Three Things about me - week three posts A & B

A.

Quote

“I’ve been thinking that really I need some company in my house, and you hate living at home. What do you think about becoming my house-mate?” (pg 94). This is a significant part of the book because Hilary is asking Gary to move in with him. This would bring a closer friendship between each other, as appose to just work friends. Because Gary does move in, Hilary has second thoughts about her upcoming marriage with fiancé in New Zealand.

Vocabulary:

Abacus- a device for making arithmetic calculations, consisting of a frame set with rods on which balls or beads are moved. (pg 90)
Haughty- disdainfully proud; snobbish; scornfully arrogant; supercilious (pg 111)

B.
Response:

As the story is developing, I’m starting to see a connection between the trainees in their personal lives other then being friends with each other. The story is slowly coming along, and I’m finding myself gaining interest. Although each of the workers relationships have similarities with each other, they all have small details that are different. Gary and Hilary find themselves now living together, and both wanting more. But Hilary is already engaged to a man that lives in New Zealand. After sharing their first kiss, her fiancée shows up at her door as a surprise. This instantly causes their new found love to a halting stop. A similar work friendly relationship gone personal is also between Sam and Rose. Even though they have at least 30 years of age difference, they become involved sexually with each other which ended up with Rose becoming pregnant. Rose, forcing Sam to allow her to move in with her and getting engaged to each other, knows that the baby is not really Sam’s. But, because she’s only in her late teens or early 20’s has no way to support the baby on her own with the real father. Sam, not knowing this at the time misreads the relationship as pure love. Which he soon realizes is only a fantasy as he is informed Rose is having intimate relationships with the real father. This results in a verbal fight between the two.

Three Things About Me - week two posts A & B

A-

Vocabulary:

Disdainful (pg.45) - full of or showing disdain; scornful.
Epitome (pg.48) - a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class

Theme
One emerging them from the book is to follow your instinct when you believe something is wrong, even if it seems to belong in a movie.

B-

Response:

Being only the second week of reading the book. I haven’t developed much of an interest towards Three Things about Me. So far, the plot and outcome of each entry of the characters have been very predictable. The only section that has interested me so far was Alma’s, the seemingly quiet and shy trainee among the rest.
Alma’s ex-actress life style of fame and fortune had drastically changed to trying to support herself by working a 9-5 job. This changed because of her want to live as a “normal” person. Yet, still being “normal”, she had found herself in one of the most uncommon situations. On Page 47 in the book, Alma is walking down the street, she saw an old lady up high in a retiring home with a sign against the window that read “HELP”. Alma immediately thought she had misread it, but unfortunately she hadn’t. Alma ends up “rescuing” an elderly lady from what seemed to be an un-safe and abusive nursing home. To me, this shows that she cares for other people more then herself, because she brought the elderly women to live with her, even though she had been living off every last cent she had.

Three Things About Me - week one posts A & B

A-
Vocabulary:
Grimace (pg. 19) - a facial expression, often ugly or contorted, that indicates disapproval or pain.
Placting (pg. 29) - to appease or pacify, esp. by concessions or conciliatory gestures.

Quote:
"Looking around the room at them all, Charlotte felt pang of loneliness. When the previous job had become unbearable she knew she had run out of choices, but leaving Salzburg had meant leaving everything that she loved behind. This quote is important because it explains why Charlotte is now in the new job orientation with all the others. (pg. 23)

B-
Response:

In only the first few pages from the book, there was a very strong sense of the theme "don't judge a book by it's cover." When Rob is introducing himself to the new faculty members, on page seven, he tries to guess how each of them act in the work place. He also judges them based off of their personality, and interaction with others. But, when there are different chapters from the new work members such as Charlotte, Alma, Hilary, Sam, Gary, and Amie they turn out to be almost completely opposite to what Rob had first interpreted them to be. Which tells me, the reader, that you shouldn't judge people when you first meet them, because you won't know everything about them based only on your first impression. As Rob gives Charlotte more time to talk, he slowly realizes that she isn't what he thought,a stuck-up self centered woman, but rather nice and friendly.
Along with Charlotte, Rob also made false assumptions about Alma. He first guessed that she was very shy with the work group, and wanted nothing more then a work relationship with the others, not even friendship. But, when he spent time during their lunch break she really opened up with him, and he realized she would be a good friend to have because she's an interesting person to talk to and she's very nice when you give her a chance.

Alternative Assignment - Double Bubble and Bubble maps

Full Size Map

Full Size Map

Alternative Assignment - Tree and multi flow map

Full size map

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Full size map

Week three, part two

Throughout the book A Long Way Gone, it has brought me through many different emotions. In parts where I am hardly able to read through the gruesome details and wounds of the refugees to other parts where I can't get enough of Ishmael's firsthand life with rebels against him and being forced to fight as a soldier. This book has many strengths in the sense where it is for the most part very action packed, bringing you through countless war zones and battles which could not be predicted, and are barely imaginable. But, that also creates a weakness. Most of the battles described by Ishmael are hard to picture as I read because I've never heard, or read anything like this of any kind. It is completely different from any other war story I've read. But, in ways that also is a strength. This book is hard to get tired of from its constant surprises and the inner thoughts of a young soldier boy who's practically left alone in a world that he can't change, or get away from.

Week three, part one

1) A Long Way gone by Ishmael Beah is filled with the shocking and gory stories of the ways of the rebels during the Sierra Leone revolution. Being a young boy at twelve years old, Ishmael sees what much more then anyone should ever see in their whole life time. Going through towns with his brother and two friends in place of his missing family, there are countless wounded refugees everywhere. As the rebels slowly settle down the towns finally seem like a place that could actually be called a town, and look as one too. Several days go by before the chaotic rebel attacks come back into Ishmael's town causing him to flee once again to a town far away. Through all of the shouting, running, and gunshots Ishmael finds himself alone running through the woods. Going through days alone in the woods, Ishmael finally runs into his friends. They all decide to go their separate ways, seeing as a young group of boys too closely resembled the rebels. Hopping from town to town, Ishmael learns a lot about himself including his strengths, weaknesses, and his general thought flow. After many weeks pass, he finds himself once again with a group of boys around his age but now it is more safe to travel in groups. As the more time Ishmael spends going through towns and learning more about himself, and what others are going through he's maturing very fast, even though he has literally been going through one of the worst situations a young boy could ever go through, or even an adult for that matter.



2) Ishmael Beah is an author of his memoir of being an ex-child soldier during the Sierra Leone revolution in 1991. Before he was even 14, he lost hos parents and two brothers and was forced into being a child solider. Fighting for almost three years before he was finally saved, Ishmael "killed more men then could be counted" seeing what children should never have to see during any part of their life. Living his life in the war zone for those years, he eventually moved to New York City in 1998, where he went into a foster program to regain the mother figure that he lost. Now being a successful graduate of Oberlin College, he tells the gruesome tale from his childhood.