Wiki #3

(Pg. 208-361)

Summary:

Gaia figured out that Leon’s (Captain Grey) parents are Derek Vlatir and Mary Walsh. She was shocked because Derek was the baker in Wharfton who helped her go over to the Enclave. She was curious to know what Derek would have thought of what his son has become. A few minutes later, Sgt. Bartlett came into the room with a tray of food for Gaia. He was asking her if she found the name of his birth parents and she said that she wasn't going to help him until he found a way to get her out of there. He went in the bathroom and wrote something on his hand then came back out and showed Gaia and the message said “Camera à”. Gaia then realized that Mabrother Iris was watching her this entire time and also knew about Leon secretly helping her. Sgt. Bartlett left and then Gaia went to the bathroom to get some water. When she got in there, she saw a note on the mirror that said “1 Chance…October 24, 2390”. She left the bathroom and looked at the code and found out that Sgt. Bartlett is her brother Odin that her parents had to advance. Sgt. Bartlett came back and said that he had a way to get her out and they left. He told her the way to go but before she left she told him that he was her brother and he was happy about it. Then she went the he told her and reached the road where she was found by a baker. The baker took her into his shop and the rest of his family was there and they were going to help Gaia. These people were the Jackson family and explained to Gaia that they have made it their duty to help anyone outside of the Enclave because their daughter died of the disease that the people from outside of the Enclave can fix. Gaia is now staying with the Jackson family. Mace Jackson, the baker who saved Gaia, told her that he knew where her mother was and now they are trying to come up with a plan her. Meanwhile, Leon shows up at the bakery and said that he was sent by his father Derek. He starts to explain to Gaia and the Jackson family that the Enclave soldiers are going to go over to Wharfton to swab everyone who lives there to get the cure for hemophilia. Leon also said that he came back because he needed to know that Gaia was safe. They made a plan to save Gaia’s mother. They were going to disguise Gaia as a guy and go into the tower that they were keeping her mother in and bring her out. Then they would take her back to the bakery that they are currently staying in and find a way to get back to Wharfton. Gaia got inside the tower with Masister Khol and saw that her mother was pregnant and weak. Sephie was also found in the tower and she noticed that it was Gaia. She didn't say anything until everyone was asleep then she told Gaia to take her mother and leave. After she left, her mother was going into labour so she had to bring her into a room. She helped her mother give birth to a baby girl who her mother named Maya. Shortly after, her mother was losing too much blood and realized she was going to die. Gaia’s mom apologized to Gaia for purposely putting that scar on her face and Gaia forgave her. Gaia rested her head on her mother and listened as she took her last breath. In the end, Gaia and Leon were trying to escape from the Enclave but Leon pushed Gaia through instead and allowed himself to be a target for the other soldiers trying to kill the both of them. Gaia did make it back to Wharfton but the soldiers were still looking for her so she had leave with her little sister to go to the Dead Forest.

Questioner:

1. How did the Jackson family know to help Gaia?
2. Is it possible for the Jackson family to be using Gaia and setting her up? Why?
3. Why would the author have only one possible cure for hemophilia considering is harms so many?
4.  What would have happened if the author wrote the book as Gaia and her family living in the rich Enclave society instead of poor in Wharfton?

Connector:

After the Jackson family told Gaia about how the Enclave was starting to take people, that had the “freckles” on their ankle, away to a different school, she wanted to stop them. She told the Jackson family that the Enclave was starting to control everything and that had to be stopped. She wanted to find a way to break the wall between Wharfton and the Enclave so everyone can roam free and the Enclave could stop having control over everything.

-  This part of the story reminds of the novel “Catching Fire”. During the games, Katniss realized that they only way she would be able to stop President Snow from controlling everything going on in the games is by breaking the atmosphere wall. Both Katniss and Gaia were being controlled by people they weren't fond of and they figured out the only way to break them is to destroy the one thing that was helping them control everyone and everything.

In order for Gaia to save her mother from the tower she had to disguise herself as a boy. If she went as herself, she would have been caught and possibly killed.

- This part in the story reminds me of a scene from “The Twelfth Night” by Shakespeare. Viola has to disguise herself as a man in order to work for Duke Orsino. He didn't hire women to work for him so the only way for Viola to get the job was to disguise herself as a man.  Gaia and Viola both had to disguise themselves as men to get what they wanted.

Word Wizard:

Word	Pg. # & Paragraph	Definition	Reason for Discussion
Altruistic	Pg. 221 Paragraph 8	Unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of others	“As Gaia pondered Pearl’s altruistic explanation…” I didn't know what this word meant and I wanted to know what kind of explanation.
Disheveled	Pg. 235 Paragraph 7	Untidy; disordered	I liked this word and thought it was used interestingly so I wanted to know the meaning of it.
Inchoate	Pg. 249 Paragraph 3	Just begun and not so fully formed or developed	I was curious to know why the author chose this word instead of a simpler one such as starting, beginning, undeveloped, etc.
Percolating	Pg. 256 Paragraph 6	Permeate or penetrate gradually.	I am trying to expand my vocabulary and I wanted to know what this word meant to I could possibly use it when I speak or when I am writing assignments.

Wiki #2

(Page 80-207)

Summary:

Gaia is now in the Enclave. When she gets there she witnesses an execution about to happen. The woman that was getting executed, alongside her husband, was pregnant. Gaia saw her mother from a far in one of the jail cells near and her mother gave her that look telling her not to do or say anything about the execution because they will catch Gaia and know that she is not from the Enclave. Of course, Gaia didn't listen and did what she thought was right and yelled out for the people to stop the execution because of the baby. The sergeants of the Enclave went through with the execution anyways and then carried the dead bodies into a room. Gaia lied to the guard outside the room and said that she was one of the family members who were supposed to see the dead bodies and the guard believed her and let her in. Gaia went in and cut open the mother’s stomach and saved the baby’s life. Someone walked in the room and said that she was crazy and ran off to tell one of the sergeants what she has done. When Gaia went out, she was caught by one of the sergeants and they took the baby away from her and took her into a room where she saw Captain Grey again. They had a conversation about what why she was there and how she could have been killed. Then Captain Grey grew fond of Gaia and had a change of heart and decided that he wanted to help her out. Later on that day, Gaia was taken to a Q cell. In this cell, there were other women here who were similar to her. The people from the Enclave put women who they think can help their society in any medical way in the Q cell. The ribbon that Gaia had, before she was put in the Q cell, was taken from her by one of the guards. In the cell, she became friends with a girl named Sephie; who also delivered babies. Sephie told Gaia that her father was shot trying to escape from the Enclave and Gaia was heartbroken. She couldn’t believe that her father had died. One day Myrna, one of the other women in the cell, took Gaia with her to help her with a job that she had to do in the town. On their way back to the cell with the guards, they bumped into Captain Grey and he told the other guards to take Myrna back to the cell and he would escort Gaia himself. Gaia ended up telling Captain Grey about the “freckles” her and her mother used to give to all the newborn babies before they advanced them. She says that her mother told her to give each baby four dots on their ankle that was shaped a certain way to look like the Orion’s belt because Orion was her mother’s maiden name. It turned out that Captain Grey also had the same “freckles” on his ankle meaning that he was born outside of the Enclave. He and Gaia grew close. When it came time for Gaia to be investigated about that ribbon with the strange writing on it by Mabrother Iris, Captain Grey decided to sneak and try to help out Gaia. The reason why the people in the Enclave wanted to know what was on the ribbon was because they needed a cure for all the advanced babies who were becoming extremely ill. They needed to know who their real birth parents were because it is a genetic cure. Mabrother Iris is blackmailing Gaia into helping him figure out the meaning of this ribbon. He says that he will kill her mother if she doesn't cooperate. Later on that night, Gaia and Captain Grey figured out the meaning of the ribbon. It was a record of parents’ loss, baby after baby. Gaia started to feel bad because she helped take these babies away from their mothers in Wharfton and gave them to the awful Enclave society. She also found out that the reason Captain Grey wanted to help her so bad was because he wanted to know who his real birth parents were as well. Gaia was heartbroken by this and felt used, but decided to help him out anyways. 

Connector:

When Gaia and Sephie went to this man’s house to help his wife give birth, the man rewarded Gaia with a mirror to thank her for helping his wife. Gaia didn’t accept the gift because of how she feels about her scar. She felt like that man was insulting her by giving her a mirror because she didn’t want to see how ugly she looks up close.

-                 - I can connect this part of the story to another story I read called “Cracked up to be”. In “Cracked up to be”, there was a girl named Parker who used to be the perfect teenager. She made a horrible mistake and her entire life just went downhill. Whenever people gave her compliments or tried to speak to her in general, she would turn them down because she believed she was a horrible person. Gaia and Parker relate to each other because something horrible happened to the both of them making them think that they are imperfect which causes them to not accept when others compliment them.

Questioner:

1.  Why is Captain Grey so desperate to find his birth parents in Wharfton?
2.  Would Mabrother Iris actually have killed Gaia’s mother if she refused to help him?
3. Why didn't the Enclave keep track of the advanced all these years?

Visualizer:

This photo symbolizes when Gaia got the mirror from that man and looked at herself for the first time in the Q cell. She didn't look at her ugly side with the scar on her face

This photo represents the time that Sephie and Gaia were walking back to the prison with the guards and saw people selling oranges in their shops. Gaia was really fascinated because she said it was rare to get an orange now a days and Sephie said that it was hard to get one in the Enclave as well unless you were wealthy.

My Thoughts on the Novel so Far:

“Birthmarked” is an amazing book so far. This is my first time reading a book where it is written in a future perspective. It allows me to question if the world will actually be like this in the next 100 years. This book isn't a difficult read. Everything is pretty straightforward and I would definitely recommend it to people who are ages 12+. I’m intrigued by the author’s thoughts throughout the story. This is how he assumes life will be hundreds of years from now and I find it really interesting. I think that near the end of the book, Gaia will find her mother and they will move back to Wharfton and they will also give the Enclave the cure to the sickness all the advance babies are getting. I also believe that Captain Grey and Gaia will fall in love and be together in the end. Overall, this is a great story, I think a lot of people would enjoy it and I can’t wait to see how it ends.