final draft

I sat in my room, holding 3 cards which I decided to send to my three best friends of friendship day, thinking of them, it always dawned on me how important friends are. I am a Singaporean, who is currently in secondary school. I came from a neighbourhood primary school and made many friends there, and we are friends until now. This is the reason for our long lasting friendship. I still remember the days when I was not a good student as compared to others in subjects which required a lot of remembering, such as spelling and listening comprehension, that’s because I have amnesia, which is basically a illness which makes me forget things really easily, for instance, I forgot my bag at school, I forgot my laptop on bus, I even forgot about an English test and the results are not good. And thanks to that amnesia thing, I was considered the most “blur” student in class

All these happened before I met three of my best friends, Paranee and Shail, who are both Indian boy, and Wang Jia Xin. My three friends have many other friends who always topped the class, but they still preferred to help a D graded student like me to improve my results. They also topped the class often too. The teacher loved to scold Wang Jia Xin and the reason is his parents were too “kia su” which means scared of losing in Chinese dialect.  Whenever Wang Jia Xing’s academic results drops, his parents would make a lot of complaints to the school and that did not make the life of our teacher easy.

            My friends were always finding ways to help me improve my memory. They started to teach me how to remember difficult vocabulary. At first, we tried to do it the hard way, which is forcing me to remember the words and testing me every day, but that didn’t work, I always ended up forgetting the words. Next, they changed their strategy to splitting the words in two, for example, similar can be split into simi and lar. As for the single words, they had me to remember them by linking the pronunciation other words with similar pronunciation. These helped me a lot and I fared kind of well in my spelling. I used to get only 3 out of 20 but I got at least a 13 now in spellings. My friends helped me in many other ways, such as inviting me for lunch in their home whenever I forgot to bring my keys and is locked out of my house. Through the meals, I found out the different type of meals eaten by people of different races, Paranee is from south India and his family ate spicy vegetables or curry with some rice but he will eat meat sometimes, but Shail is from north India and is a full vegetarian. He usually eats chapatti and vegetables. My friends made my boring life in the school more bearable and they even protected me from bullies. Shail is physically capable and always fends off bullies who were trying to hurt me.

            These friends were really important. Without them, I don’t know if I can remember these difficult spelling words. I will not even know about the different culture of different races. I will also be bullied everyday if it’s not for them. I did not forget my friend until now, even though we are in different schools and we called each other often and visited each other as much as possible, because they are my true friends. Just then, the sound of doorbell woke me from my trance. I approached the door and opened it, greeted grinning faces of Paranee, Shail and Wang Jia Xing, and each of them held a card. Friendship can exist in any forms and with anyone of any skin colour, which is common in a multi racial country like Singapore.

(656 words)

Setting

It was the first time i visited Loch Ness. Cool inviting breeze swept across the area. I took out my camera and started snapping pictures of the area, but out of the corner of my eye, i noticed a long object rising out of the water. i aimed my camera at the object and snapped...

Identity

This story is about me, a pure Singaporean, who is currently in secondary school. I came from a neighbourhood primary school and made many friends there, and we are friends until now. This is the reason for our long lasting friendship. I still remember the days when I was not a good student as compared to others in subjects which required a lot of remembering, such as spelling and listening comprehension, that’s because I have amnesia, which is basically a illness which makes me forget things really easily, for instance, I forgot my bag at school, I forgot my laptop on bus, I even forgot about an English test and the results are not good. And thanks to that amnesia thing, I was considered the most “blur” student in class

All these happened before I met three of my best friends, Paranee and Shail, who are both Indian boy, and Wang Jia Xin. We were known as the three most problematic kids in class, although we kind of topped the class often but that did not stop the teacher, who was the discipline master to send us for detention and scolding. The teacher also loves to scold Wang Jia Xin and the reason is his parents were too “kia su” which means scared of losing in Chinese dialect.  Whenever Wang Jia Xing’s academic results drops, his parents would make a lot of complaints to the school and that did not make the life of our teacher easy.

            My friends were always finding ways to help me improve my memory. They started to teach me how to remember difficult vocabulary. At first, we tried to do it the hard way, which is forcing me to remember the words and testing me every day, but that didn’t work, I always ended up forgetting the words. Next, they changed their strategy to splitting the words in two, for example, similar can be split into simi and lar. As for the single words, they had me to remember them by linking the pronunciation other words with similar pronunciation. These helped me a lot and I fared kind of well in my spelling. I used to get only 3 out of 20 but I got at least a 13 now in spellings. My friends helped me in many other ways, such as inviting me for lunch in their home whenever I forgot to bring my keys and is licked out of my house. Through the meals, I found out the different type of meals eaten by people of different races, Paranee is from south India and his family ate spicy vegetables with some roti prata but he will eat meat sometimes, but  Shail is from north India and is a full vegetarian. My friends made my boring life in the school more bearable and they even protected me from bullies. Shail is physically capable and always fends off bullies who were trying to hurt me.
            These friends were really important. Without them, I don’t know if I can remember these difficult spelling words. I will not even know about the different culture of different races. I will also be bullied everyday if it’s not for them. I did not forget my friend until now, even though we are in different schools and we called each other often and visited each other as much as possible, because they are my true friends.

566 words

The importance of setting in the story

1) In “The Real Durwan” story is set in the stairwell. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is set in Watson’s house in the morning and “Pride and Prejudice” is set in the neighborhood of a town.


2) “The Real Durwan” is set in the present time. In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is set in 1883, early April in the morning and in “Pride and Prejudice” is set in the early 19th century England.


3)The setting of the first story tells us that the story was sad. The setting of the second story tells us that the story is going to hold us at suspense. The setting of the third story gives us a very amiable feeling and and gives us warm and loving effect.


4)The location of the setting of the To Kill A Mockingbird is in Maycomb County. In the story, Scout, also known as Jean Louise Finch, tells the story of how her brother Jem, who was older than him by 4 years, fractured his arm badly at the elbow when he was thirteen. Until today, she insists that the entire incident began with the Ewell family, the most evil and cunning family in Maycomb County, but Jem disagrees. He believes that the whole thing started way back when Dill came from Meridian, Mississippi, to spend his first summer in Maycomb with his aunt, Rachel Haverford, the Finch's neighbor. To take a broader view of things, Scout suggests that it all started when General Jackson chased the Creek Indians north and Simon Finch, their ancestor, moved up the river and built Finch's Landing. Because they couldn't decide who was right, they asked their father, Atticus, and he says that they were both right. Scout begins relating the stories of her childhood that build up to the night that Jem broke his arm.

Montgomery Bus Boycott and Scottsboro trials

On December 1, 1955, Parks took her seat in the front of the "colored section" of a Montgomery bus. When the driver asked Parks and three other black riders to relinquish their seats to whites, Parks refused (the others complied. The driver called the police, and Parks was arrested. That night she was released on a $100 bond. Her actions sparked the start of Civil Rights Movement. On the evening of December 5, several thousand protesters crowded into the Holt Street Baptist Church to create the Montgomery Improvement Association. What was planned as a day-long bus boycott swelled to 381 days when the District Court ruled declaring segregated seating on buses unconstitutional, a decision later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Scottsboro trials

The case was first heard in Scottsboro, Alabama in three rushed trials, where the defendants received poor legal representation. All but the twelve-year-old Roy Wright were convicted of rape and all but him were sentenced to death, the common sentence in accusations of rape by white women against black men in Alabama at the time. But with help from the NAACP and the American Communist Party, the case was appealed. The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed seven of the eight convictions, and granted thirteen year old Eugene Williams a new trial because he was a juvenile. Chief Justice John C. Anderson dissented however, ruling that the defendants had been denied an impartial jury, fair trial, fair sentencing, and effective counsel.

The case was returned to the lower court and the Judge allowed a change of venue, moving the retrials to Decatur, Alabama—fifty miles from the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. Judge Callahan was appointed. During the retrials, one of the alleged victims admitted fabricating the rape story and asserted that none of the Scottsboro Boys ever touched either of the white women. The jury found them guilty, but the judge set aside the verdict and granted a new trial. After a new series of trials the verdict was the same: guilty. The cases were ultimately tried three times. For the third time a jury—now with one black member—returned a third guilty verdict. Charges were finally dropped for 4 of the 9 defendants. Sentences for the rest ranged from 75 years to death. All but 2 served prison sentences. One was shot in prison by a guard. Two escaped, reoffended, and were sent back to prison. Clarence Norris, the oldest defendant and the only one sentenced to death, was pardoned by George Wallace in 1976 and wrote a book about his experiences. The last surviving defendant died in 1989.

b)An important plot element concerns the father, attorney Atticus Finch, defending a black man against charges of rape. The Tom Robinson trial of "To Kill a Mockingbird" is based on the Scottsboro case. Both trials were about the blacks being misjudged of raping white woman when that did not really happen. However, the blacks it the both cases had no bad ending.

c) These trials are similar as in the fact that they earned much support from the black in the public, from most of the place. Also, the blacks who were accused of the crimes were all in the end, had their name cleared but went through a lot of trouble before they cleared it as the whites were still discriminated against the black and they tried all their best to

Trials of a true southern belle and southern gentleman

A)·        Be Humble: Others first, yourself last. Self-denial and deference to others ("After you") are the cornerstone of good manners, acting selfish or uppity is not. This commandment is indisputably rooted in the Bible Belt theology ("the first shall be last, and the last shall be first").

·         Be Courteous: Remember the Golden Rule. Go out of your way to be helpful and kind to everyone you encounter.

·         Behave Yourself: Don't be uncouth, rude, brash, loud, coarse, or cause a commotion in public. Only trashy types do such things.....and obviously this is because they weren't raised to know better.

·         Be Friendly: Put your friendliest foot forward, whether you've been properly introduced or don't know the person from a hole in the ground. Be sociable and neighborly, just like you learned in Sunday School ("Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself").

·         Be Modest: Never be highfalutin'. Practice modesty in all situations. "Why, shucks, I guess I was in the right place at the right time" would work just fine upon learning that you had won the Pulitzer Prize. "Of course I won it, I deserve to" would absolutely categorize you as too big for your britches.

·         Say "please" without fail. Please, always say "please" when you make a requet, no matter how trivial or important.

·         Always ask, never tell. The only way to make a request is to ask for it, directives are much too surly. "Would you please carry me up the road a piece?" is correct. "Give me a ride to the market" is most assuredly not.

·         Say "Thank you" without fail. Upon being granted your request--be it a personal favor or impersonal transaction--always look the other party in the eye, give them a pleasing smile, and cheerily say, "Thank you". To show them you're really grateful, dress it up with "Thank you kindly," "Thanks a whole lot," "Preciate it". If your request is denied, say "Well, thank you anyway." Using your best turn-the-other-cheek manner.

·         Say "ma'am" and "sir" without fail. If any adult your senior addresses you (or vice versa), automatically attach the appropriate title to your response ("Yes ma'am, "I reckon so, Sir", "Pardon me ma'am"). Neglecting this rule is apt to be interpreted as arrogance or insolence or just plain bad upbringing.

·         Always refer to those of the female gender as Ladies. The descriptive woman is usually reserved in Dixie for females of questionable respect. If you are a gentleman, then treat all ladies with courtness, deference, and respect you'd accord members of the royal family since, in the South, ladies occupy such status. This is an immutable rule of order in Dixie, no matter what may be happening elsewhere on this planet.

·         Chivalry may not be well appreciated outside the South today, but you can be sure that around home territory a true gentleman will so honor a lady:

·         Hold the door open for all members of the fairer sex, regardless of their social station.

·         Stand when a lady enters or leaves a room.

·         Walk on the streetside of a side-walk, when accompanying a lady.

·         Order for both of you when at a restaurant (excluding business meals).

·         Always call his mother "Mamma" or "mutha" or "Mrs. -------"-never by her first name, no matter what his age.

B) The southern ladies baked cakes to pass time.

C)

D) The gentleman is Atticus because he has all the good qualities of a gentleman and he is also very willing to help others.
       Miss Maudie is the belle as she is very kind and she bakes cakes and gives them tho his neighbours instead of

Montgomery Bus Boycott and Scottsboro trails

a. Rosa Parks- Parks was ordered to enter at the back of the bus and as she was heading to the back of the bus, the bus driver drove off without her. She never wanted to to board a bus driven by James Blake after then but on December 1 1955, she was sitting in the front-most row for black people but was later asked by the bus driver to move back to create a row for the whites, only to realize that the bus driver is James Blake but she refused to move despite the fact that bus drivers are given the authority to assign seats. She was prosecuted and fined but she appealed and her arrest triggered a series of events. She was known as one of the pioneers of civil rights movement.

Claudette Colvin- She was fifteen years old when she refused to give in her seat to a white man but later was found that she was pregnant.

Scottsboro trials- On Mrach 25, 1931, a freight train was stopped in Paint Rock, a tiny community in Northern Alabama, and nine young African American men who had been riding the rails were arrested. As two white women - one underage - descended from the freight cars, they accused the men of raping them on the train. Within a month the first man was found guilty and sentenced to death. There followed a series sensational trials, condemning the other men solely on the testimony of the older woman, a known prostitute, who was attempting to avoid prosecution under the Mann Act, prohibiting taking a minor across state for lines for immoral purposes, like prostitution.

b. Both trials are related as they involved white females accusing innocent black men of raping. In TKAM, Mayella Ewell accused Tom Robinson of attempted rape when she herself seduced Tom while in the Scottsboro trials, the prostitutes accused the blacks of rape because she wanted to escape prosecution for immoral acts.

c. The trials are similar in the time they took place which is in the 1930s and they both took place in Alabama. The trial began with the charge of rape made by white women against African American men and the poor white status of the accusers was a critical issue. Both have a central figure in which a central figure of the Scottsboro trials was a heroic judge, a member of Alabama Bar who overturned a guilty jury verdict against African American men while in TKAM, the central figure is Atticus, lawyer, legislator and member of the Alabama Bar, who defends an African American man. Both judges went against public sentiments in trying to protect the rights of the African American defendants. Both jury ignored evidence that was evident that the African American men were innocent. Both also include the attitudes of the Southern women and poor whites that complicated the trials.

The civil rights movement

a) In 1950

b)The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law.The civil rights movement in the United States refers partially to a set of noted events and the reform movements in that country that aimed to abolish public and private acts of racial discrimination and racism against African Americans and other disadvantaged groups between 1954 to 1968, particularly in the southern United States. It is sometimes referred to as the Second Reconstruction era.

c)Over 25 race riots occur in the summer of 1919 with 38 killed in Chicago. 70 blacks, including 10 veterans, are lynched in the South.
5000 federal troops are sent by Pres. Kennedy to allow Meredith to register for classes. Riots result in 2 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

d)President Lyndon B.

e)Due to the civil rights movement African-Americans have now equal rights as whites.

f)The novel was set in the period of the civil rights movement where the blacks were still segregated with the whites. Tom in the novel, was convicted because of the discrimination of Blacks during that era.

Harper Lee

A) Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, to Amasa Coleman

 Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. She grew up in the small 

southwestern Alabama town of Monroeville. Her father who was once 

a newspaper editor and proprietor later became a lawyer who also 

served on the state legislature. When Harper was a child, she loved

 to read and she made many friends.

B) Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama.

She was the youngest of four children born to Amasa Coleman Lee

 and Frances Finch Lee.

She studied in Huntingdon College for one year and she studied law

 at the University of Alabama fr 4 years, and studied 1 year at Oxford 

University.

In the 1950s she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines

 and BOAC in New York City.

In 1957 Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the
 J. B. Lippincott Company.

After being instructed to rewrite it, Lee worked on it for two and

 a half more years

In 1960 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Lee's only book, was published.

In 1961 she had two articles published: "Love --- In Other Words"

 in Vogue, and "Christmas To Me" in McCalls.

 In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two persons named by

 President Johnson to the National Council of Arts. 

C) She wrote the following

To Kill a Mockingbird.

Christmas to Me.

When Children Discover America.

Cold Blood.

The Long Goodbye.

D) Pulitzer Prize (1961)

Brotherhood Award of the National Conference
 of Christians and Jews (1961)

Alabama Library Association Award (1961)

Bestsellers Paperback of the Year Award (1962)

Member, National Council on the Arts (1966)

Best Novel of the Century, Library Journal (1999)

Alabama Humanities Award (2002)

ATTY Award, Spector Gadon & Rosen Foundation (2005)

Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award (2005)

Honorary degree, University of Notre Dame (2006)

American Academy of Arts and Letters (2007)

Presidential Medal of Freedom (2007)

E) To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published amidst the 

most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South

 since the Civil War and Reconstruction. Inevitably, despite its

 mid-1930s setting, the story told from the perspective of the

 1950s voices the conflicts, tensions, and fears induced by this

 transition.