1

“The fight with Cohn had not touched his spirit but his face had been smashed and his body hurt. He was wiping all that out now. Each thing he did with that bull wiped that out a little cleaner.”
Pedro Romero is the true Hemingway hero. He shows grace under pressure and continues to get up even when knocked down. He certainly proved it when Cohn found Brett in his room and began to punch Romero repeatedly. The reader could see that it was hard on Romero, but he kept standing up only to be knocked down again. When Cohn broke down into tears and asked Romero to forgive him and to shake hands, Romero punched Cohn in the face. Romero shows his masculinity with threats to kill Cohn if Cohn tried to help him, or even if he saw Cohn again.
At the bull fight, he showed grace. He did not show that he was hurt by Cohn while he was fighting the bull. He fought as though he was not injured at all. He fought the bull gracefully. Even before he was injured, he demonstrated grace. He didn’t need to exaggerate the danger of fighting the bull. He fought like a traditional bull fighter. He didn’t have to fake the danger. Everything about Pedro Romero was real. He gave a real show to the crowd. The bull-fight wasn’t faked to look more dangerous than it was. He showed the real danger by fighting the bull the proper way.
Romero is the complete opposite of Jake, the character who would seem like the hero, but he doesn’t quite have what it takes to be a Hemingway hero. Before Cohn went in a rage after Romero, his anger lashed out at Jake. Cohn demanded to know where Brett was, and he believed that Jake had the answer to that. When Jake said that he didn’t know, Cohn didn’t believe him and called him a “pimp”. This was an insult to Jake, who responded by swinging a punch at Cohn. Cohn hit Jake, and instead of fighting back like a true “man”, Jake crawled underneath a nearby table to hide.
It was no surprise that Brett fell in love with Pedro Romero. While it is true that she loved Jake, Jake was not “manly” enough to give her what she wanted the most. Romero is manly. Romero had the ability to satisfy her. Romero could give Brett what she wanted. Unlike the other men, Romero wasn’t used by Brett. He was not one of the men that she destroyed. He was probably hurt that she left, but it didn’t destroy her life. We don’t hear about his reaction to her leaving him.  Most men are damaged by Brett, like Cohn and Mike who resort to violence and drinking. Romero doesn’t show that he is damaged from his relationship with Brett.
Pedro Romero is a hero because he has a sense of pride about him. As stated before, he doesn’t fake the danger in the bull fights. He doesn’t need any handicap for what he loves to do. The other bull fighters change their method because they think that it is what the crowd wants. Romero actually knows what the crowd wants, and it’s not what those other bull fighters are doing. He is real when he is fighting the bulls. He doesn’t need to put on an act or pretend that it’s dangerous. The danger that Romero goes through when he goes up against the bulls is real danger. He doesn’t exaggerate it at all. It actually seems like a dance when he gets the bulls attention and then moves off to the side. He is graceful when he handles the bulls, which is something that normal people would not be able to pull off. He is calm and he treats the bulls “like friends”. He knows how to handle himself and how to handle life better than some of the other characters in the novel.

Semester 2

17

In the 1990s, millions of Americans dedicated their hours watching someone else's drama. The trial of OJ Simpson was the focus of many American lives. This single trial caused such a racial controversy - as the judges announced the verdict in favor of Simpson (the trial was to determine whether he killed his wife or not - and his wife was Caucasian while he was African-American), the two races separated to different sides of the room. Albom further describes the effects of this single trial - from not being able to trust the police to attorneys taking cases in hopes of becoming famous.

I agree with Albom's idea. A single action can affect many lives years after it's been "forgotten". Take for example, the terrorist attack on September eleventh. Since then, those with an Arab background are seen as suspicious - some people refuse to trust them because of what people of the same religion did many years ago. What we do now affects what happens years from now, which affects what happens years from then.

16

Tall, tanned, leather-clad men are the topic of Ehrlich's About Men. According to Ehrlich, the cowboys have been romanticized by those who didn't live in areas where cowboys were. Real cowboys did hard work to get it done, not because it was romantic for them to be strong. Ehrlich's tone conveys that she is serious about the cowboys that she knew. She knew that they did not have pride over their title, but rather their pride was in the work that they did. Her tone is formal and serious. She does not approve of the way that cowboys have been romanticized. Her purpose was informing. She knew that most people did not personally know a cowboy, so she simply informed those who did not grow up the same way that she did.

15

Secrets are evident in every aspect of life. In Sante's essay, there are three main reasons for secrecy: Soviet Union, internet, and confessional culture/media.

First up, the author discusses the Soviet Union. This was the part of the essay that was initially confusing, but I think that the main point of it was that people in the Soviet Union had to keep secrets because they didn't want to get in trouble with the government. This type of secret protects the safety of the individual who has the secret.This is not normally a secret that they would share with their close friends due to the possibility of the government finding out.

Next, the topic of internet comes up. The internet is one of the biggest places where people share secrets. Nobody over the internet knows who "animegirl27" is. These people feel that they are making real connections with other people, and that alone is reason enough to trust them with their deep secrets. However, Sante argues that the internet is one of the places where secrets can spread like crazy. Some people might in fact know who "animegirl27" is. Posting secrets onto a place where the whole world can view it is not exactly a very smart idea.

Sante's last thought is on confessional culture and the media. We live in a place where we feel insecure if we are the only ones feeling a certain way. Confiding in a close friend and letting them know the secret is a way that humans get emotions off of their chest and into the open. Being human, we have the desire to tell something that we know that we shouldn't.

14

I have a friend who is one of the nicest girls ever. I will bet my life on that. She is always so polite, I've never seen her mad or frustrated. She is the definition of a polite young lady.

When I see other people, especially the rude boys (mostly freshmen) I can't help but wonder why they aren't as polite as my friend is. 

The main problem is that public schools don't place as much emphasis on ethics and values as they should. Schools these days are obsessed with raising their test scores by supplying their students with busywork. Class after class, students are just handed the material and expected to learn it. While these are important for their education, this does not necessarily make them a good citizen.

Students should be taught important values. "Respect" is a wonderful value, since everyone regardless of age or status deserves respect. It's a value that is very positive, and it's rare that it can be taken negatively. Along with "respect", "kindness" and "honesty" go along with it. Being "kind" and "honest" is giving "respect" to someone because it is the opposite of "mean" and "lying".

While values are important, it's also important to keep in mind that some believed values can do more harm than good. On the subject of education, the student is expected to turn in their best work. This goes along with consideration, because the student is taking their time to put forth the best effort into their work. This is a good value, as long as it is kept in moderation. If teachers expect good work from students all of the time, and assign a lot of work, students may get stressed and resort to academic dishonesty to be "considerate" to the teacher by continuously putting forth their best work.