Mr_Shank

Chapter Summaries
Chapter 10 [Cattie]:   Cattie had gon shopping for jewelry. She said that she loved going jewelry shopping in Las Vegas. She had tried on multiple items, but told the clerk that she would be back with her husband later, which was a lie. When she had gone out to her car, she had looked in the review mirror and surveyed how the ruby earrings she stole looked on her. Deciding she didn’t like them, she yelled to a random man and told him to give them to his girlfriend. Her phone then started to buzz… it was Denn. Cattie just wants him to give up.
     The chapter then goes into a flashback from Denn and Cattie’s first date. On this date, Cattie had taken Denn to an amusement park, where she taken Denn on one of the most dangerous and thrilly rides there. Denn seems to remain to like Cattie, and wants to do whatever she wants.
              Questions: Why do you think Cattie had taken him on that ride without letting him know? Did she want to make him ‘wet himself’? Haha.
              Statements: I believe that it is in these chapters where we learn more aboutthe relationshop that Cattie and Denn had and how close they actually were.

Chapter 11 [Denn]:   The chapter starts off with a few sad lines explaining Denn’s depression. The scene then turns to a flashback of Denn playing cards at the Bellagio. All he could think of durring this time was Cattie. Denn was playing back and forth really tight and risky with Sammy. Denn got so caught up with his thoughts that he did anything to impress Cattie, even though she wasn’t there. That resulted in Denn losing a big pot- more than $80,000.
      Then the chapter proceeds to tell about the following nights. Denn says that he hangs out with Cattie a lot. At nights Cattie worked as a dealer, while Denn played poker. Denn’s necklace is also focused on in the chapter. Cattie says that she think Denn touches the gold necklace whenever he is worried, except for at the card table. Confused about why he is wearing the necklace anyway, Denn takes it off and gives it to Cattie. After this day, Denn goes to play at the Sand Dunes, where he first meets Morty and Frisk.
        Questions:  Why did Denn wear the gold necklace, anyway?
        Statements: I think this is where the reader can begin to tell that Cattie had helped the men set up Denn.

Chapter 12 [Jimbo]:    This chapter explains another event of Jimbo’s. Here, Denn calls Jimbo, and Jimbo pretends like it’s not him for a short while. Jimbo then asks for the status on him and Cattie. Jimbo then asks Denn if he wants to join the ‘Big Deal’, which is going to be a huge game of poker with a gigantic pot. Denn answers with a maybe.
               Questions:  Do you guys think that Jimbo could also be a part of this scam with Denn?
                                  And I may just be forgetting, but how are Denn and Jimbo so tight?
               Statements:  I think that Jimbo may secretly be a part of the same scam that Cattie is involved with. It will be a total shock to the speaker, because so far Jimbo has been a seemly good and unsuspicious character.

Chapter 13 [Cattie]:   This is a revealing chapter. Cattie had gone to King’s Crossing, which was a newly opened casino. The poker room was enormous. There she seems Morty Deasel. Cattie thought to herself, “Denn Doyle had no place in a world infested with the likes of Morty Deasel and Cattie Hart” (66). She then thought about how she somewhat actually liked and had feelings for Denn. She then admits that she had a scam and was cheated Denn out. She calls him “just another mark”. “Guilt is for suckers” (67).
               Questions:  Why did the author reveal that Cattie really was pulling a prank so early in the story? Since we’re only half way through the book, what other kinds of scandal do you guys think Cattie, Morty and the rest of the crew will do?
               Statements: Cattie said that she had “never meant to get that far” with Denn. I think that Cattie really likes Denn, and that she is going to have trouble pulling this off.

Chapter 14 [Denn]:  Denn had gone to Lousy Lou’s, another casino. There, he had bought his chips from a creepy bartender, and proceeded to the back room to play a game of one-to-four stud. The bartender says, “Don’t say i didn’t warn you” (70). When Denn walked into the room, he found a table full of old men and two women. The elders thought that Denn didn’t like them and that he was hiding when he took out the traditional ipod and shades. They told Denn that they don’t wear cheaters. Most of the male players keep commenting one kids and how Denn reminds them of them. In a way they make fun of Denn. They game became tricky, and the game broke up leaving Denn only $22 down.
              Questions:  These old people seem stealthy. Do you guys think they have any part in the Denn-Scandal?
              Statements:  These men and women seem pretty scary and creepy to me. How about you guys?

Chapter 15 [Denn]: Denn drives back to his appartment, thinking of his wins and regrets. He noticed how his appartment was empty, and he barely had any food. He then decided that he was going to try to get the money to ender in the tournament that Jimbo had mentioned. 
               Questions:  Do you guys think this is smart for Denn to do?

Chapter 16 [Cattie]:  The reader hears of a man named Jerry, who supposedly worked with Cattie before, cheating and making big bucks. Some other man then appears. The man seems to hit on Cattie, but she declines bitterly. He then warned her that security was surrounding Jerry.
     The scene then turns to a flashback. It says that the man had been the one that had taken Cattie to the Sand Dunes, pointed out Denn, and asked Cattie if she think she could fall in love with him. This proves that there was some planning and scanning going on.
     The scene then became present again, and the man had asked Cattie to be his personal assistant.
               Questions:  Who is this man? And how does he know Denn? And why do you guys think he wants to cheat Denn out? Lastly, how does this man know Cattie?
               Statements:  I think that possibly this man is trying to cheat Denn because he is jealous of him.

Chapter 17 [Denn]:  Denn returned to Lousy Lou’s to win some more money. Most of the players didn’t remember him from the previous day, but remembered after they were reminded. They started playing cards, and Denn was doing exceptionally well. The men comment that if they were Denn’s age, they wouldn’t be playing poker, and they’d be out chasing girls. At the end of the chapter, Marge smiles sweetly at Denn and says, “Let him be, Moses. Can’t you see he has a broken heart?” (84). 
              Questions:  How do you think Marge could tell that Denn had a broken heart?
              Statements:  I think that everyone is somewhat hinting to Denn that he shouldn’t be playing poker at such a young age. Maybe the author is trying to teach teens a lesson.

Chapter 18 [Denn]:  Denn had begin to learn some new tricks after playing at Lousy Lou’s for awhile. He was also gaining more money. He was up to $124. Yet, Denn said that it was hard playing with these experienced players.

Chapter 19 [Jimbo]:  In the chapter Denn’s ‘heater’ was described. It said that Denn had won himself over $400. Jimbo had noted the changes in Denn… no more ipod or glasses. Jimbo then tells Denn that he thinks Cattie is working at King’s Crossing. Then Denn turns and remains focused to his game.
             Questions:  Do you think that Denn changing is a good thing or a bad thing? Also, why do you think Jimbo pointed out to Denn that he thought Cattie was working at King’s Crossing?
             Statements:  I really think that Jimbo may be a part of the scheme. Even though Denn hasn’t been chasing Cattie too much, he is trying to lead him back to her. Makes me wonder.
Also, I’m going to point out a few more poker terms that we have come across:

Call- to match a bet

Fold- to drop out of a hand

Raise- to bet more chips than the previous bettor

Pocket pair- in holden, when you have two hole cards of the same rank

Set- three of a kind

Wow, that took long.

-Leah Sevco

Well, this is really late, but I was having some book troubles. Here are some questions to get some discussion going.

Do you guys think Dr. David Henry is a bad person and husband for having Phoebe taken away? Does the fact that he was trying to protect his wife  make him okay?

Also, do you guys think Caroline made the right decision to keep Phoebe out of the institution.

Finally, why is it that Norah is so obsessed with the dead baby that she never even knew,  especially since she still has one child?

Okay, so this book starts off with Anil arriving at Katunayake Airport and then she was driven into Colombo. When she was younger, Anil was a fantastic swimmer and nobody in Colombo ever let her live that down. Now that she is 33,she doesn’t like people to recognize her as being a swimmer, she wants that to recognize her as Anil- a great anthropologist.

The second day she was in Colombo Anil went to a hospital to workwith forensic students at the hospital. Within a few minutes, Anil had figured out how one of the corpses died, but she left that to the students to figure out.

The next morning she went for a ride in a bajaj, a three wheeled taxi that was opened on both sides. It was raining that day so she felt the rain on her legs and it took her to a flashback of a dinner party that her family had years ago. It started to rain and it pretty much ruined the whole dinner that hosted outside. Next, she met Sarath Diyasena, whom she would be working with in the human rights investigation. He was so interested in her swimming, he didn’t ask her about anything else. Sarath and Anil are staying on a boat where they do a lot of their work. Anil finds out that people have found 3 bodies in government protected caves. Sarath and Anil are going to get a permit so they can go and search for more bodies in those cave and see if the government is the one putting those bodies in there.

On her first weekend, Anil went to her father’s friend’s house. Her name was Lalitha and she is one of few of her dad’s friends that is still alive. She had a short conversation with each other and Lalitha’s granddaughter and then she left. She went to the hospital again to use some equipment and people kept coming up to her asking her if she was the swimmer that got the scholarship. She met Dr. Perera and he asked her to give a 30 minutes speech on snakebites. She had no idea what to say, but she agreed to it anyway. She met another doctor in the hall that knew her father and then he asked her if she the swimmer and she walked away nodding.

The next day, Anil asked Sarath to go get dinner with her, but he declined. She began to ponder what his real job in this investigation really was. Was he a spy for the government? Was he just an archaeologist? Then the book goes into some weird italicized chapter about a man on a train that kills another man when they go through a tunnel. It said there were police officers all over the train, so the police officer that killed the other man was probably there because he government wanted that guy dead. The police officer shoved the dead man out the window after he strangled him with a chain.

Anil flew into Miami and met a man named Cullis. He was in the bathroom withher while she took her bath and she slept with him naked I think. She took her camera and recorded the hotel room and him while he slept. She recorded his “lovely ribs” and his writing.They had met before and went bowling, but being naked around him after meeting him once seems odd to me.

The next chapter goes through people that died and what they were doing the last time they were seen. Man of them were at friend’s houses, taking baths, or even praying. This just goes to show that Sri Lanka was and is a very dangerous place to live.

Sarath and Anil drive up to where the 3 skeletons had been found and they are searching for a 4th. When Sarath and Anil were talking on the ride up to the mountain, we find out how her parents died- in a car crash. It was after she left Sri Lanka and she never saw them again. That is why she didn’t return to Sri Lanka until now. They go for a swim and talk about a friend that taught Sarath a lot who was a monk. He got killed and when Anil asked who killed him, he said “Now we all have blood on our clothes.”

The next day, they go into the cave where the 3 bodies were found. Anil finds a their body that was previously buried. It was burned, but not totally. This body was not prehistoric like all of the others people had found. They named the body Sailor. Anil is sure this body was a victim of a political murder and it sort of seems like Sarath is trying to convince her it is not. She questions him about his relative that works for the government. She does not trust Sarath.

The next day Anil just looks over Sailor and tried to find out how he died and what tests they can do to find out where he was previously buried. Sarath goes out and Anil goes to the rest house owner. She asks him about his wife and says that she’s very nice. Sarath told Anil that his wife died, but the owner of the rest house says that she is still living. Anil gets sick and by noon the next day, she had a terrible headache.

Anil becomes delirious because she is sick and almost cries during dinner. She saw monkeys in the hallways and she believed what she saw. One minute she was freezing and the next she was sweating. Anil tries reading but the lights were too dim. She calls Sarath to bring up brighter bulb and he quickly returns downstairs int he hotel to where he was before. Leaf calls and Anil can barely speak to her be she is so delusional. The next day Anil asks Sarath if she can trust him and he tells her she has to. Anil finds out how Sailor died and he was shot in the neck by a .22.

Next, we find out that Anil’s name is not really Anil. She took that name from her brother and she hated her real name. It took 100 rupees, a pen set, and tin of 50 Gold Leaf cigarettes, and a sexual favor for her get the name “Anil” from her brother.

She met a man named Chitra and he took her out to eat. She found out that he can help her out in finding out where Sailor was first buried. The book then goes to Sarath inspecting all four of the skeletons on the ship. He coats them and takes pictures of them. He takes part of Sailor’s skull and he takes pictures of him without his head. He realizes that he and Anil need help with this mystery.

I chose all 5 of these words because I had no idea what any of them meant.

Anthropology- The scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans.

Guerilla- A member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines, etc.

Cuneiform- Anatomy. noting or pertaining to any of various wedge-shaped bones, as of the tarsus.

Vainglory- Excessive elation or pride over one’s own achievements, abilities, etc.; boastful vanity.

Languid- Lacking in spirit or interest; listless; indifferent.

Frentic- Frantic; frenzied.

Mallory Stickler =)

“He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.”

This quote made by Nick reminds me of a quote from the movie, “Win a Date With Tad Hamilton.”  In the movie a boy likes a girl named RosaLee and he describes her as “having six smiles.”  

“Like do you know she has six smiles? One when something really makes her laugh. One when she’s making plans. One when she is laughing out of politeness. One when she is uncomfortable. One when she is making fun of herself. And one when… she’s talking about her friends.”

In both of these quotes, the men are describing people and how much they like the other person’s smile and how good it makes them and others feel.  It seems that Gatsby will be a very interesting character to follow just after reading this quote.

What do you think about the quote?

-Maddie Zinn

The story Dracula starts with the diary of Jonathan Harker. He is an English lawyer who is traveling to Eastern Europe to from England. He is traveling to see Count Dracula, a Transylvania. On his entry to his journal he describes the beautiful countryside. He stays at a hotel and plans on taking a carriage the next day. The morning was very interesting. He informs the innkeeper where he is going and she tells him that it is the eve of St. George’s Day. All things evil come out. He is disturbed and takes her cross around his neck out of respect. The trip is beautiful until they come closer to the castle. The passengers tell the driver to speed it up! They also offer Jonathan small gifts to ward off the evil. After being dropped off and transferred to another carriage, Harker is spooked by wolves, and the thought that this man takes this route a lot. There are many strange events along the way, like the blue flames, but he arrives at the castle, trembling with fear.

He meets Dracula, and his fear begins to go away. He is impressed with his height and firm handshake. When he goes inside, he sees his sharp teeth, and the fear returns. He wakes up to find that Dracula has left for the day. He starts to explore, and notices that there are no mirrors in the house. Later that night, Dracula returns and they have a conversation in the library about the house he has purchased. The conversation lasts a long time, but Dracula abruptly leaves at daybreak. This increases his suspicion and fear. The next day when Harker is shaving he is rudely interrupted by Dracula. He cuts himself and Dracula is very uneasy at the sight of blood. He warns Harker of the danger of bleeding in the area. Jonathan is very startled and goes exploring again. He sees doors locked after doors locked and realizes that he is a prisoner in Count’s castle.

Harker next starts to ask questions about the history of Transylvania and the people and Count boasts about his people. He asks questions about Jonathan too, and he tells him to tell his fiancé and his employer that he will be staying another month. He feels like he has to agree and does so. Later that night he goes to explore again, and sees the Count climbing the walls. He wonders what the heck he is, and if he can ever escape. Avoiding Count’s advice, Harker goes into a locked room and falls asleep. He thinks he is visited by three women, but he cannot say. The Count comes and tells them to go away, gives them a baby to eat. Harker then becomes unconscious.

The next day, Harker wakes up in his own bed, and wonders if what happened last night was real. Another odd thing that Count does is to tell his fiancé and employer that he has safely left the castle, and to address them a month later. Later that night, a group of gypsies come over and Harker tries to sneak a letter to one of them. Dracula ends up with it and says it hurts their friendship; it’s appalling. He burns the letter. After many weeks pass, more gypsies come to the castle. They bring boxes and Harker realizes that Count is doing nothing but horrible actions. When a women arrives to find her child, wolves come out and kill her. Harker climbs the wall to see Dracula’s room. He sees nothing but gold, and in a box, the Count. He is either dead or asleep, and Harker flees back to his room, terrified. June 29-Harker is promised he can leave the next day. He goes to his room and prays for his safety. He tries to kill Dracula and leave with gold. The entries end with him say goodbye to everyone, including Mina.

The next chapter is an exchange between Mina and Lucy. They are friends who are talking about their love lives. Mina describes her trip with Lucy, and how beautiful it was. Mina expresses that she is worried over her missing fiance. She sees a ship with Mr. Swales and he says that she will hear more about it. The boat that is washed up and crashed is full of boxes and a dog leaps onto the land. The ship is called Demeter. On the sea, there were many strange things happening with the crews. After this, it goes back to Mina’s point of view where she talks about the crash, and the fear of not seeing Jonathan. Lucy continues to walk at night while she sleeps. Mr. Swales is dead, a look of horror on his face, a cause of her restlessness.

Transylvania- I just think this work sounds cool, and it is the setting of the story.

Picturesque- This describes the land in many parts of the story so far. It also sounds cool, and is key to the setting’s description.

Count- I think this is important because it is the vampire’s name, and it is also a verb. His name is count! How many people can say their name is a verb?

Borgo Pass- Also another fun word to say. This is where things started to go downhill for Jonathan.

Evil- This was important to the story because it was the basis for the author’s foreshadowing. He used this to put fear into the reader, and Harker has dealt with lots of evil.

Dan Black

Pg. 47 ” Her name was Phoebe. I want somebody to say her name. Do you hear me?” she stood up. “I want someone to rembeber her name”

  I thought that this was interesting becuase for some reason Norah refuses to let go of the “dead” baby. As the story progresses we see that this only becomes worse, and Norah continually goes back to her old house and revisits these memories. I beleive that by the way Norah is acting, that she is going to cause a lot of trouble and resentment between her and David.

  Why do you think that Norah still carries the burden of the “dead” baby, even though she never saw or met the baby . She doesn’t even remember the birth. So as far as I can see, If David wouldn’t have told her they had twins she wouldn’t know about the second baby.

  I also would like to add that I think it was very irresponsible for Caroline to take that baby as her own. Maybe she was just a little crazy at the time, but I think that she will come to regret her decision. Any thoughts??

Ok, so I’d like to connect what has happened so far in the book to a real-life crisis that America is facing right now: illegal immigration. Mexicans are crossing the U.S./Mexican border so they can start a new and better life in the United States. In the story, the same thing has happened, only the other way around. John Grady, Rawlins, and Blevins are Americans who cross the border illegally.

The U.S. is known as the land of opportunity. That is why Mexicans are trying to sneek across the border. They want to start better lives. Those illegal immigrants who are caught are usually deported back to their own country, whether it be Mexico or somewhere else, unless they get some sort of special permission.

In the book, the reason the three Americans cross the border isn’t really made clear. It’s assumed Blevins has had a hard life at home with his stepfather, but with John Grady and Rawlins the reason they left is sketchy. Rawlin’s seems to be sick beyond the help of medicine and John Grady doesn’t want to leave the home he’s always known to go live in some city where he’d have to start all over again. Did these three characters cross the border for the same reason illegal immigrants are now? To start a better life? Or did they just want to “get away from it all”? Also, what do you think will happen to them if the Mexican government finds them? The people they’ve met so far don’t really care if they are illegal immigrants, but the government may think differently. Do you think they’ll be deported, or killed, or…. what?

Hey guys! Sorry if I am not doing the right post. Just let me know and I will change my role. I will be the character watcher for this round at least. Anyway, so far in this book, we have been introduced to a few characters. They are Dr. David Henry, Caroline, Norah, Pheobe, and Paul. Just so we have an introduction, I will give an overview of each character we have met so far.

Dr. David Henry is a 34 year old doctor living in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife, Norah. So far, his characteristics and actions reveal him to be easily swayed and manipulated by his emotions. He also is one for needing or preferring cold hard proof in a situation, making his new fatherly role a bit difficult.

Caroline is a younger nurse who works beside Dr. David Henry. She has a slight crush on him, but is careful not to show her emotions, for she sees him in a professional environment, and is not the type of person who would care to make his wife upset. She is caring, for she makes it her responsibility to take little Pheobe in as her own for the time being. She is very smart and skilled at her job as well.

Norah Henry is a 23 year old woman living in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband, David. So far, she has given birth to a set of twins, unknown to her, and takes her motherly role very seriously. She seems to be a strong woman who has faith in herself and in her husband, when sometimes neither deserve it.

Pheobe is a newborn baby girl with down syndrome. She was one of the twins born to David and Norah one winter evening in a Lexington clinic in the middle of the night. She is somewhat of an embarrassment to her father, and as of now, her mother does not know of her existence. Caroline, the nurse who assisted in the deliverance of her, took her in and is raising her as her own for a while.

Paul is a newborn baby boy born with no problems, unlike his sister. He was one of the twins born to David and Norah one winter evening in a Lexington clinic in the middle of the night. He is the only child Norah knows is living, for David did not make her aware of her daughter, saying that it would make her upset to see her and possibly have her pass away soon. 

What do you guys think of the characters so far?

Do you have any opinions about certain characters?

~Megan Douglas

I think that this book is a really good book! I am really liking it! I appologize for posting so close to the deadline.

In Part I, John Grady leaves Texas to go and escape to Mexico. He has many troubles with his mother, and his father is pretty ill. Then he finds out that his parents are actually divorced, and that his mother is going to sell the ranch that John loves so much. This is when John meets up with his buddy Rawlins and they start their trip. They then meet Bevlins. He seems skeptical at first, but then the boys gain up enough trust to incorporate him into their group. Throught the first part, the boys overcome some obstacles. I have an opening question for you to start off, and then tomorrow I will post a comment with a couple more questions on it.

My question:

Would you have handled any of the obstacles differntly? If you would, what would you have done? Why?

(Would you have made a “different turn” that would change the outcome of the situation?)

Colin Easter

Before the Time Traveller begins telling his story of traveling through time, the characters he is telling the story to are introduced.  These characters have names such as Journalist, Medical Man, and Psychologist.  The narrator also leaves out names when they should be used.  For example, on page 14, the Time Traveller says, “You have told Blank, and Dash, and Chose about the machine?”  The narrator uses “blank” in other sentences as well to purposely leave out names.  The other men themselves are called by their profession, not their names.  Why do you think the author names the characters in these ways?  Will the professions of the men play a role in the future, or is the author trying to draw contrasts in the professions of that time to the professions of other times?