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.