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I read Wit over Easter Break and I enjoyed it. It wasn’t my favorite read but it wasn’t my least favorite either. I think that the protagonist, Vivian is very funny. I enjoy sarcasm and she definitely adds that aspect to the play.  

What I did not like about the play is why Vivian was considered a research project. It seemed to me that Kelekian and Jason gave her this full dose treatment for eight months just to see what would happen to her. I didn’t get the sense that they cared about what was best for her. Even the nurse, Susan said to Jason that the medicine was too strong for her and he didn’t seem to care. He was much too concerned with how this treatment would affect his and Kelekian’s reputation if it was successful.

I also didn’t know why Jason was always nervous. It was understandable that first time he was examining Vivian, his former professor, but the play made it seem that he was always nervous and I never understood why.

Donne and his seventeenth century poetry wasn’t my favorite but I think it made Vivian’s character more relatable and understandable.

I don’t enjoy reading plays alone. I don’t mind reading them aloud in class when someone can play the different roles. That way, each character can have a voice and the play is easier to follow.

Sam's Speech

“Don’t you get it? I can’t feel that. It’s sweet an everything, but it’s like your not even there sometimes. It’s great that you can listen and be a shoulder to someone, but what about when someone doesn’t need a shoulder? … You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can’t. You have to do things. … Like tell people what you need. Or what you want. … You weren’t being his friend at all because you weren’t being honest with him. … I don’t want to be somebody’s crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don’t want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it, too. I want them to be able to do whatever they want around me. And if they do something I don’t like, I’ll tell them. … I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to be who I really am. And I’m going to figure out what that is.”

Sam says all of this to Charlie the night before she leaves for college. I think in this speech she captures the meaning of a relationship. It involves honesty and openness and without both of those things, why should you care if the person you’re with loves you or not. Because at that point, if you’re not open and honest with them then they don’t even really know you.

Wallflower

Patrick said something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

“He’s a wallflower. You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.

            Patrick says this to Charlie shortly after he finds him with Brad. I feel as though based on this quote I can relate a lot to Charlie. I don’t want to go ahead and call myself a wallflower but I do feel that I am a very observant person. I can sit there and listen, retain. I don’t always have to be sharing my opinion, although I do always have one.

            Regardless, after reading this part from the novel, the title made sense to me and I fell as though it is very fitting. In Charlie’s case, being a wallflower did have its perks. As I think it does for everyone.

The Perks of being a Wallflower

I read this novel a while back. I meant to blog about it right away, I really did. Unfortunately, I never got around to it. Anyway I really enjoyed it! I read it when I was home and my sister kept asking me why I was being such a tool and reading. At first I was saying that I had to for school but when she asked me the next time she saw me reading my answer had changed to, “because I can’t put it down.” Well, that didn’t go over well with her. She was never the ‘do homework at home’ kind of girl.

So I actually plan on re-reading this book over the summer. It will be the first time I ever re-read anything, not to mention an entire novel. I won’t re-read it simply for enjoyment but rather because I have heard several times now that people who re-read it pick up on so much more than they did the first time around. I felt as though I picked up on a lot, more than usual, so I look forward to re-reading it and seeing if I catch anything new.

Back to my sister for a second, she asked me when I was about halfway through with the novel what it was about. I had no idea what to tell her. The best I could do was say something along the lines of a boy in high school writing to someone about his life. She said I was stupid and I said well, I have a feeling that I can give you a better answer when I finish it. This made no sense to her and I’m pretty sure it made even less sense to me. However, I was right. I didn’t really understand anything about Charlie until you discover what his Aunt Helen had done to him. It is a terrible thing. I always fell as though this is why he has such a strong connection to Sam. Sure she is beautiful, but I think since she went through something similar, he related to her in a way that he didn’t even realize yet.

As a female reader, I found what happened to Charlie’s sister very tragic. It also made the novel more real than it already was. I feel terrible that she had no one to turn to and that she had to resort to abortion. I cannot imagine the loneliness she must have felt at that time.

His relationship with Patrick confused me. To me, there is a thick line between a friendship, and what he did with Patrick in the car after what happened between him and Brad.

Overall this was a great novel. It reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye, except better.

One More Month!

Wow, I truly cannot believe that I have exactly one month left until I go home for the summer. My freshman year of college will be: over, done, finished, completed. I think that scares me more than I was when I first got here. Everyone always says that time flies but you never really believe it until the time has passed you by and you can’t get it back.

I figured with one month left of school, now would be a good time to reflect on some of my experiences this year.

I came into this school very timid and shy. I was nothing like that in high school but I was out of my comfort zone here. It took a while for me to open up and become more like myself and I know exactly why this is. I have serious trust issues. Not in a bad way though. I know it sounds crazy to think that there is a good way but I think there is. I cannot fully open up to someone until I know that I can trust them. I have to see how they act around others. There are some people who always feel the need to be talking and the center of attention. I can argue that as a broad generalization, these types of people can not keep secrets because they always have to tell the best or most recent stories. They have the need to sound the most interesting, even if it at the expense of someone else. So, after I am able to realize who does not do this, I can become more open and outoing, which I have done this year.

I believe that I got lucky this year. I became very close with both of my roommates and made friendships with several other people that I think will last a long time. However, because I instantly became friends with the girls on my floor, I never bothered to ‘participate’ in other on campus activities. Similar to Charlie in The Perls of being a Wallflower. If I had done this I would have given myself a chance to be a more well-rounded student. This would also have given me the opportunity to meet more people. At any rate, the time flew by me in the blink of an eye and here I am, one month left of school and cramming to get everything handed in on time for all my classes.

Sure there are plenty of things I would do over if I had the chance. But at the same time I have no regrets. Yes, I naturally made some mistakes this year but I did manage to stay out of trouble, and if I hadn’t made them I would not have learned from them. After all, college is more then reading textbooks, it is about going out on your own and learning from your mistakes and growing into a young adult who is prepared for the real world that college gives us a small taste of.

Easter Break

So, I just got back from my Easter Break. I went home last Tuesday after English class and returned yesterday, Monday. My break was just under a weeklong but it felt like I was only home for one night. I worked in the city on Wednesday and Thursday. I enjoy the work but I do not enjoy the thirteen-hour workday. My break was getting better until I lost my phone over the weekend. I got a new phone 2 weeks ago and already lost it. This is very unlike me. It turns out that the phone was stolen. Just my luck. Anyway, I actually enjoyed not having my phone for Easter Sunday. It was kind of like being ‘back to basics.’ I got to fully enjoy the time I had with my family without having any distractions. I replaced my phone yesterday and I am back in the twenty-first century. Not quite sure how I feel about it but when your at college, having a phone is a necessity. Nevertheless, I had a not-so-relaxing Spring Break but it was still enjoyable. I did not like that Bubba Watson won the Masters but, you can’t have it all.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (p. 167-end)

In this section of the book, I think that you really start to see Junior’s inner self. He is stronger than he will admit to being.

Junior demonstrates his strength in the basketball game against Wellpinit. Sure, he may throw up before every game but it doesn’t stop him from playing. He may claim to be scared but I find that part of Junior is fearless. Part of his strength comes from Rowdy. Rowdy never allowed Junior to be afraid. That is why Junior was able to climb the 100-foot pine tree.

Junior’s strength is also shown every time that he loses someone close to him. He lost his grandma, Eugene, and his sister in this section. Yet, he has the strength to continue his dreams of finding hope. Theses deaths don’t tear Junior down and make him give-up. In fact, it encourages him even more.

I also think that Junior realizes something in this section that I find to be truer than the novel intended it to be. Junior says, “I used to think the world was broken down by tribes. By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn’t true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not.” (p.176) I find it interesting and not a coincidence that he separately compared both blacks and Indians to whites. Junior went on to compare himself to whites again. On page 182, Junior asked himself if he could be “a legacy in a white town.” I think the fact that Junior feels the need to compare everything to being white proves his feeling of inferiority.