Welcome to your online discussion of Dear Martin!
Together with members of your book group, you’ll be reading Dear Martin by Nic Stone over the next several weeks. Although you're not required to take notes while you read, it would be wise to keep track of important events and characters for your own clarification. You are, however, expected to participate regularly and thoughtfully in an online discussion of FOUR essential questions.
Here's how it works:
Divide your book roughly into thirds. You need to have read and blogged about each third by the due dates below.
There are two kinds of posts in this discussion: response and comment.
Response = direct response to the essential questions
Comment = comment on someone else’s posted response or comment
Post at least TWO responses for each third of your book (SIX overall).
You must respond at least once to each of the essential questions over the course of your reading. One of your six responses can be a “free-response" post.
Post at least TWO comments for each section of your book (SIX overall).
Due dates:
- Post your first set of responses and comments by Friday, May 17 (Red 3), and Monday, May 20 (Blue 1).
- Post your second set of responses and comments by Thursday, May 30 (Red 3), and Friday, May 31 (Blue 1).
- Post your third set of responses and comments by Friday, June 7 (Red 3), and Monday, June 10 (Blue 1).
- How does prejudice affect the lives of young people growing up?
- How and why are people prejudiced?
- How are justice & courage related?
- In what ways does this book refute the notion of the “single story”?
** Free-response option: Address another issue/episode/or passage in the book that you find significant for any reason.
Assessment:
To earn maximum credit, post thoughtful responses that are at least a few sentences in length—and carefully proofread! Do not misspell characters' or authors’ names! Also, be sure to include specific references to the text (either details or short quotations). Page numbers, too, are always helpful.
Hi
ReplyDeleteI'm Mason
Hi, I'm Nathan
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm Lyle
ReplyDeleteIn the first section of the book prejudice is shown affecting the lives of people growing up, this is shown when the cop attacks Justyce as he attempts to help his ex-girlfriend and also with the class discussion and Jared's opinions on race and equality.
ReplyDelete-Nathan
Yes I agree, But also you forgot how rude the cop was and how justyce felt when this happend to him.
DeleteHi, I'm Nathan York
ReplyDeleteIn this story the shooting tells a lot about how prejudice was acquired, Tison's partner Castillo had been shot by a black kid while they were on duty and this seems to have given him a extreme prejudice against black people.
ReplyDelete-Nathan
Add more details to your responses, Nathan! Use page numbers and quotes to support what you have to say.
DeleteIn the first third of the book prejudice is shown when Jared doesn't believe that a black person Justyce has as good grades as him but Justyce got into yale and he is also saying that yale needs more black people.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Justyce s scared because that yale is mostly a white school and he is thinking that people will be thinking like jared did.
This is an example of how prejudice can affect people that are growing up, Jared and other people’s prejudice has scared Justyce to the point where he is afraid of going to one of the nicest colleges in the United States.
DeleteDo you blame Justyce for being scared? I think it's justified.
DeleteThere are a lot of factors as to who gets into a college that Jared doesn't think about. Justyce doesn't have as high of a score in the SAT but his ACT is higher and he is also one of the stars of the debate team. While Jared takes part in plenty of extracurriculars do these show he's prepared for the course he's trying to get into.
DeleteIn the first part of the story Justyce is arrested for no reason. This is an example of prejudice because the officer thought he was kidnapping Melo because he's black and she's white. People are prejudiced because people have stereotypes about people because of their race or religion. The officer thought that he was kidnapping her ecause of the stereotype that all black men are thugs. -Lyle
ReplyDeleteI disagree that Justyce was arrested for no reason. Yes, it could have been resolved if the cop had let Justyce talk. But when the cop saw that Justyce was carrying Melo into the car, and that she was aggressively resisting, the cop was doing his job to take action. The things I think the cop did wrong is assuming the situation, not letting Justyce talk, and arresting him on the spot. All of these things led up to Justyce not being able to explain the situation, and letting the prejudice actions escalate. And to clear things up, I do not believe the cop did the right thing. I am not saying he should have done what he did, if he was calm with the situation and asked what is happening everything could be fine. But the cop did have a problem he found, and it is his job to take action. Although I still do believe what he did was wrong.
DeleteI understand your opinion but Justyce was just trying to help Melo. He should have stopped him and noticed Melo was drunk. He should of asked Justyce what was going on and heard his side of the story, instead of slamming him to the ground.
DeleteThat reply was me (Lyle).
DeleteThis is a really polite and respectful conversation. Though you two disagree, you're having a civil conversation about it.
DeleteBe sure to use quotes from the book to support your positions.
In the beginning of the book from pages 3-7 Justyce faces prejudice when he is arrested by a cop for attempting to help his ex-girlfriend Melo. The reason that this is prejudice is the cop assumed that he was up to no good because of his skin color.
ReplyDeletePrejudice can affect young people growing up by opening their eyes to the fact that racism is still present in our modern day societies. Prejudice can also be scary to young people as it shows that even people you don’t know might develop feelings for or against you based on your looks.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this a lot of people develop a mindset and they may not even know that it is happening. This can be dangerous for young people as they may not know how to handle it.
DeleteI think that it is interesting that the main character of the books name is Justyce, which is one letter off of justice, and his goal is show others their prejudice and give justice to minority races.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing when I read the book. Think it's intentional?
DeleteI believe it was intentional to show how any race can bring justice and that justice is twisted sometimes in people's heads.
DeleteThat's a really good point, Mason. Justice is something that is hard to define because I think justice can mean different things to different people.
DeleteI believe this book is like a single sided story cause we only see what is from the black people's perspective BUT, I think the story wouldn't be as good if it was showing both sides. Because in this book it would just show white people being racist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. It is almost like different news sources. If you get information from a biased source, the story will be different, even though it has the same plot.
DeleteWe may only get one perspective in the book; however, have your ideas about what it's like to grow up knowing that you have to be extra cautious because of the color of your skin (or because of anything outside of your control) changed? Have you noticed something different about Justice's life than what you previously assumed?
DeleteWhat about the people like Jared do you think they have more going on then them just being racist?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the first section of the book, prejudice affects the lives of many young people. One of the first examples is with the interaction between the cop and Justyce. The cop had a prejudice assumption that Justyce was up to no good with Melo, based on the fact that he is black. Another example is the "equality brigade" when Blake was in a clansman costume. Their idea was to make a statement about "racial equality and broken barriers" (Page 39). But they ended up taking it too far.
ReplyDeleteI agree nathan they went way to far and those guys didn't even stop which mad it so much worse.
DeleteI agree, I think the idea behind the costumes had good intentions but they took it too far by having Blake dress up as a KKK member
DeletePeople are prejudiced in an infinite number of ways, but so far this book I have seen it as stereotyping and making assumptions about black people. Someone can get prejudiced just by the way they look, act, or where they are from, and not all times can this be avoided. An example from the book is when Justyce got prejudiced by the cop who assumed he was taking advantage of Melo (Page 7). The cop followed him initially thinking that he was "up to no good". When the cop noticed something that caught his eye, he used excessive force on Justyce telling him he was in the wrong. This is one example from the book about how and why people are prejudiced.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by people are prejudiced in infinite ways?
DeleteThis is a good question, Mason. I hope Nathan responds, but I'm going to make an assumption that what he means is that we can dislike someone for absolutely no reason whatsoever for any number of reasons. You can be unfairly treated because of the color of your skin, the color of your hair, your sexual orientation, your after school activities, your grades, your socio-economic status, etc.
DeleteWhen they were in the car driving they were told by a middle aged white dude to lower the volume and Manny said it's his car he doesn't have to do anything to please the guy. The guy warned him and he shot manny this is showing how what jus has to deal with and he is really sad about it cause manny's parents invited him over for dinner but jus realizes that manny was family to him and he didn't want him to die so soon.
ReplyDeleteI like this comment and I agree with what you said but maybe add a few quotes so people reading can understand the situation better. I think it would give a picture in their mind. -Lyle
DeleteI see what you are saying. Justyce will need courage to get justice for Manny.
DeleteJustice and courage are related in this book like how Manny was to confident and he got shot and the guy was a police officer or used to be I forgot and the cop got mad.
ReplyDeleteCan you maybe elaborate a little more on that? I see where you are going but I don't completely understand. -Lyle
DeleteThat's a good reminder to use textual evidence!
DeleteDear Martin and Michael Brown's story are similar because police are very aggressive with both of them. For example in Dear Martin the officer slammed Justyce to the ground when Justyce wasn't doing anything. An example in what happened with Michael Brown is the officer shot him when he could've easily gotten Michael out of his car with his hands.
ReplyDelete-Lyle
DeleteI think it is interesting comparing the book to real life events, and I feel like this is a good event to compare the book to
DeleteI agree with you. I also did my project on Michael Brown and kinda like in Justyce's situation, the cop didn't give them much explanation, or hear them out. The cop aggressively attacked him for basically no reason.
DeleteResponse to the question: “How are justice & courage related?”
ReplyDeleteJustice and courage are related because sometimes it requires courage to get justice, also it requires courage to give others justice. You can see this in Dear Martin when Justyce is struggling to fight for justice, and often faces fear and confusion. You can see examples of Justyce facing fear when he has ‘flashbacks’ to when he was arrested.
How exactly is Justyce fighting for justice? How does he go about this does he have help?
DeleteWhen was justyce arrested? what page number?
DeleteAt the end of the book Justyce and Jared run into each other one more time and we learn a little bit more about how Jared actually feels. I think this is probably one of the best ways the book refutes the notion of a single story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that. People can change and also learn what it's like to be someone else.
DeleteI also agree. When you only hear one story you get biased even if you think it is correct. If we heard the whole story from Jared's point of view, it could have possibly sounded ok, but hearing first from Justyce makes us think it isn't.
DeleteWhen justyce was in court the attorney were asking him stuff they probably wouldn't ask a black person but the judge allowed it and the officer got 3 of the 4 charges and died in prison.
ReplyDeleteWhen justyce told sj how he feels and he told how he doesn't care about what his mom thinks. After when that happend he talked to his mom and she doesn't want him to date any white girl, Sometimes both sides don't like each other.
ReplyDeleteWhen Justyce told SJ that he was going to go against his mom and date her even though she's white is a sign that he really likes her. Justyce never disobeys his mom and always does what she says. Thus him going against her shows that he really loves SJ and that he will do anything for her. -Lyle
ReplyDeleteI agree because Justyce is loyal to his mama which means SJ really means something to him. Page number for this?
DeleteJustice and courage are related because it takes courage to get justice. For example, Justyce thinks that if he says things about racism, then other people are thinking he is "pulling the race card". It takes courage to speak up and get justice for what you want.
ReplyDeleteThis book refutes the notion of a single story. For example, it is clearly shown that the cops in the story are prejudice. The cops seem to have a single story that all black men are up to no good. When the cop shoots Manny and Justyce is brought into court some people still believed that the cop was right. They all had a single story and later Justyce got free with no penalty.
ReplyDeleteI think Justyce really works hard for what he wants. I think this because he went through so much throughout the book and he kept going to get what he wanted. Justyce was facing, racism, prejudice, girl problems, his friend died. And through all that he kept going to achieve what he wanted.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Justyce is a very brave and persistent character who faces a lot throughout the book. I think Nic Stone did this because she wanted to draw attention to all the problems with prejudice and society but also show that it is possible to deal with all these problems.
DeleteI think Justyce in a way learned that you need to lose one to get one. I understand this is probably not a good motto to live by, but sometimes it is the truth. Justyce lost Manny and that opened up an opportunity to show the prejudice that is occurring and eventually get justice for Manny.
ReplyDeleteI agree in a way, it is terrible, but think that it takes a big event like a death or a big protest for a lot of people to realize big problems that we have in society. Manny’a death is an example of this, after manny died people realized that police brutality and prejudice were a problem and started the Justyce and Manny movement
DeleteI don't understand why Justyce's mom didn't approve of him dating SJ because she was white. You would think that Justyce's mom after seeing how people prejudiced African Americans would be more careful about prejudicing others
ReplyDeleteI think that it is interesting that Nic Stone decided to also give Justyce relationship issues that tied in with the overall theme of prejudice in the book. I think she put this in to give us more examples of prejudice and show how Justyce defies even more prejudice.
ReplyDelete