Land Of The Blue Robbins Summary
TITLE: ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLOHINS
AUTHOR: SCOTTO’DELL
PUBLISHER: PENGUIN GROUP
PUBLICATION DATE: 1960
MAIN CHARACTERS
Karana: She is the protagonist. When the Aleuts invade her homeland and the natives fled, Karana and her brother are left behind to fend for themselves.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Ramo: This was Karana’s younger brother. He is however killed shortly after the island is deserted by a pack of hungry, wild dogs.
Ulape: Karana’s older sister. Ulape manages to escape with the natives and therefore is not mentioned much in the novel. Her sister as sometimes vain and shallow describes her but she is one of the characters Karana misses the most while she is stuck on the island by herself.
Tutok: An Aleut girl, Karana befriends …show more content…
when the Aleuts invade the island for a third time.
PLOT SUMMARY
Karana lives with her family on a tropical island, which they call the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Life is good here and the land is prosperous until a Russian group of invaders known as the Aleuts invade the island and instill fear into the natives by means of battle and murder. When the Aleuts visit the island for a second time, the natives flee the island in fear of war leaving behind Karana’s brother, Ramo. When Karana realizes this, she jumps off the ship in an attempt to save her brother but the ship leaves without her as well. Ramo is soon after killed by a group of wild dogs, leaving Karana to fend for herself. After a while of waiting in hope, she gives up on the ship’s return and makes a life for herself using the resources of the land. In the end a ship returns to the island after a few years claiming that the original ship broke down and therefore couldn’t return to save Karana.
SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The story is set on a tropical island. The island plays an important role in the novel, as the resources of the island were the reasons for the Aleuts invading the land in the first place. Also Karana makes use of the land and its resources to the best of her abilities in order to survive.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT IN THE NARRATIVE
An example of a momentous moment would be when Karana abandons the ship in order to save her brother. This very act displays great levels of selflessness and self sacrifice and shows an authentic love for one’s brother.
TITLE: HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE
AUTHOR: J.K. ROWLING
PUBLISHER: BLOOMSBURY
PUBLICATION DATE: 1997
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Harry: The protagonist. Harry is an 11-year-old boy who finds out that he is actually a wizard and is to attend Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. He is a brave, adventurous boy and is also very famous in the wizard world for surviving the death curse that Voldemort used to kill his family.
Ron Weasley: A red head boy who is Harry’s best friend at Hogwarts.
Hermione Granger: A very intelligent, book-smart witch who is also one of Harry’s best friends. She is muggle-born and therefore both her parents are non-magical beings.
Draco Malfoy: The anti-hero in the novel. Draco is Harry’s rival at school who constantly teases his peers who he believes to be beneath him through psychological means.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS: Albus Dumbledore: Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Professor Quirrel: Harry’s defense against the dark arts teacher. At first he appears to be a harmless character but in the end, we found out that Lord Voldemort has taken over his body to find the Philosopher’s Stone.
The Dursleys: Harry ’s only remaining family who have “taken care” of him for the past 11 years. They treat Harry unfairly and loathe anything out of the ordinary including Harry, himself, as he is a wizard.
PLOT SUMMARY
Harry Potter, a not so ordinary boy, founds out he is a wizard and enrolls in his first year at Hogwarts. During his school year, he founds out that Philosopher’s Stone is hiding at Hogwarts and someone is planning to steal it. At first he suspects it to be the Potions Master, Professor Snape but find out that it is the harmless Professor Quirrel whose body, Lord Voldemort has taken over in order to come back to life. Harry manages to fight Voldemort and this victory wins Harry’s house’ Gryffindor, the house cup.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The setting is Hogwarts School, which was a necessary setting as such a fantastical story could not take place in the real world.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Form the beginning of the book; we pity Harry as he is mistreated so badly by the Durleys. It is such a happy moment to find out that Harry has something special to him and no longer has to live a life of a pathetic, mistreated boy.
TITLE: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
AUTHOR: C.S. LEWIS
PUBLISHER: GEOFFERY BLES
PUBLICATION DATE: 1950
MAIN CHARACTERS
Lucy: A young, spirited, imaginative girl who is the first of the four to discover Narnia.
Peter: The oldest of the four siblings and is seen as the leader throughout the book.
Susan: An intelligent girl who has street smarts and is Lucy and Edmund’s older sister.
Edmund: The second younger sibling who betrays the group by spying on their activities and passing on information to the White Queen.
The White Queen: The antagonist in the story who is the current ruler of Narnia and is seen as evil and cruel by the creatures of Narnia.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Aslan: A lion that is the rightful king of Narnia.
PLOT SUMMARY
Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter are taken to their uncle’s house in the country as a result of a war in England. One rainy day, while playing hide and seek, Lucy discovers and entire new world inside a wooden cabinet called Narnia. When all the siblings enter Narnia, the children are greeted by the creatures of Narnia who inform them about the prophecy that two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will save the land of Narnia, defeat the White Witch and the rightful king’ Aslan will resume his throne. The children accept the challenge while Edmund channels his faith towards the White Witch and acts a secret spy, which later on causes the need for him to be sacrificed as he became a traitor and this was an ancient law of Narnia. Aslan, however, insists on taking his place but come back to life for showing exceptional standards of self-sacrifice. The White Queen’s army and the creatures of Narnia prepare for battle which is then won by Lucy, Susan, Peter, Edmund and the Narnians.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The setting was Narnia, a magical land that was in under the reign of the wicked, White Witch. A setting as such was necessary as the story is entirely fictional and the setting allowed any levels of excitement to take place.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
This, to me, was when Lucy discovers Narnia for the very firs time. At first staying at their uncle’s house seemed like a boring and undesirable initiative but this discovery teaches the reader that in life we must not always trust our expectations.
TITLE: THE KITE RUNNER
AUTHOR: KHALED HOSSEINI
PUBLISHER: BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING Plc
PUBLICATION DATE: 2003
MAIN CHARACTERS
Amir: The protagonist.
Amir is the son of one of the wealthiest men in Afghanistan. He has always struggled to gain his father’s approval and after the kite running incident, Amir views himself as a spineless coward who betrayed his best friend. He never forgives himself for the sin, he committed and even flew back to Afghanistan to save Hassan’s son in order to redeem himself.
Hassan: Amir’s close friend and is the son of the family servant, Ali. Hassan always had, throughout the book, admirable qualities such as courage, kindness, selflessness and faithfulness. Amir notices that his father always seemed to have a soft spot for Hassan and it is discovered that Hassan is actually Baba’s real son as a result of Baba having an affair with Ali’s wife. Amir states that sometimes Hassan seemed to be more of Baba’s son than himself as both shared admirable qualities.
Baba: Amir’s father. Amir’s father was depicted throughout the book as a man who is firm yet kind and has a strong belief system. He was always loved by the Afghan community for rising above everyone’s expectations and always helping others get through difficult times by lending them money and insisting on them not paying them back. Amir discovers, however, that Baba had an affair with his servant’s wife and had a child whom he did not claim in fear of public judgment. Amir then realizes that perhaps all of Baba’s acts of kindness was a way in which he tried to redeem …show more content…
himself.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Rahim Khan: One of Baba’s close friends. He knew all along about Amir’s past and later offers Amir a way in which to be good again and this happens to be saving Hassan’s son from Afghanistan and taking to an American family who will take care of him.
Assef: As a child Assef was always a bully who often teased Hassan because he was a Hazara and rapes him when he refuses to give him the kite he ran. Amir finds out later in the book when he is an adult that Assef has a high position in the Talibman, the current, intolerant rulers of Afghanistan and sexually abuses young boys, Hassan’s son being one of them.
Sohrab: Hassan’s son.
PLOT SUMMARY.
Amir has lived his whole life in guilt, as he did not help his friend in need after his friend, Hassan showed true faith of refusing to give up the kite he ran. Driven by guilt he frames Hassan of stealing his possessions that causes Ali, Hassan’s father to be so insulted by Amir that they leave the household. Amir and Baba flee Afghanistan when Russian invade the country and settle in America. Amir makes a life for himself in America but one day receives a call from an old friend Rahim Khan who sends him on a mission in order to redeem himself from his regrettable past.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
Afghanistan used to be Amir’s homeland and he remembered it as a thriving country. However when he moves back to rescue Sohrab he notices that Afghanistan has been desecrated by the Russians and the Talibman and has become an insufferable hell for those who were not able to flee.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Assef and Amir decide to have a physical fight to the death over who keeps Sohrab. At first Amir is losing and instead of him feeling pain and suffering like the norm, he feels happy to get what h deserves and maybe this pain and physical damage to himself will finally redeem himself.
TITLE: ALICE IN WONDERLAND
AUTHOR: LEWIS CAROLL
PUBLISHER: MACMILLAN
PUBLICATION DATE: 1865
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Alice: An adventurous girl who enters wonderland and discover the most fantastical things but also wants to find a way home.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
The Queen of Hearts: A malicious character that has no mercy for those who do not perform as she wishes, as she always demands them to be decapitated.
The Cheshire cat, the blue caterpillar, the mad hatter: A bizarre bunch of characters that make up wonderland and are depicted to all be absolutely mad.
PLOT SUMMARY
Alice falls down a rabbit hole after chasing a rabbit who claims to be late for something. While trying to find the white rabbit Alice also wants to find a way home. On her journey she bumps into the strangest of creatures who seem to talk no sense and appear to be absolutely mad.
SETTING AND ITS AFFECT ON THE PLOT
Wonderland. The setting is a place totally out of the norm filled with the most curious beings. The entire idea of wonderland makes Alice’s journey exciting and helps the reader use his imagination.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Alice’s conversations with the Cheshire cat always were very interesting when the cat claimed that one did not ever properly enjoy life unless he were mad and did not care about society’s expectations.
TITLE: TWILIGHT
AUTHOR: STEPHANIE MEYER
PUBLISHER: LITTLE BROWN
PUBLICATION DATE: 2005
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Bella: A teenaged girl who has just moved to Forkes, Washington to be with her father and discovers the secret of the mysterious Edward Cullen.
Edward: A gorgeous vampire that craves Bella’s blood. He has the ability to read minds but for some reason can’t read Bella’s.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Charlie: Bella’s father.
Alice: Another vampire who forms part of the Cullen family. Alice has the ability to predict the future.
Victoria, Laurent, and James: A group of non-vegetarian vampires who feed on humans. After meeting Bella it becomes a game to James, especially, to track her and drink her blood.
PLOT SUMMARY
Bella Swan has just moved to Forkes where she meets the mysterious Edward Cullen and discovers that he is a vampire who craves her blood.
However, the couple fall in love and Edward decides that it would be a good idea for Bella to spend time with his family playing baseball. James and his cult who instantly realize that Bella is human then discover the group and it now becomes a game to James to lure Bella into a trap and drink her blood. Bella falls for the trap when she is tricked to believe that James has her mother. Edward arrives just in time to save Bella but also has to suck out the venom James has injected into
Bella.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The setting is Forkes, Washington that was an ideal place for vampires to live as Forkes often has cloudy, overcast weather and vampires stand out to much when the sun shines as their skin sparkles.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Bella finding out Edward’s true identity after he saved her from potential danger in a dark alley.
TITLE: Q&A
AUTHOR: VIKAS SWARUP
PUBLISHER:
PUBLICATION DATE: 2005
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Ram Mohammed Thomas: A penniless waiter who has been accused of cheating on the Indian quiz show: Who Will Win a Billion. Salim: Ram’s childhood friend who he met in a juvenile home and has big dreams of becoming an actor. In the end we are told that from the money Ram wins, Ram secretly funds a moves for Salim to act in. As a child, Salim was very naive and innocent and often relied on Ram’s street smarts.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Smita: Ram’s lawyer who actually wins his case for him. She later reveals herself to be Gudaiya who as a child was abused by her father. During this period, Ram acted as her ‘brother’ and pushed her father down the stairs. This did not kill him as Ram initially thought but Smita says it taught him a lesson and from then on, her father refrained from sexually abusing her.
Prem Kumar: The presenter on the corrupt show: Who Will Win a Billion. We later discover that Ram’s motives for entering were not money-related but to get revenge on Kumar, the man who abused both Neelima Kumari and his love, Nita.
PLOT
Ram Mohammed Thomas has been accused of cheating on a popular quiz show. He now has to prove to his lawyer Smita as well as the rest of society that he is not guilty. In the novel he shows how each correct answer he gave was related to an event he experienced some time in his life. At the end, everything works out, Ram wins the case and no longer has to live as a slum dog for the rest of his life.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The story is set in India, mostly in the slums of Mumbai Having it set in this particular environment, the reader is exposed to the hardships that the majority populations of India endure and how young boys are exposed to such cruel situations that rob them of their innocence so soon.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Ram and Salim are taken to a home where man named Maman trains them to be beggars but Maman cripples each child in some way in order to gain sympathy of the public. It is from this passage that the reader is exposed to how cruel some people can be and how the poverty stricken children of society who are most vulnerable pay the price of this cruelty.
TITLE: ABOUT A BOY
AUTHOR: NICK HORNBY
PUBLISHER: PENGUIN GROUP
PUBLICATION DATE: 1998
MAIN CHARACTERS
Marcus: An introverted, 12 year old boy who often teased at school. He has grown up in a dysfunctional family with his depressed, crying mother who even attempts suicide in the book.
Will: A 36 year old man who has never had learn responsibility or work a day in his life because of the money he has inherited from his father. Will sometimes view himself as worthless and this is why he sees Marcus as his way to give back to the world by changing Marcus’s life for the better.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Fiona: Marcus’s mother
Suzie: A single mother who is part of a single parents’ group and she meets Will at one of these group meetings when Will is posing to be a single father to meet single mothers.
Ellie: A 15-year-old girl who at first Marcus wants to become his girlfriend. Marcus then realizes that she is not right for his girlfriend but the two continue being good friends.
PLOT SUMMARY:
After his mother attempts suicide, Marcus realizes that to only have one person in your family is a risky situation because if you lose that one person, you are all alone. This is what encourages his initiative to set up his mom and Will (after blackmailing Will to cooperate once he found out that Will is not a father at all) on a date. This unfortunately does not work out but a unique friendship forms between Marcus and Will. Will tries help Marcus fit in at school and teaches him that one does not have accept a bad situation but should always try change it to suit him/her.
SETTING
The story took place London. However the setting is not very relevant as such problems experienced a boy are applicable to anywhere in the world.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
I do not think that there was a particular moment that stood out from the rest because the entire book is about learning from life’s experiences and all life lessons are important.
TITLE: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (PLAY)
AUTHOR: FRANCES GOODRICH AND ALBERT HACKET
PUBLISHER: could not find
PUBLICATION DATE: could not find
MAIN CHARACTERS
Anne: An outgoing, fun-loving, 13 year old girl who happens to be Jewish and therefore live in an attic to hide away from Nazi Germany and records who entire experience in her diary.
Mr. Frank: Anne’s father. Anne looks up to Mr. Frank as her role model and sees him as a kind, understanding, and gentle man. He is accepting and selfless and allows and entire other family to share the attic with his own. Out of everyone who hid in the attic, Mr. Frank was the only one to survive the concentration camps.
Margot: Anne’s older sister. Margot is clever, studious and Anne is often compared to her, which Anne absolutely loathes especially when people tell her to be more like Margot. She is also quieter and more reserved than Anne.
Peter: A quiet, introverted boy who Anne has a crush on and later in the play, kisses him. Pet also stays in the attic with Anne.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan: Peter’s parents who are also staying in the attic as Mr. Frank wanted to thank them for helping him and is family adjust to Holland and earn to speak Dutch. They often find Anne to be rude and insolent and they, especially are responsible for comparing Anne to her sister.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Mrs. Frank: Anne’s mother. Anne does not get on well with her mother as she is unable to open up to her mother and express her feelings, which results in much frustration between the two. Anne prefers to resort to her father when it comes to personal matters.
Mr. Dussel: A man who was previously a dentist but now must too resort to hiding to avoid the Nazis. He shares a room with Anne and Anne often describes him to be rude, irritable and grouchy.
Miep: The woman, together with her husband is a couple who kindly hide the Jewish families away from the Nazis.
PLOT SUMMARY
It is 1943 and no Jewish family is safe. That is why Anne together with her family must hide in a kind, non-Jewish couple’s attic for the duration of the Third Reich. Here, food, hygiene and space are limited and Anne keeps track of all these events in her diary. How the group of hider fight over a potato, to her sharing her first kiss with Ptere until the time when they are discovered and taken away by the Nazis.
SETTING AND ITS EFFEFT ON THE PLOT
The attic: Here, it is crowded and there is lack of food, which causes many of the feuds that Anne records in her diary. The characters have to also always be quiet and certain limitations like the time one is allowed to use the toilet inflict upon the family’s quality of life during hiding.
MOENTOUS MOMENT
I especially enjoyed the part where Anne and Peter kiss. Before the kissing scene Anne tells Peter exactly how she feels about him and the current situation. It is here where we realize that perhaps Anne’s outgoing, fearless exterior is merely a facade and she is actually quite terrified.
TITLE: DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER
AUTHOR: JEFF LINDSAY
PUBLISHER: ORION
PUBLICATION DATE: 2005
MAIN CHARACTERS
Dexter: A serial killer who believes in neat, tidy killings and not to leave behind. He actually enjoys the act of murder and feels no human emotion and considers himself not to be human. He has, however restricted to killing those who deserve it and have done terrible deeds themselves.
Deborah: Dexter’s foster sister. An attractive, naïve women who desperately wants to be a detective part of the homicide team. She does learn about Dexter’s secret until the end of the book.
Detective Laguerta: A devious, Hispanic women who is already part of the homicide team but has an apparent disliking for Deborah. She has a crush on Dexter but also finds out his secret in the end and is then even prepared to shoot him. However Dexter’s older brother, Brian, kills her in the end.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Harry: Although was never alive throughout the book, he is vividly described in Dexter’s thought. He was the very first Person to discover Dexter’s secret and taught Dexter not to murder anyone but those who deserve it.
Brian: Dexter’s older brother who has the obsession with “clean” murders and also loathes blood. He reveals to Dexter that they are the way they are because of a tragic past where they were in a room for two day filled with blood and the bodies of their mother and possibly their father.
PLOT SUMMARY
Dexter has always live a double life as a serial killer He soon becomes fascinated in one of his sister’s cases where a number of prostitutes are murdered in the same way he kills his victims, chopped in pieces and each part wrapped neatly in cloth. He later discovers that the culprit is his older brother and Dexter now realizes that there are others like him.
SETTING
Miami is the place where the story takes place which is described to be a city where much crime and many murders take place.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
When Dexter is confronted by his brother and is offered the opportunity to kill his sister, Dexter ignores the urge inside him and refuses. This shows that Dexter actually does have some emotion and compassion to those close to him.
Q&A DISCUSSION
The book is written in the first person. We see life through the eyes of Ram Mohammed Thomas, a poor waiter who has lived his life in poverty. This was extremely necessary as we the readers were given the opportunity to see how life is lived by those far less fortunate than ourselves and how the poor are those most vulnerable to abuse, cruelty, crime, rape and accusations. We see India as one of its true inhabitants and do not see it as an exterior person. A reason for this is that Ram says that life is nothing like Bollywood movies where everyone is joyful and every story has a happy ending. Quite the opposite. Innocent people and children are abused, murdered and exploited and justice is not always served. This is often the case as those who are responsible for serving justice are quite corrupt themselves.
Ram has been accused of cheating on a quiz show for no reason but the idea that a slum dog could not possibly win a show that quizzes intelligence where professors and university graduates cannot. However, Ram mentions that a quiz show is not so much a test of knowledge but a test of memory and experience. We are taken onto some of Ram’s not interesting life experiences in order to find out how he got the answer to each question.
We look at Ram’s life from when he was a small child up until the present. The character made remarkable development not because he learned to develop and mature but because development and maturity was inflicted upon him. From the hardships of poverty he learns how to fend for himself and understand people’s motives. Innocence is one of the qualities that tie you down when living in poverty and put you at a major disadvantage.
I believe the ending of the story was very appropriate as when Ram recaps his childhood, we are exposed to the most traumatic and horrifying situation of young children being blinded and children being left to die from hyperthermia while their mother lives a lifestyle of royalty. When we find out that the ending is actually very positive we learn from the book that life can be cruel and unjust but all the same it would wrong to state that there is no such thing as a happy ending.
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AUTHOR: SCOTTO’DELL
PUBLISHER: PENGUIN GROUP
PUBLICATION DATE: 1960
MAIN CHARACTERS
Karana: She is the protagonist. When the Aleuts invade her homeland and the natives fled, Karana and her brother are left behind to fend for themselves.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Ramo: This was Karana’s younger brother. He is however killed shortly after the island is deserted by a pack of hungry, wild dogs.
Ulape: Karana’s older sister. Ulape manages to escape with the natives and therefore is not mentioned much in the novel. Her sister as sometimes vain and shallow describes her but she is one of the characters Karana misses the most while she is stuck on the island by herself.
Tutok: An Aleut girl, Karana befriends …show more content…
when the Aleuts invade the island for a third time.
PLOT SUMMARY
Karana lives with her family on a tropical island, which they call the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Life is good here and the land is prosperous until a Russian group of invaders known as the Aleuts invade the island and instill fear into the natives by means of battle and murder. When the Aleuts visit the island for a second time, the natives flee the island in fear of war leaving behind Karana’s brother, Ramo. When Karana realizes this, she jumps off the ship in an attempt to save her brother but the ship leaves without her as well. Ramo is soon after killed by a group of wild dogs, leaving Karana to fend for herself. After a while of waiting in hope, she gives up on the ship’s return and makes a life for herself using the resources of the land. In the end a ship returns to the island after a few years claiming that the original ship broke down and therefore couldn’t return to save Karana.
SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The story is set on a tropical island. The island plays an important role in the novel, as the resources of the island were the reasons for the Aleuts invading the land in the first place. Also Karana makes use of the land and its resources to the best of her abilities in order to survive.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT IN THE NARRATIVE
An example of a momentous moment would be when Karana abandons the ship in order to save her brother. This very act displays great levels of selflessness and self sacrifice and shows an authentic love for one’s brother.
TITLE: HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE
AUTHOR: J.K. ROWLING
PUBLISHER: BLOOMSBURY
PUBLICATION DATE: 1997
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Harry: The protagonist. Harry is an 11-year-old boy who finds out that he is actually a wizard and is to attend Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. He is a brave, adventurous boy and is also very famous in the wizard world for surviving the death curse that Voldemort used to kill his family.
Ron Weasley: A red head boy who is Harry’s best friend at Hogwarts.
Hermione Granger: A very intelligent, book-smart witch who is also one of Harry’s best friends. She is muggle-born and therefore both her parents are non-magical beings.
Draco Malfoy: The anti-hero in the novel. Draco is Harry’s rival at school who constantly teases his peers who he believes to be beneath him through psychological means.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS: Albus Dumbledore: Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Professor Quirrel: Harry’s defense against the dark arts teacher. At first he appears to be a harmless character but in the end, we found out that Lord Voldemort has taken over his body to find the Philosopher’s Stone.
The Dursleys: Harry ’s only remaining family who have “taken care” of him for the past 11 years. They treat Harry unfairly and loathe anything out of the ordinary including Harry, himself, as he is a wizard.
PLOT SUMMARY
Harry Potter, a not so ordinary boy, founds out he is a wizard and enrolls in his first year at Hogwarts. During his school year, he founds out that Philosopher’s Stone is hiding at Hogwarts and someone is planning to steal it. At first he suspects it to be the Potions Master, Professor Snape but find out that it is the harmless Professor Quirrel whose body, Lord Voldemort has taken over in order to come back to life. Harry manages to fight Voldemort and this victory wins Harry’s house’ Gryffindor, the house cup.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The setting is Hogwarts School, which was a necessary setting as such a fantastical story could not take place in the real world.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Form the beginning of the book; we pity Harry as he is mistreated so badly by the Durleys. It is such a happy moment to find out that Harry has something special to him and no longer has to live a life of a pathetic, mistreated boy.
TITLE: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
AUTHOR: C.S. LEWIS
PUBLISHER: GEOFFERY BLES
PUBLICATION DATE: 1950
MAIN CHARACTERS
Lucy: A young, spirited, imaginative girl who is the first of the four to discover Narnia.
Peter: The oldest of the four siblings and is seen as the leader throughout the book.
Susan: An intelligent girl who has street smarts and is Lucy and Edmund’s older sister.
Edmund: The second younger sibling who betrays the group by spying on their activities and passing on information to the White Queen.
The White Queen: The antagonist in the story who is the current ruler of Narnia and is seen as evil and cruel by the creatures of Narnia.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Aslan: A lion that is the rightful king of Narnia.
PLOT SUMMARY
Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter are taken to their uncle’s house in the country as a result of a war in England. One rainy day, while playing hide and seek, Lucy discovers and entire new world inside a wooden cabinet called Narnia. When all the siblings enter Narnia, the children are greeted by the creatures of Narnia who inform them about the prophecy that two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will save the land of Narnia, defeat the White Witch and the rightful king’ Aslan will resume his throne. The children accept the challenge while Edmund channels his faith towards the White Witch and acts a secret spy, which later on causes the need for him to be sacrificed as he became a traitor and this was an ancient law of Narnia. Aslan, however, insists on taking his place but come back to life for showing exceptional standards of self-sacrifice. The White Queen’s army and the creatures of Narnia prepare for battle which is then won by Lucy, Susan, Peter, Edmund and the Narnians.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The setting was Narnia, a magical land that was in under the reign of the wicked, White Witch. A setting as such was necessary as the story is entirely fictional and the setting allowed any levels of excitement to take place.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
This, to me, was when Lucy discovers Narnia for the very firs time. At first staying at their uncle’s house seemed like a boring and undesirable initiative but this discovery teaches the reader that in life we must not always trust our expectations.
TITLE: THE KITE RUNNER
AUTHOR: KHALED HOSSEINI
PUBLISHER: BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING Plc
PUBLICATION DATE: 2003
MAIN CHARACTERS
Amir: The protagonist.
Amir is the son of one of the wealthiest men in Afghanistan. He has always struggled to gain his father’s approval and after the kite running incident, Amir views himself as a spineless coward who betrayed his best friend. He never forgives himself for the sin, he committed and even flew back to Afghanistan to save Hassan’s son in order to redeem himself.
Hassan: Amir’s close friend and is the son of the family servant, Ali. Hassan always had, throughout the book, admirable qualities such as courage, kindness, selflessness and faithfulness. Amir notices that his father always seemed to have a soft spot for Hassan and it is discovered that Hassan is actually Baba’s real son as a result of Baba having an affair with Ali’s wife. Amir states that sometimes Hassan seemed to be more of Baba’s son than himself as both shared admirable qualities.
Baba: Amir’s father. Amir’s father was depicted throughout the book as a man who is firm yet kind and has a strong belief system. He was always loved by the Afghan community for rising above everyone’s expectations and always helping others get through difficult times by lending them money and insisting on them not paying them back. Amir discovers, however, that Baba had an affair with his servant’s wife and had a child whom he did not claim in fear of public judgment. Amir then realizes that perhaps all of Baba’s acts of kindness was a way in which he tried to redeem …show more content…
himself.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Rahim Khan: One of Baba’s close friends. He knew all along about Amir’s past and later offers Amir a way in which to be good again and this happens to be saving Hassan’s son from Afghanistan and taking to an American family who will take care of him.
Assef: As a child Assef was always a bully who often teased Hassan because he was a Hazara and rapes him when he refuses to give him the kite he ran. Amir finds out later in the book when he is an adult that Assef has a high position in the Talibman, the current, intolerant rulers of Afghanistan and sexually abuses young boys, Hassan’s son being one of them.
Sohrab: Hassan’s son.
PLOT SUMMARY.
Amir has lived his whole life in guilt, as he did not help his friend in need after his friend, Hassan showed true faith of refusing to give up the kite he ran. Driven by guilt he frames Hassan of stealing his possessions that causes Ali, Hassan’s father to be so insulted by Amir that they leave the household. Amir and Baba flee Afghanistan when Russian invade the country and settle in America. Amir makes a life for himself in America but one day receives a call from an old friend Rahim Khan who sends him on a mission in order to redeem himself from his regrettable past.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
Afghanistan used to be Amir’s homeland and he remembered it as a thriving country. However when he moves back to rescue Sohrab he notices that Afghanistan has been desecrated by the Russians and the Talibman and has become an insufferable hell for those who were not able to flee.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Assef and Amir decide to have a physical fight to the death over who keeps Sohrab. At first Amir is losing and instead of him feeling pain and suffering like the norm, he feels happy to get what h deserves and maybe this pain and physical damage to himself will finally redeem himself.
TITLE: ALICE IN WONDERLAND
AUTHOR: LEWIS CAROLL
PUBLISHER: MACMILLAN
PUBLICATION DATE: 1865
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Alice: An adventurous girl who enters wonderland and discover the most fantastical things but also wants to find a way home.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
The Queen of Hearts: A malicious character that has no mercy for those who do not perform as she wishes, as she always demands them to be decapitated.
The Cheshire cat, the blue caterpillar, the mad hatter: A bizarre bunch of characters that make up wonderland and are depicted to all be absolutely mad.
PLOT SUMMARY
Alice falls down a rabbit hole after chasing a rabbit who claims to be late for something. While trying to find the white rabbit Alice also wants to find a way home. On her journey she bumps into the strangest of creatures who seem to talk no sense and appear to be absolutely mad.
SETTING AND ITS AFFECT ON THE PLOT
Wonderland. The setting is a place totally out of the norm filled with the most curious beings. The entire idea of wonderland makes Alice’s journey exciting and helps the reader use his imagination.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Alice’s conversations with the Cheshire cat always were very interesting when the cat claimed that one did not ever properly enjoy life unless he were mad and did not care about society’s expectations.
TITLE: TWILIGHT
AUTHOR: STEPHANIE MEYER
PUBLISHER: LITTLE BROWN
PUBLICATION DATE: 2005
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Bella: A teenaged girl who has just moved to Forkes, Washington to be with her father and discovers the secret of the mysterious Edward Cullen.
Edward: A gorgeous vampire that craves Bella’s blood. He has the ability to read minds but for some reason can’t read Bella’s.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Charlie: Bella’s father.
Alice: Another vampire who forms part of the Cullen family. Alice has the ability to predict the future.
Victoria, Laurent, and James: A group of non-vegetarian vampires who feed on humans. After meeting Bella it becomes a game to James, especially, to track her and drink her blood.
PLOT SUMMARY
Bella Swan has just moved to Forkes where she meets the mysterious Edward Cullen and discovers that he is a vampire who craves her blood.
However, the couple fall in love and Edward decides that it would be a good idea for Bella to spend time with his family playing baseball. James and his cult who instantly realize that Bella is human then discover the group and it now becomes a game to James to lure Bella into a trap and drink her blood. Bella falls for the trap when she is tricked to believe that James has her mother. Edward arrives just in time to save Bella but also has to suck out the venom James has injected into
Bella.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The setting is Forkes, Washington that was an ideal place for vampires to live as Forkes often has cloudy, overcast weather and vampires stand out to much when the sun shines as their skin sparkles.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Bella finding out Edward’s true identity after he saved her from potential danger in a dark alley.
TITLE: Q&A
AUTHOR: VIKAS SWARUP
PUBLISHER:
PUBLICATION DATE: 2005
MAIN CHARACTERS:
Ram Mohammed Thomas: A penniless waiter who has been accused of cheating on the Indian quiz show: Who Will Win a Billion. Salim: Ram’s childhood friend who he met in a juvenile home and has big dreams of becoming an actor. In the end we are told that from the money Ram wins, Ram secretly funds a moves for Salim to act in. As a child, Salim was very naive and innocent and often relied on Ram’s street smarts.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Smita: Ram’s lawyer who actually wins his case for him. She later reveals herself to be Gudaiya who as a child was abused by her father. During this period, Ram acted as her ‘brother’ and pushed her father down the stairs. This did not kill him as Ram initially thought but Smita says it taught him a lesson and from then on, her father refrained from sexually abusing her.
Prem Kumar: The presenter on the corrupt show: Who Will Win a Billion. We later discover that Ram’s motives for entering were not money-related but to get revenge on Kumar, the man who abused both Neelima Kumari and his love, Nita.
PLOT
Ram Mohammed Thomas has been accused of cheating on a popular quiz show. He now has to prove to his lawyer Smita as well as the rest of society that he is not guilty. In the novel he shows how each correct answer he gave was related to an event he experienced some time in his life. At the end, everything works out, Ram wins the case and no longer has to live as a slum dog for the rest of his life.
THE SETTING AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PLOT
The story is set in India, mostly in the slums of Mumbai Having it set in this particular environment, the reader is exposed to the hardships that the majority populations of India endure and how young boys are exposed to such cruel situations that rob them of their innocence so soon.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
Ram and Salim are taken to a home where man named Maman trains them to be beggars but Maman cripples each child in some way in order to gain sympathy of the public. It is from this passage that the reader is exposed to how cruel some people can be and how the poverty stricken children of society who are most vulnerable pay the price of this cruelty.
TITLE: ABOUT A BOY
AUTHOR: NICK HORNBY
PUBLISHER: PENGUIN GROUP
PUBLICATION DATE: 1998
MAIN CHARACTERS
Marcus: An introverted, 12 year old boy who often teased at school. He has grown up in a dysfunctional family with his depressed, crying mother who even attempts suicide in the book.
Will: A 36 year old man who has never had learn responsibility or work a day in his life because of the money he has inherited from his father. Will sometimes view himself as worthless and this is why he sees Marcus as his way to give back to the world by changing Marcus’s life for the better.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Fiona: Marcus’s mother
Suzie: A single mother who is part of a single parents’ group and she meets Will at one of these group meetings when Will is posing to be a single father to meet single mothers.
Ellie: A 15-year-old girl who at first Marcus wants to become his girlfriend. Marcus then realizes that she is not right for his girlfriend but the two continue being good friends.
PLOT SUMMARY:
After his mother attempts suicide, Marcus realizes that to only have one person in your family is a risky situation because if you lose that one person, you are all alone. This is what encourages his initiative to set up his mom and Will (after blackmailing Will to cooperate once he found out that Will is not a father at all) on a date. This unfortunately does not work out but a unique friendship forms between Marcus and Will. Will tries help Marcus fit in at school and teaches him that one does not have accept a bad situation but should always try change it to suit him/her.
SETTING
The story took place London. However the setting is not very relevant as such problems experienced a boy are applicable to anywhere in the world.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
I do not think that there was a particular moment that stood out from the rest because the entire book is about learning from life’s experiences and all life lessons are important.
TITLE: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (PLAY)
AUTHOR: FRANCES GOODRICH AND ALBERT HACKET
PUBLISHER: could not find
PUBLICATION DATE: could not find
MAIN CHARACTERS
Anne: An outgoing, fun-loving, 13 year old girl who happens to be Jewish and therefore live in an attic to hide away from Nazi Germany and records who entire experience in her diary.
Mr. Frank: Anne’s father. Anne looks up to Mr. Frank as her role model and sees him as a kind, understanding, and gentle man. He is accepting and selfless and allows and entire other family to share the attic with his own. Out of everyone who hid in the attic, Mr. Frank was the only one to survive the concentration camps.
Margot: Anne’s older sister. Margot is clever, studious and Anne is often compared to her, which Anne absolutely loathes especially when people tell her to be more like Margot. She is also quieter and more reserved than Anne.
Peter: A quiet, introverted boy who Anne has a crush on and later in the play, kisses him. Pet also stays in the attic with Anne.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan: Peter’s parents who are also staying in the attic as Mr. Frank wanted to thank them for helping him and is family adjust to Holland and earn to speak Dutch. They often find Anne to be rude and insolent and they, especially are responsible for comparing Anne to her sister.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Mrs. Frank: Anne’s mother. Anne does not get on well with her mother as she is unable to open up to her mother and express her feelings, which results in much frustration between the two. Anne prefers to resort to her father when it comes to personal matters.
Mr. Dussel: A man who was previously a dentist but now must too resort to hiding to avoid the Nazis. He shares a room with Anne and Anne often describes him to be rude, irritable and grouchy.
Miep: The woman, together with her husband is a couple who kindly hide the Jewish families away from the Nazis.
PLOT SUMMARY
It is 1943 and no Jewish family is safe. That is why Anne together with her family must hide in a kind, non-Jewish couple’s attic for the duration of the Third Reich. Here, food, hygiene and space are limited and Anne keeps track of all these events in her diary. How the group of hider fight over a potato, to her sharing her first kiss with Ptere until the time when they are discovered and taken away by the Nazis.
SETTING AND ITS EFFEFT ON THE PLOT
The attic: Here, it is crowded and there is lack of food, which causes many of the feuds that Anne records in her diary. The characters have to also always be quiet and certain limitations like the time one is allowed to use the toilet inflict upon the family’s quality of life during hiding.
MOENTOUS MOMENT
I especially enjoyed the part where Anne and Peter kiss. Before the kissing scene Anne tells Peter exactly how she feels about him and the current situation. It is here where we realize that perhaps Anne’s outgoing, fearless exterior is merely a facade and she is actually quite terrified.
TITLE: DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER
AUTHOR: JEFF LINDSAY
PUBLISHER: ORION
PUBLICATION DATE: 2005
MAIN CHARACTERS
Dexter: A serial killer who believes in neat, tidy killings and not to leave behind. He actually enjoys the act of murder and feels no human emotion and considers himself not to be human. He has, however restricted to killing those who deserve it and have done terrible deeds themselves.
Deborah: Dexter’s foster sister. An attractive, naïve women who desperately wants to be a detective part of the homicide team. She does learn about Dexter’s secret until the end of the book.
Detective Laguerta: A devious, Hispanic women who is already part of the homicide team but has an apparent disliking for Deborah. She has a crush on Dexter but also finds out his secret in the end and is then even prepared to shoot him. However Dexter’s older brother, Brian, kills her in the end.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Harry: Although was never alive throughout the book, he is vividly described in Dexter’s thought. He was the very first Person to discover Dexter’s secret and taught Dexter not to murder anyone but those who deserve it.
Brian: Dexter’s older brother who has the obsession with “clean” murders and also loathes blood. He reveals to Dexter that they are the way they are because of a tragic past where they were in a room for two day filled with blood and the bodies of their mother and possibly their father.
PLOT SUMMARY
Dexter has always live a double life as a serial killer He soon becomes fascinated in one of his sister’s cases where a number of prostitutes are murdered in the same way he kills his victims, chopped in pieces and each part wrapped neatly in cloth. He later discovers that the culprit is his older brother and Dexter now realizes that there are others like him.
SETTING
Miami is the place where the story takes place which is described to be a city where much crime and many murders take place.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT
When Dexter is confronted by his brother and is offered the opportunity to kill his sister, Dexter ignores the urge inside him and refuses. This shows that Dexter actually does have some emotion and compassion to those close to him.
Q&A DISCUSSION
The book is written in the first person. We see life through the eyes of Ram Mohammed Thomas, a poor waiter who has lived his life in poverty. This was extremely necessary as we the readers were given the opportunity to see how life is lived by those far less fortunate than ourselves and how the poor are those most vulnerable to abuse, cruelty, crime, rape and accusations. We see India as one of its true inhabitants and do not see it as an exterior person. A reason for this is that Ram says that life is nothing like Bollywood movies where everyone is joyful and every story has a happy ending. Quite the opposite. Innocent people and children are abused, murdered and exploited and justice is not always served. This is often the case as those who are responsible for serving justice are quite corrupt themselves.
Ram has been accused of cheating on a quiz show for no reason but the idea that a slum dog could not possibly win a show that quizzes intelligence where professors and university graduates cannot. However, Ram mentions that a quiz show is not so much a test of knowledge but a test of memory and experience. We are taken onto some of Ram’s not interesting life experiences in order to find out how he got the answer to each question.
We look at Ram’s life from when he was a small child up until the present. The character made remarkable development not because he learned to develop and mature but because development and maturity was inflicted upon him. From the hardships of poverty he learns how to fend for himself and understand people’s motives. Innocence is one of the qualities that tie you down when living in poverty and put you at a major disadvantage.
I believe the ending of the story was very appropriate as when Ram recaps his childhood, we are exposed to the most traumatic and horrifying situation of young children being blinded and children being left to die from hyperthermia while their mother lives a lifestyle of royalty. When we find out that the ending is actually very positive we learn from the book that life can be cruel and unjust but all the same it would wrong to state that there is no such thing as a happy ending.
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