Blog post 5

In the book Gone, by Michael Grant, Young adults are treated like completely different types of people. The main character, Sam is treated as if he is a complex person who is 30 years old instead of being a 15 year old. I think this is because of the fact that he is one of the oldest kids in the area because of the “poof”. The poof was when everyone 15 and older simply disappeared and a barrier went up around a city. This makes me wonder if age only matters in relativity to othr ages instead of the specific age.

            Since all of the characters in the book are under 15, what a12 year old is much more old in comparison to the others. In the book, the main character sam says “soon everyone is going to realize that this town is going to need to change, and that they can’t just play video games anymore.” This shows how although by our standards, he is young, he is mature and strong when the oldest person is at the age of 14. This makes me wonder if it really makes sense to have age be a label for the things that people can do. Is it really that smart to stick a law in stone while a 16 year old could still be extremely mature.

            This book challenges the fact that we believe that someone is mature based on their age. This book treats the young adults like they are the oldest people alive at the time. It treats a 13 year old like a 35 year old instead because of the fact that they are very mature compared to all the other people at the time. The protagonist, Sam believes that he can make a difference in comparison to all the other people and show that his age does not define his maturity. The book made me think about if people should be held back by their parents.

Reading response 10/9, late due to Internet problems and my bar mitzvah

In an article in called Watching You by Patricia Smith, in the upfront magazine, the author seems to want to make you challenge what is right and what is wrong. The article is about how the government is spying on you via your electronics, and if this surveillance is okay, or is it an intrusion upon privacy. It tries to make you question your opinion on a subject of privacy versus safety. It makes you wonder why Edward Snowden chose to break the news to all of the country.

            I believe that the author wants you to think that this is a major issue. In my opinion, you really should not have anything to hide from the government that is something that is damaging. The article talks about how the surveillance helped find the people who were trying to kill many of the other people.  This article made me wonder where the line should be drawn between the two. sides of the argument. I think that it is okay if they see who you call, but not be able to listen in on the call or get the picture of the person you are skyping. The government does not need to see your actual body, they just need to see if you are suspicious.

            In the article, they mention Edward Snowden, who is a person who leaked all of this information to the public. In my opinion this man is not a traitor because of the fact that he unveiled secrecy. Knowledge is important, and if we do not know what the government s doing right now, who knows what else they are hiding from us. This part shows that the fact that they are watching us is necessarily bad, but it is something to think about.

  In the books I am reading, I have found that young adults are treated much differently in each book.  In divergent, The main character was treated as if she was a mature adult. She was given many responsibilities that most 16 year olds would not have. She confronts death so many times that she becomes more brave than anybody else. She is stripped of her childhood and very different because of her unfortunate experiences.

                                                                                                                             

However in all of her experiences, she becomes a much better person. She struggles with the fact that she was forced to kill a good friend of hers, and is haunted by it. She ends up being attacked in so many different ways and having issues because she is different. Everyone is scared of somebody who is different. This is shown with every type of racist out there, or anyone who is afraid of another people.

In the Chocolate War, the main character decided to rebel against the the whole school. The author treats him as hopeless, and despondent boy who does not know what he is getting into. In the end he got beat up and ended u having to go to the emergency room. The principal watched and did not care. He was shown to be not the smartest kid. However, he seems more mature than the main character in Divergent

The two books treat the young adults very differently. In one, The kid seems so much smarter and strong, but the other story ends up with the kid being beat up because he messed up. He only had 2 adults on his side, and one was attempting to make him fail his class, because someone stole his homework.                                                                                           

Faithful Elephants

The book “Faithful Elephants” by Yukio Tsuchiya shows that war does more damage than the stuff it does on the battlefield. During the story, there are three elephants that are condemned to an execution, because of World War 2. The Government commanded that the zookeepers kill all the dangerous zoo animals in Tokyo and the Ueno zoo. This meant that all the elephants John, Tonky, and Wanly were all executed.

            All three elephants were starved to death because they found no way to poison the elephants. Every zookeeper was shocked and had a huge emotional blow that would hurt them badly. The keeper said “you poor, pitiful elephants, and paced in front of the cage”. The keeper was seriously hurt by this sudden tragedy and was very unhappy. This happens during war, but we still attack other countries without considering the huge toll this can take.

            When the keeper gave Tonky and Wonky food, and all of the other keepers pretended not to see, and yet, it would be tossing aside the governments orders. All the keepers cared about the elephants and let the offending keeper get away with feeding the elephants. The keepers all care and they all felt the loss, because of a war that they had no choice in. The war did so much more damage than just the bombs being dropped. Every one hoped the elephants would survive longer, but they died.

            In Faithful Elephants, the author encourages you to think before you believe that war is the solution. It shows how damaging war is and how dangerous it can be to everyone’s emotions. This story challenges everyone’s decision 

Million dollar throw

            In the book Million dollar throw by Mike lupica is a book about a teenager mamed Tom who ends up with the opportunity to throw a football into a target during a patriots game for a chance of winning a million dollars. However, ever since he won that chance he had lost his ability to play very well because of nerves. His family is going through money problems and his best friend is also going blind. His parents are putting a ton of pressure on him and he gets into a horrible feeling dreary life.

            During his period of sorrow, tom ended up hearing his parent say some things that make him more stressed and he feels like it matters even more.  His father says, “You know what we could se right now? A million dollars.” This will make him even more stressed and make him not be able to play his normal games even more.

            I believe that this is a person versus self story because he is trying to be a better player. If he misses the target, then he loses his one chance to earn a million dollars that would change his life. His parents are helping him but at the same time hurting him and trying to get him to make the shot.

            His best friend, Abby plays football to but unfortunately, she is losing her vision. She is going to a different school in a different state, which means that

It is even worse for his stress which makes him have more crippled while playing games and practicing. This means that the big day would be more stressful.

            From this book you learn that a little bit of stress and pressure can be used to destroy people and make them feel worse. It will hinder and hurt them. Sometimes, what it does is irreversible and it leaves permanent damage on the person. It will make them feel worse, and can make them act meaner.