Lockdown

There it was again, the unnecessary annoying sound of my alarm clock on snooze. The bright light from my clock telling me that it was 7:30 am, this is way to early.

I knew that I would probably be late so why not take my time, late is still late. I got up from my bed and trudged toward the mirror, seeing the same 16 year old girl I see every single day. As I stare in the mirror I get this feeling that today will probably be a horrible day, but when has school ever been good. I washed my face, put on my clothes, grabbed my backpack and binders and out the door I went. 

The walk to school was peaceful, Blink-182 blasting in my ear, no one talking. I mean until I was interrupted by Julia, and Josh trailing behind her. I have known Julia for almost 8 years now and Well I can say the only thing that has changed about her is her face and breast size. Josh on the other hand has liked Julia for 3 years, I wouldn't blame him, she's not that bright but she is a pretty size 2 blonde. Walking to school with them was kind of torturous hearing his effort of trying to talk to her was killing me, but sooner or later we got to class. 

During third period I was about ready to leave but I knew I couldn't. Social Studies was my worst subject and having Mr. Jenkins as a teacher definitely did not help. The corner of the class was filled with banter and giggles from Josh and Julia, and other pubescent boys throwing notes around. This period was going nowhere so I asked if I could be excused, I would rather kill time in the bathroom than in this class. I walked to the 2nd floor girls washroom and planned to stay there for at least 15 minutes. Say something like I had a eyeliner problem that was urgent, or that a guidance counselor stopped to talk to me in the hallway. When I got there I looked in the mirror again and saw the same old boring person, I leaned in when to take a better look right when the Announcement bell came on.

"LOCKDOWN. TEACHERS LOCKDOWN." 

Oh god, I knew what this meant and an uneasy feeling then hit me hard. The announcement was followed by screams and the slamming of doors, but by the time I got out of the bathroom all the doors were locked, and no teachers were in sight. I ran back into the washroom, locked my stall and  sat on the back of the toilet with my feet on the lid. All that is running through my head is "I will not die in a school washroom." I become so silent I can hear some of the water trailing through the pipes, a faint scraping noise from the lockers arises and I know someone is outside. The sound becomes louder and louder heading from the east wing closer to the west wing, as the sound becomes louder so does my breath, I'm trying to calm my self down but it won't work. The West wing girls washroom was definitely  not a good place to hide, it only had 2 stalls and you couldn't lock anyone out. Whoever was out there was sure to come in, the sounds from the locker stopped, but a steady step like a rhythmic drum got louder and louder.

"CLICK, CLACK, CLICK, CLACK, CLICK CLACK."

The sound had stopped as if the person outside had caught something of interest. It was silent and I definitely had no clue what was happening, I could feel my stomach turning into knots,  it getting harder for me to breathe. Just then, did I hear the Girls West Wing Washroom slowly creek open. 

My heart was pounding out of my chest, and I was not prepared to die. I started praying to any and all gods, and bracing myself for what is about to happen. The stall to my right had slowly opened and I can see the black shoes standing there. They moved to the the stall i was hiding in, and the door wouldn't open, they then  proceded to kick the door til it swung open. 

I couldn't look, I was terrified. I decided to look up on the count of 3. 

1...2...3. Standing there was someone, long brown haired, black shoes, and jeans, about 5 ft. 3. It was me. 

The other me raised the gun in my left hand and shot. It became dark and silent I couldn't tell if i was dead but i probably was. It then became clear to me, I raised my head and realized I fell asleep in class, and just as soon as I woke up. 

I heard a very familiar ding. Over the announcements it said 

" LOCKDOWN. TEACHERS LOCKDOWN."

Major Elements of Short Story: Randal Dahl

1) plot:

- introduction : The introduction shows a man who is on vacation in Jamaica and decides to lounge on the pool deck.

- conflict: In a sense the conflict is Man vs. Man because the fact that it was a bet between two men. However you can also say it was Man vs. Himself because the Man from the south had been struggle with a clear problem if he had cut off 47 fingers and lost 11 cars. Also Man vs. Himself because the american boy needs to chose whether a car is really worth chopping his finger off.
- rising action: This is when the bet is being made and when the boy feels taunted by the first offer he didnt take. "He was sitting there very still, and it was obvious that a small tension was beginning to build up inside him."
- climax: The climax is when the boy is lighting the lighter and as every time he lights the tension builds."Three!" "Four!" "Five!" "Six!" "Seven!"  "I watched the thumb snapping the top down onto the flame. Then a pause. Then the thumb raising the top once more. This was an all-thumb operation. The thumb did everything. I took a breath, ready to say eight. The thumb flicked the wheel"
- falling action: The falling action is when the lady comes in and takes Carlos by surprise, because the tension is gone. We all turned and we saw a woman standing in the doorway, a small, black-haired woman, rather old, who stood there for about two seconds then rushed forward shouting, "Carlos! Carlos!" She grabbed his wrist, took the chopper from him, threw it on the bed, 
- denouement:  when the girl comes in and stops carlos and then grabs the keys and sees that her fingers are cutt off. 

2) Characters
- protagonist: The protagonist would be the sailor, because he is the person against the opposing force; Carlos
- antagonist: The antagonist would be the man from the south who made the bet; Carlos
- static: The british girl does not really change, throughout the story and still has the same opinion of the bet being a ridiculous idea.
- round (complex with many characteristics) 
- flat : The simple character would be the man we were first introduced to. We don't know his name or anything about him and he still feels the same about the old man, he basically keeps his perspective the same. 
- stock character: would be the sailor I feel like he is a stereotypical character because he comes off nice, and willing to take a challenge, and when he turns it down it bothers him like it would bother any other 20 something year old guys who would turn down a bet for a car.
- dynamic/round:  the antagonist carlos  wears a nice white suit, a panama hat and smoke cigars he seems like a very rich man, but at the end you discover he has no cars to bet on, and they are there because of all the bets he made.

3) Setting: The story takes place in the evening in Jamaica.
- time:  It was getting on toward six o'clock" 
- place:  "A fine evening," he said. "They are all evenings fine here in Jamaica."
4) Theme: Suspense because this story builds a lot of tension, and it gives you the creeps after wards.
5) Point of View: The point of view is told from the narrator/ the man who talks in first person.
-first person: The story is told in first person through the man who is first introduced, he tells the story and the bet from his perspective, he is also not in the bet so it puts him in a place that would not be biased.
-third person: none or limited.
6) Foreshadowing: This line foreshadows that the man may be up to something " I must say I didn't much like the way he was behaving. It seemed he was already trying to make something out of this, and to embarrass the boy, and at the same time I had the feeling he was relishing a private little secret all his own."

Walk a mile in someones shoes

   As human beings we pass judgement, and we never really get the time to sit down and analyze every aspect of someone you just met or know little about. The opinions of others and what we hear, much like in the media affect the way we think, and creates a rather biased opinion. If you were to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, every so often it can change your perspective of how you feel and view them, but also how you feel and see yourself.

    In the play Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio is a very wild character. Who shows vulgar humor, and a quick wit to the play. Throughout the beginning of the play he is ready to duel, and is always looking for an opportunity to fight. He taunts Romeo for being such an emotional guy, and encourages him to fight. Until the scene of his tragic and angry death; Act 3 Scene 1. During this scene Mercutio taunts Tybalt, and when Romeo is begging for Tybalt to stop, Mercutio is outraged saying "O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!" He is outraged by the weakness of romeo, so than Mercutio than decides to step up and fight thus getting him killed. While dying Mercutio now sees what trouble the feud has made, and curses both the Montague and Capulet houses "A plague o' both your houses!"

In this case he realizes how stupid this feud has been and in this perspective he walks a mile in Prince Escalus's shoes. In the first act of the play after a small brawl between Montague and Capulet Prince Escalus says 

"Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate: 

If ever you disturb our streets again, 
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace." 

In the book "The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night- Time".  It was discovered that Christophers mom, Mrs. Boone leaves him and Mr. Boone for their neighbour; Mr Shears. Christopher and his dad are now alone, and Mr. Boone experiences walking a mile in Mrs. Boone's shoes. He walks a mile in Mrs. Boone's shoes because he plays both the father figure but also the mother figure. In chapter 127 pg 53 an arguement between Christopher and Mr. Boone's happens. He starts to lose his temper and then grabs and hits Christopher; In the book Christopher tells the readers  "Father had never grabbed hold of me like that before. Mother had hit me sometimes because she was a very hot-tempered person, which means that she got angry more quickly than other people and she shouted more often. But Father was a more levelheaded person, which means he didn't get angry as quickly and he didn't shout as often."

The change in behaviour shows that Mr. Boone had started becoming more short tempered, much like his wife had felt. This could be a sign of the stress and pressure he feels when he takes care of Cristopher, much like the stress his Wife had felt. On page 131 Mr. Boone and Mrs. Boone argue and he tells her how he feels shouting  "I cooked his meals. I cleaned his clothes. I looked after him every weekend. I looked after him when he was ill. I took him to the doctor. I worried myself sick every time he wandered off somewhere at night. I went to school every time he got into a fight." 

This shows the stress and the role he took on of walking a mile in Mrs. Boone shoes. As the book ends Christopher forgives his father and starts to understand that what he did was confusing but he should move on. 

 Personal experience shows me that walking a mile in someone elses shoes is hard, but my opinions have changed on so many things because of this. I remember doing debates in grade 8, and I was fighting for the idea of lowering the age for a drivers liscence at 15. (In winnipeg you get your begginners at 15.5 or sometimes 16. When I got this topic assigned I thought "well there is no way of winning, especially against two other super smart people." As I researched throughout the process I began to find very interesting statistics, and I got really into the research. Later during our debate, I felt confident that our interesting stats, loop holes, and counter arguements to the opposing side would win, and surely enough my partner and I did! 

A majority of times we have a set of opinions on a certain thing or even someone. Walking a mile in someones shoes in most cases will help you understand through the perspective of that other thing or person. Once you learn more about them, you start to understand, and your opinions will most likely change.