Jen Hair - Writing Portfolio

American Born Chinese  by Gene Luen Yang is not a book I would normally read. Truthfully, I am not fond of the graphic novel format – I feel distracted and disconnected trying to follow along.  This book was easier to follow than other graphic novels I’ve read in the past; I did not feel so overwhelmed by words and action while reading.   From the start, it is clear that Jin lives on the fringe of both cultures – American and Chinese.  He is the only child of highly educated professional Chinese immigrants.  Jin lives first nine years in an apartment on the edge of Chinatown in San Francisco, a place where most people look like him and come from similar backgrounds.  On Saturday mornings all the boys in his building come to his house to watch American Cartoons and dream American dreams of what they will be when they grow up.  His parents are firmly rooted in tradition and expose him to those aspects of Chinatown also.  At age 10, he moves to the suburbs, and for the first time is diffe

     Monster  by Walter Dean Myers is a hard book to read.  I felt confused, upset, sickened, and disconnected on many different levels, but perhaps that was Myers goal when he was writing the book, to keep the reader feeling as confused and off kilter as young Steve does as he faces his incarceration and trail. Myers uses multiple modes of narration and points of view to share the story.       Switching between forms, employing elements from both screenplays and memoirs as the story progresses, Myers keeps readers continually re-evaluating what they are reading and how they feel about the events. This technique allows the reader to understand that Steve is human, with feelings and capable of self-reflection and hopefully growth, while also experiencing the powerlessness Steve feels as the reader views the events through the lens of a screenplay. These changes in form both distract the reader and help to create layers of texture to the story, ultimately engaging the reader on many diff

                     “Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.” (Collins 21)      Katniss Everdeen has suffered great loss and tragedy in her sixteen years of life. Her father died in a tragic accident when she was young, leaving her to assume the caretaker role for her mother and younger sister. She spends her days roaming to the forbidden woods to hunt and forage, honing her skills and becoming a great huntress and outdoorswoman. Facing such hardship in her young life, Katniss becomes a stoic individualist, with a strong moral code, skills, and cunning all which contribute to her success in the Hunger Games (Jansen 31).       Katniss displays strengths that have been traditionally attributed to males, simultaneously undermining and redefining the weakness most often associated with classic female stereotypes. Laura Burdine argues that Katniss’s story is that of a “heroine whose perseverance, resilience, compassion, and self-discovery yield the rare capability to ex

Male characters in the Harry Potter books, significantly outnumber female characters. By the end of the seven-book series, that ratio is almost two to one (Heilman 141). This statistic may cause readers to wonder why J.K. Rowling, a female author, would not highlight females more throughout the series. Hermione Granger, the leading female heroine in Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, exhibits strong feminist traits, however, her contributions are often minimalized due to her implied role as Harry’s trusted aide. As such, Hermione uses her knowledge and skill to further Harry’s journey, but not necessarily her own. (Sörensen). While she is portrayed as an advisor, Hermione truly embodies qualities of the Huntress archetype. Hemione is autonomous, independent, adventurous, courageous, and is comfortable with who she is (Micallef). She models having healthy self-esteem and is willing to take risks to reach her goals (Cramer). Hermione plays a big part in many of Harry’s victor

Louis Sachar's novel Holes details a young man’s journey to find himself.  Stanley Yelnats, a likable yet unlucky young man, finds himself convicted of a crime he did not commit and sentenced to 18 months at Camp Green Lake where “if you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy” (Sachar 5). Stanley arrives at camp, weak in both mind and body, to serve his time. Through facing many trials, Stanley ultimately finds that he has become strong enough to trek through a desert, outwit the criminal warden while solving a hundred-year-old mystery, and save the life of his best friend. When asked how he ended up at Camp Green Lake, Stanley blames his “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather” (Sachar 57). Mr. Pendanski, the camp counselor, corrected him: “You’re the reason you are here. You're responsible for yourself. You messed up your life, and it's up to you to fix it. No one else is going t