Courage

      Courage will to confront the fear of the unknown. It will battle it's way up and still come back down. Courage is putting in the effort to climb the tallest mountain. Knowing you could crumble and fall on your way but still marching forward. Not looking back to see what you did but looking ahead to see what you can accomplish. Trying to reach the tallest point so you can see what you have to climb next. Courage is not being afraid to walk down a mountain you climbed to face a new one. Courage will face many mountains on its way. Fear will pull courage down but courage will fight to move up. Courage will fall and get up, more determined to climb higher. Courage won't lay with fear surrounding him. Courage will fight to escape fear’s atmosphere and overcome the mountain. Courage doesn't want to be held back, he wants to be able to see the next mountain. Courage wants to climb the next and fall just so he can get back up. Courage isn't scared of the challenge. Courage shows his strength when he gets up and works harder to climb to the top of the mountain.

It was all a Misunderstanding

Misunderstandings lead to endings

Mistakes end communication

Lack understanding a person's actions

Failing to see the bigger picture

It was supposed to help not hurt

Purpose was to gain trust

Not lose it

Realizing the powerful effect of a misunderstanding

One thought meant to help

Ended it all

Purpose

      In part 1 of I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak I learn how one moment can change the purpose of a person's life. At age nineteen, Ed still is yet to find his purpose in life. He is an underage cabdriver who spends his free time with an old, smelly dog and playing cards with his three friends. He was a lazy kid so he did not do good in school and did not go to college like his successful brother. With his mother constantly nagging on him, he was reminded he had done nothing special in his life. Everything changed the day he stopped the robber of a bank. Days after the criminal was arrested, Ed got an ace of diamonds that had three addresses on it. He was afraid of what he would fI nd at these locations but curiosity pulled him to the locations. After visiting the three locations, Ed had met people and first hand witnessed the problems in their lives. The one address on the card that stood out to me was 13 Harrison Street. Ed describes the address by saying, “It kind of depressed me to think a human could be so lonely that she would comfort herself with the company for appliances that whistle, and sit alone to eat. Not that I'm much better…”(Zusak 48). At the address, Ed watches an old lady eating alone and looking ever so lonely. One night soon after seeing her for the first time, Ed decides to walk back to Harrison Street and when he shows up at his door, she thinks he is a man named Jimmy. We learn that the lonely women name is Milla and Jimmy was her husband who had gone missing in war, but she believes that he is still out there. Together they eat, Ed comforts her, and fills her loneliness. Ed has a realization when a conversation occurs, between him and Milla, “Where have you been all this time?”...”I’ve been looking for you”(Zusak 52). Although in this quote Milla is asking where Jimmy had been all these years, and replies not is Jimmy but a is asking where Jimmy had been all these years, and replies not is Jimmy but as Ed. He realizes that he has been looking for an opportunity like this one to give purpose to his life. His whole life Ed had been looking for something great in his life to happen and he never would've found it if he hadn't got the ace of diamonds in the mail. Now, he had the opportunity to help people like Milla and the other people on the card. He now has the purpose to fill Milla’s loneliness and spend time with her. Receiving a simple card in a deck changed Ed's reason for living. He once had no purpose but now he lives to diminish the problems of others.

Charles Darnay

Charles Darnay from A Tale Of Two Cities is an overall well-rounded person, who was born into a troublesome life. Darnay’s family is apart of the French aristocracy, which he doesn’t favor. He wants no part of it and dislikes how they treat others, especially the peasants. To prevent himself from growing into his parents, he leaves that life behind and moves to London. He tutors in London and becomes a whole new person. Trying to escape the life he was born into was very difficult for Darnay. He got caught up in multiple messes because of his past. Dickens writes, “ ‘Sir,’ said the nephew, ‘we have done wrong, and now we are reaping the fruits of wrong’ “ (Dickens 94) This means he is now being punished for being related to the aristocracy. This quote shows how he he is very honest by admitting his wrongs. Charles Darnay is a very centered person who has learned from his past.

In chapter six of A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens sets the hopeful tone of Lucie and Dr. Manette's relationship by illustrating the struggle between light and dark. He writes, “ ‘You can bear a little more light?’ ‘I must bear it, if you let it in’ “(Dickens 30). In this quote and paragraph, Dickens explains how Dr.Manette has been locked away for eighteen and isn't familiar with the light anymore. Lucie is the one to let the light into her father's prisoner room and expose it to him. Lucie is the light that is there to fight the darkness within her father. The author illustrates how darkness has surrounded Dr. Manette by stating, “Darkness had fallen on him in its place”(Dickens 32). After being held prisoner for years, Dr.Manette grew to be surrounded by darkness and learned to adapt to it. He needs someone to bring the light to him because he can't do it on his own. Lucie, the daughter he has just found out exists, is the one who lets the light into his life once again. Dickens writes, “Then, as the darkness closed in, the daughter laid her head down on the hard ground close to the father's side, and watched him. The darkness deepened and deepened, as they both lay quiet, until a light gleamed through the chinks of the wall”(Dickens 36). This shows how Lucie carries along the light with her and the light battles the darkness that has taken over her father. Lucie carries the light with her and uses it to heal her father and pull him away from the darkness of being in prison for eighteen years.  In chapter six, Dickens writes about the constant struggle between light and dark, within the father and daughter to create hope.

''The Wine-shop''

In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens foreshadows what the bloody future will hold by describing ''The Wine-shop'' scene. He states, " The wine was red, and had stained the ground…many hands, and many faces too, and many naked feet…”(Dickens 21). This quote in A Tale of Two Cities foreshadows the bloody future for the city by representing the wine as blood. The wine catches peoples' attention, gets all over them, and leaves them with a stain. The author writes,'' ... scrawled upon a wall with his fingers dipped in muddy wine-lees--BLOOD"(Dickens 22). This illustrates or foreshadows the bloody future soon to come by having the wine resemble blood. The blood soon to come will affect everyone in the city and will also mark a big event in the future. He says, "The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there"(Dickens 22). The quote describes how the wine on the street foreshadows a bloody outbreak in the city. Dickens foreshadows the blood will come fast and remain for a long time in the city. In chapter five of A Tale of Two Cities Dickens thoroughly foreshadows the soon to come, bloody fate of the streets.   

Family

     There is a copious amount of reasons as to why family is important, and these reasons appear many times throughout Stone Soup and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Stone Soup was written by Barbara Kingsolver, who is a divorced mother that has a fair amount of knowledge about the not so traditional family. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was written by Betty Smith who tells the story of the members of the Nolan family’s difficult lives. Based on these stories, it is easy to see that family is the people that love and support you, no matter how you are related. Families can have their problems, but still care for each other no matter what.   
    Both engrossing stories mention examples of true family love and not your traditional family functions. Families can be blended together by adoption or remarriage yet still love as if they were blood related. “His own cheering section of grown-ups and kids all leap to their feet and hug each other, delirious with love for this boy… The cheering section includes his mother and her friends, his brother, his father and stepmother, a stepbrother and stepsister, and a grandparent” (Kingsolver 202). This quote illustrates how a family can care so much about each other, even though they are not your traditional family. If a group of people is this happy for you even though they are in this type of situation, they deserve to be called a good family. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Sissy, who is Katie’s sister, is the member of the family that provides so much emotional aid to her family throughout the book. “She listened to everybody’s troubles... Sissy was a giver and never a taker” (Smith 101). Sissy helped Katie remember why she married Johnny during his dark times in the book and centered the Nolan family.     
    No family can be completely perfect. All families have their setbacks and hardships. “The sooner we can let go of the fairy tale of families functioning perfectly in isolation, the better we might embrace the relief of community” (Kingsolver 206). A family doesn’t have to the perfect Family of Dolls like Barbara Kingsolver describes in Stone Soup. Families with flaws can function just as well as traditional families.   
    Families are constantly looking out for one another in any way possible. The Nolan Family always protects each other for the brutality of the world. “My brother is next. His arm is just as dirty as mine so don’t be surprised. And you don’t have to tell him. You told me” (Smith 147). Francie and Neely went to the doctor’s office together to get their vaccinations. The both of them were dirty from playing outside but didn’t have time to clean themselves. While Francie was getting her vaccination, before Neely the doctor and nurse were talking about the dirt on her and how poor she must be. Francie refused to let them say the same thing to Neely she stood up to them so the same thing wouldn’t happen to him. She didn’t want him to be exposed to their brutality. Any good family would try to prevent each other from getting hurt and that is what Francie did.     
    In both, Stone Soup and Tree Grows in Brooklyn family love, family uniqueness, and how family looks out for each other is illustrated and helps define the importance of family.