James Patterson's Maximum Ride

In writing A Voyage Long and Strange, Tony Horwitz’s goal is clear, to educate others on early America and debunk ignorant myths. Horwitz’s reason for wanting to achieve this goal is because of his own ignorance that he sees while at Plymouth Rock. “Expensively educated at a private school and university- a history major, no less!-I’d matriculated to middle age with a third grader’s grasp of early America.” Horwitz is disappointed in his own lack of knowledge of his home country, especially with his background history and decides not only to research America’s true beginnings, but to also follow the path of those who originally yearned to discover America.

Joe Kurmaskie in his story, "Rough Road Ahead: Do Not Exceed Posted Speed Limit" describes the adventures of a cyclist as he makes his way to Yosemite National Park. The cyclist takes some old men’s advice and takes a “shortcut,” however it proves to be far from short. The author uses setting to cause the audience to relate to and identify with the character, additionally through Kurmaskie's use of description of the desert setting, he exemplifies the effect of fear, exhaustion, and strength on the cyclist.

In “The Greatest Journey” by James Shreeve, he talks about how we all share the same ancestors and we all come from Africa. He says that it all started in Africa about 200,000 years ago. These people who lived in Africa years ago started to leave the area and expand to Eurasia and Australia. As they were migrating to other places, they were able to adjust to the new environment. This is when everybody started to change because of weather, food, and other factors of environment that affected these people. But even though they separated and reproduced themselves, they were still connected by the same ancestor. As Shreeve states; “Generations later, finding that same mutation, or marker, in two people’s DNA indicates that they share the same ancestor”

A theme is a moral that the reader can take away from the story to use in their everyday life. The allegory, “Terrible Things” by Eve Bunting, the poem, “ First They Came for the Communists” by Martin Niemöller, and the memoir, Night by Elie Wiesel all share one common theme. In the 1900’s during the holocaust, many Jews and anyone who was part of the aryan race (blonde hair blue eyes) were taken away by Nazis led by Adolf Hitler. They were taken to concentration camps many children, the elder, and babies were exterminated once they got there because the Nazis felt there was no use to them. The jews that were needed went and got their heads shaven and marked with a tattoo of numbers that were used to identify them. After being processed

The three texts which are the allegory, "Terrible Things", the poem, "First They Came For the Communists" and the memoir Night share some differences and similarities. These three texts are related during the Second World War in Europe and also about the Holocaust. The WWI (1939-1945) was the bloodiest war in the world's history. The conflict started in Germany led by Adolf Hitler that was the leader of the Nazi party, this man had thoughts in conquering foreign lands, increasing jobs, and exterminating all races that he thought were minorities. During his dictatorship, he sent troops to imprison and kill all the enemies of the Nazis who were Jews, homesexuals, communists etc. Hitler's enemies were sent to concentration camps where some were

Pressure is experienced by many kids, and their parents are a primary source of it. The narrator in The Boat by Alistair MacLeod faces a tremendous amount of pressure from his parents. My parents also put a lot of pressure on me because they want me to be successful in their own way, and I do not find it helpful. To start, this pressure could lead to stress, which could then lead to long term problems such as anxiety and depression. Ever since I was young, my parents have wanted me to pursue a career in medicine. I was not very happy as it was not a career I enjoyed, and it took lots of studying. It eventually became too stressful as my strenuous efforts toward my parents’ goal were not paying off. My parents stopped pressuring me as it was

I believe good is intrinsic, while evil is extrinsic. Intrinsic means essential. Extrinsic means not part of the essential nature of someone or something. Everyone is born with a friendly soul but they have the ability to learn to become evil. Some people in life may seem along the lines of evil since they were born. The reason to that is, something in their life could've happened to them to make them that way or certain people, in general, make them like that. There is good in everyone sometimes you just have to look deep to see it.

The main character, the principal character, the protagonist, all the same person whose name is otherwise known as Toby. Throughout The Trail, you will learn a lot about Toby, and get a deeper understanding for what it is he is going through. This is because the author, Meika Hashimoto, does a great job portraying Toby as the character he really is through his actions and character traits. One example of these character traits is him being extremely pessimistic, which is basically seeing the worst in everything, or believing that the worst is almost always going to happen. As expressed in the book, “Like a total moron, I literally exited my campsite and started walking back in the direction I’d come from . Of course I messed up. I always do...Typical.

“All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.” (Aristotle) In mob mentality people follow what is established. Mob mentality occurs when people forget about their own beliefs and follow what everyone else is doing. Mob mentality occurs in The Lord of the Flies and in To Kill a Mockingbird. A setting with a dictator leadership and deindividuation in the people, is when mob mentality is more likely to occur. Mob mentality in The Lord of the Flies and in To Kill a Mockingbird occurs when people join a group or a mob, they lose their identity and follow the group's actions instead of their own.

Instead of thinking about what they should do or what would be the best course of action, they begin to think only as part of the group, their opinions becoming merely extensions of the wishes of the majority. In Lord of the Flies, after Ralph and Piggy discover Jack’s group, a thunderstorm approaches, so the hunters perform a dance to make it go away. Golding then describes how the group conforms, saying, “Some of the littluns started a ring on their own; and the complementary circles went round and round as though repetition would achieve safety of itself. There was the throb and stamp of a single organism” (152). The littluns began copying the actions of the biguns instinctively, feeling that they would be safer if they did not stand out from the rest of the group. As everyone conforms together, the group takes on a life of its own as it begins to function less as separate parts and more as a single unit. This shows how they gain more power through their combined efforts. However, he uses the words “throb” and “stamp”, which are unpleasant sounding and closely related to wildlife, portraying the animalistic feeling of the group. This is further emphasized through calling the group “a single organism” instead of plainly stating that they are functioning as one. These descriptions suggest that the hunters are reverting to more primitive and savage behaviors. As they join together in the dance, there is less

William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies is about a group of young boys, aged around 6-12, that crash land on an uninhabited island, and without adults, they fail miserably. In E.L Epstein’s article “NOTES ON LORD OF THE FLIES” Golding reveals in his novel that the flaws in human nature lead to a flawed society; which is seen in society (Epstein par. 3).

A microcosm is a representation of the world on a much smaller scale. Sometimes, this can be represented as an island, where nothing can escape, much like earth itself. In Golding's novel, “Lord of the Flies”,a small group of boys crash land on a desert island. They have no idea what to do at first, but eventually start to build a society. The main characters, Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and Simon often fight, and during their fights, the other children take sides. Each of the groups, instead of acting as separate people, act as one. People have called this mob mentality. Mob mentality brings out the evil in man, as shown when Jack and the choir boys left to make their society, when they killed “the beast” who turned out to be Simon, and when all the

Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak is an interesting children’s picture book. The main character is a little boy named Max, who has a wild imagination. He uses all five senses as well as thought and his actions to express his personality as well as how he reacts and interacts with his surroundings. Max’s id, ego and super-ego are greatly shown in this book through the way that the author has portrayed him. Not only is this book a children’s story, but it can also be perceived as a life lesson. Many people go through times in their lives when they make drastic decisions right away, such as leaving home. One may enjoy it for the rest of their lives or only for a little while, just like Max who felt lonely after having fun with the monsters. In this case, people end up going home to be with their family where they are not lonely, and can have more time before making a final decision of what should happen next in their life. Id, ego and super- ego is greatly portrayed in this

In the book “The Crazy Horse Electric Game” Chris Crutcher wanted to do a book for coming-of-age teens. He did a book over the basic things a child is faced with at a young age such as Willie. This book teaches a very valuable lesson for teens and for parents. With the certain topics I bring up in this book you’ll see the lesson for sure.

This boy was only dreading his trip to his new private school 30,000 feet in the air before blacking out and finding himself stranded and alone in a deserted island. But within the short time span of five weeks, he’s innocence was taken from him. I am lucky to interview Ralph Bradshaw, age 12, after weeks of silence, of his deadly, horrifying experience in the stranded island he would call “Hell” itself.