earliest memory

I was five or six and I was outside playing with my younger sister. Oh, we used to have the most fun ever. This was when we lived in Rochester. I miss that house. It was so lovely, especially our backyard. I lived on six acres. My backyard had three giant apple trees, a giant pear tree, and tons of grapes. I loved those grapes. The grapes covered this circular wood frame that was like a fort. So, while my sister and I were playing in the field, with tall, green grass, it began to rain. My sister and I rushed to the grapes and hid in our grape "house". It rained for at least an hour. My sister and I didn't usually play house. We liked to pretend we were living in the stone ages. That was our favorite game. The grapes were our cave. When we were playing the grapes were our food and, the leaves and grass were our beds. To make our beds we went out into the field, the rain had stopped by now, and grabbed as much grass as out tiny hands could get. We would crawl back into our "cave" and lay the grass down so that it was in a rectangular shape. When there was enough grass for one large bed we started to pick the leaves from the grape vines and lay them on top of the grass, sort of like a bed sheet. I suppose that isn't really like the stone ages but, to us it was. We were young, we didn't really know much then. After we made our beds we would pick the grapes and eat our dinner. The game usually stopped there because we'd get bored. We probably ran back into the house then, or maybe we checked on the pigs to see if the rain hadn't bothered them to much.

Looking back on that memory reminds me of how much fun it was being a child. You didn't have anything to worry about. I wish I could go back to that. Starting highschool has given me many worries and responsibilites. I have to worry about every grade I recieve and that can be very frustrating. I am really interested in getting into a great college, that also worries me. Everything counts now. Don't you just wish you could go back in time and be a worry free child again? I'll never understand why so many teenagers want to grow up so fast. Maybe being a teenager is just that bad. I won't know until I am fully grown, will I?

Catch 22- motif

The dominant literary feature in Catch 22 is motif. The definition of motif is, a recurrent thematic element in an artist or literary work . The author used this literary element so heavily to get across his point that many things in life are ironic and full of difficulties beyond ones control. Joseph Heller also used motif as the dominant literary element to keep the reader interested and keep the novel going.



If you know what the definition of catch 22 is then you would know that this book is full of irony. Satire and irony are the theme of this book. Catch-22 reaccures at least ten times in this book. A selection from the book of catch-22 is, "There is only one catch and that was catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more mission and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. if he flew them he was crazy and he didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was deeply moved by the absolute simplicity of this clause of catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle." That selection basically defines what catch-22 is. The difinition of catch- 22 is a frustrating situation in which one is trapped by condradictory regulations or conditions. The phrase "catch-22" occurs many times in this book and stands out as a motif. That is why it is the dominant literary feature in Catch-22.

Outside Reading

For my outside reading project I am reading Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. I am not over joyed with the book. It is not the worst book I have read, but it's definantly not the best. I like it more than I hate it. Lets just say it's the best assigned book I have had to read. It grabs my attention pretty well. I enjoy the comedy in it.



I am not sure what the main literary point in the book is. I believe it's may be imagery, but I haven't really been looking for the other literary points as much. Anitating books is new to me, so it is hard for me to decide what the dominant point is. I don't think that it is very obvious though.



I am glad the book is written with so much sarcasm. That's just about all thats keeping my attention with the book. I think it's written with scarcasm to get the characters personality across becuase the main character is extremely sacrastic.

The tone of Catch 22 is very informal. When the people speak it has very low diction. The tone of this book doesn't really change from chapter to chapter. It only changes when the author is writing about the war.