Blog Post #1 (English 1A)

"Well he looks  like an angel from the photos," one of the ladies said.
That is the most important line in this chapter of Room by Emma Donoghue because it causes a big twist in plot - the boy the lady is talking about, Jack, has been rescued just recently from captivity at five years old with his ma, and his mother has worked her hardest to make sure that he doesn't get seen by the paparazzi so they cannot cause him to live a life anything but normal.  Now we hear that one of the ladies from Jack's grandmother's book club has seen photos of Jack, and now I see that it will be much harder for Ma to help him grow up and live a happy, average life.

Text-to-text:
I can relate this section in the story to another book I'm reading called Looking for Alaska by John Green.  In Room, they are now finding out that Jack probably will not be able to ever live a normal life.  In Looking for Alaska Miles, or Pudge (his nickname) fell in love with a girl named Alaska who already had a boyfriend, and she acted like she loved him a little too.  But, tragically, she drank too much one night and got into a car wreck that killed her.  And Miles is asking himself over and over if he'll ever live a day where he doesn't think about her; asking himself if he'll ever go back to 'normal' again.
Text-to-world:
I can relate this section in the story to our economical issues in America today.  Taxes are increasing, healthcare is failing, people are losing their jobs (or completely dropping out of the work force in general).  Now, people are asking if the country will ever go back to the way it was.  Just like how in Room Jack will probably never go back to the relaxed and calm life he has been living for the past month since someone knows who he is.  He'll get bombarded with questions about what Room was like every time he walks out his front door.
Text-to-self:
I can relate this section in the story to my feelings when I get a bad grade.  Like, a few months ago I got a C on a math test.  I studied for that test, but still didn't understand the material I suppose.  So I kept asking myself if I'm going to do better on the next test if I study.  Just like how Ma must be feeling now that she knows that people know the identity of her son, that things may never go back to normal like I felt my grades might not.

The best thing about my book is the perspective it's told in.  It's through the eyes of Jack, who's five years old.  His take on the world around him is so fascinating, and it puts you back into that time when you were little and just about everything you saw or played with or put in your mouth was like Heaven.  Also, the only thing he's ever known since he was born until now has been Room and its contents, so Outside is frightening to him.  I would have never imagined it would frighten someone like it does Jack, but I now see that that's only because I'm from here and have lived here my whole life, so I know there's nothing to be afraid of in my daily affairs.  He is still yet to learn those things.

The vocabulary is very low-level because Jack is only five, but he's heard from almost everybody he's talked to in Outside that he's insanely smart for his age still and knows big words that normal kids wouldn't.  That's all thanks to Ma who taught him everything he knows in the solitary confinement of the 11x11 room that was her home for seven years.  Here's something a five-year-old wouldn't normally say:
Deana: Those are pelicans, they'll eat almost anything Jack.
Jack: They're omnivores.

A symbol I'd give Ma is a tree.  This is because in she's a woman, abducted seven years ago, and has lost everything she loves in life and it was all replaced with Room.  Now she has found her way out, and is happy.  This reminds me of a tree, because in the winter it loses all it's leaves, but soon enough it gains buds and then its leaves grow back and it can look beautiful again.
A symbol I'd give Jack is a lost puppy.  This is because he's a little boy, and has suddenly found himself somewhere he's never known or seen or believed was even real.  He's scared.  Like a little puppy that wandered from home, is scared because he doesn't know where he is or where the people he loves are.