Divergent

Divergent, a novel by Veronica Roth, is a story about a dystopian, futuristic world. All the people are divided into five factions, Abnegation, Erudite, Amity, Dauntless, and Candor based on their beliefs on why the country went to war and failed in the first place. The story follows Beatrice, an Abnegation member who transfers to Dauntless, and her friends Christina, Al, Will, and Four, as well as her enemies through her initiation into Dauntless.
The movie and the book were similar in many ways, the movie had the all the main characters pretty much the same. The initiation was carried out in pretty much the same way also. The first part was physical, and they had to fight the other initiates, then the second part was mental and learning how to control your fears, this part was also pretty accurate. Another part that was the same in both the movie and the book was the capture the flag game that the initiates played. Although a couple parts were different, Tris still decides to climb the Ferris wheel so she can get a better view of everything and ends up finding the flag. This is also where Four confesses his fear of heights.
One thing that was different between the movie and the book was that the movie never showed Al's crush on Tris. Knowing that Al liked Tris made it more clear why he jumped into the chasm after she said she would never forgive him for what he did. In the movie it just kind of looked like he was a random guy who tried to kill her then begged for her to forgive him. I think it would have made more sense if they would have shown that Al liked her.
Another difference between the book and the movie was when Tris and Four went through Fours fear landscape. In the book it was kind of a way to show Tris what it would be like, and a way Four could show her that he trusted her. In the movie Four took her into his fear landscape to teach her how a Dauntless would react to different situations so the Dauntless leaders wouldn't find out that she was Divergent.
Although there were some differences between the book and the movie, I think they did a pretty good job getting everything important into the movie. There were some differences, but if they would have put everything into the movie if would have been about five hours long. I think both the book and the movie were really good, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

You shouldn't critique others

Haley Monsebroten

English 10

Miss Fordahl

February 18, 2014

There were many life lessons that could be learned from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. My favorite is that you shouldn’t critique others.

There always has been and probably always will be criticism in the world. People will always judge people on what they have or don’t have, the way they look, or the way they act. Nick states in the beginning of the book that his father taught him to reserve judgement for others that are less fortunate than himself.

The ability to reserve judgement for people is one of the greatest things you can do. You should not judge others until you have walked a mile in their shoes, you have no idea what they have gone through, or what they are going through. People also should not be judged on how they look, dress, or how much money they have, they should be judged on how they are as a person.

Nicks open mindedness allowed him to see what kind of a man Gatsby really was. He saw him as how he was as a person instead of how others saw him as a mysterious man who more than likely got all his money illegally. In the end, Nicks ability to see Gatsbys true personality was the only thing that kept his memory alive. After his death, Gatsby was blamed with murder, adultery, and bootlegging, and nobody cared about him enough to say it wasn’t true except Nick.  

 I believe the ability to see past what somebody looks like, and how much money they have and actually see somebodys true personality is one of the best qualities a person could possess. Most people think that having money and being popular is what life is all about, but when it boils down to it, none of that matters to the people who actually care about you. They see you for who you are, not what you have, and that is the most important thing in life.

I decided to follow readingrants.com because they have reviews about books that look interesting to me. There is a review done by someone who has actually read the book instead of by someone who is trying to sell it and there are comments left by other people who are trying to sell it. The reviews are also categorized by genres so you know what kind of book it is.  

There are many similarities between the "Harrison Bergeron" book and movie. They had the same plot and the movie pretty much followed the story line.

One of the main things that were the same between the two was that Harrison was taken away from his family and put in prison because he rebels against the government. He then breaks out of prison and shows up at the ballet to make a statement. Another main thing is that the ballerina also rebels with Harrison.

There weren't many things different between the movie and book. One main thing that was different was that Harrison had a bomb under the stage. Although there was a bomb, his main plan was to make sure that everybody saw him and the ballerina being killed for having their own opinions. Another thing that was different was that instead of Hazel being the one to see Harrison killed, it was George.

Haley Monsebroten

Miss Fordahl

English 10

November 22, 2013

Harrison Bergeron

Many people dream of equality. They dream of a place where everybody can be equal, no one is smarter, better looking, or more athletic than anybody else. But would a world of equality really be a good thing? In Kurt Vonnegut's “ Harrison Bergeron”, he expressed that an equal world might not always be a good thing.

In “Harrison Bergeron”, the people who are above average are handicapped either mentally or physically. The strong people have to carry around large bags filled with birdshot, the good looking people have to wear ugly masks, and the smart people have to radio transmitters in their ears so they can only think in short bursts. If we were to convert to a world of equality, instead of a perfect world of smart, good looking, athletic people we would have to go to the lowest level possible.

If it were truly an equal world, we would all have the same amount of power to make decisions. But that again would not work. There would have to be someone in charge making sure that nobody is surpassing anybody. In Kurt Vonnegut's interpretation, there is a group of people in charge that everybody is afraid of. In a world of equality, we should not have to be afraid of anyone because we are all supposed to be the same.

A world of equality would not be a very good thing. There would be no advances in technology or medicine because nobody would be smart enough to do it. It also isn’t up to anybody else to decide what kind of person you are going to be. Taking away your choices and rights goes against the law and is not ethical.

In conclusion, equality is not a good idea. There is honestly no way for everybody in a world to be equal. There is always going to have to be someone in charge making sure that everybody else is equal. Kurt Vonnegut’s interpretation makes it seem that everybody is scared into obeying these laws of equality. And what kind of world would we have if equality is based on fear?