Steve and Elijah

Authors note: I wrote this because I felt Steve and Elijah were very similar.

Steve Herman from Monster and Elijah from Elijah of Buxton are two young black kids that have everyday problems but both go through life changing experiences over the next year. They’re both poor and in a unique situation. Steve and Elijah are both soft hearted and kind but are in a bit of a pickle.

Steve is in jail for something he didn’t do and Elijah was  by slavers even though he’s free, but
Steve gets to go through trial and Elijah gets unfairly taken for no good reason. Elijah had the opportunity to escape and did but Steve went to jail with nowhere to run. Steve faced trial for almost a year and Elijah got away in the first week,

Steve and Elijah were both good, educated, and skilled at what they do but the difference between them besides age and appearance are what their special skills are. Steve is a skilled filmer he makes movies for his school he even wrote one about his experience in jail and at trial. Elijah is a the best rock chunker of his time. He can throw with his left and right and has amazing accuracy. He so good he fishes with those skills.

Neither of them have the best life but they’re not the worst either. Elijah and Steve are great examples of kids in adult situations. They’re both brave and strong like adults but the think like the children they are in my opinion they could be brothers. They are very similar in many ways.

Heart Break

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Curtis is about the first child born free in Buxton, Canada named Elijah. One of his friends Mr. Leroy gave his money to Preacher to buy his family out of slavery, but Preacher kills his companion and takes the money for himself. So Mr. Leroy and Elijah go after him but when they get there Mr. Leroy has a heart attack and makes Elijah promise he’ll get the money, kill Preacher, and free his family. When he does Mr. Leroy passes and leaves Elijah in America alone.

I believe Elijah takes on this task and starts at the place they were headed, the inn. I think Preacher will be there but captured by slavers and Elijah will be captured too. They will have to work together to escape from the slavers.I think Elijah will kill the preacher in a strange turn of events and escape with other slave that are there. Elijah will give Mr. Leroys money to others from Buxton so they can buy Leroy's family like Elijah and Leroy set out to do.

The Monster in Him

In Monster by Walter Dean Myers Steve Harmon is writing a movie about his time in jail and trial. The point of view is from Steve Harmon as he endures the worst thing of his life, trial. From the way Steve describes it you feel bad for him and you feel like King is a bad person. It’s those feelings that keep you on his side.

One way Steve’s point of view influences the reader's interpretation is how his perspective describes his relationship with King. He says that King is just an acquaintance. In Steve’s words “I know him from the neighborhood.”  Which in the jury’s eyes and yours separates him and King and makes him seem innocent and King more guilty.

However, the reader would feel a lot differently about Steve if the story was written in Petrocelli’s point of view. For instance, the reader wouldn't think Steve was innocent they would feel he was guilty because that her job as prosecutor. If she had it her way Steve and King would go to jail from 25 years to life without parole.

Steve makes the reader believe that he’s innocent and doesn't deserve to be here. His point of view is the difference maker. I know if this story was in almost anyone else s point of view I would've thought he was guilty. His point of view is the big thing.

As you can see, the point of view of this story forces the you to see just Steve’s side of the story. In Monster, Steve’s perspective makes the reader want him to be released and King prosecuted. Steve seems like a great kid and if you knew him before this turn of events even you wouldn't think he did it.

Hope is a Powerful Thing

Imagine waking up every morning and not knowing where your next meal is coming from or where you’re going to sleep tonight. You may think that it’s hopeless that you’ll ever live a normal life. That may be hard for you to comprehend it’s hard for me to, but for Michael Oher a 16 year old black kid it’s reality. He had the slightest hope of living a better life and that hope led him to a christian school where white people outnumber blacks 10 to 1. He found hope in one of the families, the Touhys giving him hope. That’s why I think hope is the theme.

Michael Oher finds hope when his friends dad takes him with to a christian school for his son and convinces them to let Michael in too. Then a family that goes to that school takes him in as if he was their own. That family the Touhys feeds him, clothed him, and gave him a place to sleep. These are examples of new hope given to him and it helped a lot because now he’s a NFL star.

New hope is something you see in sports a lot. Like claiming the player you drafted is the star of the future and will lead you to victory. When Billy Beane started his moneyball campaign he gave the A’s new hope. He saved a dying franchise by changing the way he bought players. He gave players who thought their careers were done hope and the whole franchise.  Like when the Touhys took Michael in and gave him hope.

Hope is what drove The A’s to the playoffs and Michael to the NFL. It’s also what gave Frodo from Lord of The Rings the power to destroy the ring. Sam supplies Frodo with hope as he fights the ring. Frodo relies on Sam because all his hope in succeeding has depleted. Sam is a beacon hope for Frodo. Hope is what wins a battle and Sam had to have enough for him and Frodo. The Touhys were Michaels Sam there what gave him hope in succeeding.

Hope is what wins battles and Michael Oher's battle is no exception. He relied on the hope of a new start and got it with the Touhys when they took him in. He wouldn’t be as successful as he is now without the Touhys to help him through it. Hope is a powerful thing that can save your future from your past. If you have enough hope you can do almost anything.

Money ball Prediction

Once again the A’s are in game 5 of the champion series and it’s the ten year anniversary of moneyball now. Once again the Yankees stand in there way of victory. The Yanks are in the lead in 4th inning it’s 3-0 but the hammer back and score two off a bomb by Cespedes. It’s now the 8th the yanks are still up 3-2 when with bases loaded there pitcher hits Moss and a run scores. It’s 3-3 top of the 9th now. Yankees have a man on 3rd with 1 out. Then Cano flied out deep but a run scores. It’s now 4-3 with Jetter up and He homers then A-rod flied out to end the inning. It’s now 5-3 and the A’s are at the top of their lineup. First up is Crisp the A’s leadoff man. He singles on the first pitch which brings up Weeks. Weeks strikes out and Cespedes walks. Which brings up Reddick. 2 on 1 out bottom of the ninth Josh Reddick hits a long high fly ball that looks like it’s going to be caught but at the last second it sailed over the wall. The A’s go to the world series where they sweep the Nationals and Billy finally wins the last game of the season.

Billy Beane

In the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis it tells the story of baseball prospect Billy Beane's’ life after his unsuccessfully baseball playing career. It explains how his past experience helps him as a baseball GM and teaches him that money isn’t everything. Those experience made Billy Beane a good leader. He turns his 40 million dollar team from last in division to tying the Yankees regular season record. These are just a few of the ways Billy Beane changes his life and affects others in the book.

Billy Beane went from future star to draft bust in a matter of years. This is due to his lack of self confidence against major league pitchers. This changes his point of view entirely on baseball and money. He learned that no matter how much money they offer you can’t buy confidence. He chose money over a college degree. Would you have done the same if you had to choose?

Billy Decided to give up being a  baseball player to being in the front office. He became the Oakland A’s GM in 1997 which started his roller coaster ride as a poor GM. Under Billy Beane they reached the playoffs 4 consecutive years 2000 - 2001. This is because of Billys influence on the Oakland A’s players and coaches. In whatever way Billy influenced almost everyone in the A’s system. Including Scott Hatteberg and Chad Bradford two of Billy’s surprize players he picked up in 2001 offseason.

In the end Billy Beane proves that money isn’t everything. He wins with a team with less the half the salary of  some of their opponents. All you need to win is a different strategy. Billy changed from when this started. He started going for the money. He end up declining the biggest GM contract in the history of sports. Thats how much he regretted his decision to go for the money.

conflict resolution Money Ball

In Money Ball Billy Beane is the manager of a poor baseball team. He has to try to compete with teams like the Yankees. Every year his best players are bought by richer teams and he has to start over. Billy Beane is cleaned out every year and losses the best he has. This conflict he is person vs. society.

Billy Beane solves this problem by tacking up a unique way of choosing players. He takes undervalued player because they have small defects. After losing his stars he finds players to replace them by ther most important statistic OBP% (on base percentage). He picks two of the main characters that way in Chad Bradford and Scott Hatterberg.