Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Week 1 Discussion Question

Why did Hazel not want to go to the picnic? How does her decision show that the war has created hard times for people? 

Please answer the following question using RAD format and correct spelling and grammar. Don't forget to answer both parts of the question. Use information from the book to support your thinking. Type your response in your blogging doc first, before you post it to the site. This way you won't lose your work and if you need to make corrections you can.

19 comments:

  1. I think Hazel did not want to go to the picnic because she was sick of saying good bye. She had to say goodbye to her dad, her brother, everyone was leaving for war. She knew she would just be sad if she went to the picnic. Hazel didn't like how they were all leaving. Who would? She didn't like being left from everyone. Hazel didn't know what else to do. She just wished if she didn't say goodbye, then they wouldn't leave. She was spending her whole life saying goodbye. So she just stopped saying it. This decision showed the war has created hard times for people because they can’t spend time with their family anymore. When everyone is leaving they don’t have time to do stuff with their families. Usually on weekends or breaks, families do stuff together. Once me and my family were going to go to the zoo, but my dad had to work. When their family members went to war, they didn't see them for a really long time. As you can see, families going to war affected many people.

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    1. Caroline I agree that it would be sad to go to the picnic.
      Jack

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    2. I think that you perfectly captured what Hazel was thinking when she made her decision. Do you think her decision was selfish? I have been wondering whether she should have put her feelings aside and thought about Jed.

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    3. Caroline, I agree that Hazel was tired of saying goodbye to her father, her brother Frank, her friend Mary Frances and now Jed. One way that people deal with hard things is to avoid them. I like how you put yourself in Hazel's shoes by giving an example of when your dad missed an important family event and how that made you feel.

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  2. I think that Hazel did not want to go the picnic out of sadness. She is sad both because Jed is leaving but also because the war has caused a lot of change in her town. Hazel thinks about all of the people that are gone including her brother and her father. By not going to the picnic, I think that Hazel was able to go off on her own and forget about the war.

    Hazel's decision shows how the war has created difficult times for people in Hood River. As noted above, many people have left the town due to the war effort. Also, Hazel comments on how the mood of the picnic has changed and that there are now food rations for items like sugar.

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    1. I totally agree, the war has made Hood River depressing and sad. But, can you explain what you mean by "war effort?"
      Thanks,
      Sutton

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    2. I agree on how Hazel was sad and she didn't like how everyone was leaving for the war. Lots of her friends and family were leaving and that was making her depressed. I like how you added in the part about Hazel not going to the picnic would help her forget about the war. I also agree on how the war has changed lots of the towns folk's lives. They have to ration food and say lots of good byes. I never even thought about how the picnic wouldn't be as much fun with their food rations. Like that they can't have ice cream or treats because they use a lot of sugar. Good job I think you did a great job on your post.

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    3. Hi Sutton,
      I meant that families were impacted even if they did not have a soldier in the war. I was specifically thinking about Hazel's father who went to Portland and her brother Frank. Thanks, Mrs. C

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  3. Hazel didn't want to go to the picnic because she was tired of saying good bye. To prove this the author wrote on page 9, “I don’t feel like it…I am tired of saying goodbye. Just last Wednesday we had to say goodbye to my dad, who’d spent less than a week home before going back to his wartime job at Portland shipyards. A few months ago we had to say goodbye to my brother Frank, left to join Young American Work Corps. And my best friend Mary Frances had been gone a whole year now.” That tells us that she has had a lot of hard times the last couple months. She doesn't want to say goodbye again.
    How her decision shows that this war time created hard times for people is that, they had to say goodbye to lots of people, and maybe they didn't even come back. Most of her family and friends have left, her Dad, Frank, Mary. That is hard for people to say goodbye to the people you love. Now that most of her family is at war, she pretends that she is, for example the author wrote on page 2, “ Sneaking around the corner of the house, I became patrol leader H.N Anderson. My men crept behind me so silently I couldn't even hear them until we all crouched together under the window, hugging our grenades. Nice trick, I thought- the enemy is using an all-american band to cover for sabotage. But it won’t work. Steady, men… steady… NOW!

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    1. Sutton, I like how you noticed that many sections of the book are written as though Hazel were a soldier in the war. I agree with you that it seems like pretending she is a soldier too helps her feel connected. From the beginning when she "attacks" Estelle with the water balloon to the logs she writes in her notebook from the observation hill, it seems her thoughts are always of war. Do you think she wishes she were able to go too?

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  4. Why Hazel did not go to the picnic is that she had different plans. The plans were first to go the Scout Hill. Then to turn them over to Mr. Mayhew. That was fake the reason she did not go was because she did not want say goodbye. She did not want to go to the picnic because she would not see them in a long time and it would be the last time having fun. I know this because I read it on page 37 and I inferred that. How her decision shows that the war is making a hard time for people is that most people are giving up stuff which is hard for people. For Example, Hazel had to give up her birthday and other people are giving even bigger things. Also, you could not do fun stuff as much like not going to the picnic. I know this because according to the text it says that.

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    1. Good attention to detail Jack regarding Hazel even giving up her birthday. The war certainly seems like it has touched every part of her life. Even the joy of receiving her roller skates was dampened when instead of watching her skate, her father went inside to listen to the radio announcements about Pearl Harbor. She felt like everyone forgot about her.

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  5. Why did Hazel not want to go to the picnic? How does her decision show that the war has created hard times for people?



    Hazel did not want to go to the picnic because she hated saying goodbye. She had had to say goodbye to her father and then her brother. She skipped the picnic because it would mean she would not have to say a formal “Goodbye.” to Jed. She is also a little bit jealous of Estelle because she and Jed are engaged, and Hazel likes Jed. She also wants to continue doing the “HRJAAP” (Hood River Junior Auxiliary Air Patrol). Her decision shows that the war has made hard times for people because she would not usually skip a fun picnic full of games if not for the war that was calling Jed off to help with it. The war has tainted even the most fun activities because of the dreary atmosphere around them. That is why Hazel did not want to go to the picnic.

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    1. Ethan, I completely agree that one of the main reasons Hazel didn't want to go to the picnic was because she was jealous of Estelle and Jed's new relationship. She even says, "Jed and I were better friends than he'd ever been with Estelle, but it wasn't likely Jed would decide he was in love with me." He had been her friend, he had talked to her about everyday things like sports and movies, and he had talked with her about how the "crazy war had shuffled everybody around". I think Hazel is really sad that he is leaving and is also quite scared that he may never come back.

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  6. I think Hazel did not want to go to the picnic because she was weary of goodbyes, a little bit jealous of Jed and Estelle’s relationship, and because she wanted to contribute in a real way to the war. When Hazel’s mother asked her why she was not going to the picnic, Hazel responded, “Don’t feel like it…I’m tired of telling people goodbye.” Hazel described the picnic as looking like “just another long strung-out goodbye, dressed up like a party.” Going to the picnic would remind her of how much she misses her dad, her brother, Frank, and her best friend, Mary Frances, all of whom had already left to support the war. Hazel was also a little bit jealous that Estelle was getting more of Jed’s attention than she was. In the discussion about the picnic, Hazel also mentioned to her mother that Jed “won’t miss me as long as Estelle is around.” Hazel, though much younger than Jed, had enjoyed a friendship with him for many years where they told each other jokes and spent time together. Hazel observed that once Jed “starting talking in a more serious way to Estelle, all of a sudden she began to see the good things about him that I’d seen all along.” I think Hazel didn’t want to be overlooked, and knew that she wouldn’t really get quality time with Jed by going to the picnic anyway, so she decided not to go. Finally, and probably most importantly, I believe Hazel didn’t go to the picnic because she wanted to contribute to the war. I think she felt young and insignificant because those close to her were nobly marching off to war, and she wanted to be doing something brave and exciting too, not just wishing them well. This feeling contributed, I think, to her climbing up the Lanski’s hill so often to watch for threats. “As long as the American boys were going off to fight in the Pacific, I would stick to my post.” So instead of going to the picnic where she would have felt sad, jealous, and insignificant, Hazel chose instead to “stick to her post” and do something that gave her purpose and made her feel important.
    Her decision shows that the war has created hard times for people because now, even “happy” events are now laced with a lot of other emotions. Hazel’s own birthday, instead of being just a fun day for her to celebrate, got upstaged by the war the year of the Pearl Harbor bombing, and all the years since. Her brother Frank had advised her, “We’re at war now, and everybody’s going to have to give up something.” A twelve year old girl choosing not to go play games and eat treats at a fun social event, shows that the war has poured complicated and negative emotions into everyday life, even in unexpected places.

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  7. Hazel did not want to go to the picnic because she knew she would of had to go and say good-bye and she was done saying good-bye to family members her dad and her brother to be specific. Even though dhe didn’t know this but if she did go to the picnic she would of never found that flag. And maybe she just didn’t feel like going to the picnic or maybe she just wanted to be home or she felt sick there could have been many different reasons that she didn’t want to go to the picnic. This will affect her because she would have to say good-bye to some of her family members. And, that would be really hard for her. Its hard for her because her family would have to go and be in the army and she would have like no family. This will be hard on other people in her family or even maybe neighbors will have to be without these people.

    -Ava

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    1. Ava, I like how you noticed that things in the story seem to be happening for a reason. When Hazel chooses not to go to the picnic, instead she finds the fabric with the Japanese writing on it while keeping watch on the hill. It helps her feel connected with the war and specifically with Jed and Frank, as she works to translate the Japanese characters. During her private goodbye with Jed before the picnic, he asked her to "look after things while I'm gone." Now that she has found a possible secret Japanese message she thinks, " Little did Jed know, when he asked be to watch out for things around here, what kind of things I would find!"

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  8. I todaly agree with you Caroline that would be hard to just go

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    1. Oops! That comment was from Ava to Caroline but it was labeled Mrs. M!

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