The post New Book Schedule-“Forever Butterfly Sequel”! appeared first on Nightingale.

The writer uses metaphor to convey the majestic nature of the hawk. This can be shown from the description of the hawk: “She is a conjuring trick. A reptile. A fallen angel. A griffon from the pages of an illuminated bestiary. Something bright and distant, like gold falling through water.” These sentences describe the young hawk as lots of things, including a reptile that represents fierceness, a fallen angel that represents outstanding beauty and innocence, a griffon that represents unbounded courage, and gold falling through water that suggests the natural magnificence of the hawk. The metaphors used in these descriptions vividly illustrate the hawk as a strong, beautiful and admirable being, and this can be concluded as being majestic. Therefore, the writer uses metaphor to convey the majestic nature of the hawk.

Besides illustration of the hawk, the writer also reveals the feelings of Helen Macdonald. Firstly, the writer uses polysyndeton to convey the feelings of Helen Macdonald. This is shown at the beginning of the third paragraph: “[…] he reached inside, and amidst a whirring, chaotic clatter of wings and feet and talons and a high-pitched twittering and it’s all happening at once […]” The repetition of the conjunction “and” speeds up the pace, showing a large number of details Helen Macdonald noticed, implying that she was worried, a bit disconcerted, quite interested and paid a great amount of attention on the hawk. Therefore, the writer uses polysyndeton to convey the feelings of Helen Macdonald.

Secondly, the writer uses a single sentence word to convey the surprise of Helen Macdonald. When Macdonald realized that the hawk was not hers, the writer uses a paragraph with just a sentence with only one word: “Oh.” This sentence, comparing to the ones from the last paragraph, was like a sudden break. It is a sound in a long silence to voice Macdonald’s surprise, trying to understand what had just happened. This accurately shows Macdonald’s unbelief that the younger hawk, the one that she adored so much, was not her hawk. Thus, the writer uses and single sentence word to convey the surprise of Helen Macdonald.

In conclusion, in the extract from H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, the writer uses metaphor to vividly illustrate the majestic nature of the hawk, polysyndeton and a single sentence word to convey the inner feelings of Macdonald effectively.

**I’ve read some book review H is for Hawk seems to be quite interesting! I decide to read it next week.

The post Language Techniques in H is for Hawk appeared first on Nightingale.

– What the writer focuses your attention on at the beginning
– How and why the writer changes this focus as the extract develops
– Any other structural features that interest you

In the extract of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the writer structured the text to interest readers.

Firstly, the writer interests readers by putting the focus on the sceneries at the outset of the extract. This is shown when the writer illustrates the things around the river — the “rioted vegetation”, the “thick and sluggish air” and sunshine. With the focus on the sceneries, the writer gives the reader a clear idea of what kind of special environment the extract takes place in. Therefore, the writer interests readers by putting the focus on the sceneries at the outset of the extract.

Secondly, the writer changes the focus in the extract. This can be shown when the writer starts to describe the main character, Marlow’s thoughts and feelings when he was steering: “There were moments when one’s past came back to one, as it will sometimes when you have not a moment to spare for yourself…” This makes the text more interesting, as the readers would not only know about the sceneries but also about what kind of person Marlow is through his inner feelings. Thus, the writer changes the focus in the extract to interest the readers.

Thirdly, the writer slows down the pace at the end of the extract to interest the readers. There are lots of information closely packed at the beginning of the second paragraph, such as descriptions of the natives, of the station on the bank, and of the features of the trees. Everything happens at a fast speed. On the contrary, when it comes to the end of the second paragraph, the pace slows down. This gives the feeling as if the boat went deep into the forest, resulting in creating a mysterious atmosphere that interests the readers. For this reason, the writer slows down the pace at the end of the extract.

As a conclusion, the writer uses structure techniques on the text to make it more interesting to the readers.

The post Structure in Heart of Darkness appeared first on Nightingale.

Para 1:
From whose Point of View is the novel written? Explain why this point of view is effective for this novel.

The novel is written in the 1st person narrator. The point of view is very effective for this novel. It builds up a connection between the writer and the readers, allowing the readers to have a good insight into the writer’s early life so that they could know what the writer has experienced and understand her thoughts as well as opinions towards things.

Para 2:
List Four Characters and explain their importance or significance to the novel as a whole.

1.Marguerite Annie Johnson
Marguerite was the main character in the novel. Born in Long Beach, California, she was shipped away by her dad to her grandmother. Marguerite was a girl with courage. Although her childhood was filled with sadness, she was optimistic and always follow her dreams with determination.

2.Bailey Johnson
Bailey was Marguerite’s elder brother. As he grew up together with Marguerite, they often share their thoughts and emotions together. He was the greatest person in the world to the young Marguerite. Bailey protected Marguerite from the unkind words and offered her mental support when she needed help.

3.Momma
Ms. Annie Henderson lived in the stamps. She raised Bailey and Marguerite up for most of their childhood. She was very realistic when facing racism, trying to be reasonable and calm so lives in her family would not be risked. She also cared a lot for the wellbeing of her grandchildren. She sacrificed a lot for her grandchildren so they could have a better life.

4.Vivian Baxter
Vivian is the mother of Marguerite and Bailey. She divorced with Big Bailey and live on her own. She was educated and quick with a joke. Marguerite was speechless when she saw her mum, astonished by her beauty, and Bailey immediately fell in love with her. Although Vivian did not visit her children in years, she still demonstrated a high degree of maternal intuition when Marguerite was raped by Vivian’s live-in boyfriend.

Para 3:
Main Conflict or Challenge in the novel for the protagonist (main character): As an autobiography, there are many conflicts in the story. There is the Man vs. Society conflict: The society Marguerite lived in was so segregated that when she was young, she did not even believe the existence of whites. As Marguerite grew up, she experienced more and more racism.
There is also Man vs. Man conflicts: Vivian’s boyfriend Mr. Freeman raped 8-year-old Marguerite, menacing her that if she screamed he would kill her. Dolores, Marguerite’s father’s girlfriend, became jealous of the relationship between Marguerite and her father. Out of her jealousy, she fought and cut Marguerite. Last but not least, there is the Man vs. Self conflict. Marguerite once thought herself ugly. She thought that her family’s good look was painful to her. She felt unwanted. She thought that the reason why she and Bailey were sent away was because that their mother was too pretty to have children. Marguerite also felt insecure and had no control over her life.

Para 4:
Climax of the novel (the main turning point): (Three to Four sentences)

The climax was when Marguerite was cut by her father’s girlfriend and ran away from her father. This is when she, for the first time, displayed her true act of self-reliance and independence after her feeling of inferiority for so long. She lived in the junkyard for a month and worked with people of different races, experiencing being accepted by people and a sense of belonging. Everyone in the junkyard was respected and was equal.

Para 5:
How the main conflict or challenge is resolved by the end of the novel:
From the junkyard, Marguerite changed a lot. She was being unquestioningly accepted by the rest of the community. She was benefited a lot after being separated by the rest of the society: she was influenced by the lack of criticism in the junkyard community, and became more tolerant for life. Her old insecurity was completely gone and she became more courageous when facing challenges (this was shown when she was determined to get a job on the streetcars, when only white people were accepted to work on the streetcars)

Para 6:
State two main themes of the novel, and explain why they are themes of the story, using specifics of the story to justify your point.

1.Racism
Marguerite was putting a lot of effort on self-acceptance and self-confidence throughout the whole book, but it was very difficult for her in an environment full of racism and segregation. When she was young, she was trying to understand why she was being inferior just because of her skin color. As she experienced more in the world, after being hurt when seeing Momma being treated disrespectfully by the white girls and the white schools got good facilities and equipment while the black school got nothing. All of these cause Marguerite to have racist attitudes towards the white. However, as Marguerite grew up and got more mature, more confident and had more control over her life, all these attitudes started to shed. The tolerant towards life was an important step in Marguerite’s life.

2.Words
When Marguerite was still young, she was often given unkind comments on her features. Every time her brother Bailey would come and protect her with words: “Oh, Mrs. Coleman, how is your son? I saw him the other day, and he looked sick enough to die.” Every time Bailey did this Marguerite would laugh. However, after Marguerite was raped by Mr. Freeman, who was murdered by Uncle Willie, she kept thinking with guilt that it was her words that killed Mr. Freeman. She thought that if she talked, evil would escape from her mouth. This results in her silence for almost one year. It was Mrs. Flowers, a kind neighbor who guided Marguerite and taught her to talk through poems and books. (I think this also taught Marguerite to be more confident, to believe in herself and reminded her that she should always have a voice. This also linked to the name of the book: I know why the caged bird sings.)

Para 7:
Name three literary devices the author used to help make this novel meaningful and interesting and explain how and where they are used in the novel and SPECIFICALLY WHY the use of this literary device enhances the meaning of the novel. Cite two specific examples from the novel where these literary devices are used. (include page numbers) Literary devices include: symbolism, foreshadowing, flashbacks, irony, diction, figurative language, creative/realistic imagery, satire, syntax, persuasive/rhetorical devices,

1.The Doll (Page 20, Chapter 5, symbolism)
The doll was a gift Vivian sent to Marguerite and it symbolizes abandonment. Marguerite and her brother had always cried, thinking themselves as unwanted children. Their parents had never come to visit them after sending them away to the Stamps to live with Momma. Marguerite was told that in California, where dad and mum lived, they could have all the oranges they could eat and the sun shone all the time. She did not understand. Before the gifts came, Marguerite convinced herself that her parents loved them a lot and the reason that they did not come was that her parents were dead. However, the doll was a painful reminder that her parents were not dad and that she and Bailey were unwanted, abandoned. “Bailey and I tore the insides out of the doll the day after Christmas.” This suggests that Marguerite and Bailey could not accept the truth that they were abandoned and wanted to destroy the evidence of abandonment.

2.Page 75, foreshadowing
When Dolores and Marguerite first met, both of them did not see themselves, and the things after did not get along so well: “The platform emptied as we walked by each other time after time. Finally she stopped me with a disbelieving “Marguerite?”. The attitude of Dolores and the awkward scene foreshadows the bigger falling out in the future: Dolores screamed and cut Marguerite out of jealousy of her relationship with Big Bailey.

Para 8:
Choose two quotes from the novel, write them down, AND the page number, and explain how these quotes are especially meaningful or significant to the novel’s themes or to the development of character. (At least 4 Sentences for each)

1.“All our learning was for nothing. Donleavy had shown us who we were. We were servants, farmers, and washer-women. Anything higher than we dreamed about was ridiculous. It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life. It was terrible to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against.”

This is the negative thoughts in Marguerite’s heart when she was listening to Mr. Donleavy the Graduation Ceremony. This was when she started to experience racism and inequality, things outside of the Black community. The Graduation Ceremony was supposed to be an exciting event and Marguerite has longed for it. However she realized the difference between the life of blacks and the life of whites and the difference between what she imagined growing up was like and what reality was like.

2.My mind shouted. I WOULD HAVE THE JOB. I WOULD BE A CONDUCTOR AND HANG A MONEY CHANGER FROM MY BELT. I WOULD.
This is what Marguerite told herself when she was applying for a job on the streetcars. The use of all capital letters for her inner thoughts shows her anger after seeing that the streetcar driver was a white woman and emphasizes her determination to get the job. This has a big difference from the first quote. It illustrates Marguerite as a confident woman rather than a girl who always saw herself inferior.

Para 9:
In 8-10 sentences, explain why you would or would not recommend this book to others: (Please spell the word recommend correctly. ) Be analytical and specific – Do not say: “because this book was exciting” or “because it was a good book”…) Mention how this book relates to your life…how has it inspired you…with what character do you most identify…strengths and weaknesses of the novel…etc. Use PROOF from the novel to back up your assertions.

I would recommend this book to others. Firstly, although the book was categorized as an autobiography, it was like a fiction book. Everything was described in a vivid way with lots of descriptions of the writer’s inner thoughts. In addition, the plot was very exciting (sorry I use this word) and I was so into the book that I finished it in 2 hours.

Secondly, the book was related to my life. Marguerite, the main character in the book, was at my age (just a few years older than me in the end). We were both young girls, yet we experience very different things. While I was in a school with friendly classmates and teachers who were willing to listen to everything I say, Marguerite was usually discriminated by the white girls who came to Momma’s store to buy things and studied in a school with a lack of facilities and equipment. There were many descriptions of inner thoughts in the book, therefore it was very easy to put myself into Marguerite’s shoes and imagine what I would do if I were her. This helps me to better understand what society was like in 1969 in the US.

The post Book Review: Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings appeared first on Nightingale.

Para 1:

From whose Point of View is the novel written? (1st person narrator [from whose eyes and mind], 3rd person omniscient, or 3rd person limited?) Explain why this point of view is effective for this novel.

The Novel is written in first person point of view, but not of a particular person, but of a number of different protagonist’s successive interior monologues. There are lots of subjective opinions of events from each character, and there are also factual observations. This is very effective for this novel. Through showing the character’s thoughts and feelings, the readers can not only find out the facts about an event but also can experience the event in the way the characters went through.

Para 2:

List Four Characters and explain their importance or significance to the novel as a whole. (At least four detailed sentences for each character are needed. Mention character traits!)

1. Darl
Darl Bundren is one of the most important characters in the whole book. He narrates nineteen of the novel’s fifty-nine chapters. He was the second oldest child in the family. He was alienated by the community around him, and people found him strange and unsettling. Moreover, he usually found out private things about people around him. For example, Dewey Dell’s pregnancy and the secret that Jewel’s dad isn’t Anse.

2. Cash
Cash is the oldest child in the family. His leg was broken twice, once when felling off the church and the second time when he was kicked by Jewel’s horse when crossing the river on the trip to Jefferson. He was a carpenter and was making a coffin for Addie for the first few chapters of the story. He rarely spoke to Addie and showed his love to her simply by making the coffin.

3.Vardaman
Vardaman is the youngest kid in the Bundren family. He has a lively imagination. When Addie died, Vardaman catches a fish and starts to think about the concept of “death” for the first time when the fish dies. No one in the Bundren family tells him what death is and what happened to Addie, so he get confused between Addie and the fish and is keep thinking that his mother was a fish throughout the story.

4. Addie Bundren
Addie is the mother to Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell and Vardaman. Her death triggers the novel’s action. Her life with Anse was loveless, which causes her to despise her husband and gives all of her love to her favorite son, Jewel, instead of the rest of the family or God.

Para 3:
Main Conflict or Challenge in the novel for the protagonist (main character): (Three – Four sentences)

The conflict of the novel is that Addie’s body had to be taken to Jefferson, her burial site. The Bundrens struggles from the forces of nature (the river that they had to cross) and internal conflicts (Darl’s decision to burn the barn out of some reasons). Both the external forces and internal forces made the journey to Jefferson challenging for the Bundrens.

Para 4:
Climax of the novel (the main turning point): (Three to Four sentences)

The climax of the novel is when Darl starts a fire in the barn and Jewel goes into the fire to save Addie’s coffin from being burnt. This action leads to the arrest of Darl and the end of the trip. Although the burial of Addie is supposed to be the climax, Faulkner barely mentioned it.

Para 5:
How the main conflict or challenge is resolved by the end of the novel: (Five sentences)

The conflict is resolved at the end of the novel when Addie’s body is transported to Jefferson and Anse gets new teeth and a new wife that he longed for. Almost all the goals of the journey are achieved (except that Dewey Dell did not get an abortion) so the story ends naturally.

Para 6:
State two main themes of the novel, and explain why they are themes of the story, using specifics of the story to justify your point (at least 3-4 sentences needed):

1. Alienation
Alienation is a possible theme of the novel. The readers are able to know the feeling of all the characters. However, they never actually tell each other what they were thinking about. Addie was keeping all the thoughts to herself that only a clairvoyant like Darl knew that she had an affair and that Jewel wasn’t Anse’s son. It is the same with Dewey Dell. No one knew that she was pregnant except Lafe, Darl and herself. For Darl, he was quite rational at the outset of the novel when describing how Jewel and he himself walk home. However, he turns out to be insane and is sent to a mental asylum. This might be also caused by alienation. A possible cause of his insanity might be that he realizes the absurdity of the transportation of Addie’s corpse to Jefferson or that he finds out that everyone went on this trip for their own benefits (Dewey Dell wants an abortion and Pa wants new teeth and a new wife). If he had communicated more with the others and his family members were more willing to hear from him instead of considering him as a weirdo he would probably be normal and would have a smarter choice than setting fire to the barn.
2. Meaning of being and Identity of Self
In the novel, the meaning of being and identity of self was considered again and again by Darl and Vardaman. Vardaman is getting confused between things that are now existing and things that existed, in other words, things that are being “is” and “was”. This is a reason why he did not understand why he could not be united with his mum after she died. Darl was confused by the identity of the self. He was comparing the difference between Jewel and he himself even before he went to bed: “I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I am or not. Jewel knows he is, because he does not know that he does not know whether he is or not.” He was always pondering and interrogating himself, which leads to his madness and at last he was sent to the asylum.

Para 7:
Name three literary devices the author used to help make this novel meaningful and interesting and explain how and where they are used in the novel and SPECIFICALLY WHY the use of this literary device enhances the meaning of the novel. Cite two specific examples from the novel where these literary devices are used. (include page numbers) Literary devices include: symbolism, foreshadowing, flashbacks, irony, diction, figurative language, creative/realistic imagery, satire, syntax, persuasive/rhetorical devices,

1. Symbolism
Symbolism was a literary device used in the novel. There are a lot of animal symbols, for example, horse and cow. The horse symbolizes the freedom Jewel had from the family. Firstly, to buy the horse, Jewel worked at night secretly for a long time to earn enough amount of money. During the time, Addie asked other children to cover his works for him. This is a sign that Jewel gained freedom — he did not have to do housework. Also, before crossing the river, Jewel was “riding on ahead on the horse”. This also shows his willingness to gain more freedom. The use of symbolism shows Jewel’s personality in a vivid way.

2. Monologues
As the book was written in the first-person point of view of several characters, it has many subjective opinions towards an event. For example, in Chapter 4, Darl was standing on the side of Addie’s bed. He appeared to be indifferent towards his mother and the three-dollar load. However, in Cora’s perspective, Darl was a loving son and his heart was too filled with words. Such use of literary device shows not only how the plot goes, but also the inner thinking of the characters and the relationships between them.

3. Repetitions
There are many repetitions in the novel. In the first chapter, repetition was used to vividly emphasize the noise Cash made when making the coffin: “Chuck, chuck, chuck.” Also, in Chapter fifteen, Vardaman asked a few questions to Cash: “Are you going to nail her up in it, Cash? Cash? Cash?”, and “Are you going to nail it shut, Cash? Nail it? Nail it?”. These question and repetitions show the innocence of Vardaman and the worry and unbelief inside his heart, as no one told him what happened to his mother. This also shows the Bundren family’s lack of attention to Vardaman.

Para 8:
Choose two quotes from the novel, write them down, AND the page number, and explain how these quotes are especially meaningful or significant to the novel’s themes or to the development of character. (At least 4 Sentences for each)

1. “What you got in you ain’t nothing to what I got in me, even if you are a woman too”
This quote is from Dewey Dell before she milked the cow. It is meaningful because the cow moaning due to its swelling udder symbolizes Dewey Dell. She was pregnant and was worried that other people might find out about it. She was trying desperately to get an abortion from the doctors but no one wanted to help her and she was just given a placebo. Dewey Dell’s worry was very much like the cow that mightily wanted to get the milk out and this leads to her strong approval of sending Darl, who found out about her pregnancy, into the mental asylum.

2. “Meet Mrs. Bundren,” he says.”
This quote marks the most ironic scene in the novel. Anse borrowed a shovel to bury his wife Addie, the next day he was married to the woman whom he borrowed the shovel from. The quick replacement of Anse’s wife suggests that the entire was an effort to replace Addie and that that family is just a set of roles to play, rather than a true unit of people. This also shows Anse’s selfishness, which might be caused by poverty.

Para 9:
In 8-10 sentences, explain why you would or would not recommend this book to others: (Please spell the word recommend correctly. ) Be analytical and specific – Do not say: “because this book was exciting” or “because it was a good book” …) Mention how this book relates to your life…how has it inspired you…with what character do you most identify…strengths and weaknesses of the novel…etc. Use PROOF from the novel to back up your assertions.

I would not recommend this book to others. It is interesting to read a book that reflects the life of a poor family in the 1920s that is written as a series of stream-of-consciousness monologues, but it is just quite confusing to understand. As all the chapters are monologues, they never start with names. Instead, the characters in the chapter (except the narrator) were all mentioned as “he” and “she” starting from the first sentence, and readers will have to think hard about which character can possibly be that “he” or “she”. For example, Chapter 49 begins like this: “Against the dark doorway he seems to materialize out of darkness, lean as a racehorse in his underclothes in the beginning of the glare.” A “he” was mentioned but readers were unable to know his identity from this sentence. Furthermore, the word “he” was used for half of the chapter and the readers still did not know his identity. I believe that stream-of-consciousness monologues were to let the readers feel that they were the narrator in the chapter and were experiencing what the narrator has experienced, but instead, this style of writing just causes more confusion. Overall, the book is very interesting, but readers have to put lots of effort into understanding what was happening. Therefore, I would not recommend this book to others.

The post A Book Review on As I Lay Dying appeared first on Nightingale.

Originally Posted on readinglikerory.weebly.com 4/23/2013 by Kaitlyn Hawkins

*Notes: I found some plots in As I Lay Dying really confusing, for example, when Vardaman saids that his mum is fish, when he drills into his mother’s face in the coffin and when Darl saids that Jewel’s mother is a horse. This article really explains a lot about these.

“My Mother is a Fish”

Out of context these words would sound like nonsense. A fish? What? Is that a nickname or something?

Faulkner has this innate gift to tackle incredibly complex issues with as little as 5 words. This talent still stuns me. For those of you who don’t know what I am referring to, the line that I quoted is an entire chapter by the character Vardaman in the book, As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner.

Lets break down these five words to really get what Faulkner was saying. At the beginning of this grim and complicated tale the mother in the story dies – a horrible tragedy worsened because no one in this strange family bothers to explain death to poor Vardaman. This leaves him confused as to why people place his mother in a box that Cash (his older brother) works on. This situation perplexes him to the point that he drills into the box and makes breathing holes for his mother! This child obviously possessed no understanding of the concept of death and no one is his dysfunctional family cared to explain it to him.

The idea that this child honestly did not understand death perplexes me. I can remember being told of death at a young age. I’m a Christian, so death to me is just fellow Christians reuniting with God (which is awesome). This family however, did not bother to tell Vardaman that his mother was not returning. I attempt to imagine what a child would feel like in this situation and it breaks my heart. A child sees his mother enclosed, and he cannot get to her, talk to her, hear her say that she loves him. Extremely traumatic stuff.

Ultimately the only way that Varaman can understand his mother’s death is when the coffin floats into the water as they are attempting to cross the river. In this moment death seems extremely clear to Vardaman. His mother was obviously a fish. To understand this you must venture to earlier in the book when Vardaman catches and cleans fish. During this moment he has an up-close encounter with death, but still doesn’t understand it. When his mother’s coffin floats into the river he connects these two experiences and comes to the conclusion that his mother must be a fish.

This is just one of the complicated occurrences in this complex book, but in 5 words Faulkner demonstrates Vardaman’s confusion with death and his eager longing to make sense of his mother’s situation. In 5 words you understood the dysfunctional nature of this family, a family that is so uncaring that they don’t bother to teach him about an absolute of life: death. In 5 words Faulkner breaks your heart for a boy whose only wish is to reunite with his mother.

Faulkner teaches us the true power of words. This entire post is based on 5 words. Many times in the rushed college life we are so focused on getting the 5, 10, 20 page papers out, that we forget that a 5 word sentence could change everything. We often forget the power of individual words and instead look to pages, and pages of eloquent sentences which don’t concentrate on the innate power of words. I know that none of us are William Faulkner, but I do believe that it would be great to see work from myself and fellow students where we really concentrate on our words and their innate power.

The post As I Lay Dying: “My Mother is a Fish” appeared first on Nightingale.

Glass Sword is a novel written by Victoria Aveyard. It is the second book in the “Red Queen” series. In the story, Mare was trying to gather all the “New Blood” to revenge Maven, who framed his brother and Mare into killing their father.

Different Opinions towards the revenge
The characters in the story all have different opinions towards the revenge.
Cal, the silver prince thought that:
– Mare was being a bit selfish when doing this, because lots of people, silver and red (especially silver) died in the revenge.
– Although Mare was trying to do something to make the silvers to treat the reds in a better way (like not forcing them into war, no more discrimination), she was actually doing the same thing without realizing it: asking the newbloods to fight even though some of them are not willing to (like Cameron Cole. She just escaped from the newbloods’ jail built by Maven and felt the taste of freedom. She did not want to be commanded by anyone else and refused to join the Newbloods’ army but was grabbed by Mare.) This was kind of like using the New bloods to do something that Mare herself wanted to do.
– Mare was seeing the newbloods’ lives more important than the reds without realizing it. While she fought for time to rescue the newbloods that were going to be killed by Maven, there were millions of red kids that were commanded by Maven to join the army and fought the other country (and will eventually die as they do not have any powers). If Mare did this, Newbloods and Reds, would not be equal anymore, just like a few years ago, when the silvers differed from the reds, they reinforced the difference between their status, which resulted in the situation now which the silvers ruled everything.

Mare’s parents:
– They thought that Mare would be in great danger to revenge and stopped her from going. However, they were born as reds, grew up and work in red societies and knew the difference of status between silvers and reds, therefore knew that the job of revenging and helping the reds to be equal with the silvers was very important. They compromised with Mare at last.

Plot
Mare was starting to gather the newbloods to revenge Maven. Lots of Newbloods were gathered and recued more newbloods. However at last, Mare and several volunteers were captured by Maven. Mare was taken to Archeon where Maven put a collar on her in front of a crowd of silvers.

The ending reminds me of the ending of the last book in the series “Red Queen”. Mare and Cal were also captured by Maven and were brought to be executed in front of lots of silvers. Mare and Cal seemed to be losers in every book. I think it implies that:
– It is very hard for people in a lower status, with no political rights and no one supporting them, to gain respect and to change the way they are treated by people. This was like the African Americans in Slavery in the early 1900’s. They were captured to a place where they have no rights and no one helping them. Even at last, their freedom were from the American abolitionists, the Civil War of the Americans.

The post Book Review – Glass Sword appeared first on Nightingale.

Summary
Fahrenheit 451 talks about a time in the future when books were banned as people think books makes everything philosophical and there would be melancholy due to this. People’s main entertainment is the high-technology parlor walls in their house. They are completely ignorant of the world around them and its problems and are not even aware of the upcoming war. Its hero Montag, was a fireman who burn books to prevent people from reading them. He set fire to people’s houses for years until one day he met his new neighbor Clarisse, who loved thinking and ask Montag questions. In a recent mission he met an old woman who insisted to stay, protect and be burnt with her books when the firemen came. These gave Montag a new perspective of the world. He started considering if burning books is a right thing to do and out of curiosity, he read his first. Later his act of reading books is reported by his wife to the police and he was listed as wanted. He escaped all the way to the countryside and met a group of renegade intellectuals, who try to rebuild civilization from the war by memorize one book each.

Quotations
“Do you ever read any of the books you burn?” Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. “Are you happy?” she said. “Am I what?” he cried. But she was gone—running in the moonlight. Her front door shut gently. “Happy! Of all the nonsense.” (Clarisse)

“I had a nice evening,” she said, in the bathroom.
“What doing?”
“The parlor.”
“What was on?”
“Programs.”
“What programs?”
“Some of the best ever.”
“Will you turn the parlor off?” he asked.
“That’s my family.” (Mildred)

“School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually gradually neglected, finally almost completely ignored. Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about after work. Why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?” (Beatty)

The woman knelt among the books, touching the drenched leather and cardboard, reading the gilt titles with her fingers while her eyes accused Montag. “You can’t ever have my books,” she said. “You can stop counting,” she said. She opened the fingers of one hand slightly and in the palm of the hand was a single slender object. An ordinary kitchen match. (the old woman)

Conclusion
Bradbury once described himself as “a preventor of futures, not a predictor of them”. I think a main reason he wrote the book is to warn people to prevent future to be like the one shown in the story. Book burning isn’t inevitable and it can be prevented by us. A lesson Bradbury taught us is that if people cannot accept ideas of others, the society will become a world of ignorance and prejudice.

Firstly, people will start to be ignorant if they are always closed-minded and cannot accept ideas of others. It was mainly explained by the fireman captain Beatty, which strongly agree with book burning. He explained: “Someone’s written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book.” As everyone was offended by something in the books, so, burning them made it so that people don’t have to read “offensive” material and unhappy. However, in my opinion, if everyone is offended easily and could never accept an idea they do not concur with, they will be very ignorant, knowing nothing else than what they like. This will undoubtedly prevent people from being dismal in a way, but being ignorant is even worse than weeping. The idea can also be shown by the lifestyle of people in the story, which can be represented by the lifestyle of the fireman Montag’s wife, Mildred. The main entertainment of Mildred every day was the parlor walls, the big interactive screens in her (and everyone else’s) house that allowed her to play an interactive row in the story line of a drama: “‘I had a nice evening.’ ‘What doing?’ ‘The parlor.’ ‘What was on?’ ‘Programs.’” The conversation between Mildred and Montag shows that Mildred was so into the walls that she was not interesting and did not care about anything in the reality, which also means that she had zero experience of the reality. Einstein once said: “The only source of knowledge is experience.” This reflects that Mildred, and many others in the society in the story learns almost nothing from the parlor walls except from knowing the lines in the shows better.

Secondly, there will be prejudice towards the intellectuals if people cannot accept ideas from others. I think it is mainly out of two reasons. The first reason is autarchy and ignorant. People have no experience in the reality and they only have one kind of entertainment, which is the interactive walls. They were brain-washed everyday by the concept the walls wanted to deliver and this was very likely to make the way people choose what to believe in unreasonable and impulsive. Therefore, people are easier to be controlled by the actual person behind the walls, which is probably the government or a leader. They saw what the leader wanted them to see, heard what the leader wanted them to hear. When the leader did not want people to have “dangerous” thoughts from the books, he could easily infuse the idea to people through the walls. People could also have prejudice out of their own reasons. In the story, conformity is everywhere, people have the same perspective about things, the same routine, the same kind of entertainment. When they saw someone who think differently, someone who read books or used to read books, they would think that it is against what they agree with. The person is different. He did not fit in the society of uniformity. Clarisse was such a character. She was always curious and asked questions like “Are you happy?”. Additionally, her family walks instead of taking cars, talks instead of watching television. Thus, her whole family was seen anti-social. This shows how people were being prejudiced towards people that were different in some ways.

As a conclusion, Bradbury wrote this story to warn us not to be closed-minded to prevent the future shown in the story. Bradbury had predicted that book burning will happen within forty or fifty years, now more than sixty years passes and book burning have not happened. However, this does not mean that aren’t any closed-minds at all. We still face lots of issues such as racism and prejudice. We should encourage people to be creative and think outside of the box. We should support each other’s idea. We should try to listen to everyone’s opinion.

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