Ideas for further research

Ideas for further research

If there was one thing I enjoyed studying in this class was the real vs. Secondary World.  I find this subject very intriguing.  I believe someone could write a paper on all the metaphors and symbols authors with style writing use to convey their messages to the reader. It would be similar to piecing together a puzzle.  Overwhelming at first, but once completed you would discover a brilliant masterpiece.  To be specific, I would write about Harry Potter.  Although we did not get to discuss it much in class because of the time allowed, I feel much more deeper research can be done with this book. I am encouraged to read deeper unto these type books after taking this class.

Blog 16:Coraline: Rhetorical Reflection, Notable Moment,and Analysis

The only associatation I had with Coraline before reading this book was seeing the commercial for the movie.  I remember when it came out because it struck me as an odd looking movie.  It was in 3D and Coraline appeared quite strange.  I did not want to see the movie, but now that I have read the book I would like to watch it.  It seems that every movie made after a book is different in ways.  I would like to see how the movie director portrayed the book.  The book can be classified as a dark fantasy book.  I typically do not like these type books, but I enjoyed this one.  It seemed to have a meaning behind it that the author, Neil Gaiman, is trying to portray to the readers.  I believe he is telling the reader to be thankful for what you have.

While reading Coraline the scene where she meets the cat in her other world for the first time struck me as my notable moment.  Unlike in the real world this cat could talk. “There was something irritatingly self-centered about the cat, Coraline decided.  As if it were, in its opinion, the only thing in any world or place that could possibly be of any importance.  Half of her wanted to be very rude to it; the other half of her wanted to be polite and deferential.  The polite half won.”

I liked the cat because it seemed to be the only character that really cared about her in the other world.  The other mother and other father appeared to in the beginning of the book, but when Coraline discovers the truth about her other parents they are awful creatures.  The cat also reminded me of the phoenix from The Phoenix and the Carpet.  Both are willing to help, but both are also very cocky.  It is interesting that a cat can actually be found in normal life, but can talk in the other world.  I have a cat and my cat acts exactly like this!  Now she can’t talk, but you must be polite to her or she will run off.  My cat appears to have a cocky air about her as well.

The other world and other family Coraline found seemed nice at first, but they quickly changed.  Coraline was bored with her normal life and was desperate for some sort of entertainment.  Although she wished for these things in the end it was not what she wanted after all.  Through the journey Coraline and the reader learns that you should be careful for what you wish for and to appreciate what you have.  Coraline wanted nothing more in the other world to find her parents and get her old life back.  Once Coraline and her parents returned home and were released from the other mother, things seemed different between them.  There was a realization by both her parents and Coraline that both need to change their ways because no one is really happy.

Blog 15: Lemony Snickett: Rhetorical Reflection, Notable Moment, and Analysis

The Bad Beginning is the first book of many in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.  When I first saw this book on our reading list I thought I didn’t have any previous experience with this book.  However, after we watched the movie in class, I remembered that I had seen the movie a very long time ago.  I remember the movie annoyed me when I watched it as a child.  I thought it was pitiful that these poor children keep having bad things happen to them, and that they are incapable of changing their luck.  I remember thinking this movie is weird and creepy.  I did not know it was based on a series of books.  The back cover basically tells the reader this is not going to be a fairy tale where everything is a happy ending.  I had two responses to this.  One, I was annoyed once again and two, I couldn’t help but laugh.  It appeared to me that Lemoney Snicket had a different sense of humor that I might enjoy and did throughout the book.

My favorite lines in this story come from chapter three.  The children have just arrived at Count Olaf’s house and aren’t happy.  They are forced to all share one filthy bedroom, even though the Count’s house was huge, and are treated like slaves.  They have left their normal life and arriving in an abnormal world that is completely different than before.  At this point Klaus has had enough.

“I hate it here, Violet! I hate this house! I hate our room!  I hate having to do all these chores, and I hate Count Olaf!

“I hate it too,’ Violet said, and Klaus looked at his older sister with relief.  Sometimes, just saying that you hate something, and having someone agree with you, can make you feel better about a terrible situation.  “I hate everything about our lives right now, Klaus,” she said, “but we have to keep our chin up.”  This was an expression the children’s father had used and it meant “try to stay cheerful.”

I particularly like this one scene because it shows a recurring emotion throughout the book.  The children are clearly upset, fed up, and full of anger.  However, they always find a way to smother their feelings.  By just thinking “we have to keep our chin up” they are almost whipping the sadness off and normalizing it.  I do not think this is the typical response a child would have if they were in this situation.  If it were me I would have had a nervous breakdown by this point! Throughout the book the children deal with the death of their parents and their horrible luck but are able to detach themselves from sadness and emotion.

 Lemony Snicket’s style of writing contains a grotesque element.  Everything is blown up and over the top it makes it unbelievable.  Such as when Violet was forced to marry Count Olaf, that would never happen in real life!  This is a similar recurring element found in James in the Giant Peach and Coraline.  I liked this book better than the other two just mentioned because of the narrator’s voice.  It tends to poke through and give the audience a comic relief or explanation to what the children are feeling.

Blog 12B-The City of Ember Analysis

The City of Ember was the last dystopia book we read for the semester.  Compared to the others, I liked this one the best.  There was more action and adventure that forced the reader to use their imagination, such as with the pieces of torn up directions.  They were similar to a riddle because random letters and words were gone, but it could be considered more a mystery because of the methodical element of directions to escape.  This aspect of the book kept my attention. 

The two main characters in this book, Lina and Doon, are curious children.  Doon trades Lina for her job in the pipe works and gives her his job of being a messenger.   Doon does this because he wants to explore and find out more about the generator that’s supplying the city with lights. He suspects that things in the city are running low.  Lina wants to be a messenger because she is full of energy.  She loves running and talking to people.  Lina also fears that the lights will eventually go out because she learns things about the city that most people don’t through her work and at home.

Although this dystophia book has many similarities to the other two that we have read, where the people live in a controlled society and their jobs are assigned, not chosen, the biggest difference to me is that one thing is certain, The City of Ember will end.  Supplies are running low and the lights keep turning off.  Without Lina and Doon’s bravery and problem solving skills the entire community would have perished. 

12A: The City of Ember: Notable Moment

My notable moment for the City of Ember comes from chapter 7: A message full of holes.  Lina has just found the directions out of ember, however she does not yet realize what she contains.  She returns home to discover her sister chewing on some of it while tearing up other parts.  Lina quickly recovers what she can from Poppy and hides it from her grandma.  After laying out all the pieces she can fit together, even though some of the words are missing, she is able to tell it is directions for something.

“Her heart began knocking at her chest like a fist at a door.  She had found something.  She had found something strange and important: instructions for something.  But for what? And how terrible that Poppy had found it first and ruined it!”

“It occurred to Lina that this might be what her grandmother had been talking about for so long.  Perhaps this was the thing that was lost.”

This passage intrigues me because it leaves the reader with dispense.  Neither the reader or Lina can understand the letter but both experience the sense of a mystery and the exciting feelings that come along with it.  It is a clue that Lina must figure out and the author is inviting, and encouraging the reader without the reader even really realizing how they are being pulled in.  The reader almost feels that they are present in the story trying to unsolve the riddle that feels more like a mystery.  This type of suspense kept me flipping from page to page from here on out.  I was unable to put the book down because of the author-reader connection.

13:James and the Giant Peach: Rhetorical Reflectiong, Notable Moment, and Analysis

James and the Giant Peach is a story of rags to richs.  Personally I am drawn to the idea presented of an orphan that seems nothing can go right for and is constantly presented with bad luck, however their luck always turns around.  I am intrigued of the idea of this in this book because not only does Dahl choose to play on this idea he blows everything up and twists it. 

My favorite example of Dahl’ work comes in chapter three.  At this point James’s parents have been killed by a rhinoceros, he has been  forced to live with his evil aunts who isolate him from other children, and they make him work like a slave.  Everything in life has caught up with James in this moment.  He suddenly breaks down crying and runs away from his aunts despite their threats. I can’t help but feel pity for James.

 Dahl writes, “It was at this point that the first of all rather peculiar thing that led to so many other much more peculiar things, happened to him.”… “James stared into the bad, and sure enough there was a faint rustling sound coming up from inside it, and then he noticed that all the thousands of little green things were slowly, very very slowly stirring about and moving over each other as though they were alive.

“There’s more power and magic in those things in there than in all the rest of the world put together,” the old man said softly.

 I love how he is grabbing the readers attention, and giving them hope that James will finally catch a break! This is a clear example of foreshadowing the changes that are to come, and how James luck will change.  Dahl’s view on communicating morality throughout the book could be question though.  The reader can’t help but be happy when James’s evil anuts are ran over by the giant peach!  Everyone knows that could not happen, but you are entertained by the idea that bad people die.  He is not trying to teach you anything real about the world.   This is a completely different aspect than we have talked about in any other children’s literature book.

The only expierence I have with this Roald Dahl is from watching the movies based on his books, James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Personally, I hated the movies as a kid.  I thought they were weird and obserd.  Now that I have read James and the Giant Peach I can see some of the humor Dahl is trying to communicate that I was blind to before.  This does surprise me though because children seem to pick up on humor more than adults.  I suppose I now realize how ridiculous and over blown the stories are therefore I am more open to it.

11B-The Giver and Amond the Hidden: Analysis

Among theHidden and The Giver are both classified as dystopia books.  While both books take place in a toliterian society and live under a population control law, I preferred reading Among the Hidden because love exists.  If I were a teacher trying to open my student’s imagination to a new community, completely opposite than any one on earth now, this would be the book I would choose.

I preferred the attitude and mindset in Among the Hidden of the people, versus The Giver.  The families seemed to actually love their children.  Luke’s parents did everything they could to keep him and protect him.  Despite knowing that they were committing a crime by having a third child they kept and loved him anyway. In The Giver all citizens take pills to control and eliminate their sexual desires and children are assigned to each family unit instead of created by the parents like in Among the Hidden.  I feel if this were to somehow accidently happen in The Giver the third child would be released with no question about it.  At one point in the story of The Giver  Jonas’ mother is asked if she loves her child.  She says love is too strong of a word.  She does not even know how to love.  Luke’s parents, on the other hand, loved him enough to let him leave when he was offered a new identity. They realized he would never be fully happy.   Even though they knew they would never see him again, Luke’s father assures Luke’s mother that this is the only way he will ever a life.  I feel this aspect makes the book feel more real compared to The Giver.   The reader would get the sense that maybe this could happen. 

Although both books deal with complex issues that young child may not fully understand, I feel Among the Hidden is a better dystopia book.  I feel that I would read the next book in The Shadow Children series, unlike the next book in Lois Lowry’s series.