Post B week 7

During this section of the book, Alice is beginning a new class of poetry and she loves her new teacher. Alice writes a dramatic poem about her rape experience and names it "conviction". When she shows her teacher, she loves it and say it is Alice's best work. Her teacher then suggests that Alice should workshop it which means review it with her class and other teachers. Alice agrees but is nervous because this means reading it aloud to her class and telling them all she had been raped. I can see how that could be really hard for her, but also I think it would be a good and almost could help her move on. Later on in this section it talk about how while Alice was walking down the street to another building near her campus she saw her rapist, Gregory Madison. She was so frightened and panicked. She tried to avoid him so she kept walking. However, he recognized her and so he approached her. Then he taunted her about when he raped her. Alice was furious but too scared to do anything at the moment so she kept walking back to the dorm. Alice knew in her heart she couldn't let this man wander the streets, she decided to take action. This is so brave of Alice to do and I believe is the right thing to do. She doen't want a dangerous man to harm anyone else like he did to her. Also, by catching this man would help her find closure in the tragic experience.

Post A week 7

ostracized(pg 203): to exclude, by general consent, from society, friendship, conversation, privileges, etc.

hypervigilance (pg 242): the condition of maintaining an abnormal awareness of environmental stimuli, post-traumatic stress syndrome, marked by symptoms like frequent nightmares and repetitive anxiety dreams, insomnia, intrusive disturbing thoughts.

A theme that is developing in the memoir is when you feel something is the right thing to do, follow your heart.

Post B week 6

Throughout this section of the book, Alice continues to struggle in college and is still having a rough time and with all the unwanted attention. I can see her frusterations with not wanting people to feel bad for her and just wants some attention just for being Alice not because she was raped. However, Her friends have been there for her to help her get through this hard time and for her to stay strong. Alice is very lucky to have such kind friends who genuinely care about her so much. Also, in this section she talks about her experiences with diffrent types of girls in diffrent types of dorms. She categorizes them as some are the goody good girls, some the bad girls, and some and the girls with boyfriends. She considered herself a goody good girl. I don't like when people stereotype themselves or other people and give them a title. I think it is almost like you are judging them which is something no one should ever do.

Post A week 6

ebullient (pg 162): overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement; high-spirited.

depicted (pg 184): To represent in words; describe.

A theme that is developing in the memoir is you should always see past first impressions and wait until you get to know someone before you jump to any conclusions.

Post B week 5

In this section of the book, Alice's parents finally agree with her and allow her to return to Syrcruse. She returns and stays in the Haven hall, which is safer then the regular dorms. I think her parents won't regret their decision of allowing this because I'm sure all they want is for their daughter to be happy. But when Alice returns, everyone is shocked. People would approach her and say how glad they are that she came back. Since this was talked about with many people, even strangers would approach her and hug her and pitty her, which would obviously make Alice feel akward and uncomfortable. She doesn't want pitty, she wants people to see her as the old Alice, the one who wasn't raped. She continues to struggle as shes trying to adapt back into college life to feel normal again. I believe with the support of her friends and family, and with people treating her normally this can be accomplished.

Post A week 5

admissible (pg 140): that may be allowed or conceded; allowable.

disconcerted (pg 145): to throw into disorder or confusion; disarrange.

A theme that is merging in the memoir is parents need to let their child make their own decisions so they can have independence.

background

The memoir of Lucky written by Alice Sebold.
published in 2006
a non-fiction book.
246 pages.
The story plot is similar to the memoir of A piece of Cake which I read recently and since I liked that so much I thought I would enjoy Luck as well.

Post B week 4

In this section of the book summer is ending and Alice needs to make an important decision. She needs to decide whether shes going to go back to Syracuse or change to a new school. Her parents suggest an all girls college that is only five blocks away from her house. Also, Since it is so close Alice would be able to come home easily and sleep there every night. That way her parents would know she was safe. However, this is not what Alice has in mind. Alice doesn't want the fact that she was raped to effect other aspects in her life. She thinks if she doesn't try to go back the way things were, she would be unhappy. She wans to return to Syracuse so that she will feel more normal. I believe Alice knows whats best for her. If shes willing and feels comfortable enough to go back and face the same campus that will haunt her for the rest of her life, then I think she should do it. She should at least try it out and if shes that unhappy then she can consider transferring. But she would regret not at least attempting to make things back to normal.

Post A week 4

traversed (pg 93): to pass or move over, along, or through.

mechanism (pg 97): the agency or means by which an effect is produced or a purpose is accomplished.

Post B week 3

In this next section of the book Alice realizes how her family doesn't know how to react about the situation. They don't know what to do or what to even say. I would find that very frusterating if I were Alice because all you want to do is be comforted by your family when something so tragic happens. It would make the situaton even worse when they don't know how to. Also another time when Alice gets frusterated was when one night a cute boy comes to visit her sister and gave Alice a weird look. Alice interprets this as he knew she had been raped and he would never be interested or like her. She began to break down in tears with sadness and shame. She generalized the situation and screams to her family that a nice boy will never like her because she has been raped, and as usual her family does not know how to respond. If I was Alice I would need some sympathy and comfort if something so devastating happened to me. I think Alice needs to accept what happened and try to move on and if someone judges her then she shouldn't even be with them anyways. The genuine people will see her for who she is and not judge her for what happened.

Post A week 3

parishioners (pg62): A member of a parish.

probed (pg 75): to search into or examine thoroughly; question closely.

The theme that has been merging in this section of the book is if someone judges you over something you had no control over, then they arent even worth wasting your time on.

Post B week 2

In the next section of the book there is a flashback of Alice’s life before the rape. She lived in an old and small town in Paoli, Pennsylvania. Her mother was an alcoholic and her parents had a love-hate relationship that had no “touch.” They would never show any kind of emotion towards each other. I think this was hard for Alice growing up because she didn’t know what a healthy relationship was like. By 1997 her mom had stayed sober for 10 years but began having a disorder called "flaps". They were basically extreme mood swings. She would have bad anxiety, go crazy and panic. This would be frustrating to have a mom who couldn’t function normally. Also, to see someone you love so much be in so much pain daily. Alice had two basset hounds. Their names were Feijoo and Belle. She would spend a lot of her time playing games with her dogs. She also was apart of her high school marching band. She didn’t particularly enjoy that crowd of people and eventually quit. I think if you don’t enjoy something, it is a waste of time to do something you don’t like. She then had her secret dream of becoming an actress on Broadway. Her inspiration was Ethel Merman, a loud and outgoing actress on Broadway. Because of Alice’s dream, her mom surprised her with a trip to New York. But before they could see much, her mom had one of her “flaps.” Alice insisted that they should go home because her mom was miserable. I thought this was very mature and considerate of her, especially since she was so excited for the trip. She knew her mom wouldn’t enjoy the trip from her condition and she couldn’t enjoy it if she wasn’t. They ended up getting a cab and headed their way home. Alice must have been extremely disappointed but didn’t let it show so her mom wouldn’t feel guilty.

Post A week 2

amorphous (pg 34): of no particular kind or character; indeterminate; having no pattern or structure

contention (pg 59): a struggling together in opposition

A theme that is developing so far in this memoir would be accept and support the ones you love no matter what.

Post B week 1

The book Lucky begins with a traumatic and life-changing experience for the author Alice Sebold. She was brutally raped and beaten in an old tunnel near campus during the end of her freshman year of college. The pain would be indescribable for someone who had deal with that, both emotionally and physically. Alice had to face her friends and family with the truth. As hard as that would be, she needed the support and comfort of others to be able to move on in her life. Her friends seemed to be genuinely concerned and wanted to help her during such a difficult time. Along with telling her friends, she had to confront her mom which would be most difficult. She knew her mom was going to be heart-broken that such a terrible thing was done to her own daughter. I would also think this would be most difficult because someone’s mom is usually one of the people in their life that loves them most. Along with confronting people, another hard part of the situation was the fact that she was a virgin. She had made the choice to save herself for the right person, and without her control someone took that away from her; a sick-minded rapist. I hope as I continue to read she will find the man who raped her because I believe that would give her some closure and help her move on. I also hope her friends and family continue to be supportive and caring towards her.

Post A week 1

disassembled (pg 8)-to come apart.
diligently (pg 25)-constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything.

"My life was over; my life had just begun."
This quote is significant to this book because the tramatic and life changing experience she had just gone through caused her so called 'normal' life and self to be over and gone. Now she will struggle with many emotional and physical problems causing herself to change and her life to be way different.

Outside Reading Final Post#1

During the last section of the book, You can really see the change in Cup's life. She was now living on her own, and Cup relapsed once. But she quickly got back on track and back to the road of recovery. At one of the meetings at Alano Club for alcoholics and recovered alcoholics, she met a man named Brett. Cup fell in love with his charm. They dated for the first two years of her recovery and had gotten engaged. Bun unfortunatley, soon after their relationship began to go downhill. He also was a recovering fiend and was getting high more and more. Sadly enough, he choose dope over Cup. After two full years of sobriety, Cup decided to follow her dream (with the help of Venita her sponsor) and become a lawyer. With determination and hard work she got into SDSU. On a trip to the local prison, Cup had a discussion with her Professor Sutton and he had convinced her to tell her life story. NBC News wanted to interview her. After she was interviewed, Cup received no negative feedback. After eight and a half years of community college she had finally finished and would become a graduate. Now she attended law school and was accepted into USF where they gave her a scholarship. Soon enough, she graduated and and received the Judge Harod J. Haley Award for Exceptional Distinction in Scholarship, Character and Activities. After all the pain and suffering Cup had gone through, her life was finally in order and heading in the right direction.

The Sea Inside post #3

I believe the most significant scene during The Sea Inside was a close-up of when Ramon hits his head on the ocean floor. This shot of his head takes up the majority of the screen and is focusing on when Ramon got in the tradgic accident. I think the director's intentions for this shot was a close up because he wanted the audience to be focused on this difining moment of Ramon's life and the whole basis of the movie. Another shot during the movie was was an extreme close-up. This shot was when Julia and Ramon were spending tim together and the shot is just of their hands. I think this signifies their closeness in their relationship with eachother. A third shot during this movie was when Ramon was leaving his house where he had been taken care of and loved by his family. The director used the firehosing technique and made it feel as though you were riding in the car along with Ramon. This is a very emotional part of the movie and i think the intentions for the shot was to make it seem very real because the camera moves with the car movements. Lastly, there was another firehosing shot. The shot continued along the hills and around his home. I belive this shot was significant because it showed where Ramon was no longer capable of going, he was unable to hike through the hills or even take a walk down the street from his house.

The Sea Inside post #2

There are many similarities and differences between The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Sea Inside. The main similarity is both the main characters Ramon and Jean were quadriplegic and confined inside their own bodies. However, Ramon is able to move his neck and head and able to speak, where as Jean was only able to communicate with others by the blink of his left eye and had no other movement. Another Similarity is that Ramon and Jean showed humorous and sarcastic tone towards their situations. They both tried to enlighten their depressing living style. The major difference between the two tales is in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was Jean Bauby has no desire to die. He does not want to end his life out of frustration and give up. Instead, He chooses to live his life to the fullest and to his highest potential. This contradicts the purpose of The Sea Inside because the whole idea of the movie was to show Ramon's emotions and why he wants to end his life. So, Jean was fighting for his life and on the other hand, Ramon was fighting for his death. In my opinion, The Sea Inside was much more powerful to me than The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Since The Sea Inside was portrayed on film it was able to show all the emotions and thought processes visually and by listening so it made it much more intense.

The Sea Inside post #1

Overall I thought The Sea Inside was a very interesting movie. It definetley kept me intrigued as I watched. At times it was confusing since it was spoken in spanish and to understand the plot we had to read subtitles. I think people should be able to choose whether they live or die but they need to realize that they are affecting other people that are in their lives who care about them. In Ramon's case he was living in a depressing situation and his life was not exciting. But he had so many people who cared about him. I don't see how he could kill himself knowing that he would be affecting all those people in a negative way. But on the other hand, Ramon could see it as him being a burden for his family to take care of him. So he would doing them a favor so they wouldn't have to spend their time helping Ramon stay alive. I think for his friends who agreed to help him, they were very sympathetic towards Ramon and really understood how he was feeling. It must of been really hard on them since they cared for him so much but they felt it was the best for Ramon.

Outside Reading Final Post#2

Even through the pain and suffering the author of this memoir was faced with in her lifetime, she did not lose all hope and she manages to turn her life around. The memoir, A Piece of Cake written by Cupcake Brown, demonstrates how someone should never give up on life no matter how many obstacles they face. Cup's message is to inspire readers to have hope when they have hit rock bottom and to know they are capable of changing their life around is expressed through passionate tone, key passages, and emotional loaded words. The passionate tone demonstrated throughout the memoir is the only true reason for the reader to emotionally connect to the author and the book. "Should I take the easy way out or, for once in my life, try to actually learn something, earn something, finish something ." (183) This quote shows how Cup chooses the easier way out of difficult situations but now realizes she should maybe work her way through them. During Cup's lifetime she would try to avoid any obstacles she was faced with by turning tricks, downing hard liquor, and ingesting every drug she could find. These bad habits eventually caused her to stumble into worse ways like gang banging, drug dealing, hustling, prostitution and theft. This shows how Cup chooses the irresponsible way out to earn money instead of working hard to be hired for a respectable job. This quote also shows how Cup is willing to admit she has been making poor decisions and in order for her to make changes in her life she knows she needs to work hard. The author is telling the reader through passionate tone that she realizes she has made many mistakes and knows in order for her to live a life of dignity and hope she needs to change. The key passages throughout the memoir are ideal to connect the reader to Cup's emotions. " I was confused. How could Mr.Burns be my daddy? So what if we had the same last name? I never saw him before in my life. He wasn't there when I had to go to the hospital to get my tonsils out. He wasn't in the front row for my first violin recital. He didn't build my fancy red stove. My daddy did ." (16) This quote is significant because it was during the time when the judge was deciding who would have custody over Cup and her brother Larry. Their biological father, Mr.Burns, technically had the rights to have custody even though he had never been apart of their lives. He wanted them for the money and could care less about them. The man who they considered "daddy" had been a part of their lives, paid child support, and could still not have custody. This quote shows how confused Cup is and how unfare the situation is. Cup and her brother Larry are heartbroken. The author is showing the reader through this key passage how she was faced with such difficult situations. This is also the whole basis of her life because I believe if the judge would have gone against the California law and allowed their "daddy" to have custody, Cup's life would have been a whole lot different. Cup's emotional loaded words has a huge impact on the story and the reader. These words help create intense moods throughout the memoir so the reader felt as though they knew Cup personally and were experiencing the traumatic times in her life right along with her. "What was surprising was that suddenly I was so horribly despondent and dismayed that that I didn't want to bargain. I just needed help-anyway I could get it and from whomever I could get it. " (332) Cupcake Brown is showing the reader by using loaded words such as despondent, dismayed and bargain how desperate she really was. Cup had no other choice but to talk to God, she knew if God couldn't help her then no one could. This quote demonstrates how Cup is ready to turn her life around. She took a drastic step in the right direction by talking to God and is ready to begin a new lifestyle. This simple decision would shape the rest of her life in many positive ways. Even though Cup had faced endless amounts of terrible situatons, she was able to overcome obstacles and in the end live a happy life. This is inspirational for readers to see how Cupcake Brown had been at such a low point in her life and see that today she is successful and fulfilling her dreams. The passionate tone, key passsages and emotional loaded words were demonstrated throughout the entire memoir and were ideal to express to readers how to they should never lose hope when faced with difficult situations and to always have faith in yourself to be able to overcome obstacles. Life is a gift, don't waste your time by making poor decisions and live it to the highest potential.