Please answer the following questions. Deadline Wednesday 30 March before class starts at 2:40 pm.
1. Ursula sees Matt up on a cliff and gets the impression that he is thinking about jumping. Do you think that Matt is considering something like that? Give reasons for your answer.
2. Why is Ursula's mother still so concerned about Ursula hanging out with Matt even though the whole incident at school is officially "over"?
3. Analyze the e-mail conversation between Matt and Ursula in chapter 29. What do their messages tell us about them as individuals and about their relationship with each other?
Keyvan
ReplyDelete1.
Answer: Because he is tired of everything, and has been thinking about it at times. People doesn´t like him like before and that makes him angry. He just wants a friend but everybody turns their back to him. Annoying feeling and that´s why he is considering it.
2.
Answer: Because of the ''lawsuit''. She thinks that Matt´s family will sue her. They are frustrated and has no control over themself so they can even sue Ursula even though she´s the one who stood behind him.
3.
Answer: That he is very desperate to have Ursula as his freind and need somebody. She is kinda cool and chill, I didnt get the expression that she had the same desire as Matt. But with time she gets feelings for him and starts to speak with him over the phone a lot and they mail each other. So she is changing safe and easy.
1. 1. Maybe he was thinking of that but I do not think that he would ever jump. That´s to risky because I do not think that Matt really wants to die. I think he realized that it was not worth it, even after all that has happened, so he decided to not jump.
ReplyDelete2. Because they are afraid of the lawsuit. She do not wants Ursula to get in trouble, or theirs family. Ursula’s mother don’t want Ursula to destroy her future by hanging out with matt and risking to end up in the court, because she seems to think that Matt’s parents are capable to sue ursula in this moment they are right now.
3. He seems to be desperate to have someone to talk to and it’s pretty obviously that he wants to have Ursula as his friend. He is writing very long e-mails to her, but she just answers him very short and a little bit “cold”. He is very opened to her and tells her about his feelings and what’s in his mind, while Ursula’s answers are really short and straight.
/ Nina
1. Yes, I believe that Matt is considering about jumping. But I don't think that it would be more than a thought. It's kind of exaggerated that he's thinking about suicide because of the incident. It can't be THAT hard for him..
ReplyDelete2. Even if the incident is official over people still talking about it. Some people do more than talk about it, for example the jock guys who harass him at school. Her mum can't stop thinking about the incident and pretend that it hasn't happened. I guess that she is afraid of being involved.
3. Matt is really desperate for a friend and it sounds like his feelings for Ursula may be more than friends feelings. Ursula is trying as usual to play cool and give the expression that she doesn't care as much as Matt does.
/ Marielle
1. I think he feels betrayed. Everything around him was like powder... Puff everything left him. He need a lot of attention around him. Matt locked down his brain and started to think with the heart. The information in a persons heart is very sensitive and untouchable. I don't think he was going to jump.
ReplyDelete2. Because her mother doesn't have any idea about who her daughter are. She trying to be a good mum. Fast changes is not what the mother see everyday. I think changes for Ursula makes the mother really worried because she don't know her daughter as a friend. I mean mostly mothers knows their kids upside/down.
3. It is like Matt got his breath back. Someone brought him back on his feet. And that person was Ursula. Same girl saving his ass again. Of course he gets pretty happy that one person cares about him but keep it like a secret for herself. Matt don't have someone else in this world right now. This Ursula could be the love of his life. He has many unanswered questions and trying to work out this friendship/love-life maybe.
//zaman comment at 1:34 AM
ReplyDelete1. First of all he didn’t take pumpkin with him which could indicate that he didn’t want her to be on her own in the forest after he was gone. Also the sentences on page 148 “Pumpkin would miss Matt. If he failed to return” tell us that he is considering doing something in which he wouldn’t come home again. I don’t really think he would commit suicide though, he isn’t the type, and definitely not desperate enough yet. It would be to take the easy way out. Although it might be tempting to do it and never having to deal with anything anymore, I think that he realized when he stood on the cliff that he wasn’t going to it. He wasn’t going to jump.
ReplyDelete2. I guess she doesn’t want Ursula to hang out with someone like Matt. Even though she never met him, she’d heard the rumors and apparently in that town that’s all it takes to judge a person and his character. She’s gotten into her head that Matt is a bad person, doing bad things only and she doesn’t want her daughter involved with a person like that. Also I think the whole situation is so unfamiliar to Ursula’s mom that she doesn’t know how to handle it. Ursula never takes home friends and has never talked about a guy before. So that might be one of the reasons why she is so concerned and still suspicious about Matt.
3. To begin with Matt is kind of weary and doesn’t know if Ursula is just being nice to him because she have to, or because she really wants to. Ursula never has any hidden motives though; she is always being herself which Matt really appreciates about her. They feel like they can be honest to each other, there is no pretend and I think they are very alike as persons which is why they get along so well. Matt and Ursula feel like they can be themselves around each other. Matt also feels that Ursula is the only person who can understand what he is going through, he can tell her anything and she would never judge him.
/ sandra
1. "I love it here. I could die here...and be happy." Matt says this because he is so sick of the bad attention he's getting and describes himself as a disease. If he had jumped it would all disappear. But Matt is just considering the option because it would ease the pain he's feeling deep inside of him.
ReplyDelete2. Perhaps Ursula's mom is worried that Matt will have bad influance on Ursula. Almost everybody in Rocky River knows about the incident. Rumors has it that Matt's parents are suing Rocky River High and the Brewers. If Ursula gets involved it might end up in her school record and her families reputation will be damaged.
3. Matt seems to be extremly shy. For example, he doesn't have the guts to sit next to Ursula and her friends at lunch without her permission. He seems eager to tell her everything that's on his mind. Ursula on the other hand doesn't seem to be very thrilled to talk about the lawsuit nor the incident at the preserve. One notices that Ursula's trying to be independent and she wants to give the impression of being indifferent.
You can tell that Matt wants to bond on a more peronal level than Ursula. Matt always end his letters with "Your friend Matt" while Ursula settles with a simple "u r". But you can tell that Ursula's got a crush on Matt. And the same applies to Matt.
Irene
1. 1. Right at that moment, I think he was about to jump, but I don’t think
ReplyDeletehe has thought this through properly. Why I believe he had planned to jump is that before he went out he told Pumpkin who is his dog that he is not worried about him because he knows that Alex
will take care of him. And also on his way out he is saying to Pumpkin that he cannot go out with him this time. I think it's very selfish and that
he was not really thinking it through properly. It feels as if he test himself, if he really dares.
2. I'm not really sure why she did not want her to socialize with Matt. Probably because she knows that this is not quite over yet. In addition, there are many who see him as a threat to the school / community! Her mother would certainly not want people to think that she hang out with a "terrorist" or a “criminal” as many people see him nowadays. She does not want the neighbors and friends of Ursula's family to notice it, they will probably destroy their jerked because that everyone in the village / town is against the family Donaghy.
As in all other villages / towns, it seems important to have good shrugged. I think that is what she is most afraid of: to get bad snatched!
3. 3. In their text conversation it shows that both are really in need of a friend but Matt shows that more than Ursula. Ursula wants to stand up to his snatched them as people see her, independent, tough, big and athletic girl. I think that Matt cannot stand up with all the pressure anymore and need to talk to someone, and he thinks that Ursula is the only thing he can talk to. Now that she is the only one who talks to Matt after the "attack"! Matt seems like he is a really emotional guy. When I read what he wrote to Ursula it feels as if he dares to be himself only against her. He might feel some sort of protection from her?
Ursula seems to be afraid to show what she thinks & feels, perhaps because she has not figured that out yet. I can also see that Ursula is more careful about how she expresses herself. I do not think she quite yet figured out what she thinks and feels about Matt, but something good is there. She probably feels like Matt but just dare not to express it as much as Matt. She may be afraid Matt won’t like Ugly girl, WHO does that?
I think their relationship is more complicated than it seems, I think they both like each other more than friends but they haven’t figured it out yet. Or they just like being with each other like friends, somehow they feel connected.
// Beesartaa
1. I don’t think he’s considering suicide just playing with the thought of it. He says something like Pumpkin would know where to find him if he didn’t return home. He doesn’t feel like a person who would do it. Maybe he’s just thinking about it like “what if I died?” and “would my friends miss me” but no not suicide.
ReplyDelete2. Because she doesn’t want Ursula to be friends with “wrong” people and according to everybody (Ursula mothers friend) in Rocky River the Donaghys are greedy and horrible people. These rumours about the Donaghys have probably been spread after the suing became known. Ursula’s mother is afraid that it might destroy their family’s reputation even though she don’t say it out loud and that’s why she doesn’t want Ursula to hang out with Matt.
3. In the beginning of the emails it feels like Ursula is trying so hard to keep this “whatever”-attitude but after writing a couple of emails she softens up and becomes friendlier. Ursula is used to not have anyone to talk about her problems with but Matt has always had his friends so that last mail he opens up totally and telling her all stuffs he had in mind for these last couple of weeks. The emails show Matt really trusts in Ursula and I think he’s very fascinated by her. Ursula on the other side is more reserved and I don’t think she’s quite that comfortable with Matt yet. Matt writing things like “you’re 1 individual in 1 million” to Ursula makes me wonder if there isn’t a little more than just friendship between them.
/louise
ReplyDelete1. He seems to be tired of his life at the moment but i dont really think he would even consider such a thing. Everyone starts to hate him, he´d lost his friends buts there is still hope, thats why he didnt do it.
ReplyDelete2. As everyone elses´s parents ursulas mom is afraid that she will get involvet and get into deep trouble. She read bad things about matts family in the newspaper
3. i Liked their e-mail conversations, thought ther were kind of funny. You can tell that they get exited and happy when the other one wrights " you friend" as the finishing line. When they are e-mailing they understand that they were good persons and not fake hipocrits as matts "friends. Thats why they started to like eachother
/martin Hernandez
ReplyDelete