Judy Brady Essay Questions

1.      This essay does not have an explicitly stated thesis, but that is part of what makes it so effective. The point she is trying to make is stated in passing, between the lines. The message is that husbands expect wives to do way to much, and even expect wives to not do things they do themselves.

2.      It emphasizes how much husbands expect wives to do.

3.      I don’t think Brady wants a wife like this, and this wife does not exist. The purpose of this essay is to display the unrealistic expectations husband’s hold for wives. 

4.      Brady’s definition of a wife, in relation to this essay, is a woman who is responsible for everything in her husband’s life. I feel that this expectation of what a wife should be is unrealistic and unfair, just how she wants people to perceive it.

5.      Dear Mrs. Brady,

I really enjoyed your “Why I Want a Wife” essay. I feel it is a very effective and persuasive way to get people to understand what is expected of many wives and what they do for their families. This essay made me realize how unfair and unrealistic these expectations are, no one person should have that many responsibilities. I will certainly not treat my wife this way, and will share all of these responsibilities. I think every man should read this essay, and they may decide to do the same.

Sincerely,

Brylan May

Satire Questions

My two favorite stories were The Little Girl and the Wolf and The Unicorn in the Garden. I liked The Little Girl and the Wolf because it is a good satire of Little Red Riding Hood, and pointed out some of the holes in the story I have noticed in the past (such as how a wolf shouldn’t look anything like a grandmother). I liked the Unicorn in the Garden because it is a good story about how trying to harm other people can come back and bite you. As mentioned, The Little Girl and the Wolf sounds like Red Riding Hood, but I am not aware of a story like The Unicorn in the Garden, though there may very well be one. I was surprised at how humorous these stories are; I greatly enjoyed reading them.

Fairy Tale Summaries

The Ant and the Grasshopper

The grasshopper played all summer instead of getting food, and he had none for winter. The moral is you can’t only play, you have to prepare.

The Bundle of Sticks

People try to break sticks when they are together, but they are too strong, so they have to broken individually. The moral is that union brings strength.

The Camel and the Arab

A camel driver asks the camel a stupid question, and gets a smart-elect response. The moral is that you shouldn’t ask obvious questions.

The Boys and the Frogs

Boys throw stones at frogs in a pond, until one frog tells them to stop because its killing them. The moral is that some things people do for fun can hurt others.

The Bald Man and the Fly

A fly flies around a mans head. The man hits himself trying to kill it. The moral is that you only hurt yourself if you let things bother you.

The Fisher An Aesop's Fable

Fish only dance to a fisherman’s bagpipe when they are in his net. The moral is you have to do what someone wants when you are in there power.

The Four Oxen and the Lion

Four oxen could defeat a lion when they were together, but were defeated when they separated. The moral is “united we stand, divided we fall.”

The Hare With Many Friends

A rabbit who has many “friends” gets turned away by all of them when she needs help. The moral is that he who has many friends has none.

The Horse and the Stag

A horse agrees to carry someone who says he will help get revenge on an enemy. The horse then becomes a slave. The moral is that if you want to hurt others, you usually get hurt yourself.

The Ox and the Frog

A mother frog tries to imitate the size of something that killed her child. The moral is that some things can’t be attained.

Little Red Riding Hood

Little red riding hood went to take a basket of cakes to her sick grandmother. On the way, she veered off the intended path and met the big bad wolf. The wolf, after hearing red riding hood’s grandmother lived alone, went to go eat her. When little red riding hood got to the house, the wolf had already eaten grandma and ate her as well. A hunter saved them both by killing the wolf, and little red riding hood never veered off of the path again.

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel were abandoned in the woods by her father because there step mother wanted him to. The first time they returned home by way of a path Hansel made, but the second time the birds ate the bread crumbs he laid out. When they were lost, the stumbled on a cottage made of candy, inhabited by a witch. They trusted her and went inside, and she tried to eat them. She was dispatched by Gretel, and their father came back for them when the stepmother died. They lived happily ever after.

Fairy Tale Poem

Grasshopper and the Ant

Brylan May

The Grasshopper and the Ants, A classic tail.

I have always wondered about a few things,

Things that don’t really add up.

How did the grasshopper not know winter was coming?

He could have played 23 hours a day,

And searched for food for an hour,

Is that not enough?

Why wouldn’t the ants help a fellow insect.

If a friend of mine was too lazy to get a job,

I would still feed him if he was going to die.

It doesn’t make sense.

Finally, the Grasshopper is much larger than the ant,

Why didn’t he just overpower him and take the food,

If he was so desperate.

Or simply offered the ants something in return,

Like anyone else would.

These are the kinds of things I think about.

This I Believe Response

The four “This I Believe” essays I read had to do with the subjects of forgiveness, being politically moderate and in “the middle”, that love is stronger than death, and finally that everyone should be included. I noticed that these essays are typically written rather informally, and that they can be on a variety of topics. They also usually carry a very  profound realization/stance, though I suppose it is not required. I would greatly enjoy writing one of these again (I did one in 8^th grade).

Pictionary Paraghraphs

            The dessert was far cooler than I expected it would be at night, though not cold enough that something could glaciate. The luminance of the full moon out that night provided more light than I was hoping for; I work better in the dark. I’ve been doing this work for a very long time, but, I have never been asked to assassinate a foreign leader before. Although it may seem juvenile, I just wanted to be home with my family, but instead I was on another “business trip” a thousand miles away (The government doesn’t take kindly to disclosing their business). Shrugging off my home sickness, I made my way up to the top of the cliff. The view from the top of this colossus was perfect for the job. After over an hour of waiting, the dictator finally took to the podium in the secret military camp down below me. The soldiers encircled him, awaiting the words of wisdom their leader was about to give them. He was far brawnier than I had seen in the pictures. Once he started his speech, I took my weapon out of the bag and prepared to complete my mission. I remembered all of my training, “picture your self in a vacuum,” and “don’t ever look into their eyes, picture them faceless, and remember all the horrible things they have done.” I aimed with the contraption onto of the weapon, and counted to 3. A loud bang echoed through the desert, and the soldiers scrambled to find whoever took their leader from them. I would be far away before they even checked up on the cliff. As I flew back to my home, I prayed for the man, hoping that he did not experience any excruciating.

Random Word Rotation

I wake up at about 5 am, I am thirsty again. I reluctantly crawl out of bed and shuffle downstairs to the kitchen. I can’t see anything; it is as dark like a cave. As I take a step towards the refrigerator, I feel something squishy yet fury underneath my feet. “What’s the big idea?!” a mysterious creature squeaks. In pure shock, I jump up and run to the nearest chair and climb on top, clinging like a newborn to its mother. “Who’s there?” I stammer out of fear. I discover a flashlight after rummaging through the vast piles of junk on the kitchen table and illuminate the area were the noise is coming from. I can’t believe what the light reveals. Sitting there, in the tiny spotlight, is a mouse, a talking mouse. “Why would you just step on me? That wasn’t very nice!” I stood on the chair, my fear replaced by pure disbelief. 

The disbelief turns to exuberance as I conjure up in my mind the ways that I can use this diminutive little creature to build up a fortune in my bank.  The only trouble is, I first need to gain its trust and keep it for myself.  “My sincerest apologies, my little friend. I surely hope that I did not crush any of your delicate bones under my clumsy foot.  You must be famished…can I offer you some cheese?” The mouse, its beady black eyes narrowing at supposed kindness, fervently shakes its little head from side to side and states, “No thank you, I actually am lactose intolerant.  I was hoping to find some soy milk in this kitchen or perhaps some tofu to nibble on, so if you have something like that, I’d be glad to snack on it.” Some thoughts scramble through my mind like eggs at breakfast, and I turn an eagle eye to the mouse, saying, “Well here, hop into my hand and I’ll take you to inspect the refrigerator.”

            I frantically run to the refrigerator and swing to door open quickly not to lose the mouse’s attention. When I open the fridge, an explosion of light bathes me and the mouse. As we stare into the fridge, the mouse, very surprised, says, “My! You have quite a selection!”

The excitement of this evening brings images of the past to my mind. I picture pretending to be a cowboy riding through the desert with my friends in the hot sand box in the front yard.    Boy was that sun bright.  That was when I used to live in Spain.  My parents had to work outside of the United States for a year, so I got to experience all that Spain had to offer.  I remember these moments, almost as if a television is playing right in front of me. I remember the cooking class; the smell of delicious cakes and pies filling the air. I made a pineapple dessert, whose aroma overpowers that of all other desserts in the room.  The memories almost taunt me, brining up a much simpler and happier time.

I snap back out of my trance and discover the mouse is no longer there. I look and look all over the room, but to no avail. “Where did he go?!” I ask myself angrily. Finally, I spot the mouse in the corner of the room and sprit over as fast as a cheetah. “There you are, I thought I lost you!” I exclaim in delight. The mouse simply looks up, squeaks, and runs back inside of the wall. “I can’t understand, why can’t he talk! I just heard him!” As I was lamenting, I hear conversation outside of my door.

“That’s just Jeff, he thinks he is back at his home with a talking mouse.” The newly hired nurse shakes his head and says, “What should I do when he yells like that?” he asks the doctor. “Nothing.” He solemnly responds, “He normally figures it out sooner or later.”

3 Action Words

“I can’t believe that he is gone,” I lament to myself. Leaving the cemetery in the pouring rain after my grandmother’s funeral was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. All that went through my head were the times we played cards at the kitchen table, or took a walk down to the barn, talking about current events or exchanging jokes. A tear began to drip down my cheek, when I felt a strong but gentle hand rest upon my back. “I miss her too kido, but we have to be strong.” I immediately recognized the loving voice as my grandfather’s. “She would want both of us to carry on without her, and we have to do just that.” As my grandfather and I walked down the path towards the car, the rain ceased, and the sun peaked out from the dark clouds, brighter than I have ever seen it before.

            As both teams walked up to the line of scrimmage, my stomach began to turn. Three of our wide receivers had gotten injured, and I was in the game for the first time all season. I didn’t even usually get much time on the practice field, let alone in a state championship game. I could hear the defensive line snarling at their opposition; these were some of the biggest, scariest guys in the state. “Blue, 16, Idaho, Nevada, 16.” The quarterback was yelling commands as if he were a general on the battle field. He was throwing in the usual fake commands to throw the defense off, but my heart froze when he said his next line. “Nacho, NACHO!” he yelled, in my direction. This was my signal to go on a slant route across the middle into the end zone, something I had never done before. Time froze as I looked at the score board, making 4 seconds seem like 4 years. We were down by 5 points, with 6 seconds left on the clock, this was our last chance. The quarterback finally yelled hike, and I took off like a Lamborghini from the starting line. I juked the cornerback that was covering me and was wide open in the middle of the end zone. The quarterback, nerves getting the best of him, threw it much too high. Knowing this was my teams only shot, I leaped up into the air like a lion pouncing on prey. 2 defenders jumped to, and a pile on ensued. After the whistle was blown and the pile was separated, I triumphantly held the ball in the air. I had caught it; we were the new state champions.

Narrative Active Transformations

1.      My friends came over, and we all piled into the car.

a.       My friends scurried into the house, laughing and talking loudly. “What are you waiting for?” Tyler says, “I’m hungry, lets eat!.” My friends run out the door to pile in my car just as quickly as they had run in. I want to run too, but first have to pick up the 10 pound lug of a baby doll.

2.      These people were giving me rude looks and forming judgments about me because they thought I was a teenage mom.

a.       I can feel all of the eyes. The judgmental, critical eyes all staring at me. “Why would she let that happen to her?” they say in their heads as they gawk in disgust. It is one of the most dreadful feelings I have ever had.

3.      As I am walking around the mall, picturing myself in the different outfits, a loud, almost inhuman wail penetrates my ears. Looking around, trying to see what was causing the racket, I finally look down and realize it is the baby doll, screeching away.