Brain on Fire Setting

  Susannah Cahalan wakes up in a strange room.  She is unaware of what is going on.  She is alone, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or sleep.  Tentatively, she lifts up her arm to find a wrist band that reads, "flight risk".  Along with this she finds her medical records-chronicling from a month long stay of which she cannot remember.  These consist of things such as hallucinations, violence, and dangerous instability.  She remembers a week ago, a promising job, a serious relationship, and the picture of health.
  After this, she goes back a month or so to when all these curious things started happening to her.  First she notices a couple bug bites on her hand which she is sure are bedbugs.  Now, if I found a couple of bug bites, I would probably not take much notice of it, but not Susannah.  She gets her apartment sprayed for bedbugs not once, not twice, but three times.  After this more serious symptoms occur that closely resemble mono, fatigue, nasea, and irratibility.  These slowly evolve into serious symptoms including extreme paranoia, seizures, and violence.
   What will happen next in this thrilling tale?  Willl Susannah ever be diagnosed?  Will Susannah ever be the way she was before?

Brain on Fire

   When I first saw this book, the thing that really struck me was the picture on the front.  If you look at it, it is pretty creepy.  The tittle too, I mean "Brain on Fire", I don't know about you, but that title doesn't seem too appealing to me.  I got the book as a suggestion from Goodreads and added it to my to-read list.  From that I let it sit there for a while.  But just recently I was stumped for which book to read and sought Goodreads for some inspiration.  Then this book and I met again and I figured I should try it.  I mean it had pretty good ratings so how bad could it be? 
   This book is a memoir about the author, Susannah Cahalan, who is an early adult.  She is a fairly new reporter.  Suddenly she doesn't feel too good and has symptoms alike to mono.  She figures that it will pass but it doesn't.  Later, she starts having dramatic mood swings and has a seizure.  The memoir is the story of how her condition escalates, that is of what she can remember of it.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Eddie has just reacently died.  He is in an extreme state of confussion and has no idea where he is or what is happening.  The last thing he can remember about his life on earth is the little girl for whom he tried to save.  He remembers feeling his hands aginst hers but after that, nothing.  He has already met his first person.  The first person of Eddie meets does clear some things up however.  He explains that he will go on a journey and meet 5 different people whos lives he touched.  He finishes up by saying that Eddie has caused his death.
The reader then finds out a little history about the first person, or the blue man.  He works at Ruby Pier, one of Eddie's favorite spots to go as a child, in the freak show.  He was rhere because his skin, was a blue colour.  He then tells his life story to Eddie; he was born as a child looking perfectly normal.  Although he had an extreme case of anxiety.  He eventually went to the doctor and was perscribed some pills that were suppossed to help with his anxiety.  He abussed these pills however and took them more than he should have.  This started to turn his skin a grey colour, which made him worry more and take more pills.  Eventually it turned his skin blue and everyone stared at him as if he were a monster. 
One day he was driving his car when suddenly a little boy, Eddie, came chassing for a ball that crossed the street.  The blue man was so shocked that he had a heart attack while driving and died without Eddie every finding out until now.

Growth as a Reader and Writer

I have grown a lot as both a reader and a writer over the course of the trimester.  One of the things that I think I have grown in as a writer is getting a more clear voice.   This means that I now use words in writing that are likely to actually come out of my mouth rather than someone else's.  Another thing I think I have grown in as a writer is my length of the post that I was doing.  For example, when I wrote the blog post from the beginning of the trimester that was supposed to get us used to blogging, it was only a couple paragraphs.  The more recent one that I am using from the end of September, was around 5-6 pages long.  All of it was not writing though because I added a lot of pictures into the post.  This leads me to my next point.  I have also grown by making more connections to other's ideas that are similar to mine that prove the credibility of my point I am trying to get across.  At the beginning of the trimester I was very hesitant to use others ideas because I felt like they weren't my own and they wouldn't help me but later in the trimester, I realized that it would just further prove my point.  Next, as a writer my spelling and grammar have gotten a lot better.  I remember the first blog post I did and I went up to click the spell check button at the top of the page and was astonished to find what seemed like every other word in the post was highlighted as a misspelled word.  Now I make much less spelling mistakes and the ones that I do make are mostly me hitting the wrong key on the keyboard.
One thing that I struggled with in my experience of blogging other than all the ones I stated above was using quotes from the book to support my claim I was making.  I used to dread looking up a quote for it and often times would forget to do it.  Now I realize that quotes really make your claim a lot stronger because they prove that the author or a character really does feel that way and it is much harder to go against your claim.  Now when I am writing I make sure that I include a quote to make my claim or thoughts more believable.
One strength I think I had during my blogging experience was the topics I could write about.  I think the blogging experience defiantly made me want to read more and also made me think more critically about what I was reading.  This gave me a lot of ideas about things that I could write about.
I think that I could have and should have used goodreads more often.  I remember that at the beginning of the trimester I thought about how neat and helpful it was, but I never had time to use it as much as I should have.  A feature that I did use on there quite a bit was the books it recommended for me.  I liked this a lot because not many people like the same books as I do.  I like books that are philosophy and give me a different way of thinking to consider.  An example was a book I read this year called The Little Prince.  It is my favorite book that I have ever read by a long shot and I think every one should read it at least once.  I think that if I did not use goodreads then I would not have been able to find it.  I did meet my reading goal and I think that part of that is due to the blogging and goodreads because I really started to enjoy reading this trimester.  I have defiantly improved as a reader this trimester.  I now pay more attention to the details in books and analyse them more critically. Now instead of watching TV for an hour or so I read instead because I have come to like it more over this trimester.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Eddie has died.  He has attempted to save the little girl that was on the broken carnival ride much like the one we have at Kings Island called, The Drop Zone.  One of the seats fell off while the cart was in the air.  Eddie lunged foreword to save the girl.  He felt a exploding impact, felt the girls hands, and then saw a blinding light.
Eddie is now in Ruby Pier, an important childhood happy memory to him. There seems to not be any people accompany to him. He does not appear to have any injuries, which is astonishing.  He feels the best he's felt in years in fact.  His bones no longer ache when he moves and he is happy.  Out of pure giddiness, he begins to run like he were a child again. After all he feels like he were one.  Suddenly, he runs into a man.  He recognises him as the blue man.  He was someone who worked for Ruby Pier in the freak show.  He is a man with blue skin who did not even paint his skin to be like that.  He explains that he is in heaven, the blue man's heaven to be exact.  Suddenly he says something alarming to him, that Eddie killed him.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

 

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is so far, a very good book.  The part I like the most about it so far is that the hook was very interesting to me.  It starts off by saying that the end is the beginning of this book.  This really made you think as a reader and I really liked that.  Another thing I liked about it was that it started the scene with a count down.  At the end of the count down, Eddie would die.  I thought this was a very interesting thing that was unique to this book and doesn't have it in other book that creates suspense. It starts off in the place that Eddie works, Ruby Pier, an amusement park that he met his wife at.  Eddie is a very old man and ironically, it is his 83rd birthday.  Today is the day Eddie dies.  He gets called into a broken ride called Freddy's Free fall, which is a lot like a ride at Kings Island called Drop Zone.  A seat on the ride was tilted over and people were clinging to the cart to keep from falling out.  Eddie tells one of his co-workers to get the ride manager and tell him to release the safety restraint so he can get the passengers out.  As his co-worker was doing this, Eddie suddenly realized that one of the cables were unraveling. This means the cart will fall off if the safty restraint is released.  Eddie screams for his co-worker to stop, but he doesn't hear him.  He has already released the restraint.  The cart is falling.  In the cart is an innocent little girl who can't be more than 8 years old.  He lunges forward to save the girl.  He feels the girls hands, but nothing else.  After that he feels an exploding impact and he is dead.

Me Talk Pretty One Day Links and Displays

         Me Talk Pretty One day is an autobiography about the life of the author, David Sedaris.  As you could probably tell by the cover of the book, he has speech problems and cannot pronounce the letter "s".   Below is a youtube clip of what it would have been like for David going through speech therapy as a child.

 The entire story does not necessarily surround the issue of his speech, but more of what issues he faces in life such as drug trouble.  Some of his drug troubles include doing cigarettes and crystal meth.  Below is an article that explains what harms crystal meth has on you. 
http://www.anti-meth.org/brainbody.html
   Another one of his problems is holding a steady job.  He cannot keep a job going for a long amount of time.  He bounces around from being in college, drops out to be an artist and fails, then becomes a teacher and then again, becomes unemployed.  Below is an article that explains how to keep a job while you have it.
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/careerdevelopment/a/keepingyourjob.htm
   The next difficulty that David faces is family problems.  His dad keeps trying to pressure him and his sisters to do something in music when no one in their family but his father likes it.  His dad assigns each of them with an instrument and signs them up for a private lesson.  David absolutely hates both his lessons and guitar that he was assigned.  Every time David went to his house, he would make a ton of sexual remarks about him that made him feel unconfterable. 

Who Moved my Cheese?

   The novel, Who Moved my Cheese? is a very inspirational book that deals with the concept of change and how to deal with it. The book uses a lot of symbolism.  For example the cheese represents what people want in life, weather it is success, money, a relationship, or happiness. The little person, Hem, represents when people resist change or fear it.  Hem ended up very unhappy and almost died because of it.  Haw, the other little person, represents how people should adapt to change early on because it can lead to something better. The mice, Sniff and Scurry, represent what people should do.  Sniff "sniffs" out the change early and is ready for it and Scurry "scurries" into action.  The article below also has the main idea of the book because it says how to adapt with change which is what the entire book Who Moved my Cheese? is about.
http://www.connerpartners.com/frameworks-and-processes/how-do-people-learn-to-adapt-to-change
The picture below also relates on how people need to adapt and not be afraid of change because it focuses on the 4 main things you need to focus on when dealing with change, Reality Testing, Problem Solving, Flexibility, and Adaptability.

    The video below is a movie version of the story if you would rather not read the book.

Who Moved my Cheese?

   Who Moved my Cheese? is a book that is a life lesson book.  It makes you think, and those are the types of books I like the best.

   Who moved my Cheese? is about college friends meeting up after many years of not seeing each other.  They catch up and one of them mentions that they heard a story recently that changed their life.  The group is eager to hear it and the story he is telling is the story in the book.

   The story takes place in a maze.  This maze it inhabits four creatures.  There are two mice named Sniff and Scurry.  There are also two little people named Hem and Haw.  The maze is both a dangerous place and a place of security.  One bad move and you could be lost forever but it also hold cheese in it that the creatures depend on for survival.  They have no idea how the cheese gets there or who or what puts it there.  All they know is that it comes everyday and they must find it to live.

  Sniff and Scurry have a routine that they follow everyday in order to find their cheese, they go through the maze opening every door and going down every corridor with their guess and check method.

   Hem and Haw have a very different tactic in order to find their cheese.  They find out that everyday there is a cheese station named cheese station C that holds a ton of cheese.  They soon move their home closer to the cheese station and depend on it greatly.

  Then one day the cheese stopped getting replaced.  The cheese in Cheese Station C was running low and what little cheese was left grew moldy and stale.  Hem and Haw do not understand and soon become hungry.  They have no idea what to do next.

  What will they do next?  Will Hem and Haw find new cheese or will they starve?  To find out read the book Who Moved my Cheese?

   One of the themes in Who Moved my Cheese? is change happens and not to be afraid of it.  I know this because the cheese gets moved from Cheese Station C and the little people are not ready for it.  One should anticipate change and not be afraid of it.  It says in the book,“Life moves on and so should we” and it also says “If you do not change, you can become extinct !”.  

The Life of Pi

   The book the Life of Pi is probably one of my favorites.  I really like how the author uses very clear adjectives to show the reader exactly what the character is thinking or seeing.  The book is written in first person pint of view and Pi is the main character.  In the beginning of the book Pi is having a very personal problem.  His parents are Hindu but he does not believe in that religion.  He decides to go out and explore other religions.  I admire Pi a lot for that.  It takes a lot of courage to explore other options while most people just take on the religion that their parents have.  Pi explores Judaism Christianity and Muslim.  He finds that not all of these he fits in.  He then decides to categorize himself as all of the religions and takes turns praying to each God.
  Pi's parents then decide to move their family zoo to Canada.  Pi will miss his home but is still excited for a new start.  He gets on a large cargo ship that will carry himself, his family, his animals, and some crewmen out to Canada. 
  Pi is awaken in the middle of the night to a queer booming sound.  He opts to not wake up his family and go out of his cabin and explore to try to figure out what happened.  When he goes out he realizes that the ship iis sinking.  Pi's heart drops as he immediately thinks of his family.  It is too late to go and get them because all heck has broken loose on the deck. 
  In a panic one of the crew members has unlocked all of the zoo animals.  They are running around the top of the ship with fear in their hearts, almost like they knew what was happening.  In a desperate act, Pi tries to lure the animals on to the life boat to try to save them.  This reminds me a lot of the movie Titanic, becasue there are not enough life boats on the cargo ship and a lot of the people end up dieing. 
  Pi is then thrown onto a life boat by the crew members who appear to be trying to save him.  They end up not being as selfless as they seem and know that there is a bangle tiger aboard the boar and assume that he will take out the tiger while also inflicting damage upon himself.  This reminds me a little about the hunger games, because they are fighting for their lives and that often brings the worst out of people.
  Pi ends up falling on the life boat and begins  to realize that he is not alone on the boat.  He is in accompany of a zebra with a broken leg, an orangutan named orange juice, an evil hyena, and a bangle tiger.  Again this reminds me of the movie the titanic because it is a struggle for life in the middle of the ocean after a ship has wrecked.
  Pi is swept away along with the boat and thinks of his family.  They are helpless.  They are stuck on the sinking ship with no life boat, no chance of survival.  He begins to weep.  Again this ties to the movie the titanic, because Rose in the movie has to deal with sacrifice when she is on the strip of drift wood and Jack is in the water.  Jack then dies and Rose can't help but feel at a loss.  I assume this is also how Pi is feeling at this point in the story.

Checkpoint #3 Analysis

The Life of Pi

One of  the things i really liked in The Life of Pi is at the end, when he is being interviewed to figure out the reasoning of the boat sinking and his survival story he tells two stories.  One of the story with the animals on the boat with him and the other with the animals in the place of people.  The story that he goes into the most detail of is the one with the zoo animals on the boat, which is what the majority of the book tells, but it makes you wonder with the harsh trauma that he's been through.  Was Pi hallucinating or was going through a state of panic when he is telling the story of the animals?  What story really happened?

  In the story with the animals, Pi is trapped in a life boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in accompany of a zebra with a broken leg, his childhood friend an orangutan named orange juice, an evil hyena, and a Bangle Tiger named Richard Parker.  In this story the hyena eats the zebra and he has not capable of defending himself because of what condition he is in.  Next, Orange Juice and the hyena start making screeching sounds at each other for a day and eventually the hyena eats Orange Juice.  Then Pi realizes that the Bangle Tiger, Richard Parker is aboard and is seasick in the bottom of the boat.  The Tiger gets hungry and eats the hyena.  Now it is only Pi and Richard Parker on the boat.  He is devising a plan to kill him and eventually realizes that he must tame the tiger.  After taming him and surviving long months with the troubles of having a vicious tiger aboard a small ship with him he eventually finds land somewhere in Mexico and Richard Parker goes along his way in the forest and never returns.  Since Pi has no proof of this story, the reporters are weary to believe him.

  In the next story, Pi is trapped on a life boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in accompany of a handsome young man with a broken leg, his loving mother, and an evil, selfish cook.  The selfish cook, who in this story represents the hyena, gets hungry and turns to cannibalistic ways and eats the handsome young man with the broken leg, who represents the zebra. His mother who represents orange Juice is appalled,refuses to eat it and wants Pi to do the same.  He is so hungry though and ends up eating some scraps.  His mother is appalled and very disappointed in him.  She then yells at the cook for his horrible ways.  The cook then murders Pi's mother in front of him.  Pi is now alone with the cook on the boat and is very scared.  The cook ends up eating his mother.  The next day Pi knows that it must be "eat or be eaten" and kills the cook.  It seems like the cook could almost be sorry because he does not fight back.  Pi kills the cook and uses the cook as bait to catch fish.  Eventually, he reaches shore somewhere in Mexico.  By the end of this story, you realize that Pi represents the bangle tiger Richard Parker. 

  He then tells the reporters to pick which ever story they like better and use it. I really like the part where he says, "'So does your story have a happy ending," the reporter asked.  "Well, that's up to you, it's your story now.' he responded." I like this a lot because it says that  the reporters control the story.

  Another thing I like a lot from the book is when it says, "I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye."  I like this a lot because it makes you think a lot about loss and how you should treasure every moment.

  Eventually in the report the wrote they describe the boat sinking in detail and in the last sentence of the report say that along with all of this, Pi was also in the company of a bangle tiger.

The Life of Pi

   The Life of Pi is a survival book.  It is a lot like the book Hatchet. Pi, a 16 year old boy is the main character is going to Canada.  His family owns a zoo and is moving to Canada because Pi's parents are motivated by India's political strife.
  Pi is awoken in the middle of the night on the cargo ship holding himself, crew members, the zoo animals and his family.  He goes out of his room to investigate the noise.  He hears a loud booming or crashing sound and figures out the boat is sinking.  One of the crew members in the panic lets out all the crew members from the cages.  By the time he is out of his room investigating, all of the animals are running a muck.  He tries to save the zoo animals by trying to lure some of them into life boats.
  Crew members throw him into a lifeboat seeming to help him.  Later he realizes that a bangle tiger named Richard Parker is aboard the life boat and the crew members threw him on there assuming that the tiger would kill him and in the act of killing him he would also inflict a lot of damage upon the tiger making the life boat safe enough to board.
 He is then carried away on the life boat.  All of it is gone.  His family, all of his loved ones,everyone.  And to make it worse he is stuck on a life boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
  He soon realizes that he has company on his life boat.  On the boat he there is a zebra who has broken her leg badly while jumping off the boat into the lifeboat in a panic,  his childhood friend an orangutan named Orange Juice, a fierce hyena, and finally the bangle tiger named Richard Parker.

  He now must learn how to survive on his own with these deadly zoo animals and the deadly unpredictable whether of the Pacific Ocean. What will he do to survive?  Will Pi overcome the overwhelming depression he is in?  What will happen to all the animals on the boat?

The Little Prince Theme and Summary

The Little Prince Theme and Summary
   The Little Prince is on a search, not for an easter egg basket, not for a lost wallet, but for a new house.  He has left his old home because of a rose that drove him out with her unkindness.  Along the way of looking for a new place he can call home, he meets many creatures that give him very valuable advise that changes his life forever.
   The narrator of the book, who is never given a name, has crash landed his plane in the middle of the Sahara Desert.  Stranded, the narrator of the story awakes to find a small boy over him asking for him to draw him a sheep.
   This little boy's name is The Little Prince and he shares the odd thought process of the narrator.  They both believe in innocent thinking like one of a child, a thinking that does not revolve around politics or other "grown-up activities" like most people of the narrator's age would.  Instead the narrator thinks most with his imagination more than anything.
   The Little Prince is looking for a new home.  He lives on an asteroid no bigger than a house that inhabits three volcanoes that go up to his knee that he must rake out each day and most importantly, The Little Prince's beloved rose.  This rose is the reason why he left although it is probably the thing The Little Prince loves most.  This rose is very rude and is extremely unappreciative to all the work The Little Prince does for her including watering her, feeding her, surrounding her with love, and putting glass over her in the cold night.  After all of this The Little Prince decides to abandon her and find a new home where he will be appreciated more.
  First he goes to an asteroid that inhabits a very power hungry King.  This king thinks that he is in charge of everything and in reality he does not rule anything.  From his visit with the king, he realizes that one should not be too power-hungry, because it can ruin your life.  He decides that he can not live on the asteroid because he does not like the king.
  Next he goes to an asteroid where a very conceited man lived.  The very conceited man is very lonely and craves attention.  This man hears nothing but praise.  The Little Prince does not like this man for he is much too vain and goes along his path to find a new home.
 Then, he goes to visit the next asteroid where a drunkard lives.  This person puts The Little Prince into a depression because of his story that he doesn't even know.  As their conversation goes after The Little Prince asks why he is drinking,

"So that I may forget," replied the tippler.

"Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him.

"Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head.

"Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him.

"Ashamed of drinking!" The tipler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence."

The Little Prince can obviously not live with a drunkard so he goes along his way to find a new home.

   The next person that The Little Prince meets is as the man puts it,"a very serious man".  He is a businessman who "owns" all of the stars.  The Little Prince probably likes this man the least because he is the a type of person who loves numbers and is a classic grow-up, while he likes the type of people who think with their imagination.  He does not like this man so he goes on his way, looking for another astroid that he can call his come.

   The Little Prince then meets the lamplighter, he is a man that is extremely commited to lighting and unlighting his lantern when day and night comes. On this small planet, the day/night cycle is only a minute long.  He has not gotten a wink of sleep for years because of this vicious cycle.  The Little Prince admires this man, and realizes that this man is probably the only man he would have liked to live with, but sadly, sense the asteriod is so small, there is no room for him.

   The next person The Little Prince meets is a geographer.  He is cowardly becuse he will not explore his own asteriod because he is so commited to only writing the maps.  He asks the Little Prince, who he refers to as an explorer, to describe his old asteriod so he can make a map of it.  When The Little Prince mentions his beloved rose, the geographer refuses to put it on the map because it is emphermal.  To this, The Little Prince becomes very worrisome to how the rose is doing.  He says he must go on with his house hunting, and the geographer recomends the planet Earth.

   He then travels to earth where he meets a fox, this fox wants despersatly to be tamed.  He does not have any friends and is very lonely.  The fox symbolizes friendship.  He then tames the fox and they share a strong bond.  When the fox speeks about friendship and taming, he talks about his flower and the fox, very unselfishly, tells The Little Prince to go back to his flower.  He has made a bond to that flower and can not break it.  The Little Prince then shares a tearful goodbye with the fox and goes on his way.

   On his way back, he runs into a railway switchman where he learns that people are never happy where they are, and one should try to be. 

  Next The Little Prince runs into a salesclerk who is trying to sell pills that stop people from feeling thirst.  He confidently states that it will save you up to 53 minutes a day.  The Little Prince does not understand this and realizes that people should not take shortcuts in life and to live live the way it's meant to be lived.

  Finally The Little Prince meets the snake.  The snake symbolizes death and sacrifise because The Little Prince took the poisonous bite from the snake in place of the narrorator and returned to his home. 

The Little Prince Characters

Character Analysis

The Little Prince- One of the two main characters in the story.  The Little Prince lives on an asteroid that is about the size of a house.  On his "planet" there consists of 3 volcanoes.  These volcanoes go up to about his knee and one is dormant but he still rakes it out because "you never know".  Also on his flower is his beloved rose. He is all alone on the planet except for the surroundings and his flower is the only one  that he could share his feelings with. The rose is very ignorant and selfish (and can talk) and eventually drives the Little Prince on to look for another home.  The Little Prince is a very dynamic character because on his look for another home he learns many lessons that are so valuable.

""The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!"

"Oh!"

There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness:

"I don't believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are naïve. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons . . .""

The Narrator- The narrator as well as the Little Prince feels that no one understands him and his unique way of thinking. In his way of thinking he thinks very innocently like a child and despises the way that grown-ups think. He is stranded in a plane crash and finds Th Little Prince and becomes best friends with him for the eight days that he stays until The Little Prince decides to return to his home planet.
 "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."

The Rose- A very ignorant selfish creature that used to be The Little Prince's only friend until she eventually drove him away to search for another home.  Although she is always so rude to him The Little Prince always gives her the love and care that she doesn't really deserve.  She claims that she is very unique and is the only one of her kind but on the Little Prince's house hunting he finds a whole bush of them.  Throughout the story the rose is always in The Little Princes thoughts and heart.

""I think it is time for breakfast," she added an instant later. "If you would have the kindness to think of my needs--"

And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water. So, he tended the flower."

Every character after these three main characters have a lesson or theme that they teach.  Each animal or creature that they meet symbolizes a very important character trait that one must have in order to live happily.

The Turkish Astronomer- The Turkish astronomer represents how people judge other people.  He discovered an asteroid that is believed to be the one that the Little Prince lived.  He made his presentation wearing Turkish clothes and no one took him seriously.  He then redid the presentation saying the exact same things except this time wearing clothes that were socially except able and everyone believed him.

"On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress, in a great demonstration. But he was in Turkish costume, and so nobody would believe what he said.

Grown-ups are like that . ."

The King- The King is the first creature The Little Prince meets on his planet.  He is a very selfish man who has like almost everyone else in the novel, has lost what is important in life.  The king thinks he rules the universe and really nothing commands to his orders.  The King represents not to become to power-hungry.

""Sire," he said to him, "I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question--"

"I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him.

"Sire--over what do you rule?"

"Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity.

"Over everything?"

The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars."

The Vain Man- The man on this planet, as says in the title, is a very vain man.  He is the only man who lives on the planet and is very lonely.  He craves admiration and wishes that everyone envy him.  The Vain Man represents how not to be so full of yourself and to be humble.

""Ah! Ah! I am about to receive a visit from an admirer!" he exclaimed from afar, when he first saw the little prince coming.

For, to conceited men, all other men are admirers."

The Drunkard- The third man the little prince encounters.  This man drives The Little Prince into a depression.  He symbolizes sadness.  He is foolish because he forgets he is drinking and he is drinking to forget.

""I am drinking," replied the tippler, with a lugubrious air.

"Why are you drinking?" demanded the little prince.

"So that I may forget," replied the tippler.

"Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him.

"Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head.

"Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him.

"Ashamed of drinking!" The tipler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.

And the little prince went away, puzzled.""

The Businessman- The Little Prince despises the businessman.  He is exactly what he does not like.  He is a grown-up that constantly refers to himself as a "serious person" .  He claims that he owns all of the stars because he found them and The Little Prince wonders what good it is owning a star when you don't do anything with them.  The businessman represents how not to get caught up in work and to think about what is really important to you.

""And what do you do with these stars?"

"What do I do with them?"

"Yes."

"Nothing. I own them."

"You own the stars?"

"Yes."

"But I have already seen a king who--"

"Kings do not own, they reign over. It is a very different matter."

"And what good does it do you to own the stars?"

"It does me the good of making me rich."

"And what good does it do you to be rich?""

The Lamplighter-The only one out of his planets that he has been to that he actually likes.  He finds the lamplighter very dedicated to his work and admires him.  His planet is very small so his days last only one minute.  He feels that it is his duty to light this lamp and unlight it every 30 seconds when it is morning and evening.  The planet however, is sadly not big enough for two so he can not stay.

""That man," said the little prince to himself, as he continued farther on his journey, "that man would be scorned by all the others: by the king, by the conceited man, by the tippler, by the businessman. Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself."

He breathed a sigh of regret, and said to himself, again:

"That man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend. But his planet is indeed too small. There is no room on it for two people. . .""

The Geographer-  A person who writes maps but refuses to explore the planet of his.  He asks the little prince to describe his home planer for him for vegetation, mountains, and deserts, but when he mentions vegetation he thinks of his flower and when he wouldn't put his flower in because it was ephemeral.  He realizes that his flower is threatened by eminent disappearance and worries about her.  The geographer recommends he visit the planet earth.

""Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?"

"Certainly it is."

"My flower is ephemeral," the little prince said to himself, "and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone!"

That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.

"What place would you advise me to visit now?" he asked.

"The planet Earth," replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation."

And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower."

The Bush of Roses- The bush of roses makes The Little Prince very sad because his rose said she was the only one of her existence when in fact there was a bush of roses right in front of him.

And he was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe. And here were five thousand of them, all alike, in one single garden!

""She would be very much annoyed," he said to himself, "if she should see that . . . She would cough most dreadfully, and she would pretend that she was dying, to avoid being laughed at. And I should be obliged to pretend that I was nursing her back to life--for if I did not do that, to humble myself also, she would really allow herself to die. . ."

Then he went on with his reflections: "I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. A common rose, and three volcanoes that come up to my knees--and one of them perhaps extinct forever . . . That doesn't make me a very great prince . . ."

And he lay down in the grass and cried."

The Fox- The fox's symbol is friendship.  The Little Prince meets the fox when searching for a new home after the rose drove him out.  The fox desperately wants The Little Prince to tame him.   The fox and The Little Prince become great friends and The Little Prince then realizes that he has tamed the flower and can not leave him.  He tells the fox about this and he understands and encourages The Little Prince to return to his beloved rose.

""Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . .""

The Railway Switchman- The lesson that the railway switchman teaches is that grown-ups are never satisfied.  They keep changing directions and going from place to place.  The Little Prince is quite fond of the railway switchman and agrees with his beliefs.
""They are in a great hurry," said the little prince. "What are they looking for?"

"Not even the locomotive engineer knows that," said the switchman.

And a second brilliantly lighted express thundered by, in the opposite direction.

"Are they coming back already?" demanded the little prince.

"These are not the same ones," said the switchman. "It is an exchange."

"Were they not satisfied where they were?" asked the little prince.

"No one is ever satisfied where he is," said the switchman."

The Salesclerk- He symbolizes that humans are focused taking shortcuts.  He is selling pills that stop the need to feel thirsty.  It can save people up to 53 minutes.  The Little Prince is very curious about this pill.

""And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"

"Anything you like . . ."

"As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.""

The Snake- The snake is the first creature The Little Prince meets when he comes to earth.  The snake represents death.  He speaks in riddles and eventually bites the Little Prince with his poisonous bite.  Sending him back to his home.

Final the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

 

Character Analysis

 

Christopher John Francis Boone- The Protagonist in the story as well as the narrator.  He is a dynamic character who is trying to solve the mystery in the story about who killed the dog, Wimbledon.  While he is investigating he learns other information that relates to his mother who was killed by a heart attack out of the blue.  Through this investigation  he goes through many changes making him a dynamic character.  He has what seems to be a fairly sever case of Asperger's syndrome and social skills are very tough for him.  Other than that in the book it seems to look like he has a photographic memory which as he refers to as a "recording device" and is extremely smart at subjects that do not require too much critical thinking like math.

 

Christopher's Father (Ed Boone)-The single father that goes through a big change in his life when Christopher finds out the truth about his mother.  He is also a dynamic character because throughout the book he goes through some pretty drastic changes. 

 

Christopher's Mother (Judy Boone)-Another character that is tied to the family drama going on throughout the book and also goes through a drastic change like the father and Chistopher.  Christopher's father has told Christopher that she has died from a heart attack but after Christopher goes through his dad's room he figures out that this was all a lie.

 

Mr. Shears-Christopher's old neighbor that moved out and got divorced to Mrs. Shears divorced him for an unknown reason until later in the book.  Christopher's father as well as Mrs. Shears will not mention his name and despises him.  Mrs. Shears is a supporting character that does not go through any change but is related into the family drama that the Boone family is going through therefore she  is a flat character.

 

Siobhan-Christopher's aide and teacher throughout the book who gives him a lot of adivse and influences his decisions.  She does not go through a change in the book making her a flat character.

Wimbleton-The victim of the mystery that is taking place in the book.  He was a large black poodle that belonged to Mrs. Shears.  He is a very important character that is mention offten, but because of his passing never shows up as himself in the book except for in the beginning when Christopher finds him in the front lawn of Mrs. Shears house dead with a garden fork sticking out of him.  He does go through a change from death to life, but sense he does not go through an emotional change he is a flat character.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

 

  In the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher has done a lot.  His father was very angry for being nosy and poking around in things that are none of his business.  He has told Christopher before to stop doing this and Christopher decided to make the hasty decision to not listen to his father and to go through with the investigation.  In an act of anger Christopher's father took his investigation book or the story that he is writing from him and threw it away.
  Even though hid book was taken away, Christopher is still very dedicated to the investigation and carries through with it.  He looks for the book in the trash can and they weren't there.  Then he looks for the book all around the house without success.  He then gets an idea; his father's room.  He has never been aloud to go in there but that does seem like the most logical explanation as to where he would put the book.
  While he is in his father's room, he does find his book as well as a little bit more...

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/aspergers-syndrome/DS00551
This article is about Asperger's Syndrome which seems to be the disorder that Christopher seems to have.

This video is another clip explaining what asperger's syndrome is.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Update

 

   A terrible crime has been committed, someone has killed a neighborhood dog named Wimbledon by stabbing him with a garden fork.  Christopher, a 15 year old boy with an autistic spectrum condition, feels that it is his duty to figure out exactly who killed Wimbledon and why they did it.
       It all starts when he goes outside to find Wimbledon dead in the front lawn of Ms. Shears, the owner.  Christopher hugs the warm dead body of the dog and Mrs. Shear's finds him and calls the police and people begin to think that he committed the crime when he didn't.  He now feels that he must find the killer and reclaim his innocence.
     Christopher decides to write a book about his detective work with his social disabilities that seem to resemble Aspergers syndrome although they have not come out and said that that is what he has. An example of this is Christopher does not talk to anyone for the entire  day if he sees three yellow cars in a row because he despises the color yellow.  Although if he sees five red cars in a row then it is a "super good day" and he is very open.  He also does not like to be touched and if someone does touch him then he will very likely  hit them.  He is very observant and seems to have a photographic memory.  He is very good at math and other subjects where you just need to memorize a formula or word.  It is very difficult for him to tell emotions though.  For example this picture below was from the beginning of the book when his aid was trying to get him to tell emotions from faces.

 

   Things I find very interesting about this book is that it is different than most books then you will read because it is written in the view of someone who has many disabilities.  What I find very interesting is that Christopher has a very special place in his heart for prime numbers and all the chapter numbers are prime numbers.
    The next thing I find interesting is that in the beginning of the book he explains that this is a murder mystery book about the death of a dog.  Then he goes on to say that also in the book a person dies but that is not the main idea of the book.  This fascinates me that he would not make the book about the humans death but of the dog's.
    Another thing that is interesting is that you know that Christopher's mom has passed away but you are not exactly sure how.  He recently found out from a neighbor that his mother was having an affair with Mr. Shears and nothing is sure now for him.
   I think this is a really good book.  I have not read anything like this and it is very interesting.  So far I would defiantly rate it five stars, because the plot is very interesting and it keeps you wondering what will happen next.
 
http://literature.britishcouncil.org/mark-haddon
This is a link to a website where you can learn more about the author, Mark Haddon.

My Sister's Keeper
          A theme or central idea in the novel My Sister's Keeper is One must appreciate a sister while she is still there. Anna Fitzgerald is a thirteen year old girl who's sister, Kate, is very sick with an aggressive case of leukemia.  Finding a reliable match for the bone marrow transplants and eventually a liver that Kate so desperately needs is an extremely hard thing to do.  After some consideration the Fitzgerald parents decide to genetically engineer a child with the same bone marrow as Kate so they get a perfect match.  As Anna grows up, she comes to realize her situation.  She feels like her only purpose in life is to help Kate. In the quote that follows she is talking to her lawyer explaining her situation. "'oh right' I say, tearing up again. 'When you complain because someone's sticking a needle into you for the tenth time, it's considered standard operating procedure.  All the adults look around with fake smiles and tell each other that no one voluntarily asks for more needles' I blow my nose into a Kleenex. 'That kidney-that's just today.  Tomorrow it'll be something else.  It's always something else'"  After telling her parents many times she does not want to do any more tests and her being ignored all times she takes more desperate measures.  Anna hires a lawyer and sues her parents for the rights to her own body in hope to never have to do another test or procedure again.

http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetic-inequality-human-genetic-engineering-768
This article explains genetically engineered humans and what limits people should go to with human engineering.  This also talks about designer babies and what the world would be like with super babies roaming the earth.