The Lost Boy by David Pelzer. Health Communications Inc., 1997. Genre: Autobiography
The Lost Boy is the sequel to the compelling and inspiring story A Child called it. This story takes place when Dave is between the ages of 12 and 18. In this story Dave Pelzer was taken away from his abusive and cruel mother, and because of this is faced with the hardships that come with being a foster child. Dave is moved from home to home, while constantly being harassed and bombarded with accusations from his cold mother. Throughout the story Dave tries to repress and forget his old life. The only thing he truly wants is the love of a real family.
“The ‘Lost Boy’ stands shining as the premier book on the unique love and dedication that social services and foster familiar provide for our children in peril. Dave Pelzer is certainly a living testament of resilience, personal responsibility and the triumph of human spirit.” –John Bradshaw
Dave Pelzer captures the reader through his perspective throughout the story. The reader sees things through the eyes of a naïve child during the beginning, and throughout the story the reader can see how Dave’s outlook on life changes with age. The reader sympathizes with his situation, and it is this fact that keeps them so interested to see if his life will get any better. Dave’s choice in his way of writing really suited the story and kept the reader waiting for more.
I do not read a lot of biographies so I do not really know what to compare this book with. But it is a continuation of Pelzer’s last book, and I would say that it sheds a little more hope on Dave’s previous situation and can be really uplifting at times. This is very much unlike the previous book that kept the reader in shock, horror, and anger for the most part. I must say I did enjoy this book more though.
“Get out,’ Father said as he gently patted my shoulder, ‘Do what you have to do. Don’t end up like me”(pg 292) Although I do not find myself a fan of nonfiction books about tragedy and inspiration, I found that this book managed to grab my attention and keep it. I do not recall any slow or drawling parts of the book, it was always intense or inspirational. I found hope through David’s story although I might not be in the same situation as him. I admire him for the fact that although times could get rough and hard to get through, he still pushed through them in hope for a better future.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Old man and the sea essay
Everyday we face obstacles that are harsh and difficult to overcome. These obstacles in your life may be as simple as having a hard time taking a test in school, or as difficult as facing a terminal disease. In cases such as that, there may be no way to get past that obstacle, and you cannot to anything in your power to push past it. But in most cases, these outside forces may seem difficult or even unstoppable at first, but it is our choices, and our actions that decide whether or not we overcome these obstacles.
An old man named Santiago faced various difficult obstacles in Ernest Hemmingway’s book “The Old Man and the Sea.” Santiago is a fisherman for a living, but faces poverty when he can’t catch single fish throughout several months. And when Santiago faces possible the biggest catch in his life, He is forced to push past seemingly hopeless situations. Some of these horrific obstacles are: he has to push through an injury, face dangerous conditions, and fight off predators that are coming after his catch.
One thing that harms his chances of catching this massive marlin is when he cuts his hands on the line. Although it wasn’t a bad wound, it still made it hard to work the line, since a fisherman’s hands are very important to him. “It is not bad,” He said. “And pain does not matter to a man.”(84) Although, Santiago chooses not to be pessimistic about this disdainful situation. Instead Santiago chooses to overcome this obstacle by working through the pain, and constantly telling himself that if he shows pain, than he is weak. He is absorbed in the though of catching this great fish. The old man is devoted, and pushed through this obstacle with determination.
Another powerful force that goes against the old man Santiago is the fact the Marlin he hooked continuously pulled him deeper and deeper into open water. This was dangerous to the man because this matter-of-fact, meant that it would take him a longer time for him to make it back to the island, and this meant the longer his catch would be exposed to scavengers.” I shouldn’t have gone so out so far, fish,” he said. “Neither for you nor for me. I’m sorry, fish.”(110) the old man only fully realizes this fretful factor on the way back after catching the fish. There was no chance of the man being able to catch the fish if he hadn’t held it as long as he did, so there was no real way of overcoming or going around this obstacle. Because of this factor he went through all the working and the struggling to lose it all in the end. This regretful obstacle could not have been avoided, Santiago was so devoted to catching the fish , he just figured the Marlin would wear itself out. And this factor initially leads to his downfall.
The final obstacle that Santiago has no control over is when the devious sharks follow the smell of blood to the Marlin he caught. “The shark was not an accident. He had come up from the deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood had settled and dispersed in the mile deep sea.”(110) In the end, these conniving sharks devoured the large Marlin that he recently caught, no matter how much he fought against them. This situation could have ultimately been avoided if the fish hadn’t pulled his skiff out so far. So the sharks were also an obstacle that in the end are impossible to overcome. There is no way that Santiago could have fended off all those sharks in his current health and condition. So no matter how much he fought, there was no way he could save his prized catch.
Santiago although faced with many opposing forces throughout his battle to catch the fish, he attempted to push through them all with the utmost perserverence. He did this despite the fact that most of this obstacle were impossible to overcome. He didn't let this fact stop him. He worked through the pain of cutting his hand, he took the risk of going out deep with the fish, and he battled with the sharks to the best of his ability. He did this all just for the fact the he wouldn't let the fish overcome him, "Fish," he said softly, aloud, " I will stay with you until I am dead."(52) Everyone can take something from this story and that is, even when it seems you can't push past an obstacle, you can try as hard as you possibly can to go against all odds.
An old man named Santiago faced various difficult obstacles in Ernest Hemmingway’s book “The Old Man and the Sea.” Santiago is a fisherman for a living, but faces poverty when he can’t catch single fish throughout several months. And when Santiago faces possible the biggest catch in his life, He is forced to push past seemingly hopeless situations. Some of these horrific obstacles are: he has to push through an injury, face dangerous conditions, and fight off predators that are coming after his catch.
One thing that harms his chances of catching this massive marlin is when he cuts his hands on the line. Although it wasn’t a bad wound, it still made it hard to work the line, since a fisherman’s hands are very important to him. “It is not bad,” He said. “And pain does not matter to a man.”(84) Although, Santiago chooses not to be pessimistic about this disdainful situation. Instead Santiago chooses to overcome this obstacle by working through the pain, and constantly telling himself that if he shows pain, than he is weak. He is absorbed in the though of catching this great fish. The old man is devoted, and pushed through this obstacle with determination.
Another powerful force that goes against the old man Santiago is the fact the Marlin he hooked continuously pulled him deeper and deeper into open water. This was dangerous to the man because this matter-of-fact, meant that it would take him a longer time for him to make it back to the island, and this meant the longer his catch would be exposed to scavengers.” I shouldn’t have gone so out so far, fish,” he said. “Neither for you nor for me. I’m sorry, fish.”(110) the old man only fully realizes this fretful factor on the way back after catching the fish. There was no chance of the man being able to catch the fish if he hadn’t held it as long as he did, so there was no real way of overcoming or going around this obstacle. Because of this factor he went through all the working and the struggling to lose it all in the end. This regretful obstacle could not have been avoided, Santiago was so devoted to catching the fish , he just figured the Marlin would wear itself out. And this factor initially leads to his downfall.
The final obstacle that Santiago has no control over is when the devious sharks follow the smell of blood to the Marlin he caught. “The shark was not an accident. He had come up from the deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood had settled and dispersed in the mile deep sea.”(110) In the end, these conniving sharks devoured the large Marlin that he recently caught, no matter how much he fought against them. This situation could have ultimately been avoided if the fish hadn’t pulled his skiff out so far. So the sharks were also an obstacle that in the end are impossible to overcome. There is no way that Santiago could have fended off all those sharks in his current health and condition. So no matter how much he fought, there was no way he could save his prized catch.
Santiago although faced with many opposing forces throughout his battle to catch the fish, he attempted to push through them all with the utmost perserverence. He did this despite the fact that most of this obstacle were impossible to overcome. He didn't let this fact stop him. He worked through the pain of cutting his hand, he took the risk of going out deep with the fish, and he battled with the sharks to the best of his ability. He did this all just for the fact the he wouldn't let the fish overcome him, "Fish," he said softly, aloud, " I will stay with you until I am dead."(52) Everyone can take something from this story and that is, even when it seems you can't push past an obstacle, you can try as hard as you possibly can to go against all odds.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Kildren
The world had been left ruins after the final war. Many countries had simply fallen apart, leaving their people to fend for themselves. Although Eurasia was a different case. In the desperate times it had come up with the idea for and orderly and just system of governing what was left of the people. They thought combine the leaders of the surviving nations to create one advanced solid government.
It was named the “Zephurian Empire” and when it was first constructed its ideals had been good. But throughout the many years as the empire gained in land and power it began to loose it’s original morale and purpose becoming an anarchy. The people were forced to pay harsh military taxes. But other than this they were forgotten. This had left the people to fall into a state of poverty, their numbers ever dwindling with the constant bombarding of plagues and getting caught between various battles.
As this happened various rebel groups began to form within the different sectors (previous nations) across the Zephurian Empire. Their main goal was to bring the people of these sectors to join with them and revolt, causing the main foundation of the empire to crumble away. The empire’s leaders had manipulated the public as well as their forces into believing that these rebel forces were nothing more than savage terrorists looking to take over their land. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The rebels current mission through at the time was to try to get their hands on the drug that was rumored to have been recently created by the empire. This drug was known as "Kildren" or everlasting children. The effects of these drugs was told to result in the coating of the red blood cells in a black liquid that acted as an enhancement to the human body. Every human system would be heightened, resulting in faster, stronger, immortal soldiers. Also, the one's given this drug would never age, staying a "child" forever. But the only problem is, that no one to date had ever survived after being given the initial injection.
The most powerful of these rebel groups was that of sector 7 (previously Russia). The troop’s newest general had been the most successful, taking down empire forces on more then one occasion slowing their advancements. At the tender age of 18 a girl named Kira Smirnov was at the top of the empire’s list of enemies. She was known for her ruthless nature towards the ones she considered to be enemies, and her tactical yet brutal strategies. Currently she was caught in a situation that wasn’t looking too good for her.
~.~.~
The temperature was frigid and had a bite to it, as a small clearing could be seen, dusted by a light layer of snow. The small clearing was surrounded on all sides by a dense forest of looming evergreens, casting a haunting shadow. The small area was full of various figures, running chaotically through what looked to be a small settling.
The most powerful of these rebel groups was that of sector 7 (previously Russia). The troop’s newest general had been the most successful, taking down empire forces on more then one occasion slowing their advancements. At the tender age of 18 a girl named Kira Smirnov was at the top of the empire’s list of enemies. She was known for her ruthless nature towards the ones she considered to be enemies, and her tactical yet brutal strategies. Currently she was caught in a situation that wasn’t looking too good for her.
~.~.~
The temperature was frigid and had a bite to it, as a small clearing could be seen, dusted by a light layer of snow. The small clearing was surrounded on all sides by a dense forest of looming evergreens, casting a haunting shadow. The small area was full of various figures, running chaotically through what looked to be a small settling.
Kira ran a hand through her short shaggy white hair, staring up into the sky. Her loathing for the empire may have just gone up tenfold.
Her and her troops had been lured and trapped into a refugee camp located in neutral land. The sky was now filled with hundreds of the empires bomber planes that made their way across the sky slowly, almost mockingly. All around her, her men were trying haphazardly to evacuate as many innocents as they possibly could.
She new that there wasn’t enough time, she new that at this rate, they would have barely any time at all to acknowledge their deaths. She breathed out deeply, opening her eerily colored red eyes as she looked at the chaos around her before turning her gaze to the sky. She could see as small items were jettisoned from the plane, and began to fall to the ground. Their fates had been sealed. But she refused to admit her defeat until the empire lay in ruins.
Staring tenaciously at particularly nothing, the ground exploded into a massive cloud of debris and flame.
~.~.~
Were the refugee camp had once existed now appeared to be a prodigious crater scattered with fragments of buildings that had once sheltered many. Along with the buildings bodies were scattered everywhere, some dismembered, and others all that was left was a limb or two. The entire area smelt of death and war, the debris hanging in a gloomy cloud over the site.
Somewhere in the mess a figure stirred, attempting to sit up, but failing miserably.
Kira groaned out of both pain and helplessness. She pushed the rest of what looked to be once a cement wall off her body. ‘Holy…how the…” she coughed, her throat left parched from the dusty atmosphere. ‘How did I manage to survive that?’
She looked around her stomach doing a flip as a wave of nausea tumbled over her. By the looks of the rest of the place, she was the only one who managed to survive.
‘Someone is definitely messing with me’ she thought. She frowned out of her obstinate personality ‘Well first is first, I’m not going to just sit here and die.’ As she placed a hand on either side of her, attempting to stand she was hit with a jolt of severe pain the moment she tried moving her legs.
“The heck…” She lay latently as she looked down, her eyes widening out of both shock and horror.
Both her legs had been impaled by various shards of shrapnel, and from the looks of it, they had been in this state for a few hours. Fighting to regain her state of calm she ripped off a sleeve of her uniform, attempting to wipe the blood away from the oozing wounds. She new that if she pulled any of the shards from her leg, it would act like the pulling of a plug from a sink, she would more than likely end up bleeding to death sooner than if she left them intact.
That’s when she heard it, the shuffling of footsteps and the movement of the matter. Adjusting her head to get a better look she soon found that it was a Zephurian solder, either looking for survivors or her body, to confirm her death.
In that moment she made a decision. If she was going to die in this godforsaken hellhole might as well take a soldier or two from the empire down with her. Reaching her hand to her holster, she found that her gun had survived the explosion, slowly; she slipped it out, keeping it behind her back.
“Hey! Empire trash a little help over here would be nice!”
When he heard this, the soldier with a shaggy head of auburn hair lifted his head and looked to the direction of the voice. When he spotted her he had a look of…was that…relief?
Confused as all heck now, Kira simply watched as the man ran up to her location, wearing the stupidest grin she may have possibly ever seen before.
“You” pant, “have no idea how glad I am that there is a survivor!” he said in a genial tone.
Kira was beyond confused. Did this man not know who she was?
“You mean…you’re not going to kill me?” she tilted her head to the side, eyebrows twitching.
“No, of course not! We were ordered to find any survivors of the rebel’s attack on the refugee camp.”
“Wait a minute, did you just say? Those pompous ignorant old men in the empire tricked more of their minions into thinking that this ordeal was the rebels fault?!” She had grabbed the soldier by the front of his shirt, pulling him down to eye level with her, literally growling in his face.
“Miss calm down, I’m sure you’re just tired and need some rest is all, I’ll just take you back to our camp over-“ Not bothering to make a rebuttal to her statement, He lowered her hand from his collar.
“Like hell I’m going back with you to your pansy little empire camp. Where all they do is feed you lies out of there fat selfish mouths about us being the-“ Before finishing her harangue she promptly passed out back against the rubble.
Vincent, the name of the zephurian solder, was confused to say the least.
“What a strange woman” He sighed, looking at the stubborn girl.
He had noticed the state of her legs before and carefully pulled her up, an arm supporting her back, and the other holding the back of her knees. He set off back to his camp, the whole time silently wishing to hopefully get medical attention for the woman. Because of his naturally compassionate and garrulous nature, he was worried for this stranger. Those wounds really didn’t look like they were doing too good.
~.~.~
Vincent had been shipped to sector 7 with the rest of his plank only a day before. His father had been the one to convince him to join the empire’s army. He had said that this would provide some sort of income for the rest of his family and they would be ever grateful. But this whole thing still didn’t sit right with him
He had known of the empire’s harsh and brutal ways for a while now. And the things the woman he was now currently carrying had said seemed only made him question the empire’s reliability further.
He pushed the flap open to the medical quarters, passing through the rows of cots until he reached an old wizened woman.
“Excuse me ma’am, but I found a survivor in the refugee camps earlier today, she isn’t doing that great. Think you could take a look at her” He gave the woman a charming smile, a pleading look in the man’s eyes.
“Fine fine, lay her down on a cot” The woman said with a phlegmatic tone, tapping her pen on the clipboard she was carrying, wearing a stern expression. When Vincent did this, she proceeded to circle the makeshift bed, checking over Kira’s exhausted and wounded form.
The woman clicked her tongue against her teeth, thinking through all the possible options.
“Well I’ll see what I can do, now shoo. I’m sure they need you somewhere else there Romeo.”
The old woman then had Kira transported into a room that they used for surgeries. Two of what looked to be doctors stood inside, readying themselves.
“So are we going to test the drug on this one?” One of the doctors asked, turning to hear the woman’s response.
“Yes, This girl’s chances of surviving are looking bleak, so it’s worth the try.” The second doctor then hooked Kira up to the machine that would monitor her vitals, then moving to go prepare the anesthetic.
“You do know most people’s bodies rebuff this stuff right? But then again if what they say about “Kildren” true than if she does survive she’ll become a major assest to the Empire. Humph, Enhanced humans in every way, I must admit, I am a bit skeptical.” The doctor grabbed a vial of black liquid, placing it at the inside of her arm.
“Ah, who cares if she lives, probably some stupid refugee who got caught in the blast. I can’t imagine having that much power in the hands of someone like that” The other placed the mask swirling with the anesthetic gasses over her face the same time she was injected by the strange liquid.
“Well I guess all we can do is wait now”
~.~.~
Kira lay in the hospital cot, the white sheets all around her stained with a black liquid. No wounds could longer be seen scarring the girl’s body. The machine that lay next to the cot let out a hushed beeping. Her vitals slow and steady, almost nonexistent.
That is until she shifted, opening her eyes lethargically. Her head was throbbing, causing her to let out a groan as she attempted to get a grip on her current situation. When her thoughts began to clear she realized that she was still trapped in her enemy’s camp.
Without hesitation, she sprang up, stumbling as she tried relentlessly to get her footing. Finally she managed to pull the flap of the tent open and stagger into the open; all while the drug called “kildren” was pumping through her veins.
Her and her troops had been lured and trapped into a refugee camp located in neutral land. The sky was now filled with hundreds of the empires bomber planes that made their way across the sky slowly, almost mockingly. All around her, her men were trying haphazardly to evacuate as many innocents as they possibly could.
She new that there wasn’t enough time, she new that at this rate, they would have barely any time at all to acknowledge their deaths. She breathed out deeply, opening her eerily colored red eyes as she looked at the chaos around her before turning her gaze to the sky. She could see as small items were jettisoned from the plane, and began to fall to the ground. Their fates had been sealed. But she refused to admit her defeat until the empire lay in ruins.
Staring tenaciously at particularly nothing, the ground exploded into a massive cloud of debris and flame.
~.~.~
Were the refugee camp had once existed now appeared to be a prodigious crater scattered with fragments of buildings that had once sheltered many. Along with the buildings bodies were scattered everywhere, some dismembered, and others all that was left was a limb or two. The entire area smelt of death and war, the debris hanging in a gloomy cloud over the site.
Somewhere in the mess a figure stirred, attempting to sit up, but failing miserably.
Kira groaned out of both pain and helplessness. She pushed the rest of what looked to be once a cement wall off her body. ‘Holy…how the…” she coughed, her throat left parched from the dusty atmosphere. ‘How did I manage to survive that?’
She looked around her stomach doing a flip as a wave of nausea tumbled over her. By the looks of the rest of the place, she was the only one who managed to survive.
‘Someone is definitely messing with me’ she thought. She frowned out of her obstinate personality ‘Well first is first, I’m not going to just sit here and die.’ As she placed a hand on either side of her, attempting to stand she was hit with a jolt of severe pain the moment she tried moving her legs.
“The heck…” She lay latently as she looked down, her eyes widening out of both shock and horror.
Both her legs had been impaled by various shards of shrapnel, and from the looks of it, they had been in this state for a few hours. Fighting to regain her state of calm she ripped off a sleeve of her uniform, attempting to wipe the blood away from the oozing wounds. She new that if she pulled any of the shards from her leg, it would act like the pulling of a plug from a sink, she would more than likely end up bleeding to death sooner than if she left them intact.
That’s when she heard it, the shuffling of footsteps and the movement of the matter. Adjusting her head to get a better look she soon found that it was a Zephurian solder, either looking for survivors or her body, to confirm her death.
In that moment she made a decision. If she was going to die in this godforsaken hellhole might as well take a soldier or two from the empire down with her. Reaching her hand to her holster, she found that her gun had survived the explosion, slowly; she slipped it out, keeping it behind her back.
“Hey! Empire trash a little help over here would be nice!”
When he heard this, the soldier with a shaggy head of auburn hair lifted his head and looked to the direction of the voice. When he spotted her he had a look of…was that…relief?
Confused as all heck now, Kira simply watched as the man ran up to her location, wearing the stupidest grin she may have possibly ever seen before.
“You” pant, “have no idea how glad I am that there is a survivor!” he said in a genial tone.
Kira was beyond confused. Did this man not know who she was?
“You mean…you’re not going to kill me?” she tilted her head to the side, eyebrows twitching.
“No, of course not! We were ordered to find any survivors of the rebel’s attack on the refugee camp.”
“Wait a minute, did you just say? Those pompous ignorant old men in the empire tricked more of their minions into thinking that this ordeal was the rebels fault?!” She had grabbed the soldier by the front of his shirt, pulling him down to eye level with her, literally growling in his face.
“Miss calm down, I’m sure you’re just tired and need some rest is all, I’ll just take you back to our camp over-“ Not bothering to make a rebuttal to her statement, He lowered her hand from his collar.
“Like hell I’m going back with you to your pansy little empire camp. Where all they do is feed you lies out of there fat selfish mouths about us being the-“ Before finishing her harangue she promptly passed out back against the rubble.
Vincent, the name of the zephurian solder, was confused to say the least.
“What a strange woman” He sighed, looking at the stubborn girl.
He had noticed the state of her legs before and carefully pulled her up, an arm supporting her back, and the other holding the back of her knees. He set off back to his camp, the whole time silently wishing to hopefully get medical attention for the woman. Because of his naturally compassionate and garrulous nature, he was worried for this stranger. Those wounds really didn’t look like they were doing too good.
~.~.~
Vincent had been shipped to sector 7 with the rest of his plank only a day before. His father had been the one to convince him to join the empire’s army. He had said that this would provide some sort of income for the rest of his family and they would be ever grateful. But this whole thing still didn’t sit right with him
He had known of the empire’s harsh and brutal ways for a while now. And the things the woman he was now currently carrying had said seemed only made him question the empire’s reliability further.
He pushed the flap open to the medical quarters, passing through the rows of cots until he reached an old wizened woman.
“Excuse me ma’am, but I found a survivor in the refugee camps earlier today, she isn’t doing that great. Think you could take a look at her” He gave the woman a charming smile, a pleading look in the man’s eyes.
“Fine fine, lay her down on a cot” The woman said with a phlegmatic tone, tapping her pen on the clipboard she was carrying, wearing a stern expression. When Vincent did this, she proceeded to circle the makeshift bed, checking over Kira’s exhausted and wounded form.
The woman clicked her tongue against her teeth, thinking through all the possible options.
“Well I’ll see what I can do, now shoo. I’m sure they need you somewhere else there Romeo.”
The old woman then had Kira transported into a room that they used for surgeries. Two of what looked to be doctors stood inside, readying themselves.
“So are we going to test the drug on this one?” One of the doctors asked, turning to hear the woman’s response.
“Yes, This girl’s chances of surviving are looking bleak, so it’s worth the try.” The second doctor then hooked Kira up to the machine that would monitor her vitals, then moving to go prepare the anesthetic.
“You do know most people’s bodies rebuff this stuff right? But then again if what they say about “Kildren” true than if she does survive she’ll become a major assest to the Empire. Humph, Enhanced humans in every way, I must admit, I am a bit skeptical.” The doctor grabbed a vial of black liquid, placing it at the inside of her arm.
“Ah, who cares if she lives, probably some stupid refugee who got caught in the blast. I can’t imagine having that much power in the hands of someone like that” The other placed the mask swirling with the anesthetic gasses over her face the same time she was injected by the strange liquid.
“Well I guess all we can do is wait now”
~.~.~
Kira lay in the hospital cot, the white sheets all around her stained with a black liquid. No wounds could longer be seen scarring the girl’s body. The machine that lay next to the cot let out a hushed beeping. Her vitals slow and steady, almost nonexistent.
That is until she shifted, opening her eyes lethargically. Her head was throbbing, causing her to let out a groan as she attempted to get a grip on her current situation. When her thoughts began to clear she realized that she was still trapped in her enemy’s camp.
Without hesitation, she sprang up, stumbling as she tried relentlessly to get her footing. Finally she managed to pull the flap of the tent open and stagger into the open; all while the drug called “kildren” was pumping through her veins.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)