Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Section 7: Pages 334-371
Reaction: Anticipating since the beginning of the book what was on the disc Just Listen that Owen made for Annabel, I was ecstatic when in pages 339-340 Annabel finally listened to it as I was curious as to why that was the title of the book. Expecting some weird “spiritual” music full of pig calls or something odd like that, I was shocked, as was Annabel, when I found out that the CD was actually blank. Confused at first, I soon realized how genius this idea was. Many times before, Owen had mentioned that silence to him was “so freaking loud”. I had not really understood why though until Annabel understood why and sort of explained it to the reader. When she listened to the CD, she finally realized that the voice inside her head, the one constantly begging for her attention, was not Will Cash’s but her own. It was trying to tell her that it needed to be let out. The next day, when it was released, it seized to exist. The next time I am going through a difficult situation, I want to try this technique. I will go into a dark quiet corner of my house, put on a pair of earmuffs, and just listen; listen to that voice inside my head and I will get through anything. On the whole, this book taught me a lot about self-actualization; the things that are most common knowledge are often also the most forgotten. I would recommend this book to everyone looking for some good life lessons learned. I am glad this was the book at the bookstore that caught my attention.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Outside Reading- Week 7- Post A
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Section 7: Pages 334-371
2 Vocabulary Words
immersed (p. 353)- adj. or in other cases a v.
A) Plunged into or placed under a liquid.
B) Involved deeply; absorbed.
Example from the book: “All I had to do really was ask, and I, too, would be easily brought back, surrounded and immersed, finding myself safe, somewhere in between.”
My example: I slowly immersed the pasta into the boiling water so that it would not splash.
cathartic (p. 359)- adj.
Emotionally purging.
Example from the book: “the entire experience had been so overwhelming- although cathartic- that I’d kind of forgotten about it once I got up on the stand.”
My example: I find it very cathartic to scream at the top of my lungs when I am stressed.
One significant Quote
“You about ready? she’d asked me earlier, and then, I hadn’t been. Maybe I never would be. But there was no way around it now. So as I got ready to tell my story again, I did what Owen had done for me so many times: I reached out a hand, to my mother and my family. And this time, I pulled them through with me” (354). Throughout the entire book, it seems as though Annabel’s family is related, yet not all that connected. One sister was moody, the other outspoken; and the mother paranoid, the father just kind of there, avoiding the emotional lives of the women of his family. But when Annabel finally speaks up, she acts as a knot, therefore connecting her family in an entirely new way. This quote is significant because it exhibits the realization of this result by Annabel. It shows that she learned that family would always remain on her side.
Section 7: Pages 334-371
2 Vocabulary Words
immersed (p. 353)- adj. or in other cases a v.
A) Plunged into or placed under a liquid.
B) Involved deeply; absorbed.
Example from the book: “All I had to do really was ask, and I, too, would be easily brought back, surrounded and immersed, finding myself safe, somewhere in between.”
My example: I slowly immersed the pasta into the boiling water so that it would not splash.
cathartic (p. 359)- adj.
Emotionally purging.
Example from the book: “the entire experience had been so overwhelming- although cathartic- that I’d kind of forgotten about it once I got up on the stand.”
My example: I find it very cathartic to scream at the top of my lungs when I am stressed.
One significant Quote
“You about ready? she’d asked me earlier, and then, I hadn’t been. Maybe I never would be. But there was no way around it now. So as I got ready to tell my story again, I did what Owen had done for me so many times: I reached out a hand, to my mother and my family. And this time, I pulled them through with me” (354). Throughout the entire book, it seems as though Annabel’s family is related, yet not all that connected. One sister was moody, the other outspoken; and the mother paranoid, the father just kind of there, avoiding the emotional lives of the women of his family. But when Annabel finally speaks up, she acts as a knot, therefore connecting her family in an entirely new way. This quote is significant because it exhibits the realization of this result by Annabel. It shows that she learned that family would always remain on her side.
Outside Reading- Week 6- Post B
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Section 6: Pages 275- 333
Reaction: “I wondered which was harder, in the end. The act of telling, or who you told it to. Or maybe if, when you finally got it out, the story was really all that mattered” (333). In the many pages I have read so far, this aforementioned quote proves to be the most significant yet. It phrases exactly the realization Annabel has needed to make for quite a long while. She finally realizes that while it is hard to get your deepest thoughts, feelings, and memories out of your head, getting them out is way better than keeping them to ourselves where they will remain continually haunting us. In what concerns me, the only way to move past the stuff that has been haunting us is to purge them from our mind, get them out into the open; whether we write a letter or a poem or simply, we just talk to a person we trust. Whatever the way you do it, you must tell someone in order to survive. Although it is a scary thought, it is usually not ourselves that we trust the most; it may be a parent, a neighbor, or a friend that we trust more than ourselves. And those people we trust will always be willing to help, no matter what; that is why we trust them- to have the ability to put our faith in them. Hopefully in this next and final section of the book Just Listen, Annabel will tell her sad story to her family and to Owen because only then will her life turn back to the happiness and worry-free world in which she lived before her rape incident. In my experience, it is a hard duty to accomplish, but once it is done, there are no regrets; you’re finally free!
Section 6: Pages 275- 333
Reaction: “I wondered which was harder, in the end. The act of telling, or who you told it to. Or maybe if, when you finally got it out, the story was really all that mattered” (333). In the many pages I have read so far, this aforementioned quote proves to be the most significant yet. It phrases exactly the realization Annabel has needed to make for quite a long while. She finally realizes that while it is hard to get your deepest thoughts, feelings, and memories out of your head, getting them out is way better than keeping them to ourselves where they will remain continually haunting us. In what concerns me, the only way to move past the stuff that has been haunting us is to purge them from our mind, get them out into the open; whether we write a letter or a poem or simply, we just talk to a person we trust. Whatever the way you do it, you must tell someone in order to survive. Although it is a scary thought, it is usually not ourselves that we trust the most; it may be a parent, a neighbor, or a friend that we trust more than ourselves. And those people we trust will always be willing to help, no matter what; that is why we trust them- to have the ability to put our faith in them. Hopefully in this next and final section of the book Just Listen, Annabel will tell her sad story to her family and to Owen because only then will her life turn back to the happiness and worry-free world in which she lived before her rape incident. In my experience, it is a hard duty to accomplish, but once it is done, there are no regrets; you’re finally free!
Outside Reading- Week 6- Post A
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Section 6: Pages 275- 333
2 Vocabulary Words
loom (p. 283)- v.
A) To come into view as a massive, distorted, or indistinct image
B) To appear to the mind in a magnified and threatening form
C) To seem imminent; impend
Example from the book: “On a night when what I’d done, or not done, was suddenly looming large, this seemed like a tiny way to somehow, in some distant way, make up for it.”
My example: Monsters seem to loom children’s nightmares.
ostensible (p. 304)- adj.
Represented or appearing as such
Example from the book: “While Kirsten had talked about coming for Thanksgiving, she’d opted instead to stay in the city, ostensibly to work some extra shifts and catch up on schoolwork.”
My example: With a pout on her face, it was ostensible that she was upset.
3 examples of figurative language
1. Irony: “I saw that there was a girl behind him. She had shiny black hair and was wearing little retro glasses, a red sweater and jeans, a beaded bag pulled across her. But I didn’t need to see any of these things, really; I knew her with one glance. ‘Wait,’ I said, turning back to Rolly. ‘The girl… it’s Clarke?’” (281). I know that this is the literary element irony as it was completely unexpected to both the reader and the main character, Annabel, that the girl Ronny was “in-love” with was Clarke, who happened to be Annabel’s ex-best friend from when they were in kindergarten to 6th grade.
2. Simile: “the cold air hit me like a smack” (295). I know that this is the literary element simile because Annabel compared two unlike objects, cold air and a smack, using the word “like” to show how they relate in her story.
3. Imagery: “When my mom and I finally headed out into the Mayor’s Market parking lot, I was surprised to see it was snowing. The flakes were the big, fat kind, too pretty to stick or last, but we both stopped still for a moment, looking up at them as they fell. By the time we got in the car and pulled out of the lot, they were already slowing, some catching the wind, blowing in circles. My mom turned on the wipers as we sat at a stoplight, watching the flakes hit the windshield” (311). I know that this is the literary element imagery because it uses descriptive words, like big, fat, and pretty, to describe the beautiful, fluffy snowflakes. In my head, I can picture the image of a mother and daughter sitting in their car, looking up into the winter sky, amazed by the beauty of the snow.
Section 6: Pages 275- 333
2 Vocabulary Words
loom (p. 283)- v.
A) To come into view as a massive, distorted, or indistinct image
B) To appear to the mind in a magnified and threatening form
C) To seem imminent; impend
Example from the book: “On a night when what I’d done, or not done, was suddenly looming large, this seemed like a tiny way to somehow, in some distant way, make up for it.”
My example: Monsters seem to loom children’s nightmares.
ostensible (p. 304)- adj.
Represented or appearing as such
Example from the book: “While Kirsten had talked about coming for Thanksgiving, she’d opted instead to stay in the city, ostensibly to work some extra shifts and catch up on schoolwork.”
My example: With a pout on her face, it was ostensible that she was upset.
3 examples of figurative language
1. Irony: “I saw that there was a girl behind him. She had shiny black hair and was wearing little retro glasses, a red sweater and jeans, a beaded bag pulled across her. But I didn’t need to see any of these things, really; I knew her with one glance. ‘Wait,’ I said, turning back to Rolly. ‘The girl… it’s Clarke?’” (281). I know that this is the literary element irony as it was completely unexpected to both the reader and the main character, Annabel, that the girl Ronny was “in-love” with was Clarke, who happened to be Annabel’s ex-best friend from when they were in kindergarten to 6th grade.
2. Simile: “the cold air hit me like a smack” (295). I know that this is the literary element simile because Annabel compared two unlike objects, cold air and a smack, using the word “like” to show how they relate in her story.
3. Imagery: “When my mom and I finally headed out into the Mayor’s Market parking lot, I was surprised to see it was snowing. The flakes were the big, fat kind, too pretty to stick or last, but we both stopped still for a moment, looking up at them as they fell. By the time we got in the car and pulled out of the lot, they were already slowing, some catching the wind, blowing in circles. My mom turned on the wipers as we sat at a stoplight, watching the flakes hit the windshield” (311). I know that this is the literary element imagery because it uses descriptive words, like big, fat, and pretty, to describe the beautiful, fluffy snowflakes. In my head, I can picture the image of a mother and daughter sitting in their car, looking up into the winter sky, amazed by the beauty of the snow.
Outside Reading- Week 5- Post B
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Section 5: Pages 229- 274
Reaction: In pages 263 through 265, the reader learns of a horrible event that occurred in Annabel’s past, although due to previous foreshadowing that the author wrote, it was expected. At an end-of-school school party the June of her sophomore year, Annabel was sexually assaulted. Although not fully raped by definition, the effect the attack had on Annabel was just as severe; she remained speechless for a few days and way too scared to ever discuss what happened. In our world today, it is so sad that awful events like this happen everyday. It makes me angry and sad just thinking about it. I cannot believe that someone can do that to someone else; how can they just attack someone and ruin that someone’s life and feel not guilt, but pleasure from what they had just done? It’s absolutely disgusting. It seriously ticks me off; I wish people could just stop being so selfish. Also, I cannot believe the strength it takes for the assaultees to live past the terrible actions thrown onto them, literally. I envy those people who can actually tell their story to the world, speak up, be heard. They have so much courage and self-confidence, it is as if nothing happened. I wish the world could be a better place where everyone could just learn to accept and respect each other. But since I am dubious that my wish will ever come true, I guess we must live in fear everyday of those selfish people who do not choose to be accepting and respectful.
Section 5: Pages 229- 274
Reaction: In pages 263 through 265, the reader learns of a horrible event that occurred in Annabel’s past, although due to previous foreshadowing that the author wrote, it was expected. At an end-of-school school party the June of her sophomore year, Annabel was sexually assaulted. Although not fully raped by definition, the effect the attack had on Annabel was just as severe; she remained speechless for a few days and way too scared to ever discuss what happened. In our world today, it is so sad that awful events like this happen everyday. It makes me angry and sad just thinking about it. I cannot believe that someone can do that to someone else; how can they just attack someone and ruin that someone’s life and feel not guilt, but pleasure from what they had just done? It’s absolutely disgusting. It seriously ticks me off; I wish people could just stop being so selfish. Also, I cannot believe the strength it takes for the assaultees to live past the terrible actions thrown onto them, literally. I envy those people who can actually tell their story to the world, speak up, be heard. They have so much courage and self-confidence, it is as if nothing happened. I wish the world could be a better place where everyone could just learn to accept and respect each other. But since I am dubious that my wish will ever come true, I guess we must live in fear everyday of those selfish people who do not choose to be accepting and respectful.
Outside Reading- Week 5- Post A
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Section 5: Pages 229- 274
2 Vocabulary Words
Latter (p. 239)- adj.
A) Being the second mentioned of two
B) More advanced in time; later
C) Near or comparatively near to the end
D) Last; final
Example from the book: “Judging by the look on his face- a mix of horrified and offended- I had a feeling it was probably the latter.”
My Example: While eating 3 slices of pie seems good at the time, the latter effect is that you gain a few pounds.
Dubious (p.241)- adj.
Fraught with uncertainty or doubt; undecided.
Example from the book: “He looked dubious, however, as he pushed quarters into the cashier station, and I had to wonder if my theory was about to be debunked.”
My Example: Although he believed the house of cards would stand up, I was quite dubious, expecting them to fall any second.
One emerging theme
One important theme in this book happens to be that one small event can change a person’s whole life as with Annabel’s rape and Whitney’s broken arm, which on the outside may not seem very significant, but in fact, both sisters act very differently due to these terrible events.
Section 5: Pages 229- 274
2 Vocabulary Words
Latter (p. 239)- adj.
A) Being the second mentioned of two
B) More advanced in time; later
C) Near or comparatively near to the end
D) Last; final
Example from the book: “Judging by the look on his face- a mix of horrified and offended- I had a feeling it was probably the latter.”
My Example: While eating 3 slices of pie seems good at the time, the latter effect is that you gain a few pounds.
Dubious (p.241)- adj.
Fraught with uncertainty or doubt; undecided.
Example from the book: “He looked dubious, however, as he pushed quarters into the cashier station, and I had to wonder if my theory was about to be debunked.”
My Example: Although he believed the house of cards would stand up, I was quite dubious, expecting them to fall any second.
One emerging theme
One important theme in this book happens to be that one small event can change a person’s whole life as with Annabel’s rape and Whitney’s broken arm, which on the outside may not seem very significant, but in fact, both sisters act very differently due to these terrible events.
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