Patriots Pen Essay

Founding Fathers What did you mean by “all men are created equal”? Did you really mean all white men and not women? People who weren’t like you were treated poorly. You didn’t treat non-white people fairly. Let’s go back to the Civil War. You fought and killed many people so you could have people do everything for you. They were suffering so they could do labor. That’s horrible. Why would you do that? What if you were a slave? Would you like to be whipped? You made people do things because they had a different skin color than you. So what? What’s the difference? They just have a different skin color. What I’m saying is that you should have treated everybody equally and not just whites. Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and lots of other non-whites, they are now allowed to go to public schools, eat at the same restaurant’s and watch movies together. We are still working on racism, but you didn’t help at all. I feel that normal citizens can make the big difference.

The Maze Runner: Conflict and Resolution

The Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas who is brainwashed and put in this Maze with many other boys. There are walls around the Maze that close every night to protect the kids. The walls protect them from Grievers, giant lizards with lots of sharp tools like saws, needles, and scissors on their backs. Thomas and his friends go out into the Maze every day hoping they can find a way out. One day a girl is delivered into the Maze with a note saying that she has triggered the Ending. The Ending means that if they don't figure out the Maze soon, everybody will die from the Grievers and none of them will survive. A couple days later, Thomas finds a black hole at the edge of a cliff where the Grievers can enter and exit the maze. They boys decide to call this the Griever Hole. That night, the walls don't close and Grievers pick off kids one by one. Thomas figures out that the Maze is a code, but does he have the guts to stop all of this madness? In The Maze Runner, there are many conflicts. A minor conflict is that Alby, the Glader's leader, is stung by a Griever and is serious pain. Now that the leader is not mobile, Newt has to take over. The main conflict is that all of the boys are focused on surviving and escaping the Maze. Many boys die in this process, but it narrows down solutions for the Maze. The key moment in the resolution is when Thomas realizes the patterns of the Maze spell out words. Thomas figures this out a little too late. The Grievers have already taken five kids. The Maze spells out five words. Thomas thinks that you have to jump into the Griever Hole, and type the code words into a computer. Thomas does just that and finds his way out of the Maze and into the world. There are also about twenty kids who survive the escape.

The Maze Runner: Cause and Effect

The Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas who is brainwashed and put in this Maze with many other boys. There are walls around the Maze that close every night to protect the kids. The walls protect them from Grievers, giant lizards with lots of sharp tools like saws, needles, and scissors on their backs. Thomas and his friends go out into the Maze every day hoping they can find a way out. One day a girl is delivered into the Maze with a note saying that she has triggered the Ending. That night, the walls don't close and Grievers pick off kids one by one. Thomas figures out that the Maze is a code, but does he have the guts to stop all of this madness? In The Maze Runner, the cause is that the girl is delivered into the Maze the day after Thomas is. There are two problems with this. 1) There have never been any girls in The Maze. 2) Usually, a new boy is delivered every month. The girl also has a note that says that she has triggered the Ending which means that the Creators have waited long enough, the boys and the girl need to start figuring out how to get out of the Maze. The effect is that Thomas realizes that the Maze is a code and that he needs to find a place to put this code. He realizes that the black hole at the edge of the cliff is a perfect place to go. Thomas finds the computer and puts in the code words. A door opens and Thomas and twenty other kids escape into the real world.

Personal Narrative

State Tournament

This was it.  It’s game time.  I stepped out on to the ice very scared and motivated at the same time.  The parents were in the stands cheering us on.  Meanwhile, the Madison Polar Caps were warming up on the other end of the ice.  The same team we’d lost to 3 times.  That was what scared me so much.  I was only 9 at the time and I knew there was no checking, but some of the kids were really intimidating.  There was this one guy, Number 52, and he had a fast slap shot.  I got hit by it in the ankle the first time we played them and it smarted for the rest of the game.  But we also had a matchup for Number 52.  Number 38.   Jacob Arndt.  He was 5”1 when we played them and currently, he’s 6”1.  When the horn sounded, the coach brought us all in.  “We can do it”, he said.  I kind of doubted that.  But I was still ready to play hockey.

I was on the first shift at right wing.  Paired up with Number 52.  We must’ve looked funny next to each other.  The smallest and the biggest standing right next to each other.  The puck was dropped.  We played the first period pretty well.  It was tied 1 to 1 at the end of the first.  I had the assist on our goal.  My teammate was skating down the ice with one defender on us.  He drove me to the outside and centered it at the last moment.  Luke went top shelf.  It was the first goal of the game.  Our team was pumped and ready for the next period.

Period 2.  It was exciting.  I was on the bench the first shift.  2 minutes later, I was on the ice.  I was on a breakaway and I had a perfect shot.  I missed.  Then a kid knocked me on my butt.  At the end of the 2^nd, it was 2-1 and the Polar Caps were winning.  It was time to score.  We did with 5 minutes into the third period.  I went on to the ice high fiving my teammates.  Back to the center circle.  I was playing center and I could tell the guy on the other guy team was mad.  The referee dropped the puck and immediately cross-checked me.  That was a penalty.  We capitalized on that penalty.  3-2.  I was winning.  Our team was winning.  We kept that lead the rest of the game.  The last 10 seconds were counted out by our teams parents.  5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0!  Gloves and sticks were flying into the air.  We won the state championship!  Our team.  The Waukesha Warhawks.  I held the trophy as high as I could.

Retelling

The Maze Runner

James Dashner

Fiction

The Maze Runner is about a teenager named Thomas who is brainwashed and put in a big area with many other kids who are also brainwashed (all boys) with a big maze surrounding it.  Every night, the walls to the maze close and nasty creatures named Grievers come out.  They are big, slimy lizards with saws, scissors and other nasty things.  When they sting you, you have to get a special medication and you go through lots of pain.  One day a girl enters the maze through the Box and she has a note that says she's triggered the ending.  That night, the walls don't close and Grievers start picking off kids one by one each night.  Can Thomas and his friends solve the secret to the maze before everyone is gone?

This is a book for anyone who likes lots of action, scary moments and an unpredictable book.