JORDAN HILL

ELA 9

MR. VILLAGOMEZ

Irene Adler: A Static Character in AScandalinBohemia

In AScandalinBohemia, Dr. Watson and Sherlock

Holmes are visited by the king of Bohemia because Irene

Alder has a photo of him and her together. Dressed as an out of work groom, Sherlock goes to Irene Adler’s house and gathers valuable information from her workers: she has a gentleman caller, a lawyer named Godfrey Norton, who can be expected at the house at least once per day. Holmes goes to the ceremony. He stages a fight with some men on the street, and Irene brings him in to tend to his injuries. Once inside, he signals to Watson, who throws a small rocket into the house “Fire!’ Irene runs to a panel in her sitting room to protect the photos. the king of Bohemia and Holmes and Watson goes to Irene's house and Norton says that she has left England with her husband. The king gives Holmes a Photo of Irene Alder because she bested him at this game.

In this story, Irene Adler is a round, static character, as shown in her relationship with Sherlock Holmes, Count von Ormstein (King of Bohemia), and Geoffrey Norton.

Irene Adler’s relationship with Sherlock Holmes is one of a femme fatale. To him she is “the woman.” Holmes likes her because she is smart, brave, and beautiful. In previous meetings, Irene outsmarted Holmes. In this story, she outsmarted him by knowing about everything he was planning to do.

Jordan Hill

ELA 9

Mr. Villagomez

So Far from the Bamboo Grove: My Book Report

By Jordan Hill

Imagine if you were a Japanese refugee in Korea. This book is titled So Far from the Bamboo Grove from 1945 by Yoko Kawashima

Watkins with a sequel to My Brother, Sister and I. It was written

1986 by HarperTrophy.

Yoko lives in Nanam with her family until she needs to flee to Japan because of the Russians and Koreans that hated the Japanese people. Yoko, Ko and their mother got on a train to Seoul but it got bombed 45 miles away from Seoul. Yoko got injured from the bombing and they are forced to walk the rest of the way to Seoul. After Yoko got medical treatment in Seoul, Yoko, Ko, and their mother boarded a train to Busan. They waited for the ship to come to Busan, Finally the ship came and they boarded the ship and they set sail to japan.

In 3 days they reached Fukuoka, Japan and took a break for awhile. Fukuoka was all in smithereens and the city was destroyed with nobody except everyone that was on the ship, they are either dead or evacuated to a different part of Japan. Yoko's mother goes to Kyoto to find her family but then she has no luck with finding them. Yoko's mother went to Aomori to seek help from her parents but she found out that they died. Yoko's mother eventually dies on the same day, leaving Ko and Yoko to wait for their father and Hideyo. Their mothers last words were to keep the wrapping cloth because there was money for the children. Yoko and Ko attend School and Yoko gets bullied by some snobbish girls that call her trash girl. Yoko has a friend in the school and she called him her uncle. He worked as a waste collector. Yoko enters a contest where she has to write 65 pages on manuscript and Yoko wins 10,000 yen, news of her winning the contest is reported in the newspaper.

Hideyo bids the Korean family farewell and he reaches Busan where he finds a lot of messages on trees, poles, and the ground.

Hideyo reaches Japan and he asks the locals for directions to the street, finally he reaches his family and they are all reunited except their mom and dad.

I liked the year of this book was placed in and how we got to see a Japanese refugee look on Korea in the 1940s. I would change how the mother died and how the dad didn't get any parts of the story