Plato believed that there were three laws of nature and if we followed these three laws, we would have the perfect government. The first law can be summed up as to "seek peace but if you cannot obtain that goal than defend yourself at any means possible." Also, one thing he said that really struck me was that he said, "people always strive for peace no matter if they had a bad start to their day or what." This is a nice thing to think about because a lot of times people just assume that the world or the human race itself is just generally evil but this statement is almost comforting to me. Another thing that struck me was a quote by Hobbes which was, "promises are just words, but a covenant you will hold because there are ramifications if you don't keep you're covenant." Finally the last two laws were everybody gets the same amount of power, and always keep your promises.

The meaning of theme to me is the overall idea or moral of a story that the creator of the story tries to express to you yet not in a direct or strait-forward way. In "The House on Mango Street"s case (in my opinion) the central theme seems to be the love of family. The reason I feel this is the main theme of the book is because pretty much every vignette written in the book has something to do with the main characters family. For example, the one vignette that really stuck out to me as being very caring towards her family is the vignette titled, "Hairs". When Esperanza describes each and every family member of hers hair in a detailed and intricate way this for some reason really shows how much she cares and notices things about her family. Like her mother, "but my mothers hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty." Another vignette that really seems to show this theme is the vignette called Papa Who Wakes Up Tired In The Night. In this vignette, you really get a sense of how dearly she cares for her father. When one of his parents die he sobs and the way she describes him sobbing shows her affection for him, "my papa, his thick hands and thick shoes, who wakes up tired in the dark, who combs his hair with water, drinks his coffee, and is gone before we wake, today is sitting on my bed.

My indirect quote that struck me as being a perfect example of an indirect characterization was from the vignette," There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do". The quote was, "the kids bend trees and bounce between cars and dangle upside down from knees and almost break like fancy museum vases you cant replace." This quote struck me mostly because it was just such a perfect example of an indirect quote. It was definitely indirect and yet you are still able to know what the author is trying to say right away and it is very clear.

The other quote that struck me was from the vignette, "Those Who Don't" and this time this was a direct quote. This example is also a very good example for a direct quote even though that is not the reason that I like it. The quote is, "They think we are dangerous". This quote definitely struck me because it almost sounds so innocent like a small child is saying the quote and it sounds like they don't understand why other people think they are dangerous. It almost made me feel sad when I read it.

In this picture I am getting ready for another one of my MADCAPS shows. I am part of a club called "Mothers and Daughters Assisting Philanthropy Services". We volunteer at various philanthropies during the summer time and then during the school year (around January) we rehearse and then perform a dance in order to raise money for the philanthropies. Now it has gotten so popular that we raise over $40,000! I am continuing to work and dance for MADCAPS and this makes me very proud.