Summary
After that day that Tyler went to visit Bethany, it seems that Bethany has grown a fondness of Tyler. A few times when she saw him at school she would smile at him. Tyler likes the attention she's giving him, but he is distracted by it with other things troubling him. He's trying to deal with his school schedule. He is in three AP classes and Calculus, which is one of his toughest subjects, and he had loads of homework just on the first day of school. He went to his dad and asked if he could be taken out of one of the AP classes because it is too much for him, but his father was a jerk about the situation and said he's going to stay in those classes. He said its not about things being easy for him, and he also told Tyler he had to quit the job he has that he enjoys because it's not about him having fun either. He needs to focus on his schoolwork. Meanwhile, Tyler's trying to deal with his sister, Hannah, and talk some sense into her. She got her belly button pierced and is trying to show it off at school and dress showing too much skin. When Tyler and his sister were eating lunch one time in the cafeteria, Bethany showed up and sat with them. Tyler was suprised to see her because she usually eats off campus with her friends. Bethany talks to Hannah for a little while and then rests her knee on Tyler's leg, which he enjoys but tries not to show it. Later that day, Tyler is looking for a kid named Yoda, who likes Hannah and is also Tyler's ride home. When he finds Yoda, he is in the boys locker room with his wrists taped together and four guys torturing and hitting him. Tyler interupts and tells them to leave him alone, and then Chip arrives. Tyler says anything he can to tempt Chip in hitting him because he knows that Chip won't do it because he knows he would lose in front of his friends. After all, Tyler is the one who was winning in the arm wrestling match, so Chip knows that Tyler is stronger.
Quote:
"..all those folks standing on a quivering tree branch, with me at the end in a dog collar, skating on a thin layer of frozen pond" (Anderson 46).
Reaction:
Tyler was talking about the talk Tyler had with his principal and his parents a couple weeks before school started.His principal told Tyler that he should consider it a privilege that he can go back to school because his parents, probation officer, and some teachers were busting their necks to make it possible. He also needed to remember that he was on thin ice and a short leash because this privilege of going to school could be taken away from him very easily. The quote above is what Tyler pictured in his mind when his principal told him this. This quote really illustrated to me that Tyler has to be very careful so that he doesn't lose the privileges and blessings he's received, because he should be in more trouble than what he actually is. The way it is described in this quote is very accurate and is an interesting way of saying that Tyler is in trouble and needs to be very careful with his actions.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Twisted (pgs 1-37)
Summary:
The main character of Twisted is a junior in high school named Tyler Miller. He got arrested for doing the "Foul Deed", which wasn't specified as to what the deed was. But as a result he must do community service, pay for the damage, and he has to meet for six months with his parole officer. There's this neighbor of Tyler's named Bethany Milbury that he has a crush on. Tyler's father was attending a business gathering and brought the whole family, and Bethany's family was there as well. Bethany's brother, Chip, was bullying Tyler and talking about him getting in trouble with the law. Mr. Milbury and Mr. Miller both challenged Tyler and Chip to arm wrestle, which to them was innocent fun but was something different for Chip and Tyler. Tyler was winning, but he let Chip win because his father was sending signals to let him win to impress Mr. Milbury. Afterwards Mr. Milbury said that they should "shake hands like men". But instead of doing that, Chip patted Tyler on the back as hard as he could which sent him flying towards Bethany and the waiters with the trays of champagne. The trays flew up and the champagne glasses broke. Bethany fell and she was barefoot, so the glass got into her foot and also on her arm when she landed on the ground. Tyler was so embarrassed and upset about what happened because he was afraid Bethany was mad at him.
Tyler was laying in his bedroom one night thinking about bodies falling off bridges and planes, unbuckling his seat belt, and speeding up in his car flying into the bottom of a cliff and and explosion erupting. I was wondering if this had anything to do with the "Foul Deed" that he was arrested for.
The next day his mom made a cake for the Milburys and told Tyler to bring it to them and apologize for what happened to Bethany. He brought the cake and apologized to Mrs. Milbury and she said it was okay and that he should keep Bethany company for a few minutes. Tyler was very apprehensive about doing this, but followed Mrs. Milbury to the basement where Bethany was. When he saw her, he got down on his knees and apologized several times to Bethany about what happened, and she accepted his apology and they started eating the cake together.
Quote:
"At least they were getting paid. I was working forty feet above the ground, breathing in sulfur fumes from Satan's vomitorium, for free" (Anderson 1).
Reaction:
Reading this line emphasized how Tyler feels about this community service that he's doing. He said that he was breathing fumes from "Satan's vomitorium". When I read that it put a bad smell in my nose and a horrible taste in my mouth. It was as if I were breathing those same nasty fumes. Also, he said this vomitorium belonged to Satan, and nothing good is ever associated with Satan. In fact, another name for Satan is "the Devil". So after reading that line I felt bad for Tyler because of the suffering he's experiencing, even though he has to do this community service because of his misbehavior. The author used such a strong description of this community service that I felt like I was suffering with Tyler. I could almost feel his pain. This quote was in the first paragraph of the novel and the author's good use of imagery and metaphor in this sentence is what made me want to look into this book and continue reading.
The main character of Twisted is a junior in high school named Tyler Miller. He got arrested for doing the "Foul Deed", which wasn't specified as to what the deed was. But as a result he must do community service, pay for the damage, and he has to meet for six months with his parole officer. There's this neighbor of Tyler's named Bethany Milbury that he has a crush on. Tyler's father was attending a business gathering and brought the whole family, and Bethany's family was there as well. Bethany's brother, Chip, was bullying Tyler and talking about him getting in trouble with the law. Mr. Milbury and Mr. Miller both challenged Tyler and Chip to arm wrestle, which to them was innocent fun but was something different for Chip and Tyler. Tyler was winning, but he let Chip win because his father was sending signals to let him win to impress Mr. Milbury. Afterwards Mr. Milbury said that they should "shake hands like men". But instead of doing that, Chip patted Tyler on the back as hard as he could which sent him flying towards Bethany and the waiters with the trays of champagne. The trays flew up and the champagne glasses broke. Bethany fell and she was barefoot, so the glass got into her foot and also on her arm when she landed on the ground. Tyler was so embarrassed and upset about what happened because he was afraid Bethany was mad at him.
Tyler was laying in his bedroom one night thinking about bodies falling off bridges and planes, unbuckling his seat belt, and speeding up in his car flying into the bottom of a cliff and and explosion erupting. I was wondering if this had anything to do with the "Foul Deed" that he was arrested for.
The next day his mom made a cake for the Milburys and told Tyler to bring it to them and apologize for what happened to Bethany. He brought the cake and apologized to Mrs. Milbury and she said it was okay and that he should keep Bethany company for a few minutes. Tyler was very apprehensive about doing this, but followed Mrs. Milbury to the basement where Bethany was. When he saw her, he got down on his knees and apologized several times to Bethany about what happened, and she accepted his apology and they started eating the cake together.
Quote:
"At least they were getting paid. I was working forty feet above the ground, breathing in sulfur fumes from Satan's vomitorium, for free" (Anderson 1).
Reaction:
Reading this line emphasized how Tyler feels about this community service that he's doing. He said that he was breathing fumes from "Satan's vomitorium". When I read that it put a bad smell in my nose and a horrible taste in my mouth. It was as if I were breathing those same nasty fumes. Also, he said this vomitorium belonged to Satan, and nothing good is ever associated with Satan. In fact, another name for Satan is "the Devil". So after reading that line I felt bad for Tyler because of the suffering he's experiencing, even though he has to do this community service because of his misbehavior. The author used such a strong description of this community service that I felt like I was suffering with Tyler. I could almost feel his pain. This quote was in the first paragraph of the novel and the author's good use of imagery and metaphor in this sentence is what made me want to look into this book and continue reading.
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