Jorunal+entry+1

pages 1-25 In the beginning of the story you are introduced to the main character Jonas. At this point Jonas is struggling to understand his own feelings and says he feels frightened about the upcoming month. Later he realizes that he is not frightened as that is too strong of a word to describe how he feels. He finally comes to the conclusion that he is apprehensive for the December which is the next month in the story. For the upcoming month brings challenges and a new adventure for Jonas. The reader finds out about a thing called the ceremony of twelve. There is a ceremony for every year and celebrates the passage of the life and a birthday, except it is not personal and everyone in the "Community" has the same day of celebration, known as the ceremony of your age. Now I bet you are wondering what the Community is. The Community is the setting of the story. As far as the plot has progressed so far all the reader knows about the community so far is that it is a secluded, closed off environment. Also from my interpretation is that the community is portrayed by the author as a perfect world, not a free society, with rules that are not to be broken. These rules almost replace laws except that instead of fines and jail, people in the community are stoned and for serious crimes simply banished from the community to go who knows where.

I think the author is trying to portray the community as a sort of perfect world because everyone is uniform with no real individuality. Everyone is the same in the way that they are almost, if you will, engineered to be perfect instead of raised to be who they want to be like most people are. The plot line then progresses to be a traitor in the community where every morning citizens share their dreams with their "family unit". This is another example of this perfect world where every person is assigned a family instead of making their own. Anyway, the reader hears that Jones often does not dream which is slightly odd. Then the reader learns about Jonas' father's son which is a "Nurturer". As a nurturer you look after new born babies until they are one. Yet Jonas' father has a child which is not developing and we learn that this child who is named Gabriel will live with Jonas' family until he is fully developed. The entire family excluding Jonas falls in love with Gabriel and vows to keep him. But it is against the rule of only one boy and one girl in each family unit. That is as far as the plot progresses in the first segment.

1. How does the author get you to read in, hold your attention. 2. What is the initial or first problem faced by the protagonist. 3, What's going on as the story begins.

1. The author is very intriguing with the way he introduces the book, the setting and overall, how he gives the reader how he gives the reader his first taste of the book. The plot in the beginning is shrouded with mystery. I found myself wondering many things at the beginning of the book, which make me want to read more and find the answers to all the questions. Also, as I was reading I found myself struggling with my own opinions about the book, debating against myself trying to figure out what I felt. Such as the tension between the patrons of the community being amorphous blobs no personalities or people with personalities being trained to be amorphous blobs. Also the author the protagonist in which he struggles against himself to solve. The author also provides twists which certainly lead to an exciting lead. I think I am attracted to this book and want to read more because I find the setting very intriguing personally. I love how he portrays the characters as very intriguing and mysterious and the only way to solve this mystery is to read on.

2. The first problem faced by the protagonist is nothing physical but rather psychological in the way that he was struggling with his own emotions. Jonas was having troubles with his feelings because in just a few short weeks his biggest test in his life; the ceremony of twelve. The ceremony is almost like a bar mitzvah as it celebrates the passing of time and the journey into manhood. Jonas would be assigned his job by an elder and that job would be the same job that he would do for the rest of his life. Jonas struggled because he didn't know if he was more excited or nervous about the ceremony. He was anxious and apprehensive at the same time. Thoughts like what if he was stuck with a job that he wouldn't like. This was a major turning point in his life an of course naturally he was apprehensive. Little did he know he would encounter even worse repercussions than he thought and face more challenges than others do in the "Community".

3. In the beginning of the book, you are introduced to the main character Jonas. You are also naturally introduced to the setting, the "Community" which is, under my interpretation portrayed as an almost perfect society. The community is in harmony to do strict rules and in my opinion a lack of personality and individuality. The first event though is a peculiar one pertaining to the community. An aircraft flew over the society in perfect harmony and this was against the rules. Since the rules were not often broken an air of confusion, fright and panic arose. Over the PA system a voice arises. It instructs the confused patrons of the community to calmly but quickly to find shelter. Because this aircraft was a fighter jet it made the event even more peculiar and at the same time horrific. Thoughts of worse case scenarios filled the protagonist’s minds when just then the PA came on. This time in a more reassuring tone the voice said it was a pilot error and there was no cause for alarm or agitation. A calming feeling came over Jonas and he returned to his bike. Yet the PA continued on to say that the pilot had been "released". This is an uncommon but very sad event when citizens are banned from the community never to return because they broke a major rule.

10/10