Retell: This movie is about a boy, named Bruno who lives in Nazi Germany, during 1943 in a German family. One day, he sees what he thinks is a farm and goes to check it out. When he gets there, he see a boy, named Shmuel and they quickly become good friend. Bruno goes to see Shmuel regularly and provides him with food. Later, Bruno decides to dig a hole and help Shmuel find his father. As they are looking for him, Bruno and Shmuel end up in a crowd of people and are taken to a gas chamber and end up dying.
Relate: This movie reminds me of a television show, called The 100. In the show, Earth had become uninhabitable for humans a century ago due to a devastating nuclear war. From then on, approximately 3000 people moved to a spaceship that orbited Earth, but eventually the food and oxygen supplies started to run out and they sent 100 people back to Earth to see if it was habitable. It was like a suicide mission because they assumed the Earth had too much radiation, but luckily the Earth was livable. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas reminds me of The 100 because people are separated from their families and sent away to their death. Even though the people in The 100 did not die, they were sent on a suicide mission and there was a high probability that the Earth would have too much radiation for humans.
Reflect: I think this movie was very eye opening and shows to what extent humans can go to. Also, it brings into perspective how innocent people were killed for no reason. Furthermore, it shows the harsh conditions of the Holocaust and makes us appreciate our lives. Lastly, it shows us how other Germans were fooled to believe that the Jews were being treated nicely and that they had no idea what was really happened in their own country.
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Blog Post #6
For my final ISU blog post, I wanted to use a picture that I took to demonstrate my social issue. Since my most significant social issue in my book was discrimination, I tried to use marbles to replicate it. In our world today, there is discrimination everywhere. Discrimination has become an everyday thing for mankind, and we might not even notice it. People get discriminated because of ethnicity, culture, physical appearance, sex, size and religious beliefs. So, I decided to put some marbles that were different colours and sizes in the bottom right corner and put a X on them. This is because society divides these people and discriminate them because of all kinds of reasons, such as physical appearance.
This is shown in my book when people are put in different school classes because of their financial standings and physical appearance. All of the good looking rich kids are put in 8a, the middle class families are put in 8b and the poor, 'ugly' kids are put in 8c. Moreover, nobody talks to the students that are different from them and they hit and bully them. That is very rude and nobody should be treated differently.
This is shown in my book when people are put in different school classes because of their financial standings and physical appearance. All of the good looking rich kids are put in 8a, the middle class families are put in 8b and the poor, 'ugly' kids are put in 8c. Moreover, nobody talks to the students that are different from them and they hit and bully them. That is very rude and nobody should be treated differently.
These acts have taken place many times in human history as well. For example, the Jews were massacred because of their religion in the 1900s by the Nazi. Millions of them were discriminated and killed for no reason at all. We should learn from our mistakes in the past and never make them again.
Finally, we should all learn to accept one another for who we are and change the way society looks at one another because at the end of the day, we are all humans.
Saturday, 30 May 2015
Blog Post #5
In this ISU blog post, I wanted to summarize the novel, The Monkeyface Chronicles. The book is separated into three parts: his eighth grade introduction, his problems in grade 12 and then his recovery from a major motorcycle accident.
In the first part, the novel introduces the main characters, which include the protagonist Philip, his twin brother Michael, his parents and the students at school. It also introduces the setting, which takes place in Faireville, Ontario in 2012. Moreover, it shows the everyday hardships that Philip goes through at school and how people behave with him.
In the second part, the novel resumes 5 years later and Philip has a girlfriend, named Adeline, he has a group of friends and he plays hockey at school regularly. Sadly, Philips senior year turns horrible after his brother gets seriously hit during hockey. Michael faces many injuries including a broken neck, broken vertebrate, broken hip and a severe concussion, leaving him near dead in the hospital. During all of this, Philips home gets destroyed and he finds out that who he thought was his grandfather was, was really his father. After all of this happens, Philip tries to run away but gets into a terrible motorcycle accident which leaves most of his body shattered.
In the final part of the novel, Philip spends two years recovering at The Hospital for Sick Children. After months of surgeries, treatments and therapy, he is released as a new person. He returns home to Faireville and finds out that his brother is on a wheelchair and he has no control over his body. Ten years later, he gets married, has children and lives a happy, beautiful life.
This book was one of the best books I have ever read because I can make many connections to the novel. It is an amazing book that shows the ups and downs of a boy's life with many plot twists that will leave the reader wanting to read more. It is easy to connect with and it is very detailed, which allows the reader to be in Philip's shoes. It shows what life can throw at you and that you should always keep fighting. Lastly, the novel taught me that one should never give up, even at the worst moments of your life because life does get better.
In the first part, the novel introduces the main characters, which include the protagonist Philip, his twin brother Michael, his parents and the students at school. It also introduces the setting, which takes place in Faireville, Ontario in 2012. Moreover, it shows the everyday hardships that Philip goes through at school and how people behave with him.
In the second part, the novel resumes 5 years later and Philip has a girlfriend, named Adeline, he has a group of friends and he plays hockey at school regularly. Sadly, Philips senior year turns horrible after his brother gets seriously hit during hockey. Michael faces many injuries including a broken neck, broken vertebrate, broken hip and a severe concussion, leaving him near dead in the hospital. During all of this, Philips home gets destroyed and he finds out that who he thought was his grandfather was, was really his father. After all of this happens, Philip tries to run away but gets into a terrible motorcycle accident which leaves most of his body shattered.
In the final part of the novel, Philip spends two years recovering at The Hospital for Sick Children. After months of surgeries, treatments and therapy, he is released as a new person. He returns home to Faireville and finds out that his brother is on a wheelchair and he has no control over his body. Ten years later, he gets married, has children and lives a happy, beautiful life.
This book was one of the best books I have ever read because I can make many connections to the novel. It is an amazing book that shows the ups and downs of a boy's life with many plot twists that will leave the reader wanting to read more. It is easy to connect with and it is very detailed, which allows the reader to be in Philip's shoes. It shows what life can throw at you and that you should always keep fighting. Lastly, the novel taught me that one should never give up, even at the worst moments of your life because life does get better.
Blog Post #4
Don't Stop Believin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8craCGpgs
For my fourth ISU blog post, I wanted to present a song that was related to my novel, therefore I picked the song, Don't Stop Believin'. This is a very powerful song and has multiple strong messages. For example, one should never lose hope and you should keep fighting no matter how tough times get. Also, the song is conveying that there are always going to be so many people that are going to try to hold you back and put you down, but you just have to ignore them go your separate ways.
This relates to my novel because this is exactly what the protagonist in my novel does. He never gives up and keeps fighting, even at the lowest points of his life. Even though so many people hate him and discriminate him because of his physical appearance, he looks the other way and walks away. Also, even though his accident breaks almost every bone on his face, he things positive and keeps fighting. This benefits him at the end of the day because he turns out to have such a happy life and the bullies that made fun of him are homeless.
Songs like Don't Stop Believin' and books like The Monkeyface Chronicles should encourage people not to think about suicide and death. One should not get influenced by the things that people say, they should just turn around and walk away. There will always be haters, but they hate you because they are jealous of you. There are so many suicides in the world today, but people should know that things do get better, suicide is not the only option. Philip faced so many challenges, but he did not stop believing. Life always has ups and downs, but we all have to learn how to handle them and keep believing that things will get better because they will, just like in Philip's case.
Blog Post #3
I wanted to share this quote because this is very inspiring and it is closely connected to my novel, The Monkeyface Chronicles. In the novel, Philip is faced with many hardships and challenges because of the way he looks. He gets bullied both verbally and physically, strangers stare at him with dirty eyes, teachers put him down and nobody talks to him at school. He feels as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel and he wants to give up in life, but he keeps believing that everything will get better as time goes by. This is exactly what the quote is saying, to never stop believing, everything has a purpose and that your desires will come true one day.
As the novel comes to an end, Philip's wishes finally come true and he looks great. This all happens because he gets into an accident and he has to get multiple surgeries done, thus changing his appearance. Although he faced many challenges, he persevered and never gave up and got everything he ever wanted. He got a healthy body, nice wife and family and everyone started to appreciate him.
This shows that when push comes to shove, you should always keep fighting because everything you want will happen one day.
Thursday, 16 April 2015
Four C's
The video, "Former child soldier Ishmael Beah recounts his past” is about how a 12 year old boy named Ishmael is forced to become a child soldier in Sierra Leone. The video is closely related to the article, "Teaching Kids to Kill", this is because both of them portray child violence and how children can be influenced to do certain things. Ishmael forgets his identity and is forced to believe that killing is okay and if he does not kill, he will be killed. This tactic scares Ishmael and he is forced to kill people at such a young age. This is also shown in the article, "Teaching Kids to Kill" because Michael i is influenced by games that killing is okay and it is not that bad. In all, the connection that relates to both pieces is that children are influenced by other things, such as adults or media and are forced to do certain acts of violence because they start to think that it is right.
I believe that Ishmael should have not listened to the commanders gave him the option of killing or being killed. I do not believe they would have killed Ishmael and they would have let him go. If Ishmael and all all his fellow colleagues came together and did not kill anyone they probably would have not been killed. Thus, I challenge the fact that Ishmael did not choose the option of being killed because how can one live with the guilt of having killed another soul, I know I would not be able to live. I also challenge that fact that Michael picked up a gun and shot many people. It is not only his fault, it is his neighbours as well because they left a gun so close. Nobody can say they shot people because that is what happened in a game, a game is not reality. No right child on earth would ever do such a thing.
A concept that really stood out for me is that children can be influenced very easily by anything, like by other human beings or by social media. Ishmael is influenced to kill human beings by other human beings, it is ridiculous. Children are influenced very easily by others because they have a very small mind and they do not believe that anyone would do anything to harm others but this world is very cruel and they do inhuman things. In the article, Michael is influenced by social media and does impulsive things in a matter of minutes. In all, children are very innocent minded and believe that everyone is nice and everything they see is what they are supposed to do, thus they are influenced very easily and do crazy and dangerous things.
After listening and reading these two things, I have changed my view of children and some human beings. Children are so innocent and can be influenced so easily to do the most dangerous and scary things. The people who influence these children should be ashamed because they intentionally change young children's view of the world and take advantage of their innocence. I got to learn how mean some people can be and to what extent they can go to to achieve their goals.
I believe that Ishmael should have not listened to the commanders gave him the option of killing or being killed. I do not believe they would have killed Ishmael and they would have let him go. If Ishmael and all all his fellow colleagues came together and did not kill anyone they probably would have not been killed. Thus, I challenge the fact that Ishmael did not choose the option of being killed because how can one live with the guilt of having killed another soul, I know I would not be able to live. I also challenge that fact that Michael picked up a gun and shot many people. It is not only his fault, it is his neighbours as well because they left a gun so close. Nobody can say they shot people because that is what happened in a game, a game is not reality. No right child on earth would ever do such a thing.
A concept that really stood out for me is that children can be influenced very easily by anything, like by other human beings or by social media. Ishmael is influenced to kill human beings by other human beings, it is ridiculous. Children are influenced very easily by others because they have a very small mind and they do not believe that anyone would do anything to harm others but this world is very cruel and they do inhuman things. In the article, Michael is influenced by social media and does impulsive things in a matter of minutes. In all, children are very innocent minded and believe that everyone is nice and everything they see is what they are supposed to do, thus they are influenced very easily and do crazy and dangerous things.
After listening and reading these two things, I have changed my view of children and some human beings. Children are so innocent and can be influenced so easily to do the most dangerous and scary things. The people who influence these children should be ashamed because they intentionally change young children's view of the world and take advantage of their innocence. I got to learn how mean some people can be and to what extent they can go to to achieve their goals.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)