Taken For Granted

As I sit my computer, thinking about what to write, I start to stare out my window and realize what a dreary day it is. The dark, gloomy clouds hovering in the sky above, blocking the sun’s path to shine down on the world. When thinking about this, I couldn’t remember the last time there was a full week of bright beautiful sunshine. As the days are getting shorter, and the nights longer, there soon won’t be a lot of these bright days left. The crisp autumn air will soon take over with its gentle, but cold breeze. I long for the days when the sun was shinning all day, week after week. I wish travel back in time; not taking for granted all of those wonderful moments of heat and the picturesque sunshine.

Response: Flower Garden by Shirley Jackson

The story, The Flower Garden, is about a widowed woman named, Mrs. MacLane, and her son, Davey, moving into a small town in Vermont. When Mrs. MacLane and her son first move into their small cottage, they were greeted and helped by many people in the town including Mrs. Winning, one of the neighbors. Briefly after moving in, Mrs. MacLane decided to start something that she always dreamed of making, a garden. Eventually after planting bulbs and everything, Mrs. MacLane realized that she was going to need some help if she wanted the flowers to stay beautiful and tended to. She hired a black man named, Mr. Jones to help her. Soon after hiring him, the people in the town stopped being kind towards her and started talking behind her back. After hiring him, Mrs. MacLane didn’t understand why everyone began to cut her off short while talking to her. At the end of the story, Mrs. MacLane’s close friend, Mrs. Winnings even decided to stop talking to her because of the choice she made.

While reading this story, there were many thoughts going through my mind thinking about what the ending of it would be. Around halfway through, I figured out how it would probably end. Once I finished, there were two literary elements that came quickly to my mind which were Person-Against-Society and an open ending.

Once people in the town found out that Mrs. MacLane hired Mr. Jones, to help her tend to her garden, they started to give her the ‘cold shoulder.’ Talking about her behind her back, they no longer thought highly about Mrs. MacLane because of the decision she had made. This situation seems similar to times around the Civil War. If Mrs. MacLane hired Mr. Jones for help then, she wouldn’t have been frowned upon, but because she was nice and kind to him, people would have thought badly of her just the same as they thought of her in the story.

Throughout the story there were many topics that were written, but the answers were not given. This makes me believe that the author, Shirley Jackson, wanted to make the story an open ending. One example, is that she told us about many physical features about Mr. Jones such as he was a big man with skin like a dark bronze, but she didn’t explain any internal characteristics about him. There was one part in the story were the mother-in-law, Mrs. Winnings says, “And working out there without his shirt on. He goes in the house,” talking about Mr. Jones. From this statement, I feel that he may have had an abusive side to him that the author isn’t telling us about.

The ending of this story leads me to believe that there are many possible theories to end it. I think that Shirley Jackson wanted the reader to really think about what happened in the story and have them decide on their own how the story should end.

Simplicity Query

How can we focus on simplicity to unclutter our lives?

By Mia

A Greek philosopher, Plato, once wrote, “In order to seek one’s own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.” Plato was trying to say that to find where you want to go in life, you first have to simplify your world. When Plato says, “…one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life,” he doesn’t mean you have to get rid of all your possessions that seem non-simplistic, such as cell phones or computers, he’s trying to say to people that you must go forward in life with the mentality of simplicity.

There are many people that have very busy and stressful lives being kids, teens, or adults. To have a simple life, you must cut back on distractions and complications, and just focus on the important things in life. You can sometimes forget the essential things like family, friends, education, and having fun. Thoreau, an American, poet, author, and philosopher, said, “Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.” Sometimes in life you need to just take a moment and think about everything that is important.

I created a video that’s about the small things in life that are truly important. I hope that it will make you understand the necessities in life.

The small, essential things right now will one day be the big things in your life that you will always want to remember. Today’s query is, “How can we focus on simplicity to unclutter our lives?”

William Zinnser's "Simplicity"

The quote that I chose was, “Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other,” this was said by William Zinnser. I got this quote from the article in the packet called, William Zinnser’s “Simplicity.” The URL is http://www.wowessays.com/dbase/ac2/awo210.shtml.

I chose this quote because when I thought about it, I was able to relate to it. William Zinnser talks about how many people talk and write extravagantly even though to him, it isn’t necessary to do. He says that a lot of people think that writing “simply” is a not a good thing, but writing with a wider vocabulary and phrases in more of a detailed way is better. Instead of being like other writers, William believes that people should write in a more “simplistic” way. To him, having a more complicated sentence isn’t necessarily always a good thing.

This quote is important to me because it says how you don’t always have to write and say things in complex ways for people to think that it is good. Sometimes even the simplest phrases can be very good because everyone can understand what you are trying to say. Zinnser thinks that too often people talk in a certain way that is hard to understand, it’s just a bunch of important sounding words that sound somewhat good together. I agree with this statement because there are many times when I am reading things such as articles or books that I can’t really comprehend what they wrote. Also, because people try to write in a more complex way, they tend to write things that make sense to them, but seem like gibberish to the people that are actually reading it. William thought that bigger was not always better, he wanted people to be able to understand his writing easily without putting a lot of effort into it. Even though reading a passage with tons of big words in it makes the author sound smart, I agree with William because sometimes they best way to say something is to make it sweet, simple, and to the point.

To me, simplicity is the act of being simple. To be simple, you don’t need to have expensive things to live a happy and fun life. Also, when you are being simple or have a simple life, you are easy to understand. There wouldn’t be a part of you life that would make people have to think more about you for them to understand you. Just like life, William Zinnser thinks that writing simplistic is good and easy to understand.

Homework

Read the simplicity packet
Choose an idea from the packet and write about it
Be sure to quote the article or passage you are referring to and make sure you cite your source
3 paragraph minimum
Grammar and mechanics must be correct

This I Believe

I believe in multiple things, but the most important thing to me is to be yourself. You shouldn’t be anyone you’re not just to please others.

When I was younger, I was always told not to be something just because everyone else was. Throughout my life, I would sometimes want to do and wear the same things as others just because it was the ‘cool’ thing to do at the time. Eventually, I realized that it’s important to be different and to be yourself. Also, even though you and your friends aren’t exactly the same, it’s okay because you should have a variety of friends. You shouldn’t be someone you’re not just because your friends are. Be yourself because if they’re true friends, they’ll love you no matter what.

My mom was probably the person who instilled this belief into me the most. Whenever I would say I want something either ridiculous just because my friends had it or not so ridiculous, she would ask me, “If they were to jump off a bridge, would you do it too?” Whenever she said this, I would understand that it’s another way of saying be yourself and don’t follow others, you should just be unique. I’ve grown to understand that I should be myself, but I still sometimes want to do things just because others are doing it, like when I was younger. Even though I’ve gotten older, it doesn’t stop my mom from saying the same thing to me that she would say when I was seven. My mom has taught me a very valuable lesson in life, to just be yourself.

During my life, there wasn’t any specific time that stands out to me that my belief were tested to its limits. Of course there were times when I was younger that small things would happen and I had to remember that I should stand out in the crowd in my own special way. Other then that, there was never a time where my belief was badly shaken and I hope there is never going to be one. If I ever think that I should be something other than being myself, I hope I will be able to get past it easily without many problems.

Being yourself and not letting other things get in the way of it is very important to me. Just because others might think you’re better one way, you shouldn’t always listen to them. You should do what you think is right no matter what anyone else thinks.