Dracula

      The monsters in literature that stick with us through the decades are not the ones that come purely from imagination. The monsters that we write about, think about, and make movies about most are either the monsters that we create or the monsters we become. We are afraid of the part of ourselves that is most like the monsters we fear.One example that supports this idea would be Dracula. Dracula is a monster we fear because he represents the part of ourselves that is afraid of the dark, shadows, the unknown part of death.
    The monster Dracula is a vampire who is an undead human. He can only go out at night and during the day stays in his coffin. He turns into a bat and at night goes out looking for blood to drink. He can be killed by stabbing a stake through his heart. The story says Dracula became a vampire when he was fighting Rome.  His wife killed herself thinking he was dead. The priest said she was damned because she took her own life, so Dracula cursed god and left his religion. He made a deal with the devil who gave him the power to get his revenge and he became the thing that people fear.
      Dracula represents the part of people that fear the dark, shadows, the unknown part of death and what our reactions will be to things that make us mad or sad. He became evil because his wife killed herself and the priest said that she was damned.  That made him both angry and sad so he did something evil and became what he is. He only comes out at night. He is cursed to never be in or have any light. He is undead.  People always wonder what will happen to them after they die. They wonder if there is life after death or if death is the end of existence. We can learn that the reason Dracula became what he is, is because he did something evil and stupid. The dark and the unknown can be scary.  Darkness is not always bad, so there is not always something to fear, but the story of Dracula plays on fear.
      The reason people fear monsters that come from us is because people can often relate to them in some ways, or many ways, and realize they could end up like them. They usually only represent the bad side of people. I think it can teach people that making good decisions is really important and that decisions can affect their whole life, or unlife.

Frankenstein

          There are many reasons why Dr Frankenstein is scarier than the monster he created. Even though the monster did many things that are scary the doctor is the one who created him. The monster would not even exist if the doctor had not created it. The monster did not even become a monster until he was abandoned by the doctor when he was first created. It is a huge risk to try to create life. There is no way of knowing how it will turn out.  Anyone who has the the ability and desire to create something like the monster is kind of scary and crazy. One of the biggest reasons the doctor was so scary was that he represents humanity and the ability to do something good or to create something that can not understand and become bad like the monster.  Another reason the monster became bad was because people were scared of how he looked and so assumed he was bad and treated him bad instead of trying to understand him.
          Dr Frankenstein is someone who should be feared because he created the monster and made it a monster when he left it alone.  He has the ability to create something like that and took the huge risk to do it, without really carefully thinking about the possible consequences. The biggest reason though is that he represents humanity.  Even though the monster does do some pretty bad stuff, it is the doctors fault and it all started with his creation.
            

What is a Hero?

        A hero can mean one thing to one person and something else to another person. (Different things to different people) everyone has a different opinion of what a hero is to them. This is what I think a hero is and needs to be. A hero is someone who has courage to do things, even if they are scared. They also do things for the good of everybody else and are not selfish. They put others first and love others. Heroes, like superheroes, can be the ones who have powers and wear costumes, because they have big hearts and definitely have a lot of courage and want to do things for others. Some of my heroes are my sister, my parents and my brother. They are my heroes because they love me for who I am. They are also really funny, nice and would do anything for me and anyone else - even if they don't know them. They are my role models and they are really good role models. A hero is also someone who will never let you down and will be there with you every step of the way. They are a great support. I think that also a hero can be someone who saves people. Some examples are soldiers, police officers, firefighters, doctors and many more. These are people who risk their lives everyday, so they are heroes for sure. There are also heroes like actors and musicians who are mostly just role models to people. They are not always good role models, but some people have them as heroes because they have power or fame or money.  So they are the type of hero that people want to become.  But a lot of them are not the kind of people who are heroes to me.  There are a bunch of different kinds of heroes and everyone has their own definition of what a hero is. That is what a hero is to me and some different examples of peoples' heroes.  Good heroes are what a lot of people should hope to become.  

Summary of Orpheus and Eurydice

       Orpheus played the lyre so sweetly that he was almost as good as the gods he was by far the best mortal. He met a beautiful lady named Eurydice and they were married however soon after the wedding she was killed. He traveled down to the underworld to get her back Hades agreed to let her go if he promised not to look back. They were almost out when he looked back and she was lost to him forever. He went out on his own with only his lyre away from any people. He was killed when he didn't show Dionysus proper respect he was torn limb from limb.

Summary of Echo and Narcisuss

      Hera gave a curse to the nymph Echo where she could only repeat the last thing anyone said. She was given this curse for distracting Hera with her stories while Zeus cheated on Hera. One day Echo fell in love with a handsome man named Narcisuss who was known for breaking girls hearts. One day while she was following him he heard her and told her to come out she did and tried to go to him. He pushed her away and told her to go away and her heart broke. As punishment he was cursed and fell in love with himself he eventually killed himself knowing he would never be able to have himself.

Hercules

        The Disney version of Hercules and the real version are very different from each other. In the real version Hercules is the son of Zeus and a mortal and in the Disney version his mom is the goddess Hera. Hera does not like him in the real story because she is jealous of Hercules' mother. Also in the original version he kills his wife and children while in the Disney movie he is falling in love for the first time. There are a lot of new characters in the movie that are not in the original story. There are also many other differences between the Disney movie and the classic story.
      Disney made these changes because it would be scary for kids to watch Hercules go crazy and kill his family. Also most people would not want to see Hera as the reason for most of those things happening.  Audiences love watching people fall in love for the first time, so that is why they needed to add Meg to the story. Also in the movie they needed reasons for everything that happened since they didn't want to make Hera mean. Hercules was turned into a mortal and had to prove himself a hero to get back to Olympus and, of course, he had to fall in love in the process. There is always a lesson in all the Disney movies.  I think they needed to put that in there somewhere so that's another reason they made changes.
     I think they made the changes they did so it would be less scary for kids and more enjoyable. Also they needed a reason for everything that happened in the story with all the changes they made. Of course, they needed romance to make it even better. That is why I think all the changes were made. Even though they are very different from each other, I really like both versions of the story.  I think they are both very creative.

My Hero

          My hero is my older sister Caitlin. She is my hero because she makes me laugh, she is someone I can talk to, I have a lot of memories with her, she is nice to everyone she meets, and she is beautiful. She also makes really good decision.
         She makes me laugh and gives me someone to talk to. She is someone who even on my worst days can make me smile by telling a joke or making a funny face. If I am having trouble with something she will come and sit by me and just let me talk.  She gives me advice and does things to make me smile. She always knows what to say and she says it at the right times.
         We have always been really close so I have a lot memories of with her. We used to share a room so at night instead of sleeping we would go and spy on our parents. Also we would dress up as spies and sneak around our house. We still do stuff together like watch movies or get ice cream and hang out. We just can't do it as much because she is married so we don't see each other as much. I love the chances I do get to see her though.
          She is nice to everyone she meets and she is beautiful. She is always nice to everyone which just makes her more fun to be around. She has never been mean to me or really anyone else that I have seen. She is also really pretty even if she sometimes says she isn't.
         She also makes really good decisions even though she isn't very decisive about lots of things.  When it is important she makes good choices,  like who she was going to marry, or that she wanted to go to college,  and that she wanted to go on a mission, and what she wanted to major in.
       My hero is Caitlin because she is funny, good to talk to, we have a lot of memories, she is nice, beautiful and makes good decisions. She is a really good role model and I am definitely very lucky to have her.

Aphrodite's Jealousy Changes the World

       A long, long time ago the world had no color. Everything was black and white, just like in an old photograph.  That is everything except for the rainbow. This is the story of how the world became colorful.   
     Up on Olympus a strikingly beautiful lady was sitting at her mirror doing her beautiful but colorless hair.  Her name was Aphrodite and she was not just anybody, she was a goddess.  In fact, she was the goddess of beauty. She smiled at her reflection.  She had made plans to see her newest mortal suitor, Spartus, so she had to look perfect. When she was done with her hair she turned to the closet to pick an outfit.  When she was done getting ready she headed down to the ground where her suitor would be waiting.  Aphrodite was fashionably late, but of course he was still waiting patiently.
       "Hello my lady," he said as he bent to kiss her hand.
         "Hello," she said, giving him a dazzling smile back.
       "You look beautiful today."
         She flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Oh this is nothing really, just something I threw on."
       They began to walk down the paths.  He stopped and looked up and smiled as he saw a rainbow.  Aphrodite looked up too and knew that one of the gods or goddesses had put it out like they did every so often when they thought the world was boring and colorless.
         "It's amazing!  Isn't it so unique!" Spartus exclaimed. "It's the most beautiful thing in the world!"
          Aphrodite's good night was ruined as soon as he spoke those words.  The most beautiful thing in the world?! What about her?!  She was way more beautiful than that rainbow even if it was beautiful in a different way.
           "Are you okay?" he asked looking worried. 
         She gave him a fake smile,  "Fine I just need to go home."
         Spartus looked disappointed, but did not argue.  "Okay," he said as he turned back to the rainbow.
        When Aphrodite got back to Olympus she stormed angrily through her home, throwing stuff everywhere.
         "How dare he say that rainbow is more beautiful than I am?!" she screeched as she threw her pillow at the wall.  She looked out the window and could still see the rainbow.
        "If I had color on me I would be more beautiful than anything!" she growled.
       That gave her an idea!  She would take some of the color and put it on herself.  Aphrodite left immediately and went to the rainbow.  First, she would do her hair.  She looked at all her choices and finally decided on one which was a gold color.  She pulled out a hand mirror which she had brought with her and looked at her reflection.  It was amazing.  Her hair was gorgeous!  She kept adding colors and soon her eyes were the most sparkling emerald green.  Then she did her clothes - using the shimmering colors of the rainbow.   Soon she was more beautiful than she could possibly have imagined - and she was already unimaginably beautiful.  She decided that it wasn't fair for only her and her one outfit to have all that color, so she took some extra color home with her.
         When her home and everything in was all the colors of the rainbow, she realized she still had some extra blue.
        "Hmmm, what should I do with this?" the goddess wondered.  Aphrodite decided to throw it up as far as she could at the sky and it turned part of it a lovely blue. "Well, that will give the world some more color.  Now to show the world there is no beauty that can compare to mine!"
      As she walked down the streets people stared and gasped as she passed.  Aphrodite was just stunning.  Spartus ran up to her, "Wow! You look beautiful Aphrodite!" She smiled at him then turned and walked away.  She would not be seeing him again.
        When Aphrodite returned to Olympus she went to her home and was surprised to see Zeus sitting on her couch.  He looked very out of place in all the color.  And he did not look happy. "Aphrodite, what were you thinking?!"
      "I was thinking that I needed to prove that I am the most beautiful and not that rainbow."
     "Do you ever think before you act?!  What about the rest of the us?   Hera and the other goddesses  are insisting that they get color as well. What do you want me to do about that?!"
    Aphrodite smiled, "You can give them color, too.  I know that I will still be the most beautiful."
    Zeus laughed, "This is not a contest Aphrodite.  But I will have to give them color to stop the bickering."
     Zeus made sure that the rest of the gods and goddesses all got to choose rainbow color, too.  Soon the mortals started praying for color down on earth.  Zeus agreed that the world would be a better place with color.  He ordered everything to have color and now the world is no longer just black and white. And it all started with a rainbow and a jealous goddess. The rainbow is still put out every once in a while as a reminder of how our world got color.  The rainbow is still beautiful and unique and has all the colors beautifully in one place.