response

For the theme of Success we read three pieces of writing. From the book Matters of Fact we read two non-fiction pieces, Johnny Biosphere to the Rescue by Peter Gorrie and Polar Dare by Priscilla Turner. From the anthology New Voices Three, we read Night Drive by Will F. Jenkins.

The first piece, Johnny Biosphere to the Rescue, was about a man named Jack Vallentyne who desperately wanted to fix the problems in nature but mainly wanted to clean up the pollution in the Great Lakes. In order for Jack to inform others of these problems, he wore a brown safari suit, a pair of high-cut running shoes, and a globe with a battery-powered light strapped to the top of his knapsack. He traveled to public places, wearing this suit, and gave interesting lectures to others. Mainly, he focused on the school children because they were the people of the future and they could influence the political system to save the environment.

This relates to the theme of Success because the main character in this story was trying to persuade others to help save the world and if he succeeded in doing so, the world would not have problems such as global warming and pollution of the air and environment. It seemed to Jack that if he talked to kids at an early age about this issue, they would succeed in the future by helping the environment.

The next piece we read was called Polar Dare. In this story the main character, Helen Thayer, was an explorer who traveled to the North Magnetic Pole. She was also a very athletic climber and hiker who loved to travel. Helen was different than other travelers though, she did not use large corporations to fund her trip nor did she take anyone else along with her. Her only companion was a dog named Charlie who she used to fend off polar bears if they ever came near. The story describes her journey to the North Magnetic Pole and the problems she encountered along the way, such as shortage of food or polar bears. In the end, Helen talks about how that was just her warm up trip for her future journeys to the True North and South Poles.

This piece relates to the theme because it tells a story of how an explorer made their way through traitorous territories and in the end, succeeded. She even did it alone, which makes her story even more interesting.

The final piece of writing we read was Night Drive. It told the story of the main character, Madge, who was lured into helping someone get revenge. This someone was Mr. Tabor. A few years back Mr. Tabor’s wife was murdered shortly after they got married. Nobody had even the slightest clue of who killed her but Mr. Tabor had a suspect in mind. At the present day, Mr. Tabor called up Madge and asked her if she could give his daughter, Eunice, a ride down to Colchester. We later found out that Eunice was actually Mr. Tabor seeking revenge on Bob, who was planning to murder Madge that night. In the end, nobody ends up getting murdered, but Mr. Tabor confronted the murderer Bob, and then moved away since his business in that town had been finished.

This story relates to the theme because Mr. Tabor managed to succeed in getting revenge upon the person who murdered his wife. Even though nobody was murdered in the end, Bob and Mr. Tabor probably worked out a deal that pleased them both.

The second piece of writing, Polar Dare, connected better to the theme of Success because the main character actually completed their goal and succeeded in life. The other two pieces did not quite connect as well because the people in them almost succeeded or were on their way to succeeding, but never quite managed to complete what their goals were.