"Speak"

In reading "Speak," I found myself intrigued throughout the entire novel! At times I found myself frustrated with Melanie because I just wished she actually told someone about her horrific night at that party where Andy took advantage of her. I think that being silenced was her downfall that caused her to lose all of her friends and attend a school where everyone hated her. But, the thing that some people may not understand is that what happened to her was probably not only personal, but emabarrassing and scary. It also didn't help that her ex-best friend was dating the guy who took advantage of her, and when she tried to warn her, her old friend Rachel used the excuse of that Melanie was jealous. But I was glad when her friend finally came to her senses, dumping the guy fast, giving Melanie the chance to make a final stand to her attacker, which she did. That few moments in her closet, which I found this part to be ironic because her closet was to me symbollically representing peace and safety, but Andy was able to find her and almost attack her a second time. In the end, when melanie finally was able to tell others what happened, she seemed to be able to find herself again and stand against those who were trying to walk all over her, both Andy and Heather.

Blog 6

I would agree that so far "Middlesex" is unusal. I don't particularly choose to read books that illustrate specific topics. It is interesting to read about Cal and his/her identity transformation throughout the novel. My thoughts on the issue are that I don't agree with homosexuality/bisexuality/transgendered people, but if that is your preference than why should I be the one to tell or convinvce you otherwise? For me, I know with my religion I should be against homosexuals, but if it's who you are, than it's who you are. My response to the Westboro church is that i think their beliefs are ludicris because I believe in God and I don't think he would punish us for accepting gays with killing soldiers. To me I just think this is the wildest thought and it concerns me that this mother is teaching her children to hate on gays so harshly. Just because someone is homosexual, doesn't take away the fact that they are just like everyone else. They share the same issues of heartache in a relationship as a heterosexual, they have crushes, unexplained feelings that may have been hard to deal with since they couldn't share them with anyone else. My last thoughts on this is that over the decades, homosexuality has been more accepting. I feel that this has contributed to me becoming more accepting of my friends who are homosexual, and helped me to see that I'm comfortable enough with my own sexuality so I can be comfortable with theirs.

Blog 5

The novels Incognegro and Monster compare to each other because they both demonstrate race priviledge. In Monster, Steve is a young Afican American boy who is on trial for accomplicing to a robbery homicide. In this novel, it just shows that even if Steve was just going to the drugstore for some mints, that he has been accused of committing a crime he did not participate in. This demonstrates priviledge because it would be easier to remember the perpetrator if he was colored than if he was white. In Incognegro, it was a lot simpler to notice priviledge because the entire novel is based off of white priviledge in the South. If a white person claimed they were hurt or killed by black person ( this claim can be false), then the black person they have accused would be avenged even if they are innocent. People in the South, took longer to abolish slavery, and were never ashamed to innocently accuse a black person for a crime. In Incognegro, Zane Pinchback's brother was accused of murdering his white girlfriend. The novel resulted in his girlfriend being alive, and the dead white girl was the sheriff's deputy. In the end, the sheriff new all along that Zane's brother was being held innocently, but he never spoke a word of his innocence becuase people in the South forced themselves to believe that colored people were not human and that white people were the best.

Monster

One of the main themes in Monster that Steve Harmon has to deal with is identity. Steve constantly struggles with how he sees himself: whether or not he is like the others involved in the robbery homicide, or if he is different from them. This struggle for identity contributes to the story because Steve and his attorney, O'Brien, try to convince the jury that he is not anything like Bobo Evans, Osvaldo Cruz, and James King. I think that this is very important to the story because Steve is trying to decide if he fits the stereotype of being a monster, when in his mind he has not done anything wrong and should not be on trial for this crime. But slowly the reader witnesses how Steve and his attorney  start to believe that he is just as much as a monster as the other guys are even though he did not take the money or pull the trigger of the gun that killed Mr. Nesbitt. I think that at least one point in everyone's life, we all struggle with finding our true identities, but it can be difficult to really be able to allow yourself to discover who you really are. It can be difficult because some people might think that they have to fit a certain image or stereotype. Which is why I think that Steve had such a hard time finding himself because he has to fit the mold for being a black teenage boy on trial living in Harlem, NY; which unfortunately, causes him to work harder to convince the jury that he does not fit that stereotype for the crime that occured. 

The Book Thief

I think that it was very fitting to have the entire novel be narrated by death. Death in a way, is kind of the heart and soul of the novel because Death encounters more people and situations then any of the other characters. Death would have to be the most interesting character to me because usually people think that the only thing Death cares about is taking a soul, but he seems very interested in the story of Liesel. This could also be Death's conflict with himself. It knows it shouldn't become interested in the lives of people because it is more used to the death of people.
Death's perspective is definitely first-hand. It encounters more on people's lives than anyone else can. Its main priority is collecting souls, but it also witness's the heartache and sorrow which follows death, and sometimes the lonliness.  Death sees more the the gruesome side of the war, and sometimes is saddened by whose souls it takes. This could explain why it went against it's usual custom to see into the life of Liesel.  

Prisoner on the Hell Planet

When first reading this section of the book, one of the first things that I noticed, besides the reoccurring theme of darkness through out the section, is that Artie is wearing a striped uniform. At first I thought okay well maybe he was just portraying himself as Jewish, since Jewish people were required to wear striped pajamas when they stayed in the concentration camps. Then, during our group discussion the other day in class, one of my group members brought to my attention on how Artie feels like a prisoner of his own mind when his mother committed suicide. Whenever something negative happens in life, in this example it's Artie's mom's suicide, one of the typical reactions is how could i have prevented this from happening? or why would they do this? they seemed fine. I have noticed that we usually take the blame, when we don't have any part in a negative situation at all.

The idea of Artie being a prisoner of his own mind seems to become more relevant because as the panels continue, especially after his mother's funeral, the images in the background of the panels seem to distort and twist, as if his thoughts become distorted and twisted. I think that the most important panels during this whole section has to be the last three when it shows him in a prison cell. He basically calls out his mom by saying that by murdering herself, she murdered him mentally, and since she cant see his suffering because shes dead, that he is left to take the repercussions of her actions; therefore she committed the perfect crime.

Introduction of Ally

Well, my name is Allison marie Steinruck, but people usually call me Ally. I really enjoy just secluding myself away from people and enjoy a great novel. I usually try to read different genres from action, to mystery, to drama, and on occasion romance. I also have recently picked up on country line dancing thanks to some of my local friends. I am also a Baltimare Ravens fan! I major in Accounting here at Ship U! The last book I read was the Pretty Little Liars Series by Sara Shepard. Cultural Diversity is multiple groups of people who originate from different ethnic and racial backgrounds and who come from different cultures. Cultural diversity in society today has been more accepted and people are more open to learning about other cultures than our own to understand others backgrounds. My expections for this class is to just expand and appreciate the novels of the authors and of the themes of their novels.