May Non-Fiction

I watched the movie “Girl Rising” by Richard Roberts recently*. Roberts wants the viewer to know that many girls do not get an education and around the world, there are very few opportunities for them to be educated. He also describes that educating girls could be the key to a better world. He also would like the viewer to know that some girls in the world must fight for their education which often turns out to be worth it in the end. The movie shows the stories of a few brave girls who fight for their rights and education. The creator, Roberts, gets this message across by including facts. In between each story of a specific girl, he uses that time to share “fun” facts about the education of girls and about girls all over the world in general. An example of these facts is that there are 33 million less girls than boys attending primary school. Another thing that Roberts does to convey this idea of educating girls is to show the stories of girls who want their education. One example is the story of a girl living in Haiti. She goes to school until the huge earthquake occurs and there is no money for the new school, now taking place in a tent. She goes to the tent but is sent away. The next day she returns and tells her teacher “Even if you send me away, I will come back every day,” and convinces the teacher to let her stay even though she cannot pay.

Richard Roberts hopes that the viewer will both feel upset at the horrible facts of the education and rights of girls, but he also wants the viewer to feel motivated to help those girls who cannot get an education. Some girls are able to educate themselves and that we should feel the same way. The viewer feels saddened by the awful things that happen to girls, but also feels hope for the future through the way that the girls shown solve their problems. One way that Roberts makes the viewers feel this way is by having both frightening and motivating stories. An example of a sad story is a girl who, on a very hot day, wishes to travel to get some juice. The day was hot so she did not want to walk so she took a ride from a man. The man did not take her to the market, but to his house, and then further and further away from her home. He later raped her at 11 years old, and soon after, she became engaged. This story is quite upsetting, unlike the story about a girl working at a radio station. She helps other girls solve their problems. This story was more hopeful to show that not all girls have these terrible experiences. Another way that Roberts makes the audience feel this way is by including hopeful facts as wells as upsetting ones. He talks about how difficult it is to educate girls, and also describes how if we educate girls, we could improve the world.

I loved the movie. I was an excellent mixture of hope and sorrow, and even was a little funny. I learned a lot about what it is like for girls to not be educated all around the world. I think that girls who go to school are so lucky that they can, it is important for them to see this movie to know how fortunate they are. I want to know more about the other issues that affect girls worldwide. I hope that more girls can solve their problems like those in the video did. I enjoyed the movie very much and I wish that there were more videos like this. The movie makes me think about how people don’t care as much about girls’ education as they do boys’ as they have always thought.

*I was not able to collect quotes when watching the movie, so I only have a few.

My Antonia

I am currently reading “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. The book is about a boy visiting his grandparents at their house on the Nebraska Prairie, where he meets a Bohemian immigrant named Antonia. The book describes in depth both life on the Prairie as well as the two children’s relationship to one another. I find that the boy’s reaction when meeting Antonia is a smidge surprising, and unnatural to a person like me, and I also think that the setting could be the cause of this.

The boy, Jimmy, does not seem frightened or nervous at all when meeting the Bohemian family. He seems confident and willing to listen to the family. Coming from New York, I would be a smidge shy, as many kids my age would, and I would also not run off holding hands with one of the people I had just met and “snuggle” with him/her at the edge of a cliff. Honestly, I find this a little straightforward and imposing. I find myself quite quiet (if you can believe it) around strangers, but especially foreigners. Once, my friend rented her house out to a Scottish family, who my parents then decided to invite for brunch. The aspect I found most threatening was how polite they were. People from not only Scotland, but England as well are generally more polite than New Yorkers. One example of their polite manner was when my mom asked the 5-year-old boy, Bruce, whether he wanted some more orange juice. He replied in his adorable Scottish accent, “I wouldn’t mind.” The way he said it was so polite, like someone would say at the inaugural ball. Anyway, Jimmy was not shy at all, and I believe that he is a very communicative person because he did not feel this way when meeting the Bohemian family.

I think that the setting is partly the cause of Jimmy’s straightforward manner. On the lone, open prairie, a person could walk for miles without seeing another person or house. Jimmy’s loneliness may have led to a desire to talk to someone other than his grandparents. The same goes for Antonia. She is Bohemian, and most likely is not used to prairie life. Both she and Jimmy probably got fed up with their family and wanted a change. I feel this way with my room. Do you ever get tired of the way your room looks and randomly move furniture around? It may sound a little strange, but I do this every few months, depending on how neat the change allows me to be. The point is that Jimmy and Antonia were bored with seeing the same people each day because it is rare to see people out on the prairie, so they did not feel shy at all when meeting each other. Because of my experience with this, I understand how frustrating it is to see the same people and the same furniture each day.

Antonia, in “My Antonia” causes the main character, Jimmy, to respond to her in an overly-confident manner. He, in my opinion, seems almost rude in the way he acts. This is why people are shy: because they don’t want to seem to imposing or act as if they have already met. There is a difference (obviously) between rude and friendly, but in this case, it is almost hard to tell them apart.

Sneeeky* Juliet

Everything a friend or family member does impacts your impression of them and you understand that person better, so what would happen if they lied about everything?  You would be getting to know a different person. William Shakespeare creates a character like this in the play “Romeo and Juliet”, where a dispute between families causes a secret love resulting in both lovers’ death. One of these lovers is Juliet (the other being Romeo), a seemingly innocent and sweet 14-year-old who is really quite naughty and mischievous. She manipulates her family throughout the play to get what would benefit her. Juliet uses society’s expectations of her to her own advantage to change her reputation for the purpose of spending more time with Romeo, and meanwhile covering her tracks. By doing this, she misleads her family to believe her to be a different person than she truly is.

Juliet alters her reputation in order to spend more time with her true love, Romeo. Her actions in the story cause her loved ones to think of her contrary to who she is and she is able to gain more time to spend with Romeo. In the play, Juliet drinks a poison that causes her body to appear dead when she is really alive. She intends to later wake up and escape with Romeo by her side. When her mother, Lady Capulet, sees her laying cold and limp in bed, she shouts “O me! O me! My child, my only life.” (4.5, 24). Lady Capulet has altered her opinion of Juliet -- earlier she felt controlling and gave Juliet no say in her own affairs, while now she unexpectedly seems so caring. Yet she is not so changed as she may seem. By using “me” and my” repetitively, she emphasizes her superiority over Juliet yet again. She, though, has no idea that Juliet has been manipulating her to not notice her time spent with Romeo. Lady Capulet knows that she has authority over Juliet, but still is kinder to her here. Lady Capulet will, because of Juliet, be a more positive person, especially towards Juliet When Lady Capulet says that she is her “only life”, she realizes not only that Juliet should not have died, but that she mistreated her in her only life. If she and Romeo were to survive everything and escape together, and Lady Capulet were to discover their trick, she would at first be angry, but in the long run she might act more compassionate towards and protective of Juliet. Friar Lawrence has this in mind when he describes to her the result of the poison he gives her. He says “Each part, deprived of supple government” (4.1, 104). He literally means that her body will be stripped of flexibility, but his word choice implies governmental or societal roles in her “death”. She has, ever since she met Romeo, been losing authority from her life. Juliet has been disobeying almost every rule she could. No one had real power over her, not even her beloved nurse who tells her to marry Paris in the end. Juliet went to extreme measures and changes her innocent reputation for the purpose of getting more time with Romeo.

Juliet uses society’s expectations for her to cover her tracks. Throughout the play, she does naughty and drastic things to be with Romeo. A fight breaks out between the Montague and Capulet families which kills Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt. When she discovers that Romeo is banished from Verona because he is the cause of Tybalt’s death, she is even more upset about Romeo’s punishment than she is about Tybalt. When her mother asks her if she is “Evermore weeping for your cousin’s death?” (3.5, 71), she replies with not only with little emotion, but sarcasm as well, “Yet let me weep for such a feeling of loss.” (3.5, 77).  Juliet is expected by her mother, family, and society to be agitated over Tybalt’s death (especially when few are aware of her secret love life with Romeo), so she acts as if that is her reasoning. She uses society’s expectations to hide her true obsession. Another example of this manipulation happens to prove a major obstacle for Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. Lady Capulet informs Juliet that she will be marrying Paris. At first, she expresses anger and dissatisfaction, but later apologizes for her disobedient ways. She is expected by everyone to marry whomever her parents decide upon, so she switches her reaction to keep her secret with Romeo steadfast. When she first learns of her marriage she exclaims, “He shall not make me there a joyful bride!” (3.5, 122), most likely causing suspicion about her reasoning. Such emphasis on the sentence shows she really means it, but Juliet is sneaky and actually does agree to the marriage. She says “he” in reference to Paris, not hinting that it is Lord and Lady Capulet who are forcing the marriage upon her. This, then, creates no problem with her parents over their parenting and therefore covering her tracks.

Juliet uses expectations to mislead her family about who she truly is. To them, she is young, and innocent. But in the story, she is really quite mischievous, tricky, and in love, yet this is the side of her hidden from peoples’ view. When Juliet apologizes to her Lord Capulet saying, “I have learned me to repent the sin/of disobedient disposition,” (4.2, 18-19), She also states that “Henceforward I am ever ruled by you.” (4.2, 23) She says “henceforward”, or from now on, a word used often in past legal documents, to make it official for her father when she knows she is going to “die”. Juliet misleads Lord Capulet to happily believe she has changed, when she is really being just as secretive and disobedient as ever. Juliet also uses her language to mislead people about who she really is.  Her language is especially crafted to have a double meaning. This occurs when she talks with her mother over how sad she is about Tybalt, but is really most sorrowful over Romeo’s banishment. She creates a sentence that says how sad she is about Tybalt, but doubling up so she could also be talking about Romeo. She simply states that she will always be upset with such a feeling of loss, yet she never states for whom her sorrow is directed to. This blanks spot is what not only protects her true secret, but it does not show her parents who she truly is and who she truly loves. Juliet misleads her family about who she actually is, and it harms them.

Juliet uses society’s expectations to gain more time to spend with Romeo, all the while covering her tracks, resulting in a family who is unaware of her true personality. She marvels at Romeo, ignoring the harm being done to her family who think she is a drastically different person. Do modern day people do this too? Do we concentrate on something important to us and not notice what is important to others? Do we shy away when family or friends attempt to get to know us? Just remember how everything turns out for Juliet who does these same things (I am not saying that this results in death, merely that there can be consequences).

*This is spelled wrong on purpose, for effect.

April Non-Fiction

I read the article “When your Data Wanders to Places you’ve Never Been” by Natasha Singer who wants the reader to know that a friend of hers was researching Multiple Sclerosis, and companies profiled her as an M.S. patient. Senator John D. Rockefeller does not think that it is okay for companies to use people’s private information. Do Not Track, an organization to prevent the tracking of people’s internet usage by companies, has not been helping as much as it was supposed to. Singer, by tracking the information of her friend, found that companies have used much of her information for consumer purposes as well as most other adults in the United States. Natasha Singer proves her main idea by saying that “In our data-happy society, the case of the mistaken M.S. patient illustrates a lack of visibility for people interested in how information about them changes hands.” She connects the example of her friend to average Americans who may also come across this problem with their private information. She also talks a lot about the opinion of John D. Rockefeller who says that “’People have the right to be private insofar as it’s possible in the modern world.’” He believes that people should be able to keep their information private, especially in this technology-crazed world.

The author, Natasha Singer, hopes that the reader will recognize that internet information usage is a major issue as technology expands. She wants readers also to be more concerned about their internet whereabouts and be careful about what they research and post on social networking sites. She convinces readers of this problem when she says that “data brokers can go in and buy all your health records, your financial records,” basically she is saying that people unknown to us take private information and use it for many purposes, and these people are often from companies that the target has never heard of or interacted with. Singer also says about her friend that “now she wondered whether one of those companies had erroneously profiled her as an M.S. patient and shared that profile with drug-company marketers.” She says that her friend was worried that this false information could cause companies to not allow her to get insurance. Natasha singer uses her friend as an average example of someone who could be harmed by companies tracking the internet to convince the reader how dangerous this is.

I think that this article is very important to teenagers because they do not always know what could occur with their Facebook messages or other social networking sites. It can affect them in ways that they would never think. This article makes me want a Facebook even less that I already do. I want to know about how businesses are able to take people's data and if they are really allowed to do that. In my opinion, people are putting their information online, which they wouldn't be if they were really worried about the wrong people taking their information like I am. In seventh grade, a teacher told me that colleges look students up online and may not accept people with irresponsible things up on the internet. I really liked the article, and with this new technological world, this information can help people to protect themselves and their information.

Dreams from my Father

I am now reading “Dreams from my Father” by Barack Obama. He begins with a short biography about his grandparents intertwined with the story of his own life. His father’s death begins the story. He talks about his life in Indonesia, and Hawaii and all the while, he talks about race. He enters a school where he and one girl are the only African Americans. That is the obvious theme in this book: race. But there is also a theme of afterlife: the way people treat family members after their death.

The book opens up with Obama living in the city where he talks about his father. He gets a call saying that he is dead and then thinks about all of the stories that his grandparents and mother have told about him. Because of this, he says that he thinks of his father as “more of a myth than a man.” This is a very good example of the portrayal of the dead. His father left him when he was young, so, at least to me, it hardly made a difference to Obama whether his father was alive or not. His mother and Grandparents are portraying him better than he actually was, and I think that this happens a lot. Many people are upset and don’t want to hurt the dead’s feelings, so they portray them better than they were. I do not approve of this because it gives the incorrect characteristics to children who may never have met the person.

The whole idea of the book is actually kind of creepy in the way that I know so much about the personal life of our president. I know everything that he was thinking when he was younger, and I know what his life was like as a child and in college. Why do some presidents write books about themselves, about their private lives? Well, I think that some of it has to do with their legacy. Obama hopes that America will remember him not only as a good leader, but also as a good person and role model. I definitely respect him more from the knowledge of his life that I have gathered from the book. I think that he wants his book to have this effect on people. He wants to increase his publicity so that after he has ceased to exist, he will be well remembered as an important part of American history.

The biography of Barack Obama, “Dreams from my Father”, is a well told story that is about race, but also leads to issues about death. The legacy of his father is not that great, at least to Obama, and the purpose of the book, in some ways, is to create lasting memories of Obama.

The Red Badge of Courage 2

In the book “The Red Badge of Courage”, the main character, Henry, enlists in the Union Army at the start of the Civil War. He is shocked at the true nature of battle. He discovers the amount of pain and death there is when faced with the terror of an actual fight. While wandering about the country side, Henry watches his friend die and gets terribly hurt himself. And yet, a few times he says that he would give anything to trade places with the dead. I think that it is his fear that is making him think these awful thoughts.

When Henry decides that it is better to die at war than live through it, he isn’t really thinking about what he means by this statement. If the people who have died came back to life, they would probably say that they would much rather live than die the way they had died. It is somewhat disrespectful to the dead in this way, so I think it is wrong for Henry to think like this. But it better explains how he feels about war because now I understand that he dislikes it enough to desire death. Because he repeats how he wishes he were in the place of the corpses so often, it makes me think that he is serious. I know that sometimes my friends are in an uncomfortable situation that is not actually that bad, but they say that they wish they would die. This is an instance where they do not actually wish to be dead. This is the way I thought about Henry the first time he said this, but then I realized that he is stating what he would truly want.

When Henry gets severely hurt when trapped in a stampede of soldiers, he is faced with the idea of death. I think that this will make him realize that he would rather be the way he was before than to die like this: painfully and slowly without anyone by his side or his family knowing that he has died. He will realize everything I have said about the disrespect he had been giving the deceased and how he probably did not even mean it (but lo! I thought of it first). To me, it is perfectly understandable to make the mistake of saying/thinking this when you are under the pressure of death every moment of the day, but the way things have been turning out for Henry, I know I would rather be in his position than another soldier who has died.

Henry is working hard to do well in battle, just like everyone else, and he is doing pretty well. But even so, multiple times he says that he wishes he were dead. This is reasonable in the fact that he is in a very difficult war and under a lot of pressure. But because he himself is having semi-good luck, it may be somewhat disrespectful to the dead, but also the wounded and even other soldiers who do not have such good luck.

The Red Badge of Courage

Henry Flemming enlists in the Union army during the Civil War in “The Red Badge of Courage”. His mother is unhappy about him going but helps him get ready. He marches off to war exited, but slowly begins to worry about himself. He wonders about how he will survive physically and mentally. The army marches around aimlessly it seems, giving Henry more time to think. He thinks about himself differently than I do myself, and differently than any of the other soldiers think of themselves.

What Henry is most concerned about in himself is whether or not he will run away from battle. He tells himself over and over again that he will just have to wait and see. He says that it annoys him that he does not know this about himself. I find that really unique: what angers Henry most is that he does not completely know himself. I know that I do not know myself at all. I can hardly ever predict what I will do in a situation or how I will act towards a specific person. It seems like Henry spends a lot of time getting to know himself because of how much confusion it brings him that he does not know if he would run from danger. Even though I am completely different, I understand why it is important whether or not a person runs from battle. It tests character in the most dangerous way. Henry’s thoughts remind me of the game “would you rather…” because I usually say what I would want myself to do rather than what I would actually do. I will never know if I would rather get eaten by a shark or jump off of the empire state building if I actually had to make the choice. This is how Henry Flemming is feeling. He knows what he hopes he will do, but he is unsure about what his reaction will be when he is actually in battle.

What somewhat satisfies Henry about his character dilemma is when he overhears another, very experienced soldier saying that if other people are fleeing the battle scene, he will as well, but if no one is, he will stay and fight. It reassures Henry to know that even the experienced soldiers might run away. But not only that, he is also happy to know that other soldiers are not sure what they will actually do when the time comes to fight. I am sure that most of the soldiers had this problem in their heads, but Henry turned it into a debate. It upset him more than others, and he was happy to know that other people felt the same way.

Henry Flemming is a unique character because of the way that he thinks of himself. He is frustrated when he does not know the way he will react to battle. I like this about him because it makes him stand out from the other soldiers. His character improves because of his dilemma.

The Chosen

In “The Chosen”, a boy named Reuven plays a rough baseball game with a group of Hasidic Jews who are supposed to be “monsters”. Their best player, Danny Saunders, hits a ball directly into Reuven’s eye. His glasses beak and the glass wedges itself into his eye. His wrist is throbbing from another tough catch and his head hurts from the blow. While recovering at the hospital, Reuven makes some new friends. Some qualities about Reuven are unrealistic and make him seem like a perfect person.

One example of when Reuven is a little too nice takes place a few days after the accident. One of his visitors at the hospital is Danny Saunders. The first time he comes to the hospital, Reuven gets mad at him, which is understandable. But the next time he visits, they become friends. Reuven forgets about how angry he was and that his new friend could make him blind in one eye. How could he completely forgive Danny Saunders for what he has done after just one visit? Danny Saunders is known to hit the pitcher (as Reuven was) so it was not a complete accident. It seems almost as if he was never even mad because of how quickly he forgave Danny. This forgiveness trait is an unrealistic trait, because many people would hold a grudge for at least a week or so. I appreciate that he is being nice, but in my opinion, that is just not the way things are.

Another example was during the baseball game. Reuven is hurt first by a really high and fast ball which he was able to catch. Afterwards, his hand and wrist hurt a lot whenever he would catch a ball. His coach asked him if he wanted to stop playing but he declined the offer. First of all, because the book describes the throw as very hard and high, it is not completely realistic that he would catch it. Their team is a pretty good team and there is always a chance that someone would catch such a difficult ball. But I still think that it is not entirely realistic that he caught it. Second of all, how could Reuven keep playing if he was in as much pain as he says he was in? It is brave of him and showed good sportsmanship, but if it hurt so much that he was still complaining later in the hospital, than he should naturally take a little break. Even though some people would do what Reuven did, the majority probably would not.

If Reuven hadn’t become friends with Danny Saunders so quickly or caught the ball (and if he did, sit out for a little while), he would be a more realistic character. A lot of people do strange but perfect things, but the average person would probably not do these things. Maybe Reuven is not an average person. Even though his actions are unrealistic for an average person, they make him a better person. This may be the reason why Danny Saunders wanted to become friend with him as well.

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.