"1984" Blog Post

“1984” by George Orwell tells us about the story of a man, Winston, who is living in the time period of 1984. The government or the “Party” has made an attempt to take over all of what we call Europe and Asia. Winston is different than everyone else because he didn’t lose as much memory as everyone else and that makes him different. In the story Orwell is showing us that 1984 was supposed to be a dystopian era.

Throughout this story we are given many clues to the fact of how corrupt Winston’s 1984 is. One example is how every family has a television, but in Orwell’s version of 1984 the television is called a telescreen. Usually a television works where you watch it and you get to watch what you want, in the book the Party decides what you watch, when you watch it, and for how long. Also the telescreen watches you, it has a camera of some sort where it can watch you and also hear you. And this follows the motto of the government “Big brother is watching you.” And not only is this not reassuring of giving you your own personal space this gives one person absolutely no personal space. Another example of how Orwell’s idea of 1984 is messed up is how all the children love violence. “Why can’t  we go and see the hanging?’ roared the boy in his huge voice/ ‘Want to see the hanging! Want to see the hanging!’ chanted the little girl” Here we see an example where children are begging to see this act of violence that in our current time era it is illegal to do something like homicide, and also many people are repulsed by the thought of hanging someone. It is just horrifying to think about a world that would be so corrupt like this one.

This book has so many things that is wrong with it, as we read this book if we don’t notice what might be wrong with the society we might miss different key factors where Orwell is actually making fun of the way that we are living in our own society today.

"Sylo" Blog Post

“Sylo” by D.J MacHale is about an island that has a disease that is killing off the people on the island. This causes the United States government to come in a help quarantine off the whole island, the government claim that it is completely safe to be on the island, except for the fact that no one can leave. The story takes us through the perspective of a boy named Tucker who is just going on with his normal life and pretending that the soldiers aren’t even on the island. Although I’m not that far into the book I have a prediction that Tucker is going to make a huge difference to the way that the people of the island are living.

Tucker moved to the island with his family to get his “new start” and when his family moved there they never expected there to be such a crazy thing. I believe that while the whole island goes to hell Tuck is going to end up saving it. One reason is because he had previously met a guy who was advertising these salts that gave a single human super human powers that lasted for about 20 minutes. And the man who was advertising these got stuck on the island when the government placed down the quarantine. What will most likely happen is that Tucker will become this super human person that helps the island. Another thing that could lead us to believe that Tucker will save the island is because he knows a lot of people, this story could end up being, where there is a team of people who help the troubled people. And the people that Tucker know each have something about them that makes them special. This is why I believe that Tucker is going to be a major attribute to being a hero.

This story could be followed on any other person that was trapped on the island, but there was a certain reason that we, the reader, was put on the track  of tucker. And it was most likely to find out what is so special about Tucker.

"No One Else Can Have You" Blog Post (warning: spoilers)

The story "No One Else Can Have You” by Kathleen Hale is about a girl named Kippy who is investigating on who actually killed her best friend Ruth. Everyone in the town believes that no one else would do it except for the guy who they threw in jail. But when Kippy wants everyone to know that the man they threw into jail didn’t do it they deem her as crazy. Through all of these hard times Kippy is still able to stay really strong and never give up.

Kippy has gotten so many put downs from everyone around her, but she is still extremely perseverant. One person who is restricting her is her father.  He barely lets her go anywhere by herself, “Usually Dom’s [her dad’s] idea of ‘personal space’ entitles texting me every five seconds and sitting every close to me on the couch but not so close that our bodies are touching.” it is appropriate for a parent to worry about their child, and although there was a recent murder in the town, a parent with a kid of the age of 16 shouldn’t have to be so closely watched like Kippy is. Another thing that could stop her from finding out who actually killed her best friend is the fact that her best friend, Ruth, never actually liked Kippy. “Kippy is so pathetic it makes me nauseous… If we lived anywhere else, like any place remotely interesting, I’d have way more options, and she and I wouldn’t even know each other.” This is showing that Kippy never knew that she was so hated by the only person who she believed was her friend. And the still after reading this page in Ruth’s journal she still is determined to find out who killed her claimed to be “friend”. This shows how she was externally conflicted on how she could just break down.

Besides being conflicted from the outside she was also conflicted from the inside of her. Her mother had died many years before, but she is constantly thinking about her mom throughout the book and, by adding this Hale is showing us that Kippy has trouble dealing with death. Another example is how she started falling in love with Ruth’s older brother who Kippy has always known her own life. This an internal conflict because she could feel that it is morally wrong because after her friend dies, she goes and dates the brother, but she doesn’t find this to be morally wrong and that leads to making her life difficult. And these things could put Kippy down in her investigation because her brother might not enjoy the fact that Kippy has to investigates his sister’s death, and the mother’s death can bring her into a relapse of sadness.

Kippy has many challenges that she has to face. But Kippy doesn’t let any of these things stop her. She has these conflicts coming from inside of her and out. This can teach us the reader that we have to be perseverant, and face all challenges head on.

Another Perspective of "The Confessions of a Sociopath"

"The Confessions of a Sociopath" by M.E Thomas, is a memoir about being a sociopath. From reading deeper into the book we the reader have taken a journey into her mind, as a sociopath and as a human. There is a more elaboration on what it means to be a sociopath in my previous blog post.There are some realizations that she went through in becoming a sociopath.

As a sociopath M.E Thomas had many steps to realizing that she was a sociopath, it didn't come to her naturally. One example of this is when she was talking to her friends who was actually helping her find out who she actually was. "I didn't know what a 'sociopath' was nor did I have any inkling that I might be one" In this example she is showing us that even though she isn't looking for answers about who she is or why she feels different than everyone else, being a sociopath wouldn't be the first idea. Another example is how she could relate different societal issues. "It must be a similar feeling to that of people who discover themselves that they are gay or transgendered; in their bones, they'd known it all along" Here she is showing us that it is a feeling that one will feel when they know that they are different, and that when you discover yourself if good to know that there are others like you and feel the same way as you.

In conclusion we can see that not only when discovering your true self you can have doubts. But having people support you, or consulting with other people to help you realize what condition you may have is really helpful, Thomas had her friends that made her feel more human. She helped her realize what she actually knew all along, and she felt so different and didn't know what it was called. So the next time you feel that you may be different than everyone else know that someone else is like you.

Revised Blog Post "The Revenge of Seven"

         The story “The Revenge of Seven” by Pittacus Lore is about a group of teens that were sent to earth after the antagonists, the mogadorians, destroyed their old planet Lorien. The mogadorians are all about succeeding and progress so they came to earth too so that they could use all of their resources. The mogadorians also are tracking down the group of Lorien children, because those children can bring down the mogadorians. Another reason that the nine children were sent down is to restart the legacy of Lorien. The mogadorians don’t want these Loric teens to stop them. They promote what they call “mogadorian progress” where they control every planet in the galaxy by turning every living thing into a mogadorians. Through out the book they refrain from showing the opinions of the antagonists, the mogadorians, and only show the opinions of the Loric children that were sent down to earth. The reason that Lore doesn’t show the opinion of the mogadorians is because he doesn’t want us to believe that the mogadorians could actually be good, he wants us to believe that there are only two sides, those who are bad and those who are good.

          One of the characters is Ella, she is the tenth of the Loric children, her father was selfish and rich and wanted her to get to earth and continue her family legacy. All her life she thought that she was the same as the other nine that she was sent to earth with. She ends up finding out that her grandfather is the evil mastermind behind the mogadorians, Setrákus Ra, he ends up kidnaping Ella and raises her as a the mogadorians royalty. The whole time Ella tells herself that Setrákus Ra isn’t her grandfather and that he is very evil because he killed many of the loric children that were sent to earth, but as we read through the book we see that she sees that there is a possibility that they’re related, but regardless she refuses to believe that what Setrákus Ra plan is for the earth is appropriate. “Glorious, isn’t it?’/ His booming voice is like a bucket of cold water dumped on me. I spin around and press my back against the glass; feeling like the void behind me might be preferable to facing him. / Setrákus Ra stands behind one of the control panels, watching me, a hint of a smile on his face.” This is an example of how Pittacus Lore gives us really strong details to describe Ella is feeling and thinking, but barely shows us what Setrákus Ra is feeling or thinking when he sees Ella looking completely defenseless, he may be thinking about things that are helpful or the plans that he has for Ella, but because in the previous books we see him as the bad guy, when we read this we predict and assume that he is thinking about harmful and mischievous plans that will happen. Because Lore fails to show the side of Setrákus Ra it doesn’t let us have our own personal opinions on Setrákus Ra. Pittacus Lore has set up the two sides that we have to see, and is spinning us towards the protagonists.

Another example of how the mogadorians opinions aren’t shown is when one of the mogadorians actually starts to fight with the Loric. This character’s name is Adam, he was a mogadorian who was sentenced to death by his father because he didn’t conform to the mogadorian way. Instead of being executed he ran away and wanted to help the Loric. Because the Loric have Adam it makes their work easier to hack into the mogadorian information and also translate the mogadorians private documents. Throughout the story Lore puts examples of where Adam is being insulted or annoyed, but doesn’t say anything. “Marina’s still figuring out just how angry she wants to be, and I’m not going to get in her way. Besides, I don’t think putting a little fear in our mogadorian companion is such a bad thing. / I assume he’s just going to let the conversation die, but after a few minutes Adam speaks up.“ This being told from the perspective of one of the Loric, Six, she say things like “I think” or says  “I assume” instead of Lore telling us what Adam is actually thinking. Also during the few minutes that Adam was thinking he probably had many things to retort to the girls to make them feel more uncomfortable, but Lore didn’t show us the thought process that he was having. Lore doesn’t show us the side of this mogadorian, because showing us this side could make the reader think that the mogadorians has emotions, then that would make the reader wonder “are all of the mogadorians like this one” and then that would take us off the perspective that Pittacus Lore wants us to see.

            Pittacus Lore doesn’t want us to see the perspective of the mogadorians because we are supposed to see them as the bad guys that make the Loric lives miserable and horrible. By representing the mogadorians characters as evil he wanted to show that all of the mogadorians are the enemy regardless of whom they are fighting for and that the reader should be “rooting” for the Loric to win. But if we were able to read the opinion of the mogadorians, then possibly the way that we view the characters in the book could change, and the mogadorians strong belief in the taking over the galaxy could be legitimate. If we could read the mogadorians opinions as we do for the Loric children then we may change our side depending on how we feel about their plan.
The Original Blog Post

Blog post on "Confessions of a Sociopath"

“Confessions of a Sociopath” by M. E. Thomas is sort of a memoir explaining her life. She explains how she is a sociopath, and clinically diagnosed. She shares with us what separates “normal” humans from sociopaths. She uses many examples in the few pages that I have read about how sociopaths are very similar to “ordinary” people and the probability that we too or someone close to us is a sociopath too.

One example of how M. E. Thomas shows us people we may see everyday could be a sociopath is using a some what  relatable situation. One example is she starts off the book by telling us a story of herself about to kill a baby opossum, it was in her pool and was already struggling to stay alive, she was planning to drown it but didn’t because it wasn’t worth her energy. She didn’t find moral issues to killing the opossum she just didn’t want to waste her energy. But she tells us how she was canceling a swim lesson so that she could kill the opossum. The parents of the child that was receiving the swim lessons doesn’t know that the woman that is teaching their child is a sociopath, who almost attempted to kill a baby opossum with no problem at all. This shows us how the most unexpected people can be a sociopath, and that they can seem just like the most normal people, but in reality they are the most idiosyncratic people there are. Another example of how anyone could be a sociopath is another story that she tells us from her life where she is in the Washington D.C metro station and she gets stopped out of her way. “HIM: That’s trespassing! Don’t  you know it is wrong to trespass! The escalator was closed, you broke the law!’ … I felt so sure of myself, so focused on this one thing I felt I had to do. An image sprang to to my mind of my hands wrapped around his neck, my thumbs digging deeply into his throat, his life slipping away from under my unrelenting grasp. How right would that feel.” Here is an example of how someone that is simply telling her the right thing to, and her reaction is that she wants to murder him because he corrected her. This makes you think that you may tell someone to stop what they are doing, but they could be a sociopath and in their mind may be planning a way to kill you because you proved them wrong. This is also showing us that someone very random that you could bump you on the street could be a sociopath and you wouldn’t have any idea. These are two examples of how someone you really trust or a complete stranger could be a sociopath and you wouldn’t know.

To conclude M. E. Thomas is showing us that sociopaths are everywhere. She isn’t telling us be careful, cautious, or paranoid everywhere we walk. In this particular chapter she really telling us that you have to accept that there are sociopaths and that you really shouldn’t be in constant fear, because it’s normal and your whole life you hadn’t been afraid, but only now, while reading this book, you decide to be afraid.

"Stolen" Blog Post

“Stolen” by Lucy Christopher is about a girl named Gemma, who kidnapped by a man named Ty. Ty has taken Gemma out to the middle of an Australian desert, to a house that he made himself, and expects her to be happy and calm about the fact that she was kidnapped. In the book both Ty and Gemma have to change as a character in order for there to be comfortability in the household. Gemma has to become more open minded and Ty has to be more open about the questions that Gemma asks.

Gemma has a lot of trust issues, although you shouldn’t blame her. She was drugged and taken to the middle of a desert by a man who she has no idea who he is. But her trust issues are hurting not only Ty, but also her. “‘It’s no use,’ you yelled. ‘You won’t find anything. You won’t find anyone.’/ I started to cry then, great sobs coming out of me like they’d never stop. You open the door [of the car] and grabbed my T- shirt at the back of the neck. You pulled me towards you, my elbows scraping against the ground. I turned my head and bit your hand. Hard. You swore. I know I drew blood. I tasted it.” This is an example of how because Gemma is being so resistant she isn’t only hurting herself, like how she scraped her elbow on the ground, and she really hurt Ty, while he was just trying to keep her safe because Gemma wouldn’t survive outside in the desert without food or water. In this situation she just has to believe that she won’t be harmed by Ty and that he is actually a good thing. Another example of Gemma struggling to have trouble is when Ty finally gets Gemma into the house and he puts her into the bathroom and expects her to clean herself, but instead she does more harm to herself. “What do you want?’ I was sobbing now, curled up tightly. I dabbed the book on my feet, scratches in the mess I'd made from running./ I heard you slam your hand, or your head against the bathrooms door. I heard the rasp in your voice./ 'I won't kill you,' you said 'I won't, OK?'/ But my tears only came heavier. I didn't believe you." Here is another example where Ty is trying really hard to make Gemma's stay enjoyable, but Gemma's lack of trust is making her feel more harm than comfort. But if Gemma had more trust she wouldn't be hurting herself or Ty, so if Gemma had a more open mind about Ty, she wouldn't be in so much pain. If Gemma views Ty as someone who is caring and trying his hardest to make her happy, Gemma wouldn't be making such a fit over being in Australia.

In conclusion because Gemma didn't have an optimistic view what Ty was doing she caused herself pain, and not only in this situation but others as well throughout the book. From this we can be taught that although we may be really upset about something, you should think about how much effort there was done to make this happen and you should eventually come to realize that you have to be more open to ideas and that whatever made you upset was actually done as a good thing.