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

Ok, first post.

Words to Watch -

aberration – the act of departing or deviating from the normal, ordinary, or usual (David describes his family as being an aberration)

ossification – the natural process of bone formation (“I’m just an orthopedic surgeon,” he reminded her. “I could tell you the ossification pattern for fetal bones, but that’s about it.”

March 1964 -

Dr. David Henry and his very pregnant wife, Norah, live in Lexington, Kentucky. There is a sudden, unexpected blizzard about three weeks before Norah is due, but the baby decides to be born right then. Since the roads are dangerous, David can’t continue driving to the hospital, and pulls off into his clinic. He delivers the fraternal twins himself, and right away can tell that Paul is perfectly healthy, but Phoebe has Down Syndrome. He doesn’t want to ruin his wife’s life, so he gives Phoebe to the nurse to take to an institution. The nurse, Caroline, just happens to secretly love David. Whoo-hoo. David tells Norah that Phoebe died at birth, and she is depressed.

1965 -

David and Norah drift apart from each other. Now, Norah wants another kid, but he doesn’t. David has a difficult past, with poverty, and the death of his sister to a heart defect. Norah has a drinking problem, but stopped after she crashed the car. She buys David a video camera, which soon becomes a new obsession for him.

Caroline couldn’t bear to leave Phoebe at the institution, and now claims that she is her baby. She frequently sends letters and pictures to update David on Phoebe. David sends them money to help support them, and sort of tries to find where they live. Caroline meets Sandra, a woman who has a four-year old son, Tim, with DS also, and they become friends.

What was your first reaction when David gave up Phoebe because she is mentally disabled? Do you think he made the right choice? If no, what should he have done or told Norah?

Okay this is gonna be pretty short because we only read 2 chapters.

Chapter 1:

In this chapter we meet the narrator, who is a man named Nick Carraway. He starts out by describing himself, saying that he is very moral and tries not to judge people. Nick has just moved to West Egg, one of the richest parts of New York. Gatsby, the hero of the story, lives right next door to Nick, who has lots of connections in East Egg. This is the more social of the Eggs. Nick goes to East Egg to have an awkward dinner with his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom. Daisy’s friend Jordan is there and Daisy and Tom hint that they want Nick to like her.

Chapter 2:

In this chapter Tom and Nick are riding a train into the city and they cross the valley where New York’s ashes are dumped. Tom makes Nick get out at one of the stops and the two go to George Wilson’s house. George is the husband of Myrtle, the woman Tom is having an affair with. The men take Myrtle with them on the train and then the three go to a party in the city. The people there are drinking heavily and are very obnoxious. Nick doesn’t like it and wants to leave. Myrtle grows increasingly obnoxious and starts talking about Tom’s wife, ignoring his warnings to stop. Tom ends up breaking her nose and abruptly ending the party.

Words:

Levity-This means lack of seriousness, or being lighthearted.

Privy- When you participate in something secret.

Pathfinder- This is an original settler.

-Alyssa![:

So, I’m going to summarize what happens to the two main characters seperatly if that’s okay.

In the first pages of the book, we find out about Behrani and his family. He has two jobs, one picking up garbage along the highways and the other working at a mini-mart. But, he is not happy with these jobs or his housing. He wants to be a realestate agent. Behrani checks the house ads every day and one day finds a house he likes. So, he goesto the auction and buys the house. His family move into the house and they are very happy there. Until, Behrai recieves a letter from an attorney saying that the house does not belong to him.  

When we first meet Kathy, we learn that her husband has left her. Then, the police come and inform her that her house will be auctioned off because she and her husband had a home business. She denies this because she says she signed papers to the county saying there was not a home business, but they still are auctining off her house. The one police officer, suggests that she find a lawyer. She takes this advice and the lawyer says she has a good case because of the papers she signed to the county.

An important thing that happened to both characters was when Kathy went to her house and found people tearing off the roof. She runs to stop them and steps on a nail. So, the one worker takes her inside the house where she finds out people are living in her home.

WORDS:

Najar-boy or man. I chose this because it is used repeatedly by Behrani when he is talking about other people who he doesn’t know the name of.  

Tadiq-the crust that develops at the bottom of a pan of rice. I chose this word because it is a dish that is very special to Behrani’s family culture.

~Sarah Light

So far we have read the first two chapters. This story starts in the time travelers home. They are having some kind of get together and are debating the existence of the fourth dimension. These men that are debating are well educated. One of these men is the narrator. The time traveler produces a mini time machine to prove to the other men the existence of the fourth dimension. The men are still skeptical. The time traveler explains how the machine works are tells one of the men to press the lever. In a gust the machine disappears. They ask many questions. The men are amazed. The time traveler shows them a much larger machine that he is going to explore time in. The next week the time traveler sets up another dinner. When the men arrive the time traveler is no where to be found. They begin the dinner. Part way through the dinner the time traveler shows up dirty and disheveled. After some champagne and cleaning up the the time traveler is ready to tell his story. The men try to debate, but the time traveler says he has no energy to argue. So he makes the men promise they will not interrupt. The men sit patiently as the story begins…

Words to know:

• paradox-a seemingly absurd opinion, different from or conflicting with accepted truth, which can be true in fact.
• lacunae-gaps
• nil-nothing
• controvert-dispute
• spasmodic-sudden movement
• anachronisms-things out of their proper historical time
• humbug-a fraud
• conjuror-magician
• incredulous-doubtful
• skepticism-a feeling of mistrust
• whim-sudden change of mind
• potentialities-possibilities
• plausibility-something having the quality of truth
• articulation- speech

Mr.Shank, I sure hope this post goes through.  My computer has been giving me problems all day, not allowing me to post.  Hopefully it works this time. ~Erin

Chapter 6

In this chapter, the news about the aliens and the cylinder spread throughout the town and neighboring towns.  This causes people from all over to gather around the cylinder, even though there are police there trying to keep the people back.  Eventually the extraterrestrials attack again by putting trees, hats etc. on fire.  Everyone escapes safely except two women and a little boy, who get trampled by the terrified people.

Chapter 7

The narrator of the story wakes up to find himself in the middle of no where, until he remembers what happens and slowly walks home.  He sees some people on the way there, and they had not yet heard of the aliens.  He finally makes it home, and tells his wife of everything, and she becomes very worried.  He tries to convince her that everything is okay, but in reality it is not.

Chapter 8

The people in the areas do not seem to realize that anything out of the ordinary is going on.  They continue with their daily routines as if it is a regular day.  The only people that seem to notice are the military authorities in the area.  At the end of the chapter the second cylinder falls from the sky.

Chapter 9

In this chapter, the military became even more abundant in the town.  The narrator discusses the aliens with them, but he does not learn anything new.   The military tried to destroy the second cylinder without success.  At about 6 o’clock an explosion ruins the college, the church, and the narrators chimney was destroyed.  Realizing that they were no longer straight the narrator, his wife and their servant left for Leatherhead right away.

Chapter 10

Once the narrator gets his wife safely to his cousins house he goes back to Maybury because he had the want of war in his blood.  On his journey home he witnesses the falling of the third cylinder.  Next, he sees monstrous metal tripods driving towards him very fast.  He flips the dog cart while trying to turn around, but winds up breaking the horses neck.  The tripods were the aliens, but they went right past him.  He then staggered home from exhaustion.

Chapter 11

Through the window the narrator sees a crashed train, the burning countries and the aliens.  A soldier comes to the house looking for shelter, so he lets him in.  He was an artillery man, but his people were attacked and he got pinned under dead men and horses.  Many hours later he tries to escape, and he sees other people being killed in the process.  It seems that the aliens had destroyed everything possible.  The main thing that could be seen out the window was the aliens surrounding a pit, and a green glow.

Deputation- the person or body of persons so appointed or authorized

Heathery- low growing shrubs, often including flowers

Sapper- A military engineer who lays, detects, and disarms mines

Belligerent- warlike; given to waging war

Detonation- an explosion

Fusillade- a simultaneous or continuous discharge of firearms

Reverberations- An echolike force or effect; a repercussion

All these words were chosen because they described how the war was slowly building up and helped with the description of the area.

Do you think that the aliens are real beings or more like robots with an intelligence?

Will the aliens have more cylinders land on earth?

Give some examples of other words that helped build the atmosphere of the story?

In the beginnging of this book, Thomas Hardy is describing the scenery of the wild known as the Edgon Heath. He describes it as having dark vegetation, no trees and it wears a dress of brown, which implies it is pretty bare with just dirt. The day turns to twilight at the heath and the scenery is “majestic, impressive, emphatic, and grand.” An old man came along walking on the road. He has white hair, and he looked like he would have been a naval officer in his day. There was a “single atom of life that the scene combined,” which turned out to be the reddleman off in the distance. The old man eventually discovers that there is a young woman in the back of his van, or wagon, and tries to find out some things about her. The old man gets a little personal and the reddleman has to tell him that he needs to mind his buisness. After that, the reddleman rides away and the old man sees a woman off in the distance. The woman was profiled against the sky, “like an organic part of the entire motionless structure.” The woman leaves, but a group of locals replace her. They are building a bonfire ontop of a hill. Some of the locals are Grandfer Cantle, Timothy Fairway, and Christian Fairway, and Susan Nonsuch. They talk about the recent news, the marriage of Damon Wildeve and Thomasin Yeobright. Later, we find out that the woman in the back of the reddleman’s man was Thomasin Yeobright. We find out that Thomasin’s aunt does not approve of the wedding and the aunt’s son is in Paris. The reddleman returns and asks where Thomasin’s aunt lives, and he leaves to go to her house. Right after he leaves, she arrives at the local gathering. When Thomasin’s aunt is walking back from the gathering, she runs into the reddleman, who is Diggory Venn, and he tells her that he has her neice in the back of his van. There was a problem with the marriage liscence and she got very upset and ran away. In this communtiy, being married is a very important thing, and if something goes wrong in the marriage, it is a big deal. Thomasin’s aunt goes to the hotel where Thomasin’s fionce is and she insists that they go through with the wedding and Damon agrees. The woman that the old man saw earlier was looking through a telescope to look in a ligthed window down in the heath, and joins a nearby fire and is wating for something. After the boy who is tending the fire leaves, Damon Wildeve, Thomasin’s fionce, joins her. It is obvious that they have something more than a friendship and he left her for Thomasin Yeobright. Her name is Eustacia, and she is why the marriage between Thomasin and Damon did not happen that day. Eustacia thinks that Damon still loves her, but Damon does says he does not love Eustacia more than Thomasin. Now, the author talks about Eusatcia, the Queen of the Night. He described he and said her hair was a facy to see, she was somewhat heavy, and soft to touch like a cloud. The boy who was tending the fire before Eustacia had come, who is Diggory, finds out that they have an affair going on and he tells Eustacia that he knows that she is going to run away with Damon to the U.S. He plans to force Damon and Thomasin’s marriage, because he was once in love with Thomasin and wants her to be happy. Eustacia says that should have not have cared for him because there was a better person nearby. Damon goes to Mrs.Yeobright (Thomasin’s aunt)  and says that he wants to marry Thomasin. Mrs. Yeobright says that there is another man that Thomasin is interested in to make Damon jealous, and it works. Damon says that he still loves Eustacia, and he tells her that. Eustacia doesn’t like that she is his second choice. The end of this chapter ends with a foreshadowing of Clym Yeobright returning to the heath from Paris.

If you haven’t noticed, this book uses a lot of vocabulary this is very hard to understand. In the chapter that described Eustacia, the book says, “during the trip thither with her father.” In this context, thither means to or toward a place or point. I chose this word because it’s not a normal word that people use every day and it is part of the difficult context that this book frequently uses.

Another word that i chose was languor. It means a lack of energy or vitality; sluggishness. It is used when the author is describing Eustacia standing against the sky and being one with the scene. I chose this word because it is new to me, and it is not commonly used.

The next word is reddleman. The reddleman in this story is the guy that is red and has Thomasin in the van. A reddleman is a person who dyes sheep red. I chose this word because it is repeatedly used and I wasn’t sure what it meant.

The next word is archipelago. It means a chain of islands. It is used in a similie when then hills were compared to archipelagos in a log-formed AEgean (AEgean islands or AEgean sea). I also chose this word because it is new and uncommon.

The last word is inducement which means the act of leading by pursuading or influencing. I chose this word because it is not a familiar word to me. Also, because it used in a sentence when Eustacia is repelled by something, which is it’s antonym.

FIRST OF ALL, SORRY THIS IS SO LONG!

SECOND, I AGREE WITH BRIAN! BEING ABLE TO DO A VIDEO BLOG WOULD BE PRETTY SICK. I THINK YOU SHOULD CONSIDER IT, THEY WOULD BE MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE TO WATCH INSTEAD OF READING A MILLION OF THESE THINGS! JUST A SUGGESTION! =)

War of the Worlds

chapter 1: The Eve of the War

 

• The first chapter as the title of it explains is about a war coming.
• This first chapter tells us the main history of Mars.
• We also meet the main character of the book who is obviously of high class and well educated but, he is not named.

Chapter 2: The Falling Stars

• Chapter 2 has forshadowing when the martians land and Ogilvy is studying the cylinder there is no wind or birds much like the calm before the storm.
•  In this chapter the landing of the cylinder happens.
• People start to gather at the crash site and newspapers are starting to write about it.

Chapter 3: On Horsell Common

• This chapter shoes how behind Earth people are because they all have short attention spans. This is something humans have never seen before and when they come to see it and its not doing anything they leave quickly
• There is a bit of irony that takes place when the people are trying to dig out the cylinder, which actuall leads to their demise.

Chapter 4: The Cylinder Opens

• 100’s of people gather at the crash site and everyone was getting rowdy and the shop keeper gets pushed in.
• The lid to the cylinder continues to unscrew as he tries to climb out.
• The clyinder opens and everyone runs and hides as they see a martian coming out.
• As people grow with fear they see the shop keeper franticly trying to get out of the pit, but the martian pulls him down into the pit.
• We do not actually know what happens to the shopkeeper but we assume.

Chapter 5: The Heat-Ray

• Out of the pit rises a pole with a spinning disk at the top.
• More people start to show up including the deputation.
• The heat-ray goes off killing some of the onlookers
• The narrorator runs fearfully away to safty.

Words to watch:

Tranquility- (the last word of the first chapter) -quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; peacefulness; quiet; serenity.

• this word is improtant to the story because it is the exact opposite of what is happening in the story.

Deputation -(chapter 5, 9th paragraph 1st sentence)  the small group of men that approach the Martians with a white flag

• This word is important because these are the people that come to stop the martians but they arive as soon as the heat ray  fires.

Scrutinize- (chapter 1 paragraph 1)-to examine in detail with careful or critical attention.

• I thought this was an interesting word to be used in the opening

Seriocomic- Partly comic partly serious

• I didn’t think there was anything comic about this book

Smoke- The visible vapor and gases given off by a burning or smoldering substance

• This word is used a lot in the story so far

AMBER =)

Some question???????

1. What do you think the martians are on earth to do? Or in other words what is their mission?

2. What do you think the narrorator is going to do next based on what we know so far?

3. Are there any other words you came across while reading that you believe are important or are used a lot.

4. is there is anything you believe is important that i missed while summarizing?