Reading Response #4 SHINE

Evy Rahmey 802   11/20/14

Reading Response #4 Shine

Some people live their lives with a frown on their face and the belief that everything is worthless. Other explore the world optimistically and make the best out of what they have. The book Shine, by Lauren Myracle is about a sixteen year old girl named Cat who lives in a small town of North Carolina called Black Creek. Her views on the world have dramatically shifted, and now she's just lost. Cat's former best friend, Patrick, who is gay, was just attacked by an unknown subject and strung to a gas nozzle because of his homosexuality. While unconscious at the gas station, Patrick was discovered and brought to the hospital, leaving all of Black Creek wondering who attacked him and what his physical and mental states are looking like. When Cat found out about the situation, she was determined to find out who ambushed Patrick, and she visits many people to find where they were during the attack. Throughout Shine, we get to know Cat as a curious, nervous, and lonely person who misses her past. We see how she takes on her life asking many questions. By getting to know Cat as a character, we see that people may not instantaneously know what they miss until they realized the impact it had on them.

In the eighth grade, Cat felt she had bad vibes around her all the time, so she stopped being friends with all of her friends, and she let her former happy go lucky personality go. Cat thought that isolating herself would help, but it didn't. However, three years later, it is evident that Cat longs to have her friends back and be that happy go lucky girl. For example, after finding out about Patricks attack, Cat realizes how much she misses spending time with Patrick and having picnics in their special hideout. “Today, all I saw was  an endless blue sky shimmering above the trees at the edge of Patrick’s yard. I pressed the back of my head against the house. My fingers found the grass, and at its roots, the cool soil. I would have been content to sit here for hours, but I needed to get up.” Here, it shows how much Cat misses Patrick and how she regrets parting form him. Additionally, this shows Cat misses her childhood in general because she used to go to Patrick’s house when she was little, and it was like a second home to her. She misses the days when she was happier and she spent time with Patrick, and she especially misses them now because of Patrick being close to death, and her wanting to go back to those careless days.

In the process of letting go her relationship with her friends, the way Cat interacts with her brother dramatically changes as well. Cat brother, Christian, protected Cat and told her what was right and what was wrong. For instance, three years ago, when Christian walked in on his friend, Tommy, sexually harassing Cat, he decided to destroy something that really mattered to Tommy. “Male voices washed over me: Tommy’s furious; Beef’s sympathetic, but not overly so; my brother’s just plain flat. Shaking, I stood and buttoned my shorts. I  moved silently to the edge of the window, where I crossed my arms tight and took it in. Pieces of chrome. A fender blown several feet away when the gas tank exploded. The rubber grip of the accelerator. The smoldering remains of the smokehouse blanketing the bones of Tommy’s BMW. ‘Told you not to park there,’ Christian said.” This quote shows that though Christian took a different approach at protecting her sister, he still destroyed the motorcycle because he wanted to protect her. Three years ago, their relationship was very strong and they were close siblings. Looking back on those days, Cat misses Beef and wants their close relationship back. “In the months to come, in the moments of loneliness so deep it hurt to breathe, I tried to put aside my fury and betrayal and humiliation and forgive him. That’s how much I missed him.” Then, when Cat and her friend, Jason, were going to find Beef, Christian came again to the rescue. Though they were not as close anymore, Christian still took a brotherly role by helping her sister, which he hadn’t done for a while because they hardly interacted. When Cat and Christian found Beef, who was really high, with Robert, Cat eleven year old friend, Cat climbed up to help Robert while Christian hid from view. After Cat saved Robert from Beef, Beef began shooting at them, but Christian put a stop to that. “Behind Beef, I saw Christian wrestling to get the gun. he was arguing with him, and his voice seemed to alternate from loud to not loud as it bounced off the rock.” Here, were are shown the protective and caring Christian who will save his sister and look out for her. Additionally, Cat realizes how much she missed Christian and she is thrilled to have him back as a loyal and close brother.

By looking at Cat’s behaviors both in the past and in the present, we can see that Cat wants things to be like how they were when she was a child. Cat wants her friends back, especially Patrick, and she wants her bond with her brother to be strong again. The feeling of missing someone or something is a very powerful feeling that takes over an individual. We can see this by the way Cat stays at Patricks while she should be at church. People today miss many others and it is difficult coping with the feeling. Cat doesn’t realize what she misses until it’s late, and we don’t realize what we miss until it’s too  late either.

Reading Response #3 DIVERGENT

Evy Rahmey 802 ELA           Divergent Reading Response                           11/6/14

Many people live their lives taking baby steps, and that is a detrimental problem. The book Divergent, by Veronica Roth, demonstrates a life where the protagonist is put in situations where taking risks and trying new things are essential in order to proceed in life. Divergent is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Tris who is living in a dystopian society where there are five factions to enhabit; Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Erudite, and Dauntless. Tris is living with her family in Abnegation. At age sixteen, she is given the aptitude test which determines what faction is recommended for her to switch to. Only one result is supposed to be given, but, if more than one result is given, you are deemed Divergent. This means that you don’t fit into one single faction. According to this society, being Divergent is a bad thing to be, and one must keep their Divergent identity a secret. At the choosing ceremony, which is when you choose which faction you want to continue living in for the rest of your life, Tris chooses Dauntless, not knowing what would happen in that faction. Throughout the book, the reader gets a good look at both the protagonists life changes in the Dauntless faction and the lifestyles of other factions. By looking at the way Tris advances in the book, we can see that sometimes it’s better to take risks and step out of your comfort zone.

In the beginning of the book, Tris is smacked in the face with a huge decision and a tough problem. After taking the aptitude test, Tris is categorized as Divergent because she fits into Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless. Subsequently, she has to decide which faction she wants to live the rest of her life in. However, Tris has a lot of trouble deciding which faction would be best for her. For instance, during the choosing ceremony, Tris says, “In the last circle are five metal bowls so large they could hold my entire body, if I curled up. Each one contains a substance that represents each faction: gray stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless, and glass for Candor. When Marcus calls my name, I will walk to the center of the three circles. I will not speak. He will offer me a knife. I will cut into my hand and sprinkle my blood into the bowl of the faction that I choose. My blood on the stones. My blood sizzling on the coals.” This quote portrays Tris’s hardships when picking the faction she will live in because she can’t perfectly fit into one faction. Additionally, I think that by looking at this scene, it is evident that Tris has a lot of trouble embracing her Divergence because she wants to be normal and she doesn’t want to have more weight on her shoulders by secretly being an outcast. But, throughout the time she has deciding which faction to go to, Tris always comes back to the realization that Abnegation is better for her because she’s familiar to it. In contrast to this behavior, Tris ends up choosing Dauntless, which she knows hardly anything of. Later on in the same scene of the choosing ceremony, Tris says, “I hold the knife in my right hand and touch the blade to my palm. Gritting my teeth, I drag the blade down. It stings, but I barely notice. I hold both hands to my chest, and my next breath shudders on the way out. I open my eyes and thrust my arm out. My blood drips onto the carpet between the two bowls. Then, with a gasp I can’t contain, I shift my hand forward, and my blood sizzles on the coals. I am selfish. I am brave.” It is here that we’re first introduced to the Tris that experiments with new ideas and begins to take risks that will shape her life for the better. Having Tris pick Dauntless not only shows how she’s willing to take risks, but also how it almost seems as if she may be ready for stuff that may come out of the blue. By analyzing this quote, we can see how once Tris submits her decision to be Dauntless, she instantaneously accepts it and she seems okay with taking an enormous risk by jumping into a life in which she has no prior knowledge of.

Towards the middle of the book, Tris begins to settle into her new faction and has met new people, both friends and enemies. At one point, Tris and the rest of the Dauntless initiates play a game of capture the flag on a large stretch of land. While her team argues about their plan, Tris sees a good opportunity to get a look at the whole terrain and look for the other teams flag. “I grab a rung. It’s rusty and thin and feels like it might crumble in my hands. I put my weight on the lowest rung to test it and jump to make sure it will hold me up. The movement hurts my ribs, and I wince.” Here, it shows how Tris is taking a risk to guide her team to victory. She is enduring the pain and trying something that may hurt her, but she knows that in the end, it will help both her and her team. This makes me think that trying new things is a beneficial thing to do because it teaches you how to overcome fears, which will help later in life. Tris continues to take risks when she and the Dauntless initiates are throwing knives against a target. After one of the initiates, Al sloppily throws his knives, he is forced to stand in front of a target and not flinch as knives are thrown near him. Tris decided to take his place. “‘An idiot can stand in front of a target,’ I say. ‘It doesn’t prove anything except that you’re bullying us (the initiates). Which, as I recall, is a sign of cowardice.’ ‘Then it should be easy for you,’ Eric says. ‘If you’re willing to take his (Al’s) place.’ The last thing I want to do is stand in front of a target, but I can’t back down now. I didn’t leave myself the option.” This quote shows how Tris is risking herself in order to protect her friend Al. By looking at this scenario, I can see that this is a beneficial risk to take because it, firstly, teaches her more about selflessness and protecting others, and, secondly, it helps Tris prepare for if a situation as violent and scary as that were to ever happen again.

One of Tris’s largest risks is at the end of the book. During a war in which Erudite uses themselves and puts Dauntless soldiers under stimulation, Tobias, who is Tris’s advisor in Dauntless, is also Divergent, and is now Tris’s boyfriend as well, is brainwashed and controls the stimulations themselves. Tris makes her way into the control room, after taking many smaller risks and fighting her way to get to this room, and she is faced with the confused and mostly angry Tobias. But, she doesn’t move out of the room. Instead, she tries to get him out of his stimulation. “I set my gun down at my feet. ‘Drop your weapon!’ shouts Tobias. ‘I did’, I say. A little voice sings that he can’t hear me, he can’t see me, he doesn’t know me”….”I can’t beat Tobias in a fight, I know that already. But I have to destroy the computer. I dive for the gun, but before I can touch it, he grabs me and wrenches me to the side.” This scene shows not only the risk Tris is taking by not giving up and walking out of the room to save herself, but it shows that some risks feed off of determination, and that in order for someone to take a leap of faith, they must be determined to experience the end result. Tris trying to save Tobias is an example of a healthy risk because she believes she can save him and she needs him in her life; it shows how much she loves him. If Tris gave up, it would show her as a person who had no faith in herself, which would be unhealthy for her. Overall, Tris’s decision to remain with Tobias was helpful to both Tobias and her.

In Divergent by Veronica Roth, the protagonist gets through many complicated situations by 

taking risks and giving new things a try. By taking a close look at the risks Tris takes, we can see that trying new things and taking risks feed off of a desire or determination to either want or conquer something, or they feed off of love. Tris’s courage, bravery, and the way she takes risks show the reader that stepping out of your comfort zone is a very good thing to do. Also, by looking at the plot of the book, it shows how taking that huge jump is extremely beneficial because there may be an obstacle that pops into your life that is hard to overcome by taking baby steps. Risk taking is preparation for things that may pop up in the future. In our lives today, we are forced to take many risks, just as Tris has to. Though we don’t live in a dystopian society, we do have some bad aspects, as well as good, in our lives and trying new things is the key to moving on in life. Trying new things is crucial in our lives. The adjustment to having to try in life is a huge one, but a beneficial and important one. In conclusion, Taking risks can be a beneficial thing, and the way Tris progresses in Divergent proves this.