My computer hasn't been good lately, and I haven't been able to go on the blogs.
New American Classic
This was inspired by the song, "New American Classic", by Taking Back Sunday. I suggest you to listen to it, it's a very well written song. It also has almost nothing to do with the song, so instead of trying to explain my interpretation of the song, and then what my piece here is about, I'll just let you read it and take it however you want. I do use some lyrics from the song itself, I think twice.
Don't waste my time.
I didn't want this.
Nor did you.
So please,
End the pain,
Let it die away,
Waste away.
Untie the knot,
And stop killing me slowly.
Don't stretch it out,
Don't make it more than it is.
Don't agonize this anymore,
Say you won't care.
Please.
I know it's only one thing, but I'm still changing "Reach For Glory", and such, so bear with me for now.
I'm going to be uploading my own little things in groups, so I don't have a million small posts.
Life Redux
Life is a poem that I did far back, last year, if you look into the older things I've written. I didn't like the final product, so I re-wrote it.
Life is to live.
Life is to love.
Life is to die.
There will be hard times,
and even harder times than that.
But we will live on.
We will cry,
with both sadness, and joy.
But we will live on.
The old man, slowly walking.
Taking in the world around him.
His pains, his loves, his short comings.
He lives on.
As will we.
Moment
Moment was literally a "in the moment" poem. That's all I have to say about it.
Remember the past.
My failures.
My victories.
My loss.
My gain.
Live in the moment.
My happiness.
My sadness.
My pain.
My love.
Hope for the future.
My hopes.
My struggles.
My strengths.
My weaknesses.
Because we all remember the past, live in the moment, and hope for the future.
And because we are who we are.
Untitled 2
Untitled 2, is again, another thought provoking (hopefully) piece of mine.
Never average
Never normal
Never the same
Never.
Every event we live through
and die through
Shapes us.
Until we are so strong that we change those around us
or we've taken so many blows that we simply
Fall apart.
And everyone we change
Remembers
Forgets
Loves
Hates.
They all want to stay the same.
No change.
No adventure.
"Adventure does nothing."
They were wrong.
I am not afraid.
Well, that's it for now. I'm currently working on a piece, titled "Reach For Glory". I've been working on it for a while, as it's the defining piece of my blog. Also, as we do more prompts in English, I'll post those as well.
I'm going to most likely begin uploading things I write in Honors English 9, as well as my own poems and streams of consciousness (Mr J if you see this, you have absolutely no idea how much I miss those streams of consciousnesses). Also, for those of you who visit my blog from Mr J's 7th grade classes, or those of you who don't know me that are in the eighth grade, my name is Dilpreet. I'm a freshman in highschool, and I'm fairly proud to say that I have somewhat of a passion for writing. I've been writing stuff like this(poems, papers, and all that good stuff) since 7th grade, when it was first introduced to me in Mr J's class. So, all in all, this is a place for me to put all my writing, and for the world to see it. Have fun and think what you will.
7:33 AM, November 27th
My eyes open and the day begins,
the sun creeps throughout the world,
laying layers upon layers of life.
It's time to move, and time to
Live.
And isn't that what we all aspire to do?
Just live like it's our last day and live like we live forever.
Live like it's the best, worst,and most average day of our lives.
Yet we all fight through the pain, and simply,
Live.
The feeling of life is the epitome of peace,
to Live.
Untitled
I awake--
and It begins.
All these actions, chosen by Me and controlled by Me.
Redeemers redeemed and sinners sinned.
Our world stays chaotic.
Chaotic.
Never calm.
Deadly and volatile,
right up until I am perverted into only an Icon,
an Image.
By those who use Me as their guiding light
for their own reasons
their own, wrong, reasons.
Except my light
It's not there.
And it won't be there
until once again, My image
and My icon
become Pure.
Jump
Take the plunge, take the fall.
Take the chance.
Come, jump with me,
so that we can become,
Better.
And when we hit the ground,
Rock bottom,
Let's just get back up,
and do it all over again.
So that we can become,
Better.
Please do comment if you read this, and if you don't have an account, SIGN UP AND MAKE ONE!
Also, think of these what you will. Some of them are meant to be thought provoking.
Hey everyone,
I haven't posted a single poem, thought, paper, or ANYTHING to this blog for awhile. Well, I'm going to again. That's all.
Please read both my essay, and the poem above it.
Lost
The end of the day,
it has come, to move us
to the next.
Although we've had so much
experiences
we've all come out
knowing that much more.
Although it is the end,
we are not lost, never lost.
Dedicated to Mr. Johnson and our English Class
The Bean Trees
The world you live in, it seems as though you are inferior; you are simply there to take care of everyone else, you have no other purpose. In The Bean Trees, women are seen as tools, people who don't have much of a reason to be there, people who do not have the same right as men. Barbara Kingsolver tells us that anyone can be who or what they want to be in life, regardless of gender or upbringing, and also expresses her views on both our current culture, and culture during her time.
In the beginning of the novel, Taylor(or Marietta, at the time) is narrating her childhood, how that throughout high school, only her and a handful of other girls made it through it all. Already Kingsolver is driving the point home of equality. During the time in which the book was written(1988), some places were like this, where women that were anything more than housewives were a rarity. However, Marietta's first real achievement in her life isn't the only one she'll have, and Kingsolver makes examples out of that as well.
Another example of Marietta's difference from other women is her decision to change her name. While some people may think that changing her name is simply because she doesn't want it, the true reason is how she is making a new perspective on life. She wants a new life, and she isn't afraid to get it. She also decides to end up somewhere, and then make her new life there. However, at this point, Kingsolver is done with that view, and begins to speak through Taylor, a whole new view on modern culture.
When Taylor has met Lou Ann, and they are eating junk food in the basement with no regard for it, the author is trying to tell us something that many won't see. A common ritual in many, if not all, religions is giving thanks for having a meal at the end of the day. However, when Taylor and Lou Ann are described as eating “without care”, the author is saying that now, we never see a family, commercially, or publicly, give thanks for their food before they eat. What she means by that is that we are losing a sense of faith, of religion. In the book we just read, The Power and The Glory, religion is a huge part of it, and in both this book and that, religion is sometimes either abused, or altogether lost.
An example of that is 1-800-THE-LORD. This phone number is for people that feel they want to thank god, and to make a pledge. What it really means, is that we sometimes insult our beliefs and religion without knowing. Having God used as a money-maker is something nobody should do, because it is something sacred, and profiting from greed, using religion, is despicable. Another reason(at first), is Jesus Is Lord Uses Tires. At first, the name just seems like something used to attract more customers. However, when Taylor finds that it is a sanctuary, the name suddenly means that much more. All of these things tie into what Kingsolver thinks America should be, and what it is right now.
Our country is at times, frankly, at an all time low. We, as a people, should give more respect to our beliefs, and faiths. Kingsolver wants to drive this home, in The Bean Trees. She tells us that any and all can be who they want to be, but at the same time, not to lose our belief, and ourselves, while doing it.
A single purpose, you must fulfill it before you die. Everything else doesn't matter, only what you need to do. No matter the consequence, you need to carry on, fighting until the end. Death is only a small thing, the real thing is to make a difference in the world, to make a change. Graham Greene, through The Power and the Glory, tells us that if we simply live for ourselves, and never set out to make a difference, that we lose who we are, and at that point, it is nearly impossible to get it back.
In The Power and the Glory, there are a multitude of characters that have some sort of purpose, and then some characters who simply live for themselves. The first of these is the priest. He is somewhere in between, because many times during the book, he is living for himself, being selfish, and some other times, he is living to be a priest, and is guilty for his sins. He definitely died as a priest, as he died for his beliefs. However, during some parts of the book, namely the dog scene, and a little bit before and after that, he lives for himself. An example of this is when the child is buried, and the woman leaves a single sugar ball for him to survive if he somehow came back to life. The priest, starving as he is, half dead, takes the ball. An interesting point during all of this is how nearly everything is referred to as half. It is in a half destroyed house that the priest finds the child. In the Fellows' old house, it is where he finds the half dead dog. He feels as though he is half in the world, half in another. This half refers to the arch between Heaven and Hell, where the people with no conviction lie. Half, as in halfway between the two. The priest, hovers between Heaven, and the middle, but never is completely in either until the books end, even though he hasn't exactly done the ideal things a priest should do during life. During the whole book, the priest does great things. However, Graham Greene always portrays him as though he never does anything right. However, after his death, he influenced many. Mr. Tench, after witnessing his death, decides he cannot live there no longer, and decides to go back to his wife(who has found religion). However, many of the other characters can fall into Heaven, Hell, or in between.
The lieutenant is a prime example of evil; he does anything he can to find the priest. He took people from a village, and even if the priest was no longer there, execute the hostage, knowing the priest would no longer take it, and reveal himself, stopping the bloodshed. However, the hostages being executed never brings the priest in. The lieutenant, oddly enough, kills each hostage during the priest's most selfish time, where he lived for himself, and himself only. Although some may see the lieutenant as someone who should be shot for himself, he is not killing because he is an atheist, or because he relishes making destruction, and causing death where he goes. He is killing because he believes religion ruins people, because it is not a lifestyle someone should live. However, he never wavers in his decisions, as the priest does, and will never change his ideals. He has a sense of justice, and in this case, justice is the eradication of all religion. However, if he was changed, he wouldn't be able to actually acknowledge it. He would simply lose himself, and would end up dying for no reason, not having really done anything. The single admirable thing about him is his decision not to waver, but he is hated for it, and will never be loved, liked, or admired. The boy who is just finished hearing the story of Juan, the martyr, sees the lieutenant passing by. He spits at his feet, disgusted by his actions, and definitely defying the lieutenant's vision of the next generation.
“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”- MLK. This quote goes along with The Power and the Glory quite well; as it describes both the lieutenant and the priest as the man who would die for his beliefs and ideals. Other characters, like Padre Jose, is not fit to live. He lives for nothing, wouldn't die for anything, even his most dearest and closest companions. The priest and the lieutenant both live for their ideas, and both would die if it meant that the priest made differences in somebody's life, helping them to see the world in a new light, to live fully, not emptily without some sort of conviction. The lieutenant would die if it meant that his vision of the future came true. Anyone can make a change in the world, the difference between us all being the determination to do so. Graham Greene illustrates a good point, in that if we don't do something, if our days are filled with the same thing over and over again, we aren't fit to live, if we cannot do something to change it, and have the courage to try to.
Compare and contrast the experience with the mother carrying her nearly dead child, and the dog in the hut. What do these two experiences begin to show us about human nature, and the nature of existence? What do we learn from watching the priest react to each? And finally, what way can this be seen as a hopeful message?
The mother carrying her dead child and the dog in the hut are both very symbolistic parts of The Power and The Glory, in the sense that they carry great meaning, by showing common human nature. The first, the old dog, barely alive, but struggling to survive, is a good example of the priest's situation. He is constantly trying to stay alive, by whatever means possible. When he meets the dog, and notices the bone underneath its paws, he wants it right away. “This was human dignity disputing with a bitch over a bone.” (Page 144)This is his human side, arguing with an animal side, of an argument between desire, and dignity. Instead of waiting, or trying to find something else, he immediately pokes the dog with a wire, and gets the bone. He eats it, and tells himself that he will give a little meat back to the dog. However, he soon devours it, and tosses the picked-clean bone back to the dog, somewhat guilty. This whole part of Chapter Four tells us of an animal side all humans have, one that can be pushed to greater lengths than what we normally are. While the priest isn't going too far, he still eats the whole bone without noticing, and guiltily gives the bone back, somewhat regretful, but accepting the fact his life is above that of a dog, the food chain in effect.
The mother carrying her child is again, another part in our nature, the more spiritual part of us. The mother insists on taking her child to a burial ground; the priest thinks it to be easier to simply bury it in the village. However, the mother stays true to tradition, and, regardless of whether or not the priest would have gone with her, have left to the burial ground. When the mother left leaving a sugar ball to the child, the priest once again, out of desperation, took the ball. This is the same animal nature, the one witnessed with the dog. He soon crossed the border, and when a man with a gun comes to him, he has no intent of continuing his journey, and tells his true name. Oddly enough, the man was happy to see a priest. He is given a sense of hope, although he doesn't directly acknowledge it, and gives a hopeful message to the novel.
When the priest enters the village, after leaving the dog, he felt as though he was in limbo, a state that is described as between worlds, in and out of consciousness. This represents the space in between Heaven and Hell, where the people with no conviction lie. The priest does nothing for others, and does nothing for himself besides what he needs, therefore erasing any sort of conviction he has at this point, which in turn, erases his hope, leading up to the border, and giving his identity to the man. At this point, the priest somewhat forgets what he is living for, his nature of existence. Also, everything he does in this part is half, he can only communicate with the woman in half Spanish, half English. The child and dog are half dead when he finds them, the shelter in the village is only half a hut. This all represents his state of limbo, half in consciousness, half out of it. The two events of Chapter Four, and the symbolism in between, all represent a crucial part of human nature, one that comes out of its shadow when we are in hard-pressed times, forced to survive by any way possible.
Behind the door, nervous, excited voices await, waiting to spill the contents of their minds. Your family sits besides you, guiding you through this hard time. The odds are stacked against you; you have no chance of winning. The door opens, and a man beckons you in with disgust. You walk in, and a jury is to one side, the judge in the front, the crowd to the other side. The judge looks at you, a face of both pity and contempt. The case begins, and the it seems like it’s only beginning. In the book To Kill A Mocking Bird, the author, Harper Lee, shows how badly the U.S. treated people of non-white origin.
In To Kill A Mocking Bird, a courtroom case was called for an unjust cause. A colored man, Tom Robinson, was accused of raping and beating the daughter of a known drinker, Bob Ewell. The case seems simple enough, let’s just arrest Robinson and punish him severely. But no, because he is colored, he is now inferior, let’s toy with him and make him suffer. Robinson will always lose, because of how he is treated because his skin color is different. Colored people back then were used to being beaten, treated unfairly, and just tried to deal with it. Tom Robinson was known to be an honest, nice person, but apparently, when it’s a white man to a black man, everything is blown out of proportion. This was all normalcy, and people died with no one from anywhere else knowing their unjust and horrible fate. This is only one small level of racism, and there is only more to come.
Now it seems obvious that Robinson should be arrested and killed immediately, but not for just the reason of being colored. He raped somebody, he should be killed for that! But he only has one arm, his right, and the bruises on Mary Ewell were on her right, usually inflicted by the left hand. Bob Ewell signed a legal paper with his left hand, and he is a heavy drinker, but even when such simple, case ending facts are shown, skin color and how a white man cannot be accused by the man who supposedly “did” the crime. So, even when this is seen by nearly everyone in the room, and even when Atticus, one of the most respected, honest, and down to earth people in town, is fighting for Tom, nothing can stop what the jury decides, and when the jury is corrupt, there is no hope. This is, yet again, only normal, it’s not like Robinson would have won anyways, and these are the thoughts of every person trying to fighting for equal rights.
Another point of racial profiling in this book is how quick we all are to see somebody’s faults, but are so slow to realize ours. When Atticus, Scout, and Jem went to the jail to see Tom, a mob was formed outside the jail, getting ready to take him out of the jail, and either severely injure him or go as far as killing him. When Atticus tries to reason with them, they completely ignore him. Atticus cannot stop them without acting like them, and if he did that, he might as well have joined the mob and killed Tom. But when Scout walked right up to Walter Cunningham, and directly insulted him in a childish fashion about how he was ready to kill somebody who wasn’t even known to be innocent or guilty yet, even without doing it on purpose, the whole mob backs off, and leaves. “So it took an eight-year-old child to bring ‘em to their senses…. That proves something – that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they’re still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children.” Said by Atticus, he is saying just how slow the people in the mob were, ready to kill a single man, the attitude they show toward a black man, the attitude they would show towards an animal. Atticus means exactly what is said above, how fast they were to kill him, but not so fast to realize how savage they were acting.
When Robinson was “caught”, nobody paid attention to him, lest they too be charged with a crime. Not even his own people responded to him. Back then, this was normal, now, it is considered cruel and mean, immature, and if taken to a certain degree, against the law. An example of how this has changed today is President Barack Obama’s recent inauguration. It shows that how far racism has dropped, and how far people can now get. If this had happened in Lee’s time, supposing that people of non-white origin could run for president, he would either A. Be framed for something he didn’t do, killed because somebody said “How dare he run for president, he is inferior, we should kill him!” or B. Lose the election as quickly as he showed up, and fade into the background, never to be seen again. However, due to his recent breakthrough in racism, it shows just how far the U.S. has come in the equality of people, as people set aside their differences, and let each man do as he wishes, not being enslaved or hated for his differences.
You walk out of the room, the hallway gray, empty, silent. Your thoughts are completely scattered, a thousand different things to do, but only so small time to do it. A bench is ahead of you. You should sit. You fall onto the bench, exhausted. A single idea form in your mind. A steady, calm resolve, to only fight harder. These thoughts represented every man, woman and child that was killed unfairly because of his color back in Harper Lee’s time. Harper Lee brings a good point by showing how corrupt people were, and how slow our government was to realize it, and how nobody could stop all of these problems no matter what they tried.
