Critical Analysis- Are we running out of Chocolate?

In the article, "Are we running out of Chocolate" by Kathy Wilmore, we are asked the question: Is the amount of chocolate we consume too much? Kathy's article is about how our needs and wants for chocolate is raising, and this will have an affect on the price and scarcity of chocolate sooner than we think. The article explains how many people are eaten more and more chocolate everyday, and 'in 2013 alone, the world consumed about 77,000 tons more cocoa than was produced.' We can eat a chocolate bar within seconds, but a cocoa plant takes a very long time to grow, which proves that our high demand for chocolate, may have to stop rapidly. Chocolate is on many thing today, including pizza and pretzels, and this is affecting prices of chocolate where Hershey's had an 8% percent price increase, its first since 2011. As we consume more chocolate, the prices rise and the highly demanded food becomes much more of a shortage.

The author, Kathy Wilmore, uses many techniques to try to persuade us as readers that we need to think about and reduce the amount of chocolate we consume. One way that she persuades us is by speaking to us as if she was next to you. She says "The next time you eat a piece of chocolate, slow down and savour every bite." This is very persuasive because she makes us feel as if we are doing something wrong in our life and that we are the 'bad people'. It makes us rethink about how we consume chocolate, which then leads to us thinking about HOW much we consume chocolate, which is what she wants us to think. Another way that Kathy Wilmore persuades us to reduce our chocolate consumption is by talking about child labor and how chocolate is made in very harsh conditions. "An estimated 500,000 to 1.5 million children work on cocoa farms in West Africa, according to the International Cocoa Initiative. Some toil on their family farms, but many are trafficked into slavery." This is a very persuasive way of persuading us to reduce our intake of chocolate, because she isn't just making us thinking about ourselves and chocolate but she wants us to think about the actual production in many different way. I know for a fact that I felt awful when I read that quote, because it is a food that I take for granted and I had no idea that it was made in such terrible conditions.

I agree with the author, that we should be limiting our consumption of sugar because one it is very unhealthy and two it should be a luxury for everyone, and if everyone keeps on being greedy and eating a chocolate bar every day then soon enough there won't be any. Also, right now it is a very cheap product to buy, but if we keep up the high demand for a chocolate bar then it will only be available to the upper middle class or maybe just even upper class. It is a luxury that many people, including me, take advantage of and if we want to keep chocolate in the delis then we need to realise that there is a limit and other people's lives are being affected by our greediness.

The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a great book, which describes the  achievements of a boy who successfully and willingly gets out of his hometown nature and rushes to go to school in a community, that no other Indian has gone to before. The book follows the journey of a boy and how he struggles to fit in with the 'common' people, because he has such a different background. All through the book, we feel sorry for the main character, while he struggles with money issues and social interaction with people at his new school.

The book is based around how the boy struggles with many issues in trying to fit in to society. He struggles with the way that he lives and the way of life of the 'common' people at the new school. Some struggles that the main character has to endure is; walking 20 miles to school everyday, his non-appreciative classmates and not having that much money for lunch or school activities, where everyone else has millions of dollars and their own cars. We feel sorry for the boy because he doesn't have the same upbringing or the same financial circumstances as the other people at his school.

I like how the author used pictures to annotate how the main character was dealing with the enrolment in his new school. It really gave me a visual and more in depth analysis of how he was feeling and dealing with the on-going problems at his school. Adding on, I also really liked how the author wrote the book because it wasn't just a 'regular' novel but an 'arty' book. Everything in the book wasn't common and the way that the author wrote the book was like a one on one with the reader. This really helped me when reading the book because I could connect with it a lot more.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed the book because it was a very original idea and the writing was very unique. I liked how the author's tone was very informal and it helped me read the book a lot better and connect to it more. I will definitely try to use this in my own writing in the future!

Re-Write of "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier

First Draft

The book "The girl with the pearl earring" by Tracy Chevalier is a historical fiction book about a girl and her journey of joining a family as a work girl. Griet is a hard-working girl who had to leave home because of her families' poverty struggle. She moves into a home where there are many obstacles such as, 6 children. Another obstacle that she has to endure, are the adults, many for different reasons. Throughout her work, she becomes part of a wider circle of the family but only one person accepts her for who she is, the master. The master understands her love for art and for that he lets her admire his paintings, which no one is allowed to do. This causes a jealous and unenthusiastic household, which brings much danger to the Griet, as she is only a maid. But one day, Griet has to step in to be the 'object' of the painting and this decides her future forever. The tory takes place at many different times, and we follow the stages of Griet’s life when she is at most danger or at her highest point. Throughout the story, we follow the path of Griet, and we are always aware of how her family and her persevere with her new job.  

One way in which Griet shows perseverance is when she reflects back on her old life and compares it to her new. "I had walked along that street all my life, but had never been so aware that my back was to my home." (Chevalier 68.) This quotation carefully shows the reflection and feelings in which Griet has. She is thinking about her worries and not only about her actions but also about her emotional intent. We can tell by her 'reflection tense' that she is feeling guilty of the way she is acting and that she thinks she is acting in a selfish way. She is reflecting on the present but also the past, as she makes it clear how her actions have changed for the worse. We can infer that she is mesmerized by the thought of the money of her working family but she isn't thinking about her actual family. She is so caught up in the ‘rich’ world that now she has some time to think, she realizes whom she had hurt by thinking about these things, including herself. This makes her believe that she is becoming unaware of her feelings for her real family and she is feeling ignorance and regret. 'My back' shows a very strong piece of her body that symbolizes how she is feeling, 'back-stabbing', ignorance and regret. It is a symbol for the emotion that Griet is feeling and the regret of not being loyal to her own family. It shows perseverance because it makes us realize how Griet has to become loyal to one family but not to the other, in order for everyone to benefit.

Another way in which Griet perseveres with her new life is by respecting her parents' wishes. “I felt as if my parents had pushed me into the street, that a deal had been made and I was being passed into the hands of a man. At least he is a good man, I thought, even if his hands are not as clean as they could be.” (Chevalier 52.) This quotation is very intriguing because not only does it tell us about her perseverance but also her previous attitude. It shows how Griet commonly reflects back on her life before working with the family and how her parent’s have sometimes influenced where she is now. Her previous attitude shows that she felt useless to her parents and that they were denying her happiness for money. But then as the story progresses and as the quote suggests, Griet looks at the positive and just tries to please her family. This shows perseverance because she is willing to sacrifice her own happiness to try and make the best out of the position that she is in. Griet has been thrown into a situation that has expected a lot from her, and she has tried to deal with the events in a realistic way, even if it means forgetting someone’s weaknesses and looking at the positivity.  The quote above suggests that Greit puts her parents’ happiness and well being before her own. It shows that she perseveres with her struggles in order to benefit even if it may hurt her along the way. She is portrayed as this strong woman but if you really look at everything she says, we can infer that her situation and the people who are influencing her are taking her happiness away.

Lastly, we learn how Griet's family perseveres with the 'new Griet' and the new girl that she has become.  “You know I don’t listen to market gossip,” she began, “but it is hard not to hear it when my daughter’s name is mentioned.” (Chevalier 134.) This shows us that Griet's mother, especially, is finding it hard to adapt to her new daughter's lifestyle. We are shown not just a way that Griet has to persevere with the new her and her lifestyle but also how other people in her family who are finding it hard to accept the new Griet. With Griet in a 'rich household', we can infer that her mother seems jealous and just wants her daughter back. She isn’t jealous of Griet being in a rich house and getting great care. Although it would seem that she would want this, we are more commonly shown that Griet’s mother is actually jealous of her daughter’s working family, and jealous of the fact that they get to see her everyday and be a ‘mother’ to Griet, where she feels like they are taking away her role as Griet’s mother. It seems as if Griet hasn't got time for her mother and therefore, her mother is learning about her through other people. We feel some sympathy for Griet here because it is showing how she is in the middle of all this emotion but unaware of everybody’s feelings. We feel sympathy for the mother because it just seems as if Griet disowns her mother and is taking her for granted, although this isn’t a common theme in the book. It shows how Griet’s mother has to persevere with the fact that Griet is growing up and supporting the family in ways that the mother isn’t, which is another reason for the jealously that Griet’s mother shows.

In conclusion, 'The girl with the pearl earring' by Tracy Chevalier, really shows the feelings of others and how they persevere with the new Griet. There are many different perspectives that are shown, with different sides and opinions, but in the end, everyone is debating how they are going to live there life with the new Griet, rather than the old one. It shows a connection that has been transformed just because of a reason to get out of poverty. The journey of Griet has changed from just being about poverty, but now it is about how people have to connect with each other in order to learn about the reality. This is the underlining topic of the book, and each person has to persevere while they find out how to stick by Griet and acknowledge her for who she has become and how she has changed. The book teaches us that there are many ways to persevere with things, but along the way you may upset people. It’s just common ground that you have to find and ways that you are similar to the person and you shouldn’t just dwell on the differences. In this case, this was Griet and each different one of her family members took the intuition differently.