Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Weekly Reading Response # 3

NAME Fiona Jackson  DATE October 20th, 2010
TITLE The Curios Case Of the Dog in the Night-Time. TIME: 2 HOURS
AUTHOR: Mark Haddon PAGES 106-226
TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK 120 Pages

This book was very unique in a lot of ways. The book is written about something that happens to a boy and it is written from that boys perspective. What makes the book interesting isn't only the storyline though. It is also the fact that the boy is Autistic, or has something different about his brain that makes him think in ways that are very different than the way most people think. He can't understand human emotions, and relates better to animals than humans. He is a extremely logical person, and is amazing at math. He pretty much looks at everything in life as one big math problem. I think that I found the book interesting for those reasons. The story would have been pretty boring if it wasn't for the fact that you get to see it through the eyes of someone who thinks in a whole different way then you. It was like stepping into a whole new world, where things that seem totally normal in our world, upset you so much and causes so much pain you just have to sit down and groan. I also liked the book because the boy, (Christopher) overcomes some of his fears. He figures out ways on his own to help him overcome the fear that ruled his life. I liked that. But I didn't like the way the story ended. Christopher didn't really seem like he was happier in the position he was in at the end of the story than the one he was in in the beginning of the story. Which was okay, because he was pretty happy in the beginning of the story. But the story just kind of cut off. I was really surprised to find that it was over. I even flipped through the last blank pages to make sure I wasn't missing anything. It was strange. I mean, the book's last paragraph did have an ending sense, but it could have just been the end of the chapter the way it was written. 


Something that I really liked about a character was the way the Mother acted throughout this book. It might seem strange that I say this because the mother basically abandoned her son to go live with the man she had an affair with. But she was confused during that time. She had a bad moment. Then when Christopher didn't answer any of her letters, she began to worry and just assume that Christopher was angry with her. Then, when Christopher showed up at her house, and told her that his father had told him that she was dead, she moved out of the man she was living with's house and moved back to Swindon to be with Christopher which was probably very hard for her to do since she did love the man she was living with. I thought that it must have been a very hard decision to make. But I also felt very bad for the Father because Christopher was scared of him and thought that he was going to try and kill him, so he wouldn't go near him or talk to him. If Christopher saw him at all he would scream his head of. That would be so hard. Having your own son be so scared of you that he wouldn't talk to you or refuse to be in the same house as you. Anyway, overall I though that this was a really good book and would recommend it to other people.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Weekly Reading Response # 2

NAME: Fiona Jackson DATE: October 19th, 2010
TITLE: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night -Time TIME: HOURS
AUTHOR: Mark Haddon  PAGES: 1-106
TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK: 106 Pages 

Something I have found really interesting about this book is that the main character, Christopher, is autistic. I am not positive about this but I am pretty sure. It is interesting because it is like he is writing the book, so it shows exactly how he thinks about everything. The way things make him feel. It is interesting because he is a really mathematical person so he thinks about everything really detailed. He has a photographic memory and he kind of explained what it is like to have a memory like that which is cool because it is so different than the way my memory is. This boy is so smart, but he is difficulty to talk to because his brain works a different way then everyone else's. I can't tell whether his parents understand what exactly is different about him. They clearly know something is different about him though because there are some things that he can't tolerate. for example, he won't eat anything that is yellow or brown, his food can't be touching, he has a game about the colors of cars which determine what kind of day he is going to have, he doesn't like to be touched, and would much rather be alone then with people. 

This book reminds me of a movie I watched once called Temple Grandin. That movie was about a girl who had autism and was also super smart and didn't like to be touched. This is the main reason that I think that Christopher is also autistic. The two characters had lot's of similarities, and it is interesting to compare the way the different writers/directors showed the way the autistic people think. In the movie they kind of showed a picture for everything she was thinking. In the book the author does a similar thing but uses words to describe it instead of a picture. I really think that it is interesting how people like this's brain works. They are just on a whole different level than everyone else. For example, in the movie, there was a scene where Temple was in class, and they were supposed to be reading out of a French textbook. It appeared that Temple wasn't reading the page, so the teacher got up and went over to her and asked why she wasn't reading. She replied that she already read it, even though the teacher had just told them to read it. The teacher took away the book and asked what it said. She recited the whole page like she was reading it from her memory. In the book, there is a point where Christopher describes his memory as a being a film. When people ask him to remember things he can simply press rewind, fast forward, or pause. It's the same concept. 


At one point in the book, Christopher's father told him to never do a list of things. 
1. Not to mention Mr. Shears name in their house. 
2. Not to go asking Mrs. Shears about who killed the bloody dog.
3. Not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog.
4. Not to go trespassing in other peoples gardens. 
5. To stop this ridiculous bloody detective game. 
Christopher clearly understands this, but will not give up on his detective game. He just decides to do it in ways that his father did not clearly say. Which shows that he is very clever, but that his mind kind of works like a young child's. Kind of manipulative. But that he just doesn't understand when he upsets people. It must be really hard not to get frustrated with him really easily. I don't think that I would be able to keep as calm with someone like that as his father does. And I think that that is a big part of why his mother ran off. Because she really did feel like she couldn't take it anymore and that it would be better for everyone else if she just left. I can understand how she might of felt. But I am not saying that what she did was right. 

Monday, October 11, 2010

Independent Reading Book

My new Independent Reading Book is called The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. 

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Weekly Reading Response

NAME: Fiona Jackson DATE: 10-6-10
TITLE: Animal Farm  TIME: 2 HOURS
AUTHOR: George Orwell  PAGES: 1-128
TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK: 128

Question: What does this book make you think about? Why?

This is a really interesting book to me. The fact that in the book, the Animals rebel and run a whole farm by themselves and feel such strong hate towards the humans is crazy. Not crazy like it couldn't happen, but just crazy like hard to believe. I think that it would be really hard on humans if this were to actually happen because of the fact that humans are obsessed with being in charge of everything. Even among ourselves. That is the main reason we are always at war with each other anyway. Everyone wants control and power over everyone else. I think that is an instinct, because in Animal Farm, even the pigs want control of everything. It isn't a problem with the other animals because the pigs are the smartest, and the other animals are to dumb to understand that they are getting rid of their old controller, (the human, Jones) and just replacing him with a new one, (the pig, Napoleon). I thought that was interesting because it seems like it may be a theme of the book. 


What surprised you about this book? Why?


What surprised me about this book is the fact that the whole point of getting rid of the humans on the farm was so that they could have their freedom, and never be hungry, or be forced to work for the benefit of someone else. And then how they did have that, but pretty soon, the pigs started to become more and more dominate. Actually, I take that back. I wasn't surprised that much when you find out that Napoleon was the leader and he was planning on becoming more and more important until he got to the point that he got the best of everything. I could tell from the very beginning that that was going to happen. At first, I thought that Snowball was going to become the president or new leader. But then Napoleon ran him out. I still haven't decided whether or not Snowball really was to blame, or if Napoleon made it all up in order for him to have more power. I was surprised though, when you find out at the end of the book that the pigs are back in league with the humans. I really thought that they understood more that the humans were bad and way smarter than the pigs. I really think that it is just animal nature to want to always be in charge. Or to want to always have the best of everything. The farm was a lot more successful when all the animals were equal and they actually followed the original seven commandments. That is what was fair. All the animals were equally happy, and they made a lot more food that way. But then when the pigs started to slowly gain more control and become more and more selfish, everything started to get worse. The pigs were supposedly better than all the other animals so they got more food, and they got to drink alcohol, and they got to sleep in beds, while all the other animals suffered. 


What did this book remind you of? Why?
This book reminded me of another book series titled the Hunger Games. In that series, the people were forced to compete in a horrible thing called the Hunger Games, run by their leader, President Snow. The people rebel and end up overthrowing the president and elect a new president, who then just wants to have another Hunger Games. That reminded me of Animal Farm, because in Animal Farm, the animals overthrow the human that owns their farm,(Jones) and then the Pigs just take over and treat the animals the same way that Jones's treated them. The plot is kind of the same in both of the stories. 

Monday, October 4, 2010

Independant Reading

The book I am reading for the Independent reading project is Animal Farm, by George Orwell. 


Thursday, September 23, 2010

Rabbits

What do the rabbits symbolize in the story?


Rabbits are symbolizing dreams in the book Of Mice and Men. It has always been Lennie's dream to own those rabbits and tend to them. That is the symbol. The theme is dreaming. Always knowing what your dreams are and doing what it takes to accomplish. Things do happen sometimes to prevent you from getting your dreams for example Lennie killing Curley's wife.


Choose a character in the novel (other than Curley's wife) and discuss what they represent. Use details about the character to support your answer.


I am choosing to discuss George. I think that George's purpose in this book is to represent friends. George (although sometimes he has interesting ways of showing this) really and truly cares about Lennie and doesn't want to see him get hurt. He always has his back no matter how much trouble Lennie gets in. For example, when Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife, George says, "Ain't nobody gonna hurt Lennie. I won't let em." 


 Describe your reactions to Lennie killing Curley's wife. What do you think will happen to Lennie now?


I was really shocked when I found out that Lennie actually killed her. I didn't know he was that strong. I feel bad for him because he really can't help it. Just like George says- "He ain't never done it to be mean." I think that the boys are going to kill him. Curley really wants to and he already had all that anger bottled up from when Lennie broke his hand. I think the others will go along with it because they really don't understand that Lennie doesn't do it intentionally.


Discuss Curley's wife and what she represents in the novel.


I think that Curley's wife represents accidents. She represents Lennie always managing to kill that really soft thing- whether it's a mouse, or a dog, or even a human. I'm sure if he ever did get to the rabbits, then he would have killed them to. He's just way to strong to be handling the fragile objects that are so soft. Sure, he never means to, but it happens ever time. He never learns. He thinks like a child. Just like a child. 

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Journal Entry- Candy's Perspective

Dear Diary,
I was real sad today. Them boys in the bunkhouse took my dog and shot him dead. I guess it's what's best for him, but I sure will miss him a ton. I have had him since he was just a little puppy. The boys been complaining because the old dog is smelly and stinks up the whole room. Hopefully the old thing will be put out of it's pain.

I was so sad when they took him away I just laid down on my bunk and stared at the wall for a while. When that dog was younger he was the best sheepdog you ever saw. The best, and I am going to miss him so much. We used to have so much fun when he was just a little pup. I brightened a little when Slim said I could have any of his puppies.

I was lying on my bed listening to the two new boys the real big guy and the small fellow talk when they started a conversation about how they plan on going of and buying there own little ranch when they get enough money. I started thinking about how nice that sounds, when I realized that if us three guys pooled all our money together we could get there super fast. I have a lot of money stored away anyway, so I asked them how that sounded. They were a little resistant at first but once we talked out all the details it was basically a done deal. I am very excited this sure will make my old life a lot better.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Journal Entry- Lennie's Perspective

Dear Diary,
Today was the best day of my life! Slim the fella who seemed kinda brusque let me have a puppy all to myself. He's brown and white just like I wanted and I can stroke him all I want. He was just born the other day so he's gotta stay in the nest with his momma. I brought him into my bunk and was recumbent when George realized and made me take him back to his nest. I wasn't trying to hurt him or do anything bad, the little puppy was just so soft I wanted to stroke him some more. I didn't understand that he had to stay with his momma, but George was nice and explained to me that I was just hurting the little soft puppy.

After I returned the puppy to his momma, I came back to the bunk house and was talking with George and Candy. Candy seemed real sad because the other guys had taken his old smelly dog and shot him because he was real old and in pain. I was begging George to tell me about our dream some more, about how we are gonna get a little place of our own and live of the fatta the land. About how we are gonna have some rabbits, and chickens, and even some pigs. George got talking and we both kinda forgot about Candy who was just lying down in his bunk. Then after a while he interrupted us and started talking about how he has a lot of money saved up, and he thinks he's gonna be fired soon because he's old just like his dog. We all got this great idea about how we can pool our money together- he would just be one more person- and he could just come with us. Now we only need to save up a little bit more money and our dream will be coming true.

After we found out about this great news, Curly and the guys all came back into the bunk house and were talking about how Curly keeps asking Slim about where his wife is. Slim was a little bit fed up because he hardly ever is with Curly's wife and doesn't like to keep being asked about it. Everyone started to kind of gang up on Curly and I was still so happy about the little place that's gonna be all ours that I was still kinda smiling. I guess Curly mistook that for me laughing at him and he came at me all pugnacious like. It scared me real bad and I was talking to George trying to get him to mollify me. He just kept saying get him Lennie, but I didn't wanna hurt nobody. He kept saying it and Curly was making me bleed, so I grabbed his hand and all this crunching noises erupted. It was real scary and I didn't wanna hurt nobody. I feel real awful about it.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Of Mice and Men (Post #2)

1. Describe the way George treats Lennie. Explain how you think George really feels about him:
Most of the time George treats Lennie very poorly. He seems very hot tempered so that he gets frustrated and angry with Lennie very often. He cusses, yells, and calls him names a lot. When he is not frustrated with Lennie, he is really nice to him and cooks food for him and talks to him about rabbits. George seems like he has a love hate companionship with Lennie.


2. What is George and Lennie's Dream? Provide Details. Do you think that is realistic or not?
George and Lennie's dream is to go live on a ranch by themselves and have a bunch of different animals to provide the food. Lennie also really wants rabbits so that he can stroke them without killing them. They want a stove so that in the winter when it rains, they can not work but go inside and warm themselves by the stove. I think that this is a very realistic dream because it is something that it seems like two hardworking men can accomplish if they try hard enough. If they really want it and if they work hard enough, then they can accomplish basically anything.


3. Why do you think George says that migrant workers who travel from farm to farm are the loneliest people in the world? What makes he and Lennie different?
I think that the reason George says that migrant farmers are the loneliest people in the world is because basically all the time they are alone. They travel from place to place alone, and even if they get a job and meet people pretty soon they are going to leave again. They don't have people who are close to them, and they are alone a lot. I think that it would be really hard to be alone all the time. George and Lennie will always be different because they have each other and the always will. They never get lonely because they have each other to talk to. They are close friends. 

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Of Mice and Men (Pre-Reading)

1. Why do we have friends? 
In my opinion, we have friends for very many reasons. We need someone we can really relate to in life. The person doesn't have to be your age necessarily, they just have to be someone that you are comfortable talking to about things in way you don't talk to others such as your parents. If we didn't have friends, then life would be really dull. Friends are people that you can confide to, people that won't judge you. They are people that you can have fun with. I feel like everyone needs friends. That you are really unhappy without them. 




2. What makes a "good" friend?
A good friend is someone who always has your back. Who isn't mean to you or other people. I think that lot's of times you consider someone a really good friend, but then they do something to someone else or to you and you really realize that that person isn't actually a good friend, and you shouldn't let them treat you or others like that. A good friend is someone who loves to spend time with you, and who is truly kind to you. Who doesn't go to there other friends and talk about you behind your back. Someone who sticks up for you. 



3. Describe a dream you have:
One dream that I have in life is to travel around the world. I have always really wanted to see the world. Places that are different from where I have grown up my whole life. Exotic places with different types of food and animals and weather - pretty much different everything. Places like Australia, or France. It doesn't really matter where. I just want to see everything that there is to see in this world. It seems like it would kind of be a waste to live your whole life without seeing everything that there is to see in this world that we live in. I don't really think that this dream will go wrong because if I care enough about it, or anything for that matter, I can work hard to accomplish it. And that is what you are going to have to do in life- you won't just have everything handed to you.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Recent Book

One of my favorite books I have read lately is called Mockingjay. It is the third book in a series. They are realistic fiction and amazing books. The first book is called The Hunger Games, and the second is Catching Fire. The story is set in the future, in the ruins of what used to be North America. The books never really explain what happened to the earth. The nation of Panem is a capitol surrounded by 12 districts. The capitol is cruel and forces the districts to behave by sending one boy and one girl to the Hunger Games, a yearly event were all 24 kids, who are 12-18 years old are forced to fight till death on TV for the capitols entertainment. The books seem harsh but they are truly amazing stories. I would recommend them to anyone who likes books similar to this like the books Gone and Hunger.