The last sentence in the book is, “her eyes were closed, and a grin was slowly forming at the corners of her mouth.” This embodies the theme of freedom. Throughout the entire novel Luke and his mother want freedom and this is finally achieved at the end.  The painted house symbolizes the fact that they have finally reached freedom. That is what she fought for the entire book and she finally gets that. They are finally doing something bigger with their lives then just staying on the farm. Freedom is a major theme in the book and it is shown in the very last sentence because she is happy she is free. Luke sees this and he is happy as well as his mother.

I would definitely recommend this book. It was a great coming of age novel. It was interesting unlike a lot of stories about growing up. I wanted it to keep going after it ended. If I could change one thing it would probably be the ending. I would have extended it to when they moved in and how their new home in the city was. Other than that, I enjoyed this book. i would only recommend this to mature people though. Not anyone that hears the word rape and laughs. It had mature content. Overall I would say that EVERYONE needs to read this book. OMG, it was really good, lol. (:

Luke starts teh story as a young boy and ends as a grown up, mentally, not physically. he sees so many things and is a part of so many things that force him to grow up fast. He loses his innocence throughout the novel. It starts when he sees the fight and finds out one the boys dies, this is the first of two murders that he witnesses as a 7 year old boy. Then he sees Tally naked in the river and his innocence continues to deplete. He is doing things that most kids his age don’t do. Along with losing his innocence, he also matures. He knows when to keep his mouth shut and also when to talk. He has a lot of courage for his age. When Cowboy threatens him he is scared but he stands his ground. That shows how mature he becomes throughout the book. The main point of all this is to prove that Luke Chandler grows up in “A Painted House.”

I really enjoyed Luke as a character. He is well-developed throughout the story. I admire him for being so brave at the tender age of seven, he is also very smart. He seems to always know what to do and when to do it. Even the adults in the story recognize this. The only thing I wish he would have done is told about Hank. I can understand that he is young, fragile, and intimidated, but I wished he would have told. Hank should have got in trouble, although if he had, the Spruills would have left. That is an example of Luke’s quick thinking. He knew if he told they would leave and the farm would be short handed. He didn’t want to do that to his family. He is a loyal and loving young boy and he wants the best for his family. There is really nothing to criticize him on, except that he didn’t tell on Hank when he had the chance, but like I said that is understandable. Overall he was a very good person and I liked reading and seeing his character develop and grow up throughout the novel.

The novel takes place in the southern farm country, in 1952-1953. “A Painted House,” is a fictional story, but everything in it could legitimately happen. There were cotton farms and families would hire workers to pick the cotton. Children got out of school so they could help their families work. A lot happened to Luke, and pretty much everything was realistic.  Although one person may not witness everything he does, the events could actually happen.  In the 50s the Korean War was a real thing that people had to deal with. Sending family members into the military, some coming home and some dying in battle.  It was a true challenge of that time, just like the Chandlers faced with their youngest son. Money was also tight back in day, as it is in the Chandler house. People weren’t paid much money at all. In conclusion, it is clear to see that although this is a fictional novel, it is completely realistic. Lol. (:

In the novel, “A Painted House,” having a painted house showed that you had money. Luke Chandler has grown up in an unpainted house, and it doesn’t really matter to him, but his mother grew up in a painted house and really wants to have their old farm house enhanced with a can of paint. This causes much tension between the mother and Pappy. They both have different opinions on whether it is important to paint your house or not. To Luke’s mother a painted house symbolizes more than just money and wealth, it symbolizes freedom.  She yearns to be free from farming and to move to a big city and do something besides pick cotton everyday. † Jesus saves † Later in the story, Hank Spruill makes fun of Luke for living in an unpainted house. He claims that his family is better than the Chandlers because their house is painted with white paint.  This sparks anger in Trot, so he goes to town and gets Tally to buy him paint, he then begins to paint the Chandler’s house. This is significant because his action ignites something bigger. After the Spruills leave and Luke takes over painting the house, his parents tell him that they are moving to the city. The painting of the house actually gives them freedom, but the fact that it is not completely painted also leaves room for Luke to remember where he came from. This is because he promises to come back and finish it, so he is forced to remember that he was born a farmer’s boy.

This week we have been using Animoto to create a video. I have really enjoyed it. We learn the material we need to learn, but in a fun and different way. I was able to understand how to compare two things much easier this way, rather than doing worksheets. Here is the video I created by using what I learned this week about comparisons:

Photo credits:

Elephant : Bhaskar Mallick http://article.wn.com/view/2010/08/27/Meet_Emanti_Voters_pick_SD_elephant_calfs_name_r/

Panda: Christine http://mrschristine.com/2010/02/25/baby-panda-thursday-48/

A&M: JF http://fromthebarn.org/2009/11/29/game-5-mini-review-game-6-preview-gophers-vs-texas-am/

UT:girlvtheworld http://www.girlvtheworld.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

Chase coy:jobrosluver http://www.flickr.com/photos/jobrosluver/

justin beiber: http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Entertainment/pages-8/Testing-proves-definitively-that-Justin-Beiber-is-not-a-sixteen-year-old-gir-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html

Escalade:John Caddell
http://caddellinsightgroup.com/blog2/tag/automobiles/

Kia Soul:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2010_Kia_Soul_Sport_-_1.jpg

American Eagle :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:American_Eagle_Outfitters_logo.svg

Aeropostale:Joanie http://thekrazycouponlady.com/2010/09/24/25-off-aeropostale-coupon/

Me encantaría ir a la universidad de Texas Tech. A mi me gusta esta univerisdad porque tiene académicos muy buenos y su banda es buena también. Mientras asisto a universidad pienso ser miembro de la banda.  Me gustaría estudiar psicología y graduarme con un título PhD en psicología.

Photo credit: Vertigo Keyz

I have enjoyed working with my blog, it’s much more fun than working out of a book. With the blogs i have learned a lot about the differences between blogging and the communication I use on FaceBook and through text messaging. Blogging is much more professional and proper. I liked making slide shows and Stixy boards, and even avatars and embedding them on my blog, i think it is a fun way to do an assignment. Comments from other people on my blog allows me to get feedback and know what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong. It’s very helpful. Blogging will definitely help in the future, it teaches us how to write out our opinions and feelings while staying professional. I would really like to to do blogs in the 2nd semester. I think it would be really good for our class.