Upfront Essay

Zainah Gadoui   711   ELA                    

         Imagine having to spend all of your senior year in high school studying. No watching TV or video games, no dating, nothing to do but study. It would be terrible, and the only thing that would make it worse would be to have that test be the only thing that matters in your life after high school. Well, that’s what happens to the millions of high school students in China who have to take the gaokao. The gaokao is basically the Chinese version of the SAT’s or ACT’s but with much more riding on it. It’s absolutely not fair that so much is riding on a single test.

         If they don’t do well on the gaokao, that’s it. They wont get to go to college, and they’ll have to go into manual labor. You can see this with the quote “The boys knew that manual labor would be their fate too, if they failed to do well on the gaokao.” This shows that it’s normal to have everything be in the hands of a single test. They cant afford to do anything besides manual labor, and their fathers spent a year away working 12 hour days every day, and now that their fate.

         Spending your entire senior year of high school studying intensely is the norm for the millions of the Chinese high school students that take the gaokao test. Having your entire future lying on a test is utterly unfair to students and teachers.

poems essay

Zainah Gadoui 711        Essay

         Have you ever thought someone in your family doesn’t do much for you? Ever thought that they don’t love you like you love them? Turns out, they probably do, but have a different way of showing it. Or maybe you’re not looking close enough.  “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke convey different attitudes from the speakers to their fathers.

         “Those Winter Sundays” and “My Papa’s Waltz” both show the attitude of love towards theirs fathers at the end of the poem. This is shown in “Those Winter Sundays” with the quote, “What did I know, what did I know/ of love’s austere and lonely offices?” This shows that not everyone can see love even though (in these cases) its there. The speaker feels regretful that they didn’t appreciate their father’s love when it was there. The second poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, shows love with the lines “Then waltzed me off to bed/ still clinging to your shirt.” I think that “My Papa’s Waltz” was about child abuse. This shows that the speaker still loves their father even though he was hurting them.

         In “Those Winter Sundays”, the speaker was indifferent to their father up until the ending. This demonstrates that idea “Speaking indifferently to him/ who had driven out the cold/ and polished my good shoes as well.” This shows that the speaker didn’t realize how much their father did for them. He woke up early, warmed up the house, and polished their good shoes, and the speaker didn’t even realize. In “My Papa’s Waltz” the speaker expressed love to their father the entire time. This shows that idea “Could make a small boy dizzy/ But I hung on like death/ such waltzing was not easy.” This reveals that the speaker loved his father the entire time, even though it wasn’t easy to love him after what he did.

         Both poems express different things about the speakers’ fathers. One was indifferent to their father until the end, when they realized how much love he expressed. The other poem showed that the speaker loved their father even though it wasn’t easy because he was beating them. Overall, love is important, as is appreciation for what others do for you.

A Wrinkle in Time essay

Zainah Gadoui 711          

         Whose perspective is missing in the text? What would it be like if we put it back? This, I think, is an important question to ask when reading A Wrinkle in Time. Charles Wallace is an important character, and the readers would benefit from having his perspective.

         One of the things we would learn from having Charles Wallace’s perspective is how much more he knew than Meg. This quote shows this, “Not now Meg,’ Charles Wallace said. ‘Slowly. I’ll tell you about it later.’” This shows that even though he’s so young, he knows so much, much more than he’s letting people know. He understands everything on a deeper level than everyone else, even people who are 3 times his age.

         Another thing that readers would learn from having Charles Wallace’s perspective is while he knows a lot about what people are thinking, he doesn’t know everything about what’s happening. Charles Wallace is the dependent, loveable character that is supposed to know all. “Beside her, a tremor went through Charles Wallace, but he sat very still.” This makes me think that Charles Wallace wants to be the person that everyone turns to when they’re confused or afraid, but he cant be when he doesn’t understand something.

         Overall, Charles Wallace is an important character who would have made the story better with his perspective. Readers would have known how his brain worked, to when he was terrified. It would comfort us when he knew what was happening, and given us a chill when he didn’t. His perspective would have made A Wrinkle in Time better.

ZAINAH GADOUI    ELA       BUILDING BRIDGES   711

         Having adults be in charge of your life is difficult, to say the least. In the short story “Building Bridges” by Andrea Pinkley, the main character, Bebe, wants to work on the bridge project, but her grandmother, Mama Lil, won’t let her. I think a theme of this book is you have to follow your dreams, whether the adults in your life support you or not. Through Bebe’s journey to work on the bridge project we see that she represents hope and determination.

         At first, we see how intent on Bebe is to go to the bridge project, that she’ll make her only family member distraught. “I don’t wanna cross you Mama Lil, but I will if I have to.” This demonstrates that Bebe is so serious about doing the bridge project that she’ll irritate the only family she’s got. This is good because she’s not always going to live with Mama Lil. Bebe is going to be by herself at one point, and she’ll be depressed if she’s not doing what she loves. “I’ll sign it myself. I been helping you sign checks and letters for years now.” This shows that Bebe will do anything to get to the bridge, even sneaking out and forgery.

         Later in the story, Bebe has realized that she needs to do what makes her happy, with or not with Mama Lil’s support. “Mama Lil, I got to find my way.’ This quote explains how she tries to tell Mama Lil how important the Brooklyn Bridge is to her, and how she feels that Mama Lil has to let her go, and let Bebe do her thing. After a breakfast of fried Dunbar’s ham, Bebe says, “’Mama Lil,’ I said firmly ‘I’m going to the bridge’”. Bebe is done asking permission to follow her dreams. She’s going to do what she wants to do, by herself if she has to.

         In Bebe’s journey to working on the bridge project, we see that she symbolizes hope and determination. This connects to most teenagers’ lives. We fight with the people who are in charge of us, so we can do what we want. This story relates to us because we all do what Bebe does, which is argue, but even though Bebe and Mama Lil argue, Bebe still stays hopeful. Bebe still hopes that Mama Lil will somehow change her mind, and sign the permission slip for her.

My Name

Zainah Gadoui    711     ELA     My Name

            In Arabic, my name means good and beautiful. I don’t like my name. I don’t want to be defined by it. My name is awkward. Nobody can say it. Nobody can spell it. Different can be good, but being so far out there that no one can see you isn’t a good thing.

My name came from nowhere. Nobody in my family had it before me. It was just suggested because it was pretty. My parents were deciding between my name and another one. Ayeesha. It was my grandmother’s name. If I got Ayeesha, at least it would mean something to me and my family. Zainah. It means nothing to us.

            Zainah reminds me of cool, stormy, summer nights. I can see it now. Dark grey and black clouds. Slightly drizzling. Purple lightning bolts lighting up the sky. Cool and humid. You don’t know what is happening.

            If I had the chance to change my name, I would do it in a heartbeat. Without question, I would change Zainah to Ana. But I wouldn’t change it on my birth certificate. I wouldn’t make it official. Even if I do change my name, I will always have been born a Zainah. Even though the name Ana means nothing to my family or me, at least people can see and spell Ana.