Charlotte Temple

The ending of Charlotte Temple was really good. I actually enjoyed the book. It reminded me of an episode of Days of our Lives, which is probably why I liked it. I am really interested in reading the sequel. I didn't like that the narrator kept cutting in to the story to tell the reader what was going on. I know that was a popular literary device at the time, but it just got on my nerves. Also, I really like Montraville at the end of the story, because I think he felt bad for what he did. After all, Belcour was more the one to blame... That's just my opinion...

Essay Ideas

Some of the ideas I have for my essay are as follows:

Can adults write authentic teenage voices?

Finding a role model

Fear of the teenager

The differences between how real teens write and how former teens write

The quest in teen novels

I am not sure which one I want to do, but I am thinking on it still. I have a few ideas for each, but I am probably leaning more towards the role model, writing teenage voices dor the differences. Maybe the quest. Not sure...

Last Friday's Discussion

The reading and the discussion from last Friday got me to thinking about a few things. First of all, I found it interesting about what Hines said about how males view their types. Being a boy, I can say that, for me at least, this is true. A lot of my family is overweight, and I have been fortunate enough to maintain a decent physical appearance. Now, I'm no Marky Mark, as Hine mentions, but I'm still slender enough to take pride in what I look like. However, until reading this, I really didn't understand or realise just how relevant this actually was. Some of the things that Hine mentions, such as the showers in gym class, stood out because that's exactly how they happened in my gym class.

Another thing that stands out is how pro-youth the author really is. Though it does seem at points that he could be anti-youth, I like how he tries to (and successfully proves) that teenagers are, in fact, valuable resources to all generations. The very end of the book sticks out because Hine states that "we should accept youth as a gift that can benefit us all... We were young once too (304)." I believe this is very true. I can't stand when old people are always complaining about young people and vice versa. Maybe if people took the time to listen to each other instead of bitching about and at one another, problems would be solved and everyone would (somewhat) be able to understand one another. I understand that times change and it may be hard for a younger person to grasp an elder's perspective (and the other way around), but it's not that hard to take time and listen to each other.