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?