note: Acceleration is about a boy who found a murder's diary. Duncan must find the guy quickly before the victim is killed

Duncan found the diary laying in his messy closet under all of his hockey pads. The books dark secret has to be uncovered. The murder still has to be out there and still lethal. Duncan took the book to a restaurant and started reading the book with a cup of coffee. He grabbed the newspaper to see if any of the three victims where killed. In relief Duncan had not seen and deaths. The boy flipped the page of the news paper, he had found a county map that might be useful. In a flash Duncan might know who it is.

Holding the diary in his hands he rand up Williams street and turned the corner. Running as fast as he can go he finally got to his destination. The door was locked but with his luck he unlocked the door in one twist. Duncan has found the murder. The crazy man was watching horror movies. Duncan slowly walked out and called the cops. The cops were at the house in minutes.

This was my prediction of the book Acceleration. I think that Duncan will do that because he is an outgoing guy and always curious. In the middle of the book Duncan wants to get the murder. Duncan worked on the clue for weeks and even tried to fit in his shoe.

Medieval Knights

Author's note: To become a medieval knight took hard work and determination. 

When people think of the Middle-ages, the first thing that often comes to mind is knights. They wore heavy armor, rode strong swift horses, and fought for the king with their lives. What was the life like as a  medieval knight?

Knights were trained to defend the castle, the kingdom, and most importantly the king. They were  like our modern day military. From the time they were young, they were sent to train with other knights and there they were taught all about fighting. There were three types of medieval fighters : knights, archers and foot soldiers. The knight was for close quarter battles against foot soldiers  and the archer was for long distance combat.  Knights had the advantage over foot soldiers and archers because of their heavy armor.

To become a knight you had to be from a wealthy noble family and be bright. You had to be able to buy your own armor, horses, and weapons, which is like buying a plane now. Most knights were trained at age eight  when their family sent them to live with an older trained knight. They did simple things at first, like learn to ride horses, body build, and learn how to use weapons and work hard. At the age fifteen they gained knowledge of elder knight by cleaning armor, caring for horses, and learned advanced fighting skills.

Knights had heavy armor and heavy weapons. They carried  a  large battle sword with their left hand and a knife on their right. The armor weighed about 50 - 60 pounds in all, mostly because they wore many different layers.  Linen shirt, chain mail, heavy pants, woolen pads, metal armor. The knight's chain mail had more the 200,000 individual rings which took years to make. Some of the different types of weapons the knight used were the lance, sword, battle hammers, axes, maces and many more.

Knights lived by the code of conduct called chivalry. This was a vow to protect the weak,  helpless and for the general good of all. If a knight were to disobey this they could get expelled depending on the trial. Chivalry influenced social behaviors hundreds of years after knight's no longer existed. For example it tells us how a gentleman should behave today.

The knights responsibilities were difficult and challenging to overcome. Succeeding meant fame and honor to the society around them. There was danger and glory as a knight, but today we remember how they lived and learn from them.  Knights played an important role to many countries in the middle ages and now live in our own code of conduct all over the world.