Hunger Games

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Explain the significance of the title. (Authors do not choose a title randomly. Usually the title is symbolic in some way.)

The Hunger Games, a simple title for the book, yet it holds so much.  It expresses not only the main theme and event in the story, but captures the emotions of the characters.  The Hunger Games is the fear for some throughout the year, for some it’s a chance to escape.  The game is twenty four contestants who have to kill each other.  Last man or woman standing wins.  Many families enter their names multiply times for supplies to survive.  Each character’s life revolves around this, tearing families apart and reminding them of their decisions of the past.

You could almost just call this book Gladiator, as it resembles so much of the Roman times.  Something so evil created for entertainment for the hierarchy.  Some children train their young lives to win this event. Although with random choosing, children with no such training or experience can be picked.  Also the range of ages is bizarre.  Within the contestants can be full grown adults and children who can barely make their own meal.

The name does not just express a book, but an exciting adventure by every turn of the page.  

Matt Eades

Week 7

The Hate List – Jennifer Brown

Free Choice Response

             I feel as if Valerie is lost in a world by herself.  No matter how many people reach out to help it is hard for her to believe.  It’s almost as she sees it in her eyes that the world is against her.  She likes to hide her feelings and emotions, never expressing the real thoughts that flow through her mind.

             Life does change and I believe that Val just needs to be accepting in the kindness of other people.  It seems the only person besides Dr. Heiler that she can really spill her thoughts to is the wall paper above her bed. 

             Point trying to be proved here is that Valerie, like so many people that walk through the halls here, just needs to hold their hand out with an open mind. 

Guided Response - Week 6

The Hate List – Jennifer Brown

Identify what caused a major change in the main character and explain how the character(s) changed. (These changes may have been a consequence of choice or conflict. They might be a display of some outstanding character trait or a result of events that occurred during the novel.)

      I believe the whole book is about Valerie going through different changes.  Dealing with the shooting, losing the one person she loved, becoming a social outcast, the way of her parents, and so on.  After the shooting Valerie experiences several changes with her life and everyone else.  Now that Nick is gone she is dealing with the change of not having somebody there anymore.  When she was questioned by the detective, even her outlook on the situation changed.  Not only did she realize how guilty she looked, but I think she learns that the way she saw Nick and the list were different than how he interpreted them.  Instead of having parents who were mad and fighting, the shooting brought them together temporarily.

                Another change is the way that she sees her peers act, which I believe will ultimately sink in on Valerie too.  They have learned to accept one another as an individual, and let things flow their own way.  High school in general is usually not what you would call peaceful and supportive, more dramatic and ridiculous. So having a school of teenagers come together is what you call change, but with an incident like that who couldn’t change?    

Eades

The Hate List

After starting this novel, I like how the book attracts readers with its introdcution.  It gives you a chance to think about being in the same spot they are describing.  Reading one page makes me want to read the next, then the one after that and so on.School shootings are something we all grrew up learning about and hearing about incidents.