Final reading response to the Outsiders.

Final reading response on the Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton

Now that I am finished reading The Outsiders, By S.E. Hinton, I have learnded a lot. Not just about myself, but about the real purpose of growing up, and how coming of age really affects someone, and their life. In this book, the main character(mc), Ponyboy, goes through a series of not-so-great events while growing up, and coming of age. These events teach Ponyboy valuble life lessons, shape his coming of age, and influence his growing up. The three main lessons Ponyboy learns in this book are that friends are family(or even more), that violence has no meaning, and that social class doesnt say everything about a person. Ponyboy isnt the only one who learned these lessons; I did too.

The first lesson that Ponyboy learns is that friends are family, and sometimes even more. In this book, the greasers, which is a gang, or group of friends that call them selves the greasers, are like a big family. For some of the members of the gang, like Johny, Ponyboys best friend, the greasers arent just LIKE a family to him, they are his family. Johnys parents didnt care about him at all. If he didnt come home at night, they wouldnt even care. The greasers really took care of him, and showed/gave him a real family. As Ponyboy saw this, he realized that you dont have to be related by blood or law to be a family,  but by love.

The second lesson that Ponyboy learns is that violence has no meaning. Through out the whole book ponyboy constantly asks himself why he fights, and never comes up with a reasonable answer. So in the end, he starts asking other greasers why they get in fights. The only answers he really gets are " because its fun" or " because im mad" . In the end, Ponyboy realizes that violence isnt right, and usually doesnt solve anything.

The third, and perhaps most important lesson that Ponyboy learns while growing up is that social class doesnt say everything about a person. The greasers, Ponyboy's gang, has one real enemy, the Socs. The socs are another crew from a different side of town. They are much richer than the greasers , and get everything they want. They ride fancy mustangs around to show off, and beat small greasers almost to death whenever they have the chance. For three quarters of the book, Ponyboy hates the socs more than anything. Ponyboy thought that the reason they were/are so mean is because they are rich. In the end, he learns thats not the case. He talks to some former socs, and realizes that most of them are really nice people, and there are only a few that do bad things, and only when they are drunk out of their minds. Ponyboy learns that social class doesnt neccasarily tell you everything about someone.

After reading the outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, i have learned a lot about growing up, coming of age, and how other people may go through it. In this book, the main character, Ponyboy, and his best friend Johny go through some amazing and unforgetfull expiernces, and it all sums up to a clasical coming of age/growing up story. In the midst of all these crazy experiences, Ponyboy learns three new important life lessons; friends are family, violence usually doesnt solve anything, and social class shouldnt make one judge another.

prompt number twelve

Prompt #12: how do family and friends influence our coming of age?

Both my friends and my family influence my coming of age. Without them, I would be an absolutely different person. 

My family influences my coming of age because they always accept who I am, and if I ever start changing in a bad way, they nicely explain to me what's happening and what has to change. Another way my family influences my coming of age is the fact that they respect the choices I make in life, and will always love me.

My friends influence my coming of age just as much as my parents do, but just in different ways. The difference between my family and my friends is that my friends are going through the same thing at the same time, vs my parents, who have already gone through it. The reason it is great to have friends going through the same thing is that we can talk to each other about it.

Prompt number 14

Prompt #14: what are some questions and concerns you have about growing up and coming of age? 

As I have grown up, especially in my middle school years, a lot of questions and concerns came up in my life. Some about physical appearance, and some about the future of my life.

Physical appearance is a very important and popular aspect and or concern of everybody's life, but when one is growing up, it becomes even bigger. Some constant questions I have about this topic are; when am I going to hit my growth spurt? When are all these pimples going to go away? When will my voice get deeper. There is no accurate answer to all of these questions. The thing all of us kids have to realize is  that time will tell. We just have to wait and see.

The other questions that a lot of middle schoolers have(including me) are internal questions, such as; when am I going to get a girl/boy friend? Is high school going to be great? Or suck? Are my parents going to give me more freedom? Or less? All of these questions have one simple solution: YOU. All of the answers to all of these                     Questions depend on how you act, and how you treat others in the future.

Reading response on The Outsiders

I am in the midst of reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. This book fits perfectly with the topic of " growing up " and " coming of age". This book reminds me of who I really am, and has taught me a lot about myself that I didn't really know/realize yet in life. A few things that this book has shown/taught me about myself so far are my views on violence and gangs, how lucky I am to have such a great family,  and what I personally feel is fair in this world.

Before I read this book, I wasn't really sure how I felt about gangs, and violence, in fact I didn't really have feelings for them at all. This is probably because I hadn't read or even been introduced to the topics so far in my life. Now, that's not the case. I believe that being in a gang isn't a good thing to do in the long run, but if you don't have a family, it sure can give you one. My views on violence are simple; if it's not self defense, it's not ok. Only fight back if you have to, or if they touched you first. If someone insults you with words, don't get physical, solve it with more words or simply walk away.

I have always had a great family. A family that loves me, and is always there for me, a family that i will always love, and will always love me back, a family that will always respect the choices i make in life. A family that takes care of me. It was not until this book that i realized something: NOT EVERY ONE HAS THAT FAMILY. Most of the characters in this book had either lost their family, or have one that doesn't even care about them. The main character, Ponyboy, had lost his parents when he was young, so besides his brothers, his real family was the greasers. His best friend Johny had a family, but they were mean to him and didn't even care about him at all. Not until this book did i realize how lucky i am to have this great of a family

This book has also changed the way I think and feel about fairness and carma in this world. In The Outsiders, Ponyboy, the MC, is getting beat up almost to death, so his best friend Johny kills the kid beating him up. Later in the book, Johny dies a hero, after saving several lives from a fire. At first, I wasn't sure if it was fair that Johny died, or unfair. After much consent, I think Johnys death was unfair. I believe this for two reasons; he only killed the kid in self defense, and not only that, but he saved five kids from a fire that would have killed them all. So overall, I don't think people deserve back what they did, it all depends on the circumstances they did it in in the first place.

The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, is a coming of age and growing up book, about a kid named Ponyboy going through a hard time in life, and gaining not only knowledge, but experience. This book has helped me gather how I feel about fairness and carma in this world, it has told me what a family provides for someone and how lucky I am to have such a great one,  and my thoughts on violence and gangs.

My skateboard timeline. (growing up assignment #1)

I have a timeline hanging on my wall. It's not just any ordinary timeline. This is a timeline made out of the pieces of wood that make my life what it is. I skateboard. You can call it a hobby, but it's more of a "way-of-life". Every few months I buy a new skateboard deck, which is the piece of wood sitting on the wheels. Every time I get a new one, I have the old board to hang on my bedroom wall. I hang these skateboard decks in chronological order, so over the past years it has started to look more and more like a timeline.

One may find it funny that these old dirty pieces of chipped up wood actually mean something to me; but they do! It's not that they just hang there on my wall, these boards give me the most amazing memories from the past five years of my life. Every scratch on every board represents a different day, wether it was good, bad, or great. These boards give me hope- they show me that I can go from not knowing how to do something to being an expert at it. They show me that I don't give up. 

This timeline is perfect for this because it represents my growing up, from childhood to nearing adulthood. The two artifacts are the first board, and the most recent. They show me that I have been a child, and stuck with skateboarding until the end of middle school. And I will stick with it for years to come.

Reading response- final version.

Casey Gallagher

814

Reading response(literary essay)        

I am in the midst of reading “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” series written by Rick Riordan. In these books, Rick Riordan creates a half-god character named Percy Jackson who I can deeply relate to. Percy and I don’t only have similar characteristics, we also share the same age, which makes these books easier to read. I can relate to Percy Jackson for three main reasons. The first reason is the fact that our mothers are very alike. Another reason is that we have similar relationships with our friends. The third and last way I can relate to Percy Jackson is the fact that he has powers that I have always and will always envy.

         Percy Jackson’s Mom is very similar to my mother in this series. First of all, both of our moms are human, it doesn’t mean anything in reality, but in these books, not everyone is mortal (human). Another reason is that both of our moms push us to do better in life, when we aren’t strong enough to push ourselves. Both of our moms are divorced, but have found someone new, and that affects their lives as well as ours. The last reason is that they both love us more than anything, and would do anything to help us if we needed them.

         Another reason Percy and I can relate to each other is that we have similar relationships with our friends. Both of us don’t have many friends, but the friends we do have, we care about a lot, and vice versa. Also, if we were in trouble, our friends would go out of their way to help us, and so would we for them. The last reason our friends are similar is that we have friends older, younger, and the same age as us.

         The last reason Percy Jackson and I relate to each other is the fact that I have always envied the powers that he actually has. Percy Jackson has the ability to see the future or past or present in his dreams, he can breath under water, he can control what water does, he doesn’t get wet at all under water, and while he does all of these amazing things, he is just a thirteen year old middle-school student, like me. All of the special abilities I just named are things that I would die for, in other words, I envy them.

         In the series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, Rick Riordan creates a half human- half god character named Percy Jackson that I can relate to in many different ways. Percy and I share relationships with our friends, and family. Percy Jackson is an 8^th grader, like me, yet he has special abilities, because he is the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea.

Reading Response...(new and improved version)

         I am in the midst of reading “Percy Jackson and The Olympians” series written by Rick Riordan. In these books, Rick Riordan creates a half-god character named Percy Jackson who I can relate to. Percy and I don’t only have similar characteristics, we are also the same age, which makes these books a hundred times easier to read. I can relate to Percy Jackson for three main reasons. The first reason is the fact that our mothers are very alike. Another reason is that we have similar relationships with our friends. The third and last way I can relate to Percy Jackson is the fact that he has powers that I have always and will always envy.

         Percy Jackson’s Mom is much alike to my mom in this series. First of all, both of our moms are human, witch doesn’t mean anything in reality, but in these books, not everyone is mortal (human). Another reason is because both of our moms push us to do better in life, when we aren’t strong enough ourselves. Both of our moms are divorced, but have found someone new, and that affects their lives as well as ours. The last reason is that they both love us more than anything, and would do anything to help us if we needed them.

         Another reason Percy and I can relate to each other is that we have similar relationships with our friends. Both of us don’t have many friends, but the friends we do have, we care about a lot, and vice versa. Also, if we were in trouble, our friends would go out of their way to help us, and so would we for them. The last reason our friends are similar is that we have friends that are older, younger, and the same age as us.

         The last reason Percy Jackson and I relate to each other is the fact that I have always envied the powers that he actually has. Percy Jackson has the ability to see the future or past or present in his dreams, he can breath under water, he can control what water does, he doesn’t get wet at all under water, and while he does all of these amazing things, he is just a thirteen year old middle-school student, like me. All of the special abilities I just named are things that I would die for, in other words, I envy them.

         In the series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, Rick Riordan creates a half human- half god character named Percy Jackson that I can relate to in many different ways. Percy Jackson is a 8^th grader, like me, yet he has special abilities, because he is the son of the sea god, Posiden. We both have similar mothers, and similar relationships with our friends. He also has powers I envy and will always envy, just like most of the humans in this world.

Reading response to the Percy Jackson series.(edited version)

Right now, I am currently reading the "Percy Jackson and the olympians."series by Rick Riordan, and I am on the third book. I love these books for three main reasons. One; it is hard to put this book down. Two; I can connect deeply to the main character, which is Percy Jackson. Three; Rick Riordan creates a fantasy world that is surprisingly realistic and believable.

Ussually, reading is boring to me, and often makes me sleepy, but not this series. In my opinion, Rick Riordan did a wonderful job creating a wonderful series of books that keep you on the edge of your seat. This is a good feature for a book, and especially for a series because it will always make the reader want more, and go buy the next book in the series.

The second reason I love this series is because the main character(percy jackson) and I have a lot in common. First of all, we share great and supportive mothers. In this series, Percy's mom helps him get through hard times, and so does mine. She also pushes him and encourages him whenever he is down, and once again, my mom does that too. Another way I connect to Percy is the fact that we are both very close to the friends we have, but we don't have manny friends. The last way Percy and I are connected is that we are both thirteen, which makes these books even more interesting to me.

The last reason I love this series is becaus the author, Rick Riordan, creates a fantasy world that is convincingly realistic. My two favorite book genres are realistic fiction, and fantasy, and this series combines the two. Even though I understand magic and ancient Greek gods don't exsist, these books make it fun to believe they do.

Percy Jackson and the olimpians is a great series of books that I recomend to someone of any age to read, if they have not already read it. In these addictive mind boggling books, Rick Riordan invites you to a new realistic magical world where anything can happen.

Response to Three.

             The first person's blog I looked at was Emma Peltzer. In my opinion, her blogs are all great. First of all, her sonnet has a nice flow, meaning if I read it out-loud to myself, it sounds great, and i dont have to pause at any awkward time. The main aspect of poetry is flow and rhythm, and this sonnet had both. 

             The next blog i read is Jadmady's "its time to blog". Her sonnet is amazing. Every other line rhymes, yet she still kept it real, fresh, and smart. Sometimes, when you try to rhyme in a sonnet, or any poem, you often put silly words that don't make a lot of sense just because you want a rhyme in there. She doesn't not do this, and thats what makes her sonnet great.

             The last blog I read is Jorjes "the blog". This is my favorite of all time. The thing that Jorje does that makes his posts and poems special is the fact that he really puts his heart into his writing. When I read the poems he writes, it feels like I'm reading something that came right out of his heart, not just a little poem assignment. Also, I like the fact that he puts real pictures of art onto his blog, making his posts seem more alive than anyone else's.

 

THE SONNET OF MY DAY

          EVERY DAY, I WAKE UP WITH MOTHERS TAP

           I GET DRESSED, HALF AWAKE, YET HALF ASLEEP

            I WALK TO THE COUCH, FETCH MY BASEBALL CAP

             I GET DOWNSTAIRS, WITH OUT MAKING A PEEP

              WALK TO THE KITCHEN, AND SIP ON SOME JUICE

               GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL IS NOT REALLY COOL

                I WISH I COULD FLY THERE, LIKE SKY KING ZEUS

                 BUT NO, BUT NO, I WALK THERE LIKE A FOOL

                  I GET TO SCHOOL, AND WALK TO 814

                   SOONER THAN LATER, IT IS TIME FOR LUNCH

                    I AM FINALLY OUT, FULL OF CAFFEINE

                     I GET LOTS OF SNACKS, KIT KATS AND FRUIT PUNCH

                      I AM HOME AND IN BED, AND READY FOR REST

                       AWAITING TOMORROW, TIS' A GOOD DAY AT BEST.

Response to My Papas Waltz, by Theodore Roethke.

                 My papas Waltz is a great poem, and i think that Theodore Roethke did a good job writing and constructing it. I love the rhyming, and the rhythm. This poem inspired me a lot and will influence my poems a lot. The only aspect that I'm not too in to is the fact that we are talking about the back round story. In my opinion, a poem is a poem, its a freez in time, and describes a moment, or a made up senerio. When Theodore Roethke probably didn't think about a whole back round and life story of the characters in the poem, i think he just sat down and wanted to write a poem that rhymes and has a good rhythm.

RESPONSE TO THE FACE, ARTWORK BY RICH JACOBS.

                   "The Face" is a piece of art on my wall, by an artist named Rich Jacobs.  I love this painting.
First of all, their are only two colors, black and orange. this is great because they go well together, and make each other stand out, which is always a great factor to take into consideration while picking colors for a painting.
                   Another reason i love this artwork is because it has a great poem on the bottom of the canvas:
"maybe the word different just means something else now...(or are things really different?)" This is a great line/poem/quote because it leaves you thinking, and a bit confused.
                
                  A few other things I love about this painting is that it has "rj" written sloppy in a corner, which he does on every one of his paintings, and I like that because it shows thats an original piece, and its kind of like a tag, or trademark. Also, the paper/canvas it is on is a lightish brown color, that makes the painting look 100 times better than it would on plain white.

llaw ym no tra eht.

The art on my wall
stands taller than tall
but is really
quite small
that art
on my wall
it better not fall

A mix of colors
feelings
textures

Hanging by rusty old nails

That art on my wall
is softer than
a cotton ball
and louder than
the city hall

i will never get rid

of that art on my wall.

short but sweet

                         When i was little
                                     i ran right through a window
                    i was just a kido
                                                 acting like a bimbo

POETRY

              ROSILIE TOLD ME
                    THAT POETRY
                               IS SOCIALLY
                                      AND TOTALLY
            AMAZING

             NOBODY
                    OPENLY
                            DISAGREED

response to STARRY STARRY NIGHT.

           Starry Night was and is a great poem. I think this for many reasons, first of all, I love art and poetry, and this is poetry about a great piece of art. I like how the author mixed factual evidence with inference about the painting. Like when she said 11 stars, that was factual evidence, but when she said this is how I want to die, that was an inference. In my opinion, while writing about a serious piece of art, its better to make it silly, and sort of turn the whole senerio around, but I also respect the fact that she wrote a great serious poem about the serious piece of art. I guess it works out either way.