Book Report on Tears of a Tiger

 

 This week I read the sequel of Forged by Fire, a book called Tears of a Tiger. The book was about Gerald's friend named Andy who was drinking and driving and was the cause of Robbie Washington's death. Rob was Andy's best friend. After that Andy was depressed and blamed himself for the loss of his best friend's life. All of his friends weren't depressed and they were acting normally but Andy was always hard to be around and sometimes started to cry at random times. Finally he couldn't take the pain anymore and he killed himself. I think that the theme of this book's theme is that you have to look into the future and try to forget the past.
    Andy was depressed and had to forget the past because he couldn't change the fact that Rob was dead. One example of when Andy couldn't forget the accident is when his class was reading Hamlet and  they were talking about the death of one of the characters, he had to leave the classroom. Another example of him not forgetting the past is when he was playing ping-pong with his girlfriend and then he just went over to his couch and started to cry. I think that happened because he missed Rob and maybe he used to play ping-pong with him. Andy should stop thinking about the past and just live life.
    Andy shouldn't think of the past because when he was walking near the place where the accident was, Andy almost committed suicide but his girlfriend stopped him. This would never have happened if Andy never kept on thinking of the accident. Also his friend said that he and Tyrone (another friend) got over it but Andy was always depressed and was always bringing everyone down. He also kept on saying that it was his fault that Rob died and he wanted to die instead of Rob.
    All in all, Tears of a Tiger proves that you shouldn't drink and drive and the shows consequences of doing that. But the deeper meaning is that you shouldn't look back at your mistakes because sometimes you can't fix them. Unfortunately, Andy couldn't do that and he committed suicide. It was a depressing end to a depressing book. If Andy did get over it and was still alive, would he still be happy?

Short Story Report on "Revolt of the Evil Fairies"

            This last week our class read a short story called “Revolt of the Evil fairies.” The story was about a school for African Americans and even within the school there is discrimination and unfairness in the school because the yallers (aren’t dark skinned but are considered African Americans) think that they are better than the people who have dark skin and that makes discrimination and unfairness through the school. That is why I think that the theme of this book is unfairness.

            The main idea of “Revolt of the Evil Fairies” short story is unfairness because in the text the narrator and other African Americans are treated unfairly because of their skin color. One example of this is in the first paragraph the narrator says, “the first two rows of the orchestra were always reserved for our white friends.” This shows that lighter colored skinned people got the better of things. Another example is when it said, “And strangely enough most of good fairies usually turned out to be extremely light in complexion, with straight hair and white folks’ features.” This also proves that lighter skinned people got the better of things which is unfair.

            The theme of the short story is unfairness. One example of unfairness is when the narrator is talking about the play.”There was never any doubt about Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty. They were always light skinned.” Another example is, “I made the best grades in my class, I was leading debater, and a scion of a respected family in the community. But I could never be Prince Charming, because I was black.” These pieces of evidence prove that lighter colored skin people had advantages and that there was unfairness to darker skinned African American people.

            The main idea of the short story is unfairness and the text shows us a lot of evidence. One example is when they picked Roger Jackson, “Roger was not only dumb; he stuttered. But he was light enough to pass for white.” Another example is when it says, “The yallers had the best of everything. They held most of the teaching jobs in Booker T. Washington colored Grammar school. They were the negro doctors, lawyers, the insurance men.” This proves that the lighter colored skinned people got treated better and got better things like jobs and lead roles in plays. This proves that dark colored skinned people were treated unfairly.

            In conclusion, this short story is about unfairness and discrimination throughout the same race. It also shows how racism and discrimination is still going on. It shows us many examples of how darker skinned African Americans were treated like they weren’t as good as lighter skinned people. People even within the same race will try to be better than other people because of skin color. Why would people judge each other because of their skin color even if they are really nice or really smart? I wonder when racism is going to stop, or will it ever stop?

Book Report on Forged by Fire

    

    This week I read a depressing but hopeful book called Forged By Fire. The book was about a boy named Gerald whose mom was a drug addict and therefore wasn't a good mom. When their house burned down, he went to live with his aunt who was loving to him and Gerald loved her. But when his real mom got out of jail, he had to live with her because his aunt had a heart attack and died the day after she was released. When he went to his mother's home, he found out that his mother was married. And as he gets used to living in their new house, he finds out the stepdad was abusive. 

    He had a sister whose name was Angel. The stepdad was also a molester, and in the middle of the book Angel tells Gerald about being molested and they get Jordan (the step-dad) arrested. Then Jordan gets out of jail and is trying to be nice and good so he won't be arrested again When Angel is home alone, Jordan comes in and is drunk and tries to molest Angel, but when Gerald comes in, the house is on fire but Angel and Jordan don't know. So  when Gerald tells Jordan that there's a fire, Jordan and Gerald have a fight. In the end, Gerald gets Angel and Jordan burns in the fire. Then it's just Gerald, Angel and Monique (the mom). I think that the main idea of this book is that his life was like fire and he had to live around an abusive step-dad and a drug addict mom and a dead aunt. His life was shaped from all of his family's problems and his personality was forged by fire like the title of the book.

    The theme of this book is that his personality was forged by fire. One example is when his stepdad always was hitting him and he had to stop him from hitting Angel so he had to be strong so Angel wouldn’t get hurt. Another example is when Gerald had to stand up to Jordan in the end and he had to be brave but also he was really angry and he was strong enough to take him on. These two pieces of evidence prove that his personality was forged by fire.

    There are still a lot of examples of how Gerald’s personality was forged by fire. One example of this is when Jordan got out of jail, so Gerald stayed by Angel's side and was protective because he knew that Jordan could hurt her or do even worse things. Another example is when Angel is about to get hit by Jordan and Gerald sees it happening and he gets in between them and takes the punch. That shows that Gerald was brave and strong because he knew that he would take the punch because it happened to him before and he tried to always protect Angel. This proves that Gerald's personality was forged by fire.

    In conclusion, Forged By Fire is a great book and Gerald's personality was the way it was because of the family and environment. His personality was also that way because of his history and loss in his life. But in the end it was looking hopeful for them because there was no Jordan and Angel and Gerald still had their mom who was not a drug addict anymore. I wonder what is going to happen to them and if they actually do have a good rest of their lives.

Book Report on The Boy in The Striped Pajamas

   

    This week I read a great book called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The book is about a wealthy boy named Bruno who lived in Berlin in 1943 but moved to another house because his dad worked in the military. The new house wasn't as big or as clean as their house in Berlin. Right next to their new house was a concentration camp where Bruno met a boy his age named Shmuel who became his best friend for life. A year later Bruno had to go back to Berlin to live, so on the last day in their old house Shmuel gave Bruno a pair of striped pajamas. Bruno went on the other side of the fence by crawling under the fence because he promised Shmuel he would help find his dad in the concentration camp. While he was there he had to go marching and he got killed. I think that the main idea is that everyone in the concentration camp was treated awfully.
    The people in the concentration camps were treated awfully. One example of this is when it said, It seemed as if all of the soldiers were laughing and all the people in striped pajamas were sad and looking at the ground. Another example is when it said that when the soldiers told a group of people to line up some just fell to the floor and the guards just had to drag them off. This proves that people in the concentration camps were treated horribly.
    The next two examples will show how badly people in the concentration camp were treated. One example is when they had to go on a march, some people in the back couldn't do it so the soldiers shot them. Another example is that when Bruno put his hand up to Shmuel, his was really big compared to Shmuel's showing that Shmuel was starving. Also Shmuel said that he only had chocolate once before. This means that he didn't get much food. These facts from the book prove that people in the concentration camp were treated awfully.
    In conclusion, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas shows many examples of how people in the concentration camps were treated horribly. It also proves that Bruno didn't know about the war and didn't know really what the soldiers did to the people in the concentration camps every day and how unfair and cruel the soldiers were.