Queen Bee - Chynna Clugston

Milan Castro                                                                                                      October 11^th, 2013

808                                                                                                                                    ELA

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.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Milan Castro 

808

            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.