"Where I am From" By Ji In Kim

I am from shadows,

from knives and scissors.

I am from brick mountains

that can kill kilometers of people.

I am from rain,

that slide down my cheeks.

I am from the skies,

where I get care and sighs.

I am from foot steps,

of all the secret I kept.

I am from buildings,

that give satisfaction of my buyings.

I am from bags,

that have books giving sags.

Under my external,

was a torn internal.

Burn in to ashes,

that turned in to flowers.

One Stanza

Title: Love I get from the waterfalls.

I live in the high rocks

Seeking for love

Water is all I get for love

Not even from my mother

Not even from my father.

All I need is love.

New Article connected to a theme..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8302729.stm

The title of this article was"African view: Insane with greed". As soon as I saw the title, it caught my eye. I thought this article connected with the theme of the pearl because basically the article is about Africans being so greedy, they have come to the point where they have disorders or some sort of madness. I think for Kino, it has been the same case. After finding the pearl, his priorities changed to things he wanted from healing coyotito. When we lose the main point of living or in the story, finding the pearl, misfortune will come to our lives.

Pearl Reflection

"If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it. In any case, they say in the town that...." John Steinbeck.


Around the world many people have suffered through financial problems. They say wealth equals happiness but through the book The Pearl, it has been clearly stated that wealth does not equal to wealth. Instead, Steinbeck has proved that wealth brings happiness but also can bring disgrace towards yourself and your family. When Kino and Juana was blessed with a pearl to support their only son, his neighbors was very jealous of the pearl. This shows being wealthy or being different from others could bring greediness and hatred from others. The author is definitely pushing the thought wealth=happiness aside.

For me, I thought this book was very touching. Personally, I had to go through alot of financial problems from young age and I have always been different from others. Especially, having to only go to a International school for along time, it is definitely different. After 7 years of having rich friends, I got to go the Philippines for a year. When I got there, I was really shocked. I never thought I would get to go to those places that come up on Amnesty videos and etc but I really saw a little kid about my age carrying bricks to the adults that are like 17, to build houses. At first, I thought making a house was pretty fun to watch but I see kids carrying dangerous tools to give to the elders.

Walking on the side, looking at the whole process of making a house. Boom! Infront of me there is a huge coconut cracked on the ground.
"Puamanhin.....sorry~ sorry~". I heard a young voice in the skies. I looked up and there was a very tall coconut tree with a young man cutting down coconuts. He seemed to be about my age but there was a old man yelling at him from the ground, telling him to work.

This was when I really realized how we are so blessed with so much and we complain about every single bad event that happens to us. So what is Steinbeck trying to tell us? We are blessed with so much but are you ever responsible to it? For example, just like before we started reading this book, Mrs. Morrison gave us question saying what are we going to do with 500 billion dollars. Kino had a highprice pearl that he could have donce good with it, but at last not being able to handle the responsiblity, he throws it in the ocean, giving up because of Coyotito.

GUESS THE TONE....

Think about a freezing cold winter with snow everywhere that come up to your knees. Then right on your left there is Starbucks with yellow, orange shimmering lights. You go in there and feel the warmth that Starbucks gives you. You go to the counter and order a marshmello hot chocolate and go up stairs to sit on a comfty couch. You look outside with your hot choco and all the snow flakes seems as if they look like your favorite candy falling from the sky. You look around the walls of Starbucks and the paintings are gorgeous as roses and peaceful as a dove.

This warmth, have you ever given it to your boyfriend or your parents? How about yourselves? Did YOU ever feel this warmth not physically, but mentally?

GUESS THE MOOD

Okay here is the thing, I have a boyfriend and we have been going out for like two years. Now I feel this dislike from him whenever we meet. I still really like him but it is just really different from the first two months we were going out. I thought it would last long but I think he is thinking of other girls and I don't feel the love for him anymore. He is really boring now and so annoying these days. I bet he doesn't even like me anyways. In addition, a friend of mine is keep telling me to break up with him but I just can't do it because I feel really bad for him. Whenever I say I feel bad for him to my friend she tells me one thing that makes me feel more bad: if you don't break up with him, he will break up with you. Whenever I hear this, it is really annoying and frustrating because I don't want to be a loser but I don't want to be a mean girl either. It is just really confusing and hard for me these days, dealing with my boyfriend, dealing with my school work AND dealing with my relationship with my parents.

If you're happy and you know it,Clap your hands
(Clap hands twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Clap your hands
(Clap hands twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Then your face will surely show itIf you're happy and you know it,Clap your hands.
(Clap hands twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Tap your toe
(Tap toes twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Tap your toe
(Tap toes twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Then your face will surely show it
If you're happy and you know it,Tap your toe.
(Tap toes twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Nod your head
(Nod head)
If you're happy and you know it,Nod your head
(Nod head)
If you're happy and you know it,Then your face will surely show it
If you're happy and you know it,Nod your head.
(Nod head)
If you're happy and you know it,Clap your hands
(Clap hands twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Clap your hands
(Clap hands twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Then your face will surely show it
If you're happy and you know it,Clap your hands.
(Clap hands twice)
If you're happy and you know it,Then your face will surely show it
If you're happy and you know it,Clap your hands.
(Clap hands twice)

- Definitely you would know this song but thinking about the what the composer thinks about wealth and/or happiness, I think the composer tries to gives joy to kids by motions and something really simple. Clapping your hands and stomping your head is really simple and kids can have fun by singing and doing motions at the same time. What I think the composer think wealth or happiness is something really simple but can be delivered by people gathered together.

I Won 259,000,000 Dollars!!!!

I would feel so good and fantastic but I would think I don't deserve it. I would feel really awkward at first. My first thoughts will be blank. I would have no idea what to do and get lost maybe for a hour. Then I would pray to God!For me, I would first save money for getting opera lessons. Then I would spend it on what my parents, doing what they want to do. If I have left over money then I would share it with my family and then I am going to save it until I apply for Julliard and pay my tuition fee.

A Person Who Gave Me a Great Impression...

Think about a person who you met who left an impression on you (much like Effie left an impression on Neil). Tell a story about this person on your blog. Try to use a combination of direct and indirect characterization. Please also use figurative language at least three times.
Before you post your story about this person, please underline any direct characterization, italicize any indirect characterization, and bold any figurative language that you included

She is the one who turned on my brain towards music. Min Ji Kang, the one who I want to be like. She has been called from the UN and is an amazing singer. She is in APAC choir and has been an amazing actor/singer in school musicals. She is an social butterfly and her voice is soft as a river. Her beauty is everlasting and has light brown, curly hair that swings like a leaf. She is as kind as an angle and had the softest smile like a cotton. She is very fashionable and likes gorgeous clothes.

Clue #5 Questions...

Who is Effie waiting for?
I think she is waiting God to tell her the next location. When the thunder and singing happened, I think this is when God answered her prayer and is telling her the next location. I say this because after few days Effie left and I'm pretty sure she has went to tell some other people about the message of God. It might not to be directly sent but Neil has realized there is someone that is important that Effie is waiting for.


This story contains a lot of Christ imagery. Write down three seperate sentences from the story that might symbolize Jesus and explain why Timothy Findely might have written these into his story.

Can non-Christian authors reveal truth about God's world? Yes, because for example scientists tries to solve the whole creation and everything but they come up with the solution that there is a being that is massive but doesn't want to admit the being is God. In this way, I think non-Christian authors can reveal truth about God's world. They would have heard stories about the Christian world. The Bible being such an interesting book, I think authors would try to use the elements in the Bible to write their own books.

Clue #5

What is the theme of "About Effie"?
I think the theme has to be with Jesus and the people. Effie is like Jesus and is trying to tell us (Neil) the message of God. The one who Effie is waiting is God and "He" comes to tell Effie where to go next. Using my interpertation I think the theme is saying to be ready for the one who will come suddenly and when the one is gone, you won't have the chance to change it back.

Find a verse from the Bible that relates to the theme of "About Effie" and include it in your written response. John 3:16 describes the theme of "About Effie" the best. What I thought the theme was how Jesus has given a chance to be forgiven but the ones who denies it will go to hell. Effie is like Jesus, who came suddenly, expectedly just like any other human but was loving and caring. Always had a contact with this "someone" which in my prediction is God. Jesus would always pray to God and talk to God.

Clue #4 Questions...

What specific clues can setting reveal about the theme of a short story?
Depending on the setting the theme could clarified by the mood or the weather. Such as if the author tells us the weather is cold, we can imagine people having their hands together and trying to warm it up. If the theme is loneliness, saying it was the middle of fall could be another clue for readers. These specific clues helps us understand the story better and know what the author is trying to tell us.

How does an author drop clues about characters and how their actions lead you the theme of a story? Authors uses the background of each character to show us how they feel about certain things and gives us clues of action that we can predict. The author tells us the characteristics of each character and lets us know what they will do. Even the mood or the way each character talks gives us clues of what the theme is. Throughout the story the author lets us think about the theme and at the end it is their job to let us know what the theme is. In order to do that, there should be alot of clues and definitely alot of speaking that envolves relation to the theme.

What is the strongest setting you have ever encounted in your own life (the place that has impacted you the most). Describe this place and ponder if God revealed anything about Himself or His truth in this place. Well for me I have been in China most of life but on the contrary the strongest setting wasn't China. This is my second year living in Korea and I have been going through alot of things that I couldn't imagine. My strongest setting was having to survive TCIS life. Getting to know more friends, knowing the dorm rules and getting good academic grades were pretty frustrating. Well what I really learned was that with God nothing is hard.

Clue #4

Who is a "character" in your life (a real-life person) you admire? Why do you admire this person?(Be specific and name the traits you admire)
Someone who I really admire is someone who live a really happy life with God. There isn't anyone who I can think of but for me, I just want to live a life I wouldn't regret. I want to do all the things I wanted to do and give love to as much as people as I can. The reason I admire this kind of a person is because it just gives me the idea of freedom and happiness. Many people with alot of money aren't happy. I think it is because they haven't met God yet. I want to show people near me how you can live happily with less money but with God. God is always there no matter what happens.

"Two Kinds" Connections...

The 6 Connections are the following...

• I know how to speak mandarin
• I was pressured because of piano.
• My mom was very strict of obeying her words.
• I was in a Chinese culture most of my life.
• My mom is very strict about what I do.
• I use to have alot of conflicts about what my mom wants and what I want.

My personal perspective on Jing-Mei is ver much like alot asian kids. Most asian moms have the perspective of the "two kinds" of kids. The obeying one and the disobeying one. Ofcourse the obeying ones are accepted in the house. Growing up my mom would always be proud of me so much if I obey her. Well I think I am more obedient than my brothers so my mom goes around telling her friends that I am really obedient. Which makes an really big deal for them. I think it is just the culture that asians are in. Western parents are more strict of what Asian parents aren't strict in. Such as dating, going out in the night and sleeping over. The whole story tells us about the choice we can make in certain cultures. The attitude our moms have shouldn't be different by cultures. We could have different cultures but the kids are all kids. They should have rights of what they want to do and what they like to do.

Clue #3 Questions....

How can you figure out a theme in a short story? Describe the process.
How I figure a theme in a short story is by looking at the text and the resolution of the story. Mostly, the message is at the endling and by looking at the last message and the story I find the real message the author is trying tell us. First of all, I read the short story. Second, I discover what the whole story is trying to tell us. Then I connect it due to what humanity tend to do. Then concluding everything I make it in to a theme/theme statement. Through themes/theme statements I get to understand the story better. In addition, if I feel really connected I like to write it on paper or write it on my wall. These theme/theme statements helps us to realize how humanity act and gives us lessons of life.

What is the theme of "The Utterly Perfect Murder" and how does this theme relate to your own life? I think the theme of this story is friendship. The author is trying to tell us that Doug didn't really want to kill Raulph, he was just wondering how Raulph was doing. This shows how friendship is really important to life. I really had hard times with friendship and I would always hear from my mom that I am the one who has to be humble. It is me who have to forgive them whenever there is a conflict between me and a friend. Grown up a little bit I really got to know how friendship is really complicated and important to keep. Especially girls are very complicated in friendship and being an girl I had alot of conflicts. I think this author is trying to tell us keep our friendships because later on you will never know that friend was really important. There is an saying that when you don't want to do something, you can't hide from it so just do your best on it. I think it is the same thing for friendship. When you fight with someone, you will have to deal with it anyway so just do your best on it.

How is a moral of story different from a theme?
Moral is more of a life lesson and theme is the main idea the story surrounds. Moral is what readers learn after reading the book. That is why people say when you read alot of books, you get wiser. It is through the moral that people learn and write wonderful essays with. I think the main reason people tend to read books is because they like reading or they want to gain wisdom through the moral. Getting to know more morals it is helpful in social life too. You get to use you life lessons and impress people around you. Theme is more like an idea. An idea that leads the story and the topic of the story. I think themes helps us understand the whole story and it is an tool to lead us to make an theme statement.

Read John 3:16. Is this a theme statement for God's story? How does this relate to the truth you might find in literature. As an Christian, John 3:16 is like the main theme. In this verse it shows how much God loves us and the way to get eternal life with God. I think the love of God is the main point of everything in God's story. I think throughout the whole Bible, God has been trying to tell us he loves us so much that it is unmeasurable. Through that love he has given us his only son to give us eternal life. Whenever I read books of Christian authors, they tend to send that message too to the readers. Even non believers such as CS Louis, he wasn't Christian but had a imagery of the sacrafice Jesus did and the ressurection Jesus had. Many books around us has images of God in the books. Until now I have found alot of connections with God in different books. I have realized that many authors send the wonderful message of God by writing books.

Clue #3

What is a literary theme? Provide an explanation and then 3 one-statement examples of a literary theme that reveals truth about the universal human experience.A theme is the main idea the story surrounds and gives an statement due to humanity. Themes can help you understand the message of the story and analyze the story. These are some theme statements that I thought were interesting...
1.The choices you make in life can help overcome struggles
2.Like a house without a roof is incomplete, a man without trust is incomplete too.
3.Hardship can make or break friendship/relationships.

What is the theme of your life, as you see it right now?
The theme of my life is music. The theme statement of my life is "No matter what happens, everything is what God has planned so I should find the good out of it". These two themes has been around my life so far and have always lived with it. Whenever I think of my theme statement, I always get strength from it when I went through hard times. My life was pretty tough but now through God my life changed 360 degrees being really happy.

In your opinion, what is the theme of God's plan for this world?
Pesonally as a Christian I am not really sure but I think someday Jesus will come to Earth destroying everything. We all will go to heaven and get judged. God's plan for this world will be...Love. God loved this world so much that he sent his only son to save us from dying because of our sins. Through his love we were able to live and were given a chance to have eternal life with God

Clue 6 Questions

Why do authors use figurative language?
Authors use figurative language to give more imagination to the reader and add more imagery to the story. Giving more imagery to the reader they can understand the story and be hooked to the story. I think using figurative language is another tool for authors to hook their readers. Being hooked can let the readers be commited to finish the book, so for authors it is an give and take deal. When any reader finishes the book, that books will be passed on which gives authors the benefit of being famous. Some authors that just want people read his/her books will have the benefit of knowing how people like his/her writing. Personally, reading figurative language is pretty confusing for me because it is totally different from how we talk and speak. Giving imagery and everything is very interesting but these languages can be a total confuse for readers. I just want to say that the effect could be the opposite of what the author thinks. In conclusion, figurative language is helpful in giving imagery but could be a confusion to readers.

List 3 metaphors that you think are really beautiful or interesting.

• "You are the sun in my sky". I really thought this metaphor is interesting because I realized how I always think if someone or something makes my day, I say "you are the sun in my sky" to my self. Most of the time my sun is singing or God showing me everyday how much He loves me. Not only God and singing but also people around such as my family and my lovely friends are the sun in my sky too.


• "She is my East and my West, my compass". This one particularly I thought it was beautiful. This reminded of those romantic movies when they say these phrases that is really romantic and makes us (woman) 's heart melt. It is just so romantic that you can't do anything about it and this metaphor reminded me of one of those phrases thats shows how much the guy loves his wife/girlfriend.


• "Love is a fragile flower opening to the warmth of Spring". This one I just thought there was some kind of moral to it. How I interoperated it was that loving is really painful and needs alot of patience but after all these effort, the result is being an beautiful couple or in this case, flower. More of a extension to this was that nothing can be done without effort.

Find a metaphor for Jesus in the Bible and list the Bible verse.
Mathew 5:13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." This is a verse that Jesus tells us in Mathew telling us to be salt of the earth. Which means to be an important person in role of doing God's work so that people will follow us believing Jesus. Before us, Jesus is already the salt of the earth. Without Him we couldn't have gotten forgiveness of our sins and because of His love we are able to get eternal life. Loving us so much God was able to sacrafice His only son to die on the cross. Jesus having to go through the pain, loved us so much that he was borned to die for us. After that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to stay with us instead of Jesus. This whole packet, I like to call it the "Trinity Love Packet". Trinity meaning the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God loving us so much giving this big packet of the Bible, love and their forgiveness.

What does this metaphor reveal about God's world and your understanding of it?
This metaphor shows how Jesus is the light of the world and He is always there for us in the dark. My understand of the metaphor above is Jesus telling us we should be like Jesus and try to like him. One the steps would be being a salt of the earth. Something that has to be there for people just like Jesus. We should be there for those who want to believe in Jesus but are confused of their beliefs. We shouldn't loose our saltiness and keep going on because once you are un salty, you can't be used again. In my interoperation the salt is our faith and cooker is God. When we loose faith we can't be used anymore but by gaining more faith, we can be servants of God again. It is just like when the chef thinks the food has no flavor, he/she will put more salt to make it taste good. The food is been given a another chance of being delicious. Just like God always gives us grace.

Clue #6

Define a metaphor and a simile...
Metaphor is a simile with out the word "like" or "as". Simile is a comparison between two things, such as "she is beautiful as an rose". These figurative language helps us in reading or writing a creative piece or a poem. It gives the reader more imagery and imagination of what the author really wants to tell us. Not only a metaphor or a simile, many other figurative language helps the human brain to imagine through their own experiences.

Personal Ad...

Hi my name is Ji In Kim and I come from a wonderful family. I have a beautiful singing voice that will blow your mind. Using my voice I have captivated millions of students at my school. I am kind as an angel with an soft voice as an cushion. My personality is strong as metal and because of that I have millions friends. I have a addicting laugh with the sweetest smile. I'm in APAC choir and I am the section leader for Soprano. I have an high leadership as Moses and I love to make friends; ofcourse boyfriends too<3 I love to listen to music and love to sing like birds do. I have the perfect curves for my body like the curves of ketchup on your hotdog. I have an gorgeous face like Beyounce and also the attractive gestures like her. Thank you for reading about me and I LOVE YOU <3
P.S. : Pick Me *sweet smile*

Clue #1 Questions

In your own words, please summarize what Reader Response analysis is, and what steps are involved.
An reader's response is an connection about the text through their own experiences and thoughts. This can be another way to understand literature by using our own morals and themes that we went through in our lives. Well to talk about the steps it would be read the story, read it again and write down any random connections you have with the story. By looking at the connections you will know how you can predict what is going to happen next. You can also remember the memories you had. Using these connections it can help you understand the text better. All these memories are given by God and it is meant for us to remember. Which is beauty in His eyes because when we depend on God, God sees beauty. Depending on the heart of us God decides our beauty. Us using Reader Response analysis is the gift from God because He lets us see all the miraculous connections we had.

How can Reader Response open our eyes to more truth as we read?
Using reader response we can predict what will happen next. Which is a way to find the truth of the literature. Having connections with the book we can know the reality of the event. For example, the book is about making friends. Ofcourse we know how to make a friend because all your friends now are friends that you made. By making this connection you can know the truth because it was a part of your life. Through these connections you can understand the literature better with reality. Well there are some books that talks about something you never been through. These times we can imagine we are the character of the story and feel how the character feels. Putting you into the character's perspective can help us make connections to the character. All these can show us the truth about the real world that we live in.
Why is it important for you to interact/ connect with literature?
Interacting with literature can help us through our whole life. Reading books can help us gain knowledge and wisdom. Communicating and having social life is involved in reading alot of books. You gain wisdom of what to say to give an good impression . This is especially helping when you meet people for work. Reading research papers about famous literature can help you in talking with professcors so that the professcor will remember you. For some people, reading could be alot of fun and especially when they connect with books it could be like they are the character in the story. There is a saying even though you don't go to school, if you read alot of books it is equal to those who go to school. That is how important literature is. No matter you try not to read, there isn't a exit from reading literature.

Reflect on a book or a story you had read recently and what new truth about the world you have learned from that narrative.
Recently in writing class, we have read "Alex and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day". In this book Alex, the main character, is having a very bad day. From the morning the author tells us all these details of representing a very bad day. What I learned from that book was that everybody has bad days. We do not have the bad day for forever. It is just 24 hours and we are done with it and with your surrounding people there is an possibility to have a very good day. I learned it is not only me who have a bad day so it is me who have to change it to a good day. Then I got realized everything in world such as making a friend, getting a job, making a bad day a good day is all my responsibility. It is me who have to make a friend, get a job and change the mood of the day in to a positive mood. This book told me there is nothing done without effort.

Clue #1

What is beauty?
Beauty is a present in a thing or a person that shows an certain pleasure. Beauty can be shown by the heart or by some appearance. Humanity tend to think about the appearance but God does not. God only looks at the heart not the appearance so no matter how many stickers, how fat you are, it doesn't matter in His eyes. The heart for Jesus is the most important so for me, beauty is the heart for the Lord.

Brother Revenge

“The Utterly Perfect Murder” will be about a mystery of murder. Officers finding the clue of the murderer and the reason of the death. I wanted to revenge my brother because he took all my stuff and made me very mad. I didn't get to revenge because I felt really bad; I ended up being really nice to him which ended up much better than fighting with him. TEE HEE

My Personal Connections to Literature

In the book "The Red Scarf Girl" there is a character called Ji-Li Jiang. This character is fool of emotions and events in her life. Going through the Chinese Revolution being in an high society family made everything worse. Through these conflicts she feels hatred towards her parents because of their background. Looking at this I realized how I felt hatred towards my parents becaue of their job. I weren't insulted by anyone like Ji-Li did but we as a family went through hard times because of the job we had. Having to be connected to literature can be another hook to an reader because for me "The Red Scarf Girl" was very addicting having connections every chapter. Well I guess that is why authors tend to write varieties of books to hook readers.

Questions for Clue 2

1.(Exposition) Grown up in Shen Yang, China in 1995,06,29. Born as a kid of missionaries with two older brothers.
(Rising Action) Living in Shen Yang and always having the fright of the cops. Living through the events that were unexpected, such as cops coming to my dad's camp.
(Climax) June, 2008, my parent caught on the spot where they went to church doing missionary work. After 13 years of ups and downs in China, in the age of 13 I move to Korea for the first time.
(Revolution) Now attending TCIS with my brother and having an awesome school life. Also with my parents working in church for chinese students who came to Korea.

2. Structure is needed in every writing. Structuring is an tool of making the whole story connective and also helps the reader to follow along. The structure of the story can be another way of showing the moral. With a definite meaning structured to the story, after reading it, the reader can feel a certain pleasure. This relates to humanity because everybody is structured the way God wanted and every single person has a mission to complete in their life. Which is structured and planned by God. We human just have to make the right choice. All the time God is watching us and there for us. It is we who have to complete the mission in Earth and go back to God.

3.Reading Marigolds the second time I got to understand the story more better. It helped me classify the exposition, rising action, climax and the revolution better. I got to classify the moral of the story. Looking at the plot graph I also realized for my self that life is like an plot graph. Life can have alot of up and downs but eventually my climax happens after all the struggles and hard work. After I have my climax I would live my life with my kids until death. I also realized reading or watching a book or a movie twice can be really helpful. There can be a chance getting to realized the main moral and the key components. People tend to do things once but after reading a book one more time can help us gain more knowledge. Also can give us more wisdom of commmunicating or writing.

4. For me the theme of Marigolds is about maturity, self-hatred and loneliness. Growing up you always mature by learning knew things and gaining wisdom. Even when you are really old unless you are dead, you are always learning and gaining wisdom. After Lizabeth ruins all the marigolds, she feel ashamed and realizes how humanity can deliberately hurt someone. At this time she gains wisdom and feels self-hatred. Through out the story, Lizabeth is always somehow lonely because of her background and the way she thinks. The structure of the short story makes the theme more evident because of the order exposition, rising action, climax and revolution. Especially, the climax shows how Lizabeth is really lonely with all these emotions inside. I think the structure of every writing is an ladder for the reader to climb.

Clue 2

In the passage, John 1:1~18, John describes who Jesus is. It has been said Jesus was there before the creation, during the creation and is God that created the Earth. Which is talking about the trinity of God. In this passage the key components are...
1. The fact that Jesus is God and was always there with God.
2. The trinity of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
3. The fact that Jesus knew he had to die for us but still came to Earth because he loves us so much.
Jesus' Life plot would connect to these components by the climax of his life which is the Cruxifiction. The love that Jesus had for us was so massive that he was able to die for us and be the perfect sacrafice for the world. Which also shows not only Jesus loves us, God and the Holy Spirit loves us because of the trinity (Three in one).

Personal Connections....

Joey asks Lizabeth to go somewhere and Lizabeth asks Joey does he want to go. This reminded of me and my brothers always wanting to go somewhere and discussing where each person wants to go. Then we will end up arguing and not going anywhere. Thinking about it now it is another time of my life that I was with my brothers. After Joey says yes, Lizabeth and other kids decide to go over to Ms.Lotties. I could just imagine little kids sneaking to go in which let me remember me and my friends went to this tennis court and two of our guyfriends were there. We didn't want them to know so we were sneaking around the whole tennis court just like those kids in Marigolds.

When the children decide to destroy the marigolds, Elizabeth mentioned about how they were afraid to destroy the flowers. This reminded me being scared of every single thing when I was young. I was even scared of the esclator because I thought something will happen to me and I would always count 1,2,3 before I ride it. Ofcourse now,I never count to three before I do anything. Destroying all these marigolds, Ms.Lottie got furious and started chasing the kids. This reminded of me and my little friends doing something that would get a old stranger really mad and run away or use english to pretend not to understand.


Lizabeth being the most grown up girl felt guilty after doing all that just like me and everybody regreting after doing something wrong. Whenever I lie to my mom and friends or bully someone or even just hurt someone else I feel really bad and regret of doing those things just like Lizabeth and that mood goes for a long time. Lizabeth in bed realizes her parents talking through the thin wall. Well for me I always liked to go to my parent's room and sleep. They would always come home reallly late and in the middle of sleeping I would hear my parents talking about something. Sometimes they will fight and my mom will end up crying and I will also end up crying with her but pretending I'm having a bad dream.

My family has difficulties in financial ways so my parents talks about money alot and most of the conversation I hear from my parents are about money. Just like Lizabeth's father and mother talking about jobs and financial problems. Looking at this part of Marigolds I thought to myself maybe the author is trying tell us how parents always have this pressure of money and their kids. Lizabeth listening to her father cry, she felt very awkward because she thought everything was flipped around. She always thought her father was the strong one but then since her father started sobbing real hard she couldn't get use to it. Well for me it was my mom that I thought was very strong but she wasn't and her sobbing was all because of me. Watching her cry I felt really bad because it was because of me doing something she didn't want me to do.

When Lizabeth was alone in the room awake she didn't want to be awake alone so she woke up Joey. This reminded me of my young days when I was afraid to go to dark places and sleep in the dark. Whenever I was scared I would go wake up my brother and end up sleeping with him. Usually I liked to go to my dad but there were times when the doors where locked so I went to my brothers instead. After waking up Joey, Lizabeth was embarrassed to tell him that she was scared so she told him that she is going out. Lizabeth going through the windows she started running as if a monster was behind thinking of all the poverty, emotions and life. This reminded of me not long ago running outside thinking of all these bad things that happened and happening. Pretty much like Lizabeth I was very emotional.

My Plot Story....

(Exposition) Missionaries are all around the world. China, America, Korea, Africa and etc are full of missionaries that work for God. My parents were one of them in Shen Yang, China and with 3 kids, me being the last was living in a small apartment. China was one of those countries that didn't welcome missionaries and knowing that my parents had to always be careful on whatever they do.
(Rising Action) It was 2008 June the month of my birthday and the month of vacation! Sunday came and I went to Church as usual. After church I had to meet up with my parents so I went to the place and they weren't there. I called both of them like a trillion times but they won't answer. I start to get really worried and I call again and again, but there was no result other then they didn't answer. I gave up and decided to get some sleep because there was a really comfty sofa there. After sleeping for awhile I get a call from my mom and answering this call wasn't that pleasant but anyway I did. My mom talked to me in serious voice to come home and I thought to myself did I do something wrong but that wasn't it. My parents were caught by the police right in the spot doing missionary work. They went to the police and was investigated and wasn't found guilty yet. My parents had to go to the police quite a long time and during the investigation I stayed with my friend and slept there.
(Climax)July, 16, Wednesday, my parents went to the cops and they said to leave in 7 days. It was that night when I heard this and I was pretty shocked but wasn't terrified. Thinking of all the memories that I've spent in China, I got really sad and depressed but that was it, dont know why.
(Falling Action) We had to move to Korea and go to a international school which became TCIS.
(Revolution) For one year until now attending TCIS was pretty exciting for me and now I'm a freshman in TCIS Highschool. :)


Description of Conflict: The conflict in this story would be my parents and the cops. I didn't really mention in the story but my dad and other church people was really mad at the cops. They had some serious fights which wasn't that wise. The conflict made situations worse and I realized having a conflict isn't really helpful. On the contrary, conflicts could build up love and help us gain knowledge in society.

Reading is like an bookmark to me because I read some and stop reading for a while just like a bookmark.
My five last things I read was, The Giver, Anne Frank's Diary, The Sisterhood of Travel Pants,The Red Scarf Girl and Twilight.

For me I really like books about people in pain or under pressure because of government problems so I really like books like Anne Frank's diary and The Red Scarf Girl. Both of these books are about their family and friends being in hard times because of the government. I also really like books like The Giver because it is about something we aren't familiar with. In the book The Giver talks about another world that we dont know if it was the past or the future. I like to read books that have fun, thrill or romance.

When I read, I usually be on the couch, the bed or on the desk. I like to listen to music when I read but I only listen to piano solo songs so that I can concentrate on the book. I really like to eat when I read because whenever I read I tend to go to sleep so anything that can wake me I do it. Even I know all these distracts me, I would rather be distracted then go to sleep. Well books like The Red Scarf Girl never tend me to sleep because I dont know why but I intend to like people have hard times. Its not that I'm evil or anything but I like books that take my compassion away.

I personally really like movies rather than books. When books are made to movies, even people say the book is so much better, I dont really care because I learn more from movies than books. Books dont have that much imagery and we have to imaginate the story the author is trying to tell us. Personally, for me it is very complicated because you dont really know what the author is thinking and you aren't able to picture the "real picture". Through watching the movie I learn better and get the moral better but reading and watching both is the best:)

First Stab at Essential Questions

I think my current reading skills are being able to have voice when I read. I guess that is really important because if you read in a monotone then that would be really boring for other people and for myself too. Having a voice while reading can help me concentrate and imagine the story the author is trying to tell me.

As a reader I want to read books faster but also in the same time understand the story. To be able to do that I would have to read alot of books and get use to reading. For a long time I haven't been reading alot and now since reading is so important, I will have to borrow books from the library. Its not that I dont like reading, I haven't been in the habbit of reading alot of books. I guess from now on I will have to read alot of books.

Reading literature help us in everyway. Reading books lets us gain knowledge, wisdom, and the ability to write awesome essays. I always heard from my mom that I should read but I never listened so thats maybe why I'm not really good at writing. Well also in social life if you have alot of wisdom you would know what to say and give an awesome first impression.

In the library there are tons of books there so there can be books about what we are learning and get other perspectives of the unit that we are learning. Especially, novels can be really helpful because by reading it we can get different perspectives and knowledge of the unit. According to the unit we can find books about it and get information.