White Night: Reading Section 1

Post A
(1-58)

Conflagration (page 17)- A big, burst of flames, uncontrolled fire.

Nascent (page 43)- Emergence, coming into existence.

A theme I believe that is emerging from the book is the ability to trust people. A small example came up when Harry's apprentice comes in a crime scene unexpectedly and ruins some of the evidence. This is clearly something that will be seen later in the book.

Post B

So far the book is not what I expected. I was expecting more action and less talking. They've been on this case and it seems like the whole story is on the case and there will be little to none action. From all the reviews I've read it seems like it should be a good book but so far I'm not seeing that. Anyways I do like this writer's style. Jim Butcher likes to keep things modern and I like it. Maybe the reason I don't like this book so far is because I haven't read the other eight books in this series yet. That'll probably give me an understanding of his background and the reason there is no action. I don’t want to sound like a critic, but there is so much I’d like to see improvements on. Fantasy books are usually not my thing but I wanted to try and mix things up this quarter for our outside reading project. Books like this are the kinds that remind me of why I don’t read fantasy books anymore. Even though I’m being negative about this book I don’t doubt Jim Butcher’s writing skills, I just prefer reading a different genre. Well I’m stuck with this book for this quarter, hopefully it’ll get better and I can actually enjoy the climax when it gets there. I’m probably just being a little negative with this book and it’ll probably be a good book to read in the end.

White Night by Jim Butcher

White Night by Jim Butcher
Published 2007
Fiction
416 Pages
The length of the book and it is in the adult reading section of the library.
I chose the book because I like fictional books that have a lot of action in it. When i was looking for a book this one really looked interesting.

The Sea Inside Film study

The Sea Inside used many unique angles and movement in the camera to make the movie more enjoyable. One thing in particular was the camera's constant tilt high angle shot that made it seem as though Sampredo was immobile. Also when his paralyzing accident occurred they had a pan that followed Sampredo's dive into the shallow water. One last shot that I saw that had a very unique feeling to it was when he dreamed of flying. A tracking/dolly gave us a personal view of what he was seeing through his eyes. It showed how wandering his mind really was.

Compare DBATB with The Sea Inside

I think both stories are very alike. Although both paralyzed, Jean Bauby had a little worse of a condition. Because he could not move anything but his left eyelid, while Sampredo could still talk and move his head. Their situations were the same but I think that Bauby still felt a reason to live, and Sampredo had lost one. I think Sampredo's story is more powerful than Bauby's. Sampredo made his whole country watch as he was in a very controversial situation. He wanted to die while many others wanted him to live. He made many people love him during the time. He wanted to die with what dignity he had left.

Personal Reaction to The Sea Inside

I think The Sea Inside was a very political movie. It brought up a very big political topic that's very controversial today. It shows that not just America has there political issues that are debated very heatedly. I think it was fair for Ramon Sampredo to get doctor-assisted suicide. He had a right to die especially in his condition. Although not terminally ill, he had wasted his life away on his bed for over 20 years and wanted to die with what dignity he had left. I think his friend that helped him in no way should be punished. Her actions we're motivated in a way to help a man in a terrible condition.

Reading Section 6: Into Thin Air Part 2

Trusting Makes a Difference

Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, experienced a tragic event in his life. As he was climbing Everest he’s expedition encountered very many deaths including many of his own teammates. Krakauer had more of a reason to just tell the story of this tragic sequence of events. Krakauer wanted every reader to know that the story is about trust. Trust is so important in this book; it led to some of the deaths in this story. He show’s this by explaining these deaths and near-death experiences, his strong words that define trust for him, and the strong loyalty shown by his guides during the storm.

As Krakauer climbed the mountain he experienced death all around him. As his expedition was ascending he felt his first taste of death as two climbers die from climbing accidents. This makes Krakauer very aware of death, it could happen to anyone on the mountain. “In climbing, having confidence in your partners is no small concern. One climber’s actions can affect the welfare of the entire team. The consequences of a poorly tied knot, a stumble, a dislodged rock, or some other careless deed are as likely to be felt by the perpetrator’s colleagues as the perpetrator.” (38) Krakauer’s realistic thought fits in the story because bad communication and small mistakes by his team causes many of the terrible events that occur. Death eventually knocks on his door when he runs out of oxygen and believes he’s going to die. This happens because one of his teammates accidentally turned the valve the wrong way, he trusted his teammate but it didn’t help.

Another thing that Krakauer does to show how important trusting people is the use of his words. His words are heavy and they carry deep meaning. When he writes them down it really makes the reader think. Krakauer explains, “… Boukreev realized they must be in trouble and made a courageous attempt to bring oxygen to them. But his stratagem had a serious flaw:” (211) Krakauer uses loaded and strong words to make the reader feel the importance of this sentence along with sentences. They emphasize the importance of trust, in his opinion, that is needed to successfully climb the mountain.

Krakauer’s team was in a very perilous situation. Although most would die, the guides chose to try to save other’s lives even at the cost of their own. Hall, Harris, Boukreev, and a few others all found themselves in situations to save others or at least try when the storm came. In one example Krakauer describes Lopsang, “ Lopsang was huddling with Fischer on a snow-covered edge when Makalu Gau and his two Sherpas appeared out of the howling blizzard…. ‘I stay with Scott and Makalu one hour, maybe longer.’” (228) This quote shows that even in the face of trouble Lopsang chose to stay and help Scott Fischer even though it seemed like a doomed fate.

The tale of this book is not just to tell a story, it is much more than that. Krakauer wrote this book to teach the reader the importance of trust. In his extreme case, many people were killed due to lack of trust and also bad timing. Krakauer proves this with experiencing death and near-death experiences, his loaded words, and the extreme loyalty by his guides. Trust is a very important thing, Krakauer shows this in his story.

Reading Section 6: Into Thin Air

Summary
(238-278)

As the Japanese climbers are approaching the summit, they encounter 3 Indian climbers that were in critical condition. They choose to ignore them and continue to the summit. The surviving teammates in Krakauer's expedition are very tired and in very bad conditions for continuing the voyage down the mountain. They find Namba and Weathers, which they left behind during the storm. Weathers had his sleeping bad blown away and everyone thinks he's dead. But they end up finding him again alive. One of the Sherpas gets hit by a rock and almost dies, but then a second rock comes down and kills him. A helicopter brings two of the climbers in critical condition to safety while the other's are safe to climb down on their own. Krakauer talks about how he's trying to figure out what happened in that event when he went back home. He determines that simple mistakes lead up to the disaster. Krakauer feels guilt for what happened there. He could have possibly helped someone who was dying there he thought.