Influencing Change

Influencing change is an important part of our society, there are many films and novels that can influence change in day to day life.  My favorite book that influenced change would be “To Kill A Mockingbird”, the novel is very touching and has unique ways of showing the effects of racism and why it shouldn’t be a thing.  The book also proves that you shouldn’t judge people without getting to know them.

The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” influences change by showing why racism shouldn’t be a thing.  An innocent black man being accused of rape was taken to court and proven guilty, mainly due to racism.  In the novel, it shows what it’s like to be in the black guys shoes compared to everyone else’s.  Even though he was black he still had wife and kids just like everybody else, but because of his skin color he was being accused and taken to jail for something he didn’t do.  The people in the town expected blacks to look up to them and be sort of slaves for them and the novel proves how unfair it is.  The black man accused of rape was only being friendly to a young girl, he stopped by her house to help her with something and her dad came home and in a panic she accused him of rape.  The young girl really had no choice but to think of a story fast because she would be beaten and in a lot of trouble for going with him all because he was black.  

The novel touched many people and reminds everyone of what it’s like to be in other people’s shoes.  The novel sort of shows how people should be treated equally.  In the courts the black man lost the case because of his color, when everyone knew for a fact he was innocent.  The man had a wife and children at home just like anybody else, including the white people.  Just because he was black didn’t make him any different than anyone else, but in that society everyone was against the blacks.  In the novel people were afraid to speak up and say he was innocent because they were scared everyone would hate them for taking the blacks side, which was pretty crazy.  Nobody in court that day thought of the black man's wife and children or anything because all that stuff was irrelevant to them, as long as the white man won they were happy.  In the novel even the black man knew he didn’t stand a chance in the courts and knew he would never be able to live it down so he ended his life.  His family would be just as hurt as any family, whether they are black or white.   

Another interesting thing that came up in the novel was a quiet man named Arthur Radley was judged and made assumptions about because he stays shut up in the house.  Everyone would spread rumours about him because he never came out, people thought he was crazy and everything.  However, when Arthur finally came out, he wasn’t at all what everyone thought, he was actually just as sweet and caring than ever and people misjudged him.  That proves that you shouldn’t judge anyone unless you get to know them. At one point people thought Arthur was a murderer, but if he was would he really save the children from an attack that night?  Arthur wasn’t what anyone thought he was, he was just a quiet person who stayed inside. The most important piece of advice Atticus gave was sometimes you just need to walk around in someone else’s shoes for a little while.

“To Kill A Mockingbird”  was a very touching novel and covers many things on equality and racism.  I would recommend anyone to read it if they had the chance.  Racism is a big problem in today’s society and it’s discussed a lot.  Racism and equality are two main problems in our society and probably always have been a problem, but the book shows basically how one man tries to change everyone’s opinions and treat others equally.    

The Christmas Story

Christmas Tragedy

It was Christmas eve, snowflakes were falling heavily from the grey sky with gusts of chilly wind whipping through the trees.  It was only morning and the storm was starting already.  The weather called for a blizzard that day and everybody was preparing for the worst.  Everyone was in a rush, as there were lots to get done that day.

The eldest son Jake got his snowsuit on and was headed outside to gather wood for the stove.  Jake gathered as much wood as he could from the woodshed carrying it into the house.  He stacked a neat pile of wood beside the stove and stuffed a few pieces inside it.  He lit a blazing fire in the stove to keep the house warm during the big storm, then set out in the kitchen to help with other chores.  Their mom, Lisa was in the kitchen preparing foods and desserts for a family gathering they always had on Christmas eve.  The younger son James was in the parents bedroom finishing wrapping the presents.  When David, the father came home he was sent to the store with a list.  They were to buy lots of groceries to prepare for the storm and Christmas dinner the next day.  While Lisa and Jake were preparing the foods and James was in the bedroom, smoke started to curl their noses.  They all ran around to check all the heaters in the house to check for a fire.  After going up and down the hallways and stairs of their two-storey home they were able to locate the smell.

Inside the living room of their home was the Christmas tree up in flames.  Jake had forgotten he left the stove door open a bit to get the fire started up.  There was a trail of flames coming from the stove to the Christmas tree in the corner.  Everybody panicked and ran to grab water.  Lisa called David to come home immediately and in a rush she told him it was an emergency and that she would explain when he got there.  They were all rushing for buckets of water, however the fire was only spreading further and further until it reached the presents under the tree.  When David arrived home he grabbed the fire extinguisher and sprayed it on the fire.  The fire started to calm down after that and Jake and James threw four more buckets of water on the fire.  After a few more buckets of water they had finally got the fire out.

Just to be sure, Lisa grabbed one more bucket of water and put it on the floor.  The rest grabbed the tree and took it outside, there was barely anything left to it and only a few presents were saved in the event.  Everyone was disappointed, they thought Christmas was ruined.  With heavy hearts they cleaned up the mess in the living room, opening windows to clear the smell, drying up the water, and washing as much black off the walls from the smoke as they could.  The fire hadn’t done much damage to the room as it wasn’t going for long, they were able to replace some of the floor that got burned with extra floor tiles they had in the room.

After the clean up they continued to have their family gathering anyways.  When everyone arrived they asked questions about where the tree and gifts were and the family had to explain the incident.  One family member just happened to have an extra Christmas tree and gave it to them to set up. The family was never so grateful and the kids realized that if it wasn’t for family, Christmas would be nothing.  The children learned that it doesn’t matter if you have a tree or presents, the most important part of Christmas is gathering around with your family.      

The Trade Off

Being able to trade places with a character would be really cool and different.  90210 is my favorite show, it has lots of great characters and it's very well done.  The show is very amusing with lots of drama, however the character I would like to trade places with would be Annie.

 The character Annie is sweet with long drown hair, she's tiny and almost every one likes her. Annie has one brother whom I think is the same age in the show. The actor done an excellent job with forming Annie's personality and I would love to live Annie's life just for a day at least.

One great personality trait the character Annie has is how sweet she is.  Although she makes mistakes like everybody else she still manages to stay really sweet.  I would love to be her because she makes lots of friends with her sweet personality and everybody is attracted to her because she's seems so nice.  Although Annie can be mean she knows when she does wrong and knows how to fix things.

Another great personality trait the character Annie has is she's very caring, especially towards her friends and family.  Annie is always there for her friends and family no matter what, she would do anything for them even if it meant getting into trouble.  Nobody can stay mad at Annie because they know she means no harm to anyone.  If I could trade places with her than I would be as likable as her and it would be great because she's so brave especially when it comes to her friends and family and I would be able to experience that if we traded places.

 The character Annie is very pretty and everyone can see it, however she's not stuck up and acts as if she doesn't know she's pretty. If I was her I would love to be that pretty with her great personality.  Everybody loves Annie for her beauty and great personality she has.