Blog #8 - Wordle Explained

The concrete poem using wordleI made for my last blog post was about the novel "Feed" by M.T. Anderson.

1. What is the purpose of your poem? What mood, message or point are you trying to make?

I tried to tell my readers about the key elements of the novel. The largest word is feed, which is the title of the poem, thus being the most important. The next largest words are unit and malfunction. These two words are what the story is all about. The characters are "units" and not entirely humans. Malfunctioning is a conflict for the characters throughout the poem. Other words are characters and parts of the setting. In conclusion, the purpose of my concrete poem is to display the key elements of the novel.

2. What did you do to create this purpose? Discuss your word choice and your decision on the size of particular words in comparison to other words.

I created this purpose by including as many words that reveal key elements as possible. The larger words are more important elements of the story. For example, the word Violet, who is one of the main characters of the story, is larger than the word moon, which is only part of the setting during a few chapters of the story.

3. Did you like using Wordle? Come up with other possible uses of Wordle inside and outside of English class.

Wordle is a fun site to use. Outside of English, it could be used to make images for Facebook, blogs, or other websites. It could also be used for finding the key points of presentations or discussions.

Concrete Poem Using Wordle.net

Blog #7 - Significant Characteristic

Setting
          I am currently reading "Martyn Pig" by Kevin Brooks. The most commonly used setting is Martyn's house, and the story takes place during the week before Christmas. I believe that the location of the story is in England, because currency is in pounds. Martyn's house is a dirty, lonely and dark place. Even when Martyn's father was still alive, Martyn was always lonely.

"I didn't smell of anything - no cigarette smoke, no stale beer, no whisky, no sweaty clothes..." (Brooks 141)

          Even though Martyn is saying that he doesn't smell anything, this quote proves that the house smells like cigarette smoke and the other things because Martyn is surprised that it doesn't smell like that. Martyn is surprised because the house is usually very dirty, smelly, and unwelcoming. This is significant because it makes Martyn feel lonely and sad, that he lives in this environment.

Character
"Alex said calmly, "why don't you let me call the police."" (Brooks 40)

          This quote shows a bit about Alex's character. She likes to take control, as seen when she asks if she can call the police as opposed to Martyn. This also shows that she is very kind, as she asks calmly. This is important because it makes the ending of the story more strange, because Alex turns on Martyn and tells the police about what happened. She seems like a nice girl but she tricks him.

       

Blog #6 - Film Adaptation

          If I were making a screen play for a film based on the novel "Kissing the Rain" by Kevin Brooks, some things would need to be cut because of time restrictions. First of all, there could only be one main climax in the story, which would be when Moo is in court and the prosecutor, Mr. Henry, asks him if he has spoken to Mr. Vine. This section is full of suspense and is an important part to the story. There are smaller climaxes throughout the novel that must be removed. The part where Moo first meets Vine is important, so that should stay. I would remove the mini-climax where Moo receives the news that Brady is in the hospital and Moo then rushes across the city to the hospital. This part is suspenseful and exciting, but the outcome of the story would not be impacted if this section were removed. Also, this section takes two chapters of the novel, so a good amount of the story would be removed, shortening the story into a good screen play. I could then remove any small details throughout the story. Anything that doesn't contribute to the main storyline would be cut. Then, if the movie was too short, I would add in enough details and filler to make the movie longer, but still entertaining.

Blog #5 - Suspense or Pathos

The book that I am currently reading, which is "Kissing the Rain" by Kevin Brooks.

"His head and shoulders move back, like he's trying to get me in focus, then he reaches out a hand -- and just  for a second I think he's gonna whop me... but no... it's all right, he's just..." (Brooks 112)

This is a suspenseful part of the story when Moo is walking through the park and detective Callan walks out of nowhere and comes towards Moo. This builds up suspense because Moo doesn't know what Callan is going to do to him when he gets closer. The story is told from a first-person perspective of Moo, and he doesn't know what is going to happen, so the reader doesn't know what is going to happen. This creates suspense as the reader anticipates what will happen next.

The setting is in a park with no one around, which makes it more suspenseful because if Callan tries to attack Moo, there is no one around to help. The mood during this part of the story is frightening and scary, because Moo doesn't know what is going on and earlier in the story, there is foreshadowing done that makes you expect a confrontation like this one.

Blog #4 - Point of View

The novel I am currently reading, which is "Kissing the Rain" by Kevin Brooks, is told from a first-person, limited omniscient point of view. It is told from the perspective of Michael "Moo" Nelson, the main protagonist of the story.

I think that the author chose this point of view so that the reader has full access to all of Michael's feelings and emotions. This really helps the reader learn as much as possible about Michael and what he is thinking.
I wouldn't change the point of view for this novel, because the entire story is about Michael so it is good that we know everything about him. Also, things the Michael doesn't know, we don't know, which creates a mystery and builds suspense during the story.

Blog #3 - Character Traits

The novel I am currently reading is "Kissing the Rain" by Kevin Brooks. The main protagonist is Michael 'Moo' Nelson.

Fat
"Soft and splodgy, round-faced...yeh, I guess I always been one of them round-faced kids...which ain't surprising really -- I got a round-faced mum and a round-faced dad..." (Brooks 61)

This story is told from the first-person perspective of Michael Nelson. Sadly, he often talks about himself in a negative way, mostly saying that he is fat. He constantly is talking about how people make fun of him and he puts himself down. In my previous blog post, "Blog #1 - Opening Mood", I wrote about how Moo is always depressed and he clearly describes himself as fat.

Lonely
"MY PLACE. There it is, look -- 8 steps along, that bit there, where one of the railings has a knee-shaped kink, and the cross-rail's worn and shiny from 5 years' leaning..." (Brooks 4)

Moo is normally made fun of by his peers, plus he is somewhat new in town. The part of this quote where is says "5 years' leaning..." helps show this characteristic. It means that he leaned on that cross-rail for 5 years' now, showing that he goes there by himself.

Worrisome
"I dunno...I don't KNOW if it's all right or not... and I dunno if it makes any difference if I DON'T think it's all right..." (Brooks 79)

Moo becomes a very worrisome character throughout the story. Since he witnessed the accident at the bridge, he is always worried about the police or Mr. Vine showing up at his house. In the quote, he is worried and questioning if it is all right to let Dectective Callan in his home.

Aware
"I can't make em out just yet, they're maybe half a mile away, all I can see is 2 pairs of glaring headlights, one behind the other, 4 blazings eyes..." (Brooks 11)

Moo is very aware of his surroundings. In this quote, he is sitting up on a bridge and looking down at on coming traffic. He is so aware that he manages to notice the two pairs of headlights and the people's eyes in the car.