James Patterson’s book, Maximum Ride, is quite the journey. It is a sensational and conflicting story that definitely the reader intrigued. It is about six young kids who finally escaped from a lab where they were experimented on and were brought there after being kidnapped. The six kids are; Max, who has the leader role in the group, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Angel and Nudge. They have grown up together and are on the mission to find their parents.
In Jon Krakauer’s masterpiece, Into Thin Air, he provides an in-depth explanation of what happened one disastrous day on Mount Everest. While the book is essentially a memoir, it incorporates the excitement of an adventure novel, the suspense of a mystery, and the factual detailing of a school textbook. Jon Krakauer doesn’t leave out any experience to the reader; he very carefully explains every detail so anyone can read his book, even those who have never heard of what happened in Spring of 1996 on Mount Everest. The story essentially explores Jon Krakauer’s months of preparation for and climbing of Mount Everest.
In The Divide, author Matt Taibbi conveys to the reader the inner workings of temporary assistance offices. Taibbi argues that in order to receive benefits, one must wait hours in line at the offices and hopefully be accepted to get benefits. Even after waiting, they may be rejected for discrepancies found in their homes, such as clothes not suiting for a single mother or a child at school when you are asking for food stamps for him. An example that Taibbi discussed was a couple working at a fast food restaurant that was expecting a child.
Frank Beddor’s book The Looking Glass Wars is another version of The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. In this retelling of the story, Alyss is a princess in the queendom of Wonderland. Her Aunt Redd takes over the throne as Queen Alyss is cast out of Wonderland and has to find her way home to retake her throne. In this book there are many themes evident.
An Analysis of The World's Cruelty After reading journalist Leonard Pitt's article entitled, "Sometimes, the Earth is Cruel", I saw the disaster in Haiti in a whole new light. What is on the surface an article based on the terrible earthquake that shook Haiti on January, 12, 2010, is in actuality a riveting, eye opening piece of human re-evaluation. An article that looks beyond ordinary human conventions and presents a broad picture of who we truly are and how we truly operate. The overall theme, however, is present in the first line; Sometimes the earth is cruel and Leonard Pitts expresses this through his description of the Haitian people's actions after the earthquake, his language comparing the Haitian people with nature and his overall response to the way Haitian people responded to their unfortunate tragedy.
Tenisha Pressley, Period 6 Brotherhood in the Battlefield What is more important in the line of duty than the bond between fellow soldiers? Brotherhood is one of the most necessary qualities amongst those who spend months, maybe even years, fighting for the safety of their country. Soldiers should feel safe going to combat knowing that their brothers are watching their back.
You Have Insulted Me essay by Evan Hang Kurt Vonnegut’s purpose for writing the letter, “You Have Insulted Me” is to convince the school board to change their decision through the use of rhetorical strategies, logos, pathos, and ethos. To begin, Vonnegut uses ethos to convince the school board. Vonnegut uses examples of ethos such as that he served in World War 2 and earned a purple heart to change the school board’s decision. “Every year I receive at least a dozen invitations to be the commencement speaker at colleges and high schools.” Vonnegut uses real-life, reliable information to show the school board that he is trusted by many people.
Victorious conquerors have taken prisoners of war in conflicts across human history. The foreign prison camps of the World Wars were infamous for their cruelty. However, many people are not aware that millions of German prisoners of war were placed in hundreds of camps all across America. These prisoners had their own unique experiences that differed significantly from prisoners held in foreign POW camps. Kurt Vonnegut voices his own traumatizing prisoner of war experience through the main character of Slaughterhouse-Five.
Sam Roberts in the article A Decade of Fear argues that Americans turned against each other because of McCarthyism. Roberts supports his argument by explaining and describing the many occurences of paranoia caused by McCarthyism. The author’s purpose is to persuade the reader that McCarthy’s gross grab at power caused tension between Americans. It is clear that the author is directing his claims to an older and more educated audience, due to his cynical tone. I strongly agree with Roberts’ claim.
In 2003, the nonfiction author Jon Krakauer published his book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. Motivated to expand the typically Islam-focused understanding of religious extremism that dominated the U.S. after 9/11, Under the Banner of Heaven addresses fundamentalism and the violence that often accompanies it in a totally different context – the Mormon faith. Krakauer tells in parallel the history of Joseph Smith and the founding of his church, and of the modern-day extremist offshoots that embrace Mormon beliefs but do not belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). By juxtaposing the brutal double murder committed by the fundamentalist Lafferty brothers in 1984 with the 1857 Mountain Meadows massacre
When it comes to knowing and learning the religions of the world one must approach them with a critical mind. One cannot simply just believe every religion and know have their own view points. David Van Biema presents his ideas about Christianity and Jesus in “The Gospel Truth?”. Van Biema’s main point is about how “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John… is notoriously unreliable,” . Van Biema writes about how one cannot be completely sure about whether to believe if Jesus actually said what is written in the bible, he continues to say that Jesus may even be an “imaginative theological construct” .
The most important points Vonnegut is trying to get a crossed to his readers are the issues of the inevitability of war, fatalism, and of free will. War is usually fought over religious beliefs, different cultures, land, or governmental disputes. We as people are more willing to be violent to one another to get our point across then to avoid war entirely by recognizing everybody's differences and learning to live together in peace and the key to no violence is communication. War is inevitable because both sides are never going to accept one another's differences. The bombing of Dresden wasn't necessary because there was no threat coming from there.
Sometimes people forget that there are often many flaws in seemingly perfect things. They imagine perfection, but there will still be many factors that were overlooked. The author of “2BR02B”, Kurt Vonnegut, realizes that perfection will never be achieved. Even in the far future when there are many new, helpful innovations and perfection will be strived for, it is not obtainable. Through Vonnegut’s use of setting and symbolism, it is evident that he feels that there will always be flaws.
In other words, the inquisition was a function set up by the Catholic Church to find heretics and judge them accordingly. Though more often than not the Catholic Church repressed the rights and harshly judged the accused. The reformation was a revolution against the Catholic Church. Its purpose was to overthrow the papal authority. This resulted in wars, persecutions, and the counter reformation.
The plot of the story “Volar”, is about a twelve year old child that has a love for superheroes. The story is told in first person by the child. For the majority of the story she is telling us about her dream of flying. She and her parents live in a barrio, which as a Spanish-speaking neighborhood in the United States. She and her parents moved to the United States recently from Puerto Rico.
