I learned that sometimes there is more to a person then what you first see. Gretchen is said to be, "creepy and crazy" when really she is a regular teenager trapped in a home of evil and torture. I think this is important to watch out for this when your around people, to not judge them based on their appearance or first impression. Hopefully others will do the same for you.
I rediscovered the evil we face in this world. Sometimes it is easy to forget or look over the evil things in this world, maybe because we do not always know how to help. It can be overwhelming the amount of evil and wrong doing but that does not mean we just sit back and let it happen.
I was surprised when the baker came out and told Calvin that "he thought Gretchen's dad was too strict and would not snitch on them for meeting at the bakery". This scared me a little bit because who knows if he is really telling the truth, Gretchen might get in trouble for this because he lied and actually told her father.
I am beginning to wonder about the people around me that go through this same thing everyday. Kids that get abused or neglected. The kids that have no voice at home and just want to break free. It makes me sad and makes me feel very helpless because I can't help them, first of all because it is hard to know who they are.
I was disturbed by the religious aspect of this whole story line. Gretchen's father is supposed to be a man of God and yet he takes that and twists it into his abusive ways. He uses the excuse of God to "instruct" his daughters, this is so disturbing. I am a strong christian and I think this is why this bothers me so much. Because I know that God is what saves people from things like this. God also says not to look to the law to follow or get to heaven, not thing slike dressing unattractively or not going to dances is gonna save you. Grace and mercy is what saves you and Gretchen's father needs a lot of that. The devil is actually whats driving Gretchen's father not God.
I was confused about prayer just as Clavin is. It is hard to know why certain things are happening, why bad things happen to people. Is God not listening? Does he not see whats going on? Can he not help the situation? All of these questions run through someones head when they think about prayer and asking God to help someone or yourself. I do not know all the answers that is for sure, yet I do like that Calvin says " I pray because I do not know what else to do" because this is how God works. Come to him even when you have no idea what you should do, that is faith.
i was interested in every word Gretchen had to say. I found myself becoming so interested in Gretchen and what she had to say that I wanted every chapter just to be a conversation with her. Maybe it is because her story is so sad and messed up and that makes people get really nosey but whatever reason I know I just wanted to know more and more.
I rediscovered the evil we face in this world. Sometimes it is easy to forget or look over the evil things in this world, maybe because we do not always know how to help. It can be overwhelming the amount of evil and wrong doing but that does not mean we just sit back and let it happen.
I was surprised when the baker came out and told Calvin that "he thought Gretchen's dad was too strict and would not snitch on them for meeting at the bakery". This scared me a little bit because who knows if he is really telling the truth, Gretchen might get in trouble for this because he lied and actually told her father.
I am beginning to wonder about the people around me that go through this same thing everyday. Kids that get abused or neglected. The kids that have no voice at home and just want to break free. It makes me sad and makes me feel very helpless because I can't help them, first of all because it is hard to know who they are.
I was disturbed by the religious aspect of this whole story line. Gretchen's father is supposed to be a man of God and yet he takes that and twists it into his abusive ways. He uses the excuse of God to "instruct" his daughters, this is so disturbing. I am a strong christian and I think this is why this bothers me so much. Because I know that God is what saves people from things like this. God also says not to look to the law to follow or get to heaven, not thing slike dressing unattractively or not going to dances is gonna save you. Grace and mercy is what saves you and Gretchen's father needs a lot of that. The devil is actually whats driving Gretchen's father not God.
I was confused about prayer just as Clavin is. It is hard to know why certain things are happening, why bad things happen to people. Is God not listening? Does he not see whats going on? Can he not help the situation? All of these questions run through someones head when they think about prayer and asking God to help someone or yourself. I do not know all the answers that is for sure, yet I do like that Calvin says " I pray because I do not know what else to do" because this is how God works. Come to him even when you have no idea what you should do, that is faith.
i was interested in every word Gretchen had to say. I found myself becoming so interested in Gretchen and what she had to say that I wanted every chapter just to be a conversation with her. Maybe it is because her story is so sad and messed up and that makes people get really nosey but whatever reason I know I just wanted to know more and more.