What's 811 Reading? discussion

Compare your protagonist with a character from another text. If you're feeling stuck, use a character from The Outsiders or "The Last Spin"!

For a “4”: Did I….
• Write a topic sentence that provided the title, author, and genre of my text?
• Provide context of what is happening in the text, so my reader understands what I’m talking about?
• Find a direct quote from the text that proves my idea?
• Thoroughly explain the significance of my quote/how it proves my idea?
• Check for correct punctuation and spelling?

In Laurie Halse Anderson's realistic book Speak my protagonist Melinda relates to the character in the book called Shiver because they both have a situation and it's very hard to handle it. For example, Melinda has issue with her ex-best friend Rachel because of what happen in the summer and in the book Shiver Grace meets a werewolf guy (Sam) who has an issue of controlling himself. This shows that Grace (Shiver) and Melinda (Speak) has some issues with the secondary character based on the issues they have in the past (Speak) and what is happening current (Shiver). Another example, Grace has a special relationship with Sam (Shiver), and Melinda doesn't have a relationship with anyone but her ex-best friend Rachel is trying to make her jealous with her boyfriend Andy (Speak). This shows that in the book Speak and Shiver they have extremely hard situations based on their life and prospective based on how they are treating the situation.

In Jacqueline Woodson's realistic fiction story "If You Come Softly" one character that is related to Jeremiah is Arnold. In the book Jeremiah has feeling to one girl, like how much Arnold wanted good education, But some other people refused to let him and his love to be together forever, like how the Rearden kids didn't like Arnold to be around.

In the realistic fiction book Endangered by Eliot Schrefer, the protagonist Sophie is visiting her mom who works at a bonobo (type of monkey) santury. Her and her mom have conflict against each other and don't get along well which relates to a character in the book The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. The character Carmen visits her dad which she was really looking forward to in the summer but when she got there, she found out her dad was getting married again. He practically ignored her and treated her unfairly. The family always talked about the wedding and left her out of things. This is the same way for Sophie in Endangered except that her mom is always lecturing her about taking in the bonobo that she bought. Therefore, the characters in Endangered and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants have something in common.

In Eoin Colfer's realistic fiction novel "Artemis Fowl The Enternity Code" the main character in my book Artemis relates to Dally from the outsiders. I think this because at first Artemis was bad, cruel, and always thought about himself then towards the middle of the book Artemis turns good and starts to help his piers while Dally in the Outsiders is at first bad a delinquent,and he always cared about himself, then towards the end ever since Johnny got hurt Dally has been being good except the fact he stole something from a store and him commiting suicide so that's why I compared Artemis and Dally.

In Mark Salzman's nonfiction novel Iron and Silk, the protagonist, Mark relates to the protagonist, Ponyboy from The Outsiders. In Iron and Silk Mark travels to China to teach English at Hunan Medical College. While he is there, he learns Kung fu from Dr. Li a teacher at the university. When he is there he learns a sword form, Xuan Men Sword. It is Dr. Li's favorite form. At his university when he is first introduced he fixes a piano for an old lady, meet a group of old but funny teachers. He walks around and is wanted to learn many things. He is able to learn the culture. He states "Teacher Wei told him when you have a visitor in China at first you offer him tea and something to eat." This shows how Mark is Like Pony. They both learned something from the end. However, Pony learns something internally and mental but Mark is learning a culture. They are very similar. They change from the beginning to the end. They are now a new person. They learned something that will improve their future life.

In Christopher Paul Curtis's realistic fiction novel, The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963, the protagonist, Byron Watson, relates to Ponyboy in The Outsiders. The reason why Byron is related to Ponyboy is because both had negative thoughts about something and later on understand more about a certain thing or place and respected it. Byron started out disliking the decision to move to Alabama to live with Grandma Sands because he really liked Michigan and he loved his school and his friends. Later on, after knowing more about Alabama and living there for a while, Byron enjoyed his life with his family in Alabama because of better education and jobs. Ponyboy also started out to hate the Socs of their selfishness and trying to beat them up when they saw them. Later on, after having a discussion with Soc, Randy, he realized both Greasers and Socs are just normal people who deal with problems in their lives everyday. In addition, Ponyboy and Randy both respected each other, including their gangs. Therefore, this shows why Byron is related to Ponyboy's perspective.

In the realistic fiction book,Chinese Handcuff by Chris Crutcher, Dillon can relate to Dallas. Dillon is a tough person. Dillon likes being tough and he likes to win. "I have to be tough in order to win," This shows that he relates to Dallas because Dallas likes to br tough and he wants to show to everyone. Thereofore, Dillon can be realted to Dallas from the Outsiders.

In Susan Shaw's realistic fiction novel "Black-eyed Suzie", I can compare one of my protagonists, Suzie's mother, to Darry in "The Outsiders". Darry is a character who cares deeply and loves his brothers Ponyboy and Sodapop Curtis very much, but he can be tough on Pony sometimes. Suzie's mother is just like Darry. Suzie's mother loves her daughter very much,but when she feels Suzie is doing something wrong, Suzie feels like her mother hates her. For example when Suzie cries, her mother gets angry and yells at her."Mom gets angry when i cry. She pushes hard against one of my chair legs, so hard i rock and almost fall off." Another quote is " Under the hate i know she loves me." These quotes show that Suzie's mom can be mean to Susie but deep down, she really loves her.

In Phil Jackson's autobiography, The Last Season, one of the characters, Shaquille o'Neal can be compared to Dally. Although the story is mainly focused on Phil's life and struggles, Shaq played a big part in his life and came up many times in the autobiography. Shaq is known as one of the greatest centers who have played in the NBA. A center is a position for stronger and taller players. Phil coached Shaq and the Los Angeles Lakers and led them to many championship titles. Phil stated, "Shaq was a big man and did not like being taken advantage on or being overpowered by another player." This quote and other pieces of evidence from the story show that Shaq relates to Dally for his attitude and actions. Both are tough people and stand up for themselves without a doubt. Shaq is not as hostile as Dally and cares for people in general both on the court he plays his hardest and does not like to get taken advantage of so easily. He will fight back. Therefore, a character from my story, Shaq, can be compared to Dallas Winston from The Outsiders.

In Darren Shans fiction story The Saga Of Larten Crepsley, Larten can be compared to Johney. Even though Larten is a vampire, I would compare her to Johney because of this one part when she killed some guy that was harassing her. It is similar to Johney from the outsiders because of when he killed Bob. They both had the same reaction. Because when Larten killed that guy, she felt very guilty and anxious. But Johney just felt very sad and he didn't know what to do about the murder.