"Flowers for Algernon"

          The book, "Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes, is about a young man named Charlie Gordon and his experience in becoming a genius. In the beginning, Charlie had an IQ of 68 (he was a delayed/retarded adult) and he was very friendly, kind-hearted and a bit oblivious. There was an experiment of human intelligence concocted on him and he slowly starts to become a genius. He starts to read a lot, and write much better, he studies different scientific topics and he even learns a couple of languages! Now that he's a genius, he starts to change in an emotional sort of way. Charlie begins to have new insights on life, love, and just the world in general. He also becomes a bit more thoughtful and arrogant.

          While reading, "Flowers for Algernon," I noticed how, as Charlie's intelligence grew/developed, his way of thinking and feeling also started to change. He began to think more about the world around him and his own life; his past, present, and his own future. He began to think about things the "old Charlie" would've never thought about! Things like love, relationships and sex. Also the way he has been treated and how he's currently being treated. There was this one part that made me stop and consider this. "Why haven't I ever noticed how beautiful Alice Kinnian is? She has pigeon-soft brown eyes and feathery brown hair down to the hollow of her neck. When she smiles, her full lips look as if she's pouting." I realized that this is the first time Charlie expresses what he feels about someone (Alice Kinnian) ans he starts to fall in love. It isn't just for the looks though, there were some previous parts where Charlie starts to question himself and his feelings for Alice. This particular part just happened to stand out to me.

          Charlie Gordon also starts thinking about the way he's being treated and he starts to express his feelings more openly now. "Everything but treat me like a human being. You've boasted time and again that I was nothing before the experiment, and I know why. Because if I was nothing, then you were responsible for creating me, and that makes you my lord and master....I was always a person—even before...." This part stood out to me because I saw how Charlie starts elaborating on how he really feels about the experiment and how people have been treating him because of it. It really frustrates him how people don't treat him as a normal human, but as an experiment/creation instead. There was one more example, this is the first time Charlie has been so openly angry. "'What do you mean?' I shouted at him. Being so afraid of the inkblots had made me angry at myself and Burt too. Just because you're smart enough to go to college doesn't mean you have to make fun of me. I'm sick and tired of everybody laughing at me." This is actually the first time Charlie openly expresses his anger towards others' actions to him. It's frustrating being looked down upon just because one isn't "smart enough."

          While reading the book, "Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes, I noticed and started focusing on character change and realization. Charlie Gordon's thinking and insights certainly did change from beginning, to the middle, to the end. He started off as oblivious, friendly, humorous, innocent and started to become more arrogant, sharp, thoughtful. In the end however, the experiment wore off and Charlie became a delayed adult once again. That experience though, changed his life forever. He may not remember all these scientific formulas, or all the languages he's learned, or anything like that, but he remembers how it felt to be loved, how it felt to be able to have a new perspective on things; he basically had another chance at life.

          "If you ever reed this Miss Kinnian dont be sorry for me. Im glad I got a second chanse in life like you said to be smart because I lerned alot of things that I never even new were in this werld and Im grateful I saw it all even for a littel bit. And Im glad I found out all about my family and me. It was like I never had a family til I remembird about them and saw them and now I know I had a family and I was a person just like evryone."

"Outrage in Ferguson"

          The article, "Outrage in Ferguson," by Patricia Smith, focuses on the shooting of an unarmed black teen (Michael Brown) and the events unfolding in the aftermath. All of the reactions to the shooting differ; the main question is—has the situation in Ferguson been justified? I, personally, think that the situation hasn't been resolved and it hasn't even progressed! It's just been going downhill even more; what happened was racist and completely unfair and nothing has been done in terms of punishment towards the officer who shot Michael, Darren Wilson.

          Let me start off by giving some statistics about what other people think of this situation. According to a New York Times/CBS poll from August, 12% of whites believe that the situation has been justified (18% don't think it has), 2% of blacks believe that the situation has been justified (57% think it has not been justified) and 9% of all respondents think it has been justified (25% think it hasn't). Let's review the facts as to why the situation has not been justified/resolved. Michael was only walking (with a friend) when Darren Wilson stopped him. What's the crime in walking? What high crime is walking, on the street? How many have done it? Second fact: he was shot 6 times. You might not know this but, an officer is trained to shoot a person committing a crime, 1-2 times and only on the limbs, not the body or head or anything else. And this happens when the criminal is suspected of carrying a weapon. Michael Brown was unarmed and shot in the head. There was no investigations and no turning back, not until protests started.

          The protests reflect the feelings of anger and resentment of people of color across the United States, not only in Ferguson. There has been too many incidents when white officers have killed others due to the color of their skin. These protests started off as peaceful, they were only trying to send a message and express their feelings towards the death of Michael Brown. The response of the police clearly indicates that they knew what Wilson did was absolutely wrong and they just took it way too overboard. They dressed in riot gear, fired tear gas at the protesters and even brought in military vehicles. They were also given military equipment that they were not trained to use as regular police officers. What were they planning to do with that equipment; that they don't even know how to use? Did they really think using that stuff would help the situation? It made matters worse.

          In conclusion, this situation has not been justified, and this type of incident will occur again until racism is eliminated. Something has to be done. How many more protests will it take? How many more lives, will situations like this, rob? This is ignorance and racism and it's completely unfair. This situation has not been resolved.

Reading Response for "Faithful Elephants"

          The story, "Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People and War," by Yukio Tsuchiya is about how zoo keepers were forced (by the Army) to kill all their dangerous animals because of the war going on in Japan. It was unsafe to keep them alive at the zoo because at any time, a bomb could drop and dangerous animals would escape and be able to run wild through the city. While reading, "Faithful Elephants," I kept in mind that descriptive details about characters' appearance, words, actions, and the setting might illuminate new meaningful aspects and could also contribute to the conflict/plot. In this story, there were a lot of important, small details. 

          An example of this could be: "One day, an employee of the zoo, while tenderly polishing the stone, told me a sad story of three elephants here." I emphasized on the word 'tenderly' because I think it's pretty important. It shows that the stone matters to the employee and he takes good care of it; it's precious to him. Another quote: "Then it was Tonky's and Wanly's turns to die. These two had gazed at people with loving eyes. They were sweet and gentle-hearted." That particular line was underlined because I think it shows you, the reader, who Tonky and Wanly were. This detail could make the reader establish a more emotional connection to the elephants. (This is because you're thinking to yourself about how great they seemed to be, and then they die! Their death will affect you even more with a connection.) 

          There are still more examples for this! For instance, towards the end of the story there's a statement, "Above them, in the bright blue sky, the angry roar of enemy planes returned. Bombs began to drop on Tokyo once more." To me, this part shows the intensity of the war, which caused the elephants' deaths (in a sense, not directly). This line also interprets hatred and disgust (towards the war) from the employees that had to watch their precious animals die because of the war. There's also one more line, at the very end, and it states, "He was still patting the tombstone tenderly (- still shows the immense care for it) as the cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes. The author makes this part sound very serene and it causes me to think that it symbolizes the end of the cruel war and the terrible memories that came along with it. 

          Ultimately, the story, "Faithful Elephants," has many small yet valuable details that could contribute to the conflict/plot and also illuminate new aspects for us. Sometimes, it not always easy to notice how something so small could turn out to be very meaningful and useful! 

Reading Response for "The Great Gatsby"

          The Great Gatsby is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925. It takes place in Long Island during the 1920's; the Jazz Age. The novel focuses on Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man who's obsessed with Daisy Buchanan - she's an absent-minded young lady who catches everyone's attention (I should also mention she's married to Tom Buchanan and they're also quite wealthy). This story and its characters are looked upon through the eyes of Nick Carraway, he's a bit of an outsider, really. He's not rich, but he has his connections (he's actually related to Daisy - they're cousins) and Nick is pretty straightforward and honest. I personally think he's the most honest in the whole story. 

           That leads me to another thing; since Nick is the narrator, he meets all types of different people and he really gets a good perspective on everyone and the hypocritical society he lives in. It's kind of hard to explain Nick and his position in this society. He's a part of the inner circle for the rich and powerful, yet he's far away at the same time. He has a strong understanding of the lives of all these wealthy, popular people. Now, onto this society - its corrupt, hypocritical and false. These people lie about their relationships, they lie about their background and they lie about their wealth. Gatsby himself is an example. For instance, no one really knows the truth about him or where all his money came from. Everyone has a different theory/story about him but none of them are correct. It seems to me that Gatsby himself doesn't know the truth. Another example is Tom Buchanan; he's cheating on his own wife and everyone (including his wife) knows about it. No one says anything about it to him though, they just acknowledge it. Through Nick's eyes we can see how lies contribute to relationships and the people themselves and how it leads to a downfall.    

             While reading The Great Gatsby, I liked observing the characters and their deceptive ways through Nick's point of view. It was pretty interesting to see how corrupt and superficial this society was and the things people would do to get it done their way. I also really liked the fact it took place during the 1920's. This book was well-written and it had such a great plot. 

              I wasn't going to do this initially but when I was writing this, I started to really think about this book and how it's been challenged. At first, I didn't really understand why anyone would want this book banned (or something along the lines of that) but then I realized this story has high levels of violence. Domestic abuse/violence, the use of drugs and alcohol, murder. And I guess I didn't realize it at first because it all rolls into the fact that this is a society enveloped around betrayal and lies. Although it has these elements, I still don't think it should be banned. It was written from a great point of view and I think this story has some lessons in it. If you can handle these mature elements, you should definitely read this book.