Aragorn and his Destiny

          In English class right now we are reading, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, by R.R. Tolkien. We have read up through the chapter Elrond's Council, which faces one of our characters with a difficult decision. Aragorn who leads the hobbits to Rivendell needed to decide if he would continue with them on to Mordor. When he says that destiny is the reason why he needs to go with the hobbits. Our teacher gave us the question, Why destiny, and how does this compare to real life?
          To me when I reflected on the chapter there are a couple reasons why Aragorn chose to join the Fellowship due to destiny. One being he was born as a King, an heir to Isildur. This to him may seem his destiny even though he isn't a King, he still probably feels tied to the land from his bloodline. Another reason could be that when Aragorn ran into the hobbits at the Prancing Pony that it was some other power throwing them together, perhaps destiny.
          When answering this question about Aragorn you can see how destiny could effect other characters as well, which I'm not going to go into, but Frodo, Sam and almost all of the fellowship members are dealt with their own destiny. In real life though, I do not see destiny effecting our lives like those in the book. During this time period very few people are given what seems like a destiny. Most people can become whatever they want with hard work. However one of the first thing that comes to mind in relation to Aragorn are the King and Queen of England, which follows a families history. Being born into a special family for ruling or protecting something is the only time when I see destiny as a factor in the present day.

Making Connections with Alma Coin

          When I was reflecting back on the novel I was thinking of my family, and one character resembles my Dad the most, Alma Coin the President of District 13. Coin is a person that tries very hard to please everyone. She does whatever she can for the good of the whole group even though sometimes people can’t see that and want to kill her, in my eyes she means well, just like my Dad.

          My Dad is the coach of my Hockey team and is a leader just like Commander Coin is. Even though they lead two very different groups they still carry the same qualities of a leader.  Also, another difference is I feel that my Dad has much more common sense and perseverance. To me, Coin isn’t very confident in her soldiers fighting for the rebellion. On the other hand my dad is definitely confident in his players. That’s why I’m proud of my Dad, even though he doesn’t lead armies, he has great qualities that most fictional characters, like Coin, do not.

Making Connections with Katniss

           In the book, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, I could definitely relate to a few of the characters in the book, one of them is the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. A few things I agree with is her good will, she always wants to keep everyone safe even at the cost of her life. Another thing I like about her is her attitude, she always stays focused on her goal and even if everything isn't going her way, she will still try to hide her sadness and push on. One final characteristic that Katniss has that impresses me is her perseverance, she has one goal in the entire story even though it seems almost impossible to achieve she puts her head down, and pushes on.
          Now when I think of me in comparison to her, a fiction character in a book, I am not putting myself completely in her position dodging bullets and other devastating traps. However, I try very hard to view her emotional state eye to eye, something which to me is important to understand while reading a book like this. I'm sure, without a doubt that I would definitely defend my friends and family like she does, a trait which I feel most people have. Her second characteristic, her attitude would probably be what I can compare to most, I feel that I have the same no regrets attitude while playing hockey. The final part of Katniss, her perseverance, is another thing that I can relate to in school or in sports I try hard every time to make sure the work gets done or the goal is scored. This is why I can compare to Katniss and why we have some similar traits, to me this comparison made the book much more enjoyable to read.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins Pt.2

          I have completed the book, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, and I unfortunately must agree with my earlier post on the book. To me the book is a sad dwindiling stop to a wonderful series. For those of you haven't read the series or have yet to read the third book. I feel you should still give it a read to find out what happened to Katniss after her Hunger Games excursion.
          Overall, I was satisfied that the books were over and Katniss can escape the nightmare she has lived in. Also I am excited to see the Hunger Games movie coming out soon, which was mostly why I read the book. These were both pluses to the book after reading, but I still didn't like how the series ended. In my eyes it was rushed all together, maybe the author had a deadline to make, who knows? Lastly I would like to include that  I congratulate Suzanne Collins on a couple of well written books, and I hope that more books or a new series will appear sometime in the future.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

          On the 19th I began reading the last book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, as a part of our independent reading project.  Now that I am half way through the book, compared to it's two predecessors, the third book is not so great.  It starts out where the second book leaves off with Katniss in District 13. 
         One of the main things I realize about this book is how the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, has changed.  She is no longer the person I enjoyed to read about in the first two books and wished to follow on her journeys.  To me, she has turned into a complainer, complaining about everything from her friends to her enemies and anything she can think of.  This definitely changed the story's pace compared to the previous books caused by her pessimistic attitude.  However, I will continue reading to see how the series will end.  Hopefully Katniss will have a happy ending.

Reaction to the Sherlock Holmes movie

          In class for a follow up to reading the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. We watched the movie Sherlock Holmes which came out in 2009, directed by Guy Ritchie. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  It was nice to watch the idol of the young boy we just read about and it made me realize why Christopher liked Sherlock Holmes so much.
          Throughout the movie, a lot of dark lighting was used to show how the protagonists are in danger, which was alot how Christopher felt when he was adventuring outside his home and school, at the train station.  Also, many of the shots and fighting scenes included tight framing to feel a sense of chaos and urgency.  This brought out another one of Christopher's characteristics, of how he is afraid and doesn't like to be touched.
          Overall, I feel that Mark Haddon did a good job writing his book in relation to Christopher's idol, Sherlock Holmes.  I was quite surprised by the similarity between the novel and the movie.  Lastly, I would like to include that both of these genres are wonderfully written and I would definitely recommend the Sherlock Holmes movie to everyone.  I hope many people want to see the Sherlock Holmes II movie that comes out tomorrow.

My Reaction to Mark Haddon's Book

         This week I finished reading Mark Haddon's book, the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.  The book to me was very dragged out and started to get boring but it also had somevery good points for the reader.
          First I will go over the con of the book, to me it was a little frustrating to have such a good story yet it was interrupted by random thought processes of the protagonist Christopher. Sometimes it was almost temping to skip over these long random chapters of the book. Even though I understand why they are there, due to the character's disabilities. Other than that I thought it was a great story and some points of the book were worth enough to read through some of Christopher's rants.
          Now for the pros, even though it was a little slow paced, I still enjoyed the story it was very funny, Chris going on his first adventure. I also liked how even when people reacted harshly on some of Chris's ideas he did not take any offense to them. For example, when he was on the train in hiding when people saw him their reactions were quite comical. For the story being told by a disabled kid, I thought it was very detailed with everything that was going on around him. Due to the fact that he does not like scary things which is much of the outside world, this then made these things often times written in Chris's book.
           Overall I thought it was a great book! I hope everyone sees 3 red cars on their way to work/school, have a good day.