Connections and Recommendations: Entry 4

I chose to read the Abundance of Katherine's because I enjoy a lot of the work John Green does including on you tube and his writing. From all of his works, after reviewing them, I find that every time I learn something new and I end up benefiting from his work. This had intrigued me to read more of his writing and it had also challenged me to see if I could find the meaning behind his writing. This challenged me to think deeper about the theme or the message being portrayed by John through his writing. Therefore I am glad I continued to read his work because it feels like I have benefit myself and not just like I’m forcing myself to complete a summer assignment.

After reading I realized I was able to make connections with some of the silly teenage relationships. First of all I believe that any relationship I have been in is immature. Plus I always try to find reason behind the reason that they end much like Colin did. But if you don’t reach out to new people or you let those past experiences leave a burden on you, you will prevent yourself from being happy and from moving forward. And this is something I have personally learned as a teenage girl in high school and it’s something almost everyone goes through.

I would recommend this book to teenagers who are curious or having problems with relationships because that is what the book is based around and whoever is reading it will be able to connect to the characters and the conflict. Or I may recommend this to someone who is having trouble letting go of the past, because I feel this book does a good job of showing how that holds you back from moving forward. Therefore this book could benefit the reader because of its ability to be relatable . This is personally what I had experienced from reading this. So although this is a love story there is purpose and meaning behind all parts of the book and it is definitely worth the read. 

Hooking the Reader: Entry 3

Quote: “In that moment, the future containable by any theorem mathematical or otherwise- stretched out before Colin: infinite and unknowable and beautiful.” (Green, 212)

Colin being a child prodigy wants reason behind everything and as he goes through relationships (19 to be specific) so he tries to create an equation or theorem to help explain or determine his future relationships. His goal originally was to create a theorem to preview how long his relationship with Lindsey would last. He comes to find that the future is unpredictable and his past experiences won’t determine is future. He actually takes this lesson into a positive consideration and sees how he can experience more in life and enjoy it when he doesn’t drag his past around with him.

I think that we all have heard the term history repeats itself. It’s commonly used. But I also think we can relate to the fact that what happens in the past can often times control our future. When this happens I have found that it holds you back from taking risks and living life to its full potential. You will find yourself going through tough times in life but those usually will guide you to the good times. Therefore the unknown we find in the future is an “infinite” and “beautiful” thing.

Desires, Themes, and Structure: Entry 2

If you took notice to my last post you would see that the main characters were Collin, Hassan, and Lindsey. If you read the book you would also know they all have unique yet similar wants and desires. Collin is a child prodigy and he has always wanted reason and logic behind everything, but he also wants change from his past love life and experiences. Hassan (Collins best friend) on the other hand likes to go with the flow and does anything and takes risks to make himself happy, and to do better for himself. Lastly, Lindsey acts different around each group of people to fit in, but she hopes to find someone who she can be herself with and doesn’t have to put on an act for. Someone she can trust. I think this relates back to Collins desire to find love because when Lindsey ends up falling in love with Collin she realizes she can be herself around him.

One of the themes that I saw unraveling itself was, happiness is found outside of your comfort zone. Hassan, Collin, and Lindsey all had to take risks in order to be happy or get what they wanted. If Collin and Hassan wouldn’t have fled Chicago they wouldn’t be as happy as they are now with each other. They would’ve never been able to let go of their past. One more theme I have found is, don’t let your past determine your future. Collin tries to let his past relationships determine how long him and Lindsey will be together, which not only wrong but doesn’t help him move forward. Towards the end he finds out this is true and he ends up doing better when he lets go of his past.

Finally, I noticed that the structure of the book is separated by days that they have been away from Chicago and the narrator gives a description of the day and the conflict in the chapter (the day it takes place). The narrator also usually includes all characters thoughts giving the reader a full depiction of what is happening. Lastly when it comes to structure I noticed that the author would leave either a visual or in depth description of the complex thought process behind certain characters thoughts or decisions. For example, when Collin was making an “equation” to see how long he and Lindsey would be together, the author gave a visual of the equation and a description to help the reader understand how he came up with it.

Characters, Predictions, and Connections: Entry 1

The main characters in The Abundance Of Katherine's by John Green consist of Collin (the main character), his 19 ex’s all named Katherine, Hassan (Collins best friend), and Lindsey who plays a big part but doesn’t come in till later. I chose these people as the main characters because they all play a big role, in the message being portrayed or the theme.

The setting takes place in a small town called gunshot. Collin and Hassan originally lived in Chicago but wanted to get away from their old live; therefore wanting to see if life was better elsewhere. I believe that the reason Collin really goes is to understand love better and find reason behind his other failures at love. Collin, being a child prodigy, wants reason behind everything, causing him to find it elsewhere. I predict that Collin won’t go after anymore Kathrine’s, and I also predict that he’s going to let his past influence his future. This in my mind can be good because history does tend to repeat itself, but I feel as if his past experiences will hold him back instead of moving him forward.

I am able to connect this to films such as the notebook and the best of me because they thrive in a small town and have similar love struggles. Such as not understanding love and both running away from love and chasing after it. I am also able to connect it to the newly released film paper towns because it is based around a teenage point of view which is exactly like The Abundance Of Katherine’s. I was also able to connect the idea that in paper towns and The Abundance Of Katherine’s, they run away from their problems, and it ends up changing their lives and perspectives of love forever.  Lastly, the reason most people make love songs such as “we are never getting back together” by Taylor swift is because their past has changed them but they write these songs to prevent these events from taunting them in the future. I believe that is the message that the reader is supposed to understand by the end of the novel. 

What is Guilt Worth?

As you may know I have been reading The Secret of Bee, and I really enjoy Kidd's style of writing. I am not going to lie, I find it to be quite dramatic. Between you and I... I think I like it. I'm going to give you an example of what I mean. “People who think that dying is the worst thing don’t know a thing about life,” (2 Kidd) To me this was a lot to take in. This to me is different considering this novel isn't all so serious. Even though I read this line almost 3 days ago it's still boggling around in my mind. Lets be honest, there is almost nothing close to the despair that the death of someone import in your life (or even the thought of you dying yourself) can generate. Right?

Wrong. Sue Monk Kidd never really gives you an answer to this. I think that's why it bothers me so much is because it made me think, and I had to investigate and find my own answer. Special shout out to Sue Monk Kidd for making me contemplate this for the longest time I ever have for a book. Thanks for the motivation; thanks for the uniqueness; thanks for getting me involved. And after about an hour of self deprivation and every drop of thought I had, i came to the conclusion that its guilt. This whole time it was guilt. 

I later saw this“This is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted. And I took her away,” (8 Kidd). She describes how she wanted everyone to live when the shooting that killed her mom took place. She wouldn't have said this if she didn't feel guilt. She would make it nearly as paced or dramatic if she didn't feel this way. Why else would you beat yourself up over that? So I now strongly believe that she was originally describing how guilt over someones death can be worse than the actual death of the person, in this case her mother. And therefore I was able to the way that she felt about the devastation that guilt can have on someones life. And I'm not going to lie I'm glad I finally came up with a reasonable explanation. Please tell me that made sense.

Research on Sue Monk Kidd

After reading the fault in our stars and doing research on John Green, I noticed that I actually had a better time reading the book after I felt that I knew the author and I could connect with him. So therefore I'm going to get started and do some research on Sue Monk Kidd. I'll Be right back... Hold on.. Almost done.. Like one more minute...Done. Alright so she was born in Georgia on August 12th and has always had a love for writing. When she was younger she dream't of writing fiction. Her most popular novel is The Secret of Bees, although she has written another book called The mermaid Chair. Before she did this she became a nurse because that is what her family wanted. As far as my research has shown its seems as if she's an inspiration; a motivator; a create your own path kind of person. She had a lot more to her than just writing novels.

"Despite the success and acclaim she enjoyed writing spiritual nonfiction, Kidd’s desire to write fiction begged to be fulfilled. Refusing to give in to her fear of failure, she immersed herself in the process of writing fiction by taking a graduate writing course and attending various writers’ conferences." This shows her personal strength, her personal ambition, her personal dedication. This is just one of the few things I found that people said about her and it makes me realize the kind of person she can be. She has the characteristics of a history changer. If that makes any sense. Anyways I think now is as good a time as ever to wrap this up. I enjoyed researching her and I hope my positive outlook on her will give me a positive outlook on her novel.

Starting the Secret life of Bees

So far I know that this book takes place in South Carolina but for now it takes place in cozy house in the summer. The author uses a lot of detail to describe the setting. For example just on page one she states,"During the day I heard them tunneling through the walls of my bedroom sounding like a radio tuned to static in the next room, and I imagined them in there turning the walls into honey- combs, with honey seeping out for me to taste." (1 Kidd) I only had one thought when I read this. Wow. She used similes and imagery while also describing the setting all in one sentence. This sentence is like the ultimate multi-tasker, it could be doing backflips on a rope while on the phone and eating a bagel. I think this is part of the reason I chose this book, considering that I am not a fan of reading anyways, the book needs to be interesting, and I can assure you just that sentence is interesting.

Another reason I chose this book is actually quite unique. So what's one of the first things you notice on a book? The Title. When I saw the secret life of bees I was really confused. Um... why would anyone want to write about that? Let alone read it. I am partly reading it because I want to know how or why the author came up with this title for a book about a girl finding more about her mother who was unfortunately killed. I still haven't found out, and this is different from all the other books I read. For example, in the hunger games you almost immediately find out what "The Hunger Games" actually is. Its making me almost furious that I cant make a connection yet between the book and it's title. But hey, I'll take any motivation I can get.

Column reveiw

I really enjoyed the columns that we had to read, because I felt like i was actually having a conversation with someone. You find a lot in reading that when someone tries to put a voice in a piece of writing it sounds like a robot almost, but this was different. Although I liked them all my favorite was Advice,like youth probably just wasted on the young. I like this because I could relate this to the video that we watched, and because I could relate to this myself and take advice from it. It felt to me like a beneficial read.

One of the quotes that noticed that I was able to relate back to the video was, "Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes your ahead, sometimes your behind. The race is long and, in the end its only with yourself." This hit close to home for me, because its kinda like that motherly advice your given that you just kinda ponder on for a while. Anyways I also noticed that this is personification or a metaphor because its saying how life is a race. I think that this more closely relates to the emotional appeal of the audience, of younger people, because I felt emotion while reading with it, and there was less moral or logic to it. I honestly cant wait to read more of these and hopefully write some.

451 technology control

I just finished my project of 451 with my group and we had the theme, "in the wrong hands technology can be dangerous." I enjoyed this because this was very present throughout the book. I remember the things from the hounds to the parlor walls, to the war technology. Most of this technology was more advanced than what we have today, except I found that the war weapons were not anything to new than Nothing we have today. The do, do a lot of damage but I didn't see any improvement and I wonder why Bradbury did that. The hounds were very advanced and scary and I thought it was interesting how you couldn't see a connection.

"I can't talk to the walls because they are always yelling at me. I can't talk to my wife because she listening to the walls." This demonstrates how this technology was dangerous, and I liked this quote the most because I found Mildred's addiction to these walls very interesting. I wonder what the book would be like from her perspective. Also I think this relates a lot to the way technology is viewed in the real world today because our friends and family get so involved in social media or a tv show that we feel we can't talk to them. I'm really glad we did this because I found this theme very interesting and I could relate a lot to it.

Fahrenheit 451 theme handout

why is this theme important for our understanding the story? Well its important because without the forces of technology such as the hound, or the TV walls, a lot of the conflict wouldn't be there, the walls made it so that he could no longer talk with his wife, and the hound made it so that he had to find a new way to escape or hide books, and without this technology this conflict wouldn’t be present.

How does this theme connect to modern day society, and how we see it play out in our lives? We see today how technology consumes most of our lives, and a lot of it can be powerful such as military weapons or even daily technology that can easily persuade our minds, and its important to study this or notice it, because technology easily has changed our lives for the good, but in the wrong hands it could be for the worse, as

The Impact of Dover Beach

 "Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozens of abortions you've had, go home and think of your darn Cartesian sections too, and your children who hate your guts! Go home and think how it all happened and what did you ever do to stop it? Go home, Go home!" He yelled. Both women then began to leave the premise with a door slam, and the frustrated sounds of stomping feet. With out saying a word to each other, they each began to travel their own path. This left Mrs. Bowles with more in thought then Mrs. Phelps. Regardless they were never coming back. The unbearable words that Montag's spilled is unheard of to ever be spoken to, at least to a women.

WHAT IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS ARE THEY DOING IN THAT HOUSE? NO FIREMAN TAKES HOME LITERATURE TO READ ONE WEEK OF THE YEAR! EVEN THE IDEA OF THAT HAS NO SENSE TO IT! Bowles began to think to herself about some of the hatred things Montag had spoken to her. She has always hidden regret about some of those decisions, but tried not to go further as to think of it. Darn Montag is the crazy one here. I don't know what I did to deserve that, but I will make sure he gets what he deserves. I will make sure they never let another sane innocent soul in that awful dwelling again. Ever. That place must burn. 

The very next morning Mrs. Bowles and Phelps collected themselves and went to the local fire station where Montag worked. They knocked at the entrance to, in order to find not Montag answer but Beatty. "What can I do for y'all today?" he asked sincerely. "We have some suspicion about one of your firemen here. Montag." She said in the most revengeful voice possible. Mrs. Phelps, not one willing to speak up stood behind her shaking her head. "We went to his house last night, to find that Montag is keeping and READING pieces of literature in his dwelling. And Mildred knows about it but isn't doing any thing." She said in a demeaning tone. Beatty frowned and realized what he had to do but knew he would deeply regret it. "Thank you, we will look further into it this afternoon and hopefully see the real problem. Goodbye now." He shut the door, gathered some men, and the hound and drove to the home of Montag. "I knew this would come one day or another. I'm sorry Montag." Beatty thought, knowing exactly what was going on and what is about to happen. 

John Green: The Fault in Our Stars

I was having a lot of trouble looking for a book for a while and I heard about the fault in our stars. Its literally everywhere. Almost every girl in this school has read it, and there is now a movie about it, that a lot of people have seen. So why not give it a try. I was shocked to see how such a popular love story was written by a male author, and I think its great. So therefore I wanted to do some research on John Green before I get to far in the book. Also If I find what he is like or maybe what he is into, or even part of his past, I will have a better reasoning and understanding for his relation/ reason for writing the novel. I feel like if I find out more about him and I like him, I will have an easier time actually reading the book. Research

John Green has done a lot of blogging on YouTube, and it is one of his passions he has had even before he began publishing. He is known as a very influential man and New York Times Magazine's listed him as one of the most influential people in the world. Before he wrote his best seller the fault in our stars, he wrote Looking for Alaska, and was also so popular it had been written in dozens of languages for the world to read. After he published some of these very popular novels, his blogging videos started to quickly grow. With this he helped raise money through them, and donated the money to help fight poverty, and help the environment. With his donation they were able to plant thousands of trees in May 2010, for his birthday (which they did because of his inspiration he brought to the people around him). Also something I thought was really cool was that he graduated college and majored in English in Gambier Ohio. When he was little, he always thought about being a writer, but he also wanted to play in the NFL or be an astronaut, and today, if you ask him what his full time job was, he said he couldn't give you an answer. He says that he works all over the place although he very much enjoys his writing career. He is always trying to influence the people around him and I think that due to his generosity and his intelligence, it makes him the inspiring person he is, which drove him to write an inspirable book. Now that I know, I'm going to stop procrastinating and actually read some of it while I have some free time!