The Jewsish people first arrived in Poland somewhere in the eighth century, from beyond the Volga River.  For centuries, Poland had been a safe harbor for the Jews, protecting them from the harsh treatment from other European countries. They were not exactly welcome, but they were allowed to carry on with their lives. Jews could be found in almost every city in Poland and had friends, most being other Jews. Before the war, Jews in Poland existed as 10% of the population. However, when the Nazis invaded Poland, the Jews were either sent out, ran, or were captured and force into concentration camps and ghettos. After the war, only 5,000 of the earlier 3.5 million Jews returned to Poland. The population was greatly deminished.

Our class has recently watched The Girl Who Spelled Freedom, which has many themes, but I believe fear to be the most prominent among them. I have three reasons to support this theme. Firstly, in Cambodia, Linn's family are terrified for their lives. My second reason is that Prissy, the wife and mother of the Tenessee family who are taking in the Cambodian family, is not good with children and is worried about having six other children in addition to her own child, Laura, to take care of. Lastly, I believe that Linn was very worried and scared that she wouldn't do very well in the spelling be and would be punished if she didn't win. This is why she always stumbled trying to spell 'acronym.' Now I think you'll agree that fear is most definently an important theme.

In the story I read, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, the theme that is most prominent  to me is jealousy. This book is about a beautiful girl named Scarlett O'Hara whom all the girls envy because all the boys are in love with her. However, Scarlett only loves a man named Ashley Wilkes. Heartbroken and seething with jealousy when she hears that he is marrying, she plans to hurt Melanie, the girl he is marrying, and to get a distraction from her pain. She does this by marrying Melanie's brother, who is later killed during the war in which this story takes place. Scarlett is jealous of all the girls who can dance at parties, wear colors, and have a good time while she is stuck at home with her Aunt Pitty during her year of mourning. In this book, there are many different themes, but I think that jealousy really describes this story.

Over Thanksgiving Break, I went to Disney World.During the long road trip we had to take to get there, I found myself thinking about something my church did about two weeks ago. We had a coat and food drive and handed out the coats and food to parents who needed a little help. It made me think about how blessed I was to get to go to Disney World when some people could barely afford to eat Thanksgiving Dinner. After I thought of that, I bowed my head and gave thanks to God for my many blessings.

Clary opened her eyes slowly. She had been having the most wonderful dream. It had seemed so realistic. Her veteran father had returned from the war, not in a casket but alive and well. Before he had died, she never thought that he could just... die. He had been a constant comfort every day of her life. He had been very hardy and had survived the most dangerous part of the war, only to be the last person killed in the entire war.

Clary and her mother had been ravenous for news about her father, but not this kind of news. Clary's mother had become depressed and made her daughter depressed as well. Her grades in school used to excel, now they were mediocre. Whenever she went to bed, she was exhausted, but was afraid of her dreams that were punctuated by gun fire. She could just see her father hit by a bullet, flying backwards, and landing on the ground to bleed to death. It terrified her.

Clary got up slowly, not wanting to leave the warm comforts of her bed. Her life was very monotonous, always the same schedule. She threw in some casual clothes and got ready for her first day of her first year in high school. On her way out the door, she decided something. She decieded she was going to get her life back.

 

Last weekend, I went to Chattanooga with my friends. We had so much fun and learned a lot. We helped each other learn and encouraged each other to pay attention to the instructors. I really had to have some help with that. In the star dome, we learned about constellations and then discussed them. The stories behind each constellation are each interesting and unique. We also learned about rock formations. I am glad I have such smart friends because half the time I couldn't  keep up with what he tour guides were saying. I had a lot of fun learning with my friends.

I think I am most like Digory. I usually don't take heed of warnings and end up getting hurt. I also tend to regret the decisions I make. If I had been in the room with that bell, I would have rung it too. I really would have been driven mad if I hadn’t known what would happen. I mean, I can’t even watch a movie without begging someone to tell me what happens.

I am also loyal to my friends. If I got them into a mess, I wouldn't leave them to get out of it. I would stick around until the end, no matter how tempted I was to leave to do something else, the way Digory was tempted to save his mother with the apple.I think he was very brave to risk his mother's life to do what was right and I bet he was glad that he didn't steal the apple now. It saved his mother's life.