Thomas Nickerson

In the novel, In the Heart of the Sea, Thomas Nickerson is on a voyage on a vessel called The Essex. He is much younger than all the other crew members, but probably has the biggest heart and love for whaling out of all the crew. When the story began, he was just a young man who grew up on Nantucket dreaming of going on a successful voyage, the farthest anyone had ever gone. He wanted to go the farthest of the coast because he had reason to believe that that was where the whale motherload was. In the book, they are all very tired because they have been killing, on average one whale every five days. It says though, that Thomas Nickerson enjoyed the whole process and had a glimmer in his eye when doing all this. Throughout the book, the hard work of the sea takes a toll on Thomas. The main catalyst for his change to me is when they are killing so many whales and not only does it take a physical toll on him, but also an emotional toll. In the heart of the sea, Thomas Nickerson is changed due to being overworked and it takes a big emotional toll on his personality. He changes from an optimistic young man, to a pessimistic young man.

In the Heart of the Sea response 2

One understanding of the main character, Thomas Nickerson, so far is that he has grown a lot in his time on the ship. When the story began he seemed very nervous to go out to sea and I didn't think that he was ever going to be able to adapt to that life. He had no prior experience at sea, considering that he was a farmer. He is now a changed character because after having been through all of the challenges that they faced on the voyage, those experiences shaped him to become more comfortable on the ship. One key catalyst in this change for Thomas is when he sees the whales being killed. That is a lot to go through for a rookie on a whaling boat, and now that he knew he had overcome that new feeling, he felt like other extreme actions that happen on the boat won't be as shocking and nerve-wracking to him. Another force that acts upon him are the members of his crew and how they push him. Specifically Owen is very hard on the shipmates like Thomas, and his actions really made Thomas learn the rules of being at sea. Along with the amount of time that he spent on the whaling boat, these two forces have teamed up to shape Thomas' bravery at sea.

In the Heart of the Sea

The main character of In the Heart of the Sea is Thomas Nickerson. Thomas Nickerson is a Nactucketuer, who is a fresh recruit for whaling ship the Essex. At the beggining of the book Nickerson is a teenager who is not aware of what life is like on a whaling ship. He initially has an easy life as a farmer on the island but Once Nickerson is out at sea, his view of life changes. The first mate, Owen Chase, is very harsh on the sailors making sure they are doing their jobs. Owen curses at them and punishes them if they aren't doing what they're supposed to do. Nickerson is surprised by Owen's behavior, for he was a gentlemen on the island and so we're all other sailors, but once they came out to sea, everything changed and life was more harsh. Thus, Owen and the sea, are the key catalyst, for the cruelty of both, changed the view of what life was like to Nickerson. Nickerson now realized that he no longer had a laid back life, like he did on Natucket. Nickerson now has to prepare for the harshness of the sea and whaling.

Reading book

The main character in the story 野犬女皇, are group of wild dogs who lived in the mountain.This kind of dogs only have females in their group, every year in their estrus, only the leader of the group can have baby.Each of them can have 6-8 babies, if they have more than that, they can't find enough food for all the babies. After their estrus, male dog will leave, but this year is different.

The leader of this group is named Red Heart.She thinks she love this male dog so much and she does not want him to leave. So here comes a problem. Her sister got pregnant. Her sister is a beautiful female dog just like Red Heart, she named White Peach.Because of wild dogs' rule. Red Heart should driving these two dogs away, but White Peach helped Red Heart when she was sick. So Red Heart just killed male dog. After babies born, they totally got 14 babies. This cause a new problem, they can't find enough food for 14 babies. Also White Peach divide group into two groups. Red Heart and White Peach both hate each other, they scared another will do something bad to their own children and they both want to get enough food.

One day, a hunter comes into their cave, White Peach tries to save all their children so she diverts the hunter. Red Heart hopes she would die but she doesn't want her sister die at same time. So she tried to save White Peach. But White Peach still died. Red Heart decide to take care half of White Peach’s children and half of herself. Those who left with White Peach’s dead body don’t even know what does this mean to them.

Red Heart changed when White Peach diverts the hunter, she thinks they still sister so they should be nice to each other.

Ismael Beah

Throughout the story the main character Ishmael gets braver and braver. At the beginning Ishmael is a shy kid who doesn't know what to do in the war. But over, time Ishmael gets braver as he learns from his surroundings. He does things many people wouldn't dare to do during a time of war. Like how he left the group of people he was with. Ishmael knew that the only way he would survive was if he ventured off into his own direction. This took lots of courage from him as Ishmael was almost leaving his family. He knew he might not see them again. But he took risk and hopefully it will benefit him out in the future. Another major change Ishmael has gone through is he a lot more aggressive. At some points of the book he steals from people. He his so hungry that he steals from a little boy, something he would never do before the war. The war has almost shaped Ishmael into a warrior because he knows it's either him or the person that's he's stealing from. Only one will survive and prevail through this war. 

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA

      In the novel In the Heart of The Sea, The main character Thomas Nickerson was going on his first journey on a whaling ship in Nantucket. He starts off as being a young man that loved to be out on the water. All he wanted to do was be out there for money and fun. But as time went on he faced whole lot more then he expected. From my understanding this is his first time going on a whaling ship. He was expecting to have a good time but from the experiences he faced he would turn into something that he never thought he could be. The key catalyst for Thomas's change was when there ship was attacked by the whale. They were all forced to survive on their own with no resources and live as long as they can even if it took to eat and survive off the people you were close too.

Gone Girl

This week’s question:  What understanding do you have of the main character so far? Who is s/he when the story began?  What changes in character have occurred?  What have been the catalysts for these changes so far?  

The main character in the book, Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, is Nick Dunne, a former write who moved with his wife, Amy, to Missouri from New York City and started a bar with his sister after being fired from his job. He moves to Missouri to be closer to his parents because they are dying, but Amy hates this decision. She despises their house and everything about Missouri. On the day of their anniversary, Amy disappears. Before they moved and both lost their jobs, they seemed to have a good relationship and we're happy. the very beginning of the story their relationship doesn't seem very pleasant. He says one of them is always angry Nick is the number one suspect.

butter-ending

In the end of  the book Butter, the main charecter, butter ends up in the hospital, with fake identity to a girl who he had a crush on at school revealed. He talked to her online as a normal boy from a private school named "J.P", when he gets attention from his online blog at school, he starts finally talking to the girl in real life, while still lieing to her online when he's at home. He isent doing it to try and hurt her feelings in the end, but he dosent think too much about how he's living a 'double-life.'  He also isent thinking about potential consequences from his actions, mainly because he is planning on eating himself to death. When he is embarresed at a party and his identy to be the girl, Anna's, fake online boyfriend, he is so humiliated by his own actions and howupset he made Anna he goes home and tries to eat himself to death like he posted on his blog. When he wakes up and finds himself in the hospital, he first thinks he is in heaven because of all of the white surrounding him, but he then realises that he's alive and almost wishes he was dead. Eventually he is able to find the hope he needs after leaving the hospital. He had been losing weight when hanging around his fake friends, but he was practically starving himself. He was introduced in the beginning of the book as the schools 'fat kid'. He didn't have any friends and he didn't really seem to mind. But eventually the lack of attention in his life got to him and he acted out by making a blog posting about how he was going to eat himself to death. Then when he started to get noticed by the 'cool kids' he continued with the blog, even though most of the comments on it were really negative, he initally looked at them as positive because they were still some form of attention. By the end of the book Butter transformed into a lonely, and physically and mentally ill person into someone who was able to begin fixing his life. He underwent a major transformation when he lived after attempted suicide.

Sharp Things- Gillian Flynn

Sharp things by Gillian Flynn is one of the most intense, well written books that I've ever read. The main character, Camille, is conflicted with going back to her hometown, Wind Gap, when she is assigned the task of reporting on the murders of two young girls. Camille has had her issues with depression due to her mother's deranged parenting style and her younger sister's death.  When Camille arrives in Wind Gap, she is greeted with loving negligence. Her mother allows Camille to stay at the house with her husband, Alan, and her young daughter Amma. Camille, who has a strong love for drink, starts off with asking questions at the police station about leads and details of the case. However, when people realize that she's "some big shot reporter from Chicago" they immediately put up walls and refuse to even mention the murders. Camille eventually lets people warm up to her, and she even forms a relationship with none of the detectives. She questions nearly every one in the town, and when she finally realizes that her sister's death is connected with the other two girls, she realizes that the only connection between them is someone very close to Camille.

Character Change

Ishmael has changed over time as the war and traveling starts to reach him internally.  Early on he started as an innocent teen to most now to being isolated and feared greatly by all villages he goes through.  His most obvious change is whren he talks of how many times he's escaped death.  He becomes fearful that the next ti,e he won't be lucky.  He feels every time he has a near death experience he believes he's slowly diening.  Every time something like that happens a small part is taken away, sooner or later it'll be his last bit he has left.  What enhances this belief is that physcally, he's very week.  When alone in the jungle he isn't able to climb away from the hogs and has trouble finding food.  Even his only food source,  he thinks it is poisinous to eat.  This shows how he doesn't care about what will happen because he knows death is around the corner anyway.  His depressing feeling and lack of motivation cause him to become a totally different person then the teen that loved rap and being a kid.

Eleanor and Park Character Development so far

This week’s question:  What understanding do you have of the main character so far? Who is s/he when the story began?  What changes in character have occurred?  What have been the catalysts for these changes so far? 

So far, both Eleanor and Park are pretty misunderstood and judged by those around them. They haven't changed much since the beginning as of now, but I believe their relationship is developing. They both feel awkward sitting next to each other on the bus considering they don't know each other very well, but Eleanor has started to not completely hate Park as she did in the beginning, for example she said that she liked his shoes and that they were cool, although she never told him that. Also, in their english class, they are required to pick out a poem and memorize it and the teacher pointed something out that really stood out to me because I could relate it back to the two characters. Their teacher, Mr. Stessman, tells them to pick a poem that speaks to them, to pick a poem thar will help them speak to someone else, which stood out to me because I thought that both Eleanor and Park should pick a poem that will help them speak to each other, and they might. I know that the two bond over music and that poems are like music without a tune, so maybe the first thing they will bond over is the poem they pick for Mr. Stessman's class. So far, Park still thinks Eleanor is weird, however, he admits that it's rude not to talk to her when they sit next to each other on the bus, he also has changed a little since the beginning because he feels sorry for her. He felt sorry for her in the beginning because he let her sit with him, but he hated her, and now he is beginning to feel sympathy towards her considering she has to deal with Tina and her mean friends and Park had to deal with them before, but now they are too preoccupied with Eleanor to make fun of Park, which in a way makes him feel bad. So I believe the main catalysts for these changes were the constant bullying from Tina and the way Mr. Stessman always calls on Eleanor in class in a way making fun of her as well.

Just One Day Character Change

The main character in the story, Just One Day by Gayle Forman, is a girl named Allyson and sometimes nicknamed Lulu.  Initially Allyson was a rule following good girl, but then she meets this guy named Willem and he invites her to just hop on a train and go with him to Paris.  She agrees to go which was one of he major changes.  She knows she was not allowed to go and it was probably very dangerous but she still goes.  While she is there, she tells Willem her name is Lulu.  She actually changes her name.  She is becoming a new person.  Then while she is there she puts all of her trust into Willem and wants to protect him.  It shows that in a way she loves him.  When these two guys were getting in a fight with Willem in French, so Allyson can not understand them, Allyson gets worried and throws a book at the guys head.  The guy grabs Allyson and cuts her neck.  It's not a bad cut it's just enough that she is bleeding and Willem gets mad at her for trying to protect him.  She is so upset that he doesn't appreciate her protecting him.  Allyson becomes very vulnerable and acts without thinking.  She then sleeps with him and the he just gets up and leaves.  Allyson is so sad and so hurt.  It really shows you how much she changed and how hard she fell for this guy.  It also taught her not to be adventurous, which is what she should be.  Allyson goes into a some what depression and just keeps to herself.  She refuses to communicate with really anyone.  She pretends that her phone died so she won't have to answer her parents calls, she won't talk to her roommates.  Going to Paris with Willem and becoming vulnerable was the whole reason Allyson changed and then changed back.

Crank - Teddy Greenspon

I believe that I have a deep understanding of my character so far.  I feel that I am far enough in the book that I understand how Bree works and how she thinks.  I think that before she got hooked on crank she was a good girl who really didn't do anything bad that her parents didn't want.  However, when she did shake hands with the monster she became a completely different person.  She went from being someone who was shy and controlled in her daily life, to being a thrill seeker who will do anything for a high, whether it be adrenaline or drugs.  I think that the main catalyst for this change was when she met Adam and first started dating him.  She really continued to be her Mother's girl even when she was living with her father.  However, when she met Adam she really went downhill from the transition from Kristina to Brea.  She was clean and had a good life, and then she went and ruined it by smoking with him and starting to take crack with him.  She went from being a shy creative person to someone who was way more outgoing and put herself out there, even when it wasn't the best thing to do.  I believe that another main catalyst was when she left to go back home and got the letter from Adam telling them to see other people even though they loved each other.  That really got on her nerves and she got really sad and depressed and cried in her room for days.  I feel that that was when she started another transition from going from Brea, to more of a combination of Kristina and Bree.  She listened to her parents more and didn't take drugs, but she was still outgoing and dated other people more, and really put herself out there more than she did when she was Kristina, but less than she did when she was Brea.  This is my understanding of the Brea/Kristina so far.

Update on Semester Reading

At this point, some of you have finished several books while others have finished a few chapters.  It's time to step up the reading, as you will need to be finished reading your book on December 16th.  In light of that, we will be reading today and tomorrow and one day a week up until the Holiday Break in December.  Each week, you will also have a blog post to think about what is happening in your novel to help you prepare for the final assignment.  

This week’s question:  What understanding do you have of the main character so far?  Who is s/he when the story began?  What changes in character have occurred?  What have been the catalysts for these changes so far? 

Moving forward, your blog posts will be assessed using the following rubric:

95+	85+	75+	65+	55+
·       Insightful and perceptive response addresses the question ·       Examples and details from the text strongly support purpose ·       Language is highly effective and has an engaging tone ·       No errors are present in grammar, usage or mechanics	·       Completely addresses the question ·       Examples and details from the text fully support purpose ·       Language is effective and has an appropriate tone ·       Minor errors in SWE don’t distract the reader	·     Broad and generalized response to the question ·     Some examples and/or details may be used or may be superficially related to purpose ·     Language is inconsistent in its effectiveness ·     Errors are present and may obscure meaning	·     Vague response or oversimplified response to the question ·     Limited to no examples or details used  or are disconnected from purpose ·     Language is mostly ineffective ·     Errors obscure meaning	·     Response does not answer the question ·     No examples or details are used in response ·     Errors prevent the communication of ideas ·     Grammatical errors prohibit communication of ideas