Person, Grace, and God week seven vocab

unequivocal (14): Having only one possible meaning.

Convoke (14): To cause to assemble in a meeting.

week six post B

This post I would like to compare this book to the Golden Compass, another teenage fiction book. Surprisingly, their is a huge reading level difference between the two. For example, the Golden Compass depicts the monstrous nature of the church (in the book, the church is monstrous) by, if your familiar with the story, the jarring of demon's of little children. The worst scene in Elephant run, is that of the slight description of decaying corpses. Another huge difference between the two books is the theme development. Other than the foreshadowing presented in Elephant run, little to none analysis was required to understand the rest of the book. However, if you wanted to grasp the whole picture in the Golden Compass, you needed to analysis carefully, because many themes were hinted on. A similarity however, is the vocabulary used. It isn't very difficult to read each book, for the vocab isn't very intense, but of course, it is a step up from elementary school reading, but not by much. I remember reading the Golden Compass in fifth grade, I didn't exactly catch all the deep themes in the book, but I defiantly enjoyed the most obvious plot line. Elephant run was even easier to read because of the less condensed font and the very easy to follow plot line.

week six figurative language

Do to the fact that I finished the book last week, I will go back through the book and pickout and clues that would foreshadow the ending of the book.

1."I'd like that," Nick said, but he still had no intention on going"(92). This is a key foreshadow that I missed because throughout the begining of the book, Nick is constantly reminded that his stubborness will get him in trouble. Well in this case, Nick is going to be transported to India because the Japanese are going to invade the part of Burma he is currently in. He winds up captured, and is forced to stay in Burma for about 8 months.

2."He'll be fine as long as we don't run into a tiger along the way"(231). This quote refers to Hannibal, a fierce elephant that can only be controled by Hilltop, a mysterious monk. I over looked this quote and others metioning Hannibal's utter hate of Tigers, which plays a crucial part in the end of the book because Hannibal winds up saving Nick because he attacks this Japanese jeep covered in Tiger hide.

3."In Burmese, Kya Lei meant Tiger's Breath. An odd name, even for a Burman, Nick thought"(240). This quote I didn't miss exactly, and I predicted that Kya Lei would be key to the ending of the book (I metioned how in my previous posts), but I remeber when I first read this, I ignored it.

quote week six

"When I get a chance, I volunteer Miss Pretty for rail duty. Jackson is usually assigned to that crew. It's terrible work because you're exposed to the sun all day. But the last two times I volunteered, he wasn't there"(261). This quote was important to the book because it shows how the rescue of Nick's father is going to be much harder then anticipated, so they are going to keep trying to figure out ways to accomplish it, which is exactly the major theme throughout the book.

week six theme

The theme that I found most important throughout the book was that you must keep trying if you want things to get done.

vocab week six

Choon (289): An item used by Mahouts, it is like a small backpack.

baton (290): a club that marks someone of authority.

week 5 post b

This week I finished by book, and I would like to talk about the conclusion. Throughout the book, many deaths occur of innocent people. However, even though some of these deaths are described in more detail then a book designed for children, it is barely a step up. For example, in the beginning of the book, when Mia's father dies by being beaten, his corpse is described as "Nang and captain Josephs had been dead for some time. They may have been killed as early as the day before, when Nick was on the island"(111). This scene would not have appeared in a child's book, however for a young adult my age, this lack of imagery is unnecessary. My A.P. world text book gives pictures of actual paintings of morbid scenes with the details. The fact that a textbook is giving more information about death without going into much detail is making me consider if this book shouldn't be labeled as teen fiction.
The ending of the book is also like the ending of a children's book in the sense that everyone lives happily ever after and none of the main characters who were portrayed as protagonists are killed in the end when realistically half of them would be dead. So this book is labled under teen fiction, however, the definition of a teenager is too broad in my opinion because someone my age would fine this book childish, where as a 13 year old who is technically a teenager would fine it well done.