Literature Circle Blog

An essential question my group and I had come up with for our book, The Year of the Hangman, was if Creighton's character was going to change since he was forcefully relocated to the colonies. We were wondering if just him having to live somewhere would at all change him from the Creighton we saw in the beginning, to the Creighton you see at the end if the story. We find out that yes, Creighton wasn't just a static character. Overtime he evolved, and acted to become a dynamic character who in the end isn't the same as before. The Creighton we were introduced in the beginning of the book was really different. Having a lot of fortune made him reckless, troubling, and snobby. A quote from The Year of the Hangman states, “Creighton had shown a tendency toward “running wild,” as his mother put it. The mischief he indulged in was mostly minor” (Page 6). This was just one statement along with a bunch of others portraying Creighton as a troubled teen. Of course all teens get into some sort of trouble here and there, but Creighton just wasn't going through any sort of adolescent phase. I think after his father had died, he just wasn't taking things later on in life. After some events had transpired involving Creighton being abducted, he was taken aboard a ship under his mother's order. Him leaving his old lifestyle and his country he grew up in changed him. According to the book, “But he still felt indebted to Peter for having gotten him in trouble over the lost pistol. So when the Giants came to fetch him, he reluctantly let himself be taken off to the Cafe des Exiles” (Page 115). There were few times within the book that Creighton showed some emotions that readers never saw in the Creighton we were introduced to. He considered Peter as his friend and felt that what he did may not have been morally right.

The book and the article I found both have to do with the Revolutionary War.  Creighton and the other characters are people living during this war and seeing it unfold. However, they both take different approaches to talk about the topic. In the article “Museum of the American Revolution celebrates the ongoing American experiment” states, The first museum devoted to the country’s earliest years opened in April — on the anniversary of the opening battles of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord and “the shot heard round the world” on April 19, 1775. It stands in “America’s most historic square mile,” a few blocks from the Liberty Bell, the first White House and Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the U.S. Constitution was ratified.” A way the article contrasts from the book is that it presents facts and real life locations. The one place it mostly talks about is this museum. The book is all fictional and may take place during a real life time period and locations, everything happening within them is all for entertainment purposes.

Despite the article and book presenting the war in different ways, they both still mention real historical figures. The book states, “To Dr. Franklin home, on Royal Street.” Franklin? Is he any relation of Benjamin Franklin?” He's one in the same” (Page 74). This was when Creighton was going to be introduced to Benjamin Franklin. On the other hand, the article involves Franklin within the actual piece by stating a quote if his. This quote said, “As Benjamin Franklin said in 1776, ‘We must all hang together or we will surely hang separately,’ ” As we can see, both forms of writing have very visible differences. That still doesn't mean they can't ever cross paths and not use certain people within them.

Blackwood, Gary L. Year of the hangman. N.p.: Turtleback , 2004. Print

Pompilio, Natalie. "Museum of the American Revolution celebrates the ongoing American experiment." StarTribune. N.p., 5 May 2017. Web. 11 May 2017.