Describing setting and predicting future events- The Maze Runner

This weekend, I picked up the book The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and made a good dent in it (hey, 3 chapters is an accomplishment for someone like me).  I have heard from many people that it is a very good book, and with the movie recently leaving the theatres, it seemed fitting that I see what all the fuss is about. I managed to finish the first three chapters this weekend and I will say that I understood why this book is so highly rated right from the first page. For anyone who hasn't read the book (although you really should) I was very fascinated with the setting. As the title of the book suggests, (ever so subtlety) there is a maze that is cause for a large amount of foreshadowing and adds to the mysterious tone of the exposition. When the protagonist, Thomas, emerges from the dark metal "elevator" that he awakes in at the beginning of the book, the reader gets a very specific description of the setting that is rich with imagery. I especially liked when the author said, “They stood in a vast courtyard several times the size of a football field, surrounded by four enormous walls made of gray stone and covered in spots with thick ivy. The walls had to be hundreds of feet high and formed a perfect square around them, each side split in the exact middle by an opening as tall as the walls that, from what Thomas could see, led to passages and long corridors beyond."(Dashner 9)

     After reading the first three chapters, I have a few predictions to make. There was a lot of foreshadowing in the first 3 chapters, as should be expected from the exposition of any good novel, but there were a few specific things that caught my attention. For starters, when the glade is introduced to the reader for the first time, the author describes that each wall is "split in the exact middle by an opening" and visible through these openings are, "passages and long corridors". The title of the book helps me infer that this is a maze. From previous dystopian novels I have read, I know that the protagonist often has some quality or eventual actions that set them apart from the group they are put in. From this and again, the title, I would not be surprised if Thomas ends up being a leader in the group of "Gladers" he has been introduced into. I will also further predict that from the events in chapter 3 (read the book for specifics) that there is some danger lurking in the maze that the Gladers will eventually be running from. I am very excited to see how my predictions compare to the actual novel as I continue to read.

This picture shows what the Glade is shown like in the movie. I have not seen the movie yet but I was surprised to find that this is very close to the way I imagined it.

Column- "a plea to play"

     Recently my independent reading has been a little slow, but the topic of columns has still been on my mind for some reason. The Enquirer came this weekend (I guess thats not much of a surprise) and I thought I'd look through it to see if there were any good columns. It being a newspaper and it being that newspaper writers jobs are to write good columns, It also wasn't a huge surprise that I found one. The story is called "a plea to play" if you'd like to read it, and i thought if was good because it almost followed the guidelines that we needed for our creative nonfiction pieces. The story is about a political refugee from the Democratic Republic of congo and he lives here in Ohio. But the larger world issue is not what the article focusses on. The article aims at telling his story of ineligibility to play soccer as a senior, and his dream to do so.
     I'm not really supposed to summarize it here, so if you're interested, I would suggest going and reading it yourself, because it was a very well- written article. What I found in the article as I read through it, was that the author had used a lot of the techniques that we talked about in class (so I guess Mrs. Bross wasn't making that up after all).that most prevalent techniques I noticed was that the author used a lot of more casual, conversational diction that avoided being chatty. this can be seen in sentences like, "The alarm clock sounds at 5:30 a.m. Daniel gets ready in his family's Millvale apartment, then we walks down the street to catch the bus to Hyde Park for school." Here, not only did I notice that the author was using casual diction, but also that it was used to create a more relaxed tone. It is like this throughout the article even though it talks about an issue that is not necessarily of national concern, but affects the life of one person greatly.

more about columns

As I haven't been doing a lot of independent reading lately, I thought I would spend some more time writing about columns. I learned two big things during this this unit. One of them Is that the elements of rhetoric and be used in a lot of interesting and captivating ways to make your writing better and more descriptive. The other, Is that I only really enjoy only really enjoy humor columns. Going through the unit we talked more about how diction choices can better our writing, which seems like it may be important because we've talked about it only a few more times than once this year. We also continued talking about syntax and learned about how purposeful fragments could add effect to our writing or place emphasis. One technique that I've used in my speech to ridicule and tease my friends with for a while now (all in good fun) is rhetorical questions. I never really thought about using it in my writing until this unit. The way I've seen authors use rhetorical questions in the columns we read during this unit really gave me reason for using it myself. Why did I not use it before? That's rhetorical.

Now to talk about the other thing I learned during the unit. I only like humor columns. Maybe it has something to do with my dislike of reading ( despite Mrs. Bross' efforts to change that) or possibly it's because I like to stumble across the topics of most columns by myself instead of have someone tell me what those things are like. I don't really know why myself. what i do know is why I do enjoy humor columns. The reason for that is in the theme itself. Humor. Honestly for me, theres no such thing as a good day without laughter. I like both to be laughing and to be making others laugh. I am always looking for new ways or situations to be the cause of another person's chuckles. When I see my classmates reading the humor columns that we did this unit , I feel like they are only getting half of what I got out of them. Not only did I find them funny, I saw them as a place to find new techniques to use myself. Whatever the reason, I feel like I don't get The same double value from the other columns. Oh well.

column packet section 1 reflection

   After reading the section we were assigned this weekend in the column packet, I wanted to share my favorite column, why it was my favorite,  and my favorite quote. My favorite column from the packet was the 6th one, "A ruff and ready playmate" by Dave Barry. the main reason I liked this one so much was because of how funny it was. I also liked this column because it felt easier to spot the literary elements in it (maybe it was just all that reading before I got to that one). I thought that the way Barry used fragments and repetition was cool because it also helped to contribute to the comedic elements of the writing. The exaggeration, onomonopias, and humorous arguments made the text interesting and enjoyable to read. While the other columns were also rich with literary devices and covered interesting topics, I enjoyed this one the best because the author focused on entertaining rater than informing or persuading. My favorite quote from this column was, " My wife is less impressed. she fails to see the appeal of an animal that appears to be less intelligent than it's own parasites." I enjoyed this line because of how silly he makes dogs sound from his wife's perspective. Dave Barry does an excellent job employing humor in this column.

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Handout

Group Members: Matt Le Cras, Kaela Higgins, Eleni Georgeton, Aya Kraimer, and Ishwar Balakrishna.

Bell: 1

Theme Statement: People should take action rather than watch a society falter and possibly crumble.

Timeline

            Part 1                                                  Part 2                                              Part 3

Montag starts to show how         Montag finally took action          Montag meets a group of people

his thoughts are different     -->   and plotted how he would  -->  who are looking to change society

from the other authorities.          resist.                                               in the same ways he is.

Textual evidence to support our theme statement:

Part 1: Ray Bradbury writes, “’You’re not leaving her here?’

                                                ‘She won’t come.’

                                                ‘Force her, then!’” (Bradbury 36).

Part 2: Bradbury writes, “If there were no war, if there was peace in the world, I’d say fine, have fun! But, Montag, you mustn’t go back to being just a fireman. All isn’t well with the world,” (Bradbury 100)

Part 3: Ray Bradbury writes, “’Come on now, we’re going to go build a mirror factory first

And put out nothing by mirrors for the next year, and take a long look in them,’” (Bradbury 157).

Why this theme is important to our understanding of the story: This theme is important because it shows how Montag is a dynamic character and how some problems affect society more than others.

How the theme connects to our modern-day society: in society now, problems might not be so life threatening, but no matter the problem people should stand up and take action for what they believe in. It’s important for us to study and be aware of this theme because we don’t want to repeat history and if a problem arises we should know to not just sit back in follow, but rather to stand up and lead a change.

The outside article we used: Obesity Article

Why we chose the article:

In the article on Michelle Obama’s new program called Let’s Move that gets kids active and eating healthier, it’s explained that if we don't solve this problem, one third of all people born after 2000 will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. It then explains the First Lady’s program to work to take action and stop this growing problem.

            We located this article by researching “Why Society Is Crumbling” before finding an article on growing obesity rates and how this is affecting society. Then we researched “Fight against Obesity” to find Michelle Obama’s website.

This article best demonstrates the connection to our theme because Michelle Obama is urging people to take action against the fight for obesity rather than watch society falter due to its ever increasing need for a change. This organization was created to solve this problem and get kids moving more. “Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams” (Learn the Facts). She is making sure that all people can participate to make a more lasting change. “Everyone has a role to play in reducing childhood obesity, including parents, elected officials from all levels of government, schools, health care professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations, and private sector companies. Your involvement is key to ensuring a healthy future for our children” (Learn the Facts).

update on independent novel

    Because of the snow days and Fahrenheit, I haven't had to post on my independent novel in a while. I am still reading "The Global War on Morris" and it has been very good so far. The best part of my book is the third -person omniscient perspective. This not only drives the plot of the book because the reader can see more of each event and foreshadowing is more evident, but it makes the book more interesting because it adds a large amount of characterization to the book because the reader knows the thoughts of most of the characters. Although the focus of the book is still mostly on the main character, Morris, the choice of third person perspective means that the author also shows sides of the story through other characters' thoughts and actions which makes the book more understandable because events that the main character might not see or be aware of can be shown through other characters. It's not that I don't like books written in first person, but I think that the third- person perspective add an element to the comedic and satirical nature of the book, while also serving the author's purpose well.

Fahrenheit 451 continuation

           
  Mrs. Bowles didn't 'trot' out the door as she had said. She was in fast paced flee when she left the house, right foot, left foot, right foot in front of her left foot, her pace slowed slightly. The words in her head did not. They raced through her mind like one of the subway trains.
But now I only hear, 
"Divorced!"
It's melancholy,long, withdrawing roar,
"Killed!"
Retreating, to the breath,
"Abortions!"

"Shut up!" Mrs. Bowles screamed,"You're wrong!"

  She all but fainted into the doorway. Her living room slowly stopped spinning, the headache still panged behind her forehead. The first thing she caught sight of was the parlor. Immediately, she began to backpedal, as if some vile beast had sprung in front of her. "No!"She screeched,"You're not real! I don't want to talk anymore! Stop yelling my name!" Mrs. Bowles' pale, clammy skin skidded across the pavement of her driveway. She couldn't feel the pain. All she felt was the violent throbbing in her skull, up until everything went black.

  She awoke on a slightly stiff gurney. Her vision faded slowly out of the haze. She heard muffled voices. "Mrs. Bowles?" said the voice,"can you hear me? Everything is going to alright now. We were able to stop the trauma in your head before the brain damage from your incident could have become critical."

"You stopped the trauma?"

"yes. The tissue stopped bleeding a while ago."

"Why would you do that?" She asked, genuinely puzzled,"What have I got to live for?"

1/ 25/ 2015- New Book: Reasons for choice, First impression, Predictions

 Today my new book got here. I literally just pulled the cardboard Amazon envelope out of my mailbox, and read the first two chapters of the novel entitled The Global War On Morris. I dont usually enjoy reading very much and I often end up getting tired of the book. Maybe I just don't like words- (if that makes any sense). Anyway, I am actually somewhat excited in starting this book because of the reason I picked it. I found this book on Goodreads looking for something that would be funny. It seems ironic that we just started our satire unit in class and this book is in that genre. It may be a Coincidence but I think that this book will be a enjoyable way to relate to what we are working on in class. So far in the two chapters I've read, I have been Introduced to four main Characters; Morris Feldstein, his wife Rona, Vice President Dick Cheney, and his Special Legal Advisor, Jon Pruitt. From what I've read so far, (and what I read on the back cover of the book) I think that these four character's lives might meet soon as the plot of the story continues. In the first two chapters, I have found the book starting to be as funny as I expected, specifically when Pruitt describes Cheney, saying,"... that permanent sneer, the upturned lip that made it look like he was always on the verge of spitting from the side of his face..." That line gave me a good chuckle, and I predict the rest of the book will continue to do the same.