dog in the nighttime

All right, it has been over a month so I figure I might inform those who read this blog that I am writing a picture book about a social action topic. In this case, discrimination against those with autism, steming from ignorance of it, and those diagnosed with it. I know this isn't strictly about my book, but I just started reading the mysterious case of the dog in the nighttime about a teenager with aspergers who is abandoned by his mother and discriminated agsainst by many.
I feel this is an issue of great prevelance as the number of the population with autism has vastly increaced scince the early 1900's. This book ilustrates in almost a shocking manner but definetly truthful, though the story is fiction.
you notice that the father himself, the protective character is not perfect and the stress of dealing with the main character is difficult although he has a high functioning form of autism.
THe father yells, and at one point almost gives up, however he, unlike almost the rest of the population, believes in his son, and understans him.

Upside down dog

The book which I have just began reading today, known as "the mysterious case of the upside down dog in the nighttime, is a fantastic book about a child with Asperger's syndrome, and accusations that he killed a dog, and his work to try to find out about his deceased mother.

I feel myself starting to push away at the point where his mother never picked him up after school and we found out that she died...

It was so hard for me to think about how he would deal with her death.

SPOILERS *Also, we are begining to find out that his mother is alive, his father wanted to hide the fact that his mother had left so he said that she was dead. she had constantly wrote letters to him telling her she loved him - letters that never got there due to his father. At this point, I felt so disgusted the mother could leave, and the father would do something like that*

just the whole situation was so horrible that I had to pull away, this might have been because of the fact that if I was in that position, I'm not sure what I would have done...

Just ice

Just ice

just ice in harry potter, though in a school enviroment, one we generally think as comforting,or really hell depending,

but also, there is no justice in the way people, with out correct evidence. Since he can speak parseltounge, he is the heir of slytherin, since dumbledore couldn't stop the attacks, it comes to the governers attention and he is fired, most of all rubeus hagrid is fired when he didn't open the chamber of secrets, riddle did, and Hagrid was framed.

HAGrid, though he has a liking for dangerous monsters, is kind, and would never have commited the crimes, it's not your abilities that define you, it's your choices.

harry potter 2 hard issues

There is a theme of assumption in this book because of harry being able to talk to snakes. Because of this ability everyone assumes that he is dangerous. In fact he is not the dangerous one at all bet the one who stops the danger from killing those in Hogwarts.

Also there is a theme of "stranger danger" because of the relationship between tom riddle and Ginny Weasly. When ginny becomes to attached to her diary it possess her and almost kills her, though this isn't quite the same as in real life it still represents the same idea of don't keep something close unless you know it's safe.

There is lastly a theme of loss of freedoms, in the beginning it's quite easy to see, with uncle Vernon barring harry inside of his room. but slowly all of harry's freedoms begin to get stripped away. he loses his friends, his quidditch games and his best friend. he begins to lose things and he begins to suffer more and more until he does something about it.

Archtype entry on the Giver

I think that, in The Giver, the shadow is the idea of perfection. The shadow is defined as the thing/character, that is the heroes main enemy. 

Release for one, is a potentially perfect idea of a new, happy, life in elsewhere, while in actuallity, to the few that know it, it is an unnecessary death.  Someone is released when they either, commit 3 major breaches against the rules, like a death penalty, for the old, when they whish to, or reach to old, they can apply for release or will be released, and the realease also goes for imperfect newborns, or twins.

no emotions or choices keeps everyone safe and content without war famine or anything humanity can bring on itself, but also stops love, individuality, and pain, for you can't be happy without sadness, it stops experience and growth. 


To keep everything perfect isn't possible, for there must be complete control, which of course leads to corruption.  With release one way and forced un - individuality the next it is not perfection which leads to a distopic hidden hell hole where a utopia is supposed to lie, it is the tempting desire to make perfect and to seize total control to do it, in essence, one of humanities main values, to make perfect, is one of our most frightening, in our desire to better everything we see, we strip it of everything it was, without our control, loosing its individuality. 

Jonas is used to, and in the begining, somewhat unwilling to release the idea of perfection, however he does, when he realizes what human nature has done to all that was, and he never thought to notice it, or realize it was wrong. 
    

Archtype entry on Charlotte's Web

     This is going out on a limb, however, I say that death is the shapeshifter.  Wilbur and charlotte have very different views on death.  When they first met, wilbur was disgusted at even at the death of a fly, while charlotte said that things have to  at some point or another, but also I feel that part of what she felt is what you can do with life that matters.
     Death definetly has a presence in this book, it lays it's hand down in forboding, not when wilbur is to be killed by mr. Arable, but at the end of the chapter when wilbur meets Charlotte, and E.B. White describes her as "...a loyal friend, until the very end."  and she would be, death then suggests wilbur to be killed in the wintertime. 
     But the reason I believe death to be the shapeshifter is because I believe he inhabits almost every single animal in this book.  Now I know that's a bit oughtright and blunt, however I have much reason to believe this.  The old sheep  tells wilbur that he will be killed, and although this could be said by anyone, he tells wilbur theirs no use he has to die. templeton clearly states, " what if I don't want to do this anymore"  he was the holder of the life of 514 spiders in his hands, and constantly helps charlotte save wilbur.  Wilbur has strong views against death itself, and in a way is I feel the nagging voice in the back of death's mind (figurativly) saying, is what i'm doing right?  and Charlotte of course, she states that death is necessary for life.  Even the crickets song sparrows and flowers, have some death in their hearts being.  The flowers shrivel up and die because of death, joining wilbur as the feeling that what death's doing is wrong.  the sparrow sings "sweet, sweet, sweet, interlude."  the interlude being death.  the crickets warn summer (life) won't last forever.     

connecting annotations entry

Templeton really is the hero of the story...
mark this, he may be sneaking and evil and vicious, and everything else mentioned in my last blog post, however, I decided to play devil's advocate... and was thouroghly shocked.

I have made small annotations on parts of the text such as on pg.  72 when templeton's egg saves him Charlotte from Avery.  In accordance, had charlotte been killed she would have never thought up a plan to save Wilbur.  on pg.  99, templeton saves wilbur by going to look, albiet grumpily, for a word for Charlotte to use in her web.  Although I haven't "re-read" it yet, I know Templeton saves Charlotte's eggs, and wakes wilbur up after his fainting escapade.  strange as it is it seems Templeton switches from obvious antaganist to a hidden protaganist. 

I think that, though this may sound strange, templeton fits this moral type idea, the whole cliche don't judge a book by it's cover, is partly right.  though he is who he is, it's those  "Bad"  qualities that helped save Charlotte and wilbur many a time, according with a strange impulse of good.  everyone hates the rat, on accordance with a quote on pg. 46 about Templeton, though I still think that was E.B. White breaking the communication wall, I think he's created a character we hate, but one which we don't like to hate.

even when he's not there, they're talking about him, and how he, not any of the other animals could help Wilbur and Charlotte.  The fact is that without templeton the story would not and could NOT move on. 

charlottes web extended response

Annotation: 

"The rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything. He would kill a gosling if he could get away with it - the goose knew that, everybody knew that." - I wonder if this is E. B. Whites opinion of rats?

Extended Response:

E. B. White seems to be speaking directly to the reader here, as no character is thinking or saying it. the thought has occurred that this could be a diversion from Tempelton  " saving the day " however he only does so when he has something to gain.  Though there is one exception where he looks for words to write on Charlotte's web. When he stops Charlotte from being killed, it's only because Tempelton's greedy habit that saves the day because of the bad egg he took. when Charlotte is about to die he only saves her because he is promised first eating at Wilbur's slopping. All and all, as described by White, Tempelton is a lazy greedy opportunistic dirt bag only intent on filling his own needs.  and of course this very much lends itself to the belief that E. B. White is utterly disgusted by rats.  a small side argument against this theory, would be, as stated helping charlotte save wilbur, and helping save charlotte's egg sac after she begins to die.  however aside from the first argument mentioned, Tempelton only acts for his own gain.