The distructors- discususion questions

1.i think that the protagonist is Trevor. i think this is because he is the one who develops most during the story  and they the most into detail about his personality and his past. also because this story seams to take place in a major change in his life.  i think the antagonist is something more abstract, like society or something. conflicts- not being able to keep the gang organized, old misery coming home early, keeping the gang under his leadership,
2. i think suspense is created by the visible change that occurs in Trevor  him changing from a quiet sullen type to a leader with a direct purpose. you can feel that nothing good will come from his leadership "as though he were absorbed in some dream he was not willing, or not ready to share."- pg 4.
3. I think the story has a happy ending  for some of the characters. the gang gets away free, after completing their mission. they seam to get some satisfaction out of burning the house down, and i assume that the older gangs would be impressed by them. the story most defiantly does not have a happy ending for old misery. his house gets burned down and it takes his entire life with him. he is clearly heartbroken over the loss.""he gave a sobbing cry. "my house", he said""
4. taking something from the more wealthy.
5. The setting is important, because it shows what the gang has gone through, one of the reasons they may have grown up so fast. i think it is also important because of the irony. old misery house still standing tall after the entire war, with other houses blown up around him. only to lose it to a bunch of teenage kids with no real power once the war was over.
6. i think the delinquency could be in part because they clearly have very little money. By the gangs reaction to the chocolate it  shows that they have been given very little in life, and had to be self-sufficient for most of their childhoods. They are from a lower class in society and have a lot of hatred and anger for things refined and perfect. The war was a very devastating time, they cold have lost parents or family members, or even their own houses. weakness is not tolerated.
7. well they are loyal to each other, they stick together, they can all work together for a common goal.  in fact they are extreamly hardworking when they want to make something happen. they are very determined. They are resourceful. and very polite. they are able to make something from nothing, entertain themselves simply by throwing a ball against a wall all day.
8. i think it says that humans are destructive and jealous. they show no signs if selfishness because they don't take his money. they want to bring old misery down to their level and show him what it is like to have so much less.

quotes about the distructors

quotes supporting materialism-
"old misery was too mean to spend money on the property"
"not enough to go around i suppose, there never is"
"there wouldn't be anything to pinch after we finished"
:i kept these for you and me- a celebration"
"all this hate and love, he said, its soft, its hooey. there is only things, blackie"

quotes supporting loss of innocence
"even the grown up gangs"
"now in his 15th year crystallized with the pain of puberty"
"very different from the happy-go-lucky days under his leadership"
"they gray ash floated above them and fell on their heads like age"
"there is no time, a boy said"

sentences- vocab #2

Even after profusely apologizing, Tim could tell that his dad's anger was begging to abate.

The king abdicated his throne after the peasant uprising.

I balked at the thought of the test tomorrow.

The cadence of the clapping sent a member of the audience into a spiritual fervor.

Starting a new AP psych chapter just seamed so daunting i put it off and put it off until the day before the test.

Her eclectic personality scared away possible friends.

His excuse was so perfectly fabricated he got completely out of trouble.

Her garish shoes made me want to puke in my mouth.

The "my dog ate my homework" excuse is so hackneyed that no teacher in their right mind would believe it

Her idiosyncratic behavior was deemed unacceptable by her teachers.

The fall created massive lacerations from ice burns all down her back.

I could feel a maelstrom of hate about to come raining down on me. 

The nadir of her life was her ex-best friend who had decided to make her life a living hell.

The obdurate donkey refused to move even after being whipped.

Some days i may seam pacific but under the surface im about to strangle someone.

She had gotten herself into such a quagmire she couldn't see any out.

He railed against gay rights.

Her ice cream seemed so saccharine she could barely choke it down.

The evil eye is a very tacit message.

His drunkenness caused him to vacillate back and forth.

The bees seamed to be ubiquitous, surrounding her all at once.

A shiny vener of gold made the earing look much more expensive then it really was

The hippo happily wallowed in the watering hole

The oxen both struggled against the oppressive yoke.

i admit, i may have been a little overzealous with the birthday party. i probably should have stopped after the second bouncy house or maybe the exotic animals petting zoo.

poem about waiting- poetry analysis

Kneeling

BY R. S. THOMAS

Moments of great calm,

Kneeling before an altar

Of wood in a stone church

In summer, waiting for the God   

To speak; the air a staircase   

For silence; the sun’s light   

Ringing me, as though I acted   

A great rôle. And the audiences   

Still; all that close throng

Of spirits waiting, as I,

For the message.

                         Prompt me, God;

But not yet. When I speak,   

Though it be you who speak   

Through me, something is lost.   

The meaning is in the waiting.

the mood of the poem is reverent. influenced by the imagery and metaphor. you can really imagine a man looking up to the heavens, as if god himself is about to walk down a staircase made of air and reveal the answer to his prayer or guide him in some way. It shows how you can learn more about what god is trying to say by not saying it, then by actually saying it. He wants to understand by himself. his faith and beliefs may lead him to a realization without god's direct help.

show how he is in the moment and completely concentrated.

the tone is thoughtful. it is influenced by the rhythm of the poem, the rhythm incorporates a lot of pauses and stops, to show how deeply and intensely the speaker is thinking about this.
it is interesting how he refers to god as "the God" i  think he does this to show how god is the most important person in his life. the one and only. 

poetry oration- the curtain

The Curtain

BY HAYDEN CARRUTH

Just over the horizon a great machine of death is roaring and rearing.

We can hear it always. Earthquake, starvation, the ever-renewing sump of corpse-flesh.

But in this valley the snow falls silently all day, and out our window

We see the curtain of it shifting and folding, hiding us away in our little house,

We see earth smoothened and beautified, made like a fantasy, the snow-clad trees

So graceful. In our new bed, which is big enough to seem like the north pasture almost

With our two cats, Cooker and Smudgins, lying undisturbed in the southeastern and southwestern corners,

We lie loving and warm, looking out from time to time. “Snowbound,” we say. We speak of the poet

Who lived with his young housekeeper long ago in the mountains of the western province, the kingdom

Of cruelty, where heads fell like wilted flowers and snow fell for many months

Across the pass and drifted deep in the vale. In our kitchen the maple-fire murmurs

In our stove. We eat cheese and new-made bread and jumbo Spanish olives

Which have been steeped in our special brine of jalapeños and garlic and dill and thyme.

We have a nip or two from the small inexpensive cognac that makes us smile and sigh.

For a while we close the immense index of images that is our lives—for instance,

The child on the Mescalero reservation in New Mexico sitting naked in 1966 outside his family’s hut,

Covered with sores, unable to speak. But of course we see the child every day,

We hold out our hands, we touch him shyly, we make offerings to his implacability.

No, the index cannot close. And how shall we survive? We don’t and cannot and will never

Know. Beyond the horizon a great unceasing noise is undeniable. The machine,

Like an immense clanking vibrating shuddering unnameable contraption as big as a house, as big as the whole town,

May break through and lurch into our valley at any moment, at any moment.

Cheers, baby. Here’s to us. See how the curtain of snow wavers and then falls back.

My poem is about a couple. A couple that has found a kind of peace in the world, even with everything that they know goes on out there. you can tell from the line "Just over the horizon a great machine of death is roaring and rearing" that they realize a force of sadness and destruction is out there in the world. I think it weighs on them but they realize there is nothing they can do to stop it. I think the curtain of snow symbolizes a  "[smoothing and beautifying]" of the world. like snow. it doesnt do away with imperfections  it just hides them. It doesn't make the pain of the word go away, to just try and push it down, but it helps you deal with it. There is nothing else you can do. i think that the mood is somber, because of the imagery they use "We can hear it always. Earthquake, starvation, the ever-renewing sump of corpse-flesh." but i think the tone is a we will move on kind of thing. "Cheers, baby. Here’s to us." i think they use contrast to make the tone. the contrast of the huge overcoming monster of the pain of the world, and a small little cottage in a vale. Exposed to the elements but still keeping on.