My Sister's Keeper (Character Sketch)

When I began to read this book Anna seemed selfish. It appeared she was stopping all treatment because she didn't want to help anymore and didn't even consider her sister's fate. Kate, her sister, asked Anna to stop the treatment because she didn't want to fight anymore and she knew it was time. In this situation Anna reminds me of my sister. I know she loves me and even though it would be tough I belive we would handle it the same way these sisters did. Anna taught me that when everyone is against you all it takes is a little faith and things start to smooth down. Anna was only making this sacrifice because her sister requested. Anna was well aware of Kate's fate but because of their bond and love she was willing to agree. "I was born for a very specific purpose...because I could save my sister, Kate"(8). This quote explains what Anna was going through. When Kate got sick Anna was the one who saved her. After Kate asked Anna to stop helping her with the treatments Anna knew Kate was going to die, because of her.

My Sister's Keeper (Literary Techniques)

"A jewel is just a rock put under enormous heat and pressure. Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look"(152). The author chose to add this quote in the book because it describes every human being. It shows that every person is a jewel under pressure from their peers and everyday life and like diamonds unique people are found in unlikely places. I like this quote because it shows how different each person truly is. It also shows that you can't judge people because they are undergoing heat and pressure and you just need to get to know them. It is significant in this book because Kate is suffering Leukemia and is not perfect but the people around her who love her see past her imperfections and treat her normally. The people who pass and don't know Kate see sadness, but they are quick to judge because underneath she is a strong individual. Finally, this quote teaches me not to judge people and that everybody is unique.

In Sue Monk Kidd's, The Secret Life of Bees, Lilly embarks on a journey to run away with Rosaleen, their maid. The reason Lily does this, is because she wants to run away from her father. Lily's father abused her and acted as if he hated her. And as for Lily's mother, she had never really known her. Right before Lily left her father told her about her mothers death. Lily was very young when her mother died, so she was extremely curious to find out how she'd died. T-Ray, Lily's father said the day she died she was packing her bags. He said she was moving out and not taking Lily with her. Lily couldn't believe this. She was stuck by the fact that her mother left her. Then T-Ray continued by saying. The day your mother left... we were arguing. Then he told her that Lily, who was crawling on the ground, lifted a gun and pulled the trigger. That was the day her mother died. Lily was flabbergasted by the fact that she was the reason her mother was dead. Lily was only a mere child when this happened. She felt awful after finding out the news.

When Lily ran away, she goes to find a cirtan house that makes honey. She decides to head towards Tiburon, the town written on the back of her mothers black Mary picture that was taped to a honey jar. This jar was one of the only memento's Lily had of her mother. Lily and Rosaleen arrived at the pink house of August Boatwright, who is a middle-aged black woman who takes them into her home. Then after months with August, Lily finds out that her mother stayed with August when she left her husband and Lily for the first time. To her surprise, Lily learns things about her mothers past from August. The truth in life is that when you run into obstacles and feel alone and sorry for yourself you can find true compassion within yourself and more through others to find the impossible.

This story of fate relates to Santiago in the Old Man and The Sea. Santiago was a fisherman who went 84 days without a catch. He had no money, no family and feels like he is unlucky. Thanks to the boy, Manolin, Santiago feels like he will be able to catch a fish again. By taking a leap of faith, Santiago catches a huge fish and Lily finds August who acts as a new mother. "There is nothing perfect, there is only life." By going out of your comfort zone, you can find friends and family who can impact the rest of your lives.

My Sister's Keeper (Acrostic)

For once in Anna's life she is about to be able to call the shots. She has given her sister everything she has ever needed out of love. From blood to bone marrow Anna has sacrificed herself for her sister.
After further discussion Anna has to make a tough decision that will not only jeopardize her family as a whole but will hurt everyone individually. She must go behind her family's back to make a choice either to save Kate or eventually let her sister go.
Many do not understand why Anna is thinking about letting her sister die but because they have such a special bond only Anna knows why she has been asked to choose. Kate is a strong girl and has faught Leukemia her whole life with the help of Anna but she knows she is ready to die and can't fight any longer. It is Kate who asks Anna to stop donating blood. The only reason Anna even considers making this choice is because she loves her sister and knows that will make her happy.
"...Is that there is no good answer. So as parents, as doctors, as judges and as society, we fumble though and make decisions that allow us to sleep at night-beacuse morals are more important than ethics, and love is more important than law"(409).
Love is a difficult thing to understand because it can hurt you but also save you. In Anna's situation she had to make a sacrifice out of love for her sister but it killed her mother. Her sisterly bond to Kate was the key to her sister's survival.
Yet in the end it was the ulimate sacrifice made from Anna that saved Kate. Family is the theme of this book because throughout all the treatments the Fitzgeralds overcame all their struggles together. They had their ups and downs and at times each member felt alone and helpless but together they became stronger because they had each other.

Character Sketch [Second Blog]

Sarah Muth

Character Sketch

Amir, the main character of the book, shows so much to the reader. The book is written as though he is telling it and is about his life from birth, to growing old. In the beginning, he is a young Afghan boy who doesn't really have a care. He is always trying to get his fathers attention and is running around Kabul with his friend Hassan. Around the age of 10 or 11 he begins to become selfish. Hassan is like family since his father is their servant and Babas friend (Amirs father) and Amir grows jealous of Baba treating Hassan like a son. He wants all eyes to be on him and only him. Hassan would do anything for Amir, even eat the dirt Amir walks on. He is so loyal to him that it drives Amir to the point of insanity almost. After Hassan takes a brutal beating for Amir and Amir fails to do anything about it, Ali (Hassans father) and Hassan decide to move out. The loss of the two was hard for Baba and slightly painful for Amir, but he also saw this as a chance to have Baba all to himself.

Years pass by and eventually Baba and Amir move to America and start their lives in California when war breaks out in Kabul. They leave their house to a trusted servant Rahim Khan. Baba becomes a merchant at a market in California while Amir follows his dreams of becoming a writer. A family from Kabul happens to be working in the same market as Baba and Amir grows fond of her. He ends up taking her hand in marriage and she moves in with Baba and Amir so she can take care of the now ill Baba. Baba ends up passing away when Amir is in his 20s leaving Amir with a hole in his heart.

After about four years of marriage, Amir and Soraya (his wife) decide on starting a family. After many years of trying and failing Amir continues to evolve in his writing career as Soraya becomes a teacher. Amir is now a mature intellect, still haunted by memories of Kabul that Soraya is unaware of, making him still remain as a coward instead of a hero. Within this time period, Amir receives a call from Rahim Khan who is slowing running out of time. Amir takes a trip over to visit Rahim who no longer resides in Amirs old house in Kabul.

In the time Amir spends in Afghanistan again, he slowly becomes his old childhood self. The coward who failed to fight, the coward to never stood up to people, and the coward who let Hassan get raped. Amir learns through his visit with Rahim many stories and secrets that leave him questioning his childhood and himself. He finds out that Hassan had moved in and taken care of Rahim as he grew sick with the help of his wife. He was told of the son Hassan and his wife had in that same house the two boys had grown up in together and even saw a picture of Hassan and his only child Sohrab. His happiness for Hassan dies when he discovers that when the Taliban came to Kabul to end the war, they massacred all the Hazaras, which was exactly what Hassan was. Hassan was taken to the street, shot in the head and then his wife was shot as well, and his child was sent to an orphanage. But one of the most depressing things Amir learns is that Hassan was really his half-brother..

Amir becomes a true man when he rescues Sohrab and after a few difficult bumps in the road, takes him in as his own son and takes him back to America with him. The ending of the book shows Amir as an older man who had been a coward who would never fight for anything, to a man that fought a Taliban man for Sohrab, fought through unbearable wounds, witness an attempted suicide from Sohrab and fought the hardest he had even fought before for someones forgiveness. Sohrabs. Making him an honorable hero.

The Boy in Striped Pajamas (1st Blog)

I am reading the Boy in the striped pajamas, I am about 1/3 of the way done with the book and creating my first blog. The main charactor's name is Bruno, and he has a sister named Gretel who is 3 years older than Bruno. Bruno always says that Gretel is hopeless and is nothing but trouble for him and her friends would always make fun of him because of his height, he was smaller than the other 9 year olds. Bruno has a mother and father, and some other charactors in the book are: Maria (the family maid), and Lars (the Butler). At the beginning of the book it starts with Maria packing all of Brunos clothes and belongings because they are forced to move out of Berlin to a place in the middle of nowhere because Brunos father's job requires them to move forced by the "fury". The new house called "Out-With", which is isolated and there are no other houses in site, there are no roads, and only 3 floors, and no streets! Compared to their old house which had alot of other houses around, and it was huge. As Bruno looked through his window with Gretel they began to be very puzzled with what they saw. There were thousands of people in the distance, Bruno went to ask his dad and he gave him a strange answer. He said that they werent human, and that they had nothing in common with him at all. Bruno started talking to Maria in his room, and she began to snap at Bruno for saying that his father was stupid. She told him a story about how her father paid for Marias mothers hisptial care and her funeral payments. She also had something strange about her that made me the reader feel like something was going on with Brunos father on what he was doing in this house.

The Kite Runner [#1]

Sarah Muth

Explore Feelings

The Kite Runner is such a great book, though very violent, sad and depressing. Some parts will be very happy and be a good memory of Amirs but will usually take a dramatic turn towards sadness. The beginning is a little slow but when it really begins to take a turn and gets interesting (and very sad) is when Amir and his friend Hassan are flying their winning blue kite. Hassan is the son of Amirs family servant, but is like a brother to Amir and another son to Amirs father, Baba. Hassan and Amir participate in kite flying/running where, one person flies the kite and you try to be the last kite flying since people cut the kites, and when the kites go off, another person runs for the kite. But Hassan seems to always know where the kite will land and be there before it lands. Amir wins one day and Hassan goes to win the last cut Kite, a trophy of sorts, to give to Amir and says, "For you, a thousand times over."

Hassan is successful in getting the blue kite but runs into a sadistic bully named Assef who treats Hassan bad because he is lower class. Assef had much needed revenge planned out for Hassan who had stuck up to him one day for Amir and threatened to shoot him with a sling-shot. When Amir goes looking for Hassan, he finds him in an alley with Assef and two of his bully friends. Amir, being the scared chicken he is, watches as Assef pulls out his brass knuckles prepared to smash his face in. Hassan had a chance to not be hurt when Assef offered to not hurt him if he gave him the blue kite. Hassan refused though, because he was loyal to Amir and had promised him the kite.

The fight between Hassan and Assef began with Hassan first throwing a rock for self-defense, and ended with Hassan pinned down on the ground by the two friends. Amir wanted to help out his friend, but was too much of a chicken to, and because of this, Hassan was raped. And when they had met up later that night, Amir pretended he didn't see anything when Hassan, torn up shirt and bruised, gave him the blue kite he had promised. And it was completely unharmed, unlike Hassan.

This was one of the first very sad parts of the book to me because Amir just let it all happen. Hassan had always stood up for Amir and been a loyal friend, even when Amir wasn't a good person to him. And while Amir just stood on the sidelines while he friend was beaten and bruised, Hassan still stayed loyal to Amir by bringing the kite to him like he had promised.