The Crucible

I had to read this book pretty quickly. It was, to me, a fairly quicker read and I seemed to enjoy it more than each of the other books we have read. I especially enjoyed at the beginning when the group of girls were dancing in the forest with Tituba and got caught by Reverend Parris. I guess this scene gave me the sense that I was actually in the story and was one of the girls dancing.

Pretty much althroughout the book, I kept asking myself why Abigail desires John Proctor so whole-heartedly. I guess I don't see what attracts her to him. I still have not come to a conclusion of this. Another part of the book I basically don't understand is when Betty awakes, why do Proctor, Parris, Giles Corey, and Thomas Putnam argue so much. It seemed as if a big fight were about to occur. The next scene I really enjoyed was when Tituba confesses about what the girls had done in the forrest. Apparently, they had commuted with the devil, and Tituba hysterically accuses various townsfolk of consorting with the devil. Abigail joins in and confesses to having seen the devil conspiring and cavorting with other townspeople. Betty, then, joins them in naming witches; the crowd is thrown into an uproar.

There were several questions I had during this book. For some of them, I got possible answers, but not quite a legitimate answer. Some of these questions are:
1. Why did Proctor take Mary to try to prove the girls were lying? It was almost as if he was either 100% on their side or he was trying to get rid of Abigail. The answer I got with this one was that he wanted to prove that the girls were lying, so he confessed to his affair with Abigail.
2. Why does Danforth ask Elizabeth talk Proctor into confessing? I never really got a clear answer to this question...

As I mentioned earlier, this book was the most interesting to me! I thoroughly enjoyed reading and somewhat analyzing this book. It was a good and quick read.

The Scarlet Letter

So far, this has been the best book we've read! It's filled with roller coasters of mystery and somewhat adventure. I felt that the second I started this book, I was on somewhat an adventure and that it was a very fast moving book for the most part. I think the preamble really states just how the book came to be. Up until practically the end of the book, I had not a single clue of who the narrator might be.

Hester Prynne was young girl who married Mr. Prynne. He basically "ships" her off to start a new beginning. This place is where Hester commits the sin. Mr. Prynne vanishes when he hears about Hester's situation just before going out to visit her. He is disgusted and embarrassed, so he basically vanishes from Hester. He doesn't want to see her, nor does he want anything to do with her.

Throughout the book, I watched Hester grow from being a weak, passionate, young girl to being a very strong, independent young lady. She was basically a new woman with a new beginning. Also, I think when Hester returns, even with the scarlet letter, it no longer carries the symbolism it was filled with before. I think the symbolism is gone due to the separation of her and her daughter.

The Great Gatsby

Going into this book, I found myself not looking at the bigger picture. I really focused on two of the characters throughout this book. Jay was who I found to be the main character; although, some parts of the book portray Nick to be the main character. In my head, I pictured him to be 27, not exactly sure why. His childhood would not lead the average reader to believe he'd become a wealthy man later on in life. He was able to become this way due to all the crime he participated in committing. It became apparent at different times throughout the book that Jay had been against poverty and hated it with a passion since the very beginning of his life. It was almost as if Jay had a huge crush on Daisy Buchanan and wanted to be rich because of her. It was almost as if he wanted to become rich to maybe grab her attention. On numerous occasions, Jay told fibs of his past and himself to make himself more interesting and therefore a good enough man for her.

As Nick narrates the story, his words make it seem as though you are right there in the story going through what everyone else is going through. He seemed to alternate the way in which he described things. Sometimes he agreed with Jay, other times, he disagreed. He seemed to somewhat contradict himself a little.

This book was, by far, the hardest one to "get into." It took me quite a while to just sit down, read, and finally finish it. I was so confused when the book started, but, then, I finally caught on by the end. I think the message Fitzgerald was trying to get across was when death occurs, so does life.

The Grapes of Wrath

This book has been one of the best classics I have ever read. One thing I noticed wat more toward th beginning, for some reason I thought the book took place in Oklahoma, but later realized where it really took place - California. The book showed kind of what was going on in CA at that time. The book overall was definately a slower read and took tons of time to read. I didn't like chapter three I beleive it is where all it talks about is the turtle getting "chipped" by the car and how it comtinues its journey after some time. I spent most of my time at the beginning feeling bad for the turtle. This part really "touched" me.

The book was very dull and sad. It had a lot of scenes where a dog died, a turtle getting hit by a car, or even someone being murdered. I am not a big fan of these types of tragic books. I prefer happy-go-lucky books; and it seems as though most classics are the exact opposite of this. I didn't really like how Steinbeck seemed to have random chapters just about the Joad family. I think he should have tied the family into the story. I'm not saying he didn't do this, but I think he should not have had chapters about just the family.

I think Steinbeck seemed to somewhat show two contrasting styles, foresay, of writing. He shows the dull, sad style I mentioned earlier as well as a very descriptive, full style of writing. It seemed to me that he was dull in the points described earlier and descriptive in the chapters of the family; also described earlier.

In general, this book was kind of what I was expecting. I wasn't expecting it to be as dull and sad as it was, but, I was expecting it to be very descriptive. Overall, I liked the book.(: I'm looking forward to out next book.

Huckleberry Finn

I'm not really sure this book was what I was exactly "looking for." Granted I did enjoy it, it was not exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting the novel to be just a boring, slow read. It definately was a slow read, but it was not as boring as I expected. I will say, though, that the first four or five chapters were the most boring. I think the book also just took off pretty much right where Tom Sawyer ended. At the beginning, the connection Huck shared with Jim is not something you'd see everyday. To me, it seemed to be just, very, dull sort of relationship. Further into the book, towards the end, it seemed to be a very sharper connection and the relationship seemed to have grown throughout the book, even though it wasn't very blunt.

There were several questions that crossed my mind throughout the book. Some of which include; 1. Does Huck smoke on a regular basis? It seemed to me as though he did, yet he was so young; granted, I know it was a whole different era in time and a whole different culture. 2. In the scene at the beginning where Huck and Tom are creeping around trying not to awake Jim, is Jim outside like on "nightwatch" or something? 3. Does the word 'reckon' have several different meanings as did not really occur in Tom Sawyer? It seemed that these three questions in particular kept crossing my mind at different parts, all throughout the story.

I think this book is a very good, useful example of like in the South at earlier times. I know we often hear and learn about slavery, life in the South, but, I don't think we get to hear it from a young boy's point of view very often. I think Mark Twain does an excellent job of this - he really seems to know how to put things into perspective. To be honest, I did not see this type of writing and level of writing shine through Tom Sawyer. I also didn't see the relationship between Huck and Tom to be the same as it was in Tom Sawyer. It seemed like in Tom Sawyer, Tom was in charge, and here, it seems like Huck is in charge. I am wondering if this has to do with who narrates. I also love how Twain states that those readers who try to seek a moral will be punnished. I don't really remember seeing this in Tom Saywer. It also seems like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer made Huck seem pretty dumb and not very clever. The Adventures of Huck Finn seem to show the exact oppostie. The novel doesn't seem to show that Tom is dumb, but show that Huck is clever and Tom follows. I agree with Mrs. Jesik that Huck does a very good job of staying strong considering everything he endured throughout the book. Thinking about this makes me really begin to feel as I'm in the book right there with them. I have to take a step back and realize that he is a character as well as is his "father."

In general, I gained a new perspective for authors, such as Mark Twain, that I would not read their books on my own time. Before I read this book, I thought these type of authors were just lame and boring. Now, I think they were really trying to get certain points across and they do an excellent job of this. Southern literature used to not interest me one bit, but I think I am starting to get used to the idea and I want to read more books from these types of authors. I look forward to reading the next book so I can compare in my own head the two authors.(: