Mr_Shank

This book had me going.  I could not stop reading, until I got to the part where it does not explain if he wins.  Every player has their tales, was this one of Pete’s?  Does he always end his books like this?  We will have to read more to find out.  Anyways I would like to discuss themes, what you think happened with the rest of the tournament, and going all-in.

This part of the book takes place at Kings Crossing, in Las Vegas.  It is holding 120 people for a winner takes all tournament.  There has never really been a tournament of such, and it is attracting players from all over.  The odds are slim, but those odds are good enough for any of them.   Denn makes it to the final 2 players on at least 40 hours of no sleep.  This is truly amazing, and I think that it is dealing with the theme.  I think that Pete is trying to say that no matter what the odds are, there is always that possibility to win.  Never give up, give it your all until you are all out!  Also I think he is trying to prove the point that there are some people that live this lifestyle.  As we see it today with the World Series of Poker.  All of these points are proven as Denn still has one chip and he is not negative on his chances.  He says “all-in” with some confidence, which really makes me happy.  It proves he is not giving up.  Do you guys think he won?  Write you own ending to the story and include the tournament, plans with Cattie, and what he did in the future.   I personally think that he won, and in doing so he took over the casino.  He lived the high life and dated Cattie soon afterwards.  He grew up to be a successful gambler in Vegas, where he owned some of his own casinos.  I do realize as my thoughts on the ending were way off.  I think Pete did this to make the reader finish the ending to what they think should happen.  Denn in my mind was a kid who found a passion and a skill in a game and ran with it.

As I said I think that he won the tournament.  But is that what truly happened?  I think that it is amazing as he made it through the whole tournament and with little sleep.  Denn is truly the best of the best.  What do you guys think of the tournament?  My thoughts were that it gave the book more suspense as you wanted to keep reading.  Also do you guys think that it is right to violate the rules that you made everybody else follow?  This is what happened at the end of the tournament as Artie smoke a cigarette at the table.  It is wrong in my mind because it is breaking the rules.  I don’t like to break the rules, and I usually like to follow them.  It just shows how rude and cocky he is.  Another thing we see is that no cheating was seen.  It seemed as Cattie played straight up and so did the other dealers.  Then Ree even told Artie that he never made Denn go all-in.  Was this right to do as it could possibly lose the game for Artie?  I think it was because it is only right not to cheat.  It is kind of like Karma, as Artie wanted to cheat.  Karma says that whatever you do badly always comes around to bit you in the butt later.

Lastly I would like to talk about the title.  We see that the title is “All-in” because everybody was going all-in.  This is very important to notice because you can see what the author was thinking when he picked the title.  Is this the title that you would have chosen?  Pick a title or keep the same one.   My thoughts were that it made sense as we see that the author built the whole story line to show what he meant as all-in.  I could not tell you a better title for this book, and this was a very good book.  I recommend it to all that read this blog.

-Alex

As connector of Anil’s Ghost, I am going to connect this to a movie that I saw before. I don’t really remember what it’s called but it had a lot to do with the same theme of this book. In the movie, there were many suspicious murders taking place and a forensic pathologist along with many archaeologists had to find the missing bodies and then figure out who or what was killing the people. In Anil’s Ghost, Anil is an archaeolgist who has to find the missing people and work with a forensic pathologist to find out just what was happening with all these murders, but most importantly who the murderer was.

Sorry Mr. Shank, I’m camping right now so I don’t really have time to write much more.

My question for you is what do you think of the outcome in the book? Was it what you expected?

That’s all of my blog… I know it’s kind of short…

~Laurisa

In this last post I would like to look at John Grady. In this section John Grady leaves Mexico and is persecuted because of Blevins’ horse. Two men who were trying to make a profit took him to court. He won and kept the horses. Then he went to Rawlins’ home and gave him his horse back. While there Rawlins offers for John Grady to stay with his family. John declines and when Rawlins asked him what he was going to do John Grady said I don’t know. We then see John Grady at a cemetary standing over the grave of an old lady who worked for his family for many years. He always called her his abuela. Then at the end of the novel we see John Grady riding off across the desert past a tribe of Indians.

Why do you think McCarthy ended the novel in this manner? What do you think is the relevance behind having the Indians?

-Kody

I AM EXTREMELY ANGERED! WE DID NOT FIND OUT HOW THE FINAL TOURNAMENT ENDED!

All we found out was that the final two were Artie and Denn. But oh my, I am really angry that we did not find out who won the million dollars.

Anyway, All-In was a great book, and I’m glad Mr. Shank let us read it!

Now for my chapter summaries:

Chapter 32 [Cattie]:

Cattie heard a knocking on her door when she was in her bathtub. When she got out and got dressed (getting ready to go to the big tournament and deal) she found Denn sitting opposite of her apartment door. She was confused and somewhat annoyed to see him. All he stated was that he wanted to make sure she was okay.

Chapter 33 [Denn]:

Denn sat there in the hallway thinking for awhile. When he took a look outside he found Cattie sitting on her car smoking. He went out to her, and restarted regular conversation. Cattie asked him if was playing in the tournament. He responded no, due to the fact he has no money. Then she asked Denn if he would play if he had the money. Then she ran up to her room to get him $10,000.

Questions: Do you think Denn was really looking for Cattie to give him money?

Chapter 34 [Jimbo]:

The chapter is narrated by Jimbo, and he says they are walking around the poker room waiting for the big tournament to begin. Tons of big-time poker players are there. Jimbo spots Denn and goes to wish him good luck, and asks Denn if he plans to win. Of course, Denn says that that is his intension.

Question: At this point, did you think that Jimbo was possibly trying to get money from Denn, too?

Chapter 35 [Denn]:

The chapter starts out with Denn realizing his surroundings, he is tired, hungry, and has one of the biggest poker games of his life ahead of him. He wondered if he was being fooled by Artie and Cattie again. He didn’t think so. He wanted to take his chances. He proceeded to ask Cattie why she had given him that $10,000. Did she want him to play?  After their conversation, Denn went to find his seat in the poker room. The chapter ends with Artie announcing talking to the crowd about the tournament, and the tournament beginning.

Do you guys think it is suspicious that Artie is playing in his own tournament?

Chapter 36 [Denn]:

The tournament started, and the blind bets started at $10-$20 and would increase every hour. At the first break, Denn and Jimbo talked some more. Jimbo said some UNLV kid had been tearing up the tournament. The games continued and more and more people began to leave. Denn’s focus came and went. Then Cattie came to deal at his table.

Chapter 37 [Cattie]:

Cattie seemed to deal Artie pocket aces every round to anger Artie. At the break Morty scolded Cattie and told her to not make the cheating so obvious.

Chapter 38 [Jimbo]:

Jimbo tells one of his ‘bad-beat stories’, dealing with the UNLV kid. The story was actually from the very tournament. The UNLV beat Jimbo in a tough round, knocking Jimbo out of the tournament.

Chapter 39 [Denn]:

Denn had been winning some small pots, and the blinds kept increasing. He got into a long battle with the UNLV kid, and at the end Denn one sending the UNLV kid crying out the door.

What do you guys think of this kid? Weird?

Chapter 40 [Cattie]:

There has already been suspense and knowledge in the previous chapters that Cattie will cheat and help Artie win. Also in previous chapters, Artie got unhappy with Cattie because she dealt him 2 aces 5 times in a row, which become somewhat suspicious. So in this chapter the big poker tournament continues, and Cattie, one of the dealers, had rotated to Artie’s table. She hadn’t dealt to Artie’s liking, so he sent Morty over to tell Cattie that she was done dealing for the night. Morty warned her to leave so Artie couldn’t find her.

Questions: Why do you think Artie wanted to get rid of Cattie if she was his only chance at cheating to win? Did he figure that he would just wing it, or were there other dealers cheating for him too?

Chapter 41 [Denn]:

It was about 2 a.m. and the tournament was down to two tables. The UNLV kid that had been a hit and was crushing in the tournament had gotten knocked out by Artie. A break in the playing was called, and Denn walked over to Cattie who was sitting in a chair in the distance where she was watching the action.

When the action continued, it was down to the final ten (one table). They had a new dealer, Ree, whom which Denn determined wasn’t cheating for Artie. A bunch of people were knocked out within not much time. It was soon the final three, Artie, Sammy Gold, and Denn. Artie still played trickily, without cheating. Finally, a hand was dealt where Denn had beaten and knocked out Sammy Gold. The game was then left to Artie and Denn.

Chapter 42 [Denn]:

Denn noticed that Cattie had left the room and was no longer watching. Denn took a break, and when he reentered the room it was time to play again, just Denn and Artie. Ree was dealing. Denn and Artie had gone back and forth, until Artie had gotten a really good hand and made Denn go all-in. Unfortunately, Denn lost, leaving him with one measly $1000 chip. Neither of the players realized that it was still there. They both thought that Artie had won after the last play. This was a shock, but then later everyone encouraged Denn to play. To do this with the extremely high blind bet, Denn would have to go all-in for a couple of rounds until he got more chips. The book ended with the dealer dealing the two their cards, and Denn betting with the quotation, “All-in,” and a smile.

AND NOT TELLING US WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE REST OF THE TOURNAMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Questions: Do you guys think that Denn would have won the tournament? Why so, or how so?

Did you guys like the story? I think it was the best book that we have blogged about so far!

Also there were still no words that really stood out to me. Tell me if you need anything clarified!

blind = blind bet, short term

-Leah Sevco

Colin Easter

H.G. Wells leaves off the story of the Morlocks as soon as the Time Traveller gets his Time Machine back.  ”But at last the lever was fitted and pulled over.  The clinging hands slipped from me.  The darkness presently fell from my eyes.  I found myself in the same grey light and tumult I have already described.”  From here, the Time Traveller discusses the twilight world of the future.  The only time the world of the Morlocks and Eloi is mentioned afterword is about the flower in the Time Traveller pocket (offering proof of his travel).  The story of that world is abruptly stopped and no more commentary is provided about it.  This is interesting because the author spent a lot of time establishing the subplot, setting, commentary, and details about that world.  However, by leaving the story off like that the author allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.  It also allows the author to not have to write a conclusion or disappoint readers. The escape itself was not exciting.  This makes me think that it is a combination of the two reasons.  The author also uses this same tactic at the end of the story.  The Time Traveller says that he’ll be back in half an hour, but he still hasn’t returned three years later.  All we know is that he went somewhere with the Time Machine and a camera.  Do you think that the author does this to allow the reader to draw their own conclusions so they that are not disappointed?  Is he just lazy or uncreative enough to write his own endings?  Does it fit with a science fiction theme to have a clear cut ending?  Finally, do you prefer conclusions that are clear cut or ones that allow you to draw your own conclusions?

Being the last section of the book, this is the most exciting and revealing one.  Like i predicted, it does not end happily for John Grady.  He leaves us as a man who truly has nothing.  He has lost his home, his love, his friends; he is completely alone as he rides off into the west.  I would like to specifically talk about a couple of the incidences and decisions that led to this sad conclusion.

When Grady was reunited with Alejandra, she revealed to him that it was her who confessed to their affair.  She was forced to by her aunt who threatened to tell her father if she did not.

“She shook her head. I destroyed everything. I only wanted to die.

Don’t cry.  I’ll make it right.

You can’t, she said.  She raised her eyes and looked at him.  He’d never seen despair before.  He thought he had, but he had not.”

I like this part of Grady’s and Alejandra’s conversation because it made me think about my own life.  I asked myself if i had ever felt despair like this, or if i think i will.  It takes a lot to as depressed as she was.  Consider both of their situations.  Johm Grady was put in jail where he went through torture, killed a man, and lost his friends in.  Alejandra, on the other hand, has lost her father’s love.  The two things don’t seem very comparable, but i think that they have both lost very much for each other.  The only difference is that John Grady has nothing more to lose, so he would be unfazed to elope with his lover, but Alejandra has her family to think about.  Which of the two do you think has it worse in this situation; the one who has lost everything, or the one who has everything to lose?

“The captain either did not know what he was going to do or knowing did not believe.  John Grady had begun to shout even before the gunmetal hissed in the meat.  His shout clapped shut the calls of lesser creatures everywhere about them in the night and the horses all stood swimming up into the darkness beyond the fire and squatting in terror on their great thighs screaming and pawing the stars as he drew breath and howled again and jammed the gun barrel into the second would and held it the longer in deference to the cooling of the metal and then he fell over on his side and dropped the revolver on the rocks where it clattered and turned and slid down the basin and vanished hissing into the pool.”

This is how McCarthy described what i think is the bravest and toughest thing we have seen Grady do.  As he was escaping with his and Blevins horse, he took the captain with him as a hostage.  However, he was shot in the thigh on his escapade.  Knowing that he could not continue travelling with his leg the way it was, he stopped to take care of it.  His way of taking care of it was by closing the wounds with red hot metal.  Being a runner, i know what it is like to have to put up with great amounts of pain.  It takes a very strong person mentally just as much as it does physically to be able to endure that amount of pain.  That is why I feel so impressed with what John Grady did.  Not only that, however, I am also perplexed by his motivation for doing this.  He no longer has Aleajandra to fight for, he already lost her to her own family.  He has no friends left because Rawlins left him.  And perhaps worst of all, he has no home.  i believe that this was an act of desperation on his end, or perhaps he was trying to redeem Blevins.  Whatever it was, John Grady is one heck of a man for it.

If you found yourself in a situation where your life depended upon causing yourself this amount of pain, would you do it?  Would self preservation overcome the fear of pain?  And more importantly, would you be able to do it alone, like John, or would you need someone or something worth fighting for to be able to mutilate yourself like that?

-Ditz

There are so many similarities and differences between the book Dracula and the movie. It’s relevant to know both about the book and the movie to be able to understand the book better and see what led to the differences between the book and the movie.

A main difference between them is that the movie is made to look like a romance and the novel is one more of action and dread. Whatdo you think is the purpose of Stoker starting out his novel with romance and then making it turn to action? Mina was obviously supposed to be a girl who looked like Dracula’s dead wife, so he wants to make her immortal, but it involves Jonathan who wants her back because he truly loves her, from this point Dracula and Jonathan with his 5 allies fight to get Mina back.

The two more obvious characters that differ in the movie and book are Mina and Dracula. In the novel, whenever Dracula enters Mina’s room Mina is afraid of him and Dracula is always angry and aggressive towards her but in the movie Dracula and Mina love each other even when she finds out that he is Dracula. What is your opinion on this, if it was the other way around for the book and movie which would you like better? why?

Also, the novel portrays Dracula as a character full of hatred, and anger and is related to the theme of death. But in the movie, Dracula is shown with emotions and feelings for Mina, who he loves and does not wish to condemn her to loving him. Does this somehow depict to us a theme of love that love can conquer all evil and can turn an inhumane creature human?

Sorry if you think the post is odd and random, I thought that at the end of the book it would be good to see how the movie and book relate even if you haven’t seen the movie!

-Kianat Zamir

OK, first off, I want to apologize for posting this late. Usually I’m able to post at my mom’s house, but this weekend I’m over at my dad’s house. His computer has been acting up a lot lately. He has a Windows 97 (Yes – a ‘97!) and I think it is on its last bit of life. The computer has been freezing up, crashing, and the internet is going haywire. Luckily, I should be able to comment fine tomorrow because I’ll be going back to my mom’s, so I can use my ‘08 iMac. So I’m really sorry about posting late, but due to unforeseen circumstances out of my control this was unavoidable.

So moving on to the discussion. Since this is the last post, I think I’m going to give my group a present and make this short, sweet and to the point (plus, I want to get this done in case the computer decides to throw a fit). Chapters 8 and 9 act as the conclusion to the book. Chapter 8 wraps up everything that happened in the few previous chapters, while 9 summarizes what little we have learned about Gatsby and Nick.

In Chapter 8, we learn about how Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, but that’s not the part that I really wanted to talk about. The thing I’d really like to mention is Gatsby’s death/murder. This was a really interesting twist put on the story. Throughout the whole thing, I have seen Gatsby as the protagonist. And normally, the protagonists don’t die. So I for one was not expecting that. But when you think about it, everything that we’ve learned about Gatsby’s past and his actions thus far in the book have been leading up to this point (which would be why I called it the conclusion). This brings me to the first thing I would like everyone to answer. I want everyone to look back on every single thing that has happened throughout the book and create a list of events that caused Gatsby’s death. For example, Gatsby taking the blame for hitting Myrtle would be one of the final contributors in the list. Please, please, include chapter or page numbers if possible.

The second thing that I’d like to talk about is Gatsby’s funeral. Nick is placed in charge even though barely knew Gatsby. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the closest friends and/or family supposed to arrange the funeral? As we see in Chapter 9, Nick has a hard time finding anyone to come to the funeral and in the end barely anyone shows up. Even though hundreds of people have gone to Gatsby’s parties (most without being invited) none of them bothered showing up for his funeral. Question: What does this show about society today? Even though this isn’t a question I want answered, here’s something to think about – how is Nick’s personality reflected in the way he prepares for Gatsby’s funeral?

And that’s all I’m writing for today. But as a closing question, I’d like it if you guys could tell me what you think about the book. Did you like it or not? OK, now I am officially done. You guys don’t have to read anymore of my posts!

Erin B

Chapter 5:

In this chapter Nick is on his way home from a date with Jourdan when Gastby surprises him by coming up behind him. Gatsby starts offering Nick all of this stuff because he wants Nick to agree to his Daisy plan. (Inviting her over for tea.) Nick says yes and Gastby is overjoyed. The meeting ends up being very awkward at first, but after Nick leaves for a little while he comes back and finds them overly happy.

Chapter 6:

In this chapter reporters come to Gatsby’s mansion and Nick tells them the truth about Gatsby’s early life. Tom is suspicious about the fact that Daisy is always visiting Gasby alone. He invites Gatsby over for dinner and Gatsby agrees to go. Then, Tom and Daisy come to one of Gatsby’s parties and Gatsby is upset because he thinks that Daisy has not had a good time. He wants it to be like it was when they first met.

Chapter 7:

In this chapter Gatsby fires all his servents and stops having his parties. The only reason he had them in the first place was to attract Daisy to his house. His love for her is taking up all of his time and he can’t think about anything else. During an awkward lunch meeting at Tom and Daisy’s house in East Egg, Tom sees the way Gatsby gazes at Daisy and is sure that they love each other. There is a confrontation between Tom and Gatsby and Daisy ends up going back to Gatsby’s mansion with him. Tom is okay with this because he wants to prove it will not hurt him.

*Do you think this plan of Nick’s will work? Will Daisy and Gatsby end up together, or will she stay with Tom?

*As she watches the conflict between Gatsby and Tom Daisy is leaning a little towards being on Tom’s side. What does this show?

Words:

Contemptuous- This means to show or express contempt or disdain. I picked this word because I have always thought I knew what it meant but I was not sure.

Ineffable- This means unable to be expressed with words. I chose this because it looked interesting.

Ramifications- The act of ramifying. I picked this word because it looked interesting.

Alyssa

LAST POST!!!!!!!

Honestly, this was the hardest part of the story to connect to real life. Thankfully, after talking to my sister who works on an army base, I have decided to connect this last part of the book to an anxiety disorder associated with soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.

PTSD occurs after someone undergoes extreme traumatic stress and causes  psycohlogical and sometimes physical damage. In the case of sodiers returning from war, they have gone through being shot at or being wounded, they’ve witnessed people dying around them, and they have possibly killed people themselves. When they return home, back to a “normal life”, little things that used to seem trivial can remind them of those moments when they’re own traumatic stress was at its peak. This can make them feel alienated from their friends and family, make them want to be alone most of their time, and depending on the magnitude of their disorder, can make them suicidal.

To me, John Grady has some form of PTSD. He’s gone through the same traumatic events as sodiers; he’s witnessed murders, been wounded, killed someone else, and he’s gone through the emotional pain of losing Alejandra. He also tells the judge that he’s being tormented by the fact that he killed the assassin in the jail where he and Rawlins were held. Finally, after being home for a while and talking to Rawlins, he realizes that he can’t stay in San Angelo anymore; he feels alienated and leaves alone on horseback, not sure himself of where he’s going.

What is going to happen to John Grady now? Is he going to go the way of some soldiers, become suicidal and all that? Or will he somehow find peace during his time alone? Do you think he will ever find his true home and gain the happiness his life once had? Feel free to throw in your own ideas!!