A-Z Memories

A- Bus Accident

B- My cousin Benjamin was born

C- Broke my Chin

D- When I first drove

E- When my first cousin Ema was born

F- Made my first Friend

G- The time I  talked with my Grandfather about the universe at night

H- When I moved to my new Home

I- My sister Isabela was born

J-   Went skeeing in Jackson Hole

K- Kataked in a lake

L- Learned to play soccer

M- Played my first soccer Match

N- My first day of Nursery

O- Overcame my shyness

P- First day of Pre-School

Q- Q is for Quito the city I live in. 

R- When I learned to Read

S- Snow for the first time

T- Took piano lessons

U- Understood math for the first time

V- Visited my Uncle 

W- When I learned to Write

X- When I broke my thumb and had an X-Ray

Y- Went to Yellowstone 

Z- The time I went to the Zoo with my whole family

Fate

The short story “Monkeys Paw,” by W.W. Jacobs, begins with a small family waiting for their guest to arrive to their home. Soon the guest, a former sergeant, enters the house and narrates his adventures to Mr. White, Mrs. White and their son Herbert. The subject of a magical paw is brought up. Mr. White inquires the soldier about this monkey’s paw, and soon he finds out its some sort of a magical talisman. This paw is supposed to prove that fate rules everyone’s life and those who try to interfere with it will pay. It will grant three wishes to three different men. Mr. White asks for the talisman and the sergeant agrees because he’s had his three wishes. When the sergeant leaves, Mr. White holds the talisman and wishes for something simple, just to see if it works. He wishes for two hundred pounds and sees that nothing happens so he goes to bed. The next day everyone forgets about the paw, thinking it was just a fairytale. Herbert goes to work after breakfast. When its dinner time, Herbert has not arrived. A man knocks on the door and informs them that Herbert has died. Mr. and Mrs. White are shocked. The man keeps on and says that because of Herbert’s service in the factory, they will receive a small sum; two hundred pounds. Ten days later, Mrs. White has the idea to use another wish and wish his son alive again. Mr. White refuses because he’s terrified about the idea. But he Mrs. White convinces him to, and he does. Hours later there’s a knock in the door and Mrs. White runs to the door but before she opens the door Mr. White gets the paw and wishes his last wish. When Mrs. White opens the door there is no one outside.

This story uses plenty of imagery to make the story more pleasant to read. Imagery in this story uses personification to make the story more interesting to read.

“He sat alone in the darkness, gazing at the dying fire, and seeing faces in it. The last was so horrible and so simian that he gazed at it in amazement. It got so vivid that, with a little uneasy laugh, he felt on the table for a glass containing a little water to throw over it”

Jacobs uses personification on the fire, it gives it the characteristics of a human, like it had a life of its own. Jacobs uses imagery to appeal to the sense of sight. He describes the sight of the fire and how it looks.

"That's the worst of living so far out," balled Mr. White with sudden and unlooked-for violence; "Of all the beastly, slushy, out of the way places to live in, this is the worst. Path's a bog, and the road's a torrent. I don't know what people are thinking about. I suppose because only two houses in the road are let, they think it doesn't matter."

This reveals a lot about Mr. White’s personality, mainly because he has a bad temper. Also Mr. White never sees the bright side of things, he only looks at the negative side; he is pessimistic and complains a lot about what he does not like.

After all, this story is very interesting and outstanding story. This story contains imagery that make it more fun to read, and a awesome and very meaningful message about fate ruling in our lifes and those who try to interfere will pay. All these components help make the story wonderful and interesting to read.

 

The Annual Tradition

In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” an annual tradition is about to take place in small village. All three-hundred villagers gather in the main square and some gather rocks and pile them up besides them. Mr. Summers the tow’s, richest man, declares the Lottery open and starts to name a male representative of each family. The representatives each take a small piece of paper and stand in a line, the paper is opened and whoever has a black dot on their piece of paper is the winner. Mr. Hutchinson has drawn the paper with the black dot, but he does not seem exited that he’s won. Then each member of the Hutchinson family draws a paper; now Mrs. Hutchinson has drawn the paper with the black dot. She has won the lottery, but she complains that it is not fair, for some reason she does not want to win. Shortly after, the villagers pick up the rocks and start to throw them at her, after all she has won the lottery. The winner of the lottery his killed each year.

I enjoy how Shirley Jackson uses strong imagery in this story to explain the setting in which the story is happening. For example:

“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.”

Jackson appeals to the reader’s senses such as sight and touch. We can see that because of the phrase “fresh warmth,” which appeals to touch because the feeling of warmth is described. This quote also appeals to our sense of sight because of the description of the richly green grass and the blossoming flowers.

In this story the protagonist is Tessie Hutchinson. Tessie has quite a unique personality, she’s rather rude and selfish.

"Bill," he said, "you draw for the Hutchinson family. You got any other households in the Hutchinsons?" There's Don and Eva," Mrs. Hutchinson yelled. "Make them take their chance! “Daughters draw with their husbands' families, Tessie," Mr. Summers said gently.

Tessie’s selfishness is shown very well in this quote. Tessie wants her own daughters to draw a piece of paper, only for her to have less chances for her to win the lottery. We can see how rude Tessie is because of her way of shouting and yelling to other people, in this case Mr. Summers.

This is one of the best short stories I have ever read, I love how Jackson uses imagery for the reader to imagine the setting perfectly just as its described. The message behind this story is really strong and interesting. Tradition can lead people into doing horrible or crazy things without them questioning if it’s morally correct. This short story has it all; strong imagery, interesting characters and a very true and meaningful message.