How Does the Setting of Ender's Game Affect the Book and Its Plot?

Since procrastination has gotten the best of me again and I was just looking through the comments of people that have also procrastinated and I saw someone ask the question, "how does the setting affect the book?" I thought since I needed one more post and someone was looking for an answer to a question, I might as well do this post and well that's how we got here. So the setting of Ender's Game as I've elaborated on in a earlier post is put in a high tech futuristic world and an alien race has been discovered on a near planet. In the beginning you might think that the book is in the future but not super far in because they start of in North Carolina (which is were the author was born) in the US. But as the book goes deeper and deeper and deeper you realize how far into the future the book is actually put in. This affects the plot and the book because you can picture where on the timeline this falls and where this is happening. After the beginning all the best of the best are brought to Battle School, which is like going to Harvard vs going to a community college. Some aspects of the school are like out schools today and other aspects are different. One main difference you can tell straight up is that they are training to be military leaders not CEO's of fortune 500 companies or actors or any other profession that you want to be. Another difference there is, is that they spend lots of there time playing strategy games and simulations instead of learning in classrooms. Something that I noticed that is similar is the integration of technology into learning. I also noticed that it's also similar to a boarding school, in the aspect that they are away from their families and they do everything at the school and get to visit their families a couple of times. This affects the book and plot because it gives people something to relate to and also something that they can think about how different it is to how we do things. This being my last blogger post of Freshman year is so awesome and can't wait till summer.

Right or Wrong What Does Ender's Game Tell Us

With almost being finished with this book I think this post would be good for one of the final post of the year :). Ender's Game teaches us some good and bad morals. As everyone knows something can not be simply black or white. There will always be room for interpretation. This book had great examples of both right and wrong or what people might see as good and bad. This book can teach us morals such as, know what you sign up for and want to do it to its fullest it also shows us that one person can change history by one action or the click of a button or one command. This book basically tells us right and wrong can only be defined by each individual person. It's not one set definition. This is showed as how Ender thought killing the entire alien race was terrible and wrong while the directors of the Battle School think that eliminating the alien race was the only and right option. What do you think is the definition of right and wrong.

How The Characters Deal With the Main Conflict

Ender the main character, deals with the conflict very well. He destroys the opposition. He literally killed the entire alien race that they were fighting. Although he wasn't aware that he was actually doing it. The people running the show told him it was his final simulation to see if he was going to be the commander of the fleet. But he was controlling the real fleet and was fighting against the alien race to win the war. Once he found out that he killed an entire race he was not happy and wanted to run away from everything. He technically dealt with the main conflict well and efficiently, but should the directors of the Battle School told him what he was actually; that's up for debate. What do you think?

Best and Worst Quality of Ender

     The main character Ender has many traits that make him super smart but he also has traits that make him ignorant and stupid. For me I personally think his worse trait is how he can be scared easily and doesn't have a hardened heart. This may sound harsh, but if he's going to be the leader of the entire fleet (military) then killing people from an enemy species can't be a hesitation. It needs to be an instant reaction. Another example of this would be when he discovers that he's killed an entire race that was going to eventually going to take over the U.S. and he broke down and started crying instead of being happy that he's the greatest military strategist that has ever lived.
    His best quality would have to be his decisiveness. He can make split second decisions that  make him benefits him in what ever he is doing. Like when he made a shield around the main ship with all of the other ships that allowed them to make a straight shot at the mother plant of the opposing species and making that decision won led to them winning the battle and led to winning the entire war. Ender is a very interesting character and kind of difficult to predict what he is going to do. He is one of the reasons I enjoy reading and keep on reading this book.

Most Important Line from Ender

In all books that people read there are good lines and bad lines, but then there are great lines. The main character Ender said a lot of insightful and interesting things. I mean what do you expect to come from a genius. The most important thing I think Ender said was near the beginning.  It was close to or right when Ender arrived at Battle School. "“As a species, we have evolved to survive. And the way we do it is by straining and straining and, at last, every few generations, giving birth to genius. The one who invents the wheel. And light. And flight. The one who builds a city, a nation, an empire.... Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something” (Card, 35). I think this is the best thing that Ender said because it was summing up all that us as humans have done and what we should do next. This quote really inspired me and I liked it a lot.

About Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is the author of the book I'm currently reading Ender's Game. He's one of Americas top science fiction writers, Currently 62 years old, and was born on August 24, 1951. Hopefully you will like this interview I thought that it was pretty interesting.

The Setting of Ender's Game

I've read about half way through the book now and can basically tell you what the setting of the book is. The general setting of the book is in the future, and so far over the course of the book we've been to North Carolina and Battle School. North Carolina is were the beginning of the book starts and is were Ender and is family live. Then the battle school is basically the entire novel or at least what I have read so far. At battle school that's were all the smartest kids in society go and train to see who will be different roles in the military. They go through not as many physical test but mind tests. When they are there they go through various test/simulations like commanding a high tech fleet and trying to defeat the enemy forces. I'm sure there is tons more to come and I have really enjoyed reading this book so far.

Whats Next

Now that I have finished reading the Hunger Games Trilogy, I have decided to pick up the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I just got the book so honestly I'm not sure what this book is going to be about. All I know is that it is in the future and he a very smart child. So after doing a little looking here's a general summary of what the book is going to be. "Ender Wiggin, the third in a family of child geniuses, is selected by international military forces to save the world from destruction. Before being chosen Ender wears a unique monitor that allows the heads of the military to see things as Ender does. Ender's brother Peter and his sister Valentine also wore this monitor, although neither was selected, nor did they have it for as long as Ender, and Peter will never forgive Ender for this. Peter hates Ender, and even when the monitor is taken out it does nothing to decrease Peter's anger. The same is true of Ender's schoolmates, and he is forced into brutally beating the leader of a gang of bullies in order to protect himself. Although Valentine tries to protect Ender from Peter, he is only saved from his brother when Colonel Graff of the International Fleet comes to take Ender away to Battle School. Ender leaves behind Valentine, who loves him, in order to help save the world from the buggers" (Spark Notes, 2). I'm really looking forward to reading this book and finding out whats inside.

Final Blogging Assessment, English 1B

Is this really happening? Can this be true? My final blog post for the entire Freshman year is finally here! I mean darn the last post, what will I ever do with my self if I don't have to post about a book that I really really really... don't want to read. I guess i'll make due and luckily summer is right around the corner with 23 days to go including the weekends. That's a few days and 3 weeks. This came to me as a shot and a wake up call, like when Peeta attacked Katniss after being brain washed by the Capital, "I raise my left arm and twist my neck down to rip off the pill on my sleeve. Instead my teeth sink into flesh. I yank my head back in confusion to find myself looking into Peeta’s eyes, only now they hold my gaze. Blood runs from the teeth marks on the hand he clamped over my nightlock. “Let me go!” I snarl at him, trying to wrest my arm from his grasp” (Collins, 167). I was just as shocked as Katniss would have been. Now need to keep track and make sure my grades are good and that I need to catch A LOT up on my blogging and that i need to study up for exams and do 20 trillion other things. But it's still something to look forward to and a motivation to do good in school and to finish strong.

A Review On Mocking Jay

Now that I have almost finished reading Mocking Jay I thought I could do a review on the book. So Katniss has finished the second hunger games from the second book and in the beginning of the third book Katniss has discovered District 13 and where the survives from District 12 are staying after the capital had bombed the city. Katniss is standing in the ashes of District 12 going around to places like her old home and Peeta's family bakery (who is still MIA). After this Katniss takes the role of leader of the rebellion. Katniss also is the start in commercial for the rebel side called a propo. The rebels were gaining strength in supporters and helpers such as when Peeta sent out a coded message to warn Katniss and friends. When the Capital found out they released footage of Peeta being tortured. Katniss was not happy how he was been treated. The Capital bombed District 13 and released Peeta and others brainwashed so when Peeta and Katniss reunited he tried to kill Katniss. Once Katniss recovers she’s shot in another and has to recover again after she does Katniss and a few others become part of special squad that films battle. So you might be thinking that this is what happens in most of the book. Wrong. THIS IS JUST THE FIRST PART! I really liked this book but if I continue I'll give out spoilers and I want you to read this book. So go out and pick up a copy of this book and I guarantee that you'll love it.

Krista Ramsey's Article

I read an article by Krista Ramsey called Grandmother says slain girl just an ordinary teen.
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/krista-ramsey/2014/04/05/krista-ramsey-tyann-adkins/7373013/

             This column is about how this girl who was shot at an apartment building after attending her friends funeral the same day was just a regular girl. She was killed by a 14 guy with a criminal background/record (should probably be in jail), and her grandmother said that she was just an ordinary teen girl who loved doing things that every other girl loved doing like social media and getting her nails done. These lines were really well done, "Because they don't fight no more, they shoot," Long said. "And I told her, 'I don't want you walking past six o'clock when it gets dark.' And she'd say, 'Grandma, nobody's going to bother me.' " I liked these lines because it shows how she wasn't scared of the neighborhood that she was in but it shows how dangerous the area they live in really is. The style Krista writes is serious and uses common diction and has medium length sentences which I enjoyed reading and think that this gave this column a good flow. Three questions I would ask her would be:
1. Where do you get inspiration for stories or where do you get stories from?
2. What is your favorite thing to write about?
3. Did they find out the name of the person who committed this crime and is he in jail?

The Best Thing About My Book

              I’m reading MockingJay and the best thing about the book is how all of the characters have developed over the book yet have stayed the same. What I mean is how Haymitch in the beginning was a drunken winner of a previous hunger games and still in the third book he’s a bum and still gets drunk but helps out Petta and Katniss when they need him. Katniss stays mostly the same but goes through some changes throughout the book, in the beginning is a scared and sad girl who thought she was a goner when she went into the game and came out victorious. Who is now the leader of a rebellion going up against the government.

Blog Refelction

After having blogged all trimester it’s finally come to an end.....Until next tri. I think that my best blog post was my post about analyzing/sharing my opinions on the eight chapters I read through in Mocking Jay (http://jcsreadingblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/mocking-jay.html). In this post I talk about how I've read the first two books in the series and how I like how the characters have developed such as Katniss, who in the first book was a scared girl making a sacrifice so her sister, Prim, didn't have to go into the games and most likely die, to being the face of the rebellion in district 13. After that I went through what happened in Chapter 1, which was going through why I thought it was ironic that Katniss was standing in the ashes of what was her house that was destroyed by firebombs and what President Snow's warning said, which told her she could set the world aflame with what she'd done. After that I talked about how I was shocked to read about how Flavius, Octavia and Venia (Katniss's prep. team) where treated in District 13 because they were beaten and then thrown in prison. Katniss seeing this was outraged and demanded they were released. Then towards the end I talked about how Katniss was going to film the propo for TV. A propo is short for propaganda; the propo TV clips are used to make the capital look bad and the rebellion look good. After Katniss told everyone what she was going to say Haymitch said it was terrible then they decided to film it during battle and they could make Katniss look amazing. She was also given a few tactical advantages over her opponents like a bow that reacted with her voice and special body armor.

Even thou blogging helped me expand as a reader/writer, I struggled with it. The main thing I struggled with was keeping up with my posts and my commenting. I overcame this a couple different ways. One way I overcame this was by writing down "post on blog" in a couple different place to remind myself when we didn't post in class like if we had a snow day or had a Monday off, or I would just take an hour or so to just go through all my school work and get caught up with whatever I needed to get caught up with which made me remember that I needed to do a blog post or two. One strength I had with my blogging was going over detailed analysis of what I read, which are my strongest posts, also I think I did well with explaining where I am in a certain book and what’s going on during that time in the book. Overall I think this was a positive experience and sort of look forward to doing this again next trimester.

The Characters in the Trilogy

There are three main characters in the Hunger Game. Katniss Everdeen, the main protagonist, Peeta Mellark, the main tribute for district 12 and Katniss's future husband, and Haymitch Abernathy, Peeta and Katniss's trainer/mentor.  Katniss and Peeta were in the tributes for the Hunger Games in the first book. They have been quite the dynamic duo and ever since then they have been in an act of "true love" but really its not. Haymitch has been there the entire time mentoring and giving them advice the entire time. There is also another character that are not as important but still vital to the story his name is Gale, Katniss's best friend since childhood but their relationship was messed up when the hunger games started.

Mocking Jay

So far I really like this book. The characters have really developed after reading the first two books and parts of the third book, which I’ll have a separate post about. So far I have read to a little after chapter 8. Since this is the first post I’ve done since I started the book I'll start at chapter 1 and then skip around to parts that I liked and parts that are important. In chapter 1, I found it interesting that she stood in the ash covered runes of her house that was destroyed by firebombs and then remembered President Snow warning, who told her she could set the world aflame with what she'd done. I find that ironic that her home was burned down and what President Snow said. I was surprised to see how Flavius, Octavia and Venia where treated in District 13, but since Katniss had power she demanded that they were released. A little bit after Katniss told everyone what she was going to say during the propo, “People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!” She said this on camera and no one reacted and Haymitch broke the silence by saying it was terrible. After conferencing and mending up all the feelings that were hurt and such they decided to film the propo live in battle so Katniss was given a bow that reacted with her voice and special body armor and a special pill that was like poison that she would use if she got captured. So far I like where the book is headed and can’t wait to read more.

A New Beginning

I finally finished reading Catching Fire, it was an awesome book and I enjoyed reading it. Now I am going to read the third book in the series MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins. Since I haven't really read the book besides the first couple of pages here's a brief general summery about whats going to happen in the book.   After Katniss is rescued from the arena by the rebels she agrees to be the symbol of the rebellion.  When the rebels rescue Peeta and the others from the Capitol it is quickly learned that Peeta has been brainwashed into hating Katniss when he tries to kill her upon seeing her.
    After the rebels take back the districts they start attacking the Capitol itself.  Katniss and her team make their way through the booby trapped city.  Losing several of their team as they go.  After awhile Katniss is pushing toward Snow's mansion, which has many human child shields.  Afterwards, supply packages rain down from a hovercraft onto these children and a rebel medical team, which includes Katniss's sister Prim, but instead of supplies there are bombs and all the children die and so does the entire medical team. 
    After Snow's capture he is tried and found guilty.  During a conversation with Snow before his execution is supposed to take place, Snow tells him that the final bombing that killed her sister was not ordered by the Capitol, but by Coin, the leader of the rebellion.  At the execution of Snow Katniss kills Coin instead of Snow because she knows that he was telling the truth.  That it was Coin that ordered the final bombing.  After the riot that issued, Snow was found dead, having either choked on his on blood or being tramped by the crowd.
    Katniss is tried for the murder of President Coin, but is found not guilty because of her "obvious" insanity.  She returns to District 12 with Peeta, who has recovered a lot since his brainwashing, and they become a family and have kids. Can't wait to read this book!

Catching Fire

I'v been reading Catching Fire. Right now I'm around page 150. I think it is very interesting how Peta and Katniss went through that whole cerimony since they won the hunger games to then get put back into the Hunger Games. I also like that lots of the main characters for the first book are brought back into the second book but then there are also the new minor characters like the new people who Katniss and Peta have to fight. Before all of the new Hunger Games stuff I was suprised about what Gale said to Katniss about about loving her and wanting to stay and join the rebellion, But Katniss wants to run away and start a new life before the capital finds them and kills them. I plan on reading alot of this book and getting to the end before my next post.

The Final Chapters of Catching Fire

This week Im very close to finishing this book. Im on chapter 25 so I only have to read two more chapters till the end of the book. I'm really excited to see what happens at the end of the book. I'v been really impressed and satisfied by this book. Even thou I think that the frontish-middle of the book was kind of boring the end got me re-hooked and I started to get more interested into reading the book again. Overall I like the book and would recomend it to anyone looking for a good read or anyone wanting to read a great predecessor too an equally great first book.

Catching Fire

This week I started reading the book Catching Fire. So far I have gotten to around page 60; and I like how the book is going I found it interesting how after the hunger games Katniss and Peeta don’t talk very much and don’t keep acting "in love" like they did during the games even though they live right door in the fancy houses. I was also surprised how Gale kept talking to Katniss even though she broke his friendship and even his heart, but Katniss knows that their friendship will never be as strong as it was before the games even though she hopes their friendship can go back to the way it was. But what really through me for a loop was when President Snow came and visited Katniss at her house and told her that she need to keep up her "lover" act and that he knew that she was sneaking out into the woods outside their district borders to go hunting/ hang out with Gale. Over all I think the book is pretty good right now.