- List your book title and your group members' names
- Write down the pages that you read for this session
- Share your initial responses to novel
- Share your initial insights/confusion/etc
- Think about "big picture" -- HERO question
- What is your group's definition of a hero? (not a dictionary definition, but a literary one)
- From your initial impression, can your protagonist be considered a hero? Why or why not?
- What is your group's definition of a hero? (not a dictionary definition, but a literary one)
- Post responses on class blog
DUE: Friday 1/21/11
7 comments:
The Things They Carried
Desiree, Korie, Kiyo
pages 1-39
At the start of reading the book, it was confusing, since there were many characters. There are instances where a certain event happens, and then the next memory is a time before that. Its not clearly said either, so it takes a lot of context to infer that.
They characters in the story are like heroes, in a sense where they are defending our country. They are put into a war that they don't want to fight- but they do their best to not disappoint the US army, and more importantly their families. Our definition of a 'HERO' is someone who inspires and makes a positive impact on another's life.
From our first impression, our character is not really a hero because we are just venturing into his thoughts and memories. There is not enough information to tell if he really has done something that made a difference to someone or someplace.
The Things They Carried
Kristen, Isabelle, Janelle, Traci
Pg.1-30
The novel was confusing at first. The writer bounces around from story to story. There are a lot of different characters that are difficult for us to understand.
We would call these characters heroes because they are fighting for their country during the Vietnam war. This shows bravery and strength in the characters--which makes them heroes in some way.
A hero to us is a person that has the courage to overcome any obstacles in life and to help other people through their gift of courage.
We think that the narrator is the hero, but it's still hard to tell how the narrator is a hero. The narrator is just writing about flashbacks he had during the war. so we really can't tell how the narrator would be a so called "hero".
Catcher in the Rye
Shaneika Aguilar, Shannel Cabuhat, Sharmaine Sebastian
Pages 1-35
Holden Caulfield is really expressive during the first chapters of the book, especially when describing something that he really dislikes. So far, Holden is still describing the person that he is. There's not much happening right now. However, the context of the book can be difficult to understand at times. There are times when passages have to be read more than twice in order to gain a better understanding of what's occurring.
At the moment, Holden is portrayed as a rebel. Although he may be rich, he is always getting kicked out of his private schools. There's not much occurring in the story that makes him a hero yet.
For us, a hero is someone who is able to make a big difference in life. They are able to influence the people around them into becoming better persons.
From our initial impression, Holden is not much of a hero because he hasn't done anything yet. He acts like a carefree rebel who dislikes a majority of things. Right now, we are just beginning to get to know who he is and the type that he lives.
Catcher in the Rye
Brittany Bonilla, Czarina Caberto, Kiana Felicilda
Read until the ending of chapter 4.
In the beginning, we all agreed that the first chapters of the book did not really capture our attention as quick as we thought only because Holden spoke mostly and only about his personality. He seems rather bitter and does not want to talk about past occurrences. It seems as if something tragic has happened to him once before that has affected him greatly.
The only thing we find confusing about the book as of now is the fact that Holden doesnt seem to be
We don't really picture Holden as much of a hero as of now because of the bad things that he describes about himself. But we sense that later in the story, he will bloom into a hero.
Our definition of a hero is someone who is able to override his/her problems and at the same time help others out.
At this point of the story, our protagonist (Holden) is not really seen as a hero. Maybe when we get further into the story, he will become one.
"The things they carried" by Tim O'brien
Alex, Leo, Jordie
1-29
My group got kind of confused at first due to the array of characters that were almost immediately presented. Reading further didn't help because of the flashbacks, but past that there's a sort of chaotic "rhythm" that we had to understand to "get" the next parts.
-A hero is someone who saves the day. A hero is someone who is selfless, willing to help, and put themselves in the line of fire for what is right and what is needed to protect others.
-At this point in the book, its a bit hard to tell wether or not our protagonist is a hero just because its so early in and we don't have a lot of back information on him. The flashing back from the present and the memories gives us a little insight, but not enough to classify him as a hero or not.
Excellent job so far by all the groups who have posted. It seemed, from the class reflection on the process that the main problem everyone is facing is keeping up. So I hope the groups can be all caught up with their reading by the next session.
I'm going to highlight some of the exemplary insights that have been shared by the group postings, so far:
From Korie's group: "Its not clearly said either, so it takes a lot of context to infer that." Good use of terms "infer" and "context." And that is exactly what makes challenging fiction both difficult and rewarding :)
From Tracie's group: The use of the term "flashbacks." This is a narrative tool and one that is used often in Thinkgs.
From Shaneika's group: "From our initial impression, Holden is not much of a hero because he hasn't done anything yet. He acts like a carefree rebel who dislikes a majority of things." Great summary of the team's analysis of the main character, thus far.
From Czarina's group: "He seems rather bitter and does not want to talk about past occurrences. It seems as if something tragic has happened to him once before that has affected him greatly." Nice job of inferring character and background from context!
From Jordie's group: "but past that there's a sort of chaotic "rhythm" that we had to understand to "get" the next parts" and "The flashing back from the present and the memories gives us a little insight...." Exemplary job of getting at author style ("chaotic rhythm") and narrative structure (purpose of flashbacks).
mrs s
Catcher in the Rye
Joseph, Kai, CJ, Darian
We read Pages. 1 - 40
During our reading circle, our initial response to the novel was the beginning was boring and Holden was a peculiar boy. The story started to get more interesting when he talked to Mrs. Morrow on the train and he began to lie to her and everyone else.
Our initial insights were Holden is not smart as he simply failed every class except english and got canned from the school. He is an intellectual boy but is very lazy and doesn't do any of the school work.
A hero is someone that does unselfish deeds for the good of other people. The hero makes an impact on others when they do something to help other people.
We do not believe that Holden Caulfield would be considered a hero because he only does things for himself and doesn't care about other people. He only does things for other people that could also benefit himself.
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