Critical Reading Analysis : Thirteen Reasons Why

Milan Castro                                                                                                                        Dec.15th,2013

808                                                                                                                                                 ELA

Critical Reading Analysis

                For my reading book “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, I picked the question who has the power in the story? And so far in the book, many people have the power; them being Hannah Baker, Clay Jensen, The person who has the extra tapes and the people who are on the tapes.

                Hannah obviously has the power because she is telling her part of each story from her point of view. Clay has the power as well because as far as he has heard, he knows all the dirt on the people on as many tapes as he has heard about.

                There is also that extra person who is secretly holding the tapes until someone tries to get rid of the tapes and doesn’t listen or pass them on to the next “victim”. Yet we don’t know if this person or tapes are real. As far as we know, they are threats.

                And finally there are on the tapes themselves. They somewhat have the power because they can expose each other to the public if they had to.

                Over all, many people in the book themselves have the power. But the person with the most power is Hannah Baker.

Monday Muses- Green Eggs And Ham

          Milan Castro                                                                                                              Nov.17^th, 2013

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Monday Muses- My favorite Children’s book

            When I was younger, I used to have speech delay. So, I went to a school that specializes in curing it. And during the year, we started reading the book “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss. During class, we would read the book all together and discuss it. Then at the end of the unit, the class had a party!

            Everyone sat down and we waited to be served. In honor of finishing the book, we ate green eggs and ham! (Since we were in Pre-K, we didn’t know that the eggs were dyed green). It was delicious! And everyone had such a great time with it!

            This story relevant to me now in life because the book taught me to be very curious and eager to try new things. You never know what you might like until you try it!

Monday Muses

Waiting…

I go and take my seat and wait.

As the seconds drown into minutes

 I stare at the door and sigh,

Staring aimlessly at the door

And it slowly fades away from me

Spiraling away until it is out out of my line of vision.

Waiting…

When will you come?

When will you fulfill the promises you made?

When will you learn to fill the shoes you have?

I know your family is a wreck and everyone is counting on you to brace yourself for the strong winds you are facing.

But when will you realize that you’re so young and you have a life to look foreward to?

When will you turn around and see I’m here for you?

When will you notice that everyone feels for you through your pain and we can see under that smile you are slowly suffering and it is slowly overpowering you?

Waiting…

The door comes back out of the darkness and I slowly wake out of my daze.

Maybe I’ll never see you again.

Maybe I’ll never see you again because fate wants to have its way.
I remember your cousin told me

“If you have dreams about each other, you’ll end up that way in the future”.

What a pitiful lie…

To think that for the both of us to be together and everything going fine that nothing would ruin us.

To think that anything would knock us off course, I thought nothing could keep us apart.

Then came the evil time that ripped us apart…

First it was distance which was okay knowing you could text me and we could still see each other. Then you stopped responding. I would send a text and hearing it buss because of it vibrations hitting the table and the ringtone of

“Daddy why did you eat my fries?”

I would be so happy I would run to my phone hoping I could get a taste of the other side.

Just to hear your voice would help me through.

But everytime it wasn’t you, my heart would falter and die every time.

Then curiosity slowly crept in…

Maybe you met someone?

Maybe she was better than me and I slowly crept out of your mind.

Maybe I barely existed to you.

So now, I can’t wait anymore.

I need to get on with my life.

I need to get over you and forget.

Just having what we used to be as a spell and a curse

Both haunting and endearing at the same time.

Maybe fate will have its way and we will find our way back to each other…

But till then, I have to let go.

I can’t hold onto to our love forever.

And maybe now and then you will remember me.

And you will smile and have no pain hiding under the surface.

I can no longer…

Wait.

 

Queen Bee - Chynna Clugston

Milan Castro                                                                                                      October 11^th, 2013

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R.R. - Theme

            In the book “Queen Bee” by Chynna Clugston, there are many themes to follow while you are reading the book. A theme I noticed was true friends will always have your back. I noticed this theme during the book three times; once in the beginning, once in the middle and finally one in the end.

            My first example is on page 13. In this part, Haley (protagonist) has just transferred to a new school because of her mom’s job and wants to be the queen bee. So she has a girl named Trini show her around school. I feel like this connects to my theme because Trini showed her around out of the kindness in her heart, not just to get out of class the other kids wanted to do earlier in this part. She also tells her who to hang out with and who to not hang out with because she doesn’t want Haley to get into the wrong crowd and not have any friends.

            My second example is on pages 44-45. In this part, Haley had ditched Trini to become popular and started hanging out with the most popular girls in school (the Hive) till soon she was the most popular girl in school. Then the new girl Alexa Harmon came in and Haley was slowly being shoved out of the Hive! This connects to my theme as well because in the beginning of the book, Trini told her she shouldn’t hang out with those girls yet she did anyway because she wanted to get popular and didn’t listen to her and now she doesn’t have any friends and she is going to be the “mousy girl” all over again.

            My third and last example is on page 107. In this part, Haley is now not in the Hive anymore since Alexa made it look like Haley she threw a lunch tray at her. After this “incident”, she met her new friend Jasper who is now her only friend. And after they won this singing competition, she apologized to Trini because she knew Trini was right all along about the Hive and how they’re not good friends; then she forgave her. This shows my theme because since Trini is a true friend, she forgave her and mended their broken friendship.

            In conclusion you need true friends to help you, not phony friends. I can connect to this because I have had various friends that I sometimes regret having because they weren’t really my friends. Yet I also value them because they also showed my which people to stay away from.

I Am Here - Ema Toyama

Milan Castro                                                                                                                      Sept.29,2013 
808                                                                                                                                                     ELA
                                                                   RR. - Character

In the book "I am here!" By Ema Toyama, the main character, Sumino Hikagi changes in many ways because of her allies and friends helping her "get into the sun". The change I notice in her the most is that her friends help her get away from her loneliness and help get her noticed. This change happens throughout the whole book.

In the beginning of the book, Sumino tells about her past and how she saved a cat from getting run over by a car but then got run over by a motorcycle because the rider claimed to not have seen her. This accident sent her to the hospital for two months. And by the time she went back to school, everyone had made cliques. Soon the end of the year came and she still didn't have friends. She was “invisible" or that's what she says she is. The only friends she has are on her blog which she has two people who comment who try to help her. Their names are Mega Pig and Black Rabbit. They blog and encourage her to do things that will get her noticed. But she believes she doesn't have the strength to do it. Then she officially meets Hinata. He is one out of the two popular guys. When he has to leave he says "goodbye Sumino!" This is an example of her changing because someone out of everyone has noticed her.

Another example of her changing is in the middle of the book is when she is waiting for Hinata to go home so they can walk together, a girl looks at her and says "Goodbye!" Then her friend says who are you talking to? And she says the hamster game. This is another example because earlier, they were playing with personality tests and Hinata invited her into the class circle. This girl talking to her is another example of her changing because now since she was in the class circle, people are starting to notice her and she is starting to not be invisible anymore.

My last example is in the end of the story on page 272 when a girl named Aya spread a rumor saying that Sumino forced Hinata into a pity date. But everyone decides to believe Sumino over Aya because Sumino told them how she was always alone and had no friends until Hinata decided to tell her he liked her ever since he saw her save that cat. She also told them that e is really important to them. This also shows that she is changing because she has the guts to tell everyone that they never knew who she was until she started hanging out with Hinata.

In conclusion, Sumino needed lots of people's help to "get into the sun".

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Milan Castro 

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            In the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many themes in this book that you can recognize while you are reading. One theme that I recognized was that you don’t know a person until you know their past. I noticed that this theme shows up three times in the story, in the beginning, middle, and ending.

            The first example was on page 49. When Nick Carraway is at Gatsby’s party, he starts talking to Gatsby. After Gatsby has to talk to some other people, some of the other party guests were talking to Nick about Gatsby. “I think he killed a man” said a woman at the party. This reflects back to my theme because since Nick had just met Gatsby, he didn’t really know his past. So hearing a comment like this makes someone feel like they might know more about the person.

            My second example was on page 86. Nick has just invited Gatsby and Daisy over for tea. “We’ve met before.” Gatsby muttered. This is another example of my theme because since he has collected even more of Gatsby’s past, thus meaning he is starting to know Gatsby as a person and as a friend.

            My third and last example is on 100. In this scene, Gatsby is telling Nick about his old friend Dan Cody. He told him the story of his friend and how he died on the boat inhospitably. This also connects to my theme because Gatsby is showing Nick inside his past and personal life. This proves that Nick know knows Gatsby as a person and as a friend because he shows him something he wouldn’t normally tell others unless they were close friends.

            In conclusion, you can’t completely know a person until they let you in on their past.