“Photograph of the Girl” Poetry Reading Response

“Photograph of the Girl” Poetry Reading Response

     By: Joselyn Rodriguez 808                                       

            In the poem “Photograph of the Girl” by Sharon Olds, the poet uses: allusions and imagery to show the pain and hope for the girl. In the beginning of the poem the poet shows sadness and sympathy. Towards the middle of the poem the poet represents pain in an interesting way. At the end of the poem the poet shows hope for the girl.

           

             In the beginning of the poem “Photograph of the Girl” I felt sad and sympathetic for the girl. Sharon Olds the poet adds some lines into the poem that show sadness or misery. For example: “… In the drought of 1921, stunned, eyes closed mouth open, raw hot wind blowing sand in her face.” This quotation sets the mood for the poem. This quotation goes along with the idea of sadness and sorrow because the girl has no source of water which can’t help her stay healthy.

           

               The poet used two main literary devices to help support the poem, one of them was imagery. In this poem the author used imagery to show the pain and hardship of the girl. For example, “Hunger and puberty are taking her together. She leans on a sack, layers of clothes fluttering in the heat…” This quotation gives an image of pain because as her body grows starvation is taking a toll over her body. This also shows pain for the readers because this girl could be dying and no one is really there that can help her.

             

                 The poet used two main literary devices for the poem; the second one was allusion. The poet used allusion to show the hope this girl has during her down side of life. For example, “Deep in her body the ovaries let out her first eggs, golden as drops of rain.” This quotation refers to a period females have. This gives hope to the readers by showing the girl may be able to provide life for another person.

             

                 Reading this poem reminds readers about their own personal pain and sadness. Many people feel pain and sadness and believe that things can only get worse. While, hope can come and save the day and help people get through all their pain and struggles. This relates to the poem because the girl experienced lots of pain and suffer that when she felt hope she knew things might be alright.

Poetry Writing

Just Peachy!

The way you float in the sky

Mixed with an assortment of colors

Yellow, Red, Orange.

You’re a burst of color

A bright neon light

Streaming across

MY

New York City skyline

Perfect!

You glow bright and move fluently.

Some people may call you

Pink or Orange

Don’t pay attention to them,

Because you have a unique

Style and personality

You’re sweet and kind

You’re JUST PEACHY!

Blankets By: Craig Thompson

        As I was reading the graphic novel Blankets by Craig Thompson I focused on one critical thinking question "Is the story fair? Why/why not?" The main character Craig and his brother Phil are mistreated by their family and other people. Craig and Phil were mistreated by their father. At school Craig gets beat up and bullied for defending his brother Phil.
       
         Craig and Phil are mistreated by their family. Craig and Phil have to share a bed and fight a lot about little things, If Craig and Phil fought they're dad would separate them. For example, "The cubby hole was the forgotten room of our house. Hidden behind the removable wood paneling in the playroom.." (Thompson 15). Craig was mistreated by other classmates and kids in school. For example, "Your little brother with his messy hair and stupid voice must be retarded!" (Thompson 21).
             
         As I was read this graphic novel Blankets by Craig Thompson one critical thinking question stood out the most, "Is the story fair? Why/why not?". The main character Craig and his brother Phil are being neglected by their family and bullied by others. Craig and Phil were neglected by their father. At school Craig gets beat up for defending his brother Phil from older kids.
   
   

Non-fiction Reading Response

               ​Based on the article ​Rethinking Juvenille Justice​ by John Schwartz "After years of moving in the opposite direction, many states are now making it harder to try teen offenders in the adult justice system." In Denver, 2008 seventeen year old James Stewart got into a car accident while driving drunk. When James Stewart was drunk driving he slammed into another car head on and killed the driver. James was arrested and placed under Juvenille offenders, but was charged as an adult. He was taken to the county jail, as he was left alone he took his own life by tightening a bed sheet around is neck.

         The author included these details so we understand the specific of how charging a teenager with an adult sentence can affect many things. This is a very sad and disturbing topic because teen suicied is not okay. This makes me wonder how many teens get sentenced to serious adult charges. I feel very sad for the victims family because if James Stewart wasn't charged with an adult sentence he would probably still alive. The author wants us to feel sad and sympathetic for James Stewart because of his death at such a young age.

        The author uses specific information like dates and quotes from important people to convey his message. I think the author could've used the Stewart family's perspective on the topic to explain more.  The author uses the officials in his article which helps broaden the article. For example, Marsha Levick of the juvinile law center in philidelphia said, " What we are seeing is a very stark and important rethinking of how we treat juvenile criminal offenders."

       After reading this article I realized that court orders are very firm and serious with their decisions. This article does not change my thinking about the unfair charges of teenage crimes. This article is serious because teen suicied is a very serious matter. Adult charges on teens can affect teen families and teens.

Revised blog post: CRANK

How does this book help you think about social issues you care about or causes you are committed to?

          In the book Crank by Ellen Hopkins the social issue is drug addiction. The main character Kristina aka Bree was persuaded by her boyfriend to try crack for the first time. Then Kristina began to use crack a tad bit too much. She then began to do things that she might regret later. After Kristina's first time doing crack everything went downhill.
               Adam (Kristina's boyfriend) persuaded Kristina into trying crack for the the first time. After Kristina meet Adam she began to do drugs. She smoke cigarettes and even smoked some weed. After using crack for the first time it affected Kristina real badly. For example, "Fire! Your nose ignites, flames kerosene (and, some say, Drano) laced with ephedrine you want to cry. Powdered demons bite through cartilage and sinuses,take dead aim at your brain, jump inside want to scream." (Hopkins 90). This shows that Kristina's body is not used to the drug so, Kristina is going through all this pain. This also shows that drugs take a toll on your body after you start to use it.
             Since Kristina did crack for the first time she began to use it a lot. After Kristina, Adam, Kristina's dad, and his girlfriend finished doing crack together Kristina's dads girlfriend jumped off their balcony. "...She's hurt real bad. Who? Lince. What? Fell (or jumped) off the balcony. When? Yesterday. Where? Right outside. I didn't dare ask why. Instead, I let him cry." (Hopkins 136). This shows that drugs can affect your mental state of mind and make you do crazy things. This also shows that doing drugs can affect others not just one person.
                After doing crack for the first time Kristina's life went downhill. Kristina was very high and  she left her house, and almost got raped by a group of boys. She started doing more and more drugs like smoking weed and smoking cigarettes. Kristina even began to drink alcohol.  For example, "...Ever done a three-fer? You gonna love it, baby... Covered my mouth, rough, held my arms, strong, ripped my clothes, vicious... No! I screamed into dirty flesh. Not this way! Buttons burst, zippers opened, I closed my eyes, braced for pain." (Hopkins 114-115). This show that when you have drugs in your systems there is no telling what might happen. This also shows that you should not do drugs what so ever because they can effect your life drastically.
           

C.T.Q -Crank

My critical thinking question was How does this book help you think about social issues you care about or causes you are committed to? 

            In the book Crank by Ellen Hopkins the social issue is drug use and drug addiction. The main character Kristina AKA Bree was persuaded by her boyfriend to try crack for the first time. She began to enjoy crack a little bit too much, she began to do things that later she might regret. After Kristina’s first time doing crack everything went downhill.          

The main character Kristina AKA Bree was persuaded by her boyfriend Adam to try crack. Kristina started doing drugs after she meet Adam, She began to smoke cigarettes and smoke weed. After inhaling crack for the first time it hit Kristina really hard. For example, “Fire! Your nose ignites, flames kerosene (and, some say, Drano) laced with ephedrine you want to cry. Powdered demons bite through cartilage and sinuses, take dead aim at your brain, jump inside want to scream.” (Hopkins 90)

            After Kristina did crack she enjoyed it a bit too much. She did a round of crack with her dad, her boyfriend, and her dad’s girlfriend.  Everyone was enjoying themselves. After everyone was finished Kristina’s dad’s girlfriend jumped of their balcony. For example, “… She’s hurt real bad. Who? Lince. What? Fell (or jumped) off the balcony. When? Yesterday. Where? Right outside. I didn’t dare ask why. Instead, I let him cry.” (Hopkins 136)

              After Kristina’s first time doing crack everything went downhill. After the first time, Kristina was so high that she left her house and almost got raped by a group of boys. She smoked some weed and made out with her “boyfriend”. Then Kristina began to drink alcohol. For example,”… Ever done a three-fer? You gonna love it, baby…Covered my mouth, rough, held my arms, strong, ripped my clothes, vicious… No! I screamed into dirty flesh. Not this way! Buttons burst, zippers opened, I closed my eyes, braced for pain.” (Hopkins 114-115)    

Crank by Ellen Hopkins-Critical thinking question

My critical thinking question was what really hard things are happening in this text? Are these things happening in the world now? Where?

            In the book Crank by Ellen Hopkins hard things are happening to the main character. The one major thing that has been hard on the main character Kristina AKA Bree is Drug addiction.  This all accrued when Kristina was visiting her dad in Albuquerque. When she was visiting her dad Kristina meet a boy and she instantly fell in love with him. The boy was sort of a bad influence but Kristina still wanted to date him.

            After Kristina meets Adam she wanted to get to know him better. They started dating after a while and became very close. One day when Kristina was with Adam he persuaded her into doing drugs. She started of by smoking a cigarette, then she smoked weed, and lastly she did crack. For example, “It will be like heaven. Used the blade to chop the chunks fine, draw two crooked lines. Make you want to fly all night. He held the mirror to my face, handed me a sawed-off straw, Make you want to make love to me.” (Hopkins 87)

            As soon as Kristina inhaled the crack it hit her hard: for example, “Fire! Your nose ignites, flames kerosene (and, some say, Drano) laced with ephedrine you want to cry. Powdered demons bite through cartilage and sinuses, take dead aim at your brain, jump inside want to scream.” (Hopkins 90) This shows that Kristina was feeling peer pressure. After that moment Kristina became very addicted to Crack. She began to do more and more and more. The monster inside her came out!