Fainting

Jodi Picoult's "The Pact" is an interesting book. it is about two people, Emily and Chris,they've been inseparable since birth. They fall  in love, which was what their families wanted.But a tragedy brings an end to the families. The death of Emily Gold leaves the fingers pointing to Chris, her boyfriend. The families break apart and there are only 2 sides to the event: Chris's and the accusers. Even after finishing the book, my mind is left with questions. The who, what, when, where, why and how questions are in my head. But one of those questions stuck to me.

The author has Chris, the "supposed" killer of Emily, he faints three times throughout the timeline of this book. In the next three paragraphs, I'm going to explain why I think Jodi Picoult repeats the scene three times throughout the book.

The first time Chris faints is right after the shot that killed Emily, on page 3. I feel like the reason he fainted was because of being shocked and confused. Well, mostly shocked because his love of his life has just been shot in his arms. I mean, some events are actually really mind-triggering that make people want to go away. Emily has been with Chris for a very long time, and in the book, Chris's mother says this line, “He cuts himself,'...“And she bleeds." Chris and Emily are inseparable and since one of them got hurt during the "killing," the other feels the pain and automatically they can't do anything  The reason why I think the author had Chris faint after Emily's death is because she wanted the readers to feel that they were really close and that whatever happens to one of them, it happens to the other. 

The second time he faints is on page 215, this is where he finds out that Emily was pregnant with his child.  It is really sad that he didn't know about the child before hand. He says that he would have married Emily if he knew. But then, he thinks, "Maybe Jordan has been right; the pregnancy had been the thing that made her so depressed. But why? They could have gotten married and had the baby; they could have gone together for an abortion. Surely she would have known that they'd figure it out together.  Unless that was exactly what she was afraid of. All of a sudden a powerful rage shuddered through Chris. How dare she depend on him for one thing, but not the other." These lines come after his second fainting. I think that Chris is starting to get angry at Emily for not telling him. He htinks that he might have fixed it, but instead she decides to solbve it herself. Jodi puts the seocnd fainting after the news is out because she wants to give the readers somethig to think about. I mean, everybody in court thinks Chris killed Emily because he didn't want the baby. But now that the readers know, it'll twist the story plot.

Third, on page 386, nearing the end of the book, the judge declares Chris "not guilty." Chris faints after this. The reasons to why I think the author repeats it there is to stress how the trail has been on Chris. He did not if he was going to be convicyted of murder or let go. I mean, all the evidences points to him killing Emily, I mean, hell, if I was one of those 9 juries, I would have voted for "guilty." But Picoult also put the last fainting there to show that the decision could have went either way. Chris had no idea that he was "not guilty." In the end, Chris had a burden on his shoulders, not guilty or guilty, he stills feels the "jail smell " wherever he goes.

In the conclusion, I think Jodi Picoult repeats the event of Chris fainting several times throughout the book, to either stress how Chris is feeling, let the news seep into the reader or to create suspense. Over all, I think Chris has changed a lot throughout the book, form a young higher-schooler to a mature man. the author has done a great job writing the book, and honestly, I think she's one of my favorite authors. 

small and....

I've just finished reading a book called, "Other Words for Love" by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal. Seventeen year old Ari is a fantastic artist. But her best friend, Summer is constantly belittling Ari. This I think is what makes Ari stick in the background; meaning she can't stick up for herself.

One of the lines that show how Summer belittles Ari is on page 183, " 'Oh my God you're kidding me,' ." Summer is referring to Ari's boyfriend who apparently is a "hunk". She says this because she doesn't think that Ari can have a guy like him. She thinks that she is better than Ari and she's the only one that can have a gorgeous guy while Ari can just observe her love life. This makes me think that Summer is just a selfish person. She has no respect for her best friend, which makes me think why is Ari best friends with her when she doesn't have a voice in defending herself. Ari in response thinks , " She meant that Blake was filet mignon and I was Spam, and those two things couldn't possibly go together." She knows what her "friend" means, but she doesn't have the guts to tell her. This is what makes Ari small and scared to speak out.

Another line that I find interesting, which I can't seem to find, but has a lot of meaning: Summer and Ari start to argue. This where Ari realizes that she can have more than one friend, not just Summer. This is where she realizes even though she has drifted apart from Summer, Summer has still stayed by her side. This is where Ari finds her true self. She leaves Summer and finds Leigh and comforts her. This is where she realizes that she has not had a voice in her friendship with Summer. I'm really happy for Ari at that moment but what comes after is kind of "mean". She decides to spend some time with Summer and another time with Leigh. I find this mean because Ari is trying not to confront the problem. She's just trying to hide it so everything feels like normal. I feel like this has made her even more small because she's hiding her friends. She doesn't want to confront her fears, fearing that one day the friends will collide and go away.

After reading the book, I felt like Ari has gone through a significant change from the beginning and end. At the end, she stays friends with Leigh. Even though Summer is gone, she left Ari knowing that she has changed and she is not the same girl who flirts with guys and writes their names down in her dairy. Ari has taught me a lot and I hope her "story" sticks with me when I go off to college.

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury is about a boy who is in the Vietnam War. This is his first time in war. Throughout the story, there are many meaningful lines. In my opinion, I think the line "After that he turned the drum on its side, where its great lunar face peered at him whenever he opened his eyes", is one of the most important in the story. In the time of war, nothing seems to stay put. For example, "A moth brushed his face, but it was peach blossom. A peach blossom flicked him, but it was a moth. Nothing stayed put. Nothing had a name. Nothing was as it once was." This tells us that nothing in Joby's time of war stayed the same. So the drum, his drum was the only constant in his life. It says that the drum's lunar face peers at him whenever he opens his eyes. Saying that, the drum is always there with him. It gives him a feeling of a bit secure knowing that he has one familiar thing to hang on to.

Relating to the knowing of hanging onto one familiar thing, I know a few stories. I remember the day I transferred to a new school. You know why I transferred? Because I was smart. Haha. But back to the story. I was new. I had no friends. Everything seemed so foreign. New faces and new teachers. No offense, but I felt like I was the only Chinese person there. It's scary to be in a place where no is like you. I didn't really know what to do. The familiar thing that keep me going was not really that familiar. It was actually my teacher. Yea, I know I don't really know her, but I felt like the teacher was my guide throughout the year. And she was. Many and plenty times she helped me out.

Really, to sum up, even in lonely new times, you'll always find some familiarity hanging around somewhere. :)))