Werner's Death :(

For your final blog post on All the Light We Cannot See and your final blog post of the semester, you can address anything having to do with the book. This is an opportunity for you to say what you think of the book or address any other aspect of the book that interests you and about which you haven't already written a blog post.

One thing that I really enjoyed discussing was Werner's death. It not only blew him up, but blew my mind (just kidding) (only a little). Anyways, it was crazy how there were two chapters in the book called Light. The first one was Marie-Laure finding her way home for the first time she she turned blind. The second one was Werner dying.

Obviously the author did this on purpose. I think he did it on purpose to show that Werner was finding his way home. To his parents. 

Another thing I found crazy was how Werner tried so hard to escape the mines and the same fate his father had, but ended up being buried by earth too. It just goes to show that no matter how hard you try, you can't escape fate. 

There's just so much that happened in that book. It's such a good book. I loved reading it and discussing it. It should definitely stay in the ELA curriculum. And it's so cool that some of us get to see the author in person and that he was a student of John Long's. H

Late Blogpost from 10/19/15

For this week's blog post, please find one article in Houston History Magazine, summarize the article, and explain what you found interesting about it.

The article in Houston History Magazine (Houston's Helping Hand: Remembering Katrina) that I read was called William Reed: Using Technology to Find Lost Loved Ones. It was about when the evacuees from Hurricane Katrina came from New Orleans to Houston. They stayed in the Astro Dome. 

The article explained how Dr. William Reed works for this company called Technology for All, and in the refuge, they set up 210 computers for people in search for lost loved ones. It was heartbreaking because a lot of the people were traumatized, illiterate, and foreign to computers. It took a lot of work, but they were able to connect many people with their families and friends, which made all the difference.

One thing that I found fascinating was this one evacuee who wrote a blog on these computers. When the people realized what he was doing, they hired him, and now he still works for them. 

It really amazes me how when people are in need, people come together. Technology for All had 40 computers set up less than 24 hours after the evacuees arrived. By the end of the week, they had 210 computers. It's quite moving, how people can work together to produce results like this. I can't even possibly imagine what it would be like to be in a situation like that, but it's nice to know that you would have help. 

Opinions on Werner and Marie-Laure

As we have gotten to know more about Marie-Laure and Werner, how has your opinion of them changed and why? Use evidence from the book to support your answer.

My opinions on Marie-Laure have changed. She's very strange, in my opinion. Everyone treats her very delicately, but in reality she's strong. And vicious. At one point in the books she thinks that she will rip someone's eyes out if he touches her. She's also kind of just there. She doesn't do much, she just lets things happen to her. That's not a bad thing, it just makes her very human. 

Werner, on the other hand, is my favorite character. He's the epitome of a soldier. He's not a bad person, he was just born in the wrong place, at the wrong time. One example that changed my opinion of him is on page 229, when they are throwing water on the prisoner. Werner throws the water, being the good soldier he is, yet Frederick refuses. This made me acutely aware that Werner is no hero. But Frederick is. It made me love this book more, because most protagonists are heroes, but you don't have to be a hero to have a story.