Oeydeusseuss essaey

Kait Carr
Odyssey essay rough draft
Sophomore English
20 May 2008

Odysseus has three main character traits in the heroic novel, "The Odyssey". Odysseus obtains all of these traits without even realizing it. Egotistical, strong willed, and even loving, these are all traits of the heroic Odysseus.
Odysseus is extremely self assured of his ability and luck, especially during the beginning of the book. After stabbing the Cyclops in his only eye Odysseus can't help but reveal his real name, "I say Cyclops! if ever any one asks who put out your ugly eye, tell him your blinder was Odysseus, the conqueror of Troy, the sun of Laertes; who's address is in Ithaca" (110). When it comes to his abilities Odysseus constantly brags about himself throughout the novel. In fact you can always count on Odysseus to never miss a chance to tell about his intellect and bravery to random strangers.
Odysseus may be self assured but at the same time he can also be very loving. For instance, Odysseus always makes sure his crew members use there heads and try their hardest to survive. Odysseus also makes sure all of his hosts have pardon from the gods by praying for them “I wish you well also my friend. May the gods give you happiness" (96). Odysseus is very caring when it comes to his family; he risks his life in order to take revenge on the horrible suitors who troubled his family for so many years.
The first thing someone would think when they start reading this book, is that Odysseus is just another cocky Greek on a power hungry rant through Greece. Witch that is all right, but the second thing someone would notice is that Odysseus is a very driven man who pushes himself to the limit to achieve his goals. Odysseus survives through twenty years of journey to arrive at one point, his family and home. When Odysseus finally arrives home as a feeble old beggar, he is appalled to see that he must defeat the clamorous throng of petulant suitors who have ransacked his house and been improvident to his family. But Odysseus, even after battling the suitors, knows though his journey has subsided it is not yet over, for he must journey all over to fine men who know nothing about sailing "Dear wife we have not yet reached the end of our labors. There still remains a task which I cannot measure, difficult and dangerous, but I must go through to the end. The soul of Teresa’s the prophet told me, on the day when I went to house of Hades and asked his advice for out homeward voyage. But come to our bed, my wife, that we may have the delight of sleeping side by side" (258).
It is obvious that Odysseus has many character traits throughout the novel, but only three stood out to me. That the son of Laertes was somewhat of an emotional man when it came to his family. Odysseus was pretty egotistical in the beginning of the book but i think that he kind of mellowed out along the way. And finally throughout the book you see that even though the character had some flaws, no matter what, he pushed himself though them making him an extremely determined man that should be looked up to.

My thoughts on Things Fall Apart

In our sophomore English class we are currently reading Things Fall Apart. So far this book is pretty boring, it has yet to really pick up and get going. though we have only read about 4 chapters so far. I think Okonkwo really just needs to show some emotion some time, its seems like the other men in the village arnt as hard on there familys as he is, and maby if he calms down a little bit peopls would like him a bit more and he would have an even higher status in his village. Okonkwo's father was really easy going and emotional so i think that that may be somthing that his holding back Okonkwo from being more friendly. So far the only problems i have with this book is that Okonkwo is such a jerk to every one.

My thoughts on Things Fall Apart

Writing Sample

Kait Carr
My Personal Object
Sophmore English
24 August 2007

Hello my name is Kait Carr. I'm 15 years old and i'm a Sophmore at Hot Springs High School. Two years ago I was graduating from eighth grade, and moving on to high school. For the girls in my family this is a pretty big deal.
Since my grandmother was graduating from eighth grade there has been a tradition to give her a graduation ring. The ring was usualy received from the grandmother. My grandmother was the first in our family to receive this gift, my mother the second, and I was the third, generation wise anyway.
When I graduated from eighth grade my grandmother came all the way from Washington to give me my ring, and i still have it on my finger today. My grandmother passed away a few months after my graduation, so it made the ring just that much more special to me.
When we get our graduation ring we dont just gett any random ring. All the rings that have been given out have been Black Hills Gold. The reason all the rings have been Black Hills Gold is because my great grandmother and grandfather used to live in South Dakota where ther are loads of Black Hills Gold.
The usual design for Black Hills Gold is Leaf or some kind of vine, I have no idea why it is like that I just know thats how it usualy is. my ring has a vine design on it like most.
When someone says Black Hills Gold you usually think of Black or gold right? Well thats not the case at all, Black Hills Gold is usually the color green or a pinkish orange.
If I lost my ring I dont think I would be able to survive, I really doubt I would lose it though since it is pretty snug on my finger and I only take it off for vollyball.
Well thats all I have to say about my special object, it means alot to me and like I said I dont know what I would do without it.

Lotter Paragraph

Kait Carr
Lottery Paragraph
Sophomore English
25 September 2007





The Lottery was barbaric because killing innocent people for the benefit of others, in this day and time is not accepted socially or politically. Not only do they kill these innocent people they kill them in a terrible fashion, they stone them. To death. This means that the people stoning the innocent person would have to get close and personal to kill one of there neighbors, close friends, or even one of there parents or siblings. They would slowly die stone by stone until either to much blood was lost or if lucky were knocked out by one of the stones, so they wouldn’t have to endure all the pain. But they wouldn’t just kill these people for the fun of it. There of course was a reason behind it, It was to sacrifice someone to the good of the crops. They believed that if the person sacrificed blood was in the ground that the land would be more fertile and that the crops would grow better that season and harvest better next fall. I think the reason that these people didn’t stop this barbaric tradition was because they were afraid that the crops really wouldn’t grow if they didn’t sacrifice someone. So there for they up held this tradition year after year.

What I Think About Blogging

I think that blogging is a cool way to be able to write stories ect. for my English class, its a lot better, in my opionion any way, than having to write it all out on paper with a rough draft and then write it again in a final draft...witch is usually what you have to do. I think that blogging makes writing alot less painful for those of us who dont really enjoy it. But the one thing that i dont like about blogging is that people come and read it and some of the stuff that i would maby write in here i dont want every one to see. I like that we can comment other peoples stuff that they wrote becuase i dont think that you would come up to a person and say that you liked there blog its just much easier in ummmm...."blogger"? yeah its eaisier in blogger. Well that pretty much all that I have to say about Blogging in my sophomore english class.
Kait Carr