My favorite character in Once On This Island

I like the God of death, Papa Ge most. Although she doesn't appear as much as main characters in Once On This Island, she is quite attractive that left me a deep impression. In every single important plot, she comes and says something to Ti Moune, trying to get her life. Perhaps someone thinks that Papa Ge is really mean and indifferent, but I just consider her as a God who does what she supposed to do. Her actions and laughs are always grandiloquent. When she laughs and sings "Your life will be mine", it feels like the whole world has darkened and is trembling. It shows how powerful she is. That scared me a bit but I still think she is really impressive.

Once On This Island

     Once On This Island directed by Mrs. Guarino is a musical drama shown on Friday night. The main character,Ti Moune, is a beautiful and wild girl who lives in the peasants' world and falls in love with a boy named Daniel living in the other side of the island where rich people live. Although Ti Moune and Daniel love each other, it is not allowed for people belonging to different worlds to love freely. It is a sad story happened in this imaginary island, but all in all, the musical drama is pretty amazing and impressive.

     Ti Moune was found on a tree by Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian when she was very young and sick at that time. She was almost dying, but the four gods, in this island, saved her and let her have a happy life with Mama and Tonton. Ti Moune doesn't know that there is a reason why the gods saved her life until she met Daniel in a car crash. She insisted to keep Daniel safe when he was weak and fainted no matter how other peasants stop her saving him, and she falls in love with Daniel inevitablely. Ti Moune overcomes all of the challenges and obstacles to find Daniel and hopes to stay with him. However, it is never allowed that a poor girl can marry a boy who lives in the wealthy world. It is predictable that the story between Ti Moune and Daniel is a cothurnus. Ti Moune dies and becomes a tree which lives forever.

     The biggest success in this musical drama in my view point is the songs different characters sing. These songs express different emotions to the audience which made us feel what they feel. For example, when peasants gathering toghether and praying for Daniel become alive, the song sung by all characters shows strong emotion how Ti Moune and others hope Daneil be safe intensively. And another example is that Ti Moune insists to save Daniel and tells her parents she eventually knows the reason why the gods saved her, she sings "It's time for me to save him" to Mama and Tonton, and so makes them moved. The most touching plot through the whole drama I think is when Ti Moune sings to everyone that she loves Daniel and wants to find and stay with him no matter how dangerous the journey is and how difficult for them two to love without obstacles. I almost cried because of Ti Moune's determination and the cothurnus behind her decision. People can hardly imagine how hard it is to love freely when the love is limited with many problems and challenges. How sad it is when Ti Moune finds she will never be able to marry Daniel. And how beautiful and good love it is between the wild girl and a boy. These are all shown in the songs, and thus make audience feel different emotions strongly. Also, the performances of every actors are expressive and proper. They all know how to act naturally and show the right actions; therefore, the whole performance is splendid enough to get the attractions of audience.

     Thanks for those actors who brought me a wonderful night.

Revision from writing center

     In order to get extra help about my draft, I went to writing center yesterday and asked the teacher there for advice. And I learned several things from her.

     First of all, I corrected my mind about writing an essay. Basically when we are going to write a introduction paragraph(the first paragraph), the thesis statement comes at the end of the paragraph. The previous sentences are like hooks to attract readers; just like a inverted triangle, the most important idea always shows in the end of the introduction paragraph. Then comes our body paragraphs to list different evidences to support our main idea of the whole essay. It's essential to notice that each body paragraph requires a topic and an ending sentence. A topic sentence for a body paragraph is like a branch of our thesis statement, and an ending sentence looks like an restatement. Between the topic and ending sentences, there must be strong evidence and analysis to prove the topic sentence and so prove the thesis statement indirectly. When we are going to write an essay and say something about a book or a movie, it's neccessary to put quotations into body paragraphs instead of simply summarizing and analysizing the story, because direct quotes make our idea strong and powerful. What's more, the rules of writing the title for a book and a movie are different. When we are introducing a book, the format should go like this: the book, Me and You by Nicholas Ammaniti; and the format for a movie is: the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's directed by Blake Edwards.

      We focused more on how to figure out whether the summary I wrote was really neccessary. It's a common phenomenon when writing our body paragraphs, too many summaries are added in, and thus it makes the whole paragraph look long and boring. Others may find it difficult to identify what is the most important information to concentrate on. In order to make our summaries be powerful and useful, we need to think about which summary is the most essential one that we cannot leave without it. A really useful summary always brings the readers to the main point that the author wants to point out. Then the analysis plays a role which is used to prove the topic sentence. At last, we can write a concluding paragraph to conclude the topic sentences written in the preivious paragraphs and restate our thesis statement by paraphrasing. That's how a regular essay goes.

     Also, a good essay should be strong and direct but not wordy. I found that my sentences were wordy by using too many unnecessary words like "that" and so it made my sentences seem to be long and not powerful enough. As a result, I deleted many words or simplified some phrases which were unnecessary and could be converted into one word. And I got rid of some summaries which were not important. In order to make my analysis be strong and improved, I added some quotes and explained more clearly to be easy to understand.

     These are what I learned from writing center yesterday.

Reflection

     When I was revising my draft, I mainly focused on how to delete some summaries and add more analysis into it. I'm clear that my first draft has too many summaries which makes my whole essay look too long, and it is a little lack of analysis and so it isn't strong enough. After revising my essay, I feel better than before, because some summaries have been deleted and analysis have been added. For example, in my second paragraph, I added analysis and I wrote both topic and ending sentences as well. That was another problem I had in my draft-from my peer feedbacks I found that in my two body paragraphs I didn't write clear topic or ending sentences. So I went back to look at my body paragraphs and I made some revisions.

     There is still something else I need to do more jobs on. I found it a little hard for me to make my quotations be more connected to sentences, which means they looked weird after I putting quotes into paragraphs. I tired to add more specific analysis after the quotations to make them clear. I think it was my second weakness, while the first one was I couldn't analysize my book or movie well. However, my strengthens in this essay were, as far as I've thought, I was able to conclude my idea briefly and correctly; and also I could write a good ending paragraph to reflect my thesis statement. Just like I've said before, my favorite sentence in my essay was "But when someone special comes into your life and teaches you a lesson, you will then feels like the whole world has lightened up". It's because I though it reflected my main idea and also concluded the two stories I've written. It was easy for me to make conclusions and think about what I am going to write to make my essay look logical. I had a structure in my mind when working on my revision. And I could deal with grammar correctly. 

     After stopping by writing center and getting help from the teacher, I made some corrections like the format of writing titles for both the novel and the movie. In order to make my sentences more direct and strong, I also deleted some words which seemed to be wordy and unnecessary. I did jobs to make my quotations clear and easy to understand, and corrected some problem of using first or third tense. These are how I made revisions so far.

My favorite sentence of my draft

"But when someone special comes into your life and teaches you a lesson, you will then feels like the whole world has lightened up" is my favorite sentence of the whole draft. I like it because it reflects my main idea of my draft and it also gives a conclusion to my body paragraphs, which illustrates that there's always someone who can extremely change yourself to a better person.

One body paragraph improved

The movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s mainly talks about how a young and beautiful girl called Holly Golighty changes from a mammonish and heartless girl to a person who clearly knows what she really wants  after a young man named Paul Varjak moves into the apartment where Holly lives in. They soon become friends with each other at the very beginning. In the movie, Holly always takes part in some social parties to meet different rich guys. It seems to be similar to Paul himself because as a writer with little income, he wants to become famous. As the friendship with Holly becomes deeper, Paul falls in love with her. At the same time, Holly tells Paul that a rich man from Brazil decides to get married with her. Paul tries to make Holly realize his love for her. However, Holly always changes topics whenever Paul is going to tell her to change her mind. She even tells Paul "I'm not Holly. I'm not Lula Mae, either. I don't know who I am. I'm like a cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don't even belong to each other" (Breakfast at Tiffany's). Paul is upset but doesn't want to give up. In the end of the movie, Holly and Paul have an argument, and Paul tells Holly that she is such a girl who is afraid of facing future. Holly is deeply touched by what he says and she cries badly. Finally she realizes that she loves Paul, which shows that she understands the meaning of being Holly Golightly, and she realizes she used to be such a mammonish girl who always messed everything up. She eventually knows that to be a real Holly is important. They kiss in the pouring rain at the end of the movie. And Holly doesn't deny her love for Paul any more because she feels warmth from him and Paul is the reason why she needs to change.

When Someone Comes into Your Life

     The novel,  Me and You by Nicholas Ammaniti and the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s directed by Blake Edwards both tell stories about how the main character changes when someone special comes into their lives. In Me and You Lorenzo is an antisocial boy with little sympathy for others. However, when his half sister, Olivia, comes and spends a couple of days with him in the basement, Lorenzo changes. In the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, as Holly Golightly becomes friends with Paul Varjak, she eventually realizes who she really is by knowing  what she wants to do and where she belongs. People become fearless and determined when following their own mind and doing what they are willing to do.

     There is always someone who can change one’s life. As a fourteen-year-old boy, Lorenzo is one of those kids who just doesn't know how to fit in. “[He] was like a sardine in a school of sardines. [He] camouflaged [himself] like a stick insect on dry breaches” (Ammaniti 31). This shows how he tries a variety of approaches and pretends to be normal, but generally remains a frustrated outsider. In order to let her mother think that he is quite a normal boy and he is able to stays well to others, Lorenzo lies to her about being invited to a ski trip. As a result, he hides himself in the cellar. However, everything changes when Lorenzo’s half sister Olivia breaks down his own tiny peaceful world. Lorenzo eventually knows how hard her sister’s life is by noticing her scary symptoms because of the withdrawal from drugs. He decides to save Olivia’s life, so he tries his best to get the medicine to reduce Olivia’s pain. Here he shows enough sympathy to his sister, and this also illustrates that he begins to change. When Olivia wakes up with less pain the next day, they talk a lot with each other. This is extremely different from the beginning when Olivia first comes to meet Lorenzo. They even fight with each other at first. But then they can sit at the settee and talk about the childhood memories. At last, they dance and sing in the tiny cellar, and Lorenzo “felt something [he'd] never felt before. [he] felt alive- it took [his] breath away” (Ammaniti 144). These mental descriptions show that from here Lorenzo begins to change himself. Ten years later, we can see that Lorenzo has already changed to a person who does not live in his tiny world any more and is connected to others. That's how Lorenzo changes to a boy who is sympathetic to others because of the love from his sister. It's obvious that a person is able to change a person entirely and make his or her have hope to future.

     People’s life will go better after meeting someone special, which is also verified in the movie. Breakfast at Tiffany’s mainly talks about how a young and beautiful girl called Holly Golighty changes from a materialistic and heartless girl to a person who clearly knows what she really wants  after a young man named Paul Varjak moves into the apartment building where Holly lives. They soon become friends. In the movie, Holly always takes part in some social parties to meet different rich guys. It seems to be similar to Paul himself because as a writer with little income, he wants to become famous as well. He relies on a rich woman who is a decorator to acquire money. As the friendship with Holly becomes deeper, Paul falls in love with her. However, Holly tells Paul "I'm not Holly. I'm not Lula Mae, either. I don't know who I am. I'm like a cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don't even belong to each other" (Breakfast At Tiffany’s), which explains the reason why she denies Paul's love. Just like a missing cat with no name hanging outside, Holly doesn't know what kind of person she is and where she belongs. At the end of the movie, Holly and Paul have an argument, and Paul tells Holly that she is such a girl who is afraid of facing future. Holly is deeply touched by what he says and she cries badly. Finally she realizes that she loves Paul, which illustrates that she understands the meaning of being Holly Golightly, and she realizes she used to be such a materialistic girl who always messed everything up. She eventually knows that to be a real Holly is important. They kiss in the pouring rain at the end of the movie. And Holly doesn't deny her love for Paul any more because she feels warmth from him and Paul is the reason why she needs to change. As a result, Holly changes to a determined girl after meeting Paul Varjak. This is the power when meeting someone who changes your life.

     Lorenzo and Holly both have difficulty fitting into their surroundings. Lorenzo prefers to hide in his tiny world to avoid having connection with others. Holly camouflages herself like a heartless person and never expresses her real feelings. However, both of them change at the end of the stories when someone special come into their lives. Olivia changes Lorenzo by encouraging him to be connected to “others”, while Paul makes Holly change by letting her know her own feelings. There are always some days when people are confused about themselves and don't know what to do. But when someone special comes into their life and teaches them a lesson, they will then feel like the whole world has lightened up. Everything will go better after he or she appears.

   

Snow Day Poem

Cold and Warm

Got an email on a freezing and sleepy morning

Knowing that a happy snow day is coming

Friends are shouting and playing in the snow

But the slippery roads make me scared

I'm afraid of being pushed down the ground

My new coat and boosts are precious

Because they are the New Year's gifts from my parents

Can we have hotpots together?

We are away from our homeland

People are celebrating the New Year on the other hemisphere of Earth

Me and you can only gather around the hotpot

Saying "happy New Year" to each other

We eat and we drink

We laugh and sing

It's freezing outside

But we feel warmth inside

Thesis statement of Breakfast at Tiffany's

Thesis: 

     As Holly Golightly becomes friends with Paul Varjak, she eventually realizes that who she really is by knowing that what she wants to do and where she belongs. To follow your own mind and to do what you are eager to do are the most important things to do because they make people become fearless. Holly doesn't want to be a mammonish and heartless girl any more after the relationship with Paul develops deeper.

Outline:

     The novel Me and You tells s story about how a little antisocial boy called Lorenzo becomes connected to others when his half sister Olivia comes into his life. He used to live in the tiny world he builds for himself and never walk out of it. However, as Olivia appears in his world in the cellar, everything has changed. At first Lorenzo cannot understand his half sister at all and he hates her so much because she breaks his peace. Then as the story goes on, Lorenzo eventually knows about his sister's story deeper and feels sorry for her. In the movies Breakfast at Tiffany's, Holly Golightly is such a social and light-hearted girl who is willing to have a better life and wants to marry a rich man. Then a young man called Paul Varjak appears and moves into the apartment where Holly lives. They are neighbors and they soon establish a friendship. Both Holly and Paul want to have a good life, but they both rely on others' help to gain money. As time goes by, Paul finds himself has fallen in love with Holly and he decides to give up the money a rich decorator woman provides. However, Holly tells him that a million ion from Brazil is going to marry her and she will leave for Brazil to start a new life. Paul is upset but he doesn't want to give up his love for Holly. Holly was arrested because of the accusation of having connection with the drug seller who has already been sent to a prison called Sing Sing. Paul bails her out of the jail and sends her to home. At last they Holly realizes that she has already been in love with Paul. In the pouring rain she finds her missing cat and cries deeply. Paul gets to find Holly and kisses her at the end of the film.

Summary of Breakfast at Tiffany's

     Holly Golightly, a young and beautiful woman who lives in an apartment in New York City, is always looking for somewhere she really belongs to. As a mammonish and heartless lady, she gets in lots of troubles. She makes a living by earning fifty to a hundred dollars per hour every day. She likes to stay in Tiffany's because it makes her feel comfortable and safe. In fact, she is just willing to having a wealth and easy life. In order to earn more money, she even agrees to visit a dangerous person who has ever sold drugs but was sent into a jail called Sing Sing every day. She contacts with many rich young men, and she is known as a kind of social butterfly in New York.

     A young writer called Paul Varjak, who wants to be famous one day, relys on a rich decorator to gain a lot of money and have a better life. When Paul moves into the apartment where Golightly lives, they become neighbors and soon be familiar with each other and they establish a friendship. As they know more about each other, they find that there are something in common between them. Paul eventually falls in love with Golightly. However, Golightly tells him that a rich man comes from Brazil wants to marry her and she has already accepted even though it is not true. Paul is upset but he doesn't want to give up. He breaks the relationship with the decorator and refuses her help.

     Golightly is arrested because of being accused of having connection with the smuggler, but Paul bails her out of the jail. In a morning, it begins to rain heavily outside when Golighty and Paul are on their way home. Paul sends her a ring with the letters of TIFFANY. They have an argument on the taxi and Golightly feels angry and sad, and she leaves her cat. However, when Paul tells her that she is such a nervous lady she is deeply touched. She finally realizes that who she really wants to be and what she wants to do in her life. She gets out of the taxi and finds her cat. Paul finds Golightly and then they kiss each other in the pouring rain.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

The main character in this movie is Holly Golightly, a young and beautiful girl in New York City. When a young man called Paul Varjak moved into her building, they soon became good friends. At the end of the movie, they fell in love with each other. Golightly finally found and changed herself from a mammonish girl to a girl who was really sure about what she wanted and who she wanted to be with Paul's help.

Three possible movies

Breakfast at Tiffany's 

Breakfast at Tiffany's is the story of a young woman in World War II-era New York who hobnobs with famous people, gets into a lot of trouble, and breaks many hearts along the way, all while struggling to find her place in the world. Then a young man called Paul came into her life and eventually changed her.

Say Anything

High-school graduate with no apparent future, tired and for most part abandoned Lloyd Dobler sets his sights on the lovely Diane Court, the class valedictorian, whom he had a chance encounter with at the town mall. They eventually fell in love with each other, but they met many problems and their relationship seem to be hard to remain.

Breakfast Club

Five high school students were gathered together one morning to get their detentions. The principal of the school asked each of them to talk about their own life stories to everyone.