(: The perks of being a wallflower :)

Charlie!

Charlie is a 15 year old boy who is a high-school freshman. At the beginning of the novel Charlie is a really wallflower, because Michael, the only friend he has, make suicide and now he is alone on the new school. So when the story begins he is really shy and unpopular. Charlie encounters the same problems that many kids have in a new school. How to find friends? Charlie starts to write letters about his life and within all his problems. He is a really emotional person and cries a lot, sometimes without any reason. His biggest hobby is reading books which he gets from his favourite teacher Bill. Charlie has a big connection to Bill and he can talk a lot with him and not only about school. When Charlie meets Sam and Patrick, he begins to see how beautiful it can be to have friends and so Charlie’s life changes a lot. He has his first girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth, but in reality he loves Sam. He starts to smoke and takes drugs and he has his first experience with sex. So Charlie helds his friends in high regard and he would do everything for them but sometimes he does too much, because he thinks that he has to do these things to keep them. Charlie is a great listener when his friends have problems with something. He is very glad to have friends like Sam and Patrick because they make his live better and he feels that he belong to somewhere and so he does everything for them.

Review

Stephen Chbosky is the author of “The perks of being a wallflower” and he is born in 1970. To date this is his only novel and this is a story about what it's like to grow up in high school.

It is about Charlie, a high-school freshman, who is pretty emotional and describes in letters his life and all the other things which are involved with growing up. Being a teenager is not always easy and this is also true for Charlie. Within his letters, we come to learn of the boy's struggle with the loss of a friend, as well the loss of his aunt Helen, his only friends at this moment. So he is very shy and unpopular and the pupils call him a wallflower. Later he makes friends with two seniors named Patrick and Sam and they teach him a lot because Charlie is really inexperience. But although Charlie recognises how beautiful it is to have such wonderful friends, he also confronts with a lot of problems. He has his first experience with girls, sex and drugs as a young teenager. Through the letters he writes, we find exactly out, which feelings Charlie has in such experiences and he only needs someone who listens and understands him.

“The perks of being a wallflower” is now one of my favourite books because the story of this teenager who is confronted with such problems makes me contemplative. It is such a lovely book and I only can recommend this book to everyone because it is so brilliant.

Correction of the essay

Nowadays violence and violence in media is a heatedly discussed topic. In today’s society behaviour and violence are not uncommon in many families, schools and in the media. So how can we stop violence? And why is there so much violence in our society?

First of all I want to analyse the opinion of Michael Medved. He claims that violence is just harmless entertainment on TV, so I agree with him in that point, because it doesn’t influence everybody, but it influences somebody. For example a scene of a film happened afterwards, or a commercial also influences people but only for a few seconds. In addition Medved thinks that the movies show the viewers what they want and I think that is right because the reality is not so violent like some movies, and on the one hand I agree with him, but on the other hand I disagree. If you don’t want to watch such violent films, then you don’t have to, that is right, but young children don’t know what is right for them and only want to watch it due to the fact that it’s forbidden. So it should be illegal for kids to watch such films, because they foster their behaviour in the future.

I personally believe there are various seasons for the violence in this world. To start with, there are 3 reasons that are frequently mentioned, namely we learned it, we are born with it and we turn violent because of frustration. I think it’s self-evident that there’s a grain of truth in each theory. In addition I think it’s the result of stupidity. Violence is frequently caused by negative emotions like hatred.

To sum up, as I’ve tried to show in my essay there are various factors that contribute to the violence in the world. We have to find proposals to reduce the violence among children. I think we have to introduce stricter measures and punishment. Violent movies should only be shown after 10 pm, when the kids sleep. Because of the theory that violence is an instinct, we can find harmless ways of acting out the violence, such as sports competitions.

Essay

Violence in movies

Nowadays there is a lot of debate if there should be a ban on violence movies, because some people think that there are contributes to violence in our society. We are every day confronted with violence so who decides on what gets banned? What are the criteria?

First of all such films aren’t realistic but teenagers want to do all these things because that is the age at which a person doesn’t know what is good or bad for life. But non-violent films are successful, too, actually more successful. The important argument pro the ban is that teenagers can be easily influenced by violent movies and otherwise it's hard to decide what should be cut or not, because there are people who want to watch such violent films.

So in contrast there are good arguments against a ban on violent movies. The majority of people don’t get violent, and the people who does, have more problems than watching violent films. The most scenes in the films are so unrealistic that a normal person wouldn’t copy it. Those who are influenced by movies are not very smart. There are cases of young criminals who might have been influenced, but I think those people's parents are responsible for the way they turned out. But, as usual, when something goes wrong it's easier just to point the finger on someone else. It belongs to parents, to teach children which things are good and which are bad. Eventually we don’t turn into a non-violent society just we don’t show violence movies, precisely because there is also violence in the news, radio or in the own life.

In my opinion such a ban is a total crap. Only when you watch a violent film you don’t get influenced. I also like to watch such movies and I never would do similar things. People have to take responsibility for their own actions.

"Sbow falling on cedars"

Task 2

In the novel “Snow falling on cedars“ changed the kind of love from Ishmael to Hatsue a lot. By comparison these 3 phases of love there are some contrasts and also similarities.

The first phase is, when they were kids. As a kid Ishmael loves Hatsue as a friend and the love grew more and more from day to day. Ishmael got his first kiss from Hatsue, but they had big problems due to their different nationality and so they couldn’t be friends in the public. Her Japanese culture says that she is only allowed to have a Japanese boyfriend and her parents and friends wouldn’t approve their relationship. They met every day in a secret cedar where they could hide their love relationship of the public. But after a time, Hatsue couldn’t do this anymore and would like to break up the relationship because she didn’t want to offend the sensibilities from her family. She didn’t know how she could tell Ishmael that their relationship has no future, because inside she still loved Ishmael and didn’t want to hurt him.

While Ishmael was in the war, Hatsue wrote a letter to him where she told him all the truth. Ishmael was totally devastated. Hatsue was his big love, and now it’s over. After the war was finish he looked for her, because he didn’t want to give up. But meanwhile Hatsue had married a Japanese man to get over Ishmael. He missed her so much in that long time. He couldn’t forget her and couldn’t start a new live because she was his live.

During the trial Hatsue avoided Ishmael. Ishmael detected that Kabuo wasn’t the real murderer of Carl, it was an accident. He told the evidence nobody, because he thought that Kabuo would get arrested and than Hatsue would come back to him. Finally he told it to the judge, because he only wanted the best for Hatsue. He recognized that there is no chance for him and Hatsue. At the End of the novel, Ishmael referred to her for the first time as “Mrs. Miyamoto”, signifying Ishmael’s growth and changing in their relationship.

Correction of the TEST

Task 1

Dear Rachel!

Thank you for the picture that you sent me. I agree with you, that it’s a big problem with the racism in the whole world. We should all have equal rights. That picture makes me see racism in a different way. When you are black or white you are not another person. In my opinion we are all equal no matter whether we are black, have another religion or are a woman or a man.

I think the artist wants to provoke the viewers, because nowadays there is a lot of debate about racism. I find the impression that the artist creates very effective, because he takes a little girl and not a big man who looks very vicious. What I find interesting is that the girl is wearing the colour white. The colour of innocence. The girl is among 4 “Deputy US Marshall”, and so the picture conveys a very strong message. I like the picture very much, because equality is important in society. On the wall behind the girl there stands “Niger” and somebody has thrown a tomato against the wall, obviously he wanted to hit the innocent girl. Thank you Rachel for this great picture.

Yours, Kim

Task 2

Yes, this photo is art for me, because you don’t know what the artist wanted to express and so you can consider. A lot of modern art is just rubbish, because I think when someone only throws a lot of paint on a canvas you can’t call it art. For me art should make me see something in a different way. I find this photo very interesting because that a woman can do hard work. There are similarities between the photo and the picture by Norman Rockwell. Both show the meaning of equality, and that’s what I like. I would really like to see the complete exhibition.

Death

"WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE"

I don't believe the traditional idea of heaven and hell. I think that after death our body decay or when someone cremate than it falls to ashes. Our soul continue an goes in an other body. That goes on and on till the end of the world. I can't believe that death is the end and we have only one change to make it good. I don't think that there is another world like a beyond .
But who can say that this is the truth? It is impossible to find out what happens after death, because nobody can rise from the death to tell us what will happen. I'm not scared to die because at any time, we all have to die and now I'm young and should enjoy my life. And in the next life, we can start an absolutely new life, with a new family, new people an friends and new experiences.

Leserbrief

Dear editor!!!

I read the article about the battle between mayor Giuliani and the Brooklyn museum, about Ofili’s Virgin Mary in the sensation exhibition.

I think the mayor reacted wrong, because everybody has his own opinion about a painting. Mayor Giuliani doesn’t like the painting, and so he forbids it for everybody, due to the fact that he think that his opinion is he right and everybody else is wrong.

His reaction that he withholds the funding to the museum was in my opinion not correct. The museum has also other art that shocks someone and I think the most of the art should be shown however there are some difficult cases of art, and so I think when a lot of people are against a painting, then it could be forbidden, but not only one

Everyone has the right to free speech and so it was good that the museum won the battle.

Yours Kim :)

(152 Words)