Blog Post #7

In The Blind Side By: Michael Lewis, the character Michael Oher makes a huge inductive leap while choosing which college he prefers to go to, to play football. Tennessee is the college that his brother SJ (Sean Junior) wants him to go to, and Michael cuts it down to three schools. "There were only three schools left standing: Ole Miss, LSU and Tennessee. Ole Miss had just fired its coach, and LSU had lost theirs to the Miami Dolphins. That left Fulmer, the coach of Tennessee, as the last man standing." (Lewis, 189) This excerpt shows that Michael is most likely going to choose Tennessee. "The minute Michael walks on campus he's my starting left tackle." (189) This quote also shows that going to Tennessee would be a great choice for Michael and he is favoring towards them. "it was running across my mind to go to Tennessee" (196) His tutor
Miss Sue tells Michael about the dead bodies under the Tennessee stadium. "You do know where they bury the bodies don't you? Right underneath the football field." (216) This leads to his mind change to go to Ole Miss and he then commits to play for them. Michael makes a huge inductive leap by changing his mind from going to Tennessee to Ole Miss. This effects Tennessee in that they missed out on a
star-caliber left tackle, and a future NFL starter.

Lewis, Michael. The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print.

 

Blog Post #6

Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance


Metaphor is a poetic device that is used within my book, When the Game Was Ours. "The Terre Haute campus was a cauldron of excitement, with Sycamore mania bubbling over the classrooms, the restaurants, even the city library."(MacMullan, 50). This excerpt contains two metaphors, "was a cauldron of excitement" and "with Sycamore mania bubbling over the classrooms", and these are important to the story as they show the excitement of Sycamore mania, in Indiana State University when Larry Bird was there. This excitement and "Sycamore mania" created more popularity for the school, and Larry, as more and more scouts started showing up to their games. This was of great significance to Larry Bird, as he got drafted to the NBA.

MacMullan, Jackie. When the Game Was Ours. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.

Blog Post #5

When the Game Was Ours by Jackie MacMullan has some social issues contained in the story. The major issue presented in the novel was racism and discrimination. It was present throughout a lot of the book because of the rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Magic was black and Larry was white. Los Angeles and Boston, the teams they played for, chose to root for only one colour black or white. Los Angeles hated white people and Boston hated black people, and they discriminated against them. "After a couple of racial incidents involving his family, the affable Carr carried a registered gun with him at all times, including games days to and from Boston Garden, a practice he continued when he became coach. City officials worked tirelessly to ease racial tensions, but in come cases Boston's reputation had already been cemented among professional athletes." (MacMullan, 105) "Plain and simple, black people didn't like the Celtics. They were too white." (MacMullan, 106) These excerpts from the book show that there is racial tensions between the cities because of the colour of someone's skin. This shows that the main social issue in the book was racism and discrimination.

Jackie MacMullan. When the game was ours. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.

Blog Post #4

This book contains two significant elements, the format of the book and the setting. The format of the book is similar to that of a movie script and a diary, as it alternates  back and forth between the two. pg.161- pg.165 told the story in a script format, and pg. 89- pg.98 told the story in a diary format. This format significant as it told the story in more than one way. It made the story much more interesting to read as it was something new that I've never read before. Also, Steve Harmon, the main character is intending to make a movie out of his court case and life in prison. Thus, making the story a script puts the reader into his movie. The setting of the book is significant as well. The story is mainly in a courtroom setting as told in the text, "FADE IN: INTERIOR COURTHOUSE" (Myers, 12). This gives the movie script a more realistic environment to focus on. The setting is significant as it also makes the reader feel like he's in the courtroom as well, watching Steve Harmon's case. The format of the book, as well as the setting, are two very significant elements of my book.


Myers Walter Dean, and Christopher Myers. Monster. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.

Blog Post #3

The character I chose to describe is Duncan. Three words I would use to describe him is poor, curious and troublesome.

Poor: having little or no money, goods, or other means of support. Synonyms: needy, penniless. Antonyms: rich, wealthy. "Air conditioners are as rare as college diplomas in the Jungle." (McNamee, 80) Judging by this quote Duncan live in a neighbourhood called the Jungle, and the fact that air conditioners are as rare as college diplomas implies that this is a rather poor neighbourhood. 

Curious: eager to learn or know; inquisitive. Synonyms: inquiring, interested. Antonyms: uninterested, incurious. "Surreal is the word for how things feel right now. I've spent the last couple of hours fumbling around trying to find one particular psycho in a city that must have hundreds of them." (McNamee, 75) Judging by this quote Duncan is inquiring to find the psycho behind the diary of victims he found earlier.

Troublesome: causing trouble, annoyance, or difficulty. Synonyms: burdensome, perplexing. Antonyms: helpful, nice. "So that's how my life of crime ended, not with a bang but a flush. Grand theft potty." (McNamee, 25) Judging by this quote Duncan is a very burdensome boy, as he attempted to steal a toilet from a newly built house. He ends up getting caught and that ends his life of crime.

McNamee, Graham. Acceleration. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2003. Print

Blog Post #2

The five elements of a short story that my novel (Acceleration by: Graham McNamee) contains are setting, conflict, suspense, characters and point of view. In order of most important to least important I would place them in order as: conflict,suspense, characters, setting, and point of view. The most important would be conflict, and in my novel it states that "Hunting. He's hunting. He's moved past the animals and the fires. The "kids' stuff." Now he's going after bigger game. The real thing. A woman." (McNamee, 47) This creates conflict as the serial killer is going to kill women now and Duncan has to stop him.

McNamee, Graham. Acceleration. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2003. Print.

Blog Post #1

A "good book" draws you in with the first chapter and keeps your attention throughout. But that's just a start. In my opinion, good books make you feel for the characters and connect you to their world. Good books should leave you feeling satisfied once you're done, and keep you well invested in the plot line. (Or perhaps not. I know that some books I consider amazing have left me feeling as though something is missing because there is no more to be read.) And I believe that a good book is one that you would read more than once. So far this year, I am currently reading Acceleration by: Graham McNamee. I feel that it is a good book so far, as I have invested well in the characters as well as the plot line so far. The main character Duncan finds a lost diary of a serial killer and tries to track him down. This makes the book seem really gripping and I do not want to put it down.

McNamee, Graham. Acceleration. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2003. Print.