The Help

The book  The Help by Kathryn Stockett takes place in the early 1960’s in Jacksonville Mississippi in the perspective of two black maids, Minny Jackson and Aibileen Clark as well as a young white woman, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. The maids work with Skeeter to develop a book depicting the lives of maids in Jacksonville. By doing this, they are risking both their jobs and the saftey of them and their families. Throughout the book, the setting is extremely important to the story.

  One example of how the setting contributes to the story is that it can affect the overall plot of the story. For example, the author states, “ So Jacksonville’s just one white neighborhood after the next and more springing up down the road. But the colored part a town, we one big anthill, surrounded by state land that ain’t for sale. As our numbers get bigger, we can't spread out. Our part a town just gets thicker.” This quote shows how because the book takes place in the heart of the south, there is clearly more racism there, than there would be in other places. This helps show how there was a huge separation between whites and blacks in Jacksonville Mississippi at the time.

            Another example of how the setting affects the story is how the setting changes the mood of the scene. For example the author states, “ For the next two weeks, the three of us arrange ourselves in the same seats in Aibileen’s small warm living room.” This quote shows how the setting of the scene can help to display the tone. In this quote, Aibileen’s familiar living room helps the characters slowly connect to each other.

            One more example of how the setting can have a large impact on the story is how it can help display emotions. For example the author states,“ ‘Dad,’ Stuart says through gritted teeth, banging his fork against his plate” This quote shows how the setting of the scene can affect the emotions that are conveyed at the time. In this quote, the Phelans are having dinner with the Whitworths and it isn't going as planned.

            Overall, I love this book because it uses setting to set the tone of the book. Setting has an extremely large effect on mood, emotion, and the overall plot of the story in this book.  I think the author did a great job incorporating setting both subtly and noticeably into the book. I think that by doing this, the author made the story more relatable and interesting.

Should young adult books have age ratings? Critical Analysis

In the article “Should young adult books have age ratings?” by Husna Haq wants readers to know how young adult books have become much darker, more gruesome and can contain questionable content in the past few years but also how these books are interesting to teens and how the content is not wildly horrifying to them and how the debate on age ratings for young adult books has raised lots of awareness. One example the author gives is that recently some young adult bestsellers contain twice the rate of cursing as video games, which gives the impression of how young adult books are completely inappropriate for teens. The author also discusses how the content in young adult books is nothing these kids haven’t heard before which shows how it probably isn’t as harsh as people make it out to be.

            The author wants readers to feel shocked and surprised by what is being said about young adult books, how much they have changed over the past few years and how teens seem to react to these books. One way the author does this is by adding direct quotes from previous dark young adult authors. Having the opinion from someone who has had a lot of experience on the subject makes the reader even more convinced. The author also includes a lot of opinionated statements, which add to the level of certainty towards these books.

            After reading this article I think that young adult books should not have age ratings because when a teen reads these books, it’s nothing they haven’t heard before whether it was on the radio or the TV. I think that the content in these books can be helpful and empowering to teens as well as comforting.

Looking for Alaska

The book Looking For Alaska by John Green takes place in Alabama at Culver Creek boarding High School. When new student, Miles Halter comes to the school as a junior, he instantly makes lots of friends who are compassionate and kind but aren’t necessarily a good influence on him. He is immediately absorbed in a great deal of unruly, and harmful activities such as smoking and drinking. Near the end of the year, Miles and his friends are forced to deal with the sudden death of their close friend Alaska Young who was killed in a so called “suicidal” car crash.  Throughout the story, symbolism is used to express the characters emotions and feelings.

One example of symbolism in the story is the cigarettes. I think the cigarettes are used to symbolize death and self-destruction. For example, the author states,  “Why do you smoke so damn fast? I asked…. She smiled with all the delight of a kid on Christmas morning and said, y’all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.” This shows how within everyone there is a speck of self-loathing.

Another example of symbolism in the story is the smoking hole. Throughout the story, the smoking hole is used to symbolize friendship and independence. For example, the author states,“ cooled by the creek and the shade of the bridge, I felt unhot for the first time in weeks. The Colonel dispensed the cigarettes. Takumi passes; the rest of us lit up.” This shows how the smoking hole is a safe place where the characters can talk and connect to each other.

Overall, I loved this book because it used symbolism to connect the characters. Friendship is huge part of the book because it allows the story to unfold and it lets the characters express their emotions on the present events and situations. I think the author did a great job displaying feelings and emotions from the characters. I think that doing this really helped the readers connect to the characters and the situations presented in the book.

Should college admission officers and employers be able to view applicants social networks?

 The article, Guess Who’s Looking at Your Facebook Page  by Alessandra Potenza discusses whether or not college admission officers and employers should be able to monitor applicants’ social networks. The article talks about how one irresponsible post or comment can lead to permanent consequences. 

Many people think that College admission officers and employers should be able to monitor applicants’ social networks because what a person posts, can say a lot about them. One example of this is “if something in the application raised a red flag, a Google search is likely to follow.” This shows how sometimes applicants are shady and viewing a social network can be necessary. One more example is, “At Pitzer College in Claremont California, an applicant was denied admission because of offensive comments he had posted on Facebook about one of his teachers.” This shows how what a person posts on their social networks can say a lot about their personality and their behavior.

Though many people believe monitoring social networks such as Facebook is necessary, many people still feel like that is not needed. This is because they feel like it’s an invasion of their privacy. However many people don’t realize the possible consequences for their actions. One example of this is, “’I knew that they could have yelled at me for that. ‘Kelly, 22, told a local TV station.’ “But I didn’t think they could fire me for posting that.’” This shows how some people are completely oblivious of what is not appropriate to post.

There is lots of controversy on the subject of being able to view the social networks of applicants. I personally believe that it is necessary to have college admission officers and employers be able to access and monitor the social networks of their applicants because it shows their personality. I think that people need to be more responsible with what they post and comment because it could send the wrong message about them and cause major consequences.

Faithful Elephants

The story Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchya takes place in Tokyo Japan during world war II at the Ueno zoo. Because of the war, any potentially harmful animals had to be killed by instructions of the military, incase of explosions that could set the animals free into the city. Among the many animals doomed to die, there were three elephants, Tonky, Wanly and John who had a strong bond with the trainers but never the less had to die. Throughout the story, symbolism is used to express emotion and set the tone of the story.

One example of symbolism is that in the story, the cherry blossoms are used to symbolize peace, hope and love. For example the author states, “He was still patting the tombstone tenderly as the cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes.” This shows the love and the respect that people felt towards these elephants even long after their deaths. It also confirms the idea that the elephants are finally at peace.

Another example of symbolism is that in the story, the elephants are used to symbolize both the hardships and the victims of war. For example the author states, “Still clinging to the elephants, the zoo keepers raised their fists to the sky and implored, ‘stop the war! Stop the war! Stop all wars!’” This shows how the elephants made people think about all the horrible sacrifices that were made for the war. It also shows how the death of these elephants reminded people of the many innocent deaths caused by the war.

Overall I enjoyed the story because it used symbolism to highlight emotion. Emotion played a big role in the story because it displays the characters attitudes to the situations presented. I also thought the author did a good job setting the tone of the story to fit the time period and the events were taking place at the time. I think that the symbolism greatly contributes to the tone of the story because it allows the emotions of the characters to emerge.