(Don't be mad, Mrs. Elliott. It's not what you think. Haha.)
Yeah, I somehow managed to cheat the system. I started reading The Poisonwood Bible over spring break. I only got to page fifty or so and unknowingly, I annotated everyone's chapters up to that point. Then, Mrs. Elliott told us to choose one character's chapters to annotate. I chose Leah Price's. After reading all of Genesis, I was really enjoying the novel. And I thought, "Wow. It sucks that I can't just read this book. I have to annotate while I read." Obviously, I noticed Orleanna Price only had two chapters in Genesis and The Revelation. Well, if someone chose to annotate those parts, that would be fairly easy. Though Orleanna's chapters are the most dense, there's only two. Easy. So I decided to change from annotating Leah to annotating Orleanna. Then, I was able to just read The Revelation. I was able to stay focused (because this is a novel I am actually interested in) and I enjoyed the book that much more.
So I want to know, why did you guys pick the character you did to annotate for the first part of our reading? And how are you liking The Poisonwood Bible so far?
-Shelby F.
That's funny because I was kind of thinking the same thing. I chose Leah Price as well but as I started getting into the book, annotating distracted me from actually paying attention to what was happening in Leah's parts. Though I didn't change my character haha.
ReplyDeletePavneet K.
Hahahaha wow that stinks, I would have cried hahaha. But ya I agree with you, I get a lot more out of the book just reading it than annotating it. Maybe I just stink at annotating hahaha I always feel like Im missing something or that Im way off haha. But ya I think its a good book, it just seems to be going by a little slow to me, maybe thats because Im a slow reader hahaha. but I picked Adah, at first because her name was cool, but then I realized she had hemiplegia, so that interested me greatly.
ReplyDeleteI chose to annotate Rachel's character because she offers a very unique perspective compared to that of her sisters. She's extremely superficial and rather ignorant, and her tone/ voice are unmistakable. She's so absorbed in herself, and it's interesting to see what she thinks about everything that's going on around her. She also has a certain view of her father that I think helps readers to understand her more. :)
ReplyDelete-Dayna M.
I chose Rachel by process of elimination... which sounds kind of bad hahaha. The first one I crossed off the list was Adah because her chapters are just sooooo dense and as bad as it is to admit, I knew a lot of what she was talking about was going to have literary meaning that I just wasn't going to grasp the first time around. Then I figured I shouldn't do Ruth May because I didn't know how much a little girl could say that would be annotation-worthy. Finally between Leah and Rachel it came down to their attitudes. To me, Leah seemed a little boring because she just did whatever her father her wanted to without question. I chose Rachel because I thought her bitter fight against the Congo would be interesting and I figured there must be something deeper in her lurking behind her shallow exterior. I'm glad I chose her, I think I'm discovering a lot :)
ReplyDelete-Audrey T.
Pavneet, I feel the same way. I feel like I was able to grasp some of the concepts by just reading it without annotating the majority of it. Maybe it's because this is a book I am actually enjoying.
ReplyDeleteWhoever posted from Team B.A., I love Adah's chapters. Though they are dense they are really interesting. I love them! I always find myself trying to figure out her italized phrases that are the same forward and backwards. :P
Dayna and Audrey, believe it or not, I love Rachel's character. She is extremely superficial, but it seems to balance out the deep thoughts of Adah, the tomboy attitude of Leah, and the childish Ruth May. I think she is a great compliment to the other characters.
I thought about annotating Orleanna too actually, but in the end I settled on Ruth May. Because she is five and extremely blunt, she is hilarious, but she also reveals information that others would not think to say. Through her perception we begin to learn about the political and religious unrest in the Congo, and I found that fascinating. Her chapters ended up being the shortest I think, but that was completely on accident. :)
ReplyDelete-Elise P.
I chose to annotate Ruth May's narratives. Not only because they seemed to be fairly short, but also because she is the youngest of the daughters and I was interested with the way her mind worked. Her youth and innocence adds a sense of humor to her sections. Although she can be stubborn, she is easily influenced by her surroundings. She does not yet fully understand the world and human nature, so she does not understand how religion and human nature clash.
ReplyDeleteDane Johnson
I love Ruth May's character! She does her best to interpret what the people around her are saying, but she simply doesn't understand. (For example, the "women going to college" quote that appears in both Leah and Ruth May's chapters). Because she is so young, she must describe things because she is unable to explain them. (Show, not tell, possibly?) But I definitely agree with both of you guys. :)
ReplyDelete-Shelby F.
I started the book over spring break thinking I could get ahead in English while recovering from having my wisdom teeth pulled. I became completely enthralled in the novel and just finished it. Adah was the character I chose because I found her self-imposed silence fascinating and I was curious as to why she chose to write backwards in the novel.
ReplyDelete-Jasmine M.
I'm pretty sure that when it came to deciding which character to follow, it came down to flipping to a random page and picking that character. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the characters though. They all have something unique to say.
ReplyDeleteWhy work hard when you can work smart? Although in many cases, it is more important to be diligent in your work, in just as many cases, it is better to work and achieve that which is necessary, however much work it may require.
ReplyDeleteScott C.
Haha I kinda did the same thing. I find annotating helpful when reading essays or expository writing; however, when reading novels I find it rather distracting. I rather just be able to focus and read the novel.
ReplyDeleteVanessa S.
I chose to annotate Rachel, primarily because I wanted something more than Ruth May's short chapters at the beginning, and also because I would get lost with Adah's backwards spelling and density. But, like others above, I agree with you that it it much more difficult to annotate and read a novel. I actually just read through it and then went back to reread and annotate Rachel's chapters.
ReplyDeleteChad L.