Setting (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Date: 10/30/14
Book: To Kill a Mockingbird

Prompt: Describe the setting and how it is characterized

I'm still in the middle of the great book, To Kill a Mockingbird. There are tons of fantastic aspects about this best selling novel, but one of its greatest traits is its portrayal of the setting. My interpretation of this book's setting and why it's so great to me is probably a lot different than you'd expect. Usually, when a setting is great, it's described as extremely descriptive. Enough for you to leave nothing for your imagination to work on. Which in my opinion, isn't always the best.

What's great about To Kill a Mockingbird is how it has the absolute perfect balance of description in its setting. Now I'm not proposing that description is bad in a story, I'm just saying that sometimes, it's good to let your mind decide on some chunks of the story. For example, this segment of the book gives enough description to provide the main details of the setting, but lets the reader decide the rest. "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop" So the author doesn't say, "Raindrops gloomily dripped down every windowsill in Maycomb and the sky was a dull gray with only 4 street lamps slightly illuminating the street." Nope, she lets the reader decide if he wants the rest that way. He just sets the tone.

I know for a fact, if you walk up to someone who's read this book, and asked them to describe the setting, they would have different descriptions.  Some would probably be completely different.  I honestly just love it when authors leave part of a story for the reader to determine for him/herself.  A perfect example of something like that would be the short story, "The Lady or the Tiger"  The author actually gives the reader the choice of choosing the entire ending.

Although I enjoy descriptive writing, I do think that sometimes, it's nice to be able to make your own decisions about the story.

Meeting Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird)

The book that I'm currently exploring for my 40 book challenge is, To Kill a Mockingbird.  As I venture further into this novel, I start to realize the characterization used to build up the characters and their personalities, and I feel like through the book, I'm starting to get to know the characters better.  The one character whose personality really stuck out at me as really unique was the main character, Scout.  The story is told in a 1st Person POV (Point of View) from her.

In the first few chapters, Scout is introduced as a very young, inquisitive, and smart girl who has some trouble sifting through her thoughts and putting them into words for others to interpret or understand.  She sometimes takes what others are telling her the wrong way and interprets it to mean something somewhat different.  For example, a piece of the book says, "Miss Caroline caught me writing and told me to tell my father to stop teaching me.  'Besides' she said, 'We don't write in the first grade, we print.  You won't learn to write until you're in the third grade."  (Scout thinking) "Calpurnia was to blame for this."  So Scout interprets Miss Caroline's comment to mean that it was all their cook's fault, Calpurnia, for teaching her to write.  Later in the book, Scout comes home and has a big argument with Calpurnia about how it was all her fault that Scout got in trouble.

So the reason I'd really like to meet Scout, not just for a day or two, but to really get to know her, would be to attempt to relate to her thoughts and try to understand her interesting and troubled way of thinking and communicating.  I think lots of kids have gone through times where they have trouble talking about their thoughts simply because they're having trouble understanding them as well.  Another reason would be to just relate to her and her older brother Jem's everyday lifestyle and see how different it would be to the one I share with my siblings.  The games they played, and the pointless arguments, and dares/challenges, sounded a lot like some of the things my friends, brothers, and sisters do.  Maybe when I was a little younger, like in the middle of elementary school, but their activities still sounded quite familiar.

Although, I'm fairly sure this setting or beginning that the author has introduced won't continue to be the main focus or conflict of the book, I enjoyed relating and comprehending it.  But, I'm sure I'll continue to reflect and talk about the events still to come within the story.

The Lady or the Tiger Ending

"Every heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eye was fixed immovably upon that man.  Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right, and opened it."  At that very moment, the sun's light shone onto what lay inside of that door, the orange and black stripes of the ferocious beast that paced restlessly within the cage were revealed to the crowd.  As all of the on watchers gasped in misbelief, the man stepped surprisingly calmly back into the large amphitheater, turned his gaze back to the princess's tear streaked, grief filled face, and acknowledged her with a slight nod.  The man didn't show any happiness or anger with the princess's decision.  After that quick moment, he faced the deadly tiger that was staring him down, and then it was all over.  As the gruesome scene continued below, the princess's despair filled wail was heard all throughout the kingdom, she was drowned with sorrow as she was forced to witness her lover meet his fate below her.  The princess would never have the ability to rid this scene from her memory.

   

Direct and Indirect Characterization of The Giver

I recently completed the classic and wonderful novel, The Giver.  One of the best characteristics of this book is its characterization.  So I think The Giver's characterization towards the characters within it was great, but what really stuck out at me, was how it built up or created practically the personality of the setting or type of world that they're living in.  I know that probably sounds very confusing, but don't worry, I'm about to explain the whole thing.

First off, the world or setting that the whole novel take place in came to me as extremely dull and boring.  It seems that the author purposely made the setting seem melancholy or extremely boring once you read into the story, but at first, you think that their society is great.  In the book, a boy named Jonas lives in a futuristic society that is perceived as perfect.  The author uses a lot of description and detail to describe this community, and once you get to know it, it really doesn't seem that perfect.  No color, very strict rules, no pain (which if you think about it, isn't really that great) and no love.  They have to make all those sacrifices in order to reduce all pain from their community, and in my opinion, it isn't worth it.  I'm not going to tell you how, as not to spoil the book, but you end up realizing that we take everything for granted, and you get a feel for all the things that are missing from Jonas's community.  That's how the setting of the story is built up.

But the actual characterization of the characters in the story is important too.  First, I'm going to talk about Jonas's personality.  Jonas is a young boy around his pre teens who is starting to become very inquisitive about what's right and wrong, and he stands out among his peers.  The author develops his unique personality with statements like this.  "His feelings were too complicated this evening. He wanted to share them, but he wasn't eager to begin the process of sifting through his own complicated emotions, even with the help that he knew his parents could give."  That was Jonas thinking about his feelings during dinnertime.  I think that quote shows how Jonas had a lot of questions and thoughts that he might have been uncomfortable with sharing in his society, it brings out the inquisitive and deep thinking side of Jonas.  A second fragment from the book was this, "His mind reeled. Now, empowered to ask questions of utmost rudeness-and promised answers-he could, conceivably (though it was almost unimaginable), ask someone, some adult, his father perhaps: "Do you lie?"
But he would have no way of knowing if the answer he received was true."  That quote really dove deep into Jonas's thoughts and really gave a great example of Jonas's thought provoking mind and what went on inside of it.

1st Quarter Reflection (7th Grade)

Honestly, I think I've had a fantastic first quarter.  I don't really think there's any other way to put it, it was a great way to start off my year.  Last year, during 6th grade, I felt that I wasn't nearly as worried or concerned about my academic growth and grades.  I might not have had my priorities perfectly in line.  I was a little to hung up on conversing and socializing with new and old friends/peers.  Although I still managed to maintain A and B grades, I think I could definitely have done better.  Coming up on 7th grade, I started to understand that it was going to be a significantly large transition.  50% effort wasn't going to cut it this year.  So I decided to take my schoolwork very seriously, and strive for straight A's.  I now look back and realize, I still had fun and was able to hang out with friends, but I had now gotten my priorities straight.  At the end of the quarter, I had achieved my goal of straight A's.

There are still a couple things that I wish I could've done a little better with.  For example, my 40 book challenge.  I have a goal of reading and completing 40 books throughout this school year, and I don't think I've done too well with keeping track of that.  I've read several books so far, but I haven't really been very consistent about organizing and keeping track of what I've read and what I want to read.  The other thing is organization.  I was hoping to be just a little more organized with my belongings, but I still feel that I have been better organized than last year.

I am also trying to enroll in several extra curricular activities or after school programs such as, OAV (Our American Voice), Rachel's Challenge, and Cross Country.  I also look forward to several other sports coming up in the next few quarters.  Such as basketball, baseball, and maybe even volleyball.  I feel like these activities have helped me open up to new things and maybe stretch outside my comfort zone.  

Those were a few reasons why I think this quarter has been a great one.  Hopefully the ones to come will be just as successful.

The Giver Book Review

Title:  The Giver

Prompt:  Book Review

Author:  Lois Lowry

Pages:  0-179 (beginning to end)


I recently finished one of the best books that I've read in a while, The Giver.  It was so good that I finished it in two nights and stayed up extremely late to read both nights.  If you haven't read The Giver, I strongly encourage you to.  It's about a boy named Jonas who lives in a futuristic society or community.  Everyone is assigned a job at age 12 and Jonas receives a very rare, unique, and special job that plays a large role in the community.  What it is, I guess you'll have to read to find out.  But Jonas is incredibly curious about what the world was like before his community.  Would it be worth having the past back?

Books like the Giver are incredibly interesting to me because of their viewpoint on the future.  Some books similar to that are The Maze Runner, The Hunger Games, and Divergent.  All of which I've read.  I recommend the book for anyone within 5th/6th grade and above to read this fantastic classic.  It's quite entertaining and challenging to imagine what life would be like if we lived like Jonas and his community.