Jesus Take The Wheel

Author's Note: I did this point of view piece on a song, Jesus Take the Wheel, by Carrie Underwood. I wanted to write about this song because it has a lot of meaning to it. I also thought it would be neat to write the alternate point of view through Jesus' eyes. 

Imagine yourself driving home on Christmas Eve on a highway. The road is like a thin, black sheet of glass and the winds are fierce. You have so many thoughts going through your head about everything that has gone on in the past year, and you realize you are going way too fast for the icy conditions. This scenario is what you might picture while listening to the song “Jesus Take the Wheel”, by Carrie Underwood. While Underwood sings the song, she tells her listeners a story. She paints a picture in your mind of woman driving home on a cold, blizzard night “with her baby in the back seat” to visit her parents for Christmas. While this song is written and sung mostly in third person with Carrie Underwood telling this story from her point of view, the song switches during the chorus, from third person to first person and the listener feels the woman’s terror of spinning out of control in her car on the black ice.

In the song you hear the lyric “Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy with the baby in the back seat. Fifty miles to go and she was running low on faith and gasoline. It’d been a long hard year”. This lyric leads the listener to believe that the woman is sad and she wants to give up because of the difficulties that she has experienced in the past year. Which leads us into another quote from the song. “She had a lot on her mind and she didn’t pay attention, she was going way to fast, before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass, she saw both lives flash before her eyes.” This lyric from the song is so powerful.  It gives you the feeling that at the last second she snapped out of her daze, and she realized that her and her baby might die. Her faith in Jesus took over during this time of helplessness, and she came to the conclusion that her life would not turn around without his help.

The chorus that is repeated throughout the song: “Jesus take the wheel, take it from my hands, I can’t do this on my own, I’m letting go, so give me one more chance, save me from this road I’m on, Jesus take the wheel” is so powerful! The woman wants a second chance and unconditionally asks Jesus for help. It is also a very powerful quote because in the next verse it says: “And the car came to a stop, she saw that baby in the back seat sleeping like a rock, for the first time in a long time she bowed her head to pray, she said I’m sorry for the way I’ve been living my life.” This lyric is meaningful to her because she wants to thank Jesus that they both escaped a tragedy due to her faith and belief in the higher power. She wants to create a better her life for her and the baby and she realizes that it won’t happen without her faith in Jesus.

Jesus’ Point of View:

As I listened to her thoughts, her faith in me diminished: “He is such a jerk, I hate him! I can’t believe he left me by myself to raise our beautiful child!” “Now, I am a single mom without a job heading home for the holidays.” I couldn’t help but wonder why she’s lost faith in me this past year. No prayers. No belief that it can get better. Before I knew it, I heard a cry for help.  I saw a woman so terrified and so lonely. Her hands let go of the wheel, and I heard hear scream my name and plead with me to take the wheel and save them. I had to help her, it wasn’t her time to die, nor was it the newborn baby’s time to die. This was a real cry for help and I never disappoint. As they were about to crash I swerved the car onto the shoulder of the road. I heard her speak to me. She prayed. That was something she had not done in a long time. She stated that she was going to change her life, and now she has made me proud. Never lose faith in me. I am here for you…to guide you, to protect you.  

The Maze Runner (point of view)

Author's Note: This is a piece I wrote for point of view and how it might affect the reader's interpretation of the story if the point of view was in someone else's perspective. This point of view piece was written on the book The Maze Runner. 


The book The Maze Runner is written in first-person, Thomas' point of view. This affects the reader because when you read the book it produces a lot of imagery. If this book was written in third-person it wouldn't be as adrenaline rushing as it is in first-person, especially when Thomas goes through "the maze." The other way the point of view would be affected would be if the book was written from Teresas' point of view, being the only girl in the "glade", while being in a coma for part of the book. I think if it was written in Teresas' point of view it wouldn't have been as thrilling as a book. The book would also be interpreted in a different way than the original way, in Thomas' point of view.

A Clean, Well- Lighted Place

How does Hemingway use light and dark as symbols? How do the shadows fit in?

He uses dark to symbolize that the man is sad and depressed, that is why he sat in the shadow of the tree. 

He uses light to represent happiness and the waiters were in the light of the cafe and they weren't depressed, and they didn't want to commit suicide. 

The shadows fit in because because the old man that was drinking was sad and depressed and tried to commit suicide so he sat in the shadow of the tree.

Analysis of film and story.

In the film the man sat in the light of the café and he didn’t seem as sad/ depressed, he just looked drunk. In the story we read the old man sat in the shadow of the tree.  Also when I read the story I thought of the older bartender older and not in his 30’s, but I imagined the younger bartender about the same age as in the film.

The bartenders were also Irish or Scottish so they cut out a part in the film, in my opinion was important. Another thing with the video was that the screen shots were really lengthy, so it became a little boring while watching it. I honestly think the story produced more imagery than what was in the film.

Symbolism In Hunger (text analysis)

Author's Note: This is my text analysis piece, it is not an essay. I wrote about 3 symbols in the Hunger Games. The first paragraph and third paragraph relate to something in real life. 

In the book the Hunger Games, there are many different objects that the author uses to represent symbolism. For example the author uses 13 districts and each one represents something.  District 12, for example, is a coal mining community; District 11 is primarily agriculture and District 13 is the rebel region that the capitol obliterated during the “Dark Days,” to remind everyone that everyone in Panem must obey the power and rule of the Capitol. These 13 districts can be compared to the original 13 colonies in North America:  Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.  Similarly, these colonies were under the rule of the British Empire.

Another symbol that the author uses in the story is the mockingjay pin, worn by Katniss throughout the Hunger Games. This pin represents the free spirit Katniss portrays just like a Mockingjay. These birds are also a symbol of resistance and rebellion in the book.  Katniss gave the pin to her sister, Prim, to keep her safe hoping she would not get chosen to be part of the Hunger Games. When Prim was chosen to partake in the games, Katniss offered to take Prim’s place as a tribute and Prim returned the pin to her and whispered in her ear, “to keep you safe,” she said. This meant a lot to Katniss because she wanted to win for her sister, Prim.

The last symbol I found was “the double suicide.” Katniss realized that the only way she and Peeta may have a chance of both coming out alive, is to take the whole star-crossed lovers bit to its logical conclusion: tragedy. Like the doomed teenagers Romeo and Juliet, Peeta and Katniss decided not to fight each other to see who will win the Games, but instead to deny the Gamemakers any winner at all by downing some poisonous berries in a double suicide attempt. This symbol shows Katniss is a rebel and courageous, she will do anything to win with Peeta, and win for her sister. 

My Poem (choice/context analysis)

Author's Note: This is a poem parody I wrote based off of Robert Frost's poem Desert Places. He wrote about the snow, I wrote about rain.  I analyzed this piece after I wrote it, most of what I analyzed was hyperbole's, personification, and imagery.This piece is about how rain makes me feel sad, depressed, scared, and how deserted I feel when it rains.

Is It Real?

Author's Note: Have you ever read a book about someone who has died and gone to heaven, then after a short amount of time comes back to life? In this story, a child dies and visits heaven, then comes back to life. After this happens his dad thought that his child's life story about going to heaven would be a good book to write about.

When have you ever imagined what happens to you when you die? The author of Heaven is for Real, Todd Burpo, summarizes in his book real life events that happened to his son, Colton, during his three minute experience with death. In his book, Burpo’s description of his son’s brief experience in heaven is very similar to what we experience here on Earth. In addition, while I was reading this book, I made a connection to another book I read called 90 Minutes in Heaven.

What do the words thrones, gold, rainbows, light, people, and war, remind you of? According to Colton, Todd’s son, heaven consists of all these great wonders. You might wonder why there would be war going on in heaven?  It is supposed to be a peaceful place, a place where everything is just perfect. Based on this true story, Colton tells his father that

“when you go to heaven the men have to fight monsters with either a bow and arrow or a sword and the women and children get to watch."

"There’s going be a war, and it’s going to destroy this world. Jesus and the

angels and the good people are going to fight against Satan and the monsters and the bad people. I saw it.” (136)

The experience, as Colton describes it, is very similar to what we experience on Earth today: war, good versus evil, kings, and rainbows. The irony of it, is that we experience it in a different way here on Earth as human beings, than we would in “heaven”.

Consequently in the book, Heaven is for Real, Colton shares unique facts about heaven that are very similar to those mentioned in the book, 90 Minutes in Heaven. The one that stood out in my mind in particular, is the fact that there is no such thing as “old” in heaven. Burpo explains in his book,

“This is how I remember Pop, I said. Colton took the frame, held it in both hands, and gazed at the photo for a minute or so.

I waited for his face to light up in recognition, but didn’t. In fact, a frown crinkled the space between his eyes and heshook his head.

 Dad nobody's old in heaven, Colton said. And nobody wears  glasses.”(121)

 I thought to myself that what Colton describes must be true because I recall reading a book called 90 Minutes in Heaven where the main character, Don Piper, describes a similar experience when he encounters heaven. In his book, Piper dies for a brief time and goes to heaven. He wrote about his trip and described his brief ninety minute encounter while he walked through a heavenly paradise. He was greeted by those he knew in this life, all of whom were “quite conveniently”  the same age as they were when he had last known them.

In addition to both characters experiencing agelessness in heaven, these two books have something else in common. Colton’s dad, Todd, is a pastor by profession. Similarly, Don Piper is a Baptist pastor. Both have professions that connect them spiritually to God and the church. Likewise, both were authors of books that had similar experiences and wrote about it. I feel that the fact that they both had professional religious experiences gave both books authenticity. It really made me believe that something that sounds so far-fetched could really happen when you have such a special spiritual connection with God.

In Heaven is for Real, Todd Burpo shares many events that Colton explains to him about the experience and how similar it relates to events we encounter in our real world as living people. Both Burpo and Piper describe many similarities in their books in their brush with heaven, Burpo through his son, and Piper’s firsthand experience. Although there were similarities, the authors make the books interesting in their own ways. Both authors let me experience heaven through their eyes. I wonder what it will be like when I eventually leave this world and visit that special place?

The Ransom of the Red Chief

"When I got back to the cave Bill and the boy were not to be found. I explored the vicinity of the cave, and risked a yodel or two, but there was no response"

In this story these  two guys kidnap a kid because they want ransom money for him. One day the kid is gone and nowhere to be found, until he comes back! This quote is kind of the turning point because the kid goes missing, he comes back, and they realize they can't stand him anymore. They try for the ransom money but end up paying the parents just so they could run away from the kid.