A Text to World Connection in Paper Towns

In the novel, Paper Towns  by John Green we are learning more about Margo as we go further into the story. She is very angry with her friends and what they have done to her and she is getting revenge on them. She tells these people that their friendship/ relationship "sleeps with the fishes." This saying will make more sense if you chose to read the book. Through out this story you learn more about Margo's life and the drama. There is one example that stuck out to me the most.

In one part of Margo's adventure she plans to get revenge on her old best friend Becca. Becca was with Margo's boyfriend Chuck secretly and as you can imagine, just like everyone else, Margo is not happy. She is talking to Q and asking him why he would cheat on her with Becca. Q's responce seems to make sense to us; he claims that it's based on her looks and that she is considered "hot". That seems to make a lot of sense to us since many people in society will look at someone's looks. However, Margo's response to Q's answer really stood out to me. On page 37 Margo responds by saying, "That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people would want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfast cereals based on the color instead of taste." The simile or connection seemed very deep to me. Do we ever pick our food based on it's color? We may sometimes, but if we open our mind and give it a try it could become the best meal we've ever had. This could be the same way in relationships. In today's society we seem to look at someone's appearance rather than their personality. I always hear "So and so is so hot." Although that may be a compliment I believe that we should be looking at someone's personality. Becca was considered to be a very mean person. If we chose who we liked by personality then she probably wouldn't be in this situation or many people would not date her. So, just like food we should pick people based on there flavor/ personality.

I can relate this to today's society very well. Like I said I hear so many people discussing people's looks rather than talking about one's personality. I once was told to not mainly look at someones appearance especially when I'mat the time in my life when I'm looking for a husband when I'm older. That person will look very different in 50 years compared to when we would first meet. However,  there personality should remain the same. This proves how you should fall in love with someones personality then looking at how they look. I'm not saying it's bad to be good looking. That is a blessing and I personally think everyone  is beautiful. I am just saying that people should be picked by personality first. So hopefully we will be picking friends and dates just like how we pick out our food.


Photo found on:
http://bricksandpics.com/2012/10/17/fruit-loops/

Fahrenheit 415 Group Theme Analysis Project

Engaging with difficult, uncomfortable thoughts and experiences is the only route to true happiness.   

Lydia Meredith, Lindsey Learned, Alex Gao, Natalee Jobert, Mariana Vinseiro: Bell 7

Timeline of the Development of Theme:

Montag Montag Montag’s house Granger tells The group

meets witnesses a is burned due Montag his leaves to

Clarisse woman die to the books plan for society rebuild society

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Montag and Montag begins   Montag meets Montag and the

Mildred grow to secretly read Granger and a men watch the

distant group of men city blow up

Three Quotes:

Beginning: Montag’s unhappy	Middle: Montag engages in difficult thoughts	End: Montag is more happy
Montag is living in a society full of censorship, hardship, and tragedy. Montag doesn’t question society and enjoys his job to burn houses. When a girl name Clarisse questions his marriage, job and life in general he realizes he’s unhappy. We chose this quote to show how Clarisse had effected Montag, and how Montag wasn't happy.	Montag begins to question society and wants to change the rules regarding books. Montag doesn't wants to be a fireman and doesn't want to burn books. This is an example of Montag beginning to go against society. This is the main conflict throughout the book. We chose this quote to show how Montag is beginning to think that books are important and he wants other people to know.	Montag joins a group of men who enjoy reading and want to change society. Montag and the group watch the destruction of the city. They plan to memorize books and eventually when society is rebuilt they will rewrite the books. We chose this quote because it shows how Montag is doing better and is already beginning to move on from the evil society.
“He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back.” (Bradbury 9)	“This afternoon I thought that if it turned out that books were worthwhile, we might get a press and print some extra copies” (Bradbury 81)	“Perhaps later in the morning, when the sun was up and had warmed them they would begin to talk, or just say things they remembered, to be sure they were there, to be absolutely certain things were safe in them.”(Bradbury 157)

The Theme is important to understanding the story because the theme shows how Montage has been able to change from being sad to happy by going against society.

It is important to understand the theme because it shows that you need to confront your fears/concerns in order to be happy.

Fahrenheit 451: Montag is a Dynamic Character

I have recently finished the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This book was written around World War II and the setting is in the future. In this book the main character, Montag is a fire man. However, the firemen in the book burn houses and books rather than putting out fires. Books are banned in society and you can get in serious trouble for possessing one. This involves Montag's job, he has to burn the books and the building the books were found in. People in this society don't notice much and don't have a lot of in depth conversations. Everyone seems happy and there seems to be no depressing topics discussed. Montag never took a lot of thought into why books were burnt until he meets an interesting young lady.

In the beginning of the book Montag meets a girl named Clairese. She is very different compared to everyone else; she asks questions and observes what's around her. During their encounter Montag thinks Claiese is very strange when she asks him questions and shares the information she knows. He often tends to laugh about her questions or he answers the questions immediately. Claiese notices this and tells Montag, "You laugh when I haven't been funny and you answer right off. You never stop to think what I've asked you." This shows us how at first Montag just goes with the flow and dosent realize much about society. However, the questions Clairese asks him will change his perspective on society.

Eventually in the book, Montag begins to realize how horrible his society truly is. He wonders why books are banned and why there are always happy endings. He even begins to hate work because of the burning their required to do. On page 49 Montag tells Mildred, "We burnt an old women with her books." He repeats this again as well. I think this shows how Montag starts to realize how messed up society is and he begins to have feelings. He probably never thought of the people and books and why the burnings were occurring. This transformation makes him a dynamic character based on how Montag used to just go with what his civilization said to beginning to question his life and what's around it.

This picture is from:

http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2011/04/1_it_is_not_the.shtml

The Best Thing About Paper Towns

In John Green's book, Paper Towns, a boy named Q used to be best friends with his next door neighbor Margo. However, life and other friends got in the way of their friendship and now they are just neighbors. Q is secretly in love with Margo even though Margo probably barely pays much attention to him since they are in two different social groups. But, one night Margo comes into Q's house and asks him to drive her to different places in town to fix certain problems she's facing. Although Q has no idea about what she's going to do he agrees to help her. During their adventure he starts to question who Margo really is.

The best thing about my book has to be the mystery in the book. The mystery is who Margo really is. In the book you just assume that she is the average popular girl. When you read her list of items she needs to fix her problems you start to wonder what is wrong in her life that has to be fixed. On page 30 Margo tells Q, "Tonight, darling, we are going to right a lot of wrongs. And we are going to wrong some rights. The first shall be last; the last shall be first; the meek shall do some earth-inheriting. But before we can radically reshape the world, we need to shop."At this point you are very curious on what Margo will do. You are also nervous for how Margo's actions will affect Q.

The mystery has been keeping me at the edge of my seat and I'm sure you will be at the edge of your seat as well. You always wonder what is happening in Margo's life and why she needs to fix it. I am curious also on why she picked Q to help her. It also makes you wonder if you really know everything about a person. Q thought he knew exactly who Margo was, he thought she was the girl who had it all, but he was wrong. If you like books involving a mystery that is modern you would definitely enjoy this book.


Picture is from:
http://www.business2community.com/marketing/checklist-qualify-call-list-0700086

Princess A True Story of Life Behind the Veil of Saudi Arabia- Text to Society

In my memoir Princess A True Story of Life Behind the Veil of Saudi Arabia I have realized how the story shows a lot of the difficulty in standing up for a belief. As many of you know, women have very little rights in Saudi Arabia and are always controlled by men. The main character, Sultana believes that women's laws in Saudi Arabia must be changed. However with men controlling her life she feels like she can sometimes not share her belief, for she can be greatly punished. For example, when Sultana is a young girl her brother steals her apple. Sultana was not happy about her brothers decision so she takes the apple from him. Ali, her brother, is very upset and tells on her. While her father hears the story, a brave Sultana tells him that Ali stole it from her so she took it back. Her father did not think that was a good excuse so she was punished. On page 26 in my book it quotes, "As punishment, Ali was given all of my toys. To teach me that men were my masters, my father decreed that Ali would have the exclusive right to fill my plates at mealtimes." This shows how standing up for her beliefs led to a bad ending which shows how it can be a challenge to stand up for what we believe is right.

I will give you a summary of my book. Sultana is a princess of Saudi Arabia's royal family. Now, you would think that she would have a lot of freedom in her country. Well, you thought wrong. For this princess her life is controlled by her father, brother, and husband. She has to cover her face and body with thick fabric. There fathers also pick the daughters husbands even if they are twice the women's age. Through out my book Sultana questions why her country doesn't allow equal rights. However she sometimes feels like she can't stand up for her beliefs because she could get punished. Even though Sultana experiences a lot of physical and emotional pain, she still keeps her beliefs and will share them when she feels like it's necessary.

This story can relate a lot with society. Recently at the University of California in Berkeley, Bill Maher was invited to speak. However, Muslims at the school are not fans of his anti-Muslim comments. They also believe he is one of the reasons Muslims are always judged and assumed to be terrorists. So, some students started a petition to not let Maher speak at their university. This can show how standing up for beliefs can be hard. As you can imagine, many people of the university are fans of him and are interested in what he has to say. These young students stood up for themselves to save them from being judged and going through the pain of being made fun of. You can probably guess that people weren't nice to them which made it a lot more of a struggle. So as you can see, even in America it is hard to stand up for your beliefs.

Here is my news article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/03/muslim-students-bill-maher_n_6093598.html?ir=Religion

The Color of Water: Character Prompts

The characters in the book The Color of Water can be related to other characters I have seen through books and movies. For example, James reminds me of Ariel in the movie Footloose. I feel like they dealt with death in the same way. When Ariel's brother dies in a car crash dancing is banned in the small town she lives in. After the loss of her loved one, Ariel goes down a bad path and begins to make bad choices with out her parents knowing. James in The Color of Water  seems to go down the same path. James' step father passes away when he is a teenager, just like Ariel. His step father was like a father to him so it was a very tough period in his life. James also starts to make unwise choices because he thought it was helping him forget about the loss. I think Ariel thinking the same thing as James. His mother would sometimes find out about what he was doing but she didn't know everything. I believe both characters made the wrong choice; and I believe James now realizes that just like Ariel did later in the movie.

I can compare Ruth to people I know in real life. Unlike James, Ruth takes a better path by doing things that reminded her of her husband after he passed away. She rides a bicycle he gave her as a gift and she goes to church since they would go together. This was her way of mourning and it seems like a healthy way to go. I have friends that lost a family member at a young age and I believe they do similar things to Ruth. Their loved one reminds them of nature and they used to all go on fun nature trips as a family. To this day, the family still goes camping and they pray about her and bring her sprit with them. She also loved smiling and believed it could help solve problems. Currently, I hear this family always talking about always wearing your smile and how it will always be your best feature. You can also notice how that family always smiles even though they have lost an amazing person in their life. So, just like Ruth, this family does things that remind them of their loved one as a way of mourning and remembering their loved one.


http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=16348&picture=old-bicycle&large=1

An Abundance of Katherines: An Important Line

On the back cover of An Abundance of Katherine's, it tells us that Colin is going to prove that there is a theory to discover the out come of any relationship. I recently just got to the part in the book where Colin thinks of the theory. He recently just remembered the breakup with the nineteenth Katherine and is thinking about what happened and why the relationship didn't work. After taking many things into consideration, he believes he has the answer. He makes a graph on the happiness with the relationships. He now believes that love can be graphed. A quote from the book is when Colin tells Hassan about what his belief is. It quotes, "Right. Because relationships are so predictable, right? Well, I'm finding a way to predict them. Take any two people, and even if they've never met each other, the formula will show who's going to break up with whom if they ever date, and approximately how long the relationship will last.
I haven't gotten very far in my book from after my quote, but I believe this will be very important later on. I believe Collin will meet many people on his journey and he will pair them up with another person.He will then predict how their relationship will go. Then he will compare his hypothesis to his test. I think he will be right most of the time but will eventually make a mistake. I think his mistake will frustrate him and will add conflict to the story.