Day 4- Symbolism

A symbol that Lawrence Hill used would be the trade ship. At first i thought that it was just a ship used to transport the black people across the river. Then after going deeper into thinking i found that this tradesman is more than just a ship to the black people. This ship symbolises the end of a life that these people use to know and love. These black people later on find out that this trade ship is a place of darkness and evil, a un know place where you experience the horrors for yourself to truly get the feeling of what these poor black people had to go through. I beleave that this symbol is very effective because it brings a sense of what was to come for Aminata and her people and the torcher and torment that they would have to go through for so many years before they were free.

Another symbol that was very effective was how the White man plotted elephants on the map to show where africa and the slaves were. This show how little knowledge the white man had about the black race and africa because there was not elephants everywhere in africa there were colonies to just like what the white  people had in North America. I thought this symbol was very effective  and I think that Lawrence Hill put many great symbols that gave imagery in this novel.

Day 3- Pathos

Lawrence Hill creates a strong sense of Pathos in the novel “Book of Negroes”. The way that Hill does this is how the black people were treated as inferior people to the whites. Some ways that he would show this is, the main character Aminata gets taken away from her village and is sold on the slave market to. Also id Aminata or any other black person in that matter would have defied their master they would have been beaten. This shows just how much power the White people and how little power and right of speech or freedom that the Blacks had. When reading this i have real pity towards the black people because they are treated so poorly just because the colour of their skin is not the same as ours.

Yes this helps us as readers get to the true moral of the story, and that is how black people should not be treated so poorly because they can do just as much if not more than what we can do. I think that this moral lesson has come along way since back then, seeing now how the U.S.A has a black president and i think that equality is the right way to do it. Another example is Aminata, in the story was taken from her village and had to work on a plantation. Later on in her live she kept fighting and is now living a free and succesful life.

Day 2: Whats Fair

There is quite a few issues in my novel ” The Book of Negroes”, but i belive that the biggest one that jumps out at us would have to be how the blacks were treated as inferior to the white man. Some incidents were i have found this novel has had it, was when Aminatas village was attacked and all the black people were rounded up and put in shackles. For example in the second chapter when Aminata is taken she says that “I live in terror that the captors would beat us, boil us and eat us.”  This shows the true power and intimidation that the white man possessed. Later on we find out that these black people would be sold on the slave market and forced to work on plantations. In my mind i belive that this kind of act is inhumane, it is not right to beat someone up, chain them up and force them to work for you just because of the colour of their skin.

The characters in my novel are having trouble adjusting to their experiences of injustice. For example Aminatas a young girl who has just been taking away from her home and everything she loved, she is having a hard time adjusting to the fact that she will never be able to go back to here home land.

I think that this has the biggest disadvantage for the women because they have to do a lot more work than the me and the white man could possibly rape these women which is just horrible. Although i hate to say it but i belive that the white man has the biggest advantage over the blacks because they have more power and they are the ones that are making the profit off of selling these poor, innocent black people.

Day 4 Monkey Beach- Symbolism

1)  One if the main, abstract ideas in Monkey Beach is death. I think it is a big part of this book and Lisa’s life because there is so much death and talk of death around her, like when Mick dies, her contacting he Ba ba’oo and going to the cemetery. What symbolizes death in this book for Lisa, I think,  is the little man that she sees coming into her room at night. I think this because her Ma ma’oo said that when you see something like that, it is a bad sign and it signals that something bad is going to happen.

 

2)I think that maybe the author picked this symbol because of personal experience with the little man, because I don’t know how she could have made something like that up. Also, it seems like it could be an actual legend, because you hear stories like that all the time in Native American folk lore. I think that maybe using crows or something that belonged to Mick as a symbol for death would’ve been better. I think this because crows are commonly used as that symbol, but also they play a big part in the book because Jimmy feeds them and loves them as pets, and something that belonged to Mick would’ve been good because it would’ve reminded her of him and death because he’s gone.

Blogging Day 4: The Book Thief

1)I think some of the abstract ideas in my novel are Liesels school, and also the soccer ball. I think Liesels school is an abstract idea because it is where she got laughed at because when she offered to read, she couldn’t because she didn’t really know how. After this situation, Liesel was determined to learn how to read so she could read in class.

I think the soccer ball is another abstract idea because when Liesel started playing soccer she made a friend that became her best friend, Rudy. In the story Liesel and Rudy play soccer a lot so I believe it’s the game of soccer and the soccer ball itself that made them become friends.

2) I think the author chose to use the symbol of the school because when Liesel is determined to learn how to read, she asks her foster dad, Hans Hubermann to help her to read at her own pace. I think because she learned how to read with Hans’ help, their bond grew.

I think the author chose the symbol of the soccer ball because it was a way for Liesel to make friends. Liesel and Rudy became friends quickly after their first soccer game so I think it symbolises a new start for Liesel because she found someone new to be friends with.

I think these symbols were effective because they were not obvious symbols you had to really think about it. An obvious symbol would be a book Liesel stole. These symbols I chose were not really a main topic in the story but they do show qualities of Liesel that create her as a person

 

Day 4

1) What are some of the abstract ideas in your novel? What symbols are used to convey these abstract ideas?

  Some symbols in my novel The Book of Negroes, would be the trade ship, lavender and book. Now some abstract ideas of the trade ship would have to be that in symbolizes hatred, death, fear, for some a new beginning and also the unknown. It is symbolizing all these things for the African-American people who are on the ship, because they are on there against their will. Lavender could be a symbol for the main character Amnita because that’s where she works as a slave so it symbolizes slavery but also freedom. It symbolizes freedom because when she is out there she is her own person she can forget about everything. Another symbol is the book, now this is probably biggest symbol because it symbolizes so much. The book symbolizes freedom, it symbolizes that because the main character was taught to read and in the 1700’s it was rare for a African-American to be able to read but especially a woman who was African-American. 

2) Why do you think the author chose to use these symbols? Were they effective? If not, suggest other symbols that may have been more suitable.

   I think that the author chose to use these symbols. I also think they are very effective symbols because they all reflect back to the moral lesson. An example of that would be the book, it reflects on the moral lesson because no one expected for an African-American woman to read so for her to do so was her own freedom but also made her so to speak “equal” to everyone else. Even though she wasn’t treated equally she could do anything the a white person could which proved to be an effective symbol.

Blogging Day 3: The Book Thief

I think the author Markus Zusak, creates pathos for the protagonist Liesel, by having her deal with difficult situations and then having her act upon the situation. The reader feels bad for Liesel because it was unfortunate that her brother died and she had to live without him in a new place, but also the reader feels conflicted because of Liesel’s actions in the aftermath of her brother’s death. She is unhappy with her loss, but then she goes and steals a book which does not belong to her. Being the reader, after she steals the book, I do not know what to think of her. Should people feel angry at Liesel, or happy?

I think the author uses this kind of pathos to show readers how certain people cope with the feeling of loss. In this case Zusak shows readers that the protagonist in her certain situation decides to steal a book after her brother is buried which leads to her stealing more and more books. It also shows what some people’s lives were like leading to the time of World War Two and how scary it was to think that, “Maybe i could be taken away for not being a certain person.”

Blog #4 – Running out of creative titles (Symbols)

1) What are some of the abstract ideas in your novel? What symbols are used to convey these abstract ideas?

I believe that the book “Slumdog Millionaire” flourishes with abstract ideas and symbols, but the key to unlocking and upstanding these symbols is that you have to look a lot deeper into the book then just the words written out in front of you. You have to have your own ideas that you can branch off of, and to work with. These abstract ideas are abstract for a reason, they are not just going to present them self in front of you. One example is the game show. Some may say that the game show is just a way for the author to propel the story but I took it as more of a symbol. A symbol for all of Ram’s experiences in his life, all that he has been fighting for, all of the hardships he had went through to get to this point in his life. All of this thinking brought me from the symbol of a game show to the abstract idea of the game show being Ram’s salvation, saving him from all of the harm that he has faced in his journey to this point in time.

 

2) Why do you think the author chose to use these symbols? Were they effective? If not, suggest other symbols that may have been more suitable.

The game show is a  phenomenal symbol to use in this book. It is contently reoccurring and connects the entire story together while not being completely based off of it. It was very effective and when used in this way. I believe that the author used this as a symbol because he understood the power that he could put behind it, and all the different ideas that readers could branch off with when they read the book.  I honestly don’t think that there could have been a more effective symbol used in this book, the game show is unmatched.

Blogging Day 1: The Book Thief

December 13th, 2011

The author Markus Zusak created interest to pull me into The Book Thief by just starting the book totally different. He started the book with choppy sentences and its kind of a weird opening paragraph. Weird being, because the narrator is talking about colours and humans and that’s how he sees things which personally I have never heard people talking about. Another point that helped pull me into the story was the little side comments that are made. For example; on the first page right after the second paragraph, there is a side comment; “*** HERE IS A SMALL FACT*** You are going to die.” After the small side comment, the next paragraph connects to the comment so the narrator starts talking about how he is trying to be cheerful about the topic of you are going to die. I think these are ways that just interested me to keep reading the book.

So far in The Book Thief, I don’t really relate to anyone. The main character Liesel Meminger and I are very different. At her foster home her foster mother is rather abusive and uses abusive language towards Liesel. My parents would never abuse me because they are loving. Liesel is very fond of her foster father because he is always kind to her as is my father. Liesel has a hard time reading and writing because she was never taught so she struggles in school. Everyone struggles in school but I don’t think I like many, had as hard as a time learing reading and writing as Liesel.

There are different sorts of diction in this book. There are slang words used, they are in German but there is a translation next to it so you understand what they are saying. For example; Arschloch refers to a swear word. Other words that are not nessiscarily slang and Saumensch which refers to a girl, and Saukerl a boy.

Blogging Day 2: The Book Thief

There are many different issues of injustice in The Book Thief. For example, the fact that Liesel’s mother turned her over to foster care because she couldn’t take care of her must have been tough on Liesel. Liesel and her brother were on a train to their foster parents when the brother died. It was even worse living with new parents when her brother wasn’t there when he should’ve been. Liesel is not reacting well to the unfair acts that have recently been in her life. Liesel cries a lot at night because she is lonely. Also, she cries just over the loss of her brother. I do not think Liesel is handling the fact that her mother sent her off to a foster home because she couldn’t take care of her. It would be different if Liesel did not know her mother but she did so she obviously wouldn’t think the same way about her foster mother because she knows it’s not actually her real mom. Another act of injustice in this book is when Liesel is at school and all of her classmates laugh at her when she can’t read. This is unfair to Liesel because her teacher is not supporting her when the other students laugh at her. I think some characters are more advantaged than others because of jobs. I think Lisel’s friend Rudy is more advantaged than Liesel because his family has good jobs and Lisels foster parents don’t have amazing jobs. Her foster father is a painter and her mother does laundry but business is slow.