Monday, May 10, 2010

three quotes

So many events happened in this part and this part was probably the most interesting and fascinating so far and I really enjoyed reading our assignment!!
As I read this part, I noticed that there were many actions and it wasn't just about flashbacks and dialogues so it was really much easier to follow this time.

The man and the boy are getting weaker and they keep on walking without food. They sense that their death is coming. The man, being desperate, enters the house that looks unhibited. The boy clings to him saying that they shouldn't come in. The boy is very troubled and terrified.
Nonetheless, the man enters the house and they search the house. What they find in the house is really shocking.
On page 110 it says
Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands. On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt. The smell was hideous.
There were many mentions of cannibals in this book however this is the first time that the author describes the scene and the people being eaten. It was really shocking and I thought about what the boy's mom said before she killed herself. Maybe her choice was right. I could see more clearly why the man was so afraid of the 'bad guys' Those cannibals were really evil and I thought about people whispering "help us" The very thought of it just made me shiver.
Also how did those people become 'bad guys'? Apparently there are cannibals (=bad guys) and the people who are good guys(?). Did the criminals become bad guys or people who were really desperate start eating people? This question just sprang up in my mind.
I really became tense and alarmed because I was afraid that the bad guys would catch the man and the boy.

On pg 113 it says,
If they find you you are going to have to do it. Do you understand? Shh. No crying . Do you hear me? You know how to do it. You put it in your mouth and point it up. Do it quick and hard. Do you understand? Stop crying. Do you understand? I think so. No. Do you understand? Yes. Say yes I do Papa. Yes I do Papa. He looked down at him. All he was was terror.
As I read this quote, I wondered if being alive was lucky. The situation is so tense that the young boy has to be trained to kill himself and what if he fails? What if it just leaves a great hole in his brain yet he survives? This is really too much for young boy like him. And what would the man feel? Leaving the boy all alone and all afraid. The father must have been terrified. If there was a mirror, the man would have seen terror in his own face.
Is being alive really worth all this? And even if they survive and make it to the South, what will they see?
I mean, the world won't change. The weather will just get warmer and that's probably about it.
Why do the man and the boy desperately try to survive ? What are they thinking?
It must be the love that holds them together and that love must be really strong.


On page 138 it says
Oh my god, he whispered. Oh my god. What is it Papa? Come down oh my god come down.
When I first read this, I thought 'Oh great! Now what's going to happen to them? This book is really depressing' However I was pleasantly surprised to find out that something nice, -not just nice but really really really nice- happened to the man and the boy. They found a bunker(?) that was filled with canned food and all sorts of supplies. I was like "Yes! Finally!"
The man once again finds hope to survive and the boy gains liveliness.
For the moment, they really seem like they are in normal world and the conversation between them is so natural, like Hi, are you hungry? I have to go to the bathroom. I have to pee.
I was so happy for them and my depressing thought changed into a positive one. I wish that they would live here forever but unfortunately this can't be because bad guys will eventually find them. So they start walking on the road and that's when our reading assignment stops.
I had to rush and my writing is really sloppy and it doesn't make sense sometimes. Please excuse my poor writing.

3 comments:

  1. I also found three quotes from this part, and I was wondering if you had any similar or different quote. You and I have one same quote which is the part that the man teaches the boy how to kill himself. However, it seems that you tried to expand your thought to much larger concept such as survival or the whole world while I only focused on the situation itself. It was very good to have chance to think about the same situation differently. Why don't you read my opinion on the same quote? hh

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  2. Yeonsoo~ my roomate!
    You kept on talking about the naked people in the basement of the house in our dormitory. I definitely agree with you that that picture is really gross and makes me say EWW...
    Anyways overall I couldn't agree more with your points. I also thought "Yes! Finally!" when they found the bunk. They must have felt so happy..
    You did a good job, and let's stop talking about the naked people, it is a nightmare.haha

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  3. The emotional highs and lows of the section of the book are extreme. You describe your intense reading experience very well; I'm sure we were all right there with you with feeling disgust at the basement and relief (or even joy) at the bunker. Nice job.

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