Write about a novel or short story you've read (or a movie if you have to) in which you learn something early on that seems minor but becomes very important later.
In the book "Killing Mr. Griffin" in the beginning we find out that Mr. Griffin takes some kind of pills. At first it seems insignificant, yet when we figure out why he actually died, it becomes one of the biggest parts of the story.
Kalie totally took my idea. But we are best friends and best friends do think alike :) even though i kinda hate her bc she just sneezed on me. Anyways, the first book i think of is Killing Mr. Griffin. It seems insignificant that he takes his pills at the beginning of the book but at the end of the book, it is a very important detail. Not only is it the reason for his death, but the pill bottle being seen is the thing that got them caught.
In the short story we read, Story Of An Hour, the author mentioned first thing that she had a heart condition but didn't really refer back to that until the very end when it ended up killing her.
In the beginning of the book that I'm currently reading, Waiting for You, the parents of Marisa seem very happy and look like the perfect marriage that anyone would want. Then one night, the mother pulled her hand away from the dad, and it seemed insignificant. Then later on in the book, the parents get a divorce because her mother had an affair. One insignificant detail led up to a huge part of the book.
In the book I'm reading now called Impulse one of the girl's mothers randomly leaves the room to go to the bathroom " freshen up". Nobody thinks that it's a big deal until they find out later in the book that she has a drug problem and she's really going off to get high.
In the Harry Potter's series you find out about the items, the invisibility cloak, the resurrection stone, and the elder wand. The resurrection stone was destroyed in the first book, and then Harry uses the cloak throughout the whole series. Even though you do not find out about the elder wand until the last book, they are all key elements of the story that provide conflict between Harry and Voldemort.
In the book "Suicide Notes" the boy had attempts suicide and he says he was just bored one night and while talking to the shrink he keeps making jokes about being being gay and saying he tried to commit suicide because he was mad God made him a boy and at the time it really sounds like he is kidding and then at the end you find out that he is really is gay and that is why he tried to kill himself.
In killing Mr. Griffin David's dad has a graduation ring from Stanford, later it says Mr. Griffin also has a ring like that and David ends up taking after he is dead. Well the ring ends up giving the police a lead and then leads to Mark Kinney killing David's grandmother to get the ring back from her.
In the book I'm reading now, Willow. Willow cuts herself because shes extremely upset with herself because she feels responsible for the death of her parents. And people see her buy blades, and her cuts sometimes get exposed but no one really knows whats going on except for the reader and her. This becomes a big deal later on in the story.
Recently in this class we have read "The Chaser" and in this short story you learn early on that something is going to happen with the effect of the love potion and that he is going to have to go back to the old man to get another more expensive potion to kill the girl of his dreams. You learn this by the old man continuously saying that all of his customers usually come back after they have saved up enough money and get a potion for killing or to undo their first mistake.
In the book 19 minutes by Jodi Piccoult it doesn't seem odd at first that Peter spends all his time in his room alone, and his parents don't really seem to notice anything. But this plays a big part towards the middle and end of the book when they figure out he was planning a school shooting, all that time he was in his room "just on the computer".
In the novel/movie, "The Last Song" you see hints throughout the book that the father is sick, or has a cold. Then as you get into the book you realize that its becoming more serious and finally discover he has cancer. When you are finding out the father is cancerous then the whole book comes together and you see why the girls are sent there and the book makes sense. Its a good example of how minor issues could turn huge.
In the Lion King Simba's father is explaining the pride land to him and his duties as king one day to rule. Since we have all seen Lion king I'm sure you know how the story goes, but these rules for Simba soon become very important. After the pride land was lost he had to use his dad's words of wisdom in order to defeat his uncle, scar. Most authors or movie producer will use this. They will foreshadow on something small and then towards the end of the movie it becomes very important.
Jellicoe Road you know that the Aunt is writing a manuscript but you don't know why its important till the end. You learn about the people and how the characters from the manuscript are related to the main characters.
I know its lame and childish but I just watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid Last Night and it was actually a cute little movie. Anyways, In the beginning the two kids discover the old piece of cheese laying on the ground and get told the story of how it has always been there and it would ruin your reputation if you touched it. Well throughout the whole movie you see the cheese every once in a while, especially as the two boys' friendship gets worse. This old cheese becomes a very important little detail later in the book because these bullies come along and make one of the boys take a bite of the cheese. Only one girl actually saw it happen and then right after the bullies got run off by the principal. The other students come to the playground and blame the boy for the cheese. But his friend takes the blame and they become the best of friends again, even though everyone looks down on him because they think he ate the cheese. The cheese is what saved their friendship.
In the short story "a good man is hard to find" the grandmother makes a big deal about the misfit, and you think its something minor she just heard about. Then later on in the story they get car trouble and the misfit comes to them to "help" then kills them. So knowing that little piece of information about the loose criminal helped you realize what was going on when they ran into the guy.
Are you ready for this? Here it comes! In Donnie Darko (if you haven't heard me talk about that movie enough) there are SO many things that happen in the course of the movie (the beginning especially) that provide crucial information that piece the plot together into one coherent movie. I LOVE movies that do this-you have to watch the movie thoroughly, maybe even several times to pick up on the littlest things that provide clues to the conclusion of the story.
The chaser! i love this short story by far my most favorite. it seems innocent that the boy is looking for a love potion. i really didnt think anything of it. but when the old man says the young man will be coming back for another potion. and when we talked about it in class i found out that he will be killing his love
In A Great and Terrible Beauty, we learn that Felicity is emotionally cold and cares tremendously about seeing her father again after years of not seeing him. Only later in the series, specifically in the second, do we learn why. Secondly, we learn in Seven Tears Into the Sea that the main male only comes back every seven years, but we don't learn why until the near end of the book. In The Adoration of Jenna Fox, her grandmother tells her after her accident to watch the family videos her mother has given her to help her remember her life starting at the end. Only once Jenna has worked her way through them from when she's young until she's old, unlike how her grandmother told her to, do we learn why. For a while in HP we don't realize that Harry's scar is activated when Voldemort's near. Little things like that are everywhere in books, you just tend to only see them when looking back and thinking about it.
An example i thought of for this is Animal Farm. In the novel, Napoleon takes the puppies at the beginning of the story. Later on, when the puppies grew up into dogs. They helped Napoleon drive out Snowball and take over the farm.
In the book "Killing Mr. Griffin" in the beginning we find out that Mr. Griffin takes some kind of pills. At first it seems insignificant, yet when we figure out why he actually died, it becomes one of the biggest parts of the story.
ReplyDeleteKalie totally took my idea. But we are best friends and best friends do think alike :) even though i kinda hate her bc she just sneezed on me. Anyways, the first book i think of is Killing Mr. Griffin. It seems insignificant that he takes his pills at the beginning of the book but at the end of the book, it is a very important detail. Not only is it the reason for his death, but the pill bottle being seen is the thing that got them caught.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story we read, Story Of An Hour, the author mentioned first thing that she had a heart condition but didn't really refer back to that until the very end when it ended up killing her.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the book that I'm currently reading, Waiting for You, the parents of Marisa seem very happy and look like the perfect marriage that anyone would want. Then one night, the mother pulled her hand away from the dad, and it seemed insignificant. Then later on in the book, the parents get a divorce because her mother had an affair. One insignificant detail led up to a huge part of the book.
ReplyDeleteIn the book I'm reading now called Impulse one of the girl's mothers randomly leaves the room to go to the bathroom " freshen up". Nobody thinks that it's a big deal until they find out later in the book that she has a drug problem and she's really going off to get high.
ReplyDeleteIn the Harry Potter's series you find out about the items, the invisibility cloak, the resurrection stone, and the elder wand. The resurrection stone was destroyed in the first book, and then Harry uses the cloak throughout the whole series. Even though you do not find out about the elder wand until the last book, they are all key elements of the story that provide conflict between Harry and Voldemort.
ReplyDeleteIn the book "Suicide Notes" the boy had attempts suicide and he says he was just bored one night and while talking to the shrink he keeps making jokes about being being gay and saying he tried to commit suicide because he was mad God made him a boy and at the time it really sounds like he is kidding and then at the end you find out that he is really is gay and that is why he tried to kill himself.
ReplyDeleteIn killing Mr. Griffin David's dad has a graduation ring from Stanford, later it says Mr. Griffin also has a ring like that and David ends up taking after he is dead. Well the ring ends up giving the police a lead and then leads to Mark Kinney killing David's grandmother to get the ring back from her.
ReplyDeleteIn the book I'm reading now, Willow. Willow cuts herself because shes extremely upset with herself because she feels responsible for the death of her parents. And people see her buy blades, and her cuts sometimes get exposed but no one really knows whats going on except for the reader and her. This becomes a big deal later on in the story.
ReplyDeleteRecently in this class we have read "The Chaser" and in this short story you learn early on that something is going to happen with the effect of the love potion and that he is going to have to go back to the old man to get another more expensive potion to kill the girl of his dreams. You learn this by the old man continuously saying that all of his customers usually come back after they have saved up enough money and get a potion for killing or to undo their first mistake.
ReplyDeleteIn the story of an hour, you learn that the women has a heart problem, which becomes important later when she dies
ReplyDeleteIn the book 19 minutes by Jodi Piccoult it doesn't seem odd at first that Peter spends all his time in his room alone, and his parents don't really seem to notice anything. But this plays a big part towards the middle and end of the book when they figure out he was planning a school shooting, all that time he was in his room "just on the computer".
ReplyDeleteIn the novel/movie, "The Last Song" you see hints throughout the book that the father is sick, or has a cold. Then as you get into the book you realize that its becoming more serious and finally discover he has cancer. When you are finding out the father is cancerous then the whole book comes together and you see why the girls are sent there and the book makes sense. Its a good example of how minor issues could turn huge.
ReplyDeleteIn the Lion King Simba's father is explaining the pride land to him and his duties as king one day to rule. Since we have all seen Lion king I'm sure you know how the story goes, but these rules for Simba soon become very important. After the pride land was lost he had to use his dad's words of wisdom in order to defeat his uncle, scar. Most authors or movie producer will use this. They will foreshadow on something small and then towards the end of the movie it becomes very important.
ReplyDeleteJellicoe Road you know that the Aunt is writing a manuscript but you don't know why its important till the end. You learn about the people and how the characters from the manuscript are related to the main characters.
ReplyDeleteI know its lame and childish but I just watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid Last Night and it was actually a cute little movie. Anyways, In the beginning the two kids discover the old piece of cheese laying on the ground and get told the story of how it has always been there and it would ruin your reputation if you touched it. Well throughout the whole movie you see the cheese every once in a while, especially as the two boys' friendship gets worse. This old cheese becomes a very important little detail later in the book because these bullies come along and make one of the boys take a bite of the cheese. Only one girl actually saw it happen and then right after the bullies got run off by the principal. The other students come to the playground and blame the boy for the cheese. But his friend takes the blame and they become the best of friends again, even though everyone looks down on him because they think he ate the cheese. The cheese is what saved their friendship.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story "a good man is hard to find" the grandmother makes a big deal about the misfit, and you think its something minor she just heard about. Then later on in the story they get car trouble and the misfit comes to them to "help" then kills them. So knowing that little piece of information about the loose criminal helped you realize what was going on when they ran into the guy.
ReplyDeleteAre you ready for this? Here it comes! In Donnie Darko (if you haven't heard me talk about that movie enough) there are SO many things that happen in the course of the movie (the beginning especially) that provide crucial information that piece the plot together into one coherent movie. I LOVE movies that do this-you have to watch the movie thoroughly, maybe even several times to pick up on the littlest things that provide clues to the conclusion of the story.
ReplyDeleteThe chaser! i love this short story by far my most favorite. it seems innocent that the boy is looking for a love potion. i really didnt think anything of it. but when the old man says the young man will be coming back for another potion. and when we talked about it in class i found out that he will be killing his love
ReplyDeleteIn A Great and Terrible Beauty, we learn that Felicity is emotionally cold and cares tremendously about seeing her father again after years of not seeing him. Only later in the series, specifically in the second, do we learn why. Secondly, we learn in Seven Tears Into the Sea that the main male only comes back every seven years, but we don't learn why until the near end of the book. In The Adoration of Jenna Fox, her grandmother tells her after her accident to watch the family videos her mother has given her to help her remember her life starting at the end. Only once Jenna has worked her way through them from when she's young until she's old, unlike how her grandmother told her to, do we learn why. For a while in HP we don't realize that Harry's scar is activated when Voldemort's near. Little things like that are everywhere in books, you just tend to only see them when looking back and thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteAn example i thought of for this is Animal Farm. In the novel, Napoleon takes the puppies at the beginning of the story. Later on, when the puppies grew up into dogs. They helped Napoleon drive out Snowball and take over the farm.
ReplyDelete