Seventh Independant Reading Post:

Choice #3 --  Fact File:  List five to ten facts from your book/film and then give your personal reflection of each fact.

Book: A diary of a young girl by Anne Frank

Fact #1: Anne wrote her diary in a letter format and always wrote it to "Kitty". I feel like Anne was writing to a friend that she maybe cared very deeply for, or maybe a family member that she really hope stayed alive during the holocaust and everything that was happening. Another possibility is that I think that like many people, she needed an escape and this obviously was to write the letters in the first place, but she had to go as far as to create an imaginary friend that she had learned to accept was never going to wright back.

Fact #2: Anne did end up dying in a concentration camp, but did not die in the gassing chambers. Anne Frank was sent of to concentration camp with her mother and sister, but not her father whom she could have assumed was dead. Her mother died of starvation and the sister died from typhus. And although the reader has been so hooked by the story of this young girl, she met her fate the same way her sister did and I believe that this gives a powerful feeling to the reader that makes the reader come to the realization that because typhus nowadays is only caught by vermin's and rodents, that during the holocaust the Jews, in the Nazi's eyes, were nothing but rats and mice.

Fact #3: Following up on the beginning of the fact #2, there was only one survivor between Anne, the sister, the parents, the van pels family, and Fritz Pfeffer. By conducting some research online, I found out that Otto Frank, Anne's father was the only survivor out of the names mentioned above and while he was in concentration camp he found out that his wife and daughters were dead. This shows that anything can happen and things shouldn't be assumed in times like the holocaust.

Fact #4: Some people think that the book should be banned from being learned and studied in school because of this line on page 129 "There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can't imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out!"Although this fact is completely normal for girls to wonder, some people think that this line along with other ones are pornographic and not good for students to read.


Fact #5: After finding the diary it was actually realized that the diary that the story was written in was actually an autograph book, but after it was full she then switched to two notebooks that ended up becoming a 360 page report. I think that the fact that Anne Frank used a diary to write her story shows that although the hard times she was still trying to make the best of the situation and used whatever that she could find.

Movie: Saving Private Ryan

Fact #1: People with missing limbs in the movie were actually amputee's that were issued prosthetic legs and were taken off just for the purpose of shooting the movie. This movie was made in 1998, a year after I was born and this shows how far movie shooting has advanced through the years because if this much effort was put into making a movie thats 15 years old, then I can't imagine the technology and effort that they put into creating movies today.

Fact #2:  There was one scene in the movie that actually showed a very important moment in history. This important moment was the turning point of World War II in Europe, and this happened during the Allied Invasion at Normandy.

Fact #3: There was only one real person that was shown in the film. All the other soldiers and names of the soldiers are fictional or fake, although, the events in the movie were based on actual wars. There was one historical figure and this was General George C. Marshall, which was played by Harve Presnell. Including a real actor shows how much realism they wanted to include in the movie to give the reader a sense that they are actually experiencing what the director Steven Spielberg is trying to portray.

Fact #4: Tom Sizemore, one of the actors for this movie was almost kicked off appearing in the movie because of his off screen problems. Tom Sizemore was in a drug rehab in 1998 and was almost kicked off the cast and was threatened to have the entire film re shot with a different actor if Tom Sizemore failed one drug test.


Fact #5: Although the huge amounts of money that was put into creating the film, it did not win the oscar best picture award, and instead was Shakespear in love. Upwards of $13 million was put into the creation of this movie and despite the hard efforts in creating this film, it did not win. However the director Steven Spielberg won the best actor of the year which made up for his sadness for not winning best film.

Sixth Independant Reading Post:

Choice #12: Looking in the Mirror. Which character is most like you? Why? Remember to describe the character well because your audience may not have read the book or seen the film.

Book: Into Thin Air

Rob Hall, as explained in my previous BIRP post, is one of the most iconic characters, being characterized as someone who doesn't give up, and when he sets it in his mind to do something, he'll finish it whether it kills him or not. I find that Rob Hall is just like me because I am that type of person who has his dislikes and when it comes to accomplishing something that has to do with the dislikes, that thing will most likely be done with no passion or triumph. In the book Rob Hall feels that going back down to the summit the very next morning after 2 lives are found lost and one life is at stake is the right thing to do, and even with the com saying that he should stay at the top summit to await helicopter, he climbs down the treacherous dangerous summit to find oxygen for the dying Scott Fischer. Something that I have done in my life that relates somewhat to what Rob Hall did is taking the route of picking up golf as a sport. Playing tennis all my life I decided that I would want to try and take it into my college career, but after playing tennis for 10+ years (likewise doing anything for that long a time) it got really boring and I decided that I would want to play a sport that would be less taxing on my body, like golf. Instantly my tennis coach stepped in and said that I definitely shouldn't do golf with the risk of it messing with my tennis, stuck in a dilemma I decided to go through with it anyways and play both of the sports, much like how Rob Hall went through with the summit descent in search for oxygen. Doing both sports now I am rewarded in making both Iasas teams in golf and tennis which has extended my transcript even further, which further increases my chances in making a good college.

Movie: To Kill a Mocking Bird

To Kill a Mocking Bird is one of my favorites when it comes to spotting deeper and conceptual meaning. In my eyes, Tim Johnson the rabies infected dog is one of the most symbolic and deepest meaning related character in the book. Tim Johnson a poor dog is affected by rabies in the book and readers may wonder why this poor dog got affected and died after being so innocent through out the whole book. In this book, the rabies symbolizes the racism that goes through the town of Maycomb, and the fact that poor Tim Johnson is affected by the rabies so badly relates to how I feel about the inequalities and racial stereotypes that are still present in our world today. Much like the dog, I believe that racism is what ruins our already ruined world on top of everything bad that is happening. Atticus Finch, a marksman that is set in charge to execute this dog hesitates to kill the dog, and I think this is because if I were affected by racism much like how this dog was conceptually, the courts and judges would be hesitant to accuse me of anything because of how scared I am and how innocent I was.

Choice #10: Character Analysis: Choose a character and discuss his/hers significance and importance in the novel.

Movie: The Godfather

Vito Corleone, one of the few characters and only man known in our world today that can tolerate and deal with many different types of mindsets and mentality's in different characters within a visually broken yet still have a loving interior. Optimistic, scary, and smart in his own ways, Vito Corleone instructs and is a leader to his henchmen in the mafia scene with a strong sense of principle and classiness. The audience of Vito can imagine him as a character of class and the optimum example of what a successful man starting all the way from the bottom should be like. The characteristics of Vito are that of a believer in class, being humble, having a clear list of priorities and believing that family takes priority over everything and anything in the world. Vito is a character to look up to in this movie because Vito never shows signs of weakness and giving up to both his children and the enemies he possesses, this ties in with his optimistic trait. In the movie he can be seen as sort of inactive and un-dynamic character, although he has a strong sense of love for his children and keeps a deep dark secret for his son Michael Corleone who happens to be the main character. Through watching this movie one can obviously see that his love for his family members clearly takes priority and outweighs all of his traits. Vito is a gangster that always seems to be a part of the scene and seems to be telepathic in a way that he is always step ahead of everybody else in the movie, his compassion towards his family yet his title of a gangster is what makes Vito Corleone the special man that he is.

Book: Into Thin Air

Rob Hall, is one of the most iconic characters that I have read about so far. Rob Hall is one of many guides that help lead the clients up the prestigious Mount Everest, but in this book he happens to be Jon Kraukers designated guide. Rob Hall is characterised, in some ways, just like Vito Corleone, in the sense that what ever he believes is the right thing to do, he will stick with his own plan and will not let anyone else get in the way. Rob Halls true character comes out in chapter 17, despite the suicide wishes of a fellow client, Scott Fischer, he fights through descent after ascent, to try and rescue the dying and mentally sick Scott Fischer by getting tanks of new oxygen in a camp completely south of where they were. After a long haul back up the mountain Rob Hall brings back tanks of oxygen but to his horror finds that the seals were frozen shut, and after spending a night on the top of the mountain, he manages to get the oxygen tanks to work and promises other guides and rescuers that he is going to descend, but refuses to and instead stays with his other clients in an attempt to save their lives. Despite leaving Gau, a Taiwanese guide, and Fischer who were both deprived of energy and seemed like there was no possible way that they could continue on, Rob Hall remains the icon of the book because he decided to stay and fight for the lives of other people, despite the risks of losing his own life.