PROMPT #2
For this prompt I chose the following HIS HUSKIES: Understanding collaborators who contribute to the betterment of groups. Although this is banal in this free writing assignment, we understand that Matthew and his siblings have been living with Nikki for too long now, as they finally realize that she is crazy. Matthew has always been a great examples of an individual who contributes to the betterment of groups. In the middle of book, Nikki takes them out for a fun day that quickly took a turn -- literally -- when she drove the car to the wrong lane. A truck was driving up to them, but she refused to turn back around until Matthew would shout that he loves his mother. That was when he knew he had to do something quick. He first looks for his biological father, but he came to no use. Despite the outcome of that and Matthew’s indignation, his actions show how he is willing to make changes for the better.
Another character that is an example of an understanding collaborator is Murdoch. Murdoch is a man that Matthew saw at a convenience store, who defending a young boy that was belabored by his father. Matthew, I guess, “fell in love” with him. He wanted to be friends with Murdoch, and basically became obsessed. Matthew’s dream of meeting this man eventually came true when Callie found Murdoch’s home address. Although, Callie and Matthew didn’t necessarily meet him alone. Instead they met when Nikki basically started dating him. Nikki and Murdoch breaks up as the story progresses, and eventually leads to more drama as Nikki forces her new boyfriend to beat up Murdoch. Matthew is now extremely tired of Nikki’s patronizing character. Laconically, Murdoch teams up with Matthew, Matthew’s father and Aunt to plot against Nikki. Murdoch is another example of an understanding collaborator because even though he basically hates Nikki and doesn’t want anything to do with her, he feels he has the responsibility to help Matthew and his sisters. “I wondered what she would do if she got even angrier at me. I wondered if she would make a mistake. The police weren’t going to care if she violated the restraining order in small ways. If we were going to get you kids away from her, she had to be worse than that” (Werlin 122). Here, Murdoch is basically saying that he is not afraid of what Nikki would do to him. He is willing to take risks to save the kids.
PROMPT 3
The HIS HUSKIES trait that I chose for this prompt is solution creators who persevere.
The main character in this book, Matthew, is writing a letter to his youngest sister, Emmy, about their abusive mother. Matthew believes that he has an obligation to protect his two sisters from any harm that their mother will throw on to them. One of the things he does is to search for this biological father, since they do not live together anymore after the divorce. Matthew is wanting to find some help from others, preferably his father to take them in because he doesn’t want to live with his mother anymore. It took him a while to finally realize that his mother was crazy, because he always thought that his mother loved him. He knew she did, but she just expressed her love towards her children in a different way. Once he realized that his mother is potentially crazy, he sees his father in person. His father, Ben, though Matthew never understood, was generous enough to send in money for Matthew and his other sister, including Emmy, who isn’t even biologically related to him. Despite this, Ben always supported his children, probably because he had no choice but to.
When Matthew went over to ask his father to take them in, his father said that he couldn’t. He kept on saying that “it was complicated” over and over again. And it’s true, he had a point. Ben wasn’t the wealthiest man down the street, and even if he wanted to take his children with him, it would cost a lot to hire a lawyer. Let alone, deal with his insatiable ex-wife. And say that Ben wins at court, he could only take his two children, and not Emmy.
Despite the results of Matthew meeting up with Ben, Matthew continues to support his younger sisters. He is the perfect example of someone who creates solutions and persevere. Although because I am still in the middle of the book, I don’t know if he solved his problems at all. But I do hope he did, I am sure that he will do anything for his sisters either way.
PROMPT 6
Stereotypes are thoughts that are adopted about specific individuals or certain ways of doing things. I guess if I was told, “You’re Asian so you must be smart”, it wouldn’t necessarily make my day, so that automatically makes stereotypes bad. Because what if I’m not smart? What if I couldn’t meet their standards of being and Asian and being smart? What one views of stereotypes is generally something bad, and I definitely agree. But I think it’s also solely around how we react to a stereotype as an individual.
The Rules of Survival challenges a stereotype about power. Women are inferior to men. It’s a common thought that has been expressed since back in the day. We start to see improvements on gender equalities but unfortunately it’s still an issue. An specific example from the book is the two characters, Matthew, the oldest sibling and Emmy, the youngest sibling. They are siblings so it is obvious that the older one has the most control over things. It’s like how they say the older people are wiser because they have more experience. They have lived longer than us. I completely agree, but is it necessary to completely look down on younger people? MAtthew is a very caring brother who is willing to do everything and anything for his two sisters. But he is specifically concerned about Emmy, because she is the youngest and she isn’t as close in terms of age compared to her older siblings. Matthew is always saying how Emmy can’t live on her own and she needs the help of her older brother and sister -- which is probably true, to some extent. I that it is true to a certain extent because Emmy shows a sign of power in the middle of book. Nikki, their abusive mother has been seeing a man whom all the children approved of. But one day, everything just went wrong, so the man walks out of their life. Nikki, who is potentially crazy, it extremely unpredictable so it was best to not make her mad. Yet Emmy takes her chances and prays about the man, hoping to see him again, right in front of the mother. At this point you would think, “Nooo why would you do that. You’re going to get in so much trouble” which Emmy did eventually get in trouble. But it shows her Emmy is not afraid. Despite the fact that she is quite peculiar and is the youngest in the family. She is showing how she is able to test her limits. She is showing that she can go through life on her own, depending on the situation.
SHORT STORY
Luke jostled through the crowded school hallway, as students gaped at him. What they were amazed at, Luke was not sure of. Perhaps it was his peculiar choice of clothing, or his messy bed hair. But soon enough he realized they were staring at the ghastly bruise on his face. A boy obliquely stepped away when Luke approached the boy, unaware that he was in the way of Luke’s locker. The boy did not bother to point out the bruise on Luke’s face. He only stared.
The bruise was in fact from Luke’s mother, Clare, who claims to love her own son dearly. Which was true. Clare loved Luke with all her heart and Luke knew she did as well. So why the bruise, you ask? Let’s just say she is just trying her best to express her love. Clare has not always been so crazy. What made her crazy, perhaps, was when she had a divorce with her previous husband, Ed. She had the tendency to be extremely happy and melancholy the next. She wasn’t exactly a docile person.
Luke on the other hand was a very calm and patient boy. He is wise in a sense that he could take care of himself, even if he is living under the same roof as Clare. When Clare hit his face with a bat, that was when he realized that he had to leave. This was the first time that she had ever physically hurt him. Other times that raised concerns was just when she would scold him for not doing things right, or threatening him if he doesn’t listen to what she says. She would suddenly take a knife, convulsing it in from of Luke’s face. Fortunately with no harm, Clare would laugh it off and walk away. This never occurred to Luke as weird or foreboding. But that doesn’t matter now that Luke has finally realized that he was no safe around his mother. He soon decides to meet up with his father, Ed, who has continued to support him by paying the school fees.
“Hey. I need help” Luke rushed up to Ed looking indigent. Ed looked at him as if he knew this day was coming. Ed was a tall man who can be described as shrewd and rather wealthy. It was obvious that he proposed the divorce after realizing Clare’s craziness. Luke told him the whole story, though he knew he didn't have to, assuming that Ed already knew. Ed looked worried but helpless at the same time.
Ed knew that he could not take Matthew in that easily. First of all, Clare is crazy. Who knows what she would do if Ed contacted her. Second, Clare set a restraining order against Ed, claiming that he has been stalking her multiples times -- which was definitely not true. One day, he was just caught by the police at the wrong time. Ed brought up the situation that he was in, and Luke, of course, was devastated. He was desperate. It felt like his whole life was annihilated instantly.
Ed suggested taking the conversation to Matthew’s Aunt Lauren. She wasn’t crazy like her sister, so the two men knew they could trust her. When they arrived at Aunt Lauren’s house, they started discussing the problem. Lauren, who was very sentimental, hugged Luke as she held him in her arms. Luke never felt so loved in this way. It has been years since his own mother even hugged him. He wished his Aunt’s embrace lasted a little longer. And at the same time, he felt so much anger towards his mother. “I wish I could live with you, Aunt Lauren.” The words slipped out his mouth as he meant it. He was tired of feeling in danger.
“You know, that isn’t a bad idea.” Ed said brightening up. If they could find a way to claim something against Clare, Matthew could finally live in a new and safe home. If Clare was able to lie about Ed “stalking” her, then surely they could think of something similar.
It was that night that Ed walked down a long street where he saw Clare, running recklessly out of a store. The shopkeeper chased after her as if she stole something. Taking the chances, Ed asked Aunt Lauren to call the police and turn her in, which worked. Clare was now in custody.
Luke jostled through the crowded school hallway, this time there were no students staring at him.
For this prompt I chose the following HIS HUSKIES: Understanding collaborators who contribute to the betterment of groups. Although this is banal in this free writing assignment, we understand that Matthew and his siblings have been living with Nikki for too long now, as they finally realize that she is crazy. Matthew has always been a great examples of an individual who contributes to the betterment of groups. In the middle of book, Nikki takes them out for a fun day that quickly took a turn -- literally -- when she drove the car to the wrong lane. A truck was driving up to them, but she refused to turn back around until Matthew would shout that he loves his mother. That was when he knew he had to do something quick. He first looks for his biological father, but he came to no use. Despite the outcome of that and Matthew’s indignation, his actions show how he is willing to make changes for the better.
Another character that is an example of an understanding collaborator is Murdoch. Murdoch is a man that Matthew saw at a convenience store, who defending a young boy that was belabored by his father. Matthew, I guess, “fell in love” with him. He wanted to be friends with Murdoch, and basically became obsessed. Matthew’s dream of meeting this man eventually came true when Callie found Murdoch’s home address. Although, Callie and Matthew didn’t necessarily meet him alone. Instead they met when Nikki basically started dating him. Nikki and Murdoch breaks up as the story progresses, and eventually leads to more drama as Nikki forces her new boyfriend to beat up Murdoch. Matthew is now extremely tired of Nikki’s patronizing character. Laconically, Murdoch teams up with Matthew, Matthew’s father and Aunt to plot against Nikki. Murdoch is another example of an understanding collaborator because even though he basically hates Nikki and doesn’t want anything to do with her, he feels he has the responsibility to help Matthew and his sisters. “I wondered what she would do if she got even angrier at me. I wondered if she would make a mistake. The police weren’t going to care if she violated the restraining order in small ways. If we were going to get you kids away from her, she had to be worse than that” (Werlin 122). Here, Murdoch is basically saying that he is not afraid of what Nikki would do to him. He is willing to take risks to save the kids.
PROMPT 3
The HIS HUSKIES trait that I chose for this prompt is solution creators who persevere.
The main character in this book, Matthew, is writing a letter to his youngest sister, Emmy, about their abusive mother. Matthew believes that he has an obligation to protect his two sisters from any harm that their mother will throw on to them. One of the things he does is to search for this biological father, since they do not live together anymore after the divorce. Matthew is wanting to find some help from others, preferably his father to take them in because he doesn’t want to live with his mother anymore. It took him a while to finally realize that his mother was crazy, because he always thought that his mother loved him. He knew she did, but she just expressed her love towards her children in a different way. Once he realized that his mother is potentially crazy, he sees his father in person. His father, Ben, though Matthew never understood, was generous enough to send in money for Matthew and his other sister, including Emmy, who isn’t even biologically related to him. Despite this, Ben always supported his children, probably because he had no choice but to.
When Matthew went over to ask his father to take them in, his father said that he couldn’t. He kept on saying that “it was complicated” over and over again. And it’s true, he had a point. Ben wasn’t the wealthiest man down the street, and even if he wanted to take his children with him, it would cost a lot to hire a lawyer. Let alone, deal with his insatiable ex-wife. And say that Ben wins at court, he could only take his two children, and not Emmy.
Despite the results of Matthew meeting up with Ben, Matthew continues to support his younger sisters. He is the perfect example of someone who creates solutions and persevere. Although because I am still in the middle of the book, I don’t know if he solved his problems at all. But I do hope he did, I am sure that he will do anything for his sisters either way.
PROMPT 6
Stereotypes are thoughts that are adopted about specific individuals or certain ways of doing things. I guess if I was told, “You’re Asian so you must be smart”, it wouldn’t necessarily make my day, so that automatically makes stereotypes bad. Because what if I’m not smart? What if I couldn’t meet their standards of being and Asian and being smart? What one views of stereotypes is generally something bad, and I definitely agree. But I think it’s also solely around how we react to a stereotype as an individual.
The Rules of Survival challenges a stereotype about power. Women are inferior to men. It’s a common thought that has been expressed since back in the day. We start to see improvements on gender equalities but unfortunately it’s still an issue. An specific example from the book is the two characters, Matthew, the oldest sibling and Emmy, the youngest sibling. They are siblings so it is obvious that the older one has the most control over things. It’s like how they say the older people are wiser because they have more experience. They have lived longer than us. I completely agree, but is it necessary to completely look down on younger people? MAtthew is a very caring brother who is willing to do everything and anything for his two sisters. But he is specifically concerned about Emmy, because she is the youngest and she isn’t as close in terms of age compared to her older siblings. Matthew is always saying how Emmy can’t live on her own and she needs the help of her older brother and sister -- which is probably true, to some extent. I that it is true to a certain extent because Emmy shows a sign of power in the middle of book. Nikki, their abusive mother has been seeing a man whom all the children approved of. But one day, everything just went wrong, so the man walks out of their life. Nikki, who is potentially crazy, it extremely unpredictable so it was best to not make her mad. Yet Emmy takes her chances and prays about the man, hoping to see him again, right in front of the mother. At this point you would think, “Nooo why would you do that. You’re going to get in so much trouble” which Emmy did eventually get in trouble. But it shows her Emmy is not afraid. Despite the fact that she is quite peculiar and is the youngest in the family. She is showing how she is able to test her limits. She is showing that she can go through life on her own, depending on the situation.
SHORT STORY
Luke jostled through the crowded school hallway, as students gaped at him. What they were amazed at, Luke was not sure of. Perhaps it was his peculiar choice of clothing, or his messy bed hair. But soon enough he realized they were staring at the ghastly bruise on his face. A boy obliquely stepped away when Luke approached the boy, unaware that he was in the way of Luke’s locker. The boy did not bother to point out the bruise on Luke’s face. He only stared.
The bruise was in fact from Luke’s mother, Clare, who claims to love her own son dearly. Which was true. Clare loved Luke with all her heart and Luke knew she did as well. So why the bruise, you ask? Let’s just say she is just trying her best to express her love. Clare has not always been so crazy. What made her crazy, perhaps, was when she had a divorce with her previous husband, Ed. She had the tendency to be extremely happy and melancholy the next. She wasn’t exactly a docile person.
Luke on the other hand was a very calm and patient boy. He is wise in a sense that he could take care of himself, even if he is living under the same roof as Clare. When Clare hit his face with a bat, that was when he realized that he had to leave. This was the first time that she had ever physically hurt him. Other times that raised concerns was just when she would scold him for not doing things right, or threatening him if he doesn’t listen to what she says. She would suddenly take a knife, convulsing it in from of Luke’s face. Fortunately with no harm, Clare would laugh it off and walk away. This never occurred to Luke as weird or foreboding. But that doesn’t matter now that Luke has finally realized that he was no safe around his mother. He soon decides to meet up with his father, Ed, who has continued to support him by paying the school fees.
“Hey. I need help” Luke rushed up to Ed looking indigent. Ed looked at him as if he knew this day was coming. Ed was a tall man who can be described as shrewd and rather wealthy. It was obvious that he proposed the divorce after realizing Clare’s craziness. Luke told him the whole story, though he knew he didn't have to, assuming that Ed already knew. Ed looked worried but helpless at the same time.
Ed knew that he could not take Matthew in that easily. First of all, Clare is crazy. Who knows what she would do if Ed contacted her. Second, Clare set a restraining order against Ed, claiming that he has been stalking her multiples times -- which was definitely not true. One day, he was just caught by the police at the wrong time. Ed brought up the situation that he was in, and Luke, of course, was devastated. He was desperate. It felt like his whole life was annihilated instantly.
Ed suggested taking the conversation to Matthew’s Aunt Lauren. She wasn’t crazy like her sister, so the two men knew they could trust her. When they arrived at Aunt Lauren’s house, they started discussing the problem. Lauren, who was very sentimental, hugged Luke as she held him in her arms. Luke never felt so loved in this way. It has been years since his own mother even hugged him. He wished his Aunt’s embrace lasted a little longer. And at the same time, he felt so much anger towards his mother. “I wish I could live with you, Aunt Lauren.” The words slipped out his mouth as he meant it. He was tired of feeling in danger.
“You know, that isn’t a bad idea.” Ed said brightening up. If they could find a way to claim something against Clare, Matthew could finally live in a new and safe home. If Clare was able to lie about Ed “stalking” her, then surely they could think of something similar.
It was that night that Ed walked down a long street where he saw Clare, running recklessly out of a store. The shopkeeper chased after her as if she stole something. Taking the chances, Ed asked Aunt Lauren to call the police and turn her in, which worked. Clare was now in custody.
Luke jostled through the crowded school hallway, this time there were no students staring at him.