Blog Reflection #2

In my blog post Good Beginnings I talked about how Veronica Roth started the book Divergent and how I thought it was unique. The line I think best demonstrates my writer’s voice is “The book starts off by describing the main character Beatrice Prior, but the author does so in a very unique way which I have not seen before.” Here I explained my opinion on how the author had a very unique way of describing the main character other than just flat out saying it.

Some purposeful diction that I used in my writing was elevated or formal writing. “One giant wall encompasses all the factions” I used the word encompasses instead of; One giant wall goes around all the factions. Some examples of syntax I used in this post were word order, sentence length, and punctuation the line, “she doesn't just flat out say, Beatrice has a narrow face, wide round eyes, etc.”  Uses commas and etc. to help give an example of what the author could have done but instead took a unique approach. I also use punctuation in the following line in order to help list things. “Abnegation-the selflessness, Erudite-the intelligent, Dauntless-the brave, Amity-the peaceful, and Candor-the honest.” I also used dashes to group the meanings to the title and commas to list them.

High Level Vocabulary

As I have been reading the book Divergent I have noticed that the author uses some higher level or complex vocabulary such as "The uniform pounding of feet in my ears and the homogeneity of the people around me makes me believe that I could choose this"(Divergent Page 39). The word homogeneity means the quality or state of being the same or alike. After learning what this meant it adds a lot to the sentence in that she means everyone was walking in a similar fashion and state. She also says "The room is arranged in concentric circles"(Page 39). by uses more complex and higher level vocabulary it gives a more deeper meaning and understanding to the text. It is weird because she uses higher level vocabulary but she writes in a way that is very easy to understand, if there is an unusual word you may not know there are probably a lot of context clues that you can use to easily figure out the meaning of it.

In the book they had to run and jump off of a moving train onto a nearby rooftop and if you didn't do it you would become factionless. Being factionless is said to be worse than death in the book and its the last thing you would ever want to happen to you. As people were jumping off one missed the jump and fell to her death, "There us a body on the pavement below us; a girl,  her arms and legs bent at awkward angles, her hair spread out in a fan around her head."(Page 55). It goes onto say "he stands on the ledge like it's a sidewalk. Like someone didn't just fall to her death from it"(Page 56). The guide or instructor for the group that is leading them on the trip doesn't even acknowledge the fact that a person just fell to her death which shocks Beatrice and shows how much the Dauntless have to deal with pain and loss.

Good Beginnings

I've just started reading Divergent by Veronica Roth which is about a society split into multiple factions, Abnegation-the selflessness, Erudite-the intelligent, Dauntless-the brave, Amity-the peaceful, and Candor-the honest. Each faction lives by their own code and morals and once you are 16 years old you have to choose what faction to join, you can stay in your families or change entirely. The book starts off by describing the main character Beatrice Prior, but the author does so in a very unique way which I have not seen before. Beatrice was born into Abnegation and they only allow you to look in a mirror once a month, so its starts by off with "I sneak a look at my reflection when she isn't paying attention-not for the sake of vanity, but out of curiosity...In the reflection, I see a narrow face, wide, round eyes, and a long, thin nose-I still look like a little girl, though sometime in the last few months I turned 16" (Divergent page 2). This is a very good vivid description of her and it is done in a way where she doesn't just flat out say, Beatrice has a narrow face, wide round eyes, etc.

The story takes place in a modern day world with the exception of a few futuristic things. "The building that was once called Sears Tower-we call it the Hub-emerges from the fog, a black pillar in the skyline" (page 4). "Like all the other buildings around it, it is made up of glass and steel" The author describes a modern day city and things that we have today such as paintball guns, trains and normal schools. There are however some things that are more futuristic. "Then she passes me a vial of clear liquid"(Page 13). The liquid is a hallucinogen serum and if makes you feel like your in a very real dream but they can watch whats going on from a computer screen. One giant wall encompasses all the factions and is defended by the Dauntless but no one actually knows what they are being defended from, or what is outside of the walls.

Krista Ramsey - Columnist

Our kids tell the story of why preschool is a must is a column by Krista Ramsey who writes about lifestyle. In this column she talks about how preschool is underrated yet it is very essential to a young child's growth into education. She tries to persuade people that preschool doesn't just teach kids simple things such as the alphabet but it prepares them for kinder garden and gives them the experience they need to to excel in school.

In the column one of the best written lines in my opinion is "But if it was essential for your kids – if you watched it transform their lives and wouldn't have done without it – how can it be denied to children with so few resources, children who need it so desperately?" In this line Krista Ramsey is pointing out that children should not be denied the chance to go to preschool and to help them to grow. She uses hyphens  to separate or list her thoughts and by doing so it makes a pause in between adding more impact or emphasis on her thoughts. She also talks about how the children desperately need it which makes you, after reading it almost feel guilty if you don't send your children to preschool because you are denying them something so important in life.

Krista Ramsey's style of writing is very oriented around society and big overlaying problems or debates. In one of her articles about phone usage and how it can damage your eyes she says. "But before parents claw back the iphones the experts say the problem may not lie in the technology itself, but the amount of time spent on it." In another article about how pro athletes dress she says "Whatever the score of the game they both look like winners." and in the article about the preschool she says. "And numbers do matter. It's just that children matter more." If I could ask Krista Ramsey three questions I would ask her how she comes up with what to write, what inspired her to become a writer and how long does she spend on a piece before its published?

Divergent - Veronica Roth

I am just about to start reading Divergent, by Veronica Roth, which most people probably already know of from the movie that just recently came out. I remember seeing the trailer for Divergent and I was instantly interesting in seeing it. It was when third trimester was starting up that I learned we would once againt be blogging so I decided to read the book Divergent. While i am still waiting on amazon for the book to come I decided to do some research into Veronica Roth's life and to learn about the author.

I learned that Veronica Roth was born in New York City but raised in Barrington Illinois and she was the youngest of three children. Her parents divorced when she was only five years old. Her mother's parents were concentration camp survivors and it caused her to be pushed away from religion because of it. Roth however joined a Christian Bible study group and she has kept with it ever since. She married Nelson Fitch, a photographer, in 2011. Roth is most known for her trilogy Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant. She wrote Divergent over winter break at college and her career took off, she sold the movie rights to Summit Entertainment before even graduating college. From what i've heard and seen from the trailer of the movie I am very excited to start reading it.