What Is Power?

Someone has power when multiple people look up to them for guidance. The followers support this "person in charge"and the person in charge can control them. Power is control.

Extreme Silence in the Loud Mind, A Chapel Speech

The back rooms in the library are really fun and I hope whoever is watching this is Ms. Zimmer and Ms. Zimmer only. Photo Booth quality, my apologies.

I'm serious, don't watch this if you're not Ms. Zimmer.

Thank you, Pomfret.

Death Is Unavoidable and These Essays Are Still Sad, A Response For Ms. Zimmer

First of all, I'd like to say The Death of the Moth was a far greater essay than The Courage of Turtles. However, they still connect based on messages the essays are trying to share with the reader.

I think people admire animals because we're not that different, yet at the same time, we're not the same at all. Humans and animals have hearts, stomachs, eyes, feet, all of it. But we're in our own world while they're in theirs. Humans go to the store to buy food. Yet each animal has their own survival strategy. We admire animals because we want to understand their way of life and figure out how they feel in the same world we live in.

Hoagland and Woolf essentially admire the struggle of life and death in turtles and moths. When the turtle is about to die, it doesn't just die. It struggles for a while, but still tries it's hardest to swim. Yes, it drowns, but it tried, at least it tried. Death is just unavoidable in general. For the moth, it continued to try it's hardest to continue to flutter about from sides of the window, but eventually, it just got too tired to fully lift itself back up to those heights. When it fell, it clearly struggled and strained itself, but then it just died after all of that. "O yes, he seemed to say, death is stronger than I am." The authors are basically trying to say we all have to accept death and death wins the war because that is the end of humans and animals.

I admire seahorses. They're so small but they have their own life they need to live; they have their own way to survive. And still, they're just so helpless. You could crush one between your fingers and that would be it. They just seem so peaceful and content with their life. They have it all figured out.

Total Eclipse Passage

"If there had ever been people on earth, nobody knew it. The dead had forgotten those they had loved. The dead were parted one from the other and could no longer remember the faces and lands they had loved in the light."

This passage stood out to me because of the power within it. What happens when we die? Obviously no one fully understands, but it's strange to think one day our lives will probably be forgotten. True, we will have impacted others in a way, but we ourselves will stop living and all the feelings and memories will just be gone.

I don't really like thinking about sad things but this passage just struck me. It's truly sad to think about and it goes under the other line of when the author repeats "it had nothing to do with anything." I think the author wants us to understand how she felt at the time. She mentions death a lot, so it's clear that's how she felt. She wasn't excited or amazed at what she was seeing; she was terrified out of her mind. I don't know about you but I think what happens after we die might be the scariest thing of all. And I keep using the word "scared" but that's really all that comes to mind.

This passage fits into the work as a whole because like I said, the author continuously talks about death. However, this is the first passage that describes what it means to be dead. Everything just ends. In this passage, she doesn't mention terror or sadness. She simply states that everything is gone. That alone makes it stand out to me as one of the most powerful passages. I really loved it.

Once More to the Lake

1. This essay is structured in a way not many other essays are. White is able to write this while not only discussing memories from the past, but while also explaining what's happening in the present time of the story. First, White explains in maybe one or two sentences what him and his son are doing or what he's seeing. Additionally, White describes how his son has replaced himself and he has replaced his father. Then, he goes on about memories and describing the scenery in those times and how it really hasn't changed. There are only minor details like Coca-Cola over Moxie and lots of motorboats. Everything else is as it was.

2. The end of the essay puzzled me. I think I understand it now, though. White begins to realize that with every moment the end gets closer. He used to be in his son's shoes, full of life and ready to learn; to experience the world. But then White becomes his father, who might even be dead in the time of the story. White is struggling to fully accept that his youth is over and he is not a young boy anymore.

A Response to "The Story of An Hour"

Though this story was very short, there were many specific points made throughout and it constantly painted a picture in my mind. Maybe the story was even told over the course of an hour since that's the title. That makes a lot more sense as to why it was so short.

In the text, it says Mrs. Mallard has heart disease. But I do think her heart troubles are symbolic, too. The author says, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same," implying that Mrs. Mallard is not like other women. She feels deeply. So deeply in fact that her sister had to calm her down so that she didn't end up getting sick. Imagine that, being so unwell and fragile that a sudden shift of emotion could literally kill you.

This story may be limited in setting, but I think that's what made it so much better. Mrs. Mallard was in a small room with what seems to hold a calming atmosphere, like the comfortable couches and big window. Yet in this tiny place, she was feeling so much. That's why I could feel the pain in the story or any other emotion so much that I got sucked into the ocean of it all. The setting makes it easier for the reader to really see what's going on and to breathe in the same atmosphere as Mrs. Mallard.

I think the Mallards are very close. Mrs. Mallards siblings all were very aware of her condition and did whatever they could to provide for her, even in a short period of time. Even at the end when her husband arrived, Richard quickly tried to block him from sight so that Mrs. Mallards heart wouldn't fail. Despite his effort, it was too late.

"The Story of An Hour" is an excellent example of how powerful words are. This story was barely two pages and I felt more emotion in these few words than I have in a while.

Good Reading and Good Writing

      Anyone can read a book or write a paper for an assignment. Yet to actually be considered “good” at what you’re doing, there are a few qualities you have to obtain. In my opinion, the most important thing you can be is focused. No, I don’t mean that putting your phone down to read is being focused. I mean actively reading- marking up your book. Closing the pages for a second to think to yourself, “What does this mean?” As for writing, nothing should ever be perfect the second it gets put onto paper. You should go back and constantly check what you’re saying so that when you end up sharing, it doesn’t sound like garbage.

     Other qualities would be along the lines of learning from what you’re doing and maybe even relating to the situation or text. It goes along with focus, but this is more specific. If you want to gain from what you’re doing, then obviously you need to expand your thought process and really take it all in. It might seem hard and I can promise you that it isn’t. As long as your engaged with what you’re doing, there is a slim chance you’ll be anything less than good. All you have to do is try. With that, you will be qualified as a good reader and a good writer.