Rosalie Otterbourne threw alcohol she found that was her mothers. Her mother has a drinking problem and Rosalie wants to help her mother. Her mother began drinking when her books weren’t selling as much. Rosalie wanted to protect her mothers reputation and not make it seem as if her mother has a drinking problem. In chapter 19 she says “People think I’m awful. Stuck-up and cross and bad-tempered. I can’t help it. I’ve forgotten how to be – to be nice.” Rosalie has sacrificed her own reputation to protect her mothers and that speaks volumes of who she truly is as a person.
Author: Ashley Peralta
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles wrote a pamphlet called the Communist Manifesto. They introduced a social construct that created two classes in society. The two social classes were the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The bourgeoise were the capitalists. They oversaw the means of production. By them overseeing the means of production that meant they were in charge of the proletariat. A negative impact of the bourgeoisie being in charge meant that they exploited the proletariat. The bourgeoisie were politically and economically powerful. This meant they had the authority to implement property and legislation rights. Having all this power also meant the bourgeoisie owned the majority of the wealth. On the other hand, the proletariats were the working class laborers. They produced materials in factories using an assembly line method. They created profit for the capitalist. This caused the proletariats to face exploitation. Some of the ways they were exploited were by unfair wages and being replaced quickly. This starts the revolution between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
My favorite chapter so far is the letter. It’s my favorite chapter for several reasons. The first reason the letter is my favorite is because it introduces the dynamic between Marji and Mehri. Maji saw her more as a friend than a servant. When Mehri was getting letters from the neighbor she asked Marji for help. While Marji was reading Mehri asked her about the sister she mentioned and Mehri said she was talking about Marji. This shows the relationship between the girls wasn’t a relationship of servant to master it was genuine and there was love there. The second reason I liked this chapter is because it shows being kind isn’t really taught rather it’s something people have. Marji was naturally kind to Mehri. Marji’s mother was also kind to Mehri. She wanted to teach her how to read versus Marji’s dad basically humiliated Merhi by telling the neighbor she was a servant. It shows the dad let money get to his head versus Marjis mom staying humble. Finally, I enjoyed this chapter because Mehris and the neighbors love felt like Romeo and Juliet. They couldn’t be together because she was a servant and he was of upper class but I thought the idea of sending letters to each other was sweet.
In “To Build a Fire” the man doesn’t listen to what the old man tells him about not traveling when it’s too cold. The man continues traveling despite knowing he should wait till it gets a bit warmer. One of the feelings I got was that the man got what he deserved. He knew it was too cold to continue and yet he still went. London creates this feeling by constantly saying the old man said not to travel below a certain degree throughout the entire story, basically emphasizing to the readers that the man knew not to travel and still did it anyway. The story also made me feel bad for the dog. The dog knew the entire time it wasn’t a smart idea to travel in such weather. London mentions every time the dog was hesitant to continue on the journey. This is to show how the dog was using its animal instincts to know when to proceed. I also enjoyed how London didn’t really create a relationship between the dog and the man. The dog was just trying to stay safe and knew in order to survive he would have to rely on the man who knew how to create fire. This emphasize shows the survival aspect of the story.
