In these two chapters Matt hikes up a mountain in the Rocky River Creek Park. He doesn’t take his dog “Pumpkin” with him because he feels sad and he has to be alone.
Matt is extremely desperate, because he’s got nothing to live for. He thinks that all people who are nice to him only take pity on him. No one can behave like before. “Matt Donaghy doesn’t want our charity (p. 145, ll. 14-15).”
He feels like never before, since he was beaten up by the seniors. “No one had ever hit Matt like that. So deliberately, purposefully. Wanting to hurt him. Really wanting to hurt him. (p. 145, ll. 19-20)”
It’s clear that Matt wants to commit suicide. “I love it here. I could die here … and be happy. (p. 146, l. 10)” He considers to jump in one of the ravines, so it couldn’t be proved that it was suicide, maybe he only fell down or he might get lost in a snowstorm.
Matt’s thoughts about his beloved dog also confirm my opinion of his suicide. “Pumpkin would miss Matt. If he failed to return. Matt felt a stab of guilt. (p. 147, ll. 18-19)”
But finally, fortunately, Matt decides not to jump down that gap to end his life. “Still, he determined. He wasn’t going to give up. (p. 148, l. 12)” And then also Ursula Riggs appeared. Now he couldn’t kill himself without having a witness. He would always be the guy who committed suicide, forever!
Donnerstag, 23. April 2009
Chapter Twenty-one & Twenty-two
The twenty-first chapter is about Matt Donaghy. He is running errands for his mother. There he is attacked by about six senior students, who are also in the football team.
In a parking lot, Matt hears the guys calling him. They shout: “Hey, fag! (p. 137, l. 16)” and then also “Sue us? Fag, gonna sue us?”
They are extremely insulting Matt, because his family didn’t want to live like castaways. Almost the whole citizenry evaded the Donaghys. First, I wondered why no one can understand what the Donaghys did. Their whole life was destroyed. They won’t be able to live in Rocky River again like a normal family. They will always be the family with the “amok son”.
The people have to understand that, but unfortunately they are of the opinion like the gossiping girls of chapter 19. “It’s over now – the Donaghys should put it behind them. Forget and forgive. (p. 132, ll. 15-17)” But in real, they didn’t forget and forgive. They were afraid of Matt and the possibility that he could have planned an amok.
Of course I can also understand that they’re angry because of suing the school and its district, because I don’t thing that it’s their fault. If Mr. Parrish didn’t do anything and there would have been an amok, he had lost his job and his whole life, because he ignored the threat. On the contrary to the Brewers I think they deserve to be sued. They wanted Matt to have immense problems and now they must be in trouble.
As I see it, the citizenry should forgive Matt and his family, because they were driven into that situation. All this horrible stuff could have been avoided.
In a parking lot, Matt hears the guys calling him. They shout: “Hey, fag! (p. 137, l. 16)” and then also “Sue us? Fag, gonna sue us?”
They are extremely insulting Matt, because his family didn’t want to live like castaways. Almost the whole citizenry evaded the Donaghys. First, I wondered why no one can understand what the Donaghys did. Their whole life was destroyed. They won’t be able to live in Rocky River again like a normal family. They will always be the family with the “amok son”.
The people have to understand that, but unfortunately they are of the opinion like the gossiping girls of chapter 19. “It’s over now – the Donaghys should put it behind them. Forget and forgive. (p. 132, ll. 15-17)” But in real, they didn’t forget and forgive. They were afraid of Matt and the possibility that he could have planned an amok.
Of course I can also understand that they’re angry because of suing the school and its district, because I don’t thing that it’s their fault. If Mr. Parrish didn’t do anything and there would have been an amok, he had lost his job and his whole life, because he ignored the threat. On the contrary to the Brewers I think they deserve to be sued. They wanted Matt to have immense problems and now they must be in trouble.
As I see it, the citizenry should forgive Matt and his family, because they were driven into that situation. All this horrible stuff could have been avoided.
Chapter Nineteen & Twenty
In these two chapters, we read something about two new developments in the case of Matt.
The first big development is that now almost the whole school knows that the Brewer twins had pressed charges against Matt. They are the ones who have destroyed Matt’s life and the lives of his family.
The author writes about this development by using a kind of stream-of-consciousness-technique. It’s also a kind of dialogue. There are many statements, one after another. They aren’t all referenced to the previous one. It’s a conversation between some students. They are all very excited. This is why it looks like a stream of consciousness. They are all advancing their opinion, so it’s very confused.
The second development is that the family Donaghy sues the school, its district and its principal and also the Brewers. They want to get millions of dollars, something from twenty to hundred million dollars. They demand that high prize because of “’defamation of character’, ‘mental cruelty’ and ‘mental distress’ (p. 132, ll. 2-4)”.
While reading the part of the text about the second development (p. 131-132, ll. 26-17), we can clearly detect the opinion of the author Joyce Carol Oates. She accuses the behavior of many people to gossip with someone about a critical topic like the case of Matt, without knowing any facts. They only tell something so it causes many false rumors.
She shows that at an extreme example. First they talk about twenty million then about hundred million dollars. So no one knows the truth and that’s the only important thing.
The first big development is that now almost the whole school knows that the Brewer twins had pressed charges against Matt. They are the ones who have destroyed Matt’s life and the lives of his family.
The author writes about this development by using a kind of stream-of-consciousness-technique. It’s also a kind of dialogue. There are many statements, one after another. They aren’t all referenced to the previous one. It’s a conversation between some students. They are all very excited. This is why it looks like a stream of consciousness. They are all advancing their opinion, so it’s very confused.
The second development is that the family Donaghy sues the school, its district and its principal and also the Brewers. They want to get millions of dollars, something from twenty to hundred million dollars. They demand that high prize because of “’defamation of character’, ‘mental cruelty’ and ‘mental distress’ (p. 132, ll. 2-4)”.
While reading the part of the text about the second development (p. 131-132, ll. 26-17), we can clearly detect the opinion of the author Joyce Carol Oates. She accuses the behavior of many people to gossip with someone about a critical topic like the case of Matt, without knowing any facts. They only tell something so it causes many false rumors.
She shows that at an extreme example. First they talk about twenty million then about hundred million dollars. So no one knows the truth and that’s the only important thing.
Chapter Seventeen & Eighteen
In these two chapters (seventeen and eighteen) we learn much about the consequences and the reasons of the horrible incident in Rocky River High School.
In chapter seventeen Matt Donaghy notices his mother crying in the bathroom. She received a white envelope. In that envelope there’s an old article from the newspaper about “area teen questioned in bomb scare (p. 124, ll. 12-13)”. But on that article there’s a message: “Your neighbors are not safe we are not going to forget”. Though Matt was released by the police, the neighborhood thinks that he’s guilty.
Matt is totally innocent. He didn’t plan an amok or anything else like that. He’s a peaceful person, but unfortunately not everyone believes him. They’ll continue to evade him or they might terrorize him more and more with such letters or there will be worse things.
Mrs. Donaghy also knows that and she’s extremely desperate. Before she liked this area in Rocky River, but now she only sees the bad things, everything is ugly (p. 125, l. 1). She doesn’t have any hope that something is going to change.
The witnesses, their identities we also find out, have destructed the life of the family Donaghy. There won’t be a good future for them in Rocky River. Probably they must move to another city.
The most important information we get in these chapters is that the Brewer twins are the witnesses who said that Matt wants to kill as many people as possible (p. 129, ll. 12-15).
Ursula Riggs accuses the twins of having blamed Matt though they knew it’s been a joke. Then they say that she doesn’t have any evidences and this is true, but they really act as if they really did that (p.129, ll. 124-125).
The Brewer twins are two, by their father’s ideologies swayed, girls. They don’t know which horrible consequences their action can have. They try to do everything possible against people with other attitudes or ideologies.
They are a kind of psycho terrorists with no conscience. As I see it this kind of person is one of the most horrible ones. They can destroy so many lives, only because they’re thinking different.
In chapter seventeen Matt Donaghy notices his mother crying in the bathroom. She received a white envelope. In that envelope there’s an old article from the newspaper about “area teen questioned in bomb scare (p. 124, ll. 12-13)”. But on that article there’s a message: “Your neighbors are not safe we are not going to forget”. Though Matt was released by the police, the neighborhood thinks that he’s guilty.
Matt is totally innocent. He didn’t plan an amok or anything else like that. He’s a peaceful person, but unfortunately not everyone believes him. They’ll continue to evade him or they might terrorize him more and more with such letters or there will be worse things.
Mrs. Donaghy also knows that and she’s extremely desperate. Before she liked this area in Rocky River, but now she only sees the bad things, everything is ugly (p. 125, l. 1). She doesn’t have any hope that something is going to change.
The witnesses, their identities we also find out, have destructed the life of the family Donaghy. There won’t be a good future for them in Rocky River. Probably they must move to another city.
The most important information we get in these chapters is that the Brewer twins are the witnesses who said that Matt wants to kill as many people as possible (p. 129, ll. 12-15).
Ursula Riggs accuses the twins of having blamed Matt though they knew it’s been a joke. Then they say that she doesn’t have any evidences and this is true, but they really act as if they really did that (p.129, ll. 124-125).
The Brewer twins are two, by their father’s ideologies swayed, girls. They don’t know which horrible consequences their action can have. They try to do everything possible against people with other attitudes or ideologies.
They are a kind of psycho terrorists with no conscience. As I see it this kind of person is one of the most horrible ones. They can destroy so many lives, only because they’re thinking different.
Chapter Sixteen
In this chapter, the nineteenth, Ursula Riggs drives to Manhattan to see a modern dance with her mum and her little sister Lisa. In the past she never wanted to come with them, but since she’s changed her mind, she’s nice and comes with them to please her sister.
At the beginning of the story line, Ursula Riggs, especially Ugly Girl wasn’t a pleasant person. She’s been very unpleasant. She was egoistic and didn’t like to do something with other people. She was a loner and liked that. She knew that she’s stronger than all the girls and also than most of the boys. She really was nice never.
But now everything is different. Ursula Riggs and also Ugly Girl are/is very nice. Now I think that I could like her because she’s still self-confident, intelligent, but not this kind of arrogant anymore. From my point of view she also has a really good sense of rightness and morality.
She is against that kind of attitude the Brewer twins have. She doesn’t like that the family and the church of the reverend is so extremely backward. She’s not against abortion, ethnic minorities, blacks and sex education in schools.
I like her because I share her position to modernity and ethics. She’s a real individual and not such a fellow-traveler or opportunist. In our modern society many students can only exist in a group, they are too dependent.
At the beginning of the story line, Ursula Riggs, especially Ugly Girl wasn’t a pleasant person. She’s been very unpleasant. She was egoistic and didn’t like to do something with other people. She was a loner and liked that. She knew that she’s stronger than all the girls and also than most of the boys. She really was nice never.
But now everything is different. Ursula Riggs and also Ugly Girl are/is very nice. Now I think that I could like her because she’s still self-confident, intelligent, but not this kind of arrogant anymore. From my point of view she also has a really good sense of rightness and morality.
She is against that kind of attitude the Brewer twins have. She doesn’t like that the family and the church of the reverend is so extremely backward. She’s not against abortion, ethnic minorities, blacks and sex education in schools.
I like her because I share her position to modernity and ethics. She’s a real individual and not such a fellow-traveler or opportunist. In our modern society many students can only exist in a group, they are too dependent.
Chapter Fifteen
Matt Donaghy writes a letter for Ursula Riggs again and again he doesn’t send it but he deletes it.
He isn’t the self-confident boy as before with many friends and who’s absolutely happy. His whole life has changed in the last three weeks. Now he is a shy little boy with serious emotional problems. His emotions overwhelm him. He is a broken human being. The witnesses of his joke in the cafeteria have destroyed him: “My heart is a stone – it won’t be broken again. (p. 105, l. 10)”, “I’m so lonely. (p. 107, l. 25)”
Before these incidents he wouldn’t be frightened of sending a letter to someone. He had problems with talking about his feelings, but now he’s also afraid because he’s only a poor boy without friends or any perspective.
I think he’s lost his personality. In the past the most important things for his personality were his comic character, his popularity and his talent for writing. Now he has lost everything. He also knows that: “Maybe I’m a ghost? (p. 107, l. 18)”
If I should describe his new personality, I could only say that he doesn’t have a real one. He only regrets his old life. Before the school also was very important for him, but now everything is of no importance: “His grades had plummeted to C/C- in recent weeks.”
He isn’t the self-confident boy as before with many friends and who’s absolutely happy. His whole life has changed in the last three weeks. Now he is a shy little boy with serious emotional problems. His emotions overwhelm him. He is a broken human being. The witnesses of his joke in the cafeteria have destroyed him: “My heart is a stone – it won’t be broken again. (p. 105, l. 10)”, “I’m so lonely. (p. 107, l. 25)”
Before these incidents he wouldn’t be frightened of sending a letter to someone. He had problems with talking about his feelings, but now he’s also afraid because he’s only a poor boy without friends or any perspective.
I think he’s lost his personality. In the past the most important things for his personality were his comic character, his popularity and his talent for writing. Now he has lost everything. He also knows that: “Maybe I’m a ghost? (p. 107, l. 18)”
If I should describe his new personality, I could only say that he doesn’t have a real one. He only regrets his old life. Before the school also was very important for him, but now everything is of no importance: “His grades had plummeted to C/C- in recent weeks.”
Chapter Fourteen
The fourteenth chapter is about Matt Donaghy. Matt wants to publish a text about the day, when he was arrested and which effects that day had. But the paper staff prohibited that so he’s really angry for being censored.
When I started reading the fourteenth chapter, something instantly caught my eye. The beginning of this chapter is the same as the beginning of the previous chapter. The atmosphere of these described days is very depressing: “Another Nothing-Day. Smelling of dirty socks, and worse. (p. 97, ll. 18, 19)”
In my opinion, the repetition shall express the monotony of this time for Matt. He was accustomed to be a popular student, but now he doesn’t have ‘real’ friends. This is a total ‘Nothing-Time’, he is bored and his heart has been broken.
For Matt the only way out of that is writing. When he writes a text for the school paper, he is free and independent. By writing, he can express his enormous feelings and this is a kind of therapy. But now the school paper staff has forbidden Matt to publish his article. I think this is going to lure Matt on to destruction. He must keep his feelings for himself and isn’t able to get that off his chest.
We can already notice that. After hearing the message of Mr. Steiner, he got really angry. He couldn’t believe what he’s heard. His passion has been forbidden for him and like I expected, he didn’t want to accept that.
When I started reading the fourteenth chapter, something instantly caught my eye. The beginning of this chapter is the same as the beginning of the previous chapter. The atmosphere of these described days is very depressing: “Another Nothing-Day. Smelling of dirty socks, and worse. (p. 97, ll. 18, 19)”
In my opinion, the repetition shall express the monotony of this time for Matt. He was accustomed to be a popular student, but now he doesn’t have ‘real’ friends. This is a total ‘Nothing-Time’, he is bored and his heart has been broken.
For Matt the only way out of that is writing. When he writes a text for the school paper, he is free and independent. By writing, he can express his enormous feelings and this is a kind of therapy. But now the school paper staff has forbidden Matt to publish his article. I think this is going to lure Matt on to destruction. He must keep his feelings for himself and isn’t able to get that off his chest.
We can already notice that. After hearing the message of Mr. Steiner, he got really angry. He couldn’t believe what he’s heard. His passion has been forbidden for him and like I expected, he didn’t want to accept that.
Chapter Twelve & Thirteen
Ursula Riggs has to talk to the principal of her High School in the twelfth chapter. Her homeroom teacher had told it to her, but Ursula doesn’t understand why.
Firstly, she thinks that the principal wants to scold her because of something. In the past, she only had to go there because of her rude behavior or because she said something too sarcastic. But at this day a new era starts, the principal praises her “very maturely” and “responsibly” behavior in recent weeks (p. 91, l. 5). Now she’s got the chance to get away from that prejudice of an unfriendly warrior-woman.
Ursula really uses that chance. She answers while the talk very friendly and absolutely changes her attitude towards adults. Even when the principal asks of her opinion of the crisis and if it’s over now, she doesn’t advance her own opinion. After only confirming the principal’s opinion, she is a bit puzzled, because she wonders. In former times she never said something wrong only to be polite. That was the most important character trait of Ugly Girl and now she’s a totally different person.
The in chapter 10 mentioned change of Ursula’s character traits progresses. Now she even stops advancing her own opinion. I’m very interested if this progresses in the next chapters too.
Firstly, she thinks that the principal wants to scold her because of something. In the past, she only had to go there because of her rude behavior or because she said something too sarcastic. But at this day a new era starts, the principal praises her “very maturely” and “responsibly” behavior in recent weeks (p. 91, l. 5). Now she’s got the chance to get away from that prejudice of an unfriendly warrior-woman.
Ursula really uses that chance. She answers while the talk very friendly and absolutely changes her attitude towards adults. Even when the principal asks of her opinion of the crisis and if it’s over now, she doesn’t advance her own opinion. After only confirming the principal’s opinion, she is a bit puzzled, because she wonders. In former times she never said something wrong only to be polite. That was the most important character trait of Ugly Girl and now she’s a totally different person.
The in chapter 10 mentioned change of Ursula’s character traits progresses. Now she even stops advancing her own opinion. I’m very interested if this progresses in the next chapters too.
Chapter Eleven
In this chapter Matt Donaghy writes an e-mail for Ursula Riggs. He wants to ask her why she doesn’t answer his three old e-mails. He also writes a lot about his current situation and asks her many questions.
Before the horrible incident in school Matt was a very popular student with many friends, like Russ, Skeet and Stacey. Nearly everyone liked him, because he was a very funny person, but he never made bad jokes of anyone. He laughed a lot and was absolutely friendly teenager.
But since that day, no one will ever forget that Matt has allegedly planned an amok. The people and also his old friends evade him, but unsure why. Probably they are afraid of him, they think the police only couldn’t prove that, but in real he really tried to kill as many people as possible. Now his whole life is destroyed, no one wants to meet him, so he gets very lonely. He can only hope that Ursula wants to be his friend.
When Ursula didn’t answer his e-mails he had to fear the loss of his last friend, too. Of course, he doesn’t want to be alone in his little world. He couldn’t live without his friends.
From my point of view, he could become introverted and shy and even suicidal. He is unaccustomed to be a loner, so it’s too much for him. He’ll yearn for his old life with friends and fun. I’m going to observe Matt to check my speculation.
Before the horrible incident in school Matt was a very popular student with many friends, like Russ, Skeet and Stacey. Nearly everyone liked him, because he was a very funny person, but he never made bad jokes of anyone. He laughed a lot and was absolutely friendly teenager.
But since that day, no one will ever forget that Matt has allegedly planned an amok. The people and also his old friends evade him, but unsure why. Probably they are afraid of him, they think the police only couldn’t prove that, but in real he really tried to kill as many people as possible. Now his whole life is destroyed, no one wants to meet him, so he gets very lonely. He can only hope that Ursula wants to be his friend.
When Ursula didn’t answer his e-mails he had to fear the loss of his last friend, too. Of course, he doesn’t want to be alone in his little world. He couldn’t live without his friends.
From my point of view, he could become introverted and shy and even suicidal. He is unaccustomed to be a loner, so it’s too much for him. He’ll yearn for his old life with friends and fun. I’m going to observe Matt to check my speculation.
Chapter Ten
The tenth chapter is about Ursula Riggs. Since the beginning of the story her attitude towards people has changed a lot. Now there are other differences between Ursula and Ugly Girl, because they have developed. Their character traits have suddenly changed.
At the beginning of the story, Ursula Riggs was a shy and frightened girl. She was afraid of other people and didn’t trust herself to stand up against anyone.
Ugly Girl was the brave and strong warrior-woman. She was absolutely independent and didn’t need anybody. Many other people were afraid of her and evaded her. She was the excellent basketball player without any equal opponent.
Since that day Ugly Girl has rescued Matt Donaghy from severe punishment, he likes Ursula Riggs, the tough and courageous girl. Every time he notices her in school, he smiles at her. This is the only thing that makes Ugly Girl shrink away in shyness. Then she doesn’t know what to do. She cannot react to this with strength and violence (p. 84, ll. 23, 24).
To have the boy’s affections, is a totally new feeling for Ugly Girl. “A weird hot flash came over me; my face burned. (p 85, l. 7)” Now she also seems to be a normal girl, who has the same feelings as any other girl. “I’m going to trip on the stairs. … It was because Matt Donaghy was there, watching me … smiling at me … who signed his e-mail Your friend Matt” Ugly Girl is overstrained with such a situation.
Now Ugly Girl is also polite. She’s never been a kind of polite, only respectful. Now she smiles at her teachers, just to be polite (p. 85, ll. 15, 16).
At the beginning of the story, Ursula Riggs was a shy and frightened girl. She was afraid of other people and didn’t trust herself to stand up against anyone.
Ugly Girl was the brave and strong warrior-woman. She was absolutely independent and didn’t need anybody. Many other people were afraid of her and evaded her. She was the excellent basketball player without any equal opponent.
Since that day Ugly Girl has rescued Matt Donaghy from severe punishment, he likes Ursula Riggs, the tough and courageous girl. Every time he notices her in school, he smiles at her. This is the only thing that makes Ugly Girl shrink away in shyness. Then she doesn’t know what to do. She cannot react to this with strength and violence (p. 84, ll. 23, 24).
To have the boy’s affections, is a totally new feeling for Ugly Girl. “A weird hot flash came over me; my face burned. (p 85, l. 7)” Now she also seems to be a normal girl, who has the same feelings as any other girl. “I’m going to trip on the stairs. … It was because Matt Donaghy was there, watching me … smiling at me … who signed his e-mail Your friend Matt” Ugly Girl is overstrained with such a situation.
Now Ugly Girl is also polite. She’s never been a kind of polite, only respectful. Now she smiles at her teachers, just to be polite (p. 85, ll. 15, 16).
Samstag, 28. März 2009
Chapter Nine
The ninth chapter is about Matt Donaghy who is suspended from school. Now he waits for the permission to return to school. Of course he knows of his innocence, but now he can rightly hope that the principal and the police recognize that he didn’t do anything cruel. Ursula Riggs promised that she and Eveann McDowd would tell the truth. He also thinks that his friends will bear witness for him, whether they didn’t send him an e-mail.
Matt’s relation to Ursula changed a lot since the alleged bomb threat. Before they scarcely knew each other, but I wouldn’t describe it as a “relation”. They didn’t speak together; much less they did something together. But since Ursula was the only one who stood up for Matt, he appreciates her behavior.
Because they didn’t have a real relation, he can’t believe the e-mail. He thinks that Skeet tries to play a trick on him. “It would be ironic if, out of the whole school, of Matt’s numerous friends and acquaintances and classmates, only U.R. was contacting him.” (p. 60, ll. 8-11) He rightly thinks that it’s impossible that even Ursula contacts him.
But later, when he talks about his friends he only mentions Ursula and Eveann: “My two friends. And you, Pumpkin.” (p. 76, l. 25)
Afterwards, he even thinks that she likes him and he suggests that he does that too, by saying: “She must like him, too. Even if nobody else did.”
The relation between Ursula and Matt has developed from zero to a good friendship only in a few days.
Matt’s relation to Ursula changed a lot since the alleged bomb threat. Before they scarcely knew each other, but I wouldn’t describe it as a “relation”. They didn’t speak together; much less they did something together. But since Ursula was the only one who stood up for Matt, he appreciates her behavior.
Because they didn’t have a real relation, he can’t believe the e-mail. He thinks that Skeet tries to play a trick on him. “It would be ironic if, out of the whole school, of Matt’s numerous friends and acquaintances and classmates, only U.R. was contacting him.” (p. 60, ll. 8-11) He rightly thinks that it’s impossible that even Ursula contacts him.
But later, when he talks about his friends he only mentions Ursula and Eveann: “My two friends. And you, Pumpkin.” (p. 76, l. 25)
Afterwards, he even thinks that she likes him and he suggests that he does that too, by saying: “She must like him, too. Even if nobody else did.”
The relation between Ursula and Matt has developed from zero to a good friendship only in a few days.
Chapter Eight
In the eighth chapter we can observe an extreme change of mind. Ugly Girl, once a loner and independent girl, now wants to help people. She feels with Matt and helps him because of her conscience.
In the beginning she didn’t want to have any friends. Her whole life consisted of sports. She was a warrior-woman. Her class-mates talked about her behind her back, but she “gave a damn”. It was unimportant for her. Everyone was unimportant. “Ugly Girl stands alone. (p. 22, l. 14)” She insulted everyone she knew, for example her old grandmother (p. 10, ll. 15-25).
Now Ugly Girl shows an absolutely different personality. It seems to be that her conscience has been activated. She really stands up for Matt. She fights for his rights, because there aren’t any evidences for his guilt. The principal arrested him only on suspicion. She’s the only one who’s not too afraid to defend him while he’s helpless.
When she talks to Mr. Parrish he immediately believes her (p. 71, ll. 18-19), there you can see that it wasn’t too hard to stand up for Matt. There only had to be someone who trusts himself to manage that. Neither his friends Russ, Skeet … nor anyone else was courageous enough to say the truth.
Also when the principal, after hearing the true story, said: “the investigation will have to be continued”, she negates that and emphatically says that she wants the case to be closed. She threatens Mr. Parrish with a lawsuit, because he has suspended Matt without a reasonable cause and at the same time he’s defamed his comic character.
As I see it, Ugly Girl behaves very bravely, because she’s been the only one who was courageous enough to announce his knowledge.
In the beginning she didn’t want to have any friends. Her whole life consisted of sports. She was a warrior-woman. Her class-mates talked about her behind her back, but she “gave a damn”. It was unimportant for her. Everyone was unimportant. “Ugly Girl stands alone. (p. 22, l. 14)” She insulted everyone she knew, for example her old grandmother (p. 10, ll. 15-25).
Now Ugly Girl shows an absolutely different personality. It seems to be that her conscience has been activated. She really stands up for Matt. She fights for his rights, because there aren’t any evidences for his guilt. The principal arrested him only on suspicion. She’s the only one who’s not too afraid to defend him while he’s helpless.
When she talks to Mr. Parrish he immediately believes her (p. 71, ll. 18-19), there you can see that it wasn’t too hard to stand up for Matt. There only had to be someone who trusts himself to manage that. Neither his friends Russ, Skeet … nor anyone else was courageous enough to say the truth.
Also when the principal, after hearing the true story, said: “the investigation will have to be continued”, she negates that and emphatically says that she wants the case to be closed. She threatens Mr. Parrish with a lawsuit, because he has suspended Matt without a reasonable cause and at the same time he’s defamed his comic character.
As I see it, Ugly Girl behaves very bravely, because she’s been the only one who was courageous enough to announce his knowledge.
Chapter Seven
In chapter seven Matt gets an e-mail from Ursula. He wonders why Ursula sends him an e-mail, but not his friends he had asked for that before. After getting the e-mail, Matt calls Ursula to talk about the day. Ursula wanted Matt to call her, because she wants to witness for him.
The most shocking text passage, in my opinion, was that one with Matt’s thoughts during the interrogation (p. 58/59, ll. 22-11). Matt extremely suffered from the irksome questions.
Matt despairs of the interrogation and almost wants to confess, “Matt came to understand why a person in custody, though innocent, suddenly confesses” (p. 58, ll. 22/23).
He never had to sustain such a stressful situation. The police officers don’t want to believe him. He loses his hope to find someone who can prove that he’s absolutely innocent.
He even gets in the situation to be angry enough that he wants to quit the interrogation by being violent, “Matt had come close to breaking down in the interrogation room. Shouting in their faces – “Yes! I do want to murder you all.” Attacking the detective … strangle him … wrestle his gun … shoot the bastard”. He’s absolutely desperate. His life breaks down. Everything will be destroyed.
I was really shocked that Matt reacts like that. I couldn’t imagine that he’d consider to resort to violence.
The most shocking text passage, in my opinion, was that one with Matt’s thoughts during the interrogation (p. 58/59, ll. 22-11). Matt extremely suffered from the irksome questions.
Matt despairs of the interrogation and almost wants to confess, “Matt came to understand why a person in custody, though innocent, suddenly confesses” (p. 58, ll. 22/23).
He never had to sustain such a stressful situation. The police officers don’t want to believe him. He loses his hope to find someone who can prove that he’s absolutely innocent.
He even gets in the situation to be angry enough that he wants to quit the interrogation by being violent, “Matt had come close to breaking down in the interrogation room. Shouting in their faces – “Yes! I do want to murder you all.” Attacking the detective … strangle him … wrestle his gun … shoot the bastard”. He’s absolutely desperate. His life breaks down. Everything will be destroyed.
I was really shocked that Matt reacts like that. I couldn’t imagine that he’d consider to resort to violence.
Chapter Six
Chapter six is about the evening of Ursula Riggs at the day when Matt was arrested because of allegedly planning a shooting spree. Ursula doesn’t want to tell her mother and sister anything, neither about the rumors nor about the basketball game (p. 51, ll. 20-29).
From my point of view the most eye catching scene was that one when the news reporter says something about the suspect and the rumors. “… it isn’t known if the boy has a juvenile record or a psychiatric history or even he was conspiring with others in the alleged plot.” (p. 54, ll. 17-19)
When I read this extract, I instantly thought of Tim Kretschmer and the amok in Winnenden. After the perpetrator has killed 15 people and afterwards committed suicide, the news broadcasted many specials about the case. The reporters gave so much information, but a few days later we could see that much of the information wasn’t true not even a rudimentary.
The journalists alleged that Tim Kretschmer has a psychiatric history and got help from a psychologist but at that time there weren’t any evidences for that statement. This information was only sent because the reporters needed a new spectacular one. They invented that only for having good viewing levels not for broadcasting the real latest news.
This extract impressively criticizes the today's behavior of the local news and network TV. E.g. they would prefer to send a report on a catastrophe with one thousand dead people and many pictures of it than a report of a catastrophe without good pictures. They only send what might attract more viewers.
In Germany fortunately there are the by public law regulated television networks.
From my point of view the most eye catching scene was that one when the news reporter says something about the suspect and the rumors. “… it isn’t known if the boy has a juvenile record or a psychiatric history or even he was conspiring with others in the alleged plot.” (p. 54, ll. 17-19)
When I read this extract, I instantly thought of Tim Kretschmer and the amok in Winnenden. After the perpetrator has killed 15 people and afterwards committed suicide, the news broadcasted many specials about the case. The reporters gave so much information, but a few days later we could see that much of the information wasn’t true not even a rudimentary.
The journalists alleged that Tim Kretschmer has a psychiatric history and got help from a psychologist but at that time there weren’t any evidences for that statement. This information was only sent because the reporters needed a new spectacular one. They invented that only for having good viewing levels not for broadcasting the real latest news.
This extract impressively criticizes the today's behavior of the local news and network TV. E.g. they would prefer to send a report on a catastrophe with one thousand dead people and many pictures of it than a report of a catastrophe without good pictures. They only send what might attract more viewers.
In Germany fortunately there are the by public law regulated television networks.
Chapter Four & Five
Though the fourth chapter is very short, you get much interesting information!
While being interrogated by the tall, severe-looking strangers, Matt more and more gets desperate. He can’t imagine why these men should come to such a harmless young boy from Rocky River High School. He never did anything dead serious. There is no reason for all that stuff. He’s innocent. All these thoughts are described by using the stream-of-consciousness-technique, e.g. “NO I DID NOT. I DID NOT. I DID NOT.”
Because of these kinds of sentences a stunning atmosphere and a demonstrative impression is created.
This horrible situation, reminded me of a great film I saw on TV, it’s called “The Negotiator”.
A sixty year old man, only a few weeks before his retirement, is suspected of having killed his best friend. He can’t believe that they really want to put him in prison. No one believes him and he also gets desperate because he slowly loses hope of being exculpated. Matt also gets in such hopelessness.
While being interrogated by the tall, severe-looking strangers, Matt more and more gets desperate. He can’t imagine why these men should come to such a harmless young boy from Rocky River High School. He never did anything dead serious. There is no reason for all that stuff. He’s innocent. All these thoughts are described by using the stream-of-consciousness-technique, e.g. “NO I DID NOT. I DID NOT. I DID NOT.”
Because of these kinds of sentences a stunning atmosphere and a demonstrative impression is created.
This horrible situation, reminded me of a great film I saw on TV, it’s called “The Negotiator”.
A sixty year old man, only a few weeks before his retirement, is suspected of having killed his best friend. He can’t believe that they really want to put him in prison. No one believes him and he also gets desperate because he slowly loses hope of being exculpated. Matt also gets in such hopelessness.
Culture of Fear
The “Culture of fear” is an expression used by Barry Glassner in one of his books. He’s a professor for sociology at the University of Southern California. By using this term, he tries to explain the anxiety, constructed by the media and the government, of the citizens in the USA. Michael Moore also took that idea for his film “Bowling for Columbine”.
Michael Moore impressively criticizes the government of the USA and also the media. Since 9/11 it was very easy to construct a culture of fear. The whole citizenship was really afraid of the terrorists coming from Afghanistan to kill as much as possible. The politicians took advantage of these terror threats really well. Nearly everyone accepted when the government und George W. Bush enacted stupid and causeless laws, like the “USA PATRIOT Act”.
Michael Moore recognized: The US-American society increasingly gets afraid of terrorism, murderers or anything else, also killer bees. That’s in contrast to the real statistics. The crime rate decreases, but the network TV and the local news support the anxiety in America by broadcasting news of the bad black man. There were also many cases, in those murderers assigned blame to blacks for their murders and everybody believed them because in TV the blacks are extremely stigmatized to be bad and cruel.
But not only Michael Moore recognized this kind of society, Joyce Carol Oates, the writer of the novel "Big Mouth and Ugly Girl" also integrated it in her book.
Matt Donaghy is arrested because he made a joke about running amok in his school. But, as everyone should know, he didn’t want to put that into effect. He’s only a person who likes to make jokes, but he would never kill a human being.
But neither the children, who snitched on him, nor the principal, who has immediately called the police department, thought about Matt and whether he could do something like that. And even the people, who spread the heinous rumors, should have known that he couldn’t do anything comparable. Everyone was absolutely swayed by the media and didn’t think about the consequences for Matt.
Of course I know, the threat of a shooting spree would terrify everyone, but you have to consider what kind of person the suspect is. You cannot haply suspect someone of planning an amok.
Michael Moore impressively criticizes the government of the USA and also the media. Since 9/11 it was very easy to construct a culture of fear. The whole citizenship was really afraid of the terrorists coming from Afghanistan to kill as much as possible. The politicians took advantage of these terror threats really well. Nearly everyone accepted when the government und George W. Bush enacted stupid and causeless laws, like the “USA PATRIOT Act”.
Michael Moore recognized: The US-American society increasingly gets afraid of terrorism, murderers or anything else, also killer bees. That’s in contrast to the real statistics. The crime rate decreases, but the network TV and the local news support the anxiety in America by broadcasting news of the bad black man. There were also many cases, in those murderers assigned blame to blacks for their murders and everybody believed them because in TV the blacks are extremely stigmatized to be bad and cruel.
But not only Michael Moore recognized this kind of society, Joyce Carol Oates, the writer of the novel "Big Mouth and Ugly Girl" also integrated it in her book.
Matt Donaghy is arrested because he made a joke about running amok in his school. But, as everyone should know, he didn’t want to put that into effect. He’s only a person who likes to make jokes, but he would never kill a human being.
But neither the children, who snitched on him, nor the principal, who has immediately called the police department, thought about Matt and whether he could do something like that. And even the people, who spread the heinous rumors, should have known that he couldn’t do anything comparable. Everyone was absolutely swayed by the media and didn’t think about the consequences for Matt.
Of course I know, the threat of a shooting spree would terrify everyone, but you have to consider what kind of person the suspect is. You cannot haply suspect someone of planning an amok.
Chapter Two
In the second chapter we learn something about Ursula Riggs and of course also about Ugly Girl. In this chapter we can see that Ursula has got something you’d call a split personality.
The author often changes the perspective between third person singular (Ugly Girl) and first person (Ursula Riggs). We can exactly watch her and notice that this character often switches the personality. Because of the inner monologues we also notice her different moods (p. 12, ll. 1-12).
Sometimes she’s in the Fiery Red mood and is very aggressive, self-confident and an excellent sportsman. Then she doesn’t care about the others. She doesn’t need friends. Everything is unimportant to her, only sport is necessary. In such a mood she also quits test, though she only did the first half (9. 12, ll. 6-8).
This chapter remembered me strongly of a film, I saw last year. The movie “A Beautiful Mind” is about John Forbes Nash, a genius mathematician. He studied at the Princeton University but at the age of 30 he fell ill. He had to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia. For the next thirty years he couldn’t work well as a mathematician or publish anything. He also thought that he has to work for the CIA against the Soviets. He imaged that he had to decrypt codes. As that schizophrenic personality he was an of anger agitated man.
He couldn’t control his moods and was extremely angry, aggressive and also anti-Semitic. But when he wasn’t the spy, he was a genius man with a family and a calm life. First in the 1990’s he was healed of his mental disorder.
I think there are several similarities between Ursula Riggs and John Nash. The most important similarity is that both have different moods. Ursula changes the personality between herself and Ugly Girl. When she’s in her Inky Black mood, she is really laid-back. She’s very self-conscious and a coward, who hides away, cries and is ashamed of herself. But when she is in her Fiery Red mood she is an aggressive, insulting girl who stands up alone. She doesn’t need anybody. She’s an excellent sportsman and she’s proud of herself and of everything she does.
John Forbes is also a very mood addicted person. He’s got an aggressive mood and a calm one. In his Fiery Red mood he’s almost another person. He imagines being a spy for the US government and he’s much more fearless than his other ego. This ego, comparable to Ugly Girl, is an aggressive awkward human, with an addiction to outbursts of fury.
From my point of view, these egos have aggressively-paranoid psychopathy.
The author often changes the perspective between third person singular (Ugly Girl) and first person (Ursula Riggs). We can exactly watch her and notice that this character often switches the personality. Because of the inner monologues we also notice her different moods (p. 12, ll. 1-12).
Sometimes she’s in the Fiery Red mood and is very aggressive, self-confident and an excellent sportsman. Then she doesn’t care about the others. She doesn’t need friends. Everything is unimportant to her, only sport is necessary. In such a mood she also quits test, though she only did the first half (9. 12, ll. 6-8).
This chapter remembered me strongly of a film, I saw last year. The movie “A Beautiful Mind” is about John Forbes Nash, a genius mathematician. He studied at the Princeton University but at the age of 30 he fell ill. He had to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia. For the next thirty years he couldn’t work well as a mathematician or publish anything. He also thought that he has to work for the CIA against the Soviets. He imaged that he had to decrypt codes. As that schizophrenic personality he was an of anger agitated man.
He couldn’t control his moods and was extremely angry, aggressive and also anti-Semitic. But when he wasn’t the spy, he was a genius man with a family and a calm life. First in the 1990’s he was healed of his mental disorder.
I think there are several similarities between Ursula Riggs and John Nash. The most important similarity is that both have different moods. Ursula changes the personality between herself and Ugly Girl. When she’s in her Inky Black mood, she is really laid-back. She’s very self-conscious and a coward, who hides away, cries and is ashamed of herself. But when she is in her Fiery Red mood she is an aggressive, insulting girl who stands up alone. She doesn’t need anybody. She’s an excellent sportsman and she’s proud of herself and of everything she does.
John Forbes is also a very mood addicted person. He’s got an aggressive mood and a calm one. In his Fiery Red mood he’s almost another person. He imagines being a spy for the US government and he’s much more fearless than his other ego. This ego, comparable to Ugly Girl, is an aggressive awkward human, with an addiction to outbursts of fury.
From my point of view, these egos have aggressively-paranoid psychopathy.
Chapter One
The first chapter of the novel “Big Mouth & Ugly Girl” is about Matt Donaghy. In this chapter he’s in school and prepares his one-act play with his friends.
The author first describes an ordinary atmosphere (p. 3, l. 15). You don’t think that something uncommon would happen. But then there is much suspense produced by describing the policemen as unknown people. In the beginning we don’t find something out about these men, they’re described in third person plural, so we have to make a guess, what they might want in school (p. 3, 17).
By the stream-of-consciousness-technique, the author uses regularly, we learn that Matt is innocent (p. 5, ll. 17-19). The writer wants to show that to us, because then we know that we’ve got to be critical while reading something about Matt, like the later rumors. We can almost see the anxiety of Matt, because he only thinks about what they could want, what might have happened or what will happen. He worries if something has happened to his parents. Matt often stammers or swallows so it’s definitely sure that he really doesn’t know what’s going on (p. 7, l. 6).
In my opinion this chapter is a good introduction of the book, because we find out that he’s didn’t do anything wrong. From that point we always believe in what he says. We know that the rumors are wrong and we can analyze why he is suspected of doing cruel things in the next chapters.
The author first describes an ordinary atmosphere (p. 3, l. 15). You don’t think that something uncommon would happen. But then there is much suspense produced by describing the policemen as unknown people. In the beginning we don’t find something out about these men, they’re described in third person plural, so we have to make a guess, what they might want in school (p. 3, 17).
By the stream-of-consciousness-technique, the author uses regularly, we learn that Matt is innocent (p. 5, ll. 17-19). The writer wants to show that to us, because then we know that we’ve got to be critical while reading something about Matt, like the later rumors. We can almost see the anxiety of Matt, because he only thinks about what they could want, what might have happened or what will happen. He worries if something has happened to his parents. Matt often stammers or swallows so it’s definitely sure that he really doesn’t know what’s going on (p. 7, l. 6).
In my opinion this chapter is a good introduction of the book, because we find out that he’s didn’t do anything wrong. From that point we always believe in what he says. We know that the rumors are wrong and we can analyze why he is suspected of doing cruel things in the next chapters.
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