Cal's "Comp'ny" Essay

SECOND DRAFT

Austin Rosenberg

English 8

Mr. Salsich

October 6, 2009

Company

Respecting company, whether or not you like it

(TS) Having company over is one of the most significant events that affects your reputation. (CM) Not only will how you treat your company affect the impression you make on them, but will extend into a larger community. (CM) If you treat your company well, it will give a positive impression on them as well as the people they talk to. However, if you leave an inadequate impression, your guests won’t want to come over again nor will any other people that have been informed of the poor hospitality demonstrated. (CS) The impression made on your company is essential, so if you have a situation where you don’t like the company you are hosting, like Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, every effort towards politeness and respect should be attempted.

(TS) Calpurnia is a character in To Kill a Mockingbird who strongly believes you should treat the people in your house as welcomed guests. (SD) Welcomed guests are people in your home you should engage in a polite manner, which Calpurnia told Scout she failed to do when Walter visited. (CM) Calpurnia noticed that Scout got angry at everything Walter did at the dinner table, and she contradicted what he said frequently in an impolite way. (CM) Not only would she contradict what Walter was saying, Scout would yell at him since he was acting in a way that she thought was inappropriate behavior. (SD) This situation also presents a need for more respectful behavior toward her company. (CM) Scout would yell at Walter to not put so much syrup on his food because the food they were eating had enough flavor without so much syrup on it. (CM) If Scout had been respectful in this situation, she would have accepted the fact that that is how her company liked to eat food rather than yelling at Walter to stop using so much syrup. (CS) Being a respectful and polite host is good because it gives you a fine reputation, and if you ever want to have your guests as company again, they will gladly accept the invitation.

(TS) I can recognize how Scout has trouble being a good host because I also have difficulty acting like a good host when my company is exasperating me. (SD) My cousins are the ones I least look forward to having as company, but I try not to express my frustration with them. (CM) My parents are very strict with my siblings and I when it comes to proper etiquette, but my cousins like to wear chains and swastika designs at the dinner table as well as speak like unsophisticated gutter mouths. (CM) However, as irritating as they can be, I like to take a polite approach and do not point out their rudeness. (SD) While my parents and adult relatives converse, I am responsible for hosting my cousins, which is an irksome task. (CM) When they play with toys or take out controllers to play video games, they leave their mess to move on to another organized area they can jumble around leaving me to clean up and reorganize the muddle of objects. (CM) Their poor behavior is another problem for me. Since I am their host, I get in trouble for their cursing or roughhousing, which causes chaos when they start to break pictures or ornaments around the house. (CS) Like Scout, I have my own difficulties when it comes to being respectful to company, but I still try hard to make them feel welcome so I don’t hurt any of their feelings.

(TS) Presenting hospitality to your guests is an easy, stylish way to promote your reputation with the visitors you host and everyone the visitors talk to. (CM) When all of your previous visitor’s friends hear of how well you treat your company, they will want to come over your house to experience the welcome gestures you display. (CM) Who knows? Out of all the people you meet from being a kind host, you may make some new friends. (CS) Scout is a good example of how not to treat your company because even if the feelings are less than friendly between you and your company, your guests should still be treated with civility, or as you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes.

TKAM Pride Theme

FINAL DRAFT

Austin Rosenberg
English 8
Mr. Salsich
September 23, 2009

To be Proud:
It is Good or Bad and Develops Your Character

Throughout my life, pride has persisted in challenging me with its negative and positive features, and these challenges are presented to me in inconspicuous ways. They are challenges where I have to decide whether or not using pride would benefit myself and anyone else involved in the situation. Pride is stimulating in both its negative and positive characteristics, but when people act on pride, other people find it hard to notice.
An intriguing theme in the second chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird is pride. It’s an interesting theme because the reader has to pay attention to know it’s there. This theme only transpires a couple of times in the chapter, and the times it does occur it’s not conspicuous. I think that is interesting because it is also hard to pick up on when someone is being proud in real life. When someone won’t accept an offer, most people won’t consider it to be because of pride. At first they might believe that they’re simply being polite by not accepting a gracious offer. However, just like the kid Walter Cunningham in the book, people won’t accept offers they know they won’t be able to repay because they are too proud. In this case, I consider pride to be a good thing because it’s a sign of integrity. However, in other cases pride can be a sign of selfishness. When someone won’t accept an offer they need to help their family and they are able to repay it, that is a sign of arrogant and selfish pride. There is a time to have pride and a time to not have it, and being able to discern between those two builds good character in a person.
Pride has its positive and negative aspects, and both features have manifested in my own life. Unfortunately for me, I act out on pride’s negative sides often. I try not to but I sometimes act like a know-it-all, and I am not willing to accept correct answers even when I know I’m wrong. I would also be embarrassed to drive an old junkyard car to school because I am too proud to let my friends see me in such a degrading car. Although embarrassment is one of the negative characteristics of pride, selfishness is an even worse one. It’s the worse kind of pride since it usually comes about when someone else is involved in your dilemma. One time my mother wanted to come to a lecture I was attending, but I said no; I was selfish and didn’t want to be embarrassed by anything she might do even though she would enjoy the lecture. Even though my negative displays of pride are often, I do have rare positive displays of pride, and my positive portions of pride are typically associated with honor. These are the times when I act honorable because I have decided that I cannot afford to repay whatever deal is being made with me. Even though my life is filled with negative pride, I will always strive to act towards what I think is the positive side of pride.
When pride challenges me, I have to notice that it is and act on it in a way I think is best. The best way to act on it can be affected by the type of situation I am in and whether or not anyone else is involved. In certain cases, pride can show how well your character has developed because by demonstrating your pride, you have shown how honorable you can be. Pride occurs unnoticeably often in our lives, and it is fascinating to see how a circumstance containing pride will conclude.

To Kill a Mockingbird theme Ch. 1

Austin Rosenberg
English 8
Mr. Salsich
September 22, 2009

Change

The Endlessly Occurring Part of Life

No human being can go through life without experiencing a change. No matter what you do to try to avoid it, change will happen to you. The only thing we can do is prepare for it and make the most of it because we all change for a reason. Change is an important part of anything, and when it happens to us, we should try to change for what we think is better.

In the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird I noticed that the narrator described herself as having a life of simplicity up until she met Dill, which creates a theme of change. This is an important point she makes because it means her life is about to vary. In most books, the word “until” usually means a dramatic change is about to occur. The change can be for better or for worse, but no matter what, it will lead away from the life of simplicity the protagonist was living. The change is also the part of the book that makes the story interesting. Without the change, the story seems dull and will not attract many readers. However, with the situation of an alteration in her life about to occur, readers will want to find out what it is and how the protagonist will deal with it. Imagine living in such a small innocent town where nothing in particular seems to stick out. Now to make an important theme appear and draw the reader’s attention, the author needs to juggle things up a bit and make the story more complicated. What the author does is set up a foreshadow that leaves the reader anticipating something vital that will happen because they know the story will vary. Change is a very significant theme because it affects the value of the story, the reader’s interest in the story, and the quality of a story.

The theme “change” plays a very big role in To Kill a Mockingbird, and it also plays a big role in my own life. Some of the roles it plays in my life are also the same or similar to the ones it plays in the book. In the book, the author provides a change to entertain the readers, and in my own life, changes happen to me which make my life more fascinating. Without the changes in my life, I would go on living the same dull life that no one would want to be a part of. Another way change affects me is it shows how much I can endure when life throws its worst at me. In order to overpower what life does to me, I have to alter my ways to cope with it, so I can push on through the bad and get to the good. If I cannot do that and learn new ways, eventually I will drown when life comes crashing down on me. A further change that I will need to deal with is an emotional change. This is the kind of change where I will have to move on from a depressing circumstance that has overcome me. I don’t want to be stuck in the past, giving my life away to grief because I could not defeat an emotional sorrow. Change affects just about everything, and in my life, I try to change for the better.

Because change is undeniably going to happen to you at one point, making the most of it is the best way you can handle it. If you aren’t prepared to make the most of change when it happens to you, it will lead to an unfortunate turn for the worst. However, always being prepared for change will make you a flexible person able to deal with all kinds of problems. Change is one of the most significant things that will happen to you, and if you can deal with the alteration of your life you are presented with, it will benefit you in ways you will most definitely appreciate.