Lewis Carroll originally wrote Alice’s adventures in Wonderland for entertainment purposes. Alice’s adventures in Wonderland was published on November twenty-sixth 1865. Alice is a curious young girl who ends up losing sight of her world as she knew it after she followed the white rabbit. Once in Wonderland Alice must help end the evil red queen’s reign with the help of an odd bunch of sidekicks. The mad hatter, Nivens McTwisp the rabbit, and Cheshire the cat all lead Alice through her journey in Wonderland. When Alice was lost on her journey Cheshire gave her some advice that Alice wasn’t so sure of at the time. Regardless, Cheshire said, “In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw round, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”(chapter 5) In this game Alice must befriend as many creatures that she meets on her journey in order to successfully beat the game. To beat the game she must dethrone the evil red queen. 

In the first chapter, Down the rabbit-hole, readers are introduced to Alice and the white rabbit. Alice is seen sitting by the riverbank while boredom overtook her when she noticed the white rabbit in a waistcoat. Alice is a very young girl who has an extremely big imagination. This is the first level to Alice’s journey to defeat the evil red queen. Furthermore, in the second chapter, The pool of tears, Alice drinks the potion and eats the cake which causes her to change size drastically. In this level we will learn that Alice is curious about items even if she has no idea what they are, but she isn’t willing to deal with the consequences. Alice says, “I wish I hadn’t cried so much!” as she swam about, trying to find her way out. “I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears!” (chapter 2) We also notice more character development in chapter three, A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale, when Alice begins arguing with the Lory which expresses her boldness and assertiveness.

Another character in the video game is the mad hatter. We are introduced to the mad hatter in chapter seven when he becomes angry at the March Hare for his broken watch at the tea party. The mad hatter is seen as an insane character throughout the book and this video game. He loves fashion and riddles, but also has an obsession with tea parties. Furthermore, Cheshire the cat is also an important part of the video game. Once Alice meets the cat he is pictured as grinning and he tries to lead her correctly on her path while never giving her a solid answer. Another important character in the video game is the white rabbit, Nivens McTwisp. The white rabbit literally leads Alice to her journey of Wonderland. The white rabbit can be viewed as a symbol of Alice’s curiosity to gain knowledge as she goes on her journey.

Last but not least is the red queen. The red queen is the villian of this story. The red queen was in constant battle with the white queen for reign of the throne, but also for her husband. The red queen was also referred to as bloody big head because all the power went to her head. She wanted Alice dead during the game becuase it is Alice’s mission to defeat the queen and bring peace to Wonderland. 

Works Cited

Caroll, Lewis. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Edited by Arthur DiBianca and David Widger, The Project Gutenberg EBook of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Gutenberg EBook , 25 June 2008, www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-h/11-h.htm#chap01.

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein can be compared in a few ways to the dæmon-lover, one of the ballads in the Norton Anthology. On page thirty-seven Shelly writes, “Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.” This statement perfectly illustrates Frankenstein and the dæmon-lover. A example where Shelly’s statement can be illustrated in the dæmon-lover is on line thirty-five through thirty-six where the ballad says, “O fair ye weel, my ain two babes, For I’ll never see you again.” The woman in the dæmon-lover abandons her duty as a mother and wife in hopes to pursue a new life with a wealthier man at her side. Later on the woman realizes she has made a horrible mistake. In lines fifty-one through fifty-two it says, “until she espied his colven foot, and she wept right bitterlie.” The life changing mistake she made would not only affect her family back home, but ends up being the reason she would lose her own life. The woman created her own nightmare just like Victor created his. The woman and Victor had no idea what they were getting into initially. 

Furthermore, Victor expresses his dark emotions about the lifeless bodies on page forty-six when he says, “Darkness had no effect upon my fancy; and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm.” Victor later on page forty-seven goes on to say, “I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.” Two years later Victor’s creation is believed to have committed the murder of his younger brother and he expresses his hatred on page sixty-eight when he describes him as, “gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy dæmon, to whom I had given life.” This is another way the woman and Victor are alike. They have both lost something to the monsters they thought they would love. Victor loses a brother at the hands of the monster he created and the woman loses her life at the hands of the monster she trusted. 

In addition, the book and the ballad both bring many ethical and moral questions to light. Victor for example hated his “son” because he wasn’t what he expected. In the bible it is mentioned in Exodus 20:13, “You shall not murder.” Not only did victor break many traditional morals when he took the creation of life away from God and made his own creation, but he also set out to murder his own creation. The ballad brings up many moral questions about motherly duties. Victor and the woman were both awful parents that ended up wanting to turn back time after they had both created their own nightmares.  

In conclusion the ballad and the book can be compared in many different ways. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was merely a ghost story told between friends with the purpose of disturbing and grabbing the interest of readers. Likewise the dæmon-lover was also written as a ghost story. From both of these works readers can gain an understanding of consequences they will have to face if they make the same decisions. 

Works Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Introduction and Notes by Karen Karbiener. Barnes and Noble, 2003.

“The daemon-lover.” The Norton Anthology of British Literature: The Romantic Period. 10th ed. Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. W. W. Norton, 2017. Pp. 31-39

Snail mail is a dying tradition all around the world. Everyone would be quick to save a tradition like laundry day or spring cleaning, so why would we not make the same sacrifices for snail mail? Slowly more and more hatred is being spread throughout society with results showing all throughout the world. The New York Times published an article written by Susan Shain explaining why snail mail should be saved. In the article Susan says, “If you want to show you care, snail mail is an effective method. Think about the last time you received a hand-addressed missive – didn’t it make you smile?”, with this thought provoking question Susan shows the reader that small gestures do make people feel loved.

Submitting Letters

When I heard that we had to write letters I instantly had a fear rise inside of me. I had no one to write to and nothing to say. I had never wrote anything important that I would eventually have to send out to someone. I had never sent or received any form of mail other than an invitation to a birthday party at a younger age. I could have easily picked my parents or a grandparent and said I loved them and not be judged for whatever I put into the letter. However, I was determined to write to someone who had never received a handwritten letter either. I looked at my best friend beside me and realized that I wanted to write my first letter to her. Writing my first letter to Jaanai was a big fear for me. I delayed the writing of the letter as long as possible while still being to get it done before the submission day. The letter was shorter than I had hoped, but still put a smile on her face when we realized that we had chosen each other for the assignment. When writing my second letter I realized that it was much easier and I felt more comfortable. I wrote my second letter to my best friend Peyton. I used this opportunity to mail her a birthday card since her birthday was just a few days later. Peyton called me the day the letter arrived and thanked me before she informed me that this was the first letter that she had ever received also. Receiving these reactions from my friends made me think about the statement that Susan made in we could all use a little snail mail right about now. Susan quoted Ms Shepherd when she said, “There’s something permanently charming about getting an envelope in the mail,” “It’s as if someone gift wrapped their words for you.” (Shain, 2018)

Writing snail mail in English 1-11 taught me that doing things the old fashioned way are more of an emotional concept that many people still enjoy. I unfortunately was very disappointed when I personally mailed a letter to judge Gregory Hayes about an assignment for another class and did not receive a response for three weeks. Maybe this is one of the reasons snail mail is on the decline. When you take the time out of your busy schedule to ask someone a question or tell them you care about them, but then don’t receive a response it is emotionally draining. I personally will not let this one experience of failure change my new view on snail mail and I will continue to mail out letters for a very long time.

Works Cited

Shain, Susan. “We Could All Use a Little Snail Mail Right Now.” The New York Times. 8. Oct. 2018.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/smarter-living/we-could-all-use-a-little-snail-mail-right-now.html. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.

Portsmouth was a place where doctors dispensed prescription drugs more freely than anywhere else in the country. Many of the pills are synthetic opiates, which are similar to heroin. Mexican drug cartels provided delivery for the addicts. Portsmouth was called a  pill mill. Pill mills are where a doctor prescribes pills for cash without diagnosis of a problem. Doctors were taught how to run pill mills and then this leads to the spreading of pill mills. People would get addicted to the pills believing that well, “This is OK because it’s a doctor’s orders”. A drug addict wants one thing that the drug cartels could provide and that was reliability. These guys don’t like selling heroin. The dealers noticed that these addicts they were selling to were shoplifters. Families are trying to find some way of getting this kid off this dope and end up spending a lot of money. Sam Quinones talks about pills being sold to people by people they trust and getting led down a very dangerous road.

Lenoir-Rhyne University uses a unique style to draw audiences to the advertisement, while trying to persuade students to attend the school. For example, the title, “with sophistication, style, and southern charm. LRU Welcomes You” targets the reader individually, which is an attempt to convince him or her LRU is the best choice. This leads readers to be convinced that students who attend Lenoir Rhyne are very classy and formal, but many of the students are athletes coming from workouts who will be dressed comfortable.

In some research I did on Lenoir-Rhyne athletic department I found the factbook for 2015-2016. In Lenoir-Rhyne’s factbook on page seven it talks about Lenoir-Rhyne University athletics. The article leads into a paragraph that says, “Known as the Bears, the University’s athletic teams have been a longstanding source of pride and a vital part of student life. Lenoir Rhyne University’s NCAA Division II athletic program includes 22 intercollegiate athletic teams, 11 for men and 11 for women, which compete in the South Atlantic Conference. During 2015-2016, 571 students participated in LR athletics.” If the athletics were viewed as such a source of pride and a big part of student life for the university, how come no athletes were pictured in the advertisement? The answer is simple, Lenoir-Rhyne is trying to use style to quickly tell whoever is reading the advertisement about their education programs. Readers can interpret this from the advertisement that says, “students at Lenoir-Rhyne bring a sense of style as polished as our programs of study.”

Lenoir-Rhyne’s advertisement shows five people dressed formally, but alike in different shades of blue. In a brief description of the school it is included, “donned in suits, skirts, and seersucker”, but neither of the two male figures in the ad are pictured with a suit on. The advertisement features four people of white ethnicity and one person of black ethnicity. Someone could also make the claim that no one is shown in seersucker, but this can not be confirmed as easily. Seersucker is a thin, puckered, all-cotton fabric, commonly striped or chequered, used to make clothing for spring and summer wear. The students are standing in such a way that it makes the advertisement seem very forced and unrealistic. The featured students are precisely placed in front of the bear, which leads the reader to subconsciously look behind the students and see the bear.

The advertisement is directed more at parents and grandparents than it is at the potential students. The advertisement is trying to convince the parents that Lenoir-Rhyne is the school their child should be attending and it is good enough for their children. I do not see why the advertisement would not feature at least one athlete because many people attend certain colleges just to play the sport that they love. Lenoir-Rhyne wants to portray being very classy and put together to appeal to people of an older age, but shouldn’t they also want to appeal to the students who may look at the advertisement?

When I was in elementary school I struggled with basic tasks such as comprehension and writing. For example, when I was in second grade I could not read very well or comprehend what I was reading. I remember getting pulled out of my classroom to go with Ms. Jolly and another student to a seperate room where we would read Toad and Frog are Friends at a round table. I think that’s what it was called. We read other books, but I don’t really remember anything about them. I have no clue why I remember reading Toad and Frog the most vividly, but I think its because it was the first book I was able to read and understand completely. I did this two times a week in elementary school for two years until I eventually got better at comprehension.

I remember in fifth grade we had to do a project on an arctic animal. I didn’t really know any animals other than the polar bear and penguins, but those had already been picked. So I picked the arctic fox. It was easy to find the information, but hard for me to put into my own words. Ms. Jolly had taught me how to read and look for information, but never worked with me on formating it into my own words. So it was even harder to put into into a paragraph. Looking back I think it’s ridiculous I couldn’t write a paragraph on something so easy and childish. I wish I could go back and write about easy things like this project instead of writing APA or MLA essays. I hate writing essays. I really disliked writing this to because I can’t think of anything I want to write about.

I also remember in ninth grade when we read the story of Romeo and Juliet and had to write a big essay about it. We also had to do a socratic seminar with questions from the passage that tied into modern times. I knew what I wanted to write about for my essay, but it was hard to put it into the correct format in a way that made sense enough to get a good grade. I think I ended up making a 94 on this essay and a 89 on the socratic seminar. This was the first essay that I wrote that I actually liked the format and how the information flowed together. I guess my struggles are the same as they used to be. This is the reason I have decided to title this struggle bus and also because you ride to school on a bus. So I guess my question could be, will I ever conquer these small battles that torture me so much?

My best friends name is Willow Jane. She is a 1 year old black goldendoodle. Willow is a second generation doodle. This means her mom is a goldendoodle and her dad is a poodle instead of her mom being a golden retriever. This means Willow is a F1b goldendoodle. Willow enjoys playing ball, swimming in her swimming pool, and going for runs. Willow also thinks its funny to play tag at 5am when she escapes my house.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton