Family Enemies

In the prologue of the book, Larsson touches on why Lisbeth has so much hatred for and little connection with her father. It describes how Lisbeth's mother, as well as herself, were abused by her father. One day after her father had beat Lisbeth's mother he left and went to his car. So enraged Lisbeth went out to her father and dumped gasoline on him. Before he could comprehend what had happened, she struck a match and threw it at him. After the incident, Lisbeth's father has always held a grudge against her and has always tried to seek revenge. Even though her father suffered a great deal due to his severe burns, I personally think he deserved it. No one deserves to be abused especially a child. Even though what Lisbeth did was a bit extreme, she was only a child when it occurred and I feel like she was only looking out for her mother.

A Getaway

In the beginning of The Girl Who Played With Fire, Lisbeth is in the Caribbean taking care of some business. Larsson decribes the view Lisbeth sees as she walks down a path with the ocean right next to her. Reading this is depressing I'm not going to lie, especially since it's November and it could start snowing any day now. I really despise the cold weather. Why couldn't it just stay summer all year round? The only good thing about the winter is that Christmas is right around the corner and before you know it, it will be spring break. Oh, and I guess I should mention that I am going to Italy with my family for spring break, so it couldn't come soon enough. Just have to get through the winter. If only I was in the Caribbean like Lisbeth...

Close-Reading Bingo

E-dubs
6. Baker uses a lot of  language that magnifies the importance of the coldness felt, "spreading into a needly area of shine where it fell against their brushed-steel side-panels, and adding long glossy highlights to each of the black rubber handrails", this creates imagery for the reader of what the daily worker sees.
-The blogger uses the verb "use" which makes their writing sound weak.

Blogs With Friends
3. The setting displays the hustle and bustle of the busy work place.
-This blogger is very vague when describing the setting of the excerpt.

emily:)
2. The girl screams to her sister “I will kill if you touch this, Julie, and if you do I swear to go I will kill you, no mercy, no take-backs private property, this means you, Julie, you” which explains how the infuriated girl feels toward her sister.
-The blogger used a full quotation which is not needed.

The Wise Chieftian
His clam, but intense attention to detail leaves readers intimidated yet expectant for the forth coming of his next step.
-This blogger uses the word readers.

Best Overall Response Goes To......

DolphinCat
"The highly descriptive and scholarly diction, the almost philosophical and appreciative tone inserted into Nicholson Baker's connotation, and the harmonious flow ringing throughout the first page of his novel, instill dreamy, practically romantic admiration for the mezzanine Baker speaks of, as this first page is read."

Practice Diction Analysis

 In the excerpt from Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine, Baker’s figurative yet scholarly language depicts the elegant workplace in which he describes. Baker describes the appearance of the lobby of his work as a place with “towering volumes of marble and glass,” and he also uses figurative language when he mentions the escalator “as the handrails slid on their tracks, like the radians of black luster.” This refined depiction of the setting in which the main character works enhances the visual image. The lobby also has an ominous feel to it considering much of it is described as being “black.” Even though the lobby leading to the office seems boring and cold, Baker suggests that it is warm and inviting.

Currently

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson
Pages Read This Week: 154
Pages Read This Semester: 1405

1. Up Your Score on the other hand, speaks with a mixture of intricate words and slang pop-culture references that are very punctuated, straightforward at times, but somewhat suggestive, and often light.
http://contemplationsxjones.blogspot.com/

2. While those two have a more upbeat and enthusiastic writing style, William R. Forstchen uses more of a blunt and tense mood.
http://almostfacebook.blogspot.com/

3. Neil Gaiman's Stardust  gives a more straightforward perspective on nature by peacefully describing a landscape with unextravagant language while still creating a sweet-sounding atmosphere in the reader's mind.
http://charliebucket15.blogspot.com/

I picked these three excerpts as my favorite from the style mapping project because I thought they were all very interesting and used good adjectives that described the different styles of language without just using the adjectives given to us.

A New Millenium

After Mikael had been convicted for libeling Hans Erik Wennerstrom, he was sentenced to serve three months in prison. With this sentence, Mikael thought it would be best if he were to just quit his job as co-editor and publisher of the magazine Millenium. Soon after he announced this, Mikael was asked by Henrik Vanger to solve the mystery of missing Harriet in Hedeby. While Mikael has been gone, his co-editor Erika has come to visit him on several occasions. One of the times she was there, her and Mikael went to Henrik's house to have dinner with him. While they were there Millenium was brought up along with the status that it is in at this point in time. Erika says that within a few months the magazine will have to stop because all of their major advertisers have withdrawn from publishing in the magazine. Hearing this news, Henrik agrees to become a part time owner as well as give money to help the magazine get through the rut that it is in. Mikael is hesitant at first, but Erika agrees to it right away since she has nothing else to help her with the magazine since Mikael has quit. Realizing this situation, Mikael agrees to come back to the magazine as soon as he has served his jail sentence and worked for Henrik for exactly a year.

With all of the news that Mikael will be returning to Millenium, all he can do is fear that Wennerstrom might try to attack him again so Wennerstrom doesn't get discovered that he has been mishandling money. If I were Mikael though, I would know that going back to the magazine would be the right choice because Mikael was deemed guilty even though what he wrote was partially true, he just didn't have enought information to back it up. Hopefully after working for Henrik, Mikael will gain that information he needs to know about Wennerstrom to put his case in the bag.

A Troubled Patient

Because of Lisbeth's troubled past, she has been deemed mentally unstable therefore she has been assigned a guardian by the government to look after her. Her last guardian, Palmgren, was one of the people in her life who she could actually talk to about her life and issues; however, he had a stroke and died. With this, Lisbeth was assigned a new guardian, and not a very good one either. His name is Advokat Nils Bjurman. From the first meeting Lisbeth can tell she will never like him, especially since he has told her that she must come to him if she needs any money. Lisbeth can't believe she has to go to him to get her own money. If I was her age and still had to ask someone for my own money, I wouldn't be happy either. If it's my money and I have earned it then I should be able to do whatever I want to do with it.

But that's not even the worst of her problems. In order to get the money from Bjurman he makes her do sexual favors. One time she even goes to his house because she needs money for food and he ties her to the bed and rapes her. Even though Lisbeth knows this is wrong, and that he can get in big trouble and even go to jail for his actions, she decides not to tell anyone because she knows he will get her back in some way.

Style Mapping

In 1984 by George Orwell, he portrays low language through his blunt diction and coarse observations giving the reader a sense of fear as well as disgust. Orwell uses vulgar descriptions such as, "The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats," which illustrates the setting of the novel. In Light in August by William Faulkner, he utilizes a connotative sense of language illustrated in his poetic phrases and figurative diction. Faulkner also incorporates a sense of humor into his writing giving it a light tone. Figurative language can also be found throughout the book, for example personification in the line, "There was a track and a station, and once a day a mixed train fled shrieking through it." In comparison to these two books, Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre reveals Brontë's denotative sense of style. Her literal and straightforward descriptions as well as the almost journalistic style as if she were reporting back the actions of the other characters reveals the way in which she observes and describes language. Several times in the book Brontë describes the main character Jane as being, "a dull Quaker girl." Despite the fact that all three books use different forms to describe their language, each form transforms the text into a dreamy yet intense story.

Quarterly

So far this year I've read the first two books from The Hunger Games series and I'm in the middle of reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Before this class, I usually didn't read much unless it was for school because I never have the time. But now I feel like I have begun to read a lot more, especially books that I actually have an interest in reading, because of the weekly reading we have to do for this class. I hope after this class that I continue to find time to read for my pleasure while still juggling dance and school. Now I find myself reading mostly at night, since it is the only time I actually have to get in a few pages here and there.

I've really enjoyed the Hunger Games books. They books take a an unrealistic yet intriguing look on the future. The books have been a very easy read, but they are very though provoking. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is also a pretty easy read, but I love reading mysteries, so of course I knew from the beginning this book was for me. Overall, this class has helped me to find time and to start reading books that I actually find interesting.

Currently

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

Pages This Week: 153
Pages This Semester: 1095

Sentences of the Quarter:

1."People always have secrets. It's just a matter of finding out what they are." The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

2. "Take that away and I'm not really sure who I am, what my identity is." The Hunger Games

3. "Kind people have a way of working their way inside me and rooting there." The Hunger Games
I have chosen these sentences as my sentences of the quarter because I thought it was interesting how they are all stating a piece of information that most readers could relate to. Everyone has secrets, no one knows what their true identity is, and kind people always seem to be a weakness for some. I thought it also was a good strategy used by the authors to do this because it pulls the reader more into the story since they can understand what the characters in the books are going through.

District 13?

During the final hours of the games, a major turning point happens in the plot. As Katniss, Peeta, and their other allies are setting up to kill the careers, the unthinkable occurs. As Johannah and Katniss are setting up Beetee's trap, Johannah all of a sudden knocks out Katniss and cuts her arm and then flees the scene. Katniss tries to regain consciousness and slowly walks back to their campsite. When she arrives there, she finds Beetee on the ground and everyone else has left. Katniss yells out Peeta's name numerous times before she hears him yelling back, but it is too late for him to reach her before she is picked up by the hovercraft.

When Katniss reawakens, she finds herself in what appears to be a hospital. She walks around a little bit and finds Haymitch, Finnick, and the head Gamemaker talking at a table. Haymitch proceeds to tell her that they are on their way to District 13 and that the head Gamemaker is actually a rebel who has had this planned for quite some time. The bad news: Peeta was taken by the Capitol and Katniss does not know if she will ever see him again. With this news Katniss begins to scream and attack the three men sitting there, but that won't wolve anything, what can they do?

I can't imagine hearing the news that one of your loved ones could be gone from you forever. If there is a reoccurring theme in these series of books, I would say it would have to be that. Characters continually are taken from their families with the possibility that they may never return. Thank goodness it isn't real life, I couldn't even begin to imagine the chaos our world would be in if it was.

The End

As the games continue on, more and more of the tributes are being killed, and at a noticeably quicker pace than from previous games. Katniss is sure to note this too, and she and some of the other tributes she has teamed up with have figured out what the Gamemakers have come up with this time: a clock. The arena is in the shape of the circle and each hour a different event takes place killing any tributes in the given sector of the arena. How they were able to figure this out amazes me. I guess two heads are really better than one. I have really enjoyed how these books tie the little things, such as the mockingjay, into the big picture. For example, the arena was constructed after the head Gamemaker's watch, which Katniss was shown at a party before the Quarter Quell even occurred. I hope the third book continues to do the same thing.

Dance All Around Us: The Art of Movement

Here are my video clips for my "Art Of" Project:

Swan Lake-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxgj4iMQLhU&feature=related

Chicago-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYmMagkfjfI&noredirect=1

Revelations-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWJzSP7irwM