Finale of Poisonwood Bible!!

FINAL BLOGPOST OF THE YEAR!!!! <3 :)

Growing up is very important and crucial in every person. Unfortunately some people never grow up and always stay in the realm of being oblivious to real world issues around them. Sometimes kids have to grow up faster than others because of their situations. If a kid is in a violent environment then the kid has to grow up faster so he/she can fend for itself against anything that wants to harm it. Sometimes the phase in which a person grows up is through an experience he/she has. In the Poisonwood Bible Rachael, Leah and Adah have to grow up. They are faced with issues that made them open their eyes and realize that the world they believed in before is not what they want to believe in now. Many/most of them grew up after their sister Ruth died. It was a traumatic event, which made them realize they needed to see the world in a different way. Throughout the book they all had a point in their experience at the Congo in which they were forced to finally grow up.

One of the most important events was when Ruth died this was because she was so innocent and important to every single girl and that’s why her death made such an impact. Besides experiences, the girls viewed the world differently. Adah went on to view the world in a scientifically way. She saw the way nature and just the human food chain worked. Every person had to die in order to give space to the next person who is born. Adah went on to live her world in more knowledge and complex way. She actually was one of the smartest of her sisters and became to see the world in a totally different way from the way her dad made her view the world when she was younger. Adah no longer had that strong faith towards god in fact she only just viewed that god was there she no longer actually believed in god. Leah became separated from her dad. In the beginning of the book she was hesitant about her beliefs in god and how her father wanted her to believe in god. She wasn’t sure. As the book progresses was it then that she realized she didn’t want to believe and have so much faith in god like her father. She didn’t want her world to revolve around church and obscure her eyes from other ways of seeing the world. Leah became a lover of nature and understood how the Congo worked. The Congo in some ways owned the people but at the same times was very beautiful. Leah understood the Congo more than anybody else and that’s the very reason why she stayed behind. Rachael became different too. In the beginning she didn’t or want to be very religious but by the end she had a clearer sense of what she wanted to do with her life. She didn’t care about appearances anymore she learned from Ruth’s death that there are so many other important things besides the way she looks. As all the girls grew older they started developing their own separate ways. They were all still sisters that loved each other but the things that happened to them in the Congo made them who they are now. This experience was their coming of age and realizing that they needed their own opinions’ about god, civilizations and the world in general. The girls were finally able to grow up as their father loosened his ties on them and finally died. This was when they all had a clear opinion on some levels about where they stood on a global scale.

Growing up and coming of age are the same. They both demonstrate how 1 person changes. This phase/ change can and may be different to every person. Sometimes the person they were before was shy and insecure but by the end of their journey they are outgoing and brave. Sometimes the change is minimal but still noticeable. For example the person may be snobby because she is popular and is gorgeous but maybe by the end of their experience they may be more kind to people, which can be a big subtle difference. This phase doesn’t happen when the person wants it to happen sometimes it happens so unexpectedly. A person may grow up at 10 or they may grow up in their late teens to early 20’s. As I’ve said before growing up is a phase every person must grow through. At the end the person may become a better person but sometimes they can become nastier. It just depends on how they viewed others and the world when they were younger. Sometimes people can’t change how they view people because it was so drilled into their minds. For example if a person lived in a racist environment then they most likely will become racist because that’s the only way that person knows on how to view people. If another person lives in a very arrogant place then most likely the person will become as arrogant as its parent unless they have an experience or another person that corrects their views.

All the girls grew up in the book at their mid teens to late teens. The age changed because they sort of viewed the world differently at almost the same time some longer than others came to this realization. They all grew up. Their father was their obstacle. He sort of prevented them from seeing the world however they wanted to see it. The dad was so caught up in keeping his views about church so drilled into his daughters that he lost them amidst all his drilling. He became obsessed with changing the people in the Congo that he forgot that he didn’t have to change every single detail about the people who lived in the Congo he just had to respect them and help them like a good Father he was supposed to be. The dad should’ve listened to the land and people around him because then and only then would he have realized he wasn’t helping anyone but actually harming everyone and blocking them from opening their eyes. The environment he made his daughters grow up in was what made all the girls coming of age seem so drastic because the dad was blocking them from issues all around them. The Congo pushed all the girls to grow up and make their own opinions without their dad in the way.

I believe coming of age is very important and probably one of the most important experiences a person will go through in their entire life. I think this is due to the fact that after his or her experience then that is the person they will become. In fact at the end of their coming of age is how they probably will be and act around others. It’s almost like deciding the final steps in that person’s life. However Rachael, Leah and Adah are at the end is how they will be for the rest of their lives. It’s the finale in which the personalities and views they obtained at the end is how they will be forever. Coming of age happens to everyone it’s just how the person handles it that makes it memorable.

Superficial and Growth

Growing up, I believe is when a teenager/ kids realizes something important about herself, people around her or life in general. Usually in coming of age books the main character has a certain behavior that is considered “childish” or immature. The character goes through some type of journey, physically or emotionally and by the end of their journey they realize what it feels like to be an older person. Coming of age/ growing up happens eventually to everyone, it may not happen until that person/ character is in his late teens or it may happen when the person/ character is in his or her early teens. Growing up is when the character realizes he or she needs to change his/her views.

In the book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver the story is told from 4 different viewpoints. It’s a story about a religious family moving to the Congo to help the people there save them and show them the light of God. The father of the family is a preacher and he wants his family to grow up and be the servers of God, unfortunately the kids think otherwise. The mother is just watching her kids grow up and explore the craziness of the jungles. Their viewpoints are not used in the story but the girls express how they feel their father is reacting/ feeling. The story is told from the viewpoints of the kids, 4 girls. The 4 girls are Leah, Adah, Rachael, and Ruth. Each girl is unique in her own way and each girl handles growing up and moving into a new country differently. There is a set of twins in the family, Leah and Adah but you could hardly tell that they were twins by their different personalities. All the girls grow up by the experiences they have in the Congo.

Rachael is the oldest. People would think she is the most responsible and mentor to the rest of the girls, but not really. The fact is that her sisters and herself know she just cares about superficial stuff. Rachael’s struggle is that she wants to lead a normal teenage life, but how can she if she’s living in the middle of the Congo. Rachael mentions in the beginning of the book how the only thing she’s looking forward to is her birthday party. Her sisters describe her as a rebel because she wants to stray away from church. She paints her nails and wants to be free. As the book moves along she starts to learn how things that are superficial isn’t important they are just that, superficial. There are more important things in life and family than the way you look.

I haven’t finished the book but I am looking forward to seeing Rachael develop. I guess I am more interested in her than the other girls because her issue, her immaturity level is funny, how she only wants a normal teenage life except she can’t have it because of the situations she’s put in. I think in a more complex book like this, it’s important to refer to a character or something the reader notices that is more childish so the reader can focus more on the actual coming of age rather than trying to decipher the next word. I believe Rachael is complex but I also believe that the reason she’s growing up now is because she learning to test her loyalty to her father. If anyone has not read this book I really recommend it J

Narrator Acts Like A Kid, Edgar Allan Poe is AWESOME!

EXTRA CREDIT:

           I just finished reading the Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe and let me tell you my mind is blown away. I did not read the whole book I’m just up to the 4^th or 5^th short story, but the mini short story titled The Tell-Tale Heart I read. Gosh, it was intense and incredible. It was one of those books that you take a couple of minutes after you read to absorb the details and then you go back to see a part you want to read again. If you have not read this book or short story you should! Go to B&N and buy it ASAP.  There are so many themes, character changes, traits, setting, descriptions, grammar, writing skills that I can write 10 page essays on, just wow. This book has inspired people; especially that short story and they have been drawn to the main character. The main character is so layered and detailed that it’s shocking. The thing is the story is only 4-5 pages long and I captivates the reader and intrigues us. The main character that does not have a name and is referred to as the narrator is naïve. He is like a little kid and he feels conflicted. He doesn’t know what he wants and uses his silly attempts that are fatal to acquire it.

In the story there is a guy who has a freaky blue eye with film over it. My guess is that it is an eye that is blind or something because the description makes it sound so ugly. Basically the whole idea is that this eye freaks out the narrator too much. The narrator feels as if the eye is always watching him, it is almost described as a mystical eye. The narrator watches the old man sleep in his bed everyday. Each night the narrator slowly peeps his head into the gap of the door just to watch the eye and try to freak it out. The reason he keep coming back is to see if the eye will get freaked out by knowing that someone is lurking in the shadows of the room, freaky I know right. He is described as being patient and determined. He is strong willed into murdering the eye. I don’t understand why he never told the guy to wear an eye patch and be done with the whole situation. The thing is the narrator feels so disturbed by the eye that he plans on killing the old man so he doesn’t have to see the eye. He does kill the guy. The weird thing is that the narrator acts like a little kid who’s in trouble. Remember when your little brother or sister used to break a vase or cup and they would try to fix it by cleaning it up and making it not look obvious but it totally was obvious and then mom used to come home and not saying anything about the vase being broken. Then out of nowhere the little brother or sister confesses and starts saying, “I broke the vase, I did it!” it’s like their consciousness gets the best of them and makes them feel guilty. That is exactly what happened to the narrator. The police came to investigate the murder of the guy with the freaky blue eye and asked the narrator if he knew anything, he lied straight to the police, they even sat down and had some tea in the room the old guy was murdered. Everything was going fine, the police didn’t even suspect anything and ruled murder out but that was until the narrator felt guilty and confessed his crime. He hid the heart of the old guy so well no one suspected a thing. He hid the heart in the planks of the wooden floor but that was until he started hearing the heart beat faster and faster as if the guy was still alive and of course this was in the narrator’s imagination but his conscious was so burdened he had to tell the police.

When the narrator confessed his crime out of guilt I felt bad. He would’ve gotten away with the murder and had a crazy murderous life but then the narrator realizes his mistake and feels horrible. The idea that he actually murdered the old guy eats at him until he can’t take it anymore. The narrator seems vulnerable at the end as if he didn’t full understand and realize the seriousness of his crime. The age of the narrator is never said but if it were a teenager of the age of 15 I would pity them. The narrator was so child like in his murder almost as if it were a joke to him until he was the last one laughing and realized he was wrong doer- a murderer.

             If you have not read this book I’m sorry for the spoilers but you should read the actual story. I am going to write another blog post on this story again, and most likely the overall book. If you did not know the book is scary and its about horror and crimes. Edgar Allan Poe was a very influential short story writer and his work helped the new generations write short stories and horror. He died of alcoholism and his work was written during the 1850’s.  He tried to make his living off of writing but people back then considered his work to be distasteful; his work was actually pretty advanced in his overall usage of writing skills. Alliterations were used the most throughout his stories. Many people now consider his work to be top-notch and it is very praised. Many and most likely all of his stories and poetry has been turn into movies, short films, and TV shows. He is an awesome writer- R.I.P.

Appearances, Popularity and True Friends

Dial L for loser is a book about rich girls. It follows the same story line of gossip girl, except it takes place in Westchester. They are not that conceited. Yes, they are really rich and get anything they want or could possibly desire, but if one overlooks this than you can see the real personality of each character. On the outside they seem shallow but really they aren’t, they have feelings just like any other person. I say like this because many people have come to think that rich people are harsh and cold, that they don’t have any humanity in them, that’s not true.  Massie, the main character who’s POV the series is told from, is passionate, kind, and willing to help out towards her friends. Yes, I think this book is way more complex than it is shallow.

           

Although I have grown to love all the characters in the books, I feel more connected to certain people. At some point in the whole series I feel more connected to one character than the other. I guess I feel connected because we share some characteristics in common that make me look away from their money, designer jeans, clothes, bags, big spas in their houses and look at their feelings and problems they are facing. For example when Massie started losing her friends in the third book I felt bad for her. I know what it is to lose a dear friend, they moved away or died, but to lose a friend(s) because they don’t want to be unpopular must hurt a lot. Friends are everything a girl can wish for. If they don’t have friends whom are they going to tell their stories, secrets, crushes to? But let’s not talk about Massie, let’s talk about Claire. She is nothing like the rest of her “friends”. She hasn’t been exactly accepted into her friend’s group she is more or less of an outsider. She does hang out with Massie’s crowd but they ignore her. She is invited but each time they hang out she has to prove to them and herself that she can be cool and popular. She feels the need to change her appearances, personality and traits just to try to fit in. I don’t think that is right. No one should have to prove themselves over and over to their group of friends to see if they fit in. It’s not right. Friends should be the people you trust and have no problem being you around them. Claire is battling with herself on whether or not she should keep pleasing her friends and changing her looks because if she doesn’t she wouldn’t fit in. She is poor; she’s living in Massie’s guesthouse, steals/borrows last season’s clothes from the lost and found to keep her appearances updated. When they all go to the mall she always makes up an excuse on why she can’t buy anything because she can’t afford the rich clothing. The worst thing is she doesn’t tell anyone that she is poor, she keeps it a secret and that’s not good. If your friends are true then you should not have to hide your identity from them.

           

            I can’t relate to this problem at all, I haven’t pressured myself into being a certain type of person so I can hang out with my friends. The thing is I am connected to this character because she is suffering from problems that are relevant to current high school students and middle students who also are trying to fit in. No, I hang out with friends who are true themselves and true to me. My friends can accept any way I look or am. They appreciate me being honest about myself. What can make someone unique are his or her weird outbursts and funny things they say that make them, them. If everyone of my friends tried to be a certain way then they would be boring, everyone would be trying to be perfect and no one should feel pressured to be a certain way. If a friend is a true friend then they can accept you any way you are. Friends are honest to one another.

Greek Gods and Demi God: Finding the Truth about One's Self

In the book The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan is a book about a Greek demi god named Percy. To fully understand the whole book and series the reader should read it, but basically it’s about a boy who has special powers because his dad is Poseidon and he is a demi god, which basically means he is half god. In the spin off of the series, there are two camps specialized for demi gods. One is Greek and one is roman. Just like in the time period when Greek gods and myths turned into roman ones. There is a bunch of conflict in the book between both camps they both think they want to destroy one another. The book mainly focuses on getting Percy’s memories back.

           

Throughout the book Percy becomes more confident in his surroundings. At first he was self-conscious because he did not know anyone at the new camp and had no recollection of being part of another camp. He hated the fact that he had no idea who he was. Imagine the confusion of not knowing who you are and where you come from. He wanted to know every little detail about himself and he had no idea what his favorite color was. Being the new kid in a place is always hard; it’s even harder when no one knows who you are even yourself. New customs, new people, and a new place are what Percy was met with. He was regarded silently with suspicion because of his shirt and non-existing origin. If someone appeared at my doorsteps with no idea who they are I would also be taken aback. Percy was self-conscious but as the book progressed he became confident and sure about who he was even when he didn’t have a lot of memories of himself.  For example, in chapter 2 he enters the camp as an intruder then in chapter 3 the reader catches a glimpse of how everyone else in the camp views Percy. He was not welcomed, in fact many people in camp wanted to get rid of him because the campers and counselors believed he was not worthy of being a roman demi god. Percy at the middle of the book in chapter 15 he steps up and risks his life over and over again in order to save his friends during their quest. He doesn’t care anymore if he is someone important or not because he knows who he is. He is a kid who is loyal to his friends and is strong-willed and determined.  He is someone to be looked up to not only by campers but by counselors too.

           

This book may be a book read by 6^th graders, but a 8^th grader can gather enough details to have symbolic and powerful messages interpreted into it. This book is really fun to read but it also helps the reader learn. As the readers read they learn about roman and Greek gods, their names, stories, legends and myths. Not many people are informed about the awesome creatures Hercules used to battle of who Zeus is. It may not seem relevant but even the gods are symbolic. Each one has their strengths and their fatal weakness just like us. Percy himself did not have confidence in himself because he did not know where he was from but he learned to accept himself and do what he believed he should do. The power of finding ourselves is strong and powerful at least one time in our life everyone will question who they are and they are going to have to learn to believe in themselves and not care about be judged or picked on. Percy Jackson is someone who is fictional but everyone can learn something from him, his personality and his actions.

College and Decisions

Many of us don’t realize that whatever we do now can have an impact on our future. Say you become valedictorian of your middle school and elementary do you not think that high schools and colleges will not take that into consideration later on? A pupil maintains a 4.0 average his/her entire career in school that average will propel the student to be accepted into many more school compared to someone who has an average that goes from 3.5 to 2.5 and then goes back to 3.5. Schools look at everything a student does before accepting them. Sure usually senior year counts the most but if administrators look at the junior year and see a 3.0 compared to the 4.0 a student was receiving then the people who run the admissions know that this student is not all they seem to be.

So what happens when a student gets to college? How do they start applying? How do they look into schools? The article I read is about college waiting lists. Many students have found out by now which schools they have been accepted to. Then there are the students that still don’t know what school they are going to. All of the colleges have extremely long lists. These lists are so long that the probability of a student getting in who is on the list is almost slim to impossible. Over the years the numbers of students on waiting lists has increased. This may be due to the fact that students are either selecting too many colleges that they are not interested in to make sure they at least get into a college. The article recommends that the students who are on waiting list who really want to go to that particular school should respond quickly to the waiting list. It advises the student to not keep emailing the administrator because it can easily get them rejected faster. Those who do not wish to go to that school should send a rejection letter and decline properly so other students who want to get in have a better chance.

This article is mostly informative as so are the rest of New York Times articles. This is due to the fact that New York Times is a type of newspaper that runs on facts. They try to be as credible as possible by being subtle about the opinion. New york times is a newspaper that just tries to keep anyone who is reading the article updated about world issues. If and when New york times start to have a strong opinion on subject matters not many people would want to read it because the article would be bias. My opinion of the article is that college applications are hard. They are especially harder when there thousands of kids applying and the probability of a student getting in is small.  Even in waiting lists the probability of a student getting accepted off of that is even slimmer. Just to give you some helpful facts, Yale’s waiting list is 1,001 people, so long is the list that Yale has decided to defer their acceptances. Duke has had a record of holding the most kids on a waiting list with the number of 3,336. The students who were accepted that year from the waiting list was 60 were accepted. Being realistic is key into getting into a college.

Lastly I believe that everything matters. If anyone wants to get into college they have to be ready for challenges. This includes, patience, hard work, time management and perseverance. Students have to be diligent in everything they do. They should be able to handle themselves in competing numbers. This means they should start preparing all the way from elementary to obtain that perfect average or at least close to it.

Link to the article: http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/what-to-do-while-on-a-college-wait-list/?hp# 

Love and Decisions and Regret

I hope everyone has heard the song “Someone Like You” by Adele. After all it has been played on the radio like a billion times. Over and over the song is played. The song itself is not silly it actually has a meaning. If anyone reads the lyrics they understand that the song itself is a story. Both people in the song were in love but they went their own ways then years later Adele whomever she portrays is told that her true love is getting married. She comes back to the town that they grew up in to see him getting married with someone else. She is heartbroken but she remembers what he told her when they went their separate way “sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead.” She doesn’t want to accept that he has moved on because of all the memories they shared were precious and beautiful. She admits to herself that she herself has not moved on from their love they had. Then she sees them again sometime later and accepts the fact that he has moved on and she has to, too. She realizes that his words were so true sometimes it does last in love, but sometimes love just hurts. The story is real. Sometimes people let things go and they don’t realize that it was the best thing that could’ve happened to them.

Why people let go of the best things that have ever happened to them I will never understand. In the end if someone let a person go it was out of his or her own decision. They should not regret the decision they took because it was their own fault. If they truly love someone they will not let them go no matter if the world is ending right in front of their eyes. Many people believe in true love, I do.

True love may only come once. Only once. If someone lets it go where would they find true love again? It would not be the same. It’s sort of hurtful. The fact that one of them lived their fairytales and the other one got burned. Though I strongly believe that Adele went out, lived her fantasies and made her dream job or wishes come true; she forgot about him until he lost him. Meanwhile the guy she abandoned didn’t get to live his fantasy until after he got over his heartbreak and someone fixed him up (his wife).  If Adele had been smart she would have made the guy travel with her or she would have abandoned her dreams to live with her true love. Sometimes its better if a person gets burned then they can retell their story and help other people not make the same mistakes.

In real life this may happen either in love or in another way. Someone could let an opportunity get away. Then over the years they would regret ever making that decision. Maybe someone committed a crime and can’t take it back and they are left with regret. Not only is this song mostly about love but also it’s about making mistakes and regretting them later on. One should never regret a decision they made because they have no one to blame but themselves. Yes the decision can “hurt” them but oh well they should suck it up and eventually move on and enjoy other things. No one should dwindle on matters that are past history. Events will come and go that will define you but in the end its how they viewed it themselves.

I believe that this song is live changing. It helps me see that I should be careful of how I make my decisions and why I made them. Decisions are important and need to be taken seriously. One decision can alter an outcome by a big degree. When you make a decision its final, there is no going back. Adele’s love story clearly demonstrates that.

Link to see the lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/adele/someonelikeyou.html