"Abuse." Nemours Foundation. Online. Internet. 14 January, 2008. Available:
http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/families/family_abuse.html"Abuse." Web Magic's Abuse. Online. Internet. 15 January, 2008. Available:
http://www.abuse.com/child_abuse/
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Works Cited
Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk. New York: Dell Laurel Leaf, 2001.
"Abuse." Web Magic's Abuse. Online. Internet. 15 January, 2008. Available:
http://www.abuse.com/child_abuse/
"Abuse." Web Magic's Abuse. Online. Internet. 15 January, 2008. Available:
http://www.abuse.com/child_abuse/
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Six+1 Traits of Writing
A lot of the six traits presented in Chris Crutcher's Whale Talk novel were done really well. I'd have to say my absolute favorite was the ideas, even though it is the second best trait he uses.. It is so creative how he was just able to think up all these little story lines and then be able to link them all together in a knit-tight way. I loved how everyone had their own background story, whether big or small, and it either all came out at once, was already known, or slowly spilled out over the course of the book. His characters are so unique and diverse and they all really pull you into their lives. The experiences they go through over the course of the year are difficult, but really interesting to watch.
The word choice in this book was great! Especially whenever Dan Hole was talking. I liked the way that he described everything without over doing it. An example of this is, "Dan Hole benefits most from that because he is first and foremost a student, and the very physics of swimming fascinates him." The words are perfect because he describes how Dan Hole benefits from the swim team in a simplistic and easy to read way.
The conventions and presentation of the book are nice. They aren't any typographical or grammatical errors that I could spot and it was presented in such a deep, emotional way without overpowering it. There is one thing though that is confusing with the presentation. The cover of the book has a white kid running in a lettermen jacket, so it confuses me on who it should be. The swim team doesn't get their lettermen jackets until the end of the year and T.J. isn't white, so the cover is a bit misleading.
The organization was pretty good overall. There were some parts that just randomly popped up, but eventually fit into the story line. If I could change anything, I would make the thought progression a little bit more logical, but Chris Crutcher pulled it off in a smooth way.
The sentence fluency in this story was really good. Some sentences could have been a little bit longer or shorter, but there were very few of these that I noticed.
Voice was the best overall in the six+1 traits of writing. Each character has an entirely individual personality, but all come together over a common ground or situation. He is able to give all these different voices to his character, like evil, horrible Rich Marshall to Andy Mott, who seems quiet and mean, but is really outspoken and full of stories and frankly, doesn't really care what others think about him. We see characters like Dan Hole, who is hardworking and intelligent to Georgia, who is kind, caring and softspoken. It is the best use of any of the traits in Chris Crutcher's novel, Whale Talk.
The word choice in this book was great! Especially whenever Dan Hole was talking. I liked the way that he described everything without over doing it. An example of this is, "Dan Hole benefits most from that because he is first and foremost a student, and the very physics of swimming fascinates him." The words are perfect because he describes how Dan Hole benefits from the swim team in a simplistic and easy to read way.
The conventions and presentation of the book are nice. They aren't any typographical or grammatical errors that I could spot and it was presented in such a deep, emotional way without overpowering it. There is one thing though that is confusing with the presentation. The cover of the book has a white kid running in a lettermen jacket, so it confuses me on who it should be. The swim team doesn't get their lettermen jackets until the end of the year and T.J. isn't white, so the cover is a bit misleading.
The organization was pretty good overall. There were some parts that just randomly popped up, but eventually fit into the story line. If I could change anything, I would make the thought progression a little bit more logical, but Chris Crutcher pulled it off in a smooth way.
The sentence fluency in this story was really good. Some sentences could have been a little bit longer or shorter, but there were very few of these that I noticed.
Voice was the best overall in the six+1 traits of writing. Each character has an entirely individual personality, but all come together over a common ground or situation. He is able to give all these different voices to his character, like evil, horrible Rich Marshall to Andy Mott, who seems quiet and mean, but is really outspoken and full of stories and frankly, doesn't really care what others think about him. We see characters like Dan Hole, who is hardworking and intelligent to Georgia, who is kind, caring and softspoken. It is the best use of any of the traits in Chris Crutcher's novel, Whale Talk.
Abuse
Abuse was a big theme in the story Whale Talk. There were many different types presented. I decided to do a little bit of research on abuse to see how it related to the novel. Dictionary.com says that abuse is "harshly or coarsely insulting language" or "bad or improper treatment; maltreatment." This describes perfectly the abuse that is put upon Heidi Marshall in Whale Talk. "to commit sexual assault upon" is another definition that Dictionary.com offered and that describes the sexual abuse that was put upon Andy Mott, even though it is only briefly mentioned.
So what is abuse? There are so many types of abuse, but the ones presented in Whale Talk are: physical, emotional, sexual, verbal and neglect--or a combination. Physical is abuse is the easiest to spot of all the different types of abuse. This is when the abuser physically attacks their victim. The physical abuse can be anything, like hitting, punching, kicking, burning, choking, or inflicting any significant physical pain. Emotional abuse is when someone threatens, criticizes or lowers someone's self-confidence and self-worth so much that it is damaged greatly. Emotional abuse can be just as painful as physical. Sexual abuse is when an adult has any type of sexual contact with someone 18 years-old or younger, or between a signficantly older and younger child. Neglect is when a person (usually a child or a teen) does not have adequate clothes, food, housing, supervision or medical care. Emotional neglect is when a parent pays barely or no attention to their child or when they don't provide enough emotional support. Abuse can be directed at people or turn into hate crimes just because of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or abilities.
There are a lot of effects of abuse. The person being abuse has very badly effected self-esteem, usually. Teens who are abused usually have trouble eating, concentrating, and sleeping. Their grades in school may suffer and will probably distrust others. Some emotional effects are low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, relationship difficulties, personality disorders, alienation, and withdrawal. Physical effects may include injury, cognitive difficulties, physical disabilities, health problems, or even death. Common behavioral effects include delinquency, suicide attempts, criminal/antisocial behavior, aggressive behavior, anger, and substance abuse. Abuse often goes unreported because the person/people being abused have trouble reporting someone they love.
Why do people abuse? There are many explanations. The abuser may have been abused themselves. Mental illness and psychosocial factors also may be a reason. Unforeseen circumstances that place families under stress can be a cause. For example, sickness, disability, and divorce may cause that extra stress.
The best way to prevent abuse, child abuse in particular, is to support families and supply them with skills and resources they need.
Why do people abuse? There are many explanations. The abuser may have been abused themselves. Mental illness and psychosocial factors also may be a reason. Unforeseen circumstances that place families under stress can be a cause. For example, sickness, disability, and divorce may cause that extra stress.
The best way to prevent abuse, child abuse in particular, is to support families and supply them with skills and resources they need.
Plot Summary, Setting, & Character Description/Development
Plot
The story Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher is told through the eyes of an African American teenage boy name The Tao Jones, T.J. for short. His English teacher, Mr. Simet, approaches T.J. to ask him about helping to create a swim team for Cutter High. Mr. Simet does not want to be a wrestling coach this year, so finally he gets T.J. to agree. T.J. is walking down the hall and sees Mike Barbour picking on Chris Coughlin for wearing his dead step-brother's lettermen jacket. Quickly, T.J. tells Mike Barbour to just back off. Helping Chris out is something that T.J. is used, too. Later on, T.J. sees Chris swimming at the Y and decides to ask him to join the swim team, and Chris happily accepts. To recruit people to join the swim team, T.J. prints up a bunch of flyers and puts them in peoples windshield wipers at the beach. That day he gets two phone calls, and eventually both of those people agree to join the swim team. After T.J. decides to start working out at the All Night Fitness center, he sees a guy sleeping in the sauna by the name of Oliver. He doesn't have money to live in a house because he's working two jobs to try and pay his son's college tuition. Once the swim team starts practicing, Oliver becomes the team's assistant manager, bus driver and coach until Mr. Simet can start coming to practices, and is quickly nicknamed Icko by the team. Soon, the swim team has there first swim meet and already have their lettermen jacket requirements, to always beat their time previous to the last meet. On the bus rides to and from the meets, the team really starts opening up to each other. We find out why Andy Mott has a fake leg, Chris talks about his step-brother and Icko always tries to make sure that Dan Hole normalizes his vocabulary. Mr. Simet and Icko always try to stay quiet so they can comfortably let the team talk.
Georgia is a psychiatrist/therapist and has been T.J.'s since he was two years old (when he started living with his adoptive parents). He always goes to her to talk about girl problems or anything else that's on his mind and usually ends up helping her out when she is with another patient. One day he goes to visit Georgia and we meet Heidi. Georgia asks T.J. to role play with Heidi and to play the role of the "bad dad." Heidi is a little five year old black girl who we quickly find out is abused by her stepdad, Rich Marshall, an enemy of T.J. Upon finding out that Heidi is abused, a conflict emerges between T.J. and his family and Rich Marshall. Eventually, Heidi, Alicia and the twins (Heidi's mom and step-brothers) move in with T.J. and his family because they have a restraining order against Rich. Rich knows exactly what's going on and quickly starts stalking the house.
Meanwhile, the team is meeting their lettermen jacket requirements meet after meet. By the end of the year, everybody is able to earn their lettermen jackets, except for T.J. who blew the last meet because he wanted to shove it in Mike Barbour's face that it isn't that important to him and that Cutter High is way too competitive. The team all realizes how much they are going to miss each other when they aren't swimming together next year, so they decide to participate in the Hoopfest together along with T.J.'s dad and Mr. Simet. Their team dominates all the games they are in, along with the team of Rich Marshall and Mike Barbour. The last game is between these two rivals. Everyone in town has come out to see the game, even Heidi, Georgia, Alicia and the twins. T.J's team wins and everyone is very excited, everyone except for Rich. Rich, out of his anger and rage, decides to get a gun. He aims for little five-year old Heidi, but instead hits T.J.'s dad, killing him. This is an emotional blow for T.J. and his mom and Heidi who had grown close to him. The end of the book involves Rich Marshall going to jail and T.J. meeting the step-brother he never knew. Kyle Couples and T.J. meet each other and instantly get along, deciding to get to know each other better over the summer.
Setting
Whale Talk takes place in a town in Washington, U.S. The setting moves briefly out of the town when the swim team has their meets. The main setting would be T.J's house, the bus for the swim meets and Cutter High.
Character Description/Developement
T.J Jones- T.J. is the main character in Whale Talk and is the narrator of this story. His name is The Tao (pronounced Dow) Jones, but goes by T.J. We see everything throug his eyes. He is always watching out for the little guy and is extremely good at physical sports, all the teams wanting him to join, but he refuses. He does not like taking orders from other people, so he realizes he would not do well on a team. T.J. was adopoted when he was very young, about two years old. He is usually caring and helpful, except when it's dealing with people who are disrespectful or cruel.
Rich Marshall- Rich Marshall is a cruel character who was once an elite athlete at Cutter, so he was popular and well known by teachers. After graduating, he takes some of the athletes under his wing, like Mike Barbour. Rich drinks and has a big problem with his anger and rage. He is Heidi's stepfather and a father to Alicia and his twin sons. He usually takes his anger out on Heidi, telling her that if she wasn't black then she would be beautiful and loved. He abusive and horribly mean.
Heidi Marshall- Heidi is Rich's stepdaughter. She is a small, sweet five year old girl who's mind and spirit has been corrupted through the abuse of her stepfather. She is always scared and always wants to be as perfect as she can be so that her stepdad will love her. Everything Rich tells her, she believes, causing her to inflict self harm on herself by trying to change her skin color, but instead just rubbing her skin raw. She is sweet and innocent, but there is no way for her to escape this harm until the end of the book.
Icko- Icko is the swim teams bus driver, assistant manager and temporary coach. He is trying to earn money to pay for his son's college tuition, so he doesn't really have a place to live at the moment. He is helpful and doesn't like when Dan uses larges words.
Chris Coughlin- Chris Coughlin is a large and important character. His story is emotional and very touching. He is mentally disabled after his mom's boyfriend wrapped his face in saranwrap to get him to stop crying. His stepbrother, who is now dead, was a legendary athlete at Cutter High. Mike Barbour and his friends give Chris a lot of crap when he wears his dead step-brother's lettermen jacket. He is caring and sweet and just wants to be accepted.
Mike Barbour- Mike doesn't have very good values and can be abusive. He is mean and is very good friends with Rich Marshall. He picks on Chris Coughlin and hits his now ex-girlfriend Kristen.
Andy Mott- Andy Mott is a funny, but complicated character. He doesn't care what anybody thinks about him because he's probably been through the most out of any character in the book. He has a prothstetic leg and was raped by his mother's boyfriend, but still manages to make people crack a smile, even when it seems like he doesn't want to. He doesn't care about rules and gets a lot of detentions, but he doesn't care. He doesn't like when people pick on others and he can be very aggressive if he needs to be. He is a very outgoing and interesting charcter.
Jackie Craig- Jackie is a character that is on the swim team, but he doesn't ever talk. He barely mutters a word all season long until after the last meet when he vocalizes to the team that he is going to miss them a lot. He seems like a nice character.
Dan Hole- Dan is a very smart guy, who cares mostly about school. His vocabulary is extremely immense and he can barely go a sentence without sounding like a walking thesaurus. The swim team, Icko in particular, come up with a way to get him to stop talking like a genius. Every time he says a word that Icko doesn't understand/know, he has to do ten pushups. He is an a fun character and adds a lot to this book.
Tay-Roy- Tay-Roy is a muscular and good looking member of the swim team. He is a ladies man. He is very sweet and caring and is a good boyfriend to Kristen after she breaks up with Mike Barbour.
Simon- Simon is on the swim team and his is extremely overweight, making it very hard for him to be a good swimmer. Above all of that, Simon is a very caring and sympathetic character.
Mr. Simet- Mr. Simet is T.J.'s English teacher and is the swim team's coach. He used to be a swimmer, so he makes a very good swim coach. He is very understanding when dealing with his team.
Carly- Carly doesn't have a huge role, but she is T.J.'s girlfriend and the first real girlfriend he's every had. She is witty, caring and independent.
T.J.'s Dad- T.J.'s dad loves motorbikes and whales and looks scary and intimidating, but in reality he is sweet, loving, intelligent and kind. He used to work for a delivery company and after making a delivery one day, he forgot to check under his truck before he left. He ended up killing a small boy and would never forget that day. It haunts him for the rest of his life, but really helped him realize to not take anything for granted and to always help out when he can. He is very compassionate.
T.J's Mom- T.J.'s mom is a lawyer for child abuse. She is always there to help T.J. out when he has a problem and she is very understanding.
Kyle Couples- Kyle Couples seems just like his dad, T.J.'s dad. T.J. and him meet at the beginning of summer. They realize they are step-brothers and by the sound of it, it seems like they are going to try to get to know each other better.
Willis- Willis was a great athlete and is the biological father to Heidi Marshall. He was in an accident and became paralyzed. Soon, he realized he couldn't raise a daughter and his condition and he had his brother and friends help him run away.
Glenda- Glenda is T.J.'s biological mom. She did drugs a lot and was a very negative parent in T.J.'s life. She quickly realized that she couldn't take care of a child and gave him up for adoption to T.J.'s adoptive parents.
The story Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher is told through the eyes of an African American teenage boy name The Tao Jones, T.J. for short. His English teacher, Mr. Simet, approaches T.J. to ask him about helping to create a swim team for Cutter High. Mr. Simet does not want to be a wrestling coach this year, so finally he gets T.J. to agree. T.J. is walking down the hall and sees Mike Barbour picking on Chris Coughlin for wearing his dead step-brother's lettermen jacket. Quickly, T.J. tells Mike Barbour to just back off. Helping Chris out is something that T.J. is used, too. Later on, T.J. sees Chris swimming at the Y and decides to ask him to join the swim team, and Chris happily accepts. To recruit people to join the swim team, T.J. prints up a bunch of flyers and puts them in peoples windshield wipers at the beach. That day he gets two phone calls, and eventually both of those people agree to join the swim team. After T.J. decides to start working out at the All Night Fitness center, he sees a guy sleeping in the sauna by the name of Oliver. He doesn't have money to live in a house because he's working two jobs to try and pay his son's college tuition. Once the swim team starts practicing, Oliver becomes the team's assistant manager, bus driver and coach until Mr. Simet can start coming to practices, and is quickly nicknamed Icko by the team. Soon, the swim team has there first swim meet and already have their lettermen jacket requirements, to always beat their time previous to the last meet. On the bus rides to and from the meets, the team really starts opening up to each other. We find out why Andy Mott has a fake leg, Chris talks about his step-brother and Icko always tries to make sure that Dan Hole normalizes his vocabulary. Mr. Simet and Icko always try to stay quiet so they can comfortably let the team talk.
Georgia is a psychiatrist/therapist and has been T.J.'s since he was two years old (when he started living with his adoptive parents). He always goes to her to talk about girl problems or anything else that's on his mind and usually ends up helping her out when she is with another patient. One day he goes to visit Georgia and we meet Heidi. Georgia asks T.J. to role play with Heidi and to play the role of the "bad dad." Heidi is a little five year old black girl who we quickly find out is abused by her stepdad, Rich Marshall, an enemy of T.J. Upon finding out that Heidi is abused, a conflict emerges between T.J. and his family and Rich Marshall. Eventually, Heidi, Alicia and the twins (Heidi's mom and step-brothers) move in with T.J. and his family because they have a restraining order against Rich. Rich knows exactly what's going on and quickly starts stalking the house.
Meanwhile, the team is meeting their lettermen jacket requirements meet after meet. By the end of the year, everybody is able to earn their lettermen jackets, except for T.J. who blew the last meet because he wanted to shove it in Mike Barbour's face that it isn't that important to him and that Cutter High is way too competitive. The team all realizes how much they are going to miss each other when they aren't swimming together next year, so they decide to participate in the Hoopfest together along with T.J.'s dad and Mr. Simet. Their team dominates all the games they are in, along with the team of Rich Marshall and Mike Barbour. The last game is between these two rivals. Everyone in town has come out to see the game, even Heidi, Georgia, Alicia and the twins. T.J's team wins and everyone is very excited, everyone except for Rich. Rich, out of his anger and rage, decides to get a gun. He aims for little five-year old Heidi, but instead hits T.J.'s dad, killing him. This is an emotional blow for T.J. and his mom and Heidi who had grown close to him. The end of the book involves Rich Marshall going to jail and T.J. meeting the step-brother he never knew. Kyle Couples and T.J. meet each other and instantly get along, deciding to get to know each other better over the summer.
Setting
Whale Talk takes place in a town in Washington, U.S. The setting moves briefly out of the town when the swim team has their meets. The main setting would be T.J's house, the bus for the swim meets and Cutter High.
Character Description/Developement
T.J Jones- T.J. is the main character in Whale Talk and is the narrator of this story. His name is The Tao (pronounced Dow) Jones, but goes by T.J. We see everything throug his eyes. He is always watching out for the little guy and is extremely good at physical sports, all the teams wanting him to join, but he refuses. He does not like taking orders from other people, so he realizes he would not do well on a team. T.J. was adopoted when he was very young, about two years old. He is usually caring and helpful, except when it's dealing with people who are disrespectful or cruel.
Rich Marshall- Rich Marshall is a cruel character who was once an elite athlete at Cutter, so he was popular and well known by teachers. After graduating, he takes some of the athletes under his wing, like Mike Barbour. Rich drinks and has a big problem with his anger and rage. He is Heidi's stepfather and a father to Alicia and his twin sons. He usually takes his anger out on Heidi, telling her that if she wasn't black then she would be beautiful and loved. He abusive and horribly mean.
Heidi Marshall- Heidi is Rich's stepdaughter. She is a small, sweet five year old girl who's mind and spirit has been corrupted through the abuse of her stepfather. She is always scared and always wants to be as perfect as she can be so that her stepdad will love her. Everything Rich tells her, she believes, causing her to inflict self harm on herself by trying to change her skin color, but instead just rubbing her skin raw. She is sweet and innocent, but there is no way for her to escape this harm until the end of the book.
Icko- Icko is the swim teams bus driver, assistant manager and temporary coach. He is trying to earn money to pay for his son's college tuition, so he doesn't really have a place to live at the moment. He is helpful and doesn't like when Dan uses larges words.
Chris Coughlin- Chris Coughlin is a large and important character. His story is emotional and very touching. He is mentally disabled after his mom's boyfriend wrapped his face in saranwrap to get him to stop crying. His stepbrother, who is now dead, was a legendary athlete at Cutter High. Mike Barbour and his friends give Chris a lot of crap when he wears his dead step-brother's lettermen jacket. He is caring and sweet and just wants to be accepted.
Mike Barbour- Mike doesn't have very good values and can be abusive. He is mean and is very good friends with Rich Marshall. He picks on Chris Coughlin and hits his now ex-girlfriend Kristen.
Andy Mott- Andy Mott is a funny, but complicated character. He doesn't care what anybody thinks about him because he's probably been through the most out of any character in the book. He has a prothstetic leg and was raped by his mother's boyfriend, but still manages to make people crack a smile, even when it seems like he doesn't want to. He doesn't care about rules and gets a lot of detentions, but he doesn't care. He doesn't like when people pick on others and he can be very aggressive if he needs to be. He is a very outgoing and interesting charcter.
Jackie Craig- Jackie is a character that is on the swim team, but he doesn't ever talk. He barely mutters a word all season long until after the last meet when he vocalizes to the team that he is going to miss them a lot. He seems like a nice character.
Dan Hole- Dan is a very smart guy, who cares mostly about school. His vocabulary is extremely immense and he can barely go a sentence without sounding like a walking thesaurus. The swim team, Icko in particular, come up with a way to get him to stop talking like a genius. Every time he says a word that Icko doesn't understand/know, he has to do ten pushups. He is an a fun character and adds a lot to this book.
Tay-Roy- Tay-Roy is a muscular and good looking member of the swim team. He is a ladies man. He is very sweet and caring and is a good boyfriend to Kristen after she breaks up with Mike Barbour.
Simon- Simon is on the swim team and his is extremely overweight, making it very hard for him to be a good swimmer. Above all of that, Simon is a very caring and sympathetic character.
Mr. Simet- Mr. Simet is T.J.'s English teacher and is the swim team's coach. He used to be a swimmer, so he makes a very good swim coach. He is very understanding when dealing with his team.
Carly- Carly doesn't have a huge role, but she is T.J.'s girlfriend and the first real girlfriend he's every had. She is witty, caring and independent.
T.J.'s Dad- T.J.'s dad loves motorbikes and whales and looks scary and intimidating, but in reality he is sweet, loving, intelligent and kind. He used to work for a delivery company and after making a delivery one day, he forgot to check under his truck before he left. He ended up killing a small boy and would never forget that day. It haunts him for the rest of his life, but really helped him realize to not take anything for granted and to always help out when he can. He is very compassionate.
T.J's Mom- T.J.'s mom is a lawyer for child abuse. She is always there to help T.J. out when he has a problem and she is very understanding.
Kyle Couples- Kyle Couples seems just like his dad, T.J.'s dad. T.J. and him meet at the beginning of summer. They realize they are step-brothers and by the sound of it, it seems like they are going to try to get to know each other better.
Willis- Willis was a great athlete and is the biological father to Heidi Marshall. He was in an accident and became paralyzed. Soon, he realized he couldn't raise a daughter and his condition and he had his brother and friends help him run away.
Glenda- Glenda is T.J.'s biological mom. She did drugs a lot and was a very negative parent in T.J.'s life. She quickly realized that she couldn't take care of a child and gave him up for adoption to T.J.'s adoptive parents.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Third Blog
As a whole, I really really liked this book. There were a lot of parts I liked more than others and some parts that I just didn't really like.
I liked the book as a whole basically. It was really good and the characters were great because they weren't what you expected them to be and I liked that a lot. The plot was also different from what I expected it to be because I thought it was just going to be about this group of outcasts who formed a swim team together, but there were so many more themes and story lines that were sewn together throughout the story. Also, I liked the title of the book because the brief things we learned about whales through T.J.'s dad in the story were really interesting and actually made me interested in this creature that I never would have really thought about before.
I disliked all of the swearing in this book. It annoyed me that a lot of the characters swore for emphasis or just to swear or because they felt like it. I could've done without the swearing, especially since a lot of the characters did it, especially T.J. and Rich.
Another thing I really didn't like about this book, something I probably hated was that T.J's dad had to die!!!! For me, it was really unexpected and sad. Ugh! I hated it so so much. First, because Rich was the one who killed him and it was right after they had one the basketball game and then Rich has to try to kill Heidi but shoot the dad instead? I was SO mad! And then when T.J. described his dad going limp in his arms just like the deer had and that's how he knew that his dad was dead was so sad. Something though that I liked that came from this sad part in the book was how T.J. road his bike down to the cafe that he had heard his father talk about in that story so many times and he met his "brother." I liked the story of Kyle Couples and how T.J. and him seemed to click almost instantly on a certain level. I think that going to meet with Kyle was a sort of closure for T.J. after his dad's death. One thing I loved about it was that Kyle told T.J. about his love for whales and that he had no idea why he was so interested in them, but he just was, but T.J. knew it was because his dad had that strong love for them, too. That was a really interesting way to connect Kyle Couples to his birth father whom he had never met.
I liked the book as a whole basically. It was really good and the characters were great because they weren't what you expected them to be and I liked that a lot. The plot was also different from what I expected it to be because I thought it was just going to be about this group of outcasts who formed a swim team together, but there were so many more themes and story lines that were sewn together throughout the story. Also, I liked the title of the book because the brief things we learned about whales through T.J.'s dad in the story were really interesting and actually made me interested in this creature that I never would have really thought about before.
I disliked all of the swearing in this book. It annoyed me that a lot of the characters swore for emphasis or just to swear or because they felt like it. I could've done without the swearing, especially since a lot of the characters did it, especially T.J. and Rich.
Another thing I really didn't like about this book, something I probably hated was that T.J's dad had to die!!!! For me, it was really unexpected and sad. Ugh! I hated it so so much. First, because Rich was the one who killed him and it was right after they had one the basketball game and then Rich has to try to kill Heidi but shoot the dad instead? I was SO mad! And then when T.J. described his dad going limp in his arms just like the deer had and that's how he knew that his dad was dead was so sad. Something though that I liked that came from this sad part in the book was how T.J. road his bike down to the cafe that he had heard his father talk about in that story so many times and he met his "brother." I liked the story of Kyle Couples and how T.J. and him seemed to click almost instantly on a certain level. I think that going to meet with Kyle was a sort of closure for T.J. after his dad's death. One thing I loved about it was that Kyle told T.J. about his love for whales and that he had no idea why he was so interested in them, but he just was, but T.J. knew it was because his dad had that strong love for them, too. That was a really interesting way to connect Kyle Couples to his birth father whom he had never met.
Second Blog
There are a lot of themes in this book, but two of the biggest ones were racism and abuse. We see sexual, physical and verbal abuse to various characters. First, Heidi is this little five year old black girl who is constantly verbally and physically abused by her step-dad. The story goes that Alicia, Heidi's mother, was in love with this boy by the name of Willis Stack and he got Alicia pregnant and they decided to get married. But then Willis was paralyzed from the neck down and his friends and brothers drove him away one night because he couldn't bare the thought of raising a child in his condition. So Alicia dropped out of school, had her baby and met Rich. Rich told Alicia that "no one would have her *n-word* baby but him" so they got married, changed the baby's name to Heidi because it was the "whitest name" Rich could think of and nine months later had twins. And then came all of the horrible abuse to Heidi. She's this little girl with dark skin who isn't allowed to: touch any food that any other family members might eat or play with her younger brothers' toys. And then Rich comes up with a horrible system to punish Heidi. He gives her "spanks" with his belt for all sorts of pointless things. She gets ten for forgetting to clean her room, five for dropping her dessert on the floor, and ten for not washing out the dog's bowl. But, to make matters even worse and more sad, Rich says Alicia has to deliver the blows to his specifications. This little five-year-old girl is helpless and is born into a world where she is treated like dirt because of her skin color. When we first see Heidi, she tries to "rub the color off of her skin" by scrubbing with water, scrubbing with soap, scrubbing with two soaps, etc. All of this was put into her head by Rich. Towards the end of the book, Alicia, Heidi and the twins are staying with T.J. and his family because they have a restraining order against Rich. But Alicia stupidly decides to let Rich watch the kids for the afternoon. A little later in the story, Heidi walks into the living room and one of her arms is dripping with soap, the other with blood. Heidi claims it worked and that "Daddy Rich" told her to do it and we see that Heidi is holding a Brillo pad that she used to "take the brown off." It really surprises me that it is so easy for Rich to physically, emotionally and mentally abuse this little girl. She's five, for goodness sakes! I can't wrap my mind around it because nobody deserves that. It's really sad that she has to go through that all and all she wants to do is be the best she can be for her "daddy" because she doesn't realize that he doesn't care about her. The other type of abuse is sexual, and we only briefly hear about this. On one of the bus rides, Andy Mott tells the team he was raped by his mother's boyfriend and then just leaves it at that. I think that explains why Andy keeps to himself so much and why I took awhile for him to be able to trust the guys on the team with that information.
Racism is a big theme in Whale Talk. We see it mostly coming from people like Rich Marshall and Mike Barbour who direct it at Heidi and T.J. Of course, Mike Barbour is influenced by Rich Marshall who's like his mentor, and they spend a lot of their free time together so it doesn't surprise me that Mike picks on T.J. for being black. I don't even think it's just that though. It says in the book that T.J. has been asked to play football, basketball, etc. for his school but he doesn't want to because he doesn't like answering to other people. So, I think that Mike takes that anger out on T.J. by putting him down for his race. Rich does the same to Heidi, by making her feel bad because she's black which is just really sad.
Racism is a big theme in Whale Talk. We see it mostly coming from people like Rich Marshall and Mike Barbour who direct it at Heidi and T.J. Of course, Mike Barbour is influenced by Rich Marshall who's like his mentor, and they spend a lot of their free time together so it doesn't surprise me that Mike picks on T.J. for being black. I don't even think it's just that though. It says in the book that T.J. has been asked to play football, basketball, etc. for his school but he doesn't want to because he doesn't like answering to other people. So, I think that Mike takes that anger out on T.J. by putting him down for his race. Rich does the same to Heidi, by making her feel bad because she's black which is just really sad.
Friday, January 11, 2008
First Blog
Let's talk about the characters in this book. The characters presented in Whale Talk are really unique and diverse. I really liked the character of T.J. Jones for many different reasons. First, he's the main character and it was easy to see things from his perspective, especially since the book was written in first person, but mostly because he had a lot of different takes on the situations he was faced with. For example, with the whole Heidi situation. When he first went to Georgia's and she asked him to do role-playing, you saw and felt the shock he felt when she told him to say those horrible things about the dolls. And his reaction when he found out that Rich Marshall was Heidi's (step)dad was easy to relate to, because I'd expect a lot of people to react like that. Imagine how you'd feel if you're enemy was abusing a little girl who looks up to you and you'd feel exactly how T.J. felt. Second, I really liked the way he decided to form the swim team. After he saw Chris swimming, he decided to make the swim team. Chris' character has a really sad story and I was just really happy and like 'aww' when T.J. decided to make the swim team and he asked Chris to join first. I always felt really bad for Chris having to deal with Mike Barbour because he was wearing his brother's letterman jacket. That school cares way too much about those lettermen jackets. Anyways, back to T.J. Another reason why I liked his character so much was because he seemed really aware of his surroundings and I liked that he wasn't ashamed of who he was and that he was always trying to 'help out the little guy.' The scene at the end of the book with Kyle Couples was really interesting, but I was glad that T.J. went to go meet the guy who was basically his brother.
The swim team was great and at first I was a little weary. I thought the team wouldn't really converse with one another and they'd just go to practice then go home, etc, but I was really happy with the way Chris Crutcher decided to write it. All of the characters on the swim team have these different personalities and personal histories that helps you feel like you know them.
For starters, let's begin with Andy Mott. I absolutely loved this character. He's been through a lot, but I found him really funny. When Andy was younger, his mom would leave him alone with his her boyfriend. So, Andy's mom's boyfriend would just tie Andy up to a pipe under the sink and then would go off and do drugs with his friends. Well, eventually Andy developed gangrene and his leg had to be amputated. The swim team is the first group of people to know that Andy has a prosthetic leg. Also, Andy was molested by his mother's boyfriend, but he doesn't ever going into anymore detail than that. With everything Andy's been through, you would expect him to keep to himself and that's what he does. He has a cold, mean demeanor, but eventually, during the swim team's bus rides, we find that Andy isn't exactly what he seems. He talks about drugs, sex and other things that would probably freak a lot of people off, but I found him funny. His humor and care that he grows for his fellow swim team members really shows towards the end of the book and that was really fun to watch happen.
Another character I liked was Dan Hole. We don't see a whole bunch of him, but he was a pretty funny character, too. He's this total brainiac who can't go a sentence without sounding like a thesaurus. Which is hilarious because Icko, (the swim team's temporary coach and then assistant team manager/bus driver) makes him do ten push-ups every time Dan uses a word he doesn't know. The banter between the two can get pretty funny.
The last character I want to talk about is Chris Coughlin. I felt so bad for him when I first heard his story. We first see him when Mike Barbour, a jock who I would bet probably worships his lettermen jacket, is yelling at him for wearing his dead step-brother's lettermen jacket. Mike believes 'you can only wear the jacket if you've earned it.' Chris' step-brother was practically a legend at Cutter High and Mike gets really angry that he's wearing the jacket. From there, we find out that first of all, Chris was born addicted to crack. Second, his mother's boyfriend once wrapped his face in saranwrap to get him to stop crying, but instead ending up making him mentally impaired/retarded. I felt bad for Chris, but I was so happy when the swim team started up and the whole team just accepted Chris and became friends with him. A great scene in the book is when Chris' aunt comes to T.J.'s house to tell T.J. that Chris always talks really highly of him and that basically T.J. is Chris' hero. I really enjoyed the characters in this book because they were different from other books I've read and they weren't what I would've expected them to be.
The swim team was great and at first I was a little weary. I thought the team wouldn't really converse with one another and they'd just go to practice then go home, etc, but I was really happy with the way Chris Crutcher decided to write it. All of the characters on the swim team have these different personalities and personal histories that helps you feel like you know them.
For starters, let's begin with Andy Mott. I absolutely loved this character. He's been through a lot, but I found him really funny. When Andy was younger, his mom would leave him alone with his her boyfriend. So, Andy's mom's boyfriend would just tie Andy up to a pipe under the sink and then would go off and do drugs with his friends. Well, eventually Andy developed gangrene and his leg had to be amputated. The swim team is the first group of people to know that Andy has a prosthetic leg. Also, Andy was molested by his mother's boyfriend, but he doesn't ever going into anymore detail than that. With everything Andy's been through, you would expect him to keep to himself and that's what he does. He has a cold, mean demeanor, but eventually, during the swim team's bus rides, we find that Andy isn't exactly what he seems. He talks about drugs, sex and other things that would probably freak a lot of people off, but I found him funny. His humor and care that he grows for his fellow swim team members really shows towards the end of the book and that was really fun to watch happen.
Another character I liked was Dan Hole. We don't see a whole bunch of him, but he was a pretty funny character, too. He's this total brainiac who can't go a sentence without sounding like a thesaurus. Which is hilarious because Icko, (the swim team's temporary coach and then assistant team manager/bus driver) makes him do ten push-ups every time Dan uses a word he doesn't know. The banter between the two can get pretty funny.
The last character I want to talk about is Chris Coughlin. I felt so bad for him when I first heard his story. We first see him when Mike Barbour, a jock who I would bet probably worships his lettermen jacket, is yelling at him for wearing his dead step-brother's lettermen jacket. Mike believes 'you can only wear the jacket if you've earned it.' Chris' step-brother was practically a legend at Cutter High and Mike gets really angry that he's wearing the jacket. From there, we find out that first of all, Chris was born addicted to crack. Second, his mother's boyfriend once wrapped his face in saranwrap to get him to stop crying, but instead ending up making him mentally impaired/retarded. I felt bad for Chris, but I was so happy when the swim team started up and the whole team just accepted Chris and became friends with him. A great scene in the book is when Chris' aunt comes to T.J.'s house to tell T.J. that Chris always talks really highly of him and that basically T.J. is Chris' hero. I really enjoyed the characters in this book because they were different from other books I've read and they weren't what I would've expected them to be.
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