What's your Identity? (Email)

Subject: What's your Identity

Dear Alice,

Everyone has their own identity! I have been studying about Identity in my class and want to share some information about identity with you! My book called "Private Peaceful" that I have read two thirds by now has a lot of characters; some minor and some major. And all of them have some kind of identity. It's really important for a character to have their own identity especially in books because that's is what makes the reader interested in a story and creates imagery. Identity is created in texts through the way the author describes the characteristics of a person.

In Private Peaceful, the characteristics are developing as the reader reads the book. In the beginning, the relationship of Tommo and Charlie is described as very deep. This shows that they both are really loving and caring. Sometimes the relationships with others can show the characteristics of a person. How a person behaves with others and what the person says/does is what creates his/her identity.

My understanding of identity has really developed after reading this book because this book taught me that relationship with others is actually a part of your identity and also describes you. I have never actually perceived or gave notice much to how an author creates the identity of the characters. But now I find it quite interesting. What do you think, have you noticed it before?    

The identity of the characters in this book changes as new characters are introduced. The relationship of the two brothers (Tommo and Charlie) also gets really weak as Molly comes into their lives. They both start liking her but Charlie gets married to her. This makes Tommo want to hate them but he can't because they were the two people he loved the most in the whole world. Tommo said, "In the next room slept the two people I most loved in all whole world who, in finding each other, has deserted me. Sometimes, in the dead of night, I thought of them lying in each other's arms and I wanted to hate them. But I couldn't. Pg-92"

The quote above, shows two feelings at the same time, love and hate. I think that one of the main themes of this book is actually love and hate. Having a big family is a symbol of love and war is a symbol of hate. The estate of Iddesleigh and the people living there are like a really big family where everyone helps each other out in tension and problems. Wars or fights usually start because you hate someone. The war in this book is between the Germans and the French. 

The writer is very descriptive in this story and that's what makes the reader read it. He uses simple vocabulary to create a character's identity. He actually doesn't say that Charlie is helpful and very kind but he rather describes it through an event/action. For ex. He says "Charlie is taking me by the hand, leading me because he knows I don't want to go." This indicates that Charlie is a very nice and kind person. Almost all of the characteristics of the characters in the book are described using this technique. For me this technique enhances this narrative text a lot. 

Don't you think that the setting contributes highly to identity? The setting describes a character. A place where a character lives relates to the character's interests, hobbies and favorites. His identity is also reflected by where he lives because a person would not like to live in a place that he/she doesn't like. For ex. Colonel lives in the Big House and this and the description of him by Tommo to me describes him as being a little bit of mean, overconfident and a little bit egoistic person which actually sounds right from Tommo and other family member's perspective. "I'm thinking of the rude things father used to say about Colonel-'silly old fat', 'mad old duffer' and much worse." This quote shows the opinion of Tommo's father about the Colonel.

The identity of the characters inside this book involves the identity of us. We are very similar to the characters in the book. We emphasize us the most with Tommo and feel almost the same as he does. Being jealous, determined towards a goal and helpful are some characteristics that shapes Tommo's identity but many of us have the same characteristics in us. By using these types of characteristics for a character in a book, I think that the author is trying to create a connection between the character and the reader. This way the writer makes the reader read more and compare them with the characters in the story.

Sometimes even identity of someone in real life or in stories can shape our identities. Don't you think? We all want to be the best and sometimes books can inspire us. If we read something we start compare ourselves with the characters and try to be that character just because he/she looks better. So sometimes even texts can inspire us to shape our own identity. 


Identity is basically shaped by anything that a person does or where the person stays or goes. Identity is one of the things that makes a person unique and different from others.

Have you read an amazing book like this and did you try comparing yourself with the characters in a story?

I really would like to hear back from you about this topic!


My sincere thanks for your time and consideration,
Akanksha

AS (आकांक्षा) 

Private Peaceful (Journal Entry)

नमस्ते

Reading is fantastic but not everyone is really good in it like me.
I was just reading a book called "Private Peaceful" by Michael Morpurgo. By now, I read one third of it and I find it quite interesting. It's from the times of the First World War and Michael describes the childhood of the protagonist and the battlefields of the war really well as time passes by.

The main characters in this book are Tommo/Thomas Peaceful, Big Joe Peaceful, Charlie Peaceful, Molly, Grandma Wolf and The Colonel. The protagonists are Tommo Peaceful, Charlie Peaceful, Molly and the antagonist are The Colonel, Grandma Wolf. All the characters are related to each other.

Tommo Peaceful is 15 year old and has two brothers called Charlie and Big Joe. He decides that at this moment of his life, he wants to remember as much of his memories of his childhood as possible. Tommo wants to live his childhood again and wants tonight to be as long as possible.

He thinks back: he and Charlie used to go to school and how scared he was on his first day. "Charlie is always there for me" he thinks. The shocking part of the orientation for me was when he explains how his father dies and the secret that he's hiding from everyone concerning his father's death. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Molly (a student in his class) on the first day of school, who helps him. Consequently, she gets really attached with the Peaceful family. On the other hand, there's the Colonel who warns Molly's family to not send their daughter to the Peaceful family since Charlie's a theft. Charlie had stolen a foxhound from the Colonel's land and fished in the Colonel's river. However Charlie and Molly secretly keep meeting each other, which makes their relationship turn into more than just friendship.

As I was reading, at some points I was prognosticating what might happen because the story was taking a really interesting turn. It was a little bit easy for me to guess that the relationship between Charlie and Molly will develop throughout the story and Tommo will get betrayed from the person who cared about him the most. Tommo says "That night I lay there beside Charlie not speaking. I was so filled with anger and resentment towards him that I never wanted to speak to him again, nor to Molly come to that." (pg.73) I think that from reading this statement, I really feel empathy for Tommo because the words that he uses shows the reader how sad he was and how heartbroken he was. He really loved his brother but his brother loved the same girl as he did.

This book is written in 1st person so I think that it's always better to read a book written in 1st person because then you can easily connect with the narrator and feel empathy for him/her. You also get to see their point of view and hear their opinion about each situation. But everything has its own advantages and disadvantages and a disadvantage about reading a book in 1st person is that you only get to see the narrator's POV and hear his/her opinions. We are not able to attach that much with all the other characters and we always think that what the narrator is saying is right. It's always better to hear different perspectives so sometimes I prefer to read books written in 3rd person. Despite that some books in 1st person are also quite interesting like this one.

The beginning of this story is quite powerful and story and characters are introduced very well to the reader. "They've gone now and I'm alone at last... ... Charlie is taking me by the hand, leading me because he knows I don't want to go." (pg.7) are the beginning sentences of the story. I think that they are really powerful because they create many questions in the reader's mind. I really thought what actually happened, what's going to happen next and what's actually going on. This is exact what made me read this book because the beginning was really powerful.

The plot structure in the story develops very slowly I think because the writer doesn't overwhelms the reader with a lot of information. The information is slowly told. I like the way how the author gives one piece of information and elaborates/explains that very well throughout the story and then gives another piece of information making everything clear for the reader. I don't think that this story's been confusing at any time for me. Tommo thinks, "Big Joe doesn't have to go to school..." (pg.8) and tells the reader where he stays and what he does rater than talking about himself or Charlie.

There are many different chapters in this book. The names of these chapters are really, really different than all the other books I have read before. The chapters are named according to the times of the clock for ex. FIVE PAST TEN OR NEARLY FIVE TO ONE. This relates the reader to the beginning of the story where the protagonist Tommo says "I have the whole night ahead of me, and I won't waste a single moment of it." (pg.7). The time passes by doesn't matter what happens and the protagonist also keeps on telling the story. I find this one of the most interesting things to name the chapter of a book like this. Somehow this also reminds me of the book THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME where the chapters are named with all the prime numbers.

Michael Morpurgo has written many other books like THE BILLY KID and THE DANCING BEAR.  I really think that do all of these books have something like this?

Private Peaceful also has a movie and looks quite interesting. Therefore, if you are interested, do watch the movie or read the book. If the beginning of this book could be so interesting then how would it end?





I wonder what happens next in the story?

To Be Continued...
आकांक्षा