Little Brother (Part 5)

     Marcus has many opinions that he voices aloud to the general public in his school in what I read today. He began a debate in his class about whether or not the Yippies had the right to do what they did. Marcus says that the Yippies did have the right to protest their government. Many of the kids in Marcus's class protest against the Yippies, and a few speak out openly against what the Yippies did. What I find significant here is that Marcus seems to want to do what the Yippies did. 

     I don't think Marcus is approaching the situation in an intelligent way. He could be talking to the police, who weren't involved. He could bring the situation to court. He could sue. But Marcus believes that the older people are oblivious and don't understand what's going on. He believes that the police are in league with Homeland Security. They might be, but the police could respect the rights of the people. 

     I believe that Marcus could be going overboard with two secret internet services and secret rendezvous and all of the secrecy. His parents don't even have an inkling. Marcus is getting friendly with people who could either greatly help him or hurt him, such as Ange (who is a huge free-thinker), and I still don't believe that Marcus knows exactly how huge an issue he's diving head-first into.

Little Brother (Part 4)

     From what I have read today, I can tell that Marcus is going to lead a full-scale rebellion. He had gathered all of the people he thought he could trust to let them know about a secret web service he had created that the Homeland Security of the United States. That way these people could surf the internet and chat and play games in perfect privacy. 

     I'm not sure what to think about this rebellion idea. In one scenario it could help the people get away from constant surveillance, which is both obnoxious and privacy-busting. In another scenario it could get Marcus and everyone involved in the rebellion jailed for life or killed for treason. I don't believe that Marcus understands that he won't be the only person punished for his actions. Everyone involved would also be harmed if they got caught. 

     That is why Jolu had told Marcus that he was out of the deal. Jolu had been one of Marcus's best friends, and now, like Van, he was leaving the project in fear of getting caught and hurt. It seems that with every friend who leaves the cause, though, Marcus picks up another. At his little rendezvous/party, Marcus met a girl named Ange, whom Marcus seems to like (they were chatting on the secret internet service until around 4 am after the party). Now that I can see what's going on with Marcus and the girls in his life, I'm wondering if there will be a catfight later between Ange and Van over Marcus. But that kind of thing really only happens in Soap Operas. 

     Marcus created this new 'secret internet' because he suspected that Homeland Security had spies in his original secret network, the Xnet. What I want to know now is if the people he invited to the rendezvous are being hired by Homeland Security to spy on the new secret internet service. Even if the people are trustworthy, it doesn't mean they can't be threatened with Marcus's predicament. 

     What I want to know now is how far Homeland Security would go to 'protect' the citizens of the United States.

Little Brother (Part 3)

Note to readers: If you're wondering why I haven't written about Ender's Game yet, it's because I'll finish off writing about Little Brother, then I'll have a crack at Ender's Game.

     Tonight I am full of questions about what I read today. So far in the book Marcus seems to have avoided several attacks. An attack from terrorists, attacks from Homeland Security when they chain him up for questioning about his whereabouts during the attack, and also in school he gets attacked by the principal about his computer hacking tactics. Marcus is skilled at avoiding these situations, and I am wondering if that skill will help him in the future (the rest of the book). I can't tell until I finish reading, and that's just a question I am asking myself.

      This is a different book in many ways. In this book, Marcus's parents love him. In many other books, the care-takers of the main character normally despise the character. Like in Harry Potter, the Dursleys hate Harry. So the fact that Marcus's parents love him might affect how he acts later in the book. He might not be so willing to leave his parents if needed.

     I've noticed that Vanessa, Marcus's best friend who is a girl, seems to start liking Marcus. When she kissed him goodbye, she 'missed' his cheek and caught a bit of his mouth. But when she kissed her other friend goodbye she kissed him 'square on the cheek', as Marcus said. Will this lead to anything significant? Marcus also said that he found Van really pretty, just noticing now.

     I'm sorry about the questions, could you ever forgive me?

Little Brother (Part 2)

     For some reason, I find that I sympathize with Marcus' father. He seems so innocent in how he believes that all of this security is helping the country get rid of terrorists. He wants to believe that this is helping the country get rid of terrorists and drug lords. Marcus, however, knows better and says so to his father. His father is so disbelieving that it seems like he's no naive. 

     Nothing in this section that I read struck me as imperative. I do know now, though, that Marcus is stubborn. Marcus wouldn't tell the officials what he had been doing at the scene of crime, saying that since he wasn't arrested he could not be forced to cooperate. That takes spunk and a killer stubborn streak. And I admire his candor, but it could get him killed. 

     There wasn't much that struck me as overly important in the section that I completed. So this is the end of my reflection

Little Brother Reflection (Part 1)

This is just an introduction to Little Brother. Kinda.

     Marcus is a seventeen-year-old boy who lives in San Francisco. He's a computer hacker, so therefore the book has a ton of these techie words and phrases in it that most people wouldn't understand without careful deciphering. Well, that may be only me. As far as I have read in the book, Marcus has been captured at the scene of a terrorist attack with his friends, questioned, and then released with a warning that the U.S. Government would be watching him. The rest of the book spirals from there. 

     I'm not quite sure how I feel about how the government constantly watching the people who live in the country, and finding ways to make sure it follows, however how obscurely, the Bill of Rights. I don't think that they're trying to be overly intruding upon your privacy, they're just paranoid. But sometimes that paranoia is something that causes more terror. 

      Marcus is obviously resisting the new regime of 'terror' after the attack on the Bay Bridge. I think that he may be smart to resist, because privacy is sometimes more important than safety, especially since your privacy could increase your chances of being safe.
    


To be continue later. 

To Kill A Mockingbird (second ctn.)

     This is one of the more touching segments of the whole movie, in which you finally meet the elusive Arthur (Boo) Radley. I didn't get to see the whole of the segment since I was absent for the beginning of class, but from what I saw the movie was true to the book in this crucial area. 

     Boo Radley was just how I imagined that he would look, shy and awkward, tall, pale, maybe a little creepy, but that's just because he's been inside for so many years. His overall personality seemed different than it had been in the book. Boo was a little more timid and childlike than I had originally imagined him to be. Shy, yes, but that was described blatantly. 

     I loved what Scout said at the end of the movie, narrating about how standing on the Radley porch was enough to understand what it was like to be in Boo's shoes. That was inspiring and well thought through and heartfelt. And I found that that was one of the moments in which Scout grew up a little more. 

    

To Kill A Mockingbird (ctn.)

     I found that the movie 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was good, even though we haven't quite finished it in class yet. My favorite scene in the whole movie so far has been the trial scene, in which Tom Robinson was charged with the rape of Mayella Ewell, and Atticus was defending Tom, who was a black man.

     You could tell, in that scene, how Maycomb County (the setting of the movie) felt about the black population and their place in the world. Basically, most of Maycomb is racist.

     My class did notice while watching the movie how the plot mainly focused around Atticus, even though the narrator was still Scout. It is a good angle for the movie, since Atticus is such an intriguing and well-written character and the actor was so skilled at being Atticus. But if I had a choice I would have focused more on Scout. Scout is also such an interesting character; she seems too intelligent for her years reading-and-writing wise, but she still manages to be child-like. But the credit for the character, of course, goes to the author of the book and the writer of the script for the movie.

      In the segment of the movie that my class and I viewed today, Jem didn't seem to be as prominent. The scene we saw today was completely focused on Atticus and the trial. I believe that that was the right choice to make. Jem is an interesting character, but doesn't have a huge role in the movie.

     To a more serious note in the movie, I found the death of Tom disappointing. The writer of the script got the death of Tom Robinson all wrong. In the book, Tom had died trying to escape from the prison by climbing over the fence, and had been shot seventeen times by the guards. In the movie, however, he had been shot once and killed instantly trying to escape the car on the way to the prison.

     The movie has its ups and downs, and I'm excited to see where the movie turns next.

To Kill A Mockingbird

     (This is an assignment for class on the movie 'To Kill a Mockingbird', which we watched in class today.)

     I found the movie to be different from the book, which always bothers me, but at least the producers and writers kept it interesting. For example, Scout was supposed to have found all the loot in the knot of the tree, but in the movie Jem found all of the figures and marbles and etcetera.

     Also, the actor who played the character Atticus was perfect for the part. He portrayed Atticus as firm but loving in small ways, as someone who would promote free-thinking children. I think that no matter how many secrets about himself Atticus keeps, I would like him as my dad. No offense to my actual dad.

     I think that the fact that the movie is in black-and-white is a small drawback, but not huge. It lends more of a sense of the time period you're 'immersed' in. You can't see all the little details that might have been important. For example, you couldn't tell when Jem's pants were caught on the fence, you couldn't see the snag where his pants got caught.

     I don't have much of an overall reaction to the movie, which is unfortunate but understandable. I've already read the book and know the main events that occur. So nothing is really a surprise in the movie. I do prefer movies that have little twists to them so they're different but recognizable.

Not A Reflection, Just An Introduction

     Well, as said above... this is an introduction, not a reflection. Yet. Reflections come later, just in case you can't wait. You'll have to wait anyway, but this will console you. Hopefully. 

     Anyway, this is for my English Language Arts (ELA) class at high school, I'm a freshman. My teacher was awesome enough to force us to create a blog on blogger, using the gmail accounts he forcefully recommended that we use. My teacher will be reading this, so he doesn't need the intro. Anyone who stumbles across this blog randomly will, however, need the introduction so you don't get confused.

     The reflections will be on both Little Brother, if I can manage it, and Ender's Game. This will contain spoilers. So, if you haven't read the books but want to read the blog anyway, you'll have to bear with me. 

     Signing out,

     Maya An