Chapter n°6, 7 & 8 - the trip to Hastings

Hey guys,

today's post will contain a few bullet points about chapter 6, but it's mostly about chapter 7 and 8 and the task:
"Argue whether or not Sam has developed as a character during the trip to Hastings."

So let's start:

Chapter 6:
- Sam made kind of a time travel
- he's living with Alicia and Roof (their baby) at Alicia's house
- he doesn't know whether it's just a dream or not

"(...) whether that was it, now, whether my old life was over (...)" (p.87, ll.23f)

Chapter 7:

At first Sam talks about a family called the "Parrs". This family lives in Hastings - which is the only place Sam thinks about to run away to.

"I was positive that Alicia was pregnant, and I knew I didn't want to be a father." (p.100, ll.21f)

The quote shows why Sam plans to run away.
In the beginning Sam seems to be glad because his plan is working:

"(...) I had come to Hastings to escape my troubles (...). And as long as I didn't turn on my mobile (...) my troubles would stay in London." (p.102, 23f)

In Hastings he tries to find a job to earn some money, but nobody can offer him one. In the evening he starts looking for a place to stay and finds a bed and breakfast which looks cheap and which smells of fish very much. While he's waiting at the reception, an old man calls out:

"Don't just stand there, young lady. Open the door for me." (p.105, l.23)

The man is called Mr Brady and offers Sam a job. Mr Brady's angry and rude and he commands Sam to help him (e.g. getting down the stairs), but Sam is glad to get some money so he does what Mr Brady wants him to do.

Sam rents a room in the bed and breakfast which costs exactly the amont of money Mr Brady pays him.

Chapter 8:

Sam goes to bed and falls asleep, but at four o'clock in the morning Mr Brady wakes him up. He wants Sam to get him his remote control which fell down the side of the bed.

"This is what you're being paid for. (...) I don't sleep, so you don't sleep." (p.112, ll.26+28)

is Mr Brady's argument for Sam helping him, so Sam reaches down under Mr Brady's bed to get the remote control. He's afraid of the things he could feel or touch under there and it brings him to the decision to go home again.

"(...) Could having a baby be any worse than this? And the answer I gave myself was, No it could not." (p.113, ll.25-27)

"I was going back home to marry Alicia and look after Roof, and I was never going to think about running away again." (p.114, ll.22-24)

Sam returns home to his mum crying and talking to policemen. She's really mad at Sam because he ran away without telling anybody. His mum is worried about her son and wants to know the reason for him freaking out. He answers:

"I don't know. A lot of stuff. Splitting up with Alicia. School. You and Dad." (p.118, ll.31f)

This makes his mum think about going to family counselling. The actual reason why Sam ran away is unknown for her.

In the end of chapter 8 Sam hides in front of Alicia's house because he hopes seeing something which could show him whether Alicia is pregnant or not. Because his plan doesn't work, he drives home again.

Character development?

On the one hand I think Sam kind of developed as a character because he realized that he has to take the responsibility for the things that happened. For the things he did. He learned that running away is no option, but that he has to stay and live with the new situation.
He also compares the situation in Hastings to the one he ran away from in London and finds out that the one in London isn't as bad as he thought. He realizes that it could be worse than having a pregnant girlfriend. Sam notices that his life isn't bad and that he was wrong in thinking he has to run away and to escape everything.

On the other hand I don't think there's a development. Sam went to a city which isn't unknown for him. He visited this city years ago and knows all the places where he tried to find a job or looked for a place to stay.

Sam tried to run away from his troubles, but it went wrong. I don't know whether there's a real development. He "tried something out" and because it didn't work he goes back home. Sam learned that he has to take responsibility and that his life isn't bad, but I'm not sure about a real development.

Maybe you want to let me know your opinion on whether Sam developed as a character or not.

I'm very interested how the story's going on.
Is Sam's family really going to family counselling? Is Sam's dad joining them? What are the results of the pregnancy test? How is Alicia going to tell Sam?

We'll find out :)

Maike

Chapter n°5 - (un)expected news

Hey guys,

I'm sorrry that it's been a while since I uploaded my last post, but I'm on holiday right now and I really enjoy the free time! Days without studying or homework. Only doing things I like! I guess everybody/ every teenager can relate to this, don't you? :)

Today I've got something special for you. Okay, it's not really special, but I've never posted something like this before. It's a phone dialogue.
The task is one of the optionals our teacher gave us.

At first some information about what happens in chapter 5:

On his sixteenth birthday Sam receives a text message that says:

"I NEED 2 C U URGENT Axx." (p.71, ll.28f)

Alicia sent this message and even it's Sam's birthday, he agrees meeting her. Because it seemes to be really important and because Alicia wants to meet him absolutely this day, Sam thinks about what she could tell him.

One of his thoughts is that Alicia could tell him she's pregnant and how could it be otherwise? Alicia starts the conversation with telling Sam that she's late with her periode.
Remember the post I talked about Sam and Alicia being intimate? This already showed a bit what's going to happen, doesn't it? I expected her telling this haha.
So the two plan to buy a pregnancy test to know it for sure. Before they get to do this, they notice that they haven't got enough money to buy one, so Alicia walks home to get more. In the meantime Sam runs away. Later that day my fictional phone dialogue takes place:

A - Alicia
S - Sam


A: Sam! What did you do? Why did you run away??
S: Alicia, I'm sorry...I...

*Alicia interrupts him*

A: You can't do this to me! I can't deal with this alone.
S: Alicia, you have to understand that for me it's very much to deal with too and... It's a complete new situation.
A: You don't even want to know the results of the test?? You're not...?

*Sam interrupts Alicia*

S: I'm more than interested and excited! There are just so many questions in my head which become reality if you'd tell me that you're...that you're definitly pregnant.
A: You can't imagine what's going on in my head!! But it seems like we have to deal with this now - with this new situation.
S: So...you mean? It's real??
A: It is! Sam, it is! Are you happy to hear it? Or...I don't know how to feel. I'm scared...
S: I know what you want to say! I'm feeling exactly the same! What will happen to us? We are going to be parents! Alicia...Is it going to change me?? Am I going to be okay? Your parents will probably kill me! And what's with college? I want to end college... I already thought about these questions at Starbucks but I didn't want to ask because it sounded so selfish and...
A: Sam! Stop for a second! My head is filled with those questions aswell and it feels like they're overwhelming me. But what can I do? There's a little baby inside me and isn't it something beautiful?
S: Yes, could be, but...
A: Sam, what do you think about coming over, so we can talk in person??
S: Yeah. It's probably the best.
A: Thanks! See you soon. Bye.
S: Bye.


I hope you enjoyed reading!

Maike

Summary of what we've done so far

Hey guys,

our teacher recently gave us the task to summarize everything we did regarding to our novel (we had to do a few tasks at school, but also some at home) and to think about ideas how we would like to work with "Slam".

Before we started reading the book,  we were given a little worksheet on which we had to answer a few questions about us and our life, for example:

- Do you feel like your life is in balance at the moment?
or
- Has anything ever turned your life upside down? If not, what could turn your life upside down?

We answered these questions without telling the results anybody and I would like to keep this. I'm sure everybody can answer these on his own.

As we started reading the book I didn't know why we had to answer questions about OUR life. I mean, the book hasn't got something to do with me. I didn't see the reason behind it.
Now I got to know Sam a bit and I can tell that these questions are perfecty fitting to Sam's life. His life is turned upside down and I don't think it's in balance at the moment (where I stopped reading). Answering these questions should probably reminded ourself to times where our life hasn't been in balance or where something unexpected happened or we should imagine what this could have been. While reading about Sam's life I had to think about what I wrote down and I could empathize with Sam very good.

Describing the setting and the perspective of our book and analizing Sam's character has been our first real task. We worked it out at school, but wrote the post at home. It's been the first post I wrote and it felt strange at first. (okay. It hasn't been my first post at all, but the opening post doesn't count haha). I've never done something like this before. Sharing my thoughts and feelings online. But I start to like it more and more :)

Our second task has been to characterize the relationship between Sam and his mum. I really liked this one because for me it's really interesting getting to know something about a relationship that everybody experiences. The unique relationship to our mums...

One lesson we read chapter 3 together. We were split up in little groups and everybody had his own task: Summarizer, Character observer, Language observer and Speculator. We always changed the exercises after a few pages, so each of us did every job once.
Personally I didn't like this way of working very much. Hmm... I don't know if I can say that I didn't like it VERY MUCH because it sounds a bit too strong. I just prefer reading books at home because there it's more quiet and I can concentrate better. I also like reading without stopping and summarizing small parts so, the exercise has been okay - I just prefer reading on my own :)

Last lesson we were asked to deal with chapter 5.
Our teacher read out the beginning of the chapter and it has been funny to listen cause he imitated the different voices very good :D - I'd like to hear this more often haha.
In chapter 5 there appears the sentence

"I need 2 C U urgent Axx." (p.71, ll.28f)

 It's a text message written by Alicia. First we had to find one thought quote and one dialogue quote in our novel which expressed Sam's feelings after reading this. Then we had to sum up a conversation between Sam and Alicia and to typify their reactions to *a very important topic*. Lastly we had to think about why they acted differently.

*very important topic* - a topic I want to let you know in my next post. Sorry, but I just haven't got enough time to write this now haha, so be excited for the following post!

My ideas to work with the novel:

1. We could imagine being Sam and write a part of the story which fits into the book at one point, for example: a part between chapter 2 and 3. (we did this in our german lesson recently, that's why I thought about it)
2. We could write a letter to one character of the novel explaining what we think about his behavior/ actions/...

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, even if you didn't get to know how the book's going on :)

Have a nice weekend!

Maike

Chapter n°3 & 4 - the lovecouple

Hey guys,

I'm back with new reading stuff for you :))

Our teacher recently gave us the task to write down all our thoughts that come up to our mind about a special quote out of chapter 3. But before I write about the quote, I have to let you know what happened meanwhile. Otherwise you probably wouldn't be able to understand the connection between the quote and what you already know so:

You already know something about Sam's character, his family (history) and his first meetings with Alicia.
The third chapter starts with the sentences

"I dreamed my way through school for the next few weeks. I dreamed my way through life, really." (p.47, ll.1f) 

Sam seems to be on clound seven because he's so in love with Alicia.
Sam's mum doesn't like seeing her son spending so much time with his girlfriend. Because of that one evening she wants to go to the cinema with Sam, just to avoid that he's seeing Alicia again. The hours without Alicia are horror for him.

"(...) knowing that I wouldn't see her UNTIL THE END OF THE NEXT DAY, and that was more like (...) torture (...)." (p.50/51, ll.33-1)

This night Sam's mum talks with Sam about his relationship with Alicia and asks whether Alicia can come for eating with them one night. Sam agrees and his mum answers:

"I'd like that. I wouldn't be so scared of her, then." (p.56, l.22)

The bold tiped sentence is the quote given by our teacher. Now we are asked to think about why Sam's mum is scared of Alicia. Here are my ideas:

- Sam's mum could have have bad prejudices against "rich people" like Alicia's family (make her feel scared)

- made experiences with bad relationships (wants to protect Sam; Alicia might only use Sam)

- she's scared of the unknown/ the future and therefore also Alicia

- she's scared of not being able to protect Sam if he's too much into the relationship with Alicia

- Alicia might want Sam to do things he doesn't want to (he won't realize it because he loves her so much) --> his mum is scared

- Alicia could take up all of Sam's time (his mum can't let him go/can't let him live his own life)

While writing this I thought about the situation Sam's mum is in and how I would react being her. I think Sam's mum exaggerats a bit. Of course it's a whole new situation for both of them and she doesn't know Alicia yet, but in my opinion there's no visible reason to be scared of her.
Telling him that she's kind of afraid of his girlfriend might makes Sam feel bad. I mean, every teenager wants their parents to like their girl- or boyfriend, doesn't he/she? Sam's mum should probably just talk to Sam about her feelings and her fears.

The next night Sam and Alicia are so happy being able to spend time together again, that they're being intimate. You know what I want to say? I'm sure you do.
The thing is: the way Sam describes the moment shows that they didn't really want it to happen. But it did happen anyway...

What comes up to my mind right now is that maybe this moment is the reason why their lives are going to be messed up. Like it says on the back of the book:

"(...) suddenly one moment changes their lives forever and presents him with new responsibilities (...)."

Why couldn't a baby bring these new responsiblities? What do you think? Could that be? Let me know in the comment box!


Now just a few words to chapter 4:

Right after Sam and Alicia had this one night together, Sam talks about their relationship starting to get worse.

"I just woke up one morning and didn't feel the same way." (p.60, ll.3f)

The quote

 "And then two or three weeks later, we were bored with each other. I was bored, anyway."

on page 60, line 17-19 is just one of many showing how the relationship between our lovecouple has changed.

Sam is aso joining Alicia's family for dinner one night. I can perfectly imagine the situation Sam describes at Alicia's home. Her parents try to talk with Sam about his future and other things, but you can feel that they don't really like him - believe me!

At the end of chapter 4 Sam's mum is meeting a man who she already met the night she was out with Sam. His name is Mark, but Sam always calls him

"(...) Mark, like a mark on your trousers (...)." (p.54, l.19)

Maybe it's irrelevant what his name is, but for me it sounded really funny, that's why I wanted to let you know haha.

To be honest I'm kind of confused how everything changes so fast in this novel. At first Sam is so into Alicia and suddenly he's bored of her. Sam's mum gets rid of her boyfriend and now she gets to know a man.
I'm really really excited how it's going on with Sam and Alicia. I'm sure it's not their end because we're only in chapter 4 of 20, but I don't know what happens for sure.

I'm excited and I hope you too :)

Maike


PS. While I was reading chapter 3 I thought about showing you a picture of a couple like I imagined Sam and Alicia.
After reading chapter 4 my illusion about the lovecouple isn't really there anymore. I was really surprised and a bit shocked that Sam was writing about getting bored after only a few weeks. I know that love can go away sometimes or that there are couples splitting up after a short time, but the way Sam was talking about Alicia I would have never thought that their relationship would end this fast. Anyway, here's the picture:

http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fpixabay.com%2Fstatic%2Fuploads%2Fphoto%2F2015%2F03%2F26%2F10%2F48%2Fsunset-691995_960_720.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fpixabay.com%2Fde%2Fsonnenuntergang-kuss-paar-liebe-691995%2F&h=637&w=960&tbnid=GdX47hyMduOKVM%3A&docid=uQ5vcPG-Wj18_M&ei=a_AxV8bDG4iP6AS5upmwCQ&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=600&page=1&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=0ahUKEwiGpY6W3M_MAhWIB5oKHTldBpYQMwgeKAEwAQ&bih=661&biw=1471

Chapter n°2

Hey guys,

the last days I read the second chapter and it was sooooooo much to read. It's around 30 pages long haha. But I'm sure some of you might also know the feeling that you're interested how your story's going on and what will happen next in your book, so you keep reading and reading, however, haha.

Chapter two starts with Sam talking about his mum. She's thirty-two years old, at the time he's talking about, so she's a really young mother. I can imagine that sometimes it's strange for children if their parents aren't much older than they are because the children's friends could like the mum or dad in more than a friendship way. Sam has got this "problem" and describes it like that:

"The point is that I've got a thirty-two year-old mother that people - people my age - fancy." (p.18, ll.26f)

Another thing Sam's talking about is his family history. He mentions that every generation before him tried to do something that could make a lot of money, but all of them failed. So did his mum. She

"could have gone to university, but instead she was married just before her seventeenth birthday." (p.19, ll.19-21) 

Sam tries to be the first person in his family history that gets

"(...) a qualification in something while (...)" 

being still at school. (p.19, l.30f)

The most important thing in chapter two is that Sam mentions how he met Alicia for the first time.
When I think about a boy and a girl meeting for the first time, I mostly imagine a situation like in school or while doing a hobby, but Sam and Alicia meet another way.
Sam's mum was invited to a fiftieth birthday party by Andrea, a woman she knew from the council. Andrea is Alicia's mum and she wanted Sam's mum to bring him along. How would you react to something like that? Your mum wants to take you to a birthday party where you don't know anybody. Would you go or not?

Before I go on writing about their first meeting, I have to mention a conversation Sam and his mum had before going to the party. They talked about the age Alicia's mum had in contrast to Sam's mum. At first Sam thinks that Alicia has to be really old because Andrea is already 50 years old, but his mum explains that it's normal to be 50 while having a 16 year-old child.
Sam comes up with the argument that he's allowed to get drunk when his mum turns 50 and his mum replies:

"(...) it's the only argument I've ever heard for having a kid at sixteen." (p.23, ll.11f) 

As a result Sam names that he

"(...) didn't like it when she said things like that. It always felt like it was my fault, somehow." (p.23, ll.13f)

Before reading this book I've never really thought about arguments for or against having a child at a young age. Now I did think about it a bit - I'll mention them later.

First of all I have to carry on talking about Sam and Alicia. For me their first meeting seems to be a bit strange (or Alicia seems to be a bit strange) because at the beginning she doesn't want to talk to Sam. She kind of ignores him. Sam does the same until Alicia begins to laugh and they start a conversation. They talk about music and their families before they go up to Alicias room and watch a film.

For you it might seem like there isn't much between Sam and Alicia but because of the way he describes her I can tell that she means a lot to him.

"(...) when she laughed, I could feel some part of me flip over." (p.25, ll.10f) 

is just one quote showing that Sam really likes her.

Just one day after the birthday party the two are on their first date. They planned to go to the cinema, but instead they go to Alicias place. Although Sam has to think about his family history, his mum having a kid at 16 and he not wanting to make the same "mistake", he has sex with Alicia this night.

Everybody has a special connection to their mum. Either it's because of things you went through together, because you get along with each other really well or because whatever. Because everybody has a unique connection to their mum, for me it's been really interesting finding out something about the connection between Sam and his mum.

Sam and his mum've got a normal "teenager-mum connection" like I would call it. They fight like on page 13, line 12f :

"(...) how I'd lost my temper with Mum for no reason (...)" 

but they also care for each other. For Sam it matters whom his mum is in a relationship with which is shown by the following quotes:

"Mum got rid of Steve, her rubbish boyfriend." (p.9, l.4)

 or

"(...) Mum was watching a DVD (...) and she seemed happy to me (...)." (p.14, ll.11f)

Sam's mum tries to understand his son as good as possible, but Sam prefers to talk to a poster of Tony Hawk anyhow.

"I'm not dissing my mum, but she hasn't got a clue, really." (p.12, ll.2f)

I think everybody in my age knows a similar situation where we prefer to talk to somebody else instead of our parents. Am I right?
Sam has got a very young mum. Further above I mentioned that I was thinking about some arguments for and against, so here they are:

older parents:
- sometimes can't understand their children (too much time between them)
- can take responsibility better
- can offer children more
younger parents:
- still children aswell
- want to enjoy their own life
- can understand their children better (young themselves/  not many years between them)
- maybe harder to take whole responsibility

I don't want to judge what's better and what's not because I think it mostly depends on what the parents make out of the situation.
Sam's mum talks to Sam like they're friends.

"And you think she's someone I'd like? - As far as I can tell, she's someone every boy likes." (p.21, ll.11f)

She's not really strict and she doesn't show him her power.
But sometimes she wants to meet a man without telling him that she's already got a 16 year-old son. She probably wishes to be alone and to be able to go on a date without thinking about Sam.

"My Mum was talking to a bloke, and she wasn't thrilled to see me." (p.29, ll.15f)

The second chapter has been a really long one, that's why it's also a pretty long blog post - sorry haha :)

I tried to only mention the important things, but suddenly everything seems to be so :D

Have a nice and sunny weekend!

Maike