Thanks!

Mr.  Thompson,

      I would like to direct my very last blog post towards you. You are the best teacher I have ever had! I am not just saying that. I have honestly learned more this year in English than ever before. I am happy I was able to take this Honors English class because it pushed me to do things I would not normally do on my own, like reading all those assigned books. I actually liked most of those books pretty well, except for that one…

       I didn’t think I would like any of the books we read this year, but I ended up really liking them all! Some of them were hard, like A Tale of Two Cities, but I felt like I grew while reading them. I learned that if I really try, I can read difficult books. The only book that was truly the hardest was The Chosen. Don’t worry!  I read the whole thing, but at parts I questioned if I could go any further! I usually like most books I read, but for some reason that one just got me! In the end, I was happy I read the whole thing because it taught me a lot about the Jewish culture and religion. It was really cool to learn more about all of that.

      I have probably written more this year than in any other school year. I have noticed that I don’t hate writing as much as I thought I did! I actually kind of enjoy it :) I think my writing has improved this year too. My mother often looks over some of my essays and writings to see if she can correct anything for me. A lot of the time I am there with her so as she revises it, I am able to learn from my mistakes. At the beginning of the year, it would take us a REALLY long time to get through each piece of writing because I had so many errors. Now that it is closer to the end of the year, it doesn’t take as long and sometimes there is almost nothing she has to fix! This is how I know that your class has helped me improve.

      I hope that as I go onto high school,  I will find more English teachers like you! I am so grateful that I had you as a teacher this year. I have decided that your class is one of my favorites. You are always so relaxed and you really seem to understand junior high students. I always get a good laugh when I go to your class, so I will come back to visit you often.  Look out!  Tell your son, James, congrats for the nomination for First Falcon! I don’t really know him that well, but he seems like a great kid! Just wanted to say thanks for a great year Thompson!

          

              Goodbye blog!  I may never see you again :( Thanks everyone!

Analysis of Bradbury's Style (first draft)

This is the very last assignment due for honors english! I would just like to take a minute and reflect on honors english. In the end, I am very happy that I took this class! It has made me improve so much this year! It forced me to read books that I would have never read and I am happy for that becuase they ended up being good books, even though some of them were harder to get through than others.  So now...without further waiting... here is just the first draft of the Analysis of Bradby's style.

Have you ever read any of Ray Bradbury’s books? If not, then I strongly encourage you to pick one up and give it a try because the writing in his books is fantastic. Many of his books have similar traits because of how he writes. Even though he keeps his writing techniques the same within his books, compared to other types of writing, his diction is very unique. That’s just the first thing about them though. The tone of Bradbury’s writing is also intense in many parts of his books. The last thing is that Bradbury creates a sort of questioning mood by always making you wonder what will happen next in the story.

                Bradbury’s diction is unique because of how he writes his books. They are all so unique compared to other books, but compared to his own books, they are quite similar. In Fahrenheit 451, it has a perfect example of how his diction is sometimes a little different than other books. It says “one drop of rain. Clarisse. Another drop. Mildred. A Third. The uncle. A fourth. The fire tonight. One, Clarisse. Two, Mildred. Three, uncle. Four, fire.  Clarisse, Mildred, uncle, fire, sleeping tablets, men, disposable tissue, coattails, blow, wad, flush, Clarisse, Mildred…” (Fahrenheit 451, 17) This quote from the book really spoke to me because when you think about it, we don’t always think in whole thoughts. Sometimes our thoughts really come out it just bits and pieces of words and sentences. Even though Bradbury does not talk like this during the whole book, it shows that sometimes his diction is very unique. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, it says “…Welcome…..Well….cumm…mmmm” ( Something Wicked This way Comes 84) I like this one because he sometimes changes the way things are so that the reader can better understand how the words are actually sounding coming out of the characters mouths.  Even though these are completely different books, they are still very similar. They are also similar with the tone of Bradbury’s writing too.

The tone of Bradbury’s writing is intense at many points in his books. The other book I chose to read, if you haven’t guessed by now, was Something Wicked This way Comes. If you have ever read this book, you know how creepy and scary it can be at times. Even Fahrenheit 451 has many intense moments.  “My hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his chest.” (Fahrenheit 451 37) When Montag was lighting fires and talking about books, things could get really intense. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, it says, ” Not that anyone would believe their gibbering’s, in fact it’s good advertisement for our shows, people titillate, night-sweat, then come prowling down to look us over, lick their lips, and wonder about investing in our special securities.” This book was very intense and creepy at parts. All of these quotes just make you really wonder what will happen next.

                In all of Ray’s writing, he creates sort of a questioning mood by always making you question what will happen next in the story. A good example of this is one of the first lines in each of his books. In Something Wicked this Way comes, it reads, “The seller of lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm.” My initial reaction to this line was, “What is this story about?” Montag says, in Fahrenheit 451, “it was a pleasure to burn.” This line is one of the most famous lines in the book. When I first read that line, I had many questions as well, such as, “what is he burning?” and “Why does he like to burn so much?” This is the mood that Bradbury creates with all of his writing.

                As you can see, Bradbury’s style of writing is quite unique in many ways. Whether it is the unique diction, intense tone, or questioning mood, he carries it with him whenever he writes a different book.  I really enjoy his writing, even though sometimes it is a little hard to understand. He uses so much detail that I can always picture exactly what he is trying to show me. This is one of the aspects of his writing that I really like. I will always be able to tell if I am reading a Bradbury book, even if it doesn’t say his name on it. His style of writing is just so distinct, but very fun to read!

What Nature Means to Me

I have always been a fan of nature. It is so beautiful and has so many wonderful aspects to it. There are animals, plants and weather, all of which make up our beautiful world. One of the definitions of nature is “The beautiful elements of the natural world.” I find this statement to be very true. Nature is beautiful and everything in it is really a work of art.

        There are so many species of animals, reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, etc. in the world. There are also many endangered species that many of our children will never be able to see. We need to do our best to keep these animals alive so that our children can one day see them and so they keep the environment stable. When an animal is lost from an ecosystem, it can change the whole thing, which is not good and can potentially kill the environment.

        Plants are a very valuable asset to our world. They provide oxygen, food, and shelter. Plants can also be used to heal, like burns and diseases. Plants work right alongside humans. We breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants then breathe in the carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which we need to survive. We use plants to help us make our homes but it also can be a bad thing. The more trees we cut down, the less plants we have to help our ecosystem and the environment we live in. We need to be very careful so we don’t let any plant species go extinct.

        Weather is a very influential piece of our lives. I am not just talking about if it is cold we wear a jacket, and if it is hot we wear shorts.  I t is more than that. The weather is what keeps us alive, or kills us. We are very fortunate to have our mild weather. If the weather was too hot we would die.  If the weather was too cold we would die also. The weather changes our lives dramatically and if we don’t treat our nature better, then the weather could go to extremes and kill us all. We all have heard of global warming, and if we don’t start taking better care of nature, it could become a reality.

        Nature is very important in our lives and is very important to me.  Hopefully, it is also important to a lot of others. If we take time out of our busy lives to see how wonderful nature is, then we can help the world have a better future. Sometimes we think of nature as scary and gross, but it is all those parts that make nature what it is.  Animals, plants, and weather are just some of the important parts of our world. There are so many more yet to be explored and figured out, all we can do is just keep trying to help out in any way possible way we can.

thoughts on Fahrenheit 451 :)

As with many other books I am assigned to read, I went into by Ray Bradbury, with sort of a bad attitude. Most books I am assigned to read aren’t my favorite. Sometimes they are not that bad but I must admit that at first, I did judge this book by its cover. On the cover there is this man made out of books and he is on fire. I really had no idea what it was about. It always concerns me when I have to read a book that I haven’t heard much about, because the books that are really talked about are usually the best and most exciting ones.  I didn’t think it would be that great of a book so I started it with the intentions of just getting it done as soon as I possibly could. I had a really hard time trying to get myself to actually pick up the book and read it, but once I did I found out something that I hadn’t expected. The book was pretty interesting!

                When I first started to read the book, I was sort of confused because of the setting.   As I continued with the book, I realized that it was actually really good. In this book, it foreshadows what may be to come in even our world. The things that were going on made it almost seem possible.  It was really interesting. The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman.  Montag does not put fires out though, he starts them.

                Montag has been starting fires all his life, but in the book he starts to question what he does. When he starts fires, they aren’t just for any reason, but he burns books and the houses they were in. In the world that Montag lives in they try to make everyone happy, and to do that, they don’t really let you have much freedom.  They pretty much tell you what you can and can’t do. I can’t imagine living in a world like that! There are only certain books that you are allowed to be read, and if you are caught with any different books, your house and your books are burned, and you are either sent off to jail or to a mental institute.

 Montag starts to question why they burn the books and why they are so bad. This causes a problem for him and his wife. People start to get mad when they find out that Montag is actually hiding and reading books. After his wife leaves him, he is forced to flee the city and just in time too, because he meets others along the river and then the city blows up. He learns a lot about fire when he is there with virtually nothing. He learned that the fire is there to really keep him warm, and can be used in good ways.

I really enjoyed this book and I really like Ray Bradbury’s style of writing. I can really picture everything in my head well because of all the description he gives. I love how he compares things. It makes me look at things in a whole new way, and that is one of the reasons I really liked it. In the end, I was happy I was assigned to read this book because I may never have read it otherwise.