Chronicle of A death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (pg.24-120)

Summary

The court in this case understands Pedro and Pablo's reasons for murdering Santiago, which were out of dignity, oddly, even the church understands that. They got three years of jail time before the actual trial but never felt penitent for their actions. Before they were captured, they went to the butchers shop to sharpen their knives and tell everyone about their plans. For some reason the twins had waited for him at the front of the Santiago's house when though he always comes through the back. There was a relationship between butchers and the animal, most butchers couldn't look at the animal, know the animal, or drink from the animal when slaughtering them. While the Vicario's named their animals, they also slaughtered them. At 4:30, they went to Clotilde Armenta's bar and got drunk. Colonel Leonardo Aponte fits the two pieces together on why the bride was dismissed and Vicario brothers sudden plan, and so he decided to take their knives. The twins tell everyone that they are going to murder Santiago and Clotilde Armenta sends a lot of people to tell Santiago but no one does. Sense Pedro Vicario had gotten into the military; Pablo became more dependent on him. Pedro had decided to kill Santi but after a while he regretted it and this happened after the colonel stopped them, Pablo then took charge. At 4:30, Santi comes home without turning on the lights straight to bed; he had been with the towns prostitute called Maria Alejandrina Cervantes. Santi had decided to go to Bayardo's house without knowing that Angela had been send back to sing newlywed songs. Even the priest had heart the message but he realized that it wasn't any of his business. The novice major had ordered them to give Santi and autopsy and his body was but in the living room meanwhile they made his sophisticated coffin. The dogs were killed because they wanted to eat his guts. Father Amador performed the autopsy and found that Santiago had perforations all over his body. Nasar smell follows the reporter and the twins, it actually haunts them. They are both sent to jail before the judge arrives, but Pablo gets really sick and they get send home. The whole family moves away, the dad dies, Pablo gets married and wealthy, Pedro joins the army and is never heard of again. As for Angela and Pura, they move away to a nearby town. Bayardo Roman is found unconscious on his bed a day after his wedding, he was intoxicated and later on his mother comes to pick him up and is never seen again. Angela bought a house near the water and lived there all her life, she became down-to-earth on hear life and maturity. However, she never really assured that Nasar was really at fault. Angela admitted that she didn't fake her virginity on purpose because she felt bad for San roman and took the hits for him. She writes Roman letter after seeing him one day and becomes obsessed with him. San Roman after 17 years comes back after recovering about 2,000 letter. Santi's fiancé Flora becomes a prostitute. Cristo Bedoya goes to Santiago's house to warm him about the death and sneakds into his room, gets his gun to give it to Nasar so he can defend himself, but Cristo never finds Nasar. Before Santiago died, he went to Flora's house, she had already known and was going crazy. Flora's father tells him that he's going to die and Santiago just feels confused over being scared. Santi leaves anyway and before it happens Clotilde Armenta yells at him to run but his confusion defeats him. Victoria Guzman tells Placida Linero about the twins plan minutes before the incident. Santiago runs into the house, then run in the twins, and they stab him all over. After being punctured all over, he manages to walk around and die in his kitchen.

Quote

" They were sitting down to breakfast when they saw Santiago Nasar enter, soaked in blood and carrying the roots of his entrails in his hands...Santiago Nasar walked with his usual good bearing, measuring his steps well, and that his sarcen face with its dashing ringlets was handsomer than ever" (Marquez 120).

Reaction
My reaction to this quote was a better understanding of who Santiago Nasar was. Marquez's writing style demonstrates an ability to look at a few sentences about a character that are written and see a bit of what his personality is like. This quote of before Santiago dies connects to the whole story because it shows how even after Santiago is killed, he still walks the same way and behaves the same way. He doesn't blame anyone, he's just confused. The quote describes Santiago in such a way that the reader can use imagery to picture Santiago Nasar in there mind.
 

Chronicle of A death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (pg.1-47)

Summary

       Santiago Nasr at the beginning of the book, it completely blurts out that he is going to be murdered. The Book in a first person narration and it takes place 27 years later; a reporter is collecting interviews of people in the community about this murder. He dies on his wedding died, the day the bishop was going to visit in the e town.  He always carried guns but was very discreet when saving and hiding the, but on his wedding day. Santiago is slim, pale, and has curly hair. His mother named Placida Linero has a 6th sense, which Nasar inherits. Ibrahim Nasar, Santiago's father allows Santiago to inherit the love for horses and firearms, Ibrahim is also known for having affairs with the servant like Santiago Nasar. The men were going to kill Santiago through the front door, which was never used, but on his wedding day known as his "Fatal door". The house used to be a warehouse and had a huge structure. Victoria Guzman the servant knew that he was going to die. However, her daughter Divina Flor, which has an affair with Santiago , admits that her mother wanted him to die. Before he left his house for his wedding that day, he touched Divina inappropriately, before he left, a envelope had been left in the house that explained the motives for his deaths, but it was found long after his death. Two men would kill him, twins called Pedro and Pablo Vicario, 24 years old. The Bishop doesn't even stop to greet Nasar and Santi felt cheated. The narrator’s sister called Margot meets Santiago at the pier where the whole town is to see the Bishop pass by, she doesn't know about the death. Flora Miguel is Santiago's bride; Santiago is really excited for his wedding at the dock. Many people describe him as a person of his word and 21 years old. Cristo Bedoya, his friend, leaves with him from the pier to go to Margot’s house, that’s the last time he was seen. Many people knew that Santiago was going to get killed but they thought they thought that sense he wasn't killed earlier then he wasn't in trouble, the killers had waited for the bishop to pass. The killers had waited across the street of Nasar's house, which was located in front of the dock. Everyone in the town thought that he had been warned but he didn’t. Most people were too interested in the Bishop's arrival to care about other gossip. After he hadn't stepped off, Margot found out that Angela Vicario’s brothers wanted to kill Santi, Somehow Angela Vicario had gotten married the day before and was sent home because she wasn't a virgin. Mother shows that she already knew about it when Margot gets home. When the reporters mother finds out, she runs to tell Placida but she finds out that they had already killed him. Bayardo San Roman gave back the bride Angela Vicario, he's 30 years old and wealthy. The whole town is thinks that he is enchanting and charming. He was town hopping looking for a wife and wans an engineer , wanted to marry Angela Vicario. When the reporter met him, he appeared like a sad man, not as charming and bright as his mother described in letters. Poncio Vicario and Purisima del carmen are Angela Vicario's parnets, Bayardo San Roman goes and meets them. The reporters name is named Merecedes, they beocme engaged around the same time. Purisima seemed as strict as a noun, she raised her 4 daughters to marry and know housewife qualitites, and Pablo and Pedro to become men. Prisima makes San Roman identify himself and he brought his family, which impressed the wohle town. Angela Vicario didn't want to marry Roman because he was to much of a man for her bu t she was talked into it by her family. There engagement is four months long, San Roman buys a house for her, the nicest one in town from widower Xius. He offers Widower Xius's so much many for the house he loved, that he died. Angela Vicario was very worrried before the wedding happened about her hiding her not being a virgin. There wedding was scheduled for the Bishops visit so he could marry them and they received many gifts before hand. On the day of the wedding, San Roman fixed the Vicario's modest house up for a party and Angela waited until he came home for her to get ready after the wedding, Sangiago Nasar ahd even gone to the festival with reporter and Cristo Bedoya. San Roman brings Angela Vicario home, she's in shreds with a towel around her worst, San Roman pushes her inside and Purisima beats her silently. Angela tellsher brothers it was Santiago Nasar.

Quotes

  "Then it it was that my sister Margot learned about it in a thorough and brutal way: Angela Vicario, the beautiful girl who'd gotten married the day before, had been returned to the house of her parents , because her husband had discovered that she wasn't a virgin" (Marquez 21).

Reaction

My reaction to this quote was jaw dropping. One, because this is probably the reason why Santiago Nasar gets killed, but it is wierd because Marquez decides to reveal this to the reader just in the first chapter of the book. It also brings up when of the points or perhaps moral that the book insinuates in the blurb of the book which is codes that men and women impose on women. But then again, this was the type of culture at the time. This phrase connects to the book as a whole because it shows the many implications that can be brought about from just one of these "immoral" acts.

The Rise and Fall of The American Teenager by Thomas Hine (pg. 243-304

Summary
 In 1946, the largest baby boom in American history occurred, marketers started planning there sales before the babies even arrived and by the 1960's marketers had created children and adolescent products, such as shopping carts for kids when they found out that parents bought what there kids told them to. The baby boom made schools reform to prepare for a large number of students and created more electives. More children enrolled into college and now statistics proved that drop-outs made less money in a life time then high-school graduates. Students became internal dropouts where they physically went to school but really didn't care about anything. In the 1960s, there was a huge issue were the integration of black teenagers into high school became an issue, although young people stood up and created groups to help accept the black students, both black and white teens did this. Statistics showed how parents counted for how there teenagers acted. The Beatles came after the Kennedy's assassination and the best band ever :) helped change the sexual character of America, along with playboy that made cars and Martinis "cool." Around the same time the birth control pill came out in the market came out and obliterated sexual responsibility for males. The Vietnam War made young men make long hair much more than a hair style. It symbolized defiance to the war and equality, denouncing machismo by making them similar looking to women. There was a student movement that called a stop of oppression by adults. Clicks started emerging as schools became more relaxed and gave students free time. During the 1960's the consumption of illegal drugs dramatically increased as a result of adults working longer hours. The result of no one caring for teens as in there teachers and administrators, it created a peer group culture that consisted of selling Marijuana, smoking cigarettes, and illegal gang activities. The late baby boomers were completely ignored politically and had less of a bright guarantee with there school cuts. Heavy-metal music came in the 70's and added on to something adults could never understand and therefore called it meaningless. Goth teenager appeared as an epidemic and they would go got Disneyland and people would find ways to make sure they couldn’t come in and arrest them for the tiniest faults. There appearance was a disturbance. Teen has an always been a bias term to a middleclass person. Marketers surveyed teens around the U.S to find how to sell them and they found that teens felt like they were alienated by society and pessimistic. Family life has been disrupted, teens who don't eat with there families are more likely not to get pregnant, abuse drugs, and participate in crime. Hine notes that telling teens what not to do and restricting them makes them do it more, like the restriction of cigarettes in MA. The idea of probation officers in Massachusetts negotiation with juvenile delinquents has succeeded because it is more personal. For black and Hispanic teens as much as 50% have grown up in poverty making there leading cause of death homicide. Overall one in 4 teens in the U.S reports being abused in the last year. Title IX, was an act that forced in 1972 public schools to treat both guys and girls the same even if one party got pregnant. Now girls handle both school and babies, there is a lot more funding for women sports. Title IX, also was an indirect result of Bulimia and Anorexia cause by Magazines and for men also. Teens working has become controversial because it can go both ways, one acquiring punctual responsibilities and the other teens take work more seriously than school. Teens who work are more likely to be prone to dropping out, doing drugs, and participating in sexual activity. Schooling has become a way to store young people for a longer period like 30 years ago when people were put into high school to make space for family fathers. Motherhood has teen has given young girls a definite future and a path in life. Identity has been the larges issue with teenagers and finding a way to fit in society. Teens even have to pass through metal detectors everyday, they are even at a higher risk of using drugs, sex, and crime. Parents often working long hours to pay a house were youth are alienated. Hines argues that teens should be treated as adults who are inexperience but not as different creatures, they should just be given more attention. When the term "teenager," that refers to a mystical adultish creature, young people will become actual individuals instead of one type of group, and strong members of there communities. Hines encourages reader to help tens not to rerun history.
  Quote
"The society implied by the dance is not harmonious made up of couples. Rather, it is violent and composed of isolated individuals who are, nevertheless, both seeking and repulsing contact with others. If this sounds like a vision of American society as a whole, that's not surprising. “(Hine 280).

Reaction
  The quotation is referring to the dance "American Bandstand." Hine uses the best comparison ever; this is the type of great written that he is, he makes connections between what he is writing about and society. Here he makes a connection between a dance that teens did that adults thought was meaningless and absurd and he makes the statement that it is much like the society that those adults run. He makes the argument that teenagers reflect society as a whole, and how it is really run, sense teenagers really do follow there parents. This connects to the stories larger message of helping out teenagers and really paying attention to them because they have a lot to offer.

The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager by Thomas Hine (Pages 190-243)

Summary

   Movies became an answer to sexuality and a new part of a new culture of Americans. In the 1920s, women’s hair became short and women started dressing more "openly" as a result of the women’s rights movements. Cars had a lot to do with American culture; it created a new rite of passage with a driver’s license and gave teens more liberty. College became the ultimate goal because of advertising of college. Dating with multiple partners became popular at the time and it gave guys power over girls and it became a loss of family power over children’s dating lives. In the 1940s, "petting," or sexual activity, became popular amount teens and petting parties became a way for teens too pet and to create a scandal, the level of sexual activity amount teens went up significantly. Then came the Great depression, which made fifty percent more teens enroll in high school. The problem was that high schools weren’t prepared to take in so many students at the same time so teenagers became stuck in a world were everything failed, everything they were taught about the greatness of there country had failed and there school was failing to teach them properly. Several acts and the new deal discriminated against teens in the workforce and made youth a problem. During this time, youth were removed from the workforce by the government and forced to go somewhere else in order to make space for family men. The great depression got families together and dislocated the youth. Many young people became "ho-bo's" a during this era and lived in hobo jungles. School became a place where the rich and poor met, youth movies and comic books inspired youth to deal with all the problems in certain ways. IN 1945, father went to war and mothers went to work, leaving teenagers and children alone most of the time. Military canteens became huge social spot during World War II. After the war, prosperity and money came, teens got married at a very high rate. In the 1950s, marketers realized that teens affected the market directly y and indirectly with there parents and during this time there money benefitted marketers. Youth crime increased because there was a baby boom, long parent work hours caused gang violence, also immigrant groups started gangs and this was popular in urban lower-class areas. Movies also benefitted the gang violence look and taught teenagers how to behave. People moved out to suburbs to avoid this sort of life. 

Quote  
'' The media, which some feared were corrupting youth, had tamed and exploited the threatening adolescent subculture--and together they put on a real nice show" (Hine 248).

Reaction

  Here the author tells the reader the what has caused such a disruption and the "fall of the teenager," which is the media, and he argues that throughout the book especially when television comes along and even before that when marketing officials were appointed to the job. I think that this is a very powerful statement because the media does even today create a view of teenagers that makes them a certain way and gives others of different age groups and cultures a perspective of the american teenager. The media has been haunting the teenager sense the mid 20th century, its incredible how long media have exploited teenagers.

The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager by Thomas Hine (Pages 125-190)

   Summary 

    Families depended on their children for money back then and this created youth authority, language also became a barrier between parents and this made it hard immigrant teenagers to fit into society. In the 19th century teens began working in the street trades like shoe shining and or delivering messages, department stores were made possible through gash boys and girls who collected cash throughout the store. Many youths weren't restrained from adult only activities like gambling during this time. A youth culture emerged where there became a way of expression for teens and a threat to society, the government agreed on censorship teens. Books even became a threat to society by being explicit (hahaha). During the late twentieth century laws establishing reform schools and cutting youth jobs created teenagers. During this time teens became really short because of pollutants in the air while working in dangerous mills and factories. Most southern west boys became men very early and moving east to school meant that they lost responsibility school to being a child. The teenager was created with high school in order to become a member of the community must go through high school. The idea of high school took over after war world two because of low job opportunity; public school was a touchy subject. Teens have control over there own social life in high school, which was a huge change. Many parents couldn’t sacrifice their young men going to high school for economical reasons, but it was okay for there girls to go. Reading was essential in communities and colleges emerged for clergy menus sake. Funding for schooling was a huge issue especially poor kids education was considered an act of charity so they wanted to take that into consideration. High school equality was a huge problem between social classes; finishing high school was a huge effort and a replacement for college. High schools were run locally and Latin was known as the language of the elite. The Morills act was given for colleges to educate on agriculture. School was used at government’s best interest to control societies opinions. The late 19th century included team sports and extracurricular activities started to become very popular and developed character, there was a mayor focus on student life. Boy’s scouts were created to keep young men immature because there were complaints that the youth were growing up to fast. Teachers didn't see how students and parents still took schooling as a second option. Child labor laws were enforced because machines to there jobs. Juvenile courts took too much thinking of society to create a place were young people could stop taking the road they did and not become criminals as adults. In 1967, the Supreme Court decided juveniles needed a due process of law and made it a more adult trial. Juvenile courts allowed the public to observe the way youth worked and catches problems. The upper and middle class girls were boy’s angel’s lower-class girls fulfilled their desires. Teenage pregnancy was solved by marriage back then. Lower class girls were considered "charity girls,"
 they were given nice things by young men in exchange for sexual favors, and not considered particularly "flappers," or prostitutes.

Quote

    "Nevertheless, some qualities of these young people of the frontier--their love of mobility, their belief that they were entitled to have a good time, their sudden shifts from dependence to maturity and back--became part of that creature we know as a teenager" (Hine 137).

Reaction

  My reaction to this quotation was that this was finally the official start of the American teenager, a full description of it after the high school chapter, the sentence flowed in so well. Hine uses literal language all the time but here he describes the young person as a creature, and explains to the reader a teenager and how it was formed through one sentence. This is the type of writer that he is, he explains throughout the book and reminds the reader all the time how the createion of the teenager affects the teenager today. This connects to the overall theme of the book because it explains everything that he was just talking about the whole book and connects it to the creation of the teenager.

The Rise and Fall of The American Teenager by Thomas Hine (pg. 64-125)

Summary
    The first settlers who were Puritans ideas of youth was anyone from ten to twenty one, youth needed a family and an economic obligation. Puritans exchanged children throughout there families, this supported the physiological idea that it’s easier to see other children grow up then your own. Young men moved out of home to find the calling of there apprenticeship which was the most common form of education during the 16th century. During the 16th and 17th centuries, school fit around work and most people didn't go to college. Apprenticeship was idea to orphans and children who were younger because it gave them sort of like a home. The end of apprenticeship came when the industrialization age began. The American Revolution was a youth uprising were youth walked out of there elders shadow. During the 18th century, Americans became taller than even Europeans because of the stress free environment and less diseases. Religion during this time changed the youth and the youth changed the way religion functioned. Before this revival, only people from ages 20 to 35 were full members of the church, in families the father was the main religious teacher. The Great Awakening gave youth and independent experience with religion and it was a way that the idea of equality between genders began. During the 16th century, there were huge problems between practical and academic schooling, Benjamin Franklin organized schools that were dedicated to students vocations, which encouraged students to go to school. Young people became enthusiastic republicans when the American Revolution ended. In 1770, Boston Massacre was started by a young person who threw a rock at a solider for not paying back a wig at his apprenticeship. Schooling for young women wasn't necessary sense they didn’t get jobs. Upper class women went to school just to make friends and for recreation. In 1835, Adolescents didn't exist; they were young Americans who integrated as active members of communities. For slaves, coming of age meant the shocking reality of there whole life. Young women became active in religious revivals and had more freedom and interest in literature. Many youths were stuck between listening to there family and working in a farm and working in a factory. Factory girls emerged and started the first ever dormitory of young women and the earliest form of the youth market. Young women created literary pieces and began an intellectual revolution. The 1840's and 50's brought a time where middle and upper class started controlling there family size through contraception and abortion to save money, and therefore many families focused one education. Irish immigrants ended the factory girls because they took jobs for really low wages and ended republican ideals of social equality and industrial reform because these immigrants were now considered subhuman. The immigrant population massively increased and advocates like Clergy Theodore Parker made  statements that put immigrants into the category of "half-civilized" individuals, and the belief that only children could be saved. 1840's, gang violence was brought by immigrants and prostitution emerged by natives of the north east.  There were advocates for education reform but it was difficult because children were made to work by there parents. America had a huge temperance issues, ids were drinking very young and parents became alcoholics causing children’s as young as10 to leave there home. These children became street bandits. Soon, the Irish revolted against the civil war, protesting and killing many blacks. Children moved far out west and south to find jobs of farmers who took young children. All these problems created the idea of "a self-made man in the making." In the 19th century, many immigrant children saw there childhood shorten and there work time increase. Half way through the century there were two types of individuals, one was going to school, the other which was most adolescents which was working for there families. Teens were always a part of people’s consideration of finance. Most tens worked without pay, sense people were so young when hey started working by the time they were parents they would want to make there kids work.
Quotes 
 "Of course, every family, even today, is an economic unit, and it must make calculations about who must work and how to balance domestic life with the necessity of  employment. Teenagers are still part of each family's financial decisions" (Hine 123).
Reaction
    Hine demonstrates verisimilitude in the life of a family in the 19th century and a family currently in the 21st century. That's what makes his writing so interesting, he is able to talk about the history of families in other centuries and is able to make it relate to today. He explains why there were financial problems back then in families, and it is very similar to problems today. It gives the reader a idea of the main point of the book.  That's the type of style he uses, Hine is very literal and on point with the subject. This quotation connects to the rest of the book by showing how family and there financial stability contributes to the making of a teenager, in the qoute he comparing it two teenagers today, showing the history of teenagers.

The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager by Thomas Hine (Pages 0-63)

Summary
The narrator begins by mentioning that in high school yearbook club he was assigned to write a piece on the misery of teenagers. In the 1930s, teenagers didn't go to school and only worked but the government funded more high schools to have older men work. Author's theory is that teenager is a term that is a cycle of our lives and embedded into it. In the 1940s, the term "teenager: arrived, youth could be described at the time as anyone from 12 to 35 years old. The author speaks of looking at history of teenagers and making it relevant to modern teenager ideals. The rise of the teenager is the education, shape, and continuation of teen culture. The fall of the teenager is all the negative aspects of being a teenager like tattoos, piercings, gangs, and violence. The rise and fall of teenagers could be compared to the rise and fall of man in Genesis, the biblical story. Teenage Mystique allows adults to remind themselves of there own mortality, which makes adults have a negative view on teenagers. It also makes adults presume thoughts about teens like that all teenagers are a same way. Americans culture includes a type of classification where their age group classifies a person and therefore they are assumed to act certain way. Before the twentieth century, teens were looked at and judged for their physical ability or other abilities and declared mature. Currently teenagers are but all into one box of mannerisms and personalities. Statistically, a teen that developed faster than others is most likely to participate in teenager mystique (negative assumptions of teenagers). In the mid 1990's, there was a high population of baby boomer and the crime rate was high, crime is a way for a teen to get a job or do something before he is mature. Pressure is put onto teens to not be like their parents but better, and teens actually adapt to adult habits. The more restraints put on them, the more the teenage mystique. Sexuality has become an issue in this generation with a lack of education. Teenagers crave their parents who many times aren’t there, parents view teens as exotic and stubborn. There is a possibility that teens from this decade may find new ways to deal with other teens in the future, but for now, it is not working out. It takes person a series of events to come of age, historical and cultural influences, and influence teenagers physical development. Modern nutrition has also had an impact on girl’s sexuality because there bodies develop earlier, this creates a gap between physical maturation and marriage age. Adolescent physiology is key to understanding the term "teenager," Anna Geud's theory is that we don't remember our adolescence because of its pain. Physical changes in a person’s body are due to their family and infancy. Aristotle even commented that teens are eager to fulfill their desires; teens have been studies for a long time. Of course, as time evolves, teenager culture does to; new problems arise that make them ungrateful for old problems. All teens are born in different situations, which makes it difficult to put them all into one category or to assume they all have the same obstacles. A person's identity, which is crucial to a person’s life, is undefined in American culture; American culture tries pushes in the idea of self-creation. American coming of age ceremonies like prom and age limitations, create bad habits, as teens grow and lead them to immaturity. The anthropologist term "rites of passage," consists of the same stages of bildungsroman. Coming of age rituals in other cultures are very distinct, Americans rituals are unclear, to teens and to adults, they leave youth disoriented and tattoos, piercings, and crazy haircuts become the answer to the lack of rituals defining coming of age. Even though some cultures deny young people of maturity, at times they find the only way to show it is physical maturity, in some cases youth are separated from there families to come of age. Esidendat argued that age groups are universal when there are two things, first the minimizing degree of family dependence and he inability for elders to share wealth to the young. The United States created the teenager, which becomes someone stuck in between.

Quote
"That in turn has led to the rise of a youth subculture that has helped define and elaborate what it means to be a teenager. Any account of the rise of the teenager is in large part, an account of the changing shape and continuing importance of teen culture"(Hine 7).

Reaction
  In the quotation, Hines summarises his point and defines what the rise of the teenager is. This connects to the authors style of writing because besides writing about the history of teenagers, he speaks optimistically about the rise of the teenager and the power of young people. His sophisticated way of writing is shown through using very specific terms like "subculture," not only is his diction at a higher level but the way he uses syntax to make his sentences to give them a intellectual touch, making the reader take the topic of teenagers seriously.

The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Guevara (pg. 112-175)

Summary

   Ernesto and Alberto go to a cathedral, and they find footprints of Catholic Church on Andeans people are shown through Cuzco. Dr. Hermosa gives theme tour and explains the way of life to them.  ON their way to Cuzco, which took 12 hours, there was a third class train reserved for Indians. Ernesto explains that North Americans know about Peru and superficially visit the cities and the ruins without paying attention to the serious social problems. They visit the archeological museum in Cuzco was very poor but for Alberto and Ernesto it was amazing. They found a mestizo curator that told them of the need for education and rights of the Indians. They learned that the Quechua people instead of being prideful of their rich history are ashamed of being part of a mestizo class. They also talk about coca and the problem in Peru, there was much abuse against the rich-profit makers and may poisoned people (by the drugs). Tribes that mainly consumed Coca were Colla and Wuechua. The museum also expresses these Indians tribes race for trying to find their identity. They arrive at Albancay was there last stop before Huancarma, which is the last leper colony at Huambo. They walk around and dream something other than hospital food because they are always staying at hospitals. They get lost on there way to police station and get in someone’s yard who mistaken them for the Incan greater for there light skin. They visit a church where the priest is crazy but they leave because Ernesto gets an asthma attack. Ironically, he smokes a couple black cigarettes because it helps him when not having adrenaline available. They ask the governor for horses and he steals them from poor people, so Che and Alberto decide to give them back to him. They decide to walk to the leper colony in Huanacarma where the hospital is terrible, the doctors don't have materials to treat others so many are left to die, it is not sanitary, and many patients get depressed being there. The doctor pays an Indian man to carry their bags back to the city, but they refuse to let him keep on going holding the bags. He gets sick and they go to the hospital in Andahuaylas. They were short on money and scared to eat or get a job until they get to Lima. They are staying at the police station and get kicked out because Alberto screams at a policeman when he insults an Indian woman who brings food for her husband. They treat Indians literally like objects. Traveling to Lima they get caught in traffic by a landslide, eat raw corn, and they were about to eat an almost raw cow heart. On their way to Lima, they find there friend’s mom doesn't live in Oxapamon as expected and they decide to live. They ask a doctor for food and get a ride where they almost freeze on the roof and get up to 4853 meters above the foreign office. Dr. Huge Pesce received them and was very kind to them on a tour of the hospital of Guia and visit Callao. They visit the museum of archaeology and anthropology. They attend a bullfight for the first time. Biochemists in Peru are illegal because the government doesn't like them to interfere with something they are ignorant of.  Alberto lies and says he is a doctor. The patients in Lima gave them 100 and a half-soles, cried when they left, and thanked them for the encouragement and for treating them with respect.  They leave to a town called Nescuilla by using a drunk to give them money. They then take a boat to San Pablo and go through forest and Alberto wins a card game in order to get money. They sleep on the floor and nearly get eaten by mosquitoes, but get distracted by noticing the beautiful forest. They get to the pier and meet the Yagua tribe and travel to San Pablo where they get to a colony. There they were facilitated a room and are located in Iquitos, Peru. While writing a letter to his father, he states that they get vaccinated for yellow fever and Typhoid. The colony has patients situated across the river living in jungle huts and doing whatever the like. Dr. Bsciana is attempting a study of nervous forms of leprosy in this colony. They also find that conditions are bad in this colony and the patients aren't treated like humans and are thankful for Alberto and Ernesto’s manners. He gets to Bogota, Colonia in July 6, 1952. He writes a letter to his mother explaining his experiences and saying happy birthday. He explains that at the colony the nuns gave them reduced rations if they didn't go to mass but they managed to get food anyways. Also, when they were leaving the patients they sang songs to che and Alberto and played instruments and gave speeches while having major disabilities. They loose there way in the Amazon River and improvise there way to getting to Bogotá where they find that there is no individual freedom. The police have control over the people everywhere and they leave as soon as possible. Alberto although is offered a job and stays behind, Ernesto goes to Venezuela and is fascinated by Caracas and speaks a bit on the history of hit. At the end he declares himself a revolutionary and his motivation.

Qoute

" I feel my nostrils dilate, savoring the acrid smell of gunpowder and blood, the enemy's death' I steel my body, ready to do battle, and prepare myself to be a sacred space within which the bestial howl of the triumphant proletariat can resound with new energy and new hope" (Guevara 165).

Reaction

    My reaction to this quotation was a moment of final conclusion and understanding of Ernesto Guevaras purpose of the book. This quotation explains his feelings towards a new revolution and answer's the question of his motivation for writing his diary. The phrase give the reader a foreshadowing of his intentions in later on liberating many countries and working for the poor and sick in Latin America. This quotation connects to this whole book because at the end of the book he finally states how he is feeling after his whole journey and what he chooses to do about what he sees. He states that he wants the working class to win the battle against those who have everything and refuse to share. Giving the working "new energy and new hope." He uses very descriptive language and figurative language.

The Motorcycle Diariese by Ernesto Guevara (p. 59- 111)

Summary
   Ernesto and Alberto leaves Temuco, there motorcycles gear box smashes and they fly off the motorcycle and have to walk to the next town. They stay at a mechanics house were they go out to a party and both men get drunk. Che asks the Mechanics wife to dance and she accidentally falls on the ground causing the town men to run after them. The arrive in Cullipulli and give La Poderosa and give the new owner a letter attached to it. Then they get to Los Angeles were they volunteer as fire fighters and experience the benefits in society, Alberto gets the opportunity to save a cat. They continue to explore Chile through improvising places to stay and asleep and then arrive at Valparaiso. They attempt to find ways to go to Easter Island but flights there are so rare and only occur every six months. They always complement Chile's hospitality because everywhere they go they find where to stay and people are very sympathetic. Alberto meets with doctors in Valparaiso and Ernesto meets with sick women and finds that the sick become a disadvantage in many people's life.  He feels he cant do anything for her and gives up his own asthmatic pills. In Valparaiso, elders are not trusted by the community on bad events that occur. They find they are at a disadvantage  because of there hobo appearance. A doctor promises to them to a trip to Easter Island one day when they come back. They decide to sneak on a boat called the "San Antonio," were they are made to work cleaning the toilet and peeling potato's after they get caught.  They realize they are destined to travel  and learn about different cultures even though in many places they were unwelcome. They go to a copper mine named Chugimata and meet a couple, the husband got arrested for being a communist. They spend a night with the couple trying to stay warm in the desert.  The couple search for a job with horrible threatening conditions for low food pay. The catch is that these jobs are so horrible the boss doesn't ask for a political status.  Thousands die by the traps set by nature to protects its jewels in mines. But little does nature know that the poor workers are doing this just to get there daily bread. Chile produces 20% of the worlds copper. They walked two hours to a town and join a soccer team in return for food, shelter, and transportation and they travel to different mines. They get to Iquique take a boat Arica, which is the border between Peru and Chile. They sleep in a town hospital treated by a mean doctor because they look like hobos. Dual narrator of Ernesto of following year speaks, he analyzes Chile and explains that Chile has low medical and living standards. The political scene is cruel because 40,000  people can't vote because there communist. They find shelter and talk about Argentina's non-discrimination and way of life. They get to Estaque and explore ancient Incan civilization, the people speak Aymaron, this town shows culture that are unaffected by Spanish colonization. A bust takes them to a high snowy mountain and it takes the peruvians no effort to run in the snow,  while it takes Che and Alberto a while. They meet with a teacher who tells them about the education system and conflict between the unaccepted Indigenous people by the ladinos in Peru. Fishers use the same technique for 500years and maintain traditions. They stop at Avavirg where a funnier is carried out as a procession in the streets. Che explains the legend of Cuzco, it was founded on female and male equality as the center of the Incan empire. He says that Cuzco can be viewed in two ways. One way is recognizing the Spanish influence and that makes one desire to fight for the Incan Culture. The other is to be superficial and not notice the damage that has been done on Incan culture. He makes inferences on from the time Cuzco was built and other opposing forces before the Spanish attacked. The relation between events that occurred and the architecture is shown. They climb a mountain to find the Spanish Fortress and swords. Machu Piccu shows a pure civilization and a true mystery.

Quote
  " What does it matter if we stay there a year; who cares about studying, work, family, etc.  In a shop window a giant crayfish winks at us, and from his bed of lettuce his whole body tells us, "I'm from Easter Island, where the weather is perfect, the women are perfect..." (Guevara 69)

Reaction
   My reaction to this was to realize Ernestos personality. Besides his diary recording everything he does, he is quite sarcastic and humorous. He uses personification in this qouatation by giving a fish the human ability to talk. The overall qoutation connects to the larger story because after all, there trip is to stop carring about studying, work, and family and discover something beyond that. Easter Island seems to symbolize the end of there trip or there reward in a figurative way. He uses a lot of figurative language referring to a fish as a male and saying that his bed is made out of lettuce. It makes the reader want to go to Easter Island, so they can have a bed made out of lettuce.

The Motorcycle Diariese by Ernesto Guevara (p. 1 - 59)

Summary
         The Diary Starts out by introducing the protagonist named Ernesto Guevara who is later known in history as Che. Ernesto is a medical student and his best friend named Alberto is a Biochemist who worked at a Leper Colony in Fransisco Del Char. Ernesto and Alberto are both from Argentina, and thought of the idea to explore North America by improvising. They plan on going on a motorcycle named " La Poderosa" meaning the powerful. They take with them there necessities, and a dog named comeback who is a gift for Chinchina, Ernesto's girlfriend. They begin there travels and stop in a town named Miramar to give Comeback to Chinchina, in return she gives him a gold bracelet to symbolize there love. They travel through sand dunes in Medanos, Argentina, and they fall off the motorcycle constantly. Dr. Choele Choel receives them when Ernesto gets the Flu and he recuperates. They brake there headlights, therefore at night have to travel with a torch on the road and suffer of hunger and thirst. They feel uncomfortable when they encounter Araucanian people who hold grudges against white people in Argentina, it becomes unbelievable for a doctor to appear famished and poorly dressed to ask for a food or a place to stay. They arrive at San Marting De Los Andes, where they are forced to sleep in a national park shed, where they agreed with the man who lives there to work as hot Dog workers in order to get meat for the trip. While being on the job, Ernesto gets drunk of the wine they were selling and after take the left over materials they didn't sell as pay. When Ernesto and Alberto wake up, there drinks are gone, they were broke, but feel encouraged that they are well fed. They meet some of Alberto's friends who pick them up and take them to Junin de los Andes. After, they go hiking and catch a duck at night and eat it, they get paid and head off. Ernesto writes a letter to his mother mentioning his experiences. they arrive at a mans house who agrees to let them stay and fix there motorcycle, and he warns them of the puma's around the area, at night Ernesto with fear shoots at the family dog thinking its a puma and they get kicked out. They a ferry to cross a lake through Chile, and they lecture other Doctors of Leprosy, and converse about the issue. Correo de Valvida newspaper writes and article of them and there mission to study Leprosy across the Americas. They notice the Indigenous Chileans and Anglo Saxon immigrants great separation, which is not a huge issue in they were used to in there community. A man named Raul gives them a place to sleep in Temuco, Chile and they are given much respect in the town for being leprosy explorers.

Quote
"In nine months of a man's life he can think a lot of things, from the loftiest meditations on philosophy to the most desperate longing for a bowl of soup - in total accord with he state of his stomach. And if , at the same time, he's somewhat of an adventurer he might live through episodes of interest to other people and his haphazard record night read something like these notes."

Reaction
  My reaction to this quotation was that I had to read it over for about three times. Then I understood that the Ernesto comes out of the reading, using dual-voice narrator, using his voice after his journey through Latin America. He explains his guess for why the reader may be reading his diary, he indirectly comes out as a older voice using a second person point of view, which is common. He uses sophisticated vocabulary, but it is a bit confusing, maybe because of me not being used to reading such type of writing, or because of the fact this book is translated from Spanish to English. Without doubt, his writing is quite deep.

Reaction to Review of the film "The Motorcycle Diaries"

      My reaction to the review was a deeper understanding of the movie or clarification on my thoughts about it. The review explains what the movie captures, "What "The Motorcycle Diaries" captures, with startling clarity and delicacy, is the quickening of Ernesto's youthful idealism, and the gradual turning of his passionate, literary nature toward an as yet unspecified form of radical commitment" (Scott).The review speaks of an idealism that I also saw, which was a denial of the type of government the character Che encounters, the type of idealism was not specified. The best connection the review makes is to the world and is completely true, that "The love it chronicles is no less profound — and no less stirring to the senses — for taking place not between two people but between a person and a continent...In an age of mass tourism, it also unabashedly revives the venerable, romantic notion that travel can enlarge the soul, and even change the world"(Scott). The movie shows Che's nostalgia for the world and people he didn't even know, he bonded everywhere and demonstrated a unconditional love for the world and the people inside of it. What shocked me completely of the whole review was the following "Mr. Salles risks being accused of idealizing his subject. It's a fair charge, but one that misses the director's fidelity to his literary sources. Guevara's diaries, discovered in a knapsack long after his death, were published in 1993, and much of their appeal lies in the sense of immediacy they convey. Their author did not know who he would become, even as the notebooks themselves dramatize a crucial stage in his development" (Scott). It is very real that the Director Mr. Salles could of been idealizing Che, but I agree with Mr. Salles, Che was a inspirational figure and so was his story, so why not idealize him? Scott doesn't disagree either but suggests that they make him sound too good, even before he becomes huge in history. Well, that's fair but I didn't know before seeing the movie that he was a Cuban revolutionary and I still think Mr. Guevara is a hero for his experience and learning.


 Scott, A.O. "On the Road with Young Che." The New York Times. 24 Sept. 2004. 12 Jan. 2011 <http://movies.nytimes.com/2004/09/24/movies/24MOTO.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20motorcycle%20diaries&st=cse>.

The Motorcycle Diaries Movie Reaction

   The movie "The Motorcycle Diaries" based on the book by Ernesto Guevara was amazing. The movie portrays the story of two young men, one named Ernesto who is a medical student and the other is a Biochemist named Alberto. Both decide to go on a journey around South America, form Argentina to Venezuela. The movie shows all the dreadful truths of the way people live everywhere. My reaction to Che's encounters with people, were like Ernesto's because it took me a while to understand how sad some of the characters lives are. Especially, in one seen where Ernesto and Alberto encounter a couple who got kicked out of there land for there political view points. Living here in America, somebody who would hear that here wouldn't really care because of the liberal life style, and it's almost impossible to understand that somebody could lose there home over a opinion. Besides the extraordinary story, the film was shot very well and used constant methods of shooting. There were always over the shoulder shots, even when Che was leaving his family in Argentina, to emphasize the caring they all had for each other. The film also uses these types of shots to show the gratitude and the relationship between the leprosy patients and Ernesto. My reaction to when Ernesto didn't wear gloves and acted kind to the patients, was shocking because people had been neglecting people who had leprosy even before biblical times.
    The setting is established, through most establishing shots, especially at the beginning of the film, where many mountains are shown, track shots from the motorcycle out to the whole scene occurs. Also, guitar folk type music plays to establish a calm setting. The movie also takes some time to show the citizens who are being affected by poverty and places them standing still in a black and white shot. This is to allow the viewer to recognize all the victims that are affected by poverty. Lastly, the scene were he crosses the river at night time has low-key lighting to emphasize a dramatic moment and the danger Che has, but has back lighting to give Che a more heroic feel. Overall, the movie was inspiring and a learning experience.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (pg. 269-335)

Summary

Summary
At the beginning of the last section of part two, Oscar is still living in a world of misery by his curse called fuku. This whole last section is from the point of view of Junior. Lola was pregnant but aborted because Junior was Cheating on her. Oscar looses twenty pounds at a point and feels good enough to start fresh in D.R. Oscar, Beli, and Lola all go visit La Inca and reunite in the Capital called Santo Domingo. Oscar decides to stay the whole summer there instead of going back two weeks later with Lola because he falls in love with Ybon Pimentel, a prostitute. He starts talking to Ybon at a coffee shop and finds out she’s middle aged. Oscar goes to Ybon's house constantly and La Inca and Belicia get mad that Oscar is talking to a prostitute. Oscar and Ybon Grow really close as friends, and she like him but they never got intimate with each other. Next, Ybon gets a boyfriend who is a cop known as "El Capitan," this aggressive man claims he wants to meet Oscar and actually shoots at La Inca's house. Ybon kisses Oscar for the first time(dream come true)in her car when she’s drunk, then two policemen tell her to step out. The captain beats him out of pity and threatens him. His two cop friends take him to a canfield to beat him up to death. Like Belicia, the mongoose leads Oscar to a cab driver that saves him. Oscar lives, as Beli and La Inca are in the hospital room they remember the coincidence of the situation. Three days after, Oscar’s is better and Belicia tells him that he is leaving back to Paterson. Oscar slowly accepts it and starts to believe in the fuku. He looks for Ybon, and she finally comes also with black eyes and tells him that they can NEVER talk again. He returns home and his mom doesn't talk to him, he is depressed over his heart brake.
Part three, Junior starts talking about his relationship going down the road with Lola. Oscar tells him that he is deciding to move away and start a new life, so He asks him for money. Instead, he goes to D.R and follows Ybon everywhere asking her to leave. Oscar follows Ybon for 27 days, when he doesn't follow her is writing letters about his experience with her. Lola even fly's down to tell him to leave, and Ybon tells him constantly to leave but he doesn’t listen. One day, El Capitan’s friends get a hold of him and beat him up again, they again take him to the canfields. Oscar tries to convince the two men that what they’re doing is wrong but they don't listen. They burned him, Clives the same taxi driver picks up his body. Beli dies ten months later from breast cancer. Ybon never changes, Justice didn't occur with the cops, and La Inca moves back to Bani. Oscar's death, even after Junior and Lola don’t work out. Lola gets married and has a girl. Even after five years Oscar dies, Junior dreams about him. Junior decides to change and becomes a teacher and gets married. Lola besides having a daughter, travels the world. Junior hopes that Lola's daughter will finally put and end to fuku. Letters arrive to Junior that was from Oscar after, except for the last one. They include information about how he managed to escape with Ybon from the capital and they finally get together.
Quote
"Love was a rare thing, easily confused with a million other things, and if anybody knew this to be true it was him. He told them about Ybon and the way he loved her and how much they had risked...because of her love...if they killed him they would probably feel nothing..." (Diaz 321)

Reaction
This quotation occurs when Oscar is taken to the canfield and El Capitan's cop friends are about to kill him. It shows Oscar's hopeless romantic side till the end. The narrator starts out at the beginning of the book explaining Oscar's love for love. The book and Oscar's life ends with Oscar speaking of his love for someone. This shows Diaz poetic way of writing and how he makes his story comes full circle and makes perfect sense at the end. Besides the whole story showing Verisimilitude, "love was a rare thing" shows the way things society was at the time, and also foreshadows Junior and Lola's breakup further on. Oscar was born and dies a lover, the irony in this is that the character is expected to change into a Don Juan, but he dies a lover.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (pg. 205-267)

Summary

   Part two of the book starts out with Lola, back when she is still a teenager and in Dominican Republic living with La Inca. La Inca makes Lola go back to Paterson, New Jersey, this means that Lola has to go back to her abusive mother and has to leave her happiness behind in DR. Before she leaves, Lola breaks up with her boyfriend, and then prostitutes herself to her friend’s father, who gives her two thousand dollars in return. Lola's mom arrives in Banilejos to pick her up after seven months of not seeing her and treats her the same bad way. Lola's older narrator voice jumps in and explains to the reader that she later realized that, that was just the way her mom is. The reason why she sold herself was to get money in order to escape to another country but instead her old boyfriend Max dies and she gives his family that money. She then sadly goes back to Paterson. In the Next Chapter, Oscar’s Grandfather called Abelard Luis Cabral, a doctor life story, and the starter of the family curse called fuku by talking badly about Trujillo. Trujillo is Dominican Republic's evil dictator according to the details given. Abelard was a wealthy man and was extremely intelligent, he had a wife named a Socorro and two daughters named Jackylene and Astrid. Also, he attended Trujillo's events but wasn't really close to him, he always tried to avoid him because he knew Trujillo would be interested in his good looking daughter. The countries decorum at the time was that a man had to offer his daughter to Trujillo no matter what and Cabral was against that. Trujillo even had spies that worked on just finding girls for him and if a man didn't give up his daughter or wife they were charged for treason. Cabral had taken a huge risk to not take his daughters and wife to these events.  He only told three people about his insecurity such as his wife, his mistress, and his bestfriend. At a presidential gathering, Trujillo asks Cabral if he has a wife, and humiliates him by admitting that he thought Abelard was gay. Trujillo then tells Abelard that he heard that he has a pretty daughter and Cabral responds by telling him that if he likes mustaches then that is a yes. The next presidential event, the invitation states clearly to him and his whole family. This makes him become depressive and too attentive with his daughters and ends up not taking them. Four weeks later, Cabral gets arrested for slander and gross calumny against the president. He had gotten drunk and said a joke about the president’s secret assassinations and claiming these murders as natural catastrophes. His mistress Lydia almost gets pregnant and Abelard Considers marrying her, but he loves his family too much. When he gets arrested he was put in a jail cell were he was stripped of his clothes and made to sleep in the bathroom because the guard lies to his jail mates and says that Abelard is a gay communist. He soon finds out that Socorro became pregnant with there last daughter and gets sentences for 18 years, he starts to believe that Trujillo put a curse on there family. He supposable didn’t get arrested for a joke or because of his daughter but he started writing a book about Trujillo’s supernatural state and powers. No evidence of his had written work or books remained. His last daughter, named Belicia had a dark skin complexion, which was at the time a family omen. The reader is left to decide whether he believes in the curse or not. Next, Socorro kills herself, Lydia's body was never found, his bestfriend who was a spy and ratted Abelard out became a millionaire, Jacky kills herself, and Astrid gets shot in church. Abelard dies 14 years after on an electrical chair. Belicia was taken care of Toila a servant, nobody wanted her because she was dark Socorro’s distant family took her and they didn’t get a reward for it so they gave her to another distant family who went on vacation and they came back without a baby. La Inca hears about Belicia years later and adopts her. Belicia had been abused severely. Growing up Belicia doesn’t talk about her horrible situation, she stays quite for 40 years. In the next chapter, Oscar graduates still without being in love and moves back home. Seven Months later Oscar becomes an English teacher. His students all make fun of him and he is just laughed at. Everybody in his life has moved on and he is just lonely.

Quote

"So which was it? you ask. An accident, a conspiracy, or a fuku? The only answer I can give you is the least satisfying: you'll have to decide for yourself. What's certain is that nothing's certain. We are trawling in silences here" ( Diaz 243)

Reaction

   This quotation is an excellent example of the author’s style of writing. The speaker jumps out of the story and actually speaks to the reader, he makes him think about the stories dilemma and doesn't give him an answer. In this quote, the speaker is asking the reader to decide weather the whole book is based on an accident or a curse. In my personal opinion, I truly think it was a curse. The speaker is able to make the reader decide on there own conclusion of the story and at the same time informs them about DR's history.

The wondrous Life of Oscar Wao By Junot Diaz (Pg.135-201)

Summary

Continuing on with the last section, Belicia becomes obsessed with being like her Gangster who didn't have anybody like La Inca always bothering him. Soon after, she found out that she was pregnant, this was a very huge shock to La Inca but not really to the Gangster, he really didn't care. Belicia then finds out that this man is married, but not by just any women but by Trujillo, the government dictator at the time, his sister. Trujillo's sister goes all the way to Belicia's town Banilejos Beli time to run away. Spies are able to catch and they take her far away to a cane field where they beat her up and give her 167 injuries all over her body and she loses her baby. Meanwhile, La Inca has an intense prayer session with a lot of the women in the community who find out about this dilemma. At this point when she is left there, a mystical Monogoose comes out and talks to her and gives her directions that lead her to a truck. In the truck, there is a band, the band for some weird reason feels that they should take her with them. Belicia wakes up five days later in a hospital being treated by La Inca's friends who happened to be the two best doctors in Bani. Around the same day, Trujillo dies and this is sort of the end of his dictatorship in Dominican Republic, so it makes it easier for people to get in and out of the country. Therefore, Belicia decides that the safest thing for her to do is to leave to New York were she could start all over. and screams at her and tells her that she was going to make her get an abortion. At this moment, the people that she used to work with save her, her old boss named Juan pulls out a gun and gives

In the next chapter, the narration changes to Juniors point of view that is Oscar’s roommate. Junior gets to experience Oscars problems while living with him, even in college Oscar is still overweight and cannot get a girlfriend. So Junior decides to help him by taking him out with his friends and working out with him. But Oscar feels that things will never change for him and gives up. Next, Oscar starts falling for this girl named Jenni who is very much attracted to, and Junior sort of gets jealous of their close friendship. Jenni starts talking to another boy, who makes Junior suspicious and Oscar finds out and just gets Depressed. One day, Oscar decides to barge into Jenni's room and catches her with another boy, and starts screaming and tarring apart her room. Everybody on campus then thinks that Oscar is crazy. When the Semester ends Junior decides he wants to move out, but on the last day they decide to have a couple drinks. Oscar being a lightweight, becomes drunk easily and goes to a bridge were he attempts to commit suicide. This event brings the whole family to the schools health facility and Oscar moves back to his house after this. Junior never forgets about Lola and shows a deep attraction to her besides his other girls. Junior always checks up on Oscar and at the beginning of the Spring Semester they move back in with each other.

Quote

" But later, when she was freezing basement apartments in the Bronx and working her fingers to the bone, she reflected that he had told her exactly that but like lover girls everywhere, she had heard only what she wanted to hear. " ( Diaz 137)

Reaction

In this section, Belicia is talking about The Gangster's reaction to her being pregnant and talking about later in her life when she moves to new york. Junot uses a lot of literary devices to portray Belicia's the hard labor shes doing at the time. Also, we see the sort of writing style that Junot uses by using stereotypes, in this case he speaks about "lover girls everywhere" who only hear what is good for them. This type of writing is beneficial to the reader by generalizing the situation a bit more and using verisimilitude. It also shows his style by going back in forth in time, and in other cases changing narrators constantly.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (pg. 67- 133)

Summary
At the end of the past section, Lola's mother ends up catching her during her escape and sends her to the Dominican Republic. There, Lola develops sense of joy, she lives happier with her Grandmother named La Inca, learns how to dress like a real Dominican girl, and becomes a track star. As she explores her family, she discovers her mothers past. La Inca adopted Lola’s mother named Belicia, and there were three lovers in her life that changed the way she was. First of all, Belicia attended a private school on a scholarship and was one of the most attractive girls in her town called Banilejos. Her first love is Jack Pujols; her affair with Jack causes her to get kicked out of her school. After being heart broken, she promises to herself that she would never take the lead of anybody else but herself. As a result, Beli decides to not go back to school but to work in a restaurant as a waitress. According to La Inca, She does the opposite of what is expected, she actually keeps and works well at her job. During this time, La Inca and Beli's relationship had changed completely, they hardly even talked. Even though all the men in her town absolutely adored her, she stayed in love with Jack. After a while, a new waitress arrives at her job named Constantina, this women is the type of party lady who convinces Beli to go to a club with her. At the club, meets a Gangster this criminal who’s named Max and was middle aged man. This man spends money on her and takes out as an exchange for comprehension, even though he had all they money in the world now when he was little he had nothing and nobody just like Beli. He was also tormented by his crimes, Belicia helped cradle him and make him feel better. Belicia falls in love with this gangster and he makes ridiculous promises to her of giving her houses. As a result of there relationship, Beli spends more time in love motels than in her job and gets fired. Beli lost her aspirations for going to school or even college, as a result La Inca were no longer as close as they were. At last, she started noticing these bad signs about this man who disappeared for days and didn't even have an address. She then found out that he had cheated on her but he made it up to her by taking her to a trip to Samana and she starts wondering how it feels to be free like how she is now, free from La Inca.

Quote
" She endured school, the bakery, La Inca's suffocating solicitude with a furious jaw. She watched hungrily for visitors from out of town, threw open her arms at the slightest hint of a wind and at night she struggled Jack-like against the ocean pressing down on her" (Diaz 88,89).

Reaction
In this quotation, Beli's younger life is basically shown, Belicia is a lonely girl that is struggling to get out to the world because shes trapped by her mother. Junot uses figurative language to describe La Inca's Suffocating Solicitude by saying she does this with a furious jaw. Also, he uses figurative language at the end of the sentence when speaking about Beli trying to hug the wind. Using this form of imagery helps the reader understand Belicia's situation furthermore. The conflict is clearly shown, and by this the genre of this book is revealed, it is a buildungsroman. Even though, this is a tiny section of Oscar's mother, but it is still a short Buildungsroman story in whole one. This qoutation connects to the plot through showing a point where one of the somehow Antongaonist (Belicia's) coming of age starts. This qoutation explains many of the events that happen in the story making it crucial.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (pg. 1-67)

Summary

            The first part of the first section introduces the protagonist called Oscar. The book starts out with Oscar talking about his childhood having a turning point when he turned seven, when he was seven he had two girlfriends. But as his life starts progressing he turns obese, and turns into a “sci-fi reading nerd” and hopeless romantic. Being Dominican, he was expected to be some kind of Don Juan, but he is the complete opposite. His only two friends Al and Miggs are Video Game dorks too and is allergic to trying to improve his appearance. When Oscar finally tries to change his image the people around him like his friends and his mom mock him. When he goes on a trip to the Dominican Republic, he starts writing novels, which is a huge step for Oscar  because he stops reading his comics and actually does something different. In Oscar’s Senior  year, he falls in love with a girl named Ana in Sat class.  The worst part about it is that Ana has a boyfriend named Manny who abuses her, this hurt Oscar so much that he went to Manny’s house with a gun to shoot him but he wasn’t there. Oscar then gets rejected by Ana for the last time. In June, Oscar graduates from high school, his mother goes who now has cancer, and his Uncle who is a drug addict, and his sister Lola. He then enters college at Rutgers New Brunswick and feels the same as home, finds no love and is still a geek. The Second Section now becomes a first person point of view by Lola. Lola starts out by explaining to the reader the abuse and the cruelty of her mother towards her.  While her mother starts dealing with cancer, she takes out her anger on Lola.It makes Lola look like she is the worst daughter ever when she rebels against this. Lola decides to runaway from home and to move out with her boyfriend. Living there, she starts to miss home and to feel that she didn’t love her boyfriend. She called Oscar to come to were she was staying to bring her money and Oscar tells her that there mom is going to kill her.

 

 Quote

      " What it's like to be the perfect Dominican daughter, which is just a nice way of saying a perfect Dominican slave. You don't know what it's like to grow up with a mother who has never said a positive thing in her life, not about her children or the world, who was always suspicious always tearing you down and splitting your dreams straight down the seams. " ( Junot 56)

Reaction

     This quote is said from Lola's perspective, at this second section of the book the book actually switches from third person describing Oscars life, to First person focusing on Lola's side of the story. Even though the book is focused on Oscar, Lola plays a crucial part in his life. In this quote, she is describing her mothers way of treating her, she in the first sentence translates the euphemism of being a "perfect Dominican daughter" to " a perfect Dominican slave", then the quote switches at this point to second person, where the character actually reaches out to reader and lets them know the role that the mother plays in this family. Additionally, she uses alteration, such as "...suspicious always...splitting your dreams straight down the seams." The quote uses all these words that start with S. This shows the authors descriptive way of writing and the sort of verisimilitude that goes into the story but the way the narrator speaks about her situation. Finally, the author also uses a metaphor by saying that her mom splits her dreams straight down the seams.

Hole in my life by Jack Gantos (pg.165-200)

Summary
   The Chapter starts out by Jack discussing the drug activity in the federal prison. All types of drugs were brought to the jail through various methods, even some guards brought them inside the prison. When Jack worked at the x-ray room he had to deal with pretty rough situations of men almost dying because of overdoses of drugs. He helped one man who brought drugs in his stomach and they wouldn't come out, so Jack decides to help him out. Jack also learns a lot of medical skills through working in the hospital floor. He's is sentenced a two year set off before seeing his parole board again, when he went to court tried to be cooperative and sincere but no matter how hard he tried the board found him uncooperative and ignorant. Later on, Jack discovers that writing about his childhood memories took him back in time and filled him with positive energy to get through the harsh prison environment. One day, as he was cleaning a administrators office, he discovered his file and it said he was "uncooperative" he then realized that no matter what he did, it was what he had done that defined him. When he was in his room shortly after, he almost kills himself with his razor but then forces himself not to do it. His father and uncle visits him when they are drunk, and his father tells him that he loves him, this means a lot to Jack. He realized one day that his struggle as a writer had been a lot like his life. He then devised a plan to get out of jail, he decided to tell his caseworker that he wanted to enroll in college and if that he did maybe he would have the chance to be taken out. He applied to a college with the help of a caseworker and a prison administrator and got accepted. His father got him a place to live and a job, luckily the people that received him were very kind and filled Jack with happiness. He quit doing hash and became a fabulous writer.
Quote
"...I understood I had come all the way to prison to realize that what I had in my past was so much richer that what was before me. My struggle as a writer was a lot like my life..."(Gantos 186).
Reaction
 The authors style is shown in this quote as an Epiphany that the Character has, the turning point of the book that the author realizes that he had made up rules for himself and broke them and made more until he had got them right. This quote shows the irony of the book on how his life was alike to his writing. He had always thought that everything he was writing did not have value, or anything that he did in life did not have value to it, but then he realized that everything he did or wrote about in life had value to it. This quote connects to the rest of the story by being the turning point of Jack and guiding him to getting out of jail and going to college to fulfill his dream as a writer. This point gave him a reason to change.

Hole in my life by Jack Gantos pg.118-165

Summary

When Jack finally thinks he is safe from the FBI, he calls his father from a pay phone and finds out that the FBI has been stalking his parents in St. Croix and they are out looking for him. Jack's father is able to get him a lawyer who advises him to turn him self in, Jack then does so. Jack talks to his lawyer and develops a plan for how they are going to try to prove Jack innocent. Jack then spends time around New York reflection on his actions and at least trying to prepare himself for jail. When he speaks to his lawyer he realizes that the person that snitched on him was Rik (the head honcho) and that the only way he could get out of the situation was by naming a couple contacts he had in St. Croix, but sense Jack was innocent had none. He also realized that he was in fact not only hurting him but his family and others by smuggling drugs. The lawyer makes him look in front of the judge as if Jack were just a kid and was granted a youth sentence which is anywhere from 60 days to 6 years. His dad makes Jack give up his car because his families broke. Jack's first night in a federal holding prison was terrifying; he experiences his jail mate wanting to rape him and other men raping his mate. Jack was then transferred to an actual Federal prison where he got lice and was treated in the hospital section, after he was cured he started working in the X-ray lab and experiencing even more drugs that are done in a prison. He learns to do X-rays and shows the reader the horrible nights that the prisoners have in the jail.

Quote

" The slightest fluctuation in the weather outside my window, the smallest passing cloud, the changing position of the sun affected the mood of that room. And my mood shifted with it. I found myself crying, laughing, numb with depression, nervous and pacing, ambivalent, angry, and filled with self-loathing" (Gantos 154,155).

Reaction

  This quotation shows the authors style by assimilating his the weather outside to the mood of his jail cell and thus his mood changing. His room symbolizes him and he's change in emotions as the world around him which is the” weather" controls his emotions. This quotation has to do with the story as a whole by demonstrating the conflict of the book, which is man versus society. Though, in this quotation he is reflecting on his life in his jail cell which has to do a lot with the story also because it is clearly about Jack making a mistake, realizing it and then succeeding as a famous writer.