Holiday Plans

Write about what you would like to do for the holiday. You will also be asked to write what you actually did (when you return), so think about how you can compare your hopes and plans with the reality of what happens.


Whenever there is a holiday or a break, no matter what the occasion, I always wish to spend the entirety of my time relaxing and doing close to nothing. This would probably include sleeping late, watching TV (I would like to pick off from where I left off in season 5 of House), doing some  light reading (my borrowed copy of Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama has been sitting untouched for quite a while now), spending time with my dogs (I don't get to spend much time with them due to schoolwork),  or just sitting around the house. Granted, these actions are regarded as acts that may cause brain degradation, but honestly, I couldn't care less - the purpose of school is to give us mental push-ups, and the breaks are for the intermittent rests.

In addition, since it is Chinese New Year, I intend to spend the greater portion of my time with family. This will be a relatively easy task, considering that I am going down to my grandparents' house in Tainan for the entire break.


Unfortunately, due to external factors, including schoolwork and other related projects, there is no way on Earth I can do "nothing" the entire break. Some teachers gave out no homework for the break, and for that I am most grateful. However, to those who did...


Therefore, quite unfortunately, a portion of my break will be dedicated to completing schoolwork (the assignments that are due), as well as conducting research for the upcoming BeiMUN conference.

Omniscient P.O.V.

“Through the Tunnel” is told from the point of view of an all-knowing, or omniscient, narrator. Although the narrator focuses mainly on Jerry, we also learn some of Jerry’s mother’s thoughts and feelings. How would the story be different if Jerry’s mother were telling it?

"Through the Tunnel" is told from an third-person omniscient narrator.This means that the reader is able to view the sequences of the story from the perspectives of multiple characters and is not limited to a single character, and also provides additional information that is related to the plot at hand.The story focuses primarily on Jerry and his endeavors, but we also are able to view some of his mother's thoughts and feelings (such as near the beginning of the story, where she expresses her fear of being overprotective).

The story would be significantly different if it was told from a first-person point of view from Jerry's mother or from a third-person limited perspective focusing on his mother. For one thing, the plot would be different; instead of a symbolic "rites of passage" story surrounding Jerry and his desire to swim through the tunnel in the underwater rock wall, we would probably be reading something about her mother trying to care for, or improving her plan to care for Jerry with the right combination of freedom and restriction.

Some other aspects of stories - setting (different to match where her mother was during the events of Jerry's story, such as the "safe beach"), tone - may also change.

Film v Print

How are movies different from books? What can a book show you that a movie can't? What can a movie show you that a book can't? Discuss the relative merits of each medium.

In modern society, young people tend to enjoy watching movies more than reading a book. There are a couple of possible reasons for this. First of all, a film condenses the elements of a story into only a couple of hours. This relative lack of commitment and devotion to the story, as well as a quick entry into the realms of imagination. A book, however, requires a significant amount of devotion and commitment in order to read and analyze it. With the factor of time playing a major role in modern society, we naturally will choose to commit ourselves to watching a couple of hours' worth of films verses reading a book for several days.

However, when movie spectators come back from a novel-inspired film, a lot of people usually complain that "the movie was not as the book." This occurs because the film is analyzed and interpreted through the eyes of the director, producers, and screenwriters, and as a result their movie screenplay is unique and may be possibly slightly controversial.

A book allows the readers' minds to paint their own picture - create imagery - through the descriptions provided by the author. This sense of being "drawn away" into another fantasy world is usually what enraptures so many to read books. A film, however, paints the picture for you, and you just sit back to enjoy the already-hanging scenery shot.

Films sometimes have a hard time capturing subtle details and side plots (sometimes because they cannot find a filming technique that will work for them or due to time constraints). Books and novels are a lot better at portraying such.

In the end, it all comes down to the fact that books allow the readers to create their own images through their imagination. This merit is impossible to portray in films.

How You Present Yourself

Do our choices about how we present ourselves to the world conceal or reveal our personalities? Write a brief description of someone who presents an outward appearance that is completely different form what is on the inside. Think of a character from film, literature, or television, or make up your own.


Our choices can either conceal our personalities from the world, or they can reveal our nature to those around us. By deciding to present ourselves and act in a manner contradictory to our true nature, we give others a specific impression that does not reveal our true nature. Whichever choice we choose to do, we leave upon others a specific impression for them to judge us by. In a sense, the choice of concealing ourselves from others can ultimately reveal something about our true personalities, but this is only if one sees through the appearance you bear. Most people act slightly differently around different people, leaving different impressions upon each.


I think that in most cases there's a balance between how much we reveal and how much we conceal. There's always a balance, whether we are totally conscious of it or not, to better fit the current circumstances that we are in.


The best example I can think of of someone who conceals his true personality is a character from To Kill a Mockingbird, Dolphus Raymond. Raymond is an extremely wealthy white man, but he is treated disdainfully within his community because he had children with a colored woman. In appearance, Raymond takes on the form of an alcoholic, stumbling around town and drinking out of a paper bag (assumed to be alcohol). However in reality, he is more than sane, and the liquid from the sack is actually coca-cola. He does this because he knows that the people of Maycomb will never understand why he was with a black woman, and uses the appearance of the alcoholic to give them a reason to believe why. This allows him to live an easier life.


It is from this that Scout, and the readers, learns that sometimes you simply need to pretend to be someone you know you are not, in order to fit the circumstances.

Rites of Passage

A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's progress from one status to another. Rites of passage are often ceremonies surrounding events such as other milestones within puberty, coming of age, marriage and death. Write about any rites of passage that you know about. Have you passed through any your self? What significance do the individual words “rite” and especially “passage” have?


I will bet you anything that this journal is a prompt for the short story we are about to read, "Through the Tunnel," where a young boy tries to swim through an underwater grotto to reach the pool on the other side. This, essentially, is considered a rite of passage (especially when you think about the possible symbols the water represents).


Some rites are very explicit and obvious, while others are more personal and subtle. For example, fraternities and brotherhoods require a certain ceremony for admittance into the group, and significant life events, such as your first time kissing a girl, receiving your driver's license, high school graduation, jumping off a high ledge over a lake, puberty...

More personal rites can include things such as baptism, the acceptance of a religion into one's life, overcoming a seemingly-insignificant obstacle in order to gain approval or self respect (like in the story "Through the Tunnel")...

I guess the major rite of passage I undertook was accepting the words of Jesus as truth, and of course, puberty. That is very important.

A "rite" is, by definition, an established ceremony, and a passage is the act of passing, or going, from one state or place to another. When put together, I guess that a "rite of passage" is a special ceremony, as prescribed by a certain religion or belief, that allows you to move from one state to another.

Being Tested

Think of a character in a book or a movie who faced a tough challenge. What physical and mental tests did he or she meet with? How did the character feel at the end of the ordeal? Write a brief summary of the character’s experience, then try to relate it to an experience you have had yourself.
The most obvious character I could think of that needed to achieve a goal but faced multiple challenges, both physical and mental, is Frodo from The Lord of the Rings. After a fateful turn of events, Frodo, an innocent Hobbit who lives in the Shire, finds himself in the possession of a dark object - the ring of Sauron, the Dark Lord. Following his possession of the ring, Frodo finds himself on a quest to destroy it without letting it fall into the wrong hands - or letting the rings overpower him.

The objective is quite simple: dispose of the ring. However on the way, Frodo and the Fellowship meet more opposition than ever imagined, as the "dark" forces continue to work against them. Frodo encounters the physical challenges of trekking across Middle Earth and fighting off waves of resistance. The mental test of the journey, though, was far greater; Frodo also had to guard his mind from the ring, which would try to tempt him, and infiltrate and corrupt his thoughts. Other prominent characters from the books and the movie, such as Boromir, also had to fight against the temptations of the ring. Denethor, the King of Gondor, also suffers from the corruption of his thoughts, though not originating from the Ring.
At the end of the journey, Frodo succombs to the ring's power, and almost kills himself because of this. Nevertheless, the ring is destroyed and Middle Earth is saved; however, Frodo is still traumatized by the Ring's effects, leaves Middle Earth for the Undying Lands, separate from Middle Earth.

I think that life in general is kind of like the journey of Frodo. We fight against the external conflicts of life - the waves of oppression that threaten to knovk you down - but we are also heedful of Satan, who continually croons to us, tempting us to succomb to his power. At the end of the journey, which is in our case, death, I have confidence that I can leave the world for heaven; sin and death has lost its sting. For Frodo, he left for the Elvish Undying Lands, which can be thought of as a metaphoric heaven.

Proving One’s Self

Why do young people feel, at one time or another, the need to prove their strength, endurance, or maturity? Have you ever felt this way? If so, describe the situation. What were you trying to prove? To whom? Have you witnessed this happen with someone else, either in real life or in a fictional account? Describe the situation and try to determine the young person’s motivation.

Young people, and generally most people in life, will at some point or another feel as though they need to prove themselves through acts that display their strength, endurance, maturity, or something else. Most times these acts of proving oneself occur because that person wishes to gain the approval or respect of group (for example, Daniel from The Karate Kid, who participates in the karate tournament to gain the respect of the local bullies). It's not only in this situation does one need to prove him/herself though; placement in society is all about how you can prove yourself. This doesn't necessarily occur because we wish to impress others; in contrast, I think that most of out actions where we try to prove ourselves are done for our own benefit - to prove to ourselves that we have the capability. People need to prove to their bosses that they should be promoted; players need to prove to their coaches they can play well enough to start; and we as students continually try to prove ourselves by doing the best in every class.

On a more jovial note, like all males from any species men need to prove ourselves in order to gain the approval of a special someone.

Have I ever felt like I need to prove myself? Except, as mentioned above, my role as a student to do good schoolwork, how I try to impress people with first impressions, and how I respond to the expectations from my parents and from God and myself, I'd have to say that's it.

A big, and famous, example I can think of is from the film The Karate Kid, where Daniel learns karate in order to prove himself to the neighborhood bullies (as well as to prove to himself) that he is worthy of respect and dignity. I think when there is a large event where we need to prove ourselves, we tend to learn from it and it becomes one of those "coming of age" stories.