THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Hi!

Today, I’m writing about a book I have just read- namely “The Fault in our Stars”. The book is written by the well-known writer John Green.

John Green is 38 years old, and was born in Indiana in the USA. He is as I said a common writer, and one of the most famous authors for writing for young adults. His most read book is The Fault in our stars, and it won the price  “The #1 fiction title” inn USA i 2012 by Time Magazine. John Green is also popular at social medias with 3 million followers on Twitter, and he has a vlog-channel called vlogbrothers on Youtube, where he posts vlogs with his brother Hank Green.

John Green seems like a funny, intelligent person, though he might be a bit of a nerd. His videoblogs is very open and he shows a lot of his life.

I chose to read the novel because people had recommended it to me, and given the book good feedback. I like to read books about love which is the main subject of the book, and it seemed like to book was written well in addition. I also thought he book title was quite appealing, because it made me curious about the meaning of it.

-Hannah

Leon’s statement – “Tony’s story”

 

Police statement by Leon in conjunction with the crime scene that took place on the canyon, where the state police offer was killed with a bone.

“I was driving on the highway headed to the Sheep camp, when I saw that the state police cop was driving behind us. He pulled up besides us and forced my truck of the road. We stopped the car on the canyon, and I pulled out of the car. This was the second time the state police officer had stopped our car. Tony said something to me but I couldn’t quite hear what he told me. I was facing the police officer, while Tony sat in the car. When I was standing in front of the police officer, he told me that he didn’t like Indians, and by that mean he was going to “beat the shit out of me”. He also told me that he liked to hit Indians with sticks. The next thing that happened was that the police officer was laying dead on the ground bleeding. Tony had killed the police officer with a bone. I got a gas tank, placed it by the car and it caught on fire. Then you(the police) showed up.

Tony killed the police officer, but it was in self deafens. The police officer was going to kill me if Tony hadn’t hit him with the bone. Earlier, the police officer had punched me on the San Lorenzo day, in which caused me to go to the hospital. Later the same police officer threatened me when he pulled my car over; which clearly makes this a matter of self deafens.”

-Hannah

Are there peace at last?

Nelson Mandela dedicated his whole life to fight against Apartheid in South Africa from approximately 1948 to 1994. Even though he spent nearly half of his life or 30 years in prison, he held his head high, and did not give upon the idea that freedom cannot be achieved through fighting and violence. But only through peace.

In one of his many famous speeches he said: “During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to achieve. But, my Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” 
Even though Apartheid was abolished and the “afrikaners” got equal rights- did Mandela achieve his goal?

It’s sad to admit it, but the answer is no. Mandela, ANC and the opponents of Apartheid managed to obtain a society with equal rights for both blacks and whites in South Africa, but there are not harmony yet. The African people still have deep scars and wounds after they were treated so badly during the Apartheid regime. Many are filled with hatred for family and friends who was killed, and after being suppressed for so many years, that they are not willing to forgive yet.

After we watched the documentary “Reggie Yates in South-Africa” in class, we saw that South Africa is a country with a lot of racism and racial segregation. But the circle has turned; there are black domination. It is very hard for whites to get jobs in South Africa, many whites live on the streets, and in white slums. This is not a good outcome nor development, if South Africa is going to be “a free society in which all people live together in harmony and with equal opportunities”.

I believe that if the African people is willing to forgive and go on, the people of South Africa will be able to achieve Nelson Mandela’s goal. If they keep going in the direction they are headed the blacks and whites will not be able live side by side in harmony in the future.

-Hannah

Fighting for freedom

Nelson Mandela and Yawaharlal Nehru are known as freedom fighters. They were both politically active and fought against the regimes in their countries. It was an important issue for the two of them to fight and encourage people without having to use violence, but instead through words.

Yawaharlal Nehru was born in India and lived from 1889 to 1964. He was a central person in the fight for independence in India, and became the first Prime Minister in India in 1947. The same day he became the Prime Minister of India, Nehru held a famous speech to the constituent assembly in New Delhi. Nehru was a socialist, and wanted India to be a democratic republic.

Today, Nelson Mandela is an icon and known as a revolutionary. He was born in South Africa and lived from 1918 until 2013. In South Africa the political system was called apartheid, which segregated the blacks or any other coloured from whites. By other means- the regime was built upon a theory that white people were more worth than coloured people. The political system segregated the two colours at any public place, like the bus or at schools. Nelson Mandela found this a deprivation of freedom and decided to fight back. He became the first black president in 1994, and held a victorious speech to the people of South Africa.

The speeches they held were both about victory and freedom. They thanked all the people that had fought, died and suffered for the freedom, and emphasized that freedom only comes after hard word, and is not something that should be taken for granted. Mandela and Nehru uses some literary tools such as personification, metaphors and symbols. For instance “A rainbow nation in peace with itself” is an example of personification, where Mandela gives a the country of South Africa human abilities. Another similarity is that speeches is very compelling and encouraging.

When Mandela was selected as the president of South Africa in 1994 he had achieved freedom, but in Nehru´s speech he emphasized that the nation of India has to keep fighting for freedom:”As long as there are tears and suffering, our work will never be over”. In addition to that Mandela is a more spiritual man, and ends the speech with “God bless Africa!”. Nehru does not mentioned religion or any belief in his speech.

In brief it seems like they both are very inspired by Ghandi’s way of living, and his idea of non-violence.

I think that this task has been a bit challenging. I found this task challenging, mainly because they used a complicated language and because I never have analyzed speeches before. But the most challenging part was to contrast, because I didn’t understand what to contrast, and I have never done it before. Maybe next time it would be better to get some more information before we receive the homework:) But as long as you stick to the “recipe” on how to analyze, it’s not that hard. It was interesting to learn about these Mandela and Nehru, because they are such inspiring persons, and I am really impressed by their work!

-Hannah

Ernest Hemingway- a great writer

Ernest Hemingway was born into the “Lost generation” during the 1st world war, and is one of the greatest writers in Americas history. Many of those who are a part the “Lost generation” was strongly affected by the war, and some were traumatised and disillusioned. Hemingway himself participated in both the first and second world war, and travelled in Europe and Cuba. He used his experiences and personal life and wrote about them in his stories. Hemingway thought it was important to write “as true” as possible in order to be a good writer.

“A days wait” is a short Hemingway wrote about with a personal experience with his son. The setting takes place at winter time, and when the son; Schatz gets sick. He refuses to tell the father that he is sick and tries to lie and cover up to make his father believe nothing is wrong. After a while the father realises the the son is sick and takes him to the doctor. It turns out that the son misunderstood the thermometer and thought he was deadly sick, but he only had a fever. Schatz didn’t want to tell his father that he was sick. Hemingway chose to describe the setting in “A days wait” as cold, bright and frozen which gives you a feeling like it’s a negative atmosphere. Everything is not exploited in the text- he also writes “under the lines” as a technique to persuade the writer. His writing style is characterized by the many dialogs, which are direct and concise, and contain short lines. In contrast he used long sentences and a more detailed language for descriptions. Hemingway’s words were wisely chosen, and he did not use a lot adjectives or adverbs, but rather precise nouns and verbs.

Source photo

-Hannah

Is it brave to suffer in silence?

Everyone goes through hard times, and experiences some ups and downs on their road through life. When you are having a hard time, it is for some people much easier to keep their problems and concerns for themselves. I believe that it takes courage to open up and talk about what you are going through. It dosen´t necessarily make a you a very brave person or an act of bravery if you keep it inside you, because you handle your suffering on your own. Everyone have to talk about their feelings once in a while, so you just end up digging yourself even deeper than you were if you don´t talk about them. It can be hard to talk to a person about your suffering but it is very good for you. If you decide to talk about your suffering your problems may become easier to bear, or you can even get help. Don´t be afraid to reach a hand out for help.If you have people around you that loves you they will be more than willing to help you through your rough times. Just remember that the burden is much easier to bear if you are two than one!

Source photo

-Hannah

Auditions; rejecting?

Auditions on attending “russebusses” can create a lot of insecurity among a lot of young adults, and give the feeling of exclusion, not being good enough, cool enough and so on. A lot of “russebusses” nowadays have auditions to find the most “fitting” members on their busses. They believe that it is a compulsory to have auditions to find the member that cooperates the best due to all the hard work, the time and money they put into the busses. But what about those who are rejected?

“Russetiden” is the time when the 3 graders in high school celebrate that they are finished with 13 years of school, and can finally do what they want; whether it is to study further, travel or start working. This time is not all about partying, spending money, driving around in the bus and getting drunk every weekend..During the three years you spend working on the bus, you choose the members, work on earning money for the bus and of course during the partying you first of all make new friends. The bus forms it’s own special little community. For some people “Russetiden” is something they remember as ok or waste of money, but for many these years are some of the best years of their life. You make so many memories with the people on your bus and you have a lot of fun. Due to the fact that it takes so much work in advance it is essential that everyone goes along on the bus. Otherwise this time will NOT be as positive as you wish for it to be, and in addition there are a lot of money at stake in case the member start to drop out.

It is important to make sure that the members go along. I believe that it should be up to the bus to choose whether to have auditions or not. The bus should take the decision that gives the best results for the group and creates the best environment. It is still important to think about that the audition should be held in a way that takes care of the people applying at the bus, and makes sure that they just don’t feel rejected if they dosen’t get a seat on the bus.

-Hannah

The “Talking turkeys”

Hello guys! Today i am going to write about a poem I like!

“Talking turkeys” is a poem written by Benjamin Zephaniah. The poem gives you the impression that there are talking turkeys in his poem, which there are. The headline doesn´t give you any deeper insight about the theme.

Zephaniah is a strong opponent against animal cruelty and animal killing. In the poem he questions why we eat turkeys on Christmas instead of greens, because they could rather be our friends. He talks to the turkeys like they are one of his friends, and compares the turkey to a human being.

“Talking turkeys!” is a very playful poem. The main speaker is the author; Zephaniah, but he also has a dialog with the turkeys. He has a very oral language, and uses a language one could hear in the Reggie communities or on the streets. The language has many grammatical faults; the writer uses an unusual language, and some unusual punctuation such as Ò and Õ in random words.

I think that the last sentence; “An yu will mek new friends ‘FOR LIFE’.” stands out. “FOR LIFE`” has a double meaning. You can read the sentence right foreword, and it says that you will make new friends for life if you don´t kill the turkey. FOR LIFE also mean that Zephaniah is for life, and not killing. In this sentence, or with these to words he has brought down the meaning of the whole poem.

The style in which the poem has been written is not written under a strict frame. You still understand what the writer is trying to say. It is written a bit relaxed, but the subject is still something the writer cares a lot about. It is a rhythm in the poem; the word turkey is repeating itself during throughout the text.

What I like about this poem is how the poem is a bit untraditional and playful with the style and the grammatical language. Additionally, I also think that it is important to take care of animals. When I read the poem I feel like Zephaniah is talking to me because the language is oral, and that gives me a bigger impact. It has an important message!

-Hannah

One of the blogs that I read

Good morning!

Today I am going to show you a blog I love reading! I used to read a lot of blogs in middle school, but to be honest I don’t do that anymore. One blog I still hold on to is called annijor.no. Annijor or Anniken Jørgensen is an eighteen-years old girl from Norway. She writes about fashion- which is her passion, posts pictures of her outfits, her opinions and thoughts and experiences from her daily life.

I really like this blog because I am interested in fashion myself and I like her style. I also like reading about her thoughts, and I think that she is a good writer.

Here is a link to her blog: http://annijor.no/

-Hannah

MY NEW BLOG

Hello!

This is my new blog, where I am going to write about things I find interesting.

Hope you enjoy it!

-Hannah