True Love vs. Rash Decisions

     Shakespeare's character Romeo from Romeo and Juliet has been observed from every possible angle. Romeo is a very complex character who has many complex emotions. One major topic that is discussed is whether Romeo acted out of love or youthful, rash behavior. Even though Romeo made some rash decisions, he was truly in love.
     Romeo's words suggest that he is in love with Juliet. For example in 2.6.7-8 Romeo says, "Then love-devouring death do what he dare, it is enough I may call her mine." When Romeo says this he is saying that he loves Juliet so much that he would die for her. If Romeo just liked Juliet or was acting out rashness then he wouldn't have gone so far as to say that he would die for her. When Friar Lawrence asks Romeo if he has been with Juliet he responds by saying, " With Rosaline? No. I have forgot that name and that name's woe." (2.3.48-49) This proves that he no longer loves Rosaline. Juliet has made Romeo realize that he never really loved Rosaline. Because Rosaline never returned Romeo's feelings of love Romeo always felt terrible when thinking about Rosaline. Lastly in 2.3.61-62 Romeo speaks fondly of Juliet, "Plainly know my heart know my hearts' dear love is set on the fair daughter of rich Capulet." Romeo is saying that his mind and heart is set on Juliet and he won't change his mind or ever feel differently. Some people would say that he only wants to marry Juliet because as he says Capulet is rich. But this isn't true because he is saying that he loves her with all of his heart. Capulet just happens to be rich and he is just stating this as a fact.
     In conclusion Romeo acted out of true love. While some people may argue that all of his actions were rash, he was just so in love that he couldn't stand not being with Juliet all of the time. Love makes you do silly things that can lead you to make rash decisions, but those decisions can still be out of true love.

Book Response: The Kite Runner

"Every son quotes his father, in words and in deeds" 

-Terri Guillemets

            The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a book about a boy named Amir who lives in Afghanistan in the late 1900s. Amir is the son of a rich, respected and well known man. His father, Baba, cares for Amir but doesn’t always show it. Amir and Baba’s relationship is extremely important to the story. Even though they won’t always admit it, Baba and Amir love and care about each other and depend on one another.

            Amir feels all kinds of emotions for Baba, at points he adores him and at points he loathes him. “‘Yes, Baba jan,’ I muttered, marveling, not for the first time, at how badly Baba could sting me with so few words. We’d had a fleeting good moment-it wasn’t often Baba talked to me, let alone on his lap-and I’d been a fool to waste it” page 17. Amir doesn’t seem to get a lot of one on one time with Baba and he is forced to cherish is time with his father even at a younger age. I feel that kids shouldn’t be thinking this way, they should be enjoying their childhood not trying to make their fathers happy so that they can spend time with them. “I probably stood there for under a minute, but, to this day, it was one of the longest minutes in my life” page 31. When Baba does spend time with Amir he often makes him feel bad about himself. During this part of the story Amir had just written his first short story and I think that Baba not wanting to read his story really got to Amir. “Most days I worshiped Baba with an intensity approaching the religious. But right then, I wished I could open my veins and drain his cursed blood from my body” page 32. At points in the story I’m not really sure what to think of Baba. At one point he seems loving and caring and then at the next he seems to be a horrible person/father. It’s really hard to tell whether Baba is good or bad, and I feel that Baba isn’t that black and white.

            In life there will always be people who you love and care about who doesn’t appreciate what an amazing person you are. I feel that this is how Amir and Baba’s relationship works. Amir does all that he can to make Baba notice him or give him the love that he deserves. The most important thing though is to not let that person who you care about get to you. You must move on and not let them bother you even though it is hard. Amir doesn’t do this, instead he lets making Baba feel proud about him ruin everything.

Immigration: Obama vs. Congress

          The article "Immigration: Obama vs. Congress" by Patricia Smith talks about the executive order that President Obama recently gave on undocumented immigrants. Republicans are very angry with Obama for making the executive decision that he made to protect almost half of the undocumented immigrants in the U.S. While many people are mad at Obama, many people are very grateful for Obama's decision. While there are some controversial feelings about Obama's executive order, immigrants are important to the nation and an important part of society.

           The major problem about this issue is that Obama and Congress won't agree on anything in terms undocumented immigrants. "'Are  we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law?' Obama asked." The author brings up this point to show that even though undocumented immigrants hide in the shadows they are still very important to our every day life. They are the people that do the jobs that no one else wants to do. Obama's plan has many people's lives. Jorge Jimenez who came to the U.S. in 1988 illegally from Mexico. He said that Obama's announcement has helped him a lot, "he lived in constant fear. 'Even a small traffic stop could send to deportation'" Many families like Jorge's all over the U.S. are overjoyed.

            Obama's executive order has effected over half of the undocumented immigrant population. This article makes me think about all of the injustices that are nation, and all nations, face. Even though it's 2015 and a country of immigrants, we still haven't been able to come up with a compromise on what to do about undocumented immigrants. Will we ever be able to put politics to the side for a moment and just decide what is best for our nation? 

Reading Response to Belzhar by Meg Woltizer

            Picture this, you are in your room looking down at your new red journal, not a thing written down on the paper. You write down a single phrase and your journal come to life. In the book Belzhar by Meg Woltizer, Jam and her friends from Special Topics English are able to get through their troubles by writing in their journals. Jam's parents Jam sent to The Wooden Barn, a boarding school in Vermont, that is supposed to help Jam get over the grief of loosing her boyfriend. The journal  symbolizes the hope that Jam will get past her grief.

            The journal helps Jam get through her grief, but at first it isn't so easy. "I open the journal now and pick the pen, but I can't bring myself to write a word." page 46. It takes some motivation for Jam to write about what she has gone through. It's hard for her to face the reality of what happened to her. Once Jam is able to get herself to write in her journal it helps her get a better understanding of grief. "'I guess I feel like grief is this huge part of everything,' I say in a burst. 'But you're not supposed to act like it's not. Like, if you lose someone, how are you supposed to go on caring about stupid day-to-day things?'" Through the journal Jam is able to get a better understanding of herself and what she's been going through.

            In life it's hard to get over loss and being hurt. We can't just sit around and hope that some day it will all be better. You have to go out into the world and do something. Whether it's writing in a journal like Jam did, or whether it's just talking to a friend or someone in your family. The thing is if you don't move on you will waste your life feeling bad for yourself.

Fiction Reading Response to The Kill Order by James Dashner

            Sun flares have hit the earth, destroying everything that stands in its way. In the book "The Kill Order" by James Dashner Mark and his friends have to fend for themselves if they want to survive. But now that the sun flares have stopped Mark has to survive what comes next and it isn't easy. In futuristic books characters go through hardships that one can only dream of.

            Mark and his friends suffer a lot throughout the book. Sometimes Mark gets all caught up in everything that is going on. "Mark had fallen into a trance, watching as the strangers with their odd outfits and their menacing weapons come out of the Berg…What had happened to the Mark who could act fast? Who had survived the year…after the flares ravaged the earth?” page 21. In the book the characters go through some pretty horrible things. Since the book takes place in the future the characters have to deal with different types of things then we do today. In addition to the horrors that experience they are also exposed to some more sorrowful things. “If it’s truly something as global as sun flares, then the little hope he held out for his family is gone.” page 98. Mark is forced to think this negatively, if he has too much hope he will end up hurting himself more in the long run. Lastly Mark has seen some horrible things. “Mark was horrified. He shouldn’t have been-he’d seen more dead people in the last year than a hundred morticians of the past would have seen in a lifetime.” page 55. What this quote is saying is that Mark has seen more people who have died then a hundred funeral directors see in their lives. The sun flares killed many people and Mark saw many of them being killed.

            In sci-fi books characters experience situations that different from those that we experience today. Reading these book can make one appreciative of what they have. Life has its ups and down and you never know when everything around you is going to change. Things just change quickly in front of your eyes before you even realize what is happening.

Nonfiction Reading Response from UpFront

The article "How the Murder of Four Teens Started a War" by Patricia Smith describes how the killing of these four teenagers sparks a fight between Israel and Hamas. Hamas is a Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory in Israel. There has been tension between the Israelis and Palestinians for six decades. The tension started after World War II when the U.N. decided that Jewish people needed a state for themselves, Israel. In fact there is so much tension that even the slightest wrong turn will end up in some sort of fight.

Before the article even starts you see pictures of the four teenagers who were killed: Israelis- Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Palestinian- Muhammad Abu Khdeir. These pictures show that these boys were happy, innocent people and the author put these pictures here to make you feel upset about what happened to them. In describing how the Palestinian was killed Smith says, "Khdeir was bludgeoned with a wrench and then set on fire." Smith uses imagery to get her point across. She also uses loaded words like bludgeoned, to beat someone repeatedly, to show the reader the horrible things that people do. To prove her point even further Smith uses this quote from Shibley Telhami, a political science professor at the University of Maryland. "The murder of the four teens 'are horrible under any circumstance...But in and of themselves they would not have dragged the sides into this fight if both sides weren't ripe for an explosion.'" Smith put this in the article to show the readers that something like this was bound to happen sometime soon.

            The fact that people felt the need to kill teenagers to get attention really struck a chord with me. I think that it is completely unnecessary for these teenagers to be killed. It also made me realize that people will go to extremes just to prove a point. In all, I agree with the author that the initial four killings shouldn't have happened. What started out as a few deaths turned into a huge fight between the two countries and ended with the killing thousands of innocent people. 

Respond to "Darkness to Visible"

            In the article “Darkness Too Visible,” Megan Cox Gurdon discusses how young adult literature isn’t for teens. Gurdon feels that young adult literature is too dark and she shows the reader this by using examples from specific books. For example, she mentions the books The Marbury Lens and Rage. Gurdon argues that there are no appropriate young adult books on shelves today.

            In the article Gurdon talks about several books. In the part that my group annotated she talks about how in the book The Marbury Lens, “Young Jack is drugged, abducted and nearly raped by the male captor.” The reason why she put this description in was to show the reader how inappropriate young adult literature  can be. Another way that Gurdon gets her point across is by using imagery. “’She sliced her arms to ribbons, but the badness remained, staining her insides like cancer. She had gouged her belly until it was a mess of meat and blood, but she still couldn’t breathe.’” This quote is from the book Rage and the purpose of using this quote in the article is to show the reader how gruesome books can be. Lastly, Gurdon helped make her point by using sophisticated language. For example, in describing these books she uses words such as “unimaginable gore and cruelty,” “nightmarish,” “sadistic sexual prank,” “tortured adolescent,” “emotional turbulence” and many more.  This helped Gurdon show the reader that there is some pretty terrible material in young adult literature that teens are reading.

            Are there really no suitable young adult books for teens? I don’t think so. In the whole article, Gurdon mentions twelve books and I’ve only read two of them. This proves that the books that she mentioned aren’t necessarily books that teens are reading right now. Additionally, young adult books are written for young adults and not once does Gurdon mention what teens thought about these books. All in all, Megan Cox Gurdon proved a strong argument, but young adult literature isn’t as bad as she said it is.