Losers Take All Analysis

“It’s not easy, trying to become a contender.” ~ Mr. Donatelli, The Contender. Do you know where you are going to be in 7 years? Or at least where you are planning to be. You need to work hard ,and try your best, whether it’s going to school and paying attention or going on a diet and believing in it. An example of working hard could be, how Alfred wanted to become a contender because he wanted to succeed at something. Also, he had heard so much about his nephew Jeff, who’s in college, and because his teacher friend Spoon, had encouraged him to think about his future, as did his uncle. In sum, There are many themes to The Contender like, working hard to succeed, not giving up, and not going down the wrong path.

The League, a coming of age story, by Thatcher Heldring describes the Wyatt Parker’s transition from immature too mature. In the beginning, Wyatt and his friend Francis are constantly afraid of Spencer Randle. Every moment they are constantly looking over their backs, until Wyatt makes the decision to stand up to him, but he did not know how. Later, Wyatt is walking out of the movie theater when his friend, Evan, sees Brian Braun, the all star high school quarterback, who she has a crush on. Inspired and Jealous, Wyatt decides that he should learn how to play football to impress Evan and to bulk up to face Spencer Randle. When he finds out about this summer league, The League of Pain, that his brother Aaron plays in all he wants to do is join,

The book called “Game Changers” by Mike Lupica is a story about a boy named

In preparation for this paper I chose to read Fire in the ashes: twenty five years among the poorest children in America by Jonathan Kozol. In this book Kozol has followed these children and their family’s lives for the past twenty five years. In his writing Kozol portrays a point of view most from his background and standing would not be capable of having. He portrays what life is like for those who have been let down by the system that was meant to protect them. Kozols writing style can be very blunt at times, not for shock value, but for the sake of portraying these children’s realities, and not sugarcoating the inequalities that they are faced with. There was a lot of balance within this book. In the book there are two parts: part one

This book was Pam Muñoz Ryan 's 13th book ever published out of 40. In the book, Esperanza Rising, it

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson is the tale of Hayley Kincain, a seventeen year old girl, and her incredibly unstable life with Andy, her father. Andy is a war veteran who suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder, and is constantly assaulted by horrific memories of the past. Hayley’s mother perished in a car accident soon after Hayley was born, while Andy was still deployed in Iraq. Hayley was raised by her grandmother Barbara until Hayley was seven, at which point Barbara died and Andy returned home to care for Hayley. However, Andy’s past war experiences and the horrifying events that he had seen on the battlefield haunted him endlessly. Rather than living a traditional life in an ordinary home,

In the book More God Less Crime the author focuses on a central topic of how faith based institution and individuals can aid in reducing crime in society. The book stresses that these new faith based policies can implement a life long lifestyle change. In our society today, there are many dangerous problems we face from false imprisonment to youth violence. Within the book in providing solutions such as rehabilitation that can eventually eradicate these problems that plague our society. By having a strong foundation of religion set in place it can help resolve unjust matters with the belief that morality is superior. By incorporating morality in inmates life 's and other members within the system, it enables them to lead a better life, by leaving their old ways behind. Furthermore, the book is divided into three sections which contain specific chapters catered to reducing crime and or explaining how it can be resolved.

All sports fans may think of their favorite athlete as a hero, a god, a role model, or someone they wish to be. As an athlete there is always the fear of failure or missing the one shot that could have achieved their life goal. As athletes they are always expected to live, breathe, eat, and die for their sport, which in the end causes them distress. In the novel Friday Night Lights, the small town of Odessa, Texas they put that same unneeded pressure on their athletes. To them it is more about winning then actually enjoying the sport, putting an immense pressure on their team to succeed. Knowing that the town is counting on them each player adds more pressure on themselves to satisfy their town while also trying to secure football scholarships. Buzz Bissinger clearly shows the great amount of unnecessary pressure that is put upon the football team from the town, themselves, and the prospect of the future.

“There in the palm of his hand was a wad of hair. Cole stared. The hair was white. All white. ‘It’s true,’ he whispered. ‘I wasn’t lying.’ Deliberately, he raised his hand and tossed the hair into the water. Beginning today, he would tell the truth. His words would become his only proof” (112). In Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, Cole is a kid who focused on anger and lied a lot. In this part of the book Cole swore not to lie which is a big change. Cole was beaten up by his parents when he was younger and was raised in an environment of anger. He was forced to go to and island in Alaska because he smashed Peter Driscal’s head into the pavement. On the island in Alaska he was mauled by a bear for threatening it. Almost dead, Cole realized that he needed to change. So after going to rehab Cole gets one more chance on the island to fully

    This book is an accurate representation of society today because, the characters represent different types of people when an incident involving police brutality occurs. Quinn Collins, acts as if he is too afraid to stand up and doesn 't want to face the truth about what happened,

The most influential novel that I read this year is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Walls’s memoir had moving themes of strength, perseverance and forgiveness. It also caused me to have passionate reactions. Finally, The Glass Castle impacted me the most because it forced me to reconsider my opinion of homeless people. This novel was a beneficial reading experience.

“The Education of Dasmine Cathey,” by Brad Wolverton is an informative and compelling story about a student athlete who struggles with making educated choices that he is not familiar with in life, college, and football. There are so many reasons young college athletes succeed in sports, but fail in education. This story is a tragic tale of educational shortfalls that caused Mr. Cathey a football player to fall through the cracks of a flawed school system and became exploited by his family, friends and the college football program. These challenges during these times, created unwanted side effects in every aspect of his life. This is a great story because the author allowed the reader to feel every emotion

Election day to some people is extremely important, while to others it is just another day. This is impart due to one’s opinion on how democratic the elections truly are and if our voting matters. Some people doubt that using a electoral college is truly representing the people. As one explores the process more, it becomes evident that other factors such as the media and the campaigning staff, have equal if not more influence on who gets elected. In Joe Klein’s novel, Primary Colors, the reader is allowed to experience what being in a presidential campaign is truly like and what these candidates act like behind closed doors. While some readers may become even more cynical due to this book, it also shows how regardless of the imperfection

"Medieval Punishment and Torture" by Stephen Curry is a terse and informational book that teaches the reader various punishments used on criminals, or suspected criminals, to kill the person or to get a confession. I enjoyed reading about how many brigands were tortured to get a confession, regardless if they were a spurious one. Many impoverished citizens had to turn to larceny because they had to pilfer to get food for their families. I learned that most major medieval punishments are arbitrary, slapdash, and ghastly. An example of a punishment stated by the author in the book is a beheading; death would be instant as long as the victim was unflinching. One thing about this book that I did not like was how the author did not explain some

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve been made fun of, or heard someone else being made fun of? I am sure the answer to that question is yes. Or maybe, you’ve insulted someone else without realizing the true meaning behind it? Ultimately, this is because language is more powerful than we think. Words and language can be used as weapons, and it may be hard for people to understand that certain words can be thought of as insulting to someone else but may not seem that way towards you. Language comes naturally, and as time as passed, we have been more inclined to say whatever we want. Unfortunately, recently we have seen more offense being taken to words we say. This is because language can affect people in different ways. In other words, some