Insomnia: About The Author

About The Author

The author of the book I'm reading, Insomnia, is Stephen King. Stephen King is an author who mainly writes horror stories. Generally his books are over 110,000 words. His longest book being The Stand with 1152 pages. he has been writing since 1974 and is still writing and publishing books today. Some of his most popular books are; The Shining, Revival, Under the Dome, The Stand, and Carrie.

Many of his books are still popular today because of movies(The Shining & Carrie) and some of his books are so long they got turned into TV shows.(Under the Dome) He has had _ of his book that have been turned into movies. In general he says he's reasonably happy with the way his books turn out. However, when asked about one of his most popular movies, The Shining, he says it didn't turn out quite like he wanted.

Stephen King Answers Questions From Fans

Stephen King began writing when he was in school for a school newspaper. He even sold short stories that he wrote based of movies to some of his classmates. He went to college at The University of Maine. Throughout college he wrote, published, and sold short stories. He then worked as a teacher while still selling short stories to magazines and columns. 

After publishing his first book, Carrie, he moved around Maine while publishing more books like 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, and The Stand. After that he taught a creative writing class and wrote and published his first and longest series, The Dark Tower books. And has continued writing many more books up till now only taking a break in 2002 after a car accident. Some books he's published recently are Revival, A Good Marriage, and Mr Mercedes.  He doesn't publish as many books today as he did in the 1970's through 1990's but the books he publishes are still just as amazing as when he was younger.

Fahrenheit 451 Theme Handout

Group Members: Connie Mi, Andres Simoya, Julietta Collins, Adam Kemme

Bell 7

Theme Statement: People should take action, rather than watch a society falter and crumble.

Timeline:

Montag is very ignorant about the horrors of his old society.

Montag started to walk away when he realized that Clarisse was gone

Montag risks his life to meet with Faber, who is reluctant to start a plan.

Montag convinces him otherwise, and they communicate using a radio.

Angry with his life, Montag kills Beatty when they burn down his house.

Montag ran away from the Hound, even though the rest of the city was on the lookout for him.

Montag leaves the old society to start a new one.

Quotes:

Part 1	Part 2	Part 3
“‘You can’t ever have my books,’ she said. ‘You know the law,’ said Beatty”	“ ‘Those who don’t build must burn. It’s as old as history and juvenile delinquents. ‘ ‘So that’s what I am.’ ‘There’s some of it in all of us.’”	“We all made the right kind of mistakes, or we wouldn’t be here.”
The woman lost her life, sacrificing herself for the betterment of society. Her actions even provoked Montag to question his life.	“Montag did not look back at his wife as he went trembling along the hall of the kitchen, where he stood a long time.”

This theme is important to the understanding of the story because the idea that people shouldn’t just watch a society falter and crumble is why Montag decides to illegally take books from the burning houses and try to spread the knowledge in those books to other people causing him to become a fugitive and find Granger and other people with his same goal, to stop society from crumbling.

This theme is important today because if the people do not contribute ideas then society will crumble compared  to a democratic society where you can contribute your own ideas without any consequences involved.

Duma Key: A Dynamic Character and How They Changed Throughout the Text

Duma Key

Stephen King

A dynamic character in my book would be the main character, Edgar Freemantle. In the beginning of the book, just after his accident he is always angry, out of control, and forgets a lot. However, by the end of the book he's confident, more calm, and much more in control of himself and his memories.

In the beginning of the book Edgar gets into an an accident while working. This accident causes him to lose his right arm and damage almost the whole right side of his body, including his head. Because of this he often gets frustrated, angry, and can't remember things that happened in the past or moments that he doesn't remember that he does at the times and has some hostile encounters with his wife until eventually she asks for a divorce. Edgar decides that he needs a fresh start and moves to Duma Key, Florida. While there he discovers a talent, makes new friends, and really changes his lifestyle and how he thinks.

In the very beginning right after his accident the story is being told in first person vpoint of view in the past. A quote that shows how despairing and in pain Edgar was is, "and the nurse says: 'Are you ready to visit with your wife?' And I say: 'Only if she brought a gun to shoot me with.'" This helps show how much he didn't want to go on and couldn't move past the pain and the missing limb. However by the end of the book he is speaking in present tense and says, "If I kept saying it; if I kept reaching out. My accident really taught me just one thing: the only way to go on is to go on. To say 'I can do this' even when you know you can't." This really shows how he changed his way of thinking to more positive and more ready to believe in himself. It also shows how he's trying new things and pushing himself to do things that will make him happy.

I found an outside article that shows how hard is it to live without a limb after living so long. This article also talks phantom pains that Edgar also dealt with and how hard it is to adjust your lifestyle in such a dramatic way. Overall, Edgar started out having a hard time dealing with the problems in his life but after meeting more supportive friends he became happier and more hopeful for his future.

The Shining: Describe The Setting Of The Novel

My novel is The Shining by Stephen King. The setting of this book is a hotel in the 1980's. The family is living there for the winter because the dad is the caretaker. It is called The Overlook because the hotel is in the mountains and overlooks the scenery in the mountains. An example from the book describing the scenery seen from the road near the hotel is, "They were standing near the top of one peak. Across from them- who knew how far?- an even taller mountain reared into the ski, its jagged tip only a silhouette that was now nimbused by the sun, which was beginning its decline. The whole valley floor was spread out below them..."(King 63) This is a description of the view from a stop in the road below the hotel. The scenery is the main reason the hotel is so popular despite it's  history of crime and death there.

Another important aspect of the setting is how they are isolated The closest thing to the hotel is a small town awhile away and is down a steep mountain. The next major city is even farther. This shows how if there is any trouble at the hotel it might take awhile to get help. This causes the parents to be very overprotective of Danny. It also means that the only thing that the kid, Danny, can do is explore in and around the hotel.

Another thing about the setting is the climate. Part of the build up for the climax is that there will be tons of snow in the winter. This will make it hard for them to leave the hotel, let alone get down the mountain to the nearest town. It also means the phone lines and such are down, meaning they can't call anyone for help. Even if they can call for help, people won't be able to get up to the mountain to them. This all adds up to show that because of the setting of this novel they are isolated from other people and unable to leave the hotel.

Overall the setting of this book and it's attributes are very important to the plot and help cause conflict later on in the book. 

Such Good Girls: Text to Society

Text to Society Blog

A central idea from my book Such Good Girls by R. D. Rosen is the idea of loss. In my book one of the main characters, Sophie, and her mom have to get new identities, move to a different country, and pretend to be of a different religion so that they don't get caught by the Germans and taken to concentration camps or killed. In this period of moving, Sophie loses many things. Shortly before they are planning to leave, the building Sophie's dad was in got raided by Nazi's and he wasn't seen again. Soon after that she and her mother move and she loses the comfort of home and familiarity. She even loses her identity since she has to act christian and be called a different name to make sure the Germans didn't suspect her and her mom as runaway Jews. Then, at the end of the war when her mother could tell her about how she used to be Jewish even though she didn't remember it much she suffered another loss of identity, after thinking she and her mother were Christian for 15 years.

Sophie around age 2 and her mom

An outside article I found that also talks about loss is http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-10-07/features/ct-talk-brotman-holocaust-20131007_1_aaron-elster-former-children-holocaust. This article talks about other hidden Holocaust survivors. It talks about how some people say it was better to be hidden than to have gone to a concentration camp and the hidden survivors didn't lose as much. However, this article talks about how some of the children had to leave their families and friends behind to die or had to come back to their families being gone and house raided by Nazi's and they are the only ones left. It also talks about how even though they're older they still remember the loss they had to deal with and how it still affects them.

One of the hidden Holocaust survivors

Explain Why You Chose The Book You Did

I chose the book The Gunslinger by Stephen King. One of the main reasons I chose to read this book is because I have read a couple other books of Stephen King and like his writing style. Two other books I've read by him are, Thinner and Insomnia. I feel like the way he writes helps keep the plot interesting throughout the whole book. However, it also doesn't move too fast so you don't get confused about what's happening. I also like the way he tends to end many of his books.

I also liek reading fantasy fiction. I have read the book Hyperion which I've heard is like the Dark Tower Series. Since I really enjoyed Hyperion I thought I would also enjoy The Gunslinger. Hyperion was about a group of people traveling to the Time Tombs. The Dark Tower series is like this, however in the Gunslinger it's a single person and he is traveling to the Dark Tower.

Another reason I chose this book is my mom, dad, and older brother have all recommended it to me. My brother says the series that this book is part of (The Dark Tower Series) is Stephen King's best work. I liked reading some other books he has recommended to me so I decided to read this one too.