Monday, February 25, 2008

"Catch the Moon" initial response

What are your thoughts and questions about the story? You might reflect on the characters, their problems, the author's use of symbolism, the title or other ideas in the story.

58 comments:

Kaeleigh said...

My initial response to “Catch The Moon” is that it was a pretty good story , it didn’t interest me that much. I could relate to it in some ways , one way being that the person in the story was around my age. It didn’t completely understand it though . The ending wasn’t anything special, it confused me a little bit. Overall not bad .

Joey 5 said...

My initial response to "Catch the Moon" is that it is very hard to understand, and I don't agree with it at all. In this short story, there is love at first sight which is not true. I don't believe in love at first sight, and that is why I don't like this short story. Then, I thought it was really stupid when Luis made her a hubcap and hung it on a tree. That was very stupid, and it makes this story even worse. I have no idea where the title "Catch the Moon" comes in to play because it has nothing to do with the story. The only relation to the story it has is at the end where in the middle of the night, Luis hangs up a hubcap in a tree and wants Naomi to look at it. This story didn't make any sense and I didn't really get anything out of it.

michele5 said...

I thought that the story was very good. I liked how the author made him sound like a real teenager. He had his own problems just like every other kid. He’s had his losts, for example, his mother and he’s also hung around with the wrong crowd. At the beginning, I didn’t think that he wanted to change, he seemed to like what he had done. Also, he didn’t want to be working in his dad’s junk yard at all. He didn’t want to have to clean a “mountain” of hubcaps or anything else his father assigned him. However this all changes when Naomi shows up. I feel she represents the thing that’s supposed to turn him around. After she leaves he starts to clean the hubcaps which he hasn’t done all day. When he couldn’t find the right one and decides to go on a job, I knew he was going to end up at the funeral home. I also liked how going there finally made him realize how much he missed his mother, and then he knew what he had to do. To me this represents this represents that he knows he can’t just give up anymore he has to push forward until he “finds” what he’s looking for. I think that the title “Catch the Moon” stands for his finding the hubcap, but also being able to find someone a “moon” that will help him turn his life around.

camellia5 said...

I thought that “Catch the Moon” was a little hard to understand. There were a lot of different things going on and they never actually explained who the girl Naomi was. I understood why Luis was looking through all the hubcaps to find the one for Naomi, but I don’t get why he went to her house and sat and watched her through the window. I think that Luis is giving back to his father by sorting all the hubcaps to show that he is sorry for all he has done in the past. I think this story is called “Catch the Moon” because Luis goes at night to sort the hubcaps just so he can find the special one that Naomi needs for her car. Even though Mr. Cintron wants Luis to become part of the business and take over for him, Luis doesn’t want to. So, I think that is why the judge sentenced him to six months of working. But after reading the whole story, I think that Luis will reconsider working there because he knows how much it would mean to his father if he helped him.

Rebecca5 said...

My initial response to“Catch the Moon” at the beginning of this story was this Luis Cintron kid was a jerk, low life kid because he went to juvenile hall. The more I read, the more Luis seemed the opposite of what I thought he was. It seemed to me that Luis was acting out because of his mother’s death, trying to act all brave and etc… When Luis met the lady from the funeral home, all that changed. I was wondering how this one lady named Naomi could bring back so much pain. I was thinking that maybe it was because Luis Cintron had bottled up his emotions for so long that this was his breaking point. The title of this story puzzles me because I am not real sure how it relates to the story. Maybe it means that he finally caught where he wants to be in life, he is now on the right path in life. I think Naomi was the symbol in this story because it seemed to be the point in which the mother is remembered because of her. This then caused Luis to finally break down and become closer with his father.

Rob5 said...

=D

Nicholette said...

I came in late today and didn't have time to write anything :].

Rob5 said...

My initial repsonse to "Catch the Moon" was that is a difficult story to understand.I don't understand where the title falls into play witht he story, that is just adding to the confusion.


To be continued...

Erika said...
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Aastha5 said...

“Catch the Moon” is an interesting story. It deals with Luis Cintron, a high school student who lost his mother a few years back and who now lives with his father, although he doesn’t have such a good relationship with him. Throughout this story, it shows how Luis Cintron grows as a person and starts being more responsible. At the beginning of the story, we find out that Luis has to do free labor for his father for six months as a part of his punishment for breaking in someone’s house. It is also shown that his father is hopeful after his son taking over his business in the long run, but Luis doesn’t have any such plans. One day, while Luis is with his father, working, a young girl comes there to get a hubcap for her car. Luis is attracted towards her from the time that he sees her. That same night he goes to her house and starts to remember his mother, since his mother had a funeral at her house. He is finally able to let out all his feelings that he had kept hidden for three years at that moment. He also realizes that Naomi, the girl who he met earlier in the day and was attracted towards was looking at him, and they talk for a little while. Luis then decides to go back to the mechanic and find a hubcap for Naomi. At that point he grows up and becomes aware of his responsibility. He starts to understand his father and why he acts the way he does. He searches for and finds a hubcap for Naomi’s car, and he then goes back to Naomi’s place to give her the hubcap. The title “Catch the Moon” refers to the end of the story, when Luis climbs the tree in order to give the hubcap to Naomi. And, the hubcap that Luis was about to give Naomi can be seen as the moon.

Erika said...

I thought that this story was well written and that it showed a very interesting transformation regarding the main character, Luis. He starts out being tough and he doesn’t really share his feelings with us, but as the story progresses, he begins to express some hidden emotions. Towards the end, he lets us know that he really misses his deceased mother, and he even cries, which is not something that I was expecting. Also, the fact that Naomi warms up to Luis so much surprised me a little. She seems to be rather sympathetic towards him.

Demi5 said...

My Initial response to "Catch the Moon" is that the story is pretty good. I like the story because it is about a young boy, around my age, that faces problems that alot of young people do.Although, I didn't like how the ending of the story was about him finding a hub cap,I feel like it should have been a more prize possesion.

Drew 5 said...

My initial response to the short story "Catch the Moon" is that it is a confusing story. There were many questions i was asking myself while reading the story. One thing, what is the significance of the sharks? Why would the author put that part in? Unless she was trying to give a more accurate picure of the character Luis and what type of person he is. This is but one of my questions. That is why I think this is a confusing story.

Lloyd said...

My first thoughts to “Catch the Moon” were; I didn’t really like this story, and I thought the plot was very boring. I found it was hard to relate to the characters and I also found that it was hard to relate to the story. Luis is a gang member who works in the junkyard and, for most people, I think this would be a very hard subject to relate to. I thought this story was about love at first sight but I didn’t think that there was much love in this story at all. The writing style was clear and easy to follow but, with the boring plot, I found the story boring. Overall, I didn’t like this story very much.

emily p.5 said...

This story is a little hard to understand. I dont really get why he thinks he is in love Naiomi when she just shows up at the junkyard one day, because that was kind of random. I didn’t reallym find this story interesting because it seemed like he was just a normal kid with problems just like everybody else, who was trying to find a hubcap.

leslie 02 said...

This story had certain things that I liked and certain things that I didn’t like. I liked the fact that the author wrote about something that I can relate to. When I read this story I liked that it was about teenagers, and I also liked that it was about a “bad boy.” What caught my attention was the fact that towards the end of the story Luis wasn’t such a “bad boy” anymore. Naomi seemed to have changed him as a person. He realized that he needed to change for his own good. He needed to take responsibility for his own actions and he needed to start doing the right thing. The only thing that I didn’t like was how the story had love at first sight. I don’t think that love at first sight exists. You can have attraction at first sight, but love takes time. This love at first sight seemed to be good for Luis though because he changed as a person. When he hung the hubcap from the tree for Naomi, you could tell that he really did care about her and that he was taking the time to do something nice for someone else. I think that since the shiny hubcap hung from the tree in the middle of the night, it represents the moon. That’s why the story is called “Catch the Moon.”

kayla2 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kayla2 said...

“Catch the Moon” was a little hard to understand. There was a lot of differetn things going on through out this book that confused me. The boy Luis has been getting in trouble ever since he started high school. I think Luis was acting like this because of his mother’s death. Also the author never really explained who Naomi was. The ending was alright, nothing great, kind of confusing also.

Caitlin2 said...

When I first began reading “Catch the Moon” I found Luis Cintron very obnoxious. He seemed arrogant about his abilities to outwit others and rude toward his father. Once I learned that his mother had died, it made it easier to understand his remoteness.
Luis’ reaction to seeing Naomi does nothing to convince me that love at first sight exists. It only shows that love of beauty at first sight exists. I think the title is very significant because parents sometimes say to children ‘catch the moon’ and Luis had lost that encouragement in his life when his mom died. Naomi is the first person to make him want to catch the moon so he does everything he can to find her a wheel cover. The cover itself is also in the shape of a full moon so it is symbolic of the title and reaching for his dreams. The name Sharks makes me think that the shark is symbolic of him hiding from his pain. The shark has a bunch of teeth and a reputation for being dangerous so people steer clear of them. Luis acts like a shark to protect himself and Naomi is the one who sees behind his ‘teeth’ and helps him leave them behind.

Hannah 2 said...

“Catch the Moon” is an interesting short story but it is confusing at times. This story is confusing at times because it doesn’t really have a good plot. I thought there were a lot of different things going on all at the same time. This story was hard to understand because I couldn’t really relate to it. It was interesting because it was about love at first sight and personally I don’t think love at first sight is realistic. The characters grow throughout this story, especially Luis. Overall this story was okay but it didn’t really make sense. It did not seem to have a main point, and the author should have made the plot easier to understand.

EMilY 2 said...

This story, Catch the Moon, had involved two teenagers who fell in love. I don’t believe in love at first sight, but think it was good for Luis. It was good for him because he changed the way he used to act. Luis, had hung around with the wrong crowd, and had problems coping with the loss of his mother. I thought that he didn’t want to change the way that he was acting, because he didn’t seem motivated to do well. When a girl, Naomi, came into his Dad’s shop, to find a hubcap Luis was attracted to her the moment he saw her. Near the end of the story is where the title was important. Luis climed the tree in order to give the hubcap to Naomi. I think that the hubcab symbolized the moon.

Alina2 said...

“Catch the Moon” was an interesting story. Luis I think got nicer toward the end of the story. I think that he got more sensitive consider that he cried about the death of his mother. Luis I think he started the Tiburones because of his mother’s death. He could have felt sad and upset, but didn’t want to show it. Luis could have started the Tiburones because he wanted to show off. The father still remembers the mother and you can see in the story that he keeps what his wife owned. This is a way that the father deals and remembers his wife after her death. Noami I think can help Luis change. I think Noami’s brought back old memories of when his mother died. She can possibly help him deal with the death and make him feel better. She can also be a good friend to Luis. Luis was nice to Noami which means that see likes her because the last sentence says “…first good thing that he had given anyone in a long time.”

matt 22 said...

The story “Catch the Moon” Luis Cintron is a very intrusting character. He has a mindset of a criminal because he thinks he can do anything and not get caught. He also has a mind liken a criminal because he recruits people and gets them to think that there not cool cause there in this gang. Luis is trying to get people to do these things to make he look good and feel cool. This short story was lost my interest very fast and I didn’t like the whole Idea that this story was bringing to the table. I think that Luis is a very hard person and it was unusual for him to let out emotions throughout this short story. I was not interested in this story because it was very predictable and boring.

kevin2 said...

In the story “Catch the Moon” the character Luis is a real trouble maker. It is mainly his social group that gets him in trouble, they dare each other to do stupid things like they will break into a house and not steal anything, and they would just prove that they could do it. I think that Luis has problems, I say this because of the way he handles things, at his mother’s funeral and when she died he became very aggressive he punched holes in his walls and he wouldn’t talk to people who were trying to help him. I also don’t understand what the title had to do with anything in this story.

Molly2 said...

My response to “Catch the Moon” is that this story is good and is written well you can figure out how Luis is really feeling. Also how he is missing his mom, he shows his emotions. This story had a lot of detail and you could really feel what Luis was going through. This story is basically about Luis Cintrόn a troubled boy and he suffers from his mother’s death. Luis witnessed his mother die in the hospital room, something like that can affect the way a boy or anyone acts. Also Luis thinks that he is in love but really he just wants something to try and help him forget about his mom’s death. Luis is just trying to fill a void that is missing from him.

kelsey 5 said...

The short story “Catch the Moon” is mostly about the saying “love at first sight”. Luis Cintron is the son of Jorge Cintron, and together they own their own business called Jorge Cintron & Son, Auto Parts and Salvage. Luis and his father never spent any time together ever since their wife/mother has passed on. Luis was known as a rebel in high school. He was caught for breaking and entering, and Luis spent six months in juvenile hall. After he completed his time, his father kept him under strict command. As soon as Naomi walked in, he fell in love with her. He showed interest in her because he took the time to memorize her phone number. I don’t believe in love at first sight. Therefore I can’t relate to the story in the way. However, I know what it is like to lose a family member, and how hard it is to move on in life. The effects of losing a loved one can take a toll on someone. It seemed that Luis’s mother played a pretty big role in his life because she always told him that she was proud of him even though he did nothing. Luis loved it when his mother said that. He definitely misses his mother, and I think Naomi reminds him of his mother.

Jake 2 said...

My response to the story “Catch the Moon” by Judith Ortiz Cofer is that it is confusing ,but interesting.I don’t see how the title of the short story really fits into the story. The story deals with love at first sight when the young girl Naomi comes to find a new hubcap for her car, and the young boy luis Cintron, who works at the junkyard, sees her and instantly falls in love with her. I thought this story was okay. It wasn’t a typical chick flick, girly, romance story. Overall I found it slightly amusing.

connor2 said...

In the story “Catch the Moon” the author had many good connection to the reader one of the ones that I could connect to was how the way that the author made the teenager as if he was put in our shoes. Another thing was the age of the teen and how close the age was to us. Another thing that I really like was how he knows how he could never give up and has to push forward to get what he expects. One of the things that I did not like about the story was that I was a hard story to understanding way of explaining the problems. One of the reasons it was hard to understand was that there were many of things that the Naomi was dealing with in her life. For example when he lost his mother a few years ago, how that is so real. Also it was very realistic that he was dealing with only one parent in his life.

James 2 said...

I think that this story was ok. I think that the beginning where Luis told his backstory was pretty interesting. The ending was a bit confusing, and I didn’t understand it. My question is out of all names, why Tiberones, or sharks? Is that supposed to have some sort of significance or something? I believe that the relationship between Luis and Naomi will become stronger after she notices the hubcap outside of her window. Overall, I do not think that this story is very outstanding, but it is not the worst story I have ever read either.

Nildi 2 said...

My initial response to “Catch The Moon” was that it was not an easy story to follow. This story was hard to relate to because most people are not gang members who work in junkyards like Luis. Luis grows as a character throughout this story because he starts to finally express the emotions that he had bottled up inside all this time. After seeing Naomi he now can relate to his father and how he felt about his mom. Now Luis understands why his father behaves the way he does because he is unable to be with the person he loved. I don’t know why the story had this title because it doesn’t seem to relate to the story at all. Some parts of this story really don’t make sense like when Luis breaks into a house just to know that he can do it.

max2 said...

My initial response to the sory is that it wasn’t very good. It was hard to understand at some spots. I also did not like it because I don’t believe in love at first sight. I don’t think someone can see a person and truly be in love.Another thing in this story that made it hard to understand is where the title “catch the moon comes in. I had trouble relating to this story because i don’t believe in love at first sight. In the story Luis starts out as being in a gang but towards the end he works hard because he is in live with a girl.

Unknown said...

My initial response to “Catch the Moon” was that it was hard to understand. As I read on, I was gaining understanding of the story. This story contridicts my beliefs. This story goes with the idea of love at first sight. I do not believe at love in first sight. Also the Louis character was too much of a push over. He was not a realistic character to me. There was a lot of stupid stuff he did, like the hupcap in the tree. It was also hard to believe that this kid did all of this stuff he did in this story. This is the reason why I think that he was a push over, and not a realistic character in this story.

Tom8 said...

My initial response to the sory is that I didn't like it. It was hard to understand at some spots. I also did not like it because I don’t believe in love at first sight.I don't understand the were the title “catch the moon comes in.I can't relate to the story because I myself dont beleive in love at first sight.

biggs is a studd8 said...

My first initial thoughts about the story was that I didnt like it and the title didn't exactly match up with the title. I think that love at first sight is stupid because you can't really love someone from the first time you meet the person. The story used great detail and it was easy to read and thats all i really have to say about the story.

Jim 8 said...

I thought that the story “Catch the Moon” was pretty good overall. I found the beginning interesting, but the ending was kind of confusing. The way that things were explained was not easy to follow. The story was kind of about love at first sight. The girl needs a new hub cap for her car and she goes to a junk yard to find a new one. The boy at the junk yard sees her and falls in love with her at first sight. I don’t see how anyone could fall in love at first sight.

zack 8 said...

My reaction to the homework “Catch the Moon” was that it was pretty hard to coprehend even though I was falling asleep as I was reading it it was so borring. The only reason why I would say it would be good for someone else would be because they can relate to the person since they are teenagers. The story is not my type especially since it is mostly about love at first sight and I am not one to believe in that. I feel bad for the kid who lost his mom and lives with his dad especially since it’s a hard thing to and I empathize for that person.

zack 8 said...

My reaction to the homework “Catch the Moon” was that it was pretty hard to coprehend even though I was falling asleep as I was reading it it was so borring. The only reason why I would say it would be good for someone else would be because they can relate to the person since they are teenagers. The story is not my type especially since it is mostly about love at first sight and I am not one to believe in that. I feel bad for the kid who lost his mom and lives with his dad especially since it’s a hard thing to and I empathize for that person.

Gina 8 said...
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Lucas said...

I thought that “Catch the Moon” wasn’t a very good story. In my opinion, the ending was kinda stupid because the kid just decides to organize all the hubcaps and find the hubcap that fits Naomi’s VW. Did he do this because he loved her? Or was it because he felt that he needed to do something nice for someone since he hadn’t since his mother passed away? It doesn’t seem like he did it because he loved Naomi. The title comes from Naomi’s drawing of Louis holding the hubcap over his head while standing on a mountain of hubcaps. The hubcap symbolizes the moon that Louis caught, and the moon symbolizes her heart once he catches it. In that way the author did show love at first sight, but the rest of the short story didn’t seem to show much of it. It showed more of Louis’ pain kept inside of him when his mother had died. I think Naomi reminds Louis of his mother and that is why he loves her. I didn’t like how Louis hung the hubcap on the tree. I don’t really get the point of that.

WOOOO!

jessica8 said...

When I first read “Catch The Moon” I thought it was not a bad, but not the best story. At first it didn’t seem like it would be about a teenager who would fall in love with a girl. I thought the story was going to be about Luis who is a trouble maker who likes to pull pranks on people, but finally gets caught and has to pay the price. It caught me by surprise when it went from talking about his troubles to talking about how he felt when he saw Naomi. I think Luis’s mother was a symbol to show that you can love someone even if they aren’t perfect. Just like Luis’s dad did, he was madly in love with Luis’s mother, but Luis says how shes not perfect and nothing special like his dad portrays her to be. Also that even though Luis had problems with wanting to make trouble for others and was in a “club” that was basically known to make issues, he can still love and be loved. Some questions I was thinking about is what did Luis’s past have to do with falling in love with Naomi. It could be that the author was trying to show how Luis had been told he had to work for his father as community work and it shows how Luis is trying to change his ways. I think it was important to connect Naomi to the funeral home and how Luis had saw her that day at his mother's funeral and how she was the only one that wasn't making a big fuss to talk to him. I don’t understand where the title came from, a possible reasoning is that the hubcaps that Luis was told he had to polish could have looked like the moon. So when he was looking for the matching hupcap for Naomi's car, he was catching the moond for her and he hung it outside her window, like the moon was hers.

Gina 8 said...

My initial response to " Catch the moon" is that it was alright. I think the story “ Catch the moon” is very realistic because it has to do with a boy and love at first sight. I believe a lot of girls and boys can relate to this story. I think everyone remembers the first time they saw their “ crush” and how they felt. People who have had sick family members in the past can also relate to Luis and can feel his pain.Luis is just your average teenage guy falling for a girl and all he wants is to be noticed by her. I also think Luis has been through a lot in the past with his sick mother and everything, that all he wants and/or needs is that one girl. I think when Luis hung the silver disk carefully on a branch near the window, it symbolized the moon and all he wanted was for Naomi to catch it. Kind of like he gave her his heart or something. Hence the title of the story “ catch the moon”.

megan8 said...

My initial response to, “Catch the Moon” was that it was a really good story, but there were a few parts that I didn’t like too much. It was a little hard to understand, but as I kept reading and trying to focus on the story. I started to understand more and more of what was going on. I can relate to this story a little bit because I know a couple people that have had a life like Luis has, and has gone through similar situations. I don’t understand why the “group” decided to name themselves Tiburon that means shark. Why name yourselves the sharks? Why not something else? I thought that it was really sweet, at the end of the story when Luis came to Naomi’s window and gave her a kiss. That reminds me of the story of Romeo and Juliet. Both stories are romantic in their own ways and keep people interested in it. I don’t understand how the story relates to the title because it doesn’t say anything about catching something or anything about the moon. Overall, it was a good story and was very interesting to read and visualize.

Leigh Anna 8 said...

After reading, “Catch the moon,” I decided that I didn’t like how Luis had acted. Just because his mother died didn’t give him the right to disrespect certain people and act like he had been when he was with his gang. When Naomi first showed up at the car park he said, “She was like a smooth wood carving.” At the end of the story he did her a huge favor because he liked her. He said it was the, “first good thing that he had given anyone in a long time.” He should have treated other people the way he treated her even though he had some misfortune in the past. One quality that I did like about him was the fact that he wasn’t rebellious after he got in trouble. Instead of running away like many other people would have done, he accepted his fate and worked for his father. I think that the title for this story was appropriate. One reason the author might have chosen “Catch the Moon” is because in the end of the story Luis found the moon shaped hubcap for Naomi. This is symbolic of him finally reaching his goal and it shows him getting over his emotions and moving on with his life. Before Naomi, he was stuck in the past and couldn’t move on. Another use of symbolism is how Luis formed the Tiburones. This symbolized him taking control over certain things in his life. He wanted to be in control, instead of having control taken away like when his mother died. Overall, I didn't like the story because I didn't agree with the main character.

Austin 10 said...

“Catch the Moon” was a very well thought out short story. My opinion about this story is that it had a strong beginiong , but the endding was very weak. The author added great details in the beginning of the story and was easy to uinderstand the bottom line. I think that the ending could have been draged out longer with more details. I don’t like storys that just cut off the end without fully covering the topic. Besides that the story was well written and had a strong topic that the author was able to take off and creat a story. My only question on the story is “Why didn’t the author continue with the ending?, it just left me hanging. The title was like a hiden message within the end of the story. When Louis was given the picture with him on the mound of hup caps holding one, that represented holding the moon. Overall the story was able to keep my attention, which many storys and books cannot.

Too-Sexy John 8 said...

My first thoughts to this story were confusion. I didn't really understand the point of this story. This kid Luis was a little too much to believe. I think is character was overexagerated. Luis doesn't fall in love with Naomi at first but i think over time they will grow in to a deeper relationship. I have no clue what the title has to do with this either. This story was really bad.

KATHERiNE AlDEN said...

my response to this story, is that it was a good short story. I thought the story was very realalistic because i've seen movies and the play, Shakesspere, reminds me of "Catch the Moon". I do believe in love at first sight because when Luis first saw Naomi, he thought she was the most beautiful girl he has ever seen and he wanted to see her again. He memorized her adress on the paper of her hubcap and after dinner, he went to her home. This is an example of love at first sight becuase when he first laid eyes on her, he wanted more and wanted to know/see more of her.
(I don't have time to finish this because i didn't finish reading the story.)

Undastood said...

Well, my initial response to "Catch The Moon" was pretty simple. I was a bit bewildered by it. To be honest it wasn't really a story to catch my interest, because i really don't believe in "love at first sight," but then again I never been in love or even felt close to it. I will not lie to you Mr. Matthiessen, I was kind of confused while I was reading this story. I also think that Louis was a punk. It was like he couldn't stand up for himself or defend his name. As far as I can tell the title had nothing to do with the story but if I were to take a guess i'd have to say that the title is more of a metaphor. I would think that the title means something like, "when you're in love it feels like you have no care in the world, like you can fly, or even catch the moon." But as far as the story goes. It was alright, I wouldn't mind reading more like it.

Elana said...
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Elana said...

My initial response to the story was that it had many different parts. In the beginning of the story, the main character Luis seemed to be a kind of kid that would cause trouble just to have something to do or to impress his friends. The first change that I saw in Luis was when he saw Naomi. He became a little shook up by seeing her there. Later that day when he drives past Naomi’s house and then sees her he goes back to the auto yard and decides that he’s going to find the hubcap for her, and he actually finds that it makes him happy to do something for someone else. The symbolism in the title is related to the hubcap. The author says the hubcap is “moon-shaped". The reason for the title being called “Catch the Moon” could be related to Luis getting the hubcap for Naomi because he is doing something that would have been an impossible task for him in the beginning, which is much like catching the moon.The change in Luis by seeing Naomi, makes him feel like he can do the impossible.

eric2 said...

I can’t say that I enjoyed “Catch the Moon” – overall, I found the story to be unrealistic. We are given Luis Cintron, a troubled boy sentenced by a judge to work at his father’s junkyard. Immediately, we are made to sympathize with this main character – his mother has died, he feels removed from society, and he seems to be searching for some semblance of happiness. Meanwhile, his father is distant and consumed by the memory of his deceased wife. Luis is frustrated with the rut his life has run itself into, and, frankly, I can associate with his situation – as could any normal teenager. However, Luis comes across as a rather one-dimensional character; he lashes out at society, and that’s all. He’s angry – perhaps with himself, perhaps with everyone else – but that’s the extent of his conflict. I don’t see any suggestion of guilt or self-hatred in his character; Luis is evidently just a bad kid. Here, however, is where the story confuses me: somehow, Luis falls in love. Not only does Luis fall in love – he falls in love at first sight. How is this possible? Has Luis in fact been searching for love ever since the death of his mother? Maybe…but such an explanation still doesn’t quite fit with Luis’s character. Of course, there is always the possibility that Luis has been “hiding” his inner conflicts.

Ryan 5 said...

My initial response to “Catch the Moon” is that it is a pretty good story. I like how Luis, the main character, grew through the story as a person. In the beginning of the story, he was this big tough guy who just got out of a juvenile center and doesn’t really talk about what he is thinking and his emotions are. Through the story, he starts to change by starting to express his feelings to the people he can trust around him. Towards the end of the book, he turned into a nice guy who started to show his feelings about how he missed his mother. He even cried about missing his mother. He went from this tough guy who kept his feelings in all the time to a completely different person that is crying about the loss of his mother.

Lea 5 said...

Well, I personally didn’t quite understand why it was called “Catch the Moon” if they weren’t even talking about moons in story, it was dumb. I could, in a way, relate to the story because it was dealing with someone that was close to my age range and those kinds of stories pull me in. Beside that, I thought was kind of boring and the main idea of the story was stupid, but that’s just my opinion. I get enough of this “love” drama in my life and I don’t need to READ about it and how a messed up kid finds love, maybe even infatuation, and overcomes all of his hardships and wrong doings that he did on a daily basis. I think that if the author really wanted to keep the reader’s attention that they would write about something that wouldn’t put you to sleep, it was like the notebook remixed. I would not recommend this story to anyone simply because of its lack of interest.

Better luck next time Judy ;)

meggypoo said...

The story was okay, it didnt stand out to me. I wouldnt recomend it, the symbalism in this story isnt that strong and it was just plain. I can relate to him cause i know what its like to lose some one but it wasnt a really soppy story or an excited one. it was kind of boring. The problems in this story are original, we all go through them- no need to right a book about it.

Chris 2 said...

I thought that "Catch the Moon" was a little hard to understand. The author's use of symbolism aws confusing. I did like how the author used a teenaged kid in the story which made it easier to relate to. He did a good job of showing the relationship between Luis and his father. Overall i thought it was a pretty good story.

Walker Luckey said...

My initial response to "Catch The Moon" was that it was an unoriginal cocept that has been used too many times in writing. It is the typical story of a troubled teenager who falls in love. Granted, the writer does a decent job in the actually writing of the story, and creats a fairly realisticsituation, but it is such a common story line that it is simply boring to read.

Doug said...

I thought that "Catch the Moon" was a very confusing story, it had too many inner conflicts and you I felt no sympathy for Luis because he seemed like an over-confident punk. I did not understand what the signifigance of the title was. The ending was confusing. I did not know if the title came from when he hung the hubcap on the tree. If it was then there would have to be some special meaning from that, if there was no signifigance then it was just stupid. I did not hate the story but I did not enjoy it either

emily p.5 said...

i hope this works

Unknown said...

I think the title "Catch the Moon" rather has to do with the fact that the hubcap that Luis is looking for is in the shape of the moon and he's trying to find (catch) it, or that he worked day and night to find it... just my oppinion. I might be wrong.