Sunday, September 29, 2013

Blog Post 7


Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a great novel to be taught in a young adult classroom.  The novel explores issues that many teenagers face in their middle and high school years.  Mellie is a complex character with many personal struggles and difficulties.  BECAUSE she was raped by Andy, she called the police at a party which resulted in the loss of her friends [POW 2, start a sentence with a “because” clause].  Mellie suffers through her freshmen year alone and with a dark secret.  She does not open up to her closest friends who now shun her.  NOR does she tell her parents what happened to her at that party [POW 1, start a sentence with ‘”nor”].  Mellie also faces challenges with her schoolwork, family, relationships, and fitting in.  As her freshmen year begins, she becomes more detached from her those around her, and even from herself.  She falls into such a slump that she is unable to find any happiness at all.  She was provided with the opportunity to play basketball and be part of a team.  However, because Mellie did not participate in her classes she had very bad grades; because her grades were bad, she was unable to play on the basketball team. [POW 6, use of semicolon to mirror sentences].  Mellie becomes detached from the world around her, THOUGH she still is very aware of people making fun of her [POW 4, use of “though” to interrupt main sentence].  The only person who seems to be somewhat of a mentor to Mellie is Mr. Freeman.  He encourages her in class, believes in her artistic talent, and offers a listening ear and compassionate words; he wants to help Mellie [POW 5, longer sentence; shorter sentence].  Finally, towards the end of the school year, Mellie begins to take an active part in her own life.  First, Mellie starts trying harder in her classes; second, she warns Rachel and other girls about how dangerous Andy is; third, she stops Andy from assaulting her again; and fourth, she starts talking to people again and telling the truth about the party [POW 7, use of semicolon as a super comma].  I think that this novel is a great for young adult readers BECAUSE it deals with real issues and emotions that young people encounter [POW 3, end a sentence with a “because” clause].  

3 comments:

  1. Awesome post! Plus, I'm in YA Lit right now, so I understand what it's about!
    The only thing I noticed was for POW 4 (use of "though" to interrupt a main sentence). You used though as a subordinate conjunction (I think) to end the sentence, not to interrupt it. For example, if you wrote this it would make "though" an interrupter:
    "Mellie becomes detached from the world, though still aware of people making fun of her, she's practically oblivious to everyone around."
    It creates an aside to the reader, like parentheses or dashes might.
    Other than that it looked good to me!

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    Replies
    1. good catch, Estelle, and excellent explanation. Your example, though, is off: that "though" is also like "although," a subordinating conjunction rather than an interrupter.

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  2. good work, Heidi--


    Correct = starting with "Because"
    Correct = starting with "Nor"
    Correct = semicolon connecting mirror sentences (just needed a comma after "because Mellie did not participate in her classes,…")
    X = "though" here is equivalent to "although," so it isn't an interrupter
    Correct = semicolon as supercomma
    Correct = end with "because" clause
    Missing = semicolon connecting long and short sentences.

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