Journal Three from Maci

          So far I think my active reading is going very well. I practiced active reading my senior year of high school so I have a little background in doing the task. It helps me slow down and truly develop an idea of the characters as well as the scenery. I do catch myself not actively reading sometimes so I tend to look over important detail. I love talking through the books in class because I am able to realize things that I have missed before. I enjoy our open discussion and the encouragement of active reading.         

          Both books, The House on Mango Street and a long way gone, have numerous strengths and weaknesses. The rawness and honesty told through the life of Esperanza hit home in a universal theme of identity and empowerment. The feelings in the book are ones that anyone can relate to leaving it a very powerful novel. With many strengths in this book, one weakness is that we are only looking at things through Esperanza's eyes. Being said, If the story was told through multiple perspectives we could get a better understanding of round characters and the setting. For the other novel, a long way gone, it also has many strengths. A big strength that stands out are how Beah conveys his emotions. He is a young boy but spends a lot of his time not expressing how he feels. A weakness that stands out to me in the book is how gruesome and traumatic Beah's experiences are, I tend to feel that they are fiction. I know that it is true story's being shared, but I am incapable of wrapping my mind around the thought of such terrible events. Between both the novels we are currently reading, I prefer The House on Mango Street because I feel like I can relate to Esperanza more.          

         In chapters 7 and 8 of a long way gone, I noticed the themes of isolation and a search for hope. These themes are very crucial in the understanding of the book because Beah explains how haunted he is during his time alone and he has nothing to do but hope for better days. In his introduction with the "old man", he uses the following direct quote to describe him, 

His face was too wrinkled to still be alive, yet his dark skin was shiny and he spoke slowly, gobbling the words in his jaws before he let them out. As he spoke, the veins on his forehead became visible through his skin.(56)

The great description in the simple human he met shows Beah's search for hope. If this old man who is barely living is still managing to stay alive, so can he.