TKAM Blog - 12/17/15

To Kill a Mockingbird 

Author: Harper Lee

Pages: 0-281 (End)

Prompt: Select a quote from your reading that you liked. What made you pick it? How

does it make you pause and think?

        They are many quotes throughout To Kill a Mockingbird that will make the reader stop and think, but there's one that I liked and related to the most. The quote I'm choosing for this blog is, "I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse, when passing by the old place, at ever having take part in what just have been sheer torment tom Arthur Radley—what reasonable recluse wants children peeping through his shutters, delivering greetings on the end of a fishing-pole, wandering in his collards at night," which was said by Scout.

        I picked this quote because I could relate to doing this. This quote shows how Scout reflected on what she has done to Arthur Radley, also known as Boo Radley. I seem to always be reflecting I did that day or something that happened months ago. I haven't tormented someone like what Scout, Jem, and Dill did, but I have reflected on what I have done with other people or to other people.

        This quote made me pause and think for two reasons. One of them being the fact I can relate to this moment. The other is it shows how Scout is growing up. When they were first doing all the things to Boo she thought it wasn't making tormenting him and was fine to do. From this quote you can see that she realizes that what she did was wrong and feels bad for doing it. This also shows one of the many themes of the book which is coming of age.

TKAM Character Relationship Blog - 12/3/15

Prompt: Think about the two characters in each pair below.  Note at least two ways they are alike and two ways they are different. From there, decide what relationship each has with Scout and what effect they have on her. You only need to choose one pair to blog about.

        In this blog I am going to compare and contrast the characters Miss Maudie and Calpurnia. These characters have similarities and differences. One thing that is similar about them is they both act like a mother figure for Scout. Since Scout's mother died when she was really young she didn't remember her mother she never had a mother. Calpurnia and Miss Maudie filled that gap and acted like a mother for Scout. Another thing the two have in common is they are both nice people to everyone. From what I read Miss Maudie and Calpurnia haven't hurt anybody in any way.

        Though these characters have their similarities they have their differences, too. One difference about the two is their relationship with the Finch family. Calpurnia considered family in the eyes of Scout, Jem, and Atticus. Miss Maudie is their neighbor and a good friend of them. Another thing that's different about Miss Maudie and Calpurnia is their race. They race affects how they are treated in the book and what they have. The church that Calpurnia goes to is poorer than the one Miss Maudie goes to. It's described as, "... was unceiled and unpainted within."

        Miss Maudie and Calpurnia have a good relationship with Scout and her family. Like I mentioned earlier Calpurnia is like family to the Finches and a mother to Jem and Scout. Scout can also go to Calpurnia is she feels lonely. Miss Maudie is their neighbor, but Scout can got to her, too, if she feels lonely. Miss Maudie is also a good friend to Scout's father, Atticus.

        Both of these character have effected Scout throughout the book. Both Miss Maudie and Calpurnia have been helping Scout when she had questions or was just lonely. For example, when Scout asked Miss Maudie about Atticus and what he can do. They also showed Scout what was right and wrong to do.  

TKAM Setting Blog - 11/24/15

 Evans, Walker. Sidewalk Scene in Selma, Alabama. 1935. Library of Congress, Selma, AL. 

 

Prompt: You will be selecting a photograph that represents your idea of Maycomb, AL based on Harper Lee’s description. Incorporating the different criteria from the Visual Literacy Guide, write a thoughtful, thorough, and well constructed response relating the photograph to Maycomb, AL.

        In class we started to read the novel To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) by Harper Lee, which takes place in Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is described as,"...a tired old town," where,"...grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square." This shows that Maycomb wasn't like a big active city and that it was poorly taken care of. Scout, the main character, also said that her father, Atticus, knew everybody by blood or marriage. This means that the town was also a small town, once again showing it's not a city. I went off of these descriptions pick my photo.

        The first thing I noticed were the prices written on the grocery store. In TKAM they mention prices for food being in the cents. For instance, Miss Caroline insisted that Walter should take a quarter and said,"Go and eat downtown today," showing that the prices and time periods are close together. In the picture it looks like a sign is knocked over and the paint is chipping away on the wall. This can mean that the town isn't that clean and taken care of.

        I also noticed that the sidewalk and street is smooth. Scout said,"In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop," this shows that the streets are made of clay. From what I already know clay is a really smooth material, the street and sidewalk look really smooth in this picture, so it could be made of clay. In the picture you can also see that the men are just sitting around outside and nobody is walking by in this picture. I think this can be the town not being active or the towns population isn't that great, like Maycomb

Theme Blog - 11/19/15

The Eleventh Plague

11/19/15

Pages: 148-222

Spoiler Alert

        The book The Eleventh Plague has many themes throughout it, but there are two big ones survival and war. I will focus on survival because the theme of war doesn't show as much the further into the book you get. Since this focuses on theme there might be some spoilers. As you read the book you see the main character, Stephen, wants to survive and start a new life.

        At the beginning of the book Stephen wants to continue surviving with his father. He wants to start a new life. They have to survive the winter, injuries, hunger, and most importantly the disease, P11. His father later gets a concussion and they are helped by a settlement. Now Stephen has help from the settlement, but in a way he still has to survive. He has never had contact with other kids his age, so he has to adjust to their living style and he has to think about the future of him and his father when his father recovers.

        This theme was introduced from the plot. This story follows Stephen as he tries to survive after a war caused P11, a very strong and deadly strain of influenza. This caused many people to die and left others to survive in very harsh conditions. Stephen survived this becuase he was born after the war, so  he has to survive the aftermath not the war.

1st Quarter Reflection

1st Quarter Reflection

10/29/15

       I think this quarter went by really smooth. I think this quarter went by smoothly because I used skills to help with my learning that I didn't use last year. I used metacognition, or thinking about your thinking, a lot more this year when it comes to assignments, projects, and lessons. It helped focus on what I was struggling with and not what I already knew. That made it feel like the whole day go by faster. Another thing I that I think helped was organization when it comes to document and paper. Every class that has multiple documents or papers has a folder. This helped me find stuff easily if I needed it.

        This quarter I learned good about current world conflicts and past world conflicts. We learned a lot about refugees, especially Syrian refugee. We read a book Of Beetles and Angles, which was a memior about a refugee. We also read and shared various articles about refugees. I also learned about banned or challenged book this quarter. We did research on a book and we had a gallery walk showing all the books. It was interesting to see books like Harry Potter and Green Eggs and Ham being banned and challenge.

        I think my research skills have gotten better this year. I've done a lot of research this year so I'm slowly improving. Now I use multiple sources and I will check publish or last edited dates. Last year I don't think I ever checked that, so that's a improvement. Before I also would use Wikipedia and only that. Now I use the resources listed on Wikipedia and I mostly try to stay away from it.

The Eleventh Plague - 10/14/15

The Eleventh Plague

Author: Jeff Hirsch

Pages: 0 - 148

Prompt: Analyze what motivates the main character’s behavior

SPOILER ALERT

        Stephen's, the main character, behavior at the beginning of the book was motivated by his grandpa and dad. His behavior is also affected by the post-war setting throughout the book, but I'm going to focus on the grandpa and dad. Stephen's behavior was mainly motivated by his grandpa. His grandpa had a lot rules set for Stephen and his dad. They would always make at least one mistake, even while doing the simplist of tasks. The way his grandpa would punish Stephen and his dad was by slapping them. After his grandpa died he was motivated by someone else, his dad.

       After the grandpa died Stephen and his dad behavior changed. They would always question their actions because of the impact the grandpa had on them. They were stuck in the way of thinking, but they would say to their self that he isn't here anymore. It is a little messed up that they said that to theirselves, but they had to take risks. Once again, Stephen's motivation would change after his dad fell into a coma.

        Now Stephen is motivated by his surroundings. He gets taken in by a town of people that was created. They hospitalized his dad and they take care of Stephen. They give him food, water, clothes, etc., since they are that nice he doesn't want to get thrown out of town. He has to now resist his instinct to loot and fight. He also has to adjust to living with many people.

        

OBAA and AoW Comparison 9/24/15

Prompts: Analyze how Of Beetles and Angels and your AoW make connections or distinctions between individuals, ideas and/or events. How does war affect individuals and societies?

9/24/15

        The book Of Beetles and Angles(OBAA) and the article,"Kerry says U.S. will take 85,000 refugees next year; 100,000 in '17" have their similarities and differences. One of the similarities was an idea of what another country was like. In OBAA the Sudanese refugees and Mawi's family thought of America as a paradise. In the book Mawi's father, Haileab says,"...a paradise called Amerikha, a distant land where everyone had a future." This idea of another country is very similar to a mother mentioned in the article. The mother was a Syrian refugee,but moved to Germany. She moved to Germany,"...in search of a future," which was the same reason as Mawi's family.

        Another similarity between these two pieces of writing is some of events that happened. In OBAA Mawi's family became refugees because of a war. Mawi's family was situated in the middle of the war between Ethopia and Eritrea. Since, they were where there Mawi, age three, and his family had to walk to Sudan. In the article,"Kerry says U.S. will take 85,000 refugees next year; 100,000 in '17" the
refugees that are being moved to the U.S. are from Africa and Syria. Syria at the moment is going through a civil war causing many to flee the country. Africa is also going through a war creating even more refugees. In all, the refugees in OBAA and the article are both created from countries in war.

        War can affect individuals and societies greatly. A family or individual's life can change completely. For instance, in OBAA Mawi and his family came from a refugee camp with little food and clean water to America with a surplus of all of that. A place with very little technology to a place where they were surrounded by technology They also had to to leave some of their friends and their culture. Societies are affected by war because they fall apart. The article says,"...mass migration of Syrians fleeing their civil war." If all of this is going on a country there must be anarchy in that country. There would be anarchy because the authorities are focused on the war and not the citizens.

Solitary: Escape from Furnace 8/23/15 (Summer Reading Blog #4)

Solitary: Escape from Furnace
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Pages: 112 - 225 (End)
Prompt: What do you like about what you are reading?

Very minor spoiler! (3rd paragraph)

        There are two big things that I love about this book that make it better. One of those is the authors descriptiveness and his way of describing things. The second is Alex's mindset in Furnace. There are other things that I like about the book like the plot line, character development, and setting, but I'm only going to focus on the first two.

        Something that I love about the author's descriptiveness is how he describes colors. He said the prison had crimson red lights and he also said that the "rats" had charcoal-gray veins. He could have said the red light and gray veins, but he went for a more specific shade, which I love. I love it because it helps me visualize the setting and characters better. I also love that the author uses similes to describe the characters and setting. For instance, he described a rat saying, "His torso looked like a rag doll that had been overstuffed..." which gave me a disturbing visualization, but I believe that was his intention and it worked. He would also describe Alex's pain while running by saying, "...it felt like my lungs were on fire."

        I find Alex's mindset very impressive and interesting. Ever since Alex entered Furnace he has only thought about escape. In the first book if he wasn't thinking about surviving, then he was thinking about escaping. When he was thrown into solitary the first thing he looked for was a way to escape. For instance, he ripped a vent in the corner of the cell out of the ground to see if he can escape through there. It took him hours to take it off, but he still tried, which I find very impressive that he wants to escape that bad.

Solitary: Escape from Furnace 8/12/15 (Summer Reading Blog #3)

Solitary: Escape from Furnace
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Pages: 0 - 112
Prompt: List at least three problems the characters faced? Which was the most life
changing? Explain

Spoiler Alert!!

        Alex and Zee faced the same problems in this book so far, so these problems and effects happened to both of them. They haven't face a lot so far, but the three biggest ones were the underground caverns, the mutant prisoners, and probably the most life changing solitary.

        The first problem, the underground caverns, stretched from the first book to this one. Alex, Zee, and Gary had to navigate the the dark, cramp, and mysterious caverns for what seemed like a long time. Which slowly tore them apart, making the conditions more harsh. Also, before they started navigating the caves the three got badly hurt from an explosion and sharp rocks and they lost a friend from those two things, even further worsening this experience.

        Alex and Zee do get out of their cells twice so far, but it's not safe. A mutated prisoner, Simon, wants Alex to help him and the other mutants. The things is not all the mutants are nice like Simon. The other want human flesh and revenge on the blacksuits, so when Simon takes them out of their cell they could be attacked by the other mutants or the blacksuits. The blacksuits are also mutants which is why I still consider them for this category. I'll let you figure out the difference between the mutant prisoners and the blacksuits by reading the book.

        Solitary was the worst of these three problems. Alex and Zee were stuck in a dark, cramp space, they got fed every two days, and they had no connection to anybody or the outside world. The biggest reason why I say this was the worst problem is the fact they had no connection to the outside world. That started to drive them crazy, they couldn't see anything and they heard nothing, leaving them to their thoughts and hallucinations. Though they eventually find a way to communicate with each other. Also, if I remember correctly Donovan told Alex that nobody lasted longer than a week in solitary, Alex and Zee have to be in solitary for a whole month! I think their solitary experience will also be the most life changing because they lost a lot of weight and the hallucinations might affect how they act when they're out of solitary.

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace 7/22/15 (Summer Reading Blog #2)

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Pages: 160 - 273 (End)
Prompt: Analyze how your feelings change as you read this story and why.

        My feeling changed a lot while reading this book. There were moments of fear, excitement, anger, sadness, etc. This was due to the many events in this prison and how descriptive the author was throughout this book. I think another factor that contributed to these feelings was the setting. The fact that the prison, prisoners, and guards are so brutal, you never know what could happen next.

        Like I said the events and descriptive had me feel different ways. For instance, the blood watch. Gordon Smith described the prison, the wheezers, and the actual event so well that if this were to happen I was scared for Alex, Donovan, and their friends. I'm not going to give away what the blood watch is, but I'll say it happen at night, which makes the prison pitch black, besides flickering the red lights. Also, the way that the wheezers are describes is quite scary. They have eyes that look like, "...black marbles," and have a, "contraption that covered its mouth and nose... colored with rust and verdigris... stitched permanently into the skin."


        There were many times were the my feelings changed quickly. For instance, at the beginning of the book there was a section where I was anxious, then afraid, and then sad and angry. There was also a time Alex and Donovan were talking about escape then Alex got challenged to a fight. I went from excited to afraid knowing that Alex was in danger. These were only two quick changes showing that this happen a good amount of times, so I would say that this book was and emotional roller coaster.

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace 7/13/15 (Summer Reading Blog #1)

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Pages: 0 - 160
Prompt: What surprises you in this story? Explain why.

        What surprises me the most in this book is the prison itself. I'm mainly going to focus on the events that can occur and how the prison is set up and handled. You probably wouldn't imagine what happens in a prison for teens is that bad, but things that go on in this prison probably wouldn't happen in any other prison in the world. That is how bad it is. Also, keep in mind this is only what I've seen half way through the first book of a five book series.

        This prison set up and handled, so poorly it makes it dangerous throughout the whole day, even if the warden or guards are around. The book describes it as, "A place of pure evil with walls soaked in blood. Murderous gangs and vicious guards rule the darkness." That description is only scratching the surface of this prison's dark side. Skirmishes and fights can happen and guard don't care as long as there is no weapons. Lunch is the only meal time and it consist of, "Slop" and only Slop, spoiled meats, bone, molded and rotten food, and much more ground together. There are over a dozen floors of small cramped cells with two inmates each.

      The events that occur in Furnace are horrible and probably unlawful. There are skirmishes like I mentioned earlier, which rarely happen. Also, like normal prisons there are lockdowns at Furnace. Prisoners are supposed to go to their cell. Here's the thing, there are two types of lockdowns one from skirmishes and another for no reason which is worse, yet both are the same. When the doors close mutated, skinless, and vicious dogs and/or guards with shotguns are released to get any prisoners left outside their cell and kill them. Yes, I'm still talking about a prison for teens. There are also, "Horrific creatures that can steal people away in the dead of night." Which you'll have to find more about it by reading the book.

All these events and description are few of what I've seen happen to Alex, the main character, and/or his friends in this prison. I will probably encounter more horrific events in the future, but that all for now.

Of Mice and Men: The Movie 5/11/15

Of Mice and Men

5/11/15

Prompts:

1.  In the film, the director shows us “the incident in Weed” differently from how we find out in the book. What’s different? Why do you think he chose to do it that way? How does it change the story?
2. The book begins with the “stage” set by the pond. In the film, we see George on a train first. Why would the director do this? What is the director telling us about George’s life?
3. What do you think of the director’s choice of Sharilynn Fenn to play Curley’s wife? Does she look the way you imagined her in the book? Whom would you have chosen?

        In the movie "the incident in Weed" is introduced differently because they showed the girl screaming and running and it showed George and Lennie running from the men. It also showed them hide in an irrigation ditch and leave Weed on a train. In the book they just said Lennie liked the dress touched it and accidentally ripped it, they didn't go in depth of the incident. I think the director chose to do it that way because it could leave audiences confused of what actually happened. It also wouldn't make sense if they mentioned it in the movie, but didn't show it. This extra scene doesn't really change the story because it happened in the book, too. The book didn't explain the situation as well.

        I think the director did this to show that George had to move around the California. He had to go from Weed to Soledad. He also ended it with him on the train, so it could mean that he's going to have to move again. It could tell that George's life has a lot of traveling and change. If he started and ended the movie on a train, I think there could be another message the director was trying to send.

        I think his choice of Sharilynn Fenn was a great choice. She did a great job conveying the emotions of Curley's Wife at the right times. She almost exactly how I pictured her. In the book it said she was heavily made up, so I expected more make up on her. Besides that I think the director did a great job portraying her from what John Steinbeck wrote. I don't know who I would pick. I can't think of any female actor that would look like Curley's Wife, other than Sharilynn Fenn. If I could I wouldn't change the actress for this roll.

hhk

"Paradox and Dream" Reflection 5/21/15

"Paradox and Dream" Reflection
5/21/15

“We spend our time searching for security, and hate it when we get it.”

        This paradox is saying that people try to get to something or a high rank, but hate it when they get it. This could be with a job promotion. When you get the promotion you might be happy because you get more money, but unhappy because more work. That is why this is a common paradox, it could happen anywhere and anyone. This paradox can happen in school, the workplace, sports, etc.

         I chose this paradox because I’ve seen this in my life, my family, movies, TV shows, etc. In my life it was with baseball. I wanted to make the all-star team, so bad. I played and practiced my best and it paid off, I made it! I was so happy that I made it, but soon hated that I made it. It was too strict and I played in one game for about 5 minutes. It was the worst. I've also seen this in many TV shows. There would be situations where a character wanted something, but hated it when they got it.

"We scramble and scramble up the stony path toward the pot of gold we have taken to mean security. We trample friends, relatives, and strangers who get in the way of our achieving it; and once we get it we shower it on psychoanalyst to try to find out why we are unhappy, and finally –– if we have enough of the gold –– we contribute it back to the nation in the form of foundations and charities."

        This paradox is saying that people will do anything to get what they want, even push aside family is they're in the persons way. This could be with moving up the ranks in a job. They could set family and friends aside and ignore them, just to reach that rank. When they get that rank they might wonder why they have nobody to support or is talking to them anymore making them sad. This paradox might not be as common as the others. Like the other paradox this could happen in school, the workplace, sports, etc.

        I've seen this paradox in various cartoon and TV shows. A character would work on something so much and be delighted when they finished, but they never noticed they shut themselves out from they relatives and friends. I'm have never heard of an experience like this happen in my family or in the real world. I'm sure there has to be experiences of this on the Internet, but yet I never heard of any.

Final Quarter Reflection 5/20/15

Final Quarter Reflection
5/20/15
Prompts: 1) In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of? What was the most challenging part of this year for you? What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best? 
     2) What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life? Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why? 
     3)What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year? What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year? 
     4) What are the three most important things you learned this year? What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?

        My biggest improvement this year was in my writing. At the beginning of this year I hated writing and wasn't very good at it. If you were to compare my writings you might see improvements between the two pieces. At the same time writing was the most challenging thing this year. Since, I hated writing and wasn't good at it, I found writing challenging. Now I'm better at it and my best piece has to be "The Boy on the Wooden Box 1/26/15." I say this is my best because I felt the most accomplished about it when I finished. Also, it was probably the blog with the least grammatical and spelling errors.

        Something that we did this year that I will remember for the rest of my life is reading the book Of Mice and Men and watching the movie. I will remember this because the book and movie were great. John Steinbeck did a great job setting the mood and describing the surrounding and the movie director did a great job interpreting it and putting it on the screen. The book had a well developed plot line, which made the book very interesting and suspenseful. Although, this book wasn't my favorite book I read this year. The book that is my favorite is Alabama Moon by Watt Key. If I finished my current book that would be my favorite, but I'm half way through, so that can change.

        The nicest thing somebody did for me this year was help me study for the test on the day of the test. I wasn't 100% sure on all my words and roots, so we studied together. We thought of strategies for remembering the spelling, parts of speech, and definitions and for that test I got 100%. This year I taught my classmates in my class shortcuts on the computer for more efficient work. I taught them how to solve technical problem with their computer. I basically taught my classmates things that helped them with their computers. For instance, I told my friend that you can press "Command D" to bookmark a site quickly. This helped when we were briefly introduce to a website and left to see another website.

        One important thing that I learned this year is to re-read your work and read it aloud. You may think you have no errors, but you could find some if you re-read, that's why it's so important. Another important thing that I learned is to elaborate with your answers. This is really important when you are writing an argumentative piece. If you don't elaborate your audience could be confused or have the wrong interpretation. The most important thing of all that I learned was to have good time management. If you have a lot of after school activities this would be a big skill to learn. You need to set a certain amount of time each day for your homework or could end up having a late assignment. Those late assignments can pile and by the end of the week and you would a lot to do over the weekend. That's why I would advise the next class to turn in their homework on time and set time for their homework.

Article of the Week (AoW) Impressions 5/5/15

AoW Impressions

        This week there were many similar and different articles among the class. There were several articles about the Baltimore Riots and the Nepal Earthquake. With that many articles on the same topic you would assume you could see different and maybe updated information. That's something I like about it, but you could get wrong information or outdated information, so you have to be careful. These weren't the only topics, there were also topics ranging from space to technology to health giving opportunities to learn more about the world and current event.

       Information on the Nepal Earthquake was not matching up. They all had different death counts in the articles. One said 4,000 death, another said 3,000, and there was also 5,800. It makes you wonder when those articles were made. Articles published today say over 7,500 deaths, so that shows how information can change. Although that might not always be the case. With the Baltimore Riot the information I found was the same. For instance, things getting set on fire and Freddie Gray's death causing this. This makes me wonder why some events have different information on different days and other have the same.

        The article I found the most interesting was the article about a guy stopping poachers from hunting gorillas. I found the story unique and cool. They guy gave his money to the poachers for farming to get food and money. This was the alternative for hunting gorillas in Africa. Now they are successful in the farming life. It's amazing how one guy saved many gorillas lives.

Dreams Poem 5/1/1

Write a short poem elaborating why dreams or visions are an important part of life.

Dreams are what make you strive,

they can even keep you alive.

Dreams are the coach in your game of life,

they can even lead to get a husband/wife.

You might think dream aren't great,

but they can decide your fate.

Dreams are what make a person successful,

although at times they might be stressful.

Visions are like dreams, very swell

and they'll make you tell,

about your great success,

so you can impress.

Make sure you have a dream in mind

and it's okay to have two combined,

but be sure to be kind.

On your voyage won't know what you could find,

but you might even help mankind.

Conflicts in OMAM 4/30/15

Of Mice and Men

Spoiler Alert! (unless you're in my class)

        One conflict that occurred in the story was with Lennie and Curley. Curley would yell at Lennie and try to get him in trouble. Curley would do this because he hates big guys, since he's a small guy. Later in the story he starts a fight with Lennie because Lennie was in his own land smiling, while Curley thought Lennie was smiling about the how he was scared of Slim. That made Curley want to fight Lennie, but it backfired. Curley ended up with a broken hand, so now there's tension between them. This could potentially lead to problems in the future between the two.

        Another conflict in the story was with Lennie and Curley's Wife. While the guys were have a horseshoe tournament, Lennie, was in the barn with the dead pup. Curley's Wife joined him and they started to talk. They're talking lead to Lennie's obsession with soft things. Soon Curley's Wife made Lennie feel her hair because she said it was soft. She pulled her head away and Lennie held on because he was scared, same thing with Curley's hand. Eventually he had to cover her mouth because she was screaming and he accidentally broke her neck. This made the relationship with Curley worse.

OMAM Blog 4/22/15

Of Mice and Men

        The atmosphere of the ranch and bunkhouse, so far, has been a mix of negative and positive because bad and good encounters had happened. Some negative encounters were with The Boss, Curley's Wife, and Curley. When George and Lennie were with The Boss, The Boss scolded at them for being late, which was a bad start. When George and Lennie met Curley it was bad. Curley and George were shouting at each other and Curley was shouting at Lennie, it was a bad first impression. Meeting Curley's Wife was bad because Lennie has a crush on her. Lennie having a crush on her might lead to future conflict in the story. There's one other event that made this negative which was Slim mentioning he had to drown four newborn puppies.

        The atmosphere of the ranch and the bunkhouse is also positive because the had some good encounters, too. One of these good encounters would be meeting Slim and Carlson. These two character seemed to be friends with each other and are both friendly, unlike Curley. Slim and Carlson welcomed them to the place, asked some questions about them, and more thing considered to be friendly. Another event that was mention that was positive was Slim's dog giving birth to nine puppies.


        I think Curley's wife doesn't have a name because John Steinbeck is trying to send the message that women weren't respected. At that time like black people and women were treated as if they weren't equal. At the time women were treated a little like an object. In the book they even use derogatory language towards her. This shows that she was disrespected behind her back. John Steinbeck not giving her a name shows that attitude towards the women.

Trash 4/16/15

Trash
Author: Andy Mulligan
Pages: 0 - 115
Prompts: 1) What surprises you in this story? Explain why. 2) Describe the main characters. 3) Are the characters realistic (do they seem like they could be real people)? Why

or why not?

Spoiler Alert!

        The thing that so far surprised me the most was Raphael not cracking while being interrogated. I think this because he's a 12 year old boy and was getting beat. He was hit many, many times started bleeding a lot. Also, he was hung out a building window from several stories, yet he never gave in. He never gave in just to protect him and his family/friends even though he knows someone died during an interrogation.

         The two main characters are Raphael and Gardo. They have similar characteristics as in they are both really skinny, they are smart, and they wear ragged clothes. Raphael is a shorter build, while Gardo is a bigger build. Gardo is like a older brother to Raphael, he watches over Raphael.

        I think the characters could be real people. I think this because there are people similar to them in the world. There are people in the who have little food, money, family, and have to dig through trash. In this book at almost any age people have the same trait and have to do the same. The only difference would be these people have a job at eight and their job is to dig through trash. Kids at eight don't have jobs and there aren't jobs where people dig through trash to sell it.