Quarter 2: Week 2, Post A

VOCAB:
subversive (77): in opposition to a civil authority or government

vivisecting (69): cutting into or dissecting a living body

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:

1. "His words hit her, a solid slap" (64). This is an example of personification because the author is giving a human characteristic--the power to hit--to a non-human thing:words. Words can not actually hit, so this is an example of figurative language.
2. "...he was drawn like a moth to the light over his father's workbench" (86). This is an example of a simile because the author uses the word "like" to compare Peter to a moth.

3. "The reporter appeared again on the grainy screen, his hair blowing upward like a boat's sail in the light wind..." (95). This is an example of figurative language, or, more specifically, a simile. The author uses the word "like" to make a comparison between the reporter's hair and the sail on a boat.
QUOTE:

" I used to stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom to see what they were staring at. I wanted to know what made their heads turn, what it was about me that was so incredibly different. At first I couldn't tell. I mean, it was just me. Then one day, when I looked in the mirror, I understood. I looked into my own eyes and I hated myself, maybe as much as all of them did. That was the day I started to believe they might be right" (60). This quote reveals a sad truth about Peter, but I think it also speaks to bully victims in general. I know a lot of people at my school who would not think twice about making a rude comment or gesture to someone who's considered a "dork" or a "weirdo" at school; they wouldn't think twice about it, saying it's all in good fun. However, most of these people don't realize the effects their words and actions have on the kids they single out. It's incredibly sad to me that Peter, a teenager who has been continually bullied since kindergarten, can actually begin to believe the people who are bullying him. He actually starts to hate himself as much as they hate him, instead of recognizing that these people are simply insecure.

THEME:

I think an emerging theme in this novel is focused on what it means to be different in today's society and the extreme measures some go to just to fit in.