Found Poem

People experience life,

Despise the world.

Friends are removed.

Years without kindness creates bad.

Then, someone hope.

Furthers trust,

stays,

remembers.

Sometimes, a little belief helps.

Remember the messenger.

The Strongest Truck

Courage powers through the rough. It blows through the dirt en route to its destination. Its four wheels push through any type of terrain. Its metal body protects it from any interference that may cause it to slow down. It will push out anything that may hinder its abilities. Courage is the toughest truck out of all of the Toyota commercials. Courage can use its powerful engine to climb any hills it may encounter. In any situation, Courage will not break down on you. You won't have to change Courage’s oil, or fill it up with gasoline. It will keep going, non-stop. You won’t have to push Courage out of the mud. Courage can pull itself out of the dirt and grime to continue. Courage is the truck, while the mind is the driver.

I am the Messenger Reader Response #1

Chapter 5 in I am the Messenger was an especially jarring chapter, as Ed visits the first address on his playing card. The first address houses a man who sexually abuses his wife. The chapter really shows what Ed is getting himself into. This isn't just giving someone a pat on the back, he is dealing with some very serious problems.

The chapter reflects on Ed's purpose in the solution to the problem towards the end. Ed realizes that the reason he was given the address was so that he could do something about the man or woman in the house. It's unimaginable how overwhelming a situation like Ed's could be. First, who are involved in a bank robbery, then, you get a playing card with directions to a rape case that he has to fix. I, personally, would be incredibly struck by the idea that someone would give me that much responsibility, that I would most likely just notify the police and move on, not visiting any other addresses.

The very beginning of the chapter focuses n the short sentence being given to the convicted bank robber. The robber only gets 6 months in prison. The criminal also warn Ed that Ed is a "dead man." That, plus everything else that Ed is dealing with, is a massive change from his usual life. You hear stories, sometimes, of someone who all of a sudden does something amazing and their life changes forever. something like that, to me, would be horrible for the first while. I am not personally good when it comes to sudden, life changing events, but I'm sure it would catch on at some point.

The end of chapter 6 made me feel very tense while reading it. Ed and the woman getting abused, face to face. You would sort of want Ed to say something about it, but afterwards, that idea doesn't seem to great, considering they were in a grocery store.

Ed also has to hide all of these incredible occurrences to his friends, family, and anyone else he happens to be talking to. Holding stuff from my friends kills me, I would have to tell them, or at least hint that something interesting is happening in my life. But, hinting at something usually means I have to tell them, then they know everything. Ed has to hold all this in while he is playing cards with his friends. You can tell that it is hard for him to hold all of this information in, and he flat out lies when they ask what happened to the card with the addresses.

All in all, I can conclude that Ed is handling a very stressful and heroic situation reasonably well, while I, on the other hand, would have given up, told everyone, or broken down at this point. He can keep himself together, calm, and organized while navigating through the onslaught of questions and situations that are not preferable. Ed is obviously a better choice than me to become a hero.

Body Biography of Charles Darnay

Darnay us the definition if a good man. He dislikes the government system he was born into, though he was born into the high class. The high class in France in 1780 was an aristocracy where the high class bullied around the poor. Darnay rejected that system and threatened to abandon the estate and monry he would inherit. He said, "We have done wrong and are reaping the fruits of wrong"(Dickens 94). He also exclaimed his hatred for the system by talking to his uncle about it, who is the current aristocrat of the family. Charles Darnay also has a passionate love for Dr. Mannette's daughter, Lucie. He told Mannette that he loves Lucie "fondly, dearly, disinterestedly, devotedly." He obviously wants Mannette to take his love for Lucie seriously. Charles Darnay is a rebellious, but well moraled character in A Tale of Two Cities.

Light/Dark Analysis

     Charles Dickens uses light and dark to show the relationship between Lucie and Dr. Manette. Before Defarge let Lucie into Manette's room, he asked, "I want ... to let a little more light in here..You can bear a little more?"(Dickens 30). This quote refers to Lucie as "light" because she is the person who can help Dr. Manette recover from his condition. She is Manette's daught that he didnt know, and his finding out that she is alive and talking to him could snap him back to normal. After Mr. Lorry asks Manette is he recognizes him, Dickens wites, "some long obliterated marks of an actively intent intelligence in the middle of the forehead, gradually forced themselves throught the black mist that had fallen on him"(Dickens 32). Dr. Manette managed to overcome his state of confusion for a second and power through his "black mist" (a.k.a. darkness or depression) and show a sign that he still remembers his past, and there is a chance to help him to overcome his darkness. Manette thought that Lucie was his wife, but he realized it couldn't be, and Lucie told him that at some point, he will know who she is, and she fell upon her knees before him. "His cold white mingled with her radiant hair, which warmed and lighted it as though it was the light of Freedom shining on him"(Dickens 34). Dr. Manette didn't exactly know who Lucie was, but he knew she was from her past. When she leaned on him, her hair was "the light of Freedom" because she can free him from his darkness, again referring to Lucie as "light". Dickens uses the ideas of light and dark to help show the relationship between Lucie and her father, Dr. Manette.

"The Wine Shop" Paragraph

In the first 2 pages of chapter 5 in A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens foreshadows the French Revolution by displaying the harsh conditions the common people had to endure. Dickens writes, "Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere"(Dickens 22). Dickens says that everyone knew the feeling of hunger. Everyone was Hungry all the time. On page 20 the book reads, "All the people within reach had suspended their business, or their idleness, to run to the spot and drink the wine"(Dickens 20). All the people needed to get and drink some of the wine because they don't have much else. The wine is a dink when they have no drinks. So many people were poor, and the government was so rich, so people couldn't just let that be. Page 21 reads, "... or even with handkerchiefs from women's heads, which were squeezed dry into infants' mouths"(Dickens 21). The people were so poor that they had to feed even their babies the wine, because they didn't have much else to give them. People couldn't go on living so poor, while the aristocracy was so rich. People had to fight to even the economy.

The Importance of Family

Families are a group of people who have a special bond with each other, whether it be a mother's love for her children, or parents' love for each other. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie's family was not perfect. Katie's relationship was failing, and Johnny was slowly killing himself. But, the family was still functioning. Francie still felt loved and They were still happy together and they felt comfortable with each other. Kingsolver states in "Stone Soup", "Arguing about whether nontraditional families deserve pity or tolerance is a little like the medieval debate about left-handedness as a mark of the devil. Divorce, remarriage, single parenthood, gay parents, and blended families simply are." She says that families don't have to be "correct" to be functioning families. A family's importance has nothing to do with what the families is comprised of, but it has to do with their chemistry; does the group make a suitable environment for children. The importance of a family is dependent upon how the people work together and feel together. A badly put together family can have devastating effects on the children. They can feel mistreated or unloved. The quality of the child's mental health correlates with the quality of the family they grew up in. Johnny describes a scene in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, "'I am not a happy man. I got a wife and children and I don’t happen to be a hard-working man. I never wanted a family.' Again, that hurt around Francie’s heart. He didn’t want her or Neeley? … Papa was no good. He said so himself. But she liked Papa better.
'I love my wife and I love my children.' Francie was happy again." This quote shows how the well being of her father directly effected how Francie felt. It also shows how Francie felt bad when she thought her papa didn't want her. As the quote shows, the well being of a family is directly displayed in the well being of a resulting child. The essay "Stone Soup" says, "Call it what you will--when ex-spouses beat swords into plowshares and jump up and down at a soccer game together, it makes for happy kids." Children reflect how the family feels through their own emotions. A family who is happy -- just as the quote says -- makes for happy children.