A Dark Town

Author's Note: This is a response to the story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson about the theme of the story

The story named The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is about this little town only God knows where with a population of approximately 300 people which is the towns high because the population is growing fast. The oldest man in the town is called Old Man Warner, who is in his 70’s and going strong, said that they should not follow the other towns that stopped doing the lottery for obvious reasons. One key thing to show what this story is trying to teach is the theme.

In the story the Lottery there are many themes but one that stands out is inhumanity. The reason why I think this is because the people in the town reach into a black box and pulled out a piece of paper and if your paper has a black dot on it you get stoned. And they did it for that reason and that reason only. When I read that they were going to stone Tessie because I thought the lottery was something happy and bring joy to some ones heart but instead they decide to stop their hearts. This story is very well done with the wording and really explains and helps out the reason why she wrote this.

                                                               

Finally “The Lottery” relates to the story “Among the Hidden” by Margaret Peterson Haddix where it is inhumane to have a population law because it’s not right to just kill a baby because a family already has two kids. In every way probable it is not human like or normal to kill a baby for that reason. I think that it should be the parent’s decision whether or not they should keep or get rid of it. Both of these stories have the same theme with the inhumanity.

A Window that says "wash me"

I sit there looking at all the people in the room at same time looking at the kids playing outside. I am so dirty nobody cares all they do is look through me. Never caring about my feelings how I feel. If they don’t like staying in the hot sun all day how do you think I feel. Sometime is get in the way of the breeze running with the wind while the sun watches from a far. You love me when I'm open in the summer but when it's dark all you do is cover me so I look dumber. I sit there not even able to move my vision is getting blurry while you drink a Flurry. You see us every day but you find someway to blow us off. I'm so dirty so would you please once in awhile wash you windows, we have feelings too.

Lighting Thief

Have you thought you were entirely different from other people? Well a boy named Percy Jackson is extremely different from any other kids. He has to fight monsters the older he gets, then when he reaches a certain age he must go to camp Half-Blood. Camp Half-Blood is for demigods which are half human half gods, and that is what Percy is. His father is the famous Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. He meets new people that become his friends and his friends end up changing completely.

First off Percy Jackson is twelve years old that lives with his mom not knowing who is dad is. He starts off going to a boarding school and he has an act to be getting kicked out of every school he goes to. He has one friend and his name is Grover and he has some leg disease or so he tells Percy. Percy suffers from dyslexia; he also gets made fun off a lot. He Latin teacher Mr. Brunner even thinks he should be the smartest kid in the world because he says “Perhaps you’ll tell us what this picture represents.” As Mr. Brunner points to the picture on the stele in the museum field trip. He’s the kid that is always pulled out of the crowed to get in trouble. The day he finds out that he is a demigod is also the day that he finds out that Grover is a satyr which is a half human half goat. He also loses his mother to Hades the god of the Underworld, and learns that he needs to get to camp Half-Blood if he wants to live from the monster attacks.

Then when he finally gets to camp Half-Blood he finds out that his Latin teacher is one of the camp people there and he is a centaur half human half horse. He also meets Annabeth who is the daughter of Athena, and he gets sent on a quest to recover Zeus’s stolen master bolt that holds all of his powers. Percy, Grover, and Annabeth have to go to the Underworld to get the Master Bolt back for Zeus before the summer solstice.

Finally, will he and his friends make it in time? Will someone betray him? Read and find out, Percy’s friends and enemies change 100%. This book is full of adventure and maybe a love story in there. So can you truly trust people that say there your friend?

Mass Effect 1

Space, the final frontier, nah this is a better story. This is the story about a man named Shepard, John Shepard who is a part of the world’s Alliance Navy. Shepard could be male or female it’s your choice and the first name the last name has to be Shepard. The story is a video game by the name of Mass Effect there are three games in the series. The series started in 2007 and the latest one just came out in 2012. All three of them are for the Xbox 360 and they all won game of the year every year they came out.  The story takes place all around the Milky Way that is our galaxy. When you start this game it is hard to quit and it takes you inside and you turn into Commander Shepard. It is a lot of fun and action and maybe a love story if you want because you make the decisions in the game.

First spoiler alert it is the year 2183 and the humans have discovered these mass relays that can shoot them all across the galaxy, which is how the humans have come to know the other species like the humans. The Humans and the rest of the races in the Milky Way find out that there is a race of synthetics called Reapers that wipe out all organic life every 50,000 years, but Commander Shepard is determined to change the universes cycle and stop the Reapers. For starters there a bunch of different races or species in Mass Effect. There are 18 different races that you come across in Mass Effect. First there are the Asari which are these blue skinned people that have tentacle like hair that can only be styled one way. The next race are the Drell which like green lizard people that have deep voices there are only 2 Drell that you come across in the three games. Next are the Elcor they are a peaceful race and don’t fight that much, they also talk like robots say what they feel like “Happy: it is nice to meet you.” That is just one example of how they talk. Then there are the Hanar which is the other peaceful race that are like priests and what to accept what the Reapers are doing. After them there are the humans which we all know them. Then there are the Keepers that look like giant bug that can only be found on the main space station called the Citadel. Then there are the Salarians that are geniuses and talk fast because they think fast too. Then there are the Turians that act like humans but don’t look anything like them. They do the same things as us and not be different like peaceful than others or more violent. Then the Volus which have to live in space suits their entire lives and that is an unknown reason why. Those are the most common races that you will find on the Citadel.

Then there are the races that are known as the non-Citadel races that you won’t find that many on the Citadel. To start off there are the Batarians which are the like humans and Turians but are just a little more cranky. Then there are the Collectors that have four eyes that are bright yellow. Then there are the other synthetic race known as the Geth that were created by the Quarians. The Quarians are the other race that has to live in a paces suit because their immune system is not as strong as humans to withstand any planet even their own. Then there is the most violent race called the Krogan. The Krogan are the most violent race and are very brutal. Then there is the Rachni which are ancient giant bugs that kill but can be nice if you are nice to them. They can talk but they have to control a person and talk through them. Next there are the Reapers that come out of nowhere and wipe the galaxy clean of all organic life every 50,000 years. Then there is the other violent race known to all as the Vorcha that only live in gangs basically you never see them do good things in the galaxy. There are all the races that you come across in the mass effect games.

Also there is the main story and how each race plays a part in the story. Well there are the Reapers that you know and you find out about them in the end of first Mass Effect. The main story of the first Mass Effect is that there is a rouge Specter. A Specter is short for special tactics and reconnaissance that work for the Council which is on the Citadel and can go almost anywhere in the galaxy and do almost anything. Being a Specter is like being a Jedi and James Bond at the same time. Anyways the rouge Specter is a Turian named Saran, at first the Council doesn’t believe that Saran as gone rouge but that’s your job to get evidence that he has the Geth under his controls and destroying colonies looking for a Prothean beacon. The Protheans are a race that was wiped out by the Reapers long ago. Saran needs this beacon because it is like a map that points in direction of an artifact called the conduit. So it’s a race against time to see who can get the conduit first, but first Commander Shepard must put together a team of skilled fighters and scientists to find Saran and shut his operation down. The space ship that Commander Shepard starts out in is called the SSV Normandy SR1 that belongs to Captain David Anderson. When Shepard because the first Human Specter, because he finds evidence that Saran has gone rouge so the Council has made Shepard a Specter. Now Shepard being the new Captain/Commander of the SSV Normandy SR1, Because Anderson being the great friend he is he steps down from command for Shepard to take over. So Shepard takes the Normandy and off to save the Galaxy. So nobody knows about the Reapers because they only know about Saran and that’s it. So on Shepard’s team has human crew mates Ashley Williams and Kadien Alieko, Asari named Liara Ta’soni who knows a lot about the Protheans and her mother is working with Saran which is a big plus to have Liara on your team. Then there is Garrus Vakarin who works for C-Sec which stands for Citadel Security and is a Turian and because Shepard’s best friend. Next there is Wrex a Krogan bounty hunter and that’s about it. Finally there is Tali Zora Vas Neema who is a Quarian and that is about it too.

Even though Shepard has his team it’s going to be hard to stop Saran, but the team is ready for anything. After searching all through the galaxy they find Saran but he has found the conduit and they need to stop him. Shepard and his team still don’t know what the conduit is they think that is some sort of weapon. Then they find out from a Prothean VI—Virtual Intelligence—that the conduit is actual a Mass Relay that the Protheans create that send you strait to the Citadel because they also find out that the Citadel is actually one big Mass Relay. They also find out that Saran is being controlled by the Reapers so Saran and the Geth are  planning on using the Conduit to send the Reapers strait to the Citadel that would take over the entire galaxy because that where the Council is and the heart of the galaxy. Saran is being controlled by a Reaper named Sovereign. When Sovereign and the Geth attack the Citadel Shepard has to race back to the Citadel and save the day. Sovereign believes he will not be destroyed and he says to Shepard “I am the vanguard of your destruction.” And that he can’t be destroyed.

Finally in the end Shepard has to make a huge decision to save the Council’s ship that is under attack from the Geth or forget them and just attack Sovereign either one you choose Sovereign is destroyed. So if you decide to be evil or renegade you would choose to let the Council die. If you want to be good or Paragon then you would want to save the Council. In the end everyone is happy and there is a big party in Shepard’s name. This game is full of action and adventure and keeps you thinking all the way.