Blog Post - Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

         I read the book, Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine and it was beautifully written. This book is written in the first person point of view of a fifth grader named Caitlin. She was diagnosed with a disorder called Asperger's syndrome. Caitlin and her father go through a hard time after the death of Caitlin's brother, Devon. This was the conflict: Caitlin and her father couldn’t cope with the death in their family. After Caitlin reads the definition of the word, "closure" in her dictionary, she was ambitious to achieve closure. Closure is resolution after a difficult event to deal with, like a death/loss of someone close to you. On Caitlin's journey to closure, she learns many things on her way there. She learns that closure isn't found when she completes her goal; she earns closure on her way to closure. Being a mentally challenged little girl, Caitlin discovers/learns emotional suffering. She also learns how to act in life without Devon, who usually assisted her whenever she misunderstood things. 

To begin, Caitlin masters the tactics to deal with life. With the help of the guidance counselor, Caitlin figures out how to communicate with others formally and using expressions. She also learns how to be polite, have a conversation, walk with people, and more. For instance, before Caitlin had help, she didn’t know how to manage a conversation. In the book when Mrs. Brook was questioning Caitlin, Caitlin responded with “I don’t know,” four out of the five times she answered (13). However, after Caitlin becomes accustomed to public life on her journey to closure, she’s able to communicate with others properly and through her new friends. For example, Caitlin makes a new friend named Michael, who’s in the first grade, and she showed him some impressive things, like burping the ABCs, new words, and manners. Michael introduces Caitlin to his other friends, which increased Caitlin’s publicity, letting her learn the life with others I public (94-95).

Furthermore, Caitlin learns how closure is really achieved. At first, she figured that completing Devon’s chest would earn closure for Caitlin and her father. For instance, after Caitlin figured out how to finish Devon’s chest, she said, “I found Closure but I still have to Work At It” (154). She misunderstood how achieving closure worked and thought if I do this I’ll get closure. However, Caitlin reached closure because of the right events that occurred during her journey to closure. Day by day, Mrs. Brook would try to teach Caitlin to feel and show emotion so others could know what she was trying to express. In the beginning of the book, Caitlin wouldn’t feel for Devon and how his death actually impacted her. She didn’t misunderstood how to feel and why others were impacted like her but she just wanted to stay away from everyone (13). However, after Caitlin became ambitious to reach closure, she began to make friends and show emotion like people wanted her to. Caitlin started expressing herself with drawings, emotions, and more, which attracted more friends. By the time the chest was done, Caitlin was happy with her life the way it was.

Lastly, the theme of this book is being able to learn to deal with a hard situation by trying to reach closure. Caitlin and her father had courage and went head-on to finish their goal of completing Devon’s chest. Overall, Mockingbird was a wonderfully crafted book. 

Blog Review on Miles Garcia’s Social Action Inquiry Question #1 on Ender’s Game

Blog Review on Miles Garcia’s

 Social Action Inquiry Question #1 on Ender’s Game

            I read Miles’ blog post on Ender’s Game and I thought it was very beautifully crafted. Miles answered the question “what really difficult or complex things are happening in the text?” and I thought he answered it perfectly. He clearly displays all of the issues that make the text complex into three paragraphs. Even though I didn't read the book, Miles makes me want to read it and gives me a pretty strong overview of what I will read.

            The first thing that triggered my attention was that Miles organized his answer to his inquiry question into a three-body-paragraph-like system where it would be easier to comprehend. His first body paragraph contains the complex issue of isolation. Miles is clearly able to explain the meaning of isolation and its role in this book as an issue. For instance, he explains how Ender is avoided and how he doesn't have any “real” friends. In this paragraph, I really liked how he elaborated on the isolation quote by replacing it with "Why are they isolating me?" It really shows that Miles goes in-depth about what the characters are thinking and feeling.

            Another thing that really attracted my attention was that Miles’ post was brief and straight to the point. A lot of blog posts usually contain “fluff” to add to the contents of the post, but Miles’ blog post on Ender’s Game really stood out from the rest of his blog posts. For example, in his second “body paragraph,” he elaborates on the complex issue of bullying thoroughly. He explains how Ender is bullied numerous times throughout the book and at the same time, he implies that bullying should be ceased whenever it’s encountered in real life. Miles says, “[Ender] knows that the teachers will not help him confront the bullies, so he faces this issue…” This Is really impressive because Miles supports his cause at the same time as expanding on the complexity of the issue.

            Overall, I believe Miles’ blog is outstanding. Miles’ post makes me want to read Ender’s Game because of the brief overview that he gives of it in his third “body paragraph.” He implies that the book is a science fiction book in a dystopian setting when he mentions the key words, “alien,” “hive queen,” “genocide,” and more. Moreover, the complex issues that Miles lists, really makes me want to know how Ender handles them. For instance, I’m curious to find out how Ender deals with isolation, peer pressure, bullying, and the morality of killing an entire race. All in all, I believe Miles achieved his goal with this blog post; he has made me start to think about these complex issues in the world and makes me want to take action.

Here is a link to Miles' outstanding Blog:

http://vaktoviandiaries.blogspot.com/

The Life of Pi (Re-do)

The Life of Pi

By Yann Martel

          The book, The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, is a beautifully crafted book. Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) the protagonist, is the narrator for most of the book. He tells a story of his early childhood and a shipwreck that changed him. He explains his life about suffering intensely while studying zoology and three different religions. After years of studying Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, Pi's family moved to Canada on a ship along with many numerous cages of zoo creatures. As the ship begins to sink, Pi and a tiger named Richard Parker cling to a lifeboat while Pi's family drowns and the other creatures kill one another off. Pi and Richard were washed ashore onto a Mexican beach where Richard runs off never to be seen again. Pi was found by villagers and was rushed to a hospital where he survives and successfully moves to Canada. This book contains many themes, as well as symbols and patterns. Some essential themes that Martel implied were religion, suffering, and survival.

          To begin, religion is a crucial theme because the author defends religion repeatedly throughout the book. For instance, Pi, as a Hindu, defends the zoo and the creatures held in it. He says, "But I don't insist. I don't mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both" (19). When Pi says this, he confirms the fact that zoos aren't a form of captivity. They aren't restricted places that make animals feel miserable, but they are a place of relaxation, where animals can't express their feelings of predator and prey. Likewise, most people think of religion as a cage. Actually, Pi says "it's home and hearth for the believer" (16). Moreover, the author makes Pi defend religion against an Atheist. His biology teacher, Mr. Kumar, claims that "religion is darkness." Pi retorts by saying, "Religion will save us... Since when I could remember, religions had always been close to my heart... Religion is light" (27). By using Pi, the author defends the practicing of religion with this book.

           Furthermore, Pi suffered a great deal in his childhood as well as his adulthood. Suffering is a key theme because it's what leads the book to its end; Pi, his family, and numerous creatures suffered intensely in this book in order for the author to get a message out. For instance, Pi's family and the zoo creatures all died during the shipwreck. Pi's family slowly drowned into the deep ocean, while the animals tortured each other until Richard Parker ate the Hyena. In addition to the religion theme, suffering existed in time period where religion reached its peak. The author says, "This Son, on the other hand, who goes hungry, who suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed, who has to put up with followers who don't get it and opponents who don't respect Him – what kind of god is that? It's a god on too human a scale, that's what" (55). The author includes this sentence to imply that life doesn't pass without suffering.

          Lastly, survival is a very critical theme. Pi fights against death for very long. He seeks death when he practices his religions and he runs away from death when he confronts it. One situation where Pi runs away from death is when his ship is about to sink; he and his fellow zoo animals cling to the lifeboat to survive. One symbol in this part of the book is the color orange. The author states that orange is the color of hope and survival and that was when the tiger appeared to save Pi from the savage hyena (106). Another symbol Pi comes across is a skull. It is an intimidating symbol towards Pi because he believes in life and religion. He responds with, "My life is like a memento mori painting from European art: there is always a grinning skull at my side to remind me of the folly of human ambition. I mock this skull. I look at it and I say, you've got the wrong fellow. You may not believe in life, but I don't believe in death. Move on!" After reading this book, I found out that a memento mori is a symbol used to remind people of death, but the author uses Pi to support the survival theme. 

          In conclusion, the book, The Life of Pi, is a book promoting many themes including religion, suffering, and survival. Many symbols are used by the author in order to send these messages to the reader. I think the author meant to make Pi, the main character, a theme. Pi, the mathematical term, is a never ending decimal and is hard to explain. In the book, Pi is also unique; he practiced three religions and lived with a tiger for a long period of time. There aren't many people like him in the world but the author makes someone like him seem plausible.