3. One of the themes I believe that define the book are that you need to follow your heart and be not afraid of where it leads you. Some evidence that supports the idea is when Santiago is traveling through the desert with the alchemist and Santiago asks the alchemist why we listen to our hearts and he said “Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.” (Page 128) I think this speaks out to all of us because we all have some uppermost desires that left unfulfilled because we are afraid of the risks that we have to take. The alchemist recognizes it too, when Santiago complains about being afraid to go on the alchemist insists that he keeps going on because that is what his heart wants. He then tells Santiago “You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.” (Page 129) The book really emphasizes the point that following your heart is something important, and that there is no way you can accomplish anything if you didn’t.

4. The book is an allegory because all the events and people are described way too loosely to be considered an actual story. It was written in such a way that you just know that it has deeper levels than just one. In turn under those deeper levels, every little thing on the surface is a metaphor or in figurative sense. I think that Paulo Coelho wanted the overall message of the story to be that you should never give up what you want to do in life, your hopes and dreams. Santiago’s story is described and followed only loosely, meaning that it leaves much up to imagination and the reader to ponder about.

1. "Pan's Labyrinth" is a story about a young girl who discovers her true identity and her place in the world. She finds out where she fits in and pursues it. "The Alchemist" is a story of similar plotlines about a boy who pursues FOR his identity and his place in the world. These two stories share several similarities and differences as well. '

"Pan's Labyrinth" connects to "The Alchemist" because they're both about someone who's lost in the world trying to find their way in. The little girl in "Pan's Labyrinth" risks her life to find the reward she was meant to receive. As in "The Alchemist" the boy doesn't risk his life, but risks the stability of his life style and goes wandering aimlessly through the desert to find the reward he was meant to receive. Other differences include the subtle hint of myths and legends as well as lessons and prophecies.

Differences between "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Alchemist" include the fact that the little girl knew what she was looking for and where to find it while the boy didn't know what he was looking for or where he would find it. The girl had someone who gave her answers and led her to go on in chosen paths while the boy went forth on his own and was forced to learn his own way through everything. Also, in the end, the girl gets what she wants but has to give up her life while the boy just had exactly what he ventured out for.

While "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Alchemist" varies in style and plot, it still relates because in the end they both get what was promised to them in the first place. They both go through a series of trials and yet one of them knew what was going on and the other didn't. So I would say that their similarities and differences even each other out.

2. At the end of the story, it saved Santiago's life because when the men tried to take his possessions and asked him what he was doing out in the desert he told them the truth and they didn't believe him because he seemed foolish for believing so completely in what his fate was. It led him back to the treasure because he had to have encountered this man so that he could tell Santiago about the treasure he once gave up.I don't think this is true in people because some people actually do go forth seeking their personal legends, like Santiago. And while there are others like the man that chooses to not seek his personal legend, there are plenty more like Santiago who does.

Reflection on Image

This particular image reflects on the desert and gives you a visual example of the scorching heat and endless barrenness that Santiago had to live through. It gives off a vibe of endless searching and lonliness. This is the most general and typical image to represent The Alchemist but it works because I think that the desert shows emptiness and hopelessness, and in the book I think it represents the seemingly endless travels to the road of success. The way that Santiago makes friends and survives in it represents the way he makes the best of the endless situation Santiago is in. I think that the desert can be interpreted in any way that the viewer or reader wants to but the beauty is that it sends a general message because the desert often symbolizes hopelessness and death, but in the book Coelho reverses it and makes it the road to success. I think that is deep encouragement to lost souls everywhere.

IDENTICAL - In relation to real life.

In a lot of ways, my life is like Raeanne's. Not quite the victim of direct harm, but close enough to be impacted. I think that personally, with the lack of attention and understanding from my parents, I go out of my way to fulfill the gap in my heart that should have never existed in the first place. Unlike Raeanne, I don't do drugs and I don't go for meaningless sex, but I do things to fulfill what I want in the moment and not in the long run because it is no longer about anyone else's opinions but about what I want in that single moment of bliss the actions bring. It is often easy to steer in the wrong ways, but you grow to believe that no one cares and what you do doesn't affect anyone else. In a lot of ways, I'm just like Raeanne to stir up trouble just so I can feel in control, and I did too, have a self-loathing era that led to certain strings of actions. But I forced myself back on track, all the while knowing that it is so much easier for the next time around when I steer myself off the road again.

What I love most about Ellen Hopkins's books is that she shows you the worst case senario that serve as warnings throughout the book from something that might seem unharmingly small but grow to devour you whole. And so, in that way, I think that her books can relate to most teenagers -- to relate to them, but also to inform and warn them with the subtle intentions to fright.

Dialectic Journal - "Identical"

1. "Like Kaeleigh and me, they're perfect on the outside. But behind the Normal Rockwell facades, each holds its secrets. Like Kaeleigh's and mine, some are dark. Untellable. Practically unbelievable."



In this passage where Raeanne describes the neighborhood she lives in, she starts to get into personal levels of the problems of her and her sister. You get the vibe that she has some very hideous secrets and the author uses such strategies that captures your attention immediately.


2. "I do have friends, but they don't know me, only someone I've created to take my place. Someone sculpted from ice. I keep the melted me bottled up inside. Where no one can touch her, until, unbidden, she comes pouring out."



This shows me that Kaeleigh is consciously aware of what she's doing to herself, somewhere deep in her head. She knows all she's holding in and she knows the consequences, but there's a dark reason that she cannot tell anyone.



3. "Afterward, Mom didn't love Daddy anymore, though he stayed by her side until she healed, begging forgiveness, promising to somehow everything right. In fact, since the accident, Mom doesn't love anyone. She is marble. Beautiful. Frigid. Easily stained by her family. What's left of us, anyway. We are corpses."



Explains the first gap that existed between the family, where everything first started. Raeanne talks about the car accident that everyone blames on Dad, and thus, broke apart their perfect family.



4. "...So I turn to Mick, valley hardass in more ways than one. Mom says, That boy is trouble. You steer clear, understand? Like I give a rat's shiny pink butt what Mom thinks. Actually, I'm amazed she even noticed. Maybe she has spies who keep an eye on us when she can't be bothered. After all, it wouldn't do for a daughter of a United States Congresswoman to get pregnant, now would it?"



Raeanne chooses destructive ways with Mick, who provides her with weed and meaningless sex to fill the hole in her heart where Daddy's little affections never reached. This reflects on her opinions of her mother, who's missing half the time and never bothers to care for her children. Raeanne clearly sees her mother as a cold emotionless robot who cares only about her career.



5. "His touch is soft as a dandelion, ready to release its spores. I feel his eyes trace my silhouette, steel myself against what will come next. But the quilt doesn't move. His lips brush my forehead. You're so much like her, he whispers. Why can't I just take it all back?"



From Kaeleigh's point of view - when Daddy slips into her room for more relief of his needs. Kaeleigh's father turns to Kaeleigh when he couldn't receive any affection from his wife because she couldn't forgive him for the accident she believes that was his fault. Because of what her father has done, Kaeleigh is shaken to the core from the abuse.



6. "Weird. I always thought cutters were sick. Sicker than me, even. But with a single swipe I understand why they do it. Why they like it, even though they hate it. I let the water run over the cut, ratchet it hotter, watch the blood slow, stutter, almost halt. I like the way the exposed flesh looks, all pinkish white. It looks new, although I know that isn't right. It's the same age as my skin, my bones. Me. It's been there with me since the beginning. Been there with me through thick. Thin. Daddy. Suddenly I don't like how it looks at all."



Kaeleigh talks about her self-destructive ways driven by her habit of holding everything in. She starts to believe in harming herself as something she can control, some kind of new horrid feeling other than the old horrid ones she's used to. But then when she trails her thought along onto her father, she becomes disgusted. It shows how unhealthy she is and how unhappy she is of her relationship with her dad. Even though this new method aids her temporarily off her usual drama, once it reminds her of her father, she immediately stops and draws back.



7. "I understand why Kaeleigh liked the feel of slicing her flesh, releasing bottled-up hurt. Leather snaps against my skin, and I remain still as stagnant water, afraid I might not play by his rules. This is a new game, and the sick thing is, I see quickly that I like it, might ask to play again. The pain is fuzzy at the edges, blurring past pleasure. Maybe it's the hash, arms of opium. And now new leather -- human, Ty -- falls softly over the heated welts, a soothing balm of sweat-beaded skin. But then heightened pain, forced inside me, stuffed inside me. Seared, branded, likely marked, a moan escapes me and Ty surges. After, knots loosened, a rub of cool eucalyptus oil persuades me i do want to play again. Soon."



Just in one passage Raeanne messes up her body in several ways. Physically with the self-inflicted harms, the drugs, and the non-existing respect she has for herself by letting a stranger use her body in this way. She will do anything to ease the pain existing inside her head.



8. "I let out my breath. Concentrate on sinking deeper and deeper and ... oh, but what's poised below? What monsters of the deep might decide to chew on me? Will it hurt, the final release? Is there pain when the spirit pries itself free of the flesh? Why worry about that now? I can feel the excavation, and it's painless so far. My lungs fill with water. Silt. Mud. Now it hurts to breathe. So i won't. I'll settle deep into the darkness. And I won't say good-bye."



Kaeleigh makes a suicide attempt by ingesting too many painkillers and alcohol. She was in so much pain emotionally and physically that she just wanted a relief from it, to be free from the world. She felt she had nothing left to live for.

9. I'm ready to talk. "Is there such a thing as a split personality?" Her eyes measure me up and down. Dissociative identity disorder is extremely rare, but yes, it's real. "Do the different identities know about each other?" Sometimes. Usually not. Sometimes one does, but the others don't. There are no definites with DID. "Could you split into someone you know -- or used to know?" The jury's still out on how the alters develop. But i suppose you could take on aspects of someone familiar. "Will one -- what did you call it? Alter? -- do stuff another one won't?" My questions have definitely piqued her interest. Often that's the case, yes. Why? Do you know someone like that? Well, duh. Why would I ask? "I think so. What causes it?" Usually a childhood trauma. An illness, or an accident. Most often it's related to sexual abuse in the formative years.

Here is the passage where Kaeleigh recognizes that she needs help and is sent to a professional. When she realizes what has been happening to her so far she wants to know what she can do to help herself recover.

10. But totally healthy is something I might not ever be. One thing for sure. I will break the abuse cycle. It stops with me. My children will not live in fear. I will create a home of nurture and love, and raise them there.

So Kaeleigh recovers from all the self-inflicting destruction and makes up her mind that her life is gonna get better from this point forth.

Time management...

Personally, I am the worst time manager EVER. I can never find the time to do anything even if I have all the time in the world. I just don't know how to manage my time correctly. I have very little motivation to do stuff... it sucks, I know. =[[

But once I get started I am ULTRA PRODUCTIVE. My brain juice just starts flowing at 100 mph. Which I think is so great but it only happens when I'm very motivated. I do think this is bad and I am trying to change, because my aim is to get straight A's from here on. I am very determined and I do think I will make it =]]

STARRRRTINGGGGGGGGG, NOW!

Dear Ellen Hopkins,

I am very jealous of my friend right now because SHE POSTED A BLOG ABOUT YOU AND YOU COMMENTED HER!!! That kills. =[

But anyways, I've read all of your books and the one i recently finished is IDENTICAL. I loved it. I think it reveals a lot of teenage experience and difficulties teens go through with a difficult family. I think it serves as a warning to parents to be closer to their children and keep a close eye on them and be their best friends. I know how easy it is to steer in the wrong direction and go off in harmful paths grasping for help but not finding any, when all we could have asked for is a little bit of parental attention. But what I must say I loved most about the book was all the poetry and the subliminal messages. I think it must've taken a big amount of time and wits to think up and pull together. I'm very throughly impressed at the intensity of the emotions Raeanne and Kaeleigh described as they went through the hellholes and back. Especially near the end, it SHOCKED me, i did NOT see it coming. I thought it was one of the best books I'd ever read, hands down. =] What I question is, How did Mick and Madison end up? What did Kaeleigh's mom say about what her father has done? Did Kaeleigh keep in touch with her grandfather? Did Ian stay with Kaeleigh with a happily ever after?

I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear back.

Sincerely, Yili.



P.S., I look forward for any new books you have yet to finish <3

The Alchemist

Changes I've notived in Santiago includes his growing motivation and understanding of the world. He seems to be better and better at deciphering the omens around him. Also, falling in love shows him more ways of the world and connects the whole universe together. He seems to be finding more sense in the world for having fallen in love. Also, he's grown to be more fearless and more determined about his goal, when the alchemist had his sword on Santiago's throat he did not falter, and stood his ground while bravely answering the alchemist's queries. He also seems more willing to cooperate with the Alchemist and more curious to the soul of the world, as he kept asking the alchemist questions about life. He was eager to learn and listened to everything the alchemist had to say. I think Santiago definitely grew as a person and his sense of adventure and understanding of the world grew as well. I think the moral message rings through the reader pretty quickly because Santiago did almost give up at more than one point, but he held on and continued on his goal, and got his reward at the end.

In relation to: The alchemist

As Santiago wanders on
his journey rages dusk to dawn
As every soul above the ground
search for the trophy they'd never found
He searches for omens to guide his way

YAYYYYYYY!!!!

so i know i haven't written in a long time but yeahhh things have been a bit bumpy, both with parents and with boyfriend. but not so much with boyfriend anymore. =]]]]

i love him soooooooooo much!!! tomorrows valentines day and we can't hang out but we decided to give each other our presents TODAY :DDDDDD HE GOT ME A BOUQUET!!!! OF A WHOLE DOZEN ROSIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!

i am sooooo happy today. later i'm gonna give him his presents! all of them =]]]

and hes gonna give me the rest of my presents some other day, pwahaha

LIFE IS SOOO GOOOOOODDDD <33

"Take Me There"

-NICOLE-

After the mental breakdown with my thereapist, Danny and I got back together. He held me all night and promised to make it easier for me from now on, and to hold my hand every step of the way. As for the Mr. and I, it turns out he was just being friendly. I feel so stupid I can't even. But now that Danny's back in my life, all is well.

Oh, and Rhianon and James got it going the other night. I can't say I didn't see this coming, but it's another thing to see it for real. The whole thing is just totally rad because they both had hidden feelings for each other and now James can take care of Rhiannon full-time. Looks like a happy ending for all, even for Jackson and Gloria. Well, sort of.

Gloria finally admitted to his feelings for Jackson, and her social status went so far down it wasn't even funny. Gloria apparently wanted Jackson back, but he knows better now. Jackson is now the most popular guy on earth. Not that it was good for his academics, but he does all sorts of rebellious pranks on people now and it's a refreshing change. Gloria's life is shaping back into ... ell, what normal people would call normal.

As for Brad and Shiela, Brad now has his heart set on getting his life back, even though Shiela is with Max now. Brad is actually being a really good sport about it, even though at first he was freaking out of control, but acceptance came later. Max knows the right thing to do and how Shiela wants to be treated, they are so in love.

So at the end, it is indeed happy endings for all, and I couldn't be happier, because even though it was a long process - it was worth it.

suenos!

this blog is from my other site back in december about this ... freaky dream i had.





last night i had the freakiest dream ever. i wuz in this castle and there wuz this opera house or something. me and a bunch of friends were like competing for this role. and the director person is like my aunt or something, but i dont even know her O____o and then my mom comes to pick me up, shes like in this.. medieval queen outfit. wtf. and we jumped off the fucking tower. and didnt die! so then yeah we were walking in the DARKDARKDARK streets. which is weird cuz it wuz like day time. and then i think we were like in uh garfield and stuff or something. and we past this resturant and my moms not in the medieval queen outfit anymore. and suddenly im like 10 years old. so she passes the resturant and she goes back to it like hmm u wanna eat here? im like uh okay. then we get there and its closed. so we walk back the other way. then she decides to go to this other resturant the opposite way. so im like AGHHHH! and so we're walking, and then this guy comes up to us. we ignore him and he gets pissed. he pulls out a gun and shoots us. suddenly my mom turns into like one of my friends. and liek yeah we try dogding the bullets hoping it'd run out but he wuz loaded =// and he shot me like 5 times and the other kid 3 times. and its like. on the back of my leg, on my thigh, on my stomach twice, and on my chest. and im like mad bleeding. and it hurts so much and i cant breathe. and im juz sitting there leaning on the glass cuz we're like in front of a store and its so uncomfortable. which is weird becuz who the fuck wud care about comfort when ur shot like 5 fucking times?!!! so my friend levels him[her?]self down and sits on the floor. and i chew over whether or not i shud do the same but then again [he? she?][...okay. IT] wuz shot only 3 times and i wuz shot 5. so... i slowly slowly gravitated myself down and sat on the floor with the broken glass and leaned there waiting to die. or atleast til the ambulence comes. the cops came and chased the guy down but im still fucking lying there bleeding to death staring at my bullet wounds. and then i hear the sirens and its the fucking firetrucks and im like -.-!!!!!!!! WHY THE FUCK WUD A FIRETRUCK BE HERE WHEN THERS NO FUCKING FIRE OR ANYTHING TRAPPED ANYWHERE?!?!??! AND WHY DOES A FUCKING FIRETRUCK GET HERE FASTER THAN THE AMBULENCE?!?!? so i wait longer and it gets here only its like the size of half a reular car... and i wuz crammed in it with that other kid too. and like. the door doesnt fucking close so its juz the night wind fucking blowing on my bullet wounds and they wanna fucking put anticeptics and alcohal on my wounds without painkillers or SHIT. and im juz like R U FUCKING KIDDING ME?! and then after that it kinda broke down and im like oh i have to pee. so they stop and we go in this store thingie and its restroom is like rly dimly lit. and i try all the switches and it turns one of the sirens on and im like O____o but i juz run into the stall and do my business and this fucking bitchyass lady comes in and shes in her uniform and shes like who the fuck pulled the alarm?! and im like oh sryy i bumped into it. and she starts cussing at me. so i fucking cuss her back. and its rly weird cuz the stalls r low and u can see ppl. so... yeah we cuss at her and she leaves. and then fucking... my wounds heal but they leave scars. and this guy shows up in my dream >< ckjashfiuasyifshkjshdiufysiysss!! and hes like in the stall across from mine and i show him my scars and i dont fucking know why cuz my pants were still down. and like. yeahhh fuck i pull my pants back up and flush. and i wake up. WTFFFFF. i wuz like o_________________________Oi never ever ever want the same dream again.