Tony+Pentecost

Pete's Nephew vs. Circe

In various way, I think that Pete's nephew connected to Circe. When the Soggy Bottom Boys first get to Washington's house, the boy shoot at them and threatens them. In a way this is like Circe because she first tried to kill Odysseus and his crew. As time passes however, they both accept the visitors and help them. When the Soggy Bottom Boys fall asleep, Washington rats on them and the police come. To the trio's and my surprise, the boy comes in a car and drives them out. When Delmar eneters the car, he has a pig in his hands and ironcally that is what Circe turned Odysseus' crew into. This really what made me think that the boy was like Circe because, as someone suggested in class, the pig did fit perfectly into this theory. Although i do not have a quote that would further connect the two, this part with the pig just adds enough to really help with that connection.

What big ideas of English I do you see in this piece? What does it have to say about those ideas? Do you still think this? How have your ideas changed?
 * I thought that i was original and I looked deeper than the surface of this assignment. This was in the first semester and most of the people in my class chose the obvious characters. However, i didn't want to be like everyone else and i chose more difficult characters.I still think that i was original because when i look at other peoples papers, they are generally the main characters.**

What elements of quality are present in this piece? How did you achieve them? How do they add to the effectiveness of the work?
 * Although i didnt have that "wow factor", i really thought deep into this assignment, something i find myself doing very rarely. I felt like this paper was an achievement because of my hard work. Although this may not be a long paper,i tried my best to put quality into it. I guess it doesn't add anything to the paper but it makes me feel accomplished.**

How did you complete this piece of work? What was the assignment? What did you want to create? What were the steps you took to complete it? And did it come out the way you intended?
 * This assignment was connecting the characters from the book __The Odyssey__ and the movie __O Brother Where Art Thou?__. To do this assignment, we needed to play attention to the habits and other characteristics of the people in both the movie and the book. Then we needed to compare theses things we observed between two characters that are different, but really the same person. Since the movie was a spinoff of the book, i knew that no matter who i chose there would be someone related to him. I was going for originality and i think that i achieved that.**

The Second Job

“Okay Mr. Smith, I’m leaving now,” I said to my boss. He was an elderly, heavy-set man, which was perfect for being the owner of a candy store. “All right, you have a good evening now,” he said with a giant smile. He was the kind of guy that gave overweight people the jolly stereotype. I hung up my apron on the rack on the wall and grabbed my backpack. As I was just about to step outside, he called me back and I saw him running towards me “Wait! You forgot your tips.” He was very honest and never took a penny that he didn’t earn. “Oh, thanks Mr. Smith. See you tomorrow,” I said. Ever since my dad passed away I’ve had to work. My mom was struggling with the bills so she asked me to see how working two jobs played out. So today I start my second job at a bookstore in the mall. I loved reading and had a secret aspiration to become an author so I thought it would be nice to work in a store where anywhere I looked I could get motivation. I arrived at the door of the bookstore and I’ll admit that I was nervous. If my mother taught me anything its that first impressions will last a lifetime. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Even though I had been in this store hundreds of times, I felt different about it. It was now where I would start my journey on becoming an author. I walked up to the man at the counter and introduced myself. He was a very scrawny looking man but he was very tall. He had an agitated look on his face. “You’re three minutes late,” he said rudely. “Oh I’m sorry. I just got done with my shift at the candy store a few blocks down. You know the one by the park?” I replied, trying to familiarize myself with him. “You mean that hole in the wall joke of a store. Yeah, I know the one.” “Okay, so what do I need to do tonight?” “All you need to do is alphabetize the books on that shelf,” he said pointing to the child section. I walked to the place I was supposed to and did what I was asked. While the store was closing I asked that man what were the benefits to working here? Would I get any free books or get to meet the authors when they came in to sign copies. He replied with a rushed “I don’t know,” telling me that he wanted to get home. He locked up the store I went home. The next day, I couldn’t stop thinking about the bookstore. I had only worked there one day and it is the only think I can thing about. When I got to the candy store I just wasn’t myself. Mr. Smith recognized this right away; I guess what they say about old people being wise. “What’s wrong son? Got something on your mind?” he asked me. “Well, you see, I’ve always had this crazy dream that I could be an author one day. And I got this second job, to help out my mom and all. And I just waiting right now for that moment that with make that happen.” “When I was a child, I always wanted to be a firefighter, but I didn’t do enough to make those dreams come true. You need to make it happen, it’s not something that is going to come to you. Keep that in mind,” he said. He patted my shoulder and walked off to help customers. That whole day I kept those words in mind. When I walked over to the bookstore, I saw a sign, metaphorically and literally. It said “J.K. Rowling Signing Day Tomorrow. Bring Your Books!” This was it, only this time Mr. Smith was wrong. This opportunity came to me. I was so happy I totally disregarded work. I ran home and got together all of my stories I had written. The next day, when I got to the bookstore, there was a line all the way back to the candy shop. I walked in and I saw her sitting there, so poised. I observed her, taking mental notes on how to act like a writer. As the line was slowly fizzling down, I was getting more and more antsy. As soon as the last customer was gone, I approached her. I introduced myself and laid my work out in front of her. She quickly skimmed through them and looked at me and asked, “You wrote these?” “Yes, mam,” I replied “These are very good. Amazing someone with no experience could write something like this,” she said. I was dumbfounded. She actually thought they were good. “I need some advice,” I said. She looked at me, pretty much saying to ask. “Well, I really want to be an author, but I don’t know how to get myself started. She looked at me and chuckled. “You have what you need already. You have the desire to accomplish it, now all you need to do is do it.” After that she had to go, but she said enough, and as she was laving, she wished me a good luck. For the rest of the day, I had a confident pep in my step. As soon as I got home, I was going to start on my first project.

What big ideas of English I do you see in this piece? What does it have to say about those ideas? Do you still think this? How have your ideas changed?
 * Although i didnt use anything in particular from our list of the elements of english, I worked very hard on this paper to get it in on time. I was behind already when the paper was assigned and i felt that i did my very hardest to get it in.**

What elements of quality are present in this piece? How did you achieve them? How do they add to the effectiveness of the work?
 * Like i said before, hard work was put into this paper. I was reluctant to start on this paper, but i just told myself to get it done and it did it. This assignment could have been rushed so that sort of showed by the quality of the work.**

How did you complete this piece of work? What was the assignment? What did you want to create? What were the steps you took to complete it? And did it come out the way you intended?
 * The assignment was to write about anything pretty much. I just wanted it to get finished because i had a hard time thinking up of a topic for the paper. I dont think i really had any intention for the final draft of this paper so i dont know if it turned out the way i wanted it. However, i was very pleased with the turnout.**

Compare this piece of work to another piece of work. Do you notice similarities? Differences? How has your thinking or writing or reading improved between the two pieces?
 * I haven't done any assignments like this, where all I needed to do was write a paper. I do think though that by doing this paper, I have found out that i can do things when i really put my mind to it.**

A. "Mr. Antolini didn't even give a damn if his coat got bloody." I thought this was significant because Holden made it seem that nobody cared about James Castle or that he had just died. Mr. Antolini not only cared, but he took action and cleaned the mess up. I think by doing this he gained even more of Holden's respect and strengthened their relationship.

B. I think that Holden said this because at the time he was with a child, who would listen to him no matter what he said. He said that he wanted to catch kids in the rye fields so they wouldnt fall off of a cliff. I dont think he meant it, it's just that he felt comfortable with a child at that time so he only wanted to be with children.

C. I think that Holden will either end up committing suicide or him or his parent will check him into some kind of mental hospital or therapy to get his with "mental condition".

What big ideas of English I do you see in this piece? What does it have to say about those ideas? Do you still think this? How have your ideas changed?
 * I felt that in this assignment, i made connections to the ending of the story without even knowing it. When I turned it in, Mr. Watson helped me out by saying i made a connection about the falling kids, and how Holden is unstable and possibly a falling child himself. I think his comments made my thinking change by looking for connections, and if i answer something, to look deeper into what i said.**

What elements of quality are present in this piece? How did you achieve them? How do they add to the effectiveness of the work?
 * I think that a quality of this assignment was making connections. I guess i just thought of an idea and Mr. Watson gave me a little insight about the whole connection deal. I think they add to the quality of the piece by just tying into the story and clarifying things for the reader.**

How did you complete this piece of work? What was the assignment? What did you want to create? What were the steps you took to complete it? And did it come out the way you intended?
 * The assignment was to answer some questions about the book. I didnt really have any intentions for the piece but i think Mr. Watson made it seem like i did. I think that the piece came out even better that i thought it would because of his comments.**

Compare this piece of work to another piece of work. Do you notice similarities? Differences? How has your thinking or writing or reading improved between the two pieces?
 * In a way, you can kind of compare my writing to Mr. Watson's comment. I think what he said made me try to find connections in anything I read and i feel that readers and writer who can make connections can have a deeper understanding of literature.**