Friendship

Author's Note: This is a response to the book Number the Stars. In the book one of the themes is friendship. I chose to write about the theme friendship.

Do you know what it's like to have a true friend?  One that's there for you regardless of anything? The one that knows every little secret about you?  Friendship is a feeling we all need in our life. Whether you are a child or an adult there is still a need for friendship in your life.

 "Real Friendship is shown in times of trouble."

Friendship plays a huge role in the book, Number the Stars.  Annemarie's best friend Ellen was Jewish during the Holocaust. Annemarie's family had to help Ellen's family to safety. Without the generous help from Annemarie's family, Ellen would have been in extreme danger. Annemarie's family was not forced to help the family. They did it out of friendship and kind-heartidness. If they were in the spot of Ellen's family, the would have done the same for them.

"The friendship that can cease has never been real." 

Friendship can be found with peers, teammates, and even family members. In the story, Charlie St. Cloud friendship is found between two brothers. When a sudden car accident happens and the younger brother dies they have to choose how they are going to hold up. Even though one was gone they choose to keep their friendship going. They were still able to see each other, but only he could see his brother. Even though this is not realistic in real life, it shows that true friendship lasts forever.

"Friends come and go but best friends  stays forever."

Friendship can start many different ways. In the book The Hunger Games  Katniss is forced to become friends with the other child representing district 13. As they are forced to be together they become close friends. They work together during the games and keep each other alive. Without the other they wouldn't have made it out alive.

"A friend is like a four leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have." 

 Friends are there for you regardless the situation.  Whether in fiction or real life friends area necessity in everyone's life.

A Complete Christmas

Author's Note: I wrote this piece in the spirit of Christmas. I tried to use good word choice

"I don't think I can do this anymore mom" Kaylee said to her mom.

"It will all be over soon honey" Kaylee's mom assured her.

"I just want to have a family Christmas for once"

"Me too"

For Kaylee's family a Christmas all together was sadly unfamiliar. Ever since she was little her father was in the Army. He was deployed at unexpected times and for an unknown time. If he wasn't deployed in another country he was in training. She was extremely proud of what he was doing for their country, but at the same time she just wanted a dad who came to her school performances and who would play in the backyard with her. She would see her friends' dads at school and sports just wishing someday hers   would be there too.

Ever since Kaylee was little she was always a Daddy's Girl. She loved playing baseball with him in the yard and watching the sports games on TV with him. It's not as if she was a tom boy, it was about the time she spent with him. As every day passed their friendship grew stronger. That's what they were -- best friends. Their close bond made his deployment even harder.

Sadness, Emptiness, and longing filled the home and hearts of the Smith's family the day their dad and husband left for the army. He reassured them what he couldn’t promise -- he would come home safely. Every day they would pray and hope that he was ok. He was deployed more and more times, though the worrying never ceased.

Janet, Kaylee's mom was a mother who loved her husband and family unconditionally. She was a mother of 3 children who always wanted them to do their best and to follow their dreams. When her husband was deployed she felt as if part of her left with him. Without him, it was as if she wasn’t herself. She wasn’t as happy or cheerful. The longer her husband was gone the more she longed for him to come back. For her it wasn’t a choice to show how much she worried about him in front of her children. It was her job to comfort them.

As Christmas was coming Kaylee and her siblings longed for her father more than ever. Christmas was always a hard time without him. She would hear about everything her friends were doing with their families for the holidays and wished for once they would be able to have a family Christmas. The past few Christmases had been nothing more than delivery pizza and 1 present for each of the kids. Kaylee knew how hard it was for her mom to provide the family on a small income. It seemed as if every year it became less and less about the joy of the holiday but how they were going to get through it.

Kaylee knew her family was separating more and more and she knew the only person who could stop this was her dad. She knew her dad coming home for Christmas was not possible. He did not get to choose his leave. Kaylee knew that if it was his choice he would be home for the Holidays. He would be there for every activity of hers and her siblings.

When John was told he would have a leave over Christmas he was ecstatic. "Thank you" became his most used word. He decided that he would make his arrival a surprise.

When Christmas Morning came it was just as any other morning with very brief conversations between each other. Without saying a word her mother handed the children their presents. They opened in silence and all thanked their mother. Kaylee knew this was really hard for her mother. She must have worked extra hours to come up with the money to buy the gifts. Kaylee expressed her gratitude toward her. An empty feeling still filled the house. Something was missing and it was obvious what it was their dad. He loved Christmas and enjoyed making it special for the kids.

Just as the kids thought their Christmas hoo-raah was over there was a knock on the door. Kaylee opened the door and jumped into the arms of her father. The whole family ran over and gave hugs. For once Christmas was complete.

Aspiring

Author’s note: This is a response to the book Life of Pi. My main focus of this piece was a metaphor the author said in an interview. "The idea of a religious boy in a lifeboat with a wild animal struck me as a perfect metaphor for the human condition. Humans aspire to really high things, right, like religion, justice, democracy. At the same time, we're rooted in our human, animal condition. And so, all of those brought together in a lifeboat struck me as being... as a perfect metaphor." I did write a short response on this metaphor but I wanted to do my essay on it because I felt there was a lot more ideas I could put in it.

In life we face hardships that keep us from aspiring. In the book Life of PI the life boat symbolizes just that. The boat shows a boundary that keeps us from reaching our dreams. In life the boundary is many things including other people but most importantly ourselves.

The main character, Pi, wants to become greater things in life.  In the book Pi is very religious and follows many religions. When the Tiger is in the boat with him it is really him in his animal condition. While the real Pi is trying to figure out how to survive without going against any religions the Tiger is surviving any way he can. In this situation doubt is his hardship because he fighting against two sides of himself. One side (the tiger) wants to survive any possible way, while Pi is doubting going against his religions to keep himself alive.

The blind man in the book symbolizes Pi's voyage. During his voyage in the life boat he is lost. When the Blind man came, Pi was having suicidal thoughts. Again with the blind man just like the tiger it was Pi in another state. In this case it was a suicidal state. He felt that he could not hold up any longer.  

For me I was able to take out of the book the idea that the one person who stops us from aspiring in life the most, is ourselves.  It’s you who keeps yourself from reaching your full potential.

Character

 Author's Note: This is a response to Number the Stars. We were asked to explain if a character was static or dynamic in the course of the book.

 In the novel Number the Stars Annemarie,  is young girl living in the Holocaust. She's goes to school and she plays with her sister and best friend Ellen. Annemarie hardly ever acted out toward her parents. She is quite shy and minds her own business.  As the Holocaust is getting worse Annemarie had to change her ways and become a brave child.

 Her friend Ellen is Jewish and she has to help protect her from the soldiers. At such a young age she is forced to be brave. I believe Annemarie is dynamic because in the beginning of the book she was bit more shy and weak but at the end of the book she becomes very brave when she faces danger. Annemarie being dynamic affects the events in the story because in the end if she hadn't become  brave her friend's family would not have been safe.

Point of View

Author's note: This is a response to the book Number the Stars. We were asked to discuss what the point of view in the book is and how it affects the readers interpretation.

The book Number the Stars  is told in the perspective of a narrator. In the particular scene where the German soldiers intruded the Johansen's house searching for any traces of the Rosen family it is told from an outside view. With the narrator telling the scene I was able to visualize each character in the situation. The best friends were very frightened pretending to sleep in their bed as the parents were trying to cover up any evidence that they were hiding the Rosen daughter. This scene was written and detailed very well but I believe if the perspective was from the two girls it would have been stronger. I would have been able to tell how frightened each girl was. From the narrators point of view I was able to get the outside view of the scene but if it was in the point of view of one of the characters I would be able to understand the feelings each character had as the scene unraveled.