Malcolm X Constructed Response

Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary By: Walter Dean Myers

Write a constructed response in which you explain the central idea of your book and how the author develops that idea.

The Central Idea of this biography is everyone has different ideas on what is right and what needs change, but not everyone is willing to change or adapt to those ideas. The author develops this idea by describing  some main African-Americans and their ideas during the early 1900s that wanted to give blacks and other minority people rights and how the others reacted to these ideas. However, I will list two important examples rather than all. In the 1920s-30s Malcolm X's(originally Malcolm Little) parents followed the ideas of an activist named Marcus Gavery. He believed in order to get blacks their free rights, they need to build their own society. To do this he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Even though nothing was ever said about what happened to Gavery, something did happen to one of his important followers. His name was Earl Little, Malcolm's father. He taught and greatly followed the ideas of Gavery. However, whites didn't appreciate Earl's teachings and he received a lot of death threats. Eventually, his house was burned down and the a while later, he was killed my a street car. This is a really good example of how the author develops his central idea, because whites didn't like how Earl was trying to change what they believed needed no changing. So, to keep from changing, people believed the whites or KKK are the reason he was killed by the street car.

Another really good example of the author's development of the central idea is the ideas of the person who the book is mainly about: Malcolm X. He once believed and taught the ideas of The Nation of Islam. Eventually, he started making his own teachings and slowly separated himself from The Nation of Islam. He and The Nation of Islam believed that the whites were evil and blacks need to get their freedom "by any means necessary". Soon Malcolm realized that not all whites were evil, but if necessary, blacks could use violence. He believed that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s(another important activist during this time) ideas on nonviolent protest were weak and weren't very useful. People didn't like Malcolm's ideas, including The Nation of Islam who believed Malcolm was a trader. He was receiving death threats and his house was burned down. He knew he was going to die soon. In February 1965, Malcolm was about to give a speech to a group of people in the Audubon Ballroom. There, a few of black men started some troubles with guns and they shot and killed Malcolm before it was to late to save him. The three men were Norman 3x Butler, Thomas 15x Johnson, and Talmadge Hayer. Two of the three men were apart of The Nation of Islam. The reason for why he was shot and who set it up is still a mystery. This is a really good and important example  of how the author developed his central idea. Malcolm tried to make a change, but people weren't willing to change or just didn't like his ideas. Things like this went on for years until finally, blacks and other minorities got their rights. Now life is much easier for a lot of people. We still need work, but we're slowly getting there.
Thank You
 

The theme of The Bully Book by: Eric Kahn Gale is to find what’s inside and what makes a person that person, because in the story young Eric became the Grunt out of no where and people started making his life difficult. Ruining his friendships and constantly messing with him. “Somebody hacked my account. Set up may status as ‘in a relationship’ with Melody Miller,” "Whenever I see Eric Haskins, I circumambulate him to avoid the smell." So, he takes his whole 6th grade year to find out why he was chosen. “What book? Why do you guys keep calling me Grunt?” "I'm looking for a yearbook. Arborland Elementary School 1987." he want to find the maker of the book and why he made the Grunt. When Eric finally finds the Bully Booker he found "The Bully Book" and in the end of the book in a page of “The Bully Book” (this book is apart of the story not the title) it says that the Grunt is someone who doesn’t know who he is and every time someone is picked as the Grunt they seem to find themselves. “They’ve wholly absorbed that identity; their lives revolve around it. Richard became an angry maniac, Daniel a solitary weirdo, and Clarence an obsessive-compulsive.” These people founded who they are by being the Grunt. Eric is an curious type person who always needs answer and will do whatever it takes to get his answer. Eric himself didn’t really know who he was until he became the Grunt. That’s why I chose this theme.

“The Man of Great Power”

Once upon a time in the great and magical land of Porpoise Land there lived a voodoo-wizard by the name of KoBŕa KornBread who was famous for being able to possess great power. Everyone knew about his power. He was so powerful that people all over the world made legends and myths about his power and what he did with it.

One day, the king of Porpoise named Lord Sir King-Pig heard one of KoBŕa’s famous legends and demanded him to come to his palace called the Super-listic, Awesomelicious Pig Pen. The king’s subjects went to KoBŕa’s small magical cave and asked him to come to the palace. He went to the palace and the king speaks to him. “Mr. KoBŕa I’ve heard of your stories and how you possess great power.” says King-Pig

“Yes Sir, that is true.”

“And you believe you are the most powerful man alive?”

“Well that’s an understatement. Yes I possess great, tremendous, and wonderful power, but no I don’t think I’m the most powerful.”

“Very well keep going with your fancy powering, but be warned for you may not fully be up to the challenges that the world may bring you.”

About a week later the king called KoBŕa back to the palace. “Hello Sir KoBŕa I have a little challenge for ya, if you’re up for it.”

“Yes sir I can take it.”

“Well then I want you to combine the sun and the moon together, suck out the power and give the power to me. I need it so I can control the sun and the moon and I will become the King of the World. Ya think you’re up for it?”

“I can do it Sir.”

“Okay then, when I go on may royal fishing trip I want you to go to my wife, Madam Witchcraft, and plant a curse on her. Secretly she’s a witch and no one can get plant anything on her. Whoever does turns into stone. However if you do plant the curse on may wife she will give you the power to combine the sun and the moon because even the most powerful man can not do that without the power of my witch wife.”

So the next day KoBŕa went to the king’s wife and told her, “I heard only your power can possess enough for me to combine the sun and the moon.”

“Yes, What do you want?”

“Well, your husband sent me, he told me to plant a curse on you, but you see ma’am I can’t do that for I wouldn’t dare want to hurt a woman of such beauty as yourself. However if you want, I would like to share some of your power so your family can become ruler of this world.” he spoke this with big and powerful eyes and spoke in a soft and lovely tone.

“Very well, but only because you speak in such a powerful language.”

So Madam Witchcraft combined her powers with KoBŕa’s power and did as the king asked.

When the king came back from his trip he talked to his wife. “So did KoBŕa talk to you?”

“Yes he did.”

“And he did not do what I asked he could not do the job, he failed and is probably in your statue collection.”

“No actually he did do your deed, he spoke to me in such powerful language that I didn’t know how to say no. Like I was trapped.”

The king then realized how powerful the man really is and all those myths and legends were true. He realized he never should have underestimated him. And with that KoBŕa kept doing what he does and was then crowned the Price of the World. So he was a voodoo/wizard/Price of the World.

The End.

Theme of "The Pearl"
By: Kobe Greenan

The theme of the story is that  in light of all human nature, evil mostly overpowers good. This is stated because in the story the pearl gets to everyone and this dark cloud of evil goes over most of them. Kino's friends have turned on him and Kino himself has turned on others.The narrator states "The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town;" the towns people are all turning against Kino and the evilness is getting to people." The narrator also states "He heard the rush, got his knife out and lunged at one dark figure and felt his knife go home" Kino thinks someone is coming after his pearl and strikes him, eventually killing him. Another example of evil is when Juana tries to get rid of the peal and Kino catches her and beats her. The narrator states"She heard him coming and she broke into a run." Also he states "He struck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side." Kino is angered at the fact of Juana stealing his pearl.

Constructed Response

by: Kobe Greenan

“A Dark Brown Dog”

In the short story “A Dark Brown Dog” by Stephen Crane. The point of view is 3rd Person Omniscient. It’s this point of view because if you were to read the story, the narrator knows all about the characters and their thoughts and feelings. For example, “ But the little dark-brown dog took this chastisement in the most serious way, and no doubt considered that he had committed some grave crime,” The author writes this to show a detailed way of how the dog is feeling. The tone of this story is very dark with the occasional dark humor. “He came home and held carnival with the cooking utensils, the furniture and his wife.” The word carnival has a fun and positive connotation. However, to use it in a sentence involving kitchen utensils. That’s pretty dark. The point of view of this story really makes me feel involved in the story. I can really feel what all the other characters are feeling and thinking rather than one character in a first person story. The tone makes me feel kind of depressed and sad because I really feel bad for the dog and the boy and the ending really gets to you and gets you all depressed.

“The Day I Got Lost”

In the short story “The Day I Got Lost” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, the point of view is 1st person because in the story, it is being told by one character. “It is easy to recognize me.” The tone of this story is rather humorous and has a nice feeling to it, because he is always misplacing things and just to hear him talk about this is kind of funny. For example, “One evening I took a taxi because I was in a hurry to get home. The taxi driver said, "Where to?" And I could not remember where I lived.”  That’s pretty humorous if I do say so myself. It also has a nice feeling because when his friend finally showed up too get him back too his house he was like “‘Only God could have sent you!’” The sentence all around has a possitive connotation. The point of view in this story really makes you feel for the character. I mean it’s not like 3rd person where you know all the characters, but you still get a good sense of what this character is going through. The tone makes me feel happy and humorous, because too know someone that loses everything anywhere and forgets everything. That’s pretty funny and that’s why I like this story.

"The Names" by: Billy Collins
In this poem, the authors purpose is to tell you about all the deaths of 9/11 and the emotion of their loved ones. "I walked barefoot among thousands of flowers, heavy with dew like the eyes of tears, each had a name," "the flowers heavy with dew," is the tears and sadness of those who have lost their loved ones and when he says "each had a name," he is talking about the people who have died. Also, in the poem he names the people who had died in alphabetical order. "And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows, I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened, then Baxter and Calabro" The silver gaze is sort of like the sadness and depression of the people, I believe and he went in order of the people who had died alphabetically. The tone of this poem is rather depressing, because he speaks of these people who had died and the people who had lost the ones the loved. It really lets you know how tragic 9/11 was.