The Salem witch trials website taught me a lot more about the trials from a commoner’s point of view. I knew about the trials out of the history books but I did not really have a feel for the emotions of the time. The best comparison I can come up with is that reading about the events in Salem in a history book is like looking at a picture of a car but the website provides an experience similar to driving the car in the picture, It taught me about the choices of the people put in the predicament that is being accused of being a witch. The people of the time were admirably dedicated to their religious beliefs but the Salem witch trials were definitely an event in history where idealism was not morally higher than pragmatism.

Comment on Our Lit. Cirile

Today in our literature circle we discussed our book “Chocolate War” and how it shows a lot of the corruption goes in private schools. I suppose that this goes on because there is not near as much regulation from higher authorities. Many times people trust their kids to private schools without really knowing what is going on under the surface. Our lit. circle was not all on. Our discussion was kind of hard to get a whole lot out of because we had not all read to the same page. There were a few more connections that could be made but not everyone was able to make them because of the different points we were at in the book.

Polished Response for Give a Boy a Gun

“Stick and stone can break my bones but words can never hurt me.” We have all heard this cute little rhyme since we were little kids, the problem is, we were little then. Nowadays, big kids, say high school aged kids and teenagers, are finding sticks and stones more desirable. The way our society treats those who are not the best looking and do not have the most expensive clothes is a testament to the falseness of our grade school nursery rhymes.
In Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser, we follow the story of two boys from grade school to the day they attack a school dance with assault rifles and bombs. The story is very vivid. Strasser shows, in shocking reality, today’s teen society and its ability to down the weak and the “uncool.” The story is about Brendan, a boy who moves from another school, where he is highly regarded and a “cool” kid, to Middleton midway through his seventh grade year. When he moves he meets Gary, a very smart, melancholic boy with serious depression issues and a sad family life. Brendan and Gary become fast friends. During the 7th grade they begin to figure out, and hate, the class structure that will eventually put them at the bottom and make them virtually outcasts. The book does an excellent job giving stories and examples of what led to this and their eventual school shooting.
Today’s culture has become entirely focused on “me”, the individual. We will do whatever it takes to become “cool.” This effects how people choose their friends now too. If you are not pretty, funny or have a lot of money then you are simply something less than those who are. Todd Strasser does a good job of pointing out this grievous error and forces us teenagers to look in the mirror and think about how we treat other people. The best way to fix today’s extreme bullying problem is not to have “Stick and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me” drilled into our heads, but rather “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”