Literary Essay: Aristotle and Dante, Speak

For most people, conversations about rape and homosexuality are ones that are commonly avoided. Most kids are not educated about these topics and this might lead to them struggling to seek for help. This could be because of a community's belief of it being sinful. This would leave people feeling isolated or like an outcast. This message came clear in the books “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson and “Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe” by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Both authors use inner thinking as a tool to effectively show emotions and to prove that people we frequently interact with would shape a part of who we become.

In “Speak” an outcast called Melinda was introduced. She starts 9th grade alone with no companions by her side. During the summer of the previous year, she was sexually assaulted during a party. This act sealed her lips and turned her into an outcast. Melinda belongs to a busy family. Her family rarely talk, they “communicate with the notes on the kitchen counter. I write when I need school supplies or a ride to the mall. They write what time they’ll be home from work and if I should thaw anything. What else is there to say?” Melinda rarely talks to her parents so she doesn't know how to go up to them and talk about what happened last summer. “I don’t have time for this Melinda” was the response that Melinda got the night after she harmed herself. She was left speechless after this. If her family doesn't care about her, who will? Melinda’s family is a part of the reason that she couldn’t open up to anyone about the event that occured last summer. Melinda’s parents seem to overreact over the smallest things: grades, room decorations, seasons. This could be another reason why she didn’t tell them about what happened because of the fear that they might take drastic measures to ensure their daughter is alright.

The story “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” revolves around the friendship of two boys, Aristotle and Dante. Dante frequently interacted with were his parents and Aristotle. His relationship with his parents is like one with friends. He is aware of the fact that his parents trust and respect him. Even when he is treated this way, he is still afraid to talk to them about his feelings towards Aristotle. He did this because he was afraid of disappointing his parents because of who he was becoming, as he was an only child. Also, the act of kissing another of the same gender in a public space got him into a hospital ICU. This proves that people and rules that are set shape parts of who we become.

Aristotle’s relationship with his parents is one that shapes a big part of who he has become. His relationship with his dad is a shallow one. This changes after the car accident where he jumped in front of a car to protect Dante. Eventually, they found some things in common (Bad dreams, books, driving lessons and his brother). He doesn't talk as openly with his father as he does with his mother. Aristotle wasn’t one who had many companions but, his relationship with his mother was one like close friends. They knew each other pretty well. Even if this is, he is really hesitant to talk about his feelings for Dante and to ask questions about his brother, “Thats what I did with everything. Keep it inside”. Aristotle got into a fist fight once and his parents got very worried because his brother got into prison because he had killed someone with his bare fists. “I’m not my brother” Aristotle said and then promised himself that he wouldn’t turn into his brother. Past events, parental pressure and expectations shape who you become.

Even though people say that everyone is different and it is important to be your own original person, but in most cases, our families and the people we frequently interact with make some sort of mark on us. As Anne Frank said once said, ““Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” As people, we should be committed to care and listen to anyone who might require assistance of any kind. Even the smallest actions can make large impacts.

By Manini 

Authors Craft Essay: 'Speak' by Laurie Halse Anderson

Most people go through a phase where they feel like they’re voice is unheard. That phase where the words that roll out of their tongue simply vanish into the thin air. Similarly in the story “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, a girl found herself silenced because of a rape incidence earlier in her life. Over time, she finds her voice and the courage to speak her mind. The girl, Melinda, enters high school at the start of the book, she starts alone. She is nervous and retreats into a shell whenever she has to interact with people. Author Laurie Halse Anderson used techniques like symbolism and flashbacks to keep readers predicting, so that they could make an effort to understand why Melinda is so introverted and how her character will evolve through the book.

From the start of the book Melinda was introduced as a shy and introverted 9th grader. With every new page, a bit more was revealed about her. This helped build the readers curiosity and made the reader want to keep reading further to understand more about the character. The author would talk about melinda now and then and then occasionally flip back to the summer and to what happened back then. The author probably did this to build up suspense and gradually develop the cause and effect aspect of Melinda’s present character. The author also revealed more information about Melinda and her friends at a slow pace and probably deliberately to keep the reader anxious to find out more.

The dominant symbol throughout the story are trees. Laurie found an easy way to do this, she engraved her symbol into something that Melinda does at school. Art. At the start of the year, Melinda got to pick a chit of paper with her art assignment on it. Trees. In my opinion, the trees mentioned represent growth of this character. At times, Melinda would not be able to draw trees, this probably symbolized struggle. “I can’t bring it to life” she would say and then give up on drawing fauna. Her trees would be ‘lifeless’ perhaps symbolizing her own inability to speak and interact socially with life around her. The act of giving up could symbolize losing hope after trying to do something over and over again and rarely succeeding. Time spent in the art room is described as tedious and challenging. Maybe this meant that change is a slow and a tiresome process. Finally, at the end of the year Melinda was able to draw trees successfully. This shows relief and strength. The symbol allowed the reader to track Melinda’s character grow as the story progresses?

People might have missed this but, another symbol that has been mentioned repeatedly were Melinda’s lips. Melinda often criticized her lips of being cracked and dry. This could possibly symbolize not taking sufficient care of herself or to symbolize something rarely used. She once said that she didn’t recognize her lips, as though she was talking about not recognizing who she was turning into. It might also show confusion or being unsure of how to manage a situation. Melinda really struggled with speaking up, and she often questions if people would care about what she has to say “would they listen?” or “would they believe me?”. Her lips were the perfect symbol that would help us understand that she hasn’t spoken for a while and wasn’t going to speak up any time soon, which is why it was dry and uncared for. This got me predicting about the end, would she finally speak up? would someone help her to find her voice?

Speaking up isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and we should respect that. Some people just don’t know how to or are not comfortable to express themselves verbally and they might end up using alternatives, just like how Laurie was able to use trees, Melindas lips and flashbacks as tools to speak for Melinda’s feelings. The effects of events in the past have large impacts on our present selves, this has come out well throughout the story. I, myself, am going to commit to listening up, genuinely care, and try and help someone in a similar situation. I am hoping, but who knows, if there are more Melindas amongst us in real life?

By Manini 

The Maze Runner: Author's Craft

             This world is full of problems. Some are not easy to solve but none are impossible. We have to solve them because that’s what we live for. There are only two types of people in this world: those who have given up and those who endured and succeeded. In the book “The Maze Runner” by James Dashner, these characters face so many problems. The maze imprisoned them. The Grievers threaten their lives every time they set foot in the maze. Dashner uses the Gladers to symbolize people who are persistent problem solvers.

             In the beginning of the book, the Gladers thought that the maze was impossible to solve. The maze kept changing at night, it’s enormous and dangerous at night. They kept going in but no one ever found an exit before sunset. Dashner also put the Griever in the maze to make it harder than it had to be. The Grievers are terrifying mechanical beasts. Its “stung” give intense pain and extremely dangerous poison; if you don’t get the antidote and go through the Changing, you won’t make it. Every Gladers that face the Griever never even thought of standing up to it, they just give up hope when they see it. Until Chapter 21 when Thomas and Minho was stuck in the maze at night. They ran at first but then they tried to send it off the cliff and it worked. On top of that, when Thomas and Minho returned they told the council their story and Thomas came up with a plan. Forty people agreed with Thomas and came along. They fought with the Grievers and they won; however, they lost 20 people.The rest of them exited the maze. The author is trying to say that if you meet a small obstacle like the Griever, you stand up to it and if you still failed but you don’t stop trying, you will succeed in the end.

             Furthermore, the author let the Gladers be “stung” by the Griever to demonstrate to the reader that no matter what hardship you endure in the time of solving the problem, it will pays off in the end. In the book, Dashner told the reader that every time the Gladers got “stung” by the Griever they get the serum and they go through The Changing and then they heal. When you get stuck with a problem you don’t keep going with the same way; you need to stop and change your strategy then try again. The Changing, in the story, let the character remember their past but also intense pain that have been left by the Griever. Thomas wanted to remember so he got himself stung on purpose and he went through the Changing then he came up with a plan that work successfully. In other word, the author is trying to tell you to endure hardship that is in front of you, it’s always pays off in the end. That’s why Dashner added The Changing to the healing process when getting stung by the Grievers.

             However, some people might argue that the maze, rather than the Gladers, is the main symbol of the story and it symbolizes the whole problem that we face everyday of our lives. The maze kept changing which tell the reader that our problem are changing as well. There are Grievers in the maze that represent people who keep making the problem, or the maze in the story, harder. That certainly can be true; however, it doesn’t account for the way the story goes, it isn’t about the problem itself but about the people who solve it. The maze is created for the Gladers for an experiment by W.I.C.K.E.D(a group of scientist that work together to study the Gladers’ brain and how they react to problems that seem unsolvable and study the brain wave so they can find a cure to the disease). It is about finding people who is truly persistent that will solve the problem no matter how bad the situation is or how many people they lose. From the beginning throughout the end, the author talked about Gladers themselves: how they thrive to find the solution, how some of them being scared and give up and how they succeed in fighting back.

             All in all, Dashner thought that we all need to solve the problems we faced and he encouraged us not to give up, stay calm and act accordingly to guarantee one hundred percent success. If you don’t get it the first time, you altered your approach and try again.

By Sewen

City of Orphans: Author's Craft

Life is hard without having some power of your own and it is even harder if you are a newsboy on the street in New York 1893. You don’t get to do what you want, everything needs to be in secret. You have to be careful at all time, and everything is depending on the destiny. It is like a shell that you are trapped in, no days to pop your head out of it. That’s what happen in the CITY OF ORPHANS, by AVI. Life is super tough for Maks and Willa. On one hand, there’s an ill-sister and on the other hand is a jailed-sister that has to be rescued. Maks is definitely in a huge trouble, he needs money, that’s the reason why he tries to keep every pennies that he made from selling his newspapers. However, the Plug Ugly Gang doesn’t let him do that, if they find him, they’ll beat them up and take all of his money. NO, he could not let that happen, he gets to do something, he needs freedom and power. AVI uses the stick as a symbolism of freedom and power.

In the beginning of the book, when Willa extricates Maks from the Gangs with her stick, the author used descriptive language,“looking hard and nubby” to illustrates the appearance of the stick, its fierceness which is a perfect feature for power and a protection. In addition, the author even addresses Maks’s inner thinking “ he could not asking himself if she-and that stick could help him one more time.”,to convey that he doesn’t want to leave her, he is fearful, he doesn’t want to lose his chance and his opportunities. He needs some protection.

In the middle of the book, whenever and wherever Willa goes, she will always bring her stick with her,“ She stands with her stick in her hand, ready to go.”, from this we can infer that the stick is like her life-long friend, that she just feels secure with it. Amazingly, nothing happens to her. This can be interpreted that the stick has some power to her, no one could do anything harm on her. Until at the end of the book, she just realizes in the middle of the street that she forgot her stick with her. However, it is too late to get back home to get it. At this point of this story, it builds suspense to the readers, readers seem to know more than the character in the book. Readers want to shout their voice out to warn Willa to go back and get her stick because they could predict that something fearful would happen. It builds up the mood of nervousness, scared, and fear. Ultimately, the readers prediction comes true. The Plug Uglies Gang finds her and takes her away, she could not do anything. Without the stick, Willa is like the Fairy God Mother losing her magical wand, losing all the power that could protect her from something horrifying.

In the CITY OF ORPHANS, the stick symbolizes the protection, the security, that could scare the villains away, thing that everyone's wants especially in a hard time. People desire to have power, power of their own freedom so that life could get better.

By Khantey

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: An Exploration of Innocence (Author’s Craft)

Nazis, concentration camps, Hitler; those are a few words that come to mind when recalling Germany between the years 1933 and 1945. However, all these words were foreign to eight-year-old Bruno, the protagonist of John Boyne’s masterpiece, “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” When Bruno, the son of a highly-ranked Nazi captain, moves to Auschwitz, his parents declare the intriguing forest behind his home “out of bounds at all times and no exceptions”. Nevertheless, his uninhibitedly curious mind sends him venturing into the forest with little hesitation. In the forest, Bruno meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy imprisoned in Auschwitz concentration camp. Shielded by naivete they become friends, without the merest clue about the irony of their friendship. Through the novel, John Boyne uses an array of literary techniques such as symbolism, tone and word choice to convey the extent to which Bruno’s innocence fosters his and Shmuel’s incredible friendship to ultimately portray a sheltered upbringing as an unnecessary evil.

Boyne navigates through the story from Bruno’s childish perspective. The language he uses to narrate is simple and accessible, but not due to the fact that the story is plot driven but because the language is used to foreshadow Bruno’s thoughts. The straightforward language displays how Bruno is simpleminded and does not look deeply into things, he simply sees things as they are. Bruno never describes anything in detail, which conveys to the readers how little Bruno actually knows about what is going on around him. For instance, on page 200 after Shmuel states his father is missing, Bruno simply says, “‘Can’t find him? That’s very odd. You mean he’s lost?’” Here Boyne expresses Bruno’s sinless thoughts using simplistic diction. Bruno does not even acknowledge the possibility of anything bad happening to Shmuel’s father.

From the beginning of the novel, John Boyne depicts Bruno as a notably innocent boy. His naivete is first conveyed by him mishearing and subsequently calling Auschwitz, “Out With” and the Führer, “ [the] Fury”. From his misinterpretation of words we can see how untouched he is about the world around him, and the atrocities it is committing. The fact that his only knowledge of these concentration camps is based on mishearing. John Boyne uses these uncomplicated words to create a tone throughout the book to show the extent of Bruno’s innocence, as Bruno cannot even pronounce the name of his country’s leader, and also his father’s boss.

In “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”, a recurring symbol is the fence between Bruno and Shmuel. In the story the fence is what keeps Bruno and Shmuel apart, and represents barrier which all the adult problems create because of polar opposite worlds they live in. Bruno’s existence is tokened by indicators of carefree, privileged childhood; meanwhile Shmuel’s is overwhelmed by pain and confinement. The small hole in the fence symbolizes power of their friendship and tacitly conveys how affection can overcome the barricades built to represent enmity and victimization.

Throughout the novel, Boyne uses several literary devices to illustrate the extent of Bruno’s innocence, but only in the end do we witness the ramifications of his protected childhood. Bruno's friendship with Shmuel cost them both their lives, but his naivety blinded him from the fact that he was walking on the path of death itself when he enters the concentration camp with a shaved head. Boyne teaches many lessons through his writing. However, the most significant is that if one is shielded from reality, they will never experience the world as it is, and ultimately face bitter consequences for their naivete. Just as Bruno did.

By Mehak