Tayler

I had to do this letter for my English class, so I thougt I would put it up here.

Richard Connell

555 S. Hunter Avenue

Scary, Island 34359

Dear Mr. Connell:

“The Most Dangerous Game” is a clever, suspenseful, and the most interesting short story I have ever read. This story has an awesome theme, well described characters, and ideal word choice, but my favorite part was the foreshadowing.

I enjoyed trying to guess what was going to happen next with the scary foreshadowing. “Off there to the right -somewhere- is a large island,” said Whitney. “it’s rather a mystery-” I searched my mind for ideas on what was going to happen with the intriguing island. I thought I had a better clue when “The old charts call it ship-trap island.” Whitney replied. But turns out I was wrong. It wasn’t hard making foreshadowing my favorite part of the story because of it’s annoying, mysterious ways of tricking me into thinking, I know what is going to happen.

The theme made me more interested in the story. “Life is for the strong” is not a theme you read everyday but you hear said or implied in different ways. I don’t necessarily agree with the theme in general but it does fit this short story because it is about hunting and surviving. You need to be strong to hunt and to survive. I like the theme because it is short and simple. Both General Zaroff and Rainsford believed this but only General Zaroff acted on it by murdering the weak people who could not beat him in a fight. “Life is for the strong” stuck out in the story because it was clever and it was so perfect for these two hunters.

Plus, the characters were so well described. Not only with direct characterization but with mostly indirect characterization. I could tell Zaroff was conceded by the way he talked and by his actions. His actions were thinking he had the right to kill anyone he wanted to. He also found Rainsford hiding in a tree and arrogantly blew cigar smoke up at him trying to tell Rainsford that he was better than him. He also said rude things to Rainsford “Hunting tigers ceased to interest me some years ago” Zaroff said acting like the greatest hunter and mocking Rainsford for thinking he brought simple old tigers to the island to hunt.

I also loved the irony in “The Most Dangerous Game” it made me laugh a little because in the beginning of this story Rainsford asked “Who cares how the jaguar feels?” but than when he was getting hunted like an animal he knew and cared how a jaguar feels. It was a lesson to Rainsford that he should be more considerate of how something feels before he shoots it in the head. After being scared of being murdered by an insane killer, I would think Rainsford would quit hunting all together. The irony was just so good because he sounded rude when he said that and called Whitney soft for caring about the jaguar but than he understood what Whitney was talking about.

Over all “The Most Dangerous Game” was an amazing story with many strong points in theme, characters, irony, and foreshadowing. Definitely the most clever, suspenseful, and most interesting short story I have ever read.

Love,

Tayler!

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Nickelback is a band like Matchbox Twenty. Everyone of their songs is good. They are a rock, metal, and alternative band. My favorite song by them is “Animals” because that is absolutely hilarious. The song is about a girl sneaking out to go get with a guy and her parents find out, it is just funny! My second favorite song by them is “Figured you out” when I broke my arm in 5^th grade my dad had to pick me up from school and everyday at 3 o’clock “Figured you out” would be playing on the radio! We would sing it and jam out till we got home. It was weird just everyday it was on. But then I heard it in the car with my mom and I told her I liked this song and she told me I wasn’t allowed to listen because it was about sex but my dad said it was really about drugs. So I don’t know if my mom forgot about that but I listen to it all the time now. I also like their new song “Rockstar” the song is good and the music video is good. The music video is of random people and famous people singing the songs about wanting to be a rock star. Two of their slower songs are “Photograph” and “Should’ve listened.” “Photograph” is about him going back and shows where he grew up and had memories. Well I could go on forever naming good songs that they have but the truth is all of their songs are good. Nickelback is one of my favorite bands. They are awesome!

Love,

Tayler!

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My family does not agree on music at all. If I like a song my sister doesn’t. If my mom likes a song, I don’t like it. If my dad likes a song, my mom doesn’t. If my sister likes a song…. None of us like it. Ha-ha. Just kidding/ But one band called Matchbox 20 we all love! My parents used to play them in the car while driving to New Mexico. They were the first real band my sister and I listened to. My mom and my dad both like them so that equals that we all like them. They are truly a wonderful band, every song of theirs is a good song. There are not many bands that you find that every single one of their songs is a good song. My favorite song of theirs is “Real World” my mom loves the singer Rob Thomas. He’s pretty cute. Matchbox 20 is a rock and alternative band. They have four albums out. Their last one just came out about a month ago. The last albums was called Exile on mainstream, it was actually a greatest hits album with only six new songs. I thought that was weird because they aren’t an old enough band to have a greatest hits album. I don’t think they had time to come up with a whole album because the singer Rob Thomas went solo for a while. One of my favorite songs by them is on the newest album, it is called “Look How Far We’ve Come” it is different than their other songs. This song rates number nine on Top Songs on itunes. That basically means a lot of people have bought it. I think people have bought it because it was the single they let out early and a lot of people heard that song first. Matchbox 20 is a really awesome band. If you don’t like than your crazy.

Love,

Tayler!

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Metro Station is my sister’s new favorite band. There is song named after her by them that she absolutely loves. The song is called Kelsey. She discovered it by watching the music video on youtube. She also thinks the singer is hot. I agree with sister that the song “Kelsey” is good but I haven’t listened to any of there other songs because “Kelsey” isn’t that good. My sister bought their whole c.d. which is a waste of money in my opinion. She likes all of their songs and I have listened to the beginnings of some and they are well let me just say they aren’t good. Metro Station is a techno band with an interesting sound. After my sister requested for days that my Dad should listen to the song “Kelsey” my Dad finally did. I just want to thank God right now for my Dad’s safety because after my Dad heard that song he wanted to torch his ears because he would rather be deaf than listen to that band. I thought that was a little extreme. They aren’t that bad. My dad even wrote an article on them on his site hoodala.com. I recommend the song “Kelsey” if you like techno bands. Honestly I don’t totally hate their music. Maybe if I force myself to listen to the other songs, I might like…. NO what am I saying. They’re okay but not even close to what I like in a band. They are new and they have plenty of room for improvement so they might get better. My Dad is into Rock N’ Roll and I am into pop, hip hop/rap, R&B, and good music. So Metro Station isn’t for us but you should still check out “Kelsey”.

Love,

Tayler!

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Dear diary, November 3, 07

The day after my Halloween party I woke up and went downstairs. It was about noon because I stayed up late. I said “Good morning” to my mother and sister that’s when my mother told me that my dad was on the phone with his mother and that my great grandma was in the hospital. I cried right at that moment before I even got any details. My mom said she doesn’t know what happened just that she is in the hospital. I heard my dad making a soda so I went into the laundry room where we have a fridge for sodas. I came in crying and my dad asked if I was okay. I just said I don’t know because I don’t know what has happened. He told me that she fell down and hurt her left leg, her right shoulder, her left hand and she hand internal bleeding. We all went into the living room to talk about when we were going to go to New Mexico to see my grandma. What was going to happen was we were going to leave Monday at about ten a.m. and we were going to go to mine and my sisters school and explain to our teachers that we were going to be absent for awhile and to get all of our work for the next three days. But when I was upstairs in my room packing my grandpa (my Dad’s Dad) told my dad that my Grandma isn’t doing to well and we should leave that night. So we decided to leave at four o’clock Sunday afternoon. But we needed more time to do our laundry so we ended up leaving at five thirty. We arrived at the hospital at midnight just in time to see my grandma. She was unconscious because of all the medication she was on to get rid of the pain. I held her hand and it felt like she was squeezing my hand right back. We sat around her and talked about how great she is. My grandma was so spunky, she was a strong lady. One time a man said the “F” word in her house and she told that man “This is my house, this is my property. Outside is your truck and I suggest you get your butt into it and drive away.” those were her exact words. I laughed when I heard that because she was so sweet to everyone and I had never heard her say anything like that! My dad told some stories about her and his grandpa taking him out hunting. They saw a rabbit and his Grandpa told him to shoot it but my dad didn’t see it. Or maybe he just didn’t want to shoot the poor rabbit, but my grandma said something like open your eyes and shoot the thing. Finally Grandpa took the gun and shot the rabbit and they ate it that night. My dad also said she liked to fish and her and her husband went out fishing in the ocean in a tiny little boat. Grandpa told her it was actually safer because in that little boat they were just riding the waves. You have to be a brave person to actually go fishing in the ocean with a little boat. She was a good fisher too. Her and her husband caught thirty pounds trout and a lot of them too. I didn’t get these kind of memories with her because she was too old to do this when I was born. Her husband died before I was born but I wish I had done that kind of stuff with them. She also had bowling trophies in her living room that were hers. That is when I realized how much I didn’t know about her and I truly wish I did know all the things she did when she was younger. The last time we visited was over the summer and I started asking about her childhood than. She said she got in a lot fights even with boys because she was tough. I just laughed. I wanted to stay with her in the hospital all night with her but I decided that if my whole family stayed up all night at the hospital than we would all be grump in the morning and that would not be good. So my mom took me to my Dad’s parents house so we could get some sleep. At about a quarter till nine in the morning me dad called and told us she had passed away about a hour ago. I was so upset. But the thing about my Grandma is if she wanted to live, she could’ve. She was a fighter but she was too tired and she didn’t want to live anymore. Me and my mom got ready immediately and hurried down to the hospital. We got lost in the hospital but finally found the room she was in but when we got there she was gone. I tried calling my Dad many times. Even my sister but her cell phone was dead. I was so emotional we left the hospital and decided maybe they went to my Grandma’s house. I kept calling my Dad but he wasn’t answering his phone. I was really upset because I wanted to be with my family and comfort them but I had no idea where they were. My dad wasn’t letting me and my mom know anything. I tried texting him. We were almost to my Grandma’s house when my dad finally called us. He said they were all at they funeral home, right next to the hospital. So we went back towards the hospital to the funeral home and I was mad because when this happens I would like to know what is going on and not be left out of everything. I felt like my Dad was leaving me out and not letting me know what was going on. I didn’t want to wonder on over town trying to find my family, I felt like that was unfair. We discussed what was going to happen, there would be a viewing on Wednesday (Halloween) so we would be able to say our goodbyes. The Viewing actually happened Thursday. We went and when I saw her lying there I couldn’t move at first. It looked like she was sleeping and it didn’t feel real that she was gone. She looked really good. My cousin Tammy did her hair like she always did when she was alive. I finally was able to move and I went up to her and kissed her on the forehead. She was freezing cold. It felt weird not like normal skin. It was heart throbbing. As I write this I am crying and that is not what I want to do. I know my Grandmother is happier now because she is with her husband. I bet that was quite some reunion. I am sure they are in the highest part of Heaven because that is what my Grandma deserves. My Pa (my Dad’s Dad) said the last conscious thing she said was “Forgive me.” at fist I didn’t know what she had to be forgiven for, she was a awesome, wonderful woman. My Pa just said “God knows.” he also said that God would forgive her for everything if she just asked. I just want to say “I love you Grandma. I know you are watching over us, and I will always have you in my heart and in my thoughts. Thanks for always being there for me and I hope your doing good. You cared for everyone and I deeply appreciate the moments we had together. You were wise and helpful, I love you so much and I miss you so much.”

Love,

Tayler!

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Dear diary, November 2, 07

I haven’t written in here about what I have been doing lately. Last week, on Wednesday, I went to a football game at my sister’s school and we were playing another junior high school. It was our last game of the season. We were playing for city championship and guess what?! We got it! For the first time my school was undefeated! Isn’t that awesome! I think it was just because I went to the game! You know? Pretty awesome.

Mine and my sisters Halloween parry was last Saturday. I had tons of fun. At first I was kind of worried because I wasn’t sure if anyone was going to show up because these girls, named Chelsey and Paige, also had a Halloween party at the exact same time that my party was at. Except I guess they invited over one hundred people. I only invited eight and my sister only invited eight. And on Friday I only had two people who were coming for sure and the rest hadn’t asked their parents if they could come yet. So I was pretty nervous. But I had six people show up and my sister had three. My friends Nina, Kelsey, Yolanda, Jaclyn, Ana, and Rachel came. And my sister’s friends Paul, Sarah, and Brianna, came. I invited Rachel to come over early so she could help me put together my costume for the party. She came as a cowgirl with boots, hat and even a plastic gun. I was Captain Jack Sparrow from my favorite movie “Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl. Awhile ago my Nana got me the hair for the costume because I absolutely love him. And then I just wore jeans a tank top and a little brown jacket. I also had a eye patch and a hat but the hat kept falling off my head and I couldn’t see with the eye patch on my eye. So I basically only had a Captain Jack Sparrow wig. Nina and Jaclyn were jewel thieves, Yolanda dressed up like she was going to a masquerade ball, Kelsey was a clown, and Ana was Ugly Betty. My sisters friend Brianna was Velma from Scooby Doo, Paul was a detective/ inspector gadget, and Sarah was a witch but she looked like a grim reaper. My Nana and her boyfriend were Wilma and Fred form the Flinstones. My aunt Berta was a crazy thing with a black wig and glasses. My uncle Curt was a pirates just like me but he did a better job of his costume than me because he out did himself by doing his whole outfit. My other uncle Roger was a cowboy. My mom was the funniest person Right after everyone showed up we ate some sandwiches and split into teams to do skits. Skits is where you go off into a different room with your team and make up a funny little play that we call skits. Both teams perform their skit and who ever makes the other team laugh the hardest wins. There isn’t a prize but it is really fun. My team was Rachel, Ana, Kelsey and me of course. The other team was Nina, Jaclyn, Yolanda, and my sisters friend Brianna. My team put pillows under our shirts and did an exercise video, in the middle of the exercise workout Rachel pulled out her plastic gun and yelled Chocolate time, so we went and got chocolate and that made us skinny again. It wasn’t the funniest but it was sort of funny. The other group’s skit was Nina and Jaclyn (the jewel thieves) attacked Yolanda and stole her masque to her masquerade ball outfit, then Velma (Brianna) just chased the thieves down. It was okay. It was cool that they used their costumes with their skit unlike we did. When we went inside, my friend Kelsey was standing right in front of a candle I lit before the party and all of a sudden we all smell something burning. Brianna comes in and yells “YOUR ON FIRE!” she pats Kelsey’s hat really fast and puts out the fire but burns her hand. Luckily it was just her hat that caught on fire and not her hair. That was awful! I would have died if her hair caught on fire and she was bald in one spot on the back of her head. We also had a costume contest where we all voted on the creepiest, scariest, funniest, most original, and best costume. I don’t remember who got what but I think the best costume was either my uncle Curt (pirate) or Brianna (Velma). Those were really good costumes! We then played a game that you play at SkateLand where you play some music and put out numbers on the floor. You play music and than stop it really fast and people have to step on a number and a person calls out a number and if you are on that number, you are out. Well my sister was stopping the music and calling out the numbers and I was in charge of telling her when to stop the music and watching everyone. But when I was telling my sister to stop the music she was to busy talking to her friends that she wasn’t hearing me. So every time I told her to stop the music, I would have to yell at her and it was making me really mad. There were two prizes to this game. So my sister wanted to play it twice but it was taking forever just to finish one game. So I handed out the prizes to the last two players of the first game because I really didn’t want to spend another half hour yelling at my sister. It was about nine o’clock so my friends went in my front yard just to talk and stuff. We were out there for about five minutes when my Dad came home form work. He just said “Hi” and went inside. Than my neighbor John came out to empty his trash and he ended up staying outside with all of us. One by one people started leaving my party. But Kelsey and Ana were the only ones that needed to be picked up. Kelsey, Ana, my neighbor John, my sister Kelsey, and me were the only ones outside. My sister and Ana were obsessed with talking with John, I was getting annoyed because John wasn’t eve invited and my friend was paying more attention to him than she was me. Which sounds so dumb but because he was a guy she was constantly flirting with him. Some people think I like him now because they thought I was jealous but that is not true at all. I don’t like him and I was jealous but not like that. I was jealous because I wanted to talk to them and have them talk to me not Johnny. Well after everyone left my sister, John, and I stayed out till midnight just talking and stuff. That was pretty fun. John is funny when people aren’t all over him trying to get his attention. It was ridiculous. Except for my friend catching on fire and that game that took forever it was a really awesome night. A very fun party. I had a great time and I hope to throw another party.

Love,

Tayler!

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