Swallowing Stones Journal

Dalton Stone

Prologue- Chp. 2

The Michael in the story discoveries that he has accidently killed Jenna’s father when he a shot a bullet into the woods. Later he cheats on his girl friend and the guilt of both are starting to get to him. Meanwhile Jenna is in denial about her father dying as is going through the first of five stages of grief.

The meaning of Swallowing Stones

The meaning of Swallowing Stones goes back to before the public pool was built and the children used to pick up stones with their teeth when swimming at the lake. Well one girl inhaled a stone instead of swallowing it and died. Well if Michiel swallows the stone then he is swallowing his guilt, but if he inhales the stone he will be arrested and charged for murder.

"That's what happens when irresponsible people play around with guns...That's why I've taught my boys to respect guns." How is this dramatic irony?

This statement is dramatic irony because we know that Michael has behaved irresponsibly with a gun and has killed a man, but his father does not.

April 13,2015

• Quotation Marks--”I still keep expecting him to come home.” Quotation marks are used to set off dialogue.
• Antagonist-- In this chapter, Jenna (the protagonist) is struggling against grief ( the antagonist).
• Fact/Opinion--”...it’ll [going to the pool] be fun.” There is water in the pool.

April 14,2015

What I worked on today: I read Chapter 8 and did the assignment for it and in addition I started my legal lingo project.

April 15,2015

• Conflict-- The conflict is that of Jenna trying to find out information from the police about her father's murder.
• Fact/Supporting Detail-- The fact from the passage is that the police are coming close to catching the criminal. This is supported by,”...the ballistics team traced the path of the bullet to within a four-block area...”, “...find out who has a gun that matches the bullet.”, and “They have records. Handguns must be registered.”.
• Verb Tense-- The verb tense is simple present, this is proven by,”...did not dare to move or breathe.”, “...her mother shook her head...”, and “... her hands had begun to shake...”.

April 16,2015

I worked on my legal lingo assignment. With each word and definition I add a visual representation.

April 17,2015

• Tone: The tone of the first paragraph is nervous from all the webs of deceit.
• Compound sentence: An example compound sentence is: ”Since Darcy had returned from Ocean City, Michael had somehow managed to put their relationship on hold, talking with her only at the pool or on the phone.”
• My imitation Sentence is:Michael had somehow managed to put their relationship on hold, since Darcy had returned from Ocean City, talking with her only at the pool or on the phone.
• Flashback: There is not a flashback in this chapter

April 23,2015

I worked on my playlist. I found one song about depression and started to work on finding a song about denial.

April 24,2015

• Intro. Adverb Clause-- An example of this is,”But Joe told him later that afternoon, as they stood in the parking lot at the community pool, that he’d taken care of everything”.
• Tone-- The tone of the first paragraph was deceptive. This is shown by,”...even removed the CD player from the car the night before...”.
• Motivation-- Joes motivation is to help Micheal not get caught so that they both don’t go to jail.

April 27,2015

• An example of a simple sentence is,”People were tired of rationing water.”.
• An example of a compound sentence is,” Some stubborn part of her continued to think her father was on one of his business trips, and all the logic in the world could not make Jenna stop holding on to this fantasy.”.
• An example of a complex sentence is,”Jenna let Andrea ramble on, for the most part ignoring her.”.
• The setting of today’s chapter makes the mood feel sad and mourningful.
• An example of a hyperbole is,” They’ll probably all rot and drop off.”.

April 28,2015

I worked on my legal lingo and nearly finished it.

April 29,2015

• I believe that when they finally meet Michael will act a bit awkward and will will keep the conversation short and will leave.
• I believe that this was Michael answer because he didn’t want to completely say no and get Jenna upset even more.
• An example of a sentence with coordinate adjective is,”Andrea’s breath was coming in short, excited bursts.”.

April 30,2015

On my choice board I have completed legal lingo and am starting President Hopeful’s stance on guns. I have to complete that and do 4 other assignments including finishing this journal.

Arguments for gun control

Ethos: Studies done by the FBI say that stricter gun control laws will only restrict though who defend themselves, not the criminals.

Pathos: If we don’t have guns then many of your family members could be killed by criminals.

Logos: If the criminals use guns to kill us then we can’t defend ourselves from them with something other that guns.

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Ending of Swallowing Stones

In some ways I like the ending in others I don’t. I wish that the author would have gone a little farther into the story, so that we could see Jenna, Michaels family, and everyones elses feeling on this. Though I did like how we get to decide what happens next, though like I said it would have been nice if there was a bit more.