Death of a Salesman 5 in 1

Nothing’s Planted

Seeds are the perfect symbolism of planting a future for an American family

During the whole play Willy insists of buying seeds to plant in the garden. There is a bigger picture to it than just planting food in the garden. The seeds represent Willy trying to plant a future for his family, putting future investments down to be able to leave his children something when he passes unlike his own father. The embarrassment of not being able to leave your kids anything is pushing Willy to the point of suicide. "Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground" refers to his sons and their future. The planting of the seeds shows how Willy is better working with his hands in agriculture and not being a salesman, much like his son Biff.

A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man." ~ Act 1, pg. 56

DEVEN SIDEROFF

Every Picture tells a story

 

       Sitting in my chair at school knowing we were about to walk to the art gallery, I thought quickly, and had a goal in my head of going there with a purpose, to find a piece of art that intrigues me to write about with pleasure.  As I walked out of the front doors; expecting an art gallery full of unique art work and tons of eye catching artistic pieces around the building. The sun was staring right at us as if it was following us to give us an enjoyable journey to the art gallery. As we left the School District 67 - Okanagan Skaha I started to think to myself what are other people thinking right now and I looked around and saw people laughing and some concentrating. Tristan was curiously kicking a rock while glaring down the road, I assumed he was thinking about the art gallery but really he was thinking about buying himself and Mr.Laven a burger from Burger 55.

      Arriving at the art gallery hoping I could quickly go in there and find a piece of work, write a few things about it and leave. But I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. There where bats on the wall directly as I walked in with inspirational words on every bat. Around the corner where various paintings, statues, and this wall that has people writing confessions, I could tell that every small note had a big story behind it. Curiously I was still walking around the art gallery examining every piece of art I just couldn’t help but read the story behind each piece of art.

     There was this one piece of art that caught my eye the moment I saw it. Get over It by Jeffery Malcolm Sage. The Holocaust, a piece of art featuring 2 pictures of concentration camps with a picture below, two arms, one holding a feather and the other with a number code tattoo on the fore arm. It always amazes me how cavalier society is when it comes to telling one that they just need to get over it. The one exception to this seems to be survivors of the holocaust, who’s tattooed fore arms, are a visible reminder of the horrors we are capable of. No one would ever have the audacity of telling them that they need to suck up and get over it. This explains the significance to the theme of the exhibition, bullying.

    I choose this piece of art because did it not only catch my eye at first glance but it shows so much relevance to the theme of the art gallery and to our society today. We don’t say “get over it” to someone when they have been bullied or something awful happens to them. In today’s society we help the one who has been bullied to overcome what they have been through and give back to the people who serve our country and have been through those awful times.

    My goal was to go there with a purpose and find a piece of art to write about with pleasure, and that I did. Thinking of getting in and out of there quickly but this art piece I found made me stay and examine this for at least 20 minutes.  This trip met my expectations of going there to learn something and I did learning about the severities of bullying.  

 

How effectively do our superstitions affect our life and success?

No matter how sophisticated our society becomes, superstitions persist in having an impact on success or failure. There seems to be part of the human mind that thrives on creating little anchors of "magic" that lift us up or bring us down independent of rationality. Though the clearly logical part of our thinking can easily dismiss the practice or belief in superstitious activity as silly quirks, our less rational creative mind goes to work incorporating whatever we feed it to gain or lose an edge in using faculties consistently engaged in solving problems.

Uncontrolled belief in superstitions can have a negative impact on how people conduct their lives. When applied in extremes, such thoughts can become destructive to the point of debilitation. Superstition can be passed down through generations or created on a purely individual level. Some of the older forms of superstition like walking under a ladder, stepping on cracks in pavement, spilling salt, breaking mirrors or other "bad omens" are examples of misguided beliefs that have long been a part of lore. There are also a host of traditional counter measures and lucky charms reported to counteract bad luck and turn it into good.
Some people prefer to practice more subtle forms of superstitious behaviors. Many atheletes have their particular superstitions whether is a personal article of clothing or a certain ritual they perform before their ready to go. Similarly, average people use articles of clothing like a "lucky tie" or "lucky shirt" they wear whenever going out for a job interview or participating in some other event like gambling.

Superstitious beliefs are tied to the supernatural or unpredictable side of events that are in the scope of things otherwise beyond our control. The difference between rational observation and superstitious practices is substantial. With rational observation, we can assess behaviors and methods that either work consistently or not. When the results are inconsistent, we can eliminate those influences that had no impact on outcome. On the other hand, superstition works completely on irrational belief systems where one successful mental correlation counteracts many unsuccessful results. If our mental "magic" seems to work once, we focus on attempting to recreate the success by trying to reproduce the same magic repeatedly.

Sometimes positive change is difficult to achieve, but it is certain that success will not be due to anything other than performing the right actions at the right time. Whatever we do in preparation for that appropriate timing should be practiced with a clear eye for cause and effect. Though our spiritual practices can provide us with comfort during difficult times and provide inspiration, it is how we interact with others and apply our inspirations which will carry us forward to beneficial results.

Non-Fiction Research Project

Kite Runner: Paragraph #2

Did you ever do something that hurt either physically or emotionally, would it of hurt less if you didn't say anything afterwards?Amir finds himself watching his good friend Hassan get raped and decides to do nothing to help is friend. He walks away and tells himself that it'll be fine in a couple days if he keeps this significant event to himself. But as the days pass, Amir quickly becomes conscious of the fact that keeping this to himself isn't making himself feel any better. In fact, he starts to almost lose his mind. Hassan and Amir are in a sumberged awkwardness of conflict which takes it's toll on Amir quite quickly. Amir is also at conflict with himself, on what he should do and how much the guilt is starting to override his feelings. If only did Amir something when the rape was taking place, what would have changed?

Bad Flashback - Paragraph #1

"That was a long time ago, but its wrong what they say about the past, I've learned about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, i realize i have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years" (Hosseini, 2003, pg.1 ) this quote makes me think.. If Amir could go back in time would he have done something? as Baba would say “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.”(Hosseini, 2003, pg.24 ) putting these two quotes together doesn't only make me think, but frustrates me in a way that if Amir did something the night of the rape, could have Amir stopped Hassan from been raped- Amir could have made a better future. This would be all in my head forever. But what am i to say if I had grown up in such a regime, how would i know how to react in such a situation. 

Dream Vacation

Deven Sideroff
Oct. 8 2013

I am about 12 years old and it is around Christmas time my family had planned a dream vacation to Mexico. As I'm flying to Mexico, in my head I’m having thoughts of what I expected it to be like; hot weather, palm trees, waves winking at me from the suns glare, sand as soft as silk. The perfect vacation i am picturing in my head.

We loaded the plane, it is very unexpectedly big, it took us while to find our seats. My family sat first class and had complimentary meals; i ordered French fries and a burger. We started to watch the movie 'Surfs up' but all I can think about is what Mexico will be like. I looked around the plane and turned to my brother and asked him, "what do you picture when you get off the plane?" "i picture palm trees waving at me and welcoming me to their home" he responded. The rest of the flight I had to sit on the aisle seat while my brother got the window. Extremely bored i decided to make a paper airplane and throw it up the plane, after about five minutes of thinking my planes gone and the fun was over my paper plane flew back at me; from that point on i was tossing paper airplanes back and forth with someone I had never met.

We finally reached Mexico and it is as amazing as I pictured in my head. We checked into our hotel and all I wanted to do was get to my room and change into my bathing suit and go to the beach. As I stand in sand land I look at my surroundings, everything is the same as i imagined, waves dancing, trees waving, and the sand was softer than silk. There is my family along with my cousin’s family, every night there would be a show on the resort stage. Me and my cousins would always get front row and get to volunteer when we could. Tonight there is a comedy act and me and my cousins are sitting front row hoping to hear the words "do we have a volunteer?" from the people on stage. The second day of the vacation we went surfing. As i stand up on my surf board was looking down and the water pushing me as I glide through the water falling many times before finally getting the hang of it. The week went on it just kept getting better and better till the day of departure.

The trip was overall an unreal time, but all vacations come to an end. I got to the airport and as we flew over Mexico I saw our resort and I thought of the great times and memories that i had. As i got back home early in the morning i went straight to sleep. The next morning waking up lying on my bed trying to remember everything that happened all the good times, the dream vacation, it was all a blur, and then I realized it was all a dream.