Icefall 1/27/15

Pages: 50-114
Prompt: Describe the major conflict. What side are you on?

      The major conflict in the books so far is pretty bad for the characters in the book.  The conflict they are being faced with is that there is a suspected traitor among them.  They start to suspect a traitor when there have been a series of unfortunate events that severely weaken them, and most importantly, their guard.  Without the guard of the berserkers, the two princesses, Asa and Solvieg, and the prince and their brother, Harald will be completely defenseless against the invaders that are currently invading their country.  

     Solvieg has been having this strange dream, that is reoccurring.  She sees all the people in her company dead on the floor, and a strange figure that appears to have broken through the door, and there is a cloud of dark energy above that person in the shape of a wolf's head.  Once she tells her friend and storyteller, he starts to wonder if that dream can come true and if they can prevent it.  Once doing so, it seems that the traitor is alerted and decides that it is time to strike.  The traitor takes the one of the people's main source of food, the cows that give them milk, and leads them to the forest.  There, he kills them, then gives them to the wolves.

     I think it is pretty easy to pick a side here.  I choose the side of the King, his guard, and the princesses and the young prince.  The Kingdom they live in seems to be just and fair to everyone.  We are given no reason to doubt the integrity of the kingdom and the people that live in it.  Since we are given no reason to doubt, we can infer that the attackers have no justification for as to why they are attacking.

I commented on Stanley, Nadrian, and Gianna

Icefall **LATE**

Pages: 23-50
Prompt: Are the characters realistic (do they seem like they could be read people)? Why

or why not?

     I think that the characters are realistic.  Maybe not realistic to this day, but during the time period the the book takes place which seems to be the middle ages, I would say that the characters would be realistic.  They seem to have thoughts similar to us if we would have been in their situation (under attack).  Like most people, they form strong bonds with other characters that are introduced in the beginning of the book, or later on in the story.  Or they form strong dislikes.  

     The main character Solveig has a best friend Raudi who has been her best friend since they were both little, but they have grown more distant over the years/gotten older.  Naturally, Solvieg is confused as to why Raudi is starting to treat her differently.  She starts to wonder what happened to make them increasingly more distant.  She also forms a pretty strong bond with a goat, Hilda.  She always lets the goat sleep with her, defends the goat from being eaten (since she does nothing but eat and produces nothing).

SPOILERS

     Solvieg also seems to form strong dislikes very close to the beginning.  Since they are being attacked, and since she is a princess, the King sent his best men to guard her in the time of war, the Berserkers.  They all get drunk, swear, and fight all the time so it is easy to understand why she doesn't like them.  The thing that really gets her upset is when they KILL Hilda.  Solvieg is going to bed and since Hilda is not allowed to sleep with her in the place which they are hiding, she puts her at the end of the hallway.  She goes into her room and falls asleep.  When she wakes up she starts to look for Hilda.  She looks in the freezer to see if she is eating something, but she finds a dead Hilda hanging from the ceiling.  

TKAM Film

Prompt: What do you think is the most important difference between the written and filmed version? Provide evidence with specific details.

     I believe that the most important difference between the movie and the book, was in chapter 9.  In chapter 9 we have the Christmas scene where some pretty nasty things are said by Scout's cousin Francis.  One thing that Francis said was about Atticus, she said " He's nothin' but a nigger lover!"  This of course was after we found out that Atticus was going to represent Tom Robinson.  I believe that this is one of the most powerful quotes in the book, simply because it explains the mindset of most of the people in the south in the 1930's. 

     First, let's think about who was saying this.  Francis who is Scout's cousin, and is no more than a child.  We can see that he is somehow being influenced to think that way because nobody is born with hatred, people just normally acquire it from an influence at a young age.  We see from this kid when he says that Atticus is a "nigger lover"  we see that the younger generation is being influence to say things like that.  It's a long vicious cycle that I will explain.

Second, we should focus on where this kid could have possibly heard such language. Answer is, everywhere!  At home, on the street, and possibly even school.  He probably hears his parents saying this like that so he is just repeating that.  Remember that cycle I was talking about?  Well the cycle is, he hears it from his parents, then remember and goes on talking like that for the rest of his life, so he eventually teaches his kids that.