tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14172181857990641562024-03-05T20:12:12.294-05:00Mrs. Valle's Superstar StudentsMrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-80919781024862819712010-09-10T09:37:00.004-04:002010-09-10T10:25:15.188-04:001960's Movie Project<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eTH_JKirNhye06TnV8ppMY6UXWbUDj__rf6dnRTjCgw_wdo_FKRVHUG5vcQsW61Yo_Rx2Z35Y36lxVB90R6Z4RPTIqZBgM4nEqEvMPoRVSNoaKcXQMtKhNQc3rB4Pu8rfmEy9M53wd32/s1600/1960sThe_Fabs.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eTH_JKirNhye06TnV8ppMY6UXWbUDj__rf6dnRTjCgw_wdo_FKRVHUG5vcQsW61Yo_Rx2Z35Y36lxVB90R6Z4RPTIqZBgM4nEqEvMPoRVSNoaKcXQMtKhNQc3rB4Pu8rfmEy9M53wd32/s320/1960sThe_Fabs.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515278495013429122" /></a><br /><br />Welcome to the 1960s, baby! This groovy project will show just how much you know about the time period and demonstrate how things have evolved throughout the decades. The requirements to make a perfect grade are the following:<br /><br />To make a perfect grade, you are to meet these requirements:<br /><br /><strong>Content</strong> Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is excellent.<br /><br /><strong>Music</strong> The tone and/or lyrics of the music relate really well to the topic and make the material much more clear.<br /><br /><strong>Wording</strong> Wording is well- placed in the movie and includes all of the following: headings, quotes and text that relate to the topic.<br /><br /><strong>Sources</strong> Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. All are documented in the end credits.<br /><br /><strong>Mechanics</strong> No misspellings or grammatical errors.<br /><br /><strong>Attractiveness</strong> Makes excellent use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance the presentation.<br /><br /><strong>Length</strong> The length of the movie was within the 3-3:30 minute format. (not including ending credits)Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-82192117666198460512010-09-10T09:21:00.007-04:002010-09-10T11:11:53.870-04:00Summer Reading!!!<a href="http://readingheadquartersathghs.blogspot.com/"><a href="http://www.readingheadquartersathghs.blogspot.com"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHH4kyD4Ti8V5ZNy-FMggJDUVYAFRVMoJtuGBF3wyunKxRurbwBwl74JKqgIEYIhvVysPaHS_bfOYo42E4Jo7IvGU-0BO4kfsQ-znbt0ktlIsMsiUxqVHoVC43gxwGiuTb8PlheZ6pFkHb/s1600/bookwormkids%2520single.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 305px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHH4kyD4Ti8V5ZNy-FMggJDUVYAFRVMoJtuGBF3wyunKxRurbwBwl74JKqgIEYIhvVysPaHS_bfOYo42E4Jo7IvGU-0BO4kfsQ-znbt0ktlIsMsiUxqVHoVC43gxwGiuTb8PlheZ6pFkHb/s320/bookwormkids%2520single.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515299810579599826" /></a></a></a><br />Please remember that all Summer Reading Projects are due September 30th. NONE WILL BE ACCEPTED after that date. You can find the book list and project choices in the HGHS Reading Headquarters blog if you click on the following link: <br /><br />http://www.readingheadquartersathghs.blogspot.com <br /><br />or you could just click on the bookworm above and it will direct you to the link. <a href="http://www.readingheadquartersathghs.blogspot.com"></a><br /><br />Remember that you should have read two of the books listed on the Summer Reading list and complete one of the project choices for EACH book; therefore you will have two projects to submit. Have fun!Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-13667321935586403482010-06-01T07:25:00.003-04:002010-06-01T07:30:44.419-04:00The Diary of Anne Frank<strong>The Diary of Anne Frank<br />Plot Summary</strong><br /><br />Anne receives a diary on her thirteenth birthday. She names it Kitty. <br />One day, Nazi police send a call-up notice for her father and her sister Margot for their deportation to a concentration camp. They flee to their hiding place, the Secret Annexe. <br /><br />Another family, the Van Daans, arrive with their son Peter. Anne particularly dislikes the frivolous Mrs. Van Daan. She also complains that the grown-ups criticize her. <br /><br />Anne tells Kitty that her Jewish friends are being taken away by the dozens. They are loaded into cattle trucks and sent to concentration camps.<br /><br />Daddy gets sick, but they cannot call a doctor, since they are in hiding. Anne reads a book on puberty and longs to have her period. She does not like to say her prayers with Mummy, for she finds Mummy cold. She gets jealous of Margot sometimes.<br /><br />They take in another person, Mr. Dussel. He is stubborn. Anne often feels guilty for being safe in hiding while her Jewish friends are probably suffering.<br /><br />Anne feels frustrated that she is criticized so often. She still does not get along with Mrs. Van Daan, and still finds Mummy cold, refusing to pray with her, upsetting her greatly.<br /><br />Anne cannot sleep because of the air raids, and they are eating terribly-dry bread and ersatz coffee for breakfast, spinach and rotten potatoes for dinner. Still, Anne feels lucky that they have food and shelter, that they are able to laugh at each other, and that they have books and a radio. <br /><br />There is an announcement that Italy has surrendered. This gives them hope for peace. <br />Anne chronicles a day in the Secret Annexe, describing many of the activities and personalities of the people in the Annexe. Anne is so affected by the tension that at times she goes to bed crying. She longs for fresh air, and wishes that the darkness and cruelty of the war would subside so that they can find beauty and safety. She has a dream of one of her friends, and feels guilty. She hopes that she prays hard enough to save her friends and family.<br /><br />She and Peter Van Daan develop a crush on each other. She remembers Peter Wessel, who she loved before going into hiding. They combine in her mind, and she feels intense longing. The grown-ups are critical of the relationship. Anne worries that she talks too much, but he likes her cheerfulness. She wants to help him overcome his loneliness. <br /><br />She hears that they will be making a collection of diaries and letters after the war, and wants to publish her diary. She has faith that God will raise them out of suffering, and that one day, the world will learn from the Jews. She is often downcast, but never in despair. <br /><br />She writes Daddy a letter about how he did not help her through her struggle to find herself, and he is so upset that she feels guilty and realizes that she was wrong.<br />They are horrified to hear about antisemitism in Holland. Sometimes they go hungry, but even at their worst, they still have hope and are able to find cheerful moments. On D-Day, the English land on the French coast. There is great discussion about the hope of liberation, and they have fresh courage and strength. <br /><br />Anne celebrates her fifteenth birthday. She wishes she could look at nature more often, and not through a dirty window. Many cities have fallen to the Allies, and the mood is optimistic.<br />She becomes disappointed in Peter. She does not want him to lean on her. She wonders how she has held onto her ideals in the face of all the cruelty of war. She still believes that people are really good at heart. She has a deeper, purer side that no one knows. She worries that people think she is superficial. <br /><br />With this, her diary ends, for on August 4, 1944, the Secret Annexe was raided and they were taken away to German and Dutch concentration camps.<br /><br /><strong>Characters</strong><br /><br /><strong>Jan Dussel</strong><br />Mr. Dussel is the dentist who comes to live with the Franks and the Van Daans after they have been in hiding about two months. He is a neighbor of Miep’s boyfriend, and when the Nazis begin rounding up and deporting the Jews, he has nowhere to go. Originally supposed to stay only for a few days, Mr. Dussel remains in the attic until the Gestapo take everyone away.<br />In his fifties and set in his ways, Mr. Dussel is difficult to get along with. He refuses to adjust to the reality of so little space shared by so many people. He also stirs up worry, for example, by making everyone fearful that the thief will report them. He also makes his dislike of Anne clear. For instance, when Mr. Van Daan says in reaction to Anne’s nightmare screams, “I thought someone was murdering her,” Mr. Dussel answers, “Unfortunately, no.”<br /><br /><strong>Anne Frank</strong><br />Anne is thirteen years old when her family goes into hiding. She is a rambunctious, precocious, friendly, talkative girl. In the Franks’ life in Amsterdam, Anne had many friends at school, and now, lonely in the attic, she turns to her diary as the confidante with whom she can share her thoughts. She tells her diary about her family, her past, her feelings, and her hopes for the future.<br />Anne’s boisterousness and her determination to act as she feels and not as others believe she should pose a challenge; Mrs. Frank and the Van Daans think she should act more like a young lady, but Anne refuses to change her personality to their wishes. She rebels against societal restrictions and the values of an older generation. However, while Anne’s imagination, enthusiasm, and will cannot be subdued, at times, as when Anne makes Hanuk-kah presents for everyone, this quality is greatly appreciated.<br />Although carefree on the exterior, Anne has many serious concerns that she keeps hidden. She worries about her relationship with her mother and her inability to control herself, particularly with regard to acting hurtful toward others. Another major concern is her writing; she has decided that her goal in life is to become a famous writer, but she does not know if she will be able to write well enough to “go on living even after my death.” Anne also spends her time thinking about the events that have shaken the world. She knows about the concentration camps, but she still insists on believing that the world will be a better place someday. Her last words in the play are hopeful ones: “I think the world may be going through a phase, the way I was with Mother. It’ll pass, maybe not for hundreds of years, but some day. . . I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart.” Anne dies in the concentration camp when she is fifteen years old.<br /><br /><strong>Edith Frank</strong><br />Mrs. Frank is a reserved woman, and she believes that her daughters should be the same way. Her lack of understanding regarding Anne’s personality makes it impossible for the two to share a sustained emotional connection; nevertheless, she is hurt by Anne’s continual rejection of her ideals and her affection. Mrs. Frank takes on the role of conciliator, trying to keep things calm in the attic; for example, she is willing that Anne should give up her one friend — Peter — to appease Mrs. Van Daan. Though she rarely argues — as Margot points out to Anne, “She can’t talk back. . . . It’s just not in her nature to fight back” — the night she catches Mr. Van Daan stealing food is the last straw. She adamantly demands that Mr. Van Daan leave the attic. Only Miep’s arrival with good news deters her from making him leave. Mrs. Frank dies in the concentration camps.<br /><br /><strong>Margot Frank</strong><br />Margot, Anne’s older sister, is eighteen years old when they first go into hiding. She is a reserved young woman. Margot is in every way a well-brought-up young lady. She is obedient and respectful. She does her studies with her father and helps her mother with the chores of the house. She loans her high heels to her younger sister. She rarely disagrees, but one notable exception, which shocks her mother, occurs when Margot declares, “Sometimes I wish the end would come. . . whatever it is.” Margot dies in the concentration camps.<br /><br /><strong>Otto Frank</strong><br />Mr. Frank and his family immigrated to Holland in the 1930s, when Adolf Hitler came into power in Germany. Mr. Frank started an import business, but the business was taken from him when the Germans conquered Holland in 1940. The family lived under increasingly repressive circumstances for a few years, but afraid of what would happen to the Jews, Mr. Frank arranged for his family to go into hiding in the attic above his former business. He invited the Van Daans as well, out of gratitude for Mr. Van Daan’s help when he first arrived in Holland.<br />Mr. Frank is the head of the “attic” family, but he willingly shares any information regarding their safety with everyone else. His calmness and patience lead him to try to work out the difficulties that arise between members of the household. Mr. Frank is also a loving, helpful father. He teaches the girls so they do not fall behind in their studies, and he invites Peter to take part in these lessons as well. He and Anne share a special bond; Anne turns to him with her fears and nightmares, not to her mother.<br />Of the eight occupants in the attic, only Mr. Frank survives the concentration camps. He returns to Amsterdam in November 1945, but the memories are too painful for him, and he decides he must leave, though he doesn’t yet know where he will go.<br /><br /><strong>Miep Gies</strong><br />Miep Gies, a Christian, is about twenty years old when the Franks go into hiding. She was a secretary in Mr. Frank’s business, and now, along with Mr. Kraler, she becomes the lifeline to the attic occupants, bringing them food, other necessities, and luxuries such as books. Miep is also the person who finds and saves Anne’s diary, which she gives to Mr. Frank when he returns to Amsterdam.<br /><br /><strong>Kraler</strong><br />Mr. Kraler, a Dutchman, worked for Mr. Frank before the Nazis took away his business. Now, Mr. Kraler runs the business. He willingly risks his life to help his friend and former employer. Either he or Miep visit the attic every day to bring food for the families. Mr. Kraler’s health suffers as a result of this strain; at one point, he is hospitalized for ulcers and eventually undergoes an operation.<br /><br /><strong>Peter Van Daan</strong><br />Peter Van Daan is about sixteen when the families go into hiding. He is a shy, socially awkward boy with an inferiority complex. His closest friend has been his cat, whom he brings to the attic with him. As he tells Anne, he is a “lone wolf.” At first hostile toward Anne, eventually he realizes that she is a “fine person,” and the two become close friends. With Anne, Peter is able to share his private thoughts. Peter dies in the concentration camps.<br /><br /><strong>Petronella Van Daan</strong><br />Mrs. Van Daan is vain, flirtatious, and difficult to get along with. She has a high regard for material objects. According to her husband, it was her refusal to give up her possessions that prevented them from leaving Holland earlier and resettling in Switzerland and America. In the attic, she can be found constantly caressing the fur coat that her father once gave her. She places this coat above all else; she gets upset when her husband insists on selling it so that they can buy food and other necessities, and she doesn’t spare Anne’s feelings when the girl spills milk on the coat by accident. Mrs. Van Daan and her husband continually argue, but she still looks out for him, for example, by giving him the largest servings of food. Mrs. Van Daan dies in the concentration camps.<br /><br /><strong>Putti Van Daan</strong><br />Mr. Van Daan helped Mr. Frank when the German man first moved to Holland, which is why Mr. Frank invited the Van Daans to share their hiding place. However, Mr. Van Daan is a selfish man, and this quality introduces problems into the attic. He protests allowing Mr. Dussel to move in with them because it will mean less food for everyone else. It turns out, Mr. Van Daan has been stealing the household’s food. Mr. Van Daan is also openly critical of Anne, for example, saying to her, “Why aren’t you nice and quiet like your sister Margot? Why do you have to show off all the time?” Mr. Van Daan dies in the concentration camps.Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-64600655557079028172010-05-25T09:05:00.003-04:002010-05-25T09:08:59.585-04:00Julius Caesar<strong>JULIUS CAESAR NOTES<br /><br />Plot Overview</strong><br /><br />TWO TRIBUNES, FLAVIUS AND MURELLUS, find scores of Roman citizens wandering the streets, neglecting their work in order to watch Julius Caesar’s triumphal parade: Caesar has defeated the sons of the deceased Roman general Pompey, his archrival, in battle. The tribunes scold the citizens for abandoning their duties and remove decorations from Caesar’s statues. Caesar enters with his entourage, including the military and political figures Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. A Soothsayer calls out to Caesar to “beware the Ides of March,” but Caesar ignores him and proceeds with his victory celebration (I.ii.19, I.ii.25).<br />Cassius and Brutus, both longtime intimates of Caesar and each other, converse. Cassius tells Brutus that he has seemed distant lately; Brutus replies that he has been at war with himself. Cassius states that he wishes Brutus could see himself as others see him, for then Brutus would realize how honored and respected he is. Brutus says that he fears that the people want Caesar to become king, which would overturn the republic. Cassius concurs that Caesar is treated like a god though he is merely a man, no better than Brutus or Cassius. Cassius recalls incidents of Caesar’s physical weakness and marvels that this fallible man has become so powerful. He blames his and Brutus’s lack of will for allowing Caesar’s rise to power: surely the rise of such a man cannot be the work of fate. Brutus considers Cassius’s words as Caesar returns. Upon seeing Cassius, Caesar tells Antony that he deeply distrusts Cassius.<br />Caesar departs, and another politician, Casca, tells Brutus and Cassius that, during the celebration, Antony offered the crown to Caesar three times and the people cheered, but Caesar refused it each time. He reports that Caesar then fell to the ground and had some kind of seizure before the crowd; his demonstration of weakness, however, did not alter the plebeians’ devotion to him. Brutus goes home to consider Cassius’s words regarding Caesar’s poor qualifications to rule, while Cassius hatches a plot to draw Brutus into a conspiracy against Caesar.<br />That night, Rome is plagued with violent weather and a variety of bad omens and portents. Brutus finds letters in his house apparently written by Roman citizens worried that Caesar has become too powerful. The letters have in fact been forged and planted by Cassius, who knows that if Brutus believes it is the people’s will, he will support a plot to remove Caesar from power. A committed supporter of the republic, Brutus fears the possibility of a dictator-led empire, worrying that the populace would lose its voice. Cassius arrives at Brutus’s home with his conspirators, and Brutus, who has already been won over by the letters, takes control of the meeting. The men agree to lure Caesar from his house and kill him. Cassius wants to kill Antony too, for Antony will surely try to hinder their plans, but Brutus disagrees, believing that too many deaths will render their plot too bloody and dishonor them. Having agreed to spare Antony, the conspirators depart. Portia, Brutus’s wife, observes that Brutus appears preoccupied. She pleads with him to confide in her, but he rebuffs her.<br />Caesar prepares to go to the Senate. His wife, Calpurnia, begs him not to go, describing recent nightmares she has had in which a statue of Caesar streamed with blood and smiling men bathed their hands in the blood. Caesar refuses to yield to fear and insists on going about his daily business. Finally, Calpurnia convinces him to stay home—if not out of caution, then as a favor to her. But Decius, one of the conspirators, then arrives and convinces Caesar that Calpurnia has misinterpreted her dreams and the recent omens. Caesar departs for the Senate in the company of the conspirators.<br />As Caesar proceeds through the streets toward the Senate, the Soothsayer again tries but fails to get his attention. The citizen Artemidorus hands him a letter warning him about the conspirators, but Caesar refuses to read it, saying that his closest personal concerns are his last priority. At the Senate, the conspirators speak to Caesar, bowing at his feet and encircling him. One by one, they stab him to death. When Caesar sees his dear friend Brutus among his murderers, he gives up his struggle and dies.<br />The murderers bathe their hands and swords in Caesar’s blood, thus bringing Calpurnia’s premonition to fruition. Antony, having been led away on a false pretext, returns and pledges allegiance to Brutus but weeps over Caesar’s body. He shakes hands with the conspirators, thus marking them all as guilty while appearing to make a gesture of conciliation. When Antony asks why they killed Caesar, Brutus replies that he will explain their purpose in a funeral oration. Antony asks to be allowed to speak over the body as well; Brutus grants his permission, though Cassius remains suspicious of Antony. The conspirators depart, and Antony, alone now, swears that Caesar’s death shall be avenged.<br />Brutus and Cassius go to the Forum to speak to the public. Cassius exits to address another part of the crowd. Brutus declares to the masses that though he loved Caesar, he loves Rome more, and Caesar’s ambition posed a danger to Roman liberty. The speech placates the crowd. Antony appears with Caesar’s body, and Brutus departs after turning the pulpit over to Antony. Repeatedly referring to Brutus as “an honorable man,” Antony’s speech becomes increasingly sarcastic; questioning the claims that Brutus made in his speech that Caesar acted only out of ambition, Antony points out that Caesar brought much wealth and glory to Rome, and three times turned down offers of the crown. Antony then produces Caesar’s will but announces that he will not read it for it would upset the people inordinately. The crowd nevertheless begs him to read the will, so he descends from the pulpit to stand next to Caesar’s body. He describes Caesar’s horrible death and shows Caesar’s wounded body to the crowd. He then reads Caesar’s will, which bequeaths a sum of money to every citizen and orders that his private gardens be made public. The crowd becomes enraged that this generous man lies dead; calling Brutus and Cassius traitors, the masses set off to drive them from the city.<br />Meanwhile, Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor, Octavius, arrives in Rome and forms a three-person coalition with Antony and Lepidus. They prepare to fight Cassius and Brutus, who have been driven into exile and are raising armies outside the city. At the conspirators’ camp, Brutus and Cassius have a heated argument regarding matters of money and honor, but they ultimately reconcile. Brutus reveals that he is sick with grief, for in his absence Portia has killed herself. The two continue to prepare for battle with Antony and Octavius. That night, the Ghost of Caesar appears to Brutus, announcing that Brutus will meet him again on the battlefield.<br />Octavius and Antony march their army toward Brutus and Cassius. Antony tells Octavius where to attack, but Octavius says that he will make his own orders; he is already asserting his authority as the heir of Caesar and the next ruler of Rome. The opposing generals meet on the battlefield and exchange insults before beginning combat.<br />Cassius witnesses his own men fleeing and hears that Brutus’s men are not performing effectively. Cassius sends one of his men, Pindarus, to see how matters are progressing. From afar, Pindarus sees one of their leaders, Cassius’s best friend, Titinius, being surrounded by cheering troops and concludes that he has been captured. Cassius despairs and orders Pindarus to kill him with his own sword. He dies proclaiming that Caesar is avenged. Titinius himself then arrives—the men encircling him were actually his comrades, cheering a victory he had earned. Titinius sees Cassius’s corpse and, mourning the death of his friend, kills himself.<br />Brutus learns of the deaths of Cassius and Titinius with a heavy heart, and prepares to take on the Romans again. When his army loses, doom appears imminent. Brutus asks one of his men to hold his sword while he impales himself on it. Finally, Caesar can rest satisfied, he says as he dies. Octavius and Antony arrive. Antony speaks over Brutus’s body, calling him the noblest Roman of all. While the other conspirators acted out of envy and ambition, he observes, Brutus genuinely believed that he acted for the benefit of Rome. Octavius orders that Brutus be buried in the most honorable way. The men then depart to celebrate their victory.<br /><br /><strong><br />Act I, scene i<br />Summary</strong><br />Two tribunes, Flavius and Murellus, enter a Roman street, along with various commoners. Flavius and Murellus derisively order the commoners to return home and get back to work: “What, know you not, / Being mechanical, you ought not walk / Upon a labouring day without the sign / Of your profession?” (I.i.2–5). Murellus engages a cobbler in a lengthy inquiry about his profession; misinterpreting the cobbler’s punning replies, Murellus quickly grows angry with him. Flavius interjects to ask why the cobbler is not in his shop working. The cobbler explains that he is taking a holiday from work in order to observe the triumph (a lavish parade celebrating military victory)—he wants to watch Caesar’s procession through the city, which will include the captives won in a recent battle against his archrival Pompey.<br />Murellus scolds the cobbler and attempts to diminish the significance of Caesar’s victory over Pompey and his consequent triumph. “What conquest brings he home? / What tributaries follow him [Caesar] to Rome / To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?” Murellus asks, suggesting that Caesar’s victory does not merit a triumph since it involves no conquering of a foreign foe to the greater glory of Rome (I.i.31–33). Murellus reminds the commoners of the days when they used to gather to watch and cheer for Pompey’s triumphant returns from battle. Now, however, due to a mere twist of fate, they rush out to celebrate his downfall. Murellus scolds them further for their disloyalty, ordering them to “pray to the gods to intermit the plague / That needs must light on this ingratitude” (I.i.53–54).<br />The commoners leave, and Flavius instructs Murellus to go to the Capitol, a hill on which rests a temple on whose altars victorious generals offer sacrifice, and remove any crowns placed on statues of Caesar. Flavius adds that he will thin the crowds of commoners observing the triumph and directs Murellus to do likewise, for if they can regulate Caesar’s popular support, they will be able to regulate his power (“These growing feathers plucked from Caesar’s wing / Will make him fly an ordinary pitch” [I.i.71–72]).<br /><br /><strong>Act I, scene ii<br />Summary</strong><br />Caesar enters a public square with Antony, Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, and a Soothsayer; he is followed by a throng of citizens and then by Flavius and Murellus. Antony, dressed to celebrate the feast day, readies himself for a ceremonial run through the city. Caesar urges him to touch Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, as he runs, since Roman superstition holds that the touch of a ceremonial runner will cure barrenness. Antony agrees, declaring that whatever Caesar says is certain to become fact.<br />The Soothsayer calls out from the crowd to Caesar, telling him to beware the Ides of March. (The “ides” refers to the fifteenth day of March, May, July, and October and the thirteenth day of the other months in the ancient Roman calendar.) Caesar pauses and asks the man to come forward; the Soothsayer repeats himself. Caesar ultimately dismisses the warning, and the procession departs. Brutus and Cassius remain. Cassius asks Brutus why he has not seemed himself lately. Brutus replies that he has been quiet because he has been plagued with conflicting thoughts. But he assures Cassius that even though his mind is at war with itself, he will not let his inner turmoil affect his friendships.<br />Cassius and Brutus speak together. Cassius asks Brutus if Brutus can see his own face; Brutus replies that he cannot. Cassius then declares that Brutus is unable to see what everyone else does, namely, that Brutus is widely respected. Noting that no mirror could reveal Brutus’s worthiness to himself, Cassius offers to serve as a human mirror so that Brutus may discover himself and conceive of himself in new ways.<br />Brutus hears shouting and says that he fears that the people want to make Caesar their king. When Cassius asks, Brutus affirms that he would rather that Caesar not assume the position. Brutus adds that he loves Caesar but that he also loves honor, and that he loves honor even more than he fears death. Cassius replies that he, too, recoils at the thought of kneeling in awe before someone whom he does not consider his superior, and declares, “I was born as free as Caesar, so were you. / We both have fed as well, and we can both / Endure the winter’s cold as well as he” (I.ii.99–101). Cassius recalls a windy day when he and Caesar stood on the banks of the Tiber River, and Caesar dared him to swim to a distant point. They raced through the water, but Caesar became weak and asked Cassius to save him. Cassius had to drag him from the water. Cassius also recounts an episode when Caesar had a fever in Spain and experienced a seizure. Cassius marvels to think that a man with such a feeble constitution should now stand at the head of the civilized world.<br />Caesar stands like a Colossus over the world, Cassius continues, while Cassius and Brutus creep about under his legs. He tells Brutus that they owe their underling status not to fate but to their own failure to take action. He questions the difference between the name “Caesar” and the name “Brutus”: why should Caesar’s name be more celebrated than Brutus’s when, spoken together, the names sound equally pleasing and thus suggest that the men should hold equal power? He wonders in what sort of age they are living when one man can tower over the rest of the population. Brutus responds that he will consider Cassius’s words. Although unwilling to be further persuaded, he admits that he would rather not be a citizen of Rome in such strange times as the present.<br />Meanwhile, Caesar and his train return. Caesar sees Cassius and comments to Antony that Cassius looks like a man who thinks too much; such men are dangerous, he adds. Antony tells Caesar not to worry, but Caesar replies that he prefers to avoid Cassius: Cassius reads too much and finds no enjoyment in plays or music—such men are never at ease while someone greater than themselves holds the reins of power. Caesar urges Antony to come to his right side—he is deaf in his left ear—and tell him what he thinks of Cassius. Shortly, Caesar and his train depart.<br />Brutus and Cassius take Casca aside to ask him what happened at the procession. Casca relates that Antony offered a crown to Caesar three times, but Caesar refused it each time. While the crowd cheered for him, Caesar fell to the ground in a fit. Brutus speculates that Caesar has “the falling sickness” (a term for epilepsy in Elizabethan times). Casca notes, however, that Caesar’s fit did not seem to affect his authority: although he suffered his seizure directly before the crowd, the people did not cease to express their love. Casca adds that the great orator Cicero spoke in Greek, but that he couldn’t understand him at all, saying “it was Greek to me” (I.ii.278). He concludes by reporting that Flavius and Murellus were deprived of their positions as civil servants for removing decorations from Caesar’s statues. Casca then departs, followed by Brutus.<br />Cassius, alone now, says that while he believes that Brutus is noble, he hopes that Brutus’s noble nature may yet be bent: “For who so firm that cannot be seduced?” he asks rhetorically (I.ii.306). He decides to forge letters from Roman citizens declaring their support for Brutus and their fear of Caesar’s ascent to power; he will throw them into Brutus’s house that evening.<br /><br /><strong>Act I, scene iii<br />Summary</strong><br />Casca and Cicero meet on a Roman street. Casca says that though he has seen many terrible things in the natural world, nothing compares to the frightfulness of this night’s weather. He wonders if there is strife in heaven or if the gods are so angered by mankind that they intend to destroy it. Casca relates that he saw a man with his hands on fire, and yet his flesh was not burning. He describes meeting a lion near the Capitol: bizarrely, the lion ignored him and walked on. Many others have seen men on fire walking in the streets, and an owl, a nocturnal bird, was seen sitting out in the marketplace during the day. When so many abnormal events happen at once, Casca declares, no one could possibly believe that they are natural occurrences. Casca insists that they are portents of danger ahead. Cicero replies that men will interpret things as they will: “Indeed it is a strange-disposèd time; / But men may construe things after their fashion, / Clean from the purpose of the things themselves” (I.iii.33–35). Cicero asks if Caesar is coming to the Capitol the next day; Casca replies that he is. Cicero departs, warning that it is not a good atmosphere in which to remain outside.<br />Cassius enters. He has been wandering through the streets, taking no shelter from the thunder and lightning. Casca asks Cassius why he would endanger himself so. Cassius replies that he is pleased—he believes that the gods are using these signs to warn the Romans about a “monstrous state,” meaning both an abnormal state of affairs and an atrocious government (I.iii.71). Cassius compares the night to Caesar himself, who<br />like this dreadful night,<br />. . . thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars<br />As doth the lion in the Capitol. (I.iii.72–74)<br />He also calls Caesar “prodigious grown, / And fearful, as these strange eruptions are” (I.iii.76–77).<br />Casca reports to Cassius that the senators plan to make Caesar king in the Senate the following day. Cassius draws his dagger and swears to the gods that if they can make a weak man like Caesar so powerful, then they can empower Cassius to defeat a tyrant. He declares that Rome must be merely trash or rubbish to give itself up so easily to Caesar’s fire. Casca joins Cassius in his censure of Caesar, and Cassius reveals that he has already swayed a number of high-powered Romans to support a resistance movement.<br />A conspirator named Cinna enters. Cassius now divulges his latest scheme in his plot to build opposition against Caesar: the conversion of Brutus. Cassius gives Cinna the letters he has forged to place in Brutus’s chair in the Senate, and others to throw through Brutus’s window and place on Brutus’s statue. Cassius claims that Brutus has already come three-quarters of the way toward turning against Caesar; he hopes the letters will bring him the rest of the way around. Casca comments that the noble Brutus’s participation in their plot will bring worthiness to their schemes, for “he sits high in all the people’s hearts, / And that which would appear offence in us / His countenance, like richest alchemy, / Will change to virtue and to worthiness” (I.iii.157–60).<br /><br /><strong>Act II, scene i<br />Summary</strong><br />Brutus paces back and forth in his garden. He asks his servant to bring him a light and mutters to himself that Caesar will have to die. He knows with certainty that Caesar will be crowned king; what he questions is whether or not Caesar will be corrupted by his power. Although he admits that he has never seen Caesar swayed by power in the past, he believes that it would be impossible for Caesar to reach such heights without eventually coming to scorn those lower in status. Brutus compares Caesar to the egg of a serpent “which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous”; thus, he determines to “kill him in the shell” (II.i.33–34).<br />Brutus’s servant enters with a letter that he has discovered near the window. Brutus reads the letter, which accuses him of sleeping while Rome is threatened: “Brutus, thou sleep’st. Awake, and see thyself” (II.i.46). Brutus interprets the letter as a protest against Caesar: “Thus must I piece it out: / Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe?” (II.i.51–52). Believing the people of Rome are telling him their desires through this single letter, he resolves to take the letter’s challenge to “speak, strike, redress” (II.i.47). A knock comes at the door. Brutus’s servant announces Cassius and a group of men—the conspirators. They include Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus, and Trebonius.<br />Cassius introduces the men, then draws Brutus aside. The two speak briefly before rejoining the others. Cassius suggests that they swear an oath, but Brutus demurs. They have no need of oaths, he says, since their cause should be strong enough to bind them together. The group discusses whether it should try to bring the esteemed Cicero into the conspiracy, for he would bring good public opinion to their schemes, but Brutus dissuades them, pointing out that Cicero would never follow anyone else’s ideas. Cassius then suggests that they would do well to kill Antony in addition to Caesar, but Brutus refuses, saying that this would make their plan too bloody. According to Brutus, they only stand against the spirit of Caesar, which he wishes could be destroyed without the necessity of killing the man himself. He says that they should kill him boldly, but not viciously, so that they might be perceived as purging the state rather than as murderers. Cassius replies that he still fears Antony, but Brutus assures him that Antony will be rendered harmless once Caesar is dead.<br />Cassius states that no one knows whether Caesar will come to the Capitol that day, since the warnings of augurs (seers or soothsayers) after this brutal evening might keep him at home. But Decius assures the others that he will be able to convince Caesar to ignore his superstitions by flattering his bravery. The conspirators depart, Brutus suggesting that they try to behave like actors and hide their true feelings and intentions.<br />Brutus’s wife, Portia, enters the garden. She wonders what has been worrying Brutus, for his behavior has been strange. He says that he has felt unwell. She asks why he refuses to tell her his concerns, insisting that, as his wife, she should be told about his problems and assuring him that she will keep his secrets. Brutus replies that he wishes he were worthy of such an honorable wife. They hear a knock at the door, and Brutus sends her away with a promise to talk to her later.<br />Ligarius enters, looking sick. He says he would not be sick if he could be sure that Brutus was involved in a scheme in the name of honor. Brutus says that he is. Ligarius rejoices and accompanies Brutus offstage to hear more of the plan.<br /><br /><strong>Act II, scenes ii–iv<br />Summary: Act II, scene ii</strong><br />Caesar wanders through his house in his dressing gown, kept awake by his wife Calpurnia’s nightmares. Three times she has called out in her sleep about Caesar’s murder. He sends a servant to bid the priests to offer a sacrifice and tell him the results. Calpurnia enters and insists that Caesar not leave the house after so many bad signs. Caesar rebuffs her, refusing to give in to fear. But Calpurnia, who has never heeded omens before, speaks of what happened in the city earlier that night: dead men walked, ghosts wandered the city, a lioness gave birth in the street, and lightning shattered the skies. These signs portend true danger, she says; Caesar cannot afford to ignore them.<br />Caesar counters that nothing can change the plans of the gods. He deems the signs to apply to the world in general and refuses to believe that they bode ill for him personally. Calpurnia says that the heavens proclaim the death of only great men, so the omens must have to do with him. Caesar replies that while cowards imagine their death frequently, thus dying in their minds several times over, brave men, refusing to dwell on death, die only once. He cannot understand why men fear death, which must come eventually to all.<br />The servant enters, reporting that the augurs recommend that Caesar stay home. They examined the entrails of an animal and were unable to find a heart—a bad sign. But Caesar maintains that he will not stay home out of fear. Danger cannot affect Caesar, he says. Calpurnia begs him to send Antony to the Senate in his place; finally Caesar relents.<br />Decius enters, saying that he has come to bring Caesar to the Senate. Caesar tells him to tell the senators that he will be absent that day. Calpurnia tells him to plead illness, but Caesar refuses to lie. Decius then asks what reason he should offer. Caesar states that it is simply his will to stay home. He adds that Calpurnia has had a dream in which she saw his statue run with blood like a fountain, while many smiling Romans bathed their hands in the blood; she has taken this to portend danger for Caesar.<br />Decius disputes Calpurnia’s interpretation, saying that actually the dream signifies that Romans will all gain lifeblood from the strength of Caesar. He confides that the Senate has decided to give Caesar the crown that day; if Caesar were to stay at home, the senators might change their minds. Moreover, Caesar would lose public regard if he were perceived as so easily swayed by a woman, or by fear. Caesar replies that his fears now indeed seem small. He calls for his robe and prepares to depart. Cassius and Brutus enter with Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius, and Cinna to escort him to the Senate. Finally, Antony enters. Caesar prepares to depart.<br />Summary: Act II, scene iii<br />Artemidorus comes onstage, reading to himself a letter that he has written Caesar, warning him to be wary of Brutus, Casca, and the other conspirators. He stands along the route that Caesar will take to the Senate, prepared to hand the letter to him as he passes. He is sad to think that the virtue embodied by Caesar may be destroyed by the ambitious envy of the conspirators. He remains hopeful, however, that if his letter gets read, Caesar may yet live.<br />Summary: Act II, scene iv<br />Portia sends Brutus’s servant to the Senate to observe events and report back to her how Caesar is faring. A Soothsayer enters, and Portia asks him if Caesar has gone to the Capitol yet. The Soothsayer replies that he knows that Caesar has not yet gone; he intends to wait for Caesar along his route, since he wants to say a word to him. He goes to the street to wait, hoping Caesar’s entourage will let him speak to the great man.<br /><br /><strong>Act III, scene i</strong><br /><em>But I am constant as the Northern Star,<br />Of whose true fixed and resting quality<br />There is no fellow in the firmament.</em><br /><strong>Summary</strong><br />Artemidorus and the Soothsayer await Caesar in the street. Caesar enters with Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Metellus, Trebonius, Cinna, Ligarius, Antony, and other senators. Artemidorus approaches with his letter, saying that its contents are a matter of closest concern for Caesar. Caesar responds, “What touches us ourself shall be last served”—that is, his personal concerns are his last priority (III.i.8). Artemidorus tells him to read it instantly, but Caesar dismisses him as crazy.<br />The group enters the Senate, and Cassius worries that the assassination plot has been discovered. Trebonius draws Antony away from the Senate room. Metellus approaches Caesar to request that his brother, Publius Cimber, who has been banished from Rome, be granted permission to return. Caesar answers that since Publius was banished by lawful decree, there is not just cause for absolving his guilt. Brutus and Cassius kneel at Caesar’s feet and repeat Metellus’s plea; Caesar answers that he will not change his mind now, declaring himself as “constant as the Northern Star” (III.i.60). When Cinna comes forward and kneels to plead further, Caesar adds another comparison, suggesting that they might as well hope to “lift up Olympus,” the mountain where the gods were believed to dwell, as to sway Caesar in his convictions (III.i.74).<br />Decius and Ligarius, followed by Casca, come forward to kneel at Caesar’s feet. Casca stabs Caesar first, and the others quickly follow, ending with Brutus. Recognizing that Brutus, too, has joined with the conspirators, Caesar speaks his last words: “Et tu, Brute?—Then fall Caesar” (III.i.76). He then yields and dies. The conspirators proclaim the triumph of liberty, and many exit in a tumult, including Lepidus and Artemidorus. Trebonius enters to announce that Antony has fled.<br />Brutus tells the conspirators that they have acted as friends to Caesar by shortening the time that he would have spent fearing death. He urges them to bend down and bathe their hands in Caesar’s blood, then walk to the marketplace (the Roman Forum) with their bloodied swords to proclaim peace, freedom, and liberty. Cassius agrees, declaring that the scene they now enact will be repeated time and again in the ages to come as a commemorative ritual.<br />Antony’s servant enters with a message: Antony, having learned of Caesar’s death, sends word that he loved Caesar but will now vow to serve Brutus if Brutus promises not to punish him for his past allegiance. Brutus says that he will not harm Antony and sends the servant to bid him come. Brutus remarks to Cassius that Antony will surely be an ally now, but Cassius replies that he still has misgivings.<br />Antony enters and sees Caesar’s corpse. He marvels how a man so great in deed and reputation could end as such a small and pathetic body. He tells the conspirators that if they mean to kill him as well, they should do it at once, for there would be no better place to die than beside Caesar. Brutus tells Antony not to beg for death, saying that although their hands appear bloody, their hearts have been, and continue to be, full of pity; although they must appear to him now as having acted in cruelty, their actual motives stemmed from sympathy and love for the Roman populace. Brutus tells Antony to wait until the conspirators have calmed the multitude; then they will explain fully why they have killed Caesar. Antony says he does not doubt their wisdom and shakes each of their bloody hands, staining the not-yet-bloodied hands of Trebonius, who has returned from leading Antony astray, in the process.<br />Antony now addresses Caesar’s departed spirit, asking to be pardoned for making peace with the conspirators over his dead body. After Antony praises Caesar’s bravery, Cassius questions his loyalty. Antony assures Cassius that he indeed desires to be numbered among their friends, explaining that he merely forgot himself for a moment upon seeing Caesar’s body. He emphasizes that he will gladly ally himself with all of the former conspirators, as long as they can explain to him why Caesar was dangerous.<br />Brutus assures Antony that he will find their explanation satisfactory. Antony asks if he might bring the body to the Forum and speak a funeral oration. Brutus consents, but Cassius urges him against granting permission. He tells Brutus that Antony will surely move the people against them if he is allowed to speak. Brutus replies that he will preface Antony’s words, explaining to the public the reason for the conspirators’ deed, and then explain that Antony has been allowed to speak only by Brutus’s consent. He believes that the people will admire his magnanimity for allowing Antony, a friend of Caesar’s, to take part in the funeral, and that the episode will benefit the conspiracy’s public image. Cassius remains displeased, but Brutus allows Antony to take Caesar’s body, instructing him to speak well of them since they are doing him a favor by permitting him to give the oration.<br />All depart; Antony remains alone onstage. He asks Caesar to pardon him for being gentle with his murderers. Antony prophesies that civil strife will follow Caesar’s death and lead to much destruction. As long as the foul deed of Caesar’s death remains unavenged, he predicts, Caesar’s spirit will continue to seek revenge, bringing chaos to Rome.<br />Octavius’s servant enters and sees the body on the ground. Antony tells him to return to Octavius, who had been traveling to Rome at Caesar’s behest, and keep his master out of the city; Rome is now dangerous for Octavius, Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor. But Antony urges the servant to come to the Forum and hear his funeral speech. Once they see how the public responds to the conspirators’ evil deed, they can decide how Octavius should proceed.<br /><br /><strong>Act III, scenes ii–iii</strong><br /><em>He was my friend, faithful and just to me.<br />But Brutus says he was ambitious,<br />And Brutus is an honourable man.</em><br /><strong>Summary: Act III, scene ii</strong><br />Brutus and Cassius enter the Forum with a crowd of plebeians. Cassius exits to speak to another portion of the crowd. Brutus addresses the onstage crowd, assuring them that they may trust in his honor. He did not kill Caesar out of a lack of love for him, he says, but because his love for Rome outweighed his love of a single man. He insists that Caesar was great but ambitious: it was for this reason that he slew him. He feared that the Romans would live as slaves under Caesar’s leadership.<br />He asks if any disagree with him, and none do. He thus concludes that he has offended no one and asserts that now Caesar’s death has been accounted for, with both his virtues and faults in life given due attention. Antony then enters with Caesar’s body. Brutus explains to the crowd that Antony had no part in the conspiracy but that he will now be part of the new commonwealth. The plebeians cheer Brutus’s apparent kindness, declaring that Brutus should be Caesar. He quiets them and asks them to listen to Antony, who has obtained permission to give a funeral oration. Brutus exits.<br />Antony ascends to the pulpit while the plebeians discuss what they have heard. They now believe that Caesar was a tyrant and that Brutus did right to kill him. But they wait to hear Antony. He asks the audience to listen, for he has come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. He acknowledges Brutus’s charge that Caesar was ambitious and maintains that Brutus is “an honourable man,” but he says that Caesar was his friend (III.ii.84). He adds that Caesar brought to Rome many captives, whose countrymen had to pay their ransoms, thus filling Rome’s coffers. He asks rhetorically if such accumulation of money for the people constituted ambition. Antony continues that Caesar sympathized with the poor: “When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (III.ii.88). He reminds the plebeians of the day when he offered the crown to Caesar three times, and Caesar three times refused. Again, he ponders aloud whether this humility constituted ambition. He claims that he is not trying to disprove Brutus’s words but rather to tell them what he, Antony, knows; he insists that as they all loved Caesar once, they should mourn for him now.<br />Antony pauses to weep. The plebeians are touched; they remember when Caesar refused the crown and wonder if more ambitious people have not stepped into his place. Antony speaks again, saying that he would gladly stir them to mutiny and rebellion, though he will not harm Brutus or Cassius, for they are—again—honorable men. He then brings out Caesar’s will. The plebeians beg him to read it. Antony says that he should not, for then they would be touched by Caesar’s love for them. They implore him to read it. He replies that he has been speaking too long—he wrongs the honorable men who have let him address the crowd. The plebeians call the conspirators traitors and demand that Antony read the will.<br />Finally, Antony descends from the pulpit and prepares to read the letter to the people as they stand in a circle around Caesar’s corpse. Looking at the body, Antony points out the wounds that Brutus and Cassius inflicted, reminding the crowd how Caesar loved Brutus, and yet Brutus stabbed him viciously. He tells how Caesar died and blood ran down the steps of the Senate. Then he uncovers the body for all to see. The plebeians weep and become enraged. Antony says that they should not be stirred to mutiny against such “honourable men” (III.ii.148). He protests that he does not intend to steal away their hearts, for he is no orator like Brutus. He proclaims himself a plain man; he speaks only what he knows, he says—he will let Caesar’s wounds speak the rest. If he were Brutus, he claims, he could urge them to rebel, but he is merely Antony.<br />The people declare that they will mutiny nonetheless. Antony calls to them to let him finish: he has not yet read the will. He now reads that Caesar has bequeathed a sum of money from his personal holdings to every man in Rome. The citizens are struck by this act of generosity and swear to avenge this selfless man’s death. Antony continues reading, revealing Caesar’s plans to make his private parks and gardens available for the people’s pleasure. The plebeians can take no more; they charge off to wreak havoc throughout the city. Antony, alone, wonders what will come of the mischief he has set loose on Rome. Octavius’s servant enters. He reports that Octavius has arrived at Caesar’s house, and also that Brutus and Cassius have been driven from Rome.<br />Summary: Act III, scene iii<br />Cinna the poet, a different man from Cinna the conspirator, walks through the city. A crowd of plebeians descends, asking his name. He answers that his name is Cinna, and the plebeians confuse him with the conspirator Cinna. Despite Cinna’s insistence that they have the wrong man, the plebeians drag him off and beat him to death.<br /><br /><strong>Act IV, scenes i–ii</strong><br /><em>He must be taught, and trained, and bid go forth—<br />A barren-spirited fellow . . .<br />. . . a property.</em><br /><strong>Summary: Act IV, scene i</strong><br />Antony meets Octavius and Lepidus at his house. They review a list of names, deciding who must be killed. Lepidus agrees to the death of his brother if Antony will agree to allow his nephew to be killed. Antony suggests that, as a way of saving money, they examine Caesar’s will to see if they can redirect some of his funds. Lepidus departs, and Antony asks Octavius if Lepidus is a worthy enough man to rule Rome with him and Octavius. Octavius replies that he trusts him, but Antony harbors doubts. Octavius points out that Lepidus is a “tried and valiant soldier,” to which Antony responds, “So is my horse”: he goes on to compare Lepidus to a mere animal, calling him a “barren-spirited fellow” and a mere tool (IV.i.28–36). Antony now turns the conversation to Brutus and Cassius, who are reportedly gathering an army; it falls to Octavius and Antony to confront them and halt their bid for power.<br />There is a tide in the affairs of men <br />. . . <br />And we must take the current when it serves . . .<br />Summary: Act IV, scene ii<br />Meanwhile, Brutus waits with his men in camp and meets with Lucillius, Titinius, and Pindarus. Lucillius bears a message from Cassius and steps aside to speak to Brutus. He says that Cassius is becoming more and more displeased with Brutus, and Brutus worries that their ties may be weakening. Cassius arrives with his army and accuses Brutus of having wronged him. Brutus replies that he would not wrong him, as he considers him his brother, and insists that they continue the discussion privately in Brutus’s tent.<br />Cassius charges Brutus with having condemned one of their men for taking bribes, even though Cassius sent letters asking him not to, since Cassius knew the man. Brutus responds by accusing Cassius of having taken bribes himself at times. Brutus tells him to recall the Ides of March, when they killed Caesar because they believed that he was corrupt. He asks Cassius if they should now allow themselves to descend into the very corruption that they tried to eliminate. Cassius tells Brutus not to bait him any more, for Cassius is a soldier and will fight.<br />The two men insult each other, and Brutus expresses the reasons for his disappointment in Cassius. Because he claims to be so honest himself that he cannot raise money by ignoble means, he was forced to ask Cassius for money, but Cassius ignored him. Cassius claims that he did not deny Brutus, but that the messenger misreported Brutus’s words. Cassius accuses Brutus of having ceased to love him. He hopes that Antony and Octavius will kill him soon, for, having lost his closest ally and friend, he no longer desires to live. He offers his dagger to Brutus to kill him, declaring, “Strike as thou didst at Caesar; for I know / When though didst hate him worst, thou loved’st him better / Than ever thou loved’st Cassius” (IV.ii.159–161).<br />Brutus tells Cassius to put his dagger away and says that they both are merely ill-tempered. The two men embrace and forgive each other. Outside, Lucillius is attempting to prevent a poet from entering the tent, but the poet squeezes past him and scolds Brutus and Cassius for arguing: “Love and be friends, as two such men should be, / For I have seen more years, I’m sure, than ye” (IV.ii.183–184). But, having already repledged their friendship, the two generals laugh together at the poet’s presumptuousness and send him away.<br />Cassius and Brutus drink wine together. Cassius expresses his surprise at Brutus’s earlier rage. Brutus explains that he has been under many emotional burdens lately, the foremost of which has been the death of his wife, Portia; he recently received news that she killed herself by swallowing fire. Titinius and Messala enter with news from Rome; Messala says that the triumvirate of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus has put a hundred senators to death. Messala asks Brutus if he has had word from Portia, and when Brutus answers negatively, Messala comments that this seems strange. When Brutus inquires if Messala knows something, Messala replies that he does not. But Brutus insists that Messala tell him the truth, and Messala reports that Portia is dead.<br />Brutus suggests that they march to Philippi to meet the enemy. Cassius says that he would rather let the enemy come to them. Brutus protests that they are at the peak of their readiness and should seize the opportunity. Cassius relents and agrees to march. The others depart, leaving Brutus in his tent with his servant Lucius. Brutus summons Varro and Claudio to sleep in his tent until they are needed for early morning messages.<br />The others fall asleep while Brutus lies awake trying to read. A spectral image enters (identified in the text as “Ghost of Caesar”). Brutus wonders if he is dreaming; he asks the form to identify himself. The Ghost replies that he is “thy evil spirit” (IV.ii.333). After telling Brutus that they will see each other again at Philippi, the Ghost disappears, and Brutus wakes his attendants. He asks them if they saw anything strange, but they reply that they did not.<br /><strong>Act V, scenes i–iii</strong><br /><strong>Summary: Act V, scene i</strong><br />Octavius and Antony enter the battlefield at Philippi with their armies. A messenger arrives to report that the enemy is ready for battle. Antony, the more experienced soldier, tells Octavius to attack from the left. Octavius refuses and replies that he will attack from the right and Antony can come from the left. Antony asks Octavius why he questions his authority, but Octavius stands firm.<br />The enemy factions—consisting of Brutus, Cassius, and their armies—enter; Titinius, Lucillius, and Messala are among them. Octavius asks Antony if their side should attack first, and Antony, now calling Octavius “Caesar,” responds that they will wait for the enemy to attack. Antony and Octavius go to meet Brutus and Cassius. The leaders exchange insults. Octavius draws his sword and calls for Caesar’s death to be avenged; he swears that he will not lay the sword down again until another Caesar (namely himself) adds the deaths of the traitors to the general slaughter. The leaders insult each other further before parting to ready their armies for battle.<br />After the departure of Antony and Octavius, Brutus calls Lucillius to talk privately. Cassius calls Messala to do the same. Cassius tells the soldier that it is his birthday and informs him of recent bad omens: two mighty eagles alighted on the foremost banners of their army and perched there, feeding from the soldiers’ hands; this morning, however, they are gone. Now ravens, crows, and other scavenger birds circle over the troops as if the men were diseased and weak prey. Cassius walks back to join Brutus and comments that the future looks uncertain; if they lose, they may never see each other again. Cassius asks Brutus if Brutus would allow himself to be led through Rome as a captive should they lose. Brutus replies that he would rather die than go to Rome as a defeated prisoner; he declares that this day “must end that work the ides of March begun”—that is, the battle represents the final stage in the struggle for power that began with the murder of Caesar (V.i.114). He bids Cassius “for ever and for ever farewell” (V.i.117). Cassius echoes these sentiments, and the men depart.<br /><strong>Summary: Act V, scene ii</strong><br />The battle begins between the scenes, and the next scene, comprising a scant total of six lines, depicts the two sides’ first surge against each other. Brutus sends Messala to Cassius to report that he senses a weakness in Octavius’s army and will push forward to exploit it.<br /><strong>Summary: Act V, scene iii</strong><br />The next scene finds Cassius standing on a hill with Titinius, watching the battle and lamenting its course. Though Brutus was correct in noting Octavius’s weakness, he proved overeager in his attack, and the tide of battle has turned against him. Pindarus now runs up to Cassius with a report: Antony’s troops have entered Cassius’s camp. He advises Cassius to flee to some more distant spot. Cassius refuses to move but, catching sight of a group of burning tents, asks if those tents are his. Titinius confirms that they are. Cassius then notices a series of advancing troops in the distance; he gives Titinius his horse and instructs him to find out whose troops they are. Titinius obeys and rides off.<br />Cassius asks Pindarus to ascend a nearby hill and monitor Titinius’s progress. Pindarus calls down his reports: Titinius, riding hard, is soon surrounded by the unknown men; he dismounts the horse and the unknown men cheer. Distraught at this news of what he takes to be his best friend’s capture, Cassius tells Pindarus to watch no more. Pindarus descends the hilltop, whereupon Cassius gives Pindarus his sword, covers his own eyes, and asks Pindarus to kill him. Pindarus complies. Dying, Cassius’s last words are that Caesar has now been revenged by the very sword that killed him.<br />Unexpectedly, Titinius now enters with Messala, observing that the battle rages on without sign of ending. Although Antony’s forces defeated those of Cassius, Brutus’s legions rallied to defeat those of Octavius. The men then discover Cassius’s body. Titinius realizes what has happened: when he rode out to the unknown troops, he discovered the troops to be Brutus’s; the men’s embrace of Titinius must have appeared to Pindarus a capture, and Cassius must have misperceived their joyful cheers of reunion as the bloodthirsty roars of the enemy’s men. Messala departs to bring the tragic news to Brutus. Titinius mourns over Cassius’s body, anguished that a man whom he greatly admired died over such a mistake. Miserable, Titinius stabs himself and dies.<br />Brutus now enters with Messala and his men. Finding the bodies, Brutus cries, “O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet”: even in death, Caesar is reaping revenge; he seems to turn events against his murderers from beyond the grave (V.iii.93). Brutus orders that Cassius’s body be taken away, and the men set off to struggle again with the armies of Antony and Octavius.<br />Act V, scenes iv–v<br /><strong>Summary: Act V, scene iv</strong><br />Brutus prepares for another battle with the Romans. In the field, Lucillius pretends that he is Brutus, and the Romans capture him. Antony’s men bring him before Antony, who recognizes Lucillius. Antony orders his men to go see if the real Brutus is alive or dead and to treat their prisoner well.<br /><strong>Summary: Act V, scene v</strong><br />Brutus sits with his few remaining men. He asks them to hold his sword so that he may run against it and kill himself. The Ghost of Caesar has appeared to him on the battlefield, he says, and he believes that the time has come for him to die. His men urge him to flee; he demurs, telling them to begin the retreat, and that he will catch up later. He then asks one of his men to stay behind and hold the sword so that he may yet die honorably. Impaling himself on the sword, Brutus declares that in killing himself he acts on motives twice as pure as those with which he killed Caesar, and that Caesar should consider himself avenged: “Caesar, now be still. / I killed not thee with half so good a will” (V.v.50–51).<br />Antony enters with Octavius, Messala, Lucillius, and the rest of their army. Finding Brutus’s body, Lucillius says that he is glad that his master was not captured alive. Octavius decides to take Brutus’s men into his own service. Antony speaks over the body, stating that Brutus was the noblest Roman of all: while the other conspirators acted out of envy of Caesar’s power, Brutus acted for what he believed was the common good. Brutus was a worthy citizen, a rare example of a real man. Octavius adds that they should bury him in the most honorable way and orders the body to be taken to his tent. The men depart to celebrate their victory.Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-74821214352593522922010-05-20T15:21:00.002-04:002010-05-20T15:28:16.235-04:00Poetry PortfolioCut and paste the link below onto the address bar to get the Poetry assignment sheet and rubric:<br />http://www.scribd.com/doc/28910705/Portfolio-of-PoetryMrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-71201947612538632882010-05-05T14:30:00.005-04:002010-05-20T15:20:23.417-04:00Poetry 411Alright so I decided to give you some more time to put together those BEAUTIFUL poetry books! I will collect all books on Wednesday 5/26 and Thursday 5/27. NO EXCEPTIONS! If I don't have it on the day it is due, I will not even consider looking at it. Please use all of your creative energies into making this AMAZING! Use all the tools we have learned in class and make sure to include all the requirements<br /><br />All types of poems can be found at:<br /><a href="http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/">http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/</a><br /><br />Concrete Poem:<br /><a href="http://www.literacyrules.com/concrete_poems.htm">http://www.literacyrules.com/concrete_poems.htm</a><br /><br />Rhyme Royal:<br /><a href="http://languageisavirus.com/poetry-guide/rhyme_royal.html">http://languageisavirus.com/poetry-guide/rhyme_royal.html</a><br /><br />Metaphor Poem:<br /><a href="http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112392/metaphor.html">http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112392/metaphor.html</a><br /><a href="http://www.teachervision.fen.com/poetry/literary-techniques/5453.html">http://www.teachervision.fen.com/poetry/literary-techniques/5453.html</a><br /><br />Lyric Poem:<br /><a href="http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/31-lyric-poetry.htm">http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/31-lyric-poetry.htm</a><br /><br />Enjambment:<br /><a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/glossaryItem.do?id=8102">http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/glossaryItem.do?id=8102</a><br /><a href="http://www.haverford.edu/engl/chaucer/assignments/enjambment.htm">http://www.haverford.edu/engl/chaucer/assignments/enjambment.htm</a><br /><br />Epitaph:<br /><a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/epitaph">http://www.answers.com/topic/epitaph</a><br /><a href="http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/epitaphs/">http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/epitaphs/</a><br /><br />Haiku:<br /><a href="http://volweb.utk.edu/school/bedford/harrisms/haiku.htm">http://volweb.utk.edu/school/bedford/harrisms/haiku.htm</a><br /><br />Terza Rima:<br /><a href="http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/terza.html">http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/terza.html</a>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-81126437694591901742010-01-13T10:04:00.006-05:002010-01-13T10:14:40.454-05:00Midterm Exam!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkxytAbXT5kg5_DcFHFNu-sB-igDUwg16AvU1u6Ad0ZAKsqQGxu76mrdrNUR3DAa5tLEBIaU477CHAESrDG9EnEQz2VlbbbLwL5K6MmZaanc3OIb_S4omb0YeI-BcnJFDdkzUTCbYzlGW/s1600-h/exam+1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 163px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 253px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426242173481525426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkxytAbXT5kg5_DcFHFNu-sB-igDUwg16AvU1u6Ad0ZAKsqQGxu76mrdrNUR3DAa5tLEBIaU477CHAESrDG9EnEQz2VlbbbLwL5K6MmZaanc3OIb_S4omb0YeI-BcnJFDdkzUTCbYzlGW/s320/exam+1.jpg" /></a><br /><div>Hey there guys! The time has come and you must now take your English II Midterm Exam. In class you received a login and password, which you will be using to access your exam. You only have one chance to answer each question and you cannot go back to previous ones, therefore please make sure you read each question carefully. Ready? Ok...now go ahead and click on the link below and get started. If you have any questions, just raise your hand and I will come to you. Good Luck!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.quia.com/quiz/2116133.html" target="_blank">http://www.quia.com/quiz/2116133.html</a></div><div></div><div>YOU MAY NOT SPEAK OR USE ANY ELECTRONICS OTHER THAN THE COMPUTER YOU ARE TESTING ON THROUGHOUT THE EXAMINATION PERIOD!</div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-73525332925876486562010-01-05T08:50:00.004-05:002010-01-05T09:04:23.788-05:00The Freedom Writer's Diary<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2Lps0G6M87wKE2tXMUMATpy0Rv3uj76QpntAkmnChxmbN5oug_THbpkSXAx_3xs6_zE_G9PPdk-3j09VjA1QU8PYTSAe2xzlVSzlVs-Y0pW8yCHctZsM9K-6Ic-GMC5U3vYCCdSVBPur/s1600-h/Freedom+Writer%27s+Diary.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 141px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 198px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423255624241110642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2Lps0G6M87wKE2tXMUMATpy0Rv3uj76QpntAkmnChxmbN5oug_THbpkSXAx_3xs6_zE_G9PPdk-3j09VjA1QU8PYTSAe2xzlVSzlVs-Y0pW8yCHctZsM9K-6Ic-GMC5U3vYCCdSVBPur/s320/Freedom+Writer%27s+Diary.jpg" /></a> Hi guys! I need you to get yourself a copy of The Freedom Writer's Diary. It ranges from $10-$12 at most book stores, or you can borrow one from your local library or our very own media center.<br /><div> </div><div><a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Freedom-Writers-Diary/The-Freedom-Writers/e/9780385494229/?itm=1&USRI=freedom+Writer%27s+Diary"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE BARNES & NOBLE SITE TO BUY ONE ONLINE.</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div><a href="http://www.mdpls.org/"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO SEARCH FOR THE BOOK IN THE CATALOG OF YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span> </div><div><a href="http://destiny.dadeschools.net/"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">CLICK HERE TO SEE IF THE BOOK IS AT ANY OF THE LOCAL SCHOOLS, OR HERE AT HGHS</span></a></div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-33839500437795087192010-01-04T13:52:00.001-05:002010-01-04T13:57:28.243-05:00Literary ElementsFor the Literary Terms, click on the following link:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ELA/6-12/Writing/litglossarylong.pdf#search=">http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ELA/6-12/Writing/litglossarylong.pdf#search='Most%20commonly%20used%20literary%20terms</a>'Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-83094372384736387772009-12-18T14:12:00.001-05:002009-12-18T14:13:54.078-05:00Happy Holidays!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFTPZAS0lWumX2bIqOt3IceAgK2_oIfgz31PTLvIoX13infwRUQvmkRh9CRo0BSa7d2JJpyeNx7AOAxciSFPolacjUpx1KUW3w6tBBJ9PYof9BQEE7wpKtv8WsXlfBb54RCyt8wePNELdY/s1600-h/santa.gif"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 130px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 118px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416656472806620178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFTPZAS0lWumX2bIqOt3IceAgK2_oIfgz31PTLvIoX13infwRUQvmkRh9CRo0BSa7d2JJpyeNx7AOAxciSFPolacjUpx1KUW3w6tBBJ9PYof9BQEE7wpKtv8WsXlfBb54RCyt8wePNELdY/s320/santa.gif" /></a><br /><div>Hi Guys! I hope you are all having a fun-filled, restful Winter Recess. I have gone ahead and added all the stories that will be in the Midterm Exam. To access them, you simply click on the picture and it will take you directly to the text. Please remember that this is very useful to also complete your study guide. Anyways, I hope you take advantage of this useful tool and prepare for the exams.<br /></div><br /><div>Note: I know there are two stories we have not yet covered; we will do so upon your return in January.<br /></div><br /><div>Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<br /></div><br /><div>I love you all and am very greatful to have you in my life!</div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-65965386275706649732009-12-18T13:54:00.008-05:002009-12-18T17:12:23.007-05:00New Moon<a href="http://screencrave.com/2009-09-13/official-new-moon-extended-trailer/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416701415029326338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjExLl0AJTNzP5tcuNZgDmOXEF_Y0Fv5rxjuiiG916pRMEYEb9d2inc3Lm6AcleXdEXi575TbtDkzeaNiuzL5hEnKYQwSm235r9lZfnvzKZbvCdZTrkoYbyn5qAGbl3np0r0goZPYmB5tZr/s320/new+moon.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://screencrave.com/2009-09-13/official-new-moon-extended-trailer/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416652319584940562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 112px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzFwijQxQ1RQhULW4gTT8i-NxgIvdhuCVV0KhEmrwX1PIJkHYGCqF8IdEYlOD4o7tRm1445uo2hrHlIsROkE0XVTekItckrfzeAI9FFuOtSveKN6Hf4J8ScxeVzz7KIPmLzBYz4_ZVf6w/s320/new+moon.jpg" border="0" /></a>New Moon</div><br /><div align="center">By Stephenie Meyer</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">(Click on image to view movie trailer)<br /></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Overall Summary</strong></div><strong></strong><br /><div align="left"><br />New Moon begins with our narrator in deep trouble, running against a clock, chiming in "the end of everything" (Preface.1). Avid readers of Twilight already know that the narrator is none other than our protagonist, Isabella "Bella" Swan. Bella is still living in rainy Forks, Washington with her dad, Charlie. She just spent a dreamy summer with her vampire love, Edward, and now it’s time to go back to school. She also just turned eighteen – a painful reminder that her human clock is ticking while Edward will stay young and handsome forever. To Bella’s major distress, Edward still refuses to turn her into a vampire.When the Cullens (Edward’s vampire family) throw a birthday party for Bella at their house, clumsy Bella gets a paper cut while unwrapping one of her presents, and spills a little blood. Jasper Cullen, still struggling with his family’s no-human diet, loses control and attacks Bella. Edward fights him off but, in the process, the boys wreck the house and leave Bella with a gushing wound on her arm. Everyone except for the head of the family, Carlisle Cullen, and Edward, hurries out with pinched noses to escape the tempting smell of Bella’s blood.Thanks to Carlisle’s profession as a doctor for the past 300 some years, he’s immune to the lure of human blood. As he stays with Bella, she complains that if Edward had made her a vampire already, these accidents wouldn’t be happening. Carlisle reveals that the reason Edward refuses to change her is that he believes vampires don’t have a soul and therefore no chance for an afterlife.While Bella dismisses the Jasper incident as a minor family quarrel, Edward is visibly shaken and withdraws emotionally from Bella. On a walk in the woods, he tells her he wants a safe, human life for her, which is why he and his family are leaving town – without her. "It will be as if I’d never existed" (3.193), he says, and takes off.Bella’s life is shattered. Several months pass during which she vegetates in zombie-like depression. There’s a deep, aching hole in her chest in place of her heart and she wonders if it will ever heal.One day Bella discovers that, if she does reckless things, she can hear Edward’s voice clearly in her head. Feeling him close eases her pain. So she embarks on several reckless adventures just to coax Edward’s voice into her head.Bella’s need for a mechanic causes her to renew her relationship with Jacob Black, the handy young son of Charlie’s best friend Billy, from La Push Indian Reservation. Two years younger than Bella, Jacob has had a crush on Bella since the first time they met. He also unwittingly told her that Edward was a "cold one," a vampire. Bella is surprised to see that Jacob has grown into a handsome young man. Always happy and supportive, he quickly becomes Bella’s healing balm, soothing some of the cracks in her broken heart. They become best friends. It’s obvious that Jacob has romantic feelings for Bella. Although she makes no secret out of the fact that she still loves Edward, she also has trouble curbing Jacob’s romantic advances because being around him makes her happy, something she hasn’t felt for a long time.On a visit to the meadow in the woods where Edward once brought her, Bella meets Laurent, a vampire of the same coven (group) as James, the vampire who attempted to kill Bella in Twilight. Laurent tells Bella that James’s mate, Victoria, wants to kill Bella to take revenge for Edward killing James. Only Laurent is thirsty and has decided to kill Bella himself. Before he can attack, though, a pack of giant wolves appear out of the woods and chase Laurent away.Later, Jacob tells Bella about a gang of boys down in La Push who also seem to be up to no good. Jacob fears that their leader, Sam Uley, will force him to join. When Jacob suddenly starts avoiding Bella, she thinks Sam finally got to him. Trying to save Jacob from the gang, Bella discovers that Jacob has instead morphed into a werewolf. In fact, Jacob was one of the giant wolves that saved her from Laurent. According to ancient Quileute legend, selected men from the Quileute tribe turn into werewolves to protect humans from getting eaten by vampires. Long ago, the werewolves made a peace treaty with Carlisle Cullen on the condition that the Cullens refrain from eating humans.Jacob vows that he and his wolf pack will protect Bella from the vampire Victoria and that he’ll always be her friend – and maybe more, if she’s ready. Bella is torn about what to do.In the meantime, on another reckless adventure to hear Edward’s voice, Bella goes cliff jumping. Jacob barely saves her from drowning.On her return home, Bella finds Alice Cullen, who is shocked to see Bella alive. Due to her future-seeing skills, Alice saw Bella jump off a cliff. But it turns out she can’t "see" werewolves, so she believed Bella committed suicide.Edward hears the false news of Bella’s death and he decides to go to Italy to provoke the Volturi, and ancient vampire family, to take his life too. The Volturi are in charge of enforcing rule number one of vampiredom: don’t reveal to any humans that you are a vampire! That’s why Edward plans to walk out into the sun at noon – exposing his sparkly vampire skin – in Volterra's center plaza.However, Bella has gone to Italy in search of Edward and saves him from exposing himself in the nick of time. But they get kidnapped by the Volturi anyway. Aro, the leader of the Volturi, forces Edward to make a decision: either he changes Bella into a vampire or she has to die, because she knows vampires exist. Through Alice’s vision of Bella’s future, Aro sees that Bella will become a vampire and releases them.At home, Edward and Bella re-declare their love for each other, but trouble looms on the horizon. Jacob and his werewolf pack warn Bella that if she transforms into a vampire, their pre-existing treaty will force them to attack the Cullens. Bella is faced with a tough choice. Yet, with Edward back at her side forever, she believes that she can face anything.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Preface</strong></div><strong></strong><br /><div align="left"><br />The preface catapults us right into a race against time – literally a ticking clock tower.<br />We learn that the narrator (Bella) is trying to save the life of someone she loves. She believes she will fail, because her legs won’t move fast enough to beat the hands of the clock, ticking toward "the end of everything" (Preface.1).<br />As the bell in the clock tower tolls, Bella knows it’s too late. "I was glad something bloodthirsty waited in the wings. For in failing at this, I forfeited any desire to live" (Preface.5).<br />We’re left to wonder if we’ve just witnessed the last moments of Bella’s life and that of the loved one she’s trying to save.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 1: Party </strong></div><strong><br /><div align="left"><br /></strong></div>Bella dreams of her grandmother, Marie, who died six years go. Edward enters the dream and Bella realizes that the old and frail granny is her, while Edward smiles, forever seventeen.<br />It’s September 13, Bella’s eighteenth birthday. She still lives in Forks, Washington, with her dad Charlie and just spent the best summer of her life with Edward. The couple is still at an impasse when it comes to her transformation into a vampire, but she keeps pushing.<br />Alice has planned a birthday party for Bella at the Cullen house. She never got to experience a human birthday (see <a href="http://www.shmoop.com/twilight/alice-cullen.html" target="_blank">Alice’s "Character Analysis" in Twilight</a>) and so pleads with Bella to not ruin her fun. Bella agrees to humor her. But no presents!<br />In the afternoon before the party, Bella and Edward watch <a href="http://www.shmoop.com/romeo-and-juliet" target="_blank">Romeo and Juliet</a> for English class. Bella loves it, but Edward thinks that Romeo’s rash actions ultimately caused the play’s tragic end. Yet, he envies humans for the ease with which they can commit suicide and tells Bella about his contingency plan, in case something would ever happen to her: "I would go to the Italy and do something to provoke the Volturi" (1.137).<br />Edward explains that the Volturi are a powerful vampire family in Italy, and that you don’t mess with them unless you want to die, or whatever it that happens to vampires at their end. Bella is furious. She makes him promise to never think or say anything like it again.<br />On the way to the home of the Cullens, Edward asks Bella if there really isn’t anything she wants for her birthday. Bella tells him the only thing she wants is for him to turn her into a vampire.<br />At the Cullens’ house, Alice has gone completely overboard with birthday decorations – big bowls of pink roses, a pink birthday cake, candles, more roses, and a pile of birthday presents awaits Bella.<br />Mortified, Bella opens a present and cuts herself on the wrapping paper. Overcome by the scent of her blood, Jasper launches at her. Edward fights him off but, in the process, Bella lands in a mess of shattered crystals, causing blood to now fully gush from her arm:Dazed and disoriented, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm – into the fevered eyes of six suddenly ravenous vampires. (1.246)<br /><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 2:Stitches</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />Everyone but Carlisle and Edward leave the room with politely pinched noses.<br />To keep the accident from Charlie, Bella asks Carlisle to stitch her up at the house.<br />Bella is struck by Carlisle’s immunity to the smell of human blood, but he explains that it’s due to his 300 years as a physician. When Bella asks him what he likes about his job, he says he believes he can redeem himself for what he is. He believes that there might be an afterlife for good vampires.<br />Carlisle tells Bella that Edward doesn’t believe vampires are granted an afterlife, which is why he refuses to change Bella: he’s afraid to take her soul. Bella also learns that Edward’s mother begged Carlisle on her deathbed to save Edward from dying, as if she knew that Carlisle was a vampire.<br />Bella tries to dismiss the Jasper incident as another proof of her susceptibility to getting hurt, but Edward acts very withdrawn.<br />In Bella’s room, Edward gives her a CD of songs he composed for her on the piano. They kiss and snuggle, yet Bella senses that something is wrong:…I realized what his kiss reminded me of: last spring when he had to leave to throw James off my trail, Edward had kissed me good-bye not knowing when – or if – we would see each other again. This kiss had the same almost painful edge. … I shuddered…as if I were already having a nightmare. (2.234)<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 3: The End</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />Edward tells Bella that Alice has gone away with Jasper. Bella feels guilty for running Alice and Jasper out of their own home.<br />As she comes home from working at Olympic Outfitters (to pay for college, despite Edward’s insistent desire to pay for it), Bella finds Edward waiting at her house. He’s completely unresponsive to her, though, and she realizes that some type of change looms on the horizon.<br />Several days pass with no change in Edward’s behavior, so Bella decides to have a serious talk with him. Edward beats her to it. He asks her to go for a walk in the woods with her.<br />In the woods, Edward tells Bella that he and his family are leaving – without her. "I’m no good for you, Bella," he says. "My world is not for you" (3.159, 161).<br />When Bella protests, saying she doesn’t care about her soul or being damned and all the rest of it, he says:"Bella, I don’t want you to come with me.""You don’t want me?""No." (3.170-173)<br />While Bella struggles to grasp his words, Edward’s face is "wiped clean of all emotion" (3.180).<br />He promises to disappear as if he’d never existed, and adds, "Don’t worry, you’re human – your memory is no more than a sieve. Time heals all wounds for humans" (3.195).<br />He bids her good-bye and leaves her alone in the forest.<br />Bella is shell-shocked. She stumbles blindly through the forest. As night falls, she notices that the sky it utterly black – a new moon. Title alert!<br />Sam Uley, a young man from the La Push Indian reservation, finds Bella and carries her home. He’s part of a search party put together by Charlie and his old friend Billy.<br />In half-sleep, Bella overhears Charlie saying that there are bonfires at La Push, celebrating some kind of event. We gather that the Quileute are happy about the departure of the Cullens.<br />Bella descends into unconsciousness:The waves of pain […] washing over my head, pulling me under. I did not resurface. (3.330-331)<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 4: Waking Up </strong></div><strong><br /><div align="left"><br /></strong></div>October, November, December, January – months pass by like blank pages in a book. (They actually are blank pages in the book. Check out "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" for our thoughts on this.) Finally Bella finally wakes up to a life without Edward.<br />Charlie is exasperated with her. He wants her to see a psychiatrist, because she’s been completely "lifeless" (4.13) for four months.<br />To get Charlie off her back, Bella asks Jessica to go and see a movie with her in Port Angeles.<br />Jessica is still sulking about Bella’s anti-social behavior these past months, but she agrees to go. She gives Bella the choice between a romance and a zombie movie. Bella chooses the zombie movie.<br />During the movie, Bella watches a haggard zombie scrambling after the last shrieking survivor, and realizes that she resembles the zombie, not the human. Lifeless. Undead. But without the vampire beauty and allure.<br />On their way to dinner, the two girls pass through a deserted street. Bella notices a group of men outside a bar and believes that one of them is the thug Edward saved her from in Twilight. Somehow drawn by the danger, Bella walks toward the men when she hears Edward’s voice in her head: "Bella, stop this right now!" (4.179).<br />Although Bella thinks she might be losing her mind, she realizes that hearing Edward’s voice eases her pain. Even better, she figures out that, by putting herself in danger, she can make the voice return again.<br />Lying in bed at night, Bella’s pain returns.It was a crippling thing, this sensation that a huge hole had been punched through my chest… my heart must have been beating but I couldn’t hear the sound of my pulse in my ears; my hands felt blue with cold. (4.258).<br />Nevertheless, Edward’s voice has pulled her back into life. She wonders if she might grow to bear her pain.<br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 5: Cheater</strong></div><strong></strong><br /><div align="left"><br />At work, Bella overhears two hikers talk about seeing a creature in the woods that was "Big as a house and pitch-black" (5.7).<br />Bella wakes up screaming from a recurring nightmare: She stumbles through the forest, searching for something until she realizes that there is nothing to search for, "…And there never would be anything more for me… nothing but nothing" (5.17).<br />She fears that the hole in her heart will never get better. That the damage is permanent.<br />She also realizes that, when Edward promised he’d disappear "as if he’d never existed" (3.191) he made a promise he couldn’t keep, because she’ll never be able to forget him. So why should she keep her promise to stay safe then?<br />Bella decides to get into trouble. At a neighbor’s house, Bella spots two dilapidated motorcycles in the front yard. Perfect! She knows that Charlie and, more importantly, Edward would strictly forbid her to ride a motorcycle.<br />Bella thinks to herself, "I wanted to be stupid and reckless, and I wanted to break promises" (5.42).<br />In search of a mechanic to fix the bikes, Bella remembers Jacob Black, the nice kid from the La Push Indian Reservation, who unknowingly revealed to her Edward’s true identity when telling her about his tribe’s ancient legends.<br />Down in La Push, Bella is surprised to find that Jacob has grown into a handsome young man.<br />She finds his smile and enthusiasm are contagious and says, "I’d forgotten how much I really liked Jacob Black" (5.84).<br />It’s obvious to Bella that Jacob still has a crush on her:I needed to reign in the enthusiasm before I gave him the wrong idea – it was just that it had been a long time since I’d felt so light and buoyant. (5.135)<br />Jacob agrees to help Bella fix the bikes and to teach her how to ride. In exchange, Bella offers to pay for the repair and gives one of the bikes to Jacob. Jacob promises to keep the bikes a secret from Charlie and his father Billy.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 6: Friends</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />Quill and Embry, Jacob’s best friends, show up in the garage as Jacob is working on the bikes with Bella. They tease him about Bella, which makes Jacob nervous.<br />For the first time since Edward’s departure, Bella sleeps without dreaming or screaming.<br />Bella and Jacob spend the day together looking for motorcycle parts. Again, Bella is surprised by how much she enjoys herself in his company:Jacob was simply a perpetually happy person, and he carried that happiness with him like an aura […] like an earthbound sun, whenever someone was in his gravitational pull. (6.86)<br />Yet, despite all the fun, Bella’s prime objective is still to be reckless and to break her promise to Edward. Being with Jacob is just "a much bigger perk" (6.106) than she first expected.<br />Billy invites Charlie, Bella, and a few other friends over for dinner. They all crowd into his tiny house. Bella soaks up the atmosphere of joy and laughter.<br />But then Bella has her "searching for nothing" nightmare again, with one small difference: a new man appears in her dream – Sam Uley, the young man from La Push who found her in the woods after Edward deserted her. His shape seems unclear. Shifting.<br />In school, Bella makes an effort to reconnect with her friends. Save for Mike and Angela, no one really wants anything to do with her. Angela tells the others that she saw a big black creature in the woods. Everyone laughs at her, but Bella defends her.<br />Angela tells Bella she missed her. She reminds Bella that it’s been exactly a year since Bella came to Forks. She has come full circle, as if her life is starting anew, without Edward.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 7: Repetition</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />Bella visits the Cullen house, hoping to hear Edward’s voice again, or to conjure an "episode" (7.8), as she calls it. But she finds the place deserted and creepy and nothing happens.<br />Jacob surprises Bella with two brand-new looking bikes in the garage. When he asks her if she’d hang out with him even if he couldn’t fix the bikes, Bella says, "As long as you let me come over, I’ll be there" (7.39).<br />To put some distance between them, Bella suggests they make up for the recklessness of riding the bikes by doing homework together.<br />In school, Mike asks Bella on a date. Bella tells him (once again) that she just wants to be friends.<br />Jacob and Bella drive out of town to find a secluded place for riding lessons. On the way, Bella freaks out over a group of boys jumping off a cliff into the ocean. Jacob comforts her saying that’s what kids in La Push do for a little rush of adrenaline.<br />Adrenaline rush? Bella is intrigued and thinks, "I’d never witnessed anything so reckless in my life" (7.128).<br />She wants to try. Jacob promises they can do it some other time and from a lower point.<br />When Bella asks Jacob about "those guys," he says they’re called the La Push gang. Sam Uley is their leader. "They’re all about our land, and tribe pride… it’s getting ridiculous… they call themselves 'protectors' or something like that" (7.144).<br />While Jacob explains bike mechanics to Bella, he tells her that Sam’s gang forced his friend Embry to join and that he’s afraid he’ll be next. He believes they’re up to no good. Strangely enough, his father Billy and all town elders seem to support them.<br />Bella tells Jacob he can always live with her and Charlie. As they hug, Bella thinks, "This was friendship. And Jacob felt very warm.… Well, it was friendship for me" (7.190).<br /></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 8: Adrenaline</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />Bella takes off on her bike. Edward’s voice chides her about her stupid behavior before she falls off and hits her head. Happy to have found a way to generate another "episode," she tries again. This time she really hits her head. Jacob is worried, but Bella tells him it happens all the time.<br />When Jacob takes off his shirt to wrap it around Bella’s wound, she admires his body and tan skin.<br />"Did you know you’re sort of beautiful?" (7.133), she asks him.<br />After getting stitched up at the ER, Bella gets dropped off at home. She tells Charlie she tripped and hit her head on a hammer in the garage.<br />That night, Bella feels the hole in her chest return, but this time it doesn’t throb quite so badly. Plus, she knows that being with Jacob will make her feel better. Her nightmare has also lost some of its potency.<br />Bella has to keep making excuses to Charlie for hurting herself on her bike. When she tells him that she tripped while "hiking in the woods," he tells her that hikers have been disappearing and that there have been more sightings of that some giant black bear-like creature. He forbids her to go hiking.<br />To avoid bike accidents for a while, Bella racks her brain for another reckless way to hear Edward’s voice. That’s when she remembers the meadow Edward took her to, in order to show her how his skin sparkled in the sun. She asks Jacob to come with her.<br />Bella is surprised that, unlike Charlie, Jacob’s father Billy makes fun of the giant bear sightings.<br />Hiking through the forest, Jacob tells Bella that Sam Uley’s gang keeps looking at him "funny" (8.205). They walk for hours, but don’t find the meadow so they return home.<br /><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>hapter 9: Third Wheel </strong></div><strong><br /><div align="left"><br /></strong></div>Jacob, school, and work – in that order – help fill Bella’s days. Charlie is happy to see her come back to life. But Bella knows she hasn’t fully recovered:I was like a lost moon – my planet destroyed in some cataclysmic, disaster-movie scenario of desolation… that continued, nevertheless, to circle in a tight little orbit around the empty space left behind. (9.2)<br />As Bella gets better on the bike, Edward’s voice starts to fade. Bella becomes determined to find the meadow.<br />It’s Valentine’s Day. Jacob asks Bella to be his Valentine. She agrees, because she doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. Yet, she feels uncomfortable:I was trying to think of some way to make the boundaries clear. Again. They seemed to get blurred a lot with Jacob. (9.12)<br />To keep her distance, Bella invites Jacob to go see a movie with her and some friends from school. Jacob accepts.<br />Everyone ends up canceling for various reasons, leaving only Bella, Mike, and Jacob.<br />From the start, the two boys vie for Bella’s attention. While Jacob stays his sunny confident self, Mike gets all sulky.<br />During the movie (another dreadful horror flick, called Crosshairs), Mike suddenly falls sick and throws up in the bathroom.<br />Waiting for Mike, Jacob puts his arm around Bella. She withdraws, so he asks her straight out if she likes him. Bella answers "Yes." She even admits that she likes his touch:"The problem… is that it means something different for me than it does to you.""Well." He tightened his hand around mine. "That’s my problem, isn’t it?" (9.161-162)<br />After driving Mike home, Jacob drops Bella off her house. His skin is burning and Bella thinks he has a fever. She makes him promise to call her when he gets home. Before he leaves, Jacob promises Bella to never let her down and to never hurt her.<br />Bella wishes Jacob could be her brother, so that she could be around him without the guilt.<br />Jacob doesn’t call, so Bella calls him. Billy answers, saying that Jacob is too sick to talk to her and that she shouldn’t visit.<br />The next morning, Bella has the stomach flu. She spends her day on the bathroom floor.<br />When Bella finally gets Jacob on the phone, he acts strange and says, "Wait for me to call" (9.294).<br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 10: The Meadow</strong></div><br /><div align="left"><br />When Jacob keeps avoiding her, Bella drives to La Push to see him. She finds their house empty.<br />Charlie learns from Billy that Jacob has a very contagious virus – mononucleosis. No visitors allowed. Bella researches mono, but it doesn’t match Jacob’s symptoms. Her suspicion rises.<br />Without the proven recipe of Jacob, adrenaline, and distractions, Bella’s hole starts to throb again and her nightmares return with a vengeance. They now frequently involve Sam Uley.<br />At the end of the week, Bella calls Jacob. Billy answers. He tells her that Jacob feels better and is gone for the whole day with friends. Bella is happy he’s recovered, but she’s also disappointed that he hasn’t called to tell her. She fears that Jacob might have changed his mind about her and might not want to waste his time on someone who doesn’t return his feelings.<br />Charlie worries that Bella might fall back into her zombie stupor. So she lies to him, saying she’s going out with Jessica. In reality, she decides to find the meadow by herself.<br />Bella finally finds the meadow, but Edward’s voice doesn’t show. Instead, she runs into Laurent, the vampire who belonged to the same coven as the tracker James, who almost killed Bella in Twilight. Edward and the Cullens killed James to protect Bella.<br />Laurent is surprised that the Cullens left their "pet" behind, unprotected. Edward’s voice returns to Bella. He urges her to warn Laurent that Edward will come after him if something happens to her. Faced with death, she follows Edward’s advice.<br />Laurent tells Bella that Victoria, James’s mate, is out to kill her in order to get revenge for the death of James.<br />But thirst comes first, and Laurent decides to kill Bella himself. But before he can pounce on her, though, a pack of giant wolves emerge from the forest. Their leader is a big, black wolf. Apparently the reports were true. But how can a wolf get so "supernaturally" big?<br />To Bella’s surprise, Laurent runs away. As the wolves sprint after him, a reddish-brown wolf locks eyes with Bella:[…] the deep eyes seeming too intelligent for a wild animal. As it stared at me, I […] thought of Jacob. (10.176)<br />Bella finds her way back home, but arrives late. She admits to Charlie that she’s been hiking and that the mysterious creatures appear to be giant wolves.<br />Charlie tells Bella he saw Jacob down in La Push, but Jacob either ignored him or didn’t see him. He remarks on Jacob’s dramatic growth spurt: "It’s like you can watch that kid growing!" (10.231).<br />Alone in her room, Bella panics. Laurent might still be out there…and Victoria is out to kill her and possibly her father. For the first time, there’s no one there to help – except for those wolves, maybe?</div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 11: Cult</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left">Bella misses Jacob. She wants to visit him, but fears that if Victoria or Laurent are tracking her, she might lead them to Jacob too.<br />Driving home from school, it suddenly dawns on Bella that Jacob must be avoiding her because Sam Uley and his gang have sucked him into their strange cult.<br />Bella takes a chance and drives down to La Push to rescue Jacob.<br />On the drive, Bella spots Quill and offers him a ride home. Quill looks like he’s had an unnatural growth spurt as well, which leaves Bella puzzled. Quill confirms that Jacob has joined Uley’s gang.<br />Bella confronts Jacob at his house. He’s with the gang. His appearance has radically changed. Cropped hair, aged face, muscled body, enormous hands, graceful moves. It’s his expression, though, that worries Bella the most:The open, friendly smile was gone, the warmth in his dark eyes altered to a brooding resentment… like my sun had imploded. (11.115)<br />At first, Jacob acts like he doesn’t want to see Bella and tells her to blame her "reeking bloodsucker" (11.164) friends for his situation. Bella doesn’t understand what the Cullens have to do with this. She reminds Jacob of his promise to always be her friend, but Jacob says, "I’m not good enough to be your friend anymore. I’m not what I was before. I’m not good" (11.220).<br />Bella is left standing in the rain (déjà vu, anyone?), alone with her thoughts:I thought Jacob had been healing the hole in me.… I’d been wrong. He’d just been carving out his own hole, so that I was now riddled through like Swiss cheese. (11.235)<br />Bella tells Charlie about what the gang has done to Jacob. Afraid that Bella might relapse into zombiedom, Charlie warns Billy that he will keep a close eye on the gang.<br />Bella dreams she’s walking with the new bitter Jacob who then morphs into Edward. She wakes up to a scraping noise at her window. </div><br /><div align="left"><br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 12: Intruder</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />Bella finds Jacob outside her window. He apologizes and says he’s come to keep his promise to her. Bella wants an explanation, but Jacob tells her that he can’t tell her, but that she already knows his secret.<br />Jacob reminds Bella of the day they first met at the beach in La Push. Bella only remembers flirting with Jacob to get the dirt on Edward. And, yes, Jacob babbled about Quileute legends, one of which proved true: the cold ones, or vampires, really do exist. She can’t remember all the rest of it. Jacob pleads with her to remember. He hugs her with bone-crushing force before he takes off.<br />Bella dreams of Jacob dragging her through a dark forest near the beach in La Push. She remembers she had this dream after the night Jacob told her that Edward was a vampire. In the first dream, Edward emerged out of the forest, but in this dream, the brown russet wolf appears in his place, staring at her with those dark familiar eyes. Jacob! She wakes up screaming.<br />The legends are now coming back to Bella: the Quileute descended from wolves. The cold ones are their natural enemies and, to fight them, their ancestors turned into giant wolves. Werewolves.<br />Bella is shocked: Jacob must have turned into a werewolf.What kind of place is this? Could a world really exist where ancient legends went wandering around the borders of tiny insignificant town, facing down mythical monsters?… Wasn’t one myth enough for anyone, enough for a lifetime? (12.175)<br />Again, Bella finds herself in the company of monsters. At least it’s now all making sense. Sam Uley’s gang is a pack of werewolves and Jacob is one of them. They saved her from Laurent.<br />Before Bella takes off to La Push to tell Jacob she solved the riddle, she learns from Charlie that another hiker disappeared in the woods and that a team of rangers and volunteers is going to shoot the wolves. Bella is torn:Should I warn him, if he and his friends were…were mu<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 13: Killer</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />On the drive to La Push, Bella decides that she has to warn Jacob, but can’t turn a blind eye to his pack killing innocent people<br />In La Push, Bella tells Jacob that he has to stop being a monster. Jacob accuses her of being a hypocrite: "Well, I’m so sorry that I can’t be the right kind of monster for you, Bella" (13.67).<br />Bella explains to Jacob she couldn’t care less that he’s a werewolf – just that he’s one that kills innocent people. Jacob enlightens her to the fact that they’re protecting people from recent vampire attacks. He reveals they killed Laurent. What a relief!<br />Jacob warns Bella that it’s dangerous for her to be around him, saying "If I get too mad… too upset… you might get hurt" (13.129).<br />Basically, if his anger gets the best of him, he turns into a werewolf. No full moon necessary.<br />Bella also learns that Jacob and his pack have been hunting Victoria. She gets Jacob up to speed about her history with James, and Victoria’s death plans for her. Jacob calls in a meeting with the other werewolves to inform them.<br />On the drive to Sam Uley’s house, Bella warns Jacob to stay away from Victoria, because she might kill him.<br />Jacob is insulted. He tells her that the werewolves are strong and fast and have special skills: as werewolves, they can hear each other’s thoughts.<br />Bella reveals to Jacob that vampires have special talents too. Jacob sees the potential in her knowledge:"It’s not like you’re just some ignorant human. You’re like a… spy… You’ve been behind enemy lines." (13.229)<br />Of course, Bella doesn’t like the sound of that and feels like a traitor.<br />Jacob asks Bella if she has ever thought that she’s better off without Edward. Bella says no.<br />rderers? If they were out slaughtering innocent hikers in cold blood? (12.223)<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 14: Family </strong></div><strong><br /><div align="left"><br /></strong></div>Bella meets Jacob’s pack. They’re all mad that Jacob has involved his "girlfriend" in their secret.<br />Paul calls Bella a "leech lover." He gets so mad he loses control and transforms into a werewolf.<br />As Bella describes it, "Paul seemed to fall forward, vibrating violently. Halfway to the ground, there was a loud ripping noise, and the boy exploded" (14.19).<br />Jacob explodes too and the boys charge at each other. Apparently it’s not a big deal, since shortly thereafter they’re best friends again. It helps that werewolves' wounds heal quickly.<br />During dinner at Sam’s house, Bella is disturbed to see that Sam’s wife Emily bears a horrible permanent scar that runs from the side of her face all the way down to her arms. Apparently, hanging out with werewolves does have its risks. Yet, Sam and Emily’s love for each other is so strong, Bella’s love hole throbs a bit more from Edward withdrawal.<br />After Jacob tells the group of Victoria’s motives they strategize how to catch her. They decide that, to protect Bella and Charlie, they need to spend as much time as possible in La Push.<br />Bella tells Charlie that she made up with Jacob and that the whole weird gang thing was a misunderstanding.<br />Bella ponders if Jacob was right in calling her a hypocrite. She admits to herself that, even if Edward killed humans, it still wouldn’t keep her away from him:Love is irrational, I reminded myself. The more you loved someone, the less sense anything made. (14.197)<br /><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 15: Pressure</strong></div><br /><div align="left"><br />It’s spring break again. Lying in bed, Bella muses,Last spring break I’d been hunted by a vampire too. I hoped this wasn’t some kind of tradition forming. (15.1)<br />As Jacob and his pack are busy hunting Victoria, Bella wonders if it’s a bad thing that they all refer to her as Jacob’s "girlfriend." She decides that as long as Jacob knows the difference, she doesn’t care.<br />At work, Mike asks Bella if she’s dating Jacob, because Mike obviously has a huge crush on her too. She says no. They’re just friends. Mike’s response: "Girls are cruel" (15.11).<br />Jacob tells Bella that it’s very difficult to control your transformation into a werewolf. Case in point: Emily. Sam lost his temper once and she stood too close.<br />At the same time, Jacob seems more skilled than all the others werewolves. He shifts his shape more easily and, due to his family background, has the strongest werewolf blood running through his veins. And he’s fast. Apparently faster than a vampire. (Faster than Edward?)<br />Bella tells Jacob of the fateful day when James bit her and Edward sucked out the venom in an amazing act of self-control. She remembers that Alice foresaw her dying and becoming a vampire, which, to Bella’s agony, never happened.<br />During the following weeks, Bella tries, unsuccessfully, to distract herself in La Push while Jacob goes about his werewolf business. Jacob promises to take her cliff-diving soon.<br />The next morning, however, the wolf pack detects a fresh Victoria trail. Alone again, Bella feels her hole acting up. It doesn’t help that she’s worried about putting Jacob and his friends in danger by involving them in her wrecked life. Desperate to hear Edward’s voice and to quench her pain, she decides to go cliff diving by herself:I knew this was the stupidest, most reckless thing I had done yet. The thought made me smile. The pain was already easing as if my body knew that Edward’s voice was just seconds away. (15.141)<br />Bella flings herself off the cliff. She safely lands in the water. That was easy – if it wasn’t for the current. Bella quickly accepts that she’s going to drown:I didn’t want to fight anymore… I was almost happy that it was over… Oddly peaceful. (15.173)<br />Her last thoughts go to Edward, "Goodbye, I love you" (15.180), just before the current shoves her against a big rock.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 16: Paris</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />More rocks slam into Bella, but somehow her head makes it above the surface of the water. It takes her some time to realize that the rocks are Jacob’s fists, beating against her back to force the water out of her lungs.<br />We learn that Jacob saved Bella in the nick of time. Before he carries her to the house, Bella’s eyes catch "a small flash of fire… dancing on the black water, far out in the bay" (16.32).<br />Jacob tells Bella that they lost Victoria when she jumped into the ocean, because vampires can swim faster than werewolves. Knowing how much time Bella has been spending at the beach, he raced home to find her. He also tells her that Harry Clearwater, one of Charlie’s best friends, has been hospitalized with a heart attack. Bella feels horrible about her reckless actions.<br />Bella dreams about a scene in Shakespeare’s <a href="http://www.shmoop.com/romeo-and-juliet/" target="_blank">Romeo and Juliet</a>. When she wakes up, she wonders what Juliet would have done if Romeo hadn’t died, but just walked out on Juliet. She decides Juliet would have rather died a broken-hearted spinster than married Paris.<br />But what if there was more to Paris? (Read: what if Paris was as cool as Jacob?) And what if Juliet kind of loved Paris? Not like she loved Romeo, but enough so that she’d want to make Paris happy, and that he could make her happy?<br />Harry Clearwater passes away. Jacob drives Bella home. She’s still undecided if to take their relationship to the next level and again uses Shakespeare’s play to help her out:Even if the love I felt for him [Jacob] was no more than a weak echo of what I was capable of, even if my heart was far away… grieving after my fickle Romeo, would it be so very wrong? (16.117)<br />They find Carlisle Cullen’s black Mercedes parked in front of Bella’s house. Jacob has smelled vampire from afar and wants to turn around and take off. Bella forces him to stop and gets out. Jacob acts hurt and angry:Treaty or no treaty, that’s my enemy there… Bye Bella, I really hope you don’t die. (15.170-175)<br />Bella feels bad, but her excitement wins over her guilt. Just when she enters the dark house, it dawns on her that the red flame she saw dancing on the ocean must have been Victoria’s hair. And someone’s waiting for her in the dark.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 17: Visitor<br /></div></strong><br /><div align="left">The visitor turns out to be Alice, not Victoria. Bella is overjoyed to see her.<br />Alice is confused to see Bella alive. She "saw" Bella jumping off the cliff. Alice is absolutely furious with her.<br />Bella explains she wasn't intending to commit suicide; she just wanted to have a little fun. Plus, Jacob saved her. Apparently, Jacob eluded Alice’s future-seeing skills.<br />When Alice asks Bella about Jacob, she reveals that he’s her best friend – and a werewolf. Alice is shocked:"Your best friend is a werewolf?… Weren’t you supposed to stay out of trouble?… Anyone else would be better off if the vampires left town. But you have to start hanging out with the first monsters you can find." (17.62)<br />It does explain, though, why Alice couldn’t see him in her vision of Bella's future. Since werewolves and vampires are enemies, they have natural defenses against each other, including Alice not being able to "see" werewolves.<br />Bella makes Alice promise to stay a while.<br />Charlie’s always been gaga over Alice, so he is glad to see her again. He clearly doesn’t want to see Edward, though.<br />Bella overhears Charlie confide to Alice how miserable Bella has been since Edward left. He tells Alice that Jacob brought Bella back to life:"I know she used to think of [Jacob] as a friend, but I think that maybe it’s something more now, or headed that direction, anyway… He’s good for Bella, you know." (17.188-189)<br />Charlie’s words clearly hold a warning for Alice to pass along to Edward. Yet, Charlie admits that, despite Jacob, he can see Bella is still in a lot of pain – a pain he doesn’t know she’ll ever overcome. As if someone she loved died.<br />Alice catches Bella up on what the rest of the Cullens are up to, save for Edward. She also tells Bella that she researched her family background and visited her own grave.<br />The next morning, Charlie heads to Harry’s funeral. Bella and Alice stay at the house and then Jacob appears at the door. Alice hides to keep him from getting all riled up.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 18: The Funeral</strong></div><br /><div align="left"><br />Jacob tells Bella that, with Alice at her house, he and his friends can only protect her on their own lands. This is all because Carlisle once formed a treaty with Jacob’s great grandfather, which states that werewolves can’t step on vampire territory if the werewolves are there.<br />Nevertheless, Jacob promises Bella that he will always be her friend, "no matter who she loves" (18.69).<br />Jacob pulls Bella into a kiss moment. Bella remains undecided: if true love is lost, what’s the protocol for other kisses? The phone rings and breaks the spell. Jacob answers, telling the caller that Charlie isn’t home because he’s attending the funeral. He hangs up and says the caller was Carlisle Cullen.<br />Alice stumbles into the room. She’s just had a vision. She told Rosalie about Bella’s alleged death, and now Rosalie told Edward (because Rosalie hates Bella). The caller – it turns out – was actually none other than Edward.<br />It gets worse, though. Alice is able to see that Edward plans to execute his contingency plan in the event of Bella’s death: he has decided to go to Italy and to provoke the Volturi to kill him.<br />Alice is convinced that their only chance to save Edward is for him to see Bella in the flesh. Any member of the Cullen family will only drive him to act quicker. But Alice warns Bella of the dangers involved:"Whether we are in time or not, we will be in the heart of the Volturi city… You will be a human who not only knows too much, but smells too good." (18.187)<br />Bella doesn’t care. Jacob begs Bella to not go – for Charlie, for him. Bella still doesn’t care. All she cares about is Edward.</div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Chapter 19: Race</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />On the plane to Italy, Alice explains to Bella that the Volturi are the only other big vampire family besides the Cullens in the world. Only the Volturi are way more powerful. In fact, they preside over a whole contingent of vampire minions who guard their city and possess special gifts that make Alice and Edward’s abilities look "like a parlor trick" (19.36).<br />Bella still can’t understand why Edward would kill himself. Yes, he once said he couldn’t live without her. But when he broke up with her, he didn’t seem to care about her fate. She realizes that, even if she saves Edward, it doesn’t mean he’d want her back, but "This was the price I would have to pay to save his life. I would pay it" (19.75).<br />Bella says that she wishes Alice could have been right about her vision of Bella becoming a vampire. Alice admits she’s been debating whether she should just change Bella herself. Bella's answer? "Bite me!" (19.116).<br />During the plane ride, Alice keeps having visions: the Volturi reject Edward’s request to be killed. They want him to join them and to use his mind-reading skills for their benefit. Alice learns that Edward plans to step out into the sun at noon, on the main plaza in Volterra. This will expose Edward as a vampire and force them to do away with him.<br />In Rome, Alice steals a Porsche Turbo and they race to Volterra. On the way, she tells Bella that, funny enough, it’s St. Marcus day in Volterra – a celebration of the legendary Christian missionary St. Marcus, who allegedly drove all vampires out of the city.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 20: Volterra<br /></div></strong><br /><div align="left">Volterra is packed with people, dressed in red shawls and donning fake vampire teeth. Alice bribes a police officer to let them drive into the city, but they still can’t get to the main plaza (Palazzo di Priori).<br />Alice tells Bella it’s all on her now. She has to push her way through the crowd to the plaza, all before the clock tower strikes noon. Although Bella runs as fast she can she loses hope:I wasn’t going to make it. I was stupid and slow and human, and we were all going to die because of it. (20.40)<br />Against all expectations, Bella makes it to the clock tower as it chimes noon. She sees Edward, standing ready in the shade, and slams into him. Edward believes they have reunited in death and recites Shakespeare to her:"Death, that hath sucked the honey of they breath, hath no power yet upon they beauty." (20.71)<br />Bella also feels like she’s entered heaven:I knew we were both in mortal danger. Still, in that instant, I felt well… It was like there had never been any hole in my chest. (20.70)<br />Their joy upon their reunion is short-lived, because Edward and Bella find themselves surrounded by Volturi guards. Alice appears at their side, but it’s clear they have no other option than to follow the Volturi. Bella is surprised by the respect that a small, androgynous vampire named Jane commands.<br />They all enter through a hole in the ground, then make it through a dark series of tunnels that lead to the underground Volturi family quarters.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 21: Verdict<br /></div></strong><br /><div align="left">The underground tunnel system opens into a posh reception area, where a human woman Gianna (obviously aware of her employer’s secret) acts as a secretary.<br />In the castle-like family room, Aro, the ancient Volturi leader, greets Edward, Bella, and Alice like old friends. He also introduces his brothers Marcus and Caius – all three are founding members of the Volturi family.<br />Aro expresses his sincere admiration for the animal (a.k.a. non human) diet Carlisle has chosen for his family. He’s mesmerized by Edward’s self-control in being around Bella.<br />Now on to Bella: Aro can’t believe she’s immune to Edward’s mind-reading skills. Aro can read every thought a person’s ever had in his or her entire life, but Bella proves immune to his skills as well.<br />When Aro asks Jane, his most gifted weapon, to test her skills on Bella, Edward throws himself in the way. Whatever Jane’s gift is, it makes Edward writhe in pain on the floor. Yet with Bella, she has no luck. Bella learns later that Jane can inflict pain with her thoughts.<br />Aro is impressed. He asks Edward, Alice, and Bella to join his flock. When they decline his offer, he says that he respects their decision, but since Bella is a human and knows far too much about vampires, they either have to kill her or change her into a vampire.<br />Again, Edward struggles with his answer, but Alice lets Aro read what she sees in Bella’s future. He seems satisfied with what he learns and lets them go with a warning:"Were I you, I would not delay too long. We do not offer second chances." (21.129)<br />As they leave, Bella witnesses a group of unwitting tourists being shuttled into the Volturi quarters to get mauled.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 22: Flight </strong></div><strong><br /><div align="left"><br /></strong></div>On orders of the Volturi, Edward, Bella, and Alice have to wait until dark to go back up into the city. Bella is dead tired, yet fights sleep to spend whatever time she’ll have with Edward.<br />Bella learns that Gianna is a secretary because she eventually hopes the Volturi will turn her into a vampire. Bella is appalled that she would choose to become a human-eating vampire.<br />Bella waits for Edward to bring up the subject of the future, but he remains quiet, and she’s afraid to mention anything.<br />The whole Cullen family greets Bella on their arrival back in Seattle. Rosalie asks Bella to forgive her. Bella doesn’t bear grudges, saying, "It’s not your fault at all. I’m the one who jumped off the damn cliff" (22.134).<br />At home, Charlie is livid. He yells at Edward to get his hands off Bella and asks him to leave.<br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 23: The Truth<br /></div></strong><br /><div align="left">Bella wakes up in Edward’s arms. Now she thinks she must have died and gone to heaven. "I’m dead, right?" Bella asks. "I did drown. Crap, Crap, crap! This is gonna kill Charlie" (23.16).<br />When reality settles in, Edward tells Bella that Charlie banned him from the house, but his sneaking through Bella’s window has almost become a tradition.<br />Edward feels sick to his core for not having reckoned with the danger Laurent and Victoria would pose to Bella, but she tells him it’s time to quit feeling responsible for her life or death.<br />Edward reveals that he wanted to commit suicide because he can’t live in a world without her in it. He explains that he lied to her when he said he didn’t love her:"I didn’t want to do it – it felt like it would kill me to do it – but I hoped that, if you thought I’d moved on, so would you." (23.84)<br />Of course Bella believed him. She still has trouble accepting that he’s really back for good, as he promises her.<br />Edward reveals that he’s been hunting Victoria, not because he thought Bella was in immediate danger, but just for danger prevention. The subject matter of Victoria brings up Jacob. It’s obvious Edward is not in favor of Bella’s relationship with a young (handsome) werewolf.<br />Bella thinks that Edward should worry instead about the Volturi, and keep his promise to change her. Edward says, "they count years the way you count days" (23.160). Plus he’s got some other plans up his sleeve to avoid this irritating transformation business.<br />Bella has had it:Was this fixation with keeping me human really about my soul, or was it because he wasn’t sure that he wanted me around that long? (23.169)<br />She decides to put her mortality to a vote before the Cullen family.<br /></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong></strong></div><br /><div align="left"><strong>Chapter 24: Vote</strong></div><br /><div align="left"><br />Bella rides on Edward’s back to the Cullen house. Due to her many motorcycle adventures, she’s not afraid of the speed anymore. She actually enjoys it.<br />On the way, Edward vows to win Bella’s trust back. Bella says she trusts him – it’s herself she doesn’t trust: "I don’t trust myself to be… enough. To deserve you. There is nothing about me that could hold you." (24.13)<br />But when Bella starts to tell Edward about hearing his voice whenever she did something reckless, she suddenly realizes, "the reason I could hear you so clearly was because, underneath it all, I always knew that you hadn’t stopped loving me" (24.50).<br />Bella has an epiphany: Edward really loves her.The bond forged between us was not one that could be broken by absence, distance, or time… As I always would belong to him, so would he always be mine. (24.57)<br />At the Cullen house, everyone except Edward and Rosalie vote for Bella to become a vampire. Rosalie says she doesn’t want Bella to be a vampire, because she herself didn’t want to be one but didn’t have a choice at the time.<br />Carlisle promises to change Bella after her graduation if Edward won’t.<br />Bella’s greatest wish is for Edward to be the one to change her. After arguing back and forth, Edward finally promises he will – under one condition: marry me first!<br />Bella refuses vehemently, because she believes that marriage was the kiss of death for her mother and father's relationship.<br />Later, Charlie asks Bella to explain her three-day disappearance with Alice. She winds around in half-truths. Charlie thinks that whatever actually happened, it’s Edward’s fault. Bella makes Charlie aware that Edward and her are a package deal and that she will move out if he doesn’t ease up on her beau.<br />When Edward talks to Bella about his concern for her eternal damnation, Bella tells him she’s not buying it anymore, because when she saved him in Volterra, he believed he was in heaven. Touché!</div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left"><br /><strong>Epilogue: Treaty</strong> </div><br /><div align="left"><br />Life has gone back to normal. The Cullens have moved back to town. Carlisle works at the hospital again. Edward and Bella are back in school.<br />Bella is under house arrest, aside from school and work, and Edward has strict visiting hours. He helps her catch up on school and prepare for college.<br />Bella misses Jacob, but he doesn’t answer her calls. Edward thinks Bella should keep her distance:"The enmity is rooted too deep… He’s very young. It would most likely turn into a fight, and I don’t know if I could stop before I k––." (24.22)<br />Bella remembers that Jacob feels the same way about Edward. Their hostile relationship brings Bella back to her own version of Romeo and Juliet, starring Edward as Romeo and Jacob as Paris: "They fight. Paris falls" (24.28).<br />Arriving home from work, Bella and Edward find her motorcycle parked right next to Charlie’s cruiser in the driveway. Bella is livid, because Jacob has betrayed her trust.<br />Jacob is there with his wolf pack. The hostility between him and Edward is palpable. Nevertheless, Edward thanks Jacob for saving Bella’s life and asks if there is anything he can do for him. Yes. Jacob wants him to stay away from Bella. Of course that doesn’t fly with Bella.<br />So Jacob explains that the specifics of the treaty state "If any of [the vampires] bite a human, the truce is over. Bite, not kill" (Epilogue.97).<br />In other words, if Bella becomes a vampire the werewolves will attack the Cullens. Charlie, who has just discovered Bella’s motorcycle, interrupts their meeting.<br />Before Edward shuttles Bella away, she vows to herself, "I would find a way to keep my friend" (Epilogue.140).<br />Bella acknowledges that she’s up against some serious problems: if she doesn’t become a vampire, the Volturi will kill her. If she does, the werewolves are going to attack her future family. Her only comfort is that Edward is with her:Edward was here, with his arms around me… I could face anything as long as that was true. (Epilogue.149-150) </div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-46706875691825296112009-12-18T08:45:00.002-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.082-05:00Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam<div align="center"><a href="http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/VietnamPoems/VNLetters.htm"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 171px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 165px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416571964007242050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofUJnpPYE2J6LTt1PeOuuAN-jdv7XyhQuei-rIfHD958XTCb1qhimVtlhZRIsHu8y95RzMbHDLX7UFxHQkrOlHO-GHY7DI4g8RvVOn6dwWekt5L_1LhMeQa3RQx5T5MW9TbOw4Mb7RxEH/s320/vietnam+letter.jpg" /></a> Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam<br /><div align="center">By George Olsen</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left">17 Sept, 69</div><div align="left"><br />Red,</div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">Thanks for the letter, but now you've made me self-conscious about my writing, You used some words that rather jolted me: Morbid, Chaplain, and a few others. They belong to another world about which I've forgotten an amazing amount as it's irrelevant to anything going on now. I've just about forgotten what college was all about, though there are a few memories that stick in the back of my mind.<br /></div><div align="left">Yesterday we took to the bush to recon a river crossing on one of Charlie's major supply routes coming in from Laos....It was an uneventful patrol, but I committed the mortal sin of small-unit patrolling: I broke contact with the man in front of me and split the patrol into two elements something that could easily prove fatal in the event of contact with the enemy. We'd just crossed the river at a ford to join the team reconning the other bank and were going through fairly green stuff when the man in front of me dropped his lighter. I bent to pick up and by the time I straightened up he was out of sight and hearing. Had we been hit then, It would have been a bad situation made worse by my stupidity. I've picked up most of the patrolling tricks - taping metal parts to prevent their making noise during movement, wearing bandoliers so the magazines are on your chest and stomach and form makeshift body armor, and other tricks that stretch the odds a little more in you favor and give you a little more of an edge in combat - but I'm still new and yesterday I really loused up....<br /></div><div align="left">The fact of the matter is that I was afraid - which I am most of the time over here - but I allowed my fear to interfere with the job at hand, and when that happens to someone, he ceases to be a good soldier. It's all right to be afraid, but you can't allow that fear to interfere with the job because other people are depending on you and you've got responsibility to them and for them. From now on I'll be keeping that in mind and I won't louse up so badly again. Had that happened under fire, people might have died unnecessarily due to me.<br /></div><div align="left">One other impression from the patrol is that anyone over here who walks more and 50 feet through elephant grass should automatically get a Purple Heart. Try to imagine grass 8 to 15 feet high so thick as to cut visibility to one yard, possessing razor-sharp edges. Then try to imagine walking through it while all around you are men possessing the latest automatic weapons who desperately want to kill you. You'd be amazed at how much a man can age on one patrol.<br /></div><div align="left">We're supposed to go on a very hard sortie soon which, unless it's canceled, virtually guarantees some hard fighting. I'm not trying to be mysterious or anything, but common sense precludes giving too many details before the operation. We're going to raid one of Charlie's POW camps and attempt to free some GIs, but that's about all I'll say till we pull it off, if we do.<br />I many have played up my unit here a bit too much, but I'm proud to be in it and might be inclined to brag. We're not supermen or anything like that, and we're not about to walk into bars, where music automatically stops at our entrance, and proceed to demolish anybody and everybody in the place. But as far as being soldiers, we're proud of our outfit and its history, and are definitely among the best troops over here....Men have gone on operations here with broken ankles in order not to let their buddies down. So you see, we take our business seriously.<br /></div><div align="left">I'm going out now for a fun in the sand to toughen my feet up. So I'll be signing out....<br /></div><div align="left">George<br /></div><div align="left">Sp/4 George Olsen, Co. G, 75th Inf. (Ranger), Americal Div., Chu Lai, 1969-1970, He was KIA 3 March 1970; he was 23 years old.</div></div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-9942039560546463332009-12-18T08:06:00.001-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.083-05:00Through the Tunnel<div align="center"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/11309747/through-the-tunnel-by-doris-lessing-full-story"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 156px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 170px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416561955470167762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8bWM2imlLIarZyHEtFPsgFFVglFXbnHk18PFTeaGqHrQTW91xIYMyr02VirgdOBhBkEPK9GoNoJp-bsUfvaX59jRe_baaTXtHvPcurI7S1WSdCv_O61MOxtWUKRjVjmB3hvJYjYcWOG7Y/s320/Cliff+Diving.jpg" /></a> Through the Tunnel</div><div align="center">By Doris Lessing<br /></div><div align="left"><strong>Plot Summary</strong></div><strong></strong><div align="left"><br />In Lessing’s “Through the Tunnel,” Jerry, a young English boy, and his mother are vacationing at a beach they have come to many times in years past. Though the beach’s location is not given, it is implied to be in a country that is foreign to them both. Each tries to please the other and not to impose too many demands. The mother, who is a widow, is “determined to be neither possessive nor lacking in devotion,” and Jerry, in turn, acts from an “unfailing impulse of contrition — a sort of chivalry.”</div><div align="left"><br />On the second morning, however, Jerry lets it slip that he would like to explore a “wild and rocky bay” he has glimpsed from the path. His conscientious mother sends him on his way with what she hopes is a casual air, and Jerry leaves behind the crowded “safe beach” where he has always played. A strong swimmer, Jerry plunges in and goes so far out that he can see his mother only as a small yellow speck back on the other beach.</div><div align="left"><br />Looking back to shore, Jerry sees some boys strip off their clothes and go running down to the rocks, and he swims over toward them but keeps his distance. The boys are “of that coast; all of them were burned smooth dark brown and speaking a language he did not understand. To be with them, of them was a craving that filled his whole body.” He watches the boys, who are older and bigger than he is, until finally one waves at him and Jerry swims eagerly over. As soon as they realize he is a foreigner, though, they forget about him, but he is happy just to be among them.</div><div align="left"><br />Jerry joins them in diving off a high point into the water for a while, and then the biggest boy dives in and does not come up. “One moment, the morning seemed full of chattering boys; the next, the air and the surface of the water were empty. But through the heavy blue, dark shapes could be seen moving and groping.” Jerry dives down, too, and sees a “black wall of rock looming at him.” When the boys come up one by one on the other side of the rock, he “understood that they had swum through some gap or hole in it. . . . [But] he could see nothing through the stinging salt water but the blank rock.” Jerry feels failure and shame, yelling at them first in English and then in nonsensical French, the “pleading grin on his face like a scar that he could never remove.”</div><div align="left"><br />The boys dive into the water all around him, and he panics when none surface. Only when his count reaches 160 do the boys surface on the other side of the rock, and as soon as they come up, they leave. Believing they are leaving to get away from him, he “cries himself out.”<br />When Jerry sees his mother that afternoon at the villa, he demands that she buy him goggles immediately. With the goggles he can suddenly see, as if he had “fish eyes that showed everything clear and delicate and wavering in the bright water.” He descends again and again desperately trying to find the opening in the rock that the older boys had swum through, until finally “he shot his feet out forward and they met no obstacle.”</div><div align="left"><br />Jerry is determined to be able to swim through the tunnel, and begins immediately a practice of learning to control his breathing. He lies “effortlessly on the bottom of the sea” with a big rock in his arms and counts. That night his nose begins bleeding badly, and he spends the next two days exercising his lungs “as if everything, the whole of his life, all that he would become, depended upon it.” When his nose bleeds again, his mother insists that he rest with her on the beach. He does so for a day, but then the next morning he goes off to the bay by himself without asking, “before his mother could consider the complicated rights and wrongs of the matter.” He again practices holding his breath under water, and he experiences a “curious, most unchildlike persistence” while studying the tunnel.</div><div align="left"><br />When his mother announces they are to leave in four days, Jerry vows to succeed in his quest even if it kills him. His nose bleeds so badly he becomes dizzy, and he worries that the same might happen in the tunnel, that he really might die there, trapped. He resolves to wait until the following summer, when he will be bigger and stronger, but then an impulse overtakes him and he feels that he must make his attempt immediately — now or never. “He was trembling with fear that he would not go; and he was trembling with horror at the long, long tunnel under the rock, under the sea.”</div><div align="left"><br />Once inside the tunnel he begins counting, swimming cautiously, feeling both victory and panic. “He must go on into the blackness ahead, or he would drown. His head was swelling, his lungs cracking. . . . He was no longer quite conscious.” Even when he surfaces, he fears “he would sink now and drown; he could not swim the few feet back to the rock.” When he finally pulls himself onto the rock and tears off his goggles, they are filled with blood.</div><div align="left"><br />He rests and then sees the local boys diving half a mile away, but he is no longer interested in them. He wants “nothing but to get back home and lie down.” His mother is concerned at his “strained” appearance when he returns to the villa, but consoles herself remembering that “he can swim like a fish.” He blurts out that he can stay under water for “two minutes — three minutes, at least,” and she replies in her usual moderate way, cautioning him that he “shouldn’t overdo it.” Jerry has succeeded in his quest — it is “no longer of the least importance to go to the bay.”</div><div align="left"> </div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-32497089660060383382009-12-18T08:02:00.004-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.083-05:00Waters of Babylon<div align="center"><a href="http://www.tkinter.smig.net/Outings/RosemountGhosts/Babylon.htm"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 192px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 159px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416561258154901842" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj58RNdxNAZtbFoBi6d04VjOUz3BthnaMNu-hML6UNb9UUE3T8qshXy4ZcO0tABZM0NMXfILUCrktWWyLvJGThCTqrbujlxbG9yzfj969xBV1mVk5irth1IVDXD6JiD_MVbnmuOPmGs9hZH/s320/Babylon.jpg" /></a>"By the Waters of Babylon"</div><div align="center">By Stephen Vincent Benet</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left"><strong>Plot Summary</strong> </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">Set in a future following the destruction of industrial civilization, the story is narrated by a young man<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_the_Waters_of_Babylon#cite_note-3">[4]</a> named John who is the son of a <a title="Priest" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest">priest</a>. The priests of John’s people are inquisitive "scientists" associated with the divine. They are the only ones who can handle <a title="Metal" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal">metal</a> collected from the homes (called the "Dead Places") of long-dead people whom they believe to be <a class="mw-redirect" title="Gods" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gods">gods</a>. The plot follows John’s self-assigned mission to get to the Place of the Gods. His father allows him to go on a spiritual journey, but does not know he is going to this forbidden place.</div><div align="left"><br />John takes a journey through the forest for eight days, and crosses the river Ou-dis-sun. Once John gets to the Place of the Gods, he feels the energy and magic there. He sees a statue of a "god" — in point of fact, a human — that says "ASHING" <a class="new" title="Could be wASHINGton (page does not exist)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Could_be_wASHINGton&action=edit&redlink=1">Could be wASHINGton</a> on its base. He also sees a building marked "UBTREAS" <a class="new" title="Possibly sUBTREASury? (page does not exist)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Possibly_sUBTREASury%3F&action=edit&redlink=1">Possibly sUBTREASury?</a>. After being chased by dogs and sleeping in someone's apartment, John sees a dead god. Upon viewing the visage, he has an epiphany that the gods were simply humans whose power overwhelmed good judgment. After John returns to his tribe, he speaks of the places "newyork" and "Biltmore". His father tells him not to, for sometimes too much truth is a bad thing, that it must be told little by little. The story ends with John stating his conviction that, once he becomes the head priest, "We must build again."</div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-69432382383805410122009-12-18T08:00:00.001-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.083-05:00The Interlopers<a href="http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Inte.shtml"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 150px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 159px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416560471605546050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSphLYd5T4_rLUJ10Kw1t38_ojytpIZ_t83b1FshmbrA5w3YSm0mrl0tD50Mj_XM3BYD4Nik0Chc4rH-2HG4OHZfpbGNdIY-ZwjHMRtk4k9YMHUdWpA_VjoeiK_lUfApps64vFGNB3J-lS/s320/Interlopers.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="center">The Interlopers </div><div align="center">By Saki</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left"><strong>Plot Summary</strong></div><strong></strong><div align="left"><br />The characters in “The Interlopers,” Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym, have been enemies since birth. Their grandfathers feuded over a piece of forestland. While the courts ruled in the Gradwitz family’s favor, the Znaeym family has never accepted this ruling. Throughout the course of Ulrich and Georg’s lifetime, the feud has grown into a personal, bloodthirsty one. As boys, they despised each other, and by the evening that the story takes place, the two grown men are determined to bring a final end to the feud by killing their enemy.</div><div align="left"><br />On this fateful evening, Ulrich gathers a group of foresters to patrol the land in search of Georg. Separated from his men, he hopes to meet Georg alone and, when he steps around a tree trunk, he gets his wish. The two men face each other with rifles in hand, but neither can bring himself to shoot the other. Before either man can act, a bolt of lighting strikes a tree. It falls over and pins them underneath its limbs.</div><div align="left"><br />The men are pinned down side-by-side, almost within touching distance. Both are dazed, injured, and angry at the situation in which they find themselves. Georg tells Ulrich that his men are right behind him, and threatens that, when they arrive, they will free him but roll the tree on top of Ulrich. To this threat, Ulrich replies that his men will arrive first and kill Georg. Both men know it is only a matter of waiting to see which group of foresters will reach them first.</div><div align="left"><br />Ulrich manages to draw his wine flask out of his coat pocket. He drinks some wine and, feeling something akin to pity, offers it to Georg. Georg refuses on the grounds that he does not drink wine with an enemy. During a few moments of silence, an idea comes to Ulrich. He proposes to Georg that they bury their quarrel. He believes that they have been fools and asks Georg for his friendship. After a long silence, Georg answers, accepting Ulrich’s proposal.</div><div align="left"><br />The men decide to join their voices together to shout for help. Suddenly, Ulrich sees figures coming through the woods. They shout louder and the figures come down the hillside toward them. Georg, who cannot see as well as Ulrich, asks which men are approaching. Ulrich does not reply. He has seen something horrible: it is not men who approach them — it is wolves.</div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-55897058736918900282009-12-18T07:50:00.005-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.084-05:00The Village<div align="center"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ze40JaU4aKcC&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=Village,+story,+Rico+stood+on+top+of+a+bluff&source=bl&ots=2j6L7b8-xU&sig=RWlXK_KDXYWwDU24kDNMWi9dTbk&hl=en&ei=e3wrS6zRB4GutgeliYiMCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Village%2C%20story%2C%20Rico%20stood%20on%20top%20of%20a%20bluff&f=false"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 172px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 149px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416558555669515474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtrNVm0lug0-_dlDI9TbCypbM9U39HLGtxbsXBuba8wtjt8fdFNML8NX5V197W5ktHokViACHi6loPXg8GFSDEtYzGud318U-oCUgwi_cU6GV01K08-Cz3nopYd2akNK0jX3dQSArtLbQ/s320/survival.jpg" /></a> The Village</div><div align="center">By Estela Portillo Trambley<br /></div><div align="left"><br /><strong>Plot Summary</strong></div><div align="left"><br />In Estela Portillo Trambley’s short story “Village,” a young American soldier named Rico reflects upon his morals in a situation of mandatory action in Vietnam. Rico’s actions thus reflect the true hero in the story, despite the rank of his superiors in the US Armed Forces.</div><div align="left"><br />In the beginning of the story, Rico is sitting with his soldier buddy Harry, looking over the village of Mai Cao. While talking about real fighting action and home, Rico thinks back about why he’s in the position he’s in. “No action yet. But who wanted action? Rico had transformed into a soldier, but he knew he was no soldier. He had been trained to kill the enemy in Vietnam. He watched the first curl of smoke coming out of the chimneys. They were the enemy down there. Rico didn’t believe it. He would never believe it” (436). It is also safe to say that Rico was a draftee in the war by the fact that Rico was transformed into a soldier but was not truly a soldier. If Rico was a true, devoted soldier, he would immediately think that the people down in the village below him were indeed his enemy and that he would want to see action as soon as possible. The instant Rico contemplates his reason for being in the war justifies the fact that he values his morals in the time of war.</div><div align="left"><br />Rico then proceeds to think further about his days in training and being taught what to believe. He reminisces about his family and his past back in Texas, and how the special bond held between people wasn’t limited to just the people in the States, but rather to all people around the world. “It struck him again, the feeling – a bond – people all the same everywhere… The woman with the child on her shoulder mattered. Every human life in the village mattered. He knew this not only with the mind but with the heart.” (437). It can thus be understood that Rico values and respects human life, no matter where in the world. Human life.</div><div align="left"><br />Rico’s morals are not compromised when he receives orders to destroy the village he was just looking down upon. After learning what is expected of him, Rico immediately has an urge to stop the orders from going through. This very notion proves that Rico will not tolerate his morals from being compromised. He feels that it is not his right to take the life of another human being. Even before he makes any physical judgments or actions, Rico already has the mindset of a hero.<br />Rico then goes a step further and stops everyone from taking a life in that village. He already knew personally that he was not going to take a life, but as he looked around himself and saw all of the other men around him armed, he knew that he had to take further measures for the sake of humanity. Rico then stops any action by shooting the hand of his superior before the signal to destroy was given. By stopping the order from the very hand which was to give the order, Rico saved an entire village from assassination.</div><div align="left"><br />Rico can be regarded as a hero due to the fact that he was willing to sacrifice his own rank and social position in the military than to let an entire village be killed over speculatory information. What sets Rico apart from the other men with him was the fact that he was the only soldier who questioned authority. He knew that his orders did not feel right or justified, so he solely stood up and made the difference. That is what truly made Rico a hero – not letting go of his morals and value of human life. At the end of the story, Harry says to Rico, “You’re no soldier. You’ll never be a soldier” (440). However, Rico knows that he saved lives and is perfectly content with the consequences he will face in the future. Thus, he replies, “I’m free inside, Harry…free” (441).<br /></div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-9547015265361851942009-12-18T07:48:00.002-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.084-05:00A Sound of Thunder<div align="center"><a href="http://www.lasalle.edu/~didio/courses/hon462/hon462_assets/sound_of_thunder.htm"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 239px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 188px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416557548699582722" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2eSk2lR9fHltxQzmGIsD_I2n3B8LFzxBXLiBIe6Y7pKGzFJ9MOCcSW4f0Qxhk77at7X-QjL5JZSB9mgcq5tows7JgS8pTXwbdt4hGLzzFZjNIzYyMvL2mSGbMd6Few-8mRGi2jTuUK-8/s320/Sound+of+Thunder.jpg" /></a> A Sound of Thunder</div><div align="center">By Ray Bradbury </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left"><strong>Plot Summary</strong> </div><div align="left"><br />On the eve of an American presidential election, a party of rich businessmen undertake a time travel safari to the past to hunt dinosaurs. While the organizers have taken every precaution to minimize the impact of the hunting party on the past, one member violates the rules and leaves the designated path. Upon their return to the present the group finds that the world has been drastically altered by the seemingly innocuous death of a pre-historic butterfly. </div><div align="left"> </div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-31429397630550006672009-12-17T14:21:00.003-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.084-05:00The Lady or the Tiger?<div align="center"><a href="http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 177px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416287487857645698" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbFCiM7LCoTgk4HPHjs6Nl9SA18VMm87sOx4ka1MxkSqJNk6pL_ZIt5g1Jl5_ZDtiw5H48vD57baAC4kqlL7FVsyFGUVhPmh-Aa8U8JW4UPyY_oMfGHX8tIP9k4Bi3jQzaDwdEwiWKovA5/s320/tiger.jpg" /></a>The Lady or the Tiger? <div align="center">By Frank Stockton</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left"><strong>Plot Summary</strong><br /></div><div align="left">“The Lady, or the Tiger?” begins with a description of a “semi-barbaric” king who rules his kingdom with a heavy hand. For punishing criminals, he has built an arena featuring two doors. The criminal must choose his own fate by selecting one of the two closed doors. Behind one door is a hungry tiger that will eat the prisoner alive. Behind the other door is a beautiful lady, hand-picked by the king, who will be married to the accused on the spot. The people of the kingdom like this system of justice, because the uncertainty of the situation is very entertaining.</div><div align="left"><br />The king has a beautiful daughter whom he adores. She secretly loves a young man who is a commoner. When the king discovers her illicit affair, he throws the young man in jail to await his judgment. For a commoner to love the king’s daughter is a crime, so the king searches for the most ferocious tiger and the most attractive lady (but not the princess, of course) for the young man’s trial in the arena.</div><div align="left"><br />The day of the courtier’s “trial” comes, and the young man walks into the arena, his eyes fixed on the princess. He looks to her for guidance, because he suspects that she has learned which door conceals the lady, and which the tiger. Indeed, the princess does know the identity of the young lady behind the door. She has been jealous of her for some time, thinking that she has sought to steal her lover from her. The princess signals for him to choose the right-hand door. Without hesitation, he moves to open the right-hand door.</div><div align="left"><br />Stockton does not reveal what waits behind that door; he leaves readers to come to their own answer. As the narrator of the story explains, the answer involves a study of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way.</div></div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-61246812092715809802009-12-17T14:18:00.002-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.084-05:00The Monkey's Paw<div align="center"><a href="http://www.online-literature.com/poe/36/"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 205px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 176px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416286664916254738" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_IW9Ht4Jy0GZT1no_4BHtta2QJappN1dIPdPIfW_iobAmvNovZ4gjbHedRjLD-DnP3qmidsl1LvHkkUkaVMn2S3_HrBBS7-gMgwZasw6_SLi-ATpErKKFCHD9zJeDpiIC4b4V-4k7tPx/s320/Monkey's+Paw.gif" /></a>The Monkey's Paw <div align="center">By Edgar Allen Poe</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left"><strong>Plot Summary</strong></div><strong></strong><div align="left"><br />The story opens with Mr. White and his son Herbert playing a game of chess. Mrs. White is knitting by the fire. Mr. White loses the game and becomes agitated and exasperated. Soon, there is a knock at the door and the Sergeant-Major enters. They share a few drinks and the Sergeant-Major tells them some tales about his trips to India, where he obtained a monkey’s paw. The paw is magical, allowing three men three wishes each. One man has died and the Sergeant-Major has used up his three wishes. He tosses the paw into the fire, but Mr. White snatches it out and keeps it for himself. The Sergeant-Major tells them that a fakir has put a spell on the paw “to show that fate ruled people’s lives.” Those who tamper with fate “did so to their sorrow.” But Herbert coaxes his father to wish for something modest, like 200 pounds. His father does so, while Herbert plays dramatic chords on the piano in accompaniment. They all go to bed for the night.</div><div align="left"><br />In the morning, Herbert leaves for work and tells his parents not to break into the money before he comes home that evening. Mr. and Mrs. White make light-hearted comments about Herbert’s return and his reactions to an arrival of the money.</div><div align="left"><br />Later, a stranger comes to the door and, after coming into the house, tells the parents that Herbert has been killed at work that morning when he was caught in some machinery. The stranger then gives them compensation from the company: 200 pounds.</div><div align="left"><br />Herbert is buried in a nearby cemetery. About a week later, Mr. White is awakened by the sounds of Mrs. White weeping over their son. Suddenly, she remembers the paw and the two wishes that remain. She pleads for Mr. White to get it and to make a wish that Herbert would be alive again. He tries to tell her that since he was mangled in the machinery and had been buried for a week, it would not be a wise wish. But she insists. Despite misgivings about invoking the magic of the paw again, Mr. White wishes for Herbert to be alive again.</div><div align="left"><br />They wait. They watch out the window, but nothing happens and no one arrives. They start to bed again when suddenly a slight knock is heard at the door.</div><div align="left"><br />Mrs. White then remembers that the cemetery is two miles away and that it would have taken Herbert a while to walk home. The knocking increases, ending in a series of rapid hangings on the door. Mr. White tries to stop her from opening the door. She persists and climbs up on a chair to open the top-most bolt.</div><div align="left"><br />Just as she opens the door, Mr. White asks his third wish. The door opens; the street is still and empty. Only a dim streetlight flickers on the roadway.</div></div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-77509357667364105772009-12-17T14:08:00.003-05:002009-12-18T10:59:37.085-05:00The Masque of the Red Death<div align="center"><a href="http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/483/"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 81px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 125px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416284166963659170" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37wUZA7bXrCEWt8rbtoKdHbJwUWQx_m-v2plK0h_9NtuZCShVs2st61QofKFwjbP85Zanx6Vs30YXuRyeSQNn6p5m5jDYjbkHf9jr6qRQN-_WJeoZnhyphenhyphen9tpXgQXpiJpkAGdufDgooH_pv/s320/The+Masques+of+the+Red+Death.jpg" /></a> The Masque of the Red Death<br />By Edgar Allen Poe </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left"><strong>Plot Summary</strong></div><strong></strong><div align="left"><br />Poe’s story “The Masque of the Red Death” begins with a description of a plague, the “Red Death.” It is the most deadly plague ever, as “no pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.” The symptoms of the plague include “sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores.” The “scarlet stains” on the body, and especially the face, of its victims are the “pest ban” or first visible signs of the disease. Once the stains appear, the victim has only thirty minutes before death.</div><div align="left"><br />In order to escape the spread of the plague, Prince Prospero invites “a thousand hale and light hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court” to seal themselves “in deep seclusion” in an abbey of his castle, allowing no one to enter or leave. With adequate provisions, Prospero and his privileged guests attempt to “bid defiance to contagion,” by sealing themselves off from the suffering and disease spreading throughout the rest of their country. The Prince provides for his guests “all the appliances of pleasure” to help them not to “grieve” or to “think” about the Red Death raging outside the walls of the abbey.</div><div align="left"><br />Toward the end of the fifth or sixth month, the Prince holds a masquerade ball for his guests, “while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad.” The Prince takes elaborate measures in his decorations for the ball, which is to take place in “an imperial suite” of seven rooms, each decorated in its own color scheme. The only lighting in each room comes from a brazier of fire, mounted on a tripod, which is set outside the stained glass windows of each room, causing the color of the glass to infuse the entire room. The progression of rooms is from blue to purple to green to orange to white to violet to black. The seventh room, decorated in black velvet, is lit by the fire burning behind a redstained glass window. But the effect of the red light is “ghastly in the extreme,” and the seventh room is avoided by most of the guests.</div><div align="left"><br />In the seventh room is a “gigantic clock of ebony” which strikes at each hour. The sound of the clock striking is “of so peculiar a note and emphasis” that all of the guests, as well as the orchestra and the dancers, pause at each hour to listen, and there is “a brief disconcert in the whole company.” But the revelers remain “stiff frozen” only for a moment before returning to their music and dancing.</div><div align="left"><br />At the stroke of midnight the guests, pausing at the sound of the clock, notice a mysterious “masked figure” in their midst. The figure wears “the habiliments of the grave” and the mask on its face resembles “the countenance of a stiffened corpse.” The costume of the mysterious figure has even taken on “the type of the Red Death.” Its clothing is “dabbled in blood” and its face is “besprinkled with the scarlet horror.”</div><div align="left"><br />When Prince Prospero sees this mysterious figure, he orders his guests to seize and unmask it, so that he may hang the intruder at dawn. But the guests, cowering in fear, shrink from the figure. In a rage, Prospero, bearing a dagger, pursues the masked figure through each of the rooms — from blue to purple to green to orange to white to violet. The figure enters the seventh room, decorated in a ghastly black and red, and turns to face Prospero. The Prince falls dead to the floor. But when the guests seize the figure, they find that, underneath its shroud and mask there is “no tangible form.”</div><div align="left"><br />The guests realize that the Red Death has slipped into their abbey “like a thief in the night” to claim their lives, “and one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel.” The last line of the story describes the complete victory of the Red Death over life: “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”</div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1417218185799064156.post-15652524366977601002009-12-17T11:27:00.004-05:002009-12-17T11:33:07.503-05:00Merry Christmas, Mrs. Valle!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ_vuf8PjAa0yM9bYq5XoeWhK_Pdw0B3iPcraNy-BbFaH7Q2GjpphIhahhTsUZj667s5bfgoDAhrXlyAOYY2n2UiYGitwi8PHD7D5k6Ltph1Hi17dWbRWlxZqulff5l16hpuDp_X8INHzG/s1600-h/santa-claus.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 226px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 208px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416243366520921426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ_vuf8PjAa0yM9bYq5XoeWhK_Pdw0B3iPcraNy-BbFaH7Q2GjpphIhahhTsUZj667s5bfgoDAhrXlyAOYY2n2UiYGitwi8PHD7D5k6Ltph1Hi17dWbRWlxZqulff5l16hpuDp_X8INHzG/s320/santa-claus.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;color:#990000;"><strong><em>Since you have been a good girl, Santa prepared a special gift for you!</em></strong></span> <div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;color:#990000;"><strong><em></em></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;color:#990000;"><strong><em>I hope you enjoy your new blog. This comes with free lessons, assistance, and use of my site. </em></strong></span><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;color:#990000;"><strong><em>Welcome to the blog world; you and your kids will love it! </em></strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;color:#990000;"><strong><em></em></strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;color:#990000;"><strong><em>MERRY CHRISTMAS, MY DEAR FRIEND!!!!</em></strong></span></div>Mrs. Vallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10026191674049057316noreply@blogger.com0