Shooting Kabul End

I kind of predicted how "Shooting Kabul" was going to end. At the very least, I predicted that Fadi was not going to win the contest. That things werent going to fall together picture perfect at the end.

But they kind of did anyways. Fadi recognizes his sister in a photograph at the contest- that he has lost- and then, everything falls together and there is a happy ending.

I am glad for that. I sort of wish there was more to the book- that the families troubles were written about with a bit more depth- but the story, YA, well, I suppose got across all that it was trying to. Considering the audience that the book was written for, I think this is a good book to serve as sort of an introduction to further exploring experiences like Fadis. Immigration is something that this country was founded on. It is an interesting topic to explore I think so that someone who wants to can better understand the different perspectives and experiences people have.

Another thing that is probably good to explore, is the idea of Islamophobia. Like in a good majority of the books that we have read- Fadi and his family experience significant prejudice throughout the book- especially after 9/11. It is amazing to me that- I never really thought about the stigma that muslims and other individuals had to face after 9/11. It is really sad that this is something that still exists- as its, like every other group really, only the extremists who are violent at all really. I wish that the book had been a bit longer, focused on those issues more- how everyone felt/acclimated- they went into that to some extent but I wish it was a bit more in depth.

I did enjoy reading this book though- reading what I could about Fadi and his family I think helped me connect to the subject in a way that- was really satisfying. I hope to learn more about the struggles facing individuals coming to America- so I can better understand all sorts of situations.

Shooting Kabul Middle

As the story goes on life for Fadi and his family gets even more complicated. Fortunately, some issues are resolved- or at least getting better in America. Fadi's mother gets treated for her illness, and although the treatment is long and difficult, it seems as if it is helping her.

Also, Fadi's sister Noor has found employment at McDonalds, and it seems as if that is helping her to acclimate to her new culture a bit. Maybe too much, maybe she shouldn't have to acclimate, but nevertheless, it probably does help her feel a bit less isolated having some sort of connections at her work.

Another important thing is that Fadi has found out that there is a photography contest, and that the prize for winning the contest is a trip to a foreign country- one of the options being India. He figures that India is right next to Pakistan and that if he wins, he might be able to go back and find his lost sister.

Fadi struggles a lot with guilt over what happened to his sister. He believes it to be his fault that she got lost. Interesting thing about this is that it seems a lot of his family members share his guilty feelings. He is not alone, but unfortunately his shame causes him to isolate himself a bit. He holds it in so much that it starts coming out in little spurts. He destroys a shelf of Barbie dolls because they remind him both of his sister and his specific guilt with an aspect of her loss. He also sneaks in the back of his fathers taxi, hoping that he might sneak back to Pakistan from a plane at the airport. He is really desperate to find his sister, and its sad that he suffers so much with his own guilty feelings.

As the story continues, Fadi faces more and more struggles. 9/11 happens and after that real fear starts showing itself all around Fadi and his family. People are being targeted, people are being attacked, just for being Muslim.

I wonder how things are going to continue for Fadi after all of this and if things will end up getting better for him by the end of it, or worse.

Shooting Kabul Beginning

The book Shooting Kabul opens with the family of Fadi desperately trying to flee Afghanistan and the harsh and threatening rule imposed upon them by the Taliban.

The family is struggling to get by in Afghanistan. The subsist on very little, bread, simple stews, the occasional hunk of cheese- the quality of life that Fadis family lives with is very poor and it does not look like it will be getting better any time soon.

Another problem that the family faces is that Fadis mother Zafoona is very sick. She has a disease that cannot even be diagnosed in Kabul. It is really bad, she coughing blood and it is clear that if she does not get help soon it is very likely she will die.

All of these things set the background for the family's desperate travels to America.

Something that is interesting to me is that once they finally get to America, although a lot of things do seem better for them- food, medicine, ect- at the same time a lot of things end up getting worse for them. Fadi's, father Habib, is a very educated man. He has a PHD, and just by having that a person might expect that in America he would be able to find a job that matches his capabilities, but unfortunately once he gets to America he finds that he cannot find a job and is forced to make a living doing something that is very much below his capabilities- taxi driving. He has to work extremely hard to provide the bare minimum for his family in America, This just goes to show how unfair and challenging things can be for immigrants and anyone hoping to find the American Dream.

The saddest part of this book is that, while the family was fleeing, they accidently lost the youngest member, Mariam.

The book makes a point of all the extra stress and sadness this brings the family. Hopefully by the end of the book things get better for Fadi and his family, and Mariam is found. That is really one of the main hopes of this book.

The end of the book for me was really satisfying. At the beginning, for whatever reason, I was expecting something to go horribly wrong. I think this is in part, because this book for whatever reason, reminded me of "A Separate Peace". Its very internal, very character development oriented, and the voices I think just sounded kind of similar at times with both books. Anyways, because of that I had this idea in my head that Dante would probably die- that he would have to die to push Aristotle over the edge into finally accepting their relationship- what it was- and who Aristotle was

.

Glad that didn't happen and that things ended up turning out well for both of the main characters. They are finally able to be what they are- to accept themselves and to accept their love for each other. It took quite a bit of internal conflict for that to happen, but the end result was wonderful. The story in some ways probably reflects adolescence well- it is all about personal development- understanding who you are- and that was just a big theme in this book.

I also really liked that Aristotles brother finally got to be recognized. That Aristotle got answers. I do think that it was in many ways really hard for Aristotle to deal with the fact that it was like his own brother had just been deleted from the family- he must be confused, feel awful for his brother in some ways, and in others... I bet he felt terrified. Maybe- this idea came to me- this happening to his brother- this complete rejection- scares Aristotle because it represents a possibility of it happening to him. That he wont be able to be accepted- accept himself- if he really allows him to be who he is. I am glad that by the end of the book Aristotle got some answers- both to what happened with his brother- that his parents still do care about him, that it is BECAUSE they care that they find it hard to talk about him- and that Aristotle does not have to worry, does not have to hate himself, because of ANYTHING that he is.

Aristotle and Dante 2

The middle of the book I think helped me really to understand both of the characters better. Aristotle jumps in front of a car coming straight at Dante, pushes him out of the way, possibly saving Dantes life. He gets seriously injured in the process- but even after he wakes up, his first concern is Dante.

I think this shows just how strongly the relationship between Aristotle and Dante is turning out to be. Both boys seem to greatly care about the other, in some ways need the other, but in other ways- I think they do appreciate the other for who they are. They care about each other. They are attempting to figure out each other, and understand their feelings for one another on the whole. I think that it must be really confusing and difficult for both boys. They are still 'developing as people' but now they have to deal with emerging feelings- identifications- that might be unsettling just because of their own, and societies perceptions. This is a theme throughout the whole book I think- finding yourself and at the same time, accepting what you find.

One interesting thing is Aristotles insistence that he is NOT a hero, and his complete distaste when people talk about it or treat it as such. At one point one character, I think Dantes mother, tells Aristotle that he is too hard on himself, and I think that this is very true- and that Aristotle not wanting to recognize his action as heroic really speaks to that. He is, like I said before, trying to acclimate to a bunch of new ideas about himself... and it is hard for him.

In my opinion, I think that Aristotle is having a really difficult time coming to terms with his feelings, his identity- and the middle of this novel helped to make that struggle a bit clearer-emphasized it quite a bit.

Aristotle and Dante Beginning

"Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe", by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, is a story about the friendship between two boys. 

Aristotle is a loner who at the beginning of the book admits to having trouble understanding and relating to people sometimes and feeling like an outsider in a lot of ways because of that. He has a problematic relationship with his father, a man that because of past trauma seems to have trouble letting anyone in, even his son. This effects Aristotle in a lot of ways, it is part of why I think, and I think that he even mentions this himself, why he has such difficulty with people- until he meets his new friend Dante.

Dante is different. Aristotle is able to relate to Dante. They are not extremely similar to each other, but they do share enough that they are able to sort of balance relating to the other and exploring, learning, through each other. Dante has a great relationship with his father. To Aristotle this is very significant because of his difficulty in understanding his own. He tries to figure out his dad, and maybe even understand his underlying issues with relating to people, and I think that in some ways he uses Dantes relationship with his dad as a sort of model on what he would like for himself. 

This book does a decent job of developing the characters as separate individuals in my opinion. At times to me, the characters feel a little bit flat. Their relationship seems... kind of plastic. Like they are looking at each other like the other person is some precious new interesting artifact... laughing at each other- everything the other person says just about- almost worshiping the other person... but because they are more observing the other person... to me it just does not feel like they are really connecting. Their relationship just feels kind of impersonal in a way- it is too positive, at least so far, it almost feels like two desperate individuals drowning together- holding onto the other person for survival, but then once they are safely back on land- leaving each other because the need is gone. They just feel as if... they are using each other for some sort of surface connection to help them cope with their eccentricities or something. For some reason, their connection just doesnt feel... very deep, very whole. 

But even so, I am enjoying the book. The characters are certainly learning a lot from each other and are developing and growing because of it- thats cool to read. Excited to see where things go.

American Born Chinese End

I quite liked the ending of "American Born Chinese". It included a bit of a twist that involved the idea of identity. Danny, a boy who seems the epitome of the "American (white) Ideal" is actually Chinese. He is actually the boy from another story, Jin Wang, a boy who struggled with the desire to fit in when he moved from a predominately Chinese area to a mostly white area. He eventually, because of his intense desire to fit in, adopted the Danny persona in an attempt to further himself from his Chinese heritage.

When his cousin comes to visit, 'Danny' is deeply uncomfortable because his cousin reminds him so strongly of everything that he has worked to hard to reject. It brings up a bit of a conflict within with the constant reminder to 'Danny' that part of his identity is made up of his Chinese heritage. That just because 'Danny' has rejected it- ignored the fact- that it doesnt make the fact go away.

I thought that the books exploration of identity- the message at the end that it is important that people not feel forced to have to reject parts of themselves just in order to fit in- was really interesting in this book. I am glad that there was a twist at the end, and I think that it just worked wonders for the amount of power this book holds. I liked the fact that eventually all of the different stories in the book did end up making sense- converged together well.

American Born Chinese Beginning

I like that "American Born Chinese" by Gene Luen Yang, is written in yet another style that we havent yet touched upon. The last book we read introduced us to verse, which proved to be one real way of imparting information- writing a book- organizing what an author wants to say in a way that works for the author. The last book, "Brown Girl Dreaming", by Jacqueline Woodson and this book both have non-traditional formats which just goes to show that there really is no one way to write. I think this just encourages other readers and writers to focus more on what they have to say instead of how they say it- I think this is a good thing because letting worries about adhering to a singular format possibly could get in the way of the message a writer is trying to impart.

"American Born Chinese", is a graphic novel, and actually a really fun read. It is a lot different from "Brown Girl Dreaming", even though both books were focused on racism. Besides the obvious differences in style and that the two books focused on different groups- there were a few others. "Brown Girl Dreaming" is a fairly concrete story. The poetic style added flair- but the story that was actually being told was realistic and included few if any... abstract elements or plot points. And there was only one story being told. On the other hand, "American Born Chinese", tells multiple stories, and it at times uses abstractions to do that. Its interesting that the two books are so different but at the end of the day both are able to get their main points across. I am interested in where the rest of the book takes me. I prefer this book greatly to "Brown Girl Dreaming" because it is so much more divergent seeming, and therefore, to me, just more interesting I suppose.

Brown Girl Dreaming End

I am glad that Jacqueline Woodson ended up becoming the author that she wanted to be. Growing up, I am sure that- and she DOES describe some of this- that it was very hard for her to make it to that point. She grew up in a time where she was very much treated unfairly, was not privy to many of the opportunities that others took for granted, and really just had to prove herself if she was going to make it. And she very much did prove herself- this book being a showcase of that.

Its not my favorite book. I dont know why really, it just wasnt. That does not mean that is a bad book though. I actually do appreciate that she wrote it in verse. In one of the articles that we read 'white space' was mentioned as something that was heavy in this book. I think that is true, and it what does make this a 'good book'. It gives the reader, to an extent, the power to make their own determinations. It helps the reader to better engage with the book, and it lets the reader be more reflective about the points that Woodson is trying to make. There really were many points that were made throughout this book. Both some about racism, inequality, unfairness- fear. And some points that were just made through viewing Woodson relating to the world around her- courage, strength, determination, ect.

Her life was hard growing up. I think we have come a long way since then, but I think that we still do have further to go. I think that books like 'Brown Girl Dreaming' will help take us closer to there.

Brown Girl Dreaming

I had already read "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson for another class. It is not my favorite of all books, but I do appreciate that Woodson does have a story to tell. She grows up in a time where things are deeply segregated, and as a black individual she is thrown right into the middle of all of it. This book, therefore, is about her experiences growing up- and through her, the possible array of experiences of people who lived through similar situations.

It says a lot about how African Americans were treated back in the time of the civil rights movement. It says a lot about the unfairness that so many people had to experience during those times. Jacqueline Woodson is a very strong individual who has overcome a lot of obstacles, including her father leaving, having to assimilate into a more racist south as a young child-(with grandparents who live and see things just a bit differently than she is used to), and just the general struggles of being born in a time where she was discriminated against just for the color of her skin.

I think stories like the ones that Woodson is telling are important because they actually DID happen and did effect a lot of people. It is important that we understand what happened in order to understand why it needs to never ever happen again. Woodsons life was definitely difficult and especially as a child- it was all probably pretty difficult to understand. But understanding, or doing the best that we can to understand things like what Woodson went through, is important. People who went through things like Woodson went through and similar deserve a voice, and I am glad that maybe through books like these that voice grows just a bit louder.

Yaqui Delgado

The end of this book is really making me conflicted. On one hand, Piddy is free from Yaqui and now, perhaps, she will be able to move on and heal. She does not have to deal any more with the stress that had been placed on her from Yaquis bullying. She can get back to doing what she wants without the weight of that on her back.

But at the same time, it feels almost as if she is running away. If, every time you have an issue you decide to just give up and leave the situation- you might never develop the skills needed to actually deal with those issues. If this happens again at her old school... what can she do? Run away again? Would she be able to deal with it in any other way. Perhaps, but there is no real evidence of it.

This was a pretty big deal- not minimizing that. I mean, Yaqui literally assaulted Piddy. Things got almost as bad as they could possibly get. It would have been no small effort for Piddy to probably feel comfortable- strong enough- to stand up for herself after having being victimized in such a way. She is only human and I understand the desire to just... escape. To have this just go away- be a problem no longer. I, in that way, cannot blame her.

But- what does that say to Yaqui? That she can get away with the things that she is doing- that there are no real negative consequences for her actions- that actually, maybe if she IS mean enough she actually might be able to get what she wants from that. Yaqui is free to continue doing what she is doing- to go along on the path that she was on before- hurting, bullying, without any interruption/intervention. She is free to hurt someone else. To even escalate these actions further.

The question I guess is- is Piddy, by doing nothing, in any way responsible for this... freedom that Yaqui has to continue the way that she has? Its, I think, kind of a hard question. I think- really no. That Piddys need for self preservation, while not... helpful in the case of Yaqui and her future actions- really, at the end of the day no one is responsible for Yaqui but Yaqui. It is almost unfair to Piddy to say otherwise. But really, the question kind of remains, if Piddy had stood up- what might that have meant for Yaqui and her future?

Looking at The Hunger Games through the Youth Lens

How the characters in the book, 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins experience being teenagers is very different from how being a teenager is experienced by American teenagers today.

American teenagers for one have many more opportunities than the teenagers in 'The Hunger Games'. The worries that the teens in 'The Hunger Games' are forced to focus on are so far removed from those that effect a teenager in this day and age that there is just no way that experiences are anywhere near the same. The Hunger Games teenagers do not fit within what America's concept of being a teenager involves today. It is potentially because of a lack of opportunity, and most likely also that culture is something that is not innate but is developed. How we treat each other, treat various stages- treat different individuals or groups of individuals is not something that people are just born completely knowing how to do in a well defined way. While biology does have influence and probably does help to point a group or individual in one direction- biological influence is inexact enough that it cannot create a strictly organized culture on its own. People are not biologically homogeneous- the experience of adolescence and the influence that genes have on that experience probably exists on some sort of complicated spectrum. Not every teenager makes the same choices, bad or good, so while they might be in some ways biologically predisposed to leaning towards a particular direction, influenced by that, the thought, the very rigid classification of just what being a teenager involves that America has created- is kind of problematic and kind of close minded in my opinion.

The characters in the Hunger Games- NOT influenced by American culture- are more left to rely upon their own instincts- their own personal need for survival. That takes precedence. Because they are focused on their own individual survival, there really has not been much time- or... togetherness, to condense a singular idea of what adolescence is. The characters are left on their own to develop- the biological changes that are going on within them influencing them to some extent- but not enough where they become almost FORCED to make some of the decisions that we consider standard for teenagers. Not enough to be able to point to a creation of an individual culture for teenagers- one that involves things that cannot be found in either older or younger individuals or groups. They make do- developing with what they have- and what that leads to is a very different teenage culture and personal development than the ideas we have created.

Anyways. The teenagers in 'The Hunger Games' experience their teenage experience differently than we do. This points to a lot of our ideas of being a teenager being a bit too... at the very least being a bit too narrow.

Yaqui Delgado

So far Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass has mostly involved quite a bit of bullying.

I think one of the worst things about bullying is that it can be because of something seemingly out of the blue, it can be seemingly out of no where. Yaqui, in this book, bullies Piddy even though Piddy has not actually done anything that would even come close to directly wrong to Yaqui. But oftentimes people do not really need an excuse beyond their own personal issues to be just awful.

The characters in this book are fairly young, and so that is definitely a factor in all of this. They are immature and just do not really seem to know what to do with their own feelings- so they come out in all sorts of underdeveloped and inappropriate ways- like the bullying.

I am wondering how much impact the poverty the characters face in this book has. Of course, it adds to the stress that is on the characters- it definitely doesnt HELP them because it gives them more issues to worry about- but I wonder whether or not without it the bullying would be as bad as it is? To me, I think that bullying is a fairly universal thing- but I do think that there are some things about poverty that can serve as... reasons for it, poor reasons, but reasons that might be easier to understand than bullying outside of impoverished communities.

End of Feed

Feed did not end happily ever after at all. This was not surprising considering that at the point of time that this book takes place, pretty much everything that could go wrong with the world has happen, and picking up the pieces of what is left would be a huge undertaking for anyone who still had full function of their own minds, never mind those who had already given control to the feed.

It is sad all that has happened in the world in this book, that the world has become so polluted and literally toxic that towns upon towns have just been covered and destroyed by sludge. Animals for the most part are gone, as the sludge makes it pretty difficult for them to thrive in any sort of way... and now the government is starting to try to move on to the moon to continue with their destruction.

People in this book have sacrificed quite a lot for their feed. Their education, their environment, their own health... those lesions, the fact that they are considered a fashion statement is pretty sad. The fact that people have just accepted them as something that they have to deal with points so strongly to a society at large that- even if they did have the freedom to choose differently, have at this point become so dependent on the feed that they would find any excuse not to fight it.

The book ends with the death of Violet. At the end of the day- the feed has become more powerful than anything else in her body- the feed has become so intertwined in her that it is medically indistinguishable from her brain- and the loss of it has pretty much the same effect as brain death would- with every other part of her body so dependent, that with a failing feed everything falls apart.

 Those with the feed, especially those who had it implanted at birth, are not given a choice, another option. They are never really able to really think for themselves. From the second they are born, into a world already mostly destroyed, they lose their actual ability to live for themselves. They are born into a trap, one that they never decided for themselves, but one that will decide everything for them for as long as they continue to exist.

It is a very sad ending to a book, but one that- with our obsession with electronics and social media today- is maybe frighteningly relatable.

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For my subvertisment I chose to use the very popular Coca Cola polar bear. Pollution is causing ever increasing problems around the globe. There are so many different forms of life on earth, and I think that it is sad that for many of these species, their ways of life are being threatened by just human laziness and over consumption. Coke is a huge company that sells products everywhere, to pretty much everyone. People buy bottles and bottles of Coke every year, and the amount of those bottles that are recycled is much lower than it could be. Recycling is so easy- yet people continue to thoughtlessly throw away their bottles instead. These bottles can end up in the ocean, threatening the lives of the hundreds of thousands of species that make their homes there. I specifically focused on the polar bears, pollution leading to an increase in greenhouse gasses, leading to increased global temperatures, leading to the melting of the polar ice caps, threatening the polar bears way of life. But really, pollution, of Coke bottles, of anything, effects every species on the planet. In my subvertisement there is a picture of a child, someone we will leave the earth to, pealing back a layer of the ocean that shows just where so many of these bottles end up. There is also a picture of polar bears standing on a melting SOS, which is pretty self explanatory. But the message is, we had better 'enjoy coke' while we still can- because at the rate we are going with 'enjoying it' and the consequences of that enjoyment- we might, along with other forms of life on Earth, might not have a lot of time left. Unless we change our ways things are going to start- continue- to change, and not for the better.

Feed and Adolescence

                                                           Feed and Adolescence

                I thought that the article was very thorough on discussing the different effects the ideas that we have about adolescence have on us as a society. One part that I particularly liked was when the article first starts discussing the book “Feed” by M.T. Anderson. The author says that in that book, characters, society in general, has fallen under a spell of sort of an infinite adolescence. The ideas we have about adolescents, that they are impulsive, casual, stupid, lazy, unable to think for themselves/sensitive to peer pressure/group think- well, ALL the characters, young to old, are pretty much representative of all of that.

 Personally, I think that adolescence can be a great time of growth and learning- but it was interesting to me that- part of the idea of what happens in “Feed”, is that this growth never really is allowed to happen. I think that adolescence, and some of the ideas we have about it can be beneficial, the idea of experimenting with different things, growing a higher need for a “private life”, increased freedom/independence, can be good for transitioning from one stage in life to another- from child to adult. But that is not what happens in “Feed”, and what we are left with is like a land of lost boys waiting for direction- waiting for what to think- from their very own Peter Pan, the Feed, - which reaffirms that THIS is all they need- that the feed can take care of them- as long as they leave everything up to the feed- submit.

This leaves us with a very single minded society, a very timid and easy to control society. They have never learned to think for themselves, to question things, and so, the Feed can do whatever it is that they want. When the highest ranking, most intelligent members of a society are incapable of thinking for themselves then there can be almost no hope of having checks and balances- of having a voice. And maybe they are ok with that for now, but what if some day, something very wrong happens- something to which they SHOULD object(already kind of there with the lesions but…)… they have never transitioned into “adults”- fully into themselves- they really wouldn’t be able to say what they would want clearly because… it wouldn’t, potentially, have developed clearly even to them as an individual.

What I just wrote reminds me a ton of a story I read called, “Harrison Bergeron”, where society, in a claimed attempt to make everyone equal and happy- eventually forces everyone to function within a lowest common denominator- one that is just not capable of understanding what is going on clearly enough to rebel. That is sort of what is happening in “Feed”, only its more gradual, insidious, less obvious. But they are weighed down and handicapped just like the strong people and the dancers in "Harrison Bergeron", not by physical means, but by their own lack of development- by the effects of the Feed.

             Anyways. I liked what the article said about “Feed”. I liked that it talked about the book as sort of representative of a society that never transitioned out of adolescence. It says to me, that adolescence is important- as a stage- that there might be many different ideas about what exactly adolescence is, but many of the ideas that we have about it can prove beneficial as long as we recognize that it isn’t the desirable end stage.

Eleanor and Park Ending

                All in all, I thought that Eleanor and Park was a good book, though the ending is really quite sad. I understand why Eleanor needed to leave, to get away from Richie and this entire family that just seems to have fallen asleep to how messed up their situation is.

                It was talked about in class, what it would take for Eleanor’s mom to leave Richie, and I am of the opinion that unless something absolutely horrible happened, it just was not very likely to happen. She is too stuck- the known devil is, in her mind, better than starting over again and taking the risks involved in starting completely new again. She’s too tired- too defeated- and too willing to look the other way at things unacceptable because of it- because she just doesn’t have it in her to really face and fight it.

                “Her mom actually kissed Eleanor good-bye at the door and told her to have fun, and to call the neighbors if things got weird with her dad. Right, Eleanor thought, I'll be sure to call you if Dad's fiancée calls me a bitch and then makes me use a bathroom without a door. Oh, wait…” (19.5)

                Her mom is in some sort of denial that is just not going to be helpful to Eleanor. As I said, the only way she probably would even really consider leaving Richie is probably if he did something absolutely horrible to one of her children- and Eleanor shouldn’t have to sit around and wait for that to happen. So she leaves on her own. It is sad that leaving is what is necessary, but I think for Eleanor’s sake it is. 

                 It is sad, Park and Eleanor had gotten really close- but even with that… I think at the end of it all it was probably best for Eleanor to leave. Park, and maybe this is oversimplifying things, but I think Park almost became a crutch for her. He was the one person who kept her going- she even says multiple times things like ‘she couldn’t live without him’ and ‘he was her whole world’ and things like that. It probably just is not healthy for her to be that dependent on one person, and it is almost unfair to Park- that is a lot of responsibility to put on one person’s shoulders. I think that away from Park, Eleanor can sort of develop on her own. 

                Anyways, it is a sad ending, but at the same time it isn’t because in some ways- it’s a new beginning for both of them- but especially Eleanor-and in my opinion she really needs one.

Adolescence Throughout Time

                I thought what we talked about in class, about things being different for teenagers now as opposed to a hundred plus years ago was interesting.

                We seem to have predetermined ideas about what life as a teenager, what going through that period entails. But looking back, we can see that what we think about teenagers now might really have not always been the case.

                The whole period of adolescence, where the idea is that this is the time that people start to develop as individuals/become independent by doing things such as experimenting with drugs and alcohol and rebelling against the world around them- that’s something that really is not a given. Back in the day, adolescents had other things to worry about. Many of them had to focus on things that were more pressing and urgent- like finding a job and supporting a family. Even those who hadn’t moved away to start their own lives by their late teens were still facing a very strict and traditional society, one that just really didn’t have much room and tolerance for rebellion or really much space for developing as an individual.

                Maybe it is that people have become more tolerant of the actions that we now associate with teenagers- society has given them… space in a way. In this way I think it has helped society as a whole by letting teenagers comb through options on their own- instead of forcing decisions directly down their throats. While in the past you might expect to find mostly farmers and housewives- people focused immediately on survival- on the basics- today the diversity of the developed world has allowed people to branch out and create and explore. It is unlikely that Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg would have ever done what they had if, at the age of say 13, they were taken out of school and sent to work in a field.

                So really, I think adolescence- the ideas that we have of it, are actually really important. And it speaks to where we are as a society, open and continuously developing.

                Eleanor and Parks coming of age, and stories like it, carry that importance down in relatable reminders as to just what adolescence means to people. Like Romeo and Juliet, and many other stories of youth- people just I think reading about that- a time where they had options and their whole futures at their own fingertips.

Eleanor and Park and Romeo and Juliet

I forgot just how much I loved this book. The last post I wrote was from what I remembered from when I had read it before, and then some really generic stuff about poverty that I found on the internet- partly because I forgot just how much I enjoyed this book the first time I read it.

    The characters are so real, so complex, so nuanced for a young adult book. The situations that they are thrown in are so ordinary and so relatable- tragic and horible in some ways- but not so much as to immediately stand out as something affecting or unlivable. But then you see them as individuals and you see them being shaped, and attempting to shape, all that is going on around them, and it is powerful.

    I love Eleanor. I love Park. I love what Park does for Eleanor, for cynical Eleanor who finds things such as-"Love at first sight" and "Romeo and Juliet" too good to be true.

"Romeo and Juliet are just two rich kids who've always gotten every little thing they want. And now, they think they want each other."
"They're in love…" Mr. Stessman said, clutching his heart.
"They don't even know each other."
"It was love at first sight."
"It was 'Oh my God, he's so cute' at first sight… it's Shakespeare making fun of love." (10.41-45)

    Here is Eleanor, this girl who feels- as I kind of see it- as if she is somehow extraneous. Unnecessary. Every moment I spent reading Eleanors story, and how lowly she thought of herself, something got to me. She was so lonely. Here is this girl overlooked, and here she is trying to convince herself that she deserves to be seen- while dealing with people telling her again and again, through the cruelty and thoughtlessness of their actions, that it is best for her to just be invisible.

    Her mother is involved with her own life, she has sort have gone into a survival mode herself- one that just does not have space for Eleanor as a person. Really, at one point it didnt have space for Eleanor at all. What it must have been like for Eleanor, to be rejected in such a way by probably the one person she hopes to be her steady lifeline, and then to come home and realize that- the family went on fine without her- that she maybe really wasnt needed at all.

    But when Eleanor walked in the house, it was like her siblings didn't recognize her. (4.3)

    That is why when Park comes, when Park starts even just being kind to her- it is hard for her to take- because it is hard for her to trust it. At one point in the book even she mentions that she knows she would be devestated, and was constantly expecting- constantly on edge- to the possibility of him breaking off his contact. Because she was alone, but with Park, because Park cares about her- Park thinks she matters. And that terrifies her, because if she starts to believe it and then builds herself up with it and something DOES happen- like the friendship deteriorating, it will only mean that there will be farther for her to fall.

Park touched her hands like they were something rare and precious, like her fingers were intimately connected to the rest of her body. Which, of course, they were. It was hard to explain. He made her feel like more than the sum of her parts. (16.7) 

    So she tests him. She gives him bits and pieces, holds much of herself back but not all, to see whether or not he rejects her. And by rejects- I mean rejects her as a person- rejects who she is as a person, who she is trying to be- because if she gives too much, if she trusts him too much and then that goes sour and he does reject her- it might make her feel as if she were worthless.

"Because I'm interested. It's like you've got all these weird barriers set up, like you only want me to have access to this tiny part of you..."
"Yes," she said, crossing her arms. "Barriers. Caution tape. I'm doing you a favor."
"Don't," he said. "I can handle it." (33.51-53)

    But as the book goes on her confidence grows- because Park becomes her light in the dark really. Makes her feel as if she is not alone, that if someone can care about her then maybe there is something worth caring about- no matter her physical appearance, her poverty, any of that. And it is sad that this confidence has to come from Park initially, it is sad that Eleanor is in such a situation that seems to be the case- but the fact that it does grow- and that it is recognizable throughout the book- I think is great, and I think it is what makes this such a good story.

Eleanor and Park

We are reading the book 'Eleanor and Park', by Rainbow Rowell this week in class.

This book deals with many different themes, including poverty, friendship, and struggling.

We are given two very different characters; Park, who comes from a fairly stable background- a good home, and Eleanor- who comes from a more seemingly more challenged background.

Because of the struggles of her background, Eleanor carries over many less than favorable aspects from it with her to school every day- and these make it very hard for her to make friends. They make it challenging to have any sort of social life at all. Although her home situation is in no way her fault, she is the one who is left to face the consequences of it. She is tormented.

Park is, on the other hand- while not exactly popular, is not a social outcast like Eleanor. But, even Park, who time and again later on in the book is shown to be a very kind character, has a hard time accepting Eleanor initially. It takes him a long time to get beyond the facts of what Eleanor seems to represent to others- poverty, undesirability, and all else looked down upon- and actually begin to see Eleanor as a human being. This kind of shows that- there are probably certain presumptions and stereotypes we all carry around with us that impact us in ways that we might not always really want to recognize as- unfair.

Anyways, I am enjoying the book so far. I like both of the characters and want to see where the plot- and how the relationship between Eleanor and Park continues to develop. They have a very interesting and natural feeling relationship that I am glad to see that Park proves to be very much possible. That it is possible to put down prejudice, and just judge-or recognize- a person for who they actually happen to be.

 Here are some sources that describe just what prejudice is:

http://www.understandingprejudice.org/

https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/prejudice-of-poverty-why-americans-hate-the-poor-and-worship-the-rich/

http://www.simplypsychology.org/prejudice.html