Final Reflective essay

Colin Forbes
5/24/11
Mr. Sutherland
2nd period

Final Reflective Essay

I think that my favorite post of this semester was my Vignette  project in which i wrote about small, yet important events from my life. These events included my parents divorcing, my neck surgery, the effects of the surgery, and going to a new school. I think that this is my favorite post because it is the one that I spent the most time on. On this essay, I was the most descriptive I have ever been in my writing on a blog. For example, when talking about coming home from the hospital, I was descriptive about a burrito.

“One push and I could just fall over. When I had the burrito, it felt like a gourmet dish. The nasty food from the hospital did not compare to even a mediocre burrito. The beans, rice and cheese, placed perfectly in to the burrito felt like heaven on my taste buds.”

Out of all of the vignettes, the above was my most descriptive. In others, I used different styles of writing such as writing with short sentences and showing, not telling. The inspiration for this assignment came from these events in my life that have significance. From this assignment, there is little behind the scenes, except from the actual events that happened. It was an assignment for everyone in the class that stemmed from the book “The House on Mango Street”, by Sandra Cisneros. To write this essay, I had to do a lot of brainstorming to remember important events in my life. For me, this is kind of difficult because many  events blend and relate to others. For example, when I wrote about my neck surgery, I also wrote about how it felt to return home from the hospital.

This year, I also enjoyed writing response posts.I feel like writing these posts helped me become a better thinker by seeing the other sides in topics and looking for areas where their argument or point they are trying to make is flawed. I think that the many response posts that I have written over the year have made me a much  better writer and reader. To respond to people’s posts, I have to read their post thoroughly to see what they are talking about. In December, I responded to Sam about the book “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.”

“I agree with Sam that Christopher has grown over the course of the book. In the beginning, he would just groan to drown his problems out but as the book progressed, he started to become more and more adaptive to new challenges. When he has to find the train station, he breaks out of his comfort zone and asks a lady how to get there. Also, when he is at the train station, he gets his ticket and it is yellow. No matter how much he detests yellow, he has to deal with it to find his mother.” Here is the link to this post.

This post here shows that I read and added on to Sam’s claim that Chris grew over the course of the novel. I provided examples of times when he needed to overcome his disability to complete tasks, such as finding his mother. To respond to this post, I had  to read it, analyze it,, and write what I think and either agree or disagree with his claim.
In my opinion, response posts are the most entertaining to write. Over the year, I got to see how other people felt about many various topics, from controversial issues such as marijuana to smaller issues such as which city is better. For me, I find these as entertaining and fun to read as well as respond to. One of my favorite posts or batch of responses were the responses about Justin Beiber. Many people chose to enter this never ending battle on whether he is really beneficial for America and its youth. This excerpt from one of my responses shows how we were not only allowed to have fun with our blogs but also write about issues or topics that interested us or at least were entertaining to us at that time.

“Justin beiber sings songs abut "true" love. I dont see the reason why boys are obsessed with him. Also girls. His voice is higher than most of the population and he doesn't even sing well. His voice is just pitch corrected. When Justin Beiber's voice changes, his career will  change. Also, you say you would have a job if you were trying to be like him. i Don't get this.”

I think that from response posts, I learned a lot about seeing arguments from two different sides, even if they are about topics such as Justin Beiber.

I enjoy having a blog. It has allowed me to express what I feel, even if it is a mandatory assignment. Having a blog gives me a way to share my thoughts with the world. For example, it has allowed me to post what I think about a college debate and see what other people said about it. This excerpt shows what I thought about an article. After I posted it, I looked at what others said.

“In his article, he uses studies and numbers to back up his viewpoints. He also writes professionally and does not try to say "you're wrong" to people who disagree with him. I also think this is the most persuasive because he provides reasonable arguments. For example, he said at a selective institution, a student is surrounded by talented and high achieving peers.”

This response was a response to a 7-way debate about elite colleges. To respond to it, I chose which was the most persuasive and which one I agreed with.

Overall, I think that having a blog has been a great experience for me. Not only has it allowed me to share and defend my feelings and views, but it has also allowed me to become interconnected with the whole world. I am glad that this year I got to make a blog because it has been a great experience.

A Child Called IT book review

“A Child Called It”

"A Child called It", by Dave Pelzer, depicts Dave Pelzer's tragic childhood where he was constantly and relentlessly abused by his mother, for almost no reason. Still today, Dave does not know why he was singled out. When David was a young child, he was respected by his mother. But when he got around the age of 1st grade, her devilish "games" began. She would constantly be beaten for no reason, to the amusement of his mother. Throughout the book, Pelzer describes many of the bad things that have happened to him. At one point, she tells him to lay on a burning stove. I think that this book successfully depicts what happened to him and how he reacted.

In this book, Dave Pelzer writes from the viewpoint of himself as a child going through these horrific events. He also greatly emphasizes the fact that food is scarce for him and not so much for others in his family. In many parts of the book, he describes how much he would like to eat, and be accepted as a member of the family. Soon, as time goes on, he realizes that he will never be accepted by his mother or even his brothers and begins to curse their names.

"Sitting there on my hands, I could hear my brothers opening the refrigerator to get their desserts, and I hated it. I looked at myself. My skin had a yellowish tint., and my muscles were thin and stringy. Whenever I heard one of my brothers laugh at a television show, I cursed their names."

Throughout the book, he has many of these occurences. He is sitting in the garage in the prisoner of war position, listening to his family eat. To make matters worse, he had to clean up after their messes. I have noticed in Pelzer's style of writing that he does not show that his mother does bad things, but that his father and brothers also lack compassion for him. I liked his style of writing. not only did it show that his mother did horrible things to him, but his father did not show any sign of helping him, and he just left the family, leaving David to fight for himself. Also, his brothers were extremely rude to him. This leaves less room for wonder in the plot.
What surprises me in this book is that his brothers also are brainwashed by their mother to do mean things to their brother. They kick him and help their mother with her devilish games. I realize that some may not know better but they should be able to distinguish right from wrong.
I think that Dave Pelzer wrote this book very well. Barely any questions remained in my mind when I finished. Also, I like that the ending was put at the beginning so there was hope in the book.

The author of "The Child Called It", Dave Pelzer, actually experienced these horrible events described in great detail. He had to endure his mother's crazy, messed up, satanic games. I am glad that he wrote this book because he seemed to have a clear purpose in mind. To educate the reader about the horrors of child abuse and gain national attention on the subject. Throughout the book, he is hurt and abused and goes through many cruel and unusual punishments for things that he was pushed to do by his crazy mother. For most of the book, he relies on his father, who is fully aware of what happens, to save him from his mother. Filled with false promises, David's father does little to fight for David. "Father stood lifeless as mother fed me another dose of ammonia. But this time, I fought back. She had to pry my mouth open, and by thrashing my head from side to side, I was able to make her spill most of the cleaner on to the floor. But not enough." (76) As the book progresses, David begins to realize that his father will not help him. He has to fight back himself. This quote makes people realize that even if they do not know much about child abuse, horrible things happen to children every day. I think Dave Pelzer is very successful in his purpose in this book. This bestseller depicts in great detail what happens to kids who are abused.  What is extremely sad is that throughout the book, people knew and did little to prevent it. I think he also achieves his purpose by showing that there was no justification for the abuse. For example, multiple times in the book, when the Mother is punishing David, she says that he is a bad boy, and nothing more. "And she never beats you? The lady asked. No...uh... I mean, only when I get punished... when I'm a bad boy, I said trying to cover up the truth." Here, he is talking to a social services worker. After this, his mother beats him because she does not want to get in trouble. Also, she claims that he is a bad boy and should be beaten and never gives any other reasons. It is because of her beatings and her starving him that he steals food. It is for stealing food that she beats him. It is a never ending cycle.

After Dave was rescued, he went through a series of foster homes. At age 18, he elisted in the Air Force. Since then, his inspirational work and experiences have shown people that they need to deal with their own problems and also help those in need who cannot help themselves.

“A Child Called It”, in my opinion, successfully educates readers on the horrors of domestic child abuse. I believe that Dave Pelzer definitely achieved his purpose. Also, I like his first-person style of writing and I like the description he uses to paint a picture. I would recommend this book for anyone I know. His inspirational words show the problems of child abuse and how we should fight it.

Comments

for Vic
I feel like all you do here is explain the plot, which is not actually a question. i think that you need to pick more specific questions or tell which ones they are in the essay. Also, is this 1000 words? If not, choose another question and write about it.

For mercedes
as you mentioned earlier, you do need to add more words and quotes. one suggestion for  this is to either write about another question or choose a relevant quote with a lot of words. another question i feel thhat you could write about is the question asking if you have read any other books by the author. i think that you are educated on this series and it would be easy to write about.

For Elton
i liked your essay but i have a few reccomendations. First, is it long enough? If not, choose another question to add in and beef up the quotes. second, the quotes do not seem very relevant. Third, I feel like you are a little too casual in your language. you say things like "bad ass super human" and that makes your essay less professional. Other than those few recs, it was good.

For Aleah

1. Monday, May 02, 2011  
   I feel like your essay did not make that much sense. i think you need to fix the spelling and grammar. Also, you explain the plot too much. i think you should pick another question to write about or add on with another one.

Post a Comment