Dec. 14, 2015

Prompt: Do any of the characters change as you've read? Explain why or why not. 

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

            One character that I have seen really change throughout the book is Scout. In the beginning of the book Scout hears things about Boo Radley. Scout is very scared of Boo. She thinks that he is a harmful person, and tries to avoid the Radley House. There were so many rumors about Boo that made all the children fearful of him. Scout, Jem, and Dill all participate mocking Boo, and even end up making a game out of him. Everytime she would get near his house, she would sprint past it. Later on in the book, Scout's fear of Boo begins to fade. She starts to mature and realize that all of those rumors were made up. When Boo puts the blanket over Scout when it was cold she realizes that he is harmless. Near the end of the book all of Scout's fantasies of meeting Boo have come true. After meeting Boo and walking him home, Scout now knows that he is normal person, and has nothing to fear about him. She has gone to being afraid of Boo to becoming friends with him.

            Another character that that changed a lot is Jem. Jem has gotten so mature over the years in the book. In the beginning of the book Jem would always play with Scout and Dill. They all would make up new games and have their adventures together. As the story goes on Jem seems to be more independent. He does not want to be involved with Dill and Scout's games. You can tell that Jem and Scout's relationship faded a little in the middle of the novel. Jem would be very serious at times, and acts like Atticus a lot at times. At the end of the book you can see how Jem truly does love Scout by protecting her when they were attacked by Bob Ewell. He held her hand through the way, and saves Scout by not leaving her behind. This shows that he has changed a lot, because in the beginning of the book he thought it was brave enough to touch the Radley house, but years later he is brave enough to protect Scout from getting hurt, and killed.

            Although there is only one specific part in the book where you can see Boo change it means a lot to the characters and readers. Boo has spent most of his life indoors without having any contact face to face with people as an adult until the end of the book. He has been isolating himself so much that the town has made terrible rumors about him. He seems to be too shy to come outside, so he just leaves gifts for the children, showing us that he is friendly. At the end of the book when he kills Bob and takes the kids home it is shocking to all of us that he had the courage to come outside. He could have just stayed inside and minded his own business, but instead he was brave enough to go outside, and even kill a man to protect the children. To me that is a very big change that a character has gone through. 

Blog Dec. 3, 2015

Prompt: Think about Dill and Francis. Note ways they are alike and ways they are different. From there, decide what relationship each has with Scout and what effect they have on her. 

To Kill A Mockingbird by Herper Lee

            I think the main similarity between Dill and Francis is that they always seem to find trouble. In chapter nine, page 111 (soft cover), Francis lies to his grandma saying Scout kept him in the kitchen and wouldn't let him out, so he wouldn't get in trouble for playing in the kitchen. Scout then gets in trouble while Francis got away with it for a little bit. A little later he keeps on picking on Scout and gets hit by her. He knew what he was saying and doing was wrong, but he still did it anyway and got what he deserved. In chapter 4, page 51, Dill decides it would be fun to act out the Radley family. The kids decided to keep the game a secret, because Dill and the kids knew it wasn't right to do something like that, but they did it anyway. Later on Atticus found out about their game and they got in trouble. Both Dill and Francis do things that are bad, and end up getting in trouble for it.

            There are many differences, but one that I noticed first is that Francis often repeats everything he hears from people while Dill always manages to make up stories with his wild imagination. In chapter 8, page 109 and 110, Francis says twice"...Grandma says...", showing he gets most of his words and stories from Grandma. It also shows that he is a follower and doesn't make up new ideas by himself, and just copies people. In chapter 1, page 9 and 10, you can see that Dill entertained Jem and Scout by acting out characters, and he made up new games to play. This shows that he makes up his own ideas instead of getting them from someone else. It also shows that he is creative and is able to make up things to do to entertain Scout and Jem. 

            The relation between Scout and Dill, and Scout and Francis are very different. In the book we know that Dill loves Scout and Francis hates Scout. In chapter 14, page 191, Dill says to scout that he wanted to have a baby with her, showing that he really likes her. In chapter 6, page 74, Dill remembers that he is engaged to Scout and kisses her. Dill really loves Scout while Francis hates her. In chapter 8, page 110, Fracis says mean things about Atticus, and Scout gets very angry. Atfer he gets her in trouble he smirks at her, showing he was glad she got in trouble. The relation is very different and Scout is effected by it in different ways. 

            Dill loves Scout, and so Scout loves him back, and Francis loathes Scout, so Scout does the same thing in return. Throughout the book you can see how Scout acts to people according to the way they treat her. Dill is a great friend to Scout and she really enjoys having him around. While Francis is like an enemy to Scout, because he always got her in trouble, so she always tries to ignore him. You can tell by their actions that Scout reacts to them in different ways. If someone is mean like Francis she will not like them and be mean to them, back. If someone if friendly and nice like Dill she will like them and be friendly back. Dill and Francis have a big effect on Scout, because it shows her that there are both mean and friendly people in the world, and she has to learn how to deal with them. 

Blog Nov. 24, 2015

In the photo it is mainly focused on a grocery store. You can see the prices for food that is being sold, and a man in the doorway of the store. You can see that there is only one person in the picture. You can tell by this that it is probably a small town with little people in it like in Maycomb. Also you can see that the prices for the food is a lot less then what we pay now. In the book Miss Caroline offers Walter a quarter to get lunch in the city. This shows that things back then were a lot less money, and in the picture it shows the food for a very low price compared to today. The picture can be in the same time period that To Kill A Mockingbird was in, because the prices for things were similar. 

In the picture you can see a man by the store door. You can see that his sleeves are rolled up and he looks a little tired from the way he is standing. In the book it states, "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it." This means that not much really happens in Maycomb, and as you can see the man looks tired, and almost a little bored. You can also tell that the time periods are similar, because in the book it takes place in the 1930's and the man's clothes look like what people wore in that time. In the book it states, "...it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day..." Showing is was very hot in the summer. The man's sleeves are rolled up, and you can infer that it was a hot day. 

Blog Nov. 16, 2015

Prompt: Analyze the theme throughout your book. 

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor 

            One of the themes is the the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is family. The Logan family loves eachother and would do anything to protect one another. In the book the Logan's show that they deeply care about their family. When Papa got hurt Mama helped him, because she knew he was badly hurt. The kids were very scared for Papa. They were also very angry and wanted to know who hurt him. Also when Cassie was pushed on the street by Lillian Jean's father her family had different ways of seeing how to solve the situation. Mama wanted to just leave it alone, because she thought it might become a worse situation, and might hurt the family. Uncle Hammer was very upset and wanted to do something to the father, because he felt it was wrong to do that and wanted to protect his family. Cassie's best friends are her siblings. She rarely does anything without them and doesn't seem to have any relationship with the kids at her school. Showing that her family are like her friends. 

            Another theme in the book is race. The story takes place before the Civil Rights Movement, so race is a major concern in the book. Th book shows that back then race did matter a lot when it came to certain things. In different parts of the book it shows how the black people were treated very poorly compared to the white people. In one part of book the black school received books, inside of the book it showed the race of the student and the quality the book was given to them. For their books it said "Very Poor" and for the white students. Lot of them said "New", "Excellent", and "Good". This showed that because of their race they got poor books while the white children got good books. People treated other people so differently, because of their races. 

            Another theme in the book is justice and injustice. Throughout the book there are many examples of people being treated fairly and unfairly. The Logan family have to face the many kinds unfairness caused by the racist oppression of the time period. In the book at one point the kids go to a store where they receive racist remarks toward them. Another time at a store Cassie and her brother went to the cashier to make their order when they were interrupted. A white man comes and the cashier goes to him before finishing their order. Then a white girl comes and the cashier once again goes to her before finishing their order. When Cassie makes it clear to him that that was not fair since they were there first he replys with, "Whose little nigger is this?" For a much more serious matter a man was burned to death for speaking to a white women. The Logan family has to grow up learning how to deal with these injustices. The book shows how white people are treated with respect while most of the time the black people were treated disrespectfully. 

Blog Oct. 26, 2015

Prompt: Reflect on first quarter 

            The first quarter went by very quickly. I remember the first day of eighth grade like it was yesterday. I think I have learned and improved a lot this quarter. Coming back from a long summer break can be hard, but I managed to keep everything I learned last year, and bring it to this year. I think the first quarter was a little tough in the beginning, but then as the quarter went on I began to gain back my focus, and started to learn more and more each day. 

            Strategies that have helped me during this first quarter is using my time wisely, and writing down everything I needed done. Last year I struggled to get my work done, because I would always finish it on the last day. This year I did not want to do the same thing again, so I worked a little on different things each day of the week. This has really made a change in my schedule, because instead of staying up late trying to complete my work I have extra time to do other things. Another strategy that has helped me is writing down my homework as a checklist. Having a checklist makes me want to complete everything on it. It also helps me remember what I have to get done. Sometimes I would finish something that I spent a lot of time on, then realizing that I still had to do more things. Writing down things has improved my time management as well, because then I would know how much time I should work on certain things. 

            Reading more has always been something I have wanted to do each year. This quarter I didn't read as much as I would have wanted to do. I still read a good amount of books this quarter, but I would have wanted to read more. Last year I know I read less books in the first quarter than what I have read this year so for, so that is good that I'm reading more. To read more I will have to find the extra time to read, and look for more books I am interested in reading. I think finding more books I am interested in reading will help me read more, because then I will look forward to reading them, and then I will. For the second quarter I would like to read more than I did this quarter. 

            Something's that I have improved from last year is revising my work, and my researching skills. Last year I would only look for spelling errors and other small things. This year I go from sentence to sentence to look for things that don't make sense, or things at can can be improved. I also constantly look for words that can be replaced, so it doesn't sound too boring. This quarter I can tell that my word choice has made a difference in my writing. I think that my researching skills have improved as well. Last year most of the time I would rely on only one website for information. This quarter I have learned to look at multiple websites to see if all the information is right. 

Blog Oct. 14, 2015

Prompt: Describe the theme in your reading

Book: The Boy In the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne 

            There are many themes in the book, but one of them is friendship. Bruno and Shmuel are in two completely different worlds, but share a desire for friendship during the time they are living in. Both of them are living in a difficult and lonely time during the holocaust. Even though they have different circumstances they manage to develop a friendship. The boys both know that if anyone were to find out about their friendship, both of them would be in great trouble. This causes them to keep it a secret throughout the book so far.

            Another theme in the book is human nature. While I was reading the book I was wondering why Bruno's family and so many other Germans can be believers in the Nazi, while Bruno is so compassionate. Both Bruno and Shmuel represent all of the good and kind people in the world. On the other hand the evil in the world are represented by the people like Bruno's father and Lieutenant Kotler.  I noticed that in the book it points out the choice humans have to make regarding how they treat others. On the same note the book also considers people's hesitation to take a stand in the face of difficulties.

            Another one of the many themes in the book is boundaries. The most obvious boundary in the story is the fence that separates Bruno and Shmuel. I think the author made Shmuel seem like a mirror character for Bruno. They were both born on the same day and Bruno even says they are like twins. The main difference between them is that Shmuel is Jewish and Bruno is German and is a member of the oppressing group. In a point of the book Bruno wears the same clothes as Shmuel does everyday. They seem to look very similar even though between the Jews and the Germans they are very different. Showing that even if people are different form others we are all human

Blog Oct. 9, 2015

"Reaching Out"

Diana Almazan 

Too many of us go through life

With the covers over our heads 

We need to 

Reach out

It's funny

What a few words

Of encouragement

Can do 

Sticks and stones can break bones

But words

Can often do worse

They can 

Destroy

The hopeful things

Inside us

We fear

To make ourselves 

Vulnerable  

We need to let the outside air

Beat

On us

But beware

The advice from people

Does not always ward off

Evil