Annika Wahlsten

807

10-18-14

Censorship on An Abundance of Katherines

        An Abundance of Katherines by John Green is a very popular and likeable book, but should it be banned for certain audiences? An Abundance of Katherines is about a teenage prodigy named Colin who has dated 19 girls named Katherine. Him and his best friend Hassan go on a road trip to Tennessee. It’s a coming of age story about Colin and his obsession of Katherines. I believe that a lot of the material in the book is not suitable for young kids in elementary school, also the complex themes in the book would go over most young kids heads.  

An Abundance of Katherines has a lot of risqué content that could influence young kids. For example on page 174 John Green describes a very graphic sex scene. “She Was facing away from them, her back arched, her butt bobbing in and out of visibility. Colin had never seen actual people having actual sex before. From his angle, it looked a little ridiculous, but he suspected it might appear different if he were in the guy’s position.

Hassan laughed silently, and he seemed so amused by the situation that Colin felt okay laughing, too. “This is some fugging snow globe of a day,” Hassan said. And then he raced forward about ten paces, cupped his hands over his mouth, and screamed, “I AM BREAKING UP WITH YOU!” Still, though, a goofy grin was on his face. Hassan takes so little seriously, Colin thought. As Katrina turned back toward them, her face shocked and scared, her arms crossed over her chest, Hassan turned away.” This scene is essential to understanding the plot so if a child weren’t mature enough to read it the whole plot would go over their head. There are also scenes of drinking between the two main characters that would take away from the book if not read. An Abundance of Katherines should be banned from elementary schools because the kids would not understand the book.        

The books nuanced themes would take an at least 7th grade perspective to understand. In the book Colin creates a theorem to explain why Katherines always dump him. This theorem becomes his obsession and its clear that Colin finds odd things so he wont be forgotten. For example on page 150 Colin says, “Don’t matter. I don’t matter.” Being a child prodigy Colin can do remarkable things like learn new languages in a month but nothing he feels will matter. Someone in grammar school most likely could not grasp these complex ideas. Also the mature content could change impressionable readers for the worse.

Annika Wahlsten

807

10-10-14

Argument Essay

Syria is in the midst of a brutal civil war. Some people of Syria are in support and others are rebelling their tyrannical dictator Bashar al assad. Air strikes are being conducted to protect people but they may be doing more harm than good  hurting not only terrorists but innocent people. It is not ethical to conduct air strikes.

The article “Escape from Hell” in Upfront magazine centers around Amna al-khodr, 17, who used to be a normal teen before the air strikes. Amna studied computer science liked hanging out with her friends until in 2011 when the war broke out and neighbors turned against each other for political views. Assad's military ravaged her home town and set up barricades looking for rebels but often these soldiers harassed civilian like Amna and took her groceries. Amnas family found out a girl had been detained at a checkpoint and raped by the soldiers so they finally decided to move from their home to seek refuge. There was constant bombing in Syria and after Amna moved her hometown was in ruins. In the article she quotes “Airstrikes do not discriminate between civilians and militants.” This shows airstrikes can help the situation in syria but also hurt innocents.

The question whether airstrikes are ethical or not is very complex. It brings up the question are innocent lives more important than a countries peace. Airstrikes might help the fight with the terrorist group ISIS but unjustified death is never right. But whose to define what's right or not, the government conducting the airstrikes thinks choosing nations peace over civilian lives is the right decision. But until airstrikes completely fix the nation I don't believe they're worth these lives.

Annika Wahlsten

807

10-2-14

Reading Response to “Faithful Elephants”

“Faithful Elephants” by Yukio Tsuchiya depicts amid a war torn country, a zoo in crisis. For the safety of the citizens the government forced the zoo keepers to put their animals to sleep, because if the bombs hit the cages of the animals then they could run free and hurt people. It it especially hard to humanely kill three beloved elephants but eventually the zoo keepers must. The story tells a grim tale about war through three tragic animals. Tsuchiya also uses setting to express mood.

This story isnt really about elephants but about the sacrifices people make for war. For example in the story at the end when the beloved elephants are all killed  the zoo keepers cry “Stop the war, stop all wars!” This shows the authors purpose to the story to express the true meaning of the death of the animals to show hardships of war.

The setting in “Faithful Elephants” plays a big role in expressing the mood. The setting shows destruction and  peaceful resolution. For example years after the catastrophe at the zoo it’s all rebuilt and restored with animals, the author describes vivid scenes of of sunshine and beautiful cherry blossoms. Then during the climax of the story the author describes the bombs as rain falling this comparison shows the bombs as hard and unstoppable like rain and like the war.

“Faithful Elephants” is more than a depressing story about elephants. The author shows deeper issues through this story. Showing as authors we can express tough problems through simple stories like “Faithful Elephants.”