Christiana+M

Amendment Story:

"Lior!" I heard my mom yell, "I'm coming!" I said as I raced to the kitchen."Lior are you ready for school?" my mom asked. Before I could answer she said, "Good. Now take Sarah and head off to school before your late," I took my little sisters hand and we left out the door for our first day of school. "Lior, do you think I'll make friends at this school?" my frightened sister asked as we walked. "Of course you will," I assured her, although I was asking myself the same question. You see, Sarah and I are from Germany, a very prejudice part of Germany. That was our first year attending a school in America. Neither of us had had a good experience with our previous discriminating classmates and so we both were nervous about what that year would bring. "Here we are Sarah," I said as we approached her school. My hand released, but Sarah wouldn’t loosen her grip. She looked up at me and her worried eyes were painful to look at. I bent down and hugged her. "Go on now Sarah," I said as I nudged her closer to the gate. "Goodbye Lior," she said. I smiled. Then it was time for //me// to be brave. I walked down the street to the high school. I was probably more frightened than Sarah was to go to school that day. I stood and stared at the building when suddenly I was hit to the ground. "Sorry about that!" a kid stammered, "Now get up and come on before we're late!" I jumped up and ran, following him to class. Now the long and short of it is that I made it through that first day of school without any problems. I had even made four friends and three of them had insisted on walking home with me that day. I saw no harm at the time, so I let them. But then as we walked up to my sister's school I heard her yell, "Lior, Lior!" as she ran towards me (I went by another name at school because I knew Lior might give away the fact I was foreign). "Who's Lior?" one of my friends asked (that friend is named Jake). "He's Lior!" my first grade sister retorted."I thought your name was Leo....." Jake said, "You’re not from here are you?" I panicked, but I ended up telling them the truth, "No…I'm from Germany," I responded. Oddly they seemed pleased to have a foreign friend. Later on in the walk one of them asked, "So, are you Christian or are Jewish? Or are you something else?" "Jewish," I responded unconsciously. "What have you done Lior?!?” “Are you insane?!?” I asked myself as I stared blankly into space. But then I realized that they weren’t mad. They were okay with it. That was the day I learned about “The Bill of Rights”. Now to tell you the truth the rest of that week went amazing. My classes were fun, the teachers were nice, and everybody was really excepting of me. But things were a little different the second week of school. Do you remember how I told you that I'd made four friends? Jake I already mentioned, but the other two that walked home with me were named Paul and Max. The friend that didn't come with me that day’s name is Seth. Seth found out that I was Jewish and from Germany over the weekend between the first and second week of school. Seth was no longer my friend by that Monday. In fact, Seth hated me. He hated that I was Jewish, he hated that I was from Germany, he hated the way I dressed, he hated absolutely everything one could hate and he never failed to write it on his blog. He told lies about me, saying that I wasn't legally here. He wrote that I was a "dirty Jew" and stated that along with his hatred for me that God hated me too. Seth's blog gave him a group of followers and me a group of enemies. Day by day Seth and his group had something new to hate about me. But the thing that Seth hated most was that I was used to this sort of treatment. The tormenting went on for rest of the year. Seth's group continued trying to hurt my already beaten feelings and taunting me with rocks and pocket knives. None of them actually pointed their knives at me (rather just took them out to "clean" them whenever I walked past) and since they were legal size, there wasn't much I could do except avoid them (the 2nd amendment worked in their favor here). The same thing went with the rocks. They tossed them in their hands and gave me evil looks, but the closest they'd get to actually throwing them was when a bold team member would pretend to chuck one at me. But mostly their bullying was done through Seth's blog and the various prejudice comments they made daily at school. Sometimes when they just didn't feel like they'd picked on me enough for the day, I remember one of them would steal my umbrella, forcing me to walk home in the pouring Illinois rain. But lucky for me, the rain wasn't too much of a bother. Whenever it rained I knew that it meant I'd be walking home to a warm house with a hot dinner waiting for me, and that was probably the closest I had to happiness back then. The last month of 9th grade was definitely the best month of that school year. That was the month that Seth and I got in a fight. Not an argument sort of fight, but an actual fist fight. Why would this make June my favorite month of 9th grade? Well, let me start from the beginning. I was walking home with Jake, Paul, and Sarah when I heard somebody yell, "Where you going you dirty Jew?!?" I looked behind me, and here came Seth and a couple of his followers. I didn't want to deal with that rubbish with my sister around, so I just continued walking. Not long after, I felt a hand clasping my shirt. "Don't walk away from me you lowlife," Seth said. I pulled his hand off my shirt and told him to, "Just leave me alone". With this comment his face grew red with fury and he swung at me. He hit me and I was knocked to the ground, chipping my tooth and breaking my nose. Paul called the police and they came and arrested Seth. They told him about his right to remain silent and the reason he was being arrested, and then he was driven away. Then, because Sarah was petrified at the sight of me covered in blood, I told Jake to bring her home after the officer questioned her and to tell my parents what had happened. Now let's skip to the part that made June the best month of 9th grade. Soon after being arrested, Seth and I went to court for my medical bills (who knew a chipped tooth would be so expensive?). I won the case. After this happened, Seth and his family moved away in hopes to keep Seth out of more trouble. Once Seth was gone, so was his blog and so was his faithful followers. The rest of that month- no, the rest of my high school years, went as smooth as I could’ve hoped for. By the 10th grade I had happier things in my life than the rain.

8th Amendment: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Controversy: Death Penalty [|Against the Death Penalty] [|For the Death Penalty] [|Unbiased Article on Death Penalty] My Veiw:

Historical Componant:

The book __Johnny Tremain__ has many historical events. Some of the most predominant events in this book are the [|Boston Tea Party], the [|First Continental Congress], and the [|Battle of Lexington and Concord]. The Boston Tea Party was a result of the extreme anger of some of the colonists. This group of colonists ([|The Sons of Liberty]) decided to take a stand and dump the East India Company's tea into Boston Harbor. After this, they were severely punished by Parliament ([|The Coercive Acts]). The Coercive Acts were so ridiculous the colonies decided to join together in the First Continental Congress to try to find a solution to the problems. The colonists decided to boycott British goods. But still tensions were rising. The British continued to be unjust. This led to the Battle of Lexington and Concord (the beginning of the American Revolution).

Tone:

The book's tone starts off calm and gentle. Everything is peaceful and as should be. But that doesn't last long. Soon "He liked the view down the length of Hancock's Wharf."(Pg. 3) turns into, "He lay face down, sobbing and saying over and over that God had turned away from him."(Pg. 63).The soft happiness crashes away and in it's place comes a bitter sadness. This sad tone lasts for a little while and then is replaced by a hopeful, jolly tone ("He spent a couple of hours dreaming about his rosy future." Pg. 71) when Johnny remembers that he has Lyte blood in him and believes he will have to be accepted into this rich family. But Johnny is in for a surprise when instead of being accepted he's sent to jail for allegedly stealing the Lyte's goblet! You can feel the anger burning in Johnny as Mr. Lyte says things like, "'And Mr. Tweedie, a partner of Mr. Lapham, said the boy was a notorious liar, and of most evil report.'" (Pg. 76) After this point in the book it goes to a happy tone when Johnny starts his new life with Rab and the Lorne's. The mood is very adventurous and lively ("Johnny gave his first shrill blast on his whistle, and he heard whistles and cries seemingly in all directions. Indian war whoops, and 'Boston Harbor a teapot tonight!'"Pg. 124) as well as being warm and homey ("Rab was putting the last delicate touches to his kettleful of brew, for tonight the punch would be hot." Pg. 116). The book ends with a tone that I can only describe as glory. You know that horrible things have happened and more horrible things are coming, but you also know that in the end something wonderful awaits. "Green with spring, dreaming of the future yet wet with blood."(Pg. 255)