Week 3: Quote
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
1-100
“Words shouldn't be allowed to change meanings. Who decides that the meaning has changed, and when? Is there an in-between time when the word means both things. Or a time when the word doesn't mean anything at all?”(pg 25-26)
Natasha moved to the United States at eight and lived a pretty normal American teenage life. Her world came crashing down when she found out she was being deported due to her fathers recent DUI. She would go to the courthouse anytime she could to try to overrule her deportation. The novel opens up to the day she is supposed to move back to Jamaica. She meets with case lawyer who goes on to explain how irie Jamaica is. Natasha quickly shuts down his idea by explaining that he had only seen the resort areas of Jamaica, not the whole picture. The following chapter describes the meaning and history behind the word "irie" and later on questions word choice in general.
This quote is saying how words can become obsolete and lose all meaning. It could correspond to the word love and how saying "I love you" has lost most of its meaning nowadays. It could be about the word sorry and how it loses meaning once someone has said it too much. The author, Nicola Yoon, is trying to tell the audience how words should be sacred and not used loosely. People should avoid saying things just to please someone else's expectations. Yoon is also saying how words should be concrete and not have multiple meanings.
One thing that really bothers me is how people say things that they do not mean all the time. I get annoyed when I see couples who have been dating for a week posting pictures and saying that they love each other. I believe people can ruin words for others. The word love is supposed to be special and I feel like many people are just taking advantage of it. Back in seventh grade, a friend of mine had just got in a relationship. A couple days in, the guy told her that he loved her. I got so frustrated by that small act. That word meant so much to me yet he could just throw it around. It may be a little ridiculous of me to have been so frustrated but then again, I was in seventh grade. One thing that I know is that I will always say my words with meaning even if someone expects something different.
I agree with you about people saying things they don't mean. If they don't mean it them don't say it. But this book seems really interesting because
ReplyDeleteit talks about such a large issue going on right now.
I too completely agree with you about how people do not say what they mean! When you mentioned the whole situation about the word "love" I was so intrigued by that because I feel as though that word can be over used in some cases. People will just say it to their significant other, only if its been a week, and sometimes people will just say it to their friends. Although you should love everyone "love" is a special word and shouldn't be thrown around as it is nowadays.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Julia and Ashley said. Sometimes people will say stuff they dont really mean, just say they can say it. Great job and keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI think the quote is interesting on a larger scale about language, not just in the way we think about people throwing around phrases casually. I see your connection, but I like how words' meanings get changed even officially (dictionary-wise) sometimes.
ReplyDeleteParagraphs could be elaborated on here.