For my eight grade english class we were put into reading groups. In

my group we read the book “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. This book was

very interesting, and suspenseful. In the book the main character

Beatrice Prior changes from a girl tried to follow others to becoming

her own person

        At the beginning of the book Beatrice always wanted to be like her

brother, she looked up to him and always wanted to be selfless. For

example in the story she says “When I see Caleb help strangers carry

their groceries, I fall in love with this life all over again. It's

only when I try to live it myself that I have trouble.” (pg28) This

quote shows that Beatrice tries to be like her brother but thats not

who she really is. Another example is at the dinner table Beatrice

felt bad for focusing on herself instead of noticing how depressed her

father was. I think Beatrice was more upset that her mom and brother

realized it except for her.

        At the end of the book Beatrice changed by becoming her own person

and not caring what others thought. For example in the text it says,

“My mother and father would not approve of my kicking someone when

she's down. I don't care.” (pg155) This shows that Beatrice no longer cares

what her parent do not approve of, and that she realizes that she is

on her own and need to learn how to defend and protect herself.

Another example is when Beatrice changes her name and gets a tattoo of

the different factions, showing that she is leaving her old self

behind and is becoming a new person.

R.R to poem

In my class we read and analyzed a poem by Anne Sexton called “The Starry Night”. I really enjoyed the poem because we all had different opinions. This poem included symbols, personification, simile, and an enjambment. One symbol in this poem is the stars which symbolizes his mood and tone.

In the first stanza the author says “The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars. / Oh starry night! This is how / I want to die.” (4-6) This makes me think that the speaker really paid attention to the stars and took the time to count them. This also made me think that the speaker that the town and the stars has something to do with the way he wants to die silently. I think so because the speaker says that the town doesn’t exist but it is silent, and that there are eleven stars. He later then says that this is how he wants to die.

In the second and third stanza the speaker goes into detail on how he wants to die. “This is how / I want to die: / into the rushing beast oh the night, / sucked up by the dragon, to split / from my life with no flag, / no belly, / no cry.” (11-17). At first I thought the speaker was surrendering to his depression by dying but now I think that the speaker is being forced to. I think so because he mentions the word “split” which made me think that it was the his/her idea, I also thought so because the poem also mentions “with no flag” which makes me think of the white flag most people use when surrendering. The only difference is that the speaker was not surrendering because he/ she did not have a flag.

 In the poem the speaker wants to die and expresses how he wants to do so. The speaker also uses the star as a symbol of something that really matters to him.

                                                               poem #1


Roses are red
Violets are blue
I feel pain
And so do you
it's not nice to make fun of me
But you'll stumble
And i'll be there to see
Not to laugh
Not to cry
But to make you see that
I succeeded because I tried

I am currently reading a book called “Sycamore Row” by one of my favorite authors John Grisham. This book is a continuous of a past book called “A Time to Kill” but with a different case and a few new characters. In this book it talks about an old man named Seth Hubbard who committed suicide by hanging himself. One question I had throughout the book is why is a very wealthy man unknown in a small town? Well the author does a very good job of explaining it and bringing him from the bottom to the top. He also repeats that Seth was a very quiet and secretive man so the reader can understand why people never heard of him.

          In the book the setting takes place in Clanton where there is still racism. For example in the book when Seth died he left a large amount of money in his will for his housemaid named Lettie. This caused problems because Seth left other wills that included his children, but this will did not, and it was the final will he wrote. Seth Hubbard excluded his children because they have not been there to take care of him and gave everything to Lettie who has been there. Seth also in his will said that he wanted a lawyer named Jake to make sure his children do not receive any money whatsoever. Jake had one a big trial in the previous book and for that Seth Hubbard had trust in him. Even though in the previous book Jake had gotten a black man free in front of an all-white jury he had doubts about this case. Lettie was black and most whites in Clanton may not want a black person to be seen as richer than they are, and a black person may not want one of their one be above them and leave them in the dirt.

          In the book the author also does a good job of showing how the white people react to what's going on. For example the people think that Lettie may have been persuading him into letting her in the will, and may have had inappropriate contact with him. This book is very interesting and gives many peoples perspectives.

"Watching You"

In the article “Watching You” by Patricia Smith it talks about the ways the government may be spying on Americans. The article also talks about real event that happened. The author focuses on why it’s bad for the government to spy, which makes the article bias.

            One way the article is bias is it says that the security cameras and having the government going through our phones maybe helpful but is also a violation of our personal lives. One way be helpful is that it keeps track of terrorists since 9/11, but according to the article it also violates the Fourth Amendment. The author mentions the 9/11 incident as a good thing once but whereas she gave many example to why so many cameras and phone tracking is wrong. This makes the article bias when the author focuses more on why it is wrong rather why we should have it.

            In the article the author includes pictures that describe ways the government maybe spying on you. One example the author gave was, “The government may be looking at what numbers you call.” This example shows many negative sides to what the government is doing wrong rather than how it can help us.

Reading Response- John Green

I recently began reading a book called The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, which is about a young girl named Hazel who suffers from thyroid with met cancer in her lungs. She also has to use an oxygen tank which helps her breathe. The focus of the book is on the youth group that Hazel attends and how her point of view changes from negative to positive because of one boy named Augustus.

           

In the book I noticed that Hazel attitudes change about the youth group. At the beginning of the book it states, “The support group, of course, was depressing as hell”pg.4. This shows how Hazel feels about the group, but the part that interested me most that the purpose of Hazel attending the group so that she would be around friends and not be depressed. Hazel and her mom did not see eye to eye, because hazel’s mom thought that she was depressed because she did not go outside, and spent a lot of time in bed. Hazel on the other hand thought that her mom was exaggerating, because in Hazel’s word everything is aside effect dying including depression and cancer. I agree with hazel because her mom shouldn't just judge her on what she does, maybe Hazel enjoys being by herself, doesn't mean she is depressed.

I also noticed that Hazel’s feelings towards the support group changed when she meets a friend.  For example in the book Hazel’s mom said, “I told you Support group would be worth your while’ (pg.39)” .This shows that Hazel’s feelings has changed, because she would argue with her mom and try to prove that it is pointless, but instead she replied; “ ‘ Did you just wait outside the entire time?’ (pg.39).” This other quote shows that Hazel tries to change the subject, whereas before on page 7 Hazel tried to pursue her mom into thinking that the support group is not a good way for her to make friends.
            These observations are important to me because it shows how a person could change Hazel’s perspective from looking at the support group in a negative way to a positive way. 

Reading Response

In the book “Tilt by Ellen Hopkins, there are many characters with each chapter as their point of view. In the book each character are somehow related to each other, whether it is cousins or best friends, but they all deal with their individual problems.  One character that really impressed was Shane because of the way he dealt with his problems.

Shane is a young boy who has trouble with his family not accepting him, and to add to that his sister is unable to eat and talk, and is expected to not live long. Shane is gay and has a boyfriend but even that is not good enough. In the book Shane says that he wished his sister would die, but when she did he was upset and tried to kill himself. I think that he meant that she would die so that she won’t have to live with the pain. I also think so because while driving with two of his friends’ one of makes fun of his sister, and stood up for her by fighting with his friend. That was not a good idea but the author really showed how much he cared for his sister, by including that part. Shane problems gets worse when his sister dies, he starts to drink and smoke more than usual. But suddenly things start to get better, Shane’s father decides to finally accept him and his boyfriend and spend more time with his family.  So why does Shane try to kill himself? He said it’s because he feels left out and his mom pays him no attention. I agree and also disagree with Shane. I agree that now that his sister has died, that his mom should have paid more attention to him, but I disagree with him because he should understand that his mom is grieving and that killing himself won’t help her get any better.