"Flowers For Algernon" By: Daniel Keyes - Reading Response

 Flowers For Algernon  is about Charlie, a thirty two year old man who works in a bakery in Brooklyn and is mentally ill.  Charlie has a passion for learning, even though his IQ is only 70, he still wants to become smarter and treated normally. Charlie agreed to be experimented on and gets permission from his family, to get this procedure done on him, this is the first time it is being tested on humans. It was tested on a mouse named Algernon, and he became really smart. But they don't know how it will work with humans, There are many pro's and con's, Charlie could either get really smart, or less intelligent than he already is now. So he is told to keep a journal with " progress reports" and that is how the story is told.


  I find this book interesting because, the author choose a really creative way to write the story. Since Charlie is slow, and the book is written from his perspective, he writes everything the way that he hears it, so most of the spelling in the book is incorrect and so is the grammar. So a word like Progress Report, would be spelled like this in Flowers For Algernon "Progris Riport"  Even though, i'm only on page 61, the author did a good of showing how much progress Charlie has made by getting this procedure done. Because when I look back at page 1, and compare it to the page that I am on now, the writing and the grammar is really different. Which shows that Charlie has gotten smarter.

  "Burt  comes in to see me evry day to rite down all the things like my tempertur and my blud preshur and the other things about me. He says its on account of the sientific methid. They got to keep reckerds about what happins so they can do it agen when they want to. Not to me but to other pepul like me who aint smart" (pg 11)
  I found this quote intriguing because, this was at the start of the book when his writing was really hard to understand so it adds more emotion to it. But, the end of the quote when he says "... so they can do it agen when they want to. Not to me but to other pepul like me who ain't smart" I think it shows that he has hope that everything with this experiment is going to turn out well. Because if he didn't , he wouldn't have said they would test it on other people. But at the same time, it shows that he doesn't really have high self esteem, because he just called himself not smart.


I'm starting to think that things will turn out well for Charlie during this experiment, because I'm only on page 61, and he is already understanding a lot more english and his writing is becoming more understandable. I remember in the beginning of the book he had said
"I never new before that i was dumber than a mouse. I dont feel like riting any more progress riports. I forget things and even when i rite them in my notebook sometimes i cant reed my own riting and its very hard" (pg15)
   I think that the author did a really good job of showing how the main character progressed over time by his writing techniques.


 

Non-Fiction Reading Response : Upfront Magazine " The End Of Extreme Poverty"

The  article in Uprfront Magazine "The End Of Extreme Poverty" is about how in some places of the world people are really poor, and how some people in the developing world live on less than $1.25 a day. The Author Nicholas D. Kristof, states how  extreme poverty has been reduced from 1 in 2  in 1980, to 1 in 5 today, the aim is to reduce the amount of extreme poverty in the world to almost nothing by the year 2030.

  The author talks about, how he met a woman in Cambodia  whose daughter had passed away of malaria and she was left to take care of seven children/grandchildren. She showed the author her 1 anti-malaria mosquito net, and told him that every night she thinks extremley hard about which children to leave under it , and which ones to leave out and have them be exposed to the mosquitos.

 I found that section of the article Interesting because, it's sad to think about.  I tried to put myself in the shoe's of someone who had siblings (i'm an only child) and we were really poor, and we were living in an area with a lot of disease and our parents had to choose which child to keep safe, and which to expose to the disease. I believe that the author included this part into the article to make people think about what it's like to live the life of someone in extreme poverty, so that people can donate to certain funds and charity's so that these people who are living these really terrible lifes, can one day live a better one.

 " In 1990, more than 12 million children died before the age of 5. Now that figure is down about 6 millon. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose foundation is pioneering the vaccines and medicines saving these lives, says that in his lifetime the number will drop below one million.. There's been this change of consciousness and a massive mobilization of resources, Its had an enormous effect"

 That quote makes me glad that the extreme poverty rates are going down because, nobody should really have to live a life like that. Its good to know that diseases like polio and measles are dying down thanks to massive vaccination programs. I'm glad that there are many resources to help out these people with these terrible diseases without homes, or money suffering these harsh conditions.


                                                                 Works Cited
Kristof, Nicholas D. "The End Of Extreme Poverty?" Upfront Magazine 9 Dec. 2013: 16-17. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.

Revised Post

 A hard thing that's happening in the book Hate List by: Jennifer Brown, Is that the story revolves around a school shooting done by a student.

Another thing that's happening in the book is crime. Which is a real topic that is brought into our everyday lives, because people commit crimes all the time,

 On Page 3 of the text it says:

“ [FROM THE GARVIN COUNTY SUN-TRIBUNE, MAY 3,2008, REPORTER ANGELA DASH]

  The scene in the Garvin High School cafeteria, known as the Commons, is being described as “grim” by investigators who are working  to identify the victims of a shooting spree that erupted Friday morning”

The main character of the book Nick Levil committed a particulary bad crime.Which was killing his classmates over silly reasons, and then taking his own life.

 Another problem in the book is verbal abuse. Valerie, Nick Levil's ex-girlfriend.Is verbally abuesed by her father on pages 319-323, when he comes to pick her up from a party because she was drunk. He yells at her on the side of the road and uses profanity. It got so bad that an eye witness, driving on the road offered to call for help for Valerie, because the situation had gotten really bad.

 This book makes me think about things that are happening in the world because of the school shooting that takes place in the book, It reminds of the incident in Sandy Hook Elementary School. Because so many innocent lives were taken away, because of a crazy person who had their own problems and wanted to not only end their life, but take other people out with them.

 I see similarities in both incidents, because they were both done by young people, and they both took place in schools and they also both ended up committing suicide. I think that, the people who killed all those innocent people are filled with hatred, and it's just a bad choice to choose. Someone's young life, shouldn't be taken away, espicially if they are innocent.

C.T.Q:What really hard things are happening in the text? Are these things happening in the real world? How?

 A hard thing that's happening in the book Hate List by: Jennifer Brown, Is that the story revolves around a school shooting done by a student.

Another thing that's happening in the book is crime. Which is a real topic that is brought into our everyday lives, because people commit crimes all the time, just like the main character of the book Nick Levil committed a particulary bad crime.Which was killing his classmates over silly reasons, and then taking his own life.

 Another problem in the book is verbal abuse. Valerie, Nick Levil's ex-girlfriend.Is verbally abuesed by her father on pages 319-323, when he comes to pick her up from a party because she was drunk. He yells at her on the side of the road and uses profanity. It got so bad that an eye witness, driving on the road offered to call for help for Valerie, because the situation had gotten really bad.

 This book makes me think about things that are happening in the world because of the school shooting that takes place in the book, It reminds of the incident in Sandy Hook Elementary School. Because so many innocent lives were taken away, because of a crazy person who had their own problems and wanted to not only end their life, but take other people out with them.

 I see similarities in both incidents, because they were both done by young people, and they both took place in schools and they also both ended up committing suicide. I think that, the people who killed all those innocent people are filled with hatred, and it's just a bad choice to choose. Someone's young life, shouldn't be taken away, espicially if they are innocent.

How does this book make you think about Justice in the world?

 The book Hate List makes me think about justice in the world because  the book is about a school shooting, that is done by a student.

  This book makes me think, are school shootings something that people should have payed more attention to in that time(the book takes place in 2008). For example getting kids counseling so they can discuss their problems.Because the kid who committed the crime Nick Levil, did it because he wrote a list of people who he didn't like and people who were mean to him and then he one day came to school with a gun and shot everyone including himself, and he accidently shot his girlfriend.

 " 'You've been on the list for a long time,' he said... 'What list?' Christy Bruter asked and then looked down just slightly and her eyes grew big. She started to laugh, and so did Willa, and I started to pull up onto my tiptoes to see what they were laughing at and thats when I heard the noise." (82)

  In the authors note of the book it says " I love books that make me think . Maybe not come to any huge conclusions or anything, but just make me...think. I hope hate list sparks a lil thinkin' here and there."

 That quote made me think, that the Author Jennifer Brown, wanted us readers to think about Justice in the world and whats fair, and what isn't, and if certain topics should be taken more seriously than others.

Monday Muses

 Something I recently did was, audition for vocal in laguardia high school. The night before, I was kind of unsure if I should go or not, because 1. I was at my grandma's house all the way in Jamaica Queens. And the audition was at 8am in the morning. 2. I was going up against 3,900 students who probably have been singing for years, and have had vocal training, and there is only 200 spots. So there wasn't really a chance of me getting in.

But I decided that I would go anyway.

We woke up super early and drove to the train station and ended up arriving in manhattan at around 7:25am, which is super early for a sunday, if it was a normal weekend I would still be sleeping. The line moved quickly,they seated all the students in the auditiorium, then they brought all the people auditioning for vocal into another room.

We had to fill out a paper about our experience with singing and what not. And then we waited online for an audition. I didn't audition until like eleven o' clock. It was the most scary thing, because the judges showed like no emotion. They were nice, but you just didn't know how you did. Im happy that I auditioned, even though I probably won't get in. Because it was fun, now that I look back on it two weeks later, and  even if I don't get in it was a experience i'll never forget.

 Auditioning for Laguardia taught me to not give up, and to keep trying even when you don't think you will make it. Because you never know what the outcome will be.

Arguement Essay 2nd draft

 The book "Crank" by ELlen Hopkins, has been challenged for many reasons, such as drug use and profanity. I think that the book shouldn't be banned from kids. Because the content in the book, can teach kids about the negative affects of acting crazy as a teenager and doing drugs. In the authors note it says "This book is dedicated to my family and all families who's lives have been affected by the monster. While this is a work of fiction, it is loosely based on a true story. My daughters. The monster did touch her life and , and the lives of her family. My family, it is hard to watch someone you love fall so deeply under the spell of substance that turns him or her into a stranger. Someone you don't even want to know"

 Parents and Teachers might want tis book banned, because of drug use and inapropiate language  used throughout the book. For example on page 90, it describes what its like taking drugs "You want to cry, powdered demons bite,through cartilage and sinuses, take dead aim at your brain, jump inside, want to scream" But in the authors note of the book it says, that Ellen Hopkins wrote this book  to help people and families who have children who do drugs, so they would be able to see their perspective of how drugs made them feel . This book can also help parents show their children that doing drugs is a really bad path to go down, because things don't end well for the main character . She ends up loosing a lot of respect from not only her family, but from herself. And also having a baby at age seventeen.

 This book can also teach kids about peer pressure, for example the main character Kristina started doing drugs because of a boy she liked, who later became her boyfriend. Just by her trying drugs one time it caused a lot of bad things to happen to her. One of them being addiction, now that she got addicted to drugs it slowly but surely ruined her life. She started drinking, smoking, she just got very confused with her life. She had an alter-ego named Bree, who would do all the things she wouldn't dare do as Kristina. She ended up drug dealing, and having a baby. All of this happened over the course of one year and she was only seventeen.


 I think that parents should know what their kids are reading, and if they don't approve of their children reading a certain book than they shouldn't be able to read it. I don't think that it should be banned from middle schools though, because it can teach kids at a young age, what happens to your life when you go down the wrong path. In the preview of the next book "Fallout", in a chapter called "We hear" written from Kristina's sons point of view it says "We hear that life was good before she met the monster, but those page-flips went down before our collective cognition.Kristina wrote that chapter of her history before we were even whisperers in her womb. The monster shaped our lives, without ours even touching it. Read on if you dare. This memoir isn't pretty"

  I think that its okay for parents to tell their children "No you can't read this book, your not mature enough yet" But I don't think that this book should be banned from middle school library's because it can broaden the minds of kids at a young age, and teach them that falling for peer pressure and doing drugs is the wrong path to go down, because it can one day ruined their lives.