Book Club Reading Response: The Glass Castle

            The memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is about the strange lifestyle of the main character (Jeannette) and her family.  A central theme in this book is that no matter what happened to them, the character and her siblings would stick together. 

            Let’s start off by saying that Jeannette’s parents were very hard to be around.  Her father was a violent drunk and her mother was carefree spirit who only cared about her art career.  The family was very poor and they were constantly moving because the father claimed that they were being chased.   So all Jeannette, Lori, Brian, and Maureen had was each other.  At one point, the mother had a job as a teacher.  She had to rely on the kids to wake her up every morning and get her out of bed.  They even graded tests for her (74).  Therefore, they ended up getting more money because the kids did most of their mom’s work for her. 

            The kids also stuck up for each other in dangerous situations.  For example, when Jeannette and Lori caught their grandma Erma sexually harassing Brian, they told her to stop and kept a close watch on Brian from then on (147).  That winter, Erma didn’t let them have any coal or use the one bathroom that was in their house.

            All throughout the book, no matter what was going on in their lives, the siblings stayed friends and looked out for each other.  In a way, their hard childhood made them closer than ever.

Nonfiction Reading Response

            I recently read the nonfiction article in Upfront Magazine called “Imagining 2014”.  It was about the science fiction writer and scientist Isaac Asimov and his predictions for 2014 and the future in general.  Asimov wrote over 400 books and died in the year 1992.

            Some of Asimov’s predictions about what life would be like in 2014 were “spot on”.  For example, he predicted things such as, “video phone calls… 3-D movies, ‘miniaturized’ computers, e-readers, and GPS.”  He also predicted overpopulation and how Earth's resources are fading.  He very accurately depicts the present day in these ways.

            However, Asimov got a few things wrong about 2014.  He explains that by now there would be flying cars, moon colonies, and underwater cities.  The author added this part in to reassure the reader that Asimov’s predictions on the whole world being filled with smog and skyscrapers by 2450 could evidently be false because of these inaccurate predictions of our present day.

            I enjoyed reading this article because it was unbiased and the author observed Isaac Asimov’s predictions rather than criticizing them.  I find myself wondering how many of his predictions will turn out to be true.

Poetry Reading Response (Final Draft)

When you take a picture, you can see only the photographer’s point of view of what the things are like in the photo.  In the poem Photography by Nikki Giovanni, it shows how people assume that their lives are perfect and so are everyone else’s, by using the symbol of the camera.

In the poem, the author uses metaphors and symbols to show how people struggle and other people don’t notice.  For example, take the lines ”it’s easy sitting in the sun/ to forget the ice and ravages/ of winter yet” (Giovanni, 12-14).  This shows that the sun (which symbolizes the good things in your life) is a place where you ignore and don’t help other people and the ice and winter symbolize the bad things that could happen to you and other people.

Although you might frown upon other people’s ways, they might love the way they live, struggles and all.  In the poem, it shows this by saying, “yet surf or sea each has/ its lovers and its meaning/ for love”(Giovanni, 20-22).  “Surf or sea” represents different people and “lovers” and “meaning for love” represents people’s lifestyles that they choose to have.  So basically, the quote says that different people have different ways of living and are fine with their lives.

No matter how different people are, we all work together to make the world what it is.  “…/and our hands joining/ those that reach/ develop the product” (Giovanni, 5-7).  This means that if we choose to work together, we will “develop the product” or make this world a better, more equal place.

            After reading this poem, I realized that life really is like a photograph.  We can choose to make our “photo” whatever way we want.  We can either choose to ignore any sadness; “ice”, “winter”, or “cold” or we can show people that there is beauty in “fire” and help them understand that even though some people live different lifestyles than you, they can be just as happy if not more happy.   

Poetry Reading Response for "Photography" by Nikki Giovanni (Draft)

When you take a picture, you can see only the photographer’s point of view of what the things happening are like in the photo.  In the poem Photography by Nikki Giovanni, it shows how people assume that their lives are perfect and so are everyone else’s, by using the symbol of the camera.

In the poem, the author uses metaphors and symbols to show how people struggle and other people don’t notice.  For example, take the lines ”it’s easy sitting in the sun/ to forget the ice and ravages/ of winter yet” (Giovanni, 12-14).  This shows that the sun (which symbolizes the good things in your life) is a place where you ignore/ don’t help other people and the ice/ winter (bad things that could happen to you and other people).

Although you might frown upon other people’s ways, they might love the way they live, struggles and all.  In the poem, it shows this by saying, “yet surf or sea each has/ its lovers and its meaning/ for love”(Giovanni, 20-22).  “Surf or sea” represents different people and “lovers” and “meaning for love” represents people’s lifestyles that they choose to have.  So basically, the quote says that different people have different ways of living and are fine with their lives.

No matter how different people are, we all work together to make the world what it is.  “and our hands joining/ those that reach/ develop the product” (Giovanni, 5-7).  This means that if we choose to work together, we will “develop the product” or make this world a better place.

After reading this poem, I realized that life really is like a photograph.  We can choose to make our “photo” whatever way we want.  We can either choose to pretend that everything is well in the world and forget about the troubles people are having, or we can work together to help people and ignore their differences.  

Photography

the eye we are told

is a camera

but the film is the heart

not the brain

and our hands joining

those that reach

develop the product

it’s easy sitting in the sun

to forget that cold exists

let alone envelops

the lives of people

it’s easy sitting in the sun

to forget the ice and ravages

of winter yet

there are those who would have

no other season

it’s always easy when thinking

we have the best to assume

others covet it

yet surf or sea each has

its lovers and its meaning

for love

watching the red sun bleed

into the ocean

one thinks of the beauty that fire brings

if the eye is a camera and the film is the heart

then the photo assistant is god