Son: Week of 11/18/13

Pages: 1-93
Prompt: What have you learned from what you've read?

     There is one major thing that I've learned from what I've read so far, and that is to be thankful for what I have, and the type of society I live in! Son is set in a dystopian society where everything is much different from our society today! For one, you are assigned a job when you are 12 years old! This really makes me appreciate that I can go to school for 16 years of my life, and can start work when I'm ready! Rather than having to be ready to work, in a job that you may not even like, or appreciate, at an extremely young age! I'm very glad that I have more time to prepare for a job, and that I can actually choose the job that I would like to have when I get older. Also, some people don't even get a well respected job! I can't imagine being a birth mother where all you would do is reproduce children! It's not respected, and it's also very scary to have to be giving birth around the age of 12 and 13! So, that's one reason that this book has taught me to be thankful for the type of society I live in, and that I don't have to be ready to go to work at such a young age!

     Another way this book has taught me to be thankful is how you are only really given one possession a year, sometimes not even one! Each year, you are given something special for turning a new year, and so does everyone else your age! For instance, one year you receive a bicycle, another, a haircut! I sometimes complain about the things that I have, and how I wish I had this and that, but the people in this story, don't even get nearly as many things and opportunities as I do, and they are still happy and grateful! They get only one major thing a year, when I am always receiving or getting myself something new! The people in the story have NOTHING compared to me! I need to realize really how grateful I should be for all of the things that I receive, because I could be getting something new once a year, and that's about it! I need to start realizing that others have so much less, and instead of wanting more, I need to appreciate what I already have. So, not only did this teach me to be thankful for what all that I have, but it also taught me to appreciate all that I have!

     One last way this book has taught me to be thankful is when they talk about how you are only limited to the things inside of your community, and you're not allowed to go "elsewhere." In our society today, we pretty much have the freedom to go wherever we want, do (in a respectable manner) whatever we want, and see whatever we want to see, no matter which community or state you live in! The people who live in this community are limited to so much, and they are not even allowed to go outside of the community border! I can see the World, experience new things, new places, new sights, but the people in the book cannot! If they left, they would be seriously punished, and chastised, but if we would like to leave our little home town to see what was beyond, we wouldn't be punished or chastised, we would be allowed, and sometimes even encouraged to see more! So, that has really shown me that I should be thankful for the type of World I live in, and that I am allowed to see and do what I want, rather than be limited to so much!

     So, overall the book has really taught me to be thankful for the type of World I live in, and the types of opportunities and things I am able to have and do!