Interpreting The Characters

Authors Note: This is my Point Of View essay. I decided to do this essay on Twilight because I think that the book would be very different if it was told in a different point of view. 

In Twilight, Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington and meets a vampire named Edward Cullen; they fall in love and face the consequences of being together. They do anything to be with each other, even in life or death situations. The novel is written in Bella’s point of view. From her perspective, she doesn’t care that everything around her is dangerous and life threatening: she just wants to be with Edward. In the book Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, 17 year-old Bella Swan’s point of view affects how readers feel about certain characters and events.

Bella’s point of view affects readers interpretation of the character’s because what we think about them is mainly what Bella perceives them as. Such as the character Rosalie Hale. Bella thinks that Rosalie does not like her, since she is always giving her evil glares. But if the story were to be told in Rosalie’s point of view, then we would know what she really thinks about Bella. The readers know and feel how much Bella loves Edward, and how much she wants to be with him. When Bella meets Edward for the first time in Biology class, she doesn’t know what is wrong with Edward because he looks very disgusted by her. Bella thinks that she smells bad, but if the book was told in Edwards point of view, we would know that it was just because her blood smelled good; he wasn’t able to hear her thoughts either.

If Twilight were to be told in Edwards point of view, readers would be able to feel the amount of self-control that Edward has to have in order to be around Bella. Readers would also be able to learn more about Edward’s past and the thoughts of the other characters: since he has the ability to read minds. When the evil vampire James is on the hunt to try and kill Bella, Edward is furious. If it was told in Edward’s perspective, we would know how frustrated he was with James, and how much he wanted to keep Bella safe.

17 year-old Bella Swan’s point of view affects how readers feel about certain events and characters in the novel Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. In many books, if the point of view is changed then the whole story can end up being different. If Twilight were to be told in a different point of view, readers would interpret characters and events in a completely different way.

The Land Without Love

Authors Note: This is my theme analysis essay on the book "Delirium". I decided to write this essay on this book because I just recently finished it, and I thought that it was really well written. It kept me wanting to keep reading more, and the themes were meaningful.

People, living their lives as if they're zombies. Living as if there's a constant bubble separating them from the real world. Finding out that their entire life has been a lie. Magdalena Tiddle, otherwise known as Lena, lives in Portland, Maine where there is no such thing as love. "Amor Deliria Nervosa", is thought of as a disease, where the side effects can be things like depression, fatigue, and even death. In the heart-breaking but fervent story “Delirium”, by Lauren Oliver, the main theme is courage because of the passionate actions shown by the main character.

Seventeen-year old Lena Tiddle has lived her life in captivity, even though she has just realized it. She has always been the shy girl, that always goes along with what people say, so that she doesn’t get into trouble. But when she meets Alex Warren, she finds out what her life has really been like. The government has been lying about everything for the past 64 years, when they discovered that love was a disease called “the deliria”. Alex tells her the truth about everything. How the Invalids do exist, and that they all live in the Wilds. There are many sympathizers and resisters living a secret life in Portland. When Lena thought that the sympathizers and resisters were executed, they were actually just people living normal lives. Sympathizers and resistors are people that resist getting cured, so they get thrown into the Crypts, where they are left to rot. Discovering so many new things about her life made Lena bring up the courage to do what she believes in, and to do what she thinks is right. She won’t let the government control her, and she gains a huge amount of courage throughout this novel.

Although Lena represents courage through standing up for what she believes in, she also expressed it through protecting the people she cared about. When Lena discovered that her best friend Hana was planning on going to a party with loud music and boys, she was worried about her, because party’s are majorly illegal. But Lena brought up the courage to go to the party, because she wanted to show Hana that she isn’t as scared as she thought she was. At the party, Hana was frantic that Lena decided to come. Lena needed a lot of courage to go to that party, because she had always been so scared to go against the rules; she went because her best friend wanted her to. Lena also finds Alex at the party, but she is still afraid because she doesn’t know what to think of him. They both know it’s illegal for them to interact with one another, but they do it anyways. The first time that Alex and Lena meet together, is at East End Beach. That’s where Alex tells Lena that he is an Invalid; he never was cured and he was born and raised in the Wilds. Alex and Lena both portray a lot of courage, because they trust one another, and they know they will keep one another secrets.

The main characters in “Delirium” illustrate courage, but they aren’t the only ones. Katniss Everdeen in “The Hunger Games”, by Suzanne Collins, also demonstrates quite a lot of courage. “The Hunger Games” is about 12 districts within the country of Panam; the Capital holds The Hunger Games every year, and they choose one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death. This event takes place so that the Capital shows power and control over the districts, and so that they stay in line. Prim Everdeen, Katniss’ sister, got chosen to be in the games, but Katniss volunteered herself to take Prim’s place. Katniss represented loads of courage, because there was a very slim chance that she would survive. Authors Lauren Oliver and Suzanne Collins both have the same type of theme in their books. Each contains the main theme of Courage because of the Government Control that happens in the books.

Courage is the main theme because of passionate actions demonstrated by the main character, in the heart-breaking but fervent novel “Delirium”, by Lauren Oliver. People try to blend in, and some aren’t brave enough to be themselves or standing up for what they believe in. Lena and Alex are big examples of exempting courage, because they stood up for what they believed in; they wanted to make things right. Courage isn’t just a theme, it’s most definitely a life skill that everyone should learn.

Strange Thoughts

Authors Note: This is my creative ending to 3:15. I think that this will be the ending to the story, because I used evidence from the story. 

Cody runs back home to melt the hook into a golden brick. His run down shack has a musty smell, and the floorboards creak as he treads along. He's getting ready to melt the brick as he hears the leaves rustling outside the door. Then he feels a cold rush of air against his skin. Strange thoughts wander into his mind, but he just pushes them aside and continues on to prepare the materials to melt the hook. But then he swears he sees some sort of shadow pass by the window. As he gets up to check the water suddenly starts running and a drawer opens. Cody sprints to the door but he hears the door latch, and he wiggles the knob frantically. His mind gets swarmed with all kinds of thoughts about what could be happening. But as he turns back to the sink, a knife is floating in the air. And the last thing that the village of Marshall heard that night, was an ear piercing scream. 

One out of Thirteen

Authors Note: This piece is my Character Analysis. I chose to analyze the main character in the book "Thirteen Reasons Why", Clay Jensen. Clay is a hard character to analyze because he adds on to his own personality, but I wanted to challenge myself with it.

In the beginning, Clay Jensen is a normal teenager. He goes to school, does his homework, and plays basketball. But one day he finds a mysterious box on his front porch, with seven cassette tapes inside. He finds out that these tapes were recorded by Hannah Baker, who committed suicide two weeks earlier, and that they were made to show the thirteen reasons why she committed suicide. It turns out that Clay was one of those reasons. And by the time Clay is done with the tapes, he realizes what he could’ve done to stop it, and his whole life comes into perspective. Throughout this heart-racing novel, “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher,  Clay Jensen’s life changes, and so does the way he acts.

At the beginning of this book, Clay is a normal teenager. He goes to school, does his homework, and likes to play basketball. As he states in the book, “Basketball. A lot of us played that summer, hoping to make JV as freshmen.” - Cassette 1: Side A, page 22. He starts off as being just like everyone else. Clay was just a normal kid, who went to high school, and blended right in with everyone else. He did what everyone else did, just to make sure that no one gave him too much attention.

Clay changes into a totally new person throughout this entire novel. He goes from a normal teenager, to someone who is filled with guilt. He blames himself for not noticing that Hannah was going through a very tough time in her life. “I was the only person who might’ve been able to reach out and save her from herself.” - Cassette 5: Side B, pg 133. His entire personality changes. It turns into guilt, and regret, from all the chances that he had to stop her, and to help her through the hard times. So many chances were missed, and if he had just realized what was going on, Hannah might still be alive.

Even though Clay changed himself, he influenced the other people around him. The snowball effect, as Hannah calls it, started with Justin Foley, and ended with a teacher. Clay influenced others to keep treating Hannah like dirt, and he didn’t help her situation at all. But Hannah knew that, and the only reason that Clay was in the tapes, was so that she could say she was sorry. Sorry for pushing him away, when all he wanted to do was be in her life.  “I would have helped her if she’d only let me. I would have helped her because I want her to be alive.” - Cassette 7: Side A, page 164.

When I was reading this book, I thought it was very emotional. It made me realize that everything you do can majorly affect other people’s lives. Even the smallest things can have a huge impact on someone. Teenagers in high school always tend to believe all the rumors that they hear, and they add onto them, just making them worse. For Hannah, one small rumor lead to the end of her life.

Changing from normal teenager, to changing yourself as well as the others around you isn’t only in “Thirteen Reasons Why.” Molly Dix, the main character in “Spoiled”, by Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks, has to move in with her famous father and his spoiled daughter. She teaches her half sister to treat others with respect, as well as some important life lessons. Molly and Clay have the same problem. Both of them are confused about life, they both lost people very important to them, and they each learn who their true friends are.

Clay Jensen’s life changes, and so does the way he acts, in the heart-racing novel “Thirteen Reasons Why”, by Jay Asher. He changes into a completely new person, and not necessarily in a good way. But people change throughout life, and sometimes for reasons that are tragic. People change in reality, and in fictional novels.

Inspiration of America

Authors Note: The prompt to this Patriots Pen Essay, is "What would you say to the Founding Fathers?". I decided to talk about what question I would ask them, and explain how much I would like to thank them for everything they've done.

The founding fathers, such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson were major parts of our countries history. They were the ones who created the constitution and changed life as we know it. They wanted to form a country that was different than all the others. Without them, America wouldn’t be what it is today. Even though it’s been over 200 years, the Founding Fathers have inspired so many changes that have happened today.

The government that we have today was majorly affected by the Founding Fathers. The type of government that we have, laws, branches of government, and the way our country is run would all be different. If I had an opportunity to ask the Founding Fathers a question, I would ask them, “What made you do what you did?”  The reasoning isn’t very important, but I think that many Americans would be wondering the same question. They were brave, by making a move to make things right in America. To make the people have a say in what we do and for everyone to be equal with one another. They took a stand for their country because they knew that something needed to be changed. They decided that the citizens of our country should be free, because people shouldn’t be forced to do something they don’t want to do. And I would want to thank them, for all of the risks they took for America, just to make things right. It is hard for me to imagine life if the Founding Fathers didn’t do what they did.

So many changes that have happened today, were inspired by the founding fathers over 200 years ago. The United States of America would be very different if they didn’t do what they did. The Founding Fathers were a part of forming America, and we owe them everything.

I Just Want to be Me

Authors Note: This piece is about a girl like me, who just wants to be herself. And how people treat her different than they usually did. This piece is very emotional to me, and describes how I sometimes feel. 

I’m sick of everybody giving my so much pity and talking to me, and asking me how I feel. I’m sick of people wanting to know how I feel now, when no one talks to me at all when I’m just walking down the hallways. I don’t like when people besides my friends talk to me. I don’t like when people ask me how I feel when I know they don’t really care, they’re just trying to look good. No one really gets how I feel. I’m not the kind of girl that tells everyone how she feels and complains about how she’s feeling. I keep everything to myself. Even some of my other friends don’t even care. But no one knows how badly I just wanna be myself around everyone. No one understands how other people don’t like me because I’m shy. Some of my friends just don’t get it. I just want to yell at my friends to get all of my feelings out, but again, I don’t share my feelings. I keep it too myself, and just express myself in writing. Writing is the best way I can express myself because I’m not rushed into anything. I can take my time to really think about what I want to say. And when I get in fights with my friends, they just keep on fighting, when all I’m really trying to do is express how I feel. All I want to do is be me.

Cause & Effect of Moving

Authors Note: This is a piece about cause and effect, based on my experience of moving to Wisconsin.

An event that happened in my life was that I had to move from Michigan to Wisconsin. My dad got a call from MetalTEK one day, and they had heard that he was very good at his job, and they wanted to have him work for them. He went and interviewed, and he and my mom decided that it would be a good family decision that we would move there. It would make my dad happier, and possibly make my family happier.

The thing that caused this event, was that my dad answered his phone the day MetalTEK called him, and offered him a job. This event effected my life, and my family’s life because we had to leave all of our friends, our school, my parents jobs, and just go move and start all over again. This event might not have happened if my dad didn't answer his phone. If he didn’t answer his phone he might’ve gotten a voicemail still, but we will never know.