For todays meeting my group, Nina, Claire, Arabela, and I have read up until the 70th page of Milkweed, by Jerry Spinelli. For this meeting I have taken on the role of Literary Luminary, and have chosen five passages from the book that I deemed most important, and my reasons for thinking so.
Paragraph 1:
He was dragging me, running. He was much bigger. My feet skimmed over the ground. Sirens were screaming. His hair was red. We flew through the streets and alleyways. There were thumping noises, like distant thunder. The people we bounced off didn't seem to notice us. The sirens were screaming like babies. At last we plunged into a dark hole.
Page (the paragraph was found on): 2
Paragraph (number of the paragraph from all on page): 1
Reason(s) (for choosing this paragraph): I chose this paragraph as one of the five most important in the first fifteen chapters of this book, because it was the first time 'Stoptheif' met Uri. And that meeting got the entire book started, it lead to its main events.
Paragraph 2:
And now the deep grumbling was getting louder and beginning to overcome the drum beat of the Jackboots. I had always looked to the sky for thunder, but this thunder was coming from beneath my feet. The street itself was trembling. And then I saw them...
"Uri!" I cried.
Page (the paragraph was found on): 19
Paragraph (number of the paragraph from all on page): 7
Reason(s) (for choosing this paragraph): I chose this paragraph as the bond that started to grow between Uri and 'Stoptheif' started getting more and more clear in this passage. The bond between the two started when Uri started acting as a guardian would towards 'Stoptheif', and I thought it was an interesting phenomenon when two boys who didn't even know each other a night ago could be so close at this point.
Paragraph 3:
Colossal gray long-snouted beetles - the tanks roared up the boulevard four by four and the sky shook on its hinges and I saw at once how silly it had been to try and stop them with ditches and sandbags and machine guns. I clamped my hands over my ears. A single white flower flew out of the crowd. It bounced from the iron flank of a tank and broke into petals. I had no flower, so I threw my cheese.
Page (the paragraph was found on): 20
Paragraph (number of the paragraph from all on page): 1
Reason(s) (for choosing this paragraph): I chose this paragraph because the metaphor of the flower being thrown at the tank was really touching and I greatly enjoyed reading it. I thought that by choosing it for one of my paragraphs as the literary luminary, it would shed some more light on how greatly written this paragraph was, at least in my opinion.
Paragraph 4:
On the first day that the light went out, Uri said to me, "Okay, this is who you are. Your name is Misha Pilsudski."
And he told me the rest...
I, Misha Pilsudski, was born a Gypsy somewhere in the land of Russia. My family, including two great-grandfathers and a great-great-grandmother who was one hunderd and nine years old, traveled from place to place in seven wagons pulled by fourteen hourses. There were nineteen more horses trailing the wagons, as my father was a horse trader. My mother told fortunes with cards. She could look at cards and tell you how you were going to die. She could look into your eyes and tell you the name of the person you would to marry.
Page (the paragraph was found on): 29
Paragraph (number of the paragraph from all on page): 3
Reason(s) (for choosing this paragraph): This paragraph is one especialy important because it signifies the start of 'Stoptheif's' new identity as Misha Pilsudski. And as he is the main character this change is very imporant, and cannot go unnoticed. Right after hearing the full story Misha stated "I love my story. No sooner did I hear the words than I became my story.", signifing that this would most probably result to some, even if small, character change.
Paragraph 5:
Then I said, "Are you a Jew?"
She made her mouth like a fish and drew in her breath. She put her finger to her lips and shook her head. She cupped her hands about my ear and whispered into it. "Yes. But I'm not suposed to tell anyone."
Page (the paragraph was found on): 34
Paragraph (number of the paragraph from all on page): 8
Reason(s) (for choosing this paragraph): From the moment I read this passange I knew the her character would be a very important one in the story. For Misha had made one of his very first friends, not counting Uri and the boys, and she just so happen to be a Jew. Seeing as they would probably become close, since the character of Misha countiues to visit her garden day after day, it would be a problem that she was a Jew.
Somewhere at the beginning of the book Anne described her then current situation. Because of her religion (Jewish), her family was moving from Frankfort in Germany to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. They were moving there because during the second world war Jews were often killed by the Germans and in Holland they would have a smaller chance of getting caught. However, they still could get seen. Just as today, people tend to escape from their problems by moving or ignoring their status. It's not like they could do anything about it, they just wanted the best for themselves. And that's good. Even though their lives were about to be totally different than before, they tried understanding and sticking together. Especially Anne, who was recording her life in her diary the whole time. As they were moving, Anne's dad mentioned "Don't you worry about it, we shall arrange everything. Make the most of your carefree young life while you can." (13 Frank) This really showed how Anne's father cared about his kids. We can notice that since then, not much has changed. Parents always want good for their children.
