In the book "American Born Chinese" by Gene Luen Yang, a Chinese boy from San Francisco named Jin Wang moves and transfers to Mayflower Elementary School. He finds it hard to fit in to his new community because of his ethnic differences. All the other kids are very American and isolate him, so he associates his loneliness with his culture. However, when he meets another Asian kid named Wei Chen, he feels a little less lonely and relieved that he finally has a real friend. But even after all of this, he is still obsessed with being American. Finally, he goes on a date with a beautiful, typical American girl that he has been desperately trying to get noticed by for a very long time. But he still seems unsatisfied and uncomfortable with his culture.
Jin Wang never really fitted in with anyone in school. The only difference between him and the other kids is he is Chinese and everyone else is American. So, Jin Wang assumes that the reason why he doesn't fit in is because he is Asian. He becomes ashamed of his culture and tries as hard as he can to become more American.  He tries to blame his loneliness on anything but himself, rather than seeing a problem with himself he sees a problem with society and they way people view him. He is clearly very insecure and wants to be accepted. But he thinks the only way he can fit in is to be American. So he insults his one friend when he does Asian things. For example, on page 89, Jin Wang insults Wei Chen for being Asian in America. "This isn't Taian, you doof! Stop acting like such an F.O.B (Fresh off the boat)!"
When Jin Wang gets an American girl named Amelia that he's drooled over countless times in class, he still isn't content with his life because an American boy named Danny who already knows Amelia seems so much more perfect than him. He doesn't want to be similar to Danny, he wants to exactly like Danny. He wants to be Danny because he is the perfect all American boy who has plenty of friends, plays sports, and is pretty popular. Of all of these characteristics, Jin Wang posses none. He can't see that he should just try to be more out going and meet new people, he blames his loneliness on something that can't change. He has been convinced that his own culture is less superior to American culture.
In conclusion, Jin Wang is not an unpopular loser. He makes himself an unpopular loser. He isolates himself and never talks to his peers because he is afraid of rejection. He doesn't want to believe there is anything wrong with him that he can change. So, he blames his unpopularity on his race and assumes his  other classmates will judge him with unfair stereotypes regarding his ethnicity.

      In the book "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, Hassan and Amir's relationship is ruined. Amir feels incredibly guilty throughout the book, but we never really get to see Hassan's perspective. We see how Amir thinks of Hassan and the situation, but we never see what Hassan thinks of himself and the situation. I think the author excludes the point of view of Hassan to emphasize and bring out Amir's point of view. Khaled Hosseini is trying to make us feel bad for Hassan and also Amir.
The author wants us to feel bad for Amir by only showing his point of view. Amir feels regretful and guilty because he witnessed Hassan get raped and just ran away instead of helping. Normally, we would feel bad for Hassan because the author would show how much Hassan was in pain and how much he suffered. However, by not including Hassan's point of view we don't think badly of Amir, instead we feel bad for him because he constantly feels guilty and continues to hate himself. So now, neither Hassan or Amir are he antagonists.
The author wants both Hassan and Amir to be victims in this story. He wants us to blame the people who raped Hassan and society who pushes them farther away from each other. This really brings out the fact that society is awful and class expectations are ridiculous. The boys who raped Hassan raped him because he was of lower class and he was playing with someone very wealthy: Amir. Khaled Hosseini is trying to spread awareness of class division and how horrible it is. Both Amir and Hassan are victims of this. Amir is forced to push Hassan away and treat him like a person of less importance because society's expectations push him to do so. Hassan has to deal with losing his best friend and being sexually abused just because he is of lower class.
All in all, I think Khaled Hosseini is trying to send a message about how bad class division is. He does this by excluding Hassan's point of view, which victimizes Hassan and Amir, leaving society the only one to blame for their confusing lives and ruined friendship. He is trying to  tell us that class division can ruin relationships and society puts too much pressure on wealthy people to behave a certain way.

The Great Gatsby
In the book The Great Gatsby, Gatsby: a wealthy business man, falls in love with a beautiful woman named Daisy who happens to be the cousin of Gatsby's neighbor: Nick. Nick lives in a small house next to Gatsby's mansion and they eventually meet at a party and become very good friends. Daisy is married to a vey powerful and rich man who lives across a large body of water from Gatsby's mansion.
Daisy and Gatsby were dating for a while and Daisy loved him dearly, but Gatsby at the time was not wealthy and was very poor. And so, Daisy left Gatsby and married a wealthy business man named Tom. She loved Tom and loved what he offered to her and blocked out memories with Gatsby. However, Gatsby never got over her and eventually with a lot of help and some fraud, he became extremely rich. By this time, Daisy loved Tom and built a life with him. Even if Gatsby was rich now, she couldn't just leave Tom for him. However, when they are reunited many years later, the memories of how happy Daisy was with Gatsby came back to her and she allowed herself to fall in love with him. They start dating without making Tom aware of it, but Tom eventually catches on and becomes aware that Daisy is having an affair with Gatsby. They end up getting into a harsh argument that Daisy and Gatsby drive away from, Daisy accidentally runs over a woman but of course Gatsby takes the blame. Daisy goes back to Tom, but Gatsby is murdered when the woman's lover shoots him.
After all the things Daisy went through with him, she didn't come to his funereal... In fact no one except for Nick showed up. Nick is incredibly angry, he believes that everyone just took from Gatsby but never gave anything in return. Gatsby threw wonderfully fabulous parties for everyone to attend to but never received a 'thank you' or sign of respect. He took care of and loved Daisy, but she moved on and continued her life with Tom. Nick is blinded by his friendship, he is disgusted with everyone else because he was Gatsby's only true friend and they were very close.
Nick does not think rationally, he believes that everyone is evil for not giving back to Gatsby. However, no one gave back to him because most of the people who attended his parties didn't even know who he really was. Gatsby just welcomed everyone to come, so hardly anyone who went actually knew Gatsby. Can you really thank someone you don't know or know where to find? Daisy is also perfectly innocent. Although she loved Gatsby, she also loved Tom and built an entire life with him. No matter how amazing Gatsby was, he hadn't given her a marriage, home, or stable life like Tom did. You can't blame someone for not divorcing their husband for a man who already died.
All in all, I think Nick is delusional and would like to think it is injustice the way things were left behind him when he died. However, nothing is really wrong in the first place. There is no injustice and there is no justice to be served. As much as Nick hates it, there is not really any injustice paid to Gatsby.

Young adult fiction is often challenged because it includes content about suicide and depression. It is considered inappropriate for the audience it is aimed at. Supposedly, young adults are not ready to learn about such topics and may be influenced to be involved in these issues. However, they are ready and need to learn about these serious real- world issues. Access to books involving suicide and or depression should not be limited because they can serve as a teaching tool or guid to dealing with suicide and/or depression.
Young adult fiction should not be challenged if it contains information or content about suicide and depression because it can be used as a teaching tool. Young adults need to know about these issues, if they are not taught they will find out for themselves.Teens often go through depression and if they are not taught about it, they may act upon suicidal urges or explore the issue on their own. Young adults are frequently exposed to inappropriate content on the internet and sometimes real life. In the article "Should young adult books have age ratings?" by Husna Haq, Patrick Ness states; "Teenagers look at this darkness all the time, and I always think if you're not addressing it in your fiction, then you're abandoning them to face it themselves. Reading young adult fiction is a better alternative than letting teens deal with depression alone".Of course young adult fiction offers content about serious issues that may be considered heavy, but it also teaches teens how to deal with it. Books involving suicide and/or depression can actually be a good influence on teens.
Books involving suicide should not be banned because they help teens understand that they are not alone. Depressed or suicidal teens may feel like they are alone, but reading young adult fiction will help them to know they're not alone. In the article "The 'sick-lit' books aimed at children..." by Tanith Carey; Phil Earle, author of "Saving Daisy", states that when young people are lost in traumatic states, it is vital they don't feel alone. isolation makes the situation worse". Phil Earle clearly thinks that suffering teens need to know they're not alone, and reading young adult fiction involving suicide and depression may make them feel less alone.
Some people may argue against me saying that young adult fiction influences teens negatively and can give them thoughts about committing suicide. They believe that people who have never thought about committing suicide or self harming will give into self mutilation under the influence of young adult literature. However, this is not true. Books are not the only influences that teens have, Books do not influence teens to perform life changing things just by reading about them. Meghan Cox Gurdon states in the article "Darkness Too Visible" that "reading about homicide does not turn a man into a murderer". This shows reading about serious issues does not influence young adults to be a part of the serious issue or be involved in it in any way.
In conclusion, books that include material involving depression and/or suicide should in no way be challenged or banned. These books are actually good influences for teens. Whether they serve as a teaching tool or a companion, they are certainly a good alternative to having young adults experience and explore these issues on their own.

A New Cold War? by Patricia smith

i've recently read an article called "A New Cold War?" by Patricia smith in which Patricia discusses the recent dispute between Russia and America. Putin and Obama have been arguing recently because of the new tragic events in syria. syria has been involved in acts of violence using chemical weapons, so Obama decided to step in and help syrian citizens. However, Russia is a partner with syria and does not want America to be involved with and repress syria.

Obama is furious with how uncooperative Putin is being, he believes it is more important to think about the future and not focus on the past. the serious issue today is that syria is undertaking a hard blow from syrian enforcers, Obama has decided to send help and try to repress the syrian government from hurting their citizens. Putin opposes this and seems to be using the same approach as he did over 22 years ago when the Soviet Union was still together, which is resisting America and using less of their products and things they have to offer. Obama believes this is ridiculous and that they need to attempt a different approach at the issue, he believes they need stop arguing with each other and start focusing on what is actually happening. Obama thinks poorly of Russia because Russia is kicking out American aid and banning Americans to adopt Russian children. He thinks Russia is just boycotting Americans and American programs because America is threatening to cut off connections between Russia and syria by repressing syrian government from using weapons.

Putin is very unhappy with the situation Obama has created for him. Putin and syrian president; bashar al-assad, have been partners for years. Russia has supplied syria with millions of dollars worth of weapons for years, they clearly have a very close and important trade relationship. With Obama trying to repress syrian government from using weapons, he has also cut off trade with Russia and syria. As opposition, Russia decided to prohibit use of American programs and restrict Americans from having privileges involving Russia and Russians. America did not take this well and dispute between Obama and Putin arose, Obama thinks Putin is being childish and difficult to work with, and Putin is very unhappy with the limit Obama has put on his strong trading system.        

All in all, current events involving syria also effect many other places. Obama is trying to control syrian government, but Russia is trying to stop Obama from restricting syrian government. A dispute in syria also caused a dispute between Russia and America. This shows that drastic changes in one place can also spark drastic changes in other places around it. Many people can be hurt by the actions of just a certain group of people.

“The ‘sick-lit’ books aimed at children: it’s a disturbing phenomenon. Tales of teenage cancer, self harm, and suicide…” by Tanith Carey

In the article, “The ‘sick-lit’ books aimed at children: it’s a disturbing phenomenon. Tales of teenage cancer, self harm, and suicide…” by Tanith Carey, Carey describes inappropriate themes in young adult fiction. She explains the many dark themes targeted for young readers. She shows that many young adult fiction books have serious medical issues such as cancer, eating disorders, and other self mutilation methods. Reading books like this can cause readers who have self harmed before, get back into the habit again. It can also give people who have never thought of the idea before the motivation and want to self harm. One thing Carey does is show the perspective of someone who was affected by these books. Jess, a girl who already self harmed, said “I’d finish reading and immediately reach for my blade.” She also only gives examples of books involving cancer or self harm; she shows no examples of books with other issues that are also in the young adult fiction category. Another thing she does is, she refers to young adult fiction readers as children or young people but not simply as young adults.  She makes young adults seem like victims of young adult fiction to convince readers that young adult fiction can and does harm “children”.

                Tanith Carey wants me to think that reading young adult fiction is harmful to the young audience it is intended for. She points out how it teaches young readers about serious, real life issues. She uses example books that have either cancer or self mutilation in them. “Coincidence? Hardly. Another children’s novel- Before I Die- about a 16- year- old British girls who, you will have guessed, is dying of cancer.” She makes us think that ‘children’ are being exposed to serious issues that are way too complex and harsh. Another thing she does is show quotes from people who were affected by these books. She includes a quote from a girl who started self harming again because she read “Red Tears” by Joanna Kenrick.  She gets us to think that it was directly and only the book that made her tip back into her bad habit again. She makes us think that these books can hit too close to home to read for some previous self-harmers. Finally, she really emphasizes that these books should not be given to people under a certain age and can relate to self mutilation. She quotes Laura Haddow from selfharm.co.uk, who expresses that young persons should not read young adult fiction unless under adult supervision. She points out how parents should check on what books their children are reading so they don’t fall victim to self harm. She wants us to think that only a specific group of people are eligible to read these books.

                I understand her point of view; I can see how these books may seem very inappropriate for their intended audience. However, I think it may be a good thing that these books are somewhat inappropriate. Carey points out how these books include very serious issues such as cancer and self mutilation. I think reading books about these topics is a good alternative to finding out about them. Young adults need to know about these issues, they can’t be sheltered forever, and some young adult books can be good teaching texts. She also points out how it has made some people slip back into self harming and even got some teens to start self harming. I think that as long as the reader of young adult fiction has someone mature, like a parent, there for them then they should be safe from self harm. These books can be very good for someone who has self harmed or is thinking about it. Reading these books can give them something to relate to. These books also can convince readers to think that they’re not alone. Phil Earle, author of Saving Daisy, says, “When young people are lost in such traumatic states, it’s vital they don’t feel alone.” This shows the importance of young adult fiction and how it can help struggling teens.

                In conclusion, I think that young adult fiction is good for teens. I think it can be inappropriate and hit close to home, but it can also be a teaching tool and something to relate to. I understand Carey’s point of view and I understand why young adult fiction can be considered dark, but I think only under specific conditions is it unsafe to read. 

Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya
     In class, we read a beautiful and touching story called "Faithful Elephants" by Yukio Tsyuchiya. In this story, zoo keepers must kill the elephants in the Ueno zoo because they are worried bombs might drop on the zoo and animals will run loose. The zoo keepers are very emotionally attached to the elephants and have a very hard time killing them, but must in order to insure citizens safety.
     The zoo keepers try to kill John, one of the Elephants, by mixing poisoned potatoes with the regular potatoes John eats. John picks out the only the good potatoes and the zookeepers must find another way to kill him. The zookeepers are obviously upset by this. It almost seems like fate that the elephants didn't die. It seems, to the zookeepers, like they are going against fate by trying to kill them. It pains the zookeepers to do something that seems so wrong, but they know they must do it. I think the process is stressful for not only the elephants, but also the zookeepers. They will have to watch and insure that they die.
     When they try to inject poison directly into the John, it doesn't work either. the needle snaps off and they must find yet another way to kill their beloved "children", as a zookeeper referred to the elephants. At this point, the zookeepers must feel incredibly guilty about trying to kill the elephants. Whenever they try to kill John painlessly, it doesn't work. The zookeepers probably think it is a sign that he did not die. They know that it is wrong to kill the elephants but they know that they have to. I think the zookeepers love the elephants dearly but would be much more relieved if they died. If the elephant died on the first attempt made to kill him, the zookeepers wouldn't be as stressed and worked up as they are now.
     Finally, the zookeepers decide to starve the elephants to death. This does work, but it is a slow and painful death. It is agonizing for both the elephants and the zookeepers. The elephants must suffer every moment they are alive, this is the last thing the zookeepers want. After such a painful and long time, when the elephants did die, it was a relief and not necessarily a sad moment. After all they've been through, death is a happy moment where they finally stop suffering. "They just lay on their sides, hardly able to see the white clouds floating in the sky over the zoo". This quote shows a peaceful scene, not one of sorrow, but one of relief and finally being able to rest. I think the author is trying to show that the elephants are in a better place now, they have stopped suffering and are free from the harsh reality of war procedures. Death was the solution to stop their pain.
    All in all, I think that death is not always a bad thing. It can be an end to suffering. the people around the victim may not wish for them to die, but it may be for the best if they are in pain. It is worse to see someone you love dying and suffering than dead and relieved of misery. "Cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes". This quote shows that the grave represents not only death but peace and rest.