Connecting with Romeo and Juliet

To me, all of the ideas we have been discussing in class have challenged me to think about the novel more than I would have if I was reading it on my own. The personalities of each character is unique and different. It seems like no one really wants to fight anymore, but they are enemies and feel like they have to. I don't understand how Romeo and Juliet fell in love and knew they were the only person for each other when they didn't even know the other person. I could specifically connect with Juliet when she didn't want to be set up with someone to be married. I don't connect with her loving Romeo so fast, but I do connect with her because if I really did love someone that is the only person I would want to marry. I also connect with Capulet not caring that Romeo was at the party and not wanting to fight.

Reading Romeo and Juliet has been really hard for me. It is just one of those books that I can't understand. The placement and words they use are so confusing to me. I read at home and kind of get an overall understanding of what happens in the scene, but it helps me a lot to read it in class and discuss it. It is a little easier as I go along I guess. I read the left side pages and that helps but it's really annoying to keep going back and forth. I think the goal of getting a deeper and more complete understanding by reading in class is definitely working and helping me.

Wrapping Up Great Expectations

Now that we are finished with Great Expectations we are thinking about our overall understanding of the book. To me, Charles Dickens meant a few different things when writing this book that could be universal. One thing he meant was only do things if you want it, not for someone else because you won't end up happy. He also wanted to say that people and affection is way more important than jobs, money or social status. Also, that just thinking about yourself and doing anything you can to make yourself better pushes people away. You have to stay kind and loyal to your friends. You can't expect everything to always be fine and don't abuse friendships and take the people you love for granted. I believe that the most important theme was that people are more important than possessions and just because you have everything and have a high social status, doesn't mean you're going to be happy. An example could be someone unhappy living in a small house not being able to go shopping all the time or go out to dinner and all they can think about is the money and what it would be like to have that money and be popular. But what would they have to do to get it? They would probably push everyone away trying to get it and lose everyone they care about in the process. Then once they get it, they would be unhappy with no one to enjoy it with. Then it might be too late to get the ones they cared about back. Overall, Dickens, and I, are trying to say that happiness is simpler than it seems to be and you don't have to have everything you want to have it, just love.

Great Expectations: Thoughts on Reading

When we first started Great Expectations, I was not excited at all. It seemed very boring. To me, the book didn't really get interesting until towards the end of the book. I know this is a classic book, but I didn't really enjoy it that much. Not enough things happened for me and I didn't really like and get attached to any of the characters. I also thought that both of the endings were bad and didn't like either of them.

This is the only book I have read by Charles Dickens, but so far, I do not like his writing style. It was very hard to understand and follow. He also referred to many things I didn't understand. I know that I was supposed to look up everything I didn't understand, but if that were the case, it would take me all day to read the required chapters for the day. Although there were a lot of things I didn't understand, I think I did pretty good compared to other people in the class. I also hate computers and don't turn mine on unless I'm doing homework and I actually didn't use spark notes once!

I was actually very proud of myself for how well I kept up on my reading. I only got behind twice and it was only by a couple chapters. I actually did have a routine too. If a book is hard for me to understand, I like to listen to it. Before I put the chapters on my I-pod from Librivox, my mom would very kindly read it to me and when something important would happen, I would yell "Stop" and she would hand me the book so I could write an annotation. The reading was always the last homework of the day I did and I read before bed. Some nights it was late though and I was very tired. When that happened, it affected my reading because I forgot a few details because it was harder to pay attention.

Overall, I guess I would say this was an okay book. I liked how organized this unit was and liked knowing what we were going to do in class every day.