Reading Journal 1 : THE BODY

             Due to lack of concentration, I did not catch who wrote the story which was in a different font. As mentioned in the book, it turned out to be Gordie’s. That was really interesting. Although he wrote this when he was in the college, the story has so many similar characteristics to his childhood. Goldie lost his older brother Dennis which made his parents not to care about him. In the story, the main character Chico lost his brother Johnny in the accident. The relationship between Gordie and his parents were not comfortable. There is a scene in the book which Goldie fought with his parents. Maybe Gordie had unpleasant memories in the past that they still have effects on him which is similar to childhood trauma. .

             Death is not a pleasant thing to be close with. However, Gordie had faced it when he was only a kid. At that age, he was probably not mature enough to overcome the death of person who was close to him. That might caused him some sort of trauma that made him never forget about the death of his brother. Although I did not read up to the part where the boys actually find the dead body but at some point they will. That might aggravated the shock he got from the unfortunate event.

             I also saw a dead body and it was not a pleasant experience. When I was about eight years old, my grandmother died in a car accident. So later on, her body was sent to the hospital which my uncle worked at. Before the burial, there was the last time to see her so my parents and other adults went inside the room. Accidently, I went inside that room which I was not supposed to do. The first things I saw were the pale feet. I still remember the atmosphere. Although the temperature was normal, it was so cold. It felt like the air was pressing down. Although I was taken out of the room immediately, I still cannot forget about it.