"Hold On" (This I Believe Speech)

5/23/16

"Hold On"

Mentor Sentence: "I believe in the power of holding on."

Belief: Formed

I believe in the power of holding on to family. Throughout all the hardships, all the losses, and all the small accidents your family and you make, you have to stick together. It may be very hard, but it should be known that at the end they may be all you have left. A lot of things will try to come between you and the people that you love. It is important to keep them close psychically and mentally. 

The one thing that tested us was having a dysfunctional family around our immediate family. How it was triggered was because five months ago, give or take, one of our family members had a issue with their immediate family and that made many people mad at that person in many different ways. This has been going on for a while and that puts a lot of pressure on us because we are one of the few parts of our family that is still stable. That means when need to stay close together and hold on to each no matter what happens to us or the family around us. 

The realization I came to is that family is determined to stay together. That has changed the way I am going to be with my family, which means less arguing, more love and positivity towards them, and mature faster so I can be a more understanding person. This will affect the future because I will affect my family greatly and want it to be in a positive way so my family to have a positive future.

I believe in the power of holding on to family. You have to hold on to them. Even if you think they are not important, they are in the long run when you really need them. After all you really never know what they would go through for you.

End Of The Year Reflection

5/17/16

End of The Year Reflection Blog

1- What are the three most important things you learned this year?

The first most important thing I learned was the TIQA format. This extremely helped me with my writing because before I knew what this format was my paragraphs would usually just be all over the place. The second most important thing I learned this year was the holocaust research. This is because it was really interesting to learn about what they went and how they survived, my favorite part of it was learning about the Jewish partisans and how they resisted. The third most important thing that I learned this year was about Malala and how she was able to stand up for many girls and fight for young girls' education.

2- What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

I think reading Tuesdays With Morrie would be something I would remember for the rest of my life. The aphorisms for the most part is the reason why I will remember this for the rest of my life, This is because they teach very good life lessons to help guide people in the future. This will hopefully persuade people to live in better ways and maybe improve the world around them.

3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

I think the nicest thing someone in our class did for me was fix something on my iPad. What the problem was basically is that every few seconds or so "sign in to iCloud" would pop up. This extremely annoying because before it was fixed I had to with it for an entire day, which also meant that it would heavily interfere with doing my work. In first block of the next day my partner noticed the problem and fixed it very quickly.

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

In all honesty I really don't feel like I taught anybody much. If anything, I was the one taught by others. It is because English is not my best subject and throughout classes my writing has improved. I also learned how to interpret different messages and was able to put it into words and even into a picture. I was also able to explore and learn about different things happening in the world and being taught that was mostly a really good experience.

5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

Formatting is the area I have made my biggest improvements on. This is because before I taught how to do certain paragraphs my writing used to be all over the place. I am really proud of completing the butterfly project. This is because I got a really challenging poem to do a butterfly on so I was really proud when I was able to interpret it and put it on the butterfly.

6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you?

The most challenging part of this year has to be the speeches we are doing. This is because each of us [students] only has one minute to explain our belief. This means that we have to be brief which seems almost impossible for me at least because I have multiple events which I can go in depth with and really explain why I believe in what I do, but I can't because of the time restraint. It is also hard because you have to get personal. Getting personal means sharing your most personal problems that would not want to share out loud. Many students including me will have a difficult time trying to that, so believe me it is hard but I am going to try my best to do so.

7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

 I think my best piece of writing I have done this is the "Which Tuesday Has Inspired You" blog. This is because it was something I was able to go in depth to and really explore. The life lessons and other things Morrie said related to me and many other people, so I was able to talk about it very easily. The overall message of that tuesday which would be that money doesn't replace love and tenderness. Which is very true and knowing the fact that people don't believe in that really gave me the drive to write about it.

8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

Out of all the books I have read this year it has to be After Ever After. This is because the story was very interesting. The main characters Jeffrey and Tad were dealing with regular problems when dealing with their cancer. The thing is that they stayed very positive for most of the story and was really entertaining to read. Even after Tad's death Jeffrey still had conversations with him. That was something that really touched me because it shows that people can still be together even after death.

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?

The first advice I would give is that to do not procrastinate. This is because the work will a lot of time and attention and if you wait to the last second to do something the work will probably be of lesser quality to what you could've done if you had more time. The second piece of advice I would give is pay attention because if you don't you are going to miss some very important information about your classwork or homework and that can leave you very confused when trying to do it and make it very hard for you to finish.

Aphorism Project

O5/11/16

Aphorism: "When you're in bed, you're dead." 

The aphorism means when you are in bed you are as productive as a dead person, or when you are stuck in bed you feel dead. You feel as if you are disconnected from what you used to be able to do when you were out of bed and had the proper energy to do things. It is likely that you are not going to do anything meaningful when you are stuck to your bed. You are also not able to explore the world around you, it is as if the bed you are stuck to is blocking out the world from you.

Personal Experience:

I have personally went through something similar to the aphorism and it was far from pleasant. It was about two years ago, I was extremely sick and stuck in my bed. I was in bed, all of my energy was drained from my body, I didn't even have the energy to get up and eat the one meal I got the entire day. I was able to do absolutely nothing the entire day. I was stuck in bed, just plain hopeless. The worst thing about it was that I had no choice but to stay in the bed. The only thing I relied on is the help of my family and don't get me wrong, they did help. There was just zero chance of me recuperating from the sickness.

Evaluate the aphorism by explaining why you agree/disagree with it:

When it comes to this aphorism I semi agree with it. This is because when you may be sick and stuck in bed you can still do things productive. An example of this would be getting a work done in bed such as an essay or a sheet of math problems. A great example of being in bed and being productive is Morrie. This is because as he was stuck in his bed he still was able to educate Mitch about different life lessons which helped Mitch with his life long after Morrie passed. Although, if you are deathly sick you obviously wouldn't be able to do anything. You may need assisting from a few or many people and feel like you can't do a single thing.

My Own Aphorism:

"Die without as many regrets as possible."

Socratic Seminar Reflection

5/04/16

Prompts:

• Explain how the past four Socratic Seminars have influenced your thinking about Tuesdays with Morrie and life in general.

• What trends did you notice with yourself and your personal goals for each seminar? How did your personal goal(s) change and what did you actively do to change throughout our last four discussions?

• What trends did you notice with the class for each seminar? What did you notice that helped or hindered a specific seminar?

The seminars made me really think about the world around us. This is because as we were talking about things like admiring/examining the world around you, forgiving others then yourself, and learning how to die, it really change my perspective on how I live. Before the book I never really thought the world around me was as important as I think it is now. The book has taught me many things, and through the seminars I also learned a lot of things, for example, why don't we act when people are yelling their guts out for help and why second place is really not that bad. Both I have thought of before the seminar, but the seminar extended my thinking about those topics and left me more educated about them than before the seminar.

The obvious trend that I had with my personal goals was actually getting involved in the seminar. I didn't really achieve my goal during the socratic seminar. This is because I was very anxious and nervous to talk or discuss what I had jotted down on my notes. It was also because I was very hesitant to discuss my notes, and most of the time I never really found the opportunity to discuss the notes. In all honesty, I am really not satisfied with myself and wish I did a better job.

A trend I noticed is that when the class starting discussing a certain topic it lead into another and so on. I think this most likely caused by Morrie's aphorisms. I think this because his aphorisms are really thought provoking and can have the ability to branch out into many different topics. I think the topics that the aphorisms can bring up is what helped the seminar flow better. It compelled more people to get involved into the conversation/discussion.

Which Tuesday Has Inspired You? (Tuesday with Morrie Blog #2)

5/28/16

Which Tuesday Has Inspired You?

The first reason the eighth tuesday inspired me was when Morrie said that money was not a replacement for tenderness and/or love. This is because it is a really unfortunate really life situation and a lot of people need to learn about. Some people really want to deny and think it is not true but it really won't buy them happiness. All it will do is buy them things unnecessary things that won't really mean anything when they eventually pass. Most people don't really see the sentimental value in life and really don't value things like family or friends, all of them need to wake up and come to the realization that they are not living life like they are supposed to.

The second reason is that the eighth tuesday Morrie said to give what we have to offer. This inspires me because it tells us what most people (including me) don't do, give to your full potential. This has inspired to work harder than hardly work because I have been lazy with my work lately and I want to get better. The aphorism does tell a really good lesson and truth that such be spread to all people and teach us to give in any way we can.

The third and final reason the eighth tuesday inspires me is that Morrie says to do kind things from the heart. This is inspires me because it teaches us to do things with the most sincerness and kindest and give people hope and may be even change someone's life. To a family member, a friend, or even a stranger, do something with them or for them that will improve them and more importantly yourself, that's what we can do. It would be a better, kinder, and happier world if connected with the aphorism and went out and tried to do it.

Tuesdays With Morrie Blog #1

4/20/16
Tuesdays with Morrie Blog #1

From what I have read so far the book has really made me think. The first example of this is the idea of a living funeral. It really never hit me that the person never really gets to hear the loving and thoughtful words that are said at their funeral, so those words semi go to waste. The second thing to make me think would be how Morrie didn't want sympathy, but wanted to be treated how he has always been treated. He wanted to live the rest of his life like he regularly would and have his friends and family do the same.



I haven't really came up with a bucket list but here are a few things I have came up with. One of the things I want to do is to meet my mom's side of the family in the Philippines. This is because I don't face to face and some of them I don't know at all or exist. The second thing I want to do before I die I want to go Italy, just to see it is the entire reason I want to go there. There is small chance I have family there and if do that adds more reason to go. Third thing I would want to do is graduate college with a bachelor's degree, even if I have to push myself.

Bucket List:
- See my family in the Philippines
- Go to Italy
- Graduate College with a Bachelor's Degree
- Meet my favorite music artist(s)

3rd Quarter Reflection

4/8/16

3rd Quarter Reflection

Prompts: 

- *In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts?

- *What is something you have accomplished this quarter that you are proud of?

- *What has been the most challenging part of 3rd Quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?

The area I think I have made the biggest improvement in is how to format sentences. I would usually just format them by what I think would be expected, but then learned there really was more to it. For example, when it came to introductions I just did what needed to get attention from that paragraph, then I learned that there is a really precise way of doing it. I just thought, if it sounded good I would be expecting a good grade from that introduction. How to properly do the conclusion was easy to understand when it came to the essay, and that significant helped with my writing.

I think writing the argumentative essay is what I am most proud of out of the third quarter. At first, I thought it was going to be frustratingly painful to finish, but looking back it seemed to be easy once you understood it. I was really happy with the topic I chose because I really care about the wellbeing of animals and keeping them away from all the test and experiments seemed something I was willing to fight for. It was actually really hard to find legitimately good sources and it took a long time to find information from the decent sources. Some provided more help than others and some of the things pulled out of those sources was not the best information, so I left a lot of that out. The hard work was worth it though, through the revisions the essay got better and better, which is because for some reason I just felt really focused with that project. The biggest reason I think I am proud of this is because I didn't really ignore this assignment like some others.

I think the most challenging part for the third quarter has been catching up on my reading. The battle of the books was fun for me last year because I made a good amount of progress from the start, but now it seems like I am dramatically falling behind. I think I really should just keep as much focus on this competition and really try and not neglect the little time I have left. I hope somehow I can actually break through this problem because my group and I have been through some difficulties with one of the shortest books and that set me behind. I really need to push myself more when it comes to this, I need to be more committed.

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.

Night: How Elie Changed

2/24/2016

John Zalazinski 

One of the first major changes is Elie's belief in his religion. How it first unravels is when he suffers so much in the concentration camps that he doesn't even believe God can help him. "Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust." He suffered so much he didn't have the will to ask God, and figured he can trudge along the problems he was going through without him. 

Elie had an even harder time believing in his religion towards the middle of Night. After the hanging of two adults two Jewish adults asked where is God, and he answered with, "He is hanging here on this gallows....." This explicitly states that Elie thinks his God is completely dead. Which would also mean Elie would almost no longer rely on him.

Another major change that I noticed in Elie is the connection between him and his father. Throughout the book they go through so much, thick and thin. They had a link that was special, as if the role of father and child were reversed, Elie was mostly taking care of his father. That's why it is heartbreaking when his father unfortunately parishes. "After my father's death, nothing could touch me any more." This quote means that no matter happens nothing can motivate to go on.

Night Blog

                                                                       Elie Wiesel

2/18/16

Prompt: If you could talk to the author, what questions would you ask? Why?

John Zalazinski 

The first question I would ask is, "How did the people who you interacted with affected you for your life?" I would ask this because if I was around people who suffered greatly it would take me a long time after that experience to recuperate. For example, when he saw the two men's corpses hung on a rope, that would be extremely traumatizing for me, and I wouldn't be able to understand how anybody can live a normal life with that memory stuck in their head. I would wonder how much time it would take to recover or if you could recover at all. I feel like a Holocaust survivor like Elie Wiesel, would know best because of how much he has grown the years after the events of the Holocaust. 

The second question I would ask would be “Was there any possible lessons you may have learned throughout that experience.” I would ask this question because when you go through an experience that will change you for the rest of your life, you'd naturally take something out of it. No longer taking something for granted, or even being more thankful for a certain thing, place, person, etc. My best guess is that he would definitely be more thankful for a warm meal, family, and for his freedom. He wouldn't have been able to tell us about the experiences if he didn't take something out of it.

The third and last question I would ask him would be "Do you remember the first thing that came to mind when it was all over." I would ask him this because that would be moment when all of the weight is off your soldiers and it would be a event by itself. Elie was free again after the longest time, and he most likely had starting over on his mind because after events like that you want to go back to a regular life immediately, but you can't.

Holocaust AoW Impressions Blog

2/14/16

John Zalazinski

Although some were informative, some articles were unique and unexpected. A great example of this would be Paolo's article on how a Holocaust survivor would teach kids. A man who had a wealthy family before the Holocaust and is now teaching kids with a tub full of chocolate. I never really thought that was possible, for me, teaching youth with a tub full of chocolate would be incredibly difficult, and hard to interpret how to.

Some articles to me were also very shocking. One out of the two examples would be Yareli's article about concentration camps. The article basically stated that researchers have found out due to interviewing about 40 people that there is around 42,500 concentration camps total. Then that there was Emily's article about how the Holocaust survivors may have been facing a greater risk of schizophrenia. Those who faced the holocaust directly have a 41% chance higher of developing schizophrenia, and people who face it indirectly would have a 29% higher chance of  developing schizophrenia. To me, that was really shocking and I didn't know that affected them that much that they would have or develop dual personalities and have to live with that for who knows how long.

"The Closed Town" by Anonymous (Side 2)

"The Closed Town" by Anonymous (Side 1)

"The Closed Town

Everything leans, like tottering, hunched old women.

Every eye shines with fixed waiting
and for the word, "when?"

Here there are few soldiers.
Only shot-down birds tell of war.

You believe every bit of news you hear.

The buildings now are fuller,
Body smelling close to body,
And the garrets scream with light for long, long hours.

This evening I walked along the street of death.
On one wagon, they were taking the dead away.

Why have so many marches been drummed here?

Why so many soldiers?

Then
A week after the end,
Everything will be empty here.
A hungry dove will peck for bread.
In the middle of the street will stand
An empty, dirty
Hearse.

--Anonymous
Commented On: Justin R. Nick F. Joseph H.
  

Berlin Memorial Blog

2/3/16

Berlin Memorial Blog

John Zalazinski

What I learned is that as Hitler grew in power the restrictions for Jews grew constantly. Many of them were really not fair, examples of this would be the Jews not being able to take their pets with them, or not being able to be a Jewish actor or actress. Starting off with the pet restriction law, they lost an extension of their family, and really never knew what happened to him or her, sometimes without even getting to say goodbye. A man refused to go without his bird and as a result he got killed by Hitler's men. As acting being a restriction, some Jewish actors and actresses never got to show their full potential as an actor or actress, and wasn't really expressed their love for what they really liked to do. 

I think the monument was built to remember what happened to the Jews in the Holocaust and what they lost during it. The musical notes to me are really self explanatory to what their meaning is to be on that sign. They are there because there was most likely a large portion of the Jewish community was passionate about music and unfortunately lost their lives in the Holocaust. The sign, translated into English, says, "Jews are at the Bavarian space using only the yellow marked benches," my best guess is that those benches were used to indicate which people were Jews during the Holocaust so the Nazis who needed to be taken away.

I feel more laws were passed when Hitler was and/or felt more powerful. When he first started in  1933, he was passed 12 laws restricting Jews from multiple hobbies and jobs. In 1938, he definitely felt powerful because he was Time Magazine's person of the year, so he passed 18 laws in one year, some examples are, revoking Jews of their driver's license, Jews can no longer be members of the German Red Cross, and Jewish doctors can no longer practice. It was also the year that "The Night Of Broken Glass" occurred, Hitler's army destroyed Jewish communities and massacred many Jews that night. Then in the years 1942 - 1945 was when Hitler was fully in power. He was passing laws that were strongly unfair. A huge example of a strongly unfair law would be that Jews were not allowed to have milk, so couldn't get even somewhat the protein that was necessary for a normal human being.

I think the restrictions that would be the most trouble dealing with would be the Jews not being able to emigrate and Jews not being allowed to use a public cellphone. The reason for emigration being hard to deal with is that Jews would not be able to get to safety from being sent to a concentration camp or any other danger for that matter. Jews not being allowed to use a public cellphone would be hard to deal with because of no simple communication. They would not be able to call for help or even say a quick goodbye.

2nd Quarter Reflection

1/22/2016
2nd Quarter Reflection
John Zalazinski

Questions picked:
- Of the books you have read this quarter, which was your favorite? Why?
- What has been the most challenging part of 2nd Quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?
- What strategies have benefited you?

Out of the books I have read this quarter my favorite has to be To Kill A Mockingbird. It was my favorite because of how the two plots intertwined. When Bob Ewell attacked Jem that is when I think it fully came together. I think that is when it fully came together because that is when Boo needed to protect them the most because of Bob Ewell which was then plaintiff in the Tom Robinson trial.


The most challenging part of the second quarter would be the return of my procrastination habits. It was hard to focus on the ELA work I had to get done. It was either because I was constantly looking for music to listen to while doing the work or worrying about it get done, which was ironically preventing me from getting it done. What I'm planning to do to fix that habit in the future is only focus on my work and maybe making playlist so I can stop switching apps to change music and take time away from work.


One strategy that has benefited me is the TIQA format. This is because I didn't really utilize it in the past quarter and I would usually have writer's block because I didn't really have any idea what to do, really shouldn't have tossed the TIQA format out the window. I promise myself that I will use the TIQA format as much as I can to improve my writing. Hopefully I won't ignore it and feel like I'll do better without it, because I don't want my grades to fall any lower than a three.

To Kill A Mockingbird: Book to Movie Comparison

1/20/2016
John Zalazinski
Options Picked: 2 & 3

2. Even though the movie gives a visual to what was happening in the book I still believe
the book has a bigger impact. This is because most movies about books usually leave things out, change the roles of characters, take out characters, or take out other events completely. For example, Scout, Jem and Dill never went to Calpurnia's church which means we didn't get "what we paid for" like in the book. We've never seen the black community in Maycomb (fully) in the movie and I was looking forward to that, and get a good visual of what it would be like. There was also Dill not running away from home. In the movie Dill came back to the house for the same way he did the first time, which seems boring and repetitive and people would expect more. The time when Dill came back would've been more dramatic, purposeful, and impactful.



2. If the movie told the whole story it may have had the same impact as the book. For example, when they left out Miss Maudie that left out a chunk of the story. Like when her house burned down, and she really didn't seem to care, that told the reader that she'd prefer to be outside for  her whole life if she could. There was also when she compared the trial to a roman carnival. This would have foreshadowed the loss of the Tom Robinson trial in the movie, that would've made watching the movie a more impactful experience.



3. I feel like the purpose of having different versions of a story, is that one version is for people who like to get to the point, and the other version is for people who like to know everything that's going on and decipher it along the way. The movie was cut of some events that happened in the book because I guess they felt if they didn't maintain to the main story as much as everything else. That could also be a reason that it would be hard to see the themes in To Kill A Mockingbird developed through the movie like it did in the book. The book was more thorough and made the reader try and guess was next because every character played their role correctly which made the book flow and easier to understand.

Boo's Perspective

12/16/2015

Arthur "Boo" Radley's Perspective

I gave the kids some gifts and they are here again. They were trying really hard to get me out of the house. To be honest I really wanted to but then their dad intervened and told them to stop. They're good kids, and also very curious kids. Maybe one day I'll show myself, one day. 

Jem, poor kid, all he wanted to do was leave me note, but, Nathan being the person he is had to fill it up. He said he'll come up with an excuse for fill up the tree, like it's dying or something. He has always been someone to disappoint. Ever since Mama died he'd been actin' like this. Well, I guess people grieve in different ways.

Why, why did he do it? He is so protective of his garden he almost killed the children. He's just plain crazy, never understood his ways. In the heat of all of this I managed to cover Scout with a blanket, I care about her well-being, not as much as Atticus though. He's a very caring man, always calm and forgiving, I wish I could be more like him.

I saw Jem, he was in a struggle, Bob Ewell on top of him just beating him senselessly. I couldn't just watch. I intervened, with all my strength I threw the drunken idiot off of him, managed to take his knife and kill him. Then later that night I met the girl herself, little Scout. We were in Jem's room waiting for him to wake up. I can see her, tears in her eyes, "Finally." I thought to myself. She won't have to wonder anymore.

Character Relationship Blog

12/3/2015

John Zalazinski

Character Pair: Atticus and Aunt Alexandra

The way they are similar is that they both want what they think is the best for Scout. Atticus wants her to stay out of trouble. He is very protective of Scout and is always concerned about her well-being. Aunt Alexandra wants her to be feminine, so she could grow up to be a "normal" girl in her eyes. She feels that will make Scout more prepared for the future.

The way they are different is that Atticus is really calm and understanding and Aunt Alexandra is easily annoyed by the small things, in short, she's a perfectionist. When Atticus found out Dill was staying at their house he was very understanding and calm about it. Another example of this when Jem got involved with the police and still gave him affection, because he is so loving, forgiving and understanding of all of his children including Dill. Aunt Alexandra basically thinks everything is a disgrace to your family. The most ridiculous reason for something being disgraceful is Jem not turning on a light. 

Atticus has a really close relationship with Scout, and Aunt Alexandra is really repulsive in her relationship with Scout. Atticus understands Scout and forgives her when she does things that are ridiculously wrong. Atticus most likely does have the strongest bond with Scout because her mother died when she was two, so Scout had a lot of time to build a relationship with her father growing up. Aunt Alexandra is trying to change Scout, when Scout already knows who she wants to be. Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to be more feminine and escape from her tomboy roots. She wants to be a mother figure, but she fails at it because she doesn't love her for who she is.

Atticus has a huge positive effect on Scout, while Aunt Alexandra doesn't have a good effect at all on Scout. Atticus is an understanding and loving father something that will most likely rub off on Scout when she eventually becomes a mother. Aunt Alexandra irritates Scout so she doesn't have a good effect on her. Scout almost always wants to steer clear of Aunt Alexandra, for how she judges people and all of the gossiping she does. Aunt Alexandra always stereotypes and sees the bad things in people the most.