Social Awareness: The 5 People You Will Meet in Heaven

  How does this text make you think about justice in the world? This is for the book I just finished the Five People You'll Meet In Heaven. This is a book about a man who dies and goes to heaven. But it's not as simple as that, he meets five different people from when he was alive, but are now dead.

He is greeted by a man from his army, his wife , his father, a man from his work, a normal man and the love of his life. He is so confused when he first arrives. Also it makes he think about his whole life and right and wrong. Like he asks "where is my punishment?" Isn't that what i am here for." It really makes me think about justice in the world. Also about how so many people don't get caught from their wrongs. It makes me think about how some people are willing to pay the price for what they have done and others are not.

Also he meets his father. His father the one who resented him and didn't want him around. Now they are confessing to each other. The father on his death bed said his name. The son never knew that and resented his father from the moment he died. But now here is the justice. His father, this is his justice, his son getting angry and resenting him now he isn't angry he is sad. Is this justice? 

So I try to think of justice and all its forms. Is it okay for people to be mad at you even though you have kept some things hidden from them, even if it's for their own good? It makes me wonder because I think of Karma and Justice together, they seem to go together though which should be. 

Questions on social awarness

These questions are based on my book I recently read and finished The Fault in Our Stars. It is a realistic fiction story about two diagnosed with two different cancers. Who love each other and accept one each other.

 Is this story fair? Why/why not?
I don't think this story is fair at all. I mean cancer in general isn't fair at all. Also these are too people who really love each other and they both have cancer. What are odds? And the even worse part is that they are both supposed to die. The one who has the higher percentage to die survives and the one with the 85% chance to live dies. How unfair is that?

How does this text make you think about justice in the world?
It makes me think about peoples personalities and luck. You could be the nicest person in the world and have the worst luck. Or does luck even exist? Also you can have a bad attitude and nothing bad really happens to you. Also if you steal something and never get caught. how is that justice? Justice I think is  a bigger thing and has to do with more legal issues in the world.

How does this text address the points of view (perspectives) of other groups, especially those who usually don’t get to tell their side? 
I think it really tells what people with cancer are really thinking. I learned what they are thinking, also what some stero types on what people who have cancer think about. Like for intense she said they thought of them selves as just side effects. 

Whose perspective is missing in this text? What would it be like if we put it back? 
I guess they are missing Gus's perspective. Except at the end when he writes letters, but we don't really get to see him otherwise. If he did have more text then we would had known more about his disease earlier.

How does this text deal with individuals and groups? Are the people acting alone and in competition with one another, or does the text help us imagine people working together?
It really developes each character. I feel like the author pairs up characters together. Like the two groups of parents or Gus and Hazel. It lets me look at their realtionship.

How does money figure in this text?
Money is a big issue they want to go to Amsterdamn but dont have money so they have to use a wish foundation. Also medicial bills.

Are there groups you belong to in this text? What do they look like here? If your own groups are missing, what would they say if they were in the book?
Yes these groups are groups that belong in the text. They look like a boy friend and girlfriend relationships. I dont know what they would say it would really be much of a story i suppose. 

What really hard things are happening in this text? Are these things happening in the world now? Where?
One really hard things is cancer. And dealing with it and trying to accept you might die any day. Yes they are so many people have to deal with the same thing. It's happening, all around the world.

How different are people allowed to be in this text? Does it assume everyone is happy and good in the same ways?
People have so many different emotions, its hard to identify how their allowed to act. No it does not, it does not really assume anything.


If the character in your book has problems, can you see how those problems are about having or not having money, struggling with others for power, or being cheated or helped by society’s rules?
I feel like she does have problems and she can't afford many things, because she has to pay for hostipal bills.

Who has “power” in your text? How does that power get shown?
I dont think anyone specifically has more power over the charcters in my book.

At what points do you notice yourself resisting the book, characters, or author? What does your resistance say about the book, and what does it say about you?

I want to believe this dosen't actually happen. This is a really sad book and I would be so upset if this really happened to me I would take it horrible, how is Hazel dealing with this death, it dosen't seem realistic.

How does this book help you to think about social issues you care about or causes you are committed to? 

Well I have always had a lot of questions about cancer because a few people in my familt have had cancer so I've always been curious. Also it makes me think of how many people really have to go through this and just accept it's their life and they can't do anything about it. They have to accept they may die, they lose alot.

Social Awareness Project #3

 So this is my social awareness project number three. I have decided to write a reader response to Speak. I have already done a response to this book so I have decided to relate it more to social awareness and change the body paragraphs and basically everything. So the main character, Melinda has just entered high school and is already hated. Only cause she called the cops on a party that she was in trouble in.   

    Through the book she is constantly being tortured, people punch and slap and throw things at her all the time. Her teacher don't understand. Her parents just yell at her. Her best friend is goingthrough strange phases and won't talk to her. On the first day her best friend Rachel mouths to her "I hate you". Through the book Andy keeps popping up , constantly reminding Melinda the one day Melinda wants to forget the most. Rachel starts to go out with Andy Melinda tries to warn her about the real side of Andy. When her and Rachel finally talk and Melinda tells her what really happened at the party. Rachel dosen't believe her and thinks she is just jealous that she is dating a senior. Melinda is very loyal because Rachel hasn’t done anything for Melinda, in fact Rachel has just done the opposite of helping Melinda. But that   dosen’t stop Melinda from trying to warn Rachel. She has been knocked down the whole book and even in the end she is trying to do the right thing even though she didn't do anything in the first, and when even trying to do the right and look out for the people that hurt her and didn't even try to figure out what really happened, the people still turn around and leave her.

    Melinda life is pretty difficult and complicated right now. Also she  isn’t doing much about it.  Maybe it’s because she dosen’t think it’s going to get better, or whatever the reason she dosen’t do much about it. This reminds me of a book called The Letter Q. The Letter Q is about older gays writing to their younger selves telling them how things get better and they should stand up for themselves. This makes me think what if Melinda told people about her problem sooner? What would she write to herself? Would she tell herself to tell to tell people earlier?  Would she confront Andy? Not go to the party? There are a million solutions or things she could write to herself. But she must have been aware that she could have said something earlier and people might understand. Or maybe she thought people would just think she is lying. But at the end of the book everyone seemed to understand  the situation , maybe the people needed time to adjust. But the point is when you are older you get to look at all your past experiences and think about what you could have done different or what you think what have been better to do but what if these characters and people had these thoughts earlier maybe situations would have gone differently, people would have maybe made better decisions, helped themselves and others. This is another social  issue being gay and I have related it to Melinda's social issue that I went with peer pressure 

  So in this book Melinda has been through a lot of things mostly bad but she pulls through. And she really didn't treatment. She should have been comforted not shunned she should have been loved not yelled at. But it shows how strong she was and how she was breaking though, you could see by the end of the book she was in pieces she couldn't take much more of any of it. She was slowly breaking apart , little by little , with each comment, name , punch and memory. She is alone and has nobody to help her. Nobody, not her parents, not even a friend. The people who were supposed to be there, helping her.

Social Awareness Project #2

    So for this second ELA project I decided to make a creative piece. It is collage with newspaper articles I have read relating to social awareness. It has also word that I feel go with the specific pictures I picked. Also I added many question marks all round the words because what does these words really mean? They can mean so many things.
     Also for each article the situation is different. Like one is about gays getting terrorized the other one is about prostitution India and the other one is people standing up to their government. I mean I put down social justice, standing up for you believe in, fairness, social standards and society. I picked these words to go with each article. I feel each article is so different but so similar at the same time. They are different topics but they are all in the same boat, they are all part of sociel and they all have social standards and they all seem not getting treated fairly.
  

Social Awareness Project #1

11/23/12

    Today while reading the New York Times I found one special article that stood out for me in particular. The article titled “Cell phones Reshape Prostitution in India, and Complicate Efforts to Prevent AIDS” It described how in India prostitution has taken a new technology step. Prostitutes have been luring customers elsewhere. But this is a victory for some and for some it may cost their lives later. But although cell phones seem to be saviors it has made harder for the safe-sex government consolers to trace them. This makes me kinda happy that prostitutes are standing up for themselves in some way, but it also worries me, because it may lead to more diseases. Also this article really caught my attention because last year in E.L.A we read a book called Sold. It was about one young girl from Nepal, who was sold into prostitution, and this was upsetting to me, but it’s not that I didn’t think it was real but I suppose I didn’t think about it too much. But now I have this article and its real living proof about prostitution in India is serious. It was a real eye opener.

-Brigid

11/24/12

Today I was reading the New York Times today and an article that caught my eye was  “Violent Protests in Egypt As Leader Expands Power”.  It talked about how across protests have sprung up all over Egypt. Opponents of President Mohamed have been fighting with supporters of the president.  Fights have been back and forth. This makes me think about of government before the civil war.  Except we took a stand almost immediately, most countries people are still fighting their government for freedom when we are lucky and received it a long time ago.

-Brigid

11/25/12

    I was reading the New York Times again. This time the article that caught my eye was titled “Antigay Crime Remains Steady in Washington Despite Work of Special Unit” This article talks about a young man who was attacked for being gay. Also it discusses dozens of episodes similar to this one. Many of the cities leaders include gays, lesbians and bisexuals are doing everything in their power to stop these attacks. They say there were 53 attacks in 2011 alone. This speaks volumes to me. People it seems still have not gotten used to gays, lesbians and bisexuals. It makesme think of a quote in a short story called “Am I Blue?” It was when the fairy godfather, Melvin says “So straights would realize that gays are all around them, and they survived just fine, thank you. People would realize there are gay teachers, gay cops, gay parents and gay kids, the hiding would finally end.” This was a really powerful quote to me because I think of how I really don’t think about this stuff to much maybe because it doesn’t affect me personally, but I think how many gays I might see and I am not aware at all. Even more then that I don’t know what they might have to go through every day, mentally and physically.

-Brigid

11/26/12

    Again I was reading The New York Times today. Another article caught my eye “Congo Slips Into Chaos Again as Rebels Gain” It describes, in some very horrifying detail I might add, about Congo’s current condition. Very little water, prisons empty, 1,200 killer, rapist, rouge soldiers and other criminals. Whoa! This article scarred me. I know I wouldn’t handle living in Congo at all. I think of the strength the people must have since they are fully aware of what’s going on around them. How many people must be terrified. Also why does it seem no is helping them?

-Brigid

11/27/12

   Me again, guess what I was reading… The New York Times! Good guess. Now another article caught my eye again. It was called “Learning to Accept, and Master, a $110,000 Mechanical Arm” It discusses new technology. It takes specifically about a mans mechanical arm. It is an 110,000 robotic device. He is now learning how to use his new arm. This makes me very thankful that my body is healthy, and I still have all my limbs. Articles like this make me inspired and upset at the same time. They make me sad because that person has lost part of them but it makes me inspired because they recover so fast and are so strong about it. I hope if I ever have to go through something like this I can be like this man.

-Brigid 

 

Along For the Ride Reader Response #8

    In the book Along for the Ride the main charcter Auden is a girl who is very focused on her studies and dosen't have much of a social life. In fact she never much of a social life ever, especially in high school. Her mother is a hardcore professeur at one of the top colleges in the country and her father is a writier that always seems to have his head in his newest project. When her parents fought, which lead up to their divorce, so she would stay up all night even after they got divoreced and they stopped fighting. Her father gets renmarried and moves away. Soon her father invites her to spend a summer with him and his wife and their new baby, at Colby. First Auden is hesitent she dosen't usually do things like this. But she finally decides too. When she gets there she meets Eli and he gives her a whole new prespective on things.
     When Auden arrives she is very timid and attrachs attention though. As I said she didn't have a high school life. So she is very uneducated socially. So Jake (Eli's brother) hooks up with Auden. She says "I didn;t know who I was as I tumbled out of the sand dunes." She didn't know what was happing at first. So later in the book when people draw conclusions about her she was very surprised. She assumed that people wouldn't figure anything out and nobody would mind and pay no attention to her.
    Auden and Eli start to hang out she has learned about Abe and the car crash. But un like most people she treats him like a normal person, not someone who's gonna break down in tears at any second. She and him develope a close relationship during their "quest". These are different events Auden never got to get to do when she was in high school. They kiss at the one "quest" in the bar. But since then Auden is acting distence. Why though? Is it because of what her mother said, "A smart women knows a fling is always better." Myabe? But her and Eli were so close and they both made each other a new person.
    Auden has been changing I think as each page is turned. Eli really shows her how fun some things can be, but in moderation. Audens fear in the book was to end up like her mother. No real relationship. Just flings. Eli shows that relationships are much more fun. But she is scared so she sometimes resents Eli. But she opens her self up.

Hurricane Sandy Articles: Reader Response #7

     Both articles about Hurricane Sandy were very devastating and upsetting. But this article, I think I paid to the picture more. Yes I should have probaly should have picked the article by the context, but i think photos really show expressions, and can really show whats going on. It gives the reader a better idea whats going on, a visual view. So this picture is shot at the Jersey Shore, it shows a roller coaster in the ocean, almost totally under. Keep in mind this is a big roller coaster is a giant pieces of metal, which are very hard to move. This roller coaster isn't some wooden roller coaster, it is  big and made out of steel. I thought that not even a storm could move something this big. I guess this was an eye opener to me. I guess I was focusing on what was happening in my community, not everywhere else.
       In this article "Costs of Shoring Up Coastal Communities" it talks about the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. It captures the real issues people are going through in all coastal communities. In text it says "most of the coastal communities have lost a lot of sand, most of it has been blown to the streets. The clean up will be very expensive and many people are wondering is it worth it? This is a common problem, deciding what you really need, because Sandy destroyed many things and its gonna be expensive to replace everything. Also in the article many people argue "the beaches attract a lot of storm energy." I think that people should focus more on personal problems first because peoples homes were destroyed and they need these, a beach isn't they need. They can repair it later but if you really wanna help out you should focus on the people, not inatimate objects, like the beach, they were affected by it the most.
       Another aftermath of Sandy was the death toll and many people loosing power. In the article it says "and the death toll is a little bit over 60." Imagine that was a close friend or family member of yours. I would, personally, be really upset. Some parents had to watch their children drown. That's a really big death toll. Its 60 deaths too many. The other big issue was many people lost power. The text says "more then 60 million homes lost power." Wow that's a lot people! Also it says shelters were packed. Also many people had to come back to the rumble that used to be their houses. They had no internet, TV, heat anything. The temperatures dropped that night, many people didn't have heat or warm food, or even a home.
      From this article I have recapped the three main problems that Hurricane Sandy has caused, money spending, deaths and lost power.  This article how lucky I really am. I mean like I said before i was only really paying attention to my community, I wasn't really looking at what has happened to everyone else. I think to get over this sitation we are gonna have to band together and help each other , not one community can fix it self. I think for the next storm we will know what to do. We will be better prepared. We are still dealing with this, and were gonna have this is the furture too. This should help us band more as a one giant community and help each other.

Reader Response:Speak Revised

  In the book Speak the main character Melinda just gets into high school and is already hated. How did this all happen? When she walks down the halls everyone stares at her like she is an animal. Some people even punch her and call her names. She's in misery she is depressed and moody all the time, she is desperate for friends and none of her old friends will talk to her because she called the cops at a wild senior party... but if they only knew why.

   Melinda in the beginning of the book is terrified for her first day of high school. Why though? In our world high school is supposed to be exciting. Some people even go as far to say that it is the best time of their lives! Well the year before she and her friend Rachel went to a senior party and everything was good until Melinda started to dance with a dangerous senior named Andy Beast. She says "He started to unzip his jeans before I could process what was happening, my lips tired to say no but I couldn't he was like a boulder on me, as soon as I find my voice it was too late. I rushed to the phone to call the cops but Rachel shot me a look that made me feel awful but I had too." Melinda was hurt and was trying to protect herself because she is still very young, she was only in 8^th grade and she isn’t perhaps used to these parties, but everybody sees it as she is just busting the party for one reason or another. This happens often, were people only see one side, they don’t know what is really happening they just go with what they see or what they think they see, or what people tell them and this can make the person look bad but in reality the person might just trying to do the right thing or doing that action for their good or some else’s good.

    Through the book she is constantly being tortured, people punch and slap and throw things at her all the time. Her teacher don't understand. Her parents just yell at her. Her best friend is goingthrough strange phases and won't talk to her. On the first day her best friend Rachel mouths to her "I hate you". Through the book Andy keeps popping up , constantly reminding Melinda the one day Melinda wants to forget the most. Rachel starts to go out with Andy Melinda tries to warn her about the real side of Andy. When her and Rachel finally talk and Melinda tells her what really happened at the party. Rachel dosen't believe her and thinks she is just jealous that she is dating a senior. Melinda is very loyal because Rachel hasn’t done anything for Melinda, in fact Rachel has just done the opposite of helping Melinda. But that   dosen’t stop Melinda from trying to warn Rachel. She has been knocked down the whole book and even in the end she is trying to do the right thing even though she didn't do anything in the first, and when even trying to do the right and look out for the people that hurt her and didn't even try to figure out what really happened, the people still turn around and leave her.

    Melinda life is pretty difficult and complicated right now. Also she  isn’t doing much about it.  Maybe it’s because she dosen’t think it’s going to get better, or whatever the reason she dosen’t do much about it. This reminds me of a book called The Letter Q. The Letter Q is about older gays writing to their younger selves telling them how things get better and they should stand up for themselves. This makes me think what if Melinda told people about her problem sooner? What would she write to herself? Would she tell herself to tell to tell people earlier?  Would she confront Andy? Not go to the party? There are a million solutions or things she could write to herself. But she must have been aware that she could have said something earlier and people might understand. Or maybe she thought people would just think she is lying. But at the end of the book everyone seemed to understand  the situation , maybe the people needed time to adjust. But the point is when you are older you get to look at all your past experiences and think about what you could have done different or what you think what have been better to do but what if these characters and people had these thoughts earlier maybe situations would have gone differently, people would have maybe made better decisions, helped themselves and others.

  So in this book Melinda has been through a lot of things mostly bad but she pulls through. And she really didn't treatment. She should have been comforted not shunned she should have been loved not yelled at. But it shows how strong she was and how she was breaking though, you could see by the end of the book she was in pieces she couldn't take much more of any of it. She was slowly breaking apart , little by little , with each comment, name , punch and memory. She is alone and has nobody to help her. Nobody, not her parents, not even a friend. The people who were supposed to be there, helping her.

 

Reading Response #5 - "The Mark of Athena"

   In this book "The Mark of Athena" seven demigods go out on a quest to save ancient Rome and basically their world and the mortal world. They have all been brought together by an ancient prophecy  that tells; seven demigods shall go forth and try to save Rome. But the trick is the Roman and Greek camps must unite and well they have never been able to do that. Romans and Greeks have never gotten along. Each person in the book has there own personal thoughts and ways they see the story. One girl in particular, Annabeth, is very troubled. She is a daughter of Athena and legend tells all children of Athena that have tried to find this sacred item have failed and usually go mad or die. When Annabeth finally starts to put the pieces together she discovers she is the key piece to fix the relationship between greeks and Romans. But what she must find is very difficult and is guarded by the thing Athena's children fear most. Will the demigods be able to make it to Rome and save ancient Rome and their world? Will Annabeth face the Mark of Athena?
   In this book Annabeth, one of the seven demigods on the quest, is sent on the journey to reclaim what the Romans stole from the Greeks long ago. Athena has been searching and sending her children to go find the missing item. When Annabeth first receives the quest from her mother, her mother is in her Roman form, Minerva, Athena hates this form and Romans. Annabeth calls Athena Minerva and Athena snaps "Don't call me that!" Annabeth tries to calm her down and says "It's me Annabeth your daughter." Athena responds and says "Yes, my children will avenge me. They must destroy those dishonorable copycat Romans. Follow the Mark of Athena, avenge me." At first Annabeth tries to throw away the coin or the Mark. She believes her mother should be wise like her Greek form is but Minerva is clouded by revenge and anger, she is not thinking straight. Annabeth is brought awful nightmares. But one line of the prophecy haunts Annabeth more than anything else, "Wisdoms daughter walks alone." This line is like a person putting you down or giving you doubt, people try to tell you to shake it off but you really can't, it nags you. This line sums up Annabeth's journey and the worst thing is if your on a journey and you must do it alone, your on your own.
    In the middle of the story Annabeth starts to put the pieces together. She discovers that if she finds this missing item she could make peace between Greeks and Romans and if Greeks and Romans are united they can save Rome from an evil goddess that threatens to kill both sides. But the more Annabeth thinks about the lines of the prophecy the more scared she gets. She must face her worst fear alone, no help at all. The oracle says to Annabeth  "Wisdom's daughter walks alone, The Mark of Athena burns through Rome." Which means as soon as Annabeth gets to rome she is basically all on her own, she has six other people with her and she can't get help for a single one of them, even her boyfriend Percy. That must be awful to have to face a challenge and get no help at all even by the people you love most. But Annabeth is determined she want the rival to end between the Greeks and the Romans. She wants to save Rome, even if she must go on a journey she doesn't want to go on and she doesn't get any help. People can feel so alone even when they are surrounded by so many people, this is because you know certain things you must do alone, there are just certain things only you can help yourself with.
     In the book "The Mark of Athena" seven demigods are sent on what seems like impossible quest. Meanwhile it seems other people have their very own quest on top of that. Annabeth has been chosen to follow the Mark of Athena. A quest she did not want , but her mother gave it to her in her enraged Roman form. Then on top of Annabeth's difficult , unwanted quest she must do it alone. No one can help her and she must face what all of Athena's children fear most. Imagine trying to face what you fear most but wait there's more, you have to do it alone. You can't ask anyone for help even the people you love most and even if you did ask for help they actually really couldn't help you, you are all on your own. This is what Annabeth is going through, she is sent on this side quest to do on her own. She can't back down she is now determined.

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh Reader Response

  In the story of "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"Joby, the main charcater is a 14 year old drummer boy for the Union Army in the Civil War. he is not very confident also he has many fears about the war. The general comes and talks to Joby. Joby starts to have more and more confidence as he keeps talking to the general. By the end of the convosation Joby is feeling better about being the drummer boy.
  Joby feels useless, scared and anxious about the war in the beginning. Joby begins to cry soon the general come over. Joby describes him as a father figure. But at the same time he is a general so he tells Joby about the dangers of war. He says "It's gonna be a carzy time, counting both sides about a thousand men. Sometime this week more innocents will be shot later this week out of pure Cherokee enthusian." This shows the general knows the risks of war and knows how bad war can be. Sometimes people know things are wrong but they just go along with it , because they can't do anything or because they don't have the courage to do anything.
  Toward the end of the generals and Joby's convosation, the general explains to Joby how important he is to the army. The general says to Joby "You, boy are the heart of the army." This makes me think of the human body. Joby is the heart that keeps the beat and the general maybe the brain and all the soliders are the bones and muscles.
   So Joby is just an ordinary boy. Well at least maybe back then. Joby isn't anything special though. The general didn't need to talk to him. He didn't do anything spectacular. But the general gives Joby a new perspective of his role in the war. The general tells him he is heart of the army, he builds Joby's confidence with just one compliment. Sometimes perople don't do that though. if they perhaps see themselves as higher or more important they moght try to bring you down not up. The general the hightest and maybe the most important person in the armydidn't need to say anything to Joby but he did.

Speak Reader Response

   In the book "Speak" the main character Melinda is hated in her high school. She is only in her freshman year too! How did this all happen? When she walks down the halls everyone stares at her like she is an animal. Some people even punch her and call her names. She's in misery she is depressed and moody all the time, she is desperate for friends and none of her old friends will talk to her because she called the cops at a wild senior party... but if they only knew why.
   Melinda in the beginning of the book is terrified for her first day of high school. why though? In our world high school is supposed to be exciting. Well the year before she and her friend Rachel went to a senior party and everything was good until Melinda started to dance with a dangerous senior named Any Beast. She says "He started to unzip his jeans before I could process what was happening, my lips tired to say no but I couldn't he was like a boulder on me, as soon as I find my voice it was too late. I rushed to the phone to call the cops but Rachel shot me a look that made me feel awful but I had too." This shows that Melinda was raped but everybody sees it as she is just busting the party. This happens in real life a lot, were people only see one side of things and it can make the person look bad but in reality the person might just trying to do the right thing.
    Through the book she is constantly being tortured, people punch and slap and throw things at her all the time. Her teacher don't understand.Her parents just yell at her. Her best friend is going through strange phases and won't talk to her. On the first day her best friend Rachel mouths to her "I hate you". Woah harsh. A another issue is through the book Andy keeps popping up which is not helping her. Once Rachel starts to go out with Andy Melinda tries to warn her. When her and Rachel finally talk and Melinda tells her what really happens Rachel dosen't believe her and thinks she is just jealous. This is a recurring and it shows what Melinda is really like. She has been knocked down the whole book and even in the end she is trying to do the right thing even though she didn't do anything in the first, and when even trying to do the right and look out for the people that hurt her and didn't even try to figure out what really happened, the people still turn around and leave her. This shows how Melinda is loyal and this seems to happen alot through out the book.
    So in this book Melinda has been through a lot of things mostly bad but she pulls through. And she reall didn't deserve this kind of treatment. in fact she should have gotten the exact opposite treatment. She should have been comforted not shuned she should have been loved not yelled at. But it shows how strong she was and how she was truley breaking though, you could see by the end of the book she was in pieces she couldn't take much more of any of it.
                                                                                              

Responding to Responses

   Response #1- Hannah's

  I really liked Hannah's. I liked it because  I like the way she wrote it. What I mean is I like how it was
kinda casual and she has alot of her own unique opions in there. She really summerized the story, which I also think is good, beacuse after a while if you just keep summerizing the book its like u are giving every little detail and the point of a summery is to keep it brief and just give the reader an overview. Also I like how she is talking about human desire and war together ans how it happens to everyone. Anyway I thought it was well written and intersting.


 Response #2- Aaron

  I liked Aaron's because I think he gives good descriptions on the charachters. He lets you know who everybody is and what their role is the book, which can be helpful.  He also gives a good summery it is very breif and just gives you a quick overview. Which i think is important. I think that is important because you can loose the readers attention. I liked it and would consider reading the book now.

A Long Walk to Water: Reader Response

    “A Long Walk to Water” is based on the a true story about about  two different time

period in Southern Sudan, 2008 and 1996. The main  character  Salva’s  country

is in the middle of a war between Southern  and Northern Sudan.

His school is bombed and he is forced to flee. He ends up with a

group of  people from his village. He must survive wild animals the enemy tribe and

starvation until   finally he leads 150 people to Kenya. But soon he is forced to move

 to numerous fugitive  camps.

      He is soon offered a chance to go to America. Meanwhile in 2008 Nya is a young

11 year old girl  who lives in Sudan. She has a job that she must   get fresh water

 from the top of a mountain that is a long hard hike Back in 1996  Salva  is in

  America with his with his new family in upstate New York. He continues to learn

 and goes to college learns of his father’s survival. Finally he goes back to Southern

 Sudan and finds him. He starts to try to help Sudan in their time of need. He starts

to build wells and schools all  over Sudan. In 2008 Nya  sees a man help building   

wells and schools. The man she sees turns out to be Salva.

      Salva has been struggling through out the book.   Whether it be starvation,

almost  being abandoned by people in his own village, or watching his own

uncle get  killed by the enemy tribe or waiting to finally get to America.

But he keeps going like when he is  going to  the camp in Kenya  he must guide

150 people and he  didn’t abandon anyone of them. He tries to protect then

as best he can, especially because he already lost his friend to a lion before this.

 I think that he is connecting his own personal  experiences   and I think that he

trying to prevent the same thing from happening to his group, maybe it is because

he doesn’t want anybody to have to go through the same painful sadness he had

to go through.

    When Salva  found his uncle he was overjoyed. His uncle was a great leader.

He tried to protect everyone and he gave everybody an equal  amount of food,

went hunting and tried not to leave anybody behind. But eventuslly his uncle was

killed by the enemy tribe. After that he was still very young. The survivors are very

greedy and only look out for themselves. The exact opposite of the kind of group the

uncle was running. So Salva is fed very little  and is not treated well. Sometimes it

seems when a groups  leader is killed or they are just no longer there the group

 tends to fall apart because they are so used to relying on that one specific person

and they are so used to the way the leader did things. So when the leader isn’t there

 anymore the people have no idea what to do especially when there is no one to take

 the leaders place. But Salva later in the book  follows his uncles leadership

skills when he lead 150 people to Kenya. This shows that even though he might

not had been treated well he still is a good leader. This also shows Salva is a

forgiving person and doesn’t hold grudges even though people may have

done wrong to him.

    When Salva comes back to Sudan at the end of the book to help build more schools

and  help find fresh water. He is in his enemy tribe’s village. But the feud between

the two tribes isn’t as strong as it used to be. He is still helping the  village even t

though it is the enemy tribe, the same tribe who killed his uncle. Nya sees him

working and Nyas’ father points out that Salva is the enemy tribe. Nya is surprised

but this is another example of  how Salva doesn’t hold grudges. He is a forgiving  

person. Through the whole book Salva struggles and having people that he loves

and cares about being killed but  he keeps going. This showed the readers that 

Salva is forgiving, determined and good hearted.