Blog #7 Quarter 2

Over the break I have read quite a few more chapters of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but it is a very long and slow moving book so I'm still struggling to figure out what the plot is exactly. However in the part I read this past couple weeks, Mr. Norrell starts using more magic in his now not-so-new London setting. First because he wants to help in the war he goes to talk to Sir Walter Pole, a Minister who is about to be married in a few days time, but Sir Pole rejects him saying that magic is not respectable and not serious. However when Sir Pole's finance dies a few days later, Mr. Norrell brings her back to life by calling up a fairy and the fairy agrees to revive her but only if he can have half of her life (not quite sure what that means, but I'm sure I'll find out later in the book). So, Sir Pole, being ever so grateful and now with a new appreciation towards magic, allows Mr. Norrell to help in the war effort. At first they have trouble finding something for Mr. Norrell to do, but soon they have him blockade all the French ports with fake ships to the French are too afraid to go out and in that time period with the French trapped, the English are able to accomplish a lot. So Mr. Norrell is a hero again and now he begins to do magic a little more freely in London, but soon after he gets a visit from London's most famed street magician (street magicians are thought to be nothing more than con artists) who tells Mr. Norrell a prophecy . Mr. Norrell, however doesn't believe him and throws him out before he can even finish his long prophecy. Then the scene changes entirely to the story of Mr. Strange (as we later learn; Jonathan Strange's father) and how horrid and greedy he was. However he dies at the end of the chapter and that's it. As I said before even though this story is a tad slow moving, it is also somewhat choppy and it really didn't make much sense to switch to that chapter then switch right back to the story of Mr.Norrell in the next.

I also mentioned a few posts back how the author spells choose, chuse, well she also spells a few other words differently, like:

• sopha = sofa

• surprize = surprise

• shew = show

• stopt = stopped

So I thought, okay this is a little unusual, and then I remembered how I went on a People to People trip to Australia a couple years ago and they made us research different topics about Australia and one of the kid's project was the differences in slang terms in Australia and America. So I looked up my book on the Internet and the book that I'm reading is the first American version of Susanna Clark's book because she is British and therefore used the British spelling of certain words. I never really thought that people would spell words differently in different countries and its very interesting to think about. Her spelling also adds more to the setting of the book because the book takes place in Britain and the author spells in "British".

Blog #6 Quarter 2

In the next few chapters of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Mr. Norrell gets more used to London society and goes to much more social gatherings with his new friend, Mr. Drawlight. We also find out much more about Mr. Drawlight in this chapter, he is a very sociable man and very optimistic, but nevertheless he is also very poor and it says in the book that “Even his friends can find no good qualities in him.” However Mr. Norrell takes a liking to him and Mr. Drawlight takes him to all of the social gathering so he is busy every day, but at these gathering people are starting to tire of Mr. Norrell and wish he would actually DO some magic, not just claim to be able to do it. We also meet Mr. Drawlight’s good friend, Mr. Lascelles who is a nonbeliever of Mr. Norrell’s skills and takes to asking him questions just to find amusement in Mr. Norrell’s answers. We also later learn that Mr. Norrell wishes to help the government in the war against the French, so he goes to talk to Mr. Walter Pole, the Minister.

We also see the first mention of Jonathan Strange in the book in a footnote at the bottom; he is referred to as Mr. Norrell’s pupil. However, I think that it will be a while until we hear of him mentioned again because as you may have been able to guess this is a very slow moving book. I also think that even though Mr. Norrell is starting to become more acclimated to the London social scene, he still doesn’t understand it any more than he did before and I don’t really think that he ever will because he is just so different than the people like Mr. Drawlight and Mr. Lascelles.

Blog #5 Quarter 2

I am continuing to read the book Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and today I wanted to post about how, even though this book is about magic and magicians, it's not as popular as other books about magic, such as Harry Potter for example because of the author's (Susana Clark) choice in characters. In Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling writes about a young orphan boy who grows up against major odds against him to be the savior of the wizarding world. Some aspects of this book are similar such as the idea of magic and the fact that Mr. Norrell "saves" the magic world by bringing back magic to it (still no sign of Jonathan Strange yet), but others are very different which is what I think sets this book apart from the more popular books, like Harry Potter. First of all the main character in Harry Potter is a boy who eventually grows into a teen and he is full of bravery and adventure. I think that this is where Susana Clark went wrong, so far at least, the main characters appear to be stuffy, old philosophical types of guys and that really isn't very fun for teenagers (the intended audience) to read about and they're also not very adventurous. So where can the fun in the book be with this type of character? I also don't think that Clark put her main characters against enough obstacles (so far at least) because they aren't orphans or abused like Harry Potter is, they are well off rich men, that have everything going for them except maybe age.

Annotated Bibliography Post

Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. "Kidneys for Sale." Santa Clara University. 2008. 9 Dec. 2008 .

This article is written by two authors of a newsletter called, Issues in Ethics that is run out of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics in Santa Clara University. Just by knowing this it is clear that the authors devote a lot of time to studying and researching different ethical problems. Their article, Kidneys for Sale, discusses two differing reasons for allowing and not allowing the sale of organs. First they argue that we need to be able to sell organs to prevent deaths, but then they counter this argument by saying that the rich will benefit while the poor will suffer with the sale of organs. This article also focuses a lot of the justice and morals of an organ market.

Richards, Radcliffe J. "Commentary. An ethical market in human organs. (Controversy)." Gale Cengage Learning. 17 Mar. 2003. 9 Dec. 2008 .

This source was actually originally taken from a medical magazine/journal which specifically focuses on medical ethics, so therefore this is a great and very reliable source for my research paper. This article very thoroughly discusses the issue of organ sale and goes more into detail about the ethics of it because it was published in a medical magazine/journal, more medical professionals are more inclined to read it and therefore the wording is more sophisticated and the author assumes that the reader already knows the basics of an organ market. So this article will be very beneficial to my research paper when going into the finer details of the viewpoints of organ selling. The author explains the history of the ethical debate of the sale of organs and then goes on to discuss the validity of reasons and opinions both for and against a free organ market. This article talks more about the actual debate of the sale of organs rather than the viewpoints.

Blog #4 Quarter 2

In the next chapter of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Mr. Norrell goes to London. First off in the chapter we learn more about Childermass, apparently Childermass is very knowledgeable and Mr. Norrell relies on him to know what is going on in the world, while he himself sits inside and reads his books. So Childermass has told Mr. Segundas to write an article about Mr. Norrell's great magical feat and send it to the London newspaper. This is so Mr. Norrell will become very popular in London even before he gets there and Childermass is right, that's exactly what happens. Next Mr. Norrell actually does move to London in a house that Childermass has bought him and he is invited to a party, so he takes this as a chance to show other people that being a magician is a very honorable profession, just like a doctor or lawyer. He goes to the party, but you can easily see that he is very out of place and he just wanders everywhere not talking to anybody, but but soon finding a book to read instead. However soon he hears 3 gentlemen talking about him and one (who we later learn is Mr. Drawlight) claims to know him. Therefore Mr. Norrell goes up to talk to them and Mr. Drawlight tells him that he watches Mr. Norrell's house and that he said that he knew him already because he could tell that they we going to be great friends.
When Mr. Norrell moves to the city he thinks that there is a huge difference between London and his country town of York and I think that this was true back then, but now I don't think that there is that much of a difference because now, someone who lives in the countryside can just hop on their truck and they'll make it to a Wallmart or Target pretty quick. I do however think that it's true about what he said about the house sizes, the houses do seem to get smaller as you move from the country into the city because they get more packed together. I also really didn't like Mr. Drawlight because he seems sort of creepy and stalkerish by the way he watches Mr. Norrell 's house and he also seems as if he's just trying to get close to Mr. Norrell because of Mr. Norrell's popularity and that doesn't seem like the best foundation for a friendship exactly. But I predict that Mr. Norrell will become friends with him because he's not really used to the people in the city yet and their ways so he won't understand what Mr. Drawlight is trying to do (mooch off of his popularity).

Blog #3 Quarter 2

In the next chapter of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell all of the magicians of The Society of York gather in the town cathedral to see Mr. Norrell and his display of magic. However Mr. Norrell doesn't show, Childermass does and Mr. Segundas doesn't remember him at all (therefore proving my theory that Mr. Norrell must have done some sort of magic on him because you can't just forget a person). Childermass tells them that Mr. Norrell shall do the magic at home and they shall watch the results. Some a loud voice begins booming out the story of a murder and they look around and find it to be the voice of a statue. Then all the other statues begin talking and moving around and half an hour later they stop. So the magicians of York can no longer call themselves magicians (except for Mr. Segundas) and The Society of York is forced to disband. Lastly, at the end of the chapter Mr. Segundas finds out that Mr. Norrell will soon be moving to London and Mr. Segundas will be the only magician left in Yorkshire.
Since we have been talking a lot a about style in class lately, I thought I might talk a little bit about Susanna Clarke's style. I've already mentioned that almost all of her characters are referred to as a "Mr", "Ms" or "Mrs" and the only character that isn't is Childermass. Also she uses a lot of parentheses when she is writing instead of just using commas like most writers and another thing that makes her writing unique is her use of footnotes, where after a sentence she puts a little number and then on the bottom of the page she elaborates upon the subject of the sentence. The use of her footnotes show really how much thought she has put into the universe of this book, as most of the footnotes are stories, songs, or more information about the world that her book takes place in. Another thing that makes her style very different is how most of the time she writes in a third person point of view, but sometimes she will slip into the first person as herself as the author for a few sentences. So it's almost like she's narrating her book. Lastly I noticed that when she writes the word "choose" or any other form of it, she writes it as "chuse", which I thought was sort of strange seeing as she doesn't spell any other words differently.

Blog #2 Quarter 2

Well I read the next chapter of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and in this chapter there are some exciting things that happen. First of all Mr. Segundas and Mr. Honeyfoot go to visit Mr. Norrell and he lets them look in his library, and it turns out that in their world there are books of magic (like spells and such) and books about magic (about people doing magic and magical occurrences) . Mr. Norrell has the rarest kind in his library, the books of magic, but he does seem very skeptical of all the authors and doesn't seem to think that a lot of them are very good. However, Mr. Segundas and Mr. Honeyfoot are amazed and then even more so when Mr. Norrell tells them that he can actually DO magic. So they go back and tell the Society of York of their findings, who doesn't really believe them because for some odd reason they can't remember much of their visit. So they send Mr. Norrell a letter who replies with an angry one back and sends a guy named Mr. Robinson to make them sign a contract. It says that if he proves he can do magic they have to disband the Society of York and never call themselves magicians again, all sign except Mr. Segundas.
One thing I don't get is why Mr. Norrell sends Mr. Robinson with the contract when in the chapter we were introduced to his creepy man of business, Childermass. So if Mr. Robinson handles Mr. Norrell's contracts and such, what exactly does Childermass do? He sort of gives off a creepy air when you read about him and I think that so far he's the only character in the book who doesn't have the "Mr." or "Mrs." in front of his/her name, which is a little strange. Also I bet that the reason that Mr. Segundas and Mr. Honeyfoot forgot most of there amazing trip is because Mr. Norrell used a spell on them because they were so awed that I don't think it's possible that they could have forgotten something like that. Also in this chapter I learned a lot more about the main characters. I found out that Mr. Honeyfoot seems to be a real idealist and thinks that everyone wants to do everything for the greater good and such, Mr. Segundas however seems to be more sensible and more of a realist, and Mr. Norrell seems to know just about everything out there for there to know.

Blog #1 Quarter 2

I just started reading a book called, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, a novel by Susanna Clark. So far, the book has started with the description of the York society, a society of magicians that discuss old magic, but don't practice it. This is one of the earlier quotes in the book that describes the society, "In fact to own the truth, not one of these magicians had ever cast the smallest spell, nor by magic caused one leaf to tremble upon a tree, made one mote of dust to alter its course or changed a single upon any one's head. But with this one minor reservation, they enjoyed a reputation as some of the wisest and most magical gentlemen in Yorkshire." This quote made me think that, really if they can't do magic they shouldn't be able to call themselves magicians because they're just as ordinary when it comes to magic as the regular old people who are not in the society. I also think they shouldn't be some of the most respected gentlemen in Yorkshire if they can't even do the one thing that they are revered for. Anyway, in the beginning we also meet Mr. Segundas and Mr. Honeyfoot who are 2 of the members of the society that want to know why nobody ever does magic anymore. So they go to visit a sort of recluse magician because the magicians of the society aren't very helpful at all in answering their question. The York magicians before had asked him to join, but he sent a letter of refusal. When he sent his letter back the York society speculated that, "any body with such small handwriting could ever make a tolerable magician." and I thought this was funny because handwriting has nothing to do with magic (or at least I think it doesn't) and they aren't even tolerable magicians themselves because they can't even do magic, so who are they to judge. Anyway I thought this recluse magician had the right Idea because so far this society just seems like a group of phoneys. So Mr. Segundas and Mr. Honeyfoot go visit this recluse man who's name turns out to be Mr. Norrell. So because his name is in the title I predict that he is going to be a very important character in this book and I also think that the main plot of this book is that the 3 men are going to either try and find out how the magic disappeared or try to bring the magic back to everyone in England.

Blog #7

I'm still reading the book Airborn by Kenneth Oppel and so far I really like it. Since the last time I posted Matt found out that he wasn't getting a promotion from cabin boy to sailmaker, he took Kate on a tour of the airship and also found out that Kate was the granddaughter of the man who they found on the balloon a year ago, and also Kate gave Matt her grandfather's journal so he could read about the creatures that her grandfather saw. The whole reason Kate took this cruise was to try and see the magnificent creatures her grandfather had described.
One idea that came up in the book that I thought was interesting was when Matt found out that he was not promoted to sailmaker. The captain of the ship really wanted him to be a junior sailmaker and it was Matt's dream to become one, but in the end the owner of the airship insisted that his son fill the position. So the son got the position because he was wealthy and his father had a lot of influence, even though Matt was the more experienced and wanted the job more. It got me thinking about how this is a situation very similar to those in the real world. So many people gain one up over other people just because they have more money, friends, or influence and not because they have more skill. Its really not fair and that's really how a lot of people who grow up in poverty stay in poverty and children of rich tycoons become rich too, because the people who grew up in poverty don't get the same chances as the richer people do. Just like how Matt can't afford to go to the infamous Sailing Academy and doesn't have an infamous father, but he has more skill, desire, and hard working ethics than the owner's son. But who gets the job? The less skilled and wealthier owner's son!
Another thing I didn't like was how Matt automatically assumed this owner's son was a horribly mean person and Matt hated him right off the bat. But really it wasn't the owner's son's fault because it was his father that gave him the job. I think Matt would be justified in hating the owner because it was the owner's fault, but it wasn't his son's.
But anyway I don't think Matt will hate him for long because the author showed him as being a really nice guy and even Matt grudgingly thought he was a nice guy. So I predict that they will soon be friends because they are around the same age and he's a nice guy and usually in books, characters in their situation usually end up overcoming their differences and going on an adventure and becoming the best of buds.

Blog #6

Since I finished the book Brisinger, I just recently started a book titled Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. So far it's about a cabin boy that serves on a luxury passenger airship called the Aurora. The cabin boy's name is Matt Cruse and he seems to be very well liked by the captain, young (around 15 years old), skilled, brave, loves being in the sky, and also his father seems to have had a connection to the Aurora and this seems to be very important to Matt (it's sort of inferred that his father is missing or dead, but this hasn't really been explained yet). In the beginning of the book Matt is on lookout duty and spots a lone hot air balloon in the night, the balloon doesn't respond with their efforts to communicate with it so they try and pull it aboard. Through some terrific and daring feats by Matt they pull it in along with a dying balloonist. Later the dying balloonist tells Matt of beautiful creatures in the sky right before he dies. Then the story skips ahead to a year later and the dead balloonist seems to be completely forgotten by Matt, but I can't help but think that the first scene really sets up the rest of the book. Why else would it be in there. So a year later the Aurora is setting off on another 5 day voyage and we are introduced to 2 passengers in particular, Kate de Vries (another 15 year old) and Miss Simpkins (her chaperon). Kate is very curious, mischievous, and polite. However Miss Simpkins seems to like nothing, is very rude, and seems to not want to be on the airship cruise. I predict that in the next couple chapters Matt and Kate become pretty good friends because they are the same age and that's usually how stories go, otherwise the author wouldn't have taken such special time to introduce Kate.
I'd also like to mention that I really liked one of the paragraphs on the very first page of the book where Matt describes the sky as being full of heroes and adventures (the constellations and their stories) fighting against each other to make themselves known. I've never really thought about the stars that way before and I think that's a really unique way of looking at them and obviously Matt must spend a lot of time gazing at them.
I really like the word choice in this book too and the plot seems to be very interesting so far and I can't wait to continue reading!

Blog #5

I finally finished reading Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (took me long enough!) and I can't say that I liked the ending. I thought that the ending didn't really end with a big of a bang as it should have. I mean sure Eragon and Saphira's mentors die, but I think that it was pretty predictable, seeing as they were going up against the immensely powerful evil king. Also this is a hero story so it's pretty predictable that Eragon will kill the evil king not his mentors and there's a whole other book still to go. So in other words I don't think it was a big surprise that the mentors died and therefore I don't think that it was the best way to end the book. At the same time at the end/climax of the book Arya and Eragon kill another shade.I don't really like this part because I think the killing of another shade sort of demeans how Eragon killed a shade in the first book and earned the title "Shadeslayer". I think that when they kill another shade it makes it seem as if Eragon's amazing accomplishment in the first book wasn't as amazing anymore. Actually I really don't know how Paolini is going to fit everything in the last and final 4th book because there is a lot of the plot that he has yet to wrap up and tie together, so I think he has his work cut out for him. I also hope that the ending/climax of his last book in the series is much more satisfactory than the one.

Blog #4

I am continuing to read the book Brisinger, and in this blog I'm going to pretend like I'm writing a letter to the author, Christopher Paolini.

Dear Christopher Paolini,
My name is Greer and I am currently reading the third book of your Inheritance Cycle, Brisinger and I would just like to tell you how much I've enjoyed it so far. I have also read the first 2 books in the series and my favorite character so far is Arya, the elf that Eragon is in love with. I like how she is such a strong and individual person and she relies on nobody but herself and she always knows everything and exactly how to do things. But I also like how she begins to crack in this book and let Eragon through the walls she has put up because it's really sad how alone she is and I'm glad that she's beginning to accept the concept that she can have friends too. I also like the witty herbalist Angelina because she's feisty, smart, sarcastic and not afraid to berate others if they are wrong even if they are of higher rank or more important than her. She really adds another dimension to the book, especially a lot of humor. Lastly, another of my favorite characters is Nasuada, the leader of the rebel army. She's very strong, will stop at nothing to help her fighters, and has a confidence that none of the other characters in this book possess.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I really love how you have a lot of strong female characters in your book, while other novels like yours don't include such notable female heroes. All of the women in your book are independent and very important to the Eragon and his quest, and not one of them needs to rely on a man or plays an insignificant role. I think that too many books today don't include enough female protagonists, and even though the hero of your story is a male, he relies heavily on his supporting cast of these 3 important female figures.

Sincerely,
Greer

Blog #3

I'm still reading the book, Brisinger by Christopher Paolini and I came across a part that I found very interesting. It's about this girl who was accidentally given the power to feel others pain, see what they are about to do, and know their insecurities and fears. Here is a quote from the book by Elva, the girl who was mistakenly given these powers, "I will do as I please, and woe unto those who oppose me, for I know all their fears and shall not hesitate to play upon them in order to fulfill my wishes." (pg. 268). I found it interesting because I started to wonder, if I or anyone else had these powers would I actually use them? I mean it's hard to have something and then not use it, even if you think it is morally wrong. But it is still so easy and natural to use, I imagine it would be hard to resist. Also I think there is a fine line between using your own talents to their full potential and then crossing that line their is abusing your own talents. But in the case of this particular talent, is it crossing the line to even use your talent or even think of using it? In this case Elva seems to want to abuse her given powers, just like when she tries to manipulate Eragon (the hero of the book) merely seconds after she says the above quote.
Another thing that happens concerning Elva and her powers is when the leader of the good side wishes for Elva to use her powers for the good side to fight the bad. Elva refuses. Before Elva agreed to help only because their was a large amount of pain that came with her powers and if she helped the good side the pain would lessen. But when Eragon took the pain away she refused to help even though she knew that the good side's cause was just and if the good side didn't win then they might all be killed. Yet she still refused to help and I think this was because even though Elva knew the good side was her chance at survival, she didn't want to help because she wasn't passionate about their cause. She understood it, but she didn't care all that much about it. I also think that there is a certain personality that makes up a martyr or a person fully devoted to a cause, like Eragon or Harry Potter for example, I think they have to be brave and care about all the lives around them, and Elva just doesn't seem to fit that mold very well.

Blog #2

I recently purchased and started reading the book Brisinger by Christopher Paolini. It is the 3rd book in a series of 4 books and as I was reading it I couldn't help but notice how much the main character, Eragon, has changed since the first book in this series. In the first book Eragon was rash and only longed for an adventure, but in this 3rd book, it is quite clear that he has changed a lot.He now contemplates his actions more and thinks about their consequences. In the first book I don't think it bothered Eragon when he killed other beings, but now as we get to the 3rd book, we can see that these killings have really started to take a toll on him. This is demonstrated very well on pg. 193 when Eragon asks his friend, Arya if she ever sees the people she kills staring back at her like he sees his kills staring at him. This shows that Eragon is becoming more and more bothered by the deaths he must inflict in order to save himself and others. Eragon also comes to realize the fine line between the difference of justice and revenge. Near the beginning of the 3rd book he encounters a man that has caused many of the deaths of his friends and fellow townspeople and yet he cannot kill him because he realizes that even though he wants to kill the man he can't because that would be revenge and also he does not hold the power to dispense justice, that is not his duty. So he lets the man go on a journey of redemption and if he reaches the end of that journey he will be well cared for. In the first book I don't think Eragon would have done that because he would have seen someone who hurt his friends and he would have killed him. Another thing Eragon begins to understand is that people can be redeemed for their wrong-doings and he begins to let them have chances to prove they can make up for what they have done wrong, as demonstrated in the case of the man he hates. I think that with all these factors combined we can definitely say that Eragon has matured as a character and as a person through all the hardships he has faced and he has changed for the better.

Blog #1

I currently finished reading a book titled Breaking the Ice: My Journey to Olympic Hockey, The Ivy League, and Beyond by Angela Ruggiero. It's an autobiography of a women's hockey career that has been very successful and has included several Olympic medals. I thought this book was alright writing wise because there weren't any glaring grammar mistakes and it had plenty of voice in it, but her writing style was just sort of bland. I guess that's what you get from a hockey player trying to write a book! But I thought what made this book special was the events that happen to the main character, Angela. I think Angela is a very determined and hard working person, but I also think that she knows that hockey is not the most important thing in her life. She knows that other things such as school, friends, and family are just as necessary. This is shown when she takes a little while off and decides what she wants to continue doing. She takes her decision very seriously trying to balance her life and her dreams. In the end she does choose to follow her dreams to the Olympics, but to come back the next year and finish her education at Harvard. She also shows that she thinks education is important when she almost fails her Psychology class in college, but instead steps up and focuses solely on her education for the time being. This also demonstrates her ability to get up after a fall and try again. Furthermore, she grew up in California and that's a state with a very warm climate and not a lot of hockey. This shows her determination to succeed and her want to do anything it takes to make her a better player because hockey rinks are quite scarce in CA and you have to work really hard to even get ice time. However, even though Angela is a very interesting person, I think that she could've added a lot more to her book to make it better. I really wanted to hear more about her life at Harvard because she barely explains anything about it and it was such a huge part of her (she did spend 4 years there). I also wanted to hear more about her time as an Olympian because she really only described getting there and the Olympics are such a big deal. How could she not write more about it? However as I said, even though she is such an amazing person and an amazing hockey player, an amazing writer she is not. But I did like the book for its content and thought she has had some incredible achievements.

WELCOME!!!

Welcome to my blog. Don't worry I'll get something up soon. About English! YAY!