Life of Pi, a novel about how we, as people, will do nearly anything to survive. We do not wish to die, we do not wish to stop living.
This idea is illustrated in nearly all of the characters, in the hyena. The hyena believed that if it did not attack the others, the others would eventually attack it. The hyena may seem crazed, but in reality it only wants to survive, it only wants to live. The hyena does not survive long, for Richard Parker was on the boat, and not a soul knew. Richard Parker only killed the hyena so that it, itself, could survive.
Richard Parker killed the hyena, yet it did not kill Pi. Richard knew that if it killed Pi, it would have no source of food, and it would die. Richard Parker kept Pi alive, for Pi will supply food for him. Richard Parker knew that Pi would get him to safety, Richard Parker knew that Pi would save his life. Pi kept Richard Parker alive, for if he tried to kill Richard, he himself would surely die.
The person that Pi met while in the lifeboat would also do anything to survive. He would even eat another human. While both Pi and the survivor would do anything to survive, Pi would never eat another of his own kind. Pi and the survivor were both blind, so the survivor decided to tie their boats together. After that, the survivors hunger took over, and he climbed to the other boat to eat Pi, although the hungry man was unaware of Richard Parker, and thus Richard Parker proceeded to consume the man also.
Pi would do anything to survive, even break have the rules he set out for himself. Soon after setting out on the lifeboat, Pi has to break his lifelong vegetarianism, for if he stayed a vegetarian, he would not stay alive. The only food that they might encounter out at sea, is fish, for what else would be out there? Pi had to kill fish, and eat them to survive, even though he vowed to never harm a soul, and to be a vegetarian. If Pi would have followed through with these vows, Pi would have never survived.
This novel clearly states that we, as humans, will do anything to survive, even if some of the things we do make us sick to our stomach, or if some of the things we do will hurt other people. Our will to survive is the strongest thing any of us have.

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451, a novel based in the future that we do not wish to have. It shows us in such a way, that we are actually afraid of what we might become, we are afraid of what we will become. We are currently heading towards that future right now, with our video games and TV taking up almost all of our time. Our world is not getting better, it is getting worse. We are becoming a world that is a virtual wonderland, virtual, not actual. Our world is a beautiful place, but if it continues on the downfall that is on, it will not be beautiful for much longer. Fahrenheit 451 shows us what our world will become if we do not work on improving it. It may seem far in the future that this will happen, but it is closer than it may seem. We need to work on rescuing our world before it becomes lost.

In the future that Fahrenheit 451 renders, we have no interaction with each other, we only have contact with the Television Walls in which we do not even choose what to say. In this future of ours, we get sent scripts which we read without even thinking about it in the slightest. We do not even need to think enough to create our own sentence structures, or own ideas, we create nothing of our own. In the future which we will come to, we will believe that the people on the television are our family and that they are our friends. You would even ignore your spouse completely if you are talking to your "friends" on the TV. In general people have no real interaction with real thoughts in the future which Fahrenheit 451 creates.

In the future that Fahrenheit 451 imagined, people can no longer read anything that the government has not distributed themselves. If you are caught with a book, a single book, you will be taken to jail for life or burned alive while the firemen are just staring at you with a devilish smile. They have the best job in the world they imagine. They do not know that Firemen used to put out fires, instead of starting them. We are not allowed to have our own thoughts, we are not even allowed to read other peoples thoughts. We are not allowed that one basic right that we all have now, the right to freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of thought. Our country was smart enough to begin this right in the first place, but if we take it away for any reason the next step our country will take, is the step to the future which Fahrenheit 451 predicts.

The future that Fahrenheit 451 produces, it shows us at our worst, it shows us in a time where we have no interaction with each other, no thoughts, and a time when we have no lives. We have to make sure that we never become what Fahrenheit 451 shows us becoming, we can never become the world that we have been shown. We need to keep our world as beautiful as it is today, for if we do not there is a great chance it will become like the world in Fahrenheit 451, pathetic. We need to rescue our world, before we lose it.

Great Expectations Essay

               Philip Pirrip, a young child, lost his parents when he was younger--now living with his sister, a woman who believed in showing love by making people fear her, and her husband, the jolly hearted town blacksmith--II you kind of mess up the flow of this sentence with the dash construction II is somehow completely filled with innocence and nothing else. He lives in a common village, general shops and stalls fill the market square, while soldiers guard the gates and the jail holding back the criminals. He heads out to the marsh land, practically in his back yard, where his parents are buried in the cemetery, where he spends hours out there just imagining the days when his parents where around. Pip is distressed that he cannot remember their faces, yet filled with happiness, remembering the times when life was better, a time where he was content all the time, a time where his parents were alive. This novel shows how people begin with innocence and may seem to keep it forever, through all the bad times, yet they always seem to lose it in the end.
                Even through all the bad times, Pip manages to hold onto his innocence, until he meets Miss Havisham and Estella. While Pip was at home, his uncle came to his house and had great news, the richest lady in their town wanted to "play" with Pip. His sister immediately jumped on the offer, figuring that it would give Pip the opportunity to get out of this village, and to get into the city, where he can get rich himself and live a good life, where he has a chance to live free, where he can feel proud of himself for his job, and his wealth. He has no choice in the matter, he goes to the great house, where he meets some interesting characters. He is immediately confused as he enters the mansion, for all the clocks are stopped at exactly twenty minutes to nine. He gets to Miss Havisham's room where he sees Miss Havisham half dressed in white clothes, and only one shoe on, with this his confusion only grows.

               Estella is controlled by Miss Havisham, for Estella is an orphan who was adopted by Miss Havisham. You might think that Miss Havisham has a morsel of humanity for adopting a young orphan who was in need of parents. Yet no, she only adopted Estella so that she could get revenge on the entire male race. For when Miss Havisham was getting ready for her wedding, she learned that her groom did not love her, nor was he ever planning on marrying her, except for her incredible wealth. So, because of this corrupt man who only wanted her money, she herself has become corrupt in such a way, that she seeks everlasting revenge on any and all men that she meets. Miss Havisham does not realize that forgiving and forgetting is a better way to get past this, rather than just seeking vengeance on every single man that will come across her path. Even though Estella is controlled by this monster, she has absolutely no clue that she is, for why would her own mother betray her?
                  One day when Pip was at the graveyard he meets a strange man, who turns out to be a criminal who has escaped from the local jail. The strange man threatens that Pip has to get him food, something to drink, and a nail file, or else his young friend will do horrible things to him. The man obviously does not have a young friend, yet Pip does not know, for Pip is still filled with that complete innocence that he has had for quite a long time. When Pip gets the supplies and brings it back to the man, Pip is remarkably frightened because the man eats the food with such an urgency that it looks as if he was an animal, and then proceeds to down the drink in almost one fluent gulp, after the food has been digested he proceeds to file off the chains that are around his ankle. Throughout the whole process of devouring the food, drinking the liquid, and freeing himself, Pip is standing there scared thinking about the younger man who will do horrible things to him.

                Then all of a sudden his sister is overwhelmed with happiness, confused Pip wonders why, apparently Pip is heading to the city for some anonymous donor, has supported Pip, and is going to help him climb to the top. He is immediately set to work for an evil man, Mr. Jaggers, who is a lawyer, forced to take away possessions from even the poorest of all people. For those too poor to afford the charge accounted against them, some may think that Mr. Jaggers would lower the bail, yet he takes the only things of theirs that are worth any money at all. Pip's life in the city is growing stronger and more permanent, growing farther and farther away from Joe, and his friends back in that little village of his origin. Pip is growing farther away and it seems to be making his sister happy, possibly because Pip is getting a better life, possibly because it'll bring back money for her, and possibly with one less mouth to feed their lives would become even easier.

              When Pip gets a message from Estella and Miss Havisham he believes that Estella wants to possibly marry him, he hurries back there not even thinking that it might be a trap. After spending a lot of time with Estella, all the while growing more in love with her, he finds out that Estella is engaged to someone else. Heartbroken he goes back to Joe and finally gives up the last of his innocence that he has been holding onto for these long years. Miss Havisham has sought revenge upon man-kind and successfully ruined Pip's innocence, something that seemed like it would last forever. Pip shall never again play an innocent game with friends and family, shall never again roam the marshes thinking about the better times when his parents were alive, and will never again learn to love.

Veterans Day Essay

           When is the right time to honor our veterans? Always. Our veterans have risked their lives, fighting for us, fighting for our great country, fighting for our freedom. Why would they risk their live, fighting? Do they fight for honor? Do they fight for some sort of reward? No, they fight for our freedom, they fight for our safety, they fight for our lives, but at what cost?

           Thousands of American soldiers have died in war, but by sacrificing themselves, millions of American civilians have lived, yet what do we civilians think about these American heroes? Nothing. We pay no attention to those who have saved our lives, and now those people who have saved our lives need us to save theirs.

             Hundreds of the veterans who come home from war are relieved that now they can relax, only to find that there is no job awaiting them, there is no house awaiting them, there is no life awaiting them. 40% of all the homeless population are veterans from wars; that's almost half of the homeless population. These heroes have risked their lives-indisputably one of the most brave and courageous thing to do, and they do this to save our lives-and all they get in return, is a little bit of respect on one day of the year, and then they have to start their lives over.

           Everyone starts their life in a hole, metaphorically, but there is a ladder leading out of the hole, so when you make it out of the hole, you can choose what you want to do. These great brave people chose to protect our country, and when they come back from war, they find themselves back at the bottom of the hole again, only this time, there is no ladder leading out. We can build them a ladder though, for we are at the top of the hole, and at the top of the hole there is material to make a ladder. It will not be easy, building this ladder, but veterans across the world deserve ladders much more than the rest of us.

            They have risked their lives, only to save ours, and we do almost nothing to commemorate them. They have one day, even though for years, every day could be their last. They deserve every day of the calendar. They’ve earned the right to be honored every day, so we should present them with that right.

Good Earth Essay.

Please tell me what you think of this essay, I greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

               In the novel, The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck, the author illustrates how we as people are never satisfied, and how when we get what we’ve always desired, we find out that we now crave more, and we now have what is needed to acquire our next longing, but all we have is enough to obtain our new wish and nothing else. Our desires are near impossible to obtain, but we must always have them, even after they are accomplished, for that is how we are as people. Therefore when we reach our goal, a new desire that is harder to obtain comes along, and we will once again do anything to obtain this new goal.

               When Wang Lung was brought into this world, he was brought into poverty, and he never complained once of his lifestyle;surely he wanted to be wealthy and to never have to work, but he never mentioned these wants of his for he knows that every poor person wished for the same exact thing. Although he wished to be wealthy and to be a lord, he was always satisfied, with his life, just working in the fields, from sunset to sundown, “they worked on, moving together—together—producing this fruit of this earth—speechless in their movement together.” This quote clearly illustrates how when Wang Lung was poor, he was completely satisfied, and had no complaints whatsoever.

                Wang Lung soon earns extra silver, from a terrific harvest, and he has no idea what to do with it, for he has never had any extra money in his life. Then he hears from somebody that the Hwang’s land was for sale, so he decided to find out about this, so he heads to the House of Hwang and he finds out that their land was in fact for sale, so he decides to buy it. He then believes that he is satisfied, knowing that he has enough land to always provide for them, although he then promises himself that he will obtain all of the Hwang’s land, no matter what it takes. He just got more land, one of his many goals, and he almost instantaneously creating his new desire, to gain control of all of the Hwang’s land.
              Wang Lung is then forced to head south for his crops were not growing due to a massive drought, which has caused many casualties. When he gets south he is able to survive, by hard labor, by pulling people in a rickshaw, a cart like contraption, earning only a few pence a day. He survives off of all you can eat rice, you pay a pence per person, and you can have as much rice as you want, and he makes a goal to get back to his land, because he know it still lies exactly where he left it, and there is a bountiful amount of land there for he bought more, before the drought came about. Before he had bought some of the Hwang’s Land, he would have been happy with just enough to survive, which is exactly what he had when he was in the south, but now that he has some good rice land from the Hwang’s he must now get back to it, for he believes that land is his life.
           Wang Lung had absolutely no way of getting back to his land, and even if he did make his way back, he had no way of getting seeds to plant his crops, or money to buy an ox, he had no way to restart his life. He had wanted to get back to his land so much he almost ended up selling his daughter, but instead he decided to steal from a great house, something he vowed that he would never do, but he desired to get back to his land so much he would do anything. After he stole from the house he had found jewels and gems, enough to supply the life he was living forever, and he would not have to do any work, but instead he decided to invest that money into more land, for that is what he desired more than anything else. With the extra money from the jewels and gems, he decides to invest it into his poor earthen house which was always enough for him, before he the money, and since he has more money, he feels he has to spend it rather than save it. So, he adds another house to his land, and he uses the other house for the workers he employed to live in, and his new house is lined with limestone and other rocks, to decorate it more. Since he now has enough to afford more things, he buys more things, he buys more luxuries, such as limestone, when his old luxury was a simple cup of tea.
            Eventually he begins to buy more and more, a concubine, slaves, and finally completing the transformation into being completely unsatisfied, he buys the fallen Great House of Hwang, and therefore Wang believes that he is now satisfied, when all in all, he has become exactly what he despises more than anything. He has the great house repaired, he adds decals, and he buys it all so that now he completely owns it, and now he is unsatisfied to the utmost extent. Then he finally realizes that he is unsatisfied upon his death bed, so he decides to go back to his first house, and he becomes partially satisfied once again, as he dies upon the bed of his past.
            The novel, The Good Earth, By Pearl S. Buck, proves how as you believe that you’re getting more satisfied, in reality you’re just getting more unsatisfied. As you accomplish your greatest desires, you just become more unsatisfied, for a new desire has come. As you age and gain wealth, the only way to become satisfied with what you’ve done, is to go back to what you once were. As you live, you will accomplish many things to be unhappy about, and only when you’re dying do you gain full peace of heart, peace of mind, and finally be happy again. This novel proves that accomplishing desires only makes you more unhappy, and that you are happier while on the road to accomplishing your goal, than when you complete the challenge you set out for yourself.

Thanks.