For Somebody Else

It is crazy, the things people will do for somebody they care about.  People will sacrifice everything they have for the benefit of someone they love.  This trend is followed through in the book "New Moon" from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series.  This book is about a teenager named Bella.  She lives with her dad in a small town.  The Twilight series is about Bella, and her boyfriend, Edward.  Edward is a vampire, and lives with his large vampire family.  Edward and Bella are madly in love.  They spend every moment they can together.  But Edward sacrifices things he wants and cares about for Bella.

Bella really wants to be a vampire.  The only way this can happen is if another vampire bites her.  Bella frequently asks Edward to grant this wish for her, but he doesn't.  Bella wants to be a vampire so she doesn't grow older.  Edward and his family don't age; Edward has been 16 for centuries.  But Bella is quickly getting older than him.  She hates this, and the only way to solve this dilemma is for Bella to be a vampire.  Even though Edward also wishes that he could be with Bella forever, he doesn't want to make her a vampire.  This is because he believes that being a vampire is a terrible thing, and that vampires "lose their souls".  Even though he wants her to be a vampire, he sacrifices something he cares about for Bella's benefit.

He also does this later in "New Moon".  After a while, he realizes it isn't safe for his family to be in such a human-populated place.  Even though his family doesn't kill humans, or drink their blood, it could still be dangerous.  When Bella got a papercut at his house, his family went crazy.  They had to go miles away for Bella to be safe.  Edward realizes it is not safe for Bella to be near them, so he moves away.  Even though this hurts him so badly, he knows he has to do this.  He swears to Bella that she will never see him again, and takes away everything from Bella that could remind her of him.  This includes pictures, a CD he gave her, everything.  He even tells Bella that he doesn't care about her anymore.  Even though this hurts him so badly, he realizes it's the only way for Bella to be safe.  So, for someone he cares deeply about, he sacrifices everything.... even that person.

From the Movie to the Book

I just finished reading the book, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky.   As you probably know, this book was also turned into a movie, which I saw twice before starting the book.  I think it is really interesting to read the book after the movie.  Movies, generally, are shorter, and therefore cover less of the topics included in the book.  But, movies also add stuff that is not in the book.

For example, in the book there are some really important scenes that are completely omitted from the movie.  For example, in the book, the main character Charlie's sister gets pregnant.  This is a huge deal, but it is not even touched on in the film.  This made me really wonder about how things are decided to be erased, or kept.  After a while, I realized it was probably just for one reason: simplicity.  When you think about it, one book usually has many different plots and story lines.  But a movie, on the other hand, usually only has one, at most two.  Movies usually just stick to the one plot line, which is why they had to edit out all the extras.

After I read the book, I saw the movie one last time.  Everybody always says the books are better than the movie.  But when I thought about it, in this case I favored the movie.  I usually favor books to movies, except for two main examples that I can think of: this book, and Twilight.  When I thought about it, I realized the two things these book/movies have in common.  In both cases, I watched the movie first.  I think that people usually prefer the book/movie they experienced first.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower movie, was one of my favorites.  Because I saw it before I read the book, when I did read it I was constantly comparing it to the movie.  Instead of the movie being the afterthought to the book, for me, the book was the addition to the movie.  Since the movie was the first experience for me, when I thought of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", I thought of the highly enjoyable movie.  For me, the movie was the real thing, and the book was the comparison.  The same thing happened to me when reading Twilight.

In conclusion, this is what I think about books to movies, and their differences.

Unanswered Questions

Sometimes, even when you finish a book, there is still one last thing left unanswered.  The big question of the book, the thing you thought you would know by the last page, but then never find out.  This is exactly what happened to me when I read the book, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky.  

This book is composed of many letters from a boy, Charlie.  But the thing is, you don't know who the letters are for.  They all begin the same way: "Dear friend".  But Charlie never tells us who this "friend" is.  In the beginning and end of the book, though, Charlie tells us a little bit about this person that he is writing to.  The first lines of the book say,

"Dear friend,

I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have.  Please don't try to figure out who she is because then you might figure out who I am, and I really don't want you to do that.  I will call people by different names or generic names because I don't want you to find me.  I didn't enclose a return address for the same reason.  I mean nothing bad by this.  Honest."

Also, in the end of the book, Charlie continues to talk about how the person he is writing to should never know who he is.  Charlie talks about how he has never met this person, but knows that he will listen.  He says that after his best friend shot himself, he heard a girl in his class talking about a person.  That person is who Charlie writes his letters to.

Besides these, the book doesn't give us clues on to who this person is.  It is someone Charlie doesn't know, maybe a therapist or something.   But I think the author didn't want us to know who the recipient of the letters is.  Maybe because it adds a little bit of mystery the book wouldn't otherwise have.  But, for whatever reason, this book left me thinking about this even after I read the very last sentence.  

Child Soldiers

Child soldiers are victims for many reasons.  First of all, they don’t have a choice about fighting in wars.  They are forcefully recruited while they are in desperate need of various things such as shelter and family.  Many are captured from refugee camps.  The child soldiers are also taken advantage of.  They are drugged a lot to get them to fight in the battles.  In addition, they have very terrible side affects after the war.

                                                                                        

One reason that child soldiers are victims is that they don’t have an option about enlisting in the army and are taken advantage of.  In the article “Armed and Underage,” it states that most of the children who fight come from poor families.  In the Ishmael Beah video, Beah said that the children would go to the army base looking for help, and would be forcefully recruited.  Many of the child soldiers also came from families that were separated.  This is because the lost and alone children would go to the nearby military base thinking that the people there would help and support them, but instead they are taken advantage of and forced to fight.  The military leaders use the children’s misfortunes to benefit themselves.  Children are also kidnapped by refugee camps in the middle of the night and forced to fight.  They aren’t permitted to leave, and even if they could, they would have no where to go.  Another example of how child soldiers can be taken advantage of is when a terrorist group convinced a semi-retarded teenager to suicide bomb.  The group took advantage of the boy’s disability.  Child soldiers are victims, they are brainwashed and told many lies to make them fight. 

Another reason that the child soldiers are victims is that they are drugged when in battle.  In the Ishmael Beah video, Beah said that in order for a child to fight in a war they had to completely lose themselves.  This shows that the children could not normally fight battles, but when they start in the army, they are immediately given drugs.  This also shows that the military leaders are aware of how this should not be put upon a child, and how the children can not handle it.  The leaders realize the children can’t even be in their correct state of mind in order to get them to fight.  The children are given drugs to feel powerful and good about themselves.

One last reason that they are victims is that these soldiers can get terrible side affects after the war.  In “Armed and Underage”, it says that the children get terrible side affects after they fight.  Many suffer long-term trauma and have issues that can last for their whole life.  In addition, the drugs given to the child soldiers can cause severe addictions that can be extremely difficult to help.  In the Ishmael Beah video, Beah talked about how long it took him to get even somewhat over his terrible memories of fighting.  For a long time after he left the military, he would see blood coming out of the shower and the sink.  He said that he would have to look at it for a while to realize it was just water.  It is extremely hard for a regular soldier to get over being in battle, let alone a small child.

In conclusion, I believe that child soldiers are definitely victims.  They are unfairly taken advantage of, given drugs, and get terrible trauma from the experience.  The child soldiers do not want to be in the war, but are forced to.  Wars and battles are things that small children should never have to experience.  Yet, so many of them do.  Child soldiers have lasting affects from the war, are drugged, and never even wanted to fight.  Child soldiers are definitely victims.   

Trying to Change

The book, "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff is about a boy named Nic who deals with many issues in his life.  The main one that this book is about Nic's drug problem.  Nic has been addicted to meth for a very long time.  Even though Nic goes to rehab on and off, he relapses frequently.

But the problem isn't that Nic doesn't want to change, because he does.  And that is part of what makes this book so sad.  He wants to change so bad, and he tries to change really hard.  He realizes how the drugs affect himself and his family.  He has to learn how to change himself for the better.

Mistrust

How would it feel if everything you believed it went upside down?  If the things and people you trusted the most went behinf your baclk and lied to you?  If someone you thought was truly good did something you tha you could never expect even the meanest person to do?  This is what is happening in David Sheff's book "Beautiful Boy."

In this book, David Sheff is writing about his son, Nic.  He used to think that Nic was the most amazing, innocent kid in the world.  But then Nic became a drug addict.  He became to not trust everything he'd ever thought he knew.  Nic was making David mistrust him time and time again.  Nic stole his stepmothers money, then stole things from the house, and even stole his eight year old brother's "life savings" of 8 dollars.  But when Nic tried to give someone a forged check from David's account,David knew that things were getting to the worst, and he really began to distrust Nic.

Beautiful Boy

I am currently reading the heartbreaking book by David Sheff, Beautiful Boy.  This book is a father's story on his son's journey with drugs.  The book starts with the son coming home from college, going to AA meetings, not breaking curfew, reading to his little siblings, and ensuring his parents he is not going to do drugs ever again.  But then, one night, he comes home hours after he should have, and his parents want him to take a drug test.  So, he admits he has been on crystal meth the whole time, and runs away.

Then, the story goes back to when Nic, the son, was just born.  Then the father tells of his troubles with his wife, Nic's mother, how they got divorced, and how he got remarried to someone else, had a son, and then later a daughter.  It talks about Nic's birthday parties, games, summer vacations, and finally, when David found Nic smoking, then when he found marijuana in Nic's bag, and then when Nic got suspended for buying drugs in school.

When Nic's father found the drugs in Nic's bag, it was very hard for him.  He kept thinking back to when Nic was a little kid.  How he would never do anything to break the rules, how he never would have thought of anything like this.  He thought about the time that Nic and his friend got in trouble for throwing away Nic's friend's mother's cigarettes.  How he cringed at the idea of smoking.  And now he had completely changed.

It is really hard for Nic's father to accept that Nic is not the little kid he used to be.  He wants to pass this off as a one-time thing, as a phase.  He wants to believe that Nic is still the innocent boy he once was.  But he's not.  When he catches Nic smoking the first time, he just passes it off.  He decides that it was just a peer-pressure, once in a lifetime occurrence.  But then, he realizes that it's not.

It is really hard for Nic's dad to realize that Nic is growing up and changing.  But it is an important and necessary thing he has to do.  He will not be able to get along thinking that Nic is still the same as he was when he was a toddler.  People change, and David had to learn that Nic will change too.

Even though I am still at the beginning of the book, I think that an important part of the book will be the father's journey in seeing that Nic is changing and growing up, and how he will cope with that fact.

Loss

Mockingjay, the third book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series, has many different plots and ideas.  But there is one very important one that really stands out to me when I think about this book.  It is about Peeta, Katniss' "star-crossed lover".

When the book starts, Peeta has been captured by the capital.  From the TV episodes that Katniss watches, you can tell that Peeta is being abused and harmed intensely by the capital.  But when District 13 captures Peeta and brings him back, you realize that it has been more than physical abuse inflicted upon Peeta.  All of his memories have been altered so he does not know what is real and what is not.  And in addition, the capital has made it so Peeta thinks that Katniss is a horrible "mutt" who demolished District 12 and his family.  When Peeta saw Katniss for the first time after coming from the Capitol, he tried to kill her.  

This situation is terrible on Katniss.  Even though she knows Peeta has just been "hi-jacked" by the capitol, she still feels like Peeta is telling the truth.  Katniss feels like Peeta is just truly just saying how she is, and believes that he used to just not see the really her.  

In addition, Katniss has lost Peeta.  Peeta was her on-again, off-again love, and more so one of her closest friends.  Peeta was the person she could relate to, and the person who cared about her more than anything else.  Peeta was the person who was willing to risk his life for her.  And now he is just some Capitol-altered, confused, hating person.  Katniss has lost him.  It is really hard for Katniss to deal with loss and grief.  She keeps re-convincing herself that she is over Peeta, only to be thinking about him and worrying about him the next day.  She doesn't know what to do.  While Peeta was in the Capitol, Katniss knew he was being harmed, but she at least knew he was alive, and she would be able to get him back.  And she still knew he cared about her.  But now she realizes he is lost forever.  Peeta is never coming back to her, or at least not the Peeta she used to know and love.  I think the hardest part is the fact that Peeta is somehow within reach, yet just too far away to grasp.

Thinking About Others

Right now I am reading the third book in Suzanne Collins' series, The Hunger Games.  This book is called Mockingjay.  In this book, Katniss, the main character, has survived the Hunger Games not once,  but two times.  Now, she is living in District 13, and a war is raging between the districts and the capitol.

In the beginning of the book, while Katniss was in 13, she was very quiet and distracted.  She didn't follow the schedule, and mainly only came out for meals.  She didn't really care about anything or anyone, except for her family and Gale.  But the rebel leaders wanted her to be more.  They wanted her to be the "mockingjay".  The "mockingjay" would be the symbol of the rebels, she would keep everyone motivated and get everything going.  But Katniss didn't want to do that.  She didn't want to do anything except what she had to, and that was mainly eating and sleeping.  She refused the mockingjay offer over and over.

But, as the book went on, Katniss began to realize her role and importance.  She realized that if she decided to be the mockingjay, she would be helping out her side so incredibly.  As the mockingjay, Katniss could get everybody worked up, and help them realize how they needed to fight.  

Even though being the mockingjay was the last thing Katniss wanted to do, she realized that everything wasn't about her.  There was such a huge difference that she could make.  She could be the deciding factor in the war.  Katniss  became the mockingjay because she realized she should be doing more important things, and she realized how important she could be.

That part of the story has a really important lesson.  It is important to think about how you can help the world before thinking about yourself.  It is important to know that you are not the only person in the world, and if you are given an opportunity to help you should take it, even if it's not your first choice.  

Am I Blue?

In Bruce Coville's short story, "Am I Blue?" is about a boy named Vincent who is having a hard time thinking about his identity.  In the story, Vince is struggling with the concept of him being gay or not.  When the story starts, Vince is getting beat up by a boy in his grade named Butch Carrigan.  While Vince is sitting there after getting beat up, he meets a "fairy godmother", Melvin.  Melvin is there to help him along in his struggles.  While at a cafe with Melvin, Melvin gives him special vision so he can see if someone is gay.  The way  he can do this is if they are blue or not.  If they are blue, it means they are gay.  While using the vision, Vince sees that so many more people are gay then he could ever think of, even people that are strongly against homosexuality.

Acceptance is a main theme in the story.  Many people in this story have to learn to accept others as well as themselves.  For example, Vince has to learn to accept himself.  In the beginning, he was really scared of the fact that he might be gay. He is really defensive of himself.  This is shown when he says, "Are you making fun of me?" to Melvin.  He was really paranoid of people being judgmental of him.  He is still sort of judgmental of gay people, and of being gay.  But, as the story progresses, he becomes accepting of whomever he may be.  This is shown when in the last paragraph Vincent says, "Maybe when I meet the girl of my dreams.  Or Prince Charming.  Whichever."  This shows that he is accepting himself and is open to whoever he may be or become.

"Am I Blue?", the short story, shows us many important things.  A major lesson is being accepting of people.  The lesson in the story reaches out everywhere, to anything, not just in terms of being gay.  It is important to accept people for who they are, not judging based on anything.  If you don't accept people, they will be afraid to be themselves.  What this story taught me is that you have to accept people no matter what.

Hope In Hard Times.

In the story, The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, by Ray Bradbury, there are many important themes.  For one, this short story shows how it is important to be brave and optimistic even in hard times, and when everything looks bad.  It shows this because in the story, the drummer boy, Joby, has to be brave even when he is in the midst of a war and could die even the next day.

In the beginning of the story, Joby is scared and hopeless.  He feels like he has no purpose and like he is going to die.  It shows this when in the story Joby says, “I got only a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield.”  This proves that he feels worthless and like he has no chance.  It also shows this, where Joby says, “That’s all very well for them, they can give as good as they can get,” about the soldiers around him.  He says this because he feels like they have so much greater a chance of survival than him.  He feels like they can actually do something, to not only make a difference in the war, but to simply save themselves.  Joby feels like he doesn’t even have a fleeting chance of survival, let alone help anything in the war.  

But, as the story progresses, Joby starts to feel more hopeful and like he has a purpose.  This starts to show when the general is talking to him.  The general convinces Joby that he can make a difference.  This is proved when the general says, “And for that, boy, I need you.”  This proves that Joby now has a purpose in this war, that he is actually needed and matters.  This really changes his perspective on everything.  You can tell that Joby really believes this and is optimistic when in the end, the story says, “ Then at last, very slowly and firmly, he turned the drum so it faced the sky.”   This is so meaningful thematically because the drum is a symbol for Joby's purpose.  In the beginning, he was disregarding it as useless, and turned it on its side.But him turning the drum up is a metaphor for him not only accepting his responsibility as a drummer boy, but also embracing it.

This story really proves how even when everything is looking down for you, it is important to look up.  Joby learns that everyone can make a difference and can really help even when everything seems worthless.  He learns to be optimistic and that he does have a purpose.  

What Really Happened

I am currently reading the heartbreaking book, The Pact, by Jodi Picoult.  This is about a girl and a boy who have known each other since they were born.  Or at least, since  Emily was born, a few months after Chris.  They have been best friends since forever, and are happily in love--until Emily dies.  She and Chris had a joint suicide pact, they would kill themselves together, with Chris's father's gun.  Emily had shot herself first, Chris would have gone second except he had passed out after Emily pulled the trigger.  The police had come before he could have awoken and killed himself too.

Or is that what really happened?

That is Chris' story, at least.  And because Emily isn't there to verify it, the state, and Emily's parents, have no reason to believe that it wasn't Chris who shot his girlfriend, and told the suicide story to cover it up.  There is evidence to prove he was the one who shot her, after all.  But then again, there is evidence that suggests that he didn't.  So, they take it to court.  But until the case, coincidentally scheduled on Emily's birthday, Chris is stuck in jail.

The reason this book is so heartbreaking for me to read-- except, of course, the fact that Emily died-- is that Chris might get what he doesn't deserve.  I am not yet done with this book, so I don't know if he is convicted guilty or not.  But, there is a perfectly good chance that he is sentenced to prison-- 30 years to life.  It's so hard for me to read this knowing that Chris, the athletic, caring, popular, straight-A student, could have his life basically thrown away.  He had a good future in front of him.  But what if he has to spend it in jail?  It will ruin his life.  And he wouldn't even have done anything.

But, then again, I can't even know for certain IF he is guilty or not.  Though I want to believe that he is innocent-- and I'm 99.9% sure that he is-- there is always that off-chance.  What is he thinking that was not told to us by the author?  What do we not know about what happened that night?  What do we not want to know?  Maybe Chris did kill Emily.  Maybe there is something glaringly obvious form either what Chris thought, or a flashback, that proves that indeed, he was Emily's killer.  But maybe I, along with the other readers of this book, and the characters along in the book, could not bare to believe that he was indeed guilty.  So it was ignored.

I don't know how Chris will be convicted.  And I don't know what actually killed Emily--herself or Chris.  And I don't actually know if I will find that last one out.  But until then, I can only do two things--read, and hope.

The Fault in Our Stars

Over the summer, I read the book The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.  This book was about a girl Hazel, who is a cancer patient.  At Hazel's support group, she meets a guy named Augustus.  Augustus also has cancer, and had one of his legs amputated as a result.  This book deals with a lot of major difficulties in life, such as the topics of loss, hope, and life in general.  This book really shows about being grateful for what you have, or what you used to have.

In the end of the book, Hazel's boyfriend Augustus dies.  But instead of just completely flipping out and being depressed, Hazel tries to think of what she had with Augustus.  She just recollects on all the memories they had together, because she knows that no amount of grieving will bring him back.  In a way, it's sort-of just like he moved out of the country and they will never see each other again.  She always knew Augustus was going to die soon, they talked about it together.  He'd even had a mock-funeral for himself with his best friend and Hazel.  So, although it's clear that Hazel will never forgot Augustus and always think about him, she can move on at the same time.  She knows that all Gus would have wanted was for her to move on.  So, even though she is always holding onto Gus, she can move on and move on with her life.

Even when things may seem tough, it's always important to move on.  Just because something terrible happens, that doesn't mean your life should completely stop.  Of course, that doesn't mean you should completely  forget, but your life can still go on.  This is really shown in the exciting book, The Fault in Our Stars.