Theme Presentation Handout

Theme: Individual self-expression is important.

Group Members: Sophie Bause, Hailey Carroll, Rebecca Peters, Sai Reddy, Akul Rajan, Sean Stewart Jr.

Bell: 5

Time Line

1.                                                     2.                                                             3.

1. In part one of the book, Montag is completely blind to individualism. He goes to his job and does what he is supposed to do every day. He doesn’t question his role in society or the government.
2. In the second part of the book, Montag starts to realize that being a fireman at this time in history, is a bad thing. He begins to understand that hoe has been brainwashed into thinking he is benefiting the city by burning books. Montag starts to act like an individual with his own thoughts when he starts to read and collect books.
3. By part three, Montag fights his oppressors to try to regain who he really is. He stands up for individualism and does the best he can to stop the government from taking that away from him. In this case, it causes the whole city to burn down for him to do the right thing.

Quotes that show how the theme is developing:

1.  “He was not happy. He was not happy”(Bradbury 12, 60th Anniversary Edition).

We chose this quote because this is Montag’s emotion when Clarisse asks him if he’s happy with his life. Montag leaves Clarisse and thinks about the question. After some thinking, Montag realizes that he is not happy the way he is, his life is bland and he wants some change in his life. He shows his expression on his job and his life through his quote. This quote develops the theme because this is the first change of expression that Montag had in the book. This is when he starts to question the society he is living in. This is important to the understanding of the story because this is when the reader realizes that Montag isn’t happy with his life, this is the event that creates the story, Fahrenheit 451. This is because it sparks the future events in the society.

2. “Montag paced the floor and came back and squatted down and read a page as many as ten times.” (Bradbury 67, 60th Anniversary Edition) This quote shows that he is nervous about reading the book because it is illegal but at the same time he is trying hard to memorize the book. You can tell he is nervous because he is pacing but it is easy to tell he is trying to memorize this because he comes back to a page and reads it as many as ten times.

3. “He was an individual. I’ve never gotten over his death.” (Bradbury 149, 60th Anniversary Edition)

This quote was spoken by Granger. When Granger said, “he never got over his death”, it            implied that his Grandfather was so memorable because he was different. His individualism caused him to mean more to them than everyone else.

Explanation of why theme is important to the story:

The theme is important to our understanding of the story because the lack of self expression and individualism is the basis for the corruption of the society in Fahrenheit 451, like how author’s are banned from expressing themselves through their stories.

Explanation of why this theme is important in society:

Today, self-expression is a very important factor in our society, because it allows anybody and everybody to freely express themselves, allowing for a sense of freedom which also supports individual self-expression  that keeps us all from suffering from being clones of each other and thinking the same, which is a bad trait for a good society.

The Blood Of Olympus

This week during Reading Workshop, I have started to read a new book. This book that I have started to read is called The Blood Of Olympus. This book is written by Rick Riordan and he is famous for writing the prequel series, the Heroes of Olympus. I like the previous book in the series, and so I longed to try to read this book because the last book was left on a cliffhanger.







This is a picture of the cover of the book, it shows a very important scene because this is when Jason strikes down the leader of the giants. At first, they were overpowering Jason and the crew but after Jason took down the leader of the giants, everything turned around and they were able to get rid of all of the giants.


I chose to read this book because I have read the previous books in the series and I have enjoyed them greatly. Also, the book seemed very inticing because the previous book ended with a cliffhanger. This book is the genre I was looking for, a combination of history in the form of mythology and adventure. So far I am 150 pages in, and I love the book, it's very detailed and it seems as if I am on the Argo 2 with the travelers.



I felt like the best part of the book so far is when Leo says, "Good bye guys". This is the best part of the story because the demigods were having trouble with the giants and were almost on the brink of dying. The death of Leo caused the demigods to turn their misery into hope and anger and as a result, they wiped out all of the giants. This is the turning point of the book because after this, the 6 demigods who are left, work together to wipe Gaea off the face of the Earth.

Warriors The Fourth Apprentice

After my previous book, "Divergent", I have now started a new series called "Warriors: Omen of the Stars" by Erin Hunter. The 1st book in this series is called "The Fourth Apprentice". It is about a group of cats that have seperated into multiple clans called the WindClan, ShadowClan, ThunderClan and RiverClan. These clans have been at peace for many years, but the main characters, Lionblaze, Jayfeather and Dovewing feel trouble brewing in the shadows. Currently, I am on page 152 and this book is very nailbiting and very interesting.

I chose this book because I wanted a feel of different genres of books. This book is very unique in how it utilizes talking cats in a fantasy setting. This book features many different characters which have very crazy names. Some examples of these names are Skeletonfur and Dovewing. A very enticing and interesting moment is when Lionblaze says, "Hurry! Call a medicine cat, Firestar is losing another life!"(Page 31). This was a very huge moment because I wasn't aware that clan leaders had multiple lives. This book also supports the rumor that cats have 9 lives. 

This is a map of the location in which the clans live. The cats refer to the humans as Twolegs because we walk on 2 legs. This map id very important because we need to know the location of the cats to really understand this book. The Gathering Island is a very important location in the map because it is where the clan meeting is held to discuss issues or changes that need to occur to make life peaceful and happy for all of the clans. Sadly, these clans always have problems with food and territorial markings, this leads to fights breaking out between the clans.

The most important line in my book so far takes place in chapter 12 where Jayfeather says, " Firestar's dead!" This is very important because after this scene, war takes place between all 4 of the clans because the Thunderclan declared war on all of the clans if they didn't speak up and tell the clan who murdered Firestar. I'm very surprised that Firestar died because he was a very privileged leader and had a great reputation. He was also a symbol of anti-clan war. Sadly, after this event occured, that's exactly what happened.

Divergent

                               Divergent
          
            The book that I am currently reading is "Divergent", I just recently started to read this book because one of my friends recommended this book to me because it was action-packed while being intriguing at the same time. Those two components combine my two favorite genres of suspenseful books and mystery/adventure books. So I thought to myself, "Why not start a new book?"

            So far in this book, I have read about how the world has become infected in the future. The people have been forced to go in isolation in the city of Chicago. Right away, they have decided to uphold a new form of government which are factions. Factions are in charge of different parts of the government, for example, Abnegation (Tris' parent's faction) is in charge of making the laws, while Dauntless is in charge of enforcing these laws and protecting the city of Chicago.

          The best thing about this book is that Divergent combines my absolute favorite genres, as I've mentioned before, they are Mystery and Suspense. Mystery is present in this book because in the book, something is happening behind the factions which is mysterious because the book gives glimpses throughout the story of people plotting to take over the city of Chicago and make the factions obey them. The book has suspense in it because the book has a lot of action and suspense and action are directly related. Suspense is most likely present when there is action and vice-versa. I really enjoyed reading this book.



       
          

              

The House of Hades

                                                  The House of Hades

         Today, I did my blog on the House of Hades. The House of Hades is the 4th book in the heroes of Olympus series. I also had a previous blog post on the 3rd book of the series, "The Mark Of Athena". In the book, I am currently on page 105 and it's very action packed. I am craving to go back to the book and bury my head into the book.


        So far at the beginning of the book, it continues from where the previous book, "The Mark of Athena" had ended. The Mark of Athena ended off in a bang because Percy and Annabeth drop into Tartarus and the only thing they say is, "Meet You On The Other SIDE!" (Page 15). This tells me that they are determined to make it through the pits of Tartarus where no human has walked across and survived. This is very suspensful and I had been waiting for  long time to get a hold of this book because of the plot twist that had occured at the end of The Mark of Athena.

       The setting of this book varies, it gives a Point of View in both the overworld and Tartarus. Tartarus is where devils and titans go after they die, it is a horrible and very dangerous place for demigods or even gods to go to. Even the lord of the underworld, Hades, is terrified to go into Tartarus. The overworld setting is aboard Argo II, also they are journeying to the House of Hades, or the location of the Doors of Death, their way of rescuing Percy and Annabeth and stopping giants and other monsters from coming from Tartarus. This is a picture of the cover of "The House of Hades":




            This picture depicts Percy walking through Tartarus with Annabeth and they're both badly injured. This picture also shows how difficult it must be to go through Tartarus even though they're badly injured and the people who go through are perfectly healed never return Tartarus.

            In the near future of my reading of this book, I predict that this book will lead to how Percy and Annabeth will eventually escape due to the demigods aboard the Argo 2 will have to beg Hades to help the demigods in Tartarus out and Hades ultimately agrees in exchange for a favor which Frank and Leo have to do and I think that there will be a plot twist that Frank works for Gaea and attempts to kill Leo but instead only ends up badly injuring him and meanwhile, Hades tells Percy and Annabeth to make their way to the House of Hades in Tartarus and they eventually do with great difficulty and overall, escapes Tartarus and tries to hunt down Frank to get information on Gaea.

The Lone Survivor

The Lone Survivor

       The Lone Survivor is a book about a Navy SEAL named Marcus Luttrell who goes into Afghanistan after 9/11 with his best friend Mikey. The book takes place when Marcus is reminiscing on the events that took place in Afghanistan like the death of his best friend and their position being compromised. They were forced to go into isolation for 2 months and they were living alone in Afghanistan until they were attacked by the Taliban. Marcus barely escaped and lived to tell this story hence the title of the story, "The Lone Survivor". This is a picture of Marcus Luttrell taken at Mikey's funeral in 2003.

       

       My realization after reading this book was that America's greatest strength and their greatest weakness is the same idea. It is called nationalism. Nationalism is a feeling that struck many Americans during the American Revolution, after 9/11 etc. This feeling is an idea that America is the greatest country and that we as Americans should fight for this great country and protect it. After 9/11, The United States sent many troops into Afghanistan to take down Al-Qaeda so that they can get revenge on the World Trade Center. The World Trade Center was a symbol of their economy, after they crashed the plane into the WTC, the Americans were very angry at Al- Qaeda and they themselves wanted to tear apart the organization. 

      An article that supports my realization is that which is written by Mariana Ortega and Linda Martin Alcoff. 

Link to Article:

https://www.sunypress.edu/pdf/61907.pdf

     This article states that after 9/11, Nationalism was in the air. The economy was extremely inflated because the building that played a major role in our economy was now on the ground. Due to this, Americans bonded their beliefs due to their hatred towards the terrorist organization, all races (blacks, whites etc). combined their beliefs and ideologies. The article states that there are negatives towards an increase in nationalism however, they can increase military violence and the civilians treated all Middle-Eastern people differently. They were racist towards them, and they wanted them gone form the US soil. But overall, the increase in nationalism helped bring together a unified country and got the people of America through hardships such as 9/11.

The Mark of Athena

The Mark Of Athena

I have continued to read the amazing and suspenseful book known as The Mark Of Athena. So far the book has been mind blowing, it had started off at a low point, kind of boring to read, but now, the book has reached another level of suspense. I left off at when Annabeth had just arrived at Camp Jupiter but there has been trouble brewing in the midst of the camp. Something took over Leo's body and made him fire at the Camp, as a result, Percy and 6 other demigods were forced to flee with angry Romans on their tail.


       I think the book so far had some good points and some bad points, as I have said earlier, the book started off being really boring and I tried to read the book but I had to force myself to do it, I didn't want to read the book at my own will. The best thing about my book is that it teaches me about Greek and Roman mythology in a fictitious way, without having to read  a non-fiction book. It also helps me learn gods to apply to school knowledge in the mythology unit. The book also adds a twist and excitement with cliffhangers at the end of every chapter, to make it even better, the book adds different point of views every chapter.


       The most important line from all of the chapters I have read so far is "Seven half-bloods must answer to the call. To storm or fire the world must fall... An oath to keep with a final breath... And foes bear arms at the Doors of Death."(Riordan 24). This is the most important line the book so far because it states the prophecy of what is supposed to happen throughout this book/series, it keeps readers at a cliffhanger and makes them want to understand the prophecy and read more. You learn about the prophecy and what it means towards the end, so if you are reading this book, you want to stick to the end of it. Below is a picture of the cover, it is very important because you can see that two people are fighting, and if you have read recent books in the series, you know that those people are Jason and Percy, Roman and Greek demigod leaders.