Throughout this adversity unit, I’ve learned a lot about the struggles that other people can go through that I might not know about. Especially with Eleanor and Park, I learned that many things can be happening in other’s lives. We must pay attention to other people to possibly know what they are going through, then we need to help them get through their struggles. We should show the love of God through our actions towards others. Galatians 6:2 states “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Adversity can also be very hard to escape for some people. They may experience it at home as well as at school, so we need to be there for them if that could possibly be the case, even if other people don’t like us for it. We also need to remember to tell others about adversity we are facing ourselves. We can’t be isolated from society, like Eleanor was. She didn’t really tell anyone about her struggles, which resulted in them only getting worse. If she would’ve told people earlier, possibly she could’ve faced Richie and her mother with the help of people like Park, Beebi, and Denice. We also need to realize that while adversity can be big or small, it effects everyone. While I am not going through any super major adversities in my life, there are still struggles that I have to face every day. Others, however, may face larger adversities, such as Eleanor in the book. However, these adversities can effect everyone in virtually big ways. It could be one major adversity or struggle that someone is going through in their life, or it could be many large struggles that add up to make someone snap. We need to be there for people through these adversities.
Category: Reading/Reading Reactions
Choice Reading Final Reaction
For my choice reading in English, I finished The Sun is Also a Star and am close to halfway through Clockwork Angel. In this reaction, I’m going to mostly be talking about The Sun is Also a Star, because I finished that one.
This book is one of my favorite books that I’ve read in a while. It was a really cute story that wasn’t cliche, like you’d maybe expect from a YA Contemporary Romance novel, but it was different and new. The characters were very diverse, which I feel like is important in the world today. Represented in this book was a Korean-American boy and a Jamaican-American girl.
When I picked up this book, I knew it was a romance, but I didn’t expect it to be so well put-together. Before reading The Sun is Also a Star, I had read another book by Nicola Yoon, which was also very good, but I liked this one better. The writing style was amazing, and the romance in this book was well-written, not cheesy, but also very enjoyable.
Along with the well-written romance, there were other aspects that allowed me to enjoy the book. We got to see the characters trouble with their families. Daniel didn’t get along with his brother at all, and we saw that come into the plot line with the romance when Charlie (his brother) made fun of Natasha and was being very racist. We also saw Natasha blaming her dad for what they had become and the fact that they were close to being deported.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read. A forewarning: it has some language, but if you can ignore that, then the book is great. If you like romance or just a good read, this book is for you.
Choice Reading Reaction: Clockwork Angel
After I finished The Sun is Also a Star, I decided to read Clockwork Angel. This book is about Tessa Gray, a girl who finds out that she has powers, and it follows her journey as she meets Will Herondale and James Carstairs. She must decide between saving her brother and saving the world, and she also must decide between Jem (James) and Will.
This book is very different from the last book I read. While The Sun is Also a Star was very lighthearted and “cutesy”, Clockwork Angel is more fantasy-like. I’m not very far into it, only about 110 pages, but I really am enjoying it so far. The author of this book is also a lot different and she has a different style. For instance, the last book I read was all in first person and had many different points of view, while this book is all in third person.
So far, I also really like the plot and the characters. The plot is interesting to follow along with, and the characters are very relatable (even if they do have powers). Even from the start of the book, there was a very clear plot line that was going to be established and developed throughout the book.
The conflict that I have seen so far is one of my favorite parts of the book. As of now, a lot of the conflict is Man vs. Self. Tessa, the main character, has a lot of self conflict because she is deciding if she wants to be a Shadowhunter or if she wants to go off on her own. We also see her deciding between her brother and the world and deciding between Jem and Will.
Choice Book Reading Reaction
For my choice reading, I read The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. I had heard many good things about this book, and finally decided to pick it up. It follows the characters of Daniel and Natasha as they go on their adventures, cross paths, and fall in love. We get to see scenes from the point of view of both characters, along with some excerpts and insights that tell us a little bit more about what is going on in the book.
I absolutely loved this book. This was the fastest I’ve read a book since I picked up the first Harry Potter book in 7th grade. Originally, I was kind of on the fence about the writing style, with multiple points of view and excerpts that weren’t really a part of the story, but I loved it. Seeing different points of view really helped me to understand both sides of the story, which just added more to my reading experience.
The mood created in The Sun is Also a Star also adds to the enjoyment of the book. Because we see the book from different perspectives, we get different moods throughout the chapters. When we see the events from Natasha’s point of view, we get a more “sciencey” point of view, as illustrated when she says “I don’t like temporary, nonprovable things, and romantic love is both temporary and nonprovable” (pg. 75). On the flip side, when we see the events from Daniel’s point of view, we get to see how he is hopelessly falling in love with Natasha. We frequently witness this, because he is always talking about her.
I think that this book also has undertones that aren’t romance that would make for a good story themselves. We see diversity in the characters, as Natasha is African American and Daniel is Korean-American. The characters both have struggles with their families, which creates a subplot that you want to keep reading.
There are so many lessons that can be learned from this book. You can learn about family, friends, and love from two very different outlooks.
Death of a Salesman Reflection
Paige Trutna
English 2
Death of a Salesman
I think that Death of a Salesman represented the American Dream very well. It really helped me understand the concepts involved with the Dream and how it may fail sometimes. Just like Willy and even Biff, we can work really hard, and it may not always pay off in the way we want it to. Willy worked his whole life to be a successful salesman because he thought it would be the best job ever, but when it came down to it, he didn’t get everything he wanted, and that might be the same for us.
I also think it illustrates the human need for acceptance very well. Because of our human nature and instinct, we feel a longing for acceptance. We think we are worthless if we don’t belong to a group or with other people. If we don’t fulfill this longing, then we feel a sense of emptiness in us. We want to be surrounded by others because it gives us a sense that we’ve accomplished enough to be liked by other people. Sometimes, we are confident that we have succeeded in acquiring this position, than other times we aren’t sure how people feel about us.
I think the ending of this book is predictable (given the title Death of a Salesman) but it is very well written. Even though we don’t get many details involving the car or what Willy exactly did with the car, but we know that he didn’t think he achieved what he should’ve. He wanted to die a salesman’s death, and maybe when he figured out that he could never have that, he just decided to give up. I think the author also made us feel for Willy, which just made his death 100x sadder.
Of Mice and Men: Reflection
I thought that this book had many aspects that could help us understand a variety of concepts, especially the American Dream. All the characters and quotes really helped me understand what if would truly be like to live in that time period and try to survive and thrive off of what little I would have. I think that the variety of characters helped me realize the variety of perspectives there were in that time. Your role in society and the American Dream really influenced who you were and how much you impacted people.
I think one of the most prominent examples of what it took to be successful was George. He could’ve had almost anything he wanted, but he chose to stay with Lennie. I think this represents the American Dream very well. The Dream is more likely to be achieved if you have someone with you, someone to help you.
Another character that represents the American Dream well is Lennie. I think that the way he does this is that he never stops dreaming. He is always talking about what he wants to do with his life, and even if George says it’s not going to happen, he never gives up on the Dream.
For me personally, the ending of the book was surprising yet predictable. I knew from the beginning of the book that Lennie was probably going to die or get very hurt, I just wasn’t sure how. When John Steinbeck made George’s character kill off Lennie’s, I was surprised. I was also kind of confused. How could someone go from spending years with his best friend, looking out for each other, to killing him just because of one incident. I know that even if my friend did something like that, I would be unable to hurt them.