Casey's Thoughts

5th Reading Day - Holes

2005-04-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

The important setting in "Holes" is in the middle of nowhere in a desert. It is very dry out there and there is nothing out there except salamanders, sand, and rocks. All the kids do at this camp in the desert is dig holes. They only get one break during the day and they dont get to participate in any fun or activities. This place where they are supposed to dig holes and work all day long is far from any civilization and perhaps the dryest place in the world...I feel bad for all the kids that have to work at this camp.

4th Reading Day - Holes

2005-04-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Direct characterization means that the author tells us directly what the character is like. Quote an example in this book of direct.

"Stanley didn't have any friends at home. He was overweight and the kids at his middle school often teased him about his size. Even his teachers sometimes made cruel comments without realizing it."

"Stanley was not a bad kid. He was innocent for the crime of which he was convicted. He'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time."

(He was convicted of stealing a pair of tennis shoes)

3rd Reading Day

2005-04-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

2. An antagonist is the character or force which blocks the main character. Who or what is the antagonist of your book? How does the antagonist work against the book's protagonist?

An antagonist in "Holes" is Mr. Sir. He is the so called "boss" at this camp. He is a really mean man who does nothing to help the kids. All he does is watch the kids to make sure that they aren't messing around and that they are digging the holes. He treats the kids like dirt and when it comes to their once a day water break, he gives them unsanitary water. Mr. Sir doesn't like Stanley because ever since he came, he has been kind of running the camp.

Holes - 2nd Reading Day

2005-04-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

So far, in the first 30 pages it talks about a kid named Stanley Yelnats, an overweight nice kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got arrested for stealing a pair of shoes which he didn't really steal. He blames everything that goes wrong on his dirty rotton no good pig stealing great great grandfather. He gets sent to a camp and at this camp they make him dig holes.

Holes - 1st Reading Day

2005-04-01T10:01:00.000-08:00

Title of Novel - Holes

Author - Louis Sachar

Number of pages - 233 pages

Publisher and copyright - Scholastic Inc. 1998

Why did you select this novel? - I heard good reviews from a friend of mine

What clues did you get about the novel from the cover design and the blurbs on the book jacket? - It was in pretty good condition so that means it must be new.

9th Reading Day

2005-03-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

The main characters of the novel I am reading are Victor and Thomas. Victor is kind of a laid back kid, who is popular on the reservation. He is best friends with a kid named Junior. He changed throughout the novel in that he becomes better friends with Thomas. Thomas is a kid who all the kids think he is annoying because he never shuts up and is always telling stories about nothing that are really long and boring. He used to be good friends with Victor when they were young, and then when they got older, they stopped hanging out. Later on in the novel he starts to become friends with Victor again.
This novel has many short stories in it and it is not just one big story. It is about Native Americans who live on an Indian Reservation and go through many problems and there are many conflicts in this novel. There are many short stories in which details a Native American boy, Victor who leaves the reservation to live in Seattle with his white girlfriend. The he moves back to the Reservation. The names in this book were taken from a radio television show of the 1950’s, which the Lone Ranger teams up with Tonto to fight evil in the west.
This story probably took place in the 80’s or 90’s because it talks about Victor’s dad going to Woodstock, and Woodstock was in 1969 so I think this is when it would take place. The setting on the novel takes place mostly on an Indian Reservation, but it also took place in Seattle when victor went to go live there. The most important setting though is the Reservation, that is where they spend most of their time.
The climax of this novel is when Victor and Thomas start to become friends again. Victor used to like Thomas when they were younger, but when they got older they grew farther and farther apart. Victor was cooler than Thomas because Thomas was a loser and didn’t have any friends. Part of the reason they grew apart is because Victor always got annoyed by Thomas.
Sherman Alexie claims that the title of this novel came to him in a dream. He studs his stories with popular culture to show the ways in which the Native Americans have played a part in building the image others have given them. I think that the point of Sherman Alexie writing this novel is to show somewhat of how Native Americans can be discriminated against.

Sixth Reading Day

2005-03-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

The scene that I am doing from “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven” is the scene where Thomas, Junior, and Victor were trying out a drug that Thomas had. I am going to do this scene from Thomas’s point of view. Thomas was probably scared a little at the time because Victor was driving and he was so called “high.” But then he came out of it and finally was able to relax. Then Victor offered some of it to Thomas and he said yes. Now, Thomas had no clue what was going on around him because he was hallucinating. He started telling Victor and Junior another one of his boring stories. Thomas finally came out of it and realized what was going on around him.

Fifth Reading Day

2005-02-24T00:25:00.000-08:00

The setting of "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven" takes place back in 90's on an Indian Reservation. Really the only place that they have been so far in this novel is the Reservation. This book consists of a bunch of little short stories told by a character named Victor. He tells all the stories as if he was there first hand, even if it was back in the 1800's.

Fourth Reading Day

2005-02-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

"You're nothing important," he said. "You're just another goddamned Indian like me."--pg. 41
I think that this quote is important because it expresses how Victor has no self-respect, or respect in general for other Indians on the reservation. I also thinks that this says how he thinks that Indians arent anything special.

"Your father was always half-crazy."
I think that this quote is important because is shows how Victors mother, even though being married to a half-crazy person she tried to keep the marriage strong. This also expresses about how his fathers personality is.

Third Reading Day

2005-02-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

A character that I am going to do is Thomas. Thomas is kind of an oddball kid and he doesn't have many friends, well to be honest he doesn't even have a friend. Victor grew up with Thomas so I geuss you could say that he is his friend. Most people (except for the adults) think he is very annoing. I suppose that the reason people think he is annoying is because he likes to tell stories. He never shuts up, all he does is tell stories about him or about other people. Victor is a unique character in that he is very nice and doesn't mean any harm to anyone. Victor is my favorite character in this book because he brings laughter to the reading.

Second Reading Day

2005-02-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

In the first 30 pages I have read I was introduced to 3 main characters and some others. I was introduced to Victor, Junior, Thomas, and Thomas's parents. In the first couple of chapters it introduced those characters and told me what they are all about. Victor and Junior were on their way over to Benjamin Lake and they were going to test it out. On the way they saw Thomas on the side of the road and so they picked him up. Thomas was known for telling storys, and most people liked hearing them except for Victor and Junior, they thought that his storys were annoying. So on their way down to Benjamin lake they decided to try some of this new drug. Thomas took it first and started hillusinating and thinking he was somewhere else and everything and it was kind of confusing. So anyways they were on there way down to the lake and they all start using it and hillusinating. And that is where I left off on page 30.

TLRATFFIH - First Reading Day

2005-02-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

1. Title of Novel: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven
2. Author: Sherman Alexie
3. Number of Pages: 223
4. Publisher and copyright: Harper Perennial and copyrighted in 1993
5. I chose this novel because in class we watched the movie that this same author wrote the scripts for, and so i will understand the book a little bit better.
6. That this book was about the life of Indians at their reservation, and many problems that they always are facing.

test!!!

2005-01-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

this is just a test