Paragraph Evaluation

Essay

Sibling rivalry is present in almost every family where there is more than one child. This type of rivalry is definitely present in the book Montana 1948; the rivalry is between David, the main character’s, father Wesley and David’s uncle Frank. Wesley, the town sheriff was really a typical person with nothing really special about him, at this point in his life he is an ex-law school grad who is currently working in the same profession as his father, the sheriff of Mercer County, Montana. This had been a position that Wes’s father had owned for many years before he turned the job over to Wes after he retired, this caused Wes to forgo a promising career in law to take this job. Frank, Wes’s brother has definitely had a more decorated life than Wes. Frank was a star athlete throughout high school and college, and then he would go on to be a war hero during the pacific battles in WWII as a battlefield doctor. He is currently a doctor living in the same area of Montana as Wes and his family. Both brothers never seem to exhibit any real feelings of a bitter rivalry for the most part, and for the most part seem to get along well; however the rivalry is definitely there as it is in most families, even though both men are adults. One tactic to stop sibling rivalries is to have both of them realize that both people have had different lives and both have accomplished much, but both have turned out okay, at a certain point two siblings they need to realize that not everything is a competition.


Research

Sibling rivalries are often present in families, they can sometimes play a major role in how the siblings live and deal with issues between one another. In the book Montana 1948 there is a big rivalry between the protagonist’s father Wes and uncle Frank. In a study published by Denise Henry of Scholastic Choices she says that, “family members will eventually grow out of a rivalry as they mature,” however, these two grown men have been rivals all their lives. Also, the same source goes on to say that, “As long as the two rivals remember that they are family they will be fine,” this is definitely displayed because even though Wes and Frank are rivals, they get along with each other very well. The reader can tell that Wes and Frank have a good relationship despite the rivalry because when on page 35 during a telephone conversation between the two about Wes’s families sick Native American Housekeeper both managed to take each other seriously during the call and have a professional conversation without any extra comments. It seems that even though they haven’t matured out of the rivalry completely yet, because there are still some instances where Wes is jealous of the recognition that Frank gets, like when Wes read some newspaper clippings about Franks heroism in WWII as a doctor he made a sarcastic remark which was, “I wonder if he was supposed to stay at the hospital.” (pg 36) However despite all of that they still manage to use tactics such as using the fact that they are family and should help each other rather than always compete to maintain at least a friendly relationship. This is definitely an example of how sibling rivalries can be controlled even though they are present.


Above are two paragraphs about sibling rivalry in the book Montana 1948 one is essay style and one is research. The difference is mostly that an essay style paragraph is usually a bunch of themes and quotes directly from a story. However a research essay contains research from something other than the book, usually a newspaper or online database of some kind, and contains more citations than an essay paragraph would. For me at least, I find writing a regular essay easier because it doesn't take as long to write since there is no extra research involved. However, research papers are more detailed and give more opinions and information about a topic, and that depth can make the point the writer is attempting to make clearer and easier to understand. So although I definitely like essays better due to their simplicity, a research paper is definitely the more professional of the two. For some more examples check out these two blogs of my friends Jamal, and Smith.

Montana 1948 (annotation practice)

Johnson, Kirk. "Vine Deloria Jr., Champion of Indian Rights, Dies At 72." The New York Times 15 Nov. 2005, Late ed., sec. A: 25. ProQuest. ProQuest. Pascack Hills High School Library, Montvale. 28 Apr. 2008.


Native Americans have always have had a profound affect on the "white man's" society. From the times of Lewis and Clark's western expeditions through today Natives have always influenced how white people lived. Vine Deloria Jr. of the Pine Ridge Oglala Siou reservation in Montana made it his life's work to make this known. Even while the Indians were being kept on the reservations they still had a large affect on surrounding life. Deloria Jr. published many books that explained how Natives affected lives, like how they showed the original settlers how to survive off the land, and about the spiritual aspects of both the Native and Christian religions. He showed how the Natives were not all that different or in some ways better; themes like this earned him national spotlight and made his message known. When he died he had influenced many about his native culture and how it should be respected like any other

Macbeth Extra

For the past month or so we have been reading the Shakespearean play Macbeth. During this time we have been reviewing many themes about this play, such as females who have power, greed, and corruption. All these themes definitely play a large role in the play Macbeth and all of them help add thought and depth to the play. One theme that is recurring throughout the play that we didn't really go into in class was betrayal. Betrayal is sort of linked to the other things that we talked about because power, greed, and corruption usually lead to betrayal of some sort, but since betrayal played such a huge role in the play it should be talked about separately.
In the beginning of the story Macbeth appeared to be a very normal person. He was the Thane of Glamis, which was a high ranking title, but not all that high. He was very loyal to King Duncan, his country, and Banquo, one of his friends. He was a typical guy that wasn't particularly special in any way. Then the Thane of Cawdor, who was the second most powerful man to the royal family, was accused of treason and sentenced to death (it is very ironic that both Thanes of Cawdor, that other guy and Macbeth both became disloyal to the king). Then King Duncan decided that he should appoint Macbeth, ironically at the time one of his most loyal followers, to the position of the Thane of Cawdor. Then before the news got to Macbeth he ran into three witches who told him that he would become the Thane of Cawdor and later the king of Scotland. Soon afterwards, after a conversation with his wife about this his personality goes under a great amount of change.
His first act of betrayal was obviously when he murdered Duncan, who had appointed Macbeth to his current ToC position due to his loyalty. Next, when Banquo began to get suspicious of Duncan's murder Macbeth hired three murderers to kill Banquo and his son, which they eventually did; now Macbeth had betrayed two of the people who had previously trusted him the most. Then Macbeth went on a killing spree, betraying and murdering anyone who he felt threatened his reign. Most significantly he murdered Macduff's family. He had betrayed all of his fellow thanes as well as all the people he ruled over by becoming a tyrant. All of this betrayal is eventually what lead to his demise when he was later murdered by Macduff, who was fighting for revenge over his murdered family. Then, his very short corrupt reign over his country was over. Which just shows how betraying an entire country could lead to everyone turn against him and eventually lead to his death.


While looking through the internet I found a "rational list" that showed Macbeth's betrayal and corruption, the link to it is here:
Macbeth "rational list"