After Re reading banana fish with my goggles on I found an understood the story from a different perspective. On page 15 Mrs. carpenter said “Mommy’s going up to the hotel to have a martini with Mrs.Hubbel… Set loose Sybil”(15).  Mrs. carpenter left Sybil on the beach alone while she went to drink a martini with her friends.  Leaving Sybil on the beach alone at such a young age is very dangerous.  Since her mom was absent in her life a lot Sybil looked for other people to talk to.  She met Seymour glass at the beach.  Like Sybil they both like to get out of the “lines”.  This line explains that Sybil needs to be noticed in her life so she looks upon to strangers for help.  This quote lets me explain as the reader that Seymour is Sybil’s “parent” even though he is much older than hat would be considered normal.  Sybil went outside the hotels beach much like Seymour goes outside the road lines.  This represents the breaking of boundaries on a figurative and physical level.

-Matt Rossi

A perfect day for Bananafish

"Well. In the first place, he said it was a perfect crime the Army released him form the hospital-my word of honor. He very definitely told your father theres' a chance-a very great chance, he said-that Seymour may completely lose control of himself. My word of honor" (Page 6). This is a key line in the story because it allows the reader to understand that Seymour should not have been released from the Army hospital and will eventually loose control. Something happened while he was in the war and ever since he came back he has had "issues". The mother was very sure of herself when saying this because she kept repeating "my word of honor". This helps the reader understand the story because it reveals that something happened in the war while Seymour was there and ever since he experienced it he hasn't been the same. He realized he is alone because his wife, Muriel, doesn't want to learn more about him and Sybil left him "outside the white lines" due to the fact that she was only two years old.

"See more glass," said Sybil Carpenter, who was staying at the hotel with her mother. "Did you see more glass?" "Pussycat, stop saying that. It's driving Mommy absolutely crazy. Hold sill, please" (page 14). This is a key line in the story because it shows the youthfulness of Sybil. What she means to say is "have you seen Seymour Glass" but since Sybil is so young and innocent she could not pronounce the words correctly and her mother did not know that Sybil was talking about a sexual predator. If the mother had known about what the daughter was really trying to say; She would most likely not have let her go and run free. Since the daughter did say this like a child, it changed the entire story and resulted in Seymour committing suicide.

"He said that the poems happen to be written by the only great poet of the century. He said i should've bought a translation or something. Or learned the language, if you please"
This is an important quote because we start to see a different side of Seymour here. The whole time we think that he is an old man, child pervert. This quote shows us a different side of him. He really cared about poetry and it being in german brought back a little memory from his time in the war that he wanted to share with Muriel. She shot him down and made him feel bad about it so he goes off and tries to find someone who cares. This quote meant something to me because while people are only seeing one side, the whole other side is, he bonds with Sybel because of their lack off attention from loved ones.

This quote explained some confusion we have when we are learning. Making mistakes is actually promotes ones to improve. When we are making mistakes we find out our deficiency which gives us the opportunities to progress. As long as we "being wrong for the right reasons", we should allow ourselves making mistakes. Just like Milo, many students are confusing about the purpose in learning all those new ‘useless’ things in school. Actually, the "useless" things are useful. Whatever you learned has developed your integrated ability and gave you opportunities that you might need in the future. In addition, studying offers you multiple perspectives viewing things and gives you a chance to access the world, showing you both the bright side and the dark side of this society.

Phantom Tollbooth Response

What does this piece of writing say about learning? How do you connect this piece to the expectations of this class?

This piece of writing talks about learning as an accumulative experience rather than just an event. The experience of learning is so important because whatever someone learns will eventually affect them even if it is in the slightest way. The point of learning is not however to be successful at everything that you attempt to learn. The point is to figure out how you learn and how it will affect you, along with many mistakes along the road. This piece also talks about how learning isn't some impossible thing to get to, in which no one can reach. To learn requires patience and diligence because all of learning is achievable even though you can't see it right away. This piece connects to the expectations in class because over the course of the year there are definitely going to be plenty of mistakes, but it is not about how many mistakes you have. It is about how you learn from those mistakes which will make you much more successful in the long run. Additionally, learning is a process which means it will take time so one should not expect to understand everything right away. 

Question- What does this piece of writing say about learning? How do you connect this piece to the expectations of this class?

In The Phantom Tollbooth it is talking a lot about learning. They talk about how important it is to learn from our mistakes and that we must never feel bad about making mistakes as long as we are taking from them. They also talk about how learning is not the only thing that is important, but it is important to learn what to do with what you have learned and learning why you learn these things. They mention that just like how when a housefly flaps its wings a breeze goes around the world, everything that we learn and do effects everything and everyone in the tiniest way. Whenever we learn something, the whole world becomes richer. It is also mentioned that everything we what to know and everywhere we want to go is just nearby. When we reach for the knowledge one day it will help us discover the secrets of tomorrow. In class we must do the same, learn from our mistakes, learn how to use our new knowledge and learn to make the world that much richer.