... cut, priorities re-organized, and compromises made. And the crunch is perhaps brought even more sharply into focus during the holiday season, when the pressure to spend is at its highest. This year, predictions for holiday spending were very low, but analysts were surprised: Spending was actually even lower than expected. A division of MasterCard showed holiday ... 4% over the same period last year, making this year the worst holiday season for them in modern times. Even retail behemoths such as Gap experienced a drop in sales by close to 20 percent. Best Buy and other electronics and ...

• Word Count: 431
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography

... stuff but as they live on the island longer everyone's true colors come out. Some people turn against each other and some become violent. This leads to destruction on the island. Main Character The main character is Ralph. He is appointed as leader of the group in the beginning. He is a young ... ; I chose this short passage because they are all scared and talking about a beast that they believe lurks throughout the island and is afraid it is going to kill them. Ralph doesn't believe them and thinks they're just making it up. The reason I mainly chose this passage was because Simon say ...

• Word Count: 737
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... want to fight, did not want to fight against the people who are as inculpable as they are. Paul's friends let him one by one, Paul got alone, and finally died in peace at the end of the war. The theme of the whole book is the horror and violence of the war, and how the ... superior leaders using young soldiers as their tools to against each other in the war. The author expressed this theme through Paul and his friends' thoughts and ... even worse. They got totally lost on the battle field. The most impressive event for me in this book was the in one of the battles which is in chapter 9:...

• Word Count: 1152
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... elderly man in his seventies with a big mustache. The professor has a bad temper but can also be kind and generous. He is like a foster father to Johnny. Fergie Ferguson is Johnny's best friend. He is a smart aleck and a wisecracker. Johnny and Fergie met at Boy Scout camp. Evaristus Sloane is the ... the robots in the story. Evaristus Sloane lives in New Hampshire. The Story: The story is about an evil scientist who uses black magic to make his robots come alive. He uses real eyes that he takes from people. When he puts these in his robots they come alive and ... . The evil scientist c...

• Word Count: 637
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... The author suffered from many psychological conditions such as agoraphobia and paranoia, many in which are apparent through the themes of many of his books. Minority Report tells the story of John Anderton, an officer in a new experimental division of the Washington, D.C. Police, called the Department of Precrime, which was ... The problem? The killer is John Anderton! John looks over to see one of his friends staring at him. He says "You've been good to me, I'll give you two minutes before I sound the alarm." Then John begins running. "How could this be?" Anderton wonders. He had neve...

• Word Count: 542
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... similiar characteristics of lonliness. The old lady is " always alone" like a grey heron, " grey birds without a flock".The women desired no communication for she was seldom seen in public, only to grab bills from the mail box and gather food that was left from the young delivery boy. The women was also unlisted in the phone ... book so as, no one could call her. Lonliness was enjoyed by this women and the author revelled in the gift of solitude as well. For the author loved to walk at night. With the night smells and the bright moon casting shadows she would say ... she was walking th...

• Word Count: 269
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

How I Can Improve the Quality of the Environment Our environment is a major aspect of our life today. Many of us don't take our Earth seriously and think that as long as ... that. There are many different types of environmental pollution such as acid rain, global warming, desertification, overpopulation, and solid waste disposal. In the following paragraphs I will discuss what I can do to help prevent environmental pollution. I think that all kinds of environmental pollution can be stopped if we all use our heads and just think before we throw a piece of trash on ... human being and treat i...

• Word Count: 306
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... such as kindness, and compassion ever present. This novel displays an undercurrent of love, friendship and trust. People who love each other in this book are obviously Greg and Mikki who at the end of the novel marry, Eric and Susan are another couple represented in the ... book. The love that Susan had for her deceased brother Richard is the single reason that Susan became involved in the "Facility", as Richard ... that the "Babies" would rather die than be separated. These relationships are the basis on which this novel is based, creating a trusting network allowing the group to be suc...

• Word Count: 528
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... go or what they could do about it. So they jumped into the trunk of count Olaf (their arch enemy's) car. It was a long and tiresome drive to their destination (The Cagliari carnival). There were tons of bumpy roads that they soared down. It was very squished in the trunk of Count Olaf ( their arch ... Olaf and his asociates went into. When they got there they knocked on the door, madam lulu (the fortune teller) said, "oh do you want to audition to be freaks in our carnival, o well then come right in!" The baldilares went into the caravan and all the evil people were sitting around the ca...

• Word Count: 885
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... the two different sides of the novel together in order to give readers a better understanding. Wilson supports this suggestion by showing examples throughout the book. No book gives the exactness of a foreigner in a war like this book does. Hemingway wrote this book "...long enough after the events for them to present themselves..." The characters are not tormented by the "dissonance between personal satisfaction and the suffering ... from there when they leave in the middle of the night for Switzerland because it is a neutral country and Henry will be safe from the Italian Army which w...

• Word Count: 377
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... and . The reason for this is that she knows Authur is not used to seeing other people and does not know how to act around them. he final scene in the last two chapters is also memorable because it brings out the theme of the book. In the beginning of the book there was a passage about mockingbirds are harmless and they do not harm anything ... . This also refers to Authur. He does not do anything throughout the whole story to hurt anyone, so ... why do many people in Maycomb seem to have the idea that he is this monster? It ... ...

• Word Count: 389
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... . In the movie whilliam nd mary had only one child at the beginning, Tommie. In the book there were two Tommie and Georgie. On the morning of the Indian attack when john and whilliam went to work they did not go the field as in the book but to a fence and they worked on that instead. Then when the Indians attack cornel pattan does ... the group reaches the Indian village in the book bettie runs a gauntlet but in the movie she does not have to. When the French trader approaches mary with his proposel for shirt making in the book the offer is only open to mary but in the movie bettie also ...

• Word Count: 409
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... are Atticus, Jem and Scout. Atticus a widower raises his children by himself with alot of help from Calpurina, a black housekeeper. Scout and Jem seem to understand the town quite well, except the only person who confuses them is Boo radly. Scout is a tombay and generally prefers the comfort of being ... around other boys. She doesn't understand why everybody expects her to act like a lady. Scout hates school and gains most of her education either from her father or on the street. Almost halfway through the story ... couldn't have commited the crime. Atticus then tries to explain why the...

• Word Count: 346
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Ross Truett Ashley, the gunman from the most recent Virginia Tech shootings, was very normal, according to friends who cannot recall any warning signs that Ashley was on the brink of such a meltdown. Ashley stole a car at gunpoint from his landlord's office, shot Officer Deriek W. Crouse during a ... the second parking lot. The campus remained on lockdown for much of the day because police did not know if the second body was that of the shooter's (Rothacker). According to Nic Robinson, a 21-year-old history major at Radford University who was also a friend of Ashley's said, "Ross wasn't that...

• Word Count: 311
• Approx Pages: 1
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , Maybeth, and Sammy, walking on their journey that could have easily been taken out of the book. These parts became boring to read because everyday they woke up and went through the same daily routine and very little changed from day to day. Another change for this book is that not enough was wrote about Maybeth and Sammy. I strongly believe that their feelings and ... are just as important as Dicey and James" feelings. These feelings should have been explained and expressed more throughout the book. There were many times in the book where Dicey's thoughts are expressed and some times w...

• Word Count: 430
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... that rules and cooperation make the world what it is today. It dealt with the many flaws and desires of human nature, and how devastating these factors can be to a culture with no directions or order to follow. I enjoyed how the story showed that even the youngest and most innocent of humans strive for power over everything and will stop at nothing until he ... William Golding's use of difficult words and terms that could confuse the reader, but this happened rarely. I think all serious readers would like this book. I also think readers who are interested in human behaviour would like t...

• Word Count: 641
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... he ever does is good, by helping everywhere he can. Tom helps Mayella do the chores she asks him to out of kindness and never asks for money or expects to be paid. By lying in the courtroom Bob and Mayella Ewell are killing a mockingbird. Arthur "Boo& ... helps out a lot. He helps the kids lots of times and they didn't ever realize it, when Jem had to go get his pants and they were sewed back, when the kids were outside the house fire and Boo puts a ... he helps them is at the end of the story when he saves them from Bob Ewell. Boo Radley is innocent and likes to stay isolated, if they w...

• Word Count: 533
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

I am reading the book Phone Calls by R.L. Stine. The book reflects how two best friends, Diane and Julie, get into a big argument over one phone call. Which the gets Diane's brother Toby, Ramar, Mick Wilson and Mick Hardesty all involved. Diane gives her best friend a phone call telling Julie to call Mick because he liked her. When she called him she was to tell him she ... were friends again. Julie kept playing jokes on Diane. All that did was mess up their friendship and Julie ended up appologizing for it. My reaction to the book was that I thought it was good. I liked how Julie was saying...

• Word Count: 509
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... on the gallows (61)" The child has been hanging for about a half of an hour struggling for his life as Jesus also struggled after being nailed to the cross and hanging there for several hours. The child had suffered there with his brothers starring at him as Jesus with his brothers most of the ... impact on their community. The child would never be forgotten in the eyes of Eliezer and the rest of the camp as Jesus will never be forgotten to us Catholics. It was as if the child was an example of our Lord on the cross roughly 1945 years before hand. The young child had ... his brothers a...

• Word Count: 386
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... on the gallows (61)" The child has been hanging for about a half of an hour struggling for his life as Jesus also struggled after being nailed to the cross and hanging there for several hours. The child had suffered there with his brothers starring at him as Jesus with his brothers most of the ... impact on their community. The child would never be forgotten in the eyes of Eliezer and the rest of the camp as Jesus will never be forgotten to us Catholics. It was as if the child was an example of our Lord on the cross roughly 1945 years before hand. The young child had ... his brothers a...

• Word Count: 384
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Texas judge William Adams, who ironically presides over child abuse cases, caused uproar when daughter Hillary Adams uploaded a video on YouTube of him savagely beating her with a belt when she was sixteen years old. According to Hillary, the abuse was not a one-time thing. Her mother, Hallie Adams who has since divorced William, claimed that her ex-husband had bouts of violence caused by his "addiction," which they kept as a "family secret" for a long time. Because the statute of limitations has lapsed, William cannot be charged with child abuse, although it is yet to be seen whether his care...

• Word Count: 531
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... much because he was a driver of an ambulance during the war. He stated that in the beginning of the book when he was first wounded "the war did not have anything to do with me" and felt that he could not be harmed from it. After he was first wounded he ... swims away. The ! water was actually symbolizing something almost like a baptism. He was washed away from violence and horror. At this point he learns to say farewell to the war because he finds something greater, his love for Catherine. Frederic Henry started out playing a silly game with Catherine's mind. He said, "I ... move to a ...

• Word Count: 745
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Wiesel and his experiences in the death camps during the holocaust. Is Night a story of hope or despair? Night is a story of despair because throughout the book Elie lost so many things that it brought him down. Elie continually prayed before entering the death camps. He prays because "Man raises himself toward god by the ... . This shows that they lost all possible hope and did not think that they would make it out no matter what. A lot of people would try to escape because they thought that there was no hope in mankind. Prisoners would even throw themselves upon an electric fence becaus...

• Word Count: 551
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... also change the perspective on our own personal values. George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" demonstrates this when it comes down for the essayist to pull the trigger or not. In the first paragraph of the essay, George describes the Burman people has having "yellow faces" (1). This description ... the English Orwell from the rest of the native people, which he is to police, very clearly. One day George received word that "an elephant was ravaging the bazaar" (2). He grabbed his rife and headed out to where the report had come from. When he saw the corpse of the dead coolie, ... ...

• Word Count: 559
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... a Mockingbird is significant for one main reason. It is a sin to intentionally destroy innocence. Throughout the book, the mockingbird represents pure innocence and goodness. As Miss Maudie, from the novel, said, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in ... corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to ... him of committing the crime. The other incident occurs during the end of the novel where Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella, tries to kill Scout and Jem, the childr...

• Word Count: 329
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School