Mockingjay

(Not my best blogpost, I know -.-)


             I recently finished a book called, "Mockingjay", by Suzanne Collins. It is the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy and it's about how Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist, has survived yet another annual Hunger games. Though, this time she didn't technically win, she was rescued. Along with the other surviving victors, she is taken to District 13 around the time where the rebellion begins to take place. Katniss Everdeen is then giving the choice of being the rebels' Mockingjay. (Eh, I suck at summaries -.- )

           Was justice served? 

           I believe it was because now all these people don't have worry about the Hunger Games anymore. They can sleep peacefully at night without having to be scared of the fact that their children could be sent into the arena, or with the fact that they'll be chosen to participate in these cruel games. President Coin did seem like a promising leader at first, but then realizing it, having President Coin would make no difference. Everything would stay the same. They even wanted to make a Hunger Games for the capitol children , wouldn't that be just like what the past cruel leaders did? The past cruel leaders who decided to initiate this annual game? 

         Overall, justice was served for the people of Panem. They got their peace and 'happy ending'. But they  will never forget the people they have lost because of this annual game. Their past ancestors aren't at fault. They're must've had a reason to even spark up a rebellion in the first place. Something was wrong with this society. And they wanted to end it, and start all over. Which is what they can do now. Start all over again. And begin with something new, fresh, and good. 

   



           

Wicked

(Some Spoilers 3x )

                    I've recently started reading a book called, "Wicked" by Sara Shepard. "Wicked", is the 5th book in the Pretty Little Liar series. In this book, Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily(the four main characters) have recently begun returning to their normal lives after A's true identity was revealed. Sara Shepard puts Hanna's, Spencer's, Aria's, and Emily's perspective in the PLL series but she never really puts anybody else's perspective in the books.


                 Well clearly we never really get to know what their mothers were thinking about all of this. I mean their daughter's best friend went missing for a year then later their daughter's best friend's body was found buried in a hole in their daughter's best friend's backyard. There must be many things going on in their minds. From time to time, you'll see their mothers questioning them. Asking them what they were doing. They sensed something was going on. We never got to know what they suspected their daughters were doing.


               What were they thinking when they didn't know about 'A'? They probably did notice that their daughters phones tended to beep at the same time as if they were receiving the same text message from the same person(which did happen most of the time). Were they shocked when they found out that their daughter was hiding this big, dark secret that could've led to their death. Especially Hanna's mother. What was she thinking when she found out that Mona, Hanna's supposed best friend, was planning to kill Spencer and was the one who sent her daughter and her daughter's best friends threatening messages?


              One thing I noticed was that Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily don't really interact anymore after they've discovered A's true identity. They drifted apart again. It's like they're saying, 'We're only to talk to each other when are secrets and lives are in danger". As I read the book, Emily was the one having the hardest time getting over Ali. She was in love with her, and who else would help her besides her 3 other former best friends? They went through the same thing, the only difference is that they weren't in love with Ali. They could seriously help other get over their best friend's death and try to erase the memory that Mona was the one threatening to reveal their secrets and warning them that they're lives would be in danger if they told anyone about her.


            If their mother's perspectives were shown, then we would have a sense on what they were thinking throughout the course of these big events. I guess it would help us understand this situation more in another perspective. What did Aria's mother think about Aria dating Mr. Fitz? We did have a sense on what Emily's mother thought about Emily being lesbian. We all knew that she couldn't accept the fact that her daughter was gay because she sent her daughter to Iowa so her daughter's aunt and uncle could help her stop being gay. I found that really messed up. I mean you're trying to forcefully change your child's sexuality. If that's what gender they like, then they should be allowed to like that gender. What did Spencer's mother think about Spencer seeing Melissa's former boyfriend, Ian, with Ali before Ali died? What did Hanna's mother think about Mona being A?
                               
                             

Life As We Knew it

                   I've recently began reading a book, "Life As We Knew It", by Susan Pfeffer. After reading the first 19 pages, I already noticed what kind of idea this story was leading to. From what I read so far(which is like 50 pages), the book shows how easily your "normal" life can disappear and become an everyday fight for survival. At first, an asteroid, slightly bigger than other asteroids that have impacted on the moon, hitting the moon may seem like an event to look at and celebrate with your family and friends but then it could suddenly change into something scary when you realize that, since this asteroid is bigger than any other asteroid that has impacted on the moon, the results could be way unexpected. And that is exactly what happens.


                  At first, from what you can see by reading Miranda's diary entries, her life seems "normal". Her life seems okay, but then suddenly a huge event just changes that immediately and it makes think about how many events can factor into changing many people's lives drastically. Such as a huge asteroid impacting on the moon, this would of course cause people to panic since the moon came abnormally closer to Earth because of the asteroid, affecting the tides which caused many coastal areas to be completely submerged. People would fight in the streets to just to get a simple can of corn. When events such as this one occur, people would do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to protect themselves, their family, and possibly their friends.  


                This is similar to my idea on my other blog post. Would these people who are trying to protect their family be considered perpetrators of crime or be victims of this event who are trying to protect their families? I personally would think they were victims since it's not their fault all of this occurring. It's not like they wanted this to happen. If they did, they're physcos. And wouldn't you want to do anything you possibly can to protect your family? I know many people who would do anything to protect their families. So if these people maybe killed someone who was trying to harm their family, I'm not saying it's a right thing, I'm saying that it's called self defense. Of course, it's not right to take someones life. But this person was trying to kill you and your family and take all of your supplies away. You need to do something about it. And this is what happens, and could happen, in events such as the one occurring in the book.


              And what made the situation even more sad was how they kept on reassuring themselves that everything would be back to normal by tomorrow, but deep down inside they knew that this has never happened before, and the results aren't predictable. Like when they were getting supplies at the supermarket, Miranda kept on telling her mom, "You don't really think we're going to need this stuff? Everything's going to get back to normal soon, isn't it", or, "What about desserts? If the world comes to an end, I'm going to want cookies". When she said the second thing, I was like 'Is she really not taking all of this seriously? Does she really think everything is going to get back to normal?'. Of course, any teen would have a reaction just like hers. They believe that just by saying repeatedly, it would come true. That's not true, of course. This is one of those events in which you don't know the outcome of. Anything's possible, in this case.


          After writing all of this, the questions are; What would you do in a situation like this? Would you go to any extent to protect your family? Or would you just sit back and act like everything is going to be okay? How would you feel if your "normal" life suddenly changed into an everyday fight for survival?

The Hunger Games

               I've recently began rereading a book I read last year called "The Hunger Games", written by Suzanne Collins. It's about how a nation that has risen from the ruins of North America, called Panem, has an "amazing" Capitol that is surrounded by 12 districts. The Capitol's city may seem marvelous and just simply amazing but the Capitol doesn't reflect from it's city. The Capitol keeps control of the surrounding 12 districts by forcing them to send in 1 girl and 1 boy between the age of 12 and 18 to fight to the death on live television for "entertainment", every year. Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, the poorest district of Panem. She volunteers to stop her younger and only sister, Prim, from going to the arena.

             I've starting writing an argument essay in my ELA class and wanted to connect the essay question to the book. The essay question is ," Are Child Soldiers Victims or Perpetrators of Crime?". For this book, I'm changing the question to, "Are Career Tributes Victims or Perpetrators of Crime?". A Career Tribute, is a tribute who trains their whole lives to volunteer and compete in the Hunger Games. Though they may seem cruel and menacing, don't you think they enjoy killing because they were taught to believe killing was okay?

             Careers tend to come from the districts 1,2, and 4. These districts are the wealthiest out of all the other districts. It is said in the book that these tributes train their whole lives to compete in the Hunger Games, and it's because they think it's honor to do so. But these children are born with a mindset to kill. A mindset to commit bloodshed. Relating to child soldiers, these children are brainwashed. They're basically brainwashed by the Capitol into thinking killing is good and entertaining to watch. And not only that. They think it's an honor to do such thing.

         That's not true. What's honorable about going into a game where you have kill 23 kids that could be either the same age as you, older, or younger? They do it for glory and because of what they're taught. Don't you think some of these children could've possibly been forced to hold a knife at the age of 7? And begin to learn how to use it to kill someone. Just like child soldiers, these children are forced, and also lured by the chance to represent their district in a game in which you could possibly win and get fame and fortune(Child soldiers aren't forced to participate in a fight to the death but they're forced to join an armed force and kill).

       Careers are victims of these games, too. Not just the tributes that come from the other districts that aren't allowed to train. And I don't even think the Careers are prepared for the horrors to come after winning the games. Would they be able to live on with guilt of taking the lives of 23 children? Honestly, I don't think so.

         
           

Insurgent (Some Spoilers)

(To be honest, not my best blog post)
                         

             I've recently started reading a book called "Insurgent", written by Veronica Roth. Insurgent is the second book of the Divergent trilogy. On one hand, taking a huge risk could lead to a good thing, but on the other hand taking a huge risk could lead to a bad thing. According to what I read so far, Tris took lots of risks that could've resulted into really bad things.


            Tris did take a very huge risk while she was residing in Candor headquarters, where the rest of the Dauntless(except the Dauntless traitors) were. When the Dauntless traitors came to the Candor headquarters to inject the people with a serum and to find out who the Divergent were. Since Tris is "Divergent", she didn't fall unconscious like the others did. Uriah also didn't become unconscious because he was "Divergent". Tris suggested they split up so they could help the others, knowing that it would be her against all the Dauntless traitors and the Erudite. And she only had a knife to protect herself. She's lucky Cara was able to evacuate a group of loyal Dauntless that later surrounded the Dauntless traitors.


           Tris did make huge mistakes while she was residing temporarily in Amity headquarters with Tobias, Caleb, Peter and the group of Abnegation she was in the safe-house with. First of all, she knew that they will be kicked out or punished in some way if they were to cause some sort of conflict. She fought with Peter to get the hard drive, causing a conflict that could've resulted into her being kicked out of the Amity headquarters. I know it was something she had to do, but she could've solved in another way. Just like in the book Divergent, she didn't necessarily have to kill Will, she could've just shot his leg or arm.


            In real world, you don't really tend to get lucky just like the main characters of a book would. In the real world, there would be a person who would take a big risk even if it meant sacrificing their life to save others which is what Tris was doing but still you have to be careful. You're not superman (Even though superman isn't invincible since he has weaknesses, like kryptonite). Tris is smart and all but she sometimes does things that make people think that she isn't so bright.


           Overall, Tris had taken both good and bad risks according to what I've read so far. Honestly, I didn't really do well on this blog post but I did make somewhat of a point on proving that main characters tend to make stupid mistakes all of the time. Main characters aren't perfect. They all have flaws.

Divergent (Some Spoilers)

             I've recently read a book called, Divergent, written by Veronica Roth. Beatrice Prior (Later changes her name to Tris), lives in a dystopian society that's separated into 5 factions. Candor, Amity, Erudite, Dauntless and Abnegation. On a chosen day of every year, 16 year olds must select the faction they want to belong to for the rest of their lives. This a hard decision for Beatrice because she has choose between staying with her family or selecting a faction she truly belongs in. The mentor of this book is Tobias and Tris is the hero, in my opinion

            The mentor in this book would be Tobias because he mentored Tris (Beatrice) through the whole initiation process. And no, I don't think he's the mentor just because he's Tris' mentor and love interest. I believe he's the mentor because he did help Tris through this whole initiation process when she didn't ask for it. Since he's gone through this process before, he has some sort of knowledge of what the leaders want. Therefore, he would be able to help Tris succeed in the fear landscape, and the simulation(even though Tris didn't need help since she was 'divergent'). He has also been through the same thing, Tris is going through. He left his faction, Abnegation, leaving his family behind, to join the Dauntless. Tris did the same thing and has to deal with not being with her family.


           The hero in this book would be Tris because she is the protagonist (even though the protagonist isn't always the hero) and because she saves the Dauntless from being under Erudite control. She displays courage by shooting Eric in the leg so he doesn't kill Tobias, ultimately breaking her cover. Therefore her life is in danger because the enemy would now know that she is 'Divergent" because she is awake in the simulation. She's also a hero because she cares more about the Dauntless people's safety more than her own safety. For example; She took a great risk by trying to take down the attack simulation, knowing that she'd be risking her life since the Dauntless people are under Erudite control and would be going after her.


          Overall, the mentor would be Tobias and the hero would be Tris. For the following reasons; 1) Tobias helped her throughout the whole book by helping her succeed in the simulation and the fear landscape, and also by being there for her and understanding what she's going through. 2) Tris displayed courage by blowing her cover and shooting Eric in leg(therefore saving Tobias), knowing that she could possibly be killed by the Dauntless people that are under Erudite control 3) Tris exposed what she really is. She's 'divergent' and it's very dangerous to be 'divergent'. She could've pretended to be under Erudite control but instead of thinking of her own safety, she though about the ones that she cared for. She thought about how her parents could be killed, she thought about how many Abnegation people would be killed, and also thought about how many Dauntless people would be held accountable for it because they killed these people when they were under Erudite control. So she blew her cover to save the ones she loved. These are the reasons why I think Tobias is the mentor and Tris is the hero.

Tell Us We're Home

         
      I've recently finished reading a book called " Tells Us We're Home", by Marina Budhos. Without revealing too much, the story is about 3 girls who are just like the eight-grade girls living in Meadowbrook,
New Jersey. The only difference is that their mothers are maids and nannies. Their friendship is shattered when one of the girl's mother is accused of theft and loses her jobs. After finishing this book, I thought that this book had a "Person Vs. Society" type of conflict. It's no Hunger Games but I still believe the main conflict of this book is "Person Vs. Society" because the main characters were going against the issue of immigrants in their town.

     Throughout the book, you notice the characters going through some sort of issue involving discrimination against hispanics/latinos. For example, when Maria's brother, Renaldo, ran into some trouble at Grove Field, it involved the lacrosse boys discriminating against hispanics/latinos. They said "We going to have a Puerto Rican parade here?". The "white boys", as Maria called them, didn't want the hispanics/latinos to play soccer on their fields. You can see that in this town there's this tension between the two races.

    Also another thing you notice is that  Mr.Cramer immediately assumed that Jaya's mother stole jewelry from Mrs. Harmon's small jewelry collection. He didn't think any other person would be capable of doing such a thing. I guess he made this assumption because of the way society has made people think of hispanics/latinos. For example, the media tends to show hispanics/latinos doing drugs, stealing things. Usually in the media, hispanics/latinos tend to be the bad ones. This is what creates some sort of stereotype. It makes people think hispanics/latinos are like they are in the media. So Mr. Cramer could have been influenced by the media into thinking that Jaya's mother stole his aunt's jewelry. He even said he had no factual evidence he just assumed it was Jaya's mother because he thought their race was like that. He thought that Jaya's race tend to do these sort of things. I'm not saying all hispanics/latinos are good, some are actually the way they are presented in the media.

    Overall, this story has a "Person Vs. Society" type of conflict because throughout the story you tend to see the main characters going against the issue of immigrants in their town. 1) There's some sort of tension between the two races. 2) People in life are influenced by the media to think that these people are the way they are presented in the media.

Am I Blue?

      I've recently read a short story called "Am I Blue?", By Bruce Coville. "Am I blue?" is about a sixteen year old boy who's confused about his sexuality and finds a solution when he meets his 'fairy godfather' Melvin. Vincent, the main character, has a bully, named Butch, who seems to be homophobic.  

          While I was reading this short story, I knew this story had a "Person Vs. Self" type of conflict. The main character is going through an internal problem. He is confused about his sexuality and is conflicted on whether or not to reveal his true self and stand out in his school. Vincent finds the solution to this problem when he meets his fairy godfather, Melvin, who I believe would be his mentor. In this story, the main character would be his own antagonist and the main character would have a mentor. 

         I believe that the main character is his own antagonist because he fights with himself throughout the whole story. You notice in some parts of the story that he argues to himself about whether or not to make this decision. For example, when he viewed the world in a different perspective (He knew who was gay because they were blue), he seemed conflicted on whether or not to let the whole country see it in the same way. You read how he was worried that he would have to face Butch's wrath. It almost resulted into him not wishing for the 3rd gay fantasy. But he convinced himself to wish for it and stand out.

        Since the main character, Vincent, would be his own antagonist, he would need a mentor to help him overcome the internal problem. In this case, the mentor would be Melvin, his fairy god-father, because Melvin helps Vincent get rid of the confusion. Melvin helps Vincent overcome the homophobia at his school. For example, Melvin said to Vincent "They would find out that they had been surrounded by gays all the time, and survived the experience just fine, thank you. They'd have to face the fact that there are gay cops and gay farmers, gay teachers and gay soldiers, gay parents and gay kids, The hiding would finally have to stop". This advice influenced(or at least was one of the reasons) Vincent to wish for the 3rd gay fantasy therefore ridding the school of homophobia. 

        Overall, I think this story has a "Person Vs. Self" conflict. The main character is his own antagonist. The main character is against himself. He's conflicted on what is the right thing to do and what isn't. Even though he gets help from a mentor, he finds the solution on his own. What he thinks is right, not what everybody else thinks is right. 
                             

The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh

                                    

                                                 

              I've just recently finished reading a short story called The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh, which is written by Ray Bradbury. This short story is about a fourteen year drummer boy named Joby, who wakes up on a April night worried about the event to come. His first battle. The setting is important because it helps the reader visualize, or picture, what's going on in the story and understand how the setting could, if you think about, change the character's decisions/choices.



              The setting is important because if the author hadn't described the setting in the story, the reader wouldn't be able to picture where the events of the story are taking place. This is true because, if the reader doesn't know where the story is taking place, the reader could visualize the events of the story occurring almost anywhere. They would have to guess. For example, the reader could visualize apples falling from an apple tree instead of blossoms falling from an orchard tree because (if) Ray Bradbury hadn't described the setting in the story, the reader wouldn't know that there were orchard trees in the story.



             The setting is also important because if the author had not described where the story is taking place, the reader wouldn't really understand the story more than they would if Ray Bradbury had put in the setting (which he did). What I mean is that the reader wouldn't know where the characters are in the story, if the reader doesn't know where the characters are, the reader wouldn't be able to understand how some factors, from the setting, could affect the decisions/choices of the characters.



           For example, in the real world, the setting a person is in could affect what they do.Let's say a person is lost in the woods, the person finds a cottage in the forest and wonders whether to wander further into the woods or go into the cottage to ask for help. Of course the person wouldn't wander further into the woods because that would put them in more danger. If this person was lost in a unfamiliar neighborhood, this person would of course choose to wander further into the neighborhood instead of breaking into someone's house because this person could ask for directions in a store.



          In conclusion, the setting is very important because 1) It helps the reader visualize, or picture what's going on in the story and 2) the reader wouldn't understand how some factors, from the setting, could affect the decision/choice of a character. So as you can see,the setting is very important because it would help the reader visualize and understand the story more than the reader would if the author, Ray Bradbury, hadn't put in the setting.

           


         

Masquerade

Quick Book Summary (Before Response):

       In this book, Schuyler Van Alen wants to find an answer to the sudden deaths of young vampires, who haven't fully completed their transformation stage. And the rumors of the Silver Bloods returning aren't making this situation any better. Schuyler and her friend Oliver travel to Venice, Italy ,in search of her grandfather, Lawrence Van Alen, hoping that he could help. Without revealing too much, I'll say that the Silver Bloods aren't necessarily on good terms with the the Blue Bloods, if you know what I mean (Did that reveal too much? :P). Meanwhile, preparations are being made for the Four Hundred Ball, hosted by the Blue Bloods. But it's at the after-party, where the real action starts to unroll. 



  Response To The Book: 
   
         Over the summer, I read a book called Masquerade, the author of this book is Melissa De La Cruz. Masquerade is apart of the book series called the Blue Bloods. On one hand, Schuyler Van Alen seems to be the good one and Mimi Force seems to be the bad one because Mimi Force tried to kill Schuyler but on the other hand, if you put yourself in Mimi Force's shoes you could, in some way, understand why Mimi would do such a thing.


        You would think that Mimi Force is the evil one, throughout the course of the book, because she teamed up with Kingsley Martin to do black magic, and summon the Prince of the Darkness to attack Schuyler, in other terms, destroy her. But people do things for a reason. In the book, you could tell that Schuyler had a crush on Jack Force, Mimi's twin brother, and was ,in some way, jealous of the glamorous Mimi Force. Readers wouldn't believe that the oh-so fabulous Mimi Force would be jealous of Schuyler Van Alen. But it was pretty obvious that, Mimi Force was in-fact jealous of her.

    For example; Mimi Force noticed the interactions between Jack and Schuyler and she showed some sort of jealousy. Also, Mimi Force felt that her immortal bond with Jack Force could possibly be broken with Schuyler around. Also, Mimi Force would know that her brother had feelings for Schuyler because Mimi Force knew of his past feelings for Schuyler's mother, Gabriella Van Alen. But we all know what happened to her. So why wouldn't Mimi have the right to be jealous and do such a cruel thing? Most of you would say 'because summoning a dark spirit to destroy your arch-enemy is considered going way too far'.


   But wouldn't you do the same thing? Try to connect this idea with your life, Lets say you're boyfriend/ girlfriend is showing some crush towards a girl/boy and this girl/boy feels the same way. Wouldn't you be jealous? Of course you would. Your relationship with your boyfriend/girlfriend is in danger because of this girl/boy. Wouldn't that change you into someone your not? Making you totally capable of doing anything to get what you want and think you deserve? I'm not saying Mimi's decision was exactly correct but you could see why she would do that. If you put yourself in her shoes, you would be able to understand why she would do something so evil-like.