This is my junior year in Tri County and I already feel like it is almost over. Honestly I was looking
forward to this year being the best yet, but it is quickly slipping away. I think that this year has been the most educational
so far; I am actually learning things that I will use to my advantage in the future. Most of the literature that we have read
this year I have analyzed and understand. I really enjoyed some of the poems by Edgar Allen Poe, my favorite one was
"The Black Cat" I think it is a great story created by Poe for thrills. Many of my views have changed about some of the things
we have studied, such as poems; I used to think that they were these pointless journal entries some people make when they
are bored. My cousin John Brooks has some interesting ideas, but he's far from being a poet.
Out of all the things we've covered this year I think that my experience with the book "The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn" was the finest. The essay that we had to write (Huckleberry Finn Essay) made an impact on my views
about slavery and what people had to go through, even though it is a fictional book.
Another novel that I have received a great deal of persuading information from would be "The Scarlet
Letter" by Nathanial Hawthorne. Hester Prynne taught me a few things that I didn't know about the puritans, for instance if
we lived life like the puritans people would still be treated unfairly, but punishments and expectations would be so much
greater and harsher. In class we were studying the strange but acceptable ways of the puritans, we were told that if we were
to curse in public, our tongues would be pierced with a nail. As you can imagine my views greatly changed by reading the novel
about the woman who committed adultery in the puritan world.
Mr. Patins American Literature Class has made an interesting impact on many of my modern day views.
I now see things that I didn't see before and in the clearest way. Mr. Patin was the best thing that happened to the
American Literature class.
