"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll, page 112 to 214

In this next section of Alice in Wonderland, Alice and her cat start to wonder about Looking-Glass house and the secrets that hide in there. As she enters this mysterious house, she finds a lovely garden full of many talking flowers. She also finds many answers that don't make sense in reality, but make sense to Alice in her dreams. Such as the reason why flowers can talk here is that the soil is rough, keeping them awake, and outside, the soil is soft keeping them asleep. Further on, she stumbles upon a large chess board, and many of the pieces are moving about, especially the Kings and Queens. Later on, Alice notices that she has shrunken once again, and also that the woods, or wilderness, was the chess board where every area is a different block on the board, where she would meet different pieces of each team. She encountered Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and also Humpty Dumpty, which I had no idea was in this book. Moving onto more blocks as a pawn to become a queen, Alice encounters a field where there are many pieces from both sides fighting, even the White King and the Hatter. Although, this is where the section ends.

"I see nobody on the road." said Alice.
"I only wish I  had such eyes," the King remarked in a fretful tone. "To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance too! Why, it's as much I  can do to see real people, by this light!"
(Carroll, 194)

After reading this from the White King Chess piece, I started laughing very hard that i had to tell my brother, once he had heard it, we both started laughing because the King was literal when it came to seeing 'Nobody' as a person, even though Alice meant that she didn't see a single person on the road. Then I thought that she is dreaming again, like she did when she went to Wonderland.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll, page 9 to 111

In this very first section of a very famous book that was made into a Disney film, then into a more recent movie, Alice wakes up from a dream to find herself in her garden, under a tree as her sister is trying to get her to be more awake. Although, Alice starts to dream again and spots a white rabbit, dressed neatly with a pocket watch. This immediately was odd to Alice, but even more peculiar was the many other characters that she had encountered in wonderland. For example, she ran into the Mad Hatter and the March Hare as they were having tea. There were many events that occurred as Alice was trying to get back to her garden, like cake that would make one grow and a drink that would make one shrink, and especially talking animals. As Alice passes through Wonderland, eventually meeting the Cheshire Cat and playing a game of crochet with the Queen, she is then placed on trial, among others that were convicted of stealing the Queen of Heart's tarts. Like many other events, the rules made no sense to Alice, which was very amusing to read, until she eventually grew larger to start yelling at the Queen and waking up to her sister's voice. Thus, ending Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the Hatter said turning to Alice
"No, I give it up." Alice replied, "What's the answer?
"I haven't the slightest idea" said the Hatter.
(Carroll, 62)

After reading this, I started laughing because in the more recent version of this book into a film, Johny Dept, as the Mad Hatter said this at the very end, when he asked Alice about the similarity between a raven and a writing desk. After that I started thinking about it also, still trying to figure out the answer to this riddle.

ROAR Post # 5 Slam by Nick Hornby Pages 244 to 309

Beginning this next and final chapter, Sam starts off with the birth of his son, Rufus. As earlier mentioned in the book, Rufus's nickname was Roof. With Rufus being born on September eleventh, Sam moved in two days later in with Alicia. The next morning, Sam wakes up with Roof crying, and the beginning of his previous dreams are starting to happen right before his eyes. Later on he gets into a small fist fight with a stranger, and accidentally kicks him in the crotch area, very similar to what happened in his dreams. Sam also gets into a fight with Alicia about their personal relationship and about how he might have been happy if the other guy, the one he got into a fight with, was the father. Later on, or in the story its a couple of weeks after the fights, Sam gets a call from his father about visiting him with the baby. After that, Sam goes home and starts talking to his Tony Hawk poster about his father and how he would write a book, without his father being in it, and starts to get even more separated from Tony Hawk, up to the point where he thinks his advice is pointless. Sam then gets into worse fights with Alicia that almost have him ending up not seeing Roof again. By the time the book came to a closing, Sam concludes by saying that every story has a beginning, middle, and end, where his story is going to stay in the middle for a long time, and started to answer questions about what happened after the end of the story, or rather the middle.

"It wouldn't be so bad if Roof had looked round and gone, you know, " Hooray! Daddy!" But he didn't, because he was one day old.

When reading this quote from the book, I started to thin that it would really cool if babies would be able to talk the day after they were born. This would mean an automatic super baby, sort of like supernatural powers, like the Fantastic Four. Powers that would have been involved in rays that enhanced their regular human abilities.

ROAR Post # 4 Slam by Nick Hornby pg 184-245

After having meetings with Alicia about her being pregnant, with his mother, her parents, and other strangers, Sam is starting to want his old life more and more as the story progresses. Although, at the same time, Sam was starting to get closer to Alicia's parents as this story developed. Instead of using last names with the, they got so close that they started using first names with one another, even though her parents were already using Sam's first name. Further on into the story, Sam falls asleep again to wake up into another dream. This dream was the same as the one before, where he is starting to feel more omnipresent. After meeting his future with Alicia and his baby, Sam starts to talk more with her family, such as her closest siblings. He also starts to spend more time with his child, and at the same time, his baby has his first words in the story. As he is in his dream, Sam comes to the point where he doesn't even remember his child's name. Then comes the point where Sam is at the end of his dream, having conflict on what to do next, and to seem like he's not from the present, being the past for Alicia. All this starts to get confusing for Sam all at the same time. By the next chapter, Sam admits that he is going to have a baby named Rufus, and also admits that is all that readers will have to know. Now he starts to know more facts about his dreams and reality, such as that he will be getting a baby, and that his mother is going to have one, which doesn't bother him at all because he already saw it coming in his dreams. Later on, in the skate park, Sam finds out that Alicia was in labor, about to give birth to his son any minute.

"Oh bloody hell, I thought. I don't really know my kid's name." (Hornby, 210)

After reading this quote, I thought to myself "FINALLY!!!" because i always hear British people say bloody hell as another way of swearing. It also reminded me of Harry Potter because they were British too. Although, this may be stereotypical because I'm not sure if British people actually say it, or it might just be a way of being funny. Another funny thing that I found about this quote from the text was that Sam didn't know the name of his child until the next child came. Even if it was in a dream, Sam was in a dream, meaning that he had the power to control, or maybe not, not all people do. After thinking all this about dreams, I started to remember that someone told me one day that dreams are based on one's experience and memories.

ROAR Post # 3 Slam by Nick Hornby Pages 123 to 184

In this next section of the book, Sam isn;t seeing much of Alicia as last time. This shows that he and her are getting more and more distant from one another. After going to a new city while having his mother worried sick, Sam finds a job, to be able to support the fact that he will be a father. Sam leaves the fact that he has a pregnant girlfriend ( more like ex-girlfriend), in a way running away, and ended up getting a job where he didn't really expect to have one in. Although, he is getting paid and staying in a hotel, Sam is doing pretty well, but has been away from home for a few months already. Other than being at work, Sam was starting to have some more man versus self conflict about Alicia being pregnant, and starts to see things in three different time frames: the past, present, and future. Then all of a sudden, when Sam was starting to feel high and mighty with his life, he gets a package from his mother, but instead of a regular messanger, it was Alicia, who appears once again in his life to reveal their future from the pregnancy test. The section ends with the plans that Sam and Alicia are going to make in the future, for them, their family, and their baby, since they're going to keep it.

"I was living in three different time zones at once" (Hornby, 140)

After reading this quote, it reminded me of something scifi. At first, it reminedd me of movies like The Matrix, or Star Wars, because he had the ability to live in three different time zones. Sam would immediately know the past, live in the present, and look into the future. This also reminded me of more holiday stories such as A Christmas Carol, with how Scrooge has to go into the past, present, and future, to be able to change his perspective towards Christmas.

ROAR Post # 2 Slam by Nick Hornby

 In this next section of "Slam" by Nick Hornby, Sam spends more time with his girlfriend, Alicia, and eventually comes to the time where she wants to have sex. Although, it isn't inappropriate for this to happen, especially because it is a bildungsroman, Sam agrees, and later on comes to the point where they have sex again, but this time unprotected. Ever since then, Sam has been feeling weird, and never spoke of that night, not even to the one he spent it with. As his birthday came closer and closer to the present day, Sam starts to feel 'bored' of Alicia because its the same thing everyday and every time he goes over to her house: eat, watch TV in her room, and sometimes have sex. He starts to feel as though they're starting to break up, up until he gets a message from Alicia, saying that she needs to talk to him urgently. As terrified as Sam was at the moment, he knew what was going to happen, and admits that he just messed up, that night started to make his life go down hill. After finding that Alicia was three weeks late for her period, both start to assume that she is pregnant. Once this thought had occurred to him, Sam started to dream as if her was the father of his, and Alicia's, baby, and immediately coming to the decision that he wanted his old life back.

"One night I got a very sad message from her. It just said ... Actually, I don't want to tell you what it said. You'll end up feeling sorry for her, which isn't what i want."

After reading these sentences from the text, I was starting to get curious about what it said. I really wanted to know what Alicia texted to him and why it would make readers like me feel sad for her. Although, other than that, the way Sam was being gentle with the readers made it feel like he was a real person, with emotions and everything. Nothing like a robot, that wouldn't have a life at all, except when it wants to do something, but it won't match the qualities of a human being, no matter how close it can get.

ROAR post # 1 "Slam" by Nick Hornby pages 1 to 61

In the very first section of this new book of the next term, Sam is another student that likes to skateboard and has an interest in the arts and designs at his school. in the very first section of this book, Sam introduces many peopl in his life that is important to him, being Tony Hawk, his mother, and a girl named Alicia. Tony Hawk is his idol, in his room he talks to a poster of Tony Hawk and recieves answers that he generates himself after reading a book about Tony's life. Alicia is a girl that he met at a party that his mother wanted him to go to. At first they intimidated one another, and eventually got closer, then after a while of spending so much time together, Sam's mother thinks its unhealthy to see too much of Alicia. What they decide to do is go out to see a movie. In the end, all his mother wanted to know is if he was having sex with Alicia because of all the time that he spends out of the house with Alicia.

" 'I don'twant to go to the cinemas with you and your boyfriend," I said. Do you see my plan? This was my way of finding out what was going on.' " After reading this in silence, I started to laugh maniacly because this is what most characters say when they're on a roll. I started telling my brother about what had just happened, where Sam and Alicia are just starting to talk and she wants to hang out. This felt like television in my head because the author made me feel like he was connectiong with me, and other readers.

A New Book meaning a new post!!!

Starting a new post for the ROAR books. Now it is a bildungsroman called "Slam" by Nick Hornby.

ROAR Post #5, "Rat Bastards", John "Red" Shea Pages 222-277

Now, this next and last section of this autobiography of John Shea's life, is illustrated first by John's next twelve years being spent in prison. There, in the Fort Dix prison, John experiences many things and meets new people. Such new acquaintances would include a Jamaican man that he got a long with very easily, more like teaming up with him, one of his first friends in prison. Also, John meets another man named Dominic, who really isn't the type of guy who would hurt a fly. Now, other than meeting new people at this prison, John also experiences the things they do, such as playing "futbol" with a bunch of people. Since this is a prison, its not really expected of them to play clean, rather they start to play dirty with each other as soon as the game starts. Finally, after his prison time is over, John is released to the world, and the first thing he does is go home, this also showing a circulation in the plot, where the beginning is close to how this ends. He finds out that he and Penelope can't be together anymore and that Whitey is still out there, or at least was on the run for eleven years. This is the last section of the book, ending the same way it started.

"What?" he says.
"Not all of them were rats."
"You know," he says "that's right, that's right. There was one guy... just got out of prison not long ago. I can't remember his name. One guy stood up and took it. The rest of them - you couldn't shut 'em up."

After reading this last quote to end this book, I realized immediately that John and his friend were talking about how John was the only man out of all of Whitey's gang. At the same time, I found it funny because John wasn't as famous as he is now, which is only because he wrote this book.

ROAR Post #4, "Rat Bastards", John "Red" Shea Pages 166-221

The next 55 pages for this section, illustrates the results of Whitey breaking the decorum of John's, and every other person, of never ratting on anyone no matter what. In this section, John is convicted of assaulting an officer and is ratted out, by Whitey, that he is the drug dealer of South Boston. Even though John did go to prison in the end (Fort Dix), he was still backed up all the way by his friends, family, and Penelope. Before going to prison, John is also helped by other people that he has lately been acquainted to, such as the cab driver and the warden. John eventually goes to prison, and appears to know what prison is like, although he's never experienced one up until this point in the book. By the end of this section, John finds that going to jail is justice, but justice on the wrong person, and continues to blame Whitey Bulger for it.

"Two wrongs don't make aa right. You knew before you crossed that threshold what could happen. Even if Whitey is ratting, you don't rat. You continue to be a man."
Once I read this quote from the book, I said to myself "OH MY GOD!!!! THIS IS DECORUM FROM MY ENGLISH CLASS!!!! Whitey Bulger is seen as the man that broke a law of society that everyone follows, well everyone that is like John, without it being written down. This rule that was broken was that no one was to ever rat someone else out, even if it meant saving your own skin.

ROAR Post #3, "Rat Bastards", John "Red" Shea Pages 111-165

Now, this next section of John Shea's life involves many things that have to do with being in the Irish Mafia and his outside life. Continuing from before, John meets a young girl, by the name of Penelope, at a birthday party. for the next ten to twenty pages, it is about how John met her, before and after the party. They got along very nicely, they kissed, and "made love." The last thirty five to forty five pages are about his relationship with Whitey, and how he has conflict to either progress it or keep it low. After a test of life or death, John became the new drug dealer on Whitey's turf. Everyone that worked for him, recognized him as one of the top bosses because drugs were the next important thing to Whitey, other than himself. This section is more about how John is Whitey's drug dealer, and how he takes his new role in Whitey's business. Half the time of his new job, John goes overboard on a random guy because he was selling drugs on his turf, didn't pay him, or just irritated John for an unknown reason.

I took a deep breath. I looked straight at her. "I can't make that promise, Mrs. Howard. All I can tell you is, i promise nothing will happen to Penelope, ever."

Once reading this in the chapter, I thought that John really knew how to take care of a woman. From this, he is easily able to tell Penelope's, his current girlfriend, mother that he will protect, no matter what the cost. I also thought to myself that this is one of those phrases that knights in shining armor say to a king, whose daughter is trapped in a locked tower. At this point,I found it to be another fairy tale for John Shea.

ROAR Post #2, "Rat Bastards", John "Red" Shea Pages 56-110

Now, this next section is different than the first section with many contrasts. first off, this section of the book is about how John is doing from the age of fourteen to eighteen. Also, this is about him, rather than being about the people around him, such as his family and school. This section is more about how he is doing in the boxing business, his fights, in or out of the ring. At the same time fighting, he is being traded between many different owners that area wither the best or just the worse towards him. This section isn't only about his fights, but also about the people he is meeting and their relationship. As John is starting to meet more and more people, he also gets the chance to get closer to Whitey, the one that broke the rules of being a "Southie Kid", who he is presently looking up to. Although, he didn't see this coming from Whitey.

"I appreciated his candor. I appreciated his humor. It relaxed me."
After reading this quote from the text, I thought to myself how much he is going to find out about Whitey later on in his life. Like how Whitey is going to betray the law of them by ratting someone out to save himself.

ROAR Post #1, "Rat Bastards", John "Red" Shea Pages 1-55

Recently being released from prison, serving twelve, long years, John Shea's memoirs are illustrated in this first section. from his release, he reunites with old friends to find out that his mother is okay, his love unknown, and betrayed by his hero, Whitey Bulger. To him, Whitey was THE man, the king of South Boston, or Boston in general. He was John's hero until he broke one of the most important rules that were precious to him: Don't rat on anyone. Now running away, Whitey is unknown, and John goes back to his childhood, growing up. John grew up from a child that got beat up for many things, to someone that is more of a man the Whitey Bulger was. Growing up, John had many difficulties in school, society, and family, with all the things going on, such as boxing, fights outside of school, and his mother.

"When my mother heard this, she went into a slow burn, marched down to St. Peter's, and tore into them. No one hits her son. They expelled me."

Once I read the entire quote, I laughed really hard because his mother beat up his teacher, and got expelled as a result. When i was done laughing, I told my brother this quote, and we both just broke up in laughter.