walker 10th grade english blog

“Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.” – Blaise Pascal

I definitely agree with this quote. In politics, if you are not forceful and confident of your actions and beliefs then you will never get somewhere in your career, but if you use too much force then you end up becoming a dictator which is tyranny. Such as the current elections today between the two democratic campaigns in the U.S. Obama and Clinton both use persuasive and powerful arguments to create a better image for themselves. If they didn’t act so powerful, then people wouldn’t think that they were strong to rule a whole country, but they use justice and peaceful ideas to win over their votes as well. Also people who are too kind and trusting often get nothing in return and get used in life. If you act too nice, and use too much justice then you will never get what you want because you will be trying to please everyone except yourself. But rulers in the past such as the old leader of Iraq, are too powerful. He became a dictator and ended up causing a revolution and hatred among the Iraqi people. When you forget about justice in politics and life, then power becomes just as useless as how useful it felt in the beginning. Creating a balance of power and justice is definitely a need in life.

I liked this one because it is the ultimate guilt poster. Its trying to make you feel guilty because the tired soldier is asking you “politely” to hold his gun while he gets some sleep, while you are at home and you have all the time to sleep and rest at home. I think it is really affective, because it makes you feel like you have everything while they have nothing, and you should give back.

Quotes from Chapter 5: All Quiet on the Western Front

For each quote, summarize the quote and comment on what is being said. Do you agree? What’s surprising about what is said? What does it remind you of?

Quote Summarize Comment
“And then what?”

A pause. Then Haie explains rather awkwardly: “If I were a non-com. I’d stay with the Prussians and serve out my time.”

“Haie, you’ve got a screw loose, surely!” I say.

“Have you ever dug peat?” he retorts good-naturedly. “You try it.”

Then he pulls a spoon out of the top of his boot and reaches over into Kropp’s mess-tin.

“It can’t be worse than digging trenches,” I venture.

Haie chews and grins: “It lasts longer though. And there’s no getting out of it either.”

“But, man, surely it’s better at home.”

“Some ways,” says he, and with open mouth sinks into a day-dream.

I’m not completely sure about what they are saying but I think they are talking about the war and if they would rather be at home. I think that Haie thinks that it is better being in the war, and that he says its better being at home. I think that the hidden meaning in this quote is that Haie really would rather be at home since it says at the end that his mouth opens and he sinks into a day-dream.
You can see what he is thinking. There is the mean little hut on the moors, the hard work on the heath from morning till night in the heat, the miserable pay, the dirty labourer’s clothes.

“In the army in peace time you’ve nothing to trouble about,” he goes on, “your food’s found every day, or else you kick up a row; you’ve a bed, every week clean underwear like a perfect gent, you do your non-com’s duty, you have a good suit of clothes; in the evening you’re a free man and go off to the pub.”

Haie is extraordinarily set on his idea. He’s in love with it.

“And when your twelve years are up you get your pension and become a village bobby, and you can walk about the whole day.”

He’s already sweating on it. “And just you think how you’d be treated. Here a dram, there a pint. Everybody wants to be well in with a bobby.”

They are saying that everyone wants to get out of the army, and become a bobby or a police officer, since everyone wants to liked by them. It’s like that in the army too because when it’s peace time, you have nothing to worry about, you have enough food every day and you can go to the bar when ever you want to. But during the war, its different, it’s horrible. I think this means that being a police officer is like being a soldier in some ways.
Kropp feels it too. “It will go pretty hard with us all. But nobody at home seems to worry much about it. Two years of shells and bombs—a man won’t peel that off as easy as a sock.”

We agree that it’s the same for everyone; not only for us here, but everywhere, for everyone who is of our age; to some more, and to others less. It is the common fate of our generation.

Albert expresses it: “The war has ruined us for everything.”

He is right. We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war.
We sit opposite one another, Kat and I, two soldiers in shabby coats, cooking a goose in the middle of the night. We don’t talk much, but I believe we have a more complete communion with one another than even lovers have.

We are two men, two minute sparks of life; outside is the night and the circle of death. We sit on the edge of it crouching in danger, the grease drips from our hands, in our hearts we are close to one another, and the hour is like the room: flecked over with the lights and shadows of our feelings cast by a quiet fire. What does he know of me or I of him? Formerly we should not have had a single thought in common— now we sit with a goose between us and feel in unison, and are so intimate that-we do not even speak.
This means that when they were 18 they had all these dreams and ideas about the world and they romanticized the war, but when they got there, their dreams were shattered because it was nothing compared to what they had thought it was going to be. Then they talk about the fact that this war is all those two men need to have in common two be closer then any lovers or family, because all they have is each other, and they have both experienced the same thing (war) that will change their lives forever. I think that this was a very good quote. I liked how they talked about how the two men were like lovers because they were so close and didn’t have to say anything at all.
Choose your own: Approximately 40 words

He goes off. Things become quieter, but the cries do not cease. “What’s up Albert?” I ask.
“A couple of columns over there got it in the neck.”
The cries continued. It is not men, they could not cry so terribly.
“Wounded horse,” says Kat.
It’s unendurable. It is the moaning of the world, it is the martyred creation, wild with anguish, filled with terror, and groaning.

I think that this means that the way the horses are crying is unbearable and so sad that he compares it to “the moaning of the world.” I thought that this was really good writing and it shows you how terrifying it is to be in a battle.

He woke up early after the guns had been shooting all night
another day another fight, another fight a fight for life.
He got up fast and fearlessly so that one day he would be once again free
free to enjoy a life without guns and orders, blood and bodies
free from these jail like borders.
On the battle field he was trained to kill and that was all
though as a child he was tought to help those who fall.
he killed and watch the man die a quick yet bloody death
he had no time to think about those he would affect
when all was done and we had won,
how funny the feelings that have begun.
the war was over at last we had won the game
but the emptyness we had also gained
how would he go home now?
with all the death he had witnessed
with all the sickness he had found
because of this game
he would never be the same.
He would go home now, just hoping someday he would be sane.

This blog was very realistic and made me realize how much is going on in the Iraq war that is affecting people other than soldiers. The girl who wrote this lives in Syria which borders Iraq. She talks about how many Iraqis live in Syria now and how difficult it was to get to Syria and escape all the caous in Iraq. She talks about the mountain Qasiyoun in Iraq that you can see from Syria and how beatiful it is and how it reminds her of home. She said that their are 1.5 Iraqis in Syria now. She said that when they left Iraq there were thousands of others there at the same time all trying to leave. The line for passports was miles long, and little boys were trying to sell water, cigaretes, and chewing gum. She talks about how she is a refugee now and how she read about refugees in books and how scary it felt to actually realize that you are just a number now, like the characters in her books. She felt that unity had been stolen from her family. After waiting hours and hours in line, they finaly got to their apartment where two other Iraqi family’s were renting. The families welcomed them as new neighbors. Her whole situations shows you how broad the war is and how it affects everyone.

1.She uses many different logos. She uses many statistics such as “the number one death of 15 to 20 year olds in the country is driving.” and “In 1984 a solution was devised for the problem of teenage auto accidents that lulled many parents into a false sense of security. The drinking age was raised from 18 to 21.” the effect statements that she uses are if we raise the driving age, then there will be less deaths among 18-21 year olds in the country.
2. She uses many pathos such as “Perhaps the only ones who wouldn’t make a fuss are those parents who have accepted diplomas at graduation because their children were no longer alive to do so themselves, whose children traded freedom and mobility for their lives. They might think it was worth the wait.” this statement makes you think about how the driving age should be raised, just thinking about the specific situation of having to recieve your own childs certificate at graduation because he died earlier, makes you feel bad and empathetic for the parent. She also uses “The sports contests, the SATs, the exams, the elections, the dances, the proms. And too often, the funerals.” as a way to support the emotional side of her argument because when you think about highschool you don’t usually think about funerals too.
3. The ethos she uses are “if someone told you that there was one single behavior that would be most likely to lead to the premature death of your kid, wouldn’t you try to do something about that? Yet parents seem to treat the right of a 16-year-old to drive as an inalienable one, something to be neither questioned nor abridged.” This makes you think about your opinions on the subject which shows how credible she is and the way she uses gramer makes you realize that she has researched her article very well. “It’s become gospel that this has saved thousands of lives, although no one actually knows if that’s the case; fatalities fell, but the use of seat belts and airbags may have as much to do with that as penalties for alcohol use.” The way she defends herself and her opinions makes her seem very credible.
4. Quindell was very persuasive because she make you think twice and had the right amount of pathos, ethos and logos to convince her readers that the driving age should be raised.

I think these laws are pretty realistic and correct, not all of them are completely moral but if you use them right and balance mortality with power, i think you could be really succesful. I liked law number 9 which was win though your actions never through argument. I think this law has been proved many times through history. Such as many civil rights activists in the 1960’s who striked and protested to get what they want. Also when you prove yourself to be powerful rather then talking about your ideas, you are more intimidating and more able to get what you want because people notice your strong actions and know you think highly of yourself. So inconsiously, they consider you more respectable. I think this is a good law for daily life to create power but not always in government. When Ghandi protested against the class systems in India, he used many argumnets and made the government feel guilty through his words and not as much as his actions because he was against fighting. Although when his followers began to fight, he used stoped eating to make them stop and keep attention on himself which also leads to law 11, learn to keep people dependent on you.

one time in 7th grade, one of my friends was spending the night and we were trying to sneak out to see some of my other friends that night because we knew my mom wouldn’t let us. So we went out around two a.m. when my parents were asleep. When we came home through the garage my mom heard us coming in and we heard footstep, I was so nervous that she was going to catch us. We hid by the cars, but we knew she checked downstairs and saw that we weren’t there. So when she opened the door to the garage, we got up and she saw us immediately. She asked us what was going on and I knew I could just make something up. I told her we were geting food from the fridge we had down there, and she believed us but definitely was skeptical. I felt guilty about lieing to her, especially when the next day she bought me clothes for the new school year. While we were shopping, I felt this little voice inside my head telling me what I did was wrong, but then again, I’m sure my mom lied to her parents when she was younger so I tried not to think about it too much.