Category: Homework

Those last few days. No way of wrapping it pretty or pretending otherwise Rafa was dying. It wasn’t easy knowing death was around the corner. ” Hey hermano get the remote” he said, his voice still had that definitive tone but it was also raspy and cracking. I obeyed his command, I would’ve normally ignored his command however and just tell him to get up and get it but he was dying. Ma, on the other hand, was still feeling bad vibes from Pura and of course she was oblivious to it, she just kept smiling at Ma. Going back to Rafa who was still on the couch was watching TV with Pura, he wasn’t really sure of what do to with himself, it was pathetic. The room was dustier than usual, Ma hasn’t cleaned it since she knew Rafa was going to die. There was a bad aura circling the house. Ma looked up at the clock watching it slowly tick away just like Rafa’s life.

The next few days were more or less the same. Rafa was lounging about on the couch with Pura (Rafa hasn’t even washed yet) Pura was oblivious to Ma’s scrutiny, Ma kept looking at the clock and I was obeying Rafa’s every command. Ma had also started praying even more than usual. But for what? for Rafa to live? I didn’t really think about it though I didn’t care. As I made my way back up to my room I saw Rafa known bed sheets I could smell it from the stairs. But before I could make it to my room I heard an ear piercing scream and a huge thud. I turned around and went back down the stairs to see Rafa motionless on the floor, his face was pale as snow and his skinny frame crooked (makes you wonder how he made such a loud thud on the floor.) “Pura why didn’t you call me for help?” I asked angrily “I don’t know he said he was fine then he just fell” Pura was still speaking but I blocked her out, she wasn’t the concern right now; it was Rafa. Ma must’ve heard the shouting because she came downstairs with the keys to the Monarch (I really don’t know how she got them) “Yunior get Rafa in the car”.

Ma was driving like a mad woman, swerving round bends way past the speeding limit and causing fellow drivers to shout in anger. All of this was bringing back my car sickness. Seeing as I haven’t been in a car for ages I didn’t know what the feeling was like. “Don’t throw up on me hermano” my brother warned me. I was going to say something back but I felt the sensation so I kept my response to myself. Speaking of throwing up Rafa looked like he was. And he did. The smell was lingering everywhere; it was horrible. “Can’t you it in Rafa?” I asked “Shut it Yunior” Rafa retorted.

We had made it to the hospital. Pura (who had managed to keep quiet the whole time) helped Rafa out of the car, Ma got in first and called for a doctor. I, however, wasn’t really bothered and lingered at the back. When I finally entered the hospital nurses surrounded Rafa forcing Ma and Pura to move back. One nurse felt Rafa’s head and jumped back, blowing her hand to cool it down. Rafa’s eyes were fluttering around, fading in and out of consciousness. It sent a chilling sensation down my spine just like when Rafa used to pour cold water down my back when we lived in Santa Domingo. I was getting really worried now. Pura was crying her eyes out. Ma was praying, I could see some spit fly from her mouth. There really wasn’t anything we could do but stand there and watch the situation get even worse . It was like you was stuck in a cage with the keys to escape but you couldn’t fit the lock.

Ma was crying, swearing for help, begging the nurse to somehow save Rafa from death. It was hectic, everyone had just seemed to crowd over our area. I felt myself being squashed in and during that mess I had found myself next to Pura. She grabbed my hand and started squeezing it. She then hugged me hard squeezing herself against me. Rafa must’ve seen this because he motioned toward me to get off Pura. The nurse had now been joined by two seemingly senior doctors, they looked like that anyway. But it didn’t help at all because next thing I knew Rafa was going into cardiac arrest…

There was silence and the TV wasn’t on and Ma was crying. She had put some candles out for a particular someone. “Yunior get some tortillas from the fridge.” I questioned her but she refused to answer so I just obeyed. We had got home an hour ago and in that hour the groove that was usually on the the chair had disappeared. I couldn’t remember who would normally sit there because of all the weed I had been smoking. Pura had an arm for an invisible figure. But one thing i knew was missing was Ma’s prayers. It was time for a prayer but she wouldn’t do it. But that didn’t explain the candles either.

I believe that Macbeth is just a butcher because he always wanted a way to get around the witches prophecy. There are many examples of this. One such example of this is when Macbeth knew that he would not have children who will become his heirs to the throne. Instead Banquo’s children will become kings after. When Macbeth realises that he goes out of his way to try and kill Banquo and his child Fleance by hiring assassins to kill them. They half succeded in killing Banquo but failed to kill his heir Fleance. By doing this it completely changes the plot of the story because now that Macbeth has killed his best friend he now doesn’t have anyone other than lady Macbeth for any sort of company. Another thing that changes now is that Fleance has ran away after the death of his father and it is never explained where he went so now Macbeth has completely changed the prophecy in his own way.

Later in the play however Macbeth realises that Banquo never really leaves him. When Macbeth held a feast for all the Thanes and Lords. When Ross asked Macbeth to sit down he couldn’t. That was because he thought he was seeing Banquo in his seat. This really frightened Macbeth because he didn’t think that Banquo would come back to haunt him causing Macbeth to cancel the feast. Lady Macbeth showed a bit of concern for Macbeth when she said “The fit is momentary; upon a thought He will again be well. If you much note him You shall offend him and extend his passion. Feed and regard him not.” This quotation shows that Lady Macbeth has real concern over Macbeth’s sanity and memtal wellbeing. She is desperate to make sure that none of the Lords have any sort of suspicion for Macbeth.

 Another reason that explains Macbeth is a butcher because he is a tyrant. Reasons to explain for this statement is when Macbeth killed Macduff’s family.

“Come on Kieran” screamed Veteran Phillips, it rattled the bones of Kieran’s fragile body. “I’m coming” replied Kieran, but really he wasn’t he was looking Bethany “oh where are you Beth” thought he thought desperately his eyes whizzed round. Meteors were smashing around them, there was a colourful aura about them but they were ruthless, The smallest ones were the same size as Jupiter(or just slightly and I mean slightly bigger than Jupiter). Kieran found Beth, there she was trapped in between thick barbed wires “oh damn, how am I going to get her out of THAT” thought Kieran. “Oh why won’t you come loose you stupid shoe” Bethany moaned at her shoe. “If only I had looked where I was going” “Kieran what in Keandra’s are you doing!” but Kieran didn’t reply, what he was doing was charging at Bethany at full pelt “Now all that hard work Mr. King did(his athletic teacher) wasn’t a waste after all. “Oh please,please don’t tell me he’s doing what I think he’s doing” thought Bethany desperately. What she was thinking was Kieran running at her preparing to tackle her. “Well, might as well get ready, hope your ready stomach.” Kieran was edging ever so slightly closer but the meteor shower must’ve noticed because it was getting heavier noticing the saviour which was Kieran. “Come on Kieran, this could be your chance to show Beth how strong you are” and then BAM!! Kieran hit her right in the stomach, a textbook tackle which would be approved by his coach “If he was still with me” thought Kieran “You good?” questioned Kieran anxiously “YEAH couldn’t be better Kieran” said the rather unhappy Bethany but really she thought it was rather brave of Kieran to go saving her like that. “But thanks Kieran- “IF YOU LOVE BIRDS WANT TO HURRY UP AND GET ON THIS SHIP!!!” barked the veteran. They both ran like little kids in a sweet shop they both hurdled over blazing meteors in a perfect hurdle form and joined up with Veteran Phillips on their space shuttle. There was a huge blast as ships all around the three were being blown up and being etched into a everlasting memory for them. “Greetings survivors we will now shortly be arriving on Alcatross. “Veteran Phillips, what is Alcatross?” “Ah Alcatross the largest spaceship ever invented by humanity it’s said to hold the whole of the planet.” Kieran wasn’t paying attention to that he was too busy peering out of window, Keiran had always wondered what space was like and now he could see the stars everything he ever wanted to see was propped there right in front of him. He was drifting like a lonely cloud just like his home town Birmingham which as he thought was being torn to bits by the grappling fists of the meteors. “You really are a soft aren’t you Kieran” said Bethany resting a sympathetic hand on his shoulder he didn’t realize at first but when he felt a hot wet substance rolling down the side of his cheek he had noticed he was crying, Kieran didn’t cry a lot especially around Bethany. “Alright you two let’s get on the boarding ship.”

The ship was of a massive scale its bodywork with steel panels stretching across miles of space “Man I wish I could live here” said Kieran Bethany nodded in agreement “Me too.” “CAN THE NEW ARRIVALS PLEASE GO TO SECTOR B1 FOR EXAMINATION” said the mono toned lady again. “If there is anything I will forget about this place it’s definitely THAT” Bethany giggled quietly Kieran blushed slightly he had never made Bethany laugh “I’ll definitely cherish that” Kieran thought. Kieran and Bethany were being taken to sector B1 where Kieran eyes were surveying the field looking to see if anyone from his school were here. “Right then boys and girls welcome to our training facility” answered a man who was 6 ft strong and handsome “All the features i wish I had” thought Kieran “this is where you’ll train to fight aliens, it will also be your accommodation and telling by your faces your teachers obviously didn’t tell you what accommodation meant. Well let be put it as this: its your bedroom, bathroom every thing you would find in a house is in here” the quizzical faces faded away as they headed what the man was saying. “Well, might as well tell you lot how things will be done around here: first things first bed is 10:15pm sharp, secondly you will hear an alarm at 7:30am this is time for you to wake up. You will then have breakfast at 7:45 then at 8:30 you will begin training this will go until 1:00 where you’ll have lunch then another training session all the way until 5 where dinner will be served.”

Days past very slowly well at least it felt like it until sirens were whining around “LET’S GO BOYS AND GIRLS ALIENS ARE ON THERE WAY” barked the master. “Hey Kieran what do you think about these aliens, do ya think we can bring those call of duty skills to life” yelled Kieran’s good friend Jacob “Hell, yeah we can” shouted back Kieran who was putting on his specially made space suit. The battle had begun, blasts were heard all around Kieran and out of the mist came an alien. It was a peculiar creature with an oddly shaped head with a blue slimy body. It gave up its puzzled gaze and charged at Kieran “Dang it” thought Kieran he had no time but to fire BANG!!! HE HAD KILLED HIS FIRST ALIEN “woohoo” yelled Kieran joyfully but that feeling had drowned so quickly has he was witnessing Bethany being devoured by one of the aliens. “Oh no you don’t you insubordinate piece of garbage” yelled Kieran just how Veteran Phillips would’ve done it, he charged and smacked it right in the face, recoiling the monster was preparing for another attack but Beth shot it. “Nice one” called Bethany impressed by Kieran’s skills “Let’s move forward” said Kieran. “hello? Can you hear me?” “Yes… I… Can…” “Good Kieran” said a familiar voice “Veteran Phillips!” exclaimed Kieran. “Good to see your doing well now, on to the real reason i called you, The aliens have taken over SECTOR E7 i need you two to clear the area and rescue as many people as you can” there was a sense of panic in his voice “Veteran Phillips what’s up?” “I’ve been cornered by the aliens, so I’ll let you know this, the aliens are a one shot if you get them in the head, melee will also do a lot of damage. But most importantly don’t ever… AAHHHHH!!!!” the radio cut out. the death-like aura around the radio surrounded Kieran and Bethany… “great, now where do we go from here?” questioned Bethany who was still in a disgruntled about Kieran’s sudden change of emotion. “Lets just see if there’s anything useful in this area” replied Kieran “What area is this anyway”

“SECTOR E3” answered a strange but familiar voice in the darkness.

“who’s here, show yourself!” shouted Kieran into the hollow darkness.

the figure stepped out.

“YO, Kieran”

It was Jacob but he looked battered “what sort of battle did you get into bro” asked Kieran. “let’s just say that I think he should definitely not split up” answered Jacob

“hey not to try and break this little bonding thing you two are having I think we should get moving, I see sector E7 just over to our right.

“k lets get moving” stated Kieran who sounded a bit like Veteran Phillips who Kieran forgot was dead and was about to find that out

Philip Reeve creates an effective character with Shrike by showing that he has more than one side to him. One side of Shrike is a ruthless monster who only cares about his own feelings and no one else. He also shows that he is a person who really couldn’t care less if his intended target was an old man, all shrike wanted was to kill, nothing more nothing less. But in other cases Shrike is seemingly nice character who may have feelings for others. An example of this is when Shrike didn’t take his claws out when fighting Anna Fang. Shrike also showed emotions when he was impressed by Hester’s skills to evade him when Hester and Tom were escaping from Airhaven.

When we were first introduced to Shrike he was a straight talking character who wasn’t shown into the light until later on in the stories. He was having a conversation with the mayor of London Magnus Crome. He was speaking with a dry-like voice which was only interested in no one but himself. The conversation these two had was very straight forward and plain. Shrike seemed like a person who was only here to know what he had to do. An example of this is when Shrike asked Crome what his reward would be if he was to kill Hester and Tom. The mayor answered with “You will have your heart’s desire” this desire is unknown yet but it should come out soon in the book. This could create an

Shrike’s “good” side starts to come out more when Hester tells stories about Shrike’s past. For example when Shrike found Hester in her home stabbed across then face he came up to her and said ” you can’t stay here child” He says “child” as if he was once a father and has lost everything and can’t rectify it. This could also mean that Shrike has some sympathy left inside of him and shows he has a more caring side to him. This makes Shrike an effective character because Reeve shows that even the most ruthless monsters have a sort of good side to them. This would make the reader more diverse about Shrike’s actions and how he takes them into account. This creates interest because Reeve shows that Shrike can show some sort of emotion when he wants to. This also could make the reader picture Shrike as a good person as he was kind to Hester when she was almost killed by Thaddeus Valentine. Another quote i found about Shrike’s caring is  “She went to Shrike  and told him she wanted to go after Valentine you you’ll be killed” This shows that shrike wanted to keep Hester safe and well seeing as she was half dead and had been seriously attacked by Valentine.

Shrike nastier side really starts to come out once he is in the lime light. He is shown as a fierce predator who seems like he has years of battles and assassinations under his belt. He looks like Shrike could defeat three packs of lions even if he had a broken leg. Shrike’s characteristics are: fierce, stealthy, nasty, ruthless and a person who doesn’t show any sort of sympathy for even the most wounded soldiers. Shrike can make you suffer even if he is nowhere near you. He has a presence of of fear where ever he goes and stands out when chasing after Tom and Hester in an air balloon (Tom and Hester where in one as well) Shrike was giving off a chilling gaze which was felt mostly by Tom. This creates suspense because Reeve uses his ability to use Shrike as an tense building character which could be visualized clearly by the reader. Shrike shows how much of a good hunter he is when hunting Hester and Tom in the woods.

Overall I think Shrike is the most effective character (so far) in Mortal engines because he was one of the first characters to add suspense. He was a dark and moody character in Mortal Engines. He was portrayed as a character by Reeve as person who would sacrifice his own life just to get the task done. I think Shrike would intrigue the reader more because he is someone that Reeve has used to be someone who can have one other side to him even though Shrike can be heartless. This would show the reader you should never assume a character’s personality based on their introduction.

Once there was a nasty thing called Grendal,

Grendal eats people he does not like much,

At night he would sneak in through the handle

I’ve never seen a thing who’s done so much,

He feasted on the sleeping at midnight,

The king found the dead people in white bone,

But a knight called Beowulf came to fight,

And so he fought the beast with all his might,

The fight was long with neither giving in,

Beowulf and Grendal were locked very tight,

But Beowulf prevailed with strength within,

so Beowulf defeated the black beast,

The king celebrated with a big feast

Shakespeare shows comparison between summer and the person he’s writing to by saying “shall i compare thee to a summers’s day?” this tells me that Shakespeare thinks the person is as beautiful as summer. “Sometime to hot the eye of heaven shines” this is a metaphor meaning that the “eye of heaven” is the Sun in the sky. The line “And often his gold complexion dimmed”  this metaphor means that the Sun is being clouded. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade” this metaphor by Shakespeare means that the person’s beauty will never fade.