When I first began reading this book, I assumed that it would be like the 2 previous books in the series: fast-paced with good action and good characters, but more a fun read than anything else. It was going to be enjoyable in an Ocean's Eleven or Casino Royale way like its predecessors. And so going into this, my initial reaction was surprise. In the first chapter I was already delving into the past of Kat and Hale's powerful bond and the history of their relationship, something I thought would never be explained. Already, the book was surprising me with its depth of character development and hidden deeper meanings. Throughout the book the theme of the characters taking on much bigger and influential roles continued. I learned to love the characters not just as characters but real people; I learned to look at Kat's world not just as all bright, cheerful hues, but this book revealed the shadowy, dark shades of Kat's world as well: corruption, hurt, and lots of angst. But, powering through it all and saving the day was the infinite loyalty and love of her family.
While reading the book, I don't think my reactions and responses varied greatly. However, they differed greatly from my reactions and responses while reading the previous books, when I was caught up more in the adventure and plot of the book. While those aspects of this book were equally enthralling as the other books, I reacted and responded more to the characters in this book. My reactions and responses to the
This book is great for people who enjoy gore, suspense and a little romance. If you love to see good character cooperation and the characters in a lot of life or death situations where you really don’t know if they’ll make it or not this is the book for you. This books also shows that even the underdogs can still make a difference, and that gives us hope in life when there seems to be nothing left. Again if you love gore, suspense and a little bit of romance this is the perfect book for you, you won’t be
In the article, “Rotten Apples,” Haley Sweetland Edwards discusses the issues of teacher tenure and struggling schools in California. Rich businessmen like David Welch argued that California’s constitution regarding to job protection makes it difficult for schools to remove bad teachers who are hurting their student’s future. This lead to a group of businessmen and lawyers joining together to start “Vergara” cases on several courts around the nation (149). However, the teacher’s union think that Welch’s objective was conflicting and puts the union in danger as a whole, not just the “bad” teachers. The Time’s method of presenting this article will determine their responsibility and whether their method justifies the journalistic way of writing about the topic.
In the Pulitzer Prize winning civil war novel Killer Angels, Michael Shaara covers five days of the historic battle between the Northern and Southern United States at Gettysburg. Both the North and the South fought for freedom, although they did not have equivalent definitions of freedom. The North and the South were unwavering in their beliefs and their hope for a better United States, but what the two butted heads the most on was slavery. The South was a primarily agrarian region which relied heavily on the agriculture of crops like cotton and sugarcane, both of which required intense manual labor, unlike the North who was more so industrialized; however, as William Preston said, it was not cotton that was “the south’s king” but it was slavery that made them so prosperous. The South relied on slavery because having many workers to tend to these cash crops without having to pay them saved farmers and plantation owner’s money that they could use to buy more slaves that put out more work leading to more land for more crops, or to have more money to pay their taxes. Many Southerners like William Preston thought that owning other people was their divine right as white men. The Civil War was started over the North and South’s conflicting views on whether they had the “civil” right to own or not own slaves. The Northern and Southern states developed themselves much differently than one another because of their agrarian versus industrialized economy. As the states developed they
“The Interlopers” by Saki, is a story mixed with man vs. man, man vs. nature, and man vs. self, conflict. The resolution is a very surprising twisted fate however. In the beginning we learn of the three generation long quarrel between the Gradwitz’s and the Znaeym’s. “A famous law suit, in the days of his grandfather” (152). The boys grow up hating each other and wishing each other misfortune, and even death upon each other. “as boys they had thirsted for one another's blood, as men each prayed that misfortune might fall on the other” (152). On that night both of the men separate from their groups in search of each other. After a few minutes of searching they find each other. But as fate may have it, nature strikes both men. Suddenly the harsh
The word evil is most often associated with death or physically harmful things. But in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” the Misfit shows that evil is not only in physical actions but by also how you judge and treat people as demonstrated by the Grandmother in the story. The Misfit although is not seen as a fully developed character, he brings contradiction to the definition of evil and is also a main character of the story.
For the most part, the novel was very enjoyable. One aspect of it that I loved was that the storyline was extremely intense, which always compelled me to find out what would happen next. For example,
Sherman Alexie writes in his story, What You Pawn I Will Redeem about a homeless Salish Indian named Jackson Jackson. Alexie takes readers on Jackson’s journey to acquire enough money to purchase back his grandmother’s stolen powwow regalia. Throughout the story, Jackson’s relationships with other charters ultimately define his own character. Alexie, a well know Native American author tells an all too common tale of poverty and substance abuse in the Native American community through his character Jackson. The major character flaw of Jackson is his kindness, which ultimately becomes his greatest asset when fate allows him to purchase back his grandmother’s powwow regalia from a pawn broker for only five dollars.
Who gives without receiving? That’s right hardly anyone…. It’s sad to say but most of us struggle with the idea of freely giving without expecting anything in return. However, generosity splits us in two and has taught us to reach down and lift people up no matter their label. In the short story, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”, written by Sherman Alexie, the main idea expressed is that reaching down into your empty pocket to give to others wins true success. The author demonstrates this idea through the use of characterization to show Jackson’s righteousness, the use of irony to differentiate the common Indian stereotypes from the main character and the use of symbolism of pawning to show the meaning of the story’s title and the pawnbroker.
Steven Whitacre experienced a very traumatic childhood of abuse from his father which led to a very difficult adulthood. In his book “My Fathers Prostitute”, he talks about his life, starting out when his father first abused him to more recent times in adulthood to where he finally sought help and started to move on in his life started to live the life he should and deserves. This book really opened my eyes on what all goes on in this world that I would have never guessed. “Every eight minutes, a child is sexually assaulted in the U.S., and 93% know the perpetrator” (“Adult Survivors of Childhood”). To me this statistic seems insane and I cannot ever imagine being sexually assaulted by anyone let alone one of my parents that I am supposed to trust and love. When you really think about it, that how every eight minutes a child is getting sexually assaulted it is astonishing. It makes me wonder how many people I know that I have been sexually assaulted but don’t tell anyone. I assume there are many different cases of sexual assault and how there are different levels of how traumatic they are to the individual someone came upon. With some people, the sexual assault only happened once, and with others like the author of My Fathers Prostitute it happens during their entire childhood to impact the individual even more. I am not saying that the individuals who have only been sexually assaulted once came out un hurt or traumatized, but I would just imagine that it would not leave
In the play, As You Like It written by William Shakespeare, as well as the short story “Let Me Promise You” by Morley Callaghan, both playwright, and author are trying to convey the idea of a strong emotional bond between certain characters. In Shakespeare’s play, we see how Celia and Rosalind, two cousins, have been inseparable ever since a young age and will do anything for one another. In Callaghan’s short story, Alice has strong feelings towards George, waits restlessly by the window, and despite their differences, she still tries to please him. The theme that these two works show is unconditional love. The playwright and author are trying to illustrate what one will do for another even though the situation and conditions might be though.
The author’s style of writing is straightforward and to the point and the novel is unique because it is written through the different perspectives of the four main characters. The switching of perspectives throughout the book is what made the book so hard to put down. I could see, compare and contrast how the characters themselves feel about the situation. As this goes on, the reader can comprehend the characters’ personalities better and their view on the other characters. If this story was written from just one point of view, one wouldn’t be able to figure out each character’s thoughts and perception of people around them.
The western film “The Cowboys” directed by Mark Rydell, which stars John Wayne as the main character Wil Andersen, who is a stiff necked rancher in Montana, stuck with working with a bunch of inexperienced boys. Wil Andersen is faced with a difficult situation when all of the ranch hands get involved in the local gold rush and he has no more workers. Andersen’s friend Anse will get the idea of having the local schoolboys help him on the drive, but Andersen is not sold on the idea and is still concerned and worried about the drive. The next day the boys from the school will show up at Andersen’s ranch ready to help. Andersen is not fond of wasting daylight and will test the boys by having them ride on the back of a wild horse he is trying to break. The boys, are lead by the oldest Slim Honeycutt, who will surprise Andersen by being able to staying on. Cimarron , a young lonely Mexican boy, will come in and ride the horse successfully but will get into a fight with Slim. Andersen breaks up the fight and turns Cimarron away. The boys have a lot of learning yet that they need to do from Andersen. Andersen will be faced with another problem when three men ride in asking for work. The three men lie to Andersen and this does not go over well with him and he refuses to hire the three. Shortly after this the cook Jeb Nightlinger shows up and now Andersen has a full crew to drive the cattle. They will start the drive and the boys will soon become tired and sore from the strains of
I loved this book so much. There is so much action and is so much better and exciting with so much amazing detail and description. This is one of my favorite books ever. When you read it, you don’t want to put it down and it makes you feel like you are with the characters in the book and you know them so well. I recommend this book to anyone who can read at this level.
Daniel Craig’s new James Bond in Casino Royale breathes fresh life into what had become, in my opinion, a rather tired and worn out concept - a striking achievement, considering Casino Royale was Ian Fleming’s first novel in the series, written in 1953.
offending. An example of when he hits a woman is when he is talking to