Poetry On Gambling

I think the comparison should be made like this:

1. Tom Beatty - The Rocking Horse Winner

2. The Green Clothes - Paper

3. One-Dollar Gambler - The Lottery

My reason:

1. Both Tom Beatty and The Rocking Horse Winner are talking about gambling, luck and also of the consequences if you are obsessed with it. In The Rocking Horse Winner, Paul's mother told him of luck and how it could bring them money. In order to silence the voices in the house and to help his parents earn money, he went in search of luck. But his desparation to earn even more led to him becoming insane and finally dying. From this, we know that his parents were to blame. In Tom Beatty, they also said that you can waste seventy years to gamble but ultimately, you will not win and will still die.

2. Both Paper and The Green Clothes are similar in terms of tips, dry lips and all that was spent in vain. In Paper, Tay Soon and Yee Lian heeded the tips and bought the stocks that were rumoured to bring them more money. When the stocks crashed, Tay Soon and Yee Lian lost all their money. Devastated, they cried and this was what caused the dry lips. All the money they invested in the stocks were all that was spent in vain.

3. In Lottery, Ah Boh was similar to the blind man in the sense that they both failed to see what gambling can do to them. Similarly, number 13 also symbolizes Ah Boh's superstition. Finally, when Ah Boh lost all her money, she would have zero dollars left.

Gambling Materials

1. Paper, the title of the story, is actually a form of symbolism, which represents something insignificant and of little value. "It's just paper gains so far" tells us that the money they made through selling stocks and shares so far is merely a fraction of what they can get in the end if they continue. Proving that the amount of money they had then was as insignificant as paper which can be easily replaced as it is cheap and of little value. What's important to them is that they must have more money and fulfil their dream of living in a grand house.

Also, when gambling, people rarely consider whether they are wasting money or not as what is of utmost importance to them is to strike the lottery and gain a huge fortune. Even if the money is wasted, they would not really bother as it is still insignificant compared to what they think they will win when they strike the jackpot.

When Tay Soon dies, his mother prepares his "dream house" for him, only this time it would be made of paper. From this point, we know that the house is no longer important as the husband is already dead, thus buying the house would no longer have any meaning to it.

2. Ah Boh is a superstitious woman who believes that lady luck will shine on her one day and let her strike a fortune. However, as the days pass, none of the predicted things came true and that led to Ah Boh resorting to plans like assigning numbers to each object or event dreamt about etc. Nothing good comes out of gambling; however Ah Boh fails to understand that. When her mother dies, Ah Boh was just at the scene of the accident and seemed a bit unstable as she muttered to herself ways of making her mother forgive her.

3. Paul's parents were responsible for his death. Though Paul's parents were not rich, they still spend the money on unnecessary items. When they finally realize that they were running out of money, things became worse. The children, especially Paul, were affected. At this time, Paul also learnt about luck and soon he also learnt about horse races which could gain him money if he was lucky. So whenever there were horse races, he would ride on his toy horse which would give him the inspiration. But it soon became an obsession which led to his demise.

Analyzing and Composing Poem

Response 1.

The poet was probably feeling nostalgic, sad and yet a little happy while reminiscing the past and recalling the good old days when he was back in primary school.

Response 2.

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Recalling The Past

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Walking down the aisle,

I walked to my teacher,

Retreived my result slip,

And went back to my seat.

Not daring to take a look,

My friend took the initiative for me,

Seeing his look of disbelief,

I lost all hope.

But that was not the case,

As my friend turned,

He tapped my shoulder,

And told me the good news.

As my other friends crowded around,

And began to congratulate one another,

Tears started welling up inside our eyes,

This would be our last happy moment together.

But that moment did not last long,

Not wanting to dampen our spirit,

We decided to go on a trip and enjoy,

Our last moments together.

At the end of the day,

We knew it was time to part,

Though I wanted it to last longer,

It was not within my power to do so.

Accepting our fate,

We held back our tears,

Saying the last goodbyes,

We turned our backs and walked away.

Favourite Poet

I am sure everybody should have heard of William Shakespeare. Being regarded not only as the foremost dramatist of his time, but also the world's preeminent dramatist, Shakespeare was also the greatest writer in the English language.

Evidence indicates that both he and his world looked to poetry, not playwriting, for enduring fame. In his poems and plays, Shakespeare never fail to invent thousands of words, often combining or contorting Latin, French and native roots. His impressive expansion of the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, includes words such as: birthplace, courtship, downstairs, radiance, schoolboy, hunchbacked etc. proving that his degree of literacy was excellent.

Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays. These are usually divided into four categories: histories, comedies, tragedies and romances. His earliest plays were primarily comedies and histories such as Henry VI and The Comedy Of Errors, but in 1596, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, his second tragedy, and over the next dozen years he would return to the form, writing the plays for which he is now best known: Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Anthony and Cleopatra. In his final years, Shakespeare turned to the romantic with Cymbeline, A Winter's Tale and The Tempest.

Now I shall touch on why I chose Shakespeare. Since my primary school years, I have came across some of his poems and plays and they have left a very deep impression on me. I am indeed awed by his degree of his literacy, there is no doubt that he is indeed the greatest writer in the English language. He is able to come up with words that no one thought of before and write amazing plays and poems that can captivate the reader. I really respect and admire him a lot.

Here are my 3 favourite poems:

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They that have power to do hurt and will do none

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They that have power to hurt and will do none
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces
And husband nature’s riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

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When I consider every thing that grows

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When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment.
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment.
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheerèd and checked even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay,
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with decay
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.

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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day

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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Figurative Language

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

"Oh, dear," is a form of hyperbole. It tells us that the writer was feeling puzzled and ashamed then.

"A lizard named Ed" is a form of symbolism, representing the main character and laziness. Thus, it is because the main character is lazy therefore the room belonging to him is also untidy and messy.

I like this poem because it contains a bit of humour and suspense. The poem is about one person who criticizes a room for being messy, only to find out in the end that the room actually belonged to him. Shel Silverstein manages to give a good and thorough description of the room, allowing us to imagine how the room looked like. He also adds a touch of humour to the poem by including the lizard lying on the bed and the last part of the poem which reveals the truth behind the messy room.

Book Review (The Street Lawyer)

Written by John Grisham, The Street Lawyer is #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. Being a mix between a mystery and thriller, it managed to catch my attention. But that did not manage to last long. Initially, I found the plot quite interesting and decided to read on. However, as the story progressed, it started to get boring. The story practically ran out of steam. Despite this, I still continued reading as I was eager to know the ending. In the end, I was disappointed once again. The ending was bad, in fact I don't think there was even an ending, the story was just left hanging. But ultimately, these are just my opinions from my point of view. Maybe an adult's would differ from mine since their understanding of the story might be better than mine.
Now, after I have given my views on this book, I will tell you more about the plot.
The Street Lawyer is a story about a lawyer named Michael Brock who is working his way to the top in a law firm. Due to his fast paced life which kept him going, he fails to realize how much he misses out on. Then, one day his life was turned upside down when a homeless guy holds him and his other co-workers as hostages at his own workplace, not knowing what would happen next. The homeless guy also started to ask each of them some questions and wants them to answer the questions truthfully.

After several hours, the homeless guy was finally shot dead by a police sniper while retrieving his food, scaring everyone and causing Michael, who was closest to the guy, to be covered in blood and body fluids. The experience with the homeless guy led to Michael pondering whether he was at the right job and about his life.
Michael then decides to become a street lawyer, which was a noble decision as the salary was not as much as his previous job and it also had less benefits. This led to quarrels between Michael and his wife and ultimately, they broke up and filed for divorce. Michael also learnt that the company he worked in had illegally evicted homeless people from a building and caused death to some in the process. He worked long and hard to prove this and was successful in the end. The law firm fired the lawyer who had done all that and also began to help the homeless.

The Mercurial Tom

I looked at my sister.
Then I stared at the television.
Is she really a girl?
Wearing a cap, dressed in baggy jeans and a Polo T-shirt.
She resembled a tomboy.
Behaved like a tomboy too.
Whose genes did she inherit?

All of a sudden, my mother came in.

The answer became very obvious.