salems+lot



(A) Stephanie (B) Meagan (C) Maxine (D) Ashley
 * Week 1**: **February 5**

Topic: Characters (Section 1 out of 5 of your text)

__Assignment__: 1. On your group's wiki page, describe the main characters in your text. What makes them interesting? What is their story or background? Why are you drawn to them? Conversely, are there any characters that you just cannot stand? Why not? (B) 2. Person D should share his/her questions with the group, as well as post the questions on the group's wiki page 3. Person C should post the meeting summary on the group's wiki page after class.

__Main Characters__:
 * Ben is a famous writer, who used to live in Salem's Lot but moved after the big fire in '51. In pursuit of writing his latest novel he comes back to Salems lot to do research. Ben meets Susan and they fall in love.
 * Susan is a long time resident of 'Salems Lot, she is in her mid twenties, and falls in love with Ben who is also one of her favorite authors. She was perviously in a relationship that she almost would have married, if not for meeting Ben.
 * Straker is a mysterious new resident who is part owner of a new antique furniture store in town. He gets help form the head real estate agent in buying the Marsten House, which has a evil background and is said to be haunted. In attempt to buy the house Straker they make a compromise that the real estate agent will let Straker buy it for a dollar, and the Crockett (real estate agent) must tell no one of his activity in the town and also do all of chores for him.
 * Marsten House has a very long history of violence. This house was owned by the Huebert's. What happened was the wife was found dead stabbed to death and upstairs the husband committed suicide. Ben's history with the house is that on a dare when he was little went in the house and to prove he was brave ran up the stairs to the room where Mr. Heubert hung himslef to get an artifact. He goes in the room and sees the ghost of the decrepid Mr. Heubert.

__Discussion Questions__: 1. Why do you think King has a large portion of the beginning focused on random people in town? - All the people in the town either play a major role in the rest of the book or he is trying to give the town a more 3D feel to it.

2. Do you think Straker and Barlow know about what happened in the Marsten House? Why did they buy it? - It is most likely that they know about the houses history and want to use its reputation to keep the locals away from whatever they're doing.

3. How has King portrayed the town so far? Quaint but with its flaws? - In the beginning, the town came across as being your average but as we read on, it is revealed that most of the town has their own little secrets. There's Bonnie Sawyer who's having an affair with Corey Bryant, Sandy McDougall punching her baby, and Weasel and Eva Miller.

4. Who killed the milkman's dog? Straker? Vampires? Why? - What the graveyard keeper originally said was that the dog was a prank by some kids. There is no way that kids would kill a dog and hang it on a cemetery gate just for kicks, even if they were drunk or high. We think that it has something to do with what Dell spoke to Floyd Tibbits about in the bar, satanic rituals. At this point in the book, it is hard to be certain of anything and everything is simply speculation.

5. Do you think Barlow and Straker are vampires? - It's possible that Barlow is a vampire but there isn't any proof so far. As for Straker, it is unlikely that he is a vampire because he was seen with Larry Crockett in the middle of the day. Personally, I think that Straker is Barlow's minion and Barlow is the person that opens the shudders of the Marsten House in the middle of the night.

__Week 1 Summary__: For this week, we discussed about characters and what happened in the book so far we read. Also, we have some great foods, potato chips and donuts provided by Stephanie. We have a great time in talking about the book and enjoy the foods at the same time. We first talking about the characters in our book, we found out that there are a lot of important characters so it’s hard to say who is the main character. At the same time, Meagan wrote down the answers to the questions on the Wiki page. Then, we keep eating and started to answer the question written by Ashley. After discussing the story so far we read, we came up a thought that there are a lots of confused things, events and people in the book. Some scenes in the story are really creepy too. Stephen King’s writing way really confused us but also made us want to keep reading in order to know what will happen next and who is the person we couldn’t tell so far. Next week, we will probably know more about the book and continue having some awesome foods too.

(A) Ashley (B) Stephanie (C) Meagan (D) Maxine
 * Week 2: February 12**

Topic: Language (Section 2 out of 5 of your text)

__Assignment__: 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the type of language that your book contains. Is it easy to read? Conversational? "Classic"? Does it use a lot of words you don't understand? What grade level do you think the book is written at, and why? (B) 2. Person D should share his/her questions with the group, as well as post the questions on the group's wiki page. 3. Person C should post the meeting summary on the group's wiki page after class.

__Language Questions__: Is it easy to read? Conversational? "Classic"? Does it use a lot of words you don't understand? What grade level do you think the book is written at, and why? The language is easy to read but it is very sophisticated. The language itself is not difficult but it is written on a higher level. Rated for mature high schoolers. The book is written in a modern fashion and has parts that are very sophisticated.

__Discussion Questions__: 1. What do you think Roy and the 17 yr old baby hitter are going to do? -They are probably going to kill their baby.

2. Who do you think was the old person at the dump with Dud? -The person was the same person that killed Doc, the dog.

3. Do you think Danny Glick is alive? Explain. -We suspect that Danny is now a member of the undead.

4. What do you predict will happen when Ben, Matt, and Susan go to the Marsten house. -They will encounter vampires in the room where Hubbie killed himself.

5. What do you think the inscription on Hubert's tombstone signifies? -Hubert was a mobster and his trucking business was a front, he killed so many people. Somebody eventually realized that he was the epitome of evil and wrote "God grant he lie still".

6. Do you think there is any chance that there is a correlation between the disappearances and whether the Marsten house is occupied? -Yes. When Hubert Marsten lived in the house, 4 children went missing over a ten year period and now that the house is occupied again after forty years, Ralphie is missing and Danny is dead.

__Week 2 Summary__: For week 2, we keep discussing how the story goes so far. Also, we have Pringles (sour cream and onion flavor) and Pirate's Booty provided by Ashley. Those foods were really great. After that, we started to answer the questions, we all agreed that Salem’s Lot’s language isn’t hard but it’s really sophisticated. This book is hard to read because of the way it is written, not because of its language. The book’s writing way is that it switch place to place and different character to character. When we were discussing the questions asked by ourselves, we found out that Danny Glick probably is a vampire because he is not “really” dead. Not only that, something happened in Marsten house really creepy now. That ‘s why we are curious about what will Ben, Matt, and Susan happen after they start to investigate the house. It was a great book club week, and then we will keep finding out the scary truths of this book next week.

A)Meagan B) Maxine C) Ashley D) Stephanie
 * Week Three: March 1**

Topic: Mood/Tone (section 3 out of 5 of your text)

2. Person D should share his/her questions with the group, as well as post the questions on the group's wiki page. 3. Person C should post the meeting summary on the group's wiki page after class.
 * Assignment**: 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the mood or tone of your book.What is the overriding emotion of this book? What examples back up your claim? (B)

Discussion Questions: 1. What is discovered to have happened to Mike Ryerson? - It is discovered that his body is missing from the morgue and he is a member of the undead and wants to kill Matt Burke. 2. What are the symptoms of becoming a vampire? - appears to be dead, acute anemia is the cause of "death", cold skin but still having color in cheeks, sun begins to feel hot on skin 3. Name the other townspeople that have become vampires. - Dud the dumb keeper, Mike Ryerson, Randy McDougall, Margie Glick, Corey Bryant, Danny Glick, Flyod Tibbits 4. What does King talk about being a flaw of the town? - The town keeps its secrets but doesn't know everything and therefore fester evil. The town is more concerned with keeping up a facade of how the town should be while ignoring the obvious evil that is being done in the small town. 5. What does Mark think about "the difference between men and boys"? - "The night before, Matt Burke had faced such a dark thing and had been stricken by a heart seizure brought on by fright; tonight Mark Petrie had faced one, and ten minutes later lay in the lap of sleep, the plastic cross still grasped loosely in his right hand like a child's rattle." Mark makes the point that men are perhaps more fragile than boys because children must face their fears, a monster under the bed or the dark corner in the basement, without the help of a phsyciatrist like men often do with their petty problems so "tame and domestic: the job, the money, what the teacher will think if I can't get Jennie nicer clothes, does my wife still love me, who are my friends."

__Summary__: For Week 3, we discussed the tone and mood of the book and reflected on the sins of the town and how they have come back to the haunt the town and terrorize it. Meagan brought in Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip Cookies that were very tasty and Maxine helped to keeps us on track while Stephanie read us her questions. We discussed the fact that we are finally seeing the vampires and finally getting to the scary part of the story. Overall, this week was great and we look forward to reading another part of the book.


 * Week Four: March 5**

Topic: Themes/Images (section 4 out of 5 of your text)

Assignment: 1. On your group's wiki page, discuss the themes and images that your book contains. What are some of the images that are used? What do they seem to represent? Why do you think the author uses these images to convey his or her meaning? 2. Person D should share his/her questions with the group, as well as post the questions on the group's wiki page. 3. Person C should post the meeting summary on the group's wiki page after class.

Discussion Questions: 1. What do you think will happen when they go to the Marsten House? - We think they will find Barlow and try to defeat him but fail to beat him. 2. What will happen to Susan? - She will try to escape but be turned into one of //them.// 3. How will Father Callahan take their story? Will he believe them? - He will believe them but not want to bring the church into the battle. 4. Do you think the other townspeople know something is happening? - Yes, they definitely have a feeling that something is going on but they aren't sure. 5. What would happen if Callahan doesn't join Ben, Jimmy, Matt, and Mark? - They would be up a creek without a paddle.


 * Week Five: March 12 (LAST MEETING)**

Topic: Responding to the Text

Summary: In this meeting Stephanie brought doughnuts, grapes, and juice for everyone in our group. While we were discussing the novel we also answered questions that Ashley brought in for the last fifth of our novel. While answering all the questions Maxine helped us stay on track as the group leader to get all our tasks done. After the meeting was over Meagan wrote down the summary of what had occurred during our last meeting.

Discussion Questions: 1. Why did you like/dislike the ending of the book? - We didn’t like the end of the book because father than having all the vampires being killed, King ends the book with Ben and Mark beginning their attempts to drive out the vampires. 2. How do you think the prologue ties into the ending of the story? - We think that the prologue was Ben and Mark after killing Barlow and leaving Jerusalem’s Lot but before returning to kill the vampires. 3. Why do you think Barlow targeted Jerusalem’s Lot? Reflect on the quote, “So I have come here, to a town which was first told of to me by a most brilliant man, a former townsman himself, now lamentably deceased. The folk here are still rich and full-blooded, folk who are stuffed with the aggression and darkness so necessary to…there is no English for it. Pokol; vurderlak; eyalik. [after some research the only thing I could find out about these three words is that the first word could possibly mean either ‘massacre’, ‘hell’, or ‘next’] Do you follow?” - Barlow targeted the town because even though they were “full-blooded”, they had the darkness needed for him to turn it into his town. 4. Reflect on how the town is “dead” at the end of the book. Was it dead before Barlow got there? - The town was dead before Barlow got there mainly because no one was going anywhere. The townspeople would go through their daily routine but were simply going through the motions. 5. What was a key point that King continually emphasized? - King made a point to emphasize the sins of the town and how those sins came back to bite them, literally.