Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson Author Comparison

These two authors, Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson both have their differences and similarities in their writing styles. Both of them though, wrote fantastic books. The two books that I like from them are Treasure Island (by Robert Louis Stevenson) and White Fang (by Jack London). The way both of the authors wrote both of these books is completely different. Robert, he added a lot of dialogue to the story. Jack on the other hand, narrated most of it to show the story as if we are just observing what is happening. Of course, no dialogue was really needed because it had a lot to do with the wolves. But very few times when there were people in the story he added dialogue. Robert wrote his book in the mind of Jim Hawkins and mostly followed him around the story since he was the main character. Jack London did the same thing but differently. There was no dialogue but the way he was explaining the scene made you feel like you weren’t in the mind of the main character but mostly right there watching the main character. Very similar, but different.

When I recently read White Fang I noticed the author made the main character grow and change its character rapidly through the book. I think the main character in Treasure Island grew, but his character didn’t really change that drastically. When I see a character growing and changing through the book it gets me excited to want to know what the ending is going to be like since the character changed so much. But, the characters don’t have to change in a bad way, they can also change in a good way. Like White Fang, he changed but towards the end of the book it was a good change.

I loved both of these books because the authors put in life lessons into the story. The life lessons were different in each of the books but I think that’s good. I love learning something while I’m reading a story. I also like seeing what the characters are emotionally going through because it makes me get really into the book. When authors really go into detail with their characters, it makes me happy. That’s because when you’re reading the story, you want to understand the character’s personality and their perspective.

I noticed that Jack London really described the setting a little more than Robert. It’s been a little while since I read Treasure Island, but I don’t exactly remember that much setting descriptions as much as I do with White Fang. But I think authors should go to a certain extend to explain the setting. There was this one book I was reading (I won’t mention a name) and the author would not stop explaining every little detail to the setting. That’s a great thing to do but when it gets to a few pages long it gets the reader yawning. People want to know what is going on with the characters more than the setting. That’s my opinion. But when I read White Fang, it was an equal amount of explaining the setting, and following the character’s story. That is the type of writing style that I like. Robert Louis Stevenson didn’t really go into that much detail with the setting so it kind of got me working with my imagination on what the setting could look like because there were a lot of possibilities. I like that writing style as well. It gives you enough information to the point where not everything is laid out for you and you can use your imagination.

Overall, I love both of the authors and I love both of those books. They are different, but they are a good different. I think it’s a good idea to open yourself up to new and different authors so that you can read different writing styles. Sometimes, I tend to stick to my favorite authors but in my English class, it kind of forces me to read outside of my little bubble of authors. Yes, you might not like some of the books and writing styles (trust me I’ve been there) but it’s a good thing to experience.

Book of the Month: White Fang

 

Here is my first post for my new series! So as you can probably guess by the title of the new button on my blog or this post, I will be reading books and the book I finish within the month I will write a review about it! I love reading and so I thought this would be a fun thing for me to do on my blog. So lets jump right into this short book review on what I thought about White Fang.

To me, at first the book started out kind of slow. There were two men that had a pack of sled dogs and they were out in the wilderness when they realized that they were slowly losing their pack. The men later realized that there was a wolf close by that collected all the dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs died. That was the introduction to this book that was all about wolves.

Getting further into the book there was a newborn named White Fang and he went through many struggles throughout the story. He was originally with his mother but they got separated and that was just one of the toughest areas of his life. He moves through tribes and gets bought, and throughout this he is slowly disliking the humans. But yet, he still stayed loyal to them because he thought that that was his duty.

One thing that made me cringe throughout the book was the amount of animal cruelty. It's very sad to know that the incidents that happened in this story, happen all the time in real life. For example, White Fang gets bought by this man named Beauty Smith. But, Beauty Smith did not purchase him for the right reasons. This evil man bought White Fang to force him in fights with other dogs. That had him making money because of the bets that people would make. During this time is when White Fang was at his most vicious state. He would rip his opponents apart and win every time. But I knew that that was only because he was forced to be like that.

During that part of the story is when I least liked it. I love all animals and its terrible to picture them going through that torture. Luckily, there was a man that saved White Fang from no longer fighting.

I'm not going to tell you any details on the story or what the ending was like but all I can say is that I did like the ending. White Fang had a pleasant ending with many people there to support him. I loved how the wolf's character changed throughout the book. Personally I think from all the tough and terrible times White Fang went through, he definitely deserves that happy ending.

I'll let you read the book and find out what happy ending White Fang received and how he got there. I think that it showed that even though your life may seem tough right now there's always a way to turn it around and there will be positivity coming your way in the future. White Fang went through a lot, and I think some of the things were not so positive, but there were kind people who came into his life that changed that. I also think that it shows how smart the animals are and we should give them more credit. If you got the chance to read this book let me know your thoughts on it by commenting on this blog post! Thanks for reading!!

The Louisiana Purchase/Lewis and Clark

The Louisiana Purchase is probably one of the events that really got our country growing. The United States gained so much territory just from that one purchase. It all started with Napoleon Bonaparte. He is mostly known for his amazing role in ruling France and most of Europe. But Napoleon wanted to expand even more to the point where he wanted to move over to North America. So during this time he gained French territory there. But at some point in time, he decided to sell it.

At first, Napoleon originally just wanted to sell New Orleans. But, he decided later to sell the WHOLE Louisiana Territory. When he did decide to sell it two men came to represent the United States to negotiate purchasing the territory. Those men were Robert Livingston and James Monroe. It took quite a lot of money to buy the land. Napoleon negotiated with them to sell the territory $0.03 per acre. The total cost added up to be around $15,000,000. But, there was a ton of land so they got what they paid for. Purchasing this land was one of the best decisions the United States ever made. Even though it was very successful getting all the territory they weren’t very familiar with the area so they need further exploring to understand all of it.

So, Thomas Jefferson appointed a man named Meriwether Lewis to go on this expedition not only to explore the new land they gained but to find a continuous waterway to the Pacific Ocean. He went on that journey but not alone. Yes he had other men but he also brought along a friend of his named William Clark to explore with him on this great expedition. They were the main men that led this trip. This journey didn’t just take a couple months but a couple years. Luckily, not many people got injured or sick except 1 man.

They went on to explore this vast land but they were not the only ones in the area. There were many different tribes of Indians scattered all over the place. Many were not so welcoming but there was one lady that was of great use to the men. She is well known to this day as their navigator but she did much more than just that. Her name was Sacagawea. Unlike the other Indians she and her family (her husband and child) welcomed them. Sacagawea wanted to come along with them on their journey not only to navigate them to where they needed to go but to also be a translator. Yes, this was North America and most people spoke English but the native tribes all spoke different languages. So if the men had questions on the direction they needed to go they would ask some of the tribes. Sacagawea translated the languages for them so they would understand. This was great help to them.

Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful on finding a continuous waterway to the Pacific but they did discover the great ocean. A lot of people would look at this expedition as very unsuccessful but I don’t think so at all. The men were able to make acquaintances with the native tribes and explore the massive land that the United States gained. Since this was another totally different area compared to where the 13 colonies are located there were also a lot of different wildlife that were spotted. Like prairie dogs, grizzly bears and more.

Since there was a ton of area that the United States gained from the Louisiana Purchase they decided to break it up just like they did with the states in New England. So they achieved creating most of the western states that many people live around today like,

Arkansas

Texas

Oklahoma

Louisiana

North and South Dakota

Nebraska

Iowa

Kansas

Colorado

Wyoming

Missouri

Minnesota

New Mexico

Montana

So, to me I think that that expedition was extremely successful and necessary for our country to grow to what it is today. I think without the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, and the expedition that Lewis and Clark went on, it would have taken longer (and maybe not at all) for the United States to gain that land.

Income Overtime

I don’t personally have a continuous stream of income but I am going to give an example of what it would be like if I got $25 a week for 6 months.

So if I started a job this month that paid me $25 a week at first it wouldn’t seem like much but me being the person I am, I would save it up. So the cash would sooner or later start piling up. For one month I would be receiving $100. So that means that I would get $100 a month. Of course there would be taxes involved but that’s just a rounded estimate. If I saved every penny I earned for 6 months I would end up having $600! That’s a lot compared to the $25 I received on my first week of the job.

Basically, in order to become successful with your money is to have patience. Trust me, I don’t have a ton of patience but when I handle money (personally) it’s different. I’m most likely always going to be saving up for something. Like right now, even though I don’t have constant income, I’m saving up for a camera. Luckily I just reached my goal and I will be purchasing that soon. But it doesn’t happen that quickly. It took me a whole year to save up for the high end camera I wanted. That’s not even that long compared to other higher priced things that you’ll save up for in the future (like a car for example). So you HAVE to have some sort of patience. There was times during that year that I wanted the camera pronto but I had to keep reminding myself that I will get there…..Just not with a snap of my fingers.

Going back to the job example. I think if someone was getting $25 a week and was spending the cash right when they got it in their hands they would be very unsuccessful. How are you going to get anywhere if you’re spending all your money right away? It would be extremely bad if you were buying things that you want all the time. Want is different than need. If you want to buy a new video game but you have to get a new textbook for school, DON’T buy the video game! You’ll buy the video game and end up having to save more money to purchase the thing that you needed. I’m not saying don’t get anything that pleasures you but don’t do it on an everyday basis.

I know that when I become old enough to get a job I am going to do the best I can to save up instead of burning a hole through my pocket.