Discussion 2

On page  81 paragraph two, James talks about wanting to work in a library because people have to whisper and only speak when necessary.  Then he goes on saying “If only the world was like that!” (81) as if only what he thinks matters.  This section really shows us that James doesn’t care what others think or what others enjoy and that he just thinks talking is completely unnecessary and people who enjoy talking to others are wrong for that.

On page 84 paragraph one, James shows his disrespect towards Dr. Adler and her bookshelf filled with non-fiction books.  He talks about the books being boring which I find strange because James always talks about wanting to read all day and that he can learn just as much from reading as from going to collage, you would think non-fiction would be included in those books to read.

On page 87 paragraph two, James is getting very frustrated by Dr. Adler saying “I see” which seems very unnecessary and strange.  Dr. Adler is using very regular and casual language that should not be causing him to be so hyper.  This shows that James only cares about himself and didn’t care for what Dr. Adler likes and wants to read when she makes fun of the books.

On page 93 paragraph one, James talks about how he is not excited about going to collage.  He mentions that he thinks kids his age are boring which is interesting to our group because we find James to be boring.  We don’t understand how she is judging other people her age for being boring when she doesn’t care to talk to people and doesn’t seem to have any activities or hobbies she likes other then reading.

Discussion two

Connector – Leanna d’Oliveira

Those who have dealt or who are still dealing with depression, they have experienced a depressed mood which can last for days, months or even years. It interferes with the ability to preform daily tasks, to function, or even maintain interest in life.

On page 64, James tells his mother that he is not happy. “I don’t think anyone is happy” (page 64). About 20 percent of all teens experience depression before they reach adulthood. In my psychology class, we learned how depression affects a person’s mind and attitude. We learn what lacks and what are enhanced in ones brain and body to those who deal with emotions like this.  Although, it does not say exactly that James has and is struggling with depression, his parents send him to Dr. Rowena Alder, a psychiatrist. To talk to someone and open up with feelings since he is not an open person to his parents or anyone at all.

Psychologist Sigmund Freud, proposed that personal development is pretty much determined by events in early childhood. Psychological theories suggest that childhood experience plays an important role in shaping ones life. Early on in James’ young years, he had to go through his parents filing for a divorce and eventually splitting up, they both went their own separate lives. He watches his mother marry many difference men. The outcome, they always ended up falling apart and splitting. James’ mother explains to him that although she has Gillian (with a hard G) and James as company, she still feels alone wanting for someone to hold and comfort her. Hence why she is always looking for love, James is tossed to the side. This may have altered his vision of love as all he has witnessed is his mother and father, together or not, not getting a happy ending, but a sad one.  According to theconversation.org, a study was conducted that shows parental divorce leads to increase lifelong risk of depression in offsprings.

James is stuck in this state of mind where he doesn’t want to go to college, he doesn’t want to travel, he doesn’t want to make friends and all he wants to do is live in a house that looks some what like his nonettes house and read. He could be viewed as numb or emotionless, a great major symptom to depression. According to an article from healthlire.org, depression can cause a sense of isolation or emotion disconnect from the rest of the world. Something I believe James can be related to as he says he is a disturbed adolescent (page 66).

In the end of the chapter, I believe he chooses to stick in his comfort zone. He chooses to walk all the way to Kansas, he chooses to live in a small house and read books all day. He chooses to not to make friends with people who are his age. He chooses to be alone so no one can ask a question to answer his question.

Discussion2: Summarizer

Summarizer: Varosita

Today we were discussing from chapter 5 to chapter 8. The story starts when the protagonist James was coming back from the American Classroom. His mother knew about the incident that he did during the American Classroom, and she really worried about him. So she and his father agreed that he should see the therapist and asking for help. For the first time that he went to the therapist, he didn’t do well with the therapy sessions, because he’s not open his mind to talk with the doctor. I feel like the next therapist sessions were getting better, because he starts to talk more about what he has been thought about the certain things. In the sessions we can see that he did like to talk with people, but only if he likes to talk to. He likes to talk with people who were smart and not boring, which were John and his grand mother. Throughout the chapter we also finds out that James was having a good relationship with his grand mother, he was very open, trust, and talkative when it comes to his grandmother. Still in some parts of the story he even told that he felt lonely, sad, disturbed ,and unhappy.

 

Discussion one

Connector – Leanna d’Oliveira

On page 31, James and his father have a talk, discussing the matters if James is gay or not. Spoken by the father, “the world supports heterosexuals, It’s the norm. Heterosexuals don’t really need the support. But gays do.” Will society always assume that everyone is straight unless a person comes out of the closet as a homosexual? Why is straight the norm but not gay? No matter what gender, who they decide to love, they are all human beings.

Recently a movie called Love, Simon has dropped in theatres about a closeted gay boy who has fallen in love with an anonymous classmate he met online. In the movie, all of Simon’s friends come out to their parents as heterosexual, viewing how it would look like if being straight was the ‘default’ and gay was the norm.

James’ father informs James that no matter if he’s straight, bi, or gay, he will continue to support him. He lets him know that it is okay to come out to him, to open up and be truthful to himself if he was. Just like this movie, Love, Simon is for those to give comfort who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual orientation. This movie shows that not only one person struggles but many more.

Discussion 1

Word Wizard-Kent

Disdaining, In the first paragraph of  page four James explains how it was weird that his mom chose to have her honeymoon in Las Vegas because she has never seemed too keen on visiting the city.  James says her mother “spent her entire life avoiding places like Las Vegas and merrily disdaining anyone who visited” (4)  more ever I did not fully understand what James’s mother felt about people who visited Las Vegas.  After finding out the that disdaining is someone refusing or rejecting something or someone out of pride or superiority, I understood that James’s mother felt she was superior to anyone who went to Vegas and  would refuse to agree with their decision to visit Las Vegas.

Hiatus, On page five paragraph one James talks about not telling her mother about “this hiatus” (5) and I did not understand what he meant.  Then I learned a hiatus is a break or pause in something which made me understand that James was not wanting to tell his mother about the break he had taken from working at the Gallery.  This gave us more of an insight into the dysfunctional parent-child relationship between James and his mother.

Ardency, In the second paragraph of page eleven I was confused as to what James means when he says “I vowed to love the block with Howard’s ardency” (11) which after learning the definition of ardent, displaying strong enthusiasm and devotion, he meant that he would love the block with devotion and enthusiasm just like Howard.  Our group believes this showed how caring and how much empathy he has by honoring Howard’s tradition and legacy.

Suffice, On page 37 paragraph four James uses a word that is unfamiliar to me.  Once I learn that suffice means to meet or satisfy a need, I can better understand that James was just letting his sister know he would not be at the beach house on the weekend.  From this word choice our group discussed why James’s personality and being a genius is why his vocabulary consist of such strong words.  We even think he uses these words to sound superior and that’s why he doesn’t use often typical conversationally relaxed words.

Feasible, In the first paragraph of page 39 James explains his feelings about an alternative plan for going to brown.  He says “I had been trying to devise a feasible alternative plan, but it had seemed inevitable-not going to collage was simply not an option I thought I had” (39) after learning that feasible means possible or likely I understood James was unsuccessfully looking for a possible alternative plan to going to collage.  Our group found it ironic that this boy is using an ivy league vocabulary when talking about having no interest in going to school.

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion 1

Discussion Director: Varosita

  1. In some parts of page 15 it says, “I’ve always been a bit jealous of how much my mother talks to the dog. In fact, I think we all talk to Miro more than we talk  to one another.” Did it tells us about their family relationship? Why it’s like that?
  2. In page 19, the narrator said that he’s not believe in love. Do you think is it because of his parents’ past relationship?
  3. As we knew that the narrator wants to buy a house. Why he was so interest to buy a house?
  4. The narrator told his father that he doesn’t wants to go to college. Do you think is it important for him to go to college? Do you think he made a right decisions?
  5. In page 47 it says ” Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful for you.” What’s the narrator trying to imply us?

Summary of our discussion: Our group decided to read from chapter1 to chapter4. Our discussion went well because everyone in our group gave their own opinion to the discussions. For the first question, we all see that his relationship between his family was like this because he had a divorce parents, and his mother was not stable enough to make their relationship be in a good conditions. Also everyone agree that the narrator wasn’t believe in love because of his parents’ relationship.He saw that his parents’ relationship didn’t work out well and that makes him not to believe in love. For the college question, Some of us disagree for the narrator to go to college because he seems not very sociable, so he might not fit in in the college. Although some of us (including me) agree that he should go to college, so he will learn how to fit in with other people and have some socialize. For the last question, Everyone said that it too early to tell anything about it because we only start 4 chapters. In conclude, today discussions was great and we are looking forward for the next discussions.

Discussion 1: Summarizer

The story begins as James talks about his and his sisters lifestyle while their mother is away.  When mom returns we learn how horrible Mr.Rogers was and how his gambling problem costed the family around 3000$. Somewhat escaping the issues at home, our protagonist James goes to see John a friend and employee at James mother art gallery. Further throughout the chapter we are introduced to the father of James and can notice that he lives a different lifestyle, more expensive and lavish (ex. Suits from all over the world, works at big firm, and can afford an expensive surgery). We also learn about the weird father-son relationship that James has, and the idea that his father thinks he’s gay, and encourages him to go out more. Furthermore, one thing we can take from James’s personality is that he’s not very social, and examples include the D.C trip where he barely interacted with anyone and expressed how he hated having to share a room with other people. It seems he only feels comfortable talking to certain people.

Connections: I didn’t have many connections to the first 4 chapters, however James’s decision to either go to college or take a different route reminded me of a TV show I watch. In the show ‘Ball in the family’ one of the characters is faced with a similar dilemma to either go to college and play NCAA Div. 1 basketball or take a less traveled path and instead go to Europe for a year and play pro overseas. Another connection I made to the story has to do with James’s personality. Last year I went to school with a boy named Seiji, who was very socially awkward and did not like much interaction unless it was with a few teacher and certain friends.