I just read a book called The Shining by Stephen King. It was about a man, Jack Torrence, who watched a hotel called “The Overlook Hotel” while the owner was away for the winter. Jack brought his wife and kids to the hotel with him. In the past, Jack had a drinking problem, but he hasn’t been drinking for a while now. People might think that Jack would be the one that has power throughout this text, but I think that it is his 5-year-old son, Danny who has control. Throughout this text   Danny’s parents’ actions revolve around him.

            One place that this is shown is when Danny comes out of room number 217 with bruises on his neck. Wendy, Danny’s mom and Jack’s wife, immediately assumes that it was Jack that hurt Danny since he had done so 3 years earlier. She snatches Danny away from Jack and takes him to hide. Jack knows that he didn’t do anything, and it makes him crazy. It drives him to drink for the first time in a really long time. This is an example of how Danny has the power in the text because Wendy tries to run away with Danny based on something that happened to Danny.

            Another thing is that in the book, the author gives you the message that Jack and Wendy do love each other, but not very strongly.  At least that is how I interpret it. The main reason that they are staying together is for Danny. Danny loves them both so much.  He would hate it most if his parents got divorced. Wendy feels that Danny loves Jack more though.  That brings her even closer to the family, because she wants Danny to love HER more. Jack feels that Wendy is trying to steal Danny from him, so he tries to get closer to Wendy so that she can’t steal Danny away. Danny brings the family together, so whatever he does makes his parents do things.

            The final and obvious reason why I think Danny has power in the text is because Danny literally has a power. He has the Shining. He has a little friend named Tony that shows him things. Danny can read minds and control things, and see ghosts and such. He can tell things that are happening right now, even if the incident isn’t where he is. He can communicate with someone else with the Shining by sending thoughts to them. In a way, he can also read the future. At first Wendy doesn’t believe that Danny has a power, and she has a doctor look at him. As the story continues however, she grows to believe Danny, and she asks him questions about his father. One thing she asks him  “Is your father drinking again, Danny?” Danny has power in this part of the text because his mother acts based on Danny’s literal power.

            In the book, there are many examples of where Danny has power, whether it is literally a power or, just being in control, he has it. Jack and Wendy are married, but the real reason why they are still together is because of Danny. He brings the family together. He is also the reason why his parents do the things that they do. Many people think that Jack might have power, but they are wrong. Danny is the one with the power.

8.     What really hard things are happening in this text? Are these things happening in the world now? Where?

         In the book The Shining by Stephen King, there are some very hard things that are taking place. One of these concerns centers on child custody. One of the main characters in the book is Jack Torrence. He has had a drinking problem in the past, but for a while he has been “dry as a bone.” In Jack’s drinking days, his wife Wendy wanted to take Danny, their son, away from him. Although when Jack was getting drunk, he still had the right to his kid just the same as Wendy did. It wasn’t fair for Wendy to steal Danny away from Jack no matter what the circumstances were because Danny is as much Jack’s kid as he is Wendy’s kid.

         The first time that this problem occurred was when Jack had his last drink. The last time he drank was when Danny spilled Jack’s beer on the play that he had been working on for a while. Since he wrote it on a typewriter, there were no other copies, so Jack lost his temper. Being drunk, he broke his young son’s arm. That was when this problem came into play. Wendy was both frightened and furious. She wanted to take Danny away from Jack. Although what he did was very wrong, he still had the right to his kid. It was only one mistake.

         This type of problem happens in the real world too, but mostly when parents are separated. For example, my family’s friend is struggling with the issue of child custody. Although our friend isn’t a drunk, the problem is similar in a way. His ex-wife has a boyfriend who has a job opportunity in Michigan. She wants to take our friend's daughter to live with her there in Michigan, and leave our friend alone in Vermont. That is not right. Someone can’t take away a child from someone else just because they want to move. Our friend has a right to his child and is devastated about the situation. Although the circumstances are a little different in my book, this connects to my book because Wendy wanted to take Danny away from Jack, and in real life, this lady wants to take away our friend’s daughter from him.

         Jack, in my book, has been sober for a long time now, but his wife is still hesitant to believe it. Danny mysteriously has these bruises on his neck, and without any thought at all, Wendy assumes that these bruises came from Jack, and quickly snatches Danny away from Jack. Jack knows that he didn’t do anything, and Wendy’s action drives him crazy. This shows the custody issue because Wendy is ready at a moments notice to run away with Danny.

         In The Shining, many problems happen, but the one that sticks out to me the most is that dealing with child custody. In the book, Wendy wants to take Danny away from Jack, and in real life, these actions take place as well. This is a problem that is happening throughout my book and in the real world, and reading this book makes me notice that this problem happens a lot more than I would have thought.

 MONDAY MUSES


PROMPT 1
     A children's book that I have always been inspired by is The Cat in the Hat Comes Back by Dr. Seuss. I have always loved this book. I loved the way that the little cats come out of smaller hats.
A
 B
  C
   D
     E
      F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y                     Z.
Were the names of the cats. One halloween I dressed up as the cat in the hat, and my siblings dressed up as thing 1 and 2. Everybody loved us. Now I look back and think, "maybe my brother and sister could have been smaller cats coming out of my hat."
The cats got Smaller to Smaller to Smaller to Smaller to Smaller.

PROMPT 2
Books have always inspired me. I love to make connections from my life to the main character's life, or any other character in the book. I love to look at character relationships, the way that they bond, or fight, or kill, or joke around with. Sometimes I don't think that I would like the relationship that the characters have if I was in the book, but I love to see conflict arise in the book.
I also like the way characters develop in books. For example, I love how in The Shining by Stephen King, Jack Torrence goes from sane to evil and crazy throughout the book. Or in Harry Potter book 3, how Harry learns something from the beginning to the end gradually. All of these things make me love to read books, and books inspire me.

            In class, we have just finished working with articles and books, and discussing whether or not to ban certain books across the city and country. Personally, I have just finished reading Joyland by Stephen King. That book is a questionable banned book. It has sex, and murder. But first of all, those occurrences only happen once each, and are vague. They don’t go into detail, and it is very brief. There are only a couple of references to these things, and I feel like that isn’t enough reason ban this book. Many parents want to ban books like these, and I don’t think that it is fair that parents can just band books for everyone everywhere.

            Many parents don’t like the kinds of material that are in the books their kids are reading. In one of the articles that were available in class, “Man From Ministry Bans Potter”, it says that Harry Potter was banned in a Catholic school, because parents believed that it was conflicting with their beliefs. Maybe parents can ban that book for their children, but it isn’t right to ban it for all people around the world. Again, in an article called “Darkness Too Visible” It mentions how pissed off parents are that their kids are reading about rape and drugs. Even though these topics may be crossing the line, Kids should make their own decisions.

            Which brings me to my next point. All books have important lessons, and kids should be open to reading them. I think that it is more appropriate for kids to be learning about rape, and drugs, and such in books rather then have it come across them in real life. They need to understand the consequences of these problems. Also, if the book does have rape in it, then the lesson of that book isn’t TO rape, it is NOT TO rape. I  believe that parents are being to oblivious when they jump to conclusions that a book should be banned just because it has rape.

            One last thing that I need to say is that parents don’t seem to see that if books are put on the banned list, more people are likely to read them. In the article “the banned books we have loved”, R. L. Stine states that it is an honor to have your book placed on the banned book list because many people are rebels. I agree. People will see that the a book is on a DO NOT READ list and they will become curious as to why it is on that list. They will then proceed to buy that book and read it. The book will now be more in the open. R. L. Stine also says that when a book is placed on that banned list, there is never a sale decrease, it just brings attention to the book.

            All in all, I think that many books have things that are very mature in them, to show people how bad they are, and that they shouldn’t do these things in life. Many parents are quickly jumping to the conclusion that the books are not right for their kids, so they automatically try to ban it for everyone. Which isn’t right. Information in these books are vital for young readers to learn sooner rather than later. 

Thinking of my childhood

visions come to mind,

remembering,

the flight of stairs

I walk now,

a trip

is all it takes,

to make a child cry,

down 

        down  

                 down

                          down 

                                    I came

rolling like a ball.

Racing on sidewalks is always fun

shouting "FASTER LEGS FASTER!"

to help me run.

Into my life 

to babies did come,

only to frighten 

the new older brother 

Learning to swim like no other did,

I tried and I tried 

to stay afloat 

surprising my father

on dads' special day

Snow angels were made

one snowy thanksgiving

happily laughing

as I lay in the snow

With all good comes bad

one afternoon at pre-k

to grandma's house 

I was to go

I felt sick

After the doctor

home I did go :(

Back to the good

I shall now go 

skipping to 

my bar mitzvah day

becoming a jewish man

celebrating with 

family and friends

off to Israel then I went

as a present from grandma

and grandfather too

Thinking back to all my years

bringing it with tears and cheers.

I am reading a book called Joyland by Stephen King. It is about a young man named Devin, who gets a summer job at an amusement park called Joyland. He has many responsibilities in this summer job, he has to work the rides, clean the rides, and "wear the fur". Wearing the fur means wearing the park mascot and playing with the kids. Most people don't like wearing the fur because it is really hot and sweaty. But Devin likes it. He loves being with the kids and he even saved a kids life doing it because he was that much into the job. I think that one of the themes in this book, is that even if most people don't like something, that shouldn’t effect how you feel about it.

     This happens in the book many times. One time this happens is when everyone keeps warning Devin that Joyland is fun to work at, until you wear the fur. That gets him to dread wearing the fur. But then his first time wearing the fur, he did really well, and the owner of Joyland, Mr. Easterbrook, saw him succeeding. As well as doing a good job, he also had a great time. Then Mr. Easterbrook said to Devin that he noticed how well that Devin did and that Devin enjoyed it. "'I think you'll wear the fur a lot this summer. Most of the young people see that as a burden or even a punishment. I don't believe that you will. Am I wrong?' He wasn't." That quote shows that even though most of the staff at Joyland don’t appreciate  wearing the fur; Devin enjoys being the park mascot.

     Another time that this happens is when Devin saves a little girls life. She was choking on a hotdog. Most people would have walked by not seeing her, but Devin noticed that she needed help. She was choking so he came and did CPR. He saved her life. A quote that shows this in the book is: "I saw the little girl's face turning purple and didn't even think about her ribs. I seized her in a vast, furry embrace, with my tail-pulling left paw jammed against the bony arch in her midsection where her ribs came together. I gave a single hard squeeze, and a yellow-smeared chunk of hotdog almost two inches long came popping out of her mouth...." That quote shows that he, unlike other people, wasn’t just doing his job for money, but he is also concerned about other people so he noticed this little girl choking on a hotdog, while pretending to be a dog.

     All in all I think that this book has a very big theme. The theme is that you should have your own opinions and feelings on certain matters, and stick with what you like, not what others like. You should also make the best out of a situation and you might actually enjoy it. I think that this book so far is really good and I recommend it to all readers!

     I am currently reading The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. Besides there being zombies and action.... there are some deep character relationships. There are many... but I think the biggest one, is Josh and Lilly's relationship. They both obviously care for each other, and I think that they could possibly become lovers...
   
    The first time that I noticed the relationship was when Lilly felt guilty about having a crush on Josh. She felt that she was "manipulating him to be her bodyguard" and she didn't want to do that to someone. When she told her friend, Meagan, she just got the response that Lilly should be trying to get with Josh. Lilly didn't want to listen to Meagan, but she still had a crush on Josh. Especially because he called her "babydoll" all the time. This makes me think that she will eventually fall for him and start to get much closer to him.

     I also noticed the relationship starting to bloom when Josh was thinking to himself that he thought that Lilly was something special. He liked her, and he said that he didn't want to mess up this relationship like he had in the past. He seems to be planning what he is going to do for her. This basically says that he has a crush on her and he wants to become lovers with Lilly.

     Another time that I noticed the relationship was when Josh found Lilly getting beat up by a guy named Chad, because his daughter was in Lilly's protection when the daughter died. Josh went WAY over bored and literally murdered Chad because of what he did to Lilly. Even though it was a very bad thing to do, I think that this shows that he cares for Lilly because he really doesn't want her to be hurt. Anyway, then he was kicked out of the village, and someone wanted to go with him. Could you guess who that was? Right. Lilly wanted to go with him because "There was nothing for her in the town without Josh."

     One last time that the relationship has appeared so far in the book is when they kissed. I mean, this is the most obvious one of them all. They kissed because they gave into each other and now their relationship is starting.

     All in all, I think that all though in the book The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, people think of mostly think of zombies and gore, there actually is some romance and very big character relationships. I think that this book is really great!

     Over the summer I read some great books. One of the books that  I read was called The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. It is about a boy name Ponyboy Curtis who lives with his two brothers who are named Sodapop and Darry Curtis. They are in a gang of greasers, or hoods, and who are rivals of socs, short for socials. In their gang there is Two-Bit, Dally, Johnny, and Steve. These boys get into fights with Socs and one day Johnny and Ponyboy, who are close, murder a soc out of self defense. They are forced to run away from home or they will be sentenced to death. 

     I really liked this book, and it was a real page turner. I don't really like these kinds of books  (classics) but I really liked this book because it was about the struggles of a boy who is in a lower class in terms of money. In the books there are some suspenseful and some very moving and sad moments. A book that can make you feel that way is a good book because you really get into it.

     

     I recommend this book to readers who like realistic fiction and who like classics, but I really recommend this book to everyone because it is an easy read and it is fun.