Contemporary Novel

Where the Red Fern Grows explores an aspect of the american dream. This book is about a boy named Billy who lives in the Ozarks. He wants more than anything else, to own a pair of hunting hounds. However, his parents are poor and cannot buy them for him. One day he sees an ad for hunting hounds. He decides he will get them. He works hard for two years until he has saved enough money to buy them.

An aspect of the American dream is to achieve your own personal dream (seemingly) by your own power. Billy does just this. He realized he could not achieve his dream by asking other people for it. So he worked hard and earned his dream, fulfilling the American Dream.

Virtue Journal

I chose to practice the virtue of "silence" as Franklin described it.  "Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself.  Avoid trifling conversation."  Basically the "vain conversation" it talks about in 1st Peter.  My Dad was talking about it in church a few weeks ago, so when i read it in Franklin's list, I figured it would be great one to try out.  So I tried to think before I said anything ever.  For a WHOLE WEEK.  And I sort of tried to log it.  So here goes:

Monday:  I kind of forgot about doing it, so...  But anyways I think I got mad at my brother, so I probably wasn't successful at the whole silence thing.

Tuesday:  I think I did pretty well today.  We were baby-sitting some younger kids and we had some pretty goofy conversations, but I don't think they were idle words, as they served to amuse them.

Wednesday:  It was pretty uneventful today.  I didn't really say anything idle today, probably because I didn't have much reason to say anything today.

Thursday:  I did pretty well today considering how my brother was getting on my nerves.  Most of the times I was about to say things back to him I stopped myself and just walked away.  That was hard!

Friday:  Well, today I was with a group of friend's, and being myself, I just kind of... talked.  Although I did stop myself from saying some things I almost said.  Not bad things, just... unprofitable things.

Saturday:  Today I had some friends over to my camp.  Well...  being myself... you get it.

Week One: Touching Spirit Bear

Well, I kind of picked an obvious one, but oh well.  I started doing a little research on circle justice, because it intrigued me.  It is obviously quite important to the story; the whole plot centers around it.  It would also seem that the theme of this book is "Justice should heal, not punish.", which is the idea of circle justice.  When I looked it up, I found out that it is real, and they really have used it in Minnesota.  They have tried it out in several cities and towns, one of which is Minneapolis (where Cole is from).  They require the offender to plead guilty before the Circle can take place, as Cole did in the book.  A trained volunteer presides over the meetings and passes around an object that allows the holder to speak.  I found out the object can be whatever the Circle Keeper chooses, such as a feather in this book.  Circle Justice was first used by a legal system on a Native American reserve in Canada's Yukon territory.  Next, it was used in Minnesota.  Massachusetts is the only other state so far that is preparing to use it.  As I have said before, the purpose of Circle Justice is to heal, not punish.  So far, it has had a high success rate.  I wonder If Cole will be "healed" by it.  I also wonder if Peter and his family will be healed by the process, since it is supposed to heal a community as well.

Sources:

"Mpls Star-Tribune Article About Circle of Justice." Communications for Justice. 28 June 2008 .

Rieger, Lisa. "Circle Peacemaking." Alaska Justice Forum. 2001. Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center. 28 June 2008 .