Journal Oct. 25

2. I chose to write about Art and the Jewish stereotypes that his father matches up with. One major Jewish stereotype is that they are penny-pinchers; they don't want to spend money. Art's father hates spending money. He also saves tons of things that he doesn't need. Even when others offer to throw the things out for him, he refuses. I think one of the major reasons why Vladek doesn't want to get rid of anything is because he had everything taken away from him during the Holocaust. I believe that it would just be natural for one to want to hold onto all of their belongings after everything that they had was taken away. The Holocaust took nearly everything that he loved away and destroyed it. It took away his belongings, his family, and his dignity. The only thing that it didn't take away was his wife. Oh wait, it did. It made her incredibly depressed to the point that she committed suicide. What reason would he have not to want to save everything after all his things were taken away from him.

Journal Oct. 19

I think that it is harder to draw and tell someone else's story than it is to draw or tell your own story. This is because one cannot know every single detail of a story, such as details like who is in the background and what the weather was like. The drawer of the story has to create/imagine these details to put in the story unless they have been told them. The person whose story is being told could possibly get offended by the lack of authenticity in the story just because a few details are not accurate. It is also hard for the drawer to know what emotions the person was feeling at the time they were experiencing this event, which could pose a problem when trying to make the story emotionally accurate. However, the drawer can have a very easy time making the story interesting and intriguing because they can choose what points of the story the want to emphasize. They can also exaggerate other "scenes" of the story to make them more intense and dramatic. This can help to capture the readers attention even if it makes the story not one-hundred percent accurate.

Journal Oct. 10

I am going to write about the Englishman in the novel. I thought that it was really weird that the book randomly stopped talking about him. Pablo said that he went off to go study and practice alchemy, but the book never mentions him again. This leaves the reader with lots of questions like: is the Englishman okay, will he ever make the philosopher's stone, and will he meet the alchemist again? I think that this was poor writing on Pablo's part, but I was wondering what you guys think about it. 

Journal October 4

For my final Alchemist blog post, I would like to talk about names in this book. The book is very strange when it comes to names. Throughout the book, the author only mentions Santiago's name once, and this is when we are introduced to him. "The boy's name was Santiago" (pg. 1). I think that this is so the reader can relate to the protagonist more. A name puts another barrier between the reader and the protagonist. By not having a name for the protagonist, the reader will be able to relate their journey through life to Santiago's journey through life. Even though readers most likely won't travel through Egypt, they will be able to understand his journey to complete their goals easier since Santiago is just called the boy. They will also be able to put their name in place of the Santiago's name because he is just referred to as the boy.