Tone Piece

Something that frustrates me to no end is how selfish and misunderstanding people can be in this world sometimes. Kelsey Thomas, first, the Mountain View soccer program manager, then captain, and now assistant coach, has been someone in my life that I have learned so much from. Assistant Coach Thomas has Down Syndrome, and she doesn’t let that stop her from doing anything that she wants to do in life. Kelsey is such an inspiration to others. She doesn’t feel sorry for herself at all, she is smart, has the biggest sense of humor, and is just a goofball. The thing that frustrates me about her situation is how people act like people like Kelsey are not people, and that they are “retards” or “idiots”. This absolutely drives me crazy, to the point where I have to take a deep breath so that I don’t give someone a black eye. The word retard is unacceptable and does not represent Kelsey one bit! When I tell people about Kelsey I simply describe her as the sweetest girl in the world, with the biggest heart, and she is just a little prankster. Not once do I ever feel the need to say “oh and she is retarded.” That is not who Kelsey is. Kelsey is that funny, joking, inspirational girl, who puts a smile on my face every day. I do know that not everyone has had the privilege of meeting such a wonderful girl like Kelsey like I have, but I find it tiring listening to people be rude and narrow minded. There are many people in the world, and people with disabilities or people who struggle a little more than others, and they are all part of our too. People need to realize that those people work harder in life than anyone else in this world everyday, and that is something to admire, not make fun of. It is heartbreaking when people insult Kelsey, and it has happened at soccer games before, and the worst part is that Kelsey knows about it, she is not oblivious to it, and it makes her upset. She doesn't let things like that drag her down she continues to take life and enjoy it as much as possible. I know others are not as understanding as I am to her situation, but it is something that gets old real quick. This is always something I am going to fight, no matter how frustrating because everyday that Kelsey is out there with the Mountain View soccer team she is making a difference, and she is doing something that not a lot of people with disabilities are not able to do. Kelsey is one of the most courageous people I know, and that is nothing to make fun of at all. I am tired of the hurtful things people say towards such a wonderful person as Kelsey, and it is time to grow up and take a look in the mirror before the word “retard” or “idiot” slips, and think who the real “idiot” is when a person doesn’t have the courage to admire someone like Kelsey.

A Study of Reading Habits

A Study of Reading Habits was a very odd poem, at first, but after getting the true meaning its oddness was very fitting. The poem had three stanzas. After thinking for a long time, I think I figured it out. Each stanza is a new stage in his life, but he represented them through the types of books a person read at that age. The first is his adolescence; he talks about the little underdog beating up the bullies twice his size. When a reader is little, the books they read allow them to believe that the good guy always wins. In the second stanza, I found this to be the teenager stage. At this age boys find it cool to be a bit of a rebel because they are in that awkward stage in life where they are still finding who they are. Larkin stated it like this, “Later, with inch-thick specs, evil was just my lark: me and my cloak and fangs.” When it starts with the part about specs it seems that maybe he was made fun of at this age for his glasses, and then he found that it was fun to be the evil character like a vampire because of his insecurities at the time, so enjoyed those thriller books. Then the last stanza I found to be a bit confusing. The stanza went like this: “Don’t read much now: the dude who lets the girl down before the hero arrives, the chap who’s yellow and keeps the store, seem far too familiar. Get stewed: books are a load of crap.” This I found to be the present time because it seems like he came to a realization when thinking about how his life is now. When a person gets older the books are more mature, more realistic; there is a sense of reality that at a younger age most wouldn’t enjoy. Now he isn’t fighting off people twice his size, he isn’t that evil vampire looking for a thrill, he is just that store owner who isn’t the hero and never gets the girl. He finishes with saying “books are a load of crap,” and I think it’s his funny way of saying that reality is boring. Maybe we all are a little jealous of those characters because they get to be the perfect hero, or thrilling villain. When that time comes and we grow up… books just are a load of crap… because rarely does anyone get to be those characters; we just get snapped back to reality to be those that are oh so familiar… And where is the fun in that?

Thanksgiving Poem :)

A Not So Traditional Thanksgiving

By Ali Lind

We always shop the day before.

We then proceed to make ten more trips to the store the next day.

The doorbell never rings with a crowd of people flooding in.

Five people, four dogs, and fifteen fish are plenty.

There is no formal attire needed.

The dress code is pajama and slipper friendly.

There is no conversing in the living room.

Each room holds a family member doing their own thing.

From Facebook, to Call of Duty, to the Broncos game.

The table has no turkey figurines

or fake leaves spread around.

We have unpolished silverware and mismatching chairs.

There are no perfect pumpkin and apple pies.

There are only ones with holes in each of them,

and missing crust pieces…

From multiple sources…

We gather around the table.

No hands are joined together and no heads down.

We dig in and slip bits to the dogs,

and we giggle while saying what we are thankful for.

There is no family walk to the park.

Just bellies full of tryptophan ready for a nap and watching movies together…

It is our not so traditional, yet Perfect Turkey Day.

A Work of Artifice

“A Work of Artifice” was a simple poem, but it had a lot of great meaning behind it. It took nature, a bonsai tree to be exact and compared it to how women were restrained, and they never got to reach their full potential back in the day. Since looking at the poem and knowing what it meant pretty easily I decided to look at the title and I didn’t quite understand what it meant. The word that stood out was “Artifice”. I looked it up and found that it meant trickery or skillful and either could make sense in this context. A work of trickery could easily be what males do to women, they trick them into thinking that all women need to do is grow up and tend to every command from a male. When in that, a women feels that that is all there is for her to do and especially when all the males around do the same; it is one big trick. Also, skillful would work because a work of skillfulness or skill makes sense because like the bonsai tree analogy trimming it and taking care of a tree like that is a skill and the same goes for these women who have been designed by men to cater to their every need. They have been pruned and trimmed to the perfect little women that the man wants with perfect skill. The bonsai tree analogy just goes perfect with this because of how a tree with so much potential to be big and strong and hold its own is pruned and kept very small, weak and is easily tipped over… just like a women when she is with a man unwilling to let her potential grow. A woman is just that tiny bonsai tree, and the man, a gardener with those unforgiving pruners. A tree needs not a little pot, but wide open land to spread its roots and let its branches extent out reaching to the sky and grow… that is the real kind of lucky tree.

Vergissmeinnicht

How I chose this week's poem was by the title. It really caught my eye and I wanted to know what it meant and what it had to do with the poem. It looked foreign to me, maybe German? Then I looked a little into the poem and saw that it was about a soldier and I thought wow maybe I was right? I looked it up and found that I was in fact right that the title was German and I also found out that it means “forget me not.” Once I found that out it all started to make sense with the whole war theme. After reading through the poem I could tell that there was a very emotional tone and lets just say it was not a happy tone… it was sad like it was still a fresh wound. The poem says “three weeks gone” making it seem like it was just yesterday to the soldier, and he was on the battle grounds where he killed a German soldier. He finds where his body lies, and describes the scene in such detail and it isn’t pretty; the soldier really shows the brutality of war. He looks at the dead soldier in such a disrespectful tone until he finds the picture of the soldier’s lover. In the third stanza he starts talking about the picture of the soldier’s lover Steffi. Then there is a break and the next stanza is different, he starts the new stanza with we, which is weird maybe it is that the soldier will always be attached to the soldier as his killer, but he will also be attached to the soldier’s lover through that brutality of war. So maybe putting the title “forget me not” can relate to the brutality of war in the fact that many who have loved ones in war fret that they will be forgotten, but once that soldier dies they are the ones who are never forgotten… by there lover and their killers. “And death who had the soldier singled has done the lover mortal hurt,” is the last line of the poem and it shows that there will be mutual remembrance for that soldier.

For the Sleepwalkers

For the Sleepwalkers was a very cool poem that is full of great description. Each time Hirsch described what the sleepwalkers see, feel, touch; the reader feels like they are actually there, as a sleepwalker also. ­One of the main ideas in this poem is the idea of taking a leap of faith I believe. The first stanza is what makes me believe that is what Hirsch is trying to say, “Tonight I want to say something wonderful for the sleepwalkers who have so much faith in their legs, so much faith in the invisible.” When taking a leap of faith one doesn’t always know what they are getting into, but the only thing they can do is trust that their legs are strong enough to hold them up even if it doesn’t all workout. In the second stanza, the poet talks about ways of getting out into the darkness, the world of the sleepwalkers. He talks about the window and the seamless mirror and then the sleepwalker chooses the door, and that seems to show that everyone when talking their own leap of faith needs to choose their own way to the place they want to go. Also, the thing about a door that is different from a window or a mirror is a door somewhat represents something more of a challenge, because he uses the word gaping when he describes the door. When I think of a person who sat and gape I think of a person sitting in wonder, and that’s what I think the door represents; a whole new wonder waiting to be explored by the sleep walker. The last line I want to discuss is the line that stood out to me the most. “That’s why I want to say something astonishing like: Our hearts are leaving our bodies.” To me this describes the purpose of the sleepwalker. They take that leap of faith and then let their heart do what it has always wanted to do in the darkness that they never could do in the light. In the darkness the sleepwalkers’ heart is free to do what it has always wanted to do; it is their other life, the one they have always wanted to live. A sleepwalker is the part of a person who had the courage to take that leap of faith… to the ultimate dream.

The Snow Man

The Snow Man was a nice poem that reminded me of how much I want it to snow! The poem reminded me so much of the beauty there is when it snows. When it snows it is so peaceful… no tracks…just soft, sparkly, and the best part is how quiet it is when it snows. I think the first line of the poem describes winter and people perfectly. “One must have a mind of winter,” this shows that not everyone likes winter and maybe it is because they don’t see the beauty in it or just don’t understand it. I talk about it with my friends sometimes (mostly lately because I want it to snow so badly! :) ), and I tell them how I want it to snow and they grown and whine about how much they hate being cold and how they can’t drive; they don’t have the right mind of winter. I talk about how snow brings back memories and I think of being cozy in my house watching movies, sipping hot chocolate, and watching the snow fall; I have an winter mind. The line “And have been cold for a long time,” represents that to have a winter mind you have to have experience with winter and understand winter for the good that comes with it. When the poet describes winter as misery and describes what he sees as misery it is clear that he knows he doesn't have a winter mind. Especially in the tone, it is very evident that the poet is not so happy when it comes to winter because of the words he uses like misery, nothing, rough, etc; he doesn't use happy language. At the end of the day, this poem reminds me that not everyone can have a winter mind, but having one would defiantly be a good thing for a person who lives in Colorado. :)

The Secret

The Secret was a very cool poem! I liked it a lot, and it wasn’t a dark sad poem for once... : ) It was a poem about the search for the secret of life. The poet describes the search for the secret of life as something that happens all through out life and that makes such perfect sense to me. This describes it all, “I love them for finding what I can’t find, and for loving me for the line I wrote, and for forgetting it so that a thousand times, till death finds them, they may discover it again (…)” This part just really showed how everyone is in different stages of their life, and they either haven’t figured out the secret of life, have or are in the process of rediscovering the secret. Life is always changing and it makes sense that a person rediscovers the secret of life many many times all throughout life because people will lose themselves or get caught up in life and forget that secret. But, they always come back and figure out life… remembering that secret. Even the poet is at that stage in her life, for she wrote the secret to life and she doesn’t even remember it. She is maybe a little lost in her life at the time, but she is okay with it knowing one day she will get back to that time in her life where she will remember the secret. At the end of the day, I think it’s interesting that life always has its ways of bringing a person back to center and remembering that important secret in life…which is maybe just never lose who you are in the chaos of life…

Those Winter Sundays

“Those winter Sundays” was a simple poem, that had great description that really set a perfect visual. I pictured a cozy log cabin in the woods in the winter with snow placed all around in a peaceful silence. I could picture it being still dark out and achy, old, hard working father quietly getting out of bed in the cold house to make a fire to warm up the equally achy house. Sunday was the fathers only day off, but technically it was still a work day that didn't consist of working at the job where he worked with his hands all day, but it was the day the father worked for his family. One line in particular stood out, “No one ever thanked him.” The poem gave the feeling that the father didn't mind not being thanked for all the things he did because it was what a father did… no thanks were ever needed. The father did what he needed to do to keep his family going. The last lines summed everything up and had the most meaning, “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?” The last lines just mean that the poet didn't know then, but he knows now after looking back that the love a person has for their family is sometimes hard and uncompromising because these things have to be done to keep a family together no matter if a person is appreciated or not. This poem really reminded me that I should thank my parents more often because I know they will do things for our family no matter what, but a thank you more often might make things a little bit easier.

Still Memory

I loved this poem for so many reasons, but one of the top reasons why is because I could relate to it so well; I love those vivid happy memories. In Still Memory the memory isn’t one that most would recall as happy, but I think for the poet the simplest memories are happy ones to her. Toward the end, I assume that this quote means that her parents are no longer with her, “My parents are not yet born each into a small urn of ash,” so anything that brings back the times with her parents is happy. These memories seem so real for the poet, and it is like time has stopped and I think that’s where she gets the title from. She describes the scene so vividly with the notches made to see how tall she was, her father coming home from work and the smell he had of crude oil and solvent, and her mother in the kitchen making dinner. The last stanza really sums everything up, “My ten-year-old hand reaches for a pen to record it all as would become long habit.” To me this just represents how the author became a poet. From when she was ten she looked at these memories as something to always remember. I came to think of this because of this specific phrase in that stanza: “(…) a pen to record it all as would become long habit.” That just shows how she looked at these memories as something special, and she thought that these memories were special enough to continue to record them in her own way and make it a habit, ultimately showing how it became her career. At the end of the day, this poem was pretty straight-forward, but it is one of those poems that makes you stop and think of your own special memories… : )

Soccer Analogy

High school and soccer are like one in the same. In high school a little success is key, like in soccer. Nobody goes to a soccer game saying “I am not going to try. I am just going to lose,” or else they will lose. In order to have that want and drive there needs to be something that pushes a team− the want to succeed. The same goes for a person going to school. If a student chose not to try then they won’t succeed. In both soccer and high school all it takes is a little effort and drive to reach a little success and something to be proud of. After a person has decided they want to succeed that is when everything starts to fall into place to lead them on that path to success.

Soccer is a sport that takes dedication. As the years go on, everyone in the league gets better and the bar is set higher. It takes dedication to keep up with the rising level of play and really reach where a person wants to be. The same goes for high school, the more a person dedicates themselves to school and is consistently becoming a better student, the better a student will become. Guaranteed.

As a defender in soccer, I am required to be a very patient player in order to help my team succeed and for me to pull my own weight. In soccer a player can’t be impatient or they could let their whole team down. A player has to persevere and get the job done. With patients and perseverance comes success. In high school, as the years go by high school gets less and less interesting and most students’ just want to give up and just glide through everything. But, if a student isn’t patient they could risk letting down all their family and friends and that’s why they have to persevere through the boring stuff and get through it and succeed.

In high school, there is an ultimate reward, and that is when a student reaches the final goal− graduation and finally finding out who they really are through all the years of hard work and struggles. The same goes for soccer, there is a final overall goal that all urn for in the end, and that is that a player gets to play the game they love with their friends and have the time of their life growing and becoming who they are through the years.

At the end of the day, soccer and high school go hand in hand, high school is just another game that everybody tries to win, and everyone has to be patient, dedicated, persevere, and remember the end result− that through it all a person can find who they truly are just like soccer.

The Pigeons and the Girls

The poem The Pigeons and the Girls brought back memories for me. I think that’s why I enjoyed the poem as much as I did. In the first stanza, the last three lines, “Above traffic, those two pigeons, they raised with a single motion their heads toward the light.” To me this represents those days where you are just soaking up the sun, in deep thought, and just enjoying life altogether. The part “above traffic” is what made me think about them being in deep thought, and the birds being in a calm peaceful place without anything bothering them. The next part, about the girls, is what really brought on the memories for me, “Still she held the other by the hand, for the other was thin, she limped, a thigh or hip bone was not working right. The girl led this other one along−” This is like a memory from my own head. My grandma was very sick, and I used to spend much of my time with her just soaking up the sun and her love. I would help her out into the back yard, and we would sit on her swing and talk or sometimes just think and enjoy our time together, like those to ladies at the pool. Those are the best days, and those are the days to remember. But like the poem says towards the end, these things don’t last forever so enjoy them while you can… eventually everyone has to take the sheet off and go back to reality and leave the peace and serenity sometime. At the end of the day, I really liked this poem because it brings me back to some great memories, it makes me want to just stay under the sheet in peace and remember the best days…

Inoculation

The poem Inoculation was very interesting to me for some reason… it was very powerful. The word inoculation stood out to me so I looked it up and it means vaccine, which completely makes sense with the whole small pox thing. When I looked up inoculation there also was information about Boston and how back in the day with the vaccine for smallpox they kept records of who had had the vaccine and who had not. It was a huge thing in Boston at the time. When Mather asks Onesimus if he had ever had the pox Onesimus’ response is “My mother bore me in the southern wild. She scratched my skin and I got sick, but lived to come here, free of smallpox, as your slave.” To me his response ultimately means he survived one disease just to be hit by another, but not one that he has, but the mental disease that the whites have that makes them believe it is okay to have slaves. Mather was so concerned with finding a cure for small pox, but maybe he should have also looked at the disease that he has himself. “Consider how a man can take inside all manner of disease and still survive.” I feel like this refers to Mather taking in the disease of not understanding the wrong with slavery; Mather was fighting to cure a disease (smallpox) while all along he had a disease of his own with slavery. At the end, of the day I find it sad and exactly true that the slave owners did have a disease because obviously something is wrong when slavery is normal. The last lines just really leave a sad lasting impression when Onesimus talks about he survived smallpox only to become a slave… all I can imagine is what is better… living or dying in that kind of a situation?

Blackberries for Amelia

The first thing I noticed about this poem is it seems to be a big metaphor. It took me a while to find exactly what that metaphor was, but I have found that it’s probably about the younger generation replacing the older generation, but in a good way. What makes me believe that the replacing of the generations is in a good way, is the tone. The poem has a relaxed and gentle tone, which is in no way bitter or sorrowful. The new blackberries blossoms seem to represent the children, the new generation, “(…) are small, five petalled blooms of chalky white, as random-clustered and as loosely strewn.” This quote describes children perfectly by using the word “small” and when he uses “loosely strewn” to me, that represents how a child is free and has millions of opportunities within their grasp. When the blossoms turn to berries I believe that they are what the older generation are, and how everyone starts as a blossom, but then eventually over time they turn to a ripe berry so sweet and full of knowledge. This next quote is something I think describes the feelings of the older generation. “As the far stars, of which we now are told that ever faster do they bolt away, and that a night may come in which, some say, we shall have only blackness to behold.” The quote seems to bring up death and how everything fades away as people get older and life starts to come to an end. But, ending on a good note, the poem describes picking the berries and how much they enjoy the time they have with the younger generation and the great memories that come along with it. Overall, I think this poem is just an older person coming to terms with the aging process and the fact that life will soon come to an end, but this person doesn't take for granted the best memories in life like picking berries with the grandchild in the sweet August time.

Third Poetry Blog: The Little Apocalypse

From the title The Little Apocalypse, and the first couple of lines I concluded that the poem was probably about the end of the world for these bugs and the place they call home. A rain storm is something small to humans, but to the insect world it can wipe everything away… kind of like an apocalypse… The line, “High up, in another world, the clouds assemble and mumble their messages” to me this represents the thunder and lightning in the sky which is always a message that a big storm is coming. What really proved that a rain storm was the apocalypse for insects in this poem was the line, “the robin, the great worrier, above” this was showing how robins are stronger animals and that rain storms don’t affect them as much compared to a slow, tiny, helpless insect below. The last lines of the poem really sums it all up, and that’s where I believe the climax is because of its intensity and the eerie feeling it leaves the reader with. “Bright bandages of fog starting to comfort the aftermath. Then, from the black horizon, four horses heave up, flash on their faces.” To me fog represents death, massacre almost. When I think of an old war, after a battle is over it is very quiet and there is a fog (at least that is how it is in the movies), and in this case it represents the death of the many insects that once lived in this place under everyone’s feet, creating their own world. The fog almost acts as a blanket to cover up the aftermath. The allusion I also gathered from that last line was the part with the four horses. Being the not very biblical person I am, I did have to look this up; I learned that these horses represent the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the ending of the world. In this case, the horses are ending the world of these little insects, which leaves the poem with a creepy intensity. Maybe this poem is meant for the readers to learn to take life a little less for granted because life can be over in an instant just like these insects. At the end of the day, I might have taken this poem a little too literately, but it really does make me feel bad for every spider I have smashed, or every ant I have sprayed knowing that things like insects have their own little world and it can be gone in an instant just because they are so helpless in their world.

Second Poetry Response: "A Gray Haze Over the Rice Fields"

The poem “A Gray Haze Over the Rice Fields” was very interesting, at first I only caught on to little bits of the meaning, but after the second read it seemed to become clear to me. In the first stanza, the second and third line, it says, “The black cow grazing with her newborn calf− long legged, unsteady−” this stood out to me right away because of how compared to the other lines with just the punctuation made me stop, so from there I assumed that the author did that for a reason. To me I felt the author was describing his life as a child and his relationship with his grandmother and mother. The word “unsteady” in that line leads me to believe that as a child life was hard mostly with his mother in guessing. From the title I gathered that this author is probably of Asian decent because of the rice fields, and along with that I also feel like culture has a lot to do with this poem. In Asia, I know that family relationships are a lot different there compared to the ones here in the U.S. From the poem, I think the lines “my mother didn’t notice me from beyond the closed door of her youth” represents that in that in Asian culture until a child is older or an adult, they are just merely children who should not be seen nor heard. I think that part about his mother in that line represents the fact that he feels his mother should remember what she felt like as a child being ignored, and knowing that, she should know how he feels. But, in the end, the author’s mother just closed off the door that remembered her past. The last six lines only reiterate what I am talking about when it comes to his childhood and how the author felt. “But at times I see a shadow move slowly over these, a shadow freed from the past and from the future, that contains the footsteps of that childhood so light I can only think of squirrels slipping in and out of mango trees”, to me this really shows how the author grew up like a squirrel, he was quiet, yet wanted to be playful like squirrels are. When a squirrel is looking for food they are very quiet and try to go undetected to get what they want, but at the same time they are very playful creatures wanting to just play, but they have to suppress that playfulness sometimes. Also, from that same quote when the author talks about “a shadow freed from the past and from the future” that seems to represent the author himself as he has grown up, and how he will remember how hard it was not to be the playful side of the squirrel, but rather be the undetected, unnoticed squirrel. At the end of the day, the poem was very interesting, and had some pretty cool comparisons that really helped get the author’s point across.

First Poetry Response: 1943

This poem really stood out to me just by the name 1943. Being one of Langford's students I knew this was a pretty important year. 1943 was during WWII, and one of the things we learned was that of the American troops, that were involved, many were very young and inexperienced, and that’s what I think the poet was trying to portray. The poem starts off by talking about the high school auditorium and the heavy weight finals, and then quickly transitions into death of one of the heavyweight competitors in Tarawa (place of war in WWII). “In high school auditorium Ed Monahan knocked out Dominick Esposito in the first round of the heavyweight finals, and ten months later Dom died in the third wave at Tarawa.” With that I think the poet was really trying to show how quickly these boys were taken from the easy going life in high school to loosing friends to war in a matter of months. The poet also uses milk as a metaphor for youth too. He compares it to the care free days at home in Connecticut from when they were boys, to the intense scary days on the surf in war with frostbitten feet like milk, still boys, not knowing what to do. When a boy is young, thinking of the good old days with milk is a happy memory, but then when still a boy at war things change, and things aren't so easy-going anymore. Also, about the poet’s style I noticed that Hall used periods only at the end of a statement about war. When talking about home, the subject eventually changes to the war part and that’s when the sentence complete. At the end of the day, the poem was really interesting, and it was nice to read a poem that I had an interest in the subject, and knew the background that went along with it.

The Great Gatsby?

Was Gatsby great? I don’t know? He was an interesting man, but I think he had the wrong idea about life and how it was supposed to be. Money was always a huge factor within the story. Daisy only wanted Gatsby if he had money, Gatsby became rich so he could have daisy etc. it was all just a bad way to live life thinking about money and that’s what I think the intention of the book was. Money determined who the associated with, what their house looked like, and what things they had, but it all came at a greater cost; a life was lost, friends were lost, people lost who they really were.

For this book how I annotated it was looking at the style, tone, etc. When looking at his style I liked it. Fitzgerald made his writing easy to follow. A reader could tell if a character was important or not if Fitzgerald gave more of a background to who the person was. If he introduced some one with just a quick little sentence or two about them it was obvious that they weren’t too important. Sometimes his style was a little jumpy too; he would be on one subject then just change all of sudden. That jumpy style is quite strange and I found my self re-reading a little. Fitzgerald also kind of left little hints along the way to what was going to happen next. They were small things that if I read carefully would catch. For example, that green light, when the reader finds out it’s at Daisy’s house and Gatsby is always starring across the lake it makes it pretty clear he has a thing for Daisy, and the symbol is he is always lingering for her in the distance. On to the tone, his tone was usually pretty clear when people with their noses up in the air it was pretty clear they had that I’m-better-than-you tone (which a lot of people had in this book). Then, when Gatsby was nervous about seeing Daisy it was clear with the awkward statements and stuttering. The annotating for this book was overall pretty easy.

On to the characters…The one character I liked was Nick. Nick was the only real character that didn’t try to be something he wasn’t or let money run his life. Nick was a little confusing sometimes because I didn’t under stand why he would hang with Gatsby, but never really liked him, and it was the same with Tom it said that they went to school together and were friends, but it never seemed like he liked Tom. He just seemed like he was always dragged into the crazy antics that went on. Then Daisy, I didn’t like her character she seemed to just be fake, I knew she didn’t love Tom and she knew about the mistress, so I can only think she stayed with him for one thing− his money. I feel like she did love Gatsby at one time, but in the end, only used him and run away leaving Gatsby to deal with the consequences of her actions! I just don’t find her honorable at all and just an awful person all around. Then Tom he drove me crazy because it was all about the image to him, the cars the nice home, the wife, oh and of course a good mistress. He was arrogant and I wish someone would have put him in his place. I found it funny when he found out Daisy was having a relationship with Gatsby because the tables had turned and all of a sudden cheating on a spouse wasn’t fair to him. The money just made him full of himself, and it was pretty annoying. Finally, Gatsby, his character interested me in the beginning because he was so mysterious and really seemed to be this great and interesting person, but then once Daisy came around he changed and wasn’t an honorable man. I feel like Gatsby got caught up in doing whatever it took to get Daisy, and in the process of stealing her from Tom he lost himself, which was sad and ultimately cost him his life. In the end it was interesting to see all the characters develop, but it kind of stunk when most the characters turned out to be losers.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book in the end, and found it interesting, but it just ended weird with all the characters who didn’t value life instead of money screwing their life up and those who did value life (Nick) just moved on? I just don’t know what it was about the ending… it just almost seemed like something was missing something wasn’t complete? So, in the end, was Gatsby great… and I have to say no, he may have lived a great extravagant lifestyle, but no I don’t think he himself was great at all because only the great value life and don’t lose themselves to money.

The Heart of Darkness...

First off all I can say is that was the shortest book out of all three, but it took me the longest… ugh… I am so glad I am done with that book because it was just so confusing, hard to follow, and overall just not my cup of tea! I am always in for a good story but this just was one story that I couldn’t get into or make any connections too to keep me hooked into the story. Maybe that was just because I couldn’t follow it to the best of my liking… I do not know. I would start to understand and then Marlow would just start rambling and I would get lost again. This book was a challenge for me!

The thing that was the hardest to overcome was just his style. I just didn’t like it. My book came with a glossary… I felt like Conrad was just trying to use a lot of big words sometimes to make his writing sound more advanced, and then he would give it up, and then a little later in the book would pick it back up. I also didn’t like how there were so many symbols that had so many things that they could mean, it drove me crazy! I probably didn’t understand most of them, so that was frustrating. I think this just would have been a perfect book to read and discuss with someone, so I could get so sort of different perspective of it from someone else, maybe it would have made more sense.

When it came to characters I found Marlow kind of confusing. One minute he was curious about Kurtz and liked him and the next minute he hated him? I still don’t understand why he did favors for Kurtz when all he did was steal, be selfish, and be dishonest. I hated Kurtz as a character just because he was eerie and secretive… I always knew he wasn’t a good guy. It bothered me how he took advantage of people, and it was like he had no conscience… I guess that what the jungle does to you... Marlow seemed like he was generally a good guy, so I could understand why he saved Kurtz’s fiancé from sadness and pain since she thought so highly of him. But that’s the difference between Marlow and Kurtz; Marlow had feelings. He was upset when people died he didn’t just brush it off, he was angry with people when his boat was broken etc. That was the difference between Kurtz and Marlow one had feelings the other didn't. Kurtz didn't even mind killing Marlow and his crew by putting the wood out and having the natives attack Marlow’s ship. So I still don’t understand why he did any favors for him (taking him when he was crawling through the jungle)? The thing about Kurtz and Marlow is I think they both understood the darkness (not Marlow until the end really) But I think that’s why Kurtz had so much control over that jungle and the whole operation is he knew how to over come the power of darkness. Kurtz knew how to contain the darkness but in the end it took him over when he was weak. Since Kurtz was able to do that that’s why I think he was so well liked and envied, whether it was the other company workers or the natives, some how he was very well liked even though he was a very dark man with a dark soul. I believe the understanding of Kurtz is what helped Marlow over come the power of darkness in the end (but then again I don’t really know if he did maybe just leaving the jungle did it?).

For the annotating of this book I had to mark key words, outline, etc. and what I found was that this crazy word darkness was a key word? Throughout the whole book it somehow was slipped in and had kind of multiple means to it. Fog collaborates with it because of how it confuses and deceives a person. I also found the river to be key too because the way Marlow would talk, he could be on the river with all his crew members but still feel alone in the darkness and fog on the river. The river twists and turns going up and down dragging a person on a confusing frightening ride. In the end, the darkness takes a person to a place they don’t want to go where it’s lonely, can consume a person’s soul, and even make a person go crazy (but then again that sounds like Kurtz so maybe the darkness consumed him instead of him defeating it in the end really… I really don’t know?). This story just makes a person think when put in that situation how do you over come something darkness and not come out insane?

At the end of the day, the book was tough and took a long time to read, but it was a good challenge and hopefully one day I will understand it more. Hopefully what I said makes some sort of sense.

The Kite Runner!

My first thoughts on The Kite Runner from the get-go were it was one of the better books I had read in a long time. When reading books I find the best books to be the ones that tell a good story, and that’s what I absolutely loved about The Kite Runner. Yes, it was terribly sad, but as the reader I learned so much and I was hooked. I loved this book!

The way I chose to annotate it was by making connections, reactions, questions, etc. The annotating really came easy for this book because I really understood it and enjoyed it, and I just had so much to say, so my book is filled with notes. I found that it was hard to make connections to Amir's situation because obviously I have never been in a place like Afghanistan, but I did found I could make connections to the way he felt sometimes. For example, when the people he loved most died I could relate to his feelings since I have had my fair share of loss. When Amir and Hassan would run around causing trouble and having fun it reminded me of me and my siblings when we were younger. My reactions through most of the book were just peer shock! I would tell myself these poor people’s lives couldn't get any worse and they did!? I just couldn't believe the things that happened to them and to see how they struggled so much, but pushed through; it was truly inspiring. Throughout the book I really liked this way of annotating; it really came easy. I loved how every time I made a prediction I usually was right. This way of annotation keeps me so engaged in the reading it helps a lot!

When it came to the characters in the book I was always drawn to Hassan. I just loved his character because he just seemed like such a great friend and person all around. He was caring, forgiving, and grateful. It broke my heart every time Amir thought badly of him, or played tricks on him, and especially when Amir didn’t give Hassan the great friendship Hassan had given him back to Hassan. Hassan gave and gave and rarely did he ever get anything back from Amir. I also found that I made a connection to Baba, he and I have the same beliefs. I don’t really believe in God and for me his stealing philosophy made so much sense to me. I also loved how humble Baba was. Baba was always willing to put his life on the line to help others, and was a very well respected man for a reason. I knew from the beginning that the relationship between Hassan and him was something special, and that it wasn’t just a friendly love, more fatherly love. Then for Amir, in the beginning, his character was okay but as it went on I started to hate him. Just his attitude and how selfish he was bothered me. Once he started to grow up I really began to see him develop into a better person, and that was when I found that he was just being a child and needed to learn from experience like we all do. In the end, Amir touched my heart when he became a better person, and as much as he tried to say he wasn’t like his Baba the more he was like him the better person he became and I liked him more. Amir became humble, forgiving, grateful, and giving; his Baba had taught him well. Overall, each character was amazing in their own way, but these three we just truly great in the end, and were the ones I learned from the most.

One of my favorite parts of the book was when Amir and Hassan were young. I liked it when they were young because they were so care free and happy. It was nice to start the book off with some happiness to get you started because it gave you something to look back to remember that basically their lives weren’t always such a struggle. My other favorite part was in the end when Sohrab and Amir had that special moment with the kites. It was so nice to see that two people who had had so much taken away from them could share one thing that they loved that hadn’t been taken away− there love for kites and the great memories that came with them. It's moments like these that make me stop and think and not take the life I have for granted, and I remember that the one good little thing can make anything bad just fade away for a little while.

Through the whole book I just loved it. It was a true eye opener. I never really knew the life of Afghani, and now that I do I see things differently and I’m glad because my perspective towards them is a lot different. I see that I can not criticize that country as a whole like a used to because there are people like Amir and Sohrab that are normal people and struggle. I do not say this out of pity; I say it with more understanding. I now understand why so many enjoyed this book because it truly is an eye opener to life and the understanding of others.