Shargel's Superstitions

Most of us had an experience where we have felt that some clothes or gifts are cursed and responsible for creating the wrong events. When we are young, our thinking is restricted like we believe that clothes or gifts which we don’t like are unlucky for us. When I was young, I participated in an animal costume play that organized in my school. My dad bought me a bear costume for the play, but I wanted a rabbit costume. Though I did not like the bear costume, I wore it anyway. Suddenly, unpleasant things started happening: my performance was not good, everyone called me “BEAR, BEAR,” and laughed at me. I felt insecure and the costume became a curse for me. Now, when I recall that funny episode and the bear costume, I laugh at myself for being so silly at that time. “The Jacket,” a memoir story written by Gary Soto, is the same story about the feelings the author had when he receives a jacket. He hates the jacket’s “guacamole color [with] mustard color lining” (para.2). Soto’s jacket symbolizes his embarrassment about his childhood poverty even though he uses humor to alleviate the pain of his situation. Although I do not share Soto’s impoverished childhood, I understand the embarrassment, insecurity, ridicule and coincidences my bear costume caused.

Clashes over religion were a never-ending battle with England. The church was being used for corruption and power, and citizens had the Catholicism religion forced upon them. They had no choice but to accept this religion because going against the church meant going against the king. So many people dealt with the situation and conformed to Catholicism. However, there was a vast majority that didn’t. These rebels would start something that would forever be a major part of history. It may seem as though these non-conformists did good, but they actually did not. Puritans did not set a good example for England to learn from, the Quakers did.

And that scarf has to go.” That crushing statement was an almost verbatim echo of the criticism I had received from a condescending 4-H judge. Because that judge was also judging this contest, those words dragged up other equally emotional and painful memories. I felt singled out, hunted. Her overbearing, aggressive manner was shocking, and by the time she started telling me what kind of outfit I needed to put together for Nationals, I was in tears.

Joseph Conrad once said, “It is the mark of an inexperienced man not to believe in luck”. Nailer, the main character of Paolo Bacigalupi’s book Ship Breaker, wasn’t born lucky, he was born a ship breaker. Ship breakers are child and adult laborers who spend their days starving, poor, and working away to take the anything valuable off old ships for the big companies. Throughout Nailer’s life, he has suffered through various unfortunate events. However, with a strong belief of luck and having other superstitions, his life becomes more manageable. In Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi demonstrates that being superstitious and believing in various degrees of luck allows people to more easily feel in control of uncontrollable situations.

The older woman of town a.k.a ‘The Stitch and Bitch Club’, take action by going to Tucson selling homemade piñatas using feathers of the local peacocks. Codi joins the group and soon involves her classes, as she becomes extremely enthusiastic on the subject.

Heather is vivacious. Before the pep rally, she said, “This is so exciting - a pep rally!! I made extra pompoms.” (p.27) Heather shows extra enthusiasm for only a pep rally and goes far enough to make pom poms. Melinda said that Heather’s enthusiasm made her “itch”. When Melinda was helping Heather decorate the faculty lounge, Heather said, “Can you believe they’re letting me join? Meg has been so

Over time, the severity of inconceivable actions is desensitized to members of the community as the traditions continue to be practiced throughout generations. In “The Lottery”, the story opens with children “selecting the smoothest and roundest stones” (43) in preparation for the stoning, as if it was part of an ordinary routine. At a young age, children tend to learn and mimic the actions of those around them. They listen to voices of authority like Old Man Warner’s as he ridicules the idea of other villages abolishing the lottery, calling them, “Pack of crazy fools” (48), and saying how, “they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves … there’s always been a lottery” (48). Following the influence of the elders, the children fail to question the

When Heather’s mom attempted to explain the concepts of rhythm and pronunciation, and failed she thought dance class would help. She was enrolled her in ballet class in hopes (of ) that she would develop a better understanding of rhythm. Not long after joining, the love she had for ballet grew and she continued to dance until she danced herself all the way the to the Miss America competition. Heather started her career in beauty pageants in the Shelby County Junior Miss program. Although the Shelby County Junior program wasn’t considered an actual pageant it gave Heather the confidence she needed to start entering real ones. She entered many pageants and won Miss Cullman Area in 1994. After she won Miss Cullman she went on to win Miss Alabama and soon enough it was only her and Miss Virginia standing up in the finals for Miss America and it was then announced she had won. Each competition she entered helped to shape and mold the way Heather interacted the judges. “The first time I stood on the stage in Atlantic City and looked out over the empty convention about a year before I won the Miss America title, I was amazed not at its size, but at the fact that I was there. The journey to the Miss America Pageant did not begin four years ago when I first competed in a local pageant. It began when I was eighteen months old, when I lost my hearing.” -Heather Whitestone. Heather said that when her mom was told her daughter was

She would do almost anything to avoid wearing the yellow badge in public. She hated the star. It was so humiliating. It was so embarrassing. Wasn’t it enough, the children wondered, that they’d lost their park, their pond, their school and their friends?” (Levine, 38).

This accusation compels a skeptical attitude which makes the homeless man and the audience think twice about

In Twain’s time period, people were so reliant on superstition that they even used it to make their most important life decisions. When something out of the ordinary happened, people offered superstitious reasons instead of facing reality or coming up with a logical explanation. Twain satirizes how foolish his characters—who are representative of the rest of society—are when they use superstitions and constantly apply them to everything in their lives. Although Twain wrote this novel in the nineteenth century and there have been many major scientific, technological and cultural advancements since that time period, the practice of relying on superstitions to explain both good and bad occurrences is still ingrained in today’s

Peggy Sturmfels was adopted in the early 1990’s when she was two weeks old. Her birth parents were just teenagers and couldn’t even take care of themselves therefore they felt it would be in Peggi’s best interest if they allow her to get the best life possible with someone who could provide for her. They opted for a closed adoption because at the time no one knew she was even pregnant. Her adoptive parents John and Gabrielle Sturmfels agreed with Peggy’s birth parents and vowed not to tell her about the adoption. To her birth parent’s wishes John and Gabrielle gave Peggy the best life a child could imagine, she was their little princess and they treated her like royalty. Peggy was sent to the best schools and graduated high school as valedictorian. After graduation John and Gabrielle had a huge surprise for Peggy; they were going to allow her to attend the college of her dreams: UCLA. Peggi had dreamed to go there but her parents did not feel comfortable with her being so far away from home. Three months later Peggi had packed up and had started her first semester of college. She was doing very well and passing all her classes so she felt it was time for her to have a night to just relax and have some fun. Her friend Abby suggested that they go to one of the Frat parties close to their dorm. Peggy agreed and they went. At the party there was drugs and alcohol everywhere and Peggi didn 't feel comfortable but Abby insisted she stayed and referred to her as a “party pooper”.

Leo Borlock is in the eleventh grade at Mica high school in the state of Arizona. Mica is a normal school all students are very similar everyone likes the same clothing, music and foods but the new tenth grader Stargirl Caraway. The first day of school stargirl was wearing an old dressed that covered her shoes carrying her ukulele and her pet rat Cinnamon. That same day at lunch she started playing her ukulele while dancing and singing. The next few days she was wearing an old flapper dress, a kimono and A Indian buckskin and at lunch would sing the famous birthday song to some students. Most students fear Stargirl but Leo Borlock

On the first day of school, students from Mica High in Arizona are talking about the new girl named Stargirl Caraway who has been homeschooled. They mostly talk about her behavior. She plays her ukulele and sings the song Happy Birthday to people who she doesn’t even know. Stargirl also carries her pet rat Cinnamon in her bag with a sunflower on it. Two boys named Leo Borlock and Kevin Quilan were interested in Stargirl. They both have a disagreement on putting her on the Hot Seat, which is a school television program. Leo thinks that the broadcasting is going to cause a problem and doesn’t want to do it, but Kevin thinks that it is going to very popular. Eventually, the do the show and it did not go very well. Although people don’t interact

Yesterday, while in her care the beloved cat, Doodle Dee, had escaped. Consequently, 14 years old Olivia is terrified to tell her grandma about this absolute tragedy. She hates confrontations of any kind and the loss of the cat was bound to bring a serious one with her hot-tempered Grandma. Olivia is an extremely shy teenager. Her trademark clothing says a lot about her: long black skirt, sneakers, and a leather jacket as to not to be noticed and, most of the time wears sunglasses. In addtion, she spends most of her time in her room alone on her iPad.