I walked in and took a left, taking my usual walking course around the aisles. I started at the model cars of Dodge Vipers and Lamborghini's. Took a right at the outdoor toys section, golf sets, Frisbees, baseball bats, and footballs, glancing and imagining what I could do with them. Not quite impressed, I walked down the aisle, slowly, waiting for something to catch my eye. Surely there is something in this heavenly toy store for a six year old boy to go madly insane over. I took another right perusing around and behold, my head had not fully swiveled before I saw the most magnificent and glorious toy. In an essay written by Anwar Accawi entitled The Telephone, the author dismally and sadly states, “I am still looking for that better life”. This quote so perfectly contrasts the way I felt because I was reacting as if I just found what Accawi was still looking for, that better life. I stood in front of this beautiful toy and admired the orange and blue tiger stripped fresh paint. This magnificent toy gun was bright with colors that stood out like a sore thumb, perfect for the imaginative warfare I conjure in my mind. It had a full stock, complete with a permanently attached clip that I tried for a few minutes to remove. I picked up this beast of a machine gun still attached to this god-awful, awkwardly rigid box. It felt so restrained; I needed to let it out. Squeezing the trigger produced images of cops and robbers dancing in my mind as I listened to the chirping sound of the repetitive, “click, click, click”. My mom quickly caught up with me as I was holding this machine gun over my head in anticipation of showing my friends there was a new Sheriff in town. My younger sister trailing behind my mom with the usual Barbie in... ... middle of paper ... ... on the driveway as each one of us took turns sipping from my water-hose. I was facing the ground with hose in hand gulping water when I faintly heard my dad say that he was going to run to the store and he would be back shortly. Then I heard it, a sound from a horror movie echoed through our cult-de-sac. It was a sound that no young boy should ever hear especially compared to the joy that was felt earlier. I heard a loud crunch, pop and a crack. My dad was backing over my toy in the driveway. Immediately I started screaming for him to stop, a flash flood of tears poured down my cheeks. How could this happen, this soon, I cried to myself. My sense of joy, my confidence, all the praises I was receiving was gone. My summers of boosted confidence and nights of fun with my friends were now gone. Oh, how quickly our material possessions leave us faster than they meet us.
Many people have heard that having a gun makes you a man, so Dave believes that purchasing a gun would help him become one. The gun represents power, masculinity, independence, and respect, which are all things that Dave wants. The idea of owning a gun is David’s outlet, a way to quickly become more powerful and manly. The feeling of having a gun in his possession was to prevent others around him from looking at him as just a little boy. With the gun, Dave felt invincible, as if no harm could come his way and as if he is on top of the
"Being Prepared in Suburbia" is an essay by Roger Verhulst published in 1992. The purpose of this essay is to show how guns can change a person's mind and emotions. Throughout the essay, Verhulst shares personal examples of his beliefs of gun ownership and personal examples of how his life changed once he bought a Crossman Power Master 760 BB Repeater pump gun. After purchasing the gun, he believed that the reason people like guns so much is because of a passion that gun owners feel. He stated, "This is the feeling that explains their passion, their religious fervor, their refusal to yield. It's rooted in the gut, not in the head" (Verhulst 342). He also realized that personal thoughts and morals about gun ownership change for a gun owner, and, in a sense, how the gun has authority over an individual's life. For example, "But a roving opossum that took up residence in our garage for a few cold nights in January undermined my good intentions" (Verhulst 341). Honestly, those are only excuses and not legitimate reasons. A strong person would not go against his or her beliefs and would know that using a gun should only be for a specific and valid purpose. Throughout the essay, he believes the weak gun legislation and the problems with gun usage are because of a passion that you feel in your gut; in reality, it is a lack of self-control.
It is interestingly sad how debates on gun violence and gun control is being handled in our society by our top leaders and lobbyist. Gun control has become a serious issue and a national epidemic, however, the debate is far from over. In the article “under the gun” by writers Rottenberg, Rice and Franich, for entertainment weekly, the writers discussed the failing of gun control laws and the increase in gun violence. By setting sides of their argument, the writers discussed violence in movies, TVs and videogames and how this violence impact our society, thus allowing their audience to decide for themselves.
Before beginning about the history of ball bearing or bullet ball guns, which are referred to as BB guns in short, let’s take a quick peep at some of the most interesting facts about air guns:
The toy picked for the toy evaluation in child and development psychology class was a Transformer for the suggested age of 3. A brief description of the Transformer will be given to identify the characteristics and how they are suitable or not suitable for the recommendation age listed. The toy will be analyzed on specific qualities that relate to how it can foster growth of the child and be evaluated on what the necessary abilities are needed to play with the unit. This toy will also be evaluated as it pertains to how the child would play with the car and if the child would be able to grasp the concept of the Transformer. Other cognitive concepts will be applied to how the Transformer is used and if the child would be able to understand the Transformer. The fine motor skills and gross motor skills used to play with the Transformer car will be another topic of discussion. In addition, the toy will be reviewed to how or if it would be shared within a social environment and if an adult would be able to participate in teaching the child.
Reynolds Price’s “The Great Imagination Heist” discusses how television has corrupted the imaginations of today’s American youth. The idea behind the word “heist” suits the title and story well; however, I disagree with his idea that television and video games have stolen youthful imaginations.
In his article “Our Blind Spot about Guns,” Nicholas Kristof argues for making guns safer for the people who use them by bringing up the comparison of guns to cars; “Cars don’t kill people. People kill people,” (261). Kristof’s purpose is to address the fact that guns are not as safe as they should be and are the cause of thousands of deaths each year. Although his ideas for increasing gun safety are interesting, there is a shortcoming in the comparisons he used. In order to make a stronger argument, one must use literary devices. In this case, Kristof used ethos, pathos, logos, and additional rhetorical devices.
No other weapon in my opinion has changed the face of the battlefield as has the machine gun. It's design and and association with mass death makes it a great and powerful weapon. Two men, Hiram Maxim and Richard Gatling, made huge impacts in the development of the Machine Gun and bringing it to use in the military. These two brilliant men designed capable and reliable versions of Machine guns in a time when everyone was making unreliable models. However before we get into discussion about the inventions of Hiram Maxim and Richard Gatling, it's important to understand how machine guns were developed.
Every day, each individual will look back on decisions he or she have made and mature from those experiences. Though it takes time to realize these choices, the morals and knowledge obtained from them are priceless. In George Orwell’s nonfictional essay, “Shooting an Elephant”, a young Orwell was stationed in Burma for the British imperial forces, tasked to deal with an elephant who destroyed various parts of the village Moulmein while its owner was away. Backed by second thoughts and a crowd of thousands, he finds himself shooting the elephant and reflecting that it was not justified; however, it was a choice pushed by his duty and the people. Written with a fusion of his young and old self’s outlook on shooting the elephant, Orwell’s essay is a sensational read that captivates his audience and leaves them questioning his decision.
Within our families and friends whom we do identify with develops many different forms of culture, based on the environment we grew up with. The film “Toys” by Barry Levinson, is based on a toy factory that Leslie's father created, but when his father turns ill and turns the rights of the company go to his uncle, a war-mongering general who tries to take over the company by planning to build military weapons disguised as toys. The film shows how different ways culture are used even within an family that don’t always get along.
It was a quiet summer day with blue skies and barely any clouds. The birds were outside chirping noisily as if they were performing in a musical. It wasn’t too cold or too hot outside and there was a warm breeze. My parents were very busy with work. They both had full time jobs. I could hear the clicking sounds of their computers typing and the confused looks on their faces. Their busy and confused faces soon turned into frowns. I saw my mom slowly rise up from her chair, mumble some words to herself, and headed towards the yard. At the same time, my brother was throwing dry noodles all over the place and destroying property. He liked biting on things and ripping things, his favorite was eating
The use of guns is to control the natives. In this suburb in Burma, only the British own and possess the guns, “The Burmese population has no weapon” (324) thus, is this which enable the British to appear as demi-gods toward the Burmese and rule over them. Also, the rifle represents the brute force which is at the disposition of the colonial British ruler. “I took my rifle…much too small to kill an elephant, but I thought the noise might be useful in terrorem” (324). This illustrates the dominance of the British Empire over the Burmese. The narrator uses the rifle for self-defense, “I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if is necessary” (326). When he kills the elephant it functions as a tool for violence. In addition, the rifle represents those people who easily follow the majority beliefs, but when the Burmese exhort Orwell to kill the elephant it deviates to a weapon “like a mad dog” (330). Then, the change of the rifle is not voluntary- it is rather dependent on circumstances, “I sent an orderly to a friend’s house nearby to borrow an elephant rifle” (325). Thus, Orwell shows how peer pressure occurs and proves relevance by stating how the Burmese pushed him into shooting the elephant. This is the result that peer pressure occurs. Additionally, Orwell warns of the repercussions of yielding to majority power by demonstrating the tragic fate of the rifle. The elephant is killed by
When 12 years old came around, nothing could’ve primed me for the amount of devastation that was to submerge my happy little world. Two months after my birthday, I received word that my renowned and dearly loved, Uncle Dean, had been killed in an unfortunate automobile accident. Crushed, yet filled with a strange numbness, I became withdrawn and dwindled in disbelief. “How could this be?” I would repeat those words of this question over and over to myself, as if it were some magical mantra that could resurrect my deceased best ally. I began taking in the gravity of what this all meant: no more “piggy-back” rides, no more wrestling matches, no more late-night video game contests, ultimately no more fun with Uncle Dean, ever. I never got a opportunity to say good-bye.
It was Friday night, I took a shower, and one of my aunts came into the bathroom and told me that my dad was sick but he was going to be ok. She told me that so I did not worry. I finished taking a bath, and I immediately went to my daddy’s house to see what was going on. My dad was throwing-up blood, and he could not breath very well. One of my aunts cried and prayed at the same time. I felt worried because she only does that when something bad is going to happen. More people were trying to help my dad until the doctor came. Everybody cried, and I was confused because I thought it was just a stomachache. I asked one of my older brothers if my dad was going to be ok, but he did not answer my question and push me away. My body shock to see him dying, and I took his hand and told him not to give up. The only thing that I heard from him was, “Daughters go to auntie...
It was around 2:00pm and it was time to open presents. I started with opening friend’s presents then I opened families. I was finally done opening all my presents. I looked around at all the people, who were looking at me and my dad was nowhere to be. That was the only present that I was looking forward too. The party ended and my dad didn’t show up, my little four years old hopes were in the ground, it was like I could feel my heart ripping appart. I looked at my mom and she mouthed I’m sorry, my faced turned rosy red and my eyes filled with tears. From that moment on my life was never the same. It was a dark cloudy day and I was going to see my dad. We were playing the game Sorry and he was winning. I was the yellow player and he was the green player, he was laughing and smiling the whole time. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my Friday afternoon any other way. When the game was over he asked me to clean up the game while he went out to smoke a cig. When he entered the room and the game wasn’t picked up, he went crazy. His eyes seemed to turn a dark almost black color. It was like he was a completely different person when he came back