"The Last Judgment" By Karel Capek (Czechoslovakia)

This literature says about the place where it came from that if you do sins in your human life, then when you die the sins catch up to you and you will be punished for it. So the point of this story is trying to tell everybody that don't do sins in your life or when you are having your Last Judgment you will be sent to Hell. Unless you can argue with god or something. This story is about a man named Kugler who killed 9 people during his lifetime. And when he died, he had his last judment and for his terrible sins he was sent to Hell.

I think the consequences for living a bad life is that you hurt yourself and everybody around you. And what is the point of living a bad life, it is not likely that you get anything good out of it. People will just hate or try to kill you.I think my opinions on the "final judgement" is that it should be fair and I should be able to say what I need to say to defend myself. I do believe in Karma because i think that if you do something bad to somebody than it will come back to you.I think humans shouldn't be mean and inhumane to other humans because it will lead to many deaths and the damage of our environment and our future.

Aishwarya Shankar

"First Confession" by Frank O' Connor

 This literature says a lot about this country because in the story they are very religious and are afraid to do anything bad because they think that when they die they will be punished. Basically saying that they are going to Hell. The literature also says that there are some people who make others scared with their stories so the people won't do anything bad. In the story the main character (Jackie) is afraid of confessing to the Priest that he wants to kill his grandmother because she likes his (evil) sister and not him. When he finally does confess to the Priest he is relieved and makes a new friend, the Priest.

I am a half Chrisitian so I sometimes go to the church with my mom. The church I go to is the St.Josphat church. The activities that go on the church I go to is that there are alot of standing up and singing songs about Jesus. The church's beliefs are a  lot like any other church's beliefs. It is just saying how Jesus is the savior and talking a lot about the forgiveness for the sins we did.

Aishwarya Shankar

"Night" By Elie Weisel (Sighet,Romania)

The literature says about the region (Germany) that it's from is that there are grassy areas everywhere and very harsh winters. Also, between 1940-1945 the jews were killed  thousands upon thousands because of Adolf Hitler's hatred towards Jews. Since germany had a lot of land everywhere, the Nazis started to build concentration camps to keep the Jews contained in one area.The Nazis also made the Jews as their slaves. Also, they killed a lot of jewish babies.

Something I will remember longest about this book is the horror's the Nazis did to exterminate the Jews and the methods they developed to kill the Jews also. The images that will stick to me is the ones of the elders and the babies being burned in the furnaces. The events in this book has changed my way of thinking because it made me appreciate what I have and the meaning of family. The parts I found the saddest was when all the people were judged upon what they are and because Hitller blamed everything on the Jews. I was really angry when Hilter blamed the Jews for something they didn't even do.

  







                                                                                                               By Aishwarya Shankar





"Central Station" (Brazil)

The story Central Station is a very moving yet very SLOW movie. This story is about a boy who loses his mother (Josue) and Dora who helps him find his father back. The region in this story is very different from the beginning to the end of the movie. In the beginning of the movie, it is very city-like but at the end of the movie it gets more mountanious. But mostly this story is about how Josue gets his father back and what Dora faces to get him there.

In the movie, Dora and Josue form a sort of family throughout the film. Their relationship compares and contrasts to the relationship me and my family have because even though they face hard times they still stick together but the problems we have in my family are not that extreme like Josue's.

Aishwarya Shankar 

"The Youngest Doll" By Rosario Ferre (Puerto Rico)

The story Youngest Doll is creepy and weird at times. The region from this story is that it is very country side story like the open fields, less houses and rivers. The people there are very superstitious in this region. And the men there use the women like when in part of the story the doctor uses the main character (a woman) for money. The men there treat the women cheaply and don't give respect to the women.

 The scariest movie I have ever seen is called Arunthathi. This is a Indian scary movie which might not be scary to others but it is to me. I thought this movie was scary because it was a fight against good and evil. And the evil guy looked really scary to me.The characteristics that many horror films have is that something from the side pops out and there is a sudden pause and and then something pops out.

Aishwarya Shankar

"The Book Of Sand" By Jorge Luis Borges(from Argentina)

In the story "The Book Of Sand" , I learned that the people there were believers of the supernatural . And that they were religious because of how the character in the story had a lot of bibles . But , in this story we are talking about a book that has infinite number of pages and that is what makes this book a phenomenon . The narrator gets this book from a stranger who is willing to sell it for a bible and the author's pension money . The rest of the story is about how the book makes the narrator go a little crazy .

The one thing that people become obsessed with today is the T.V because there are an infinite number of channels that you can get or you have . Some people who are really obsessed with T.V will just sit in their sofa and watch T.V all day. This makes them lazy and some people also eat when they are watching T.V . Which makes them lazy and fat .

By Aishwarya Shankar

"Borders" By Thomas King (from Canada)



In the story "Borders" , I learned that they were Native Indian tribes that were living there but if you wanted to cross the border you either had to be American or Canadian . I also learned that in Canada , the Indian Tribe people had to be Canadian and that they cannot be called by their tribe . Also, the Indian People were in small reserves because they were unlikely to blend into the "civilization" .  But , in this story , a mom (who was Blackfoot a Indian Tribe) was trying to visit her daughter who lived in Salt Lake City . But by the canadian border , the security didn't want to let her through because she kept on saying she was Blackfoot and not American or Canadian .

My ethnicity is more important to me than my nationality because that is who i am and that is what i am born with . Nationality comes from where you live or what region or country you are from but your ethnicity is passed to do from generation to generation .

By Aishwarya Shankar