Snipers, Returns, and White Elephants

    I chose to read "Hills Like White Elephants", "The Sniper", and "The Return" as my choice short stories. I really enjoyed all three of them and was surprisingly able to follow the plot of each one. Hills Like White Elephants was probably the most confusing out of the three, and there were not too many elements that could be explained through a literary analysis.

 

    If I was to write my paper on "The Sniper", I would most likely focus on setting. Both physical and  temporal setting were key factors in telling the story. Psychological setting also came into play at the end of the story. I would most likely base my analysis on the way the author created an atmosphere in the story that would lead to the extremely unfortunate events that occurred. The fact that the snipers job had become so routine and so mandatory that he would continue to struggle with killing his enemy even when he was horribly wounded himself could lead to a good thesis and theme. I'm not entirely sure what I would do with the paper but those are some ideas. 

   As for "The Return", the story seemed to deal more with characterization and point of view in my opinion. The man returning from the detention camp is so excited and ready to greet his family and wife back in his village. Somehow the point of view and I guess the setting as well creates a dull, sad, and unfortunate atmosphere that sends the reader a message. The narrator foreshadows a depressing ending to the story throughout the entire return journey of the man. The fact that all the characters think he was dead also led me to believe that good things could not be in store for him. This would be my main focus  in a literary analysis if I were to do it on "The Return". 

Reading This Week

A Wrinkle In Time                   20 minutes (in class) 45 minutes (outside class)
Hills Like White Elephants       15 minutes
The Sniper                                20 minutes
The Return                                20 minutes

Reading this Week

This week I've spent about 1 hour and 30 min reading short stories.

• To Da-Duh took me about 30 minutes
• A & P took me around 20 minutes
• The Very Old Man With The Enormous Wings took me about 45 minutes only because I was so confused I had to read it twice.

I also finally finished Heaven is For Real which took me about 45 minutes

My writing

Last year left me pretty stunned as a writer. I honestly don't spend too much time worrying about my writing and I rarely write in my free time. To be blunt, I just don't enjoy writing that much. And yet, I somehow became a Penniman Scholar. Don't get me wrong... it's an honor and it was awesome to achieve such a status at this school, but I never expected that to happen. 

My writing is typically too long. As some of my classmates will say, I write 3 pages when everyone else writes 3 paragraphs. Sorry? I don't think it's always a bad thing, but too much writing can definitely be annoying depending on the assignment. I just overflow my brain with ideas when I write, and I feel like I need to do the absolute best I can whenever possible. Somehow that results in a novel every time we do a journal entry... 

Anyway, aside from the lengthy-ness, my writing tends to be fairly casual. I like to write using my voice, meaning the way I talk outside of the classroom and without a pen in my hand. My word choice is generally atrocious and my sentence fluency is crazy confusing. If I don't make sure to go back edit with a thesaurus in hand and the rules of grammer in my mind, I fail at writing. I have to read through my writing about a thousand times as well, before I can be certain that it's what I wanted. 

So overall, I'm a confusing writer who gets super lucky when it comes to ideas. 

Hmm ok then... I'll take that.

Most Eventful Plot Ever

So this summer I read Plague by Michael Grant as my choice book. I know it's kind of a long shot it terms of recent events, but I loved the book so much and remember the plot structure of it extremely clearly. This is mainly because the plot is like a roller coaster, up and down, scary and exciting, all over the place with plenty of unexpected twists and turns.

First of all, this is the fifth book in the series, so the main conflict of the story is carried from book to book. Basically, all of these kids are stuck in a giant dome that covers a small town in California, and anyone over the age of 15 has disappeared. Kids become violent, food is depleted, power is gone, disease and wounds cover most everyone, lights are fading, and some kids even begin to gain powers and use them for both good and evil. This dome which they begin to call the FAYZ, is impenetrable and has held the children of Perdido Beach, CA captive for about a year and a half now. Book five picks up right at this point and there is almost no time for rising action before the plot comes along and slaps the reader in the face.

Immediately we find out that Diana, one of the oldest and most well known members of the FAYZ, has become pregnant with a child that is already more powerful than the average human being. We also hear that the evil source that is disrupting the FAYZ and trying to gain control, the gaiaphage (or darkness) has sent a child who became evil as soon as the dome came down, Drake, after Diana. The gaiaphage plans to capture Diana's child and gain a source of life in the real world through the child's body, therefore throwing the whole world into chaos The highest point of the story in my opinion would be when we discover that the dome is slowing turning pitch black, and fast. Soon the whole FAYZ will be in an endless night.

The falling action is pretty simple compared to that, a couple kids die (same old same old) and the darkness slowly separates all the kids form their friends and everyone is suddenly on their own. The conclusion comes around when Drake runs off with Diana and everyone rushes out to save her.... And then it leaves me stranded.

Book six? Are you out there? I need you!

Reading Times:
To Build A Fire                         1hour and 30min (plus the annotations)
Heaven is For Real                    2 hours and 20min

Ciao?

So this summer my mom, dad, little sister and myself took a trip to Italy.

The. Most. Beautiful. Place.

Ever.

   It was definitely the most amazing experience of my whole life to date. Every second of the two weeks we were there was filled with incredible food, friendly people, over the top shopping, and spectacular adventures.

   We arrived in Venice to start the trip, staying in a hotel that led right out onto the canals. Let just say that Venice was my favorite city out of the entire trip. The whole concept of the city is so fantastical, and being on the streets or floating down the canal, is just magical. That's the best word to describe it, magical. We spent 5 days in Venice, jam-packed with gondolas, trattorias, shopping, pigeons, operas, shopping, artwork, secret passageways, gelato and did i mention shopping? Venice was also probably the highlight of my trip, when you consider the fact that I turned 14 the second day we were there! It was the most extraordinary birthday I could have ever had.

Sailing down the Grand Canal, we soon got off our train in Parma. Parma is a small town of Italy, outside of Florence. We wanted to see not only the popular, touristy side of Italy, but also the quiet, beautiful, peaceful side. Parma was the perfect fit. My sister and I had the time of our lives, as our hotel was a former castle. Our room was decked out, the architecture was incredible, room service was awesome, and Larkin could not get over the fact that there was a sunroof on our ceiling. We spent three days just exploring Parma, spending one day on a tour of Parmesan cheese. Yep, cheese. They make a whole lot of that stuff over there. We also got to soon down the streets in our red and blue Vespas, as walking around Parma was a bit harder than Venice's tiny streets. It was definitely a gorgeous scenery and a relaxing part of our trip.

For the last five days of our escape from Baton Rouge, we conquered Rome. Overwhelming is an understatement. Colosseum? check. Forum? check. Ballet at the Royal Baths? check. Over 100 flavors of gelato? check (and YUM) Trevi Fountain? check. Pantheon? check. And about 1000 other things!

We also spent a whole day on a bus, fumbling through the ruins of Pompeii, more bus, climbing to the TOP of Mt. Vesuvius, and a whole lot more bus. The view from the top of a volcano on the edge of Italy is pretty jaw dropping unbelievable.

So yeah my summer was OK i'd say...

I don't think I'll ever forget a single moment.

Heaven is For Real

I can't read the book without crying anymore.

Ugh. I know I'm such a baby. "she always writes about her sister," you'll say.

Well, I have no other connections to make so Larkin is a pretty easy way out.

So Todd undergoes injury, after injury, after another injury in this book and it's getting kind of ridiculous! I don't even want to try and put myself in his shoes. i just can't even imagine.

When my family first officially "moved" to Memphis, TN for Larkin, we had a bit of a following of unfortunate events as well. My dad's car (which is way too old by the way, his fault) began to break down, and had to be taken into the shop at least 4 times. Our washer and dryer back home died, and has to be replaced so I could still wear clean clothes back home in Baton Rouge. Then my grandaddy went into the hospital in Atlanta, GA for heart pains. He was released soon afterwards, but it left us startled to say the least.

I can't remember, but there were so many more potholes that got in our way that year. That feeling of "why me, why now?" is as close as I'll ever get to Todd's dilemmas in Heaven is For Real I guess, and hope. The family's struggles keep piling up and a streak of bad days is dragging behind them. Hopefully there's a light at the end of the tunnel the the Burpo family. Gotta keep reading!