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10/4/2013

 
Choose a work of literature that relates to history and
  1. Summarize the work including Title and Author
  2. Explain the connection to history specifically and thoughtfully
  3. Write a personal reflection about the relationship between literature and real life
  4. Comment on at least TWO of your peers' posts
Andrew S
10/4/2013 11:29:19 pm

1) The book Call Of The Wild by; Jack London is about a dog Buck who is kidnapped from his suburban home to be on a dog sled team. While on the dog sled team he has to work with different leaders to reach the destination. Some leaders want to go slow and careful, and others want to rush blindly and hope for the best. Throughout the book Buck learns who to listen, and how to deal with foreign situations.

2) This relates to the Crusades. During the Crusades, Christians rushed to Constantinople to defeat the Muslims. Along the way the crusaders had to adapt to new weather, going from cold and rainy to hot and dry. They also had to appoint generals and other leaders to lead them into battle and control the chaos. Some groups rushed and were caught unprepared for the conditions and were killed. The same happened to the ignorant sled drivers Buck worked with.

3) Almost all literature reflects life. When writing, you can only write what you learned. Because of this, a cycle is created where writing is based on what on what other people have wrote or heard. Sooner or later every piece of literature reflects life directly (non-fiction) or indirectly (fiction)

Kortnie
10/5/2013 11:23:59 am

I love the book The Call of the Wild, although it was quite sad. That was a great connection to the Crusades, I wouldn't have thought of that. I probably would have connected it to slavery, comapring the dogs to slaves. I like the Crusades connection though, I think it's stronger than that slavery one.

Andrew Solari
10/28/2013 09:39:07 am

I hadn't thought of anything like that while writing. Now that you point that out, I think it would have really helped my writing

Jada Fisher
10/22/2013 09:47:42 am

I read this book for summer reading and I think you connected the book and the Crusades very well. One thing you could add is how the leaders sometimes recruited new crusaders. In the Children's Crusade one child started to lead and gathered more and more kids along the way. This is similar to how Buck was taken on by numerous sled teams throughout their journeys.

Tyler D.
10/24/2013 10:49:35 am

Makes sense, but you couldve used less time on talking about the book by itself in the beginning.

Jason W.
10/28/2013 05:14:20 am

i like your connection between the reading and the crusades of how some groups were unprepared and died off while others knew they wanted to win and conquered

Jade
10/30/2013 08:00:03 am

I really like how well you connected this book to the Crusades, it really gives a much less complicated summary/explanation of that historical event, well done(:

Devon Reis
11/2/2013 04:54:22 am

Sounds like a good book. I like how you connected it to the crusades. Good job.

brielle
11/3/2013 05:15:08 am

you had a good connection to the crusades I haven't read the book but from the details you gave in #1 made it seem like you had a very good connection.

Camryn Liberatore
11/3/2013 06:28:12 am

I like how you connected your book to the crusades. It relates to it in a more indirect way. Also part 3 I think you did a really good job on I never really thought of fiction literature reflecting life and past events.

Katelynn Colpitts
11/3/2013 08:41:46 am

I like how you worded your connection. its almost as if the book was written to represent the Crusades and the conditions they faced. Good Job!

Johnathan Sandoval
11/3/2013 10:51:32 am

Very well though out connection to history. History is a very broad subject and the fact that your were able to connect this literature to a specif event that occurred in history is impressive. It only helps that you chose an event that i would never have thought about. The similarities of groups trying to rush and were caught off guard by the climate and the dogs trying to rush blindingly and making a mistake was a very good realization you made. well done!

Kyle A.
11/3/2013 07:21:54 pm

It was quite depressing book, but it gave a truth about animals. We all have a natural predator in us. Only thing is what sets, it off.

Isidra
11/4/2013 08:58:16 am

I have also read this book and I agree with Kortnie that this book could have also been related to slavery. But the Crusades was a very good relation to The Call of theWild

jack
11/17/2013 10:29:31 am

That was a great connection between the book and what the christians did to defeat the muslims also I liked how well thought through your connection was good job

Kortnie
10/5/2013 11:20:15 am

1. In the book The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes by Cassie Clare, Clary is a character who, found herself to be not a simple human but a Shadowhunter - a person who was born to fight demons and protect the mundane(human) world from demon wrath. She meets many new friends, including sibling Shadownhunters Alec and Isabelle, as well as another Shadowhunter, Jace, and Downworlders (beings such as vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and faeries) alongside her longtime best friend-turned-vampire Simon. She meets a Shadowhunter who claims to be her father, an evil man by the name of Valentine who wants to rid the mundane and Shadowhunter world of all Downworlders as well as claim control of the entire Shadowhunter race.

2. The man Valentine in this book is distinctly reminiscent of Hitler, and his ideas are similiar to those that came about in the Holocaust. Valentine, just like Hitler, used so called propaganda to convince ttheir audiences of the untrue evilness of Jews (Hitler) and Downworlders (Valentine). Just like Hitler blamed Germany's bad economic standpoint on the Jewish, Gpysy, disabled, and elderly races, Valentine insists that the inevitable "fall" of the Clave (the Shadowhunter's capitol, much like Washington DC for the US) and the higher demon population, is the blame of the warlock, faerie, vampire, and werewolf races. Much like the Nazi Party Hitler had, Valentine had the Circle, who were fiercely loyal and had no idea (for the most part) of the evil that was being committed, and, even if they did, they had been brainwashed into thinking it was okay, much like some of the Nazis were.

3. There is always a connection from literature to real life, no matter how indirect or subtle. There has to be, because real life, essentially, is all we know. Yes, we have imagination, but even that is based from real life. Think about unicorns. In real life, there are horses. There are also animals will horns, such as narwals and rhinos. Someone, somewhere made that real life connection and thought about what would happen if a horse had a horn like one of those animals, and there was the unicorn. We cannot write completely based from something we know nothing about. We do not know how many galaxies are out there in space, but we do know how to count, so an author may make a story about space, something we know exists, and make it have 371 galaxies. The author knows that space is real, and knows that 371 is a number, so connecting those two can create a fictional story that is based from real life knowledge. Even if we could write about something we didn't know and wouldn't be able to look up, who would want to read it? Stories are relatable, and people like to relate to characters and feelings and ideas. It makes the story come alive. An author could write about something so unlike a human being, and yet it would still reflect at least a few acts of humanoid behavior or feelings. It's nice to make a connection with a character, because then you can understand the plot and even use some background knowledge to predict and fully understand what will happen next.

Isabelle
10/6/2013 07:51:06 am

This book series is definatley one of my all-time favorites! I can definatley see the connection to Valentine and Hitler. Valentine wanted to kill off all different races of demons and downworlders, just as Hitler wanted to kill off Jews. Although now that you mention it, the connection seems obvious, I wouldn't have thought of it if you hadn't written about it.

Stephanie P
10/23/2013 12:34:57 pm

I completely agree with you. The City of Ashes was an amazing book and Valentine can completely be connected to Hitler. They both had organizations that followed them mindlessly (The Nazi Party and The Circle) that they used their amazing persuasive to gain and use to commit genocide.

Hannah Garrity
10/26/2013 05:00:15 am

I have been wanting to read this book series for a while now. And seeing the connections that you have made and what the book is about makes me want to read it a whole lot more

Meghan Cooper
10/28/2013 09:57:16 am

Great job Kortine. I would have never thought to connect Valentine to Hitler in the way that you did, but when you presented the evidence the similarities were astounding. I very much liked your use of "unicorns" to demonstrate the connection between real life and literature. Very well done.

Owen Scannell
10/29/2013 10:35:34 am

Love the series but I don't understand why valentine is portrayed as a hitler like figure just misunderstood he's not so much a racist evil killeras he is a brilliant scientist with fair albeit twisted and dark ways of trying to help him and his own from a world in turmoil

Jade
10/30/2013 08:05:11 am

Kortnie, this is fantastic! I love how you were able to connect nonfiction to history and real life, it was a little confusing at first but once I read the whole thing everything pieced together and I understood it very well. Really great(:

Stephanie Martindale
11/2/2013 03:40:59 am

I never thought about Valentine as Hitler before. That was a really great connection that makes sense.

Sabrina Tetreault
11/3/2013 03:02:27 am

This was a very clever choice. At first I really couldn't see how it would connect to history. But you did a really good connection. Very well done and shocking I never really saw any huge theme like this in the cat in the hat. Well done.

Ethan Kennedy
11/3/2013 05:50:25 am

I have been really trying to get into these boooks but havent got a chance. Nice connections!!

Johnathan Sandoval
11/3/2013 10:59:00 am

Extremely accurate connection! good job Kortnie! It's interesting how you took the actions of one malicious man and related it to the actions of Hitler. Also i enjoyed reading your personal reflection on how literature relates to real life. Very explicit examples clarified as to how you felt those two topics were relative to one another. Good use of imagination and knowledge in number 3!

Matt
10/8/2013 10:12:41 am

1) The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess is a timeless classic that everyone knows. It is the story of a brother and sister who have nothing new to do. Then as they sit sadly in their chairs wishing for change, a visitor arrives bringing what they wished for. The Cat introduces new and unseen contraptions into the house and fulfills the children's need for entertainment. Soon the Fish decides that he is in charge and that the Cat must go. The children dislike his authority and feel that he must be replaced. They decide to put the Cat in charge. Under the Cat's supervision, the contraptions and the children ruin the house. With a little help from thing 1&2, the house gets cleaned up just in time for the mother to get home.

2) This book has a connection to revolution. Both in the sense of the industrial revolution and the revolution in which an authority is overthrown. The over throw of the Fish happens throughout the whole story and follows the 8 steps of revolution. First the children's goal is to have fun, but the preconditions- the rain, and the strictness of the Fish- keep them from accomplishing their goal. The group that arises is brought in to the house when the Cat shows up. His presence makes the vote toward fun a 3-1, the Fish is heavily outnumbered. Things get worse when the children destroy the house along with the help of thing 1&2. The struggle for power is seen when the Cat doesn't take responsibility for the mess and abandons the house. This leaves the kids with a large problem and no leader to help. Then the Cat returns to right his wrongs before packing up for good. The strong source of power finally comes along at the end of the story when the mother comes back to reclaim her roll as the leading authority of the house. Lastly the new goal is for the children to come up with an explanation to give to the mother about the day they had experienced. The representation of the industrial revolution comes when the Cat introduces his fun contraptions. This is similar to the inventions of the Industrial revolution. The introduction of the new technologies solved the problems that both groups had and also, they positively enhanced the lives of the kids and the millions who were effected by the revolution. However the contraptions also brought problems. The Industrial Revolution was filled with social and economic problems due to the new technology they had and the children had a ruined house that was a direct cause of the Cat's inventions. This is a children's book yet it is clear that there are deep connections to revolution within it.

3) Every piece of literature is going to be connected to real life in some way or another. It can be as subtle as a feeling that we are all familiar with or as obvious as a non-fiction piece based entirely on what happened. All authors must have an inspiration to write their works. Since the only things that they know come from the world that they live in, any given piece of a story will have some root to the real world. All literary pieces will convey some universal theme relating to the world we live in whether it is an abstract theme represented through symbolism and metaphors, or a clear cut theme that is boldly stated in the text. Ever theme in any piece of literature has roots growing back to the human experience and the world that we are a part of.

Kortnie
10/17/2013 11:24:54 am

I like how you used The Cat in the Hat, it's a story everyone knows and yet not many people would think about it like that. I like how you connected the contraption problems with the Industrial Revolution; the children's ruined house can be connected to the social and economic issues of the IR.

ryan q
10/21/2013 09:19:08 am

I like how you connected this story to the industrial revolution. I never thought of it like that. oh and great book choice.

Jared
10/22/2013 09:04:50 am

Wow I never thought of The Cat in the Hat like that. I never thought that it could be anything more than a children's story. I like how you have shown that in revolution things can go wrong but are eventually fixed.

Joetta Nuahn
10/26/2013 01:06:50 am

Great job Matt, and Jade i agree with you, this is just WOW! Matt it's amazing how you took something such as a elementary school children's book and analyze and decipher it to being a revolution and you did a wonderful job translating that.

Arianna R
10/31/2013 05:40:36 am

I love cat in the hat it was one of my favorite story when i was a kid

harry lancaster
10/27/2013 06:36:52 am

I Think this is a great connection Matt. It must've really taken time to analyze such a simple story to such an extent. Most of the steps of revolution are gone over in your blog. Very well written, I look forward to rereading this book with an entirely new perspective.

Jason W.
10/28/2013 05:17:49 am

The fact that you could've gone this in depth and shown the connections between the book and revolution is amazing. This book was one of my favorites as a kid but now i will look at it in a whole new frame of mind

Alec Rubenstein
10/28/2013 09:54:38 am

I never thought of the book like that. I thought it was just a children's story. Great job connecting it to revolution.

Meghan Cooper
10/28/2013 10:07:08 am

I would never thought that a book as simplistic as the cat in the hat would have a historical theme in it. Good job describing the connection between literature and real life. Also good job featuring in some of the steps of revolution in your explanation as well.

owen scannell
10/29/2013 10:38:30 am

Absolutely brilliant never would I have connected two things that seem like polar opposites I love the effort and detail you put into this

Sabrina
10/31/2013 09:32:39 am

I love how you used the cat in the hat as your book. I would have never thought of that book that way. You have really good connections, great job!

Alexa
11/1/2013 11:17:26 am

I really liked how you connected a children's classic to history. I would have never thought of connecting the cat in the hat to industrialization.

Jada Fisher
11/2/2013 02:58:03 am

This is a fantastic connection Matt. You worded your connection very well which helped me understand it much better. I never would have thought about this book in this way if I didn't read your post. Now, that I have read it I can see the connection. FANTASTIC JOB!

Devon Reis
11/2/2013 04:57:42 am

I really liked how you connected the story to the Industrial Revoulution. Would've never thought about that. You had lots of detail to describe everything. Nice job.

Camille H
11/2/2013 09:29:40 am

Wow, I NEVER would have thought of doing Cat In The Hat for my blog. When I was little, I loved to read the book, it was one of my favorites. I loved how you explained how it relates to revolution, it is so what goes on in the book. However, you should of just explained HOW THIS book relates to real life rather than say that every book has a special theme that connects to real life. Other than that, this is good and unique.

Nick V
11/2/2013 09:48:28 am

Matt, I would have never thought to write about this story and I really like the connection that you made.

Justin Torres
11/2/2013 12:09:11 pm

I am amazed by your connection that you made about the Industrilization to The cat in the hat. The whole thing blew me away! I would never even have thought about that connection if you never made this post. It was very well done and very clever. It was an extremely good choice to use this book to use for the assignment.

Mackenzie Donahue
11/2/2013 10:28:58 pm

This connection was amazing, I on my own,would have never looked at this particular children's book in that way. I think you made a profound statement when connecting this book and the I.R. you gave great examples and details that helped prove your point.

Andrew Milliken
11/3/2013 12:00:08 am

Matt, when you told me you were going to write about The Cat in the Hat for your blog, I didn't take the idea seriously. But the fact that you could connect a simple children's book to revolution is very thoughtful. Your explanation of the steps of revolution definitely strengthened your argument as well.

Kali
11/3/2013 12:24:58 am

I like how you connected this to revolution i never would have thought to connect this to history, good job.

Lucas
11/3/2013 02:13:23 am

First, I'd like to say great book choice. The cat in the hat is a classic. Second, you did a tremendous job connecting this work of literature to revolution. I could never imagine a simple book like cat in the hat connecting to literature. Amazing job matt.

Corey L
11/3/2013 05:22:08 am

wow I think no one would have thought of that but you are 100% right

brielle
11/3/2013 05:24:00 am

wow. I never thought of such a simple book making a connection like that , very good job on your connection. you took a book that a lot of people have read and looked at it with a totally different perspective I never looked at it like that .... nice job.

Ryan E
11/3/2013 06:03:32 am

I would have never thought to connect this story with revolution because it is a book that does not contain much detail.

Ethan
11/3/2013 06:25:50 am

Never really fgured to do the cat in the hat great job! It was a great blog!

Camryn Liberatore
11/3/2013 06:34:13 am

When I first saw that you were doing the cat and the hat I wondered how you were going to connect that particular book to history but I think you did a very good job. Also I liked how you incorporated the 8 steps of a revolution I never thought you could get that much from a small children's book.

James Boudreau III
11/3/2013 07:08:31 am

Wow, that took me by surprise. I never saw it like THAT before, it all seemed so innocent. I really like how you tied it to a revolution, it all makes such vivid sense to me now. I'll never read that book the same way again. Amazing review!

Nicole L
11/3/2013 09:32:43 am

I love the way you took a classic book that everyone knows you shinned a different light on it. I would of never thought about this book showing industrial revolution but after reading this I can see you took your time to come up with a good reason and you explained really well. I also like how you incorporated which things fell under which steps of revolution and how the inventions where like the industrial revolutions inventions

steve hamerskki
11/3/2013 10:12:53 am

wow, i would never think a childrens book could be related to such a serious topic as revolution i really liked your connection between the fish going through the 8 steps of revolution i would have never thought of cat in the hat that way good job

Emma Theroux
11/3/2013 11:00:22 am

I think it's amazing that you could find a connection between The Cat and The Hat to Revolution, you made many intuitive connections that I don't think many people would've thought of.

Isidra
11/4/2013 09:01:09 am

I ould have never thought of The Cat in the Hat like that. This was a very creative relation.

jack
11/17/2013 10:33:52 am

Dude your awesome I would have never thought to connect a childrens book to the industrial revolution and it worked too. The connection was perfect and its funny to think about how that worked you were smart and did a great job with it Matt.

Allison
10/8/2013 12:04:36 pm

In the book "Speak" by: Laurie Halse Anderson is about A highschool girl named Melinda Sordinowho goes to a party and meets Andy Evans who rapes her in the woods. Melinda does the one thing she can think of, she calls the police but she doesn't know what to say so she doesn't say anything and hangs up.
Later the police show up and arrest a few students they don't notice Melinda and she never tells anyone what happened. In school everyone in mad because she called the police and they unfriend her.she becomes very depressed. When a new girl (heather) comes to school and befriends Melinda. And when things start to look up Heather ditches her for the in crowd girls. Melinda starts to ditch school and pull away from her family. Her lab partner David ans her become friends and he tries to get her to speak up for herself. Her only safe haven is the janitors closet she always goes to to get away

Brooklynn
10/21/2013 06:43:39 am

I love the book the Speak! I've read it twice and really enjoyed it. You did and excellent job summarizing the book. However, you didn't exemplify how the book relates to the Industrial Revolution.

Kyle A.
11/3/2013 07:25:03 pm

It sounds a lot like a case of a person just wanting to be accepted in. Though instead gets bullied and pushes everyone everyone who wants to help he or she away

Allison M
10/8/2013 01:22:28 pm

In the book speak by Laurie Hales Anderson, Melinda Sorindo a high school student goes to a party and meets a boy, Andy Evans who rapes her in the wood. Feeling scared ,helpless ,and confused she does the one thing she can think of she calls the police but doesn’t know what to says so hangs up. she then runs home and never tells anyone about that night . once she is gone the police show up at the party. Everyone knows she called the police but not the reason, now her friends ditch her and everyone hates her. So she falls into depression untll a new girl in school, Heather, befriends her only to ditch her for the Marathas. Deeper into depression, Melinda starts ditching school and shutting out her family. After seeing Melinda get bullied in school her lab partner David has had enough and tells her to speak up. Melindas only safe haven is the janitors closet. But that all ends the day the truth comes out when Andy finds her in there and tries to rape her again But this time some kids see it happen. Her popularity rises but she knows its all pity ,pity that she doesn’t want. After expressing her emotion through art to her art teacher she comes to the conclusion that what happened to her happened and that it doesn’t have to effect her everyday, so takes her courage, acceptance, and Davids advice and tells the story for the first time. She finally speaks.

This reflects to Revolution because it’s a major change. The major change is in Melinda when she gets raped, through her depression and hated high school year, up to her moment to speak. How she learned to cope with what happened . Also it’s a major change in her school and society. The major change in Her school is for all the students who have to deal with the guilt of hating a victim and bullying her also for the thought that it could have been anyone of them and not her. And learned not to take be so Judge mental and assume things. The major change in her society was how They had a rapist running around and how it could have been any of there children how there society now is going to be more aware. Lastly it was a major change in her family and the majority of her teachers for not noticing a girl in a major sate of depression how they have to go through the gult and how they have to now take procautions for the next student having depression eating away at them.
Well all writing and books somehow has something to do with each other. The thing that you learn help you with your own writing and reading skills. Books relate to all different things that we technically are not looking for. But we read over. What you read and write is all from your own or someone elses personal imagination, ideas or even experiences. These things lead to new ideas ,which lead to more new things and so on. But together they make a process because something you write is something you have learned from either someone elses or your own ideas, experiences, or imagination. Leading to how Everything come from somewhere .

Joetta Nuahn
10/26/2013 01:01:08 am

You did a good job sumarizing the book "Speak" and your connection of it to speak was well written and thought out. I Never read the book, but I've seen the movie, and I would've never thought of it as being a revolution. Also, I agree with you when u said, what we read and write are all somewhat related and it's comes from what we are familar with. Good job.

matt
10/28/2013 09:38:30 am


I like how you made a connection to an individual mental revolution. Almost everyone else connected a book to a physical revolution of a group. It shows how revolution can apply to many topics.

Joetta Nuahn
10/17/2013 08:05:19 am

1.)Fire from the rock by Sharon M. Draper is about making decisions and changes, but also has a deeper meaning rooted in history. Sylvia Patterson is a girl, living in Little Rock Arkansas, it's the year 1957, and things are far from normal. Though Sylvia is an ordinary teenager looking forward to attending high school as a freshmen. Just like any other teenager, she's anticipating joing clubs, finally being treated like an adult, going to football games and dances. Then, the federal government fabricated a new law stating Central High school is being integerated, and the government and citizens are obliged to obey. Sylvia was considered to be one of the first black students to go to Central high school, by her teacher, Miss Washington. Sylvia was honored because this is an opportunity reserved for few. Also, she's scared and questions being able to endure this heavy strain and responsibilty placed upon her. Before making her decision, she considers leaving behind childhood friends, being excluded from social activities, and even worse her exposure to threats and possible harm. Sylvia has to decide between participating in a rightful cause of change, and her safety and happiness. Later, this decision was made for her uncousciously, when racila tension in Little Rock stimulated into flames. When the smoke subdued, she precieves that nothing is going to stop change from coming. Also, she concludes it's up to her along with her generation to make do the impossible, possible by intergerating Central High School. Starting a movement that would advance through everywhere.

2.) The particular occurance of events foretold in Fire from the Rock, relates to history because the obvious reason being it's part of history. Fire from the Rock, is a realistic fictional story that explains what happened in Little Rock Arkansas in 1957. However, it's protrayed using fictional characters. This book also realtes to history because when integeration occured, it was somewhat of a revolution. A revolution is a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, especially one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence. Integerating schools did change the way of society bring people together who were previously segerated by law. Not to mention, violence was involved in other to make this change happened, viloence is also a part of a revolution to be made possible.

3.) When I first read this book, Fire from the Rock, about 3 years ago, I never thought to relate it to being a revoultion. I knew it was about integeration, but I've never thought of connecting integeration to being a revolution. Maybe because i didn't really know what a revolution was, until after fully learning about it in depth, and understanding and grasping what it means this year. Also, I love this book, not just for the history aspect, but because it's well written, and I love the story beyond it being about integeration. Syvlia was a teenager much like myself, starting her first year as a freshmen in high school, and she had to make a decision that helped shape history. That's just amazing and inspiring.

Alexa
11/1/2013 11:13:20 am

I really liked your connection of integration to revolution. I can see how people would want to make a change for that and fight for it. I would consider reading this book.

ryan q
10/21/2013 09:14:56 am

the book "the diary of a part time Indian" written by Sherman Alexie is about a young Indian boy named Arnold who decides to go to a school for a stronger education. his friends didn't like his decision and feel betrayed and send signs of hatred towards Arnold. Arnold later tries out for the school basketball team. the coach says he is their "secret weapon". he had a great shot. A well put spin into his arch he put on the ball. he scored with ease. later through the season his school was set to play the school in which all his friends went to. his friend or at least used to be his friend was the star on the team. when Arnold was playing early in the game he was going up for a simple little shot when his old best friend punches him square in the face, knocking him out cold. Arnold was brought to the locker room and was given stiches. he decided that after what his friend did he wanted to prove he wasn't a wimp so he came back into the game. by the end of the game Arnold and his school came out victorious.


Arnold left his school because it was run down and banged up. he grew up on a small reservation with not much money. this connects to the industrial revolution because urban wealthy land owners forced poor families towards factories causing cities to form and the cities where run down by pollution and unhealthy living conditions.



all literature connects to life one way or another. it all depends on how you look at it. a factual piece would be connected through the facts given while as a fiction piece would be connected through a life lesson or life changing act.

Tyler D.
10/24/2013 10:53:43 am

I think you spent too much time explaining what the book was about and not enough time on what it connected to

Lucas
10/29/2013 10:20:08 am

Great summary. You did a very good job summarizing the book but I think you should've talked more about what you connected the book to.

allison
11/2/2013 10:05:14 am

i like your summary but i also really like how you made the connection to life lesson and or life changing act and how you said it all depends on how you look at it

Jon J
11/3/2013 01:46:42 am

good summary but could have added more to connect the story and how it relates to life

justin b
11/7/2013 03:39:11 am

i think to much explaining you should of went to the most important topics

Jade
10/22/2013 07:07:20 am

In the book "Night" by Elie Wiesel he describes his gruesome experience during the holocaust. He went through many different concentration camps with no one but his father to accompany him. He describes his limited amount of food and drink and his need to always keep moving and keep his father going as well. The only thing that keeps Elie from giving up is his father and the tiny pinch of hope that they will soon be freed.
Elie uses his own personal experience to connect directly to a very serious event that occurred in our history, the holocaust. He talks about the different towns and countries it all took place and where the camps were. There's no way to know if he used specific names other than his own, but he does talk about the different ranks the nazis earned. He explains in great detail how dreadful the nazis were to the prisoners and any other Jewish person, which from my own knowledge and other sources is found to be true.
From what the author conveyed in his story he teaches the reader that what happened in our past was a very serious matter. He shows not only the emotional details but also the cold hard facts. This story shows how to find and interpret facts in details.

Brooklynn
10/29/2013 06:52:33 am

I've been wanting to read The night for a while now. The way you summarized it and used connections made me even more interested in the book. Great job!

Hadley
11/2/2013 12:13:54 pm

I read this book for summer reading! I think it'd be easier to read if you separated them by 1,2,3 though.

Kaitlyn Morgan
11/3/2013 03:57:16 am

I read this book for my summer reading, and i would have summarized the book how you did if i used that as my blog. However, I think you could have connected what events happened in the holocaust and a specific detail that happened in the book to connect them better. Plus to make it not seem so vague you could have added quotes as to seem more factual and confident on the connections. Also, in the last paragraph it didn't really show how literature connects to real life, i was confused on that part. You could have added more information there. Other than that, great job!

Katelynn Colpitts
11/3/2013 08:48:16 am

From my understanding , the book Night was written about a historical event known as the Holocaust. I know that it must have been hard to relate a book that is already about a historical event to history but you did a good job

Jocelyn
10/22/2013 08:25:31 am

1.) Eon and its sequel Eona both by Alison Goodman are about a sixteen year old girl named Eona. Eona becomes a dragoneye, someone who can see through the eyes of a dragon to control the weather. High Lord Sethon, the current emperor’s brother, had been planning to take the throne for himself, having the eleven other dragoneyes choose a side, Lord Ido being one who chose against the emperor. Eona is taken onto the emperor’s side before she even realizes it and is expected to save the kingdom from the wrath of Sethon. Soon the emperor dies and the rightful heir, Prince Kygo, is forced to flee or risk being killed by Sethon's army. Eona goes with him, being his supporter and friend, and fights to regain him his rightful throne.

2.) This book can be related to time during the Ming Hongwu dynasty in China. There is an event within this dynasty people call the Prince of Ning Rebellion. Zhu Quan, a member of the emperor’s army, is known for his mastery of war. After the current emperor of the time had died the prince, who was born from a concubine, rose to power. Zhu Di had prepared a rebellion that neutralized Zhu Quan’s power and bribed members of the emperor’s cabinet. Zhu Di set fire to the entire city where his nephew, the prince, and Zhu Quan lived. The Prince, Zhu Di’s nephew, was successfully moved to a new city before this while Zhu Quan was captured for helping the prince. In the end, neither Zhu Di nor his nephew took the throne.

Zhu Quan in this can be related to Lord Ido and also to Eona, Lord Ido being a man of military who used his dragon to fight and Lady Eona a supporter of the Prince. Zhu Di can be related to High Lord Sethon, the enemy of the fantasy empire and the emperors. Zhu Di’s Nephew is Prince Kygo, who is the son of a concubine, and he inherited the throne after his father died, much like what happened in this history. High Lord Sethon rebelled against the current power of the time and began having the dragoneyes choose sides, much like how Zhu Di began bribing the members of the Emperors cabinet and had in all rebelled against that emperor. Zhu Di setting fire to the city can be related to Sethon using his army to seize the palace. Zhu Di neutralizing Zhu Quan’s power is shown by how Sethon had Lord Ido on his side before capturing him and slowly draining his power for helping Prince Kygo escape. This can also be shown by how Eona can’t use her power without Lord Ido’s help, who had been captured by him previously. The difference of the history and the story is the ending of each, the history having neither end up in power, and the story having one of the two fighting for the power taking the throne.

3.) Literature is inevitably going to reflect life, no matter how much fantasy is weaved into the stories. What makes a character able to be loved by the readers and viewers is the human like qualities they possess. Without these qualities, the character may just act like an object or may seem totally alien and bore the reader. This is because they have a feeling of being totally unreal or fake. What we deem as “real” comes from our everyday experiences which can somehow affect the way a new world in literature is created. So without lifelike experiences and qualities for characters, literature would be just a jumble of nonsense which would confuse us all.

Jocelyn
10/31/2013 06:13:41 am

This connects to class through Power and Authority. Sethon and Kygo were fighting for the power and stopped at no means to get it. After the current person in charge had passed, Kygo had immediately taken over becomin the new authority that many people looked up to until Sethon took over for the short amount of time he did. Though having power didnt mean people respected Sethon like they did Kygo.

Stephanie Martindale
11/2/2013 03:48:25 am

I never thought of Eon or Eona like that, but it is also completely true. The way you described it changed my perspective on the book. Nice job.

Jared
10/22/2013 08:56:56 am

1. Mockingjay is the third book of The Hunger Games. Its about Katniss after her 2nd trip to the Hunger Games. She is involuntarily made the leader of district 13, which was thought to be destroyed. She leads these rebels threw the 12 districts in order to bring the downfall of the capital.

2. This connects to the French Revolution because it was a revolution by the lower class against the leading government. The French Revolution was caused by the poor treatment of the lower classes just like the revolution in Mockingjay. Although the French Revolution took place in the 19th century the basic idea of revolting over poor treatment is the same.

3. Any revolution is a constant connection to real life. A timeless struggle between a large power and those who it affects. The Hunger Games as a whole shows the struggle of those in revolutions to a younger audience.

Noah Saulnier
10/31/2013 06:29:49 am

I find it awesome how people connect books to key events in history in an indirect way and although I have not read any of the Hunger Games books, I find it interesting that someone can connect something like a Fictional game to a full on revolution. (I have heard enough about the books to know basic plots that might be needed to understand these connections). The connection made here though is fantastic.

Julia W
11/1/2013 05:27:30 am

That's a good connection. But it doesn't just connect to the French Revolution. This could connect to any revolution in general. Which is a theme of history.

Lucas B
10/22/2013 09:43:36 am

1.) In the Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Arnold(Junior) Spirit is starting his first year of high school. Junior lives on a Native American Reseveration where he finds out alcohol is more important to the citizens than education is. Junior decides to transfer to the Reardan High School, an almost all white school other than the school mascot. Junior makes many friends and eventually becomes the star basketball player for his school. Junior learns how to cope with his situation and make his dream of becoming successful true.
2.) This work of literature connects to the theme of revolution. One definition of revolution is a very important change in the way people do things. On the reserveration people usually spend most of their time and money drinking. This is the way people do things on the Rez. But Junior wanted to be successful in his life and drinking delays and sometimes prevents that from happening. So he makes an important change in his life by leaving his unmotivated environment to the new and better environment in Rearden high for what Junior is trying to achieve.
3.) There will always be a connection to life and literature. Literature is the writers experience to life. So in a story like this, the author is telling us a message about an experience he has had in life. Whether the experience is about the Native Americans or about teaching us a message about one of the many themes. These connections can be subtle or simple depending on what kind of literature.

Andrew Solari
10/28/2013 09:45:35 am

This book seems very interesting, would you recommend this for a ssr book?

Lucas
10/29/2013 10:22:02 am

Yes, it is a very interesting book to read. I'm sure you would enjoy this book.

Alec Rubenstein
10/28/2013 10:04:08 am

That is a very thoughtful reflection. I liked how you connected it to revolution.

Isabelle Maragnano
10/29/2013 08:18:57 am

I haven't read this book, so as you summarized the plot I had a hard time seeing what connection could possibly have been made. When you claimed it to be related to revolution, I was skeptical. But as I read the rest of your connection, I began to understand your thinking and now I completley agree! Your argumentative skills in the connection were superb, you have me convinced!

Noah Saulnier
10/31/2013 06:21:47 am

Well... I had read this book as summer reading and It's a great book. But when i read it, I never thought you could see Junior's change as a revolution. Reading what you put Lucas, I'll look at the book in a completely different way than just how a kid rose above everyone around him and achieved greatness where those around him could not.

Sabrina
10/31/2013 09:28:54 am

I really like you connections and I think you did a really good job on this blog. That book sounds very interesting, I think I might read it.

Maddy M
11/2/2013 04:38:25 am

This was a very good book and highly recommend it to others. The idea of this being a book about revolution, and being explained so well makes me want to read it again in order to maybe think about this connection more. When I was ready it I wasn't thinking about connections it had to other things, so this would be a perfect example!

Andrew Milliken
11/2/2013 11:52:15 pm

Great choice Lucas. I read this book over the summer and really enjoyed it. The connection to revolution was very strong, I wouldn't have picked up on that myself. Well written.

Autumn Scott
11/3/2013 05:15:50 am

This was such a good book and I was thinking about writing my blog on it too, but I wasn't sure how to connect it to history. I think you've done a really good job of that here. Your connection is clear and concise, and after reading it I can totally see the relation between the book and revolution. Your summary was effective too, I think you hit all the key points in the book. Nice job!

Corrie
11/3/2013 01:46:09 pm

I have heard of this book before, and heard it was a very interesting. It seems like it can be relative to us as teenagers also. You well summarized the book, and I like how you connected revolution to character, Juinor's, life. I would usually thin of revolution of a more large scale idea, but it was different and creative to connect it to change in himself in his society.

Julia W
10/22/2013 10:26:54 am

In the book Third Times a Charm by Virginia Smith, the main character Tori Sanders is a hard working advertiser. Her life revolves around her work. And she has the chance of a life time to get a big executive promotion. But she is not the only one competing for this position; her co-worker/secrete lover wants the job. At the same time her love struck sisters are acting as her matchmaker. Her sisters found a childhood friend from church who makes a great companion. Tori has to choose between work and romance. This is no easy decision, her childhood memories has prevented her from fully committing to a relationship. How could she? Her own father didn’t love her or the family. He left them for another wife and child. If the man who was supposed to love her forever never did, what makes any other man different?

In Humanities we talked about how the Industrial Revolution affected home life and children’s upbringing. Children lived in a stressful environment at home. This affected their lives when they grew up. Even in the book Maggie it describes how Jimmy and Maggie’s lives were changed by their home life. In Third Times a Charm, the way Tori views a relationship is altered by her childhood. Because of her father leaving she didn’t think she could be close to anyone. That’s why she centered her life around her work, to mentally block a social life out of her life. By her being so committed to work she prevented the thought of dating and relationships. This proves that a person’s upbringing or childhood can alter their approach to things later in life. In Third Times a Charm by Virginia Smith, Tori’s childhood affected her later in life just like how the Industrial Revolution affected children’s lives when they grew up.

There is a big connection from literature to real life. Especially this book because it’s based on a modern woman’s life. This book describes life without a father perfectly. The author’s purpose of writing this book is to explain the after math of childhood without a father. And Smith reveals all the problems and insecurities very subtle through a love story. I think this is creative but the love story is a little fake. Many people can relate to this book in real life because so many people either don’t have a father or know someone that doesn’t. This book helps paint the tragedies and affects in a relatively positive light. Smith shows though the book that even these childhood tragedies seem unbearable now, they have some positive outcomes. Many pieces of literature reflect real life circumstances.

Arianna R
10/31/2013 05:46:19 am

Great summary it was very detail way better then mine. It sound like tori didn't really have a good life

harry lancaster
11/3/2013 07:56:21 am

Good job Julia. I think your connection is very accurate and well thought through. You really gave a good summary, too, but I kind of felt confused when you randomly brought up the leaving of her Dad at the end and not at the beginning. That background knowledge before discussing the rest of the novel could possibly have strengthened your connection and reflection. Overall I think you did a great job of connecting this to the Industrial Revolution's domestic problems which certainly were major factors of the kids through the IR's lives.

Breana Pereira
10/23/2013 05:28:01 am

In the book, The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank is about the hard times Anne Frank and her family and friends had during WW2. Anne Frank writes in this diary to describe how she lived for two years in hiding to prevent from going into a concentration camp. Such as how she felt about this situation, mentally, physically, and emotionally. To include, all of the events and arguments that occurred between the eight people living there. Going into hiding effected Anne Frank and the seven others by creating big, big changes for them all.
These changes would be, food supply, being quiet, and bathroom issues. For instance the food supply was very low because they were only able to get very little food which made very small portions of food for everybody and only three times a day. No snacks in between. Another example would be being quiet most of the time so that outsiders could not hear that there was activity going on in the annex (the place where they were hiding). Lastly there was bathroom issues due to not being able to use the toilet all the time because of noises that echoed throughout the drainage pipes showing others where the noise is coming from. So the other option if they had to go to the bathroom was to go in a bucket left under their beds or wherever they had slept. Also there was only certain times that the civilians could bathe for the same reason.
This work of literature connects to the theme of revolution because there is a change in the way they live and they have to learn to adapt to this way of life to prevent worse actions to happen to them.
All works of literature connect to life somehow, it all is how each individual looks at it considering everyone has there own perspective on whatever the topic is. Whether its a picture or a description or piece of writing it will connect to life somehow like I mentioned before. For example in The Diary Of A Young Girl, this work of literature connects to life by having the fact that this is a true story and is a change in someone's life during an event that was world wide.

Arianna R
10/23/2013 06:53:49 am

1) This book is called A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. This story is about a man named Ebenezer Scrooge but people call him scrooge. Scrooge is a very dark,cool,mean, and selfish man, he was as mean as they come. This story takes place in London during a very unusual time period the Industrial revolution. Scrooge was mean to everyone and didn't care about anyone accept money and himself. He is going to pay being this way just like he friend Marley and marley came to warn scrooge that if he doesn't change his ways then he will end up like him dead and never again to rest in peace. Marley also tell him that he will be haunted by three ghosts. the ghosts of christmas past,present, and future all warn him that if he doesn't change his ways then he will die and no one will care. This spark something in scrooge and he was able to change his way and become a better person.
2) The connection between history and the Christmas carol is the story took place in the industrial revolution and a lot of people were really poor. Scrooge and Marley were very good at making money so they were somewhat rich. In the story scrooge was asking to donate some of his money to help the poor people
3) A lot of literature are thing that can happened in real life no matter if the book is fiction or not. Lessons, morals.life experiences,even changes in human behavior all of it can be connected to the real world. If you think about this whole is just one giant story that is still waiting for an end. .

harry Lancaster
10/27/2013 06:34:48 am

1. In the book "Animal Farm" by George Orwell a group of animals on a farm in England become so fed up with their living conditions that they raid their owner's home and kick out all the humans that were running the farm. With the people gone, all that is left are donkeys and pigs and horses, etc. to run a farm that needs to be efficient enough to feed all of its members. In no time, the "most clever" animals, aka the pigs, take position as the leaders of the farm. In particular Napolean, who leads the pigs, constantly reminds the animals that they are revolutionary and that they will always be treated more fair than they were when the humans were running the farm and that everyone on the farm is equal. However, not before long do the pigs start rationing themselves more food than all of the other animals who they lie to and convince that the pigs need the food more than anyone else. The corruption of the farm continues to exponentially grow throughout the novel until the common animals find themselves back in their original circumstances as they were before the revolution, this time only with pigs instead of humans.
2. This story connects to Communism in Russia throughout the 20th century and only recently came to an end. Napolean is undeniably deemed Stalin in the situation in which he lies to the members of the farm who would be Russian citizens and makes them work together as a team, only to benefit the rich. The citizens think they are working together for each other, when in reality they are working together for the pigs. In the same sense how Stalin and the Russian Communist Government starved their people by demanding so much of the nation's crops, the same happened on the Animal Farm when the pigs kept taking more and more food from the animals, causing them to get weak and ill.
3. Although this story is fictional for many reasons, it really brings to life the unfair society that Russian people experienced for many decades. When reading this novel I found myself very frustrated towards the pigs, who were virtually becoming more human by the page. This is Orwell's way of showing the unfairness that went on in Russia for a very long time: by creating dramatic irony throughout the entire story. Since the reader can infer what is happening one can draw conclusions that they'd hope the farm animals would also make, seeing how unfair their conditions were. But, however, the animals are not seeing things as clearly as the reader, so an uneasy feeling sits there throughout the whole novel.

Lucas
10/28/2013 08:30:20 pm

I really liked your connection to Stalin. I haven't heard of a connection like that before. In addition you really described how literature reflects life

Victoria
10/29/2013 09:04:29 am

Your connection to Russia's communism is excellent. Before this project I never realized how a fictional book could have such a strong connection to history . But after reading your reflection between the relationship of literature and real life, and how the animals began to take the place of the people in their actions,I will always look for the deeper meaning of any fictional piece of literature I read.

Mackenzie Donahue
11/2/2013 10:37:23 pm

Animal farm is one of my favorite books and the connection to communism was spot on and I had made the connection myself while reading that book,the details about Russian communism and Stalin just made your point stronger, you did very well on this assignment.

Tyler D
10/27/2013 06:54:09 am

In the series The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, there are 13 districts spread around the city of Panem. Panem is the city where the Capitol is located. It is made up of wealthy and high class citizens. The Capitol is run by President Snow. The Capitol acts as the Government of all the districts. The districts are all kept under strict rules and laws made by The Capitol and the people are practically living in prison. The Capitol and President Snow are very powerful and limit the things people can do. The districts work hard to harvest their resources of food and fuel and other things only to be forced to send most of it to The Capitol. The Capitol forces citizens to fight to their death in the games to prove their power over them. Nobody respects The Capitol and everyone wants a change.

The Hunger Games shows many examples of a dictatorship. A dictatorship is a form of government that is ruled by one or more people that have all the power. In The Hunger Games the Capitol acted as a dictatorship. They controlled the citizens food supplies and forced rules to which no one agreed with. They forced people into the hunger games to represent their power over the citizens. The citizens have to give up their resources for them and if people defy against them they will be killed or tortured.

All literature can be connected to real life in some way. An author would have a hard time writing literature if it didn't relate to life in some way whether their own life or someone else's. Even in a fictional story the different ways people live or the way they survive the situations can be related to real life.

Maddy M
11/2/2013 04:35:00 am

Yeah I did kind of notice their society being run with a sense of dictatorship. I didn't really think about it too much ,but now that you have mentioned it, and thoroughly explained it I can definitely see this relationship better now!

Justin Torres
11/2/2013 12:16:04 pm

At first glance when I intially read the book I never really payed to much attention on the connection of history. Although I did realize there was dictatorship like aspect in the books, I haven't really fully thought about it in that way. I felt like you did a good job on explaining your connection! Good job Tyler!

Jon J
11/3/2013 01:50:46 am

when I read the series I didn't think of it as a dictatorship but as a dystopia. now that you put it this way, I see it more as a dictatorship from the Capitol. great connection to life but I still feel its mostly dystopia.

Nicole L
11/3/2013 09:45:18 am

When I read Hunger Games I did notice the dictatorship but didn't give it much thought. Looking back on it there is clearly a dictatorship happening there and everyone in district 12 illegally getting food and money and supplies they don't have.

Jason W.
10/28/2013 05:35:31 am

1) In the book Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally it tells of a man named Oskar Schindler and how he saved around 1,100 jewish factory workers. Oskar owned a factory and was a greedy man who profitted off of world war 2. Through out the story you see him change from that callous man to a person who wouldve given up his fortune to save a thousand jewish people. He would hire jews to work in his factory and promise each of them he would protect them till the end of the war. None of the jews would believe him because they had been hurt so much. By the end of the story Oskar had proven himself and kept his promise to show the jewish people not everyone was a nazi.
2) The story can show a connection between 2 different historical events. The first is obvious and it is world war 2 which is the time in which the story takes place, when the nazis were trying to rid the world of the jewish race. The second is the Industrial Revolution, you can see the enslaved jews as the working class and the nazis as the higher class born into arstocracy. The jews work and mass produce weapons, clothing, and anything else the German army needs and they get no pay or any good working condition in return.
3) All literature can show anything that life can just like in Schindler's List where the jews don't trust Oskar's promise till the very end. No one really does anything that could help another human being or animal without thinking they will get something in return. Some literature can show big overarching lessons like life may not be what meets the eye or true love is in the eye of the beholder, but all literature can teach you something about life.

Matt
10/28/2013 11:19:09 am

This is a good example of how history can repeat itself. The idea of greedy factory owners exploiting workers is clearly seen throughout history.

Meghan Cooper
10/28/2013 09:52:42 am

1. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas", by John Boyne, is the story of Bruno, a young boy growing up in Nazi Germany during the height of World War II. He is the son of a Nazi leader, who is put in charge of a concentration camp. Bruno and his family then are obligated to move to the camp for his father to be able to run it better. While there he meets a young jewish boy named Shmuel, otherwise known as the boy in the striped pajamas, and the two form a great bond despite their vastly different upbringings. In the tragic ending, Bruno sneaks into the camp to help Shmuel find his father, oblivious to the fact that he was entering a death camp. The boys would then both be taken into the gas chamber together.
2. Though this book is based directly off of historic events, its connection to history is far deeper than you would expect. Obviously one historical connection is its derivative from World War II. It gives a real and honest first hand account of what life was really like for a Nazi citizen and a Jewish prisoner of the time. Though one greater connection to history is through the author's connection of the two cultures. Bruno and Shmuel are able to become best friends, even though they come from too very different backgrounds. They converse as equals oblivious to the fact that one of their people is killing off the other. Later in the story they then die together as equals. It also casts a new light on some people of the time, as Bruno recounts good memories with his father even though he is a Nazi leader and they are usually connotated as soulless leaders incapable of love.
3. The relationship between literature and real life is forever intertwined throughout every great story we read. Through the great imagination of the human mind, real life events, like The Halocaust, can be spun into a great work of literature that speaks of equality and the human condition. This great connection of literature and real life help us see the world in new ways we could never have dreamed. You could most certainly not have all the great pieces of literature we have today without the real life situations they were derived from.

Victoria
10/29/2013 09:16:30 am

This was such an amazing book! Pointing out that two different people from two different cultures became equal at death was a very thoughtful connection that adds more emotion to the text . Thinking of your connection, I know I'll never think of this book the same way.

Julia W
11/1/2013 05:22:53 am

This is a great connection. I love this book and the connection to the 2 cultures interacting is creative.

Autumn Scott
11/3/2013 05:00:19 am

I've been wanting to read this book for a long time, and your summary has me wanting to read it even more! Although I know the ending now hahaha. Nonetheless, it was very well written. I think the depth to which you make your connection is outstanding. I also like the fact that you acknowledge the obvious connection to history in addition to the more abstract one. Great job!

Katie Furtado
11/3/2013 05:31:29 am

The Holocaust resulted in so much destruction and loss, it's hard to believe such devastation was allowed to occur. I have read many Holocaust historical fiction novels, but this is one I missed. Your summary has sparked my interest and I'm putting this book on my to-read list.

Alex W
11/3/2013 07:51:22 am

I enjoyed reading your piece a lot. The way that you vividly describes your connections that you had made. this sounds like an amazing book and I think you did a really good job.

Stephanie P
11/3/2013 07:46:45 pm

Wow. I really think you did a great job with the connections. I never would have thought of the cultures connection.

Katie Furtado
10/29/2013 07:22:16 am

1. In Agatha Christie's crime novel “And Then There Were None”, ten seemingly upstanding individuals were lead to an island. They were each invited or lured to the island under different pretenses, but soon realized they were all stranded there until the inclement weather improved. Even though only these ten guests inhabited the island, they were one by one mysteriously murdered. The manner of each death appeared to parallel the children’s nursery rhyme that was displayed in the island home, “Ten Little Indians”. It became apparent that these ten individuals were not upstanding citizens, but had each been involved in the death of others and had escaped unnoticed and/or unpunished. By the story’s end, all ten criminal guests were murdered.

2. The novel involved ten specific but different crimes that had gone unpunished. All the criminals had believed they escaped justice, but in the end were indeed punished by death. This scenario could be applied throughout history. Every society has had criminals and some, undoubtedly, have gone unpunished. In class, we learned during the Industrial Revolution that many crimes were committed due to depression and stress the average individual dealt with. Many people were forced to live in cramp, over-populated tenements. People worked long hours for minimal wages. The average person living and working during the Industrial Revolution had a mundane and unfulfilling lifestyle.

3. This piece of literature, although fictional, could have been non-fictional. The fictional crimes committed by the guests in this novel were realistic and appear authentic. The reader is left knowing even the most clever of criminals could not escape judgment and punishment. It was an intriguing and suspenseful novel. This novel is the world’s best selling mystery with over 100million sales. It has been made into plays, movies, and even a video game.

Isabelle Maragnano
10/29/2013 08:15:45 am

1. In the book Matched by Allie Condie, Cassie Reyes lives in a world claimed to be perfect, where every aspect of each individuals life is controlled by a government known as The Society. From their occupation to their lifelong partner, every desicion is already made for the citizens of The Society. Cassie is matched with her lifelong friend Xander, and is ready to be with him for the rest of her life. That is until there is a glitch in machinery, showing her another face. Cassie sees Ky, an outcasted Abberation, or criminal, where her match is supposed to be. Immediatley after she meets Ky, she falls for him, leaving her confused, as she must constantly defy the system she has trusted for so long. Cassie goes up against The Society after she has a taste of freedom. She joins a rebellion to overthrow the tyrannical government that Cassie no longer agrees with.

2. Matched is directly connected to the Industrial Revolution, and The Society is much like the business owners. The Society is an oppressive force that gives the population little choice in their individual lives. This is matched by the business owners of the industrial revolution, who forced the lower class to do jobs that the working class had no choice over. They lived in oppression, much as the citizens of The Society did. This is taken one step further, as Cassie joins in to rebel against a higher power. Much like the unions during the Industrial Revolution, Cassie is unhappy with her current living conditions and doesn't agree with The Society's oppressive morals. The similarities between Matched and the Industrial Revolution can be seen in the themes of Revolution, and in both revolt can be seen clearly.

3. Without history, there would be no literature. Everything that humans know is based off of the past and the growth that humans have made. The humans as a race wouldn't be able to develop any new plots for stories without the history as a constant reminder of what has been and of what can come, and without that humans wouldn't have any idea of the world and it's capabilities. The connection between life and literature with always be linked, even if it is in the most abstract ways because without life humans wouldn't be able to develop themes that have occured before, in life and in history.

Maddy M
11/2/2013 04:31:07 am

This book was really good I have read this before and even though it had romance in it, it was still a nice book. I'm not really the type of person that like romance, but this really changed my thoughts on how their society ran, and know when I think of this book I will think of you description of it. Great job!

Hannah Garrity
11/2/2013 08:11:43 am

I read this book last year and never really made a connection to the industrial revolution but now that i have read your explanation of why you think it is, it makes perfect sense

Mark
11/3/2013 11:33:59 am

i totally agree with your reflection, while reading this i also noticed how Cassie is like the women of the Industrial Revolution, because after having the "housewife sate of mind" broken by the I.R. the feminist movement occured which is like how you said Cassie had a taste of freedom and goes against society like feminists did

Brooklynn
10/29/2013 08:37:20 am

The book I have read was called “The Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer. This book is a true story of how a mother can mistreat her own child with aggression. Dave was also accompanied by two other brothers who were treated considerably normal. The little boy Dave is practically left to suffer his daily life. Starved and beaten almost every day, by his over-worked alcoholic mother. She did not treat him like her son, but an “it”. This could be an example of how human faith can stay strong throughout the toughest obstacles. Dave learned to not let his mother over conquer him. Also relating back in history when colored and whites were treated like as if they were total opposites. One was not worthy enough to have special luxuries like the other. Dave was the only sibling who got brutally mistreated, without any conformation of why.

Owen Scannell
10/29/2013 10:23:19 am


1) The book Call Of The Wild by Jack London is based on a dog Buck who is taken from his home to be a dog in a sled team. While on the sled team he has to work under different leaders to get to the destination. Some of his leaders were cautious and calculating while others made rash and short term decisions. Throughout the book Buck adapts new laws of life, and how to survive varying situations.

2) Call of the wild is similar to the Crusades. During the Crusades, Christian soldiers were deployed to Constantinople to destroy the Muslims. During the journey the crusaders had to learn how to survive new weather, going from a mostly cold and rainy environment to one thats hot and dry. They also had generals and other leaders appointed to them so they might lead them into battle and control the chaos. Some legions of crusaders rushed and were caught unprepared and unaware of the conditions and dangers and were killed. The same happened to the ignorant sled drivers Buck worked under, they were foreign to running a sled team and under there command the team failed miserably and or eventually got themselves killed.

3) Most literature is a reflection of life. While writing, you can only write what you know, how you've come to know it. Because of this, a routine is made where writing is based on what other people have wrote or heard and how its been written or heard. Every piece of literature can reflect life whether it be the cold facts of fiction or the dark warm twist of non fiction and sometimes even a curious but amazing hybrid of both.

dylan walker
11/3/2013 11:34:37 am

Great blog! I like your reflection the best because it is true. Most literature reflects life or it wouldn't make sense

Noah Saulnier
10/31/2013 06:15:10 am

In the massively complicated book series "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, Arthur Dent, with his home recently torn down for a new highway and the realization that his best friend, ford, is an alien from a separate galaxy (who surprisingly looks identical to a human), is whisked away, while Earth is being demolished for an intergalactic bypass, on intergalactic journey to at first, find "the answer to life, the universe, and everything". Everybody is astonished when the closest thin to the answer was "42", and then moved out to some other improbable adventures. toward the end of the series, Author finally comes to terms with his new, mysterious daughter and himself (and Ford) on an alien copy of Earth.

This reminds me of an idea that turned up in class the other day (or week). In "Hitchhikers", Arthur is almost... forced into a situation that he can't control and almost everything is torn away from him. During the Industrial Revolution, most kids were born into poverty and are sometimes forced to fend for themselves and come to terms with what their fate will come to, like Arthur did (as improbable as his situations were). some during the IR came to an untimely end while others soared above the working class, like those in the show that Pete and Maggie attended in "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets".

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" demonstrates how life and the universe and reality is, using the best word in my vocabulary, improbable (<--- You can tell that is a key word for the book series). it also shows how someone's environment doesn't adjust itself to the person, the person must adjust them self, which can have a positive or negative outcome. Arthur adjusted himself to multiple planets (and a new universe) and came to terms with himself while Maggie in "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" adjusted to fending for herself on the street (in a questionable way) and ended up escaping her abusive life through death.

If you can't follow multiple plots being thrown in your face at once, I do not suggest you read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. It took me a few months after I finished to get everything straight.

James Boudreau III
11/3/2013 07:55:56 am

I think I've heard of this before, back a few years ago I remember seeing a movie called "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Everything I can recall from it is presented here, this is one excellent review! I really like how you tied it to the I.R., it's very well written and wonderfully sewn together.

Sabrina
10/31/2013 09:24:51 am

1.)In the book "Hush Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick Nora Grey finds out that she is not who she thought she was. When she meets a boy named Patch, who is a fallen angel kicked out of heaven, she finds out that she is a Nephil, which means that she is a descendant of a fallen angel. The Nephilim are slaves to the fallen angels. The fallen angels can’t feel of taste anything so during a certain time of year the fallen angels take over the Nephilims bodies so that they can feel and have the time of their lives. But the Nephilim don’t like giving up their bodies and feeling so out of control so they fight for freedom.
2.)This book connects to revolution, like the American Revolution. The colonists who lived in the 13 colonies wanted freedom against the British. The colonist didn’t like the taxes that the British made them pay and they didn’t like how they treated them so the colonists fought for their independence. The British and the fallen angels took things from the colonists and the Nephilim. The British took the colonists money and the fallen angels took the Nephilims bodies. The colonists and the Nephilim were also treated badly by the British and the fallen angels. These are the reasons why both the Nephilim and the colonists wanted to revolt and gain their freedom.
3.)Literature is based off of what’s happened or happening in life. People wouldn’t be able to write about something without it. It doesn’t matter if its fiction or non-fiction all literature connects to life, it just depends on the way that you look at it. If it didn’t connect to life there wouldn’t be a theme. Without a theme literature would have no point.

Sabrina Tetreault
11/3/2013 02:57:57 am

I love how you picked this book Sabrina, it definitely connects literature and history together greatly. It was a great read, and my own summary is very much like yours, fighting for what they want. I love how you ended it with, very detailed description and everything. you did a great deal of using your own thoughts and reading outside of the story. Good job.

Abby Whittingham
11/3/2013 07:58:25 am

Hey Sabrina, I have never read this book but from your summary it seems extremely interesting. I love how you connected the book to the American Revolution. You provided clear evidence as to how the book was connected. Good Job.

Jada Fisher
11/2/2013 03:26:00 am

Summary- In the book "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, there are 12 Districts. The first District is the wealthiest and strongest, holding the "Career Tributes". District 12 is the poorest. There was a huge war between the Capitol and the Districts which resulted in a victory for the Capitol. The Capitol wants to remind the Districts of their win, so they hold the Hunger Games annually. Two tributes are taken from each of the Districts to be placed in the Games, one female, one male. Let me remind you, only one tribute will come out of the Games alive. From District 12, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to replace her sister Prim as the female tribute. The male tribute was Peeta Mellark. The tributes are made Capitol worthy by being cleaned, shaved and "prettied up" by stylists. During the Games the Game Keepers try to kill off the tributes by adding in new, and more dangerous obstacles. Towards the end of the Games there is a change of rules stating that two people of the same District are allowed to be victors. Katniss finds Peeta and heals his wounds. They then continue on to the end of the Games and are about to both become victors when the new rule is taken back. They pull a stunt and become the victors. Too bad the Capitol took offense to this stunt and are now looking to eliminate the two victors.

Connection to History- In the book "The Hunger Games" there is a class system similar to the class system of the Industrial Revolution. The upper class during the Industrial Rev. was the wealthy class, much like the Capitol in the book. The Capitol was full of wealthy people who almost never interacted with the districts except for when they were holding the hunger games . The wealthy class had control over the lower, working class like the Capitol did. The lower class in the book would be District 12. District 12 is the poorest district of all. Most of the people living there have homes that are half destroyed. The people are miners and they make and clean their own clothes. They are unclean and have poor hygiene. Many of the citizens are poor so they have to hunt and scavenge around for food. The lower, working class of the I.R. was much like District 12, the lower class was poor as well. They couldn’t afford food so they usually ate scraps. This class also made their own clothes and cleaned their clothes when they could. Since these people were poor they didn’t have enough money to buy many necessities, like new clothes or washing products. This led them to become dirty and dingy like the people of District 12. The Hunger Games is an example of Power and Authority. The Capitol uses the Hunger Games to remind the districts of the power they have over the districts. They have control over the districts and will not allow them to forget that. They hold the games to show their power and to demonstrate their full control over the districts. When Katniss and Peeta pull their stunt to force the Capitol to let them win it’s part of the Revolution theme. They trick the government or Capitol and causes a disruption. The Capitol then has to make reformations in the way they are governing. The stunt they pull causes many changes in the way the Capitol is run and in the way the Capitol treats/ looks at the districts’ people. They no longer underestimate the power of the districts.

Reflection- Literature and life are very closely connected. For example, literature can sometimes be about real life events. Auto-Biographies and biographies are books, or documents about a specific person and his/her life. While reading you analyze whatever it is that you’re reading. The process of analyzing usually includes connecting your personal experiences to the reading. People even use their own experiences to help understand the reading. Even in fiction/ fantasy books life is reflected or somehow integrated into the reading. Although the characters may not be people, they still go through the story and have their own stories to tell. Whether the book is non-fiction or fiction, both genres have themes. A theme is like a moral or lesson, but is less specific. It is an idea or rule that you should follow in life. No matter what you read, it will always be connected to life in some way.

Olivia Mangion
11/3/2013 08:55:29 am

Hey Jada! i really liked yours i was thinking about doing this book myself and i didn't even this of connection it to the industrial revolution and the social classes and your refection was really well explained. good job!

Stephanie Martindale
11/2/2013 03:36:49 am

1.)In the "Maze Runner" by James Dashner a boy named Thomas gets sent to a place called the Glade where many other young boys have been sent to be tested , but they don't know that yet. After about a week Thomas has been there a girl is sent there as a trigger of the end as the boys call it. The Maze is a place in the Glade where the boys have been looking for a way out. The problem with that though is the walls change everyday. Eventually everything goes downhill and people start to be killed by Grievers which are creatures who are in the maze and kill anyone who comes in. So the boys are left with the question, how do they escape without dying.

2.) The book the "Maze Runner" relates to the Industrial Revolution through the maze. This relates to the maze because the maze kept changing itself to keep the kids there, and the Industrial Revolution had many changes occur in the everyday lives of the people in the industrialized cities. Industrialization called for new inventions to be created for certain problems, and in the maze the boys had to devise a new plan everyday to solve their problem of leaving the maze for good. This problem needed a plan that could change according to the situation, and the Industrial Revolution needed changes to keep improving upon things. An example of this is the steam engine being created and then many other inventors using it to power other things such as a car or train. In the maze the boys had to think of something new to do after one boy sacrificed himself for the group, but it didn't work so the boys had to change and adapt to the new problem to survive.

3.) Literature and real life have a huge correlation to one another. Literature is just a warped version of reality pulled from the depths of some authors minds. On the other hand authors write about real things that happened to them or to other people in history. Sometimes authors put a twist on the reality of the world we live to create a fantasy.

Maddy M
11/2/2013 04:27:29 am

1) "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by Charles Lutwidge is a story about a young girl named Alice. Alice lets her curiosity get the best of her during a dream about falling down a rabbit hole. In her dream she is first in her yard which she then sees a rabbit sitting a little ways away from her. She gets curious about the rabbit when he starts to jump away. Alice tries to keep up with him as he leads her to a small rabbit hole which she then falls down in. This hole leads her to a world filled with creatures of fantasy all ruled by the cruel hearted Red Queen. Still following the hare Alice meets a lot of interesting characters along the way that leads her closer and closer to the Red Queen. She goes through a series of trials with all these different characters and faces many weird challenges such as returning to her normal height after eating and drinking strange things. After Alice gets attacked by the Queens cards during a trial for the Knave of hearts Alice stands up to her saying the playing cards can't do anything because they are just cards despite every other thing she has seen that is impossible. She then wakes up because her sister is claiming that it is time for tea.

2) This book connects to the Industrial Revolution. This connects because the I.R was mainly about curiosity and trying to experiment with new ways to create things for everyday life. Alice was curious about the rabbit hole, while the citizens of industrialized cities gathered up different resources for different projects to work on because people had wondered how they could get their products to different places faster, and make them with more efficiency. So they developed the Steam Engine and different types of machines for the textile industry for example. This new Steam Engine was thought to be improved even further thus lead to more experiments to quench the thirst of curiosity and improvement in certain people. When Alice fell down the rabbit hole it just lead to her having more and more questions. Which she then followed the rabbit which was her only guide in this new strange world she happened to stumble into. The people in the cities had started by knowing nothing of what to do or what else to build with the resources they had. They just knew there was room for improvement in their lives which could be achieved through different experiments. Alice had the same problem she knew nothing about Wonderland, so she followed the rabbit hoping to get some answers.

3) Literature is just a different version of real life that some authors create to fit their personality in some fantasy stories. Other authors write about stuff that may actually have happened, but fill it with their opinions and thoughts about this certain topic. Most people I feel though try to warp some stories to fit around a memory in their life that could have impacted them in a positive or negative way. Instead of just writing it down with simply just what happened they put a little myth on it sometimes to make it more interesting for the readers. Some authors just pull out of their imagination the most creative, but yet intelligent thing they can think of and turn it into something of even more brilliance and value.

Kelley A
11/3/2013 10:51:05 am

I really liked how you connected this book to the inventions that helped the productivity of the Industrial Revolution, instead of the just dividing of the social classes which happens to be a very common theme in other's blogs. Great job on the summary by the way!

Devon Reis
11/2/2013 04:48:38 am

1. In the book "Purple Heart" is about a soldier named Matt who has been in the military for a couple of years. It starts off by Matt in the emergency room because of the RPG explosion he was in. Matt unfortunately lost most of his memory because of that and after a couple days in the emergency room, one of Matts squad members rushed in and showed Matt the picture of the man who shot the RPG. Matt went on a mission to find this man in Iraq.

2. This connects to World War 2 because it's mostly about how this one man is destroying and forming his own army of his own to destroy anything and everything in his way. It connects to Adolf Hitler in World War 2 because Hitler did anything to make things worse and to make peoples lives terrible. The terrorist leader in this book was just like Hitler. The name for this leader in this book is currently unknown.

3. All literature connects to real life no matter what. Facts are always given through literature and then in the end, they connect to a real life situation.

Chad W
11/3/2013 09:09:22 am

I like the way you connected the book to World War 2! It sounds like a great, interesting book.

Stephanie P
11/2/2013 06:46:46 am

1) The book "MockingJay" by Suzanne Collins revolves around a young woman named Katniss Everdeen in a foreign land of Panem, consisting of a Capitol and 12 Districts. Having already twice survived The Hunger Games, a tournament created by the Capitol to re-enforce their authority by making two tributes from each district enter an arena and kill each other until one survives, Katniss escapes to district 13, a District thought to be destroyed by the Capitol during a war but was prosperous underground. Joining the revolt that District 13 was planning led by President Alma Coin, who Katniss dislikes and does not trust, Katniss reluctanly agrees to be their poster child, "the Mockingjay". Soon, the revolt is put into action and teams of rebels go into the Capitol, led by Katniss. As the rebels fight in the urban warfare, Katniss continues alone to the leader of the Capitol's, President Snow's, mansion. In the end, Snow is captured and kept in District 13. While in District 13, waiting for Snow's execution, Katniss meets Snow who turns her suspicions into a conspiracy theory after reminding her of their promise to not lie to each other during their first meeting and telling her that President Coin is the mastermind behind the death of many innocent people, including Katniss' sister, Primrose. Thus, during Snow's execution where Katniss had the responsibility to kill him, she shoots her arrow through President Coin instead, starting a riot. Later, Katniss is released from the murder of Coin and is sent to live the rest of her life in the ruins of District 12, her former home.

2) "Mockingjay" is a book that can be connected to Revolution. The events in "Mockingjay" can be connected to the 8 steps of revolution. Step 1 is goals. The goal was to overthrow the Capitol that was acting as a tyrant to the Districts and to get better conditions for the citizens of the less wealthy Districts. Step 2 in revolution is pre-existing conditions. In Panem, the Capitol forced two of each districts children into an arena to fight to the death, resulting in the District's dislike for the Capitol. The 3rd step is rise of the middle class. In "Mockingjay" the "middle class" would be the rebels in District 13. They had enough resources to not rely on the Capitol, unlike the less wealthy Districts who would perish without the Capitol's support, and yet they didn't receive any gain from the Capitol that would sway their views, unlike the wealthy Districts that wholeheartedly supported the Capitol who gave them many supplies and riches. Step 4 is gaining critical mass, or gaining many supporters. After starting the revolt, the rebels of District 13 went through the less wealthy or unfortunate Districts and gained the support of the citizens through their mutual dislike of the Capitol. Step 5 is things get worse. Hearing about the revolution that District 13 has started, many of the Capitol-Supporting Districts and even the Capitol itself start fighting the rebels. Many bombings occur, in the Capitol and the Districts, and the streets of the Capitol are filled with warfare between rebels, the Capitol army and vicious, mutant hybrids created by the Capitol. Once the Capitol is overthrown, then comes step 6, struggle for power, and step 7, a strong group emerges. There isn't much of a struggle for power due to the fact that it was District 13 who started the rebellion and they are a very formidable force. The government of District 13 takes over all of the Districts and becomes the new ruling force. Lastly is step 8, new goals. Once Katniss kills President Coin, riots commence and the citizens of Panem begin to search for a new leader. Along with the connection to revolution in general, I think that "Mockingjay" can also be connected to the Industrial Revolution. Both include the struggle to gain better conditions for the working class, or in "Mockingjay"'s case, the citizens of the Districts who must sacrifice their products to the Capitol that was exploiting them.

3) I believe that literature is real life that has been twisted and warped to fit the author's imagination or plot of a story. No matter the genre of a story, it will always connect back into real life. Biographies and auto-biographies are the story of one's life. They are types of books that have been based upon the real life events of a person's life. In contrast, an author may write a book that's deemed as completely fictitious but it will connect to real life in some way. It may be set in a different time period or even in an entirely different world but there will always be a real life event that inspired the author to create such a plot and there will be small parts of the event within that story.

Camille H
11/2/2013 09:19:06 am

I like how well you explained everything, it is very strong. I haven't read any of the Hunger Games series, but you make it sound interesting and makes me want to finally read all three books. I also like how you related it to the eight steps of revolution because it is something we are learning now and reading your response can help learn revolution even more.

Hannah Garrity
11/2/2013 08:07:15 am

he Hunger Games is about a 16 year old protagonist named Katniss who lives in a nation called Panem in North America. The nation is highly advanced and has political control on the entire nation. The Hunger Games is an annual event in which happens every year when they pick a boy and girl from each district and have them compete in a televised battle to death.

The connection I made to the Hunger Games is the gladiators that would fight to death in front of The Roman Empire for entertainment. This is because they are also fighting to death like the children in the hunger games. Instead of having people watch it at home the villagers would stand in the crowd and watch it in person.

In many pieces of literature it will reflect on real life no matter if it is fiction or non fiction. This is because in a book they will tell you the story and by the end they will usually have a life lesson. Even though some novels may not be exactly true it will give you a some what version of what would happen in real life.

Nick V
11/2/2013 09:46:48 am

Hannah, I like the connection you made from the story to history and I can see the connection myself.

Kali
11/3/2013 12:28:13 am

I really like how you didnt spend a long time summarizing the book ,and i like how the connection you made is different from the others.

Camille H
11/2/2013 09:11:50 am

1)The work of literature I choose to do is "Faith,Hope,and Ivy June" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. It starts where Ivy June participates in a exchange program at her school in Thunder Creek, along with a girl named Catherine from Lexington. In this program, each girl take turns to leave home for two weeks to the other girl's house and attend their classes. They also have to write in a journal about their thoughts through the four weeks. At first, Ivy June's family believes that Catherine might think of them the wrong way about them because Catherine and her family have nicer living conditions, while Ivy June's place is a lot more poor. Anyway, throughout the story, each of the girls meet each other's friends, learn secrets, and get to know each other a little bit more. In the end of the story, even through the money that each family has is different, Ivy June and Catherine realize that they are more similar than different.

2) I'm connecting this story to economic systems. Ivy June has a lot less money than Catherine because there is not enough space at her family's house so she lives at her grandparents house. Meanwhile, Catherine lives in a big house with enough space for everyone in her family. This is an clear example of capitalism because Catherine has everything she needs and a lot more and Ivy June doesn't nearly have as much as her so private property exists in this setting. If the economic system was communism, both girls living conditions would be exactly the same because you only get what you need, no more. That is why I believe that is the economic system is ether capitalism or maybe socialism.

3) I feel that I'm somewhat similar to both of the girls in the story. For an example, I have a big family and don't have a lot of money like Ivy June. However, I do have what I need and I still get stuff that I want and there is enough space at my house for everyone in my family like Catherine. However, my house is actually an apartment and don't have as much space as her family This book tells people that everyone is similar in expecting ways and that people shouldn't be judged by how much money they have or how they live, but what they are like on the inside. It shows that people can be different and the same at the same time. Like they always say, don't judge a book by it's cover.

Nick V
11/2/2013 09:43:11 am

1.In the book, The Boy In Striped Pajamas By John Boyne, a boy named Bruno son of a German Nazi, meets a prisoner in a Concentration camp named Shmuel. Bruno doesn't understand why the Jews have to be separated from the non-Jews and ends up being Shmuel's friend. One day Shmuel can't find his father and wants to go looking for him but wants Bruno to help him so Shmuel gets prisoner clothes for Bruno and they did a hole under the fence. While they're looking they end up getting forced into a group of prisoners that are going to a gas chamber and end up getting killed. Bruno's family is very depressed by it and end up leaving the canp and regret going.
2.This connects to history because this story was based on World War 2. During World War 2 the German Nazis wanted people to be the same as them, so they decided to kill the different people. They wanted people to be white, blonde hair,blue eyed and christian.
3.In real life everyone isn't the same and the Nazis tried to change that and it didn't work. So the connection the the literature and real life is that everyone is different and so far no one has been able to change that.

Chad W
11/3/2013 09:05:49 am

I've only heard of this book but I have never read it. Although it sounds sad, I bet it's a great read. I like the way you connected it to World War 2

Justin Torres
11/2/2013 11:59:39 am

1)In the environmentally themed classic children book The Borax written by the well known author Dr. Seuss, The story revolves around the environment. In the book there is a character The Once-ler who is basically the antagonist in the story, The Once-ler created a machine that was used to cut down thee precious Truffula trees to produce garments known as thneeds for his own selfish needs. In the book one of the protagonist known as the Lorax who is the protector of the forest tried to protest against the once-lers dreadful actions, But the Once-ler refused to stop until every truffula tree is chopped down in order to have his bountiful supplies of thneeds. Rapidly causing the world to become a polluted and industrialized wasteland.

2) The Book the Lorax makes several connections to history, the theme of the book revolves around Industrialization as well as Globalization. The story represents the connection to industrialization as in the book all of the trees are being cut down and being used as resources to make garments known as thneeds. Throughout the story more truffula trees are being diminished and the environment is being corrupted an polluted due to the lack of trees to keep the air fresh and stable. As the book progresses more thneeds are being manufactured constantly, causing the environment and mood of the book become rather gloomy and depressing very similar to how the industrialization was commonly depicted as. The Lorax also relates to globalization as the character the Once-ler's Thneeds become a huge success in the world, the thneeds became very popular and shipments of thneeds started to explode in huge amounts rapidly. The thneeds were once successful in just one town but then started to be spread quickly throughout the world as sort of a trend. Causing production of the Thneeds to be very high and causing the Thneeds to become globalized throughout the world.

3) In almost every book there is a relationship between literature and history. Some books might put subtle references towards history and other books might have a huge relationship toward history as some books such as Maggie: A girl of the streets and even books such as the Lorax Interpret the themes of history very heavily. Not only that but plenty of books are directly based on events of history and gain their inspiration from history.

Corrie
11/3/2013 01:55:40 pm

I really liked your choice of literature, and how you connected a simple children's book to a bigger idea. It was unique and I was really able to understand the connection between the character's inventions to globalization and the I.R. You were able to use third level thinking on an easy read. Great job!

Justin torres
11/2/2013 12:00:50 pm

I meant the Lorax in the first sentence.

Hadley Porreca
11/2/2013 12:10:34 pm

1.The book Divergent by Veronica Roth is set in a dystopian version of Chicago where all the people are divided into five factions Abnegation the selfless, Amity the peaceful, Candor the honest, Dauntless the brave, and Erudite the intelligent. Each year there is a day when all the sixteen year olds take an aptitude test to see where they fall in society based on how they react to specific situations. Most of the time the young adults score either what faction they were born into or they get both the faction they were born into and the one they are ‘meant’ to be in. The main character, Tris Prior takes this test and scores three possible factions to be in meaning she is a Divergent. When the day comes for them to choose their new factions to be in for the rest of their lives Tris chooses to switch from Abnegation to Dauntless. When she switches to Dauntless she goes through the initiation where she falls in love with the trainer, Four who tells her things about the government. Between the two of them they find out that the Erudite is planning to attack the Abnegation by using the Dauntless which starts a revolution but they leave you hanging until the next book in the series.


2. Divergent portrays connects between both communism and a few of the beginning steps of revolution. The government controls all of these peoples way of life. Although there are some variations between the five factions all the factions show signs of communism within themselves. Each faction is pretty much its own country with their own separate leaders who come together when necessary. In every faction all the average citizens have their own jobs and their own however, everyone seems to be equal in the eyes of society. Toward the end when Four and Tris start a revolution they begin to get other Divergents and Dauntless together to try and overpower the Erudite.


3. I first read this book last year back when I didn’t know much about communism or revolution. When we were learning about these things in class I could connect them to this book which helped me make more connections with other things.

Amanda Hurder
11/2/2013 12:41:25 pm

I read the book A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Most people are very familiar with Scrooge, but not in the sense that he's well-liked, it's actually the opposite. Ebenezer is popular due to his bitterness and cheapness. Scrooge's partner, Jacob Marley, who is now dead, comes to visit his old friend. The visit was more like a warning, rather than a friendly greeting. Marley told Scrooge about the three other ghosts he would soon encounter. After meeting with The Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future, Ebenezer realizes he needs to change for the sake of others, but most importantly himself. The Ghost of Christmas Future didn't show him a memory, but left him with one. He would forever remember The Ghost of Christmas Future's gift, which was showing him his grave stone. Scrooge didn't want to end up like his passed away partner, Marley, so he turned his act around. After all four visits from the ghosts, now Ebenezer Scrooge had a reason to be merry on Christmas, and it wasn't just a holiday to burn a hole in his wallet.

This connects to the Industrial Revolution, not only because it takes place during it, but because it is hinted at throughout the book. Basically everyone, except Scrooge, was being neglected. There was horrible living/working conditions, unfair income, and it was even a struggle just to stay warm. At one part, Scrooge had mentioned the enormous population, which was another detail that connects to the Industrial Revolution.

This connects to real life because everyone, like Scrooge, has to go down many paths to find themselves. Everyone does things, which may involve greediness or selfishness, but in a way it only helps them with some consequences. The only way you can do something right, is by messing up and doing something wrong to learn from it, and that's exactly what happened to Scrooge.

Kaitlyn Morgan
11/2/2013 01:04:56 pm

1)
The first book of the Immortals series, by Alyson Noël is called Evermore. A New York Times Bestseller, fantasy novel released in February 2009. This book is about a sixteen year old girl named Ever Bloom blaming herself for her entire family’s death during a non-accidental car crash. Also, after that day she’s accumulated psychic abilities that she’s not mastered how to control yet. She learns to deal with her agonizing guilt when she meets a seemingly perfect boy, Damen Auguste. He convinces her it was not her fault, but his, because he had been the one who saved her from dying that day. Actually many days he’s saved her since he’s over 200 years old and immortal. This outraged her, since she blames herself and claims she wanted to die. However, she wanted to live since Damen had found her soul in a dreamland place, meaning she wasn’t ready to go yet, so he saved her. Before meeting Damen however, Ever wore over-sized hoodies and blared hard rock music in her ears, to block out the thoughts she can hear of the peers around her. This “gift” caused Ever to heavily drink, that was the only time she didn’t have to hear what they were thinking. But, that came with a consequence when she finds out that her dead little sister Riley Bloom, who had not yet crossed over completely with the rest of her family, was unable to get through to Ever. Later on another psychic, Ava, taught Ever how to be able to shield her own, and others minds from being read. Damen starts going to her high school now, and Ever helplessly falls in love with him. But, Damen’s ex-wife, Drina Auguste, still thinks they will be together forever, and seeks to kill Ever, so she’ll be out of the picture. She does this over, and over again, but the story repeats itself and finally when Ever was about to be killed once again and give up, she calls for Damen. Knowing in her heart she wants to be with him and she no longer blames herself. He appears later, and being on Ever’s side, that ends up killing Drina since she no longer felt loved, she just disappeared, never to come back again. Their love made their problem vanquish, changing the future from what it would usually be, and being entirely happy in the end together with what they wanted, each other forever.
2)
Evermore connects to the Industrial Revolution, and its Industrial Reform Movement. “The Industrial Reform Movement was a group of activists who wanted to correct some of the bad effects of the Industrial Revolution”. In the book Evermore, Ever goes through many challenges one of which the problem of her being an immortal and loving someone who’s ex is out to get her. She makes reforms of getting rid of Drina, Damen’s ex-wife, and being able to live under her circumstances by shielding her powers and letting her little sister Riley move on and cross the bridge. Like an industrial reform of setting up a protest and strikes for the unfathomable working conditions during the Industrial Revolution. That act helped labor laws form, and raised workers pay, and provided them with safer working areas and equipment. Same as Ever being able to live safer without someone trying to murder her, and her “pay” increase would be considered the forever lasting love and attention Damen will now be able to give her. Not to mention she can actually get money very easily with her psychic powers. Knowing, for example which horse to choose at a horse race for money. “Sometimes destiny lies just outside of our reach”, Ever says. But, in this case her destiny turns out just how she’d have liked it to. By her fighting for what she wanted she couldn't go back, and so she finished her conquest triumphantly. Saying, “But I've strayed so far from normal now. I’ll never find my way back. And the truth is, I no longer want to”, proves that. The reforms made for the better on the people affected by working conditions is like the changes Ever made to make her only life she had worth living, and to go with the punches, but know when enough is enough.
3)
Between literature and real life, it’s all about the moral learned. Every piece of literature has a proposition, or theme it’s trying to convey to its audience. Just like every piece you read has a problem, it gets solved by some way that way is its theme. For instance, in the Industrial Revolution it had many causes, and effects from those causes. Like conflicts and solutions. The way they reached that conclusion was by learning a life lesson and using that lesson to fix the situation. A piece of literature, like the novel Evermore connects to real life by, you can overcome life’s struggles and unpredictable curve balls if you think positively and believe in yourself that you can do it. Evermore did this when she thought of the “happy place” Drina couldn't get into and there she

Kaitlyn Morgan
11/2/2013 01:09:35 pm

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had all the time in the world to think and have and do whatever she wanted. When she came back to the fighting scene with Drina she was able to bring the elements from her “happy place” with her to be real. Also she could heal her wounds and fight stronger and be more confident that she wouldn't die. Which shows all literature must connect to some sort of real life aspect or it wouldn't have been able to be thought of into a piece of literature by a real life person or real life idea that it comes from. Real life experiences have to be put into the picture in order for something to be labeled as a written work considered of superior or lasting artistic merit, literature.

Kaitlyn Morgan
11/2/2013 01:09:47 pm

(END OF THIRD PARAGRAPH)

had all the time in the world to think and have and do whatever she wanted. When she came back to the fighting scene with Drina she was able to bring the elements from her “happy place” with her to be real. Also she could heal her wounds and fight stronger and be more confident that she wouldn't die. Which shows all literature must connect to some sort of real life aspect or it wouldn't have been able to be thought of into a piece of literature by a real life person or real life idea that it comes from. Real life experiences have to be put into the picture in order for something to be labeled as a written work considered of superior or lasting artistic merit, literature.

lacey
11/2/2013 01:24:09 pm

In The book the Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins a young girl named Katniss Everdeen lives in a nation called Panem in North Amercia. The Hunger games is a televised event where they pick one boy and one girl to enter an arena and fight to the death.

The connection I made to the hunger games is people would fight in front of the roman empire for fun and the people picked to be in the games have to fight while all the other districts watch.

this will not reflect on real life because in real life the world wouldn't be split up into districts and they wouldn't chose people to fight to their death in an arena.

Kaitlyn Morgan
11/3/2013 04:14:53 am

I've not read the book Hunger Games, but I've seen the movie many times. I think you should have summarized the book more, like why did districts pick one boy and girl to fight till death? and why did they do that in the book? For the second paragraph, it's supposed to connect history in some way to the book, and you didn't choose an event to make connections with. So that part would really need to be fixed. What you wrote could have been added to your summary. Lastly, the last paragraph that should be about how literature connects to real life. You have to think more abstractly than saying just what happened in the book won't happen in real life. Since every piece of literature has to connect to real life, the Hunger Games must also. Which means you're looking at the theme, and you didn't do that. I think this blog could use more work, but you did use factual information from the book like "Katniss Everdeen lived in a nation called Panem in North America". Which i didn't even know before i read this.

Corrie S
11/2/2013 02:26:07 pm

1) "Divergent" by Veronica Roth tells the story of a teenage girl, who in her Utopian world chooses to abandon her family and adapt to an entirely different lifestyle where she learns how corrupted the government is. In Beatrice (Tris) Prior's society, there are five separate groups called factions, each dedicated to pursuing a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the fearless), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Tris’s results for her aptitude tests come back multiple factions, which means she’s Divergent. She is told this is dangerous information and cannot be told to anyone. As she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to destroy her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save lives, or it might be the death of her. On Choosing Day, a ceremony is held where the new generation decide which faction they want to live in for the rest of their lives and Tris chooses Dauntless. The leading faction’s Erudite leader, Jeanine Matthews, plans to put the Dauntless under a simulation serum she developed to have them kill all the Abnegation. While others are ignorant to Jeanine's plans, Tris and a Dauntless initiate trainer who becomes her partner, named Tobias, try to come up with a strategy to stop Jeanine’s corrupt plan. While everyone else is under the serum, Tris and Tobias are able to suppress it due to their divergence. The two stop the simulation, in an attempt to overthrow the Erudite and start a revolution.
2) The events in this book connect to three of the eight themes of history - Power and Authority, Empire Building, and Revolution. Because the Erudite were the most knowledgeable, they had jurisdiction over the other four factions. It allowed for them to manipulate, and have a strong influence on other citizens, making it easy to convince them of what needed to be done. Although it did not have the desired effect on everyone, the majority of the factions believed everything the Erudite told them. This contributed to the governments control. Having the five factions, where people are separated based on their values was the way society was organized. Every faction had their role in the community, which overall was set up in the particular way to prevent war and hatred in the world. This mainly connects to the empire building. The main outcome of the book was revolution. Specifically what the revolution was to bring was not clearly stated, but was implied for an explanation in the sequels. Tris and Tobias were able to prevent death of an entire faction, which would create long-term conflicts between the Divergent and Erudite. The Abnegation wanted to expose the Erudite, and all the hidden information they have kept from the other factions for so long. Since the Divergent were able to resist, they had an advantage and the ability to help, or be bystanders. Tris and Tobias could not stand by and watch the destruction of an entire population, and knew there needed to be change. They started an uprising revolution that was to change society forever.
3) When I read the book Divergent last year, my understanding of the overall theme was not fully clear. I understood the events, but not necessarily the big picture. Learning about the eight themes helped my understanding of the long-term effects Tris’s actions would have. Connecting the situations to real world ideas made the concept more clear. Even though this book is fiction, it was an interesting read because it made question if this could occur in the future. A separate society like the one described could exist, and I think it could thrive. But it’s only a matter of how long before power, money, ignorance, and greed come in the way before war breaks out, as it does today.

Alexa
11/3/2013 01:32:37 am

1. A work of literature that relates to history is the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. In the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen lives in Panem, a society of 13 districts run by the Capitol. The Capitol is the government of Panem. They decide everything that happens including the laws and distributions in the districts. Katniss Everdeen is a girl who played and won in the brutal tournament Panem calls the Hunger Games. She wants to make a big change in how the districts are controlled by the Capitol and how the people of the districts are treated.

2. The Hunger Games can relate to history in the terms of a revolution. Katniss wanted to start a revolution to change the government of Panem. A revolution is an overthrow of government by force to create a new form of leadership. Katniss started a rebellion against the president to show that she would not follow anymore of his unjust laws. This is a revolution because it shows that Katniss wanted to achieve goals to win the revolution against the Capitol. Katniss started uprisings and reforms all throughout Panem to achieve equality and fairness for all districts.

3. When reading a story, almost always there is a connection that can be made about fiction to real life. It is possible to make a real life connection to almost anything because of imagination. Without imagination, there would be no fictional stories or books or myths or fairy tales. Connecting literature to real life problems and actions is a strong form of writing.

Katie Furtado
11/3/2013 05:12:05 am

The Hunger Games Trilogy, a fictional series, is about a revolution and Katniss Everdeen was recognized as a revolutionary leader. This was a great series to select for this blog. The connection was relevant and it is a contemporary series most of our peers have read.

Jon J
11/3/2013 01:06:29 am

In the series The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a girl fights for survival in a capitalist dystopia in order to keep herself and her family alive. 24 kids under the age of 18 must enter the annual Hunger Games. 1 male and 1 female from each district is chosen at random and they must participate in a free for all fight to the death. The winner is the last person standing and they basically get to live like royalty for the rest of their lives.

The Hunger Games relates to the theme of revolution in the sense of Katniss changing the Capitols minds of having the annual Hunger Games. Katniss is named leader of the rebellion and is the symbol of the revolution as all the districts come together in order to overthrow the Capitol.

Ryan E
11/3/2013 06:21:07 am

I think that you used great diction and made a small connection. You also could have connected revolution to the whole series instead of just the one book.

Andrew Milliken
11/3/2013 02:25:30 am

1. "The Shadow of the Dragon" by Sherry Garland is about a Vietnamese boy named Danny. Danny's cousin Sang Le was imprisoned in a refugee camp in Vietnam for years, but he was finally freed so he came to the United States to live with Danny's family. Danny helped Sang Le adjust to the different lifestyle of the U.S, but learning English and trying to pass school was too frustrating for Sang Le. He dropped out and slowly became affiliated with a local Vietnamese gang led by a man named Cobra. Cobra didn't have the only gang though. There was a well known gang that despised anyone of any descent besides American. This gang, led by a man named Bryan, had a strong hate for Vietnamese people especially. Danny had seen some of the gang members around school before, and had even gotten jumped by them once, so he knew they were trouble. One night, Sang Le went to the local market to receive some groceries. When Sang Le didn't come back for a very long time, Danny went out to find him. Danny found Sang Le covered in blood and bruises, dead on the sidewalk. Danny later found out that Brian's gang was responsible for Sang Le's death.

2. This book connects to the events of the Holocaust. Brian's gang represents the Nazis and Sang Le and Danny represent the Jews in the story. This is because Brian's gang and the Nazis had the same mindset. They believed that that their descent is the best and all others are wrong. The Nazis felt this way towards Jews, and Brian's gang felt this way towards the Vietnamese. The Nazis worked to eliminate other kinds of people, like Jews, by treating them harshly. Brian and his gang treated Danny and Sang Le the exact same way, with violence provoking Danny's fear and Sang Le's death.

3. All literature reflects life in some way, shape or form. Literature can be based on an idea, a past experience, an emotion etc. Whether the reflection on life in literature is subtle or can be clearly seen, it is always there. As humans, our prior knowledge is what we've seen, heard, or experienced. Our prior knowledge is also what sparks our imagination. So even if a piece of literature is so abstract and could never possibly happen, the writer created that piece with ideas of everyday life, which is how all literature always reflects life.

Alex W
11/3/2013 08:06:10 am

I really like reading your piece. I found it interesting how you related literature to real life. Based on your summary, I really want to read this book now because it seems really interesting. Good job too.

steve hamerski
11/3/2013 10:08:26 am

ive never read this book before and I felt like your summary of it was very informational. And I feel like this would be a great book to read. I liked your connection to the holocost, i feel as if the characters in the book portrayed the roles of the two sides perfectly

Sabrina Tetreault
11/3/2013 02:49:00 am

1) In the book "Witch and Wizard" by James Patterson and Gabriel Charbonnet, tells the story of Whit and Wisty Allgood, two siblings. Two teenage children who live in a world where the government captures children and keeps them imprisoned, without giving them a reason. Soon the siblings learn that they have a special gift and they are powerful. They find out that the government is imprisoning the children so they are the only power. The siblings decide to create their own reform, and they create an army to go against the government, to gain their freedom.
2)This work of literature connects to history, because in the Industrial Revolution, it involves reformers, who create their own reforms against higher powers, to gain their own freedom and get what they want. In the Industrial Revolution, their were plenty Reform Acts, like the woman reform for rights, and child labor laws so children didn't work more than they should. These acts are just like the books because they were "wars" for getting what they want/need.
3)Literature is based off of real life. Themes of real life to get a point across to people, so that people have ideas on what to do in life. Books are told so people can search for answers in their life, or for enjoyment, but there is always reasons pick up a book, to see answers. Literature is real life just in type, so we can understand life much better.

Tresure gathers
11/3/2013 04:27:13 am

1. The book I read was "The Pursuit of Happiness" by Chris Gardner. This book is about Chris Gardner who goes through the hardships and struggles that consist of having a successful life. He was born to a mother who spent time in jail and experienced abuse. He did not know who his father was. Chris's experience of not having a father motivated him to be there for his son and provide for him. He joined the Navy as an adult, went into medical training, and got married and eventually had a kid. His wife left him with financial issues and he become homeless at one point. After one day walking and glancing at a seemingly perfect red,well conditioned Ferrari, It inspired him to be a stockbroker as well as to work hard and have goals . He succeed as a stockbroker after being hired, He later went on to open his own brokerage firm and soon became a great success."The Pursuit of Happiness" is a very compelling story about an individual who went through more adversity than I could personally deal with. However, Chris Gardner has exceptional perseverance and manages to come out of a very dark tunnel to become an overwhelming success. The primary lesson that you will learn from reading his life story is to keep moving forward. Find a goal and keep taking baby steps until you finally achieve it. No matter what life throws in front of you, anything is possible if you believe in your goal and in yourself.

2.The book,"The pursuit of happiness"connects to history because "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a more then well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence.This phrase insures that everyone has the freedom to achieve there goals,dreams and go after what makes them happy in life.The key word is "pursuit". It doesn't guarantee happiness, just the ability to pursue it. There's no mention of entitlement.The phrase is borrowed from John Locke, who actually wrote "life, liberty, and property." However Jefferson clearly had a different mind and changed "property" to "the pursuit of happiness". I choose the book "The pursuit of happiness" because it has a direct connection with history,it shows you the incredible power and resilience one man possessed against unbelievable odds.Chris Gardner's pursed,and achieved his divine right, for happiness.

3."Make your vision larger than yourself." (Gardner 205) This means if you have a dream or a goal, at any moment you should be able to sacrifice what you are right now,for who your going to become.This book gave me the message to work hard in life no matter what and just never give up. I would recommend this book to my fellow classmates because its not only just a great book to read, but gives off a great message. And a relevant one at that it allows the reader to interoperate,understand and there for use this theme or message in real life situations. Most literature ables the reader to do this do to the way life imitates art.

brielle
11/3/2013 05:04:30 am

1.) The book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is about a young girl names Katniss Everdeen from a poor rundown district, number 12 that volunteers herself in to the hunger games in order to keep her sister prim from going into the games on the day of the reaping. The reaping was one day a year when one boy and one girl got chosen from every district 1-12 to fight till the death in the games. After making the choice to go into the hunger games she got to meet the rest of the tributes she would be competing with as well as a boy from her district named Peeta that would be competing as well. They soon got to meet a past victor named Haymitch who helped trained them in the hopes of one of them winning the games. After going into the games all the tributes split up and searched for other district’s tributes to hunt. Later they made a new rule that two tributes from the same district can win together so Peeta and Kat found each other and played out a fake love story to get more people to like them and send them gifts to help them get through the games. At the end of the book the game maker calls off the recent rule of 2 victors and Kat and Peeta decided that if there can’t be 2 winners that they would just eat poisonous berries so that they wouldn’t have a victor but by them challenging the governments power they said there could be 2 victors again but the government was not happy.

2.) The hunger games and the industrial revolution have many relations, starting with the differences in social classes. In the industrial revolution the lower class was very poor, there were dirty working and living conditions and children were forced to work at very young ages to help produce products that were mostly used to benefit the upper class. While the upper class had these new machines to make transportation and life easier the poor or less fortunate had to work in gross, dirty unsafe places to make a low wage and still had to struggle with starvation and disease. The upper-class however benefited from the lower classes hard work because they got to have mass production of new machinery. In The Hunger Games the capital was considered the upper class and the remaining districts were forced to work for what they needed to survive.

3.) Literature has a significant relation to real life and history. Most authors write about their personal experiences or others that they have researched or witnessed. Most literature is bases on an event that happened in the past or on something that has happened that specifically the author shows interest in.

Corey L
11/3/2013 05:20:29 am

I didn't look at the hunger games as a different social structures but now I see it

Corey L
11/3/2013 05:17:48 am

In "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan, an eleven year old boy, Percy Jackson, figures out he has a half-blood friend and a godly dad, Posideon. however Zeus's lightning bolt is missing, Hades kidnaped Percy's mother and Percy needs to get his mom back and clear his name. He finds out Luke Castelin , son of Hermes, and Ares, god of war, were teamed up in a plain to take down the gods.
This connects to history because this incorporates old Greek philosophy, myths and customs with modern lifestyles. However as we know this is far from real. In Greek mythology the Gods and sprits were the "logic" behind the unexplainable, but now we have science to study and educate us and give us the ability to explain the unexplainable. There is no way this can be true because we now know how most things in nature work and can explain it with out mythological beings

Ryan E
11/3/2013 05:44:59 am

The Hunger Games by, Suzanne Collins in this book Katniss Everdean, a 16 year old girl lives in a new type of world divided into 12 districts. Each district provides their own recourse to the other districts. Katniss lives in the most rugged district, District 12. Her district isn't very successful at winning the Hunger Games there is only one previous winner that is still alive. That winner will train the next two competitors to survive and win the Hunger Games.
I have found that there is a historical connection between the pointless killing of people in the Hunger Games and the pointless killing of people in the Holocaust. In both of the killings the people in charge wanted to establish a new order in life that included the killings of many innocent people. Also while the holocaust may not have been a public form of entertainment like the Hunger Games, the women, children and men who died were killed by those who were either forced to kill or it was their job and they did it willingly. Another similarity between the two is how both killings were targeting a specific group of people. in Hunger Games the people being targeted were the children from each district and during the holocaust the people being targeted were the Jewish people.
There is a strong connection between literature and real life. Life is the is the subject of all literature therefore there is always going to be a real life connection whether it be big or small. I believe that the stronger the connection between a story and real life the more interesting the story is.

Ethan Kennedy
11/3/2013 06:23:13 am

In the book "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen Cole a normal bully makes a big mistake by putting a boy Peter in the hospital by beating him up. Cole has had way to many chances so they put him in juvenile detention for ten years but one day goes by and Cole's probation officer Jarvis makes a proposition for Cole. Jarvis knows Cole doesn't want to end up staying in prison for years so he signs Cole up for a retreat but not a good one. Cole must stay on a misty old island in the middle of no where for 4 years but in the last year he must share the island with Peter.

In history specifically in hard times people weren't given as many chances as Cole got. They were always on the edge, it was either life or death. They needed to do what they had to to live. Cole fed on anger and the adrenaline of unfair fights only because that's all he knew he didn't know any better. So just like some people in history all they knew was to kill and steal because it was so hard to live.

Literature relates to real life sometimes because it can be about certain events that really happen. Literature is also sometimes real events that were stretched to become more interesting than just boring old hard times. Would you like to read about how the Great Depression hurt people? Or how the great depression hurt a team of try hard baseball players? I would choose the second one!

Thomas
11/3/2013 09:54:09 am

I have always seen people reading that book and people talking about it. I personally have not read it yet but it seems like a really engaging and interesting book. You could've improved on the second part it is not really talking about a specific time in history though, but it is still good overall.

Autumn Scott
11/3/2013 06:27:27 am

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie describes the journey of Arnold Spirit, a Welpinit Indian on the road to inventing a new life for himself. When Arnold (better known as Junior) enters his tribe's reservation high school, he becomes aware of how worn out his town and the life he has there really is. Although his community practically disowns him for doing so, Junior moves to Reardan High, an off-rez all-white school. He suffers the first few weeks he's there, not knowing anyone and having nothing in common with his peers. Then Junior tries out for the basketball team after much encouragement from the school jocks. After making the team, Junior becomes known throughout the school as a talented basketball player and a good student who's got a popular girlfriend. Though he struggles through losing his best friend Rowdy and deaths in his family, he makes the best of the life he chose to lead. After school is let out for the summer, Junior reconciles with Rowdy and returns to life on the rez until the next school year.
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian can be connected to one of the eight themes of history, cultural interaction. While Junior is a Welpinit Indian, he is forced to befriend "white people", who have a completely different culture than him. Although their cultural practices and behaviors are very different, Junior and his peers learn to accept one another and cooperate with each other. Junior and some of his fellow pupils even become friends in the process of learning to coexist.
3. This book can easily be related to real life. It tells the story of a person trying to adapt to a new environment, and the hardships he endures as a result to the change in his surroundings. This is a common theme found in many stories, and can be seen in the real world. Adaptations must be made all the time due to environment changes. For example, when someone is promoted they have to learn the requirements of their new position, and how actually do the job. People adapt to changes everyday, whether it be in their workplace, at school, or even at home.

Camryn Liberatore
11/3/2013 07:56:10 am

1.) In the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett she wrote about African American maids being treated unfairly by there white employers. They stood unheard by white folks until a white female journalist came along and wanted to publish their stories. At first the black people were hesitant to trust her but she showed no distrusting signs about her. They had to go through many rough spots to publish there stories but once they were published and the black folks got to read each others stories the white people started to realize how they really treated them and were ashamed for some of the things they did to them especially because now it was written down for the whole world to read. Some bosses started treating there maids with more respect and kindness because they new what they had to go through and also that there actions can have consequences.

2.) During the Industrial Revolution there were different social classes (The working class, the middle class, and the aristocrats). These different social classes depended on how much money you make and they decided how people treated you. This relates to the book "The Help" because in the book people are treated differently because of there races, either black or white. The segregation between the black and the white people made different social classes in the south. If you were black you were treated poorly and weren't given opportunities that white people may have been given. The black people relate to the working class. The working class also was treated worse then say the aristocrats because they didn’t make as much money and weren’t as fortunate as aristocrats. Another way this book relates to history is how it relates to the theme of history Power and Authority. The white people had power over the African Americans. The black people were treated like animals and like they were worthless just because they had a different skin color. The black people couldn’t do anything about this because they were powerless against the white folks. Also after they have been told that they were animals and didn’t deserve to be treated justly some of them started to believe it and loose hope that things were ever going to change which made it easier for the white people to have a firm grasp on the black people’s lives.

3.) This book can relate to real life because throughout life people can be treated differently for the things they have or don’t have. Some people may have better cloths or nicer things then other people and they can be treated better then the person without as nice possessions. Also literature can be written about events that actually happened but it can be written about events in an indirect way. “The Help” was written about how white people were treated better then black people and this can relate to the segregation that happened in the South.

Abby Whittingham
11/3/2013 08:14:59 am

Hey Camryn, your connection was well thought out and it's clear that you put a lot of effort into your entire piece especially your connection. I really like your personal reflection as well. Would you recommend this book for SSR?

Olivia Mangion
11/3/2013 09:09:59 am

hey Camryn! I liked your connection i thought it was spot on. at first while reading your summary i thought you might have done something totally different. i also wrote a connection to social classes and thought it was very difficult to narrow it down and explain it with out making it confusing but yours is very specific great job!

Alex W
11/3/2013 08:19:21 am

1.) In the book “Night”, by Elie Wiesel, describes how a teenager from Sighet, Transylvania during World War II (WWII), when his Jewish family was taken to a concentration camp in Auschwitz, Germany in the year 1944. Throughout the story, he was with his father after they were separated from his mother and younger sister. This book explains the horrific things that were done to the Jewish people by the Nazis through the eyes of one who experienced the entire thing first hand.
2.) The book “Night” relates to not only WWII, but also describes the power and authority and cultural interaction that were relevant during that time period. Hitler showed power against the Jewish people by putting them into concentration camps, killing them, or by putting them in crematorium where they were burned to ash in front of other Jewish people. Hitler drove fear into them so that the Jewish community would be frightened of him by the power he showed. Even some of the Nazi parties were afraid of his wrath. In the book, Elie was terrified that he may not have lived through this catastrophic event; however, he did and met Hitler himself. In his words, he felt that Hitler commanded respect and attention and was annoyed if it was not given. The book also shows authority when the Nazi soldiers abuse and “play with” the Jewish people. Some of the Nazi soldiers, according to Elie, didn’t feel comfortable when they had to kill off some of the Jewish community. To them, they were just following orders and were nervous as to what would happen if they didn’t. This book also connects with cultural interaction because it describes how other country’s cultures collided in a worldwide war. It describes how the Jewish people’s beliefs were different from Hitler and the Nazi’s beliefs. The book mentions God a couple of times (spoken by a Jewish person in a camp) while they pray, and Elie asks his Father in the book multiple times “Why do we pray?” It illustrates how several cultures have different ways of life and how they interact with one another. Also, this book relates to the Industrial Revolution social classes. The Jewish community could be described as the lower/ working class because they were the ones who were treated poorly by everyone. The Nazis and people who were associated with Hitler could be considered as the upper/ higher class because they got everything they wanted and treated the working class poorly.
3.) This book defiantly connects to real life because people have to make changes to their environment every day, just like Elie Wiesel had to in “Night”. He had witnessed the unbearable events such as crematorium and the Holocaust, first hand and had survived through the pain. Elie adjusts to a new environment by having to go from living in “a living hell” as he called it to living in piece after the war. The book “Night” as a whole was about a real person who suffered, starved, and cried about life in a concentration camp controlled by a mad man who wanted world domination and made people’s lives miserable only to fail ultimately in the end.

Katelynn Colpitts
11/3/2013 08:35:54 am

1. In the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy gets trapped in the land of Oz. She must go on a journey down the yellow brick road to find her way home. But , on the way she meets some very interesting characters. One, the tin man was searching for a heart ,so he joined Dorothy on her trip. Then, they stumbled upon the Scarecrow who was searching for a brain , he also joined them. Next the trio happened upon a lion in the woods who was searching for courage. of course he also joined the group. There is also an evil witch in this story, who makes our friends' trip so much more challenging then needed. she does crazy things like send flying monkeys after them, and make them fall asleep in a field of poppy flowers. But eventually our characters found there way and received all the things they were searching for, including Dorthy being sent back home to Kansas.
2. Some of the characters in the Wizard of Oz relate to history in some way. The tin man represents the factory workers who were often dehumanized or "heartless". when the factories began to shut down,the workers became depressed . After losing their jobs, they felt helpless, just like the poor tin man who was rusted an unable to move without an oil can.
The flying monkeys represent Native Americans. When Dorothy and the other characters come across the monkeys, they say to her "Once we were a free people, living happily in the forest, flying from tree to tree, eating nuts and fruit and doing just as we pleased without calling anybody master". This quote relates to Native Americans by explaining how they were pushed off of their land by the New Americans.
3. In my opinion, Literature relates to real life in ways such as being able to write about real events that have happened. Literature is important to real life because without it, we would have no documents or references of our past. Also real human beings can write about there personnel lives or events they have experienced, but without literature they couldn't.

Kelley A
11/3/2013 11:13:51 am

I've never thought about the book this way. It's really interesting to think about how it relates to the industrial revolution and I love how you connected each individual character to a specific group!

Olivia Mangion
11/3/2013 08:49:48 am

1.)In the book series “House of Night” by P.C. and Kristin Cast Zoey a freshman is marked meaning she has been chosen to be a “vampyres” which is a vampire and is chosen to attend at the house of night which is a school for vampyres. She must survive going threw the change of becoming a adult vampyre. Right at the start of the book she is marked and everyone around her is afraid of her because of the reputation of the vampyre kind. They are not accepted in public and even her own parents reject her because of the vampyres religion that worships the goddess Nyx. And because of blood lust side effect the vampyres get as they age. Because the vampyre are outcasts they act as their own society and make groups with in them selves just as any school does. The house of nights most elite group is the dark daughters.

2.)this series relates to the time period or rascal segregation and decimation agents African Americans and religious segregation agents the Jewish. It relates to these times because the people that don’t need to live in the house of night are afraid of them and outcast them because of the blood lust the vampyres feel. In the second book of the series Zoey’s stepfather goes with her mother to visit Zoey. He then meets Neteret the head vamryre priestess he is a very religious person and has a argument with Netefet about how the vampyre religion is wrong and worships the devil. This is a example of the racial segregation. The series also connects with the industrial revolution because if the separation between classes. And how the group the dark daughters represent the upper class and everyone else who is not apart of the group is the lower class and the big gap between.

3.) the relationship between real life and literature in this book is vague. Just like any other school the house of night has its popular group that think lower of everyone else that is not with them. But vampires are mythical creatures so that piece of the book is not very realistic. But that is what makes a piece of literature interesting. This book has all the same dramas as a teenager but a twist on it making it enjoyable and less predictable. The summaries between reality and a novel is what makes the charters relatable to the reader.

Chad W
11/3/2013 08:55:59 am

Chad W
11/3/2013 08:56:59 am

1) I read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. It is about farm animals that are sick and tired of the farmer treating them with disrespect. The farm animals make a plan to drive the farmer out of his own farm and to never come back. When they accomplish this by ramming, kicking, and biting him, he finally runs away from the farm and all the animals take over. The pigs, along with the rest of the animals, make up rules such as; living beings with “four legs are good and two legs are bad”, no wearing the farmers clothes, no sleeping inside the farmers house, no smoking, no drinking, no killing other animals, all animals are equal, no animal should become like the farmer, no communication with humans, etc.. As the story goes on, one pig in particular slowly gains more and more power to the point where all the farm animals are calling him the leader. This pig twist the rules as the book ventures on and he soon takes control over the farm. He rations out all the food so the animals get very little, but he himself gets a large amounts. He gives himself protect dogs and he eventually moves into the farmer’s house, sleeps in his bed, and drinks all the alcohol he wants. He also has everyone do very heavy work while he himself watches and does nothing. All this leads up to the end of the book where the pig starts to act more severe than the original farmer himself. One day this pig, along with plenty of other pigs, start walking on their hind legs and wear the famer’s old clothes. Soon they invite humans over for a party and the humans give praise to the pig for making money and giving the animals such poor conditions to live/work in. As that is going on, the rest of the farm animals are very confused on why the leader is breaking his own rules. They eventually figure out that the pig was playing them the whole time and he had turned into the farmer himself.

2) This book connects to past countries that were communist. Just like real life, past communist leaders would treat their people very poorly by either giving them little food or making them work hard. Just like the pig, the communist leaders would give themselves more food and riches, while everyone else is struggling to survive and provide for their families. Communist leaders made the strict rules just like the pig did. Both of these subjects have numerous similarities and can be compared in many ways.

3) Reading this book and finding the connections between it and communism has really shown me how lucky I am to live in the United States. Living in poor conditions like these would be terrifically, treacherously terrifying. Being able to call my home a free, capitalistic country that comes with plenty of benefits is definitely something to brag about. The harder you work, the better off you are. Not the harder you work, you’re just given what you need. I believe us Americans take our freedom for granted. Reading this book has really shown me how fortunate we Americans are to have our freedom.

Chad W
11/3/2013 08:57:06 am

1) I read the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. It is about farm animals that are sick and tired of the farmer treating them with disrespect. The farm animals make a plan to drive the farmer out of his own farm and to never come back. When they accomplish this by ramming, kicking, and biting him, he finally runs away from the farm and all the animals take over. The pigs, along with the rest of the animals, make up rules such as; living beings with “four legs are good and two legs are bad”, no wearing the farmers clothes, no sleeping inside the farmers house, no smoking, no drinking, no killing other animals, all animals are equal, no animal should become like the farmer, no communication with humans, etc.. As the story goes on, one pig in particular slowly gains more and more power to the point where all the farm animals are calling him the leader. This pig twist the rules as the book ventures on and he soon takes control over the farm. He rations out all the food so the animals get very little, but he himself gets a large amounts. He gives himself protect dogs and he eventually moves into the farmer’s house, sleeps in his bed, and drinks all the alcohol he wants. He also has everyone do very heavy work while he himself watches and does nothing. All this leads up to the end of the book where the pig starts to act more severe than the original farmer himself. One day this pig, along with plenty of other pigs, start walking on their hind legs and wear the famer’s old clothes. Soon they invite humans over for a party and the humans give praise to the pig for making money and giving the animals such poor conditions to live/work in. As that is going on, the rest of the farm animals are very confused on why the leader is breaking his own rules. They eventually figure out that the pig was playing them the whole time and he had turned into the farmer himself.

2) This book connects to past countries that were communist. Just like real life, past communist leaders would treat their people very poorly by either giving them little food or making them work hard. Just like the pig, the communist leaders would give themselves more food and riches, while everyone else is struggling to survive and provide for their families. Communist leaders made the strict rules just like the pig did. Both of these subjects have numerous similarities and can be compared in many ways.

3) Reading this book and finding the connections between it and communism has really shown me how lucky I am to live in the United States. Living in poor conditions like these would be terrifically, treacherously terrifying. Being able to call my home a free, capitalistic country that comes with plenty of benefits is definitely something to brag about. The harder you work, the better off you are. Not the harder you work, you’re just given what you need. I believe us Americans take our freedom for granted. Reading this book has really shown me how fortunate we Americans are to have our freedom.

Thomas
11/3/2013 09:57:00 am

That seems like a pretty interestingly strange book, but the connection to history seems pretty accurate.

Kali
11/3/2013 09:08:30 am

1. In the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Ebenezer Scrooge was a greedy, miserable old man. All he cared about was his money, he yells at charity workers, and he overworks his employee Bob Cratchit. One night Scrooges old business partner Jacob Marley comes to warn him about the three ghosts that will visit him. When Scrooge wakes up he sees the ghost of Christmas Past to show him scenes from when he was a little boy. The next night the ghost of Christmas Present comes and shows him Bob Cratchits house and tells Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die. And the last ghost to come is the ghost of Christmas yet to come. This ghost shows scrooge people talking about death and he finds out that Tiny Tim has died.
2. A Christmas Carol connects to the Industrial Revolution because it took place during that time period and there was a lot of poverty. When people come to ask for donations for charity Scrooge refuses.
3. All pieces of literature have a connection to real life, but A Christmas Carol connects to real life because it shows the hardships people face and the emotions people have. For example people need money but Scrooge refuses to help out, and when Tiny Tim is going to die Scrooge sees the humanity in it and feels bad.

James Boudreau III
11/3/2013 09:36:25 am

1) I read Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli. It is set in WWII during Germany's invasion of Russia, and is about a two Russians, one Jewish/Italian, the other one, an Aryan pure blood Russian. The two are sent to a concentration camp after being kidnapped from a theater premire. After adjusting to the harsh, cold enviroment they were thrown into, hiding Enzo's (the Jewish one) identity from the Nazis and from other people who would kill him or have him killed in a heartbeat for his clothes and share of food, one boy finds out the truth and blackmails Enzo for his boots. When he refuses, the two fight it out and the blackmailer's ribs and lungs are crushed, and everyone disregards the bloody mess against the white snow, and takes his clothes right off of him, leaving his paling carcass to rot in the snow.

2) This part of the story reminded me strongly of how terribly the lower class had it in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and of the book we read, Maggie: a Girl of the Streets. It seemed like then when a person died it was only more of an inconvience than a life changing event for friends, family, workers and aquaintences. The way, in the story, people in the camp would kill each other and thoughtlessly strip their best friend's lifeless body without even a prayer or a moment's consideration to the tragic and likely painful ending to their life.

3) This IS, or well, was, real life at the time, though it is disgusting an unfortunate, it's true. Perhaps exaggerated, which I would have a hard time believing, I know a thing or two about human nature in drastic situations, and a few other things about the conditions people faced in WWII, prior to reading Stones in Water. If anything I read or heard or saw on documentaries is true, then this book must pretty accurate on how real life was at the time.

Thomas
11/3/2013 09:48:15 am

1) The book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen is abut a boy named Brian that crashed into the Canadian wilderness while riding in a small plane. He survives the crash but is all alone since the pilot dies. He has to learn to survive and cope with all the dangers he is faced with in the wild. The struggle to find food and avoid any harmful animals makes it difficult for him. He is alone and has no protection besides a hatchet and a small cave that he finds shelter in. While trying to stay alive Brian has to try and remember how to do certain things and primarily, how to survive.

2)This book relates to when the Pilgrims first settled in America. When the Pilgrims settled in America they had to get used to the new land and what it brought to them. The Indian tribes are a good example of a threat to the Pilgrims and how they had to cope and learn to deal with them over the years. The weather and the animals were also new to the settlers so they had to build houses and shelters to protect against them. The different animals would also bring new food to the table so they had to adapt to the different game, plants, and meat. All of these things can relate back to the book Hatchet, because they are all closely related to the dangers that Brian had to cope and deal with. Brian had the same problems like most of the Pilgrims like the new land, animals, and the food

3) The relationship between literature and life is very strong because it affects the way some people feel about things whether it is good, bad or informational. Literature can change the course of history even by the smallest amount of word choice or sentence and affect the future. It is basically the reason why we communicate and what we can communicate about for future generations if it has a big enough impact. That is the relationship between literature and life from what I believe.

Johnathan Sandoval
11/3/2013 09:51:42 am

October Blog: History to Literature

1) I read Sherman Alexis's work of literature which he titled " The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. This story was about about the struggle of Arnold Junior Spirit, a teenage Native American boy who yearns to escape his negative influential environment to live his dreams. The story was told through first person point of view as Arnold explains his toughest moments while pitching in some humor as well. Arnold was born with physical disabilities which led to him constantly being an outcast and regularly getting picked on. He is best friends with a friend named Rowdy who had a very aggressive temper and protected Arnold at all points. On Arnold's first day of high school he opened a book and saw his mother's name signed in the book. He wasnt satisfied with how poor his school was that they owned 30 year old books so he threw the book at the teacher which in turn broke the teacher's nose. During his several day suspension his teacher came to his house and convinced him that the reservation is not reliable place to be for him. His teacher encourages him to attend a school in a neighboring town (Rearden) which was filled of racism. When Arnold first gets to Rearden he feels isolated because he is the only Native American there and he is probably the only poor person there. This was rough considering he went from the Native American reservation where every citizen there was dirt poor and spent every penny on alcohol to get drunk with a mindset of " Those who are raised on this reservation will be nothing and die on this reservation " to an all White school where every individual values education and grows up to be successful. Arnold changed from a non-motivating community to a motivating environment.

2) This work of literature connects to history in one major way. This one way is the social structure that developed during the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution there was a split between the rich and the poor. Through capitalism rich entrepreneurs, shippers, and merchants created the “working class”. The Working Class was considered those who held a job and worked under entrepreneurs who hired them. The Working Class worked in harsh conditions with machinery that may easily take the life or limb of any individual who made a mistake using the machine. This class also performed for long hours daily with very low pay. All of the Working Class lived in tenements within the polluted industrial cities. There was usually little or no space for the Working Class. Meanwhile entrepreneurs, merchants, shippers, etc… were very wealthy and built fancy homes among the country outskirts living luxurious lives. In “ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian “ There is a split between the Native Americans that lived on the reservation and the white people that lived in Rearden. The Native Americans were poor with little or no education and lived in a disgusting environment with trash all over every house and street. They also lived in multifamily homes where 3-5 very large families crammed into small houses. Men worked for low pay and spent every penny of their paychecks on alcohol. Meanwhile the white people of Rearden were financially stable if not very wealthy. The educational system could afford brand new textbooks every year and the environment was clean with brand new pavement laid down and perfect grass. Every family owned their own land, vehicle, and very large house. Families being wealthy indicates that the citizens of Rearden were paid a high amount. The rich white people of Rearden looked down upon the poor Native Americans and the Native Americans accepted their place in this social structure. Native Americans would be the “ Working Class “ while the Rearden citizens would be the Entrepreneurs, Investment Bankers, Merchants, etc….

3) I feel as if without literature how could one understand real life? Literature is expressing reality in a linguistic form. It is written through real life experience and knowledge. Literature may potentially teach a moral or contain a theme that informs you of a situation that may occur during a point in life, but without the experience of making a mistake to realize that moral or the experience of that situation in life to explain (through literature) to the reader that this situation may occur in their life as well , how could there be literature in the first place? How could one simply write without knowledge or experience? It’s impossible to write without living life because that work of literature would make no sense. For example, if I were to write a story about how I broke a leg jumping off my bunk bed instead of climbing down the ladder, the moral of the story would be to climb down the ladder of a bunk bed rather than jumping down because it’s dangerous. How would I know how to write this work of literature containing this moral if I didn&rs

Abby Whittingham
11/3/2013 09:52:17 am

Comment deleted

Emma Theroux
11/3/2013 10:38:07 am

I really like the connection you made to communism from the book, but I thought that all people had more individuality since there were many jobs and not many had the same job. Especially Jonas the last "Reciever of Memory" had to be removed because they didn't do their job correctly and they weren't responsible enough for the job. But I do agree that the Elders had most control.

Abby Whittingham
11/3/2013 09:52:40 am

1.) “The Giver”, by Lois Lowry is an award winning novel that’s portrays a futuristic lifestyle where everyone acts almost exactly the same. In this community, civilians are exempt from having to suffer from any kind of pain, war or hatred. Everyone acts consistently polite and perfect and civilians of this society have their lives premade by a group called The Elders. This group of people determines everything in everyone’s life right down to whom you marry and which job you will receive. They are also the people who determine who will be released (killed) - This action could occur when someone is too old, a flawed child, or if someone broke a rule. The book focuses on Jonas, a pale eyed eleven year old boy who lives with his father, a Nurturer of new children, his mother; who works at the Department of Justice, and his seven-year-old sister Lily. He is “apprehensive” about turning twelve. When a child turns twelve, he or she is assigned a job based on their actions and interests. During the ceremony, all of Jonas’s friends are told their job except for Jonas who is merely skipped over in the roll call. He is later told that he has been chosen to be “The Receiver of Memory”. In this community, one person is responsible for taking all the bad memories and holding them in his or her brain to keep others oblivious to the negativity that once surrounded them. Once Jonas meets the old man, he is told to call him the Giver and is introduced to many memories both good and bad. He is also introduced to colors something that does not exist in the community and to the Giver’s plan. His plan involves escaping from the community by having Jonas fake his own death by being released. This will then allow others to have opinions and choices in life and will give the people feelings that they will have to deal with themselves. As the story continues the reader is introduced to a little boy named Gabriel who is saved by Jonas’s father. He is a flawed child and will be released if he does not get better. Equipped with all the memories from the Giver, he sets off with Gabriel in the basket of his bicycle and makes it out of the community. Throughout this rough journey, they encounter a snow storm and it becomes very hard for Jonas to keep up hope and courage. As they are both nearly starving to death, Jonas keeps injecting good memories to Gabe. By the end of the book they make it to the top of a hill where they slide down where he and the baby are greeted to the sounds of music and singing.
2.) This intriguing story has a clear connection to our classroom discussion with regard to Communism and The Industrial Revolution. In a Communist based society, there is no competition, total government control, and no social classes. In this book, Jonas and his family clearly live in a Communist village where, “The Elders” act as the government and rule everybody’s life. Everything is balanced and everybody does the same thing. There is absolutely no individuality and this book shows an extreme example of communism. This book also touches upon the topic of the Industrial Revolution. During this time period, almost everything had no meaning and poverty was at an all-time high. Although this community did not show poverty of any sort, it definitely showed the meaningless aspect of it. People in Jonas’s community went about their lives doing the same thing everyone else did following a set of guidelines on how to live their life provided by The Elder’s. Nobody had any of their own imagination and nobody could see any colors either. This allowed for no creativity or imagination for anybody especially the children. This is exactly what happened to the children during the Industrial Revolution. Everybody’s lives were almost all hollow and the people let little to no imagination go through their minds. These changes directly affected the kids because during this time, they were forced to work and had little time for play. Kids like Jonas also had monitored time to play each day and also had to begin working at the young age of twelve as well.
3.) This book defiantly connects to real life because people always try to change themselves to be like others. People are constantly judged on their clothing or disabilities and most kids end up changing who they really are just to fit in. In Jonas’s community, all individuality was taken away from them and everybody lived the same lifestyle. Nobody is judged because as the children grew older, they each got a bike and a job at the same age and always had the same possessions at the same time. This relates back to real life because it highlights the importance of people and their individuality. It shows how important it is to be an individual and not let anybody (like the Elders) run your life.

Mark
11/3/2013 11:20:08 am

i remember reading that last year for my ELA class and I've never thought about it like that, i also like the subject you brought up in your reflection too

dylan walker
11/3/2013 11:30:06 am

Last year i read this in ELA and it was really creepy. I was a good book but the ending sort of left you hanging. Also you said "Good" and "Bad" so try to not use those words.

stephen hamerski
11/3/2013 09:59:38 am

1.The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is an interesting story about the adventure that Catniss Everdeen takes into the tournament of death known as the "hunger games".throughout the games catniss is forced to kill and murder innocent people just like her that were forced into the tournament by the government of Pannam (the country in which she lives. She endures many challenges such as the harsh environment of the forest themed arena, the other contestants trying to murder her and other challenges that the game makers put in to throw off Catniss on her way to victory. In the end Catniss shows the government who's boss by making them look like childish and not in charge by letting Catniss and the other tribute Peta win the hunger games.
2. The Hunger Games can relate to the industrial revolution in many ways. One way it relates is that during the industrial revolution people lived in very harsh and poor conditions because of the low wages they were payed for all the work they did. In Suzanne Collin's "The Hunger Games" catniss the main character also is forced to live in harsh and pour conditions. Not only at home in district 12 but in the games she lived in the harsh forest for months.
3. Literature will always have a way to relate to real life. Most authors will always connect some sort of event that has happened or is happening to there story and use there literature to portray the event that happened. Some authors use there own life experiences to make there stories full of things a reader can relate to. That's why I think that books are the best way to learn something because the author ties things in to the story that I can relate to that has happened in real life. That's the relationship between literature and real life.

Emma Theroux
11/3/2013 10:15:17 am

1.) In the book The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay by Suzanne Collins Katniss Everdeen now lives in district 13, everyone who does live there is a rebel. Everyone counts on Katniss to succeed in the rebellion. During the Quarter Quell it was planned to rescue Katniss so they could finally beat the Capitol. A group of rebels sneak into the Capitol and start hiding so they can attack. Each day the move closer to President Snow's estate, so they can kill him. When they finally reach the estate they see a large amount of children who are screaming for joy, Katniss sees small balloons fall, thinking they carried food, but they weren't. The balloons started to explode and she noticed some rebel medics helping the kids. One medic in particularly got Katniss' attention, it was Prim her only sister. Their eyes stare into eachothers until another explosion broke it and sadly killed Prim. When Katniss finally got the chance to kill President Snow she decided against it and aimed upward and instead killed President Coin, the leader of district 13.
2.) This book can be related to the 8 themes of history, because it is an execellent example of Revolution. The population of district 13 was trying to over rule the Capitol because they thought their decisions were very unfair to the lower districts of Panam. Many countries today are involved in a revolution, because they dont like the ruling anymore and or want a change. In the Industrial Revolution many people wanted change, the U.S. first allowed many factory owners to have horrible work spaces, because the government didnt get a say. When the reformers got involved it changed many things, working hours, conditions, wages and working age restrictions. The reformers in the I.R are a lot like the rebels in The Hunger Games:Mockingjay, because all they wanted was change and to make a difference. They wanted to make life better for everyone, they didn't want people to be unhappy and miserable with their lives because they thought that life shouldnt be as hard as it was, especially during the I.R. it was supposed to be easier.
3.) The book relates to life, because many countries around the world are involved with many revolutions; in Egypt they have overthrown their past 2 presidents because they didn't like the dictatorship they enforced on the government. When they elected their former president Mohamed Morsi they thought he was going to rule differently than all their other presidents, but in the end he ruled the same and it made many people unhappy. The rebels of district 13 wanted to overthrow President Snow because of the same reasons that many egyptians wanted to overthrow Mohamed Morsi.

Alec Rubenstein
11/3/2013 10:37:50 am

1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is about the Districts revolting against the Capital. After District 12 was destroyed by the Capital Katniss went to live in District13. There she became the mockingjay of the rebellion to inspire the rebels. District 13 was then bombed by the Capital destroying a small part of it. Then the Districts attacked the Capital. Katniss goes to the Capital to fight with the Districts. After the Capital is defeated Katniss shoots the new president of Panem. Then she goes home to a rebuilt District 12 and lives the rest of her life with Peeta.

2. This book connects to revolution. It has all 8 steps of a revolution. The goals were to be free from the Capital. The preconditions were the Capital's oppressive rule and the Hunger Games. District 13 urging the other Districts to rebel was the rise of the middle class. The development of a critical mass was when all the other Districts joined the fight against the Capital. Things got worse when District 13 got bombed. Katniss shooting the new president is a struggle for power. A strong group emerged when a new president was elected. The new goals were to rebuild District 12.

3. All literature reflects real life. All authors need inspiration to write a story and people only know real life. Since the author had to be inspired by real life the story has to reflect real life. The characters would have to be like a real life person. Then the reader can relate to the characters which would make them enjoy the story more. If the story or the characters did not reflect real life the story would not make sense and nobody would read it. All books have a theme and the theme always connects to real life.

Nicole L
11/3/2013 10:43:27 am

1. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is about this cancer survivor Hazel Grace who has to face the society where everyone looks at her differrently for some thing she can't control. Her mother thinks going to a suport group will help her start being social again and not stay home all day. Hazel struggles every day to stay strong and not hurt her parents who have helped her through the whole battle and everything after it. But they don't understand her, no one does, except one special person, Augustus Waters. Agustus helps Hazel while she helps him. with them both having cancer at one point in their lives and lossing part of them self as a result of the deadly desease they understand eachother more then anyone else every will. Throughout the book Hazel goes on a journey where she leaves she's not alone in the world.
2. The Fault In Our Stars connects to history throught the way society judges innocent people and teaches us to be self conscious because there might be some one judging us. This is shown throught the book in the way that Hazel can't go out in public without feeling different and having to worry that someones watching her and judging her for having cancer. It's also showns by the event at their favorite authours home when he judges them for having cancer and starts yelling at them and doesnt treat them fairly because of the what they had in the passed.
3. If an authour doesn"t use real life events or doesn't relate their story to real life events it won't apeal to the reader as much as one with real life events would. It also wouldn't alound the reader to make personal conections or take anything out of it. Without having an event that relates to some thing in the real world the reader might not be able to understand it or picture what the writer is trying to say/ convay

Mark
11/3/2013 11:15:48 am

1.) In the book, The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan is centered around three main protagonists, Jason, the son of the roman aspect of the Greek god Zeus, Jupiter. Piper, daughter of Aphrodite and Jason's girlfriend and finally their close friend Leo, a son of Hephaestus. One day on a school field trip to the Grand Canyon, Jason wakes up on the ride their without any of his memories and no idea who Piper and Leo really are, And once they arrive at their field trip a wild wind spirit attacks the group but thanks to Jason's bloodline he is able to fight off the spirit and save both himself and Piper when they are thrown of the side of the Grand Canyon by willing the wind to bring them back up. After this their gym teacher Mr. hedge reveals himself to be a satyr, a half goat half human creature who's job is to find demi-gods like our three heroes and bring them to Camp half-blood, a safe-haven and training grounds for the gods' children, safely. there the camp's owner a centaur name Chrion, is in shock of Jason's existence because he supposedly was thought to be dead. Later after both Piper and Leo are claimed by their Olympian parents, They are given quest to find and save the Greek Goddess and Jason's step-mother, Hera, having to overcome literally the Earth itself, Gaia, her children the Giants, and her pawns in a cross-country adventure.
2.) In this series the author Rick Riordan enjoys to merge our world and mythologies, interpreting historical events and giving them a mythological cause, for example another one of his books a Chiron states that WW2 was caused by a fight between a son of Hades, Hitler and the children of Poseidon and Zeus, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. through this Rick Riordan is able to both inform readers about Greek mythology and world history in a way that is interesting readers
3.) the relationship between literature and real life is very clear to see. without life experiences there would be no subject to write about, like the first works of art, the first works of literature were created to record real life events. Also the Author's life effects how he writes, for example a author who has had a much darker more troubled life will write a very different story than someone who has had a privileged life. It will change their word choice, and even the story's outcome or plot.

dylan walker
11/3/2013 11:27:05 am

1) In the series Warriors by Erin Hunter, a cat named Rusty is brought into the wild by the scent of adventure and freedom. A normal house cat turned into a fierce warrior by a few cats that believed in him. At the start a rejected kitty-pet but at the end the leader of them all.
2)This story can connect to the I.R. because Rusty can be compared to a working class citizen. Rusty is treated as less then everyone else, and exploited. In the I.R. the poor people stayed poor and the rich stayed rich. But Rusty changed that because he rose up and eventually became leader of the clan. The I.R. can compare to this because if you were treated less then the others then your offspring would too. Rusty surpassed the fate he had and earned respect from his clan and eventually rose to the top.
3)I feel that if an author did not relate their story to real life then it would not be enjoyable. If the reader has no idea what the author is talking about it will not be enjoyable for them to read.If the reader cannot connect his thoughts to what you are trying to say then they will not be able to understand what is happening in the story.

Victoria
11/3/2013 12:09:01 pm

1. Throughout the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer, the reader sees an average teenage girl, Bella, fallin love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. Always know as mysterious and antisocial by his peers, Bella gets to know the true Edward and getshim to open up , and eventually except who he is.In her last book of the saga, Breaking Dawn, Stephanie shows just how far their love has come, when they get married and have a child named Renesmee and Bella too becomes a vampire. But as they add another member to the Cullen clan the authority figure of vampires, the volturidecide that the Cullen clan is to much of a threat to their power and must be terminated. Knowing of the upcoming attack, the Cullensassemble an army of friends and family to fight back and protect the ones they love from someone who abuses their power. In the end the power shifts when the volturi realize they can't defeat the Cullens and go home without confrontation, but giving up on their purpose.

2.This book has a strong connection to the themes of history in that it shows not only a revolution, but power and authority. The volturi, an organized group of vampires, get the entire vampire race as a whole to obey what they say by combining together vampires who have supernatural powers that would kill anyone who disobeyed with them. This is just like when Hitler used his military power over not only the Jews, but the whole German race. He used the threat of death to disuade people from housing the Jews which he so dearly wanted dead, and many people listened to him because they knew what he was capible of . This also, even more directly relates to a revolution. At first having the goal of protecting their family, the Cullen's goal quickly changed to stopping the volturi from ruining not only their lives but the lives of their friends. Preconditions they faced were being outnumbered, and having to counteract for the extreme supernatual talents their oppenents had. As the Cullens and their allies start to prepare, their situation is worsened when the volturi go after vampires who denied helping the Cullens and learn of the plans that they have, and when members of the reform start to have second doubts.As the volturi come prepared for battle and realize that they would loose, they go back to Italy, and the power shifts from them to the group that fought back, although the volturi still have the title of law enforcers.

3. Is it even possible to have a piece of literature not reflect life? Writen by humans, works of literature, wether fiction, nonfiction or poetry, are all writen by someone who has experienced hardship, found true love, had a desire to do what others had done. By expressing thier emotions through writing an author can recall a part of thier life, symbolize within a fiction piece a greater meaning of humanity, or clearly show the triumphs of the past. Wanting to write this down and share with others is what makes them human.
By sharing thier works of literature, authors show us not only what happens in life, but the truth of real life.

Kelley Almada
11/3/2013 12:42:41 pm

1) Summary- In the book "The Little Prince" by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry a young prince from outerspace lands on a deserted island on earth. Eventually, a man who had been forced to grow up all of his life, crashed upon this island, and met the prince. Throughout the book, the prince enlightens this man with his many tales of all of the planets he observed and the people he met on those planets. Yet a common theme runs through these planets. They all consist of people doing the same jobs, at the same times, monotonously for their whole lives. The prince describes this as an injustice. These people from different planets must constantly perform the same job for their whole lives, with no knowledge of the outside world, and no means or way to escape their current lives. They all complete different tasks, but they all suffer together. The prince does not understand this, becomes frustrated, and therefore returns back home, after acquiring the friend from Earth.
2) Connection- This book can be connected to the Industrial Revolution. This is because the people from each planet who must perform the same task monotonously 24/7 relate to the factory workers in the lower class. The factory workers were forced to do the same job over and over again, basically until their lives were over. The little prince can relate to the middle class, because he was the one who noticed all of these happenings, and he, like some members of the middle class, brought these misfortunes to the attention of the upper class, or the man who crashed onto the deserted island. While during the Industrial period, after the middle class was created, many created different types of artwork and literature to express their observations and experiences. All in all, the 3 social classes of the Industrial Revolution relate directly to the book "The Little Prince" due to how each character was portrayed.
3) Reflection- The relationship between literature and real life is extremely significant. Every work of literature is just another expression of someone's views on life, or a story about life, or a connection to something with life. Literature does not have limits, and it can never be wrong, because it is full of opinions and stories. Yet humans use literature everyday, because it is a such a large concept and aspect of life.

Mackenzie Donahue
11/3/2013 01:05:54 pm

Harry potter and the chamber of secrets is the second book in the Harry potter series by J.K. Rowling , a new character by the name of dobby is introduced into the series, dobby is a house elf And throughout the story we learn of the working conditions house elves have to deal with, such as no pay and no off days, and severe repercussions if they do something wrong.
Hermione (one of the main characters in the series) a muggle born saw this as unfair treatment and a form of slavery during her time at Hogwarts she used her knowledge and cleverness to begin an organisation called S.P.E.W (society of the promotion of elfish welfare) one could connect Hermione's efforts to a number of things in history ( abolishment of slavery for example) but I think what Hermione did was closely related to what many reformists did during and after the industrial revolution one could also connect the conditions a house elf had to live with, with the conditions of workers during the industrial revolution. (little to no pay, long hours, barely any vacations. )

In my personal opinion, literature can be connected to history at any point, you just have to be profound enough to connect it, stories are created with knowledge, creativity, and most importantly memory, which has a lot to do with history, after all what we read in our history books are the facts that someone else had experienced, the life someone else lived memories are our history and we use our history in literature without even realizing it.

Jesse
11/3/2013 02:30:24 pm

1.) In the book The Outsiders by S.E . Hinton 2 gangs have conflict between each other. One gang is a highly respected/rich crew called the Socs, while the other Is looked down on and is poor, they're called the Greasers. While a greaser was roaming the streets alone, he was jumped and he ended up a Soc. This caused huge gang fights to rage on between the 2 gangs, and the police always investigated the Greasers since they were viewed as the "bad guys" while the Socs lived it easy and care free, when they were the ones who picked on and hurt the Greasers

2.) This connects to the separation of classes throughout all of history. The lower classes were always looked down on and no one cared about them. While the higher class men would live easy carefree lives. The lower class would be pushed around and treated poorly.

3.) The connection between literature and real life is strong. It reflect different lessons and events in entertaining stories. Literature describes an event in its own unique way, making you think of what the theme of the story really is. Because works of literature always have a connection to life, or have lessons, or teach you something important.

Kyle A.
11/4/2013 12:47:53 am

In the book, Call of the Wild by Jack London, Buck is taken and made to work on a sled team in Alaska to run a race. After, the sled and owners die and disappear, he is saved by a old man. However, the old man sadly dies, leaving Buck to accept his wild predator side and become one with a wolf pack he meets. During the beginning, he resists against the power and authority of his captors. I connected it to Mahatma Gandhi resisting the power and authority of imperialist Britain. Gandhi lead India to freedom against Britain. Both are revolutionary in their own way of resisting the power dominating their lives. Gandhi helped make India revolt and Buck revolted from his captors.

James S
11/4/2013 06:30:34 am

1.) In the book, A Game Of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin there are several story lines so I will summarize one of them. There is a story line which involves a girl, only 13, not so different from us. But what happened to her is she was born into poverty, and constantly had to flee from place to place. her name was Daenarys Targaryen. She was always on the run, not sure from what, forced out of her house and home. She never knew childhood.

2.)This relates directly to many of the children of the industrial revolution. She never had a childhood and neither did they. Those children were robbed of their innocence, as was Daenarys. They never had a real chance at becoming something more and neither does she. Both of them are maltreated by their family and are required to work in order to survive life itself. This is not how it should be.

3.)The relationship between literature and life is a very close one. The relationship consists of what you read is how you perceive certain things. The lessons you learn in these stories reflect with the lessons you apply in real life. You are what you think.

Isidra
11/4/2013 08:55:49 am

1) the book Born Wicked book 1 of The Cahill With Chronicles by Jessica Spotswood takes place in a time period that was run by the Brotherhood which was a group of the best educated and religious men of the town. The Brotherhood taught that women that believed in or practice witchery and had visions that foretold the future were sinful,wicked, and evil. Growing up in a wealthy family Cate Cahill was always in distress of her and her sisters Maura and Tess's secret of their powers could be found out after her mother died. The brotherhood watched Cate closely when she only had 6 months left before she picked between marriage or the Sisterhood that continued her studies of God. But being the Sisterhood would mean to move to London which is far away from her sisters. Also after finding her mother's dairy that contained a secret of her family. 2) Connection- this book connects to the themes of Religious and Ethical systems and Power and Authority. How this shows the theme of Religious and Ethical systems is that the Brotherhood is like the religion that no one questions, just like when the people of the Middle Ages didn't question the religions such as Christianity. Power and Authority relates to this book by showing how the Brotherhood had control over the people lives just like they had control over Cate's future. It also relates to Power and Authority is it swayed Cate's peers that witchery is the Devil's whispers and is sinful to women, though Cate and her sisters knew the good that the powers they possessed could do. 3) The relationship between literature and life is a very close relationship. Literature expresses life's chaos and glory in a type of art that is enjoyable yet informational. Literature can give u different views and opinions on any topic of life to the emotional state of the human mind and the damage or the enhancement that humans can contribute to the world. Also it shows the physical destruction or he physical help it can cause the world. Literature can help how people understand a event in the world whether it was to help or downgrade the world. Literature really is all about how u justify the theme it's can tell u about or the event it is describing. Also a piece or literature can have a bias that can sway the human mind on a topic for whether it is good or bad.

ERnesto E
11/5/2013 03:31:34 am

1) The book the Hunger Games by Suzan Collins is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen who is taken away from her home in district 12 when she volunteers to go into the Hunger Games so that her sister Prim wouldn’t have too. While on her way to enter the games Katniss has to endure finding out who her fellow tributes are and realizes she will likely die in the arena and will never get a chance to see her love ones ever again. Even after realizing this Katniss still wants to try to win to get back to her sister and Gale but this means that she has to deal with her mentor Haymitch. Throughout the rest of the book Katniss learns to work with Haymitch and listen to his instructions because she realizes that they just might help her survive the arena.
2) This relates to the Industrial Revolution because during the Industrial Revolution unions where created to help workers get higher pay and better working conditions and other things that would help them. You can see this throughout the book the Hunger Games you can see this when Katniss enters the arena and she lays Rue down after she was killed after that people from the other districts started to send her things and helping her like the members of a union helping those who are fighting for there cause.
3) Most literature reflects on things that go on in life because when writing writer use their own personal experience or other peoples experiences so that the readers can relate. Eventually all pieces of literature relate to real life.

JUSTIN BOBOLA
11/7/2013 03:36:09 am

1) In the book "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, Katniss Everdeen lives in Panem and is in district 12. she volunteers to take place of her sister Prim in The Hunger Games . Katniss has to pair up with a boy so they both have to work together to stay alive.when they get taken away from their district they go to the capital which is the most powerful place out of all the districts.she will have to find other tributes from other districts to become a group so they can live longer . when she finds out that the boy she is paired up with she doesn't know how to react because the boy that got chosen she likes.When the boy named Peeta start to train they do things they don't know how to do so they can find ways to survive. Haymitch her instructor will have to get along with them because every other district 12 tributes he had all died. Haymitch is a alcoholic so Katniss and Peeta have to try to get him to stop drinking heavily and start to act like a instructor.
2) this connect to the industrial revolution because dureing that time period unions were created and they were to get higher payed and more respect. When katniss was in the arena she killed a guy who threw an arrow through a little girls chest. That little girls name was Rue and Katniss was starting to care for her . when Katniss put flowers over Rue's body she got high respect and more parachutes of goods were getting sent to her in the game.Unions got the same when they fought for support and higher respect by fighting for a cause.
3)most literature is connected to real life because in The Hunger Games Katniss fought for the ones she loves so she wouldnt die. Literature was a connection with Katniss because in real life fighting for your life can happen.So when Katniss killed the last tribute to save her partner she was fighting to save the person she started to love.

Kristopher Murray
11/12/2013 03:26:19 am

In "Flags of our Fathers" by: James Bradley, John Bradley is one of the soldiers who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. He keeps his memories from war to himself but James tries to figure out how why his dad is so quiet about his experiences. This relates to history because its an actual event in history. I thought this book was a very good book.

Bobby Gleason
11/12/2013 03:42:19 am

Mr. Dursley, a fat old man, notices strange things on his way to work one day. That night, Albus Dumbledore, the head of Hogwarts, meets Professor McGonagall and Hagrid who are teachers at Hogwarts outside the Dursleys house. Dumbledore tells McGonagall that a man named Voldemort killed a Mr. and Mrs. Potter and tried to kill their baby son, Harry. Dumbledore leaves Harry with a note in a basket in front of the Dursleys house.


Ten years later,Dudley, the Dursleys son, who torments and bullies Harry lives a life of luxary while Harry is forced to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. At the zoo on Dudley’s birthday, the glass in front of a boa constrictor disappears, and Dudley falls in Harry gets locked in the cupboard for his actions.

Eventually Harry starts getting leters in the mail from a school called hogwarts. His family goes to a secluded island shack the day before Harry’s eleventh birthday. At midnight, Hagrid comes to the shack, he gives Harry a letter to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that the Dursleys have tried to hide magic from harry for years.

The next day, Hagrid takes Harry to London to shop for school supplies. A month later, Harry goes to the train station and catches his train to Hogwarts on track nine and three quarters. On the train, Harry meets Ron and Hermione. At school, the first-years take turns putting on the “Sorting Hat” to find out in which house they will join. Harry joins Griffendor with ron and Hermione

Draco Malfoy, a boy from Slytherin, takes Neville’s prized toy and flies off with it to the top of a tree. Harry flies after him to get it back. Harry finally gets it after chasing malfoy around Professor McGonagall witnesses this incident. Instead of punishing Harry, she recommends that he play Quidditch, a common game thats like soccer played on broomsticks. Later that day, Malfoy challenges Harry to a wizard’s duel at midnight. Malfoy doesn’t show up, and Harry almost gets in trouble. While trying to hide, he accidentally discovers a fierce three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor in the forbidden third-floor corridor.



On Halloween, a troll is found in the building. The students are all escorted back to their dormitories, but Harry and Ron sneak off to find Hermione, who is alone in the bathroom. Together, they defeat the troll. Hermione lies to protect Harry and Ron from being punished. During Harry’s first Quidditch match, his broom jerks out of control. Hermione notices Snape staring at Harry and muttering a curse. She thinks that he is jinxing Harry’s broom, and she sets Snape’s robe on fire. Harry makes a spectacular play to win the Quidditch match.

For Christmas, Harry gets his father’s invisibility cloak, and he explores the school, invisable, late at night. He discovers a Mirror, which displays the deepest desire of whoever looks in it. Harry looks in it and sees his parents alive. After Christmas, Harry, Ron, and Hermione begin to discover a connection between a break-in at Gringotts and the three-headed guard dog. They learn that the dog is guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone, which is capable of providing eternal life and unlimited wealth to its owner and belongs to Nicolas Flamel, Dumbledore’s old partner.

Harry learns voldemort is looking for the stone and decides that he must find it before Voldemort does. The gang sneaks off that night to the forbidden third-floor corridor. They get past the guard dog and perform many tasks as they get closer and closer to the stone. Harry ultimately finds himself face to face with Quirrell, who announces that Harry must die. Knowing that Harry desires to find the stone, Quirrell puts Harry in front of the Mirror of Erised and makes him say what he sees. Harry sees himself with the stone in his pocket, and at that same moment he actually feels it in his pocket. But he tells Quirrell that he sees something else. A voice tells Quirrell that the boy is lying and requests to speak to Harry face to face. Quirrell removes his turban and reveals Voldemort’s face on the back of his head. Voldemort, who is inhabiting Quirrell’s body, instructs Quirrell to kill Harry, but Quirrell is burned by contact with Harry.Harry wins but passes out. Defeating Voldemort yet again


I beleive this connects to history because it relates to a revolution in the form of the middle class (Harry) rising up against a dictator or leader (Voldemort) and changing the way their socioty (Hogwarts) changes.

I really liked this book since i read it when i was really young and still read it today

Cameron Dumont
11/14/2013 03:16:55 am

White Fang by Jack London is about a dog/wolf ( mom is a dog and dad was a wolf) that is born in a cave with his mother and his name is White Fang and as he grows he sees how his mother hunts for food and slowly, he learns how to hunt on his own. But then one day a group of natives come and set up camp for about a month or so and after a week of being near White Fang and his mother they finally realize that his mother was a dog that once lived with them years ago. So, when they leave, they take her with them and by now White Fang has grown a tremendous amount in size and length. Then, he realizes that they r leaving and after a day of them being gone, White fang decides to follow the path down the river and go after the natives to live with them. The connection to history is just like us way back then. White Fang has to grow and learn how to live on his own just like we did with no shelter unless he finds it and has 2 hunt for food so he doesn't starve.

Literature and real life are alike because literature is the body of written works of a language, period, or culture and life is all about language and what period we are in and what culture we are/follow.

Henry Lurssen
11/15/2013 03:25:43 am

The book im writing about is The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The book talk about a man called Ebenezer Scrooge and he goes on some kind of journey with 3 different ghost. The ghosts of Christmas past, present and future and what they basically do is show him events from his past, whats happening now and what will happen if he doesn't change.
The way on how this has something to do with history is that the story takes place.during the industrial revolution. The reason why scrooge needed to change was because everything was about money to him and it basically ruined his life. just like in the industrial revolution where everything was about money.
I wish something like this happened in real life so people could see how their actions affect the people around them. like their parents, friends or their kids. some people just don't pay attention to that and that's what build who their kids are.

Damon Em
3/5/2014 05:45:31 am

I like the book you chose because the Christmas carol did take place in the IR

jack maloney
11/17/2013 10:25:19 am

1. In the book, 'A Salty Peice Of Land,' by famous singer/author Jimmy buffet, Jimmy is working for a Miss Cleopatra Highbourn to restore and old light house which he loves doing. He has met numerous new people that he has come to like and enjoys there company, life is good. When a rich eccentric Thelma Barson comes to town she trys to buy up all of the land that he is fixing up and turn it into a pootle farm which may sound all well and good but to the people that live there are thoroughly aggravated, Jimmy especially. Jimmy and other residents that live there think she is trying to ruin it but in her eyes she is just trying to help. Through hate and anger Jimmy storms to her house to tell her what's on his mind and set her straight, but when he gets there he looses his head and throws one of her tanning beds through a window. Jimmy knows hes in trouble now so he and Cleopatra, who is 101 by the way, high tail it out of there on a boat in search of a place that he can live his life away from the troubles of society and he finds one. A small fishing town where he starts his own buisness as a fishing guide and finds a care free life of relaxation and doing what he loves fishing and repairing old light houses.Thelma Barson, after a couple of years of looking, finally found Jimmy and she wanted him arrested and thrown in jail but there was a war you could say but Jimmy won that war he was free.

2. This relates to when the pilgrims came over to the new world in 1620. When the pilgrims didn't like what was going on with the church in England they left on a journey on a boat called the Mayflower in search of a new place that they could live in piece the way that they wanted. Eventually when they wanted complete separation from England, England didn't want that and that lead to a series of battles that eventually lead to the seperation and freedom of New England from England. This relates to the book a salty piece of land becouse Jimmy is not happy with what what Thelma was doing with his home town so he left to find a place where he could live completely free to live how he wanted, and that's what happend with the pilgrims.

3.In the book when Jimmy doesn't like whats going on, he decides he needs to get away from it and do what he feels is right leave. In real life when things anger us we need to find what is right and do it. Sometimes when things anger us we need to just get up and leave for the benefit of ourselves... that is what Jimmy did and that is what some people do in real life.

Raven
11/18/2013 03:29:15 am

1. In the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Harry has to go on a journey to destroy these horcruxes and eventually kill Lord Voldemort. Through the book Harry has to do all these crazy things to finally defeat Voldomort. Harry is plagued by rumors of Dumbledores dark past and Ron abandoned him and Hermione and the two were devastated. Some time later Ron came back just in time to save Harry and the two destroyed a horcrux with the sword of Gryffindor. Harry figures out to destroy Voldemort he has to kill himself because he is one of the horcruxes but with the deathly hallows one can master death and they are the cloak stone and wand. Harry lives and Voldemort dies but through the story there is a group of wizards called Death Eaters and they think only pure blooded wizards should live.
2. This book connects to WW2 when Nazi Germany put Jewish people in concentration camps and committed mass genocide on the Jewish population. Death Eaters are just like Adolf Hitlers Nazi soldiers and the half wizard half people are like the Jewish population Voldemort is like Adolf Hitler and Harry and his group of people and the Hogwarts school are like the USA and allied forces working to defeat Germany.
3. The difference between literature and real life is that in books anything is possible and everything for the most part ends up happily ever after where as in real life it usually doesn't.

Doug Schulz
3/6/2014 03:25:13 am

wow raven very good description of the book. i disagree about things not ending well in real life like things can end well in many situations

Damon Em
3/5/2014 05:43:13 am

1. In the book In The Land Of the Red Prince by Sien Sam he write about his life going through the Khmer Rouge and what he went through to have to survive with his family. Along with what he had witness and experience.

2. This is similar to hitler and what he did because they would split them up into different camps and they would kill people in very cruel ways just like they would to to the Khmers. They Would also indoctrinate many kids.

3. The difference between literature and real life is that in real life you can't change the past you can only move forward and in literature you can do what ever you want like you control the world

Doug Schulz
3/6/2014 03:40:00 am

I agree yes that is a lot like what happened with Hitler in the Holocaust but I disagree with what you said about literature because you don't always control everything in literature such as when people tell their life stories like you can't change the past if it actually happened. There are many different types of literature though so I understand

Doug Schulz
3/6/2014 03:36:58 am

1.The book "Night" by Elie Wiesel is an autobiography about Elie and how him and his family were taken away by nazi soldiers and brought to concentration camps such as Birkenau and Auschwitz. Throughout the story Elie learns how to survive and deal with the constant pain and suffering while he also drifts away from himself and loses faith in god.

2. Night relates to history in many ways. An example of this is that it is told in the eyes of a Jewish boy during the Holocaust. The Holocaust is an extremely important piece of history and this book really portrays it.

3. Literature can be very different from real life. Many things can happen in literature that couldn't happen in real life. And literature can be a lot like real life as well. Literature can tell life experiences which can't be fiction because they are "life experiences".


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