Reading Log Questions #1

James McAuley

Professor Young

ENGW 1101 3G

February 4th, 2016

Reading Log Questions #1

1. What is the meaning of the good lord bird? What does it represent?  How does it connect to to the title of the book?

The Good Lord Bird itself is an actual bird, and it is a symbol of both God, but also of hope.  It is connected to the title of the book, because John Brown is an extremely religious man, but also represents hope; he brought hope to the slaves he was liberating, he brought hope to his followers, and he brought hope to the abolitionists of America.  And it was this hope which eventually sparked the American Civil War, and ended slavery in the United States.  (McBride 25, 33)

2. What is Henry’s nickname?  How did he earn it?

Henry’s nickname is Little Onion.  He earned it after devouring John Brown’s good luck charm, an old, rotting onion.  Afterwards, John Brown reckoned that it was a sign of the Lord, and then christened Henry as Little Onion, or just Onion for short.  (McBride 24-25)

3. What was Henry’s rationale for continuing to live a lie?  Was it justifiable?

From what I was able to tell, Henry just didn’t want to get into trouble with Old Man Brown.  Henry figured that telling the truth was more trouble than it's worth, and that since he was technically John Brown’s prisoner, he better not cause any trouble for him, in case it would lead to his own life in danger. (McBride 28)

Works Cited

McBride, James. The Good Lord Bird. New York: Penguin, 2013.  Print.  

Is Lying Permissible?

James McAuley

Professor Young

ENGW 1101 3G

February 1st, 2016

Is Lying Permissible?

A lie is a deceptive statement meant to hide the truth from the person who the lie is transmitted to.  Normally, lying is frowned upon in society, while honesty is valued.  However, this does not mean that lying isn’t permissible in certain situations.  There are numerous situations where lying is a beneficial thing to do, and in fact can make someone’s day a little bit better.  To provide an example for this, I’ll reminisce about a time two weeks ago, when my brother tried to cook.  I use the word tried, because frankly, what he made could barely be considered food.  However, I didn’t care about how bad his food was. So, instead, I ate what was supposed to pass for chicken pot pie.  I ignored the fact that the crust was burned, I choked down the dry and tasteless chicken, and I scooped up the still-frozen peas (I still have no idea, for the life of me, how the peas were possibly frozen when the rest of the dish was way too overdone).  After I tried it, I convinced my brother that it was good, and suggested just one or two things to improve, so that his next attempt at chicken pot pie would be slightly more edible.  From what I have heard from my parents, he is trying again sometime this next week.  And so, anyone can see, that lying was beneficial in this situation.  If I told my brother the truth, that the food he made was something I would hesitate to feed to a starving animal, he would have lost hope and stopped cooking, at least for a little while.  He would lose what little self-confidence he has left, and would just give up.  However, the lie that I liked the dish provided him with enough confidence to try and try again, and get better at cooking each time.  He’s almost 24 years old, it's about time he learned how to cook.  So, in this situation, lying was not only permissible, but it's beneficial, because in a world like ours, sometimes the ugly truth needs to be hidden from people for their own good.  

Getting to Know You Questions

James McAuley

Professor Young

ENGW 1101 3G

January 29th, 2016

Getting to Know You

1. If you play a sport, type of sport do you play?  How long have you been playing this sport?

I do not play a sport, as is evident by my round and doughy figure.  However, during my time in high school, I was a member of the swimming team for two years.  

2. What are you passionate about?  For example, in your free time, what do you enjoy doing the most?

I do not have any one or two things that I am particularly passionate about.  There are some things I enjoy doing, but I would never confuse my enjoyment of these activities with passion.  If I had to choose something, I would choose either reading or cooking, as both fulfill different hungers of mine.  

3. What the THE MOST ridiculous lie you have ever told?  Why did you tell this lie?

While I have told many lies in my life, none have been so big as lying about my gender, and living 18 or so years as the opposite gender.  However, if I was to choose one, I would have to choose a time I got into a car accident. It wasn't really a car accident, all that happened was that my car skidded during a left turn, and rammed my right-side tires and wheels against the curb in a way that car wheels should not be treated, and it knocked them out of alignment. It was not my fault entirely; it had just started raining, and the brakes on my car were also loose, I had an appointment to repair them later that week. However, I also had to fix these wheels. So, I did the responsible thing, and told my parents. However, I feigned any knowledge of how it happened, just that my wheels were severely messed up. So, my parents agreed that the problem was one that needed to be addressed sooner rather than later, so when I went to the car repair garage later that week, I also requested my wheels be looked at. They found that the wheels were out of alignment, and the repairs cost several hundreds of dollars, which my parents begrudgingly paid. However, to this day, my parents believe that I did not know how that happened to my car.

4. When you write, do you just sit at the computer and allow the words to flow or do you have an outline?

Mainly, I just sit at a computer and allow words to flow, but I would generally have a vague outline in mind of what I want to write in the first place.  

5. How would you describe your writing experience so far?  What do you most want to learn from this course?

So far in life, whenever I wrote, I may have occasionally written something that some would have considered great, but overall, I think I would be more or less average.  I don’t think that I’m a great writer, and the main thing I want to learn from this course is how to improve my writing.  

6. What was the name of the most recent book you’ve read from cover to cover?

The Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski.

7. How often do you write on social media?

Not often, I don’t use social media often, I prefer to have actual interactions with my friends.  

8. What is most important for you to learn this semester?

I would it would be important for me to improve my writing skills, as that is one of the most important skills I would need for law school, which I hope to attend after I graduate.

9. What is your definition of a hero?

A hero is someone who will do something that is right, at the cost of themselves.  They sacrifice themselves for their friends, family, or even complete strangers. John Brown is a prime example of this, risking his life so slaves can be free.

10. When was the last time you failed at something?  What did you learn from this experience?

Last semester, I failed a class.  I learned that I should focus more on my studies and buckle down to improve my GPA, which took quite a plunge after last semester.  

11. Rate yourself as a writer: A, B, C or D.  Explain why.  

I would rate myself as C, just because I know that I’m not an exceptional writer, but nor am I a horrible writer.  At least, I would prefer to think that I’m not a horrible writer, but that is up for you to decide, Professor Young.