Kirsten's+Page

Kirsten's Page

Many forces have made me who I am today. One that stands out the most to me is my family. They have all helped me through trying times and have taught me many things. The one person in my family who has most inspired me is my Great Grandma, she lived to be 102 and taught me to be strong throughout life. She survived breast cancer and the early childhood death of her brother. She was strong through all the trials in her life. I want to be like her as I live my life. The next force that I would say shaped me is my faith. Starting at a young age I was told the stories of Jesus and how he healed people poor or rich. I've had something to believe in my whole life, without it I don't think I would be who I am today. Having something to believe in with my whole being has helped me through tough times when I didn't know where to turn. This has definitely shaped me into the person I am today. The third force I would say is my love for music. This has helped me learn dedication and self discipline. My love for music goes back to when I was a small child. Living in a family where everyone has been involved in music has helped me appreciate it even more. Music has also taught me to honor my committments. The fourth force would have to be my passion for books. Reading books has allowed me to change the way I think about things. Each time I read the same book a new message comes out. Books are an escape from reality, they allow you go on an adventure without leaving the comfort of your own home, this has helped with my imagination and creativeness. The fifth force would be my friends. The friends who have been there for me through thick and thin have helped me figure out how to treat people. Friends have taught me to be trustworthy, reliable, considerate and overall nice. Being a good friend is very important to me and having good friends is important too. I have learned that being upfront with someone is more beneficial than being secretive and not speaking your mind. The sixth force would be my curiosity in science, I never thought that I would like science and that it would be important to me. Science allows me to see how things work, Biology lets me look at living things and see whats inside. My curiosity for science has made me try things that I didn't think I would try. I took AP Chem because I wanted to learn more, it was very difficult for me, but it taught me to go for things I wouldn't try otherwise. The seventh force would be my writing, I like to write down my thoughts, my feelings and has taught me to relax and be myself. I don't like to tell people every single thing I'm thinking, but when I need an outlet I write. This has taught me to express myself in different ways, sometimes I draw or I just let the words flow. The eighth force would be my imagination and creativity. When I was little I would make up games to play with my sisters, we would find something to do everyday. It helped me to think outside the box for different kinds of situations. The ninth force would be my love for travel. I want to see the world and when I get a chance to see even more I make the most of it. The world is a beautiful place and seeing different parts of it help me to appreciate it even more. Traveling helps me work on my planning skills for a variety of things. The tenth force that has shaped me is my need to help people who cant help themselves. I try my hardest to take every chance to help people, from the starving kids in Africa to helping the poor people in our own country. Being able to help people makes me appreciate what I have even more. All of these things has shaped me into the person I am today. I'm proud of who I am and I wouldn't change anything about myself.

11/27/11 pages 1-53 =__**Summary**__= A girl from Nigeria, Little Bee, left her home to make a better life for herself. In the beginning she compares herself an English Pound coin. She talks about how the coin is able to go wherever it wants and no one can stop it, but when you want to grab onto it it disappears or changes into something else. She believes that in order to survive or to get people to listen she has to talk like the Queen of England. People respect the Queen and always obey her. She travels to England and is placed in an immigration detention center in Essex. She spends two years there. In order to survive in this detention center a person has to either look pretty or speak pretty. Little Bee decides to speak pretty and hide her body with large clothing. Little Bee made herself undesirable to any men at the detention center, she wrapped her breasts and didn't bathe. But wore bright red nail polish on her toes to remind herself that she is alive. When they let her out of the detention center they gave her a transport voucher and told her to call for a cab. She stood in line with three other girls to call a can. While waiting in line she notices the officer is sitting at his desk a reading a smut newspaper, she think about what the girls back home would ask and how they would react to this. When they let the girls out of the detention center, they gave their possessions back in a clear plastic bag. Little Bee had a UK driver's license belonging to Andrew O'Rourke. In the queue there as a girl who decided to look pretty, she wore a purple dress and everything in her ensemble matched. The next girl wasn't pretty, nor could she speak, she had documents. Which was the only other way to stay at the detention center. The third girl wore a magnificent yellow sari and had "sunshine" in her bag. The first girl was trying to get a taxi to come get her, but Little Bee ended up getting a taxi. None of the cab drivers wanted to go to an immigration center. After calling the taxi, Little Bee called Andrew O'Rourke. She asked to visit him but he tells her to leave him alone but she still decided to visit him. As they leave the detention center Bee looks back at the officer. When Bee was about to walk out the door she stops, she's too afraid to leave so Yevette (the girl in the purple dress) pushes her out. Mrs. O'Rourke tells about how Little Bee came to live with them the summer of 2007. Her son never took off his batman costume that summer nor would he answer to his actual name. Little Bee showed up five days after Andrew died, but in time for his funeral. The undertaker showed up exactly two hours after Little Bee and they walked to the funeral together. "Batman" was fighting off invisible enemies the whole ay and Mrs. O'Rourke was thinking about how scary it is to be a widow. "Batman" as asking where his daddy was and when he figured out it was his daddy that was being put in the ground he tried to go after him. Andrew O'Rourke was depressed, which started in the summer of 2005, when they met Little Bee on the beach. Mrs. O'Rourke lost her left middle finger that day. Andrew had been working on his column the day before and Mrs. O'Rourke tried to cheer him up, but them she had to take care of Charlie (Batman). Five days later, she was getting ready for work like normal, Andrew was watching from the bed. When she was about to leave he acts like he was about to say something, but she ends up just leaving. At work the police show up and inform her that her husband had committed suicide. Right after that she received a text from her husband that says, "I'm sorry."

=__Analysis__= This part of the book was kind of confusing. I had to go back and reread some parts at least three times to fully understand it. There are multiple stories happening at the same time. It starts with Little Bee telling about the detention center, but then it jumps ahead to Mrs. O'Rourke telling about how Little Bee came to stay with them. It jumped around so much in both time and subjects. All in all this part is extremely confusing. Even though there was a lot of stuff going on it did give a lot of information. It explained where Little Bee came from and how she met Andrew and Sarah. Not only that, but it also explained how she got out of the detention center and managed to reach the O'Rourke house and what happened to Andrew. Granted it was extremely sad (two people died!) but it helped set the mood of the story.

=__Application__= Sadness, love, desire, depression. These emotions span time and have been written about in almost every work of literature. While not all people have the same emotions or act on them in the same way, the basic ones are always there. Andrew O'Rourke committing suicide helps the reader think about human nature and human ideals. Then again it also helps the reader think about human roles and behavior. Something bothered him enough to become extremely upset, it might not even be something that would bother someone else. He decided that he would take his own life.

12/24/11 Pgs. 54-103 I could not access the internet over break. I had typed it up and was going to post it if out internet was ever fixed. The date is when I wrote this post.

12/29/11

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