Kristie+Lee's+Summer+Reading

=Ordinary People by Judith Guest = Approved

= = //Each essay should include the following:// a. book title and author in the introductory paragraph b. a thesis statement that encompasses the main idea of your essay which should be how the selected chapter is reflected in your novel c. brief summary of the section to be discussed (no more than a paragraph)--just enough to get a sense of the context d. analysis of the section through the lens of one of the chapters from //How to Read Literature Like a Professor// e. a quotation you think is significant and your explanation of how the quote reflects the selected chapter f. each essay should be approximately three hundred words g. Copy and paste the essay! Do not upload a document! 

**ESSAY #1: COMMUNION**

How do individuals share their ideas and interact with each other? At most times, they would gather up together, sharing different thoughts and communicating. This gathering of individuals in one place, according to Thomas C. Foster, the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, is called a "communion." In //Ordinary People// written by Judith Guest, communion takes place several times. Within these communions, certain characters' worries and thoughts toward other characters are shown as well as the lack of communication and understanding of each other.

In chapter 2 of this novel, Conrad and his parents-Beth and Cal- have breakfast together and talk about Conrad's life. Cal is extremely concerned about Conrad, because he has committed suicide after his brother Buck died due to an accident. Conrad still feels guilty that he couldn't save his brother from the accident, and is still close-minded in going back to his normal life. However, as Cal questions Conrad how things are going, Conrad reassures him that everything is fine to comfort him. As Conrad is about to get out of the house, Cal asks Conrad to see a doctor, but Conrad seems hesitant in doing so.

The communion taking place in chapter 2 of Ordinary People shows Cal's concerns and attention towards Conrad profoundly. As Cal asks Conrad if things are going well, Conrad tells him nothing is wrong and that things are "Same as yesterday."(Guest,11). Cal asks what that statement means, and Conrad responds with a grin: "It means you ask me that every day." (Guest,11) By looking at this conversation, you can see how much apprehension Cal gives about his son. Within this short meal, Cal was able to show his affection for his son, and communicate with him. This meal is a form of communion, for it was able to let the characters communicate and express their thoughts to each other. __//** Comments **//__ (Rachel Choi)   Hey Kristie! How was your summer? I'm so excited to see you tomorrow at school. Anyways, your essay for this topic was easy to follow, which is the most important thing to keep in mind when writing an essay. There were few grammatical errors, but none that really distracted me from the main point of the essay. I really like how you used your vocabulary simply and efficiently, without dismissing any important points that were necessary to mention. You related very well to Thomas C. Foster's book and related the two books very well, extracting Fosters ideas and inserting them into the context of your own novel. One thing you can improve on, other than the very few grammatical mistakes, is the conclusion. It doesn't really give me a feeling of a final "wrap-up." If these two faults are taken care of, the essay is good. You did a great job, Kristie. :) Have a wonderful day and see you tomorrow!

**ESSAY#2: VIOLENCE**

Violence, according to //How to Read Literature Like a Professor// written by Thomas C. Foster, does not simply mean "violence." It contains symbolic meanings as well in literature. The death of Conrad's brother due to an accident mentioned in chapter 5 of the novel //Ordinary People// written by Judith Guest would also be a form of violence in literature. Death of Conrad's brother from an accident also is a form of violence which greatly ruined Conrad's life.

In chapter 5 of this novel, Conrad visits Berger, the doctor whom he visits every week, about his life. They first start chatting casually, about how things are going and if Conrad s doing well. As time passes by, Conrad grows more confidential with Berger, starting to talk about what he's really feeling deep inside his mind. He confesses that he still feels guilty that he could not save his brother from the accident when he was right next to him, and that he tried to commit suicide to get away from his feeling of guilt. After confessing his feelings to Berger, Conrad feels that he made a good decision in visiting the doctor.

"Okay, I'll tell you some things...I had a brother. It was an accident on the lake. We were sailing. He drowned." (Guest,43) When Berger first asks Conrad to introduce himself, this is the first thing that Conrad said about himself. This implies how significant the accident was in Conrad's life, and how much it hurt Conrad emotionally. Looking at this, the accident which led to the death of Conrad's brother was a form of violence which completely damaged Conrad's life. Conrad's life as a normal high school student no longer exists, instead, his life is filled with self-condemnation and depression.

__//**Comments **//__

Kristie! How’s your break going? Hope it’s going “great” with all the SATs and summer assignments…. Anyways! Your essay, it’s very interesting how you’ve connected the destruction of Conrad’s life to the violence explained in //How to Read Literature Like a Professor//. I wouldn’t have been able to make that kind of connection in terms of violence… very interesting. Your summary and the description of the section that connects to violence were well explained and it was easy for me to find the connections easily even when I haven’t even read the book. Your quotation and the explanation of how the quote reflects on the chapters of //How to Read Literature Like a Professor// was thoroughly done, however, I think you might need a little bit more of deep analysis because I had to look into the book after reading your essay (page 89, 90) to look at what category of violence that your story and character might belong to. It might have been better if you’ve put more interpretation of maybe the relationship between the death of Conrad’s brother and the suffering of Conrad due to his brother’s death. There are also some grammatical errors that you might want to fix and some of your sentences might be more fluent and easy to understand if you put transitions between sentences to feel the flow. But other than that, the message you are trying to portray through your essay is clear, easy to understand, and precise while still managing to keep the meaning and analysis inside the short essay. Good job and see you on Tuesday (oh no, we’re back to school)! Oh and FYI, italicize the title of the books you’ve introduced in your first paragraph!

- Ji Yoon Hyun

**ESSAY#3: SYMBOL**

Symbols. They do not stand for one particular thing, however, are capable of representing many things, as Thomas C. Foster said. In Judith Guest's //Ordinary People//, Conrad's dad, Cal, tries his best to be able to communicate with his son and make him happy at all times. Despite all the arguments he gets into with Beth for being overprotective about Conrad, Cal still does anything that would make Conrad happy and get back to his normal life again.

Cal's love towards Conrad is symbolized in many events taking place in this novel. One of the things that symbolized Cal's love was his christmas present for Conrad. In an effort to make Conrad feel happier than ever, Cal gives a car to Conrad. Surprised by such unexpected gift, Conrad also tries his best to satisfy Cal by pretending to be excited. While Cal is worried if Conrad really liked his present, Beth is somewhat dissatisfied with all the money and efforts Cal puts into Conrad, when he could just leave Conrad alone. "You worry too much about him." (Guest,128) This quote shows how Beth feels about Cal paying so much attention to Conrad.

The christmas present, or a car, which Cal gave Conrad symbolizes Cal's love towards his son as a father. Cal wishes to see his son smiling at all times, and feels a great responsibility in getting Conrad out of the sense of guilt after he failed to save his brother from the boat accident. In this chapter of the novel, the car is not simply a christmas present, but it is something that symbolizes Cal's love for his son. Beth does not seem enthusiastic about making Conrad happy because she thinks he ruined her life as well, however, Cal does not pay too much attention to Beth's thoughts. The car not only is something that shows a father's love, but also something that causes conflicts.

__//**Comments **//__

**ESSAY#4: BAPTISM**

Baptism means being reborn as a new individual, as mentioned in Thomas C. Foster's //How to Read Literature Like a Professor//. Conrad's survival from the boat accident would definitely be a part of this. In //Ordinary People// written by Judith Guest, Conrad survives from an accident, while his older brother, Buck, couldn't. After the accident, Conrad's lives a life full of feeling of guilt and resentment about himself for surviving. His "rebirth" is quite painful, leading to his attempt to commit suicide. As he fails to kill himself, he has another opportunity to live a new life.

While skimming through the newspaper, Conrad reads an article mentioning the death of a 19-year-old girl at the hospital nearby. As he is reading the article, he realizes that the "19-year-old girl" is a friend of his whom he has been friends with while he was staying at the hospital. That night, Conrad starts having flashbacks about the times he spent with her, memory of his suicide attempt, and the accident which took his brother away. Feeling numb and sick at the same time, Conrad calls Berger to see him quickly.

As Conrad is thinking about the accident, he hopelessly says, "Buck take me with you I don't want to do this alone." (Guest,218) He still feels that he does not deserve to live since even his brother, who always has been smarter and more outgoing than Conrad, could not survive from the accident. Buck's death has an enormous impact on Conrad's life throughout the whole novel. Conrad's rebirth was something that was definitely painful, however, throughout the novel, he learns to recover from the shock of Buck's death and value his life. Buck's death and Conrad's survival surely are extremely significant in this novel.

  __//**<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,serif;">Comments **//__

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! -Jungna Park-

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,serif;">**ESSAY#5:SEASON**

In many novels, season is something that is quite significant in setting the mood and conveying different themes to the reader. Judith Guest sets the background as a cold, snowy winter involving christmas in her novel Ordinary People. Preparing for the upcoming Christmas gives characters a feeling of excitement as well as slight flutter. According to Thomas C. Foster, the writer of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, christmas gives a sense somewhat related to families to the readers. Guest sets the background as christmas in the cold winter at many times, giving the readers a feeling of connection between characters.

On Christmas, Conrad, his parents, and his grandparents gather up together on the table in front of the christmas tree, eating together. Exchanging gifts and talking to each other, they all seem quite happy. Beth, or Conrad's mom, has been extremely sensitive and offensive towards Conrad at all times, however, she is different that day. She is a lot more polite and respectful to Conrad and Cal than ever. Everyone is pleased, and none of them seems to want to break this mood of warmth and unity.

"A truce of some kind has been effected." (Guest, 125) Mood of calmness and warmth has filled up Conrad's house, which is not easy to see usually, as Conrad and Beth are always colliding with each other. However, "christmas" brought a sense of unity within the family. This background setting,christmas, has shown the readers big changes that one occasion could bring to the mood and relationship of a family. As most people get along together on christmas, Conrad's family also showed several changes. <span style="color: rgb(19, 19, 88); font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,serif;"> __//**<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,serif;">Comments **//__ By reading your essay, I could really relate to the novel that I read, //Lovely Bones// by Alice Sebold. Unlike your happy nature on Christmas mood, Sebold wrote the novel, too, in winter, Christmas, but as a period where every thing is disparaging. Because of a young girl's loss by a serial killer, all of her surrounding families or friends are in despair during that winter. I think your essay really woke me up to see another perspective of how writers use seasons to portray different meanings. Also, I can see how much effort you've put it in to this essay. Nice job overall! I was glad to see an essay that had totally different ideas with mine, but the same concept. Good Job :) - Jenice Lee

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Comment #1**

<Jin Kwon, Essay #1: Communion>

Your definition of a communion and mine seem quite similar. You also viewed it as one of the ways in which people make interactions and communications. Also, I wrote my essays on Ordinary People as well. While I chose to relate the concept of communion to chapter 2 of this novel, you chose to relate it to chapter 8, which is quite interesting. Your essay explains what communion is in literature well, provides a brief summary of chapter 8, and relates that chapter to the idea of communion using quotation which further explains your point. Also, I like how you pointed out the lack of family ties by observing the bitter atmosphere of the communion between the characters.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Comment #2**

<Sarah Cho, Essay#1: Baptism>

Your essay throughly explained the definition of Baptism and how it symbolizes the situation in which a boy feels comfort while drowning in the water. By reading the brief summary of a particular chapter of your novel Slaughterhouse-Five, I was able to understand how baptism symbolized Billy's emergence from the water and how he felt while he was drowning. You also provided a quotation which further explained how baptism was found in your novel, which made further elaborated on your statements. If you were able to explain more on how your novel related to the understanding of anti-war novels in a religious way as mentioned in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, it would have been even better. Other than that, I feel that your essay provides enough explanation and evidence about how your novel used baptism. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">