Personal Statement

When I was young, life was just one big mystery. It all started with the huge amount of curiosity within myself. It took over me causing me to become a person that crave for answers of the unknown. Whenever I learned something new, I would want to thrive for more and move. One thing in my life that I always wonder was about what other people around me are really like As time went on, I learned that everyone is different in their own unique way whether it is their experiences in their life, personality, interests or even in their dreams, etc... I have my own aspiration and dreams because I'm unique like everyone else.

As I grew up, I soon took an interest in studying the different nature the people around me. As I observed during school, I found many people to be in different groups. This was quite interesting to me because it got me a step closer to understanding others. The kids in my school were separated into different groups causing me to wonder which group I would belong to. I did not come up with an answer at that moment because I simply could not. I was different. I wasn’t like anyone else, and this made me really sad. I couldn’t relate to anyone at all. Eventually, I became a person that would assume things right off the bat about other people by only first impression. Despite all of this, it led me to finding a purpose and a dream.

This dream was to become a lawyer. A really close mentor and friend of mine told me everything about being a lawyer. He shared his view about the legal system and told me of not only of its hardship but also its benefits. He told me that there are all kind of people in this world. Everybody have their own troubles, but all they need is someone to be there and listen to their worries. By doing so, lawyers would be able to become their guardians and defend them through justice in court. These things that I learned from him really made me think. All my life, I have been trying to figure people out and now I have been given a chance to do just that. I wanted to be remember by the people around me. It just did not feel right if I had to leave this world with a empty story left behind. The dream of becoming a lawyer shone me a door of being able to have a chance to be remember by many people. Case after case, I would be helping people all around. Each time I defend a person, that person and their family would be able to remember me because I was there to defend them in their time of need.

Dream and aspiration is important to me because it change me as a person. I’m grateful for that because the world have changed in my eyes which changes my perspective on other people. I came to a realization that there are so much to meet the eye. This ultimate shaped my gifts and talents of being able to understand other people more. At one time in life, I have witness the death of a really close friend of mine. This led me to a path of astray of hopelessness. I did not know where to go at that moment on. I realized that the world is not the place that I thought it to be. Responsibility began to take a hold of me making me want to become a better person. This responsibility became a new drive for me. Life has became a job where I have to become a person that would be able to help others through hard times. I need to be able to listen to them intently, and be able to get them through whatever problems they are having. I have done this tons of time before with the people close to me like my family members and my friends. However, this experience made me realized that I have to step out even more. I need to take a risk and come out of the safety zone and be able to help strangers. Everybody deserved a chance to be heard which is why I decided to listen to them no matter what. If others make fun of me for helping a certain type of person, I would not give them the time in the world to actually care what they say.

This experience was a moment I can never forget. It was a turning point in my life. It build upon by my resolution of becoming a lawyer. I moved on in life because I have goal. I feel that if I would be able to attend this school then new opportunities will be given to me. I would be able to experience new events that hopefully able to build upon my resolution positively. I can never forget about all of the past events that I have been through nor will I ever will forget any events that shaped my life in any size and form because ultimately I owe it to all of those things for making me to be the person I am today. I will continue to strive forward no matter what and hopefully someday my dream will come true.

Book Review: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

The book that I chose to read for my English class is called The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart which happens to be the second book of the series. The type of prompt that I thought was interesting to talk about is the first one. The first prompt is about why the author wrote this book in the first place and what is the purpose of him writing it. In my opinion, one of the main purpose of writing this book is show the importance of friendship between a group of people:

“Constance, Kate, and Sticky were like family to him. It didn't matter that he'd met them only a year ago. Their friendship had formed under extraordinary circumstances.” (Page 2)

This kind of theme is really widespread in many famous books like in “Harry Potter” or in the “Lord of the Rings” and many more... Even though this kind of thing seems really cliché, I think this kind of main idea is essential for an adventure book. Does this mean that I'm saying that all adventure books have to have the main idea of friendship behind it in order for it to be good? No. Personally, I just like the cliché about friends helping one another because it makes me smile whenever I read those kind of books. The value of friendship should be appreciated by all readers because I think friendship is really important and I'm glad that there are still a lot of books out there that have this kind of idea behind it.

Another purpose why I think the author might have wrote this kind of book is that he wanted to write a book that is interesting and catches readers to enjoy reading something fun and interesting. There are many books that is like this, and I enjoyed every single one of them. One kind of writing style that the author of this book uses to make the book more intense and interesting is the way how he ends one chapter with a foreshadow or a cliffhanger:

“But whether Reynie needed it or not- and though he ad no way of predicting it- danger most certainly awaited him and his friends. And it would not be waiting long.” (Page 16)

This type of writing style really make me want to be more engage into a book. This is one of the main reasons why I would ever keep on reading a book until the very end without stopping at all. Overall, I believe the author of this book did a fantastic job on getting readers all around to be hooked onto The Mysterious Benedict Society series.

Another prompt that I decided to talk about for this book is the 8th one. The prompt says to pick a character that interested me, and I am to analyze he or she in depth. The character that I decided to analyze is Reynie Muldoon who happens to be one of the most important character in the book. The main reason why I chose Reynie as the character to analyze because of his unique traits that brings the book together. I would like to first start off talking about the basic description that the author of this book gave to him:

“He was an average-looking boy- with average brown eyes, legs of average length, nose an average distance from his ears, and so on- and he was entirely alone.” (Page 1-2)

This show that the author purposely make it seem that Reynie is a boring character, but I think there is good reason why the author did this in the first place. The reason is that by making Reynie Muldoon sound like an average person, all of the accomplishments that Reynie pulled off throughout the book would be put into more of an effect to the readers because the reader would have never expected an average person like Reynie can pull off something incredible. Reynie Muldoon also show deep compassion and love toward his friend:

"The most important thing. however, was that it had been half a year since he had seen his three closest friends." (Page 2)

In my opinion, these kind of characters are key to a good story because this kind of compassion coming from a character brings out a really important strength to he or she has. It can bring out confidence, courage, and hope from a character. In this book, the power of friendship between the children is a really strong one. It pushed all of them forward with the knowledge that each and every one of their friends are there to support one another. This trait of Reynie Muldoon enable to bring hope to his friends, and ultimately helped them overcome any hardship that bestowed them in their adventure.

In conclusion, this book was a really great read. I enjoyed everything about it. The plot, the characters, and the writing styles from this book was absolutely amazing. the author definitely got me hooked on all the way through from beginning to end. I can't wait to read the next book of this series!

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey Book Review Rough Draft

The book that I chose to read for my English class is called The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart which happens to be the second book of the series. The type of prompt that I decided to write about for this book is the first one. The first prompt is about why the author wrote this book in the first place and what is the purpose of him writing it. In my opinion, one of the main purpose of writing this book is show the importance of friendship between a group of people:

“Constance, Kate, and Sticky were like family to him. It didn't matter that he'd met them only a year ago. Their friendship had formed under extraordinary circumstances.” (Page 2)

This kind of theme is really widespread in many famous books like in “Harry Potter” or in the “Lord of the Rings” and many more... Even though this kind of thing seems really cliché, I think this kind of main idea is essential for an adventure book. Does this mean that I'm saying that all adventure books have to have the main idea of friendship behind it in order for it to be good? No. Personally, I just like the cliché about friends helping one another because it makes me smile whenever I read those kind of books. The value of friendship should be appreciated by all readers because I think friendship is really important and I'm glad that there are still a lot of books out there that have this kind of idea behind it.

Another purpose why the author might have wrote this kind of book is that he wanted to write a book that is interesting and catches readers to enjoy reading something fun and interesting. There are many books that is like this, and I enjoyed every single one of them. One kind of writing style that the author of this book uses to make the book more intense and interesting is the way how he ends one chapter with a foreshadow or a cliffhanger:

“But whether Reynie needed it or not- and though he ad no way of predicting it- danger most certainly awaited him and his friends. And it would not be waiting long.” (Page 16)

Another prompt that I chose for this book is the 8th one. The prompt says to pick a character that interested me, and I am to analyze he or she in depth. The character that I decided to analyze is Reynie Muldoon who happens to be one of the most important character in the book. The main reason why I chose Reynie as the character to analyze because of his unique traits that brings the book together. I would like to first start off talking about the basic description that the author of this book gave to him:

“He was an average-looking boy- with average brown eyes, legs of average length, nose an average distance from his ears, and so on- and he was entirely alone.” (Page 1-2)

This show that the author purposely make it seem that Reynie is a boring character, but I think there is good reason why the author did this in the first place. The reason is that by making Reynie Muldoon sound like an average person, all of the accomplishments that Reynie pulled off throughout the book would be put into more of an effect to the readers because the reader would have never expected an average person like Reynie can pull off something incredible. Reynie Muldoon also show deep compassion and love toward his friend:

"The most important thing. however, was that it had been half a year since he had seen his three closest friends." (Page 2)

In my opinion, these kind of characters are key to a good story because this kind of compassion coming from a character brings out a really important strength to he or she has. It can bring out confidence, courage, and hope from a character. In this book, the power of friendship between the children is a really strong one. It pushed all of them forward with the knowledge that each and every one of their friends are there to support one another. This trait of Reynie Muldoon enable to bring hope to his friends, and ultimately helped them overcome any hardship that bestowed them in their adventure.

Book Review 2: The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Perilous Journey

The prompt that I chose to write about this time for "The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Perilous Journey" by Trenton Lee Stewart is the 8th one. The prompt says to pick a character that interested me, and I am to analyze he or she in depth. The character that I decided to analyze is Reynie Muldoon who happens to be one of the most important character in the book. The main reason why I chose Reynie as the character to analyze because of his unique traits that brings the book together. I would like to first start off talking about the basic description that the author of this book gave to him:

“He was an average-looking boy- with average brown eyes, legs of average length, nose an average distance from his ears, and so on- and he was entirely alone.” (Page 1-2)

This show that the author purposely make it seem that Reynie is a boring character, but I think there is good reason why the author did this in the first place. The reason is that by making Reynie Muldoon sound like an average person, all of the accomplishments that Reynie pulled off throughout the book would be put into more of an effect to the readers because the reader would have never expected an average person like Reynie can pull off something incredible.

Reynie Muldoon also show deep compassion and love toward his friend:

"The most important thing. however, was that it had been half a year since he had seen his three closest friends." (Page 2)

In my opinion, these kind of characters are key to a good story because this kind of compassion coming from a character brings out a really important strength to he or she has. It can bring out confidence, courage, and hope from a character. In this book, the power of friendship between the children is a really strong one. It pushed all of them forward with the knowledge that each and every one of their friends are there to support one another. This trait of Reynie Muldoon enable to bring hope to his friends, and ultimately helped them overcome any hardship that bestowed them in their adventure.

Book Review: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

The book that I chose to read for my English class is called The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart which happens to be the second book of the series. The type of prompt that I decided to write about for this book is the first one. The first prompt is about why the author wrote this book in the first place and what is the purpose of him writing it. In my opinion, one of the main purpose of writing this book is show the importance of friendship between a group of people:

“Constance, Kate, and Sticky were like family to him. It didn't matter that he'd met them only a year ago. Their friendship had formed under extraordinary circumstances.” (Page 2)

This kind of theme is really widespread in many famous books like in “Harry Potter” or in the “Lord of the Rings” and many more... Even though this kind of thing seems really cliché, I think this kind of main idea is essential for an adventure book. Does this mean that I'm saying that all adventure books have to have the main idea of friendship behind it in order for it to be good? No. Personally, I just like the cliché about friends helping one another because it makes me smile whenever I read those kind of books. The value of friendship should be appreciated by all readers because I think friendship is really important and I'm glad that there are still a lot of books out there that have this kind of idea behind it.

Another purpose why the author might have wrote this kind of book is that he wanted to write a book that is interesting and catches readers to enjoy reading something fun and interesting. There are many books that is like this, and I enjoyed every single one of them. One kind of writing style that the author of this book uses to make the book more intense and interesting is the way how he ends one chapter with a foreshadow or a cliffhanger:

“But whether Reynie needed it or not- and though he ad no way of predicting it- danger most certainly awaited him and his friends. And it would not be waiting long.” (Page 16)

Familia History: Connection

Hardship seem to run in many families, but we all in the end come to realize something important from those hardships. After reading many of my friends' family histories, I saw similarities between their family stories and mine. An example is from Crystal Lau’s blog:

"She wanted to show how there was a time when even attaining the basic necessities became a difficulty and how the modern people are often spoiled by the availability of whatever they need less than minutes away. She wanted us to really reflect on our current lives and see how fortunate we really are to be born in America during this era where we do not have to face the kinds of hardships that she had faced when she was younger at our age."

The hardship that her grandmother faced was a terrible one, but this quote shows that she learned something important from it. She learned that we should be grateful for our lives about living in America during a time where we don't have to face the terrible hardship that her grandmother had to go through.

Another quote that I found is from Jasiu Metkowski's blog:

“Whenever I hear this story, it makes me ask a question. It makes me ask “so am I lucky to be alive?” .if my grandma did not receive that miraculous message, then I would most likely not be here. But if I consider myself lucky to be alive, then that would mean everyone is somewhat lucky. We all experience life threatening situations.”

One important thing that Jasiu realize after hearing about his grandmother's story is that he felt lucky to be alive. He is grateful that his grandmother survived and this show that miraculous things do happen, and that it is true that many people face life threatening situations.

In conclusion, these stories connected to mine because mine was about my great grandfather's hardship. His was about recovering his memories and searching for a new home, and this ultimately taught something really important to me. The thing that I came to realize is the importance of valuing friendship. The hardships that he faced may have been devastating but it taught us how important friendship really is.

Cycles in The Joy Luck Club

There are many important cycles that appeared in the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. One of the most important one that I see is the growth of the daughters throughout the book compared to the experiences that their mothers had in their past. The mothers had their own problem and their daughters seemingly follow them:

“And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, still she came out the same way! Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl. And of us are like stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way.” (Page 215)

This show that the mistakes that the mother had in their past seems to repeat itself through their daughters also. This quote also happen to show another cycle form the book. This cycle is the relationships between mothers and daughters. Like the quote explained, the mothers passed on their fate into their daughters, and eventually those daughters becomes the mothers and pass their fate on to their daughters. It is just one big cycle. Another important cycle that I found is the feelings that the mother had for their daughters. Throughout the book, the mothers are there to teach their daughters and raise them in a way that they hope for their daughters to become better than them and not repeat the same mistake as them:

“'Of course you can be prodigy, too', my mother told me when I was nine. ' You can be best anything.'

(Page 132)

This repeats over and over again. Another cycle is the whole concept of going to America. Many of the mothers in this book came to America because they want to start a new life:

“America was were all my mother's hope lay. She had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China...” (Page 132)

They want to leave their past behind them, and look for hope in America. The Joy Luck Club consist of stories after stories about the mother's bad past, but all of them eventually ended up in America.? Why? I think they wanted their daughters to grow up in a place where their daughters could get a chance to become something much more than they are now.