Welcome to 3rd Quarter!

We had finally gotten through half of the year and moved onto the new year 2011!  We are about halfway done A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare.  After we our done A Midsummer's Night Dream then we will move onto Into the Wild.

Character Essay

Love, Sara

          Having a traumatic past can really mess up a persons’ life in the future.  Well, what if that happened to you and you can never forget and just want to make it all go away? That is what happens to the main character in the novel Love, Sara, by Mary Beth Lundgren.  Sara Reichert was sexually abused by her father when she was a child.  Consequently, she ends up in a foster care program and has gone through multiple families who have all given her back except for a new one she had found,  this family fights for her and themselves to stay together.

          Sara Reichert is a very different, type of person.  She has a real love for quotes and writes one in all her diary entries and emails.  It is kind of like her signature, you could say.  Everyone used to make fun of her just because they thought that she was weird.  Then, next year, going into junior year, a new girl came, Dulcie, and they befriended each other.  She is also a really good writer but sometimes has low self-esteem.  Sara always tries to support her one true friend and is very admirable for it.

          The first major event is when Dulcie and Jon start going out.  Jon sent an email to Dulcie saying “Couldn’t stop checkin you out at the coffee shop….but is it cool if you want to wait for me after the game tomorrow….Say yes!  SOON!”(22, 23).  Dulcie had finally got what she wanted, Jon to ask her out.  Dulcie then emailed Sara saying “You know I already said YES, but my mom-person will never let me go alone…Say you’ll come with me?  I’m dancing on the moon.” (22).  Sara reluctantly says that she will go with Dulcie after her begging so much and claiming that he is the one.  The relationship between Dulcie and Sara gets weaker and farther apart which is really important for the rest of the book.

          The second major event is when Dulcie tells Sara that she is pregnant.  Dulcie messages Sara that she really needs her helpand Sara goes over and meets her.  They later return in messaging and Dulcie says “Sara, the test is positive…I’m sure.  Pink line in the right window, just like the box.”(146).  Sara gets furious saying that she was so irresponsible.  Sara sends a message saying “How could you be so stupid?...Sorry but I mean it.  Don’t you remember anything from Sex Ed?  How many $$ is a condom?  They’re free from the school nurse, for God’s sake.”(146).  Of course Dulcie gets all defensive by saying that it made sense because they were in love and two halves of a whole.  However, this major event makes Dulcie and Sara come together more.

          Sara changes in a better way by learning to be thankful for having what she does.  Sara takes something sad and turns it into something good.  She really recognizes and sees herself for the first time in a while.  “Was it only two months ago I was totally alone, at the edge of a cliff?  Today I’m glad I’m alive.  I want to shake Dulcie and Jon until their brains rattle in their heads.”(197).  Sara venting to her diary is helpful for her whether it was for therapy or her ego.  “I can’t throw Mama and Daddy away, but I can get rid of all that junk they gave me.”(198).  I think the character’s transition is teaching the reader that there are many people who have some problems/issues but there is hope.  The author is trying to say that somewhere you have someone who cares about you and can help you.  You can learn that there are other options; you just have to look.