Classic Novels

What makes a novel "a classic"? A classic novel doesn't have to be written by an extremely old person who is all wrinkly and has white hair. A novel that is read throughout the world and has an impact on people's lives is what makes a novel a classic. A classic novel is able to open new ideas and horizons for numerous amounts of leader. It has the ability to influence change in a time period and open new ideas to the public. Classic novels usually influence turning points in history and it is a story that has been passed down from generation to generation. A classic novel is read for hundreds and hundreds of years.

my comments to others...

angel,
on your first point, i really enjoyed reading your blog because it gave a new sense at how to look at things. I really was intrigued by your views on how a person can come back from the dead; not physically, but mentally.

I also enjoyed reading your second point. However, i do believe that childhood friends are the most loyal. Whether someone is best friends with that person in 10 years, or whether the two had a falling out, there were so many secrets shared with one another that i believe that person would bury those secrets in their soul. Even though the two people may not be the best of friends anymore, i do believe that the relationship that consisted between the two people will overcome the urge to go and rat that one person's secret or whatever the case may be.

March 19, 2009 6:43 PM

Shayna,
You had interesting thoughts and i do understand what your are trying to get across to your readers. However, although i do agree with you that the consequences that come with a bullies actions are justified, i'm looking at it in a different way. I feel that if someone wants revenge, the best revenge is to simply not give a hoot. Ignore what is being done or said to or about you, because honestly, if the words or actions that come out of one's mouth don't mean a thing to you, the bully is not going to have any satisfaction in doing these acts. If someone doesn't acknowledge what the bully is saying about them, it just shows that you are the bigger person and it just makes the bully look like a complete moron. And i think that is the best revenge.

March 19, 2009 6:51 PM

JJ
i completly agree with you 100% on everything that you blogged about. You couldn't be more on key with what you said. Like you i agree that no, not all rich people are snobs; however there are handfuls who take their money for granted, have things handed to them, and become these greedy brats. I feel that is partially the parents fault because they are the ones who do the initiating. Instead of teaching their children the understand of money, they just hand them however much they ask for right when they ask for it. These types of kids never hear the word no. But there are those few families who, like you said, teach their children the morals of money. So like you said, "no not all rich people are stingy and selfish, many are but there are some who are well rounded and perfectly satisfied".

March 19, 2009 7:03 PM

adopted/foster children

An adopted or foster child will never be accepted as a "real" member of a family.  I think this question is a false statement because one does not have to be blood related to be family. A family consists of people who love and care about each other. It consist of people who will go to the end of the world for that one member of the family, whether blood related or not, and help that person out not matter what the circumstances are. Just because the adopted child is not the families biological child, it doesn't mean that the family won't care and take that child into their home (as their own). No matter blood or non-blood related, if a family wants to make someone apart of their family, they will. Families are about people who care for one another and worry about them.

A foster child will be accepted as a "real" member of a family because the parents will take them in as their own, nurture them, and be their providers. The families would support this adopted/foster child just as they support their own. Just because a child does not live with their biological family, their new family would love them as their own, and support this child through everything they go through.

Although best friends are different than foster children in many ways, my family considers my best friend, danielle, as part of our own family. She is always hanging around the house and the rules that apply to me and my siblings also apply to her. If anything were to happen to her my parents would worry just as much as they would worry about their own children. It's the same situation with my sister's two best friends, Mollie and Jackie. They are around us 24/7 and every time i walk into the kitchen there they are. They are apart of our family, not because they're always over but because we trust them with our hearts and love being in their company.

Being a family is more than having a blood relationship. There needs to be a strong bond between a group of people, there needs to be trust, and love between these people. So whether a child is adopted or biological, it doesn't matter, because they will be accepted just the same.

P.S. even though kevin buonadonna is not apart of our family he is accepted into our family as one of us because of all the heart worming, loving, cherish-able time he spends with us. 

My Comments :]

Shayna

I can't stop thinking about Brother Tyreak when he sat us down to teach and speak about his religion. I too liked the way the Brother approached us. Like you said, he wasn't at all intimating and he was very easy to listen to. I was actually interested in what he had to say and i learned a lot from him. The Brother was an interesting person to listen to and learn from.

At one part in his "speech" he mentioned how you can't base a relationship around love. Even if you have all the love in the world for a person, it may still come apart at the seams. I have been thinking greatly about what Brother Tyreak had said (and now that it's down i think i will blog about it later lol) but i felt it related to my situation with "the boy". I felt that what Brother Tyreak said to us during the field trip wasn't just some little speech that we will just toss away in a few days, i feel that everything he said was reassuring and like you said, the minute i walked in i felt welcomed and respected by the Brother. 

great blog...it got me thinking :]
- gabrielle

March 9, 2009 6:28 AM

Shayna

This really was an interesting blog to read because of how personal you made it. I respect you so much for sharing this. I think a majority of someone's life is written down, except the ending to all the experiences. I believe it is the way that person acts towards what is happening to them or to someone close that ends that part of the story. For example, although it was a really hard and terrifying time in your life, your sister's, parents and brother's lives, i believe that you all decided to learn from this illness your sister had. Your didn't let it destroy your lives. Each and everyone of you learned from it and grew as a person. Each one of you grew stronger from this unforgivable illness that changed all of your lives. Although no one deserves to get sick, i think one reason a force pushes illness on someone is so that person and the people around them become stronger and closer to one another.

March 1, 2009 2:15 PM

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Kimberly

I too wrote about how reading can change or even save a person's life. And Jodi Picoult is life. She has taught me so much through reading many of her books. When I'm down in the dumps, annoyed, or frustrated, I always open up one of her books because my worries at the current moment get drowned out by the words that sit on the pages of Jodi Picoult's books.

March 1, 2009 2:47 PM

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Angel

i too also get mad at malcolm x when he generalizes whites into the one basic group. It really ticks me off because not all whites were like that; not all whites think black people are terrible people. I also agree with you when you say that depending on where someone grows up, it determines how they view other races. Like you said, the south still hasn't moved away from the past; they still discriminate against people who are of a different skin color and that bothers me immensely because how is someone going to judge someone based on their skin? How can a white person stand there and judge a black person mainly on their outside appearance without getting to know them and the person they are on the inside? They can't; people can't pass judgment on someone they haven't met because all they would be doing is making an assumption. I find it mind blowing that if a person was to grow up in a different section of new jersey, or even a different part of the united states, they wouldn't be the same person they are today because of how the people around them have different beliefs and views.

March 1, 2009 2:40 PM

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Jaime


I really enjoyed reading about how you view people as ignorant. I agree with that statement as well. There are many things people can be ignorant towards such as different religions, races, political views, and so on. But one thing that most people can admit to being ignorant towards is definitely other races. Like you, i haven't truly been exposed to other races as much as others have. I myself was actually ignorant towards the Muslim religion (so i learned on the trip to Harlem). However, by sitting and listening to Brother Tyreak, his words made me open my eyes to many more new thoughts and ideas. I feel that people should go out and meet and learn about other races in order to open new vistas in their lives. Great Job blogging. (i couldn't open up the link, but it seems interesting but at the same time shocking and upsetting).

March 10, 2009 6:25 AM

Harlem trip...#5

Neal Shoemaker said in the beginning of the tour, Harlem has been through major change. Everything in Harlem is changing for the better. I went online and researched how people were viewing the change and this website links to different people who have different opinions on how change has impacted their lives and what they think of it. Although Neal viewed the change as good, other's had different thoughts and the subject.

Walking around the streets of Harlem were a lot more exciting than i thought they would be. Every step i took i said to myself, "so many heroic black people walked these same streets i am walking; so many heroic black people have stepped in the same places i am stepping". Then when we stepped into the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, i really got a sense of the struggle black people have been put through. In one part of the Schomburg Center, there was a section focused mainly on Barack Obama. This section opened my eye's and it showed me how far African American's and blacks have really come.

Yesterday's field trip to Harlem really opened my eye's especially when we walked into the mosque. I think it was the first thing that Brother Tyreak said that really got me thinking and wondering 'what if'? He said that Muslim's don't have a set idea of what God himself looks like. They do not need to know what he looks like because he is in their mind and that is all they need to know who he is and what he is there for. This differs from my religion greatly because i always grew up with a set image of what God looks like. God to me is a man with long brown hair, milk white skin, and is very tall. But maybe that's the problem. Maybe it's that a majority of people have this set image of what he appears to be. Ever since i was a little girl, there were always pictures to lead me to believe what God looks like. But that's the thing. They were all just pictures and paintings. It surprises me how much you can take away from a religion that is not your own. To this day, the beliefs of Brother Tyreak linger in my head, and they always come up at random but useful times. What the Brother spoke about really made me change the way i view God. Is it wrong of me to view him as this white man? Should i not have this set image of him? Because all he really is is someone a person can turn to, someone a person can trust with all their secrets, and a person to turn to when life gets tough. I believe that Everything Brother Tyreak said really touched my heart.

The Apollo Theatre was gorgeous! i didn't want to leave. It was one experience i will never forget. So many famous singers have stepped into that stage and there is so much history located in the theatre. Billy, the man who showed us around, was so funny and he made the experience that much better. Having him explain the history behind the theatre really impacted how i viewed it. To think that the Apollo Theatre was one a hooker house really blew my mind because how can something that low get built up into something magnificent? I think the Apollo Theatre is significant to Harlem because it is a symbol of what can be built when someone strives for something.

I believe everything we saw, observed, and even ate, has so much symbolism in it. The buildings, i couldn't stop looking at them. Almost every building we passed was exquisite. People always think of Harlem as the dirty, dangerous area of the city. But if people would take the time to drive through, get a bite to eat, and look at all the gorgeous building structures, they would really get a better sense of what Harlem is. There is so much to Harlem that doesn't meet the eye. And if people would open their minds to new things, they would see that Harlem isn't just a place, it's a place filled with years of history.

the true meaning of love...#4

A lot of people may think that they have fallen in love, but falling in love means learning to look into the other person's soul and bring out the beauty within it.

"The Western 'love' concept, you take it apart, it really is lust. But love transcends just the physical. Love is disposition, behavior, attitude, thoughts, likes, dislikes--these things make a beautiful woman, a beautiful wife. This is the beauty that never fades. You find in your Western civilization that when a man's wife's physical beauty fails, she loses her attraction. But Islam teaches us to look into the woman, and teaches her to look into us," (Haley 237).

Wow, this quote really hit me. Although it is only a small section of the book, i find it incredible. This book has legit everything; drugs, racism, religion, segregation vs. separation, powerful insights to other cultures, powerful insights to other races, and love. in just a paragraph or two, Malcolm X is able to grasp the real meaning of love. The real meaning of love is truly what Malcolm suggest. Love is accepting the flaws the other person has and looking into their heart to learn about them on a more deeper level.

My mom and dad have been married for 25 years and they still look at each other with all the love in the world. My mom used to be very very skinny, but lately she has been struggling with her weight. she never seems satisfied with how much she weighs, although everyone else thinks that she looks great the way she is (and we don't say she looks good to make her feel better, my mom is a really attractive lady). Anyways, my point is that while other men watch their wives gain a few pounds over the years, they may look at them differently, be less attracted to their physical appearance, and make not so nice comments about things their wives are self-conscience about. However, my dad is constantly telling my mom how beautiful she is, how great she looks, and he is always commenting on the small things she does to herself; things most men probably don't acknowledge. My mom knows that after a long day of work, my dad is always looking forward to her home cooked meals. My mom, no matter how tired she is, always manages to whip together something delicious for my dad; and to me that is what the meaning of love is. My parents understand each other; they know who they are as a person, their likes and dislikes, and they both can sense when the other is frustrated or mad. Most importantly, they know when to be there for each other, and they know when to give each other their room. My parents have taught me the meaning of love just by the way they act when they are together. My dad still sees the same woman he fell in love with in high school and my mom still sees the high school hockey star she fell in love with; they didn't fall in love with each others appearances, but who they were on the inside.

 

I know it is a silly comparison, but take the children's movie Beauty and the Beast. The Beast is really a prince trapped inside this Beast because he was arrogant to love. He did not know how to love. However, to break the spell, he must learn to love and be loved by another person. Belle becomes trapped inside the Beasts castle in replace of her father and in the begging, Belle could not fall in love with the beast because she viewed him simply as a monster. However, the movie takes a turn and Belle is able to learn to love the person inside the "monster". Belle not only taught the Beast (or the prince trapped inside this monster's body) the meaning of love, but Belle was able to look past the Beast's outside appearance and learn who he was on the inside. Belle was able to see the true "prince" that was trapped inside this monster's body. Love is only powerful when it teaches people to look past the flaws of people and accept them for who they are on a more deeper level.

White Man's Burden...#3

This autobiography really has opened my mind to many things. it has helped me relate history and english and combind the things i have learned into one idea. It has helped me to understand the pain blacks and Muslims felt in the 1960s. It also opened my mind to looking at different perspectives.

"The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that segregation is when your life and liberty are controlled, regulated, by someone else. To segregate means to control. Segregation is that which is forced upon inferiors by superiors. But separation is that which is done voluntarily, by two equals--for the good of both! The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that as long as our people here in America are dependent upon the white man, we will always be begging him for jobs, food, clothing, and housing. And he will control our lives, regulate our lives, and have the power to segregate us," (Haley 251).

Even though in the past few chapters Malcolm X has been ranting on and on about how much he hates the white devils, i have to admit that i understand where he is coming from when he emphasizes to the whites and the "yard" Negroes that what he wants in society is separation; the flexibility to run his own life, make his own decisions, and not have someone else control his life without a say. At first i questioned Malcolm and did not realize why he wanted to be separated from the whites because i though that would just segregate the community more; and i feel that is something Malcolm preaches against. However, his explanation and understanding of what he preaches really helped me to learn the way he truly felt. Blacks and Muslims want the right to control their own life and not have to depend on the whites to get the necessities in life. These people do not want to be controlled, they want to have control over everything in their life.

Last year in history, i learned about the white man's burden. The poem can have many meanings, depending on the way you approach it. I feel that the whites and the "integration"-mad Negroes in this time period felt it was their "burden" to get the Muslims to understand that integration was the answer to all their problems. That would be one way of looking at this poem. However, a more deeper understanding of this poem would lead a reader to observe that it wasn't the white mans burden but really the burden they pushed onto other ethnic groups and races to be more like them. it was the burden of the "minority" to have to listen to these whites talk and not get the chance to speak up. However, malcolm did speak up; he wasn't hesitant to let the white men know that there was no need to interfere with the lives of Muslims and blacks. He let them know that the way the white devil treated the blacks was unacceptable and a burden on the black people's way of living. 

I think it is wrong to try and change a person to make them more like yourself. It doesn't feel good at all when someone tries to push their on views and beliefs on you (when honestly, you don't want to change at all). My younger brother is in 7th grade and at that age, kids don't really care about school. It breaks my heart however because constantly he is coming home with not so great grades because he simply doesn't put the effort into the tests and work. And time after time my parents yell at him to have better study habits the way i do. I just feel like my brother over time is going to build resentment towards me because my parents constantly are telling him to be more on top of his school work the way i am. I've realized that my brother is more likely to get an attitude with me rather than my sister. And i think the reason for this is because they are never saying study more like felicia, they say study more like gabrielle. I know it's the right thing for a parent to do, and they probably don't even realize what they are doing, but it hurts me to think that because of this, my brother is going to feel threatened and insulted by the way my parents push him to be more studious.