Semester 1 Reflection

The independent reading I did this semester consisted of Lexicon, by Max Berry, A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, and Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I'll start with Lexicon. It was pretty good but it was very confusing. It always had me "on the eadge of my seat" even though it was a book. Overall I enjoyed it and I'm glad I read it. Now on to my multicultural memoir. I loved this book. It was hard to read at some times but it really taught me not to take things for granted. I also enjoyed connecting it to The Color of Water and learning how people stand up for their beliefs. Life of Pi was my favorite of the three and I loved every bit of it. All the symbolism and metaphors intertwined into the characters, animals, and struggles Pi went through. It really helped me see past what I remember from the movie. I read all of these books through suggestions on good reads and suggestions from friends.

I think overall that my blog was strong and experienced lots of improvement despite the fact that I completely fell behind the on-task mark. I started strong with Alex Woods and Lexicon but drifted off during the month of October. I thought my multi-cultural memoir post was strong as well as my Life of Pi posts. I thought I did a really good job on displaying symbolism, also figurative language, and the deeper parts and meaning of the novels. My weakest blog post was probably the Lexicon one because it was all over the place. It felt like it was just a bunch of summarized sentences. I mostly did great with textual evidence and visuals and supporting my quotes with good reasoning.

I have three goals I really need to work on following for the upcoming semester. I want to read a lot more balanced out instead of having to cram for the blog post due dates, I want to be on top of my blog and care a lot more about it than I do now, and I also want to be more active in my friend's blogs and try to regularly check their posts. By doing those things I think that I will want to read more than I do and it will help me be more enthusiastic about writing and English as well. Blogging is only labored if you make it that way. It is supposed to be fun and is. I hope to improve as a student next semester.

R&J

I'm really enjoying the Romeo and Juliet unit so I thought I'd put up the argument writing on whether or not R&J are really in love. I thought I made some pretty valid points and I wanted to take a break from independent reading.

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet I believe that no true love occurs, lust simply blinds the two “star crossed lovers,” Romeo and Juliet, into believing they are in love. Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time at Capulet’s party (Juliet’s father). Romeo sees Juliet from across the room where the party takes place and begins talking about how beautiful and amazing she is. Little does he know, she is the daughter of his family’s sworn enemy. Romeo speaks of Juliet,   ”Her beauty is too good for this world; she’s too beautiful to die and be buried, (1.5.66-67).” At first you may think that I am supporting the wrong claim but Romeo has just recently spent days in depression over his other quote: “love,” with Rosaline a young lady who gave herself to chastity. He tells Mercutio that he can never love again and never find one as charming as his previous when he falls in love with a different girl the same day they talked about this. This goes on to support my thesis that lust is what is taking ahold of the two. Keep in mind also, that they met and kissed within 30 seconds of their first encounter, and quite honestly she is 13 and he, not much older, probably don’t lack the hormones to drive them to this lust. I think that Romeo and Juliet can’t possibly be in love due to their circumstances, it is driven by the lust between them.

J. B. Bernstein

I want to do a blog post on a book I am reading for next semester that I was thinking I should start. I want to read it over winter break so I can get ahead. It is called Million Dollar Arm by J. B. Bernstein. I want to do a post on my first impressions of what the book will probably be about. I received it as a gift from my Grandma over Thanksgiving break. I saw the movie on my birthday last year and it was just so-so. I'm hoping the book is a lot better.The author is a pretty well known sports agent who has dealt with athletes such as Barry Bonds and Barry Sanders. He launched a reality TV contest in 2007 by the name of Million Dollar Arm. It consisted of a competition where two boys/men, from India, are selected to win 100,000 USD and a trip to the US to enter a bonus round. The two also have an opportunity to play for and MLB team if their tryout is up to par.

Now onto the movie. I kind of liked it and kind of didn't as I said before. To me it was a little bit unrealistic but still enjoyable. The plot for the entirety of the movie didn't really have an antagonist, just the people who doubted the likelihood of their Major League Baseball potential. The antagonist in a book or a movie is really important to me and I sometimes find myself relating to the bad guy more than I do to the good guy. I think some authors and producers/directors do a really good job at this, and in this case, it just didn't do it for me. I am hoping the book does a better job of leaving me hooked and keeping me believing the novel, because after all it is a nonfiction novel. But either way I am looking forward to this read.

Good So Far

In this blog post I have decided to state and address some of my predictions after reading the first few chapters of Life of Pi. We meet Pi as a character and he goes into detail about his name and its meaning. It is derived from Piscine and means pool in French. It is funny to me that Pi's parents have never cared much for water and actually shy away from it. This leads to something ironic that I noticed. First off Pi is taught to swim by his family friend, Francis Adirubasamy. Pi begins to feel a relationship with water and feels the opposite of his parents. Little does he know he will be trapped on a raft in the Pacific Ocean for months. I think this definitely foreshadows that the shipwreck and his surviving struggle will occur.

I also think that Pi's journey is symbolized by the zoo creatures he takes care of until the zoo is shut down. He speaks about the life of luxury the animals live on a day to day basis and compares it to the way humans live. A paradise if you will. It is not until Pi is trapped in the middle of the ocean with a tiger and an assortment of other animals that he realizes what it is like to be a wild animal. He has to fight for food and water and the psychological factor of not having human relation for as long a time as he didn't. Pi states, “Only a familiar territory will allow them to fulfill the two relentless imperatives of the wild: the avoidance of enemies and the getting of food and water, (P. 20 Martel)." Again I have seen the movie so I know what mostly happens in the book but it seemed like a great read so here I am. The picture below is a depiction of the Pondicherry zoo and botanical garden.