Thanksgiving break

On my thanksgiving break, we took a long car trip all the way down to Huntly, IL. Since I still had a cold we decided to skip the plane ride and take the journey in a maroon honda odessy through the fields of corn and soybeans. As we are driving through, there is a lot of time for mindless thinking and nothingness so i couldnt help but to think about Jeanette and her family living without a home, under the stars. On the way to Illinois there are many open fields and it reminded me of the way she described there new home. I was thinking about how cold it was at this time of year and how I dont think I could survive in such harsh conditions. The walls family must have had to deal with all of that and more. One other thing I thought about was on Thursday evening, my family got together and had a big feast for thanksgiving. After reading, I realized that their family probably wouldnt be able to have the fun and joy of eating a big meal baked my their moms and grandmas. Jeanette had cooked her own food while at home so imagine how life on the road was. No stoves and ovens to bake delicious pumpkin pie and turkey with. Its very humbling to think about those less fortunant than you on those days of the year when we have so much given to us.

The Glass Castle 2

This week for my outside reading, The Glass Castle, Jeanette and her family are still living under the stars without a home. She is dreaming off and thinking about the desert because the conditions are much like she expected the desert would be like. They are living out of their car but the kids still dont realize that they wont be going home any time soon. If I were put in the position of Jeanette's mother, I don't know id I'd be able to handle the situation quite as calmly as she had. She almost convinces her kids that they are just there to "live like the indians" and will be just fine. She doesnt once break down and feel ashamed of what she is doing with her life. She knows how to be strong through tough points in life. In America there are many families without homes that we dont think about every day. We dont realize the troubles they have to face or how strong they must be for their kids to grow up and become something. In The Glass Castle, we know that, in the end, Jeanette grows up to be successful and almost ashamed of the past. She knows how hard her childhood was but is still ashamed of where she came from. Her mom did not grow to become something like her daughter so when Jeanette sees her on the streets, she tries to ignore the old lady still in rags. Her mom is proud of who she is and where she came from and so chooses to not accpet the help her daughter gives her. Jeanettes mom is a very strong character who knows how to accept life and work with trouble.

Weekend Birthday

This weekend on saturday was my birthday and although I spent much of it hanging out with friends and eating birthday cake, I also had time to sit down and read a little bit. On busy weekends It is sometimes fun to take a break from it all to just sit and read. This weekend I focused on reading my new outside reading book, The Glass Castle, about the girl whos life was so bad from the beginning that she didnt know it. Later saturday night, when my friends came to wish me a happy birthday, sit by the fire, and give presents, I realized how lucky I am to have the friends and parents that care so much about me. Jeanette's parents dont care for her the same way that mine do. She has to cook her own hot dogs where my mom went and baked a full cake just for my birthday. She has to take care of herself at three years old where I, now a sixteen year old, still have parents to help out and care for everything that happens to me. This weekend I also got very sick and completely lost my voice from a cold that has been spreading around school. My parents have been so helpful taking me to the doctors and making soup for me to get better. In the story, Jeannette's parents take her away from the hospital that is keeping her safe and take off her bandages that are keeping infetion away. As soon as they bring her home, still burned from the fire, she is right back to cooking hot dogs and playing with fire again. I feel so lucky to have parents and friends that care enough about me on my birthday and the days that I am sick to not make me fend for myself.

The Glass Castle

For my outside reading book this quarter I am reading a book called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It is a memoir about a little girl growing up under harsh conditions. Her family gets kicked out of their house and are forced to live on the streets. Jeannette, who is only three years old, finds it fun to sleep under the stars for a night, it reminded her of living like the indians. At the age of three she is very developed in everyday skills. She can make her own food and cook her own hot dogs on the stove which leads to an accidental disaster one day which sent Jeannette to the hospital. In the process of cooking, her dress lit on fire and burned her body from head to toe. as a result of this the parents have no money to pay for doctor bills and so kidnap her from the hospital and take her to live on the streets. Im excited to see how the story unfolds as Jeannette and her family survive the rough life of homelessness and poverty in The Glass Castle.

All My Sons

Im my opinion the play, All My Sons, was very interesting and adressed many issues that I found enjoyable to read about. First When Chris and Ann are deciding to get married, there is conflict with Chris' mom, Kate. She believes that her other son Larry is still alive and that they should not give up on him. Throughout the play, Kate thinks that there is still hope until the end when Ann finally reveals his suicide note and the family is completely shocked. After all that the family has been through the one key element that seems to remain is hope. There is hope of Larry coming back, hope of getting married, and hope of being a family again. In the play, All My Sons, the Keller family pulls through life always thinking things will get better and never giving up on hope.
Also there are other elements that make the story so exciting. The stuggles the family faces and the personalitly of the characters shows how much time the author took in writing the play. First the stuggle with Joe and the plane crashes reveals a side of him that had before never existed. He actually led to the deaths of twenty one people just for the protection of the family. When he admitts to it in the end, his son, Chris, thinks that he took it to far and can not find a way to forgive his father. Athough he claims that he did it for his son, Joe also considers the fact that all of the people who died in the crashes could be considered his sons. It brings a new meaning to the title, All My Sons, because before he was referring to Larry and Chris and now it has changed to 23 people and all are important to him. We also learn how Chris' character is unable to forgive his father for what he has done and shows a side of hostility towards Joe. He calls his father and animal but not even that because an animal doesnt kill its own kind. Chris brings out a side of him that is not there when talking to Ann.
The last element of All My Sons that really adds to the overall effect is the setting of the play. The author does a great job in the beginning of describing how the house looks and refers to the beginning throughout the play. One example of a prop that truely meant something was the tree dedicated to Larry and how it broke during a storm. It is in a way almost foreshadowing to the suicide note at the end and we know for sure that there is no question about him being dead. The tree was all Kate had and once it was gone, so was Larry. In the end, the play, All My Sons, was interesting and enjoyable to read because of its theme, characters, and stylistic setting that brought the story together as a whole.