Romeo and Juliet Essay

In the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the person who is to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths is Friar Lawrence, the priest. It is his fault because he is the one who marries them thinking it will fix everything, he is the one who makes the plan that falls apart, and it is a lot his fault that the plan fell through.

It is Friar Lawrence’s fault because he is the one who marries Romeo and Juliet. He thinks that marrying them will end the feud between the families. In act 2 scene 3, Romeo comes to Friar Lawrence’s cell to ask if he can wed him and Juliet. Friar says, “For this alliance may so happy prove/ To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” Friar thinks if Romeo and Juliet wed the Capulets and Montagues will stop fighting and start loving each other. This is not a good decision because if the feud doesn’t stop, which it doesn’t, Romeo and Juliet will still be married, and will make more fighting than before.

Friar Lawrence is also to blame because he is the one who designs the pan that ends up falling apart. His plan was for Juliet to say she would marry Paris, then pretend to die with a special sleeping potion, then tell Romeo of the plan and when Juliet wakes up, they will run away together. In act 4 scene 1, Juliet is very upset because Romeo is banished, her father is forcing her to marry Paris or else she is thrown out into the streets, and her nurse thinks she should also marry Paris. Juliet says she’d rather kill herself than marry Paris, so Friar tells her, “If, rather than to marry County Paris/ Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself/ Then is it likely thou wilt undertake/ A thing like death to chide away this shame/ That cop’st with death himself to ‘scape from it/ And if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.” This is Friar telling Juliet that if she’d really rather die, than if she dares he will give her the solution, which is to pretend to die, which is a bad plan because if one thing goes wrong then everything falls apart.

Then it’s Friar’s fault because the plan fails. First what happens in act 5 scene 1, Balthasar sees Juliet being buried and tells Romeo, “Her body sleeps in Capels’ monument/ And her immortal part with angels lives.” Then, once Romeo thinks Juliet is dead, he leaves from Mantua and goes back to Verona, before getting the letter telling him that Juliet is not actually dead, (and buys poison.) Then he breaks into Juliet’s tomb and sees Paris and they fight and he kills him. Then in act 5 scene 3, Romeo drinks the poison and says, “Here’s to my love (drinking) O true apothecary/ Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” Then after Romeo dies, Juliet wakes up and tells Friar Lawrence who came to take her away to go on without her. Then she wants to drink the poison but Romeo drank it all so Juliet says, “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O, happy dagger/ This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.” So since all this went wrong, instead of his plan working, they both end up dead.

All in all, the whole catastrophe of Romeo and Juliet, the person responsible for this is Friar Lawrence. It is his fault because he is the one who weds the two of them thinking it will solve the long lasting grudge between Montagues and Capulets, he is the one who schemes the whole plan to have everything work out, when everything turns out the exact opposite. Some faults may fall on other characters, but the Friar has the most responsibility of the heartbreak of Romeo and his Juliet.

Sonnet

shall I compare thee to a winter day
the coldness is like a blanket to me
 snow and then the rain to wash it away
a white covering over the city

the snowflakes fall on to my mouth and nose
they drift on to my eyelash and then melt
when it clears the trees then begin to show
and in the park the snowballs are to pelt

oh how I love thee snow, so wise so cold
I dance along the sidewalk oh so happy
each snow drop is unique so I am told
maybe some hot chocolate or some tea

oh thou winter sparkles in the moonlight
after the cold day I must say goodnight

Martin Espada Essay

Martin Espada’s poems, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” “Two Mexicanos Lynched, May 3,1877,” and “The New Bathroom Policy at an English High School,” make us think about the different levels of power each group/person have and how they use their power.

 The poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” is about when the speaker’s name is mispronounced, he thinks about what he would do if he had the power to do it. In the first stanza, the speaker says, “Whenever my name is mispronounced/ I want to buy a toy pistol.” This makes you think about how the people who mispronounce his name have the power to upset him so much, possibly without realizing it. They don’t notice that they have this power, or they would make an effort to pronounce his name correctly. And it’s not just others mispronouncing his name, but also that they  do not care enough about the speaker’s feelings and culture. In the fourth stanza, the speaker says, “hijack a busload of Republican tourists/ from Wisconsin/ force them to chant anti- American slogans/ in Spanish.” The speaker is fantasizing about having power because he feels powerless.

            Also, in the poem, “Two Mexicanos Lynched, May 3,1877,” which is about two Mexicanos who were hung by 40 white vigilantes and then the 40 men taking a picture with the Mexicanos bodies, a crowd can create a power of its own. In the first stanza the speaker says, “Forty gringo vigilantes/ cheered the rope/ that snapped two Mexicanos.” This line shows that the people who hung the Mexicanos have the power because there are forty of them and only two Mexicanos, so they couldn’t fight back. They abuse this power by hanging them and killing them. And, vigilantes are people who take the law into their own hands, so these men thought that the law against killing didn’t apply to them and that it was okay. In the last stanza of this poem the speaker says, “from the shade of bowler hats/ but all crowding in to the photograph.” This line shows that the crowd around them has the power, because they are all watching this and if they all stood up, they could stop this horrible thing they’re doing to the Mexicanos. They do not use this power, instead they all crowd around to take a picture with the bodies, as if it is a trophy and they’re extremely proud of what they’ve done.

            In the last poem, “The New Bathroom Policy at an English School,” which is a poem about boys who talk Spanish and the principal doesn’t understand them so he decides to ban Spanish, the power moves between the characters and ends up strongly with one. In the second stanza, the speaker says, “listens from the stall/ the only word he recognizes/ is his own name/ and this constipates him.” This shows that while boys are speaking Spanish, the principal can’t understand them, which upsets him, showing that the boys have a power over him yet they don’t understand they do. They are just talking in their language, that’s normal to them; they don’t realize they have a power over their principal. In the last stanza, the speaker says, “So he decides to ban Spanish/ in the bathrooms/ now he can relax.” This line shows that the principal has the power because he runs the school, and if something upsets him, he can end it. The principal abuses this power by stopping the use of Spanish in bathrooms, which is taking away someone’s right, because he can’t understand something and he feels that that is taking away his power in the school.

            To conclude, all of Martin Espada’s poems, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” “Two Mexicanos Lynched, May 3,1877,” and “The New Bathroom Policy at an English High School,” all share a theme, of teaching the reader who has the power in the poem and how they are using this power. It makes you think about how you use the power you have even if you don’t realize you have the power you do. These poems want to show the reader that you have to be careful with what you say and do and how it affects others, and to pay attention to the power that you have.   

I'm Not Her

  I'm not her is about a girl named Tess who's older sister, Kristina, gets diagnosed with cancer. But Kristina is really popular and people keep on coming to Tess and asking for updates about Kristina. So now Tess is the popular one but she doesn't know if she can handle being the only strong person. i think the theme of this book is you can't always handle everything you think you can.
     First, when Kristina first gets diagnosed and starts treatment, Tess convinces herself that Kristina will be fine and everything is going to go back to normal. But Tess has to handle most of the problems on her own because her mom is so scared she starts ignoring Tess and her dad works really late and is scared to see Kristina. So when Tess is left picking up the pieces she finds it harder for her to persuade herself that nothings wrong.

     Also, there is this boy Nick who Tess likes but everyone says he's a player. Then Tess kisses him and he says that she's just a kid and that he doesn't want to hurt her. She starts crying and realizes how much she likes him. Tess had never really had a boyfriend so she didn't know she couldn't handle rejection and heartbreak.
    Lastly, when Kristina starts talking about dying and losing her leg (because that's where the cancer is), Tess doesn't know why she's trying to be so strong when no one else in her family is. Her sister says she might die, her mom can't reassure Tess on anything, and her father is never home. 

Letter To Ms Berner

Dear Ms. Berner,

       Many teachers and parents have been concerned with the books that are in the 6th graders school libraries. Parents don't like the issues that we read about. I think that it's for parents or teachers to say what we read, because we're learning from from these young adult texts. Kids should be able to read whatever we want. Books should be banned because books save kids lives, and gives kids a sense of the world and problems in the world.
       Books should not be banned because they save kids lives. Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank, said at one of her book signings a girl came up to her and shared that Crank saved her life. The girl started getting high because of the absence of her alcoholic mother. She said Crank showed her that weed and drugs were the wrong decision and has now been clean for two years. On HTV video on schooltube, a high school student spoke about banning the book The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian from her school library. The girl said the book was one of her favorites and taught her so much about big life problems. It's not right to take away from kids because they save their lives.
       Books give kids a sense of life as well. A girl who reads about rape is going to be more aware of what to do to avoid an attack  and to be more cautious. Also, books teach kids about the bad problems that come. When kids read about drugs and how awful your life turns when you do drugs. That teaches kids not to do drugs because your life will be ruined if you do. If you ban books, it's harder for kids to get that lesson.
       On the contrary, some books are a little extreme and rough for kids to read. Parents may be concerned that reading about suicide or other tough problems.  But it doesn't do that it shows us that suicide or drugs is the wrong answer and we shouldn't do drugs or drink alcohol. On a news report, a man who's daughter was assigned "Fahrenheit 451" wrote a list of all the things. On the list he said "cigarettes, burning of books, etc;" First of all, you can't say that cigarettes are inappropriate when you see and smell people smoking them everywhere. Also, the burning of books is what the book is about and the whole point of the book is that banning books is wrong, so the parents just seems like he doesn't understand the book.
       All in all, it's wrong to ban books for kids because books save kids lives, and teach kids responsibilities that only books can teach. Yes, some books are not right for children but that doesn't mean that kids don't have a right to read them. It's our choice what we read, not the school board.

Stolen

              Stolen is about a girl, Gemma who is captured by a man, Ty at an airport going on a family vacation. Ty captures her and takes her to the middle of nowhere, where he lives and says she is going to live with him. And he's not what you would think a kidnapper would be like, he is in love with Gemma. He had been following her for 6 years to find the moment to take her. The book is written as a letter to Ty from Gemma. At first Gemma tries to escape but Ty keeps telling her there's no one around and she'll never make it out there. He tries to make Gemma enjoy being there and she hates it.
               Then she starts to fall for him, while he made a deal that if she still hates it after 4 months, she can leave and he'll take her to the next town. But right as she's falling for him, she is bitten by a snake. Ty has antivenom but it doesn't work so he has to take her to the nearest mine site, where Gemma is saved and Ty is arrested. Then in court Gemma is caught about what to say because she can either say what they want her to that he took her and she hated it. Or she could say that she was falling for him and that she wasn't completely upset about being taken. In the end you don't know what she does but she says that she hopes one day he'll make it out of jail and return to his home and finish his home.
               I think that the theme of this book is you can't always trust yourself and first impressions. Gemma's first impression was that Ty would beat her and rape her and torture her. Then she thought he was a psychopath who had been stalking her since she was 10. But as she learns more about him she realizes how much he's been through and he's actually a warm hearted person. Gemma also can't trust herself because she doesn't know what she's feeling. At first she was plotting how to kill him and kept  a knife under her bed. Then she still thought he would hurt her so she was always hesitant to be near him. Then as she falls for him she knows she can't because a part of her still wants to get out of there. She can't trust her opinions and she can't fully trust Ty.

prom

Prom is about a girl named Ashley who never wants to go to prom but then someone steals all the prom money. The one who stole it was the teacher in charge of prom. Then Ashley is the one who comes in and saves the prom. But then she gets banned because of all of her detentions. but she goes anyway and it turns out well. 

I think the theme of this book is to never give up and always keep trying. Sometimes you have lots of problems and you just want to give up. But this book teaches you that you really shouldn't give up. And that you can't just say it's to hard and not just saying it's too difficult.