Meaning of Thanksgiving 

“There is always something to be thankful for.” -unknown

     When would someone give thanks? To your waiter at a restaurant? Maybe to your cab driver. Or for a favor done by someone. We all have used this word in our life. But something we don’t think about is why. To be polite? Or you are just being nice.

    A holiday that comes up every year is Thanksgiving. It has a different meaning to everyone who celebrates it. Could it mean to give thanks to your thank you’s which people anywhere give you. To give thanks to the reason you have things to be thankful for.

     As many people celebrate the Holliday differently, they all know it has to do with thanks. Because it’s in the name. It doesn’t matter who you see or what you do, we all know that basic fact. That it’s about giving and thanks. Which are the morals and truth to the holiday. There is not much society explains about this holiday. Because it has a deeper meaning that no one can ever effect.

     Giving in general is another word we all know what it’s about. To give is like the thank you you give to someone who was nice to you. To give is donate to someone who is struggling. To give is to be truthful and pleasant to be around. It is a moral trait that everyone has whether or not it’s done on purpose. And whether or not you wanted it to, it will effect something or someone else.

    Many people celebrate different holidays wherever you live. But as human life continues to exist, It is our holiday.

Not Your Brother 

                 “It's sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew” -unknown

     Warm trickling blood runs down the Ferns leaves, the drops slowly drip of onto the pine needle littered ground. Small puddles of blood form under the leaves as the red liquid runs down. The body, chest forward pinned to an old cherry tree. In the middle of the lovely woods, where no one even dares look upon.

     Johnny’s sister was 19 years old and was moving onto college. That year she was just accepted into Union college in New York. They lived in lower Pennsylvania with there mom and dad. It was three weeks before she left for college and then would be gone forever. Little did she know that it was going to be much sooner than that.

     Emily, Johnny’s sister, was left to watch Johnny that night since there parents went out to dinner. Johnny, being eight, wanted to go outside and explore. Johnny kept bugging her and she kept answering, “no, it’s to dark out. You should be going to bed soon anyway.” After 20 minutes of arguing, Johnny finally went to bed.

     Emily was downstairs watching TV when Johnny came sprinting down the stairs with his shoes on and ran right outside. Emily got up and ran after him. Johnny ran across the street, behind there neighbors house, and into the lovely woods. It was really dark and nearing pitch black. Emily kept running until she couldn’t hear him anymore. She started to loose control. As she stopped to think of what to do next, she heard a crunch of leaves behind her.

     She around and saw a man in a blood soaked blue shirt and pants. They were Johnny’s clothes. She looked into its face and saw the scared, sorry eyes she saw in her little brother Johnny the same day when their father left them forever. He was seven feet tall and strangely muscular. A stab wound was engraved in his chest with a foot long knife still in it. The man took out the knife in his stomach and swung at her. She didn’t have time to scream before she saw the knife swinging right for her neck.

What it’s like to be young....

“Who goes there?” “Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main. Name your names.” “Huck Finn the Red-Handed, and Joe Harper the Terror of the Seas.” Tom had furnished these titles, from his favorite literature. “Tis well. Give the countersign.” Two hoarse whispers delivered the same awful word simultaneously to the brooding night: “Blood!”. Then Tom tumbled his ham over the bluff and let himself down after it, tearing both skin and clothes to some extent in the effort. There was an easy, comfortable path along the shore under the bluff, but it lacked the advantages of difficulty and danger so valued by a pirate.”

-The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain 

    Character building is a key part of a young life. Being in adolescence is really when a persons traits start to form and take shape. Every person in the world has been young or is young and each of them has a story. A story of how they build their character to be how they are. In this story, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, shows the character building of a young boy who you would never expect to Change in the way he did.

     Childhood is a key part of identity building and maturity. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, Toms experiences  with others throughout the book change how he views his town and the world. The book starts out with Tom as a boy, a troublemaking, adventure having boy. But throughout the book, and throughout his experiences with friends, family, and foes, he begins his journey to manhood. When Tom and Huck Finn witness the murder in the graveyard they are still kids. They are still drunk on blissful adolescence, but seeing the killer, and knowing he’s free sobers them. It gets even worse when an innocent man is wrongfully convicted. When he decided to break his promise and stand up for Muff Potter in court he was definitely already leagues more mature than he was at the start of the book, because of his knowledge of the real killer and his willingness to possibly sacrifice his life to save another. 

 “Tom glanced at Injun Joe's iron face and his tongue failed him. The audience listened breathless, but the words refused to come. After a few moments, however, the boy got a little of his strength back, and managed to put enough of it into his voice to make part of the house hear: "In the graveyard!”

As the book goes on Tom is also becomes more honest, especially when he tells his Aunt the truth about how he went into the house and almost slipped the bark containing the truth about his time on the island into her coat, but kept it instead. He went from a generally unlivable character, who was an immature child, to a mature teenager. Through the rest of the novel Tom grows and learns from his mistakes and the mistakes of others. He comes to realize that he can’t be a better person without doing what he is told, and what is expected of him. He does his best to protect his friends and family, from saving Becky from the cave to revealing Injun Joe’s guilt, and he matures to become the best person he can.

     Without bravery we would still be in the Stone Age. Tom shows lots of bravery. Tom exerts many true actions of bravery. In the way he matures his courage throughout the book to be a more powerful person. Through his adventures with his friends he learns and faces conflict with them. He finds out his true self in a way that made him see who he really wanted to be as a boy. After getting lost in the cold, dark cave in the aftermath of the party, Tom and Becky’s courage is tested. They huddle by their candle as the flame burns lower their fear growing as the dark threatens to swallow them. When their last candle burns out, and they can’t see Tom knows that he can’t continue huddling in the dark so he sets out to save Becky and himself. When he first gathers the courage to start exploring for a way out he is surprised to find the thing that has plagued his nightmares throughout the book; Injun joe, the towns wanted murderer. Even with this knowledge, Tom gathers the courage to search for an exit, and eventually finds one.

    “He stepped forward to go to his punishment the surprise, the gratitude, the adoration that shone upon him out of poor Becky’s eyes seemed pay enough for a hundred floggings. Inspired by the splendor of his own act, he took without an outcry the most merciless flaying that even Mr. Dobbins had ever administered; and also received with indifference the added cruelty of a command to remain two hours after school should be dismissed—for he knew who would wait for him outside till his captivity was done, and not count the tedious time as loss, either.”[-page 242]

Tom shows bravery in the face of many tough choices throughout the book, including the page Becky rips, and the cave that he’s trapped in for days on end. It is this bravery, that becomes Tom’s greatest tool, without it, he would give up like Becky in the cave, or he would sit there as she was flogged. Instead, he finds his way out and that’s something very few people could do.    As family and companionship are important, bravery by standing up to your emotions is  what this book is about. You need to be brave to stand up to your authorities. You need to be brave to go home when you are having such a great time were you are. You need to be brave when you take a whipping for something you didn’t do for love. As my point is made, bravery is very important and a key part of the book, Tom Sawyer.

     This book covers major qualities in life as in Tom Sawyer. He is brave, honest, loved, and surprisingly overall he is a troublemaker. These quality’s to me are some of the most important stem quality’s to a person. They all branch off to make other qualities like joy and kindness and courageousness. This book made a way of inspiring its readers to be the best people they can be by making Tom be the best he can be. It shows how a boy who doesn’t want to grow to show his true traits. Actually does, and it changes him into a different person inside out. The book shows this boy growing what in my opinion, stem traits, which are bravery, Honesty, and empathy. They branch out to other traits like kindness, courage, and thoughtfulness.

     This book showed a tough troublesome boy transform and his pathway and experiences that caused it to happen.

Reflection on Essay

”Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is a progress. Working together is a success.” -unknown

     I liked writing this essay because it seemed like my team was more “into it” even though I have the same partner. I also like our themes a lot better in this essay then my last. We touched on bravery and childhood maturity like character building. I found it a lot more interesting than my other team topic which was adolescence. We did a great job of dividing up the work like I did the conclusion, a one-two punch, second head and heart, a couple quotes and more. My other two teammates did the smoking guns, openings, transition, type other head and heart, and a one-two punch. So overall the work was split up fairly evenly even though I was sick the first day of working on the essay. Once we finished the two half’s of the essay, we stopped working together and went on on our own to finish and post.

Tom Sayer reflection

Connor Soukup

           “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities;                Truth isn't.” -Mark Twain

     You learn a lot about big events of the 1800s but you never really learn about what it was like for the adolescence. The children have a very different way of having fun and enjoyment then they do now. Mark Twain try’s to show us the story of this fictional boy and his adventures. He wants to show us what it’s like to be a boy and add all the adventure and trouble and intrigue that boys at that time. He wants to show us what it’s like to be a boy and add all the adventure and trouble and intrigue that boys at that time. 

     The book showed how children back then acted and behaved and how they cared about one another and the friendships they made. In the book, Tom Sawyer, the main character, he forms amazing friendships with other boys and they go into the woods and play and pretend because they can be free. They formed bonds that would last forever. But I learned as I read that Tom didn’t only need his friends, he also needed family. When Tom was in the woods with his friends Huck and Joe having fun, inside Tom missed his family and his girlfriend and so he left the wilderness to go back to civilization. 

     I loved how this book transitioned a troublemaking boy who seemed to care for nothing turned into a caring kid who had many friends and loved his family. I liked how he stood up for people and fought back his superiors without being a bad kid. Throughout the book, I was wondering when Tom would reach his turning point and when Tom did, it was probably my favorite part of the whole book. I love twists, whether it’s a book or and film, it is always fun to see the characters to change. Not many other books I have read have the character change that this book has. 

    You read many books about boyhood and adventure paired together but the book Tom Sawyer does this like no other.  People have always talked about what a great book Tom Sawyer is. But you like I, could only know once you have read it.