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Megan Brown

Rob Merritt Interview with Jodi Picoult - 1 views

  • hey were great. Those two really gave me the teacher's point of view. A lot of the details that you see in that first chapter, on the shooting, came from either the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (Columbine) or from those teachers. I also spoke to a young man named Kevin Braun, who was a survivor at Rocori. His best friend was killed that day, and he was in gym class with the other student who was killed. He had never talked about this with anyone. He says—as I imagine you have heard also—that kids who were there know that there are no words for what happened, and if you weren't there, you'd never understand anyway, so why bother?
  • In terms of the twist at the end, I often do that in my books. I'll have a twist, and I'll know it before I even write it. Because I need to be able to lay a paper trail for you throughout the book, so you can go back at the end and say, "What did I miss?" And of course, thematically, this twist is something you should be able to figure out.
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Megan Brown

Nineteen Minutes Criticism - 1 views

  • Nineteen Minutes offers a fairly straightforward account of what could make a student turn against his (or, sometimes, her) fellow class mates
  • The relationship between Peter and his parents is given more space, but this could also have been examined more closely. Picoult appears to hold back from following up on the intriguing world she creates. Relating the role of parents in raising a child who ends up being a murderer is welcome, particularly when we are told Peter’s father lectures on the economics of happiness. Irony is heaped on irony with the descriptions of Peter’s mother, Lacy, as she is a midwife (and deemed knowledgeable on parenting) and is also seen to be as kind as she is inept in her understanding of her son.
  • This lack of awareness between the parents and child could have been squeezed for more material and this could have been brought about at the expense of editing out the less relevant musings of Alex Cormier, a judge and failing mother.
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  • hese parts feels bolted on and overdone, and have the effect of making the reader even more impatient for a greater insight into the thought processes of the bullies and victims.
    • Megan Brown
       
      In addition to this, this section of the reading emphasizes the novels unimportant details such as the side story of Alex Cormier.  Her love life and marital situations do not relate to the novels overall ideas.  Instead, the major details, like the personality of Peter's older brother and Peter's relationship with his parents at a young age, are left to the reader to fill in missing information--resulting in negative opinions of the book if the unknown doesn't go the reader's way.
    • Megan Brown
       
      There is irony added to the novel when the two things Peter's parents stand for the most seem to be what ultimately caused his colossal downfall: levels of happiness, and good parenting.
    • Megan Brown
       
      This comment by the author further asserts that Picoult focuses too much on the minor characters and less on things worth discussing like the lives of the children who caused the bullying to occur.  What made the bullies act out in the ways they did? Who is the real victim in the novel, or is there even a victim at all?
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Megan Gibson

Cell Literary Criticism - 0 views

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    Argument: King satirizes society and their dependence upon material things. Claims: The use of cell phones in the novel is effective because it is relateable to nearly all modern societies. Evidence:"King's use of cell phones as the mechanism to reduce the vast majority of Americans (the characters assume a worst-case worldwide scenario) to mindless zombies offers the opportunity for observation and commentary about the near-ubiquity of cell phones and society's infatuation with and dependence on them. Rather than develop this richly fertile ground for satire, though, King opts for a serious horror novel" (Avinger)
Megan Gibson

Needful Thing Literary Criticism - 0 views

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    Argument: Needful Things is a satirical horror story. Claims: Society is too dependent upon the ideas of religion, we are not only ignorant of each other, but we trust each other too much. Evidence: "In every case, possessions bring out the worst in people. They think that acquiring things will make them happy, but they are paying for un-needful things with their precious humanity: They only feel more unhappy and more isolated in their misery. Needful Things is an indictment of the American consumer culture." (delaney)
Cameron Black

Literary Reference Center - powered by EBSCOhost: To Kill a Mockingbird - 0 views

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    Argument: To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel about maturation. Claims: The character goes through a series of adventures from innocence to experience and mature through their adolescence.  Evidence: Over the three years that the book covers in the lives of Scout and Jem, they come to forget about the wild accusations of Boo Radley and start to become more involved in the events in their community. In the end, Scout finally comprehends the meaning of killing a mockingbird when she alludes to it after Boo Radley kills Bob Ewell.
Alyssa Bradley

Literary Reference Center - powered by EBSCOhost: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - 0 views

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    Argument: Powerful and mezmorizing, The Adevtnures of Tom Sawyer cannot be traced to just one specific audience. Claim: As a book that portarys the adventures of boyhood, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is also a book for adults, as well as young children. Adults and younger kids can relate to any part of the story from adventure, to love, to a life of secrets. Evidence: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is also for those who have long since passed from boyhood: "[It] is not a boy's book at all. It will be read only by adults. It is written only for adults" (4). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a delicate balance of the romantic and realistic, humor and pathos, innocence and evil, the book defies simple analysis (4). In contrast to Huck's self-reliant, unschooled, parentless existence, his passive preference for being a follower, and his abhorrence of civilization, Tom is adventurous, shrewd in the ways of civilization, and a leader (4).
Alyssa Bradley

Literary Reference Center - powered by EBSCOhost: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - 0 views

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    Argument: By writing the story in Huck's own words, Twain uses Huck's point of view to reveal the conflict between innocence and goodness throughout the story. Claim: The author claims that the best in an individual, by helping Jim escape, reveals Huck's innocent side in knowing helping Jim is the right choice. By refusing to turn in Jim, Huck goes against his own society and what they have taught him all throughout his life. Slavery, to Huck, in a way doesn't exist because in his world, life is an adventure, regardless of race. Evidence: Twain uses the idea of slavery as a metaphor for all social bondage and injustice (Grant). Twain compellingly establishes the irony that Huck's "sin" against the social establishment affirms the best that is possible in the individual (Grant). Twain maintains an almost perfect fidelity to Huck's point of view in order to dramatize the conflict between Huck's innate innocence and natural goodness and the dictates of a corrupt society (Grant).
Megan Brown

Jodi Picoult Interview- Ninteen Minutes - 0 views

  • What appealed to you about bringing back two characters from previous novels:
  • It's always great fun to bring a character back, because you get to catch up on his/her life; and you don't have to reinvent the wheel -- you already know how he speaks, acts, thinks.
  • Two other facts that surprised me: for many of these shooters, there is the thinnest line between suicide and homicide. They go to the school planning to kill themselves and decide at the last minute to shoot others, too. And that, psychologically, a single act of childhood bullying is as scarring emotionally as a single act of sexual abuse.
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  • You once remarked about your previous novel, My Sister's Keeper, that "there are so many shades of gray in real life." How might this statement also apply to Nineteen Minutes?
  • And like the moral and ethical complications of MSK, you have a kid in Nineteen Minutes who does something that, on the surface, is absolutely devastating and destructive and will end the lives of others. But -- given what these characters have endured -- can you blame them? Do I condone school shootings? Absolutely not. But I can understand why a child who's been victimized might feel like he's justified in fighting back.
  • I also think it's fascinating to look at how two good parents might find themselves with a child they do not recognize -- a child who does something they can't swallow. Do you stop loving your son just because he's done something horrible? And if you don't, do you start hating yourself?
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Sarah Ward

Racial Prejudice - 0 views

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    Argument:The All About God Corporation argues that society is greatly affected by prejudice established in our hearts. Claim: the author states that even though America's constitution is based upon equality and" created equal" theory this does not apply to our hearts and minds. The constitution can only state what the individuals are supposed to do not how we are supposed to treat others on an emotional level. Prejudice was tracked down all the way to the beginning Bibble times, explaining that prejudice can never change just in an established constitution, it starts and ends with how humans perceive others of different races/ ethnicities. Evidence: "While man's actions can be legislated, their heart and fears cannot"( AllAboutGod 1). "Prejudice has shaped societies since time began. As far back as the children of Abraham and Isaac" ( AllAboutGod 1). "Racial prejudice... affecting  people and populations all over the world"(AllAboutGod 1).
Cameron Black

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.  - Slate Magazine - 0 views

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    Argument: That the problem with trying to write a literary criticism on TKAM is that there isn't anything to criticize. Claim: That TKAM is ranked as one of the most influential books in Americans' lives. Evidence: "To Kill a Mockingbird sells about a million copies per year, for a total of 30 million to date, and is consistently ranked in reader surveys as the most influential book in Americans' lives, after, of course, the Bible."
Sydnee Arnson

Literary Reference Center - powered by EBSCOhost: Of Mice and Men - 0 views

  • which consists of “a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin that was his.” This is one of the central themes that propels the novel’s
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    Argument: The American dream is something that George and Lennie want in their lives. Claim: Each of their "dreams" consists of owning a farm
Ashley Prosser

My Gay Husband - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • By the time we landed, we had decided to keep his sexual orientation a secret and stay married for the sake of the children.
Ashley Prosser

So What is Normal? | Welcome to So What is Normal? - 0 views

shared by Ashley Prosser on 08 Feb 12 - No Cached
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    We are seen by many to behave beyond social norms: 'ranting and raving'- when spaces are consistently designed that render us stuck. We are not abnormal: our diversity labels shoves us in a bag marked 'divergence from the norm'. It's time to get out of the bag and into the pot.
Tatiana Jerome

Coming up for Air - 0 views

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    Claim:the simple things
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