How the toad got his bumps- Journal 1

Many, many years ago, animals did not all look the same as they do today. In fact, some animals looked very very different a long time ago. For example, long ago, toads did not have their bumps all over their bodies. They used to be feel very smooth until one day, that all changed. One day, toad was hopping around the pond looking for some delicious flies to eat. Toad was very hungry, and he was looking to capture some flies, but toad slept in today and all the flies were already eaten by the other toads! Toad was getting hungrier and hungrier. He was becoming very desperate when he smelled something sweet. He hopped towards the direction of the smell. He kept hopping until he reached a small house. The smell was extremely strong now. He looked in the window and saw a tray of fresh warm chocolate chip cookies. Now Toad's stomach was growling. He could not wait any longer. He hopped into the house and hopped up onto the table that the tray of yummy cookies was sitting on. When Toad jumped on to the table to eat the cookies, a woman walked into the kitchen. When the woman saw Toad eating her cookies, she yelled, "Stop eating my cookies!" She picked toad up, but his body was so smooth that he slipped out of her hands and hopped away from her. The next day, when Toad woke up he was very hungry again. He hopped back to the house that the delicious cookies were at. He hoped that today the mean woman would not be there to stop him from eating the cookies. He hopped into the house and smelled the delicious cookies again. This time he finished all the cookies on the tray. The woman did not walk in until after the toad finished his meal. She told the toad that she put in some special ingredients just for him. The next day the toad woke up with bumps all over his back! Now Toad's body is covered in bumps so he will never be able to slip out of someone's hands again. That is how the toad got his bumps.

Relating all the books.

The three books that I read over the summer were "The Old Man and the Sea", "The Grapes of Wrath", and "The Catcher in the Rye". I found all of these books interesting and I enjoyed them all. These three books all had something in common, they all had messages that we can learn from. The message that you can learn from in the book, 'The Old Man and the Sea' is you have to work hard for the things that you want the most. This message is a good one to understand because it can help you out a lot in life. In life, you need to be willing to work hard for things that are important to you. You need to learn early in life that you can not get every thing for free. In the book, the old man gets nothing for free and takes nothing for granted. He is kind to everyone and he works hard to catch the marlin. In the book "The Grapes of Wrath" the important life lesson that I found was that you can't take things for granted. In the book "The Grapes of Wrath", the lives of the characters is so difficult. They have to over come so many obstacles in order to have a normal life. Compared to my life right now, their lives are so difficult. This book teaches you to be thankful for what you have. The last book, "The Catcher in the Rye" also had a very good message. The message in this book is to enjoy your childhood while you can. In this book, The main character Holden is very afraid to grow up. I think this fear comes from the responsibility that comes with growing up. In this book the author wants the reader to enjoy being young and carefree and innocent for as long as they can. The messages in the three books that I read over the summer all had something that I could take out of it and apply to my life.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print

The Grapes of Wrath- The Dust Bowl

One major historical event that occurred in the book 'The Grapes of Wrath' is the dust bowl. The dust bowl is a storm that occurred in the early nineteen thirties. It was a series of dust storms that were the result of a terrible drought and poor farming techniques. The dust bowl occurred in many parts of America and Canada. There had not been any rain for a very long time, so the soil in fields had no moisture to weigh it down. Also, farmers did not have a lot of knowledge on farming techniques so they did not rotate their crops. Rotating crops is an important part of farming. It is when farmers switch the type of crop that they plant in a certain field every other season. By doing this, farmers are able to keep the soil healthier. Farmers did not know about this in the nineteen thirties, so the soil was unhealthy with no moisture. When the wind began to pick up, it lifted the soil in the fields and blew it everywhere. This is what has come to be known as the dust bowl. The dust that was lifted off of the ground and thrown around had buried the crops that were being planted and destroyed them. Since all of the crops were destroyed, people did not have any food to eat and farmers did not have an income. The dust storm came at a time that was also known as 'The Great Depression'. This is a time period in the world known for terrible economic times. Many people were having a very tough time keeping a job and the dust bowl did not help in these situations at all. The Dust Bowl caused many people to be kicked out of their homes and have to move cross country in search of a job so they could provide for their families. This was a very desperate time for many American farmers.


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

Grapes of Wrath- Hope

In the book , 'The Grapes of Wrath', one thing that keeps all the characters going and trying to reach their goals of making it to California is hope. Hope that they can start over again and hope that they will be able to find a job. They hope that they will be able to provide for their families again and they hope that they this rough patch of their life will soon be over. Hope is such a strong thing in this book. With out hope, the farmers would have given up a long time ago. If they did not have any hope, the farmers would not even try to make the trip up to California. If they did not hope that they could some day have a better life with out the fear and suffering that they had to face in Oklahoma, the farmers would have nothing. Hope is what brought the farmers out to California. They hoped that if they could make it through the dangerous journey to get to California, there would be a job waiting there for them. If they were not hopeful throughout their journey, they would have just given up and not found a job and their family would starve. Hope is a very strong force in this book because it is what gave not only the farmer's but also the family of the farmer's strength to keep going. If the family of the farmer's did not have hope and did not believe that the farmer's could help them and provide for them, they would not have been dedicated enough to make the trip out to California and they would have probably just died. Since they had hope, they were able to make it out to California and make a better life for themselves. The hope that California symbolizes for the farmers and their families is inspirational. I think that when people have hope, it can give them the strength and power to do amazing things.


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

The old man and the sea- santiago and manolins relationship

The relationship between Santiago and Manolin in the book "The Old Man and The Sea' is one of a teacher and a student, but it also reminds me of a friend ship. Manolin and the old man are very close to each other in this book. The old man taught Manolin all that he knows about fishing. Manolin looked up to the old man a lot in this story. Manolin enjoys fishing with the old man a lot and the old man enjoys fishing with Manolin, but after fishing with the old man for forty days with out catching a single fish, Manolin's father became very impatient and forbid Manolin from fishing with the old man any more, because he thought that the old man was "salao" meaning that Manolin's father thought that the old man was the worst form of unlucky. Even though Manolin could no longer fish with the old man with his father's blessings, he helped the old man out in any way that he could. He helped the old man carry his supplies to his ship, he brought the old man coffee in the morning and he made sure that the old man always had dinner to eat. He even bought the old man bait one time so that the old man could use some good bait to go fishing with. The young boy was no longer fishing with the old man anymore, but he still had the desire to help the old man in any way that he could. This is because he respected the old man very much. The relationship between the old man and the young boy reminds me of a teacher and student relationship in some ways but in other ways it reminds me of a friendship. For example, the old man and the young boy often eat dinner together. While they eat dinner they discuss baseball and who they think is the best player or the best coach or the best team. This reminds me more of a friendship relationship than a teacher student relationship.



Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

The grapes of wrath- setting

The setting of the book 'The Grapes of Wrath' plays a very important role in understanding the lives of the characters of the book. The book takes place in the late nineteen thirties in the states of Oklahoma and California. Understanding the time that these characters lived through helps you to have a better understanding of the struggles they had and the challenges that they over came. The late nineteen thirties was a time of a lot of suffering and a lot of pain and a lot of trouble. People were kicked out of their houses by banks, farmers were going bankrupt because their crops had problems and many people were out of a job. Many families had to ditch their lives and every thing that they loved in order to create a stable life for them selves. A lot of farmers at this time had huge troubles trying to get their crops to grow. The Dust Bowl made it very difficult for farmers to make money. Understanding what the dust bowl was is a very important part in understanding the setting and what was happening during this book. The dust bowl was a series of dust storms that took place during a terrible drought in the nineteen thirties. Many farmers crops were covered in dust which made it impossible for the crops to survive making it impossible for the farmers to make money from their own crops. They could no longer grow their crops, so they needed to find a new job. They heard about a lot of jobs that had become open in California, so they left their homes and traveled the long dangerous journey from their homes to California with their families. This was a brave move for the farmers and their families, but it was the only choice that they had for survival. This story took place during a time that was very difficult for a lot of Americans, so fully understanding the events that took place during this time is a very important part of understanding this story.



Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

the museum- the catcher in the rye

In the book 'The Catcher in the Rye' The scene with Holden at the museum of natural history. In this scene Holden finds himself visiting the Museum of Natural History. While he is there, he notices an exhibit with indians and eskimos. In this particular exhibit, the indians are seen weaving and the eskimos are canoeing on a stream. While Holden is thinking very deeply about this exhibit he notices some thing about the statues. He finds that no matter when you come or how many times you visit, The statues never change. He sees that the expression on their faces always remains the same and that they are always doing the exact same thing every single time that you come to visit. He loves how predictable the museum is and he finds him self wishing that he could live in a world like that of the indians and eskimos in the Museum of Natural History. He wishes that like their world, his could be predictable and never changing. He admires their world and wishes that he could live in a world that is similar to theirs. This scene is kind of depressing in a way because it shows exactly how afraid Holden truly is of change and of growing up into an adult. He is so scared of change that he would rather live in a world with no change what so ever than the world he lives in. He has become so bitter towards his world because he is so afraid. I feel bad for Holden in this scene because it shows how terribly afraid he really is. I think that in a world where there is no change at all, things would get very boring. Everything would always be the same and very predictable. There would be no suprises and nothing to make things interesting. Even though this world would feel like a heaven for Holden, in my opinion, I think that it would get very dull and I would rather just deal with what ever change comes my way.


Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print

catcher in the rye- why do we still read this book?

I think that we still read the book 'The Catcher in the Rye' because it's message is timeless and because the message relayed in this book is one that so many people are able to relate to. The message in this book is that you should never be too eager to grow up and be out in the world on your own. This message is time less because no matter what time you live in, this message will always hold true. It will always be difficult for a person to leave the protection and comfort of their mother and father's home to try to go out and live on their own in the world. Being independent is something that is difficult for every one at first, especially Holden, the main character in the book 'The Catcher in the Rye'. In this book, Holden is very afraid of change and being an adult. This is some thing that a lot of people in the real world can relate to. A lot of people are too quick to want to grow up and be on their own and make their own decisions. When we are young we look up to grown ups and there fore we want to be one. We think that once we are able to make our own choices and do what ever we want, that we will be very happy. But in reality, when we are adults we miss the easy going life of living under your parents roof for free with no worries except whether we will finish our homework in time or if we will get all of our blogs done because we were lazy and waited until the end of summer to do our summer reading and blogs. When we become adults, things like this that worried us when we were younger will seem so silly and so much easier than the problems that we will face when we are out on our own. The message of this book is timeless and so easily relate able and that is why I think that we still read this book.



Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print

catcher in the rye-hero

The hero of the book 'Catcher in the Rye' is Holden. This is true because Holden is the main character. Throughout the book, Holden is very afraid of growing up. He does not want the responsibility that comes with becoming an adult. This fear is very hard for him because every one around him is changing and growing up and he does not want to grow up with them. He thinks that when people grow up, they become superficial and hypocritical. This means that they go against their own beliefs and they become very fake and dishonest when they grow up. Also, I think that Holden is afraid of responsibility and being independent. I think that this fear is common with a lot of people that are the same age as Holden. Because we are nearing adult hood and we have to start making our own decisions and becoming more independent, we realize how difficult it really is to be an adult. When you are a kid, and your parents do every thing for you, it can be nice at times, but some times is can get annoying to have to listen to every thing your parents tell you to do, and some times you wish that you could just grow up faster and be an adult and make your own decisions. When you are a child, being an adult and being all grown up seems so cool and exciting, but by the time that you reach your teenage years and you near closer to becoming an adult, it can get scary. You have a lot of fears about being an adult. Fears such as if you are ready to be an independent person and be able to make it in the world by your self with out the help of your mother and father are very common fears. This is why Holden does not want to become an adult. He is afraid to change because he does not want to turn into one of the people that he hates and he does not want to become an adult because he does not want to have to be alone.



Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print

the catcher in the rye- causes gains and losses

The conflict of the book 'The Catcher in the Rye' is that Holden was kicked out of school. The conflict in a book is the problem that the main character faces in the book. Being kicked out of school was a problem for Holden because it meant that he lost his chance of getting an education. The causes of a conflict are the events that are leading up to the conflict happening. Holden was kicked out of school because he failed out. He had stopped caring about school because he did not like a lot of the people that were there. He stopped caring about his grades and he just did not want to go to school any more. All of these reasons resulted with Holden being kicked out of school. All of these can be considered causes of the conflict of Holden being kicked out of school. The gains of a conflict are the positive things that come out of Holden being kicked out of school. The gains of this conflict are that Holden gets a chance to spend time with his family. This is a gain for Holden because he was not able to see or spend time with his younger sister Pheobe since he had been in school. He loved his sister Pheobe very much and he missed her a lot while he was in school. He was very happy about being able to see her again. Another gain of the conflict is that now that Holden is not in school, he has a chance at traveling the world like he had always dreamed of doing. Holden would much rather be traveling the world then spending time in school with a bunch of people that he hated. The loss of a conflict is something negative that comes out of the conflict. Something that could be considered a loss of this conflict is that since Holden was kicked out of school again, he lost another chance at getting an education. Getting an education is very important and since Holden did not care about school, he failed and was kicked out and therefore lost his chance at this education.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print

the catcher in the rye- values and attitudes

In the book, 'The Catcher in the Rye' the author reveals his values and attitudes through the characters he writes about. In the book, the main character, Holden has a great fear of growing up. He does not like change and he does not want to change from a child to an adult. Holden is also very negative towards the world and the people he interacts with. I think that by making the main character so afraid of change and becoming an adult, the author, J.D Salinger, was trying to make a point, or send a message across to his readers. I think that the author was trying to warn his readers to cherish childhood while you can. By saying this, the author shows that he values childhood and innocence. The author thinks that when people become an adult, they change a lot and they lose the innocence that they had when they were a child. The author values innocence and not having a bunch of responsibilities that come with being an adult. The author believes that it is important to stay a child for as long as you can. Children are more care free than adults and they are better able to have a good time with out worrying about their problems. All that children want to do is have fun and enjoy them selves. The author of this book values this care free personality and probably thinks that adults are too serious and that they worry too much. In the book, Holden says that adults are superficial and phony. This is another reason why he was afraid to grow up. He did not want to change into a superficial adult and be just like one of the people that he hates. He was afraid to become just like them. He only wanted to stay like a child forever, honest and innocent. In the book, 'The Catcher in the Rye' the author did a very good job of displaying his own values and attitudes through the personality of the main character. By doing this, the author gives us a better understanding of themselves.



Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print

Grapes of wrath- did i enjoy this book

The book Grapes of Wrath was in my opinion a very interesting book. When I first began reading this book, I thought I was going to hate it. I thought it was so boring because nothing was going on and I did not understand the beginning of it. The book improved very much towards the middle and especially towards the end. The struggles that every single one of the characters in this book faced and conquered was very inspiring to me. I can not even imagine having to face something like that right now. My life compared to the lives of the characters in this book seems so easy. My biggest worry in life right now is whether or not I am going to be able to stay up long enough to finish the rest of my blogs before school starts tomorrow. If I had to make a decision as drastic as moving across the country with almost no plan at all, I do not know if I would be capable of doing that. That is why the strength and bravery of these characters is so inspiring to me. I think that my favorite aspect of this book is that the author included so much history in it. It was very interesting to me to hear about the events that happened in this book. History is my least favorite subject in school, but I really enjoy when authors include it in their writing. The Great Depression is something that I had learned about already in school, so I had some knowledge of what it was. However, The Dust Bowl was an event that was completely knew to me. I had never heard about it before reading this book, so it really interested me. I know that more than half of the food that we eat and the products that we use today has some type of corn or bean product in it. Also, the animals that we use today for food, such as cows and chickens feed mostly off of corn and beans. So if some type of storm like the dust bowl occurred today and devastated our crops as the dust bowl did to these farmers in the nineteen thirties, we would have a very difficult time of living without all these crops. Overall, I learned a lot from this book and I enjoyed reading it.



Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

the grapes of wrath- suspense

In the book, 'The Grapes of Wrath', the author uses suspense to keep the reader interested. Through out the whole book, the Joad family kept facing more and more hardships. The struggles never ended. As the book drew on, I kept wondering what problems the Joad family would face next. Bad things kept coming towards the Joad family through out the whole book. They were forced out of their home, people left them or died, they struggled to find a job, and many other difficult challenges. The part of the book where the family was trying to get to California was very suspenseful. I was not completely sure if they would actually make it all the way to California or if they would finally face a single hard ship that they could not over come and have to stop. I was left in suspense and could not wait to find out how their journey would end. The author was very clever in using suspense to keep the reader interested. I think that with out all the suspense that the author included in the book with the reader being left what the Joad family was going to have to face next, the book would not have been complete. The suspense is what made the book interesting and exciting and it was my favorite part of the book. I think that the writing techniques that authors use are one of the most important parts of a book as they are what makes the book interesting. I am glad that the author used suspense as his technique in this book. It was the perfect choice and without it I think that the book would not have been as good. Techniques such as mystery, humor, suspense, and symbolism make books much more interesting and way more enjoyable to read. I enjoy seeing all the different ways that these techniques are used.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

the grapes of wrath- why do we still read this book.

I think that we still are forced to read the book 'The Grapes of Wrath' because the message in it is an important and inspirational one. In this book, the characters have to overcome a lot of struggles in order to stay alive and to keep their families alive. After the horrible drought and their crops being destroyed, the characters had some very tough times to face. They were already struggling with the Great Depression, and the dust bowl did not help them with their problems. Now the farmers had to make a very difficult decision. They had no choice really but to move on to try to find a new job so that they could support their families. They had to pack up their belongings and travel the long, hard journey on to California. California promised the farmers who had lost everything hope and the possibility of a new job and a good life. They had so many obstacles to overcome and they had to work very hard just to get what we take for granted today. The farmers struggled for a long time just for the chance to get a job. Today, we complain about having to go to work. Working is a chore for us. Back then, they would have been happy to be able to work and just to have a job. Today, it would be unheard of for us to just pack up and leave our homes with out a plan of where we would live or what job we would have. That is exactly what the characters had to do in this book. They did not know whether or not they would actually be able to find a job when and if they actually made it to California. It was a very risky move to make, but it was the best chance the farmers had at getting a job and having a better life. It is inspirational to me what the farmers went through in this book to provide for their families.


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

the grapes of wrath- history

This book reflected on many different historical events. Many events in history were referred to in this book. Events such as the great depression and the dust bowl were going on at the time that this story took place. By including these events, the author shows that he has a great knowledge of historical events and the past. One specific event that the author wrote about is the great depression. The Great Depression was a very tough time for many Americans. The Great Depression had started before this book had taken place, and was still going on during this time. The Great Depression was a very bad economic time for everyone. Many people struggled a lot and to top off their hard times, the Dust Bowl came along. The dust bowl was a terrible time for many American and Canadian farmers. It was a period of time in the nineteen thirties where many dust storms continuously damaged and killed the crops of many farmers. This was caused by a very severe drought paired with farmers not having the knowledge of the importance of crop rotation. Crop rotation is the act of switching crops every season so that one year you might grow corn and the next year, you might grow beans in that field. Switching crops yearly keeps the soil healthy and makes for better crop growth. Farmers back then did not know of the importance of doing this. Since the soil was unhealthy, there was not any moisture in it to keep the soil staying in place. There was also a drought, so no rain was there to hold down the soil. When the wind came, the soil blew all over the place, causing dust to cover everything. This is why they called it the dust bowl. By including these two events in the book, the author shows that he has a great knowledge of history and that knowing about the past is important to him. I enjoy when books include historical things in them because it is interesting to hear how people lived through things like this and the struggles they had to overcome.



Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

the grapes of wrath- universal themes

The theme of a book is a very important component of that book. The theme is the overall message that is repeated throughout the book. I think the theme of the book 'The Grapes of Wrath' is struggle and over coming challenges. I think that these two messages are the two main messages in the book because they are repeatedly shown throughout the book. One challenge that the characters had to over come in this book is the unpredictability of nature. The farmers depend on good weather in order to grow their crops. They hope for the sun to be out and for enough rain to water their crops and keep them healthy. In this book, the weather proves to be a big challenge for the farmers. This is because of the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl was a very bad drought that occurred in the nineteen thirties. It destroyed all of the farmers crops, which means that they made no money and had no food. This was a big problem because most of the farmers had families to provide for. They had to over come this challenge by coming up with a solution. The solution they came up with was to find a job. Since there were not any jobs for them in their area, they were forced to abandon the lives they lived and move across the country to California. California gave the farmers hope and promise of a new better life. There were many jobs in California that were available for the farmers to take. The only thing standing between them and their new life was traveling there... That was their next challenge to over come. The farmers had to pack up all that they could and travel to California with their family. This was not an easy trip and many people died as a result of taking this trip. Challenges and struggles are present in almost all of this book. The characters have many challenges to over come and I think that this is why overcoming struggles and challenges are the main themes of this book.


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

The grapes of wrath- hero

The hero of a book is the character who overcomes the conflict of the book. The hero is usually the main character and the protagonist. When I think of a "hero" I think of someone who is brave and strong. The hero of the book 'The Grapes of Wrath" is Tom Joad. Tom is the hero because he overcomes a huge struggle throughout the book. In this book, Tom Joad is a very brave character. He has a lot to overcome when the Dust Bowl storm happens. Tom has no job and no way to provide for his family. When he has no other choice, he decides to move across the country to California in hopes of finding a job so he can take care of his family. This decision would be a very hard one to make because even though it seems like the obvious choice, it is a very dangerous journey to try to make. It is very risky and difficult. Many people died making this journey and it would be very difficult to force your family members to try to make this journey when you know the problems that you could possibly face. If it were me in this situation, I think that I would have had a very hard time trying to make this decision. It would have been very hard knowing all the risks involved. I would try to make the best decision for my family, just like Tom Joad did. I think that Tom Joad was aware that he had no other choice but to make the journey, even though he was aware that even if they did make it to California, there was no guarantee that they would be able to definitely get a job there. I think that a lot of people did not realize that they may face the same challenges in California as they originally faced in their hometown. I think a lot of people nowadays take things like a home and a job for granted. I think that by reading this book and seeing what the hero, Tom Joad had to over come would show a lot of people how fortunate they are.


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

The grapes of wrath, causes gains and losses

The main conflict in the book, 'The Grapes of Wrath' is the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl is a horrible drought that occurred in the nineteen thirties. It destroyed the crops of many farmers. When the farmers could no longer rely on their crops for their income, they had to do something else in order to feed their family. This was a very desperate time for many farmers in America because most of them had families that they had to provide for and without their crops, they had no way to provide for them anymore. The choice that most farmers had to face was to either move to California to try to find a job, or stay where they were and face starvation. Most people took the obvious choice, to go to California where there were many jobs. The problem here is that since all the farmers were packing up and moving, the remaining jobs in California were quickly being filled and some farmers who were the later ones to get to California had traveled all that way just to find that they no longer had any jobs left for them. Many losses were shown for the characters of this book regarding the conflict. One loss was that many characters had lost their homes. Another was that they had lost their income and therefore had lost their ability to provide for their family. Another loss that many characters faced is the loss of their loved ones. Traveling from their homes to California was a very difficult thing to do, and many people died as a result. Many people lost members of their family and their close friends. The conflict of this book has many losses, but not many gains. One gain that came out of the conflict is that the people who traveled to California gained a lot of strength and endurance. Traveling to California and overcoming so many obstacles helped the characters gain a lot of strength. They became very tough through all of this and they gained a lot of endurance.


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.

The old man and the sea- imagery

The author of 'The Old Man and the Sea', Ernest Hemingway, uses a ton of imagery in this book. Imagery is the use of certain words and details that writers use to make the reader see very clearly what the writer is trying to show. The author uses imagery when he describes the looks of the old man. He describes the old man's skin as wrinkled, which helps us understand how old the old ma is. He also uses the words splotched and scarred to describe the skin of the old man. These words show us that the old man is a hard worker. The author says that the old mans skin is splotched from being out in the sun. This shows us that the old man is out working a lot in the sun out on the sea fishing. By saying the old man's skin is scarred, we are shown that the old man has many scars from getting injured by fish and being cut by fishing lines. It shows us that the old man is not pampered and does not care about his looks. We learn all this just from three words the author uses to describe the old mans skin. The author also uses imagery later on in the book when he describes the condition of the old man's hands after he returns from his fishing battle with the marlin. He says that the old man's hands are cut up so badly that they look like raw meat. This imagery is helpful because it shows us how strong the old man was to endure all that pain of getting his hands cut by the line and it shows us how desperate to catch the marlin and how badly he wanted to catch it because he would go through all that pain in order to bring it home. The authors use of imagery in this book was very helpful in understanding the personality, behavior and struggles that the old man went through in this book.



Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

The old man and the sea- tone

The book 'The Old Man and the Sea' has a very relaxed tone. The tone of the book kind of goes along with the relaxed tone that the sea has. The sea is calming and relaxing. The old man is also very relaxed in the book. Even when the old man is desperately trying to catch the fish, he remains calm. He never freaks out or seems stressed. If I was put in the same situation that the old man is in in this book, I think I would have been very stressed and frustrated, not relaxed. The tone of the book reflects the personality of the old man a lot. The tone of the book is very simple, like the lifestyle that the old man lives. He lives in a simple small shack near the sea. The inside of the shack, like the outside is very simple. He has a bed, a table and chair, and a small place for a fire where he can cook his food. He lives a very simple life. He wakes up very early in the morning, then he goes to wake up the young boy. They both go down to the old man's shack and drink coffee that the young boy provides. They chat while they drink their morning coffee. The old man and the young boy then carry the old man's supplies down to the old man's boat. After they have prepared everything for the day, they wish each other luck and part on the beach. The old man fishes all day, most of the time with no luck, and then returns home to read about the baseball scores. He eats a very simple meal every night that the young boy brings to him. This sums up pretty much every day that the old man lives. He does not need much in his life, he keeps things very simple, just like the author does with the tone of this book.



Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea Irony

I found a lot of irony in 'The Old Man and the Sea'. One thing I found ironic in the book is how fast the old man's luck changes. In the beginning of the book, the old man is not having very good luck at all. He had not caught a single fish in eighty four days and he lost his best friend and apprentice, Manolin, the young boy. He was very lonely out at sea with out Manolin to keep him company. Every one in his small fishing town had started calling the old man "salao" meaning the worst form of unlucky. I feel bad for the old man in the beginning of the book because his luck had been so bad. He had a bad reputation as a fisher and his young apprentice and friend had been taken away from him. His luck changes toward the middle of the book however. On the eighty fourth day of being out at sea, the old man finally catches a fish. That not being enough, this fish was the biggest fish of the old man's career. It was an eighteen foot long marlin fish. Most fishermen had never seen a fish so great in size. The old man had hit the jackpot! It took a few days, but the old man finally got the fish close enough to his small fishing boat to kill it with a harpoon. Just when the old man had thought that his luck had finally turned around, however, his bad luck came back. Some nearby sharks had smelled the marlins blood in the water and began to gather around the body. Since the marlin was too big for the old man's boat, it was still in the water. The sharks attacked the body and ate it until all that remained was the skeleton. This is all an example of irony because the old man had gone from unlucky, to lucky and back to unlucky so quickly in this book that it is ironic.




Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

The old Man and the Sea- Did i like this book?

I had mixed opinions about the book "The Old Man and the Sea". I think that the book was kind of boring in the beginning, when there really was not a lot going on. I thought that since this book was about fishing that I was going to have no clue what a lot of the words and terms meant. At first it was a bit difficult to understand some of the terminology that was used throughout this book. I was confused in the beginning, but after a while, I began to understand what some of the fishing terms mean and it made sense. The book started out slow, but after I got to the part where the old man caught the marlin, the book became more exciting and I was more interested in the book. At first the book seemed kind of depressing and I felt bad for the old man, who had not caught any fish in eighty four days. I thought that if it were me in that situation, I probably would have given up or tried something new. The old man was very patient with his situation. I also thought the old man was kind of crazy for focusing so much on just one fish and sacrificing and risking so much in order to catch it. But I soon understood why he would do that. He was very desperate for a catch because if he did not catch any thing he would get no money and if he caught the fish, he could get the young boy, his friend and apprentice, to come back to his boat to fish with him. The old man had become so lonely out at sea with out the boy that he began talking to himself. I think this is very sad and I felt very bad for the old man because I myself would not be able to last that long all by myself with no company for so many days. At first I thought this book was boring, but once I got to the middle and towards the end, I enjoyed this book and I found the characters, the old man and the young boy, inspiring.


Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea- History

The Old Man and the Sea was written in the year 1951. During this time, baseball was a very popular past time to both play and watch. This is shown in the book, 'The Old Man and the Sea'. In this book, the old man is very interested in baseball. It is what he thinks about a lot when he is all alone in his boat on the sea. It is what he talks about with his apprentice and young friend, Manolin when they are eating dinner together. It is what he reads about when he comes home after a long day on the sea. In the book, the old man's favorite player is The Great DiMaggio. The Great DiMaggio was a very famous and popular baseball player for the Yankees. The old man speaks and thinks a lot about the great Dimaggio in this book. He says that DiMaggio is his favorite player because like the old man, he also enjoys fishing. DiMaggio's father was a fisher and DiMaggio also fished with his father and knew a lot about fishing. Many times in the book, the old man wonders, "Would The Great DiMaggio be proud of me?". This is how you can tell that the old man truly respects and admires DiMaggio. He respects him enough to want him to be proud of him. The old man also wonders if the Great DiMaggio would go to all the trouble of staying out on the sea all night and day with cuts and cramps just to catch a single fish. You can really tell that the old man enjoys baseball because that is the main thing that he and the boy talk about. They talk about the baseball scores and the players and the coaches. They often converse about who the best coaches are or who the best players are. Also, every day when the old man returns home, the thing that he is most excited to do is read the baseball scores. You can tell that baseball was a very popular past time when this book was written by how many times the author wrote about it in the book.



Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.