The+Pact

=The Pact= by Jodi Picoult

Krista Muska Noelle Kilgore Alecia Christiano


 * Week One: October 1**

Topic: Characters (Section 1 out of 5 of your text)

Assignment: 1. On your group's wiki page, describe the main characters in your text. What makes them interesting? What is their story or background? Why are you drawn to them? Conversely, are there any characters that you just cannot stand? Why not? (A)

Week One:

Krista Muska-- Person B and D Noelle Kilgore-- Person A Alecia Christiano-- Person C

The meeting was very successful. First, Alecia had brought munchkins and we all ate some while going over questions. The questions were well made, and helped us all understand what is going o in the book. They were helpful because some things in the book are confusing especially when they switch time periods. Next, we went over the assignment question. We couldn't really describe the main characters because we haven't gotten into depth on them. We could, however, answer the rest. We went over how we don't really like how the fathers take their job more seriously as their family. All in all, we had a very good meeting.
 * Summary of Meeting: Krista Muska**

--"And then there was a shot." why do you think this was so important to the book, and did you see this coming because of the foreshadowing?
 * Quotations: Krista Muska**

-- "Your son has been injured and has been taken to Bainbridge Memorial Hospital." What were your initial thoughts when you read this quote on page 5? did you think that he was shot? or did you think something else?

-- "He didn't realize that person was Emily." Does this clear any questions you have had about how the murder or the suicide was arranged?

-- "Gus nodded, "this time, it was Chris." what do you think this symbolizes?

-- "When Melanie swung around, she looked completely unfamiliar, 'What i know about Chris,' she said, ' is that he's still alive'" Do you think this was a little harsh of her? why or why not?

We don’t really know the main character Chris and Em all that well. We think the pact that they made together is pretty interesting and confusing. They have known each other since they were born because their parents were family friends and they grew up playing together. We want to understand why they would kill themselves. We also would like to have that love story, growing up together, being best friends, and then falling in love. We can not stand the dad, Michael, he cares more about his job than his son in the hospital and his family.
 * Noelle(A) **
 * Describe the main characters in your text. What makes them interesting? What is their story or background? Why are you drawn to them? Conversely, are there any characters that you just cannot stand? Why not? **


 * 5 Questions:**** Alecia Christiano **

> - Emily was killed from a gun shot to the head right above her ear. - The detective thought that because Chris was alive and that Emily was dead that Chris had killed Emily, that it was a homicide. - Melanie was surprised when Mrs. Harte picked up the phone because she assumed that because her name was Gus that she was a man but she really wasn’t. - The first flash back of the story was Chris’s and Emily’s parents meeting each other and Chris and Emily being born. - No I don’t like it. It is really really confusing. I wish that they just explained everything at the begging of the book in one big then part and then moved into the now part. It would have been a lot easier to understand.
 * 1) How did Emily die?
 * 1) What did the detective think may have happen to Emily?
 * 1) Why was Melanie surprised when she called the Harte house?
 * 1) What was the first flash back of the story?
 * 1) Do you like the way the book is written in the then and now then tenses? Why or why not?

Week 2.

On your group's wiki page, discuss the type of language that your book contains. Is it easy to read? Conversational? "Classic"? Does it use a lot of words you don't understand? What grade level do you think the book is written at, and why?
 * Topic: Alecia Christiano**
 * Language**: The language and words that the author uses is easy to read because it is pretty straight forward, but the flash backs make it confusing. The words in the book are pretty easy to understand other then some words that have to do with the suicide part that we had to look up the meaning to. Going from now and then takes a little getting used to it would be easier to understand if it was just two separate sections of the book. It is probably written at a Young Adult level or older because any age younger would have difficulty understanding suicide and death and they would have a hard time being able to go back and forth in there head with the before and after sections so the book is probably written for high school kids.


 * Questions: Krista Muska**

1. Why do you think that Em would want to kill herself because she was pregnant? --Because she didn't want to embarrass her family, or even deal with the emotional stress a child could bring.

2. Do you think that Melanie should ease up on Chris and listen to her husband's reasoning about how Chris wouldn't just kill Em? --Yes because Chris obviously loved her, and they were meant to be together.

3. What do you think will happen with Chris now that Em is gone? will he move on, or be mourning for a long time, and kill himself? --He would mourn for a long time and eventually kill himself.

4. Did you think that the book is getting easier or harder to understand and why. --It's getting a little easier to understand as we get further in the book because it is easier to keep up with the characters as they jump from time to time.

5. What character are you most like? Chris, Melanie, Michael, Gus, James, Kate? Why? --(Noelle) I kind of can relate to all of them in equal ways. --(Krista) I would most likely be most like Melanie because i would be pissed that my friend's wasn't and that they were together when my daughter died. -(Alecia) I think i relate to Melanie the most because I would have the same feelings of disbelieve and horror that Melanie did when she found out that her daughter died and I would be kind of mad at Chris for not thinking the entire situation through with Emily and for not stopping my daughter from killing herself.

Week 3 What is the overriding emotion of this book? What examples back up your claim? The overriding emotion of __The Pact__ would be sadness. This is so because the daughter was killed/committed suicide, and everyone is taking it roughly. The mother is angry, the father of Chris is pretending like nothing happened, and Gus is treating Chris like a child, while Michael is upset that his daughter is dead. Chris is taking it badly as well because he was there when she was shot, whether he shot her, or she killed herself, but he can't stop thinking about her, an he cries all the time.
 * Krista Muska**

What do you think is going to happen to Chris? ~We think he is going to go on trial but we don't know if he would win the trial.
 * Questions- Noelle Kilgore**

Why do you think Chris was able to kill her? ~He loved her and wanted to be with her and we think he was embarrassed about the pregnancy.

Do you think Em was embarrassed to get an abortion. ~Yes because it wasn't as accepting as it is now.


 * Quotes/ Summary: Alecia Christiano**

=
During today’s meeting we talked about the emotion of the book while we had cheese-its and rainbow goldfish for snacks. We decided that the emotion was sadness because the book is about a suicide, and the effects of what comes after. ======

=
We had a good discussion about if we think that Chris is actually going to be convicted of the murder that he is being accused of. We thought that he was going to be because even if you kill somebody because they wanted you to, in the end you still took their life. We also talked about why we think that Emily decided to kill herself instead of going to get an abortion and how we think the story is going to end with Chris, like if he was going to go to jail for the rest of his life, or if maybe Emily’s family would drop the charges and give Chris the benefit of the doubt.======

= = =__**Week 4**__= Summary of the Meeting: Krista Muska The meeting was successful. We talked about the images, and how we didn't really know of any images. We talked about the questions, and the book. The book, this week, we fond out that Chris would be staying in jail for seven to nine month waiting for his trial to start. Then, we found out bout Em and how she was molested as a child, and that is why she is so afraid of having sex with Chris. This week was very eventful, and important to understand further why Em killed herself.

What are some of the images that are used? There aren't really any reaccuring themes but the plot of the story is similar to the plot of Romeo and Juliet. Why do you think the author uses these images to convey his or her meaning? The author was trying to convey that Chris and Em love each other by using a similar plot.
 * Discussion Questions: Noelle Kilgore**

=
Emily told Chris that she wanted to kill herself 3 different times. The first time Chris just laughed at her, the second time he tried to pretend that he didn’t hear what she said and the third time Chris actually listened.====== 2. Do you think it is fair that Chris is being treated like a criminal with getting put on trial and going to jail? We think it it is fair because his story keeps changing and there is not much else that could have killed her except for him and even if she killed herself it was her gun so he is still responsible. 3. Where did Chris get the gun from and was he supportive of Emily’s desire to kill herself? Chris got the gun from a his fathers cabinet in the basement. He didn’t want to bring the gun with him the day Emily died but he thought that if he didn’t bring it Emily would be really mad and that if he brought it she would stay calm enough for him to talk her out of it. 4. What kind of emotions do you think are going through Chris now that his life is falling apart with losing Emily, and getting put on trial for killing her? He is probably worried and annoyed that even if he didn't do it there is no way to prove that he didn't, he is probably upset that he lost Emily and that his life is just getting ruined. 5. Do you think that there were any other reasons that Emily wanted to kill herself other then just the reason she was pregnant. She might have felt neglected by her father but other then that she had a really good life with her family and her boyfriend so there probably wasn't a lot of other reasons.


 * Quotes: Krista Muska**
 * Melanie's hands shifted, cutting the car even closer; and just as Michael snapped out of his stupefied paralysis to wrench the steering wheel from her grasp, nicking the trash can.
 * It was a handy thing, the suspension of disbelief.
 * "... And the cops, they've thought that since day one."
 * "I loved her," he said, his voice breaking."I can't forget that. So i don't see how everyone else can."
 * "I was never suicidal." "Not even that night?" "No," Chris said, "Not even that night."
 * "I thought that I could stop her. I figured that I'd be able to talk her out of it long before we got to that point." ... "I wasn't going there to kill myself, I was going there to save her" ... "Except," Chris sobbed, "I didn't."


 * Week 5**


 * Questions: Krista Muska**

1. How did you feel when he went to jail again, and was granted no bail? -- I think that he should have gotten bail. He wasn't a flight risk, and it wasn't like they knew for a fact that he killed her, so he should have gotten at least a high bail.

2. Do you think that Chris should have told someone about how different Em was acting when she wouldn't let him touch her stomach? -- He should have asked questions because that wouldn't be normal. and it should be natural to questioned.

3. Why do you think that Jordan, the attorney, left the room during his visit with Christ while the psychyatrist was there? -- He left because he could have been nervous about losing the case, and the sanity plea.

4. How do you feel about Chris moving on and realising that he doesn't love Em, but he was just going along with what his parents and hers wanted? -- Shocked. We did not expect that at all. or maybe he really did love her, but he just said that because she is dead.

5. Do you think that Melanie will ever forgive Gus? -- Don't think so.

Quotes: Noelle Kilgore

> "Well since you've fucked everything up royally, you might as well tell me everything"
 * " It was the night Emily wanted to kill herself. I got the gun, like she asked me to. I drove her to the carousel. We talked for a while, and...whatever."......"And then, I shot her"
 * "I wanted to tell you before, you just didn't want to listen."

Discussion: Alecia Christiano

=
This book __The Pact__ overall an awesome book that we all enjoyed reading a lot. It was filled with love, drama, and suspense that kept us turning the pages. We would recommend this book to anyone that is in high school and especially our peers. Even though it is a little lengthy because it was completely worth the read, and the topic of a homicide we think all kids in our grade would find super interesting. ======

=
The topic is discussed a little in the classic __Romeo and Juliet__ but we like the plot of __The Pact__ a little better. Romeo and Juliet was the classic love story but __The Pact__ had a little twist. We think that the book should be considered for our schools curriculum because it was an amazing book and we think that the reading level is good for high school students. ======


 * Requirements**:
 * **PERSON A - GROUP LEADER** - This group member will be responsible for both keeping the group on task throughout the meeting as well as responding to the week's topical questions, listed below.
 * **PERSON B - QUOTATION FINDER** - This group member will be responsible for finding 5 important, meaningful quotations from their section of the text. They will also facilitate a discussion regarding these quotations.
 * **PERSON C - KEY QUESTIONER** - This group member will be responsible for providing 5 open-ended questions regarding the week's reading section. These questions, and their responses, will be posted on the group's wiki.
 * **PERSON D - GROUP SUMMARIZER** - This group member will be responsible for posting a thorough, two-paragraph summary of the group's Friday meeting, to be posted on the group wiki no later than the Sunday following the meeting.


 * Week One: October 1**

Topic: Characters (Section 1 out of 5 of your text)

Assignment: 1. On your group's wiki page, describe the main characters in your text. What makes them interesting? What is their story or background? Why are you drawn to them? Conversely, are there any characters that you just cannot stand? Why not? (A)


 * Week Two: October 8**

Topic: Language (Section 2 out of 5 of your text)

Assignment: 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the type of language that your book contains. Is it easy to read? Conversational? "Classic"? Does it use a lot of words you don't understand? What grade level do you think the book is written at, and why? (B) 2. Person B should share and discuss their selected quotations, using Save The Last Word techniques. 3. Person C should post the meeting summary on the group's wiki page after class. 4.Person D should share his/her questions with the group, as well as post the questions on the group's wiki page


 * Week Three: October 15**

Topic: Mood/Tone (section 3 out of 5 of your text)

Assignment: 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the mood or tone of your book.What is the overriding emotion of this book? What examples back up your claim? (B) 2. Person B should share and discuss their selected quotations, using Save The Last Word techniques. 3. Person C should post the meeting summary on the group's wiki page after class. 4.Person D should share his/her questions with the group, as well as post the questions on the group's wiki page


 * Week Four: October 22**

Topic: Themes/Images (section 4 out of 5 of your text)

Assignment: 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the themes and images that your book contains. What are some of the images that are used? What do they seem to represent? Why do you think the author uses these images to convey his or her meaning? 2. Person B should share and discuss their selected quotations, using Save The Last Word techniques. 3. Person C should post the meeting summary on the group's wiki page after class. 4.Person D should share his/her questions with the group, as well as post the questions on the group's wiki page


 * Week Five: October 29 (LAST MEETING)**

Topic: Responding to the Text (section 5 out of 5 of your text)

Assignment: 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss your final reflections on this book. Would you recommend it to peers? Why or why not? Has this topic been discussed more/less effectively in another book or books? Should this book be considered for the school's curriculum? (B) 2. Person B should share and discuss their selected quotations, using Save The Last Word techniques. 3. Person C should post the meeting summary on the group's wiki page after class. 4.Person D should share his/her questions with the group, as well as post the questions on the group's wiki page