Presentation on The Twelve

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A Reflective Land

In the book Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton uses the land as an important theme. With every event, Paton describes the land that surrounds the characters and why it is important. Paton’s descriptions involve diction, imagery, and detail. He tells about how some land is broken and dead. He tells about other land that is alive and well. He talks about how no one can appreciate the land if they are scared, and how the land reflects the human spirit. All these descriptions of the land strengthen the story in a way that appeals to the readers’ senses.

            

In the beginning of the book, Alan Paton tells about and describes two different sides of South Africa. One side “keeps men, guards men, cares for men.” This side is like a well farmed field. It has just enough rain and sun to flourish, and the people take care of it. The other part of land that Paton describes does just the opposite of the first. It “no longer keeps men, guards men, cares for men.” It is a broken and dying land that can not be used to for good. The people do not care for it and do not appreciate what it could be. This land is like what South Africa is turning into. In Chapter 12, Paton talks about “fear in the land.” He says that if someone is afraid, they can not enjoy the land. If there is too much badness happening around them, they can not see the good, no matter how hard they try. Here Paton is nudging the idea that one must not be afraid, but one must prosper through hard times. “Destroy the land and man is destroyed.”

            

In Chapter 15 Stephen Kumalo is talking with Father Vincent. In their conversation, Kumalo tells a story of man that is sleeping through a “the greatest storm of all his days.” The man has no idea what is going on around him, just like Stephen Kumalo. Just like the man, Kumalo is going through the pain of not being able to do anything about the destruction happening all around him. His family is falling apart, but he can not do anything about it. Here the land is being used to give a visual picture of what Kumalo is having to deal with.

            

Alan Paton uses the land in Cry, the Beloved Country to tell the story. He helps the reader imagine what life was actually like in those times, and how the land showed that struggle. The discrimination of South African people also discriminated South African land. Some land was alive, some was dead. Some was well taken care of and privileged, some was neglected to the point of destruction. These descriptions match the way the people were treated at that time. White people were privileged; blacks were neglected. This knowledge also helps the reader understand the difference between good and evil. The reader can have a mental picture of the difference, so they understand better. The land is a main part of this book.

A Long Road of Bandages and Bruises

The smell of a doctor’s office filled my lungs as I entered the golden doors at the clinic. I do not want to be here at all. After five months of pain and two failed attempts at physical therapy, it is my “Judgment Day” on my shoulder. This visit decides if I play sports my sophomore year or not. As I sit in the room, waiting to see the doctor, I think of all the negative outcomes that are liable to happen. I also think about how many times I have sat in this office, and the long road I came from.

            It was my freshman year, and baseball tryouts were in about three weeks. My confidence is at an all time low due to our terrible football season. I was positive I would not make the team, so I saw no reason to try out. I mean, why would you set yourself up for disappointment? However, one of my friends signed me up so I thought I would give it a shot. After a not so bad tryout, I made the team.

            After a miserable freshman season of baseball, summer baseball came. I wanted to quit baseball after the first game of the season, but my dad would not let me! Now, I have to go through a whole summer of this. I don’t even play! I don’t even know if I like baseball anymore. I just want to play football. Right then I knew the only thing that was going to get me through summer baseball was the thought of football in the fall.

            It is our fourth game of our summer season, and, as usual, I am not playing. I was pinch running for our catcher, however. It was not much at all. But it was one of the few things I excelled in. I took pride in running those bases. I was like a bird in open air. It just felt natural to me. It did not take long for our catcher to get on base. Now it was my chance to shine! I stepped on first, got my signal, and was ready to go. I take my two-step lead and get ready to steal, but the pitcher caught me off guard. He throws the ball over to first and I dive back quickly with my right arm. I hear that I am safe, but something is wrong. I heard a pop when I dove back nut I did not know what it was. I roll over to my side to get up when all of a sudden I am overwhelmed with pain in my right shoulder. It feels like somebody just hit my shoulder with a sledgehammer. After I look at my shoulder, which had sunk into my chest, I blacked out.

            I wake up with a needle in my wrist, my arm in a sling, and three strangers in white coats in a room.

“What am I doing here?” I asked them.

“You are at the hospital, you have a grade two separated shoulder, and we had to put you to sleep to get it back in.” One of the doctors replied.

            They checked me for side effects of the painkillers I was given and then they left the room. Shortly after the left, my mom came in saying we could leave whenever I was ready. I said I was ready. On the way out I stopped one of the doctors and asked how long would I be out for this type of injury. He told me about three weeks, but I needed to see a specialist just in case.

            A week had gone by, I was still wearing a sling and we had scheduled a doctor’s appointment. I thought the doctor’s appointment was a complete waste of time. If one doctor said I only needed three weeks, why should I listen to another one? Nevertheless, just to be safe my parents made me go to the doctor. I sit down in the doctors office and he starts asking me what hurts, what doesn’t hurt, and when does it hurt. After what seemed like an eternity, he concluded that this was more than just a dislocated shoulder. He thinks I tore my rotator cuff and my labrum. Both injuries are very likely to end my high school career of any sports.

            Three months after my injury and one moth of therapy later, I was in his doctor’s office again. This is the day he supposed to clear my to start back in sports. This is the only time I will ever be happy in a doctor’s office I thought to myself as I walked to his office. We went through the same routine. He asked me what hurts, what doesn’t hurt, and when it hurts. He says I can start lifting weights but I will have to sit out my sophomore year of football. I’m sad but grateful that its only one year.

            I’m sitting in the waiting room for what seems like the one hundredth time with my dad. The last time we were here, we received good news. This time will be different. I had dislocated my shoulder again yesterday. However, it had popped back in. but it still hurt extremely bad. I knew I had done something so my dad scheduled another appointment. So here I am. He walks in, disappointed to see me. He goes through the same routine. He asked me what hurts, what doesn’t hurt, and when it hurts. He thinks another month of physical therapy will work. But if it does not, surgery is the next option.

            The journey I had to go through to get here was a wild one. I had been to the doctor six times in the past five months. This visit would not be my last, and I know it. They call my name to enter the doctors office so he can make the final judgment on my shoulder. As I am walking in, I can already picture him saying: “What hurts? What doesn’t hurt? When does it hurt?” 

Bookworm at heart.

I don’t exactly remember when I started to read, I just remember in kindergarten going to all these different classes to learn the letters and how you say them.  However, I do remember in the first grade when everybody was reading easy books, I was reading chapter books.  That was a big thing for a first grader. My teacher was so surprised at the fact I could understand the context of the book that she let me read to the class.  The books I read to the class were by no means “hard”. They were Magic Tree House books; I had read the entire series by third grade.

            I went from reading for fun to not having any choice.  We were introduced to AR in the second grade. It wasn’t the fun knowing that if you didn’t read a certain amount, you would fail. That almost ruined reading for me until I came across my favorite series of books. The Series of Unfortunate Events were my favorite books. They recreated reading for me. They always kept me wanting to read more. It was the way Count Olaf would do anything just to get the children’s fortune, and how they would have to do crazy and bizarre things to get away from him. They kept me on the edge of my seat and I spent the next two years reading all thirteen books.
            In fourth grade I was introduced to the greatest series of all time, the Harry Potter series. That series changed everything about my education. The immense vocabulary that was in the book was defiantly one of the largest challenges, but the story is what kept me going. When I got to parts that I really didn’t understand I would stop and think to myself “What just happened?” Where most people would have given up due to the difficult comprehension, I did whatever I had to do to understand what was happening in the story.  This technique of comprehension ended up helping me later on in life on difficult text like Silas Marner or Night.
           
            Doing all of that as a fourth grader most people were either impressed or shocked. My friends, being the ones who were shocked, that it was strange that I enjoyed reading and would sometimes want to read rather than playing video games. My parents, being the people who were impressed, thought it was a great thing that I read! My mom often raced me in reading books in which she would always win.

            It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I started not to like to read. It got to a point where I couldn’t found any books that interested me anymore.  I guess with the new development of video games, I never have time to search for a good book.  I know deep inside me I still love to read. It just has to be the right book.

I am...

I am in pain.
I wonder why it never stops.
I hear the fans in the stands.
I see fourth and goal fourth quarter with the game on the line.
I want to be out there, making my mark.
I am in pain.

I pretend my injury doesn't define me.
I feel hurt. Physically and mentally.
I feel the ball in my hands.
I worry about my future.
I cry knowing the outcome wont be the one in my dreams.
I am in pain.

I understand my chances are one in a million.
I say I'll be that one.
I dream of the day I set foot on that field again.
I try to get better.
I hope I recover from what most people what have already given up on.
I am in pain.

A Rule For The Future

Treat others the you want to be treated.  Its been a rule we've learned since we could walk.  In  A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings an angel fell from the sky.  The angel seemed weak and helpless.  Another man felt sorry for the angel and brought him in to his home.  The man made the angel stay in his chicken coop and made people pay to see him.  What was a good deed became a scheme for money.  Later in the story, after a long period of harsh treatment, the angel spreads his wings and leaves.

If we were hurt or alone we would want somebody to be there for us, right?  Why doesn't anybody follow The "Golden Rule" anymore? Treat others like you want to be treated.  It is not that hard.  It seems so hard because we make it hard.  We might treat treat somebody the wrong way because they don't act like we do or because of peer pressure.  You should treat everybody fair because you never know who they will grow up to be.  That person could be your boss one day, and the will remember the way you treated them.