Lewis

=OH MY GOD, THIS COW IS AWSOME= I was born on the 21 of September 1997 and therefore I am 13. I enjoy holding my pet snake, swimming at the beach, going to circus (yes I am in a circus, and before you ask no I did not run away and join it) aswell as eating and sleeping. I enjoy English and would like to improve on my vocabulary and punctuation.  Beowulf in 100 words The people ate and Grendel came and ate one of them. Then Beowulf came and scared away Grendel. Later that night Grendel came back and Beowulf killed the ugly troll. He hung his arm from the roof and they partied. Then Grendel’s mum came and killed lots of people. That night Beowulf hunted her down and killed her.  The Horror of Grendel Lewis Marshall The horror of Grendel was portrayed through the use of powerful language and poetic devices. He was “a huge mottled creature” and his “claws were sword-sharp”. He was shown to be a creature of great size and strength and was something to be feared. The use of similes and metaphors is evident and well placed. He stood “breathing like a polar wind” there is much depth in the writing and the author has made it evident that Grendel was “a deformed troll from the marshes”. As the warriors went to sleep the author described a “starless sky... covered in a blanket of shadows” the starless night is a metaphor that there is no hope for the warriors. This creative use of foreshadowing is brilliantly used. The amazing detail in the description of the troll is the use of amazingly thought out and the perfect use of unusual adjectives. All of this has surmounted to be a very enthralling story.

__// crossing the divide //__ Crossing the Divide “Well,” “Yeah,” “I guess we should, um…” “Shall we?” “On three, one, two, three,” “I knew it! I knew you weren’t going to!” “You weren’t either!” “Ok, if I go first will you go after me?” “I don’t know, maybe, I’m not sure.” There they stood, arguing while a mile behind them an army marched on looming ever closer. The general barked orders to the advancing hoard of men. “You walk faster, no wait everyone walk faster especially you!” he was a vicious dictator but he was respected by all his men, as he could best them all in a fight. His name was Edward von Dutchmier and he was hunting two escaped prisoners. They were the most cunning of a group of ten that they had caught they were the only ones who escaped. The rest had been killed they weren’t fast enough. “Ok I’m across, now you come over,” “I… I can’t,” “Why the hell not?” The short answer, he was absolutely terrified. He was almost paralysed in fear and the only way he could go was back towards the advancing army. After all of this they weren’t going to get caught, not like this. The army was on the horizon, looming ominously in the distance. A choice had to be made he could be courageous and go for it or he could be captured. “I will come back over there and carry you across if I have to” “No, no I’ll make it don’t you worry,” “Well hurry up then we haven’t got all day,” Just as he began to cross a bullet burrowed its way into the tree next to him. This threw him into shock and he panicked, slipped, fell. A hand reached for his collar and just got there in time. But the hand seemed unfamiliar, it wasn’t his friend, it was an old hermit. “Well what have we here?” “Um… well… uh…” “Don’t worry I’m only joking, I’m Elijah.” He pulled him up with a surprising amount of strength for a man of his age. “We must go; it is not safe here come, let me give you somewhere to sleep for the night,” “That would be much appreciated,” “Save the thanks for later, there getting closer.” In a fit of rage Edward von Dutchmier threw his loaded gun onto the ground. A gunshot resinated through the cold air, he had killed his lieutenant. There was nothing he could do to catch them now. Richard and Dale were home free.

__Extended metaphor:__

My appetite is a universe. Inconceivably vast and ever expanding. In it lays great gaping holes and tiny specs of what is, in some eyes, big, but is infinitely small. Though many things exist in it nothing will ever fill it. Though some things in it are sickening, they are but little itches on the fleas of fleas.

__// Feudalism Essay //__ When the mighty Roman Empire fell a new system of government had arisen in Europe... Feudalism. The feudal system changed the face of Europe itself; the Crusades to the Holy Land, the rise of towns and the plague were however, the major causes for the fall of feudalism. The only thing that united Europe was Christianity. The people of Europe where united by religion to take Jerusalem, the birthplace of Jesus for Christianity and this was the basis for the crusades. In 1090 the pope sent out an edict asking for five thousand men to take Jerusalem. The edict said that if you went to Jerusalem you would be guaranteed a spot in heaven, that all your past sins would be forgiven and that if you killed any infidel you would be allowed to keep their riches. Instead of five thousand men the pope got approximately 100,000. When the pope first sent out the edict the Turks had recently taken over Jerusalem. However after the 5 to 6 years of traveling Jerusalem was in the control of Egypt and they had split the city into pieces where the Jewish, Muslim and Christian people could live and work separately. The Christians arrived and found this out but they attacked anyway and on the return of the peasant warriors they brought with them new technologies such as physics, medicine, astrology, numeracy and literature as well as wealth, something that peasants had never had. With this wealth they bought land at cross roads from the nobles and practiced what they had learned on their journey to Jerusalem. As crop rotation arose there became less need of farmers and so people could become specialists (ie. Jewellers, black smiths ect.) These people could take their business anywhere and they chose to set up at cross roads and traded their works. They rented land from the nobles or landlords which for the first time gave these commoners power as more buildings were built a town began with this came guilds. The guilds were a group of salespersons banding together to make a group in which they discussed the problems they were having and made solutions. The guilds were split into individual guilds for each trade and these guilds needed a leader a mayor if you will. As the mayors gained more power the nobles slowly lost theirs. To keep their families and goods safe the people built walls around the settlement making it a town and each night the gates to the town would be closed at a certain time. Because people were now living in groups they could spread ideas faster they eventually convinced the church to educate their children and there began the schools of the western world. With this education came more power to the people as they became more educated than the nobles and this spurred them to better themselves further. Because there were so many people in such a small space with such low hygiene there were more rats and this made it much easier for disease to spread. Sicily, 1347, a ship arrived carrying an extremely virulent disease from its trade route in Asia. This was the first town in Europe to be infected by the plague. Many died and many others who had no way of knowing they were infected fled to other towns spreading the disease. Panic ensued in every town that was hit and only 1 in 3 survived. In four years 40,000,000 people had died and this disease would last for many years after that. The disease caused the glands in the neck, armpit and other areas to swell. When the glands in the neck swelled it could sometimes cause suffocation. It was known to most as the Black Death because when the glands swelled the caused severe bruising. Some though that the people who didn’t get sick were witches cursing them, so they burned them at the stake. This made peasants very valuable and the nobles began to pay there peasants to stay and giving them what they wanted causing the final remnants of the feudal system to collapse. __// Tomorrow when the war began //__ Essay: What does __Tomorrow When the War Began__ suggest that loyalty, courage and goodness are?

Loyalty, courage and goodness are traits that humans have created that have been explored deeply in this novel. __Tomorrow When the War Began__ shows the reader what loyalty courage and goodness really help the group survive. Courage is shown to be the ability to take risks; face fears and override the human instinct of self-preservation. Loyalty is shown to be a trust in something or someone care for that person or thing and a sense of connectedness. Goodness is thought to be respect for others and their rights, positive values and a conscience. John Marsden makes the reader think about morality and how the way actions are viewed under different circumstances. Courage is a useful thing to have and we often admire those who have it, there are many forms of courage that are shown throughout the novel. Ellie showed courage when she was chosen to write down what had happened, as she was admitting things that she may not have been proud of, “[she] had to stop biting [her] tongue and start biting the bullet.” in order to write the story she had to show moral courage. Lee showed courage when he was in the, “shovel” of the, “bulldozer” and being shot at. Homer showed courage when he stepped up and became a leader, he gave the group three choices, “One, [they] can sit tight and wait.” Homer showed courage when he told them that the idea wasn’t bad at all and that it wouldn’t be “chicken”. Courage is a trait that is admired, but anyone can be courageous including the enemy. Loyalty is thought to be a sense of trust in or care for something; it is common but valued just as much as courage. Loyalty has many forms the first to be addressed is relationships, this doesn’t just involve love this includes friendship as well. When they took corrie to the hospital Ellie showed loyalty to both Kevin and Corrie, “[she] knew corrie was in good hands.” She trusted Kevin enough to take Corrie to the hospital. The second type of loyalty addressed in the novel was towards the family and this was explored in a different way. The group thought about trying to save their families from the fairgrounds, “[they] [had] rifles… but they’d be like pop-guns compare to what [those] turkeys [were] using.” The third loyalty that was explored was towards their country and this was shown as patriotism. They felt that it was right to protect their land and to do so they blew up the bridge. Loyalty can unite a group but that is not always the group that the majority prefer. Goodness is hard to define; it is the most valuable of the three traits explored throughout the novel and is associated with the conscience. Ellie reflects on the morality of her actions throughout the entire novel, when she blows up the bridge she is glad that she probably hasn’t killed anyone. We see that the ideas of goodness change as the situation changes, “for the first time [she] saw their faces then [she] struck the match.” This ability to kill even though she realises that these are people show that her morals changed in wartime. Homers “rebellious” actions were considered taboo while they were in peacetime but when they needed ideas his resourcefulness was considered good. Patriotism is considered to be ‘good’ by the country being protected even if it involves killing for that countries freedom. Christie was accused of killing his family he was proven innocent but he was still ridiculed. Goodness is thought to change when the situation changes and it is therefore hard to define a solid set of morals. John Marsden’s faith in youth shows that he believes in the strength of the countries youth’s morals. __Inappropriate tone:__ I was in my room, my parents were out somewhere, I’m not sure where. I was reading my book, it was good as I recall but I don’t remember what book it was. Car doors from outside my parents were home, and there was a foreign noise, something I didn’t recognise. The keys jangled in the lock and my parents entered the house, and there was that noise, it sounded… alive. I walked calmly into the lounge room, and was startled by something running towards me, it was small, furry and loud, “hi son, I see you’ve met your new pet,” they exclaimed, “It’s a puppy!” I ran, it was horrible, I had never asked for anything like this. I slammed the door. Scratching, I couldn’t stay in here forever. Task 8

The Story of Bertram Christie The radio crackled into life, static, then a news flash blared “this is a fire warning” the announcer proclaimed “the suburbs of Wirrawee, Mt Isa and Walgra are on fire alert, please evacuate your homes.” I walked out onto the veranda; the dry heat was pulsing and on the horizon, flittering, red and then orange. I went back inside, my wife had gone out but my son was sitting in his room on the end of his bed. His eyes blank and glazed over, he was staring at the horizon. “Dad, do we have to leave the house?” his son questioned. “You shouldn’t stay, but I won’t force you to leave.” I replied darkly, “If you want to leave with me, now is the time.” It wasn’t long before my wife returned home. I explained why I was leaving, she didn’t want to go. I stayed and reasoned with her for a little while, but she protested. I had to leave but I couldn’t stay away for long when I got back I saw a horrific scene. The fire flashed over, fast but fleeting and engulfed the house. I burst in, saw them, grabbed the rifle off of its wall mount. Bang, bang… everything went quiet, even the roaring of the fire. All I heard was the pounding of my own heart. The house was in ruins now, all that was left were cinders and the remnants of my former life. I told the authorities what happened, “My family didn’t want to leave the house, I tried all that I could,” they weren’t listening, “they were severely burned; we’re so far from a hospital that they would have died anyway,” I went on, “I just ended their suffering faster.” The authorities didn’t believe me; they thought that I ‘wanted’ to kill them. They took me to court, they put me up on the stand, “how does the defendant plead?” the prosecutor asked. “Not guilty,” it took me a while to explain to myself what had happened; now all I had to do was explain it to the court. They went through the facts they kept hard at me. I was eventually let out, no charges. The whole town however disagreed, they ridiculed me every last one of them, except my stepmother. She of all people believed me, but that wasn’t enough to make me stay. There was one place free of people that I could go. Hell was the only place I could live peacefully. Task 6 1. Ellie is inspired to use the ride-on mower as a bomb by the petrol trails that homer lay across roads to scare people before the war had started. 2. Marsden uses several writing techniques to create and then alleviate the tension in this scene. Marsden uses several poetic devices like alliteration to draw the reader in. Marsden digresses a lot to build up the suspense and draw the sentence out. 3. Marsden dehumanises the “soldiers” so that the reader doesn’t feel bad when Ellie kills them. These soldiers were referred to as “patrolling sentries” so that we did not sympathise, we did not know their names or see their faces. “They turned towards [them] like they had antennae.” Marsden refers to them as having antennae showing us that they were like insects. He does however, just as Ellie strikes the match, humanise them, “for the first time [she] saw their face then [she] struck the match.” She realises that they have human qualities just as she is about to kill them. 4. We do not condemn Ellie for the murders because the “soldiers” have been dehumanised throughout the entire novel. She is fighting for what is (from our perspective) right and fair. In war killing is considered justified and this makes it morally acceptable for Ellie to have killed these people. We see everything through Ellie’s perspective so it is also somewhat biased towards her actions.