Shining from the Darkness

The book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a fantastic book. This blog post will be about the second half of the book and how Ponyboy changed and how it shaped him. In the first half of the book, Hinton talked about his struggles and how it effected him and changed him. He gone through changes through his experiences and through determination to achieve a goal. He never gave up on his goal and always had confidence in what he was trying to achieve. Even though his gang and his brothers influenced him in many bad ways, he still found the light in the end. He found the correct path and shined through the darkness.

I think Ponyboy changed mainly in two ways. He changed from "false" to "correct" view and the other big change was a greater sense of identity. He wanted to find who he was as  a person and what his true identity was. He tried to do this through his actions but was still not really secure. One example is how he saved kids from a burning building. This shows that he was nice and not selfish. He didn't want to copy others, he wanted to develop his own personality and identity. With his experience throughout the book, he finally found out who he was as a person and who he wanted to be. In the beginning, he wasn't sure about his identity but during the end, he had 100% contorl of his destiny and found out his true identtity. I think Ponyboy changed from "false" to "correct" view because in the beginning, he had a false and bad influence by his brothers which changed what he wanted to become. They cursed, killed, and did drugs. But during the end, he changed and decided that he didn't want to be influenced by his brothers anymore which gave him the correct view. Through experience and dramatic incidents, Ponyboy changed.

After Ponyboy changed, he had many responsibilities and different tasks which kept his life busy. When the book ended, Ponyboy was still a child. Although he was still a child. I thought he was becoming an adult and changing. He decided to help others through his experience in the gang and decided to write a story about his experience. Ponyboy didn't really get privileges but he did have more responsibilities. His brother expects him to do well in school and not get into any more gang fights. Ponyboy wanted others to experience what he had gone through and prevent it from happening from others by writing his story and his point of view. I think that this shows Ponyboy's true identity and how nice he really was. He did what he wanted to do and not copy what others were doing. He hated the Socs but was humble with them in the end and he really described how he felt about their gang. He realized that you could achieve anything you wanted as long as you put your mind to it and have confidence in yourself.

I think the author was trying to say that childhood is a stage where you're not really mature yet and you tend to do things because other people do it. I think she was trying to say that as you move along, you will realize your own identity and follow your own path. I also think that she was trying to say that in childhood, kids make mistakes and it's okay as long as you change your mistakes through your childhood. I also think that it's okay to make mistakes as long as you realize your mistakes and correct them. She was also trying to say that adulthood is a stage where you have to take responsibility for actions you have done and take responsibility in everything you do. If you make a mistake, it is hard for someone to forgive you. It's not like you're three or four and you have an excuse to make mistakes. It is also hard to correct your mistake in adulthood since there are many things going on in your life and are causing you to think everyday.

In conclusion, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a fabulous book and tells a great story about a young boy's struggles and his journey to find his identity. He changes and shines through the darkness even though he is influenced in many bad ways by his gang and brothers. He is also teased because of how he looks and his background. This book has many great details that help tell the story. I really loved the end because it was the book inside the book. In the end, Ponyboy wrote his story exactly as how the story started which is very unique. After all, S.E. Hinton wrote this story based off of real life experiences. The ending showed how Ponyboy wanted to help others and how he wanted to change the way people thought about others. It was well plotted and I really enjoyed it. This would be a book that I would recommend to others and to my friends, especially friends that are struggling with identity problems.

Blog Post #5- Poetry/Song Lyric Responses

The song "In the End" by Linkin Park is one of my favorite songs of all times. Linkin Park is my favorite band and I love all the music they compose and I believe that all of their music have meanings. This song is a song and it reminds me of all the sad times, the beat is just really... calm. It reminds me of death and sorrow. I have two inferences about this song. One inference is that I think this song tells us that no matter what your status as a person is, ex: rich, poor, famous, pretty) when you die it won't matter. My second inference is that this song teaches us that you shouldn't waste time and that you should value your time.

First, I think that this song tells us that no matter what status a person has in life, it won't matter when we die. For example, the repetitive line ""What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when I tried so hard/ And got so far/ In the end, it doesn't even matter" is repeated many times throughout the song. This quote is telling us that in the end of your life, when you die; all of the fame and wealth or vice versa you had doesn't matter because you are dead. It also tells us that the future doesn't matter and only the present matters because everything you do will determine a different outcome of people's futures. All of it is gone, and nothing matters now. "What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when I tried so hard/ And got so far", I think this part of the line means that the person's life use to be full of riches but it will eventually be a memory when he/she dies. The narrator tried so hard and achieved his/her goals of becoming rich but in the end, it doesn't matter.

Second, I think that this song also teaches us that you shouldn't waste time and that you should value your time. For example, the lines "All I know / time is a valuable thing / Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings /
Watch it count down to the end of the day / The clock ticks life away" indicates that time is a valuable thing. The line "Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings", I think this line means that time is ticking really fast and that's why you shouldn't waste time. The pendulum is the clock and when it swings, time moves by really quickly. The line "Watch it count down to the end of the day" means that the narrator is wasting time and time is going by so quick that it's already the end of the day. Another example that shows this teaching is the lines "Didn’t look out below/ Watch the time go right out the window/ Trying to hold on but didn’t even know / Wasted it all just to/ Watch you go". I think these lines are talking about the narrator not planning his time well, because the narrator didn't plan his time well the time flies and as a result, time is wasted. He/she tries to fix his error but he/she just wasted all his/her time already so the narrator just watches the time fly.


In conclusion, I think that this song tells us that no matter what your status as a person is, when you die it won't matter and also teaches us that you shouldn't waste time and that you should value your time. The rich think that because they are rich, they can boss others and show off. But the value that this song teaches is that everyone is the same and it doesn't matter what clothes you wear or what kind of style you prefer. In the end, it doesn't matter. Everyone should be treated equally regardless of their looks or style. People should also value their time and spend it well, this song tells us that time can only go forward and not backwards. Once time is passed, there's no going back. This is why people should value their time and not waste it because if you're doing something you love like playing video games instead of doing your homework, you'd mostly end up not doing it or doing it late. When people enjoy events, time flies by and goes by like it's only been 10 minutes.

His life sucks alright.....

The book The Recruit by Robert Muchamore is a very fast paced exciting book about a young kid and his life. I have only started reading this book. I can tell that this book will be sort of like the Alex Rider series, since I read the blurb. Although I have just started reading the book, there are a lot of issues and problems that are going on in the main character, or James' life. He's so young and we already see a lot of issues, death, peer pressure, and more.

First, one issue in the book that I've seen so far is the most tragic thing that can happen to a teen, death. He's only 11 years old! James' mom dies all of a sudden from a stroke, he is left all alone. All he has is a step-dad that is mean spirited. He finds a way to take James' sister away to make James' life even more miserable. James' and his step-dad have this parent child relationship, James' hates his step-dad because he hates him. Not many peoples' moms die when their only a teenager. This is why I think that James' is one of the unluckiest people in the world, his mom dies and then his step-dad abandons him.

A second issue I see in the book so far is peer pressure. When James' agree to hang out with one of the most violent gangs. The gang peer pressures him into joining their gang and peer pressuring James to do a lot of bad crimes. They broke into a shop and stole some cars. James isn't even confident with himself. He doesn't really quite trust them, but if he denied the offer to join their gang, it would make him look like a scaredy cat. For example, when James made a joke about Vince, Vince was about to beat him up and make him lick the floor ten times.

In conclusion, James' life is very complicated. He's so young and is already encountering so many problems. The book is very entertaining so far. I can't wait till James gets recruited into CHERUB.I hope there will be more fast paced action. I am also hoping for a change from James, I hope he'll become nicer and won't hang out with the gang. Life is tough these days, especially for teenagers. In reality, a lot of teens are experiencing what James is feeling. He feels lost, he has to go to daycare.