Hannukkah Character Analysis

Jimmy knows too well the agonies of abandonment. First, when his mother, Cecilia, ran away with Richard to pursue a better lifestyle. Then, due to his father’s, Damacio Baca, alcoholisms and violent behavior; he also had to leave Jimmy behind. In spite of the drawbacks from abandonment to being a maximum security prisoner in Arizona State Prison, Jimmy preserver’s the darkness of prison by overcoming his illiteracy. However Cecilia and Damacio is not as fortunate as their child; Cecilia is shot by Richard after confronting him for a divorce and Damacio chokes to death after he is released from the detox center(Baca 263). Therefore the most significant event in this section of the memoir, A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca is the death of Jimmy’s parents.

Everyone is a product of past experiences, Vahan Kenderian is no different. Vahan was a  twelve-year-old child from a wealthy Armenian family living in Bitlis, Turkey during the Armenian genocide in the early 1900’s. Within a two day span, Vahan’s life begins to fall apart, his father is taken away from him, two of his brothers are killed in front of him, his grandmother is also killed, and his sister kills herself. Vahan and his older brother fortunately escape, but are forced to abandon their mother and sister. Vahan then begins his journey to flee to Constantipole. During his journey, he encounters many people along the way who teach him life lessons. Firstly, his father Sarkis Kenderian gives strength and guidance to Vahan. Secondly, Ara Sarkisian the coppersmith teaches Vahan that home is not made of materialistic things, it is a feeling and time takes away everything. Lastly, Selim Bey advises Vahan to worry about himself, and to pick and choose his friends carefully. Therefore, Sarkis, Ara and Selim teach Vahan the most through their interactions and change his character for the better.

In the book I can connect to some of the things in it. In life people have happy things happen and negative things happen. “Life throws too much crap at us as it is, so why hold onto something

Through help and hurt, throughout the novel, Vahan Kenderian an Armenian twelve-year-old boy, experiences all kinds of different emotions and encounters many different types of people. These people help him reach the end of the Armenian genocide. This novel first takes place at Bitlis, a province located near the far east of Turkey where mass amounts of Armenian people were located at the time. This genocide occurred during 1915 to 1918 and started because the Turkish government felt threatened by the Armenian people. Consequently, more than 1.5 million Armenians had perished and in 1918 the genocide had finally ended. Vahan being a very spoiled and vulnerable boy in the beginning of the book, meet various people that throughout his long journey help him change and grow in many traits he did not possess before. One of the many people that help Vahan grow as a person is Ara Sarkisian, the seventy-five-year-old Armenian coppersmith from Sivas, teaches Vahan that your real home isn't located anywhere else except for your own heart. In addition, a girl who lived with the German Consul named Seta not only showed Vahan how to truly love, however, also teaches him not to get attached or else you’ll end up getting hurt in the end. Lastly, one of the most important people in Vahan’s life would be his father Sarkis Kenderian. His father shows a full understanding of how being strong in this world will always let you prevail in the end. In conclusion, Ara Sarkisian helps Vahan

The protagonist, Vahan Kenderian, is a spoiled naive child who loses his family in the Armenian genocide and now he must go on his own journey that will last more than three years. He will have experienced more mental and physical pain than any other child his age. Vahan will encounter new people that will change his character for the better. Therefore, the three characters that Vahan meets and influences his character the most is Sarkis Kenderian, Selim Bey, and Mustafa.

“Everyone in society should be a role model, not only for their own self-respect, but for respect from others.” ~ Barry Bonds. In this world bad situations occur frequently and it takes a good strong person to handle them in a mature way. Dealing with them this way not only shows that the person has self-control, but also makes them a good role model for people to look up to. In the book The Chosen, Chaim Potok uses Mr. Galanter to express his opinions of a good role model. Acting as a baseball coach and gym teacher, young boys look to him for guidance and motivation every day. Having this kind of position causes stress at times, and requires him to stay calm and level headed. Throughout this book, Mr. Galanter

The protagonist Vahan Kenderian is a spoiled naive child who loses his family in the Armenian genocide and now he must go on his own journey that will last more than three years he will have been through more mental and physical pain than any other child his age. Vahan will encounter new people that will change his character for the better. Therefore, the three characters that Vahan meets and influences who he is the most is Sarkis Kenderian, Selim Bey and Seta.

The protagonist looks deep into her soul to grab her ancestry. This is what allows her to use her senses and find it in her every day bearing. The spirits of the ancestors roam the earth and go back up to that mountain where she originated from. It is because of them that she can still remember her culture, it lives within her and her surroundings. She is connected with the spirits and is unable to part with them, there is almost an interdependency with them.

I enjoyed the way the author wrote the book because it felt although you were right in that hospital room with Noreen. I couldn’t stop reading the book. There was something about it that made you have the urge to keep reading. I think that I mostly connect with Noreen. Like her, I am sort of a tomboy but still care about fashion. As she did in the book, I also fall into peer pressure sometimes. One of my favourite quotes in the book is Noreen’s father always saying ‘Olive’ instead of “ I’ll have”. Whenever her father said that it made her mother laugh. Even in the hardest times when Noreen got the disease, that made her laugh. Noreen was glad to see her mother laugh. Another favourite quote from the book was, “She thanks God every day.” That made me think that I don’t thank God enough for everything I

Its pretty hard to find a relation between me and the book, but I guess one of the relations is the people I hang around with. Before I moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, there were kids that were in my neighborhood who were generally nice people, but most of the time they would act in a really bad way and get into trouble. I knew how to stay away from them in situations like that and keep away from anything bad they were trying to do when it came to picking on others. I was able to become friends with one of the guys they were picking on, even though he was a few years younger than me we had a lot in common and were able to hang out most of the time. Now that I'm in PA, I don't really have that many friends because of the neighborhood and school

I was really excited when people told me there was romance, action, and adventure because they’re my favorite genres. But, I was disappointed when I read the first page. It’s 3rd person limited. I thought it would be a little harder to connect with the characters. However, as I kept rereading some lines and questioning the characters, it became easier for me to understand them. For example, Katsa, the main character of Graceling, written by Kristin Cashmore, musters up her courage to defy Randa because she could no longer tolerate him even though she was afraid to imagine what would happen next. Randa wanted others to fear him and to do that, he had Katsa torture people who didn’t listen to his orders. According to Susan Fisk, “empathy for another’s happiness and suffering depends fundamentally on recognizing that the other has a mind-that is, the same capacities for thought, emotion, desire, intention, and self-awareness as ourselves. I empathize with Bitterblue as she is strong facing hardships throughout the book.

Throughout this book, the struggle to come to terms with who she is in relation to these two different families. She never feels complete, fit in, or fully part pf the family after recapture and she has been separated from her Native American family. But there are moment when she remembers her life before the capture, and the memories help understand memories of her white family.

This book doesn't just make you think about your life in a different way, it makes you think about writing in a different way. There's so many little things in the book that were symbolically important, Art on the first day of school and how she would be working on making a tree different, not just a tree. You began to realize the more Melinda learned and the more Melinda went through, the more she began to understand the tree, the roots, and the dying leaves. There's many things in this book that are symbolically that you might not notice unless you analyze it in your own way.

"We get pulled out of our comfort zone to help shed our lukewarm nature, eventually trusting God in all of our circumstances"~Taryn Barnes

Frank is denied originally going to his first opportunity with a client and is shoed away until he finds the case of the vegetative girl.