Breaking Night: Text-Text, Text-Self, Text-World

This is my like third post on this book, so you can probably kinda tell that I really like this book. I'm not usually the type that can easily make relations from books to other books, but this book is vaguely related to the widely known book Hunger Games in which someone who lives in a very poor and impoverish society manages to climb their way to being one of the top in whatever place they are living in. Though Hunger Games is a fiction book, Breaking Night is a true story. But both brought a whole new perspective onto me. It got me thinking that (prepare, this will get cheesy) no matter what kind of environment your are living, only you can decide how you are going to live it. Sure, Liz had her ups and downs. Some times she felt like the world hated her, but she always managed to bring herself up and go even further than before, which brings me to my next topic of Text to self. I'm pretty sure that everyone aspires to be like someone whether it's in athletics like football star Ray Lewis (creds to Josh Stew) or becoming the next Pablo Picasso. In my case, I believe Liz Murray is someone to aspire to. Not letting her environment or situation get in the way of her success, is a huge feat, and now, is trying to spread her story to the world. So my text to world reference would have to be just her huge influence on other people who may be in a similar situation she was in at their age. There's no big, world event that I can really relate this text to that much, but I can say that she made a huge impact on me and many others around the nation.



So I think I've said enough about this book. Look forward to the next update with a different book!

The Smaller Side of Things

Look at yourself now. Now imagine taking all of that and switching it with this kind of scenario. Both your beautiful, smart, hard-working parents, now drug addicts and dealers. Your comfortable, warm, filled-with-your-treasures home, now a practically garbage dump apartment room in the Bronx, New York. Now imagine you, maybe being the oldest, or youngest, or the middle child, or even an only child; wearing clothes you picked from your favorite store, going to school and talking to friends, playing on your phones and electronics while hanging around. Change that to you being the youngest, not going to school because the kids make fun of you for being dirty, wearing any kinds of clothes that, well, can be considered clothes. All of this is placed onto the shoulders of Elizabeth (Liz) Murray. She didn't have the privileges we do now. She didn't have dedicated parents who worked to pay rent and put food on the table. She didn't have much at all. Me, myself, have a hard time imagining how I would survive in these conditions, let alone going to Harvard. But, of course we don't think of us being in these kinds of situations that often. Instead, we think of ourselves having more, wanting more, getting more, BEING MORE.

But anyway, back to the main topic. I'm not here to talk about Liz. You can read about her yourself. I'm here to talk about her older sister, Lisa.
Now Lisa is a little closer to our modern day type of girls than Liz. Lisa went to school. As she grew older, one of the lines states, "Her walls were covered with posters from teenybopper magazines, airbrushed boy pop stars, and feathery-haired female teen idols. Lisa took a small broken piece of mirror and walked back to her bed, puckered her lips at the glass, and batted her eyes." (Murray, 97). She cared about what she wore and how she looked and what others thought of her and what to do with her hair every morning. In a sense, she kinda ignored the situation back at home. Not saying she wasn't affected by her parents wrongdoings, which she was. She actually complained the most. Always complaining about the food, living conditions, and even her little sister Liz. At one point in the book during the winter when the weather was cold and the family didn't have enough money for heating, Lisa says, "'I'm your older sister,' she'd scream. 'You have to listen to me. I'll dump cold water on your head of you don't move your ass!'"(Murray, 57). Boy, this line sure got to me. You would think the oldest person in the family has this sort of responsibility to take care of the rest of the siblings and/or the whole family, but she didn't do anything! Like, sure, being a child and a girl makes it hard to make that big of a difference, but she didn't even bother to comfort her little sister, who by the way, stays at home and takes care of herself. By herself. I just think it's completely insane for someone of older age to not even attempt stopping her parents, or just being an older sister. But that's just me. Some people may think that was her way of trying to cope with the situation, others may think she did help by not making the situation worse between the family. Of course, you have your opinion too. Oh wait. You probably haven't read this book before. Okay. 'Nuff said. Go read it and tell me what you think.

P.S. This is an image of their mother when she was 17. Liz kept this picture with her all the time because she loved seeing how beautiful her mother was and it just made her feel safe keeping it with her.


Favorite Book: Divergent

Throughout last trimester, I read many books. The book I enjoyed reading the most was Divergent By Veronica Roth. The book had action, drama, and romance. The suspense was always building and the relationship between the two protagonists was one that could make any girl happy. Many plot twists were also developed through the book. In fact, it was such a good book, I was reading it while changing before hockey practice. What I loved most was that I loved the main character, Tris. She didn't feel right living in her own family, and decides to leave and join a different faction. She's the type that stands out and wants to show others that even if she was known to be quiet, selfless, and kind, she still has the ability to join the faction called Dauntless; known for being brave, fearless, and conquering. She always showed others how strong she could be and how she never gave up, and the only person to know her weakness is her lover, Four. The bond that they share is really precious and touches my heart.

There are 2 more books that come after Divergent. I finished reading Insurgent, the second book, and have begun reading the last book, Alliegant. There is a movie also coming out for the first book, and I REALLY look foward to watching it. I believed the second book was not as good as the first book because of a confusing plot and character mix ups. Hopefully, the third book will be able to wrap up the entire series and bring it to a very good end.