Signpost Journal: The Death Cure

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Book: Death Cure by James Dashner

Page Number: 46

Signpost: Contrasts and Contradictions- Why is the character acting this way?

——————————————————!SPOILER ALERT!———————————————————

In previous pages, Jenson (Rat Man) told the Gladers and members of Group B that they had a choice whether they wanted the Swipe removed. This means they would get their memories. Everyone except Thomas, Minho, and Newt agreed to get their memories back. The next day, Jenson comes into the room the three above are staying in. He tells them that they’re getting their memories back whether they like it or not. Jenson and the other people working in W.I.C.K.E.D might have decided this against their earlier decision because they need everyone to remember everything completely so they can help W.I.C.K.E.D with the blueprints for the killzone (brain) and in finding an antidote for the Flare.

This helped me understand a little bit more about W.I.C.K.E.D. It showed me that they will do anything in their power to find a cure for the Flare and map the killzone. It also showed me that they’re not completely honest and might go back on their words further on in the book.

Literary Comparison Essay

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For many people, getting over a broken relationship can be very tough. Sometimes, you struggle to come to terms with how it ended, or what happened during the relationship. In Ray Bradbury’s classic novel, Fahrenheit 451, Montag struggles to get over a broken relationship with his wife and society. In Kesha’s hit song, “Praying”, she talks about the difficulties she had to face getting over a very tough relationship to find inner peace. Both of these works address happiness, relationship issues, and life struggles. Although the character’s go through different struggles, both stories help show that facing internal struggles can be very hard.

In addition to those similar topics, both of texts talk about dealing with pain from the past and how moving on will help you become a stronger person in the long run. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag struggled to come to with his society and how it had affected him throughout his life. Montag, a fireman who burned books rather than put out fires, felt like a slave to society and wanted to do something to change that. He didn’t feel very happy in any of the relationships he was in, so he decided to turn to books to try and find something that would make him happy.  However, this leads to further problems in his marriage and to him realizing he’s not truly in love with his wife. In the end, Montag, rather than focusing on just improving himself, decides to improve society as a whole. “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” This quote from Fahrenheit 451 is said by Montag to Mildred and shows us that Montag believes there is a greater good to acquire from books. Using books, he is able to get past his broken relationship with his wife and doesn’t hold any hard feelings towards society after all is said and done. In Kesha’s “Praying,” she says, ” You brought the flames and you put me through hell.” Kesha sings this to show us that the other person in the relationship that left her damaged treated her very badly and made her life miserable. Although she did face many hardships in that relationship, she was able to move on and even forgive the other person. This is shown in the phrase,” Oh, but after everything you’ve done, I can thank you for how strong I have become.” Kesha then sings, ” I’ve found a strength I’ve never known.” This shows that she moved on from the relationship and looked towards herself to find inner peace. In both texts, the characters are deeply hurt by a failed relationship and they have to search for something that will help them find inner peace and move on from said relationships.

Although both texts deal with negative relationships, these relationships are different in many ways. These leads to a difference in how the theme of forgiving and moving on are presented in both texts. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag’s inability to come to terms with the fact that his wife and him aren’t truly in love leads to him struggling until the very end of the novel. It is only when the city is destroyed and he realizes him and the other men have to rebuild society that he truly finds inner peace. In Kesha’s song, she shows us that going through a tough relationship can have a positive side effect because you become a stronger person after everything. “Oh, but after everything you’ve done, I can thank you for how strong I have become.” This shows that while her relationship wasn’t perfect, she was able to get something positive from it and doesn’t hold any hard feelings towards the other person.

In conclusion, both Fahrenheit 451 and “Praying” show us that facing internal struggles can be very difficult but it can lead to you getting something positive from it. Both pieces give us different situations and advice for dealing with damaged relationships. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Montag struggles to get over a broken relationship with his wife and society. In Kesha’s “Praying”, she talks about the difficulties she had to face getting over a very tough relationship to find inner peace.

 

Literary Essay of Fahrenheit 451

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Ray Bradbury’s classic dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, takes place in an unspecified futuristic society in America. Society is ruled by technology, violence, and lack of individuality. In order to promote this lack of individuality, books are banned so nobody gets new ideas. Montag’s job as a fireman is to burn the houses down that have books. However, Guy struggles to do this as he wonders about his life and what is inside books. Beatty and the rest of society stand in Montag’s way of finding answers. One lesson the book suggests is that knowledge leads to happiness.

This lesson is developed throughout the book in many ways. One way this is developed is through Clarisse. Clarisse is different from anyone else Montag’s ever met and she makes Guy start to question his life and overall happiness. When Montag first meets Clarisse and they walk home together the book says, “There was only the girl walking with him now, her face bright as snow in the moonlight.” This helps show Clarisse’s purity which is what makes Clarisse stand out from everybody else because it gives her a sense of happiness and innocence. It is also these two traits that lead to Montag questioning things and changing throughout the story. Another way that Clarisse represents the lesson that ignorance doesn’t lead to happiness through her constant questioning of things in society. When Guy and Clarisse come to Clarisse’s house and he sees all the lights turned on he asks,” What’s going on?” and Clarisse answers, “Oh, just my mother and father and uncle sitting around, talking. It’s like being a pedestrian, only rarer. My uncle was arrested another time-did I tell you?-for being a pedestrian. Oh, we’re most peculiar.” Clarisse is explaining to Montag how her family is different from everyone else due to the fact that they sit back and appreciate life rather than just speeding through it like others do. This, along with Clarisse’s questions to Montag, deeply affect him throughout the story.  Before going into her home, Clarisse turns around and asks Montag, “Are you happy?” This offsets Montag to realize how empty and emotionless the society he lives in is. Realizing that TV and all other technology in his life are distractions to keep him and everyone else subdued. Montag begins to search for something that provides him with knowledge.

Consequently, books, but more specifically the action of reading books, help represent the lesson that knowledge is happiness. This is shown in the novel when Montag and Mildred sit down and start to look through books after Captain Beatty visits Montag and tells him he has 24 hours to search for answers in books. Mildred doesn’t really care about finding anything and Montag who’s not a very good reader finds it hard to understand what he’s reading. So, he decides to go to Mr. Faber’s home, a retired English professor. There, he finds not only more knowledge about books, but he finds a new friend.  Faber gives Montag several important pieces of information in many different ways, including through a story. “Do you know the legend of Hercules and Antaeus, the giant wrestler whose strength was incredible so long as he stood firmly on the earth. But when he was held, rootless, in midair by Hercules, he perished easily.” Using this story, Faber was trying to communicate to Montag that in order to take down or change society, the people in the society have to start thinking for themselves like Hercules did in order to find Antaeus’ weakness and defeat him. This means acquiring knowledge about their society and using that knowledge to take it down. On his way home, Montag hears an annoying jingle, “Denham’s Dentifrice, Denham’s Dandy Dental Detergent, Denham’s Dentifrice Dentifrice Dentifrice,” while riding on the bus. As everyone taps and hums along to it, Montag finds it harder and harder to focus on reading the Bible. This jingle, which is an example of alliteration, helps represent that everyone is a sheep in Montag’s society because the ad is blared so loudly and is so repetitive it blocks out your thinking and need to have a conversation. This also keeps the people in Montag’s society under control and subdued. When Montag finally arrives home, Mildred’s friends are over. Montag tries to understand them and how they can act so shallow, but when he can’t, he starts to read from a poetry book. Montag grabbed the poetry book in hopes of giving the women knowledge about books and what they contain because he’s so desperate to fit in and be happy.

At the end of the novel, Montag is at the fire station when they receive a call to burn a house down. While driving there, Montag doesn’t think he can do his job and burn down his house. A common sign of unhappiness is when things that you used to enjoy doing suddenly don’t bring you happiness anymore. This could be contributed to earlier in the story when Montag and the other firemen witnessed an old woman burn down her own house rather than let them do their job. Montag said to Mildred later about that incident, “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” Montag was deeply affected which further deteriorates his overall happiness. When they finally arrive at the house they have to burn down, Montag realizes it is his house and is forced by Captain Beatty to burn down his house. The burning of his own house could be a metaphor that represents burning down or destroying the things that make you unhappy. Captain Beatty soon discovers Montag has been communicating with Faber through a green bullet and Montag, in order to keep Faber safe, decides to burn Captain Beatty alive. Montag is then forced to run away to Faber’s house where they decide it is best for Montag to leave the city and find more like-minded people on the other side of the river. “The dry smell of hay, the motion of the waters, made him think of sleeping in fresh hay in a lonely barn away from the loud highways, behind a quiet farmhouse.” This display of imagery is used when Montag’s almost done crossing the river to create a strong sense of peacefulness. After escaping from the Hound and society, he can finally stop and think of a happier place to be than stuck in his cold and detached society. When Montag finally meets up with the other men,  Granger recounts to him the story of the phoenix,” There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up… But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we’re doing the same thing, over and over, but we’ve got one damn thing the phoenix never had. We know the damn silly thing we just did. We know all the damn silly things we’ve done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, someday we’ll stop making the goddamn funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them.” Granger uses this allusion to represent that Montag’s society was making mistakes that eventually built up and destroyed their society. Granger, however, doesn’t want to keep repeating the same mistakes. He wants to take the knowledge they’ve gained from previously failed societies and implement it into the new society Montag, Granger, and other people will have to rebuild. The destruction of society represents a cleansing of all things that made people unhappy and the phoenix helps illustrate that with knowledge, mistakes that lead to unhappiness can be avoided.

Some might argue that the lesson conveyed in Fahrenheit 451 is just curiosity. However, this curiosity is often driven by the search for happiness in the book. Clarisse’s happiness and innocence come from her constant questioning of things and her ability to think for herself. Montag’s search for answers in books is driven by Clarisse’s question to him, “Are you happy?” Without that question of happiness, many of Montag’s searches for answers and knowledge would not have occurred.

In conclusion, a lesson that’s developed throughout Fahrenheit 451 is that knowledge leads to happiness. This is shown throughout the novel in many different ways which include Clarisse McClellan, a supporting character that is a catalyst for Montag’s search for knowledge, books, which Montag turns to looking for answers, and destruction, which helps represent a purification of things that make one unhappy. Something that we can take from the novel is that we shouldn’t be happy with basic information society gives you, you should question why things occur and try to gain more knowledge.

Introduction to Fahrenheit 451

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Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel that takes place in the future. Set in the 24th century, Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of the protagonist,Guy Montag. Guy lives in a suburban city just like any other in his time period.  Guy, along with everybody else lives in a dark empty house. Surrounded by technology, the people in this book don’t really get to know or talk to each other. They spend the entire day using some form of technology, eerily similar to our own lives considering this book was originally written in 1953.  The book’s atmosphere feels very heavy and foreboding throughout, giving a sense that something is terribly wrong in this futuristic society.

Guy begins the story taking pleasure in burning illegally owned books and the homes of their owners. Guy’s a fireman, but rather than putting out the fires like our firemen do, Guy’s job is to ignite. While coming home one day, Guy stumbles upon Clarisse McClellan and is introduced to her. Clarisse is the opposite of anyone Montag has ever met before, she is young, pretty, and energetic. Most importantly, she’s willing to talk about things with Montag that he had never considered. Clarisse leaves Guy questioning everything in his life including his marriage, whether he’s happy or not, and why he burns books. As Montag struggles to find himself in a place where the government is against individuality and where people feel isolated from each other, he’s also faced with other issues.

DACA Repeal- Destroying Lives or Protecting America?

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Imagine being born a war-torn, violent, and crime ridden country, where people die every day fighting for their right to be free, or to protect themselves from indiscriminate violence. Now imagine your parents, who loved you so much they didn’t want you to know what war and death were like at such an early age, fled to a country that promises “Liberty and justice for all.” Now imagine growing up in that free country, enjoying basic freedoms and rights, living out your entire life in there, only to have someone say you have to leave because you as a person are “illegal”.

That’s what some young people and adults are facing right now. After living out most or all of their recallable memories here in the United States, a recent announcement from President Trump’s administration said that they would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA for short, if Congress doesn’t find a more permanent solution.

Ever since being put in place under President Barack Obama, about 800,000 immigrants who were children when they arrived in the US illegally have received protections through the DACA program. These include halting of deportation and the capacity to work and go to school in the US legally.

Before diving deeper into who will be affected by DACA ending, why DACA is still controversial, and what’ll happen next, here’s a simple explanation of DACA:

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, is a program created by the Obama administration in 2012 which would allow young people who were brought into the US by their parents without documentation, to temporarily be spared from deportation and receive permission to get a job, go to school, and earn their driver’s licenses.

In order to be eligible for this program, these people, also known as “DREAMers”, had to be younger than 16 when they came into US, must have entered United States before June 15, 2007, had to be undocumented on June 15,2012 (DACA’s enactment date), have to be at least 15 to apply for DACA, having a clean criminal record, a high school graduate or GED, or had been discharged from the Coast Guard or US Armed Forces. This allows you to lawfully work in the US and get a driver’s license. In order to maintain under the protection from DACA, recipients must renew their license every 2 years.

There’s about 800,000 DACA recipients, or DREAMers, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Most of the recipients have arrived from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala with several thousands more from Asia.

The term DREAMer comes from the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, originally introduced to Congress in 2001. After being stalled in Congress for some time, several others have tried to introduce several different versions of the DREAM Act. All of these would have provided a pathway for undocumented youth to legal citizen status. The closest the DREAM Act has come to becoming a law was in 2010, when it fell just short of 60 votes in Senate. In order to provide temporary relief from deportation and a chance to work legally for specific undocumented youth, the Obama administration created DACA on June 15,2012. Since Obama passed DACA under executive order, some said he overstepped his authority and that DACA was unconstitutional because it didn’t go through Congress before being passed.

Several people have debated over the constitutionality of DACA, but according to Eric Schneiderman, the current New York Attorney General, “No court has held (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) unconstitutional.” Eric Schneiderman, along with a group of 15 other attorney generals have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that they’re discriminating against Mexicans, who make up 78 percent of the DACA recipients. Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump “has fragrantly displayed an anti-Latino, particularly anti-Mexican discriminatory animus,” Schneiderman said on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.

While many experts on the topic continue to argue about the constitutionality of DACA, without a court ruling on it, we cannot be entirely sure on whether Obama over stepped his executive powers or not.

During an August 2016 campaign event, Trump said, “We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties, in which he defied federal law and the constitution to give amnesty to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants.” Trump promised to end DACA as well as the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).

Although Trump said during his campaigning days that he would immediately end DACA and DAPA, he has recently started to backtrack on that promise.

Trump has said several times before that DACA was something he found difficult to end. However, pressure from his supporters and threats from 10 conservative attorney generals pushed the Trump administration to leave DACA in the hands of Congress.

“We’re going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me. I will tell you. To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have,” Trump claimed at a press conference in February.

But you have some absolutely incredible kids — I would say mostly. They were brought here in such a way, It’s a very — it’s a very, very tough subject. We are going to deal with DACA with heart. I have to deal with a lot of politicians, don’t forget. And I have to convince them that what I’m saying is, is right. And I appreciate your understanding on that,” Trump said.

“But the DACA situation is a very, very difficult thing for me because you know, I love these kids,” Trump added. “I loved kids. I have kids and grandkids and I find it very, very hard doing what the law says exactly to do. ”

While the Trump administration has decided to rescind DACA and leave the DREAMers in the hands of Congress, it’s clear to say that Trump did not want to hurt the kids being helped by DACA.

We interviewed Sarah Ford, Spanish teacher at Blackhawk Middle School. While she is not directly affected by DACA, Mrs. Ford knows many people who are.

While Mrs. Ford doesn’t know as many people as she thought she did, she still has some very strong feelings about DACA and Trump. She believes that “Trump wants to end everything that Obama did that was good.”  With Trump repealing Obamacare and rescinding DACA, Mrs. Ford feels strongly about her position.

When asked what she thinks would happen to those affected by DACA when their protections end, she answered, “Some will go back in the shadows, most will have to leave. It will change everyone’s lives.”

As we wait for Congress to decide on what to do with DACA, we can only hope that what they chose is in everyone’s best interests. While you can’t directly affect Congress’ decision on DACA, you can help those who are under DACA’s protection. Recently, the state of Rhode Island announced they would cover the $495 application fee for all eligible DACA recipients who can reapply before the program ends.

Gov. Gina Raimondo said in a statement, “We’re not going to allow $495 to stand in the way of our neighbors’ dreams.”

The Orange County Immigrant Youth United (OCIYU) is currently raising money to help 30 DACA recipients that are eligible for renewal. Try getting involved locally, many communities have held protests and march in support of DACA. Supporting DACA activists and staying involved with organizations will help also. There’s many things you could do to help those whose lives hangs in the balance.

DACA Repeal (Rough Draft)

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Imagine being born a war-torn, violent, and crime ridden country, where people die every day fighting for their right to be free, or to protect themselves from indiscriminate violence. Now imagine your parents, who loved you so much they didn’t want you to know what war and death were like at such an early age, fled to a country that promises “Liberty and justice for all.” Now imagine growing up in that free country, enjoying basic freedoms and rights, living out your entire life in there, only to have someone say you have to leave because you as a person are “illegal”.

That’s what some young people and adults are facing right now. After living out most or all of their recallable memories here in the United States, a recent announcement from President Trump’s administration said that they would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA for short, if Congress doesn’t find a more permanent solution.

Ever since being put in place under President Barack Obama, about 800,000 immigrants who were children when they arrived in the US illegally have received protections through the DACA program. These include halting of deportation and the capacity to work and go to school in the US legally.

Before diving deeper into who will be affected by DACA ending, why DACA is still controversial, and what’ll happen next, here’s a simple explanation of DACA:

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, is a program created by the Obama administration in 2012 which would allow young people who were brought into the US by their parents without documentation, to temporarily be spared from deportation and receive permission to get a job, go to school, and earn their driver’s licenses.

In order to be eligible for this program, these people, also known as “DREAMers”, had to be younger than 16 when they came into US, must have entered United States before June 15, 2007, had to be undocumented on June 15,2012 (DACA’s enactment date), have to be at least 15 to apply for DACA, having a clean criminal record, a high school graduate or GED, or had been discharged from the Coast Guard or US Armed Forces. This allows you to lawfully work in the US and get a driver’s license. In order to maintain under the protection from DACA, recipients must renew their license every 2 years.

There’s about 800,000 DACA recipients, or DREAMers, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Most of the recipients have arrived from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala with several thousands more from Asia.

The term DREAMer comes from the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, originally introduced to Congress in 2001. After being stalled in Congress for some time, several others have tried to introduce several different versions of the DREAM Act. All of these would have provided a pathway for undocumented youth to legal citizen status. The closest the DREAM Act has come to becoming a law was in 2010, when it fell just short of 60 votes in Senate. In order to provide temporary relief from deportation and a chance to work legally for specific undocumented youth, the Obama administration created DACA on June 15,2012. Since Obama passed DACA under executive order, some said he overstepped his authority and that DACA was unconstitutional because it didn’t go through Congress before being passed.

Several people have debated over the constitutionality of DACA, but according to Eric Schneiderman said, “No court has held (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) unconstitutional.”

Shocking News for Students at Blackhawk Middle School

Posted on by under Class Assignments

On Thursday, August 24, 2017, 8th grade students in 1st period language arts had their classes interrupted for a special announcement by Mrs. Oaks, Blackhawk Middle School’s new instructional coach. Students received shocking news from Mrs. Oak, starting the day after Labor day, all students at BMS would be required to wear uniforms.

Students, as expected, had an outburst but were briefly calmed as they were explained why the new dress code policy would take effect. Afterwards, Mrs. Oaks gave them a chance to ask questions. One student reports seeing 20 hands flying up into the air, eager to ask questions. Students asked questions like, ” Why is it taking effect after Labor Day? Do students get a say on whether we should wear uniforms? How are students supposed to be themselves if we have to wear uniforms? If we have to wear uniforms, do the teachers have to as well?”

These are all very good questions for something so controversial placed on the students so suddenly. Shortly after answering several questions, Mrs. Oaks had to leave. The movable wall that separated the two language arts classes was put back into place and classes resumed. In Mr. Hoering’s class,  students had more questions and complaints for Mr. Hoering. Several students were simply outraged and could not believe what was happening. Some students report hearing the phrases, ” I’m moving to Lane,” or, “I’m not wearing uniforms. One student was so agitated by what they’d just been told they walked out of the classroom.

In order to keep the students under control, Mr. Hoering had to reveal the truth. The dress code policy was just a writing prompt. As Mr. Hoering probably expected, the class went wild. The students felt angry, relieved, and in shock that their very own teachers and administration would betray them like that. Others couldn’t believe it was all for a writing assignment when they could have easily been given the prompt on paper.

We asked Mr. Hoering why he did that rather than just hand out the writing prompt and he says, “The things that the students felt, they just can’t be brought up out of nowhere and put into a writing assignment. The students had to feel those things, anger, shock, and all the other emotions they felt today in order to turn it into a good essay on why they should or shouldn’t have uniforms.”

While we may never agree on whether students should wear uniforms and whether they’re good or bad for students, I think we should agree that students get a say in the matter. After all, they’re the ones that have to wear the uniforms.

“I am a reader!”

Posted on by under Book Posts, Class Blog Posts

The last book I read, which was over the summer, was The Thief  by Megan Whalen Turner.  What I enjoyed about this book is that there was a huge plot twist towards the end, and that the story line seemed to flow from scene to scene without feeling forced. There was some humor in the book and Gen is a very well created character. Although he’s been living in prison, he isn’t spiteful towards the magus, his apprentices, or Pol, the soldier. Towards the end of the book, I would say he ends up becoming friends with all but one of them. This book is the first in a series of 5 and I will definitely be reading the other books.

 

The book I chose from the library is City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. The reason I chose it is because I started reading The Mortal Instruments series during 7th grade year but I forgot about it over the summer because I started reading the 5th wave series. I think its probably going to be a continuation of the last book, Jace, Clary, and all the other Shadowhunters trying to stop Sebastian.

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