Mr_Shank

Book the first- Chapter 1:

This chapter talks about the two countries france and england. It compares the two in terms of their hardships and worries among other things. In england people are worried about prophecies and ghosts, while france has excessive violence. A number of other similarities and differences between the two are also described.

Chapter 2:

In this chapter a mail coach and its group of passengers are on a dangerous journey to Dover. Along the way they are stopped by a messenger, who asks to talk to Lorry (one of the travelers.) The passengers are skeptical at first because they think it might be a robber but then they accept the message. It says ‘Wait at Dover for Mam’selle” to which Lorry mysteriously replies ‘recalled to life.’

Chapter 3:

Lorry and the other two passengers continue their journey to Dover. This gives Lorry a lot of time to think, and he imagines conversations with a ghost. He seems to think that he is on his way to dig up its body, and tells it it has been ‘recalled to life’.

Chapter 4:

In this chapter Lorry arrives at his destination, Dover. Tellson’s bank asked a woman named Lucie Manette to travel there from London because a discovery was made on her dead father’s land. Lorry tells her the real reason she was called there, that her father is alive.

Chapter 5:

Lorry and Lucie go to a wine shop that’s owned by Monsieur Defarge. Him and his wife watch them wearily, like they’re suspicious. Then Lorry talks to the Defarge, and the owner ends up taking Lucie and Lorry upstairs to show them a shoemaker.

Chapter 6:

In this chapter Lorry, Defarge and Lucie talk to the shoemaker (Doctor Manette). He thinks that Lucie is his wife.

Book the Second- Chapter 1:

In this chapter we are introduced to Jerry Cruncher, another one of Tellson’s messengers. Him and his son camp outside of the bank and soon a messenger is needed so Jerry takes care of the job, leaving his son alone.

Chapter 2:

Cruncher is told by a bank teller to go to the old Bailey Courthouse to wait for Lorry to give him orders. Charles Darnay is being tried there for treason, because he acted as a spy for France and told them what England was planning to do with armed forces.

Chapter 3:

The trial goes on and people are questioned. Lorry is one of them, and it turns out that Darnay may have been one of the other two travelers with him in the Dover mail coach. Lorry says it was hard to see who his companions were so he doesn’t know for sure. Eventually, the jury releases Darnay because they have found him not guilty.

Chapter 4:

Darnay is grateful to the people that helped him clear his name, including Lorry, Lucie and Doctor Manette. But things get tense when the group is joined by Sydney Carton, Mr. Stryver’s colleague.  Carton is rude to Darnay and Darnay accuses him of being drunk.

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1. The first word I chose was ‘epoch’. It can mean either an important date in time or certain point in time. I chose this word because it was new to me and I wanted to know what it meant.

2. The next word is ‘blunderbuss’ which is both a clumsy person and a type of gun. The reason i picked this word is because it is used many times in the first chapter and it caught my eye because it’s unique.

3. ‘Cadaverous’ which means ghostly or pale, basically just sickly. I picked this word because it looked interesting to me.

4. ‘Piscatory’ meaning anything that has something to do with fishing. I chose it because it is used repeatedly and is different.

5. ‘Betwixt’ meaning between. This word caught my eye because it has a very unique spelling and sound so it caught my eye.

Question:

1. Do you believe that Darney should have been found not guiltyy? Why or why not?

Alyssa!=)

“What ugly brutes!”he said. “Good God! what ugly brutes!” He repeated this over and over again.

“Did you see a man in the pit?” I said. But he made no answer to that. (pg 22)

This quote is a short conversation between the narrator and a neighbor of his that he meets at the crash sight of the the Martian’s cylinder. It is mentioned throughout most of the beginning that the people who lived in the town near the crash sight were arrogant; they saw, or at least heard of, the dangers the Martians posed on the humans. Yet they went on with their normal lives, thinking that they were the smarter beings. Adding to their arrogance was the military, who gave the people of the town a sense of false-protection with their presence.

This quote is a good example of that ignorance. The narrator’s neighbor, both of whoose names are not given, mocks the Martians’ appearance. However you can tell he’s afraid. The narrator says he repeats the same phrase over and over, not necessarily talking to anyone in particular. Also, when the narrator asks him the question of if someone had fallen into the pit, his neighbor doesn’t answer; he’s to engrossed with the sight of the Martians to worry about someone else.

This quote emphasizes the ignorance the humans have towards the Martians as well as their arrogance toward each other. If you were a human at the crash sight when the Martians came out, what would your reaction have been and why?

I believe that War of the Worldscan be connected to the movie Independence Day. In the movie, aliens come and attack earth. However, in the movie the battle is in the air, where as in the book the attack is on the ground. In both the movie and the book the people are intrigued by what is going on. They all run out of their houses to see what is going on. In both cases the people are being sucked into the trap. In their minds they know that it is dangerous, but yet they have this drunkenness to them where they need to see it. Kind of like in the Lord of the Flies. The boys on the island get in this stage of mind where they can’t control themselves. It is a very scary thing.

I leave you with a question: If extraterrestrial landed in the United States (for real) how do you think we would really react?

So far in the first 4 chapters Taylor leaves her home in Kentucky and ends up with a stranger’s child.

Some aspects of this remind me of a movie I once saw called “Where the Heart Is”. In this movie there is a pregnant woman who was abandoned at a Wal-Mart by her husband. There she meets a woman who eventually takes her in. She ends up living in the Wal-Mart for some time. One night she goes into labor and is about to have her baby in the middle of the store when a man walks by and notices her in the empty store. He breaks in and delivers her baby. After she gets out of the hospital she lives with the woman she met that day she got abandoned. So after she has her child she finds a family and they help her in anyway possible.

To me this relates to The Bean Trees because in both the women have a small child and are trying to fins their way in the world. Both of them seeking help from others. Taylor getting help from Mattie and the woman who gave birth to the Wal-Mart bay from the woman she met that one day. In both cases they are trying to find their way in the world and be good parents to their children, whether they are their real children or not.

Do you think that in these circumstances, Taylor seeking help from others is acceptable? Should she just give up the child all together, or keep getting help until she is stable enough to take care of the little girl on her own? Or should she keep the child without getting help and no stable future?

The passage I chose from the first 4 chapters is on pages 23-24. This is when Taylor first recieves the child from the mystery woman at the bar. I chose this passage because she left her hometown to not have a child but now, here she is, with a child even though it is not her own. So, she will now have to be more responsible since recieving the child.

Do teenagers have enough responsibility to take care of a child on their own? Explain why or why not.

~ Sarah L.