Never blame until you hear both stories

Author’s Note:  In this creative writing piece for point of view, I will show you the point of view of another character in the book, Calico Joe by John Grisham.

On a cold Saturday night of baseball, Joe Castle drives a homerun over the fence and shows off, Warren Tracey the pitcher knows what his move is next.   Calico Joe, by John Grisham, is a book that talks about how one stupid mistake of a pitcher affected the career of a young promising baseball player.  This novel  Calico Joe, is written in first person which isn’t the best because you can’t see the point of view of the other characters.  During this piece I will explain the point of view of Warren Tracey, son of Paul Tracey, to see why he did some of the things he did.

John Grisham wrote Calico Joe in first person from the view of Paul Tracey, because of this the reader is affected by only knowing one person’s side of the story. For example, when Warren Tracey was pitching Paul was thinking that his father was making a dumb decision and was trying to ruin somebody’s life.  Also, when Paul was playing baseball, he thought his father was trying to embarrass him.  This is because we only hear the point of view of the child, which makes us think that Warren Tracey is the bad guy.  If Calico Joe by John Grisham was written in the point of view of Warren Tracey ,father of Paul Tracey, people would think different about him.  In the creative story I will be writing a piece about when Warren Tracey was pitching against Joe Castle and how he felt.

Wow!  Why is Joe Castle showing off? I thought we were friends.  While not anymore, by the way he is showing off to me.  Okay, I will just relax and throw a strike, here I go. As I wind up, I am thinking fastball, fastball, fastball.  I will put a little more force on this one. Then I  rear back  and release the baseball in the direction of the plate.  Whoosh! The ball was going 95 mph straight at the batter’s face. Bang, Joe was down.  Oh my gosh, what did I do?  I never hoped to cause this much misery.

Growing up and Bravery

 Author’s Note: Throughout, Fighting Ground by Avi you will learn how to be brave and how to grow up.

Saving a child from a house fire, fighting for your country, and protecting your family are all examples of courage and valour. Many genres of books included the themes growing up too quickly and bravery, but in my thought action and adventure have the best evidence of themes.  In the book, The Fighting Ground, by Avi, readers will learn how it feels to be brave, which helps you become a strong person, but if you mature too quickly and  think you are invincible, it can hurt you in different ways.

Although bravery is an important aspect to carry in life, being too brave can actually hurt you in multiple ways. Jonathan, a 13 year old, fighting in the Revolutionary War has a lot of evidence of his bravery in the story.  For example, Jonathan was fighting, he took the big role of shooting a musket at the British during war.  Also he saved a little boy that was scared. However, Jonathan was too daring; after the war he finally noticed that war wasn’t fun and games.

Well bravery is a big part of the book, the other theme, growing up too fast is equally as important.  Growing up too quickly is not a great trait to have because Jonathan, barely a teenager, hasn’t lived through his childhood yet, and he still wants to take adult responsibilities. At the age of 13, Jonathan is joining the soldiers to fight for what is right. After almost his death and his close call with getting captured, he finally notices at the end of the book that he was too young for war.

Bravery and growing up too fast isn’t only discussed in Fighting Ground: these themes were also discussed in The Hunger Games.  Katniss, the main character in “The Hunger Games”, took adult responsibilities by providing food for her family and also showed courage by taking her sisters spot in the games.  Both of these characters share many traits, but are still different in multiple ways.

While bravery and growing up too quickly were huge factors of the similarities in both of the books, determination is what brought the two books together.  Being brave and maturing too fast ,both have their pros and cons.