Zoey Redbird vs. Willy Freeman

Zoey Redbird vs. Willy Freeman

By Andrea Basile

What would you do if you lost your parents and had to grow up too fast?  Zoey Redbird, a vampire who is just 17, takes the responsibility to be a great leader in a harsh world, but inside she is shattered. Willy Freeman, a Native American girl who has found freedom, just lost everything in one terrible night. These two characters from War Comes to Willy Freeman and The House of Night are very similar, and have similar characteristics too.

            Zoey Redbird and Willy Freeman have many things in common. One of those things is they had both lost their parents. Zoey's dad never been apart of her life, and Zoey's mom got brutally murdered by darkness. Willy's mom got captured by the British and later died of sickness. The British also killed Willy’s father by stabbing him with a bayonet. Both these characters have suffered the loss of their parents. Losing their parents affected both of them greatly. Zoey wasn’t very close to her mother but losing her shattered her heart. When big decisions came, she faltered and didn’t know what to do. When it was time for her to be a leader, she couldn’t because she was too fragile. And what hurt her even more was that she didn’t know exactly HOW her mother was killed…all she knew was she got killed by darkness. Willy, on the other hand, was affected by her parent’s death because now she has no “freedom papers” so she has no proof that she’s free of being a slave. Since she has no parents, she needs to grow up and take care of herself from now on. She just doesn’t have anyone anymore. She’s all alone. Zoey has a group of friends to support her, but Willy has no one. She has nowhere to live. No one to hug and love. No one.

 Even though the parents of both these characters died, there’s a twist, a twist that ties these two characters together even more. Zoey doesn’t know exactly how her mother died. And Willy doesn’t know exactly IF her mother is alive somewhere. So they both need to find out the answers, even though what they are going to find might be horrible and terrifying. This shows that they are both brave and courageous. Since Zoey NEEDS to know how her mother died, she is brave because she knows what she’s going to find will be heartbreaking.  And since Willy MUST try to find her mother, she is brave because she knows it will be extremely hard to find her, and there is many dangers of being a girl so she must hide the fact that she’s a girl too. Willy knows she might be caught by the British also. They are both afraid of what's coming but still pushing forward.  They are very similar in characteristics.

            Besides both characters being brave and losing their parents, another reason why they are similar is they need to grow up way too fast. Willy needs to grow up right when she finds out her mother was taken and her father was killed. She needs to nurture herself and provide her own food. She needs to find a new home and she needs to do everything by herself. On page 35 of War Comes to Willy Freeman Willy right away needs to go into hiding from the British, needs to dress up as a boy, and needs to sail all the way to New York with not much food. Willy is only 13! That’s my age! All I need to think about is boys and not gaining weight by eating candy! That shows how much this girl needs to grow up so soon. On the other hand, Zoey needs to grow up in a whole different way. She’s not alone like Willy is. But she got a special and rare piece of magic from their goddess “Nyx”, therefore she is very important in the world of vampires. Zoey is now a Priestess and has to take full leadership and face things that vampires should never face. And even though her mother just died, she needs to remain in control and not break down like a normal person would. That shows how SHE needs to grow up too early.

            Besides all the similarities between these two characters, there are also some differences. The story War comes to Willy Freeman is actually very realistic! The setting is during the Revolutionary War, which is very real. Some of the characters really were people in real life, even though some of the details were made up. It COULD really have happened back in that time. The way the narrator talked was different than The House of Night. Since the setting took place in the early 1700’s, and the main character was Native American, she said a lot of “so’s” instead of “so”, or “because”. On the other hand, the main character in The House of Night talks exactly how this generation would talk today. For example she says “like” and “totally.” Different than War comes to Willy Freeman, The House of Night is fictional. The setting is in a Vampire School. In this world, everyone knows about vampires and there’s darkness everywhere…it has a VERY different setting.

            As you can see, both these characters have many things in common and some differences. They have both lost their parents; they both have a twist about how their moms die, and they are both very, very brave. The only two differences is that Zoey has her friends to help her and Willy has not many people. Also the place and time is very different too. Willy’s story is nonfictional and Zoey’s story is fictional. They have both accepted the fact that their life is hard, and it will continue to be hard. But they are strong and their willing to stick with what they get.

             

War Comes to Willy Freeman

War comes to Willy Freeman

By Andrea Basile

Authors Note: This piece is about what the turning point was and the causes and effects of it. I believe the turning point is when Willy’s father goes to the war and bring Willy with him. I would like to know if my ideas are clear.

The main turning point in the captivating book War comes to Willy Freeman, would probably be when Willy’s father goes to war. I believe this because if Willy’s father hadn’t gone to the war, their family would still be together, and nobody would have gotten hurt or separated.

            If Willy’s father wouldn’t have gone to war, everything would have been alright…but of course that wasn’t what happened. Willy’s father going to war caused everything to go wrong. Because he went, that caused Willy to leave her mother alone, and because of that, she got captured. Willy also going with her father caused her to witness his murder. Now that moment will forever be burned in side her memory of her father being killed right in front of her eyes. If Willy never left with her father, she would have at least still stayed with her mom and they probably would have not been taken. Over all, Willy’s father just came to shore at the wrong time. Because if he would have came in just 30 minutes later, he wouldn’t find out about the war till it was too late. The British would have already been gone and everyone in the New London area, would have already been killed.

            As you can see, Willy’s father going to the war in a definite turning point.   Had he not gone, he would have not been killed, the mother would not have been taken, they would all still be together, Willy wouldn’t need to go searching for her mom and for somewhere to live, and it would have still left Willy with 2 parents! In the captivating book War comes to Willy Freeman the point of no return is when Willy’s father goes to the horrific war.

Victoria Secret

Victoria Secret

By Andrea Basile

            “But mom! Seriously! Hannah took my bra and ripped it, I need a new one now!”

“Honey stop blaming your sister for everything!”

“Oh my gosh, really? You always take her side, I swear she ripped it!” I yelled.

“Okay,okay I’ll give you 45 dollars but that’s it, alright? No more saying your sister took everything you lost! I’m not driving you so here are the keys and be back by 3:00” she tossed me the car keys, which had a mini shoe attached to them for decoration.

“Its not my fault you never believe me, but thanks.” I walked out the yellow painted door and headed to the car. HAHA my mom fell for it again…well not really she knew Hannah didn’t take it but still, I got her to give me money! I seriously need a new bra, I mean 27 bras won’t cut it! And Victoria secret is perfect for the job. I thought to myself, while pulling out the drive way in my brand new Toyota. “Victoria Secret here I come!”

            20 minutes later I was at Victoria Secret searching for my dream bra. I went towards the back of the store and spotted an old man. He had a hunchback back, a bunch of wrinkles, overalls, and he was looking at red bras. I just ignored him and kept on looking for my bra.then I noticed the old man was now looking at the orange bras. I murmured “that’s it”. I walked over to the old man, and asked “U, sir? Why are you here?”

He turned around slowly and looked like I was asking him where his pants go.

“I am here to buy fruit…I’m out and I need some more.”

I kept myself from laughing “Ummm….I think you got the wrong place…”

“No, no, no I don’t think so, this is an apple you see” he lifted up a red bra. And rubbed it against his cheek, it’s a little soft, but it will still work.

“Uhhh no that’s actually a-“

“And this is a peach” he pulled out a orange bra and rubbed it all over his face “Ahhh I love the feel of fuzzy peaches”

That’s it, I couldn’t help it, I started cracking up.

Then suddenly he started walking towards the panties isle and picked up a large size of bright yellow underwear and held it up to his wrinkled face.

“Huh…so this is where the lemons are!” he sniffs them. “Well these don’t smell like lemons…” I guess he finally realized that I was laughing so he asked “why are you laughing?”

“Your-your”- I was gasping for breath-“you’re in Victoria Secret!” I bent over grabbing my stomach laughing so hard I could barley breath.

“No, no, no you’re wrong I’m in the super market!” he said matter-a-factly.

“No you’re not, that’s at the other side of town! I mean smell this place does it smell like a super market?” I asked.

“Well now that you say that….ohhhhh boy.” The man dropped the underwear and sprinted as fast as he could, which wasn’t very fast, out the door.

Perspective

Perspective

By Andrea Basile

Authors Note: This is about the perspective of the story “War Comes to Willy Freeman” and what the story is in HER perspective and what it would be like if her mother was telling the story. Tell me if I’m clear on my ideas or if I’m repeating anything.

In the captivating book “War Comes to Willy Freeman” Willy is telling the story in her perspective. Now, Willy is a back girl and girls aren’t much appreciated. Woman back in those days were thought as cooks, and to clean and listen to whatever the husband says. Girls were not allowed to go to war. In the first chapters Willy’s father gets murdered, and her mother got captured. Willy dresses up as a boy to go find somewhere else to live. She dresses as a boy so she is not recognized as a girl by the British. In the perspective of Willy she’s terrified and very lonely. She just witnessed her father’s murder, and her only family left, her mother, was taken. Feeling hopeless and sad is what the perspective of this girl. Her only hope now is going to her aunt’s home in Newfield. Now she is a slave without any parents. And since she’s a girl ad hasn’t had any experience in wars or fighting she’s scared too. Since it is in her perspective too she talks like a Native American she says “So’s” and speaks in a different way than white’s people.

            Now that you know the perspective of Willy, imagine what it would be like if it was in the perspective of her mother. From the very beginning it would have been in a different perspective because when the father left to go to the war, she begged him to stay, and she was hurt, unlike Willy who as going with him. And the perspective of Willy v.s her mother is way different because you would have never seen what Willy saw in the war. If it was in her perspective you would her thoughts of her husband and daughter leaving and would see how she got captured and her thoughts about leaving and being lonely. They’re 2 different perspectives but both are amazingly written.

Number 2

Number 2

By Andrea Basile

In my dream we were in a meadow. Colorful flowers were everywhere, dew was still on the grass, sparkling, and making it look like a thousand crystals. It was then that I noticed him. The hottest guy in our grade, Chad, was in front of me, looking at me with pure love in his eyes. He gave me a dazzling lopsided smile. Golden hair spilled down his face, his deep crystal blue eyes sparkled. His mouth moved, “I love you.” He whispered, so quietly and soft, I thought I imagined it. Then he slowly leaned in, so gracefully, he closed his eyes, and our lips were about to meet….

“Wake up!” someone said softly. “Common wake up, wake up, wakeup…”

I slowly opened my eyes. “No, I was soooo close!” I moaned. I swept my arm lazily over, grabbed my pillow and shoved in on top of my head. “Go away.” I said to the person trying to wake me up. Go back to sleep, dream about Chad again…you were in a meadow….about to kiss Chad…go to sleep…I was drifting off again, till the voice spoke again.

“Zoey…it’s about your mom”

I bolted up, and saw my aunt Julia sitting on my bed. Her eyes were puffy and red and she looked really, really tired. “What’s going on?” I asked her softly, I was still groggy from sleeping, my eyes felt like they had 100 pounds on them. Aunt Julia lived an hour away what in the world was she doing here? I glanced at my pink clock 4:01am “Are you crazy? It’s four o’clock in the morning!” It was then that aunt Julia snapped. She started to sob. She balled her eyes out and snot went all over my blue and green bed spread. She hugged herself, and her eyes were squeezed shut. I was utterly confused. Then it started to come back to me. Mom went on a business trip 3 days ago…she was supposed to be back today, in the morning. I started to panic.

 “Where’s my mom? What are you doing here? Aunt Julia answer me!” I sat up straight, and softly shook my aunt. 

“S-she got in a c-car a-accident” she spoke between sobs.

To Be Continued…

Ponyboy Character Analysis Essay

Ponyboy

By Andrea Basile

Authors Note: This is a character analysis of Ponyboy, the main character in “The Outsiders.” I would like feed back if my ideas are clear and if I repeated things or got confusing in my word choice. Thanks!

          Ponyboy is caring and gentle, and a different type of greaser. Fitting in is everything, and sometimes people try to change for their friends, or groups. Like Ponyboy, he is even an outsider in his own gang because he is immensely different. His gang is into robbing things, fighting, being outgoing, swearing, and Ponyboy is just plainly into books. Ponyboy is a different kind of greaser.

In the gang you need to have one characteristic…and one characteristic only and that is “tough.”  When it comes to a fight, you do not cry, and you do not lose. On page 11, Ponyboy gets jumped, and then Darry comes. Ponyboy is sensitive, but he doesn’t want Darry to know that, “I felt hot tears running down my cheeks. I brushed them away impatiently…You don’t just cry in front of Darry.” Ponyboy tries to be tough in front of his older brother, because he doesn’t want anyone to think he’s soft. As you can see, he tries to hide and replace himself in the image he’s supposed to be.  You could also say that Ponyboy needs to grow up to be a man at an early age. He needs to accept the fact the he is a greaser. And greasers get jumped. Just in case he gets jumped, he needs to carry a knife around. Ponyboy also smokes already, because the rest of his gang does and he doesn’t know any better. So as you can see, Ponyboy is different, but he does get influenced by his gang as well.

Unlike the rest of the “greasers”, Ponyboy doesn’t enjoy fighting. Ponyboy is different. He likes to draw, watch the beautiful sunsets and read any book he can get his hands on. Ponyboy knows he is different too, as he stated in page one of the book “Nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do. I’m different that way.” The gang doesn’t judge him on who he really is, but they leave him out on fights, because sometimes they think he’s too fragile or soft. Ponyboy is fine with himself, he loves his “tough” greasy hair, and he’s totally okay with any book. But Ponyboy feels lonely sometimes. “For a while there, I thought I was the only person in the world that enjoyed books and movies. So I loned it.” He didn’t mind it though. He would rather watch a movie alone, than with one of his gang members. On page one he clearly says “When I see a movie with someone it’s kind of uncomfortable, like having someone read your book over your shoulder.” He is different that way.

Since Ponyboy is an outsider and he’s different than the rest of the greasers he reminds me of Greg Heffley in the book “Diary of a Whimpy Kid.” Greg is an outsider and, like Ponyboy, doesn’t have anyone that REALLY relates to him. Sure he has one close friend Rodney, like Ponyboy has Sodapop, but they don’t have the same feelings and interests. So both Rodney and Ponyboy are outsiders even when they’re with their friends. Another similarity between the two characters is they have one older brother that yells and is strict. Ponyboy and Greg both have different interests than the rest of their friends and family. These two characters are very similar.

As you can see, Ponyboy is different. He may think that different is bad…but it’s not. Being unique is better than being normal, or being what you’re “supposed” to be. I believe Ponyboy is strong because he believes in what he loves to do, and he doesn’t let anyone change him. Ponyboy doesn’t let people build him into the image he’s supposed to be. Being different lets him see the world in a different perspective, and in unique eyes. For example, Ponyboy loves to watch sunsets, because he thinks their beautiful and pure. The rest of the gang have probably never seen the beauty of a sunset and even if they did they wouldn’t take it in and would think anything of it. Ponyboy is not like the rest of his gang, nor is he a soc. He is his own and unique person. Ponyboy is a different kind of greaser.

         

Randy

Authors Note: I'm going to tell you about Randy, a soc in the book "The Outsiders", and how he changes and becomes a dynamic character. I would like feed back on if i'm clear on my thoughts and ideas.

Randy is a heartless soc…at least that’s what he was at the beginning of “The Outsiders”. On page 102 Randy shows a bug change of heart. He tells Ponyboy all about how Bob was troubled and that Bob just needed his parents to set rules and tell him “no.” Randy says that no matter if the greasers win the rumble or not, socs will always be socs and greasers will always be greasers. “Nothing will change, it doesn’t matter.” Randy says. And to add more proof to this, Randy also says that he will not go to the rumble and that’s saying something. That’s saying that he doesn’t want to fight anymore. Now that he’s lost his best friend Bob, he just got a wake-up call saying HELLO STOP FIGHTING! Even Ponyboy saw it, “Randy was supposed to be too cool to feel anything, and yet there was pain in his eyes.” Randy finally shows that he is just a kid, and that he has feeling too. At the end of Ponyboy and Randy’s conversation Randy states “Thanks, grease…I didn’t mean that. I meant, thanks, kid.” He corrected himself from saying greaser and that should be enough to tell you that Randy turned into a dynamic character! If I had to compare Randy to another character...it would definitely be "Andy Sacks" from the movie "The Devil wears Prada." Andy Sacks turns out to be exactly what Randy turned out to be. They are both dynamic characters. In the beginning of the movie Andy clearly says "A million girls would kill for this job...the thing is i'm not one of them." Andy just got a job in a runway fashion magazine. In the beginning of the movie she was a total mess, she wore the ugliest clothes and wore NO MAKEUP! At the end of the movie, she wears the cutest clothes and shes beautiful! They are both the same type of character.

Sodapop

Authors Note: I'm going to tell you a little bit about a character named "Sodapop". He is in the book called "The Outsiders". I would like to know if im summerizing or if I need help with some places in my writing, so please let me know!

In the captivating book "The Outsiders", a new and totally different character comes into place. His name is Sodapop. Sodapop is a different greaser and very different than the rest of the gang. He has gold "tuff hair" and very good looking. All the girls go for him, even the soc girls. He is 16 going on 17, and a very fun and outgoing person. He cares for his gang and his brothers. He's reckless but still thoughtful at the same time "he likes action-and a contest". He treats Ponyboy with such respect and gentleness. When Darry, Sodapop and Ponyboy's older brother, yells at Ponyboy, Sodapop stands up for him and tells Darry to quit it. He is smart, but he still dropped out of school. He found his passion for horses, but tat soon ended because the horse he loved most, got sold. Kind is the best word that describes him, which makes him different than other greasers. Sodapop is a whole different greaser which makes him the most remember-able to me.

Conflicts

I believe the biggest conflict is when Johnny kills Bob, the soc. Darry hitting Ponyboy caused Ponyboy to run away and bring Johnny with him. They go to the park and that's were everything goes bad. 5 drunk soc's come and almost drown Ponyboy in a fountain, and Johnny cant handle that so he stabs the soc whose drowning Ponyboy. By Johnny taking a human life, that gets him in a lot of trouble, if he gets caught he will be put in the electric chair. Johnny stabbing that boy caused Ponyboy and himself to run away and hide from the police. This is the biggest change in the book because Johnny cant take back what he did, and they need to figure how he's going to live with the fact that the police might find him, and he is in a lot of trouble.

The Tell-Tale Hearts Essay

Tell-Tale Hearts

By Andrea Basile

        Lunatic, crazy, cold, evil, shallow, horrible and gruesome. These are the words that describe the man in the story “The Tell-Tale Hearts”. This crazy man killed an innocent old man, not because he hated him but because he despised the old man’s eye. I believe that no sane person would do such an act.

          This foul man is insane, because he murdered an innocent person because of the eye! The eye that drove this man crazy, a pale blue eye that made the narrators blood run cold. He thought he needed it gone forever, so he decided to take the life of the old man. Crazy is the only word that describes him. The main character thought about killing the old man day and night and once the thought was in his head, it wouldn’t leave.

Since the thought wouldn’t leave his mind, every night at precisely midnight, he would open the bedroom door of the old man; it took him hours to open that door! This is one reason why he’s insane, he takes an hour opening a door so he can watch the old man sleep. How crazy is that? Then, ever so slowly, he puts in a dark lantern into the room and opens it enough that a single ray of light falls on the vulture eye. For seven nights the eye was closed so the evil man could not kill the old man because it was not the old man the vexed him, but his eye. For this reason he is troubled, because he is very willing to kill this man for his eye.

Besides the main character watching his victim sleep for seven nights, he also got furious and cold when he gazed upon the eye. Imagine this…would you kill an old man just because his eye creeps you out? No, probably not, therefore this is another reason why he’s crazy. It’s also crazy to get MAD when you look at an eye! Who in the world gets upset when you see an eye? My point exactly. Finally on the seventh night of watching the old man sleep, the eye was open! The narrator grew furious gazing upon it, and therefore he now had the motive to kill. He killed the old man, and here’s the crazy part, he didn’t even feel a pang of sadness or regret. All he was thinking was “I’m amazing! I rid myself from the eye forever! Nobody will ever know I killed him!” This is another reason why he is crazy, by feeling nothing once the old man was dead.

          Besides not feeling regret about the old man’s death, the narrator heard many things…he had advanced hearing and when he was about to kill the old man he heard the clock of death. No sane person would hear     “The hearkening death watches in the wall”. He thought he could literally hear death coming for the old man. He also heard the heart beat of the old man. Listening to his heart beat the narrator grew mad also!

          If hearing death isn’t enough, he is also crazy because after he killed the aged man, he still heard the heart beat of the DEAD man’s heart! Isn’t this enough evidence that he is crazy? It is not possible to hear a dead man’s heart beat, therefore his mind is wacko! So as you can see, the main character in the horrifying story “The Tell-Tale Heart”, in my opinion, is insane.   

Am I Proud of my Country?

I am very proud of my country. I am astonished and amazed at the people who die for us, and for our freedom. There are so any good people in my country which makes me even more proud. However, a lot of people are troubled and commit crimes to innocent people which make me less proud of our country. But besides that I’m so glad that we got past the whole “natives being slaves” stage, because in some other countries they still make Native Americans slaves and America concurred that. I’m proud of my country on how it is runned, by letting the woman vote and by having everything be equal. I’m also proud of my country because it allows immigrants in with open arms. I am proud to be an American because it offers liberty and the pursuit of happiness to all, not just some. America is not perfect, but it is getting much better, and n that’s why I am proud of my country.