Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Who Tells The Story


Author’s Note: I wrote this to show my knowledge on point of view. In addition to the essay I wrote a creative piece, which is a scene from Fallen but instead I told it from Daniel’s point of view, instead of Luce’s.

Picture learning at seventeen that you have lived over ten past lives and are doomed to live and die and not remember it, because in your first life you fell for an angel. Well in the book Fallen, by Lauren Kate, you read the story from the main character, Luce’s point of view. The book, Fallen is about a teenager who is sent to a reform school and learns something very interesting about herself. She meets a intriguing boy named Daniel and when he seems to want nothing to do with her she can’t help but feel more and more like she needs to be with him, like she knows him from somewhere. Later she learns one of his deepest secrets, Daniel is really an angel and he was punished for falling for a mortal, so now every seventeen years he meets Luce but she doesn’t remember him and every time she dies a painful explosion death. The novel is told from the main character, Luce’s point of view.

The book is told from Luce’s point of view, because of whose point of view the story is told from it really changes how the reader reacts to certain things. For example, because Luce is the narrator she doesn’t have a clue about the truth behind Daniel, therefore the reader doesn’t either. Because of this, Luce does find out the Daniel is an angel; the reader is shocked as well. For a while, Luce is totally confused. Because of all the confusion, Luce is feeling the reader also becomes confused and frustrated that they don’t have a clue what’s going on. The quote, “'I don’t believe you,'" she said, feeling her voice tremble. "‘I don’t believe any of this.’” Gives a good example of how Luce feels when she finds out Daniel’s big secret, and how her shocks transferred to the reader as well.

The point of view of a story really changes how the reader feels about certain things. What if the point of view were to change? Would the reader feel completely different about the story? If the point of view of the story changed, and it was now told from Daniel's point of view, the reader would react completely different. So if the entire book you were reading about how Daniel saw things and how Daniel felt about it all, you wouldn’t have as much surprise. In the quote, "Luce gripped the windowsill as Cam made the first move, running at Daniel and slamming into him with his shoulder." You see how rather than surprise and suspense there’d be a lot of action, because when Daniel fights in the action scenes you’d be reading everything Daniel was feeling while fighting Cam instead of how Luce was feeling when the two boys were fighting in front of her.

The point of view stories are told from really gives the reader different thoughts and feelings while reading depending on whose telling the story. Fallen is told from Luce’s point of view. Depending on what the character is like and whose telling the story, the reader gets a lot of different emotions while reading from different characters points of view.
  
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It had been just a regular day at Swords and Cross, but then I saw her. I couldn’t help but think to myself, don’t go near her, avoid her at all costs. I couldn’t let what happened to her so many times before happen again. She looked right at me, but I quickly looked away, she had not seen me looking at her. Then all of a sudden, she waved and smiled, I had to think fast. How do I make her not ever want to look at me again? I did what I had to do, so I slowly raised my hand to her and shot my middle finger at her. It worked she quickly turned her head the other direction and pretended she had never even looked at me.

It gave me a horrible feeling in my gut to think that I was the reason for that surprised yet sad face she made, but I know it was for her own good. I can’t let it happen again, not again, this time I can never tell her anything, I can’t lose her, not again. Luce didn’t remember anything from her past lives, and I plan on keeping it that way. I know now what I didn’t know for the many times I’ve met her before this. I now know that in some lives just a single kiss will send her into an explosion of fire and flames. I also know that too much information about her past lives and what is going on will also take her from me.

I have decided that the only way to ensure her safety I must avoid her and make her think I don’t even want to see her face again. In her past lives, I'd never been able to stay away from her, but for the seventeenth time I’ve now learned it’s more painful to have her ripped from me than to never be able to talk to her and tell her how much I love her and how I’ve always loved her. The pain will get to me, but I have to stay strong, not for me, but for her. Just another day of being an angel. 

Monday, January 14, 2013

Struggles and Battles


Author’s Note: I wrote this to demonstrate my knowledge of compare and contrast. This is about the similarities and differences in the book, Sarah Bishop, and the movie, The Patriot.

Imagine growing up or living in the time of the Revolutionary war. The characters from the movie, The Patriot, lived and fought in the Revolutionary war, and the character Sarah from the book, Sarah Bishop, by Scott O’dell, grew up during the time of the Revolutionary War. The movie The Patriot is about a father and his son, Gabriel who joins the militia to fight against the king for freedom, and how they fight the war side by side. The book Sarah Bishop is about a young girl who is growing up in the time of the revolutionary war. Her brother and father are killed, and she is being tracked for a crime she didn’t commit so she flees and hides in a cave in the woods. There she learns to live on her own and off the land. The book, Sarah Bishop and, movie, The Patriot, both talk a lot about how war affected their families, and the weapons mentioned are very similar, also they are very different because of the perspective of the war shown.

One important similarity between the book and movie, is how the war effected the characters families. For example Sarah’s father was murdered because he was a proud loyalist and so patriots came and burned down their home and covered her dad in tar and feathers, which ended up killing him. Also Sarah’s brother enlisted in the war and was captured and killed, which left her all alone and without any family. This quote really shows how Sarah felt after she found out that both her father and brother died, “I felt little, only lost, lost and alone.” Not only did the war effect Sarah’s family but it also effected Benjamin from the patriot. Due to the war his second oldest son was shot and killed by a German soldier. Then by the end of the movie his oldest son, Gabriel was stabbed and killed in battle. How the war effected the characters families is one of the biggest similarities between the book and movie.

Not only was how the war effected the families of the characters a huge similarity between the book and movie, but the  weapons were also very similar. In the book, Sarah Bishop, Sarah’s musket is her main weapon that she took everywhere she went, it was also her only source of protection. The quote, “That was the way I looked at the musket now — as a companion,” really shows how important this gun was to Sarah. Similarly, Benjamin and many men fighting in the war in, The Patriot, carried their muskets almost everywhere they went and fought many battles with them. This proves how important and common muskets were in both The Patriot and Sarah Bishop.  

Although there were many similarities between, The Patriot and Sarah Bishop, there was also a very significant difference between the two. This difference is the perspective shown from the two stories. In Sarah Bishop the perspective is  shown from a young girl, who due to the war has no family and is just trying to escape all the fighting that’s going on. Meanwhile in The Patriot, the perspective is from a grown man who is fighting for freedom from Britain. Not only that but he also is trying to keep his son safe and trying not to let him end up like his now dead oldest son. That is one of the biggest difference between The Patriot and Sarah Bishop.

As you can see there are many similarities along with a very significant difference between, The Patriot and Sarah Bishop. While reading, Sarah Bishop and watching The Patriot, I’ve noticed that people in that time have a lot of things in common, their struggles and way of life are very similar, but also peoples age and gender have a huge impact on what their life will be like. 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Melinda and Margot


Author's Note: I made this chart to show my knowledge of compare and contrast. I compared and contrasted the character, Melinda,from the book, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. And the character, Margot, from the short story, All Summer In  A Day, by Ray Bradbury. 


Melinda
in high school
had parents who ignored
she was blamed
didn't care about school
was physically hurt and ignored
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Same
both were unhappy
both were bullied
they both hated school
they had no friends
their teachers didn't do anything to stop the bullying 
______________________________________________________________________________________

Margot
in elementary school
had parents that cared
judged
good student
constantly made fun of