Last 9th Grade Blog Post

The last book I read for class this year was Flatlands by Edward Abbott. Personally, I would totally reccomend it. Essentially, the story is about a being living in a two-dimensional world who discovers worlds with other amounts of decisions. While I confess the first half of the book, a description of two-dimensional society isn't for everyone, it was great to think about and read through for me personally, and I'd reccomend it to any other math enthusiasts as well. The reason I'd reccomend the book to all my peers, though, is the second half. It delves in a deep yet easily comprehensible way into some philosophical discussion about dimensions, the limits of human knowledge, and perception. Besides this, there are tied in in the interactions in the main character's community underlying social messages about misinformation spread by authorities, sexism and discrimination, and social hierarchies. While it is a pretty quick read, Flatlands leads to much deeper thought and reflection about many important subjects, and for this reason, I'd reccomend it to my peers.

Blog Post #25

We read lots of interesting books this year. Personally, my favorite book I read was The Odyssey by Homer. The writing style, and the plot as a whole, was very interesting. The many tales of Odysseus's adventures were all fun to read, and in contrast of what I expected going into it, there were really no slow or boring parts at all, the plot was very dynamic and always moving. I believe my least favorite book was The Merchant of Venice. Long monologues and many words I didn't understand were certainly interesting to analyze, but made the story hard to fully take in and enjoy. Also, I guess the plot just wasn't insanely interesting as a whole. It was a nice read though, and ELA as a whole was definitely fun this year.

ELA Blog Post #23

Is the climax the hotel scene when Tom and Gatsby argue, or is it when Gatsby meets Daisy at Nick's house? What central conflict or conflicts are being addressed in the climax, and how is this the turning point of the narrative (story)? Use textual evidence to back up your claims. 

In my opinion, the climax of the story is the hotel scene. Seeing as I believe that the conflict of this story is Jay vs. rich society in Jay's struggle for Daisy's love, the scene where Daisy first shows any negative feelings for Jay because of her views as an aristocrat seems to definitely be the climax. This is the first point in the story in which Jay's plans to gain Daisy's love and get her to denounce Tom actually fail. While the odds have been stacking up against him throughout the novel, this seems to be the first time where he really "fails", where Daisy first consciouly chooses Tom over him. In argument against the other scene being the climax, I'd say that while they do meet eachother, Daisy was already aware of Gatsby's presence near her (page 14), and at least outwardly claims she loved him all along. While there is definitely a huge shift in the conflict, I wouldn't call it a turning point as much as, say, as acceleration. Overall, while I feel this debate is very much open to interpretation, I personally feel the hotel scene is the climax of The Great Gatsby.