The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

During the past two weeks, I have taken a break from other texts to read the comedy science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The series consists of 6 books, I have finished the first two.

I find this author extremely funny. He uses a variety of casual and elevated diction to create an amusing tone.
The characters are also very interesting. One of my favorite characters is Marvin, probably the most depressing robot ever in existence. His sarcasm throughout the plot, adds much needed humor when the other characters are in dire situations, as he does not value abstract values such as danger, or kindness. Thus Marvin always replies in a very matter-of-fact manner with utmost honesty. To some, he is "just miserable".

I remember him best during this short conversation. When asked what had happened to a nearby police craft, Marvin replies", "Simple. I got very bored and depressed, so I went and plugged myself into its external computer feed. I talked to the computer at great length and explained my view of the Universe to it. It committed suicide"

Marvin doesn't hide anything when he expresses his opinion. When asked why he is lying in the dust, he simply replies, "It’s a very effective way of being wretched. Don't pretend you want to talk to me, I know you hate me." A response like this usually quickly ends any conversation that Marvin is apart of.

Marvin has the makes of a static character, but he is still full of humorous lines and sarcastic remarks. I really enjoyed reading about him throughout the series.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

     The book I have just started is titled Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell. It is a dystopian novel set somewhere in modern-day London. However, that whole region is now called Oceania. The main character, Winston Smith, is a member of the middle class. He works for the government, but is has many thoughts about rebellion.
     One of the most interesting events throughout Winston's daily life is the Two Minute Hate. At this time, all the workers proceed to a large meeting room in which traitors the to the country are displayed. All the rhapsodic members in the room shout out insults and bear anger towards these enemies of the state. Following that is a picture displaying Big Brother. A venerated figure in Oceania who is followed like a god. Yet no one has actually seen him, so in other words, he is just a simulacrum to the government. So my first question is, how does the government maintain so much control over the people? It is quite obvious some of the statements the government make are lies, yet no one wants to stand up. It seems that the population has been brain-washed to ignore any fallacies in the government's words and instead give credence to them. Only a select few such as Winston have realized the treachery going on.
     Another thing I have pondered is the words of O'Brien. O'Brien is a member of the upper echelon in Oceania's society, yet Winston is certain that O'Brien is a part of the Brotherhood, the rebel organization within Oceania. However the only basis he has for this is a sentence that he hears from O'Brien in a dream, "We shall meet in a place where there is no darkness". This statement seems really vague, yet Winston is confident that O'Brien is on his side. I wonder if the place mentioned actually has a positive connotation or a negative one. "No darkness", seems to add positivity, suggesting the two will meet in a happier place, but that doesn't seem to fit with the surrounding information.
     The start of the book has proved to be very captivating and I hope the rest of the book is just as good.

Short Stories - The Playground

    Recently, we read the novel Fahrenheit 451, as a class. I was surprised to see two short stories added in to the back of the book. They were The Playground and And the Rock Cried Out. My copy of Fahrenheit 451 is older than everyone elses so that is probably the reason for these two short stories. Both of these stories were extremely interesting. They demonstrated ideas similar to Fahrenheit 451. After reading them, I found them to be mildly disturbing or "creepy". All though I cannot fully replicate the words that the author used, I will try to describe them as best as I can. If you are interested, you can read them for yourselves.

    The Playground, starts off with a man who was very ignorant of the world around him, up until his child has started to interact with others. In fact, the very first paragraph is "A thousand times before and after his wife's death Mr. Charles Underhill ignored the Playground on this way to and from his commuter's limited train. He neither liked nor disliked the Playground; he hardly knew it existed". This all changes when his sister mentions taking Jim, his son, to the playground. Not having any recollection of it, Mr. Underhill notes to himself to take a look on his way home from work. What he finds is shocking, the kids are violent and loud, so loud that "A dozen cats thrown among sleeping dogs could not have shrieked as loud", but still Jim seems to want to go. While there, Mr. Underhill meets a boy who happens to know his name, even greets him. Mr. Underhill feels like he knows the boy from somewhere, but stops thinking about it after his mind turns to his son playing in such a dangerous playground.

   The very next day, Carol, his sister, takes Jim to the playground without Charles' approval. After no supervision for 5 minutes, Jim already has a bloody nose and ripped pants. After a lot of fighting with Carol, Charles starts to realize that it is the time for Jim to learn to look after himself, and get to know the true realities of the world. While thinking about such things, Charles happens to walk upon the Playground once again. He sees the boy who recognized him before. After some small talk, the boy introduces himself as Tom Marshall, the father of Tommy Marshall. Tom chose to switch places with his son, so his son wouldn't have to go through all of the pain. The next day, without thinking, Charles takes Jim to the playground, and takes the place of little Jim, condemning himself to what seems like 12 centuries of madness.

   I think obviously, this story is a bit exaggerated,  but it clearly left a mark on me. The father, shut down his interactions with the outside world and became a very passive man after the death of his wife, Ann. Thus when it was time for his son to grow up, everything was a harsh reality to him. Little kids at a playground seemed like chaos to him, so much that he switched places with his son believing it was the right thing. Even after he switches places and becomes a little kid,  he thinks "This is hell" and all the other parents from the playground agreed.

    

   

Slaves of Socorro - John Flanagan

I have just finished the Slaves of Socorro, by John Flanagan. It is the fourth installment of the the series. All previous books have been very exciting and I have high expectations for this one.

After reading the first 6 chapters of the book, I have to admit, I expected a faster transition to the plot in those beginning chapters. Much of those chapters were spent reintroducing all the characters, and what had happened previously. I found this very boring, and hoped the plot will continue soon, because very little has actually happened in the first 6 chapters...

However, the setting of the beginning chapters has been very descriptive. John Flanagan has done a nice job setting the scene in the woods as well as town of Hallasholm. An example of this description is "There were also half a dozen fire pits, each one with a spit set over it, where carcasses of bullocks and sheep turned above the red-hot coals, spitting and sizzling as they gradually browned".  These details are quite interesting, and pull the reader into the scene, but I still disliked the beginning of this book, mostly due to it's slow pace. I hope the rest of the book has a faster pace and more action.

As the plot moved on, things got a great deal more interesting. Hal and his wolfship sailed to monitor the coasts of Araluen, protecting it from sea raids. The reintroduction of Gillian, when much faster and much better executed than of the previous characters. The antagonists were also introduced, with much detail. However this was ok because these were new characters to the story. The middle of the book was very strong, and much more entertaining to read. As the story moved onto to the constant action that is clearly present in most of Flanagan's books, I started to enjoy it more. The middle to the end of the book really do follow the structure and style of the previous books. The characters must always be thinking to outsmart their opponent, a big theme present in this series.

Fahrenheit 451 Theme 1 Presentation

Bell 6

Emily T, Sydnie K, Carlie D, Megha B, Terry L

Theme: Censorship causes diminished individual thought.

The Hearth and the Salamander:

1. Montag meets Clarisse McClellan, a seventeen year of girl who challenges the way things are in society.
2. Montag and his fellow firemen go to a woman's house who is suspected of hiding books, in order to burn them. While they are there Montag discovers hundreds of books that the woman had kept hidden, and steals one of them for himself. The woman chooses to die in the fire with her books, which confuses Montag.
3. Montag begins to question the book burning that is going on in his society and becomes more interested in reading and knowledge, contrary to Beatty’s and Mildred’s wishes.

• “And for the first time I realized that man was behind each one of the books. A man had to think them up. A man had to take a long time to put them down on paper. And I’d never even thought that thought before,” (Bradbury 49). -Montag to Mildred

The Sieve and the Sand:

1. Montag becomes obsessed with the idea of books and plans to meet a man named Faber, a person he had previously met at a park.
2. When Montag talks to Faber, and learns the history of books and the real truth behind government censorship. Faber and Montag formulate a plan in which they plant books in houses of firemen to spark suspect in them.

• “I’m not thinking. I’m just doing like I’m told, like always...I don’t want to change sides and just be told what to do” (Bradbury 88). -Montag to Faber

3. Mildred hosts a party with her friends and her parlor “family”. Montag becomes upset when he sees this and brings out a book to read to them, despite the original plan they had.
4. Montag goes back to work where Beatty confronts him about what he has been doing. Montag acts like nothing is wrong and they leave when they are called to burn a house.  

Burning Bright:

1. Montag is forced to burn his own house.
2. Montag kills Beatty, then runs away. While on the run, he almost gets run over by a group of thrill-seeking teens driving a beetle.
3. After walking farther, Montag comes across a group of people who, just like him, have explored the ideas inside books.

• “We read the books and burnt them, afraid they’d be found” (Bradbury 142). -Granger to Montag

4. The city is completely destroyed by bombs. Montag and Granger lead the development of a new society that is built upon meaningful ideas and books rather than emptiness.

This theme is important to our understanding of the story because…

We see the influence that books had on Montag and the decisions he would make throughout the novel.

This theme connects to our modern-day society because…

Books have shaped prominent ideas in our world today, and have allowed people to develop individuality and meaningful thoughts.

The Invisible Man - Review

    During this past week, I have been reading the book "The Invisible Man". It is a classic, written by the author H. G. Wells. I cannot say that I like the book, but it certainly was very interesting at times. The plot revolves around a scientist, Griffin, who is inspired to do great things in the field of chemistry. Due to being afraid of colleagues stealing his work, Griffin becomes solitary and works alone. During his work, Griffin discovers a way to make any albino man almost completely invisible, which he is himself. In the story, Griffin arrives at a small town, dressed in an oversized black hat, large goggles, and an overcoat, in order to conceal his real appearance. The townspeople start to become suspicious of who Griffin really is, as their imaginations get more creative. It does not help that Griffin has many violent mood swings in the period of of time he stays at the hostel of the town. He is confronted many times about who he really is, but no one can really give a good answer, until he reveals himself to a fellow colleague, Kemp.

    Upon learning of Griffin's true ability, Kemp allows Griffin to rest in his home for one night, but then turns to betrayal the next morning by calling the police. Griffin barely escapes. This is where most of the fighting begins as Griffin's personality turns for the worse and sends Kemp a letter, promising death. The final conflict then begins in which Kemp is killed, but Griffin is also contained. In this part, the fighting wasn't all too good, but I can see where it came from as this book was written in 1952.

     I thought the book was quite interesting at times, because the author adds very small details that you regularly wouldn't think of. For example, Griffin's movement is very limited, after he eats because he food is still digesting. Griffin cannot be caught out in the rain of the snow, because after a while, it is possible to see an impression of his body from the falling precipitation. The story itself is quite interesting as well, even though invisibility may seem unoriginal, on second thought, I have never read anything like this. However I did not like  the fact that the author did not explain why Griffin's intentions were bad. Halfway through the book, Griffin is portrayed as the sole antagonist, an evil character, even though when he is explaining his story, he seems quite like the normal man. I also do not like that sometimes the plot moves quite slowly. Once or twice,  the author gave long explanations and descriptions that didn't really affect how the plot developed. Overall, I would still recommend this books to others, so they can form their own opinion.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua

Recently, I began a memoir called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I was encouraged to read this book after I saw some of my friends read it while my class was studying memoirs.
The author, Amy Chua, is a Chinese mother, who is married to a Jewish American. The book is mainly about the story of her raising her two children. Amy Chua has a unique voice in her writing, offering a perspective of a strict mother that is not commonly seen in other novels.

The best quality of Amy is that, no matter what, she is always trying to think for her kids. She raised them with the morals she grew up with, with nearly no room for anything else. Due to her strictness, she has multiple battles with her children throughout the book. When Louisa, her second daughter was born, the first story Amy tells us is a huge fight, "Dodging her blows, I dragged the screeching demon to our back porch door, and threw it open. The wind chill was twenty degrees, and my own face hurt from just a few seconds' exposure to the icy air." She was "determined to raise an obedient Chinese child" but also fell back when she knew anymore fighting would cause severe ruptures in the family. On a vacation to Russia, Lulu causes a scene when she gets into an argument with Amy. She screamed "I hate the violin. I HATE my life. I HATE you, and I HATE this family!" After such a loud, public scene, Amy knows it is time for her to allow Lulu to pursue her own interest of tennis.

However, a bad quality of Amy, is that she is very stubborn, and most of the time, gets what she wants. She will never settle for other than perfect. Once on her birthday, both of her daughters gave her birthday cards, but flat out refuses them by saying, "I want a better one--one that you've put some thought and effort into. I have a special box, where I keep all my cards from you and Sophia, and this one can't go in there." These actions that would be considered "mean" all lead up to huge fights like the one above. As she realizes in the end of the book, she should change her actions to reflect both her and her daughter's dreams.