Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath


Sylvia Plath was born on the 27th of October 1932 and she died on 11th of February 1963. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts in the USA. Sylvia Plath's poems were quite emotional as a lot of them were about depression or madness.

3 interesting facts:

• Her first poem was published when she was 8 years old
• Sylvia Plath committed suicide
• Sylvia Plath's father died when she was 8 of diabetes

Sylvia Plath's poems that we are studing are called 'Mirror' and 'Cinderella'.

The Thrid Day, The Frost

When Ellie, Homer, Kevin, Robyn, Lee and Fi are driving to the Isthmus a they round a corner to find an army tanker in front of them with soldiers standing with rifles pointed at them. They are all caught and taken to the Stratton prison. They find out that they are just no ordianry free people, but celebrities, when they reach the prison. Ellie and Homer are put in the most secure cells as they are thought the ringleaders. Ellie is nearly bored out of her mind in the prison until one day she gets to go and  have exercise with the others. She is very happy and excited. One day soldiers come to get her and they take her to another room where she finds Major Harvey. He asks her questions but she refuses to answer. He thinks that she knows where the New Zealander's are hidden even though she doesn't. She asks Major Harvey what will happen to her and he tells her that she must pay the consequences. She knows that she has the death sentence. She then finds out that she has a week left until her execution. Homer is also sentenced to death. Lee is sentenced to 30 years in prison. Robyn are sentenced to 25 years in prison and Fi is sentenced to 22 years in prison. The Kiwi's had been doing air raids and the day before Ellie's execution, when they are all in the gym exercising, the Kiwi's bomb the prison. They decide to make their escape as everyone goes into panic mode. Some guards that were in the gym were knocked out and Robyn grabs some weapons and grenades. She shoves into her shirt. They are running out of the prison when they run into Major Harvey and he had caught Robyn who was in front, and he had a gun to her head. He didn't notice that she was slowly getting out a grenade. He finally notices as she pulls the pin. Then Robyn and Major Harvey are gone. They run for it and they find that a Kiwi plane has landed as something went wrong. They run over to the pilot and they ask him if they can come to New Zealand with him. He is very reluctant but after he finds out that it was them that blew up Cobbler's Bay, he lets them come with him. A chopper comes to pick them up. They then fly back to New Zealand where they are safe for the time being. They are grieving over Robyn.

That is the end of the book and the next one in the series is, 'Darkness, Be My Friend'.

The Thrid Day; The Frost

The soldiers have cornered Homer, Kevin, Fi, Robyn and Lee but luckily they have not seen Ellie. Ellie picks up a gun that she found in a ute that the soldiers had used. She takes an aim at them and she shoots them down. They quickly take the ute and drive right away from the soldiers. They went to a junkyard which was full with other old rusty cars and utes. There is a house there and they find a whole lot of radio equipmnent. They try it out and they contact New Zealand. They all have their hopes up but New Zealand is unwilling to rescue them. Fi and Ellie found a little hidey-hole in the ground where they can all hide and they cover with old stuff so it can be used for an emergency when they are hiding. Some soldiers come into the junkyarde to have a look but everyone is safe in the hidey-hole. Everyone is depressed because New Zealand won't rescuse them. Fi comes up with an idea that they should take a holiday. They decide that they should go to the Isthmus.

That is all that I have read so far.

The Third Day; The Frost

Ellie, Lee, Homer, Kevin, Robyn and Fi have escaped back to Hell and have decided to make their big act. They decide that they should blow up a ship anchored at the wharf at Cobbler's Bay. They trek through the bush to where they can see Cobbler's Bay and they make a plan there. Kevin has come back with some new skills such as how to make a bomb. He also knows a lot about physics. They let a lot of sheep out onto the road and the convoys on the road were distracted. Robyn then cut some wires under the bonnet of a truck and connected a stove timer between the two leads. The convoys then went off but that truck went for a while and then stopped. The enemydidn't know what went wrong and they left the truck. Then Homer and Ellie hopped into the box on the back and hid until the truck delivered the box onto a ship. Ellie and Homer set the bomb up and then ran onto the ship. They were heading over the edge when a soldier saw them and then Ellie tackled him overboard. He didn't know how to swim. Ellie and Homer were swimming for the place where they said they'd all meet up but there were shots firing everywhere and a helicopter combing the water. The explosion then went off and it was a massive one too. It sent a massive wave towards Ellie and she got sucked in and was rolled around. Her body was being tossed around like a rag doll and she was fairly hurt. She finally reached the shore but didn't have a clue where she was. She ran as far as she could get from Cobbler's Bay. She heard a sound and it was a helicopter. It was landing too. She ran and the soldiers spotted her. She kept running away from them. All of a sudden an aeroplane came out of nowhere but to Ellie's relief it was a Kiwi one. It destroyed the helicopter and that distracted the soldiers. Ellie wanted to find a mountian as then she would be able to see where she could go. When she reached the summit a helicopter came looking but luckily she wasn't seen. She found a track and followed it. When she got to the end of it there was an old rusty ute. She dived into the bushes. Ellie was wondering what she should do when she heard a gunshot. Then she heard a scream that sounded a lot like Fi's.

That is all that I have read so far.

Judith Wright

Judith Wright



Judith Wright was born on the 31st of May 1915 and she then died at the age of 85 on the 26th of June 2000. Judith was born near Armidale in New South Wales. Judith was known for her lyrical and Australin style.

3 interesting facts about Judith Wright;

• Judith was raised on a sheep station
• In her 20's Judith became progressivly deaf
• Judith liked to write love poems for her husband

The poems we are studying are by Judith Wright include; 'Woman to Child', 'Bora Ring' and 'The Surfer'.

The Third Day, The Frost

This is the third book in the Tomorrow series.

Ellie, Robyn, Homer, Lee and Fi are very sad as they have lost one of their group but they are also sick of sitting around in Hell. They decide to go and have a look around. They go to a farm and find prisoners working on a piggery with soldiers watching. They then have a closer look and are shocked to find that one of the prisoners is Kevin. They want to free him and let him come with them. They talk to him and he says that if he runs away the soldiers will execute his family. They decide on a plan. The plan is for Kevin to pretend to fall in the deep well. It works and the soldiers think he is dead. They are making their escape when a soldier catches him. The soldier is standing there with his rifle pointed at Kevin. The soldier didn't know though that there were five other people. Lee walks up behind the soldier with his belt in his hand and he puts it around the soldiers throat. Ellie then grabs the soldiers gun hand and takes the gun out of it. The soldier then dies from being strangled. They are all horrified at what they'd done but then they quickly went into action. They made it look like the soldier had fallen down the well as well. Then Ellie, Robyn, Homer, Kevin, Lee and Fi run away.

That is all that I have read so far.

The Dead of the Night - continued

Ellie, Lee, Homer, Robyn and Fi have reached the end of the creek. They journey through some paddocks to find another camp called Harvey's Heroes. They stay with them for a while but Major Harvey starts to get on their nerves. The plan that Major Harvey wants to do is go and blow up one of the enemy's abandoned tanker while many people of the camp sit safely and watch. It was actually an ambush and everyone starts to run everywhere as soldiers come out from everywhere. Ellie, Robyn, Homer and Fi meet at a big tree that helps them get to Hell but no one can find Lee. Worse, a soldier was following Fi. Ellie knocks him hard on the head with a big rock and he falls over and is slowly dying. Ellie, Homer, Fi and Robyn have guns but they can't bring themselves to shoot him. Finally Lee turns up and they greet him welcomely and Lee then sees the soldier. Lee picks up a knife and stabs the soldier. everyone is appalled but he says that they would've done that if they had seen what he had seen. They then journey back to Hell but Chris is not in Hell and they can't find him. They stay in Hell and it keeps raining. They then get sick of the rain and go into town to see if they can find Chris. They stay for a while in town and find out that colonists are going to live in all the houses. They decide that they have to do something. They decide to go and look at Fi's house to find that it is the headquarters. They have a vantage point from the church and one day an expensive car arrives and important soldiers get out. Also they see another man and it is Major Harvey. They decide that they should do something spectacular again and they collect more information from watching the soldiers. They gather that when the sentry duty has to change the soldiers make a procession up the mountain. They think that that takes about 5 minutes and then they make a plan. Their plan is to blow up all the houses as they are obviously important to the enemy. Ellie, Lee, Robyn, Homer and Fi go around and find toasters and timers. They join them together so that when the timer goes off the toaster will give a spark. They all take a house each. When the sentry duty changes they all run into one house each and find a gas heater. They turn the gas on and start the timer. Then they quickly run away from the house. A big explosion then occurs as all the houses blow up. After that Ellie, Robyn, Homer, Lee and Fi go to a house to get supplies. As they are driving away Robyn sees something and it is Chris. They find the land rover on its side near the dam and Chris's body. There were also empty beer bottles. Chris had been drink driving and crashed the ute, killing himself.

That is the end of the story. The next in the series is, 'The Third Day, The Frost'.

The Dead of the Night

The Dead of the Night is the sequel to Tomorrow; When the War Began. So far, Ellie, Lee, Fi, Homer, Chris and Robyn are sitting in Hell and are feeling quite miserable as they do not know whatsoever about what has happened to Kevin and Corrie. They decide to do something and that is that they are going to go to the hospital and see Corrie but do it secretly. They agree to get Homer to set off one of his smoke bombs so that the smoke alarms go off in the hospital. All the soldiers get out and that leaves the door clear so Ellie and Lee go in. They get in a room before a soldier comes around and they hide under a bed. There is a lady in the room called Nell and they talk to her. She tells them what is happening with the showground and that their families are OK. They then find Corrie's room and Ellie is horrified at the sight. Corrie has still not regained consciousness so she is pale and lying there. Ellie doesn't know what to think. Lee and Ellie then get out of the hospital. They all go back to Hell. Homer, Ellie, Lee, Robyn and Fi think that they should find out where the little creek that leads to the Hermit's Hut ends. They are now at the end of the creek.

That is all that I have read so far.

Tomorrow; When the War Began - continued

They have all reached the safety of Hell and they all feel like they should do something. They decide that Corrie, Kevin, Chris and Robyn should stay in Hell and look after everyhting while Homer, Lee, Ellie and Fi go and blow up the Wirrawee bridge which is one of the main ways that the Japanese are getting their convoys and trucks through. Homer, Ellie, Lee and Fi head off. Lee and Homer go to a cattle property right beside the bridge while Ellie and Fi go into town to get a petrol tanker. Fi and Ellie get the tanker and then wait in the bush for all the cattle to come. Lee and Homer were going to scare the cattle and then  they would go straight for the bridge which would confuse the soldiers. When the cattle come Ellie, who is one of the best drivers, drives the petrol tanker under the bridge where no one can see it. Fi gets out and runs into the bush while Ellie gets the rope and runs with it to the bush. Bullets were flying everywhere but luckily Ellie didn't get hit. Ellie went and got a motorbike that was waiting in the bush while Fi lit the rope with a match. Fi also got on a motorbike and then Homer and Lee arrived on their motorbikes. They drove off in victory and arrived at Corrie's place and went to the shearing shed only to find everyone in sorrow as Corrie had been shot. She was still alive but needed to go to the hospital. Kevin took her to the hospital and sacrificed himself so he was taken prisoner at the showground. Then the rest went back to Hell.

That was the end of Tomorrow; When the War Began but I am now reading the sequel as there are 7 books in the series.

Tomorrow, When The War Began : continued

Ellie, Lee, Robyn and Homer escaped from Wirrawee safely. Before that though they had visited Chris's place thinking that he would be locked up at the showground but to their surprise they found Chris hiding in his house. They all got back to Ellie's place safely and then they all took the utes down to Hell, the only safe place. After a few days rest they sent Kevin, Corrie, Chris anjd Robyn off to inspect the town and showground. The other four just chill for the next few days and when Ellie goes exploring aroung Hell she finds the Hermit of Hell's hut. The Hermit of Hell apparently murdered his wife and child and maybe a few other people. Apparently he was the one that made Hell and lived there in a little hut. Well, Ellie found his hut and showed the others. Also there was a little romance as Fi and Homer both like each other and Lee and Ellie shared their first kiss. Ellie is still a little confused as she can't figure out if she likes Homer or Lee but she has decided on Lee. The other four have gotten back and discovered that there are soldiers and some people going around town and the people are made to look for valuables in the houses. Also they have found that everyone at the showground is being treated properly.

That is all that I've read for now.

Tomorrow, When The War Began

The novel that I have chosen to read is 'Tomorrow, When The War Began'. This novel is written by John Marsden who is famous for many other novels. I saw the movie before I read the book but I always know that the book explains and is much better than the movie. Many people have recommended this book so I have high expectations for it but from what I've read so far I think that it is very good.

The first impressions that I got from this book is that the author is probably Australian becuase the book has a lot of slang as it is meant to be coming from Ellie's (the main character) point of view. The story is set in Australia, a small country town of Wirrawee. The author has gotten inspiration from past wars as the Japenese invade the town of Wirrawee. It was the Christmas holidays and 17-year old Ellie and her friend Corrie decided to go camping with five of their other friends. These five friends include; Kevin, Homer, Fi, Robyn and Lee. They all go camping in a place called Hell which is very secluded. While they are away, the Wirrawee show is on and basically all of the small town's population goes to the show. The day of the show the seven teenagers who are camping in hell see a lot of army jets fly over but they suspected nothing. When they get back to Ellie's house they find many dogs dead and the house deserted even though the show had been three days earlier. They check all of the teenagers' houses and find nothing. They take a look at the showground and there are Japenese soldiers everywhere while the population nof Wirrawee is cooped up at the showground. As they all had split up to look at each other's houses they find that Robyn and Lee are still not back from looking at Lee's family's resturant. Ellie and Homer go looking for them and find that Lee has been shot in the leg, but still alive while Robyn is alive as well. Ellie, Homer, Robyn and Lee are now making their daring escape from Wirrawee while Kevin, Corrie and Fi are packing the utes so they can all go back to Hell, the only safe place.

Some of the things that I like about this book is that it is a typical Australian novel with the lots of slang. Also, the language that John Marsden uses in this book, make me feel like I can't put the book down. It has so much suspense and tension that I think it is a wonderful book. I don't have any dislikes for the novel 'Tomorrow, When The War Began'.

The Listmaker

What has happened in the book so far?

The Listmaker is about a girl called Sarah Radcliffe. She likes to have everything perfect. Her father is a busy man and never has much time for Sarah. Sarah's mother died so she boards at a boarding school because her father is away so much. On holidays and weekends Sarah stays with her two great aunts called Aunty Nat and Aunt Dorothy. The two aunts have moved to a new cottage called Avian Cottage and it isn't up to Sarah's standards of a house. Even worse, their new neighbours are noisy and merry. The next-door neighbours have a daughter the same age as Sarah. Her name is Corrie. Corrie is nothing like Sarah and likes to have a lot of fun with her friends. Sarah doesn't want to try making friends with Corrie. Sarah doesn't want to worry about having to settle in at Avian Cottage because she knows that she will be moving into an apartment with her father and new stepmother, who is called Piriel. Sarah thinks that whatever Piriel chooses to do or wear, must be right, so she goes along with whatever Piriel says. Sarah went shopping with Piriel or her dress for Piriel and her father's wedding. She didn't like what Piriel chose but she thought that if Piriel likes it, it must be good. Avian Cottage needed a lot of renovations, so a man called Ed Woodley. Sarah's father couldn't make it to Christmas as he Was in the USA, but Piriel came for a bit. It was a merry time. Piriel couldn't stay for the whole day. Slowly Corrie and Sarah start to become closer together. One night Aunty Nat had to go to a meeting and they couldn't find Aunt Dorothy so Sarah had to go over to Corrie's house until Aunty Nat came back. Sarah didn't want to go over to Corrie's house but she had to. Corrie showed Sarah her room and Sarah noticed that Corrie liked to recycle and make new things out of junk. Later on in the book, Aunty Nat suggested to Piriel that the wedding be at Avian Cottage, because the renovations were going well and Aunt Dorothy liked gardening, so the garden looked really well. Piriel said that it is an option, so Aunty Nat got very excited and started preparing for the wedding. She made a cake and Ed painted the summerhouse where they would get married. One day Piriel rang up Sarah to ask her if she had seen her father''s good chess set. Sarah said she had so she took the chess set into town to the apartment to give Piriel the chess set. Corrie came with Sarah as Sarah couldn't stop her from coming. When they went into the apartment Corrie was touching everything and knockign things over and Piriel was starting to get angry with Corrie. Another day, Sarah's father rang Sarah to tell her to tell aunty Nat that the wedding was going to be in Sydney instead of at Avian Cottage. Sarah didn't want to be the one to tell Aunty Nat so she put it off and went shopping to get a dress for the wedding in Sydney, even though there was going to be nobody at the wedding as Piriel and her father didn't want anyone there. When she came Aunty Nat had already found out as Sarah's father had rung again and told Aunty Nat. Sarah was starting to not like Piriel and her father as much as she had and figured that she wanted to stay with her aunts at Avian Cottage as she thought she would be happier here. Sarah had finally made friends with Corrie and wanted to stop going to the expensive school that she was going to and said that she would rather go to Corrie's school.

That is the end of The Listmaker.

Walt Disney

Walt Disney was born in 1901 in Chicago. His father's persistence inspired Walt and was an important factor to Walt in his life. He attended and art school on Saturday's. At the end of World War 1, Walt quitted high school to work with the ambulance driver troops and was a huge success when it came to drawing for the U.S. troops. Walt then moved back to Kansas as an intern in a cartoon section. He was rejected. Walt started his business called Laugh-O-Gram, adding $15,000 form his investors, and sold his cartoon to Kansas City Cinema. Walt's staff was getting ready to work on the series but the company itself was failing. Also Walt's only client went bankrupt six months later and only one movie was completed. Walt then went broke. He then left Kansas City with only $40 and went to his brother, Roy Disney. Roy was living in Los Angeles, California. Walt was hoping to revive the Laugh-O-Gram series in Hollywood. He aired the short comedic series and then sold an idea for a film called Alice In Wonderland to Charles Mintz, a New York film distributor. From each film Walt received $1,500. Walt and Roy then started working on a business together. They then came up with their next the great idea about a naughty rabbit called Oswald, the first animal character in any comic. The series was a big hit and it soon replaced Alice. This was Disney's success but soon after Walt's staff left and Oswald; the Rabbit had been taken license under Mintz. Yet again, Walt was left with a small amount of money but an idea. Mickey Mouse was then invented. Walt then began building his studio from the money he received from Mickey and then he started making more adventures with Mickey and some new characters including Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy and many more Disney animals. Walt then did not make the mistake that he had made with Oswald and secured his company so that all the characters that he came up with were rightfully his. Walt Disney has now made a heap of films that were all very successful.

Power Point - Group Work

THEME - Beauty and Ugliness

GROUP MEMBERS - Bridget, Tegan, Emily, Georgia and me

JOBS - Me: Outer ugliness
Tegan: Outer beauty
Bridget: Inner ugliness
Emily: Inner beauty
Georgia: Technology

Shrek's Vulnerabilities

The director uses many methods to make Shrek more human and vulnerable. Nobody has ever understood Shrek, so he has hardened up and he acts like he doesn't care but deep down Shrek is lonely and does have feelings. For example, after shrek has met Fiona and spent time with her, he overhears Fiona talking about ugliness and beauty. Fiona is really talking about herself but as Shrek only hears a snippet of the conversation he thinks Fiona is talking about him. After spending the journey with Fiona, Shrek thought that they were friends and he's upset to think she's talking about him. The director makes us sympathise for Shrek. The non-diegetic sound is slow and depressing. Shrek's ears droop and his whole face just drops down. His shoulders slump and Shrek becomes self conscience. He loses self respect and tries to hide his feelings. Another example is when Shrek says, 'Ogres are like onions. Onions have layers, ogres have layers.' Donkey doesn't quite get the metaphor but what Shrek is really trying to say is that aan onion may be ugly on the outside but if you peel back the layers you will find something totally different. Shrek may not look like a human on the outside but he has feelings just like everyone else.

Shrek Classification

I would classify SHREK to be a mixture of cartoon, reality, animation, musical, comedy and love story. Not only one genre stands out for SHREK but there is a little bit of every genre in SHREK to make it outstanding. The film producers make SHREK a reality with the techniques they use to make it so much more than a 2-D movie. The folds and creases in material, the dust in the air, the trees and leaves moving in the wind and many more realistic features. SHREK fits in with the love story category because of the romance between the hero and the princess. Shrek's sarcasm towards Donkey and Donkey nit understanding the sarcasm is one of many funny parts in SHREK which makes it slip into the comedy category nicely. SHREK has a lot of classification points mixed in together to make the film spectacular.