"A brave man is not he who doesn't feel afraid, but he who conquers the fear". With close reference to the text, describe how this is portrayed by one of the characters and explain how this quality would benefit you.
"A brave man is not he who doesn't feel afraid, but he who conquers fear". Based on the novel Dear Mr Kilmer written by Anne Schraff, the character who portrayed the statement is Richard Knight and the benefit I can get from this quality is to overcome fear.
Every living things experience fear. Fear can be caused by da ger or by one's thinking. We need to keep in our mind that danger is real and fear is a choice. Richard Lnight is a character who portrayed the text above. As a prove, we know that in the beginning of the novel, Richard hid his interest towards poem. He didn't tell his family nor his own friends. Richard was afraid if he told them about it, he will be labelled as a sissy person, he thinks so. He started to make friends with Joyce Kilmer. Mr Joyce Kilmer was the person who encouraged him to tell others about his interest including his teacher, Mrs Hansen. It took some time for Richard to build up the truth about his interest to his family and his friends. Richard then felt satisfied with himself and feel more confident after telling his interest in poem to others. This tells us that, to succeed and become a better person, we need to be a brave person.
Bravery is a quality that we need to have in ourselves. This is because of the benefits that can help us become a better person. For example, we can overcome our fear. By fear, it can be about danger or anything else. We need to overcome fear to keep moving forward. Stage fright is a common thing that happens to people around the world. Feeling scared to talk in front of people. If we are afraid to tell our feeling or our own idea, people will think that we are useless and a corward. This tells us that it is a need to be brave.
To conclude, we need to build up courage in ourselves to be a proper human being who is always useful to the other creatures. This novel can be a proof and inspire ourselves to be so.
Essay written by:
1. Mohd Hazim Bin Hamardi
2. Mohd Naqib
3. Mohd Syahmi Izani
Wednesday 28 February 2018
Sunday 25 February 2018
Novel Sample Essay
People are afraid of what they don’t understand. How far is this statement true? Support your answer with close reference to the text.
People are afraid of what they do not understand because they don’t want to learn and accept the truth of something that had happened. Since people are different, they have different opinion. We can see this situation happening in the novel when Hannah and her family had been treated badly by some of the Turtle Lake’s villagers. They don’t understand that the Schermers were patriotic Americans. Instead, they perceived them as siding with German and became afraid of them.
In the beginning of the story, the writer wrote that Hannah has German blood running in her veins but she was born in Milwaukee, America. Her familym the Schermers is such a kind and nice family. Before the war started, the villagers treated them nicely, but everything changed when the war started. The villagers treated them badly and did terrible things such as vandalising the tavern and boycotting them. Fortunately, some villagers who think differently towards the Schermers helped them and continued treating them warmly. For example, some villagers painted the Schermer’s tavern with white painting to cover the words ‘DIRTY HUN’. This act helps the Schermers to feel better.
In another event at school, Mrs Hansen asked her students who were Hannah’s classmates to a sympathy card to express their regrets of what had happened. The popular kids said they didn’t want to sign the card as they thought the Schermers want the war to end with German’s victory. They even warned the whole class to not sign the card. Richard who had a different idea of the Schermers signed the card bravely. He knew some nice kids want to do the same, but they were too afraid of the troublemakers. After the school ended, Richard write something on the card with hope that it will make them feel better and sent it to the Schermers personally.
On another day, Mrs Hansen made an essay competition to pick the winners for a beauty pageant competition in accordance to a Patriotic program. Hannah won the best essay for girls and was asked to read her essay out loud in front of the classroom. When she was done, no one clapped except for Richard. Even though her essay was brilliant, no one acknowledged her talent. As the winner, Hannah will play the Lady Liberty’s role while Richard will be Doughboy. Some parents went to school to show their protest towards Mrs Hansen’s decision. They absent-mindedly thought that it wouldn’t be patriotic for Hannah to play a significant role in the Patriotic Program.
All the three events that I have written has proved that the people in Turtle Lake were aggressive towards the Schermers family because they do not understand the truth. Simply relating them to the Germans is a bit unfair, since Otto himself is fighting for America. If they are not patriotic, he sould not volunteer to be an American soldier. Because of the misunderstanding, they resort to violence and treated the Schermers’ family ver badly. Huns are nomadic, Mongolian horsemen who eventually overrun much of Europe. They have nothing to do with present-day Germans. Mr Higby has explained that in class but everyone refused to accept the truth. They wanted to put the blame and hatred on someone. The Schermers family became the scapegoat to their hatred.
We can see that the current issue in te global world is very similar to what is written in the novel. People nowadays are also afraid of what they do not understand. For example, when Muslims defend their country, they are called terrorists. When Muslim students further their study to United States of America, they were afraid of the Muslim students and lavel them as terrorist. They do not understand that prejudice caused them to be afraid of something that does not happen. Their mind is poisoned by the potrayal in the media. When non-muslims attack other country, they are called heroes and the citizens aren’t afraid because they perceive that action as defending their country.
To sum up, we need to learn to understand a situation so that we won’t misjudge. As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. We need to study the truth so that we won’t hurt innocent people and always think positively. Hurting others for our own satisfaction won’t solve a problem. We should not be like Abner and Harry. For those who do understand, should stay and give encouragement, just like what Richard did to Hannah.
Essay written by :
1. Nurzarifah Hanim Bt Abdul Zahari
2. Hidayatunnisa
3. Laila Nur Baraqah Bt Rosdi
4. Syahidah Syahirah
5. Nurul Rabwah Bt Shaharuddin
People are afraid of what they do not understand because they don’t want to learn and accept the truth of something that had happened. Since people are different, they have different opinion. We can see this situation happening in the novel when Hannah and her family had been treated badly by some of the Turtle Lake’s villagers. They don’t understand that the Schermers were patriotic Americans. Instead, they perceived them as siding with German and became afraid of them.
In the beginning of the story, the writer wrote that Hannah has German blood running in her veins but she was born in Milwaukee, America. Her familym the Schermers is such a kind and nice family. Before the war started, the villagers treated them nicely, but everything changed when the war started. The villagers treated them badly and did terrible things such as vandalising the tavern and boycotting them. Fortunately, some villagers who think differently towards the Schermers helped them and continued treating them warmly. For example, some villagers painted the Schermer’s tavern with white painting to cover the words ‘DIRTY HUN’. This act helps the Schermers to feel better.
In another event at school, Mrs Hansen asked her students who were Hannah’s classmates to a sympathy card to express their regrets of what had happened. The popular kids said they didn’t want to sign the card as they thought the Schermers want the war to end with German’s victory. They even warned the whole class to not sign the card. Richard who had a different idea of the Schermers signed the card bravely. He knew some nice kids want to do the same, but they were too afraid of the troublemakers. After the school ended, Richard write something on the card with hope that it will make them feel better and sent it to the Schermers personally.
On another day, Mrs Hansen made an essay competition to pick the winners for a beauty pageant competition in accordance to a Patriotic program. Hannah won the best essay for girls and was asked to read her essay out loud in front of the classroom. When she was done, no one clapped except for Richard. Even though her essay was brilliant, no one acknowledged her talent. As the winner, Hannah will play the Lady Liberty’s role while Richard will be Doughboy. Some parents went to school to show their protest towards Mrs Hansen’s decision. They absent-mindedly thought that it wouldn’t be patriotic for Hannah to play a significant role in the Patriotic Program.
All the three events that I have written has proved that the people in Turtle Lake were aggressive towards the Schermers family because they do not understand the truth. Simply relating them to the Germans is a bit unfair, since Otto himself is fighting for America. If they are not patriotic, he sould not volunteer to be an American soldier. Because of the misunderstanding, they resort to violence and treated the Schermers’ family ver badly. Huns are nomadic, Mongolian horsemen who eventually overrun much of Europe. They have nothing to do with present-day Germans. Mr Higby has explained that in class but everyone refused to accept the truth. They wanted to put the blame and hatred on someone. The Schermers family became the scapegoat to their hatred.
We can see that the current issue in te global world is very similar to what is written in the novel. People nowadays are also afraid of what they do not understand. For example, when Muslims defend their country, they are called terrorists. When Muslim students further their study to United States of America, they were afraid of the Muslim students and lavel them as terrorist. They do not understand that prejudice caused them to be afraid of something that does not happen. Their mind is poisoned by the potrayal in the media. When non-muslims attack other country, they are called heroes and the citizens aren’t afraid because they perceive that action as defending their country.
To sum up, we need to learn to understand a situation so that we won’t misjudge. As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. We need to study the truth so that we won’t hurt innocent people and always think positively. Hurting others for our own satisfaction won’t solve a problem. We should not be like Abner and Harry. For those who do understand, should stay and give encouragement, just like what Richard did to Hannah.
Essay written by :
1. Nurzarifah Hanim Bt Abdul Zahari
2. Hidayatunnisa
3. Laila Nur Baraqah Bt Rosdi
4. Syahidah Syahirah
5. Nurul Rabwah Bt Shaharuddin
Saturday 3 February 2018
Coming to you soon
Form 5 students of SMAD KLANA
25th March 2018
Based on the novel Dear Mr Kilmer by Anne Schraff
What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out - Alfred Hitchcock
Monday 22 January 2018
Hello 2018
It's still not too late for me to welcome 2018 right? I know it has been three weeks, but well, you know what they say - better late than never. This is the year where I did not actually have any resolutions to fulfill, because let's be honest - it never works! No matter how many times you say "it's a new year, let's start fresh!" you still end up not fulfilling your resolutions eventually. I sound like a bitter person, but that's just me being realistic.
The end of 2017 made me realise some new things that I could look forward to. For example, the joy of reading a book. You cannot believe how rare it is for me to pick up a book and just leisurely read these days. If I'm not working, I'll be playing games or scrolling any social media. That has caused my reading habit to deteriorate significantly. Then I discovered the wonders of Haruki Murakami and it reminded me of the simple joy in reading. I wanted to cry and share to every Haruki Murakami readers how much I could relate to his writings. It's like I fell in love with reading, all over again.
That, brought me to my second discovery - I can write, when I'm not pressured to do so. I remember a day in 2017 when I finally did not have any deadlines to fulfill. I told myself I'd use the weekend to write. There I was, on my bedroom floor, staring at my laptop and no words came out. I even forced myself to type nothing, but to no avail. It was
And finally I realise that all that matters are the relationships that I've built and will continue to seek. So I came to the conclusion of looking forward to these 3 things instead of listing down a few new year's resolution. They sound like resolutions, but they're just a bunch of things that I love and will continue to love. Back then resolutions used to be about gearing myself up to be a better me. Well it's not that I am finally a newly improved version of myself. I guess what it means is, I finally found the calling to enjoy my time walking instead of running to reach the end.
So here's to everyone who does not have any resolution in 2018 - may the year turns out great for you! To my students, I'm blogging again and can't wait to read yours. I hope you'll enjoy this journey. I have found new things about myself while blogging back then. I hope you'd be able to experience good things while blogging as well. Or, if it's the opposite, I hope it makes you wise and more mature in the future.
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