It’s Kind of a Funny Story Blog Post

SPOILER ALERT!!!

It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is an intriguing book about Craig, a stressed out New York City high school-er and his experience in a mental hospital. Craig suffers from teenage depression because of all the stress he’s experiencing at his school, “Executive Pre-Professional High School”, a fictional high school in the book. Though it’s fictional, it’s quite similar to many high schools in New York City. Craig has been yearning to get into Executive Pre-Professional since the seventh grade, when he began studying like crazy to pass the entrance exam. He studied for hours every night and barely made any time for anything other than studying. He passed the exam with a perfect score, but when he got to school, he realized he wasn’t nearly as smart as the other students there. This book had a clear message; that you need to be the best person you can be. You are good enough for anything, and if you find that you need to change yourself for something (like changing your life to study everyday for two years just to pass an entrance exam) it’s not worth your time and might end up hurting you. However, I also found hints at another message directed towards the educational system that what they’re demanding of their students might be hurting them instead of helping them.

            What Craig did to get into his school was drastic, but it’s not too far from what some students do to get into the high schools of their dreams. Some students have private test prep tutoring, go to test prep classes at school, buy test prep books to do at home, get private coaching for auditions, etc. just to nail their test, audition, or interview. It seems extreme to someone who’s not used to it, but it’s pretty normal to someone applying to high schools in any major city. This winter I went through the high school process myself, and it really was stressful and extensively thorough. There’s a lot you have to do, and as a 13/14 year old, it can really take a toll on you. You doubt yourself a lot, and with the mindset that your high school can determine the rest of your life that’s implied by many of the adults surrounding you, it’s easy to become obsessed with the high school process. This being said, the majority of kids don’t get so depressed that they end up in a mental hospital, but the process can really be crazy and unfair when you think about all the incredibly intelligent and dedicated kids who try so hard to get into the schools they desire to get into and don’t.

Craig ends up switching schools at the end of the book, which reinforces the clear message that you shouldn’t waste your time on something you need to change yourself for. Since Craig needed to change himself to succeed in Executive Pre-Professional, he started to get depressed because he wasn’t enough for the school. After his stay in the mental hospital, Craig realized he wasn’t happy at Executive Pre-Professional and decided to transfer. This is one major hint of the message Ned Vizzini is sending the educational system, that the requirements of their students are too much for them to handle, and that their students are beginning to change themselves for a school. Ned Vizzini is writing this book in the hopes that powerful people in the educational system will hear of it and read it, seeing what possible future consequences of their actions will occur sooner or later. This, along with other, subtler hints, will hopefully influence these powerful people to limit their expectations, and to remember that these students are only children, and that they need to enjoy their childhood while they can, not waste it on worrying whether they will get into this high school, and whether they’re doing enough extra curriculars for that college.

"Romeo and Juliet" Essay

            Having a strong relationship with your mother, or a maternal figure, can benefit both of you in so many ways. A mother will love you, stay with you during highs and lows, and will be able to help you make the right decision for yourself in life. In William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Juliet, the main character, does not have a strong bond with her mother. Juliet is very obedient, and loves her parents just as they love her, but they aren’t close, and there aren’t many moments where you see the mother and child type bond between Juliet and her mother, Lady Capulet. Her parents are very strict with Juliet and won’t tolerate any nonsense or disobedience. Juliet and her mother’s relationship is so “loose” because of their impetuous culture of marrying and having children early which may have marred Lady Capulet’s attempt at motherhood since she was so young.

            Juliet is not only getting married to Romeo at a young age, but also to Paris. The culture in Verona (where the play takes place) seems impetuous because it’s quite common for marriage to be so early in one’s life. Lord and Lady Capulet are unaware of Juliet’s marriage to Romeo (which has a significant age difference), but they are aware of her marriage to Paris, which also has a rather large age difference that they are not opposed to. “But saying o’er what I have said before./ My child is yet a stranger in the world./ She hath not seen the change of fourteen years./ Let two more summers wither in their pride/ Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.” (1.2.7-11) Here, Capulet is telling Paris he doesn’t think Juliet is ready to get married, but in two years she will be 15/16, and then she’ll be ready. That’s still a very young age for someone to get married at, but the process speeds up in act 3. “CAPULET Monday, ha ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon./ O’ Thursday let it be.– O’ Thursday, tell her,/ She shall be married to this noble earl.–/ Will you be ready? Do you like this haste?/ We’ll keep no great ado: a friend or two, /For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late, /It may be thought we held him carelessly,/ Being our kinsman, if we revel much./ Therefore we’ll have some half a dozen friends,/ And there an end” (3.4.22-31) Now, Capulet has changed his mind, and makes Juliet marry Paris to cheer her up after Tybalt’s death, while Juliet is still only fourteen, though it doesn’t seem to be much of a concern now that he’s made a decision. Capulet, who at first wanted his daughter to wait two years to marry, is now proposing to have the wedding in three days, while Juliet is still only fourteen.

            The nurse serves as a “bridge” or “translator” for Lady Capulet and Juliet because she’s able to help Lady Capulet and Juliet connect with one another, despite their “loose” relationship. Since Juliet and her mother aren’t very close, Juliet’s nurse helps them communicate using her inappropriate sense of humor and her undivided love for Juliet and the Capulets. “This is the matter.– Nurse, give leave awhile./ We must talk in secret.– Nurse, come back again.” (1.3.8-9) During this scene, Lady Capulet attempts to talk to her daughter by herself, but when she realizes she doesn’t really know Juliet very well, and doesn’t know what to say to her, she brings the nurse in to help her. Juliet and the nurse have known each other since Juliet was a baby. Sometimes that makes Lady Capulet jealous, because she didn’t get to spend precious moments with Juliet like the nurse did. “I never should forget it. “Wilt thou not, Jule?”/ quoth he./ And, pretty fool, it stinted and said “Ay.”/ LADY CAPULET Enough of this, I pray thee, hold thy peace.” (1.3.51-54) In this scene, a hint of jealousy comes up when Lady Capulet asks the nurse to stop telling a funny story about Juliet as a baby. Since Lady Capulet didn’t get to experience these moments, she resents the nurse for having experienced them. Lady Capulet might regret not having raised Juliet as much as she would have wanted to because now their relationship is not as strong as it could have been.

            Lady Capulet was no older than Juliet is now when she had her. Lady Capulet must have married at quite a young age, and had a baby at about fourteen years old. This might have been a factor in her and Juliet’s weak relationship, because she was so young and perhaps didn’t know how to be a mother. Since she didn’t know this skill, or was too young to fully understand it, it evolved into the unfamiliar relationship between the two of them that we read about in the play. Since she wasn’t able to be a mother to Juliet when she was a baby, she struggles to act like a mother for her now, but will never have the chance to be baby Juliet’s mother again. “Well, think of marriage now. Younger than you/ Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,/ Are made already mothers. By my count/ I was your mother much upon these years/ That you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:/ The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.” (1.3.75-80) This just enforces the idea of Verona’s impetuous culture of early marriage. For generations, women have been marrying and having children very early, but Lady Capulet doesn’t seem to think that it’s an issue. “PARIS Younger than she are happy mothers made./ CAPULET And too soon marred are those so early made./ Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she;/ She’s the hopeful lady of my earth.” (1.2.12-15) In this scene, Capulet is telling Paris that Juliet will be unhappy and won’t have as good a future as she might have had if she married at a later age. He might be referring to Lady Capulet’s early marriage to him, and how that may have marred her. It seems like Lady Capulet has no problem marrying early, but Capulet does. This disagreement may be a factor in their odd relationship that doesn’t seem like they truly love each other (probably because it was an arranged marriage), which may influence Juliet’s perspective on love because she doesn’t have a relationship to model her own after.

            Lady Capulet and Juliet’s relationship may be so unfamiliar because of Verona’s culture, including early marriage and conception, which marred Lady Capulet’s attempt at motherhood because of her age. I can connect this to the present day controversial issue of adoption, using the TV show “Teen Mom” as an example, as crazy as it seems. In both “Teen Mom” and “Romeo and Juliet”, teenaged girls are becoming mothers. In “Romeo and Juliet”, Lady Capulet and Juliet have a loose relationship in which they don’t really know each other. They obviously love each other, but don’t have an ideal relationship where the mother and daughter can easily confide in one another. In “Teen Mom”, many of the moms give up their children for adoption, an incredibly hard process. I am by no means against adoption, but as they’re giving up their babies for adoption, they’re giving away their opportunity at motherhood with that child, just like Lady Capulet did when she chose to have the nurse raise Juliet. But as they say, when one door closes, another door opens. When mothers give their children up for adoption, they might be giving up their chance of motherhood, but they’re also giving the adoptive mother a chance at motherhood she may never have had if not for the biological mother choosing adoption. Maybe that’s what Lady Capulet was doing when she let the nurse- who lost her chance at motherhood when her daughter passed away- take care of Juliet, giving her another chance at motherhood but losing her own simultaneously.

Looking for Alaska Blog Post

***SPOLER ALERT!!!***

I just finished reading Looking for Alaska, by John Green. It’s an amazing book about Miles (Pudge) and his friends Chip (the Colonel), Takumi, and Alaska as they go on different adventures at Culver Creek, their boarding school in Alabama. They prank students they don’t like, and go against many of the school’s rules and often don’t get caught. One night, their friend Alaska gets a call and hangs up in tears, screaming at Pudge and the Colonel to distract the school’s headmaster so she can sneak out. She takes her car after being very drunk (.24) and after having smoked cigarettes to go put flowers on her mom’s grave for the 8-year anniversary of her death, and drives straight into a cop car without even swerving, being killed instantly. Pudge is fascinated with people’s last words, and I think it’s very fitting (and also really sad) that Alaska died, and Pudge doesn’t know her last words.

            Pudge and Alaska only met at the beginning of the year, and already Pudge believes he’s in love with Alaska. They have a lot in common, and get along really well with each other most of the time. After Alaska’s death, Pudge is pretty scarred by it all, and misses her as much as Alaska’s friends who’ve known her for a longer time do. Sometimes, Pudge seems to feel guilty when he says he barely even knew her, and the Colonel and him also talk about how the forget her, and forget what she looks like. Pudge wrote in his final religion essay that soon, he would forget her, but that it’s okay because Alaska will forgive him just as her mom forgave her, and just as he forgives her for not thinking of anyone but her and her mom when she left. Pudge and the Colonel go on a mission to try and find out where Alaska was going and why she left, and Pudge tries to find out what Alaska’s last words might possibly have been.

            I think it’s fitting that Pudge doesn’t know Alaska’s last words, because he knows the last words of so many people he’s never met, and that’s often the only thing he knows about them. He doesn’t really love them, or know them just by knowing their last words. Pudge has never talked about anyone’s last words that he knows who has died; he only knows the last words of people he never knew. I think it’s nice that Pudge doesn’t know Alaska’s last words, because he’ll get to remember her by the experiences and good times they shared, rather than last words, which will never be able to sum up anyone’s life- especially Alaska’s.

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict Blog Post 3

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict Blog Post 3

            Well, I’m sorry to say that I’m still reading The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, but I think I’ll finish pretty soon, since I don’t have too many pages left. I decided to focus on a topic that I don’t really understand in the book, the contract Violet’s family has with the mining company. Everything was going fine, until the mining company’s drill got stuck in an accident, and then they decided not to touch the drill to damage it. Since they couldn’t touch the drill, no progress was made, and no money was given to Violet’s family. The contract lasted five years, and expires in a week. Since Violet wanted her family to gain money, she tried to rescue the drill, and when she couldn’t, she protected it. Now, Violet thinks that meeting Nicholas and John is fate, because of the timing, and them hopefully finding the treasure before the contract expires. I decided to think of a reason why Violet would think this.

            Violet’s family is struggling financially, and Violet is mad at the mining company for “using” Violet’s family and making them lose money. I think that if the drill was damaged then the mining company would have to permanently have to stop mining on Violet’s land, and they said they should protect it so that in the future they could eventually continue drilling. I remember Violet saying that she was naïve when she was younger and actually believed the mining company. I think she wanted to protect the drill so that the company could someday continue drilling and her family could get more money, and she said she was naïve because she actually believed the mining company’s “lies”.

            However, I don’t understand how finding the treasure would help her family. The kids aren’t even sure what the treasure is, much less where it is and how to find it. Also, the mining company’s contract will end next week whether the find the treasure or not. Maybe Violet thinks that if she finds the treasure it will balance out the money her family lost in the mining deal, and she’ll be able to support her family and go to art school.

            I think the author is trying to involve very complex plot lines, but he’s not doing a very good job of balancing out explanation and details. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, he includes many unnecessary details that don’t benefit the story. I think that the author should include more explanation on complicated plot lines and exclude all the unnecessary details.