Reading Response

My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson illustrates the story of three young Eskimos sent off to a boarding school called Sacred Heart—a brand new world where change, loss and heartbreak await them. This book delves into survival and into the depths of relationships and the love, hatred or connection two people can have within each other. The book deals with a lot of character change. The issue that was most profound in this book was family struggle and people change because of this. Luke faces a huge struggle facing the cracks and losses in his family that Luke, which he undergoes from the instant the brothers arrive at Sacred Heart. First, Luke and Bunna lose Isaac within minutes of their arrival. In addition, towards the end of the book, Luke has to deal with a big, deep argument and disagreement with Bunna and soon after his spontaneous death. He changes to a more cynical and hardened person.

            The author introduces character change in a very interesting and aware way. She first presents cracks in Luke’s family. Him and his Eskimo brothers have to leave their family and fly off to a boarding school. Shortly after, she introduces the second major crack in his family, which is Luke and Bunna’s loss of Isaac, because a priest says he is too young to attend. She included the voice of a member of the schools staff, telling the reader Isaacs’ life in a village house; while things were sorted out would be temporary situation. Dahl nevertheless showed us Luke’s heartbroken state after this happens. For example, we glimpse Luke’s thought that “they are taking Isaac away”. She knew Luke’s following thought “they are taking Isaac away” would show how much his brothers are to him and what they mean to each other for survival. He begins to doubt people and the whole situation more.

            The issue affected and changed the main character, because when Luke is separated from his brother he feels deprived of the only thing he has at Sacred Heart: family. Now Bunna is the only person left for him. Family struggle and loss makes Luke a lonely person. He feels more isolated from his previous life and world. His world is now harder and colder than ever. At the end, Luke is different because he has more connections with people at his school and considers them almost family. Family loss has also affected and changed Luke, because he feels differently about himself/his culture. For example, he refers to his real name as “hard like ocean ice grinding at the shore.” He explains this is the way his real name is when teachers try to pronounce it. He changes a lot in this book-from sad to lonely and towards the end-more open. Relieved of some pressure family struggle has given him.

         

Memoir

Angela Tanzer                                                                                                         

11/13/13

                       The rooms were considerably small. Kitchen-living room. A room for my sister and me was down the hall. My parents had to sleep in the living room. Despite it sometimes feeling cramped or quaint, the house we lived in until I was four had an aura of comfort to it. In retrospect, though my memories are scraps of something like a black and white movie: silent, short movements and unfamiliar people--the orange boots one of our baby-sitters wore, but not her face, tiny, insignificant things, like what a blanket of snow flakes enveloping Manhattan looked like through my four year old eyes one morning-- I know I loved my old life.  Everything from crawling around the kitchen with my little sister, or being propped up in my high chair eating tons of bananas, to my slightly rude best friend and family members gathered in the living room wearing party hats on a birthday celebration, standing or sitting laughing. Even moments like locking myself in the bathroom when I was four grew on me, like a vine that I couldn’t cut down, even on the day we arrived at the front steps to the red door of the brownstone, 589 10^th street in Park Slope.

            Frustration always grips me hard and gives me unbearable, stupid impulses. Rip up this stupid thing. You don’t know what’s happening, so why not just—Angela stop! You’ll figure out what’s going on… I was four years old when we moved out of the Upper East Side to Brooklyn. The day was so disorienting it was all I could manage to look around at the empty, wood-floored rooms, sit down on a tiny chair and scribble away in a Hello Kitty diary and not tear it up. We had to start looking into new places when construction had to be done in our old apartment. Initially the construction only took us out of the house and into a tiny room at a nearby hotel, a room I remember nearly nothing of. This doesn’t surprise me, as year by year, the times I spent in Manhattan seem to recede slowly from my mind, floating further and further away into the dark and unseen face of the past. Nothing seems real about it anymore.

            Though I may not have first recognized it trapped so deep inside my old life, attached to an existence, to routine I not only knew so well but also cherished so much, the change was for the better. Though early childhood memories sometimes slip the mind swiftly and frequently, I somehow recall myself sitting on the floor, flipping sadly through a book of pictures and last words that my old classmates had sent. My new school was a typical talked-about Park Slope mom’s school. I loved my kindergarten teacher, a tall, caring women, a mess of reddish curls atop her head like the frosting on a cupcake. Our new apartment was still small, often giving off that push-your-chair-in-all-the-way-or-else-no one-can-walk feeling. My sister and I shared a tiny room with a window that had been painted completely white. Park Slope was and still is less like the busy, house-under construction Upper East Side and a more refined, expensive neighborhood.

            Now I sometimes wonder where I would be if we hadn’t moved into Park Slope. I know I wouldn’t be at this school and surely not as nice a neighborhood. To think that if the construction hadn’t been done at that time or my parents hadn’t considered looking into apartments THAT year, I would be in a different place with different friends and know different teachers is crazy. All we have is all we can imagine life as and unless we are the ones who wanted change in the first place, we are utterly baffled by our ability to step right into a new stream of life. Just like that.

Response to First Light

       First Light by Rebecca Stead tells the story of two young teenagers, Peter and Thea, who's lives are so far separate from each other, but will soon become entangled. Peter's father's work studying global warming takes him and his family on an exciting trip to Greenland. Initially every aspect of the trip seems perfect, astounding, but upon his arrival (and shortly before) visions begin to creep into his mind, confusing and frightening him. Thea lives among a strange people, people who have never seen the sun. Deep ambition sends her trying to find a way to surface (to get to Earth), despite the unwillingness and displeased feelings about it of those around her.

         I think the first few lines on page 48 are important, because they show that although Thea has a lot of determination to get Earth and wants a lot more action among her society and peoples, she also struggles with appreciation and respect of other members in the community (members of the Council). These first few lines are "When Lana entered the greatroom through the dock door, Thea could tell that her aunt had heard about the council meeting. 'The bread has just been delivered," Thea said quickly... "and I'm soaking some greens for supper." By including these lines, the author is implying that Thea is ashamed about the disasterous meeting and how the Council hated her ideas. Using "said quickly" directly after Thea realizes her aunt is aware of what happened earlier shows that she is nervous about further disapproval from adults in her community and trying to act casual. Additionally, after the meeting, Thea dreads every mention or thought of her grandmother Rowen, who yelled at her during it. She is aware and angry about the reaction she got for her big, hopeful ambitions for the future in which she presented everyone with.

        I think this is an interesting book so far, yet it is not normally the type I would pick up; the mystery, possibly fantasy kind of book doesn't always lure me in as this does. The style of writing Rebecca Stead uses just makes you want to keep turning the pages. She pulls you into the characters inner self without making it too complicated. Sometimes you look and look for a book you think you'll like and you end up with something random and unexpected. For me, this is definitely one of those books.