The best thing about Divergent

The best thing about Divergent is that you never know what will happen next. You always want to read more. For example during the beginning of the book, Beatrice was taking the test and her results came out inconclusive, which means she is Divergent and doesn't have a certain faction to be put into. People who are Divergent are usually taken away or killed because they are different than everyone else. So now she must act like she is Dauntless and only Dauntless. She has to show no signs of any other factions. So far, I don't think that any of Divergent is bad. I think that this book, is easily one of my favorites and I am not even that far yet!

Why did I choose Divergent?

I started reading Divergent by Veronica Roth towards the end of last trimester. I didn't get very far in it because of exams and all of the studying that we had to do so I am very excited to finish it this trimester. I did read other blogs like Ms. Cohen's which helped persuade me to read it. Also a lot of my friends had said how great the books were. Some people even compared it to the Hunger Games, which I loved. Even though I am not very far in the book, a lot has happened. Veronica Roth really pulls you into the book by putting a conflict at the very beginning. It starts the book off with a "bang". I think that it would be very hard to have to choose a faction like Beatrice has to do. I would be afraid to hurt my family but I wouldn't want to choose something that would make my life miserable. Beatrice chooses to live her life the way she wants to and so far it is working out very well for her and I am excited to see how she grows as a character.

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 is about a government where they censor everything you read. If someone finds out that you own books or you have been hiding them then the Fireman will come and burn all of your books. If you fight them and don't want to give up your books then you may be burned. For example on page 37 it states, "The woman on the porch reached out with contempt to  them all, and struck the kitchen match against the railing." In this case the woman burnt herself the fireman didn't burn her but if anyone didn't want to leave their books then they could be burned or even put in jail. I do have a couple of predictions about events that are going to happen in the book. One prediction is that Clarisse was hit by a car. There was some foreshadowing on page 6 that said, " 'I sometimes think drivers don't know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly,' she said. ' If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! he'd say, that's grass! A pink blur? That's a rose garden! White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows. My uncle drove slowly on a highway once. He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days. Isn't that funny, and sad, too?' " Then on page 44, Mildred says, " 'No. The same girl. McClellan. McCellan. Run over by a car. Four days ago. I'm not sure. But I think she is dead. The family moved out anyway. I don't know. But I think she's dead.' " Along with those predictions, I do have a few questions. Did she actually get run over by a car or was she taken away because she "knew too much"? Will Montag get caught with all of his books? If so, who will turn him in? What do you all think?

Blog Reflection

Click hereto view my best blog post.

The post I chose as my best post was the character post. In the rubric it says, "The student analyzes in detail how complex characters develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme." I believe that I did all of those things and I even added quotes to support my findings. As for the first task, explaining how complex characters develop over the course of a text, I explained that in the beginning of the novel she was Abnegation and had to make a huge choice in her life to leave her family and become Dauntless. That choice made her even more brave and it made her want to try new things. The next task was to show how characters interact with other characters. I said, "In this book people only really interact with the people in their faction. Unless your family is in another faction, then you can visit them on the visiting day. Most families don't go to visit the member of their family who switched factions because they feel that they were betrayed." I showed that people only talk to the people "of their kind", even their own family members wouldn't talk to them if they switched factions. Finally, the last task was to show how the character advances the plot or develops the theme. I stated, "Her action ties into the theme, 'sometimes you make choices and sometimes choices make you', because this choice will change her life forever. She will have to move away and act according to her faction." That shows how her action to switch factions will effect her whole life and it also shows the theme of this novel. 

Over all I thoroughly enjoyed English 1A. I am more of a science and math person but this trimester got me into English as well. As for goals for the next trimesters reading, I would like to read more books and continue to blog because that helps me process the book. As for writing, I would like to continue to work on my grammar and I would like to write more creative writing pieces. Areas for improvement in reading are reading more books and choosing a little more challenging books. I love anything that makes you think. Areas for improvement in writing is definitely grammar.

New update on the Mysterious Dog Disease

In my blog before, the scientists had no idea what this disease was and only a few dogs had died from it. Now they know some symptoms and sadly a lot more dogs have died! Scientists have found out that the symptoms are very similar to those of the flu! Also dogs are having trouble barking. All they can do is cry. They won't eat and they have a lot of abdominal pain. They are also saying that the dogs are getting sick from their owners. A lot of the dogs that got the disease had a sick owner! This is very scary! I mean they still don't have that much information about it and they aren't completely sure of the way that the disease is transmitted! But be careful and don't take your dog to dog parks and if you are sick try not to give it to your dog! 

Divergent Analysis Post

Beatrice and the other new people who chose Dauntless as their faction are doing little tests to see if they are "man" enough to be in that faction. Beatrice can already pick out which people are going to be factionless. All of these tests are making her nervous because they are dangerous. But isn't that the point of being Dauntless, that you are brave? On page 53, it states,"' They're jumping off!' I lift my head. My neck aches. I have been curled up with my back against the wall for at least a half hour, listening to the roaring wind and watching the city smear past us. I sit forward. The train has slowed down in the past few minutes, and I see that the who shouted is right: Dauntless in the cars ahead of us are jumping out as the train passes a rooftop. The tracks are seven stories up. The idea of leaping out of a moving train onto a rooftop, knowing there is a gap between the edge of the roof and the the edge of the track, makes me want to throw up." That excerpt shows that she was nervous and a little scared to do what the Dauntless do everyday. She does end up jumping off the train and she is fine. I believe that as she figures out how the Dauntless do what they do everyday, everything will become easier for her. She was just inducted into the Dauntless faction so she is just starting to do all of the risky things that they do.

Divergent Question Post

Divergent is becoming one of my favorite books! I love how it brings all of these questions into my mind making me want to read more. Will her father come and visit her? Will she ever see her brother again? Is she ready for this big of a change? I mean she choose Dauntless so I guess she isn't afraid at all. Now that I have read more of the book, if I had to choose a faction I think I would choose Dauntless also. I have made a lot of choices in my life so far and I am ready for anything that is thrown at me. I think that Beatrice is the same way. I wonder, will she fall in love with someone in her faction? Or will it be with someone in a different faction? She seems like more of a rebellious girl.  If it is a different faction could they get in trouble?