From the mangled thoughts of Chief Bromden
It is awful as soon as I enter through the door! In the room, A.P. English discussion appears on the board with calculated scores to aim for. The chairs have been placed in a semi circle…so that everyone stares at each other. I’m never much of a talker, even when I really am passionate about a topic, so I had gone in to this Ms. Serensky and tried to work something out for participation points. She said “figure it out” and left it up to me to either reach for the grade or take a zero. So here I am my first day in class, silent, “they think I’m deaf and dumb. Everybody does” (3). The book they discuss, Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, bores me. Not only that, but these kids tear her character apart piece by piece, until she is a pile of paper shrills that lay on the floor in the center of the circle. I sometimes think they will tear me apart into paper shreds. Thomas Donley, who resembles wears glasses “just because”, doesn’t know I am onto his devious ways. Nobody wears glasses for fun, in those lenses; Thomas can see an entirely different universe. He can seek out the fear in me with his x-ray vision, and communicates with Ms. Serensky’s mind to know what she will say before she says it. I notice this today for the first time, I can tell by the way he looks through the lenses and then tilts them down and looks from above them. As the discussion goes on, and my points reach the negatives, I become more and more afraid. If one person senses my fear, the entire pack will approach me. I make lens contact with Thomas, “I try to keep from getting scared, try to keep my thoughts off someplace else” I think of Ms. Ashkettle’s class and the fun carefree freshmen reading I loved (6). I sink slowly into my chair, deeper and deeper. I sink so deep, I think people will begin to wonder where I have gone. The bell rings. My heart begins to race. I leave class with no participation points. Everyone thinks I am deaf. Thomas analyses my thoughts through his Burberry glasses. Ms. Serensky glides by with no made eye contact. I have failed the discussion and my fellow countrymen. I want to tell someone of the horror, but how will they reply? I will tell them, “You think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! …It is the truth even if it didn’t happen” (8). Until tomorrow’s discussion.
Carly,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post. I thought it seemed very accurate to how Chief Bromden would feel if immersed into our AP English class and in a discussion. His inability to speak and receive discussion points and his acceptance of this goes along with his shy character perfectly. I also loved the way you brought Thomas into this, judging Chief for not speaking. Great work!