Summary:
Catherine just wants to be normal. Have a normal home life, normal friends, and a normal brother. Catherine's brother is autistic. He has odd behaviors that other's do not. Throughout the book Catherine struggles with her want for normalcy. Her brother makes everything abnormal, making it hard for Catherine to make friends, or have friends come over. Along the way she befriends a boy who also has a disability and he changes her perspective on a lot of things, but she realizes that normal isn't all it's cracked up to be. By the end of the book, Catherine values everybody's differences.
Catherine just wants to be normal. Have a normal home life, normal friends, and a normal brother. Catherine's brother is autistic. He has odd behaviors that other's do not. Throughout the book Catherine struggles with her want for normalcy. Her brother makes everything abnormal, making it hard for Catherine to make friends, or have friends come over. Along the way she befriends a boy who also has a disability and he changes her perspective on a lot of things, but she realizes that normal isn't all it's cracked up to be. By the end of the book, Catherine values everybody's differences.
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Response Associated with the Book: Power Continuum
Example:
Catherine, the protagonist in the book Rules by Cynthia Lord, falls into all levels of the power continuum throughout the novel. In the very beginning Catherine falls into the Domination as she is oppressed by her parents as they have to dedicate much of their time and resources behind her brother, David, who has autism. Catherine feels left behind. Her parents expect much more from her than her brother. She often is forced to babysit David throughout the book, whether she wants to or not. She often feels burdened with David for a majority of the book.
When Catherine meets Jason her situation on the power continuum shifts. Catherine then quickly moves to collusion. She sees Jason being oppressed by his mother as his only means of communication is limited by the words others have given to him. She subtly draws Jason but is caught by Jason and Jason’s mother and is asked to stop. She sits aside and stays silent until she cannot keep silent any longer. Suddenly, readers see Catherine move towards Agency. She suddenly feels obligated to help Jason’s communication. She takes action and makes Jason cards with words on them so that he can better express himself. The final phase of the book, readers see a change in Catherine, as she moves back to collusion for a little while when she asks Jason to the dance, but then towards the end she switches to resistance. She feels compelled to fix her mistakes and question if what she said was right and what she did was right. And she realizes that she made a bad decision refusing Jason’s offer to take her to the dance. She then moves to agency, as she rushes to fix her mistake and bring Jason to the dance with her.
Example:
Catherine, the protagonist in the book Rules by Cynthia Lord, falls into all levels of the power continuum throughout the novel. In the very beginning Catherine falls into the Domination as she is oppressed by her parents as they have to dedicate much of their time and resources behind her brother, David, who has autism. Catherine feels left behind. Her parents expect much more from her than her brother. She often is forced to babysit David throughout the book, whether she wants to or not. She often feels burdened with David for a majority of the book.
When Catherine meets Jason her situation on the power continuum shifts. Catherine then quickly moves to collusion. She sees Jason being oppressed by his mother as his only means of communication is limited by the words others have given to him. She subtly draws Jason but is caught by Jason and Jason’s mother and is asked to stop. She sits aside and stays silent until she cannot keep silent any longer. Suddenly, readers see Catherine move towards Agency. She suddenly feels obligated to help Jason’s communication. She takes action and makes Jason cards with words on them so that he can better express himself. The final phase of the book, readers see a change in Catherine, as she moves back to collusion for a little while when she asks Jason to the dance, but then towards the end she switches to resistance. She feels compelled to fix her mistakes and question if what she said was right and what she did was right. And she realizes that she made a bad decision refusing Jason’s offer to take her to the dance. She then moves to agency, as she rushes to fix her mistake and bring Jason to the dance with her.