Blogger Final Reflection

Clickhere to view my best blog post

 Chloe McDonald

               This is my best blog because I have met all requirements in a clear and simplified way. My blog is over theme! First, I state the theme statement "The theme of "The Night Circus" is doing what makes you happy will often times not be approved by everyone." This clearly states the underlying meaning or "lesson learned" of the text. Next, I explain why I found this theme to fit the independent novel I was reading. "in the beginning, the daughter is expected to face and defeat a subject of a competitor of the magician's. However, when she grows up and is well trained and ready to face her challenger, she of course.. falls in love with him. So of course she doesnt want to destroy him and he sure doesnt want to hurt her. However, running off with this guy will not be okay with her dad." Long explanation, however, I think it clearly justifies my theme. This is why I think my Theme post is my best one!  

               While I am very pleased with English 1a this trimester, I believe that next trimester when I have English 1b, I can do even better! A goal I have next trimester for reading, is to slow down and really try to understand the text I am reading. Including, the surface meaning, and deeper meaning. Another reading goal I have is to reading more frequently. 3-4 days a week for twenty minutes a day. Now for writing, a goal I have for next trimester is to work on my voice and tone. I feel that a can push a tone and feeling better in my writing if I work on my diction and syntax. I feel if I add a variety to my pieces, I could influence a reader's feelings even more than I have before. Next, I feel there is always room for improvement. I feel that I could improve my reading and writing very much! One thing that I need to improve in reading is not being lazy and rereading things and looking up words I dont understand so I can truly know what is happening in a text.  With writing, things I could improve are the way I order things in a text to make them flow better. When reading one of my own pieces I sometimes feel it is rather choppy, so I can promise that is something I will try my hardest to improve on! This trimester has been great but all good things must come to an end and im excited for next trimester! Thank you!

The Forbidden Romances

Since my novel that I am reading and a play I am studying in class are forbidden romances I thought it would be okay to compare the two. In The Night Circus reason the two loving foes were chosen, not born into hate. They were chosen by their trainers (I CHOOSE YOU PIKACHU) to fight the other in a magic duel. While in Romeo and Juliet they were in fact born to hate each other. The last really big comparison I came up with is that Romeo and Juliet had a fatal ending while The Night Circus luckily did not. yay!

Analysis

The novel The Night Circus states very clearly that Marco and Celia are in love. I know this because it says "Ceilia wishes she could freeze time as she listens to the steady beat of Marco's heart against the ticking of the clock. To stay forever within this moment, curles in his arms, his hands softly stroking her back, To not have to leave." I think this chunk of text makes it very very obvious that the now not so little girl is in love with Marco. As he is also in love with her. Although this is just another forbidden romance, this is also another book that will chase you down until you fall in love with it as well.

Tone and Mood

         The tone of my novel The Night Circus is confident. This is because the magician is confident that his daughter will win a duel with anyone she is faced with. This is why he had no problem putting her own life in jeopardy. "She could levitate that watch on her first try." This shows his oppion and the tone of this part of the text. However, the mood of the bovel is unsure and uncomfortable. This is because the reader doesnt have the faith in the little girl that the dad does. This is because the author allows the reader to see the daughter doubting herself even though her dad cant see it. At one point in the text the girl eventually does show her unsureness to her dad who just gloats and says how wonderful she is and it makes her feel a little better.

Theme

        The theme of "The Night Circus" is doing what makes you happy will often times not be approved by everyone. This is because in the beginning, the daughter is expected to face and defeat a subject of a competitor of the magician's. However, when she grows up and is well trained and ready to face her challenger, she of course.. falls in love with him. So of course she doesnt want to destroy him and he sure doesnt want to hurt her. However, running off with this guy will not be okay with her dad. He wouldnt be happy with her at all. Thats also an understatement... He would be ticked off. So the daughter is left with the decision to do what makes her happy or what makes her dad happy. Im excited to see what happens and I honestly really hope she ends up doing what makes her happy.

The Night Circus

I have finished the Night Circus and it was a page turner! I will not give anything away but may I just say it was a blast to read! I highly highly recommend it!

Reading Skills Redo

The independent novel I have chosen to read is "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. I have barely made a dent in the book and I am already hooked.  What I have gotten so far is a man is a great magician and he has a competitor. No big deal right? Well, one day this great magician finds a little girl in his office with a note clipped to her shirt. When he discovers its a suicide note from this girl's mother and that he is her dad.. lets just say he has had better days.
          For some reason, I keep thinking this magician is going to get his daughter taken by his competitor. However, this book may be a little too complicated to be that predictable. So with great excitement, I will just have to find out.
         Another thing is, I keep going back to Harry Potter with this book. Its not exact of course but the abandoned child dumped on a family member, magic, its there you know?
         Next, when I read this I am always thinking about people who have gambling problems.. The magician thinks very highly of him self and seems to be willing to put anything at risk to win something like a lot of people do.
         Also this little girl reminds me of myself and many other little kids. She doesn't have much say and just does as she is told. Which I know is what I did and what many people do at a very young age.
         I find myself questioning this magicians ego. I didn't mention it before but this guy is a little full of it and keeps making me think of Leonardo DiCaprio... yuck!

      Anyway, I highly recommend this to any young adult- adult reader!

Search "Forbidden Love" on google images and I found this! Its super cute and is the couple that is forced to fight each other in my book The Night Circus!

Characters for The Night Circus

       In The Night Circus the magician's little girl is grown up now. She started off as a little girl with some magic of her own. However, now she is grown up and is about to face the magician's competitor and his subject. With her life at jeopardy, she knows how important her performance is. A funny thing happens though. The magician's girl has fallen in love with the competitors subject! Forbidden love? Never heard of that before. Due to the girl's dilemma, I am intrigued to learn about what she will decide to do. Luckily for her though, its a mutual attraction. Hope this ends well!

The Night Circus has done It again guys! Another plot twist.! If I failed to mention it the Magician's daughter is magic! Now, the magician is having his only daughter compete against his competitor and his "project". Which is simply another person. Each magician is training their players to compete. What I'm getting from this is that the loser... loses their player! So Mr. Cocky Leonardo DiCaprio, real name is Hector, is putting himself in jeopardy of losing his only daughter! He doesn't seem too concerned however. Lets see how this ends!

Book Recommendation

      A Book that I am highly recommending right now is World War Z by Max Brooks. This book is a real thriller and will have you tearing through the pages by the first chapter. I have just finished this novel along with my independent novel for English class and I think it is one of the best books I have read.
      Basically, this book is a collection of documents (mostly interviews) of a "zombie invasion". These interviews are all by this one man who is going around trying to collect as much information about this "war" as possible. His intentions are to prevent this from ever happening again. Also to inform future generations about it and how to survive or prevent it. While this is a great read, you are probably going to need a strong stomach to survive this book.!

The Night Circus

         I am making steady progress through my independent novel "The Night Circus" and am pleased to say that I have already stumbled upon a twist. The great and powerful magician's daughter... is... magic.
        I find this odd because when reading this, I was thinking this whole circus was just illusions and schemes like all magic shows. (Sorry if I offended anyone ha-ha). However, this little girl can move things and break things using her mind... Much like Matilda from another beloved novel. So this makes me think maybe this is the actual real deal we are talking about. When the magician saw this little girl of his do such a thing he didn't seem the list bit startled. If anything, he was rather amused by this discovery.
       With this great twist I seem to be enjoying something about the girl that is a bit more subtle... her attitude. This magician is getting his world flipped upside down with this little stubborn kid. If you ask me, its a humbling experience for Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio like man... anyway... I'm stoked to continue my reading.
      

Reading Skills for "The Night Circus" redo

The independent novel I have chosen to read is "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. I have barely made a dent in the book and I am already hooked.  What I have gotten so far is a man is a great magician and he has a competitor. No big deal right? Well, one day this great magician finds a little girl in his office with a note clipped to her shirt. When he discovers its a suicide note from this girl's mother and that he is her dad.. lets just say he has had better days.
          For some reason, I keep thinking this magician is going to get his daughter taken by his competitor. However, this book may be a little too complicated to be that predictable. So with great excitement, I will just have to find out.
         Another thing is, I keep going back to Harry Potter with this book. Its not exact of course but the abandoned child dumped on a family member, magic, its there you know?
         Also,  I find myself questioning this magicians ego. I didn't mention it before but this guy is a little full of it and keeps making me think of Leonardo DiCaprio... yuck!
                                                                  Anyway, I highly recommend this to any young adult-                                                           adult reader.

         The theme of the novel "Tell the Wolves I'm Home" is that love is stronger than the criticism, harsh words, and sacrifices that comes with it. In the end, love will be standing the tallest. Pretty sappy right? That's okay though. It really was a great book.
         This novel takes a tragic situation and gives it multiple sides and layers. In one part, right after the uncle has passed away June (main character) is given a task. "Keep him safe." This guy is her uncle's partner who we eventually find out didn't have anyone in his life other than his partner. This gave the book a whole new direction and situation.
       Throughout this text, the reader is allowed to see every side of every character. In the beginning, you can only see the depth of the main character and her uncle while the others are rather flat and seem to have a utopia feel to them. Meaning there doesn't seem to be a flaw or a deep thought about them. They are almost shallow. When throughout you are able to see more and more of their personality and flaws. The mother for example, she is first seen as a figure just standing tall and helping out with the family death. However, later you realize how judgmental she is. Epically about her dead brother's partner. The mothers negativity toward him at first scare June into not seeing him but later makes her see that her mom just doesn't want to see any good in him.



An article about an interview with Carol Rifka Drunt and how she was able to write such a touching novel.