Book project: Insurgent (format is different because I couldn't get it to work)

Key Events

• Tris, Four, Peter, Caleb, and Marcus go to Amity
• Tris overhears Marcus and Johanna talking about a secret that the Abnegation leaders died for
• Tris, Four, Caleb, and Susan escape the amity headquarters after the dauntless traitors come after them
• They get on a train filled with the factionless and are escorted by Edward to the factionless headquarters 
• There, they find out the leader of the factionless is Evelyn, Four's mother
• Tris and Four go to the Candor Headquarters and are arrested and injected with the truth serum
• Tris tells about how she killed Will, which makes Four and Christiana angry
• Candor is attacked by dauntless traitors, led by Eric, and many people are shot with a new serum
• Tris figures out that this serum is a new serum that controls those injected from long distances and it doesn't wear off
• Jack goes secretly to meet Max and Lynn shoots max. While running away Shauna is shot and paralyzed 
• Four confronts Tris and says that if she doesn't become less reckless and actually care about her life, they are done
• Four, Tori, and Harrison are elected the new leaders
• Eric is tried for his crimes and Four kills him as his punishment
• Four agrees to take down the Erudite and create a new government 
• Jeanine states that every day the divergent aren't offered to her, one person will die
• Tris sneak to the Erudite compound to sacrifice herself
• Tris is arrested and agrees to being tested on by Jeanine
• Tris discovers Caleb has betrayed her
• Tris finds out Four came to rescue her but failed
• Jeannine can't find a serum that can control tris so she decides to kill tris
• Peter saves her and Four and they escape to the abnegation sector
• Marcus convinces Tris and Christiana to help him save the information that leaders of abnegation died for
• They get Johanna and other amity faction members to help them
• Tris leads her group to the Erudite compound and they infiltrate it
• Tris must go through a simulation where she must fight herself and when she gets into the lab, she finds tori attacking Jeanine 
• Tori kills Jeanine and arrests Tris as a traitor
• Tris is arrested but tells Four about the information 
• Tris goes with Uriah where they discover that the factionless have taken over and announce the new government where they are in charge
• All of a sudden the information begins playing on the screens showing a woman named Amanda Ritter who works for an organization working towards peace 
• Amanda explains what happened to the world and why the faction system was created and that once there are multiple divergent, they should open the gates to the outside world
• Amanda says she will go into the factions as Edith Prior.
• The video ends

All these important events have effected the characters immensely throughout the story. Tris, above all, was effected majorly. These events gave her different views on life and gave her information on herself as a divergent human. All of these events change the story greatly by eradicating the faction system completely. This is hard on the citizens because all they have ever known is to live a certain way and live up to certain goals And standards. This second book of the trilogy really switches things up from the first book where it was all about fitting in. Now you must focuse and try your hardest to survive.

Some of the major themes of this book are courage, rebellion, and heroism.  Out of those three I think the major theme is courage. I believe this because throughout the book tris and her friends have shown their courage by standing up for what they believe in, even if it means giving themselves up or going against what is expected. the author of this book depicts the certain aspects of what we must act like to be a "perfect" citizens. she shows how in every faction everyone follows the guidelines of their faction and follow their manifesto as much as they possibly can. she really stresses how it is hard to go against your customs and how courageous you must be to do that. Tris is one of the most courageous characters in "Insurgent", along with Four. Together they have an unstoppable amount of courage.

Modern Folktale

The Children and the Ice Cream

A Modern Take on the Blind Men and the Elephant

There once was a group of six children who were very good friends. One day they decided to go to get some ice cream. As they entered the ice cream shop, they discovered a sign that said “try the bold and new mystery flavored ice cream!” The kids thought that they might try this new flavor so they all ordered it.      

As the first child tasted the ice cream, he said, “It tastes like strawberry.”

But as he stated his idea the second child took a bite of the ice cream and said, “No it tastes like mint.”

The third child disagreed and said, “It’s obviously rocky road.”

The fourth child looked at them and shook his head, “You are all wrong,” he said, “Everyone knows it’s chocolate chip cookie dough.”

            The fifth child began speaking, “You are way off, its chocolate.”

             Finally the sixth and final child looked up from his ice cream and started laughing, “How blind are you guys, this ice cream is none other than vanilla!”

By the time the last child had finished talking, everyone was done with their ice cream, so they stood up and left. All the way home they argued and called each other names saying they were foolish because they couldn’t tell what flavor it was. They never realized that everyone has an opinion and whether its right or not, they are entitled to it.

The Pearl Theme

The lesson taught in John Steinbeck's novela, "The Pearl", is that even though something may look or seem beneficial or positive, it could easily be a burden and dangerous. this is depicted in the story when Kino finds the pearl of the world and begins planning everything he will do with the money he collects from selling it. throughout the story the pearl keeps becoming more and more negative and begins effecting Kino's family terribly. by the end of the story, the pearl has completely destroyed their family, physically and emotionally. an example from the text displaying this action is this: " Kino had a rifle across his arm and Juana carried her shawl like a sack over her shoulder. And in it was a small limp heavy bundle. The shawl was crusted with dried blood, and the bundle swayed a little as she walked. Her face was hard and lined and leathery with fatigue and with the tightness with which she fought fatigue. And her wide eyes stared inward on herself. She was as remote and as removed as Heaven. Kino's lips were thin and his jaws tight, and the people say that he carried fear with him, that he was as dangerous as a rising storm. The people say that the two seemed to be removed from human experience; that they had gone through pain and had come out on the other side; that there was almost a magical protection about them." this tells about what Kino and Juana looked like while walking into town after their baby had died.

constructed reading response

For our class reading, we were introduced to the stories, "A Dark Brown Dog" and "The Day I Got Lost". These two stories were very peculiar and unique in many ways. The pieces of writings are somewhat alike in the sense that the both are humorous. However, the story "A Dark Brown Dog" is more a dark humor where the actual funny part is the way the setting is displayed. All in all these stories make you think and give you questions that you must solve.

 In "A Dark Brown Dog", the point of view used is 3rd person omniscient. This means that the narrator is outside the story but is able to relate everyone's point of view. An example of this is  "In his mind he was being dragged toward a grim unknown." This quote shows that the narrator knew exactly what the dog was thinking at the moment and could easily describe and show the tone of that situation. The tone of the story is dark humor. The humorous part of "A Dark Brown Dog" is that the author uses words with opposite connotations. An example that displays this idea is that during the story, the child would risk his well being for the dog. Yet, later in the story, it says that the child would sometimes beat the dog as well. Since this story is in third person, it really helps show the reader the various point of views of the characters. It makes it so that we can see how that all the dog wanted was a loving home. Instead, he got a terrible home with only one friend. This story shows us that even in the worst situations, we can bare through them if we have one loving person in our lives.

In "The Day I Got Lost," we view this story as the point of view of the main character. This is called first person. We know this is first person because the narrator uses the word "I" and portays the protagonist. the tone of this story is a mix between confused and humorous. The tone is confused because the story is about  a man who is severely forgetful and doesn't remember anything. Because of this, it makes the story humorous. It is entertaining to see this man's struggle and to watch how he deals with his memory loss. An example of his confusion is "I'm always misplacing things. A hundred times I asked myself, Where is my pen? Where is my money? Where is my handkerchief? Where is my address book? I am what is known as an absentminded professor." This is a brief description of the items he loses. Also, this quote begs the question of how he could be a professor if he is the most forgetful person in New York. Because they use first person narration in this story, we get to experience the protagonist's inner thoughts. For instance, we get to know that even though the character is forgetful he still remembers some of his friend's phone numbers. Also, that he can be a professor despite the fact that he cannot remember where he leaves his coat.

In conclusion, we see that both short stories are humorous in some way, whether its dark humor like opposite connotations, or humor because of human flaws. we also observe the similarities and differences between first person and third person narration. finally we see that these stories gave questions that made you think and wonder why something was happening.

Response To Poetry

"The Names" is a poem written by Billy Collins. It is dedicated to the lost loved ones of the September 11th terrorist attack. In this poem, Collins about all the names of the people killed. He tells us that everywhere he goes, he sees these names and remembers. The author's purpose is that he is telling us how these names are not forgotten and live on. Also, when he tells us the names, he says them in alphabetical order. T

his shows that by using every letter, he can cover the last names of everyone in the nation. After all, everybody's last name starts with a letter. This poem reaches out to the whole U.S. nation because people all over the nation were affected by this terrible tragedy.