Author: Kayla Molina

In “Death of the Nile” by Agatha Christie we are introduced to various characters, one of them being Rosalie Otterbourne. Rosalie is the daughter of Salome Otterbourne and throughout the novel, Rosalie ends up falling in love with Tim Allerton, who is the son of Mrs. Allerton. Rosalie later on ends up marrying Tim but their love story is kind of weird and surprising throughout. The reason why it’s so surprising Rosalie would marry Tim is due to a couple of reasons: first, Tim’s first impressions of Rosalie was that she seemed to be a bit “sulky” but when he started to get to know her he started to see another side of her which made him harbor feelings for Rosalie. Second, Tim was also not as innocent himself and was outed for stealing Linnet’s pearls; which made Rosalie question his morals as to why he would steal. Despite seeing the negative side of Tim, Rosalie still gave him a chance and married him, hence why it was so surprising towards the end. 

My favorite chapters from the book Persepolis would have to be Moscow and The Sheep. These chapters went in-depth on the difficulties of how the Islamic people were forced to not speak out their truths nor personal opinions on the Islamic revolution. Throughout these chapters, we meet the narrator’s uncle from her fathers’ side and how he was the first hero she had met within her own family. Marjane saw her uncle as a hero at the time mainly because he went to prison (signified that he was a part of the revolution); he was the secretary for his uncle Fereydoon, who proclaimed the independence of the Iranian province– not so long after Marjane’s uncle is working for Fereydoon he is soon arrested from the Iranian police which sadly leads to Marjane’s Uncle having to escape Iran and become a refugee on the run. Marjane’s uncle moves to Moscow to escape his awaiting prison time and tries to live out a normal life, he even marries and has two children– not so long after he divorces his ex-wife and is suddenly feeling homesick he, therefore, tries to go back to Iran and sadly gets recognized and arrested right away. As a reader, after hearing his story and knowing that Marjane’s uncle has finally been released from prison which is why he is even able to talk about this to his niece made me feel some kind of relief for him– at least he is still alive– but I was very mistaken to have quickly assumed that. Transitioning to the next chapter, The Sheep; this chapter was my favorite because it talked about the saddening realization of what would soon become apparent to me; not every story has a happy ending. With the continuation of the Iranian government wanting to silence any views that differed from their rules– we start seeing many people within Marjane’s life trying to flee from Iran. Not only do we see people trying to flee but we also are quickly informed that Marjane’s Uncle has been arrested and has been put up for execution. We are even given a saddening moment where he asked for Marjane to be his last visitor; it’s a very emotional encounter where they embrace each other. Her uncle tells her that she’s the daughter that he wished he had and that he still has hopes for a better future despite the conditions he’s under. Not only was this chapter very disappointing and saddening for me since we see someone who truly did no harm nor was a threat to society get executed for having differing opinions from higher authorities, but it also went to show how truly devastating of a time it was to be a citizen in Iran: losing loved ones and being forced to follow certain ideologies that some people might just not agree with. It was very much an eye-opener especially since we live in America, a country that is very open with freedom of speech and expression.

While reading “ To build a Fire ” by Jack London, I felt upset and disappointed but also surprised on how the story ended. The main character was unable to make it back to his children at the campsite due to the harsh weather conditions and his misjudgment on how dangerous it was to travel by himself. Instead of looking for shelter during these unfavorable conditions, the man  proceeded to go on a long journey back to his campsite in company with a wolf who was curious about where he was headed to during these horrible weather conditions. The journey starts off serene, but then quickly becomes frightening. The man was confident about making it back to his residence on time all while undermining the weather despite the warning this old man once mentioned to him concerning the dangers of traveling alone in below 50-degree weather. The plot thickens as the storyline goes on, where he was met with numerous of different troubles while on his way home; despite the man’s consciousness on how dangerous the weather was and surviving the obstacles that were in his way, we end up witnessing a horror case of events begin to unfold where the man falls into freezing water and quickly begins to feel the permanent numbness of his fingers, toes, and face worsening all because he was unable to start a successful fire pit. Only after the man has tried countless times to start the fire does it become too late to save some parts of himself and so he proceeds to give up and regrets not listening to what the old man once informed him on the hazards of traveling alone in below freezing weather. While reading this story, it kept me on edge– I had hopes on the man surviving these dangers but sadly that was not the case, which honestly, is what made the reading all the more intriguing; the thrill of wanting to keep reading to find out what happens to the protagonist is what made this storyline very alluring.