Cross-Book Inquiry: "You're not dead, but you're not alive"

Cross-book inquiry
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. —Dr. Suess

I strongly believe that Lia from "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson, is similar to Mclean in "What Happened to Goodbye" by Sarah Dessen. They are not dead, but they don't seem alive either. In my opinion, both of them are not being honest to the readers or themselves. Both of them are trying to forgot the past but is facing struggles to accomplish that task. They don't live life like they exist. It's like they are borrowing someone's identity because of fear that their true self would be discovered. In general, I think that there are similarities between Lia and Mclean.

For instance, first, they both suffer because of their past. Lia, on one hand, is troubled with guilt because she felt that she was the reason her former best friend, Cassie, had died. She felt ashamed for not taking Cassie's calls at the times when she needed her the most. On the other hand, Mclean suffers from being stuck in between her mom and dad. They were divorced, and her mother has already remarried to a better, more richer man. These two girls have their past haunting them and is surely affecting their daily lives. They are similar also because they chose to escape the fact that they have problems. I think that Lia relieves herself by cutting her body to manage her stress. Mclean lives by changing her name every time she and her dad moves to a new town because of his job (and they move around many times a year). She does this so that she can leave her past behind and not bring any flaws with her. She does this so that she could be whoever she wants, whenever she moves and not have to face her old memories. I feel that even though both of them don't admit that they are having trouble (like when Lia denies that she has obstacles to her therapist, and when Mclean refuses to allow her dad talk to her about her new changes), the evidence of them struggling is still there. What they have to do is open up their hearts and talk truthfully with someone they trust. They have to face their problems and overcome them. There will still be dust in the floor if you don't clean it well. To conclude, these are the similarities between Lia and Mclean.

Another example is that both of them also say the opposite of what they think. They pretend to be someone else so that their true names won't be involved. This makes me think that they cannot accept themselves for who they are. In "Wintergirls", I've noticed that Lia's original thoughts were usually crossed out, then replaced with words that mean the opposite. I feel that the crossed out words usually shows her real feelings but they are crossed out because she is trying to trick herself into believing that the uncrossed-out words are what she really meant. She's not being honest this way either. Also, in Mclean's case, the fact that she always have a different identity and character whenever she is in a another neighborhood tells me that she isn't being real to herself and the people around her too.

Dr. Suess, the man who best understands kid's feelings, had said. "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." I like this quote especially because it's like saying you should have the courage to stand up and declare, "this is who I am." People who truly care about you won't be bothered with your past. In another words, Lia and Mclean are connected in some way because of their personality.

All the things considered, I think that they are similar because of how they manage their issues. Unless they clear out the mess they have, they will never become their true self. Worrying and stressing over something that won't exist anymore is nothing but a waste of life. And you'll only have one life to live with too. This is makes me connect "Wintergirls" and "What Happened to Goodbye" because of how alike the characters are.

Wintergirls in Haunt

Wintergirls
Blog Post

      Yesterday, I've picked up the book "Wintergirls", by Laurie Halse Anderson, to read because it seems interesting. The story revolves around Lia, who suffers from eating disorders. After knowing that her ex-best friend, Cassie, was found dead in a motel room by herself, she starts to fear the world. That is because Cassie has given her 33 phone calls the night she had died, but Lia purposely ignored them. This makes me think that Cassie is the antagonist because her death pressures her to assume that it was her fault she had commit suicide.
      To begin, Lia is "chased after" by Cassie because she keeps on remembering the times they have spent together having fun, and then it ends with the reminder of the 33 missed calls. She feels guilty over the fact that she could have saved her, if she had only picked up the phone. Cassie is like the antagonist that is preventing her from advancing in her journey. She struggles to maintain a normal life, and her obsession with her weight definitely did not do much to help either. Also, she said. "The body of Cassandra Jane Parrish is asleep in a cold silver box. They'll dig a hole in the ground and plant her on Saturday. What about the rest of her, the real Cassie? I think she's coming here." She feels haunted by her, even in her dreams. Everywhere she goes, she senses Cassie following her, revenging her for not picking up the calls, for not caring about her anymore. She feels ashamed because of her death, even though I feel that it is partially not necessarily her fault. She was not the one who had killed her, right?
      Because of the antagonist, it makes me feel that instead of thinking about what she could have done to prevent her death, she should think about what she should do now. She's wasting her time scaring herself when she could have something nicer to Cassie. She has low self-esteem which is why she chose to cut herself in order to lose weight. It's not like she could rewrite the past to change the future anyways, and so that's why I think that she should stop feeling guilty for what she have done. Sure, it's hard not to feel responsible for her death because she could have done something to avoid the tragedies, but it's too late to blame now. Time won't stop to help you regain yourself. The number 33 keeps on appearing in her mind because she feels guilty of crime for Cassie's death. This is why I can tell that she is the antagonist who is opposing the main character in the story.
      Therefore, I believe that Cassie is like Lia's enemy because her nonexistent slows her down from having a healthy lifestyle. It makes me think that another reason why she chooses to cut herself is because she is trying to punish herself. When Cassie was still alive, they often compete to be the skinniest. She is pretending not to feel haunted even though she is. In conclusion, I can tell that Cassie is the antagonist because she gives a negative impact to Lia in the story.

The Theory of Common Sense

Blog Post

Common Sense

In the book, “When You Reach Me,” by Rebecca Stead, a youngster named Miranda loses her best friend Sal after a random dude called Marcus, punched him hard in his belly. Then, she starts receiving mysterious notes, remarks about her future.  Her life begins to load up with matters that make no sense to her. Questions that don’t have any answers to it. When she meets Marcus another time, they got into a debate about the existence of time travel. He said to her, “Einstein says common sense is just a habit of thought. It's how we're used to thinking about things, but a lot of time it just gets in the way of what's true" (51). I agree with this statement because a lot of time we let common sense hide the truth. The author, Rebecca, seems to be giving a message through this excerpt.

For example, common sense is like the judgments we think that are logical.  As stated in the text, “it is just a habit of thought”.  We often let what we think is reasonable, blind us. Something is only common sense because no one questions about it. Back then, people thought that it was a common sense for black people to be slaves, or that women didn’t need education because their job as females was just to take care of the household. We only thought that way before because no one stepped up to say no and that this is wrong. This “theory” was fixed through a bunch of hard work. What we think is obvious, does “gets in the way of what’s true.” It’s not really fair to the others too because then it is like “common sense” had already planned their whole entire life for them like pigs could be killed for food but cats couldn’t be. This does not indicate that cats should be killed for food though. That’s not the point. The thing is that we should stay unbiased and make a possibility out of everything. “I don't know. I just feel stuck, like I'm afraid to take any steps, in case they're the wrong ones,” said Miranda. It’s like saying that people fear to change their opinions on what everybody think is true because they don’t want to be criticized or rejected. Common sense changes along with the time though. How would cavemen know that now we could rely on the internet to shop for clothing when they had to actually hunt the animals to make them before? That sure did not sound like a common sense back then, right?

Relating this to “A Wrinkle in Time,” by Madeline L'Engle, which was a book that was often mentioned in the story because of Miranda’s passion in it, time travel is actually possible.  The author wants to remind us not to let what we’re used to knowing, influence what could happen.  Although time travel seems to be impossible in the 21^st century, who knows what could happen after 1000 years later. No one would know what would happen now because we won’t be living around anymore. The world is always improving.  We shouldn’t just deny the existence of time traveling because we think that it’s common sense that it is fake, just something people in the movies made up to attract more viewers. We should look ahead in the future to explore the world of unknown. Marcus had also said, “…it used to be common sense that the world was flat and the sun revolved around it. But at some point, someone had to reject that assumption, or at least question it.” We changed our judgments because evidences have been discovered to bolster the statement. I can tell that the author wants us to make everything in life possible, even if it seems far too bizarre, because if we don’t think something can happen, then it will never occur.

To wrap up, I believe that Rebecca is telling readers to not let common sense camouflage the fact behind it. Nothing should be impossible until verified, and even after, corrections could still be made. It’s like the saying “no hypothesis is wrong until proven incorrect”.  I would rather have the ability to see the hidden truth that others can’t see than be smart and have many common sense that aren’t entirely correct. Rebecca Stead’s “When You Reach Me”, makes me believe that “we're used to thinking about things, but a lot of time it just gets in the way of what's true”.

Blog Review

Blog Review

After reading Francesca Woodbridge's post on the book "It's Kind of a Funny Story" written by Ned Vizzini, I was able to understand more about "people" in general. According to the text, the main character Craig lives through a harsh life that forces him to want to commit suicide. I've seen many blog posts on the same book and I feel that this one stands out most from others because she elaborated deeply on the author's messages. She also made me want to read the book even though the ending was already spoiled, because of her passion in writing it. In all, I strongly believe that Francesca did well on her post because it was outstandingly detailed with supporting evidences to back up her point.

To start off, I think she did a remarkable job because instead of just writing summaries, she included the story's lessons and what should be right to do. I like how she said "to not bottle up our feelings, and don’t try to live with a problem, try to solve it". It's like how if you fill a bottle with too much water, then it would explode and spill all over the place. That's why you should stop before things get worse. She makes me think that you shouldn't keep your feelings inside of you. Covering it up with laughter and jokes won't help to save you from depression. When you're troubled, you should express your thoughts with someone you are comfortable with. People are creatures who always hide themselves from the rest of the world, which should be prevented. Francesca made a point about how telling the truth can make you feel better, therefore can avoid depression.

Second of all, the post made me want to read the book because I feel that Craig is facing troubles deciding between life or death, which many people can relate to it. We always escape from our problem and pretend that they don't exist to look strong in front of everyone else. But that's not right because these problems will pile up and eventually become visible. Leaving it unsolved won't make a change.

She brought up the point that "Craig’s parents said if he told them that he really wanted to kill himself, they could have done something about it. I, myself, did not understand why Craig did not tell his parents that he wanted to commit suicide, because you could tell that he didn’t want to keep feeling what he was feeling". I disagree because I might have done what Craig did at first too. Talking to my parents about a serious matter makes me nervous and I know that they don't think the same way as I do. I am the type of person that don't want my parents to be tied up too close to my life. But thinking now, I feel that talking to your parents should be your first option. What's the point of worrying every day when it could be solved by spending some time with someone you know well and sharing your thoughts with them?

Briefly, I think Francesca's post is strong and structured clearly. She did well in putting details together with the author's message. It made me think more deeply about life and changed my opinions on what is right. It seems like an interesting book that should be good to read. I like the voice she puts into it and overall, I believe that the post was written meaningfully with passion.