Hanna L's Blog

            In Cyber English this semester, my class had the option of choosing our own book to read, but instead of blogging about it while we are reading, we blogged about it after we had read the entire book. Then we had to answer questions about it and post those answers to our blogs. I decided to read the prequel to Sphinx’s Queen and I have a lot to say about this amazing book.

            It was very hard to choose only one conflict in Sphinx’s Princess because there are so many (which is one of the many reasons why I couldn’t put this book down). But, in my opinion, I believe that the most important conflict of this book is When Nefertiti is told by her Great Aunt, Queen Tiye when she comes to “visit” (140) and tells Nefertiti that she is arranged to be “married to the prince of Egypt, Thutmose” (152). Unfortunately for Nefertiti, Thutmose is not really interested in her. His only interest was power over the land of Egypt. So Thutmose tries many things in order to “get rid of” Nefertiti, and make it seem like an accident. In the setting of the book I literally felt like I was standing right next to Nefertiti taking in the awe of Thebes (168), the beauty “of the Nile” (125), and the magnificence of the “royal palace” (173). The reason why I felt myself there with her is because of the diction and great descriptions that the author used.

            Symbolism is a very powerful part in this book. “Blue lilies” (360) of the Nile represent the growing beauty of Nefertiti. Berett (aka Nava), is a good symbol of innocence, confusion, and fear because of her life before and when she knows Nefertiti as a “mother”-figure. And the most important symbol in this book is the magestic sphinx, which stands for the courage, boldness, bravery, and beauty. All of the traits that “round” Nefertiti into the true princess that she is and has become.

            I felt that there were many important passages in Sphinx’s Princess and it was really hard for me to choose one. But, eventually, I settled on a phrase from page 291; “…he demanded “respect.”– but I don’t trust him.” (291) The reason I chose this quote is because it defines Nefertiti’s reason for not liking him, and the reason of why she’s trying to “run-away”. Also when reading Sphinx’s Princess, there was one word that I didn’t fully understand: “sau” (39). I didn’t look it up in an English dictionary because it’s an Egyptian word. So instead I tried to use context clues, and I figured out that a sau is a woman who makes amulets to ward off bad spirits and or demons, so it’s kind of a word that means ‘Egyptian shaman’.

            I would recommend this book to fans of Nobody’s Princess also by Friesner, and also to The Hunger Games series lovers, because there is a lot of action and suspense which will continue to make a reader want to know more. As a rating on this book, on a 1-5 scale (five being the best), I would rate it a definite five, because this was a great cliffhanger, and I never became bored while reading it.

Hanna L Sphinx's Princess

For my visual analysis I chose Innocence as the theme that I wanted to portray about To Kill a Mockingbird. In my visual I wanted to show how innocence can be lost without us even knowing about it, by showing a petal being “plucked” off of a rose. To do this I used the help of my practical camera to “snap” a shot that showed a young innocent girl losing her innocence one petal at a time.

I wanted my visual to show innocence and how fast it can be taken away from you. Scout is young girl who learns the hard way on how innocence doesn’t always last very long. Also, I wanted my visual to seem sad in a way along with the innocence aspect of it. I added white words on the rose; Innocence lost for every fallin’ petal. These words are in white to resemble the pure and innocent of heart, and I put fallin’ instead of falling because a southern dialect is used throughout the entire book, and fallin’ is a word used in a southern dialect. For those of you who are wondering, the nail polish was meant to be old and chipped because it represents brokeness, for example Jem’s broken arm and lost innocence on pagetwo hundred and sixty-four. The rose defines the “untouched” innocence, while the petal shows the brokenness and lost innocence. The rose was my main focus point of my visual. As for the colors, I wanted to highlight and bright my visual to give it a glowing affect so that my viewer would first see the “broken” rose, because it’s what my visual is as a whole. The reason I thought the petal should be broken off is because it kind of relates to the part in the book when “Jem picked up the candy box threw it in the fire. He picked up the camellia, and when I [Scout] went off to bed I saw him fingering the wide petals” (112).

Hanna L visual analysis

In the movie I was quite surprised by the many characters that fit their part perfectly. But in my opinion the character Scout is the best portrayed character in the movie is because of her bangs which she had been described to have had in the book, her clothes which were considered boys clothes in both the movie and the book, her language or southern dialect fit her exactly in both the book and the movie as well. One character I was not pleased with was Mrs. Dubose. She seemed to nice in the movie compared to the book. And she’s not at all what I imagined.

In the movie, even though it was also in the book, my favorite part was when Scout was in her ham costume for Mrs. Merriweather’s [Scouts teacher] “school pageant” (258). The reason why I liked this scene the most is because she looked so funny in her costume! Also the way she tried to look around her through the peephole she had was quite funny too. To give an example of how she “looked” in the movie, I’ll describe what she did to see in her costume: She tries to see head on, not enough room to see that way. She then tried to look through by slanting her head, she showed the audience her rather large nose, and then promptly looked with one eye to see what was going on around her.

I was very disappointed that the movie didn’t show the part in the book when Mrs. Maudies house burned down. The reason I’m disappointed is because I believe that that was an important part in the book, and because it’s shows another side of “Boo” Radley when he secretly helps Scout by putting a blanket on her when she was standing on the sideline watching Mrs. Maudie’s house burn while shivering (Lee 72-73). Also, I believe that they should have shown the part in which Jem and Scout find Dill under their bed because it’s a part in the book that shows the “happy side” of Scout.

In my opinion I think that the entire town really acts differently as a whole, than what they are portrayed as in the book. For example, in the book they describes a scene when a new teacher at Maywood Elementary tries to give Walter, one of her students, a quarter to get lunch in town. Problem was that he wouldn’t accept it, and Scout got in trouble when she tried to explain why he wouldn’t because she knows Walters family personally. Showing that the town is pretty close to family, but in the movie, it didn’t show this part show I portrayed the differently. I think that the book is better because there is more detail and emotion than what the movie seemed to have.

Hanna L movie review

             As my cyber English 9 class is finishing up the award winning Pulitzer Prize book, To Kill a Mockingbird, we have gotten more in depth of the trial of Tom Robinson. Tensions had risen and the town gets anxious to know the culprit who is responsible for all the turmoil that has brought up in their “peaceful” little town of Maywood. And my discussion group questioned and talked a lot about what went on in chapters sixteen through twenty.

            There are many connections that we made throughout chapter sixteen through twenty, but I’ll sum them all up and come across the most common one that was discussed in my group: The tension in a courtroom arouses much anxiety and murmurs.  My group talked about how the betrayal of Mr. Cunningham (157) is kind of like how friends betray friends. We also talked about how Scout is a lot like a female member of our group because they are both not afraid to be themselves. Also, they’re brave, not shy, and very smart. The main topic discussed in my group would have to be the “Robinson Trial”. Not only because it the main conflict in these sections, but because that’s where all of the action takes place.

            Lastly, my group discussed a lot about different topics on what the human experience for theses chapters, but in my personal opinion I believe that the human experience is discrimination. The reason being is because this section is mostly all about the trial in which Tom Robinson-an African American-is being convicted for wrongdoings against Mayella Ewell-a white American-the daughter of the “drunkard”, Mr.Ewell. And everyone seemed to be on Mayella’s side just because she was white and Tom R. was African American. I believe that under no circumstances should you judge a person by his family, his background, color or race, because we are all equal. Inequality should never, ever be an option in the land of the free.

Hanna L To Kill A Mockingbird

           Our cyber English 9 class is still reading To Kill A Mockingbird. We have now gotten through chapters twelve through fifteen. For my “new role” I was supposed to describe the important details, characters, and major events that are in chapters twelve through fifteen.

           The settings of these chapters seem to revolve a lot on the “First Purchase African M.E. Church”(118), in the town square and of course the Finch’s home. As for the atmosphere, there was a lot of tension and curiosity in these chapters. For example, Scout, Jem, and Dill all wanted to find out where Atticus went and when they found him by the jail, their curiosities grew (151). In our discussion group we also talked about important events that happened in the book. The “main event” we all ended up talking about was the “half-quarrel” at the jail (151-154). We all found it to be a major event in which Scout realizes that something bigger than she thought was happening. Another major part our group talked about was the tone or mood of this section of chapters. We all came to the conclusion that this was a sadder and confused section of the book, due to all the confusion Scout goes through, and because of how her family (namely Jem) treats her… as a girl. And she still cannot accept the fact that she is exactly that, a girl.

           In chapters twelve to fifteen many new ideas and facts were introduced, not only to the characters in the book, but also to us as a group of readers. The most common topic that came up in this book is when Scout always acts kind of naïve. The definition of naïveness can be summed up in a few words; when your lack of experience got you in a problematic situation, or your judgment has been clouded. “I sought once more for a familiar face, and at the center of the semi-circle I found one. “Hey, Mr. Cunningham…”"Entailments are bad,” I was advising him, when I slowly awoke to the fact that I was addressing the entire aggregation”(154). This is a recent example of one of Scout’s naïve moments, when she tries to fix something and ends up “untying tough knots” between a group that could’ve  possibly hurt Atticus by talking about something that she shouldn’t know about.

Hanna L To Kill A Mockingbird

“Mrs. Dubose’s shot had gone home and she knew it” (101). I believe that this is a good example on personification because Mrs. Dubose’s “shot” had gone home, even though “shots” don’t go home. Also it talks about how a shot was the surrogate words used for “strong message” portrayed through words, meaning that this sentence is also an example for a metaphor, so it is able to show the reader a comparison so that it makes more sense in their eyes. As another example: “Miss Stephanie Crawford said she woke us in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight through the window at her… said his head was like a skull lookin’ at her” (13). This passage portrays a perfect simile, because it included the word like when comparing two objects; Arthurs head and a skull. This helps the reader imagine what Ms. Crawford was seeing the night when she saw Arthur.

Hanna L To Kill A Mockingbird

                        In my Cyber English 9 class we have just started reading the 1960 bestseller, To Kill A Mockingbird. This week we have read and discussed chapters one through seven. As the  Illuminator in my discussion group, there were a few questions I had to answer, and then discuss and “fill in” my group with the details.

                        An important symbol our group discusses about this section of To Kill A Mockingbird would be “the tree” because of it’s mysterious items followed by it’s mysterious demise. We described the way the author created a clear setting in the book by describing the “the misery of the house”(9), the Radley house, and how it looked like; “low, was once white… but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it.”(8). Our group also discussed many conflicts that happened in chapters one through seven. Some of those conflicts would include: The argument between Ms. Caroline (the teacher), Scout, and Walter Cunningham. The argument between Ms. Caroline and Burris Ewell. When Jem lost his pants to a struggle to escape through the Radley’s fence. And many more. Something else that we all thought was true was the emotion that (Harper) Lee uses in her book. And how most of the emotion she forms, is through strong diction. For example; “once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events; people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated”(9). Also, the primary tone she uses is fear. Lee herself even writes how “folks in Meridian certainly weren’t as afraid as the folks in Maycomb”(13). Something we also started to talk about was the way the town seemed to us. We said that it seemed like the city was poor but polite, and very strict to certain measures, due to what happens at school and in conversations between the townsfolk. Lastly we talked about what character would “join” our discussion group, and we all thought about Walter Cunningham. A poor, shoeless, hungry, shy, well dressed, respectful young man who was in the first grade(19), because he was the character with the strongest description in the book so far.

                        In depth of what my group spoke about, from chapter one to seven, the moral being taught so far has gone down the road of judging others before meeting them or getting to know them. Scout, Dill, and Jem are always talking about “Boo” (a.k.a. Arthur Radley). But how can they say anything about someone they haven’t even met? They believe that he is rather a “madman” who seeks revenge on anyone who dares bothers him, yet they have never met nor seen him. Also, rumors from the town gossip, Stephanie Crawford, also like to play a part in their imaginations, but rumors are, for the most part, NEVER true.

Hanna L To Kill A Mockingbird

            In my groups second discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird we talked about chapters seven through eleven. We also each got a new “role” for this section of the book. My part of this discussion was asking questions during the book and finding evidence to answer them.

            In our group, our “connector” spoke about how in his opinion, Maycomb seems a lot like Sheboygan Falls High School because both like to help others out when needed, aside from the outcasts (e.g. the Ewells). We also talked about how Scout seems to be a strong “fighter”, or a person who stands up for what they believe in. “You gonna take it back, Fra-ancis?”(83)”[n-word]-lover…” This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth.”(84). As you can see Scout always seems to “pick a fight” when she thinks something is wrong (in her mind). Something we all thought was an important event that takes place in To Kill a Mockingbird is when Mrs. Maudie’s house is burning and Scout ends up getting an unexpected visit from the mysterious “Boo” Radley. Even though Scout ends up with his blanket on her back, she never realizes until Atticus points it out (72).We also said that this kind of portrays a new side of Boo, and what he really is like, despite all the town rumors about him. When it came to my turn to share about the book, I told my group about how I continuously think about when Scout and Jem will meet Boo, and what will their reactions be when they finally do meet him? Our group discussed ideas of their reactions; excitement, fear, happiness, even confusion (for Scout of course). I also had to answer the question of what question I would ask the author and I said why did you choose to have Jem read to Mrs. Dubose, when she was close to dying, for a punishment? Couldn’t he have gotten something else as a punishment? Our group said “well maybe it was so she could enjoy her last month alive?”, but it is still a relatively good discussion question. And about the last question that I had to answer was very hard to choose “right” for, but I ended up talking about the time when Boo covers Scout with a blanket (72), showing that he has a sensitive side, and we talked about the first time that a mockingbird is mentioned in the book. Page ninety says; “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mocking bird” (90). Our group discussed that the author, Harper Lee, might be using the method of foreshadowing, and that this is a sort of metaphoric phase saying that something really bad will is going to happen in the town Maycomb.

            After discussing this section of the book I’ve come to find that the theme, for chapters seven through eleven, is a lot about how it’s OK to stand up for yourself and what you believe in sometimes, but in other times it’s best to just “turn the other cheek” and forgive and forget. The reason I think this theme matches well to these chapters is because it always seems to be talking about how Scout always want to pick a fight with any “wrong-doer”, but sometimes she “walked away from a fight”(77) for Atticus and for their family name. So, as a final word, learning how to forgive is important because then others will have the heart to forgive you too.

Hanna L To Kill A Mockingbird

            Bravery, courage, hopefulness, and joy; these are four traits that can get you very far in the human world. Bravery helps you to persevere and do what’s right. Courage helps you to push yourself into doing things you wouldn’t normally do. Hopefulness is to believe in things that might seem impossible. And joy which brings a smile to everyone’s face. Not everyone knows what these terms mean, but Sarah Starsynski did.

            Bravery is something we all have. It is the feeling we get when we feel something is wrong, and needs to be “dealt” with. Sarah showed bravery when she was up against a French policeman. She did so by not being “afraid of him. And she felt a sort of strange pity for him.” (90), which in turn helped her stand up to him. Courage is to have bravery. Sarah showed courage numerous times. When she “had gotten on a train all by herself, and the soldiers hadn’t even stopped her” (149) because she was too stealthy when she slipped onto the train. Hopefulness is what people have when they believe. Sarah was always hopeful, about saving “her brother from the cupboard” (258), even if the worst case scenarios seem inevitable. And last but not least, Joy. Or complete happiness in hard times. Even in concentration camps, she showed joy by helping the little ones who had been separated from their parents. She showed them love “conferted them, smiled at them, kissed them at night, and told them “stories she used to tell her brother before his bedtime” (80). Sarah was a kind, thoughtful, and mature young lady. It’s too bad she had to “learn the hard way” to grow up.

            Sarah went through one of the hardest times in world history; the Holocaust. She needed bravery in order to “stick up” for herself and to stay alive. Courage, in order to keep her spirits up to save her brother. Hope to help her not think of the worst possible outcome. And joy, which helped her, and many others, to live and survive during the holocaust.

Hanna L Uncategorized

Many people know about the Holocaust and Germany’s various “contributions”. But some people don’t know that that was not the only place where “Jews were persecuted for their beliefs” (298). France is one place where Jews were stripped of their citizenship, torn apart from each other,experimented on, beaten, and starved and worked (mostly) to death. Many innocent lives were lost.

Sarah Starzynski may have only been a fictional character who was portrayed as a Jew, but there were THOUSANDS of Jews in France that WERE deported from their homes, and shipped to concentration camps that changed their lives forever; mentally, physically, and emotionally. In Sarah’s Key, Sarah was only a ten-year-old when this happened. But ten years old wasn’t even the youngest age, “some of them were so small they could hardly answer” (80) or in other words they were speechless due to their young age. Children were “torn-apart”, brokenhearted, malnourished little kids who were separated from her parents at a very young age, all because of their religion. Not only is this completely abominable, it’s outright horrendous to separate a child from their parents!

The Vel’d’ Hiv’ was a real event that did happen. And although Sarah may not have been a real person, her story is not far from what other stories survivors have. A memorial was built in Paris, France to honor these courageous individuals that had to suffer in concentration camps and more, during the Holocaust. There are more than “76,000 names” (288) engraved into this extremely symbolic, “huge, gray stone wall” (288). These are the names of every single Jew that had been deported from France. Therefore, its nickname that most know it as, the “Deportation Memorial,” fits it well. To finish this discussion, might I add “Zakhor, Al Tichkah. Remember. Never forget.”(288) May these Hebrew words help to inspire others to know more about the stories of the many lost lives during this extremely tragic point in time.

Hanna L indepentent reading, Sarah's Key