A Painted House by John Grisham

A Painted House takes place in the large farming community of Black Oak, Arkansas during the 1950's. Seven-year-old Luke Chandler live with his Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Pappy. It's cotton picking season and like every other year Pappy finds some Mexicans and Hill people, this year it's the Spruills, to pay to help pick it. As time goes on and everyone gets to know each other a little better, Luke realizes he has a crush on Tally Spruill who is reasonable older than, and Hank her brother is a real trouble maker. While in town one day Luke sees Hank get in the middle of a fight and ends up beating a guy to death with a 2x4. The next day when the a cop comes to the Chandler house to question the Spruills about the murder. Luke ends up getting asked about it and what he saw. This is when life seems to change for Luke. He lies about it in fear of getting beat by Hank. It's the first major lie he has told. As the story goes on, Luke is forced to keep more secrets; He saw Tally naked, Trot (Tally's little brother) is painting his house, and Luke's uncle is supposedly the father to a baby born into the poorest family in the town. Each secret effects him and the people around him.

Grisham uses imagery very well, and it really helps the reader imagine what the town looks like and what's going on. In this example Luke describing a field, "Around me, on all sides, neat rows of green and brown stalks stretched to the tree lines that boarded our land. At the top of the stalks, puffy bolls of cotton were popping forth... I saw an ocean of white. The fields were silent-no voices, no tractor engines, no cars on the road. For a moment, hanging on the trailer, I could almost understand why my farther wanted to be a farmer." (Grisham 22).

To me, the theme of the book would be that there is alway a path to a better life, and a new beginning.

Fallen Angels posted by Ryan Bednarski

Fallen Angels – Walter Dean Myers


Ryan Bednarski – Block A, Mrs. Brooks

Drama, action, and violence are what you will get from this book. With all the craziness and the sense of what is going to happen next is what makes Fallen Angels so good. It’s a about a black male name Perry around the age of 19 who enlisted in the army during the Vietnam War. He also had a bad knee that he thought would prevent him from doing any fighting. He thought join the war would be nothing, he couldn’t be any more wrong. He finally reaches Vietnam, or as they call it, Country, he goes through a series of patrols and battles that progressively get worse and worse. Throughout these conflicts he figures out how feels about certain things, like how he loves his brother Kenny, and his mama, and how life is in general. Throughout his time there he makes friends with in his unit. Peewee, being one of his best friends develops more and more throughout the story. Scarred by all the gore and violence, Perry struggles to cope with all the things that that he thinks of. Till finally they go one patrol were Peewee and his self get lose within the Vietcong patties, they stay there until daytime and lucky make it out alive. They later get patched up. Peewee gets sent home because we he was shot and Perry finally got his medical report for his knee that gets him out of the service. He and Peewee fly home on the same plane, and fall asleep in each other’s company.

It sort of connects to the world today because of all the things going on in Iraq, and the terrorist bombings and whatnot. But I really think it shows the pure senselessness inhumanity of people during times such as war time. There were a few symbols, but the one symbol that stood out to me was the one that Sergeant Carroll said about Jenkins when he died. He said that they were Angel Warriors that have fallen. Since they were so young, they were like angels, but they fought gallantly and truthfully. After Sergeant Carroll was killed in action, every single other character that died, I thought about them as an angel warrior. I pieced together their personality that was described in the book to how that would fit in to them being an angel warrior. I found that to be every interesting. This book definitely kept me entertained and on the edge.

The author used excellent symbolism, I mean; I have a vivid imagination that is decorated with the violence of playing video games. The author put in descriptions that were disgusting to even think about. It was awful. The way the author described how Perry was thinking and moving helped lay out the scene that he was fighting in. All the noises that were described seemed to play through my head like a CD.

The Big Both Ways by John Straley-Taylor Piechocki

The Big Both Ways by John Straley is about a guy name Slip and his life during the depression. Since there were no jobs available for Slip he decided to hitchhike to look for jobs. He was somewhat uncomfortable doing this so instead he decided to walk. While he was walking he met a blonde woman named Ellie Hobbes. Slip was unaware that this little, blonde women would change his life. Ellie’s car broke down on the side of the road and Slip offered to help her fix her car. Since Slip helped Ellie fix her car she gave him a ride to Seattle where he was going. She made a stop at an old house and that’s when Slip found out she had a dead man in the back of her car. Ellie told Slip they had to make one more stop before she took him further. They drove to a cliff and there they pushed the car over with the dead man in the trunk, Ellie gave Slip a gun and papers and said don’t get caught with these and they went there separate ways. Slip and Ellie ended up meeting again on a boat that Slip was trying to escape on and that’s when Slip met her sister. Beth, Ellie's sister, both grew up in Idaho. They both have been through a really hard life. Ellie told Slip she was sorry she brought him into this, but he was the one who asked for a ride. Slip soon found out Ellie was a red union worker, which probably was bad news for Slip.These two got in a lot of trouble together killing Ben Avery, getting tangled up with the police and running away from a crime. As the story comes to and end a police officer makes a trip to see them. He tells them he isn't really a cop anymore, but what still like to know what happened.He asked Ellie why she agreed to get rid of David Kept's body. Ellie said she agreed because she needed the informant list. The cop also asked who killed Ben Avery and Slip told him everything was an accident and he wasn't supposed to shoot him. The cop believed his story because it matched the evidence. After the ex-cop figured out why and how these two did everything they all sat and talked and soon enough their lives would continue on as if nothing ever happened.

This book has many things related to the world. It talks about Hitler and him forbidding race, Amelia Earhart, pearl harbor and Roosevelt's social programs. All of these affected out world today. But the main thing that had an effect on our world today was the Great Depression in general. It allowed us to see how easily things could change from good to bad. It showed us that we needed to work and get systems down in order for our lives to continue on the way we wanted them to. Although people were struggling at this time it made them work hard, earn what they wanted and appreciate what they had. Those three things are something people forget about sometimes and we need to remember them. The new deal and great depression have an influence on the Obama administration with it's attempt to stimulate the economy.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Georgie Doherty

The Grapes of Wrath starts out with the green and luscious fields of plants and crops. Then, almost suddenly, there was no more rain. The plants wilted and the crops browned. This was only the beginning of the Dust Bowl. The reader then meets a man named Joad. At first, he seems very mysterious and the reader is thirsting for more information about him. We finally learn that Joad is on a journey home from prison. On his journey home, he runs into an old friend, Reverend Jim Casy, sitting against a tree trunk. While they reminisce and talk about the things they have discovered in the last few years, we start to learn more and more about the main character Joad. Casy decided to travel to meet Joad’s family since he had wanted to see Joad’s father. When they arrive at the house, everything is gone. The people, their belongings, everything is gone. While sitting and wondering what has happened, they come upon one fellow who knows the family and he tells the two that the family has been living with Joad’s uncle. Joad and Casy then travel to Joad’s uncles home to greet his family. When they got there, the family was just getting ready to pack up and migrate to California. He gets reacquainted with his family and after awhile they get ready for the trip to California to find work. The book then goes on to show the hardships of migrating to find work, and how these people who migrated were treated. The people were no longer farmers. They were now “migrant workers”. Their most famous nickname, however, is “Okies”.

John Steinback uses a great deal of detail and imagery. In fact, in every other chapter, Steinbeck takes some time to forget dialogue for a moment, and describe what is going on. Sometimes he tells the reader exactly what he means, and other times he wants the reader to infer what he means by it. For instance, the book starts out describing things in great detail. Steinbeck describes things as small as the brown lines on corn leaves that widen with time because of how dry it is.

The point of view changes many times during the book. For the majority of the book, the narrator is speaking as an outsider talking about Joad and his family and their hardships. Then in between the chapters speaking about Joad, there are little chapter that describe what is going on outside of Joads life in great detail.

Steinbeck also uses symbolism in this book. For example, in chapter three, he describes a turtle in great detail. This turtle has its mind set on getting to where it wants to be, but is having a hard time. The turtle has to travel across the road, through traffic, and is nearly killed. This turtle is like Joad in a sense. Joad knows where he wants to be, but he is having a very hard time getting there. There are so many obstacles in his way.

In all, this book was very well written. The author had plenty of knowledge about history, of course, to be able to write this book. Not only did he take history into consideration when writing this, but he also used grammar and English very well. The dialogue was also very well written. He was able to put the accents and the way people spoke into words, and that is a skill that not very many people have. Steinbeck’s knowledge and skill made The Grapes of Wrath a must read.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

This book took place during the great depression. It was the dust bowl through the eyes of a little girl. Her dad was very stubborn and would not leave the area he grew wheat and would try and try again to grow the plant even though the seeds just got swept away in the dust. Her mother played the piano and she wanted to follow in her mothers foot steps and learned to play the piano as well. One day there was a bucket of gas burning left next to the stove on accident. Her mother ran to get her father and Billie Joe the girl telling the story took the pale and chucked it out the back door not realizing that her mother was on her way back. She burned her mother so severely that they had to feed her water by getting a sponge wet and dripping the water into her mouth. Her mother was also pregnant and the time and they were all very nervous for the baby. When the mom went into birth she died in labor and her baby died shortly after its birth as well. After this tragedy happened it was very hard on Billie Joe and her father. Her father began to build a pond because her mother had always wanted one. Even though there was a huge dust storm that had been accruing for years her father kept digging the pond even though it could not be filled. This symbolized the dedication and hope that all these people had. he was so dedicated to build this pond for his wife that had passed away he built it in a dust storm in hope that some day it would be filled with water. Just like the people that stayed and lived there had hope for there land and were dedicated to there land so that some day they could farm it once again. Another symbol in the book was when Billie Joe left the dust bowl and lived with her aunt but decided to come back. This symbolizes how important family was, these people choose to live in the dust bowl just to be with there family because the quality of life around them and things was no where near as important as family. Another major symbol in the book was Louise she moved in with Billie Joe and her dad and brought there family back together. She symbolized the regain of faith, some people lost faith for a while but then found it again. Finally the biggest symbol in this book was the dust. Everything they had, ate, and lived in was covered in dust. The dust was a very unfortunate thing and brought a very hard life to many people however the people that lived threw this appreciated there family and things so much more than people do today. The dust symbolized that even in the worst of times a good thing can come out of it and in this situation it was the great appreciation for family, food, and things that these people had.

The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison is about an 11 year old little girl named Pecola who is living with the MacTeer family at the end of the great depression. Pecola loves Shirley Temple, and the Little girls that she is living with because she thinks they are the most beautiful girls in the world because they are white girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. Pecola believes that because she is black she is ugly and she believes that the only people who are pretty are white people, so she prays every night that she will have blonde hair and blue eyes so she can be as beautiful as the girls she lives with. When pecola moves back in with her parents her live becomes harder, her mother is distant, and her dad drinks all the time. Her parents often beat eachother, and her Brother Sammy runs away all the time. All of these events push Pecola to wish that she had blonde hair and blue eyes so hat she would be happy and loved. When Pecola gets raped, and impregnated by her father her life goes down hill.

Morrison uses alot of imagery to make the theme of the story more dramatic. the theme of The bluset eye is the struggle of young black girls to get along in soceity. some symbols of this are Shirley Temple who Pecola idolizes and wants to be like her so that she is loved. Another symbol of this is the baby doll that is given to claudia that Pecola thinks is beautiful, and the beliefe that only white women are pretty.

Morrison also uses chatacterization to make the story more touching. she is very descriptive when talking about both the white girls and the black girls so that the reader can get a picture in their mind about the way that Pecola views the world, she uses this characterazation to make the reader feel pain for Pecola when everything is going on, the use of characterization in the blusest eye is to show the difference between the way black people are viewed, and the way black people view white people.

In an Instant by Lee and Bob Woodruff-Kristen Field

In an Instant is about a man named Bob Woodruff who is a news anchor for ABC News. He met his wife in college. He was studying to be a lawyer. He was much younger than his future wife Lee, and never even bothered to think twice about her. Quite a few years after college, Bob, by mere coincidence, net Lee at a restaurant, and from there, they started seeing each other. The summer after the coincidental meeting, Bob was offered a job in Beijing, China to teach English. He was torn between taking the job, and staying back with Lee. About two months before he went to China, he went on a vacation to Peru with a few of his friends. Lee stayed back at home, a little disappointed because she was sure he was going to propose to her before he left for Peru. However, when Lee went to pick Bob up from the airport after his Peru trip, he got on one knee in the middle of the airport, and asked her to marry him. Lee of course accepted the offer, had a "quickie wedding", as they called it, and later traveled to China with him and they lived there for a year. When they returned to the United States, Bob was having second thoughts about becoming a lawyer. He halfway considered working in journalism back when he was still in college, and decided to check it out once more, just for kicks. it turns out that ABC News was offering a position, and Bob quickly took it. He did not start out as a news anchor of course, but slowly worked his way up to being anchor. Along with going all over the country to report the news, Bob was also required to travel outside of America. Since the war in the Middle East between Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States was just starting to culminate, Iraq was one of the places Bob would travel to quite often. Bob would often go to Iraq just to report the latest news on what was going on overseas. He would go to Iraq, and never come home with a bump or a bruise. However, one time, he almost did not make it home. He was riding with a group of Iraqi and American soldiers who were working together to preserve the security of Iraq. They all rode on a tank together. Bob and his crew of sound technicians, camera-man, and other assistants. Bob, being the risk taker that he always had been, decided that he wanted to get some film from on top of the tank while it was moving. He was told that it probably was not a good idea since the noise from the tank would be so loud that the camera would not be able to hear anything but the noise from the tank. Bob decided that he would try it anyway, and at least get some footage without him narrating. So he and his camera man went above the tank with the other Iraqi soldier. Suddenly, in the middle of the tape, a huge explosion went off throwing Bob, his camera man, and the other Iraqi soldier off of the tank. The other ABC News employees were down below in the tank and remained uninjured. Bob had gotten numerous large and countless smaller shrapnel lodged into the left side of his back and head. He was seriously injured, along with the other two men. They all wore protective clothing, but it did not do justice in this case. The tank was much to close to the roadside bomb to protect them. Bob and the other men were rushed to a make-shift hospital at an army base. They were in extremely rough condition, and doctors were thinking that Bob especially would not make it. Their families were contacted immediately. Lee Woodruff was in Orlando with their four young children on a family vacation (minus Bob). Bob was flown as safely but quickly as possible to a hospital in Germany where he could get better medical care. Lee went with few family members to Germany to see Bob. When she saw him for the first time after his accident, she was absolutely horrified. She cold not believe her eyes. To her, and everyone else, it looked like Bob should not even be breathing. He was unconscious at the time, and non responsive. The doctors in Germany however, believed that he would survive the injury with little brain damage. They did say that it would probably take years if he was able to fully recover. Bob would undergo countless surgeries before he was able to regain consciousness, and even more to begin the reconstruction of his back, neck and head. Miraculously, Bob's eyesight was unchanged because the shrapnel missed his eye by the smallest measurement. Bob's brain was also unaffected by the luckiest coincidence. His brain was untouched by the shrapnel as well. Lee and Bob would credit their faith in God for this miracle. It was indeed years before Bob was back to his normal physical health, and today he still has little side effects from his incredible disaster.
There was a lot of symbolism in this book, that was mostly displayed by Lee. When she first found out about her husbands incident in Iraq, she kept saying that her "general" came out. Obviously a general didn't literally come out of her, but to her, she needed to get organized, stay firm, strong, and take control before she lost it in front of her kids. She started making plans for her to fly home from Orlando, plans for people to watch the kids, plans for her to fly to Germany to see her bed-ridden husband, and many more small seemingly insignificant plans. She took control fast, and like it was something she was used to doing since the day she was born. Just like that of a general. Another symbol that was given by Lee was that she would always make a reference to putting her "face" on. To most women, this means that they are going into the bathroom to put makeup on. But to Lee, this meant that she needed to put on a strong, and happy face for both Bob, and for the rest of the world. There were news cameras all over the place in Germany and throughout the whole process of Bob recovering from his disaster that tried to interview Lee, Bob, and their whole family, and even neighborhood, that would inquire about an interview. Sometimes they would accept, but usually not. However, when they would accept, Lee would often speak with a confident tone to remind others that she believed that Bob would be just fine. She also admits to doing this for the betterment of her four young children, and for her own sanity. A symbol that both Lee and Bob share throughout the story is their love and devotion to one another. They believed that when those two things mixed together would be the best recipe for Bob's healing. They figured this out before Bob had even regained the ability to communicate. The trait that they shared symbolized the amount of love that they had for each other meant that they should always be together. This journey of love and devotion between the couple essentially made their marriage stronger, despite the weaknesses they both had to suffer.