Abomination

Abominable in every way, it terrorizes innocent students on a daily basis. It is a torture so malevolent that it should only be used in prisoner of war camps, but here it is being used in schools. What kind of evil is this? It is the notorious essay.

Why would this detestable agony be forced upon blameless children? Who is to blame? Many would blame the teacher, but who placed this deadly weapon into their hands? It was a man who lived in the fifteen hundreds.  It was Michel de Montaigne, an influential writer from France. He popularized the mutilating task we now call an essay.

The excruciating pain caused by writing essays could be compared to child birth and even going to the dentist.  The agony starts with a painful racking of the brain. This cruelty is known as brain-storming. Then the victim is brutally forced to communicate these thoughts through an afflictive and laborious task that we now call writing. After that, the recipient of such deeds must be graded and told what to improve on so that he can go write another essay. The cycle continues, forever oppressing poor innocent children. 

Why are children condemned in such a way? Does it give teachers pleasure to cause these afflictions, and if so, why? Is it to satisfy a longing to take out their own misfortunes on others? The children are merely sitting ducks. They are defenseless prey. Please stop this before somebody is seriously wounded… or worse.

Milkweed Prediction

In the book Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli the main character, stopthief or Misha, whichever, will be sent to a Jew concentration camp by the Nazis because of the evidence of what happened in history. However, we will not be killed. He will escape because throughout the book he always escapes from his pursuers  when stealing food. Also, the book is in first person and the narrator cannot die.

Meaningful Scene

One meaningful scene in To Kill a Mockingbird is in chapter fifteen in front of the jail. A mob comes to kill Tom Robinson while Atticus is there. Jem, Scout, and Dill show up and Scout talks to one of the men in the mob and makes them go away. This is important because it shows us the importance of the innocence of children in the book.

The Better Manning?

If you were to ask Peyton Manning who he was cheering for in the Super Bowl, of course he would tell you he was supporting his little brother Eli. However, there is chance that deep down, Peyton almost wanted Eli to lose. If you think about it, now Eli has beaten Peyton's nemesis, Tom Brady in the Super Bowl not once, but twice. That gives him more Super Bowl wins than Peyton and of course brings the inevitable debate: Is Eli better than Peyton?

The answer to that question is obviously no.  Many will get caught up in the current hype, but the fact is Peyton Manning is the only player to win four NFL MVP awards. That's the most in NFL history.  How many does Eli have? None! Zippo! Peyton has better statistics in almost every category and is considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

The main reason Eli has won more championships is his team. He's got all the pieces around him whereas Peyton has next to nothing in Indianapolis. All you have to do is look at the Colts' record this year without Peyton: 2-14! That's the worst record in the league. Peyton Manning carries his team while Eli can rely on his teammates.

For these reasons, there shouldn't even be a discussion here. Peyton can make something out of nothing. One brother is a guaranteed hall of famer and the other is...well, his little brother. Based on those reasons and more, the great 4 time MVP is and always will be greater than his inconsistent little brother.

Independence of thought

In Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron, the goals and the impacts of the main characters are relatively similar. Both are rebelling against dystopian government in which the people are not free to learn and think for themselves.

In both Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron the government is controlling the ability to learn and think independently. In Fahrenheit 451, books are taken away and burned because they contain ideas that could contradict what the government tells them. In Harrison Bergeron, the people are handicapped so that no one is better than anyone else at anything. Nobody is allowed to be smart.  

In both of these stories, the main character is willing to sacrifice everything for a greater good. This is what makes them so similar, aside from the fact that both are in a controlling government. Harrison is willing to keep fighting even though he knows he could be captured again or killed. On page 119 of Fahrenheit 451, Montag kills Beatty in rebellion against book burning with the knowledge of the consequences he would have to face.

The difference however is that in the end of Harrison Bergeron, the main character is shot down, wiping out most of the remaining hope of freedom from society's handicaps. Whereas in Fahrenheit 451, there is a glimmer of a chance of hope with Guy Montag's unusual love and curiosity of books.  There is hope of a world in which there freedom to think independently.

Therefore, both stories could be considered to be similar based on the values of the main character. On the other hand , the end outcome would be the main difference. A lesson can be learned from the determination of both Harrison and Montag to fight for freedom.

Fahrenheit 451 Quote

The mechanical hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in a dark corner of the firehouse (page 24)

It doesn't think anything we don't want it to think (page 27)

The mechanical hound symbolizes the members of the society in Fahrenheit 451. It lives but it doesn't really live. Just as the people of the society are alive, but there is nothing to their lives but watching "the family". They think, but just like a programmed hound, they only think what the government wants them to think.

Nїdwhal

Author's Note- This is a small part of Inheritance in the point of view of a Nїdhwal. A Nїdhwal is dragon like creature with no wings and live in the sea.

The strong feeling of a relatively familiar mind awoke me. It was something I hadn't felt in over a hundred years, but it was unmistakable. It was  a dragon. Lunch time. There is a reason they were thought to be extinct. Despite what they think, those lesser creatures are nothing like the Nidhwalar! They have no right to compare themselves to superior beings such as us. I should not have been surprised at the appearance of a dragon as there being a large amount of energy being released in the East as of late. Not that it matters though. Now it is lunch time. I swiftly rose out of the water to attack my prey, but it got lucky and anticipated my attack and rose high into the air before I could make an easy meal out of it. Curse those wings of theirs!