Thursday, November 12, 2015

Cause/Effect Analysis


Authors often use cause and effect scenarios in a text to build on an overall theme. Identify one moment of your text that has had a drastic impact on the characters or plot. How did this moment affect your reading? Why do you think that the author included this moment in the text?

12 comments:

  1. I think the most impactful moment Victor has so far is when he finds out that his dad has died. “Just after Victor lost his job at the BIA, he also found out that his father has died of a heart attack in Phoenix, Arizona.(pg 59) In this chapter you find out Victor hasn't seen him in years but it still hurts a lot. I could tell he loved his father because he drove all the way the Phoenix to get his ashes. He could've spent the 300$ his dad left him on booze or drugs but he cared eoffe to bring his dad home one last time.

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    1. I agree that Victor still cared about his dad, despite him leaving Victor, and I also think that is backed up by Victor’s willingness to go to arizona to collect his ashes, along with his father's belongings.

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  2. the most impact thing that has happen was Victors father died of a heart attack and with tha also before vic found out the new about his father he was layed of his job this has a very big impact on victor because evn tho his dad was far away he still cared for him instead of leaving him there and not carring and moving on

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    1. I agree. Victor is going through a very hard time in his life right now and this would be hard for anyone. Victor is very stressed and almost seems like he doesn't know what to do.

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  3. The most effective thing that is going on Victor’s life is that he found out his dad has died from a heart attack.”Just after Victor lost his job at the BIA, he also found out that his father had died of a heart attack in Phoenix, Arizona.” (pg 59). In this chapter you will see Victor is in shock and he needs money to be able to fly to Arizona because his dad left a checking account open and he wants to go claim it. Victor only has a $100 dollars that won’t get him anywhere to being able to get on a plane. So Victor asks his long lost friend Thomas to give him money or to help him get money so that way he can go get that checking account in his name instead of his dad's. I'm surprised how fast Victor reacted to going to Arizona because him and his dad didn’t have that close of a relationship and his dad was never in his life that much. SO it kinda shocked me Victor wanted to go to Arizona.

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  4. I think the most dramatic thing that has happend to victor so far in the book, is when is father died. he cared so much about his father that he brought along someone that he used to be friends with and they went tpo get his ashes because he was cremated.

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    1. I agree that Victor's father had a lot of meaning to him and that his death had a much larger effect on Victor than he may of thought at the time.

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    2. I agree with you 100% losing a family member no matter what whether you don't like them or they mean nothing to you is still heart breaking. Victor has gone through a lot in his life and I feel like this puts him over the edge.

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  5. I think one of the biggest “causes” in this book is Victor’s father leaving. “ But however memory actually worked, it was my father who climbed on his motorcycle, waved to me as I stood in the window, and rode away.” (Alexie 34). I think the effect of Victor's father leaving is what leads Victor into a life of drinking and being an ordinary Indian on the reservation. This moment really allows the reader to get a better perspective on why Victor's life was so tough, and how it got to be that way. Numerous times Victor imagines his father coming back and asking Victor if he wanted to go for a ride on his motorcycle. “I rushed around the house, pulled my shoes and socks on, struggled into my coat, and ran outside to find an empty driveway.” (Alexie 35). To imagine his father out nowhere numerous times, Victor’s childhood was clearly traumatizing. I think the author puts this into the text to give the reader more background on why Victor is the way he is. Without this information, people may view Victor is a vastly different way, but with the information, it gives readers a way to connet to/ understand what Vitor is going through. What do you think?, does Victor’s father leaving shape him into what he is now, or is it another event?

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  6. Through my eyes, I would have to argue that Victor's father moving to Arizona was quite possibly one of the most drastic events concerning victor. His life totally changed after his parents divorced and his father left. “I stood on the porch all night long and imagined I heard motorcycles and guitars”(Alexie, 36) Victor waits in the cold all night long because he had a dream that his father came back, but when morning comes he’s reassured that his dream was nothing more than a dream and his father isn’t coming back. Also in the book it mentions that his father would send weekly postcards, then monthly, then only on birthdays and holidays. I would imagine that seeing his father slowly start to fade into a memory, more than anything, would've weighed down on Victor and had to have been crushing. How does Victor feel about his father now? Do you think he remembers his father in this way or remembers most of the good parts instead and chooses to keep a positive image of his father maybe even more so now that his father is dead?

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  7. One of the moments that affected the way I read the book and understood victor was when he said that he is going to drink diet Pepsi instead of beer. This changed the way I look at him because even though he came from a rough background of drinking everyday. He realized that it was bad for him and he wanted to change is life around. Even though its not a big step, it still counts as trying to get better and healthier. I think the author included this part to show that he cared for himself and that he wasent a cold hearted person.

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  8. I think the most dramatic thing going through Victor's life is his dad's past alcoholism. Victor would not be the way he is now if his parents/ Dad wouldn't have been an alcoholic . This has caused Victor to turn into a different person then I expected him to be throughout the book. In this book as we all know alcoholism has played a huge role throughout this whole book and Victor is starting to not know right from wrong. It feels normal to him. One example of this is “I was conceived during one of those drunken nights, half of me formed by my father's whiskey sperm, the other half formed by my mother's vodka egg. I was born goofy reservation mixed drink, and my father needed me just as much as he needed every other kind of drink. This shows that Victor is predetermined to be just like his father.

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