Semester In The Life Of A Garbage Bag

Teachers always talk about being creative, is it actually true that being creative is useful or is it just a meaningless subject? In the book, “A Semester In The Life Of A Garbage Bag” by Gordon Korman, many themes are shown throughout. There are two main characters, Raymond Jardine and Sean Delancey. Jardine is a unlucky individual who want to go to a island called Theamelpos, Greece. Sean Delancey is a varsity basket ball player (point guard) who is very popular and lucky. Both of these individuals face many challenges and obstacles to accomplish their goal. The theme is, Creativity is the key to success” , since it made Raymond achieve his goal of going to Theamelpos, Greece by doing flawless on his assignment.

People say that if you go to the island, when you come back you come with good luck. As we know, Mr. Kerr made them write and essay on SACGEN and it had to be 2000 words and the
top six choices will get to go to the island. Raymond wasn't that talented in studies. At the end, Raymond was a part of those six and was allowed to go to Theamelpos. He made it to that level because he was creative and did anything he could to get in the list. Raymond had a very nice essay which

was unique and outside the box. He also came up with the idea of creating a varsity ice hockey team. Since the school had no varsity hockey team, Raymond never had any athletic record, so to get something on his record he created an ice hockey team. Creating the team, he was going to make himself captain so that showed he is involved in sports. Raymond used many creative ideas and ways to make his way to the top six list.

To be popular, all you have to do is be creative with everything you do. Raymond went from being unpopular and ignored, he became the most popular kid in the school. Raymond found two ways of becoming popular, by holding a halloween party and creating a varsity ice hockey team. When Raymond held a halloween party, he became more popular because almost everyone in the school was there! By holding the party, people appreciated that he took his time and organized a party. After the party, other popular students were drawn to Raymond.Also, the teachers and principal noticed the effort he put into his good books. His party may have been a disaster but that was good because it was more shocking which took more peoples attention. A lot of student and teachers like Raymond’s idea of creating a varsity ice hockey team. When he created the ice hockey team, people who wanted to sign up or get information on the team approached him a lot and asked him questions. Everyone was happy because he

brought in another sport in to the school. The more interest people had, the more popular he became. As he organized and thought of these events creatively, he became more popular. In the book, there are many scenes where Raymond does very challenging things to achieve his goal. Being creative and trying without giving up will get you anywhere in life.

For Raymond’s poetry assignment, his class had to pick a poet and describe his/her poetry.
There was one exception that the poet had to be alive. Raymond and Sean were partners so they picked a deceased poet who was Gavin Gunhold because they never knew that hey had to show their progress to their teacher. To get a passing grade, they had to show the Gavin Gunhold was living and not deceased. To complete this, they convinced “ Gramps” Seans grandfather to become Gavin Gunhold. This showed the world that he was alive and that made them even popular. So making a new Gunhold, it actually saved a slab of marks. This was a risky method but Raymond did it because he would do anything to get a good grade and go to the island. Raymond made an extra ordinary essay which was very creative. The essay impressed Mr. Kerr and the principal, boosting his english
grade.

So in conclusion, the theme was “Creativity is the key to success” .
This theme is shown throughout the novel many times and it made Raymond’s dreams come true. Creativity is the key to success and making your dreams come
true.