Through My Eyes

 Author's Note: This is a piece I wrote for social studies, it is on the California Gold Rush. I wrote this piece from my perspective as a piece of gold. I worked on using A/B transitions and a clear thesis statement.

I sat there for days on end waiting for someone to find me. My color glistened in the sun while I sat in the water and stared at the blue sky. The earth felt cool against my shiny, gold outside. Suddenly, I heard a noise coming towards me, it sounded like a horse. Then a man named James W. Marshall discovered me in a river near Sutter’s mill. He murmured loud enough for me to hear, "I found gold!" He then grabbed a lot of us gold nuggets from the river and gave us a whirl in a bowl. This sparked the California Gold Rush on Jan. 24, 1848. I've been waiting for someone to find me so I can fill my inner gold with knowledge about this "California Gold Rush" and you too can learn about it, as you accompany me on my journey. 

About a day later, while on my expedition, tens of thousands of people came to find us while digging up 12 billion tons of earth. Only a few hundred people lived there in the 1840s, but the discovery of us gold nuggets brought unimaginable growth to the big city. San Fransisco soon averaged 30 new houses and two murders a day! A plot of San Francisco real estate that cost $16 in 1847, sold for $45,000 just 18 months later. In less than two years, the city burned to the ground six times, but there was always money to rebuild it bigger and better.  Nearly a half-billion dollars worth of us gold nuggets passed through the city in the 1850s.

Besides all of the new houses being sold for huge amounts of money, I learned that the lure of gold unleashed the largest migration in United States history! It drew people from a dozen countries to form a society.  Every day I found myself with a new person learning amazing new things. For example, the miners used mercury to extract gold from the ore, contaminating local rivers and lakes with 7,600 tons of the toxic chemical. "EEW!", I thought. In 1852 the take for the year was $80 million.  Believe it or not, that would come to be worth $1.9 billion in 2005. But as time went on, we gold nuggets started to become sparse and disappear.   

Even though toxic chemicals were being released into the rivers and lakes, and the take for the year was $80 million, people were soon having a hard time finding us little gold nuggets. Eventually there were none of us left. After seven years of mining for my friends and I, the California Gold Rush was over. It wasn't a bad thing that there weren't anymore of us left because San Francisco already had more millionaires than New York or Boston! As time passed, I kept up my travels all over until I was lost. Eventually, I was found and put into a museum as one of the first gold pieces ever discovered. At last I found a new home to retire to!  Now everyone can admire my gold sparkle behind a glass case where I am kept safe. I feel honored that I became a part of history and was able to share my story and the part I played in the California Gold Rush.

Edward vs. Max (compare&contrast)

I chose to use these two books in my compare and contrast because they have an equal amount of similarities and differences. These comparisons I made aren't just simple comparisons for example: Max has blonde hair, Edward is a brunette, Max is a girl, Edward is a boy. I made higher level thinking comparisons like their emotions towards people they care for or how courageous they are.

Just A Dream...Or is it?

Author's Note: This creative piece that I wrote was based off of a book that I read called Everlost. 

As my eyes opened I saw silvery flakes drift down, glittering in the bright light of the harvest moon. My whole body was shivering, probably because I had bear feet and I had a light blue party dress on that was tattered, but in a way it still looked presentable. I gently lifted my arm off my body and placed it on what I think was the ground. I felt softness beneath my grip, and as I turned my head to the right i saw the uneven ground covered in these silvery flakes that felt like snow. My heart started to race and a bunch of questions came popping into my head. Where am I? How did I get here? Why am I here? What is "here"? Then I heard a noise it sounded like a city, horns honking, people yelling, trains whistling there horns, but when I looked around there was nothing.The sound still grew louder and louder and louder, then stopped. Everything around me became dead silent, as if the world fell into a deep sleep and would never wake up. I jolted into a sitting position I peered around me trying to see if there was anything Icould see, but there was nothing. Nothing but silvery snow covering the ground, the forest near by and the harvest moon shining down on me. "Of course!, I should walk to the forest," I thought. I stood up and walked wobbly towards the forest. As I ambled towards the forest I saw a figure at the edge, so I walked closer. The figure seemed to look a boy. I wondered if he was there the whole time and as my mind was wondering I went into what I thought to be a deep sleep, as if the world fell into a black hole. 

Friends Together Forever

Author's Note: This writing piece is about point of view and how the reader could be affected differently depending on who's point of view the book is written in. I also wanted to meet my goal of using A/B transitions at the beginning of my paragraphs, like in the second, third, and fifth paragraph. I also looked on online sources to score a 10 in introductions, and I did that by making my thesis statement clear. Finally, I included clear topic sentences to start each paragraph.  

What would you do if you lived during World War II and met a Jewish boy and became best friends with him ? In the book, The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, the main character Bruno, is kind of a brat and isn’t happy that the family had to move away to another house. As the story progressed Bruno found Shmuel, a Jewish boy, and that made Bruno happy again. He had no idea why Shmuel and the others had to be locked in and surrounded by a fence. Bruno’s perspective changes on things, for instance, when Shmuel tells him that the soldiers took them away from Poland and put them in the concentration camp away from his mother and grandmother, Bruno starts to feel sad. If the book was written in Shmuel’s perspective it would be a depressing book.  In the book The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, it definitely shows how the reader could be affected differently, in Bruno’s point of view and in Shmuel's point of view.

One way that Bruno’s point of view affected the way the book went is when he had to move to a new house across the country. There weren't any houses around and led him to become curious. His curiousity led to finding Shmuel, who became his best and closest friend throughout the story. The first time Bruno went to the fence he found Bruno which made him feel excited and overjoyed! I think if the book was in Shmuel’s point of view he would feel happy too. Especially when the soldier took him in to Bruno’s house and Bruno snuck him food.  After that Shmuel was scolded and he became very emotional.

Another part in the book that would be emotional in general for the reader would be the end scene.  Bruno meets Shmuel at the fence and tells Bruno that his grandfather is missing. Bruno becomes sad and offers to help find Shmuel’s grandfather. Shmuel goes to get an extra pair of striped pajamas for Bruno to put on. He undresses, puts on the striped pajamas and wriggled under the fence to assist Shmuel. They looked and looked but couldn't succeed in finding the grandfather. Then they scrambled over to where a group of people are and ended up in a room with no windows. They start feeling aghast because there were no windows and nobody could get out. That’s when Bruno takes Shmuel’s hand and they perish in a gas chamber. If this part was written in Shmuel's point of view he would be terrified and shocked, like a little kid watching a horror movie. He would feel differently than in Bruno's part of view. As you read that ending it makes you feel nervous about what would happen to the two boys and  after you read the l ast few sentences you feel sorrow and heartbreak.

Since this book has different emotions in it, it shows how the reader can be affected differently from the point of view of Bruno. If it was in Shmuel’s point of view it still would be a very emotional book. This book also shows how much of a good friend Bruno was to go with Shmuel  to find the grandfather and die trying to help. If in the book Shmuel was Bruno he would probably do the same thing, so in the next book you read try imagining what it would be like as the other character in the book. 

Revolutionary War

Author's Note: In Social Studies we are learning about the Revolutionary War. We had to read a book that took place during the Revolutionary War, I read the book Give Me Liberty. Then we watched a movie that took place during the war called The Patriot. After we watched the movie we had to write an essay comparing the two. I worked on using more advanced transitions in my body paragraphs.

Through the novel Give Me Liberty contains true events from the time period of the Revolutionary War, the book contains even more events that did not occur in history, so it is realistic fiction. The book is very similar to the movie The Patriot, which is also about the Revolutionary War. In the book Give Me Liberty thirteen-year-old Nathaniel Dunn is an indentured servant laboring on a tobacco plantation in colonial Virginia. Life is hard, and it’s about to get harder when Nathaniel is sold.  (Elliot)On the other hand in the movie The Patriot, ashamed of his savagery during the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin, one of the main characters, decided he would sit out the American Revolution, while his oldest son Gabriel enlisted minutes after South Carolina joined the fight. (Emmerich) There are many similarities between the book and the movie and there are some differences too.

Some of the similarities between the book and the movie is one of the main characters is a boy. Another similarity is they both joined the war young, Nathaniel had just turned 14 and Gabriel was 17. Towards the end of the book and the movie some of the British soldiers burned down houses, stores, and churches, with people in them. Also if the slaves wanted freedom they had to fight in the army for 12 months. In The Patriot  and in Give Me Liberty  people had to make chairs, tables, desks and many more things by hand. (Elliot) (Emmerich)

From the similarities comes the differences. There were only a few differences, for example, in the book Give Me Liberty Nathaniel and one of the boys he worked with had gunpowder plot day, where you throw all the tea in a huge bonfire and watch it burn (Elliot) Another difference was that in The Patriot Benjamin Martin had to fight in the war alongside Gabriel and be there for his 5 other children and in the book Nathaniel doesn't have any other siblings. (Elliot) (Emmerich)

In conclusion, there are many similarities than differences between these two characters in the book and the movie. Even though Gabriel was 18 and Nathaniel was 14, it showed how much they wanted to fight for their freedom! 

Courage, Bravery, and Determination

 Author's Note: This essay is about the themes in Midnight Sun and how it relates to Martin Luther King Junior and the book Touching Spirit Bear. In this essay the introduction is about Midnight Sun and the thesis is about how it can relate to everyone can relate to in life. In the second paragraph it talks about the main character Edward and how he wants to drink Bella's blood. The third and fourth paragraph is the relation to the themes one is about a person and the other is a book. 

Imagine yearning for someone’s blood so much it feels like someone is ripping you from the inside out.  Every day you struggle to even be in the same room with them, as your mind spins uncontrollably. As the days pass by, the monster inside of you craves for their blood, but you manage to be by them. In the book Midnight Sun, by Stephanie Meyer, the main character Edward experienced various difficulties trying to control his thirst when he’s around Bella Swan. The author demonstrates three major themes in this book: courage and bravery, determination, and justice that people can relate to in life.

Edward, the main character in the book Midnight Sun, which is Edward Cullen’s point of view of  the book Twilight, was so determined about killing Bella. He ran all the different ways he could kill her and not leave any evidence. The monster inside of him was so eager to taste the innocent humans’ blood and if he did taste her blood he wouldn't be able to stop until she would die. In result of killing Bella, everyone in the Cullen family would be very disappointed and they all will have to flee Forks, Washington and start a new life somewhere else. With this, he was portraying determination, he was set on killing her and tasting her blood.

Some of the greatest people in history got very far in life because they were determined, courageous and ended up fulfilling whatever they set their mind to. For example, Martin Luther King Junior, he became a pastor at a church in Georgia 1954, which was during the time of segregation. After a couple years he was sick of being treated differently just because of his skin color. That was when he started the civil rights movement and in Washington DC he gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. He was determined to influence people to not be judgmental. He was also very courageous and brave to stand up and speak in front of tons and tons of people, and not only is he the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

This book, Midnight Sun, and the themes in it also relate to the book Touching Spirit Bear. In Touching Spirit Bear, Cole was determined to kill the spirit bear on the island. After the bear mauls Cole over and he is taken to recover  Cole is brave enough to return to the island to finish his banishment.  Cole receives justice after he realizes that killing the spirit bear won’t make him feel any better.  

Edward had to overcome his urge to drink Bella’s blood in which took courage. In result of not killing Bella he felt the need to protect her and that led to him falling in love with her. Martin Luther King Jr.  was determined to have everyone be treated the same  as equals whether you were African American, Hispanic, Asian, German, or Caucasian. Cole from Touching Spirit bear found justice when he realized anger is not the answer to all his problems.  Bravery, determination, and justice are themes throughout the world  that can relate to people in life and in books.  

Edward and Bella (compare and contrast)