A Day I Never Forgot

The bus had just dropped me off on my driveway. I yelled “bye” to my neighbor and walked into my empty house. It was dark, the only light that shown was from the windows. It was like any normal day, I went to school, and had regular every day classes. Language Arts was amusing, we watched the movie “The Birds” by Alfred Hitchcock and took notes about the movie. Before I knew it the school day was over.
As I walked into my house I grabbed the phone and called my mom, she answered on the second ring and asked how my day was. I told her all about the movie that we watched, and she told me that she would get home at about 4 o’clock. While talking on the phone I started to walk around the house and noticed something peculiar. I couldn’t tell if it was the light shining in on the window, or if maybe my imagination was just playing tricks on me. I walked a little closer, and a deathlike chill ran through my body. I stood there in awe, disconnected from the world. My immediate thought was that a bird hit the window, it happened in “The Birds” numerous times. I was brought back to reality by the sound of my mother’s voice. She asked me what had happened and I told her a bird had hit the window, and that I was going to search the back yard for a dead bird or some feathers.

I hung up my backpack and grabbed my jacket. On my way I decided to take my heaviest bat and a tennis racket from the garage, and with that I headed to the back yard. It was only April, and today there seemed to be more of a ghostly chill running through the air. I walked outside and immediately slowed my pace, due to paranoia, and anticipation. All that was running through my head was ‘what happened’, and ‘did a bird really hit the window?’ I hadn’t really thought through what my plan was going to be, so my decision came to, attack.

When I finally reached the bush that separated the backyard from me I stopped, took a deep breath and counted to three. I then popped out of the bushes and stalked over to the broken glass. Things were quiet, too quiet. I walked up the steps, and was amazed at what I saw. There was broken glass everywhere, two windows had been smashed, and the locks on some doors were scratched and broken. This was defiantly not some bird.

I sat in the house watching T.V. still wondering what had happened to the windows and doors. Around 4’o clock my mom came home. She took one look at the windows and said that someone tried to break into the house, there was no bird that hit the window. My mom then called the police and we sat outside the house instead of inside. The thoughts that lurked through my brain were haunting, ‘why had someone tried to break into my house, my house ‘.

About fifteen minutes later my sister came into view, walking from the bus stop with my neighbor. A police car had just showed up and he was getting out right as my sister and neighbor Derek were walking past. I heard him ask them something along the lines of ‘do you live here’, my sister just nodded her head and stared in shock. You would have thought that she had never seen a police officer face to face before. They then proceeded to walk up the driveway towards me and my mom. Once they arrived the officer asked my mom if he could see the windows and doors. She of course said yes, and showed him the damage.

Derek was in awe, he thought it was extremely cool that he could look for evidence and help solve a crime. I on the other hand was not in awe at all, I was scared out of my wits, still thinking what would have happened if he was in my house when I got home. I must have zoned out for a bit because when I was brought back to reality, my sister was giving me a questioning look and Derek was asking me if I was alright. Being myself I answered ‘of course, why wouldn’t I be?’. Derek gave me the ‘do you really expect me to believe your alright when your house just go broken into, and your biting your nails’ look. I just shook my head and told him to drop it. We have this brother, sister relationship, we pick on each other, we call each other names, we physically hurt each other, but we can both be very protective and understanding for one another. Anyways, we walked around to the back of the house and started to look for any evidence of anyone being there.

Fifteen minutes later Bella, my sister was whining about being cold, and we were all just getting tired of looking at the same grass, dirt, and the occasional woodchip. There was nothing there for evidence, except for the broken windows and door locks. The police searched the perimeter of my house and still found nothing. They asked a few neighbors if they saw anything, but they both said they were gone during the day.

Later on that night the police left and said that they would keep an eye on our neighborhood. I still wasn’t my same happy self that I was earlier, but I had calmed a bit since the accident had happened. Nothing happened at the house later that week, although I was prepared that time.

It has been almost a year since the incident, and the name and face of the person that tried to break into our house is yet a mystery. Maybe someday the police will catch him, and the fear that still lies within me will fade away.

A Piece of String

As you walk through the town people laugh at you. You try to tell them the truth, but they just shake their head and keep on walking. Pretty soon loneliness starts to creep up and there is nowhere to run from it. In the short story “A Piece of String” written by Guy de Maupassant, symbolism is in the most unexpected of places.

First, the string in this short story symbolizes bad luck. Nothing good ever comes from this tiny piece of string. For example on pages 8 and 9 Maitre Hauchecome was accused of stealing money from a pocket book that he found on the street and not returning it to its owner. Another problem the string brought to Maitre Hauchecome was death. On page 13 of the story he lay in his bed waiting for death to take him to a better place where he might be understood.

Although the string brings bad luck everywhere and anywhere, being accused of something you didn’t do is just as rough. On page 8 Maitre Hauchecome was accused of picking up a pocketbook on the street, though he just picked up a small piece of string. Not only that but he is laughed at everywhere he goes and thought of as a liar. This same situation relates to real life because people aren’t always believed, and some are even laughed at. The beginning of the story might not have given enough of his background information, and maybe he’s lied in the past. In the end he felt as if the life and happiness in him was slowly slipping away.

While it may seem as though being accused of something you didn’t do was taking the worst of the brunt, having everyone in town not believe you tops the charts. Feeling alone and having no one believe you is truly very hard. The towns people in this short story only heard from a man what he saw, they weren’t actually there to see him pick anything up. Therefore they wouldn’t actually know what the truth was, so really they're just picking sides with the mayor because he’s more powerful, and more believable. In real life if you want to believe something so badly you actually start to make yourself, and I think that’s what the town’s people did.

Overall this story truly brought out the meaning, don’t believe everything you hear. Maybe if the towns people didn’t pick sides, and actually got the proof and believed him, he might have died as a happy old man, instead of a frustrated one. The symbolism throughout this story really states that you need to see it to believe it.

Girl Essay

Everyday you wake at the crack of dawn to go to work. Throughout the day you are told what to do, and if you disobeyed, there would be consequences. The life of a girl was difficult, you had high expectations that always needed to be met. In the short story “Girl,” Jamaica Kincaid uses everday life to show inequalities in society.

First, genders are a huge part of this story. Throughout time, people have become less and less sexist, but there are still rules that must be followed. The main girl in this story, talks about all of her responsibilities throughout one day. She must clean, cook, be polite, act like a lady and nothing else, and always keep her dress clean. Boys are able to have more freedom, although they might have to work, they really don’t have to pay attention to how they act, or what their clothing looks like. If people back in time didn’t worry so much about your gender, the word might have been a more equal place, and it might have even brought down sexism along with it.

Although people were sexist, many didn’t even have the right of freedom. Freedom is what many American’s fought for the right of. Even if you were free, you still might’ve been treated as if you were invisible. Many thought that the world would never change, that they would never get treated as an equal rather than a laborer. To many, freedom was only what the rich had; you had to have power to be able to get treated equal. If people were to look into the future back then, there might actually be hope in the hearts of many.


While freedom is truly one of the most important things in life, so is family. Throughout this story, family isn’t really the main priority. She worries more about getting her responsibilities done, than helping her loved ones. America has definitly changed for this matter, and more than likely for the worse. Kids now a day’s take their families for granted. Their only good enough if their friend isn’t able to hang out. Maybe if teens started to care more, there would be less crimes happening or kids on the street doing things they shouldn’t be. With this small improvement America could be a cleaner, healthier, living environment.

Overall, small steps are what helped America. If we cared a little more about our society, and less about what new car is out, we might actually have a nice place to live. The short story “Girl” really gives that message, and if you look, symbolism truly is the normality’s of everyday life.