In Class Response

During class today, we looked at many things that had to with racism and discrimination. I didn't really understand the point of taking the implicit bias test. I thought it was strange and inaccurate because I received results that I don't necessarily agree with. I don't see how a simple test like that can determine which race a person prefers.

Listening to the Face-to-Face responses was eye opening for me. I realized how many people were affected by 9/11 and Pearl Harbor first hand, even though they weren't in New York City or at Pearl Harbor during the attacks The story that stuck out to me was about the Muslim guy that was harassed by his boss. Three days after 9/11 happened his boss called him into his office and said he needed to check him for bombs. I couldn't believe that someone could be so ignorant.

Another story that I found interesting was about the Japanese American who was so tired of being harassed by the FBI after Pearl Harbor that he hung himself in his barn. This particular story reminded me of the police violence that has happened recently. It's surprising to me that after more than seventy years US citizens are still being harassed because of their race, not only by the government but also by other citizens.

Reading Response #3: If I Stay

If I Stay

By Gayle Forman

Mia, an extremely gifted cellist, had always thought the hardest choice she would ever have to make was between attending her dream school, Julliard, and choosing a different path to stay with her boyfriend, Adam. When a family drive to her grandparent's house ends badly, everything is changed. As Mia lays in the hospital in a medically induced coma she must make the ultimate choice. Mia must decide whether to die, or whether to live in a world without her mother, father, and younger brother who were all killed in the crash.

While Mia is in the ICU, a nurse comes in and starts talking about how Mia "runs the show." Because of what the nurse said Mia realizes that she's the one who decides her fate. "If I stay. If I live. It's up to me. All this business about medically induced comas is just doctor talk. It's not up to the doctors. It's not up to the absentee angels. It's not even up to God who, if He exists, is nowhere around right now. It's up to me." (Page 74)

If I Stay doesn't just focus on death, though. The book is mostly flashbacks, which emphasize how hard of a choice Mia has to make. The flashbacks show Mia's relationships with her best friend, boyfriend, and her family, and her love for classical music.

Chloe Grace Moretz as Mia 

I chose to include a picture of Mia playing the cello because music seems to be the center of the novel. Mia is a musician, her parents were musicians, and even her boyfriend is a musician. Mia notices that the song playing in the car before the crash continues playing after. I think in this book music is a metaphor for life itself. Life, much like the song in Mia's car, goes on even after death and tragedy.

The plot of If I Stay has the potential to be good, but it the plot didn't really go anywhere. I felt like it was at such an easy reading level, and the writing seemed sort of amateur to me. Overall, the book was boring and I lost interest. I still haven't finished it to be honest, so I don't think I would recommend If I Stay.