Warm Up

I was on my trip to church with my sister, which nearly took a decade. We were sitting together on the subway and distantly I heard some music. I knew where the music was coming from; a beggar. Surprisingly though, the beggar was wearing some jeans, cheap ones, and a dirty grey vest. His left leg was being dragged as he used a cane to support him, and limp through the subway. The subway came to a stop and people came aboard the subway, avoiding him as an empty sorrowful aura formed around the beggar. The subway took a pretty sharp turn and the subway shook. The beggar fell. With a thump he was lying on the ground like he was shot by a bullet. I felt so much pity for him. And a man close by did too, and offered his help, but was rejected. Slowly the stinky man got up, failing a few times, but tried to get up. In about a minute the beggar was limping again, to the next car.

Clue 5

Although they might not know it or even want to, non-Christian authors can reveal truth about God’s world. Any story that might be similar to any of Jesus’ parables or the general story of Jesus’ sacrifice could reveal truth about God’s world. Like I said, the non-Christian author will not have the same purpose or effectiveness of revealing God’s truth as a Christian author does. God’s truth can also be similar to man’s definition of truth, but different motives will dictate the outcome of the truths.

Clue 5

This story has a lot of Christ imagery. For example: “She just called him “him,” and sometimes it was even “they””. “They” could refer to the trinity as “him” would be Jesus. Another example is: “On a cloud, she whispered. ‘A big black cloud. That’s a rule.” The bible states in Revelation that when Jesus returns to the earth he will be riding on a cloud. The last Jesus reference is:
“’ Will he take you away?’
‘Of course he will.’
‘Besides, it’s not just me he’s after’ ” This states that this man will take a lot of people away which is exactly what Jesus will do on his second coming. All of these references were included to give the reader the clues of the theme of “Jesus”.

Clue 5

The mysterious man that Effie is waiting for, sounds like a super-natural being, such as God. It indicates that he only comes on a black cloud, when music is on, and during a thunderstorm. The man will take Effie away and it seems as if Effie wants that to happen. This man could be Jesus, although it unlikely because Effie thought Neil was “the man”. The man could be Effie’s lover; however a very eccentric lover. If the man is not mortal or immortal, then he is probably abstract. When Effie refers to the person she is waiting for, who comes on a cloud with music and a thunderstorm, the man could symbolize friendship, but this speculation is also has some faults. However the most probable guess, to me, is Jesus.

Clue 5

About Effie” is the most enigmatic story I have ever read in my life. And the theme is really opaque, but I think it is: Jesus. This story has a lot of references about Jesus’ second coming. The cloud, the taking away of people, thunder, and music all are included in the book of revelations. My speculation on the theme of this story is still dubious, because it is contains a lot of other clues that lead to other ideas. However I will choose Jesus as the theme.

Clue 4

The place that has most impacted me the most was in China. The overall setting that comes to mind when I think about China is the grey clouds, strong frosty wind, swirling dust and garbage, and numerous people walking down the streets. God revealed to me a lot about the different cultures that he created, and his help that he could provide when I struggled in that place. God placed me in China and taught me a lot about the realities of the world and of him through many great and amazing people. And that is why it is the strongest setting that I have ever encountered in my life.

Clue 4

The theme of the story completely revolves around the action of the character. The author can drop clues according to the characters actions, descriptions, or symbolism. Whether the character is human or non-human, the story must have characters to have any action occur in order to have a theme, or even a story. And with a story a theme will appear according to the reader’s response.

Clue 4

In the Harry Potter movie series the foggy, dark, and macabre setting during the whole movie set the example and mood of what the theme of that story was all about. This setting might not give you a direct answer on what the story would be about, but it will still give you a clue that keeps you a few steps away from the theme. If the setting and the theme of the story do not match, it will keep the reader very confused. The setting can reveal what kind of characters are going to appear in the story or the next event that is going to occur, which could lead you to the theme. Therefore the settings of a story are very important.

Clue 4

I admire a lot of people, so I cannot find the person I admire the most. But someone I have admired consistently for a long time is definitely my dad. My dad has been my mentor for a very long time. Whenever I had a problem to fix I would ask for his advice, and even though the advice doesn’t help much I feel a lot better than before. I never saw him raise his temper, and only remember him punishing me once. And most importantly, my dad has been a great example for me to walk in his footsteps.

Clue 3

John 3: 16 is definetly a theme statement for God's story. It sums up the whole 700-1000 page bible into just 26 words. Everything started with God loving human beings, God saving human beings, and God taking us to heaven eternally in the future. This verse is a piece of literature, this bible is a piece of literature, and mostly every day we encounter literature. Without Literature there would be no bible to help us study our God with our inferior minds with God directly teaching us. Just as important this verse is, as a verse that can sum up the whole bible, literature is as much important because without it we wouldn't have any bible.
Not only is it important but it is also an exemplary theme of a story. It compresses everything the bible says in brief and deep meanings. Which is what all literature should have. Reading a piece of literature without having a theme statement would be very blank at the end, because you don't know what you just read about. In these ways Literature can relate to John 3:16

Clue 3

The theme in a short story is hidden. And like a buried chest of treasure it is hidden deep in side the story. The deeper you dig the bigger and better treasure you will find. And the more the variety of places you dig, the better the chance of finding your treasure. Places that seem more likely of holding the treasure the deeper you should dig, and many places can be excavated and inspected to hold treasure. Themes are treasures in stories, and out of every story you can find many.

The process of finding themes:
1#. Read the story thoroughly.
2#. Find suspicious places that might bear the treasure underneath, such as the title, plots, symbolism, etc.
3#. Dig deeper and dig more places
4#. Keep these themes in your mind to let the story impact you.

Clue 3

Morals remind me of Aesop’s Fables. I remember when I was a young childish 2nd grader and we used to sit in front of the teacher as she read to us “The Aesop’s Fables”. After every story the teacher would ask us what the moral was. And that question would always have a “yes” or “no” answer. That would be the difference between a moral and a theme: the definite or indefinite answer. Themes are totally dependent on what the reader thinks, while morals are unchangeable depending on what the author based it on. Another difference between morals and themes are that morals are for the benefit of living your life. Examples of morals are: The more you lie the bigger the trouble gets, or don’t be lazy. But themes are just what the story is about, either good for life or bad. Although differences in morals and themes are distinctive, the techniques of finding them are the same.

Clue 3

What I chose for the theme of the short story “The Utterly Perfect Murder” is this: Revenge kills. The reason why I used the word kills is because of the symbolism I found in the story. The symbolism takes place when Doug goes to Underhill’s house to take revenge for all of his bullying. The gun that he takes and the chant: “Bang…Bang…Bang” makes me choose the theme for this story: Revenge kills. Revenge has never killed me before, however in my life I have been a victim of revenge. It was a negative 15 degree winter day and all of us 3rd through 6th graders were out on the field during recess. I was just an innocent 3rd grader and I dared to throw a snowball at one of the mighty 5th grader I didn’t like. Before I knew it I got kicked to the ground. With my puffy yellow jacket on I must’ve felt nothing, but I still cried. This experienced didn’t hurt me as much as to almost kill me, but left a stain like an old bullet wound.

Clue 3

God made us human beings because he loved us, but then Satan took us away from him through sin. Satan’s evil scheme is to wipe off every human from this world, because he knows he cannot destroy God. But God’s plan is to reunite with his beloved people, and get rid of all sin from the universe once and for all. If this is God’s plan, then the theme for me that I find is: to magnify God’s light everywhere. Like a bright light that get’s brighter and brighter in a dark room, and eventually shuts off all darkness, God’s plan will blot out every wickedness from the world. Another plan that is mentioned in the bible is in the book of Jeremiah 29: 10-12: “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” These plans are what all loving father would promise to his son. The theme in this plan of God’s for the people of this world would be: the love of the father toward his son.

Clue 3

My thirteen years life story was very colorful as I got to have the special opportunity to live in three countries. There was America for about 6 years, China for 6 years and Korea for about 2 years. I was born in Korea, but after merely two years of living there the majority of my life was spent in America and China. Now I come back to this foreign but home land, Korea. And am readjusting to what I experienced when I was 2 at TCIS. I can probably say that right now, the theme of this phase of my life is: Familiarizing to my foreign home. Every country I lived in I had a different theme, in every year I had a different theme, and also in every special event I have a different theme. That is because life is a collection of stories within a story within a story. Life is not one story, it is many. And themes are plentiful in life.

Clue 3

A literary theme is the purpose of what the writer is writing. It can define the whole story in a few simple words. Unfortunately, even though the writer is trying to imply one specific theme, readers can define the theme as something else. When looking at a picture, the words that come out of it, the words that express it, and the words that are from deep inside of it are the words of its literary theme. Then what would be some examples of the universal story of human life? There are, number one: human life is never perfect. Number two: Human life is a big adventure. Number three: human experiences are very diverse.

Clue 6

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!-John1:29 (NIV)

This metaphor is describing Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Obviously he wasn't a small,humble, dumb animal but a symbol of a sacrifice that will pay for the sins of the world. This metaphor gives God a different name that we can call him. And not only describes him as a God that we cannot communicate with because he is too holy, but as a humble lamb that came to save us. There are also a lot of other metaphors that describe God. Which helps us to think about God as a colorful god and not a plain holy untouchable, indescribable, unseeable god. In some way metaphors bring the reader and the object being described closer to each other. Metaphors brings more connection to the reader than plain adjectives. Which also means that metaphors of God bring us more closer with us.
When God describes himself in metaphors he is trying to use our human terms to let us understand better of what he is saying. Metaphors are tools that God is using to connect our world to his world.

Clue 6

Authors use figurative language to express their ideas with more detail, decoration ,and accuracy. Saying that the boy ran quickly and that the boy ran as quick as a dog, gives a more specific meaning to it. Figurative language also gives the essay some variety rather than describing everything in adjectives. These kinds of additions that authors can give to their articles can impress the reader more with the higher quality and skill of writing. The reason why figurative language may seem like a higher level in writing is because figurative language does not directly imply but rather includes some reasoning and thinking to figure out the meaning of the author. And authors always should want to try to improve their articles.

But actually, authors do not use firgurative language too much. If used too much it will lose it's effect on how it normally does. So when you're writing you should remember that too much of the figuratives and you will ruin your paper, but with a bit of it, your paper can be come more beautiful. And papers should always look beautiful.

Figuartively speaking....

A metaphor is a figure of speech, or something that we use to replace "normal" words in order to help others understand or enjoy our message.

A simile is a way of describing things by using "like" or "as".

Clue 6

3.)
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
-John1:29 (NIV)

Clue 6

Boys are evil beyond evil.
Death is a sleep
Life is a maze

Clue 1

Killer Angels

This book focuses on the famous bloody Civil War battle, Gettysburg. From changing perspectives of Union to Confederate to Union to Confederate, the writer takes the story of each side. This book taught me a lot about the realities in war, and the way of the American 19th century man. I did not have much to connect with in this book, because I have never fought in a war, or had been in a situation as rough as in the Civil War. In the Civil war brothers separated by the slavery border had to fight each and close friends such as General Armistead from the south and General Hancock from the north. And currently I am separated from friends and family back in China, it may not be to the point that I have to kill them like in the war, but it still showed me one thing about the world. Although it sounds flawed and just pessimistic, it is almost every time true, that the world splits apart friends and children are meant to separate from their parents.

Clue 1

Why is it important for you to interact with literature?

Other than to improve your vocabulary, reading skills, and writing skills literature has many other important benefits, and without reading you cannot obtain those benefits. One importance with interacting with literature is the innovative ideas you can get from it. Facts are good to know, but ideas are better, because it is ideas that change the world, and not facts. Another significance in reading is to listen to what other people have to say. Although this doesn’t usually apply to stories, many times it can provide interesting and inspiring thoughts that help you know more about the world. Connecting with literature goes in deeper than interacting, and when reading stories, you must connect to it. When reading just for fun, a story can just provide some entertainment. But connecting with a story is essential for reflecting on real-life situations to fictional-life in the story. Through contrasting, you think about life which might sound a bit queer, but actually will help you live in a big-picture and not like you’re the only one in your life.

Clue 1

Reader response can open our eyes to many hidden and unseen ideas. However truths cannot be found in stories, because in stories there are no truths. This however does not apply in life, but only in literature. Any piece of literature cannot be analyzed like a black and white, blue and green, or red and yellow, masterpiece. But rather, literature through Reader Response is a mixture between black, blue, or red and whatever color is on the palette of the life of the reader. That unique tinge of color is the true “truth”. The mixture of the writer’s color and the reader’s color can shed light to new truths. Other than the moral or effect the writer wants to give us, adding in our story, mixing it, and observing it can show more truth.

Clue

A piece of literature does not have one definite meaning, but rather, a variety of different understandings according to each person. What the reader wants the article to be is what it is. As the readers go through a story he/she makes connections according to his/her experiences, relationships, personalities, or imaginations. This whole theory of reading is called the Reader Response analysis. Three steps are involved in Reader Response. Step number one, is to find an interesting book to read. Step number two, is to be an active reader as you make connections between characters or situations. Step number three, take a while when you finished and have a conversation with the story telling it what you also been through (in your head). Remember, that in Readers Response the writer is not implying anything to you, but rather you are implying something to the story, which will help you see different things in the story. That is why it’s not called Writer’s Response.

Clue

What is beauty?

In our world, what if everyone had an eyeball that took in colors differently from everyone else? What if I asked two little boys what color the grass was, and they both replied green, but when I switched their minds into each other’s bodies, asked them again, and each of them replied “Blue!?” and the other “a light …pinkish color!”? What if this color wonder affected our emotions? I have an eye that takes pleasure in what I call the colors, blue, and green, and orange and everything else except dark brown and pink. What if that affected my personality and others’ with the same color choice? Than that would mean what I find beautiful would also depend on my own colors that I favor. Then is there no set unchangeable definition of beauty? What is beauty?
Beauty would be the colors that can give us peace and pleasure. The objects we see or the abstract things we feel all express themselves in colors, and when they are the colors that our minds classify as good, they are then beautiful.
Scientifically whatever we see is light being reflected off the object, and perceived by our eyes. Everything we see is the masterpiece of light. Whoever can conquer light and control it would possess the key to the vision of every single shade of color. Faint lights would express dark smooth colors. But bright lights would express a soft exciting light. But not only can it change the aspects of color, but it can create it. When light is emitted into a complex glass prism it can separate it into all possible colors. It is not a mixture of all colors, like black, but a creator of all colors. If light can be any color, it is then beautiful because it possess all possible colors and every single one of every human being’s favorite ones. Light is the ultimate beautiful substance. And here is the biblical evidence:
Genesis 1:4
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
John1:9
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

Behold the beauty of Light!

personal ad

I am a great person. I am about as tall as a building and fat as an elephant. I weigh 500 kg, and I have skin cancer and leprosy so any moment now I might kick the bucket. I am 99 and people say I look as ugly as a pig. When I am bored I like to watch Power rangers. When I fart, I nearly blow up my house, and my hair is as white as a sheet of A4 paper. My finger is as thick as a banana and I cannot fit through a door.

My Utterly Perfect Murder

I think The Utterly Perfect Murder will be a comedy about two dumb criminals planning out the murder of their enemy. It will include ridiculous tools, and unnecesary calculation to just end the life of one single person. When the day of the perfect murder comes, unfortunately everything becomes a mess. The victim outsmarts the two dumb criminals by avoiding all the traps, and returns them to the masterminds. The good wins and the bad loses.

Clue

After looking at the big picture of the story, Marigolds, and at its structure, instead of discovering things inside the story, I discovered things around the story. My perspective of Marigolds changed.

At first Lizabeth’s nostalgic and strange moment seemed to me, very unique. It was the story of a special girl from the rural lands of Maryland. But taking a viewpoint from above and looking at the structure of plots and not sentences, Lizabeth’s story became just another common example of every kind of mistake in our lives.

In the beginning Lizabeth was bored and with some friends chucked rocks at Miss. Lottie’s marigolds. Every mistake starts with a temptation. Burdened with guilt she spends the rest of the day in silence and regret. Usually these same patterns follow a mistake. Hearing her father, the one who used to life the family up, collapse, she gets stressed and depressed. And through that, without thinking, makes a huge error of demolishing the marigold field. This is also another way mistakes occur, out of carelessness.

In just one day, Lizabeth attacked Miss Lottie’s marigolds twice. The first offense was out of pure temptation and thrill, and the second out of rage. Both mistakes had a different degree of impact, one as an exposition and the other as a climax. The change of degree of similar events and the emphasis of mistakes in the structure, implied to me the theme of Marigolds: mistakes launch off from temptation or unconsciousness.

Clue

A story without a structure is just a bunch of details all mixed up ending up as a sloppy picture. Without structure the reader would not be able to understand, remember, or even enjoy different parts of a story. Stories must be structured or else it would be a nothing but meaningless words.

The structure of a story consists of the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Not all stories are written in that order, but if parts of the rising action are in the climax and the writer forgot to include some of the exposition so he/she added it in the end. A story becomes misstrucutred.

Stories should also be structured in categories of interest. Readers must be able to identify the climax of the story and understand when a specific part of the story should be focussed on. Discovering and understanding the focus point of the story will change the quality of the story. Like finding a pure and beautiful pearl in an oyster, the climax can change the price of the story.

Another type of story can also apply to the same need of plot structure, and that is the story of our lives. Whether we read an article or write a story, the structure of our understanding of facts cannot be disorganized. The importance and value of understandings can make things simpler and more enjoyable in our lives.