Friday, March 25, 2011

The White Mountains Theme......

The theme of the White Mountains all relate to freedom but how does the quote below and the rest of the chapter relate to freedom?

"The bitter thing was all the spirit, all the gallantry, was wasted. For even more than inferiors, they accepted and looked forward to being Capped. It was a part of becoming a knight, or of turning from a girl to lady. Thinking of this, I saw how good things could be meaningless in isolation. What value did courage have, without a free and challenging mind to direct it?" (page. 111)

This chapter shows that the Nobles living in the big red castle think they are living a free and amazing life because they can go hunting and they can have tournaments to show how strong and brave they are but their lives are actually fake because they have all been capped so they don't have freedom of speech or thought because they are all controlled by the tripods. Scince nobody has spoken against the capping nothing has changed and it will stay that way until someone says "Hey what if we weren't capped" and thats what freedom is all about right speaking out and being heard not living in the shadows where no one listens to what you have to say.

The nobles in the castle seem to accept that boys will run away and think that it shows their spirit but again this is all fake and a lie. The way the nobles live in the castle is a very different pattern of life to where Will came from and ladies are brought up to be gracious and men have to be brave and courageous so it is a very different lifestyle to hwere Will came from and where he is in this chapter. Since the Tripods took over there are no wars because they are controlling their minds so no one would ever think to start one and create a comotion. No one can talk about the capping most of the only thing they can say is it does not hurt you but in a matter of fact it does... I think that it hurts the way they think because yes they are not free and this book shows they arn't.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

The White Mountains-The Castle of The Red Tower

How were the tripods able to control the people?

In the book The White Mountains the Tripods control the people how, you ask? Well when you get to a certain age of 13-14 you get taken up inside the stomach of one of the huge gigantic Tripods and they place a small metal brain-washing cap on your skull which allows them to take control of your brain, so controlling what you say and what you do around other people. The cap is made out of hard shiny metal, so to put in on your head, you have to shave your cool hair off then they place it in and then the hair grows back so you don't see the metal cap so much. I am happy that we don't get capped now because even though your hair grows back I wouldn't want mine to be cut off.

Find evidence that Will, even though he is comfortable in the castle he is still frustrated about the capping....

I burst out:"you must not! I won't let it happen." "come away with me" I said "We'll go where there are no tripods. Come away now" This shows how mad and frustrated Will was when he found out that Eloise would have to go off and serve the Tripods and never return. Will was so caught up with his happy life living there, that when he heard she was being taken away from him, he realized that the reason he had run away from home was because he did not want to be capped but now it was brought up again, he is frustrated because he feels, it ruins everything and every ones life. I do think that one thing that really ruins a boys life when they get capped is that they don't have the freedom with what they can say to each other. Like they can't speak about what it is like when you are capped. When Will was in his fever he was talking without knowing it and told all his secrets to the Comtesse about Henry & Beanpole and also how he felt about being capped. When Will pulls Eloise' turban from her head it shocks him and again reminds him about being capped. He had hoped she would go with him to the Mountains and was thinking she would not go through with it because she was his friend but then it was a big shock for him and he suddenly realized she already belonged to the enemy. "I turned my head away, in shame" The Comtesse said, " it does not matter. Will, look at me." (page 107) This is another part where it shows Will's frustration toward capping because the Comtesse was talking about capping and it said Will hid his head in shame so I think it shows that Will feels like OK well this is bad I should be capped because everyone else is but I think deep down Will is mad that capping does exist.

Find evidence (quotes) to show how Will feels about being capped....

"Jack," I said, "I've been thinking." He waited without much interest. "Of what you said-about the wonderful things that men made before the Tripods." (page 18). I think this shows how Will feels about being capped because before Jack had been capped he was the one saying this that capping doesn't sound fun and Will was kind of against it in a way like "we have to be capped there is nothing else we can do there is not another choice" but now Will does not want to be capped he wants to live a free life and do what he wants but now his cousin Jack has told him that it was just nonsense and you have to be capped. It is like they change bodies or something because they both just changed. When Will was living in the castle he was thinking about how the people there lived, how their lives were different from Wherton and that they looked forward to being capped. He said it was like becoming a knight or a girl becoming a lady and he questioned "what value did courage have" if they didn't have a free mind to direct it. "Knowing fear as I have never known it before and screaming, screaming...." When Will came round he remembered that feeling and wondered whether he had dreamt it all then he shuddered when he realized it had been real. He felt his head and there was no cap, he felt relief and nauseous that made him pause and draw breath - he thinks he is ok.

Monday, March 14, 2011

How will Beanpole help Will and Henry on their to the White Mountains?

In chapter 4 Will and Henry met a boy called Beanpole well that's the nickname they gave him his real name is Zhanpole and he wanted to go with Will and Henry, so they said he could follow them. I think that Will really didn't want to have someone else come prancing along again with him, after all the only reason Will let Henry go with him was because he convinced him by sitting on top of him but Will still does not know if he can still trust Henry as before he thought he had abandon him in the forest and took all Will's food and supplies that were in the pack.

I really think that Beanpole will benefit Henry and Will because Beanpole probably knows the town at the blink of an eye so he knows everyone and good hiding places. Another good thing is that Beanpole might know a bunch of shortcuts to get to the White Mountains and that way it will be quicker and the journey wont be as long and just think if Beanpole knows who is who in the town then if there was somebody looking for them he could hide ahead of time because he knows that, that person is someone that is most likely to be on a search party. I strongly think that Will made the right decision to take Beanpole with them because there are so may ways he can help!!!!!!

Monday, March 7, 2011

The White Mountains

Well I don't think I would really read this book if I didn't have to but I guess it is quite interesting so when Ms. Narsiman asked the question "how is Will just like you" at first I thought that's easy Wills like me because.... than I stopped. How is Will like me? IT is actually a harder question than it seems. So I am now sitting at my computer wondering how is Will just like me? then it struck me.......

Will is just like me because he has his own mind. As said in the book, Will is different because he is worried about being capped but everyone else in the village think that is completely normal but Will has his own thoughts on what to do that is why he is going to the White Mountains so he can be free. This is like me because I am not a follower I have my own mind and like to make my own choices for example if one of my friends ask me to go to someones party and everyone is going and I don't feel up to it or I am busy, I am not afraid to say I can't come or I don't feel up to coming. I don't go just because everyone else is going. I dislike being controlled like you would be if you were capped you would be controlled by the tripods but I will not sit here being controlled by friends and other people and I listen to what my mind tells me!

So this is why I am like Will, we both dislike the thought of someone or something else being in control of us and telling us what to do or whot to think and if we do not like something, we are not afraid to do or say something about it. However if I had the choice to runaway from home I probably would not runaway as I would miss my family too much. I wonder what Will would do if he didn't feel like going out but everyone else was?