The theme of Little Brother

Little Brother.... Whats there left to say?
I liked the book, in some parts at least. The ending was a little to romantic.. He could as well just writen "and then they lived happely ever after"... But the book is for teens that is why I gues it ended like it did. The theme of the book is very interesting. If you ever have read the book 1984 or seen the movie, u know what the theme is.

survaliance and security is the theme of the particulary book. Plain and simpel. I gues this book tries to not only give people a feeling that this is something to think about, but also makes them do something with it. The books tells us about the thin line between security and violation of once privacy.

In the human rigths its writen "every person has the rigth for respect of his privacy, family life and his home". If u ask me this is excatly that this book is taking up for discustion. Even though this book is written as it happens in the future, you can se many simalarties in that society and this one.

So this will be the last thing i write on this blogg. It has been fun and i hope you guys learned something about the book and its theme.

Best regards Kristian Munter

The Importance of Mothers in the Secret Life of Bees Task 4

A Jewish adage says that God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers. Already from birth children connects with their mother in an own special way. Their bond is almost unbreakable, even tough they might grow up to be different people – the relationship between a mother and a child is something special. Being a mother is a fulltime job with more tasks than any other job; being a psychologist, carpenter, chef, mediator, a cleaner and most importantly a moral support is one of the most important jobs on earth. The fundamental values and morals are being built with the help form a mother. An Arabic adage says that the mother is a school, if she is well reread you are sure to build a nation. A mother is the biggest and most important role model in a Childs life trough out the life.

Lilly is haunted by the fact she is responsible for the killing of her mother. The loss, conscience and emptiness she feels is unbearable throughout the book. However, the book sends mixed signals whether Lilly is responsible for the murder or not. The episode happened when Lilly was four years old, and her memory back to the fateful day is rather dizzy. All she can remember is that her mother and father had a fight, and Deborah (Lilly’s mother) was packing her bags. A gun was lying on the floor, and suddenly a horrible sound went of. This is the official story that neighbors and the citizens of the small town of Sylvan in South Carolina have been told, including Lilly. Deep inside Lilly desperately hopes that this is not the case. Her father T-Ray has never given Lilly the love, compassion or support she needed. Lilly is trying the best she can to please her father, but nothing seems to win him over. Lilly is deeply unhappy with her living condition.

However, during the book we meet especially two important women that give Lilly the love and support she needs. Lilly feels unwanted both by her father and by the people of Sylvan –especially by the girls at her age. After Deborah’s death Rosaleen takes over as Lilly’s stand in mother. Rosaleen is a proud and scarp Afro-American woman. Lilly was eight when she realized Rosaleen cared and loved her. They had been too a marked and Rosaleen bought an Easter-dyed biddy to Lilly. T-Ray did not approve the gift, but Rosaleen could not care less. Rosaleen told T-Ray “There is worse things in this house than chicken shit” – “You ain’t touching that chick”. T-Ray backed down, and let Lilly keep the gift. Not only had Rosaleen stood up for Lilly, but she also bought her a gift – T-Ray had never bought her anything.

Rosaleen and Lilly’s relationship in the book is characterized with love, jealousy, misunderstandings and basic differences. Rosaleen is a scarp woman who stands up for her rights and herself. For instance the time Lilly and Rosaleen was heading into town, because Rosaleen was registering to vote after the civil rights act. On the news they are warning Afro-Americans from going into town, because several people had been killed for registering. On the way to town, they meet a group of the wrong kinds of men, racists. Rosaleen refused to back down and eventually ends up being abused and put into jail. Lilly could not understand why Rosaleen refused to back down or why she would go into town after the warnings on the television. Lilly does not understand why, because she would back down herself. When girls at her school called her names or talked bad to her, she would not stand up for herself. However, she would most likely not find herself in that kind of a situation because she would not dear. These are a few of the differences between Lilly and Rosaleen, but they still love each other like a mother and a daughter would, regardless of their faults and mistakes. Their love is unconditional.

After Lilly helps Rosaleen out of jail, they escape to Tiburon South Carolina. Lilly’s emptiness after her mothers loss is the reason. In her own private box, were she has a few belongings after her mother – she has a picture of a black Mary, written Tiburon S.C on the back. However, this is only one of the reasons that brings Lilly and Rosaleen to Tiburon in South Carolina. They soon find the people behind the black Mary photo; May, June and August and August is the person being the black Mary. They ask the sisters if they can stay for a while, because they are passing threw to Virginia. They are allowed to stay and work.

Lilly’s other mother figure in the book is in my opinion August. August makes Lilly feel safe, but also loved, accepted and also a peace in mind. August shows Lilly trust for the first time in her life. Lilly and Rosaleen lied when they asked to stay with the sisters. Lilly told them that both her father and mother were dead (Rosaleen was their maid), and that they only needed a place to stay for few days. Both June and August knew this was a lie, but they still let them stay. June behaved differently towards Lilly than August. June does not trust her, while August does. August believes that Lilly will tell her the truth when she is ready herself to it. Lilly has never experienced this kind of trust and love before. Even from Rosaleen, Lilly is still meet with some criticism and disbelief. The relationship between Lilly and August is influenced by unconditional love.

August and Rosaleen is however to very different people. Rosaleen does not believe in the goodness in people, in my impression. Rosaleen has probably had a tough life with discrimination and experienced harsh life lessons; within trust, love and sorrow. While August on the other side, believes in the benefit of the doubt. Personally I think August has experienced a tough life as well, but handles her disappointments differently. August still gives people a second chance, something Rosaleen does not in my opinion. For instance, in the way Rosaleen treats T-Ray, although maybe August would treat him the same after years of disappointment.

One of the questions I had in the beginning of the book was; will Lilly ever heal after the loss of her mother? And yes, I think she will! To run away from T-Ray was the best thing Lilly ever did for herself in my opinion. Although I fear she might have too many expectations about finding more about her mother, the trip to Tiburon S.C will never be something Lilly will regret I believe. I think Lilly learned that she actually matters, and that people care about her in a way she never expected. She is about to be completed as a person. Soon, she will not accept people taking badly to her, or her father’s sarcasm. Her confidence is growing. What a beautiful story.

The Book VS The Movie - The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees is a book however it is also a movie who is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and the book is written by Sue Monk Kidd. The book was published in 2003 and the movie in October 2008.
As known the book is about a girl who is 14 years old, she is named Lily Melissa Owens, she lost her mother when she was 4. She shot her mother by accident as her mother Deborah and her Father T.Ray where fighting. Anyways, the book goes on and we get to meet different people and get to read about Rosaleen (T.Ray and Lily’s housekeeper) and Lily’s journey and how they get through tough problems in their life.

I like the book and the movie in different ways, the book is very well written and it contains a lot of different feelings and emotions. In the book you can create the looks of the characters as you wish and after the descriptions in the book, however in the movie the people are picked out and it might not be as you imagined still I like the people they picked out for the different characters, and the actors play their part well. This is one of the reasons I like the movie very much, the feeling you get and the connection you have with the characters after reading the book gets more alive while watching the movie. I feel that the actor Dekoda Fanning who plays Lily in the movie plays her part excellent I really imaged Lily looking and acting like her. Many people will not agree with me but this is my point of view and I’m very satisfied with her part in the movie and as mentioned the other actors.
Even though many scenes are cut out in the movie we can see the whole picture and the meaning of the book. As most times there are things that happens in the book that we think is important that aren’t in the movie, still the movie would either be to long or messy if it was line by line. However, after you have read a book you get close to the characters as I mentioned I did. You get to read about their thoughts, their emotions and their view of things in daily life bases. So, when the movie is made and you know almost everything about the characters and the story you set your expectations on a level, it might be high or even low, still they are expectations. This makes it hard for whoever is producing the movie to fur fill every single expectation. People view the movie and the book in different ways and thinks of the different people in different ways and these are the reasons to why some might love the movie and hate the book or opposite.

The feelings and the emotions that are in the book are so deep and clean and well explained, and while watching the movie we can see them personally and not just read about them. After telling you about how much I think that the actors play their parts well you can guess that they also carry the emotions over on the screen perfectly. I cant decide what the main topic is in the book or even in the movie, there are so many themes. Love, forgiveness, courage, hate. The hole movie and the book is filled with love, the love they have for one another like Lily for Rosaleen, August, May and even June and opposite. And then there is forgiveness, Lily who needs to forgive T. Ray for being such and awful father toward her. August, May and June needing to forgive Rosaleen and Lily for lying about why they needed a place to stay. Neil forgiving June for not wanting to marry him, August, June, Rosaleen and Lily needed to forgive May for her suicide etc. Courage is also a big part in both the movie and the book, Rosaleen shows courage when she stands up against the white men when they make fun of her, Lily having the courage to break Rosaleen out of jail and the courage to run away from T. Ray. June who at the end has courage to marry Neil etc. Then we have hate, hate witch is shown in the scene where both Rosaleen and Zack gets beaten up from white men. The hate that Lily often feels toward her father etc.
I personally cant pick one of these themes or even other themes that I haven’t mentioned like racism and many others. So, I cant make myself pick witch one of these has the biggest impact in the movie or in the book. They all play so big parts to me.

I love reading books so when I heard we where going to read a book I didn’t mind reading any book at all. I’m happy with my choice and I loved the book and also the movie. I had a great experience writing on a blogg and learning how it works. It was a little stressful because this is all new to me and I didn’t know how much and how often we where suppose to write but it was great to use another learning method and doing something new. All in all I loved reading and writing about the book and seeing others opinions and reading about the other books that other students in our class read about.

The book versus the movie + the whole bloging experience

To begin with, I'd just like to say that I'm positively surprised! My expectations on the movie were neither high nor low. It was better than I thought it would be, considering the fact that the book is always better than the movie. But this time, I'm not that sure what I think.
The reason may be that I expected so much from the book (after all, it was the New York Times best seller), but from the movie on the other hand, I didn't expect much at all.

I'll try not te repeat what all the others have already written.
To sum my opinions up in an easily read way, these are my reflections on the adaption, both positive and negative.

First of all, this is what I though about the actors, and also how I think the characters were portrayed in the movie in comparison to the book:

-Rosaleen (played by Jennifer Hudson): Rosaleen was very similar to how I had imagined her, reading the book. However, I think she was more of a mother figure in the book. I also think she seemed more energetic and outgoing in the book than what she did in the movie. In the movie I found her a bit more calm and quiet.




-Lily (played by Dakota Fanning): My view on Lily is that she comes across as more tough and brave in the movie than what she does in the book. Reading the novel, I got the impression that she was very vulnerable. She is of course vulnerable in the movie as well, but not as much I think. Other than that, she was just like I had expected reading the book.




- June (played by Alicia Keys): June was great! Although I thought she was a bit of a bitch to start with, I really liked her. She was Alicia Keys did a good job!
I pictured June to be tough, honest and perhaps a bit angry. Watching the movie, my view on her didn't change.


-May (played by Sophie Okonedo): May is wonderful, and not to mention, interesting and fascinating. She was my favourite character in the book, so she was the one I was the most excited about seeing. And she did not disappoint me one bit. She was ust as delighful in the movie! (But just to mention it, I think she appeared more "normal" in the movie, and a bit more "crazy" in the novel) But still, you have got to love May!












- August (played by Queen Latifah): I have nothing much to say about August. She was exaaactly like I had imagined her; sweet, warm, loving and also very wise. Queen Latifah played the part of August very well.








-T. Ray (played by Paul Bettany): Fiiinally it's time to talk about T.Ray. I remember that a lot of us thought that T.Ray was just a mean, horrible man with nothing but hatred and anger inside of him. Others thought that he had something good in him. Deep, deep down, there had to be something other than just hate and bitterness, and that he did love Lily, he just didn't show it. Reading the book, you couldn't really know, you could only assume. In the movie on the other hand, you get to see the soft side of T.Ray. Well, maybe not exactly soft, but at least the more sympathetic side of him. I felt more sorry for him in the movie than what I did reading the book. I considered him more of a violent and aggressive person than what was shown in the movie. So of course, I liked him better in the movie.





When it comes to the story, I liked how the story was quite similar , even though some parts were left out (I think that's completely normal though. A book covers a lot more, so including every event, would probably make the movie about 3 hours long).



Some parts were also very different.
-In the movie Zach doesn't get thrown into jail, he gets beat up after taking Lily to the cinema, and then he disappears. Personally, I liked the movie version better.
I'm not going to sum up every event that was different, but what I can say, is that I thought that the movie producers managed to find another way which really worked.

I agree with those of you who have written that the theme is courage. Lily is very brave to run away from home, and trying to find the truth about her mother, while the black women (and Zach) are brave in the way they do not bow down for the white race, they are proud and courages people.


Over all, I liked both the book, and the movie. I enjoyed watching the movie more than reading the book. If I were to rate both of them I would give the book a 6 or a 7 out of 10, and the movie an 8 out of 10.

I do not regret my choice about reading The Secret Life of Bees at all, it was a cute and charming story with interesting characters.
I would recommend The Secret Life of Bees to people (mostly girls) who like warm and loving stories with a message. It doesn't really matter whether you're 90 or 9.

Bloging about the book, wasn't actually all that bad. It was interesting to see what the others who read the book, thought. What their reflections and opinions were, and comparing them to mine. Reading about the other books was interesting too, and how the readers experienced them. It was a more fun way to do it, than just talking about it. I think the combination of both bloging about it and talking about it, made it a lot more fun and it probably also made it easier for Tor to evaluate us and our work. The fact that reading a novel is part of the curriculum, is great, I think. So I definitely wouldn't mind doing this again!

Secret life of bees

Apparently all the girls are reading the secret life of bees, so you have to be nice with me. I realized I should have been one of the first people to post this post, cause when I read true the other posts, and I must say I agree with most of them. Anyways, her are my opinions.

I have never experienced liking a movie better than the original book. Never. (Not even twilight). In the book - secret life of bees we get to know Lilly in a different way, than in the movie. This is off course because we hear her inner thoughts and emotions, and honestly I really missed this in the movie. Many senses were missing in the movie. Especially when Lilly was laying in bed home in Sylvan, South Carolina were she was upset and sad. Even in the beginning of the movie, I was annoyed by the changed scenes from the book. I remember especially the scene were Lilly wants to show T-Ray all the bees in her room. This was after a long describstion about previous events between T-Ray and Lilly, which gave us a good understanding about the relationship between them. She also stud up for T-Ray so early in the movie that it just seemed like she was a rebellion child in my opinion. Moments that are important for us to understand Lilly were gone in the movie, and I thought that was a shame!

I guess I am the only one who thinks Lilly was a different person in the book compared to the movie. In the movie I got the impression that she was brave, strong and fearless - which is not the impression I got from the book. In the book I taught Lilly was so vulnerable, full out of guilt and had little confidence and belief in her self. Off course people act differently than what they really feel inside - but this was not the Lilly I knew form the book, not how she appeared to people either in my impression. So I was surprised over how brave she was in the movie.

Most people liked T-Ray after seeing the movie. I still hate him! Sorry guys, but he is full of crap. I liked the ending in the movie better than the book off course - cause of the last scene, but I still don't like him. Lilly wanted him to fight more for her, even though she didn't want to leave with him, she wanted him to finally show his care and love for her. And guess what.. HE FAILED AGAIN! Just cause a guy shows a "little" emotions doesn't mean he's okay. However, I get why people "forgive" him in the movie. Just that small talk about his feelings was a break trough for Lilly, but I think Lilly deserves better and the small break trough isn't enough for me!

I was happy with May, June and August! They were more what I imagined form the book, especially May - I really liked her part in the movie.

When it comes to the theme in the book, I think it is about forgiveness, courage and hope and faith. Forgiveness is central in the book in my opinion. Lilly for instance needs to forgive herself for what happened with her mother when she was four. I also think she needs to forgive T-Ray for treating her the way he did, and I believe she does in the ending (well in the movie) in order to move on with her life. All the sisters; May, June and August, Rosaleen and even Zack needs to forgive. Lilly said something beautiful in the movie before she and Zack kissed. She said that all the white men who bated him had anger, and therfore he needed to let go his anger towards them so he wouldn't end up to be just as bad as them! This was a beautiful quote by Lilly - and gets me to my point. They need to forgive the white people for there "sins". Faith is also a central theme in book I think. Faith and hope in yourself, faith to God, faith and hope for having a better future. Lilly, Rosaleen and Zack especially had faith about a better future, but than again also May and June. Courage for the way Rosaleen stud up for the white men back in Sylvan, courage for the fact that Lilly ran away form T-Ray.

Personally I think the story can tell us that we have the possibility to change our "faith" in life. If we are unhappy about something, we can change it. It might be tough and hard, but you we still have the opportunity. It is our own faith, and we can decide the course of it! If we are feeling unrighteous treated, we can fight - and win! I think the message in the book is to never give up and keep on fighting so off course the book is still current today.

Its too late for me to care about my writing spells!

Final Entry

MY FINAL POST


The Secret LIve of Bees

First I have to say, that I’m happy I chose the book. In the beginning I figured that all of the books would be pretty boring. And that I would have to force my self to read. But “The Secret Life of Bees” really was a good book, and I really enjoyed reading it! For a book to catch my attention, it has to tell a good story. That’s exactly what “The Secret Life of Bees” did. Reading about, racism, segregated love, Lily’s search for a mother and more, opened my eyes to how it was for many back in the days.

Before I started to read the book, I knew about the movie. I had already seen the trailer for it, and really looked forward to watch it. When I turned the last page in the book, I was even more exited to watch the movie. During reading the book, I realized that the movie had to be really good to match up with the book. After seeing the movie, I have to conclude with the book being better than the movie. It’s always that way with books and movies. Books always seems to be the better part of a film adaption. I don’t know why it always is that way, but I guess it’s because after reading a book you look forward to see your favourite part in the movie, and then suddenly that part is not there. There is so much that brings a book into a movie, the actors, the story, the setting, actually everything. This makes the chance to make mistakes even bigger. There are so many things to remember. And by making a movie based on a book, people have expectations to how it should be. I think this was the problem with the movie, The Secret Life of Bees. After reading the book my expectations were huge, and I hoped the movie would be exactly like I had imagined the story myself. Of course the movie was different from what I imagined it to be.

If I had seen the movie without reading the book, I think I would have found it better. The thing I really looked forward to see was when T Ray told Lily that she shot her mom. I imagined Lily’s face my self, when T Ray rubs it in her face, that it was her that shot Deborah. He makes it clear, that it was Lily, and that there is nothing more to it. In the movie, they only talk about if her mom was coming back to get Lily or not. This really bugged me, and kind of ruined the movie for me.
One more thing that irritated me was the way the movie showed T Ray. The book showed him as a terrible person. Of course I felt sorry for him in the end, but the book was still pretty harsh. The movie on the other hand, put him as a vulnerable person. He still does terrible things, but the movie makes you feel sorry for him.

After all, I think the book was great, and that the movie was alright.

Kind Regards
Solmøy Austbø =)

Secret Life of Bees, final entry

Now I’ve read the book and watched the movie, and I actually think that the book was better than the movie. There have been some changes from the book to the movie. Some things have been left out and some things have been changed on. For example when Rosaleen and Lily is on their way to Tiburon, they take a swim when they are having a stop in the woods in the book but they don’t do that in the movie. And the episode when Zack is being arrested has been changed on, because Lily and Zack were never at the movie theater in the book.
I feel that if you haven’t read the book before you watch movie it might be difficult to understand everything that is happening. In the book you are more inside of Lilys head and know how she feels and what she thinks, which is a little difficult in the movie.
The themes in the story, like Nadia wrote, are courage, hope and racism. All these three are relevant in the society today, and everyone is infected by one or another somehow. Always remember to appreciate others around you and the ones you love. You never know what you have until its gone.

Theme and Relevance

When i started reading Down and Out in Paris and London I did not expect the narrator to express his thoughts very explicitly. I expected a more +neutral+ descriptive prose. In my first post in this blog (introduction), I wrote that my main reason for choosing this book was the author (Orwell). It was therefore a pleasant surprise to find some chapters dedicated exclusively to impressions and reflections. The first theme I can find is probably the notion of meaningless work. It is not just unproductive, but some of it «makes thought impossible». To me, this is the most interesting part of the book. Reading about the working conditions should perhaps make me ashamed to complain about a «heavy» workload. The connotation is perhaps physical. But I suppose there are several ways to constrict and limit thought. This is obviously a very broad theme, and how it is done today does not necessarily relate to absorbing and pointless work. The narrator seems to think that many workers really have the strength to improve their position, but a worker cannot do much with a «blank resourceless mind». Perhaps they are unable to see their own situation.

In London, the +problem+ of tramps is not adressed, it is merely moved somewhere else. The tramps can only stay at the same «spike» once a month (casual wards in London where the poor and homeless can get an insufficient meal and a place to «sleep», often on the floor with a thin blanket). They are not wanted in the spikes, they become burdens. The vagrancy laws described by the narrator force the tramps to constantly be on the move. Often they cannot even sit down; the police might arrest them. The laws are fairly absurd in my opinion. Outright begging is prohibited, so the +beggars+ must pretend to have a +profession+ of some kind. It tells us something about perception and respectability. Charity, and perhaps compassion is discouraged by these laws. Why tramps are «despised» is also discussed. According to the narrator, the tramps are not respected because not only are they poor, but they will stay poor. They have basically no chance, i. e. they cannot become rich and make alot of money. The circle cannot be broken. Tramps become docile and pathetic, they are not aggressive stereotypes, but miserable and weak. The author seems to criticize what might be called +capitalist values+, although somewhat implicitly. The relationship beetween status and +wealth+ (in the material sense) is not unknown in many western cultures. If the narrator is correct, there were atleast some fairly simple ways to improve (perhaps drastically) the living conditions of the poor in London in his time, but there seemed to be little political support. This idea is not exactly unfamiliar today. The narrator seems to think that the poor are not +different+ from the rich. He looks at the enviroment and how it affects behaviour. People are just people, tables can turn very quickly, gloating and arrogance becomes pointless.

" Lord of the flies", differences between the book and the film

Today it is normal to make a film with inspiration from a book. I think thatthe book is always better than the movie, except "The lord of the rings". The film leaves out many of the scenes and changes them, and that can destroy some of the functionof the book. I think that "The lord of the flies" is a good example on this. The principal characters where different from the book description. In the book Ralph is described with fair hair, but in the movie his hair is brown. Jack has black hair in the book and in the movie it is red/brown. This destroys some of the points Golding us trying to make. Ralph's hair is suposed to be a sign to the goodness his character symbolize and Jack's hair is a description on the evil he represent. I think Piggy is a bit different to because in the movie he is always wiping his glasses, which is a symbol, but this does not happen very often in the film.

Golding describes the nature around very clearly, but it is difficult for the film to create the same effect. The nature has many symbols and therefore it is impossible to connect this to the plot.

In the end of the book Ralph is talking to the officer about the deaths of Simon and Piggy, this does not happen in the movie. In the movie they barely speak to each other.

The Secret Life of Bees, from book too film

The secret life of Bees is a beautiful, humorous and loving book written by Sue Monk Kidd. The book is about a girl who loses her mom but ends getting more mothers than she could wish for. Through this story we follow a teenager named Lily who goes through many hard times, but while she does she also grows by the help of three wonderful sisters and many other amusing characters.

First, I must say that I loved the movie. It was a great movie and it moved me in almost the same way as the book, but the two are very different. I loved the book, the description and all the moments Lily shared with August, Zack and the other girls, they seem more real in the book. The book is more descriptive, you see more, and you feel more from time to time. In the movie, you are dragged from a feeling of happiness to a feeling of sadness. In the book, there is a subtle change whenever the moods or occasions change. You read and feel everything Lily thinks and feels, it’s almost like the reader and Lily is one person. You get more depth into Lily's thoughts, and all the scenes come together in the end in a big, giant puzzle. Every scene is needed to make a complete characterization of Lily and the other characters. Films can’t do that, not in the same way books can. Books can drag you into the moment, I am sure films can have that effect too, but when words, lines of words do it, it doubles the effect.

The book pictured the characters different than I pictured them. I saw T Ray as a mean beating machine, but in the movie he had more feeling, he seemed more emotional. Not as depicted in the book. Rosaleen did not "clash" with the movie character, they were not the same. I always saw Rosaleen as stubborn and clumsy. The movie version of Rosaleen depicted her as a soft, non strict woman, non clumsy. I must say though, they recreated the characters of May, June and Lily perfectly.

In the movie, scenes are skipped. Important scenes, like all those moments when Lily lies alone on her bed thinking about her mother and hurting over the fact that she now is a run-away. All of those moments when August and Lily have conversations, those conversations taught Lily a lot about life and they helped heal her, heal the wounds T Ray had left. The book is slow and gentle, you may say predictable but it is beautiful and as is the movie, but in a different way. Scenes that are important for understanding Lily and her life get lost or get gathered up in one whole scene.

One thing that I hate that they changed is the ending. Well, I like the fact that they changed Lily’s final question for T Ray. Instead of asking if it really was her, that Lily really killed her mother, she asked if Deborah was intending to take Lily with her when she left. That was a marvelous move. The thing I resented though was the big detail of the “mothers on the porch”. I have pictured what Lily must have seen standing there in the driveway looking up towards the porch and seeing all of her mother’s: Rosaleen, August, June and the fellowship. That was a perfect ending for Lily, she lost one mother and she found so many. In the movie, the mothers are June, August and Rosaleen. This is beautiful too, but what moved me in the book and what I think took Lily’s breath away was the view, the view of all the women standing there. They had hurried to the pink house when they heard Lily was in trouble, they protected her like she was their own child. They stood up for her and they would do anything for her. That feeling, that feeling of love made the story perfect and I missed that in the movie.

The theme in this book, by my opinion, is courage. Courage to hope that something good will come along. Courage to make sure things happen, and hope to stand by your courage. Lily showed courage when she left T Ray, when she left in the hope of a better future someplace else. Rosaleen showed courage when she stood up to those racists on her way to town. Rosaleen hoped and knew that someday things would be different for her and her brothers and sisters. Justice would come to them, and she would fight until that change came. August put hope in Lily by making her realize that the world wasn’t a bad place just because Lily had experienced bad things.

This book is relevant today in so many ways. It shows us that courage to do something about our life can change it. Many children are put in the situation Lily is put in, verbally or physically abused by their parent. So the book can function in a direct way, it can show them, give the children hope that if they just reach out for help their situation can change. Not everybody is bad in this world; there are a lot of good guys too. This is just one of the explanations I have for the books relevance. The other one is more general. People suffer, people face hard times. The book encourages people to look forward, take their minds out of the past and focus on what the future might bring. It is important to search your past, but you have to be ready for what you might find.

Little Brother - Fighting the Government

I have finally finished the book 'Little Brother', and yes, I finished it in time!
I am really happy that I red this book, even though Lord of the Flies seemed very interesting and the movie of Secret Life of Bees was very good, I am sure I made the right choise.

After Marcus is released he has a lot of mixed feelings and emotions. He is probably a bit scared and he does not tell what happened to anyone, because DHS said they would get him if he did. So he tells his parents that he was put in caranteen in Oakland for several days for security reasons.

Marcus decides to fight the government, or DHS to be more precise. There is a lot of reasons for this, as I said he had a lot of mixed emotions after he got released from the terrible DHS prison. The two things I believe played a huge role in his decision is the fact that he felt very disapointed and angry with him self for giving in to the DHS' demands to unlock his phone and give them his privacy. Maybe even more important, the DHS still got Daryll, his best friend!

Marcus starts the fight quietly. He notices that the DHS has started to surveillance him. He noticed a few things, and he was a bit paranoid because that could only be the top of the iceberg. Then he starts talking about crypting of information in pure MacGyver style, and before you know it, he has powered up his Xbox which was handed out for free because the games for it was so expensive, though people cracked it and used it to play free games, which was a bummer for Microsoft I'd guess. The operating system used for the cracked xbox had traces of ParanoidLinux, which was a very anonym and safe operating system. He burns cd-copys with the OP and hands them out, this is how he creates the X-Net. It is a net of xbox Universal users. The whole network is encrypted, so the DHS can't see what they are doing, nor find it. Though they do it later.

Using the X-Net he encourages the other x-netters to start jamming. Marcus was randomly detained because of his 'unusual' travel route, and he was asked some routine questions. This apparently was very, very offensive, so he gets pissed of. They found his travel route by tracing his 'fast pass' which is pretty similiar to our 'busskort'. As a result of this he encourages the other x-netters to start jamming as I said earlier. Jamming is to copy other 'fast passes' so eventually the DHS will think everyone has a unusual travel route, because the passes gets registrated on places where the original pass have never been, get it?

When people start jamming, a lot of people get pulled over for routine questions, almost everyone gets pulled over because the system is messed with. The battle between David and Goliath has started!

Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow is the auther of 'Little Brother'. I just wanted to make an entry about him, he deserves one and I saw someone else write an entry about another author, so I assume it's ok.
In the preface he explained how he did not charge anything for his books, that he liked to write for free. He does not accept any donations either, he wants all his books to be available for free.
This is because he's an activist for liberalizing copyright laws.

Though I assumed he was born in USA, he was actually born in Canada, Toronto, Ontario to be more precise. His father was born in a refugee camp in Azerbaijan, and is a jewish activist.
I believe this has made an impression on Cory.

He has worked with a lot of computer projects through the years, in fact he co-founded the free software P2P. This is probably one of the reasons he knows a lot about computers, and he is often talking about software that is free and he can use to hide his identity and hide from network administrators and so on.

Cory Doctorow seems like a very inteligent and smart man, I think he reflects him self in the book, in the character Marcus, who is a very street-smart man.

Cory Doctorow got married to Alice Taylor October 26. 2008. They got a daughter the same year, she was named Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow(True story!).

Lord of the flies --> final Entry

William Golding’s book, Lord of the flies has been adapted to a film twice. Once with his blessing in a 1963 black and white film, and then colored in 1990. We’ve now watched the oldest movie, and I though the book was best! In the movie the children are played primarily by non-actors, and I think this give the film a natural feel. But I felt that the film just rushed trough the whole story, and didn’t quite capture the whole meaning of the book. Anyhow I think the characters in the book were a lot like I’d imaged - on film.

The ending is a bit different in the film; in the book the last scene is really ironic. The ending in Lord of the Flies is not particularly happy. The officer says that he is unable to understand how upstanding British lads could have acted with such poor form. Ironically, though, this “civilized” officer is himself part of an adult world in which violence and war go hand in hand with civilization and social order. He reacts to the savage children with disgust.. Similarly, the children are so shocked by the officer’s presence, and are now psychologically so far removed from his world, that they do not instantly celebrate his arrival. Ralph, whose life has literally been saved by the presence of the ship, weeps tears of grief rather than joy. For Ralph, as for the other boys, nothing can ever be as it was before coming to the island of the Lord of the Flies.In the end of the movie, I was left feeling that the film was just about boys trying to survive on an island.

Golding shows how civilization on the island breaks down and leads to anarchy and terror "because the boys are suffering from the terrible disease of being human".

The book has a lot of symbolism and contrasts. The contrast between good and evil, kindness and cruelty, civilization and savagery, responsibility and anarchy. The good of mankind is represented by Ralph and Piggy, with the conch their symbol of authority; the evil savagery of mankind is represented by Jack and his hunters, with the beast, or "Lord of the Flies", as their symbol of savagery. The beast stands for the evil that is present in all human beings, and Simon and Piggy, or rationality, are almost helpless in its presence.
Fortunately, there is also Simon, a symbol of vision and salvation. He is able to see the beast as it really exists. Unfortunately, when he tries to bring the truth to the savage ones, he gets killed.
The novel functions throughout on a symbolic level. The boys, in their variety of personalities, symbolize mankind as a whole. Ralph is the symbol of rational, but fallible, mankind. He tries to establish an orderly society, based on rules, authority, and knowledge; but he struggles against the forces of evil (The Lord of the Flies) throughout the book. Jack, his counterpart, is the symbol of emotion and savagery. He lives for the hunt, rules as a dictator, and is guided by evil purpose.
Unfortunately, he knows the base level of human beings and successfully appeals to it through hunting, dancing, and fear. Each boy has a close follower. Ralph has Piggy, who is an intellectual and a true, wise friend; he is destroyed by the evil hunters. Jack has Roger, who in his sadistic nature has the power to destroy and he kills Piggy. Simon occupies a central position in the symbolic scheme, for he represents truth, vision, and moral understanding. Unfortunately, he is quiet and shy and has difficulty speaking out. When he does try to tell the savages the truth about the beast, they refuse to listen and literally tear him apart, as if to blot out his message.

Without parents and teachers to guide them, the boys give in to their laziness, violence, irresponsibility, and selfishness and tear apart. Their inner Beast takes over them, beginning with Jack, and that Beast drives them to more violence and less civilization.

Ironically, though, at the end of the novel, the Navy men take the boys off the war of the island and into a bigger, more "civilized" war out on the sea.

Movie adaption, Secret Life of Bees

First I must say that this time I actually liked the movie better than the book. It is because the book is so predictable and a very typical cliché which kills the tension to move on to the next page, which I think is important with books. On the other hand I got a more correct and stronger impression of the characters through the movie, especially T Ray. The T Ray we are described is described as a man with no kinds of good feelings, especially above Lily but also Deborah. In the movie we get a more fair impression of a broken man who basically feels the love for both Lily and Deborah. What I mean is that now that I've seen the movie, I do not hate T Ray anymore.

A thing that also made the movie different from the book is that the movie gets us much faster through Lily and Rosaleen’s escape. In the movie, the main content find place in Tiburon with the Boatwright sisters.

The book is alright but the movie is good. The characters in the movie are a big reason for it to become as good as it is because the story itself does not stand out in a special way itself. The movie is a typical chick flick while on the same time the themes the book brings up such as hope, courage and race, makes the story a little more valuable. I mean that we clearly can compare all of the themes with the life we live today, maybe just on another level or in another situation. I think some of us actually can learn some things from this movie, such as appreciating things and be more thankful for small things.

R.I.P May

When I came to the point in the book where May drowned I was shocked. I never, ever expected that. May, the sweetest but also the most burdened person in the book ended her life in a tragic way. I guess somehow you can understand her doing it, she did not live an easy life. She carried the worlds pain on her shoulders and nothing could stop her pain except the final stage in life. May couldn't bare all the sorrows in the world any longer. I just wish she could live a while longer so she had a chance to know the truth about Lily. To see that there is still hope in the world, that there is still good. Lily was a lost and hurt girl but she found happiness at last. If May could just live a while longer to see how the new world would be when the other civil rights acts came into order. But then again, a while for us can be short, but for May, a while in pain could seem like a year.

May, we will remember you always !! AMEN BROTHER!

Suprising end!

Before I post my final post, I just feel like have to post something about the end of the book. I have to say, the books ending suprised me ALOT! That Lily actually killed her mother, suprise me alot! I was sure that it might be T Ray or suidide!

That Lily actually shot her mom, changes my view on things alot. I feel so sorry for her and T Ray because of the terrible accident!

Anyone, else that was suprised by this?
=)

About the character Marcus Yallow

So, I thought I'd write my reflection of the character Marcus. Marcus is arrogant and charismatic. His arrogance come from his knowledge, and him being a great hacker who really know's his stuff inside and out. And he kind of see himself superior to people such as charles. The moment he is most vulnerable is when he are somwhere else in control and in more of a superior position. One example is severe hair women, when she is questioning him in the start of the book.

Marcus's personality developes in several ways throghout the book he becomes more serius and he starts to care more for his rights. When Mikey emerges he becomes charismatic and a leader, somonewho is capable of controlling an army of teens.

Marcus's strength is also his weakness. He knows how DHS works and their cruelty, however thats what frighten him the most. If they catch him its back to the jail in treasure island. He goes through and manages to win the war, witch in my opinion is something that requires courage.

By Hussam

Little brother : theme, message and more

@Munter: Spoiler Warning
-------------------------------------
Little brother is the kind of book that starts with one man who feel like he's lost everything, but then bounces back and finally gets revenge against those who oppose him.

The theme is governmental surveilance. Or thats what the writer wanted us to think, but for me its more of a question "what is most important to you, freedom and privacy or more security?" We might have to ask our self that question one day in the near future and that book is probably made to prepare us for that moment. What I am trying to say is that this book might turn into reality. We might be watched by the gornment and everyone will be a potential terrorist. The book is definatly relevant to us today.

This book is very political, and the author is trying to tell a lot, one of those messages is one person is enough to defeat a great organisation such as DHS (Department of homeland security). Another one is always fight for your freedom.

The only downhill in the book si all the dry technical and security explanation. But never mind that its a great book.

reflection paper, by Isabel "The Secret Life of Bees"

I think the theme and the message in “The Secret Life of Bees” is courage and hope. I’m sure it has a lot of other important messages too, but the absolute biggest is definitely courage and hope. It takes a lot to do what Lily and Rosain do, the struggle of women to be in control of their own lives shows hope, and the way they fight for their right shows courage.

Sue Monk Kidd tells a story about Lily and her stepmother Rosalin and we get to follow their struggle against the world. Her story about women without any rights, but with hope to help them through their everyday life, touches the reader and gives a perspective on how lucky the people are, who get their rights fulfilled.

To understand the book you have to look deeper than on the surface, and then it is a beautiful story of how far you can get with a little bit of courage and hope. The novel is really a remarkable story about the divine power of women and the transforming power of hope and courage. When Lily doesn’t see any other way out, she and Rosalin escape in the hope of a better life. Their courage helps them through hard times and leads them to August and her sisters.

I think a lot of people can relate to the book. Because, even though the book is from the last century, you can relate on their struggle and that allows the reader to get empathy for Lily and Rosalin. Because of this the book gets very touching and interesting at the same time. I think the author achieved exactly what she wants, and because of her way of writing, her message is not that hard to understand.

The story is a big cliché, because you can sort of tell what is going to happen every minute. I think it works well in this book; it makes it fun to read and most of all a very fascinating book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is so interesting, touching and unforgettable. Despite all the horrible things Lily and Rosalin have to experience they still try to hold onto their dignity and fight for their rights. We have such an easy life here in Norway compared to them, and I don’t think either of us would survive a week in their shoes. The book gives us a view about how hard life can be, but you can still get so far with a little bit of hope and courage!

My essay "The luckiest kids in the world?"

In the book ”Lord of the Flies” (William Golding, 1954), we meet a group of boys who are stranded on a deserted island. The boys face many challenges and are not used to living without adult supervision. They feel as if being stranded on this island is their opportunity to live out a fantasy. They have been given an extraordinary chance to do whatever they want to. Later in the book however, some of the boys change their minds about this island. They are starting to consider if the island in fact is an evil island, where evil creatures live, and whether or not the situation that they find themselves in is good or bad. Early on in the book, we are familiarized with the battle between good and evil, which is one of the themes in the book. Also in the characters in the book, we get to know certain things about them that give us the reason to believe that they can be both good and evil.

I personally believe that there is a little bit of both good and evil in everyone and everything that exists. Nobody and nothing is perfect. We all consist of good and evil, and we act based on these two definitions every single day. The world wouldn’t work however, if everybody did everything right everyday. Other people might disagree with this statement, but I try to be very realistic instead of naïve. An example of this is to be found in the book, more specifically in the character named Ralph. He might seem as like a selfish and self righteous boy, that wants as much power as he can get. The boys on the island agree that they need some structure, and a leader. Ralph finds being a leader very natural, and is chosen. He contributes in making important decisions, and in telling the boys what to do. People might look at bosses in general as controlling, and the word “bossy” has a negative meaning to most of us. But bosses are needed to maintain structure and order, and Ralph is needed amongst this group of boys. Ralph is very direct, and he always speaks his mind, which are qualities that are needed in the situation that the boys are in.

The island itself is also something that can be seen as positive and negative. When the boys first arrive, they are scared and confused. They are convinced that they will be rescued very soon. This does not happen, to the boys’ disappointment. As time passes on the island, the boys get more used to the reality of the situation. Especially the older boys develop a new opinion about the island. They see it as a chance to be their own bosses, and create their own world. This is a fantasy that is acknowledged in a lot of young boys. The tropical island with the beach and the beautiful water seems like the perfect place to have fun. The younger boys have a different opinion about the island, however. At night they are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. A boy claims he saw a snake, and is not comfortable with being on the island. When the younger boys ask Ralph about what they are going to do about the beast, Ralph denies the existence of the beast, and laughs at the young boy that tells Ralph about the beast. He is convinced that it does only exist it the dreams of the young boys, and is not real. I believe that Ralph is scared to admit that the island might not be the paradise he wants it to be.

Without adult supervision, most of the boys consider themselves the luckiest kids in the world. They believe they’re in a good situation, where they can do whatever they want to, without any chores or other things they were used to having to do. I see the situation as a fun and positive thing in the beginning, but definitely not in the long run. We are organized in groups and families for a reason. And there is also a reason why the parents have the right to make decisions on behalf of their kids. A man called Emile Durkheim created the theory of functionalism, which I think is very relevant in this book. The theory is based on purposes of different people. Everybody plays a part, and creates a whole. In a family there are usually parents, and their kids. They play different parts, and together they create a whole, the family. In the book, the boys are without adult supervision. They are separated from their parents and will have to manage on their own.. They boys have not been able to kill an animal yet and they have not built a safe place to sleep. Kids are supposed to live with their parents until they are no longer kids. That is the way it has been for as long as I can remember, and I believe it’s still like that for a reason.

I see the situation that the boys are in, as negative or evil for the most part, but I think the boys have the ability to make the best out of it. I think it’s all depending on the boys’ age and ability to act rationally, and the length of time they’ll be at the island for. They might be rescued, depending on their decisions. It seems like some of the boys think they’re the luckiest kids in the world, but I wouldn’t see it that way. The situation is dangerous, and there might be dangerous creatures that call the island their home. The boys could also become threats to themselves, and their own worst enemy.

May

I wrote this a while ago, but then I just forgot to post it. So here it is.
May is my absolute favourite person in the book; she is so sweet hearted and would never wish for something bad to happen to anyone, no matter what. There is no one similar to May, she really is special. May thinks a lot, sometimes too much, but usually she comes up with the most fantastic thoughts, that few understand. She is a special person in many ways she can feel all the pain of others. All this things are reasons why May is my favourite person. So when May committed suicide, I just wanted to throw the book away! It destroyed the whole book experience for me, and it was not as much fun to continue reading. May was such s big part of the book.

When I read "Lord of the flies" I noticed a foreshadowing. "He was the only boy on the islandwhose hair never seemed to grow (Piggy)", page 67. I thing Golding is trying to say that Piggy is the only boy with common sense. The other boys gets obsessed with living on the island that their becoming more and more brutish. Some of them want to hunt pigs all the time, especially Jack. He is a very violoent boy who loves to be a leader and he dislike Piggy who is quite smart. There is a reason why he is called Piggy, the pigs Jack is hunting is a picture on Piggy, which means that Jack is hunting Piggy (and Piggy know this). This means that early in the book we get to know that something will happen. The result is that Piggy is killed at last. This shows us that they are becoming animals and the only boy who did not transfer was Piggy (and maybe Ralph).

The book is also saying that fire is the only thing that seperate humans from animals. Piggy is their fire (the glasses), and when Piggy dies there is no fire which means that they became animals and Piggy was the one who was trying to stop it.

Essay, The Secret Life of Bees

”The queen, for her part, is the unifying force of community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness” – Quotation from chapter one from the book “The secret life of bees”.

A queen could be and become many things. She who attend to be the queen is special, powerful and clearly respected by others around her. A queen is not someone who is better than the rest. The queen is someone who can see the better in the rest, and use it, connecting it together for the best. The ones who live among the queen trust her, and remain faithful to their over headed. The queen has a magnificent force to rule a whole community of soul, even if it is bees or human beings, because she can relate to them no matter what, through her contact based on love.

The first chapter from the book is a presentation of Lily, the main character in the book. Lily is a 14 year old white girl from South Carolina. Early in the book we get informed about Lily’s tragic position in the family. Her father, T Ray, acts against her as pure evil. Her father practically had forgotten the role of being a father because he is not giving her any kind of attention as long as it don’t give him something to earn out of doing it. If he loves her I don’t know for sure, but I do believe that no man can live without feelings rushing through them, but he sure as hell don’t love her the way a father should love a daughter, because a father’s love should be unconditional. On the other hand, poor little Lily do not even have a mother to fill in all her lacks between her and her father. Lily’s mother, Deborah, died when Lily was 4 years old. T Ray, Lily’s father, blames Lily for murdering her own mother, which is sad, because who can accuse a 4 year old girl for taking someone’s life on purpose, rather it is true or not?

Lily thinks a lot about her mother and how she was, and how they were together, but unfortunately she do not remember anything from before the day she died. The only memories Lily had from her mother were a picture, some gloves and another picture of a black Mary. Lily adored her mother without remembering a lot, just knowing, and hoping that she was her mother’s only loveable child. She thought of her mother as special, powerful and she respected her more than anything in her life. When she looked at the picture of her mother, she often wondered how it would have been if she was still alive, and if the reason for she not being alive really was her fault or just something T Ray said to assault her and have someone to put the blame on.

Lily senses her mothers’ absence, and she feels like a part of her and her daily life is missing just like the workers do when their queen is absent. Deborah, Lily’s mother, was Lily’s queen. Her mother was her queen, and now when she is absence and not around her anymore, Lily remain longing for some missing parts to get filled up. - Even though her mother can never be replaced. The quotation mentioned in the beginning of this essay is a very good description and a pointer to what the first chapter might be about. While reading the chapter it gets to you very fast that the quote has actually something to do with the context of the chapter, it is not just a “little extra” for the book.

What might be the opposite between the bees and Lily is that she will manage through life despite her lack of her mother – or queen, it just needed to be some time for healing. Lily, as a 14 year old girl will face problems and also conflicts with herself that might have something to do with her mother, and at that time it would be very good for her to have someone who could step in to help her trough the practice things as a role model as a mother for Lily. – This shows further on in the book as we get to learn more about Rosaleen who is her maid and nanny, and also August which is the lady who makes the honey. The most important thing for Lily, especially since she is so young is to grow and try not to conflict with herself. She has to take the best out of it and learn how to become independent. It will give experience to stumble and fall a little bit just like the rest of us do, while learning. She might fall hard sometimes, and then she can trust herself to the ones who remain around here, such as Rosaleen and August. She does not need to trust herself to them as her mother, but rather for who they are. Because then she can achieve the courage to one day act all on her one, being her own queen.

I think that the way we relate to others even if it is between humans or not, is a description of individual values. As the bees see the queen powerful and highly respected, she becomes special for them who can see her looking back at them as a part of what she represent. Lily look up to her mother even though she do not remember almost anything, but knowing that Deborah was her mother, and she was her daughter, ended the doubt of not belonging anywhere. She will always be her mother’s daughter. To be a part of something, just some kind of fellowship is something that we all try to achieve at some point. The book, “The Secret Life of Bees” has during an ok novel pointed out a clear red line trough values and requirements. While reading between the lines you can see Lily as a lost little worker trying to find back to her hive longing to find her absent mother, her queen.

Final Entry: Film Adaptation, Theme and Relevance

It is not too late to post your essay!

We are now wathcing "Lord of the Flies" and on Monday we will start watching "The Secret Life of Bees". For Wednesday you must write a post in the blog on film adaptation. If you have read "Little Brother" or "Down and Out in Paris and London" you can write a post on what you think is the theme and message in your book. Does it have any relevance to us today, do you think? You can of course reflect on theme, message and relevance if you have read "The Secret Life of Bees" and "Lord of the Flies" too.

Ok, the book was great and all, but LARPING that just sounded...geeky. Thats the first time I've heard about LARPING and after googling it, I found some funny pictures. By the way, LARPING is live action role playing, you basically dress up like aliens, knights or something a gamer would like.

http://vampjac.com/lj/humor/gygax/larping.jpg

http://2.media.tumblr.com/o2Jp57zvPjzv6dj9nR7N6IYEo1_500.jpg

http://ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/iz-redy-4-larping-cute-dog-loldogs.jpg

http://media.photobucket.com/image/LARPING/figmentPez/Old%20Motivators/LARPingMotivator.jpg

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/picture/Pause/Larping.png

Enjoy!

Just something i found interesting....

Some of the topics in this books has resently cougth my interest. I was reading and then i stoped, and realized, if any of this critic is true it sould be something about it on the internetz. And there it was, this picture just laying there, just whaiting to let me read it. It was sooo awsome, and answerd sooo many of my questions.

Of course i cant take everything i read on the internet to be true but i feel that everything that is there, has some truth in it. In some way or the other.

so yeah, take a look your selfe and tell me what you think.

My essay!!

The Importance of Mothers in The Secret Life of Bees.

I’ve always had a mother. I’ve always had someone to guide me through life as I’m growing up. Unfortunately this is not something every girl has. Most of my friends have mothers, and fathers. Some of them are divorced, but they’re still there. Most girls come to their mom, when something is wrong. Some even tell their mom EVERY thing. I’m not very close to my mom that way, but we still have a special relationship.

This relationship is what makes mother and daughter moments magical. As I said not all girls have the luxury of having a mother, Lily Owens in The Secret Life of Bees, does not. She is thought to believe that she killed her mother herself by accident when she was little.

T Ray, which is her dad is not a good parent, and doesn’t show any love towards Lily. Lily is longing for her mother, longing for someone to love her.

And she wants to know if she really was loved child, or if her mother didn’t care about her like T Ray said.

I think every motherless girl, is longing for someone to be there. This is where Rosaleen comes in, Lily needs someone to be there for her and Rosaleen is there to love her.

The core of the story is Lily’s search for a mother.

Rosaleen becomes the “stand- in mother” in the story, and even though she doesn’t show it to much, you can tell that Rosaleen cares a lot about Lily. Lily is very mature for her age, and has never really had a chance to be the child. Sometimes Lily even talks to Rosaleen like she is the grown up herself. But when it comes down to it she needs Rosaleen to be there, and to be the one to love and take care of her. I think Rosaleen and Lily’s relationship really shows us the importance of mothers in the story.

Considering Lily has never had any real friends, the importance of a mother becomes even bigger. I cant imagine not having any real friends at school, and then come home to an unloving father who tells you that you killed your mother by accident as a child. Luckily Rosaleen is there to make Lily feel better about her self. Their relationship is developing through the book, their journey to Tiburon, South Carolina is teaching them a lot about each other. I think Rosaleen understands Lily’s love for her, when Lily decides to break her out of the prison/ hospital.

Lily’s desperate longing for her mother, makes the story interesting. It makes us feel sorry for her, and admire her for what she achieves even without her mother. Despite Lily’s hard work, to find out more about her mother and the truth, her mom cant possibly come back. This shapes the story a lot. This makes me want Rosaleen to be responsible for Lily. A 14 year old girl needs a parent!

That Lily hides her moms belongings from T Ray shows us how much she cares about her. You can tell that Lily imagines her mom to be perfect.

“Now and then I’d go out there and dig up the box. I would lie on the ground with the trees folded over me, wearing her gloves, smiling at her photograph.”

Out from this quote you can understand that she admires her and is who she wants to be.

I think Lily realizes later on, that it’s not only your biological mother, who can be a good mother. At first Lily thinks that no one can be as good a mother, as her own. But later on Rosaleen proves herself to be just what Lily needs. They’re relationship is kind of a best friend relationship mixed with a Mother and daughter relationship.

The funny part is that Lily’s act like the parent sometimes. She yells at Rosaleen, but most often Rosaleen overlooks it and keeps being stubborn.

When Rosaleen pours the Snuff- spit on those guys feet, you can tell that Lily thinks that was a ridiculous thing to do. Lily makes sure to tell Rosaleen that afterwards, and tells her that apologizing is the smartest thing to do.

She talkes to Rosaleen like a mother would talk to a daughter, but you can still see that Rosaleen is the mother figure.

After all, I would say Lily and Rosaleen, can be looked upon as a mother and a daughter.

Trailer

here we can all watch the trailer of the best movie ever ""the Secret Life of Bees"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVCil2oSNYY


enjoy!

Isabel

Bow down to lord piggy

Little (fat) Piggy

I just found this awsome picture of Piggy and Ralph (at least I think it's Ralph) This is from the movie that was made in 1963.

MY ESSAY

English essay – Lord of the Flies
By Mira Barstad

4. Comparing the characters



Lord of the Flies was written by William Golding, published in 1954. I haven’t done any research of him, but I guess he is from Britain because it was where the book was published, and the following boys where from. The book was written a couple of years after Second World War (the cold war), that’s probably why he mentions a lot from the war: “Didn’t you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They’re all dead.” – Piggy.


This is an island. At least I think it’s an island. Perhaps there aren’t any grown ups anywhere. – Ralph and Piggy discuss what to do; they’ll just survived a plane crash on a deserted island. The only survivals are a group of boys from the age six to twelve. Fortunately they have access to clean water and lots of eatable berries and plants. They’ve also seen some pigs in the area…
Ralph and Piggy finds a conch and Ralph blows in it. All the other boys hears it and they have a meeting. They figure out, in order to make this work, they’ve need a leader, a head of Chief. Ralph is elected; he gets more votes than Jack Merridew, the leader of the Choirboys… Jack accepts this, but he make himself leader of a new group called the “Hunters”.


Ralph and Jack are two very different boys. Ralph “the fair boy”, “the boy with the fair hair” and so on; the author refers him like a sympathetic and a rightful boy. Ralph is twelve years and a few months, one of the oldest boys on the deserted island. He gets respect from the younger boys, and he is leader of the island. His father was a commander in the navy, and a role model for Ralph. Even though Ralph seems like he wants to be popular among the boys, he is both kind and rude - toward poor fat Piggy. The other boys enjoy teasing Piggy, and they all just take him for granted. (If it wasn’t for him and his specs, they wouldn’t manage to start a fire at all...)


I’m in the middle of chapter 5, “Beast from water”, and I think Ralph is starting to like Piggy, and he stands up for him when Jack and the other boys make fun of him. Ralph is definitely the more mature than the other boys, especially Jack… Personally I dislike Jack. He makes his own rules, and doesn’t listen to Ralph and all he cares about is the meat, meat, meat! “We’ll go hunting every day!”

Jack Merridew is a tall redheaded boy with freckles. He is pale and the leader of the “Hunters”. He is more into getting meat than being rescued unlike Ralph. I think the other boys are a little scared of him, and Jack himself is intimidated by Ralph. Ralph commanded that the hunters should make a fire on the mountain, so that ships that (possibly) would run by could spot them by seeing the smoke on the island. Jack agreed, and said he would keep the smoke going. Piggy and Ralph see a ship one day, and run toward the mountain… The fire was out. They eventually find the hunters, they’ve managed to kill a pig, but they also let Ralph down. They lost the only shot they had to get off the island. (For now)

Their characters affect their leadership styles, Jack who is the bad boy, figures out he wants to be in charge and doesn’t listen to Ralph anymore.

Ralph is as said, more caring and understands if the young ones want to play, so he builds shelter and huts almost all by himself. The Hunter is off doing unnecessary stuff. He is going to get exhausted.


It seems like the group will be divided in two, the hunters and Ralph and the other boys.
The contrast between the two boys is a lot of metaphors. For example: Ralph the fair boy is beautiful and tanned. Jack is pale and is referred as “ugly without silliness”. His tall, thin and bony. I think Jacks represent the “evil” power sick people, and Ralph is fairer, and cares about his people. The contrast is getting bigger and bigger. I’m sure it will get worse the more I read.






Now me and Martine aka the clever girls (Right Tor?) are going to read more in our fantastic book! Stay tuned .... xoxo

Some reflections

Essay – Little Brother

The novel Little Brother is written by Cory Doctorow and is a sci-fi teen’s book. The book is some kind of parody or rewritten version of the book 1984. The tittle is even a parody in the 1984 books “Big Brother”. Big Brother sees you is used sentence in 1984 which Doctorow plays a lot with throughout this novel. Some days ago my girlfriend was on my telephone and read my text-messages, without my permission. This made me of course furious because she didn’t have any right to read my private messages. “if you don’t have anything to hide it shouldn’t be problem” she said. But, they’re private right? Where does the line between privacy and security go? A philosopher some years ago stated “You never know what freedom is before you have experienced not to have freedom” (roughly translated)

The problem in my case is that when you suddenly go reading something out of context you don’t get the whole context behind it. This is also some of the problems that are taken up for discussion and after-though in this novella.
The book takes us through the happenings in the life of Marcus, a seventeen old computer fanatic who is a rebellion in the over surveillanced society he lives in. The date is set some years in the future which is not really mentioned directly in the book. But you still can get some hints like when Marcus tells us about the newest in computer and gaming technology.

Marcus and his friends is getting arrested and interrogated after a terrorist attack. From this point the book starts to get interesting. His freedom is taken away from him and it is at this point that the book is seriously taking up the problem with surveillance and “security” in the society. Marcus goes to a school where he is watch every single second. “We do not have the right to follow the students home, but the books they use can” (not 100% correctly quoted) the school board states. They have actually put tracking devices inside the books. The first day that Marcus goes to school after the attack and interrogation the school is even more “secure”, with more cameras and even stricter rules.
Some schools in Norway practice this even today. Watching every single tap on the keyboard of students, and using cameras at the school building. The reason for this the school states is “to make the school more secure and having control over the education”. As Marcus says somewhere in the book the internet is a black whole where people can go and do whatever they want. This is something I think that people need to function as normal human beings.

Some years ago I was in Rome (or London). Here they have a system which you can track yourself and watch how many miles with the bus and train you have taken and even see the route that you have taken. It becomes a map of where and almost what you have done during a day. This is going a bit too far for my taste, but perhaps we are in a revolution. Where more and more of our life’s goes by, or even in technology. Facebook is the largest community site on the planet. Here you can add friends and update what you have been doing in spare time. All this information is saved on a server. That means that a sever can know, what you have been doing, pictures of it, your relationship status and so on. All of our life’s become more and more like numbers on the screen.

The film Surrogate takes this to a whole new level. Here people have gotten robots to live they’re life. They can choose how to look and act in a “normal” life. Is this what is coming to? To be honest I don’t think so. At least not until a good amount of years have passed. But it is in that direction we are headed. Everything we do is getting tracked and noted. Lets take normal day for a middle-aged guy with the Earl. Earl wakes up, checks the computer, LOGGED. He takes his car for work and drives through a toll plaza, LOGGED. Later he feels to take a lunch in the local Chinese store and pays with the credit card, LOGGED. He then comes home and updates his Facebook status, LOGGED. Off course, the day you get raped and abducted you would appreciate that the police could use this info to find out where you are. But should we be willing to give up our freedom for our security?

“Evolution is an imperfect and violent process

A battle between what exist, and what is yet to be born

In each of these birth pains morality loses its meaning.

The question between good and evil

Reduced to one simple choice

Survive or perish”

This is a poem which I feel suits this topic extremely well. In my opinion we are in a revolution, which now can be looked at as imperfect time where we discus freedom and security all the time. Morality loses also its meaning regarding the control of people and that America especially, looks more and more like the control that the communist’s had over the East Berlin people. Just that today, people freely, but uninformed, do it themselves.