Huge messages in A Long Way Gone

I've been reading A Long Way Gone, which is about child soldiers during the civil war in Sierra Leone. The main character, who is the narrator, is telling the story from his memory, it is all completely true. It's a really disturbing and depressing but it's also a strong and necessary wake up call to what we don't see of the world through watching TV and the rest of the media.

There are a lot of strong messages that I've noticed throughout the book. One of them is that war can change a person. The child soldiers become desensitized to the fighting and become unthinking killing machines. They lose everything human about them because of the horrible situations that they are put into. Another message is that family is important. Throughout the entire book, Ishmael is always searching for family. His real family, his friends that he meets along his travels, and even his squad in the army. It's a really powerful book and I think the messages in it should be heard by the entire world so that we can try and make a difference.

Review of themes in East is East

I recently finished reading the book East is East, and I noticed that there are a lot of themes that stay constant throughout the book. One of these themes is trust and betrayal. There are a lot of different trust interactions throughout the book. Another theme is ignorance and racism. The Americans know nothing about Hiro, so they resort to calling him racist names, and visa verse.

The theme of trust and betrayal is strongest in the book between Saxby, Ruth, and Hiro. Ruth hides Hiro and protects him without telling anyone, even her boyfriend Saxby. She ends up hooking up with Hiro because it's just something she wanted to do. Saxby eventually finds out about both of these things, and feels really betrayed. He has to decide between betraying them and telling the police, which he does because he didn't know Hiro was a good person, but he still had the police keep Ruth out of it.

Another big theme in East is East is ignorance and Racism. I did my last post about this and I'm writing more about it now because it is such a huge theme. The Americans are horribly racist towards Hiro, but they have absolutely no way of judging him outside of stereotypes that all come out of other people's ignorance. Hiro has stereotypes about Americans that aren't true of everybody, but his experiences prove them true. I think the author did that to make a point. He is saying that we have horrible and untrue views of other societies, but we live up to the stereotypes about ourselves.

East is East: Stereotypes and Ignorance

In East is East, Hiro, a Japenese man, has jumped ship and swam to a remote town in georgia in the mid 1900's (I think). This post is about how his interactions with people show how little each culture knew about the other. The southerners of small town Georgia had no idea what life was like in Japan, or even how to distinguish Japanese from Chinese, while Hiro had not-so-untrue stereotypes of Americans being fat and lazy.

When Hiro first encounters the Americans, he thinks they are all trying to kill him when really they are just wondering what he's doing, and the Americans end up thinking he's up to no good and decide to search for him just because he can't communicate well and doesn't look like them. I think that this is a really good depiction of how ignorant we can be sometimes, we just as humans in general. Our different cultures can develop on such different paths that when they intersect just by chance, they don't mix very well. However, tourism is in a completely category than this because when people visit new places, they are expected and expecting to be confused, and there are plenty of accommodations. This is different because the natives aren't used to people who don't fit in and because the one who's out of place has no idea what he's doing.

Self forgiveness in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

In Extremely loud and incredibly close, which I just finished reading this week, Oskar has brought his quest to some sort of a resolution. He found the owner of the key, and was able to forgive himself for not picking up the phone the last time his dad called. He realized that there was nothing wrong with being scared. Mr. Black forgave him in the place of his father and they had a really strong connection even though they were complete strangers. I think that it took a lot of courage for Oskar to forgive himself. Oskar was very courageous in forgiving himself because in order to do it he had to face what he feared most, which was that he had let his father down.

Ever since his dad died, Oskar has been conflicted because he felt like he should have picked up the phone, and that he was letting his dad down by not doing so. I think that he was so scared that he was in denial of the danger his dad was in, he just couldn't face it. It took Mr. Black forgiving him to get him to realize that it was ok that he was afraid.

Social commenting in Be More Chill

Be More Chill is a book about a kid who is extremely unpopular. He is frustrated and wishes that he was "In". He learns of a secret new pill called the "Squip". The squip enters your brain and tells everything to do to be cool. I think that the author wrote this book as a social comment to show that this isn't possible.

There are several things in the book that led me to believe that this was the theme. One of them is the fact that the layout of being an unpopular kid in high school is very cliche and if they didn't make a new twist on it instead of having a really cheesy theme like everyone is cool... bla bla bla..., it would have been a pretty bad book. But the way the author writes it is taking this cliche format and writing something meaningful about it.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Oskar idolizes his father

In the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the main character, Oskar's dad died in the 9/11 attacks. Oskar was so traumatized by his fathers death because he loved and looked up to him so much. His dad recognized exactly how Oskar's mind worked and was just a great friend and mentor to him, like how he knows that Oskar is a lot smarter than someone who's 9 years old and treats him almost like a peer. They had a conversation about why people exist, and it was really in depth and philosophical.

I think that Oskar has a sort of subconscious goal that he has to: 1; Finish the last puzzle that his dad gave him, which was just a map of central park, and 2; Find the lock that fits the key that he got from his dad's things after he was dead. (I'm guessing that those two will tie together.)

I'm just starting this book, but I can already infer a lot about it, which I think is a sign of good writing craft.

Small as an Elephant - Jack and his Mom

I just finished reading the book Small as an Elephant. It's a really good book about a boy who's mom is mentally ill and sometimes leaves him alone wherever they happen to be, often for days on end. The particular time that leads to the rest of the book is when the two of them are camping in Maine and his mom just leaves in the middle of the night.

Throughout the book Jack thinks about whether or not he wants to forgive his mother for what she did to him. At first he has no doubts about it and is completely sure he wants to go back to her. I think that he has grown up thinking that whatever his mom says is right because he loves her so much, but he has no judgement of when to say that she needs to get some help and he needs to be able to stay with someone else.

Later into the book, as he has been having to live on his own and survive with what he can find, Jack starts to realize that he should let himself be angry at his mom, or at least want to turn himself in and get her some help. Just like I predicted when I started reading, he never really gave in and felt any resentment or loss of trust in his mom, but he ended up realizing that she couldn't take care of him. I think that when he realized that his grandmother wasn't trying to take him away from his mother, but that she was just there to care for him and love him, he was also able to realize that there were so many people in the world who cared about him and that it wasn't him and his mom against everyone.

Small as an Elephant - Jack's proctectiveness of his mom

I've started reading Small as an Elephant. It's a really good book about a boy who's mother is mentally ill and sometimes abandons her son, Jack, who is the main character. She goes through times where she can't control herself and she completely forgets him and will disappear for hours, or even days.

Jack won't tell anyone when this happens. He has become so independent and able to fend for himself until his mom gets back. However, she has just left him at a campground in maine, hundreds of miles from home, to go on a cruise to the Bahamas. The book is Jack's physical and mental journey home through stealing, hiding, and lying just to protect his mom. I think it's incredible that he has so much respect for her, he knows she doesn't mean any harm and is able to forgive her so easily. He doesn't want to tell anyone that he's alone because he doesn't want to be seperated from her, because he knows if he tells someone, she won't be allowed to care for him anymore.

Jack has so much care for his mother and he wants to forgive her and stay with her, but I think it's to the point where he is being ignorant. He needs to find a point to say that's enough, and not give her any more chances.

Post #21: The Scorch Trails (for 3/2/12)

I've started reading the second book in the Maze Runner trilogy; Scorch Trails. I really like this book so far and I think it really ties well with the first book. There are plenty of new characters being introduced but you are still learning more about some of the original Gladers. This is really good writing craft, to be introducing characters that guide the plot along while uncovering more about the main characters.

I think that this book not only has really good detail and voice but is well thought through in the writing. The author clearly knows what he's doing and is using a lot of writing tools to create just the environment he wants. I also think that this is a really cool book to read while I'm learning about different writing crafts to use in my own writing. It's a book full of examples that can help me learn what to add to my own writing after seeing it in action in a book that I like.

Mixed opinions on: The Dark is Rising

I'm about halfway through this book and I have some mixed opinions. I don't like it very much just because it doesn't really intrigue me. I don't get very interested in in but that's just my own opinion. However, I do think that it is a well written book that has a lot of strong characteristics.

One thing I have noticed in The Dark is Rising it that it often has a very surreal, almost dreamlike feel to it that is very well crafted. When Will is traveling through time, it feels like he's in a dream, which would make sense because he's not in his own world. The author, Susan Cooper, does a really good job of making the reader feel this through her writing.

I have also noticed that the emotions and moods in the book come through very well in the writing. For example, there was a scene towards the beginning when Will was exploring the forest with the rider, who was a stranger, lurking around. It was a very eerie and creepy scene in the plot and the author really made the reader feel that fear and uneasiness.

The Maze Runner: Thomas' leadership skills

I just finished reading The Maze Runner and I really liked it. It's a sci-fi ish book where a group of about 40 kids are stuck in a sort of prison that is a maze. Thomas, the main character, enters the "Glade" and seems to be different than his companions. I've noticed that Thomas is a very strong leader. He can stay calm in a difficult situation, and he has a way about him that can command a room full of people and make them realize that they should be listening to him.

Thomas is a strong leader because he is able to stay calm and think in a difficult situation. For example, when Thomas was being chased by griever, he was able to think of a strategy to avoid it. Instead of giving in or just running, he thought of climbing up the walls on the vines, and he was even brave enough to carry Alby up the wall to keep him Safe when anyone else would have just left him there.

Thomas is a strong leader also because he is able to get people to listen to him and do what he says. When he was at the gathering to talk about what they were going to do, he was able to get everyone to agree that they needed to go down the griever hole, even though he had no proof ecept his word.

First thoughts about The Maze Runner

I just started reading The Maze Runner today and I already really like it. It's sort of a distopia world where the characters are trapped in an enclosed camp and they are surrounded by a dangerous maze. The characters all sort of lived with it and accepted that that was how there life would be until the main character, Thomas, came along.

Thomas was rebellious and was asking questions that had no answer. He ended up breaking the rules and leaving the "Glade" at night, which is a death sentence. Somehow he survived and has started a whole new way of life around the camp. I think that Thomas is a really good character because he is brave, has good morals, and is very curious. One thing that I think sort of takes away from the quality of the book is that he doesn't really have any major flaws. Of course I'm not far into the book and that could very easily change.

I'm excited to keep reading this book and finding out all the secrets about their prison-world. I hope that there is more in the book soon about the characters inner interactions with themselves and with others, instead of action and more action, which can get kind of repetitive.

Strong Character traits in The Help

There are a lot of strong characters in The Help. The three main characters, Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter, all are very complex and have a variety of different traits. Aibileen is so full of love for the white children she raises, she is kind and caring to everyone she knows, (Except the racist women who they work for) and she has so much hope and belief that the world will change. Minny is incredibly tough and resilient. She can stand through being beaten and disrespected by her husband and working for a crazy woman just to feed her children. She also has such rigid beliefs that her story needs to be heard. Skeeter has a determination to be a published author and she is not ashamed of pushing through to get there.

Aibileen is one of the most loving characters I have ever seen in a book. She tells people that she has seventeen children because she had one of her own and raised 16 white children in households she worked for. She loved all those kids like they were her own because she had lost her own son, who had been extremely loving himself. Aibileen also was really kind to her friends and neighbors. She put people in her prayers and made sure everyone was doing well. She also had a feeling deep inside her, that didn't really show much in the book, but I think I noticed it a few times. I think Aibileen knew that there was going to be a time soon when everyone could live together and not be segregated by the color of their skin. When she raised all those white babies she risked her job by teaching them that everyone was really the same, even though some were dark and some light.

Minny was also a really strong character. Minny worked very hard, despite an abusive husband, to feed a family of five children. She was extremely brave and not afraid to tell people her mind. Minny was important towards creating the book because she had the will to have her story heard that was so necessary because everyone working on it was afraid of the possible consequences if they got caught. Minny made them remember that there was a reason to what they were doing.

Skeeter is the final character I'm writing about. She is just a girl but she has dreams of being a writer and she, unlike pretty much the entire white population of Mississippi, knows that segregation is wrong. She is determined enough to try and tell people what it's like to be a colored maid. She is selfless enough that she is writing down things about her family and friends that completely disgrace them. (Anonymously of course) Skeeter had a vision and she made it real.

Really interesting viewpoints in "The Help"

In The Help, you get the viewpoint of two diFferent sides of the beginning of the civil rights movement. I think that Skeeter, the white woman who wants to write a book about the life of working as an African American maid, was put into the story because she goes through sort of comig of age, or loss of innocence. At first she had no idea at all how powerless the help was against their employers.she also had no idea of the danger she was putting all the maids who helped her in.

Aibileen, the first maid that Skeeter worked with, is the wiseman character in this book. She knows that she is risking her life but she wants to help Skeeter write her book because she wants her story to be heard. Aibileen has such a great knowledge of everything that she seems to be able to calm people. Her viewpoint is that the white people of Jackson are the enemy. This is true to her, excepting Skeeter. Aibileen understood that Skeeter wasn't racist and that Her intentions were good.

Another character who was a maid, Minny, helped Skeeter write her book as well. Minny had a very reluctant attitude towards helping because she didn't quite trust Skeeter. Minny had done something evil to Ms. Hilly, who is pretty evil herself, and since then Ms. Hilly Had been spreading bad romors about her. Minny's viewpoint is from the extremely prejudice against anyone who wasn't the same race as her.

In The Help, there are a lot of different viewpoints and I think that it really shows what life was like for everyone living in the south during segregation. There was extreme racism and some of it was just the way that people were raised. A lot of people just didn't think there could be any other way to go around life.

Review of Mahdi Taye's post:The Catcher in the Rye: Author's Intrusion

Mahdi's post, here,  is a very strong post about catcher in the rye. This post is strong because it goes deep into the character Holden Caulfield's life and also a metaphor that sort of represents how he doesn't fit in. First of all, I've read this book and I agree that Holden feels that he doesn't fit in anywhere and that his argument with Ackley is represented by the ducks in the lake. I agree that this is an intrusion made by the author to bring up the message. Also, this makes me think about how sometimes people can feel misunderstood and that they aren't respected as they should be. This is a real life issue that I think is made really clear in the book.


I agree with what Mahdi said about how the ducks in the lake are a reminder of the time when Holden was having an argument with his roommate so he went to his friend, and he didn't even fit in there. Throughout the entire book there was a lot about how Holden felt as though he didn't fit in and the author brought it up several times throughout the story, including when the thing with the ducks in the lake and Holde arguing with the taxi driver came up. It made it a really powerful theme throughout the book because of the way the author kept bringing it up, definitely an author's intrusion.



The other thing that came up when I read this blog post is the idea that some people feel as if they aren't appreciated and respected like they feel they should be. Holden wrote a paper for his roommate, Stradlater, and to Holden, (and the reader) it was a very good paper. Stradlater didn't appreciate the work at all. He thought it was bad work and didn't even respect the fact that Holden had done it for him. He felt that he wasn't appreciated and I think that this feeling continues throughout the book. It is also a feeling that is true in real life. I know I've felt that my work wasn't appreciated at times and Im sure almost everyone has.


I think that this is a really great post because it is a good analysis of an author's intrusion, but also any post that gets someone thinking about the world like I did is a good post. Mahdi wrote his ideas and supported them with strong examples. He proved his point and made the reader think about it. I really like this post and it's a great academic post overall.


FIVE STARS!!!