Looking back at 8th grade

[JanetC]

I just wanted to post some of DD's writing this year... We've come a long way!

 

Early in the school year:

 

The Tasmanian tiger was the last of its family, Thylacinidae. It was almost extinct on mainland Australia by the time Europeans discovered the island, but survived in Tasmania until the 20th century, when it is thought to have become extinct.

 

It was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. Though it looked like a wolf with stripes, it was unrelated to the predators of the northern hemisphere. Its closest living relatives are the Tasmanian devil and the numbat.

 

The Tasmanian tiger was nocturnal, so we do not know exactly what it ate. It had a strong stomach, and could open its mouth to 120 degrees, but it had a very weak jaw and thus, could not handle anything too large. Around the time the once-common Tasmanian emu was hunted to extinction, around 1850, the Tasmanian tiger population declined. Many scientists believe that the emu was a primary food source for it, but no one knows for sure.

 

The indigenous peoples of Australia were known to have hunted Tasmanian tigers, due to rock art dating back to 1000 BC. Europeans thought of the tigers as pests, believing that they ate sheep and poultry, and did not see anything wrong with shooting one that lurked too near a pasture. The last known Tasmanian tiger in the wild was killed by Wilf Batty in 1930. It had been seen around his farm for several weeks. The last tiger in captivity died on September 7 1936, probably as a result of neglect. A rare occurrence of extreme weather took place, boiling hot during the day, freezing at night, while the last Tasmanian tiger in captivity was locked out of its sleeping quarters. National Threatened species Day has been held in Australia since 1996 on September 7, to commemorate the last known Tasmanian tiger.

 

Mid-year:

 

Malvolio

 

Malvolio is a character who changes greatly as Twelfth Night runs its course.

 

In the beginning of the play, Malvolio is snobbish and serious, trying to become important. He believe that he is perfect and everyone he meets falls in love with him.

 

After he receives the letter, he still acts superior to Sir Toby and Olivia's servants. The main change in him is his newfound giddiness and jovial mood. He dances with glee and behaves ridiculously, to try to win Olivia's favor.

 

When Malvolio has given Olivia one knowing smile too many and she has locked him in a dark room, he begins to panic. He is so upset, he abandons all superiority, and treats Feste with respect when the fool visits him in his cell.

 

When Malvolio is let free and the truth is revealed, he is righteously angry at everyone for making a fool of him. He only appears briefly in the final scene, swearing revenge, but he will most likely be warier in the future.

 

Last paper of the year--She blew me away with this!

Freedom Writers

 

Thomas Paine and Abraham Lincoln have very different writing styles. Paine's Common Sense and The Crisis are famous for their passionate patriotism, while Lincoln's Gettysburg Address sounds more rational, reasonable and composed. Paine uses long words like "extirpating" and "superficial," while Lincoln keeps the majority of his speech within the vocabulary of the average American. Paine delivers his thesis, then elaborates on it, whereas Lincoln repeats himself, making sure no one misses his point. Clearly, the two men have different goals to accomplish.

 

The most obvious difference between Paine's and Lincoln's writing is the mood. The main cause of that difference is the settings in which the men wrote. Pain published The Crisis and Common Sense in the delicate time immediately before the Revolutionary War. His goal was to make his readers angry at Britain and ready to revolt. He used powerful, stirring sentences, saying that "these are the times that try men's souls" (Thompson 116). Lincoln, on the other hand, was already at war. His speech was written to encourage the people to "highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain" (Thompson 61). He wanted them to continue fighting, not to start. Lincoln's less impassioned speech was well-written, and thus did not need to be fiery to accomplish his goal.

 

Another difference that can be noted is in the writers' language. It shows that Paine and Lincoln wrote for different audiences. Paine, by using long words, such as "pretensions," "usurpations" and "injudicious," directed his pamphlets at the upper-class citizens, knowing that it takes money to start a revolution. Lincoln, alternatively, took pains to speak clearly and distinctly, stating simply, "Now we are engaged in a great civil war" (Thompson 61).H e wanted his speech to affect everyone, not simply the elite. He wanted to fit the Battle of Gettysburg into context and to show where it fit on the staircase to liberty.

 

A less conspicuous difference between the Gettysburg Address and Paine's pamphlets is the presentation of the thesis. Paine states, then elaborates and supports, saying that

In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided anything which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise and the worthy need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious, or unfriendly, will cease of themselves unless too much pains are bestowed upon their conversion.

 

He gives his thesis, the author hath avoided anything personal, then explains it. Lincoln, on the other hand, repeats himself. He says,

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. it rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us... (Thompson 61)

 

If Lincoln had been writing a pamphlet, that repetition would be unnecessary and even tiresome. However, he was giving a speech in a public place before the invention of microphones. He needed to make sure that everyone heard his thesis statement.

 

Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Paine have very different writing styles, but they are not without similarities. They both wrote powerfully, changing the course of history. Without Paine's Common Sense, the American Revolution would not have had as many dedicated supporters, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address helped America see the Battle of Gettysburg in context, showing its place in the struggle for freedom. Lincoln and Paine both changed opinions with their words, changing history in the process.