In the book, Grenade, by Alan Gratz the main character Hideki and the other Japanese and american soldiers are all impacted by fear and death. Fear and the fear of death has influenced many of Hideki’s actions throughout the book. Throughout the book Hideki’s main goal is to reunite with his sister. He has fear that in the process he might die. He realises that but the only way he’ll be able to find his last living family member is to risk his life. All the soldiers are motivated by fear. If they do something wrong there dead and due to this pressure they’ve cracked are not who they used to be. They’ve become monsters in a way. This idea can be seen through the end part of the book. Fear is a lead factor to many of the decisions they have to make. The consequences being death. Many of the Japanese military hid in natural caves and captured okinawans to become human shields and distractions. The Okinawans had no choice but to follow them. The japanese knew that they were not winning this battle but as long as they could take out as many American troops as possible and slow down the U.S then they’ll be able to slow the U.S.’s progress to mainland Japan. Also the American troops fear the Japanese because they’ve been hidden all around the Island and there just waiting to attack. Fear and death are one of the main contributors to what makes people good and what makes people evil. The fear of death can have a large influence on what others do and how they act. Sometimes the pressure can get to them and cause damage. While other times the need for survival and the will to live can benefit others in positive ways.   

In the book Grenade, the main characters Hideki and Ray are about to fight in a battle against the Americans and the Japanese/Okinawans. Later Ray and Hideki coward and could not take brutality and violence of the battle so they ran away. Coincidentally, they ran into each other. Each of them took out their weapon to use, but Hideki was faster and killed Ray. Hideki recognized and realized he’d seen him before. He overheard his name, Rei, which is Japanese for Ghost. “With a shiver, Hideki suddenly remembered, rei was another word for ghost.” This is significant because Hideki tries to figure out the person he once was and now that he has killed someone, regret is now looming over him as a ghost. This can also be taken literally as Ray’s ghost now following hideki. This adds a motive not to kill anyone or hurt anyone. Hideki is now back in reality and has witnessed the violence of war and has realized how bad it is. This quote stood out to me because the choice of the name seems very important to the overall story and relates how hideki believes in ghosts. This foreshadows that maybe Hideki wants to pay respects to the person he just killed and almost avenge him. This can connect to the thematic issue of regret and how it can take over people. People can either have regret that tears them apart or aceptice what they’ve done and try to resolve it even though people might not be able to.   

One theme that can be seen in “Grenade” by Alan Gratz is how fear impacts human behavior. 

Ray’s squad decides to investigate a sea cave near a cliff. One of the men throws a grenade into the cave to flush any people in it. Native Okinawans come out screaming. Instead of surrendering to the Americans they rather take their lives by Jumping over the Cliff. “Suddenly, people came streaming out of the cave… but it was a woman holding a baby… he watched as people ran away screaming from the Marines. They went straight for the edge of the cliff…” pg 54. During WWII the japanese sent propaganda to the Okinawans that stated that the U.S were monsters and would brutally slaughter any civilians that came in their path. This was incorrect but the civilians believed it. As a result the civilians’ fear overcame them and fueled their decisions about whether they should live or die. 

We can also see this kind of behavior in Ray. When he gets chosen to be on Guard duty he hears a Japanese soldier approach him and he has a split second to react. “‘Bonzai!’the soldier screamed, charging at Ray and Big John. Ray flinched and pulled his trigger -PAKOW- and the bullet hit the soldier.” This shows that fear impacts your actions and how you behave. If he didnt of shoot the soldier he and Big john would have been dead. Fear also plays into your fight or flight instincts how in  a split second you have the decisions to run away or to fight back.

The theme fear can be seen in both the Okinawans and Ray. How fear can influence your decisions and behavior in so many ways. When people become afraid their instincts kick in. Fear can cloud your judgment and people can make mistakes when they’re under the influence of it. People might regret what happened in the moment because they tried to protect themselves and might’ve protected others. Fear can help live or die in dangerous situations.

In the book “Grenade” by Alan Gratz focuses on two main Characters. Ray, an experienced marine in the U.S. military and Hideki is a boy from Okinawa who’s studying to become a soldier for the Japanese military. In some ways Ray and Hideki are both protagonists and Antagonists. In the point of view of Ray he sees that all the Japanese on the Island are the enemy and that includes Hideki. For Hideki he sees the Americans as a threat. Ray feels obligated to join the Military although he’s afraid to die on the battlefield. He comes from a farming background and has an abusive father. Hideki on the other hand gets bullied by an older kid. His fore father died as a coward and his soul manifests Hideki which dooms him as a coward.He wants to prove everyone wrong at school that he is actually courageous. Throughout the story ray tries to fit in with his more experienced marines in his platoon. He feels he’s not as good as them but the people in his platoon and he lacks a nickname but his friends try to help him out. On the other hand Hideki is trying to prove that he’s actually courageous. He slowly begins to become more daring and bold by sticking up for himself and trying to kill american troops. He’s also much more sympathetic compared to the rest of his classmates. He tries to help other people out even though nobody has really helped him out. Ray learns the only way to overcome your fears you need to challenge them head on. The people in his Platoon push him to be a successful marine and when he does things correctly he gets a boost in confidence. The same thing with Hideki the more outgoing he becomes the confident he’ll be. 

In school we started Capstone. You may be wondering what is Capstone (if not go to @). Capstone is where you can pick any topic you want. Next you have to research a lot about it. You also have to have an interview and a site visit for your Capstone.  Secondly you put some of your info and pictures on a tri-fold poster and decorate your poster. Finally you present your capstone at the capstone  museum. Which is where students and parents walk around and they go to your capstone if they are interested. @ Now you may be wondering what am I doing for capstone. I am doing robots and how they might take over.  Did you know that there are three types of robots? It depends on how much human help robots. The first is the Teleoperated robot which is remote controlled. A remote control car. The second type of robot is the Supervisory robot. People program them and they do jobs. They are mostly found in factories doing dangerous jobs. The last type of robot is the Autonomous robot. They either need little help or no help at all. For my site visit I am going to the Weston hotel in Buffalo. There is a robot butler. It sends you toiletries and other stuff like that. I am also interviewing one of the people who work with the robot. That is all for now. Thank you for reading! 🙂

In school we finished our pubic service announcement  or PSA. My PSA is about human right number 25 food and shelter. Here it is!

Snow is falling

Wind is blowing

The whole world painted in white

Cozy in my home

Staring at the blank canvas

Until it turns green

Human rights are an important part off our lives today. There are 30 human rights including we are all born free and equal, don’t discriminate, the right to life and 27 more. Some human rights seem more important than others but without one off them the world might not be a good place. Human right are all ways expanding and growing. Maybe soon the world might be an even better place. If you want to learn more Click Here

I like the wilderness. This includes camping, fishing and canoeing. In the summer we always once a in month in the summer we go fishing. I feel like the more we go the better the catches. we used to not get anything, but once we new the spot to get the fish. BOOM!! We catch a fish and it is very relaxing near the waters catching fish. When we go camping we like to test out our survival skills by chopping down tree, building a fire, hiking around the forest  and mountain climbing the tallest mountains (hills) out there in the forest. After we do all of that we can eat the fish we have caught and cook it for dinner. When the day is done we go around the camp fire make s’mores and tell scary stories. When ever we tell scary stories everyone says mine are the best and the scariest. When ever we canoe we work together to get the boat moving. While we are on there we try to catch fish. When we go to the same lake to canoe we always go on this little island in the lake to eat lunch on it. when we are on the island it is nice to see the waters move with the wind and the leaves on trees. It feels like all of life’s pains have gone away and you could just relax forever. That is what I like most the about the wilderness and how I like to do things out there.