“Kicking the Habit” by Robert Elder is about how cigarettes impact greatly on our health. This article teaches readers that Americans should be more aware of what they’re doing to their bodies before they use a certain product. The author shows examples of how cigarettes became so popular, and how that affected America's health in a negative way.

For example the author states, “Advertising played a huge role in getting Americans hooked on nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes. Magazine ads, which featured beautiful men and woman lighting up, helped make smoking seem glamorous.” The author is claiming that the main reason why cigarettes became so popular in American society is because stars, magazines, TV shows, even cartoons gave out the messages that cigarettes are “cool” and “normal".  But later on, doctors realized that cigarettes put a great risk on people’s health. The author states, “ When half of American men and woman were smokers- congress began requiring warning labels on cigarettes starting with the caution: "Cigarettes Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health.” This quote is showing us that Americans shouldn’t just do something because millions of other people are doing it. They should think and ask to be informed about all the scientific facts, before they make a decision. This is especially important, if it means that it is risking your health. The author is showing that smoking affected America in a negative way, because it caused lung cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc., to many.

During this article, the author is showing the history of how Americans got hooked to smoking cigarettes. And then after it was discovered how cigarettes could cause a lot of health problems, that’s when Americans attitude about smoking changed dramatically. There is a chemical called nicotine that makes people addicted to cigarette smoking, and he mentions how as far back as 1492, people were addicted to tobacco. He also talks about how by the 17^th century, people were growing it in America and selling it.  The author states that during a World War One, the army gave the soldiers cigarettes, as a “treat”, so when they came back, the soldiers were addicted. This was before people knew cigarettes were bad for you, and caused harm. Before they knew that cigarettes were bad for your health, advertising took a huge role in America. “Advertising played a huge role in getting Americans hooked on nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes…” The sentence that the author uses, “a huge role in getting Americans hooked.” infers that the advertiser had the power to manipulate people, and get them to buy cigarettes and keep buying them. By using the word “hooked” the author makes the readers feel the danger of how cigarettes could make you live an unhealthy, trapped lifestyle. The advertisers were manipulating Americans into smoking cigarette, by showing posters of how it’s “good” to smoke. The author’s purpose is to inform us of the history of the science and the business of making people hooked onto cigarettes so that we will not get hooked onto E cigarettes.

“Kicking the Habit” makes me think that advertisers don’t care about my health or life style, and that they’re just interested in money. I also realize that that the author’s purpose is I should be getting to know the science behind a product before I use it. This article makes me appreciate the doctors in America who fight for our health, as well as the congress. This article reminds me of how my Great Uncle Tommy smoked his whole life, knowing that it was dangerous. And even after kicking the habit, he still passed away from lung cancer.

The Perks Of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky

Character relationships by :Maya MacDougall

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about a damaged boy named “Charlie” who goes to high school and finds out who he is, through the struggles he experiences in his relationships. He meets new people with struggles as well. He relates to them and starts finding out what love is. Charlie’s inability to express his feelings, affects his relationships with his friends and family. The reason why this happens, is because his past relationship with his Aunt Helen psychologically and emotionally damaged him, and now he has trouble expressing his emotions, as well as trouble in bonding with others.

For example, Sam and Charlie’s relationship is complex, because Sam easily talks to him about how she feels, but Charlie doesn’t.  Because of this, their relationship is confusing to Sam. Is it love? Or is it just a friendship? This question mostly hits Sam, because Charlie can’t tell her how he really feels about her. On page 201 Sam says, “It’s just that I don’t want to be somebody’s crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don’t want them to carry it around inside. “ This shows how Sam is telling Charlie that she wants this relationship to be real and not a “crush” or a “mushy” relationship. She’s showing Charlie that he should realize that their relationship should be hones,t and they should be able to open up to one another. Also Sam says, “You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s life ahead of yours and think that counts as love.” This is an example of how Sam wants Charlie to realize that love isn’t just about putting others ahead of yourself, and that love isn’t about completely losing who you are. It’s about knowing yourself and what you want and being able to express this to the other person.

Candace and Charlie are another example of a complicated relationship. Charlie’s relationship with his sister is also complex because Candace is confused about what their relationship is about. Is it just a typical and stupid sibling relationship? Or is it real and about honesty, care and loyalty? In the book, Charlie and Candace argue about a lot of things. But at the end, Charlie realizes how much he cares about her. For example, “She hugged me so tight and wouldn’t let go. So I hugged her back. It was weird, too, because I’ve never hugged my sister. Not when I wasn’t forced to, anyway…” This shows that they both realized that they are able to tell each other anything, the most personal things you can ever tell a person. When Candace thought that she was pregnant, she immediately turned to Charlie. On page 116, “My sister hasn’t told anybody else about it because she doesn’t want it to get around. The only people who know are him, her, and I. I’m not allowed to tell anybody. And I won’t ever.” This expresses that at the end of the book, both Candace and Charlie noticed that when they were gloomy, they could lean on each other.

The last relationship in the book that Charlie is unable to express his feelings in is with Patrick. Their relationship is also complex. Patrick has a tough life and puts it all down on Charlie. They are both confused about how to be honest with each other. Charlie struggles with being honest and direct with his friends.  On page 201, Sam is telling Charlie how he is supposed to be a friend toward Patrick. “Like when you guys went to that park? Or when he was kissing you? Did you want him to kiss you?’ I shook my head no. ‘So, why did you let him?’ ‘I was trying to be a friend’ I said. ‘But you weren’t, Charlie. At those times, you weren’t being his friend at all. Because you weren’t honest with him.” This passage shows that the reason why Patrick and Charlie’s relationship didn’t work out,  was because they weren’t being truthful to each other in how they felt.

An example of the problem with their friendship is seen on page 160, when Charlie says to Sam, “Patrick and I have been spending a lot of time together. We drink a lot. Actually, it’s more like Patrick drinks, and I sip. It’s just hard to see a friend hurt this much. Especially when you can’t do anything except “be there”. I want to make him stop hurting, but I can’t.” This is an example of how Charlie is afraid of being direct to his friends, even when he sees that they are putting themselves in harms way. His fear of telling them what he thinks and feels, holds him back from helping them. And in this way, he isn’t a truly good friend. Charlie doesn’t realize he should be telling Patrick that he needs help, and he needs to stop dumping all his anger and stress onto Charlie.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower relates to the world because it shows people how to be a great friend. It shows people how important it is to be an honest, kind, and confident friend. In the real world, teenagers don’t always know how to be a good friend. They aren’t always confident, they are not often kind, and they can sometimes, not be especially, honest within their relationships with either friends or family. The reader who is reading this should realize that no matter what, a good friend is someone who expresses himself honestly in whatever conflict or good experience he has with that friend. Being honest means being honest with yourself, knowing when you are holding back your feelings, knowing that holding back can sometimes confuse the other person.  Not expressing yourself honestly to the other person is, in a way, not respecting yourself or your friend. You specifically should respect everybody, even people you dislike. There is no reason why somebody shouldn’t be kind to another person, especially, if that person is being a true and honest friend to you. You can’t be a good friend if you’re not true to yourself. Sometimes you have friends that can help you become true to yourself. You just have to listen and not hold back what is inside.  

            

Archetypes for "Crank" By Ellen Hopkins

           "Crank" By Ellen Hopkins is about a girl named "Kristina" also known as Bree. In the first part of the book she was a talented, smart, and gifted high school student. But as soon as she gets involved with drugs, alcohol, and boyfriends she changes.  

          There are many archetypes in this book. A character archetype is a person, place, or symbol. For example, I think the "shadow" archetype for this character would be "Bree" because she is the dark side of Kristina. Bree changed Kristina mentally, because she made Kristina make alot of bad decisions that led Kristina into dangerous scenarios. This turned Kristina into a whole different person. A good example of this is shown on page 243, when Kristina/Bree says, "And there was Bree, smiling seductively and I swear that poster boy smiled back. Bree was not an invention, not a stranger. Bree was the essence of me..." This shows that at first, Kristina thought Bree was fake and broken. For example, "Whatever she had done to me, for me, and basically in spite of me, she’d given me a whole new sense of self. I never knew I could play vamp, do it so well, flirt.”  This shows that Bree was the opposite of Kristina. Kristina thought of Bree as another person staring right back at her reflection. Bree not only changed her, she took over. 

       The archetype of the "shape shifter" in this book, would be Adam. The reason is because Kristina thought she loved him, thinking that she would spend the rest of her life with Adam. For example, on page 178, Kristina thinks, "I asked Adam to hold me, kiss me longer, harder. Oh god I love you. Begged him to help me remember the taste of love. How will I live without you?'' This shows that she thought he was her everything. But she realized she got betrayed after he saw Lince, and Adam really loved Lince instead of Kristina. For example, on page 227, " Lince is coming home. Let's see other people.' My face flushed tears poked my eyes, scar tissue twisted my heart, wrapped itself around arteries, closed tight around my jugular. I coughed pain." This shows that Kristina realized she was hurt because she felt that Adam had betrayed her. Kristina thought that he loved her. But apparently he wasn't the person she thought he was.

A “mother figure” in this book would be Kristina’s mother, because she has always taken care of her and comforted her. The mother cares for Kristina more than she cares for Kristina’s dad. For example, “I know I’m only your mom and I’m not always easy to talk to, but I’m here for you!” This shows that she is faithful to Kristina and wants to help her when she needs it. Kristina isn’t use to someone caring about what she does in her life, anymore. Also, on page 215, she thinks, “Lucky me! Mom’s kitchen was a whole lot better stocked than Dad’s. I’d almost forgotten how great a cook Mom was.” This shows that her mom does the best she can to make her daughter happy and healthy.

     

Looking For Alaska

“Looking For Alaska,” by John Green is a novel for young adults. It is about a curious, teenage boy named Miles. He heads off to a free spirited, unstable boarding school, in Alabama. That is when everything changes, when he meets a gorgeous, screwed up and clever teen named “Alaska Young”. Although Alaska seems free spirited and bubbly, she is really, insecure, overwhelmed and perplexed about her life.

            We see, for example, that she doesn’t really care about her life. She only thinks in the present, not about the future. “Y’all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die,” she says. This shows that Alaska might seem like she enjoys life a lot, but deep down she has a dark side that is waiting to burst. She hides her insecurities with cigarettes, wine, alcohol, and her fake happiness. “She lay on her side across two bales of hay, the afternoon light brightening the green in her eyes, her tan skin like the last memory of fall. With her mouth half open, it occurred to me that she must already be drunk as I noticed the far – off look in her eyes…” (Green, page 115) This shows that Alaska might seem perfect on the outside, but in fact she chose to be drunk all the time and smoke, which sadly shows that she must not be perfect inside.

           

What makes Alaska an important character is how she is so clever and bubbly. Miles says, “For a moment, she looked concerned. She looked like the girl I met yesterday, the girl who said I was cute and bubbled over with energy and silliness and intelligence…” This shows that Alaska covers up her insecurities and mysteriousness with her silliness and fake joyfulness. But at times her happiness is real, too.  When she is not drinking, she reads books for pleasure and her good side seems to come out.  She seems happy when she does mischievous things. Alaska does pranks on the school, which shows that she doesn’t care about what people think of her. She doesn’t care about screwing up her life and the consequences. Alaska cares about having fun and being a rebel. In this way, she seems free.

But under that layer of cleverness and fierceness, there is a layer of pure unhappiness and confusion. She says to Miles, “But there is always suffering, Pudge. Homework or malaria or having a boyfriend who lives far away when there’s a good looking boy lying next to you. Suffering is universal…”  This shows that everyone, even people who seem perfect and happy all the time, can suffer and have trouble in their life.  Also, Alaska is fascinated with the quote from a book called The Labyrinth. “How do you get out of this Labyrinth of suffering?” Her fascination with this quote is like a metaphor for how Alaska experiences her life as one in a maze. She feels trapped, small and needs to escape.

“Looking For Alaska” has a lot of messages for young adults and teens. One of those messages is that no matter what happens, you can fix your life, you shouldn’t throw your life away with alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.  There are people out there who can help you and you should get help. 

            

       "The Giver'' has been one of the most popular books of the 21st centry! "The Giver" Is about a boy named Jonas who lives in a world where no one feels feelings. It is a world where everything is black and white. There is no such thing as pain or war, or kindness. The main character, Jonas is an interesting, curious character. He see's things from The Giver's perspective. He has seen things no one else has exept when he sees his little brother, Gabriel. He relates to him!
      The relationship between Gabriel and Jonas is interesting. At the beginning of the book when Jonas first saw Gabriel, he knew he liked him. It was like love, a word that he has never felt or heard of, like Gabriel was special too. On page 128, "Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he would give memories to Gabriel. Memories of boat rides and picnics.." This shows that Jonas cared for Gabriel and was willing to break the rules by giving him memories in order to make Gabriel joyful.
       Jonas was affected by this because Jonas has not felt this feeling before. A feeling called love.