Everyone will go through a hard time in their life. I the poem “Praying” by Kesha she explains how she went through an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. In the book “Parrot in the Oven” the author, Victor Martinez, explains how the main character Manny goes through an abusive relationship with his father. In “Parrot in the Oven” it shows how much pain Manny is put through and how he overcomes it. In “Praying” it shows how Kesha is fighting to get over her pain. In both texts, we learn that everyone will go through a hard time in their life but you just have to push through and find a way out of the pain.

A common theme that pops up in both stories is that dealing with your past pain and moving on will only make you stronger. One similarity that both stories have is that they are both going through an abusive relationship with someone close to them. In “Parrot in the Oven” Manny is going through an abusive relationship with his dad.  In “Praying” Kesha is going through an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. In the poem “Praying” Kesha states “You brought the flames and you put me through hell.” This text evidence shows that she was in an abusive relationship and that relationship caused her pain. She also states ” And I don’t need you, I found a strength I’ve never known.” This text evidence states that even though she has gone through all of this pain she has and is getting over this person. This person she is getting over and pushing out of her mind relates to how Manny is pushing all of his pain aside and living his life without pain.

Although both texts show how to deal with this pain that they are having, there are differences between how that pain occurs. In “Parrot in the Oven” Martinez shows how Manny’s pain came along. Manny’s pain came from his father. His father was always drunk and got raised to abuse. In “Praying” Kesha shows how her pain came along. Her pain came from a younger and more stupid guy. This guy had to be raised in a bad environment to be that bad of a boyfriend. In “Praying” Kesha proudly states, “Well, you were wrong and now the best it yet to come/ ‘Cause I can make it on my own.” One other difference both texts had was Manny was young when his abusive relationship started, when Kesha’s abusive relationship started when she was older. This shows that even though they both went through a hard and abusive times in their lives they still have their differences.

In both “Parrot in the Oven” and “Praying”  Victor Martinez and Kesha state the importance of dealing with tough times and pain by letting it go and living your lives without any pain. After looking at both stories, reader might conclude that everyone finds a way to get through their pain differently than anyone else.

Victor Martinez’s novel, “Parrot In The Oven,” takes place in the hot dry climate of California. Manny has a hard life with his dad abusing him, his mom and dad fighting all the time, and his dad coming home drunk every night. Manny gets bullied at school which adds to his stress and pain in his life. One lesson we can all learn from this novel is issues throughout your life effect you more than you think.

From the beginning, the description and details in the story show Manny’s pain and stress in the story. Manny’s pain comes from his parents and some comes from school too. Martinez describes how “She started with a jolt and began running again, ducking and dodging from tree to tree, as dad, frustrated with the loader because it wouldn’t eat the bullet, and not wanting her to escape, pretended to lock a bullet in the chamber and level aim. He lifted the barrel and made a shooting noise with his lips. Kapow.Kapow. Mom flinched her shoulders every time.” This text evidence shows that Manny’s dad is abusive to him and his mom. His pain  changes throughout the story by his mom and dad not noticing him as much once it gets closer to the end of the story. In the beginning of the story he was going through lots of pain from home, to school, and back home. HIs dad abuses him when he comes home and he gets bullied at school. Once it starts to get to the end of the story he starts feeling less pain because his parents start to leave him alone since he is older.

Manny gets so caught up in his troubles that he starts to crave attention.  He starts to crave so much attention that he joins a gang. There is a gang in his neighborhood that he decides to join. The gang is a bad gang that is a bad influence to him and everyone else who is in it. “Suddenly Eddie dropped to the ground, and before I could lift my leg, he hooked his left ankle behind my heel and shoved at my knee with his right foot. My knee hinge locked and I fell backward on my butt. I whirled around quickly, almost failing to stand up, but before I did, Mondo clamped his hands on my head and forced me down.” One reason why Manny decides to join the gang is because he gets bullied at school. Another reason why Manny chose to join the gang was because of his parents and how his dad abuses him and his mom and dad yell at each other all the time and get in fights. He wanted to get away from all of his troubles but by joining the gang he just made more troubles for himself because of all of the gang violence.

By the middle of the story the theme really shows the most because the family goes through the most problems in the middle of the story. For example the dad tries to shoot the mom and the police come. The dad got arrested because of it. “That’s when the two cops arrived. They slowly stretched back the hydraulic door and came into the room, crouching at the knees, just to be safe, their eyes roving around.” The dad got arrested because they found the gun that he tried to shoot the mom with in the bedroom. “A moment later, the other officer came out holding the .22. I found it in the last room, under the bed. Mr. Hernandez, I don’t want to have to tell you this, but I’m sorry, we’re going to have to confiscate this rifle.” Another trouble the family went through in the middle of the story is when Magda gets pregnant and then loses the baby. “Magda was losing a baby. Mom figured it out by the stiff way Magda clutched her belly which you could see was swollen even under the loose dress. Magda had her coat off and her head was leaning against the toilet. Right beside her was this tiny baby laying there like a slimy puppy with a big head and no hair.”

At the end of the story he starts to feel less pain because he is older and his parents start to leave him alone. Also at the end of the story his grandma dies. “I thought about grandma; how when she got new eyeglasses, she discovered Mexican movies. She liked to see the singer Flor Silvestre cradled in her costumes of spun radiance, and watch westerns from Mexico, with brick-red sunsets and a ribbon of blue mountains in the distance.” The theme really shows throughout the book by showing how much pain Manny goes through throughout the book and his life. Martinez’s novel is a  good book and I recommend this book to anyone who is going through a hard time and their life and needs help finding who they really are.

Parrot in the oven takes place somewhere by the Sahara Desert. It doesn’t really tell us where exactly. The beginning of the book takes place during the summer. This setting is different from where we live because they live in a hot climate. They probably don’t get as cold during the day as we do in the winter. It takes place in the 1990’s. As said in paragraph one on page one, ” That summer my brother, Bernardo, or “Nardo,” as we call him, flipped through more jobs than a thumb through a deck of cards.”

Manny is the main character in Parrot in the Oven. His dad influences him to think that he is not as good as others. His brother influences him to think that he is not good enough for his jobs. The problem that he faces is he is trying to change himself so his dad will like him more. This impacts Manny because his dad abuses him because his dad doesn’t like him for who he is.

It all started when she got bullied. She didn’t know what to do or how to react. She couldn’t tell anyone because she was afraid she was going to get in trouble. Bullying is a topic that everyone knows about. Most people have been bullied before and they want to help stop that from happening. Blackhawk Middle School is really serious about bullying. They have an assembly about it every year, and they always encourage people who are getting bullied to come down to the office and tell them so they can stop whatever is happening to you or someone else you know of who is getting bullied.

One 8th grader wants to help stop bulling at Blackhawk Middle School. She said “I want to help stop bulling because I have gotten bullied before and I know how it feels.” She wants to get a group of people who have been bullied before and try to help stop this from happening to kids her age. She wants to give these pins away, and whoever has them, they have been bullied before and want to help stop bulling. Soon she is hoping that almost every student has one and helps stop bulling at other schools too.

Cyberbullying is one type of bulling that a lot people have gone through. It includes the bully making fun of them by texting them, posting things online about them, and the bully chatting with his or her friends making fun of the person who is getting bullied. Cyberbullying is serious because it is online and it goes viral and everyone can see it.  One part of cyberbullying is posting embarrassing pictures of the person who is getting bullied on the internet or on social media. With cyberbullying it could always backfire on the bully. They could always get an embarrassing picture posted of them. One former Blackhawk student expresses how she feels about bullying and tells how she got bullied. ” I got cyberbullied in 7th grade by a few 8th graders. They posted embarrassing pictures of me and put me in their group chat just so I could see what bad things they said about me.”

Physical bullying is another type of bullying. Physical bullying includes physically hitting someone, taking their personal things. Some examples of physical bullying are stealing, shoving, hitting, fighting, and ruining someone’s personal belongings. Another former Blackhawk student tells how she got physically bullied, ” When I was in 7th grade some 7th grade girls physically pushed me into lockers and took my things and starting running away with it. I got bullied because I was short for how old I was. They used to call me ugly and short. It really hurt my feelings.”

Another type of bullying in schools is verbal bullying. Verbal bullying is when the bully calls you names right to your face. Some examples of verbal bullying are insults, teasing, name calling, and threats. The victim might not react right away to this type of bullying, but later their grades and relationships may suffer. One student that is going to Blackhawk right now expresses how he got verbally bullied in 6th grade. ” I got verbally bullied last year in 6th grade by two boys that were bigger and taller than me. They used to threaten to hurt me and they would call me bad names. I was so scared of them, but now I don’t care what people say and I am my own person.”

The last type of bullying is social bullying. Social bullying is leaving people out and making rumors about them. Some examples of social bullying are spreading rumors about another person, purposely leaving someone out of something, and embarrassing a person in public. Something that also falls in the social bullying category is a person encouraging them to avoid a certain person or group. A 6th grader at Blackhawk wants to tell her story of when she got socially bullied. ” When I got bullied I was in 5th grade and this group of girls were saying I had to pick between my best friends or them and they were going to post embarrassing things about me if I didn’t pick them. They also embarrassed me in front of the whole school by yelling things about me in the hallway. I have gone through bullying before, and if you are going through it, try to stop it from happening.”

These stories show that bullying is serious and you should not bully people. Just because you got bullied doesn’t mean you should bully other people.  If you have gotten bullied before you need to help stop it not make it worse by picking on other people. Bullying is serious because it can lead to suicide, bad grades, or worse. Let’s all help stop bullying and we won’t have as many grades dropping and people suffering.

Bullying is a topic that everyone knows about. Most people have been bullied before and they want to help stop that from happening. Blackhawk Middle School is really serious about bullying. They have always had an assembly about it and they always want to help stop it. They always encourage people who are getting bullied to always come to the office and tell them so they can stop whatever is happening to you or someone else you know of who is getting bullied.

One 8th grader wants to help stop bulling at Blackhawk Middle School. She said “I want to help stop bulling because I have gotten bullied before and I know how it feels. This is a topic that everyone knows about and wants to help stop.” She wants to get a group of people who have been bullied before and try to help stop this from happening to kids her age. She wants to give these pins away, and whoever has them, they have been bullied before and want to help stop bulling. Soon she is hoping that almost every student has one and helps stop bulling at other schools too.

Cyberbullying is one type of bulling that a lot people have gone through. It includes the bully making fun of them by texting them, posting things online about them, and the bully chatting with his or her friends making fun of the person who is getting bullied. Cyberbullying is serious because it is online and it goes viral and everyone can see it.  One part of cyberbullying is posting embarrassing pictures of the person who is getting bullied on the internet or on social media. With cyberbullying it could always backfire on the bully. They could always get an embarrassing picture posted of them. One former Blackhawk student expresses how she feels about bullying and tells how she got bullied. ” I got cyberbullied in 7th grade by a few 8th graders. They posted embarrassing pictures of me and put me in their group chat just so I could see what bad things they said about me.”

Physical bullying is another type of bullying. Physical bullying includes physically hitting someone, taking their personal things. Some examples of physical bullying are stealing, shoving, hitting, fighting, and ruining someone’s personal belongings. Another former Blackhawk student tells how she got physically bullied, ” When I was in 7th grade some 7th grade girls physically pushed me into lockers and took my things and starting running away with it. I got bullied because I was short for how old I was. They used to call me ugly and short. It really hurt my feelings back then.”

Another type of bullying in schools is verbal bullying. Verbal bullying is when the bully calls you names right to your face. Some examples of verbal bullying are insults, teasing, name calling, and threats. The victim might not react right away to this type of bullying, but later their grades and relationships may suffer. One student that is going to Blackhawk right now expresses how he got verbally bullied in 6th grade. ” I got verbally bullied last year in 6th grade by two boys that were bigger and taller than me. They used to threaten to hurt me and they would call me bad names. I was so scared of them, but now I don’t care what people say and I am my own person.”

The last type of bullying is social bullying. Social bullying is leaving people out and making rumors about them. Some examples of social bullying are spreading rumors about another person, purposely leaving someone out of something, and embarrassing a person in public. Something that also falls in the social bullying category is a person encouraging them to avoid a certain person or group. A 6th grader at Blackhawk wants to tell her story of when she got socially bullied. ” When I got bullied I was in 5th grade and this group of girls were saying I had to pick my best friend or them. They also embarrassed me in front of the whole school by yelling things about me in the hallway. I have gone through bullying before, and if you are going through it, try to stop it from happening.” Bullying is something that mostly everyone has gone through. If you have gone through being bullied, let’s all try to help stop it.

Last year a travel volleyball team was playing in a tournament in the Fort Wayne Volleyball Club gym. It was about half way through the eight hours that they play, and they were starting to get tired because they were getting hungry. They had lost all of their other games except one, and that put them in a good mood. Now all of the volleyball teams are eating and taking a break. Once everyone is done eating, the Decatur Force team is refereeing another teams game.

Now it is their game time, and they look ready to play. They are playing against one of the Fort Wayne Volleyball Club teams, and those teams are pretty good. These teams ages range from 12 to 13 and the teams look pretty even warming up. The first serve goes to…. the Decatur Force team! First serve is Kiana. She just got 5 points in a row serving. After a while the score is 15 to 14 and the Decatur Force team is winning. Now it is Katie’s turn to serve. She also gets 5 in a row.

After Katie serves and the Fort Wayne Volleyball Club team serves, the score is now 21 to 23 and the Fort Wayne Volleyball Club is winning. It is now Alyvia’s turn to serve. She gets one point, now two! Now the score is 23 to 23! Is the Decatur Force team going to come back with a win? Let’s find out. It is now Maddie’s turn to serve, and she serves it out. It is now game point for the Fort Wayne Volleyball Club team. they serve it, Alyvia passes it up, Maddie sets it up to middle, and Kiana slams it down. Now the score is 24 to 24! This is the closest game I have seen in a while! This is all up to Alyvia. Let’s see what happens. The whole Decatur team looks nervous, especially Alyvia. Here it goes. She serves it right in the middle of the court and no one touches it! They only need one more point to win! Here goes the serve, and they pass it up but the setter cant get there in time! The Decatur Force team is now screaming and jumping up and down! The Decatur Force team is now the winner and they look very happy.

The last book I read was called ”The Lost Boy.” I read it over the summer and I highly suggest it. It is actually a series, and the first book is called ”A Child Called It.” The Lost Boy was about a little boys life and him trying to find the love of a family. He was 6 years old when the book started, and 18 or 19 when the book ended. He was looking for a home in the book and went to several foster homes. The book started with his mom abusing him. His mom was an awful person. When someone reported his mom, they went into court and the little boy won and that is when he started going from foster care to foster care. The book that I chose from the library is Counting by 7’s. I got this book because a lot of people told me it was an great book. So far I am about at page 100 and it is a great book. I think it is going to be about the main character being one of the smartest people in the school and people realizing that she is not different she is just smart.

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