Forge Book Report

3. What are the best parts of this book? Why? What are the worst parts of this book? Why? Give details with page numbers from the book to explain.

Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.

After arriving at Valley Forge Martin and his fellow soldiers were about to go through the famously long cold winter that awaited them. Martin wrote, “Our prospect was indeed dreary. In our miserable condition, to go into the wild woods and build us habitations to stay (not to live) in, in such a weak, starved and naked condition, was appalling in the highest degree” (Martin 89). He talks about lying there “two nights and one day, and had not a morsel of any thing to eat all the time” (Martin 90).

In the beginning of the book, Curzon offers to take Isabel up to the Tea Water Pump. This is the first minor risk taken by Curzon in the book.At first, we would think of him as any other slave, just like Isabel, but later we find out he is treated a bit differently than Isabel and Ruth.

The next important event in the book is when the Virginian meets Molly Wood, the new school teacher from Vermont civilized society. They eventfully fall in love with each other. Molly has trouble adjusting to the way that they carry out justice in the west but eventually decides that she will adapt to this new society in order to marry the Virginian and be at peace. Molly finds it especially hard that the Virginian has to oversee a lynching of his friend who committed a crime. At one point she tells the Virginian that he must choose between her and killing Trampas. The Virginian chooses killing Trampas but Molly marries him deciding that she loves him enough to adjust to this new way of life.

Unwind is a book filled with three main characters who are escaping their “fate” of being unwound. Unwinding is a process in which every part of a child between the ages thirteen to eighteen is removed and donated to others in need of a healthy limb or organ. Connor is one of the main characters, he found out that he was going to be unwound because he found a bill his parent’s paid to go to the Bahamas, without him. He decides to rebel against his destiny and runs away from home, encountering some other characters and conflicts along the way.

Soldiers didn’t received adequate supplies of meat and bread. Most of the soldiers survived on “firecake”, a tasteless mixture of flour and water, and “pepper pot soup”, a black pepper-flavored tripe broth. Snow was often too thin to make into drinking water. Animals also starved to death. At the end of the winter there were about 700 hundred horses left.

In November 1777, the Continental Army miraculously retreated and escaped the clutches of the British army and paced towards a winter camp-Valley Forge. Afterwards, George Washington, the Commander-in-Chief of the army, wrote to George Clinton, conveying the severity of their situation, "For some days past, there has been little less than a famine in camp. A part of the army has been a week without [food], and the rest for three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been ere this excited by their sufferings, to a general mutiny or dispersion." The soldiers were without soap, consequently, horrible itching rashes arose. Brought from countless miles away, water was to be saved and drank sparingly, flour was soon to be gone and the soldiers could only imagine the juicy taste of meat. Poorly constructed huts

My melancholy about the vicious effects of slavery lifted as I realized that people like Isabel and her friend Curzon were the real Americans, the quiet ones who fought battles every day and grew harder in the facial expression of opposition. They were willing to gamble everything for liberty, recognizing that it is more honorable to die fighting than to be in chains. Merely it is best to dwell free, in a world where we are all valued, in the world that our Founding Fathers and Mothers dreamed of, even if they weren’t hardy enough to make the journey in their

The wind howls in the treetops, and the biting cold sears into your feet. Nothing but bandages shields them from the Pennsylvanian winter, and the only source of comfort for your everlasting hunger is Firecake, made of flour and water. The American Colonies are now at war with the British to gain their independence, and Washington’s army is camped at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778. Provisions are scarce and the army is in poor conditions. The soldiers are malnourished, terribly sick, and are suffering from lack of protection from the elements. Due to the time spent at Valley Forge, the Continental Army became weaker from the hardships it faced.

The food the soldiers had was both scarce and disgusting. In Document C, Dr.Waldo writes on December 21, 1777, “A general cry thro’ the Camp this Evening among the Soldiers, ‘No Meat! No Meat!’” Within the first month of their encampment and four days before Christmas, the camp runs out of meat. Even before their meat disappears, Dr. Waldo refers to their food as “Nasty cookery” Without a source of protein, the soldiers are left weak. Without their meat, the ‘nasty cookery’ turned into ‘utterly disgusting’. Not to mention that the soldiers would have to endure eating this for the rest of their encampment. Additionally, In Document E Washington writes in his letter, “For some days past there has been little less, than a famine in camp.” Washington refers to their situation as a famine as the little food they had to be spread among 8,000 soldiers. During the two month encampment the soldiers would have to suffer from starvation and malnutrition. Washington is showing how dire their situation is and because of this, soldiers should ABANDON.

With tough conditions, soldiers at Valley Forge were struggling to survive. In October 1777, George Washington hadn’t been able to stop General Howe and his troops march their way into Philadelphia. Washington was having difficulties keeping his soldiers hopeful. Men who had been there for nine months were going home and not coming back. In fact, people were questioning Washington’s leadership, and some Philadelphians even welcomed the British. With Howe’s army of 1800 staying happily in Philadelphia, Washington decided to build the dreadful winter camp, Valley Forge. Housing at this winter camp was terrible; men were assigned huts that slept 12 other men and had no beds. It was freezing cold and smoke filled their homes. A soldier would have

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak shows through the midst of brutality, beauty can still be shown. The main characters Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner and Hans Huberman, prove this statement they are all faced with perilous situations, but still manage to show beauty throughout the situations. Liesel Meminger display beauty during the air raids, as she manages to read to people in the basement. Rudy Steiner displays beauty he jumps in the river to get Liesel’s book. Through Hans Huberman nobel character he displays beauty as he risks his life to hide a Jewish man in his basement.

I am reading Flush, by Carl Hiaasen. Flush is a fiction book and it is fairly interesting. This book does not really catch my eye, it bores me more than anything. An important theme that stands out to me is how one cares very much about family, and would do a lot just to make them be happy. Noah, the main character knows nothing about what happened with his dad, but he is very worried.

Power effectively captures their feelings by supplying the reader with an abundance of quotes that contain complaints over the quality and quantity of rations. One in particular complains of, “pickled beef,” which he said could just as easily be dog instead of beef (258). During this siege the once confident Army of Northern Virginia no longer predicted a quick end of the war. The soldiers echoed an uncertainty for when the war would end while expressing a desire for it to be soon. Power depicts a descriptive picture of the life of the soldier by referencing the numerous hardships including extended periods in the trenches as well as long periods without fresh clothes. Many of the soldiers complained of having tattered and worn-down clothing and expressed strong desires for new clothing. Power further captures their desire by noting opinion of the inspector general of the army who believed that “the small rations and inadequate supply of clothing is doubtless promoting desertion among the men” (224).