The Soul Game

Source and story!: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/12x5u5/the_soul_game/

Summary: The Soul Game is a story that is told from the perspective of the father of a child called Jesse (Or is re-told by the mother rather in this version) Jesse has been getting into trouble in school with a little boy called Stan, this then follows up with some paranormal happenings around the house as well. Later on in the story it reveals that Jesse was playing a game called "the Soul Game" with Stan, and his father had enough of it because of the way Jesse was acting at home now. Jesse would cry, or scream at night, and then his father would always come check on him until he met Stan himself.
(Horror/Suspense Genre)

My Personal Reaction: Frightened! I love scary stories and finally a story has sent shivers down my spine, the Soul Game is more then just a campfire horror story, it is a wonderful story with great characters and is rather short as well! I loved reading the whole selection, as I went on I simply could not get enough, The Soul Game has one of the best plot twists as well, I really loved reading this selection. The author did a great job in frightening the reader, so much so that I don't even think I'll be able to sleep tonight!

Author's Intentions?: The author's intentions was ultimately to frighten the reader, that's why it's on a "creepy forum" which made that pretty obvious. The author does an amazing job at this, and patterns of organization include: Chronological order, the story just goes by what happened first, until finally what happens last, and what happens last was definitely a surprise!

City of The Dead

Source: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/03/world/city-of-the-dead/

Summary: The city of the dead is an article that describes the losses of the Philippines, as soon as the country became a battlefield, including the death of a 5-year-old child. This article speaks about the losses of a family, and the losses of the people of the Philippines as a whole due to a war on drugs that had been started by the president. Some shocking killings take place in Santo Nino, and families lose their loved ones in the small poor neighborhood.

My Reaction and the Authors Intent: First off, the author intended to inform the reader of the tragedies that these people have faced in such a bad time that included war, just because the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, turned the whole country into a battlefield over the war on drugs. Overall. I strongly felt a feeling of guilt reading the article, as it used sympathy and words that really can pull or push from someones emotions. I haven't heard anything about a war, and once I read into it, it sincerely conveys a feeling of sadness. I wouldn't be surprised if someone had read this, or stumbled upon it, and felt bad. Obviously, this is a great example of pathos, conveying a feeling of tragedy, or sympathy to get the reader into an emotional state. I examined the pattern of organization to be order of importance, the article doesn't fail to put everything in order as well though. The way the whole article is set up gave this away immediately, in chapters that seemed to have detailed what the author found most important to the least important details at the end. This article has 4 chapters and I read all of them, and it seemed really apparent that order of importance was used, because he first used a child's death to get the reader to want to see how this sad tragedy became true, later it loses it's "empathy" factor and begins to get into more factual detail. Reading this article to the end really informs you on the war, and that was a great way to convey a feeling of tragedy, while at the same time providing factual detail, in order of importance.

Moby Dick and My Opinion

Summary of the First Chapter: First, we are introduced to the narrator, Ishmael. He lived in Manhatten and talked about various different cultures. Ishmael lives here and tells us about his life, and later on speaks about not wanting to go out to sea anytime soon. He was so interested in the docks, and the ocean, but he would have to pay to leave. He didn't wish to live because he had to pay, he wanted to just be a sailor on his own.

My Own Reaction: Al though the story had a slow start it was nice nonetheless. I love to meet new characters in stories, and this was a great time to learn about a new interesting character. I think I'd like the book, and I probably would give it a read right after To Kill A Mocking Bird. Moby Dick seems like a great story over all, "legendary" and judged by many critics. It also started using a well known legendary quote known as "Call me Ishmael" a well known quote, Moby Dick is also notorious for other well known quotes, and is one of the most talked about books in the world.

Author's Intent (Patterns of Organization): The author used sequencing of events to put everything in order, especially Ishmael's life. He narrates the story, saying things as they happen, and this is how I knew this was the pattern of organization that he used. Almost any stories that pertain to someones life have to be put in this organization pattern to allow the reader to understand the life this character lived. Authors use other things like comparison and contrasting for other texts, such as maybe comparing a house to another, with incredible detail.

To Kill A Mocking Bird and My Opinion

         I've read chapter one of To Kill A Mocking Bird, and the story seems to carry on a very "suspenseful" type of genre. The beginning introduces you to characters like Jem, Dill, Boo, and Radley. Boo seems to be a supernatural apparition, the kids speak about how he was seen "breathing on flowers and freezing them." He was a mystery to the kids, and they wanted to "summon" the monster.

         So far I've been extremely ecstatic to read more, it seems like an interesting book with some interesting characters that I'd love to introduce myself to, I can't wait to read more. The descriptive writing, like "..house had sagging shingles, and a drooping porch. The grass was too high and the paint had turned gray and dingy. Even in the long, hot summer, the doors were shut up.." (Chapter 1) with detailed explanation, flawlessly explained how the house looked. I love stories that have good explanations that allow me to imagine and create a world in my head, to me that's a phenomenal story.

         The story also included some great characters. especially the "monster" Boo, that seemed like a myth at first because of how they explained him, but eventually I learned that he was a kid as well that lived in a house with his father, I'm guessing these kids were just afraid of him for all these things that they've heard about him. In a part of the story the kids went up to the house and knocked, running away, showing a feeling of fear towards this house, or even Boo. In conclusion, the first chapter has already taken my attention and I can't wait to read and learn more. The style of notes you should take while reading a story like this might be outlines or maybe lists that can make sure you get only specific parts out of the story that you need. You have to make sure to make a summary as well and try to understand the somewhat "cryptic" writing that's introduced with these notes, the notes should help.

I'm the type of reader to enjoy anything that has to do with fiction or non-fiction, I love to keep an open mind with what I read too. My favorite genres are genres that include some realism but at the same time can keep me interested in the topic. Anything that sounds good basically can catch my attention really easily, but boring texts to me are historical, I am the worst at those and if I'm asked questions about historical text that I just read, it'd be hard to get by or to answer correctly. I struggle in that field of writing, but anything else will interest me.