Direct Questions:
Today, there are three people in this trial. Two innocent children, brutally murdered on a tropical island and one man how has assisted and participated in these murders. A man who new right from wrong but willfully chose to break these rules when he stabbed Simon with a spear he made himself. Yelling at everyone to kill him and running with him in his rage. When he allowed his peers to run rampant and helped Roger when he murdered Piggy. When he hunted Ralph and burned part of the forest to the ground in his madness. Now, he takes the stand in his defense and willingly lies to us in order to save his own skin. Lies to cover up his guilt and let it wash away like Simons speared corpse. If you let him walk, then you let a killer go free and let the deaths of these innocent children be in vain. Bring justice to these boys and give them what they deserve. Don’t let his deceit take the better of you.
I felt that the case went very well. I did not believe that we would win because we had no hard evidence and the entire case was based on the word of our witnesses against Jack’s word. I was however very fortunate in getting Jack to lie on the stand, which might have very well won the case. If he did not lie, we only would have been able to win on the counts of inciting a mob and accessory after the fact. I thought that all of our witnesses did well, although many of them did get a little messed up while on the stand. As for the defense’s witnesses, I thought they did a good job also, but I thought that the psychologist was very pointless and I really threw her testimony out of the jury’s mind. I think that the only thing I could have changed or done better was to do a better job at direct questioning. I did a very poor job because it was difficult not to lead the witness without having any hard evidence or affidavits. Without these materials it is very hard to prepare your questioning without doing the unethical. I might have also liked to have evidence and my own line of doctors to counter the defenses, but we must realize that this is a mock trial in English class. Overall I am happy with the outcome of the trial except for the fact that there were constant interruptions during my questioning and closing, which made it very difficult to perform.
English
Gokturk
One of the many principles behind law is that without out
rules and set parameters for the people within a society, those people will
reach a degenerating moral state. This belief has been upheld in almost every
organized society and many writers still put emphasis on its need today. Sidney
Schanberg shows her opinion towards rules within a society in her essay
entitled The Rules are all We’ve Got as does the book The Lord of the
Flies, by William Golding. Schanberg writes about how New York City has
become a place were no one respects the rules and how we are not far from a
state of anarchy. The Lord of the Flies conveys Golding’s belief that without
rules and authority, society breaks down to a point where even murder goes
unpunished. Both of these works show us that when people don’t follow the
rules, we create a state of chaos.
Sidney Schanberg supports this thesis in her essay The
Rules are all We’ve Got. She shows us how far society has fallen from our ideal
perspective of it. A seventeen-year-old boy responded to a reporter when asked
about his job, saying “I rob people. I like to rob people”. This shows how far
we have really fallen from the tree. Children are supposed to be taught from
birth how they should act and are given rules and boundaries to follow in order
to prepare them for the rules of the real world. She also shows us how some of
this downward trend is attributed to a lack of resources such as a drop in the
amount of police officers. Without the figures of authority to enforce the law,
then many people will break the rules without punishment, providing a feeling
that it is okay to commit such acts. There are many examples of how far people
have strayed from their moral standings that plague the city frequently. A man
ran around slashing people while they slept on the street. One man walked Time
Square half naked and disoriented before being harassed and taunted before
falling onto the subway tracks. When compared to other industrialized nations,
the break of morality in our society becomes more apparent. New York City has a
murder rate of six per day and two thousand a year, while the much larger city
of Tokyo has one murder every other day and a total of one hundred and eighty
per year. Author Sidney Schanberg shows us the chaos that occurs when rules are
not obeyed within a society.
William Golding shows us a very similar message in his
book The Lord of the Flies. When the boys first become stranded on the deserted
island, they begin to form a civilization. Roger said, “Let’s have a vote!”(22)
when they were trying to decide who would become chief. They began setting
parameters and rules to maintain a sense of order. Jack said “… I’ll split up
the choir… and we’ll be responsible for keeping the fire going”(43) when Ralph
brought to the boys the matter of how they were to be saved and who would be in
charge of keeping the rescue fire burning. However, soon this organization
breaks down and they begin to ignore authority and lean closer to a state of
total anarchy. Ralph said, “We all built the first one, four of us the second,
and me ‘n Simon built the last one over there.”(80) when he was addressing the
assembly about the problem with the shelters. Everyone had built the first
shelter, but some people just stopped caring and ignored the rules to do what
they wanted. The result was something that endangered the whole group, a poorly
built shelter that would collapse when a storm came. Soon the situation
worsened and they strayed so far from their own rules that they killed one of
their own in a mob driven frenzy. They yelled “Kill the east! Cut his throat!
Spill his blood”(152) as they brutally stabbed Simon various times while
outfitted in a barbaric state of action and appearance. They then broke other
moral codes by impaling a Pig’s head on a stick, stealing Piggy’s glasses and
then murdering him and attempting to murder Ralph. By disobeying man’s moral
codes and rules, Golding showed us how chaotic that society can be.
When people begin to disobey and ignore moral codes and
rules, society falls into a state of chaos and disarray. Sidney Schanberg shows
us how this lack of contempt for rules has led to a downfall in the society of
New York City. Golding also shows us in a model of society the effects that
this disorder can have on individuals and society as a whole. Without people
obeying codes and rules by which to live by, we begin to fall down a slippery
slope of degenerating morals.
Gokturk
English
Sometimes all of us call each other names in spite without an understanding of the insults that we throw. One word that needs such clarification is phony. A phony can be defined in comparison to the word fraud, which means someone that leads false intentions.
A phony is someone whose actions do not reflect that
person truthfully. An example of this is if you were to tell everyone that you
were the greatest writer in all of history, when in reality you are not. In
other words, it is someone who lies to other people to increase the level of
recognition, respect, and other such qualities that people would display
towards him. Phonies are dishonest, haughty, and very pompous people. They act
in a very condescending manner and do anything to increase the way people view
them, including crushing other people along the way to further themselves.
An example of someone who would be the complete opposite
of a phony is someone who does not try to lie in order to get ahead. This
person would be honest and would care about the feelings of others, putting
them at the same value that he or she would put herself. This person would not
act pompous, or condescending like a phony, but would be very humble and
grateful, and never brag. Other words that could be used to describe this
anti-phony would be trustworthy, caring, and compassionate.
Phonies are people who deceive you to make others think
highly of them. They are dishonest and very mean towards fellow humans. Someone
who would be the exact opposite of a phony is someone who is very caring and
does not act condescending to anyone.
Guns, Cars, and the Life of a Top British Agent
Daniel Febrer
Gokturk
English
Would you like to live a life of fast cars, fast women, and fast action? Then this essay is for you. Society has revered the culture that the media has portrayed about the life of undercover agents and spies. This culture is embodied with an array of weapons, cars, and wealth that many people, such as myself, find alluring. One character in movies today that contains the essence of what a spy is like is James Bond. I, like many others, would love to have the opportunity to be the fictional character James bond for many reasons.
One of the reasons people envy this character is because of how he looks. James Bond, as portrayed by the filmmakers, is a very suave and handsome individual. With his very flowing hair and trim British formal wear, it is no wonder why people make this generalization. He is constantly seen at places of high society, wearing his classic high-buttoned suit and only the best of shirt and tie combinations. Other aspects of his appearance are the characteristics of his physique. James Bond is a tall, muscular, European man with very broad shoulders and strong arms. He also has a rugged aspect to him, emphasized through the films in which he stars. Some people would like to be James bond because of his appearance.
But there are other reasons why people like the character James Bond, such as his personality. James Bond is a very mature and masculine individual, but he also has a very boyish aspect to this to. He goes after women for sex and his own personal gain, he uses them and gets what he wants. Some people like this quality mainly because they wish that they could have the success that he does in his personal life. James Bond is also has very good instincts, as shown in the very risky missions and escapes which are shown in the movies. He is very intuitive and intellectual, and always can uncover the plot of an evil mastermind and quash it at his will. However, there are other reasons why people would want to step into the shoes of the master spy.
Some of the reasons that I would want to be James Bond are very simple; guns, violence, cars, and money. The most top of the line weapons in the counter terrorist industry surrounds James Bond. His weapon of choice, a Walter PPK with optional silencer. Also in his barrage of equipment are watches with built in laser, detonator, and sometimes a dart gun. His belt disguises a 7-mm grappling line with hook built for swinging his weight across gaps in the floor. Along with his weapons, James Bond has some of the fastest and most well built cars on the market. BMW, Ferrari, Aston Martin and more are just some of the many cars he has too chose from. He also partakes in dangerous high-speed car chases and gunfights, which I would love to be a part of. Along with these reasons, I love the fact that he has almost endless wealth and as stated before I like the clothing in which he dresses.
These are the reasons for which many others and I would like to step into the shoes of James Bond. His appearance and personality are contributing factors to this feeling. Also contributing to this are the many cars, guns, and missions which he has and takes place in. For these reasons and many more, I would like to be James Bond.
A CATCHER OUT OF PLACE
Daniel Febrer
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into to it, if you want to know the truth. I’m not going to tell you about this madman stuff that happened around Christmas eleven years ago, I already told them that god knows how many times. You can go get their tapes or notes or god knows what else on what already happened. I’ll just tell you about what happened for me to come to out here and take it easy. I mean, that’s all I told Phoebe about, about why I’m here. Anyway, it all started when I left that place and went out to start a new life. My parents tried to get me into another school, but no one would accept me or anything. They’d always be calling and meeting with some goddam stiff-ass white collar about having their son attend this or that. Boy, they even tried to lie about what I did in the other schools to increase my chances. That’s one thing they did a lot, lie and conceal. That’s what they did when I was getting better. They would tell people I was just injured, spending time in the country, something like that. Sometimes they would- Well, anyway, as I was saying I was getting tired of those phonies so one day I just goddam took off, in the middle of the night. I went back to the city try to start over again. Headed over to the village, god knows why. Anyway I called a cab and in the front seat of the car was this really smug looking phony, with one of those tough attitudes to drive people away. I was trying to keep the laughter in, I swear.
“Where to, bub?” he said
with this indifferent tone.
“Village”
I
looked around the cab to pass the time. Boy, it was dirty. I mean, you couldn’t
even tell what the original color was it was so dirty. Tar, food, and other
unidentifiable things you didn’t know existed. I wondered what the hell was
going on in this cab before I hailed it. I bet some guy was messing around with
his girl in there, laughing and having a laugh, telling some bull romantic
thing he made up on the way, the phony, her saying “No, not now, not here…”
while he was groping her. Boy, that must have been awkward for the cabbie.
“Say,
you ever seen anything weird going on while you were driving?” I asked
“Huh.”
“I
mean in the back seat, anything like that?”
“Look,
pal”, It kills me when people say pal, “ if you’re tryin’ to make conversation
you can forget it, and what the hell do you care anyway?”
“Just
Wonderin’.” I said.
I
kept on wondering. I thought about what I was going to do now that I was on my
own. I mean, I just left my home with what appeared to be seven dollars and
fifty-eight cents; I didn’t care. What was I going to do? I mean, I didn’t even
know where I was going to sleep or whom I can ask for help.
“Say,
do you know of –,”
“What’d
I say before, bub, stop talkin’ to me, capish?” he said. What a phony. Who says
“capish”? He must have seen some blowhart actor say it in a shoot’em up ganster
movie and decided that people would like him if he said. Boy, that guy killed
me. It was pretty damn depressing. Then, the car stopped. He grabbed the fare
while he sped off, splashing some mud on my only pair of pants. The People on
the street didn’t even care. They just kept walkin’ in the night to god knows
where.
I
asked this guy at the crosswalk where people go to unwind at night. He was this
really short man wearing tall boots, a black trench coat, and this brown derby.
Around his neck was a very long gray scarf. He looked like he was worth a lot
of money, but when he spoke he had this really thick Brooklyn accent. That
killed me. He was trying to make everyone think he was taller and wealthier
than he was, but you could tell. Anyway, he directed me to this bar and jazz
club three blocks down. I thought that it would be a good place for me to let
loose and think for a while. So I walked down to the club. It had one of those
typical signs on the side. You know, the ones with chasing lights around the
border and one of those flashing arrows pointing to the door. In the center of
the chasers it blinked “Midnight Lounge” in formal cursive. Boy, they really
thought they could make people come by writing it all fancy-like.
When
I opened the door, a giant plume of smoke came at me. I nearly flew back
against the wall! Needless to say, the bar had a lingering haze to it.
Everything was dimly lit, a few lights above the pool tables and the jazz
ensemble, that’s it. The only other sources of light came from the cigar stubs
in the mouths of men gathered around the bar and billiards and the long
cigarettes of the women sitting at the tables. I was shown to a table near the
back of the room, where all of the nobodies were. You know, the kind of people
who sit alone because they have nowhere to go and no one to be with. They could
sit at the bar and try to talk to someone, but they don’t even bother anymore. It
made me really depressed.
Anyway,
I was sitting among these guys sitting with there heads at the bottom of their
drinks, when I spotted this table of five girls about twenty feet away. It
reminded me of that time years back after I was kicked out of Pencey. None of
them were drop dead gorgeous, though. One was a sort of chunky woman in her
thirties. She had a really phony smile and her laugh was so blatantly fake. Her
lipstick was carelessly done and she had way too much eye shadow, as if she was
trying to cover something up. Another three had a decent figure, but their legs
were terrible. They were wearing stockings but I could even see the veins
running up and down them. They made me feel pretty depressed. But one of them
really caught my eye. She had this black hat that drooped over one side of her
face. Her red hair cascaded with the shape of the hat, blocking most of her
face. I waited until she turned to get a better glimpse of her. She flicked her
hair back too reveal her true face. She was very pretty, if you need to know.
She had creamy skin that was just like that of a child. Her lips were soft and
full, almost as if never touched. And her eyes were a deep blue color, like the
ocean or something like that. I
watched for a few more minutes until she finally looked at me and smiled. I
smiled back. We flirted like that for some time until the waiter came to take
my order.
“What’ll
ya have, Mac?” the waiter said.
“Double
bourbon, on the rocks.” I said in this really smug voice, almost upper crest
like.
At
that moment, the lady I was eyeing got up from her table and walked over. She
stood next to me for a moment and looked around.
“Is
this seat taken?” she said, looking right into my eyes.
“I
hope not!” I tried to make a joke to impress her. It worked and she laughed. It
was one of the most annoying laughs that I have ever heard. It slayed me.
Nearly sounded like a thousand goddam sparrows chirping’ on cue. She sat in the
chair and crossed her legs.
“So
how come I haven’t seen you here?” She said.
“I’ve
been in Europe on business.”
“Really!”
she said with sudden interest. “What is it that you do?”
“I
work for a British financial company. They hold offices here in New York and
they needed me in London a week ago.”
“What
for?” She said.
“Oh,
well… They needed me to hammer out a deal with a Japanese exporter for us to
manage their accounting.”
“Wow,
you must be pretty important.” She said
We
kept talking like that until my drink arrived. Man, I was so thirsty. I drank
it all nearly at once while she was stroking my leg. It made me feel really
nervous and uncomfortable. I looked at her and smiled, she smiled back again.
“Hey,
lets get outta here.” She said, “Lets go back to my place and see where the
evening takes us, whadda ya say?”
“No,
I really shouldn’t –“
“Come
on, what’s the harm.” She said as she tugged on my jacket and rubbed my chest.
That made me even more nervous.
“No,
I really cant. I’m leaving to Paris… with my wife.” I quickly said to get her
to stop.
She
looked really upset. She took her hands off me and uncrossed her legs. Then
after a few moments of silence, she got up and said “Tough break, kid” as she
walked back to the table with the other girls. It was really depressing. I was
so depressed I decided to leave and go back to the street for a cigarette,
maybe to another club…
Lollipops for the Heart
It is only natural that parents and their offspring share a special bond with each other. The relationship that is shared between father and daughter is described in the short essay "No More Lollipops" and in pages 83-86 of the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers. Both works show us that the relationship between fathers and daughters is one of affection, of caring, and mostly on an emotional level.
"No More Lollipops" provides an excellent outlook into the details of father daughter relationships. In her essay, Debra Adams gives us the feeling that the father and daughter all like best friends. She describes a game that they would play in the night where her father would carry her down the stairs on her shoulders and then pretend that she must have flown down. "And I would try to hide my laugh, and he would give me a little grin that meant this was our little secret." This shows how playful and comfortable they are around each other. Debra Adams also shows how much that she needed and depended on her father emotionally when she says, "It was time for me to… stop crying to him when I skinned my knee or didn’t get my way." She conveys how delicate and fragile that this relationship is by using a very succinct tone. Debra does not go into to any depth when telling her story, and does not reflect upon the feelings that were felt after the relationship ended, which shows how that now since she does not have the same relationship with her father she is somewhat devoid of feeling.
In pages 83-86 of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers also describes the relationship between Mick and her father. This section describes an instance when Mick’s father called her to him. "Her dad just stared at her. She could tell he didn’t have any reason for calling her.". Mick’s father just wanted to see his daughter because he was alone, as inferred from the previous quote. This shows a type of dependence that each of them share on an emotional level. "I’m in no hurry, honest.". Despite the fact that Mick was in a hurry and needed to go somewhere else but instead decided to stay and keep her father company shows how the both of them lay on each other for support. Unlike Debra Adams, McCullers uses a very different tone. She makes it seem like the subject was very important to Mick and that despite her prior engagement, she was willing to break it off to give her father emotional support. She also uses the setting of a failing business and the beer to also convey the father’s loneliness.
Both stories convey the relationships between fathers and daughters, but there are many similarities and differences between the two. Both of the two works detail this relationship as a highly emotional one. Debra conveys this when she describes how she runs to her father when she is in pain, and McCullers shows this when Mick gives her father company because she feels that he is lonely. Also, both works show how both father and daughter depend on each other. McCullers shows this when Mick’s father depends on her to give him company, and Adams shows this when she depends on her father to help her through pain and suffering. However, the two works are different in that Debra’s relationship ends abruptly and Mick’s keeps going.
The essay "No More Lollipops" and pages 83-86 of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter both detail the relationships between fathers and daughter. McCullers and Adams both show the relationship as one that is on a predominately emotional level. However, Adams shows that this relationship deteriorates at a certain age, while The Heart is a Lonely Hunter shows it as perpetuating.