The Book Thief Blog Post

The Book Thief Blog Post

            I just started reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I noticed fairly early on in the book that Rosa Hubermann curses at, beats, and disrespects Liesel quite often. However, the narrator has mentioned a few times that despite all this, Rosa loves Liesel. I decided to analyze their relationship this week and dig deeper to perhaps find the true meaning of this complex behavior.

            Rosa Hubermann genuinely loves Liesel, or at least that’s what the narrator tells the reader. I can believe this, because there are certain times when Rosa seems as if she is about to comfort Liesel. At one particular incident, Rosa acted as if she would put her hand on Liesel’s shoulder, however she proceeded to beat her instead. I wonder if this is a way Rosa Hubermann shows her love to people. I know of many who seem to have a tough exterior, but are truly compassionate on the inside. You know they truly care for you, but show it in a way that may differ from the way others may show love. For example, I had a teacher in third grade that always criticized my work. They’d always point out the bad and neglect the good, however on my report cards and at parent teacher conferences, they told my mom I was a great student. Sometimes people who really believe in you need to push you, or treat you roughly, to ensure that you succeed in life. Since the third grade, I’ve always strived to do my best in all classes and accept both compliments and criticism with open arms. I believe this is what Rosa Hubermann is trying to do with Liesel. She certainly is a strong and determined girl, and I believe Rosa’s noticed that. Maybe Rosa is just trying to toughen her up for the hard, yet rewarding life Liesel will hopefully lead in the future.

            After I thought of the reasons Rosa would want to be tough with Liesel, and how it connected to the pair of them, I decided to try and find reasons Rosa Hubermann might be unhappy with her life, and want Liesel to live a happier and more enriched life than the one she did. For example, Rosa tells Liesel all the bad things about her foster father even when he is doing good. I think this is a subtle way of Rosa trying to tell Liesel to marry someone who loves you for who you are, but also someone who you know will be there for you in times of need, and who will be able to provide for you and your family in crisis. Rosa also talked about how her family told her not to marry an artist. I think this is just reinforcing the idea that Liesel should marry someone who is well able to provide and support her through good and bad times.

            As I look back upon my thinking, I can see little windows of true compassion Rosa has for Liesel by the way she shows it, even though it may be different than the “normal” way to show love. I think Rosa really does care for Liesel, even though Liesel may not realize it. I think her Rosa’s bond may grow even stronger than her and Papa’s bond in times ahead. This is just a prediction, and chances are slim, since Liesel and Papa do get along quite well, but things change very quickly and I have a feeling things are about to change very soon.

Pretty Little Liars #11 Blog Post

       

                                                      Pretty Little Liars #11 Blog Post

            I’m currently reading Pretty Little Liars #10, and I’ve just ended at chapter 22, where Emily is with Isaac at the ice cream shop and see’s a hooded figure outside. I personally disliked the ending to this chapter and would’ve chosen to re-write it in a way that Emily gets to tell Isaac about Violet, or start to, and end the chapter there. I’d write it this way because I think all this back and forth over, Will Emily tell Isaac about Violet? Won’t she? Why does she keep waiting? Is just getting old.

            A lot of chapters in the Pretty Little Liars books tend to end with one of the girls seeing someone or something suspicious but not getting a good look at it. Yes, this adds to the suspense, however it becomes repetitive after a while. I think this isn’t a good way to end a chapter in my opinion, because between the same girls chapter (Emily for example) you have all the other girls stories, and by the time you get back to the character, you often seem to forget what happened at the end of their last chapter. To keep to story running smoothly, I’d stick with a message of some sort from A to the girls, or with a thrilling chapter climax as the finale of each chapter to keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

            Emily keeps trying to “get out” of telling Isaac about Violet, her baby. At first, Isaac’s mom interrupted their conversation, and afterwards, she saw the hooded figure and the chapter abruptly came to an end there. Yes, she keeps being interrupted, which is only adding to her nervousness, and not helping her, but I think she should get it over with before the Mr. Marin’s campaign party, since Isaac might change his mind about asking her to go. I would’ve told Isaac about the baby at the very latest, right after he invited Emily to Mr. Marin’s campaign party, so as to let him go back on his invitation. By not telling Isaac, Emily is getting more and more nervous, which is hurting her, hurting Isaac by not telling him about his child, and possibly hurting the child. If she told Isaac, perhaps he could have helped try to find Violet and ensure Gayle wouldn’t harm or take her away from the Bakers.

            Furthermore, I believe Emily is making a foolish decision by post-poning her confrontation about the baby to Isaac, for she’s hurting herself, Isaac, and possibly Violet, and I think Sarah Shepard is making foolish decisions by abruptly ending her chapters with predictable finales.

Pretty Little Liars #10- Ruthless

Fiona Grant 804

Pretty Little Liars #10- Ruthless

            I am currently reading Pretty Little Liars #10- Ruthless, the tenth book in the Pretty Little Liars series. I have just stopped at the end of chapter 22, where Hanna, Aria, and Spencer are searching for Emily, as she left the cast party with Kelsey. As I was reading, I noticed something: Emily somehow always gets enticed by the antagonist, and Aria, Spencer and Hannah are always the ones who need to search for her.

            A few books ago, Emily had left Foxy with Toby, Jenna Cavannaugh’s brother, and Aria, Spencer and Hannah were convinced Toby was A. Despite the fact he wasn’t, the three girls desperately searched for their friend, just as they are preparing to do now. I think Emily is the stereotypical naïve, good girl next door, kind of character, and it’s always up to the characters who have stronger personalities, such as “kooky” Aria, “perfectionist” Spencer, and “glamorous” Hannah to rescue her. In a way, I think this makes the story both better and worse. It’s good to have characters like these, who kind of stir the pot in an oblivious sort of way to make the plot move forward and make the story interesting. Although I also think Pretty Little Liars really isn’t your typical kind of story, and doesn’t have your run-of-the-mill characters in it, so why should Emily be the typical naïve girl next-door kind of character?

            I think Sarah Shepard included Emily, and her personality into these books to give the readers someone to relate to. Obviously readers won’t relate to every aspect of Emily, but she gave Emily a pretty general persona, so readers can at least relate to one part of at least one character.

It’s easy to love and hate Emily at the same time. Her ever-lasting crush on Ali and anyone who remotely resembles her in any way can be cute, but this is the one thing about her that I simply can’t stand. I think her puppy dog attitude is what makes her special, but she also needs to realize that things aren’t going to be perfect forever. The remark Spencer made at Otto at the cast party was a perfect explanation of Emily’s weaknesses, and if she just let down her puppy dog barrier for once, maybe she could acknowledge them as well. However, Emily’s occasional bursts of fearlessness are what makes readers (me, at least) love her. Sometimes, Emily will just let her guard down and do what Emily wants to do, not what her friends or family will want her to do. She’ll deal with the consequences later, but for now she’s just going to be who she wants.

Overall, I think Emily is a really complex character. At first glance, she may seem like a simple character like I described her as in the beginning of this post, but zoom in and she’s very complicated, and without her, Pretty Little Liars wouldn’t be the one we know today.

"Am I Blue?" Blog Post

Fiona Grant 804

“Am I Blue?” Blog Post

I recently read “Am I Blue?” a short story by Bruce Coville about a 16-year old boy named Vince, trying to figure out whether he is gay or not, and learning to accept people for who they are on the inside. When I first read “Am I Blue?” I noticed Vince was pretty uncomfortable for most of the story, even when it seemed that everything was going fine. After re-reading and annotating many times, I made a double mountain and realized that the internal and external conflict don’t add up. The external conflict gets resolved simply and quickly, whereas the internal conflict takes time and is more complicated to resolve.

The external conflict begins when Vince meets Melvin and goes to the café. The rising action identifies the conflict, when Melvin is explaining his purpose to Vince. This leads to Vince acquiring the “sight”, which is the climax. The falling action includes Vince at home, calling a homophobic politician and in-the-closet gay, a hypocrite, implying Vince is forming opinions based on his feelings. The resolution follows Vince wishing for “Blue Day” and saving his last and third wish. You can tell Vince changes from being nervous and a bit ashamed in the exposition, to wanting to help other gays be who they are all the time, because of his reactions to Melvin’s actions, and by sacrificing his wish to aid others.

The internal conflict is introduced when Vince feels embarrassed and afraid of being seen with Melvin for fear of getting beat up. The rising action bubbles to the surface as Vince starts panicking over the fact that he may be gay because Melvin is his fairy godfather. Fast forward to the climax, which is more spread out than other points on the plot mountain, when Vince uses his second wish on blue day to aid others who may be confused, embarrassed, or even homophobic. The falling action follows with Vince using his third wish to turn Butch Carrigan blue. By wishing for this I think he is giving Butch a second chance and forgiving him for being so cruel, and he’s also doing him a favor by showing him he’s gay, and by showing him that it’s okay. The resolution is a big moment of character change, when Vince saves his last wish for when he meets his soul mate, and implies that it doesn’t matter what gender your soul mate is, as long as you love them and they love you, that’s all that matters. If you look at the external climax, when Vince acquires the “sight”, and the internal climax, when Vince uses his second wish for blue day, they don’t occur at the same part of the story. The external climax comes earlier than the internal climax, which makes me think that sometimes things on the outside, like character change, occur, but really aren’t completely resolved until around the falling action or so.

            I can connect this to life, because a lot of people go through life pretending that everything is fine, when it’s really not. If we had no insight to what Vince’s thoughts and emotions were, we’d assume that by the time Vince got the “sight”, that he was fully acceptant of himself, everyone else, and understood what it meant to be gay. Since we do know what he’s thinking, we can conclude that the internal conflict is more complicated, and therefore takes longer to resolve. For example, when Vince is considering blue day while he’s brushing his teeth, he says, “Yet if I did it, nothing would ever be the same.” This shows the readers that things weren’t completely resolved before then, if things could still resort back to normal before he wished for blue day. I can connect this to myself, because when I struggle with a class, one good grade on a test isn’t going to magically bring my average to a 100, it takes a lot of studying and hard work. Vince getting the “sight” was like getting a good grade on a test, getting the sight wasn’t going to miraculously help him answer the question of whether he was gay or not, or help him accept it. It took some thought and more use of the “sight” to help him come to the decision to wish for blue day.

            To conclude, the exposition and rising action of both the internal and external conflict seem to be in sync, up until the climax, where the external conflict continues and is equally spread out, and the internal conflict’s falling and resolution is closely knit and farther away from the climax. I think this is a very relatable short story, even for people who are not gay, because you can apply accepting and respecting people’s opinions to everyday situations, even if they aren’t about being gay or not. I really enjoyed this short story, and I would recommend it to any student from 6^th grade and up, so that they can fully understand the themes. Overall, I think this is a funny, and very purposeful short story.