hate the system (Reading Response #2)

 

"For now, Rudy and Liesel made their way onto Himmel Street in the rain.

He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world.

She was the book thief without the words.

Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain."

(p. 80)

In The Book Thief, as I continue to read it, the story of Liesel Meminger becomes more and more fascinating. She is the book thief - but she cannot read (as of yet). Her education was never present enough when her brother was still alive (and her family together) that when she started living with her foster parents, she was put in a much lower grade than she should have been.

She calls it the 'midget' class.

After several months of the midget class, she was put into her proper grade level (after a tantrum) - but her skills don't match up.

She still can't read.

She is learning - somewhat in class but mainly in her home. Her 'father' Hans Hubermann teaches her
during the night, in-between her nightmares and his accordion solos.

Gah.

The book overall has so much going on that it's hard to explain the feeling of a book narrated by Death. The beginning just started to have a wow-this-is-going-very-slow feel, but I turned the page and that was the end of part one.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, words seem to fail me today.

Michelle

write a Proposal

I will write an essay on the movie /Mean Girls/. It is one of the most popular cult movies of our generation and demonstrates the common bullying that goes on in high school.

In this essay, I will argue that the movie presents the real-life issues of 'beauty' and bullying (albeit in a satirical way) to an audience who can relate - and how those issues can be overcome as a part of growing up. In /Mean Girls/, the high school is practically segregated into cliques - the nerds, the sluts, the jocks and, most prominently, the plastics. The plastics are the three most 'beautiful' girls in school, complete with lower-than-average IQs and a taste for gossip. And they're mean. Hence the name /Mean Girls/. The protagonist of the story invades the plastics in order to destroy their popularity while goaded by her friends. After some crazy hijinks, the plastics aren't what they used to be and everyone learns a lesson.

I will begin this essay with a quote by the character Janis about all of the different cliques within the high school. I'll go on to explain the stereotyping issue that affects everyone today (although not to cinematic proportions) and I will summarize the plot of /Mean Girls/ in the following paragraph. My thesis statement will be something along the lines of: "The film /Mean Girls/ exposes the biggest problem facing teen and young adults today - the judgement and mocking of others - and demonstrates the possible results of bullying and how to resolve it - all in a comedic, accessible way." I will follow the summarization with my argument on the portrayal of cliques and bullying and how it relates to modern culture today.

- Does /Mean Girls/ teach you any moral or lesson even though it is a comedic and exaggerated film?

- Do you relate to any of the characters in /Mean Girls/? Why or why not.

Thanks for the help,
Cheers,
Michelle

see Death (Reading Response #1)

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

A few weeks ago I recieved The Book Thief for Christmas. I picked it out at the book fair on December 8th while stuck working the craft fair. I've seen several people reading it (Sarah Clark among them) which made me want to pick it up.

The cover looks intereting enough - a row of dominos with one about to be tipped over - forboding a string of events starting at a certain time or place. The back, of course, is filled with critics reviews and awards won. underneath that lies the description, starting off with four simple sentences - "It's 1929. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still." What? Death? Is this a weird emo book? How could Death be a character? All immediate throughts when I read that.

From the description I learn that the book is actually about a girl - Liesel Meminger - and her stealing books. Her brother died, tragically, and she was sent off to a foster family.

The book thus far is narrated by Death himself. An interesting viewpoint if I ever saw one. Death makes interruptions in the text by inserting information, translations, half-jokes and small side stories to make the story understandable. Some are long, some are short, and all are attention-grabbing.

As Liesel adapts to her new life, she meets a boy named Rudy whom she quickly befriends. He shows her around the town one day and this is where they go last:

"***THE LAST STOP***

The road of yellow stars.

It was a place nobody wanted to stay and look at, but almost everyone did. Shaped like a long, broken arm, the road contained several houses with lacerated windows and bruised walls. The Star of David was painted on their doors. Those houses were almost like lepers... At the bottom, some people were moving around. The drizzle made them look like ghosts. Not humans, but shapes, moving about beneath the lead-colored clouds."

I love this description. It provokes a feeling of despair, of desolation and pain. The "lacerated windows and bruised walls" lined the "long, broken arm" of a street with people milling about, oppressed under the heavy "lead" sky.

Zusak has a way with descriptions and metaphors everywhere in his writing, it's easy to understand and relate to.

This book?

Read it.

Cheers,      

Michelle

2013

Reading goals: I formed a list of books I hope to read this year. Among them were the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (probably to be saved for summer), the Book Thief, Divergence, and a few more. I have seriously neglected my free reading over the past few years and I miss the feeling of a book in my hand.

First Book of the Year: The Book Thief - I have heard many good things about this book, and I got it for Christmas, so I will start it in a day or two.

Things I Would Like to do After High School:

Summer 2013: I plan to be working somewhere (a goal I plan to reach before summertime) and hopefully travel somewhere (in the U.S.) and continue writing.

10 Years after High School: I hope to have a steady job in my career field (psychology) and be independent. I don't know where I'll be living - hopefully somewhere new and exciting ( I don't think I can stay here my whole life).

Beyond: This is really vague, but I want to be rich, obviously. I want to have the means to travel the world and be happy. I'll have a family.