Comparative Essay

The life of being different

            Imagine being different? Strange, weird in others eyes? Ignored, pushed away from the rest of the group. In the books, The Pearl, and, Stargirl, the main characters, Kino and Stargirl, are similar and different in the ways of being different.

          One way they are similar is that the people around them don’t like them. Stargirl is crazy and over the top and people at her school feel mad and jealous that she always is standing in the spotlight. People turn on her and soon the whole school is ignoring her. Kino has a similar problem. He finds the “Pearl of the World”, and people are jealous too. The people of the village where he lives get mad and a couple even try attacking him for the pearl.

          The books are similar, but they are different. In Stargirl, Stargirl just tries to get people’s attention, from the business where if “You talk to me, I’ll scratch your back”, to changing her whole look. But Kino takes it even farther. Throughout the book, he doesn’t really doesn’t care about getting people’s attention; he only wants to protect the pearl. When his wife, Juana, tried to throw the pearl back into ocean because of the bad luck it had brought their family, Kino practically beat her up to get the pearl back. When someone attacked him for the pearl, Kino killed him. Kino doesn’t really care that he is different.

          Stargirl and Kino are very similar and different in the way of being different. They both struggle in some way, Stargirl, getting people’s attention, Kino, trying to protect the pearl. But struggle is part of being different. Think about that the next time you see/think someone is different. Think about how they have to live in the life of being different.

Creative Piece

Missing

Based on a true story

            I froze, checking my pockets. Where was my phone? I searched frantically, through my coat pockets, through my backpack, but still no luck. I run to the corner, waiting for the school bus to come back around. After a minute or so, I stop there, dropping a couple kids off. After they have got off, I run up the small stairs of the bus.

            “What’s wrong Sarah?” I remember my bus driver saying on that horribly freezing winter afternoon.

            “I lost my phone. Can I quickly check to see if it’s here?” After she does a quick nod, I search on the seats. Barely anyone is on the bus, so I just scan the seats. It wasn’t there. “Thanks for letting me look for it, Becky, but it’s not here”.

            “Oh, Sarah,” Becky said, her breathe frigid in the frosty Wisconsin air. “I’ll keep an eye out for it. I’m sure it will show up.” I said a small good-bye to Bus driver Becky and headed home, my head drooping the whole time. What would my mom think? Would I get in trouble? And where could my phone possibly be? I had it right before I got off the bus the first time around. I mean, all I did was get off the bus, throw a fail snowball at Lauren, walked about 20 feet and poof! Missing. My phone was missing.

It’s like it disappeared into thin air. My thoughts were interrupted when I walked into my house.

            “Hi Sweetie! How was your day at school?” My mom was upstairs, working from home.

            “Hey Mom,” I said, no cheer at all in my voice. I was dead. I was actually worse than dead. I added quietly, “Yeah, school was fine.” I held my breath. She was coming downstairs. The more sounds of footsteps I heard, the faster my heart pounded. It was like I was the bait and she was the lion. Yep, I was dead meat, especially when she said…”Oh Sweet pea, I heard your phone beeping last night. I’ll just charge it for you then.

            For I second I just stood there. What could I say? What could I do? Just standing there was my best option.

            “So?” she continued, ”Your phone?”. Those last two words hit me like a boulder. It felt like one of these TV shows where they echo words over and over for more dramatic effect. That same thing happened in my head. Your phone? Your phone? Your phone? Your phone? Your phone! I couldn’t take it.

            “Mom”, I started nice and slow. “I seem to have kind of, sort of, you know, um, lost my phone.”

            “What?”I felt like ducking, running, hiding. Mt. Mom was about to blow. But she soon surprised me. “Oh, that’s ok. We’ll go look for it”.

            For a second, I had to back up. What just happened? She’s”ok” with it? Oh well. At least I didn’t get grounded, yet. Soon, I got myself back on track and told her the whole story. The drop-off, the snowball, getting back on the bus, everything.
           So, I checked the bus, the only other place to check was in front of Lauren’s house, to place where I got dropped off. My guess was that when I reached down to get snow to throw a snowball at Lauren, the phone must of fell out of my coat pocket. When we reached her house, I ran up to her door and told her the whole story. I told her that I how I thought the phone we somewhere in the snow on the curb by her house. She decided to help look for it too.

            Both of us dug through the snow fiercely. We searched and searched till it seemed pointless. “What the use, Lauren,” I told she as she continued look through the snow. “It gone”.

            But then, in the spot where Lauren was, digging, there appears the phone. I gasp, not even knowing if this is real. It’s there. It’s MY phone. It’s not missing.

The struggles of being different

The struggles of being different

          Have you ever felt different? Like an outsider? It has happened to all of us. In the book, Stargirl, the author chooses the theme of being different to betray the main character, Stargirl, a strange girl from out of town. Throughout the book, Stargirl faces the struggles of being different.

          At the beginning of the book, Stargirl didn’t know that it was bad to be different. In fact, people at her high school, Mica Area High School, actually like her. She becomes the star of the school. But it didn’t last. So, jealously reared its ugly head and Stargirl becomes Invisablegirl. She stunned. No one will talk to her, all except for Leo, her boyfriend/best friend. But how can you ignore a girl in long colorful skirts, a girl who plays the ukulele and has a pet rat? Hard to tell. But her struggles of being different have just begun.

          Stargirl tries hard to become noticed, but nothing is helping. Her attempts all fail. One of these attempts is a big one, when Stargirl becomes Susan. She changes behavior, clothes, and her whole happy attitude. Even though she has the whole look down, even this isn’t enough to turn people’s heads. But she still doesn’t give up. At one part of the book, she tries to make a business where if you talk to her, she would scratch your back. No takers. One line that she says in the book is, “What do you have to do to get someone’s attention around here”.

          Stargirl has to face the struggles of being different throughout the book. Along the way, she has a hard time with being ignored by the students of Mica Area High School. Changing clothes, changing behavior still doesn’t turn people’s heads. Stargirl struggles to become part of “them” again, but whatever she does, she always faces the struggles of being different.

Snow has come

Author's note: This poem is about how happy I was when it snowed finally.

Snow, Snow
Flurries flying
For a month now,
I've been dying,
For a moment like this,
Oh, am I pleasured,
for this very snow,
3 inches, I measured
Excited, running
I put on my coat
The only thing better,
Would be a pet goat.

Author's note: My purpose is to describe the horribleness of shovel a driveway in the cold winter world.
.

Shovel Snow in a Winter World

Shoveling snow for a hour or two,

Oh what I wouldn't do,

For some hot chocolate, a blanket,even some tv,

While I'm in the cold, feeling sorry for poor me,

   The winds blaze, the snow falls, the world turns to white,

But the shivering, the cold I continue to fight,

I push through the icy snow,

As the sun and warmth seem to go,

But the driveway is clear now, thanks to the shovel by my side,

Now it's about time that I go to the warmth of inside.