Responses to Thurber Satire

"The Little Girl and the Wolf"
This story started out extremely similar to Little Red Riding Hood. I then made fun of how obvious it would be that a wolf was dressed as your grandmother. It was also funny that then the girl pulls out a gun from her basket and shoots the wolf. This was a much more realistic aproach to the situation if it happened (other than the talking wolf and young girl with the gun).

"The Bear"
I didn't see any connection to other fables or stories but I thought this was very funny. I was not expecting the ending. It seems that this author tends to have very comically harsh and blunt endings to his story that aren't a "happy ever after".

"The Princess And The Tin Box; A Fable For Our Time"
This story tricked me probably because I'm so used to typical fairytales laid out like this. It had a funny moral at the end and made you feel dumb for thinking shed choose the tin box. I feel like I remember a story very similar to this but dont remmeber too well. This was funny and I also liked how he went into such ridiculous depth on how extavegant of a life she has.

Fables And Fairytailes

"Androcles"

Summary: A slave escapes and runs to forest where he helps a lion with a thorn in its paw then the lion takes him back to his cave and feeds him and they become friends. They are later captured and the slave is threatened to be eaten by the lion. Once the lion is let loose it recognizes his friend and then licks him. The slave and lion are both set free.
Moral: Helping people (or animals) will almost always pay off and is the right thing to do.

"Avaricious and Envious"
Two neighbors get granted wishes by Jupiter, under the condition that the opposing neighbor gets twice what they wish for. The first man wishes for a room full of gold, so the other neighbor gets two rooms full. The second man wishes for one of his eyes out, so the other neighbor gets both out so he is blind.

moral: vices are there own punishment

" Belling the Cat"
A bunch of mice try to figure out how to deal with the cats. After getting nowhere a young mouse says they should tie a bell to the cats neck so they know where it is. Then an old mouse asks who will go to put it on the cat. Nobody responds.
moral: It is easy to think up solutions but difficult to actually go and do them.

" Hercules and the Waggoner "
A man driving a waggon gets his wheel stuck in mud and the more the horses pull the deep it gets. He prays to Hercules to help him and Hercules appears and just tells him to put his shoulder into it and push.
Moral: That you should try to fix your problems yourself before begging for help from others.

"The Ant and the Grasshopper "
An ant was bringing food to its nest to stock for winter and a grasshopper was just playing and said it didn't need to worry because there was plenty of food at the moment. Once Winter came, the ants had plenty of food and the grasshopper was starving.
Moral: It is important to prepare for the future

"The Ass and the Lapdog"
A man had both a donkey and a lapdog and after the lapdog jumped into the mans lap the donkey noticed and wanted to do the same so it attempted to prance and put its hooves on his shoulders in attempt to get on his lap, the servants ran up to get it off of him.
Moral: Do not try to be what you are not.

"The Old Man and Death "
An old man has troubles carrying sticks and cries out for death to take him. Death appears and then asked why he called him. The man asks him to help him with the pile of sticks.
Moral: You don't always really want what you may wish for

"The Two Crabs"
While a Mother crab and child crab are walking, the mother criticizes it on how he's walking. The young one then tells her that if she does it then he will follow how she does.
Moral: Example is the best way to teach

"The Mishcievious Dog"
A dog becomes known for being very quick and sneaking up quickly to people and biting there ankles. Eventually the master ties a bell to him and a clog to slow him down. He wears it around proudly then an old dog asks why he wears it proudly when it is a disgrace.
Moral: Infame can be mistaken for positive fame.

"The Camel and the Arab"
A master of a camel asks if he would prefer to go uphill or downhill. It replies that he doesnt know why he'd ask and if the level way is closed"
Moral: Dont ask obvious questions.


2 Grimm Summaries.
"Hansel and Gretel"
Hansel and Gretel have a stepmother with there father, a wood cutter in the forest. The stepmother keeps getting the father to lead the kids out to the woods and abandon them, the first time the boy lays a trail of pebbles to get home but the second is crumbs and birds eat it all. They come to a candy house and it turns out to have a witch living there who tries to fatten them up to eat them but she ends up getting locked in the oven by the kids. They take her gold then wander home to see their father crying saying they can come back because the stepmother has died.

"Little Red Riding Hood"
A little girl is to deliver a basket of food to her sick grandma in the forest. Shes told not to go off the path but she gets distracted and goes off and encounters a wolf which asks what shes doing then leaves with the intent to eat both her and her grandmother. The wolf acts as the girl at the grandmothers house and eats her. Then it acts as the grandmother when the girl comes and eats her too. A man had been hunting the wolf and stopped at the house to get refreshment but through the window he sees the wolf. He shoots it in the head then cuts out Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, and they are both safe.

fairy tale poem thing

"The Lion and the Mouse"

I thought I was unstoppable and that no other creature could beat me.
But then I got am lesson of my life when what I would typically eat saved my life.

"beauty and the beast"

When I first saw her I knew shed never see me for anything but a monster.
But as time went on i finally realized she was different and could see into what a person really is.

"mermaid"

When i first saw he swimming to save me I thought that I had died and an angel was coming for me. As it turned out it was a real mermaid who had whisked me up to the surface to save my life.

"grasshopper and ants"

I was only playing my music for myself, nobody ever seemed to appreciate it. But then I looked up and realized I had a large audience of ants and I became filled with pride.

"cinderalla"

I had hated my life, always being treated like a slave and never aloud to do anything. It was the most amazing thing in the world when i was granted this fairy godmother to change my life forever and resque me from this hell.

"red riding hood"

When I walk to my grandmothers house I always get a scared feeling, like im being watched. I tend to hurry both ways to find safety from the unknown forest.

"alice and wonderland"

I dont understand this girl at all, she seems so rushed and doesnt understand out simple ways of life.
All we want to do is celebrate our un-birthday which is a big deal to us.
She just asks silly questions and ignores our kind gestures without trust.
But she should understand what we're doing is not unjust.
We drink lots of tea and have fun all the time.
but we also are good people and will help at the drop of a dime.
She has an obsession with the rabbit with a clock.
I dont see why she wont just catch him, itd be a short walk.
Soon she grows frustarated and gets out of her chair.
We yell after her telling her to watch out for the bears.

"Princess and the Pea"

I was quite confused about why I must sleep on such a ridiculously high bed. I thought it might be for comfort but when I laid down it was the most uncomfortable bed ive ever slept in.

"Snow White"

In the forest I just feel at peace with everything. People always seem to want to cause trouble but the animals remain true friends.

shakesperian sonnet

Mark Norman
Senior Comp
February 14, 2012


I woke up tardy and hustled down stairs.

I shouted in fright and made to turn back.

A fallen figure with long fuzzy hairs.

an outstretched arm with long fingers all black.


The puppies ran round it and moaned very sad,

Sniffed it and licked it and howled to the moon.

The oddest morning I’d recently had.

I looked at my clock and saw it was noon.


Could this be Grandma, I wondered aloud.

Why would she be here; I thought she was home.

I’ll solve the riddle, I silently vowed.

Turning it over, I witnessed a gnome.


Laughing, my sister appeared in the hall.

“You are the stupidest brother of all!”

Responses to ThisIBelieve.org

"I Will Take My Voice Back"
I think that this essay is really powerful and has a good meaning behind it. The author conveys his desperation for being free from addiction and how much he wants to have his career as a writer and performer to blossom. You can really feel his hatred for the drug he is addicted to, and also the strong love for his talent. I wish it was a little longer though because it could have gone deeper into background.

"There Is No God"
This essay was extremely interesting and made me think a lot. I am agnostic and generally have a belief that there is some form of God but I dont know for certain or what he/she/it is like, but he is an atheist and made very valid points for how healthy and actually beneficial his belief in there being no God can be for yourself and potentially the world. He says how it allows him to fully appreciate things that are granted in his life by luck and his own doing instead of believing it was given by the "imaginary friend" that he references. It also says how by believeing that bad things are the doing of people and the world instead of god(s) will set us up so we can act and fix more things and better the world instead of sitting back and thinking its out of control.

"Love Is Stronger Than Death"
This essay was good at showing the authors emotions and giving sensory details towards memories of her dead husband and his scent on the jacket she kept. I also liked how she wrote it progressing through her life after his death and how she came to find contentment by seeing him in her children and grandchildren. It seemed like she put all her emotion into the writing.


"To Be the Best Humans We Can Be"
I think that this essay was interesting and lets you feel sort of what it'd be like to have a family and be a police officer, very aware that you could be killed in your job. It also has a good message that although nobody is perfect and you will do things you will not be proud of, you should try your best to be the best person you can. He also had a good image set up when he was describing his locker and where the letter was, I had a clear picture in my head.

Reflection on presentation

Reflection on Assembly
Senior Comp

I missed a big part of this assembly but from what I did see and was told about it was very powerful and a good message to the students at Thomas. I think seeing real prisoners and hearing directly from them really makes people take in the messages they have, instead of the white noise of DARE officers or teachers just saying “drugs are bad”. I watch shows on TV from time to time about prison life but I feel like they just shoot it for the entertaining parts, while this presentation showed me the pain and difficulties from real people right in front of me. I could see the pain on one of the guys who was in either the Aryan Brotherhood or Skinheads when he spoke about how he was good friends with one of the black members of the group but in the lunchroom would have to sit across the room and not say a word because of how bad race segregation is among prisoners. The raw unedited dialogue from them also made it more powerful and serious because it was like they were talking to real people and had passion behind it, instead of being child friendly and softening up what they want to say. My only dislike was that the lady who was standing up there with them kept cutting them off and became quite annoying. One of the men presenting would be telling some serious stuff and in a story and she would just chime in something stupid and disrupt what was being said. I could tell she bothered those presenting along with us watching. I also wish there was more time because, even though I missed a good portion, I heard that a lot of the guys didn’t even get to talk and the ones who I saw didn’t get to give their full story and it seemed kind of rushed. I wish I would’ve seen the skit because I heard it was very powerful and non of our class was laughing or being rude which must have meant it was powerful because our class has been known to be rude and immature about a lot of presentations we have.

Word story (forgot to upload on here)

The man calmly walked out of the building onto the pavement leading to his the parking lot. His ostentatious car often caught looks from women and envious men. He was the CEO of a large corporation and did not give any effort to keep his financial success a secret. The Mercedes was a future model, with only a few existing on the planet. It didn’t stop at that though; it was then customized exactly to his liking after purchase. He wanted on the best things for himself, the best cars, house, electronics, even women. He lived a lavished and splendid life, and nothing in this world was going to stop him from doing so. This man had everything he could ever imagine and possibly want yet there was still something missing in his life and he couldn’t put his finger on it until that fateful day, when he was hit dead in the face with a board. He woke up three days later with a huge concussion, all he could remember was the new in and out list from the show funkeyziet mit Bruno. He knew what he needed to do. He knew fungus was out so he had to get all of it out from between his putrid toes. He remembered that clocks were now in. The man rushed to the clock store and purchased the most expensive clock. The man also bought a glistening chain, and fastened the clock to the chain and placed upon his neck. Upon arrival at his house, he noticed a smudge on his brand new clock so he rushed to the pantry to grab a washcloth to wash the smudge off. While in the kitchen he caught a whiff of something scrumptious. Mmmmm…it was blueberry cobbler! His maid lumbered out of the kitchen, wiping her slightly sweaty brow with her apron. “That better be for me,” he condescendingly affronted her, slapping her across the rump. “One moment sir, I forgot to sprinkle the sugar on top,” Joanna replied, sauntering back into the kitchen. She let the wooden door shut behind her, then spit into the cobbler, her saliva covering it like a wet dew in the morning grass. She was sick and tired of being harassed and downtrodden by this man who thought he could rule the world with his money, an Ebenezer Scrooge (prior to his ghostly visits) in his humanity. He ate the cobbler all up when brought out to him. The all of a sudden his face squeezed into a tight spasm and he began to scream a shrill ear shredding sound “FANTASTIC!!!!!”

Re-writing sentences in a more active way

"I could still remember when my brother and sister were little and I would have to take care of them all the time."
- I could clearely recall the weight on my back of caring for my younger brother and sister, seemingly unstopping when we were kids.

" It even had a pleasant baby powder smell."
- You could smell that strong baby powder smell reaking off of it to your nose.

"My friends came over, and we all piled into the car."
- When my friends came over, we all squeezed into the car like circus clowns into a little VW beetle.