An Excerpt From 'The Christmas Gift'

Some of these may be very scary and some may only be mildly scary. It

John Pear asked Katy to sit on the front seat with Mary Lee, Katy refused at first because she was scared that if she gets out of the car, John Pear might drive away and leave her alone. After John Pear told Katy that he wont do what she's afraid of, Katy finally left the car, but right after she closed the door, John Pear locked the door and drove away. Mary Lee begged for John pear to stop but John Pear didn't. Mary Lee later found out that this is what Madrigal did to be entertained, John Pear and Madrigal would drive a person to the neighborhood, lock them out, and would watch them suffer. Mary Lee also found out that John Pear and Madrigal did the same thing to Scarlett, that's why she was afraid of her. The next day was their "Winter Sleigh Day" which is like a winter carnival. During the winter carnival the teenagers were

It can be argued that Christmas as a holiday is far removed from the way it was first envisioned. That said, there are certain element that many people share or celebrate making it an arguably complex holiday. As the preeminent children’s author of his generation, Geisel serving heavily on the minds of his young readers helped shape what Christmas means for many people with his narrative How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Though at the surface the work is a simple morality tale that promotes unity over consumerism, it has subtle nuances that make the work interesting on several

It is curious that as children, humans have the ability to observe and remember details of specific situations and instances yet lack the ability to describe them. Truman Capote, as a grown man, took advantage of his vivid memories and composed the short work, "A Christmas Memory." The story begins in late November, a month symbolic of all the years gone by that Capote could remember beginning preparations for Christmas fruitcakes.

The Nightmare before Christmas had a couple of issues that needed to be address before improving the takeover of Christmas. There are four serious issues that occurred in order of importance. Firstly, Jack had no clear vision. What vision he did have, he was incapable of communicating it clearly. When Jack tried to explain ``Jolly`` his team was unsure of the definition and they went back to their original core values by creating ghoulish toys for Christmas.

However in the over-exaggerated movie it included the reason behind the Grinch's hatred of Christmas; saying it was because the kids used to tease him when he was little, until the day he

Firstly, A Christmas Story changes the style of the framed narrative. In the story, Ralph Parker is looking back on his childhood after a woman expresses her opinion on “disarming the toy industry.” However, the movie opens inside Ralph’s childhood with an adult Ralph as the narrator. This change does not take away from the story, though. It allows the audience to be put right into the action of the story rather than making the audience wait for something to happen that causes the narrator to look back on their life.

Tom and Daisy both have almost created an excuse to their carelessness mentioning that Daisy is a Catholic. Nick however, knows that this is not true. Daisy is actually a money addict in the novel. She values materialistic items such as Gatsby’s shirts and house over that of actual love and relations. In the article “For the Love of Money” discusses the addiction as, “Wealth addiction was described by the late sociologist and playwright Philip Slater in a 1980 book, but addiction researchers have paid the concept little attention. Like alcoholics driving drunk, wealth addiction imperils everyone. Wealth addicts are, more than anybody, specifically responsible for the ever widening rift that is tearing apart our once great country. Wealth addicts are responsible for the vast and toxic disparity between the rich and the poor and the annihilation of the middle class.”(Polk 2014). This illness, is seen often as a good thing, the idea that of gaining more wealth to better yourself in society. In reality however it creates a cycle of pain and suffering. An isolation from society and its customs, replaced by a desire of green and selfishness, which is what Daisy is suffering from. Daisy refused to defend Gatsby’s honor by not confessing to the murder of Myrtle which she intentionally committed. Daisy refused to show Gatsby her true affection by telling

As Nick arrives at his house late one evening, Gatsby’s course is everywhere. His not so humble abode is all lit up...which wouldn’t be unusual...unless there was music and noise coming from the house. “...i saw that Gatsby's house, lit from tower to cellar...But there wasn't a sound.” (81 Fitzgerald). It is believed that he had lit his house up ever so brightly to draw attention to it from across the bay, when the Buchanan family stays. He later asks nick if he would go to Coney Island; However, nick turns the offer down claiming that it is late and he has to go to bed. It isn't usual for Gatsby to have his house all lit up but no party and his spontaneousness this late at night. As well as the outside being bright and extravagant, the same goes for inside the mansion. two days after Gatsby lit his house up as bright as a Christmas tree, Nick invites Daisy over to his cabin...without Tom. Daisy is unaware that Gatsby will be joining the two during their tea party. When the two meet again after years and years of being separated, the mood is very uncomfortable and tense. After an hour the two lighten up the mood and Gatsby invites Daisy and Nick over to his house for a tour. Up until Gatsby’s own apartment, Daisy had been is great awe of all of Gatsby’s possessions. “They’re such beautiful shirts...it makes me sad because i’ve never seen such- such beautiful shirts before.” Daisy is a gold digger. she is only attracted to men with a great deal of money; that is why she married Tom. Before Their wedding Tom presented pearls to daisy, costing $270,000. She reluctantly went through with the marriage. At this moment however, She cannot get enough of all that Gatsby has to offer. Gatsby Composes himself nicely for someone who is completely consumed in the girl of his dreams. He is presented just as well as his house with a pristine gold

This theme is apparent in the novel because Daisy’s selfishness is openly shown through her lack of interest in other people; she often only cares about herself. Daisy inherits a lot of money after she marries Tom because he has an abundance of money from playing polo in college. Daisy’s newly acquired money allows her to reveal her true self, which happens to be a selfish woman. In the novel, she displays her selfishness when she does not engage Nick in conversation at dinner. During the dinner, Daisy is inattentive and she often changes the subject of discussion randomly because she lacks interest in her guests. For example, she changes the subject of conversation to the butler’s nose when she wants to be involved in the conversation to distract her guests from Tom’s phone call. She only makes conversation when it is convenient for her, thus proving her arrogance and negligence towards people. “They were here, and they accepted Tom and me, making only a polite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained” (Fitzgerald 12). This quote explains how excluded Nick feels during the dinner. Daisy is selfish during dinner because she does not try to find conversations that Nick can also participate in. Daisy also displays her lack of interest of people at Gatsby’s party because she does not have a good time interacting with people. She does not know most of the people at the party and she does not intend to get to know them. Furthermore,

Comparatively, one main part of childhood is being able to be cared for. Either being provided for throughout the year or just at Christmas children deserve to have what they need to thrive. Christmas is about giving what you can give back to the loved ones who have given to you all year long. Children are often given gifts that are too extravagant to be given at other times of the year, and parents are given the most acknowledgement and love that is possible to give. Walls explains, “I could have any star I wanted, Dad said, except Betelgeuse and Rigel, because Lori and Brian

Nick invites Daisy over for tea as a way for him to lure her in to see Gatsby whom she has not seen for 5 years. Gatsby wants to see her because they were in love with each other the last they were together and Gatsby was still in love and he was hoping that he would still wait for her while he was in the military. This causes a drama with Daisy because she is married to Tom.

When Melinda started her first day of high school, she suffered from peer pressure with her best friend- who had just left her, and everyone had hated her because she ruined a party during summer break by calling the police. Melinda knew that no one knew the truth, but she was afraid to speak out about it. Laurie Anderson used the allusion of Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer

old sinner! Hard as a steel and sharp as a flint, from which no steel

Contrast to what Daisy Buchanan believes, materialistic items do not mean anything in the real world. Love can drive people to do crazy things, just take a look at Jay Gatsby’s house, it is all for Daisy. Many people learn from the society around them, and in this case many people caught the ‘selfish disease’ in the 1920’s. "Her voice is full of money... That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money - that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbal's song of it..."(Page 106). The book displays Daisy’s feelings of love toward materialistic items instead of real world people. Daisy intends to stay with the ‘love of her life’ in order to stay