The Hatchet Part Four

Hatchet Blog Post #4

Brian is being more productive with his time. First he made a Fire then he found the Eggs and now he is making a spear to hunt the fish in the lake. He reshaped the Hatchet so it’s in the shape of a spear head. But he can’t catch any fish. They are just too fast. Brian is frustrated he was so sure that the spear was going to work he had worked in the design for a long time. So what he decides to do to make his spear go faster is he decides to create a bow and arrow. So he goes looking for supplies. He found some trees but they just weren’t right to create the bow but later he found a tree that when he pulled it back it had a lot of strength and flexibility. But as he is cutting the tree he hears something, A plane Brian was finally going to get saved so he runs back towards the noise which he presumes it’s a plane engine and visualizes how it would be to go back home. But just when he arrives at the camp the plane is getting away from him, he tries to get its attention by grabbing a stick with fire on it and making a smoke signal but the Pilot doesn’t see it and he goes away. That’s when Brian loses all hope of being rescued. Some time has passed and Brian is hunting for Birds, but as he does he feels the need to stop and look around. That’s when he sees the wolfs but he is not scared he now understands things better and he knew the wolf would not do anything to him. So he was not afraid. He was a new Brian. He recalls a lot of things from the point in time where he is now and the point when the plane had passed. He had tried to kill himself by cutting himself but then he hated what he had done so he decided to live. He perfected the bow and caught his first fish. He had been attacked by a skunk at the middle of the night and he was blind for two hours. He created a new stronger and more resistant shelter to protect himself. He also created a storage pace in a place that was high up so that the animals couldn’t reach it and he created a ladder so that he could reach it. Brian now will try to create a place so he can store the fish alive and eat them later on. He is remembering a lot of things now like the first day he ate meat from the birds (Foolbirds he called them). He was not the same he had experienced a lot of stuff and all that stuff changed him. After that a lot of bad things happen. The Moose and the Tornado. He had been attacked by a violent moose in the day just a senseless rampage that the moose had and when he lay in his shelter hurt came the tornado. It flung everything apart and leaving him without nothing, nothing but the Hatchet. It had restarted everything. The next day he starts to rebuild. He noticed as he built that the Tornado had made the plane surface and then he thought about the survival pack he wanted to go get it. He decides to make a raft to go towards the tail and then find his way in. When he arrives to the tail he sees that the metal is very soft and he is able to cut it quite easily with the hatchet. But after some time cutting he drops the hatchet into the water and he is forced to dive in and get it back. When he gets inside of the plane he searches for the bag and finds the body of the pilot he is horrified because the fish had eaten away most of his face so he gets the bad and gets away from there. He found a lot of wonderful things in the pack like a knife a sleeping bag and even a rifle. He found an emergency transmitter but it didn’t seem to work and the last and most important thing to him was the food. A lot of food was there and he decided he was too hungry and he wanted to eat so he decided to have a feast. Then without warning a plane appeared it glided through the lake and the pilot came out and said that he had heard the emergency transmitter. Brian was saved. Brian is safe now and he is with his family again he decided not to tell his father about the secret in the end so now Brian Is safe and happy, and he is different from what he was before.

But it kept moving away until he could not hear it even in his imagination, in his soul. Gone. He stood on the bluff over the lake, his face cooking in the roaring bonfire, watching the clouds of ash and smoke going into the sky and thought—no, more than thought—he knew then that he would not get out of this place. Not now, not ever

In this Quote we see that Brian has lost hope. He has lost any hope of being rescued. Here I think Brian is really a lot more mature than how he was at the beginning of his trip. At first he was thinking about surviving until he was rescued but he didn’t think about a long term survival plan. Now that he is realized that he might not be saved he is aware that he might have to survive here forever and I think this is good because he will start making decision based in this. But I also believe he might just give up because of this instead of making better long term decisions he might just give up on life and not even try to survive.

 

He was not the same now—the Brian that stood and watched the wolves move away and nodded to them was completely changed. Time had come, time that he measured but didn't care about; time had come into his life and moved out and left him different. In measured time forty-seven days had passed since the crash. Forty-two days, he thought, since he had died and been born as the new Brian.

Brian has passed a long time alone in the forest now and in this quote we can see that he has changed. He now accept the fact that he might never get rescued so he will have to make do with what he has and take care of himself without a false hope of getting saved. He now just cares about surviving and he has gotten used to the forest he knows how things work in there and how to survive. I think this brings up a really interesting topic to talk about and that is that Brian has used the Hatchet his only tool to survive. And I think that that’s the real reason why the story is called the hatchet not because he survived because of it but because it reflects the human spirit and how we humans are persistent and hopeful and resourceful when we want to be and the story is named the hatchet because it shows how Brian uses the only tool he has and manages to survive and thrive with it. 

The Hatchet Part Three

Hatchet Blog Post #3

The Secret is tormenting Brian. In his times of weakness and agony he always recalls the secret. Brian had had a terrible night because he ate those the terrible cherries, gut cherries, he had started calling them because of the stomachache they caused. So after cleaning up the mess he had made near his shelter he went to look for more food and safer food to eat. After a while searching Brian find a bush full of Berries. Berries he recognizes. They are Raspberries beautiful gorgeous delicious raspberries he recognized from the park. He started eating them but there was a Bear near him. Brian ran but the bear did not want him he was just looking for berries. That same night he heard a sound and then something prickled his foot while he was sleeping he threw his Hatchet his only tool to it in desperation to scare it away. The next day he realized that porcupine had come in in the middle of the night. He has some weird dreams about his father and Terry pointing at the fire in the charcoal and he knew that those dreams meant something. In the next day when he is thinking about these dreams he recalls that when he threw the hatchet he had seen sparks when it had hit the rock. He would use the Hatchet to create fire. He gathered a lot of wood and bark to create the fireplace and he split his 20 dollar bill to burn it then he started striking the rock. After a long while of trying he managed to create the fire. He stays with the fire a long while and then in the morning he notices some strange marks in the side of the lake that lead to a hill. He dug a hole in the hill and found eggs, turtle eggs, he then ate one raw, which he found really disgusting and he saved all the rest for later. Brian later realizes that he is quite different now, He NOTICES things. Things he had never played attention to before and he realizes that he now is alert and he looks everywhere for a savior or a threat.

And he thought, rolling thoughts, with the smoke curling up over his head and the smile still half on his face he thought: I wonder what they're doing now. I wonder what my father is doing now. I wonder what my mother is doing now. I wonder if she is with him.

In this quote Brian is feeling a little nostalgic for the first time. For the first time he in not thinking about when he will be rescued or how to survive a little longer. But he is thinking of his family what they are doing and where they are. Also I believe that this quote demonstrates just how shocked and traumatized Brian is because of his mom’s infidelity. I mean Brian is shocked to the point were when he thinks of his mom for the first time in days he remembers her infidelity and I think that’s how it’s going to be from that point on when Brian thinks of his mom.

He would store them in the shelter and eat only one a day. He fought the hunger down again, controlled it He would take them now and store them and save them and eat one a day, and he realized as he thought it that he had forgotten that they might come. The searchers. Surely, they would come before he could eat all the eggs at one a day. He had forgotten to think about them and that wasn't good. He had to keep thinking of them because if he forgot them and did not think of them they might forget about him. And he had to keep hoping. He had to keep hoping.

Brian is really trying to cling to hope in this sentence and this brings up a really interesting topic to talk about and that is what can anyone do in that type of situation. If someone was in Brains situation and did not have any hope of survival and any hope of being rescued then they will probably go mad or just give up and not try to survive anymore. This really leads me to say that for humans hope is one of the strongest feelings and as long as they have hope and maintain that hope they will continue to fight and persevere.

The Hatchet Part Two

Hatchet 

Brian isn’t doing anything. When we left off he had survived the plane crash and now he is waiting. Waiting to be saved. Half sleep and half awake he recalls how he found out about the secret, when he say his mom kissing the manwith the short blonde hair. He reasoned that they would come save him in like a day or two days. He is near the lake he landed in and he is really hungry and really thirsty and he is concerned that because the pilot tilted the plane when he died his parents and anyone who is looking for him won’t be able to find him for some time. So he decides to do something. He recalls the time where he and his friend where pretending to be lost in the woods and he starts missing him and he starts realizing all the things that he might need for survival out in the wild. First he looked for shelter, he looked a little around the lake and found an overhang that formed something like a little cave. After that he felt the Hunger and the Thirst quite clearly so he had a drink of the lake water and that made the Hunger intensify. So he went looking for food and after a while he saw that the birds were eating something, they were eating berries. So he grabbed a load of berries and they ended up making him sick. So with a sickening feeling he went to the little overhang which was his shelter and went to sleep.

 Maybe even today. They might come today. This was the second day after the crash. No. Brian frowned. Was it the first day or the second day? They had gone down in the afternoon and he had spent the whole night out cold. So this was the first real day. But they could still come today

I’m starting to feel really bad for Brian because he is not at all prepared for what is coming to him he thinks that people will find him that day or like three days tops but he is not preparing himself mentally or physically for a long term stay in that forest. I think he is not really accepting what is happening to him because he went through a really traumatic experience and he really might die here. Brian is not really preparing himself so he won’t die if they don’t find him but he is just gathering enough supplies to last until they find him. In conclusion I believe Brian is really clinging to some presumably false hope.

If only I had matches, he thought, looking ruefully at the beach and lakeside. There was driftwood everywhere, not to mention dead and dry wood all over the hill and dead-dry branches hanging from every tree. All firewood. And no matches. How did they used to do it? He thought. Rub two sticks together?

This quote shows us how Brian by using his prior knowledge is thinking of some survival skills to make it for a few days. It also shows how because of all the commodities of the modern world people are really unprepared to survive out in nature. This is of course just a teen ager but  I don’t think an adult would know how to create fire without matches and the tools we have to do things easier in our society. 

Hatchet Blog Post #1

Hatchet

We start the story of the hatchet with Brian who is lost in thought as he flies over the forest to go to his dad’s house. He thinks about a number of things such as his parents’ divorce, and as he thinks about it he recalls the trial. He remembers the lawyers talking to him and there he remembers how much he hates lawyers, he remembers the judge and he remembers how much he hates judges. And then another hatred boils out, the hatred towards his mom, because of the secret. By remembering the trial he also makes it clear where he is headed. He is going to live with his father for the summer in Canada, in the trial it was decided that his mother would stay with him during the school year and his father would have him during the summer. After the pilot interrupts his train of thought we learn that he is travelling on a small plane the pilot and him alone. After that the pilot teaches Brian how to fly and lets him take the wheel for a moment. However after that the pilot has a heart attack and dies, Brian takes the command of the plane but goes astray and after hours trying to find civilization he crashes, because he was running out of gas. However using his intelligence he crashes on a lake, the crash is hard. But he survives.

“‘All flying is easy. Just takes learning. Like everything else. Like everything else.’“ Pg. 5

I chose this quote because it shows the pilot giving Brian a life lesson that will help him in life. And that is that if you are willing to learn something and work hard to achieve it, you will achieve your goals. Also I thought this was important because that is the part where Brian learns how to fly. And that saved his life

 “‘You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have.’“ Pg 21


Here Brian starts realizing that if help does not go there and saves him soon then he will have to start on relying on himself and he will have to learn how to survive by himself without anyone going there to save him because he is the best asset he has for everything he needs to do.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #5

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #5

PAGES 696-870

The Ending

After a little conflict Hagrid has with the Centaurs where they warn him to stay away from the forest the three of them go back to the game. And they hear the slytherin chant but it has some differences on it. The ones singing the chant were the Gryffindor’s and their chant praised Ron instead of ridiculing him it turns out Ron had saved excellently and Gryffindor had won the quiditch cup. After that they tell Ron about Grawp and he believes that Hagrid is crazy. The day after everyone is taking getting ready for the owls which are the test the fifth years have to take. Harry takes all the OWL’s but during the Astronomy one Umbridge and five other wizards go to Hagrids cabin and try to apprehend him but Hagrids refuses and a fight breaks out. In the middle of the fight McGonagall tries to intervene but she is hit by four stunning spells so she goes down and she doesn’t get up. After that Hagrid manages to beat the wizards and he escapes Hogwarts…. In his last examination Harry’s scar starts to burn and he sees a vision of a man being tortured by Voldemort he then goes to tell Ron and Hermione that the person that is being tortured is Sirius in the department of mysteries. But Hermione was reluctant, she thought Voldemort was using legimency to make Harry think that Sirius was in danger so she proposes for them to go to the chimney of umbridge and check to see if he was in there. They managed to get Harry into Umbridges fireplace and Kreacher the House elf told them that Sirius will not come back from the department of Mysteries.  But before Harry can say anything else Umbridge pulls him out of the fire. Harry lies to Umbridge and tells her that he was trying to talk to Dumbledore then Hermione who had been trapped alongside Ginny Luna Neville and Ron she tells Umbridge that they were going to tell Dumbledore that the weapon….. It’s ready. Then continuing the scheme Harry tells her that they would show her the weapon if she came along alone with them. Then Hermione leaded them to the forbidden forest and she pretended like Dumbledore’s secret weapon is Grwap then the centaur’s come and they are attacked by Umbridge then they seize Umbridge and they threaten Harry and Hermione trap them too but Grawp creates a distraction and they are able to escape. When they got out of the forest Harry meets the other members of the DA who got captured turns out they escaped and then they have to idea to go to London to save Sirius, in threstals. Trhestals are magical flying horses you can only see if you have seen someone die. After they arrive to the ministry they go into the department of mysteries and they find themselves in a really weird maze with a lot of bizarre things none of them had ever had seen in their whole life like in the first room they found brains. Harry because of all the dreams he had been having knew which place to go and soon they found the place and started looking for the row Harry saw in his dream soon they found a crystal ball on a shelf that read SPT TO APWBD DARK LORD AND (?) HARRY POTTER. Harry a bit recklessly grabbed the ball and soon after he heard a voice right behind them that told Harry to give him the orb. It was Lucius Malfoy Draco Malfoys father and a death eater. He was with a lot of other death eaters and then he asked Harry again to give him the orb. Harry asked Lucius where Sirius was to which Lucius answered that Harry should learn the difference between life… and dreams. Then Bellatrix Lestrange a death eater threatens to torture Ginny if they don’t cooperate but Harry just says that they can’t attack him because if they do the orb will be destroyed. Then Harry questions Lucius about the prophecy and then Bellatrix attacks when Harry starts talking trash about them then Malfoy told them that the Orb… that the prophecy was the reason why Voldemort had tried to kill Harry as a Baby and that they had wondered why Dumbledore didn’t tell Harry about the prophecy and that that is an explanation of why he hadn’t come earlier because the orb contains the words that got Harrys parents killed. Then Harry who had been making a plan with his friends yelled, “Now!” and his friend all launched spells towards the shelves on either sides of the death eater and all of the prophecies and shelves started falling un top of the death eaters. The members of the DA started to run Harry leading the way they ran and fought valiantly towards the exit then when they get to a door Hermione seals the Door and then Neville Harry and Hermione realize that the rest of them had taken the wrong turn. Then they fought other death eaters a little bit more and later one of the death eaters harmed Hermione and broke Neville’s wand later Neville was carrying Hermione and Harry saw the other three             DA members Ron was acting weirdly and Ginny’s ankle is broken then Bellatrix comes and the members of the DA all go into another room there Harry enchants the door so its barricaded and but then five death eaters came through another door and harming Luna. Harry decided to draw the death eaters attention so he ran out of the room with the prophecy held high so they couldn’t stun him then Harry was left alone facing the death eaters. Then Neville came but his attempts to fight were completely useless then he was captured and Bellatrix was now torturing him like he had once tortured his parents so Harry saw no other choice. Just when he was about to surrender the orb the members of the Order Lupin, Kigsley, Tonks, Sirius came in and attacked the death eaters.  The fight was crazy and in it Harry fought a dead eater and Neville saved him. Then Harry and Sirius defeated a Death Eater named Dolohov then Bellatrix beat Tonks and was now attacking Sirius and Harry. Sirius told Harry to take Neville and leave. Then Malfoy attacked Harry as he escaped but Harry passed the orb to Neville instead so when Malfoy was taking aim on Neville Harry took the chance to stun Malfoy. Then as Harry tried to help Neville move the Orb fell out of his pocket and then he kicked it aside accidentally so it crushed into the ground. After that Dumbledore arrived to aid the order then as Dumbledore went down to help Harry saw Sirius taunting Bellatrix as they fought and he dodged his spell but then the second spell she cast hit Sirius right in the chest…… and he was dead….. All the death Eaters were defeated except Bellatrix who was fighting Kingsley then when she defeated him she started running away then Harry in all his rage started following Bellatrix she was almost at the telephone lift that would be her escape but then she turned around and aimed a spell at Harry who dodged and hid behind the fountain. Then when she taunted him because of the death of Sirius hatred rose to his chest and he said for the first time ever…. “CRUCIO” but the spell did not have the effect that it did when Bellatrix cast it and she was back on her feet then Harry told her that the prophecy had been destroyed and that now Voldemort knew, and he was not going to be happy…. Then Bellatrix begs Voldemort to forgive her Harry tells her that Voldemort can’t hear her but a cold voice behind her said “can’t I Potter?” and behind him with his wand pointed at him was Voldemort. Then Voldemort went right to the point was he was here he launched the deadly curse into Harry but before it hit the golden statue at the fountain came to life and received the curse which simply bounced off him.  It was Dumbledore who had come to Harrys rescue. After one of the most legendary fights of the magic world Voldemort decided to enter into Harry’s body and share his mind. Then in a battle of wills between Harry and Voldemort, Harry’s will won because Voldemort couldn’t bear the goodness and love in his heart and while Voldemort went to grab Bellatrix the aurors that worked in the ministry and the minister himself saw him while he was fleeing alongside Bellatrix. Then Harry tells the minister that he would explain everything once he sent Harry to school and the Minister finally admitted that he had been wrong…. Then after Dumbledore had told Harry no one was going to die from their injuries Harry snapped and started screaming to Dumbledore. Then while he calms down Dumbledore explains Harry everything from why it was his fault that Sirius died to the prophecy that surrounded Harry and Voldemort. After this everything goes back to normal Dumbledore is Headmaster again and nobody believes he or Harry are liars. Harry is dealing with the aftermath of the discovery of Voldemort Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy want Harry dead because their father are death eaters and they are all at Azkaban now and he is also coping with the loss of Sirius but it is very hard for him. After that he gets into the train and goes back to Kings Cross when they arrive there the members of the order are waiting for him to take him to his uncle’s house and there they threaten them to not be bad to Harry or they will have the order to answer to.

The end of the prophecy…. it was something about…. Neither can live…. While the other survives…... finished Dumbledore. So said Harry dredging up the words from what felt like a deep well of despair inside him so that mean that…. One of us has got to kill the other one…. In the end? Yes said Dumbledore This quote I really like because it feels really…. Ominous it feels as if like there is a lot more pressure in Harry now that the prophecy is out and Dumbledore admitted that   that is the reason why he hadn’t told him before that because he thought Harry wasn’t ready he thought that Harry would not be able to cope with the fact that is that in the end it has to be Harry the one who kills Voldemort in the end and if it is Voldemort the one who kills Harry then there is no Hope left for humanity after Harry dies because then no one will be able to stop Voldemort.

This was a fantastic book who I really enjoyed and I think it is just perfect for people who like a lot of mystery and suspense and a really interesting storyline that will surprise you a lot in the progress of the story and will excite you in all the parts that have action, interest you in the part that have suspense, and make you laugh in some of the Funny parts. It’s a really enjoyable and well-crafted book that I feel a lot of people can connect with at parts because a lot of the characters you feel like you can connect to them and at the end you feel things because of whatever happens to them you feel sorry for the character you are happy for a character and you will miss a character. That was an excellent book and I really strongly recommend because really to me it is one of the best Harry Potter storylines in all of the books apart from the last one but it is not too far behind it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #4

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #4

Pages 522-696

Harry didn’t liked the idea about having extra lessons with Snape but still Dumbledore wanted Harry to take this lessons. After that As Harry is leaving for Hogwarts, Sirius gives him a package, which he said that Harry should only use it only when he needs him. At Hogwarts, he arranges a Hogsmeade date for Valentine’s Day with Cho. Harry then goes to Snape’s office for his lessons.  At the beginning of the lesson Snape tells Harry that Voldemort is very good at Legilimency, which is the ability to take out memories and feelings from another person’s head. Snape then uses Legilimency to enter Harry’s mind, seeing his memories. Harry fights back and then he returns to the present. Snape enters Harry’s mind again and Harry fails to block him. They try again, and Harry sees his dream again which was running down a corridor at the Ministry of Magic with Mr. Wesley. But now, Harry knows that the hallway….. is leading to the Department of Mysteries.  Harry asks Snape about it, but he dismisses the question. At night, Harry’s scar starts to burn, which was a sign that Voldemort was very happy about something. In the morning, Harry looks at Hermione’s Daily Prophet and he discovers that there was a massive breakout at Azkaban. Lestrange and several ex Death Eaters were loose. Harry thinks that that is the reason why Voldemort was happy. He also reads that a Ministry of Magic worker died at Sr. Mungo’s. His name was Bode. Umbridge later posts a new Educational Decree, which said that it banned all Hogwarts teachers from talking with students anything not related to the subjects. Umbridge then later attends to every Divination and Care of Magical Creatures classes. Hagrid then bans Harry, Ron and Hermione from visiting his cabin, because he thinks that his cabin was too dangerous. Harry then tells Luna his story because she wanted her dad to post it on her father’s magazine the Quibbler. Later, Umbridge posted a new decree which banned all students from reading or having the Quibbler but that makes them want it even more so than before. In the night, Harry goes to bed and his scar aches. He has a vision of him being Voldemort or in Voldemort’s perspective, talking about Bode’s death with a Death Eater. When Harry wakes up and Ron tells him he should go see Dumbledore, but he refuses. The next morning, Hermione thinks that Bode must have been in an Imperius Curse. When he tried to get the mysterious weapon Voldemort is trying to find, he went mad. Harry still continues studying with Snape. Harry has made a little progress but he succeeded in entering Snape’s mind for a short moment. After that they hear a scream coming from the entrance hall and they see that the girl who screamed was professor Trelawney. She was screaming because she got fired by Umbridge. Dumbledore lets her stay to live in Hogwarts, but she cannot teach again. Later Dumbledore introduces Firenze, the new Divination teacher that will be replacing professor Trelawney. In the next DA meeting Harry finally start teaching the members the patronus charm  but when some of the members are making some progress the door opens and Dobby comes in and warns Harry that she  is coming and Harry knows… that she…. Is Umbridge. Everybody starts to run but Harry gets caught by Draco and he tells Umbridge he caught Harry. In the way to Dumbledore’s office he thinks of the members of the DA and he feels quite guilty for the terrible consequences for all of them. At the headmasters office they find Cornelius Fudge alongside professor McGonagall and Dumbledore and also two guys that worked for the minister Kingsley Shacklebolt and an unknown wizard. After that Harry tried to act innocent acting as if he doesn’t know why he is there and then Dolores brings their informant who told them about the DA but the informant Marietta was denying hearing about six months of DA meetings and he just agreed to have been part of tonight’s meeting but Dumbledore lied and said that he had planned that meeting that night only to convince them to join and army to take the ministry but there had not been any real meeting. So Fudge tells Dumbledore that he would go to Azkaban but Dumbledore stuns Fudge and his companions and then tells McGonagall to tell Kinsley that good job on wiping out Marietta’s memory and he tells Harry to shut his mind. After that Umbridge presents educational degree number 28 which states that she is now the new the new headmaster of Hogwarts. After she is named headmaster she calls Harry into her office and tries to make him drink something which of course Harry does not want to drink so he just pretends. After that she starts questioning him about Dumbledore’s and also Sirius’s whereabouts.  After denying knowing anything about where they are they both hear an explosion and the floor trembles. When they leave the office they find the source of the explosion and they see that it is Dragons but not real ones but ones made of fireworks and Harry knows who made them. After congratulating the twins Harry goes to sleep and he has a dream about the department of mysteries like a lot of times that year but this time he almost got to the end of the dream he almost got what he wanted… The next day it was time for lessons with Snape again and when Snape has to get out of the room Harry goes to the pensive and he decides to see the memory Snape wants to hide from him. His memory was about when Snape was around 15 and he was taking the OWL and then when he and the other students went out after a while Harry’s father went alongside Sirius to start Bullying Snape until Lily Harry’s mother intervened but Snape was too ashamed and he called Lily a mud blood a terrible insult so then Lilly leaves hating both Snape and James. Then Snape discovers him and he tells him to leave and never go back to his office again so that meant he would not have occlumency lessons anymore. After that Harry was feeling really bad because of the way his father had acted in his youth. So Harry decides to talk to the other person who had bullied Snape and that was Sirius but he had to enter to Umbridges office. But before he enacts his plan he starts planning his career in the aurors office at the ministry with professor McGonagall and she has a fight with Dolores. After that they enact their plan and Harry appears in the chimney of the orders headquarters and starts talking to Sirius he tells him that both James and he were very sorry to have been such jerks at that age and that after that when he was seventeen James calmed down a bit and then he started dating Lily also they tell Harry that it is extremely important for him to learn Occlumency and that he must convince Snape that he should keep on teaching. After that Umbridge is telling Fred and George that they are in big trouble because of the distraction they created for Harry so they both escape to open their joke shop on diagon alley. After that in the quiditch game the Slytherins are singing a chant to Ron to make him loose his confidence and later Hagrid arrives and tells Harry and Hermione to come with him. It turned out Hagrid had brought his half-brother Grwap the giant and he was keeping him in the forest and because soon Hagrid might get fired he asks Harry and Hermione to take care of him if he is fired.

Potter she said in ringing tones I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do! If I have to coach you nightly I will make sure you achieve the required results! I liked how Professor McGonagall is defending Harry from the claims of Umbridge that he will never be able to achieve his goal of becoming an Auror. And when she does this and she is supporting Harry I like she is kind of rebelling against Umbridge in a way and he is  having faith on Harry also he is kind of stating that she believes Harry is not a liar and that the ministry is wrong and Harry is not lying. I really like Minerva McGonagall I think she is a very great supporting character because she is very strict but also very understanding and bold and intelligent she is kind of like Dumbledore’s replacement now that she is gone.

I really liked these chapters because a lot of important things that contribute to the plot happened. For example, The DA is disbanded because Umbridge finds out about one of the meetings. Dumbledore takes the blame in a very clever way I might add and then when he is about to be arrested he disappears and leaves Umbridge as the Headmaster. Harry has a fight with Snape and he decides to stop giving him occlumency lessons Harry talks to Sirius about his father Fred and George leave the school and Harry finds out about Grawp.  It was a very good sequence of events and I really enjoyed how Umbridge is being kind of humiliated by Dumbledore and Fred and George and how almost everyone is doing a little bit of rebellious acts against Umbridge. 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #3

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #3

Pages 348-522

After the meeting the three friends are discussing how Ron is angry that Ginny has a boyfriend and while discussing that Hermione mentions to Harry that Cho couldn’t keep her eyes of Harry and he feel rejoiced about this. Harry was very excited for the first meeting of the Dumbledore’s army that Saturday but most of all he was happier now than he had been for a long time. But when he reached the common room Harry took notice of something written on the notice board it read educational decree number twenty four. What it stated was that Umbridge would not allow any student organizations to take place anywhere in the school if said societies were not informed to her first and that she accepted it. Harry and his friends were stunned that implied that perhaps she knew or she was suspicious of their plans to start the Dumbledore’s army. After they have stated that they will keep up with their plans of the army Hedwig arrives and she is holding a message for Harry but something is wrong with her she is hurt. They send Hedwig to be healed and then he reads the message it says same time same place and Harry deduces it’s from Sirius. Sirius knows about Harrys plans to make the army because Mundungus Fletcher overheard them and Ron’s mom absolutely forbidden Ron to take part on it and advised Harry and Hermione not to do so either. Sirius thinks it’s an excellent idea because they do need to learn to defend themselves but before they finish talking Umbridges hand appears on the fireplace and tries to grab Sirius turn out she was the one that attacked Hedwig and read the note addressed for Harry. After a few days Harry is trying to figure out a place to do the secret Dumbledore army then he runs into Dobby the House elf and Dobby knows just the place to have the meeting the room of requirement. The room of requirement was a room that gives a person anything they need so they go to the wall where the room is and with their minds they request somewhere to learn and practice how to fight and somewhere they can’t find them. Then a room full of practice dummies and books on the subject defense against the dark arts. There is enormous advance in a lot of the members of the DA especially Neville. But as the first quiditch game drew closer the team captain insisted on a lot of practices so the da meetings were put on hold and Ron who was the new keeper of the team was very, very nervous and the new song of the slytherins was not helping at all so Ron was playing terribly. Then when Harry catches the snitch and wins Malfoy starts taunting them so he and George hit him so they get sent to McGonagall’s office to get punished but Umbridge is the one who wants to punish them so she bans Harry, Fred and George get banned from ever playing quiditch again. After that Harry and his friends go visit Hagrid who had been missing since the start of the year and had just arrived and he told them he had been recruiting Giants to join Dumbledore’s side but there he met some complications because death eater were there to recruit them too. Then Dolores goes to interrogate Hagrid on where he had been and she insinuated that she wanted kick out Hagrid. After that they have a class with Hagrid and there Umbridge shows lots of hints suggesting she wants to fire Hagrid. The next day there is a new da meeting there Cho is crying in the middle of the room and after an intimate talk with Harry they kiss. That night Harry had a very weird dream in which he was a snake that attacked a man but once he woke up he realized that it was not a dream but a vision and that the snake…..  Was Voldemort’s snake and the man…… was Ron’s dad. He told this to Ron and they told professor McGonagall who told him that they were going to see the headmaster. They tell Dumbledore what happened and then he instantly sends help to where Mr. Wesley was and after a while when they are with the whole Wesley family they receive a card from Mrs. Wesley that informs them that their dad is still alive and he is in the magical hospital St Mungo’s. They all go to the Orders headquarters and they stay there until they are free to visit Mr. Wesley. Then Harry admits to Sirius that he did not see the attack from a side but he was inside him and he thought he was becoming evil….. But Sirius tells him he saved Arthurs life and that he should stop worrying. After they visit Mr. Wesley and make sure he is okay everyone goes to wander around the hospital they find Neville and then they see Neville’s parents who he was visiting and then everyone finds out that Neville’s parent were mentally unstable and that they had become that way from a torture long ago. After that Snape arrives to the orders house to teach Harry Occlumency which is the defense of the mind against external penetration. Then Sirius tells him that he should not dare to be bad to Harry because he will have to answer to him but Snape keeps on taunting Sirius so they both get out their wand but then just before they fight each other Mrs. Wesley goes into the room and they both calm down

Ban us? He said and his voice sounded strangely distant from playing…… Ever again? Yes Mr. Potter I think a lifelong ban ought to do the trick. Said Umbridge her smile widening still as she watched him struggle to comprehend what she had said. I can connect to this quote because once I was playing soccer and at the beginning of the game I fouled a guy in the other team and we got into a fight so the referee comes over and gives us both red cards and I can really do understand how Harry felt because when this happened to me I felt extremely Frustrated. The next match my trainer didn’t even put me in the starting squad because I had caused so much trouble in the game before so he thought I should not be in that game either. So I know it was not a lifelong ban but I really felt really frustrated that I couldn’t play two games in a row. So going back a little more to the story I feel very sympathetic for Harry because I understand he must be really frustrated and also I see how the whole thing is really quite unfair because both Harry and George were provoked by Draco and they both got punished while Draco was done nothing to. Also a lifelong ban is a really extreme punishment and I can see that Umbridges point in doing this is kind of not for what he did in the game but for being kind of rebellious and supposedly lying about Voldemort coming back to life.  

Anyway I am really loving these chapters because there is more of a story on the fight between Umbridge and Harry in Which he is rebelling against her and he is giving him as much punishments as possible and being as unfair to him as possible so she is trying to make life hell for him so he just gives up and cracks so he stops teaching the da and says that Voldemort isn’t back even thought that is not true. Of course Dolores does not know what Harry is doing so she is just making it very hard for him to do anything against her. Harry Potter and the Order of the phoenix is being a fantastic book so far and I really recommend it for readers who really like long very interesting books that really give the reader emotions. 

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix #2

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #2

Pages 174-348

After they stayed in the Orders Headquarters for a few days it was finally time for Harry and his friends to go back to Hogwarts and on the train they meet Luna Lovegood a very weird girl that was the same year as Ginny that was very odd they spent the whole time in the train cabin and all she did was very weird. After a little bit of time on the train Harry was sprayed by a black liquid that came from a plant that Neville Longbottom owned and just at that same time Cho Chang the girl Harry liked since his fourth year came and saw Harry covered in that liquid so it was a really awkward moment for Harry. When they arrive to the main feast the sorting hat sings a song before he starts choosing the house for the first years which is all about the four wizards who had founded Hogwarts had meant for the four houses to be together but instead they had a rivalry between them and that they should be together in those dark times. After that Dumbledore introduces the new defense against the dark arts teacher which is Dolores Umbridge a lady that works for the ministry of magic and is very close to him which means that like the minister himself he doesn’t believe Harry that Voldemort is back. The next day Harry and the others have their first classes and after some classes they arrived to the first class of Dolores Umbridge where they had all sorts of agitations by the student because they learn all lessons will be theorical and they won’t actually practice magic and they ask what would happen if they would get attacked and when Dolores asks who would attack them Harry answers Lord Voldemort and everybody reacts badly because most of the student and Umbridge don’t believe him so Harry gets put in detention with Dolores. In the next chapter Harry goes to detention and Umbridge tells him that he should write I must not tell lies over and over again. After a while Harry starts feeling a little bit of pain in his hand and then after a while thinking he was seeing things he saw it clearly that on his hand was being cut in- I must not tell lies- and after a bit it healed but every time he wrote that again and it was carved into his hand each time he wrote that. After that Ron discovers Harrys wound and tells him he should tell Professor McGonagall but he refuses because he says he does not think she has much power over Umbridge and when Ron suggested Dumbledore Harry simply says no because he thinks that Dumbledore is being very cold towards Harry since the last school year.  After that while doing Homework Ron got a letter from his brother Percy who had distanced from the family because he also worked for the minister and he also thought Harry was lying. So in his letter Percy recommended Ron to stop being friends with Harry because he was nothing but trouble. Also he mentions that Umbridge plans to do some serious changes in Hogwarts. Right after Ron threw his brother’s letter into the fire harry thought he saw Sirius in the fire and after a little bit Sirius appeared in the fire again. Well really it was just his head  and he asked Harry about his scar and how it hurt because of Voldemort’s emotions and also he told them that Umbridge was not teaching them real magic technique because she and the minister thought Dumbledore was making an army of students to take over the ministry of magic. The next  day in the paper the ministry put on the paper that they were going to name Umbridge the high inquisitor of Hogwarts and with her new powers she can now supervise and fire other teachers and also dictate what activities both school and social they could or could not do. After that Umbridge went to see other teachers while they were doing their class and gets into a little bit of a fight with professor McGonagall. After classes Ron and Hermione have an idea that just might help them and all the student in Hogwarts a little bit. Their idea is that Harry who has a lot of experience fighting dark magic will teach all of the kids in their year or anyone who wants to learn how to defend themselves. Harry is against the idea at first because most people think he is lying about Voldemort but eventually he agrees to put up a meeting in the hogs head the bar. At the meeting most people are convinced by Harry that he is telling the truth (maybe) and that he is a very good defense against the dark arts teacher because he has had a lot of adventures and a lot of experience. In the last page Ron finds out a guy is dating his little sister Ginny and he does not like it at all.

You don’t know what it’s like! You--- neither of you---- you’ve never had to face him have you? You think it’s just memorizing a bunch of spells like you’re in a class or something? The whole time you’re sure you know that there is nothing between you and dying except your own. I really liked these quote because it really shows how Harry’s past experiences that many have been near death have kind of marked him and have thought him a hard thing to learn which is that nothing can fully prepare you for life and for what’s out there but you have to trust yourself and rely on yourself to overcome any obstacle that gets in your way and that nothing in life is easy but you have to at least try to beat anything that gets in your way. Also it shows how Harry’s experiences have made him more mature than his friends and it shows how ones experiences really make you who you are and how you are.

I really liked these few chapters because a lot of things happened and one of the main problem of the story appeared which is really to some extent Umbridge because she will have a great influence in the story and she will try to stop Harry and his friends from ever learning any defense against the dark arts and of course the main antagonist of Harry Potter is Voldemort but she and the minister will be like the main opposing forces of Harry Potter for this particular story of how nobody believes that Voldemort is really back and that the minister is doing everything he can to discredit Harry and make him look like he is crazy just because they don’t want him to accept the fact that the most terrifying dark wizard in the whole magic world is back from the dead. Anyway I really enjoyed this part of the reading and this story is really getting more and more interesting and really intense because Hogwarts is completely changing and it might no longer be the safe place Harry has always thought of it to be.

Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix #1

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Pages 1-174

Harry Potter is a kid who is not like any other, he…. is a wizard and he goes to Hogwarts a special school for wizards where they teach them to control their abilities and use them correctly. And the year before this he saw Lord Voldemort one of the most powerful and feared dark wizards in history come back to life and then he fought him. The story begins with Harry lying on a hiding spot where no one would see him in the bushes near the window of his house his goal was not to be spotted while at the same time listening to the news in search for news about Lord Voldemort. After a while a crackling noise forced Harry out of his hiding spot and after a fight with his uncle and aunt he flees to the park to be alone. After a while Harry hears the voices of his cousin’s friends and him so he followed them and when they all went to their house and the only one who was left was Dudley, Harry’s cousin. After a fight between the two cousins who had a mutual hatred the climate in the area starts changing suddenly they both can’t see anything and also they start feeling very cold and Harry realized that what was happening was that the dementors where coming. Dementors are horrible creatures that attack people and then suck out their souls from their body so the dementors attack Harry and his cousin so Harry does the only spell he knows can ward off dementors, Expecto Patronum! After that when they both go back Dudley is really weak because of the dementors. And when they are home Harry receives a letter from the ministry of magic where they tell him he is expelled from Hogwarts because he had used magic outside of Hogwarts and that they were to have a hearing to destroy Harry’s wand so he can’t do magic again. When his uncles take Dudley to the hospital a group of wizards come to Harry’s house to take Harry to a safe house where he meets all of his friends some he knew some he just met and they told him that he was not yet expelled that he would be judged and in the hearing they would decide if he was going to stay in the school or not. Harry’s friends are all part of the order of the phoenix a secret organization that is devoted to stop lord Voldemort. The house he arrived to was his godfathers family house which is the house of black his godfather is called Sirius Black and he tells Harry the history of his house and his family he tells them that they were not really good people and that his brother Regulus was a death eater death eaters as are the servants of Lord Voldemort those who pledge allegiance to him he also tells him that he gave this house to Dumbledore to use as a safe house for the order of the phoenix. After a while the hearing finally came and Harry was not in a good position because he was trying to tell the truth about the dementors but the minister who was personally leading the hearing did not believe the dementors really attacked Harry then Dumbledore arrived and managed to beat the minister in the hearing so Harry was cleared of all charges and he could go to Hogwarts that year. After that everyone is excited and happy for Harry but Harry had noticed Dumbledore did not go to celebrate and also when he had gone to the hearing earlier he hadn’t even looked at Harry much less spoken to him and also Sirius became irritable because he knew that soon Harry would have to go back to Hogwarts. After some days the booklist arrived along with the badge to Ron and Hermione because they were named prefects and Harry and almost everyone else is shocked that Ron was named prefect instead of Harry. We finish on page 174 with Madeye who is showing Harry a photo of the members of the order of the phoenix when they had last fought Voldemort.

 Harry’s heart turned over. His mother and father were beaming up at him, sitting on either side of a small, watery-eyed man Harry recognized at once as Wormtail: He was the one who had betrayed their whereabouts to Voldemort and so helped bring about their deaths (Rowling 174) - I chose this quote from the book because it really does give some very interesting insight into Harry’s reaction to seeing his fathers and wormtail together he kind of takes it in a bad way and he is kind of in a bad mood afterwards. I think by seeing that picture he kind of sees how he could have had a normal life with his parents by his side if it wasn’t for that man that betrayed them and that was sitting right next to them pretending to be their friend and I think he kind of realized how easily the death of his parent could have been avoided and how if only Wormtail hadn’t been a coward or he hadn’t been friend of James and lily. I think he was really not emotionally prepared at the moment he saw that picture to handle such a wave of emotions that would flood into him really rather unexpectedly because perhaps he didn’t even know his parent were in the order although I think he did or he wasn’t really thinking about that and he forgot they were in the order so he wasn’t expecting to see them and have all this emotions and thoughts just pop up to him.

I am really liking this book it really shows some a lot more detail than the movie and it helps you learn new things about the characters in the story that were just omitted in the movies which I have seen and really do show things about the character that you don’t know if you just watch the movie because for example we see that Harry gave all of his triwizard contest winnings to Fred and George to finance their joke shop and that shows me a character trait about Harry  that we really don’t see that much in the movies which is that he is really understanding and he really encourages the twins to follow their dreams of opening a joke shop and do what they are good at and what they like which as it is mentioned is not really a suitable career and it might really go wrong for them but he supports them to the extent where he gave them his winnings that he could have used for anything else he likes but he decided to give it to them. I also believe this portrays a relationship with Harry and the twins which we don’t see in the movies. In the book thus far Harry has had a very good relationship with the twins which is not or is very briefly touched upon in the moves and that it’s really fun and interesting to watch. For example they let harry into knowing what they are doing with the Joke shop while they are dealing with Mundungus Fletcher and he kind of warns them that they should be careful in case they get caught and also they kind of console him or are sympathetic towards him when he finds out he is not a prefect and instead Ron is. Anyway that’s what I have thought about the book so far I really like all the detail there is in the books differing from the movies and I think I will really like to talk about in other posts and also I would definitely like to read some of the other books of the Harry Potter saga after this one

The terrifying veldt

The Veldt

The Veldt by Ray Bradbury is the story of a futuristic family who bought a house that did everything for them the house cleaned, made dinner, brushed their teeth and bathed them. But one of the best aspects of this house was the nursery where the kids of this family, Peter and Wendy, can imagine anything they like and it will be projected in three dimensional video all over the walls so they feel like its happening in real life. But in this story the kids imagination is creating a terrifying african Veldt and their parents George and Lydia are worried because that veldt feels too realistic and the kids don't seem to want anything pictured on the walls but that violent, overly realistic African veldt. Because of their worries George and Lydia call in their Psychiatrist to look at the nursery and when he does he comes to the conclusion that the kids have a reserved hatred towards their parents because they never do anything for them the house does, so George and Lydia decide they need to shutdown the entire house and take a vacation, but the kids hate this idea and they beg their parents to at least open the nursery for a little while. Later George and Lydia hear their kids screaming for help so they rush to the nursery but once they arrive there is nothing there but the African Veldt, then the door locks behind them and then they realize why the veldt seemed so realistic it was because it was real so at the end they are killed by the african lions of the Veldt.

Characterization

     "I'm afraid." She  came to him  and put  her body against him and cried

steadily. "Did you see? Did you feel? It's too real."

     "Now, Lydia..."

     "You've got to tell Wendy and Peter not to read any more on Africa."

     "Of course - of course." He patted her.

     "Promise?"

     "Sure."

     "And lock the nursery for a few days until I get my nerves settled."(3) 

I think that what Bradbury is trying to show us about the character Lydia with this quote is that she is a good mother that cares for her childrens well being  and she is afraid that they are exposed to any danger. Also it shows that she doesn't want her kids to be thinking about such violent things as african lions she wants them to be sheltered from that until they are a little older and more mature. 

Imagery 

  "Now  the  hidden odorophonics were beginning to blow a wind  of odor at

the two people in the  middle of the baked veldtland. The hot straw smell of

lion grass, the cool green smell of the hidden  water  hole, the great rusty

smell of animals, the  smell of dust like a red paprika in the  hot air."(2)

In here bradbury is using good imagery to show in detail how it would feel to be in this veldt. How it would feel to smell the scents of africa and to show the readers how realistic this nursery was. 

The Giver Chapters 17-20 The great escape planing

Last time we saw Jonas he had learned about love, that strange and very strong feeling that for so long had been taken away by the pill, but now that he has stopped taking it he can now feel. One day the community had an unscheduled holiday so Jonas went around looking for Asher and he found him playing a game, a harmless game to them, but to him it represented warfare so he starts to tell them to stop and to be very sad.

After that Jonas beggs the Reciever to tell him about the failure of the previous Reciever and so he does he tells him her name Rosemary and how after five weeks of Reciever training she couldn't take it anymore so she applied for release. After that Jonas wants to know what release is so The Giver showed him a video of Jonas father releasing a baby and there Jonas realizes release is death. That when he decides to flee so all the memories within him go back to the people of the community.

 I have some thoughts on this quote on the book: Jonas stared at him "Release is always like that?  For the people who break the rules tree times? For the old?". So the poor pilot who made a mistake died? the old Larrisa? They all got killed because they were no good to the community what kind of life is that if you are of no use they kill you.And if Jonas succeeds in leaving the community how will the people that were in charge of releasing feel. Because if Jonas leaves then everyone will know what death is and the people who used to release in the community would feel terrible!

I really liked these chapters and i really hope that Jonas can leave the community. I want the people in the community to feel love and see color and have choices. Also if Jonas does not succeed then all the killing in the community will keep on going so i really want Jonas to succed. I think that the giver by Lowis Lowry will have a really interesting ending and i cant wait to see what the ending is.

Book blogs weekly

Jonas the new receiver of the community has started his training he realized that the strange cuality he could see but others couldn't and what the Giver told him was seeing beyond was color and we saw that the community was colourless. Jonas is courious he wants to know the other mysterious things about his task that he was warned about but have not yet happened during his training. The indescriptible pain Jonas was warned about when he was to be receiver of memory had not yet happen but when he asked the Giver about the giver knew he couldnt shield Jonas forever and he gave him a painful memory the memory of a broken bone. All of Jonas lessons have started to be painful, but some days the Giver was on too much pain and Jonas was sent away one of those days Jonas told the Giver he could take some of the pain that the giver was experiencing through the memories  and so he ddid but the painful memory was one of the most painful memories of all war. The next sessions the Giver gave Jonas only good memories and he even gave Jonas his favorite the memory of love and family on a very important holiday Cristmas and thats how Jonas learned about love. 


"Do you love me? Jonas said" In this quote Jonas is asking his parent if they love him and they say that love is a very generalized word that has become almost obsolete on the community, I think that the biggest problem that the people in the comunity would have if they knew about the things in the memories would be love. If the people in the comunity about love and knew that they were being deprived from it they would probably ask for it and then probably revolt if they dont get it. I infer this because love for your parents children and other people is one of the strongest emotions in the world so i dont think that if someone didnt have love and could get it he wouldnt want to get it.

What i predict will happen is that Jonas will cause a revolt. I talked about love and how the people knowing about love  could revolt. In class we talked about how Distopias are mostly about how someone rebbels against the oppresing goverment and takes them down. So i believe Jonas will talk about love and tell the people that there could be love like he told Gabe and that way they will all rebel and stop being the community they are now.