Outside Reading Post 1

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult has definitely kept me interested so far. The book centers around a woman, Nina Frost, who is a district attorney. She loves her son and husband, but is so career-driven that she makes decisions putting her work in front of her family. She has a hearing for an important case one day, and in order to get there she sends her sick son to school as she shows us when she thinks, "Two Tylenol will buy me time; I could be finished with the rape case before getting a call from Miss Lydia to come get my son" (8). Nina cares for her son but is willing to put him through school so she can finish a part of her job. Caleb is Nina's husband who is also, a builder, very deliberate, and wishes his wife was home more. I think that this scenario is very interesting because one usually hears about the husband being too committed to his career.
The "rape case" that Nina is dealing with currently deals with a young girl who tells her mother that her father was molesting her. However, since the judge says the victim is not competent because the action occurred when she was 3, the case is dropped until the victim is older. That's when me meet Patrick. Patrick, a cop, and Nina have been best friends since they were little and lived in the same neighborhood, and currently they are meeting for lunch. It is my personal suspicion that Patrick has a thing for Nina because of the way the author says, "All Patrick knows is that his back can be to the door, and when Nina comes in, he can feel it-a tickle of energy on the nape of his neck, a snap to attention as every eye in the place turns toward her" (25).
I believe that not only will Nina have to make a difficult decision in the future concerning her family and work, but also have to deal with Patrick who might want to be more that just friends. The already intriguing plot has captured my attention within the first 30 pages of Perfect Match.

memoir question

Memoirs are not written because people want to make some money off their life story, or because they want to be famous. People put their souls into these books because they want to tell their story and want others to learn from their experiences.
Many memoirs are written to express feelings and show hard times, like in Richard Wright's book Black Boy. When I read this book and many other memoirs you really are able to get into the person's head and feel what they feel. The reader also gets a better understanding of the author's opinions about different things, and gets a point of view from somebody that you will never have to be in the same position as. And it takes some guts to show the entire public your weaknesses, embarrassments, and the bad choices that you've made in your past. By reading these stories the reader is able to come up with a better understanding of a time period, certain hardships, and learn a few lessons from the author.

Hunger; positive and negative effects

Richard Wright shows hunger for many things in different ways throughout his memoir. He mainly hungers for education and independence.

Richard desires a good education for numerous reasons. It helps him escape from his home life and gives him hopes for a successful future. This hunger has a positive effect on Richard. Although it forces him to take a job despite his grandmother's wishes, the fact that he is expanding his mind and abilities now will help him in the long run (144). The only negative Richard's desire for education produces is that his home life becomes more tense with disagreements.

The hunger for independence also hangs over Richard. He wishes to explore the North, get a job, and move out on his own. However the reader sees there are things holding Richard back when he says, "Vague hopes of going north. But what would become of my mother if I left her in this queer house? And how would I fare in a strange city? Doubt. Fear" (161). Although Richard longs for independence he doesn't want to leave his mother and he has fears of being somewhere new. Overall, he still hopes of being on his own.

Although Richard's hunger can be taken as literal because he lives in poverty and has little to eat, it is more prominently shown throughout the memoir as desire for other things such as education and independence.

Is Richard a "bad" boy? When should behavior be blamed on the person and when should it be blamed on the environment?

As one reads through the first two chapters we see Richard demonstrating some mischievous behavior. However there is speculation concerning why he behaves this way. I believe his biggest influence is the environment. Richard's environment consists of a mother who shows harsh discipline, a father who barely cares, and the slummy neighborhood in which he lives.
Richard's mother tells him to fight and gives him a stick to do so, and thus Richard hurts a group of boys and threatens them and their parents (18). This is not the right way to deal with the situation, but Richard knows no better because of his mother. This boy's father is such a poor parental figure, that Richard has a deep hate for him. Richard's resentment urges him to kill a kitten, just to anger his father (11). If this boy had a better father he wouldn't have killed a kitten. Unfortunately, Richard and his family have another problem. They are very poor, forcing his mother to work most of the day. Richard is thus free to wander about the town unsupervised. he finds a way to earn money and drink by going to a saloon (21). However, muttering obscenities and getting drunk is really not proper behavior for a six year old. Through these and many other examples displayed in the first chapters it is clearly shows Richard's "bad" behavior comes from his environment consisting of his troublesome parents and slummy town.

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