Sydney, Where are you?

Summary

 During the past days, I continued to read the book and something surprising happened. One day, when Frankie is in the bus, he notices that Sydney isn’t in her bus stop and she is never late. A little girl tells Frankie that she saw Sydney arguing with her mother and then they left in a Porsche. At school, Frankie is very worried about Sydney because of what the girl said had happened and because it’s her birthday so he asks Mr. A for help. When school is over, Frankie heads to Sydney’s house but couldn’t find it. Suddenly Sydney appears and he hands her a birthday present. She avoids the present and starts to cry.

Quote 1

“He’d handed in his work experience project and crawled through Dictionary. Today’s words seemed blessedly without heavy significance. Normally panspermia: pan-sper-mi-a, n, a theory of biogenetics that states that the universe is full of spores that germinate when they find a favorable environment would have struck him as a gloriously funny word, perfect for a rude cartoon dart about the Kearney twins.” (p. 127)

In my opinion, it’s interesting and positive that the author includes peculiar words and their definition when she writes because the reader can learn new words and how to use them. Almost always the author makes the new word fit into the event that is happening in that momento of the book. On the contrary, when it comes to the situation in the book, I can notice that Frankie’s temperament has changed because of Sydney’s sudden disappearance.  

Quote 2

“And quite unexpectedly Sydney slumped down on the driveway. She seemed just to subside, like the side of a hill in a TV avalanche. The she buried her face in her knees and stayed that way, unmoving. She made no sound but Frankie knew she was crying.” (p. 141)

 

When someone receives a present, they usually react with joy and gratefulness, but in this case, Sydney replied the opposite way. She could have been crying because she was happy or because of sadness. I think she reacted this way because maybe Frankie was the first friend she ever had that gave her a birthday present. On the other hand, this event could have reminded her of something unhappy that happened in her life.

Conclusion

I think that in the last chapter I read, I finally discovered the 10 p.m. question which was: “Do you think I’m normal?” This is another question that demonstrates one of Frankie’s many worries. I predict that in one of the next two chapter Frankie’s mom is going to say why she never leaves the house. I also think that Sydney is going to stay in town and that Frankie and Gigs are going to have a fight. I hope that you are liking my blogs so far and that you continue to read them.

Avoiding with Stories

Summary

In the chapter I began to read during this week, Sydney and Frankie are waiting for Gigs, and in the meantime, Sydney asks questions to Frankie. These questions could lead to further questions that Frankie doesn´t want to answer so, to avoid them, he talks about his aunties and what he used to do with them. Frankie currently worries about a camp that his class is going to go to because he doesn´t want to leave his mom if he decides to go. Mr. A, Frankie´s teacher, has his students go to work with their relatives one day so they can see how their workplaces are and what they do while they are there. Frankie decides to complete this day with his brother Louie who works in a company named De Souza. After some time, they decide to a break in a restaurant, and there, they begin to see what type of birds their family and friends would be if they were a bird. When Frankie asks Louie what type of bird his mom would be, Louie tries to avoid the question. He then realizes that he had never talked about his mom nor his family with Louie.

 

 

Quote 1

“He would feel nauseous with anxiety about Ma. (Who would do her errands? Who would keep her company? Who would chat to her at night when Uncle G was working and Gordana was doing as she pleased? Who would keep a constant and careful – though carefully nonchalant – eye on her? Who would hold her hand when she was feeling a little wobbly?)” (p. 80)

As said before, Frankie doesn’t want to go to the camp because of his mother and the many reasons why he doesn’t want to leave her. When I read this quote, I recognized how much Frankie loves Ma and how he wants to protect her, but maybe, he is a being a little over reactive because the camp is not going to last a very long time and, if he goes, Ma is going to be with Uncle George and Gordana. I have also realized that Frankie is very jealous when it comes to other people being with his mom because he gave Sydney a couple of rules when she was going to be with Ma.

Quote 2

“And then it came to Frankie what Louie reminded him of. Himself, him, Franke. Himself babbling away to Sydney, going on and on and on about the Aunties that day, trying desperately to fill the air between them with words, any words, to summon up a cloud of words so big, it shut out the intensity of her focus, deflected her questions about his times with the Aunties’ house, her inevitable questions about Ma.” (p. 108)

What happened in this quote is something that is related to the real world because sometimes we try to avert certain questions or situations by changing the topic of conversation or trying to do something else. When Louie did this, it didn’t work because he ended up answering Frankie’s question about what type of bird Ma would be is she was a bird. On the other hand, trying to avoid Sydney’s questions by extending his story about the Aunties did work for Frankie. I think it’s something that people do because they maybe feel uncomfortable about the answer to a question or for many other reasons too.

Conclusion

On the next chapters, I would like to figure out why Frankie’s mom never leaves the house and why Frankie doesn’t want to talk about it with other people. And as I said in the last blog post I would also like to know what the 10 p.m. question is. Something interesting about the book is that every night, Frankie asks a question to his mom and most of the time, they are related to some disease or issue that Frankie thinks he has. I believe that this is part of his personality, of his constant worries. On this book, the author makes sure that people’s personality are shown like Frankie’s is and Sydney’s, for example, that is curious and, unlike Frankie, free of worries.

Sudden Changes

Summary

Hi! For my next blogs I’m going to talk about the book “The 10 p.m. Question” by Kate De Goldi. The main character, Frankie, starts his day as usual, walking towards the bus stop with his best friend Gigs while they complete little rituals that they have done since they were little. They reach the bus stop and jump in the bus heading for school. But everything changes when a girl named Sydney walks in to the bus and starts to talk to Frankie. Once in school Frankie and Sydney are assigned together for a project and they agree to meet someday to start it. Days pass and Frankie’s brother Louie’s birthday arrives. With all the family reunited in his house, Frankie receives a call from Sydney and they decide to meet the next day in his house to start the project.

Quote 1

“Gigs didn’t worry about his household, his parents, his health, his safety, his future, the probability of earthquakes, terrorism, global warming, or McDonald’s taking over the world.” (p. 15)

Frankie is a very worried boy who has to take care of his family and help around the house unlike Gigs that doesn’t care about any of the problems that Frankie suggest. But despite their differences, they are friends and still agree in certain things and work well together.

Quote 2

“’Night, then,” said Frankie. “You really think it won’t happen soon?” he said from the doorway.

“I really think it won’t happen soon,” said Ma.” (p. 28)  

 

When I read this quote, I realized that Frankie is very concerned about many things and has to be assured that they are what they are or they won’t happen, to stay calm. His personality is that way and I think it’s very nice of his mother to comfort him the way she does.  Many people can be nervous and worried as Frankie but people have to support them and make them feel good.

Conclusion

My prediction for the next chapters is that Frankie and Sydney are going to become close friends and share questions they have with each other. I also think that Gigs is going to feel left out because of Frankie’s new friendship and is going to have a fight with Frankie. I want to know what the 10 p.m. question will be, if there is one, and who will ask it and who will answer it. I look forward to keep reading the book and see if my predictions are right. I hope you enjoyed my first blog about this book and that you want to continue reading my next blogs.

A Free Bird, A Free Soul

Summary

As the story continues, when Maya was in San Francisco, she received a scholarship for a Labor School and there, she learned to dance and to act. Later on, she agreed to stay with his father and her lady friend, Dolores, in southern California during the summer. One day, Maya’s father decided that they were going on a short trip to Mexico and there, they went to a party and had a minor car accident. When they returned home, Dolores said that Maya was coming between her relationship with Maya’s father and after a serious discussion, Dolores hurt Maya. Maya was sent to the house of one of his father’s friends but she escaped. She lived in a junkyard with other teenagers for around a month. Then she went back to live with her mother. After a period of time were Maya questioned herself about her life and who she was, she discovered she was pregnant. Three weeks before she was supposed to give birth, she told her parents about her pregnancy and luckily, everything went well.     


Quote 1

“In the Mexican bar, Dad had an air of relaxation which I had never seen visit him before. There was no need to pretend in front of those Mexican peasants. As he was, just being himself, he was sufficiently impressive to them. He was an American. He was Black.” (p. 233)


Unlike the White people in America, the Mexicans didn’t discriminate Black people and accepted them for who they were and not by their skin color. Maya liked to see his father’s sudden change and she noticed the difference of his personality when he wasn’t around White people. He was proud of who he was and the Mexican people respected him as he respected them.


Quote 2

“The idea of sleeping in the near open bolstered my sense of freedom. I was a loose kite in a gentle wind floating with only my will for an anchor.” (p. 251)


In this quote, Maya Angelou is using a metaphor to explain how she felt. How freedom felt for her. In her writing, Maya uses many literary devices such as similes, personifications, metaphors etc. I think that using literary devices is a good tool to make the reader better understand how an object, place or event looked and how the author felt.   


Conclusion

I have reached the end of the book and I think that it was very interesting and enjoyable. I could see, through the years, how Maya and Bailey changed as well as the places and people around them. Maya had many problems not only with the people around her but also with herself. She wanted to figure out who she was and where she belonged. But even though she had many conflicts, she dealt with them. I would recommend this book for people age 13 and up because even adults and older people could appreciate this book.

 

Arrivals and Departures

Summary

As the book continues, Maya Angelou talks about her new friend Louise and how close they were. One day at school, she got a love note from a boy that asked her if she wanted to be his Valentine. She didn't know what to do so she consulted Louise and they decided not to respond the letter. Maya wasn't the only one to make new friends, Bailey met a girl named Joyce with whom he played house with. He was very happy when they were together even thought she was older than him but one day, she suddenly disappeared. When graduation day came, Maya explains the event and how a white man came to the ceremony and began to talk about how he would better the education. One day, Momma decided that Marguerite and Bailey were going to live with their parents once again, so they were sent to San Francisco. Maya and Bailey, with their mother, then lived in Los Angeles when the Second World War began.


Quote 1

"She was around for a few months, and she had appeared, out of limbo, so she disappeared into nothingness. There was a gossip about her, no clue to her leaving or whereabouts. I noticed the change in Bailey before I discovered she was gone. He lost his interest in everything. He mulled around and it would be safe to say "he paled." (p. 150)


Bailey was affected after Joyce's disappearance as shown in this quote. I have noticed that the people he met were very important for him and that they had an impact in his life. He got upset when he was separated from the people he loved as demonstrated in this quote and also when he was separated from his mother.


Quote 2

"We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwoman, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous."(p. 180)


After the white man finished his speech and left the graduation ceremony, what is showed in the quote is what Maya thought. First of all, the white man made the colored people believe that they were only capable of being maids, handyman and anything else that served the white people. I think that it was disrespectful of the white man to say what he said in his speech and, even worse, in a place where there were children. Finally, this event showed discrimination against black people and everybody in the ceremony noticed it.    



Conclusion

I think that in the next chapters Maya is going to talk about how it was to live during the time of the Second World War and how she dealt with all the problems that came with it. When it comes to Momma and Uncle Willie, I think that they are going to stay in Arkansas and visit their relatives in Los Angeles. Another prediction I have for the next chapters is that Maya and her family are going to move to another place because of the war. It must have been hard for Bailey and Maya to leave their friends and family in Stamps and move to a new and strange place. This book has been very interesting so far and I'm glad to read the final part.

This is a picture of Los Angeles around the time when Maya and her family lived there.

Let's Go to the Movies!

Summary

A year later or so, Maya and Bailey's father came to Stamps and took them to live with their mother in St. Louis. There, they were introduced to their aunt, uncles, grandparents and their mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Maya had a problem with Mr. Freeman and he was set on a trial. He was imprisoned but the same day, he was released and then found dead. Maya and Bailey were sent back to Stamps and Maya enjoyed returning to her home town with Momma and her uncle. One day, Maya was in the Store when a woman named Mrs. Flowers walked in and said that she wanted Maya to go with her to her house. They had a nice talk, read books and ate cookies there. One night, Bailey returned very late home and he told Maya that he had been on the movies and seen a woman in a movie that looked like their mother. Maya and Bailey went often to the movies since then, just to have an image of their mother.


Quote 1

"I was liked, and what a difference it made. I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for Marguerite Johnson." (p. 101)

When I read this quote, I realized how important it was for Maya to be represented and appreciated by who she really was. She wanted people to like her and recognize her for her personality and not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild as said in the book. Maybe she felt that she wasn't paid much attention to, but when she met Mrs. Flowers, everything seemed to change for her. Mrs. Flowers had a big impact on her life not only because she called her Marguerite, but also because she taught her what she was capable of.


Quote 2

"The movie star made me happy. It was extraordinary good fortune to be able to save up one's money and go see one's mother whenever one wanted to. I bounced out of the theater as if I'd been given an unexpected present. But Bailey was cast down again." (p. 119)

Bailey missed his mother very much when he returned to Stamps, as shown in this quote. He wanted to see her and would have done anything to remember her, for example, see movies that have a character that looks like her, as he did in the book. Even thought he was sent away from his mother, I think that he somehow forgave her and wanted to live with her.


Conclusion

I think it's surprising that Marguerite (Maya) and Bailey were sent back to Stamps again even though they liked it better there. Their parents sent them away when they were little and when they finally met years later, they were sent away once again. In the book, I have noticed that many white people treated black people unfairly as shown in the scene were Marguerite’s name is changed to Mary and she is being insulted by a white lady. I think that Maya will try to become an actress or a writer later on in the book. I also predict that Maya and Bailey are going to be reunited with their parents for some particular reason and taken with them to another town were Maya will find her talent.

                                    
                                          This is a picture of Maya around the age of 10.

Strange Incidents in Stamps

Summary

Hi! My next blogs are going to be about Maya Angelou’s autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” When she was three years old and her brother Bailey was four, they were sent to Stamps, Arkansas to live with their grandmother which they, in short time, began to call Momma and their Uncle Willie who was handicapped. Momma owned and worked at the Store were Maya and Bailey spent a lot of their time in. Throughout the years that Maya spent with her grandmother, she saw and heard about many conflicts between black people and white people who she viewed as non-human because of how they treated the Negros and because of their physical appearances. She also talks about Reverend Thomas (that Maya didn’t like so much) who sometimes visited them at the Store and about the experience he had once had in church. It happened on a Sunday,  Reverend Thomas was preaching when suddenly a women called Sister Monroe began to say “Preach it!” at loud and began to follow the Reverend across the church. After that day, they had called the event “the incident”.  

 

Quote 1

“Until I was thirteen and left Arkansas for good, the Store was my favorite place to be. Alone and empty in the mornings, it looked like an unopened present from a stranger. Opening the front door was pulling the ribbon off the unexpected gift. The light would come in softly (we faced north), easing itself over the shelves of mackerel, salmon, tobacco, thread. It fell flat on the big vat of lard and by noontime during the summer the grease had softened to a thick soup. Whenever I walked into the Store in the afternoon, I sensed that it was tired.” (p. 16)

When I read this part of the book, I realized that the author used many literary devices. When she compares the Store with an unopened present, she is using a simile. She is also using personification when she says that the Store felt tired in the afternoon. I think that she used these literary devices to make us understand better how she felt when she was in the Store and how much it meant for her.

 

Quote 2

"But I couldn’t force myself to think about them as people. People were Mrs. LaGrone, Mrs. Hendricks, Momma, Reverend Sneed, Lillie B, and Louise and Rex. Whitefolks couldn´t be people because their feet were too small, their skin was too white and see-throughy, and they didn’t walk on the balls of their feet the way people did—they walked on their heels like horses.

 People were those who lived on my side of town. I didn’t like them all, or, in fact, any of them very much, but they were people. These others, the strange pale creatures that lived in their alien unlife, weren’t considered folks. They were whitefolks." (p. 26)

Black people have been judged and mistreated in many ways by white people. But not only have white people hated black people, but also black people have judged and seen white people in a different way. And in this quote, this is demonstrated. And it’s surprising that even a little girl thought of whitefolks as non-human because of how they looked and treated Negros.    

 

Conclusion

What I like about this book is that it shows real conflicts in which black people are being mistreated by white people but they confront the situation in a calm manner and are able to continue their lives as they normally did. I enjoy the writing style of Maya Angelou because she uses many details to describe her feelings, the settings and the people she is talking about in the book to make the reader have a more clear view of what she is talking about. I look forward to keep reading the book and to know what Maya is going to do if she leaves Arkansas.  

 

This is a picture of downtown Stamps, Arkansas around the years when Maya Angelou lived there.