Pre and Post Readings for The Fault in our Stars

Pre Reading:

Write a blog on your thoughts of depression being a side effect of cancer or dying.

Write a blog describing what cancer can do to a person, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Describe how you would feel if you were having to do almost everything in your life only to make your parents happy.

Post Reading:

 “Without pain, how could we know joy?

 “You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you."

“The world is not a wish-granting factory.”

The Fault In Our Stars Review

Characters: Hazel Grace Lancaster

Hazel Grace Lancaster, born on September 29th and aged seventeen, is the main character of The Fault in Our Stars. She is the main female love interest of the book. Hazel finished high school early and has already begun pursuing a college education. She is diagnosed with Stage 4 Thyroid cancer (a type of lung cancer), but has managed to live with her disease thanks to doses of an experimental drug called Phalanxifor (which does not actually exist).

Characters: Augustus Waters

Augustus, or Gus usually used by Hazel, is a main character and the male love interest of the story. He says that his fear is oblivion; he wants to leave a mark on the world, to be remembered. He is diagnosed with osteosarcoma, the most common cancer that forms in a rare bone cancer that caused him to lose his leg. But the loss of his leg never stopped his perseverance of life.

Characters: Peter van Houten

Peter is the author of Hazel and Gus’ favorite book, An Imperial Affliction. He lives in Amsterdam with his assistant Lidewij Vliegenthart. When you first hear about him, you think very highly of him, as it is Hazel’s description of him. He is Hazel’s hero. But later on you find out that he is just a rude and hateful alcoholic. Yours and Hazel’s perspective on him turns completely.

Plot: 

Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 17 year old girl diagnosed with Stage 4 Thyroid cancer, meets and falls in love with Gus Waters, a similarly afflicted teen from her support group. Hazel feels that Gus really understands her. They both share the same acerbic wit and love of books, especially Hazel's favorite, An Imperial Affliction by Peter van Houten. When Gus scores an invitation to meet the reclusive author, he and Hazel embark on the extremely emotional journey of their brief lives.

My Opinion: 

This is my favorite novel ever. I have always loved books with a strong emotional side to them. John Green is also one of my favorite authors of all time. The lessons in this book are probably another reason why I fell in love with it. One of the lessons taught in this book is Live in the moment. Since the future is a blur, cherish what you have now. Enjoy every moment you can with your friends and family. Or be happy with your place in this world. Simply as John Green wrote, “The world is not a wish granting factory. Sure you can optimistically dream ahead, but sometimes you need to be happy with enough, an appreciation for what we have right here and now.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves romantic stories. That is what The Fault in our stars is all about. Love. But if you are very susceptible to books about cancer, then be warned because this book is all about two people who fall in love but the Fault is the cancer. And the Stars is their love. But all in all, this is a great book and I recommend it to anyone.

Chocolate War Post Reading

“Do I dare disturb the universe?”

            This quote is a very meaningful to Jerry. That poster could have been one of the reasons the reasons he decided to sell chocolates. He didn’t really ever understand what it meant. But he did eventually figure it out and it created the peace within him. He looked at this poster throughout this book.

            Archie was essential to the dram that happened at Trinity. He was the leader and brain of the vigils. He did disturb the universe. One way is that no one would sully Leon, except for Archie. But he also messed with his mind a bit. I guess you could say he got under his skin.

             Another way to be put is, do not disturb the status quo. The status quo of the story was to sell chocolates but Jerry didn’t. This did not go so well for Jerry. He died for what he believed. But that is not really bad. You have to think, there are many people that have died for their beliefs that have impacted today’s society. MLK died for believing in anti-racism. The status quo then was racism. There was also Joan of Arc for going against the English government. She had supposedly received a vision from god saying to go against the English so she did. She was burned at the stake for her beliefs. So you can impact society, even if you die.

            This book had led me to learn how Jerry’s beliefs can relate to mine. Jerry represents freedom of speech. How speaking your beliefs could backfire on you, yet you could change the world by doing so.

Chocolate War: Pre Reading

3. Write a blog about your opinions on school fundraisers.  Discuss personal experiences within your blog.

There is nothing wrong with a school fundraiser. They help the school or other events/charities. Now I would have a problem with it if it were mandatory. Some kids can’t go to different houses selling something. They should not be thought off as something that you have to do even if you don’t want to. Sometimes they are completely useless. Selling some merchandise to improve the school seems petty. If it were me, personally instead of buying chrome books or ipads for the school, why couldn’t you donate all of that money to say cancer research, or heck some charities. How do you think kids in the 70s learned? They didn’t have the choice of going on Google that can tell you almost everything. No, they had to open up a dusty textbook to find the answers. Who is to say we couldn’t do that today. There are a lot of charities that could benefit from a couple hundred to thousand dollars. There is this one charity called Charity Water, which donates hundreds to thousands of gallons (depending on how much money you earned) of water to third world countries that cannot receive clean safe water. I believe that these charities and researches are more important than some technology for a school. Now, I am not saying I do not appreciate these goods. I just think that these goods are not as important as cancer or giving people what they need.

One of the fundraisers I have had was one at KIS where we sold sweet frog cards for deals. Well back then I had tried to sell a lot to get the grand prize, which would be a BMX bike or an ipad. They also take us to sweet frogs or skate land in a limo. That’s nice and all, but the fact that we use the money to use for ourselves make me feel like I was being selfish if I was to sell the cards. But I guess it is all up to whoever has the choice to sell or not.

Black and White Post Reading #2 (October)

"When you keep a cover on your feelings for so long and they finally break free, it's hard to put them on hold again."

            This is a quote from Black and White. I have actually used this quote but in my own words. There are a million different ways to put this. Don’t hold in your feeling or they’ll one day explode out of you. I have held in my feelings to long before and then one day I just exploded. There is also a girl I know that rarely ever let’s her feelings out. Any time she looks upset I try to ask her what is wrong. I have even seen her cry and I try to help her but she will just try to isolate herself. I really wish she wouldn’t do that but I can’t help it. I also know that if she doesn’t open up to more people, that one more thing will happen to her then she will let everything out and it will actually be a mess of a situation. So everyday, I always try to talk to her just to make sure she is okay.

            There can also be a reference to the actual book Black and White. Like when Marcus and Eddie accidentally shot the man in the parking lot, they had to keep it a secret for so long, even from the police. Although I do not condone lying to anyone with proper authority. They were going to go to jail otherwise, though I would not have lied because I know what lying can do to a person. But they lied and you have to think that if you shot somebody and you lied to the police about it, you would feel a lot of guilt. Plus if you were in Eddie’s position, then your best friend that was at the robbery was the one that got arrested even though he was not the one to shoot the gun. That would put even more guilt on you because your best friend got arrested even though you were the one to commit the crime. Yes he/she (in the book, it’s a he) did try to rob the man but they never had pulled the trigger to that gun.

            This quote taught me to express my feelings. Any time I had a bad day, I might just go to my room and yell. I am not joking; yelling will make you feel so relaxed. This is a quote I might give to my kids in the future if I have any because I wouldn’t want them to one day just have a meltdown towards me or their friends. I will also try to make sure no one else I know has a meltdown at least if I can. Because based on experiences, meltdowns can lead to depression. I would know. I don’t want any of my friends to get depressed in the future like I have in the past. So I always try to help anyone that I possibly can.

Black and White Post Reading

“When the noose gets tight around someone’s neck, they are liable to say anything to save they’re own skin.”

            This is a quote from Black and White. I will explain how this can portray to real life and how it portrays to the book. Well this quote means that in the most desperate situations, you are suitable to lie as long as it is helpful. Think of some people in WW2. Jews begged people to let them in their apartments. A lot of people had let the Jews in, even though it was against the law. When the Nazis came into the apartments and asked the people if they have seen any Jews and they said no to help the Jews because they knew they would be killed, or just threw them under the bus and said yes they are over there because they didn’t want them to search the house and find them then arrest the family holding the Jews in secrets. So lying is okay as long as it actually helps someone and doesn’t hurt anyone is what I have taken from this quote. But do not use lying just for any natural means, like if you don’t want your parents to know that you did something bad. So I will always tell the truth unless something really bad will come out of it.

            There are some ways this relates to the book as well. Like near the beginning when (SPOILERS) Marcus had gone to a police interrogation, he lied to the police to make sure that Eddie would not get caught. Now, I do not advice lying to the police at all. I do not care whether it is to save yourself or your best friend. Whether you have done something bad or not, please never lie to the police and do everything they say if you end up in a situation with them. Police are here so you and everyone around you are safe. Marcus was just using the thought that you can lie in certain times of distress in the wrong way. I honestly would not have lied to the police even if Eddie hated me for life. There are five people and only five who I would do anything for. Three of those are my family and the other two are people who I would not want anything to happen to. But that is just an expression that says you love them way too much. I wish that I felt that I would do anything for them, but I cannot. Those people would have to deal with the fact that I would not lie even to the police for they’re complete help. I truly wish I would but I can’t.

            So I hope this inspired any of my fellow classmates that have not read the book (since you are the only people that have not read the book that will read this) to read the book.

Black and White Pre Reading

         How do "mountains" grow between friends? This has happened to me before but thankfully that ended. This happened to two people in a novel called Black and White. A black named Marcus and a white named Eddie. They are star basketball players at their high school. But to make money to pay their student fund, they decided to steal Marcus's dad's gun and do some robberies. They never planned to shoot, just to scare people into giving up they’re money. Well Eddie ended up accidentally shooting someone then Eddie and Marcus made a run for it. During their next game the cops arrived during half time and arrested Marcus because they thought he shot the gun. Eddie got away with no arrest although; Eddie should have gotten arrested because he shot the gun. Both Eddie and Marcus are upset because 1. They have just been separated thanks to a stupid mistake and 2. Once their family finds out, what would happen?

         So this is one of the ways that a friendship can be split up. Crime can easily break up the strongest friendship. This reason is because if someone tricks a friend into crime then that friend might go to jail and then the friendship is done. Although a wall or “mountain” between the friendships doesn’t mean that the friendship is over. While Marcus is being arrested, that doesn’t mean that Eddie won’t try to clear stuff up. Although if Eddie does commit to shooting the man, he would most likely go to jail.

         My experience in a break between friends happened in 6th Grade. 2 of my friends liked each other and I joked around with the girl and the guy took it a bit to seriously and him and I stopped talking. But thank goodness he forgave me and we are still friends today.

         So, I have another source that something in a novel can happen in real life.