"The Twelve"

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Cry, The Beloved Country Theme

               Through the first book of Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton’s main theme has been decision making, and how it can affect you badly. So far Stephen Kumalo’s son, Absalom Kumalo, has already made three huge mistakes that most likely will ruin the rest of his life, he chose to go to Johannesburg in search of his sister Gertrude and he has never returned, then he chose to become friends with the people who were not well off rather than getting a job, and also he shot a man because he was startled by him as he was robbing the house of a prominent white man Arthur Jarvis. These bad decisions have so far made up all of the problems that are going on through book one of Cry, the Beloved Country.

               On page 39, it states, -We had a son, he said harshly. Zulus had many children, but we had only one son. He went to Johannesburg, and as you said-when people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back. Absalom chose to move to Johannesburg in search of his sister Gertrude, and he never showed up back home. It states in the novel that this became a common occurrence for the young black men; they would flee their villages to head for the city. Most of the time things like what happened to Absalom would happen to the young men once they got to Johannesburg, they would get in with the wrong people and make dumb decisions that will mess up the rest of their life, because they get stuck in a life of crime, or prison.

               Throughout chapter 10, pages 92-102, it states that Absalom had become too old to live at the Reformatory, he also had a pregnant girlfriend with an arranged marriage waiting to happen, and also was very well mannered. Although, he fell in with the wrong crowd, and fell into a life of crime. He stole things constantly, and was even asked to leave many people homes because they were scared to let him stay. He finally tried to rob the wrong house at the wrong time, and he was startled and committed a crime, murder.

               On page 128, it states, -He is found, my brother. But not as he was found in the early teaching. He is in prison, arrested for the murder of a white man. Stephen Kumalo said this to his brother John as they both found their sons in jail for murder. Absalom was much worse off than Johns son because Absalom actually killed the man, while Matthew Kumalo was just present when it happened. The dumb decision to shoot Arthur Jarvis has caused Absalom a lot of trouble, and will probably end up in prison for a very long time.

               Through book one, the theme that Alan Paton used the whole time was decisions. Make smart decisions, think before you act.  Your decisions can affect you for the rest of your life, like Absalom, his life is pretty much over because he murdered a prominent white man.

You're never too old for a little FUN!

"Hey Zac I'm going to win," I yelled across my house.

"We will see," he replies.

          Thoughts start to rush through my head. I have to beat him. He always wins. I have to prove myself. If I don’t win this time I will probably not get another opportunity. He would rather not play me; he is just doing it to make me and my parents happy.

Dad yells, "GO."

          I run as hard as I can through my house and into my living room, aka the battlefield. As I round the corner, to my dining room, he fires three bullets as zooming like a wasp past my face. At this point I know he only has two bullets left and I have all five. I then decided to dive behind the couch and try to crawl and flank him. As I look over the couch, I see him and he doesn’t see me. At least I thought he didn’t. I shot two bullets both hitting my dad and Zac fired hitting the wall behind me. I roll out from behind the couch and fire my last three bullets and Zac shoots his last bullet. In the midst of me rolling my eye glasses had fallen off. All I fell is a sharp pain in my eye ball.

"OWWWW," I yell, "you hit me in the eye."

"I'm a winner, winner eating a chicken diner," he yells as he has technically won the game.

"I will win if we play again," I said as I began to tear up.

My dad gathered us in the living room and grabs both of our arms like they do at the end of a MMA fight and proclaims my brother the winner. I was so mad at myself, how could I miss the open shot and lose the game.

"Bryce I bet you won't dive off of the cliff," says my brother.

"You think I'm scared to dive off?" I replied sarcastically.

          Truly I was absolutely terrified to dive off. I really do not even enjoy jumping off. My-fourteen-year-old body ached as I hit the water the first two times I jumped. My best friend Caleb looks at me and laughs as I try to act all bad. He knows I won't dive off, because I'm scared. I walk to the edge, and instantly become terrified.

"I'll do it if Uncle Tommy goes first," I say as I walk away from the edge.

          Sure enough my Uncle disappears and all I see is a big splash, as his ankles go into the water. I know was being forced to do it by my brother, cousin, and best friend. As I get my running start I jump as far as I can and look straight down at the water. The two seconds that I was in the air felt like twenty. Half way down I decide not to dive and try to abort. I decide that I would rather go in with my feet. And SMACK. I hit the water on my stomach. I can't breathe, and I can't swim so I begin to sink. I fell something grab me and pull me up onto the boat. I lay down because I think I was dying. My mom handed me a ham sandwich and a Dr. Pepper, which made me fell lot better. About the time that I began felling better a boat pulled up with like tree girls that were about my age and drop dead gorgeous ask if I'm alright. When my parents assure them that I'm okay, they begin laughing and drive off. That made me just a little bit more devastated.

          My brother had just came home from the lake, and my dad was done working out with me, this was the first time all four of us has been together since Zac left for college. My mom showed us a picture of a puppy. I have never had or seen this type of puppy.

She says, "It’s a Rottweiler."

I say, "Wow that’s a cute puppy."

"I would like for one of these to protect me when you leave Bryce," she says.

"Then let's get one know so that when Bryce does leave it will be big enough to protect you," My brother states.

"Ask your dad," she replies.

"DAD," we both yell at once, "can we get a puppy."

"Sure I've always wanted one since we moved in here," he replies.

          It was official; we were going to add a new addition to the Reynolds's family. We looked all over the internet until we found a man who had a littler in Arkansas. He wanted 450 dollars. We gave him a call and he told us to come down tonight and he would sell us one. We loaded up and drove to Harrisburg. After about the hour long drive we arrived at the man's house and we could see all the puppies, they were so cute. There were only two puppies that would not stop licking us. He called the main one Rowdy and the other one Zoom. We decided to hold them and talk to them. He handed my brother the one who they called Rowdy, and me Zoom. Me and my brother switch. We decided that we liked Rowdy more. And at that moment it hit me that at the age of fifteen I was getting a new puppy. As we got back home all we did for the rest of that night was play our new puppy hat we named, Zeus.

          Something that I have learned throughout my life is that it doesn't matter how old, or young you are you can always have fun, doing the simplest of things like a dare, playing with toys, or getting a new puppy. There are endless amounts of things you can do to have fun. And one thing to remember is F is for friends who do things together, U is for you and me, and N is for anywhere at any time at all, down here in the deep blue sea.

You Learn How to Read?

               Learning to read is just a blur in my past, I have asked my parents and they do not know how I learned how to read. All I remember is that my Grandma owned a book store and every time she got a new children’s book she let me read it before she even put her stamp on it. I loved reading my grandmas books, but know she has retired and sold her book store. I think when she did that, and once I started school that is when I quit enjoying the art of reading a nice juicy story

               My favorite type of book to read was Goosebumps, I loved the thrill of the scary resolution and how the enchanted things just diapered. My cousin Brandy had a collection of all the Goosebumps books there were and every once in a while she let me borrow one. I absolutely love when she was kind enough to let me read one. Sadly she is not with us anymore and, and I can’t stand to read the books anymore because they remind me so much of her, and I loved her so dearly. Although, my mom got me hooked on a completely different series, which is Harry Potter.

               I will never forget my first AR book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. My mom helped me read the hard parts on her bed; I read the entire book in third grade. I only read that book, and it got me all the points I needed in one semester. Once I read one of them it sparked a new revolution, I read all 7 books in a matter of two school years and tested on all of the making a 90 or above. I will never forget making a 100% on the fourth book. My teacher let me email my mom a picture of the test screen. I was a very happy camper that day. If I had to say that was the highlight of my reading career!

               Since I finished Harry Potter the only books I have read have been for school, like Shakespeare, which are poems, and Silas Marner. I really just completely lost all interest in reading. I don’t understand why either, I think it was the fact that teachers made me read boring books for AR, or doing summer reading assignment over books that no one except for the writer knows about. Since about the sixth grade reading became more and more unbearable to the point to where I can’t stand to have to read a book.

               I will have to say though if I find a book that really interests me you can’t get me away from it, like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. They were so dumb that they actually made me laugh. I wouldn’t really count them as books, more like comics. My only comment about reading is that no movie will ever be as good as its book. I’m not sure why, but movie directors cant, or will not follow the book. They misplace, and misuse ever part of the book.

Forever Alone

I am forever alone
I wonder if I'll ever find a friend
I hear the jokes
I see them laughing
I want a friend
I am forever alone

I pretend to have a friend
I feel the pain
I touch nothing
I worry if I'll ever get a friend
I cry when they laugh
I am forever alone

I understand I'm alone
I say I'll get a friend
I dream of a wife
I try to make friends
I hope the understand me
I am forever alone

It's a joke people

I AM Poem

I am random, and forgetful
I wonder where I will end up
I hear people screaming
I see false hope
I want to succeed
I am random, and forgetful

I pretend to be a millionaire
I fell the worries
I touch the hope
I worry about my future
I cry when I fail
I am random, and forgetful

I understand anything is possible
I say you'll see
I dream of being a millionaire
I try to be successful
I hope to succeed
I am random, and forgetful

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

        Have you ever heard that song by Aretha Franklin called Respect. In her own sassy way she got a strong point across. If everyone gives a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T the world would be a better place. that sing really tied into the story "A very old man with enormous wings : A tale for children." by Gabriel Marquez.

        In the text the people who come to see the old man show him little to no respect... and that really pissed me off. In one event they actually put a scolding hot branding iron on him just so the cold tell if he was dead. If any one ever put a branding iron on me, without my permission, I would be flipping tables. Also at another point they were pulling out feathers. Since I don't have any feather I cant relate to that, but I sure know that would make me mad enough to kill them. They showed him absolutely no respect, I mean come on Randy's lets show some respect.

        There was this one time in kindergarten that some randy walked up and tried  to rub his arm against me. So i freaked out and asked him what his problem was. He told me that he had Poison Ivy. He showed me no respect because he tried to give me poison ivy. At that point i thought it would kill me. Ha ha, Fail. Also there are times that I don't give people the respect that they deserve, like my friend Cole. I'm kind of a smart alec and kind of make fun of his Call of Duty skills. I realise that I don't treat people the way I like to be treated.