In the book Gertrude McFuzz by Dr. Seuss, a bird, Gertrude McFuzz decides that she is not good enough because she only has one feather on her tail while others had two, three, even four feathers on their tails. She decides that she needs to change so she can fit in instead of being the strange, ugly, not normal bird. Unfortunately she wasn't smart and she was extremely greedy and that all got to her head. She wanted to be the absolute best, better than the rest so that she could destroy her enemies ego's. She didn't care about the consequences, all she knew was that to get acceptance, she would need to exceed the regular, and she did.
Gertrude McFuzz goes to her uncle who is a doctor and begs him to tell her where she can find the pill that she needed to add the amount of tail feathers she wanted to her rear end. When the doctor gives in and tells her where to find it, she instantly takes two of the pill-berries off the stick and eats them and she grows two more feathers. Then she eats another three dozen pill-berries and she grows the biggest of tails with many many feathers. She looks absolutely amazing and elegant but as she tries to fly to town so she can brag to Lolla-Lee-Lou, the girl with two feathers, she gets stuck. With the great amount of feathers, she can't fly because her tail is too heavy. Greed and wanting to be the best really screwed her over and caused her a lot of trouble. In the end, when all of her feathers had to be pulled, she was very happy with herself when she learned the damaging effects o having low self esteem.
The last line is "That one little feather she had as a starter. But now that's enough because now she is smarter." This shows how she changed throughout the book and how now she is happy with herself. This shows a really great lesson of how she overcame this want to be better, but once the lesson is learned, the reader really understands that in their lives in real life, people should just be comfortable with who they are and they should help the people that they know by sharing this information with them. This vital lesson can help to even save lives. Even such a childish fun book can truly mean so much.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
The Sneetches Response
In the book The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss, a story is told that represents real life issues in our current modern day society. This creature called a sneech is divided into two sections, sneetches with stars on their tummies and sneetches without stars on their tummies. The sneetches with stars on their tummies are of higher class and they don't allow the "plain belly sneetches" to go to their parties or get togethers or even just playing games together. The plain belly sneetches are so desperate to be better and cool and be able to be well respected. The issue in this book represented is segregation similar to how it was back in the 1960's. This issue is well represented by using metaphor and playful ideas to cover up the true meaning to young children.
In this book, a character by the name Sylvester McMonkey McBean really shows a great point in the book. He is a symbol to represent a sense of moral or angel of sorts that helps to resolve the story and show the meaning of the issue. This character tells the sneetches with no stars to get a round in his star-on machine for three dollars and once that happens, the originally star bellied sneetches were enraged. Wisely, Sylvester McMonkey McBean tells the originally star bellied sneetches that he has a star off machine that costs 10 dollars for a round. Those sneetches greedily go for a ride in the machine. Soon the star-on star-off process becomes chaotic and massive lines are created that cause the sneetches to constantly get stars put on and take off. Their pockets are emptied and soon Sylvester McMonkey McBean drives of with a very large amount of money. This shows that the issues of segregation and civil rights are so argued about that they are so stupid and ridiculous. In the end, the sneetches all get along. This shows how fighting for fairness is so ridicuclous when justice should just be served at no cost, people should just get along and not argue with things. This perfectly resembles the story of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's and all of the ridiculous and unnessecary things that is causes.
I find this book to be so interesting because the many times I read it as a young child, I never noticed this important idea and now that I have realized the importance of this idea and the time period of the book, I have realized how important this topic was and how it must've impacted the people of that era. Because of the picture book analysis projects we have been doing in class, I have realized that almost all picture books have important meanings that have to do with real life issues and I find that to be really important.
In this book, a character by the name Sylvester McMonkey McBean really shows a great point in the book. He is a symbol to represent a sense of moral or angel of sorts that helps to resolve the story and show the meaning of the issue. This character tells the sneetches with no stars to get a round in his star-on machine for three dollars and once that happens, the originally star bellied sneetches were enraged. Wisely, Sylvester McMonkey McBean tells the originally star bellied sneetches that he has a star off machine that costs 10 dollars for a round. Those sneetches greedily go for a ride in the machine. Soon the star-on star-off process becomes chaotic and massive lines are created that cause the sneetches to constantly get stars put on and take off. Their pockets are emptied and soon Sylvester McMonkey McBean drives of with a very large amount of money. This shows that the issues of segregation and civil rights are so argued about that they are so stupid and ridiculous. In the end, the sneetches all get along. This shows how fighting for fairness is so ridicuclous when justice should just be served at no cost, people should just get along and not argue with things. This perfectly resembles the story of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's and all of the ridiculous and unnessecary things that is causes.
I find this book to be so interesting because the many times I read it as a young child, I never noticed this important idea and now that I have realized the importance of this idea and the time period of the book, I have realized how important this topic was and how it must've impacted the people of that era. Because of the picture book analysis projects we have been doing in class, I have realized that almost all picture books have important meanings that have to do with real life issues and I find that to be really important.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Hunger Games Response
In this book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a girl (Katniss), and a boy (Peeta) who were born and raised in a very poor place are faced the challenge of winning the Hunger Games, a so called event where two representatives from each of the twelve districts are randomly chosen to fight against all the other representatives. Whoever was left alive in the end wins. This massive annual competition is controlled by the wealthiest of all. Katniss and Peeta are from the poorest district, District 12 which is furthest from the city. The most well trained representatives are from the districts 1, 2, and 3. This book deals with a lot of classism and power due to the wealth of a person. This book helps me deal with and think about social issues that I care about.
The main issue deep in my heart that is touched on in this book is classism. Classism causes some of the worst problems including stereotypes, forms of bullying, and wealth in power. Before the games start, the officials of the games hold an evaluation to give each person a rating of their skills, on a scale of 1-12. Everybody is expecting a terrible score out of such a poor untrained person. She gets so fed up with how the rich are treating her that she shoots and apple of of a pigs mouth which is about to be served to the rich. This astonishes them and gives her a score of 11, the highest of all the competitors. The stereotypical expectations by the officials was truly false and she deserved it. Classism is also represented when they jest arrive to the capital. People look at them like as if their toys. The point of the Hunger Games is that it is meant for entertainment. These rich people frankly don't care about the people in two thirds of the districts, they just hope that they die so they can make more money, even more than the net worth of the 12th district just because they won this competition. It is so incredibly unfair.
Classism is most commonly noticed in the past few years of Park Slope's most accomplished elementary school, P.S. 321. As many young families move into Park Slope, the price of houses has skyrocketed and the lovely diverse school that used to be P.S. 321 is now becoming a predominantly white school. In the 1980's and 1990's, many problems with African Americans occurred, causing them to live in projects and not have the opportunities that they deserve. Many of these people have so much potential and the luck few get the chance to thrive. This is similar to the residents of district 12. These people have the potential to thrive but because of their yearly income, they are separated from the rest and denied the ability to shine in our world. This issue is very close to my heart and it is well represented in this book.
The main issue deep in my heart that is touched on in this book is classism. Classism causes some of the worst problems including stereotypes, forms of bullying, and wealth in power. Before the games start, the officials of the games hold an evaluation to give each person a rating of their skills, on a scale of 1-12. Everybody is expecting a terrible score out of such a poor untrained person. She gets so fed up with how the rich are treating her that she shoots and apple of of a pigs mouth which is about to be served to the rich. This astonishes them and gives her a score of 11, the highest of all the competitors. The stereotypical expectations by the officials was truly false and she deserved it. Classism is also represented when they jest arrive to the capital. People look at them like as if their toys. The point of the Hunger Games is that it is meant for entertainment. These rich people frankly don't care about the people in two thirds of the districts, they just hope that they die so they can make more money, even more than the net worth of the 12th district just because they won this competition. It is so incredibly unfair.
Classism is most commonly noticed in the past few years of Park Slope's most accomplished elementary school, P.S. 321. As many young families move into Park Slope, the price of houses has skyrocketed and the lovely diverse school that used to be P.S. 321 is now becoming a predominantly white school. In the 1980's and 1990's, many problems with African Americans occurred, causing them to live in projects and not have the opportunities that they deserve. Many of these people have so much potential and the luck few get the chance to thrive. This is similar to the residents of district 12. These people have the potential to thrive but because of their yearly income, they are separated from the rest and denied the ability to shine in our world. This issue is very close to my heart and it is well represented in this book.
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