The 5th Wave - 3/10/16

Writing Prompt: If the author were here, what would you say and ask him?

If the author, Rick Yancey, were here, I would first ask him where he got the idea for this book. This is my main question because this book is about the alien apocalypse and I want to know how he came up with the story, plot, setting, etc. There are many things that go into creating a story, and I'm wondering where he got the ideas for all the things that go into making a book. Like the character names, character personalities, settings, and different plots and twists.

          I would also ask him what experiences influenced him to write this book. Sometimes experiences are son had goes into their writing, and I'm wondering if that is the case for Yancey. Maybe he was interested in aliens as a kid, and maybe still is. He could possibly have a fascination for different kinds of apocalypses, and he wanted to write about one. I want to know what has happened in his life to make him want to write this book.

          Another thing I would like to know from Rick Yancey is: why did he decide to write this book? I know there are probably many reasons Yancey decided to write and publish his book. Maybe is has always been interested in writing books. Maybe Yancey came up with an idea about a story one day and decided it would be good if it was turned into a book. I would like to know what Yancey was thinking when he thought of making and publishing this book.

The 5th Wave - 3/2/16

Writing Prompt: What special way does the author write? Does that make reading it better or worse? Explain.

I quite like the way the author, Rick Yancey, writes. He starts off with the main character, Cassie, in the present, and he writes as if she is telling a story. As Cassie goes through life, on a quest in this alien apocalyptic world, she starts off by saying something that happened in the past, as if she is starting to tell you a story. Then it goes to a flashback. An example would be when the book says, "Mom died on a Tuesday. Dad buried her in the backyard, in the rose bed." Then Cassie talks about how her dad and her brother acted leading up to the day her mom died, then she talks about the day a little bit. Then after that it goes to a flashback of that day, the moment her mom died.

Another example of this flashback, story telling writing style, is when Cassie starts to talk about her brother. The author writes it as if she is talking to someone, but in reality Cassie is all alone: "I guess I have to talk about Sammy now." The author I writes this and it makes it look like Cassie is writing in book or telling someone this. Once Cassie says this she starts to talk about her situation and how Sammy is the only thing that keeps her going. She then shifts over and starts talking about how they went to a camp. After she talks about it, there is a flashback of a time that they were all in the camp. 

I like that the author writes like this because it shows the differences between the characters in the past and present. I also like it because it shows emotion in the main character as she talks about the things that happened in the past, and how they have effected her life in the present. I also like how the author makes it sound as if Cassie is writing this story for people to read, and how he includes flashbacks after the main character has already told the reader about the time the flashback is going to. 

Another thing the author does is that in some flashbacks, he writes as if Cassie is saying it, and she is talking about it in past tense. An example would be when Cassie is telling a story with dialogue, and she says "I had said to her". This shows that Cassie is saying this as if it was in the last, and she is telling someone what was said.

I think this makes the reading experience better because I find this writing style very interesting. I like how I get to see past and present, and I like how the author writes as if the main character is telling someone this as if it was a story, or as if the main character was writing this down like it was a book or journal. To me, this writing style makes the reading experience more enjoyable.

Life is Beautiful - Night Connections

Writing Prompt:

 1) Based on the Holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between Life is Beautiful and our reading?

2) How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull out at least two examples from different parts of the film and explain your rationale.

The movie Life is Beautiful and the book Night have some similarities and many differences. One major difference is the fact that the two have a completely different tone and mood attached to it. Night focuses completely on the negative side of the Holocaust and being in a concentration camp. Night talked about how people were tortured, killed, starved, and beat on. Life is Beautiful focuses much less on the negative, and more about love, and even includes many moments of humor. In the beginning the film showed a man named Guido trying to get the women he had fallen in love with. Then they got married and had a child named Joshua. Even once Guido and Joshua were in a concentration camp it didn't focus on the negative things. Instead it focused on Guido trying to protect his son and keep him from finding out what the camp was really like.

Another difference is the way the concentration camp was looked at through the eyes of the child. The author and narrator of Night had arrived in a concentration camp when he was 15, and he lived through the whole experience knowing the kind of place he was in. He knew that these concentration camps were a place of pain and torture. Thanks to his father, Guido, Joshua had no idea the kind of terrors the concentration camp had in store. Guido protected Joshua by telling him that this was all a big game. Guido made up rules for the game that would keep Joshua safe and protected. Unlike Elie, Joshua went through his whole concentration camp experience without knowing what was actually happening around him.

A similarity between the film and the reading is that there is a father and a son. In both movie and book, there is a boy with his father, surviving in a concentration camp. Both boys also  get to stay with their father until near the end, before they were liberated. Although in different ways, in both situations the father dies in the concentration camp.

There are different ways life is shown as beautiful thought the film. One example would be when  the main character, Guido, finds love. Love is something very beautiful and magical, and it was a very wonderful thing that Guido was able to find someone to love, and someone to love him back. Along with that, it was a beautiful thing that they were able to get married and have a son together.

Life is shown as beautiful in the concentration camp during the different times Guido tried to show his wife, Dora, that him and his son were still alive, and that he loved her. One time Guido even risked his life by sneaking into a room and talking to Dora over the speakers that were all over camp. Guido also expressed is love by playing a song very loudly out a window, in hopes Dora would hear it. The song is from they both went to the opera.