Grandparents

Grandparents

Grandparents teaches moral. The grandchildren can see how the grandparents survived many hardships and can take inspiration from that. The grandparents will be able to see that their values had been passed down correctly and that the kids would have good morals. In “A Celebration of Grandfathers,” Anaya’s grandfather teaches him how to be patient. Grandparents are a source of trust. Grandparents love their grandchildren unconditionally, so the children see them as people who they can actually talk to. I always tell my grandmother what is going on in my life. Having a grandparent actively in a child’s life will improve things for the parents, too. You can get a great sense of heritage by just being with both your grandparents and parents. My grandmother and mother love telling me stories from when my mother was my age. It’s interesting to hear how much the world has changed since then. They teach people about the past. Grandparents have been alive for decades, so they could really teach the children about the world and the experiences they had. The also set a great example for their grandchildren. They show that people can survive through many hardships and end up being successful later on in life.

Family Traditions

My family goes on two trips each year. Typically My mother, father, brother, and I go to Disneyland or Walt Disney World in the springtime. In the summer, my mother, grandmother, brother, and I go on another trip. It varies each year and we talk about where we want to go. This summer we went to London, Paris, and Amsterdam, and we all loved it. I'd like to continue this tradition because I think it is a great way to see the world. My mom always brings us to the historical spots, so it's a great way to actually see what I've read in the history books.

Vocabulary (SAT-Like Words)

Atone: to make amends or reparation (Verb)

Pinguid: Fat (Adjective)

Agog: highly excited by eagerness, curiosity, anticipation, etc. (adjective)

Panache: a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair (Noun)

Iconoclast: a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition (noun)

Escapade: a reckless adventure or wild prank (noun)

Offal: the parts of a butchered animal that are considered inedible by human beings (noun)

Paragon: a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence (noun)

Palisade: a fence of pales or stake set firmly in the ground, as for enclosure or defense (noun)

Diminution: lessening, decreasing, or reducing (noun)

A Celebration of Grandfathers End Questions

1. His grandfather was a farmer

2. So he could learn how to be a farmer

3. Greeting elders with “Buenos dias le de Dios” because is respectful

4. To be respectful, how to farm, to help ant bites, to pray for the rain, to have patience

5. As a kid, Anaya thought his grandfather was a giant but he was actually five feet tall

6. His grandpa didn’t talk much, so when he spoke, Anaya listened. He remembered everything he said, and learned valuable life lessons. Example: When Anaya was bitten badly by ants, he put mud on it and stated “Know where you stand.”

7. Although people said how great it was for the grandfather to live to 94, they don’t realize that the last few years were full of suffering. He knows to realize the difficulty of becoming so old and respect that.

Le evidence:

            “He was ninety-four when he died. Family, neighbors, and friends gathered; they all agreed he had led a rich life. I remembered the last years, the years he spent in bed. And as I remember now, I am reminded that it is too easy to romanticize old age. Sometimes we forget the pain of the transformation into old age, we forget the natural breaking down of the body…. Mt grandfather pointed to the leaves falling from the tree. So time brings with its transformation the often-painful wearing-down process.

8. Writing anything takes time, as does growing crops. They both have patience to bring them from the ground up.

9. Option One: Admiration. Anaya looks back on his grandfather as a great man, and shows that through his writing. He really respects him and looks up to him.

OR OR OR

It could be persuasive. At the beginning and end, he really highlights the need to respect your elders. Perhaps the innards of the story are just one big example.

Option One Example:

I am glad I knew my grandfather. I am glad there are still times when I can see him in my dreams, hear him in my reverie

Option Two Example:

So as I would greet my abuelo long ago, it would help us all to greet the old ones we know with this kind and respectful greeting.

10. Anaya doesn’t seem to agree with that. He believes that the older ways are better and elders need to be honoured by continuing them.

Evil thingamajig

            I believe that evil people do exist. There are a lot of people who think that gay marriage is a sin. Those people always say that gays are going to hell, and gay marriage will ruin the sanctity of traditional marriage. Some people even get physical with them, leaving that person wounded not only physically, but also emotionally. I think that people deserve the same rights, even if they are have a different race, religion, or sexuality. I think that people who are willing to bring misery to others because that person is different is evil. On top of that, I think that evil people would purposely make people feel like they are less human than the accuser.

People all have different opinions and beliefs. I have a friend who comes from an über-religious family. She got in a debate with someone over gay marriage. She said that she had nothing wrong with gay people, but she didn’t support non-traditional marriage. Usually, the best excuse that type of people can come up with is “the bible said so.” She was raised on the bible, and thinks every part of it is complete fact. Everyone is raised differently with different morals. Miss Strangeworth thought that it was her duty to keep evil out of town, even though she was part of it. Sometimes morals are lost in translation, and that person will think that something evil is actually correct. I was raised to treat everyone equally, and that I shall do. There is nothing wrong with being raised differently, but people need to know when what they are doing is bad. The line needs to be drawn when people are being hurt by the actions. At some point, people realize that what they are doing is wrong. You know when you are being mean.

There is no actual definition of evil, but it is out there. Everywhere you go there will be someone who fits your mold of evil.

A Possibility Of Evil Questions (Yay. -_-)

1. Miss Strangeworth is known as the sweet old woman whose family has lived in town for ages. She is known for her repetition: buying tea on the same day each week, sleeping at the same time, walking to the same places at the same time every day. Miss Strangeworth is also very proud and protective of her roses.

2. She sends people letters about the wrongdoings of others.

3. When she goes to put a letter in the mailbox, it falls out. A teenager sees the letter drop and delivers the letter to the person it was addressed to. The teenager told the person who it was from, and they figured out that Miss Strangeworth was the hater.

4. She believed that there was a large amount of evil in the world. To fix that, she started sending her letters.

5. Several times throughout the book, she noticed how miserable people in the community looked. Because her mind was wrapped around the thought of her letters helping the community, she couldn’t tell that it was her letters causing the pain.

6. Miss Strangeworth is insistent on living graciously, so it is ironic that she would stoop so low as to send hate mail to people.

7.

Text: Shirley Jackson wrote "...wickedness was never easily banished, and a clean heart was a scoured heart.” It shows that Miss Strangeworth thought that honesty was important. She felt it was necessary to tell people the wrongdoings/secrets of other in order to keep the heart light.

Knowledge: I am a firm believer in the saying “honesty is the best policy,” but I think some things are best left unsaid. I think it’s up to the secret-keepers to tell the truth, not their friends.

The winter rumor storm!!!

Conclusion: Miss Strangeworth thought that it was her duty to banish all evil in the world.

8. I think that it was perfect punishment. Throughout the story, it is told that her roses are her pride and joy. Hacking them down would hurt her more than anything else, so it was the perfect revenge.

9. I think that she will be shunned. Everyone will know that she was the letter sender, and most people have been blackmailed by then.

10. I don’t think that Miss Strangeworth is evil, but I know she’s not a saint either. She thought that she was helping the community, but in fact she was ruining it. I think that evil people purposely hurt people, and she was just trying to help.

11. People set themselves up as morally higher than others and they tell people what they are doing is wrong. Mrs. Strangeworth thinks she’s a moral guardian, but she’s actually sinning just as much as the other people are.

A Possibility Of Evil Response

 Overall, I really enjoyed reading “A Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson and I would definitely read another one of Jackson’s stories.

I thought the writing of the story was very interesting. Jackson described the town, as a perfect, tight-knit little community, with the story centered around one sweet old lady. At first I liked Miss Strangeworth, but then I learned more about her. She was very possessive of the town and definitely status-obsessed. She loved to point out how long her family had been in town and was very proud of her roses. I believe that she had OCD tendencies. She very much liked order and did the same thing constantly – even bought her tea every week on the same day! Even though she seemed extremely weird from the get-go, I actually thought that she would end up being the victim in this story. I figured that “A Possibility of Evil” would be some sort of sick and twisted old woman massacre.

            In a community so perfect, it seems as though nothing could go wrong. That is why I extremely surprised when granny ended up being the person behind the hate mail. I found it extremely ironic that she thought her hate mail would help protect the community from evil, when in fact she was the evil.

            I thought that the ending was a bit predictable. Throughout the entire story, Miss Strangeworth’s roses were a big part of her life, and everyone knew it. Once people found out that she was sending the hate mail, of course they went after her roses. They were her pride and joy, and cutting them would hurt her more than any other form of revenge. When she started crying, I actually felt rather bad for her. Did she deserve it? Yes, but she was only trying to help. If only she had thought for a moment about her actions and realized that she was hurting more people than she was helping.

            Moral of the story: old people are weird.