Novel Excerpt

The Fault In Our Stars
By John Green

“I kept saying ‘always’ to her today, ‘always always always,’ and she just kept talking over me and not saying it back. It was like I was already gone, you know? ‘Always’ was a promise! How can you break the promise?”  ~ Isaac, John Green, "The Fault in Our Stars"

... Force was used to destroy many basketball awards on "The Night of the Broken Trophies". Isaac is devastated when his girlfriend, Monica, breaks a promise of staying with him 'always' and loving him 'always' due to the fact that he is going blind as a result of eye cancer. Isaac's trust in Monica through the upholding of their promise is broken when she ignored his pleas of the word while breaking up with him. This source seems to show the weakness that trust can have rather than the power it can have, to relate to one of my quotes, “to be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved”, as although you can be loved by a person, you may not be trusted by that same person. It was clear to me while reading "The Fault in Our Stars" that the relationship between Isaac and Monica was not a strong one. Their promise of 'always' seemed to set their relationship up for failure, as all relationships end, in breakup, divorce or death.  Though these two characters may have loved each other a great deal while together, the broken promise added insult to injury when Monica broke up with Isaac. Through the promise of 'always', Isaac and Monica strengthened their trust in one another while together, but weakened it in the long run, and inevitably destroyed any trust they shared at the strike of a disaster...

Poetry Example

Green Eggs and Ham Excerpt
by Dr. Suess

You do not like them. So you say.
Try them! Try them! And you may.
Try them and you may, I say.

Sam! If you will let me be,
I will try them. You will see.

Say! I like green eggs and ham!
I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat.
And I would eat them with a goat…
and I will eat them in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
They are so good, so good, you see!

So I will eat them in a box.
And I will eat them with a fox.
And I will eat them in a house.
And I will eat them with a mouse.
And I will eat them here and there.
Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!
I do so like green eggs and ham!
Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am!

...Together Sam-I-Am and his nameless friend travel to various places, while Sam-I-Am tries to convince his friend to eat green eggs and ham. The friend is very distrusting of Sam-I-Am, and does not think that he will like the green eggs and ham if he does eat them. After many failed suggestions of where and with what to eat green eggs and ham, the friend finally tries them. Great enjoyment of the dish ensues, and Sam-I-Am is repeatedly thanked for convincing his friend to try the seemingly odd dish. Though originally there is next to no trust shared between these two characters, a fragile bond seems to be formed at the end of the poem. To relate back to one of the quotes chosen for this tapestry, though their bond is so fragile, it is strong enough to uphold a trust between them, once again proving that trust between two people can be a more important component to any kind of relationship than even love. Although "Green Eggs and Ham" has no real resemblance to "Long Walk to Forever" as far as story line goes, they share a similar underlying theme, not of love conquering all, but perhaps of trust conquering love. I think that the purpose of both of these pieces of writing is to convey the little known idea that love may not be the strongest force in the universe, but that trust could be a strong competitor for said force....

Short Story Excerpt

"Long Walk to Forever" 
By Kurt Vonnegut 

 He smiled, stared at her hard for a moment, then walked away quickly.

    Catharine watched him grow smaller in the long perspective of shadows and trees, knew that if he stopped and turned now, if he called to her, she would run to him. She would have no choice.

    Newt did stop.He did turn. He did call. "Catharine," he called.

    She ran to him, put her arms around him, could not speak.

...The trust that Newt and Catherine share in "Long Walk to Forever" is a deep trust, built on the foundations of a strong childhood friendship. Newt trusts Catherine to choose him over her recent fiancée, due to the closeness they've shared throughout childhood. In the same sense, Catherine trusts Newt to ask her to choose between the two. This section of the story relates well to my second quote, "To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." ~ George MacDonald, as it portrays that, although Catherine might not choose to be with Newt, they trust each other enough to at least admit their love and have a moment in which they could potentially end up together...

Flash Fiction and Rationale

Flash Fiction

Lavender and Jade had lost their parents in a car crash; the same crash had killed Kai's parents. They were forced onto the streets after only one missed payment of rent. That night, Lavender dreamed of when her parents were still alive, days she deeply missed. A gentle nudge awakened Lavender; she had become a light sleeper during her time on the street. Kai was standing above her.

"It's time to get up, earn some money;" he said softly, "Jade could use a proper meal."

Lavender glanced over at her sister, while sleeping she looked incredibly fragile, solely skin and bones. Lavender nodded, and walked over to Jade.

"Wake up Jade, you and Kai are going to search for a cheap meal today, okay?" Lavender whispered.

"Mmm... Food sounds good..." Jade replied.

Jade followed Kai off to find a meal. Lavender remained on the street, trying to earn as much as she could. Late in the evening, Kai returned. Alone.

 Lavender became anxious. "Where is Jade?!" She cried out.

"She... she ran into the street this afternoon,” Kai said, “She saw free hot-dogs and..." He trailed off, not knowing what else to say, knowing nothing would help.

Tears streamed down Lavender’s face as she imagined her sister’s broken body lying in the street. Already Lavender had trouble remembering what her sister looked like. The image she conceived was distorted, no longer having any resemblance of Jade. She tried desperately to remember how things had been before this event, and even more desperately to remember how things had been before the accident that had ripped her life apart. Lavender turned to look at Kai; her eyes, usually clear and calm like the surface of a pond, now resembled the savage waves of the seas during a storm. With this final glance, Lavender turned and ran. She never looked back.

Rationale:

My piece of flash fiction is essentially a snapshot of the lives of three teens who have lost their parents and end up on the street. The trust they achieve through their similar situation is eventually the group’s downfall. Lavender is heartbroken when Kai fails to save Jade, and leaves as she can no longer bring herself to trust him. Jade’s death at the end of the flash fiction is meant to show how trust can have negative impacts on a person’s life when said trust is broken. This relates to my first quote, “Trust, years to earn, seconds to break” (Unknown), as the trust shown in this piece of fiction was forged solely due to the circumstances that Lavender, Jade and Kai shared; it took years to perfect but a single moment for the trust to be completely shattered.

Quotations

Quotation #1.

"Trust, years to earn, seconds to break." ~ Unknown 


In my opinion, trust in its most basic form is described perfectly in this statement. Trust is something that should take time to be earned, and can be broken in an instant. There are very few instants where trust is formed in a short amount of time, and those instants could be easily regretted if they do occur.

Quotation #2.

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." ~ George MacDonald


I strongly agree with this quotation. To me it rings most true when applied to the relationship between a teen and their parent. For a parent to love their teenager is pretty well expected, but for a parent to have complete trust in their teenage son or daughter would be quite a compliment to that teenager. 

Introduction

The concept I chose to do my tapestry on was trust. Through this project, I hope to convey how trust can be both a positive and negative thing to maintain; that, if given to the right person, it can be kept despite going through bad situations; the extent to which trust can remain intact through a bad situation; and finally how trust can be abused if given to the wrong person. Over the course of completing this project, I would also like to discover why some people are naturally more trusting than others, as well as why some people are more trustworthy when you first meet them than others are. I anticipate that this project will become an opportunity to learn more about the effects that trust can have on a personal level, as well as on a larger scale.