Divergent

In the book Divergent by Veronica Roth, a sixteen year old girl named Beatrice faces a decision that will change her life forever. She has the choice of staying with her family and being selfless, becoming brave, becoming smart, becoming kind, or becoming honest. In this story, there are five factions, and six ways of life. Each faction is one way of life and follow their rules. The other is to be factionless and live in poverty. At age sixteen, each teenager must choose one. Beatrice chooses Dauntless, the brave faction. This choice shapes her entire future.

In the story, Beatrice decided to leave her family and try something that she had never done before. This one choice is the most important in the entire book. I think that the way to choose your life is really unfair because she was surrounded by everyone in the factions.m This made her feel uneasy and nervous. But, even though her family was right in front of her when she made her decision, she still chose what she thought was right. This part of the story shows that you should never be pressured into doing something from other people and that you should always make your own decisions.

This stories theme is that people should always make their own decisions. The way that Beatrice made her decisions may inspire the reader to try and follow her footsteps in making their own choices. Beatrice handled the decision with courage and didn't let anyone convince her. If everyone in the real world could handle their decisions the way she did than peer pressure wouldn't bother anyone. Everyone would make their own choices and no innocent people would get into trouble.

You Killed Wesley Pane

In the novel You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin, a teenager named Dalton Rev who is in in junior high school solves cases/mysteries for money. He refers to himself as a "Private Dick" and everyone else does as well. He gets the money for two reasons: to support his family and to get armor to send to his older brother in the army. He is very determined and uses the personality of a courageous detective from a series of books he'd read. They are from the author Lexington Cole. In You Killed Wesley Payne, Dalton presents the themes of self-determination and being yourself.

The way that Dalton shows the theme of self-determination is that he never gives up trying to get the body armor for his brother. The body armor is extremely expensive. Although the book doesn't tell you what the price was it can be inferred because Dalton gets thousands of dollars but still needs more. In the book, Dalton solved several cases, all of which were very dangerous and life-threatening. No matter what, though, he keeps working towards his goal.

Another theme that Dalton presented was to be yourself. Throughout the entire story, Dalton was inspired by the Lexington Cole stories that he read and wanted to be just like the main character. So, he became him by acting like him. But, he didn't let his true feelings out until the end, when he realized that writing was skill.

This novel tells people to never stop working towards their goals until they have been achieved. It also tells people to find who they are and to be themselves. Personally, I like this story and recommend it to anyone that likes to read a story about a teenage detective.

Romeo and Juliet: Interesting Characters

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, there are some very interesting characters. The one that stuck out to me most, though, is Benvolio, the Montague's kinsman. I think of Benvolio as a peacemaker, or at least someone who tries to avoid fighting. So far, throughout  the entire story , he hasn't started a fight. He always stuck up for Romeo and was even kind to his enemies, the Capulets, and tried not to fight them. Unfortunately, he didn't stop any fights that happened and was forced to take part in one of them.

The play starts off with a fight between the Montagues and the Capulets. Benvolio tried to stop the fight before it got worse. He said in Act 1, scene 1, lines 65-66 "Part, fools! Put up your swords. You know not what to do." This means that he told them to stop their fighting. Right after, Tybalt, who is the Capulet's kinsmen and is very violent and is a troublemaker forced Benvolio to fight him. Later on in the play at Act 3 scene 1, Tybalt fights Mercutio and Romeo fights Tybalt. Benvolio did not want them to fight in the first place but fortunately didn't get himself involved. This shows that Benvolio is a good person and shies away from fights and tries to prevent/stop them.

In the world, I think that Benvolio would be an antiwar person and would be against all types of violence. I think he would be someone who steps in between two people who are about to fight. He would be someone who would never pick a fight with someone and only get involved if it was absolutely necessary. He would be kind to everyone.

Romeo and Juliet: Love

Currently, I am reading the book Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and I find it a very difficult book to read. But now I am starting to understand it better. In the book, one of Shakespeare's main themes is love. He introduces it in the beginning many times, all from a different perspective. I really like this because it gives you a chance to agree with one of the characters.

One of the first people to talk about love is Benvolio, Romeo's cousin. Benvolio seems to think that love isn't that hard to find. He thinks that it can be controlled easily and that it has no dark sides. Romeo is heartbroken that his love, Rosaline, doesn't love him back. So Benvolio is trying to help him find someone better. In act 1, scene 3, lines 93-94, Benvolio says to Romeo "Compare her face with someone that I will show\ And I will make thee think thy swan a crow." I think Benvolio is saying that he can make Rosaline seem not as special as Romeo sees her now if he finds someone else that is a lot better.

Another person that has a very interesting view on love is Mercutio, Romeo's best friend. In Act 1, scene 4, Mercutio and Romeo have a heated discussion about why Romeo should go to the party. Romeo doesn't want to go because he is sad about what just happened with Rosaline. Mercutio, on the other hand, believes that Romeo should go to the party and have a good time. In lines 25-26, Romeo says"Is love a tender thing? It is too rough,\Too rude, too boist'rous, and it pricks like thorn." I think Romeo said this for two reasons. one is that he is giving excuses not to go to the party. The other is that he hasn't fallen in true love yet. He hasn't seen the good sides of love. Right after Romeo says that, Mercutio says in lines 27-28 "If love be rough with you, be rough with love.\Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down." I think Mercutio is trying to say that Romeo shouldn't be bothered by love and be so depressed. He should take more risks and be more adventurous with it. Even a little reckless, too.

With all of these perspectives on love, I agree most with Benvolio because he is not bothered by love. He is more neutral and is not taking any risks. Also, he has a good mood about it.

Horse Meat in European Food Products

The article "Horse Meat Found in Ikea's Swedish Meatballs in 13 Countries, Authorities Say" by The Associated Press, is about how "The meatballs had gone out to Slovakia, Hungary, France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland, an Ikea spokeswoman said."

This pushed people to test other foods such as Ikea's hamburgers. Sure enough, horse meat was in that, too. Now, all over England there are people testing foods in supermarkets (and other places as well) searching for horse meat, and finding it, too. The author is trying to tell the reader to know what you are eating. Also, even if you think you know, you could be wrong.

The author wants us to feel very angry about what is happening. We should know what is being put into our foods, not lied to about it. "Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency," a German minister insisted. The author also wants us to stand up to these people that are lying to us and to stop them from doing it. The author used a lot of statistics and factual information to help get his point across. He was very specific about which countries were involved.

Although I live in the United States and the US is not one the countries involved, I am still disturbed by the thought of people I  don't know putting whatever they want into my food. I feel like I should know exactly what is in it. I know food labels say it all, but sometimes it may not be the truth. There should be a law stopping people from doing it. 

You can find this article at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/horse-meat-found-ikea-swedish-meatballs-article-1.1272594

The Testament

"The Testament" by John Grisham is about a old man named Troy Phelan who has made many mistakes and 1 success in his life. His mistakes were his marriages, which all ended in a divorce. But his success was owning the largest company in the world and having over 11 billion dollars. Troy was getting old and didn't know what to do with his money. Also, he was tired of life. So seconds before he jumps to his death, he signs a will giving all of his money to the only successful child he has. Her name is Rachel Lane. No one knew he had this daughter so the rest of the family fight for what they think is rightfully theirs: the money.

In the real world, no one is perfect. But they still have to try. In this book, Grisham introduces a family that is far in debt, spoiled, not so smart, know-it-all, and most of all, greedy. In the real world, there are people like this. But, if they try hard and do good deeds, they can redeem themselves. Personally, I don;t think there are lots of people like this. Most people are only like this a few times in their life. But they can try not to be.

The moral of this story is to not be greedy. Because if you are, you will get nothing. Good only comes to good people but bad goes to all. Unfortunately, this is the way it works. I wish that there was a way to change it. So try to be good, and when bad comes to you, don't change. Be good.

Twinkle

The song that I chose was Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I chose this song because, as a child, this song inspired me a lot. I think that this song was was an inspiration of hope. When it says Up above the world so high it inspires me to do my best. It reminds me that the sky is the limit. This line helps me to push myself and to do my best. Whenever I am doing a project or a homework, I push myself to do my best. This blog is an example. I could have gone and chosen a random song that meant nothing to me. But instead, I chose this deep and meaningful song.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is a little kid's song. Most little kids, when they hear this song, like it just because of the feel of it and the rhyming. Also, it grabs their attention. It calms them down, almost like it tells them to go to sleep. This is why I like this song. It calms people down and it is child-friendly. It rhymes and, at the same time, is slow and calming.

Most people don't stop and notice the small things in life. They are always in a rush and trying to get somewhere. Especially in New York City. In New York City, every hour is rush hour. I feel like the song I chose kind of slows things down and gives you the time to notice small things. Maybe, if everyone wasn't always in a rush, they would be able to notice the little things in life. They would, most likely, be happier and less frantic. But this will never happen in NYC. I mean, after all, it is the city that never sleeps.

The Street Lawyer

The book "The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham is about a lawyer named Michael Brock who worked for a large firm in D.C. One day, Michael and several other lawyers were taken hostage by a homeless man with a gun. The man did not kill anyone, but he did something worse. Before he was killed by the S.W.A.T. team, he reminded them how selfish they had been. Together, they made over three million dollars, and yet none of it had been given to help poor people, such as the attacker himself. The homeless man didn't kill anyone, but he scarred them.

John Grisham wrote his story in a unique way. First, he started writing as if the attack was just starting. But then, he writes as if it had already happened. Then he goes back again. He just keeps switching back and forth. I think John Grisham did this for a reason. I think he did it to emphasize his message. It really makes his story more interesting.

Grisham has a good message in his story. He shows how some people even make millions of dollars each year yet they don't give to those who make a lot less than that. He reveals a big social injustice in the world around us: greediness. If no person in the world was greedy and everybody shared what they had, the world would be a lot better place.

I think that Grisham did an amazing job with his story. He really made it interesting while he introduced a big issue in the world. He empowers people to give and not to be greedy. He showed people how they should help and what to do. He really changed my way of thinking.

An Eye For an Eye

The article "Is 'an Eye for an Eye' Ethical?" by Ariel Kaminer, published in the New York Times Upfront on November 5th, 2012, Kaminer explains a story about a man in New York named Anthony B. who chained his bike to a pole. Then, a delivery food person chains his bike to Anthony's bike. When Anthony comes back, he can't take his bike so he chains both of them to the pole. Later, after Anthony ate lunch, the delivery food person is angry.

What Anthony did to the delivery food person was like a small punishment for doing wrong things to the people around him. In the article, Kaminer wrote "The guy was asking for it. He knowingly inconvenienced a stranger, so he couldn't have been all that shocked when someone returned the favor." Ariel Kaminer wants you to think about the question in the title: Is an eye for an eye ethical? Although it might seem like the right thing to do, is it?

I completely agree with Kaminer. In his article, he wrote "Your solution seems so elegant: Use the very tools of this man's discourtesy to teach him a lesson about respect. But as satisfying as eye-for-an-eye justice can be, it's unlikely to cause him to reflect on how he wronged you. It will probably just make him hate you and therefore care that much less about inconveniencing you or anyone else he might proceed to lock up." Now that he has pointed out to me that not everyone agrees with the saying "an eye for an eye", I might have second thoughts about what I do.