In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak there is a girl named Liesel who lives with her foster parents in Nazi Germany. The book is about the experience of the war from a young girl’s view. Most people would say that The Book Thief is about world war two, but there are many other issues in the book. For example the book portrays sexism in the 1930s and 40s. The book shows how women weren’t involved in politics. Men thought women didn’t have a brain or an opinion. Also, people always thought that women were kind and nurturing, while men were hard and cold. This issue continues to be an issue even today.

            The women never talk about politics with the men. For example when the protagonist’s foster father (Hans)’s birth son was a Nazi and Hans wasn’t the son cut off communication with his parents. However Hans’s daughter didn’t have an opinion of her own, even though she later proved her faithfulness to the Nazis. Their daughter just hid in the corner, and didn’t offer her own opinion. The actions of Hans’s daughter show how men didn’t think of women as equal, and then women started believing it. They felt that their opinions didn’t matter because they thought that they didn’t matter. What men said women believed. There is also the stereotype that women are nurturing while men are cold. For example a man named Max wrote the Liesel a book about how he feared men but Liesel was kind. In the book Max wrote, “All my life I’ve been scared of men standing over me.” In this quote he specified that he was scared of men, not women. He wrote later in the book that it was only men he was scared of, and Liesel was an exception. This was how people, not just men, thought back then. Max wrote another book later on, where there was a girl who grew a tree. In the book there were many men who wanted to cut down the tree. The girl nurtured it while the men were cruel to it. “Slits were made into the trunk, and the earth began to shiver.” This quote is from the book Max wrote. Before this part of the book there were many soldiers trying to cut down a tree. Many men devoted time to destruction. Max showed how people in the world see men as people who are strong and heartless, and women as weak and nurturing. When this quote states, “the earth began to shiver” the reader is shown how much power the men have. Women were kind and powerless, while men were harsh and powerful. These examples from The Book Thief show how sexism was in the 1930s and 40s.

            This made me think deeper about humanity because everyday, people think sexist things, and don’t realize it. Men think things, and make women think them too. Before we know it, it becomes true. When Hans’s daughter didn’t voice her opinion everyone around saw it as her being weak, and not having a brain, while she probably thought she didn’t have a brain, so she shouldn’t voice her opinion. When these things get started it’s just an endless cycle down until the world becomes nothing.

         

                                                                  Hidden Messages

          There are many things that happen in the world without us realizing it. Big food companies hide what’s in their food; individual people hide what they’ve done. Our ignorance ranges from big to small, important to insignificant. Sometimes, information is presented, but it is very hard to find the bad parts, because they are hidden in the information, much like food labels on food. The show “The Big Bang Theory” demonstrates a lot of sexism toward women scientists, though it is hard to see. The article, “Why Are There Still So Few Women In Science,” that Eileen Pollack wrote in the New York Times, shows the sexism in the show.

            In “The Big Bang Theory” there are two women scientists, named Amy and Bernadette. The two scientists are very awkward and strange. There aren’t many men in the show who like those women. There is another woman in the show named Penny. She is a community college drop out, and is waitressing while trying to pursue her acting career. Penny is gorgeous, and most of the men in the show love her. Pollack argues that when women watch this show, or any other one that portrays the message that women scientists are awkward, they are discouraged from pursuing a science career. Pollack thinks that shows like this are a big reason for the lack of women in the sciences. Why would anyone want to be strange and undesirable like Amy and Bernadette, when they could be gorgeous, and outgoing like Penny?  

            Pollack also states in her article that in European countries, such as France or Italy, women scientists wear revealing clothing, and act as feminine as other women. In those countries there are more women scientists, because women get the message that they can be pretty and likable, and still be a scientist. When television shows female scientists as awkward and weird it is as if they were saying a certain race is awkward and weird. It’s discriminating. As a result there aren’t enough women scientists. There are brilliant minds that could be contributing to the world, but aren’t.

            There are many TV shows, movies, songs, etc. that send a message that one type of thing has to have a certain trait. Most people don’t notice this, and the article is excellent because it shows there are good people like Pollack who can see the sexism in the show. Most people don’t watch a show and think about how women (or any other type of person) are portrayed in that show; but the images and ideas still influence them. There are far too few people who see the sexism in “The Big Bang Theory,” and there aren’t many people who will read the article, but every person who sees it, and every person who informs others of it, is taking the world one step closer to having a faultless world. 

            The author of “Reading Fiction Improves Empathy,” Alison Flood, is trying to say in her article that books should not be banned because they improve empathy. The author supports her claim by showing studies done. There was a study done at the University of Buffalo, where 140 undergraduates were given either Harry Potter by JK Rowling, or Twilight by Stephanie Meyer to read. The study showed that the people who read Harry Potter thought of themselves more as wizards, while the people who read Twilight thought of themselves more as vampires. That is the author’s evidence for her claim.

            Alison Ford uses craft moves in her article to strengthen her claim. For example, in the first paragraph she writes in second person, so the reader can connect her claim to his or her life. The author also uses quotes from experts who agree with her claim. This way, the reader can hear someone else’s voice, and is further convinced of her claim, because he or she is reassured that other people agree with the author.

            I agree with Alison Ford’s claim that books improve empathy because often, after reading a book, I can connect more to people who are similar to the main character, and in some cases I can connect to a secondary character. Good books can make someone understand other people. Empathy is an important trait to have because if you don’t have it then you are more likely to stereotype, since you don’t understand people who are different. That’s why books shouldn’t be banned.

            The author uses a specific quote that is meaningful. The quote is about a reader, “empathising with the characters and thus becoming a little more like them.” This quote shows that no one is completely different, and everyone can understand and be like each other if we try. This quote really captures the author’s claim. Those examples are why I agree with Alison Ford’s claim, that reading books improves one’s empathy.

The World

            “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.” Hannah Baker in Thirteen Reasons Why probably never heard that quote, or she may not have killed herself. Clay Jenson felt that Hannah was the world. Thirteen Reason Why by Jay Asher is about a boy, Clay, who finds tapes from his crush, Hannah, who killed herself two weeks earlier. These tapes explain why she killed herself. As Clay listens to the tapes he is deeply affected by what he hears. He’s affected so deeply because of how much he cares about Hannah. When people choose to forget the second part of that quote, they feel alone in the world.

            When Hannah killed herself Clay was very changed because he loved Hannah so much so he felt tremendous pain and loss. He kept blaming himself for small incidents, which she described on the tapes even though he didn’t know what they would do to her at the time. For example, there was a list that was passed around that said that some girls in the school were attractive, and some were not attractive. One of the reasons Hannah killed herself was because of an event caused by this list. When Clay first read the list he thought it was funny. He just laughed and passed it on. When Clay heard the tapes he thought, “I should have found every copy I could find and thrown them all away.” Clay was blaming himself for not knowing the future. It is impossible to know the future. Clay was being unreasonable because of the immense loss. Clay also blamed himself when he and Hannah kissed at a party, but then Hannah freaked out and told Clay to leave. Clay blamed himself for leaving even though he was only doing what Hannah asked. After hearing the tapes Clay thought, “Why did I listen? Why did I leave her there?” This quote shows that Clay was mad at himself for a thing he did in the past. He couldn’t change what happened. These details from the book show that Clay felt regret and anguish because of Hannah’s death.

            Last year my sister got very sick. She is okay now, but I was still affected by it. For instance, I have become very paranoid. If I get sick I worry that my sickness is more than just a cold. Over the summer I got my first nosebleed, and got really scared. A nosebleed is not a side effect of anything fatal, but I still worried. I’ve started being so paranoid because something I didn’t think would happen to anyone I knew happened to my sister, one of the people I love most.

            When something big and awful happens to a person, the people around him or her are very affected. When something bad happens, all you have to do is choose to forget that to the world you’re only one person, and remember that to one person you may be the world.

           I recently read the book, Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff. This book is about a seventeen year old named Jolly,who has two kids. The main character is a fourteen year old, Verna LaVaughn, who babysits for Jolly. Jolly's life is a mess. She dropped out of high school, and has a job that pays minimum wage. As the book starts, Jolly's life starts getting worse, so LaVaughn helps Jolly turn her life around.
            This book is amazing. Some books start out slow but with Make Lemonade I was into it from the beginning. This book looked into the house of a lower class person, and showed that poor people are people too, and everyone deserves a change to turn their lemons into lemonade.