Symbolism Activity

A Book
Prompt: Identify a symbol (something concrete representing something abstract) that represents yourself. Explain how that symbol is the perfect representation of you in a solid paragraph or two, including supporting details on your blog.

 A book symbolizes myself because a book could represent knowledge, wisdom, leadership, and education. This represents most of me. For me, my education always comes first. My future depends on the type of education I get. Leadership can also represent me. Out of all of my friends, I am like the leader to them. When we are going to take a decision they always ask me what I think and what we should do. They take me as a leader. Also, my friends always look for me when they need advice. This sort of represents wisdom. Lastly, book represent knowledge. This symbolizes a lot of me because I am an honor roll student. I have a lot of knowledge compared to others because I am in accelerated classes and I take Algebra 1. My friends always look for me when they need help with homework or stuff like that. I think that a book symbolizes most of myself.

I commented on Evie's, Giovanna's, Nick's, Omar's, and Rebecca's blogs.

Blog of 5/11/15 (OMAM Movie vs Book)

Of Mice And Men Movie
Prompt:

1.  In the film, the director shows us “the incident in Weed” differently from how we find out in the book. What’s different? Why do you think he chose to do it that way? How does it change the story?
2. The book begins with the “stage” set by the pond. In the film, we see George on a train first. Why would the director do this? What is the director telling us about George’s life?
3. What do you think of the director’s choice of Sharilynn Fenn to play Curley’s wife? Does she look the way you imagined her in the book? Whom would you have chosen?

What are your general thoughts, feelings, reactions of Of Mice and Men? What had the most profound impact on you or your understanding of the novella? Who would you recommend this  book to and why?


           The difference is that in the book George tells us what happened in Weed when they are by the pond but in the movie they start off by showing us how they are running away from Weed. I think he chose it to be that way because in the book it is way easier to explain what happened in the past and it is harder in a movie to explain what happened in the past because it might get confusing for the audience who haven't read the book. It changes the story because in the book it has flashbacks into what happened in weed while in the movie everything goes in order.

          I think that the director would do this just to show how migrant workers had to travel most of the time. I think he also did this just to show how the movie would end by George being in the train and going somewhere else. I think that the director is telling us how George has to keep moving from place to place just because of Lennie. 

          I think she actually played out the part of Curley's wife pretty well. She showed most of her actions in the movie just like book said. I imagined Curley's wife blond and about George's height. If I could chose someone to play Curley's wife part I would choose Jennifer Lawrence. I would choose her because she already has blonde hair. I would also choose her because I have already seen many movies (Such as the Hunger Games series) in which she plays a part in and she is a really good actress. 

           My general thoughts about this book are that it is a really good book and it could potentially teach us something too. It could teach that even our closest and most trusted friend could betray us at any moment. It could teach us this because Lennie thought that George would never be capable of doing anything bad to him because he "knew" George, but in the end George shot Lennie in the back of the head. What had the most profound impact on me was how George instead of thinking of a plan to escape or something he just decided to shoot Lennie himself. I would probably recommend it to my friends just to see their reactions when they reach the end of the book.         
I commented on Evie's, James's, and Justin's blogs.

Blog for 5/4/15 (AoW Impression)

Prompt: AoW Gallery Walk Reflection

          Throughout our gallery walk, I have learned about what has been happening around the world so far. For example, one thing that I have learned is that dogs and human interaction actually makes a positive impact in the mood of the dog or a person. I was informed by this from Joseph's article. When a human is feeling sad or depressed a dog could help improve their mood by like playing with them. Having a dog could be useful in some cases. This reminded of how Candy had a bond with his dog in the book Of Mice and Men. They have also tested wolves to see if they can do the same thing to humans. As it turns out it is possible for wolves to do that but the mood change isn't as much as dogs. This was interesting because I didn't know dogs could be able to make such a positive change in a human's mood. (I don't have a dog and that's why)

          Another article I found interesting was Omar's. His article was about giving out free water in California. I found this interesting because I never thought people would give out water just like that, and free. The water is processed, fresh, and clean. Which means it isn't low quality water, it is drinkable water. They give out everyone (poor people) a gallon of water for the day but they can refill it and use as much as they want. I found this interesting because I never thought anyone could just give out fresh water for free.

          These are two of the articles I found the most interesting to me. I could've never thought dogs could improve a human's mood. I would never thought of this because I don't own a dog so that's porbably why I would've never thought of that. I also never thought that in California people would be giving out free water. I would never thought of that because since California has drought problems. These are the two articles I found the most interesting.

Dream Poem 4/30/15

Prompt: Based on your brainstorming via Edmodo, write a short poem elaborating on your dream and/or why dreams or visions are an important part of life.

Without dreams

We have no focus

Without focus we have no motivation

We set goals for ourselves

So that when we go to school

We have something to work for 

If we went to school without a goal

We would go without a reason

We would educate ourselves without a point

Dreams are our goals for ourselves

Dreams are important to our lives

They set our motivation

Blog for 4/27/15 (Conflicts)

Of Mice and Men
Prompt: From your brainstorming session, choose at least two conflicts to explore more in depth in this blog. Be sure to include textual evidence and support and also identify the effect that the conflict has had on the plot so far.

          One conflict in the book "Of Mice and Men" is the problem Curley has with Lennie. This is a man vs man type of conflict. Curley has a problem with Lennie because he is smaller than him. In the book it said, "Curley's like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys." This proves that Curly has something against Lennie just because he's taller. This conflict with Curley has made a lot of tension throughout the book. It even caused Lennie to fight and crush Curley's hand.

          Another conflict in the book "Of Mice and Men" is the disability Lennie has. This is a man vs self type of conflict. Lennie has a disability but he doesn't know about it. He isn't like a normal average person, he's just a little slower. This disability causes him to get into trouble and not have a steady job. An example is what he did to get kicked out of his job in Weed. In the text it said,"Jus' wanted to feel that girl's dress..." It also said,"She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse." This shows that when they worked in Weed, Lennie only wanted to feel the girl's dress but she didn't know that so she jerked back and he held on tight to the dress. The disability that Lennie has made him not know what to do so he just held on to the dress. 

          These are two of the conflicts that are demonstrated in the book "Of Mice and Men". One of the conflicts are man vs man, which is Curley against Lennie. The other conflict is man vs self, which is Lennie against himself and his disability. These are only two of the type of conflicts that are involved in this story.
I commented on Giovanna's, Mia's, and Evie's blogs.

Blog for 4/20/15

Of Mice and Men
Prompt: Describe the atmosphere of the ranch and bunkhouse. Be sure to include characteristics of different characters that were formally or informally introduced to us in this chapter. Support your choice with textual evidence and interpretation.
Why doesn't Curley's wife have a name?   What message, if anything, is John Steinbeck  trying to send by not giving her a first name?  Support your choice with textual evidence and interpretation.

          The ranch and bunkhouse have nice and bad atmosphere. It brings a bad atmosphere because they have an really old half blind dog and they have something for head lice. What I'm thinking is that they used to have head lice so they used that to take them off, but what if some people still have head lice? That would be a really bad place to be in and work. Some characters also bring a bad atmosphere. An example is the boss's son, Curley, he brings a bad atmosphere. He brings a bad atmosphere because he has something against Lennie only cause Lennie is taller than him. In the text is said, "Kind of like he's mad at 'em because he ain't a big guy."

          Though the ranch and bunkhouse also have a nice atmosphere. The nice atmosphere due to the newly introduced characters in this chapter. Most of the character are really nice to Lennie and George. An example of a character that brings a nice atmosphere is the boss. They say that the boss might get angry sometimes but he's a good person. In the book it said,"Brang a gallon of whiskey right in here." To celebrate Christmas the boss brought a gallon of whiskey for the workers. That shows that the boss puts a nice atmosphere.

           I think that Curly's wife doesn't have a name because of two reasons. The first reason she might not have a name is because maybe Steinbeck couldn't think of a right name to give her. Steinbeck could have ran out of names and that's why he didn't give her a name. The second reason is because maybe she's trying to hide her identity from someone. Maybe she could've done some things in the past and now she wants to one to know about her name so that can't say anything.

I commented on Sonny's, Justin's, and Lillian's blogs.

Blog for 4/13/15

Where She Went By Gayle Forman

Prompt: Describe the main characters

Pages Read: 0-80

One of the major characters in "Where she went" is Adam Wilde. Adam is a 21 year old guy. He part of a band named Shooting Star and he's the lead singer. He is a famous rock star. "Where she went" is told from Adam's point of view. Adam's ex-girlfriend, Mia Hall, dumped him three years ago and he never knew why. When she dumped him he became really sad and he quit out of everything, the band, school, etc. Later on, he began to write songs about how he felt and that's when he came back with the band. With those songs that he wrote they became one of the most famous rock bands.

        The second major character in "Where she went" is Mia Hall. Mia is 20 year old girl. She is a very kind and shy person but she is also a famous cellist. When she got into a crash and had fallen in a coma, she was slow to recover. Then Adam bought her cello into the hospital, the doctors didn't agree to let her play the cello while she was still recovering but she did it anyways. Surprisingly playing the cello made her recover faster and soon enough she was back home and playing again but fully recovered. That is when she dumped Adam and left to Juilliard University. Since then she became a really famous cellist.

       These are the descriptions of the two main characters of the book "Where she went". Adam and Mia used to be dating but since Mia dumped Adam they took different paths. Adam became a rock star and Mia became a famous cellist. As you can see, they are very different to each other and they play different genres of music. Though 3 years have passed since Mia dumped Adam, he still thinks about why she dumped him. He really cares about her but I don't think Mia does. These two characters are really different from each other.

I commented on Sebastian's, Diana's, and Bianey's blogs.