WEEK 6

This week I was the Researcher

Grace asked us questions

She didn't know about the cemetery, but she lived on a ship so they couldn't really burry anyone, so cremation was really the only thing they could do.

Ben seemed guilty, so He probably killed someone, and we know he did to become a man.

Ben didn't save to women, so by sacrificing himself for Todd he's still not giving up on him

Mayor Prentiss' kill a man to become a man and tell them the truth isn't a good system, but it did work, so it was kind of smart, but it wasn't good

I mentioned about how Viola and Todd were hiding in a church, and Aaron probably already knew about it because we know that he is highly religious, and since everyone started in Haven, he probably knew of the church, already, so that's how he found them so quickly.

Gabi shared a passage from Todd's mom's journal talking about power, and another one about hope.

Bringing up the theme again, where Todd is thinking the song.

Aaron said that hate is the key, and he talked about how the soldier must fight. Grace was saying about how this is leading too if Todd didn't hate Aaron, he wouldn't be ably to kill him. I think that maybe Aaraon could have been a good guy, he just wanted Todd to hate him so Todd would be able to kill him, and move forward as a man so the town doesn't fall.

I shared a line on page 456, "And i dropped the knife", Gabi said that this is different than the other situations because Todd had the upper hand and couldn't kill him, and now Todd doesn't, and he drops the knife. Also it's different because now he knows that if he kills Aaron, him /Aaron/ will win.

WEEK 5

This week I had the role of Discussion Director.

with my questions

we talked about what we thought the law is, and we think that it's if anyone from Prentisstown isn't allowed in any of the other settlements.

We did not expect to see Ben there, but him more than Cillian

Doctor Snow is pretty good, he didn't want to follow through on the law right away.

The reason why the settlements dislike Prentisstown might have to do something with them not having woman there.

Haven is probably still there

Someone spoiled it for some of us, and Grace guessed that someone was going to die, but all in all we didn't really think that Manchee would die.

We think 'the boy' was a haluteionantion of the voice in the back of Todd's head telling him he can't do it.

All Aaron did was probably was drug Viola and do some rituals and stuff like that.

Gabbi looked up the name Aaron, and Aaron was a priest, the brother of Moses, and someone told him to sacrifice a big animal to please the God and later he told everyone to bring one goat to sacrifice for the same reason, and that reminded her of how the woman and how they might have died, and how he wanted to perform a ritual on Viola

"I will punish the wicked" is another like from the bible, not a direct quote but similar. 

couching up green goo is a sign of bronchitis or lung infection, so that's probably what led to his sickness.

hallucinations are a side effect of a really bad fever, so that's probably what the hallucinations are from.

Grace shared that there is a sting bond between todd and manchee, because in the beginning it was shown that he didn't really like Manchee.

the word coward keeps showing up in the book, because everyone in prentisstown thinks he's a coward, and because he can't kill, he's too cowardly.

the hallucination is basically him admitting to himself that he can't kill.

"Todd?" Is the last thing that Machee has ever said, and this pops up a lot, and it makes Todd feel sad about basically killing him

Gabbi said that it reminds her of the song that Ben would sing "Don't leave me" and it's come up a lot in the story, when Viola was taken by Aaron, and when Manchee died, and Ben was singing it when Todd found him, so the song could be part of the theme in the book, because a theme is supposed to be present throughout the whole story, like the song.

WEEK 4

This week I was the Literary Luminary.

GABI

purpose of the "cows"?

maybe just to show that Todd and Viola could talk without being heard by Wilf

"She was tasty"?

Probably talking about an animal

What would have caused Mr. P. Jr. to think of women as whores?

that might have been how he was brought up

Do you think Todd will ever be able to kill someone?

I don't think he will, and if he does Viola will probably be there to stop him

Maybe as self defence?

maybe, because he had a chance to kill Aaron and he didn't kill him.

do you think Viola is right about PT making Todd a killer?

Yes, because it actually makes sense, because he is the youngest, and the only one who doesn't want to kill, and maybe something when he becomes a man was going to change that

what do you think would have happened if Todd hadn't killed the Spackle?

I don't think the spack would have fought back and they probably could have carried on, and Mr. P. Jr might not have found them so quickly.

Why do you think the author waiting until now to not use "effing"

Viola was raised differently, so she doesn't censor herself, or to show intensity.

Why do you think Todd keeps just taking out his knife?

He feels safe with it, because it was Ben's but also I don't think he's ever had a weapon before, and he feels like he HAS to use it.

"I have no use for you boy"

he only needed Todd to find Viola

Why do you think the beginning of chapter 26 was written that way?

What's happening in Todd's head, to show he's not thinking clearly.

Why would he mention that the Spackle's blood is red?

Because Spackles are "aliens" but they are similar to us, with the blood, maybe hinting at that they are maybe humans??

Why wouldn't Aaron take Viola away from the army.

He wants to lead Todd away, and maybe perform the ritual, and maybe the Army isn't interested in Viola.

Do you think that Todd's form of motivation is a good one?

Cillian was always hard on him, and he's also a boy, so maybe boys think that way, and if he was nice and pitied himself he might not get anywhere, he would most likely give up

Why didn't he want to stay with Wilf and Jane

he wanted to keep going, he couldn't stop, and he didn't want to bring attention to Prentisstown.

GRACE

There are a lot of mythical creatures that have the same description that are included in the "cows" / creatures

Todd is probably english, on pg. 249 Viola asks what's a sliker, and people in england say that, and the song that he sings that he said his mom sings, it is actually an old folk song, and since Viola doesn't know what a sliker so

It's probably a bowie knife. because Todd says it probably should have gone though him. but this knife doesn't have brittish history, it has american, and since it's Ben's that means Ben was probably from America, which shows that it's not just people from England going to the New World.

OLIVIA

When Todd stands up for Viola when Mr. Prentiss Jr. talks about women, and how Todd is now walking night and day looking for Viola, it is showing how much he actually cares for her, because earlier he was saying that he could just leave her, he should have left her, but now we can see how much their relationship changes.

Also, Todd already has a better compassion for woman, and he has had the least experience with them then the rest of the men in prentisstown, and this kind of goes with how people say that younger people are more open minded, he is the youngest, and is following through on that because he isn't treating females like "whores" he is treating them like people, which seems to be different from the men of prentisstown.

WEEK 3

I had the role of Researcher.

GRACE

-How do you think her life was like on the spaceship because everyone around her was frozen?

she said that she went to school so maybe there were more people, but she doesn't  talk about other kids 

-"never go to sleep on an argument" what do you think Hildy meant?

could be just be something she says, because my mom says that too, but maybe it's kind of hinting at what might have happened to Prentisstown.

-What do you think happened in Prentisstown, why is it called something else?

Something big must have happened there and they wanted to start over, and it is mayor Prentiss, so maybe HE tried to cover something else.

-Why do you think Todd was lied too about women?

I think all the kids know is that the germ killed the women, but maybe something happens and the truth comes out when they turn into men.

-Why does Matthew want to kill Todd?

It might be revenge thing because his mother died there, the whole town is responsible.

-What is the law he's talking about?

You loose your innocence when you turn into a man is something someone said sox maybe like I said before the truth comes out, and maybe they are more aware of war or something that could put Farbranch or the other settlements in danger

-Do you think Farbrach follows the 12 months or the 13 months

I think it's 13 because it's 13 months in New World, so I think that it's the whole world that follows 13 months.

-All the men from from Pretisstown are there, how do you think that they all came there?

They were following through on their plans just a little early, because the journal said that this was being planned for a long time.

-We think that the army is coming for Todd and Viola, but why did they keep on attacking the town and the houses?

Like I said before, they probably didn't tell the men that Todd ran away and they were just following through just a little early.

GABBI

pg. 166 

Viola is talking to Todd, and he says hat history isn't important when you're tying to survive and Hildy says that that's when it

s most important. 

That was an interesting thought because no one really thinks about this during history class per say.

pg. 168

lots of imagery, Matthew's noise is described using imagery.

pg. 188

good writing, and kinda cool, describing Viola.

pg. 109

something that happens a lot, Todd is fighting with Matthew, when Matthew lets Todd see something in his Noise, and this happened a lot, and we just never know what it is.

pg. 203

about to stab todd, and todd swings and cuts a rope that we didn't know was there. "It was bad writing" - Gabbi

pg. 218

good dialogue, when they get to the fork in the road, it was symbolism. they talk about how the left looks more travelled but the river flowed to the right.

pg. 223

it was cool how they described Viola's science.

OLIVIA

-The definition of "Haven" is a place of safety or refuge.

-The town is called Haven, and they are looking for it for that reason, because they believe it to be a place of safety or refuge.

-The crickets are chirping sex because the noise that crickets make is a mating call, so the Noise that they make is sex sex sex

-They might be on Mars because of the 2 moons which is also kind of cool because scientists say that Mars is the only other planet that could support 

WEEK 2

This week I was the discussion director.
**Our third member was absent

OLIVIA

-how long do you think that they're going to stay with Hildy and Tam?

todd seems anxious, so they might stay there for a while and learn new things, but leave as soon as they can

-do you think that woman are really immune and maybe it was a different germ that killed the women?

something happened, she knew he was there, Tam hid something in his noise, and they know something happened, and it wasn't the germ that killed everyone it was another thing.

-Would you have burned down the bridge?

maybe, but it was smart on viola's part, and he couldn't cut the rope, they wouldd have been dead by now, but they should have kept the fire box.

-if the people from Prentisstown could hear the boom of the bridge blowing up, what do you think their reaction would have been?

sacred, because no one comes from the town in that direction, would have attacked anyone who came around, it would have been crazy.

-Do you think Todd and Viola should stay with Hildy and Tam?

yes because they seem really helpful, and they seem really nice, and they both had a shotgun, so they have a weapon if someone comes along they can protect them. Giving them free food and a place to stay.

-Were you surprised that Viola can hear Todd's noise?

no, she was running away from him even though he never talked out loud, she knew his name even though he never said it, so it was inferred that she could hear his Noise.

GRACE

he knows that there's more females because of violas parent's, and why she wasn't talking, wee know why she was/is scared, because she lost her parents, and we know she wasn't an orphan, she had a nice happy family.

She trust Todd enough to tell him her name, it's showing that she's comfortable with him now, and their friendship is starting. and it's a good thing for her to start talking because she might be able to help him

"Women are immune" is something that Tam said, telling us that something else killed off all the women, and it shows that Todd also has nothing to worry about, since he knows that there is no way that she will "get the noise and die"

Viola says that there are thousands coming, which is kind of scary because there are so many people coming, and how did Todd never know about this, and we also learn about her past, she knows about tech and she lived and was born on the spaceship, and we learn that she is very loyal  because she wants to warn her ship that this isn't a place to stay. good. We now have an idea as to who "they" are for the We must warn them.