Sun+Young+Park's+Summer+Reading

=**__King Dork__ by Frank Portman** =

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What is communion? It is about exchanging thoughts and feelings among individuals. Arguing is a type of communion – which tells us that communion is not always a good thing. However, this is not the case for Frank Portman’s __King Dork__. In this novel, the term “kinship” has a positive connotation; the characters are generally in mutual relationships.

When people are engaged in a same topic or an issue, they prone to come close. Due to his mother’s force, Tom meets Dr. Hexstrom. Since Tom is kind of an outsider, who rarely talked at school, his mother insists Dr.Hexstrom to make Tom become “normal”. However, rather than talking about how to become “normal”, these two discuss about the mysterious codes and riddles that Tom’s deceased father had left behind. Nonetheless, these discussions are not the main point of the chapter. It is about the way that these two are sharing something in common – the unsolved puzzles.

According to Foster’s __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__, communion is about act of sharing something together. Here, sharing refers to a meal, idea, drugs and so forth. Again, Tom and Dr. Hexstrom share the unsolved puzzles in common, exemplifying a type of Foster’s idea on communion. “…my share would be at least a hundred and fifty dollars so I could schedule my own appointment with Dr. Hexstrom. Because I really wanted to discuss Tit with her, after all that had happened.” (Portman, 271) This quote reveals the Tom’s eagerness to talk to Hexstrom about the mysterious matter, showing both a detective-like relationship between the two, and the act of communion.

Comment:

Hi Sun Young,

I think the introduction is very interesting. Starting off with a rhetorical question lead readers to think about the subject and get curious about the rest of the essay. Furthermore, the introduction has a clear thesis of “kinship” by giving a contrast example. The summary part seems a bit protracted, but it vividly explains the storyline of the novel. The last paragraph begins with the reference from Foster’s __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__, which is one great way to inform the readers about how communion is defined. Although you have provided an example of a quote an analysis, I think the writing can be improved by more analysis. For example, you could further the argument about what the author is trying to convey through the characters’ communion. The essay contains a variety of sentence structures, but some sentences block the flow. Also you have done a great job in writing in present tense.

Seung Woo Eun




When thinking about “vampirism”, most readers will draw upon an image of a cruel man destroying an innocent woman. Among the many themes of Frank Portman’s __King Dork__, one of them is on vampirism. Here, Portman tries to illustrate its very concept – wicked evil vs. helpless good.

With the mysterious riddles and codes, Tom tries to decipher them. Through the process, he learns something unpleasant about his school. Apparently, Mr. Teone – the school principal – is a porn-Satanist, who established a “high school-oriented pornography operation”. Recruiting the members forcefully by giving them with rewards, or detentions to do as he says, Teone records and sells these porn videos overseas through internet. Because the school is a small body, this very issue leaks within the community. Embarrassed, shamed, and humiliated – the kids who are in some of those videos, desperately hopes that the videos will not disclose.

Foster explores vampirism in his novel, __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__. According to Foster, a story does not always have to have a vampire to express vampirism. Rather, using people to fulfill our desires or acting selfish toward others can also be described as a vampiric act. Thus, in this case, corrupt and old Mr. Teone is acting selfishly by using the innocent and energetic students to get what he wants – the porn videos. Tom describes this incident by saying, “…a perverted high school sexploitation empire and…little children from the devil-head predations of an evil associate principal.” (Portman, 322) Thus, like that of James’ Daisy Miller (1878) and Stoker’s Dracula (1897), Portman’s __King Dork__ accurately portraits the very idea on vampirism. 

**Essay #3 - Every Trip Is a Quest**
 A quest does not always have to be a journey or a war. It is a process in which one learns something from it. In Portman’s __King Dork__, Tom goes through a mission that changes his entire life.

The part when Tom finds his father’s book collections in garage is the starting point of his new life. With these books, he spots riddles that keep repeating in the books. Curious, Tom decides to decode what these puzzles are meant for.

Tom’s detective quest matches up with the outline that Foster insists a quest should have. As a quester, Tom goes around his community in search for the meaning of the codes that his deceased father had set up. Soon, the curiosity becomes an obsession. To know more about how his father was like, Tom goes through hardships with his mom, the principal and his only friend. Soon, more clues appear and his confusions get deeper. After much thought, Tom comes to a conclusion - there is no point. This is because he realizes that there is no right answer to his father’s codes. Suppose that those codes in his father books were written out randomly when he was bored. Obviously, if that was the case, there is no right answer. Moreover, Tom does not want to hurt his mother anymore by asking her more specifically about his father and his death. “…you can’t spend all your time digging through other people’s stuff to try to shed light on your own concerns. Sometimes you just want to switch to obsessing about semihot girls and working on your band for a while.” (Portman, 320). Thus, what Tom learns after his somewhat ended quest, exactly exemplifies what Foster is talking about – “The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge.” (Foster, 3) 

**Essay #4 - Is That a Symbol? **
 <span style="color: rgb(19, 19, 88); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Every novel has certain types of symbols and their meanings can be varied. This means that depending on the readers, their interpretations of a certain symbol can differ, and same goes to those who are reading Frank Portman’s __King Dork__. In his novel, Portman uses a band as a device to represent new identity and connection to the society.

Throughout the chapters of the novel, Tom’s act of practicing in his band is mentioned now and then. Although he is an outsider at his school, when he is in band, he is just like every other boys – humorous, active, and passionate. Thus, through his band, the readers can see Tom’s different self. In the end, due to the popularity of his band, Tom changes from an outsider to a rock star whom everybody loves.

In his __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__, Foster stresses on the point that symbols can both be interpreted variously and can have more than one meaning. Thus, Tom’s band in King Dork can not only mean Tom’s new identity, but also a connection to the society. Through band, Tom finds his new-self that he never imagined before. Likewise, he has his band concert, which indirectly “connects” him with the audiences – the society – and himself. Soon, his life entirely changes. “If you’re in a band, even an extremely sucky band, girls…will totally mess around with you…Start a band. Or go around saying you’re in a band, which is, let’s face it, pretty much the same thing. The quality of your life can only improve.” (Portman, 303-304). Thus, this hidden symbol carries significant meanings within the novel. <span style="color: rgb(19, 19, 88); font-family: Georgia,serif;">

Yo Sun Young! I stepped by because your book sounds interesting. I was not able write an essay on this topic so I decided to take some time reading this section. First, the intro I am able to figure out what your taking about because of the clear thesis. Also with the short summary I could get a picture about the section you read. Overall, I think you essay was good. It really brought my attention to read your essay with enough details. Your sentence and paragraphs were fluent. You were able to help understand the ideas. It made the audience to actually read the novel. I am going to be reading it for sure :D -Sylvia

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<span style="color: rgb(19, 19, 88); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Let’s face it: physical bullying issues are everywhere. In __King Dork__ by Frank Portman, Tom experiences many forms of bullying – from punching to braining. Some may think that these are just normal student issues that happen everyday – boring and repetitive. However, to Portman these violence are not just physical actions that have no meanings; they express the chillness of social hierarchy.

Tom faces with the reality of social status through violence. Due to his unexpected act of beating up one of Matt Lynch’s people, Tom receives respectable amount of attention at school. Moreover, although he is considered as a dork, he starts to connect himself to the school-body through his band. After the band concert at Festival of Lights, he begins to gain positive attention from people, resulting him to open himself more to the world than he did before. Likewise, this event surely makes it possible for Tom to reach the upper status – the “normal” or even the “popular”. However, Matt Lynch, the bully, takes actions on Tom, forcing him to stay quiet and go back to his status – the “untouchables” (Portman, 109). Struck by an instrument, Tom once again realizes his “low status” of his school’s social level pyramid.

In his __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__, Foster describes violence not only as a device to emphasize one’s status, but also as an act that is related to societal concerns. “…people, who didn’t care whom they sold out as long as it meant a chance at a couple more drops of nerd blood.” (Portman, 276). In this quote, a reader can notice how Tom is debasing himself with an attitude of “it’s just a nerd blood, and who cares”. Thus, Tom’s situation of having been forced to return to his status as “the untouchables” through violence, confirms both Foster’s ideas and Portman’s expression on the “chillness of societal structure”. <span style="color: rgb(19, 19, 88); font-family: Georgia,serif;">

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Hey, Jin! I think your essay was great. Especially, your thesis was quite catchy! Your ideas, in general, were clearly stated, and your essay was clear. By reading the essay, I completely understood what you meant by the family being "disconnected" and about how the house seemed big, after Buck's death. You gave me enough important details about the novel you read, allowing me to get the general idea of this novel. Your overall flow was well done, and your choice of words were good. However, there were some spelling mistakes that you have to change. Also, I think that the last two sentences of second paragraph did not link to the former sentences. Thus, if you try to link these sentences together, I think that your essay will be better understood. Overall, though, your essay was written very well :) GOOD JOB!!

- Jin Kwon, Essay # 4

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<span style="color: rgb(19, 19, 88); font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hey, Alice! In general, I understood what you wanted to say in your essay, meaning that your essay's clarity was good. Moreover, your stress upon the racism and gender bias, allowed me to picture what your novel would be like. However, I think that you could have made possible changes. For example, although your introduction was okay, the sentences could have been clearer. The fourth sentence and the last two sentences, for instance, do not link together well. Likewise, I believe that when you talk about a novel, you use present tense. Thus, I think that you should be more be careful about the tenses. Lastly, I did not completely get what you meant in the conclusion part where you wrote "...the reason for this is written in chapter eleven of Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor." Perhaps, you could have wrote which reason you were referring to. But overall, your essay is well-written, and your voice, and ideas are strong enough. Good Job :)

- Alice Ahn, Essay #3


 * IMPORTANT: Your summer reading assignment page should have five essays (copy and pasted) and two comments (copy and pasted). If I have to look for your assignments, points will be deducted!**