Jim Heynen's 'What Happened During The Ice Storm'

Most of us have been stuck inside during a snowstorm at some point. We may have wanted to get out of the house, but we couldn’t. We were trapped inside. Scotty, one of the kids stuck at Tattawa Regional High School, has this same problem, but worse. Scotty is one of seven students that are stuck at Tattawa Regional High School during a massive snowstorm. After the power shuts off and heat begins to seep out of the building, the students begin a race against time to escape the school which could soon become their icy grave. In the story Trapped, Michael Northrop uses descriptive language to introduce a problem, develop a mood, and create suspense.

Brian’s Winter was written by Gary Paulsen. Gary Paulsen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 17, 1939. His father was an army officer during world war II, Gary did not meet his father until the age of nine. His parents were heavy drinkers. Also his mom had many affairs with other men. At the age of fourteen, Gary ran away to join a carnival. As a child, Gary lived in Minnesota, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Chicago. He worked at a bowling alley, a newspaper, and on a farm. He decided to become a writer while he was a satellite technician for an aerospace firm in California. He has written many series such as “Brian’s Saga, Mr. Tucker Saga, Murphy Series, and Tales to Tickle the Funny Bone.” He also has a strong

It’s a blizzard! Snow falls in an excerpt from Roger Ascham’s book Toxophilus. Toxophilus was written in 1545, and was the first book ever written about archery in the English language. The author, Roger Ascham, was an English scholar and a private tutor for Queen Elizabeth I. In this excerpt from his book, he talks about how the winds unpredictably blow the snow, and how it further affects the sport of archery. He states “I learned perfectly that it is no marvel at all though men in a wind lose their strength in shooting, seeing so many ways the wind is so variable in blowing (Ascham 35-37). Ascham goes into comprehensive detail when describing the sights of the snow— a noticeable pattern in this excerpt. Because of that, his purpose

Throughout the text, Michael mentions the snow. Considering the book’s about a blizzard, that’d be normal, right? However, in my view, the snow symbolizes something, like dreadful times. Scattered around, the context surrounding the snow can be interpreted as how you feel during those times. For example, later in the book, when the students realize just how bad it is, they explain it as, “There was no higher ground, no place left for us to go”(Northrop 158). Here, a relation to people feeling as if there’s nowhere else to go, so they’re trapped in the horrible event occurring can be made. Results tend to be mourning over those poor times in people’s lives. Similarly, Michael connects that to how we view bad situations. Early on in the book, description of the snow is showed as it being “small flakes”, “like grains of sugar… the flakes had fattened up and

Over one hundred and twenty five years ago one of the most powerful, disastrous, and devastating snowstorms hit the United States with a deadly vengeance. This particular storm was called by a couple of different names such as “The Murderous Blizzard of 1888” and The School Children’s Blizzard”. No matter which name it is referred as, the results after the storm were gravely unimaginable. Without warning this storm killed over five hundred people mostly children. This life changing, painstaking day would hunt families for years to come. This day in history showed a normal routine of chores being done while school children went off to school, a shift in weather, the blizzard, and life after the blizzard.

It was December and the day was cold. The wind blew rapidly and incoherently as the village folk worked on the crops and attend to their many cattle. Then, something started falling from the sky...it was snowing. Normally this isn’t a big deal,

Fiction often tells a story. Whether it is a fantasy such as “Lord of the Rings” or grounded in reality like “The Ice Palace”, the stories told often have a meaning that goes deeper than the surface. One such piece of fiction that has a deeper meaning is “The Hermits Story” written by Rick Bass. At first glance this short story tells a tale about a woman and a man that get stuck in a snowstorm while out training dogs and their adventure to get back home. Within this writing Bass weaved much more into the story. The ice and snow that is found everywhere within the book serves as the catalyst for the deeper meaning. The use of ice and snow in “The Hermits Story” represents suppression which appears often in physical and mental ways.

In the cold December, when the land is white with snow, my children’s children go to play on Bloody Ice. Its incarnadined surface is a source of mystery, another one of our town’s curiosities. Sixty years ago—but how my memory dims!—I saw the red take hold. I saw wicked things rising from the lake, and when they left, they took my brother with them.

As the reader acknowledges the figurative language that the author has put in this story, the reader gains assurance that the boys are much bigger and can overtake these tiny little helpless birds, “Their breath came out in slow puffs of steam… The pheasants’ breath came out in a quick little white puff” (Heynen). The writers incorporated the comparison from the boys to the bird to demonstrate to the reader how the boys could have easily overtaken the helpless little birds. Moreover, the author incorporated imagery to set the mood of what is occurring, “The boys stood still in the icy rain...pounce on a pheasant… things around them were shining and dripping with icy rain” (Heynen 1). The author

“Due to worsening conditions, school will be dismissed at one o’clock this afternoon,” (Northrop, p.15). Nobody wants to be captive. In “Trapped” by Michael Northrop, seven students are left at Tattawa High School because of their decision to wait for a parent instead of taking a bus. They will later regret their decisions as they lose, light, power, food, running water, and heat. In “Trapped” by Michael Northrop, snow symbolizes being captive in order to create a setting, build suspense, and set up a problem.

This event seemingly put an end to the Cold War and uncertain times in America. This claim is supported when an article published by The New York Times says,”Many Americans were inspired by their hockey team’s victory…Forget the past. This was a new era. It could have been a metaphor for an American template.”(U.S.A Beats Soviet Union in Miracle on Ice) Americans being inspired by the victory and putting the past behind them explains how the victory was a turning point because up until this time, Americans were discouraged, and more focused on the past rather than the future. The victory gave citizens their American spirit to continue through adversity, turning around the lives of thousands. Also, the author of The Miracle on Ice, 35 Years

Foreword by Spenser Johnson: One the surface, the story of this book appears to be a fable that is relatively easy to grasp, but it does subtly impart an invaluable lesson on change. The book covers John Kotter’s Eight Steps to bring about successful organizational change and can be equally useful for a high-school student as it is for a CEO of a multi-national organization.

When I heard Jessica crying and saw the dog looking into my face I told him “Georgie go see why Jessica is crying”. Next thing I knew he went off running and she was quiet so I went to check on her and there they were in the bed sleeping, he comfort her. Even though a snow storm was coming, she decided to go on her winter camping trip anyway. It was like something was calling her out there. But in the event of her wilderness trip she was starting to feel better. There was a positivity her in her life that was growing and the depression had started to fade by the activities she is doing. Her experience of sleeping in below freezing caves, digging out of a snow barricades with the help of Jackson and Hailey. She was doing things her and her dogs would never have dreamed of. She admits that her very cold and freezing adventure has helped her appreciate the beauty of life and her winter wilderness experience. She was starting to feel like she belong and was appreciating the value of her life and her surroundings. “A Blizzard under blue sky” gave her a new lease on life and a spark of rejuvenation.

It was a cold day, so cold that your arms start to sting as if a needle is impaling the surface of your skin. The wind applies a force which feels as if your face is oozing with thick crimson red blood. The gray puffy clouds covered the sky and dropped small snowflakes onto the road’s surface. A man stood there, freezing, clearing the coat of thick white snow from the concrete road. His nose runs with a river of snot that floods out when the cold wind strikes. His sense of smell is heavily clogged by the slimy snot, but he can still smell the scent of the steamy hot chocolate which sits on the top of his snow covered car. His feet start to numb because of the cold flood which soaks through his boots to his white, silky socks. His feet feel as if he stepped into the freezing cold ocean. As if he fell through ice and he was stuck standing there. The vast pile of the ice white snow feels almost like a quicksand around his black rubber boot. Foggy figures of people shovel the big piles of snow off the sidewalks. They scrape and pick at the glossy white ice which sticks to the sidewalk like a little boy clinging to his mother's side. His feet still sting as if he was stepping on pins and needles. His hands are damp with sweat from grasping the curved metal shaft attached to a socket which holds the blade. The blade cuts holes into the thick powdered snow which is removed from the endless pile. The jet black shovel is filled with slushy snow and crystal shards of ice. The end of

The time was midnight and the weather was unbearable. The dirt roads had become frozen shadows of the night, making it hard for anyone to see anything. Nay one was out, most were either sleeping or stuffed into the tavern, drinking, and gambling. Nay one 's dumb enough to be outside during this night, nay one but me. From a distance, I hear a piano being played inside the tavern, just barely audible due to the sounds o ' the snow storm. I eased closer to the tavern, desperate to get some warmth and perchance a meal that doesn 't taste like crap. Nay one noticed as I entered, they were too busy drinking and gambling or both. Always too busy to notice.