My Buddy

So, one day me and my buddy John were walking through this beautiful park. I could hear something exploding in the background. I noticed them on the way here. There was water shooting out of the ground and going really high. When we drove by I could smell some horrible smell. It smelled like rotten eggs. Anyways, while me and John were riding through this beautiful park I smelled something. The smell was a combination of wood-moss-fish-fire and a small hint of honey. I have never smelled that smell before, but my instinct told me that it was the smell of a huge black animal. My instinct was right. I looked out across the field and I saw a huge black monster walking about. I knew he was sniffing us out to see if we were good to eat. I knew right away that this would not happen. I started barking as loud as I could to try and scare him away. I smelled great fear and annoyance in John once I started barking. Even though he was scared and a little annoyed that I was barking I knew that this was going to save him. I started barking louder and louder. Then suddenly I saw two huge animals in the distance! Both of them smelled of hunger and annoyance. They wanted to eat both of us in one gulp. A long time ago when me and John met I swore an oath to keep John safe from any danger no matter what. This was a time when I needed to keep that oath. The animals started walking towards us slowly which made me even more mad. One of them stood up on its hind legs and roared at me. To me that was a challenge. I walked forward and started barking as loud as I could. By that time I smelled complete fear in John. He was scared and I needed to make that fear go away. I was about to start running full speed toward those big animals, but then I felt someone grab me and throw me into this big shelter. Before the door shut I saw John looking at me. There was a strong smell of anger coming from him. I knew that I made him mad, but he needed to be protected. Now he is putting me in this shelter to keep ME away from those huge animals while he needs the protection. I suddenly felt the ground start to move and then I could not smell those huge animals anymore. I started smelling that rotten egg smell again and I knew that we were moving quickly away from those huge animals.

Later on that day we drove to this huge shelter where many people sleep in it. We payed for one of those rooms. I was so tired from all the protecting that I plopped onto the carpet and fell right asleep. Once I fell asleep I had another dream about those huge animals again. This time there were hundreds of them! They all smelled of anger. One suddenly grabbed John, my buddy, and run off with him. I started running after the huge animal, but I could not run fast enough. Then I felt a hand on my head patting me. I woke up and I saw John smiling at me. He smelled of comfort and pity. I realized that it was just a dream and that he was safe.

Photo Essay by: John Steinbeck

The first photo that I like is the photo on page 930. This photo shows two little girls wading through the water. The first girl is holding a bucket that looks heavy. In the background you see a two trailers that look very shabby. The first one shows a window that looks like the curtains are old and torn up. On the side of the picture shows a caption saying, "The company let's us live in 'em when we're pickin' cotton. When we ain't workin', we pay rent. Water's comin' up in 'em now." This caption tells that families were getting worried about where they are going to live.

The second photo that I like is on page 931. This photo shows two children playing in the dirt. They both look a little shabby and poor. Behind the children there is a tent that is filled with pillows and basically their whole house. Right beside the girl there is a wagon with the wheels broken off. The tent has some holes in the bottom. Behind the tent there are some dried up trees that look dead. The ground is dry dirt that looks like it needs rain. The caption underneath the picture says, "We got to have a house when the rains come... jus' so's it's got a roof and a floor. Just to keep the little fellas off'n the ground." This caption helps tell again how the people are worried about the rain falling and everything being wet. The picture shows how certain people lived and how the conditions were before the flood.

The third photo that I liked was on page 929. This picture shows about 4 people standing around a car. The car is most likely their house that they are living in. The people's clothes are all dirty and shabby looking. Behind this car you can see another car and a tent where probably another family is living. This photo helps the reader understand what the people had to live in and how they worked. 

"The Flood" by: John Steinbeck

"The Flood" in another amazing short story written by John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck uses certain techniques to make this short story amazing. Steinbeck uses Description, Dialogue, and Tone to set the mood in this short story. For Description he uses certain verbs that I really like. One of those verbs are, "sucked" he used sucked to explain how the mountains sucked up the water. Another verb that Steinbeck used was, "full". He used "full" to explain how the mountains were full from sucking all the water up. One last verb that I like was, "whispered". He used whispered to explain how the earth whispered. Steinbeck used personification to help the reader understand more how the earth felt or what the earth did. While Steinbeck wrote the story he used certain dialogues that could help the reader understand more how the people talked then or how they felt. Steinbeck used a certain dialogue that the people from the 1920's used, but he did not use quotation marks while using the accent. Steinbeck probably used this way to let the reader feel more like he/she was in the 1920's and listening to someone tell them the story. In the short story Steinbeck's tone is very solemn and sad. The verbs and the way that he writes the short story is very sad and mournful over the flood.

"The Turtle" by: Steinbeck

"The Turtle" is a chapter from the renowned novel "Grapes of Wrath". This novels is set during the Great Depression while the Great Dust bowl was happening. Many people were migrating to California to get a better job and have a better life. That is where this chapter of "The Turtle" comes in. The turtle is trying to get across this street which could relate to the many people trying to get across America to California. While this turtle is crossing the street he has this oat stuck in his shell that won't get out. This oat can mean all the problems and irritations that are happening during the migration. The turtle finally is on the street, but there are many cars that are crossing. One van sees the turtle and swerves to not hurt it. Then another truck comes along that actually speeds up and tries to run the turtle over. The truck that tried to run the turtle over could relate to all the businesses and rich people that wanted these poor people out of California. Luckily the truck just hits the side of the turtle's shell and sends it spinning across the street. Now the turtle is across the street and is now on a dirt road. This road is safer, but the turtle still has the oat stuck in his turtle shell. This ending could relate to the migrating people and all the dirt roads they had to travel. The oat could still mean that the migratory people still had problems that they needed to figure out.

betrayal

There are many different types of betrayal in life. The basic definition of betrayal is to leave someone. There are many different ways of betraying. One way is when your husband or wife leaves you for someone, or when they leave at a very hard time in their life. Another type of betrayal is when your friend leaves you. I think when someone leaves another for a really dumb reason then they are like a coward.

If I was married and my husband left me for a stupid reason, I would HATE him. I am not sure what I would do, but I would definitely be mad. I would probably go crazy just like Medea did. I would probably forget about him and move on after about a year or two. If I saw him though when I was at the store or something I would probably say, "hi" and treat him as nicely as I could. Deep inside though I would probably not want to talk to him and even be near him. Basically I would not want to be around him or even talk to him.

If a friend betrayed me, I am not sure what I would do. I don't think that it would be a big deal because I would have other friends, but if a group of my friends betrayed me then I would not be sure what to do. If a group of my friends betrayed me I would probably become depressed and then try and find another group of friends. The only hard part would be that I would be seeing them every day until they move or until we graduate. It would take me awhile to forgive them, unless they said sorry.

Overall if someone betrayed me I would not be happy, but I would forgive them after awhile. If my husband said he was going to leave me I would become very mad and not want to be near him. If my friends betrayed me though it would be a lot harder for me to forgive them and even see them. I would still have to see them though because I have to come to school. I do not like betrayal at all.

The Chivalric Code, Antigone

Chivalric Code:
Honest, Loyalty, Chastity, and Courage

These are some of the characteristics of a chivalric person. To me Antigone has all of these traits.
Honesty: In the play Antigone, Antigone was very honest. When Creon asked her if she did bury her brother she was very honest and told everyone what she did. I don't think I would have been able to be that proud about telling what I did to everyone. Especially when it was against the law to do it. Which brings me on to the next characteristic.
Courage: Antigone was very courageous by telling everyone so boldly that she did bury her brother and she does not think that it was the wrong thing to do. At the very end of the story when she committed suicide. I think that is very courageous to hang yourself. I would never want to do it.
Loyalty: I think Antigone was very loyal towards the gods. That is one of the reasons why she buried her brother. the gods rule was to bury someone or else their spirit will roam around forever. I think she was very loyal towards her brother by burying him even if she knew that she was going to be sent to jail.
Chastity: I know that Antigone did show chastity because she is a very honest and true person. From the play it sounded like she only wanted to do what is right instead of doing anything else. She was a very clean and pure person.

Compare and Contrast, Sir Lancelot du Lake

The story "Sir Lancelot du Lake" and Steinbeck's version of Sir Lancelot are a little different.  In "Sir Lancelot du Lake",  Lancelot is presented as a very strong and powerful man that can basically do anything.  While in Steinbeck's version Lancelot is shown as a very humble and polite person. In Steinbeck's version it seems like Lancelot did not follow the chivalric code compared to him following the code in "Sir Lancelot du Lake".  Although Lancelot does not follow his chivalric code completely he still followed other attributes that are part of the chivalric code. One of the other chivalric attributes that Lancelot did show in both stories was courtesy toward people.  Sir Lancelot showed courtesy towards everyone in "Sir Lancelot du Lake", and he showed courtesy toward King Arthur and Guinevere in Steinbeck's version. In both stories Sir Lancelot followed the chivalric code, but he is shown as a humble person in one story and shown as a great courageous person in another.