Category: English

For comparing author’s style, I will be using Jack London’s book, “White Fang” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court” by Mark Twain. After reading both books, I have found lot’s of unique differences between their styles. First, I have noticed that both authors’ narrative styles are completely different. Jack London narrates his stories in a smooth, slow way or, that’s how I find it. Meanwhile, Mark Twain tells his stories as if he was coming up with the words as he went. As if he is telling someone a story that is from his imagination, not from a book. Personally, I prefer Mark Twains narrative style because, it is more fun and exciting. In Jack London’s character development, he doesn’t explain his characters in depth but, explains his character’s way of thinking by their actions throughout the book. For example, the way he explained White Fang’s appearance is very simple. He just mentions that he is a grey pup, like his father and that he is the last pup surviving in his family. Although he doesn’t explain in depth what White Fang looks like, he explains the dog’s personality by his actions throughout the book. That is how we know what White Fang was like. In a “Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” there are so many themes in the book that is hard to keep up. For example, Hank is suddenly in medieval Camelot then, he is the king’s right hand man then, meets Sandy and helps her save her princess friends then, goes under cover to see what life is as a peasant, and so on and so on. I find it difficult to find where the characters are at and, what they are doing. For another example, Hank and Sandy are suddenly married and have a little girl! Mark Twain doesn’t at all mention this until one of the last chapters in the book! So, this is one reason why I do like the way of Jack London’s way of portraying different themes. I found it easy to understand his themes as the characters go along in the book. It is very important to have your own style of writing because, if you copy another author’s style, your work will be just another book that is like any other. Although there are ups and downs in different styles, that’s what make books unique.

“The love of money is the root of all evil” – 1 Timothy 6:10 The book, “Treasure Island” is a good example of this verse. For example, the pirates killed their fellow mates just for their own personal gain. In fact, I am sure that there was a little place inside each person, not just in the pirates but in Jim Hawkins and, the good crew, that wanted to murder someone just for the love of gold. Also, the pirate crew was always threating to kill Long John Silver if he didn’t give them their share of money, which is just being greedy because, even if they killed John, there still wouldn’t have been peace with everyone else. Thanks to being greedy, almost all of Long John Silver’s crew died. Another theme for “Treasure Island” is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” For instance, if the good crew and, the pirate crew would have evenly shared the gold, there wouldn’t have been a riot. In order to do this though, the pirates, and even the good crew, would have had to been okay with sharing the gold. And that brings up another theme, “You can’t reason with a pirate!” Remember, family, friends and, in the pirates case, crew mates, are much more valuable then any gold or silver also, do things for others before you do something for yourself. If the characters in this story would have had and, followed those two important tips, the story would have had a much happier ending.

All though the Saxons were a bit behind in culture then other people groups of their time, they got along fine in life. They were good, devoted Christians and loyal servants to their kings.
The Saxons were a culture who seemed to like bright colors yet, were simple. In G.A. Henty’s books, for example -such as Wulf the Saxon and the Dragon and the Raven- the Saxon characters that he describes liked being in style and, wore bright, colorful clothing. Men’s hair usually went to their shoulders and usually had beards or were cleanly shaved.
There was a pretty good difference between the nobles and the peasants. The nobles had large pieces of land that they usually inherited, ate good food and, dressed nicely. The poorer people were very different. There was a lot of slaves, they didn’t eat nearly as much food as the nobles and, didn’t have the best clothes in fact, a lot were dressed in rags.
The Saxons were good, strong warriors. They had excellent military leaders and, were good swordsmen. They died nobly in battle for example, Edmund’s father in the Dragon and the Raven. He died for a good cause for his people and even his son.
As for their religion, the were strong, devoted Christians. They had many churches, Popes and, monks. They may have been a bit behind culture wise but, they weren’t behind in there faith.

About two years ago, an earthquake effected a lot of the Kenai peninsula from small town Seldovia to big city Anchorage, Alaska.
When I went to bed the night it happened, everything was normal. Then, at about midnight, I suddenly awoke because the whole house was violently shaking. My house overlooks a beautiful marshland near the mouth of the world-famous -sort of- Kenai river. It is on a type of foundation called, pilings and, it’s built above a kinda-steep sloop. So, when we felt the earthquake, my dad thought we were going to slide down the sloop due to the violent shaking! (We didn’t by the way) My parents, my two younger brothers and, I where the only ones who felt the earthquake meanwhile, my three youngest siblings slept right through it.
Maybe three days after the earthquake happened, my aunt –who was a radio reporter- took me to a conference meeting to talk about the earthquake. The earthquake turned out to be a 7.9 earthquake! I also learned that it really effected a small town called Seldovia, which is a nice little fishermen’s village that my family likes to go to sometimes in the summer. Also, some underground natural gas pipes broke and, three houses blew up. (The families who lived in those houses got out before that happened so no one was hurt) I actually got to see the remains of those houses -it was kinda-cool. I also learned how to tell if there is a gas leak in my house –which is not a good thing, that is what made those three houses blow up- and what to do safety wise. Here are just some examples:
-If you smell a gas leak, immediately evacuate the house and don’t bring anything with you
-Call 9-1-1
There is more but, I don’t need to go through all of it.
My whole earthquake experience was sort of scary at first but now looking at it, it was actually cool to be able to learn about what happened, safety and, getting to be a part of a kinda- historical event in Alaska’s history!

P.S. This is an essay I wrote before I made this blog!

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court is a book that shares Mark Twain’s view on politics in his time period. It starts with Hank, who is from the 19th century America, is transported back in time to 6th century Camelot. After a long series of events, Hank becomes King Arthur’s right-hand man instead of Merlin, whom is made magician over what Hank calls, the simple stuff like, weather. Hank, being almost as powerful as the king, has everyone in the land call him, The Boss but, is confused with why no one wants an autograph from him. He soon learns that, there wasn’t such a thing as an autograph in the 6th century because, the only people who were allowed to read and wright was, the Roman Catholic church’s priests. The Boss was surprised about this and, started secret schools throughout the country. The Boss later sets up a telephone system, railroads and trains and, introduces the bicycle.
Before Hank introduces his modern-day lifestyles, Camelot was a usual 6th century kingdom. The priests were the only ones who could read and write, the only way for long distance communication was by letters, there was much slavery and a few other brutal things. But, after Hank changes things, Camelot was similar to modern day times. There was many schools and colleges, there was a train, a newspaper company, telephone systems, no more slavery and, a lot more.
Hank had his own personal thoughts on how things should be and, him being the narrator of the book, you can read those thoughts. Mark Twain used this to make a point in how the government was at his time and, how he thought is should change.

P.S. This is one of my essays before I made this blog.

In every book you read, there is a category that defines the type of book it is. This is called Genre. A genre is category that defines a piece of literature. For example: If you were to read a book about a real person in history, you would probably be reading a Biography. A genre can either be established over time or, is established right away. A genre will either be fiction or nonfiction. Some examples of genre is:

Autobiography: A journal written by a real person that is published into a book. An example of an autobiography is: “Anne Frank’s Diary.”

Allegory: A piece of literature that has a hidden message. For example: In the book, “Animal Farm”, the author was trying to make a point about socialism. Allegory is like trying to make a point across without saying what the subject of the point is.

These are just a few types of genres. Other genres include: Non-fiction, biography, historical fiction, realistic fiction, science fiction, horror, fantasy, mythology and fables.

My favorite type of genre is historical fiction. I like how the author mixes fiction and history together to make a fascinating piece of literature.

I hope you like my essay! Please give me feedback to help me improve!

If I was stranded on a island like Robinson Crusoe was, the two items I would want with me would be; my Bible and a box of matches.

The Bible; At first, the Bible would seem useless. In fact, a person might throw it into the sea. But, after reading how the Bible comforted Crusoe, I realized that it would comfort me as well. I would look up verses that have comforting words like this one:

PSALMS 86:17~ Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you have helped me and comforted me.

The Bible is an amazing book that the Father has given us! It is very valuable, even when on a deserted island! And, no matter what the circumstances are, I would never destroy or burn it.

Matches; The next important tool I would want is, matches. They are very important! They can start a fire and this means a lot of things! It provides warmth, it cooks meat and, can be used for protection. For example, if a wild cat started to attack you, you could use fire to scare it away, or cook it! A box of matches would probably last me awhile if I was wise with them. This is important because if weather becomes cold or something, you will need a lot of warmth.

There is much more than these items I would want on my list but, these are probably the first two. Of course, you won’t always have the items that you want or need. All you can do is to, use your resources and keep believing!

The story of Robin Hood and how he forgave the Sheriff

In the time of the Third Crusade, there lived a man named Robin Hood whom was an outlaw who lived in Sherwood Forest near the town of Nottingham. He was barely an outlaw, the only reason why the sheriff so badly wanted his head was because he was the best archer in the area and was always getting the fame and glory of it. The sheriff was so raged with jealousy that he made up a crime that Robin did, but didn’t do. The Sheriff claimed that the reason why Robin was so good with the bow was because he was going to assassinate the Sheriff! After Robin heard this, he fled to Sherwood forest to escape the evil Sheriff meanwhile, the Sheriff was in “fear” that Robin might kill him in bed.

The people of Nottingham did not believe the sheriff and tried to convince him that Robin would not do such a thing because they knew that Robin was a very kind man and did not want to kill anyone. The Sheriff didn’t want to kill Robin Hood himself because he was to scared to do so, and so, he tried hiring someone to kill Robin Hood but, nobody took the offer no matter how much they would be payed.

One night, the people of Nottingham came together to see Robin Hood. They had always hated the Sheriff and they found that this was the perfect time to get rid of him! They wanted to make Robin kill the Sheriff. They said that they would make Robin the Sheriff if he did so. But Robin didn’t want to kill the Sheriff. Instead, he wanted to forgive him. This made everyone confused. How could someone forgive a man like this? Well, it seems as if Robin was the only one who could.

That night, Robin went to the Sheriff’s house and sneaked into his bedroom then and tapped the shoulder of the sleeping Sheriff. The sheriff woke up startled. I cant believe he really does want to kill me, he thought. Then, without thinking he said;

“No! Don’t kill me!”

“I don’t want to.” Robin said. “I am here to forgive you from all of the things you have tried to do to me.”

The Sheriff stared into the darkness for awhile. Robin Hood wanted to forgive him? Then, there was a little tear in the sheriff’s eye, he was then very moved by this act. He thanked Robin Hood for this then made things right by making Robin the deputy of Nottingham and by being kinder to the people. Robin then taught the Sheriff how to get better with the bow then, over time, the Sheriff was just as good as Robin Hood.

And that is the story of how Robin Hood forgave the Sheriff of Nottingham.

THE END

There are five major forms in Literature; Novel, Short Story, Novella, Drama and Poem. This week (Lessons 51-55) I have learned about the first three forms -Novel, Short Story and Novella. The assignment for this week is to write a essay about those first three forms.

A novel is a long prose narrative that describes fictional characters and events that is usually in a form of a sequential story. It is also the longest and most well known type of literature -this is pretty easy to understand. When you go to the library, you are most likely going to get a novel because there is hundreds of novels there. I personally prefer novels because they are much longer and, have more story line to them. Examples of novels are, The Count of Monte Cristo, Moby Dick, Heidi, etc.

Short Stories are written in prose like novels but, are much shorter -although there is no set word length that defines a short story. A short story does make use of a plot, resonance and other dynamic components to a far greater degree that is typical of an anecdote yet, to a far lesser degree than a novel. So, it is kind of in the middle of the five major forms of literature. Examples of short stories are, The Tell-Tale Heart, To Build a Fire, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, etc. I think short stories are good for reading together with friends and family members, they have that kind of fun feel that makes you want to read it with someone.

A novella generally features fewer conflicts than a novel but, is more complicated than a short story. Confusing right? Well, a novella in generally longer than a short story but has a more simplified plot line than a novel. Examples of a novel are, A Christmas Carol, Call of the Wild, Animal Farm, etc. I think that novels are a bit confusing but, are nice to read.

There is many forms of literature and it can be confusing to know which one is which but, it can be important to know what the difference between the forms are.