The World Is Mine - Shakespearean Sonnet

I roam around these energetic streets,
Thoughtlessly sprint over the city line.
Yes, the life of I, my guardian beats,
I glimpse to a time when the world is mine.

Confront one another, hurt each other,
Hollering, complaining, even start to whine:
Yet, I despise the need to cope with her,
I glimpse to a time when the world is mine.

I note the ease of the lavish wealthy,
Their hideous souls petrify, in my mind.
I anticipate they dwell unhealthy,
I glimpse to a time when the world is mine.

Conditions alter anon, overtime.
I glimpse to a time when the world is mine.

Barriers and Obstacles

In the novella, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago faces many obstacles in which he struggles to bypass. Regardless of the complication of the various barriers that he hits, he elapses them in a successful manner.

Santiago is merely a human being that faces tough situations, as all of humanity does. We often encounter dilemmas that slow us down.

They can be as narrow as not having enough money to buy a burger off of the McDonald's dollar menu, a dog eating our homework, or even typing an extremely difficult essay. Sometimes we come across situations that might make the front-page of the newspaper. Those can range from robbing a bank to kidnapping the president.

Different obstacles call for different ways of getting past them and Santiago just so happened to come across obstacles that were crucial to events during his trip, and even his life.

One obstacle of Santiago was fishing with a hand that tormented him. Santiago's left hand was penetrating from holding the fishing line. You can infer that this would be painful, due to having a gargantuan fish as hefty as three quarters of a ton on the end of a fishing line. " He took hold of the line carefully so that it did not fit into any of the fresh line cuts and shifted his weight so that he could put his left hand into the sea on the other side of the skiff," (84-85).

Although his left hand looked like raw meat and had a burning sensation, he managed to work around the pain. He ignored the minor factor of pain as a solution to this conflict, which represents the warrior within Santiago. Because of how he went about dealing with the corresponding problem, he was able to progress to catch to fish. This is one obstacle that works against the wise fisherman.

Another obstacle that works against the old man is his desire for the boy, Manolin, to be in his presence. Manolin is a young man that helps Santiago with various different tasks. He often takes care of the old man, as well. For example, he covers Santiago with a blanket as he sleeps,(18) or he might give him food, such as albacore, which is also known as tuna, (31).

Without Manolin, the old man is lonely as a skinny kid at fat camp. He almost seems bored as well. He talks to himself continuously, throughout his fishing trip. He's also hopeless because Manolin is of great contribution to Santiago.

"I wish the boy were here and that I had some salt," he said aloud," (56). However, he continues his journey in success despite his necessity. He decides he shouldn't need the boy and that he could take matters into his own hands. This shows the old man's independence. This is another obstacle working against Santiago.

A distinct obstacle that the old man experiences is catching the marlin. The marlin is greater than Santiago, in size, which makes catching the fish a difficult task because the fish never really stays still.

However, the man is posing a threat to his own life by taking the time to catch the marlin. It's safe to say that the man is in a competition against time and the marlin for his own life. "As it went down, slipping slightly through the old man's fingers, he could still feel the great weight, though the pressure of his thumb and finger were almost imperceptible," (43).

To get past this obstacle, Santiago manages to catch the great marlin, a task which seems to be a exhibition of impossibility. Based on this obstacle, Santiago's fishing skills are put to the test, however, the marlin is no match for Santiago. I think the old man was proud to have achieved this. This is another obstacle that Santiago slips by.

One last obstacle that insults Santiago is the invasion of the various types of sharks. The sharks that attack Santiago do not attack to get a hold of him, but to get a grasp on the marlin. The sharks serve as an interruption to Santiago's state of calmness.

"He hit it with his blood mushed hands driving a good harpoon with all his strength. He hit it without hope but with resolution and complete malignancy", (102). This represents the tough side of Santiago, as he manages to take a bunch of horrific sharks out with simple tools and his bare hands. This is impressive as well, because his left hand is raw and might make fighting much tougher for him. This is another obstacle that Santiago faces.

In general, Santiago did manage to find his way past every obstacle successfully. Conclusions weren't the best, but it's not about the condition of them. I think it's more about getting the job done.

How Santiago managed to get things done didn't matter and what he went through didn't either. It was the fact that tasks were actually completed such as catching the marlin as an achievement or even fighting a band of vicious, blood-hungry sharks.

People tend to get past barriers and how they go about doing so is simply up to them. Santiago did pass these obstacle for the time being. However, barriers can get so rough that they do get the better of you. All of humanity will have a point in which life meets death. Unfortunately, Santiago's time came after the trip.

Third Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous, Simon & Schuster Inc., 1971
Genre: Autobiographical Novel [Diary]

Go Ask Alice is a book more or less about the life of a teenage girl which the books title refers to as Alice. She's an average female adolescent who has friends and crushes on boys. She also sees the dangers of drugs until one night changes everything. She attends a party and during the party, glasses of Coke were distributed, of which 14 contained an addictive drug, known as LSD. Unfortunately, Alice gets lucky and drinks from a contaminated drink. This would change her life forever. From then on, Alice makes decisions which effect her life as well.

"Through the diary entries we see this girl quickly escalate from her first drug experience to all manner of disaster." [Beatrice Sparks, who claims to have edited the book].

In the book, Alice writes about her life and problems she faces, events that occur, and so on. She writes in her diary almost everyday and labels the date for each entry. At some points, she takes a long period of time before writing again, which symbolizes the fact that a lot has been happening.

In the beginning of the diary, Alice would often defame people who used drugs, such as LSD or as a more common name, Acid. She wouldrefer to drug abusers as "dopers". It isn't too long before she becomes a doper herself. She also had a wide usage of profanity in the story and expression in the story. This often shows her emotion towards a subject.

"Thousands of other dead things and people were pushing me inside and forcing the lid down on me."

Tis book has opened my eyes to a lot of things. It shows me that some people get unlucky in specified situations, even without knowing. It wasn't until after that Alice discovers that her drink was laced with Acid. It's a dangerous world out there and no one's invincible to these types of situations. Anyone can be a victim. This diary made an impact on me, which is the type of book I like. The one that connects to real-life situations and is eye-opening. From reading this book, I know it's better to be safe than sorry.

Struggle for Survival

It’s been the first heat wave since 1999. Brooklyn seems extremely hot in the summer and when you live on Marcy Avenue, means you’re broke. Not a single being on Marcy can afford air conditioning so we’re forced to use fans. Luckily we ain’t living in Africa or anything. Then we’d be baking like a cake. Food is low and Mom ain’t making enough money. There ain’t even any food in the house. Mom has gone to her job by the time I wake up for school. It’s my responsibility to wake Ricky up. Ricky is my brother. He’s the little man of the house. I bang on his door.
“Ricky, it’s time to get ready for school!” I yelled.
“I’m up, Roj.” He said.
Ricky was always the one to lionize me. He knows I like to be called Roj although my full name is unfortunately Roger. I was often irresolute as to why because I’m one of the biggest screw-ups of my time. Although I’m an excellent student at Boys and Girls High, I still sell drugs. I’ve always wanted to be better than pops, but I was no better than him if I was making bread by selling. Ever since pops pulled the carpet from under mom, I’ve always had a dream that I’d be better than him. I’m making my bread for good reasons though. Ricky can’t grow up on Marcy. That’s like asking for a screwed-up life.
I then begin to look around the kitchen for some type of food for Ricky to eat. Ricky was a glutton so I had to feed him some type of food. If it meant me walking to Manhattan to get him food, then it’d have to be done. Although Ricky ate so much, he was physically immutable. He was skinny and would never gain any more than 5 lbs. in a month.
I then opened the refrigerator door and the only decent breakfast item I could find was bread and butter. I took 4 slices of bread, toasted it, and took it back out. As I applied the butter, Ricky came out of his room. He was dressed and ready for school. He wore baggy jeans, an over sized shirt, and some fresh Nike's. Ricky ate and we talked.
“Roj, you think that we’ll ever have food to eat?” Ricky asked.
“Maybe Ricky, just maybe.” I answered.
“Think we’ll ever live in house better than this dump?”
“I don’t know, Ricky. Mom ain’t making as much money as she should be. You know she’s been sick and stuff.”
“Yeah.”
After our short conversation, Ricky left for school. His school was only a couple blocks away from mine. I usually walked with him, but I informed him that he’d be walking alone today.
I then called Pedro and Luis to see where they were at. Pedro and Luis are in the same struggle. They’re part of the Bloods and they get their bread by selling too. I ain’t a Blood, but I do augment my money count by selling their drugs for them. We’re scheduled to go to a swap this afternoon. One of the biggest swaps I’ve ever been involved in. In a big paper bag, I have Skyscraper, Purple Haze, Meth, and Acid. Although I sell, I don’t necessarily use. In fact, I’m the only cat on Marcy who doesn’t use if you’re talking about dudes that are my age. I then left the apartment and locked the door behind me. I’m headed to Knickerbocker on my foot which is the craziest mission. Should take me some time. It was about 11:00 when I left. I put the drugs in my jacket. Keeping them in sight of Marcy would be a vacuous move and would make me look stupid. Not only that but the swap is surreptitious and not a single being should know about it.
At about 11:45 is when I reached the spot. It was behind a bunch of buildings. I looked around and there were about 5 heads standing opposite of Pedro and Luis, looking nefarious in the face. I then walked up to Pedro and Luis. We gave each other dabs. The other dudes began to talk. They sounded as if they were of Mexican descent. One guy carried a case of some sort.
“Mira papi. Give it to me.” The front-most guy said.
“Give me the bread first.” Luis responded.
The dude pulled a gun out of his back and pointed it at Luis. I told him to lower it, but instead he coerced us. He thought he looked tough with the gun when in reality, it made him look like a malefactor who was going to try and hurt us because of his greed. From then on, I knew we were in an impasse. It was do as he said, get killed, or fight back. I wasn’t having this shit so I stepped to him.
“Listen, homie. Ain’t anybody come here strapped. Put that shit away and let’s get on with this!”
“Shut up!” He screamed.
And there it was. He fired the piece at Pedro and Pedro was hit. He had been hit in the stomach. Pedro collapsed. He quickly reloaded and shot at Luis's head . When I saw this I became doleful but still strong. I popped the guy in his jaw and his piece flew into the air. His boys then grabbed me and threw me to the dirt floor. They all kicked me in the stomach and punched me in the ribs. I was fighting solo-dolo so I knew I wouldn't make it. Nobody would if you were fighting solo-dolo against 5 heads.
Just then, I was imbued with relief. "BANG! Chick-Chick. BANG! Chick-Chick." The constant beating of me terminated. Bodies dropped around me and the fragrance of redolent blood entered my nostrils. Blood spilled from the bodies of each man. I look up and to my surprise, Luis is there standing with the piece. I dropped my head back to the floor in sorrow and terror.
In the distance, the sound of sirens entered my ears as I began to fade away. The sounds increased in volume as seconds passed. Luis helped me up and carried me over his wide shoulders. I felt safe with my boy, Luis. I was in a great state of composure. With little eyesight left, I seen him pick up the brown paper bag and case off the floor. My stomach began to pound on his shoulder as he jotted out of the swap spot. Not long after is when I completely fell out.

Second Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Prep by Jake Coburn, Dutton Books, 2003

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Nick is a teenage boy who resides in the city of Manhattan. He has friends and a family at home. Nick's life is based on gangs, sex, alcohol, drugs, graffiti, and love: what every teenager's life is like in Manhattan. Nick has a best friend named Kris that he is in love with. Kris is yet to find out about Nick's dark secret. Nick is also in the process of being recruited in a prep-school gang: a huge movement from a three-man crew whose purpose is revoled around "tagging". In a world of trouble, Nick is faced with the initiation of a prep-school gang and revealing his deepest, darkest secret, which can put his friendship at risk.

"In Prep, Jake Coburn has written a minimalist movel that turns the world of J.D. Salinger inside out. A fresh, startling look at an unexpected subculture, the raw, ugly world of affluent prep-school gang boys in name-brand jackets who talk like punks and put their knives where their mouths are." -Norma Fox Mazer, author of After the Rain, a Newberry Honor Book.

Prep is based on Jake Coburn's teenage life. He went through everything that Nick did and even grew up where he did. Jake Coburn uses a large amount of profanity in his story. The usage of expletives in the story sets the personality of the characters. It also exhibits the area of which the story takes place which is Manhattan.

This story reminds me of Payback by Paul Langan. The story revolves around love, sex, and fighting and is about teenage life. For example, in Payback Tyray Hobbs is bullied by Darrell Mercer. This connects to when Nick is bullied and threatened by Derrick, a member of MKII which is a prep-school gang.

"Well, I didn't know square one. So I asked Jessica if he's her boyfriend, and she just starts laughing and reaching for her nose candy. Right there on the fucking floor. I bug out, throw on my shirt, and run down the back staircase with a hard-on. It's fucking difficult to run with a hard-on." (18).

From readin this piece of literature, I fell in love with Jake Coburn's work. It relates to my life, as things are rough in my city. I reside in Holyoke so I can relate to Jake Coburn and Nick in that they grew up in a rough neighborhood. Although I loved the book, I became frustrated at the end. It couldn't have just ended the way it did. What happened between Nick and Kris? What;s going on with the gang? I still have unanswered questions and I hope that there is another part to the book.

First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Picture Perfect by Elaine Marie Alphin, Carolrhoda Books, 2003
Genre: Realistic Fiction

Ian Slater is a normal kid who has friends, hangs out, and attends school. Ian has a best friend named Teddy who is in minor words, like a brother to him. Ian and Teddy were supposed to take pictures of Redwood trees as they would on a typical day, but Teddy doesn't show. Has he gone in search of the father he's never met, or has something terrible happened to him? Taking place in the small town of Sawville, Ian has to put clues together and use his common knowledge to find Teddy before it's too late.

"Alphin deftly intensifies both the internal and external pressures on Ian," says Kirkus. "Ranging through time, the novel, told in first person by an increasingly distraught protagonist, zips along. Disturbing, engrossing, and thought-provoking."

I admired Alphin's work, and plan on reading other pieces by her. She showed me the struggles that I may await through my teenage life and although it frightens me a bit, I am ready to face what's coming my way. I greatly enjoyed the whole plot and the steps Ian took to find Teddy. Each clue let you think he'd find Teddy, but it would make me mad because I would always want to know when he'd find Teddy. The book left me suspicious very frequently through this. Alphin's writing gives me strength and preparation and I can't almost taste what her next book will be like.

In the story, Elaine Marie Alphin lets the reader access Ian's mind. She exhibits Ian's irritation in Luke talking to Ian and she shows how wondrous Ian gets when he has dreams about his pal, Teddy. By using this method, Alphin makes a crystal-clear distinction in Ian's personality.

Paul Langan, writer of Bluford Series novel Search For Safety, accomplishes a similar thing. He lets the reader enter the mind of Ben McKee, a student at Bluford High School of Detroit. He displays a negative thought, for Ben wants his mother's abusive lover, Larry. out of the house.

"I wait, half afraid he'll refuse to leave, but I hear only silence. That's all I should be hearing, right? Only crazy people hear voices." This shows that Ian is irritated and is confounded by the fact that he hears strange voices throughout his head. This can be found on page 61 of the chapter searching.

Picture Perfect by Elaine Marie Alphin, Carolrhoda Books, 2003

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Ian Slater is a normal kid that has friends, hangs out, and goes to school. He has a best friend named Ted who in minor words, is like a brother to him. Ian and Teddy were supposed to photograph Redwood Trees as they would on a normal day, but Teddy never shows. Had he gone in search of the father he's never met, or did something terrible happen to him? Taking place in the small town of Sawville, Ian has to put clues together to find his friend Teddy, before it's too late.