short story

    What’s the worst thing about a day in prison?  Probably the lottery you face on arrival. What’s your new cellmate going to be like?  Will he be a serial killer or an unpredictable psychopath or will he be some poor man suffering from some kind of mental illness who really should be in a hospital? And if you’re really unlucky, you could be bunking up with a square, bulldog-faced looking man with blazing eyes wishing for fresh meat.

I sat on the stone hard bench as my elbows plopped onto my knees and I slowly buried my face into my palms. I had never let out such a desperate sigh. I noticed the red rings around my wrists marked from the cuffs and the black ink on my thumbprints marking criminal. My mom is going to kill me I thought.                   “Company!” screamed the guard, interrupting my thoughts, as he let two other guys in. They gave me a sarcastic smile. Their slim fitting shirts outlined their muscles. They leaned on the wall and folded their arms, both of them staring at me. I didn't know what to do.

Suddenly one of them charged at me ending in position where I had never been so close to a man’s face before.  I took longer trying to take a step back then what he took pulling me back by the collar. I gulped as he raised a hand. I shut my eyes instantly but he then pat me on the shoulder,

“Hey man, how’s it going? I’m just messing with you, I’m Pete.”

Relief grew inside me as he let me go. “Alex,” said the other guy still leaned against the wall.

“What are you in here for?” Alex directed towards me.

“I haven’t paid my parking tickets,” I mumbled.

They began to laugh and assured me I would be out that night.

“How about you guys,” I curiously asked.

“Oh we killed a couple people,” Alex said.

Noticing my reaction they told me to relax, it was just a joke.

“It’s a long story,” Pete said taking a seat next to me.

“Well we have time you know.” I smiled.

Alex sat in front of us and began telling the story. It was amazing; they knew each other since 3^rd grade. They were the high school prank masters. The night before they attended a party and the next morning they end up in Mexico not remembering a single thing. They were telling me the troubles they went through. They had to come like immigrants since they couldn't prove their citizenship. It was at this point where the story started getting really good when the guard interrupted us.

“Tom! Tom!”

“SHHHH,” I barked back at him trying to hear the story.

“You’re free to go. Your mom is here.”

“Yeah, hold on a minute,” I said as Pete and Alex bobbed their heads back with a surprised look. I suddenly realized where I was and what I was doing. I jerked up remembering I was in a jail cell, I had gotten so into the story. I looked back and forth, at them and at the guard. They laughed as they said, “Get out of here kid. It was nice seeing you. Pay your tickets next time”

I walked out of the cell slouching, disappointed in not being able to finish the story. “Bye guys.”

I opened the door to the exit as the grey, depressing walls suddenly turned into pale, yellow, hopeful looking walls. My mom ran towards me and hugged me followed by a slap.

“Don’t scare me like this! Why the long face? You poor thing, God knows how they treated you in there” she kissed me on the forehead.

Little did she know that my long face was because of leaving and not being able to spend the night in jail.

Thankful

 My English teacher told me to write a blog post of someone i am thankful for. So here it goes. I am thankful for my classmate Fred. He is always responsible and a dependable friend for English class. He is always able to help me with responses and finding good evidence to support them. Plus, I can count on Fred when editing my papers, he corrects my grammatical errors well and gets his point across during the discussion to make sure i make my paper better. He is also one of the funniest people i know and always manages to make me laugh. Fred was in my gym class last year and although he may not be the most athletic guy out there, he is very intelligent, funny, and trustworthy. I am grateful to have Fred as a friend to depend on for English class.

Then He is Dead

     After reading Macbeth I've reached the conclusion that his acts were not worth it even in the long run of being king. In my opinion the riches made him poor. Although he achieved the goal of being king and having everything he desired he was in a constant psychological labyrinth. Once he had started committing evil deeds for his own interest, there was no way out. To him it was easier to dig deeper into the black hole instead of going back. Due to this, he had to be watching his back in fear and torment that the same thing could happen to him as his actions of being killed. He also lost his wife due to the stress and guilt as it overpowered her leading her to commit suicide. Macbeth reached the ultimate consequence of death for his actions. I don't think that any of onself's actions is worth dying over. It also caused Macbeth a great deal of mental destruction. This was demonstrated when he saw the ghost of Banqo at the dinner party after he had killed him. The greatest weight was on his conscious of killing several other people just to keep his position. There was no need to go through this struggle since Macbeth was already promoted and known. The witches predictions pressured him into believing he was going to become a prophecy but it was not worth going through the lies, secrets, crimes, and utter discomfort.

No Tale to Tell

The pardoner’s tale is a type of story to emphasize the moral point of trust. The Pardoner shows the effects of greed as he believes that greed is the root of all evil. In this story three young men go out to kill death and are told that he is located under a certain tree. To their surprise, when they arrive they find a sac of gold. They decide that it would be too suspicious and people would think badly of them if they just show up in the town with all the money. They created a plan that two would stay under the tree while the other would go buy some wine. One of the two who stayed under the tree convinced the other to plot the third person’s death. This way the two would get more money when split instead of three people splitting the gold. Meanwhile, the one who went to go buy wine secretly placed poison in the wine, so the other two would die and he would take possession of all the gold. The two men who waited under the tree did follow through with their plan and killed the third man. They decided to celebrate their new riches with the poisoned wine. The two then died as well.

I found it ironic when one rioter told another rioter, "Trust me, you needn't doubt my word. I won't betray you. I'll be true."The rioter is telling another rioter to trust him and that he wouldn't betray his friends, yet he is plotting the death of the third rioter who he pledged to treat as a brother. Another part of this story that shows irony is when the third rioter tells the apothecary that he has some rats to kill. Literally, rats are creature that humans despise and don’t want but he is referring to other two rioters waiting for him under the tree. All the rioters trusted one another but ultimately they were provoked by the gold. They all got their consequences for their actions of greed. I think the whole tale is ironic as well. In the prologue the pardoner says that greed is the root of all evil. However, he only preaches to convince people to buy his pardons for his personal needs.

Word Count: 381

Modern Grendel

Modern Grendel:

When I thought of modern Grendel, I instantly thought of the military. I think that in some perspectives the soldiers fighting in war are both seen and feel like a Grendel to an extent. Grendel is seen as this bad monster that kills people for no apparent reason, and everyone fears him, desires his death, his presence unwanted. Grendel however claims to kill people for the better since he kills people that kill many others for the wrong reasons. To the countries you are fighting against, their citizens see you as the bad person who wants to take over. They fear of possible attacks. They only see you as the killer. However the country you are for glorifies you, looks up to you filling you with pride. Then at night time after killing others, nightmares attack you. Soldiers have inner conflict. They know they killed fathers leaving children without that parental figure. They know they leave many women without their husbands. They know they kill hard workers, loving men, and innocent people. Those thoughts taunt soldiers like they taunt Grendel. Even though they think they’re killing for the better, is it really justifiable? Similar to Grendel, they believe that after killing enough people, a difference for the better will be made.      

Truth

TRUTH

An infinite range of emotion was evoked in Grendel by a single song.  The shaper in this novel, in my opinion, is one of the most important characters. The shaper directs the hearts of people and paints this image in their minds of pride and victory.  Grendel calls the shaper’s stories lies and tricks. However, at first Grendel enjoys the stories, as if he wants to believe the shaper but ultimately knows the truth. After speaking with the dragon, Grendel realizes that the truth is more dooming and brutal than we are willing to admit. The so called reality sung by the shaper is something we choose to believe. The songs and stories is just an illusion, but the remolding of the past won’t bring a brighter future, which is what Grendel comes to learn. As Grendel says when conflicted, “did we kill each other more gently because in the woods sweet songbirds sang?” Grendel shows that even though humans claim to be more intelligent than creatures, when our hearts our influenced by what we want to believe is real, it overrides logical thought.  It’s as if our heart demands comfort and hope, which Grendel discovers in the shaper’s stories.  He surrenders these hopes after his encounter the dragon, he’s sees the people for who they really are and how pointless it is to gloss their lives with the belief of dignity. Grendel is the one who witnesses the lies of the shaper and discovers the consequences of truth. 

Brit Lit Blog - Modern Day Beowulf

I believe the modern day Beowulf in everyone’s eyes is different but all goes back to the same word, mom.  Beowulf was characterized as a fearless warrior as a youth and transitions into a more mature perfect hero. When being a fearless warrior he was confident and strong describing the traits of one’s mom at the beginning. As Beowulf grows he becomes wiser and wants to keep people safe also demonstrating as a mother grows. A mother wants to keep their child safe and away from harm. She wants them to be proud of her. A mother also shows confidence in knowing what she does. A mother doesn’t want to demonstrate fear, just strength. A mother, like Beowulf is a hero in every child’s eyes. A mother takes care of you when sick, when injured, when in need of help. The view on your mother as Beowulf changes as you grow however. When one is young a mother seems indestructible and as you grow you begin to see some weaknesses. Once you’re even older you begin to see that your mom was wise and strong and overall protected you your whole life. A mother has only good intentions for their children. One looks up to their mother as always being there for them, a true hero, just like Beowulf.  

Word Count: 220