IR Project #1- Digital Storytelling

For my independent reading project I chose to read A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/all/a-farewell-to-arms-4935877

Questions

1. I chose to do a scrap book for my IRB project. I made it as though it was the main Character, Lietenant Henry who made the scrap book. Most of the scrapbook was about WW1 and Catherine, whom he fell in love with throughout the story. I found a lot of pictures from WW1 that represent the characters in the story. A very meanigful page in my scrap book is page 4. I have many different thing about the war and how it was so terrible from Lietenant Henry's point of view. Another very meanigful page was the last page about Catherine. The ending of this novel was very sad and Henry lot both his wife and his child at the same time.

2. I like using mixbook a lot. They had a lot of great things on it such as the stickers. The sticker made the scrapbook seem very realistic. Mixbook was very easy to use and it was nice to be creative. I actually did not mind doing this project at all. I got to learn ow to use a new website and it was pretty interesting.

3. Overall i give this book a C+. It was a very well written book but it was not really my style. This book was a lot about romance and death so I did not really enjoy what the book was about. I enjoy books that are very thrilling and exciting and less about relationships and bad things that happen to people. The writing was very descriptive and easy to understand but I really wish that it wasn't about such a depressing topic.

Chapter 9- Gatsby Reflections (Greatness)

There are a lot of different meanings of the word"great". Depending on the context and the way that people perceive the word, it could mean a whole variety of things. There are people that were great that were some of the worst people to have ever lived. This may sound funny or contradicting but terrible people were great. For instance, Adolf Hitler was one of the greatest people to have ever lived. He accomplished things that no one ever thought was possible by changing a countries entire state of mind. He was an awful person but was great at the same time.
Jay Gatsby was also great, but in a completely different way than Hitler or say a great sports player. He was great in the way that he changed his life. F. Scott Fitzgerald started off having the reader think he was great for his money, but this is not the reason Gatsby was great. He was great because he lived the way he wanted. He went from being an underclass citizen in the middle of the country to an extremely wealthy entrepreneur in the most booming city in the world. Jay Gatsby was the type of person who; when he wanted something, he would go after it and get it. He wanted to have a lot of money so he made that happen quite well and he also wanted Daisy, so he wooed her back during the romantic summer that they had together.I believe that fitzgerald had Gatsby's father come into scene in the last chapter because he wanted to show the reader the before and after. He showed the reader what James Gatz's life was like before he became Jay Gatsby.

Independent Reading- MP (Post #2)

I enjoy A Farewell To Arms so far. It is very interesting to see how characters and people lived and survived in the 1920s, especially in the war. The story takes place in Italy during the war. There are many soldiers and characters in the novel, but only two play hug significant roles. There is Henry, who is America and drives the ambulance car in the war. Then there is the women that he is in love with, her name is Catherine Barkley. She is an English nurse also very involved with the war. When they begin talking they try their best to not talk about the war since it is always on their minds. A major theme of the novel is love. It shows the progression of Catherine and Henry's relationship. Catherine starts off disliking Henry because he is very "pushy" but she learns to like him. I am excited to see how the plot plays out and what happens.

Gatsby- Chapter 3

Living the good life to means to be rich. Not rich in wealth and money but to be rich in friends and happiness. I think in order to live a good life you have to have people around you who care for you. Your family should stay connected with you. The main point in life is to be happy and to have purpose. If you are unhappy and you do not benefit society at all, then you are not living the good life. I feel that living the good life in the 1920s was very similar to what it is now. However i feel that the 1920s was more about having fun and going to parties all the time while in modern day society, people work hard and play hard at the same time.