Monday Muses

POETRY

        Beautiful, Beautiful America

On the dark streets
Of garbage and filth
The sun may still rise
To beauty and happiness

The dark must turn to light
The day must turn to night
Oh, how things change
From dark to light
From day to night
And yet, America is America
With the beauty all inside


        Remembering

The best things happen
When your brain is not developed
When you can't remember a thing

My childhood was amazing
Or at least that's what they say
I was ahead in Preschool
But how would I know


        Childhood Memories

Snippets of your life
Flash in your eyes
How can those be
Your only childhood
Memories


        Gone

2 dead dogs
Alive for homework
Alive for play
Alive for my best friend
Before she moved away


        Untitled

People want to change
Their old ways of life
They want to give up
All because
They're scared

No rights for women
No education for children
No equality for all
No living in peace
Because the men are
Too scared

Animal Farm

Teachers and parents want to ban Animal Farm by George Orwell. The name sounds so peaceful, animals on a farm. I haven't read a lot yet, but so far, the animals plan to overthrow the farm. They follow through with it, now they have a farm. The pigs have written laws and  made themselves leaders. So why might teachers and parents try to ban or exclude this book from bookshelves?

I believe there is no reason to ban this book. So far, there has been no rape, abuse, drugs or inappropriate language. This book is from the animals point of view. This means that it is not really realistic fiction. But it can still teach us lessons. It shouldn't make teens/readers want to copy their actions.

By writing the story from the animals perspective, the author teaches us how horrible humans can be. We are so selfish, we take and don't give back. Especially to the animals who work for us (or get killed for humans to consume). We can't pay animals so we choose to not do anything good for them. The story says, "Man serves the interests of no creature except himself." When you write a story from a non-human's perspective, it helps the readers realize all the problems humans can create, with all the good we make for ourselves, t just makes more bad for other living things.

The life lesson taught in the book applies to the idea of banning books, along with the good, comes some bad. There are good lessons in the books even if there are some inappropriate ideas/words. This book shouldn't be banned because it has good life lessons and it doesn't have anything inappropriate yet.

Faithful Elephants, a Reading Response

I will warn you in advance, even though this is a children's book, it is not for children. “Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People and War" has a zoo called the Ueno zoo. In Japan a war broke out, leaving 3 elephants that starved to death. The war left the zookeepers afraid that if a bomb hit and the cages were broken they would have animals rampaging the streets. All the animals were doomed to be killed. All the animals in the zoo except the elephants were poisoned to death. Finally it came time for the elephants to die. John, the first of the 3, outsmarted the zookeepers. He did not eat the poisoned potatoes and his skin was too tough to inject the poison directly, so he was starved to death. Then Tonky and Wanly starved to death as well leaving the torn a part elephant trainer alone. Even though it's hard, you have to let go of the things you love.

The elephant trainer is torn apart by what he had to watch. He has to let his elephants die. He stopped walking by their cage because he had no courage to see them. "All this while, the elephant's trainer loved them as if they were his own children." The elephant trainer had trained with his elephants for a long time, he should and does love them very much. He grows an even greater connection with the elephants as he realizes they have to die, but he must let go eventually.

Tonky and Wanly get one more chance. The elephant trainer broke the rules. The elephant's had gathered enough strength to do one of their tricks (the "banzai trick"). The trainer was so heartbroken, seeing a trick they had done billions of times, "he carried food and pails of water to them and threw it at their feet." Because of this it seems as though even though we think the story is about all the elephants, it's really only about Tonky and Wanly. They get to live a little longer because the elephant trainer was so sympathetic. John was the first to die, then two together. Also, John didn't have his death explained in as much detail, he just had the details of the ways the zookeepers tried to kill him, then the author just said, he died. Even though this is a happy point in the book, it just gives the trainer more time to look at their saddened faces. He has to let go of the things he loves.

The elephant trainer grew stronger connections with John, Tonky and Wanly. These elephants were killed because of a war. But you must let things go, especially the ones you love. It seemed like the elephant trainer died too. But you must let things go, especially the ones you love. "The zookeepers raised their fists into the sky and implored, 'Stop the war! Stop the war! Stop all wars!"