"High School"

My High School life is about to end. And I can’t help but feel sad about it. I’m going to miss everything about it. At the beginning of my freshman year I remember wanting it to be over because most of my friends had gone to a different High School. But now that it’s finally here I don’t want it to end. I know that I probably won’t see any of these people again. We will all be taking different paths in life. But no matter where we go we will always cherish the memories we made in high school. And how stupid it was when we got into fights with friends and how much time we wasted in things that didn’t matter.

Senior Year...What a relief

Well, you all know who this is, your ol' buddy ol' pal great Uncle Malcolm.
All I really have to say is that I will ABSOLUTELY NOT be missing you guys and gals.
Even though I pretended to be your friend and made you laugh and anything else, it was all a lie, a complete and utter lie. If you can truly call me your friend then you know that I am also a liar. But seriously though, you guys have been alright. The relief is that I dont have to read anymore boring books about some guy that goes on a journey to the land of nowhere and all he does is think and he doesn't even eat and some river talks to him. No more of that, and Im pretty sure you guys won't be missing that too much. I need to go now, my planet needs me.

Bigger's Fears

Fear has always been part of our everyday lives, it has always been in the past and it will always be part of our lives. Fear comes in a variety of sizes and shapes, but fear can also be psychological meaning that fear is created by ones mind, for instance someone that is afraid of heights. For instance, in the novel Native Son , Bigger experiences the many aspects of fear that always hunt him and don’t let him have a normal life. Thus fear is a good title for the first part of the novel.

Fear is a good title for the first part of the novel because it describes the type of fears that Bigger experiences through out the first part of the novel. One of Bigger’s biggest fears is failure. Bigger is afraid to fail in life because none of his family members would support him because they think that Bigger isn’t capable of doing anything right “ Bigger ain’t decent enough to think of nothing like that,” (pg.11) this is what Vera says( Bigger’s sister), Bigger is afraid to fail in life because if he fails that will just mean that his sister would be right and nobody likes to be wrong specially Bigger. Another reason why Bigger fears failure is because the fate of his family rest on his shoulders, “You know, Bigger, “ his mother said, “ if you don’t take that job the relief’ll cut us off. We won’t have any food.” Bigger’s mother puts a big and heavy load of responsibility on his shoulders because she tells him that if his family starves is going to be Bigger’s fault because he didn’t take the job.

Another of Bigger’s fears is the fear that he has towards the white race. Every time bigger encounters a white person he would act differently as if he was a coward “ Jan smiled broadly, then extended an open palm toward him. Bigger’s entire body tightened with suspense and dread”. Bigger changes he goes from being a wolf that always acts tough, but when he makes contact with any white person he turns into a weak and defenseless sheep. Bigger’s fear towards the white race comes from the fact that his surroundings always make his race feel inferior to the white race. For instance, the billboard that has a white male pointing at Bigger and saying “YOU CAN”T WIN” this makes Bigger feel inferior and thus makes Bigger be afraid of any white person, because , to Bigger that billboard is saying we ( the white race) are stronger than you and as hard as you try you will never defeat us and we will always be superior to you.

Bigger’s fear of getting caught might be his biggest fear of them all and it’s the reason why this part of the novel is called “FEAR”. Bigger is afraid to get caught after he kills Mary, decapitates her, and then burns the evidence, her whole body. Bigger is so afraid to get caught that he cautiously looks around after he burns Mary’s body so that he won’t leave any other evidence that might reveal the killer “ He looked around to see if he had left anything that would betray him, he saw nothing”. “I’ll tell’em I left her with Jan in the car. I took the trunk down in the basement. In the morning I’ll take the trunk to the station like she told me….”. This is what Bigger is planning to say if he is asked to tell the police if he had seen Mary at all, Bigger is so scared that in his mind he’s already making up stories that might sound real and believable.

Whether fear affects you or not, Bigger is very much affected by his fears failure, white people, and getting caught. Fear will always follow us (humans) around everywhere and won’t let us live a happy life just like Bigger or at least let us live in peace because fear is a part of life and without fear life and wouldn’t be normal because deep down everyone is afraid of somebody or something. Thus Bigger will always be hunted by fear that’s why the first part of the novel is called “FEAR”.

Native Son “Fear”

“Sometimes I feel like something awful is going to happen to me” (21). Bigger is 20 years old, lives with his mother, brother, and sister in a one room apartment. They struggle because of their lack of money. Bigger often wonders why things are they way they are. He is in a state of confusion. He is trying to figure out himself and things around him, trying to understand why the whites have everything. The reason why Bigger is this way is because he was oppressed for so long that he would eventually have to let it all out.

When Bigger goes to the Daltons home for a job interview, he was scare out of his mind. He had never been around so many white people at once. “He was sitting in a white home; dim lights burned round him; strange objects challenged him; and he was feeling angry and uncomfortable” (51). This shows the fact that Bigger hates whites for having what he doesn’t, how uncomfortable he feels being in a white persons home. He also feels jealous but that the same time he is amaze by all the beauty he saw around him. Bigger being oppressed for so long makes him hate the fact that the whites have everything once his working in the Daltons home.

Although Bigger is afraid of many things he doesn’t show it. While being in the poolroom, he acted really brave around him friends. He made several remarks about white people. For example when they ask him where he got all the money from. He acts like he controls them when it’s actually the Daltons that control him. When his around the Daltons he acts shy, respectful, and afraid. That proves how afraid he is to show who he really is and how he actually feels.

Bigger doesn’t understand why he can’t have what the whites have. He acts tough and brave around his family and friends. But deep inside his confused and trying to figure out whom he really is. Always feeling scare of what might happen. Not having money around the house is hard for him and his family. Being in a state of confusion makes him see things different. And it’s hard for him to comprehend everything that goes around him.

Final Analytical Essay

While everybody has fears, how we deal with them is completely different. Do you control your fear or does fear control you? In Richard Wright's Native Son, Bigger's fear of the whites controls him. "Fear" is a perfect title for the first book because it is Bigger's fear that drives him in the first section.

Bigger's fear of the whites drives him to fight Gus, which is one of the first scenes of Bigger’s violence in the first section of the book. Because Gus was the only person in their gang to hesitate about robbing Blum's, and Bigger secretly knew that his pride was in Gus' hands, "he had transferred his fear of whites to Gus" (27). He fought Gus as a way to get out of robbing Blum's with the excuse that Gus was late and it was already too late to go with plans. "He hoped the fight he had had with Gus covered up what he was trying to hide" (46), which was his fear of having to rob a white man's store. It was his fear of the whites that drove him to kill Mary Dalton. Since Bigger feared being caught in a white woman's bedroom in the middle of the night. When Mrs. Dalton came into the room a "hysterical horror seized him" (97), so he put a pillow over her head so that she wouldn't make any noise and draw Mary's mom closer to him. His fear of getting caught drove him to press the pillow so hard that it suffocated Mary and killed her. Then, "confidence could only come again through action so violent that it would make him forget" (31), therefore he decided to get rid of the body and burned Mary's body in the furnace. He saw this as the only option he had because getting caught and being found guilty of a white woman's murder was something that he didn't want to happen. In conclusion, most of the action in the first part of the book "Fear" was due to Bigger's fear of whites. Therefore, "Fear" is an appropriate title for the first book. Bigger was unable to control his fears, "the moment a situation became so that it extracted something of him, he rebelled" (47), and therefore it were his fears that were in control of the action of the first section of the book, not Bigger.

Book Review

The Other Side of Dark

The Other Side of Dark by Joan Lowery Nixon is a thrilling book to read. A young girl falls into a comma after being shot and witnessing her mother’s murder. Four years later she wakes up to find herself in a strange body. A lot of things have happen since her comma and everything has change. She doesn’t understand everything that has happen or why her mother doesn’t come visit her. Not only does she have to go through the drama of losing her mother but also get use to the idea of losing four years of her life. And try to remember what happen.

Stacey wakes up to find herself in a hospital room. Trying to figure out how she got there. Yet nothing comes to her head. As soon as a nurse comes in she asks to see her mother. But instead her father walks in. She asked where her mother was and instead of getting an answer her father avoided the question. She soon realizes something is wrong.

Seeing her sister again was shocking. She was now married and expecting a child. Stacey can’t believe four years have actually gone by. Not being able to hold it any longer she demanded to see her mother. Her father had to break the hard new to her. It hurt it her so much to see her Father in pain. She wanted to make the killer pay only if she could remember what happen.

Going back to school was the hardest. Seeing how much everyone had changed after four years. She still felt young and immature. She didn’t feel seventeen like everyone else. She felt like they had robbed her from and important part her life. Everyone had moved on even her best friend. They no longer had anything in common.

Time later she was force to accept what had happened. She meets Jeff and he makes her happy and helps her forget about her tragedy. He slowly cures her pain. They are invited to a party. Stacey recognized all the people she had not seen for four years. Jeff and Stacey are separated from each other. She then bumps into a guy named Jarrod who claims to know her. She doesn’t remember him. She knows she can’t trust him. He gives her a drink and convinces her to get away from the party. There he tries to kiss her and she pushes him away. At that same moment she recognizes his hazel yellow eyes. It all comes back to her. He was the murder. He killed his mother and shot her. Stacey screams in horror and Jeff comes to her rescue.

Jarrod is then arrested and taken to jail. Stacey realizes that all this time Jeff lied to her. He was and under covered detective that was hire to protect Stacy. But was she doesn’t know is that Jeff had faller in love with her. Stacey is ready to begin her new life together and leave everything else behind.