Author.docx

 The Happy Face Killer.ppt

 

 

 I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

     I originally started reading this book in 8th grade and found it to be really boring. Then we had to read a book for this class and I liked the movie so I decided to read the book. What I really liked about this book is how Elizabeth won't conform to how women are supposed to be in the 1800's. Women were supposed to come out to society, be ladies, and usually marry for wealth so they would be taken care of when their parents died. Elizabeth didn't want that. When her first offer of marriage came she declined it because she couldn't stand the man who wanted to marry her, despite the fact that he could provide her with a good home and a nice yearly income. The man thought she was following the "custom of her sex to reject a man on the first application" and constantly asked her. Even after pressure from her mother, Elizabeth said no. She wanted more then what was merely expected of her. She wanted to love the person that she married and wanted to be happy with that person, not have a person she had to settle for because she was poor.  

 

Quotes

"An unhappy alternative is before you Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do." ~Mr. Bennet (97)   

This quote needs a little explaining. When Elizabeth refuses to marry Mr. Collins her mother is furious. She wants to marry off her daughters so she doesn't leave them in poverty when she dies because Mr. Collins has the rights to their estate, not her. Mrs. Bennet tells Mr. Bennet that he must convince Elizabeth to marry Mr. Collins and so he says to bring her to him. But Mr. Bennet hates Mr. Collins, so he reinforces Elizabeth's decision. I really love this quote because it shows the father's affection for his daughter. He somewhat knows she is in love with someone else and wants her to be happy above all. He also goes against the expectations of their society because he didn't want to just marry her off to any guy who comes along. He wanted someone special for his favorite daughter. This quote shows his love.

 

 

"You appear to me, Mr.Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of friendship and affection. A regard for the requester would often make one readily yield to a request, without waiting for arguments to reason one into it. I am not particularly speaking of such a case as toy have supposed about Mr.Bingley. We may as well wait, perhaps, till the circumstance occurs, before we discuss the discretion of his behavior thereupon. But in general and ordinary cases between friend and friend, where one of them is desired by the other to change a resolution of no very great moment, should you think ill of that person for complying with the desire, without waiting to be argued into it?"  ~Elizabeth (pg 42)

Despite the many, many long and confusing words in this quote it is a very important quote in the book. Mr. Darcy is a very proud man and usually thinks he is better then everyone else, so he looks down on them. He would never change his plans or what he wants to do for someone else because he believes himself to be more inportant, even if the change would be minor. This changes throughout the book however. Towards the end of the book he changes his plans just so he can see Elizabeth. He offers to help her find her sister who has run away instead of going out of town, he stays at his aunts estate for a longer time then planned because Elizabeth was next door, and he comes back to Netherfield (his friends estate next door to Elizabeth's house) with Mr. Bingley because he HAS to see her again. This quote is kind of the starting point for the theme of how love can change even the hardest of hearts. =)

 

 

" I have not the smallest objection to explaning them, you either choose this method of passing the evening because you are in each other's confidence and have secret affairs to discuss, or because you are conscious that your figures appear to the greatest advantage in walking-if the first, I should be completely in your way; and if the second, I can admire you much better as I sit by the fire." ~Mr.Darcy (pg.48)

This is my favorite quote in the whole novel. Miss. Bingley invited Mr. Darcy to walk around the room Elizabeth and herself and he declines.  This shows a little bit of personality and almost humor from Mr.Darcy and makes him a more personable character. This is one of the first times in the book that he actually speaks in full sentances. It shows him to be a kinda thoughtful and some of the descriptions later in the scene of the story hint at his affection for Elizabeth as they walk.

 

"Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters. With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley and talked of Mrs. Darcy may be guessed." (pg 331)

This quote caught my eye because it says her two most deserving daughters. Her other daughters wern't as deserving? It sometimes seems unfair that people have favorites but when we think about it everyone has favorites, and everyone always will. Some people you just build a greater connection with then others, in this case it happened even among Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their children. I wonder if that affects them when they grow up... and how people would be different without favorites....

 

"Those who don't complain are never pitied."

~Mrs. Bennet (pg.99)

This one caught my eye as I was flipping through the pages just now. It makes me think...

 

.Reflections.

 Writing my critical analysis for my project really opened my eyes to this book and made me think about how it applies to my life. Love takes over someone's life, you become fully engulfed. It consumes your thoughts and your time like a wildfire consumes a forest. It can take over even the strongest people and make you do things you never thought you would do...

 

This book talks alot about the conflict between societys standards and how love makes people forget or disreguard those standards. Almost every character falls in love in this book and struggles with whether to follow their heart or their head. People today struggle with this problem as well. Its hard learning how to balance what is the smart thing to do and what your heart tells you to do. Following your heart may lead to heartache, but following your head may lead you to never love at all because when you love you risk getting hurt. But after reading this book I am more convinced that you should listen to your heart over your head because your head usually tells you whats right in societys eyes. Your heart, on the other hand, tells you whats right for you. And I would much rather have loved and lost, then never have loved at all because at least if you have loved you have the experiences and somewhere deep inside you still feel the love. <33

 

 

 

Listen to your heart. <33 

---

They Cage The Animals at Night

 

 

 

.Reflections.

"Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future."  ~Gail Lumet Buckley

     When I first started reading this book I thought it was going to be a lot like The Child Called It by Dave Pelzer. I had heard a lot of people talk about it and thought it was another story about an abused boy and that was it. But this book made me think a lot more because it was majorly about the other areas of Jennings' life. The book explored the orphanages, his home life,and his school experiences. He had been abused a little, but the book didn't focus on that as much as the different places he had been and his mindset in each of those areas. It was interesting to see through the eyes of a kid in this situation because when you are older you know more about what is happening and your feelings are different about the situation. However, when you are a kid you are more naive and are always thinking the best because your not quite sure if people are lying to you or what is going to happen to you. It is also interesting because when you are a little older you have more control over what happens to you. You can't control exactly where you go but you arn't as afraid to speak your mind and you are more aware of what is happening around you. I found myself thinking a lot throughout the book about what I would do if I were in his situation. I couldn't imagine just letting someone abuse you like he did but I also know i'm not in his situation. I spent half the book wishing I could yell at someone to please help him or wanting to help him myself because I could help him more then he could.

     I also learned a lotabout how your family is more of who you are around the most and relate to/communicate with at a certain point in your life. Jennings lived with a lotof different families and also formed one of his own with people other then just his blood relatives. His family included his best friend, a bus driver named Sal, and his friend from one of the homes, Mark. Jennings learned that even though he wasn't related by blood to Sal or Mark he could still love them. He learned how to love other people despite the harsh conditions he faced like the strict orphanages and the somewhat abusive home he had first been placed in. I definatly appreciated my family more after reading this book. No matter how many fights I get into with my parents or how annoyed I am, they didn't just abandon me and leave me to take care of myself and I am soo grateful for that.

      

 

 

 

.Quotations.

"'That's kid stuff!'

'Yeah, we know,' Mark said, 'were kids.'"

This quote really just makes me smile because it shows that even though they were put into situations that were going to force them to grow up a lot, the could still be kids. They still liked making cut outs and playing and just being kids and that spirit wasn't taken away from them just because they had been abandoned or abused. They were kids and they found ways to enjoy it and still be kids instead of obsessing about the trials that they were facing. Maybe everyone should do that sometimes.

 

"It's the words. So many people think their love won't be accepted or returned, so they don't say it. They think by not saying it, they won't be hurt. They're wrong."

Even though I don't believe it, I think a lot of people worry about this very thing. People dread saying I love you because what if the other person doesn't say I love you back. But in my life, if I mean it, I HAVE to say it. What if one time your hanging out with your boyfriend and girlfriend and you get in a huge fight and just leave angrily and don't say I love you. Then they get in a car accident that night and die. I would regret not saying I love you before they died every single day of my life. So I always say I love you. And never go to bed mad.

 

"And the moment reminds me of the days when this place, this zoo, was my source of refuge, my home. It may sound strange, but I sought comfort here. I hid from fear and loneliness here. I hid from pain and unkindness here."

This is really ironic to me because sometimes a zoo creates fear. Living in cages creates loneliness, I never thought of it keeping out loneliness and hurt. In some ways a cage can become a source of refuge. A cage can make someone feel safe because if you are in a cage you are protected from the outside world. All that matters is you in you little cage. It's also kinda funny that some people may need a cage and some people need to be free from it. A quote that reminds me of this is... "He who is conceived in a cage, yearns for the cage." - Yevgeny Yevtushenko. This makes sense because if you have been born in a cage... it was all you have ever known.

 

"As for the others, the Dailys, the Fraziers, Martha, and Stacy, they are my memories." 

Isn't it sad when people you know become people you knew? This really hits home for me because of all the times I have moved around. A lot of people in my life have gone from extremely important in my life to simply memories. I think people come in and out of your life because they have a certain purpose and sometimes after they fill that purpose they need to leave. And it's SO hard to let them go and know that you have to move on from it, but it's what you need to do. A lot of the people that were in Jennings life had a specific part to play and they had to leave when they were done. But I also like that he can reflect back and realize that they helped him be strong and led to the better life he has now. No matter how much we want to realize it, everyone has an impact on us. From the girl in your life you can't stand to the boy you have been dating, each one will have a little impact on our lives. They will also leave their footprint on our heart and become a memory...

 

"'No,' I waved my hand in front of his face. 'That's where your wrong. Jerome once told me just having the last name didn't make two people brothers.'

'It's a good start though,' he laughed.

'Wait! He said it's what you feel inside about someone that makes you brothers, not the last name'"

It's what you feel about someone. This idea applies to a lot of people in today's world because a lot of new variations on the nuclear family are being created. Also, there are people who consider their friends to be their family and their real family are strangers to them. Your family really is who you are most comfortable around and who you FEEL is your family, not who is forced to be your family. Your family grows and changes with you as you grow and change and as you grow you really learn who is your real family and who has to be your family.

.Pictures. 

Jennings' main friend throughout the novel is his stuffed dog, Doggie. One of the nuns secretly gave Doggie to him before he left their home because Jennings loved him. He dragged Doggie with him everywhere he went and he was became Jennings' security blanket. Little things like Doggie help a lotin hard times because when everything else is crazy you have one thing that will always stay the same. Jennings probably only stayed sane because of Doggie.

 

The school room in the orphanages represented bad things for the boys and girls living within them. If you had to go to the school room you were a "lifer" meaning you probably would be there until you grew up, no one was coming back for you. Jennings had to start going to the school house once his mother fell and broke her back. They told him he wasn't a lifer but he was going to be there for a long long time so he had to start going to school. The school room was definitely not the place anyone wanted to be.

 

Bars. Bars followed Jennings everywhere he went. Bars on the windows of the orphanages, shadows of the bars across his bed as he slept, bars keeping them in the playground, bars at the zoo, in the back of police cars. Everywhere he went the bars followed him. The bars became more of a comfort then a problem. They kept everything unwanted away from him. They protected him from the outside world and kept him in.

 

 

Self Select #3 Project. 

 

 The Happy Face Killer.ppt Self Select Project (Pesonalized Question)  "I" The Creation of a Serial Killer by Jack Olsen (Non-fiction)

 

---

The Time Travelers Wife 

By Audrey Niffenegger

 

 

 

     Ok. I have to be honest. I definatly, 100%, chose to read this book because the movie is my favorite movie of all time. Upon finishing the book I had mixed emotions about it because it was alot different then the movie and it had alot of extra scenes that the movie didn't include. I still like the movie better because there are alot of things that happen in the book that kinda take away from the romanticism of the storyin my opinion. Also, the book becomes alot more about his life as a time traveler more then "their" life as a two people whose love is lost in time. It is still a great read however. One thing that I found interesting was that watching the movie helped me understand what happened in the book. This story is sometimes hard to follow because he is a time traveler. He travels through time throughout the whole book and sometimes it's hard to picture the time he is in because the story is sometimes out of order. The movie helps you understand the different periods in his life and I think it adds more meaning to the story because your not always trying to figure out what is happening and where he is.

 

.Quotes.

"We laugh and laugh, and nothing can ever be sad, no one can be lost, or dead, or far away: right now we are here, and nothing can mar our perfection, or steal the joy of this perfect moment."

These moments happen alot in life, and we never realize them until they are gone. We have moments when nothing matters but what were doing. Whether it is simply spending time with friends, or alone, some moments are so perfect they make everything else seem to be non-existant. Sadly, those moments don't last forever but maybe that's why there so special. If every moment was perfect, we would probably start to get tired of all the perfection and long for some imperfection because sometimes the imperfection is what makes things so memorable.A quote that reminds me of this idea but isnt from the novel goes like this..

 "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."  

 ~Dolly Parton          

Throughout the novel, Clare and Henry's perfect moments, and the hope that they would come again, was what kept their love alive throughout their life. Maybe we would all be a little happier if we kept hoping for those perfect moments instead of focusing so much on the bad moments that we experience. 

 

 "Long ago, men went to sea, and women waited for them, standing on the edge of the water, scanning the horizon for the tiny ship. Now I wait for Henry. He vanishes unwillingly, without warning. I wait for him. Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity. Each moment is as slow and transparent as glass. Through each moment I can see infinite moments lined up, waiting. Why has he gone where I cannot follow?" 

 This is probably one of my favorite quotes throughout the whole entire book. The theme of the story, for me at least, was the undying love of Clare and Henry and how that love endured through time. Everytime I read this quote I think about how hard it would be to love someone who is ALWAYS leaving. You never know when they are going to come back, you never know if they are ok, and you never know when they are going to vanish again. However, I do think that having someone who you never know when they are going to vanish would make you value your time together so much more then if they are hanging around everyday. If only there was a way that people could learn to cherish everyday like that person is going to suddenly disappear even though they really arn't.

 

"Do you ever miss him?

Every day. Every minute.

Every minute, she says.

Yes, it's that way, isn't it?" 

Can you imagine missing someone every minute of everyday? The hardest part of Clare's situation is the not knowing. She knows he is going to disappear, he has ever since she was 5 years old. What she doesn't know is when he will come back. So she waits and waits and waits, never knowing but always hoping. It would be hard to remain hopeful for your whole life, but those perfect times would make it worth it in the end.

 

"I'm afraid of losing you."

Clare smiles. "How could you lose me? I'm not going anywhere."

"I worry that you will get tired of putting up with my undependableness and you will leave me."

"But I never want to leave you."

Clare puts her sketchbook aside. I sit up. "I won't ever leave you," she says. "Even though you're always leaving me."

"But I never want to leave you."

This would be the hardest part of being a time traveler. You can't control when you leave, where you go or when you come back.That would also be the hardest part of being a wife of a time traveler. You never know when they are coming back. You would spend your whole life waiting for a few more moments together and maybe not get another moment. Hope is what kept their relationship alive though time, because hope was all they had left. Seeing that someone could endure all that for love makes you wonder why so many relationships fail nowadays. I know some just arn't ment to be but sometimes people lose something really special because of time or distance. 

 

"It comes out so quietly that I have to ask her to repeat it: “It’s just that I thought maybe you were married to me.”"

I know I said one of the other quotes was my favorite quotes but this one is my absolute favorite. It reminds me of being a little kid again where you are really innocent and still think life can turn out perfect. Henry came to visit Clare one time when she was really little and she asked him alot of questions about his future wife. As he told her more and more about his wife she soon began to cry. When he asked her what was wrong this is what she said. It made me laugh and feel sorry for her at the same time because she is going through all this turmoil and she doesn't evem   

 

"Chaos is more freedom; in fact, total freedom. But no meaning. I want to be free to act, and I also want my actions to mean something."

Many people spend their whole lives wondering what the meaning of life is. What if this is it? Maybe there is no real meaning to life and it's just doing something that means something and to help other people. Maybe the meaning of life is just to have a meaningful life.

 

"But do you think," I persist, "that it’s better to be extremely happy for a short while, even if you lose it, than to be just okay for your whole life?"

 

These two quotes don't have a reflection, they just made me laugh. =) Enjoy.

"I raise my head and see a red illuminated EXIT sign and as my eyes adjust I see tigers, cavemen with long spears, cavewomen wearing strategically modest skins, wolfish dogs. My heart is racing and for a liquor-addled moment I think Holy shit, I've gone all the way back to the Stone Age until I realize that EXIT signs tend to congregate in the twentieth century."

 

"He looks sad. Or maybe that's just how he looks when he isn't doing something else with his face."

 

 

 "Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you. Whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks, I will be right here waiting for you."   ~Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx

This song really reminds me of this book because it is exactly what Clare deals with on a day to day basis. Her heart is constantly aching for Henry and he is hardly ever there but she is still dedicated to him, mind body and soul.

 

 

 

These pictures resemble exactly how Clare and Henry's life goes. They are always apart. Each person is waiting to see the other one, they are even doing the same thing. But they arn't together, and they can't make themselves be together. They only see each other with time, space, and God allow it. And yet, they still wait and maintain hope that sooner or later they will be lying in the same bed or even just sitting on the same bench.