The novel “Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky is about a teenager named Charlie who has lost his place in society. When Charlie was a young child, his aunt molested him but it was a memory he pushed aside. His aunt died when he was seven and he grew up believing that his aunt didn’t actually molest him. Charlie hid this secret for a very long time but what triggered the memory was when his best friend committed suicide in 8^th grade. Walking into high school for Charlie was terrible. He was completely lost – a mess inside. One night at a football game, Charlie meets a boy named Patrick and a girl named Sam. They become Charlie’s best friends and family. Charlie learns that each of them has a secret. When they share their secrets with each other, one by one, they realize that this brings them closer.

At school, some kids prank Patrick by calling him “Nothing”. To call somebody “nothing” makes him/her feel isolated and unimportant. Calling somebody “nothing” means that you don’t want him/her to have anything to do with your life and you don’t respect him/her. This word represents how Charlie, Patrick and Sam live and move in relationship to the rest of the high school world. They each have a secret that the rest of the school doesn’t know about. The reason I like the character Patrick is because he rejects the name “Nothing”. Patrick hides his secret from the public but not to his close friends. Patrick loves the star football player who loves him back but doesn’t want anyone to know that he is gay.  Therefore, Patrick is loyal and can’t tell anyone about his true feelings for this boy. “And nothing told these kids, ‘Listen, you either call me Patrick or you call me nothing.’” This shows that he isn’t afraid of what other people think of him. He is an independent person. It is only out of loyalty and love that he doesn’t share this secret.

When painful or traumatic secrets are shared with trusting friends, it’s a way to heal and feel better about yourself.  Each one of the characters has a secret. In one scene, after they’ve become close, Sam shares her secret with Charlie. Her father’s boss would rape her repeatedly. Charlie never shares his secret with his friends but they know that something is wrong. “Sam and Patrick looked at me. And I looked at them. And I think they knew. Not anything specific really. They just knew. And I think that's all you can ever ask from a friend.” Only good friends can communicate with just a look. Sam realized that something bad had happened to Charlie when he drew away from her touch the night they kissed. Charlie’s secret is that his aunt molested him. This memory digs deep into his heart. It is not clear if aunt Helen did molest Charlie in the book. The only reason we know for sure that the aunt molested Charlie is because in the movie version this is what is depicted and made clear. In the book, Charlie holds in all of these feelings and the author does not explicitly state that sexual abuse takes place between the Aunt and Charlie.

In conclusion, everybody has secrets and sometimes they get shared with close friends. Charlie realizes that he is not alone anymore. Charlie finds intimacy with his friends. Charlie is no longer lost and can now share his feelings. This helps him cope with his 8^th grade trauma and the abuse he suppressed around his aunt. Sometimes friends are the best therapy you can get.

                                                  China's Cram Schools

The article "China's Cram Schools" by Brook Larmer is about how some Chinese students are extremely stressed out because of the Gaokao high school test. This test is like the SAT or ACT in America but much harder. Students study for this test with every spare minute of their life. In China, this test has the power to change your future. If you get a good score on the test, you will be able to get into a good college. But if you fail the test, you will not get into college and end up working in a factory or construction job. Poor families can't afford for their children to fail the test. In order to move up the class ladder, you need education. Wealthy families can attend to send their children to private international schools or send them abroad or simply opt out of the test because they have money. This test is unfair to students who are poor because this one test will determine their future forever.

Studying for the test shouldn't be the only thing a teenager does during their free time. Teenagers need to have a life outside of studying. They should play sports and hang out with friends, read a book or just simply relax. These tests are completely taking over the lives of Chinese students. “The school prides itself on eliminating the ‘distractions’ of modern life. Cell phones and laptops are forbidden. The dorms, where about half of the students live, have no electrical outlets. Dating is banned. ‘There is nothing to do but study,’ Yang says.” The school imprisons the students into focusing completely on test prep. The Gaokao test has taken over student’s lives. In this Chinese school, there is no way to have fun or be a teenager. “‘I only knew that the school was very strict, to the point that some students supposedly committed suicide.’”  When I read this is was very shocked. Studying to the point of killing yourself is the worst possible outcome and the complete opposite of the goal: to go to college. This means that the Gaokao tests are way out of hand. China needs to eliminate these tests from the school system and figure out a different way of helping poor students go to college.

Furthermore, parents who aren’t wealthy cannot afford to have their child fail the test. Many poor Chinese parents work on farms or in construction, which doesn’t pay a lot so this means they can’t afford to opt out the test. They are hoping that their children will have a better life than they had. They can’t send their child to a private university that doesn’t look at the test scores. “Days after learning he failed the Gaokao, Cao left their home village to search for migrant work in China’s glittering coastal cities. He would end up on a construction site, just like his father.” To me this is so sad. One test day should not determine your future forever. What if you were sick on that day or a family member died? These tests are unfair to poor working class Chinese teenagers.

In conclusion, China needs to find another way to help teenagers get into colleges. The Gaokao test is unfair and absurd. The New York Statewide test is also unfair. It is unfair to teachers. If a student gets a perfect score on the test one year and then the next year misses one question the next year, the teacher get a bad score and could get fired. That is totally uncalled for. One test should not determine the future for Chinese students.

Draft #1

Racism and discrimination is a huge problem in America. Martin Espada, a poet, wrote three poems that exemplify this negative situation. One of his very famous poems, “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” is about a crowd of Caucasian people smiling to get into a picture behind two Mexicanos that have been lynched. Another one of his poems, “New Bathroom Policy at English High School” is about a clueless principal who bans Spanish in the bathroom because he doesn’t understand the language. The last poem, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” describes the feeling the speaker gets when his name is pronounced wrong. These poems display the negative effects of racism and discrimination on Mexican Americans.

The first poem, “Two Mexicanos…” tells a story about a lynching. This poem is about a bunch of white children and grownups crowding to get into a picture behind two Mexican men who have been lynched. This makes me very angry. It makes me think how easy it is/was for white Americans to basically turn off their humanity. “A high-collar boy smirking, some peering from the shade of bowler hats, but all crowding into the photograph.” This makes me feel like the white Americans don’t care about the murder of the two men. They just want to make it onto the cover of a newspaper. Its one thing to kill someone but it’s another thing to gloat over and take pride in killing that person. Espada wants to remind us of the past to make sure that this kind of brutal and racist behavior doesn’t happen again.

The poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson “ is a perfect example of discrimination. This poem is about how people always mispronounce a man’s name. He has a lot of fantasies about what he would do to the people who mispronounce his name wrong. I don’t think the poem is really about mispronouncing names but about how people don’t know or care about other cultures. “…Force them to chant anti-American slogans in Spanish…” This quote shows how the speaker is angry and wants to force white Americans to learn different cultures and make them care. “…Republican tourists from Wisconsin…” In the poem, the speaker uses a stereotypical white state to prove a point about white Americans not caring about Mexican culture. This makes me think that Espada is trying to push back against white culture.

The last poem, “The New Bathroom Policy…” has to do with not understanding a language that is different from your own and not making an effort to learn it.  In the poem, the students are speaking Spanish in the bathroom and they mention the principal’s name.  The principal, who does not speak Spanish, bans the students from speaking the language in the bathroom. The principal is discriminating against them and that is wrong. The principal’s ban on the students symbolizes taking away the teenagers ability to speak. He is silencing them.

In conclusion, the three poems have to do with racism and discrimination. Each of the poems in some way references the “killing” off of Mexican culture.  One talks about the Spanish language and banning it, another literally describes the killing (lynching) of two men, and the third is about the anger one feels when their language is being mispronounced. Racism and discrimination needs to end. Even today, there are a lot of people discriminating against others who are “different” than them.  For example, Indiana just made a very homophobic law that states that you can discriminate against anyone if they are going against your “religion” which means strong homophobic Christians can kick gay people out of their store or business. Americans need to learn how to accept different cultures, different races and different ways of living.

Speak Draft

The novel “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a teenager named Melinda Sordino who loses the ability to communicate after she is raped at an end of year school party. Instead of speaking out about what happened to her, she bottles up her pain and sadness, hoping that if she doesn't speak about the rape and if enough time passes, the memory, pain, and sadness will soon be gone. At the party, immediately after Andy Evan rapes her, Melinda calls the police and they crash the party. Everybody is angry with Melinda and this anger carries into her new high school year. Her peers don’t know that she was calling the police for help. Anderson uses symbolism throughout the book to help portray Melinda’s inner life and her situation. One symbol is Melinda’s on going art project, which has to do with creating a series of trees. Another symbol is a stall in the girls’ bathroom. Throughout the book, Melinda transforms from a wounded person to one who feels more empowered and leads her to stand up to her abuser.

Symbolism is used throughout “Speak”. The art project that Melinda is assigned to over the course of the year becomes a symbol of her gradual healing. Art class becomes the only safe haven in school and is the one place that keeps her moving through a rough time. By giving her this assignment her art teacher gives her an opportunity to open up and express herself. In the following quote, Melinda is describing the tree she has created in the last marking period. “One of the lower branches is sick. If this tree really lives some place, that branch better drop soon, so it doesn’t kill the whole thing. Roots knob out of the ground and the crown reaches for the sun, tall and healthy. The new growth is the best part.” The lower branch that is sick that is about to fall off is the memory of the rape. Another symbol is the stall in the girls’ bathroom. It represents community and solidarity. Melinda writes on the stall that Andy is a bad person. She warns other girls about him. The stall is a place where Melinda and other girls can go to express their feelings about Andy without boys influencing them. This is also another way for Melinda to “speak up” with out actually talking. “’Andy Evans. He’s a creep. He’s a bastard. Stay away!!!!!!!!!!!! He should be locked up.’ There’s more. Different pens, different handwriting, conversations between writers… It’s better than taking out a billboard. I feel like I can fly.” When she sees the other girls’ writing, Melinda is over joyed. These girls are talking about Andy Evans. Melinda realizes that a lot of girls have been in her situation. This gives Melinda power and strength, to know that she isn’t alone.  This bathroom symbolizes a private place for girls to come forward and share secrets.

Melinda goes through many transformations in the book. In the beginning, Melinda can’t speak up for herself and doesn’t want to either because she feels ashamed of what happened. She blames herself and she knows people still blame her for calling the police but she can’t tell people about Andy Evans. “I stand in the center isle of the auditorium, a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special, looking for someone, anyone, to sit next to.” From this quote, it shows that Melinda is completely socially isolated. In the middle of the book Melinda realizes that in her art class, she has found a place that feels safe and where she can start to express herself. Mr. Freeman, the art teacher gives her an assignment where you have to create different types of trees using different materials. Sometimes doing the art project is difficult but she learns how to express herself through art. She realizes that creating art gives her joy. At the end of the book, she realizes that other girls have been abused or harassed by Andy Evans as well. This makes her feel less alone and more powerful. This knowledge helps Melinda heal. In this scene, Melinda is spending time with her family. She asks her dad to buy her seeds to grow in the garden. “Me: ‘Can you buy me some seeds? Flowers seeds?’” This request for seeds ties into the symbol of trees and growth that makes readers think that Melinda is starting to heal.

In conclusion, Melinda transforms from a silent victim into a girl who feels like she has power. There are many symbols that convey Melinda’s transformation. The art project symbolizes growth and healing and the bathroom stall symbolizes female power and community. A lot of girls in the world are harassed, abused, and sometimes raped. Speak shows us that it is hard to speak up about rape. Some men or boys intimidate girls/women or threaten them not speak or sometimes girls simply blame themselves out of shame. The take away from the book for me, was that girls need to have something that they can go to, which is art for Melinda, to heal. You also need a sense of community. You need to know that there is someone out there that can believe the truth.

ELA Scarlet Letter

The novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about a married woman named Hester Prynne who gets pregnant and is therefore an adulteress. She is consistently labeled a sinner. The town makes her wear an A on her chest so that people know what she did. The town shuns her, especially because she does not reveal the identity of the baby's father. Ironically, Hester’s baby’s father is the priest. He deals with this shame and guilt by self-harm. The book takes place in the middle of the seventeenth century in Boston, Massachusetts. All of these events occur before the book even begins. The book deals with the shaming of Hester and how she handles it. Shaming in the scarlet letter relates to the world today and how some people are treated.

            Shunning happens in the real world, but more subtly. Although people don’t have to wear a big A for adultery on their chest today they could still feel like they are being shammed or shunned subtly. Sometimes bullying is bad enough that children will move schools and/or move to different towns. This is a form of shunning. It may not be as out going as Hester’s punishments were but people’s feelings are still going to get hurt either way. Hester’s punishments were really horrible. “Come along, Madam Hester, and show your scarlet letter in the market place!” The scarlet letter was a letter of shame so when she walked out into the market place, people would yell shameful things at her. But, in the middle of the book, Hester starts doing these good deeds to recreate her letter A to mean something good. "Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?" they would say to strangers. "It is our Hester, —the town's own Hester, —who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!" This is a form of forgiveness that the town owes her. In this time period, people usually forgive each other eventually.

Scarlet letter was written by Hawthorne but is told in the mind of a man who picked up the story of Hester and the A years after the incident. Hawthorne has created this character of a man who tells Hester’s story. Since the story is told in third person, we only can pick up how the town treats Hester and we don’t get enough of Hester’s feelings. "Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, "let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart." This quote shows how the town’s people think of Hester but we never really go into Hester’s mind.

In conclusion, The Scarlet Letter does represent the world that we live in today. People were cruel to Hester. They shamed her and shunned her for cheating on her husband that didn’t really love her. Hester is portrayed as an independent woman and readers soon start to feel for her and put our selves in her shoes. There have been many incidences where students had to move schools or even towns because of bullying. This is sort of what happened to Hester. Hester was isolated with only Pearl as her company. The Scarlet Letter represents what happens in the world today.