If I were in Jane's shoes, I don't know what I would do. While she has every right to be upset with him I guess I understand why he wouldn't tell her about Bertha, but at the same time, she had every right to know. But can you blame him? I mean, Bertha is completely nuts. It must be really hard to look at her or even think about her knowing that she once was a beautiful, sane woman, and now she crawls on the ground and pounces on him like a lion every chance she gets.
The final reading is quite intense. Its just so weird how Jane was having cold feet before the wedding and then all of this was thrust upon her right when she felt everything was actually going to take place. While I was sad for Jane I thought it was a really good twist to the book, it made the reader really interested in what was happening to the people of Thornfield.
I do think this book should be taught in College literature because it teaches kids how to get through a book they may not actually like, but to read it anyway. It has a really interesting plot if you actually get into it and keep reading, but a lot of kids don't seem to.
I will say though, that this book is difficult to anetate as you're reading it because it takes a lot longer to go through everything when you have to stop and highlight or make a note when you notice somthing. I know it helps to be able to go back when looking through the book, but when you're reading you just want to get it done and anetating sometimes doubles the time and for Jane Eyre, that could easily be two hours.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Out of All Other Diseases, How Did I End Up With Scarlet Fever?
While we were reading Jane Eyre and it came to the part of the Typhus epidemic, I couldn't help but remember my bout with Scarlet Fever.
I was in second grade, and was experiencing what seemed like a hard core cold. My nose, my throat, and my mouth were all swollen and I had these weird red spots throughout my body. But not only that, I was so tired all the time, especially after the simplest activities like walking up the steps. With all these symptoms, I had no fever though.
As time passed, my throat got so bad I couldn't swallow anything. Finally, my mom took me to the doctor. After some tests, the doctors came back and said I had strep throat...and Scarlet Fever. He said it was caused by going from one extreme temperature to the next. What I don't understand, is where did I experience such a strong temperature change? I lived in Dayton, Ohio!
Seeing as Scarlet fever is contagious (and strep throat for the first 24 hours after you take antibiotics), I couldn't go to school as long as I had it. Which, seeing as I loved school, sucked. I sat around all day eating popsicles because I couldn't swallow anything. And while I like popsicles, after about 10, they just don't cut it anymore.
So, for the next couple of weeks, my days were filled with popsicles, movies, and naps. Which probably seems alright, but the sick part, was not fun at all.
For those of you that don't know what Scarlet Fever is its symptoms are, like I mentioned before, a swollen throat, mouth, and nose. You also get a rash all over your body, called Scarlatina. The part you can't see though, is the toxemia. Toxemia is blood poisoning, caused by the presence of toxins from bacteria in the blood.
I was in second grade, and was experiencing what seemed like a hard core cold. My nose, my throat, and my mouth were all swollen and I had these weird red spots throughout my body. But not only that, I was so tired all the time, especially after the simplest activities like walking up the steps. With all these symptoms, I had no fever though.
As time passed, my throat got so bad I couldn't swallow anything. Finally, my mom took me to the doctor. After some tests, the doctors came back and said I had strep throat...and Scarlet Fever. He said it was caused by going from one extreme temperature to the next. What I don't understand, is where did I experience such a strong temperature change? I lived in Dayton, Ohio!
Seeing as Scarlet fever is contagious (and strep throat for the first 24 hours after you take antibiotics), I couldn't go to school as long as I had it. Which, seeing as I loved school, sucked. I sat around all day eating popsicles because I couldn't swallow anything. And while I like popsicles, after about 10, they just don't cut it anymore.
So, for the next couple of weeks, my days were filled with popsicles, movies, and naps. Which probably seems alright, but the sick part, was not fun at all.
For those of you that don't know what Scarlet Fever is its symptoms are, like I mentioned before, a swollen throat, mouth, and nose. You also get a rash all over your body, called Scarlatina. The part you can't see though, is the toxemia. Toxemia is blood poisoning, caused by the presence of toxins from bacteria in the blood.
American Teenager
When watching this movie I couldn't help but see similarities to McFarland. While many situations seemed very extreme and unrealistic, I think that for the most part it seemed accurate. Many kids in the class seemed doubtful that many of those things go on in McFarland. I mostly agree, but then this thought recently came to mind.
What if we don't believe it doesn't go on because we are so absorbed in our lives and our friends lives that we don't see what goes on in others around us? There are plenty of people, or "cliques" that we don't talk to or even notice everyday in school. How could we know what's going on in other's lives if we don't actually take the time to stop and observe what's happening to them? Many may argue that word travels fast in McFarland because we're such a small community, so whatever is going on, everyone knows about it, but I absolutely disagree. There are many students that go unnoticed during high school by their peers around them. They may be going through something unimaginable and you would never know.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is, we don't know how accurate or inaccurate that documentary really is, and I don't know if we ever really can.
What if we don't believe it doesn't go on because we are so absorbed in our lives and our friends lives that we don't see what goes on in others around us? There are plenty of people, or "cliques" that we don't talk to or even notice everyday in school. How could we know what's going on in other's lives if we don't actually take the time to stop and observe what's happening to them? Many may argue that word travels fast in McFarland because we're such a small community, so whatever is going on, everyone knows about it, but I absolutely disagree. There are many students that go unnoticed during high school by their peers around them. They may be going through something unimaginable and you would never know.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is, we don't know how accurate or inaccurate that documentary really is, and I don't know if we ever really can.
My Thoughts On Holden
As we kept reading The Catcher In The Rye, I couldn't help but notice that Holden really liked kids. Not in a creepy way, but he seemed to really connect with them. Each time I read more in the book I just couldn't help but notice how every time he spoke of a child, just any child, he, at least for a moment, seemed normal. He seemed happy even.
This led me to think, as we ended the book, that maybe one thing that is really bothering Holden is growing up. He talks about how immature he is all the time, and he isn't the only one. But what really set off this idea is the ending of the book. Holden talks about wanting to protect all the children from "falling over the cliff." i think this cliff is loss of innocence. He wants to protect kids from every losing their innocence and he continues to wish he hadn't.
This led me to think, as we ended the book, that maybe one thing that is really bothering Holden is growing up. He talks about how immature he is all the time, and he isn't the only one. But what really set off this idea is the ending of the book. Holden talks about wanting to protect all the children from "falling over the cliff." i think this cliff is loss of innocence. He wants to protect kids from every losing their innocence and he continues to wish he hadn't.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A Look at the Past
I found it really interesting when Holden described his brother, Allie.
"He's dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18th, 1946. You'd have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. He was terrifically intelligent...But it wasn't just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in many ways."
I chose this because I think Salinger does a phenomenal job of showing Holden's love for his brother. Holden doesn't like to talk about his past, but when talking about Allie I can just see him glowing with pride as he spoke of all his qualities. It is so well written that I felt like Holden was really talking to, telling me about his amazing little brother. I could see him letting go of his emotions as he went back to what seemed like the happiest time of his life.
What I take from this selection in the book is that Holden was hurt very much when his brother died. He cared for him so much and he was taken away from him at such a young age. Maybe he doesn't care about anything in his life because he thinks that no matter how hard he tries, everything will be taken away from him in the end.
"He's dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18th, 1946. You'd have liked him. He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent. He was terrifically intelligent...But it wasn't just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in many ways."
I chose this because I think Salinger does a phenomenal job of showing Holden's love for his brother. Holden doesn't like to talk about his past, but when talking about Allie I can just see him glowing with pride as he spoke of all his qualities. It is so well written that I felt like Holden was really talking to, telling me about his amazing little brother. I could see him letting go of his emotions as he went back to what seemed like the happiest time of his life.
What I take from this selection in the book is that Holden was hurt very much when his brother died. He cared for him so much and he was taken away from him at such a young age. Maybe he doesn't care about anything in his life because he thinks that no matter how hard he tries, everything will be taken away from him in the end.
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