Ghost Town Essay Example for Free

Ghost Town Essay A graveyard at midnight was always going to be scary. I just hadnt expected it to be quite so scary. Shadows scuttled behind crooked grave-stones. Street lights glowered like white unblinking eyes through the fog. Cold, clammy fingers stroked the back of my neck. Its just the wind, I told myself. Dont go shrieking like some silly girl, or youll give them away. I clutched my bad tighter, keeping my eyes on the circle of bobbing torches. Those Cool Club kids thought they were so cool, coming to the graveyard in the middle of the night, dressed all in black. I could hear them giggling, and making spooky sounds, as Reaper whose real name was Matt held a torch under his chin and told some stupid ghost story. Skeleton was glugging down some disgusting black drink they called bats blood, though I knew it was really blackcurrant cordial with green food colouring and a bit of flour. I knew this because Skeleton is my big brother Hamish, and hed chased me all round the house this afternoon trying to make, me drink it. Hamish and his mates thought they were so cool, but Id show them! I crouched down behind a broken stone angel, and carefully rummaged through my bag. A bag of flour, a toy microphone that made your voice echo loudly, a length of ragged white muslin curtain right, I was ready. Just then, I heard a weird shuffling sound right behind me, I whipped round and saw A rage infected dog! It was moving rapidly, in my direction and ready to pounce. Slowly and quietly it snuck up on me edging closer and closer. Without out any sudden warning the mad dog pounced. Rapidly, I moved just in time to get out of the way. The rage infected dog sensed my fear and I stood still as still can be. Furiously, I ditched my plans and I decided to make a run for it, leaving my bag and equipment behind. As soon as I started running, the dog came racing behind me, just waiting to take a bite out of my, little legs. The graveyard was a dark and mysterious place, which I would have never dared to go. My thoughts and my fear were getting the better of me and my legs. I started to slow down. In the moments of shear disbelief, the river came upon me, which ran past the graveyard. Without any conscious decision I leapt into the river with full force. The dog came to an abrupt halt. The blood was pumping frantically throughout my body. Moments later my heart rate began to normalise. The dog lost my scent and gave a frightening howl, which temporarily paralysed my hearing. The rage within the dog was building. I looked up through the shrubs, in the direction of the river bank. Slowly and quietly I swam towards the bank. The dog turned back and bailed. I was determined to get back to the club but the winds and the noises of the graveyard were again taking advantage of me, breaking me down slowly and slowly. I made the most immediate decision, and that was to follow the dog. As stupid as I was, I would always keep a safe distance away from the unpredictable creature. With no clear path and all dense shrubs, I had trouble getting out of the banks. My body was shivering; the hairs on my legs and arms were all straight and upright. The deep cuts from the bushes started to emerge on my legs and the lacerations started to sting as the dry wind grazed against them. With blood trickling out of the cuts on my legs I started walking, keeping a good distance from the dog. I soon got back to the clubs location and no one was there. And then it hit me, I had just lost track of the dog. The problem was where was the dog? After 10 minutes of walking, I soon spotted the club whimpering behind a cold hard abrasive rock. I was worried. There was no sign of Hamish, my big brother. Matt said that Hamish had gone off wandering tying to find me. One of the other club members spotted a dark red trail just ahead of the rock. Matt, his mates and I grouped together and we started following the blood trail. It seemed endless. The trail went on and on and no one knew when it would stop. After endlessly travelling in the middle of a graveyard, I became weary. Then we heard a noise. It was a deep heavy growl. Matt peeked through the bushes and gave a terrifying shriek. His face was purple. I looked through the bushes I looked up and I saw the rage infected dog right at him. It was Hamish. He was missing a great chunk from his neck and the dog was furiously tugging at the remaining leg. The shear force of the dog ripped the leg off. It was sent flying. The dog rapidly chased after the remaining leg and chewed it to pieces. All the blood and flesh went everywhere. I felt weak and dizzy. My brother was dead. Right in front of my eyes, in pieces! I had sunk to an all time low. I began weeping on Matts shoulder. My brother had gone. Just perished Matt tried calling for help but there was no answer. The group started moving on. We all walked up to Hamishs body, which was ripped up in pieces. We all thought the dog was long gone, until I turned around. Black creatures were emerging from the bushes. Slowly they grew bigger. The street lights around the graveyard began flickering. Suddenly they went out. From nowhere howling began to start. The lights started flickering again. And then everything stopped. Matt looked around and immediately clenched my hand. We were surrounded. Dogs were everywhere. Suddenly, Matt pulled out a knife. But how? Matt handed me a silver serrated knife, which was identical to his. I could barely hold on to it with one hand. With both hands I gripped it. And with my life on the line, we all charged at the dogs. Waving our knives back and forth, hurling flesh everywhere. In a flash, one of the dogs started heading in my direction. With a last and desperate attempt, the dog made a frantic move. It pounced at me I moved the knife right into the view of my face. I hacked the dogs face off with the knife. Its mangled body came flying into my face and knocked me over. Another ferocious creature came and looked over me. I was finished! Suddenly the wind started howling and a silver knife came down on the dog. Its innards flew everywhere. What looked like a stomach came flying into my mouth. Furiously I spat it out. With my mouth bathed in blood, I felt sick. The dogs had bailed. But what was ahead of us?

Compare and contrast the attitudes to war as reflected in for the :: English Literature

Compare and contrast the attitudes to war as reflected in for the fallen and the send off. 'For the fallen' and 'The Send-off' are poems written demonstrating attitudes towards war. Whilst banyan conveys an idealised, romantic picture of war that depicts the soldiers as heroic and courageous, Owens attitudes towards war are more pessimistic in nature. Owen uses appearance versus reality to show the corruption and misery of war. Binyan and Owen convey their attitudes through the language, structure and poetic devices they employ The attitudes to war in 'for the fallen' are patriotic and romanticised. The opening lines, 'with proud thanksgiving,' suggest grandeur, prestige and honour. Binyan conveys the ideas that fighting for your country, and serving in the war is honourable. To emphasise the honour of fighting in the war banyan employs a metaphorical representation of England as the capital mother. 'a mother for her children,' through personifying England as a mother it is almost like England has nurtured and shaped her children which are symbolic of the soldier which depicts the view that it was the soldiers duty to fight for their country. The repetition of the words 'for her,' evokes guilt in the readers as banyan illustrates the attitude at the time being that England has done so much for the soldiers that it was expected of them to give back to their country. Contrasting to the patriotic and idealised image of war and serving your country the representation that Owen conveys of war, is eerie and daunting,' the darkening lanes.' The imagery of the 'darkening lane' could reflect the lives of the solders sent to war, it suggests that their death were almost inevitable and they were bound to death before they wee even sent off. The use of the word darkening eliminates any hope the readers may have and illustrates Owens attitude that they're no hope in fighting and without hope there was no purpose or point in fighting. Owen also expresses certain vulnerability in the soldiers as they are sent into a world which they know nothing about. Similarly Binyan demonstrates the same naivety and innocence of the soldiers that served in the war. 'They went with songs to the battle,' suggests that the soldiers were unprepared and unaware of the harsh realities of war, which is reflected in the behaviour. Binyan demonstrates that the soldiers entered the battle field with aspirations, the fact that they were ready to fight for their country 'against the odds uncounted,' and went almost willingly 'with songs,' demonstrates honour. Binyan follows this with, 'they were young,' which emphasises their naivety and innocence; the soldiers were vulnerable but remained 'true of eye, steady and aflow,' which Compare and contrast the attitudes to war as reflected in for the :: English Literature Compare and contrast the attitudes to war as reflected in for the fallen and the send off. 'For the fallen' and 'The Send-off' are poems written demonstrating attitudes towards war. Whilst banyan conveys an idealised, romantic picture of war that depicts the soldiers as heroic and courageous, Owens attitudes towards war are more pessimistic in nature. Owen uses appearance versus reality to show the corruption and misery of war. Binyan and Owen convey their attitudes through the language, structure and poetic devices they employ The attitudes to war in 'for the fallen' are patriotic and romanticised. The opening lines, 'with proud thanksgiving,' suggest grandeur, prestige and honour. Binyan conveys the ideas that fighting for your country, and serving in the war is honourable. To emphasise the honour of fighting in the war banyan employs a metaphorical representation of England as the capital mother. 'a mother for her children,' through personifying England as a mother it is almost like England has nurtured and shaped her children which are symbolic of the soldier which depicts the view that it was the soldiers duty to fight for their country. The repetition of the words 'for her,' evokes guilt in the readers as banyan illustrates the attitude at the time being that England has done so much for the soldiers that it was expected of them to give back to their country. Contrasting to the patriotic and idealised image of war and serving your country the representation that Owen conveys of war, is eerie and daunting,' the darkening lanes.' The imagery of the 'darkening lane' could reflect the lives of the solders sent to war, it suggests that their death were almost inevitable and they were bound to death before they wee even sent off. The use of the word darkening eliminates any hope the readers may have and illustrates Owens attitude that they're no hope in fighting and without hope there was no purpose or point in fighting. Owen also expresses certain vulnerability in the soldiers as they are sent into a world which they know nothing about. Similarly Binyan demonstrates the same naivety and innocence of the soldiers that served in the war. 'They went with songs to the battle,' suggests that the soldiers were unprepared and unaware of the harsh realities of war, which is reflected in the behaviour. Binyan demonstrates that the soldiers entered the battle field with aspirations, the fact that they were ready to fight for their country 'against the odds uncounted,' and went almost willingly 'with songs,' demonstrates honour. Binyan follows this with, 'they were young,' which emphasises their naivety and innocence; the soldiers were vulnerable but remained 'true of eye, steady and aflow,' which

Eastern State Penitentiary Reflection Paper Essay

Eastern State Penitentiary is believed to be one of the very first prisons established, not only in the United States, but in the world. Eastern State was functional for 141 years until 1970 when the prison closed down. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the prison is now a stabilized ruin open to the public for tours. After personally touring the facility I was able to understand the main purpose of the prison, the living conditions and the daily routines of an Eastern State Penitentiary inmate, and attempted escapes which is why prisons like Eastern State should not be used in our modern Criminal Justice System. It was designed for strict solitary confinement and had little to no rehabilitation programs. The prison was and still is not temperature controlled. The inmates suffered extreme summers and harsh winters while staying at Eastern State. Their rooms were quite small and only had a bed, some sort of dresser, and a toilet. The condition of the cells, with the exception of Al-Capone’s cell which was much larger and more comfortable than the rest of the cells, suggest that the designers of the prison wanted the inmates stay at Eastern State to be unpleasant. This prison was built for the sole purpose of punishment. For example, Elmo Smith was the 350th person to be executed by the electric chair in the United States on April 2, 1962. He was also the last person to be killed using the electric chair in Pennsylvania. Although the inmates were required to work within the prison walls they did not receive help with the problems that landed them in Eastern State in the first place, such as alcohol and drug abuse. Therefore the type of punishment that was seen at Eastern State did not maximize the welfare of individuals because inmates were not rehabilitated. As stated earlier, the inmates worked in the kitchen, infirmary, workshops, and barbershops. In the twentieth century you could see an inmate barbershop in almost every cell block. The barbershops became a place of socialization by the inmates and often the guards would go in for a free cut. When I learned this I was shocked that the guards allowed the inmates to have sharp tools that had the potential of being used as weapons. In fact, one story we  heard on our audio tour was of a guard who said an inmate pressed his tool to the guard’s neck and threatened to take his life. The inmate was joking and the officer was left unharmed but inmates were known to create weapons that were used for protection and a way of threating other inmates. These weapons were called shanks or shivs and prison guards discovered a majority of them before any harm could occur. Unfortunately there were stories of inmates killing each other such as Joseph Havel who stabbed his fellow cellmate to death in the middle of the night. Another important component in the life of Eastern State Penitentiary inmates was the opportunity to practice in religious activities. Upon entry, every inmate was given a Bible in hopes of one day they would receive salvation. Also, in the beginning of the prison’s life there were weekly religious services in every cellblock that the inmates had the chance to listen to from their cells. In later years, Christians had the opportunity to worship in the chapel during Sundays while Jews had the opportunity to worship in the synagogue. Religious freedom was the only freedom that the inmates received. They were strictly monitored and had to wake, eat, work, and sleep when the guards told them too. Although the guar ds did their best to keep an eye on every inmate, the system employed at Eastern State was flawed. Eastern State Penitentiary was designed for strict solitary confinement but that system failed and the population of inmates increased dramatically leaving the guards outnumbered. They tried to maintain surveillance and control of the institution. One way they monitored the inmates was using forming the cellblocks into a pentagon and having a watch tower in the middle. This design was flawed because it was impossible for the guard in the watch tower to see every cell and every part of the cells. Prison guards at Eastern State hated working in the watch tower, a position left for new recruits, because they felt more restricted than the inmates. They could not listen to music or read, had little human contact, and had to call their commanding officer every fifteen minutes to check in. Prison officials liked to believe that these methods of surveillance worked but there were numerous riots and attempted escapes by the inmates. The largest riot was on January 8, 1961 in cellblock nine when two inmates over powered an office and then they proceeded to opening other cells. They tried to set their criminal  records on fire. Another example was William Francis Sutton who attempted to escape five times. Lastly, there was the great escape from cellblock seven, cell 68. Clarence Klinedinst had a reputation as a good worker which he used to be transfer to cellblock seven where he started using the tools from work to build a tunnel. Riots and escapes such as these lead to the closing of Eastern State Penitentiary in 1970. Prisons such as Eastern state should not be used today because, according to the utilitarian theory of justice, the ends do not justify the means. A lot of money is put into them when all they do is hold inmates for a number of years and then they are rel eased into the community. With no form of rehabilitation the released inmates revert back to crime and are reincarcerated. The cycle is never ending and prisons become overpopulated and prone to riots as was Eastern State Penitentiary.

Thomas Paine Crisis Number 1 - 913 Words

Steven Oshiro Ms. Neumann Language Arts 3 November 24, 2014 Thomas Paine: Crisis Number 1 Being an American means to represent the justice, natural rights, and freedom for an individual. Many citizens indulge in these terms and make their own personal lifestyles out of them. Throughout history Americans have constantly fought for their rights. Some battles lasting longer than others, for example, the fight with Great Britain lasted over 7 years. At that time, due to the length of the fight, many had begun to rebel and form organizations that went against Great Britain. Most of these groups all had a similar goal; helping the American colonies and the nation fight back against Britain. All those who were part of an organization felt that the relationship with Britain had been more harm than help. They had viewed it as more of a contract, since the colony’s voices and opinions were not heard, or at least not taken into consideration. As the American’s power drastically fell along with their moral, Thomas Paine, an English American activist and revolutionary, h ad delivered multiple speeches, together known as â€Å"Crisis No.1†, which gave the colonies the encouragement needed to continue their fight for rights. Part of America’s independence and freedom was a result of Thomas Paine’s literature, since most of his work had focused on the importance of supporting the fight for independence. For example, â€Å"Crisis No.1†, a series of pamphlets that had continually spoke of the coloniesShow MoreRelatedThomas Paine, an American Philosopher1267 Words   |  6 PagesAn American born philosopher, Thomas Paine, was a strong adherent for independence and was agnostic in the government. Born on January 29, 1737, Paine lived what we would now call a tough life (http://www.britannica.com). At a young age, Paine had to withdraw from school to help his father with work. 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