Blog # 1 The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight In Heaven

This novel By Sherman Alexie so far has  an interesting writing style. The whole story is told by a young teenage Indian named Victor. He lives on a reservation where a lot of his life has been spent there. From the beginning of the novel I enjoyed the keen observations that Victor had made about his parents. In each chapter he would notice his mother's and father's personality. These keen observations gave me a complete understanding of Victor's father and mother. For example Victor's father had been sent to jail for beating up a national guard, and his father was a big fan of Jimi Hendrix. I adored how Victor's father would pass down his advice and traits to his son, and it was very evident when his father played the Jimi Hendrix's song "Star Spangled Banner" all around the house. The aspect of the book that I found entertaining was when the Indians acted like common kids today. For example they hanged out, they had parties, and they had soda as drinks. This struck me because I thought they were going to be traditional Indians,but this kept my attention all throughout the book. As I was getting farther in the novel I noticed that Victor had some anger and sadness in him because of his father's and mother's divorce. This hope of seeing his father and mother again together was very emotional and it made me understand how he was feeling inside. I can't wait to continue this novel and find out more about Victor!

Blog # 2- Bell Jar

         The novel, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, had a dark setting that kept the readers attention throughout the whole book. The main character Esther was a girl at the age of 20 that had a very depressing life, and this had kept her happiness away from her life. Many events that kept her sad were when she found out that the love of her life Buddy Willard had slept with another women. I believe these setbacks in her life each time led to her to be suicidal and stopped her to think optimistically. This evil inside Esther was emerging and growing, and in the middle of book I believe she had lost hope and stopped looking for help to solve her suicidal problem. This was evident when she started to not even adore or take advice from her mother; she had said to Dr. Nolan "I hate my mother!" Throughout the book I felt disgusted the way Esther tried to attempt suicide, and this made the book have a more wicked setting. The details that Sylvia Plath used to describe the feelings of Esther was so frightening, that it kept my attention to the book and made me want to know what was going to happen next. I felt like the descriptive writing style in The Bell Jar was very similar to The House on Mango Street, and this writing style from Sylvia Plath attracts the reader to the book. When Esther had shock treatments for her mental illness, the chapter would become very dramatic and intense. But the sad thing was that I felt like Esther was going through so much pain and torture. There were features of the book that I didn’t enjoy. I disliked the gruesome scenes of Esther’s emotional breakdown, and the dark setting throughout the book, because it was always depressing and gloomy. Overall I enjoyed the book’s writing style, and the intensity of each chapter about Esther!

http://www.sylviaplath.de/

The Bell Jar blog #1

This novel by Sylvia Plath so far is interesting . It starts with a dark and wicked mood. The first sentence is about the electrocution of a family, the Rosenbergs. From the start you know in this novel there is gonna be an immoral setting. The main character is a girl , and so far I understood that her fake name is Elly, but her real name is not mentioned yet. Elly's life is described so well that I understood that her everyday life would be putting on make up, wearing beautiful dresses, looking fashionable, and at nights partying all night long. From Elly's lifestyle, I believe that she starts to hate her job because it gives her this lifestyle that she hates. I felt like she didn't like to party every day, and she started to get bored of what she was doing every night. There was one character named Doreen, that was very mean to Elly, but Elly was her roommate at the hotel in New York. From the novel I got the idea that Doreen was a women that felt highly of her self, smoked a lot, and loved to attract guys. Doreen was the opposite of Elly, and this was evident through the way they acted toward each other and to other characters in the novel. One event that struck me while reading was when Doreen and Elly went to a guy's house, (Lenny), and Elly notices that Doreen starts to kiss Lenny. I noticed that Elly was so shocked and disgusted at Doreen that she left the house and went back to the hotel. I think that Elly just has to deal with Doreen, and has no friendship going on with her. I feel like the author Sylvia Plath is trying to emphasize the hatred between these two women. So far the book is moving slowly, but I think eventually it will move faster to the point.

The House on Mango Street- Blog #2

After I finished the novel House on Mango Street I thought the book was decent. I believe that this book was very interesting because the author described the main character's life, Esperanza, very well that the image of her life was in my head. The descriptive writing kept my attention to the book, and gave me a complete understanding of her life. Esperanza's hard times in Mango Street was shown very accurately through the events that were happening in her life. For example, her friends tried to date boys, or her neighbors that stole cars. The book had one thing that was bad and negative. The book had random chapters that confused the reader. You would read a chapter about her friends, and the next chapter was about the new neighbors. The chapters didn't come together, which made the book very confusing to understand. I liked how the author, Sandra Cisneros, described Esperanza’s characteristics. During the harsh times on Mango Street Esperanza showed her personality, which were courage, kindness, trustworthiness, honesty, and bravery. Esperanza always tried to stay optimistic in the poor conditions she had lived on Mango Street. The author Sandra Cisneros was emphasizing how sexual abuse was horrible, there were many examples that were shown through the experiences of Esperanza's life. For example, during her first day on a job an old man wanted a kiss from Esperanza, or when Esperanza’s friend, Sally, had to give a kiss to a boy to get her house keys back. At the end of the novella you understood the main point of the book, which was that even though Mango Street wasn't Esperanza's favorite place to live, she will never forget her past, even when she leaves Mango Street. Esperanza promised that she would come back to help many people that lived on Mango Street because she knew the hard conditions that the people were living in. Overall this novella was very gripping, and it got its point through the character, setting, and the descriptions. This story was a fascinating book to read!!

http://www.sandracisneros.com/

The House on Mango Street

This novella The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros was very interesting. This girl Esperanza, was the main character that was describing her life as she was growing up. I loved how she started to talk about how the environment around her had changed as she moved into the house on Mango street. The author did a very good job describing Esperanza's perspective on everything that happened that specific day. The descriptions of the book were so descriptive that you saw the image in your head and it kept the reader attached to the book. The thing that is weird in this story was that the events that happened in Esperanza's life were given to the reader randomly, which confused the reader. It also disrupted the reader's attention to understand the novella. But at the same time this gave you how Esperanza was living and how the setting of the novella was. Also so far Esperanza had just made new friends Rachel and Lucy, and she and her friend shared a bike with each other. I found it amusing how Esperanza bought her friends for 5 dollars. The humor in this book was also very entertaining, and interesting. Esperanza's characteristics were a major part of the story, because her courage and strength to live in the harsh conditions were shown through out her whole life. This novella had kept my attention, and I can't wait to continue the book.

The Red Convertible

This short story had its pros and cons. The author Louis Erdrich had used many amazing writing skills that had been caught by many readers. Erdrich had showed how the main character Lyman and his brother Henry had a good relationship in the past, but as Henry was drafted into the army. The reader can tell that Lyman and Henry's brotherly relationship had been disrupted. I felt like the mood of the book changed from happiness to darkness. This change in feeling was very well done. Another significant key in the short story was the mysterious setting after Henry came back from the army. This dark and puzzling setting kept the reader attached to the short story. As  a reader I wanted to know how the brothers were going to reunite to each other through the red convertible. I loved how the author showed how the red convertible was know as an amazing car in the past, but as the depressing days came the car was just an ordinary thing. The negatives of this short story were the way Erdrich confused the reader, by not clearly stating what had happened or what event just had occurred. After the reader read the sentence over again, then he understood what was going in the story. This was one significant problem throughout the story. Even though there were less alerting events during this story, I believe this story still kept the readers attention.

All Quiet On The Western Front Ending

I believe that the ending was very good, and predictable because Paul Baumer's life was all about the war. He couldn't forget about the war, even when he went home to re-meet with his family. Paul couldn't escape all he tragedies n the war, the machine guns, the gas, the shells, the death. The War had taken over his life. His life was lost by the war. This is why it was obvious that Paul was going to die in the war. The most ionic event of Paul's death was when the army reporter said "On a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front. The army report confined itself to the single sentence:All Quiet on the Western Front." Just when the war was ending and the at the front he shelling, and gun shots have stopped. Paul had died, but he had died, peacefully and calmly because he had the felling the end of the war was near. That is why the ending is very ironic. I finally understood why the novel was called All Quiet On The Western Front. I believe the ending was very appropriate because when a soldier dies his death is not seemed to be important or significant, but it implies that the tears from the families will remember his death. I kind a wished Paul's death would've been more descriptive, because they just said he died quietly and peacefully. Maybe he could've died in action, but the ending was still very entertaining.  I believe this book gave the true meaning of the war, and not that all heroic false information. I can understand why this book was not sold in Germany because it showed the reality of the war, and would've give second thoughts for men to join the war. But over all I believe that Erich Maria Remarque described the war very well, and he put the picture of the war in the readers mind. Overall Amazing BOOK!!!