revised reading response

The book “A long Walk to Water” is a story about two young children from, two different time periods in hope of finding the future that they have long hoped for. One of the characters is Salva, he has to flee from his village where there is a war going on. Soon with no family he becomes a “lost boy” refugee.  Salva has to travel Africa by foot searching for safety and his family. On his journey, he encounters many obstacles that he learns to overcome. The second character is Nya; she has to walk to a pond to fetch water to bring back for her family. In order to do so she walks eight hours a day. Nya hopes that she will one day not have to do that anymore and be able to attend school.  In both stories water is mentioned as a need for survival. For Salva during his journey he has to look for water so he can survive and keep on going. Nya has to fetch water everyday so that her family can accomplish their their daily tasks. 

In the book for both Salva and Nya water is a very important need to survive. Salva has to keep on moving/traveling so he can find a safe place, and water so he can continue on his journey.  For example ‘” you have seen that the pond is only a puddle now. Winter is coming and the dry season……..”  “I will go to a different village near water. You cannot stay with me any longer”. The women tells Salva that soon there  will not be any water that she has to leave and find a village that does have enough water. In this sentence water is the symbol of survival. In order for Salva to continue his way to safety he will need water to keep himself going and not die of dehydration. 
 Nya has to fetch water everyday for her family. Water is the reason she has to get up early and make trips that take up almost her whole day. Her everyday routine involves fetching water so her family can survive. “To the pond and back-to the pond and back- nearly a full day of walking altogether. This was Nya’s daily routine seven months of the year”.  For Nya water can almost tell everything she does. She cannot attend school because it is far and with having to fetch water Nya does not have enough time. 

In both stories the need for water gives them hopes and ideas of how to change the place they live in. For example later on in the story Salva, after finding a new home and family, has continued with his studies and starts and organization to help people. He goes back to Sudan and he starts to build wells so that families would have water. Salva became a “lost boy” on his journey to find the better future that he hoped for. Through his journey Salva had to look for water and take from it carefully so that it, would last him for another few days on his journey. After his long journey Salva found the future he hoped for.  
In the book Nya also finds the better future that she was hoping for. Nya’s village is one of the places in Sudan where Salva goes to build a well so that people can fetch water quicker. With a new well Nya does not have to go fetch water from the pond anymore. With a new school being built nearby,Nya would be able to attend school.  In the end Nya gets the better lifestyle that she wanted.
The need for water and survival encouraged both Nya and Salva to keep on going.  That motivated them to find the better future that they were hoping for.This connects to the real world in a sense that, something an object or a dream motivates and encourages people to find that better future they hope for.  The need to find or to have that object keeps the person going. Many people in the world are in situations where they want/need to help themselves and others. They want to improve their lifestyle so they can have a better future. 

blog post #5

     
        The book If I Stay  is about a girl, Mia who is in a coma. Throughout the book as Mia is in a coma, she watches what's happening around her. She sees as her family and friends come in and out of the hospital to see how she is doing. Mia watches them suffer because of her condition. She watches them as they weep over the loos of her parents and younger brother Teddy. While Mia sees all these people she starts to think about herself. Mia starts to think about her two true loves.   
               

                 Mia's first love in the book is Music. Growing up she saw that her mom and her dad were also into music. The music they were interested in was rock, and Mia was into classical music. "Then, in third grade, I'd wandered over to the cello in music class- it looked almost human to me. It looked like if you played it, it would tell you secrets, so I started playing."  Mia is describing  why she was attracted to the cello. she describes the cello as if it were a human being. This is explaining Mia's attraction towards the cello and classical music. Because of her interest in the cello and classical music, music then became Mia's first true love.  
               
                  Later on when Mia meets Adam, he becomes her true love. Even though they are both opposite they still mange to fall in love. Mia is interested in classical music and Adam like rock music, he even is in a rock band.   " I've never  seen anyone get into music as you do. It's why I like to watch you practice." Adam is trying to say that Mia's dedication to her music was what he admired of her. He is telling her why he likes her. He says this even though he knows she plays classical music. Adam admires how she is working on her music most of the time. Later on once Mia realizes that Adam does like her she gives him a chance, and Adam becomes her true love.

              Overall, throughout the book Mia finds her two true loves. She fall in  love with the cello for its human like features. Then she falls in love with Adam for his reasons of bring with her, and not caring about her differences.       

The drummer boy of Shiloh

 In the drummer boy of Shiloh, Joby is a drummer boy in the war. Throughout the story Joby learns the value of his position as the drummer boy. Joby along with some help of the general learns how he is important to the army.

In the beginning Joby thinks that a drummer boy in the war is not an important role. ‘Me’ thought the boy ‘I only got a drum, two sticks to beat it, and no shield’. Joby is saying that all he has in the war is his drum and two drumsticks. Joby thinks that those are the only things he has that belong to him. Joby thinks of himself as just the drummer boy in the war and nothing else. He thinks his role in the war is to just to beat the drum as the army is marching. “-leaving him with this drum which was worse than a toy in the game to be played tomorrow or someday much too soon”.  Joby is thinking that all he has is his drum, and that both he and his drum are just toys in the game that is the war. He says “which was worse than a toy in the game to be played”. Joby is comparing his position as a drummer boy to that of a toy in a useless game.

Along Joby’s journey the general helps him realize the importance of his role as the drummer boy in the war. “You are the heart of the army. Think about that. You are the heart of the army. Listen to me, now”. “if he , Joby, beat slow tomorrow, the heart would beat slow in the men………They would sleep forever after that-in those same fields, their hearts slowed by a drummer boy and stopped by enemy lead”. The general tells Joby that he is the heart of the army. This makes Joby think that by beating slow is like making the army’s pace slow down. “But if he beat a sure, steady, ever faster rhythm, then, then, their knees would come up in a long line down over that hill, one knee after, the other, like a wave on the ocean shore”. Joby realizes that if he does the opposite the army would stay together at a steady pace. He starts to see what the general means when he says that Joby is the heart of the army. He realizes that with the steady beat of his drum he keeps the army united.

Joby then starts to realize how important the role of the drummer boy in the war really is. He learns that with his drum beat he is leading the army. “So there you are, that’s it. Will you do that boy? Do you know now you’re General of the Army when the general’s left behind?” The general is telling Joby that in a way he is the General of the Army. This helps Joby realize that like a general keeps an army united, his steady drumbeat keeps the army together. This helps Joby realize that with his drumbeat he is leading the army. Joby’s pace keeps the army going at either an encouraging pace or a not so encouraging pace.

Joby starts to think a different way of his role in the war. He starts to see that whoever has the role of the drummer boy is the heart of the army. Joby learns that the drummer boy is in a way the General of the Army. The real value of the position of a drummer boy soon becomes clear to Joby. Just like Joby many people don’t realize the real value/importance in other people’s lives or even their own.