Jungna+Park's+Summer+Reading

=//Lovely Bones// by Alice Sebold= Approved  Every story is a quest despite the genre. The quest is a learning process that helps the quester to realize the truth behind the stated goal of their journey. __The Lovely Bones__ by Alice Sebold draws a quest that a family goes through to accept the loss of its dear daughter. Through this process, the family realizes the importance of family.
 * Essay #1**

According to __How to Read Literature like Professor__ by Thomas C. Foster, the actual reason and the stated reason are never the same. It is in fact usually the case for the stated reason to be false in some way. The stated reason of the quest in The Lovely Bones was to capture the murderer but the actual reason of the quest was to realize family's importance. When Susie was missing, the family hoped her to come home. The family's hope was destroyed as the investigation changed to a murder investigation. While Mr.Salmon was focused in capturing the murderer, he became estranged from Mrs. Salmon. With disbelief of losing her daughter, Mrs. Salmon drifted farther away from him and eventually leaving the house. After many years, Mrs. Salmon returns after hearing the shocking news of Mr. Salmon’s heart attack. This long experience brought family all together in realization of their importance.

The quest has failed because the stated task: capturing the murderer, was not accomplished but it has accomplished something different. The family and Susie have learned the importance of their lives. As Susie’s soul lingers in the heaven, she could not let go of the life on earth. She often followed her families around, desiring to return to earth. “I realized how much... His love for my mother wasn’t about looking back and loving something that would change. It was … loving … for everything – for her brokenness and her fleeing” (Sebold 280). After all the struggles they have gone through, Susie and her family have accepted how to love each other as a whole. Through the painful experience of losing someone they loved, they have learned to value what they have.

In conclusion, __The Lovely Bones__ by Alice Sebold is the quest of acceptance and realization of importance of the family. Even though quester failed, the failure gave them the opportunity to learn different yet more important aspect in quester’s life, family. The failures in our life are never just a stupid mistake but we fail to improve.

Hey Jungna! :)

You're essay was very neat and well-organized. The points in your essay were clear and I liked how this made the essay more clear as well. But just be careful and watch out for some grammar mistakes. I also liked how you wrote everything in a kind of "step by step" format. I could tell what you were trying to say and what your conclusion was. You also did a nice job of mixing in your opinions with the story in your essay.

- Wonkyung (Alena) Koo

Symbolisms are always present in a novel. It depends on the reader to figure out what symbolisms are there and what they mean. To better comprehend the novel, the reader needs to understand these underlying symbolisms. __The Lovely Bones__ by Alice Sebold manifests important symbolisms among which is Susie’s monopoly piece: the shoe. The shoe symbolizes Susie to Buckley, Susie’s little brother.
 * Essay #2**

On Christmas Day, Mr. Salmon lets Buckley to play Monopoly. Mr. Salmon shows Buckley Susie’s piece, the shoe and he tells Buckley that Susie is dead. Buckley connects the shoe with Susie. After many years Buckley gets into a fight with Mr. Salmon about Susie’s belongings and returns to the topic of the shoe, which has disappeared. He accuses him for the missing shoe piece.

According to __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__ by Thomas C. Foster, through asking questions, and experiencing and applying pre-existing knowledge can help to decipher a symbolism. Then what might the Monopoly shoe represent to Buckley? Personal belongings often represent the owner. For example, using my preexisting knowledge of my family, a watch my father wears represents my father to me. So like my father’s watch, the shoe represents Susie to Buckley. “See this Shoe?” my father said … “Susie?” my brother asked, somehow connecting the two” (Sebold 69). Later in the novel, Buckley bitterly blames his father of losing Susie, “I saved the Monopoly shoe and then it was gone. You took it! You act like she was yours only!”(Sebold 256). The shoe is the only connection that Buckley has with Susie. Since Susie died when Buckley was young, his connection and interaction with Susie is limited.

In conclusion, Susie’s Monopoly piece symbolizes Susie to Buckley. The shoe is a correspondence of Buckley’s relationship with Susie. The symbolisms can be understood through the process of questioning and applying pre-existing knowledge. In order to understand the literature as a whole and beyond, it is important to comprehend the hidden symbolisms.

Violence in literature communicates issues of the world to the reader. Even though the violence is used to portray significance of the psychological and cultural issues, in __The Lovely Bones__ by Alice Sebold, violence illustrates how insignificant a human life can be in the gigantic universe we live in
 * Essay #3**

In the start of second sentence of the novel, Susie Salmon, the protagonist, confesses her death. Her neighbor rapes, murders and buries her in an underground den. The use of violence here may well be shocking. However, according to __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__ by Thomas C. Foster “our… deaths are as nothing to the universe… that is indifferent, though it may be actively interested in our demise” (Foster 88). The death of our and other lives is a mere repetition in universe. Susie’s death was a devastating event that brought grief in her family, however the family still lived and went to accept her death. Later she realized how insignificant her death was to all others who actually did not know who she was as the quote “No one would have predicted how my loss would change small moments on Earth”(Sebold 231) clearly states. Many things happen to her family and her friends without her physical existence, time has passed and grown in their own nature. This shows how insignificant our lives are to the bigger world and time.

In conclusion, Susie’s death, however tragic, was merely nothing to the grand universe. The death of Susie left the family broken-hearted but they managed to live their lives without physical existence of Susie. Our lives are only important to those who are near us not for the whole world.

In literature, the rain always is a representation and symbolism. The rain in literature gives birth and brings changes. In __The Lovely Bones__ by Alice Sebold rain represents the new start of the wounded mind.
 * Essay #4**

Lindsay, Susie’s sister, and Samuel were on their way home riding motorcycle but they had to stop because of the heavy rain pouring down on them, and later Samuel proposes to Lindsay. The rain here is not just a rain we come across in our daily life; it is a representation of new beginning. After the death of Susie Salmon her sister Lindsay goes through traumas in her inner self. As the rain poured down soaking Lindsay, the reader realized that Lindsay is not a kid anymore who often lifted her head to look for her dead sister; she has grown up.

According to __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__ by Thomas C. Foster, rain allows a brand-new start, makes improvement, restores, and brings back life. The rain pouring down on Lindsay and Samuel proposing to her represent the beginning of a different life, leaving the past behind. “I knew she was not running away from me or toward me. Like someone who has survived a gut-shot, the wound had been closing, closing – braiding into a scar for eight long years” (Sebold 242). To Lindsay, her sister death has left her wounded, but as the years passed the wound had healed just leaving a scar, it has left her a memory rather than burdening her with the thought of Susie’s death. The rain had highlighted the restoration brought in Lindsay’s wound and the new chapter of her life.

In conclusion, the rain represents changes. Lindsay has gone through many difficulties but as the rain poured down on her it underlined the brand-new start of her life and restored her wound to only a memorable mark.

Seasons are well represented in literature. Each season represents different themes. In many cases, winter represents death, spring the beginning, summer the harmony, and fall the harvest. In __The Lovely Bones__, Alice Sebold utilizes seasons to reflect a life of a shattered family.
 * Essay #5**

According to __How to Read Literature Like a Professor__ by Thomas C. Foster seasons have connection with the human experience. All four weathers represent the cycles of human lives. Susie Salmon dies on December 6, 1973 on a cold winter day. And surprisingly after many years her murderer dies on a cold winter day too. The author put emphasizes on winter as the season of death. In the spring of 1976, Susie’s family starts the year without their mom. On a fall of 1976, Len Fenerman, the police officer finds and collects evidence from the murderer’s house representing the year of harvest where they finally achieved the key to Susie’s murder case. In June 1977, summer, the day of what would have been Susie’s graduation signifies the adulthood that Susie must have gone through if she was alive, and also represent Susie’s friends’ adulthoods through summer. In December 1977, Susie’s father said “We still miss you” (Sebold 226). This part not only signifies the loneliness of the winter felt in the family without their dearly beloved Susie but also puts emphasis on the destruction brought through the death of Susie. On December 1981 a girl’s dead body is found, the winter again reminds the reader of death again. As Susie lays out the significant date of individual events she is telling the reader of the importance of the seasons related to the themes of the novel.

In conclusion, season is used to represent the life of Susie’s family in the novel. The new start of spring, the adulthood of summer, the harvest of fall, and the death of winter all correlates to the life of the family. Understanding the figurative meanings of seasons, in accordance with what happens in the novel, will bring further understanding to the literature.

(Sarah Cho, Essay #5) Hey Sarah, your choice of topic has intrigued my interest about blindness. Your essay has build up my knowledge about it. Through this essay I have learned the difference between physical blindness and spiritual blindness, thank you. Your essay is very well organized and the paragraphs are evenly distributed. The topic of your essay is well shown. But I think you should define some of the key terms that you used to describe the character's blindness for example “willfully” and “physically.” "Although Billy isn't physically blind, he does turn himself blind towards the past about the war" I think it is better to explain something about the war in the second paragraph where you summed up the summary rather than not explaining it at all because if you explained it than the reader could have infer the pain and the hardship of war which has caused his spiritual blindness. And finally you forgot to put the page number after the quote. Good Job
 * Comment #1**

(Kristie Lee, Essay #4) Hi Kristie, from your essay I was able to feel the importance of "being reborn as a new individual, " which farther developed my idea about baptism in a novel. Your essay is well organized into three paragraphs and evenly distributed. The Conrad's experience was tragic but it was significant to the topic of the essay "Baptism." You have well explained the experience and the emotions of Conrad; it has helped me to understand the importance of being baptized. However you have incorrectly numbered the pages, so you should correct it before you turn it in. I had great time reading your essay; I really did learn something out of it, thank you. And well done! 
 * Comment #2**
 * 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!**