Journal Entry #10

5 Things that I understand
1. Magnetism revealed to Baron Du Poet the science of magic and he concealed what he found even though he felt as though he should reveal it.
2. This excentric power of attraction or projection supposes invariably a diseased condition in the person who is subject thereof.
3. Genius is judged by the tribunal of mediocricty, and this judgement is without appeal, because, being the light of the world, genius is accounted as a thing that is null.
4. The universal law of the onstruments of eternal justice, the seal of Solomon, is keys and his rings are a token of supreme of royalty.
5.Faith is the confidence which is imparted by religion- to say that, by common belief.

4 questions
Why was there an additional verticl branch added to Saint Andrew's cross?
Why was Erdan inquiring what would become of her son at his marriage?
What is the relationship between vampires and magicians?
Why did sorcerers have multiple relationships ith holy powers?

3 words that I do not know
1. Pg 343 Thaumaturgist-a worker of wonders or miracles; magician.
2. Pg 344 Follies-the state or quality of being foolish; lack of understanding or sense.
3. Pg 348 Fakir-a Muslim or Hindu religious ascetic or mendicant monk commonly considered a wonder-worker

2 literary elements
1."It mounts the crupper and gallops behind us like remorse" Pg 342- Simile
2."Science has conquered the lightning and converted it to torches" Pg 342- personification

1 summary sentence
The most intemperate and absurd o all faiths is to believe that there is no universal and absolute intelligent principle.

Journal entry #9

5 things that I understand
1. The prophecy of Catherine Theot was fulfilled by the inauguration of the worship of the Supreme Being an dthe swift reaction of Thermidor.
2. Germany is the land of metaphysical mysticism and phantoms.
3. A magical chain was formed; a species of imbecile served as the spirit's interpreter and wrote under his control.
4. Cartomancy, as restored in France by Etteilla, is literally the questioning of fate by signs agreed on beforehand.
5. As an erudite Kabalistic book, all combinations of which reveal the harmonies pre-existing between signs, letters and numbers, the practical value of the Tarot is truly above all marvellous.

4 questions
Did Madame Boche have access to the Emporer?
When did Valerie appear in Europe?
How was the rupture connected with the relationship between Arson and Wronski?
Why was Vinstras arrested?

3 words that i do not know
1.Pg 318 Inveterate- settled or confirmed in a habit, practice, feeling, or the like
2. Pg 326 Immutable- not mutable; unchangeable; changeless.
3. Pg 336 Pontiff- any high or chief priest.

2 literary elements
1."scepticism in the face of eternal mathematics" Pg 326- Personification
2."wine fell the stains like blood" Pg 334- Simile

1 sentene summary
There is only one true misfortune o drea which is madness.

Journal Enrty #8

5 things that i Understand
1. In the Masonic Legend, poeple are distinguished by names which vary in the different Rites.
2. The Rites of Masonry are designed to transmit a memorial of the legends of initiation and to perserve them among the Brethren.
3.Masonry is the Gnosis and the false Gnostics caused the condemnation of the true.
4. Mesmer, physician, postulated two modes in natural being called the substance and the life.
5. The sect of Saint-Jakin was an order of Gnostics steeped in the illusions of the Magic of Fascination.

4 Questions
How mnay chapters does the Y-Kim consist of?
What is the key that unlocks the Chinese puzzle?
What did the writer of Abbe de Villars certify?
How was the testimony extracted from his wife?

3 words I do not know
1. Pg 285 Indicible- Unspeakable
2. Pg 286 Regicides- To kill a king
3. Pg 286 Variant- tending to change or alter; exhibiting variety or diversity

2 literary elements
1."the Y-Kim is like that of the Pentateuch of Mysteries" pg 289- Simile
2."Nature in her wrath armed him" pg 309- Personification

1 sentence summary
The strange chronicles of futurity was an imitation of the succession of worlds.

Journal Entry #7



5 things that I understand
1. Trithemius is in Magic the master of masters, and he was proclaimed as the most wise and learned of adepts.
2. Important manifestations of occultism concide with the fall of the Templars.
3. When the League of magicians failed, they vowed to recourse to witchcraft and Black Magic.
4. The cheif of intiates was a devoted researcher of Transcendental Magic but he concealed most of the veil Hermetric experiments.
5. The beginning of apparition occured at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and accounted for the authenticity of Magic.

4 questions
Who were the top 10 magicians?
Why was the devil the most influencial person to sorcerer?
What was god's role in the downfall of the devil's influence?
Why did most magicians turn evil?

3 words that i do not know
pg 244 Consternation- amazement or dismay that hinders or throws into confusion
pg 245 Pauper- a person destitute of means except such as are derived from charity
pg 274 Vindicate- to free from allegation or blame

2 literary elements
1."this light of his heart will drive the hideous spectra"-pg 254- Personification
2."he ascended to the light like a monstrous ladder"-pg 260- Simile

1 summary sentence
The magicians would come from different sexualities and cutoms that were influenced by either the devil or god.

Journal Entry #6



1. The cime of Magic did not entail death save for those of exahlted positions.

2. Black Magic, which ever apes the Magic of Light, ws used as an instrument of passion and an oracle of hell.

3.The greatest magical prosecution to be found in history, after that of the temple was the trail of a maid, who was almost a saint.

4. Black Magic may be not only a real crime but the gravest of all offences.

5. The soul of the world is a force which tends automatically to equillembrum; either will must predominate over it or it conquers the will.

4 questions
Why was excommunication at teh time a penalty?
Why does the mystery of human continually absorb seekers?
Why did magicians seek the mandragore?
Why did Gilles de Laval share the same fate as the servants?

3 words i do not know
1. Pg 196 Alga-plants that lack true roots, stems, leaves, and embryos.
2. Pg 197 Pantacle-a figure of a 5-pointed star usually made with alternate points connected by a continuous line and used as a magic or occult symbol
3. Pg 204 Vie- to exchange in rivalry

2 literary Elements
1."His reign is like a solemn and brilliant pause" pg 195- Simile
2."the heavy and fetid atmosphere compelled the young women to retreat" pg 214- Personification

1 sentence summary
Sorcerers would have to drop there regular lives and become insane in order to do magic.

Journal Entry #5

5 things I understand
1. The sophisticated doctrine of the later and materialistic Magi of Persia; it was they who represented the two poles of the intellectual world as deities.
2. The sociteies in question were the depositaries of a tradition of errors and truths admixed; but they transmitted, under the seal of terrific pledges, the Great Arcanum of ancient omnitoptence, together with the ever frustrated hopes of extinct worships and fallen priesthoods.
3.The great masters of Christianity either failed of refused to understand the mysticism of the Golden Ass.
4. The little work that is condemned in the church relates to the domiain of Black Magic.
5.Black Magic retreated before the light of Christianity and prodgidies were took in the refuge of a dark circle.

4 questions
Was the assertion of misguided mothers an inference of a fact?
Why did the Antique Mysteries ridecule the asses of Bethleham?
What is theEpitome Delictorum?
Why was Fredegonde so evil?

3 words i do not know
1. Pg 159 Sanguinary-full of or characterized by bloodshed
2. Pg 163 Porousness-permeable by water, air, etc.
3. Pg 173 Diaconate-the office or dignity of a deacon

2 literary Elements
1."its ceaseless currents have a wearing effect like water" Pg 160- Simile
2."The churh could do no lessnthan condemn them energetically" Pg 171- personification

1 sentece sentence
The devil was one of the orignal introducers of the perception of Black Magic.

Journal Entry #4

5 Things I understand
1. The doctrine of Pluto was an epoch-making in the history of human geneis and its' creator was forced to consult with the priest of Memphis in order to obtain initiation to its mysteries.
2. The orgies of Bacchus were mystical tumults; the apostles of mania have always had recourse to disordered movements, frenetic agitations and horrible convulsions.
3. Anarchy being the point of departure and the palmary characteristic of dissident mysticism, religious concord is impossible between sectarians.
4. Barbarians words and signs unknown, or even utterly unmeaning, are the best in Black Magic.
5. Those who slandered the Magi commited themselves to enormities of which they accused them and were abandoned to all excesses of shameless sorcery.

4 Questions
What is Earth considered in the planetary system based on the beliefs of Zohar?
How many envelopes does a soul shed?
What is the relationship between the earth and evil?
What is the formula for phantoms?

3 words I do not know
pg 109 Wantoness- A licentious act by one man towards the person of another without regard to his rights; as, for example, if a man should attempt to pull off another's hat against his will in order to expose him to ridicule, the offence would be an assault, and if he touched him it would amount to a battery
pg 113 Agglomeration- a jumbled cluster or mass of varied parts
pg 115 Gnostics- Of, relating to, or possessing intellectual or spiritual knowledge

2 literary elements
1. "The state of permanent hallucination is death."Pg 119- Metaphor
2. "Intoxicating gases, like the Grotto of the Dog near Naples" pg 125-Simile

One sentence Summary
Mystics did not care for the humans and wouldbuse them as sacrifices because of their veiws toward mystics.

Journal Entry #3

5 things that I understand
1. The religions of ancient Palestine, the horrible rites of Black Maigic, the black god of India and the monstrous priapic Rutrem reign under the name of Belphegor.
2.It is the same for the science of Magi and the transcendental Magic, as eah is needed for the primeval priestly of art.
3.Anarchic Magic is the cultus of death. the sorceror must devote himself to fatality and must sacrifice children in order to remian immmortal.
4.Initiation is the necessar conseuence of the hierarchic principle which is the basis of realisation in Magic.
5.Pantheism can never for a synthesis but is degenerated by the sciences.

4 questions
At what ime period did barbrians began to use Black Magic?
Why did socerors have to sacrifice children in order to maintain youth?
Why must you go threw a cruel initiation in order to be accepted into the realms of magis?
Are there counter spells for these types of activities?

3 words that i do not know
1.Insensate Pg 119- lacking sense or understanding
2.Catalepsy Pg 124- a trancelike state marked by loss of voluntary motion in which the limbs remain in whatever position they are placed
3.Posthumous Pg 128- born after the death of the father

2 literary elements
1."This universal light has had its uncertain relfelections and its shadows, but ever after the dark night of error we behold it emerge, one and pure like the sun." pg 129 Simile
2."Truth is born into the world the star of science" Pg 129 Personification

Summary Sentence
Magic is worshipped in different ways and with each specific principle applied to ach way, a conseuence is being created.

Journal entry #2



5 thing that I understand

1. In Egypt, magic began to reach a point where it was beginning to attain completion as a universal science. The Emerald Tablet contains all the Magic in a single jewel and is said to be put in Greece by Hermes.
2.During the time in which magic began to expand in Greece, the exact sciences of Magic assume their natural form which is the form of beauty. In Greece the Golden Fleece was supposedly created and connets to the Hermetic Magic with Greek institutions.
3.The Tarchon was known to be an intiated Numa whose proficiency in Magic has allowed im to be caled a Chalden named Tages.
4.The holy kabalah was known as a tradition where the children of Seth were taken and ingarnered by Moses and concealed with symbols in the Bible. the y were used for the time of the Apocalypse.
5.The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic was used to identify seventy two explicatory names.

4 questions
Why did they believe that human struggles belonged to the birth of the Magic empires?
Why were the children of Seth chosen specificlly?
Where did the Doctrine descend from and how was it used in the future?
What happened to the populr tradition of the Magic affirm?

3 Words i do not know
1.Archipelgo pg 86- a chain or cluster of islands that is formed tectonically.
2.Palingenesis pg 89- The repetition by a single organism of various stages in the evolution of its species during embryonic development
3.Somnambulists pg 96- an abnormal condition of sleep in which motor acts (as walking) are performed

2 literary elements
1."The primal truth of science which fertilies science and restores it to unity." Pg 99 Personification
2."They are children who injure themselves recklessly." Pg 102 Metaphor

Summary Sentence
Different objects that pertain to magic are bestoyed pon humans as a way of evolving and craeting new ways to evolv nature itslef.

A History Of Magic

Journal Entry 1

5 Things that i understand
1. The human mind is rooted in truth and in reason. It accounts for all progress to intelligence. The Zohar represents absolute truth while the Sepher Yetzirah represents the method of acquistion.
2.Zoroaster expressed a manner in which is understood by theologians as the circumincession of the Divine Persons. In his multiplication of the triad by itself, Zoroaster created the absolute reason of the number 9 and the Universal Key of all numbers and forms.
3 Magis are ruled by a monarch who is considered sacred. He is considered the god on earth, and he causes mortals to lie prone when he passes.
4. Magic is a science, that when you abuse it you end up losing it and it also causes onself to become destroyed.
5. Black magic had originated in India and has also perpetuated in original traditions.

4 questions
1. Why has the battle of the Magis arrupted over the years?
2. How are the kings of Magis chosen?
3. Why did all Magis ahve to abide to the laws of the king?
4. Why weren't Magis able to defend themselves against dark magic?

3 words I don't Know
1. Pg 68 Lucidity- clearness of thought or style
2. Pg 71 Sybarite- voluptuary , sensualist
3. Pg 72 Gymnosophist- any of a sect of ascetics in ancient India who went naked and practiced meditation

2 Literary Elements
Pg 62 "Emerged from water, like a Sun in its rising."-Similie
Pg64 "Hereby is man but a shadow of a shadow."-Metaphor

Summary Sentence
Magic is influenced by the origins of life itself and is expanded in mathematics, art and religion.

Journal Entry#10
pgs 259-278

5 Comments
-While dioscussing where Ruth would like to be buriedonce she died, the mother continously kept rejecting the thought of her being buried in various places.
-After earning his master's degree in journalism, James began to search for his passion by doing various jobs.
-Though his mother continued to nag him about keeping one good stable job, he coninuously ignored her because he wanted to find himself and his place i the world.
-Once the mother came to reality with her past, she was able to discover her old friend Frances. She was able to let some of the skeletons, that seemed to be locked i her closet, out.
-Though her children are grown, they still are under the control of their mother. The family is still together and has turned out to be the opposite of her Jewish side.

4 questions
-Why was Ruth so undeciding on where she wanted to be buried?
- Why did it take James so long to find his place?
-Why didn't the mother want her children to know about her past?
-What is the cause of the family's strong bond?

3 vocabulary Terms
1. Pg 262 Anonymity-the quality or state of being anonymous
2. Pg 263 Synergy- combined action or operation
3. Pg 265 Staunch- steadfast in loyalty or principle

2 Literary Devices
1." Being mixed is like that tingling feeling you have in your nose before you sneeze." pg 262 This is an example of a simile.
2. " It was a giant, roaring, musical rift, screaming through my soul." This is an example of persoification.

Summary sentence
Once the mother explained her past to her son she was able to regain a little peice of her past and still maintianed power over her family.

Journal Entry #9
pgs 231-258

5 Comments
- Dennis had been afraid to ask Ruth to marry him due to the conditions of society in the past. Society did not accept this but he married her regardless.
-Dennis had become very ill in the hospital and died from lung cancer.
-Ruth was unable to support her family and tried to reach out to her family for help but they did not want to because they said that she was out of their lives permanently.
- The mother was hesitant of the new minister's role in the church and her feelings toward it.
- After having dinner with the ew minister she begna to take a shine toward him and wished for James to become apart of the ministry.

4 Questions
-Why was society against the parents marriage and candid about it?
-Why didn't the doctors inform the wife about the husbands condition?
-Why din't Ruth marry her second husband until his third propsal?
-Why doesn't James want to become apart of the church?

3 Vocabulary Words
1. Pg 233 Dignitaries- one who possesses exalted rank or holds a position of honor
2. Pg 246 Kaddish- a Jewish prayer recited in the daily ritual of the synagogue and by mourners at public services after the death of a close relative
3. Pg 247 Veered- to change direction or course

2 Literary Devices
1. " The kids would run down to meet him and wrap around his legs like puppies" pg 239 This is an example of a simile.
2. " Dennis came to the window in his bathrobe and looked down at them and from his the expression on his face, him standing there waving at the children, who were excited, I got a horrible feeling in my heart." pg 243 This is an example of foreshadowing.

Summary sentence
After the death of her first husband Ruth was unable to pull herself back together and wished that James would become more like his father.

Journal Entry #8
pgs 203-231

5 Comments
-James wishes to travel to Suffolk in order to figure out the past of his mother. While the mother explains her past she is very brief and does not reveal to much.
-When he arrives in the town he notices that is has not changed much and meets a man by the name of Eddie Thompson, who explains what may have happened to the Shilskys family.
- Eddie Thomspon explained that Ruth's father was not liked by the people in the town. He explained that he was not fond of black people.
- All of the people who lived in Suffolk that the mother had grown up had and left. Aubrey used James's tape recorder to send a greeting to Ruth. The message never given to his mother because he thought it would be to painful for her mother to listen to.
-James returned to New York appreciating life and thanking her grandmother for it.

4 Question
Why was he trying to find out abotu his mother's past?
What happened to the mother's sister?
Why did everyone leave the town?
How did these experiences affect his veiws on life now?



3 Vocabulary Terms

1. Pg 205 Solicit-Make a solicitation or entreaty for something; request urgently.
2. Pg 222 Nostalgia-Longing for something past.
3. Pg 223 Azaleas-Any of numerous ornamental shrubs grown for their showy flowers of various colors.



2 Literary Elements

1. " The part of me that wanted to understand who I was began to irk and itch at me, like a pesky mosquito bite that cries out to be seperated." Pg 225 This is an example of a simile.
2." my own humanity was awakened, rising out to greet me with a handshake as I watched the first glimmers of sunlight peek over the horizon." Pg 229 This is an example of personification.

Summary Sentence
James had traveled in order to answer the question about his life and also come to appreciate his life.

Journal Entry #7
pgs 173-201

5 Comments
-When Ruth was nineteen, she worked as a manicurist at Hi Hat Barbershop. The owner, Rocky, began to take her out and treating her to fancy life because he was a pimp.
-Dennis changed Ruth's perception on her situation to continue to hang out with Rocky.
-The family moved down to Delaware from New York because she could not afford to live in New York.
-Ruth's parents were divorced after her Tateh started to have an affair with a women who was not even Jewish.
-Her sister, Dee-Dee, made Ruth promise to stay with her and Mameh because she was oyung and was unable to take care of her mother because she was to young. Ruth ended up making a promis to her sister that she would stay but later she would break this promise.

4 Questions
Though she knew he was a pimp, Why did Ruth continue to allow him to draw her in?
Why didn't the mother cry in front of her children when they went to college?
Did music act as a substitute to replace the pein in James's life?
Why did Ruth breack her promise tlo Dee-Dee?

3 Vocabulary Words
1. Pg 182 Modus Operandi- a distinct pattern or method of operation that indicates or suggests the work of a single criminal in more than one crime
2. Pg 185 Spry- Nimble
3. Pg 188 Epitomized- to serve as the typical or ideal example of

2 Literary Devices
1. "a falling pot will send her to her feet like a soldier at the reveille" Pg 178 This is an example of a simile.
2. "The truth was a bandy-legged sould who dashed from one side of the world to the other" Pg 187 This is an example of personification.

Summary Sentence
The family moved down south, where james first entered college and expeprienced his first job and what it was like to work.

Journal Entry #6
Pgs 144-172

5 Comments
-The boys on the Corner would look out for james in the South because they did not want him to turn out like them. A man whose was known as Chicken Man explained to James that he should not believe that he is better then any of the hoodlums because he was in his situation due to stupid decisions.
-After his mother recieved an abortion as a child, she returned home to Suffolk because highschool in New York was to difficult. She came to find out that her lover had made another woman pregnant and was going to marry her.
- At her highschoolgraduation, Ruth was unable to eneter the protestant churh because she believed that she is a true Jew and is unable to defy her parents.
-When James james's mother began driving her dead husbands car, she found out that she was unable to drive like she was younger and gave up on driving.
-As James began to change, due to Chicken Man's speech, he noticed that he was addicted to smoking and drinking. He turned to God during this time period.

4 questions
-Why did he began to hang out with hoodlums even though his mother raised him better?
-Though his friends constantly were looking out for him, Why did he continue to ignore there warnings?
-Why did his mother give up on driving so easily?
-Why didn't he look for help sooner?

3 Vocabulary Words
Pg 163 Stupor-a condition of greatly dulled or completely suspended sense or sensibility
Pg 171 Callous-being hardened and thickened
Pg 155 Baccalaureate-the degree of bachelor conferred by universities and colleges

2 Literary Devices
"He'd stagger up thirty-fourth street like a wandering bird lost in flight"Pg 146 this is an example of a simile.
" The car, white with red interior, was a bomb"Pg 159 This is an example of a metaphor.

Summary Sentences
After James's experiences in the south, he began to change his life as he realized that if he continued the path he was on he would be destined for failure.

Journal Entry #5
Pgs 116-144

5 Comments
-James found that his step-father was the true father figure in his life due to the fact that his biological father died before he was born. His step-father was a strong man who admired organization and loved all of his children.
- James's step-father had a stroke and became very ill afterward. Later he suffered a relapse and died. This had an affect on the family i a negative way from that point on.
-Ruth's mother's famil was very secretive and lived in New york City. the family was only concerned with making money. Ruth recieved an abortion due to the help of her Aunt Betts.
-The mother was affected the most by the passing of the step-father and it showed threw her day to day activties. She begna to stagger through the motions of life.
-James began to get involved with street activities. His grades began to drop due to him constantly skipping school. After being kicked out of summer school he was went down south to live with his sister Jack.

4 Questions
-Why did the step-father only show up on weekends and why didn't he move the whole family into his community?
-If he truely loved his father, why would there be in isssue in telling him that he loved him?
-Why didn't James help his mother threw these hard times?
-Why would James turn to the street instead of dealing with this problem of his loss?

3 Vocabulary Words
Pg 144 Maimed-to commit the felony of mayhem upon
pg 143 Clairvoyant-able to see beyond the range of ordinary perception
Pg 142 Ingenuity-skill or cleverness in devising or combining

2 Literary Devices
"The sound of her cries circling the house like a spirit"pg 128 This is an example of a simile
"The sound of her cries circling the house like a spirit and settling on all the corridors and beds where we lay" pg 128 This is an example of personification.

Summary Sentence
After the death of the step-father, the family began to break down and branch away even further from one another.

Journal Entry #4
Pgs 85-115

5 comments
- The mother felt that Jeewish people were unaccepting of others yet they were the best people to deal with when it came recieving an education.
-The children began to break away from the mother and would defy her purposely.
-Richie had been arrested and falsely accused of dealing heroine. Though the charges were dropped, the mother felt that she should prevent any of her younger children from running into these types of difficulties.
- James questioned his identity as an African American or a Jewish male due to the discrimination he would face at school.
-As a child, the mother became pregnant by a black male. She was constantly in fear because this type of relationship was not accepted in society and as a penalty her boyfriend, Peter, could be killed.

4 Questions
-Why did the mother have such views toward Jewish people?
-Why did the children feel so strongly for black power?
-Why didn't the mother want to go into further depth during James's identity crisis?
-What were the differences between Jews adn white people?

3 Vocabulary words
-Pg 97 Arraignment-A calling to an account to faults; accusation.
-Pg 98 Reverie-the condition of being lost in thought
-pg 105 Derision-the use of ridicule or scorn to show contempt

2 Literary Devices
"The New York City Publis School System would belch forth a tiny diamond" Pg 88 This is an example of personification.
"Mommy stood poised over that option like a hawk" Pg 88 This is an example of a simile.

Summary sentence
The children were beginning to gor up an leave the nest yet James stayed close to his mother.

Journal Entry #3
pg 57-84

5 comments
- When the mother was a child she was afraid that her father would kill himself with his own gun. He would constantly clean his gun and she was worried about his well-being yet she was still afraid of him.
-The family had lived in poor conditions. The children were constantly hungry and wold have to scavenger for food. Theey would also have to share the same necesities such as clothes.
-The mother was strict about school and only wanted her children to recieve the best education at any cost. A good example of this was her eldest son Dennis. He was in medical school yet was involved in constant civil rights protests.
-Helen had been one of James's older sisters and a prime example of a child that the mother did not want. She ran away from home and became a junkie. She did not return home regardless how many attempts her mother would make.
-As a child the mother was discriminated against for being Jewish and did not have many friends. She would never go hungry yet when she became married she was starvin for love and compassion.

4 Questions
-Why didn't the mother organize a way so that all of her children were able to eat?
-Why wasn't the mother more into her children's personal lives?
-Why was Helen so rebelious toward her mother?
-Why was she worried about her father yet she was afraid of him?

3 Vocabulary Words
Pg 83 Gawk-a clumsy, stupid fellow; simpleton
Pg 81 Shvartges- oath
Pg 62 Aveyre- sin

2 litary devices
"Dead as a doorknob" Pg60 This is an example of a pun.
"Prison Stew" Pg 67 This is an example of a metaphor because it is comparing the mothers soup to prison food.

Summary Sentence
The Family was living under poor conditions and the children were obidient toward their mother but as they matured they began to branch into the real world.

Journal Entry #2
Pgs 29-56

5 Comments
-The mother did not allow racial preference to stop her from living a normal life. She did not allow the color of someone's skin affect how she viewed them. a perfect example of this was her veiw on Malcom X while most white epople disliked him she actually like him and categorized him with other civil rights leaders.
- When James and her mother were walking home they were mugged by two men. While James was frightened, the mother seemed not to be fazed.
James was unable to recognize why his mother was unable to be fazed when she was being robbed and confirmed that she has probably been robbed before.
- The mother's father was a traveling preacher and was not very successful. She would face a lot of discrimination because she was jewish in different communities. Her father bought a store and changed it to Old Man Shilsky and over the years there family became rich.
- The mother's father used to molest and rape her when she was a small child. She was unable to tell anyone because she was afraid of him and she did not have love for him. This accounted for much of her low self esteem.
- The mother was very religious and into God. She would not tolerate her children questioning and or making comments that went against it.

4 Question
What caused the mother to be unfazed by crime?
Why didn't the father change his occupation if buisness was not good for?
Why was the mother so religious and accepting with changing her religion?
Why did Richie stop going to church?

3 Vocabulary words
Stridency-harsh-sounding; shrill; grating Pg 29
Bourgeois- a person whose beliefs, attitudes, and practices are conventionally middle-class Pg 30
Balefully- harmful or threatening harm or evil; ominous; deadly Pg 31

2 literary terms
"Mommy's contradictions crashed and slammed against one another like bumper cars at Coney Island." Pg 29 This is an example of a simile.
"but it cost him his family, which he ran into the ground and destroyed." Pg 41 This is an example of Foreshadowing.

Summary Sentence
Often James was very worried about his mother since she was one of the only white woman in a black world yet her childhood experiences allowed her to grow and she became a woman of religion.

Journal Entry #1
pg 1-28

5 comments
-Jame's mother was a white jewish woman and his fathers was black. She had eight children with her first children and took in four of her second husbands children creating tweleve children for her to take care of.
- After his step father died he dropped out of highschool and started to hang out on the street with his friends stealing purses, smoking, and shoplifting.
-His mother did not care about what the world thought of her. She was uncaring the she was a white woman theat was disliked by other whites and blacks because she was white in a black world.
-The way that the mother's parents were allowed to come to america was by her mother marrying her father. Her father's ticket to come to america was by marrying her mother. When her grandfather died she was not emotionally ready for her grandfather to die so she reacted by saying that he may still be alive and buried alive.
-His birthfather was a baptist minister and doubted that the world would accept a mixed family.

4 question
Why was his miother unmoved by the judgement of others?
Why won't the mother talk about her family to the kids?
Why did she change her religion from Jewish to Baptist?
Why didn't his mother pick him up from the bus stop?

3 Vocabulary Words
Ruse-a trick, stratagem, or artifice. pg 23
Quipped- to direct quips, or gibes, at. pg 11
Permeated- to pass into or through and affect every part of; penetrate pg 25

2 Literary Devices
" She's one person in this world I didn't do right by........" Pg 3- This would be considered personification because it allows the reader to make an inference on what she did that was not right.
"Now here he was dead as a rock" Pg 18 - This is a simile because it uses as to compare two things.

Summary sentence
James had grown up living in poverty in the Red Hook Housing Progects in Brooklyn with his mother and eleven other children who were mixed and during the time period he lived racism was a very important part of society.