Description of Pobby and Dingan

        Pobby and Dingan are two children about 12 years old, according to the book. It talks about there is a picture about Dingan and Kellyanne, it said Dingan is 12 years old. Dingan is girl, so she is shorter than Pobby. Kellyanne talks a lot about Pobby and Dingan in chapter 7 when she talks with the people who come to their home and said that they had found Pobby and Dingan. There is one interesting fact is Pobby and Dingan never sleep, they don't need to rest themselves, this make me feel,like they may not be human, they may be aliens. The food they eat is strange too, they only eat Cherry Ripes and Violet Crumbles and lollies. Also they are both pacifist, they will never shoot. Although they have so many similarity, they still have some specific characteristics for their own. Dingan has a opal in her belly button, Pobby has a limp on his right leg.  So he couldn't run fast. They are both Kellyanne best friend. Dingan should be pretty that she won the third price of the opal princess competition. As a read though the book, I think they are cute, they will have little temper, fore example they doesn't like Ashmol because he always bully them. But I believe when they see Ashmol come to find them, they should be very happy. Although they look a little bit naughty, they get lost in the claim, but I think they are pretty nice to others. They would like to be friend with Kellyanne who doesn't have any friends.

         I can imagine that they may play with Kellyanne on the fence, they would sit on the swing, and Kellyanne push them on the back, smile will show on Kellyanne's face. After they have fun on the back fence, they Kellyanne will asks mom to get lollipop for Pobby and Dingan. When they get lost in the claim, they should be very nervous, because they never went there before, they don't know anything about their, also claim looks dangerous in Lightning Ridge, so that is why Kellyanne is so worried about Pobby and Dingan. I hope Ashmol can find them and I think I would like to meet them if I have chance.  

Vocabularies March 3rd

Bold: sentences I make  underline: definition.   (Inside): part of speach.

claim: place with mine(n.)

Miners spend the whole day to work in the claim

me and Dad were relaxing after a hard afternoon’s work out at the claim.

wobbling: shaking(adj.)

He wobbling stand on the single-plank bridge

The noise of a car drove into our ears and a four-wheel-drive police jeep came wobbling down the creamy red track that leads to our claim.

startled: to stimulate to action(v.)

When she saw her pet dog die, she startled.

My dad turned around, startled. He was totally off his guard.

figment: imaginary things(n.)

Ashmol thinks Pobby and Dingan are figment

Pobby was a figment of her imaginings.

rummaged: search around(v.)

Jimmy rummaged for his toy on the floor

He rummaged through piles of rocks.

ute: a member of the Shoshonean people of Utah and Colorado and New Mexico(n.)

Many years ago, a lot of Utes were killed by Germany

Kellyanne glared at me through tears the way she did the time I slammed the door of the ute in Dingan’s face

crackpot: a whimsically eccentric person(n.)

Some people think Van Gogh is a crackpot

Lightning Ridge was full of flaming crackpots as far as I could see.

Mello Yello: a soft drink(n.)

If you like Sprite, you should like Mello Yello

“Pobby and Dingan aren’t dead,” I said, hiding my anger in a swig from my can of Mello Yello.

mates: a pair of people who live together(n.)

Mom said:" my son, I hope you can talk with your mates, not doing everything by yourself."

“I still say Kellyanne could do with some real-live mates,”

opal: a translucent mineral consisting of hydrated silica of variable color; some varieties are used as gemstones(n.)

Jeweler love using opal to make jewelry.

Tomorrow we’ll be on opal, son, and we’ll be bloody millionaires!

fairdinkum: fair and square, true and reliable(adj.)

" Is this information reliable?"

"fair dinkum."

Example from book: "We’re close, boy. Close. There’s definitely something in that earth with the name Williamson on it!” “Fairdinkum?”

imaginary: not based on fact; dubious(adj.)

Many things fiction novels are imaginary.

“You see, my sister’s got two imaginary friends called Pobby and Dingan—maybe you’ve heard of them—and she thinks my dad lost them out on the claim.

grub: food, worm(n.)

I will give grub to my pet dog twice a day

She said they were quieter and better behaved than me and deserved the grub.

fossilized: preserved to become a fossil(adj.)

The most valuable thing in this museum is a fossilized from a tyrannosaurus

There’s rumours going that Lucky Jes has taken out a million-dollar stone and a fossilized mammoth tooth with sun-flash in it.

mammoth: an ancient animal(n.)

Mammoth is extinct animal. 

There’s rumours going that Lucky Jes has taken out a million-dollar stone and a fossilized mammoth tooth with sun-flash in it.

In class writing March 3rd

        Pobby and Dingan are two mystery characters. They are Kellyanne's friends. But her brother Ashmol said they are just Kellyanne's imaginary friends. For me I think they may be fake, and not exist in the world. Kellyanne was a girl who doesn't have any friends except Pobby and Dingin, but according to the book nobody can see them, so Kellyanne may just imagine two people that are around her and to play with her. She behave strange in the school and in the home too, she always talks with the air. Everyone can't see Pobby and Dingan so they should not be exist in the world, maybe Kellyanne has some strange illness so that she said their are Pobby and Dingan in the world. 

            In the chapter two, the father said he can see Pobby and Dingan, but he is lying. One time Kellyanne asks where is them, father answers the different answer from Kellyanne, so we can sure that father just wants to lie to Kellyanne and hope his daughter can communicate with human. He try to take away Pobby and Dingan from Kellyanne. As the mom said Kellyanne is a smart kid, they all want Kellyanne can be a normal kid. The reason why Kellyanne said Pobby and Dingan is real is maybe the environment they live in is strange. According to the mom, she said that the place they live is full with criminals and strange things, so the environment may affect Kellyanne, she is a kid, kid is easy to affect by outside environment because she just come to the world for 8 years. She doesn't know a lot of things, so she may imagine. Imagine things that she never know, the things even adults don't know. So I think Pobby and Dingan is fake, they are just the Kellyanne's imaginary friends. 

Friends of Life

Johnny Liu

English II

Ms.Guarino

3/1/2016
                                                           Friends of Life
       Many people in the world seems unsocial, but in fact they just need some help. Me and You by Ammaniti and the film, Good Will Hunting directs by Gus Van Sant Jr are two good examples showing this. Lorenzo and Will are the main characters in these two stories. They are both smart people; however they were both unsocial before but they changed in the end. This shows that everyone can be change, and there are no problem kid in the world. Lorenzo and Will both didn't had a lot of friends, and they didn't have the courage to face to the world, but after Lorenzo meets Olivia, and Will meets Sean, they change. In both stories, the main characters found a person with whom they could explore their emotions, and learned that the only thing you need to change yourself is courage and a person who will support you.
       Many people are totally different from what they were like when they were kids. Me and You shows everyone in the world can change themselves, they just lack a person who can really listen to them,. If you have a person who will support you, everyone can change. The main character Lorenzo was a smart kid, he always stayed alonE and didn’t have many friends, but after he met his sister Olivia and got along with her in the basement for few days he was affected by her and changed into a normal kid who would like to get closer with the outside world. Lorenzo is a good actor, in the book he said: “I pretend to be a normal kid with problems”(Ammaniti 29) from this we know he didn’t want anyone to know who he really is, so he always wears a mask in his life. Many people who acts like they are unsocial are afraid to communicate with others. Sometime they just want to protect themselves by not talking with others. In Me and You, Lorenzo is afraid of talking with others: “You have to be very confident to make jokes in public”(Ammaniti 19). He didn’t have confidence to talk with others. Sometime, people don’t have the courage to do something, because courage is usually hard to get, but everything changes after he meet his sister, Lorenzo describes his sister looking like, “Stretched and tired. She wasn’t as beautiful as she had been two years ago”(Ammaniti 74). He saw Olivia, as being in a similar situation as him. She was fewer friends than he has. So when he sees Olivia in pain, he decides to help her, which makes him feel he really did something meaningful to somebody. It is the first time he has this kind of feeling. This is the turning point in his life, Lorenzo changes: “I felt alive-it took my breath away. In a few hours I would leave that cellar. And everything might go back to the way it was. And yet I knew that beyond that door the world be able to talk to the others like I was one of them”(Ammaniti 143) Before Lorenzo was a unsocial boy, he was afraid of everything having to do with others, but after he meets Olivia, he dances with her, and starts to have confidence. Olivia is a person who knows about him; a person with whom he can express emotion; a person who helps him break the wall between himself and the outside world. Everyone in the world meets this kind of person in their life. It could be your teacher, your friend, or your parent. So Me and You demonstrates that there is no problem kid, every “unsociable people” need a person to give them confident to Contact with the Outside World, and they will all change themselves.
       Have you ever saw a genius but never show his talent to others? Will is the main character in Good Will Hunting, and he was a half-baked genius, but after he meets Sean he becomes integrated. This story portrays that sometime people was afraid of doing something, they need a person who could gives them courage, then they would become more than you could imagine. Will is a genius but his job is a cleaner in MIT. Everyone in the world have their own qualities, and everyone would think they have some good qualities and some bad qualities. When they are associating, they would prefer show their good qualities to others not their bad quality. Will didn’t want to show his talent because he is afraid his talent would makes him got away from his friends, so he thinks his talent is his bad quality. Because every time he uses his talent, he would upsets the students from famous universities, or he would stimulates the psychology doctors by telling them what they were thinking in their mind. On the other hand, normal makes him gets friends. As what Sean said to Will is, “You’ll never have that kind of relationship in a world where you’re afraid to take the first step because all you see is every negative thing 10 miles down the road”(Good Will Hunting). Will was afraid of having relationship with others, so he only had a limited of friends, he doesn’t trust others, the things he trust are books, he spends a lot of time on reading. When people don’t trust others, they would spend a lot of time on doing what they like, they won’t communicate with others, not communicate with the outside world. Sean was different from others to Will, he is a person who would shows his true face to Will, he tells many things about himself to Will, even tells Will about the death of his wife, this action breaks the wall between his heart and Will's heart. Will starts changing himself, he starts talking about himself to Sean. Another day, when Will goes to visit his friend Chunk, Chuck tells him, "Look,you're my best friend,so don't take this the wrong way,but in 20 years,if you're living next door to, me,coming over watching the fucking, Patriots' games and still working construction,I'll fucking kill you. And that's not a threat,that's a fact.I'll fucking kill you."(Good Will Hunting). This gives Will courage to face the outside world. The reason he doesn't want to show his talent is, he is afraid he would lost his friends if he shows his talent, and gets a better job. In our life, we all need a person who we could express our emotion, we need a place to release ourselves, Will didn’t have one before but now he gets one, he expresses himself to Sean and get courage from Chuck to be himself, so he changes himself. We don’t need a lot to change ourselves, we need a little bit courage from others, like the courage Will gets from Chunk and Sean.

Human is social animal, not like cheetah, or snake, human need friends to stay with, they live with others. If a person lives without friends or family, he will miss a lot of fun in the world, and never knows what is love, his life will be uncomplicated. In Good Will Hunting Sean said, “I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much. I look at you.I don't see an intelligent, confident man. I see a cocky, scared-shitless kid. But you're a genius, Will. No one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me, because you saw a painting of mine. You ripped my fuckin' life apart”(Good Willing Hunting). Lorenzo and Will were afraid to talk with others before they meet Olivia and Sean, their friends of life, who always support them, and they can talk with. Their lives just begin after they meet their friends of life. They don’t know what is outside world looks like before, in the Good Will Hunting Sean told Will, “I can't learn anything from you I can't read in some fuckin' book. Unless, you wanna talk about you…who you are. Then I 'm fasci ated. I'm in. But you don't want to do that, do you, sport? You're terrified of what you might say”(Good Will Hunting). Will lacks of confidence to talk with others, same as Lorenzo, so they lock themselves in their own world, they need somebody to bring them out to the outside world. Lorenzo and Will’s stories show that life will be better to live with friends and family, and face to the outside world. Many people think this kind of people have infantile autism, infact they are like a green and inexperienced kid, they need a people who would talk with them, human can’t live without friends and family.

          Me and You is one of the best English books I had read, and Good Will Hunting is one of the best movies I had watched. They prove one point, nobody is really a alone wolf in the world, they just need a person whom they could explore their emotion, and they need courage to help them to get into the social. The endings in  Me and You and Good Will Hunting are very similar, the main characters lay to their friends and cried. They finally find a place to express their emotion. There are many this kind of people in the world, when we see this kind of people, what we can do is to help them to overcome themselves, and bring them to the world, not looking them as a strange person. I think this may be the reason why Ammaniti wrote this book, and why Gus Van Sant Jr directed this film.

                                                                    Work Cited

Ammaniti Niccolò. Me and You. New York: Black Cat, 2011. Print.

Good Will Hunting. Dir. Lawrence Bender. Perf. Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck. Miramax Films, 1997. Film.