"Mockingjay" THE END

I just finished Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins! You can congratulate me on actually finishing the book! Overall this book had a ton of syntax and diction, which is good because that is what we are learning about in English. It can get a little confusing at times because of the very complicated plot and the sometimes hard to understand sentences. But if you re-read the confusing parts, It helps a lot! I love how Suzanne really brings her characters to life and you get so connected to them and then boom their dead. I'm not going to spoil who dies but for some people it can be a little emotional just because of how connected to the characters we have gotten. If you loved the first two books then you should definetely read this book. Collins overall style for this book was a little more jumbled though, that's why it can get a little confusing. Overall I give it a 4 star rating. The end really gets you going! I absolutely love how Collins added an epilouge so we can be relaxed about what happens to the charcaters who are still alive.

On a personal note, finishing the book actually boosted my love for reading. Although I still most likely will not enjoy being forced to read the books we are required too for class. Sorry Mrs. Noble. With me being able to pick books to read, I feel like I actually want to read. I forgot how creative and interesting authors can make books. I just thought that all books were terrible. But now I can actually read at night instead of watching tv. Thanks Suzanne Collins for getting me back into books!

Syntax in "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

Aside from the comment on my last Mockingjay post telling me to stop reading while I can, I'm going to continue reading because this is one of the few books that I have actually held on too and haven't given up on. Yes, this book is pretty fast moving and can get confusing but by going back and reading a passage again...I easily get past the confusion. Mockingjay is filled with syntax. An example of punctuation that Suzanne Collins uses is a dash at the end of a sentence; this indicates a pause or someone being interrupted. "People of District Two, this is Katniss Everdeen speaking to you from the steps of your Justice Building, where-" (Collins 213). Collins also uses ellipsis as punctuation to symbolize a pause between reading. "That's why I killed Cato... and he killed Thresh...and he killed Clove... and she tried to kill me." (Collins 215) An example of polysyndeton is "A flame blooms inside the station- one of the trains must actually be on fire- and a thick, black smoke billows against the windows." (Collins 214) The use of the polysyndeton is to emphasize one of the trains. There are also examples of rhetorical questions. "Mind? How can I mind when she was almost tortured to death by Snow after the Quarter Quell?" (Collins 219) These are rhetorical questions because there is no answer. There are multiple of these throughout the chapters. The diction in Mockingjay is very informal and that is shown through many telegraphic and short sentences such as 'No kidding, brainless." (Collins 219) Overall Mockingjay is a little predictable, but still has an intense factor which I enjoy.

Blogging Assessment #1

The post that best shows my voice as a writer is my KristaRamsey column post. Although I do show a lot of my voice in my Mockingjay posts, by stating my opinion on certain characters and plots in the book, I really enjoyed writing and show casing my voice in the post on the column that I read. This post shows my voice just by the column that I chose to write about. I wrote about a column that talks about raising your kids up to embrace the world. So in my post I related it to myself by saying, “this really relates to me because I’m in the stage of preparing to embrace the world after high school.” In my post I said “The most impactful line in the column I believe is ‘it’s the most humbling lesson of parenting: We may be in charge of the prologue, but only they get to write the story of their lives.’" This shows that I gave my opinion on what I believe is the most impactful line in the column that I read. “Some questions I would ask Ramsey are, how do you figure out topics to write about? How do you balance opinions with facts in your writing? To become a great writer, what education/ classes should I take?” This is how I ended my post, and I think that is shows my voice because it’s not ‘factual’ information coming from somewhere; it’s my own voice reaching out to Krista Ramsey.

My post was more formal diction because I did not feel that such an inspirational and intriguing column should be matched with slang and informal word choice. I used words such as ‘impactful’ ‘prologue’ and ‘humbling’. I think the way I incorporated these words into my post make the diction more formal. I also incorporated the words ‘well developed statement’ into my post which is more elevated and excludes slang of any kind. The sentence length in my post is medium (approximately 18 words in length). I did not use short of telegraphic lines because I believe that those length sentences are more for informal diction posts. But I also think that using long sentences (30 or more words in length) is way too long and the reader would get very bored. So I used sentences such as “This line is very important to the reader because it finishes off the column, the ending line is supposed to be important. But it also sums up the whole column in one well developed statement that really sticks in your head.”  This sentence effectively states what I want, but I did not say it in a 30 word boring sentence. Instead of saying one long and involved sentence, I split it up into two sentences.

"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

I am about half way through the book Mockingjay and I can finally say I am obsessed. I'm going to be completely honest...I have never really enjoyed reading. I think it's because I just have not found the right book. Well, I can gladly say that I found a great book and I'm really enjoying it. In the past few chapters there have been a few very important lines. At the end of chapter 12 it says, "My lips are just forming his name when his fingers lock around my throat." (Collins 177) This is Katniss talking and if you haven't read the book, then you would be very very surprised as to who the one choking her is. Now, I am not going to say who it is so there are no spoilers, but this line is very important because it changes peoples perspective on the character who is choking Katniss. It definitely changed mine, and the line also pushes the plot along. The next most important line ends chapter 14. "This is one of his death traps." (Collins 203) This is an important line because it basically is starting the next war era of the book. And this new era is what is pushing the plot along. The line is talking about Gales plan against the capitol that has many lives at risk. Katniss calls it inhumane. You will have to read the book to find out the plan, but in my opinion, it is indeed very inhumane. That's unfortunately all I have for you today. I hope your enjoying these posts and I also hope I'm getting you really interested to read Mockingjay.

"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

For this blog post, I'm going to shortly answer a few prompts. I have not gotten farther enough in my book from the last week to be able to do the same type of post as last time. So, what real life issues are reflected in the text? Well, there is war and revolution. Both which are real life issues. Although our real life wars may not be the same as in the text, it is reflected in the book, but a little over exaggerated. What does the work tell us about how people behave? It shows that if if people are not happy and dont get what they want, they revolt against something for a change. In the book the districts are not happy, so they revolt.  How has a character changed since they were first introduced? In the first book The Hunger Games, Katniss was a nobody. She lived quietly in district 12 and did her duty. But now in Mockinjay, Katniss is a leader, and not to mention she got out of not one, but two hunger games alive. Her personality has gone from cowardly and afraid to fierce and confident. I would really like to have a conversation with Katniss and ask her how she got over her fear and was able to stay as strong as she was throughout this entire journey.

Krista Ramsey Column Post

The column that I chose to read by Krista Ramsey is Krista: Raising kids to embrace the world, then they do. This column is about parents being the first part of their childs life and getting them ready for the real world, but then they grow up and are out the door so quickly. The most impactful line in the column i believe is "It's the most humbling lesson of parenting: We may be in charge of the prologue, but only they get to write the story of their lives." This line is very important to the reader because it finishes off the column, the ending line is supposed to be important. But it also sums up the whole column in one well developed statement that really sticks in your head. The word choice also gives an impact. Using 'prologue' is much better than saying for example 'the beginning'. Also,"only they get to write the story of their lives" is sarcasm because they are not legitimately going to write out their lives, but the word choice does give a better impact than saying "They plan the rest of their lives." Other than that line, Ramsey also uses many rhetorical questions at the end of the column. For example: "What did we think would really happen when we told our children to go tackle the world?"  This is a rhetorical question because there is no answer, you just think about it. Ramsey's writing style is very opinionated because her columns all focus on a particular subject/ issue and she uses opinions but also facts to give her message. Some questions I would ask Ramsey are, how do you figure out topics to write about? How do you balance opinions with facts in your writing? To become a great writer, what education/ classes should I take? Overall I think that Ramsey's columns are a joy to read and cant wait to read more!

"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

I am still just starting the book Mockingjay, but I have gotten far enough to analyze it better. There are multiple lines in the chapters that I read that contribute to the developing plot. The most important lines seem to end each chapter. For instance, chapter 2 ends with the line “‘I’m going to be the Mockingjay.’" (Collins 31) This is obviously an important line because it marks the point where Katniss decides to be the Mockingjay, or leader, of the revolution against the capitol. Without this line, there would be no book. "That's my chance. I dart around the distracted guard, push open the door marked 3908, and find them. Half-naked, bruised, and shackled to the wall. My prep team."(Collins 46) This line ends chapter 3 and it contributes to the plot because district 13 captured and tortured Katniss's prep team for the hunger games. It makes us think deeper about this mysterious district 13 that somehow broke away from the rest of the districts. Another super important line ends chapter 4. "In other words, I step out of line and we're all dead." (Collins 58) This line is saying that if Katniss stops being the Mockingjay, the her family and all the ones she cares about will die. That seems pretty important to me.

I decided to create symbols for each of the characters. For Gale, I chose a deer, this fits him because he is a hunter in the first book and now that everyone is in district 13, Gale still goes out to hunt even though they are supposed to stay inside. For Katniss's mother and her sister Prim, I chose a light bulb. Prim and Katniss's mother work at district 13 in a little hospital they made to take care of all the injured from district 12. They are the light of district 13, just like a light bulb. Katniss is obviously the Mockingjay. She is the leader of the revolution hence the name Mockingjay as the title and the picture of a Mockingjay on the cover of the book. Although the Mockingjay bird does not exist in real life, it is still on Katniss's pin and to people everywhere, it is the symbol of revolution and rebellion.

 

"MOCKINGJAY" by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay is the third book in the Hunger Games series. It begins the start of the revolution to take over the capital. The setting starts off with Katniss in district 12, her old district. She explains how her district is burnt to the ground, destroyed by fire and bombs. "Almost nothing remains of district 12. A month ago, the Capitol's firebombs obliterated the poor coal miners' houses in the seam, the shops in the town, even the Justice Building." (Collins 3) All of her people have been moved to district 13, where they sleep in tiny rooms underground. I would never be able to do that because I would freak out.

Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962 in Hartford, Connecticut. She is the daughter of a U.S. Air Force Officer, and graduated from Indiana University in 1985. She worked on several television shows for Nickelodeon, including Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear, and Oswald. Strangely, I have heard of none of those television shows. In September of 2008, Collins released The Hunger Games, the first book in the trilogy. Catching Fire was released September 2009, and is my personal favorite. Lastly, Mockingjay was released in August of 2010. Suzanne Collins now lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.

I chose Mockingjay to read because I read the first two books in the series but did not read this one because everyone said it is very confusing. Now, after watching the movie for  Catching Fire I am very stoked to start reading! I'm ready for some major plot twists and will blog about them as I read them!

Characterization in "Fahrenheit 451"

Montag and Clarisse

I chose to characterize Clarisse in part one of Fahrenheit 451. I believe that Clarisse looks like a skinny seventeen year old girl, with blonde hair, blue eyes, about 5' 6", pale, and looks very innocent. Her personality is crazy, insane, but honest. I think her role in the story is to keep things in perspective for the main character Montag. Clarisse says one thing to Montag in part one of the story that I feel is most important so far. "Are you happy" (Bradbury 10) This is the most important question asked my Clarisse because it starts the thinking process by Montag. He starts asking himself...is he really happy? This started to make Montag think about the "old world" And he questions the society that he lives in. The most important quote said about her I believe is "The girl? She was a time bomb. The family had been feeding her subconscious. I'm sure, from what I saw from her school record she didn't want to know how a thing was done, but why. That cane embarrassing. You ask why to a lot of things and you wind up very unhappy indeed, if you keep up at it. The poor girl is better off dead." (Bradbury 60) This is the most important quote said about Clarisse because it shows that she is not the same as everyone else and has a different mind set toward the world, and I feel that this will be a huge part of the story.

Now you ask yourself, what makes Clarisse different from many people in her society? I believe that Clarisse is different because she wants to know why things are the way they are. She is very curious about everything. For example; she thinks that firemen used to put out fires. Also she talks about how billboards used to be 20 feet long instead of 200 feet long. These are things that most other people in her society don't think about. Now that Clarisse has met Montag, what is Clarisse's overall attitude towards firemen? Overall, I think she thought that firemen were scary from what people say. But she meets Montag and age isn't afraid of him at all. It says this on page 7. "So many people are. Afraid of firemen, I mean, But you're just a man after all." Fahrenheit 451 so far is a very engaging book, and I can't wait to read more of it!