Welcome FHS students! Please check your FHS gmail! We'll use this blog to talk about our summer readings. Sign into Google with your Fairview Schools login. Speak, Never Fall Down, and The Age of Miracles discussion questions are all on this page. Scroll down to find each novel's questions. Then, click on Comment link following the questions you wish to answer. Click on the page links on the left to access additional information.
Discussion Questions for All Novels
Saturday, June 15, 2013
The Age of Miracles 3: Julia’s experience of adolescence
3. How much do you think the slowing alters Julia’s experience of adolescence? If the slowing had never
happened, in what ways would her childhood have been different? In what ways would it have been the
same?
At the start of the slowing, Julia was only eleven years old and was just entering the sixth grade. She was right in the middle of her adolescence, and I think the slowing vastly altered her journey into maturity. The slowing caused many changes in Julia’s home and social life. Julia’s friendship with Hanna was the first victim of the slowing; when the news of the slowing of the earth’s rotation was broadcasted across radio stations on October sixth, Hanna’s family wasted no time in moving to Utah, where they gathered with other Mormons for safety.This event started a snowball effect in Julia’s life, where one event led to another. With Julia’s only friend gone, she was forced to jump from Gabby to Michaela, desperately searching for a friendship but finding nothing close to what she had with Hanna. When Hanna returned from Utah, Julia hoped to rekindle their friendship but was disappointed to realize she had been replaced. With no friends, Julia secretly pined for the mysterious and quiet boy Seth to notice her. As the magnetic field of the earth disintegrated, many of the whales turned up on sandy beach shores; the whales gave Seth an opportunity to invite Julia to look at them together. After that outing, Julia and Seth became inseparable, and Julia quickly fell for him, even pondering once if she was in love. Later in the book, Seth became sick due to the slowing and moved away to Mexico, causing him to disappear from Julia’s life forever, leaving her unsure if he was even alive. The slowing caused Seth to enter Julia’s life and gave them the chance to have an amazing relationship, but it also ripped him out of Julia’s life just as fast.
A while after the slowing started, Julia lost interest in her hobbies, including soccer and piano, because she found these activities pointless in the midst of what was happening around the world. As for Julia’s home life, the slowing definitely put a strain on her parents marriage, causing them to lie and fight constantly and, eventually, for Julia’s dad to have an affair with Sylvia. Julia also had to go through the awful experience of her grandfather's death at a young age due to multiple events the slowing brought about. In the description of this book, there is a quote by Julia that states, “Maybe everything that happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing...but I doubt it. I doubt it very much.”
One aspect of Julia’s life that would have been the same regardless of the slowing is her personality. She is a very quiet, lonely, kind-hearted person who does not discriminate against people based on their choices. Even before the slowing, Julia had always been a lonely and generally antisocial child. She had no siblings, and her only real friend was Hanna. Throughout the course of this book, Julia never had more than one friend at a time. The slowing also did not change the fact that when confronted, Julia would rather stay quiet than stand up for herself, as represented from the stunt on page 39 where Daryl teased Julia about not wearing a bra. Julia openly stated that Hanna was the talker between the two of them, and she did not know how to handle the situation. Throughout most of the book, Julia was too shy to talk to Seth and waited for him to address her before speaking to him. Aside from her shyness, another aspect of Julia’s character was her kindness, which was shown through many events, including when she sent Seth a postcard reading ‘I’m sorry’ after his mother died. When Julia and her mother baked cookies, Julia sneaked a plate to Sylvia even though she was a real-timer and her mother disapproved. Although the slowing altered the events and experiences in Julia’s childhood, the one element of her adolescence it could not change was her personality and character.
At the start of the slowing, Julia was only eleven years old and was just entering the sixth grade. She was right in the middle of her adolescence, and I think the slowing vastly altered her journey into maturity. The slowing caused many changes in Julia’s home and social life. Julia’s friendship with Hanna was the first victim of the slowing; when the news of the slowing of the earth’s rotation was broadcasted across radio stations on October sixth, Hanna’s family wasted no time in moving to Utah, where they gathered with other Mormons for safety.This event started a snowball effect in Julia’s life, where one event led to another. With Julia’s only friend gone, she was forced to jump from Gabby to Michaela, desperately searching for a friendship but finding nothing close to what she had with Hanna. When Hanna returned from Utah, Julia hoped to rekindle their friendship but was disappointed to realize she had been replaced. With no friends, Julia secretly pined for the mysterious and quiet boy Seth to notice her. As the magnetic field of the earth disintegrated, many of the whales turned up on sandy beach shores; the whales gave Seth an opportunity to invite Julia to look at them together. After that outing, Julia and Seth became inseparable, and Julia quickly fell for him, even pondering once if she was in love. Later in the book, Seth became sick due to the slowing and moved away to Mexico, causing him to disappear from Julia’s life forever, leaving her unsure if he was even alive. The slowing caused Seth to enter Julia’s life and gave them the chance to have an amazing relationship, but it also ripped him out of Julia’s life just as fast.
ReplyDeleteA while after the slowing started, Julia lost interest in her hobbies, including soccer and piano, because she found these activities pointless in the midst of what was happening around the world. As for Julia’s home life, the slowing definitely put a strain on her parents marriage, causing them to lie and fight constantly and, eventually, for Julia’s dad to have an affair with Sylvia. Julia also had to go through the awful experience of her grandfather's death at a young age due to multiple events the slowing brought about. In the description of this book, there is a quote by Julia that states, “Maybe everything that happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing...but I doubt it. I doubt it very much.”
One aspect of Julia’s life that would have been the same regardless of the slowing is her personality. She is a very quiet, lonely, kind-hearted person who does not discriminate against people based on their choices. Even before the slowing, Julia had always been a lonely and generally antisocial child. She had no siblings, and her only real friend was Hanna. Throughout the course of this book, Julia never had more than one friend at a time. The slowing also did not change the fact that when confronted, Julia would rather stay quiet than stand up for herself, as represented from the stunt on page 39 where Daryl teased Julia about not wearing a bra. Julia openly stated that Hanna was the talker between the two of them, and she did not know how to handle the situation. Throughout most of the book, Julia was too shy to talk to Seth and waited for him to address her before speaking to him. Aside from her shyness, another aspect of Julia’s character was her kindness, which was shown through many events, including when she sent Seth a postcard reading ‘I’m sorry’ after his mother died. When Julia and her mother baked cookies, Julia sneaked a plate to Sylvia even though she was a real-timer and her mother disapproved. Although the slowing altered the events and experiences in Julia’s childhood, the one element of her adolescence it could not change was her personality and character.