VOCABULARY
1. capitulated (131) - to have come to terms, given up resistence. (verb)
2. abhorrent (182) - causing repugnance or aversion, loathsome, detestable, in conflict. (adj.)
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "'Hey," he said as someone behing me beeped angrily before whizzing past" (145). This is an onomatopia because the words beeped and whizzing sound like the noises they represent.
2. "Driving into that dark bay, the water suddenly whooshing down like the biggest and most sudden thunderstorm ever" (240). This is a similie because it compares the car wash to a thunderstorm using like or as.
3. "I had a flash of my mother's face an hour earlier, how her eyes had widened when Whitney pushed back her chair, then slammed it against the table, making all our plates jump" (252). This is personification, because a plate can't really jump.
QUOTE
"'Totally honest, totally opinionated. But I guess you already know that.' Whitney just looked at me as he said this, and I knew what she was thinking: that this was not me at all, not by a long shot" (181). Owen sees Annabel as the person she has become and in the few weeks they've known eachother they've learned a lot about eachother and I think that it's interesting that Owen knows her better than her own sister does.
THEME
A theme in this novel is discovering yourself; ever since the first night of the summer in June, Annabel has reinvented herself without really realizing it and Owen made her see that change in herself.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Quarter 2 Post 6B
I'm reading Just Listen by Sarah Dessen and I'm mad about how many unnecassary commas she uses.
Annabel is finding herself very alone right now; she has no best friend, in fact she has no friends at all, and her family is focused on her sister's eating disorder. She has just met Owen Armstrong, an outcast at school and she is slowly finding out that Owen is a very nice and caring person, not at all like people say he is. While getting a ride home from him, she finds out something very interesting: Owen doesn't ever lie.
"'Yeah,' he said. I must have lookes doubtful at this, because he added, 'I don't lie.' 'You don't lie,' I repeated. 'That's what I said.' 'Ever.' 'Nope.' Sure you don't, I thought. 'Well,' I said. 'That's a good policy. If you can stick to it.' 'I don't have a choice,' he replied. 'Holding stuff in doesn't really work for me. Learned that the hard way'"(109).
Is never lying a good thing or a bad thing??? Does it work to your advantage? Does it work towards others advantages? I think that lying is fine if it's a little white lie, like telling someone that they look pretty because they tried even if they look hideous. However, I may want the truth, so I think it would be to other people's advantage if you never lied. The only problem would be that people's feelings would be easily hurt. I don't think it would be to your advantage because people could find out anything from you and others would never trust you.
Annabel is finding herself very alone right now; she has no best friend, in fact she has no friends at all, and her family is focused on her sister's eating disorder. She has just met Owen Armstrong, an outcast at school and she is slowly finding out that Owen is a very nice and caring person, not at all like people say he is. While getting a ride home from him, she finds out something very interesting: Owen doesn't ever lie.
"'Yeah,' he said. I must have lookes doubtful at this, because he added, 'I don't lie.' 'You don't lie,' I repeated. 'That's what I said.' 'Ever.' 'Nope.' Sure you don't, I thought. 'Well,' I said. 'That's a good policy. If you can stick to it.' 'I don't have a choice,' he replied. 'Holding stuff in doesn't really work for me. Learned that the hard way'"(109).
Is never lying a good thing or a bad thing??? Does it work to your advantage? Does it work towards others advantages? I think that lying is fine if it's a little white lie, like telling someone that they look pretty because they tried even if they look hideous. However, I may want the truth, so I think it would be to other people's advantage if you never lied. The only problem would be that people's feelings would be easily hurt. I don't think it would be to your advantage because people could find out anything from you and others would never trust you.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Quarter 2 Post 6A
VOCABULARY
1. Wholly (97)- (adv.) entirely, totally, althogether
2. Barbed (116)- (adj.) capable of wounding
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "Owen Armstrong looked like a giant, his hand enormous as it stretched toward me" (89). This is a similie because it uses the word "like" and compares Owen to a giant.
2. "I wondered why she was my best friend, when more often than not I was either tiptoeing around her or having to ignore one barbed comment or another" (116). This is imagery because it describes how Annabel is very careful about her and Sophie's relationship and the power Sophie had on Annabel.
3. "While Sophie claimed that Will was sweet and funny and hot and smart (as well as a million other adjectives) none of these things really came to mindwhenever I found myself face-to-face with him" (122). This is a hyperbole because a million is an overexageration.
QUOTE
"'I mean, when you really think about it,' he continued,'music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common'" (96). Owen believes that music unites people. I agree with this. Most people I hang out with don't understand why I love classical rock so much, yet people who are almost opposite of my love classical rock.
THEME
An emerging theme in this book is to not believe everything you hear; Owen turns out to be a completely different kind of person than Annabel expected, he is nice, sincere, and is determined to never lie.
1. Wholly (97)- (adv.) entirely, totally, althogether
2. Barbed (116)- (adj.) capable of wounding
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "Owen Armstrong looked like a giant, his hand enormous as it stretched toward me" (89). This is a similie because it uses the word "like" and compares Owen to a giant.
2. "I wondered why she was my best friend, when more often than not I was either tiptoeing around her or having to ignore one barbed comment or another" (116). This is imagery because it describes how Annabel is very careful about her and Sophie's relationship and the power Sophie had on Annabel.
3. "While Sophie claimed that Will was sweet and funny and hot and smart (as well as a million other adjectives) none of these things really came to mindwhenever I found myself face-to-face with him" (122). This is a hyperbole because a million is an overexageration.
QUOTE
"'I mean, when you really think about it,' he continued,'music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common'" (96). Owen believes that music unites people. I agree with this. Most people I hang out with don't understand why I love classical rock so much, yet people who are almost opposite of my love classical rock.
THEME
An emerging theme in this book is to not believe everything you hear; Owen turns out to be a completely different kind of person than Annabel expected, he is nice, sincere, and is determined to never lie.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Quarter 2 Post 5B
I'm reading Just Listen by Sarah Dessen and it is getting very good!
Annabel is friends with Sophie and Clarke, but Sophie wants to go off and be more wild and Clarke does not. Annabel is stuck in the middle of it. This may be only one night, but it defines their personalities and interests on a larger scale and this is the night and decision that changes everything.
"She started toward the front door, and for a second, I just stood there. Everything about the Reynoldses' kitchen and this night was so familiar: the smell of pizza in the oven, the two-liter Coke on the countertop, Clarke in her spot on the couch, my spot open and waiting for me beside her. But then I looked down the hallway to Sophie, who was now standing in the open door. Behind her, it was just barely dark, the streetlights flickering on, and before I could change my mind, I walked toward her and stepped outside" (72). Annabel makes the ultimate decision to go with Sophie and go to a party where she knew there was going to be alcohol and older guys at the pool which they aren't allowed to be at night. She didn't know that this would ruin her friendship with Clarke, but it eventually did. She regrets this night now and thinks that her life would be completely different if she hadn't followed Sophie. Would you have been tempted to follow Sophie if you had no way of knowing that one decision would drastically change your life?
Annabel is friends with Sophie and Clarke, but Sophie wants to go off and be more wild and Clarke does not. Annabel is stuck in the middle of it. This may be only one night, but it defines their personalities and interests on a larger scale and this is the night and decision that changes everything.
"She started toward the front door, and for a second, I just stood there. Everything about the Reynoldses' kitchen and this night was so familiar: the smell of pizza in the oven, the two-liter Coke on the countertop, Clarke in her spot on the couch, my spot open and waiting for me beside her. But then I looked down the hallway to Sophie, who was now standing in the open door. Behind her, it was just barely dark, the streetlights flickering on, and before I could change my mind, I walked toward her and stepped outside" (72). Annabel makes the ultimate decision to go with Sophie and go to a party where she knew there was going to be alcohol and older guys at the pool which they aren't allowed to be at night. She didn't know that this would ruin her friendship with Clarke, but it eventually did. She regrets this night now and thinks that her life would be completely different if she hadn't followed Sophie. Would you have been tempted to follow Sophie if you had no way of knowing that one decision would drastically change your life?
Quarter 2 Post 5A
VOCABULARY
1. garnered (65)- (v.) to have gathered and stored, aquiered
2. glib (84)- (adj.) fluent, loquacious, smooth, talkative
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "Beep" (77). This was the noise symbolizing the answering machine. It is an onomatopia because that is what it actually sounds like.
2. "His size, of course, you saw first: the height, the big wrists, the enormity of his mere presence. But there were little thing, too, like his dark eyes, which were either green or brown, and the two identical rings-- each flat, wide, and silver-- he wore on the middle finger of each hand" (66). This is imagery because it describes certain aspects of Owen in detail.
3. "A breeze blew across me then, catching the edge of my notes, making them flutter, the sound like litlle wings" (85). This is a similie comparing the noise of the wind hitting her notes to the sound of little wings.
QUOTE
"Even though I remembered smiling each time the flash popped, my expression in the final product is not one I recognize, my face caught somewhere between Kirsten's broad grin and Whitney's gorgeous hauntedness" (79). This is symbolic because it is like how Annabel is between her sisters in personality too, not just in the picture. Their faces match up perfectly with the personality descriptions too.
THEME
A theme in this novel is friendship; Annabel was great friends with Clarke, then Sophie, and now she has no one.
1. garnered (65)- (v.) to have gathered and stored, aquiered
2. glib (84)- (adj.) fluent, loquacious, smooth, talkative
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "Beep" (77). This was the noise symbolizing the answering machine. It is an onomatopia because that is what it actually sounds like.
2. "His size, of course, you saw first: the height, the big wrists, the enormity of his mere presence. But there were little thing, too, like his dark eyes, which were either green or brown, and the two identical rings-- each flat, wide, and silver-- he wore on the middle finger of each hand" (66). This is imagery because it describes certain aspects of Owen in detail.
3. "A breeze blew across me then, catching the edge of my notes, making them flutter, the sound like litlle wings" (85). This is a similie comparing the noise of the wind hitting her notes to the sound of little wings.
QUOTE
"Even though I remembered smiling each time the flash popped, my expression in the final product is not one I recognize, my face caught somewhere between Kirsten's broad grin and Whitney's gorgeous hauntedness" (79). This is symbolic because it is like how Annabel is between her sisters in personality too, not just in the picture. Their faces match up perfectly with the personality descriptions too.
THEME
A theme in this novel is friendship; Annabel was great friends with Clarke, then Sophie, and now she has no one.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Quarter 2 Post 4B
I'm reading Sarah Dessen's book Just Listen.
The section I just read was all about Annabel's family falling apart and then attempting to recover which is a work in progress. Whitney has an eating disorder and her mother refuses to believe Kirsten until it is so serious that Whitney passes out a second time and is hospitalized. She enters treatment and then comes back home. She is slowly overcoming her anorexia. Kirsten decides that she doesn't enjoy modeling anymore and this upsets their mother greatly because she always took pride and joy in her daughters' modeling jobs. Kirsten decides to go back to school so she can get a "real job".
"Again, my sisters were at extremes yet similar at the same time: Each was starting over, but only one by choice" (62). Whitney and Kirsten are polar opposites, but they are going through changes in their lives and have torn their family apart with their problems. Kirsten has full control over her life and is happy while Whitney is forced through treatment and has barely any control on her life currently. They are angry at eachother and refuse to talk even though it could be beneficial to both of them to have eachother to turn to and help. "As different as my family was that night it all began from what we appeared to be-- the five of us, a happy family, sharing a meal in our glass house-- to anyone passing by on a roadside, looking in" (63). Their family looks perfect from the outside and no one knows how much they have been through. Annabel believes that the whole situation has changed her, yet she is the only one who can see it. This is similar to their family issues because only they know about it.
The section I just read was all about Annabel's family falling apart and then attempting to recover which is a work in progress. Whitney has an eating disorder and her mother refuses to believe Kirsten until it is so serious that Whitney passes out a second time and is hospitalized. She enters treatment and then comes back home. She is slowly overcoming her anorexia. Kirsten decides that she doesn't enjoy modeling anymore and this upsets their mother greatly because she always took pride and joy in her daughters' modeling jobs. Kirsten decides to go back to school so she can get a "real job".
"Again, my sisters were at extremes yet similar at the same time: Each was starting over, but only one by choice" (62). Whitney and Kirsten are polar opposites, but they are going through changes in their lives and have torn their family apart with their problems. Kirsten has full control over her life and is happy while Whitney is forced through treatment and has barely any control on her life currently. They are angry at eachother and refuse to talk even though it could be beneficial to both of them to have eachother to turn to and help. "As different as my family was that night it all began from what we appeared to be-- the five of us, a happy family, sharing a meal in our glass house-- to anyone passing by on a roadside, looking in" (63). Their family looks perfect from the outside and no one knows how much they have been through. Annabel believes that the whole situation has changed her, yet she is the only one who can see it. This is similar to their family issues because only they know about it.
Quarter 2 Post 4A
VOCABULARY
1. emaciated (52)- (v.) to have been made extremely thin by starvation
2. palpable (53)- (adj.) obvious, plainly seen
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "So while it seemed like you were seeing everything, you really weren't. Just bits and peices that looked like a whole" (49). This sentence is suppossed to be referring to Annabel's house, but in the paragraph before she had been tlking about how her family looked so perfect from the outside, so this is a metaphor comparing her house to her family.
2. "Her eyes looked sunken in her face, and you could see all the tendons in her neck, moving like puppet strings whenever she turned her head" (52). This is an example of imagery because it is very descriptive, yet it also has a similie comparing puppet strings to her neck tendons.
3. "As she shifted again, though, I saw it, the one thing that would stick with me forever: the sharpness of her shoulder blades as they rose out of her skin, looking like the wings of a dead baby bird I'd once found in our backyard, hairless and barely born, already broken" (57). This is a similie comparing Whitney's anorexic shoulder blades to the broken wings of a baby bird.
QUOTE
"But still, my mother didn't go. This was the biggest mystery, the one thing, that looking back, I could never quite figure out. For whatever reason, she chose to believe Whitney. It was a mistake" (52). Annabel thinks that if her mom had flewn out to New York and followed Kirsten's warning about Whitney, then everything would have been different.
THEME
A theme in this novel is family dysfunction and repair; Whitney and Kirsten destroy their happy family and now they are both reinventing themselves.
1. emaciated (52)- (v.) to have been made extremely thin by starvation
2. palpable (53)- (adj.) obvious, plainly seen
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "So while it seemed like you were seeing everything, you really weren't. Just bits and peices that looked like a whole" (49). This sentence is suppossed to be referring to Annabel's house, but in the paragraph before she had been tlking about how her family looked so perfect from the outside, so this is a metaphor comparing her house to her family.
2. "Her eyes looked sunken in her face, and you could see all the tendons in her neck, moving like puppet strings whenever she turned her head" (52). This is an example of imagery because it is very descriptive, yet it also has a similie comparing puppet strings to her neck tendons.
3. "As she shifted again, though, I saw it, the one thing that would stick with me forever: the sharpness of her shoulder blades as they rose out of her skin, looking like the wings of a dead baby bird I'd once found in our backyard, hairless and barely born, already broken" (57). This is a similie comparing Whitney's anorexic shoulder blades to the broken wings of a baby bird.
QUOTE
"But still, my mother didn't go. This was the biggest mystery, the one thing, that looking back, I could never quite figure out. For whatever reason, she chose to believe Whitney. It was a mistake" (52). Annabel thinks that if her mom had flewn out to New York and followed Kirsten's warning about Whitney, then everything would have been different.
THEME
A theme in this novel is family dysfunction and repair; Whitney and Kirsten destroy their happy family and now they are both reinventing themselves.
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