The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

This week I continued to read "The Bluest Eye", by Toni Morrison, however the main conflict of the story has changed a lot.

Instead if the main issue being about racism like it was when i wrote my synthesis page, it has shifted to more sexism. Race still plays an extremely important role in the book. However I think now it is specifically talking about the struggles of black women. Currently, were hearing about the story of Cholly, Pecolas father. And even though it is about a boy, there's are really good example of misogyny for the time period. For example, we just heard a story about Cholly on his Aunt Jimmy's funeral day. Cholly and a girl named Darlene went and had sex in the woods, when they got caught by two white men. Cholly was so humiliated and furious. Except not at the men that caught them, that caused him the embarrassment, but at Darlene. "For now he hated the one who created the situation, the one who bore witness to his failure, his impotence. The one whom he had not been able to protect, to spare, to cover from the round moon glow of the flashlight". This all means Darlene. Morrison not onky included this story to explain why Cholly treated his wife so terribly, but also to send a bigger message. She not only wanted to explain why Cholly acted this way, but why any black man who beat his wife at the time this way. And even though the specific story may be unique, the feelings Cholly had were shred amongst many people similar to him. A lot of men in general just had this hatred of women. They were quicker to blame the women then the person who actually upset them.

I think this story is a really good reflection of the book. A lot of the story is what life was like being a black women in New York during the time period

"Catcher in the Rye" by JD Salinger

This week I started reading "The Catcher in The Rye". This book is a sweet story following teenage Holden Caulfield, from New York. The stroy begins with him explaining aboyt how he got kicked out of his boarding school, Pencey. Holden is very cynical and sort of a sad character, however at the same time he is very charming. For example, he'll drag on about how much he hates his old friend Sally, but he still goes on a date with her. Or how he hates plays yet he still brongs her to one because she's a big theatre person. He even talks about his friend Ackley who never brushes his teeth yet he still hangs out with him a lot.

Most of the book he talks about how he's depressed or how much he hates something but actaully he seems like a sweet guy. He's always talking about how much he loves his little 12 year sister Phoebe. He even wanders around trying to find her favorite record and buy it for her to then bring to her in the park. And even though he doesnt want to walk around trying to find this record, he still wants to go bring it to his little sister.

I'm not done with the book yet, however i like it a lot. Considering it only follows one person in one city for a short time, it's very interesting. I think Holden Caulfield is really actually a very amusing character that can keep the book enjoyable.

"The Bravest Girl in the World" by Malala Yousafzai

This week, I read an article called the "Bravest Girl in the World". This article is about a young women, named Malala Yousafzai, who lived in Pakistan when she was attacked by the Taliban. By the time of 11 years old, she was already known in her Pakistani town for speaking out for education rights of girls.
    The author of the article is actually, Malala herself. Most of the article is actually about her attack and why she got attacked, however Malala wasnt trying to get you to feel bad for her. She wanted you to think about how it;s notonly her who was a victim, but also other girls. Yes, not everybody got shot in the head, but hundreds of girls are being stripped of their education. The only reason she got shot was because she spoke out against them. In the article, she also talks about how she loved doing normal teenager things. For example, gossiping with he friends, listening to Justin Bieber songs, exchanging beauty tips, and riding the bus. In fact, she was on a school bus when she and two other of her friends got shot. She talks about the gory detail of it, how "by the time they [we] got to the hospital, my long hair and Moniba's lap were full of blood. And also how the shooters arm was apparently shaking when he fired. She does this all to make us see how terrible things are for Pakistani girls specifically.

    Malala later speaks about how even after her attack, at 15 years old, she is still expressing her opinion and fighting for equal rights. She wants us to know that this message is so important for her to get across, shes risking her and her families lives. She also wants us to realize that the goal can be met. Already, at 16 shes been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize spoken at UN, and inspired hundreds of other young women around the world. This article really educates you on how terrible women still have it in countries specifically affected by the Taliban.

Persopolis- inquiry question 2

    The perspective that is mostly being shown in persopolis is maryjane, a young girl that narrates the graphic novel. Maryjane is actually the author of the graphic novel. the whole story is about experiences she has grwoing up in iran. The story not only includes the difficulties of living in a war torn county, but also just growing up in general.
    it is un maryjanes perspective because i think people can relate to her best that way, not only people who have had to grow up in such difficult situations, but also just young girls. the story is just as much focused on her growing up as it is focused on the war happening in her country. she didnt want the story to be about some random person living in iran, she wanted it to be about a kid, if it wasnt about one, the story would be so foreign to readers, but now, kids can relate to it, which makes it more appealing to them, in fact adults could relate to , considering they were all kids at some point. and part of the reason it was in her point of view is obviously because its a memoir. maryjane satrapi was just explaining her life in an interesting graphic novel.
   The perspective missing is the enemies, or in this story, the government. it is not being shown, because it would send across the completely wrong message. it would make them seem like the good guys, which would not only send a controversy across readers because they were not the "good guys", but also thats not what maryjane wanted to do. she was a victim of what the government was doing at that time, she would never want them to seem good.
    overall, i think maryjane made the right choice in putting it in her point of view. she wanted to share her experiences with the world, not somebody elses. and by doing it, it made an interesting book and character.

YA fiction essay

Lately in the literary world, YA fiction has been a raging topic. Outraged parents, librarians, and teachers have been trying to convince people that the current literature has become to dark for their audiences. And authors and kids have been disagreeing. And according to my sources, their attempts have not been too convincing. Teens should be able to read any books they choose because many of them go through the same things as the characters, and it would just be pointless to take it away.

Young adults appreciate YA fiction greatly. In “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood”, an article written by Sherman Alexie, author of the award winning novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” explains just how much teen readers love his novel. He says he gets letter daily thanking him for his frequently challenged book. He even includes that he has still not gotten a single complaint concerning his book coming from a teen. He says that when he was a child, he read a lot of YA fiction himself, the types of books that might be considered “dark” now. And he explains he read these books “because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in life.” Right there, just shows how much kids appreciate these stories. So, when I saw Meaghan Cox Gurdon, in the article “Darkness Too Visible” trying to convince you that books like these just spread problems, I knew it was ridiculous. She says that the “logic” is that when a reader reads things like this, they can relate to the books and it will help them manage. Which is exactly what it does. Telling from all the letters Alexie gets, it seems like it does anyways.

Taking away teen beloved young adult fiction would sere as beneficial to no one and just be pointless. According to Sherman Alexies article, many children go through grim experiences similar to those faced by the characters in these stories. He states that he’s spoken to numerous schools where the kids are victims of sexual and physical abuse, racism, poverty, depression etc. These are all “dark” topics that play a big role in a lot of teen fiction today. Many of which are reasons behind banning a lot of popular teen fiction. Seeing that kids are going through these things themselves, what would be the point of banning these books? Sherman Alexie includes a powerful quote about his own childhood. “They wanted to protect me fro sex when I had already been raped. They wanted to protect me from evil when a future serial killer had already abused me. They wanted me to profess my love for god without considering that I was the child and grandchild of men and women who had been sexually and physically abused by generations of clergy.” This is coming from someone who has experienced darker things than any one could imagine, and has watched as people try to take away the novels that helped him and hundreds of other teens bear these experiences, for what he knows is absolutely no reason. Alexie in Gurdon’s article says that kids can find just as bad stuff online. Yet another reason for why taking away teen fiction wouldn't help anyone. Since kids spend almost all their time on the Internet now, I’m sure kids have found worse things surfing the web. Again, this proves another one of Gurdon’s silly arguments to be invalid. She talks about “Scars” by Cheryl Rainfield, and how the cover might make a victim of self-mutation relapse. I’m sure this picture of a “horribly scarred forearm” is nothing compared to what kids discover on various social networking sites like twitter, tumblr, and instagram.

Even teenagers themselves agree that YA fiction helps them. In  Mary Elizabeth Williams article “Has Young Adult Fiction Become Too Dark?” she speaks about a reoccurring trend on twitter, #YAsaves. According to the article, the hashtag has endless links to teen and adult blog posts. She recalls one child’s heart-wrenching post on a reaction to Meaghan Cox Gurdon’s article. She says,” Good literature opens up all the good parts of us, the parts people like you have deemed too dark, inappropriate, grotesque or abnormal for kids to be feeling- and try stitch is all back together before we even realize they’re talking about us. This explains exactly how teenagers are reacting to all these attempts at taking away their books, which is exactly what Gurdon failed to do in “Darkness Too Visible”. She even tried to convince you that children don't read YA fiction at all. This honestly just made me laugh, because if she’s trying to tell me that, why did she just write a 4 page article trying to get kids to stop reading these books. She explains that a local bookstore owner visited a private school (which are typically very small already), that only 18 kids actually admitted to reading teen fiction. However, just one poll done by a random woman from a bookstore isn’t exactly a good source. And again, if kids aren’t reading these books, why are you trying to take them away?

Telling from several the articles I read both and against YA fiction, and being a young adult myself, teen fiction should not be banned or challenged. If YA fiction does anything at all, its most definitely help us. There’s been various stories of kids benefiting from teen fiction, but I haven’t heard a specific story of a child being harmed by it. And again I have read several articles against and for YA fiction. And Sherman Alexie, an award winning author, Mary Elizabeth Williams, mom of teenagers, and thousands of other parents’ kids feel the exact same way. Trying to limit what we read wouldn't help anyone and just upset readers that depend on these stories just to get him or her through their difficult adolescence.

The Fault in Our Stars

       Recently, I finished "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green. This along with other novels bu John Green has gotten great reviews from the YA audience. I think, that Green yet again, really expresses what its like to grow up. The book tells a story of Hazel, an 16 year old with incurable thyroid cancer who at a cancer support group meets an Augustus Waters, a seventeen year old cancer survivor with a prosthetic leg. Throughout the story you get to know and like the characters so much you sort of wish you knew them yourself. He gets into the little details about what a 16 year old girl would be feeling, from being upset about missing episodes of her favorite TV show, America's Next Top Model, to falling in love for the first time.
        And yes, the main two characters have cancer, but that's certainly not what the book is centered around. In fact, the main character, even explains how much she despises cancer books. "but its not a cancer book, because cancer books suck", she says about "An Imperial Affliction", one of her and Augustus' favorite books. This book plays a big role in the novel. Without it, there would probably be not story. The book is what I think really brought Gus and Hazel, and is a big part of the plot. Through out the book Hazel and Gus are trying to reach their goal, which is to meet Peter Van Houten, the author of AIA who lives in Holland and have him answer the endless questions Hazel has. However, when the couple finally gets to meet him he turns out being quite a disappointment, and a "drunk doucheface" as Hazel says.
       However I don't think actually having answer the questions was the reason why going there was so fun. It was fun because Hazel and Gus were going on adventures and "drinking stars" (champagne) and making memories as much as they could before they had to face facts. Like in many of John Greens novels, (spoiler alert) he kills off one of the main characters, Augustus. Who was exactly who you didn't think was going to die. The whole time Hazel is worried about dying and hurting Gus, but alas the exact opposite happens. Its revealed that he has cancer all throughout his body. "I went in for a PET scan. I lit up like a Christmas Tree, Hazel Grace.", says Gus. And so, Hazel has to watch what we were sure to be her soulmate die. For the rest of the book the once blue eyed crooked smiled Augustus Waters turn into a "pitiful", dying cancer patient in a wheel chair. However Gus never lost his sense of humor, the last time you get to see the real Augustus Waters was in Holland. Again this is why Green included this part, to have Gus and Hazel go on a final adventure.
       On one hand, your sort of mad at John Green for doing this to you, having you to get to know these kids so well, and right when your convinced they're meant to be and are going to grow old together, he kills Gus. On the other hand, the story would've ended too well if that did happen. But in the end, I think Green did a great job at creating great characters, and also an interesting plot. This book made me laugh for a good ten minutes and at the same time, made me bawl for a good ten minutes. Which is what I think really makes this such a great book.

Non Fiction- "Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood" by Sherman Alexie

          This week, I read and annotated "Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood", by Sherman Alexie. The article is a response to Meaghan Cox Gurdon's, "Darkness Too Visible". The whole entire article pretty much is focused on contradicting Gurdon. He also wants to make the readers see how ridiculous Gurdon was being and feel and really know just how hard some young adults lives are.How does he do this? He proves his points by using stories of children hes met throughout his years of being an author, and even using his own personal information. Hes trying to prove that there's no point in trying to stop Young Adults from reading "dark" fiction, when many of them have gone through the things in the stories themselves. And that fiction does not expose teens to profanity but actually helps YA's. In a paragraph talking about Gurdon, he says "Does she [Gurdon] believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will frighten a kid who already lives in hell?" This sentence pretty much sums up the point he is trying to prove. Then in order to show the audience just how "dark" his and hundreds of other kids lives are he discusses his childhood. "They wanted to protect me from sex when i had already been raped. They wanted to protect me form evil though a future serial killer had already abused me. They wanted me to profess my love for god without considering that i was the child and grandchild of men and women who'd been sexually and physically abused by generations of clergy." That detail really spoke to me because it shows me that he went through a whole lot when he was kid, things similar to what children are going through now, and he really knows what he's talking about. However Gurdon does not. She doesnt include a single quote from a YA at all, and definitely not one that is a victim of abuse. He even says that he wishes he could've read Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak" when he was a young adult. This shows that after being through hell, he thinks YA fiction would actually help him get through. Alexie even puts us in his shoes, and says that if they tried taking YA fiction away when he was a kid hed just say "Wow, you are way, way too late." When he puts us in his perspective like that its pretty much the same as quoting a YA. He did this so we could see how stupid and unbeneficial taking away YA ficiton would be. In the beginning of the article he says hed spoken to students that had "survived depression, attempted suicide, gang warfare, sexual and physical abuse, absentee parents poverty, racism and learning disabilities," He tells us about all these different things that kids have been through to again, point out how horrible things are for some kids. He also includes a story about a 17 old id he met that wanted to be a writer, but his father was forcing to be a soldier. He discussed how "Yes, he was old enough to die and kill for his country. And experience the infinite horros of war. But according to Ms. Gurdon, he was too young to read a YA novel that vividly portrays those very same horrors." This is yet again just another story that proves his point. He completely contradicts Gurdon by using this story. And once again, he puts you into the kids shoes. "I don't want to be like my father, I want to be like myself. Like in your book." That practically just says that YA books help readers. Not only victimized ones (the 17 year old had never been abused) but also ones facing problems like this. After this quote Alexie also talks about other teens. He says, "There are millions of teens who read because they are sad and lonely and enraged. They read because they live in an often terrible world. They read because they belive, despite the callow protestations of certain adults, that books- especially the dark and dangerous- will save them." He included that part of the article because it pretty much sums up the whole entire point of the article. Showing us all these upsetting and "dark" details about some YA's lives, and then leaving us, with his point. Which is that YA saves kids, and taking that away would be completely pointless.