I have just read a book called Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez. It is about this girl named Carmen who plays violin very well. She is entering a competition to go on tour as a violinist. She develops some romantic feelings for her competition (Jeremy) and her mom doesn't approve. And there is drug addiction to anti- anxiety pills. This changes her perspective on things and she has to decide: does she want to this competition like her mom has always wanted for her or does want to do something different? I think there are a lot of issues in this book but the two most important are family problems and romance.
Carmen takes drugs to calm her nerves down for any big event. However, this doesn't bother her mom. Her mom is more like her manager than a mom. Sure, Carmen gets into fights with her because she is controlling and over-protective. Her mom even bribed the judges with money to have her as a finalist in the competition. A lot of moms, in real life, don’t understand their daughters’ puberty years. When the girls have mood swings or are taking drugs. Moms think whatever they’re doing is the best for their daughter and they don’t even think to ask. Is this okay? Are you alright with the decision I’m making? Never heard those questions from my mom. I think Carmen’s issue is the fact that her mom does what she thinks best and I bet those are a girl’s top issue in life.
Carmen, throughout the book, had fallen for Jeremy King. He riles her up, making her mad, insulting her but he also understands her. He challenges her not on violin but on life. He is the reason she changes so much throughout the book. She starts out so determined to hate him she doesn't even know she loved him until the very end. It’s a wonder that yet she calls him names and he makes her spitting mad, he cares. He knows the pressure she is going through, and he has even worse situations back home. For many girls that is hard to find someone who can make them feel so much at once. It is hard find someone who challenges them yet understands them. It is like looking for your own Mr. Darcy but you have to go through so much to find him. That it is also one Carmen’s issues in life.
Carmen has another issue in between these two issues. Her mom doesn't like her crushing on competition and Jeremy doesn't like her controlling Carmen’s life. Things get so bad that’s she has to sneak out to see him and hide it from her mom. She even gets her tutor into trouble in the process. Her mom grounds her but something that really gets her angry is when her mom bribes the judges. They choose her instead of Jeremy and that really makes her leave the house. I think Carmen’s mom thought if Carmen made the finals she would loose her interest in him.
Carmen has big issues in her life, love and mommy. But I think even at the end of the book, she finds a way to balance things out. Especially her mom and Jeremy and all the drama that was going on in her life.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Matched
RR#9 - RR#9 (edit)
by 712 Areebah
RR#9 (edit)
Chapter 1 — Updated May 27, 2013 — 4,366 characters
The book, “Matched”, by Ally Condie” is a very interesting read. It is about a girl who lives in a society that chooses who you love, where you work, and when you die. So when Cassia is matched with her best friend Xander, she is happy. But on her micro card she gets another choice, another match, and another person she could live the rest of her life with. It’s Ky Markham. As the book goes on she chooses what is right and wrong. She has to choose between Ky and Xander. Matched teaches us, even if society doesn’t give a choice, life does and it’s up to you which path to choose in the end.
Life gives you choices everyday, but for Cassia, society gave her a choice of a life time. For example, on page 35, “My heart stops and I can’t believe what I see. A face comes back to view on the port in front of me. It’s not Xander.” At this point of the book, Cassia is has just found out her perfect best friend was to be her match. But presented with another match, she wonders if society made a mistake. She can’t have two choices. Perfect Xander and quiet mysterious Ky. But who was she to challenge society? She tells no one, maybe afraid to go against society because she has always done what society asked of her. This is the start this huge choice. It is a something life gave her and now she has to make her choice. This scene shows me how unexpected a choice could be. It could be an everyday thing. For example, an easy way out of homework is not doing it and then doing it all at zero period later or not being lazy and doing my homework and not having to deal with consequences of not getting it done.
After a lot analyzing, Cassia is at cross roads. For example on page 213, “My hands ache to reach for him. But I can’t bring myself to betray Xander.” Cassia realizes she is falling for Ky but she can’t do anything about it. how can she risk the friendship she has Xander, especially when he loves her the way she can’t love him back. If she chooses Ky, she her life will be difficult for he is an outcast in society. If she chooses Xander, she will be doing what is expected of her but she will never be truly happy. This is the part of the process where she chooses who she wants. Being at cross roads is not a bad thing, it just eases things out. There are pros and cons in both paths. This scene shows me how hard it really to make a choice. It’s easy to procrastinate. And people who just decide right away probably will hate the result of their choice.
Telling the truth is probably hard. Cassia experiences that first hand. For example page 327, “I think I’m falling in love with someone else.’ I speak softly. I almost can’t hear my own voice. But Xander understands.” There it is! The moment of truth. Cassia has made her choice. She is picking the road with obstacles with the outcast she loves. Unfortunately Xander doesn’t take this well. There is no right or wrong with any choice. She chose the road with obstacles but all those obstacles will prove her love true in the end. What I learned from this scene is that it’s hard it is to finalize the choice you made .for example, if I personally don’t something for homework, I stay up all night thinking about it. Maybe because there’s lots of guilt involved in it in this choosing process, no matter what you pick, you’ll always wonder what if I had made that choice. How would my life be like?
All in all, choices lead up to life’s biggest moments. “Matched” by Ally Condie, teaches us Life gives you choices, and even if society doesn’t support it, it’ll only ever be up to you to decide the outcome. I think it would have worked either way for Cassia. Maybe she wants to be a rebel. She has been tied down by society for so long; it makes sense why she didn’t want to be with Xander in the end. Something about falling in love with Ky probably showed her she was her own person, allowed to make her own choices. I think this happens in the real world too. Sometimes my parents set the strictest limitations for me and I just want to break lose and show them I’m an individual, not every other south Asian girl. All of us should be lucky that life gives us choices. Without them it would be a pretty boring life without unexpected surprises. These choices make things happen. And it’s up to us to choose which path to take
Life gives you choices everyday, but for Cassia, society gave her a choice of a life time. For example, on page 35, “My heart stops and I can’t believe what I see. A face comes back to view on the port in front of me. It’s not Xander.” At this point of the book, Cassia is has just found out her perfect best friend was to be her match. But presented with another match, she wonders if society made a mistake. She can’t have two choices. Perfect Xander and quiet mysterious Ky. But who was she to challenge society? She tells no one, maybe afraid to go against society because she has always done what society asked of her. This is the start this huge choice. It is a something life gave her and now she has to make her choice. This scene shows me how unexpected a choice could be. It could be an everyday thing. For example, an easy way out of homework is not doing it and then doing it all at zero period later or not being lazy and doing my homework and not having to deal with consequences of not getting it done.
After a lot analyzing, Cassia is at cross roads. For example on page 213, “My hands ache to reach for him. But I can’t bring myself to betray Xander.” Cassia realizes she is falling for Ky but she can’t do anything about it. how can she risk the friendship she has Xander, especially when he loves her the way she can’t love him back. If she chooses Ky, she her life will be difficult for he is an outcast in society. If she chooses Xander, she will be doing what is expected of her but she will never be truly happy. This is the part of the process where she chooses who she wants. Being at cross roads is not a bad thing, it just eases things out. There are pros and cons in both paths. This scene shows me how hard it really to make a choice. It’s easy to procrastinate. And people who just decide right away probably will hate the result of their choice.
Telling the truth is probably hard. Cassia experiences that first hand. For example page 327, “I think I’m falling in love with someone else.’ I speak softly. I almost can’t hear my own voice. But Xander understands.” There it is! The moment of truth. Cassia has made her choice. She is picking the road with obstacles with the outcast she loves. Unfortunately Xander doesn’t take this well. There is no right or wrong with any choice. She chose the road with obstacles but all those obstacles will prove her love true in the end. What I learned from this scene is that it’s hard it is to finalize the choice you made .for example, if I personally don’t something for homework, I stay up all night thinking about it. Maybe because there’s lots of guilt involved in it in this choosing process, no matter what you pick, you’ll always wonder what if I had made that choice. How would my life be like?
All in all, choices lead up to life’s biggest moments. “Matched” by Ally Condie, teaches us Life gives you choices, and even if society doesn’t support it, it’ll only ever be up to you to decide the outcome. I think it would have worked either way for Cassia. Maybe she wants to be a rebel. She has been tied down by society for so long; it makes sense why she didn’t want to be with Xander in the end. Something about falling in love with Ky probably showed her she was her own person, allowed to make her own choices. I think this happens in the real world too. Sometimes my parents set the strictest limitations for me and I just want to break lose and show them I’m an individual, not every other south Asian girl. All of us should be lucky that life gives us choices. Without them it would be a pretty boring life without unexpected surprises. These choices make things happen. And it’s up to us to choose which path to take
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Better not to be a lady
I am reading the book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It is about this orphaned girl named Jane Eyre and how she goes about living her life as she grows up and falls in love. A trait of hers is she talks a lot and that usually has to do with standing up for her self because she has no one in this world that cares for her.
For example, on page 5, her cousin, John, is about to hurt her and she says, “You wicked and cruel boy. You are like a murderer- you are like a slave- driver; you are like the Roman Emperors.” She says this because she hasn't done anything to him but yet he taunts and hurts her. I think she is brave to stand up for herself even though she gets hurt.
Another example is on page 31 she is leaving for boarding school. She tells her aunt, Ms.Reed, how she really feels. “ … I shall remember how you thrust me back roughly and violently… into the red room and locked up there to my dying day.... And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy – struck me , knocked me down for nothing….” I think because she is still suffering of what john did to her and the fact that she is leaving, she finally can tell her aunt that how horrible her son is. How she feels about him, and how she thinks he is stupid.
Also on page 31, Jane tells her aunt “I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if anyone asks how I liked you and, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty.” She stands up to aunt with such rebelliousness that her aunt goes into shock. I think it was courageous of her to stand up to her aunt after so many years of abuse. That it was brave to stand up to her especially when her aunt has so much control over Jane and Jane’s life.
A lady is a person who is graceful. A lady is a person who doesn't talk back or have habits. A lady is a person so admired and soft looking, even when she is not most attractive she has everyone stunned and in awe. Jane, when she is young, is most certainly not a lady. She talks back to her eldest cousins and her aunt. In the 1800’s, when this book was written, girls were to be seen and not heard. And yet with Jane it is the exact opposite. She is heard much more than she wants too be seen by people. And most of it is because she is very defensive of herself and she actually stands up for herself like with John and her aunt. Jane Eyre reminds me so much of myself. She is so rebellious (very subtle), but she goes against common nature. Where I come from, the tradition of being a “lady” is still in effect. I am being scolded by aunts and my mother. Apparently I am not behaving like the “lady” I’m supposed to be, whatever that means. But I count on never changing for the rest of my life. Jane Eyre teaches you that, standing up for yourself instead looking like a fool just taking insults, may be better than being a lady.
For example, on page 5, her cousin, John, is about to hurt her and she says, “You wicked and cruel boy. You are like a murderer- you are like a slave- driver; you are like the Roman Emperors.” She says this because she hasn't done anything to him but yet he taunts and hurts her. I think she is brave to stand up for herself even though she gets hurt.
Another example is on page 31 she is leaving for boarding school. She tells her aunt, Ms.Reed, how she really feels. “ … I shall remember how you thrust me back roughly and violently… into the red room and locked up there to my dying day.... And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy – struck me , knocked me down for nothing….” I think because she is still suffering of what john did to her and the fact that she is leaving, she finally can tell her aunt that how horrible her son is. How she feels about him, and how she thinks he is stupid.
Also on page 31, Jane tells her aunt “I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if anyone asks how I liked you and, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty.” She stands up to aunt with such rebelliousness that her aunt goes into shock. I think it was courageous of her to stand up to her aunt after so many years of abuse. That it was brave to stand up to her especially when her aunt has so much control over Jane and Jane’s life.
A lady is a person who is graceful. A lady is a person who doesn't talk back or have habits. A lady is a person so admired and soft looking, even when she is not most attractive she has everyone stunned and in awe. Jane, when she is young, is most certainly not a lady. She talks back to her eldest cousins and her aunt. In the 1800’s, when this book was written, girls were to be seen and not heard. And yet with Jane it is the exact opposite. She is heard much more than she wants too be seen by people. And most of it is because she is very defensive of herself and she actually stands up for herself like with John and her aunt. Jane Eyre reminds me so much of myself. She is so rebellious (very subtle), but she goes against common nature. Where I come from, the tradition of being a “lady” is still in effect. I am being scolded by aunts and my mother. Apparently I am not behaving like the “lady” I’m supposed to be, whatever that means. But I count on never changing for the rest of my life. Jane Eyre teaches you that, standing up for yourself instead looking like a fool just taking insults, may be better than being a lady.
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