First 5,4,3,2,1

10-13-08

5 comments going on in the book:

-In the novel, we can see that the main character has received an honorable spot in an all white university. He is the first lack student there.

-The main character's parents are parents who have to be won over, and persuaded in order for them to trust something or someone.

-The main character is a teenage boy who has been given the worse of the worse resources education wise because of the racism of where he is from.

-The Univsersity that Rob Barrett is attending seems to be a school that looks out for him, and thinks about the benefits he has.

-It seems out of the ordinary for Rob to be attending the university because he is the only black student there in many years.

4 questions I may have:

-Why does he choose to go to an all white school instead of a school where he and his parents are more comfortable?

-Why does his parents have a hard time accepting that their son might be a good environment?

-Does it surprise Rob's parents that at the university the people seemed to be nicer than they expected?

-Why does Rob feel that his parents would take him home at any random moment if the school in my own opinion is fairly nice?

3 words (or more for extra credit):

- Embodiment: "...for I was the embodiment of her dreams..." (Houston 11). (Definition: to embrace or comprise.)

-Pompadour: "... with long red hair that looked as though it had just been combed into a wet pompadour," (Houston 18). (Defintion: an arrangement of a man's hair in which it is brushed up high from the forehead.)

-Tarnished: "...who was considered a god, if slightly tarnished, by everone at home," (Houston 24). (Definiton: To dull the luster of; discolor, especially by exposure to air or dirt.)

-Indignities: "...to maintain his composure in the face of such idignities, but I could tell from his voice that he was starting to unravel," (Houston 26). (Defintion: disgrace or disgraceful action.)

-Plight: "I sympathized with Vinnie's plight, but not enough to become any kind of martyr," (Houston 28-29). (Definition: a condition, state, or situation, esp. an unfavorable or unfortunate one.)

-Martyr: ""I sympathized with Vinnie's plight, but not enough to become any kind of martyr," (Houston 28-29). (Definition: a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause.)

2 Literary Devices:

-Personification: "Dad turned over the big Buick engine and it rumbled to life," (Houston 12). This is personification because it talks about an engine rumbling to life. Engines can't rumble, and they can't come to life.

- Similie: "The brilliant green lawn surrounded us like the sea..." (Houston 17). This is a similie because it compares a green lawn with the sea using the word like.

1 Summary Sentence: This first section was basically about the main character, Rob basically moving into the university and basically getting the hang of things.