Setting

The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima leave Calcutta, India and settle in Central Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Ganguli family lives in suburbs for most of their lifetime, until Gogol moves to the big city to follow his dream and meet the love(s) of his life. Gogol’s father also goes to Ohio, where he eventually dies of heart complications, to work for a college. The setting of the story (in the suburbs) may seem insignificant, but it actually was very important. By growing up in a close-knit society of mainly other Bengali families, Gogol and his little sister were not exposed to much of the outside world. I would consider living in this setting, mainly because I am close to it in retrospect now. Medium sized society in a quiet neighborhood and private school. I wouldn’t really change where I live, because I enjoy my current setting and I believe it is a good place to grow up. If the story had taken place back in India, Gogol’s life/name/friends/education would be completely different.

top 10 character list for Ravens Gate

The following list will be ten characters from the book placed from least (10) to favorite (1) each will have a brief explanation of why or why not I liked the character.

10. Gwenda Davis: She is Matt’s aunt and guardian who takes care of Matt and her boyfriend. Her attitude annoys me because it always seems like she does everything to her own benefit. She takes care of Matt and everything but she doesn’t really care for him at all.

9. Kelvin: this is Matt’s “friend” that talks him into steeling DVDs from a warehouse. After tripping the alarm and being caught by the security guard, Kelvin does the only thing he can do and stabs the security guard then was caught by the police. If Kelvin hadn’t done this, Matt would not have been but in the position to die from Ms. Deverill.

8. Miss Creevy: She makes me think of a hag looking person with the giant hairy mole on the side of her chin. She gives me the feeling of a typical witch and I strongly dislike her because she is so mysterious and seems so innocent.

7. Mrs. Deverills cat: This cat is very sneaky and follows Matt and Tom Burgess into a forest and is later killed. The creepiest thing about this cat is that the next day the cat showed up alive again and ready to kill.

6. Mrs. Deverill: She is the one who took Matt into her care for the LEAF project. She seems like a completely friendly person but then again she is the one who plotted the overall scheme.

5. Steven Mallory: He is the one who set Matt up with the leaf project. I like him because he was very nice to Matt and died trying to save him.

4. Tom Burgess: He met up with Matt in the forest and gave him a medallion that would allow Matt to see his way without it being obscured by the magic. He offers to help Matt escape but when Matt arrived at his house the next morning he was dead.

3. Matt: He of course is the main character and goes through a lot during the story. He is not number one only because he has a sour attitude sometimes and seems to do whatever he wants his way. Either way he is a good character and is one to be liked.

2. Sanjay Dravid: One of the coolest characters in the story, he is part of the Nexus which is a secret organization. He finds Matt on an internet IM chat box and meets with him later in the story. Unfortunately him just like every other character that helps him in the story dies.

1. Richard Cole: the very best character in the story. Starts out as a newspaper journalist for the city of Greater Malling. He meets Matt and is completely aghast by his story. Although he thinks it is completely made up he goes along with Matt and ends up helping him escape. After being caught in the Natural History Museum with a bunch of rogue skeleton dinosaurs, Matt fears the worst but in the end he was able to escape and he saves Matt.

Setting for Ravens Gate

The setting in Ravens gate played a very important part in the story. The story took place in the country during April and May. The author did a very thorough job describing the setting of the city of lesser Malling. He did this by giving a vivid picture to the reader about the image of the country side, it seemed very peaceful and nice as if to lure the reader into the trap that would make this story intense. I would not however enjoy being in the setting of the latter part of the story. Once Matt realizes what he has gotten into the story turns dark and frightening. The reader can feel like he is in the story. Roodmas is very important because that is when the witches were at their full power and were planning on taking control of everything. If the author had made the setting different it would have ruined the book. It needed to be exactly how it was for everything in the book to fall into place.

Red Badge of Courage

Henry is the hero of the book but my favorite character was Jim. He kept Wilson and Henry safe and like a wise old man. He was quiet and soft spoken and was basically an average man. He was intelligent and played a key role in the book. Henry and Wilson were the immature "kids" and were the loud ones. Henry wanted the fame and the girls, and Wilson was oppionatated. They both endured many painful aspects of life together and they became the closest friends. There were also other characters that infulenced book greatly. Henry's mom did not want him to enlist and that plays a role later in the book. In one part in the book Henry incounters a tatterted soldier and leaves him for dead and that bothers him throughout the book. All in all the characters in the book were influential in the story plot and inhanced the quality of the book.

Shannon O'Connor Scene: The Color Purple

Although a lot of the book The Color Purple was very sad I think the most moving and sad scene was at the very beginning when Celie was getting abused by her father. The book was started off with such a powerful scene which really shocked me. Even though it was very hard to read on after reading something so horrible you must because of the curiosity to find out what happens to this poor girl. "He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don't never git used to it. And now I feels sick every time I be the one to cook." (11)

Character Sketch

My first impression of Gogol Ganguli was actually when he was in the womb of his mother, Ashima Ganguli. The book, The Namesake, follows the life of Gogol Ganguli through his triumphs and despairs. Gogol doesn’t remind me of someone I personally know, but he could represent a general Indian- American boy, who ends up growing tired of life in suburbia and decides to rebel against his parents to possibly make himself a better life. Gogol Ganguli looks like a stereotypical Indian- American man: with dark hair, dark eyes, and tan skin. Each different character has a different type of interaction with Gogol. His father is his strict parent and teacher; Ashoke was in a serious train wreck before coming to the United States, and this affected his relationship with his son. His mother, Ashima Ganguli, is protective and loving of her son, she wants the best for him and she wants him to do the best he can in everything he does. His sister, Sonia, is his partner in crime. When they were little Sonia was his best friend and Gogol was also a major influence on Sonia. All of Gogol’s lovers fell head over heels for him, but eventually they all drifted away.

Outsiders by SE Hinton

Preston Crow

Experiences or memories

I thought the saddest scene in the book was when Bob was knifed by Johnny. In this scene, a few Socs jump Johnny and Ponyboy. Two of the Socs hold Ponyboy's head under the water in the fountain until he blacks out. He wakes up later with Bob's corpse sitting right next to him. Johnny tells Ponyboy what happened "I had to. They were drowning you, Pony They might have killed you"(57). They then decide to flee town. This was very sad because although Socs treat the greasers very bad, Bob still didn't deserve death. This scene shows how much Johnny cares about his friends and gang members because when someone messes with the youngest of the gang, he killed them. The significance of this scene is that the greasers are all close and will do what ever it takes to survive and over come the Socs.