Conclusion BLOG#6

A picture that helps display what is going through kaelyns Mind as this story concludes.

       Throughout the novel, I was able to visualize the novel  due to the ever interesting plot and the characters development. Throughout the novel, we see the island and Kaelyn face themselves with the reality of isolation and fear of  death. But as the novel progresses the characters learn to adapt and cope with these realities and overcome many obstacles. During the end of the novel, we discover that Kaelyns brother has been able to make contact to the outside world (aka the mainland, right off the island) and this has let some people from the main land know what the islanders are facing. Due to this very small, but very important contact, the mainlanders decide to step up against the government and help the island. The author left us with a great cliff hanger because at the very end of the novel we learn that many ships are surrounding the island and one ship appears to be carrying a very important person to Kaelyn, her best friend Leo, and also Tess's parents and it ends there. We do not learn what happens next, its a cliff hanger because it leaves us wondering if they ever actually do come to help the islanders, or are they there to create even more sabotage and we do not learn if the mystery illness is ever resolved but we can only hope. With Kaelyn having to cope with so many deaths such as her fathers and mothers, we learn that despite being  a 14 year old girl she is very mature on coping with death as we know coping with death is a very mentally and physically depressing event for us humans and her being able to stand up and overcome many challenges is truly astonishing. overall this book is a must read, it has a lot of character and plot development   and is a truly interesting novel due to the many plot twists and precise details.

ISU blog post #5

Article: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10800

why I chose this Article?
      I chose this article because it is an article about an unusual and forgotten part of society. In modern day society we in our mind believe as if the world is all connected as one, as if all countries are modernized but this articles helps us see otherwise. In the article they talk about an island that has never ever had any forms of communication with the modern world, keeping it totally isolated. Due to this isolation it is hard for these islanders to accept that other people from around the world should be welcomed on their land, so in ways they attack in attempts to defend whats rightly theirs. When they are met with these people from the outside world, they attack the authors and in attempts to defend themselves continue to attack and threaten the author due to the fear of them taking over their land. This article describes how isolation can lead to severe aggression towards others.

How it relates to my article?
   In my article it relates by showing the aggression people have become possessed with due to the fact they are isolated. On the island they have had generations on generations live their, and for a couple of people come with what seemed alien technology (e.g. a helicopter and camera) they are very surprised and in fear of an attack, so in their minds best way to resolute the problem is to attack them so they will not arrive. On the other hand, the novel shows aggression towards each other due to the fact they have been isolated, its a battle between one another. The people break into one another homes, business and anything that seem valuable in order for their families to survive.In the article however the island works as a team in order to fight off these unknown strangers and achieve success. In the novel though, the people team up in different ways, such as Tracey and kaelyn  teaming up in order to help Kaeyln father uncover a vaccine in order to fight of this virus. When tracey tells Kaelyn " This is not a game anymore, its a fight for survival and we are the ones surviving." and this quote reveals just how serious this so called small virus was getting and was only leading to more isolation and aggression of the people of the island was just to protect themselves just like the islanders did.

ISU Blog #4: Over Populated hospitals

Article: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/hospital-attacked-in-india-after-car-crash-victims-arrive-to-find-no-doctors-1.2335714

Why did I choose this article?
         This article was chosen due to the similarities it posed to the novel in events of an unexpected illness and a non supporting hospital. This article explains how in a remote city in India, an accident had occurred which involved a school bus full of children. In the event of the bus getting involved in an accident, nearby witnesses decide to take actions towards a hospital once they found out there was no body that could help these children in critical condition. When the accident occurred, the hospital would not answer the calls for an ambulance to be displaced so instead nearby on lookers rushed the children to the hospital, and withing minutes it was obvious there was no doctors present at the hospital and it was basically closed. This is a great representation of showing how a government funded  hospital was not operated in proper procedures and that many hard working citizens who had payed for this service with their tax money were in fact being scammed.

How this relates to my novel?
      This relates with my novel because they both represent improper procedures in running a hospital and not providing the people in need with immediate health care. In the novel  it was clear that the hospital was soon becoming over limit, the government would take no actions to set up a secondary hospital yet alone a temporary hospital in support of the demand. In both cases the people who are injured or diagnosed with the illness have only one form of surviving and that is to receive immediate medical care but since the hospital had not properly been set up for an outbreak it was completely the governments duty to finding a way to resolute the problem that would actually save peoples lives. In India when the local citizens found out that the hospital in which they had been funding numerous amounts of money towards and turned out to be a scam, the citizens were up roared and decided to riot towards it throwing rocks and burning the vehicles nearby leading to complete chaos. In the novel the same occurs once the hospital reaches full capacity, and people were refused entry the people would throw a complete chaos due to the fact the government would not set up another hospital to supply demands and has in fact quarantined the island not allowing anyone to leave the island in hopes of receiving medical assistance. It is extremely disappointing in both cases because in an event of an emergency these people have put faith towards their government that they would be there to help support the situation but to find out they are left on their own without any assistance it creates an up roar amongst the people normally leading to riots. In the novel people would throw flares towards the hospital in tempts of burning it down, and some would use weapons such as axes and bats to break in for entry which would only worsen the situation and in India locals would protest on what an outrage the government caused by blocking traffic and destroying the unused hospital. In the articles case the government was able to hear about the outrage they had caused and worked on creating a resolution in hopes of preventing it from happening again, but in the novels case the government had cut off all communications from the island making it impossible for the head personable in charge, Kealyn's dad, to communicate with the mainland so that they could assist in controlling the situation. In both cases there were gruesome events that had to be taken place due to the fact the government had failed in supporting the people in an unfortunate yet critical  situation .

The scene in which locals burned the fraudulent Hospital 

Journal Entry & Characters chart

Characters chart:

Bernard:

·        Bully

·        Does not like when people disobey his orders or go against him

·        Does not show sympathy toward Ender

 Rose the Nose:
· Enders commander in the rat army
·He tries to control Ender before letting finally realizing Ender should not be controlled.

Alai:

·        Bridge Between Ender and Bernard

·        Bernards “Best friend”

·        Practices with Bernard and the launchies in the battle room

Bozno:

·        Leader of the salamander Army

·        Hates Ender because he is no use for his army and wants to get rid of him

Petra Arkanian:

·        A girl in the Salamander army

·        The best shooter in the salamander army

·        Helps ender learn to shoot by privately training him  

Dink:

·        Enders platoon leader in the rat army.

·        Helps train ender

Mazer Rackam:

·        The one who defeated the buggers

·        Known to be the best  commander of all time

·        Was the one who helped defeat the Buggers last war
·     Respects Ender a lot and despite not showing any compassion towards him, Mazer is fully interested in Ender and does love him.

Ender:

·        6 Year old boy who is the third child and has two sibling( Peter his older brother and valentine his older sister)

·        He is currently enrolled in battle school

·        Was in the salamander army but was later on traded for Rat Army.

          Meeting a person from a foreign country could be a very exciting experience. By meeting a Person from a foreign country I would be able to share my experiences. In grade 8 I had met a kid who had come from China. By meeting the kid I was able to interact to him and talk about what is was like to come to Canada. Being from China, the boy had a very unique yet difficult to understand accent which made it somewhat hard to communicate. By interacting with the kid I was able to learn about how it is to live in China. He told me off all the great places in china, and since he lived near China’s capital; Hong Kong, he told me about how hard it was to get from one place to another due to the tremendous traffic. He also described how in Hong Kong, there would always be smog in the air which would make it hard to see.  I asked him why he moved to Canada and he told me that in China there was a lack of jobs in his dad’s profession so his dad wanted to find a country where he could easily get a decent paying job and have a better living standard. He told me also that his dad was fed up with the fact that it took near 45 minutes for him to travel to the local market and his school because of the large traffic density and grid lock. His family decided to immigrate to Canada once his dad had got a job at Hydro one, meaning they would sell everything back in china and come to Canada to start a new life. When he asked what was unique about Canada I had told him about all the cool stuff that you could do in Brampton let alone Ontario. Our school offered a trip during the winter where we would travel to horseshoe valley and go skiing, skating and even tubing which would be very exciting for him considering he would have never seen snow before and it would be his first time participating in such activities.  Since he came from a religious family he told us how his city would offer this tremendous parade celebrating the new years (Chinese new years of course) and how there would festivals and great religious festivities he would celebrate. At the time I had heard about Chinese new year’s but have never really understood why they separate new year’s being celebrated on January 1st with their own separate date and he told me because Chinese New Year marks the first day of the New Year in the Chinese New year’s which differs from the Gregorian calendar and every year is represented by a different animal zodiac sign. It was very interesting learning about how they would celebrate North American holidays such as Halloween and Christmas. I had always wondered what it was like to live in China considering I see a lot of "Made in China" items I wondered if there would be a lot of factories rather than recreational centers and parks and what not, but to my surprise I was wrong. Apparently many factories were located in remote parts of China and away from densely populated areas so that there would not be a lot of pollution and he told me it was quite similar to Canada but rarely were there any houses just many apartment buildings. Him being new to our school he was able to share his fascinating stories  among us and making sure he felt that he fit in with everyone and not be an outlier, being in a school environment, there were many  other kids from a foreign country to, so it was easier for the kids to transition into being included and not feel as if they did not belong.  It is a very unique experience being able to communicate with a person from another country and be able to communicate with them learning about what their life and country was like. 

Isu Blog Post #3

Article: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32016394

Why did I choose this article?

I chose this article due to the similarities it poses to my novel. In my book a quarantine zone is set up for the island, allowing no one to enter or leave, expect the authorized personnel. In the article It describes how actions were being taken to make sure any country known to have  a case of Ebola it would be essential to cut ties with it from the outside world. This was done to ensure that a possible outbreak would not occur due to the extremely high level of contamination and the ability to catch Ebola. In both the novel and the article it explains how people were confused as to why such actions had to be taken by the government, and was it really necessary that people who were perfectly safe from the virus had to be contained in the same area as the infected. In the article the severe outbreak illness is Ebola, and in the novel its a mystery illness but both have their similarities. Ebola and the mystery illness kill humans within a certain time period, the symptoms are almost identical and the chaos caused is very similar. This article helps connect back to my novel with many similarities.

How it connects to the social issue of my novel?

       It connects to the social issue in my novel by explaining how one outbreak can cause so much chaos and turn a discreet island into a quarantined mayhem causing isolation. Since both article and novel seem to be talking about how creating quarantine would be a great solution to isolate them from the illness, the only problem of that is being isolated from the rest of the world. In the novel it’s a fight for survival, and food because the government has left the small island all by itself without any support and created total chaos. Africa being a continent with a vast amount of land but very little development it is hard for them to ensure that they can resolve the issue, just like in the novel the Island at which the story takes place is a very old, classic island where everything is either under developed or very limited resources. In both cases it creates more of a issue because being isolated it is harder to keep resources abundant, and ensure that there is enough support to resolve the issue because everyone is left on their own. In Africa many doctors had to be sent from around the world to help cope with the vast expansion of the illness in hopes of creating a cure, but in the novel Kaelyns dad is the only one who has any education on medical and being one of the only three people on the island who even have a chance at recovering a cure it is increasing difficult because they do not receive support from the mainland(Government).Easy tasks such as communicating to other places outside of the area and having connection to the internet and TV are all seized from the quarantined island in hopes of cutting ties with them, and in Africa many countries already have very limited communication considering the countries mainly decide what the citizens are allowed to view. When Kaelyn and her friend Tessa are attempting to find a way to solve this issue before everyone on the island dies, she goes beyond her way to communicate with the governments in hope of a resolution, also what the citizens of Africa did when they found out they were being even more isolated than they already were. Surely in the countries of Africa being quarantined, the same situation must have occurred due to the panic of people and being isolated from the outside world leading people to believe they would have to protect and survive by themselves.

Quote relating to my novel:

“No one can live entirely on their own, nor can any country or society exist in isolation.”
Daisaku Ikeda
( http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/isolation.html )

This quote is an amazing way to summarize that isolation does not provide neither parties a successful resolution to any issue. Isolating only means that the country is left to survive on its own, which in today’s present world would me mere impossible considering just how dependant every country is amongst themselves. People would  panic, considering they have heard of how governments can just leave a whole country to survive on its own, by not providing any more necessities such as food or healthcare. Connecting to the book in both cases we can see that isolating both the island from the novel and countries in general would only lead to chaos, and the destruction of a developed society.  

Picture relating to Novel:

This picture shows a well developed island, which I will be representing as a fully developed country, if an isolation as shown above was to occur it would mean that this island has now cut off all ties with any other country, which means that they must do everything on their own. As time progresses even the most of developed countries will eventually fall due to isolation, such as the island that was quarantined by the government in the novel, leading it to eventually destroy itself. As shown below, this would be the likeliness of the isolated country into becoming ruins.

Slam poetry

Death

It's everywhere, whether  you accept it or whether you escape it's reality.

Does everyone really need to face ones consequences in order to be equal or is it fair for the innocent to be punished.
Isolation leads to nothing but discrimination, what good does either create towards humanity only leads to insanity.
When you feel is all well that's when people rebel, it is not your fault just assault on the government who are just covering their mistakes by shaking the living hell of the people.
Guns create violence, government creates sadness all because we want what they can not provide, is freedom so hard that it must create a beacon alerting the ones in charge that the citizens are on a dishonorable discharge.
Isolation is like a fish, without the sea, it is worth nothing much more than a snow pea but when a fish is within a group of dozens its worth more than just killing it.
people who stand up to the fight are the ones who show the most might, the ones fighting for their isolation to turn into intimation.
Depression, suppression and aggression are the forms progression because in the end the ones who fight will persevere.

This poetry describes the emotions of what it would feel like to be isolated in the novel due to the government taking indecisive decisions, The ones who fight are the one who cause a change to the world which seems to be dead to many, some fight in order to provide freedom to the others.

Blog 1 for ISU

Article:http://mgafrica.com/article/2015-03-24-environmental-disasters-that-drive-nigerian-politics
Why did I choose this article?
I chose this article due to the similarities it poses to my novel. In my book  there is a great up riot of chaos and aggression towards the government due to a mystery illness. In my article it describes how environmental disasters have caused great political and social issues in the country of Nigeria. It explains how actions were being taken by the political parties of Nigeria in ways of contributing to helping people who are facing these environmental disasters a form of relief, but in most cases the government has only led to aggression from the citizens. In both the novel and the article it explains how people were confused as to why such actions had to be taken by the government, and was it really necessary that people who were perfectly safe from the disasters had to face the consequences financially as well as socially.Violence and crime is at an all time high due to the lack of support being provided from the government in order for the Nigerians to provide themselves support, just as how in the novel the island is basically surviving for themselves. Due to lack of support we see that both Nigeria and the issue in my novel are equivalent with both having similar actions towards resolving the issue which include rioting, violence and outrages rebellion towards the government.
How it connects to the social issue of my novel?
       This article  connects to the social issue in my novel by explaining how one issue  can cause so much chaos and turn a once populated and densely visited area into a isolated island with nothing but citizens living in fear. The social issue of my book and the article is lack of support from the government due to an environmental disaster.  Since both article and novel seem to be talking about how violence and crime rates are rising is due to everyone feeling isolated and helpless, so people will do whatever it takes for themselves to survive wheter it be stealing, fighting or escaping they will do what is required in order to survive. In the novel its a fight for survival, and food because the government has left the small island all by itself without any support and created total chaos. surely in Nigeria the same must have occurred due to the panic of people and being isolated from the outside world leading people to believe they would have to protect and survive by themselves. In both cases an unexpected illness appears (in the article: malaria and other tropical illnesses, the novel: A mystery illness) and just like in the novel how the government attempted to help contain the problem by quarantining the area but supplying them with necessities. But in both cases, the citizens attempt to riot and protest over the fact they were being isolated, so the government decides to stop giving them support leaving them to survive for themselves. When Kaelyn and her friend Tessa are attempting to find a way to solve this issue before everyone on the island dies, she goes beyond her way to communicate with the governments in hope of a resolution, also what the citizens of North Korea did when they found out they were being even more isolated than they already were. Since the government leaves the citizens with a lack of support it is up to the few individuals ( Kaelyn, Tessa and Kaelyns dad, and the environmental scientists in the article) who are the ones ready to take on the risks and challenges to ensure that they will resolve the issue and in hopes of re-communicating  with the government in hopes of uniting ties again and re-gaining the support.

Quote relating to my novel:
"This place is Hell’s waiting room." 
— Steven Ramirez (Tell Me When I'm Dead)
This quote is very imaginable and connecting to both article and the novel by allowing us to picture a symbolic image of what it is really like to be quarantined. It explains how being quarantined is like hells waiting room, of course hell being used as a negative aspect describing no one really ever wants to wait in hell. With all that is going on it is only certain people in the novel believe there so called beautiful island is now hell. 

Picture relating to Novel:

This picture hows how a dog is isolated from the rest of the world and how it is trapped from going out beyond the cage. The people who are quarantined are feeling the same way, they feel trapped and opposed to being trapped in a place where they are not allowed to leave. Isolation later on leads to great mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and stress.   

Mystery Shooting Near O'Connell Bridge

Mystery Shooting Near O'Connell Bridge

By: JAGNOOR GREWAL

Area of shooting shut down, and surround by Dublin Police.

Last night around 2 AM, gunshots  were reported being fired from a nearby rooftop, near the O’Connell Bridge. It was later discovered by an intense investigation there had been a mass murder of three unknown people. An unknown woman, who was a resident of the area, was shot, a person who seemed to be carrying a pistol and a third death of a man who seemed to be in the possession of several weapons.  An unknown symbol labeling them as “Free 

Staters” was found on their uniforms, the meaning of the symbol is still unknown but relating to a new gang.

The gunfire’s started at around two a.m., as the police were informed an hour later. Approaching the crime scene, Officers were forced to clear the crowd surrounding the victims using Tear gas with many nearby police officers coming to reinforce the area. The police went around for witness or any clues to the incident. One witness stated “There was a man on the two opposite roofs, both seeming to fire towards each other in large intervals. Dublin Police has surrounded the area and shut down the area for investigation, as they searched the rooftops where the shooter hid. Evidence found was blood on both opposite rooftops, proving habitation of the two snipers. A rifle was also found in the middle of the street.

A fellow bystander who had cleared the area during attack exclaims, “I was walking my dog when he started hinting me to the top of the building, when I saw there was a man there my instinct kicked in to run, and so I did” Another bystander posing as an innocent bystander was also discovered trying to steal the evidence in order to protect the suspect, he was later on taken to court for further trial.

Police have only identified one victim, who seems to be a male in his thirties, and background files reveal he used to be a part of a gang classified as the “republicans”. Considering the rivalry of these two gangs, it is clear to what may have exactly happened on this gory Saturday morning. 

The Sniper, Summary and Thematic Paragraph

 //

In your own words, summarize this text.

In the short story “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty, the story of a soldier who uses tactics and his creativity to overcome a challenge and declare victory. Taking place in  downtown Dublin, near a famous O’Connell Bridge. The war  is a civil war raging between the republicans and free staters, the protagonist , the sniper, being a republican. He is a young, but fearful man because he has “the eyes of a man who has seen death” meaning he is not an un experienced soldier, he has killed people before and it clearly does not physically and mentally stop him from killing more.

         

          Berlin is described as being a gloomy, depressing city where war is not disguised but rather exposed to everyone including civilians. The protagonist has been on top of a roof with his rifle for a very long time as describing it “Has not eaten anything since morning” meaning he has not left the rooftop since morning. After his meal he takes a sip of whisky in order to stay awake and refreshed but as he starts to get more comfortable that’s when things go wrong. He decides to take a risk of lighting up a cigarette, which he knows has consequences but does it anyways. Within minutes of him lighting his cigarette, a bullet is fired towards his direction missing him by centimeters.  He is then aware his situation is more serious than he imagined.

          Noticing a man on the roof, the sniper is later target by his prey and is shot at but near misses the bullet. When a soft, yet loud rumble is heard he notices an armored car and a lady who is an informer reveling the location of him. He takes cover and fires at a man who opens a top door to reveal his body and a turret and fires, instantly killing him and then aims and shoots the lady who was attempting to escape. He later notices a man on the opposite roof who is targeting the sniper but being a tad bit too late, the enemy hits the sniper on the arm. The sniper uses all his strength to relieve his pain and cover up his wounds. Using his adrenaline and good will he decides to fire back but to all his knowledge the enemy has disappeared. Using a knife he takes out the bullet wound, applies iodine solution and covers it with his own clothing.

          The sniper is getting exhausted and knows that he must escape the roof by morning or he risks being shot at. He is determined to kill the sniper on the opposite roof and he comes up with a devious yet intelligent way to reveal his target. He knows the sniper is of no use to him anymore but his revolver may be able to replace it, only if he can see the target that is. He decides to use the sniper as bait, sticking out the rifle just enough the enemy can see and shoot at it thus helping locate where the enemy is, once the rifle has been shot at, the sniper makes it look as if he has been shot and killed, letting the rifle fall down to the ground the enemy gets out to view his target being killed. To his surprise the sniper appears from behind the chimney, exaggerating to shoot, aims at the enemy and fires killing him on impact. The enemy slowly drifts down the roof until hitting the ground with a soft thud.

          The sniper knows he must get off the roof, so he goes down to the berlin streets to notice it being completely quiet. Before returning to his commander camp, his curiosity allows him to re route and run towards the body he has shot. Crossing the street however he is targeted by a machine gun having many close calls but in the end reaching the body without a scratch. As the sniper turns the body of the man he has just killed, he realizes he is face to face with his own brother.

Description of criteria	NE	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
• Make inference • Cite evidence (stated or implied) from the text to support the inference • Explanation of how evidence is related to inference (using background knowledge) • Use reasoning language (because, therefore, since, due to, etc.)	Not Evident	Inference is attempted but implausible Evidence (stated or implied) cited from the text provides limited support for the inference Explanation of how the evidence supports the inference demonstrates limited understanding of the text Reasoning language used with limited effectiveness	Inference is plausible but vague Evidence (stated or implied) cited from the text provides some support for the inference Explanation of how the evidence supports the inference demonstrates some understanding of the text Reasoning language used with some effectiveness	Inference is relevant and logical Evidence (stated or implied) cited from text provides considerable support for the inference Explanation of how the evidence supports the inference demonstrates considerable understanding of the text Effective use of reasoning language	Inference is logical and insightful Evidence (stated or implied) cited from the text provides effective support for the inference Explanation of how the evidence supports the inference demonstrates thorough understanding of the text Highly effective use of reasoning language

What is the author’s message? Provide evidence from the text and explain your thinking.

                The author’s message is every victory gained in war is a person lost. War is where you win by killing someone, meaning you win when someone falls. When the sniper desperately attempts to kill the so called enemy on the opposite wall, it never crosses his mind that it may be his very own brother he is targeting.  Using precision and intelligent thinking he is able to gain the victory of killing an enemy but a loss of his brother. His message is portrayed by using all humans as basic objects, to represent what a victory is war really is. Using sniper and enemy no one would imagine these characters to share anything amongst each other, other than the fact they are both involved in war. Using no names but the position of the person to classify them, we get a deepened understanding of how stressful it was to kill someone and how clever you had to be to not be killed while killing.  Demonstrating how anything can occur while in the presence of war, when you think you’re safe but are in severe danger vice versa. Even the slightest actions can cost your life. The strategic battle between two opposite snipers, attempting to kill one another ended for a loss in both ways. The enemy had died and the sniper losing his own brother, resulting in no victory at all. At the end of day when one side wins the other always loses, but in this case the losses are lives.