Revised Response

Some people may think that there is justice in the world, and many others think the opposite. What do you think? After reading Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, I realized justice isn't the same in everyone's eyes. In my opinion, there isn't justice in the world because any person can be seen as the opposite of who they really are. In the book, Hannah sees her victims as awful people. However Hannah find things horribly wrong with her "victims" because she's looking for them. I think that justice is seen differently depending on who's looking at the case.

           Jay Asher, the author of Thirteen Reasons Why, portrays Hannah as a reserved character. One who doesn't open herself up easily. Because of this trait, Hannah seems to be a bystander in her own issues. On one of the seven tapes, Hannah includes a part about Jessica, her old best friend. Hannah talks about how mad she is at Jessica for leaving her, yet (in my opinion) Hannah didn't do anything to try and keep Jessica within her reach. While in Hannah's mind, she (Hannah) may have been innocent. "She lifted one of her hands and slapped a paper on the table" (Asher 64), Jessica stopped being friends with Hannah out of jealousy, Hannah was on "the list" (a basic "body-rating" system, that was created by a classmate) and she wasn't. And Hannah stopped being friends with Jessica, because Jessica had left her. While it may seem like Jessica is to blame, there are many ways to look at it. One could blame Hannah for being on the list, yet she had no control over it. Or you could be neutral and not blame either. Because there are endless ways to look at situations, I don't think there is justice in the world.

           Hannah, the main character in Thirteen Reasons Why doesn't give the people she purposefully victimizes a chance. By this, I mean she doesn't look at both sides of the story. Was she actually innocent? Or did she just want to see herself as innocent? On the third tape, Hannah talks about Courtney Crimsen, one of the popular girls at her school. Hannah loved Courtney, they were very close friends. But Hannah slowly began to realize that Courtney was just "grooming [Hannah] to be another tally mark under People Who Think Courtney Is a Really Neat Girl" (Asher 95).This is another example of how justice can differ in everyone's eyes. Yes, Courtney didn't really want to be friends with Hannah, but she wasn't necessarily being mean. I can understand how Hannah was offended, things like this have happened to me before. But I do not think Courtney is to blame for this, she only wanted to be liked by everyone. Courtney's act wasn't unjust, it was simply an urge to fit in.

          Although in some cases, there is an obvious wrongdoer. For example, on the second tape, Hannah talks about a boy named Tyler. Tyler watched Hannah through her window, doing things like getting dressed and even sleeping. What Tyler was doing was a real problem, not only was it scary, an invasion of personal privacy, but it is also illegal. The worst part about what Tyler was doing is the pictures. He took pictures of Hannah in her house, he basically stalked her. And Hannah absolutely hated him for this. Hannah almost felt bad for him, "I sincerely hope you burned or erased those pictures. Because if they get out... I'd hate to think what might happen to you" (Asher 86). She knew things wouldn't be easy for him if he was exposed. In this case, I see that it wasn't Hannah's fault. It wasn't fair to Hannah because she couldn't do much about the situation.

          Yes, I'm saying that Hannah is purposefully victimizing some of these people. But no, I'm not saying her suicide was pointless. She had so many small issues going on, that we could sense from the tapes, and she couldn't deal with them all at once. All of the issues together are more overwhelming than one at a time. While Hannah may seem these acts as unjust, others may see these as normal humans being their normal selves.

Independent Reading Response: How different are people allowed to be in this text?

            It's an odd thing to contemplate, how different people are allowed to be. As opposed to how different people are. In the book Looking for Alaska by John Green, all of the main and secondary characters have very contradictory personalities. In some areas of their lives, these characters are rebellious and wild, while in other parts they behave in the complete opposite manner. I think the characters, like Miles and Alaska, are allowed to have different personalities in different aspects of their lives.
           John Green starts off the book by portraying Alaska as a wild teenage girl, who doesn't care what people think of her. "Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die" (Green 44). Alaska told this to her friends with such a carefree attitude around it. She made it seem like what she was saying was no big deal. Although, Alaska isn't always her carefree character. At one point in the book, the Colonel was talking about Lara, one of his friends, and what he thought of her body. Alaska responded to his comment with: "DO NOT OBJECTIFY WOMEN'S BODIES" (Green 60). This shows that while Alaska does have a tough side, she is a intelligent young woman, who is bright enough to know when a man is being disrespectful to a woman. Alaska, like most of the other characters is a very contradictory personality.
            Miles, the main character, doesn't exactly have two different personalities like Alaska does. In the beginning of the book John Green introduces him as a lonely nerd. But when Miles moves to Culver Creek Boarding School, that changes. He instantly finds a new group of friends, who aren't "his kind of people." Alaska, the Colonel and Takumi are all wild, much different than Miles had been back in Florida. But Miles quickly becomes one of them, he smokes, drinks and pranks without a second thought. Miles wasn't exactly pressured into being this person, he just followed by example. "I knew my job: sit tight and shut up" (Green 58). Miles thought this during a student trial where Alaska and the Colonel were being convicted of drinking on campus. Although Miles grew up as a well-behaved child, and he felt as if his old personality wouldn't be acceptable for his new friends. After following his friends' behavior for a few weeks, he began to adapt to the smoking and drinking and that character overtook him. I don't think Miles was allowed to be very different, but in the end he seems to enjoy his new carefree self. So maybe his change was (in some ways) for the best.
            The Colonel. Even by hearing his nickname you can tell he is a special personality. A Colonel is a highly ranking officer in the military, and that's exactly how I would describe his relationship with Alaska and Miles. He controls the group's actions, by scheming the pranks and forcing Miles to buy him cigarettes. The Colonel is portrayed as a tough guy, and he is like that at some moments, but at others he can be a sensitive genius. When Alaska tells the group the story of her mother's death, the Colonel softens up. He asks Alaska "Why didn't you ever tell me?" (Green 120). This shows how he can have a sensitive side while still being a rebel. He felt bad for Alaska and wanted to help her. The reader can see the Colonel's devilish side very early in the book. After the Colonel and Miles had been pranked (again)  by "the Weekend Warriors", the Colonel told Miles to "point those guys out to me if you see them today" (Green 29). The Colonel wanted to get back at the pranksters, and he didn't care if it only made the war worse.
            I think that everyone, in their own way, has one personality at home and one at school. For example, at home I'm a bit more laid back than I am at school. Those two personalities are almost natural. I found Miles, the Colonel, and Alaska's personalities interesting because the two were so extreme. I think the way that these characters act shows that, yes, they are allowed to be different. It is almost encouraged to be different, and stick out from the crowd. Miles' group of friends seems to be made up of the outcasts of Culver Creek Boarding School.

Independent Reading Response: How does this text make you think about justice in the world?

            Some people may think that there is justice in the world, and many others think the opposite. After reading Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, I realized justice isn't the same in everyone's eyes. In my opinion, there isn't justice in the world because any person can be seen as the opposite of who they really are. In the book, Hannah sees her victims as awful people. However Hannah find things horribly wrong with her "victims" because she's looking for them. I think that justice is seen differently depending on who's looking at the case.
            Jay Asher, the author of Thirteen Reasons Why, portrays Hannah as a reserved character. One who doesn't open herself up easily. Because of this trait, Hannah seems to be a bystander in her own issues. On one of the seven tapes, Hannah includes a part about Jessica, her old best friend. Hannah talks about how mad she is at Jessica for leaving her, yet (in my opinion) Hannah didn't do anything to try and keep Jessica within her reach. While in Hannah's mind, she (Hannah) may have been innocent. "She lifted one of her hands and slapped a paper on the table" (Asher 64), Jessica stopped being friends with Hannah out of jealousy, Hannah was on "the list" (a basic "body-rating" system, that was created by a classmate) and she wasn't. And Hannah stopped being friends with Jessica, because Jessica had left her. While it may seem like Jessica is to blame, there are many ways to look at it. One could blame Hannah for being on the list, yet she had no control over it. Or you could be neutral and not blame either. Because there are endless ways to look at situations, I don't think there is justice in the world.
            Hannah, the main character in Thirteen Reasons Why doesn't give her thirteen people (on the tapes) a chance. By this, I mean she doesn't look at both sides of the story. Was she actually innocent? Or did she just want to see herself as innocent? On the third tape, Hannah talks about Courtney Crimsen, one of the popular girls at her school. Hannah loved Courtney, they were very close friends. But Hannah slowly began to realize that Courtney was just "grooming [Hannah] to be another tally mark under People Who Think Courtney Is a Really Neat Girl." This is another example of how justice can differ in everyone's eyes. Yes, Courtney didn't really want to be friends with Hannah, but she wasn't necessarily being mean. I can understand how Hannah was offended, things like this have happened to me before. But I do not think Courtney is to blame for this, she only wanted to be liked by everyone. Courtney's act wasn't unjust, it was simply an urge to fit in.
           Although in some cases, there is an obvious wrongdoer. For example, on the second tape, Hannah talks about a boy named Tyler. Tyler watched Hannah through her window, doing things like getting dressed and even sleeping. What Tyler is doing is a real problem, not only is it scary, an invasion of personal privacy, but it is also illegal. The worst part about what Tyler was doing is the pictures. He took pictures of Hannah in her house, he basically stalked her. And Hannah absolutely hated him for this. Hannah almost felt bad for him, "I sincerely hope you burned or erased those pictures. Because if they get out... I'd hate to think what might happen to you." She knew things wouldn't be easy for him if he was exposed. In this case, I one hundred percent see that it wasn't Hannah's fault. It wasn't fair to Hannah because she couldn't do much about the situation.
           Yes, I'm saying that Hannah is purposefully victimizing some of these people. But no, I'm not saying her suicide was pointless. She had so many small issues going on, that we could sense from the tapes, and she couldn't deal with them all at once. All of the issues together are more overwhelming than one at a time.

Argument Essay on Banned Books: Second Draft

Throughout the world, parents are trying to shield their children from real life issues in Young Adult novels. One of these books is, “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, which teaches many important lessons using mature scenarios. Charlie, the main character, is a high school freshman who has to enter the high school world and in his case, it means a lot of drug trials and sex, both issues are deemed as inappropriate issues for intermediate school students to be reading about. School libraries and teachers are trying to remove the book from their libraries. However, this book should not be banned because it teaches readers about controversial issues and themes that they can connect to, like sexual experiences and being influenced by their peers.

Many parents, who are uncomfortable with mature themes in Young Adult novels, are trying to censor the books that their kids are reading. Diana Verm a 10th grader in Conroe, Texas, was assigned Fahrenheit 451 by her English teacher. She began reading it but stopped after a few pages because she felt that there was too much “cussing and then the burning of the bible.” (Religious Nuts in Texas Seek to Ban Book About Book Banning). Diana Verm told this to her father, Alton Verm, and he worked on pushing administrators to ban Fahrenheit 451 from school libraries. Amy Freeman, a mother of three, gave her opinion on Young Adult literature in the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Meghan Cox Gurdon. She went to her local bookstore and found that there was “nothing, not a thing, that I could imagine giving to my daughter. It was all vampires, suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff.” (1).The same article also said that these books contained “hideously distorted portrayals of what life is,” but I’d have to disagree. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower contains similar issues to books in the article, but the portrayal is completely realistic, it isn’t an over-exaggerated version of an issue a person might experience in real life.

There is a need for children to learn about the important themes that they are being shielded from, like sex and drugs. The Perks of Being A Wallflower is written about so many valuable themes, and if it were banned, how would children learn about them? Towards the beginning of the book, Charlie flashes back to when his brother threw a huge party while their parents were in Ohio. Charlie was told to stay in his room and he did, but at one point during the night a couple came in asking if they could use his room. Charlie just sat there trying to ignore the fact that the boy was basically raping his “girlfriend”. It was all very innocent seeming, when Charlie’s sister came in his room to check on him, she found the couple on his bed and asked Charlie “Why didn’t you stop them?” Charlie responded with, “I didn’t know what they were doing,” (Chboksy 31). Charlie learned about how rape can happen when you don’t even realize it. If The Perks of Being A Wallflower was banned, then children wouldn’t be able to learn any of the lessons that Charlie learned, including the one in this section of the book.

The idea of censoring books is only going to make children read them more. When books are banned it is going to create a higher profile for that book. In the article “The Banned Books We Have Loved” by Jen Doll, Rita Meade, a librarian, is quoted: “I honestly don’t think that banning a book ruins its reputation or makes children afraid to read it. If anything, the opposite will happen.” (3). I completely agree with Meade, being a student myself, if a book were banned that would only make me want to read it more, to see why it had been banned in the first place. Later in the article, Meade adds that, “a book being added to a censored list simply means she’ll only fight harder to get it into the hands of kids because it means the book has an important message along with being just entertaining.” (3). I think that Rita Meade made a valid point, these books are being banned because people don’t think that the message is being relayed through appropriate scenarios. In my opinion, if it relays an important message, why would you keep your kids from it? An example of this is in The Perks of Being A Wallflower is when Charlie takes LSD, and he doesn’t have the greatest experience. He doesn’t remember much of what happened the night before, but he does make it clear that he will “never take LSD again.” (Chbosky 100). This teaches kids the bad side effects of drugs through a mature scenario, but it does put across the message that drugs are bad.

These banned books have too many valuable lessons to be banned from school libraries. It’s hard to learn about rape or sexual abuse if you haven’t experienced it in your own life, so how else do we learn about it? An extremely graphic movie? Books seem to be the best way to teach us about new and mature topics. Some of the scenarios can be graphic, so maybe kids should discuss the book with their parents before they read it. This way the child will still be able to have a say in what they get to read.

Monday Muses

Recently the new One Direction song, Story of my Life, was released. The morning that it was released I listened to it nearly thirty times. It may seem a bit cliche to say that I was inspired by this sappy boy band song, but the truth is, I was. In my opinion, the song is truly about how these five boys, Louis, Liam, Harry, Niall and Zayn haven't become terrible, disgusting people because of the fame that surrounds them. The "Story of my Life" video recreates images from the boys' childhoods, making everything in the image recreation the same, but the people in the recreation are older versions of themselves. I think the video director was really trying to put across the idea that these boys are still the same people they were when they were younger and still living a normal life. Now, they're just a bit more famous. The video director wants the fans to know that the fame hasn't gone to the boys' heads like it has for some other younger stars. For example, Miley Cyrus, all anyone can talk about these days is her latest scandal, whether it's her newest outfits or a new video. It's the same with Justin Bieber, you can't stop hearing and reading about all these awful things he's doing. While my thoughts may be biased, considering I like One Direction and don't like Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus, it is still the truth. I'm not saying One Direction won't ever change, but after three years of being world famous, they've done a pretty great job. 

Now back to how the song inspired me, it really made me realize that I shouldn't let the environment that I'm in change me, whether it's new friends or simply a new school. I should stay true to myself and if people actually like me for myself, they'll stick with me. Otherwise, those friends aren't worth the work. While this idea may be a bit of a stretch from the song's message, this is what I got from the song. Others may have understood different things. But the definite overall message is stay true to your roots, and that message can be interpreted in many different ways.

Argument Essay on Banned Books: DRAFT

"The Perks of Being A Wallflower" teaches many important lessons using mature scenarios. School libraries and teachers are trying to remove "The Perks Of Being Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, from their selection of books, and in my opinion it shouldn't be removed just because of mature and non traditional themes and issues.

Many parents, who are uncomfortable with mature themes in Young Adult novels, are trying to censor the books that their kids are reading. Diana Verm a 10th grader in Conroe, Texas, was assigned “Fahrenheit 451” by her English teacher. She began reading it but stopped after a few pages because she felt that there was too much “cussing and then the burning of the bible.” Diana Verm told this to her father, Alton Verm, and he worked on pushing administrators to ban “Fahrenheit 451” from school libraries. Amy Freeman, a mother of three, gave her opinion on Young Adult literature in the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Meghan Cox Gurdon. She went to her local bookstore and found that there was “nothing, not a thing, that I could imagine giving to my daughter. It was all vampires, suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff.” The same article also said that these books contained “hideously distorted portrayals of what life is,” but I’d have to disagree. “The Perks Of Being A Wallflower” contains similar issues to books in the article, but the portrayal is completely realistic, it isn’t an over-exaggerated version of an issue a person might experience in real life.

The idea of censoring books is only going to make children read them more. When books are banned it is going to create a higher profile for that book. In the article “The Banned Books We Have Loved” by Jen Doll, Rita Meade, a librarian, is quoted “I honestly don’t think that banning a book ruins its reputation or makes children afraid to read it. If anything, the opposite will happen.” I completely agree with Meade, being a student myself, if a book were banned that would only make me want to read it more, to see why it had been banned in the first place. Later in the article, Meade adds that “a book being added to a censored list simply means she’ll only fight harder to get it into the hands of kids because it means the book has an important message along with being just entertaining.” I think that Rita Meade made a valid point, these books are being banned because people don’t think that the message is being relayed through appropriate scenarios. In my opinion, if it relays an important message, why would you keep your kids from it? An example of this is in “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” is when Charlie takes LSD, and he doesn’t have the greatest experience. He doesn’t remember much of what happened the night before, but he does make it clear that he will “never take LSD again.” (page 100) This teaches kids the bad side effects of drugs through a mature scenario, but it does put across the message that drugs are bad.

There is a need for children to learn about the important themes that they are being shielded from, like sex and drugs. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” is written about so many valuable themes, and if it were banned, how would children learn about them? Towards the beginning of the book, Charlie flashes back to when his brother threw a huge party while their parents were in Ohio. Charlie was told to stay in his room and he did, but at one point during the night a couple came in asking if they could use his room. Charlie just sat there trying to ignore the fact that the boy was basically raping his “girlfriend”. It was all very innocent seeming, when Charlie’s sister came in his room to check on him, she found the couple on his bed and asked Charlie “Why didn’t you stop them?” Charlie responded with, “I didn’t know what they were doing,” (page 31). Charlie learned about how rape can happen when you don’t even realize it. If “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” was banned, then children wouldn’t be able to learn any of the lessons that Charlie learned, including the one in this section of the book.

In conclusion, these books have too many valuable lessons to be banned from school libraries. It’s hard to learn about rape or sexual abuse if you haven’t experienced it in your own life, so how else do you learn about it? An extremely graphic movie? Books seem to be the best way to teach children about new and mature topics. Some of the scenarios can be graphic, so maybe kids should check with their parents before they read the book. That way they will still have the option of reading it.

Monday Muses: A Collection of My Monday Muse Inspired Poetry

This first poem was written after reading a poem called Harlem on a Winter Night, by Kofi Awoonor, that contains the phrase "eternal nightmare" and I was inspired to write off of that line, this poem is my interpretation of the phrase "eternal nightmare".

Eternal Nightmare
This world we live in
Is an eternal nightmare
Yet somehow it's also
A fantasy society
A persons eyes change the world around them
To match their personality
The bad people live in
Eternal nightmares
Running, hiding from their punishment
In our world, the kind ones live in
A fantasy world
Where there isn't punishment surrounding them
But eternal nightmares and fantasy worlds,
They mix
And they neutralize each other
To become the real world
These two alternate societies
Are just a vision
Of ones guilt


This next poem was inspired by Malala Yousafzai. She is young girl who was shot on the left side of the face by the Taliban, when fighting for women's rights. After hearing about her story in a video on nytimes.com, I was inspired by her story and decided to write off of her idea that nobody / nothing can stop her, not even a bullet. (Here is a link to the video we watched, http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/video-of-malala-yousafzai-at-u-n-calling-on-world-leaders-to-provide-education-to-every-child/?_r=1)

They tried
They tried to silence her with a bullet
To stop a threatening little girl
To stop her from changing everything
They chose to stop her
With a bullet
They thought a simple
Pull of a trigger
One single shot
Would stop her
It didn't
It empowered her
She's speaking for everyone
The women
The girls
The boys
She speaking to make a difference
They tried to silence her with a bullet
But she didn't quit
They failed


This final poem is inspired by yet another poem called My Childhood, that we read in class, written about a man, named Matthew Zapruder's childhood memories. His metaphoric tone inspired me to write something similar to his writing, yet not exactly the same tone. I decided to try and "I remember" type poem. Although I'm still a child, this poem is about the changes made from elementary school to middle school.

Were all grown up
I remember
When at lunch you could sit with whoever you wanted
Before people became rude and conceited
And cliques were  formed to be pushed out of
When everyone was friends
And boys had cooties
I remember
Wearing clothes that were chosen for me
And calling teachers by their first names
When we weren't judged by the board of education on our test taking skills
And we were homework free, carefree
I remember life without
The stress
The pressure
The  scariness  of growing
I remember  wanting to grow up faster