Pandas

Pandas are awesome,

You can see them at the zoo,

They eat bamboo,
And they're not just black and white,

There are red pandas too,

Look it up,

You'll see I'm right,

They're also herbivores,

Just in case you've never heard that word before,

It means they eat plants,

Vegetation,

They can't dance,

No education,

'cause they don't go to school,

Educated or not,

Pandas will always be cool.

Personal Metaphor

Author's note: this poem is a bunch of metaphors that describe me. P.S. this is a picture of a colugo.

I am a crab,
born by the Chesapeake,
I am a colugo,
small and weird,
I am a squirrel,
climbing up and down,
I am a mime,
making no sound.

"Eagle Strike" by Anthony Horowitz

Lets say you were a spy on vacation with your friend and you see a contract killer pull up to a dock on a large boat. What would you do? If you answered go find out what the contract killer's plans are, then you would do exactly what Alex did in the beginning of "Eagle Strike" by Anthony Horowitz. Alex was on vacation with his friend Sabina and Alex saw Yassen Gregorovich, a contract killer, and had to know what he was up to. As a result, he got tangled in Damian Cray's evil plan. "Eagle Strike" is obviously follows the tragic mode of literature.

Anthony's book fits the plotline perfectly. For the world is in conflict Alex spots Yassen while on vacation with Sabina. And for the rise to power, Alex found out what was going on. As for the tragic flaw or human weakness, Alex was caught by Damian Cray. The tragic fall was when Sabina got pulled into Damian's plan as well. Lastly, the death or death symbolism was when Yassen told Alex that his dad was a contract killer too and that they were partners.

The characteristics matched as well as a little bit of symbolism too. For the characteristics, Alex was in control and the story was realistic. As for the symbolism, Anthony mentioned both red and night throughout the book. Red was mentioned in the second to last chapter after Yassen was shot his shirt turned red with blood. He mentioned night when Alex was forced to fight the bull in France.


Anthony Horowitz's book clearly matches the tragic mode of literature. Honesty always leads to trust appeared to be the moral because Alex tried to convince Sabina that he was a spy and it didn't work at first, but after she got sucked into Damian's plan, she believed that he really was a spy. The moral also appeared to be that not everyone will believe you until you prove it because Alex was the only one who believed that Damian was villainous, but it wasn't until after Damian died that MI6, the British intelligence agency, found out that Alex was right. Alex gained trust from MI6 after proving them wrong.

"Sucker" by Carson McCullers

Imagine sharing a room with your little cousin Sucker. Your little cousin has lived with you ever since his parents died. Sucker admires you. He listens and remembers everything you tell him, he respects you. This boy still believes you after all the lies he was told. Once, you told him that if he jumped off the garage, an umbrella would act as a parachute, so he did and broke his knee. What you just imagined is what Pete's point of view is. The short story "Sucker", by Carson McCullers, is obviously a tragedy.

Carson's short story perfectly fits the tragic plotline. For the world is in conflict, Pete felt like he's been mean to Sucker. Talking to Sucker every night before bed was the rise to power because he was building a stronger bond with Sucker. The tragic flaw or human weakness was when Pete yelled at Sucker after being dumped by Maybelle. After Pete yelled at Sucker, Sucker started to dislike Pete, which was the tragic fall. As for the death or death symbolism, Sucker's admiration of Pete came to an end.

The characteristics matched as well. "Sucker" is realistic. Carson's short story is realistic because it seemed like something that really could have happened. I also thought that the main character, Pete, was in control. Pete was in control because he decided to start being nicer to Sucker once he realized how mean he was before.

There was a lot of tragic symbolism too. Maybelle was described to have red nail polish. Red is tragic symbolism because it could resemble blood. It said Pete knew that Maybelle smoked in her basement so he brought her cigarettes and asked her out. Basements are tragic symbolism because in horror movies, bad things usually happen when someone is alone in a large open space like a basement. Pete and Sucker would talk in the darkness of their room at night. Darkness and night are symbolism because bad thing would usually happen at night or in darkness.

"Sucker" by Carson McCullers appears to be tragic. Pete lost control, after being dumped by Maybelle, and yelled at Sucker without even thinking about what he was saying, which brings us to conclude that the moral of the story seems to be to think before you act or speak. It is really important to control yourself, especially when you're angry. Have you ever lost control of yourself?

"To Build a Fire" by Jack London

Imagine going down a trail, in weather colder -50 degrees, to get to your sons at a different camp. Do you think that would be a good idea? That is exactly what the man did in "To Build a Fire" by Jack London. A dog followed the man at his heel, for it the man expected was going to go to a camp, but didn't expect the journey. Jack's short story appeared to be both an irony and a tragedy.

"To Build a Fire" fits all of the tragic plotline. When the man fell through the ice was the world is in conflict. And the rise to power was when the man built a fire. The tragic flaw or human weakness was he built the fire under a snow covered tree. As a result, the tragic fall was when the snow fell and put out the fire. Lastly, the death or death symbolism was when the man froze to death.

Unlike the tragic plotline, the ironic plotline doesn't completely match. I couldn't find a match for the world is in chaos. But I found a match for all the other points. When the man fell through the ice and couldn't start a fire, that was the major conflict. And the death or loss of sanity was when the man froze to death.

Not all of the characteristics matched either. For tragedy, it was realistic, but the man did not seem to be in control. And for irony, it wasn't unrealistic or a nightmare vision of reality and there was no "bad" so bad could not be strong. But the man seemed not to be in control and he was stupid, weak and could do no right. When he tried to kill the dog to keep his hands warm but couldn’t because he forgot about his frost bite, that made me think that he was stupid and can do no right.

There wasn't a lot of symbolism for both tragedy and irony.  The man in the short story mentioned a tale about a guy who survived a blizzard by climbing into an animal carcass, blizzards are ironic symbolism. In the very first sentence, Jack was describing the day as cold and gray, gray is both ironic and tragic symbolism. Jack also said it was winter and mentioned cold wind, both are tragic symbolism. He also described the dog to look just like his cousin the wolf and that is tragic symbolism as well.

"To Build a Fire" by Jack London seemed to be ironic and tragic based off of the plotline, characteristics, and symbolism. The moral of the short story was to use common sense. If it is so cold outside that if you were to spit and it would freeze before it hits the ground, that would be a sign to stay indoors and keep warm. The man should have waited until it got warmer to go visit his sons. He probably would have lived if he did. Using common sense could save your life.