The Patriot vs. My Brother Sam is Dead

Author's Note: " I needed a piece to score on the writing rubric so I choose to put on my compare and contrast essay that I did for social studies."

When Sam returns home after being away at college for a year and announces to his family he is going to enlist in the Rebel Army his parents are horrified and raged, but his younger brother Tim couldn’t be more excited. With Sam’s father on the King’s side and Sam enlisting in the Rebel army Tim doesn’t know just what side to join. Should he honor his father and be loyal to the King and be a Loyalist or should he fight to be free and be a Patriot? Tim, only being a fourteen year old boy, figures out what he wants and what the danger and excitement of war is really like. The movie The Patriot and the book My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Gollier and Christopher Gollier have a lot in common.

In the movie The Patriot and the book My Brother Sam Is Dead are very similar in the sense that in both of them a family is torn apart by the war. For example in the movie The Patriot the Martin family is split up a lot: one of the boys dies early on in the movie and then the Dad(Benjamin) and oldest son Gabriel go to war leaving Benjamin’s other 3 kids at home with their Aunt. In the book My Brother Sam Is Dead a similar situation happens, Sam Meeker(the eldest brother) makes the decision to enlist in the rebel army despite the fact that his father is a loyalist. Sam leaves his family to go fight with the continental army while his younger brother Tim is left at home with his parents wanting to join the war like his brother. These are two examples of how the Meeker family and the Martin family get split up because of the war.

Even though the separation of family was a big similarity between the movie The Patriot and the book My Brother Sam Is Dead another big similarity between the two was all the killings. In example, in the movie The Patriot The middle son Thomas is shot early on in the movie. Closer to the climax of the movie the eldest son Gabriel is stabbed to death. Also in the movie the British soldiers burnt down the continental governments houses and killed their families. On the very last page of the book My Brother Sam Is Dead Sam dies, the British shoot him repeatedly until he is gone. By reading the book and watching the movie you can see that the British Army were ruthless and spared no one, not even children.  The deaths and killings in the book My Brother Sam is Dead and the movie The Patriot are just one similarity between the two.

Another similarity between the book My Brother Sam is Dead and the movie The Patriot is that in both you really can really see and visualize the effects of war. For example in the movie The Patriot you could see all the deaths and feel the pain they felt. Also in the movie they talked about how war was everywhere and how battles were fought in the people’s backyards. In the book you had to visualize these things but a lot of them were the same. For example in the book they talked about the wounded and what they effects of war did the land and the people who were fighting and even the innocent people who did nothing wrong. The effects of war are very apparent in the book My Brother Sam Is Dead and the movie The Patriot.

The Revolutionary War was not an easy one as you can tell be reading the book My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Gollier and Christopher Gollier and watching the movie The Patriot. Some of the similarities between the book and the movie are the visualization of the effects of war, the separation of families, and the death and killings.  While reading the book My Brother Sam Is Dead and watching the movie The Patriot you learn a lot about what war is like and how brutal and ruthless some of the soldiers really are. 

Different Perspectives

Author's Note: " I wrote this piece for point of view for my Language Arts class. Feedback is much appreciated!"

Adele is a rising star in the music industry, her album 21 sold over twenty-seven million copies worldwide. On top of that she has managed to be nominated for 184 awards and has won 99 of them. Besides being a role model for kids who dream to sing, her songs are raw and her voice is mesmerizing. Her newest song Skyfall has topped charts all over the world and is a cult phenomenon. If the song Turning Tables by Adele was told in the point of view of someone else's point of view then the moral and message of the song would change completely.

The song Turning Tables by Adele has a lot of meaning behind it. Personally when she sings the lyric, "Next time I'll be braver, I'll be my own savior," I feel like Adele is talking about someone in her life (a friend, family member, or boyfriend) that was always there for her and how she(Adele) is figuring out that they are no longer there anymore. I think this song is her way of saying that she has finally figured out that the person who was always there for her is no longer there and how she has to move on. When she sings, "So I won't let you close enough to hurt me, No I won't ask you, You to just desert me," I feel that she is talking about how she cannot let that person back into her life because it will just make things more complicated and she will end up getting hurt. I feel that the message Adele is trying to get across in the song Turning Tables is that people change and it's time for her to move on. 

The song Turning Tables by Adele is written from Adele's point of view. Since the song was written from her point of view you will feel sympathetic and sorry for her when you hear the song. Also you will feel betrayed when you listen to this song. You will feel betrayed because someone left you. Another feeling you will experience when you listen to this song is hatred. Hatred for someone who betrayed you, hatred for someone who you thought was your friend, hatred for someone who left you with no one. One last emotion you will feel in this song is abandonment. Adele wrote the song Turning Tables from her point of view.

If this song was told from a different persons point of view I think that it was change the way many people interpret this song. For example if the song was sung from the point of view of the person that she was singing to in the song you would have a different opinion of Adele. I think that if the point of this view were to change that you would see Adele is a different way. Since the song is told from her point of view you will feel sympathetic to her but if the song is told from someone else's point of view I think you would be angry at Adele if you listened to this song. The interpretation of the song would change drastically if the song Turning Tables by Adele was told from a different point of view.

This is my response to Turning Tables by Adele if it was written from a different persons point of view:

You know the old saying, " You don't know what you had until it was gone?" well you knew what you had you just took if for granite. Now I'm gone, I'm done trying to be the person you want me to be. I'm never gonna change, not for you or for anyone else. All you ever do is rant and rave about "things I've done to you," but in reality I'm not the one who keeps hurting you, your the one who keeps hurting me. I'm done with the pain, and that's why I left. It wasn't me it was you. It's over, it's time to move on. We haven't been ourselves lately and it's time to see other people and continue on with our lives. It's time for a new beginning. I think it would be best for both of us if we didn't talk anymore. We need to move on, you need to move on.

Footprints in the Snow

Author's Note: "Where I live it's winter right no so I wanted to write a poem or two about the winter time."

My burning hot chocolate made my taste buds clench. I looked around and saw the gleaming fireplace and stockings hung carefully from the mantel.There were lights strung all around the dark evergreen that towered above and presents wrapped tightly below. 

I walked out the door and saw a fresh blanket of snow coat the cold wet ground. The icy snowflakes made my nose nip. I stuck out my moist tongue hoping to catch some of the ice crystals in my mouth. The crisp air made my lips quiver. As I looked back dark I saw my silhouette leaving footprints in the snow. 

The sand swiveled between my toes and my feet felt tingly in the cold ocean water. A took a deep breath to inhale the light salty fumes of the ocean air. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift off into some far away place. Standing in the water was more peaceful and relaxing than a day at the spa. The waves were calm and the seagulls fluttered and batted their wings across the sky as quietly as butterflies. I opened my eyes and pitched my wet elbow in an attempt to see if maybe this was all a dream but to my delight it wasn't. I stared out into the endless waves wondering what secrets that the mystic ocean holds.

Victims

Author's Note: " I wrote this piece for my Language Arts class. This piece demonstrates my understanding of theme. The theme I choose to present is Government Control. In this piece I talk about three different books that have the theme government control and I also provide one real world example where theme is demonstrated. Feel free to leave feedback!"

All over the world government control is happening. It is a major issue in our world right now. Not only does it go on in the real world, it also goes on a lot in books. The theme government control is one of the most popular themes in books right now and interests teens a lot. Government control is a main theme in the books The Hunger Games, The Giver,  My Brother Sam Is Dead, and all of forms of media.

One of the main themes in the book The Giver is government control. For example, each family can only have two kids:one boy and one girl, no more and no less. Another example of government control in this book is that the citizens of the community don't even get to choose their own occupations. Instead of choosing their careers themselves the government decides what role they will have in the community. Also, the community has many rules and some of  these rules include that you cannot show your nakedness around anyone else, no bragging, and no questioning anything. These are just some examples that prove that government control is a main theme in this book.

Similarly to the book The Giver, government control is also very apparent in The Hunger Games series. A clearly notable example of the theme government control in this series was the Capital's creation of the Hunger Games. The purpose of the games was for the Capital to maintain control over the districts after it's first rebellion. Another example of government control is the presence of the peacekeepers throughout the series. They put people in their place and are not afraid to hurt anyone. The peacekeepers are a constant reminder that the Capital does not care who they hurt as long as order in maintained throughout the districts. Government control is clearly one of the central themes that is consistent in not only in The Hunger Games but also the rest of the trilogy.

Even in historical fiction novels like My Brother Sam is Dead we still see the theme my of government control. My Brother Sam is Dead is a book set in the time of the revolutionary war. During this time the King of England and his parliament were trying to control the colonies by taxing everyday items like sugar and tea. Another way the King tried to control of the colonies that was talked about a lot in the book was when he sent in the British troops or "Lobster-backs" as mentioned in the book, to keep the colonists in line and loyal to him. The book My Brother Sam Is Dead is a great example of the theme government control.

Government control is often a main theme in books and movies but it is also a very real issue in todays society. For example Muammar Gaddafi was the leader of Libya for 42 years. During his reign he reportedly taxed the people  ridiculous amounts and kept the money for himself and his family.  According to Time.com Muammar Gaddafi  was killed by rebels last year when they captured him in his home town. "He was a wicked man, I'm surprised they didn't tear his body to pieces," says Ali Tarhouni, the finance minister of Libya. What happened in Libya is a phenomenal example of how government control is a very real issue in the world today.

One of the  main themes in the books The Giver, The Hunger Games, My Brother Sam Is Dead, and in reality is government control. Nowadays the theme government control is very popular in all forms of media: books, movies, tv, and in real life. All forms of media that  have to do with government control are very serious and are nothing to joke about, they are very real issues and pull at your heartstrings. Government control is a main theme in many books and is also an issue in today's society.

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