The Lottery

Title: The Lottery
Author: Shirley Jackson
Date: 10/30/08


Prereading: What is justice?
-Justice is when one recieves the freedom and rights that all others have and are able to have.
-Easter is always with my moms side of the family.
-Father's Day is spent working at St. Romans Festival while my dad golfs.
-Fourth of July is always spent with my cousin Rachel.
-Labor Day is spent with my cousins swimming and being the last out of the pool.
-Thanksgiving is always spent with my moms side of the family.
-Christmas Eve is with my dads sister and my moms family.
-Christmas Day is with my dads family.


Plot/Reaction: Theres a small town made of roughly 300 people and its the end of June. The of the citizens are all preparing themselves to go to the town center for some sort of meeting. The meeting consists of a long lived tradition with a black box and slips of paper that are blank or have black dots. Each head of family must pick a slip of paper out of the box and not look at it until all have choosen. Then the family that has the black dot must do the same choosing of slips within the family. The Hutchinson family has to do so and Mrs. Hutchinson ends up getting the slip of paper with a big black dot on it. The pebbles and piles of stones children had been putting together were ready for use. They all tell Tessie Hutchinson she gets to have a short lead, before they begin stoning her to death. Her youngest son, Davy grabs some stones and throws them at his mother.


Questions: -Why are they stoning someone every year? Why does someone have to die?
-Who came up with this horrid idea that someone has to be killed every year?


Quotes: "Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones"(9). This wraps the story around in full circle. At the beginning small boys were gathering stones and pebbles in piles, and now this is telling us that they are going to stone this woman to death.
"It isn't fair, it isn't right," Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her"(9). Tessie Hutchinson is displaying to us what the 'new kids' and why other towns have gotten rid of the lottery, because it is not just.

Quotation Comdiments for By The Waters of Babylon

DAB

Claim: The leader, or founder of the People of the Hills must have known of the reality of who the 'gods' truly were and how they actually died.


Quote: The narrator states that, "It is forbidden to cross the great river and look upon the place that was the Place of the Gods--this is most strictly forbidden. We do not even say its name though we know its name." p1



DOLLOP

Claim: The leader, or founder of the People of the Hills must have known of the reality of who the 'gods' truly were and how they actually died.


Quote: The narrator helps introduce this soceity in the beginning of the story we learn that, "It is forbidden to cross the great river and look upon the place that was the Place of the Gods--this is most strictly forbidden. We do not even say its name though we know its name." p1



LOTSA SAUCE

Claim: The leader, or founder of the People of the Hills must have known of the reality of who the 'gods' truly were and how they actually died.


Quote: The narrator is explaining what many things are now allowed in the society of the People of the Hill. He or she is trying to display to us in examples how life is and has been since the start of their society by making these examples as descriptive as possible. An example that shows the seirousness is when the narrartor states that, "It is forbidden to cross the great river and look upon the place that was the Place of the Gods--this is most strictly forbidden. We do not even say its name though we know its name." p1

By The Waters of Babylon Quotation Sandwich

Claim: The leader, or founder of the People of the Hills must have known of the reality of who the 'gods' truly were and how they actually died.


Quote: "It is forbidden to cross the great river and look upon the place that was the Place of the Gods--this is most strictly forbidden. We do not even say its name though we know its name." p1


Commentary: Someone in their society knows what the Place of the Gods is, and who the gods were. They have to know in order to forbid it to be gone to and to not allow anyone to say the name of the place. Someone has to know what and who they were in order for them to be so caucious of letting others know also.

The Waters of Babylon

Title: The Waters of Babylon
Author: Stephen Vincent Benet
Date: 10/24/08


Prereading: Do you believe we process information too fast? What is your view on technological advancements?


Plot/Reaction: -Out of sight of the village
-Flat rock
-Edge of the Dead Place
-Dead house
-Banks of the great river
-God-road
-Open place at the top of a cliff
-Great river
-The river
-Great spike of rusted metal sticking out into the river
-The Place of the Gods
-Great temple in the mid-city
-On top of a stone
-Dead-house
-Small ante-room that looked over the great city
-Room with dead 'god'


Questions: - What caused the destruction of society?
- Why did the people fall so far behind and believe the past people were 'gods'?

Quote: "That is all of my story, for then I knew he was a man--I knew then that they had been men, neither gods nor demons." p. 8 This signifies the realization of the priest John who was a member of the Hillside people. It shows that he found the great secret of his people; the ones who they believed were gods, and they were the people who lived before them. These people had much technology but had killed each other off. John figured out the mystery all of his people never knew.

There Will Come Soft Rains

Title: "August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950)
Author: Ray Bradbury
Date: 10/22/08


Prereading: What will the world look like in the year 2026?


Plot/Reaction:
7:00- Wake up
7:45- Breakfast time
8:10- School/work time
8:30- Breakfast not eaten thrown away
9:15- Robots clean the room
10:00- Sun came out from behind the rain
10:15- Garden sprinklers turned on
12:00- The front door lets a dog inside
2:00- The dog decayed and cleaning mice were released
2:15- The incinderator burned the dog
2:35- Tables and playing cards were set up as well as music being played
4:00- Tables folded back up and went away
4:30- The nursey came to life and animals moved and sang all around the walls
5:00- The bath filled up with water
6:00- Dinner dishes came out, a fire was started in the fire place and a cigar was lit ready to be smoked
7:00- ""
8:00- ""
9:00- The electric blankets turned out in the beds
9:25- A voice reads a poem to a nonexistant Mrs. McClellan
10:00- A tree crashed into the window and knocked over cleaning liquid into the kitchen stove which started the house on fire


Questions:
- How did all the people die?
- Was there an atomic bomb that this house is the only one standing?


Quotes: "Dawn showed faintly in the east. Among the ruins, one wall stood alone. Within the wall, a last voice said, over and over again and again, ever as the sun rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam:
"Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is..."." p. 4
This quote signifies what the world could come to if we had another world war. It creates an image in our mind for us to see how horrible the ending of that war would truly be.

Harrison Bergeron Movie Reflection Summary

We can learn from this that we need to treat each other as fairly as we possibly can as often as we can. We also should not strive for equality, we should strive for acceptance and understanding of all. Equality as the way it is displayed in Harrison Bergeron is not what would create happiness for all. Happiness for all would be a place where all realize that they can't be the best at everything and that when one loses they will win at something else, and not get jealous or envious because they lost. No one can always be happy, but you can be content and learn from the time you've been angry and have been betrayed. The best thing to take away from this is that we as a whole society will never attain perfection, or equality, but we as a society and work towards understanding of one another so we can accept one another.

Harrison Bergeron - Quotation Sandwich

Claim: Even though the beginning of the story states that everything and everyone was equal, as always, there is one person who has more power than others.


Quote: "It was then that Diana Moon Gldeampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.

Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on." p. 26


Commentary: This statement shows that no one tried to stop the Handicapper General and no one was going to try to stop her. All the rest of the people were equal except for her; she had all the power and everyone was willing to give it up to her. The Handicapper General was unable to give up her power to be equal with everyone else, and this is a perfect example why Communism would never work.

Harrison Bergeron

Title: Harrison Bergeron
Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Date: 10/16/08

Prereading: What is equality?
--> My belief: equality is when all people are treated equal and have the same oppoturnities no matter what race, gender, belief, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, or their history. Equality will never be reached because mankind is jealous and envious as a whole. Equality is what we should always be striving for, something to better ourselves and the world as much as possible.

--> Class list: -lack of discrimination for nay reason other than the reasons you bring upon yourself
-equal chances and opportunities for everyone
-no prejudice and everything is uniform
-treatment based solely on personal character
-no one above or below anyone else in society
-communism
-all people are treated equal and everyone has the same opportunities
-same rights and same treatment
-everyone gets the same respect

Summary/Reaction: Its far in the future and the U.S. has created a Communistic Government designed so no one gets their feelings hurt and no is more intelligent than anyone else. It is designed so no one can achieve more than others and no one will then therefore ever feel jealous because they are not as good as that other person. Hazel and George Bergeron had a 14 year old son named Harrison that was taken away and put in jail because he was dangerous. Harrison could not put to any limits no matter how many handicaps they put on him. The Handicapper General weighed him down with 300 pounds of lead balls he had to carry all the time, a buzzer that made noise every 20 seconds to ensure he never had any thoughts stay with him, and glsases that made him half blind and gave him horrible headaches. George and Hazels televison dance show was interupted by a news report that Harrison had escaped from jail and he was dangerous. Harrison was at this dance studio and told everyone that he was the emperor and he was going to become what he could potentially become. He then took off all his handicaps and choose an emperess, the prettiest and leanest dancer there. They had musicans play real music and danceed gracefully across the stage. Then the Handicapper General came in and shot them both dead, the spot. She gave the musicians 10 seconds to put their handicaps back on or to die. Then the television went black and George got a huge gun shot sound in his ear. Hazel was crying but couldn't remember, and George was trying to recover from the recent loud noise. One of the greatest things their country had seen in ages had just occured, and neither even remember what they saw.

Questions:
- If the society is equal, how is it that the government controlled the equality?
- Why is it that if you want equality do you focuz on outside characteristics?

Quotes:
- "And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use." p. 23 This demonstrates that it is drilled in all of the peoples minds that you can not stand out and that you have to make yourself stupidier, or uglier or average so no one gets hurt or feels bad.
- "The music began. It was normal at first—cheap, silly, false." p. 25 This shows that when the musicians had their handicaps everything was boring and nothing differed from each other. It also displays that if they know the difference between good and bad music then something must be better and that is not equal as intended.

Quotation Sandwich - 2

2. Claim: In the middle of the story, Tom concludes that if he was to die, no one would evre know who he was or what happened to him. Ironicly, this is the exact opposite he was trying to do by retreiving this paper and creating this magnificint project.

Quote: "He understood fully that he might actually be going to die; his arms, maintaing his balance ont he ledge, were trembling steadily now. And it occured to him then with all the force of a revelation that, if he fell, all he was ever going to have out of life he would then abruptly have had." p. 18

Commentary: This realization of Tom's displays that if he was to die right then by falling off the ledge, no one would ever know what happened to him, because he had nothing to prove who he was. No one would ever remember him after his death and this is precisely what he was making an effort to stop from happening. Tom wanted to be remembered and known by as many people as possible.

Quotation Sandwich - 1

1. Claim: In this initial pages of htis short story, Tom Benecke's avarcious nature drives him to follow the yellow sheet of paper on the ledge of his apartment.

Quote: "They were the way to change from a name on the payroll to a name in the minds of the company officials. They were the beginning of the long, long clumb to where he was determined to be, at the very top. And he knew he was going out there in the darkness, after the yellow sheet fifteen geet beyond his reach." p. 9

Commentary: Tom's impulse to go retrieve this yellow paper is driven by his want to be promoted and rise his way to the top of the company he works at. By this paper eating up 2 months of his time it shows that hes doesn't care how long and time consuming it may take all he wants in the end is to be known and to have the money to prove it.

Contents of A Dead Mans Pocket - Plot Line

Exposition:
Tom describing the Yellow paper, himself, his apartment, his job, and his wife are all apart of the introduction. The conflict begins when he opens the window and explains what he intends to complete that night with the information on the paper.


Rising Action:
Tom's wife Claire leaves for a double feature at the movies.
His yellow paper flies out the window.
Tom mentally complains to himself about losing 2 months of hard work for all the information on that paper.
He runs on impulse and climbs out the window to retrieve his paper.
Tom gets to the corner of the ledge where the paper is and pick it up. He also accidently looks down and sees the street hundreds of feet below him.
Tom is frozen from fear and panic because of the realize of what he's doing up there.
He slowly talks himself in to gradually getting back to the window.
On the way to the window Tom realizes that he truly could die up there.
He also realizes how much time he's wasted on other things instead of being with his wife and doing the things he loves with her.
Tom tries to pull open the window but is unsuccessful.
Tom, then slips and is barely hanging on to the ledge now.
He shakely pulls himself up onto the ledge once more.
He clenches his fist and swings to break the window.

Climax:
Tom gets into the apart by breaking through the window.

Falling action:
Tom gets up from the floor right away and sets the yellow paper on the desk.
He then gets his coat on and leaves to go join Claire at the movies.

Conclusion:
The pen slips off the yellow paper and it flies out the window anyways.

Contents of A Dead Mans Pocket

Title of Selection: Contents of A Dead Mans Pocket
Author: Jack Finney
Date Read: October 8, 2008


Pre-reading: List top 5 priorities in my life
- Family
- Friends
- School
- Volleyball
- God


Plot/Reaction: [Summary of story, short and sweet]
-In the beginning of the story, the main character, Tom, says goodbye to his wife as she leaves for a double-feature movie. He is going to stay home and work on a project that he thinks could hopefully somehow promote him and get him a raise at his job. This paper has months and hours of studying and hard work put into it; if it was to be lost theres no way he could do it over because the timing of presenting the finished product would not be there. Then the paper gets blown out the window and it gets hooked to the corner of the outter ledge of the apartment building. He decides his paper is worth too much to let it go and redo it, even though he knows its crazy to climb out the ledge of the apartment building. Tom talks himself into getting out the window and on the ledge of his 11th floor apartment outter wall. While slowing stuttering his way to the edge where his paper lie, he realizes that the bricks aren't as thick as he thought they were. Tom gets to the corner and gets his paper. He finally sees the street below him and panics, hes on the ledge of the 11th floor of his apartment building. Finally he talks himself into getting himself back into his warm apartment. When he gets to the window, its not opened enough. He tries throwing his coins and things inside of his pocket to get the attention of people below him but no one realizes where it comes from. He tries breaking the window by tapping it. Tom figures out the only way is to either let go, and have no one know who he is because his wallet with everything is inside on his bed, or crash himself into his window. Tim pelts himself into his window and breaks the glass. All of that crazy nonsense for a paper. He gets up from the floor and sets the yellow paper on his desk. Tom then goes to join his wife at the movies.


Questions: what dont you understand?/what doesnt make sense
-What exactly is the on the paper that is so important to this project he wants to complete that night?
-What is his wifes reaction when she finds out he broke the window and was out on the ledge of their apartment building for a paper with such contents?


Significant Quotes: page number and explain quote
- "He waited, arm drawn back, fist balled, but in no hurry to strike; this pause, he knew, might be an extension of his life. And to live even a few seconds longer, he felt, even out here on this ledge in the night, was infinitely better than to die a moment earlier than he had to." p. 19
This quote shows how much Tom changed by being in a life threatening situation. Before he went out on the ledge, risking his life to get this paper didn't even matter because that paper was his whole life. By realizing how much he would lose by falling off and letting go of the ledge and splattering onto the ground, this is where he changed in his being.

-"In the back of his mind he knew he'd better hurry and get this over with before he thought to omuhc, sand at the window he dind't allow himself to hesitate." p. 10
This quote displays that even before Tom went out the window onto the ledge to get this paper he knew it was a stupid idea. He knew that the only way he would be able to successfully go through with this is if he did it on impulse and not by thinking about it like he should.