Reading Responses

 The Bright Side

The Glorious Whitewasher teaches us that we can turn our luck around. We need to look for a bright side in things and we need to think about how to change our luck if things aren’t going our way. Just like Tom in the story, we have to do some things that we don’t want but that doesn’t mean it can’t be somewhat fun.

Just think it’s the best day of the year warm weather, sun shining, everything blooming with life and you have to do chores or jobs. That is exactly what Tom had to do in the story The Glorious Whitewasher. He’s stuck whitewashing the fences of the neighborhood houses, but then he somehow able to change his luck and get the other boys to do the work for him. Receiving company and special items from the boys the fence gets three layers of paint. How? Tom was thinking, instead of thinking “This is boring. When does the day end?” He thought “How can I hang out with my friends and get this done?”

We can learn from what Mark Twain is saying through the story. You need to at least try to change things to go your way. My mom always tells me to look for the bright side of things when I don’t want to do something that is really boring. Sometimes I find a way to make things fun but there is times you can’t always do that. Anyway just know you can change your luck no matter what you’re doing.

  

Mark Twain teaches us many things through his writing. Even though we can’t always change our luck, we can still try to. If we don’t we can tough it out, I mean have you ever heard of someone who has died of boredom?

Parents and Decisions

Author's Note: This is the essay response to the short story "The Circuit" I wanted to work on relating this story to real life.  

           “The Circuit” teaches us that parents should do what is necessary for their children. Many times when we fight with our parents we feel like they don’t care. They always do it might not seem like that in the story but even though papa made some bad decisions for the kids you can tell he still loves them.

            Parents need to know what to do to make their kids happy, I know my parents do. They care about me even when I don’t think they do. I’ve gotten to do a lot of awesome things that many people haven’t been able to do. You always know they care because they can never stay mad at you. They always make sure you have someone to turn to in bad times. Papa loves his kids, in the story he’s just like any of our parents. He just doesn’t realize what is going on for the kids but he has to work to put food on the table.

            The family has to move to get more work and that is Papa’s decision. He could have stayed and let the kids settle in their new home. This could have been a good idea for the family’s sake because the son finally got something to go his way and then one day he comes home from school and he has to move again.  Anyway papa decided to choose to work instead of let the family stay. It may seem unfair to you but when you look at it I comes down to, will they have enough money to live until the next picking season. This is another lesson taught in this story, just think if your mom and dad make a big decision, before you start getting really mad think about if it benefits you in the long run.

            This story tells us that parents should do what’s right for their kids. Even if it means you don’t get to play the trumpet like in the story. So would you rather starve and play the trumpet or move, have work, and  be able to have food on your table?

                  

All Summer in a Day Essay

 

"All Summer In a Day" is a story using the mode of literature irony. Irony tells us what we should fear. In this story Ray Bradbury tells us to fear isolation. Another purpose of irony is to make us think “At least my life isn’t that bad.” This is shown throughout the story along with symbols, some scenes showing insanity and death.

Throughout the whole story it just goes downhill for the main character. She isolates herself and all of the other kids don’t like her and she doesn’t even make any effort to become friends with any of them. The only good thing that happens is the sun coming out but the main character, Margot is locked in a closet and misses it. Now that she’s isolated herself she doesn’t have friends, she’s weak and showing signs of insanity. One more thing that happens is the story just ends, they’re opening the closet door to let Margot out and then it ends and seems like it should go on longer. Ray Bradbury wants you to guess the ending because something could have happened in the closet.

            There are many symbols and hints in the story that prove that it is irony because it’s possible this story is a tragedy. The first symbol is that everything is dark and black or gray the colors of irony. Some death and insanity symbols are in the story especially at the end. The story is also unrealistic another hint of irony. I mean if it rains all day, every day for seven years and the sun comes out for one hour in that whole time. Who on earth would want to live there? Also another trait of irony is good is weak and evil is all powerful. The only good in the story is the teacher and she is stupid and ignorant. 

            Death and insanity symbols come into play a few times throughout the story. Again Margot Isolates herself from everyone and is almost like a ghost. She is pale weak and paranoid about water touching her hair. This is a symbol of insanity that could be coming to her. The way the author describes her it is almost like she is fading away like an old photo in an album. Finally the last symbol is the author doesn’t tell you what happens at the end but it is possible that she decided to end her life there because she said it was essential for her to get the sun. This is why Ray Bradbury wants us to fear isolation, it can be very dangerous.

            I believe that All Summer in a Day is an irony but it depends on opinion of which mode that you think it is. It is possible that it could be a tragedy but if you look at the aspects of each mode you have to believe that it’s irony. Anyway the main point of this story is to tell us that we should fear isolation, it can cause terrible things to happen.     

 Reading Responses

I write Reading Responses to talk about what is going on in the books that I'm reading. Also I write about what I think about the storyline, other topics within the books and give my opinions. Look for my Reading Responses on the Home screen and take some time to read them..