“This Earth of Mankind” is about a young man, Minke, who develops maturity and greater wisdom through experiences too great for a youth like him. Initially, he lives a rather simple life as a student in a Dutch high school in Surabaya, Indonesia. Although he is one of the few Natives who studies in his school, he is able to move with confidence and uphold his beliefs amidst the colonial environment and racial division.

His life begins to change dramatically when he is invited by a friend to one of the most exquisite houses, occupied by a mysterious family. Unexpectedly, he meets and falls in love with the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. Annelies is a mixed-blood daughter of a Native concubine and a European businessman. Furthermore, he is amazed with her mother’s strong character, which is explained by her own harsh experiences in the past. With the help of her Pure husband, she learns how to read, speak other languages, and run a business. And when her husband later proves worthless, she is still able to stand on her own feet. She eventually becomes one of the most significant figures in Minke’s life as a teacher and mother.

As Minke’s relationship with Ann grows deeper, people of the town start spreading rumors and perceives them to be unlawful and shameful. Still, despite these challenges, Minke remains rational and is determined to prove that his education is not useless. Even after his life is threatened and his situation is brought to the court, he continues to believe in the importance of fighting against the injustices of the government, not merely to win but to defend humanity and its rights.

Because of Minke’s education and liberal thoughts, he is able to share his views and perceptions about the corruption in this earth of mankind through his writings published in a newspaper.  His efforts prove purposeful when supporters appear in his defense of keeping his wife after legally marrying under Islamic law. Thus, his publications prove that knowledge is the key to change and success.

Ultimately, Minke and his mother-in-law are defeated after fighting for Annelie’s rights. However, their last lines in the novel show that they have not lost anything, but rather gained. Although their loved one is temporarily taken away from them, they know that they have achieved their goal. After setting a great example to the public, they know that they’ve shared to others the importance of voicing out opinions for their rights and justice.

As the protagonist and narrator of the story, Evan’s character creates a fast-paced and adventurous plot. His wittiness and courageousness add up to make a somewhat thrilling and satisfying narrative. Although he is very unpredictable, he is also a round character who is capable of changing after his near-impossible experiences.

When Evan receives a mysterious call about smuggling live smallpox in Europe, he quickly sells some of his father’s possessions and decides to skip summer school to travel to Europe – and “save the world.” This first act is already unusual which only makes the reader want to read more and figure out what other atypical schemes are ahead. Through his dialogues and actions we can interpret Evan as a quick thinker who believes that almost anything – or even everything – is possible. His strong voice helps convince his friends to assist him through his dangerous journey, which makes him partly responsible for their own actions and the overall story.

Their situation as teenagers in a foreign country also adds to the difficulty apart from the danger. However, Evan’s daring character, which he learns to develop from his harsh father, helps them get through the trouble. When their choices in tight situations are limited, Evan makes sure that even that one choice will succeed. His confidence also influences his friends to not give up, which is important when everyone else have lost hope.

With his strong heart, Evan secretly hides a softer side. After facing a near-death experience with his friends Evan realizes that, despite his father’s strictness, deep inside his heart, his father still loves and cares for him. From a very detached relationship, Evan becomes closer and starts to connect his life with his father.

I think the author did a really good job with expressing Evan’s character through his attitudes, thinking, and appearance. His character clearly influences other major elements of the work, such as the plot and tone, giving the reader a more complete understanding for the thoughts and actions within the story.

Huckleberry Finn is one of the few fictional characters I can relate to. Although his adventures are extraordinary, especially today, his thoughts and concerns are familiar and realistic.

In the beginning, when he is described as a homeless boy with a drunkard father, I thought he would be another character who simply learns his morals through other characters. However, he shows more than the common. Despite the widow’s attempts to “civilize” Huck, he sticks to his own ways and creates rules for himself. With his little knowledge from when he was in school, he is still capable of logically thinking his way through anything that he encounters and allows him to. For example, he questions himself whether helping Jim is truly right or wrong, considering that he is a black slave who belongs to Miss Watson. Through his experiences, whether alone or with other people, he learns how to live in the real world and apply them in order to survive his adventures.

What impressed me most about his character is his natural intelligence. Even though he grew up in a low society, he is not discouraged and is actually willing to study and learn for the better. He thinks through all kinds of situations, which undoubtedly results to some right conclusions. Anything spent time thinking on is worth the right consequence. His instinctual attitude also moves him to question the few things he has learned in society and he begins to compare the law with his sense of logic and fairness – he begins to develop his own strong opinions and outlook in life.

Sometimes, I wish I could think through Huck’s perspective and see the world in another view. Sometimes, social values are not always the best basis for decisions. We might only be strongly influenced into thinking that certain things are right. We must learn that failures are ways to inspire, appeal, and sympathize. Huckleberry shows that imperfection and our struggles in life give us all the opportunity of what we are all given the capability to do – to think and feel.

Nadira and Aisha try to find a way to bring their family back together, sacrificing their school hours and grades, and even the chance to become a valedictorian. Eventually, Nadira finds a mistake with the documents the government mistakenly thought was theirs, and their family faces less consequence.

These stories are familiar because it is part of the contemporary world. Even Filipinos in a similar situation have a nickname – TNT – or Tago ng Tago, which means an illegal alien who is in hiding. Though some know that they have illegal documents, others are just tricked to have legal ones to make money. For those who have illegal documents, I wonder how they can live each day with guilt or fear in their hearts, thinking that they can be caught anytime and get into more trouble, losing their jobs and getting into more financial problems.

However, citizenship shouldn’t be the base of acceptance within a country. Though it’s still right to obey the law, those who are illegal shouldn’t be seen as outcasts and avoided; rather, we should help them because they have the same hope – the hope for a better future.

Many people feel the same way he did – sympathy and sorrow – but not many people take action like he did. It really touches my heart when I see or hear stories similar to this. It makes me want to make the same difference to someone else’s life; I think it is one true definition of happiness. Being a smoke jumper itself, Connor risks his life to save the forest and stop the fire that could change so many lives including his. People who have faced danger and have taken a journey to the dark heart of human suffering makes me realize how much one person can go through and wonder how much more can one can go through – life is full of choices after all.

The Smoke Jumper includes many characters who are all unique in their own way, making me consider how everyone is so different from each other. Although we interact with people everyday, who are all different in so many ways, we don’t always think about the differences – maybe because it’s a thought that’s so broad or because it’s something very obvious that we don’t even care to think about it.

Mainly through media, we hear many stories about teens being abused, losing hope, losing motivation, and purpose in life. Nicholas Evans included such a character in his novel, and although she’s not a main character in the book, her personality stands out the most. She seems to be one of those people who have something within them that move you. After committing a crime, the judge sends her on a program to help her find who she really is and gain confidence. She starts off as hostile and uncooperative like the others, making me wonder how much hurt you could suffer and what kind of harm you could experience before you start to lose trust and principle in life, which is probably different for all of us, again because we are all different and have different pain tolerance – physically and emotionally. It also leads me to the other side of the thought of how people can do harsh things to others. It is because they themselves have experienced it, or because they are afraid of something and don’t want to show it – or both?

Another character shows a trait that not everyone holds. He was a competitive smoke jumper, a dedicated composer, and a caring friend, and even after losing his sight, he remains to be thoughtful and optimistic, wanting to live life just like before, like nothing happened. Others, however, might have taken it the other way, and let depression take over their lives. Of course he feels depressed, just like anyone would if they were in his position, but he keeps it within himself, not wanting his loved ones and friends to know and get affected by it, thinking it could be a burden to them. I guess this could be seen as something positive and negative – positive if the person can really handle it themselves, helping them to become a better and stronger person, but negative if they keep it inside because they don’t want to seem weak, turning their lives down.

S-A-T. What comes to mind when you hear those three letters? The first things that come to my mind are bubble sheets, long hours, lead 2 pencils, and rows of desks.. oh, and silence, of course; who wants to be forced out of the SAT room?

The Taker by J.M. Steele is about a high-school student, Carly, who gets a low score on her SAT. She gets involved with “the taker”, who is suppose to ace SATs for other people in exchange for something. Carly, I thought, accepted the proposal without thinking about it thoroughly. She didn’t seem to think about the consequences, regardless if she was caught or not, and the guilt she’d feel after. First of all, cheating is wrong; how can you live knowing that you’ve cheated? Second, the taker is a stranger who wants a who-knows-what exchange. Third, using the taker is not a way to succeed because it’s not you who is taking the test. These reasons would be the reasons why I wouldn’t even think about using the taker if I was in Carly’s situation. Like others would say, I’d rather get a low score by taking the test myself, than getting a high score by cheating. Getting a low score can also motivate you to work harder to get a better score next time.

The story, however, has a little twist. Carly gets tutored by Ronald, another high-school student, and still takes the SAT at the end thinking that the taker would somehow get her scores up. When she finds out that her scores dramatically rose, she thinks the taker did his job. However, when she goes to meet the taker, she finds out that it was Ronald; he knew she needed help for the SAT and figured she wouldn’t be stressed if she thought it was all taken care of. He also just wanted to study with her, and figured this was the chance to make it happen. Carly gets upset and feels betrayed, but eventually forgives him and realizes that he just wanted to help her.

Many students have thought about cheating, if not have already cheated, because of pressure for good grades, but it’s not about the letter, it’s about how much you study, try, and improve.

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Cynthia Kadohata’s “Weedflower” talks about the rewards and challenges of friendship under certain circumstances through the eyes of a young girl who yearns to belong. Sumiko was born in the United States and was raised by her aunt and uncle since her parents died in an accident. They lived as flower farmers and, thus, flowers became Sumiko’s best friend. Being Japanese also, somehow, made life harder for their family; the whites didn’t interact with them, and nor did they interact with the whites. To make things worse, the Americans forced all Japanese into camps – or “jails” as the Japanese called them.

Sumiko grew up with no friends due to racial discrimination, and this painful topic continually saddens me whenever I hear or read a story about it. The fact that Sumiko had her flowers and family to go home to made me sentimental and sorry for her. Why can’t we just treat each other equally? Now, some may reason out that we’re imperfect, but even then, we don’t have to “hurt”, or simply judge anyone – by their appearance, if ever. When Sumiko’s family “settled” in the camp, she met an Indian boy who became her first real friend. Together, they experience racial and political challenges, and they help each other strive through life and understand what friendship truly means.

This book also gives an insight in history and culture. The story takes place during the attack on Pearl Harbor, a military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the Unites States. Like I said in one of my previous blog posts, being part of a war is just inconceivable, and I don’t know what I would have done or thought if I was in Sumiko’s place or in someone else’s who’s in the same situation. The Japanese, however, seemed nonchalant about their situation, and they just went on with everyday life. Well, what else could they have done? This story also gave me the perspective that Japanese culture can be very strict about certain things, if that makes sense. For example, they put a lot of importance in respecting elders, and being lazy is unacceptable.

Fever 1793 gives a very vivid perspective of how life was back in the old days. The main character, Mattie, lives with her Grandfather, who used to be part of the military, her mom, who wakes up before the sun rises and sleeps after the sun sets, and their two house maids.

The book starts off with a tragic event – one of their maids dying – which is followed by more events throughout the book. So, the author did a pretty good job keeping the reader’s attention. Because of the lack of knowledge about hygiene and medicine, diseases were easily spread, which killed hundreds if not thousands of people within days or weeks. The fever that attacked the town was the yellow fever, and doctors then believed that draining blood was the solution to get rid of it. Reading this book and learning more about how people lived their lives, and worse while an epidemic hit them, made me realize how fortunate we are to live today with all the medicines and knowledge we have now.

Later, we read that Mattie’s Grandfather also dies, but not because of the fever, but because of robbers who hoped to get fortune from isolated homes, because families have moved to the city, away from the fever. Then her mother also catches the plague and becomes terribly sick, almost to the point of dying. Now, putting myself in Mattie’s place, I don’t think I would have known what to do. Regardless of losing a grandfather, who used to be part of a military and knows knowledge about survival, and a mother who is sick, Mattie becomes stronger and tries to carry on her mother’s tasks while taking care of her, which is also hard work – she has to bathe her mother, changer her bed sheets, and clean her vomit every few hours. This is one thing I look up to about her character, and something I wish I could have when necessary – bravery.