Step By Wicked Step Q9

Which 2 characters in the novel show similar qualities and have a common goal? Discuss with evidence from the text.


                          
                       The novel I have studied is Step By Wicked Step written by Anne Fine. In the novel, five schoolchildren read the journal of Richard Clayton Harwick which detailed his sad story of family life with a stepfather. The five schoolchildren who came from broken homes were prompted to relate their own family life story. Claudia and Pixie are two characters that shown similar qualities and have a common goal.


                        Firstly, Claudia and Pixie both confess to their own rotten behavior in the story. Claudia admits that she dislike Stella in the first place because Claudia would feel disloyal to her mum whenever she has a good time with her father and his new girlfriend. "... I'd be as much to blame as him for all the horrid changes I never wanted". However, in the end, Claudia realises her rudeness and she comes out of her closet by wearing the green pyjamas given by Stella. "These are the pyjamas you bought me. Aren't they beautiful?". 


                        Pixie confesses that she hated Sophie and Henrietta (Hetty) Payne at first. When Hetty moved into Pixie's room, Pixie tried to get rid of her by first telling her ghost stories and later giving her the semi-silent treatment. " ... The story I heard was that the spirit of Henrietta Forbes would only walk again when someone with the same name lays their bed, uninvited, in her place" . At the end of the story, Lucy and Pixie had a huge row but eventually they cleared up their misunderstandings. From then on, everyone got along better.


                       Claudia and Pixie also have a common goal where they try to reconcile and make up to their respective stepmothers. Claudia's hatred towards Stella has been reduces. Claudia does not ignore Stella anymore. Furthermore, Stella now teaches her how to quilt, read maps, change electric bulbs and skate. " Stella's been teaching me how to quilt... ",


                       On the other hand, Pixie and Lucy come to terms with their situation. Lucy agrees and accepts Pixie's suggestion of Hetty moving back to Sophie's room. Moreover, Lucy has also stopped calling Pixie as 'Priscilla'.


                       In retrospect, Claudia and Pixie both show similar qualities and have a common goal.
                      

Step by Wicked Step Q12

Compare and contrast 2 characters in the novel you have studied. Discuss with close reference to the text.


                       The novel I have studied is Step By Wicked Step written by Anne Fine. In the novel, five schoolchildren read the journal of Richard Clayton Harwick which detailed his sad story of family life with a stepfather. The five schoolchildren who came from broken homes were prompted to relate their own family life story. Claudia and Colin are the two characters I have chosen to compare and contrast.


                       Although Claudia and Colin are two differing characters, they also have some similarities. Both Colin and Claudia come from broken or separated families. They both have step parents.


                       Colin and his mother left his father when he was a few weeks' old. His mother takes up with a person whom he thinks of as his father when Colin was just eight months old. This stepfather really cared for Colin. "... you can talk to him. And he remembers what you say. He'd know the names of all my friends,...". However, his immature mother also leaves this stepfather after a while because he does not have a proper job. 
                    
                        Now he misses him so badly that it hurts him so much."...I'd hum our favourite song...".
Jack is the only 'father' figure Colin ever knows. However, Colin's mother leaves Jack after a while. This causes him to miss Jack so badly.


                       On the other hand, Claudia's father has left her mother for another woman, Stella. Claudia feels disloyal to her mum whenever she has a good time with her father and his new girlfriend. "... I'd be as much to blame as him for all the horrid changes I never wanted". Even though Stella tries her best to be accepted by Claudia and her daddy's friends, she is being ignored.


                       Finally, Claudia realises her rudeness and she comes out of her closet by wearing the green pyjamas given by Stella. "These are the pyjamas you bought me. Aren't they beautiful?". Both Colin and Claudia really want their parents to reconcile as they pine for how it used to be when they were happy.


                       In retrospect, Colin and Claudia both faced similar and contrasting problems in their lives.






                         

Discrimination


                  Discrimination is a sociological term referring to the treatment taken toward or againsta person of a certain group in consideration based solely on class or category.Discrimination is the actual behavior towards another group. It involves excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to other groups.Discriminatory behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or rejection.


                  Though gender discrimination and sexism refers to beliefs and attitudes in relation to the gender of a person, such beliefs and attitudes are of a social nature and do not,normally, carry any legal consequences.Sex discrimination, on the other hand, may have legal consequences. Discrimination based on sex is defined as adverse action against another person, that would not have occurred had the person been of another sex. This is considered a form of prejudiceand is illegal in certain enumerated circumstances in most countries. Sexual discrimination can arise in different contexts. For instance an employee may be discriminated against by being asked discriminatory questions during a job interview, or because an employer did not hire, promote or wrongfully terminated an employee based on his or her gender, or employers pay unequally based on gender. 


                   Age discrimination is discrimination on the grounds of age. Although theoretically the word can refer to the discrimination against any age group. Age discrimination usually comes in one of three forms: discrimination against youth,discrimination against those 40 years old or older, and discrimination against elderly people. In many countries, companies more or less openly refuse to hire people above a certain age despite the increasing life spans and average age of the population. The reasons for this range from vague feelings younger people are more "dynamic" and create a positive image for the company, to more concrete concerns about regulations granting older employees higher salaries or other benefits without these expenses being fully justified by an older employees' greater experience.


                   Racial discrimination differentiates between individuals on the basis of real and perceived racial differences, and has been official government policy in several countries, such as South African and the USA.
In theUnited States, racial profiling of minorities by law enforcement officials has been called racial discrimination. As early as 1865, the Civil Rights Act provided a remedy for intentional race discrimination in employment by private employers and state and local public employers. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 applies to public employment or employment involving state action prohibiting deprivation of rights secured by the federal constitution or federal laws through action under color of law.


                   In retrospect, Discrimination is a serious issue that is unfortunately rampant across the globe. It can occur anywhere, on the road or even in office. Hence, gender equality, and the fight for it, is still very important today. It will help to level unequal playing fields. It will not only down in history as a revolution that caused old systems to fall, and new, stronger ones to rise, it will also display the full capacity of the human spirit, with both men and women, spanning the various races, jobs and social standing, joining in the biggest human rights movement of all time.

February 4th Journal

                                 



                  This week was an exceptionally interesting week. As we all know that this week is known as co-curricular week where many activities had been held throughout the long week. Among these activities, I found that drama competition is the best activities. I believed that this competition is the most anticipated event among all the Form 5s. This year drama competition's theme was environment. Our main storyline was about a evil mad scientist, Vladmir Labokof who want to conquer the world with his inventions. However he needs energy from plants to fire up his machines. Even though I'm just an audience, but there is still a part where audience have to shout "Vladmir, Vladmir, Vladmir!". This was the part that I think the most creative and surprising. As I stood up to shout, I could people turning their head towards us and the judges seem surprised that the is sound coming from their back. Overall, I think that 5 Belian's drama is the most creative. Unfortunately, the decision is from judges and not me. So, I hoped that 5 Belian will have the first place this year!

February 3rd week

                    First term examination is just around the corner. There is about two more week left for me to prepare, yet I don't really felt the exam stress that used to happen on me every time exam is near. Normally, three weeks before an examination. I will start to see people holding their reference book during recess and after school while waiting for their parents to pick them up. However, this year I still don't see anyone holding a book during recess and after school. I wonder is it because this year's first term exam's result doesn't go into the report card or everyone is too busy with their stuff. Or maybe people already start studying like no tomorrow in their house secretly. Sigh... Sometimes I don't know when should I start doing my revision because I might forget if I start too early and I wouldn't have enough time if I started it too early.
                   In this 3rd week of February, I also search up some origami guide for Mod. Math and Add. Math project. Finally, I completed my project and I am going to hand in to Pn. Koh on Monday.

February 2nd Week

               Another week of February had passed. It was a erudite week because I learned many things and tried many things in this short 7 days. Well, on Monday, I played pool for the first time in One Utama. I did a few angle shoots and won the game And, on Saturday, Mr.Garrard Louis gave us a wonderful speech and motivated me to study even more hard to get good results in SPM. He mentioned the five keys which we have to hold in us to success in our life. These five keys are : Think differently, motivate yourself, never give up, set goals, ( last one forgotten ). He also gave us some examples of successful people such as : Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man climbed the Mount. Everest, Erik Weihenmayer, a blind man who climbed the Mount. Everest and other mountains which is taller than Mount. Kinabalu. Hence, this is the best week of 2012 so far.

Night Without End

                                                                    Incident at Ice Glacier
                                                                     By: Adam Leong

                As approaches across the glacier, my sight was drawn to a group of people who were crossing the gangplank not far from us in what seemed to be a pirate ship. They were carrying weapons while rushing towards somewhere. I wondered where were they running to and as I swept my glance towards the direction that the criminals were running,

                I saw a person who looks like a priest pointing his gun on three hostages, and his finger ready to pull the trigger at any moment. Among three hostages, the girl trembled in fear, the man beside the girl seemed to be hopeful for something and the man in front was shouting something at the priest, although I can’t hear a single word from him.

                Suddenly, the priest turned. His face crinkled and foul words spat out from his mouth. He lost control. He shoved the girl into a tractor and roared on the engines. The brave man tried to stop him, but to no avail. The priest gave him a cold blooded shot in his arm and jammed on the accelerator of the huge vehicle that looks like a tractor. They sped off into the vast landscape of ice on that tractor, and it spun and turned so unpredictably that it could crash at any time.

                As I watched the tractor with my mouth gaping wide open, it crashed into a pile of big boulders without warning. Parts and pieces flew out of the tractor and they tractor was utterly destroyed. Yet, the captor was still alive, and thankfully too, the hostage. There was some resistance from the hostage, and as the captor attempted to hold her captive at point-blank range again, they both wrestled each other and fell into a crevasse, and it was closing fast.

                At this point of time, the air force was already raining down fire upon the crude ship and the terrorists that came out of it. The ship couldn’t hold for long and it was already sinking by the time the men rushed towards the crevasse. The brave man threw down a rope into the crevasse and before I knew it, he fell into the crevasse! Could the villain have pulled him down together too? I don’t know, but I pray to God that that wasn’t the case. The man who was still standing outside the crevasse looked grim, and I bit my lips as I hope that they would make it out fast.

                Then, miraculously, their captain and his crew came to their rescue. He hauled the girl up, but he was still tense, very tense at the sight of what was happening down there. I waited as the men threw down two ropes consecutively into the crevasse. It was the longest wait that I’ve had in my life. Finally, the miracle happened! The brave man and what seemed like to be his radio were both pulled out of the crevasse, which was then only wide enough for the man to squeeze out of it. As the crew looked down into the crevasse for one last time, a man threw down an entire coil of rope with contempt and hatred in his eyes down the crevasse, the crevasse closing after it a while after. An immediate thought came to my mind and our minds—the villain was dead.

February 1st Journal

                When I was in Chinese New Year of 2011, which was Form 4, lion dances remind me of my PMR and it is finally over. When I am in Chinese New Year of 2012, which is Form 5, lion dances remind me of SPM and it is coming to me in 9 more months. I believed not only me, all my friends is also getting nervous because of SPM. During this Chinese New Year, I received many AngPau from teachers and elders. The amount of AngPau I received is the same as last year, but the pressure I felt is not the same anymore. The more Angpau I received, it means the better the result I have to get in SPM. Before Chinese New Year, I wanted myself to study during the Chinese New Year holidays, however during the Chinese New Year holidays, I did not study anything, not a single bit, and my homework were not done as well. I am regretful. From now on, I will be studying from day to night so that I could do some revision which I had missed during the Chinese New Year holiday. I hope I don't get a terrible result that would disappoint both my parents and my teacher who taught me so hard. Even though, I did not do any study during the Chinese New Year holiday, but I managed to meet my distant uncle and relative which I have not seen them in many years. Hence, I think that both relationship with relatives and studying for SPM is important as both affect my entire life and I shouldn't overlook any of them. 

                                               恭喜发财

January Journal

            Happy New Year to all my friend and teachers! In this dragon year of 2012, I tried a different approach to Japanese pop song. In my opinion, J-pop also has the potential to be as popular as K-pop. But why K-pop became so popular while J-pop don't? I don't really know either. Anyway, I am going to talk about a Japanese 11 member group called Supercell. The reason is chose to talk about Supercell as my January journal entry is because I spent most of my time searching for their history and listening to their song including the time when I did my homework. Supercell started out by making use of the Hatsune Miku, a singing synthesizer to produce vocals for songs submitted to video sharing website. The popularity of the songs led the group to release their first album. Later, they released their first single, 君の知らない物語, or you can pronounce it as Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari. This song is my favourite song from Supercell because the song is unique as I never heard the type from any K-pop nor English song. Besides that, the lyrics of the   song is also meaningful and it also uses various stars in the lyrics. For example : The Summer Triangle.
To Pn. Monica : Pn Monica, you might thought that I am out of topic as I supposed to write a                                             
                            journal not a review for a song but I spent most of my January searching for
                            their history and songs. Hence, the paragraph above is the result of what I did       
                            in January. 
To further your understanding, I insert the song below so that you could enjoy the song.