Janie

Janie is the protaginist of Their Eyes Were Watching God and my opinion of her has been ever changing throughout the book. She seems to be developing throughout the book and in in fact has been alive for about 24 years from the begining of the book even though it may seem much less. At first I thought Janie seemed extremely naive, as she expected to fall in love with someone she just married. While it may seem as if it was her grandmother that misled her, Janie was 16 years old at the time. Right now, most people who are in 6th grade would at least know that is not how love works. In her defense I guess it was a diferent time period. After she runs away with Jody I was at first confused at why she seemed so unhappy. She had all this money, and at the time what I thought to be "power". I thought she was being sort of bratty at first and I did not understand why she was discontent with her life. However as the story unfolds it becomes aparent that she dislikes this relationship because of how it restricts her freedom. She is in a sense, supressed by Jody and is unable to truly enjoy life because of how controlling he has to be. While I believe that she should have told Jody how she felt earlier, I did find find myself understanding her point of view more as the story progressed. Now with Tea Cakes she seems to have finally found someone who geuinlly just wants her to have fun. If this is just a facade or the real deal will be found out later in the book, but at the moment it seems as if Janie is ready to take the risk, and sell what she has to go marry Tea Cakes. We will find out later in the book whether this is a smart choice or not. I for one am not sure whether this is a good choice or not, but what is life without some risks? In conclusion each chapter I read Janie develops as a character and my opinion of her does as well.

Thankful for a Classmate

I am thankful for many things but of course being thankful for people is something that I forget. When I first was in this class I knew some people but I didn't know anyone very well. As the year has progressed I have gotten to learn more people and become friends with them. While a friend ship may not be something that sounds like someone would be extremely thankful for when you don't know anyone in a class it is nice when someone reaches out to you in a sense. In the beginning of  the year I had no idea who's group I would be in for group work, and I sort of dreaded the idea of it. However Valerie and Dijzhane asked me to join their group, for which I am very thankful for. I actually enjoy group work now and because it is such a big part of our class, it makes me enjoy English more as a whole in general. I am also thankful for Liam simply because the amount of things hat he knows is incredible and he speaks in such a well read way that even if he doesn't know whats he's talking about, it sounds like he does. He also is a good friend outside of English and of course has taught me how to become a true baller. For all of this I am thankful

Hemingway

Hemingway, while he may have had a personal life that can be debated on how "good" it was, was in fact a terrific writer. He was one of the first authors that I have read that actually made me appreciate more than just the plot of a story. In fact many stories he has written don't tell the "plot" up front but leave it to the reader to understand what is really going on . For example in the short story that I'm analyzing, if you just take a quick glance at the story, it would seem as if there's just a boring conversation going on between a man and a woman. However upon closer inspection it can be inferred that the man is trying to convince the woman to get an abortion, although it is never actually stated. It is not often that I enjoy reading when it is for school, and I guess I still don't. But at the very least I am always interested to try to find out what is going in all of Hemingway's short stories. As far as his personal life goes I don't feel as if Hemingway is at fault for everything he did, it seemed as if he just had a lot of bad luck. Even still I find myself at odds of whether he was exactly a good role model or not.

Six 6 Word Stories

1. The Civil War was anything but
2. He didn't confess until the eulogy
3. For Sale: Wedding Ring, slightly worn
4. The NSA spied on the President
5. She reconsidered, halfway to the pavement
6. I used to share a surname

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

A hero is someone, who when faced with a challenge can show courage not just for themselves but for others. John Proctor, while he did make mistakes and perhaps isn't the best role model, was a hero. He did eventually do what was right by attempting to call out Abigail and show people how they were accusing the innocent and letting the guilty go free. Despite the obvious danger of speaking out against Abigail and the other girls he is determined to stand up for people who are unable to do so for themselves. Not many people would be willing to put their life on the line for others, as it is evident by the amount of people that confessed. And who could blame them? John Proctor also wouldn't confess to being a witch because he didn't want to taint his family name. John Proctor has his faults but without them he wouldn't be a very believable character. Hero's don't have to be flawless, but when the time comes they are the people who step up a little higher than other than others.What John did took courage, and skill, and even though his plan dint work out perfectly his effort was noble and heroic nonetheless.

There goes the Neighborhood

To put it bluntly, what happened to the Native Americans  when European settlers came could easily be classified as genocide. When the settlers and explorers came to the Americas the natives had no way of knowing what the people that they viewed to be god like would do them. The Europeans were so much more technologically advanced than the natives that they must have appeared intimidating with their giant ships and swords. In Columbus's journal it seems that the explorers appeared to be friendly to the natives because of the gifts they gave them. Even though the settlers were going onto lands that theoretically should have belonged to the natives, the natives generally didn't just attack them outright because of their morals and they might have been a bit fearful of the settlers. By the time that the natives saw how the settlers were extremely prejudiced and racist towards them they probably had a much different view of the settlers than when they first arrived. The settlers didn't do much to have a huge cause for concern, so the native most likely weren't to worried.

Chicago has some of the worlds most segregated neighborhoods. Unlike Whitney Young it is rare for two people of different race or culture to live in the same neighborhood. Humans tend to think of people like them superior to those that are different and thus, when people of different cultures are together  there can be problems. Fear of something different can cause contempt or a lack of trust between people. However it seems that the more that people are exposed to different cultures, the more open minded they are. People will always be mad at others for one reason or another but hopefully it is for a reason more justified than something people have no control over.

Stuff and such about me

My name is Michael Bump and I am a Sophomore here at Whitney Young. I enjoy soccer, frisbee, computers, running, eating, sleeping, the color orange, and the letter T. Maybe not so much the last one but for the most part while I may not be especially good at any of these (other than eating) I have fun doing these activities. I was born in Chicago in a neighborhood called Edgewater, but I now live in a neighborhood called Edgebrook, and am thinking about moving to Edgestream. I have a twin sister who goes to Jones. When I grow up I probably want to be some type of engineer, probably civil or computer engineering. I don't play any organized sports but I do have a job where I fix mostly computers, laptops, and cell phones. What is so great about this is that not only am I getting great experience in case I ever want to be a future computer engineer but I get paid doing something that I like. I commute to school from Jefferson Park which is a stop on the blue line. One thing that I forgot to add is that I like tacos. I wrote a 2 and a half page paper for English last year on why tacos are the best food ever invented. Although I don't know if a mere human could have created such a masterpiece I don't know if even that paper paid homage well enough to truly describe the majestic property's of the taco I'll try not to turn this page into something that talks about tacos instead of me. That is about all I can think of to write about me so I guess I will post this. (Not really sure how blogging works)