English
June 16, 2015
Period 4
Context & Reflection:
The piece I chose to edit & post was an essay we had to create in January of 2015, when we had to read a historical fiction book about the American Revolution. The piece itself was first created to say which was better: historical accuracy or telling a good story. The learning I am showing in this piece was understanding the text we had to read, and compare it to another article. The reason I chose this piece of writing is probably because it was the longest piece I had (319 words!) and was most likely the one that has the most reason to it. Enjoy.The Piece:
In Historical Fiction, what do you think is more important: telling a good story or the accuracy of the story? In the Revolutionary War, the British took control of New York City, and black slaves sided with both the British and the colonists. In historical fiction books, they are usually good stories, with only some historical accuracy. In the next section, we will examine the texts of Chains and A History of Us. Some think that historical accuracy is the most important in a historical fiction book, but, in reality, telling a great story is the best.
The book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson is in some ways historically accurate to A History of Us, created by Joy Hakim. In Chains, the book Common Sense by Tom Paine was given to Isabel, a black slave girl slaving in NYC, by a shop owner. In Chains it says, “I pulled out Common Sense from its hiding place and read by firelight” (Anderson 262). Joy Hakim also describes that same book by Tom Paine.On page 59 of A History of Us by Hakim, it reads, “Tom Paine . . . wrote a pamphlet called Common Sense. So, obviously, Chains is more or less accurate when compared to A History of Us.
Historical fiction may be good, but we should leave the accuracy to the textbooks. After all, it is called historical fiction. In this piece of writing, we have discussed the Revolutionary War, and slaves sided with both sides of the war. Also, we now know that in some parts of the story, Chains is also accurate to A History of Us. As we have learned, historical accuracy is really important in a historical fiction book, but telling a great story is even more important. Historical fiction adds fact to a story, instead of just stating them like in textbooks. So, that is what is different between historical fiction books and nonfiction textbooks.
About the author
ReplyDeleteMy name is Tony Kinchen and I go to dewitt middle school. As an english student i’ve always enjoyed it when we did story creating assignments. I enjoyed the fact that i could create a story in just a matter of minutes just by creating a fantasy world. I have enjoyed english this year because i learned new skills that can assist me in creating my own adventure stories.
Alpha Team
Prologue: Welcome to our lives
Before I tell you this, you have to do something for me. You have to open your minds to the impossible. The reason I’m telling you this is because what I am about to tell you may seem somewhat as a sci fi adventure movie, but unfortunately its my life, our lives. Jack, Max, Ryla, and myself were not your typical teenagers. A scientific division in U.S.A’s biological weapons division genetically altered us to be used as biological warfare weapons, living weapons. Each of us were genetically changed so that are skin creates an armor stronger than titanium that gives us unreal abilities. We were each given a specific ability assigned to us based on our height, age, and blood type under the codename of “cyber soldiers”.
Unfortunately, our armors are genetically grafted into us. If we try to separate ourselves from our armors it will be as trying to rip our skin off our flesh. We were each supposed to be sent to different parts of the U.S (Washington, Texas, Mexico you name it) to be used as a last resort to contain things normal police forces could not handle such as riots and revolts. A couple others including myself were deemed “successful” and were going to be shipped out as a new type of law enforcement in Mexico to keep riots from breaking out as they did over the discussion about the border control crisis. Luckily, though we escaped when a “failed experiment” created with a self-destruct feature spontaneously exploded. We managed to leave unnoticed but ever since we have had to deal with agents, generals, and scientist that either wanted to use us as weapons or experiments. However, they were nothing compared to Omega. In case you are wondering Omega is basically our hunter and were the prey. For every group of Alphas there was one Omega to keep them in check. After the factory explosion only one Omega remained operational and he was sent out by the agents to find everyone like us. I know what you are thinking “big deal one guy wants to capture you” but this is not a normal agent we can take in 2 minutes, he has armor that adapts to any cyber soldier he is sent after. Armor that is genetically grafted into his DNA just like ours.
Now that I got that unpleasant business out of the way, let me tell you about my family. Jack goes to fast, literally he can go up to 475 miles a minute! He is 5 feet four inches 13 years old tan and extremely annoying (don't tell him I said that or I’ll never hear the end of it). Max is a young African boy the same height and age as Jack and is Jack's partner in crime. He can generate electronic shields that spring up on command and can be thrown as hand grenades. He mainly uses this ability to prank us and then uses the shields as protection from our wrath (literally), but in general their both good kids that look out for each other as brothers. Ryla is the same age as me and is 5 feet 4 inches has blackish brown hair and she is able to sense other living things life signature a mile away, if it was not for her we would have been caught by Omega or the Agents a long time ago. Ryla and I are the oldest ones in the group and Jack and Max are the youngest ones in the group. We may all come from different pasts but we are all a family and we share the same future. Who am I you ask? My name is Jason I’m 6 feet 2 inches 16 years old and I am 15 times stronger than the strongest man in the world. Welcome to our lives!