"All the laughter drained out of Dicey, like all that money draining out of her checking account."
-Seventeen Against the Dealer, Cynthia Voigt
Dicey was robbed in the night, and all of incredibly well made tools were stolen, and some paint cans were knocked over. After this I began to notice that Dicey was acting like she had been drained of all life and happiness she'd ever had. This is a little before the quote. After the quote, in the new chapter, Dicey is just lost, and I was trying to track her mood going up and down. Nothing about anything she did seemed to change, and I thought that she was just so traumatized by being robbed that she was almost a robot, that she was just so dead to the world. After that I started watching the other characters and how she interacted with them was so sad. Everything she said seemed like it would've been said in a monotone voice with a sad blank face.
I thought after this that Dicey might be worried about being robbed again, now having a gaping hole in her shop's door. After I proved this to be wrong I realized she's worried about her mental and physical safety, not her financial safety. Everyone around her, especially Gram seems to worry about her mental state because she's become slow and inattentive and stopped caring about her business. I think the quote just shows what being robbed can do to a person mentally. She was laughing it away with Cisco at the hardware store as she buys new tools but deep down she's standing there dying inside. I think if one more slight accident happened at home or at her shop she would have a few dollars left in her checking account and she would probably not be able to handle it mentally.
I'm aware these things happen in the real world because you see this happening on the train and on the street everyday in NYC or you hear about it on the news. I don't personally know anyone who's been burglarized like this, and had it affect them so strongly but I can imagine it would. Being someone who has 9 cameras displayed in my room, I can easily imagine what it would be like to have them stolen, just like how Dicey must've felt when she had her tools stolen, knowing how sentimental they were to her. I see in the book how Dicey is mentally destroyed, and I can really see how I would be too, and how hard it is for her to get over it.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Reading Response 10/1/12 - Am I Blue?
Am I Blue? Bruce Coville
Vincent is unsure of his sexuality but deep down he knows he's gay, but won't admit it until Melvin shows him. I think he knows he is but he doesn't want to be labeled as anything, and because Butch Carraigan is already physically abusing him he doesn't want to create any more trouble for himself because he doesn't want more attention from others who might join Butch and hurt him also.
Vincent began acting gay when Melvin, his fairy godfather appears and talks about how they're the same, and Vincent says that he finds Melvin pretty. Vincent doesn't want anybody else paying any attention to him and doesn't want any help from Melvin, thinking it will cause more trouble with Butch and others who might attack him. Vincent doesn't want any attention called to him and Melvin and asks him why he walks like that, because he finds it odd, because he would call himself straight. Vincent is really just in denial and doesn't want anybody to try and bring him in, explaining why when Melvin calls him "honey" he rejects it and gets upset. Vincent later looks at another man and calls him "nice-looking", again proving he's really just in denial.
When Melvin explains how he got there, and that he's gay, Vincent asked if that meant he's gay. This annoyed me because I thought that Vincent could decide for himself and didn't need anybody there to tell him that one thing means another and decide his sexuality for him. After that Vincent even says "I had been trying to figure out the same thing myself for about a year now", which lead me to think that maybe Vincent did try to figure out for himself but he was so confused that he gave up and is now accepting help from others.
Later, every time Melvin refers to gays as "us" or "we", Vincent gets angry and tells him to speak for himself. When Melvin starts telling Vincent about gay fantasies he gets nervous because he doesn't really want to learn more about something that he's still in denial of, and still confused about. Vincent seems appalled when Melvin says he wishes all gay people in the country would turn blue so everyone would stop pretending they didn't know any gays. I don't get why Vincent is confused when he turns a little blue after he wishes for all gays to turn blue. He says that he was a little blue and this is when he changes as a character. I think this changes Vincent as a character because he finally has proof right there in front of his own eyes and can now fully accept his sexuality and can begin to cope with this and rebuild himself as a new person. This really is the real world because knowing there are gay people in the world, unless they all just woke up one day and decided their sexuality they must've been in denial and this is what Vincent is doing in the story.
Vincent is unsure of his sexuality but deep down he knows he's gay, but won't admit it until Melvin shows him. I think he knows he is but he doesn't want to be labeled as anything, and because Butch Carraigan is already physically abusing him he doesn't want to create any more trouble for himself because he doesn't want more attention from others who might join Butch and hurt him also.
Vincent began acting gay when Melvin, his fairy godfather appears and talks about how they're the same, and Vincent says that he finds Melvin pretty. Vincent doesn't want anybody else paying any attention to him and doesn't want any help from Melvin, thinking it will cause more trouble with Butch and others who might attack him. Vincent doesn't want any attention called to him and Melvin and asks him why he walks like that, because he finds it odd, because he would call himself straight. Vincent is really just in denial and doesn't want anybody to try and bring him in, explaining why when Melvin calls him "honey" he rejects it and gets upset. Vincent later looks at another man and calls him "nice-looking", again proving he's really just in denial.
When Melvin explains how he got there, and that he's gay, Vincent asked if that meant he's gay. This annoyed me because I thought that Vincent could decide for himself and didn't need anybody there to tell him that one thing means another and decide his sexuality for him. After that Vincent even says "I had been trying to figure out the same thing myself for about a year now", which lead me to think that maybe Vincent did try to figure out for himself but he was so confused that he gave up and is now accepting help from others.
Later, every time Melvin refers to gays as "us" or "we", Vincent gets angry and tells him to speak for himself. When Melvin starts telling Vincent about gay fantasies he gets nervous because he doesn't really want to learn more about something that he's still in denial of, and still confused about. Vincent seems appalled when Melvin says he wishes all gay people in the country would turn blue so everyone would stop pretending they didn't know any gays. I don't get why Vincent is confused when he turns a little blue after he wishes for all gays to turn blue. He says that he was a little blue and this is when he changes as a character. I think this changes Vincent as a character because he finally has proof right there in front of his own eyes and can now fully accept his sexuality and can begin to cope with this and rebuild himself as a new person. This really is the real world because knowing there are gay people in the world, unless they all just woke up one day and decided their sexuality they must've been in denial and this is what Vincent is doing in the story.
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