The Giver: Community

I choose this question.

1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not?

I wouldn't want my future to be decided by others. If I were in Jonas's shoes then what if I had never been chosen the Receiver of Memory? Then I would never experience what snow was, sled, sunshine, hills etc. My life would be boring and it wouldn't be free. It wouldn't feel like freedom, just like getting capped. You wouldn't be free because you know you have to do this, maybe even when you don't want to. But if someone decided my future I would be safe, no worries of my own, etc. though my life would be the same old same old. It would be fun to have some risks, something to think about and use my brain. Taking risks is a way to learn and find new interests and be curious. Being controlled would be like an big piece of artwork with only black and white. Even with a speck of color, the chances are that it will get your attention. Just like my future I would want to know people, things, places etc. and also be known. Everyone is special in their own way. If I were to be controlled with everyone else it would be like seeing the people all in stick figures. The same hair, same clothes, same objects. Just like the children in The Giver each got the same objects as they turn a year older. When they're a Nine they each get bikes, when they're a Seven they get front buttoned jackets. Also what if you don't like the future they give you? What would you do then? So that is why I wouldn't want my future to be decided by others, I would want to get my own choices.

The End

I chose the first question: Write a prediction as to what will happen to the character(s) in the next book of the trilogy.

I think that Will, Henry and Beanpole will find people living at the mountains and live with them. Soon there will be a problem, having them go on another quest. I think the problem would be, Tripods finding the village/clan that Will, Henry, and Beanpole are living with (the title 'When The Tripods Came' made me think of that). They will fight against them with the peolple living at the White Mountains with new weapons, tunnels, etc. that the village made. Just as Will said at the last page, last paragraph, he wanted revenge on the Tripods. I wonder if the three boys are going to tell the other people that the capping is bad, start the war that the ancients had lost against, build secret tunnels with the 'subways'. But I am mostly curious, are they ever going to find the Tripods layer? Are they going to hunt them from there? What is the life like it there? What are the boys going to become?

Overall I thought the book was good, not excellent, not one of the worst books I read either. I thought it was a good book because the author described the things Will, Henry and Beanpole saw instead of just telling us what the object was. So I had to think about the object that the author described and guess what it was, kind of like a puzzle. Also I liked how the author created the character, the Tripods & the capping, city of the ancients, and most of all, how the author thought of to make the setting look like the past is happening again (instead of the future). But some scenes I didn't really enjoy because it had gotten boring or it confused me. How the author had hooked up the setting was really unique, but then it was confusing because the ancients were actually the modern time, while the present (in the book) was like in the past now.

Freedom

"The bitter thing was all the spirit, all the gallantry, was wasted. For even more than inferiors, they accepted and looked forward to being Capped. It was a part of becoming a knight, or of turning from a girl to lady. Thinking of this, I saw how good things could be meaningless in isolation. What value did courage have, without a free and challenging mind to direct it?" (p. 111)

This quote and the rest of the chapter (ch. 6: The Castle with the Red Tower) explains how freedom is important. The quote examples how courage is meaningless without a free and challenging mind. People there (in France) looked forward to being Capped, boy to knight, girl to lady. Will thought if you were Capped and possessed you can't think using your own strength which makes you more weak and timid. Further on in the book the Comtesse and Will have a chat about staying. Thinking about Eloise made Will want to stay forever. But soon he realizes what mistake he has done, giving up freedom for goods, feeling ashamed he ran away to join Henry and Beanpole.

Power of the VOID

The International School of Kuala Lumpur provides an exceptional education that challenges (silence) each student to develop the attitudes, skills, knowledge and understanding to become a highly successful, spirited, socially responsible global citizen.

I think that adding a silence after the word "challenges" creates the best tension. I think it creates the best tension because when you hear the word 'challenge', or 'test' etc. you automatically think 'oh no!' and you get tense. Also you will question the ISKL Mission Statement, what kinds of challenges are there? What are they talking about? Are they challenging me?? So I think adding a silence after "challenges" creates the best tension.

Composers can create tension by adding a void to their music. Such as gradually getting louder then using a pause or playing a soft, quiet melody. Another way is that the composers can include varies of sounds at once (for a few seconds) then all together suddenly there is only one instrument/sound playing the melody (or the music pauses). Suddenly getting softer (or a sudden pause) or back to one sound is the release in the tension. While lots of sounds are played at once (or while the music is loud) it creates tension in the audience. The audience will ask questions/ say comments such as, why are they playing at once? This is very confusing! I don't want to hear this kind of music, I want it to stop! Or they feel some uneasiness. That is using the void to create tension.

Reflection

A skill that I learned was when to use 'soy' and 'estoy' in spanish writing. One of the activities for this unit was making a song about when to use 'soy' and 'estoy'. That activity had a requirement of memorizing the whole song. So when we (we were in groups) presented we had to remember the whole song and that helped me do excellent on the "when to use 'soy' and 'estoy'" quiz because I remembered the song which had all the points for when to use 'soy' and 'estoy'.

A skill that I want to learn is how to write better as in good word choice and sentence structure because sometimes I choose good words so my grades get lower. Also because english is my 2nd language speaking so I want to learn harder words. I want to learn better sentence structure because I sometimes write sentences that doesn't refer to the topic and that gets me lower grades.

One example of how I showed kindness was when I made new friends and helped them get to their classes. I made new friends mostly that were in my class in the beginning of the year because they were easier to help. I stayed with them and showed around the school, where the P.E lockers are, how to open a lock, and so on. Soon I met new friends from other classes because of my friends (that I already met) and I sat with them at lunch.

The first goal for the New Year is making more friends from other countries. I chose this goal because when I first came to ISKL there were barely any Koreans so I had to speak in English every time to my friends and because I did talk in English (only in English) I got better in it. I learned new cultures and how to say 'hello', 'thank you' in other languages because I spend time with my friends. To reach that goal I will meet new friends at ISKL that are from different countries and help them get to classes, sit with them at lunch, help with they're lockers, and so on. Also I will ask their birthday, where they're from, what are their hobbies, and so on to know them better and ask them for a sleepover or invite them to my birthday party.

Another goal for the New Year is getting better grades. I sometimes loose my planner or pencils and leave my belongings in classes and that effected my grades. Also I get easily out of focus so I make careless mistakes on tests. To reach that goal I will keep track of my belongings and organize all my things before class and after class. I will wear a watch so I can be on time. Also I will study harder before tests and reread the questions on tests. I will go over my answers and try my best to get the right answers. I hope I get better grades in 2010! :P