Ah the summer!

Summer for me has always meant reading for hours on end. It is so hard to choose just two that I plan to read this summer because of the fact that I read rather quickly.

However one book that I would love to read is Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. A friend introduced me to it and I read the first chapter at a bookstore one day. Sadly I was broke and now am waiting for my turn on the very long list at the library. Hunger Games is the earth in the future where there are 12 different places that are like towns on America, except that now the whole world is gruesome and evil. Every year, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12-17 (I think) are chosen from each town to fight in the Hunger Games. It is a fight to the death and whoever wins gets a lot of money and food, which are both rarities now in the earth. The main character is a girl that volunteered to go in her 12-year-old sister's place. That’s all I know, but it sounds really exciting.

Another book I would like to read this summer is called Unwound. It is a book my sister introduced to me, but sadly she was borrowing it from someone and I didn't get a chance to read it. It is also about the future. There was a second civil war about life. Basically people who were for abortion against people who were against abortion. The government ended up coming up with a law to please everyone by saying from conception to age 13, a child can not be killed. However from ages 13-18, a parent can have their child "unwound", which is a way for the child to go on living, but not. Really it’s a nice way of saying that they are going to take the child and take out all their organs and body parts and give them to people who need them. It’s all about these 3 kids who are scheduled to get "unwound" and how they survive.

I hope I have given you some ideas for your reading list. Enjoy!

Culture Shock! In front of your eyes.

As soon as I heard what this blog was about, one thing immediatly jumped into my mind. It is something out there that is very popular I was so sure half the people out there posted it. So I looked at everyone's blog and NO ONE had posted it yet! I was shocked! So I grabbed at the chance. What popped into my head was the very popular>>>
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Twilight.

Think about it. Edward is a vampire and Bella is not, so they really aren't supposed to be in love. For one, Edward told Bella all about vampires which is against the "law" and also Bella could get easily hurt which is mostly portrayed in the second book; New Moon. I know many of you out there will probably get tired from another Twilight reference, but when I think Romeo and Juliet, Twilight is a good example of this in a modern world (Even though vampires aren't real. And neither is Santa Clause. Just F.Y.I)

English Class

From To Kill a Mocking Bird to Great Expectations to motifs, allusions, and themes to extra credit posters and to synchronized staring at people who walk in the door; all of this make up our wonderful English class. We have written a lot of essays (but the creative writing is still my favorite) and analyzed a lot of sentences (which I hate to say has improved my grammar skills) but my favorite part would have to be the creative stuff that we can do. Oh sure diagramming and analyzing are important, but it gets kind of boring after awhile. I enjoy it when we do skits and posters. But whats also extremely fun is the big discussions where we all bring our desks around and debate on various topics. All in all it has been a good seven months, with good parts and bad parts. However a bit more are good.

Three Skit Scenes

• The first scene I would enjoy seeing is the first time that Pip goes to Satis House. The important characters would be Pip, Estella, and Miss Havisham. Somethings that would be important would be to portray how creepy Miss Havisham is and to show that there is something of a mystery going on with her. Also what would be important would be for Estella and Miss Havisham to continually put down Pip, because it is at this time when he first wants to have a different life than the one he is living.
• Another scene I would like to see is when Pip and Herbert re meet at Bernard's Inn. The Only characters would be Herbert and Pip, but I feel this is important because Herbert plays such a prominent role.
• The very last scene is the one I would like to see the most. I would like to see the scene where Estella goes back to visit Satis House with Pip and she and Miss Havisham get into a huge fight. The important characters would be Pip, Estella, and Miss Havisham.Basically the most important thing would be the fight between Estella and Miss Havisham.

Question #2

This may seem like a very simple question, with a really obvious answer, but I still don't get it. In chapter 44, Pip travels with Estella to see Miss Havisham one last time. Now it is a well know fact that Miss Havisham has always been awful to Pip. She is constantly telling Estella to break his heart. However, in this chapter, Miss Havisham shows an act of kindness to Pip. She is truthful with him and tells him that she purposely did all these horrible things to him. What I don't get is why she was finally truthful with him. After all of this, she is finally remotely nice to him. But why?

Question about a passage. What are they talking about?

Today, (March 10, Wednesday) we had a list of questions to answer in class. One of them being something like; Why, at the end of chapter 31, are Pip's anxieties increased instead of settled. So I started thinking about it, and I realized something was funny about chapter 31. Throughout the whole thing Pip is in a bit of a bad mood because he loves Estella and she still treats him like mud. But at the very end (On page 259), he all the sudden becomes mega depressed. it says "Miserably I went to bed after all, and miserably thought of Estella, and miserably dreamed that my expectations were all cancelled, and that I had to give my hand in marriage to Herbert's Clara, or play Hamlet to Miss Havisham's Ghost, before twenty thousand people, without knowing twenty words of it."

So my question is; Why did Pip all the sudden get super depressed at the end of chapter 31?

Photo Post

You may be confused as to why a butterfly relates to Great Expectations but to me its rather obvious. One of the themes of this book is Pip growing up and becoming a man. The process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly really symbolizes this. It also relates in the way that Pip is shedding his country origins to go to the city to become a gentleman, much in the same way that a caterpillar sheds its skin to become something sophisticated.