Honors Blog

The Grapes of Wrath; by John Steinbeck

Tom Joad.

What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. Tom Joad is of average height and average weight. He gained a more muscular build from working during his four years in prison. He stands tall and confidently. He may be intimidating to some, mostly people who know his past.

Describe the character's further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. Tom has shaggy, messy brown hair. He isn't clean shaven because of all the traveling he has been doing. His skin has been tanned to brown because he is constantly in the sun. He has no noticeable scars and no tattoos.

What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. When Tom left prison, they gave him new clothes to wear. In the beginning of the book, when he reunited with his family, he was wearing a nice suit and brand new shoes. Later in the book, when they were traveling, his clothes were dirty and messy; for all the families traveling West, wearing dirty clothes was inevitable.

What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc), and demeanor. The entire Joad family talked the same way. Their speech was a little difficult to understand and they had heavy southern accents.

What is the character's role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. Tom, like many others, didn't have a job for the majority of the story. He was able to get some work when they got to the government camp. Just like everyone else, he tried his best to find work, that was the ultimate goal.

What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? Tom wasn't specifically religious throughout the book. His family was religious, especially his grandma. Tom did write the note for grandpa's grave, but I don't think that is specifically religious. I think he had a philosophy of doing what is best for his family. He made choices that he thought would help his whole family in the long run.

What do others in the book say about the character? Tom's family loves him and was ecstatic when he came home from prison. His whole family was shocked and happy, especially his mom and dad. Since he is the oldest Joad son, he is seen as the leader, after Pa. His younger brother Al obviously looks up to him and wants to impress him. People outside of his family often talk about Tom and how he killed a man. Sometimes, its indirectly, like to his brother, "That's Al Joad. His brother killed a man." People seem to be interested in him because they know what he did. When he meets new people, they usually take an immediate liking to him because of his kind personality to strangers.

What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? Tom is connected to history, of course, because of his involvement in the story itself and traveling to California. He was one of the many, many people who made the journey and his character is a specific story that we can follow.

What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? Tom has his father's name. I'm not sure it represents anything other than the fact that he is the oldest son. He does take a role of responsibility at certain times throughout the course of the story.

How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? I see Tom as the character who developed and changed the most by the end of the story. The main thing that I noticed is that he went from caring mostly about himself and his well being, to caring more about his family and others. I saw him gain a larger sense of maturity and he started to worry about others more and do what was best for the other people in his life.

Rose of Sharon.

What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. Rose of Sharon was about six months pregnant in the beginning of the book. Other than that, she is average height and size.

Describe the character's further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. Rose of Sharon has long hair that is messy when not braided back. She has a round face and no scars or tattoos.


What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. Rose of Sharon usually wears a dress. She has no specific jewelery that she wears, but may have had some packed away while they were traveling.

What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc), and demeanor. The entire Joad family talked the same way. Their speech was a little difficult to understand and they had heavy southern accents. Rose of Sharon spent much of her time dreaming about her life with Connie. She also had a tendency to complain and cry when things weren't in her favor.

What is the character's role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. She didn't have a job. On the trip, she spent most of her time with her husband Connie. After he left her, she spent her time in self-pity and trying to make her whole family feel sorry for her. She thought that every bad thing that happened during the trip would have an effect on her unborn baby. People quickly became annoyed with all of her complaining.

What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? Rose of Sharon was very superstitious about her baby. She was constantly worried and fearful that something would happen. When her grandma died, she thought it would have a negative effect on her baby. In the government camp, an extremely religious and strange woman told her that dancing and acting were sins and would send you to hell. Rose of Sharon was terrified and thought that she had hurt her unborn baby by dancing. All of this messed with her head and made her live in fear throughout the book, until the tragic birth of her baby.

What do others in the book say about the character? Her family loved her, but they were often annoyed of her constant whining and complaining. Ma was the one who would tell her she needed to stop having pity on herself and that she needed to help instead of crying and feeling sorry for herself.

What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? Just like all the other characters, Rose of Sharon is connected to history because she traveled to California. She was one of the many people who made the journey. Rose of Sharon could also represent pregnant women going through difficult times or women who have had to deal with the pain of having a still born child.

What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? Rose of Sharon is a really interesting name. Throughout the book, she was referred to as "Rosasharn". Ma loved her name, "'When you're young, Rosasharn, ever'thing that happens is a thing all by itself. It's a lonely thing. I know, I 'member, Rosasharn.' Her mouth loved the name of her daughter." (Page 209). I think her mom chose her name because she loved the way it sounded.

How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? For most of the story, Rose of Sharon was only concerned with herself, Connie, and her unborn child. She was self-pitying and and had an overwhelming sense of self-importance. However, after the birth of her stillborn child, Rose of Sharon developed a sense of maturity and selflessness, even feeding a starving man.

Al Joad.

What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. Al is of average height and weight. He is physically fit, but not extremely muscular. His posture and walk is very confident.

Describe the character's further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. Like his brother Tom, Al has similar hair and eyes. His facial structure is defined and he is usually dirty with car oil. He does not have any scars or tattoos.

What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. Al tries to dress really cool and fashionable. He rolls up his jeans and and his t-shirts walks confidently. His shirts tend to be dirty with dirt and car oil, since he is always under a hood fixing cars.

What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc), and demeanor. Al's main interests in life are cars and girls. He loves cars and he wanted to work as a mechanic. He was also in love with any cute girl he saw. And like the rest of his family, his speech was the same rough, heavy speech.

What is the character's role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. Al was responsible for the truck. He picked it out and kept it running. He helped out his family a lot by handling the mechanics of the trip.

What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? Al never really showed any sense of religion or philosophy.

What do others in the book say about the character? Tom seemed to be impressed with how quickly Al had grown up while he had been in prison. Everyone was thankful for Al, especially since without him, the truck wouldn't have run so well.

What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? Just like every other character, Al is connected to history because of his involvement in the story itself and traveling to California. He was one of the many people who made the journey and his character is a specific story that we can follow.

What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? I cannot think of anything that Al's name could suggest. Maybe Steinbeck just liked the name? ;)

How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? Al matures throughout the story, but he still has his moments of immaturity, like when he could only think of finding girls when there were larger problems within the family. He still grew a lot throughout the course of the book.

Internship Photo Essay

One of our assignments during our two-week internship immersion was to photograph around our internship site and create a photo essay. The purpose of the photo essay was to convey a story or theme related to our internship experience.

The California Center for Sustainable Energy, or CCSE, is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a sustainable future for the world we live in. They aim to advance public policies and provide programs, services, information and forums that make clean, reliable, renewable, and a sustainable environment a feasible mission. When I first started as an intern, I thought I knew about clean and efficient energy. I was under the impression that I knew all there was to know and that I was as “Green” as I could be because I felt I knew enough. However, after watching videos, researching and writing, spending time in the facility with “Average Joe” (pictured), looking at solar panels and light bulbs, being taught by others, and teaching my new knowledge to others, I learned so much more than I ever thought I could. I wrote papers about alternative energy, found the carbon footprints of packaged foods and water bottles, and used biodegradable spoons and forks for the first time. Looking back on it now, I can see, almost in slow motion, the steps that I took and the constant progress and growth that I made in a few months’ time.

Some people wouldn’t enjoy it simply because it seems boring and tiresome, but volunteer coordinating was one of my favorite responsibilities as an intern. It amazed me as I read applications and saw how passionate people were about volunteering their time. Coordinating the meetings was new to me and I overcame my fear of making business phone calls. As I was jotting down notes at the first volunteer meeting, a woman asked me for my e-mail address so she could send her résumé. She wanted to “be sure that it got to me directly”. Such a small thing has never made me feel so important. I felt noticed and not overlooked as a high school student. After this, I saw that internship is a catalyst in the process of preparing for college. Small experiences like the volunteer meetings gave me a larger sense of maturity and made me feel much more self-reliant. But of course, a seventeen year old can’t always act like an adult.

For two weeks, I spent my time with Leo and Chandler working in the small “closet”, or Intern Workroom. At one point, the office got so crowded, messy, and packed with all of our stuff that we couldn’t even move. With stacks of boxes filled with our project supplies, three chairs, two bookcases, two desks and computers, all of our clothes, and an endless supply of food, the office started to look less like a workspace and more like our rooms at home. Employees would walk by and joke that they’ve never seen the room so messy. My mentor, Kimberly, walked and joked, “At least you have the excuse of being teenagers.” Though it was a funny, on-going joke, a day of epiphany finally came and we cleaned the room until it was habitable again.

On my very first day of internship, my mentor told me that I could always go into the Break Room and take whatever I wanted to eat. I didn’t go for the first couple of weeks; for some reason, I felt like I was stealing! It was awkward for me to walk in and talk to the employees. By the end of immersion, I was walking in there, eating the food, and I would almost always end up in a conversation with someone. Everyone always seemed to be so interested in what we had been working on and how we enjoyed internship. One afternoon in the Break Room, I was talking with Anna, the Marketing Assistant, “It sounds like you guys are doing an awesome job.” She said, “We’re all really proud of you guys. We’re so happy you’re here!” Small conversations like that help days go by smoothly and made me feel appreciated and like I had proven myself. Completing many HR projects and volunteering to help with the Climate Change Program shows me that I’m capable of anything and I’ve become more self-reliant.

Around 12 o’clock, every day during immersion, we would leave our cluttered desks and walk to get our lunch. In n’ Out, Taco Bell, and Quizno’s were our favorite places. Walking down Balboa Avenue turned into a joke when Leo and Chandler would try to cross the street when I wasn’t looking and leave me stranded on the corner (they succeeded most times, and I’d have to run to catch up). Everyone at the office joked because we would say we were going out to exercise, just to eat our fast food. Leo and Chandler tried every day to get me to run with them, but I turned them down constantly. They finally convinced me to run with them once and I was so proud that I kept up with them. But I should’ve known they would steal my glory and tell me that they were jogging as slow as they could to stay with me.

The High Tech Fair was completely about science and technology; the three of us interns represented CCSE at our booth. The fair was filled with different organizations and companies, with exhibitors ranging from experts on aerospace, agriculture, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, computers, electronics, environmental science, and green energy technology. I taught and high school students about carbon footprints, energy efficiency, and renewable resources. The lessons were interactive and interesting and run solely by the interns. The success of the fair and the feeling of accomplishment that followed made the perfect ending to immersion. It was the culmination of the efforts we put into learning and presenting the topics. I couldn’t have asked for it to have gone any better. We were even in the newspaper!

Internship Magazine

What article(s) would you like to write for the magazine? What photography could you contribute? Art? List three different ideas for your major contribution. I don't really know what type of article I'd like to write. Maybe something about what the actual students think of internship and immersion. Something that sums up the good and the bad and includes many different points of view (interview classmates) and the overall thoughts of the class as a whole. As far as photography goes, I'm not really happy with my pictures but I could include one.

Suggest at least one (or more) possible title for the magazine. This could be a title with or without a subtitle. For example, I work for UnBoxed: a Journal of Adult Learning in Schools. I'm terrible at coming up with titles. The best thing I could think of would be, Internship: Career Experience for a High School Student.

Suggest a topic for an article that you were personally like to read in a magazine inspired by the internship semester. If I were looking through this magazine, I'd like to see an article about how internship changed a student as a person. I'd want to read a personal account of how internship impacted someone in some way and how it changed them.

Economic Advice for CCSE

There's no denying the fact that America is facing difficult and troubling economic times. Everyone is affected in one way or another; there is no choice but to be conscious of each of your economic decisions.

With CCSE being a "Green" company, parts of Obama's new stimulus plan speaks directly to you. My advice would be to review his plan carefully and take advantage of it. Maximize funding opportunities as they become available and seek brand new opportunities. Obama has shown his interest and dedication to instilling a green future, even on the day the stimulus deal was signed, "The signing ceremony was heavily loaded with solar symbolism: Mr. Obama signed the bill after touring the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, which has solar panels on its roof." There is obviously a lot of new attention surrounding the idea of a sustainable and green future, which is exactly what CCSE has been trying to do since the day it was opened.

“It’s an investment that will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years” -- Obama, on the stimulus package

Another piece of advice that I believe will help CCSE stay ahead in tough economic times is to increase marketing and PR efforts to take advantage of the public's heightened interest in alternative energy, renewable resources, and conservation. The public interest is there, they just need to know who to go to. Creating more of a social stir will only help to advance your company to its ultimate goal, creating a sustainable future. There are so many ways to draw attention to CCSE. Using social networking sites and social media opportunities as a low-cost marketing tool will help maximize exposure at little to no cost. More and more companies are beginning to use sites such as Twitter to draw more attention to the company itself and bring a larger crowd to events and fundraisers.

In the past few months of interning at CCSE, I've heard interviewees and volunteers say many times that they want to work here because they hope for a green future and they know that "California is the front runner in green energy". "Not coincidentally, three-quarters of the nation’s demand for solar comes from residents and companies in California. California is poised to be both the world’s next big solar market and its entrepreneurial center." You should take advantage of this and put your name out there even more. Let people know that California is the leader of greening America, and CCSE is the leader of California. While many people do know of your company and what it offers, not enough people do. Position yourselves as the authority of clean energy by continuing to offer the public free resources, supplies, education, etc.

One final way to increase productivity while lowering operating costs is by utilizing AMAZING student interns who will work for school credit and no benefits.

Kate Galbraith, The New York Times, Obama Signs Stimulus Packed With Clean Energy Provisions, Accessed 22 March 2009.

Matt Richtel & John Markoff, The New York Times, A Green Industry Takes Root In California, Accessed 22 March 2009.

Post-Internship Immersion

What is one thing you learned during internship immersion?

I learned more than I could have imagined during immersion. One thing that I know will definately help me in the years to come is that I learned how to take initiative. Many times during immersion and internship in general, I took it upon myself to find more work to do. If I knew I could handle it, I volunteered myself to help more and take care of different tasks. Sometimes, the tasks would be small, office work; other times, they would be larger scale projects. For instance, at the start of immersion, I asked if I could be a part of Leo and Chandler's project. They were going to be working at the High Tech Fair in Del Mar, teaching middle and high school students about carbon footprints and energy efficiency. Even though I'm the HR intern, I thought what they were doing sounded like interesting and something that I would enjoy doing. I was interested in learning everything that they were learning about. I also had a feeling that my mentor would start to run out of HR things for me to do during immersion, so I thought the fair was a good opportunity for me. I talked to my mentor who completely agreed with me and wanted me to do it. After that, I talked to Leo and Chandler's mentor who allowed me to be a part of the project. This completely changed my immersion experience because I was able to do something a little different and learn much more than I had thought I would previously. I was proud of myself because I was able to complete all this, while still completing all of my HR tasks. Coming into the project as the HR intern and with Leo and Chandler being the Climate Change interns, I was a little nervous that I would be far behind before I even started. However, I did my research and did just as much work as both Leo and Chandler and was able to teach people new things at the High Tech Fair. We had so much fun at the fair and it was overall a great experience. I was able to talk to professionals and representatives from all kinds of companies like the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant and the San Diego Zoo Conservation and Research Program. I think that people were impressed with us at the fair. From what I saw, we were the only booth run by high school students and I think people enjoyed listening to what we had to say.

Union Tribune Article on the High Tech Fair.

Honors Blog

Cannery Row; By John Steinbeck

Rather than telling one continuous story, Cannery Row is more of a collection of short vignettes that flow together to describe the lives of people living on Cannery Row. Cannery Row is a street filled with sardine fisheries in Monterrey, California. John Steinbeck uses the setting to tell short stories and develop character personalities of people living there during the Great Depression.

Doc;

1. What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. --Doc is a tall and has an athletic build. He is not overweight and stands confidently. His clothing shows that he may have more money than many others living on Cannery Row.
   
2. Describe the characters further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. --He has short, brown, and well kept hair. His face is always clean shaven. He has normal teeth, no scars, no tattoos.
   
3. What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. --Doc is usually wearing a hat to keep the sun out of his eyes. Since he is a marine biologist, he's often out collecting samples to experiment.
   
4. What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc), and demeanor. --When he is at home, his phonograph is almost always playing records. He is always reading a book, most about marine biology studies. He usually has a calm demeanor, except when he punched Mack for ruining his house with a party. His speech is nothing unusual.
   
5. What is the characters role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. --Doc is well-known in Cannery Row. His house is filled with different animals and things that he uses to study, which everyone finds interesting. His job also allows openings for other people to have jobs. He would pay people 5 cents for every frog that they caught for him to study. People like Mack made a lot of money by helping Doc.
   
6. What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? --He's not religious. It doesn't really affect his life, as far as the book tells.
   
7. What do others in the book say about the character? --Everyone in Cannery Row loves Doc, which is why they chose to throw him a huge party as a thank you. They say he is always working hard, generous to others, and very smart.
   
8. What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? --He is connected to the world of marine biology.
   
9. What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? --To me, Doc is a name that evokes wisdom and knowledge, which is exactly the kind of character that Doc was. I think Steinbeck may have used similar reasoning when naming this character.
   
10. How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? --He doesn't grow too much throughout the course of the book. His attitude changes a little and he becomes less of a pushover. For instance, when he punches Mack near the end of the book. I don't think he would have done that in the beginning, but it shows how his patience with him deteriorated over time.
    

Lee Chong;

1. What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. --Lee Chong is on the shorter side and not very muscular. His clothing is modest and shows niether upper nor lower class. He is not intimidating at all to others and most only see him standing behind the counter at his store.
   
2. Describe the characters further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. --He often wears glasses and has his hair combed back. He had a round face, no scars, no tattoos.
   
3. What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. --Lee doesn't have any distinguishing items. He dresses modestly, his job doesn't require him to wear any particular clothing. One item that would come to mind when thinking about Lee would be the abacus that he always uses to calculate cost when people purchace something at his store.
   
4. What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc.), and demeanor. --The beginning of the book describes Lee Chong's speech--"He spoke a stately English without ever using the letter R." His demeanor is not intimidating at all and he's very laid-back. His attitude is never rushed nor angry and he is calm.
   
5. What is the characters role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. --Lee Chong's grocery store is the store that basically everyone in Cannery Row goes to when they need anything. The store carries everything that anyone could possibly need and his prices are always reasonable. He is almost always at the store. In small ways, he helps out everyone in the community. For instance, he gave Mack and his brothers a house to live in and he always gives people discounts or loans out food.
   
6. What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? --No religion is described in the book, but Lee's attitude is always calm and content. He seems to always be happy and okay with the way things are, even if someone cheats him on his money.
   
7. What do others in the book say about the character? --Almost everyone on Cannery Row owes Lee money. "No one is really sure whether Lee ever receives any of the money he is owed or if his wealth consisted entirely of unpaid debts, but he lives comfortably and does legitimate business in the Row." Everyone likes Lee because he is always helping them out.
8. What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? --Lee Chong is connected to immigrants that came to America, especially during the Great Depression.
   
9. What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? --In a way, his name describes his culture and shows that he is one of the only people living on Cannery Row that recently moved there and was not born there.
   
10. How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? --Throughout the entirety of the book, Lee had always been kind, yet cautious of others. Yet this was always overruled by kindness and he gave people more than he got in return. However, near the end of the book, he became a little more self-advocating and he raised prices in the store.
    

Mack;

1. What physical presence does the character have? Include height, weight, size, physical fitness, posture, etc. --Mack is a little on the taller side, not muscular, and slender. He doesn't have great posture, and is not at all intimidating.
   
2. Describe the characters further visual details. Include hair, eyes, face, teeth, scars, tattoos, etc. --Though his hair wasn't described in the book, I don't picture it being very well kept. I see it more messy and not very well groomed. I see his face as strong bone-structure and his teeth are probably crooked since I don't think he had money for dental care. No tattoos, no noticable scars.
3. What distinguishing items does the character wear? Include clothes, jewelery, shoes, and any other physical item the character keeps with him/her. --He dressed very modestly and didn't have much money to buy nice clothes. He didn't care if they were dirty, so they were probably often torn and dirty. The only distinctive item that comes to mind would be a bottle of whiskey, since he loved to drink. He was always drinking and its what he bought the second he had money in his pocket.
4. What distinguishing behavior does the character have? Include habits, preferences (music, food, literature, etc.), speech (sayings, stalling words, etc), and demeanor. --I don't think he was educataed, at least not very extensively, so his speech and vocabulary were both limited. He was often drunk, which was usually the cause of his outlandish ideas like throwing Doc a party, which trashed his house.
5. What is the characters role in society? Include his/her job, hobbies, and uses of time. --He didn't have a job, he just helped Doc by getting frogs whenever he needed money. His hobbies consisted of lying and persuading people into helping himself. Though most of his intentions were good, his lying usually ended up getting him into deeper trouble.
6. What is the character's religion or philosophy? What beliefs does he/she hold? How does this create or mitigate internal conflict within his/her psyche? --No religion, and no beliefs described in the book.
7. What do others in the book say about the character? --His close group of friends saw him as the leader and said that he could be president if he wanted to. However, other characters like Doc and Lee Chong were always catious of Mack and saw him as slightly childish. They knew he would lie to get his way and often times, his intentions went awry and caused damage. Since he had no money, he usually got out easy and the others had to pay for it.
8. What connections does this character have to history, established religion or the world beyond the book? --His connection is shown to me by accounts of other people living during perios such as the Great Depression who didn't have much money, yet still wanted to have a good time.
9. What does the character's name suggest? Authors rarely (if ever) name characters at random. What could the name symbolize? What evidence do you have for this? --Mack was a very charismatic character and could be seen as a trouble-maker. In a way, I think the name Mack fits his personality and is a good choice.
10. How does the character develop during the plot? How does he/she change? --Mack tried so hard to throw a good party for Doc and he wanted to feel like he contributed and did something good. I saw his development in the book because he learned and realized that his actions could be seen good by him and bad by others. Near the end of the book, he told Doc about how his wife had left him and everything he tried to do for her always went wrong somehow--"I had a wife. Same thing. Ever'thing I done turned sour. She couldn't stand it any more. If I done a good thing it got poisened up some way."