TKAM: Found Poem

"Atticus is...."
"not a man with a gun in his hand"
"but...I do my best to love."
"our society is unspeakable"
"makes men lose their heads"
"a court is no better"
"Atticus"
"gets along better with folks"
"makes the best of things"
"stand in Bob Ewell's shoes"
"that something I'll gladly take"
"I've got to live with myself"
"I...rarely win"
"Atticus"
"that's real courage"
"but you begin anyway"
"knowing you're licked before"
"no matter who he is"
"bravest person I ever knew"
"climb into his skin"
"consider things"
"keep your head up"
"fists down"

 

This week I will comment on Nikolas, Citalli, and Steven's Blogs. 

TKAM: Dill and Francis Relationship 12/1-12/5

Pages: 144 out of 281
Prompt: Pick a pair of characters and describe the similarities and differences between the two. What relationship do they have Scout and how does it effect her?


                            Similarities and Differences between Francis and Dill

       The first major similarity between these two characters is their age in which they are about 7 years old. In the first few chapters I noticed that Dill was a bit bossy and he likes to tease other people , especially Scout. I also noticed that they are a bit bossy when it comes to play most notably Francis during the family reunion. The boy Francis always wants to do something in which Scout disapproves this indicates that he is bossy. We see this when the author says "he enjoyed everything I disapproved of, and disliked my ingenious diversions." I'm starting to think that they become in common when they start to push away Scout in some sort of way. Dill does this when he starts to ignore his old pal Scout. The author says "Dill was becoming something of a trial anyway, following Jem about." The major difference between the pair is of course their personality because one is extremely mean and other some sort of nice. We could easily know another difference which is that Francis is family and Dill is a friend. Francis seems to criticize people a lot by saying "You're mighty dumb sometimes, Jean Louise. Guess you don't any better, though." He also says something about Dill which is "If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that's his own business." Francis is being extremely angry with Scout, but Dill is sweet and passionate when it comes to talking about Scout. The letter he sent during chapter 12 shows that what Dill feels for Scout is true love, we see this when he sends a letter. Scout mentions "Dill concluded by saying he would love me forever and not to worry, he would come get me and marry me as soon as he got enough money together, so please write." Overall the similarities are being bossy and pushing Scout away. The differences are their personality and feelings towards Scout.

                             Scout's Relationship with Dill and Francis

When we compare the relationship between this pair of characters with Scout we can easily see that Francis is a foil and Dill is Scout's alter ego. The reason behind this is that Dill and Scout love the same things such as learning about Boo Radley or going on an exciting adventure, with this information we can see that he is an alter ego of Scout.  On the other hand  with Francis we know that they are foils due to the reason that they don't like the same things, Scout even mentions that he likes the things she disapproves of.

     We know from the first few chapters that Dill is best friends with Scout and Jem. He seems to be the excitement in the children's lives and the reason why summer is their favorite season. On the other hand Francis isn't that exciting. Scout describes him as being the most boring person in the world and selfish after calling Atticus harsh names. During the middle of chapter 9 we get to see that the relationship between Scout and Dill goes to a whole new level. They don't consider themselves friends, but in fact fiances. The true feelings that Scout has over this character is seen when she mentions " with him life was routine;without him, life was unbearable. I stayed miserable for two days." Scout shows that she is sometimes inspired by Dill, this is described in the early pages of the book in which Dill comes for the first time to Maycomb. She says "thus we came know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies." The relationship with Francis is the total opposite since Scout mentions that she truly hates this character even more than Aunt Alexandra. She says "talking to Francis gave me the sensation of settling slowly to the bottom of the ocean. He was the most boring child I ever met." Francis might be her relative but she still loves Dill more than him. She even defends her fiance when Francis says "lets you run around with stray dogs." Scout gets extremely angry and even goes and punches her own relative. We can clearly see that she has a terrible relationship with Francis.

                       What Effect Does Dill and Francis Have on Scout?

    Since Scout and Dill are already fiancees this tells me that her friend is showing her how to grow up. I'm predicting that after chapter 15 they start to act like mature adults instead of putting plays and trying to figure out the Boo Radley mystery. I have a feeling Dill teaches her how to have love for other people instead of fighting with them all the time, although Atticus actually teaches her that lesson. In the beginning of chapter 12 she starts to act more mature by expressing her love for Dill, even though she still acts like child even after this chapter. She describes his kisses by saying "summer was the swiftness with which Dill would reach up and kiss me when Jem was not looking." Another reason is that Dill brings adventure into the life of both children. He makes Scout a bit more courageous and brave. Dill was the one who came up with the idea of investigating Boo Radley which created a spark of excitement in Scout's daily routine. Scout mentions "Dill gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out." In several occasions Scout says that she is miserable without Dill, during chapter 2 Scout says "we saw him off on the five o'clock bus and I was miserable without him." Francis is the base and main reason why Scout decided to fight with her words instead of her fists. The night before the Christmas reunion Atticus tells her daughter than she must learn how to control her anger towards other people. Scout's relative was the reason she stopped fighting because she finally realizes that her fighting causes huge pain to her father. Before the holiday party Atticus says "you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let 'em get your goat." We first see that she locks Francis in a closet then he makes her lose her temper which results in a brawl. The quote that supports this statement is "Franics looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly. Black lover..." Then Scout says "this time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth." She not only disappoints her father but also her Uncle Jack when he says "I'm disappointed in you -you had that coming aand you know it." After this fight Scout never punches anyone or hits them except for his brother Jem but he deserved it. We can see that he had a huge effect on her which is sort of positive since she is learning how to grow up.

 

This quote is summing up the relationship between Dill and Scout and the effect it had on her. She seems to choose her own family by saying that in a few years she will get married with Dill. If I were to explore the mind of Scout, I would infer that she would rather choose her family instead of being with her given family. We already know that she dislikes her Aunt Alexandra and of course Francis. If she were to choose I think she would choose Dill, Calpurnia, and Miss Maudie. 

This week I will comment on Stanley, Gustavo, and Sarai's Blogs.

TKAM - Photo Analysis

                                   

Title: Houses in the Black Section of Eutlaw, Alabama

Creator: Jack Delano

Published/Created: May 1941

Analysis

    In my observation I noticed that the houses were lined up in a row instead of the traditional column method. The first house that it seen in the photo seems to be rickety and shaky which essentially means that it is in a terrible condition. The foundation of the building on the bottom seems to be strong in which it is able to support the family home. A mysterious person is walking in a gloomy road near the row of buildings, the road is made of dust instead of cement. In the picture we can tell that the person's genre is male but his ethnicity is uncertain. The boy is obviously a toddler since he has a height of about 4 feet or 3. The houses are alongside a row of electricity lines and the boy could be white but I'm still not sure. 

   I feel like the picture was made in order to show our generation the way of life during the Great Depression or the early 1930's. The author or photographer of the picture is trying to express the uniqueness of the south side of the United States. We can easily tell that the area is rural but that it is possibly faraway from a town square or luxurious buildings. I can learn from this image that people lived a devastating life since they were hit with the Great Depression. The detail that came to my attention was that people here were probably separated. For example blacks on one side of the town and whites in another. We already know that the picture was released in the early 1940's but could it have been taken during the depression era. The two major things that are missing from this image is the form of transportation and a towns square.

  I have about 5 questions that I could possibly ask the photographer.

Who is the person in the photo? 

Why are the houses lined up like a prison center?

Did the houses actually house families or prisoners?

 What kind of family, white or black?

Where are the vehicles for these people? How did they move throughout the city?

    When I look at this image I think that it could possibly be Maycomb County but there are still huge differences between the two. The similarity is that these towns both have dusty roads in which they are not pounded with cement. In the other images that were shown in the website, most of them have cement roads or modern gadgets. In the book they mention that colored people are sort of in the same region of the town but this image doesn't indicate that statement. The picture is titled Houses in the Black Section of Eutlaw in which I can infer that people here are separated in different parts. Although in TKAM they don't bring up this topic too often but since Calpurnia lives with the Finches, this shows that blacks can live with whites. The town of Maycomb is of course a rural area because farms are mentioned numerous times in the book. The topic of farms comes up when the reader is introduced to the Cunninghams.  The picture is set in a place where farming is the principal job of many people. The only other difference that I saw was that the city looks a bit dry instead of rainy. The county of Maycomb is described to be very rainy and that there a bunch of red slops on the ground. Overall the picture could possibly be Maycomb but with another different sort of climate. 

Heaven is for Real Week of 11/17-11/21

Pages: 90 out of 163
Prompt: Think of a problem that a character had to face. Write the problem and how the
character solved it or is working to solve it. If you were that character, what
would you do differently?

                               Todd Burpo in the Verge of Dying

     The book I'm currently reading this week is more of a non-fiction book because the events that happen in the story actually happened in real life. The part where I am right now only one character has had a difficult problem which is Todd Burpo, the author of this novel. The first problems that rises in Todd's life is, the multiple accidents he has had over the past couple of months. He broke his leg in half, had possibilities of breast cancer,  and having stomach issues. He was on the verge of never walking again and his family was losing money fast do to the large hospital bills and Todd going without working. I forgot to mention before that Todd is a pastor in a small town called Imperial, in the state of Nebraska. He earns very little money in this job but that cash still has a large impact in solving the family's financial problems. In the beginning of the book he mentions that these were dark days for him and the faith he had on his religion. He would spent hours yelling god because he believed that he deserved better since his job is a pastor. The character solved this problem by praying and realizing that the son of god sacrificed even more than he has. The next day he was back on his feet and the great cancer warning was a false alarm. The second problem is even worst than the first and this truly impacted Todd's life.


                     What Would I do Differently? The Second Problem

     If I were the character Todd I would have taken more care of myself when I play baseball since he is at an age where your body is a bit fragile. I would also try to find a temporary job that doesn't involve me walking or more simply teach church lessons on the computer. The interactive lessons might earn him a bit of money for the time being, while his family passes through this financial chaos. The most obvious thing I would do is to not freak out and to stay calm which might even help me get better. Since I'm Catholic I would pray every day with a positive tone instead of yelling at god and my religion.  I would simply ask for god's mercy in a kind tone instead of yelling at him in which luckily Todd got his wish. The second problem is more of a life and death situation that involves Todd's youngest son Colton Burpo. In last couple of days Colton has been throwing up every 30 minutes and refusing to eat anything. The result and conclusion of this problem might have led to being the greatest thing that ever happened to the Burpo family.


                  Resolution of the Second Problem/How Would I Change it

      I mentioned before that Colton was diagnosed with an unknown disease which involves constant vomiting and losing all strength in the body. Todd could not believe that first he had suffered, now his three-year old son is on the verge of dying. Todd decides to solve the situation by yelling at god and again losing faith. The doctor who performed Colton's emergency survey reveals that Colton is perfectly healthy. When the Burpo family arrives home Colton starts to say things out of the ordinary, by mentioning that he rode Jesus's rainbow horse and saw for the first time his great-grandfather. Todd realizes that while he was yelling at god in the praying room, his son was actually being taken cared of by Jesus himself. If I were to be this main character I would try to have taken better care of my son by visiting the doctor every once in a while. I would have made sure that my son was healthy and of course having faith in my religion.

Watch the movie trailer.

                         

The girl in the picture above actually had a similar experience in which she also visited heaven and came back. She now paints drawings of what she saw in heaven which includes Jesus, angels, and the setting itself. When Todd asked Colton how Jesus looked like he mentions that he doesn't look like the man in the bible drawings. The real Jesus has giant blue eyes instead of the tradition brown eyes and wears white clothes. 

This week I will comment on Nikolas, Julia, and Leanna's  Blogs.

Passion Project *Update*

       Since the last time I wrote in my blog, I have accomplished a lot over the past couple of weeks. I mentioned before that I was going to work on creating a website for every country in the world and talk about multiple currencies. I actually changed my decision of what I will do for my final draft of the project. I have decided to make a completely different blog that focuses on world cultures, currencies, and hopefully foreign languages. My recent blog is named "Around the World in 80 Tags" in which I have successfully been able to create a brand-new theme and posts. I finished an introduction post for my new blog and I hope to rearrange the background in order for it to fit the central theme/message of the blog. I completely dropped the website idea since it would be a bit challenging and I wouldn't be able to fit every little detail into my educational website. When this project is completely finished, I hope to have 80 tags and one post for each country in the world.

    In the last couple of weeks I created another post that completely focuses on the currencies of the world. I haven't published the post yet, since there are dozens of currencies which will take at least 2 more weeks to finish the posts. I have gathered information for dozens of countries in which I keep together in a keynote/presentation. This will make it easier, when it comes the time to write the post for each country. I'm actually proud that I only have about 4 countries left in the North American section since there is approximately 23 countries in our continent. I want to make people aware of unknown island countries in our continent. In a couple of weeks or days I hope to make better progress. 

                       

Hollow City Week of 11/10-11/14

Pages: 397 out of 397 (finished)
Prompt: Analyze the impact word choice has on the meaning or tone of a text. Analyze how dialogue or specific incidents reveal information about characters. Make sure to include textual evidence.

             
                               How the Word Choice Impacts the Tone?

       This week I recently finished reading the novel Hollow City which is actually a sequel to the award-winning book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Since the beginning of the book I immediately realized that the story had a really dark tone, the reason being the background of every character. The story takes place during the early years of World War II which we all know were the most terrible years in our current history. I would say that this book has a lot of advanced vocabulary which is mostly used by the peculiar named Millard an invisible boy. The comparisons that the children used make the tone really dark. This is shown when Emma another peculiar says "some truths are expressed best in the form of myth", this is indicating that the reality that they are living is far worst than anything experienced in this world. The powers and graphic details seem to put the mood of the book at the top, especially when wights are being killed.  The strongest of the peculiars which is Brownyn denies having a bit of fun since she feels that she will betray her duty of protecting Miss Peregrine. I remember when she said "laughing doesn't make bad things worse any more than crying makes them better." The ending especially makes the story gruesome when the narrator says "a very dark ooze leaked out of the girl's back, when the wight decided to take action."

                         Dialogue and Specific Incidents Reveal Information

       I especially like this part of the prompt since it totally relates to the book, everything is revealed through flashbacks. Although the author is not very specific when explaining background information , but he seems to express it in the dialogue of main characters such as Millard. For example during the trip to the mystical mountain owned by an intelligent dog, Millard starts to imagine how his past was before the wights invaded. This is seen when Jacob says "then he got quiet lost in memories of a better time." The incident caused us to imagine what Millard has lived through and how these recent events have completely changed his life. After finishing the book I would think that the two characters with the worst backgrounds are Emma and the friendly yet smart dog Addison. When the kids get lost in London without money or shelter Horace another peculiar mentions something that makes Emma a bit angry. In the story the author mentions "that's because the true purpose of money is to manipulate time and make them lesser than you". I later learned that she was sold during her infancy to a circus.

                                  A Combination of Both Questions

     The event that seemed to be the most peaceful was actually to be the most horrifying one of all time. The backstories of every peculiar are revealed the most harmful one seems to be the one of Emma Bloom a very powerful girl. When each children is revealing their stories of manifestation, Emma seems to refuse telling her story.  Jacob finds out that she was brutally torched by her parents during her toddler years and they used her as a pawn to lure more curious customers for money. I find it surprising that a smooth train ride would have lead to a story of terror and sadness. The word choice that Jacob shows in the story, tells us that he suffers day by day which makes the tone extremely serious. I infer this after he says "dying inside day by day from regret." Although the story doesn't completely specify the regret, but I'm inferring that it comes from leaving his parents behind in the normal world. To find out more watch both book trailers,  trailer #1 and trailer #2.
*Caution the second one is a bit scary*

                         

The image above is showing every character that plays a main or starring role in the book. Although this is a basic photo we could predict or analyze the characters in the poster. We could seem to learn from these peculiars by just looking at their faces especially when you see the image of Brownyn. She has a stern and serious face which fits for her ability to lift about anything which helps the children in their adventures. 

This week I will comment Gustavo, Marisa, and Isabelle R.'s Blogs 

Allegiant Week of 11/3-11/7

Pages: 527 out of 527 (finished)
Prompt: What questions would you like answered about your reading? Would you like

the book/article better if you knew those answers now? Why? 

                                            *Spoiler Alert*

              Question #1: Why is that every character wants to end their guilt with something deadly? 

     I came across this question when the action started to be revealed through the author's writing. I can name at least three characters that have their bodies filled with guilt and remorse. The three "guilty" characters are Tobias, Caleb, and of course the anti-hero Peter. Since they're adults they should handle their emotions with maturity. I find it a bit odd how they all wanted to end their lives just to escape the horrible things they have done or witnessed. For example Peter, he has done all sorts of evil/good to Tris and her friends. He has the urge of drinking the memory serum which will completely erase his memory and his evil personality. In his mind, he feels that it is impossible for him to change from bad to good, which I find a bit outrageous. I as the reader feel that there is some sort of good in every human being, but sometimes you find it a bit challenging to overcome this adversity. That is the cycle of life you have to become a problem-solver and overcome daily adversities. I feel that I wouldn't like the story if this question was answered.


             Question #2: Can people be repaired after an event? Did Tris see a vision of heaven?

    This question kept twirling around my head after I read the ending of Allegiant based on Tobias experience with Tris. I think we can all relate to this topic do to the reason that we have been broken down before and we have the uneasy feeling of getting back on our feet. I've always wanted to ask the author why cause so much pain to your main characters? During the conclusion of the book I wasn't sure if Tobias would recover after what happened to the rebel leader Tris. The other question I had was if Christina could be mended after the tragic incident that involved Uriah. When the book started reaching the point of falling action, I was surprised that they would mention heaven in the action part of Allegiant. You see Tris decided to do the suicide mission instead of letting her brother Caleb proceed with the original plan. During the mission Tris was able to survive the death serum, but she couldn't survive the wrath of David the Bureau leader. She was shot about 5 times in the back by David but when she fell to the ground, she saw her mother standing behind David. The only thing that her mother said was to go with her into the afterlife. I was a bit discombobulated whether her mother was leading her into heaven.

                      Would I truly like this book if these question were answered?

     I'm a bit in the middle when it comes to this question, but I still feel that I wouldn't like this book if the questions above were answered. The reason is that the ending of the book kind of lets the reader make up a story of what happened to these characters after everything was in peace. The questions I listed above sort of teach a lesson on life and the decisions that a person makes everyday in his/her life. I feel that the reader wouldn't have the time to think about what they just recently read, if the author were to have answered the questions. For example I myself invented the part about heaven because the author was a bit implicit when it came to this topic. The author gave me the chance to come up with a story or image of what happened to Tris in the afterlife. The questions I came up with are ones that I want to answer with my personal experiences with people in the real world. Although I would still like the author to give her thoughts on the subject, but not to include her response in this book. This book was great and I feel that the ending will surprise future readers. 

                           
The picture above is showing a vision of heaven in which I feel that Tris had this sort of experience. I mentioned before that she encounters her mother after she was fatally shot down by David. I also feel that if the author were to have answered my question, the story just wouldn't be the same. I enjoyed how she was implicit because the reader was able to come up with an image/or final ending for the character Tris.

                 The picture below is showing the future reactions of people who want to read this book.

This week I will comment on Leanna, Carlos, and Gianna's Blogs.