Thursday, February 13, 2014


Martín Espada’s poems “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” and “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” show racism, disrespect, and social injustice.
            In the poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” the speaker states, “Whenever my name/ is mispronounced…” and then goes on to describe how angry he feels and all of the horrible things he wants to do when people mispronounce his name. The speaker feels disrespected when his name isn’t pronounced correctly, because he feels that the people who are mispronouncing his name just aren’t taking the time to learn about or understand his culture. This shows social injustice and disrespect because the people who are mispronouncing his name believe that they don’t need to show the speaker any respect, and aren’t giving any time to learn about his culture.
            In the poem “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” the author writes, “…So he decides/ to ban Spanish/ in the bathrooms/ now he can relax.” “He” is the principal, and he is banning Spanish because it makes him uncomfortable. This shows social injustice and disrespect because the principal is banning something just because he doesn’t understand it, which makes him uncomfortable, and he doesn’t want to learn about it, so he decides to ban it. The principal has the power to change things he doesn’t like, which is unfair to the students in the poem.
            In the poem “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,” the author writes, “when forty gringo vigilantes/ cheered the rope/ that snapped the two Mexicanos/ into the grimacing sleep of broken necks.” The reader can infer that the forty “gringos” were lynching the two Mexicans, and that it was most likely an act of racism. This shows social injustice and racism, because the crowd is presumably hanging the people for their race. They also feel proud about it, and later on in the poem they treat the corpses like trophies.
            The poems “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” and “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” by Martín Espada all have general themes of racism, disrespect, and social injustice. They all show minorities being discriminated against and disrespected, and they all show racism. When looking at the world around us, we can see that racism, disrespect, and social injustice occur almost regularly. Minorities are discriminated against and persecuted, just because they are a certain race. This occurs in many of Martín Espada's poems. 

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

In the book "Change of Heart," by Jodi Picoult, June can't admit to herself that her daughter, Claire, needs a heart donor no matter who it is. June is left to decide if she should grant her family's killer's dying wish, if it means saving her daughter's life.

When Shay Bourne murdered both June's husband and her daughter, Elizabeth, and then went to jail and received the death sentence, June obviously hated him more than she had ever hated anyone. But, when June's daughter, Claire needs a heart donor and Shay wants to donate his heart to her, June is strongly against it. She doesn't want the heart of her husband and daughter's killer inside her other daughter. But, there are no other possible donors for Claire. This leaves June to have to choose between  possibly saving her daughters life, but only at the cost of granting her enemies dying wish. I think June is being extremely selfish. She has the opportunity to save her only surviving daughter, and she might throw away that chance just so Shay doesn't get his dying wish. Even if it makes Shay happy to donate his heart, and June doesn't want him to ever be happy, it should be more important to June to save her daughter's life.

In the book "Change of Heart," by Jodi Picoult, June is very selfish. She doesn't want to grant Shay his dying wish, even though it means letting her daughter die.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

In the book "Vanishing Acts," by Jodi Picoult, there are a lot of things that are unfair. Andrew is unfair to Delia and her mom, Delia is unfair to Fitz and Eric, and Delia's mom is unfair to Delia and Andrew.

Andrew was unfair to his daughter Delia and to her mother. By taking Delia with him and basically kidnapping her for 28 years without telling anyone, he was only thinking about himself. He wasn't realizing how this would affect Delia or her mother, or that there would be consequences. This was very unfair to both Delia and her mother.

Delia was unfair to her best friend, Fitz, and her fiancé, Eric. Growing up, she never realized that Fitz liked her, and she only really paid attention to Eric. This was unfair to Fitz. Now she is engaged to Eric, but then she cheated on Eric with Fitz, and Eric found out. This was unfair to Eric, because they were already engaged, and she cheated on him with his best friend. Delia was very unfair to both Fitz and Eric.

Delia's mother was unfair to Delia and Andrew. She knew that she had never been a good mother to Delia, and that Andrew would have always been a better parent, and even that Andrew was right to take Delia, but she still testifies against him in court. This almost causes Andrew to go to jail for even longer, which would have been awful for both Andrew and Delia. Delia's mother was very unfair to both Delia and Andrew.

In the book "Vanishing Acts," by Jodi Picoult, the main characters are all very unfair to each other.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

In the book Vanishing Acts, by Jodi Picoult, Delia has very different relationships with everyone. When she is with Eric, she usually seems tired, annoyed, or uneasy. When she is with Fitz, she usually seems to be longing for more than what she already has. When she is with Andrew, she is easily upset.

When Delia is with her husband, Eric, she often acts tired, annoyed, or uneasy. Eric used to be an alcoholic, and this caused Delia to be stressed out all the time, and constantly worried or angry. Even though he doesn't drink anymore, she still acts uneasy around him. I think this is because she is so used to him being a disappointment as both a husband and a father, making her unsure about whether she should trust him to make the right decisions.

When Delia is with her best friend, Fitz, she often seems to want more than what she already has. She always tells him how she wishes her life were different in one way or another, and he always seems to understand. When he kisses her, and Delia's daughter, Sophie, sees them, Delia seems like the only part she regretted was Sophie catching them. I think Delia would rather be with Fitz than Eric, but is scared to admit it to anyone, including herself.

When Delia is with her dad, Andrew, she becomes upset easily. Since he's been arrested, she either gets angry or cries anytime she visits him. They used to be so close, and they could talk to each other about everything, but now Delia can hardly look at him without becoming even more upset. I don't think their relationship will ever be the same again, now that she knows what he did. Even if it becomes easier for Delia to talk to her dad, it wont be the same as it used to be.

Delia has very different relationships with everyone, and she doesn't seem to be happy with any of them.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

In the book "19 Minutes," by Jodi Picoult, there are 5 different characters who tell the story at different parts. These characters are Josie, Peter, Josie's mom Alex, Peter's mom Lacy, and Jordan (Peter's defense attorney). Each character is telling the story from their point of view. 

When Josie tells the story, she makes it seem like her mom, Alex, is the "bad guy." In Josie's retellings, Alex repeatedly ignores Josie, or seems uninterested in anything Josie tells her. But, when Alex tells the story, she makes it seem like Josie doesn't want to talk to her. Alex explains how Josie keeps blowing her off when Alex wants to spend time with her. In reality, Josie and Alex probably don't have a great relationship, but it probably doesn't go to the same extremes that they both think it does. 

This happens many times in the book, including when Peter and his mom, Lacy, are telling the same story. Peter always describes Lacy as never sticking up for him, and always wanting him to be more like his brother, Joey. But Lacy always describes Peter as wanting to do his own thing, and as being someone very independent who really doesn't need her support. This shows that they aren't really communicating with each other, so they don't know how the other person feels and they are just saying what they think is going on. 

I found it very interesting that so many characters would describe the same events so differently. This shows how when more than one person tells a story, it will be told in many different perspectives. 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

In the book "Speak," by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melina is repeatedly punished for things that she shouldn't have been punished for. She tries to make a mini-protest in her social studies class, and is sent to the principal. She stops talking all the time, and her parents are called in by the school. Some of the characters in the book overreact to Melinda's "misbehavior," when all she's really doing is trying to stand up for herself.

Melinda has an extremely mean and non understanding social studies teacher who she likes to call "Mr. Neck." In the beginning of the book, Melinda is failing his class, she never does the homework, and doesn't even show up half of the time. But, towards the middle of the book, she starts trying a lot harder. She does all of the work she's asked to do, and hands it all in on time. Then, she hands in a social studies project on the women suffragette movement. She hands it in exactly on time, and he tells her that in order to receive the credit for the project, she has to do an oral presentation in front of the class the following morning. Melinda never talks, especially not in front of a group. So instead, she protests against the unfairness of the assignment. She goes up in front of the class, hands everyone a copy of the report, and stands there, completely silent, for the full 5 minutes that she had to do her presentation. Mr. Neck sends Melinda to the principal, where she is unfairly punished. Melinda was only trying to make a point and stand up for herself, but no one listened to her.

In the beginning of the book, Melinda has almost completely stopped talking. She will say the occasional two-word sentence to some people, but usually not any more than that. When Melinda's teachers finally realize that she has stopped talking, they call her parents. Her parents come to the school, and they have a huge meeting with the guidance counselor, the principal, and Melinda. Throughout the meeting, Melinda is trying to block out what everyone is saying, but she can't completely. Her parents think she's trying to be funny, and get even more upset. They all agree that she needs to spend time in M.I.S.S., which is basically an extended detention within the school. Melinda shouldn't be punished for not talking, because she didn't actually do anything wrong. She has a lot of reasons for staying silent, so the adults shouldn't be trying to force her to talk. They aren't paying attention to what Melinda is trying to say, and need to be more thoughtful of her than of themselves.

In the book, Melinda is constantly being punished for things that don't deserve punishment. No one is listening to what she is trying to tell them, and they automatically assume that the only way to get her to do what they want is by giving her unreasonable punishments. This isn't going to help anyone in the situation, and will really only make things worse.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

I recently read the book "Crank," by Ellen Hopkins. In the book, Kristina is visiting her father in New Mexico. Soon after she arrives, she meets Adam, also known as Buddy. Kristina introduces herself as "Bree," her alter- ego. Throughout the book, Bree repeatedly does things that Kristina would never think of doing, including doing dangerous drugs such as cocaine and meth.

When Kristina/ Bree is still in New Mexico, she is continually getting herself into trouble. By becoming Bree, Kristina lets herself do all of the crazy things she would've never done, without thinking of the consequences. She's letting herself get into serious trouble with boys and drugs, and regrets it as soon as she becomes Kristina again.

When Kristina/ Bree gets back to Nevada to be with the rest of her family, she meets a lot of new people. First she meets Chase, and then she meets Brendan. She introduces herself as "Bree" to both of them, and doesn't act like Kristina at all. This gets her into even more trouble than she was in in New Mexico, especially because in New Mexico she could leave and never come back, but in Nevada everyone knows her.

Kristina/ Bree sees her self as two completely separate people. There is Kristina, who has good grades, gets along well with her family and friends, and doesn't do anything dangerous. Then there's Bree, who is easily bored when she isn't doing something "insane." Bree is daring, and Kristina is safe. Kristina / Bree seems to like Bree more when she is being Bree, and as soon as she becomes Kristina, she tells herself how stupid she was to do whatever Bree was telling her to do.

When Kristina/ Bree first got off the plane in Nevada, she says that "Kristina had seen it all before. Kristina was home. Bree saw it all through new eyes. Bree was a stranger." This shows that Bree had only really become a part of Kristina while she was in New Mexico with her dad, and that Bree was new to Kristina's family in Nevada.