FINAL DRAFT

Cassy
Mr. Salsich
English 8
September 30, 2009

Company:
An Essay of A Visitor With Many Flaws

TS Everyone usually enjoys company unless it is someone like Walter in To Kill A Mockingbird. CM When company comes over, I know I often bond with them. CM In Scout's situation she couldn't possibly stand Walter with his disgusting ways of eating dinner. CS Scout was not able to contain her rudeness to Walter.

TS My portrayal of Scout's personality was a bit off after she was rude to their company. SD Scout is a sweet little girl, but Calpurnia tries to set her straight when she hears how rude she is to their company, Walter. CM The way Scout acts at dinner towards Walter is quite inexcusable, because she acts like she thinks she is better than him. CM For example, Calpurnia did not like it when Scout pointed out that Walter was eating very strangely. SD Calpurnia definitely does not like it when people judge others by their bad habits. CM Walter hasn't eaten anything in awhile, so his food combinations make Scout judgemental of him: " 'But he's gone and drowned his dinner in syrup,' I protested" (Lee, page 32). CM Scout acts like she is better because she is wealthier than the Cunninghams. CS Calpurnia is doing the right thing to scold Scout because her actions were very snotty towards Walter.

TS Unlike Scout, I've always enjoyed company. SD There is one couple from my childhood that I enjoyed the most, John and Anik . CM John and Anik visited for dinner occasionally, they were always my favorite company. CM I remember that I always looked forward to seeing them the next time they came over. SD John and Anik did things they knew I would like. CM For example, Anik would pull back my hair into a high pony tail that almost looked like a fountain. CM One time John drove me around on his motorcycle, and I remember enjoying it very much. CS Unfortunately, we don't see them as much now, but I will always have good memories of them.

TS Company can have it's pros and cons, you must restrain from pointing out their flaws. CM If you tend to point out your guest's flaws it could lead into disaster. CM It is probably best if you always treat your company well, then they will end up treating you the same way. CS If you successfully treat your company with great respect surely in the future you will be rewarded with something great because you treated your company well.

FINAL DRAFT

Cassy

Mr. Salsich

September 23, 2009

8 English

Pride:
The Positives and Negatives

TS Pride is the motif of chapter two in To Kill A Mockingbird. CM There are negative types of pride, and you are all fortunate enough to hear the positive type of pride that exists in our world. CM There is often too much negative pride in the world. CS Pride is a very powerful word that has a meaning that can either hurt or heal people.

TS In chapter two of To Kill A Mockingbird , pride is a very obvious theme. SD For example, the Cunninghams don't borrow anything when they know that they can't pay it back. CM Walter's teacher tries to help by buying him lunch: " 'Here's a quarter,' she said to Walter. 'Go and eat downtown today. You can pay me back tomorrow.' Walter shook his head. 'Nome thank you ma'am,' he drawled softly" (Lee, page 25). This quote really reflects pride because Walter is showing his family rule to not take what they can't pay back. CM Scout has to make the teacher realize that the Cunninghams do not have enough money and they won't accept money for lunch or anything else: "They never took anything off of anybody, they get along with what they have" (Lee, page 26). SD Walter's family, the Cunninghams, have a lot of pride to be able to turn down money offers. CM If I were in Scout's shoes, I would realize what a very honest family they are to admitting that they are poor by turning down offers of money. CM If I were the Cunninghams, it would be extremely hard for me to turn down someone's offer no matter how hungry I was. SD Finally, if you really want to know how hard it is to be so poor that you can't possibly afford lunch, you would have to be in the Cunningham's shoes to feel hunger. CM Imagine how hard it must have been to starve everyday of the year. It is very depressing to know that other people aren't fortunate enough to have lunch everyday. CM It will never be possible for me to experience what Walter's family felt while they got to see people eat all their meals everyday and when they barely ate one meal a day. CS Because the Cunninghams weren't as eduacated, they had less access to opportunities to earn money, and yet they kept their pride.

TS Most pride is about self-centered people, but mine is more of a positive pride. SD For example, a couple years ago I saved up money in my allowance to contribute to an organization. CM I ended up raising $200 and eventually went to the G.I.V.E. committee at Pine Point and asked if we could have a dress-down day to raise money for the organization I chose. CM The organization that I chose was the Smile Train which is organization that helps raise money to fix cleft lips. SD The dress-down day ended up as a success. CM I had great pride in myself when I found out that we raised enough money to help many kids fix their cleft lips who couldn't afford it. CM It felt good to help children knowing that they would have a more normal life. SD Finally, my pride was not full of smugness, instead it was full of thoughts about helping others. CM I think this was exceedingly similar to the Cunninghams because they don't take anything that they can't pay back. CM It takes an exceptional amount of courage to do both of these things. CS Hopefully people can pick out the bad nuts and look for the good nuts to praise.

TS The world would be a better place if all the pride was positive. CM Some places around the world are very power-hungry and greedy. CM When people are too greedy, they usually become full of themselves. CS The Radleys and I are lucky that we haven't turned greedy in our own integrity.

Cassy
Mr. Salsich
English 8
September 16, 2009

FINAL DRAFT

The Mysterious Radley's:

The Unsolved Puzzle

Albert Einstein once said a very beautiful statement, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." The quote I chose really stood out to me, because it fit in so well with the fact that the whole town thinks the Radley family is extremely bewildering. Albert Einstein's statement is amazingly true. A mystery is beautiful, but there are times where it's not so beautiful, for example, the Radley family. The Radleys are not a beautiful mystery; their mystery is too disturbing in some aspects.
The most mysterious family is living next to Jem and his sister, the Radley family, but they can't figure out what is so strange about them. Its not so often when you find a strange family living right next to you. The Radley's son, Boo, is known for causing lots of trouble. For example, one day "Mrs. Radley ran screaming into the street that Arthur [Boo] was killing them all, but when the sheriff arrived he found Boo still sitting in the living room, cutting up the Tribune" (Lee, page 13). Jem and his sister thought that it was a little scary to be living next to such a strange family. In addition, the Radley family has quite the reputation, known for there peculiar ways. Odd stories fly around the town about the Radley family; "from the Radley chicken yard tall pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the children: Radley pecans would kill you" (Lee, page 11). The people of the town all believed that there was a "malevolent phantom", which might seem true since it is such a uncanny family. Finally, all the stories seem hard to believe, until you realize they are actually true. The Radley Family is truly crazy. The siblings didn't dare talk to their neighbors; it was just too spine-chilling. The siblings couldn't explain what it was like to live next to the craziest family of the town. That fact was too hard to talk about because they were so confused. Everyone always wondered if they would survive being apart of the Radley family. Most of them decided that they probably wouldn't.
At my mom's condo building there are two brothers who live together but they always seem very strange to me. For example, coming home from school, is about the time the brothers are home from work, but for some odd reason when they see that we are parking the car they just stop walking and just stare at us. It is a bit creepy. One time I got locked out of my condo because there was a fire drill, and he was out there, and he made small talk with me, which was extremely awkward. I think this is very much like Jem and his sister's situation, because they are neighbors with the strangest, and scariest family of the town. In addition, I try to tell my mom that they scare me, but she says they are completely harmless. When my mom tells me that they are completely harmless, it might be quite different than the Radleys. The Radley's are very dangerous and mystifying. I believe that my situation is similar to Jem and his sister but also different, because there are stories about Boo stabbing his dad in the leg with his scissors. Finally, I must say that I will always be rushing in the condo building before they catch up with me (even though they are quite slow) and strike up a conversation. I must be very careful that they don't get the wrong idea about me, thinking that I'm a hateful person and I'm not friendly, so I must not make it obvious that I do not want to talk to them. The brothers are supposedly very friendly, I must try and not make judgments to fast. Don't make judgments about a person before you get to know them.
The mystery of the Radleys will always remain unsolved. Nobody will really be frustrated if they can't solve the puzzle of the Radleys because they are one puzzle that would probably be best left unsolved. I will never solve it. Like everyone else I might be too afraid what is behind all of the mysteriousness. There are many strange people or families out in the world, but not everybody is perfect. They all have their different mysteries; some are beautiful and some are not.