Virgin Suicides

The book that I’ve been reading is Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. It starts of in the perspective of a group of boys who live across the street from the 5 Lisbon girls who are beautiful and mysterious which the boys have a facination for. The girls are cooped up in their house because they have extremely strict parents and their nt allowed to communicate with boys or anybody really because their parents are always watching them and it doesn’t help that their father works at the same school that they go to. The first part of the book focuses on Cecilia’s first suicide attempt where she cuts her wrists and lays in a tub of hot water until someone walks in and saves her, not that she wanted to be saved.

         The main topic in the book is depression so far. I can tell that this is the main topic because the title refers to suicide, and the book starts of by somebody attempting suicide and the leading cause of suicide is depression. I think that Cecilia is the most depressed girl out of the Libson daughters because she shows the most symptoms what I mean by this is shes the most anti social, and by the way she talks and is described in the book she has barely any expression and it seems as if she doesn’t really have any hope and she doesn’t feel anything. Which really makes me think that her depression could affect and influence the way her sisters are, because who would want to have to see their sibling feeling like she’s worthless and not wanting to be alive so badly that she’d decided to end her life, that would have to effect the other your sisters because it would be hard to see and not change a bit.

         Cecilia so far is the only character that we know the most about because we even know that she wears a vintage 20’s wedding dress all the time and that shes short and we even know who she liked. Which is a lot different than what we know about the other sisters because all we really know about the others is that their blonde and each one year apart, we don’t know what they feel and we aren’t able to determine weather or not their depressed or not because their personalities aren’t really expressed.

I think maybe Jeffery Eugenides might have did this on purpose so that the reader can create a personality that they see fit for each character to enhance the reading experience.

The relationship of a time traveler and his destined love

I've recently started the book The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I'm not that well into the book yet but from what I can tell you is the time travelers wife is about this guy named Henry who's a time traveler and he can't tell a lot of people about his power because no one would believe that it's true and if they did believe the time traveling world would be too congested with people. With his ability he's able to know his future and the people he'll meet. One time he met his wife Clare who is another character In the book. The first time they met was when she was 6 and Henry was much older than her. Whenever Henry time traveled he ended up with no clothes so the first time they met he was naked with a little girl right there. The thing is that Henry always sees Clare when he's a different age usually it's when Clare is much Younger. I think that the age difference will be an issue in this book and it could possibly affect thier relationship and they could end up not married and that could change the future.
I think that the age difference between Clare is going to be a problem because since not everyone is a time traveler nobody who isn't would believe that he's not just a crazy person who ends up in random places without any clothes on. For example henry says "I'm in the back of the police car in Zion,Illinois. I am wearing handcuffs and not much else."(pg. 58) And also" Also I refuse to talk to them,so they still don't know who I am, or where I live. The day They find out I'm toast because there are several outstanding warrants for my arrest:breaking and entering, shoplifting, resisting arrest,
trespassing,indecent exposure, indecent exposure"(pg 59) Henry wouldnt look good hanging around a 6 year old with that kind of record and the police would suspect him to be some type of creep especially since he was charged with indecent exposure so thier relationship will be affected by the age difference as well as his criminal record.

The Glass Shatters.

Drug addiction changes your life and the lives of your loved ones, It is something that a lot of people struggle with. In Glass by Ellen Hopkins. The most important social issue is drug addiction .Kristina’s life changes and heads more downhill because of her addiction to crystal meth. Her relationships with her family and friends change especially with her baby hunter. Her addiction also changes her personality.

         

          Kristina’s Relationship with her family changes mostly in crank the first book of the crank series when she has to go visit her dad over the summer. This causes a drastic change because her dad was a drug addict and he gave her access to meth giving her the opportunity to get hooked on it. Also when she got back from her summer with her dad she was more distant  with her mom and her stepdad and siblings. In Glass however after she has a baby, she thinks that she is done with drugs but she gets pulled back into the addiction and her mom finds out so she gets kicked out of the house. When Kristina got kicked out she didn’t show the want to be living with her family again, which I find is strange because her mom wouldn’t allow her to take Hunter(her baby) because she knew that Kristina was unstable and would probably harm him. During Christmas her mom tried to reach out for her but she kept her distance for example:

“Tomorrow? Christmas. Presents and dinner with the family. And family. And Hunter. [He’s too little to care this year, anyway]”(pg 412)  This shows how out of the people in her family she mostly cares about hunter but not enough to sacrifice her conflicts with her parents to see her baby that she barely sees, before she got addicted it was weird for her not being there with hunter when she went to work, and Kristina acted like a mother and cared for her son.

         

            Kristinas personality changed because of the addiction to meth. Kristina has an alter ego and her name is bree, shes the more dangerous, daring, ruthless part of her and when she wants to refrain from meth bree pushes her toward it. In the book glass Bree kind of takes over Kristina and speaks for her. The scary thing is Kristina doesn’t have enough strength to not let bree take over her for example “ The small part, the kristina part, keeps whispering the other Bree part, is. ‘Not only were you stupid to sneak back to the monster,’  she mumbles, ‘but ten to one you’re going to get caught. Mom and Scott will know.’ The Bree part just stares contentedly at the ceiling, really comfortable for the first time in too many months. Meth. Tobacco.”(pg 111-112)  What Kristina is making clear is that her real self is the smallest part and she is worried about getting caught and she thinks that going back to the “monster” which is meth  is stupid, but Bree doesn’t really care about anything, but when she’s high Bree is the dominant voice that Kristina has so she doesn’t really care about getting caught all she wants to do is enjoy what’s going to end up ruining Kristinas life.

         

           I think Glass really represents the issue of drug addiction and how it can change a persons life because of Kristinas experience and struggles with meth. I think Ellen Hopkins wanted to really show her readers how dangerous drugs not only the known health affect it has but the affect on your family and the way you act. She really wants her readers to be aware of all of the struggles that somebody with a serious drug problem has to face. By choosing a character that faced it all. She wants us to know our Clear Glass life can be shattered by a serious drug addiction.

Social Awareness #3

Identify and analyze social problems and issues in your independent reading books. What is the problem? Who is affected and how? What are the causes and effects? Possible solutions? Give specific examples.

         In my book Deadly Little Secret By Laurie Faria Stolarz the social issue that I think is most obvious is bullying. The reason why I think that the social issue is bullying is because the kids at Camelia’s school bully Ben. The reason why Ben gets bullied is because he allegedly murdered his girlfriend in the town that he used to live in but he wasn’t convicted of anything so he didn’t go to jail. At his new school everybody makes fun of him and leave nasty notes taped to his locker. Ben doesn’t really do anything about him being bullied because he has the confidence to know that he’s better than all of them and there just immature. Ben thinks that there immature because they bully him because of a rumour its not really a fact that he murdered his girlfriend it was something that didn’t happen but people still believe because hes not “normal”.

         One example of when he gets bullied is when a group of kids change the sign above the school mascot “polly Piranha” and change it to. “ Freetown High, Home to the Piranhas” to “ Freetown High, Home of the convicted murderer”(Pg 165)  this is a form of bullying because their targeting ben and he’s done nothing wrong to any of them to lead them to believe that he was an actual murderer.

         Some possible solutions are that the kids that are quick to penalize Ben for something that they aren’t even sure if weather or not he did or not should do their research to find out the full story. Or they could just ask Ben if he did it or not and explain it to them if they want to the truth the best person to get it from would be Ben.

Social Awareness #2

I am fifteen

Voice 1: My arms are the size of twigs

Voice 2: My arms are lumpy sacks of potatoes

When I look in the mirror I know that im not perfect enough

Voice 1: I see all the flaws, no matter how small

Voice 2: My flaws are so visable that everyone can see

Voice 1: I have to force my self to eat

Voice 2: I eat too much

Food is my biggest weakness

Voice 1: I weigh 86.3 pounds to be exact

Voice 2: I weigh 201 pounds

I cant do a lot because of my weight

Voice 1: I throw up my food

Voice 2: Last night I threw everything up, because I ate way too much

I cant seem to keep it down

Voice 1: I’m so small that sometimes I feel like people just can’t see me

Voice 2: I am huge, I could be seen from a mile away i

I want to be better

Voice 1: My mother tries to force food into me

Voice 2: My dad calls me a “ disgusting fat slob”

They just don’t understand

Its not my fault that im like think, I honestly want to change I just need help

         My poem targets the social issue of body image. While writing this poem I had to recall previous books that I’ve read. The books that helped me get a better out look on the social issue of body image were Wintergirls by  Laurie Halse Anderson and Perfect by Natasha Friend. These books both dealt with body image and how it affects teenagers in America. In perfect the main character Isabelle Lee is a little overweight because when her dad died she started to eat a lot for comfort so my inspiration for voice two was basically from Isabelle.

         Voice 1 was based on the main character Lia in Wintergirls because Lia is anorexic and she struggles with her body image her goal was to be skinnier than her dead friend Cassie she doesn’t hold her food down and she doesn’t eat. She also weighed a really low weight for her age that was unnaturally unhealthy. I thought that since I had read books about two different types of body images and eating disorders because they contrast but in a way are really the same. 

Social Issues: Body Image

The social issue that I will be focusing on is anorexia and body image. This issue affects mostly girls as well as a small percentage of males that are affected by body image. Body image effects girls as young as three years old. The main cause of this issue is the pressure to be perfect from examples such as models in the media.

            Body image is a problem that affects young girls in many ways, lowering their self-esteem and comparing themselves to models that aren’t necessarily healthy. The reason why body image effects a young age group is because when a younger audience see movies and see pictures with models and actresses that are considered to be “perfect” girls tend to idolize them and aspire to be like them. What they don’t know is that sometimes modeling agencies and fashion companies when they put pictures in magazines or billboards they sometimes alter the images with technology to make the models look: skinnier, thinner and trimmer.

            Anorexia is one of the most common eating disorders. Scientifically named anorexia nervosa is when a person doesn’t eat in fear of weight gain. People that are anorexic want to prevent weight gain or to loose weight. They usually don’t think there is wrong with their eating habits. People with jobs the stress body size usually suffer from anorexia like ballet dancers, models and gymnasts.

            On shows like Toddlers in Tiaras on TLC, a show where young girls 3 and up perform in pageants where they are judged in various categories. The girls are dressed in big expensive outfits that are in some cases too provocative for children their age groups. The contestants wear fake teeth (called a flipper) that make their smile prettier. Which is unnecessary for their age since they are at the stage of development that their teeth fall out and new ones grow in. Also they wear hair extensions, pounds of make up and sometimes go to tanning salons. All of these things that are not needed for them to look beautiful. The parents of these children are putting the idea into their heads that the reason why they have to do all of these things before a pageant is because they need to be changed with products. The contestant get all dolled up, which is like saying they put on suits of fakeness. On the show they don’t show the girls ever talking about not wanting to put any of the fakeness or being uncomfortable with their bodies but I think from the film that they don’t play their has to be clips where a girl really doesn’t want to have to change herself to be on this show, all they probable want is to have fun.

            Another cause of false body image in the younger age group I think may be the looks of certain dolls that they play with such a Barbie. Barbie’s measurements if she were a real girl are 5’10 and she would weigh 110. These are common measurements for a model. Barbie, is she were real would be so thin that her organs would eventually collapse because of her lack of fat. Girls tend to use Barbie as a model because that’s what they see runway models looking like, tall and skinny. So they think that’s what there supposed to be tall and skinny, just like Barbie’s.

            I think that body issue is a really important issue because trying to be perfect and have a “perfect body” is sometimes unhealthy and you face many risks by falling into an eating disorder like anorexia and bulimia. These disorders can sometimes lead to death. Being perfect and having a body like a models isn’t worth risking your life for. The pressure to be perfect can be stopped if we learn to love who we are and how we look.

Sources:

1. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-2642&artno=0000318835&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Body%20image&title=Skinny%20and%20Scared%20of%20Weight%20Gain&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N

2. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-2642&artno=0000318029&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Body%20image&title=Barbie%20Doll%20Tattoos%3A%20Is%20New%20Doll%20Appropriate%20for%20Kids%3F&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N

3. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-2642&artno=0000316078&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Anorexia%20nervosa&title=Beyond%20Thin&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N

4. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=S44-4241-0-2642&artno=0000314363&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Anorexia%20nervosa&title=Kids%20Too%20Afraid%20to%20Eat&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=N&ic=N

The Mysterious 2nd Narrator

            In my book Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz. There are two different narrators. The first narrator speaks mostly throughout the book so far and the story in her point of view. The first narrator is Camelia the main character she tells things as they happen. The second narrator doesn’t have many pages in the book and sometimes the chapters in his or her point of view is less than a full page. The way the 2^nd narrator speaks as if they were writing in like a diary or a jornal. At first I thought the second narrator was ben because it seemed to be the most logical person. For example the after the first chapter when Ben saved Camelia's life the 2nd Narrator starts talking. So I figured that Ben had to be the second narrator. Now that I'm getting deeper into the I've strayed from my belief that Ben is the second narrator.

        

The reason why I no longer think that ben is the second narrator is because, when Camelia's stalker tears the pajamas that he had bought for her and left in her room, she asked ben why he had ripped up her gift. Ben was clueless about the pajamas and them being ripped. So now I think that the 2nd narrator is Matt who is a guy that Camelia is friends with and he used to be in love with her.

What leads me to believe that Matt is the 2nd narrator is that right after Matt and Camelia meet in the lab when she is looking up information about Ben and the murder he'd been accused of  and then Matt the next time he's mentioned he brings Camelia information the 2nd narrator says She just wont listen. And so I've started my plan.I just hope she appreciates all my efforts---all my work to make her happy. Once and for all(pg 131)

This really represents the way Matt acts because when the book is in Camelias point of view he tries his best to get Camelias attention and he talks to her a lot and tries his hardest to make her like him, I think that he realizes that all that Camelia foucuses on is Ben and Matt believes that Ben is some kind of danger to her. Also Matt tells Camelia that she shouldn’t be hanging around  Ben. This really leads me to think that he's the 2nd narrator because the 2nd narrator talks about her talking to ben being bad  so it cant be ben and Matt also has the same opinion so its most likely that Matt is the mysterious 2nd Narrator.