Sunday, September 15, 2013

Reading Response "The Elite"

Ione Saffady           804          Reading Response                     9/15

 



     The book "The Elite," by Kiera Cass is about a girl named America who is put in a competition to marry the prince.  By doing this she not only earns fame but wealth, comfort, and possibly her true love.   So what's the problem? To start fifteen girls are fighting for their chance to marry the prince. Secondly, America is torn between two guys, Maxon (the prince), Aspen (her old boyfriend), which only became a problem when he came to work at the castle.  A big lesson I learned from this book was that you never know what you have until its gone.
     An example of this in the book is when America gets into a fight with Maxon. He was in love with her and she took him for granted. On page 319 the king says, "What do you think of my wife? She's a rare woman.  Beautiful, obviously, and also humble.  Timid but not to the point of being cowardly. Obedient, good humored, and an excellent conversationalist. The same can not be said for you." This quote shows that the king lost respect in her.  The king’s respect is important to America because the king’s opinion is important to the prince. Before she lost his respect and the prince’s love she didn't even think about how much she cared. 
     Another example of this is when again when America takes Maxon for granted and thinks he will only love her. On page 256 America sees Maxon kissing one of the other contestants, Celeste. "Maxon was all but pinned to the wall by Celeste's body.  Her free hand was pressed to his chest, and her long leg was wrapped around his, the slit of her dress revealing her long leg, tinted slightly blue in the dining hall lighting. I kept waiting for him to tell her to get off, to tell her she wasn't what he wanted.  But he didn't." Before this moment America treated Maxon horribly.  She yelled at him for things he couldn't control and was constantly being mean to him because she new he would do anything for her. After this she realized that she if she really liked him she had to prove it to him and be nicer. 
     As you can see a big lesson in this book is not knowing what you have until it's gone.  This came up multiple times for instants, when America realizes she lost the respect of the king which she took advantage of before. Another example is when America sees Maxon with Celeste and realizes that she is jealous when Maxon is with other girls and she has to do something different before she loses him completely.  I predict that after America learns this lesson her life will change completely. she will try a lot harder to try her best to win the competition and Maxon's love. 

2 comments:

  1. Great theme and evidence to support it! You used plenty of quotations from the book and summarized perfectly. However, it would be more helpful to see why you chose these pages (to support the theme) if you included more of your personal thoughts/ elaborated on them. For example, for your first piece of evidence, you could have included details about why she took Maxon for granted or what their fight was about. Also, in your conclusion paragraph, try connecting this theme to the real world and your own experiences.

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  2. I liked the way you described the king's wife. very descriptive words. you also really supported your main idea all the way through in your whole response, although i agree with Jolene that you should put some opinion or connection to your life experiences. great job though

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