Chu Ju"s House

Summary

Chu Ju's House 

The book Chu Ju's house is about a 14 year old chinese girl, who lives with her parents alone in a little town. Her parents always wanted a little baby boy, girls were not wanted in China to this time period. Chu Ju always had to do the Chores, like clean the house or make food. She wished with her parents to get a little brother, she feared that if the baby that her Ma Ma soon would give birth to could be a little girl.  When the baby came, it turned out to be a boy, and Chu Ju's parents were really upset. In China, families were only allowed to have 2 children, three if the family was rich enough to pay for it but that did not include Chu Ju's family. Because it already was their second child, the parents wanted to bring it to ophargy. After offering the baby for sale, the family needed to bring it away, and Chu Ju didn't want the baby to go away, she took care of it for the whole time Hua Blossom, the name of the baby was there, and she only wanted the best for Hua. Chu Ju decided to disappear so that her family could keep Hua. Chu Ju ran away from home, and found an old boat on a river to stay in for a while. Because she couldn't stay there for logn, Chu Ju decided to search for a place where she could work for three meals a day, and then she found a rice factory where the owner promised her three meals a day. 

A Pickpocket's Tale Disscussion Director - Dziugas

A pickpocket's Tale
The beggining of the book was about Molly the main character going to america because she was cought pickpoceting even though she doesn't think that she did. My job was to be the Discussion Director which is to wrigte a list of questions that your group might want to discuss about this section of the book. You also need to write your own answers.
My first question was :
Do you think that the person who took her handcuffs and gave her food for her trip, do you think that he is close to her like a family?
My answer was no.
Xander's answer was no however because they are jewish they are like a big family.
Elena's answer was no.
My second question was:
Who do you think caught her pickpocketing?
everyones answer was that it was the person who she selled it to.
Third question was :
Why does adah behave bad with Molly?
all answered that it is because of here expierience.
Fourth question was :
Do you agree that boys are the most dangerous people not men?
My answer was yes since they don't really think too much unlike men have experience and don't wan't to do that again.
Xander's answer was no because men have enough money to buy real wepons.
Elena's answe was yes.
Last question was Do you think that the familly is acting that they care for Molly?
All of us answered no not really.

The Life of Pi-Part 1-Vocabulary

The Life of Pi

Yann Martel

April, 22, 2016

In the first part of the book, we learn about his background. Where he originally came from, how he got his nickname Pi, his family and religion, and most importantly the problems he faced. Through part 1 there was a variety of words that were very grown up or just complicated to understand.

Page 3, Paragraph 1-Introspective-the act or process of looking into ones self (looking at something inside)

Page 11, Paragraph 1-Cesspool- an underground tank or covered pit where liquid waste and sewage is stored before disposal (pool)

Page 11, Paragraph 1- Gob- a lump or clot of a slimy substance (glob)

Page 12, Paragraph 5- Incessant- never stopping (assessing)

Page 16, Paragraph 3- Hierarchy- a system in which people are ranked according to status or authority (religion)

Page 25, Paragraph 4- Avowed- declare or confess openly (avoided)

Page 41, Paragraph 1- Surmise- Believes something to be so without having evidence (summarize)

Page 61, Paragraph 4- Pious- having or showing reverence to god (a french word)

Page 73, Paragraph 10- Zeal- eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something ( a part of a peal)

-In parentheses is what the group members thought the word meant before I told them-

The pickpockets tale-vocabulary enricher

Page 1 Paragraph 1 Manacled A person or a part of a manacle.

Page 1 Paragraph 1 Dismal Concering a mood of gloom or depression.
Page 1 Paragraph 1 Pursed The pucker or contracting to express disapproval or irritation.
Page 1 Paragraph 2  Whence From witch place or source.
1 Page 3 Paragraph Stricken Seriously affected by an undesirable condition or unplesent feeling.
Page 1 Paragraph 3 Bailiffs A sheriffs officer who executes.

1984 Conflict

Boris Bulatovic

George Orwell

Conflict and Obstacles

There are many conflicts and obstacles in 1984 by George Orwell. Winston the main character faces many obstacles which prevent him from reaching his goal. There are many conflicts in the book both internal and external.

Most of the internal conflicts in the novel arise from Winstons’s depression and sadness in his life, he feels as though he has no purpose. They also arise from his suspicions that the Party controls everything and has ultimate power over everyone. In the beginning of the novel when we are introduced to Winston he is extremely depressed and miserable and that depression and sadness is mostly caused because of his hatred towards the Party. He cannot be happy with just letting the Party have control so this is internal, Man vs. Self. Even though Winston's unhappiness is caused by the Party Winston's is disturbed with his angst about the Party.

The internal conflict comes from Winston himself. After he meets Julia, who is a free-spirit who also works in the Ministry of Truth, he is constantly paranoid about being caught rebelling against the all-powerful Party. It is almost as if there is a haze over his happiness, which is always present.

The external conflicts in this novel are caused by repression and fear, repression and fear the Party puts on its pawns. Winstons and other members of the Party are constantly being watched by Big Brother, which leaves the pawns in continuous fear of the punishment of rebellion. The Party in the novel maintains that external fear through constant examples of encouraging the turning in of friends, punishments and propaganda.

Other external conflicts come at the ending of the novel with Winston's torture and slow degradation of his body and mind. These torture techniques are external conflicts.

Winston faced many obstacles in the novel. The main one being external he had to battle and rebel against a giant massive all powerful Party this is the main cause of all of his issues. The Party is what caused his conflict without them, Winston would be happy and everything would be utopian. Winston's goal is to obliterate the Party so without the party Winston would not have a goal, the party is what stands between Winston and his happiness.

The other obstacle that Winston faced was himself. His conscious is the reason he even rebelled in the first placed, without his conscious he would be happy and would not combat the oppressive system.

The obstacles and the Party in the end get the better of Winston. This is stated in the final sentence of the novel.

1984 - Conflict and Obstacles

The main conflict in the novel is the conflict between Winston and the Society, i.e. man vs. society. The conflict arises when Winston starts questioning the world around him, his position in such a world and the purpose of his life. He realizes that the world he has helped create is fake, that it is dominated by fear and hypocrisy. He feels disillusioned and lonely.

He lives a meaningless life, devoid of any emotions. He has come out of a failed, loveless marriage. He has no close family members or ties. He works for the Government, in the Ministry of Truth and he actively works for the system. Ironically, while he works for the Ministry of Truth, his job is to manipulate the truth, change historical records and create the new truth, as designed by the Government. He is aware that the life shaped by the Big Brother is false and that there is no space for individuality and personal freedom and entrepreneurship.

Winston realizes that by deleting and changing history and installing systems to monitor, manipulate and suppress any rebellious behavior and actions, the Government is preventing changes and progress and is reducing life to mere existence devoid of any feelings and purpose.

He wants to know what it was like before the totalitarian revolution. He decides to rebel on the personal level, but is sadly aware that the system cannot be changed with individual actions only. He decides to rebel in secret, knowing that he is putting life at risk if he gets caught.

There are two obstacles that Winston encounters in his struggle for freedom and change:

·         Hypocrisy and betrayal by the people he trusted

·         Weakness of the individual caused by the fear of the unknown and the fear of the reprisal

The change in his life starts when he is approached secretly by Julia, a colleague, working with him in the Ministry of Truth, who shows her  feelings for him. They embark on a relationship and share feelings, which itself was not in conformity with the system that promoted loveless relationships. Winston then decides to keep diary, and get close to the Brotherhood.

Fearing for his own safety, Winston’s communication and interaction is reduced to three people: Julia, Mr. Charrington who rents the room for secret dates with Julia, and O’Brien, a member of the Inner Party, a man who they believe is part of the Brotherhood. He feels that he can trust no one else in a society in which friend betrays friend and child betrays parent. 

Winston and Julia’s small hopes are destroyed when they are arrested by the Thought Police, who surround them in their “secret” apartment. They are further disappointed when they find out that Mr. Charrington is a member of the Thought Police and that their every movement during the past months has been monitored.  Furthermore, when tortured at he Ministry of Love, Winston realizes that O’Brien is supervising the torture.

The betrayal of the people that he trusted ultimately crush him and make him even more disillusioned. He loses faith in people and he no longer believes a change is possible.

Winston is ultimately released by the Thought Police. However, he awaits the punishment and knows he will be executed. Julia admits that she had betrayed their love. To his own astonishment and disappointment, Winston feels no longer any desire for her. He feels emotionally dead. The only hope he had was now gone. Instead, he decided to have a drink at the Chestnut Street Cafe.

Winston knows that it is only a matter of time before the Party kills him. However, when the telescreen shows the news of the army’s latest success, he is overcome with joy. He shows openly he supports the system and he is defeated by the system.  He admits that there is no hope for the individual in the face of the system, human weakness and fear for existence. One has to obey and abide by rules to be safe, even if that means leading an empty life. The Party finally controls Winston. His defeat is summed up in the closing sentence, “He loved Big Brother.”

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Gathering Blue, a book by Lois Lowry talks about Kira's struggles and how her whole life is basically a conflict.

The conflict in this book is definitely external. Throughout the novel, Kira learns more about her society and how unfair and horrible they are. Moreover, so far in the book the conflicts were with the people in her village. One example of Man v.s. Man was when Kira was taking some carrots from the ground to have something to eat. While she was doing that a women came to her and stole her carrots. The women took advantage of her and her inability to run with her deformed leg. She didn't yet overcome this obstacle but I believe that she will by addressing the whole society. My guess is that her problems and inequality would become somewhat of conflict between her and the society.

Another example for a Man v.s. Man conflict is with Vandara. Vandara is a woman which wants to steal Kira's property and build something of her own need. She thinks that she would be easily able to do that because of Kira's deformed leg but it doesn't really end up being easy for Vandara. Vandara got into an argument with Kira talking about how how she will rebuild her own cott on Kira's property. But, the protagonist stayed strong and didn't let her.

Vandra

Kira