June Book Report

The Perks of being a Wallflower

Author/Setting

Stephen Chbosky wrote the novel The Perks of being a Wallflower in the 1990’s and published the book in 1999. He enjoys horror and fantasy novels and he was greatly influenced by novel The Catcher in the Rye. The story is written in letters from a teenager boy named Charlie who is also the narrator. He writes letters to the reader about all the problems and things going on in his life. My friend referred this book to me and I enjoyed how it kept me at the edge of my seat. I had trouble putting this book down, and it is certainly one of my favorites.

Plot/Character

This story started off right away with a bang and caught my attention. Charlie lost one of his best friends and had trouble coping with this issue he was dealing with while at school. He just couldn’t take in what all was happening while he was still in high school. He eventually seeks help from the counselor at the school and she talks to him and a few other friends who knew the boy who committed suicide. They comforted them and let the teenagers vent out positively or negatively. In the beginning of the book Charlie started out unpopular and barely knowing anybody. But as the book progressed Charlie made new friends who stayed with him till the end. Charlie experiments with drugs and sexual activities like most teenagers with raging hormones and falls in love with a girl. Though Charlie does not get the girl from the start he stays with her as her best friend till she finally admits she liked him all along as well near the end of the novel. Basically this book addresses the issues most teenagers are faced with when they go into high school. Here is an excerpt from the book…“And Sam looked at the paper and then she looked at me."Charlie. . . Have you ever kissed a girl?" I shook my head no. It was so quiet. "Not even when you were little?" I shook my head no again. And she looked very sad. She told me about the first time she was kissed. She told me that it was with one of her dad's friends. She was seven. And she told nobody except Mary Elizebeth and then Patrick a year ago. And she started to cry. And she said something that I won't forget. Ever. "I know that you know that I like Craig. And I know that I told you not to think of me that way. And I know that we can't be together like that. But I want to forget all those things for a minute. Okay?" "Okay" "I want to make sure that the first person you kiss loves you. Okay?" "Okay" She was crying harder now. And I was, too, because when I hear something like that I just can't help it. "I just want to make sure of that. Okay?" "Okay" And she kissed me. And it was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about out loud. It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.”Near the end of the novel Charlie faces his challenges head on and is no longer the shy person he was when he was a freshman in high school. His teacher who gave him additional work by having him read books that were of his interests helped him along his way.

Analysis

I really enjoyed reading this book because I could relate to some of the problems Charlie was going through, through-out the book. For instance when he would talk about his girl problems and how he didn’t know how to break it to the girl he was dating, he didn’t like her anymore. When I was reading this it reminded me of some of the boy problems I have had before. Although Charlie talks about drugs in the novel, I couldn’t necessarily relate to it, but it gave me a better idea of why it’s the thing to do in high school supposedly. One part that shocked me in the novel was when one of Charlie’s friends was having trouble with his sexuality. The guy he loved didn’t want to be with him not only because of his family, but since he was popular at school he could not let it ruin his reputation. Sadly he never broke the silence and this addressed another issue that takes place in high school. Through it all, Charlie remains a good friend to those he loves.

Current Event: 6-03-08

Clinton willing to run for VP

From the looks of how the presidential election is turning out, Clinton doesn't have a chance at winning the election. Though she isn't giving up completely just yet even though the purpose of her campaign is basically over, she still speaks out about issues like healthcare and will continue to do so until her time is done. She also mentioned that she would be open for running as Vice President with Obama. Clinton told colleages she knew the right math wasn't there for her to overtake Obama, but that she still wanted to determine how to leave the race in a way that would best help the democrats.
Personally, I'd prefer John Mccain to become the Vice President instead of Hilary Clinton just because he seems to have more political experience. Also the whole Clinton incident that happened years ago was pointless, and i don't think someone should be given another chance with something as important as being President. I hope that Obama wins this election, even though I'm afraid he doesn't have enough political experience and that his ambitions are more than what we can actually do.

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Current Event : 5/30/08

Priest apologizes for mocking Clinton

The same church that Obama has gone to for the past 20 years had a preacher who made a rude comment about Hilary Clinton. He had commented on Hilary crying and how she was crying because she was white and deserved to be the next president, and since Obama came into play and that he's a black man, it made her upset. Since Obama goes to this church he his automatically associated with the preacher which is unfair. I don't understand though if the preacher claims to be friends with Obama why he would put Obama's chance of winning presidency in jeopardy. Who know's! Especially after the other preacher incident that has already happened. There seems to be a trend with religious physco paths being associated with Obama. I wonder if they were paid to do so! Why else would they do that to their "friend" Obama. I think that the more people assume it's skin color being the cause of things, there will always be racial tensions. No matter what race, no one should have a right to down talk anyone else just because there different.

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My Architect Reflection

Filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn never knew his father like most children would. His father named Louis Kahn, was an architect and spent most of his life doing what he loved most. Sadly though he died in 1974 in a bathroom located inside the Penn Station, with no savings and drowned in debt. Louis Kahn’s obituary in The New York Times, mentioned Kahn’s importance to modern architecture but not even touch upon the topic that Kahn had left behind a son. Shockingly it turned out that nearly nobody was aware that Louis Kahn had had a son, or knew that he had other children with other mistresses as well. In the Documentary Nathaniel tries to find out more about his father with his colleagues who worked with him in architecture since they spent more time with Louis than his own son did. Throughout the documentary his son’s goal was to figure out why his father was so insensitive to his family and spent more time towards his career. After watching this documentary I could not believe what I was hearing. It did not make any sense to me how a father could have more than one family and treat them with such little regard. It all seemed backwards to me how he put his career before everyone else, sadly even his supposed loved ones. I don’t know whether this is a bad thing or not, because he is doing what he loves which makes him happy. Though he didn’t make others as happy as he could’ve, does that make it wrong? Is it wrong how he neglected his family for his career and his dream of traveling the world? For my personal beliefs yes, but when I think about it and how he was fulfilling his dream, no. He did not physically hurt his family, and I am sure the mothers knew what kind of person he was before they decided to share a family. There is nothing wrong with this man fulfilling his dream of creating great architecture and getting to travel the world as he wished. I don’t know why this man would choose what he did though. And I’m not sure if he intended to fulfill his dream and still have a family as well. I’m unsure if he tried to do both, but assuming he did I think that is where he went wrong. In my opinion, a person cannot accomplish everything they want to do in a lifetime; they must choose what is most important to them. If I were in Louis’s position, I would’ve chosen to put my family first. I think there’s nothing special about accomplishing a dream alone, I'd rather accomplish something with a family of my own who i love, it would mean everything to me and I think it’s selfish and careless to do otherwise. Your family will always be there for you through thick and thin and they will love you no matter what, and I don’t see why somebody wouldn’t want to be with people you share that connection with. Plus if you love your family, you’d put them before any dream you had of your own because you love them. if you didn’t put them first, then you never loved them that much in the first place.

What happened to ethics? Reflections

"Ethics shape how we ought to behave as an employee, a friend, a co-worker, a citizen [and as] a person." -Casey

There is significance in learning good ethical values, but i don't think it should just be taught in the classroom. It should start way before school, it should begin in the home of every family. Life long lessons could last a lifetime if only parents would take more effort into teaching their children the values in life they need to learn. Also it would be helpful to pass on good integrity to your friends or any other fellow loved one. It will always be better to do the right thing no matter how less difficult it would be to cheat for the same thing. Ethics is an indiciduals morals, and their beliefs of what is right or wrong. Good ethics would be to do the right thing. and to always treat others with the up most respect even if you dispise them. I don't believe this is a personal belief, but that it is a universal truth. There doesn't have to be evil in the world, people just make wrong decisions. I suppose good morals could be taught by someone you look up to. If you look up to someone you want to be just like them, so taking the inititive of being a leader would help out someone else.

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Current Event: 5-22-08

Texas seizure of polygamist-sect kids thrown out
In San Angelo, Texas on the polygamist compound raid case, the court said authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in the raid. The Court of Appeals said the state failed to show or demonstrate enough evidence on how the children were in any immediate danger so they weren’t supposed to take the children. So unless they find significant evidence sometime soon, most likely the mothers will get custody over their children once again, and pretty much this whole case will have gone to waste. Although the children won't be returning right away,
Personally I don’t think the mothers should be able to take care of their children again, because they never took care of them in the first place. They did them wrong by allowing for them to be sexually abused as such a young age just because of their “religion”. It is morally wrong to do something like that no matter what religion it is and I will never approve of it. The child protective services agencies need to do something quick before these children are put back into the hands of these atrocious people.

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Vocabulary week 17

The senescent tree limped over as the dying leaves flew with the wind.
The seagull found itself in an unfortunate situation.

The treasure map displayed a tortuous path.

She only experiences complete tranquility while at beaches like these.

The emotion she displayed portrayed reticence.

Their neighbor's house was within close proximity to theirs.

She spent many laborious hours on her artwork.

They sailed along as the interminable sky was above them.