Blog post for May 9: Analysis of I Funny

               Analysis of Conflict: In I Funny by James Patterson, the conflict of the story is a huge part because it determines the theme of the story and it provides us with background information of the main character. The protagonist and main character of the story is Jamie Grimm, who is introduced as a typical middle school teen with a dream of a career in the comedy business. However, in the rising action of the novel it tells us that Jamie is crippled from an accident that occurred earlier in his life. However, the reader is left hanging and does not know why Jamie is crippled. The reader can also infer he is adopted since his only relative he knows is his Uncle Frankie and he never speaks of his parents. On page 40, it says "I moved to Long Beach when my mother's sister adopted me. Yes, I wish my father's brother, Uncle Frankie, had adopted me, but the judge sent me to Smileyville instead." This shows that the author hints information at Jamie being adopted, and then later explicitly tells the reader to confirm their suspicion. The quote also shows a hint of Jamie being uncomfortable, since he says he wishes he were with his Uncle Frankie. This makes the reader infer about an internal conflict within Jamie because throughout the story he seems uncomfortable talking about his parents, and he is not happy with the family situation he is in.
               As the story progresses, another external conflict begins to arise when Jamie is being bullied by Stevie Kosgrov. Stevie, who is at first introduced as the school bully is always wreaking havoc and stealing kids lunch money. Since Jamie is on a wheelchair, it makes him an easy target for Stevie and they become enemies. But on page 43 it says, "Meet my brand-new big brother. And by big, I mean HUGE. You are correct. It's Stevie Kosgrov. The same bully who made my day by knocking me out of my wheelchair." This situation presents once again another conflict because it worsens Jamie's already atrocious home life, and, he will have to cope with Stevie at home and at school. This explicit information surprises the reader because it makes Jamie's life sound miserable and it makes the reader develop a connection between themselves and Jamie because they feel bad for him. This also makes the reader infer that Jamie refers to comedy so much as a way to cheer himself up since he can't help the situation he's in. This also answer's the reader's question in why Jamie prefers his Uncle Frankie over his Aunt Smiley because the reader infers Aunt Smiley lets Stevie get away with whatever he wants.
               Far into the story, as Jamie is dealing with both kinds of conflicts, another part of Jamie's internal conflict is introduced. On page 270, it says "'They all died,' I finally say. 'My mother, my father, my little sister. I was the lucky one. I was the only one who survived.'" This explicitly tells the reader about how Jamie's internal conflict arose in the first place. It also shows once again why Jamie turned to comedy to cheer himself up. The explicit information also answers the question of why Jamie is crippled, because the rest of his family died in a car crash. The conflict in the beginning of the story was unclear but there is so much clarity in this quote that it answers all the readers questions in just a few words. The reader however can now infer that Jamie might become more comfortable with his situation now that he has told the reader what happened to him that put him to all of the trouble. This makes the reader infer the conflict cannot be resolved but only Jamie can decide for himself whether to deal with his problem optimistically or pessimistically.

This is a good article that connects to the text because it shows how Jamie could solve his problem by avoiding a negative environment like living with Stevie or by putting his mind on something else.

Optimism

Fahrenheit 451: Characters

The main character of the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is Guy Montag, who I would refer to as a dynamic character due to the many changes he has undergone throughout the book. In the beginning of the novel we do not have much knowledge of Guy's background but we see him as an ordinary person in a society different from ours today. When Guy meets Clarisse, another important character in the novel, he quickly shows the first signs of being a dynamic character because Clarisse's enlightening thoughts make Montag start to question his society, which is something us as readers did not see Guy do in the exposition of the novel. After meeting Clarisse, Guy truly starts to see how society is crumbling and tries to show those around him that they need to change their society, but they can not se what Guy is trying to show them and do not want to help. This causes Guy to start making bad decisions in hopes of changing the society and again we see change in Guy because he begins having feelings of regret since he is losing so many important relationships in his life. I do not want to give out the resolution of this book so I will end this post here but I wanted to show how Bradbury's use of characterization helped add meaning to the story and also developed a character with several useful writing strategies to help the reader have a better understanding of the novel.