The United States of America

San Diego is one of the four stops in Brents travles to the united states along with Washington, Florida and Maine. In each city he learns something new about himself. It could be his outview on life or it could be something else entirly. But on the road of his redeption (or what he hopes to succied) he will learn who the real Brent Bishop is. On this journey he will not only learn that but he will also learn about different culters to. Every state has there own people and that means there own way of living. While Brent meets these people he will meet there ways of living. This means he will learn about there habits, foods they eat, languages, and where they come from. Every time Brent meets someone new they will leave a(n) imprinte on what he knows, what he thinks, and maebey even the way he acts. By the end of his trip Brent will know so much more about the person he is due to the people he meets and the places he will go.

The Other Stories

In the book Whirligig, I have noticed a patern. In between the chapters (that I have read so far) there are stories. These are not stories about magical creatures and talking bears, but the stories of peoples lives. The stories are told throught the eyes of the character. Kinda like a series of flashbacks. The characters talk about the past, the present and the future. When the characters talk about the future its kinda like they flash forward in time. You find out what there future is like. But at the end of describing the future theres always one thing that is the same, and that is the hope. Every character has something that gives them hope, and they always mention that at that end. The character gradually talks about it through the story, but its at the end of the book that they really say what it means to them and how they feel towards it. Some of the characters talk about the whirligigs, but others take refrence to other things like a bird. I think that the author decided to put the stories of other people in there because they all went throught what Brent is going through in one way or another. They have all felt despaire, happiness, recognition, hope, and the descovery of self. Brent is going through all of those things. I think the author would like us to realize that it will be ok, like with Brent and the others. He is giving us (the reader) the truth, and that is that one way or another it will all be ok.

`` The breath of life``

'' The breath of life'' is what Brent says after he finishes building the whirligig in Vermount. While in Vermount Brent started to ask himself questions. The questions he was asking himself were not only about what he was doing there but little silly questions that really have a hiden meaning to them. Also, when he was there he descrined everything as if he were watching but not partisipating, as if observing for greater possibilities than are possible. Around this point i started thinking how this trip would be a great oppertunity to find out who he is and the person he wishes to be. Brent earlier on in the book said that he would ''change'' his i denty and lie about his background to be cooler and have more friends. This voyage will hopefully give Brent an idea of everything he is and use it to his full advantages.

Brent's Conflict

       In the book Whirligig, the main character Brent Bishop faces the fact that he murders a young girl by the name of Lea Zamora while not only driving while he was drunk, but while trying to end his own life. The only solution Brent had been brought to was a proposition asked by Lea's mother. 


       “This is my only request. That you make four whirligigs, of a girl that looks like Lea. Put her name on them. Then set them up in Washington, California, Florida, and Maine- the corners of United States.”


     And so, Brent began on his journey, placing the whirligigs on the four corners of the United States. 


     Another quote that stood out personally, was:
                       "As strange as it was, it would get him away from Chicago, his parents, and his recent past. It would also give him a chance to do penance. He never traveled on his own before. The idea had sudden appeal."
    
     Penance is a punishment undergone in token of penitence for a sin. But in this statement, it seems like the proposition isn't a punishment, but a reward. He is able to get away from his past, and also find redemption. So,  he did. This quote is significant to me because it struck me as a hypocritical statement. As a punishment, you get to have a reward? As strange as that sounded to me, it helped Brent, and that's all that matters!

Jenny's answer

(End) If you have to choose one of the character to be your friend who would it be and why?

I would choose Lea because she had a caring soul. She was strong and generous. But Lea made everybody smile when they saw her. Everybody loved her at the hospital where she works. So that’s why I would choose Lea to be my friend.  She was sweet, kind, and heart-warming.

Jenny's answer

(End) What would you have done if you are in Brent’s place? :

If I was in Brent’s place then I would follow and put all four whirligigs around the United States , just like Brent did.  Brent tried to destroy himself just because he got humiliated at the party when Brianna begged him to leave her alone. If I was Brent I would have left it behind me and continue life as it is. Sure it will be embarrassing at first but at least I won’t murder an innocent girl.

Jenny's mood

(Middle) Mood:
I felt sad for Lea’s mother because her daughter passed away and she will never come back. It was so touching that her mom loves her very much to ask Brent to do one thing that reminds her about Lea. She has faith and belief that if Brent put the four whirligigs around the United States it will keep Lea’s spirit alive. I would be in tears if I have to loose someone that I love. So I understand why Lea's mother asked Brent to do that for her.

“Lea’s gone I’m learning to accept that.” Lea’s mother to Brent (page 41)

Jenny's Dynamic characters

(Beginning) Dynamic character:

In the beginning of the book Brent was just a boy who wants to be the most popular boy in school and in the middle of the book Brent started to understand why putting whirligigs around the four corners of United States is important to Lea’s mother. By putting up the whirligigs not only keep Lea’s spirit alive but brings joy and happiness to everybody.

Jenny's setting

(Beginning) SETTING:

The setting of this book is everywhere around the United States. Its shows how people come together and affect each other in different ways. It all happened because of the whirligig. Brent brought about the death of a young girl and now he is paying off his debt. It took place in the modern day.

“When they moved to Chicago a few months before....”

Whirligig

the conflict of the novel i'm reading now is about a young teenager boy named brent who is around seventeen years old. Brent was rejected at a party by a girl that he really liked he tried to drive home on the way he crashed into another car because he was drinking and driving and was very mad and out of control. The car that he had crashed into contained a girl just his age named Lea Rosalia Santos Zamora. now brent is facing the court, Lea's family, and the media and on top of all that Lea's mother just wanted one thing from him he has to make whirligigs and put them in the four corners of the United States

A sentence from the story:

This is my only request. That you make four whirligigs, of a girl that looks like Lea. Put her name on them. Then set them up in washington, california, florida, and maine

On Page: #1and PG#41

From Washington he goes.

              Brent Bishop is a young boy on a journey. He travels to a variety of different locations across the United States! Starting in Chicago, Brent kills a young girl named Lea, and is sent on a journey to build Whirligigs all across the United States of America. He first arrives in Bellevue, Washington, where he builds a harp-player whirligig of Lea. 
              The next stop is in San Diego, he stays in a hostel and builds a whirligig of a whale with a mermaid on top!
              Brent then builds a whirligig in Florida, of a marching band, and leaves it for the children to play with.
              Finally, Brent travels to Maine, where he camps at a campsite, and creates a whirligig completely by himself out of materials that he found at the dump. 
              In conclusion, this great novel does not have one setting. Brent Bishop travels to many places around the States to redeem himself and Lea's spirit. I believe the setting is important because they all help Brent on his journey! In Maine, Brent meets a man who forgave him for the death of Lea! This occurrence helps him engage in a contra-dance, and feels that Lea, and this man set him into motion, from a shallow, quick-to-anger individual, to a calmer, more controlled, and a more deeper person. 


                 


                       "And, God knows, we all make mistakes. All of the above, in my case." - An artist in Maine. P. 129


                        This quote demonstrates how no one is perfect. Even an artist, who paints beautiful pieces of art, and seems like the most serene and calm person can be the most angry, self-centered person you've ever met! Brent realizes on his journey, that this whole ordeal makes him come to a conclusion that he's not perfect, and neither is the person beside him, nor his neighbor, or even his cat! So, for his mistakes, he finds redemption in making and placing these whirligigs!   

whirligig post #1

Brent who is the main character of whirligig is facing lots of challenges in his life. He has the normal stress of a 16 year old boy but also the added fact that he is depressed and has accidentally killed someone. to help the family of the young girl who was killed, Brent agrees to the families condition. He will go to the four corners of the united states and build a whirligig resembling the girl, with her name on it. Brent who has moved frequently but who's most resent location is Chicago, agrees to do this because he hopes to learn more about why he felt the way he did during the accident (suicidal), get away from is over protective parents, and help the family. During the accident right before Brent let go of the wheel thoughts passed through his mind. One of the thoughts was "You have the power to end you're life". In this moment i could not help thinking that Brent was having some problems before. Just because he got embarassed at the part does not mean he should go off and try to end his life. Yes he was under the influence, but there must have been some problems before. out of ten i would give this book a(n) 8. The writing is good, but im just not far info in the book to actually get an idea of it. But i cant wait.

Jenny's Conflict

(Middle) Conflict:
In this book Brent tried to face his problem by going to all four corners of the United States to build whirligigs. He did this because he tried to end his life but ended up killing a girl name lea. Now he must put one whirligig on every corner to keep lea’s spirit alive.

Quote: “he’d destroy himself”
        “This is my only request. That you make four whirligigs, of a girl that looks like Lea. Put her name on them. Then set them up in Washington, California, Florida, and Maine- the corners of United States.”

Jenny's Vocabulary

1.       “Brent marvelled that people could publicly root for such perennial losers.”
- constantly recurring, or lasting for an indefinite time
=The basketball team was on a losing streak for 3 weeks in a row now and I wondered if that would occur perennially.

2.       “The human chess game will commence in thirty-minutes.”
- to begin happening, or begin something
= The human chess game will begin or commence in thirty-minutes

3.       “He tried to fight through the accordion music and the fog in his brain.
- a musical instrument with a keyboard or buttons on one side, buttons on the other, and a bellows in the middle that forces air through metal reeds
=The instrumental accordion was playing and now she wished the music would never stop.

4.       “Two days later the probation officers called”
- The supervision of the behaviour of a young or first-time criminal offender by a probation officer
=The young miscreant was sentenced to 6 months probation for attempting grand theft auto.

5.       “Miss Gill repeated that restitutions weren’t imposed, but accepted voluntarily by the officers.”
- the return of something to its rightful owner
= The school was having a restitution for lost items in the past year.

6.       “Brent wondered what his own eulogy would sound like.”
- a speech or piece of writing that praises somebody or something very highly, especially a tribute to somebody who has recently died
=Katherine eulogy to her mother who was fighting cancer was beautiful and emotional.

7.       “It would also give him a chance to do penance.”
- self-punishment or an act of religious devotion performed to show sorrow for having committed a sin
= I broke the vase and now I am going to do penance by staying in my room

8.       “Brent hefted his pack from the truck and stood on the side walk after the cab left.”
- to lift up something heavy, especially with a burst of effort
=He hefted the luggage but even that was too heavy for the young boy.

9.       “He reconnoitred his father’s long handsome face and studied the wrinkles, fine as if scratched in with a burin feeding into his eyes.”
- to explore an area in order to gather information
= I reconnoitred my dog and saw she has brown eyes.

10.   “Her wavy hair flowed exuberantly over her shoulders”
- growing in great abundance or profusion
=The flower bud grew exuberantly into a beautiful rose.

11.   “He followed, emboldened by the alcohol to try to overcome her coolness.”
- to give someone more confidence to do something
= I emboldened my dog to walk across the bridge.

12.   “He added drop by drop to his store of perseverance, which supplied both task.”
- steady and continued action or belief, usually over a long period and especially despite difficulties or setbacks
= She continued to study hard for her math test because she believed perseverance would help her be more confident in completing the test with the least amount of mistakes as possible.

13.   “The book’s previous owner had been there before him, leaving penciled annotations like footprints”
- The addition of explanatory or critical comments to a text
= The annotation showed the steps in completing the task assigned.

14.    “...He instinctively stepped forward, bent over the book, studied the microscopic writing-then caught a flash of movement and turned.
      -relating to, prompted by, or based on a strong natural impuls
      =The bear was staring right at me and I instinctively knew to remain calm and not run away so I stood absolutely still until the bear turned around and walked away.

15.   “He sipped his coffee, fought back a grimace, and reached for the sugar bowl.”
      - a contorted twisting of the face that expresses disgust or pain
       = Luke could see the grimace on his sister’s face when he asked her to clean his room.

16.    “He studied the diagrams apprehensively.”     - worried that something bad will happen

       = She looked at the unstable table apprehensively, praying that it would not topple over, taking valuable items with it.

17.   “It was as big as a box kite and mounted on a pole, gesticulating wildly with moving arms, vanes , and wheel.”
    - to move the arms or hands when speaking, or express something with movements of the arms or  hands
= I explained to my mom what had happened, gesticulating that her jewellery box had been stolen.

18.   “He examined the pattern embroidered.”
 - transitive and intransitive verb to do decorative needlework, or decorate fabric with needlework
 = I just finish sewing and then I embroidered jewels on it.

19.   “He scrutinized her smile from close range.”
 - to examine somebody or something closely and carefully
= She scrutinized her dog because she thought she saw a scar on the dog’s face.

20.   “He studied the clouds calligraphy”
- beautiful writing done using special pens or brushes
= He looked over the piece of calligraphy carefully and not quite understanding the message contained, he brought it to a college professor to translate it for him.

Vocabulary

There were many interesting words I came across while I was reading, and here are some of them:


Annotated: The Friday sports news was on, annotated by his father's grunts and snorts.
                  - VERB; to supply with critical or explanatory notes. 
                  He annotated the works of Shakespear. 


Careened: He focused on the computers screen and careened through the video games dark passages.
                       - VERB; sway, or tip to one side while in motion.
                       I careened while singing.


Reconnoitered: He reconnoitered his father's long, handsome face and studied the wrinkles, fine as if scratched in with a burin, feeding into his eyes.
                        - VERB; to inspect, observe or survey.
                        She reconnoitered the fact that her friend got a haircut.  


Complied: Brent resisted at first then complied.
                      - VERB; to act or be in accordance with wishes, requests, demands, requirements, conditions, etc.; agree.
                      The boy complied when his mom told him to finish his chores.


Perennial: Brent marvled that people could publicly root for such perennial losers.
                             - ADJECTIVE;  perpetual; everlasting; continuing; recurrent.

                             People thought my friend's new dog was a perennial occurrence. 


Turreted: It was vast and turreted, looming above them like a castle.
               - ADJECTIVE; furnished with a turret or turrets.
                  The room was turreted. 


Guffawing: He pictured them all repeating the scene to there friends, guffawing over it at the twenty year reunion.
                       - VERB; to laugh loudly and boisterously.
                       The friends were guffawing over a joke. 


Detonated: The hated grip on his shoulders again, the public humiliation, the snickers, the alchohol, all mixed and detonated inside Brent.
                        - VERB; to explode with suddenness and violence.
                           The building suddenly detonated. 


Carburetors: Another of her amusements, consisting of ordering something at Weeksboro's one restaurant, listening to the people at the neighboring table, then talking about what they're talking about- carburetors, hysterectomies- completely ignoring them while they stare at you. 
                   - NOUN;  device for mixing vaporized fuel with air to produce a combustibleor explosive mixture, as for an internal-combustion engine.
                     The carburetor was fixed in no time. 


Hysterectomies: Another of her amusements, consisting of ordering something at Weeksboro's one restaurant, listening to the people at the neighboring table, then talking about what they're talking about- carburetors, hysterectomies- completely ignoring them while they stare at you. 
                      - NOUN; excision of the uterus
                       The doctor performed a hysterectomy. 


Gesticulating: It was as big as a box kite and mounted on a pole, gesticulating wildly with moving arms, vanes, wheels, and propellers large and small.
                              - VERB; to express by gesturing.
                              He was gesticulating while speaking towards his peers.


Idiom: An idiom meaning 'I'm not real anyway.' " 
                 - NOUN; an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements.
                  She spoke an idiom which didn't resemble the context. 




Obituaries: He rummaged throught the trash for the following days paper, turned to the gravy-stained obituaries-and found her.
                        -NOUN;  a notice of the death of a person, often with a biographical sketch, as in a newspaper.
                       My great grandfather was in the obituaries. 


Restitution: Then the judge came to the final item: meeting with the victim's family, if they desired, to discuss restitution.
              -NOUN; reparation made by giving an equivalent or compensation forloss, damage, or injury caused.
              The families discussed a restitution for the death of a child.


Retribution: I don't believe in retribution. 
                 - NOUN; something given or inflicted in such requital.
               The villain kidnapped the superheroʼs girlfriend in retribution for overthrowing his plans to destroy the city. 


Eulogy: Brent wondered what his own eulogy would sound like. 
                  - NOUN; high praise or commendation.
          At the funeral, many friends gave eulogies. 


Scrutinized: He scrutinized her smile from a close range, almost felt her breath on his face.
                 - VERB;  to examine in detail with careful or critical attention.
               The scientist scrutinized the flower.


Offhandedly: "Just seeing the country," he answered offhandedly. "What about you?"
                   - ADVERB; without previous thought or preparation.
                The student answered the question offhandedly. 


Enterprise: The whole enterprise seemed to be taken from a dream, incomprehensible in the light of day. 
               - NOUN;  a project undertaken or to be undertaken.
              The girl excitedly started on her enterprise.


Shearwater: Then I remembered the shearwater bird.
                   - NOUN; any of several long-winged petrels of the genus Puffinus  thata ppear to shear the water with their wing tips when flying low.
               The shearwater bird flew low to the water.