Ending 19 Minutes

Bullying can hurt inside and out, Abuse can hurt just as much. Possibly even more because the suffering is showing on the outside where people can see, where the words pass from one mouth to another, which then spills out all over the floor. The floor that which everyone has laid eyes on but never really realized that other peoples hurt is the only thing holding them up. They think it's their stable ground, but little did they know that it's not their ground to even be near. The pain that kids inflict on each other makes love seem terrifying and not real. “When I was little I used to pour salt on slugs. I liked watching them dissolve before my eyes. Cruelty is always sort of fun until you realize that something's getting hurt. It would be one thing to be a loser if it meant no one paid attention to you, but in school, it means your actively sought out. You're the slug, and they're holding all the salt. And they haven't developed a conscience.” There are so many kids that are lost and insecure because of the cruel things that occur way to many times in their lives. Young adults never really get to experience or feel love from another person because they are already wallowing in self-doubt or hate.


“I think a persons life is supposed to be like a DVD. You can see the version everyone else sees, or you can choose the director's cut- the way he wanted you to see it, before everything got in the way. There are menus, probably, so that you can start at the good spots and not have to relive the bad ones. You can measure your life by the number of scenes you've survived, or the minutes you've been stuck there. Probably, though, life is more like one of those dumb video surveillance tape. Grainy, no matter how hard you stare at it. And looped: the same thing, over and over.” Some people think themes are inutile, meaning they have no useful purpose; this is just because they aren't looking at the intricate parts. Or people are just being plain lazy and are not thinking about the details they were offered. Until the day they come to a halt, they have ran to a dead end only realizing then that a mile ago they should have listened to the directions they so dearly needed. Themes are convenient and beneficial in life and we, as people need to take advantage of these lessons more often.


Nineteen Minutes, the novel of which has taught me so much, through the relationships, the unheard thoughts, the themes and the setting where it was truly needed the most. It was a surreal wake-up call when I and the rest of the world severely needed it the most. It is in my best interest to recommend this book to young and mature adults, it will be sure to leave you with the impact of sympathy and compassion for those families that were caused great pain. Nineteen Minutes will also make you open your eyes way more than the human body will even allow.

Thoughts.

I can understand how kids want to be part of the popular crowd and all that. But how did Josie get from looking down on the popular girls who were fake to wanting to be friends with them? Was it because of the time that she and Courtney were partners for a school project? What about when the popular crowd spoke to Peter and Josie about what happened in class with the girl who came on her period? Maybe it gave her a taste of what being in the "in crowd" was like. I figure that when everyone was throwing tampons at that girl, Josie was just too afraid to go along with Peter and not do it. If she did, then it'll be the first time that the bullying would focus on her, whereas the focus was on Peter while she was generally ignored. Perhaps after that, the "cool kids" gradually started to talk to her and before she knew it she was part of that crowd.

I think overall I couldn't really sympathize with Josie. I understand how hard it must be to wear a mask 24/7 along with bearing the guilt of betraying a friend. I know that she must have been suffering, but.....I don't know, I can't explain it. It seemed like JP was trying to convey Josie's suffering, but it just fell kind of flat to me. For example, Josie's earlier belief that her mother didn't care for her. Personally, I never understood what led her to that conclusion. But then again, it's been a while since I read the book. Also I would have liked more reflection on her part about her betrayal and more remorse, especially near and at the end of the story.

Speaking of the ending, I thought that it could've been more fleshed out. It seemed too abrupt to me. Maybe I'm asking too much, but I would have liked to see some responses to Peter's death, especially from his parents and Josie. Maybe even a funeral; like a final chapter to the whole tradegy. It could've been a chance to see the community's reaction to what Peter had been through.

Thoughts on Alex.

Alex had difficulties after the school shooting as like all parents she did not know if her daughter was injuried or killed. After she discovered that Josie had survived, she felt guilty because she felt that she had not being giving Josie enough time and attention.She also felt that she was not there enough for Josie. Alex made more effort to spend more time with Josie and to be a better mother to her daughter.At the end of the book I believe that Alex has grown and developed as a character. Her priorities have changed and she is no longer so career orientated and gives up being a judge and goes back to being a public defender. Her new life with Patrick and being a better mother to her new baby and not making the same mistakes that she made with Josie becomes a more important priority. She also makes an effort to spend more time with Josie and tries to repair their relationship. I feel her lowest point in the novel was when she finally discovers what a flawed character her daughter Josie really is. She discovers that Josie lied and deceived her, that Josie had betrayed and hurt Peter and was capable of murder, as she shot her boyfriend Matt Royston. Josie's testimony is really Alex's lowest point because she finally learns the awful truth about Josie. There is a lot of symbolism in the novel. For example numbers are an important symbol in the novel. Numbers are symbolic of the fact that so much damage can occur in only 19 minutes, that Peter has been trapped in a terrible situation for too long and that time is running out for him. It is also significant that Peter's math teacher Mr McCabe is the only character in the entire novel that makes any effort to help Peter. Guns are also an important symbol in the novel. The incident when Peter and Josie are only 5 years old and Alex caught them playing with guns foreshadows the future incident of the school shooting at Sterling High. Guns are a symbol of violence in the novel.

Close Reading Bingo

#1. As the passage goes on, the author uses phrases like "He's got a lot of dough" and "they're also touchy as hell" to make it feel as though the narrator is just another regular kid who is telling you a story.
The error is underlined from rule number 6: http://jimmehftw.blogspot.com/


#2. Holden started by saying that while he knows the reader would like to know about his background, he is not going to provide any information on his origins.
The error is underlines from rule number 7: http://academiczengerine.blogspot.com/


#3. "Turned toward the escalators, carrying a black Penguin paperback and a small white CVS bag, its receipt stapled over the top," describes the harsh clattering of the setting."
The error is underlined from rule number 2: http://t-rex-howdini.blogspot.com/


#4 Baker describes his surroundings as "towering volumes of marble and glass" and "long glossy highlights to each of the black rubber handrails".
The error is highlighted from rule number 8: http://skullandglossbones3.blogspot.com/


WINNER:

J.D. Salinger masters the voice of his protagonist, Holden Caulfield, in the first page of his novel Catcher in the Rye, using direct, colloquial, and bluntly offensive diction. Holden starts by saying that while he knows the reader would like to know about his background, he is not going to provide any information on his origins. His gruff, devil-may-care attitude exudes from the page, as he says he can’t be bothered with “all that David Copperfield kind of crap.” Holden’s trademark sense of superiority reverberates within the passage. While Holden’s language is neither profound nor particularly beautiful, it is representative of how a disenchanted teenager speaks. Holden complains that he won’t give his “whole goddam autobiography” and that his prother is far away from “this crummy place.” He has no objection to cursing, a sign of rebellion against the norm through language. Salinger breathes life into Holden by rambling and cussing, providing literature’s favorite teenage antihero with an identifiably meandering and rude voice.

FROM : http://academiczengerine.blogspot.com/

Close Reading: Diction

The slightly elevated diction of Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine describes the unusual feelings and tolerance the narrator feels for escaltors in his everyday work place. His clincally suggestive admiration is expressed through metaphors like "the free-standing kind: a pair of integral signs swooping upward" and "a temporary, steeper escalator of daylight" make the paragragh slightly a straightforward connotative buisnesslike description of the way the narrator sees escaltors. Baker's rifind, scholarly yet straightforward lexicon describes the escalator through a simile to express the smooth and gracefulness "like the radians of black luster that ride the undulating outer edge." The author uses a unique and different technique to convey the seen surroundings of a typical place like where he works.

Currently Week 1 .. Again.

Book this week: 19 Minutes , Jodie Picoult
Pages this week: 111
Pages this semester: 1217


TheyCallMeFreshMoney:
The words on the pages create a  language of denotative tone and sound almost journalistic as if I was reading a two hundred page newpapers article


Eddie:
It has a high elevation with elegant and fancy diction.


Notoriously MoFulla:
Picoult's use of straightforward language gives off a sense that she doesn't care about the norm of our society and what they will think.



For the lack of a better name:
First, giving a well painted vignette,  then introducing the main character, not directly though, simply through descriptive language with great indirectness.


The New Zealander:
Some predictable repetition of words occurs, creating neither a harsh, coarse sound, nor a melodious one.


I think the winner is for the lack of a better name, they use well descriptive words and have a great sentence overall.

THEME

I got into a discussion with my mother about this book, and we had extremely opposing views.

She thought this was a depressing novel (i can't disagree with her there), and she thought it was morbid and weird how Josie ended up serving 5 years, Peter ended up committing suicide, and Alex had to step down.

I thought it was more of a second chance by the end of the novel, Josie's putting her life back together even though she's in prison (she's no longer being abused and has come clean about her life), Peter's finally free of torment, Alex is having a new child and while it won't replace Josie, it's a new start, and finally I felt as though when Peter's father met the bullied student named Peter, it was symbolizing a second chance. 

"If you spent you life concentrating on what everyone else thought of you, would you forget who you really were? What if the face you showed the world turned out to be a mask…with nothing beneath it?"

"A gun was nothing, really, without a person behind it. "

But, the theme which resonates the strongest in Nineteen Minutes is that of expectations – those for ourselves as well as those entertained by parents for children and children for parents – and how those expectations shape our lives. Is it fair to judge someone? Should we expect the world to accept us as we are, and if not, is it ever okay to strike back?

Favorite Character

Without a doubt, Alex is my favorite character... for a number of reasons.

NUMBER 1: She is the only character in my opinion that stays true to herself, yeah she has flaws but she admitted them and was willing to make up for them, which I feel can't be said for all the characters, if Josie hadn't been asked to testify, would the truth have come out? I doubt it. Alex was different.

NUMBER 2: Alex never shys away from the truth; she admitted to Lacy from day one that she didn't want her baby, her career was what was important to her and she was scared of becoming a mom. I liked Alex because of her determination, she admitted at the very beginning that her dad was unaffectionate and instead she got good grades in order to make him love her etc Josie I feel criticises her mum for never having time for her, and I think some would say Alex is like her dad and is very unfeeling towards Josie but I think it'd be wrong to say that. Alex, shows that as a mother love really is unconditional and all she wants Josie to do is tell the truth regardless. I felt that Alex came the furthest because she was willing to admit to her previous mistakes.

NUMBER 3: Alex is cold to begin with but who can blame her if she never experienced affection from her father, this story comes full circle, she treats Josie like this originally because of the way she is treat by her own father. To add to this Logan Rourke does the exact same thing and just drops Alex which I feel only serves to make Alex stronger.

Sytle Mapping !

The narrator of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian demonstrates a thorough understanding of picturesque, and formally sophitcated Diction. The words could be described as connotative with a harmonious sound. The expressive adjectives such as "endless," "gnashing," "bitter," "hobbled," "pinewood,"  "oblique" portrays a lustrous description and creates an experience of the dark mood of the passage.The passage from "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman is describing a town called Wall and is straightforward and common. The diction falls into the category of being very denotative with a high and elevated tone wtih a light use of figurative language. The narrator uses only common adjectives such as "old" and "square." The narrator describes the houses of Wall with conversational, blunt language. The epigraph of the novel My Sister's Keeper could be described as denotative as everything is straightforward and set for the novel. The opening epigraph immediately sets a dark and dramatic tone for the novel by using lofty language to speak of war and the aims of war. The choice of epigraph implies that a battle of some sort will ensue in the novel, in at least a figurative sense, and the stakes will be life and death.

Quarterly :)

The books I have read this semester so far have been AWESOME! i love reading about teen life and the things that people have to go through. i like reading about people going through hardships and getting through them and growing as a person after everything is over with.
My book The perks of being a wallflower was probably the most graphic and vivid to read because there were so many sexual references to it, but i still enjoyed reading it. I mostly connected with its kind of a funny story because the main character had an anxiety disorder as well as depression. I have the same anxiety and i could relate to the things he would describe sometimes. people dont understand how you feel unless they have experienced the same thing for themself. i understood completey how he thought that no one was like him and no one could understand him. its a very hard thing to go through and its hard to explain to someone who has never had a mind disorder like that. The book i am reading now is really good as well. Its sad and can sometimes be frustrating...you wonder why some of the characters do the things that they do...it can also be frustrating because of some of the things that happen. The school shooting was really sad to read about and couldve been prevented. I believe that bullying is a very big deal in school these days. people dont realize how much words really do hurt.

a new favorite.

Before reading Nineteen Minutes, I had read four books by Jodi Picoult, my favorite being My Sister's Keeper. Now, I have a new favorite. As in most of her books, Picoult takes a contreversial issue and shows you all side of the equation. But this time, Picoult takes an issue that isn't thought of as one of the most conterversial issues in our society, and makes you think about the situation in a whole new light.

 

This book looks into what being in the ‘popular group’ can mean for some people, and what it can mean for those that don’t fit in. It also made me almost understand what made the shooter, a teenage boy, do what he did, because it explains his past. This shows the worst thing that can happen as a result of bullying over many years.

I like the way that the book was set out... Starting out with the shooting, it switches between past and present, starting with when the parents of the two main characters, Josie and Peter met, and ending with the first anniversary of the shooting. This meant that the background to the event, as well as the consequences of it were shown throughout the book.

shootings in school

While i was reading i figured out something about this book that is HUGE. Every day kids head off to school for to learn valuable lessons.....both academic and social. In a perfect world, a child’s biggest worry should be the homework they forgot to do, or the gym shorts they left at home. But the reality is that these days, kids have a lot more to deal with, and this sometimes includes extreme violence in schools. 19 Minutes comes across the subject of what happens when a child is pushed beyond their limit, and embarks on a shooting spree at school. A mere 19 minutes is all it takes for Peter Houghton’s life – and the lives of his victims – to change forever.

While Jodi Picoult’s novel is fictional, there are haunting similarities to real-life incidents that have become more and more common over the recent years. It brings to mind horrifying events such as the Columbine school massacre and the Virginia Tech. massacre. In Picoult’s version, however, the young gunman is captured alive, allowing the author to probe the reason behind the teen’s violent escapade. What follow’s is a heart-wrenching look into the years of bullying leading up to the fateful day when Peter walks into school and opens fire on fellow pupils. I was torn between shock and pity. Shock at the cold and calculated manner in which the massacre takes place, and pity or perhaps more appropriately, empathy – towards the shooter, who endures constant bullying and humiliation at the hands of his peers. Did the real-life perpetrators of school shootings undergo the same treatment? What leads to such an awful crossroad at which a teenager hopes for a sure death after going on a shooting spree? And what can we as students do to make sure it never happens again?

currently week 7 :)

Books Im Reading: 19 minutes my Jodi Picoult
Pages This Week: 164
Pages this semester: 964

Quotes of the week :

“So much of the language of love was like that: you devoured someone with your eyes, you drank in the sight of him, you swallowed him whole. Love was substance, broken down and beating through your bloodstream.”

“When you don't fit in, you become superhuman. You can feel everyone else's eyes on you, stuck like Velcro. You can hear a whisper about you from a mile away. You can disappear, even when it looks like you're still standing right there. You can scream, and nobody hears a sound.
You become the mutant who fell into the vat of acid, the Joker who can't remove his mask, the bionic man who's missing all his limbs and none of his heart.
You are the thing that used to be normal, but that was so long ago, you can't even remember what it was like. ”
“A mathematical formula for happiness:Reality divided by Expectations.There were two ways to be happy:improve your reality or lower your expectations.”

i think i found a theme!

The characters in the book...Jodi, Alex, and Peter all hide various parts of themselves from others. this, I think is probably the theme of the story. The consequences of Jodi’s false persona is a crushing feeling of sadness, because she felt in the beginning that none of her friends would care about her if she showed them the real her, and after a while, she feels like there is no more REAL HER. Her mother, on the other hand, had to keep up a constant appearance of the respectful judge. Otherwise who would trust her to be fair in court? Lastly, Peter, hides his pain and anger from is parents until it overflows, and he looses control, and murders ten people.

Beware of teen angst, it kills, literally.

“In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn; color your hair; watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five."

"In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world; or you can just jump off it.”

 

19 minutes..

I have been reading 19 minutes my jodie picoult , my sister owns this book and i was going through her stuff and it looked really good. So far i have only read Chapter one and the majority of Chapter 2. And so far, THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!! The first chapter just swept me away and convinced me that I had definately not made a mistake by choosing this book. I’m glad I picked it and I hope it only gets better as i read.

i found this picture, it is so sad because its true..i thought it went well with the events happening in my book..

I was completely taken by surprise when the school shooting happened. At first I was like, “why is this jumping from person to person?” and at the end of Zoe’s description, I probably read the last sentence 5 or more times to make sure I read the right thing. didn’t see THAT one coming!! I’m pretty sure im getting addicted to this book and can’t wait to see what happens next!