2.Antagonist: Walt and Billie McCandless- Selfish, greedy, materialistic, self-centered, deceitful, acquisitive, illiberal, biased, conservative, giving, traditional, overbearing, abusive, mean, narcissistic.

3.

1. Man going into nature
2. Man going away from society
3. Man finding way to ultimate joy
4. Man finding way to inner self
5. Man wanting to find meaning

4.

1. Alaska
2. Georgia
3. North Dakota
4. Montana
5. Nevada

5.

1. Man vs. Environment/ Alex vs. unsuitable surroundings for living
2. Man vs. Society/ Alex vs. Corruption of money
3. Man vs. Man/ Alex vs. Parents
4. Man vs. Himself/ Alex vs. Himself
5. Man vs. Nature/ Alex vs. weather and conditions

6.

1. Alex likes to read
2. Alex likes to write
3. Alex likes to explore
4. Alex likes to run
5. Alex likes to hike
6. Alex likes to live
7. Alex likes to travel
8. Alex likes to rebel
9. Alex likes to interact
10. Alex likes to hunt

7.

1. “It is associated in our minds with escape from history oppression and law and irksome obligations.” (Krakauer 15)

2. “A Renaissance man of the plains, he is a farmer, welder, businessman, machinist, ace mechanic, commodities speculator, licensed airplane pilot, computer programmer, electronics troubleshooter, video game programmer.” (Krakauer 19)

3.” Shortly before he disappeared, Chris complained to Carine that their parents’ behavior was “so irrational, so oppressive, disrespectful and insulting that i finally passed my breaking point.” (Krakauer 64)

4. “The land itself was desolate, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness. (Krakauer 9)

5. “When Max, Carin’s eighteen-month-old Rottweiler, intrudes on Buckley’s turf, however, the ailing little dog thinks nothing of confronting the much bigger animal with a loud bark and a flurry of well-placed nips, sending the 130-point beast scurrying for safety.” (Krakauer 128)

Plot Outline

1. Exposition

Characters:Alex/ Chris McCandless, Wayne Westerburg, Walt McCandless, Ron Franz,

Alex: main character, nomad, free spirited.

Wayne: Alex’s friend, felon, caring.

Walt: Alex’s dad, liar, overbearing.

Ron: Alex’s “Grandpa”, old man, loving

Settings: Alaska, Georgia, Wild, Mexico, Montana, North Dakota.

Problem: Alex wants to get away from corruption, Alex wants to find true happiness, Alex wants to go to Alaska.

2. Rising Action

a. Walt pressures Alex in to becoming materialistic.

b. Alex wants to get away from corruption in the world.

c. Alex wants to go into the wild.

d. Alex decides to go to Alaska to live there.

e. Alex travels around the U.S. making multiple new friends.

f. Wayne gives Alex a job at the mill.

g. Alex goes into the wild in Alaska.

h. Alex finds the bus in the wild of Alaska

i. Alex Shoots a moose and wastes the meet.

j. Alex feels accomplished and heads out of the wild.

3. Climax

Alex tries to leave the wild after becoming happy with his trip, and running out of rice. When he is leaving he has to cross the river, which is now roaring through the land and is uncrossable due to the weather conditions and the snow melting. Alex knows that he cant cross it now and it will be to cold later, he is stranded.

4. Falling Action

Alex is stranded in the wild.

Alex becomes afraid and lonely.

Alex realizes that true happiness is only real when shared.

Alex has no food.

Alex is starving to death.

Alex eats the poisonous plant.

5. Resolution

Alex dies from eating the plant.

Hunters find the cabin and call the police.

People read Alex’s story.

Society is fascinated by Alex’s story.

]]> http://toillet18.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/into-the-wild-by-jon-krakauer/feed/ 0 toillet18 http://toillet18.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/indentical-by-ellen-hopkins/ http://toillet18.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/indentical-by-ellen-hopkins/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:31:54 +0000 toillet18 http://toillet18.wordpress.com/?p=34 ]]> 1.Codgers

I do have to to go to work, but only for a couple of hours, setting up the codgers’ Halloween bash.(334)

- Old people

–noun , an eccentric man, esp. one who is old.

There are a large number of codgers at the old folks’ home Kaeleigh works at.

2. Eiderdown

Smother myself in leather perfumed eiderdown.(350)

- scent, smell, aroma

–noun , a warm, lightweight knitted or woven fabric of wool, cotton, or man-made fibers, napped on one or both sides, used for sleepwear, infants’ clothing, etc.

Mr. Lawler had a pillow made of eiderdown, and Raeanne engulfed herself in it to smell his leather scent.

3. Shrouding

Why are there so many mysteries shrouding our lives?(368)

-surrounding, consuming.

–verb, to cover; hide from view. To veil, as in obscurity or mystery

The girls have such a large number of secrets, and have to shroud their lives from the outside would, due to who their parents are.

4. Burgeoning

I stay, and for once I stay long enough for the ice dam to melt, warm into an easy flow, burgeoning in to a river of need.(378)

-becoming or turning into, to take the form of.

–verb, to grow or develop quickly; flourish

Kaleigh used to love her father, but after the accident, love burgeoned into strong hate, and she never thought of him the same way.

5. Feigned

Feigned innocence invites sex more than a frank come-on does.(467)

-Obvious

–verb (used with object) to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of

Kaleigh may have feigned innocence, but the sickness she showed when she almost killed her self was completely true.

6. Emphatically

The front door shuts emphatically.(109)

-With zeal, emphasis, loudly or exaggerated

–adjective, forceful; insistent

The judge demands respect emphatically from his daughters, and when he does not get it, he is not a man to be reckonned with.

7. Ante

I decide to ante a little.(264)

- to make present

-Noun, a level (as of achievement or intensity) regarded especially as a goal or standard

Ty ups the ante on Mick when he pulls out better bud, and has more fun with Raeanne then Mick.

8. Vanquished

I’m not stupid enough to believe one magical afternoon can vanquish my monsters forever.(286)

- to disappear or make something leave

-verb, to gain mastery over (an emotion, passion, or temptation)

Kaleigh cannot vanquish the fear of her father until the end of the book, when Grandma Gardella is there to help.

9. Dissipated

But the magic dissipated, the warmth frozen over.(377)

-gone, destroyed, no longer existing.

-verb, to spend or use wastefully or extravagantly; squander; deplete

After the accident, the love in the Gardella family dissipated, they never looked at one another the same.

10. Roils

Stomach acid roils into my mouth, bitter as the spit in Daddy’s tongue. (399)

- comes into, manifests

- verb, to move or proceed turbulently

When Kaliegh tried to kill her self, Daddy made the whiskey and pills roil up her throat and come back out; in return Kaliegh had to clean up the mess.

“Stand up and find yourself”

Words and phrases from Ellen Hopkin’s Identical

Memory strikes suddenly.

Like a flame in a breeze.

Daddy fractured our world, tilted it off its axis, sent it careening out of control.

It is bone chilling here in this memory.

At first we sought rebirth,

Everyone has a secret, one that is not so nice.

I seriously despise the man,

It hurts like my heart does,

Chokes me,

Strangles me,

He laid me on the bed and did what no father should do to their daughter

I squirm but he will not let me go,

And I do not cry out.

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,

There is no cure for Daddy.

I am the only one who does not dare run.

No one, no one normal, that is, will understand.

I would leave now, but if I did,

One way or another,

She would not notice I was gone, but Daddy is a different story.

And all I could do was linger in a dark corner.

Will I ever be able to leave Daddy at all?

When I look in the mirror it is her face I see.

Some things do not need to be remembered,

And if the time comes,

Get up; when you fall you gotta get up.

Be the strongest,

And look death in the eye.

2. The theme of this book is Man v. Man, and Man v. Society. Throughout the book Arnold has to fight, physically and morally. He is ostracized by the white people for being Indian, and after he “leaves” the rez he is ostracized by the Indians also. I think that Sherman Alexie wanted to get the message across to kids that no matter what race, color, ethnicity, mental being, or anything you are, don’t let it restrain you. Arnold fights through the whole book trying to become something, whether it’s going to a new school to be smarter, or demanding a little respect. Sherman wants people to realize that you can change your path, and make what you want out of life, no matter what, it just takes a little work. As long as you persevere to accomplish something, you will eventually.

4. The cover of my book is pretty simple. It has the title across the whole cover in big letters. Off to the side and in the bottom there are pictures of a cowboy and an Indian. I think that the author wanted to put there figures on the cover because the cowboy was a huge thing for the Indian to over come, and a major problem for the Indians. This ties into the book for multiple reasons. Arnold, the main character, tells about his high school career. He battles with white people all the time and is always being ostracized for his inheritance. These two things tie in with each other phenomenally, and the two pictures on the cover a wonderful idea by the author.

6. I enjoyed this book for the most part. The little cartoons on the pages helped entertain me. I was reading about an aspiring cartoonist, and they tied in wonderfully. One reason I enjoyed it so much is because I also like to draw. The pictures added a nice touch to the page.

7. Overall I was very interested in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. There were no aspects of the book that deterred me. One thing I think the author could have done a little bit differently was not use as much dialogue. I enjoy dialogue in books, but at times it seemed as though that was all the book was written in.

8. “I draw because words are too unpredictable.

I draw because words are too limited.

If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning.

But when you draw a picture, everybody can understand it.

If I draw a cartoon flower, then every man, woman, and child in the world can look at it and say, “That’s a flower.”

So I draw because I want to talk to the world. And I want the world to pay attention to me.

I feel important with a pen in my hand, I feel like I might grow up to be somebody important. An Artist. Maybe a famous artist. Maybe a rich artist.

That’s the only way I can become rich and famous.

Just take a look at the world. Almost all the rich and famous brown people are artists. They’re singers and actors and writers and dancers directors and poets.

So I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation.

I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little life boats.”(Page 5 and 6, paragraphs 3- to end.)

I chose this quote because I love the meaning of it. It also represents the character extremely well. Through out the whole book, the pages are filled with his cartoons. They represent the story or activities on the page. I am also an artist, and I know the feeling he talks about. Anyone who does something they love, the reason they do it usually, is because it makes them feel important. Just like a musician plays their instrument, or a director makes a movie, writers write books, artists draw, and that’s how they tell their story.

“And I couldn’t make fun of her for that dream. It was my dream, too. and Indian boys weren’t supposed to dream like that. And white girls from small towns weren’t supposed to dream big, either

We were supposed to be happy with our limitations. But there was no way Penelope and I were going to sit still. Nope, we both wanted to fly.” (Page 113, paragraphs 4-5)

I chose this second quote because it comes after Arnold and Penelope are talking about their dreams. The both want to get out and make themselves remembered. No one in the rez would ever think of that, and they weren’t supposed to. They want so much more and to actually do something with their lives, but everyone is against them it seems.

2. Ellen Hopkins has an interesting writing style and it made me intrigued from the first page. One reason I liked this book was because there were short stanzas on each page which made the book a quick read. Also she would make the stanzas in figures or forms of letters. For example on page 191 Kristina is talking about arriving at home from her vacation at her dad’s house. The writing is in the form of a house on the page. The book kept me interested and made want me want to keep reading page after page until I was done with the book. I finished this book in two days, which is a first for me, due to how much I liked the writing style and the contents of the book.

3. In the book Crank is the story about Kristina (Bree) Snow. She is a teenage girl with teenage problems. She is a skinny girl but not toned, with pale white skin. Kristina says she isn’t schizophrenic but she has a split personality. Bree is the wild side of Kristina and a whole different form of person. Kristina is a straight A student while Bree is wild and does not care. Kristina has an extremely reserved personality and lives to please her parents, but Bree just cares about her self and throws everything on the line. Emotionally Kristina is a dramatic teenage girl surrounded by drama. Bree is a hormonal teenage girl but does not have much emotion and is very selfish and self centered.

4. Crank is a magnificent book, and I would recommend it to a wide variety of students. If people like reading about kids our age and how they are dealing with problems I would suggest it. Most girls would enjoy this book. I, personally, enjoyed this book and I think that other guys that enjoy reading about topics such as this should read Crank. This book is wonderful at grabbing your attention and keeping a hold of it, making this an awesome book for a wide spread of students.

5. In Crank, a 15 year old girl faces many life problems. Her name is Kristina and she has a split personality that grabs a hold of the not so nice side of her. Throughout the book she is fighting with her other half, Bree, for multiple reasons. It starts out when she goes to visit her dad in Albuquerque. Kristina’s parents got divorced and her mother has custody of her. The judge however makes Kristina go and visit her father, who she has not seen for the majority of her life. When she gets to Albuquerque she realizes her father is nothing more than a drug addict, bum, who has no life and can barely take care of himself. After Kristina meets a boy named Adam at her father’s apartment she sees the silver lining in the trip. She wants to meet this boy, but Kristina never would go and talk to a guy she does not know, especially one like this. Bree starts to take over and makes Kristina do things she never would. Kristina starts to hang out with Adam and gets addicted to Crank Meth, drinking, and other drugs.

After hitting rock bottom, or at least what she thought was rock bottom, she heads back home, but the battle with the monster has just begun. When she gets back home she starts to focus on school, but the monster keeps calling her name. She starts to get into drugs back home with her mother and starts talking to the types of boys “Kristina” never would. Bree starts to take over Kristina and everything is a slippery down hill slide after Albuquerque.

Kristina starts to talk to a guy named Brendan who everyone thinks is a “good boy” but is also into drugs. They were into each other until on one of their dates he rapes her because he was high. He said it was his payment for getting her the drugs. At the same time, she is seeing another boy named Chase, who she falls in love with. Her and chase party a lot and get into some trouble, but are always there for each other no matter what. This is put to the test when Kristina finds out that she is pregnant from the night Brendan raped her. Chase has a promising future to go to college and be someone, but throws it all away to take care of Kristina and her son.

After hitting complete rock bottom, becoming pregnant, being burnt out on drugs, disappointing her whole family, giving up her fantastic reputation in school, and losing all contact with her dad, Kristina gives birth to her son, Hunter Seth. Once you finally begin to think Bree is gone and the drug addiction is over, Kristina starts to use Crank once again. She says it is the only thing that can make her happy on the days Hunter wont stop crying and the family is to much to handle.

By the end of this book, you become attached to Kristina and begin to feel like you know her. You want her to become better and realize what she needs to do to turn her life around but she never does. After ending the book with her saying the monster never let go of her, I am looking forward to finding out what becomes of the rest of her life in the sequel to Crank, Glass.

I love being active outside of school. I snowboard in the winter. If I had my way there would be snow year round and I would be on the mountain everyday. When I ride I use the Burton Fix with Custom bindings and Forum Constant boots. To me, nothing can top a day in the park with a little fresh powder and a nice kicker leading to a nice line. Every year it is a tradition for me and my friend to fly out to Utah, just me and him, for a week and board. It is definitely the highlight of my year.

Another major part of my life is music. I would be lost with out it, and life would be flat out boring. I spend a lot of time listening to music but also playing it. I play the drums at our school in the band, I am currently a quince player(five drums in a row). I also play the set at home. My favorite type of music is probably ska. Ska is a mix of brass with blues/rock/jazz. I am teaching myself to play ska music on the trombone.

When I am not busy doing these things I am usually looking for something new and creative that will keep my interest for more than five minutes. I like to just relax with friends and watch movies. Every once in a while it is fun to do something else. I am usually up to any challenge, even if I know I will fail. People can not tell me when I am doing something wrong, I am just one of those people that have to find out first hand. I would rather find out why I am wrong then be told. I am always looking for a different way to do stuff, even if it means messing up a few times. I am sure there is a lot I am forgetting, but that is my life in a few paragraphs. If you want to know anything else, it never hurts to ask.

–Elliot