With Their Eyes-What really difficult or complex things are happening in the text?

The book With Their Eyes by Annie Thoms is about the 9/11 attack in the view of Stuyvesant High School students. One societal issue mentioned is terrorism. Terrorism is an obvious social issue in the book because 9/11 was a terrorist attack. I feel like terrorism is absolutely horrible. I think its good that after the 9/11 attacks national security mad advancements in airport security, and are closely tracking everything near important tourist cites. I think the author wants us to know that terrorism has such a big effect on a community. She does this by having people tell many different stories about how it effected them in bad ways.

An underlying societal issue in this book is racism. After the 9/11 attacks ended and we found out that the terrorist were Muslims, every "joke" was about how Muslims are going to terrorize us. It became such a stereotype in our society that people would see a muslim man and assume that he was some kind of terrorist. I think it's bad but interesting how one event made our society completely change the way they looked at a certain race.

Tina Fey Bossypants

     I recently started reading the book Bossypants by Tina Fey. IT IS HILARIOUS. It's probably the only book I've ever read that actually made me laugh out loud. The whole book is Tina Fey telling stories about Tina Fey. Some of them are just funny stories, and some of them aren't so funny but she makes them funny with her commentary anyway.

     I really like how Tina Fey is the author, and it's not someone writing a biography about her. I like this because she can add in what she was thinking, or what she thinks about her own experiences. This allows the book to be more comical. I think that even if someone else was narrating this book and saying the same things as Tina does, it still would not be as funny. It wouldn't be as funny because it would be someone else making fun of Tina rather than Tina making fun of herself.

     I most enjoy the childhood stories in this book. One was about her getting slashed across the face in an alley when she was in kindergarten. This was pretty interesting for me to learn because I always wondered what those scars on her face were from. I also liked the whole section she does on all the things that she learned could be wrong with a body. In the book she says "I thought there was just fat or skinny." Then she lists all the things that she learned could be wrong with a woman's body, stuff like big pores and lunch lady arms. I though this was interesting because that whole thing about  thinking there is only fat or skinny was in a part of Mean Girls.

     I recommend that anyone who can read this book, should. I am almost certain you'll get a kick out of it. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

     The book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is about this boy Junior who lives on an Indian reservation. Junior says that he was born with "water on the brain." He explains it as a medical condition where your "brain grease" get all backed up and slows everything down. Junior explains how he gets bullied by a lot of kids, and even some adults on the reservation, because of his condition, but he does have one friend, Rowdy. Rowdy is about the toughest kid on the reservation according to Junior, so he is not only his friend but also his protection. In the story, everybody on the reservation is poor, including Junior and his family. Junior says that his mom and dad could have been successful, but no one ever listened to their dreams.

     I think that one of Junior's external conflicts is that he gets bullied by the kids on his reservation. Junior says that he gets called a retard about twice a day. I  don't think that Junior should have to put up with that. If I were to be in his situation I would tell someone, I wouldn't just do nothing. I wonder why Junior isn't really doing anything? He doesn't seem like he is uncomfortable talking to authority figures, so why doesn't he just tell? I'm guessing that he is just afraid to be beat up after he tells, for telling. I think that the people who bully him probably don't have the best life, so they "survive" off of hating on a kid who probably has it worse than them.

     I think that one of Junior's internal conflicts is that he doesn't know where he belongs. I guess in my world  at school, kids are always asking themselves, "what group do I fit in?". Junior's situation is completely different. He doesn't know what community he fits into. He lives on this poor Indian reservation, with a crappy school, and crappy people, but he wants to go to a school outside of his reservation. He feels like if he stays on the reservation, he will never be heard. He feels like if he doesn't leave soon he will be there forever. The only problem Junior has with leaving is that everyone on the rez will frown upon him for going to a "white school". If I were Junior I would go with what I want to do, I wouldn't hold back, but I guess that being bullied for having "water on the brain" is already enough for Junior.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (post #2)

     In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower the main characters name is Charlie. Charlie has these two very close friends, Sam and Patrick. Sam and Patrick are step brother and sister. They are both seniors in high school, and Charlie is a freshman. Charlie is very found of his two friends Sam and Patrick, and they like  him a lot too.

     I believe that the character Charlie is the hero. I think that Charlie is the hero because through out the story he has been changing. For example, so far, Charlie went from being the kid who didn't have friends and  stood against the wall at school dances, to the kid who does have friends, the kid who has friends that don't go to school dances, the friends that except him and think he is pretty great. I think that Charlie's change is good for him, but not because he has reached a higher level on the popularity scale, but because he has people around him that appreciate him more than anyone else ever did.

     I think that the character Patrick acts as a mentor through out the story. I think of Patrick as the mentor because he is always the one giving Charlie advice. He is also the one who always knows what is going on. For example, in the story he knows the gossip and he knows where the parties are and he knows how to handle things. Patrick is also the one who Charlie really looks up to. I think that Patrick is a really good mentor for Charlie because while he smokes and does drugs and drinks when he isn't supposed to, he really does lead Charlie in the right direction. Plus Charlie doesn't really have anyone else to look up to, his brother is kind of dull, and he is in college far away anyhow, and his father and him don't really have that great of a relationship, so Patrick is pretty great for him.

     I think that the character Sam is almost like a shapeshifter. I think she is a shapeshifter, not because she is always changing sides, but because she represents uncertainty in Charlie's eyes. Charlie has a crush on her, but she says that she likes him a lot, but in a friend way. Meanwhile she goes ahead and kisses him. Charlie is uncertain whether he should think of her in "that way" or not. So it isn't like Sam in is an enemy to Charlie. She just in someone that he is unsure about. He doesn't know where they stand.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

      I have recently started this book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I already find it really interesting. In the book the character Charlie is beginning to write all of these letters to his "friend" who goes unnamed. He starts off by telling a little bit about his family. It seems as if he doesn't have the best home life. He says that his mother is always quiet and that his father sometimes hits him. Although he does talk about his great friendship with his Aunt Helen. He said that she was his favorite person in the world, I wonder why he says "was"? Charlie also discusses in the letters how he had this friend, Michael Dobson, that shot himself. There seems like a lot is going on in Charlie's life, but he acts as if it has no affect on him. I wonder if he is bottling up his feelings, or he just isn't a very expressive person.

      While I was reading I tried to focus a lot on the relationship between Charlie and his Aunt Helen. He is always talking about her in past tense. As I pointed out earlier he said "My Aunt Helen was my favorite person in the whole world." he also goes on and is saying things like, she used to do that, she used to do this. I wonder if she is dead or something, even though he did not mention anything about her death. Although he did say that she started living with them because something really bad happened to her, he eventually found out what that bad thing was, but does not tell what it is in the letter. I wonder if their relationship was like a friend relationship or if she was like a second mother to him? Did their relationship change after he found out the reason she was living with them? Maybe he talks about her in past tense because they do not speak anymore, or because she isn't his favorite person anymore.

     Other relationships I focused on were the relationships between Charlie and his mother and father. The interaction he mentions between his mother are about how she got drunk one time and told Charlie why Aunt Helen is living with them. The only other things he said about his mother is how she remains quiet during a lot of family arguments and how she cries during TV shows. The interactions that Charlie mentions between him and his father are how his father slapped and yelled at him for "hurting his aunt Helen's feelings."

     Charlie has this really strange and dysfunctional family, but he keeps on saying to himself a lot of kids have it worse. I wonder why he is so defensive of the family that really doesn't treat him all that great? I guess that even in my world a lot of kids do have it worse, but Charlie does fall into the category of having " a bad home life." Maybe there are some aspects of his home life that make it okay, but I'm not sure. I look forward to seeing other sides of Charlie's personality through his relationships with different characters in the book.

Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins

      The protagonist in the book Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the character Katniss. Katniss is the protagonist because she has a want. Her want is to get through the hunger games. Katniss wants to get through the hunger games because she feels she cannot leave her mother and her little sister, Prim, alone in her district. In the story, there are twelve districts and one capitol. The capitol is the leader, and the ones who run the annual hunger games. The hunger games is a fight to the death between twenty-four children from ages 12-18. The capitol uses these games as a threat to remind the districts that they are in charge. The district Katniss comes from is a very poor district of coal miners. I think would relate

      Since the book Hunger Games has a protagonist, Katniss, it also has an antagonist. The antagonist of the book is the capitol. The capitol is the antagonist because it is stopping Katniss from staying home with her family, where she wants to be. I think that the capitol is cruel for doing these hunger games and keeping Katniss and kids like Katniss from their homes. I also think that Katniss's mom is some sort of antagonist because she is keeping Katniss locked up. Not literally locked up, but she is not allowing her to have her own life, she takes on no responsibility, so Katniss is stuck taking care of Prim.

      I think I could relate to Katniss because if I were in her situation I would be really upset with the capitol, and not to happy with my mother. I also think I relate to Katniss because I would not be one of the kids like from other districts who like to fight to the death, i would probably be more scared and urging to get it over with like Katniss is. I think I look up to her as a person (if she were real) because of the way her hope is changing through out the story.

A Stolen Life - By Jaycee Dugard

      In the non-fiction book A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard, Jaycee discusses her many internal and external conflicts. One external conflict Jaycee is currently having is being bothered by the press. Jaycee says in the book " The media was a constant threat." Jaycee is trying to deal with this conflict by getting a public relations person to talk to the press for her. Jaycee is also trying to limit herself from doing somethings in public to try to avoid the press. I agree with Jaycee's strategy of dealing with the press by getting a public relations person, but I do not agree with her idea of limiting herself to the outside world. I mean for a girl who has been in captivity for eighteen years, wouldn't you just try to ignore it so that you could have as much freedom possible. I don't believe that I can relate to her situation because I don't have paparazzi chasing after me, but I know that I would not want to have any limitations to my freedom after having no freedom at all for the past eighteen years. I wonder if she will ever face the press? She can't lock her self up forever.

      One internal conflict Jaycee is currently having is about how she is debating with herself over whether she wants therapy or not. In the book Jaycee says "I really didn't want a therapist. I felt I had come to terms with  what had happened to me and I just didn't want to relive it." I do not agree with Jaycee's not wanting to go to therapy. I think that therapy is the best thing for Jaycee to get. I think that Jaycee is in some kind of denial because some people who have damage from something like this might think that they have overcome it, but really it will always be lingering deep down inside you if you do not get it all out somehow. I also do understand why she might be hesitant to therapy because knowing everything that happened to her I would erase it from my mind completely, if that was humanly possible. In the end though that isn't humanly possible and the best way to cope with it is to go to therapy. I hope that Jaycee does decide to go. Even though it will be painful to relive it, it is best, and she knows it.