The New Yorker

1. Total number of words - 1666
2. Total number of sentences - 54
3. Longest sentence ( in # of words) - Sentence 39 with 96 words
4. Shortest sentence ( in # of words) - Sentence 25 with 7 words
5. Average sentence length ( in #of words) -31
6. Number of sentences with more than ten words over the average - 12
7. Percentage of sentences more than ten words over the average - 12%
8. Number of sentences with more than five words below the average - 18
9. Percentage of sentences with more than five words below the average - 18%
10. Paragraph Length

• Longest Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - Paragraph 3 with 8 sentences
• Shortest Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - Paragraph 1,8,9,10,12,17,18,21,23,25,26,27 with 1 sentence
• Average Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - 2

New Yorker Article

In Banking, Top Obama Aide Made Money and Connections

John Simpson, who ran the Chicago office of the investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Company, had flown to Washington to meet with Mr. Emanuel at the behest of Mr. Simpson’s boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker who had gotten to know Mr. Emanuel.
“I had this idea that this could work and that it had upside,” said Mr. Wasserstein, now chairman and chief executive of Lazard, the investment bank. “It worked out better than I could have hoped.”
And better than Mr. Emanuel could have imagined as well. Over the course of a three-hour-plus dinner, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Emanuel discussed how they might work together. Shortly afterward, Mr. Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down what has by now become a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business.
Mr. Emanuel, who was chosen last month to become President-elect Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff, went on to make more than $18 million in just two-and-a-half years, turning many of his contacts in his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients and directing his negotiating prowess and trademark intensity to mergers and acquisitions. He also benefited from the opportune sale of Wasserstein Perella to a German bank, helping him to an unusually large payout.
The period before he was elected to a House seat from Illinois is a little-known episode of Mr. Emanuel’s biography. Former colleagues said the insight it afforded him on the financial services sector is invaluable especially now. But Mr. Emanuel built up strong ties with an industry now at the heart of the economic crisis, one that will be girding for a pitched lobbying battle next year as the incoming Democratic administration considers a potentially sweeping regulatory overhaul.
After Mr. Emanuel left banking to run for Congress, members of the securities and investment industry became his biggest backers, donating more than $1.5 million to his campaigns dating back to 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Mr. Emanuel also leaned heavily upon the industry while he was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 midterm elections. Financial industry donors contributed more than $5.8 million to the committee, behind only retirees.
Friends of Mr. Emanuel’s from his private-sector days said he still checks in with them regularly to plumb their insights on economic issues.
“He asks me what am I seeing, what business is like, what’s the climate, where are the weak spots,” said John A. Canning Jr., chairman of Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago private equity firm that is in the same building as Wasserstein’s offices.
Mr. Canning was one of many financial executives Mr. Emanuel met with soon after he left the White House to discuss job prospects, with Mr. Emanuel’s political connections often opening doors. Mr. Canning agreed to sit down with Mr. Emanuel at the recommendation of several friends, including Stanley S. Shuman, an investment banker at Allen & Company and a major Democratic donor who once stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House as a guest of President Clinton’s.
Mr. Canning could not offer him a job, but Mr. Emanuel came to pitch deals to him and they became friends. Employees of that particular firm became Mr. Emanuel’s biggest financial supporters in Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
When the House was weighing a measure last year to significantly increase the tax rate on profits earned by private equity firms, Mr. Canning said Mr. Emanuel attended a luncheon with Madison Dearborn executives, first reported by Bloomberg News, to listen to their arguments against the changes.
Mr. Emanuel, however, wound up joining other Democrats in voting for the measure.
In an interview, Mr. Emanuel, pointed to other actions he had taken over the objections of the financial industry, including sponsoring a bill last year to curb the ability of hedge fund managers to defer paying taxes on compensation they stashed in offshore tax havens and another measure that imposed new reporting requirements on financial firms for what investors pay on stocks and mutual funds.
“I would say I’ve been as tough on my friends as others,” Mr. Emanuel said. “I call it like I see it.”
Confidants of Mr. Emanuel’s said he decided to try his hand at business because he wanted financial security for his family, before eventually returning to public service.
“He had a number in his head to make enough for the family,” said Ezekiel J. Emanuel, one of Rahm’s two brothers and a prominent bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health.
It was Morton L. Janklow, the literary agent for several former presidents, who introduced Mr. Emanuel to Mr. Wasserstein. Erskine B. Bowles, the White House chief of staff and a former investment banker, also said he recommended Mr. Emanuel. Mr. Emanuel met in Mr. Wasserstein in his New York office, where they had a wide-ranging discussion about the future of financial regulation, as well as Mr. Emanuel’s plans.
Jeffrey A. Rosen, now deputy chairman of Lazard and a former managing director of Wasserstein Perella’s international practice, said Mr. Emanuel was “both a developed and a raw talent.”
“His years in the White House and what he’d done before that really honed what I’d call deal-making instincts, which could be easily translated into the business arena,” Mr. Rosen said. “Plus, he was someone who was well connected in Chicago and highly respected.”
Mr. Emanuel turned out to be an effective banker, proving a quick study with financial concepts, even as he relied on others in his office for heavy number crunching, former colleagues said. He worked 12-hour days and was known among clients for his relentlessness, constantly on the phone or sending e-mail, and being unafraid to pitch deals. Revenue in Wasserstein’s Chicago office climbed significantly after his arrival.
There is no evidence Mr. Emanuel used his political clout on behalf of his clients, but his connections certainly helped drum up business and contributed to his hiring, former colleagues said. Indeed, a partial list of clients from Mr. Emanuel’s Congressional financial disclosure in 2002 is easily linked up to the various strands of his political career, including his time as a fund-raiser for Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago and then for Mr. Clinton’s first presidential run.
The clients included Loral Space & Communications, run by Bernard L. Schwartz, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, who said he got to know Mr. Emanuel while he was in the White House; the Chicago Board Options Exchange, whose chairman and chief executive, William J. Brodsky, became friends with Mr. Emanuel while he was working for Mayor Daley; and Avolar, a business aviation company whose top executive, Stuart I. Oran, was formerly in charge of governmental affairs for United Airlines, a role in which he said he interacted with Mr. Emanuel at the White House.
One of Mr. Emanuel’s major deals was the purchase in 2001 of a home alarm business, SecurityLink, from SBC Communications, the telecommunications company that was run by William M. Daley, the former secretary of commerce in the Clinton administration and the brother of Chicago’s mayor.
Mr. Emanuel represented GTCR Golder Rauner, a Chicago private equity firm that was buying the business for an affiliate. Bruce Rauner, the firm’s chairman, had first met Mr. Emanuel when he was still exploring job prospects in Chicago after getting a call from Mr. Bowles, an old friend.
Instead of private equity, Mr. Rauner advised Mr. Emanuel to pursue investment banking, where his political experience might be more valuable in landing deals in regulated industries.
Mr. Emanuel called him back after starting at Wasserstein and asked if he could take over coverage of GTCR for his new employer. That eventually led to the nearly $500 million SecurityLink deal.
Mr. Emanuel’s biggest transaction came in late 1999 when he landed an advisory role for Wasserstein in the $8.2 billion merger of two utility companies, Unicom, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison, and Peco Energy, to create Exelon, now one of the nation’s largest power companies.
John W. Rowe, the former chief executive of Unicom who now holds the same position at Exelon, sought out Mr. Emanuel after he went to Wasserstein. Mr. Rowe said he believed Mr. Emanuel would offer a different dimension, providing wisdom on what might pass muster at the governmental level.
“You can’t understand utility transactions without thinking about whether they’ll play or not play in legal and political circles,” said Mr. Rowe, who was first introduced to Mr. Emanuel by Lester Crown, the billionaire scion of Chicago’s influential Crown family.
Tax returns Mr. Emanuel released while first running for office and reported in news articles, along with Congressional financial disclosures, reveal his steep financial ascent while working at Wasserstein. He earned more than $900,000 in 1999, his first year at the firm; nearly $1.4 million in 2000; and $6.5 million in 2001, when he left the firm in midyear to run for Congress. He collected $9.7 million more from the firm in deferred compensation in 2002.
Mr. Emanuel’s annual salary was not especially large but his hefty paydays came from bonuses for the business he brought in, as is customary in investment banking, along with the company’s sale in 2001 to the German Dresdner Bank, which allowed him to benefit from an equity stake, as well a large retention bonus paid to him based on his prior performance.
The bonanza Mr. Emanuel reaped would come in handy when he ran for the House seat vacated by Representative Rod R. Blagojevich, now governor.
Mr. Emanuel contributed $450,000 out of his own pocket to his campaign in the primary, and his leading rival accused him of trying to buy a seat in Congress.

Homework: Christopher Columbus Essay Response

1. Total number of words - 430
2. Total number of sentences - 19
3. Longest sentence ( in # of words) - Sentence 15 with 42 words
4. Shortest sentence ( in # of words) - Sentence 16 & 18 with 9 words
5. Average sentence length ( in # of words) - 22
6. Number of sentence with more than ten words over the average - 2
7. Percentage of sentences with more than ten words over the average - 2%
8. Number of sentences with more than five words below the average - 6
9. Percentage of sentences with more than five words below the average - 6%
10. Paragraph Length

• Longest Paragraph (in # of sentences) - Paragraph 4 with 6 sentences
• Shortest Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - Paragraph 5 with 1 sentence
• Average Paragraph ( in # of sentences) - 4

Homework 2 page Lit-Response

Booker T. Washington, author of " The Awakening of the Negro," wrote an autobiography about how important education is to blacks. But the education was not helping blacks to become smarter, but it was educating blacks to do work to make them a better slave. I have to say that I don't agree with Washington's school and teaching. It doesn't help slaves to break away from being mistreated and their own person.
Washington believed that if a slave continued to do well with their job and cause no problems with his or her master, they would get rewarded later on in life. I don't exactly agree with that; if a slave continues to do well and cause no problems with their masters, they're masters are going to believe that they like their job and don't mind doing it for the rest of their lives. Their masters are going to think if they're not fighting me about it, then they have no problems with it.
Washington views on not fighting just deal, bothers me as well. If slaves would have listened to him, we probaly still be slaves now. Not fighting would have made white men and women believe that the way they treated slaves was right. That they were are owners and we were their property. Not fighting would have made slaves more fearful and scared, that they would never stand up for their rights and what they believe in.
Washington's belief that white men would finally realize the good work that they done, would eventually lead to their freedom; was so wrong. It was wrong of Washington to trust that their owners would do something like that. Their owners would never ever think about letting their slaves go free, because who would do the work. Letting their slaves go means losing money, because their will be no one working on the plantation and no one tending to the owners every single second.
All and all, I don't agree with Washington's idea of becoming a good slave, will eventually lead to your freedom.

Annotated Bibliograhies

Annotated Bibliographies

Australian Job Search. ( 2001). Occupation Information: Film, Television, Radio and Stage
Directors. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://jobsearch.gov.au/careers/
jo_AscoDesc.aspx?AscoCodes=2536

Australian Job Search is a great informational website even though it's international, it
gives us information about the film industry outside of the United States. Though the
skills and conditions are the same as other directoring jobs, wages and pay are
different. In Australia the occupation size as an director is nine- thousand, in the
United States it's almost double that amount. The Australian Job Search also gives us
an international outlook on the weekly earnings of a director which is $1,265 an hour.
Tasks of directors are the same for all countries they have to: study scripts to
determine theme and setting, oversight creative aspects of film, television, radio or
stage production, and assess stageing requirements for productions in assocition with
specialists designers. Australia Job Search also gives information about the skills and
knowledge needed to become a director like: having a bachelor degree or higher
qualification and at least five years of relevant experience. Australian Job Search is a
great website for finding out international information about the career of your dreams
just in case you want to go out of the states.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Departmentof Labor ( 2004). Career Overview: Acting,
Producing and Directing Career, Job and Employment Information. Retrieved November
13, 2008, from http://www.careeroverview.com/acting-producing-careers.html

Career Overview is infomational site that gives you a great understanding of what it
takes to be an director, actor, and producer. Career Overview gives us information on
the outlook of each career, the qualifications, opportunities, and earnings. Career
Overview also describes a directord's role which includes: making creative decisions,
interpreting scripts, expressing ideas to designers of sets and costumes, auditioning
and choosing cast members. Directors also cue the actors when they need to enter
or technicians when they need to change lights or sounds on set. Career Overview
describes the training and job qualifications needed to become a director like: Active
listening, good judgement, health and safety awareness, entusiasm and drive. The
middle fifty percent in between $15,320 and $53,320. The lowest ten percent earned
lower than $13,330, while the highest ten percent earned higher than $106,360 some
even make millinos; are the amounts that a director earns throughout the year.
Career Overview is a great website for finding accurate information about the career of
your choice.

Bureau of Labor Statisitics Office of Occupational Statisitics and Employment Projections.
(2007). Occupational Outlook Handboo, 2008-09 Edition: Actors, Producers, and
Directors. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos093.htm

This site gives infomation about the career of your interest. It gives you information
about: the nature of the work, training, other qualifications, and advancement,
employment, job outlook, and earings. This site gives information about what directors
are resposible for in their field of industry, for example: Directors are responsible for
the creative decisions of a production. They interpret scripts, audition and select cast
members, conduct rehearsals, and direct the work of cast and crew. They approve the
design elements of a production, including the sets, costumes, choreography, and
music. Assistant directors cue the performers and technicians, telling them when to
make entrances or light, sound, or set changes. Most directors often start out as
actors. Many also have formal training in directing. The Directors Guild of America and
the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers jointly sponsor the Assistant
Directors Training Program. To be accepted to this highly competitive program, an
individual must have either a bachelor’s or associate degree or 2 years of experience
and must complete a written exam and other assessments. Program graduates are
eligible to become a member of the Directors Guild and typically find employment as a
second assistant director. This site is educational in finding out what your career is
actually about and what it takes to get there.

Careerkids,LLC. ( 2007-2008). Career Kids: Directors. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from
http://www.careerkids.com/careers/directors.html

Career Kids is a great informational website if you want quick sumarry to what your
particular career is about. Career Kids gives you: the description, working condition,
salary, helpful skills and subjects to study, related jobs, education and training, and
job outlook of that career. For instance, the description of a director is, " Directors
interpret plays or scripts. They manage the actors, crew, sound designers, costume
designers, carpenters and everyone involved with putting together a show. They use
their knowledge of acting, voice and movement to achieve the best possible show.
Directors usually approve any music, costumes, scenery and choreography. They
may work on television, movies and plays." Career Kids also tells you helpful skill and
subjects needed like: Courses in theater, arts, drama, dance and dramatic literature.
Career Kids describes the working conditions of a director, which are long and
irregular hours and frequent travel. Career Kids lets you know even though the
employment of directors is expected to grow faster than the average for all
occupations, there will be keen competition for director positions. The glamor of the
job combined with the lack of formal entry requirements, will attract many people to
this occupation. Career Kids is great site to get interesting and understandable
information about your career.

Career One Stop. (2008). Occupation Profile: Producers and Directors: Illinois. Retrieved
November 13, 2008, from http://careerinfonet.org

The site Career One Stop was created to give not only students, but adults information
about the career that they wish to pursue in life. For me it gave me information about
being a director, because that's the career I would love to have and be in. When I went
to the site, it gave me tons of information about directing and what I need to do in able
to become a director like: the occupation description, the wages, skills, education
level, knowledge, abilities, and work conditions.This site also gives you the top
schools for your career. My top schools for directing are: Columbia University,
UCLA, University of Southern California. Career One Stop also tells you how many
people are in that job industry in your state and how much they get paid. The highest
amount a director gets paid in the state of Illinois is $57.91 an hour. If you feel like
you know nothing about the career that your interested in. This site offers
outstanding information about the career of your dreams.

College Grad.com, Inc. ( 2008). Career Information: Actors, Producers, and Directors.
Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://www.collegegrad.com/careers/proft23.shtml

College Grad.com is a site that gives you information about any career of your
interest. The site gives you information about the: nature of the work, working
conditions, training, qualifications, advancements, employment job outlook, and
earnings. This site explains what a director actually does, their responsibilities, and
the skills and knowledge needed. It even tells to how stressful and hard the job can
get. The site gives information on how many directors are hired over the years and how

much they make. The site even explains how hard it is to become a director, because
the industry is so tough to get into. This site is so helpful, because it gives you so
much knowledge about stuff you didn't know about your career and inspires you to the
point where you want to get a jump start on your career at that very moment.

Minnesota Department of Education. (2008). Career: Producers and Directors. Retrieved
November 13, 2008, from http://www.iseek.org/sv/Careers?id=13040:100423

The site gives a great overview of the careers of both producers and directors. It also
gives: the work activities, skills and abilities, preparation, wages, and jobs. The site
gives you information on the tasks of a director like: decide on the size, cost, and
content of a production, arrange financing, conduct rehearsals, direct the work of the
cast and crew, and audition and select cast members. This site also gives
information about a typical work setting; for example: communicate with others by
telephone, e-mail, and face-to-face discussions, they also write letters and memos,
but prefer quicker means of contact, often work indoors, but sometimes direct outdoor
scenes or plays, may work part time or full time, and schedules may change
depending on the project. This site also shares information about the preparations
needed; for instance: have a high school diploma or GED, be trained, have creative
ability, have experience working in theater, film, and television, and have talent. This
website is a good website, because it gives you important information about that
career.

My Future. (2007). Occupation Information: Film, Stage, and Television Director. Retrieved
November 13, 2008, from http://www.myfurture.edu.au/services/default

My Furture is a great site that gives information about becoming a director. It gives
you information about the: duties and tasks, personal requirements, related
industries, and earnings. The duties of a director are to: study scripts to determine
artistic interpretation, plan and arrange for set designs, costumes, sound effects and
lighting, select and cast for roles in the production by viewing performances and
conducting screen tests and auditions, plan, direct and coordinate filming or taping,
instructing camera operators on the position and the angle of their shots, and
coordinating changes in lighting and sound, and coordinate the activities of the
studio/stage crew, performers and technicians during rehearsals and productions. My
Future also gives you information about personal requirments needed, for example: an
artistic sense, good communication skills, able to remain calm under pressure, able
to exercise authority, and the most important one of all motivation. My Furure is a
great site, because it gives you information about the skills and duties that are
required in order to become a director.

Net Industries. (2008). Directors Job Descriptions and Career and Job Opportunities.
Retrieved November 13, 2008, from http://www.careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/
118/Dierctor.html

This site gives infomation about the career of your interest. It gives you information
about: the definition, the nature of the work, education and training, getting the job,
advancement possibilities and employment outlook, and working condition. Occurding
to this website the definition to director is, " The main creative force in the making of
films, television shows, and plays." Directors are responsible for making a wide range
of artistic decisions. Together with the producer, the director hires the actors and staff.
It is the director who works with the staff from day to day. This site also gives you
information about education and training. Did you know, there are no formal
educational requirements for directors. However, directors must be familiar with all the
different aspects of their art form. Many of the technical skills involved are now being
taught in college courses. There are many film schools in the United States that offer
classroom training and directing opportunities for aspiring directors. Working condition
are also stressful; directors do not work a regular workweek. During the making of a
movie, a film director may begin work in the early hours of the morning and work late
into the night. Television directors may start even earlier. The work is strenuous and
requires a great deal of time and dedication. Directors may be unemployed for long
periods. However, the opening of a play or the completion of a film or television show
can offer a great deal of satisfaction. This website is a great, because it is
understandable and gives many facts about your career.

PlanIT Plus. ( 2008). Director: Film and TV. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from
http://www.planitplus.net/careerzone/areas/default.aspx?
PID=nf&TOPL=7&SECL=7A&ID=621

PlanIT Plus is a great site if your looking for information about a career that interests
you.PlanIT Plus gives you information about: the work that you'll be doing, the
conditions, getting in, what it takes, training, getting on, in pay about the career of
your choice. It gives you information about the skills needed to become a director like;
enthusiasm, financial sense, and good organization. PlanIT Plus tells you what it
takes to get into that particular career, for instance;in order to become a director you
need a degree and production experience. PlanIT Plus also helped me realize that
most directors start off as runners, which are the understudies or assistants to the
director, but others start off making short independent films. PlanIT Plus is an
amazing website that gives you a great understanding and outlook about the career
of your dreams, as it did for me.

Homework

The character I choose to analyze is Shia LaBeouf's character. He was a kid who lost his father in a car accident; and began to act out. He got put on house arrest for punching his teacher for talking about his dad. While on house arrest he catches a murder who just so happens to be his next door neighbor. The visual and auditory details for this character is the way he speaks and looks. Shia's character is a regular teen that speaks like a regular teen. Its easy to relate to and understand him, because we're teens as well. He looks and dresses like a typical teen as well. We can relate to the way he acts. We can be nosy and stick our heads in stuff that doesn't concern us. We can be over protective with our family and friends, and we all have foolish friends that you can count on. All those things is what makes a character realistic.

Desiree's Baby

Desiree's BabyAs the day was pleasant, Madame Valmonde drove over to L'Abri to see Desiree and the baby. It made her laugh to think of Desiree with a baby. Why, it seemed but yesterday that Desiree was little more than a baby herself; when Monsieur in riding through the gateway of Valmonde had found her lying asleep in the shadow of the big stone pillar. The little one awoke in his arms and began to cry for "Dada." That was as much as she could do or say. Some people thought she might have strayed there of her own accord, for she was of the toddling age. The prevailing belief was that she had been purposely left by a party of Texans, whose canvas-covered wagon, late in the day, had crossed the ferry that Coton Mais kept, just below the plantation. In time Madame Valmonde abandoned every speculation but the one that Desiree had been sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection, seeing that she was without child of the flesh. For the girl grew to be beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere - the idol of Valmonde. It was no wonder, when she stood one day against the stone pillar in whose shadow she had lain asleep, eighteen years before, that Armand Aubigny riding by and seeing her there, had fallen in love with her. That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot. The wonder was that he had not loved her before; for he had known her since his father brought him home from Paris, a boy of eight, after his mother died there. The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles. Monsieur Valmonde grew practical and wanted things well considered: that is, the girl's obscure origin. Armand looked into her eyes and did not care. He was reminded that she was nameless. What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana? He ordered the corbeille from Paris, and contained himself with what patience he could until it arrived; then they were married.
< 2 > Madame Valmonde had not seen Desiree and the baby for four weeks. When she reached L'Abri she shuddered at the first sight of it, as she always did. It was a sad looking place, which for many years had not known the gentle presence of a mistress, old Monsieur Aubigny having married and buried his wife in France, and she having loved her own land too well ever to leave it. The roof came down steep and black like a cowl, reaching out beyond the wide galleries that encircled the yellow stuccoed house. Big, solemn oaks grew close to it, and their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed it like a pall. Young Aubigny's rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the old master's easy-going and indulgent lifetime. The young mother was recovering slowly, and lay full length, in her soft white muslins and laces, upon a couch. The baby was beside her, upon her arm, where he had fallen asleep, at her breast. The yellow nurse woman sat beside a window fanning herself. Madame Valmonde bent her portly figure over Desiree and kissed her, holding her an instant tenderly in her arms. Then she turned to the child. "This is not the baby!" she exclaimed, in startled tones. French was the language spoken at Valmonde in those days. "I knew you would be astonished," laughed Desiree, "at the way he has grown. The little cochon de lait! Look at his legs, mamma, and his hands and fingernails - real finger-nails. Zandrine had to cut them this morning. Isn't it true, Zandrine?" The woman bowed her turbaned head majestically, "Mais si, Madame." "And the way he cries," went on Desiree, "is deafening. Armand heard him the other day as far away as La Blanche's cabin." Madame Valmonde had never removed her eyes from the child. She lifted it and walked with it over to the window that was lightest. She scanned the baby narrowly, then looked as searchingly at Zandrine, whose face was turned to gaze across the fields. "Yes, the child has grown, has changed," said Madame Valmonde, slowly, as she replaced it beside its mother. "What does Armand say?" Desiree's face became suffused with a glow that was happiness itself.
< 3 > "Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name; though he says not - that he would have loved a girl as well. But I know it isn't true. I know he says that to please me. And mamma," she added, drawing Madame Valmonde's head down to her, and speaking in a whisper, "he hasn't punished one of them - not one of them - since baby is born. Even Negrillon, who pretended to have burnt his leg that he might rest from work - he only laughed, and said Negrillon was a great scamp. Oh, mamma, I'm so happy; it frightens me." What Desiree said was true. Marriage, and later the birth of his son had softened Armand Aubigny's imperious and exacting nature greatly. This was what made the gentle Desiree so happy, for she loved him desperately. When he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God. But Armand's dark, handsome face had not often been disfigured by frowns since the day he fell in love with her. When the baby was about three months old, Desiree awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace. It was at first too subtle to grasp. It had only been a disquieting suggestion; an air of mystery among the blacks; unexpected visits from far-off neighbors who could hardly account for their coming. Then a strange, an awful change in her husband's manner, which she dared not ask him to explain. When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out. He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse. And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves. Desiree was miserable enough to die. She sat in her room, one hot afternoon, in her peignoir, listlessly drawing through her fingers the strands of her long, silky brown hair that hung about her shoulders. The baby, half naked, lay asleep upon her own great mahogany bed, that was like a sumptuous throne, with its satin-lined half-canopy. One of La Blanche's little quadroon boys - half naked too - stood fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock feathers. Desiree's eyes had been fixed absently and sadly upon the baby, while she was striving to penetrate the threatening mist that she felt closing about her. She looked from her child to the boy who stood beside him, and back again; over and over. "Ah!" It was a cry that she could not help; which she was not conscious of having uttered. The blood turned like ice in her veins, and a clammy moisture gathered upon her face.
< 4 > She tried to speak to the little quadroon boy; but no sound would come, at first. When he heard his name uttered, he looked up, and his mistress was pointing to the door. He laid aside the great, soft fan, and obediently stole away, over the polished floor, on his bare tiptoes. She stayed motionless, with gaze riveted upon her child, and her face the picture of fright. Presently her husband entered the room, and without noticing her, went to a table and began to search among some papers which covered it. "Armand," she called to him, in a voice which must have stabbed him, if he was human. But he did not notice. "Armand," she said again. Then she rose and tottered towards him. "Armand," she panted once more, clutching his arm, "look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me." He coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand away from him. "Tell me what it means!" she cried despairingly. "It means," he answered lightly, "that the child is not white; it means that you are not white." A quick conception of all that this accusation meant for her nerved her with unwonted courage to deny it. "It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair," seizing his wrist. "Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand," she laughed hysterically. "As white as La Blanche's," he returned cruelly; and went away leaving her alone with their child. When she could hold a pen in her hand, she sent a despairing letter to Madame Valmonde. "My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand has told me I am not white. For God's sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live." The answer that came was brief: "My own Desiree: Come home to Valmonde; back to your mother who loves you. Come with your child." When the letter reached Desiree she went with it to her husband's study, and laid it open upon the desk before which he sat. She was like a stone image: silent, white, motionless after she placed it there.
< 5 > In silence he ran his cold eyes over the written words. He said nothing. "Shall I go, Armand?" she asked in tones sharp with agonized suspense. "Yes, go." "Do you want me to go?" "Yes, I want you to go." He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him; and felt, somehow, that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife's soul. Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name. She turned away like one stunned by a blow, and walked slowly towards the door, hoping he would call her back. "Good-by, Armand," she moaned. He did not answer her. That was his last blow at fate. Desiree went in search of her child. Zandrine was pacing the sombre gallery with it. She took the little one from the nurse's arms with no word of explanation, and descending the steps, walked away, under the live-oak branches. It was an October afternoon; the sun was just sinking. Out in the still fields the negroes were picking cotton. Desiree had not changed the thin white garment nor the slippers which she wore. Her hair was uncovered and the sun's rays brought a golden gleam from its brown meshes. She did not take the broad, beaten road which led to the far-off plantation of Valmonde. She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her tender feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds. She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again. Some weeks later there was a curious scene enacted at L'Abri. In the centre of the smoothly swept back yard was a great bonfire. Armand Aubigny sat in the wide hallway that commanded a view of the spectacle; and it was he who dealt out to a half dozen negroes the material which kept this fire ablaze. A graceful cradle of willow, with all its dainty furbishings, was laid upon the pyre, which had already been fed with the richness of a priceless layette. Then there were silk gowns, and velvet and satin ones added to these; laces, too, and embroideries; bonnets and gloves; for the corbeille had been of rare quality.
< 6 > The last thing to go was a tiny bundle of letters; innocent little scribblings that Desiree had sent to him during the days of their espousal. There was the remnant of one back in the drawer from which he took them. But it was not Desiree's; it was part of an old letter from his mother to his father. He read it. She was thanking God for the blessing of her husband's love:-- "But above all," she wrote, "night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery." top

AP English Homework

This image can relate to my stance on Christopher Columbus, because it shows signs of remorse and mental breakdown. By looking at the dogs you can see that they've been through alot, their facial expression shows that their weak, tired, sad, and ready to give up. They relate to Christopher Columbus, because he was a prisoner stripped from all his rights and he didn't know how to deal with it so he would beg for mercy. These dogs are prisoners as well, their stuck in the pound stripped of all their freedom to run around and be happy, but instead their forced to sniff out drugs.

Essay Response to Christopher Columbus

While reading the passage on Christopher Columbus and the journals that he wrote, it seemed to me that Columbus was starting to have a mental breakdown during his fourth voyage. My reason for this simply comes from word choice, tone, and the use of pathos. Let me give you more information to how I came to this conclusion.
The uses of word choice helped me to understand that Columbus was struggling and having a mental breakdown. As he wrote he used words like: punishment, losses, infringed, robbed, suffered, unmerited, wrong, ruined, weep, trouble, and death. These words are words that describe something or some in pain mentally and physically. I believe that Columbus chose to use these types of words so we can feel the pain that he felt and also the hurt that he felt. He was a prisoner that was stripped away from all his rights and these words were the only way to express how he felt.
The tone of the passage also lead me to believe that Columbus was having a mental breakdown, because most of the tone of the passage was a tone of remorse and anger.
For example when he says, " I am ruined as I have said; hitherto I have wept for others; now Heaven have mercy upon me, and may the earth weep for me." The tone in this paragraph shows a tone of remorse and sadness, because he knows that he is in trouble and yet he hopes that God will have mercy on him be it good or bad. I believe Columbus used tone so that his readers, Ferdinand and Isabella, can feel and understand his pain.
The use of pathos also helped me come to the conclusion that Columbus was struggling and having a mental breakdown. When Columbus says, " Here in the Indies I have become careless of the prescribed forms of religion. Alone in my trouble, sick, in daily expectation of death, and encompassed about by a million savages, full of cruelty and foes, and so separated from holy Sacraments of Holy Church, my soul will be forgotten if it here leaves my body. Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth, and justice." He's using pathos, because he wants Ferdinand and Isabella to fell all the things that he fells and he wants them to fell bad for him. He's appealing his emotions to both Ferdinand and Isabella.
All and all, I believe that Christopher Columbus was struggling and having a mental breakdown on his fourth voyage, because of his word choice, tone, and the use of pathos.

AP English Simile

The tree stood still like a jungled tiger catching its pray!