Language arts short story final draft

Language arts short story final draft

          12 midnight. I’m ready to roll! I put on my jacket and grabbed my bulging bag filled with cash. Quietly and stealthily, I crept past my parents’ bedroom and went for the door. Then I saw that my father had changed the door lock. However, without panicking and with great skill and experience, I picked open the door with a thin metal a thin malleable metal string and quietly locked the door back again.

          The cold wind slashed my cheeks as I stepped into the streets of Buangkok, Singapore. My hands, feeling the cold air wrapping itself around them, crept into my jackets hand pockets. I glanced left and right to check if anyone around noticed my presence. Content with the silence of the neighborhood, I took my usual routine, walking down the streets to a café “Pleasant Times”. The flash of lightning and the clap of thunder was followed by a heavy downpour. Oh no! Half brisk walking, half running, my mind was racing as this was not the weather I expected.

          I arrived at “Pleasant Times” completely drenched in the cold rain. I knocked on the opaque back door of the café, the main door was locked. A grumpy voice from indoors answered: “Password?” “Leprechaun,” I replied, hoping that the password had not been changed. A satisfying click of the unlocking of the door cleared my doubts. I shuffled into the cold and dark café. A middle-aged man, Dim, sat in the room. “Have you brought the money?” he asked while sipping the glass of beer in his hands. I threw the bag towards the man standing beside Dim. The man opened the bag and counted a total amount of $5000 in the bag. Dim gave me an awkward smile. “5k only? What a shame. I was expecting 10k. Never mind. Go and enjoy these 2 packs of heroin.” Dim said, throwing to me two small plastic packs. My stomach lurched with ecstasy as I received the packs of heroin and hid in one corner of the café.

          In the café “Pleasant Times”, Dim sells the normal stuff that you find in coffee shops in the day, but at night, he was the drug trafficker who sold small packs of heroin at $2500 each.

          As quickly as I could, I gobbled the packs of heroin. Not within a minute, the heroin took its effect. I was on cloud nine and I immediately danced around although there was no background music. After like 1 hour or so, and the effect of heroin had worn off, I decided to end the night. Just as I opened the door and was ready to leave, some 15 strong men armed with guns rushed into the café and the head of the men yelled, “Freeze!” At the same time, the last person in the group pinned me to the ground with a death-threatening guillotine. I felt like I had dropped from cloud nine into the 18 gates of hell and my heart sank. It was the police!

          Within a minute, all the people in the café were nabbed and handcuffed. I was so regretful of my addiction to drugs that tears of remorse streamed down my cheeks all the way to the police station. As I was thrown into jail while watching my parents cry, I waited in the cold, dark cell for myself to be 18 so that I will be dealt will by the law. After that incident, I silently vowed in my heart to myself that I will never touch drugs ever again after I am reincarnated. 

Setting

Setting

The taxi driver dropped me off. The minute I touched solid ground and inhaled the fresh night air, cold air pierced my skin. As I walked through the front gates of the mansion, I spotted a dark figure watching at me silently through the windows of the mansion……


Website: http://www.cgfocus.com/gallery/image/273

Discrimination against Jews

Discrimination against Jews

1. Discrimination against Jews is classified as racial or religious?

·        It is classified as religious as Jew is a religion and the Jews were put into concentration camps based on their religions.

2. What are “Concentration Camps”?

·        A camp where civilians, enemy aliens, political prisoners, and sometimes prisoners of war are detained and confined, typically under harsh conditions.

3. What is “Genocide” and “Holocaust”?

·        Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.

·        Holocaust was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany. Two-thirds of the population of nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust were killed. Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' genocide of millions of people in other groups, including Romani (more commonly known in English by the exonym "Gypsy"), Soviet prisoners of war, Polish and Soviet civilians, homosexuals, people with disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses and other political and religious opponents, which occurred whether they were of German or non-German ethnic origin. By this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims would be between 11 million and 17 million people.

4. Mein Kampf

·       Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi politician Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology.

Language arts short story draft 1

Language arts short story draft 1

          12 midnight. I’m ready to roll! I put on my jacket and grabbed my bulgy bag filled with cash. Quietly and stealthily, I crept past my parents’ bedroom and went for the door. Then I saw that my father had changed the door lock. Crap! However, without panicking and with great skill and experience, I picked open the door with a thin metal a thin malleable metal string and quietly locked the door back again.

          The cold wind slashed my cheeks as I stepped into the streets of Buangkok, Singapore. My hands, feeling the cold air wrapping itself around them, crept into my jackets hand pockets. I glance left and right to sense if anyone around noticed my presence. Content with the silence of the neighborhood, I took my usual routine, walking down the streets to a café “Pleasant Times”. Clap! Splash! Splash! The flash of lightning and the clap of thunder was followed by a heavy downpour. Oh no! Half brisk walking, half running, my mind was racing as this was not the weather I expected.

          12.30 in the morning. I arrived at “Pleasant Times” completely drenched with cold rain. I knocked onto the opaque back door of the café, the main door was locked. A grumpy voice from indoors answered: “Password?” “Leprechaun,” I replied, hoping that the password had not been changed. A satisfying click of the unlocking of the door cleared my doubts. I shuffled into the cold and dark café. In the middle of the room was a middle-aged man, Dim. “Have you brought the money?” he asked while sipping the glass of beer in his hands. I threw the bag towards the man standing beside Dim. The man opened the bag and counted a total amount of $5000 in the bag. Dim gave me an awkward smile. “5k only? What a shame. I was expecting 10k. Never mind. Go and enjoy these 2 packs of heroin.” Dim said, throwing to me two small plastic packs. My stomach lurched with ecstasy as I received the packs of heroin and hid to one corner of the café.

          In the café “Pleasant Times”, Dim sells the normal stuff that you find in coffee shops in the day, but in the night, he is the drug trafficker who sells small packs of heroin at $2500 each.

          As quickly as I could, I gobbled the packs of heroin. Not within a minute, the heroin took its effect. I was like in cloud nine and I immediately danced around although there was no background music. After like 1 hour or so, and the effect of heroin had worn off, I decided to end the night. Just as I opened the door and was ready to leave, some 15 strong men armed with guns rushed into the café and the head of the men yelled, “Freeze!” At the same time, the last person in the group pinned me to the ground with a death-threatening guillotine. I felt like I had dropped from cloud nine to the 18 gates of hell and my heart sank. It was the police!

          Within a minute, all the people in the café was nabbed and handcuffed. I was so regretful of my addiction to drugs that I cried all the way to the police station. In my heart, as I watched my parents crying while I was threw into jail, I vowed to myself never to touch drugs again.

The importance of setting in the story

The importance of setting in the story

1. Where has each of the above stories been set?

Answer: In “The Real Durwan” by Jhumpa Lahiri, the story is set in the stairwell. In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the story is set in Watson’s house in the morning. In “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, the story is set in the neighborhood of a town.

2. What time period has each of these stories been set in?

Answer: In “The Real Durwan” by Jhumpa Lahiri, the time period is set in the present time. In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the time period is set in 1883, early April in the morning. In “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, the time period is set in the early 19th century England.

3. What clues do you get from the setting about the kind of story it is going to turn out to be?

Answer: The setting of the first story tells us that the story was going to be moody and sad. The setting of the second story tells us that the story was going to be suspicious and mysterious. The setting of the third story gives us a very amiable feeling and and gives us warm and loving effect.

4. Now look at Chapter 1 of “To kill a Mockingbird”. Identify the setting of a novel in this novel in this novel in this chapter. Do you get clues about the story that follows from the setting? Write your answer in 150 words (use the SEE/PEE method).

Answer: The setting of the To Kill A Mockingbird is in Maycomb County. Scout, known as Jean Louise Finch, talks about how her brother Jem, older by 4 years, broke his arm badly at the elbow when he was thirteen. To this day she insists that the entire incident began with the Ewell family, the most wretched family in Maycomb County, but Jem disagrees. He believes that the whole thing started way back when Dill came from Meridian, Mississippi, to spend his first summer in Maycomb with his aunt, Rachel Haverford, the Finch's neighbor. To take a broader view of things, Scout suggests that it all started when General Jackson chased the Creek Indians north and Simon Finch, their ancestor, moved up the river and built Finch's Landing. Because they couldn't decide who was right, they asked their father, Atticus, and he says that they were both right. Scout begins relating the stories of her childhood that build up to the night that Jem broke his arm.

Telephone Conversation

Telephone conversation

                   The price seemed reasonable, location

            Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived

            Off premises. Nothing remained

            But self-confession. “Madam,” I warned,

5         “I hate a wasted journey—I am African.”

            Silence. Silenced transmission of

            Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,

            Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled

            Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.

10         “HOW DARK?” . . . I had not misheard . . . “ARE YOU LIGHT

            OR VERY DARK?” Button B. Button A. Stench

            Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.

            Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered

            Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed

15         By ill-mannered silence, surrender

            Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.

            Considerate she was, varying the emphasis—

            “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Revelation came.

            “You mean—like plain or milk chocolate?”

20         Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light

            Impersonality. Rapidly, wavelength adjusted,

            I chose. “West African sepia”—and as an afterthought,

            “Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic

            Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent

25         Hard on the mouthpiece. “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding,

            “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” “Like brunette.”

            “THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” “Not altogether.

            Facially, I am brunette, but madam, you should see

            The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet

30         Are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused—

            Foolishly, madam—by sitting down, has turned

            My bottom raven black—One moment madam!”—sensing

            Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap

            About my ears—“Madam,” I pleaded, “wouldn’t you rather

35         See for yourself?”

Q1. This poem is full of colours not just that of skin, what do you think these colours signify?

Answer: This poem used many colours to signify different things in the passage.

Firstly, dark and light was used and the metaphor " plain or milk chocolate" further creates a visual image for the reader to imagine the color of the author. Dark and light was used most often and this may be because the author wanted to show the contrast between the author and the landlady.

Next, the colours signify the discrimination of dark-skinned African-American as the landlady was very reluctant to rent the flat to the speaker. This can be seen from the landlady being "Silence" with "Silenced transmission of pressurized good-breeding".

Lastly, the colours also show that the speaker is a black and that he did not like being discriminated by others. This can be seen from the incident where the speaker kept explaining that he is not really that dark-skinned/black.

In conclusion, the dark-skinned African-American was discriminated during the past and the colours used in the passage further enhance the dark-skin the speaker has. The conversation shows how unwilling the landlady wanted to rent the flat to him, showing the discrimination of dark-skinned African-American in the past.

Q2.What does the dialogue in this poem reveal about these two characters?

Answer: The dialogue in this poem reveals the different origins of the two characters.

In stanza 1, which is the start of the conversation, the speaker was already asked about his skin colour and his origin. The landlady immediately felt the pressure as she was unwilling to take a dark-skinned African-American in.

This poem shows that the two characters, the landlady and the speaker are white and black respectively. Many colours were then used to describe the different parts of the speaker. This may be because the author wanted to show the deep contrast between the two characters.

The landlady may be convicted for renting her flat to a black because she was not really that reluctant to rent the flat to the speaker. There may be a rule then that a white could not help the black or something like that as the passage revealed that she was not really that reluctant from the "..." used.

In conclusion, the two characters in the poem showed the deep "grudge" or different between a white and a black. This may be due to the discrimination of African-American in the past.

Q3. The poet dramatizes a battle, who wins finally and why?

Answer: In this poem Telephone conversation by Wole Soyinka, a "battle" was happening with the winner being the speaker.

This is because the speaker was insistent on renting the flat. The white lady was rather to rent her flat to the speaker and kept asking him questions. The speaker showed that he must rent the flat regardless of anything as he said," I hate a wasted journey."

The speaker seemed to know that he is being discriminated as he states," I am African". He seems prepared for the battle as he had already told the landlady his origin. Then, as the white lady tried to insult or humiliate him with the different metaphors like "plain or milk chocolate" and insisting that he is a black.

The speaker was not really affected as he was prepared for it. He eventually won when he showed his anger. We could see that he is kind of angry from the different "Red" used in the passage to describe the surroundings, more for describing the atmosphere. He eventually said," wouldn't you rather see for yourself?" in the last line of the last stanza. He seemed to be angry when the landlady kept asking the colour of his different body parts.

In conclusion, the poet won the battle dramatized in the poem most probably because he was better well-spoken and because he was very insistent on renting the flat.

Harper Lee

Harper lee

A. About the author.

·         She is an American author born on April 28, 1926. Her best book written was To kill a Mocking Bird where she was awarded the 1960 Pulitzer Prize. She was born in Monroeville, Alabama. She was also a tomboy and a precocious reader.

B. Biodata.

·         Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama.

·         Lee was the youngest of four children born to Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee.

·         She attended Huntingdon College 1944-45, studied law at the University of Alabama 1945-49, and studied one year at Oxford University.

·         In the 1950s she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City.

·         In 1957 Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company.

·         After being instructed to rewrite it, Lee worked on it for two and a half more years

·         In 1960 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Lee's only book, was published.

·         In 1961 she had two articles published: "Love --- In Other Words" in Vogue, and "Christmas To Me" in McCalls.

·         In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two persons named by President Johnson to the National Council of Arts.

C. Novels written by her.

·         "To Kill a Mockingbird." (1960)

·         "Christmas to Me". (December 1961)

·         "When Children Discover America". (August 1965).

·         "Cold Blood" (1966)

·         Capote and lee collaborated "The Long Goodbye" (mid-1980s)

D. Awards Received.

·         Pulitzer Prize (1961)

·         Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (1961)

·         Alabama Library Association Award (1961)

·         Bestsellers Paperback of the Year Award (1962)

·         Member, National Council on the Arts (1966)

·         Best Novel of the Century, Library Journal (1999)

·         Alabama Humanities Award (2002)

·         ATTY Award, Spector Gadon & Rosen Foundation (2005)

·         Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award (2005)

·         Honorary degree, University of Notre Dame (2006)

·         American Academy of Arts and Letters (2007)

·         Presidential Medal of Freedom (2007)

E. Why was TKAM a significant novel to her?

·         To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published amidst the most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South since the Civil War and Reconstruction. Inevitably, despite its mid-1930s setting, the story told from the perspective of the 1950s voices the conflicts, tensions, and fears induced by this transition.