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The Twelve Dancing Princesses (A Script by Reiley)

Characters: Narrator King 1st Prince Servant Old Woman SoldierEldest Princess Youngest Princess Young Prince Other Prince

Sounds  Narrator: Once upon a time in a land far away there was a king who had twelve beautiful

daughters. They all slept in a single room with twelve beds and every night they were locked in. Each morning the princesses’ shoes were found worn completely through as though they had been danced in all through the night. The king was completely ignorant of how this could be or where his daughters could have been. He sent out a decree making it known that whoever in the land could find out where the princesses had been would have his choice to wife. They would only have three nights to do so and if they were unsuccessful, they would be put to death.

(King is on stage) (Enter 1st Prince) King: Have you come to test your intuitive skills?

1st Prince: Indeed I have! Not only to test, but to PROVE!

King: And you know the consequences?

1st Prince: Of course, but there needn't be any for I am sure to win!

King: Gurth! Lead our brave prince to his room.

Narrator: The prince was to stay in the chamber next to that of the princesses’. He left his door open in order to watch where they went at night. Soon the prince fell asleep and awoke in the morning. He had no idea where the princesses had gone. The second and he third night this happened the same.  

King (from backstage): Off with his head! 

Narrator: Many more tried and failed each in turn losing his life for a chance marrying one of the beautiful princesses. Now, in a wood not too far away: 

(In the woods) Old Woman: Where are you off to soldier?

Soldier: I wish to try my luck at finding where the princesses dance, so that one day, I may be king.

Old Woman: That task will be simple if you heed my words. Drink none of the wine a princess will offer you, and as soon as they leave pretend to be entirely asleep. (Hands him a cloak) When you wear this cloak, you will become invisible. Then you can follow the princesses wherever they go.

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Soldier: Thank you very much madam. I will set off immediately to try my luck. Narrator: And so he did. He came to the castle and was treated the same courtesies the others had

been. King: Gurth! Lead this fine soldier to his chamber.

(When they get there) Soldier: Thank you. (Sits down) (Enter: Eldest princess)Eldest: I have brought some delicious wine. Do enjoy!

Soldier: Thank you!

(Exit Eldest) (Soldier dumps wine out in wastebasket then turns and snores loudly)(Offstage) Eldest: What a fool to lose his life this way! All Princesses laughAll Princesses get ready and primp as though in a mirror.

Youngest: I know you feel so happy, but I feel certain this will not end gladly.

Eldest: Silly sister, you are too afraid. PRINCES have lost their lives over us, this simple soldier would have been fast asleep by now without the sleeping draught.

(Eldest goes up top her bed and claps. They all descend a staircase)

Soldier ( in a whisper): Oh quickly I must follow them! (Dons his cloak, follows them, steps on the youngest sister’s dress)

Youngest: Sister, someone is following us I am sure he grabbed my dress!

Eldest: You are just being afraid! I am sure it was just a nail in the wall. Narrator: At the bottom of the staircase they came upon a grove of trees whose leaves were

entirely silver and glittering.

Soldier in a whisper: I must have a souvenir (breaks a twig)

Sounds: SNAP!!

Youngest: Something is very wrong, did you hear that noise?

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Eldest: Stop worrying; it is simply our princes calling!

Narrator: They continued walking and came upon a grove of gold-leaved trees, and then a grove of diamond trees. In each grove the soldier broke off a branch and each created a loud snap!

Youngest: Why can’t you hear that?!

Eldest: It is nothing but our princes!

Narrator: They eventually came to a beautiful lake on the shore of which rested twelve beautiful boats manned by twelve handsome princes.

Soldier in a whisper: I will get in with the youngest.

Young prince: (struggling) I don’t understand, I row with all my might but we are still not going as fast as usual. The boat is very heavy today.

Youngest: I am sure it is jus the heat. It is getting to me too.

Narrator: On the other side of the lake there was a gorgeous castle perfect for dancing the night away and that is just what the princesses did. The soldier watched them dance until three that morning and sure enough their shoes were completely worn through. They then returned across the lake (this time the soldier went with the eldest). As the princesses began their journey back the soldier ran ahead so he would be fast asleep and snoring again when they got back.

Eldest: See sister, there was nothing to worry about! We have made it again and very easily!

Narrator: The soldier followed them again on the second and third nights intrigued by the land. On the third day:

King: So, have you found where my daughters have been?

Princesses eavesdropping: Eldest: Ooh, I wonder what he'll say! 

Soldier: Your daughters escape to an underground castle full of beauty and magic and they dance with twelve handsome princes all night long. I brought these three branches to prove what I am saying!

King: Indeed. I will need to verify with my daughters. Ruthie!(Youngest enters)

King: This man talks of an underground castle, is this where you truly go?

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Youngest: Indeed it is father.

King: Thank you. Well brave soldier you have out witted many. You may have one of my daughters to wife as promised.

Soldier: I am not very young, so I choose the eldest.

Narrator: The two were married that very same day and the soldier became the king’s heir.

All: And they all lived happily ever after!

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Aphrodite (Venus)

Greek God(dess) Report

Taylor

English

Aphrodite: The Lovely Goddess

BIRTH

Loved from the moment she rose from the foam of the sea, Aphrodite is the Greek

goddess of love (Venus of the same dominion to the Romans). She is also known as the goddess

of beauty and procreation and patroness of gardeners and lovers. There are actually multiple

beliefs about how she came to be. The most popular is that when Cronos castrated his father

Uranus he cast the severed parts into the sea. The blood and foam baked in the sun and whitened

and Aphrodite rose from this foam and walked ashore in Cyprus (or Cythera, it is unclear).

“Wherever she stepped, the sands turned to grass and the flowers bloomed” (Evslin, 53). The

Seasons clothed her and brought her before the gods (Pontikis).

There every god assembled hoping to have her hand in marriage. They all offered her

spectacular things in exchange for her hand, but she refused them all (and took the gifts) (Evslin,

53-54). It has been said the Zeus simply arranged the marriage between Hephaestus and

Aphrodite to keep the gods from fighting over her (Pontikis). Hephaestus was the blacksmith god

and made her lots of gorgeous trinkets. Most precious was a golden girdle that caused all men to

desire her when she wore it. This resulted in many more adulterous actions from Aphrodite.

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FAMILY

She had a lot of children, eleven to be precise (Zimmerman). None of these were actually

fathered by Hephaestus (her husband). Her infamous love affair was with Ares the god of war.

They were caught once by Hephaestus and he brought all of the gods to judge them, but Zeus did

nothing because he too was awestruck by her beauty. Ares fathered five of her children. They

were Deimos, Eros, Anteros, Hermione (Harmonia), and Phobus. Eros is the most well-known of

there children because he was Aphrodite’s almost constant companion. He carried arrows of love

and indifference and tortured mortals with them. Anteros is said to be the avenger of slighted

love or the opposer of love.

Her other children included Hermaphroditus (from Hermes), Priapus (from Dionysus),

Eryx, Rhodus, and Herophilus (from Poseidon), and Aeneas (from Anchines) (Zimmerman). She

was not faithful to her husband in the slightest, but that is only to be expected of a goddess like

herself. She was only given one duty from the Fates and that was to make love. In fact, once

Athena caught her weaving and complained to Zeus. Aphrodite had to apologize a lot and

promise not to do it again (Pontikis).

SYMBOLS

Aphrodite has many symbols and a few of them come from the myth of Adonis (the rose

and the myrtle tree). Her tree was the myrtle tree. Some plants that were sacred to her as well

were the rose, narcissus, crocus, hyacinth, and the lily. Her sacred animal was the dolphin. Her

sacred birds were the swan, sparrow, and the dove.

MYTHS OF CHARACTER

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There are many myths that mention Aphrodite, but few are told specifically about her. I

picked two to share because they (together) exemplify her personality. The first is the tale of

Adonis. There is an entire history behind his family, but his story starts with his mother being

turned into a tree.

ADONIS

Smyrna was the mother of Adonis. Smyrna had been turned into a myrrh tree for

protection from her father. The tree was split in two by her father and Adonis was born.

Aphrodite, who was stunned by the beauty of the child, took him and locked him in a chest. She

sent this chest to Persephone in the Underworld to watch over. Eventually Aphrodite returned to

reclaim Adonis, but Persephone had already seen and fallen in love with him and would not

return Adonis.

They took this feud to Zeus who ruled that Adonis would spend one third of the year with

Aphrodite, one third with Persephone, and the last third to spend however he would choose.

Adonis chose to spend his third of the year with Aphrodite. Ares did not like that Aphrodite was

with someone new and in fact became very jealous. When Adonis was out hunting Ares became

a boar and killed him.

"She [Aphrodite having born a daughter to Adonis] turned her round eyes delighted in all

directions; only the boars she would not watch in their pleasures, for being a prophet she

knew, that in the shape of a wild boar, Ares with jagged tusk and spitting deadly poison

was destined to weave fate for Adonis in jealous madness." (Atsma)

This meant he would be with Persephone in the Underworld always. Aphrodite, distraught about

losing her love consulted Zeus. Zeus then split Adonis into two beings. One lived with Aphrodite

and the other lived with Persephone (Atsma).

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This, however, is only one of the endings to this well known myth. Often it ends as

follows:

Adonis spent a lot of his time with Aphrodite hunting although she wished he

wouldn’t. She allowed him to do so anyways because of how much she loved him and she would

even accompany him occasionally. One day however, she was not with him. He had been

hunting and ran across a boar. He quickly closed in on the boar and had and easy shot with his

spear. He threw it, but only harmed the boar. The boar turned, mad with pain and then ran at

Adonis, impaling him with his tusks.

Aphrodite, even from very far away, could hear her love’s anguished cries and rushed to

be with him. He was dying and there was not a thing she could do but bless that wherever a drop

of his blood touched that ground a crimson flower would blossom. This flower was called

anemone (Pontikis). Aphrodite now felt the wound that she had caused in so many people, to

love and to lose.

PYGMALION

Another myth that shows some personality in Aphrodite is the story of Pygmalion. He

was a sculptor from the island of Cyprus who was not wed. He was one of the only unwed men

on the island. That would have been great for the ladies of the island, except that it seemed he

planned on staying single. He lived a lonely life and did what he pleased whenever he pleased.

However, he did not feel lonely because of the constant companionship of his statues.

The mother and girls of Cyprus were getting frustrated with Pygmalion’s desire to be

single and prayed for the help of Aphrodite. She came to their help but got tired of hearing why

everyone’s own daughter would be best for Pygmalion. She decided to go right to Pygmalion and

ask him who he preferred. He told her, with a little sadness in his voice, that there was a woman

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he preferred, bu that she was already wed. Aphrodite demanded to know who and Pygmalion

answered that she, Aphrodite herself was the only woman deserving of his love. Taken aback,

Aphrodite must have appeared confused because he clarified for her. He told her,

“You, Aphrodite, queen of beauty, lady of delight. How can you think that I who in my

daily work will accept nothing less than the forms of ideal beauty, how you think that I

could pin my highest aspiration on any but the most perfect face and form? Yours,

Aphrodite. Yours, Yours. I love you and you alone. And until I can find a mortal maid of

the same perfection, I will not love.” (Evslin, 101)

She was distraught over this because she had promised to have him wed, but she was

flattered as any woman would be at his proclamation of love. He begged her to let him carve one

more statue before he had to marry. She accepted and asked about the subject of his masterpiece.

He told her that it was to be of her, for now he had seen her and could create true perfection now.

She agreed to come and pose for him every so often.

Each time he made a little clay figurine of the certain pose. He soon had a hundred of the

figurines. He spent days studying them and trying to piece them into one final piece in his mind.

Finally he felt he was ready and began to carve out of marble. After he started he could not part

with the tools, they were part of him. He could not stop working on the statue. He did not eat or

sleep or stop carving until it was finished. He had no idea when he was going to be finished, but

suddenly in an instant he just knew.

He deemed her perfect and named her Galatea. He went through all his precious

belongings and covered her with his mother’s precious jewels. He was siting in awe at the beauty

of his recreation of the goddess when the goddess herself appeared. She informed him that his

time was up (because the statue was finished) and that he needed to make a decision of who he

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was to marry. He told Aphrodite that he chose Galatea. She argued with him telling Pygmalion

that she was a work of marble and not live therefore she could not wed them. He told her that he

didn’t care, that she was the only one he would marry. He even told Aphrodite to allow him to

embrace Galatea and touch cheeks that he too may become marble so they would be together

forever. Aphrodite called him insane but told him to embrace her. He kissed the statue and its

cold lips began to warm. In a minute he was holding the mortal body of a woman. Not just any

woman—his Galatea. He thanked the goddess and she told him to be off to her temple to marry

and to always thank her loudly (Evslin 99-107).

These stories tell not only of Aphrodite’s pride, but how she is not above those who love

her. She can be as kind to those who love her as she can be horrible to those who don’t. It is

important to remember that she is not just lovely and happy all of the time. After all, she is the

goddess who began the Trojan War… But that is a different story.

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APHRODITE’S PEDIGREE CHART

OTHER POSSIBLE PARENTAGES

Aphrodite- Born of sea-foam

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Works Cited

Atsma, Aaron. Aphrodite Loves. 2008. 26 Oct. 2010. Web.

Evslin, Bernard, Dorothy Evslin, and Ned Hoopes. Heroes & Monsters of Greek Myth. New

York: Scholastic, 1967.

Evslin, Bernard, Dorothy Evslin, and Ned Hoopes. The Greek Gods. New York: Scholastic,

1966.

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York: Warner, 1999.

Kirkwood School District. 2010. 1 Nov. 2010. Web.

Pontikis, Nick. Aphrodite. 1999. 25 Oct. 2010 Web.

Zimmerman, J E. Dictionary of Classical Mythology. New York: Harper, 1967.

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Reiley Porter

Comparison Essay

Taylor

English

God Grew Tired of Us and Night are both heart-breaking memoirs of young boys in the

midst of pure terror and hostile situations. These books bring emotion and can make a stomach

turn. When reading these, you receive vivid pictures of these terrible events because they are not

just stories. They are the true memories of the authors and thus can be explained with such detail

and passion that it can never compare with another type of novel. God Grew Tired of Us is the

story of a Lost Boy of Sudan in the middle of the Sudan Civil War. He walked thousands of

miles and suffered dehydration and starvation for months at a time. Night is the story of a Jewish

boy in the middle of the Holocaust. He traveled from camp to camp, suffered injury and watched

his own father die as well as lots of others. These two stories are very different in the fact that

John Bul Dau, the Lost Boy, was running away from the enemy and that Elie Wiesel, the Jewish

boy, was running for the enemy. Taking this difference into consideration, the two stories are

very similar in a few ways.

Both these boys were in the middle of genocide. In the case of John, the people of

northern Sudan were trying to wipe out the entire Dinka people of southern Sudan. In the case of

Elie, all Jewish people suffered imminent death from Hitler and Nazi Germany. These boys

knew the enemy wanted to wipe out their people and understood they would most likely die.

Against the odds, they both survived. John Bul Dau says, “We wondered if the northern

government deliberately targeted boys, as we were the vast majority of the town’s occupants.”

(Dau 108) At this point he is in the town of Pochala and bombs were being dropped everyday.

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The town was home to the Lost Boys at that moment and they understood they were the intended

target of those bombs. Elie says, “It is obvious that the war which Hitler and his accomplices

waged was not only a war against Jewish men, women, and children, but also against Jewish

religion, Jewish culture, Jewish tradition, therefore, Jewish memory.” (Wiesel viii) Although

this is long after the events took place, he shows understanding of the situation and of his people

being endangered. He understood this at the time too. These two boys both knew the situation

they were in and still had a strong desire to live and to make their lives better. They did not stop

fighting and ended with the reward of life.

These boys witnessed people who gave up the desire to live and sat down to face their

death. They both share many experiences in knowing people who stopped trying to live. John

shares, “As we marched in the broiling sun, some of the boys must have given up and sat down

to die…Eventually, the boys at the front with us sat and refused to move.” (Dau 71) This is

before he even reaches the first camp; their entire group is very dehydrated with their only relief

having been eating mud hours before. Elie tells, “He lowered his pants and fell to the ground…

He must have died, trampled under the feet of the thousands of men who followed us.” (Wiesel

86) Elie speaks of Zalman a young boy he knew. He felt he could not go on and so sat down to

die. Both of these young boys almost gave up themselves, but their father figures kept them from

doing so.

John and Elie both speak of extreme weather and the fatalities and pain it caused. The

extremes are opposite, but the effects it had on their groups are the same. John says, “Come the

morning, the sun rose angry and hot as we stood and started walking again… My feet started to

burn on the dirt path…Things became really bad. The sun hammered us from above” (Dau 115-

116) Elie tells on a long journey to his last stop before rescue, “But death hardly needed their

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help. The cold was conscientiously doing its work. At every step, somebody fell down and

ceased to suffer.” (Wiesel 92) Both were very exposed to the temperatures and the deaths it

caused. They both suffered a lot during the times of extreme weather.

Parts of both books focus on religion, they discuss wondering if there is a God because it

doesn’t seem like there could be after all they have been allowed to suffer. John shares his beliefs

by saying the following, “Those were the times I thought God had grown tired of us…In the

church in my village they say God is always with you… If I am here on the verge of dying,

where are you [God]?” (Dau 66) A Jew Elie met shared the following opinion, “I have more faith

in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish

people.” They are of different religions, but still fell the same way about God at these times.

Both had their faith shaken in times of trial.

In these books, there is a lot of running. They run to escape death. They also suffer

similar injuries while running. John tells of his running from his village the first night it was

attacked, “When they disappeared we started running again… I did not run well. I kept stepping

on snails and clams… My feet turned bloody.” (Dau 48) Elie was walking through the snow after

leaving Buna when he said, “My wound had reopened and was bleeding: the snow under my feet

turned red”( Wiesel 82) Later when running from Buna he said, “I continued to run, not feeling

my numb foot, not even realizing I was still running, “. (Wiesel 87) These two boys received

similar injuries involving cut-up feet and had to run for their lives despite it.

Another similarity between these two memoirs, are the encounters with beatings. These

boys watched their friends and father figures beat as well as receiving beatings themselves. John

tells, “He strode to where I stood and hit me, again and again. Then he grabbed my ears and

started to pull them away from my head. Finally, he settled on beating me with a stick. Others

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joined in, kicking me and punching me.” (Dau 56) He is being beaten by a government troop that

ambushed them in the forest. Elie received lashes for meddling in other’s private affairs. He said,

“I no longer felt anything but the lashes of the whip.” (Wiesel 57) The two were injured and both

experienced first-hand beatings from the enemy. They also watch others they were close to go

through the same thing.

These two books seem very different and, in actuality, are. This paper is just to show that

there are similarities between these books. In any memoir about a horrific event, there will be

some of these similarities. Humans have specific ways of dealing with anxiety and thus people

react to situations similarly. In conclusion, the books God Grew Tired of Us and Night, have

similarities such as horrifying beatings, religious struggles, and witnessing people just giving up

life. This is thanks to the horrifying and heart-breaking struggles these young boys face and tell

about in these memoirs.

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Works Cited

Dau, John Bul. God Grew Tired of Us. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2007. Print.

Chicago Public Library. Night. 2011. Web. 27 March 2011.

God Grew Tired of Us. Dir. Christopher Dillon Quinn. NewMarket Films, 2006. DVD.

NewMarket Films. God Grew Tired of Us. 2006. Web. 27 March 2011.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1958. Print.

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Reiley Porter

Tuck Everlasting Essay

Taylor

English

Immortality to the Tucks

In Tuck Everlasting the Tuck family received immortality from a freshwater spring they

drank from eighty-two years before. This immortality caused them grief and confusion and there

were differing opinions in their family on immortality. Angus (Tuck) believed their immortality

was a curse, Jesse believed it was for them to just enjoy, and Mae believed immortality was

whatever it wass and life should just have been lived.

Tuck strongly believed their immortality was a curse. In the book he told Winnie, “I want

to grow again and change. And if that means I got to move on at the end of it, then I want that

too.” This quote came when he was telling Winnie that his family was “stuck”. To Tuck, being

stuck meant no longer progressing or in other words being unable to move forward. He said this

because the “wheel” of life is continuously rolling and they had stopped. Tuck wanted,

desperately, to get back on what he called a “wheel” of life. The previous quote explains what he

meant by this. He wanted to grow and to progress and to change. To him, the inevitable death at

the end of the circle was better than being stuck in non-progression like he had been. He also

made it very clear that he did not want this tragic curse for anyone else. He was trying to keep

the spring a secret because; as he said “It’s something you don’t find out how you feel until

afterwards”. He didn’t want these ignorant people running into something they didn’t understand

like “pigs to the slop”, especially when it was something he disliked so much.

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Tuck also thought that in the condition they were in, they were not “living”. His first

reason for justifying this claim was that living things change (most specifically they grow). The

Tucks had neither grown nor changed for eighty-two years. Tuck also made the comparison that

all living things eventually die. The Tucks could not be hurt neither could they age at all or grow,

so they could not die either. He used both of these to conclude that they were no longer living

beings. To answer the question of “What are they then?” he said, “We just are, we just be, like

rocks beside the road.” This meant that he believed since they were not living, they had no

purpose.

Tuck’s personality throughout the book was very pessimistic and slightly remorseful.

Examples of his pessimism were when he was talking to his wife about going to meet her sons,

and when their horse was stolen. In both cases he automatically assumed the worst happened or

will happen. He was also generally remorseful about things. He didn’t get over things easily and

it caused him to feel poorly about them. His personality connects to his perspective on

immortality because he was pessimistic about it and thought there was nothing to be done. He

also felt great remorse over having lost the ability to grow, change, and die.

Jesse Tuck believes that their immortality was given to them to simple enjoy life longer.

He directly told this to Winnie by saying “Why, heck, Winnie, life’s to enjoy yourself isn’t’ it?

What else is it good for?” He told Winnie of his plans to go travel the world freely and as he

would choose. This shows that he did not want a serious life, no kids and just a fun-loving wife

who was as much a kid as he was. He also did not have an opinion as to deeper meanings in life,

which shows that he had no care for philosophy or religion pertaining to his immortality and did

not even want that. His main goal in life was fun and he was sure to get it. He had fun with

everything and sometimes how immature he was really showed.

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Jesse is going to be seventeen for the rest of forever. In the book it was portrayed that

even his maturity level will stay stagnant, or at least that was how he acted. He was always

climbing and jumping and making fun. He will never get the opportunity to gain a true

understanding of growing up because he will never be able to. This goes to show that he was not

mature enough to have an understanding of life. This is why he was not driven to make

something of his immortality or to find explanations for it. He was still a teenager and will

always be, so he will be able to reach a stage of understanding what his true opinions are. This is

why he was such a fun-loving guy and liked immortality so much. Vampiric immortality is every

teenager’s dream, is it not?

Jesse’s personality was also reflected in his opinion of immortality. He was optimistic

and could find good and fun in life. He never seemed down and often was more bubbly than

everyone around him. He was just an all-around jovial guy. He had an attitude of “Life is what

we make it” and was determined to make his as fun as possible. His opinion of immortality was

closely knit to his personality as well. He was very optimistic and his opinion was a pretty happy

one. It was a positive perspective of their situation. His “we can do with our lives whatever

pleases us” came through very strongly too. He was very sure that the only point of life is your

own satisfaction, so you had better enjoy it! That is what his whole opinion of immortality was

centered around.

Mae believed their immortality could be whatever they wanted it to be. She tells Winnie

“We don’t deserve any blessings— if it is a blessing. And likewise I don’t see how we deserve to

be cursed, if it’s a curse,” It was obvious she did not know what to think of their situation. She

didn’t believe it was a blessing or curse, a good thing or a bad thing. She sounded like she was

careless towards the whole situation. It is also easy to sense that she did not particularly want to

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make a decision. She never said she can’t decide or that she was unsure. It is apparent that she

did not seem to care much about decision making. There is also a sense of her pushing that there

were many things that were much more important than formulating hypothesis and opinions

about the meaning of life and immortality.

She firmly stated what she believed when she told Winnie, “Still—there’s no use trying

to figure why things fall the way they do. Things just are, and fussing don’t bring changes.” She

seemed to say it does you no good to sit and formulate opinions, things happen anyway. I think

she was trying to make it clear how unimportant she thought it was for her family to try to come

up with why, and how, and what, when there was nothing that having an opinion would do. She

drove this in specifically to Tuck with fussing because he was the most pessimistic about their

lives. It made no sense to her why he was always complaining because she made use of her time

and did not wallow. She also expressed some of her own personal solutions to problems in her

own life. What she was saying screams not to focus on the problem and to just keep pushing

through because you can’t change anything and it is absolutely not useful to try. This is why she

seemed like such a strong woman. She persevered and pushed to the end. She had no care for the

things that got her down and it showed.

Her personality of endurance often came off as apathy. Sometimes it really showed that

she did not care about the things she was going through. In this she often seemed emotionless or

empty when dealing with discussion son their immortality. She was also a generally calm person.

She did not seem to let her emotions get out of check often and it made her seem very rational.

Also, her calm attitude made her feel like a more gentle character and at the same time a good

understanding, supporter. She made it known that she thought opinions were of little importance

and that especially her family was more important than anything. She, very much like her

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personality, had the calmest opinion of immortality. It was also very subdued because she

thought it was of almost no importance. Her apathetic attitude rubbed off on her opinion too

because there almost wasn’t one. It was obvious the subject didn’t matter enough to her.

To contrast their opinions is simple because of how different they are. Tuck and Jesse

were very opposite. Tuck thought very strongly that immortality was a bad thing and no good

could come out of it. Jesse thought it was a great thing and everything good could come out of it

if you let it. Mae’s opinion very much created the middle line. If you were to turn these opinions

in to a graph, Tuck would be plotted at (-10,-10), Mae would me middling at (0,0), and Jesse

would be on the high path at (10,10).

-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15

-15-10-505

1015

Tucks' opinions

Opinion-Values

These opinions were so different it is hard to believe what a closely knit family the Tucks were,

but the graph does form a straight line! They could all be connected easily no matter how

different the numbers were. It is important to point out that Jesse’s and Tucks’ dots are only

connected to each other through Mae’s.

There were also some similarities between their opinions. They were all strongly based

on their personalities. Tuck’s was shown from his pessimistic, remorseful attitude, while Jesse’s

was his optimistic, fun-loving attitude. Again Mae struck the center with calm apathy. If this

family was to play emotional darts Mae would win by a long shot! She almost always held the

family together because she was the closest to all of them. Imagine a circle where Mae is the

Porter

center point and each of her family members are at three points on the outside ring nowhere near

one another. It was like an atom and Mae is the nucleus trying to keep her little valance electrons

together.

Their differing opinions were what made them a good family. If everyone had Tuck’s

opinion or Jesse’s or even Mae’s, they would all have been out of control. I believe that Tuck

Everlasting was very dependant on how different the members of this family were in thoughts,

actions, and personality. If you dig, you can find many hidden lessons in this book like the

importance of difference in family. It was so important that the family had different opinions and

that they had a center piece (Mae) to connect them all.

Porter

Reiley Porter

Opening Statement 2011

Mock Trial

Jeff Strahan

Opening Statement (Prosecution) State of Utah V. Cris Robertson

Your honors, Members of the opposing council, friends in this court: No high school

student deserves to feel harassed or violated when using a school-sponsored chat room. In fact,

no one should live in fear due to the harassment of others and yet that is exactly the position

Jamie Anderson has been put it. It is for that reason we are here today. Your honor, as attorneys

for the state of Utah, the prosecution is in this court today burdened with the responsibility to

prove that Cris Robertson is guilty of electronic communication harassment. The Utah State code

reads that it is illegal for any individual to alarm, annoy, intimidate, offend, abuse, threaten,

threaten, harass, frighten, or disrupt the electronic communications of another, whether or not a

conversation occurred. Cris Robertson proceeded in harassing Jamie Anderson in this fashion.

For a substantial amount of time, Jamie lived in fear: fear to go to school, fear to tell her parents,

fear to hang out with her friends, and fear to sit in a lunchroom without food being thrown at her.

No student should suffer these atrocities.

Your honors, today the prosecution will demonstrate through testimony and evidence

presented in this case that Jamie Anderson was indeed the victim and even though she hesitated

in fear, she ultimately responded as a prudent person would after making an allowance for Cris

Robertson to cease in his communication missteps and to redeem himself.

Porter

Prosecution council will also demonstrate that the adults charged with the responsibility

to monitor and protect innocent young lives engaged in academic pursuits failed in their

collective responsibilities by abandoning these students to monitor themselves.

Through testimony it will be shown that a close friend of Jamie Anderson’s, Casey

Walner, was another first party witness to the debilitating acts of Cris Robertson.

Prosecution will show a preponderance of evidence linking Cris Robertson to the

username “Shokwave” and to the debilitating and regrettable statements made in this public

forum that should be a place for academic free thought devoid of disruption.

The defense will attempt to show that Cris Robertson had no intent to harass of to

threaten Jamie Anderson. Rebuttal testimony will tell a different story.

The defense will also attempt to prove, through testimony by Pat Clifford and Loren

Albert, experts only in the field of Computer Science, that the statements made by Cris

Robertson were not threatening. However, testimony by expert in cyber bullying and other

crimes of that nature, Ashton Hopp, will show that these statements did rise to the qualification

of harassing and defamatory language.

These actions are contrary to the common beliefs of Americans. Americans believe they

should have freedom to do what they want, when they want, without harming others and without

fear. It is the duty of the state to protect its citizens, their rights, their freedoms, their pursuits,

and their security. We pray for Jamie Andersen and all others like her. We strive for them to

have the freedom to pursue an education in an environment devoid of fear and harassment

because your honors, no one deserves to feel harassed, threatened, or violated. Thank you.