The Tortoise And The Hare By Gary Soto

After reading the story Raymond’s Run by Toni Cade Bombara, it has lead me to make a few statements about the main character and her appreciating the determination of others. The main character, Squeaky, doesn’t take others seriously and is quite arrogant when it comes to her running skills. However, by the end of the story, she has learned that other people are as determined as she is when it comes to running. Not only does she learn to recognize this, but she learns to appreciate it.

In ‘Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich, the main claim made by the author was that the low-working class are, in general, forced into an inescapable cycle of poverty. The low paying jobs they have to take are barely enough to pay rent, buy food, and other necessities. This doesn’t even include those in less favorable conditions than those Ehrenreich mimicked in her experiment. In general, Ehrenreich was trying to prove that the “living wage” offered by entry level jobs is not, in fact, “livable”. The significant supporting evidence provided in the book included Ehrenreich’s first hand experiences of mimicking (to her best abilities) what low-wage workers live everyday, as well as a plethora of supporting facts and statistics. All of Ehrenreich’s evidence was heavily supported with reliable resources. Based on the facts she presented, I agree with her claim that the majority of low-wage workers get stuck in poverty as a result of the entry-level workforce system as a whole. The evidence regarding statistics was very valid and well cited, and her first-hand experiences, while with possible flaws, only worked to further support what she was claiming. Ehrenreich’s methodology of obtaining evidence was very direct, and proved to show a plausible experience that most of the low-class would have in a best-case scenario. By that I mean in some of the best circumstances (no children, no serious medical needs, ect.), it is reasonable to assume that Ehrenreich’s experiences are

In the novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author goes on an experiment in which she moves to new towns and becomes a low-wage worker. In each town she has to find a place to live for the amount she can afford each month off of minimum wage jobs. She went undercover so she went into these jobs without showing her level of skills, college degrees, or writing skills she has. She spent a month in each town between the years of 1998 and 2000. Before starting her experiment she set rules for herself which were, “I had to take the highest-paying job that was offered me and do my best to hold it; I had to take the cheapest accommodations I could find, at least the cheapest that offered an acceptable level of safety and privacy”(Ehrenreich, Barbara (2010-04-01). Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (p. 4). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition). When she went on interviews and filled out applications she didn’t put any job experience down and described herself as “a divorced homemaker reentering the workforce after many years”

Would you like to know where and how loneliness can occur through characters in novels and in reality? Well, in the book Of Mice and Men, by Jerry Steinback a commonly occurring central problem is based off of many forms of loneliness occurring through many, if not every character besides sub characters where we do not get a deep enough of an insight to create ideas or inferences about them. Of Mice and Men, is a story mainly focused on two characters, one named Lennie who’s mentally ill and who’s incapable of anything except the needs of physical strength. And another named George, who is smart but caught in the guilt of Lennie’s needs. Meaning, he was and got stuck with Lennie because Lennie ‘s guardian who was George’s friend died so Lennie had no one except his friend George. They together travel as poor migrant workers, and what makes things worse is that Lennie doesn’t know how to stay out of trouble. George works hard in trying to keep a steady life with Lennie, but it’s literally impossible with a man like Lennie. George can’t always be with Lennie to keep him from doing things he isn’t supposed to do. Eventually they get going on a new ranch after an incident with Lennie, and Lennie 's troubles bring him to killing the Master’s son’s wife of their new ranch, where George is later forced to kill Lennie. Loneliness is displayed throughout the book through certain characters who experience it

A common theme we see in the two stories, “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, and “The Rocking Horse-Winner” by D.H Lawrence is the detrimental effects that a forcing a bar of success can have on developing adolescents. Recognizing that the product of success is generally good, clouds the notion that there is in fact a wide range of effects that chasing success can bring about. Some of these effects have positive repercussions, teaching adolescents discipline and work ethic. However, some of the effects are quite negative, especially in those that are too young to truly care for themselves. Forcing a cusp of success on adolescents indirectly in “The Rocking Horse-Winner” or directly in “Two Kinds” pushes the children to achieve the impossible resulting in a breaking point in the adolescent characters.

In Toni Cade Bambara’s story, “Raymond’s Run,” Bambara describes Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, a young girl, who is training for an annual race. Hazel is confident that she will win the race just as she has for the last few years. Her brother Raymond has a disability, hydrocephalus, and Hazel is responsible for him. The race begins and Hazel wins however the race is close. The theme of Bambara’s short story is: It is good to have self confidence; however it is also good to have respect for and/or recognize the talents of others. This theme is evident in the short story when Hazel is bragging before the race. Hazel states, “There is no track meet that I don’t win the first place medal. I used to win the twenty yard dash when I was a little

In this short story, Doodle’s brother is often illustrated as selfish through his actions and words. The reader knows this because, “It seemed so hopeless from the beginning that it’s a miracle I didn’t give up.”(32). The author alludes in this sentence that he

After reading The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, Turtle is a dynamic character. At the beginning of the book, the character is neglected; eventually, the character becomes genuine and Kind Hearted. These character traits were observed through Turtle's actions, dialogue, relationships, choices, and problems. Turtle towards the middle and the end of the book is nice. This connects to my life because Turtle is very nice like my two little sisters.

“If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.” (Richard M. Nixon). In his investigative biography, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer, expresses that even though young people can be ignorant and take treacherous risks, these can be used as knowledge enhancers and can be life changers.

The first reason why hard work pays off is, because it helps you achieve your goals. To begin with, in the story ´´The Marble Champ´´ Lupe achieves her goals of winning the marbles championship by practice and hard work. ´´She squeezed a rubber eraser one hundred times hoping it would strengthen her thumb.´´ So, her practice and hard work leaded Lupe into

“That is, I don’t think I can learn from a wild animal how to live in particular—shall I suck warm blood, hold my tail high, walk with my footprints precisely over the prints of my hands?—but I might learn something of mindlessness, something of the purity of living in the physical senses and the dignity of living without bias or motive.”

   “Why do some people persist despite insurmountable obstacles, while others give up quickly or never bother to try” (Gunton 118)? A Raisin in the Sun, a play by Lorraine Hansberry, is a commentary on life and our struggle to comprehend and control it. The last scene in the play between Asagai and Beneatha contrasts two contemporary views on why we keep on trying to change the future, and reaches the conclusion that, far from being a means to an end, the real meaning of life is the struggle. Whether we succeed or not, our lives are purposeful only if we have tried to make the world a better place for ourselves and others- only, in other words, if we follow our dreams.

the expectation that the means to achieve goals is to work harder than others.” (McGraw−Hill,

Susan Sontag discusses the difference in viewing art in physical form versus viewing in through a lens. Throughout the essay “In Plato’s Cave”, Sontag thinks both Plato’s cave images and photographs represents, “the mere image of truth” (Sontag 3). With that, Sontag repeatedly uses the terms “truth” and “reality”, but does not define what these terms mean to her. The impression Sontag left for these terms is that “truth” or “reality” stand for nothing more than what we can see. Being said, the difference between what we can with our own eyes and what we can see with a camera is reduced to the physical/mechanical differences between the human eye and body camera/lens.

The author of Green Gulch conveys that when in a group, one can be overwhelmed by pressure that brings them to savage extremes. After being lost, a young boy joins a group of kids he has never seen before. The group is nice and offers to bring the boy home. They stop at a sanctuary of a pond. There is a turtle in the pond that is violently murdered by the boys after one decides to throw a rock. Then, the group turns on the new boy. They beat him maliciously and leave him stranded on the road to get home. As, the boy look backs he can’t think of what went wrong, “They stood in a little group watching me, nervous now, ashamed a little at the ferocious pack impulse toward the outsider that had swept them.” Obvious from the boys’ reactions, it was the fault of the group impulse. After the murder of turtle, the adrenaline and riot of the group caused them to turn on the next vulnerable target. They were not acting as they should have, and the realize that afterwards. They were nervous. Even though there is not immediately an adult around, they are nervous because society has conditioned them to behave. They are also ashamed. The shame shows that they are nice boys. They feel bad. This shows that the vicious group mind set was so strong that it came over there good personalities and conscious. However, there is only this slight remorse after the fact. This does not make up for the brutal murder and beating that they had dealt. Being in a group turned them into