Final Blogging reflection

                          

This trimester I have read 6 books. I exceeded my goal of 5 books. I only blogged about the books that I enjoyed.  I read, heroes of Olympus book 4 The house of Hades, Catching Fire, Terrell Owens, Mocking Jay, And then there was None and the Da Vinci Code. Good reads really helped me get ideas for books. I decided to read And then there were none, House of Hades and the Da Vinci Code due to the recommendations from Good Reads. I really think that good reads is a great way to share your favorite books and that is really good for students who need ideas for books. It was hard to navigate through the site though. Throughout the blogging experience, I thought the hardest part of blogging was updating good reads. I wasn’t able to update my goal and the amount of books I have read. One strength that I had was that I had good analysis of the book allowing me to write more and better. The quality of my blogging has increased tremendously. This is because with the feedback Mrs. Bowman gave me, I was able to improve the elements that were not there. She told me that I have add more textual evidence which I did closer to the end. She also told me to connect with real life which I also did. An example is in the beginning (earlier post) I didn’t use any quotes or relate the text to the modern day. But when we look at the later one we can see that I used 4 quotations to prove my claims and also have a connection to the real world. An example of a quote I used is “His strange appearance made him an outcast among the other young runaways, and he was forced to live alone in the basement of a dilapidated factory, eating stolen fruit and raw fish from the dock.” An example of when I made a connection to the real world is when I talked about criminals in real life and how many of them don’t have a very good background.  Then I linked that back to the book. Blogging has really helped me evaluate a piece of literature better. I now know more efficient and better ways to assess the character. This can be shown using the 2 blog posts I selected. The earlier one, I didn’t asses the character that well but in the later post I assessed the character well. That has also helped me understand characters actions better in the book and make the book altogether less abstruse. My analysis of texts grew a lot more. This can once again be shown in my 2 blog posts. In the earlier one I am just stating the facts of what the character had to do. But in the later one, I actually provided textual evidence and drew conclusions based on the evidence. This helps me understand the text a lot more. Overall the blogging has improved not only my reading skills but also writing skills. I will carry the skill that I have gained in the future and even out of high school. The skills I have learned are skills that I will need in life. Since I blog now, I know what to look for while reading. This helped me get the right information for writing. 

The Da Vinci Code: the Investigation

I am really intrigued by the investigation part of the book and i love how the author is changing the characters point of view each chapter. The suspense has been incredible so far. I was really surprised with the major twist half way throughout the investigation when the Sophie Neveu told Langden that he was the primary suspect. I think that the huge twist made me really hooked on to this book.

Until the time Sophie came in, Langden was trying to make sense of the message, but he couldn't understand the numbers int he beginning. Fache and Langden were having a serious discussion on how the deciepher the code. 

Just then Sophie walked in and told Langden that he had gotten a message from the American embassy. She told him to call the embassy but in actuality she gave him a message saying that he was in great danger. She told him in the automated message to go to the bathroom an wait for her. Sophie told Langden that he was the primary suspect in the case. She then told him to look in his coat and he found a GPS chip. This showed that they were tracking all of his moves. She also told him that Bezu Fache was recording their conversation. He was so shocked. Lastly before she left she showed him a picture of what Fache took a picture of and erased at the crime scene. All this really changes the readers view towards the book, it just became 10 times more interesting   

Analyzing the Character Silas

In the book Silas is the person who murdered the curator. He was assishown in the ook gned this task by the teacher. The teacher and Manuel Aringarossa devised this plan that has not bee revealed yet in the book. I think that Silas did this mission because he owes Manuel Aringarossa. Also he is really has nothing to loose.

Silas owes Manuel for saving his life when he was about to die. This can be shown in the book on page 62,

"Finally, his body too weak to take another step, he lay down by the side of the road and slipped into unconsciousness. The light came slowly, and the ghost wondered how long he had been dead. A day? Three days? It didn't matter. His bed was soft like a cloud, and the air around him smelled sweet with candles...'Someone left you on my doorstep. You were ill. I fed you. You've been here many days.' "

This shows that Aringarossa  saved  Silas' life when he was almost dead. Since Aringarossa saved Silas he owes Arinigarossa.                                                                                                                                                        
He has nothing to loose. He lost his mother when he was young and he killed his father for killing his mother.

"His drunken father, a burly dockworker, enraged by the arrival of an
albino son, beat his mother regularly, blaming her for the boy's embarrassing condition. When the
boy tried to defend her, he too was badly beaten.
One night, there was a horrific fight, and his mother never got up. The boy stood over his lifeless
mother and felt an unbearable up-welling of guilt for permitting it to happen.
This is my fault!"

This shows that his father killed his mother when he was only 7. He also thinks that his mother death is his fault. In respnce he killed h9is father as shown in the quote below,

"As if some kind of demon were controlling his body, the boy walked to the kitchen and grasped a
butcher knife. Hypnotically, he moved to the bedroom where his father lay on the bed in a drunken
stupor. Without a word, the boy stabbed him in the back. His father cried out in pain and tried to
roll over, but his son stabbed him again, over and over until the apartment fell quiet."

His appearance was also unusual. His father was ashamed of his appearance because he was albino. Also he was made fun of because of his appearance. As shown in the quote mentioned above his father was embarrassed and even went to the extent of beating his mother due to his appearance. Another example of him being made fun of / discriminated against due to his appearance is when he was on the run.

"His strange appearance made him an outcast among the other young runaways, and he was forced to live alone in the basement of a dilapidated factory, eating stolen fruit and raw fish from the dock."


This shows that he was discriminated against due to his appearance. This shows that he has nothing to lose. He has no family and no friends.

Typically people who don't have parents and are made fun of aren't very good at making decisions. We can look at real life, many orphans who don't have anyone looking after them don't turn out too well. They typically live a life filled with crime. This relation could also be the case in the book. Since Silas has lived a life full of crimes, such as stealing food and killing his father,  he could have done this bad action. I think that the relation could be applied to the book.

The Davinci Code

Characters:

Bezu Fache- He is the head of the French Judicial police. He is nick named "the bull." He is strong, broad shouldered and confident. This can be showed in the book, " Captain Bezu Fache carried himself like an angry ox, with his wide shoulders thrown back and his chin tucked hard into his chest. His dark hair was flicked back with oil, accentuating an arrow-like widows peak that divided his jutting brow and preceded him like the prow of a battleship."

Robert Langdon- Graduate from Harvard. He is an expert in symbology. "His eyes focused now on a crumpled flyer on his bedside table. 

                                     THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS 

                                                PROUDLY PRESENTS

                                     AN EVENING WITH ROBERT LANGDON 

                                      PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOLOGY

                                              HARVARD UNIVERSITY"

Jacques Saunière - The curator. He was murdered in the beginning of the book by Silas 

“The gun roared, and the curator felt a searing heat as the bullet lodged in his stomach. He fell forward... struggling against the pain. Slowly, Sauniere rolled over and stared back through the bars at his attacker.”

Silas - A monk of Opus Dei, and the murderer of Jacques Saunière. 

“Tonight, at last, Silas felt he had begun to repay his debt. Hurrying to the dresser, he found the cell phone hidden in his bottom drawer and placed a call.”