Compare Maxim's relationships with his first and second wives

      Maxim de Winter met her second wife in Monte Carlo, where she was working as a companion of one American women called Mrs Van Hopper. In one evening when Mrs Van Hopper and Maxim were going to have a coffee he insisted the young woman to join them. He started to took her out and it didn't take very long when they got married and they moved to Manderley- Maxim's home. Newly married couple, especially the second Mrs de Winter, hoped to get happy there.

      But unfortunately there was a dark shadow of Maxim's first wife over them. No matter what she tried to do or how hard she tried- there was always something that had to remind Rebecca. People also told her how different she was from Rebecca who was sociable, intelligent and incredibly beautiful woman. But she, Maxim's second wife, was young, inexperienced and quiet woman. She felt that her husband still loved Rebecca and that it will always affect their marriage. But she was completely wrong...After one discussion with her husband, Maxim admitted that he had never loved Rebecca and that she had been cruel, smart and he hasn't seen anyone that evil. He had always known almost all of her dark secrets, but he was together with her because Rebecca knew how do take care of Manderley and Maxim loved this place too much. He had never loved Rebecca and he even knew that Rebecca had affairs with other men at the time of their marriage. It didn't bother him as long as she didn't take her men to Manderley. Maxim also told her second wife that Rebecca actually wasn't drowned as everybody thought she had died, but Maxim himself killed her. And he didn't regret it. On that night Rebecca went too far with her "jokes" and Maxim lost his temper and shoot her and made it look like an accident. But during the later inquiry, when came out that the holes in the ship's bottom weren't made by rocks, and Mr Favell accused Mr de Winter killing his wife, and also came out that Rebecca had been seriously ill. Mrs Danvers, Rebecca's servant and friend, told that if she were able to choose how do die, she'd want it to be fast and painless. Then Maxim realised that Rebecca actually wanted him to murder her. For conclusion I'd say that Maxim and Rebecca seemed to live a perfect and happy life, but it was everything else beside's that. 

      The marriage between Maxim and her second wife was completely different. I think that there was love between them. When they were in Mone Carlo everything was alright. After arriving at Manderley things changed. At first she just felt Rebecca's shadow everywhere and thought that Maxim still loved her. When Mrs de Winter found out that Maxim was a murderer and when the inquiry for Rebecca de Winter's sunken boat was started she was beside him. She hoped it will end as well as possible for her husband. Maxim wasn't sure if young Mrs de Winter would handle all of it, but she did and very well. She said that she loves him. And she certainly did. So this relationships was different from the first one. Different like a night and a day. But although everything ended well for Maxim de Winter, because Mr Favell couldn't prove that Maxim killed Rebecca, and he went back to Manderley with young Mrs de Winter, things weren't and wouldn't be the same. But no matter what, Mrs de Winter wanted to be with Maxim and have a family with him and what's even more important- she loved him.

"Rebecca". Daphne du Maurier

      The first book that I've read this school year is "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier. It's published by Pearson Education Limited in association with Penguin Books Ltd. This year I chose a higher reading level- upper-intermediate. So that book has 2300 words. Book itself has 101 pages.
      This book is about de Winter's- Maxim and her new lovely wife (whose name isn't mentioned in the book). There's always a dark shadow of Maxim's dead first wife Rebecca on them and it's on their way in order to live happily. But then Rebecca's sunken boat will be found and everything keeps going even more worse, especially for new Mrs de Winter, as new fact's comes forth about Rebecca's death. As her husband says to her: "I can't forget what it has done to you. It's gone for ever, that funny, young, lost look that I loved.""...It's gone, in twenty-four hours. You are so much older..."
      I enjoyed reading it. It was very interesting, mysterious and catching book. I'd recommend it to everyone. Almost every page of it had something different and interesting about the whole story. The reading level was "new" to me, too. It wasn't as easy as reading books on intermediate level, it was more challenging I think, but not difficult. It's my level of reading at the moment I think.

Write about the story you enjoyed most, describing what it is about and why you liked it

      The story that I enjoyed most was "Lost Hearts". In September of 1811 a little boy called Stephen arrived at Aswarby Hall, where he went to live with his elder cousin Mr Abney. Mr Abney was very kind to him and Mrs Bunch (his servant) said  only good about him. She said that he was especially kind with children and that he had taken years before one boy and a girl into his house to live, because those children didn' have a home. But the both of them disappeared or just left the house.
      After that Stephen started to see strange dreams at night. One day Mr Abney asked him to come to his library at eleven o'clock. While there was a bit time, Stephen was in his room and was looking out of the window, when he suddenly heard strange cries and then he saw two children standing under a tree and looking towards to him. They both had a hole on the left sides of their chests. Then the children disappeared. Stephen went to Mr Abney's library, but he found him dead there with a large black hole on the left side of his chest. The book in front of him was open and there was written that Mr Abney had killed both of those children and had taken out their hearts in order to do magic. Stephen suppose to be the next one. But fortunately he was saved.
      I liked the story because it was very catching and interesting from the beginning and it wasn't predictable. It wasn't hard to imagine all of this and scared me quite a lot. But I'm afraid that if I had read it at night I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep.

"The Locked Room and Other Horror Stories" . M. R. James

      The seventh and last book this term I read was "The Locked Room and Other Horror Stories". All the stories in that book are written by M. R. James. The book's publisher is Addiosn Wesley Longman Limited & Penguin Books Ltd. The book's reading level is 4 (intermediate) and it has 1700 words.

      As the title of the book says, there are 9 horror stories in it. They have all been written by Montague Rhodes James. I liked all the nine stories although I'm not a fan of these kind of stories, but these ones were very interesting. My favourite story was the very first one in this book. The title of it is "The Ash-Tree". It talked about a man, who were killed probably because one witch was killed because of him. His bedroom was very close to the ash-tree and a few days after the hanging of that witch, he was found dead in his bed and he was all over black. The same happened to his grandson when he wanted to cut the tree down. Later, when that tree accidentally burned down, the creepy creatures came out of it (they looked liked very furry spiders)  and inside that tree were a bones of the witch...

      Even though this book was quite scary it was very interesting and excited to read. I'd definitely recommend this book to my classmates! 

Which character of the book do you feel most sorry for?

      This book is quite complicated due to it's story. There are many characters to feel sorry for. But I feel most sorry the main character- Elizabeth.
      Bell had a psychical disorder, because during the book it came out that, when she was 12 she had murdered her baby sister. When she was older she murdered her husband and later her lover too. She didn't plan her murders ahead, not more than 5 minutes. But she also didn't regret, when she had accomplished them. Some way I even feel sorry for her, because she had to be sick when she did those thing, but otherwise there's no apologizes to her actions. There was also a good-hearted woman called Cosette. I feel definitely sorry for her, because she was very kind and people took advantages of that. For example they all lived in her house for free. And Bell and his lover Mark wanted first to get rid of her, so that they could get her money. But fortunately they didn't manage to do that. Later I felt sorry for Mark too because he later actually fell in love with Cosette and when he told that to Bell, she murdered her.
      But the most sorry I feel for the innocent sufferer- Elizabeth. Because it was kind of her fault that all this happened, because when she hadn't told the story from the book "The Wings of the Dove" to Bell, then Bell wouldn't have got all of her "great" ideas. But she suffered very much for that. At first she had loved Bell, but she couldn't accept her past and Bell's present acts were cruel. Later she just had to stay with her, because everyone she had loved and who had been close to her, had died and though she was rich she had nobody else to devise her legacy than Bell. So she was unfortunately stuck with her.

"The House of Stairs" . Barbara Vine

      The sixth book that I read was "The House of Stairs" by Barbara Vine. Publisher is Addison Wesley Longman Limited and Penguin Books Ltd. The book's reading level is four (intermediate). The book has 53 pages and 1700 words.
      This book is mostly about woman called Elizabeth. She's a writer. She meets a woman named Bell and they fell in love. She tells her a story from the book "The Wings of a Dove", where a woman is in love with a man, but they don't have any money. The girl suggests her lover to marry one ill and rich woman. When that woman dies, the two lovers get all of her money and merry. And that gives Bell a great idea...
      I wouldn't recommend this book very much to others to read, because it was quite shocking book. But if someone has interest, then he/she should definitely read it, because the story was interesting, though it was a bit difficult to read.
   

Diary entry: Scarlett O'Hara

Dear Diary,

      My life since the Civil War has completely changed and I know that it would never be the same, because so many things have happened during the time after. I have been married three times with men, who I didn't love, because I've always loved and wanted Ashley. But if I haven't marry to those man, I wouldn't be here at the moment and everything would be different. Even though I have good and sweet memories about good old days in Tara, I have to let them be in the past, because if I won't, I'd be like Ashley.

      Melanie died and I promised her that I'll take care of Ashley, but I regret that a bit, but I guess I'll have to keep my promise. Melanie cared about me and I realized after her death, that I cared too. Because she always protected me and didn't believe all those negative rumours about me. I've been a lot through recently. I lost my baby who I was carrying and my four-year old daughter. The both accidents were hard to manage and not only for me, for Rhett too. I don't blame him, but both of them were his fault too. And besides that I finally realized thanks to Melanie, that I don't love Ashley, I love... Rhett. Oh,  I've been mean to him, especially in the past. He has always loved and helped me, but I haven't understood it. Of course I told this to him, but he said that he is leaving and it's loo late. But I won't give up hope on him. I've always get what I have wanted, and so it will be this time! But at first I need to go Tara and rest all of this, because it isn't over and I have to wait for Rhett. I wish so much the old days, when me and my sisters lived with our parents in Tara and we had a good life. I fooled boys and it was all just a game for me, but now I'm a grown woman and I have children to take care of, and Pa and mother is gone and Tara doesn't look the same. But the most important is this that I still have Tara. I did so many sacrifices for this place, but I don't regret them. This was worth it. I have to emit that I married with Charles and Frank because of money. And with Rhett too, but...I just hope he comes back soon.

      I'm sure everything goes well, it just has to. I've came this far and there's nothing could stop me now.

Love,

Scarlett

"Gone with the Wind" . Margaret Mitchell

      The fifth book that I read was "Gone with the Wind" and it was part two. The author is Margaret Mitchell. It's published by Addison Wesley Longman Limited and Penguin Books Ltd. The reading level is 4 (intermediate). This book has 56 pages and 1700 words.
      It's the second book of "Gone with the Wind". The American Civil War is now over and nothing is the same for the Southerners. The laws have changed and also the people. But Scarlett hasn't changed- she'll still do everything to get what she wants. I must say that it was even more interesting than the first book, because the first one was more about war, but the second one about human relationships and Scarlett surprised me again. It was also quite dramatic book, because there were many unexpected deaths. It also changed my opinions about some characters, for example about Rhett Butler. I understood that he acted quite as a pig sometimes, but he did it, because he loved Scarlett. And what surprised me about Scarlett, was that she desired something she didn't got, but when she had it, she didn't want it anymore. The same went with Ashley. When his wife died, she realized that she didn't love him and that she loved Rhett, who didn't want her anymore. This book was interesting to read from the beginning to the end. I would definitely recommend it to my classmates. It's one of the best and most interesting books that I've read so far.
      This book was again at a good level to read for me. But I still found some new words, like: sawmill- saeveski; Ku-Klux-Klan- valgete salajane grupp, mis karistas (peamiselt mustanahalisi) selle eest, mis on nende arust kuritegu isegi, kuigi seadus nii ei arvanud; delay- viivitama; smooth- siluma; a bad head- peavalu.

Strengths and Weaknesses

      We all have our strengths and weaknesses and there's nothing bad in it. It's part of a person. Some of them might be negative, but some are also a positive ones. In this book were quite many different people with their own strengths and weaknesses.
      I least identify with Scarlett in this book. There are many reasons for that. First one is that she's very brave in many different ways. For example she dared to tell Ashley about her feelings even though Ashley didn't reply to them. I wouldn't have dared to do that, because Ashley never really told her that. The second thing that Scarlett did, and I wouldn't have done, is marrying with Charles Hamilton. That was a brave act because she didn't love him, she did it only because Ashley was marrying with another woman. She had a baby with Charles and became o widow, because Charles died during the American Civil War. So she had to manage herself. Besides that, she also promised Ashley to take care of his wife, because he was also in the war. I wouldn't have enough courage to deal with this request and accept it. She was also forced to help Melanie with a labor if Ashley's baby, because there was no help available. And because the war had arrived to Atlanta, she decided to go home, even it was very dangerous. I believe that I wouldn't have done those things. There is also a one thing that I simply just couldn't never do- it's killing someone. But Scarlett killed one Yankee soldier. That proves that she was a stubborn and a very brave woman. Her strength was courage and stubbornness, but she also had some weaknesses. She was too importunate. She had to get what she wanted and she was made some sacrifices to achieve them. I think that's rather a weakness because she couldn't control herself sometimes and said and did too much. One of her weaknesses were also men, because she enjoyed men's attention and flirted with them. Even though she was a brave and strong woman, she also had her ups and downs and she cried sometimes. But the biggest weakness of her was Ashley. She loved him so much and did crazy things for him, sometimes even incomprehensible things.
      But not only the characters in the books have their strengths and weaknesses, I have them too. I think that one of my strengths is perseverance. If I put a goal for myself, I won't give up on that and I'll to my best to achieve  it. And if I really want something, I'll work for it. Another one is that I can pull myself together if it's necessary and I commit myself to it. But more than strengths, I think I have weaknesses. Sometimes I'm too warm-hearted and take everything more seriously than I should. I also can't say no to people who I love and care about and I always worry about them. I also don't handle criticism very well and sometimes I'm taking it too seriously. And another weakness of mine is all kind of sweet things, like chocolate, ice cream and so on. I just love them! :P But I think it's OK to have weaknesses too. If we wouldn't have them, we'd be too perfect. :)

"Gone with the Wind" . Margaret Mitchell

      The fourth book that I read is called "Gone with the Wind". This books has 2 parts and I read the first one. Author is Margaret Mitchell and publisher is Addison Wesley Longman Limited and Penguin Books. It's reading level is 4 (intermediate). This book has 56 pages and 1700 words.
      This book talks about love and war. Young girl named Scarlett O'Hara are in love with handsome young man Ashley Wilkes. But when she tells him about her feelings, but Ashley don't reply to them. Then comes a war and Ashley has to go to the army and in anger, Scarlett marries to Charles Hamilton. But then she becomes a widow and another man comes in her life and there's also a war going on... I like this book very much, because it has a romantic, sad and exciting story in it. I read it through almost with a day, because I couldn't put it away. Every chapter left some mystery in the air and I wanted to know, what happens next. It also made me realise what were people going through during the war. I'd certainly recommend this book to my classmates, because it's a very enrapturing book. I'd rate this book good.
      The reading level was at a good for me. I also found some new words, like: typhoid- tüüfus; shells falling- suurtükimürskude langemine; Confederacy- Lõuna-Ameerika osariigid; wagon path- vaguni/vanrki tee; blacken- laimama; lay (adj)- võhiklik; heart grow hard- süda lõi tugevasti; faint-minestus.