The Giver #1 (From Mr.T's blog)

Even though I've already done a blog. I'll just do another one.

3. I think that the reason why The Giver thinks that people making their own decisions is frightening is because if they happen to make the wrong decision, the outcome would be unpredictable, and therefore, possible dangerous or cause chaos or harm. This is something that the community strives to avoid, upset feelings, or possible chaos.
If people start to make their own decisions then they would learn to become more independent, meaning they would start to listen to themselves more and less of others. However, even if it isn't the nature of the people to defy the rules of the community they might start to 'stand out' and become more then normal and actually start to make a difference in life, and that is what the elders fear most. People upsetting the balance of things.
One of the examples I have to support this is when The Giver discusses the possibility of people making their own decisions, immediately Jonas thinks this is absurd and completely out of the question because he fears bout if they make the wrong decision.

The Giver #1

I think that having my future decided for me is not ideal. However, if I were to make an error in the process it would destroy my career, but if my future was decided for me that would give me less margin for error. Therefore my whole future would be pre-determined. Systems like this take out risk but also take out potential in people. The leaders of the community are extremely old fashioned, they've been living the same way as they were 100 years ago, so there is no progress just sameness and everyone is just a carbon-copy of everyone else.
Having decisions made for you is the equivelent of being told constantly what to do, but this this actually agreeing with it and not putting up a fight. I think that the community just take this for granted and think this as normal and they think that even wondering about the possibilities of making big decisions is absurd.
If living in a modern day amish would mean living in a world without hurt,pain,war, or anyother inplseant feeling but have to sacrifice your freedom and freethinking, then what would be the point of it if there was no progress?

White Mts. #6

Since the time that Ozymandias had first spoken to Will, compared to when they reached the White Mountains Will has matured immensely. At first he was a little scared and nervous not knowing much about the tripods and the White Mountains but over time he gradually discovered the importance of freedom. However, remember Will had doubts about the White Mountains and how he didn't truly understand the importance of free-thinking and freedom.

The Red castle in France was really a huge obstacle for him but he was able to learn things about the people there and their odd customs- such as Eloise's turban. Over time, whether he knew it or not, he fell in love with Eloise but was aghast when he discovered her as being 'capped'. I think the reason why Will had doubt about the White Mountains was because he came to know the people of Red castle and he knew of their kindness and forgiveness. They showed great forgiveness when Will pulled away Eloise's turban revealing her cap, they knew that he was unaware of this tradition but still told him that this was a wrong doing.

Even the bond between Will and Henry strengthened during their journey. At the beginning of the novel they were constantly fighting and disagreeing and they both loathed each other, but now, they treat each other as equals and respect each other. However I doubt that Henry has truly forgiven him for wanting to stay at Red castle. I think that their journey brought them together. There are just some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and embarking on an epic journey and fighting giant like tripods is one of them.

White mts. #5

Since the time that Ozymandias had first spoken to Will, compared to when they reached the White Mountains Will has matured immensely. At first he was a little scared and nervous not knowing much about the tripods and the White Mountains but over time he gradually discovered the importance of freedom. However, remember Will had doubts about the White Mountains and how he didn't truly understand the importance of free-thinking and freedom.

The Red castle in France was really a huge obstacle for him but he was able to learn things about the people there and their odd customs- such as Eloise's turban. Over time, whether he knew it or not, he fell in love with Eloise but was aghast when he discovered her as being 'capped'. I think the reason why Will had doubt about the White Mountains was because he came to know the people of Red castle and he knew of their kindness and forgiveness. They showed great forgiveness when Will pulled away Eloise's turban revealing her cap, they knew that he was unaware of this tradition but still told him that this was a wrong doing.

Even the bond between Will and Henry strengthened during their journey. At the beginning of the novel they were constantly fighting and disagreeing and they both loathed each other, but now, they treat each other as equals and respect each other. However I doubt that Henry has truly forgiven him for wanting to stay at Red castle. I think that their journey brought them together. There are just some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and embarking on an epic journey and fighting giant like tripods is one of them.

White mts. #4

"The bitter thing was all the spirit, all the gallantry, was wasted. For even more than inferiors, they accepted and looked forward to being Capped. It was a part of becoming a knight, or of turning from a girl to lady. Thinking of this, I saw how good things could be meaningless in isolation. What value did courage have, without a free and challenging mind to direct it?" (p. 111)

The passage above relates to the theme freedom as well as the rest of the book, to support this it explains how people just take capping for granted and don't question why or what the cap actually does to you. If this happened in real life and it wasn't a made up scenario eventually the human race would be defeated, (but not without a fight). Even though there would be the occasional brave person who would questions the tripods authority over time freedom would be a thing of the past and nothing more. Through-out the whole book the author describes the importance of freedom, but subtly. The passage above is an example of this.

White mts. #3

1. The tripods placed metal capps on people when they reached the age of 14. However, if their monds were too weak or they were resistent to the capping then the cap would overpower your brain and you would become a vagrant. A vagrant is mentally disabled because of the error in the capping process. They also control people in a way that is very subtle. They limit the amout of knowledge that each person has. In schools they only teach life skills and not knowledge.


2. (Pg 120)Guillaume was their way of saying me name. She had told me that, but she never used it to address me before. My head was spinning a little. Even though i had grown used to the castle and the life that was lived here, it still did not seem entirely real to me. And this talk of kings... There was a king in England, too, who lived in the north somewhere. I had never seen him, nor ever expected to.
She was telling me that I could stay- that she wanted me to stay- not as a servant but as a knight. I could have servants of my own, and horses, an armor made for me so that I could ride in the tournaments, and a place in the family of the Comte de la tour rouge. I looked at her, and knew the she was quite in earnest. I did not know what to say.
(pg 122) They were capped, they accepted the tripods and all they stood for, but that did not prevent them from being, as I had seen in the Comte and Comtesse and Eloise and now in others, warmhearted, generous and brave. And happy.

3. Example a) Was I to abandon my hope of freedom, surrender the mastery of my mind, for the sake of wearing jeweled leather and having other men touch their caps to me? The notion was absurd.
Example b) More and more I had come to see the Capped as lacking what seemed to me the essence of humanity, the vital spark if defiance against the rulers of the world.

White mts. #2

The character that Will and Henry had just recently met was Zhan-Pole. Even though he wears glasses, which we later discover that he created it himself, he has proved to be quite friendly and helpful; in turn I think that he will be resourceful as he is able to speak the foreign language that Will and Henry aren't able to speak.

Over time the relationship between all of them will strengthen and Zhan-poles intelligence will prove useful. Since he claims that he knows the way, with a few obstacles the group will find themselves at the White Mountains. In the book it shows that Zhan-pole is smart as he realizes that the tripods are controlling and that something is wrong, without explanation from Will, Henry or any other person he already knew of the tripods. This proves his brilliance and intelligence.

White mts. #1

In the book 'The white mountains' the main character, Will, is similar to me because he very curious and doesn't really speak up often. Me, like Will doesn't really have much charisma, and like me is only really confident with my friends, in Will's case it's Jack, but in my case it's Kat, Cindy and Safa.

If I was in Will's shoes and Ozymandias had just told me about the tripods then I would have probably done the same thing as him, but I’d have prepared for the journey better. For example: Brought more food, money, resources. Being terrified and curious about the tripods is only a natural feeling. If they controlled every aspect of your life without you being aware then some stranger claims that the cap isn't a sign of growing up, it's a sign that you are becoming too intelligent and you think for yourself so they need to limit you freedom by mind-numbing you. I would be slightly shocked to begin with and probably not believe a single word he said but after I’d think about it then I would realize that he was speaking the truth and like Will did would try to escape.

It's kind of odd thinking about the similarities between yourself and a fictional character but since the book seems so realistic it seems like the character are real and if they feel certain emotions then you tend to feel the same way. That's kind of why I like books.

New years blog :)

During New years I had lots of fun with all my family and friends. However, to make 2010 even better I made some New Year’s resolutions to make it even better. Here are some of them:
One of the new year’s resolutions that I have decided on is "enjoy life more" because sometimes you just get so caught up in school and your studies that you just forget to sit back and have fun-even if you’re supposed to be working! Another thing that I want to accomplish this year is to organize myself better because even if most people don't know it I’m actually really unorganized and I’m constantly trying to find all my things but surprisingly I manage to find them right before class.

Besides making some resolutions I have also been to Singapore visiting my Asian cousins, who are older and younger than me. One of my favorite things that I’ve done is have a large BBQ that included 20+ people and 2 dogs. Singapore is a great place for water parks and theme parks but unfortunately I didn't visit any this trip round (I visit Singapore often so it's not that of a disappointment) but I did watch 'Avatar' which in my opinion was a great fantasy movie to end 2009.

After returning to my home country (Malaysia) I and my visiting cousins from Alaska enjoyed a festive Christmas at my house but days later took off straight away to the exotic island of Pangkor. All of us (including my elderly grandparents) enjoyed it but in the end the fun was not to last and but all got sunburned severely. Thankfully since me and my sister are used to the intense heat and sun in Malaysia we didn't get burnt too badly, it was mainly my foreigner cousins.

Sadly, the holiday was coming to an end and we all had to say our goodbyes so my cousins and grandparents went back to America after quickly returning to Kuala Lumpur from Pangkor and shortly after I started school.