The Beak of the Finch Non-Fiction

In “The Beak of the Finch”, Jonathan Weiner is trying to tell the reader that the theory of evolution was brought about in the Galapagos Islands where Darwin first saw the finches. He collected specimens and decided that evolution must have occurred. He explains that many scientists want to literally see evolution and it has therefore been proven my many groups of scientists. The finches are a popular way to glimpse this natural phenomenon because they stay contained on one island making them easier to capture and measure as well as stay safe because they are not being hunted. The book explains that Darwin did not even think highly of the finches when he first saw them, even though they led to the theory of evolution. Weiner proves the fact that people want to see evolution by following the story of the Grants, who, for generations, have measured and observed finches on Daphne Major, an Island. It says on the back cover that ‘’Peter and Rosemary Grant have spent twenty years proving that Darwin did not know the strength of his own theory.” They have been showing just how real evolution is and how it happens even in twenty years. Another way he proves his point is by following Darwin’s journey. He talks about Darwin first arriving to the Island and when he first saw the finches.

Jonathan Weiner wants the reader to feel how important evolution is and how it affects the world and the living things in it. He wants us to think that evolution is such a wonderful thing and the fact that Darwin had this theory has changed the world. His theory became so widely known that it was named “Darwinism”. Jonathan proves his point by talking about how all of the generations of Grants have been measuring and they are seeing evolution in progress. They are literally seeing species in the process of being changed. Just saying this makes me realize how special it is to see this. He also makes me feel how important evolution is not by a specific passage, but through the whole book. If he didn’t think evolution was important, why did he write a whole book about it? This makes me understand how no one would be here without evolution.

I think that the book tells the story of evolution astoundingly and mixes in facts about Darwin’s adventure with the story about the Grants.  I want to know more about how Darwin thought of the idea of evolution in the first place, but I am only partway through the book so it may still talk about that. I found the story very interesting and it definitely added a lot to my knowledge of evolution.  I think that to some people, especially kids, it might be a smidge slow and uninteresting, but it does alter the reader’s thinking about nature. But some people may not be able to see that, so I think that only some people can get a lot out of it.

To Kill a Mockingbird 3

In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the plot continues to become thicker and thicker. At the beginning, Jem and Scout had fun with their friend Dill in the summer trying to coax Boo Radley from his house. But as the story progressed, more issues of racism came into play. The trial, as unfair as it seems, was a normal occurrence in the south. But Scout is a character that is against the racism, even just in her town and she knows what is unfair.

Scout’s Teacher, Miss Gates, teaches her class a lesson about Democracy and Dictatorship using World War 2 and Hitler as her example. But what made me physically angry at her was when she begins to talk about how because we are a democracy, we are fair to everyone. She says, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody.” Wait a minute there. She said that America does not believe in persecuting anybody while all of America and even herself are rude to African Americans all of the time. She lives during the civil rights movement! It is especially not right to say this after the trial that has just taken place. I do not think that it is right for her to be saying that then, but maybe she could get away with that now. But even saying this today would be risky because not everyone is treated fairly. This scene happens while the students are reading current events, but Miss Gates obviously doesn’t know about current events.

Because Miss Gates thought that it was right to say that America treated everyone fairly during the civil rights movement, it makes me think that she is not the only one. Maybe people didn’t include persecuting blacks as unfair treatment. The way I suppose the people think is “they deserve it so it doesn’t count.” But as we know, this is not only unfair, but also untrue. The fact that Scout catches this mistake and asks her father about it says that maybe Miss Gates is off her rocker, but at least some people have some sense.

Miss Gates is an angering character in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Even before she said this, Scout never really liked her. Scout seems like she is opposite from the community in her beliefs and her style. She does not believe in persecution of blacks and she does not want to become what her society calls a “lady”. So in some ways, she is not a very realistic character, but I think she relates to girls in modern times.

To Kill a Mockingbird 2

In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the story slowly unravels to a different story. In my last blog post, I said that the story is about two kids, Scout and Jem, who want to get Boo Radley out of his house. Boo has never come out of his house before and there are many rumors about him.  But the story slowly turns into a suspenseful tale about an unfair court case.

Every so often, the story mentions that Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus, is defending an African American in the trial. This is unheard of and is causing much distress in the community. Throughout the whole story, the kids struggle to not fight or hurt people who call Atticus names and tease him, because hardly any white person in the town wants him to defend Tom Robinson. What I find strange, is that no one seems to realize that it was not Atticus’s choice to defend Tom, although he will do a much better job than most. The judge chose him as the lawyer and he could not say no. What is even more interesting, though, is that the judge choses Atticus on purpose because he wants Tom Robinson to win (I’m not guessing----it says this in the story). I find it really interesting that some people try to hurt Tom Robinson, especially the people who go to the jail to try and kill him, while some people, like Judge Taylor, want him to win the case.

 I think “To Kill a Mockingbird” takes place near the end of the civil rights movement because of the fact that some people do care about African Americans, but earlier this was probably not the case. There will always be a few whites that care and do not approve of their harsh treatments, but because in this case it is a judge who cares, it makes me think that this trial takes place in the late part of that time period. Why does Judge Taylor want Tom to win the trial? The book never tells us this much, but I have a feeling that he, just like Atticus, Jem, and Scout, wants the way that blacks are treated to change. He thinks that it is unfair and if Tom wins, then that town is one step closer to integration.

In the civil rights movement, everybody had a different view. This is a theme that comes out in this story. Some people absolutely despise blacks, and some people don’t really care one way or another. Atticus considers them like everyone else, and Judge Taylor feels bad for them. This is what made the times so hard: the fact that every person thought something different. And it makes this story all the more realistic by having this be a theme.

Praise on Winston

This week, I read Winston’s blog post, “The Last Thing I Remember.” The post is very well written in style, and has a unique focus. I really like how Winston connects the story to himself and then relates the theme to what he already discusses. He also describes how even though the story is not that realistic, parts of it are.

One of the things that I love most about Winston’s blog post is the way that he summarizes it. The summary is explained in such a way that does not reveal anything, but adds suspense. He does this by creating short, dramatic sentences to make it mysterious. For example, he says, “He has no idea what is going on, but nobody will believe him. He wants to discover the truth. He’s on the run.” That is the very end of the summary. Doesn’t it make you want to find out what happens? The way he writes the summary is much like the back cover of a book in that it is secretive but very intriguing. I love this way of writing, and I think that it makes his blog post unique and all the better.

The content of his piece is also very interesting because he connects the story to himself. The way he does this is by saying that the book is not realistic, but the characters feelings are. I liked how he admitted that the book is not very realistic, which is exactly what I was thinking when I read the summary. But he acknowledges this and I think that shows that he is passionate about the book and is open minded to what it is really about. He further uses what he says about the character’s emotions being realistic by comparing them to his own life. But what I especially liked about this is that I could connect with what he says about his own life. “There are times when people don’t believe what I say, even though I’m telling the truth. This frustrates me.” Who can’t relate themselves to this? I know it is especially frustrating when someone doesn’t believe me and then I am so annoyed that I smile or laugh, which nudges that person even farther away from believing me. And then what I like even more, is how Winston uses his knowledge of what the character feels from his own experience to describe how he better understands the character.

Winston’s blog, “The Last Thing I Remember”, is well written and has great, thoughtful content. He uses what he says about feelings and relating the character’s emotions to his own to relate to the theme of the book. The way he makes the summary mysterious makes me want to read the book. It sounds unrealistic, but it also seems like an interesting story. Winston does not say the usual “I like this book because…”. Instead, he describes to the reader what makes the book stand out to him. But, we can see that he likes the book because even though it is not realistic, he can relate to it in a way that many other people can.

This is a link to this blog:  http://readingbooks2479.blogspot.com/

non-fiction

In the article “Fireballs in the Sky are Not Exclusive to Siberia“, the author, Andy Newman, wants the reader to know that the meteor that landed in Syria was not as rare as people often think. In the New York region, many meteors and meteorites have landed, especially in the past few hundred years, and people may not notice them as much because they watch TV and spend time with electronics more and more. He also explains that sometimes the meteor that is sighted is found to be manmade, or fake. But there have been many accounts of real meteors in the sky and people finding them in their car or even living room in Brooklyn, and other nearby cities. Andy Newman proves his point by having actual accounts in quotes to show that people actually saw meteors. One account that was mentioned said: ‘“I was standing with a friend in Thirty-fourth-street, near the southwest corner of Madison-avenue, when we observed a luminous body rising rapidly from behind the houses on the southerly side of the street.”’ This makes the reader understand that people actually saw these meteors and many of them were real. Another example of this would be in an article published in Utica, New York. It said: “This morning at 1:40, the most beautiful meteor seen in this vicinity for years flashed across the northern sky nearly from horizon to horizon.” Another way that Newman proves his point is when he describes that a cosmochemist said “I just think that people aren’t as in touch with the natural world as they used to be and that includes meteorites.” This helps show how new technology is hurting people’s knowledge of the world and nature.

Andy Newman hopes that the reader will be more interested in meteors and their history, but also feel that they are not so rare and that they happen almost every day. Towards the beginning of the article, he says, “The New York region has seen more than its share of meteors and meteorites”. That means that there have been many sightings in the New York region alone, imagine the number of meteors that have landed in the world. That is probably a lot more than people expect. To further show that that is what Newman wants his readers to feel, he titles the article based off of this idea. “Fireballs in the Sky are Not Exclusive to Siberia” is pretty straightforward and the reader already knows how Andy Newman wants them to feel.

I definitely got the message from this article. I was one of those people who found what happened in Syria “improbable and exotic”. But this article made me realize that where I live, there have been many meteors. What shocked me the most was that even though landings occur often, especially in New York, I have never seen one, or even heard of a meteor landing. This article has most incredibly shaped the way that I think about meteors because I had no idea how often they land on earth. But thinking about it more makes me realize that it makes sense. There are billions of rocks flying around space and earth is not a very small target. It is understandable that meteor landings occur so often. I would love to know more about the statistics about how often they occur and where meteors most often land.

To Kill a Mockingbird

I am now reading “To Kill a Mockingbird”. So far, it is about Scout and Jem and their friend Dill. Dill convinces Jem to want to see Boo Radley. Boo has some sort of mental illness and therefore if feared in the town. Rumors are made up about him, and his house is avoided. But Jem and Scout have a different relationship to him. Boo Radley seems to know what they are up to, and is even nice to them. But Jem and Scout have never seen him or been able to contact him. They are beginning to discover that he is friendly to him. I also think that Boo knows what else is happening in the town, and that is why he will not come out.

Towards the beginning of the book, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to look into the window of Boo Radley’s house. Boo’s father shoots at them and they escape, but Jem without his pants. Later, when he goes back to get his pants which were caught on the gate, they were neatly folded and sewn up as if he were expected. It does not say, but I think that Boo Radley did this to become friends with Jem and Scout. There is another example of his kindness as well. When a neighbor’s house burns in the middle of the night, Boo puts a blanket around Scout when she was shivering outside his house. She didn’t notice this act of kindness, but this was certainly an attempt to create friends. Boo is doing only nice things for the kids, and I think that he will continue to help them until they figure this out.

It seems like the townspeople are afraid of Boo because he has a mental illness. This is why they make up mean stories about him and are cautious around his house. This is also why he will not come out. He does not know anybody and he is afraid of how people will react to him. And as time progresses, he is losing his chance of being accepted as more rumors are created. Because he is acting as if Jem and Scout are his friends, it makes me think that that is the reason he stays in his house: because he has no friends. If people accepted Boo even though he has an illness, he would come out. Then he would be treated even better. This issue also comes up in modern times. In Newtown, a man with a mental illness killed people in a school. People are afraid of him, for the right causes, but also for the wrong ones. He did kill people, but if America helped people who are mentally ill even more, this may not have happened. This makes me realize how Boo must feel because I know how afraid we are of people like him. I would not like to be such a cause of fear.

Boo Radley is not what the people in “To Kill a Mockingbird” think he is. He is kind, and just wants to fit in. But because of all the nasty rumors, he feels he cannot come out and therefore is feared even more. He also has a sneaky friendship with Scout and Jem, and I think that this friendship may persuade Boo to come out later in the book.

The Help 4

I am still reading “The Help” (because I have to read other books for the book bowl), which is about Skeeter’s book. She writes undercover and interviews maids to see what it is like to work for white families. I think that the book revolves around Hilly, the president of the League. She knows almost everybody in the town and all of the characters are afraid of her. “Help”, the title of Skeeter’s book, causes quite a ruckus in Jackson, Mississippi, and of course, Hilly is in the center of it.

 Hilly is a quirky character. On the one hand, she is very nice to all of her friends and has them over to play bridge and hang out. She has a popular side of her too, the side everyone sees most. She knows everyone in the town and always must know what is going on. But, she has a gossip side as well. Whenever she has the smallest hunch about Skeeter’s whereabouts or anyone else’s, she tells everyone she knows. She hurts many people this way. After Skeeter publishes her book, Hilly spread both true and false rumors about who is in the book. She tells people to fire their maids, and even send them to jail. But because of this, people are starting to realize that Hilly is not such a nice person. One woman, Lou Anne, tells Skeeter that Hilly is wrong and that she would never send her maid to jail, or even fire her. I think that later in the book, this will start a wave of rebels against Hilly. I predict Skeeter will become president of the League because people (only the people who believe what Hilly said about Skeeter writing the book) know she wrote the book, but are proud. Lou Anne already told Skeeter that she was not going to vote for Hilly again. One thing I wonder, though, is if Hilly knows that people don’t like it when she gossips. Does she know that she is only hurting herself though she thinks she is hurting other people? I think that if she did know that, she would stop telling people all of these things. But the fact that she changed her mind and now thinks that the book does not take place in Jackson (it does) makes me think that she knows she is spreading some false knowledge.

Hilly finds it entertaining to hurt people. She is known for revenge and does a good job holding up that title. But if it wasn’t for Skeeter, Hilly may not be liked in the town anymore. The book is making people realize that she is selfish and wants to see people suffer. But that will backfire, and fewer and fewer people will like Hilly, the same thing that had happened to Skeeter.

The Help 3

In “The Help”, the most important character changes often. First, it was Aibileen because she told much of the story which revolved around her. Then it was Skeeter because she had to write a book and find enough people to help her. Her book tells the story of how blacks feel working for whites. People disagree with it because no one has ever done this view before. After Skeeter’s time to shine comes Miss Celia Foote. She is probably my favorite character because she is so unique and outgoing. Miss Celia adds to the story by making it more complicated and adds suspense.

Celia is not friends with many people because she is new to the town. Her maid is Minny Jackson, who did something very bad (but hasn’t told the reader what yet) while working for Hilly. Hilly is a leader and has a lot of power and knows many people, so after this something happened, she tells everyone. This makes it very difficult for Minny to get hired. But Celia had just moved, so Minny gets the job from her. Celia has no idea what Minny did, so I think that she is the one who I can most relate to because she has the same amount of knowledge as the reader does. But no one (until Celia accidentally tells Hilly) knows that Minny works for her. Now Hilly is upset that Minny found work and she is mad at Celia for hiring her. Celia adds complications because now Hilly might tell her what Minny did that was so bad and Minny would have no work. No one else in the town will have her as a maid because of this one thing that she did. But Minny cannot ask Celia because that would give it away if Hilly actually hadn’t told her. Minny doesn’t know if Celia knows about what she did. This makes things very difficult for Minny, and it makes my head spin. This is sometimes what it feels like for me during group projects at school because I am not sure who is doing what or if they will actually do it and well. This makes me better know and understand the confusion in the story, and how each character’s lives get more and more complicated every chapter (or day).

The plot of “The Help” is very intricate with many details that bring the story to life. I think that most of the clutter and confusion is caused by Celia Foote. She adds to the story in so many ways, which is what makes it so complex. But it is also what makes the story so interesting and fun to read. It is probably one of my favorite books, and all because of one character: Celia Foote.

A Troubling Portrait of Domestic Work non-fiction

In the article, “A Troubling Portrait of Domestic Work,” the author wants the reader to know that a new study or survey was distributed to 2, 086 domestic worker who said that they were not given breaks or paid much, sometimes less than minimum wage. It was also found that Hispanic workers were paid less than Asian workers and workers that sleep at their work place often hardly got much sleep. The article explains that domestic workers don’t have the usual rights as other working citizens do, and do not usually get insurance. The author does a great job of proving this point when he includes all of the different statistics and percents. It helps describe how few get any advantages even when they are working so hard. Another thing that helps the author prove his/her main idea is when he/she states,” Wages varied widely by ethnicity and immigration status.” This shows that even in these times, there are still racial issues, but it also tells the reader that it is very difficult to make a living from being a domestic worker with such widely ranged wages. It is very difficult to live the way that these people do while working very hard to make such a small amount. But not only that, the workers also may have to deal with racist comments and less pay because of where they are from.

The author hopes that the reader will feel that the way domestic workers are treated in America is unfair. He/she hopes we will want them to be fairly treated wherever they come from, get higher pay, and all of the benefits of being not only a worker, but also a citizen. They should have equal rights because they work just as hard as others do. The author, though, has a tough job. For someone like me, it is very hard to feel bad for domestic workers because I can’t really imagine how it feels or what it is like to be treated differently because of my race or origin or live off of a minimum wage. The author does this by saying that “Achieving basic rights shouldn’t have to depend, haphazardly, on the kindness of their employers. “ Being the last line, it somewhat sums up what the whole article talks about. It makes the reader realize that the domestic worker’s whole life depends on the kindness of one person, and no one should have to be in this position. The author also uses the word “if” to help him/her describe what life would be like if domestic workers were treated equally.

I think that the article has a way of stating the facts without using specific words that make it seem more convincing. I like how it does this without having to explain why what is happening is bad.  I would like to know more facts about domestic workers that are more unique. I would like to know how they feel about the unfairness of how they are treated. I feel like if they are citizens, they should be treated like it. I also don’t understand why they are not treated as workers when they work just as hard as many workers who are paid hundreds or even thousands more. I just don’t understand why. This article is good at telling me the basic facts, but it needs to explain them a little more.

The Help 2

In “The Help”, different people living in Mississippi during the civil rights movement tell their stories which overlap into one. In almost every chapter, the narrator changes. Two characters carry out the same idea that relates to the time period. Minny is a black woman who just found a job as a maid, and Skeeter is a white woman who tells her childhood story. Their stories both have one thing in common: the whites are nice to the blacks.

Minny needs a job desperately if she is to make enough money to buy food. She finds a cleaning job with a woman who she thinks is crazy. Miss Celia is not crazy, but Minny is not used to her bosses, let alone whites being nice to her. Miss Celia is new to the town but is very friendly to everyone. I think that she is great and very nice. I would want to work for her. She gives a very high pay for those times, and is very flexible. She also knows when she needs help as she asks for a cooking lesson from Minny every day. Minny has never worked for someone this nice before so she doesn’t really understand that Miss Celia is being nice. She stays with the job because she is paid well. I think that she secretly likes Miss Celia because she talks about her all of the time. But that is the story she is telling to the reader so she may not be saying all of that because she likes her. Minny just does not know what to think when people go against the community and against everything she knows.

Skeeter is a white woman who misses her old house cleaner terribly. Constantine left while she was in college but she was a big part of little Skeeter’s life. Skeeter, although she lives in Mississippi during the civil rights movement, never mentioned that Constantine was black. I am pretty sure she was though, because she had a separate bathroom (this bathroom issue has come up a lot in the book). Constantine’s race may not have been mentioned because Skeeter hardly ever noticed. She treated her as a mother and always went to her for advice or just to talk. She seems like she was very nice. But it was interesting how, even though Skeeter grows up in a community that is racist, she never seems to mind that Constantine is black. Maybe this is why she leaves or is fired: because Skeeter’s mother doesn’t approve of her daughter having such a close relationship with a black woman.

Minny and Skeeter are completely different people with such different backgrounds. Even their one similarity is different. They are living in a difficult time but they seem to be the best at having good relationships with different races. That is what I like about them. They are open to actually being nice to others. I think that people nowadays should take this lesson from them: to be open and not care about someone’s appearance.

The Help

I recently began reading “The Help”. From the amount that I read, I know that the book is about the relationships of whites and blacks in Mississippi during the time of the civil rights movement. It is told through the perspective of an African American woman who is a nanny and maid to Miss. Leefolt’s family. One of the things I find most interesting about the book is that it is told through the eyes of not only an African American, but also a woman. It is a perspective that while learning about this time never really saw. It makes the time seem different because now the reader knows how people felt being treated the way that they were, rather than just stating the facts.

In the first couple pages of the book, Miss Leefolt, the woman that Aibeleen works for, has a bridge game with many of her friends. They talk about gossip, but they also talk about how blacks are lazy and they cannot do much work. Miss Leefolt makes sure that Aibeleen is not in sight. She never describes how she feels about this commenting, but I know that the reason for this is most likely because she is used to it. What does that say about the community? For one thing, it means that they don’t think that blacks have feelings because they don’t make any move to be quiet around her. She is probably angry about these remarks, but making these rude comments with her in the room and right next door makes me think that they have no thought for blacks whatsoever. Another thing that this says about the community is that the African Americans no longer care strongly what the people say. Their rights are being completely ignored, as citizens and as people, and they make no arguments about the horrible things people say. I think that it takes courage to fight against it, but it is just as dangerous to say nothing.

I know that from what I know of myself, I would be afraid to stand up for my rights alone. This may be part of the problem. No one feels like they can say anything because nobody else is. But if it had kept going on like that, the civil rights movement might still be going on. I suppose something must have happened even in Mississippi to have this change. This may also change in the book as it goes along. I can’t believe that anyone could get used to living a life under that kind of hatred without saying anything. It must take a lot of courage to be quiet and risk you and your family’s future as well as risk your life to be free of it. No matter how many books I read or movies I watch, I will never completely understand what Blacks were going through in that time period.

The Diary of Anne Frank non-fiction

Anne Frank, in her diary, wants the reader to understand how hard the Holocaust was for her and for every other Jew living in Europe around that time, although this last part is only sparsely mentioned in her diary. Her main goal is to share her feelings about the other people she is in hiding with, feelings that she would never share with them. She also wants us to understand exactly what her life is like in the “Secret Annexe” and how different it is from her usual routine. It says in the story, “we simply don’t get on together these days”. This is an important line because it just shows how difficult their life it. From Anne’s diary, the reader somewhat gets a fix on how many issues there are within this small community and that is really no easy feat to live the way she does. It is amazing they get along as much as they do, and Anne spends much of the book talking about her fights. The arguments are such a major part of the story and so they symbolize the actual fighting going on in the war. The grownups (Nazis) completely exaggerate how bad Anne is (the Jews). She says in the story that “I have my faults, just like everyone else, I know that, but they thoroughly exaggerate everything.” When she says this, she is connecting to the war around her with the fighting in her household, and it only proves how difficult her life is. Later in the book, she stops describing all of the “quarrels” and talks about Peter. Peter is an important character because, once Anne feels comfortable with him, she can tell her feelings with him. The amount of time that they spend talking together only shows how much she has to say, and therefore further explaining her point that they lead a difficult life.

Anne Frank hopes that the reader will empathize with everything that she feels. Being about her age myself, I have an easier time of doing this than a young child or an adult would who was not in the holocaust. At one point in the middle of the book she explains to the diary that she would not have been able to go this far without it. This helps the reader empathize with her because everyone has something that they need, and I know that I felt bad that hers was a diary. She didn’t even feel like she needed her family. Another thing that helps me empathize with her is all of the fighting. I don’t argue that much with my parents, but some of the feelings she has about them is very similar to my own thoughts. Her pattern of thinking is also similar to many other people.  The first third of the book is all about the arguments in the “Secret Annexe”; the second is about how much she likes Peter. I haven’t read passed this part yet so I do not know what the third third is. But this is like obsession. Many teenagers have certain phases or obsessions with certain bands, singers, movies, or TV shows. These last for about the same amount of time as they do for Anne. Countless times Anne apologizes to Kitty (her diary) about talking so much about one subject. For me, this just helps me empathize with her.

I am taking quite a bit away from this book. I realize more that there is a lot more to the Holocaust to the camps, but the people in hiding also had a very difficult life. I never, before this book, really thought about how the people in hiding felt, and if I did, I thought that it was an easy life because I was just focusing on the camps during World War 2. One thing I thought interesting in the book is how Anne Frank hardly mentions how lucky she is. She spends much of the time complaining about her life when really she is lucky to be alive. I know that I do this along with everybody else I know, but somehow, it seems worse when she is in the middle of the Holocaust. I would like to know more about what other people are feeling. She talks about so many people, and I only know her view. It might be interesting to hear the other people living with her and what they are thinking about her.

The Diary of Anne Frank

The book I have recently started, “The Diary of Anne Frank” by Anne Frank is the actual diary of a thirteen year old girl hiding in an attic from the Nazis during world war two. She describes the living conditions and everything that she hears about what is happening to her friends and family who are not hidden. One of the most common things she talks about while hiding in the “secret annex” is the fights the families have. There is Ms. Van Daan who always is picking a fight with someone or other. And then she talks about herself and how nobody seems to think that she can do anything right. But it is really nobody’s fault for the fights. It can be because of the setting or because of the anxiety of what is happening.

The setting is a major part of the reason why there is so much tension. Because the two families are living in a cramped living environment, a lot of their quarrels have to do with the setting itself. One fight that lasted a few days was over a small work desk that everyone needed to do their work. The setting made it difficult to share a working space with all dwellers. Many of the arguments have happened because of some problem with the setting. For example, the families had to store beans but could not keep them on the main floor so they had an argument about who should take them upstairs. The end result was a million beans on the floor. The setting has a large impact on the characters relationships because it makes them quarrel more often for simple things like beans or a work desk. I know that if I was stuck with the same eight people in an attic I would be angered easily. This makes me realize how hard it must be for them to be nice to each other in this environment. It must be difficult for the families to get along as much as they do which is hardly at all.

In the book, the newcomer who moves in with Anne and her family into the “secret annex” knows a lot about what is going on outside because he has been out there longer. He tells the family all of the horrors of what has been happening at concentration camps and how unfairly people are treated. I think that it is stories like these that add to the fighting between people. The anxiety of knowing that something might happen to them and what is happening to their friends is harsh and it certainly adds to the tension. This makes the families spark their anger at every little thing. I know that I would be very scared knowing that I could be caught and shot at any moment for hiding, I would be very scared and easily frightened. This is what causes some of the fight. Also, because there is hardly anything to do, there is more time for them to think about these things giving more fighting time as well as more time to build up fears. Anxiety and boredom are definitely contributing to the arguments between people in the “secret annex”.

It is obvious by the way that Anne Frank talks about the arguments that they are not what usually happen between her and her family. So, something must be different. I think that the setting itself is a contributing factor because there is hardly room and has caused many specific arguments. Boredom leads to anxiety which leaves residents more vulnerable to becoming angry at one another. There are definitely many more things, though, that cause these fights. But arguments are most often sparked in my life because of these things, so these must be the major causes of arguments in general.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

In the book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", the author, Rebecca Skloot, wants readers to know that that Henrietta Lacks was a woman living in the mid- 1900s was taken advantage of when she had cancer and some of her cells were taken without her knowing and used in experiment in labs eventually around the world.The author explains the distribution of her cells over the world and the importance that they have because of how quickly they can grow and can be used to discover vaccines and answers to many scientific questions. On detail that helps Rebecca Skloot prove her point is when she explains how Henrietta's cells helped make a vaccine for polio. Without even knowing it she saved millions of people from diening of polio. Another detail that helps her is when she goes to interview the family who then explain to her how they didn't know about this untill the scientists took their blood. It shows how if Henrietta's closest family didn't know about the usage of her cells, how was she supposed to know? Rebecca Skloot says in the story after she explains that the reporter used fake names, "This is why the name was never mentioned to them." "Them" being her family. She wants readers to realize how terrible this was for Henrietta when she describes in too much detail what was happening inside her body. Skloot wants readers to realize how unfair this was to Henrietta because she had no idea what was happening to her cells.

Rebecca Slkoot hopes that readers will feel bad for Henrietta and think that what happened to her was unfair. She makes us feel that the doctors and scientists had no right to take her cells without her approval. They didn't even tell her in her life time what was happening and there was no way for her to figure out when she was stuck in the hospital most of the time. The story talks about how her family didn't even find out untill twenty years after it became a multimillion-dollar industry. This tells the reader that they didn't even try to tell her or her family, and this is not fair. She would most likely be happy that her cells were doing so much good to the world, so why didn't they tell her? The author clearly thinks that this is unfair to Henrietta and her family when she has many pages dedicated to the argument over whether informed consent is needed. She says that she asked one of Henrietta's doctors whether they had tried to get informed consent and he said "No. We never gave consent form because you just go

I think that so far, this book is really great and interesting. I had no idea that this sort of thing happened, and before I read this book, I didn't know who Henrietta Lacks was. I feel really bad that that this happens to people and I wonder if this happens to anyone else, and if it does, than those people don't even get a good story to tell; plus they were lied to. It seems unfair, even if this helped the scientific world a lot. I am very interested in cell biology so I am learning a lot about cells that I want to know, while reading a really well written book. The science in the book is amazing. It explains how vaccines are injected into cells and that they can be split in half.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 3

This week I had a hard time finding a book I would like, so I have to write about “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” for one more week. The book is a true story about Henrietta Lacks whose cells were taken from her when she was diagnosed with cancer. The only thing wrong was that the doctors never told her or her family that they were using her cells. The articles in the newspapers used false names, anything to prevent her from knowing about it. But these cells cured many diseases including polio. But the book also tells the story of her family’s life after she is in the hospital. But not only does it follow them, and the author gathering the information, the book also tells the scientific story of her cell. In science class, the other week, we had a class debate about whether it was fair to test on animals for research. This relates to the story in the way that Henrietta was used for research and had no opinion as well as many other people including her family. I think that it is wrong not to tell them, but it is right to use them as long as it causes no harm.

The book shows a scene where the author, Rebecca Skloot, is at the house of Henrietta’s direct family to gather information for the book. She describes in detail everything she had heard and seen, which gives the reader a really good understanding of what the family is like. They get into this whole argument about how hospitals liked to use African Americans for testing because in those days, segregation was just beginning to wear off. They talk about how Johns Hopkins, the medical school and hospital where Henrietta was kept, liked to take African Americans off of the street to test on them and often killed them. One striking thing that was said was that sometimes they would perform dissections on these people when they were alive so they could study the body in the action. They would not use anesthesia.

I completely agree with Henrietta’s family in that the way that the hospitals used African Americans for research was unfair. I feel like that if they had gotten informed consent on the investigations from the people than it would be alright. But the scientist would inject the live cancer cells from Henrietta into people without them knowing to test whether they affected them. This made people have cancer. First of all, they had no idea what they were being injected with. It’s not like the doctors didn’t tell them, they lied about what they were doing which makes me even more mad. Second of all, it severly harmed many of them and sometimes killed them. I just cannot believe that people would do something like this. And, to go on top of that, the doctors were making sure the cells were not harmful so they could protect themselves while studying the cells. That is really selfish.

I love the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” a lot, but some things that have nothing to do with the story make me very unhappy. I think that, although there are laws about this nowadays, I think it is important now to protect the rights of animals. If they could talk, and you asked them if they want to put cream in their eyes that would make them blind but make people have shiny skin, they would say “no”. But they cannot talk so they cannot tell you that they don’t want this. But is that a good reason to test on them?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 2

I am still reading “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. It is a true story about Henrietta Lacks whose cells were taken from her when she developed cancer. These cells, unlike any others, could grow nonstop and therefore are used in numerous experiments, one of which cured polio. The book follows Henrietta’s family and Rebecca Skloot as she tries to gather information from the family. Throughout the story, there are many perspectives. The most common ones are Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta’s family, and the doctors and scientists. But one of the most important perspectives is missing: the people.

They story explains the press and how many articles were published about the HeLa cells(Henrietta’s cells), and that these are all over the world, but the book never explains what the ordinary day people thought about what was happening. Were the people upset, or did they just not care? The story excludes these people because since the Lacks family didn’t know it was Henrietta, the people most likely would have thought nothing of it, except for the fact that her cells were curing many diseases. In this large area, I also think that the people who were tested with the cells have no perspective in the book. They got cancer in their body without knowing as a test. This is what happened to Henrietta and I’m sure they were not happy, but how should I know if the book leaves them out?

I also noticed that in the book there is a lot of racism, and this somewhat corresponds to perspective. Within just the Lacks family, there are light skinned people and African Americans, and these people rarely mix. The perspective of the African Americans is actually shown much more in the story because they are Henrietta’s direct family. I think that even though this is exactly opposite of what someone might expect given the time period, it show the segregation that there is, but without giving any color an advantage. It still shows the separation but it is kindly written to not exclude African Americans. The family cared a lot about the whole cell thing, but how did whites feel? Were they upset or did they just not care because of skin color?

In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, I realized that racism does not have to be shown by excluding the victims, African Americans. It can be shown in many ways, and the less obvious it is, the more realistic it is; because the obvious is not what happens every single time. The perspective that is missing explains a lot about what the author is trying to tell the reader.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 1

I am in the middle of reading “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” This is probably one of the most interesting and surprising non-fiction stories that I have ever read. It is about a woman named Henrietta Lacks who is diagnosed with cancer, but a sliver of her tumor is sliced off without her permission or her knowledge of it. These cells were used to try to grow them and see if they could be immortal, and they worked. These cells grew so much, that they were used to create the polio vaccine, and solve “every diseases that was known as ‘incurable.’” In the book, I noticed that, although it is non-fiction, there are a few issues. One of the obvious issues includes lying, and racism. But these things can be narrowed down to find what the author is really trying to tell the reader.

I think that one very important aspect of the story that may not be seen on the surface is transportation. People these days take advantage of transportation, kind of like Henrietta was, but that is not the point. Without the advanced transportation that is used, like airplanes, these cells would not be so widespread, at least not as quickly. It is very unlikely that people all over the world would be affected by the discoveries these cells helped make because the cells and the information would not be able to travel overseas. The transportation in this book matters a lot. It even describes how Gey, the doctor who first used the cells, had to find a way to transport the cells across the world without letting them die, so this is part of the story too. The transportation made it possible for the cells to reach other labs where more key experiments were designed and carried out. So, Henrietta’s time period is also to blame for the spread of her cells around the world.

Another undercover issue in the book is the media. It is almost entirely the media’s fault for giving the family no idea what happened to Henrietta’s cells. This is because, as it explains in the book, the media was not allowed to use Henrietta’s name in the magazines and newspapers. They used their names, such as Helen Lake, or Helen Landerson. This gave the family no information that this was someone in their family, and it led them out of even the suspicion that this might be someone in their family. The media made it impossible for the family to even find out if those were Henrietta’s cells. This is what I find really unfair. I think that the family would be more happy than sad to find out the news that someone in their family was drastically helping the world. If the media was allowed to say the name, than the family could be famous, when now, they are forgotten.

I think that in this book, there are many underlying issues that are things that the author put there both on purpose and accidentally. But it is these things that define the main cases of the story and build it up. Without the transportation, this could have only stayed in Gey’s lab, and without the media putting them off track, the family may have known sooner. These things are what turn the story around, and in this case, turn it in the worst way.

Death on the Nile

I recently finished reading Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. It is a murder mystery about a wealthy young lady, Linnet, who marries the fiancée of her best friend Jackie. Jackie, however close to Linnet she may be, has a plot of revenge which includes following the newly-wed couple on their honeymoon to Egypt and wounding Simon Doyle (her ex. husband) and possibly killing Linnet. All of this has happened in the first half of the book. The story is very suspenseful and draws the reader in to make them keep reading. I could not stop this book, and every chapter consists of a new twist that is completely unexpected. The main setting for the book, as it looks like now, will be Egypt, hence the title. I think that the setting will be a very important part of the book later on because of what it has done for me already.

Egypt has been a common hint to me about who is involved or connected to Linnet. In the beginning of the book, each new chapter introduced a complicated new character of whom I had no idea of who they were or why they were in the story. After I found out about the honey moon of the Doyles to Egypt, I began to identify the word Egypt as a word that connected characters. This clue helped me become less confused about characters and which person does what in the beginning of the book especially, but all throughout the book as well. Egypt was important not so much to the story in this case, but more of a clue for the reader to figure out which characters would be on the trip to Egypt and the important roles they would play in the mystery.

Egypt is also the main place where Jackie decides to track Linnet and Simon down. She does this because she is angry with Simon because he married Linnet after being engaged with her. The setting becomes important here because Jackie is ruining the honeymoon to Egypt, and is a suspect of Linnet’s murder. She has become a dreaded and feared companion on the trip. The setting is unique from any other place that Linnet and Simon could be for their honey moon because they are on a boat for most of the time which makes the case much more contained, and most likely easier to solve because the murderer must be on the boat. Without Egypt, the story may have been a lot longer than it is. Jackie is cleared from one "coincidental" almost-fatal happening in Egypt. A large rock tumbles down a cliff to just where the Doyles sat but they hurriedly moved just seconds before it crashed to the ground. Literally, a piece of the setting almost killed the endangered couple. This was no coincidence it seemed after all that happened. This is when the suspicion begins, all caused by the setting of Egypt.

This book is probably my favorite book ever. One of the things that make it so interesting is the setting. I learned a lot about settings from this book. I now know that every setting has some importance to the book, otherwise, it would not be that setting. My life would be a lot different if I lived somewhere else, for the better or worse. In this book, the setting helped the story a lot by being on a boat in Egypt most of the time, this way there are limited suspects. 

The Old Man and the Sea

SPOILER

I recently finished The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemmingway. It is a short story about an old man who struggles to catch a large fish at sea. The old man’s name is mentioned once in the whole story, it is Santiago. The story is slow moving but very enjoyable. In the beginning of the story, it introduces a young boy who Santiago loves. In the beginning and middle of the book, the old man wants the boy to be with him at sea to help him. The difference between the middle and the end is that in the end, he needs the boy. The relationship between the old man and the boy in the middle of the book and the end of the book changes from wants to needs.

In the beginning of the book, the old man is in his shack, and wants the boy to do things for him. He appreciates the things that the boy does for him. Santiago likes the boy to help him into bed, and get woken up, and enjoys when he retrieves his coffee. A reader could make the inference that he could live without the boy attending to his every need. The man is old, and needs a little assistance, but he describes how his experience has made him stronger, and that he can survive on his own. This is what I thought at the beginning of the book. I thought that the boy is very helpful to Santiago, but I would never have guessed how much the old man would need the boy. The fish that Santiago just had to catch made him and the reader and the boy realize that they need each other. 

Throughout the whole fishing trip, the old man wishes that he had the boy with him. But he manages to survive without him for the trip and catch the fish and fight off of most of the sharks. The middle of the book shows that the old man is starting to realize that he needs the boy and that he will not be able to save the fish. He knows in advance that more sharks will arrive to try to take the fish after the first shark attack. He knows that he will not be able to save much of the fish. 

The end of the book has the boy helping and healing the man’s wounds from trying to catch the fish. Santiago is so tired and exhausted from the fishing excursion and is depending on the boy to help him to recover and get better. The reader can also tell that the boy needs Santiago because he cry’s about him not getting the fish. He would rather be with the old man than fish in a boat that gets more fish. This is really sweet and shows that they love each other and will be with each other no matter the circumstances. 

In The Old Man and the Sea, there are intertwining relationships that change throughout the book. It releases a theme that can teach the reader about how you never think the same thing about a person or thing for long. Patience also is a main theme that comes from this relationship. The old man has to be patient in order to catch the fish, it takes many days. He also had to be patient to be with the boy at the end of the trip.  Patience helps Santiago get the fish and get back to his shack, and it helps build the boy and his relationship. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a young girl living in Brooklyn in the early to mid-1900s tells the reader about her daily life. She lives somewhat in poverty; gathering garbage for money and finding ways just to earn a little more. Francie lives with her mom and brother in a little apartment building in Williamsburg. Her dad works as a waiter and is never quite sure when he will be home. There are a few moments in the book that I thought were obvious foreshadows. I really like foreshadows because they are mysterious and often hidden in the text. What I think is really nice about the foreshadowing in this book is that the reader can easily point them out, though their meaning is often unpredictable. Even though I can see these clues as to what might happen later in the storyline, I could never guess even the slightest details of what might actually happen later in the story.

For the poor in Williamsburg, there are many ways to survive. In the story, Francie goes out to buy the bread from the bakery that is only sold to the poor because it has gone bad. It is sold cheaper than fresh bread and many folk sent their children to retrieve this bread. Francie enters that store and there is a huge crowd so the waits in the back. This scene contains an important, overarching foreshadow when Francie feels afraid to become old when she sees a man and imagines how he must feel and how useless he must be. She hopes she will never have to be like that. When I read this I knew immediately that the story was foreshadowing. It was a brief excerpt of the story, and I could almost taste all of the meaning in the scene. My theory was proven when later in the story, Francie mentions her experience to her mother. She explains how she does not want to be as useless as the old man at the bakery. I think that this may end up being a major theme in the book: becoming older.

Later in the story, Francie goes to Flossie Gaddis’s house. Flossie is a neighbor known for her elaborate costumes, which is why Francie gives her a visit. Flossie has a brother, Henny who is supposedly dying. He is very angry when Francie says hello. The foreshadow in this part of the story is a little more clear that the last one. It says in the story, “she had a feeling that something was stealthily concealed behind those costumes…And it was hiding behind these brilliant colors waiting for Henny.” In the middle, she adds a short description of the figure of force behind those costumes. This foreshadow is obviously directed towards the safety of Henny. I knew then that Henny would be an important part of the story and that there is some danger, and that danger could even be his death. I am more sure of the outcome of this foreshadow, but I still don’t have a perfect picture of what might happen in response to this foreshadow.

The foreshadows in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn reveal a comfertable amount of information about what is to come in later pages. They reveal who might be important characters and what might be a major theme in the story. They do not show what will happen plot-wise in the story and that is what appeals to me as a reader and that is what makes me interested in the rest of the story, without knowing what will actually happen. Foreshadowing adds quite a lot to a story and makes it much more interesting and suspenseful to read.