"It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to."
-Bilbo Baggins-
In my book The Neverending Story I think the mentor is Falkor the Luckdragon.
This is an image of Atreyu (left) and Falkor the Luckdragon (right) together.
The reason as to why I would count Falkor as the mentor in this book is because when Atreyu embarks on his large mission he comes across the Luckdragon. From then on Falkor shares his wisdom with Atreyu to help him complete his mission. Also throughout the mission Falkor protects Atreyu from any harm that may become of him. I think that throughout the book Atreyu had absorbed Falkor's wisdom and will then carry it with him from now on and maybe later on become a mentor for another. Without Falkor I honestly doubt that Atreyu would be able to make the mission on his own, and I couldn't see this book without Falkor it just wouldn't be possible.
In The Neverending Story, Atreyu is faced with one of the most difficult decisions of choosing whether or not he'd like to complete the mission for the Childlike Empress. Carion the centaur is the messenger from the Childlike Empress to talk to Atreyu about the mission. There were pressures that made Atreyu think before he would make a full decision. Like, he is only a young boy, he must embark on this journey alone with no help from others, he'll probably never see his friends again. I think the reasoning for Atreyu to choose to take on the mission was because it seemed exciting to him. He didn't have a family to miss, and if he completed the mission for the Childlike Empress he'd be a hero to all of Fantastica.
My prediction: I think his choice of taking on the mission will impact his life and future greatly. I think in the end Atreyu will succeed in the mission and be recognized as a hero all throughout Fanstastica. Of course all the challenges along the way will effect his future for good and bad but that is what makes his character grow and learn along the way.
The protagonist in this book his name is Bastian Balthazar Bux. In the ordinary world for him his life isn't the greatest he is a different kid who gets teased all the time at school. His only comfort in life is reading books, so when he runs into a book store to hide from his bullying class mates he comes across this book.
He thought this to be the greatest book ever so he steals it and runs to the school and hides in the attic. He then reads the book and all his worries go away. Reading for him is his only joy in life, after the passing of his mother his father just isn't the same anymore, and it makes him feel very unloved. When he reads he goes to his happy place of imagination and all the bad thing in his life go away.
"Some think their only hope of happiness lies in being somewhere else, and spend their whole lives traveling from place to place. And some find no rest until they have become powerful. In short, there are as many different passions as there are people. Bastian Balthazar Bux's passion was books." (Michael Ende, The Neverending Story pg# 10-11)
This image represents his life when he isn't reading and enjoying books.
This image shows his feelings while he is reading, suddenly all the bad things in his life are gone.
The book I am currently reading is The Neverending Story- Micheal Ende.
For those of you who haven't read/heard of this book or the movie, it's about a young boy who is teased a lot and his only way to feel better is to read books. So technically this book is about a book because a majority of the story is about the book the child named Bastain Balthazar Bux is reading.
So far in my book it's still kind of unclear as to who would be the hero in this story, whether it would be someone from the real life or from the world of Fantastica. So I chose to pick a character from Fantastica to describe as the hero.
Atreyu is the character that I believe to be the hero. In Fantastica trouble has struck, the Childlike Empress is sick and has called upon Atreyu to complete the task of finding the cure for her sickness and saving all of Fantastica. Atreyu is only a young child and yet the Childlike Empress still trust him. He's a lot like the hero because the hero must embark on a journey by themselves without the help from others.
For the qualities of a hero I'd say that Atreyu shows:
Sacrifice- The Childlike Empress needed him to complete the mission, and he didn't really wanna turn down the Childlike Empress while she's on her death bed so he agreed to participate.
Courage- he shows lots of courage by being just a child but still risking his own life to find a cure for the Empress.
Bravery- He definitely shows bravery by again being a child and risking his life.
" 'I't's monstrous!' cried Carion indignantly. 'It's doubtful whether even the greatest, most experienced of heroes could carry out this mission...and you!...She's sending you into the unfathomable to look for the unknown...No one can help you, no one can advise you, no one can foresee what will befall you. And yet you must decide at once, immediately, whether or not you accept the mission. There's not a moment to be lost. For ten days and nights I have galloped almost without rest to reach you. But now- I almost wish I hadn't got here. I'm very old, I'm at the end of my strength. Give me a drink of water please.' " (Michael Ende The Neverending Story, #44)
I'm reading the book A City out of Sight- Ivan Southall and the character I chose, whom I've met through reading this book would be Carol. So, for this to make a bit more sense I'll explain what's going on in my book. This book is similar to Lord Of the Flies, in this book children are flying on a plane that crashes on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. These children must work together in order to all survive until help comes.
I think the archetype that Carol is most like is probably the hero. The hero of the story isn't always the bravest or most noble but shows self-sacrifice. The hero is the one who will leave the group in order to help save them all; the hero also goes through tons of obstacles along the way.
" Carol reeled away from it, away from the milling ants, drenched in sweat, gulping for air, every blood vessel in her body seemingly at bursting point.
'Oh my goodness.'
She brushed at the ants, crushed them with the flat of her hands, shuddering from the prickling and the crawling and the persistent stinging of them.
'I've got to get out of here.'
She rushed at the pig and dragged it into the clear, away from the ants, away from the wreck of the tree. Crawling with ants, the pig. She dragged it different ways, by different legs, rolled it from side to side, kept moving it farther from the tree, dragging it, skidding it, hoping to scrape the ants off. "
(Ivan Southall, A City out of Sight pg# 59-60)
Carol is most like the hero because she is the one who strays from the group to salvage food; in this case she killed a wild pig. This creates a huge impact on the group because, without her salvaging for food they wouldn't have food for them to eat leaving them to starve. I thought this direct quote from the book best describes why I think Carol is most like the hero. She risked her life to kill this wild pig, and now has to drag it all the way back to their camp. Carol definitely shows heroic qualities because before if her mother caught her doing things only a male would do she'd be in huge trouble. Carol enjoyed the feeling of being able to accomplish something she didn't think she could do. Along the way she's learning to grow, and also acquires new wisdoms.
I have just started reading this book and so far it's okay, the beginning is sort of slow. My goal right now is to not give up on this book, I was told that it will pick up soon and will be really good.
So the main character I've been introduced to is Kevin Patterson. When I typed his name in my blog I got really personally confused... I had read the authors name and the characters name and realized they're the same... I did a little extra research and found out this book is a memoir. Just thought I'd share that ha ha.
To be honest, I have thought long and hard about what exactly I have absorbed from this book that will help me explain Kevin Paterson's traits and personality. I really have thought a lot about his personality and I must say he's a very normal human being, and by that I mean his personality seems to change a bunch.
So far I cannot seem to label Kevin Patterson with a specific character trait. His true identity is yet to be known. His characteristics are all over the place and to be honest I really could not pick a paragraph out of my book or a direct quote because none of them seemed to fit him. It's quite hard to explain so I apologize if this gets quite confusing. My estimation of why he seems so confusing is because at this point in his life he seems like a very confused person, he is confused by love and needs to get away.
So since I cannot determine his character traits I'm not to sure how I could explain the outcome of this character but I bet he'll end up becoming a little less confusing as I continue to read. Life for him will turn out less confusing and I'll be able to understand better.
The song off of YouTube to help represent the Kevin Patterson's character traits is called Sandstorm- DaRude. I think techno is the closest song that relates to his traits. The things in common with techno and Kevin Patterson's traits both have the fact they're always changing. Kevin's mood is changing all the time, and for Sandstorm the speed of the song is constantly changing as well.
I have chose to relate my book Chanda's Wars- Allan Stratton to one of my favourite songs called Take a Minute- K'naan. The task we were given was to take a 20-30 word direct quote from our book and make a personal, textual, and/or wordly connection. But to be honest, I think for the relation between my book and this song they have so many connections in so many different ways it's tough to pick just one. I think the moral of this song is to be grateful of what you have cause there's always people who have it worse than you do.
"'He pounds Papa's grave?'
'Yes! So his spirit will stay in the ground! So it won't rise up and beat him like your papa did when he was alive!' Samson's eyes blaze red. 'Pako?!?' he yells to his yard. 'What have you been doing? What have you been saying'
'You shamed Papa,' Runako roars. 'You shamed our family, you little sonovabitch!' He charges across the road, Samson at his heels."
......
"Pako reaches the edge of the cemetery, Samson right behind. Samson flings his arm forward to grab his brother. But Pako dives. He rolls under the barbed-wire fence. Samson's too big. He's running too fast he drops to late. The teeth of the barbed wire rip into his face. Blood pours from his cheeks and forehead." (Allan Stratton, Chanda's Wars)
I chose these direct quotes from the book because they both are making a really good connection in the song. A part of the song I chose goes like this,
"I don't know how we survived such violent episodes." (K'NAAN- Take a Minute)
I thought that those quotes really did show a great amount of violence. Another part of the song is,
"And no matter how we strong, homie
It ain't easy comin' out of where we from, homie." (K'NAAN- Take a Minute)
That part of the song and those direct quotes connect well. It's saying that no matter how strong you are, it wasn't easy getting out of the bad things. Both parts of the song I chose really connect well with the parts of the book I chose.
Take a look->
Here's the music video of the song Take a Minute- K'NAAN
I got this image from a blog called "Tara's View on Books". (click on the cover page of book to be taken to the website)
The book that I am currently reading is called Chanda's Wars written by Allan Stratton.
Chanda's mother has died from AIDS, all the pressure is put onto her to care for her 2 siblings Iris and Soly that are only 6 and 5 years old and to upkeep a huge property. Her family and herself were disowned from their other family in Tiro, Africa, because her mother brought a curse to the family name. The only way to cure this curse and put a stop to Chanda's horrible dreams is to visit her family in Tiro leaving her friends in her home town. It was all going well until everything had changed, her family was trying to convince her to sell her huge property in Bonang and were arranging for her to marry. When she spoke her mind things went down the drain, everyone thought it was best for them to just leave Tiro, they attempted but didn't succeed there were no carts leaving town. The highway was closed... but why? Many soldier young and old were placed in Tiro to protect the children and people from Mandiki, an evil general. When Soly and Iris get captured by Mandiki and forced to serve as his child soldiers it's up to Chanda to help save them! The task won't be easy but with some help from her friend Nelson they must work together if they want to save Chanda's siblings and Nelson's little brother Pako.
This book is very descriptive, sometimes I honestly think maybe a little bit too much but then again it just wouldn't make you develop the same feelings towards it. I honestly wouldn't want to have it any other way :) I personally think this book has been one of the best I've read so far! I am still not quite finished this book but I definitely would recommend it to you!
I picked this quote because I personally agree with it. When you get into a really great book you tend to develop the feelings of the characters in it as well. The great books that I have read have done this for me. For example, when I get to the ending of a great book even if no one had died there is just that feeling of 'oh... ' and you feel as if you had just lost something or someone and there's something now missing. I really do like this quote it's very true in every way.
