Journal Entry 75: Humor's Role

            I believe that humor has two roles in a sad story. One of it is to lighten up the mood and make the story more interesting. Another role is to be ironic. When the sad story is too sad and serious, the audience sometimes get bored or annoyed. So to lighten up the mood a little bit, and make the story more interesting,  author uses humor to do that. Sometimes it also shows the optimistic side of the character or people in general. The humor plays a role of hope. It shows that no matter how sad the event and the characters are, there are always hope. Hope is the thing that people can depend on even when the whole world has already turned their back on the character. It shows that people in general hopes for the best when everything is sad and bad. It also plays another role in sad stories - irony. Authors use irony to show what was not expected and make the story more interesting. If we all know what is going to happen, then why will stories be interesting anymore? It is because we have to guess, because we don't know, so we want to keep reading to see if the outcome is what we expected or not. For example, Patricia making the nurses' accents and voices and mocks the nurses is humor. It shows that although she might be dieing in any second. She still take a minute and enjoy life.

Journal Entry 74: Sick

            When I was really really young, when I was a baby, one day my white blood cell in my body suddenly increased too much, and then I had a very serious fever. Because of this I had to live in the hospital for two days. I don't remember anything because I was too young. I only know that all of my family members were really worried about me. Another accident I had was when I was in third grade. My father used to ride the bicycle to bring me to school. One beautiful morning when my father ride the bicycle to bring me to school, one of my feet was searching for the handle but couldn't find it so I thought it was because my foot was too far away from the wheel. I put the foot closer to the wheel and then suddenly I feel a cold liquid on my foot. When I look at it I see my blood running down my feet. I was in complete shock so I quickly tell my dad and he drove me in a car to the hospital. It was the first time I had stitches. It hurt a lot. I could still remember the pain and how I was so scared that I couldn't even cry.

Journal Entry 73: Happy or Sad

            I believe that happy and sad moments all stay in your mind. But if we had to see if our strongest moments are formed by happy or sad moments, I would say that I am sad People are often happy. People remember easier of things that are sad than to  things that happened main girl character. I believe that people remember sad events more than the happy events because it is those memories when you stop and think why me or why now. One very important childhood memories is my first time going to a boarding school. I remember before that I was all brave and told my mom that everything is going to be alright. But then the first day arriving the campus, I was already very very nervous. The first week was horrible, I missed my mom a lot and my home and Taiwan that I hardly put my mind on work or friends. I cried every night. My mom would have to drive to my school for four hours just to see me and talk to me. But then after the first week, I was used to it, and I was happy I had that experience because I know I learned something more important than school work. This memory stands out to me because I went through a hard process and finally learned something.

Journal Entry 70: My Style

            A person's style is how someone present him or herself. My style is a more casual one I mostly wear shorts and t-shirts to almost anywhere I go. However, I have more of an American style compare to the people in Taiwan since I am in an American school. My feet and legs are really small so when I walk, I walk in small steps compare to others. I have to walk many steps in order to catch up with people who have longer legs. I sometimes skip and jump or dance around when I am at school. I am very very energetic and happy most of the time. I won't consider myself fashionable, I just like to wear comfortable clothes. I am a very optimistic person, so I always think of the bright side of events or things. But sometimes I can be very very sad and I start to think too much. I also depend on my friends too much, I am not independent. I am neat, tidy and organized. Sometimes I get really annoyed when my room is messy, I like things being where they are suppose to be at. My favorite band is One Direction, so i like their music the best. But music has been a big part of my life, I like all kinds of music. I think I am in the middle of cool and nerd. I study hard at home and in class but during breaks or after school, I like to make may friends. I am also very athletic. I think my style is a natural reflection who I am.

Journal Entry 63: Being tested

         

Journal Entry 62: Symbol of the House

            In the story, "House Taken Over" the two characters were scared that there are monsters or aliens in the house so they ran away and closed they house because they were scared of thing that they don't even know if it exist. I think the house itself acts like many symbols. I think one of the symbols that the house represent is the life, the world. Because everything happened in the house, it is like the world, because we all live in the world and everything  happens in the world. It also acts like life because the scary noises are challenges you have to go through. It is also a pause button. Because it seems like the two characters are living in a life that doesn't change at all, and everyday they do the same thing and only stay in the house. So it acts like a pause in time and the two characters are stuck there. I think the noises in the house acts or represents or symbolizes the challenges and new things in life. They are like challenges and new things in life because just like the noises, if we don't overcome the fear and take the challenge and try new things, then we will always be hiding, hiding from the noises, the challenges, and barriers, the reality The the two man characters act like the people who refuses to move on or take new challenges, so they are pause in time and they stay in the same place. And all they do is hide.

Journal Entry 61: Taken over

           I think what is really taken over is their mind and heart. We don't know throughout the whole story weather the house is taken over by someone, or some monster or no one. We only knew that the two main characters heard scary noise and sound so they are afraid to go o the other part of the house, and then later leave the house. I think what is really taken over is their mind and heart and beliefs. First the two characters stay in the house all the time, which is very weird for a person to do. Then they heard noises and sounds on the other side of the house, so they were really scared, and automatically assumed that it was a monster or some alien. They locked up the door and decided to stay only on the other side of the house. They thought they were safe until they heard another sound or noise in the kitchen when they are trying to get water. They didn't think much and panicked and they ran out of the house thinking that they have escaped. I think the author is trying to say that we often assume things before we even actually know it. We are scared of trying and we are not curious about it so we don't want to find out what happened.