The Trial Blog #2

3/9/2016

Prompts: 1. If you could talk to the author, what questions would you ask? Why?, 2. List the personality characteristics of the main character (feelings, interests, behaviors, etc.) 3. Write the biography for one character.

The question I would ask to Jen Bryant would be, why she wrote the book similar to stanzas in a poem. This is something I've been wondering throughout reading the book and I am not sure what it is trying to symbolize or if it even is trying to symbolize anything at all. Does the form of writing help get straight to the major parts or points? The book doesn't go by chapter's because each different event has a title, so my best guess she had an interest in poetry in one point of her life. That is why I need it straight from her because something like that in a book is really unique, and you would want the purpose for someone doing that.

The main character, Jen is very energetic about what she does. When she gets the news that something major happened she got right on it. She prepared for it her whole life and stuck news headlines on her walls aspiring for one to be her's one day. She was finally at the trial she wrote down every single detail she could about what was happening. Even if it was small, meticulous thing she would jot it down just in case or maybe to improve her entry.

Jen Bryant at a young age was committed to be a journalist. Once she got to any magazine with a major headline she would add that to her collection, hoping one day she would get a headline of her own. A when a major trial for a kidnapping came to her town it was her chance to start as a journalist. She wrote down as many notes as she could no matter who it came from. Every single detail was important to her, knowing this could be a entry into her town's newspaper. As the trial went on she felt as if her entry was getting better and better. She would then, become a writer as she grew up.

The Trial: Letter Blog

3/6/2016

Prompt: Pretend you are the friend of one of the characters. Write him or her a letter.

Hey Jen, how is the journalism going? Since, this is usually a really drab and boring town, I really want to know how it is going. Any juicy news or new things about a possible suspect in the kidnapping? Charles Lindbergh really does not deserve what happened. Who would take his child away anyway. I hope you find at least something. You never know this might launch your future career as a journalist. This is a story that is really important to the city and our country, so you can really capitalize with this opportunity. 

You need to jot down as many things as you can, because you never know if something is important or not, or doze off somehow. I don't even need to be around you and I can already tell how much you are excited you are about this, considering all of those headlines plastered all over your room. I feel like when this is all over you are going to save an entire wall for this headline, because it involves you. How amazing is it to have that running around in head over and over again?

Hopefully this will prepare and lead you into the world of journalism. Because if it doesn't I don't know what will. You are reporting on something that can break or relief an American hero! That is unbelievable, just saying. If anything happens in the future, say aliens attack I'll definitely know that you will be all over that when or if it does happen!

                                                                                                                                      

Life is Beautiful Blog

3/2/2016

One connection between Life is Beautiful and Night is the link between the father and son. The father and son bond in both the movie and the book play a really important role in the story. Guido protected his son by telling it was all a game and that all worked even after he unfortunately died, and then resulted with Joshua reuniting with his mother Dora. In Night, Elie clinged to his father as if he was a safety rope. Elie's father is a major reason he kept going. The fathers played a major role and paid a major sacrifice to keep their family safe. 

I've noticed a lot of things different between the book and the movie. First off, the families are completely different when it came to the outcomes. In Life is Beautiful Joshua was able to reunite with his mother Dora. Eliezer's family died, and after his father passed he had really no one able to turn to. The second is the role of the father. Guido in Life is Beautiful did all he could to protect his son from the dangers of the Holocaust. Night on the other hand, Eliezer did whatever he could to protect his father from the dangers of the Holocaust.

I felt the mood was entirely different between Life is Beautiful and Night. Throughout the whole first half of Life is Beautiful is positive because he met the person he loved, and is overall living a good life until the Nazis take over. When they get to the camp the mood is close to half as dark as Night because of Guido convincing Joshua that it is all a game. Joshua remains positive, throughout the whole thing because of Guido, making it not as dark as someone would expect it to be. When it comes to the mood, Night has a melancholy, darker mood and Life is Beautiful is has half of that darkness, give or take.

In Life is Beautiful there is really good evidence that life is beautiful. A great example of this would be when they were in the camp, Guido sneaked into where the speaker was and let Dora know that he was still thinking about her. That shows, that even when Guido has a great risk of getting caught and punished for that he still does it because she was one of the loved ones that was still with them. That was all he had for the remainder of his life. Another that comes to mind is when Dora got together with Guido. The main reason this shows that life is beautiful is that a person that working with Nazi Germany (possibly forced to) got married to Guido a Italian Jew, which not only shows that life is beautiful but also meant they had a lot of courage especially considering the time and place they were in. This is a great example of the "impossible" becoming something incredibly possible, which is why it makes life a beautiful thing.