Marcus Changed the World!

Blog seven

302-358 (finished!)

     After Marcus and Ange email the Xnet about the Vampmob for tomorrow, he gets four hundred responds! The next day he arrives with Ange all dressed in black to the Civic Center area, where over one thousand Vampmob members arrived to play. As police arrive and  get ready to spray the crowd with gas, Marcus loses Ange and runs into the same girl that he does before the bridge falls at the beginning of the story. That same girl is Masha! It was her the whole time and she drags Marcus out of the crowd before the gas hits. As they change into normal clothing at a club, she takes his ID, cards and transportation passes. After they run into Charles, who has been stalking Marcus the whole time, Masha handcuffs him and runs off with Marcus. When they enter an extremely small spaced van that they hide in, Masha shows Marcus the picture that she took of him and his friends before the bombing. Marcus wants that picture as proof that Darryl is with him before the bombing and she refuses to give it to him now. When she falls asleep, he snatches her phone and she wakes up right away! As they get a little violent on the van, he slips off the vehicle and runs into a homeless man with an extremely interesting paper! The news paper contains Barbra Stratford's published story on the DHS keeping prisoners secretly at certain local islands! Now Marcus needs to find a special way to contact Barbra. When he spots two easy busting  Xnet Jammers, he reveals himself to them and they idolize him. When they identify themselves as Nate and Liam, they take him to their rich apartment, where Marcus uses their Xbox. After he tells them to stay low for a few days, he leaves with survival equipment. He then meets up with Zeb and tells him to contact Vanessa for him. When Marcus meets Vanessa, he gives her private information and Masha's phone. Marcus tells Vanessa to take this stuff to Barbra Stratford. During this time Vanessa admits that she loves Marcus and he realizes that Ange has been arrested and brought to Treasure Island. When Marcus gets back to Zeb, he teaches Marcus about the word "freegans" basically fetching food out of the trash. The next morning, when Marcus wakes up to a strong light, he is captured, taken into a van and is brought to what he believes is Treasure Island.  He recognizes Severe hair ladies voice and is brought to his cell in handcuffs where he pees in his pants and suddenly falls asleep. When he wakes up the next morning and is brought into a room for torture, people in uniform Break in and arrest severe haircut lady and her guards. Marcus is finally untied and Barbra Stratford runs into the room to hug Marcus. The other guards give them privacy to talk and she mentions that he needs to remain in this jail over night until he is trailed. As she runs with him throughout the hall ways to search for Ange and Darryl, Marcus loses hope on finding them and Barbra encourages him to look harder. They finally find them both and Marcus  leaves to see the judge in court the next day. They let him go by bail and his mother and father hug him right after he walks out of the court room doors. Marcus and his father share a real father son moment and they all hurry to the hospital to see Darryl. When they arrive at the hospital, many people are trying to take pictures and Marcus and his family  bust into the room. Marcus puts his head next to Darryl's and says "D" you made it.

Prediction: The story is over so I can't find out what would happen next, but if there is a part two, I would predict that the actual bomber will become shockingly familiar to Marcus! That would be a great start for the part  two book.

Reaction: This ending is what I had predicted throughout the book! I absolutely love the ending with the way they show a new relationship between Marcus and his father. I do feel that they should of put a scene with the actual bombers being caught in the end though! This book has a really happy ending and Marcus has become a celebrity known everywhere!

 

Quote: "Freedom is something you have to take for yourself"(Doctorow 335). Marcus is saying that you need to recognize your natural rights of freedom! If you aren't getting freedom, you need to give yourself freedom. This could connect to the philosophers enlightenment ideas during the times of the French Revolution. Connecting to natural rights, philosophers believed that if the people In authority aren't protecting your rights, then "kick the bum out"!!!!

LT extra credit* They pooled together in large groups, like an oil spill in reverse (simile)

LT extra credit* I closed my eyes and let the ocean lift me. I floated away. Somewhere far below me, was my body.

Marcus- Leader or Follower?

November 29th 230-301

                              Marcus -Leader or Follower?

     When Marcus and Ange hold a conference with many Xnetters, Marcus develops a strange feeling of leadership. When the conference is over and many questions are answered, Marcus and Ange turn off the Xbox and cuddle for a little while. When Marcus realizes that he's late and needs to be home, he storms out immediately after telling Ange he loves her. The next day he hears news about the DHS improving their security and that many Xnetters have been found and arrested. When Marcus is back at Ange's house, he has thoughts of being the cause for all of these arrest. She gets upset that he's doubting himself and they break into an argument. Marcus doesn't talk to her for days after the argument and finally returns to school. On his way out of school he bumps into a man no older then him that seems homeless. The man introduces himself as Zeb and takes off. When Marcus gets home, he notices a strange letter fall out of his pocket. It's from Zeb, the man that he has bumped Into earlier that day. It is an extremely important letter mentioning that he was at the same jail as him months ago and that Darryl sent him here to inform Marcus that he's alive in jail still. At the end of the letter it mentions that Zeb hates America now and wants Marcus to continue what he's doing! He also mentions that the DHS is scared of him. When Marcus  breaks into tears, his mom walks into the room and they share a mother and son moment, where he tells her almost everything. After she puts on a shocking face, his father arrives and he also tells him the whole story! His father reacts differently then mom by driving all of them to Darryl's fathers house to notify him about his son. When they arrive at his home, they notice Darryl's father as a mess. After he hears that his son is alive, he cleans up and takes off with them to see Barbra Stratford, a famous family friend journalist. After they arrive at Barbra and tell her everything, she storms to her computer to print paperwork and Marcus mentions secretly that he's M1k3y. Right after hearing this, she tells him to come over again so she could take notes on his story privately. The next day, after Marcus leaves school, he bumps into Ange and tells her about the journalist meeting. She tags along and they both go to see Barbra Stratford right away. When they leave Barbra after hearing that their story belongs to her now, they stop at Ange's house and have sex together. When they finish having sex, Marcus gets an email from an Xnetter named Masha. She mentions how she was arrested by the DHS, was found innocent and then offer her a job to spy on the Xnet. She offers Marcus a trip to Los Angels, where she will escape with him before they both get busted, but Marcus doesn't trust her. She proves that she is for the Xnet after sending him a shocking hacking trick. Marcus freaks out after noticing that he's in danger and Ange tries convincing him to go with this girl and to bring her with him. At the beginning of chapter 18, Marcus mentions how he used to play vampire games in the woods at camp with Darryl and others. He also mentions playing at hotels and running around lying and freaking guest out! The people who play these games are known as LARPers. When Marcus meets up with Ange again and sends trust worthy Xnetters instructions for a vampire game, he contacts Masha and tells her that he's getting ready for tomorrow's trip to LA. After Marcus helps Ange pack, they both go to Marcus's house, where Ange meets his parents and stays for dinner.

Prediction: I honestly don't even know what could possibly happen next! I think that Masha isn't really going to help Marcus escape. I think there is something suspicious about that user and I think that Marcus will get caught in Los Angeles. I think that Darryl will also appear very soon in the book again! Maybe even Vanessa and Jolu. 

Quote: " I felt the eyes of the classroom on me, and it reminded me of m1k3y and the people who looked up to him. I was sick of being looked up to. I missed Ange"(Doctorow 246).

How can he say this!? He wants people to hear him throughout the whole book! He wanted to make a change for the country and how can that be done if he doesn't want to be noticed by anyone anymore! Everything that he's doing involves attention! He's a leader of a movement!

Reaction: I am really interested in this book! I do notice the change in characters, but don't really like the new disposition in some of the characters like the father. The story did get more calm and boring to read, but I do feel a huge ending coming!

Literary Term** Holding in the secret had dirtied me. Soiled my spirit. (Metaphor)

2) Dad sat stiff as a ramrod the whole time. (Simile)

Notorious M1k3y

Blog 5

 

November 20th 165-230

     After Jolu explains to everyone why they are there, people have many questions, comments and eventually exchange identity keys for the Xnet. When Marcus brings his laptop with possible evidence to the ocean for dumping, one of his trust worthy key members named Ange joins him. Because of the beautiful atmosphere they almost kiss, but don't. However they still share a beautiful moment with each other. When Marcus finally arrives home after being on a bus with his drunk friends, he finds Ange on Xnet and discovers that people use Xnet like a Facebook now. After Marcus and Ange flirt all night, Marcus wakes up and notices the quote "don't trust anyone over 25" all around town. Even in his classroom. When that quote is on Marcus's class board, Mrs. Galvez and the class discuss people called Yippies. After huge discussions on Yippies break out, mentioning the attacks they have had on cops and towns, Marcus interrupts them by standing up and reading an article from the internet out loud. After he reads a passage from the Declaration of Independence, he sits down and class ends. That night he contacts Ange on Xnet again and they arrange a date. They make plans to go to an illegal concert in Dolores Park and have dinner together at a Mexican restaurant. When they arrive at the concert, they have a blast! Eventually they move into a private area for sexual contact. The police then arrive to pepper spray the whole area and handcuff anyone they could capture. Marcus and Ange avoid the police and they decide to end the night. That week Marcus meets Ange in his favorite cafe to show her the paper mentioning the scene at Dolores Park. He wants actual victims to post their sides of the story on Xnet for everyone to see. While he explains this to her, she mentions his secret name m1k3y and he storms out of the cafe with anger. After he becomes calm, she explains how she knows his code name and tells him that she was the one who stole the big test and posted them online weeks ago! Later that night, he is working on his website In order to publish the victims side of the story towards the night at Dolores Park. Stories about the publishers is all over the news the next morning and Marcus's father is against him using Xnet! When Marcus gets to school he notices that he has a new sub. She brings up topics relating to freedom and Marcus connects The Bill of Rights to society. After he gets sent to the principals office for being disrespectful, principal Benson suspends him for two weeks and kicks him out of his office. when Marcus wakes up the next morning, he turns on the news and hears people criticizing anyone who was at Dolores Park that week. After he tells his father he got suspended, he goes upstairs to start his school paper. When he falls asleep, he has many dreams of him and Ange having sex. when Marcus meets Ange at her school, they run into Vanessa. Marcus learns that Ange and Vanessa aren't friends and Ange has thoughts that Marcus likes Vanessa. Ange takes Marcus to her house, where Marcus discovers an insane video of a general getting beaten up by DHS members in public! He shares the video many times on Xnet and the video becomes world wide! The next day Marcus receives extremely suspicious emails from people on the Xnet, mentioning that they want to interview him. Marcus rejects each one throughout the day.

Prediction: I think that he will get caught any second! The kid isn't smart enough to continue what he's doing. Think about it, it's him against America! Since when does America lose? When he gets caught I'm throwing this book.

Quote: very important quote: "Ladies and gentlemen, America is fighting a war on many fronts, but nowhere is she in more grave danger then she is here at home"(Doctorow 216). Marcus is saying that America is fighting for something, but the most dangerous place to be is in America because they are just really fighting themselves with all the changes they're making.

Reaction: I feel a little more chilled out when reading this book now. Maybe it's because he's not talking to his friends anymore. I am pretty surprised that Marcus has a girlfriend and i am shocked that he has sex with her! Two huge nerds having sex, I know it sounds weird.