Text Analysis: How the Setting Affects the Plot

Author's Note: "I really enjoyed writing this piece and I think it deserves a 10 for text analysis. I believe that I proved my point and backed it up with important information."

Every book, passage, or short story has a setting.  A setting is a place where a book or story is taking place. Settings are extremely important and help readers tremendously by helping then create an image in their head of where the story takes place. Normally the plot of a book depends on the setting, therefore  if you change the setting then you change the plot. For example, the Uglies series written by Scott Westerfeld and The Giver written by Lois Lowry both  take place in a futuristic universe; if the settings changed in either of these books it would dramatically effect the plot in the books as well.

In the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld the plot relies on the setting. In the futuristic universe that this book takes place in there are hoverboards, a city surrounded by walls, and perfect weather all the time. All of these aspects involve the plot and the setting. For example, if the city that was described so vividly in the book wasn’t surrounded and bordered by towering walls then there would be no reason that Tally would feel imprisoned and therefore she probably wouldn’t have run away in the first place. To add on to that if they didn’t live in such a futuristic world with technology beyond our time then there would be no such thing as a hoverboard. The entire plot relies on the use of the hoverboard for transportation so if there weren’t hoverboards the plot would be severally  changed and effected. Also the perfect climate that was expressed in the trilogy is very key in Tally’s survival once she makes the decision to leave the city. If the climate was not perfect all the time then Tally could have died after she left the city because of weather conditions like a freezing blizzard or a scorching desert. Therefore the setting in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld plays a big part in the plots of the series.

Although the Uglies series written by Scott Westerfeld is a great example of how a setting affects the plot of a book another fantastic example of that concept is the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry. The Giver takes place in a world where they only see black and white, are assigned careers, and have to live by a running list of rules. One example expressed in the book The Giver by Lois Lowry is that fact that they can only see two colors: black and white. If the citizens in the book could see color then the plot would be dramatically affected because the entire plot of the novel relies strongly on the imperfections of this town such as how they are color blind. In modern day everyone gets to choose their careers based on their interests but in The Giver they get theirs assigned to them.  The plot would change entirely if the citizens were given the opportunity to pick and choose the careers of their choice, after all the whole plot of the book is based off the fact that Jonas is given the job of The Receiver at the Ceremony of Twelve. Therefore if the citizens got to pick their jobs in the book The Giver the plot would completely change. Lastly, one more crucial part of the setting that affects the plot in this book is that the citizens of this establishment are forced to abide by a extremely long list of rules. If they didn’t have rules and were more carefree and easy-going then that also would have changed the plot. Those are three examples of how if the setting of the book The Giver by Lois Lowry changed so would the plot of the book as well.

If the settings in the books The Giver by Lois Lowry and the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld were altered then the plot of the books would be dramatically altered as well. Both books rely very strongly on their settings to help readers visualize what world the characters live in and depend on their plots to tell the story.  The setting and the plot of a book go hand-and-hand and if a book was missing a setting or missing a plot then that book would suffer from being extremely uninteresting. Therefore the setting of a book can change the plot of the book and also the entire story as a whole. 

Help Me.

Author's Note: "I wrote this short creative piece to demonstrate my understanding of point of view. It is the court room scene in My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult where Anna is trying to plead her case, the only difference is that this piece is written from Anna's sister Kate's point of view. "

All my life I have been fighting and struggling to stay alive. A couple months after my birth I was diagnosed with leukemia, a cancer which causes your body to produce abnormal amounts of blood cells and decays your bone marrow over time. When I was little I would need to come into the local clinic 5-6 times a week for a check-up. Once I hit age 4 the cancer started to spread and that's why my parents had Anna. She was a genetically enhanced creation of science made to help and assist me.  Once Anna got of age the doctors would bring us both is and eject blood cells or bone marrow from her body and transplant them into mine. After awhile these procedures started to take place more and more frequently.  Without her I would most likely not even be here today.

Your honor I don't understand why Anna won't do this for me, if I don't get that kidney I will die and if she loved me she would help me.  Anna is being so insensitive about this, my whole life has been a struggle and she doesn't understand how much pain and suffering that my disease has caused me.  I need this more than she will ever know.  This kidney will give  me another chance to live my life and will bring me one step closer to conquering my disease and finally being able to live a healthy normal life. Anna  is being so selfish, if she really loved me she would want to help me and she wouldn't want me to die. All  I want is another chance your honor, and that's why I think I should get this kidney. 

The Patriot vs. My Brother Sam is Dead

Author's Note: " I needed a piece to score on the writing rubric so I choose to put on my compare and contrast essay that I did for social studies."

When Sam returns home after being away at college for a year and announces to his family he is going to enlist in the Rebel Army his parents are horrified and raged, but his younger brother Tim couldn’t be more excited. With Sam’s father on the King’s side and Sam enlisting in the Rebel army Tim doesn’t know just what side to join. Should he honor his father and be loyal to the King and be a Loyalist or should he fight to be free and be a Patriot? Tim, only being a fourteen year old boy, figures out what he wants and what the danger and excitement of war is really like. The movie The Patriot and the book My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Gollier and Christopher Gollier have a lot in common.

In the movie The Patriot and the book My Brother Sam Is Dead are very similar in the sense that in both of them a family is torn apart by the war. For example in the movie The Patriot the Martin family is split up a lot: one of the boys dies early on in the movie and then the Dad(Benjamin) and oldest son Gabriel go to war leaving Benjamin’s other 3 kids at home with their Aunt. In the book My Brother Sam Is Dead a similar situation happens, Sam Meeker(the eldest brother) makes the decision to enlist in the rebel army despite the fact that his father is a loyalist. Sam leaves his family to go fight with the continental army while his younger brother Tim is left at home with his parents wanting to join the war like his brother. These are two examples of how the Meeker family and the Martin family get split up because of the war.

Even though the separation of family was a big similarity between the movie The Patriot and the book My Brother Sam Is Dead another big similarity between the two was all the killings. In example, in the movie The Patriot The middle son Thomas is shot early on in the movie. Closer to the climax of the movie the eldest son Gabriel is stabbed to death. Also in the movie the British soldiers burnt down the continental governments houses and killed their families. On the very last page of the book My Brother Sam Is Dead Sam dies, the British shoot him repeatedly until he is gone. By reading the book and watching the movie you can see that the British Army were ruthless and spared no one, not even children.  The deaths and killings in the book My Brother Sam is Dead and the movie The Patriot are just one similarity between the two.

Another similarity between the book My Brother Sam is Dead and the movie The Patriot is that in both you really can really see and visualize the effects of war. For example in the movie The Patriot you could see all the deaths and feel the pain they felt. Also in the movie they talked about how war was everywhere and how battles were fought in the people’s backyards. In the book you had to visualize these things but a lot of them were the same. For example in the book they talked about the wounded and what they effects of war did the land and the people who were fighting and even the innocent people who did nothing wrong. The effects of war are very apparent in the book My Brother Sam Is Dead and the movie The Patriot.

The Revolutionary War was not an easy one as you can tell be reading the book My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Gollier and Christopher Gollier and watching the movie The Patriot. Some of the similarities between the book and the movie are the visualization of the effects of war, the separation of families, and the death and killings.  While reading the book My Brother Sam Is Dead and watching the movie The Patriot you learn a lot about what war is like and how brutal and ruthless some of the soldiers really are. 

Different Perspectives

Author's Note: " I wrote this piece for point of view for my Language Arts class. Feedback is much appreciated!"

Adele is a rising star in the music industry, her album 21 sold over twenty-seven million copies worldwide. On top of that she has managed to be nominated for 184 awards and has won 99 of them. Besides being a role model for kids who dream to sing, her songs are raw and her voice is mesmerizing. Her newest song Skyfall has topped charts all over the world and is a cult phenomenon. If the song Turning Tables by Adele was told in the point of view of someone else's point of view then the moral and message of the song would change completely.

The song Turning Tables by Adele has a lot of meaning behind it. Personally when she sings the lyric, "Next time I'll be braver, I'll be my own savior," I feel like Adele is talking about someone in her life (a friend, family member, or boyfriend) that was always there for her and how she(Adele) is figuring out that they are no longer there anymore. I think this song is her way of saying that she has finally figured out that the person who was always there for her is no longer there and how she has to move on. When she sings, "So I won't let you close enough to hurt me, No I won't ask you, You to just desert me," I feel that she is talking about how she cannot let that person back into her life because it will just make things more complicated and she will end up getting hurt. I feel that the message Adele is trying to get across in the song Turning Tables is that people change and it's time for her to move on. 

The song Turning Tables by Adele is written from Adele's point of view. Since the song was written from her point of view you will feel sympathetic and sorry for her when you hear the song. Also you will feel betrayed when you listen to this song. You will feel betrayed because someone left you. Another feeling you will experience when you listen to this song is hatred. Hatred for someone who betrayed you, hatred for someone who you thought was your friend, hatred for someone who left you with no one. One last emotion you will feel in this song is abandonment. Adele wrote the song Turning Tables from her point of view.

If this song was told from a different persons point of view I think that it was change the way many people interpret this song. For example if the song was sung from the point of view of the person that she was singing to in the song you would have a different opinion of Adele. I think that if the point of this view were to change that you would see Adele is a different way. Since the song is told from her point of view you will feel sympathetic to her but if the song is told from someone else's point of view I think you would be angry at Adele if you listened to this song. The interpretation of the song would change drastically if the song Turning Tables by Adele was told from a different point of view.

This is my response to Turning Tables by Adele if it was written from a different persons point of view:

You know the old saying, " You don't know what you had until it was gone?" well you knew what you had you just took if for granite. Now I'm gone, I'm done trying to be the person you want me to be. I'm never gonna change, not for you or for anyone else. All you ever do is rant and rave about "things I've done to you," but in reality I'm not the one who keeps hurting you, your the one who keeps hurting me. I'm done with the pain, and that's why I left. It wasn't me it was you. It's over, it's time to move on. We haven't been ourselves lately and it's time to see other people and continue on with our lives. It's time for a new beginning. I think it would be best for both of us if we didn't talk anymore. We need to move on, you need to move on.

Footprints in the Snow

Author's Note: "Where I live it's winter right no so I wanted to write a poem or two about the winter time."

My burning hot chocolate made my taste buds clench. I looked around and saw the gleaming fireplace and stockings hung carefully from the mantel.There were lights strung all around the dark evergreen that towered above and presents wrapped tightly below. 

I walked out the door and saw a fresh blanket of snow coat the cold wet ground. The icy snowflakes made my nose nip. I stuck out my moist tongue hoping to catch some of the ice crystals in my mouth. The crisp air made my lips quiver. As I looked back dark I saw my silhouette leaving footprints in the snow. 

The sand swiveled between my toes and my feet felt tingly in the cold ocean water. A took a deep breath to inhale the light salty fumes of the ocean air. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift off into some far away place. Standing in the water was more peaceful and relaxing than a day at the spa. The waves were calm and the seagulls fluttered and batted their wings across the sky as quietly as butterflies. I opened my eyes and pitched my wet elbow in an attempt to see if maybe this was all a dream but to my delight it wasn't. I stared out into the endless waves wondering what secrets that the mystic ocean holds.

Victims

Author's Note: " I wrote this piece for my Language Arts class. This piece demonstrates my understanding of theme. The theme I choose to present is Government Control. In this piece I talk about three different books that have the theme government control and I also provide one real world example where theme is demonstrated. Feel free to leave feedback!"

All over the world government control is happening. It is a major issue in our world right now. Not only does it go on in the real world, it also goes on a lot in books. The theme government control is one of the most popular themes in books right now and interests teens a lot. Government control is a main theme in the books The Hunger Games, The Giver,  My Brother Sam Is Dead, and all of forms of media.

One of the main themes in the book The Giver is government control. For example, each family can only have two kids:one boy and one girl, no more and no less. Another example of government control in this book is that the citizens of the community don't even get to choose their own occupations. Instead of choosing their careers themselves the government decides what role they will have in the community. Also, the community has many rules and some of  these rules include that you cannot show your nakedness around anyone else, no bragging, and no questioning anything. These are just some examples that prove that government control is a main theme in this book.

Similarly to the book The Giver, government control is also very apparent in The Hunger Games series. A clearly notable example of the theme government control in this series was the Capital's creation of the Hunger Games. The purpose of the games was for the Capital to maintain control over the districts after it's first rebellion. Another example of government control is the presence of the peacekeepers throughout the series. They put people in their place and are not afraid to hurt anyone. The peacekeepers are a constant reminder that the Capital does not care who they hurt as long as order in maintained throughout the districts. Government control is clearly one of the central themes that is consistent in not only in The Hunger Games but also the rest of the trilogy.

Even in historical fiction novels like My Brother Sam is Dead we still see the theme my of government control. My Brother Sam is Dead is a book set in the time of the revolutionary war. During this time the King of England and his parliament were trying to control the colonies by taxing everyday items like sugar and tea. Another way the King tried to control of the colonies that was talked about a lot in the book was when he sent in the British troops or "Lobster-backs" as mentioned in the book, to keep the colonists in line and loyal to him. The book My Brother Sam Is Dead is a great example of the theme government control.

Government control is often a main theme in books and movies but it is also a very real issue in todays society. For example Muammar Gaddafi was the leader of Libya for 42 years. During his reign he reportedly taxed the people  ridiculous amounts and kept the money for himself and his family.  According to Time.com Muammar Gaddafi  was killed by rebels last year when they captured him in his home town. "He was a wicked man, I'm surprised they didn't tear his body to pieces," says Ali Tarhouni, the finance minister of Libya. What happened in Libya is a phenomenal example of how government control is a very real issue in the world today.

One of the  main themes in the books The Giver, The Hunger Games, My Brother Sam Is Dead, and in reality is government control. Nowadays the theme government control is very popular in all forms of media: books, movies, tv, and in real life. All forms of media that  have to do with government control are very serious and are nothing to joke about, they are very real issues and pull at your heartstrings. Government control is a main theme in many books and is also an issue in today's society.

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Dear Tracy

Author's Note: "Currently I am reading the book Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern. This book is about a teenage girl who gets sent to a mental hospital and all of her adventures there. The book is written in letters to her best friend Tracy so I decided to make my prediction piece a letter I think Anna will write later in the book."

Dear Tracy,                                                                                                            Day 23                                                          

You know how I told you how Justin and I were friends... well he was a little too friendly with me last night. I was eating my dinner (coleslaw as usual) minding my own business when all the sudden I felt something rubbing against my foot. I didn't think much of it until I got up to go to the bathroom and realized I was being followed by someone. I turned around hoping the I would catch the person in the act but all I saw was a few security guards roaming the corridor. I kept walking, faster and faster until I reached the bathroom.… I was doing my business when all the sudden the lights flickered a few times and then shut off. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel something… or rather someone. I felt a hands touch me all over, and then he was inside me. I tried to scream but whoever it was put a hand over my mouth before I could let one out. I started kicking and trying to get whoever it was off of me but he or she was too strong and I couldn’t make them budge. Then all the sudden the lights flickered back on and I was staring face to face with Justin. I saw a pair of shoes glide into the stall to the right of mine. As soon as whoever it was locked their stall Justin sprinted out of the bathroom.

I don’t know what to do, for once in my life I was at a loss for words. The whole reason I came to this dumb mental hospital was to fix my problems, not create more. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before.  Should I be happy since it was the guy that I liked or should I be furious because of what he just did. I sat on the toilet motionless and deep in thought not knowing what to do next: should I tell an adult? Finally, I decided to just go back to my room and just forget about it, but I couldn’t. Flashbacks kept coming back and whenever I saw him that’s all I could think about.  After hours of contemplating  whether telling someone about what happened or not I decided to tell my roommate Sandy. She was shocked, she said Justin would never do anything like that. We sat there in silence for a couple of minutes thinking about what to do next but then Sandy spoke out. “Anna, you need to tell someone. You can’t just forget about it.  Justin needs to be punished for this.”

I don’t know what to do.  Should I tell someone and get the guy I like in big trouble or should I just act like it never happened. I decided to sleep on it and give it more thought tomorrow. Hopefully it will be easier to make the decision on a couple hours of sleep.

Love,

Anna 

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Anna has always been a rebel: she likes to skip out on class, sleep all day, and do drugs whenever she can, but when her parents decide to take her to a mental hospital everything changes. At home Anna had no rules, but here at Lakewood they had tons of them. There are rules for everything like how much you could eat or how long you could sleep, but the rule Anna hates most of all was the no touching rule. Since Anna really doesn’t like this rule I feel like later in the book she will break it. I think this will happen because she is developing a friendship/crush on a boy named Justin who is in the hospital as well. If Anna gets caught breaking the rule I will be very disappointed because then it will delay her departure from Lakewood but I feel like something needs to happen because right now the book is getting boring.