10 Items I Would Bring With Me

1) A picture from trip to Disney

2) Ipod
3) Summer Ball- my favorite book
4) My signed baseball
5) My science plaque
6) My basketball trophy
7) A Bible
8) An academic medal I received
9) My favorite jersey
10) My favorite food- Cheez-It

Jane Eyre Project Proposal

My idea for the Jane Eyre project is to write an analytical essay comparing the time Rochester spends with Jane to his life with Bertha Mason.  I will describe the differences between these and which one Rochester liked best.  It will explain how Rochester's life with Jane differs with the one he has with Bertha.

Ch. 15 of Ender's Game and My Opinion

     Chapter 15 of Ender's Game sums up what I thought of was a good book.  This chapter explains Ender's life after the buggers' war.  He is still sorry for what he did to Bonzo, Stilson, and the buggers.  Ender did not want to kill anybody and says that he is not a killer.  Peter, back on Earth, has now completed his goal and has gained a lot of political power.  He, as Locke, came up with the Locke Proposal, which ended a war that could have lasted for awhile.  As Valentine said, "It was the moment he had been waiting for, to use Demosthenes' influence with the mob and Locke's influence with the intelligentsia to accomplish something noteworthy." (Card 311)  I liked how Ender told Valentine that the reason he was going with her was to learn more about the buggers.  He wanted "to repay by seeing what I (he) can learn from their past." (Card 314)  It was interesting that even without books in the bugger world, Ender still found things about them such as they cared for their young.  I was confused a bit by the ending of the chapter.  I did not get how Ender was Speaker for the Dead and what that meant.  It was strange to find out that the buggers had actually created a place that had the Giant's corpse, the playground, and the tower. 
     Ender's Game was an interesting book to read.  It explained how Ender, who was a six-year old boy, transitions from Battle School to Command school, then finally on to commander in which he defeats the buggers.  I enjoyed how this novel was full of action.  The games in the battlerooms and Ender's fights are a few examples.  Also, I liked how Card put in some unexpected twists such as in Ch. 14, when Ender is tricked into fighting the actual buggers instead of just a simulator match.  That really got me off guard.  All in all, Ender's Game was an exciting and fun book to read, which I enjoyed greatly.

Ch. 14 of Ender's Game

      This was, hands down, the best chapter of the entire book.  Chapter fourteen was full of intense and surprising twists.  Like Ender, I was surprised to find out that Mazer Rackham was still alive.  Mazer Rackham is there to train Ender even more and he also told his opinion in how he had defeated the buggers.  His idea was that every ship acted like a part of an organism and that the buggers have a queen.  So, when Mazer attacked and killed the queen, it made all the other buggers go stupid and eventually die.  It was cool when Ender put on the headset for the simulator and all the people he trusted in Battle School were there.  Mazer Rackham is putting Ender through many simulations to prepare him for the real battles.  I thought that Ender' continuous strange dreams were peculiar.  As he said, it was as if, "My whole life keeps playing out as if I were a recorder and someone else wanted to watch the most terrible parts of my life." (Card 286)  He kept seeing Peter, Stilson, and Bonzo's faces in his dreams and in one of them he had seen Valentine as one of the wolves from the playground who mocked him and he drowned her.  At first, I thought it would be impossible for Ender to win in his final examination.  Then he came up with an interesting idea, which was to use the Dr. Device on the planet.  It worked and he had destroyed all the buggers in what he thought was a stimulated game.  Then I was completely astonished to find out that all the simulated battles Ender has fought after Mazer became his enemy were part of the Third Invasion.  All this time Ender had been commanding their fleets and he had no idea.  In his final examination, he had actually destroyed and defeated the buggers and had ended the war.  Ender had won the war.  I liked how they ended the chapter by having Ender's trusted people from Battle School all together in Ender's room.

Ender's Game- Ch. 13

      Chapter 13 of Ender's Game describes Valentine's visit with Ender on Earth and Ender's trip to I.F. Command.  Again, Graff uses Valentine to get Ender to change his mind and go the Command school.  I sort of agree with Graff's idea because they need Ender to defeat the buggers.  Valentine is the only person that can persuade him to do this.  I think Valentine did a good job in getting Ender to go back to his training.  She explains to him that if he tries and loses, it is not his fault.  However, if he does not try and they lose, then it is his fault.  I also disagree with Graff's idea because it is not fair to keep using Valentine and is causing Ender to hate Graff more and more.  It is sad when Ender tells Valentine that he wants Peter to love him.  According to Valentine, "Peter didn't love anybody." (Card 242)  Ender did not have an older brother who loved him, but one who always picked on him.  I liked how Ender asks Graff to explain to him what buggers are so he can understand them better.  This way he can use any of this when he has his battles with the buggers.  I thought that out of all the possible reasons for the war between humans and buggers, Graff's makes the most sense.  His thought was that the war is being fought because the humans and buggers cannot communicate with each other.  This makes it difficult for any treaty to be made for the war or for either group to explain to each other what they are really doing.

Ch. 11 and 12 of Ender's Game

     Chapters eleven and twelve cover the success of Ender's army, the attempts by the teachers to break Ender, and his fight with Bonzo.  I like the small connection between the title of chapter 11 and what happens in the chapter.  Veni Vidi Vici, the title, is Latin for "I came, I saw, I conquered", which is foreshadowing Ender's conquest of the other armies in the battles.  In chapter 11, the Dragon army has their first battle and wins it easily.  I found it rude how the other commanders ignored him when he first entered the commanders' mess hall.  The administrators keep changing the game, which is why Ender dislikes them.  They are creating rules to make things harder for Ender and his army, but they still find ways to win.  For instance, the administrators are making Ender's army have battles for two days in a row.  They also, during one battle, make him fight two armies and later on, have Dragon army fight two battles in one day.  I do not see how this is at all fair and I do not think the administrators are just in what they are doing.  I understand they want to make him the best, but all they are really doing it seems, is trying to break him.  I found it interesting how Ender used the First and Second Invasion videos to learn strategy from the buggers.  I agree, again, with Ender that Bean "...can think better and faster..." (Card 198) than anyone else.  I think Ender places a lot of trust in Bean to come up with solutions for problems they have not seen yet.  Ender put him in charge of a squad in order for him to do this. 
      In chapter 12, Dragon army remains undefeated and the teachers are doing everything possible to change it.  Many people obviously hate Ender because of the great deal of success he is having and that he has not suffered one loss.  During this chapter, Ender fights with Bonzo in the bathroom and Ender ends up beating him.  Again, Ender feels sorry for what he has done.  He did the same thing he had done to Stilson, which was to make sure that it would never happen again.  I like how Bean came up with the idea to use the deadline to maneuver quickly without having to rebound against walls.  It is strange that at the beginning, Ender really wants to go back home.  However, when he finally does he says, "He wanted to go back home, back to the Battle School, the only place in the universe where he belonged." (Card 225)  Colonel Graff and Major Anderson tell Ender that he has graduated. He is leaving Battle School with only four years, not with the necessary six.  Also, he is sent to Command School without three years of Pre-command in Tactical or Support.  I was shocked when I found out at the end of chapter 12 that Ender had actually killed Stilson and Bonzo.  I did not think of Ender as the type of person who would kill someone.

Ch. 10- Ender's Game

     Chapter ten of Ender's Game focuses on Ender's transition from toon leader to commander.  He is now leading the Dragon army, a team of young and inexperienced soldiers.  Major Anderson and Colonel Graff are doing everything possible to make things harder for Ender.  It seems impossible that Ender's army is ever going to win a battle due to all the rule changes and inexperience of his soldiers.  For instance, they did not allow Ender to trade soldiers and they did not give him any top-notch veterans.  Similar to Ender, I dislike the teachers because of how unfair they are treating him.  However, strangely enough, Ender uses the same technique Graff used on him.  Just like how Graff isolated him, he is isolating Bean, one of his soldiers.  He believes that the teachers did what they did to him to make him a better soldier.  This is why he is doing the same thing to Bean.  I agree with Ender in that Bean is the brightest kid he has and that he shows the most promise.  After practice, Ender realizes he is doing everything he hated in a commander, which was bullying people like Bonzo had done.  I like how Ender explains that Alai is his friend in a memory so intense that they cannot tear him out.  I think that Ender, in the end, will prevail against these teachers and produce a great army.  At the end, he says, "And with that anger, he decided he was strong enough to defeat them-the teachers, his enemies." (Card 172)