Freedom!

"The bitter thing was all the spirit, all the gallantry, was wasted. For even more than inferiors, they accepted and looked forward to being Capped. It was a part of becoming a knight, or of turning from a girl to lady. Thinking of this, I saw how good things could be meaningless in isolation. What value did courage have, without a free and challenging mind to direct it?" (p. 111)

Right now in 6th grade, we have a lot of freedom. We make many choices, and we have to decide what's best for us. Our parents make these choices too. You can find choices that come with freedom everywhere. As you can see, Chapter 6, is full of freedom. At this point, when the quote was said, he was in the castle and living in luxury, specially treated for by royalty. This is near the point when he started to fall in love with Eloise. Throughout the chapter he struggles on whether he should stay with the Counts family, or go to the White Mountains. This has to do with freedom, because he has to choose between freedom and luxury. Before he met Eloise, he would have known what to do, he would have chosen freedom and put freedom above everything. Love made everything complicated for Will, changed how he thought about freedom. It was still something he wanted but not as treasured. Freedom was and probably still is very important to Will, that's why it was so disappointing that Eloise didn't want freedom either as she was already capped. He thought that she cared about him and they could actually be together. The sad reality is that Eloise, because she was capped couldn't love anyone but the Tripods. Freedom pushed Will on, it's what brought Will so far into the story, his want, need and love for freedom. The capping marked the end of freedom, so Will did everything he could to avoid loss of freedom, imagination, emotions and control over his thoughts. This is why he despised the Tripods so much, they came to end freedom by capping the people there. Jack was only a demonstration of the loss of want for freedom because once he was capped he said that the things he talked about like man-made objects were nonsense. The quote above talked about how running away from home showed spirit and courage, to the people of the Counts Castle. Will was saying that the spirit was wasted, because the people there still looked forward to being Capped and that it was even more revered there than in Wherton. You could see that it upset Will a lot that even in the castle they didn't want freedom. Will basically is telling us that he thinks kindness and courage is overrated even though it shouldn't be because they didn't have a mind of their own to use it wisely and direct it. He was probably hoping that because Eloise showed sympathy, unlike Jack, she wanted freedom as well. If he stayed with Eloise, he would lose so much, like true happiness, emotions, and control over thoughts. This didn't compare to luxury, but he still struggled to choose. When Eloise showed surreal happiness in living with the Tripods and serving the Tripods, he tried to tell her but she told him he would understand once capped (Page 136). After she said that, he realized that he couldn't convince her and all hope was lost, he left dejected and alone. This was helpful because he didn't have to struggle for freedom, but he was still hurt and sad because he loved her and had thought that he could be with her, but it wasn't meant to be. Eloise was destined to serve the Tripods as was customary, she might not have wanted that earlier, but once capped, she didn't object to it, it only gave her more reason to be happy to give devotion to the people who controlled her mind and thoughts. Will couldn't give devotion to the Tripods and he didn't want to either. If he stayed, he would be capped and be forced into a fake commitment to the Tripods. After all, he shouldn't have wasted the long journey to only give it all up for Eloise.You could see that Beanpole and Henry were expecting him to stay because they were so surprised that he came.

Freedom can be found in many places, and come with struggles and choices, the whole book and Chapter 6 rotates around and relies on the idea of FREEDOM!

Chapter 6 Review!

Throughout Chapter 6, you can see changes that occur, not only in the characters, but in the habitat and surroundings. Through these questions, it's easier to see the differences between Wherton and France. You can also see from the evidence from the novel how or why a character(s) behaved that way. Will was injured and taken in by the Count and Countess, who took him in kindly. Beanpole and Henry want to leave soon, before they're brought for capping. Will wants to stay behind, causing inner conflict. I hope that this short summary will help you understand my answers to the questions better!

1. How were the Tripods able to control the people?

In Wherton, where Will started the journey, they were capped. Will ran away from all of this, because the cap was what the Tripods used to control the humans so they would provide the The concept isn't as different as the one in France, but there are tiny but significant details that make it different. We know that in Wherton, it marked the beginning of manhood, and occasionally womanhood. They stood in white clothing and the Tripods would take them, before returning them back to a feast and respect. From that day on, they would do a grown man/woman's work and receive a grown man/woman's pay. It was a celebration, but very formal and happy. In France, the Capping was along the same lines but because the Comte and Comtesse and the area where Will, Henry and Beanpole lived was more rich, the ceremony was very extravagant and held twice a year! Already it was different from the ceremony in Wherton because they weren't as rich there and only held it once a year, when the boys and girls reached a certain age. There was a Tournament where knights jousted and held many other games, it lasted for 5 days. At the end of this, they were capped. From Eloise, we can see that the ladies there wore turbans after being capped, and showed their capped heads only after 6 months at a special ball. You can see that it was even more respected there to be capped and that the people there were very happy. They also had more emotion than the villagers of Wherton did.The Tripods of France were more carefree, and allowed emotion, which you can see the Tripods of Wherton didn't allow. Jack shows this as he was very distant from Will which frustrated Will to no end. In France, there wasn't a lot of talk of Vagrants, so I can assume that there weren't any in that region, giving the Tripods there a reason to be carefree.

2. Find evidence (quotations from the novel) to show that even though Will is comfortable living at the castle, he is frustrated that the Comte, Comtesse, and Eloise have been capped.

Will is taken in by the Count, Countess and their daughter Eloise while injured and recovery, through the process of getting to know them, he finds them kind, warmhearted, generous, brave and happy people (Page 122). When he finds out that Eloise is capped, by a friendly but forbidden snatch to the turban on her head- Page 114; he is very upset. You can see that he is surprised because he planned to take her with him to the White Mountains. 'But not Eloise. I had thought her free. I might have even come to the idea----that when we set off once more to the White Mountains, there might not be three of us, but four.'<=Page 116. Then he regrets ever thinking of that and turns from that idea, you see this when he tells himself: 'But now I knew that she belonged, irretrievably, body and soul, to the Enemy.' (Page 116). Will only is frustrated by Eloise's cap, because he began to think more of her than a friend,(quoted on Page 116). He starts to not like them, despite all they did for him and the kindness they offered him- Page 116. He likes the castle but you can see that there is a struggle between freedom and control over his mind and jeweled leather as well as other symbols of high status, that make you respected (Page 121).

3. Find evidence (quotes) to show how Will feels about being capped.

Will doesn't like the idea of being capped, ever since he met Ozymandias and saw what the capping did to Jack, turning him into mindless zombie. You can see that Will doesn't like that idea, he likes the idea of thinking his own thoughts and being able to control that ability. Once he discovered that the kind family of Count, Countess and Eloise are capped, he changes his thoughts about them and thinks of them as minions of the enemy (Page 116). Yet Will is stubborn and still wants Eloise to come with him to the White Mountains. He has sacrificed all he could to avoid capping and would let down so many people like: Ozymandias, Beanpole, Henry, Captain Curtis and all the free men of the White Mountains if he chose to succumb to the Capping (Page 121). Throughout Chapter 6, you can see a slow change in perspective of capping. He starts to think that before capping, there is uncertainty and revulsions, but once capped all the doubts disappear, and it isn't that bad, or a great loss (Page 123). The better he knew the people there, the more he found it harder to think of them as mindless minions of the Tripods because they were different. They were capped, but they still were happy (Page 122). He decides to put and end to this struggle by remaining in France for a few days longer, this decision was made on Pages 127 and 128. Giving him time to think about his situation, as well as time to try and convince Eloise to come with him to the White Mountains. It isn't a lot of time, so he has to hurry before Capping day comes.

I hope this helps give clearer evidence and answers to the questions above,

Thanks!

Cindy

Beanpole- How is he going to help??

Beanpole is a very interesting character with a large brain, but behind that there's a pretty sad story. I like Beanpole, he sounds very nice, trustworthy and honest, I don't think he could betray them....but you never know! His parents have died and his aunt and uncle took care of him from then on, without enough affection (or enough affection that he needed) to make him really want to stay or love them back. It was a mutual relationship between Beanpole and his aunt and uncle, he was glad they supplied him with food and a place to stay in, but other than that, there was nothing between them. For example, feelings of love for each other, support when he needed it the most or just to boost up confidence, and more importantly someone who appreciated his knowledge and brain power like Henry and Will did. From what we know, it doesn't seem like they did any of those things, they seemed afraid of his knowledge, like it was too dangerous to know so much. We can't conclude that they weren't kind and loving because we didn't hear their side of the story, but we can always assume. For all we know, they might of tried their best, but Zhanpole/Beanpole didn't cooperate with them. He tells them about his tragic background on pages 70-71. In many ways he's sort of like Henry because he has nothing left for him to really be attached to in that town. Nothing is pulling him back, like friends or family! He has no friends and in that sense I think he's unlucky. That's why he was so ready to leave. Beanpole is similar to Will because he too wants to be free, but for different reason, as he is afraid that his knowledge will be lost if he is capped (Page 71-72)! You can tell that he was very interested by the prospect of a place without capping; you can sort of feel this excitement on Page 69 because he questions and is very skeptical at the idea of a place without Tripods. This is whProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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the author puts question marks instead of exclamation marks, he hadn't fully accepted the idea they were proposing to him. We know he's very smart because he talks about his many inventions and experiments on Pages 71-72 on Chapter 5- The City of The Ancients. He has also tried to use his inventing skills to try and find a place without Tripods and Capping. Though he seems very incredulous at the fact that there is a land without Tripods and Capping and two boys his age know where to go, he is ready to trust them and this shows a very trusting person. Will and Henry might be his first friends and he seems to like having them around.

Beanpole will help a lot on their journey because he knows the land better than any of them, as he had resided there for many years. He would be able to take them where they needed to go and benefit from it as well. He knows the many shortcuts and ways to get there faster such as the Shmand-Fair (Page 72, Pages 75-77) which they rode and saved time while riding it. If Beanpole hadn't been there they would've taken more time than the time they spent on the Shmand-Fair. This is why Henry and Will were so ready to accept them into their group; he had valuable information on the roads and paths that they could take to The White Mountains. Another thing that Beanpole can help in is that he can use his knowledge of the language there because Will and Henry don't know the language there; they can find themselves in many predicaments because they said something in the foreign language. As Captain Curtis said on Page 62, Chapter 4, the inhabitants of that area would pick them up and prepare them for capping because they didn't understand English and what Will and Henry were saying. With Beanpole, he could speak for them and it'd be alright because he knew the language spoken there. He and his knowledge on so many other subjects (like science etc.); can help them to get in or out of situations. His knowledge of English (Page 67 and Page 71), is very useful because they can communicate effectively and efficiently with him. They can also collaborate constructively because they can understand each other and can work together for their common good. I am also very sure that his inventions can help them when they are in need of help and need to do certain tasks that they can't do by themselves. Beanpole is full of many abilities and skills that will help and I'm sure Will and Henry will find a use for every single one of them.

Thanks!!!!!!

Cindy

How Is Will like me???

So, how is Will like me???? That's a pretty hard question, so I'll start with background and work my way through it. We had our first Literature Circle Discussion with the novel The White Mountains, on February 2nd, 2010(yesterday). I learned a lot about the different views of the text from my group. Some made many different inferences that I would've never thought of before like Sahi who interpreted that Ozymandias had a twin brother who mastered the Tripods and that's why Ozymandias was helping Will, to help save the world. This brought me to think, that maybe Will would help save the Capped (imprisoned) men and some women. It also brings me to wonder if somebody could be mastering the Tripods, and the master of the Tripods ran down from generation to generation, and the food they cultivated went to the rich family who mastered the Tripods. I think it'd be from generation to generation, because nobody could live for thousands of years(Ozymandias says that the Tripods have been ruling for thousands of years on page). This just goes to show, how from a single perspective you can draw many conclusions.

It's from my group that I heard and drew their many perspectives of Will's traits. I'll share them with you in this paragraph, with examples from the text of course! Will is disobedient, because he talked with Ozymandias even when his father told him not to talk with him for fear that the Vagrant would over influence Will. In many ways, Will is a free thinker, he thinks differently, thinks for himself and acts by himself, you can see this because he's not pushed into peer pressure. He chose by himself that he'd go to the White Mountains, he doesn't act differently towards Vagrants and he doesn't want to be capped unlike all the other boys. Will is naïve compared to us today, this isn't his fault because under the shadow of the Tripods many of the people in Wherton are naïve. This author brings the naïvety to our attention when Will doesn't know that LectCity could be electricity and doesn't know about volts, our unit of measurement for electricity. Will in a few ways is rather intelligent, compared to the villagers and knows about the Black Age because of Jack's impact on him, so he knows about the time of starvation, war and unhappiness, which is in fact not very different from our time in various places around the world! Will used to think that the Tripods saved them, but doesn't think this way anymore because the Tripods were hiding them from man-made objects that they were very capable of doing without them. The Tripods do this because they fear that they'll revolt thinking that they're capable of establishing their own lives. He knows about the White Mountains because of Ozymandias's impression on him. He knows it's a place where men and women can be free and live their own lives without being overshadowed and capped. Will was very friendly because he interacted with Vagrants despite the thoughts of the community. He's also independent because he makes his choices without help; like his choice to go to the White Mountains, and he doesn't rely on his parents a lot like we sometimes do for money and nearly everything! Finally, Will is a risk-taker, you see this because he took a risk by taking the very valuable Watch out to show to Jack, even with the risk of damage. He also took the risk of deciding to go to the White Mountains despite the dangers, labor and our everyday issues that he might face. This is all very overwhelming and I don't think Will is prepared for it, at all!

Now we know about Wills good and bad traits. Now I can connect them with myself. I know that I can be disobedient. Every kid thinks that they're right and their parents aren't, well at least I do! I admit that I make some mistakes and mess up a lot. When my parents want me to go to bed, I waste time or I do something else, like read. So I know that Will and I connect in that sense. Imaginary Check mark! I am a free thinker in a few ways, I don't do peer pressure (at least I think I don't) and I am individually myself and not anybody else, I might want to be somebody else but I can't change! I'm still that girl who laughs at the wrong times, but that's OK! I don't think I'm very naive, I know all I need to know about for now! Crossing that one off the list! In many ways I am pretty intelligent (you need to know that I'm trying really hard not to make it seem like I'm bragging!). I'll just put a double check on that one for now! I am friendly, I try to make new friends, I'm a peer helper so I made a few new friends with the new students, so in a sense I am pretty friendly but depend on really close friends for laughs and smiles! Independent....that is difficult, I am independent in a few things, like schoolwork, I like occasional group work to improve on collaboration skills, but there are many things I am dependent on my parents for, like food, a home, school and money, but it's the same for everyone, right? I don't qualify myself as a risk-taker, but I take risks, like on scary rides I push myself to do things, the DNA Mixer etc. I figure sometimes, you have to take risks to actually live your life to the limit. There was a really big slide at Luna Park and my brother, always the risk-taker went on it and my sister was below height, so she went on the smaller, but still pretty big slides. My brother went on it, so I figured I should be brave too! I bet you think, I enjoyed myself in the end, well think again!!! It was the most frightening experience ever, especially because you were in a sack and you had to push yourself off the edge of the slide and it really freaked me out. I took risks then, and I guess I still do. It's half and half on that one.

Thanks for going with me through this journey and finding out how Will is like me.

Kindly take your baggage and leave through the nearest exits!

Xie Xie!

Merci!

Gracias!

(Thank You in Mandarin, French and Spanish!)

:D