A normal 14-year-old girl worries about impressing her friends, fitting in, and getting good grades. None of this came to the mind of Elizabeth Smart in her nine months of captivity. Elizabeth Smart was taken from her bedroom by Brian David Mitchell on June 5 of 2002. She was threatened, abused, and raped each and everyday within those nine months. On the night that she was taken she hiked up to the campsite that Brian David Mitchell has prepared. When they arrived Elizabeth Smart was introduced to his wife, Wanda Barzee.
Brian David Mitchell believed that he received a message from God that he was the chosen one. He was to obtain seven wives, each of those seven wives had to come from mormon households, they were to be young and pure. While Elizabeth Smart was with Mitchell and his wife there were attempts to get more wives. Both ventures did not go as Brian David Mitchell had planned. Mitchell interpreted each failed endeavor as a sign from God. The group of three moved three times, making their way to California and then back to Utah.
Throughout the nine months Brian David Mitchell continually reminded Elizabeth Smart of how lucky she was to be delivered from the evils of the world. Mitchell was assured that God had sent him to deliver the world from destruction. Mitchell thought that best way to accomplish this task was to descend below all things. He forced Elizabeth Smart to drink, do drugs, and perform tasks that no 14-year-old should ever have to know of.
Smart mentions that the main feelings that she experienced while in confinement were despair and fear. During the majority of the nine months Smart was chained to a tree to ensure that she would not try to escape. She also says that to sum up her da...
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...4, but she seemed to know exactly what to do.
In the midst of a nightmare Elizabeth Smart thought of others. She wondered what her family was doing, if they have moved on and how much she loved them. Of course she did think about her future. Elizabeth wondered about college, dating, and her career. All of these thoughts only encouraged her to do whatever it took to survive.
Reading this story made me think about my life. Everyday we take so many opportunities for granted and we do not even realize it. One afternoon I was thinking about how hungry I was, then I remembered what Elizabeth and so many others in the world have gone through. All in all I am lucky beyond my comprehension. I have amazing friends and family, a school that cares about where I end up in life, and a God that will love me through thick and thin. Elizabeth Smart will never be forgotten.
Barbara was born in 1948, convicted for manslaughter, due to emotional duress, sentenced for 25 years, to be suspended after 10, arrested in 1996. Barbara’s story stood out the most to me and i found it very interesting and sad. Barbara 's life has been filled with tragedy since she was young. Barbara was molested by her grandfather when she was a child, and was too young to understand what had happened at the time. Barbara ended up telling her mother about what happened recently after, but her mother told her to keep it to herself. When Barbara got older she learned that her grandfather also molested her mother as well. This made Barbara very confused and question her mother.
Before the founding and organizing of the LDS church and introduction of polygamy, Joseph Smith received bitter persecution. He was tarred and feathered by a mob, but this was nothing compared to the treatment the saints received when their practice of polygamy became well known (Arrington JS 26-7). In order to escape the torture, Joseph Smith led one hundred and fifty or more saints from New York to Kirtland, Ohio in 1831 (Arrington JS 21). After living in harmony with the native Gentiles for several years, the town of Kirtland be...
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Lee Dugard is an autobiography recounting the chilling memories that make up the author’s past. She abducted when she was eleven years old by a man named Phillip Garrido with the help of his wife Nancy. “I was kept in a backyard and not allowed to say my own name,” (Dugard ix). She began her life relatively normally. She had a wonderful loving mother, a beautiful baby sister,, and some really good friends at school. Her outlook on life was bright until June 10th, 1991, the day of her abduction. The story was published a little while after her liberation from the backyard nightmare. She attended multiple therapy sessions to help her cope before she had the courage to share her amazing story. For example she says, “My growth has not been an overnight phenomenon…it has slowly and surely come about,” (D 261). She finally began to put the pieces of her life back together and decided to go a leap further and reach out to other families in similar situations. She has founded the J A Y C Foundation or Just Ask Yourself to Care. One of her goals was, amazingly, to ensure that other families have the help that they need. Another motive for writing the book may have also been to become a concrete form of closure for Miss Dugard and her family. It shows her amazing recovery while also retelling of all of the hardships she had to endure and overcome. She also writes the memoir in a very powerful and curious way. She writes with very simple language and sentence structures. This becomes a constant reminder for the reader that she was a very young girl when she was taken. She was stripped of the knowledge many people take for granted. She writes for her last level of education. She also describes all of the even...
Even though this meant that she would not be able to see or interact with her children for all that time. The pain that she feels is evident when she says, “ At last I heard the merry laugh of children, and presently two sweet little faces were looking up at me, as though they knew I were there, and were conscious of the joy that imparted. How I longed to tell them I was there”(97). She tolerated being locked away in an enclosed dark space for 7 long years in order to free her children from the current master that owned them as slaves, showing how having someone to put ahead of yourself makes you stronger and more resilient as a
Veronica Roth’s book demonstrates, in a few key ways, how great literature must include life lessons. The story teaches readers to never give up and to push on even in hard and rough times of struggle. Beatrice prior (Tris), the protagonist in the book, leaves her home to live with the danger seeking “Dauntless”. During the evil plot set by the antagonist, Beatrice’s mother gets fatally wounded by a gun shot. Tris watches this horrible moment unfold right next to her as her mother lifelessly crumbles to the ground. Beatrice loves her mother very much and doesn’t want to leave her body there, but knows she has to uncover the strength to move onwards. Not only was Beatrice brave after witnessing the death of her mother but her mother was also brave. Beatrice’s mother was also brave, having to die like that for her people, sacrificing herself for her daughter and family. Beatrice shows how she feels about her mother’s braver when she says,” My mother’s death was brave. I remember how calm she was, how determined. It isn’t just that she died for me; it is brave that she did it without announcing it, wi...
...). When working in the fields, Ellen mentally recites poetry while imagining herself speaking in front of others, strongly (Rambo 670). This daydream keeps Ellen from breaking down while working in her grandmother’s cotton fields (Rambo 668). When her Mama’s Mama gets sick, Ellen is forced to care for her. When her Mama’s Mama falls asleep, Ellen fantasizes being at an ocean, far away (Gibbons 79). These and many more daydreams Ellen experiences throughout Ellen Foster ring true to Ellen’s desire to break away from her harsh life.
We learn that Jane is a young girl who is a victim of emotional and
When Deborah was only sixteen she became pregnant with her first child by Cheetah and boy she liked when she was younger. Cheetah and Deborah got married and then had their second child. Deborah became very unhappy in the marriage because Cheetah started drinking and doing drugs. He started abusing Deborah. Cheetah pushed Deborah so much she almost killed him if it wasn’t for Bobbette. Deborah’s brothers Sonny and Lawrence were doing well except for Joe. Joe was another case. Joe went to the military, and the family was hoping that would do him good; but he came out worse than when he went in. Joe was threatened and beaten up by a boy named Ivy. Joe was in so much rage he went and stabbed him and killed him. Joe eventually turned himself in to the law, was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced fifteen years in prison.
Living in this seclusion took a toll on her mental stability. Within 2 weeks of ‘captivity’ she committed suicide by taking a lethal amount of mercury.
This poem is a firsthand account of how Anne Bradstreet was feeling when she experienced the loss of her granddaughter, Elizabeth. Although Bradstreet's attitude on Elizabeth's death seems to reflect her belief in God's plan, the diction suggests otherwise.
had and the fact she lived in a world where women were to become obedient wives. Mary's sister,
The book that was chosen for this essay was The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. In order for this tale to be understood fully one would need to know that The Neverending Story is an actual book being read by a character. The character that is reading the book eventually enters the story and becomes the main character within it. Bastian a pale, fat kid that is picked on by other students from his school is the main character who reads and enters The Neverending Story. While Bastian is reading this tale he is introduced to the main character within the story and his name is Atreyu. He is little boy who looks to be at the age of ten and has blue-black hair. There are two settings in this story; the first one being inside of a school attic where Bastian is reading The Neverending Story and the second is when Bastian goes inside of the book where Fantastica lies. There are two major conflicts that are going on within the story. The primary conflict in the story is that Fantastica is being consumed by the nothing and will soon there will no longer be Fantastica if Atreyu cannot find a human to give the Childlike Empress a new name. The secondary struggle is that Bastian is given an amulet by the Childlike Empress that allows him to wish anything that he desires; but the cost of a wish is Bastian’s memory. Once he uses all of his memories than he is trapped inside of Fantastica forever. So to keep from being stuck; he must find his way out of the book.
I never really thought about where my life was going. I always believed life took me where I wanted to go, I never thought that I was the one who took myself were I wanted to go. Once I entered high school I changed the way I thought. This is why I chose to go to college. I believe that college will give me the keys to unlock the doors of life. This way I can choose for myself where I go instead of someone choosing for me.
A baby’s life helps to form and shape the future for that child; this goes the same for me. My birth, my sign, and my name, all relate to the way I live and act today. Many people may not see this connection for themselves, but it takes a little bit of research and thinking to come to realize why people are the way they are. Every day and every action that a child experiences can influence their actions as an adult.
Today was the worst day of my life. My mom gave me good and bad news. The bad news was so horrible. The good news was very surprising. The bad news was so bad, that I started crying. My mom told me that I was MOVING!!!