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/