2.23 Diction Exercise

The Catcher in the Rye:
a: lousy, crap, bores, touchy, goddam, madman, crumbly, dough
b: This segment of The Catcher In The Rye is clearly written in a low level of formality, because the language is simple, clean, and elementary. The connotation is very literal, it uses simple conversational words. He speaks nonchalantly with an air of passiveness. The words used in the first chapter are concrete, because the speaker speaks about very definite, tangible things, not just abstract ideas.
c: Holden uses elementary, simple, and nonchalant words when speaking, reflecting his casual yet collected style.

Last Post.

I just keep finding interesting things that I'd like to share, so here's my third personal blog of the day! This website has some really cool optical illusion kind of pictures.  I think my favorite is number 2. And of course, being a swimmer, I have to say I love number 15 as well.

Stressful Does Not Even Begin To Describe This Weekend.

Hey there, I haven't written a whole lot besides book review for a while. I think I'll take a few moments to recap my weekend. So Thursday was boys' swimming sectional prelims, and Saturday was finals. The entire girls' team dresses up and supports both days, and the boys won by 5 points (yeah it was intense). I had an absolute blast, despite being exhausted from getting 3 hours of sleep. Why, you ask, did I only get 3 hours?  Well, I'll tell you. Every year before boys' sectional finals, a junior swimmer hosts a sleepover with lots of junk food and movies. Our basement was just finished last week, so I had the privilege of hosting this year. What happens at sleepovers anyways? Well, basically everything. Except sleep. Hence the 3 hours thing. Regardless, it was still loads of fun. So then I went to church this morning, and then my parents had some family friends over to the house for pretty much the whole day. It's always nice to have visitors, and I'm lucky because their daughter also just happens to be my best friend.

So I was stumbling, and I found this website about duct tape, which is actually kind of cool. I mean, all the stuff is pretty weird, but the idea of neon duct tape is nifty. And I kind of like the bracelets.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk: Pg 1-34

Ok, I just finished The Giver this week, and now I'm starting a new book. The back sounded really interesting, but so far it's kind of sick.

The main character, Victor, describes his twisted childhood in which his mother struggled to get custody of him (and ended up just stealing him). Then it flashes to the present day, in which Victor is a "recovering" sex addict. Now, I put the word recovering in quotes because I almost feel like the only reason he goes to the sexual addiction classes is to get action. He has different girls to get with each night of the week, and he feels absolutely no guilt about it. In chapter 3, the reader is introduced to Victor's mother. By now, she is elderly and seems to be losing it. She doesn't know how to eat and she is living in an assisted living center (pretty much a hospital). Victor is paying for her stays by working at a historical center, dressed up as an Irish indentured servant with his friend Denny.

Right now, I'm a little confused about the first chapter (about Victor's childhood). And each chapter seems to jump to a different subject, so I feel like the book is going to be hard to follow. I originally picked the book up because it has a diagram of the muscles in the human body on the front, I figured it had something to do with the medical profession (this is something I'm extremely interested in).

The Giver: Pg 152-179

One day, Jonas asks to see what really happens when a member of the community is released (Jonah had been previously told that the member is sent on their merry way), and he finds out that the released person is killed. Horrified, he helps the Giver decide that things need to change. The two devise a plan so that Jonah can escape the community and thus leaving all his memories for the people that live there. The Giver transmits memories of courage to Jonah so that he can sneak out one night and never return. The Giver plans on staying back and helping the people of the community cope with all the memories that are about to hit them.

Jonah leaves abruptly one night, and is forced to take Gabriel with him (his father announced that the baby would be released the following day and Jonah wasn't going to let that happen). The journey is rough, and Jonah transmits memories to Gabriel to keep him happy. They ride a bike during the night, and sleep during the day. Finally, after nearly starving, almost getting caught, and twisting an ankle, Jonah and Gabriel find themselves approaching houses with lights. Jonah is certain that this is where he needs to go and both him and Gabriel will be happy there. And with this, the book ends on a happy note.

Even though I think the ending is great, I wish the book would extend one or two more chapters. I would love to know what happens when Jonah and Gabriel reach the houses, who they meet, where they stay, any sort of detail would be nice. However, I think Lois Lowry left this part out, so that the reader's imagination can decide.

The Giver: Pg 108-151

Jonah begins to receive lots and lots of memories from the Giver. The Giver not only gives him pleasurable memories, but he gives him painful ones as well. Meanwhile, the baby, Gabriel, that has been staying with the family has not been sleeping through the night. Jonah takes the baby in his room and finds himself transmitting happy memories to Gabriel in order to help him sleep.

By this time, Jonah has stopped taking his medication for the stirrings. Without the medication, Jonah has vivid dreams, and he finds himself enjoying them. After receiving so many memories and having several dreams, Jonah begins to realize that he is notably different from all his friends. They all seem so immature to him now.

Jonah carries so much knowledge with him right now, he holds fear and pain and guilt, but also intense pleasure and happiness and excitement. This is much more than the rest of the community can say. I almost feel like this is a big responsibility to put on a twelve year old's shoulders. However, if anyone can do it, Jonah can.

Freedom!

This past weekend the Homestead girls swim team competed at high school state finals in Indy. We got second overall and the meet was really fun. Chad even took us to Steak N Shake on the way home to celebrate! And now, since state is over, I'm free to do whatever I want after school and on the weekends, within reason of course. I'm so excited, no practice every day after school. I'm sure you'll all be interested to know that I'm going to get a manicure today haha. I have to be honest, I'm doing this blog entry from my phone during medical interventions.. So I should probably go. Bye!

The Giver: Pg 65-107

I feel like this was a longer reading, but the book is getting really good so I just read a lot.

From the very first day that Jonah spends with the Giver, it is clear that these are very special circumstances. The receiver has hundreds of books, which is not allowed in other areas of the community. He can also lock his door and turn off his speaker, which is also not typically allowed. The Giver explains that Jonah will receive memories from the past. The first memory that Jonah receives is of snow, and he receives it when the Giver puts his hands on Jonah's back and transmits the memory to him.

This is where the memory of the apple comes back. Although it is not specifically stated, the reader can figure out that in Jonah's world, everything is black and white. There are no colors. However, the Giver tells Jonah that he is beginning to see the color red (he saw it in the apple, his friend's hair, and the sled from his snow memory).  The Giver tells Jonah that the society let go of colors in order to gain more control. Jonah is understandably frustrated as he begins to see more colors in his daily life. He wishes other people could see changes and make choices for themselves, but he also needs to realize that the choices were made for them in order to ensure that no one makes the wrong decision.

The Giver also tells Jonah that he tried to train a Receiver ten years ago, but she failed. And when she did, all the memories she had received were released into the community, causing nothing but problems.

I understand why the society has eliminated choices, because by eliminating choices they also eliminate a lot of problems. However, it stinks that Jonah can see all the power out there but yet cannot completely grasp it. By limiting the society so much, they are clearly limiting the true potential of the people.

The Giver: Pg 35-64

Within these pages, Jonah has a vivid dream where he wants a girl named Fiona to take her clothes off so he can give her a bath.. This might seem a little weird but you should know that Jonah volunteers at the center for the elderly, giving them baths on a regular basis. Still, he tells his mom and she tells them that is called a "stirring" and everyone gets them at about age 11. Jonah is put on medication to eliminate the stirrings. The day of the ceremonies has finally arrived and Jonah anxiously awaits his name to be called. However, when it is his turn to be called, he is skipped. Thinking he has done something terribly wrong, Jonah worries about it for the remaining part of the ceremony. That is, until he is called up at the very end and named the "Receiver of Memory." While Jonah isn't sure he wants this position, it is supposedly very important.

I understand Jonah being scared, because after all he is only 12 and this job seems to be a critical one. He seems to be getting special treatment from people, yet almost being ignored by others. Jonah is exempt from many of the rules, which I think is pretty cool. I think this just makes Jonah fret even more.

The Giver: Pg 1-34

Since I haven't gotten the chance to find a good new book to read, I figured I'd just read another one that I know is good. This in mind, I dug out my copy of "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. I remember reading this book in middle school I believe, and thinking it was the dumbest book I'd ever been forced to read. Then last year I brought it to Florida with me and I read it all in one day because it was so good. So today I read to chapter 5. 

In the first couple chapters, the reader just learns about the main character, Jonah, and the community in which he lives. From what I can tell, the creators of the community have tried to create a perfect utopia. For example, marriages are arranged by the government, and each family is given 1 boy and 1 girl child. Each child must do so many volunteer hours as they grow up, and Jonah does volunteer hours with his friend Asher. Each child is assigned a profession when they turn twelve. Jonah is currently 11 and describes being apprehensive about receiving his assignment. 

One interesting thing that happened was a memory that Jonah recalled. It will become important later in the book. Jonah remembers seeing an apple change as he played catch with it. He can't put his finger on it, but something bizarre happened. 

Jonah's family take in a baby to nurse him, because his father takes care of babies for a living. Jonah's little sister remarks that Jonah and the baby, Gabriel, both have the same light colored eyes (this is odd because everyone in the community has dark eyes). 

Although it is not directly stated, it is clear to the reader by this point in the book that Jonah is different than most of the other people in his community. He seems to think differently than others. He doesn't necessarily rebel against what everyone else is doing, but he may question it. The eyes thing is also pretty important, for some reason everyone in the community has dark eyes, except Jonah and this new baby. I think (ok.. i know) this small fact will turn out to be rather significant later in the book.

269 pages of literary fiction or nonfiction in the last two weeks and a total of 1301 pages total so far

Will You Ever Quit?

No, we want some more, we want some more, we want some more.
Swimming at the girls sectional finals yesterday, our team could be heard chanting this as we walked out before the meet. A couple of the girls started saying it, and it just stuck I guess. So I looked up the scene and watched it a couple times, from one of my favorite movies, Remember the Titans. I think it means that you can have all the physical power you want, but you have to have "soul power." You have to want to win more than anything. That's exactly what the HHS Girls Swim and Dive team wanted yesterday, and our Soul Power led us to win first place.

Hey there, at the request of Mr. Hill I'm publishing my reading progress of the past two weeks: 269 pages of literary fiction or non-fiction.

Romeo and Juliet Act 5 Scene 3: Pg 219-243

Romeo arrives at Juliet's tomb, only to find Paris there. Obviously, the two men aren't on the best of terms, so they duke it out and in the end Paris is killed. Then Romeo, believing Juliet to be dead, takes the poison and steals one last kiss from Juliet before dying. Coincidentally, Juliet awakes just as Romeo is dying, and she kills herself with his dagger. So now both Romeo and Juliet have taken their own lives, and their families find them. When the two families come together, Friar Lawrence recounts how the two were in love and got married.

In the end, one good thing came out of the deaths of the two lovers. Capulet and Montague decided that the hostility between the two families was at an end and they could live in peace. Its a bummer that both Romeo and Juliet had to die for the two families to get along, but the story of their love makes an awesome book, and I guarantee I will read it several more times.

Romeo and Juliet Act 5 Scene's 1&2: Pg 211-219

Juliet's finely sculpted plan does not go exactly the way she wanted, because Romeo is informed of Juliet's "death" right away. Before he knows that it's a hoax, he doesn't believe it so he goes out and buys poison that will kill him instantly if it is true. He wants to die next to Juliet in the tomb.

Even though I know what's going to happen, it is clear that this is a pretty confusing situation. There is an enormous lack of communication between all of the characters, especially the two lovers. This can only end badly. I decided to leave the very last scene to read tonight.

Romeo and Juliet Act 4: 177-207

So we ended with Juliet visiting Friar Lawrence to ask for advice. The two devise a sneaky little plan. Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion that will make her appear dead for a couple days. She is instructed to take this as her family is making wedding preparations. Once she is discovered as "dead," she will be put in a tomb and Romeo will come and saver her just as she awakes from her sleep. So Juliet takes the potion home with her and just as the wedding preparations take full swing, she downs the poison and they find her body the next morning.

Compared to the other acts, act 4 is pretty short. Despite the brevity, I think it's my favorite section. So much action is crammed into this one act that it's impossible to not read the whole act in one sitting.

Koo Koo - The Bird Girl

This is pretty sad, but also really entertaining: read about Minnie!
Rest In Peace you bizarre little bird child.

Romeo and Juliet Act 3: pg 115-173

Act 3 begins with another fight between several members of the two families. Romeo is challenged to a duel by Tybolt, a member of Juliet's family. However, he knows that he must keep the peace now because the two are married so he tries to be the peacekeeper. This fails, and in the end Mercutio dies and Romeo kills Tybolt. Because of this, Romeo is punished by the Prince by being ordered to leave Verona forever. Romeo and Juliet spend one last night together before Romeo has to leave, and afterwards Juliet goes to visit Friar Lawrence to see what she should do.

While all this is going on, Juliet's mother has decided that she needs to marry Paris that very week, and Juliet is completely torn up about it.

My english teacher this year told us that in all Shakespeare plays, the acts will generally always follow the same pattern:

Act 1: Exposition

Act 2: Rising Action

Act 3: Climax

Act 4: Falling Action

Act 5: Resolution 

Being act 3, this act is when most of the important action takes place (such as Mercutio and Tybolt dying and Romeo being banished). I would say I'm excited to see what happens next, but I've already read it so I know what's coming haha. Regardless, Im going to start reading act 4 right now.

Romeo and Juliet Act 2: pg 65-111

Being teenagers, the two decide to sneak a visit after the party. They end up proclaiming their love to each other and deciding to get married the following day. So in the morning Romeo visits a character named Friar Lawrence, who agrees to marry them. Friar Lawrence wants the two to get married in the hopes that the union will end the feud between the two families forever.

Once Romeo leaves, he meets up with Benvolio and Mercutio, and they joke around for a bit. Afterwards, Romeo meets Juliet's nurse and apprises her of the plan (the two lovers are to be married later that very same day).

The Nurse returns to Juliet, teases her a bit, and finally tells her everything she heard from Romeo. The two are set to be happily married by Friar Lawrence.

Even though I've read the book so many times I've lost count, I still can't get over the fact that the two lovers meet one night, and are getting married the very next day. I'm pretty sure they're in their early teens too. I can't decide if it's true love or if the two are just acting recklessly because they are infatuated with each other.