The Relationship Between Summer and her Dad in The Visibles

         In The Visibles, by Sara Shepard, the main character Summer has a very interesting and special relationship with her father. Her father is a man who becomes trapped in a downward spiral of depression and mental sickness after his wife (Summer's mother) deserts him with Summer and her brother, Steven. She wants him to have a good life, but gets nervous when he gets too happy. I think this is because she is scared of going back to way life was when her mother was around. Life when her mother was around was so frighteningly good that Summer is scared to feel a feeling that is burrowed so deep inside. An example of this is when her father fell in love with a nurse at the mental hospital and planned to move in with her, Summer questioned the move. Her father was in a fragile condition, but he was getting better because he met Rosemary (the nurse). Still, Summer didn't really want them to have a relationship because the exhilarating yet terrible feeling of happiness would resurface and cause all new kinds of change for Summer. Another display of Summer's relationship with her father is that even though she gets nervous when he gets happy, she is fiercely protective of him. When her father was getting electroshock therapy for his mental illness, a bunch of rowdy men were playing basketball beneath the building where the treatment was being administered, and Summer was able to hear all the vulgar and raucous shouting. She then visualized herself walking downstairs into the basketball court and shouting at the men for disturbing her father. She imagines cracking one of the men's skull open and just watching the blood trickle into the concrete. She feels like she is the only person her father has left and thus, she has to take care of him. These are two out of many examples of Summer's fascinating relationship with her father.
         Firstly, Summer has an interesting relationship with her father because even though she wants her father to have a good life and be happy, she gets really frightened when he gets too happy. An example is when her father found himself falling for a woman who took care of him at the mental hospital he stayed at and ends up moving in and starting a new life with her, Summer disapproves. "'I-we-decided today. I've asked her to come with me.' I laughed. 'What, as your nurse?' It just slipped out. A stiff silence followed. 'I'm sorry,' I backpedaled. 'I just... I don't quite understand. This is all a little sudden. I mean, what, you couldn't have just met the person- she's, what, an aide?- more than a month ago, right? That's the last time we really talked. Don't you think it's a little soon?'" This piece of textual evidence showed me that Summer also believes that her father is simply incapable of being happy, and even loving another person. I believe Summer acts like this because she, herself, is scared of things being happy and being okay. For most of her life, she wasn't okay. Her mother left the house when she was just starting out adolescence and she never saw her again. This feeling has become so unfamiliar and strange that it has burrowed deep down inside of her, afraid to let a decade of complex emotions just rush out like an ocean. If her father was happy, that would automatically make her happy, and that would cause her whole entire life to be simply flipped upside down.
         Another example of how Summer and her father's relationship is so intriguing is because Summer can be very overprotective of him at times. Like I said previously, Summer is sort of terrified of her father being happy, yet he is her father so she can be extremely protective of him. An example of this is when her dad is undergoing electroshock treatment for his depression because all the medication he took never seemed to work. On the sidewalk in front of the building where the treatment is being given, there are a group of plebeian men playing basketball in the heat. They are being very vulgar and rude, and Summer has this huge vision of her hurting the men. "...I pictured the brick hitting his head and cracking it open. I saw him falling awkwardly, a pool of blood running from his head, his greasy face contorted, the other men flocked around him." I feel this is because her and her father are the only two people they've really got. Her mother left, her brother is often absent in an attempt to get away from his messed-up family life, and her distant family in Cobalt, Pennsylvania barely cares about them anymore. They are attached to each other, and because of this no matter what, they will never stop loving each other.
         In conclusion, I found Summer's relationship with her father to be the most fascinating in the entire book. It was so dynamic and incredible that it moved me greatly. Summer won't let anyone really mess around with her father, yet when it comes to his happiness, it's questionable. But often, the way Summer acts is deeply psychological. She won't let her father of herself be happy because it will flood her with feelings that she had thought she'd forgotten. That would cause an absolute mess, bringing back 10 years of anguish and sorrow, so Summer obviously does not want to do that. She is protective of her father because he is the only person who will stay by her side no matter what. Everybody else has ostracized them, and they only have each other. But all in all, I enjoyed the book and I especially enjoyed the relationship between Summer and her father.
        
        
      

Cut by Patricia McCormick

         In the book Cut, by Patricia McCormick, the main character Callie makes a decision to speak up to her therapist and in group therapy. The book Cut is about a girl, Callie, who cuts herself. She gets an adrenaline high from cutting herself, and she is sent to a treatment facility called Sea Pines, filled with girls struggling with their own problems, such as substance abuse and eating disorders. Callie wants nothing to do with them, and is mute for most of her stay. But many difficult events happen to Callie, and she realizes that she has no choice but to speak up. For example, a girl in Callie’s group nearly starves herself to death and a girl who cuts herself comes to Sea Pines. Callie grows to love Sea Pines, and she begins to think of it as a sanctuary, even a home: “‘Well.’ A sort of smile passes over her face. ‘I’m glad you came back.’ ‘Me too.’ I suddenly mean this with all my heart.” Callie’s antagonist, though she didn’t know it, was her voice, and she made an arduous decision to speak up and use the unknown power of her speech.

         There were many things that influenced Callie to speak, but mostly there were two very important things. One of the important things was Becca, an anorexic, dysfunctional girl who had a heart attack. Callie had witnessed Becca vomiting in the bathroom, but she never told anyone. Callie had finally been talking to her therapist, and that was a big milestone of accomplishment for her, but she still hadn’t spoken up in Group. Becca’s caretaker Debbie became very melancholy and thought it was all her fault that Becca nearly died, Callie finally speaks: “Debbie turns to look at me. “‘What did you say?’ she whispers. ‘It’s not your fault,’ I say. ‘About Becca.’” She became very concerned for Becca’s health and she regretted not telling the members of her group. Something snapped inside of Callie. Another thing that helped Callie was her therapist: Callie’s therapist was the one person she really confided in at her stay in Sea Pines, and she was a huge source of encouragement. She said her voice was really not her archenemy, but really her friend:  “‘But Callie.’ Your voice is so quiet; I have to stop counting a minute to hear it. ‘You’d have so much more power… if you would speak’” Her therapist made her more confident at Sea Pines. Callie’s difficult decision of speaking up was made possible by her therapist and Becca’s health decline.

        The decision that Callie made to speak drastically changed her life. It changed her life because Callie became more sanguine at Sea Pines. She felt more comfortable and made friends with her roommate Sydney and a bashful anorexic girl named Tara. She got depressed at one point and nearly cut herself again, but she ended up giving the piece of metal to her therapist. She wanted to get better and go back to her old reality: “‘I want to get better.’ My dad starts patting his pockets like he’s looking for something. But I know he’s just trying to do something so he doesn’t cry.” If Callie hadn’t chosen to speak, she would still be maltreating herself and not being very productive. She would eventually “graduate” from Sea Pines, but she would still cut herself, and sooner or later maybe she could have met her demise if she kept on doing that. So the decision Callie made to speak changed her life in a positive way.

          Callie’s decision had a very big impact on her peers. When she was speaking to Debbie, she convinced Debbie that it really wasn’t her fault and she didn’t need to feel so guilty. She really rescued Debbie from staying Sea Pines for an extended amount of time because grief. Also, even though Callie had been too miserable to notice, not only her therapist wanted her to speak. People in her group like Tara and Sydney were trying to encourage her to not cut herself and to speak: “Sydney sighs. ‘Just don’t, you know… please don’t hurt yourself.’ Tears, warm and sudden, sting the corners of my eyes, but I don’t cry” People in group were really rooting for Callie all the way, but she didn’t really feel sentimental about Sea Pines until the end. Her group members never excluded Callie and they wanted to help her as much as her therapist did. They were very dedicated and were happy when she decided to speak. So, Callie’s decision to speak really impacted her group members’ lives.

          In the book Cut, by Patricia McCormick, the main character Callie makes a labored decision to speak to her group members. Her decision impacted her life and her peers, and the decision was influenced by so many people. Even though throughout the book Callie is a character who is oblivious to what could really happen to herself if she kept on cutting herself and didn’t speak. By the end, even though she didn’t really state it, she’s more aware because she gives her therapist the strip of metal. She doesn’t want to be that person. In conclusion, Callie made onerous decision to talk at Sea Pines.

Analyzing Characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

            In the book A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, there are many interesting and fascinating characters. The one character that I found to be the most intriguing was Helena, one of the lovers in the play. I found Helena interesting because no one actually loves her. Her best friend, Hermia, really only likes Helena because Helena calls her beautiful constantly and idolizes her. The man she loves, Demetrius, doesn't love her back and loves her best friend Hermia. Demetrius has these monologues where he's just expressing his hatred for Helena and he draws his sword upon her several times in the play as well. Lysander is constantly annoyed with Helena because all she does is mope around about how Demetrius doesn't love her. I was also interested in Helena because she will do anything for love from Demetrius. She has this one line where she is simply laying her heart to Demetrius, saying "I am your spaniel, and Demetrius, the more you beat me I will fawn on you. Spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me, only give me leave unworthy as I am to follow you". If she was his dog, and he beat her constantly, she would be happy just because she would be in his life. Helena is just as beautiful as Hermia, if not more, yet no one loves Helena, and even by the end of the play you know that no one ever will.
          One of the reasons that I found Helena intriguing is because no one loves her. Helena is a beautiful woman, and it is known. In the first act, Helena says, "Through Athens I am thought as fair as she". Yet Helena is not thought of very highly in Athens by anyone, even though she is very pretty. She lost her virginity before she got married to Demetrius, who left her afterwards. For a woman in that time period to do that is extremely scandalous. Hermia and Helena's relationship is very interesting. They are best friends and they have known each other since childhood, yet Helena just compliments Hermia over and over and that is their friendship. There are countless monologues where Helena is just being so frustrated about Hermia being so beautiful. Hermia doesn't really do anything to help Helena, and kind of just has this "Yeah I'm pretty, and you're just going to have to deal with it" attitude. Lysander finds Helena so annoying because whenever he wants to get with Hermia, Helena is in the way sobbing about her life. He finds her melodramatic yet very monotonous at the same time. And biggest of all, Demetrius doesn't love Helena. He loves Hermia and wishes to marry her. Helena wants him so amazingly bad, yet he will never ever love her. No one loves Helena. Demetrius has to be put under a spell to love Helena. I find this very interesting about the character of Helena.
          Another reason I find Helena so interesting is because she will do anything for love, specifically from Demetrius. In one scene where she is chasing Demetrius throughout the woods, and he takes out his sword and points it at her. Helena yells, "Stay, though thou kill me sweet Demetrius". This describes the painful love that Helena is experiencing in the play. Even if Demetrius plunged his sword into her heart it would be okay, because she loves him. This situation is so hopeless about how Helena would literally go to the ends of the earth just to be in the presence of one man. And what makes the situation even worse is that Helena lost her virginity to Demetrius, and he just left her without saying a word after. She had basically given up her purity and a good reputation just to be with Demetrius, who was probably drunk through the whole thing. And in the play, Demetrius is just absolutely terrible to her.  He threatens to leave her alone in the dangerous woods of Greece and even threatens her life multiple times. He blames her for losing her virginity to him, practically saying she was stupid to go and be with him because he will never ever love her. And even at times, he'll play with her mind a little bit because he knows she is completely in love with him and will do whatever he wishes, which I believe is the worst part. Helena will do anything in the world just to make this egotistical, cruel man love her. And he never will.
            In conclusion, I think Helena is one of the most interesting characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream because of how desperate and unloved she is. No one in Athens truly loves her. Most people think of her of as a disgrace because she slept with a man before she got married. Her best friend, Hermia, only hangs around with her because Helena showers her in compliments. Hermia never actually gives Helena any good advice about the predicament she's in, only accepts Helena's compliments by apologizing for being so beautiful. Hermia's lover, Lysander, doesn't like Helena either. Helena interrupts Lysander and Hermia's relationship constantly with all her problems, and this obviously angers Lysander. And the man Helena is so much in love with does not love her back. He, in fact, hates her with a fiery passion. Another reason I found Helena so fascinating was because she will do anything for love from Demetrius. Demetrius is simply terrible to her. He does not treat Helena the way she deserves to be treated at all, yet Helena never stops loving him any less. All in all, I think the character of Helena from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare is very intriguing for these reasons.

Symbolism in Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

In the book Bruiser by Neal Shusterman a very prominent theme is seeing life with “blinders” on or seeing life with these “blinders off.  Horses have these blinders to keep them from seeing everything. On people these blinders are nonexistent, but in ways they are much more powerful than the blinders on a common horse. As Brontë, one of the main characters explains, “Most of the time we don’t even know they’re there. Maybe we need them though, though, because if we took in everything at once we’d lose our minds.” Brontë is trying so hard to keep her blinders on and shutting her eyes away from the horrific truth, whereas Brewster (another main character) has seen the world for what it truly is. This theme kept on popping up discreetly over and over again in Brontë’s and Brewster’s actions and thoughts. So I think that the theme of living life with the blinders on versus off is very important in the book Bruiser by Neal Shusterman.

A way that this theme shows is through one of the characters, Brontë. Brontë tries so hard to keep her blinders on and in doing so she completely denies all her problems. “‘No! They’re not getting divorced! They worked things out! They’re happy!’” The “they” that she is talking about is her parents, and they are on the verge of divorce and her mother is already seeing another man. Also, Brontë never fully realizes the consequences of her actions. For example,  Brontë will introduce Brewster to all her friends and he will begin to care about them, causing him agony because he takes other people’s emotional and physical pain away from the people he cares about. So you can see two ways of how the theme of having the blinders on versus off is shown in Brontë because she is trying so desperately to keep her blinders on and seeing reality.

            A different side of the blinders theme is shown in Brewster whose blinders are fully off. He sees the world in an entirely realistic perspective and he realizes reality while others, like Brontë, refuse to accept it. “… Who have devolved into Play-Doh pumped through sleazy suburban press, stamped into identical molds, all bearing chunks of bleak ice, comet-cold in their chests.” He sees straight through all the heartless people while other people will worship them as if they were magical, filled to the brim with mystical powers of only good. The theme of the blinders is also shown in another way through Brewster.

              In conclusion, the theme of living life with these protective blinders on and on was a reoccurring theme in the book Bruiser by Neal Shusterman. As Brontë will state, “Can you imagine how terrifying it must be to suddenly realize that everything you believe about the universe was wrong? Most people don’t realize how terrifying that is until their world is the one being threatened.” Brontë clutches her “blinders” tight to her face whereas Brew’s blinders are off and he sees straight through every phony thing. So I believe that the theme of having blinders on versus off was a very prominent theme in the book Bruiser by Neal Shusterman.

The Theme of Love in Born Confused

              In the book Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier, the theme of love is seen in three different perspectives. Dimple's mother believes that love is something that will connect you to that person for the rest of your life and it is a sacred holy thing. Dimple believes that love is a powerful and terrifying thing that sweeps you off your feet into a whole new world for the better or the worse of you. And Dimple's best friend Gwyn believes that love is something that barely exists and it is very rare. She also believes that false love is found all around. The way the book showed love in these three perspectives made me think about love in my life. I love my family and my friends, and I agree with all three of these perspectives. I believe that love can change your life and it is sacred, I believe that it is a terrifying thing that can switch your world upside down for better or worse, and I also believe that love nowadays is a rare yet beautiful thing. These three characters are all very different and their ideas on love are very different, yet I believe that one thing that all their beliefs have in common is that love is powerful. Love alters so many things in a person's life that it's breath-taking. Born Confused really expresses that in a wonderful way.
         Gwyn in Born Confused is Dimple's best friend. She and Dimple are so close that they are practically sisters. Yet Gwyn and Dimple are very different in the way that Gwyn has been used all her life for her body, and not her soul. Gwyn is a gorgeous girl, being described in the book to have lustrous blond curly hair and radiant blue eyes. Yet in the story, Gwyn dates guys who just use her for her body and she falls for every single one of them. And when they leave her, she gets extremely upset because she felt as though she has given something up all for a waste. She is anti-love, and sometimes even feels that love itself is a complete waste. Yet in spite of that, she continues to search for love, giving up her body and soul only to have it being used and wasted in the end. Dimple and her mother have both never been used like that, so obviously they have different perspectives about love comparing to Gwyn's view on love. Gwyn's perspective made me very sad, because she is only 16 and is a full grown woman in her soul because of the way she has been treated all her life. I think that possibly, sadly, Gwyn will have this outlook on love for all her life because of the way she acts.
            Dimple is the main character in Born Confused and she has just turned 17, which means she is thinking an awful lot about the life she has ahead of her. Part of that life includes getting an arranged marriage, which Dimple will comply to even though she may not be entirely happy with it. Dimple believes that as part of her womanhood, she should fall in love. This scares Dimple though, because Dimple has never been in love because her strict Indian parents forbade her to have a boyfriend or any type of companionship with a boy at all. Dimple is always surrounded by love: her parents love each other deeply, Gwyn falls for practically every boy around her, and her cousin Kavita has fallen very deeply in love with her roommate, Sabina. Dimple kind of reminds of Juliet in the beginning of  Romeo and Juliet in this way. Juliet sees love all around her, and when her parents arrange her to marry Paris, she agrees, because she is naive in the way she has never been in love before. Dimple wants love to happen to her so she can continue on with her life and be happy, yet love terrifies her because she has so little experience with love and she sees how powerful love can be.
          Dimple's mother always wants the best for what she thinks for Dimple. She wants Dimple to get good grades in subjects like math and science so she can be successful one day, and she wants Dimple to have an arranged marriage with another Hindu Indian boy. She wants Dimple to be confidant about being Indian, to have pride for her nationality, and to be a faithful Hindu also. Dimple's mother has an amazing relationship with Dimple's father that even though their relationship may not be shown as much or be as physical, their love is overpowering enough to last across an ocean and raise a child. Because of this love Dimple's mother shares with Dimple's father, she believes that love is a sacred holy thing that will connect you to that one person for the rest of your life. Dimple's mother believes that even if you stopped loving someone years and years ago, the love will still be there because once, that spark was special and it was sparkling. I personally think this is the best perspective of love to have. To know that love is something so special that it is holy and that love never runs out no matter how you may feel about the person is something so beautiful and tender. I wish all people could have that belief.
           In conclusion, three very different perspectives on love are shown in Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier. The first one is by Dimple's best friend, Gwyn, and her perspective on love is that love is very rare and it barely exists. False love is also found everywhere. The second perspective on love is from Dimple's mother, and that is that love is a sacred hallowed thing in which you are connected to that specific person for life no matter what. And the third perspective on love is from Dimple herself, in which love is a terrifying powerful thing. I agree with all three of these perspectives and I love how the author incorporated all of them into the book. I personally love Dimple's mother's view on love the most because it is so moving and gentle. If all people could see the wat Dimple's mother does about love, the world be a much better place.

The Issue of Identity in Born Confused

           In the book Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier, the main character, Dimple Lala, is an Indian girl who has an extremely strict Hindi family. But living in New Jersey and seeing the "American" lifestyle makes her wonder about who she really is as a person. Her parents want her to be an obedient desi girl who gets good grades and will go into an arranged marriage, yet Dimple does not wish to do that at all. Also, Dimple is very insecure of her ethnicity, with her large hips and brown skin. Dimple idolizes her best friend, Gwyn, for she is blond and pale and skinny. Dimple has trouble accepting herself, and she is struggling to identify herself as an American or an Indian. The American part of her is rebellious and free, yet the Indian part is bone-crushing reality, in which Dimple has to abide by her parents strict rules. Dimple knows that not all American people are good people, but there seems to be such a glamorous quality about the people to her. Dimple isn't quite sure what category she falls under either, considering she is Indian, but living permanently in America. Yet all in all, the book Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier says a lot of the issue of identity.
          The first part of Dimple Lala's identity crisis is that Dimple wishes to be American so she can fit in in New Jersey at her high school. The so-called "All-American Golden Girl" is a girl with blond hair and blue eyes plus a slim figure. There are only 2 Indian kids in her entire school, so Dimple is often sadly an outcast among her peers. On her birthday, Dimple goes shopping for clothes with her mother as a tradition. Dimple insists on going into a trendy new store called Style Child that her best friend Gwyn often goes to. In Style Child, Dimple sees a white studded miniskirt that she falls in love with. But when Dimple tries on a size 0 and does not fit into it, she gets very upset and keeps telling herself that she has to fit into a size 0 although it is completely unrealistic for any 17 year old to be able to fit into a size 0. When Dimple finally discovers that she will not be able to fit into the skirt, she breaks down crying and gets very displeased. Dimple's situation is something many girls everywhere have experienced, yet Dimple's was to be a certain race. This shows Dimple's confusion with her identity and her longing to be something else but knowing that she can't.
            Another problem Dimple has with her identity is that she struggles figuring out whether she is Indian or American. She visited India when she was little but she can barely recall any memories from those trips. She has lived in America all her life and is friends with American people and has dated American men. Yet both her mother and father are Indian, so she is biologically Indian. She is expected by her parents to be an Indian girl who follows all Hindi customs. This makes Dimple understandably very confused about her life and who she really is as a person. The other Indian in her school is proud of his heritage and wears a turban to school with his head held high. Dimple labels him a freak and refuses to acknowledge him. Yet when Dimple goes home and away from her school and her extremely American best friend Gwyn, she is Indian again. It's almost like Dimple is living a double life because she is so confused with her identity. She doesn't which one to choose because one is the life she was born with and the other is the life she wants so badly.
          In conclusion, Dimple Lala is a girl stuck between the confining yet familiar world of her Indian home and the so-called exciting and new world of being an American teenager. She is on the verge of an identity crisis and wants to be an American but knows it is impossible. She expects herself to be an American teenager, because, after all, she was born in the United States, yet she is Indian because both of her parents and the rest of her family is Indian. One thing that shows Dimple's lost identity is how she desperately wants to be an American girl like her best friend Gwyn, but her all-real Indian side is holding her back. Dimple most definitely knows that Americans are not the perfect people, but she wants to fit in with the rest of the kids at her school. Another thing that shows Dimple's identity crisis is that she is frustrated being stuck between two worlds: her Indian one and her new American one. Yet all together, the book Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier teaches a lot about the issue of identity.

Thoughts on Homosexuality and Religion in Sing You Home *Spoiler Alert*

            In the book Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult, the main character Zoe Baxter discovers that she is a lesbian after falling in love with her best friend, Vanessa. Before finding love with Vanessa, Zoe was married to a man named Max Baxter. After Max and Zoe split, Max becomes an alcoholic and gets into a terrible car accident. Yet after the accident, he finds religion and gets "saved" by Jesus Christ and Pastor Clive Davis. While he is in the church, he learns that homosexuality is a sin, and if a man lies with another man he will condemned to the fiery pits of hell. When Max discovers Zoe is a lesbian, he becomes terribly distraught and forces himself to believe that Zoe is just going through a phase, even though he full well knows that she is not. And when Zoe and Vanessa go very deeply into their marriage, they realize that they want to have a child. Zoe is infertile and had two miscarriages and one stillbirth, but Vanessa can still bear children. Zoe wants to use the embryos from her in vitro fertilization that she underwent with Max, but as a homosexual couple, they have to get consent from the other biological parent, Max, to use the embryo. This obviously causes feelings of tension and a trial is formed with Max wanting to give the embryos to his brother and his brother's wife, yet Zoe and Vanessa wanting to keep the embryo so Vanessa and Zoe can care for the child. This made me think about homosexuality and religion. Zoe, Vanessa, and their lawyer constantly refer to the Bible banning and allowing crazy, terrible things (like homosexuality) that is completely outdated now. It also made me think about it is not one's fault to be homophobic. It is incorporated into almost all religions that being gay or lesbian is a sin, and since the majority of the world believes in some sort of higher power, many people are against gays and lesbians. The book Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult really made me think about the issues of homosexuality and religion tied in together.
         The first thing in Sing You Home that made me think about homosexuality and religion was how the Bible bans and allows crazy things. For example, the Bible allows people to stone a girl to death if she is not a virgin and unwed, yet forbids people to eat shellfish. The Bible was also written 3,000 years ago, and this made me think about how blinding religion is. Sadly, in some religions I feel as if people follow some rules of their religion but not all. Especially with the religion of Christianity. In that specific religion, it sometimes feels as though someone read over the entire Bible and made a list of what the Bible says not to do and to do, but made their own version, leaving some of those things out and some in. Christians obviously will not stone a woman if she is not married and has had sex, but they will go ballistic if someone is homosexual. I believe that the Bible is extremely outdated and should not be used as a code to look up to because times have obviously changed in the past 3,000 years. And in the actual Bible, the sin of being a homosexual wasn't this huge overacrching theme. It was mentioned only a couple of times, yet people follow it so devoutly that I find it mind-blowing and very upsetting also. Zoe and Vanessa should have to jump through "1,168 legal hoops" to get married and have a kid of their own. Religion is something deeply rooted into American society, yet it allows terrible things and bans the tiniest things. I believe being a gay or lesbian is a tiny thing.
         Another thing that Sing You Home made me think about in terms of homosexuality and religion is that most of the time, homophobia is not someone's fault. Many religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hindu just to name a few, consider homosexuality a sin. Many many people all over the world practice these religions, which explains the extreme pushes against gay marriage and against gay and lesbians in general worldwide. No one is born homophobic. The people who are are taught something, whether it's in religion or not, and it's not how to be tolerant and accepting like people should be, it's how to hate. Many religious people dismiss being homosexual as something someone should choose to be, yet it is not. People can choose to be homophobic, but they can't choose being homosexual. I'm straight but I am accepting of gay and lesbian people. I hate how everyone seems to hate the gays all because of an age-old custom that happened 3,000 years ago. I know that it is most definitely nobody's fault, but it bothers me. In Sing Me Home, it upsets me how Vanessa and Zoe have to go though an entire trial just to have a baby. Same-sex couples take that for granted.
        In conclusion, the book Sing Me Home by Jodi Picoult made me think about many issues in the world, but it made me think about religion and homosexuality specifically. One thing it made me think about was how outdated the Bible was and how people pick and choose things they follow in their religion. Unfortunately, one of those things was homosexuality, and it prevents Zoe and Vanessa, who are completely in love with each other, from getting married. Another thing the book made me think about was how homophobia is not someone's fault because they are taught it in many religions all around the world. The movement against gay and lesbian people is so huge, but all because of religion. In a perfect world, Zoe and Vanessa could get married and no one would question it and no one would oppress them for it.