To be completely honest, chapter 31 is still my favorite part of the book but I've already posted about that so I guess I'll do one of my second favorite parts.
"Dad, this is Willy, we can't go to the police station, we may not be home today, tell Mom, tell Jim's mom."
"Willy, where are you?"
"We got to hide. They're looking for us."
"Who, for god's sake?"
"I don't want you in it, Dad. You got to believe, we'll just hide one day, two, until they go away. If we came home they'd follow and hurt you or Ma or Jim's mom. I got to go."
"Willy, don't!"
"Oh, Dad," said Will. "Wish me luck."
Are you a black hat? Are you a white hat? Are you willing to get pulled deep into the catacombs of an inescapable story full of mystery and magic, freaks and friendship? Do you often find yourself entranced by legends and lore dutifully and eloquently written and kept, locked up in as secrets in the pages of a good story? If so, then I encourage you, please! By all means, pick up this book! But if not, I advise you, for your own sake and sanity, stay far, far away. For otherwise, something truly wicked will soon be coming your way.
Monday, April 8, 2013
CHAPTER 31
I'D JUST LIKE TO SAY: The fact that we have "free reign" on this post excites me more than I think it probably should on account of the fact that I've been finding most of the book as of late, very lengthy, drug out and unnecessarily wordy and figurative at all the wrong times.
That is, except for what I chose to blog about this time:
"Nothing much else happened, all the rest of that night."
That was the entire chapter 31 of this book. I think it was an important aspect though. It clarifies that time did pass, things did happen, though things not worth telling and things we will never know. Life went on through all this madness. In a sense, I think it helped me connect to the story and characters a little more. Knowing that Will, in the midst of the chaos his life had become, still had those dull, everyday moments that we all have to suffer through. Now, this could have absolutely gone without saying, but the fact that the author did put this in here as an entire chapter (shorter than what I'm saying about it now) draws attention to the fact that this is the story of some (fictional) person's life. It makes it seem more real, more personal and more plausible.
I also found it fairly amusing.
That is, except for what I chose to blog about this time:
"Nothing much else happened, all the rest of that night."
That was the entire chapter 31 of this book. I think it was an important aspect though. It clarifies that time did pass, things did happen, though things not worth telling and things we will never know. Life went on through all this madness. In a sense, I think it helped me connect to the story and characters a little more. Knowing that Will, in the midst of the chaos his life had become, still had those dull, everyday moments that we all have to suffer through. Now, this could have absolutely gone without saying, but the fact that the author did put this in here as an entire chapter (shorter than what I'm saying about it now) draws attention to the fact that this is the story of some (fictional) person's life. It makes it seem more real, more personal and more plausible.
I also found it fairly amusing.
Page #113
Dead, dead thought Will. But live, alive! cried the machines, cried flame and fire cried mouths of crowds of livid beasts on illustrated flesh.
So the old man's hair stood up in prickling fumes. Sparks, bled from his fingernails, dripped seething spatters on pine planks. Green simmerings wove shuttles through dead eyelids.
The Illustrated man bent violently above the old dead dead thing, his prides of beasts drowned deep in sweat, his right hand thrust in hammering demand upon the air: Live, live.
I like how the author personifies Mr. Dark's tattoos here. It gives a sense of how many he has and how detailed they are without just saying that. Also, when he describes the electricity like that, it gives an eerie but fascinating feeling. Like Jim and Will probably felt while watching it.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
#4- Pages 173-177
I'm not going to put the excerpt here because it's a couple pages long, but I'll sum it up. Mr. Dark is confronting Mr. Halloway in the parade looking for the boys. The boys are hidden close by, close enough to hear them. Mr. Dark is pretending that the boys are prizewinners and won free trips to the carnival, but Mr. Halloway's not stupid, so he pretends that he's never heard of a Will and Jim, or that they've moved to Milwaukee, or that the pictures (tattoos! Ew!) Mr. Dark showed him of the boys were of Milton Blumquist and Avery Johnson. Eventually, Mr. Dark leaves, not finding the boys hidden in the storm drain just below him.
I think this shows amazing courage on the part of poor Mr. Halloway. He knows full well that Mr. Dark can do terrible things to him if he doesn't comply, or if he finds him lying, but he still stands up for the hidden boys, even as Mr. Dark is torturing them via tattoo (again, eww!) Well done, Charles. Well done.
I think this shows amazing courage on the part of poor Mr. Halloway. He knows full well that Mr. Dark can do terrible things to him if he doesn't comply, or if he finds him lying, but he still stands up for the hidden boys, even as Mr. Dark is torturing them via tattoo (again, eww!) Well done, Charles. Well done.
#3- Mirror Maze, pg 63-66
"Never can tell-" Will could not take his eyes off the millions of blind glass- "what might be swimming around in there...."
"Swimming!" Miss Foley laughed. "What a lovely mind you have, Willy. Well, yes, but I'm a very old fish. So..."
"Miss Foley!"
Miss Foley waved, poised, took a step, and vanished into the mirror ocean. They watched as she settled, wandered, sank deep, deep, and was finally dissolved grey among silver.
~~~
"No," murmured Will. "But... anybody want to dive back in that maze?"
Jim gazed fiercely deep into the bottomless sea, where now only the pure light glanced back at itself, held up emptiness upon emptiness beyond emptiness before their eyes.
This extended metaphor of comparing the mirror maze to an ocean works exceptionally well, because people naturally compare mirrors to water. Also, they talked a bit about how Miss Foley saw someone drowning in the mirrors, falling, sinking, someone who needed her help, and it just added to the overall ominous outlook on the story. It showed that everything is not what it seems; no, that nothing is what it seems, and everything has a darker side to it. And my friends wonder why I don't like carnivals!
"Swimming!" Miss Foley laughed. "What a lovely mind you have, Willy. Well, yes, but I'm a very old fish. So..."
"Miss Foley!"
Miss Foley waved, poised, took a step, and vanished into the mirror ocean. They watched as she settled, wandered, sank deep, deep, and was finally dissolved grey among silver.
~~~
"No," murmured Will. "But... anybody want to dive back in that maze?"
Jim gazed fiercely deep into the bottomless sea, where now only the pure light glanced back at itself, held up emptiness upon emptiness beyond emptiness before their eyes.
This extended metaphor of comparing the mirror maze to an ocean works exceptionally well, because people naturally compare mirrors to water. Also, they talked a bit about how Miss Foley saw someone drowning in the mirrors, falling, sinking, someone who needed her help, and it just added to the overall ominous outlook on the story. It showed that everything is not what it seems; no, that nothing is what it seems, and everything has a darker side to it. And my friends wonder why I don't like carnivals!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Blog Post #5 (FINAL BLOG)
1. Always title your blog post with the PAGE # (this will help others avoid reading spoilers).2. For your FINAL blog- you can choose ANY section from the book.3. Blogs will have 2 parts- Part 1: passage from the book Part 2: commentary4. Don't forget to comment/interact with your peer's posts!5. You CANNOT choose the same passage as someone else- the first one to post claims it!
For your final blog, you can choose from ANY WHERE in the book. You are going to do a sort of book review. Your first paragraph should still be a passage from the book but your FAVORITE passage. It might be a particularly well written section, or the most exciting part, or a great cliffhanger. For your second paragraph you do not have to analyze this passage but rather write a paragraph long book review. Let us know what this book is like and pitch it! If you weren't a huge fan, think about what kind of person might like to read this book. This should be a STRONG paragraph- not a sentence or two!
Ms. Melin
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