A painted House by John Grisham essays

A painted House by John Grisham essays In his novel A Painted House, John Grisham tells the story of the events of one summer as viewed and interpreted by a young boy, Luke Chandler. The book presents a view of how a group of people interact together: a cotton-growing share-cropping family, the transient workers they hire to help them pick the cotton, and their neighbors. The story delineates the social status and interactions between the various groups: share croppers, "mountain folk" who come down to help with the picking, and itinerant migrant workers from Mexico. In the process, Luke learns to look past surface assumptions about people. This is reflected by the emphasis on the surface appearance of his family's house whether it is painted r In the view of the people who inhabit Grisham's story, a painted house is superior to an unpainted one, and reflects increased status, because a painted house can only be afforded by those who could spend extra money on paint instead of necessities. Luke's grandfather believes that painting one's house is a sign of vanity and a waste of good money, while John's mother has always dreamed of living in a painted house again some day. The reality is somewhere in between: with or without paint, the house is humble, but no one talks about paint's protective factor and that a house whose surface was protected by a good paint job would last longer than one that was not painted, or only painted to improve surface appearance. Luke Chandler has a passion for baseball, and dreams one day of playing professional baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals, but all baseball is followed closely. In one scene, Luke watches a game between two church congregations, the Methodists and his own Baptist church. In this scene he reflects the types of judgments regarding other people that those around him make: the Methodists should lose not base on their ball-playing ability but because of o...

Why Cheating Is Different in College

Why Cheating Is Different in College No matter what you did in high school when it comes to cheating, you should know that cheating in college is quite different. Its a really big deal. College administration takes cheating seriously. Its not unheard of for whole classes to be expelled for collaborating or outright cheating.  This happened recently at the University of Virginia when a large part of an economics class was caught cheating.  As a freshman, you will be introduced to the honor code at your college. It will outline the rules for your particular institution. Youll also see that colleges have honor courts, where students must go in front of a jury of peers and face charges. Not a pleasant experience for the first year of college. Why Cheating Is More Serious in College When youre caught cheating, even once, you lose all credibility with professors. This is a big loss in college. In high school, we can survive if our teachers lose confidence in us, or even if they dont like us. College is a different story.  Youre going to get to know your major professors pretty well, and youre going to need them for things like recommendations for internships, scholarships, awards, jobs, and special programs. To a great extent, your success will depend on their opinion of you. You cant afford to mess that up. Dont risk this important relationship and lose all respect. Professors are good at catching cheaters. They are smart, they put a lot of time and energy into creating assignments and tests, and they have more time and more resources for catching cheaters. They also have tenure and a little bit more flexibility than high school teachers when it comes to checking out their suspicions and following through with allegations. In high school, theres a tendency to treat cheating less seriously, perhaps because high school students are minors. In college, youre an adult. If caught cheating, youll pay adult consequences.   Your high school education may have been funded by taxes, but your college education is probably funded by you and your parents. Whenever you cheat, you are wasting time. If you cheat in college you are also wasting money. And not just a little bit of money. When you fail a class (and if you get caught cheating, youll probably receive a failing grade), you are losing the money you paid for tuition. This is likely many thousands of dollars! College is competitive. Fellow students will take cheating more seriously in college because they realize whats at stake. Theyre more likely to turn you in. Cheating is for losers. How would you feel if your parent was accused of cheating on the job? What if they were fired for it? Theyd feel the same way if you were caught cheating in college. You dont want to disappoint your parents!