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        An Essay About How The Poem, “Shoulders”, Relates to A Tale Of Two Cities and My Life.
                                                             Pine Point School
                                                             9th Grade English
                                                                     1/19/12
                                                                    John Rick
           The poem,” Shoulders”, by Naomi Shihab Nye, discusses the how certain things like a child can be your most fragile, delicate, breakable belongings. There are many affable ways that this poem relates to my life, but not very many pleasant ways it relates to A Tale of Two Cities. This poems setting of a road has a relationship to A Tale of Two Cities, and the poems idea of a boy being a man’s most fragile belonging relates to my life. This essay should enlighten someone about the relationship between the poem, A Tale of Two Cities, and my life, a time of great joy and disappointment.
           My first challenge was in relating the poem to A Tale of Two Cities, but I found that the road in the poem relates to the road out side of the Defarges wine shop. In A Tale of Two Cities, Monsieur and Madame Defarge working hard live on a road that symbolizes the bits and pieces of the story that could soon be important. For example, When Monsieur Defarge arrives with Jacques number five, a man who claimed that he was mender of roads, they were seen walking down the street towards the wine shop, where later on, Jacques number five told of a man that he had seen under the cart of Monsieur the Marquis, which I believe became an important part of that chapter. This is related to the road in the poem because in the story Jacques number five is also precious cargo like how in the poem, it is mentioned that, “This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargo but he’s not marked”, and that stuck out to me because Jacques number five was the key to figuring out a big part of the book, but he did not look the part. This seems much like how the young boy was not marked, or did not look the part as well. Both Jacques number five and the child were brought down or across a road to get to their destination. My second point is that at the very beginning of the novel, a barrel of wine was spilled on that road. This was a significant part of the story because it brought up the themes of hunger and violence. This relates to the poem as well because the road the man crosses poses much danger to his child. This is a lot like how in the story violence was jeopardizing the children’s safety, as well as how the hunger was threatening their survival. A Tale of Two Cities is hard to relate to when you don’t have much to relate it with, but I think these were adequate relationships to the story that could give a reader more to watch for in the story.
           This poem also relates to my life’s fragile items and beings, as well as myself having to put someone else on my shoulders. My first example would be all of the times I have ever helped my family, specifically my brother, a young boy that means a lot to me. My brother always needs someone to help him with something, but its very hard for my parents to find the time to, so I am often the one who steps forward and assists him in completing his task. He is a fragile package that needs help, and if you don’t put the time and care into helping and shaping him into something great, he will break down due to neglect. This relates to how the child is the man’s most fragile package. In the beginning of the poem it states,”A man crosses the street in the rain, stepping gently, looking two times north and south, because his son is asleep on his shoulder”. I noticed how he is taking extra precautions, and being extra careful, while taking the time to make sure his son stays alright, and that to me symbolizes my point when I say my brother can break down, and that you have to treat a child gently and considerately in order for it to grow. The title of this poem is,”Shoulders” and that right away gave me something else to relate to. That subject is the time that I sacrificed to help someone else, or in other words putting someone else on my shoulders. I have often helped my friends in state of affairs they don’t want to be in. One example of a friend in need is a friend I have outside of school named Justin. Now Justin was often bullied and picked on by other kids because of his size. He was relatively small, and when I saw what these kids were doing to him, I felt bad. Therefore I decided to do something about it by asking if he wanted to be friends. Justin often depressed loved the idea because he knew if I was his friend the bullying would stop, and he knew this because I was the biggest kid around and everyone wanted to be my friend. In the end, Justin and I still hang out with each other, and are still best of friends. This proves a sacrifice can often be your biggest victory.
           In A Tale of Two Cities, the street was a large part of the story, as well as how the street was an important part of the poem. Me helping others was a big part of my life, while the child is a big part of the man’s life. This essay reflects my sacrifices, and the story’s themes in a perspective that relates them both back to the poem in large ways. In a way, we all have shoulders that we can lean on.     

                                        The Need for Sacrifice
                                        (An Essay about Sacrifice and how it Affects My Life)
                                                                           1/5/12
                                                                   Pine Point School
                                                                        John Rick
                                                                   9th Grade English
          

What is sacrifice? Sacrifice is when you give your time to help some one else in order to benefit them. In my life I have sacrificed my time for other people. As well as how other people have sacrificed there time for me. One case in point of me sacrificing my time would be for my brother when he really needed me.

My brother has asthma, and It affects him year around. Especially in the winter time at what time it’s cold and dry. My siblings and I recently went on a vacation to Iowa to see my family. At which time my parents travelled to my grandparent’s anniversary in Las Vegas. Since it was winter, my parents knowing my brother, ended up packing his Nebulizer, a small machine that stabilizes breathing by producing oxygen. Fortunately my parents made the right call in packing it because sure enough, a day after we arrived, my brother started to cough and wheeze which meant that he was having trouble breathing. I had to give him breathing treatments with the Nebulizer for a while until he was able to breathe again. Then a huge problem struck. We had run out of the liquid that was needed to produce the oxygen, and you had to order it by prescription. Since my parents were in Las Vegas, I worrying constantly was trying to get a hold of them to get the details needed to order the medicine. Fortunately, I was able to acquire the medicine in time so that I could keep using it. Weirdly, another problem struck, one that I had never seen before. The breathing treatments had stopped working. When we found out we immediately rushed Jamison to the hospital to find out the problem. The problem was that he had a bad fever, and we had never thought to check. So they gave us Benadryl and ibuprofen to help his fever go away, so I had to sleep with him and give him the medicine to keep his fever from rising. Fortunately, everything worked out and my brother was better than ever.

I was very proud of the sacrifice I made to help my brother, and I was sure that he was very appreciative of what I had done to help him. Sacrifice always ends up being a good deed, when it’s for a good purpose. Like me helping out my brother to something smaller like sacrificing your time to photocopy a worksheet for a friend. It also makes that person think better of you because you gave your time to help them.

• During this essay I hope to use the requirements correctly.
• I have been struggling with using Asyndeton in this essay.
• I think this essay I did well with using appositives.  

                                                     Lighting
The Relationship Between Light and How it Relates to My Life And A Tale Of Two Cities
                                                            11/ 30/11
                                                       9th Grade English
                                                            John Rick

           Light is never really thought about by anyone, quietly keeping the world bright. What could be represented by light? What does light have to do with A Tale Of Two Cities? What does light characterize in my life? In A Tale Of Two Cities and my life the quality of light affects the mood of the setting.
    In A Tale Of Two Cities, the brightness of a scene effects the emotional content. For example, Dickens describes Tellson’s bank, an old bank with lower standards as “ very dark”, and ,” proud of its darkness”. Although they are proud of their darkness, the fact that it is dark gives the bank more of a threatening feeling. This same darkness also ,according to Dickens, makes a man seem to age more rapidly. Another example of darkness is the example of Monsieur Manette after being in the room in the wine shop for so long. Even though he was transferred from prison, the setting of that room made it seem as if he really was still imprisoned. He was so depressed that it seemed like the,” darkness had fallen over him in its place.” On the other hand, the brightness of the scene where Miss Manette meets her father for the first time in eighteen years gives a joyous feeling to the part. Monsieur Manette was so curious about whether this girl was his daughter that, “ he turned her full to the light and looked at her”. The light that he uses to examine her is what makes this scene so optimistic. Therefore, the brightness in these scenes give a good sense of the mood.
     I also feel light relates to my life in certain important ways. I think the main contribution to my life though is the light that illuminates my room, a place that I think suits me and lets me focus. Firstly, this light gets rid of the darkness around me. It decimates the darkness, spreading its light throughout my room, permeating everything, over, under, left, right. It also can continue its bright glow for hours on end, never weakening. This light has never and will never give in to the darkness that is lurking just outside in the dark hallway like an army of soldiers trying to cross enemy lines, trying to push its way in. Finally, brightness and darkness bring both joy and depression to my room. When something is dark it does not have warm and cozy colors. When something is dark it gives me a cold feeling and a sense that I don’t know what’s going on around me, making me agitated. However when the light switches on the room I’m standing in, it immediately changes. It seems to become more inviting and when you can actually see what’s going on it gives you a sense of relief. The intensity of the glow of the light in my room, just like in A Tale Of Two Cities, affects the setting.  
    Light brings joy to a room or anywhere else, and rarely ever brings sadness to a place of happiness, like when Miss Manette meets her father in A Tale Of Two Cities. We are all attracted to light because we find it warm and welcoming. Like the light in my room, a light brings out true colors to a location instead of leaving it dull and dark.

This essay I continue to work on organization of the paragraphs.
This essay I feel I used all of the requirements very well.
This essay I feel I didn’t do many of my transitions very well.
               

See The Light

An Essay About The Relationship Between A quote Here Comes The Sun and my life
                                                11/17/11
                                              John Rick
                                          9th grade English

    When someone reads a novel like the novel A Tale Of Two Cities Its hard to understand and it becomes difficult to relate to it. The quote, “It was the season of darkness; it was the season of light,” from the book relates to my life in many ways as well as the song, “Here Comes The Sun”, in a few ways as well.

The Quote,” it was the season of darkness; it was the season of light”, is a very meaningful quote from A Tale Of Two Cities, a book written by Charles Dickens, an implausible writer from the 17th century. This quote has a significant connection to the song,” Here Comes the Sun”, by The Beatles. One approach is the how the second fraction of the quote relates to the very affable name of the song itself. The name, here comes the sun is a name that makes you believe the song will be pleasant. Just like how the second component of the quote sounds like it will be more enjoyable. Its all a matter of assumption with the quote though. We know that the songs’ name is the theme of the song, but we don’t know what the theme of the quote is. Is it the theme of the book? Maybe it is, but its hard to tell. To follow up, I deem that the beginning of the quote has a meaning too. I think it implies that times were bad, like how the song says,” Its been a long, cold, lonely winter”, explaining that the times have been unpleasant. To sum it all up the quote relates to the song in both positive and negative ways.

The song also relates to my life in numerous ways. For example, the quote,” I feel the ice is slowly melting”, relates to me because I feel the quote means that the depression and obstacles in life are slowly fading away, slowly melting, and slowly ending. That happens to me during soccer. For example, At the beginning of the year I had to get a fresh feel for the game all over again so I was not very skilled, but as the year slowly progressed I seemed to become more skilled, like the ice was slowly melting from my body allowing me to execute plays with finesse and skill. The quote,” the smiles returning to their faces”, relates to me in a big way as well. Specifically with soccer again. For example, My mom says that I smile less when I’m not playing soccer, and honestly I think I love soccer at such a level that I agree with her and think that’s true. I also believe that a smile comes to someones face when they perform a great play, allowing a team mate to attempt a shot, or even when they take a shot and score. In a way this song and quote relates to all of us in positive and negative ways.

This quote is a famous quote from this novel, one of Charles Dickens greatest novels. I think this quote is important like my life and, Here Comes The Sun,” by the Beatles.

                                                                    Walk On

       An Essay That Compares My Life And A Raisin In The Sun To the Song Walk On

                                                        10/24/11

        9th Grade

                                                       John Rick

What does it mean to walk on? Does it mean to move on, or to just not worry about something? Is to walk on the right thing to do? The song, “ Walk On”, by U2 gives some good examples of what its like to walk on, and some examples on how this song relates to my life, and the play, A Raisin in The Sun.

The quote,” And love is not an easy thing…The only baggage you can bring is all that you can’t leave behind.” means that all you bring is all you need. One example is from a play we read in class called A Raisin in The Sun. Towards the closing stages of the play ,the Youngers have lost a lot, but before that happened they had bought a house. The group of people in that particular neighborhood were not comfortable with African Americans living there, and the family knew that. They knew this because a man named Mr. Lindner came to offer the family a large quantity of money if they moved out. Not listening to the warning the family decided to move anyway, and I think they believed that all they needed was themselves and what they had to make it through the tough times, and to be happy. I think that was a good example of only bringing what they needed.

The quote,” What you got they can’t deny it. Can’t sell it or buy it. Walk on, Walk on. Stay safe tonight.”, means no one can steal what you have by hurting you. An example of this has happened to me before. Where I used to live I was considered to tall so everyone made fun of me for it by calling me mean names like sasquatch. I was really hurt sometimes by the names people called me, and I will remember this for a long time. This is a kind of situation I think explains the quote the best because even though I was made fun of I still learned to deal with it because I knew that even though I was made fun of I realized they were just mad because I had the height advantage in everything. I think this is a good example of me knowing that no one can take what makes me who I am away from me.

“Walk On”, a song inspired by protest means a lot to me and my life. This song states the difficulties we all will experience in life and I think we all also can make it through it all. This song is also important to the play in a lot of ways. Overall, this song expresses the way we all live facing challenges and how we triumph over them.

   

                                                                     Essay #3
                                                                    Desperado

An Essay About a Quote From the Song, “Desperado”

                                  John Rick

                                                               Pine Point School
                                                               9th Grade English

The song, “Desperado”, mentions the lines, "Now it seems to me, some fine things Have been laid upon your table But you only want the ones that youcan't get." What in the world could these lines mean? What could these lines have to do with being a  desperado? I am going to share my honest opinion on what I think The Eagles mean.

    The song, ”Desperado”, quotes, "Now it seems to me, some fine things Have been laid upon your table But you only want the ones that you can't get.". I feel that this means that the desperado of the song has had plenty of men thrown at her. Plenty of men who would love and care for her. The last part of the quote of the song, “but you only want the ones you can’t get.” means that she only wants the men she can’t get. Perhaps the man just doesn’t love her, or he loves someone else. Sadly the fact that she loves him has blinded her from everyone else that has ever thrown themselves at her. Perhaps she is so sightless that she doesn’t realize that the man doesn’t love her. Finally, all of these lines joined together mean only one thing. It seems to him that some fine men have been thrown at her. Sadly, she only wants the men she can’t get. Desperado means to be desperate and she is so blinded that she only wants one man.
    I feel these lines relate to me in one or two ways. When I was young I was very much into toys. When I was younger I wasn’t old enough to stay home, so I had to go shopping with mom a lot. I would always ask her some king of toy. Some times she would try to compromise with me by letting me get something smaller, but I always wanted the bigger one, so I would usually end up with nothing. At this point in my life I have begun to look at high schools for the future. There are a lot that I’m looking at and a lot that I could do well at, but I always pay attention to the ones I have less of a chance to get into. I will of course end up at some high school, but if I keep looking past the decent ones then I might not end up in a good one. This may be ridiculous, but in the future I see myself having problems with cars. I have been into cars for some time now and know enough about them that I probably won’t be satisfied with the ones offered to me but I’ll probably the ones I cant get. Therefore I know I will always want better.

These lines have some meaning and relation to me, but I think that they are only a small part of me. I have shared my honest opinion on the meaning of the song, and those lines in particular. I used a lot of examples such as high schools and cars because I think it better defines what I’m trying to explain. Finally, I have explained what these lines have to do with a desperado.

         John Rick

                                                                       9/26/11
                                                             9th Grade English
                                                                 Simple Ways
                      (An Essay Discussing My Thoughts on What its Like to be a Simple Person)

This week in English class we listened and learned about a song called “Simple Man”. What are               a simple mans qualities? How am I simple, and what could I do to be simple that i’m not already?This essay will hopefully give the answers to all of these questions. and explain the meaning of what its like to be a simple man.

There aren’t very many qualities that make a simple man, and I suppose that’s why they are considered simple. I The quote, “be something you love and understand”, I feel like it has to do with be what you want to be.f you have a dream, follow it and never give up. If you give up when you still could have made it, it would not be worth your while. You want  to learn to understand that dream and achieve it. The quote,” follow your heart and nothing else” I feel means to do what you want to do. Don’t listen to what other people say about you. Be who you want to be, not what everyone else wants you to be. Love yourself for who and what you are. I feel like a simple man should be a peaceful man. A simple man should not rebel against everything. I think the quote,” all you need is your soul”, has something to do with being a simple man. I feel like it means be happy and joyful around others and just have a good soul. In a way we are all simple and love who we are.

I Would say that I am a rather simple person. I am easy to get along with. I have a lot of friends at school that I get along with. I am also very understanding and listen to everyone else’s ideas too. I tend to be ok with anything, and I am able to work with what I have. If someone wants to do something I am usually ok with it. Also if I don’t have something I need I am always somehow able to make do like when I started at Pine Point I didn’t know anyone but I was able become friends with a lot of kids. Finally , small things make me happy. When I’m able to sleep in I’m happy, when I hear a good song I’m happy, and when I get compliments I’m happy. A lot of simple ideas tend to make me happy. When someone makes a suggestion I become happy because then the burden of coming up with an idea is lifted off of my shoulders.

I hope this essay answered all of the questions that I asked. A simple man needs his soul and nothing else and has to love himself for what he is. A simple man does not need to worry about what other people think about him and a simple man needs to follow his heart and nothing else.