Literature Circle: Independent Response

In her novel Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson illustrates culture and values through art. Melinda, a freshman in high school isolates herself from others and remains as mute as she can possibly be. Ever since the night of an end of the summer party when she called the cops, Melinda is hated by everyone in the school because some kids got caught for having possession of alcohol at the party. No one knows that Melinda was raped and called the police because she was scared. Since most of the kids in her school don't want to be her friend and want to stay away from her, she doesn't make a complete effort to make friends. She often expresses her feelings through her artwork instead of speaking to people, which she doesn’t gain the courage to do. Melinda shows that she is very passionate about art because that is the only class she has an A in when she is close to failing every other subject. On Thanksgiving, Melinda's father attempted to prepare a turkey dinner, but the turkey wouldn't thaw out. Melinda's father decides to chop up the turkey, but that doesn't work out too well when the turkey gets dirt on it. When Melinda's father wants to throw away the turkey bones, she takes them and decides she could use them for her art project. She is assigned to make anything using the topic of a tree. Instead of thinking of the turkey as useless bones, she thinks they can be used to make a great project. "I want to make a memorial for our turkey. Never has a bird been so tortured to provide such a lousy dinner. I dig the bones out of the trash and bring them to art class. Mr. Freeman is thrilled. He tells me to work on the bird but keep thinking tree." (61) Melinda uses her creativeness through her artwork. This is her only way of showing what she is capable of doing because she doesn’t try at anything else, as her grades show. For everything thing else that comes up in her life, she gives up automatically and doesn’t bother trying because she thinks nothing will turn out right. Conversely, in art, Melinda tries to succeed at her tree project even though she fails at creating one to the best of her ability many times. Melinda also created a place in the school for herself to be alone. She cleaned out and decorated an abandoned janitor’s closet she found where she could think through the problems in her life. “…I sweep and mop the floor, while I scrub the shelves, while I chase spiders out of the corners. I do a little bit of work every day. It’s like building a fort…My closet is a good thing, a quiet place that helps me hold these thoughts inside my head where no one can hear them.” (50-51) Melinda wants her little closet to be special because she knows she will want to spend a lot of time in there to get away from the kids who hate her. She wants this place to make her feel comfortable and to get rid of her horrifying memories of the night she was raped, so she cleans it and fills it with what she loves; art. Not many people value art as Melinda does and that is what makes her unique. She uses it as a comfort in her life and expresses her emotions through it. Although many artists express their emotions through their artwork, Melinda shows her feelings in a different way.

Tuesdays with Morrie Response #2

For this assignment, we had to research one of the topics we were given relating to the book Tuesdays with Morrie. I chose to research Stephen Hawking, a physicist, who suffers from ALS as Morrie Schwartz had.

Stephen Hawking was born on January 9, 1942 in Oxford, England. He was diagnosed with ALS when he was only 21 years old. He was attending the University of Oxford at that time when his father took him to the doctor because he had noticed his son was clumsy and fell often. When the doctor broke the news to them about the disease, he was told he wouldn't live for more than a few years after being diagnosed. He married and started his research for receiving a PhD right after he was diagnosed. Hawking didn’t die a few years after he was diagnosed, like the doctors said; in fact, he’s still living today. Hawking and his wife had trouble locating a house they could permanently live in because they didn’t have enough money to pay for one. Hawking’s parents lent them some money and they were able to afford a flat house that had large rooms and wide doors which allowed him to get around the house easier with his wheelchair. Until 1974, he was able to feed himself and get in and out of bed and was able to walk short distances. Then his condition worsened by losing the use of his arms, legs, and voice. When Hawking’s condition got worse, he needed attention at home most of the time. Private nurses came to take care of him in the morning and at night, but then changed to having 24 hour nurse care when he caught pneumonia. Since he wasn’t able to talk, he had to make words by raising his eyebrows when someone pointed to the right letter of the alphabet on a spelling card. Later, he was able to make conversations and write his books and scientific papers easier by using an Equalizer, which a computer expert in California sent him when he heard about Hawking’s difficulty to express what he was trying to say to other people. The Equalizer was at first on a desk top computer then Hawking had a small portable computer and a speech synthesizer put on his wheelchair. Hawking and his wife divorced in 1991 because of the pressure of fame, his increasing disability, and an affair he began with one of his nurses. In 1995, He married the nurse. About a month ago in October 2006, he and the nurse divorced, which would make it his second divorce. Although living with a fatal disease all his life, Hawking is considered as one of the greatest scientists in modern times.

Stephen Hawking and Morrie Schwartz are similar in some ways, but they also have their differences. All of Morrie’s life, he knew the qualities of life and how one should spend their life. Stephen Hawking didn’t get going on the things he wanted to do in life until he was diagnosed with ALS and was told he would die in a few years. That made him realize he should be a successful person in life before he bit the dust. Morrie and Hawking both achieved what they wanted to do in their lives, but Hawking was oblivious to completing what he wanted to do until he was diagnosed. I believe Morrie shows a better way of life because he knew all of his life what he wanted to do and was important in one’s living time. Although he revealed more of his philosophies after he was diagnosed with ALS, he still knew the meaning of life all along. Hawking never showed what he thought was important in life like Morrie did, but he did want to get his PhD before he died because that was one of the things he was very passionate for. Other than accomplishing that and becoming a scientist, he had no outlook on life as his marriage situation shows. One of Morrie’s life lessons was about marriage. Morrie described that most people today get married without thinking of the fact that they should stay with the person they marry their entire life, not just for a short while. They don’t understand that marriage is a commitment. Morrie said, “’there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.’” (149) Hawking disrespected Morrie’s value by divorcing twice. When Hawking married, he probably thought he wanted to be with his wife the rest of his life, but obviously thought differently when he had a thing for one of his nurses. Since Hawking was able to use all parts of his body for a while after being diagnosed. Morrie deteriorated very quickly after he was diagnosed and died. Hawking considered himself lucky because he didn’t have it as bad as some other people have it. When he was taken to the hospital, he shared a room with a boy who had leukemia. He said, “The realization that I had an incurable disease that was likely to kill me in a few years, was a bit of a shock. How could something like that happen to me? Why should I be cut off like this? However, while I had been in the hospital, I had seen a boy I vaguely knew die of leukemia, in the bed opposite me. It had not been a pretty sight. Clearly there were people who were worse off than me. At least my condition didn't make me feel sick. Whenever I feel inclined to be sorry for myself I remember that boy.” Hawking at first felt bad for himself and asked himself why it had to be him that was diagnosed with the disease. When he saw that boy, he realized that there were worse things in life than his condition. He moved on and realized he should start his research for getting a PhD since that was what he had dreamed of. When Morrie was diagnosed with ALS, he also wondered why he had to be diagnosed. When Morrie first found out, he wondered, “Shouldn’t the world stop? Don’t they know what’s happened to me?” (8) At first Morrie was a little selfish about the situation, as was Hawking, but then came to realize that getting sick and dying is a way of life. Morrie got over the fact that he was dying and taught people what is important in life. Morrie and Hawking had basically the same reaction to their terminal disease. They both wanted to know why it had to be them to have the disease, but then they both started focusing on the most important things in their lives and life in general.

I think both Morrie and Hawking handled their lives very well considering they had a very hard disease to live with. I believe them being told that the disease they had was fatal really got them thinking that any day could be the end of their lives. Most people who don’t have a fatal disease are oblivious to the fact that they’re going to die. Morrie and Hawking took action on the fact that they were going to die by doing what they loved, which for Morrie was to “coach” everyone on the values of life. As for Hawking, it was researching for his PhD. People who don’t think of the fact that they’re going to die put off the things they want to complete and my never get to do them before they die. Even though Morrie and Hawking didn’t have the abilities most people have after they were diagnosed, they were still able to accomplish things which made them famous.

Here are the websites I found information on Stephen Hawking:
Stephen Hawking's Website
Wikipedia