Into Thin Air: The Reward

Question: After completing his climb of Everest and surviving, was the reward of climbing the world's tallest mountain important to Mr. Krakauer at the time?

“It would be many hours before I learned that everything had not in fact turned out great-later I discovered that nineteen men and women were stranded up on the mountain by the storm, caught in a desperate struggle for their lives” (page 255).

Answer: On May 13th, after a difficult climb through Camp Three, Camp Two, Camp One and the Icefall, Jon Krakauer and what was remaining of his expedition, including Beck Weathers, descended into Base Camp, completing their journey from their normal lives to the top of the world. The select few people in the world that have achieved this feat normally are very happy when they get back to Base Camp because it completes years of hard work, many weeks of suffering through injuries, altitude sickness and many other conflicts and complications and the final stage of an archetypal journey that was a dream for many of them to complete.

However, as Jon Krakauer and what was remaining of his expedition, including Beck Weathers, descended into Base Camp, they didn't celebrate or reflect on the feat they had just completed. They couldn't and wouldn't do this due to the awful events that occurred on the mountain during their climb which they did during the deadliest storm in Mt. Everest history. All told, a dozen people died on Everest that season, changing the survivors lives, including Jon Krakauer’s forever.

Due to the many friends and fellow mountaineers that were lose on the mountain by the survivors of the climb, Mr. Krakauer's completion of his childhood dream and reward of knowing that he could do anything that he wanted if he tried weren't important to him. In fact, he didn't even reflect positively about his success. Instead, he wrote about how each climber, whether in his expedition or not, would be missed by him and his fellow survivors because they all helped him and his friends along the way. Each climber on the mountain played a vital role for the other climbers as they helped each other mentality, physically or spiritually at some point during their journey to the summit.

Therefore, Jon's reward that came with the completion of his archetypal journey wasn't important to him at all as he and his fellow survivors descended into Base Camp. So, instead of celebrating his achievements with the others at Base Camp, he attended a memorial for everyone that died on the mountain while many of the surviving climbers were air lifted to area hospitals by helicopters due to various injuries. This memorial and the events that occurred on the mountain changed Jon's life forever so due to the magnitude and scale of this catastrophe, less than a year after the horrific tragedy happened; Mr. Krakauer published a book on the events that transpired on the mountain. The book’s title: Into Thin Air.

Into Thin Air: The Ordeal

Question: How was the fact the book Into Thin Air had a long ordeal significant to the plot of the story?

After reading a little bit of Roald Dahl with my siblings and basing my last few posts on some of his works, I've decided to return to blogging about Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer because the book displayed more aspects of the archetypal journey than Roald Dahl's The BFG or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory did.

Answer: The long ordeal in the book Into Thin Air was significant to the plot because it created tension in the plot, caused the reader to become interested in the story and developed the many main characters on the mountain.

First of all, the long ordeal caused definite tension in the plot. After Jon crossed the threshold by finally committing to Outside Magazine's offer to have him climb to mountain and write an article about his experiences, he jumped on a plane to travel to Kathmandu. Here, he met his mentor Rob Hall, the guide of Krakauer's Adventure Consultants climbing group and began learning his way around the Special World through numerous tests, enemies and allies. Some of these tests were difficult acclimatization climbs up and down the mountain to adjust to the high altitudes found on the mountain. Then, after many weeks of these climbs and numerous conflicts and complications, the expedition's assault of the summit began as well as the story's ordeal.

Due to this climb begin so long and filled with details, the ordeal became very long. This resulted in the reader feeling like they were on the mountain and travelling with the mountaineers every step of the way. However, as the life changing storm began to roll in and numerous awful events occurred like Andy Harris falling off of the mountain due to the blizzard and many climbers freezing to death, tension began to build as we followed every climber's struggle to survive on the world's tallest mountain.

Every little event that happened during this storm, the deadliest in Everest history, caused another larger event to happen and the reader to become more intrigued in the story. Therefore, due to the length of the ordeal, the reader became more and more interested in the plot as they felt they were in the shoes of each climber, began wondering what will happen next to each character and thinking about what they would do in each climber's situation. All of this thought and interest in the plot by the reader resulted in the story to be better understood and caused the book to become impossible to put down.

The length of this book's ordeal also caused the development of the story's character to occur. Since the book was written by Jon Krakauer himself, I got to see him evolve from a confident, well-trained and experienced mountaineer at the beginning of the story to a tired, suffering and unmotivated one during the ordeal as he attempted to find Camp Four, the place Rob Hall's expedition was to return to after their assault of the summit from the South Col. This transformation displayed a whole new side of Jon that we hadn't seen so far in the book while showing the power of nature and what it can do to man.

In the end, the long ordeal and its significance to the story resulted in an exciting plot line filled with twists and turns that caused tension in the story, an intrigued reader as they travel with each climber (but many Jon) and feel their highs and lows over the course of the ordeal and the development of each character as they displayed many different character traits and feelings due to the awful situation they were in.

The BFG: Approach Of The Inmost Cave

Question: How is the approach of the inmost cave by the BFG and Sophie significant to the rest of their journey and the plot of the story?

" ' If we can't save tonight's children, we can anyway save tomorrow's, ' Sophie said (Dahl, 124).

Answer: After many weeks of living in the cave in Giant Country with the BFG and seeing the giants leave every night to travel to other parts of the Earth to eat "human beans" or children, one night Sophie and the BFG agreed that enough was enough and something had to be done about the children-eating giants. So, the two devised a plan to have The BFG mix a dream using the ideas from Sophie which will show the Queen what the giants do each night; creating an awful nightmare for the Queen. The two will then set off for the Buckingham Palace and blow the dream into the Queen's bedroom. The BFG will then leave Sophie on the Queen's windowsill and retreat into the palace gardens to hide. When the Queen awakens, Sophie will tell her that all of her dream was true. Since the dream includes the knowledge that Sophie would be there when she woke up, the Queen will believes her and speak with the Big Friendly Giant. In doing so, and with the assistance of many others, the Queen will create a plan with the BFG, Sophie and some of the other powerful people in Europe like the King Of Sweden.

The next night, while the giants were gone eating children and everyone in the world was asleep, the BFG and Sophie left with the nightmare they had created that afternoon and travelled to Buckingham Palace. Here, their plan sprung into action and everything went as planned.

This section of the story was the approach of the inmost cave because it prepared Sophie and the BFG for the ordeal of attempting to capture the giants. Therefore, it was extremely significant to the story's plot and to Sophie's and the BFG's journey because it added tension to the story as it built up toward the ordeal or crisis and will help the Big Friendly Giant and Sophie complete their journeys.

The approach of the inmost cave in this story was significant to the story because it added tension to the plot by causing the reader to doubt the revolution of the crisis by the two heroes.Since their plan was so crazy and complex but vital toward the completion of their journey, I was unsure it would be successful. This caused me to predict what might occur in the future whether the plan is successful or not. In the end, this stage of the archetypal journey caused me to become more interested in the development of the plot and the characters because the importance of success but the chance that success might not happen.

Second and finally, the approach of the inmost cave was significant to Sophie and the BFG's journey and completion of their goal of getting rid of the giants. Without the assistance of the Queen and the other leaders of the world, there would have been no way the 25 foot Big Friendly Giant and 4 foot Sophie would have been able to seize the nine 50 foot giants' eating of children every night. Therefore, the approach of the inmost cave was extremely important to their journey because it will provide the two with others that will be able to help them make the world a safer place by increasing their chances of success with a good plan and teamwork among everyone that will help transport the giants from Giant Country (which the BFG will lead them to) to a large pit in England by helicopter.

The BFG: Tests, Enemies And Allies

Question: How did the tests and enemies of the Giant Country, the Special World in Sophie's journey, cause the friendship between Sophie and the BFG to become stronger?

Answer: After Sophie arrived in Giant Country following the BFG's snatching of her, she learned she had been caught by the only benevolent giant in the world and had to be kidnapped by the BFG when he saw her because if she would have told the world she saw a giant, the safety of him and the evil giants in Giant Country would be at risk. Also, he wouldn't be able to complete his job of catching dreams while in Dream World and, by putting them into the end of his magical trumpet, blow them into children's ears for a pleasant dream every night. Both are very different, the BFG standing 25 feet while Sophie stands about four, but it is their similarities that cause them to become friends. Sophie and the BFG have both lived very lonely lives, Sophie in the orphanage and the BFG in his cave in Giant Country, but have always wanted a friend to be there for them. This common desire causes the two to quickly become friends shortly after they arrive in Giant Country after returning from Sophie orphanage in England. However, in my opinion, it is the numerous tests and enemies that the two face together in this strange Special World that cause the friendship between them to grow.

Early in the story, the Bloodbottler, one of the meanest of the giants in Giant Country decides to go into the BFG's cave to stir up some trouble while the BFG was showing Sophie a snozzecumber, the only food that grows in Giant Country. When the Bloodbottler enters, the BFG distracts the giant long enough to give Sophie enough time to hid. When Sophie was hidden, the BFG then decided to attempt to get rid of the giant by offering a bite of the disgusting snoozecumber he was eating in hopes the awful taste of the vegetable would cause him to leave. However, the snoozecumber was the location that Sophie chose to hide in so when the Bloodbottler decided to take a bite of the snoozecumber, he also ate Sophie. Luckily, the giant spat the vegetable out right away and ran out of the cave immediately while Sophie was able to survive the near death experience. This part of the plot, obviously, was very serious, but it resulted in the BFG showing his love for Sophie as he ensured she was okay, apologized and helped clean her off.

Another test that brought the two closer together as friends was when the BFG invited Sophie to travel to Dream World with him because he had enough trust in her to bring her to this special place. Here, Sophie helped the BFG catch dreams that would be used to help the children of the world to sleep well while learning about the many tricks the BFG uses to catch these small and silent balls of light. This test displayed the BFG's trust in Sophie because it was the first time he had ever allowed anyone to come here with him.

One of the last large tests that would build the relationship between the two was when the BFG found a nightmare or "trugglehumper" while in Dream World and decided to use his trumpet and some assistance from Sophie to blow the dream into the Fleshlumpeater's ear while the giants were sleeping. The bad dream caused the Fleshlumpeater to kick another giant and start a large melee between the giants as they woke up. This test proved to the two that, with some hard work, good ideas, assistance from others and luck, the two would be able to defeat the giants and save the children of the world.

In the end, these tests and enemies that were found in the Special World, as well as their similar characteristics, caused the BFG and Sophie to become very good friends. This friendship, common hate for the giants and desire for a safe world where giants don't eat children, caused the two to create a plan that would hopefully rid the Earth of giants forever.

Into Thin Air: The Refusal Of The Call

I am currently reading the BFG by Roald Dahl. It was been a very compelling read due to the many twists and turns in the plot. However, the story, in my opinion, didn't have a refusal of the call because Sophie was stolen by the BFG so there was no choice for Sophie but to accept her call to adventure and travel to Giant Country. Therefore, I've decided to revisit one of the old novels that I've used for this blog because it did contain a refusal to the call by the main character Jon Krakauer.

Near the beginning of the book, Jon spoke about his previous climbing experiences while much younger. According to him, in his twenties, Krakauer lived to climb mountains, aspiring to be a serious climber. However, climbing mountains took him away from the things he loved like his family and friends while it left him hurting financially. So, Jon gave up his dream to climb Everest, well, for the time being. Then, in 1995, Outside Magazine hired Krakauer to do a story about being guided up and climbing the highest mountain in the world but he was not to actually attempt the summit. At first, Jon was unsure about the climb because he wasn't in the physical condition required to climb a mountain of Everest's scale and wasn't ready to pay the large sum of money required to be guided up the mountain by a professional company like Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants. So, he decided to ponder accepting this opportunity, his call to adventure.

Those few days of Jon pondering his choice would become his journey's refusal of the call, even though it was short and he later committed to climbing Mt. Everest for Outside Magazine. In my opinion, this short refusal of the call was extremely significant to the story because it initially frustrated me, creating tension in the story and caused me to bond with Jon. Jon's initially refusal of the call frustrated me because I wanted to see him succeed. Earlier in the book, he had stated it was his lifelong dream to climb Mt. Everest but he was never able to because of financial difficulties and numerous commitments like a job and a family. So, when the opportunity to climb Everest arose for him, I wanted him to accept his call to adventure right away to ensure he would have a chance living his dream. This pondering over a decision by Jon resulted in tension to be built in the story as I wondered if he would accept this opportunity or not and in the end created a more interesting plot for the reader when Jon finally did accept his call to adventure.

This refusal of the call also caused me to feel a bond with Jon as I began to think about what I would do in his situation. I personally would never climb a mountain but I understood the choice was difficult for Jon because he was feeling nervous and unprepared for this important journey that was ahead of him. I felt the same way when I received the invitation to announce of the Tavistock Braves, an area Junior D hockey team.

Since I've been young, it was been my dream to announce for an NHL hockey team as their colour commentator. Therefore, this call to adventure was extremely important to the journey of my life as it would give me a place to launch my career from. However, even with all of the positives that would come with accepting this invitation, I wasn't sure if I would do it. Like Jon, I felt unprepared for the journey that was ahead and even began to doubt myself but in the end I accepted and have been the Braves announcer ever since while Jon accepted his call to adventure and began climbing Mt. Everest. This connection between us created a bond and allowed me to see the story from his view in a much clearer way because I knew how Jon felt as he climbed up the mountain. Maybe I didn't understand the cold temperatures, deadly situations, painful injuries or other conflicts and complications that arose in Jon's journey, but I was able to understand his feelings, thoughts and mental problems while traveling through his journey. And because of that, the refusal of the call allowed me to understand the story and Jon much better as I felt I was with Jon and the other climbers every step of the way.

The BFG: Crossing The Threshold

"The next moment, a huge hand with pale fingers came snaking in through the window. This was followed by the arm, an arm as thick as a tree-trunk, and the arm, the hand, the fingers were reaching out across the room towards Sophie's bed" (Roald Dahl, 16).

In the story The BFG by Roald Dahl, Sophie, a young girl who lives in an orphanage and is the story's main character, receives her call to adventure very early and is forced to cross the threshold because of it. The novel begins with Sophie lying awake in her bed, gazing through her room's window to the street below. Suddenly, to her astonishment, she sees a giant walking the streets with a large horn and a suitcase. She watches in amazement as the giant carefully opens the window to the house next door, pours the contents of a glass from his suitcase into his trumpet and blows it into the room. However, while Sophie watched the giant do so, he spun around and saw her. Sophie tries to hide once she has seen him but it is too late. The giant picks her up from her bed, puts her in his shirt pocket and runs back to his cave located in an unknown part of the Earth known as Giant Country.

After reading this far into the book, I realized the giant entering Sophie's ordinary world of living miserably in an orphanage is her call to adventure. By definition, the call to adventure of a hero on their journey is "the stage that sets the story rolling by disrupting the comfort of the hero's home life by presenting a challenge or quest that must be undertaken" according to our note entitled Twelve Stages of The Archetypal Journey.

Therefore, the giant snatching Sophie from her bed is the hero's call to adventure because it disrupts the comfort of her Ordinary World and causes her to travel to the Special World containing giants, near death experiences and the opportunity to save the children of the world. At the time of the snatch, we didn't know that the call to adventure would result in a challenge or quest being presented, but we later learn the snatch causes Sophie to become part of a plan to rid Giant Country and the Earth of the evil giants that eat children ever night and are unlike the giant that stole Sophie.

As Sophie crosses the threshold from her Ordinary World of the orphanage to the Special World in Giant Country, she learns that she had to be stolen by the giant, named the Big Friendly Giant or BFG, to ensure nobody would know about the giants that roam the Earth. And later, as I stated before, she travels with the BFG through his awful and dangerous life in Giant Country with evil man-eating giants and creates a plan to have them captured by the army of the Queen of England in order to save the lives of children around the world.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory: Limiting Beliefs

Charlie Bucket, the main character in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is a young boy with big dreams. Every single day he walks by Willy Wonka's enormous chocolate factory on his way to and from school and smells the wonderful scent of chocolate and all different types of candy that are being produced behind the walls of the giant factory. While doing so, he dreams of seeing the inside of the factory and make his own candy creations in the factory that's been hidden from the public for many years due to Willy Wonka closing the factory's gates to preserve his candy creating secrets.

However, this all changes when Mr. Willy Wonka, the eccentric owner of the greatest chocolate factory into his world, decides to open the doors of his factory to five lucky children and their parents. In order to choose who will enter the factory, Mr. Wonka devises a plan to hide five golden tickets beneath the wrappers of his famous chocolate bars.

Charlie longs for the opportunity to visit the most prestigious chocolate factory in the world by receiving one of these tickets but his limiting beliefs have held him back from being the recipient of one of the tickets. The limiting beliefs that are holding Charlie back from beginning his journey from his ordinary world to the special world are his family and peers.

Charlie's main limiting belief is his family for a number of reasons. First of all, his family is extremely poor. Therefore, Charlie's ordinary world consists of living in a tiny house with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, and all four of his grandparents. His grandparents sharing the only bed in the house, located in the only bedroom, and Charlie and his parents sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Also, it consists of three sparse meals a day, which is hardly enough to nourish a growing boy and limiting money that results in few luxury items like chocolate bars. However, once a year, on his birthday, Charlie gets one bar of Wonka chocolate, which he savors over many months. Since the contest consists of having to find the golden ticket within a chocolate bar, the fact Charlie's family is poor is a limiting belief because it dramatically reduces his chance at finding a golden ticket.

Another limiting belief for Charlie is his peers. When I say peers, I don't mean the people he spends time with or goes to school with. Peers refer to the millions of people in the world his age that are trying to find one of the five golden tickets while he is. Charlie's peers are a limiting belief because, like the fact his family is poor, they lower his chances of finding one of the golden tickets.

In the end, Charlie's limiting beliefs make it more difficult to cross the threshold in his journey toward seeing Willy Wonka's chocolate factory which is too bad. In most journeys, whether in books or life, the hero attempts to use the limiting beliefs in his life as excuses so they don't leave their ordinary world and cross the threshold toward their goal. This is not the case in this story. Charlie is more than ready to cross the threshold and see the many unknown wonders within Mr. Wonka's chocolate factory. However, when I finished this post, Charlie was about to open the single Wonka chocolate bar that he had received for his birthday. Who knows, with a little bit of luck, it could be the one containing the ticket that would send him on the journey of a life time.

Into Thin Air: Hero Study

"Every time I coughed, the pain from my torn thoracic cartilage felt like someone was jabbing a knife beneath my ribs, and brought tears to my eyes. But if I wanted a crack at the summit, I knew that I had no choice but to ignore my infirmities and climb." (Jon Krakauer, 214)

Before I can answer what qualities I see in my protagonist that I might consider being heroic in nature, I first need to know what it means to be a hero. According to our work with archetypes, we learned the essence of the hero is not bravery or nobility but self-sacrifice. He will ensure separation, hardship and must pay a price to obtain his goal. Some of the qualities of the hero are a new identity which grows as the hero travels through his journey and learns from various experiences that occur in it. Finally, the hero can receive this new identity and knowledge from a variety of other characters like a mentor, love interest or the villain.

So, after identifying what a hero is and reviewing what occurred in the book's plot, I believe Jon Krakauer, the story's main character, is a hero. Mr. Krakauer displays the many qualities of the archetypal hero like self-sacrifice, the will to pay the price to obtain a goal and the receiving of a new identity due to what occurred over the course of his journey. Also, Jon has some character traits that aren't stated in the archetypal hero summary. One of these character traits is perseverance, which was vital in Jon's quest toward his goal of climbing the tallest mountain in the world.

As stated before, Jon Krakauer displayed many qualities of the archetypal hero. First of all, throughout his journey, Mr. Krakauer displayed self-sacrifice, one of the most important qualities of a hero. This quality of Jon has displayed numerous times in the story from when he gave up his life in the United States of America to climb Mt. Everest in order to write an article about his experiences to when he was willing to write a book about the events that occurred on the mountain. However, it was when he was ascending the last few hundred metres of this mighty mountain that I realized Jon was willing to sacrifice everything in order to get to the top of the world. At the time of this final ascent, Jon had an awful cold and torn thoracic cartilage that caused large amounts of pain whenever he coughed. However, Jon wouldn't let this serious injury hold him back from achieving his lifelong goal. Therefore, Jon was willing to pay the price in order to achieve his goal.

In the end, Jon's self-sacrifice and the events that occurred while on the mountain over the course of his journey resulted in a new identity for Jon. With all of the deaths and awful things that happened while Jon was on the mountain along with the positives like completing the climb and surviving, Jon received a new appreciation of life and learned if he's able to climb the world's tallest mountain; he could do anything if he put his mind to it.

Through Jon's journey, he displayed many qualities of the archetypal hero; however, he also displayed a quality that was required in order for him to be successful. That quality was perseverance. Perseverance was extremely important for Jon because it was what caused him to complete his goal of climbing the mountain. Throughout his journey, numerous conflicts and complications arose and stood in the way of his quest for the top. However, through perseverance, Jon was able to achieve his goal and survive the deadliest week in Mt. Everest history.

Into Thin Air: Character Archetypes

" 'With so many incompetent people on the mountain," Rob Hall, my expedition's guide, said with a frown one evening in late April, "I think it's pretty unlikely that we'll get through this season without something bad happening up high'" (Into Thin Air, page 130).

Since I'm reading a book about an American expedition climbing the tallest mountain in the world and the many disastrous things that happen, there was obviously a lot of different character archetypes displayed throughout the plot. However, the character that most clearly showed a character archetype was Rob Hall, the head guide of the expedition climbing Everest. Throughout the book, Rob is exemplified the many characteristics of the mentor. I believe this because he aided and trained the many mountaineers that were ascending Mt. Everest in his expedition, gave the climbers a gift and provided the many heroes in the story, the climbers in his expedition, a test to prove their worth.

Firstly, Rob displayed the qualities of a mentor because he aided and trained the heroes. Throughout the book, Rob and his assistant guides aid the many climbers in their expedition by telling them where to climb and when so they can adjust to the air at higher altitudes. Due to this, the climbers became better prepared for their quest to the summit. Also, Rob aids the climbers physiologically though these climbs because through them the members of his expedition received confidence in themselves and trust in their guides.

Secondly, Rob exemplified the mentor because he gave the members of his team an important gift that would assist them to the top of the world. This gift was his knowledge. Since Rob had climbed Everest so many times in his years, he had vast knowledge of the mountain. Therefore, throughout the many climbs the expedition did to prepare for the summit, he gave his clients tips and suggestions. This caused the climbers in his group to become better climbers and become more prepared the many disastrous things that would happen during their time on Everest.

Finally, Rob showed he was a mentor because he provides the heroes in the story, his group's clients, many tests and challenges to prove their worth. In order for his group to become prepared for their climb to the summit, he forced them to complete acclimatization climbs. Acclimatization climbs were the mountaineers in the story travelling up to higher camps on the mountain and coming back down to Base Camp. They occurred many times in the book because they allowed for the climbers to adjust to the low amounts of oxygen at high altitudes. However, in my opinion, they were also a test provided by Rob Hall and his assistants to the climbers. These climbs were a test because they showed whether or not the group was prepared for their climb to the summit or needed more time practicing and prepared for their climb to the summit.

Therefore, I believe Rob was a mentor through his aiding and training of the climbers in his group, the fact he gave his mountaineers the gift of his knowledge to assist them to the summit of Everest and because he provided his expedition with numerous tests to prove their worth.

About Into Thin Air

After completing Norah McCormick's Dooley Takes The Fall, I decided to continue my reading of books that are extremely exciting and impossible to put down. So, I decided to read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. The book is about Mr. Krakauer, a mid-aged experienced mountain climber, who decided to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. His goal: climb Everest. However, when you're climbing the tallest mountain in the world; anything can happen.

"Into Thin Air is a definitive and personal account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest, Jon takes the reader step-by-step from Kathmandu to the mountain's deadly peak, unfolding a breathtaking story that will by turns thrill and terrify" according to the book's blurb. In my opinion, it's a book that will change your view and appreciation of life forever.

Dooley Takes The Fall: Connecting Fiction To Reality

"So instead of doing what he wanted to do-find Gillette and Landers-he went down to the ravine"(Norah McClintock, Dooley Takes The Fall, Page 151)

Dooley and I are very different people, Dooley being a recovering drug addict and criminal and me being an intelligent high school student. We're different ages, Dooley 17 and me 14. However, even though we're so different, we're so alike.

In the story, whenever Dooley is feeling stressed, confused or unsure about what he should do next, he went to the ravine. The ravine, in my opinion, was extremely important to Dooley because it allowed him to get away from the many awful things, like being framed for robbery and seeing a young boy jump off of a bridge to his death, that were happening to him.

I too need to get away from everything at times due to a variety of things at times. Whenever I feel this way, I go to the bush at the back of our property, relax and enjoy the many wonderful things this wooded area has to offer. Coming here always makes me feel better, just like Dooley after he comes back from a walk in the ravine because it's our place where we can escape and be alone for a while; the type of place that everyone needs.

Dooley Takes The Fall: Summary And Review

Summary

"Is he dead?" (McClintock 1). Those three words were the words that would change his life because when he heard them, Dooley knew at that moment he was in trouble. Dooley Takes The Fall by Canadian author Norah McClintock takes us through the life of a troubled teen struggling to free himself from his past and the implications of the present conspiracies that surround him, including witnessing another teen’s violent death. Police suspect he is involved due to his criminal record and this confusing mystery unfolds as Dooley is determined to prove his innocence.

Review

After completing and reflecting on the completion of this book, I've noticed that it is simply one of the best books I've ever read. It was extremely exciting due to the many violent and plot-changing events that occurred like the death of Gillette and the party, where all of Dooley's problems truly began. Due to profane language and extremely graphic events in the plot, I would recommend this book to teenagers 13-18. Also, this could be a great novel for anyone that is looking for a relatively short but extremely suspenseful read.

Readers Are Plentiful: Thinkers Are Rare

"Readers are plentiful: thinkers are rare". This quote by Harriet Martineau is the one that I've chosen to base my blog around because it really speaks to me. It's easy for somebody to read a book, but it takes a real thinking, creative mind to connect what you are reading to the real world. This is what I've always seemed to do while reading since I was young because it's what makes reading so interesting. Besides, what's the point of reading and not thinking? How will someone be able to use what they read without thinking? That's like eating, without digesting! Therefore this quote really connects me, Stan Temming, to reading.