Denisse's Wonder Book ENGL 360-501

[vivianneplasencia-blog]

When I look into the small rectangle, I see a face looking back at me but I don’t recognize it. It doesn’t look like me

Steve Harmon - Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Let’s start off by recognizing how powerful the story is from the start; this quote is on page one. It makes you wonder why doesn’t Steve recognize himself, what did he do? Maybe its just the shock of seeing himself in this dirty, old, prison cell mirror, wearing an orange jumpsuit. I can’t imagine all the things going through his head, I probably would not be able to hold the tears back. I probably wouldn’t be able to look at myself. It would just be a reminder of what I did (assuming Steve committed a crime). Or it would be a shock to understand that I could possibly spend the rest of my life here even though I did not commit a crime (assuming Steve is innocent) and I would not want to even consider that.

(via vivianneplasencia)

I like that this is something that was carried on throughout the entire book. At the end, Steve writes in his journal that the reason why he likes to film and continues to film himself from all sorts of different angles is because he sees himself and he doesn’t know who he is, and he thinks that by filming himself he might be able to finally see and recognize himself. I don’t think that he will ever be able to see himself or recognize himself ever again though, because being in jail and being on trial was something that changed him entirely and probably left him more confused about himself and his identity, especially as a teenager, than he was before.

[douglasrwise-blog]

“I realized that the five guys doing the mopping must have all looked alike and I suddenly felt as if I couldn’t breath.” Monsters (129). From an audience perspective, this quote is very revealing. I think it drives home to the audience, especially people of color that there is an uneven share of people of color than whites in our prisons. As Steve realizes this, it is a hard pill to swallow and makes the term Monster, feel more like an identity.  

[denisseaimar-blog]

It is very true that the number of colored people is extremely disproportionate to the number of white people in our prisons, especially in a place like Harlem. I am sure that when Steve realized that he resembled most of the people in jail with him, he was extremely discouraged about the outcome of the trial and he probably even felt like that is where he belonged even though he did not think he ought to be there.

[denisseaimar-blog]

- Walter Dean Myers’ Monster pg 281

I was very glad that Steve Harmon was found not guilty in this case because I personally did not think that he should have had either a death or life sentence in prison. Throughout the story, it seemed to me as Miss O’Brien was trying to keep Steve encouraged and not let him have negative thoughts about the outcome of the trial, so her reaction to winning the trial was a bit shocking to me. I was excited to read that Steve was found not guilty and was expecting a completely different response from Miss O’Brien, so I too am curious as to what made her so stand-off-ish towards Steve when he was trying to show her gratitude and appreciation.

[denisseaimar-blog]

-Walter Dean Myers’ Monster pg 205

This part when Steve is writing in his journal wishing Jerry was with him, he thinks of what he would say to him and this is what he thinks he would say. I think this is something very touching and important for him to think and to potentially say to his little brother. I think that this is something people can take from this book even if their situation is nowhere near as bad as Steve’s, because tomorrow might always give you a reason to keep going or could even give you some sense if it will keep you away from making a mistake like involving yourself in dangerous affairs like Steve did.

[denisseaimar-blog]

One song I think would be a good fit for the movie Monster would be Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd’s “Pray for Me.” I think the beat and rhythm fit the screenplay and are fitting for the mood of the movie, but also it says in the song “I fight pain and hurricanes, today I wept I’m tryna fight back tears, flood on my doorsteps life a living hell, puddles of blood in the streets” and I feel like these are lyrics that Steve could probably relate to throughout the entire movie/process.

[denisseaimar-blog]

Batman & Robin

I felt bad for Steve whenever (pg 58) there is a flashback of him and his little brother talking about being superheroes. Jerry tells him he should be Batman so that he can be Robin. This is a very sweet moment shared between brothers and I bet it made Steve feel terrible recalling that memory because he probably feels as if his brother no longer looks up to him as a super-hero sort of figure anymore. 

[denisseaimar-blog]

That's what I was thinking, about what was in my heart and what that made me.I'm just not a bad person. I know that in my heart I am NOT a bad person.

Walter Dean Myers’ Monster pg 92-3

This quote really stood out to me when reading because he really makes himself sound more human than monster when he writes in his journal. Here he is talking about how he is not a bad person, and he knows it in his heart. However, prior to this there was a part of the movie script in flashback where  someone tells Steve that he always wants to hang with the tough guys but never would really do anything. It’s interesting that that’s kind of what got him into this situation; even though he did not physically kill Mr.Nesbitt, he was an alliance to the people who did, but he knows he's not a bad person for that. 

[denisseaimar-blog]

If I were to recast a character from A Wrinkle in Time, I would make Anne Hathaway the Happy Medium. I wasn’t really a fan of the male adoption of the role; I typically like movie adaptions better when the actors accurately portray the character descriptions given in the book (I didn’t watch the movie until after I started reading). I think Anne Hathaway would’ve been a good actress for the Happy Medium because she has a very happy-go-lucky vibe to her in a lot of her previous roles and I think she would’ve done a great job at portraying that happiness for the character.

[laurenconces16-blog]

If I had to recast a character in “A Wrinkle in Time”, I would recast the character Mrs. Whatsit. Although Reece Witherspoon is one of my favorite actresses, it kind of threw me off how in the novel  she is described as having “a sparse quantity of grayish hair [that] was tied in a small tidy knot on top of her head”, and Reece did not portray the older lady image that I was getting. I think that Meryl Streep fits the role better look-wise, and could still maintain the same level of sass. 

[denisseaimar-blog]

I completely agree. I would have loved to see Meryl Streep in this movie and I think she would’ve been a good fit for Mrs.Whatsit not only because she fits a better physical description (which I don’t think was a main concern for the movie seeing as most characters didn’t really fit their physical descriptions from the book) but also personality/acting wise.

[denisseaimar-blog]

“She was much too young to be kissing boys. Especially boys she'd just met. And he had to be more a man than a boy, anyway, no matter how young he looked. The copy of Peter Pan  she and her mother had been reading had belonged to her grandmother originally.”

Jane Yolen, Lost Girls 

This made me laugh because she is so cautious and well-behaved, knowing she is too young to be kissing boys. I thought it was even funnier that she was aware of the fact that Peter is technically a man since she knows how old the story really is. I like how she isn’t naive and seems so well aware of what is going on around her, and I liked that even though she is reading Peter Pan as a child, she refers to him as a man, which is something that I don't think most people ever think of, really. 

[denisseaimar-blog]

I had never actually seen Hook, and I had no idea that Robin Williams played Peter Pan. I absolutely love Steven Spielberg and I think he was the perfect director for this movie. I also think Robin Williams was the PERFECT actor for this role, he did amazing at bringing Peter Pan to life, especially as an adult. What I liked about seeing this for the first time after reading Peter Pan was that I could pick up elements from the book that would’ve gone over my head otherwise.

[denisseaimar-blog]

J.M Barrie

I think this quote is one of the most outstanding and well-known quotes from Peter Pan, and rightfully so. This quote actually shows quite a bit of maturity on his part because it’s as if he is embracing that death is a part of life and he will treat it as an adventure like he does everything else. This is something that people, adults and especially children, don’t typically do because death is typically something that is greatly feared and seen as the end. I think this is so simple yet does a great job at highlighting what Peter Pan has been all about- never growing up; he sees death as an adventure, not as the end, which to him “the end” would probably be growing old.

[msjess29-blog]

-Quotes from “Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie

The descriptions of Captian Hook in the novel by Barrie really stood out to me. He has been described in a lighter tone with words like “soft” and “sweet” being used. I think this is interesting because he is the villain of the story but it is like Barrie is trying to humanize him. Describing his eye color and that he loves flowers and music makes Hook seem more human and less evil. I wonder why J.M. Barrie did this?

Another thing that I found interesting is that in movies like Disney’s “Peter Pan” and “Hook” he is portrayed with long black hair, dark eyes, and a dark mustache. In the pictures that were shown in class, it does appear that hook does have long curly hair and a similar costume but other than that they seem completely different from the description in the novel. Captian Hook is described as having “periwinkle eyes” but in movies, he has dark eyes. I wonder if this is significant? Perhaps the director’s of these movies did not want to humanize Hook and wanted to make him look more like a villain?

[denisseaimar-blog]

I thought the same thing. Captain Hook is supposed to be the bad guy and before reading this, the only image I had of him was like the one in the movies, so I think that Barrie did do a good job at humanizing him in the way that he described him because his diction choice definitely makes Hook seem more human. 

As far as to why Barrie might’ve done this, I think that it could also have something to do with the magic element of the book. His descriptions of Neverland at the beginning of the book seemed vibrant and real and maybe he wanted to continue that description process throughout the book and all the characters, even the villain. 

[denisseaimar-blog]

Of all decreeable islands the Neverland is the snuggest and most compact, not large and sprawl, you know, with tedious distances between one adventure and another, but nicely crammed.

J.M Barrie

I like this quote because I think it really illustrates children’s imagination and creativity and the magic that happens in places like Neverland as well as the Magic City. This quote reminded me of the Magic City because they are talking about it in the same way- as the place you go to have these adventures that only children have the imagination to partake in.  

[denisseaimar-blog]

being in my early twenties is definitely a weird age. I am technically an adult but I don’t even recall getting this old. I also haven’t exactly mastered this whole adulting thing yet, so I am kind of just going with the flow trying to do the best that I can. I’ve heard that people don’t ever really know how to adult, you just kind of have to deal with what life throws at you and the way in which you handle those things help define how much of an adult you are. sometimes I force myself to eat all the food in my fridge before I let myself eat out that way my groceries don’t go bad, that feels like adulting.

[msjess29-blog]

Certainly, Nesbit allows her female characters freedom in the magic city that they would probably not be able to enjoy in their ‘real’ lives and ‘The Magic City’, in this respect is a utopian novel.

Madelyn Travis, “Building a New World: Gender and Modernism in E. Nesbit’s The Magic City”

This is an interesting point made by Travis. The idea of a utopian novel is that the author is creating an “ideal society.” Travis is essentially saying that Nesbit used “The Magic City” to support an ideal society of women being free. 

Travis also draws attention to the fact that “Predenderette” and suffragette are very similar words. Perhaps showing that Nesbit was mocking the women’s suffrage movement. It is interesting how it seems that Nesbit is both supporting and tearing down the women’s movement. Maybe she disagreed with certain aspects but agreed with the overall message?

(via msjess29)

Travis is definitely making a huge claim here by bringing in the movements associated with the time period that Nesbit was writing “The Magic City”. Of course it does make sense for her to say this because the city is a place for imagination and freedom and it is even more so for the women reading the story. From what I can gather, I believe that Nesbit most likely felt a part of her wanted to be involved with women’s suffrage, but she did not want the story to seem too one sided on the issue, so she made the women’s outlying actions subtle. 

(via allieholdridge)

[maribrownposts-blog]

After finishing this book, I was impressed with how Nesbit incorporated virtues and morals throughout the story.  My favorite was in this quote when Philip learned what it’s like to be selfless when he decides to give up his island to the islanders.  In the process of doing so, he’s pleased and realizes the joy of giving presents that will mean more to others than himself.  I love how the style of writing she writes with, makes it easy for young readers to understand the morals she’s showcasing in the story.  What other morals/virtues did y’all see in the story?