Calpurnia

A/N: Here's my essay for To Kill A Mockingbird. It's a character analysis of Calpurnia. This is still a bit of a rough draft, I just needed this on my blog before eleven. haha. I'm planning on going back and fixing things...

As a motherly figure, and the gateway to the black society for the Finches, Calpurnia is a very important character. She tries to fill the gap between the black and white societies, she looks after Jem and Scout as if they were her own children, and they respect her. Though Calpurnia's motherly love for the children is true, she doesn't quite practice what she preaches. 

Calpurnia, since Scout's mother had died, is the only woman figure for Scout to look up to throughout the book. Because of this, Calpurnia feels that she has to the right to show and teach Scout just as a mother would. She protects Scout and the other children just as a mother would too. When Calpurnia says Jem and Scout have a boundary between Mrs. Dubose’s house and the Radley place, it shows that she wants them close enough so they can hear her voice when she calls for them. This is showing that Calpurnia, like a mother, is very protective of them, and does not want them to get hurt. 

Calpurnia takes the Finches to the black church. This is their first encounter with the real "black society." Even though Calpurnia tells them that blacks and whites are equal, and the whites are the racist ones, Calpurnia uses a different tone of voice, even a completely different dialect with the members of the church when they tell her that she shouldn't be bring whites into the church. This completely counteracts what she says; The blacks can be racist, just as the whites are, and if everybody is truly equal, Calpurnia would not have needed to change her dialect when speaking to whites as opposed to speaking with blacks. 

Despite Calpurnia's efforts to show the Finches blacks and whites are equal, her actions speak more than her words. Though she preaches whites and blacks are equal, and that we shouldn't be racist, the scene at the church shows how she subconsciously acts and reveals that the two societies are very different. Calpurnia also cares deeply for the Finch children, and they look up to her, despite the fact she is black. Atticus also respects her, although he is a grown white man. In a way, she did break the border between whites and blacks, if only a little bit and for few people.

Earthbound Chapter Two: Buzz Buzz's Demise

A/N: Chapter two...yay! Next chapter and we can start Ness' adventures!

We followed Buzz Buzz down back down the hill. I'm sure we all had plenty of thoughts racing through our heads, but I wouldn't be afraid to bet that I was the most confused, intrigued, and scared by this. The way back down the hill, Buzz Buzz said nothing. Nobody said anything. It was quiet and suspenseful.

BZZT.

A flash of light appeared in front of us, revealing a shiny, silver, humanoid figure.

"Buzz Buzz," It's voice was robotic, complete with the whirring and the clanking, "You have tried to foil master Giygas' plans far too many times. This is the end of you and your plans. I will squash you like the insect you are!"

And with that, we were engaged in combat. Buzz Buzz had put up what seemed to be a shield…a psychic shield of sorts. Honestly, Porky, Picky, and I didn't do much in this battle. Buzz Buzz had done all the fighting and shielding. Without much effort, Buzz Buzz had taken down the silver figure. It's broken, robotic parts splayed across the grass.

"We must hurry. The Starman have caught on," Buzz Buzz flew away toward my house.

"Wait," Porky yelled, "I have to get home! I'm already deep in trouble I don't think should be out much longer."

Picky piped in, "Yeah! Our parents probably already have flames burstin' out of their ears. If we're gone much longer they might explode or somethin'"  Buzz Buzz stopped and changed his path, this time toward Porky's house.

"Very well then," he said. 

Porky gulped and opened the door to his house. Immediately we were greeted by his mother. "PORKY! PICKY!" Porky and Picky lowered their heads. "What were you two doing out so late?" Her voice boomed throughout the house. The siblings eyes widened when they heard a thudding down the stairs.

"Boys!" Their father said, his voice filled with anger. "You'r-" Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by his wife's loud shriek.

"EEEEEEEEE!" She frantically waved her arms around, swatting at the air. "A bug! A bug!"

Buzz Buzz maneuvered around the woman's' large hand, but he could only keep this up for so long. Lardna had swatted him down.

"Thank heavens. Stupid dung beetles," Lardna muttered. 

I went to Buzz Buzz, he clearly wasn't going to survive what had just happened. "Ness…" he coughed. It was quite odd to hear a bug cough. "Ness listen to me. This is very important. Are you listening?" I nodded, Buzz Buzz continued. "There are eight locations throughout the world. Your Sanctuaries, Ness. You must find the eight Sanctuaries. Here you will gather power from the earth and a short part of a melody. Here, take this." Suddenly, a stone appeared in front of him. "This is the sound stone. Use this to record the melodies from the Sanctuaries."

 I was confused, what exactly were the Sanctuaries? Where would I find them? How would I even know what they look like? And as if Buzz Buzz had read my thoughts, he continued on. "These Sanctuaries all have names, Giant Step, Lilliput Steps, Milky Well, Rainy Circle, Magnet Hill, Pink Cloud, Lumine Hall, and Fire Spring. Only you can access the power from these locations Ness. I-" Buzz Buzz coughed again, "I must be taking my leave now. I unfortunately cannot carry on any longer. Good luck, Ness."

Buzz Buzz was gone.

I said my farewells to the Minch's and went back to my house. I explained to my mother everything that had happened; Everything that Buzz Buzz had told me. We sat in silence for a long moment. She put her hand on my shoulder and smiled.

"Well, Mr. Chosen One. Hero's need their sleep too."

Earthbound Chapter One: Buzz Buzz and the Meteorite

 A/N: How about I just involve Earthbound in everything I write? Haha. Anyways I'm planning on writing the entire game of Earthbound. I feel this will be a bit of challenge considering I want to keep as close to canon as I can. This includes Ness' very limited vocabulary. In the entire game of Earthbound, Ness is only able to say two things, yes or no! I'm going to try and write this entire thing with Ness only saying variations of those two words. It'll be tough, but It's possible! Also, I'll probably be mentioning the a place called Eagleland in future chapters. It should have been mentioned in this but..oh well. Eagleland is basically a romanticized version of America, where most of the game takes place. Just throwing that in here for future reference.

The year was 199X. A young boy named Ness slept in his bed in his humble hometown, Onett. It was a normal night, nothing strange or peculiar had happened or was going to happen. Or, so it seemed. 

I was woken by a strange crashing noise coming from outside. Me and all of the town. I looked out my window and saw light switch after light switch flicking on, soon the entire town was illuminated.  I rushed downstairs to speak of this mysterious occurrence to my mother and my sister. They both seemed just as shaken up by it as I was.

"Ness," My mother yelled, throwing herself at me and burying me into her arms, "are you alright? Are you hurt? Is everything ok?" I weaseled my way out of her grip and gave a shy smile. "Oh! Of course you're alright! It came from outside! And you weren't outside!" She paused and looked at me, her eyes narrowed. "Were you?"

I shook my head. "Oh, dear me. Perhaps you would like to go outside and investigate?" I nodded and smiled. I headed out the door and heard her call back to me. "Do be careful!" I waved to show I had acknowledged what she had said and went on my way.

My first instinct was to go up the hill, as I could have sworn I saw something up there. As I approached the top of the hill, I saw one of my…well, acquaintances. He would say we were friends but quite honestly this man made me a bit uneasy. Lier X. Aggregate called out to me in a harsh whisper.

"Hey! Ness," he looked around, assuring we were the only ones around, "I got somethin' to show ya'. Later, though! Come to my house later, will ya'?" I was a bit uncertain about agreeing to this, but I did anyways. I smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "Alright I'll see ya' round' then." He whispered to me and went back into his small house.

I continued up the hill, only to be stopped by the police, a few roadblocks, and our neighbor. Porky Minch spotted me and motioned me over to him. "Hey! Ness! Don't be rubberneckin'. The cop," Porky stopped and coughed a bit," I mean, the officers are just tryin' to do their job. I got this covered! Why don't you just go home, there's nothing for ya' do be doing here right now anyways."

Porky was right, I really couldn't do much with all the police blocking my path up the hill. From what I could see, though, there was a giant meteorite! I almost couldn't believe it, a meteorite! I walked home, thinking of the giant rock jammed at the top of the hill of my small town.  While this was still amazing to me, I had no idea this meteor would change my life forever.

I had gone back to bed, when I was woken again. This time not from a thundering crash, but from somebody knocking on the door. My mother was yelling at me from her room, "Ness! Answer the door, will you?". I crawled out of bed and drowsily plopped down the stairs. I opened the door and was quickly pushed back by Porky.

"Ness! Oh you gotta help me! I lost Picky up by the meteor! Ohh, my folks are gonna give it me!" He ran up to me and put his hands on my shoulders. "You'll help me, right? Ness? We're best friends right?" I stared at him, still shaken from his spontaneous entrance. He let go of my shoulders and looked at me again, a smirk appeared upon his pudgy face. "And if you refuse, I will say words that will cut you like a knife." 

"Okay." 

"Alright! Let's blow this Popsicle stand! You ready Ness?"

Before I could say anything, I heard my mother descend down the stairs. "Ness? Is somebody there?"

Porky rolled his eyes and put on a false smile. "Oh, good evening, ma'am! Looking lovely as usual," Porky snickered, "Ness and I were just about to go back up to the meteor, I left something up there and It's awfully dangerous to go alone!"

"Porky's right, Ness! It is dangerous! We're you planning on going out in just your pajamas? Go upstairs and change into your clothes. And get the baseball bat from your sisters room, it might prove to be useful. If you want, you can take the dog along. He's old but he's faithful and loyal."

I was back downstairs in a few minutes, fully dressed and baseball bat in hand. Our old dog, King came up to me. I pat him on the head. He barked, "I may be old but I'm not useless. Take me with you if you want."  I was the only one who could decipher his bark, though. I always could, so I never thought of it as anything strange. 

Porky reached for the doorknob but then quickly turned  around. "Hey, Ness. Why don’t you go in front?" I don't understand why he even asked, as he put himself behind me. I sighed and we headed out the door.

I barely took ten steps away from my front door before a dog had run up to us, baring its teeth. Porky jumped back and squealed. I held the bat tight in my hands, bracing to fight the runaway took charging toward me. I was about to swing when King jumped in front and snarled back at the dog. King bit down into the other dog. It whimpered and backed away, it's tail between its' legs. I let out a sigh of relief. Porky was on the ground, blubbering and shielding himself from behind me.

"Is it gone?" He asked, darting his eyes back and forth, not daring to move from his defensive position. 

I nodded and helped him up from the ground. He looked around nervously again and then brushed off the dirt from his clothes.  "Whew! What a tough fight, aren't you lucky I was here to help ya. Huh, Ness?"

I simply rolled my eyes and motioned him to follow. We eventually got to the top of the hill and spotted Picky, leaning against a tree, incredibly close to the large glowing space rock.  "Picky!" Porky yelled, shaking his brother awake, "Why'd ya' run off like that? We're gonna be in deep trouble now! No thank to you." 

"I'm sorry, Porky." Picky sheepishly answered. "I just wanted to see what was up here and I was really tired, so I must've fallen asleep!" 

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, tell that to dad!" Porky stopped, looked around, and then looked at me. "Hey, Ness. You hear that? It’s a buzzing noise, like a bee or somethin'" 

I nodded. I did hear something. I perked up my ears and listened carefully. It seemed to be coming from the meteorite. I approached it cautiously, one slow step after another. I wasn't even a foot away before a large beam of light burst from the meteor, temporarily blinding all of us.

I noticed a small bug, and much to my surprise…much to all of our surprise it started talking.

"A bee I am not," The mysterious bug paused, "I'm from 10 years in the future. And, in the future, all is devastation. Giygas, the universal cosmic destroyer, sent all to the horror of eternal darkness. However, you must listen! Where I am from, there is a well known legend that has been handed down from ancient times. It says, 'When the chosen boy reaches the point, he will find the light. The passing of time will shatter the nightmare rock and will reveal the path of light.' You see, it is my opinion that you are that boy, Ness. This I believe. Giygas' monstrous plan must have been set in motion somewhere on Earth. If you start to confront the enemy immediately, you may have time to counter the evil intentions of Giygas. Three things are of the utmost importance: wisdom, courage, and friendship. The legends from the ancient times tell of three boys and a girl who defeat Giygas. I will tell you more later. Go now!" Buzz Buzz stopped again, Porky opened his mouth to add a comment but the time traveling insect continued. "And do not be anxious about the future. You have much work to do, Ness."

I stood in awe, staring at the future bug that flew in front of me.  Porky looked around, and then opened his mouth, breaking the silence. "I'm…I'm not one of those three boys, am I? I really don't wanna get involved in all of this stuff."

"You must go, Ness. Your journey starts now, let us go."

Lawyers, I Suppose, Were Children Once.

A/N: Although this quote isn't actual in the story, it is at the very beginning of the book. Out of everything in the book, this quote stuck with me the most. 


"Lawyers, I suppose, were children once."
- Charles Lamb

 Lawyers are known for fighting for their clients case, no matter what the circumstances call for. Lying, cheating, you name it. They are known for charging ridiculously large amounts of money for their clients; Twenty dollars per email, one hundred dollars just to show up at the courthouse. Lawyers have a reputation for being very manipulative, they are not known for being filled with innocence, much like a child is.

Using the term lawyer in a much broader sense, as in, the entire justice system (Including the jury of the court), this quote applies to the novel To Kill A Mockingbird very nicely. It is quite obvious that Tom Robinson is innocent. The jury and the judge refuse to believe this, though, because Tom Robinson is of color, automatically making him wrong. The children of this story see that this is not right and that he shouldn't be automatically claimed guilty because he isn't white. If everybody had the reasoning of the children, the case would have went down much differently, most likely with Tom Robinson being claimed as innocent.

Trees

A/N: Well, hopefully the introduction is okay. Still having a hard time with those

We see trees almost every day but many don't realize how important they are. Important as in, providing us oxygen or providing us symbolism in books.Trees are very important in the novel Speak. They symbolize Melinda's growth as a person after the rape. Melinda is given one subject to draw in art the entire year; Trees. Though at the beginning the trees are often dead or bland slowly her art transforms into beautiful, meaningful pieces. 

When Melinda first pulls the slip of paper that says the must draw trees the entire year, she tries to put the slip of paper back in the globe. This shows that Melinda does not want to advance as a person, and wants to ignore everything that has happened. Melinda is able to ignore the incident for some time but as the year goes on, she slowly starts accepting it as shown by the symbolism of the trees. 

One of the projects Melinda does Mr.Freeman is very displeased by. He tells Melinda that the tree is too perfect. Melinda does this because she refuses to acknowledge that she needs help. She wants to push back the memories and pretend everything is okay. Now beyond the point of suffering, she feigns ignorance of the situation. 

An interesting note is that up until her final project, Melinda does all of her art projects by carving linoleum blocks. With carving, she can only do things once, and once they're done there is no turning back. This could be how Melinda felt. She felt that whatever is in the past is done, and does not need anymore further attention, even if it was a mistake. 

An example of the symbolism of trees in this novel outside of Melinda's art projects is when she finds men chopping branches off a tree in her front yard. Melinda is sure that the men are killing the tree but her father tells her that the tree is simply sick and that cutting off the ill-ridden and damaged branches will help the tree grow again. Melinda is like the tree because she is sick and damaged, which is stopping her from growing as a person.

Trees play an important role as symbolism in this novel. It is a widely reoccurring theme for a good reason. One of the most important subjects in this book is Melinda's growth and how she progresses throughout the year. The trees symbolize this growth and are able to show the reader how she's feeling without directly showing them.