Reading Response on "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

The book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is an engrossing novel about a girl named Scout, and experience of living in a small southern town in the 1930’s.  Scout lives with her father, Atticus, her brother, Jem, and their cook/maid, Calpurnia.  They live in a part of Maycomb County where mostly common-folk live, and it seems quite obvious from the very beginning of the book that Scout is unfamiliar with people who are different than the families living just near her.  She knows other people exist but she is inconsiderate and naive, not only to poor people, but to minorities in general, and people who are not exactly “normal”.  Scouts innocence throughout this book comes at a disadvantage to her being liked by the people around her.

Scouts innocence does not help her adjust to the new school community.  On the very first day of school, Scouts teacher already hates her, because she says whatever pops into her mind, even if its not exactly socially acceptable.   For example,  in Scouts class, there is a boy from the Cunningham family.  The Cunninghams never took  anything that they couldn’t repay, and being poor, there wasn’t much that they could repay.  When Walter Cunningham couldn’t afford lunch, and refused to take the teachers money and pay her back, Scout insensitively blurted out his financial situation, which she only knew because of an overheard conversation.  Later, Scout beat up Walter Cunningham for getting her in trouble on the first day of school.  Scouts inability to keep some necessary things to herself is a problem for everyone in her surroundings.

In conclusion, Scout is too young to understand what is and what is not appropriate, and she is expected to be more mature than she can by her family.  Although I have read very little of this book so far,  I can tell that this personality trait of Scouts will not be a helpful trait, and it may get her in some trouble later on.

Reading Response on "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell

The book Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell is about a girl named Cath, who is obsessed with fan fiction for a series called Simon Snow.  Cath, and her twin sister Wren’s childhood had been basically all about Simon Snow.  Their room was filled with Simon Snow posters, and a lot of their clothes had to do with Simon Snow in some way or another.  When it came time for Cath and Wren to go to college, Wren becomes extremely social and leaves Simon Snow behind.  Cath can’t let go and stays in her dorm room, writing on her extremely popular Simon Snow fan fiction account.  Cath spends her time worrying about her slightly mentally unstable dad who is living along without Cath and Wren to take care of him, or just trying to stay out of the whole social situation at her college.  Cath is timid and her only friends at college is her roommate, Reagan, and Cath’s boyfriend, Levi.  Cath is obviously having a very hard time at college and there are also some symbols that reflect what college is like generally, and also in just Cath's opinion.

One thing that symbolizes the struggle that Cath is having is the Simon Snow book called Carry On that Cath is writing on her fan fiction account.  In the book we get to hear a great deal of the book that Cath is writing and many of the events in the book match up to the events in Cath's life in some way.  For example, in the book Carry On, the main character, Simon Snow, falls in love with his roommate Baz.  Baz is not exactly interested in him anymore and wants nothing to do with him.  This is like Cath and Wren in some sort.  Cath feels like Wren is being distant and almost doesn’t even want to relate with Cath anymore.  Cath still thinks as Wren as her best friend, which is a problem because Wren hardly even thinks of Cath at all.  Cath is writing this book not for an audience, but as more of a diary for herself.  She gets to tell people her feelings without them even knowing who she is.  This has helped her get through college.  

Cath feels so strongly connected to her writing, because in a sense, she is writing about herself more than Simon Snow and Baz.  When her friends make fun of her closeness with this book, Cath takes it personally, because when people offend Carry On, its almost like they are offending her.  Cath is the book in a sense because of how it is her diary.  Just as Levi is starting to get to love Cath, he starts to love Carry On as well.  Cath has a special connection to the book that she is writing and no one can take that away from her.

Literary Essay on "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a book about a 9th grade girl, Melinda, who got bullied and harassed by people that didn’t know her story and didn't bother to figure out why she was different.  Melinda was previously popular and surrounded by friends, but in just one night something happened that caused all of Melinda’s friends and classmates to turn on her.  During a huge party at the end of 8th grade, Melinda got raped by an older guy named Andy Evans.  Melinda was scared and the only thing she knew to do was call the police.  Everyone thought she had called the police to bust the party for having alcohol.  Melinda never told anyone about getting raped, her friends stop talking to her and she goes into high school friendless and depressed.  Melinda seems scared to tell people her story and her fear just ends up making her more sad.  I think that the many symbols in this story represent the overall theme of fear everyone faces as a teenager.

One symbol in this book is trees and all of the trees in this book represent Melinda.  In art class, Melinda was instructed to make trees out of anything, as long it was artistic and creative.  One specific day in art class, Melinda got really into what she was making.  She had attached a bald barbie doll onto a linoleum square, put tape over its mouth and attached branches to the arms and body of the barbie.  This shows Melinda's inability to speak and her pain.  She felt as if all her hair has been ripped out and too many things all over her and consumed inside of her that it almost covers her completely.  Melinda felt so betrayed but she was too scared to even admit it to herself.  Another example of how trees represent Melinda’s feelings is when Melinda’s dad cuts down an infected tree in their front yard at the end of the story.  Melinda decided one day to just rake the front yard for hours and clean it up.  Her front yard was a mess, just like Melinda was  a mess.  Her dad sees how committed she is and decides to help Melinda clean the yard up.  There was an infected tree in the yard and Melinda’s dad cut it down.  "He's not chopping it down. He's saving it. Those branches were long dead from disease. All plants are like that. By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree to grow again. You watch--by the end of summer, this tree will be the strongest on the block”.  I think that this whole scene with the yard and the tree really signifies Melinda wanting to clean herself up and become a stronger person, just like the no longer infected tree.  Since the infection wasn't there anymore, it couldn't get worse.

Melinda playing tennis at school is a huge symbol in this book.  Melinda playing tennis at school symbolizes how that even though more and more things keep on being thrown at her, with more intensity than the last, she is passionate and and at least trying to hit back in the other direction to protect herself.  In gym class, when Melinda is forced to play tennis she feels really passionate about doing it right.  She wants to show that she isn’t as weak and as incapable as many people think she is.  When each ball comes flying towards her, she feels more passionate and excited about hitting it back in the other direction.  She longs to do that in her everyday life and she wishes that she could just tell everyone about how she was raped, but she doesn't because she is too afraid that people won't believe her.  This shows fear in Melinda, although she wishes she could be brave and strong.  She resents herself for not being able to tell anyone about what had happened to her.

Melinda’s jeans also are a symbol for something.  Melinda’s jeans symbolize how although Melinda doesn’t think she cares about anything, she does.  It is obvious from everything that Melinda does that she doesn't care about her appearance anymore.  She bites her lips until they are scabby and bloody and she starts to gain weight and wear old, baggy and comfortable jeans.  Her mom gives her money to go to the cheapest store, Efferts, and buy new jeans that actually fit.  Although she thinks she wants to buy disgusting jeans like the rest she owns, deep down she is embarrassed about being in the store, even though she doesn’t realize it at the time.  Everytime she talks about her jeans to the reader, she makes sure to say that they are from Efferts, resentfully, and that shows that she does care.  If Melinda actually didn't care about what others thought about her, she wouldn’t have to be so angry at the fact that she purchased her jeans from Efferts.   Because she is such a wreck, Melinda is too terrified to admit that she cares.

The many symbols portrayed in this book show that Melinda is too scared to admit many things to herself and everyone else.  She is afraid she won't be taken seriously, she is afraid she will be laughed at, and she is also too afraid to admit that she is afraid.  Melinda is like many teenage girls in the way that she is scared of the world, and she is scared to be herself.  The symbols shown in this book show Melinda maturing, growing out of some of this fear and becoming a young woman instead of just a girl.

Reading Response on "Bliss" by Lauren Myracle

The book Bliss, by Lauren Myracle, tells one girls experience of moving from a commune with her hippie parents to a prestigious southern town with her wealthy grandmother.  Bliss has never gone to school, she has never had friends her own age and she also never exposed to anything bad or frightening.  Her previous experiences left Bliss naïve and when it came time for her to enter into 9th grade at Crestview Academy, her only goal was to make friends and be normal.  Soon after school started, Bliss had made plenty of friends, including a girl named Sandy who sits alone at lunch and is basically shunned by the rest of the school.  Throughout this novel Bliss develops a lot as a character because of the influence of others.

The character that helped Bliss most get out of her naïvety was Sandy.  Sandy helped Bliss realize that you really can’t judge a book from its cover, and you can’t judge a person from just one experience.  For example, the whole reason Bliss ever wanted to be friends with Sandy was because she thought that Sandy had a good heart and meant well.  She thought that Sandy was horribly mistreated by the other girls in her grade and thought that she had done nothing wrong to anyone.  Bliss thought that Sandy looked nice and befriended her.  Bliss was totally wrong about this.  Sandy exploited Bliss and became friends with her only so she could use Bliss as her human sacrifice, in her “blood magic”.  Sandy’s only goal was to become powerful and had no interest in Bliss.  Because of Sandy, Bliss learned how to make good friends, because of her terrible friendship experience with Sandy.

Another character that helped Bliss become less naïve is Mitchell.  Mitchell is Bliss’s crush at the beginning of the book, but by the end they are dating.  My first thought about Mitchell was that he was kind of a pointless character, but I realized that he actually played a major role in both the development of the book and the development of Bliss.  One example is that he was the one who convinced Bliss to continue to be friends with Sandy after she began to creep Bliss out a little bit.  If Bliss had never stayed friends with Sandy, then Sandy wouldn’t have been able to blackmail her into being her human sacrifice for “blood magic” and her goals to be almighty.  Even though that staying friends with Sandy wasn’t the best thing, Mitchell just wanted Bliss to be happy.  Additionally, Mitchell helped Bliss realize what it was like to have a real friend, someone who doesn’t trap you inside of them and force you to do anything.  Mitchell was really helpful towards Bliss through everything that happened with Sandy and without him, she may not have been able to get through the beginning of the year without his love and support.

In conclusion, Bliss was very naïve and expected everyone to be kind.  Mitchell, Sandy, and other characters helped Bliss realize that not everyone is going to be anti-war. Not everyone is going to be against murders.  And also, not everyone is who you think they are.  Bliss learned more from 6 months at high school than she did the whole rest of her life, not because of her schoolwork, but because of other people helping her figure out what the world is.

Reading Response on "Frindle" by Andrew Clements

The book “Frindle” by Andrew Clements is a book about a Fifth grade boy named Nick Allen.  Nick doesn’t really like to follow directions because he is very much of a leader, and thus prefers to lead as opposed to follow. Nick is extremely creative, and after learning about the origins of words in his 5th grade science class, he makes up his own word for pen, “frindle”.  He wants to not be told what to do and have some control over what happens in his life and in the world generally.  There are so many things that Nick wants, from people and he does a really good job at getting them.

Nick really likes being the center of attention and a lot of his behaviors are actions in order to get attention.  For example, if Nick didn’t want attention he would have never put on a huge scene the first day he used the word “frindle” when he was asking for a pen from a friend.  It wasn’t subtle at all and he obviously went farther than he could have.  Nick could have just asked for a “frindle” and then moved on but no.  He continued talking about it and just wanted the eyes to be on him.  Another example of how Nick obviously wanted attention was when in class, Nick kept making high pitched screeches.  Everyone in the class knew it was him, except the teacher, and since all the other kids in his class were laughing at what he was doing, he kept on going because he just wanted all the eyes to be on him.  Nick is very smart, but sometimes he takes things a little too far when he is trying to get attention.

Nick is really funny and usually very kind, so it’s understandable why he would have so many friends and followers, but I think that he takes a lot of his friends for granted.   Nick doesn’t really do anything especially thoughtful or kind for his friends, he kind of just expects that they will be there for him no matter what happens.  For example, when Nick first started to use the word “frindle”   in stationary store, he basically just told his friends to come with him.  He didn’t say please or thanks.  He just told them to come help him because they were going to help him get this word big.  Nick wasn’t the only one that made up this word, his friends made it up with him, but Nick was the only one that got credit for making it up.  When the reporter came to their school to talk to Nick about the word “frindle”, Nick continued to take all the credit for this word.  His friends didn’t even correct anyone when Nick got all the credit and they were hardly even aware of it because they were so awed with how “amazing” and “funny” nick is.  Because of how people idolized Nick because of how he was so outgoing, he got away with so many things many people wouldn’t be able to get away with.

Nick is not a bad person, but because he has had it so easy all his life, with everyone on his side, he has become arrogant and expectant of the people who followed him around everywhere.  If everything changed for Nick and people started to dislike him or realize how he was the only one getting credit for making up the word “frindle”, he wouldn’t really have anyone there for him except his parents.  He doesn’t realize yet that his actions can hurt others and lead other people into feeling like they aren’t worth anything because sometimes he can act and think that he is the only one who matters.

disclaimer: I am rereading this book for like the a millionth time, and this is NOT a just right book. It is just an old favorite! :)

Blog Review on Rafaella's Blog Post

After spending this week reading multiple blog posts per night, one blog post that stood out to me more than the rest was Rafaella Spielberg's blog post on the book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Over the summer I read this book and what interested me immediately about Rafaella’s blog post was her view on why Jay Gatsby’s perspective was not in the book.  Rafaella’s perspective of the author’s choice not to put Gatsby’s perspective in the book  was, “Jay Gatsby’s perspective is excluded to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the story.”  When I read this book, I hadn’t thought about it in the way that it provided the readers more depth in their understanding of what was going on in the book, but after I continued to read Rafaella’s piece, I totally understood what she was saying and why she thought that way.

One way that she did a good job at helping the reader of her blog understand what she was saying was by elaborating meaningfully about her points.  Elaborating is something that I struggle with and Rafaella’s blog post made it more clear to me about how I should elaborate to prove a point.  After every example that she gave, Rafaella elaborated with both her ideas and also more evidence.  This was really good because it made her point seem more valid.  Another thing that Rafaella did that I will try to do in the future to make my writing stronger is that she ended each paragraph by combining all the ideas that she mentioned throughout the paragraph while wrapping it with a really thoughtful sentence about the book.  Her craft and the way that the formulated her evidence and her paragraphs, was extremely strong.  Her technique of organization throughout the whole response made her ideas very clear to the reader.

As I was searching through many blogs to find one that stood out to me, it wasn’t just this one post that hooked me immediately on her page, but all of Rafaella’s posts were intriguing.  For a few minutes I just sat there looking through her posts and wondering what made them more interesting than a lot of other blogs that I had read.  Finally, I realized that her blog posts in general were more thought provoking than many other people’s blog posts.  Other people definitely did have very thought provoking posts, but many other peoples posts were just full of retell of what happened in the book.  Especially in her post for The Great Gatsby, Rafaella used a perfect amount of retell to get the reader to understand the main idea of what was going on in the book.

I agree with Rafaella that Jay Gatsby’s perspective was kept out of the book to give the reader a better understanding of the book, but I only started to agree with her after I read this post.  Even though she wasn’t technically arguing about something, her points and elaborations did a great job at adding towards her view about why Jay Gatsby’s argument was missing.  This post has actually really inspired me to start trying to prove my claim in a more in-depth way.

Link to Rafaella's blog post: http://rafaellasblog22.blogspot.com/2014/11/social-actionindependent-reading-book.html

Critical Analysis on "How Does It Feel To Be A Problem" by Moustafa Bayoumi

In the book How Does It Feel To Be A Problem by Moustafa Bayoumi,  Bayoumi tells different stories about experiences people have had due to being Arab in America.  He wants readers to know that racism doesn’t only happen between black people and white people, racism is a worldwide issue that every single human deals with on a daily basis.  He tells the reader this by teaching us that before 9/11, many Americans didn’t even acknowledge Muslim and Arab existence, but after the attack, our authorities started attacking them and arresting them, because they seemed “suspicious.  An example of this is when one of the characters, Rasha, is kicked out of her home with her family because of their race and religion.  They were put in jail for months and Rasha wasn’t even permitted to contact her friends or school to tell them where she was.  This proves that since 9/11, Arabs and Muslims have been treated like garbage and many Americans aren’t aware of this.

Bayoumi wants to teach readers about how unfairly all people can get treated because of their race or religion, and his goal is to get the reader to feel outraged at the authority system in America and how they are treating people because of their ethnic background and history.  One way that he proves how unfairly Arabs and Muslims get treated is by stating the most horrific facts about how these people got treated.  Bayoumi doesn’t waste his time talking about how Arabs get treated worse in restaurants, he talks about how many muslims got laid off from their jobs after 9/11 because of their race.  Another way that he makes the reader feel infuriated at the way Muslims and Arabs are treated is that he talks about what a big part of the population they are.  Bayoumi says that 20% of Americans are between the ages of 18 and 30, but 30% of ALL americans are Muslim.  By stating this fact, the reader feels like almost they have done something wrong.  There are more Muslims and Arabs in America than Young Adults and it just shows how many people have been affected by discrimination against race and religion.

Bayoumi did a really good job at getting the reader to feel strongly about the topic.  I came away from this book feeling like I needed to do something to make Arabs and Muslims get treated better.  I used to think that white privilege in America was white people getting treated better than black people but I was wrong.  I now know that racism and discrimination against people because of their race happens with every single race, including white.