#litcircles

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Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos and Me.

Our group discussed many things about this book. We all agreed that we did not like this book, it lacked interest, meaning and a plot. We perceived the main character as a spoiled girl trying to find something to complain about. We believed that she was not the right character to speak to us about this renown problem. It should have been really affected by the ruling of Marcos. Someone who was also a struggling citizen in this third-world country, to represent the Philippines as a population. The meaning was all over the place and it went from one plot line to another without elaborating. The author included lots of random moments and yes it was authentic, but did you really need to mention about the soup man that come around? Was it needed? Did it have any use? Many moments were like the one I just mentioned. Any good book should feel like time just flies by, but with this one it was like dragging on the story by adding random unnecessary information to a comic book that could’ve been amazing.

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Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos, and Me

May 17

Questions

-          Why is it important for the author to tell us this story?

-          On the cover page, we see blue, but this colour is not mentioned once throughout the book what was the reason for this colour then?

-          What were some key components that made you reflect on the story in a certain way and why?

Panels interpreted

-          Pg. 102 comparison

·         What she pictures herself as vs what she is

·         Same situation, but different people

·         Mind vs reality

-          Pg. 127 panel has curved/wavy lines

·         Representing her thoughts and insecurity

·         Not an action happening in the book

Ø  Represents a feeling and what’s going on inside her head

·         It’s like letting go of a balloon but chasing after it

Ø  Chasing after her old self

-          Pg. 109 transition from one day to the next

·         Her sleeping in bed with her husband vs her the next day biking

·         One panel = 2 actions

·         Leading to something else

“A bicycle offers an alternative way of getting along during the next phase of your journey through life. You need to put in a little extra effort to move forward, increase your motivation and drive to propel yourself in the direction you wish to take.”

Conventions

-          Pg. 73 implementation of colour

·         He wanted to show a change

·         Something becoming different

·         Represent how the campaign will change things

·         Yellow represents hope, happiness, loyalty, and joy

-          Pg. 115 the use of a circle that looks like a portal

·         It represents her leaving a dark place and entering back the real world

·         Leaving a place of grief, sadness and pain

·         Black, represent darkness

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Signpost

Contrast and contradiction

We did not expect Cadence to decide that they had to burn the house down. We didn’t expect her to come up with that decision and be able to  convince the others. Because she is a shy, quiet girl, who seems to accept what happens happens and there’s no point of changing it. We can obviously see that Gat has influenced her to think and see things from a different perspective that she has decided to adopt. What I expected was  for her to just not do anything about it just be her quiet self. It contradicts what I expected from her.

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Opinion

“Gat was my love, my first and only. How could I let him go?

He was a person who couldn’t fake a smile but smiled often. He wrapped my wrists in white gauze and believed wounds needed attention. He wrote on his hands and asked me my thoughts. His mind was restless, relentless. He didn’t believe in God anymore and yet he still wished that god would help him.

And now he was mine and I said we should not let our love be threatened.

We should not let the family fall apart.

We should not accept an evil we can change.

We should stand up against it, would we not?

Yes. We should.

We would be heroes, even.”

It seemed that she was weak. This whole time. She wouldn’t stand up to her mother or anyone. She would keep her opinion to herself. She was scared and lonely. She wrote stories to comfort her loneliness. With all this information, my group and I concluded that she’s weak, but the thing is that Cadence is strong. Cadence is powerful. Cadence matters. But the moment she decided to be that strong person that she is, take control of her life, she ruined everything. So, it’s understandable why she’s weak now. Because if things don’t end up as planned and end horribly because of you. Do you want to be that person again? That person who destroyed their own happiness? That exact person who ruined the family? Ruined everything for everyone? You probably won’t. So, Cadence doesn’t interfere in anyone’s life. She listens to what people tell her to do. She doesn’t rebel. She copes with all that rebellion inside of her by writing stories. Because why would you want a repeat of despair?  

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Questions #4

Would things have still been the same if grandma Tipper didn’t die?

Was anything of summer seventeen real?

Why is Ed there?

How has Grandpa changed after the fire?

Why does Cadence write stories?

Why is the book called We Were Liars?

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Questions #3

Why did they burn down the house?

Would you have listened to your mother and written the notes to grandpa?

Why did granddad lie to who he was going to give it to?

How would you fix the problem of the aunts fighting?

Do you believe that they did save the family?

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Signpost: Words of the Wiser

When Gat is alone with Cady he expresses his feelings on granddad. The fact that he’s racist and doesn’t approve of him. It makes Cady think and wonder if he is a good person and what truly are his intentions. It helps Cady understand why they couldn’t be together. Gat in this situation is considered the wise character.

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Review

The first literary circle we had permitted us to explore each other’s thoughts on the books. It made us question characters and enabled us to see a different point of view on the story. My group and I talked about what were Gat’s intentions, why was the book named We Were Liars. We swooned over Gat’s actions and tried to figure out what truly happened the night of Cady’s accident. We pointed out clues that we thought might be relevant at one point in the story and expressed our point of view on the main character. The first literary circle helped us have a better understanding of the book. The only critique would be we needed more time to go over everything that happened in the book.