“A Stolen Life”

Question: What is the significance of the title of your book?  What does the title mean? Does it mean more than one thing?  How do you understand your book better because of the title?

The title of this book has a big significance because the story that the author writes about is based on a tragic event that happen to her. Two awful people ruined Jaycee’s life by taking her away from her home and loved ones. This title is referring to the stolen life that Phillip and Nancy took away from Jaycee. The title helped me understand the book better because as I was reading it made me realized that Jaycee’s life was actually stolen by all those years she was captured in the backyard by Phillip. This follows to understand the personal story of Jaycee Dugard.

As Jaycee thinks back to the day she was taken away she states, “A pinecone was my last grip on freedom, so to me they represent what was stolen away from me” (Dugard, 267).

The kind of damage that Phillip and his wife Nancy did to Jaycee can never be repaired. Since the day they kidnapped Jaycee Dugard at that moment she lost all her freedom of enjoying her life as a kid and as a teenager. They stole her whole life in a blink of an eye. A pinecone was the very last thing she touched before Phillip and his wife Nancy took her away and changed her whole life around. Pinecones can be represented as life because that was what was stolen from Jaycee. The title is significant because it states the fact that Jaycee’s freedom and life was stolen as growing up until she was found and started a new life. A stolen life can always be repaired by re starting a new life with new choices and new milestones.

Word Count: 256

Work Cited

Dugard, Jaycee Lee. A Stolen Life: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2012. Print.

Fantasies

Question:What symbols does the author use?  What do these symbols represent?  How do you know?

A symbol in a story is something that represents something else. Some symbols used in this story is “the run” which was something that Phillip made up to use in what he called “his fantasy”. The first symbol, “the run” represent the action of Phillip sexually abusing Jaycee while the second symbol, “his fantasy” represent the thought in Phillips head that he needed help with his sexual problems. He would used these two symbols to manipulate Jaycee in doing whatever he asked her to do in order for him to be healed of his actions towards little girls.

Phillip brings Jaycee in the next room after having her in the studio for a few days, “He says something about going on a “run.” I doubt if he means he’s going outside. He explains to me that a “run” is something he is going to be doing periodically and that I will be staying up with him for a few days depending on how much crank he is going to take”(Dugard, 51).

The “run” as it’s being described in this quote is a symbol of what Phillip did to Jaycee when he had her captured. Jaycee was only 11 years old when Phillip raped her, he didn’t have no words to explain to her what he had just done so he made her believed it was called a “run” and that he would be doing that to her any time he thought was necessary. The author also states how Phillip would go for a “run” depending on how much crank he takes that means that the “run” can also be used as a symbol of how many days he would be on drugs. This shows two different meanings that can represent the meaning of the symbol used in this story.

The author also explains how Phillip, “says the “run,” as he calls staying up for days, will be a time for him to fulfill all his fantasies and I will help him do that” (Dugard, 51).

This shows how Phillip used the symbol of his “fantasies” as a way to let Jaycee believe it’s something else. His fantasies represent his way of seeing the type of harm he does to Jaycee when he sexually abusives her. This symbol makes Jaycee believe it is part of Phillips “runs” and it is her job to help him with it. The way the author uses these symbols is just to cover up the fact that Phillip was causing harm to her when she was only 11 years old and didn’t know what was really going on.

Word Count: 346

Work Cited

Dugard, Jaycee Lee. A Stolen Life: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2012. Print.

The Secret Backyard

Question: What is the setting of the story?  Does the setting create an obstacle for the characters? How?

The setting of a story is important to help the reader visualize the mood of when and where the story is happening. The secret backyard was the main setting where Jaycee Dugard was captivated for many years after Phillip Garrido kidnapped her as a little girl. The setting where most of this story is going on was in two rooms builded in a backyard by Philip where he hid Jaycee. One of the rooms was called the “studio” while the other room was called “next door”. The studio was a small room where she could not even see the sunlight outside. The room next door was bigger and had accesses to a tv and a bed where Jaycee could rest and entertained herself while she was there. Even though the secret backyard might sound like a safe place for Jaycee, it created many obstacles for her. She was alone and got abused by Phillip every time he would go to check up on her. It was difficult for her by not even being able to get out those rooms until later on when she had her two daughters.

While being locked up in the same room, Jaycee described, “The towel on the window shows that the sun is up. This room is getting hot when I wake the next morning; at least I think it is morning. There is really no way to know for sure. I feel like I can’t breathe, it’s so hot. I am so thirsty and I’m starting to sweat. How much time has passed? I close my eyes thinking, Will I ever want to open them again?”(Dugard, 25).

Jaycee Dugard struggled being locked up in a small room in the backyard where she didn’t have any type of freedom for her own. The setting gives the story a good visualize to the readers by the way it’s being described. Also it shows how it brought obstacles because she couldn’t even have a normal life outside the world she had to spend all those years she was kidnapped in a backyard. This quote describes the way Jaycee felt inside that small room, even wishing she wouldn’t wake up the next morning because it was hard for her to stay there. The secret backyard was a big part of her life.

Word Count:309

Work Cited

Dugard, Jaycee Lee. A Stolen Life: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2012. Print.

Just Ask Yourself to Care

Question:What point of view does the author use?  What are the advantages to the author’s chosen point of view?  (What is the author able to do, because they chose to tell the story with that point of view?)  How would the book be different if it employed a different point of view (e.g., 1st person instead of third person, or a different first-person narrator)?

The point of view of the author is to help the readers understand what the character is feeling, thinking or expressing throughout the story. In literature there are three different types of point of views. First point of view can be used to write about what the author is expressing him or herself or sharing an event that they experience. The second point of view can be written to tell a story to the audience using words like ‘you’, ‘you’re’, or ‘your’ to make the reader feel like they are part of the story. Third point of view is written to tell a story where the author is describing the thoughts and feelings of all the characters. This point of view is mostly used for fiction stories or stories where the author wants to get in each and every character’s mind to let the readers know what each character is expressing, only the author knows the perspective of each character used in the story.

In A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard, the point of view that the author is using is in first where the author herself writes about an event that she experienced throughout her life. Jaycee Dugard wrote this book to share an awful experience that she had to go through in her life after she was kidnapped. The advantages to the author’s chosen point of view was to help readers understand what she personally went through by expressing what she felt or what she thought when this event was going on. It can also help someone going through the same or almost similar situation to understand want Jaycee once went through.

With Jaycee’s writings she expressed, “I hope to convey that you can endure tough situations and survive. Not just survive, but be okay even on the inside, too. I’m not sure how I did endure all that I did. I ask myself less and less every day. I used to think maybe the one reading this would find the answer for me, but I am beginning to think that I have secretly known all along”(Dugard x).

This shows how the author described how she felt when she was going through hard situations. It is an advantage that she wrote it in the first person to view her own perspective of how she felt. Also it helps the audience understand that she is sharing her own story by simply using words like ‘I’, ‘myself’, and ‘me’. In this quote she is describing her thoughts to let the readers know what she would ask herself during the situation. It helps the audience put themselves in her mind and visualize how they would feel if they were in her situation.

Word Count: 380

Work Cited

Dugard, Jaycee Lee. A Stolen Life: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2012. Print.

Support For Change

Question: Is the ending happy, unhappy, or indeterminate (just ends, leaves you hanging, the conflict is not clearly resolved). Is the ending the appropriate ending for this book?

The ending of Letters to a Bullied Girl ends happy. It’s a happy ending because Olivia finally forms friendships and is doing better with herself. Sisters Emily and Sarah are glad they have succeeded in their writing campaign to make Olivia believe in herself.

Throughout this book sisters Emily and Sarah try their best to get many people as possible to write and share their stories with Olivia. Olivia was inspired by all the healing words that she received in the letters. After many people sharing their stories to Olivia it made her develop a big change in her life.

After Olivia improved on herself, “She is now forming healthier friendships and is no longer bullied”(Buder 196).

This quote ends the story as a happy ending because the author lets us know how Olivia is doing now after all the support and love many people showed for her. This quote also shows that thanks to the writing campaign that the sisters started she is now forming healthier friendships and is no longer a victim of bullying. This makes a happy ending because it’s good to know how Olivia is doing at the end and compare how she was at the begin then at the end. Knowing that Olivia is not suffering over being bullied no more makes us readers end the book without no worries and cliff hangers on how she ended. Letters to a Bullied Girl ends with a happy and understanding ending.

Word Count: 251

Work Cited

Buder, Emily and Sarah. Letters To A Bullied Girl. Harper Collins Publisher: New York 2008

Healing Words To Develop

Question: Chose a character who is not the protagonist. How does he/she help or hinder the protagonist’s growth?

Emily and Sarah Buder are both a huge impact on the protagonists growth. The protagonist, Olivia Gardner is a young 15 year old who suffered of bullying. Emily and Sarah Buder help on Olivia’s growth by letting her know she is loved and worth believing in herself.

In the book Letters to a bullied Girl on chapter Healing Words is a good example of proving that Emily and Sarah both helped Olivia through those letters. Many of letters that were sent to Olivia thanks to the Buder sisters were all healing words that finally got Olivia to start developing in her growth of life.

On one of the healing letters that Olivia received, Becky wrote,”I can still remember how much it hurt. I am so glad that those two sisters reached out for you. And you are right. There are a hundred good people out there for every bad person” (Buder 165).

In this healing letter that Olivia received from a nurse named Becky it shows how she appreciates that the Buder Sisters reached out to Olivia. Emily and Sarah really helped Olivia’s growth in getting better by being kind and caring and succeed in getting people to care about Olivia as well. This quote shows that thanks to the Buder Sister’s, Becky was inspired to share her story with Olivia and appreciate the Buder sisters for reaching out for her. Throughout this book I noticed that the more healing letters that Olivia received it made her feel special and worth it.

Word Count: 252

Work Cited

Buder, Emily and Sarah. Letters To A Bullied Girl. Harper Collins Publisher: New York 2008

A Message To Support

Question: What are the advantages to the author’s chosen point of view?

The advantages to the author’s chosen point of view is to get readers to see the point of all the people who were to Olivia. The author’s point of view was to success in showing how all the letters that Olivia received helped her at the end to become a better person. The advantage of this point of view was a good way of showing how many people support to stop bullying and help those who suffered of bullying.

Throughout this book what the author is trying to show us in the letters is that sometimes other people’s words do help our self esteem. In part three of this book chapter “Healing words” is shows us what people wrote in their letters to help heal Olivia in result to make an impact in her life.

In one of the letters that people wrote to Olivia, Camille wrote, ”Olivia, I’m sure you are a wonderful person, and for everyone who doesn’t see that, well, you don’t need them!! Don’t live your life trying to impress others; live your life by impressing yourself” (Buder 136).

According to this quote it shows that the author’s intention was to help us understand that their goal is to ensure Olivia to believe in herself. The author seem really interested in making the letter campaign a successful way of making those who were once bullied so they can know their worth again. This quote also shows that the author is trying to get this message not only to the ones who got bullied but also to everyone in general. The author is trying to say that you live in this life to impress yourself not others. These were the advantages of the author’s point of view.

Word Count: 254

Work Cited

Buder, Emily and Sarah. Letters To A Bullied Girl. Harper Collins Publisher: New York 2008

Letters to a Bullied Girl

Question: What is the significance of the title of your book? What does the title mean? Does it mean more than one thing? In what ways do you understand your book better because of the title?

The significance of this book Letters to a Bullied Girl by Emily and Sarah Buder is based on a 15 year old girl named Olivia Gardner whom was a victim of being bullied. The title has a meaning to this book because this book is all based on many letters that Olivia got to help her develop on herself and bring herself esteem up. Two sisters named Emily and Sarah Buder both read Olivia’s story in a local newspaper about what had to happened to Olivia so they decided to start a Letter writing campaign called “Olivia’s Letters”. What gave this title a significance was by all the letters that Olivia receive to help her build up. The title helps understand the book better throughout the reading because it shows you that the letters are to a bullied girl from many people that could relate to her or just wrote to her as a helpful way to build up her self esteem.

In the book on the Introduction of the book it talks about how Olivia got bullied in school. Olivia got bullied to the point of suffering by taking her own life until the Buder sisters changed her whole life completely. Sarah and Emily both started a writing campaign where people wrote to Olivia and shared their own stories.

In the introduction as it explains that, “Emily and Sarah encouraged their peers to write letters to a bullied girl: messages of healing, hope, inspiration, and understanding. Their goal was to let Olivia know that she had reasons to believe in herself”(Buder 2).

This quote explains the meaning of the title and describes who the bullied girl is and what the letters to her meant. As reading this I realize that the author was trying to explain the significance of the title of the book by explaining that their goal was to help her believe in herself. This quote really helped me understand the title better by explaining what their goal was with these letters that a bullied girl was getting from people she didn’t even know just to help her build up. Olivia is a big part of understanding to the title because she was the bullied girl whom her story was shared locally.

Word Count:399

Work Cited

Buder, Emily and Sarah. Letters To A Bullied Girl. Harper Collins Publisher: New York 2008

Happy Ending

Question: Is the ending happy, unhappy, or indeterminate (just ends, leaves you hanging, the conflict is not clearly resolved). Is the ending the appropriate ending for this book?

The ending of the book Someone Like You, was a happy ending. It was a very good and the appropriate way of ending this book.

At the very end of the book on Chapter 19 of Someone Like You, Grace the new member of the family who Scarlett, Halley’s best friend gave birth on their prom night was a meaningful part of the book. The new baby girl named Grace Halley was named after Scarlett’s best friend because she was a very special person to her. The new life of a new baby was a perfect way to end the book.

As Halley heads home from the hospital from just seeing Grace, her thoughts in her head says, “I wondered what kind of girl she’d be, and if she’d ever see the comet that was her name, and Grandma Halley’s, and mine. I knew I’d try, one day, to take her and show her the sky, hold her against my lap as I told her how the comet went overhead, how it was clear and beautiful, and special, just like her. I hoped that Grace would be a little boy of the best of all of us: Scarlett’s spirit, and my mother’s strength, Marion’s determination, and Michael’s sly humor. I wasn’t sure what I could give, not just yet. But I knew when I told her about the comet, years from now, I would know. And I would lean close to her year, saying the words no one else could hear, explaining it all. The language of solace, and comets, and the girls we all become, in the end.” (Dessen 280-281)

The ending of the book was actually my favorite part of the book. The way Halley said those words in thought had a meaning of how she would want the best for Grace and would like her to have a little bit of the best of her own family who they have all become. Having a new member in the family is a blessing and a meaningful moment and a happy ending for this book. Halley’s thoughts has a great meaning. Especially the moment when she talks about the comet named after their name. She would tell Grace years from now how special she is to be named after a comet that had a really big meaning. What I mostly found important and great for the ending was what the author was trying to say at the end, which was, no matter what kind of person you were, what matters is the person you are now.

Work Cited

Sarah Dessen – Someone Like You – New York – Penguin group – 1998

A Change

Question:Are any of the characters a developing character, changing over time? If so, is the change a large or small one? Is the change believable for the character in his/her situation?

One of the characters that developed a change over time was Halley. I think the change was pretty big because Halley wouldn’t have ever resulted to even disappoint her own mother by distancing herself from her.

At the beginning of the book on chapter one, Halley expresses herself as having a good relationship with her mother. The way Halley talks about her relationship with her mom makes me think that Halley would have never thought of ever disappointing her mother. The change that Halley resulted to have would have never crossed through her mind.

Halley explains the relationship between her and her mother by saying, ”My mother and I had always been close. She knew everything about me, from the boys I liked to the girls I envied; After school I always sat in the kitchen eating my snack and doing homework while I listened for her car to pulled up. I always had something to tell her.” (Dessen 15)

This quote shows how close Halley and her mother were. It also shows how Halley would tell everything to her mother before she started changing. As I was reading this part of the book I thought that they had the best mother and daughter relationship. I thought this because reading how Halley expresses about being so close with her mother makes me realize that a lot of girls don’t really have that kind of relationship with their mothers the same way.

As I’m reading throughout the book on chapter 10 I noticed that Halley started changing. The way her mother described her wasn’t the same way she was. The way Halley expressed her relationship with her mother started sounding different to me after and I knew Halley had began to changed.

As Halley’s mother starts noticing her different on her appearance she states, “You smell like cigarettes when you come home, you’re listless and distracted. You never talk about school with us anymore. You’re just distant.” (Dessen,168)

This quote shows how Halley has changed over time. Kneeling that Halley would come home smelling like cigarettes and distancing herself from her own mom made me realize that Halley wasn’t the same from the girl she was at the beginning of the book. Now that Halley was changing through the book I started seeing the character of Halley in a different way. Halley was slowly causing the big change as she disappointed her mother throughout it.

I think the author was trying to show the readers the comparison between how Halley was in the beginning of the book and how she was in the middle of the book to help us understand the change. I’m my opinion I think Halley made the wrong choice to distance from her mother because they had a really close relationship. Coming home in bad terms and not talking about school the way she used to was a disappointment in her mother and it made her motive how she distant from her little by little. This is why I think Halley is one of the characters that developed the most biggest change in the book.

Work Cited

Sarah Dessen – Someone Like You – New York – Penguin group – 1998