*SPOILERS*
Sadly, I've never seen the play Wicked. But I have read the book three times. This was my first time reading it for school, though. Wicked by Gregory Maguire is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, but it's no kids' book. It's disturbing at times, and it's full of social issues One of these is how different people are allowed to be. In Wicked, people are most definitely looked down on for being different.
One shining example of how people aren't allowed to be different in Oz is the terrible treatment of Animals. Animals are self-aware animals that can speak and think as well as humans can. When the book begins, the Wizard has just begun to pass laws limiting Animal rights. A Goat who is studying what makes Animals any different from humans is murdered just as he is about to make a breakthrough. As time passes, Animals become more and more oppressed. About five years after the Goat's death, a man named Fiyero witnesses a family of Bears being punished by a member of the Wizard's guards: "Below, because the Bears had not stood to join the lineup,the soldier raised his cudgel and it came down on the skull of the cub." Do you see what I mean by disturbing? Animals are punished for simply existing. By the end of the book, a Cow who is freed expects to be "served up rare on your finest Dixxi house porcelain dinner plates before the year is out." They have lost hope.
Another example of being punished for being different is Elphaba Thropp, the main character. Elphie is the Wicked Witch of the West. She is born green, with a full set of razor-sharp teeth and a deep hatred of water. The first people to discriminate against her are her parents. Elphie's father, a preacher named Frex, thinks that Elphie was sent by the Unnamed God to punish him for his sins. As for Melena, Elphaba's mother? Well, "For days Melena couldn't bear to look at the thing. She held it, as a mother must. She waited for the groundwater of maternal affection to rise and overwhelm her." She never really feels affectionate towards Elphaba. Both of Elphie's parents prefer her half-sister Nessarose over her. As a young woman, people (even her roommate Galinda) exclude and laugh at her because if her skin color. Elphie becomes very passionate about Animal rights, even as the rest of Oz ceases to care. I think that part of the reason Elphie is so passionate about Animal rights is because of the alienation and unfair treatment shown to her simply because of her skin color.
In Wicked, the characters are diverse and many, but they're not supposed to be. Every character in the book except for Galinda is punished at some point for how they look or what they are. Ideally, everyone would be like Galinda - a well-off Gillikinese girl who's smart but not quite smart enough to notice what's going on around her.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Power in "The Circle"
*HUGE SPOILER ALERT*
The Circle by Dave Eggers is a scary book. Well, maybe not scary, but ominous. In the near future, a young woman named Mae gets a job at a large Internet company called the Circle. The job comes with amazing perks, like dorms for people who work late and a fully stocked and operational health clinic. As Mae rises through the ranks of the Circle and becomes distant from life outside of it, it is clear to the reader that the Circle has power in the text.
The Circle's goal is transparency. It started off as a network meant to combine all of your online profiles into one account - your 'TruYou' account. Because you had to use your real name and information, it eliminated Internet anonymity. Over time, the Circle evolved into a larger technology company, interested in safety and clarity not just online but everywhere. When Mae first enters the Circle, she meets a man who is working on a tracking device to be implanted into small children with the intent of eliminating kidnappings. However, not all of the Circle's endeavors are as noble. There are slogans plastered all over the campus, and later in the book Mae helps to create a few: "privacy is theft" and "secrets are lies." Honestly, when I got to this part of the book, I could smell the brainwash in the air.
In the book, the Circle has power. Its power is shown through the main character, Mae Holland. When she begins work at the Circle, she is simply happy to be working at a place that is changing the world, rather than a boring desk job at the utility building in her hometown. She soon discovers that being a part of the Circle is a 24-hour job. She is expected to answer survey questions, be active on Zing (some form of social network, most like Twitter), and be a part of several on-campus groups. She is pulled into Human Resources for not posting about a kayaking trip she takes. When a minor crime Mae has committed comes to light, she is forced to become "transparent" - she wears a camera around her neck, and anyone who wants to can see what she's doing. Transparency is meant to ensure that nothing shady is going on where no one can see it, and many politicians became transparent as soon as they could. After all, secrets are lies.
Mae never sees why any of this is wrong. She allows herself to be brainwashed. The Circle's power over her is clear and absolute. Mae's parents and her ex-boyfriend Mercer see the Circle and its goals as wrong and nosy, but the Circle still holds power over them. Mae's father has multiple sclerosis, and was covered by Mae's fancy health insurance plan as long as he and her mother installed cameras around their home. However, they quickly become uncomfortable with the cameras, first covering them up and then leaving, refusing to speak to Mae around cameras and through social media. The Circle forces them out of their home, but they still depend on it to pay for Mae's father's medicine. They disapprove of the Circle, but it still controls parts of their lives.
Then, there is Mae's ex-boyfriend Mercer. Mercer is against social media in general. Soon after Mae starts working at the Circle, she and Mercer get into a big fight about social media. Mercer claims that Mae is willingly giving herself and her personality to the Circle (which she is). Mercer also cuts off contact with Mae, and attempts to go underground, away from the Circle. Towards the end of the book, Mae helps to test out a new Circle service that makes it possible to find anyone in the world using the power of Circle users all over the globe. She asks for Mercer Medeiros. People all around the world begin to search for Mercer, and he is located in the woods in Oregon. He tries to drive away, but he's chased by drones with cameras onto a bridge. Mercer drives his truck off of the bridge to avoid being caught. The Circle - or rather, the people of the Circle, caused him to kill himself.
The Circle is in complete power in this text, and not many seem to know that. Not even one of the heads of the Circle understands how completely it has taken over the world. After Mercer's death, he remarks to Mae, "I know this is tangential... but really: there'd be no chance of that happening if Mercer was in a self-driving vehicle." He truly believes that the Circle's endeavors are making the world a better place, and so does Mae.
(Edit 12/3/13: My dad read this post, and his first comment was that I had better never date anybody named Mercer.)
The Circle by Dave Eggers is a scary book. Well, maybe not scary, but ominous. In the near future, a young woman named Mae gets a job at a large Internet company called the Circle. The job comes with amazing perks, like dorms for people who work late and a fully stocked and operational health clinic. As Mae rises through the ranks of the Circle and becomes distant from life outside of it, it is clear to the reader that the Circle has power in the text.
The Circle's goal is transparency. It started off as a network meant to combine all of your online profiles into one account - your 'TruYou' account. Because you had to use your real name and information, it eliminated Internet anonymity. Over time, the Circle evolved into a larger technology company, interested in safety and clarity not just online but everywhere. When Mae first enters the Circle, she meets a man who is working on a tracking device to be implanted into small children with the intent of eliminating kidnappings. However, not all of the Circle's endeavors are as noble. There are slogans plastered all over the campus, and later in the book Mae helps to create a few: "privacy is theft" and "secrets are lies." Honestly, when I got to this part of the book, I could smell the brainwash in the air.
In the book, the Circle has power. Its power is shown through the main character, Mae Holland. When she begins work at the Circle, she is simply happy to be working at a place that is changing the world, rather than a boring desk job at the utility building in her hometown. She soon discovers that being a part of the Circle is a 24-hour job. She is expected to answer survey questions, be active on Zing (some form of social network, most like Twitter), and be a part of several on-campus groups. She is pulled into Human Resources for not posting about a kayaking trip she takes. When a minor crime Mae has committed comes to light, she is forced to become "transparent" - she wears a camera around her neck, and anyone who wants to can see what she's doing. Transparency is meant to ensure that nothing shady is going on where no one can see it, and many politicians became transparent as soon as they could. After all, secrets are lies.
Mae never sees why any of this is wrong. She allows herself to be brainwashed. The Circle's power over her is clear and absolute. Mae's parents and her ex-boyfriend Mercer see the Circle and its goals as wrong and nosy, but the Circle still holds power over them. Mae's father has multiple sclerosis, and was covered by Mae's fancy health insurance plan as long as he and her mother installed cameras around their home. However, they quickly become uncomfortable with the cameras, first covering them up and then leaving, refusing to speak to Mae around cameras and through social media. The Circle forces them out of their home, but they still depend on it to pay for Mae's father's medicine. They disapprove of the Circle, but it still controls parts of their lives.
Then, there is Mae's ex-boyfriend Mercer. Mercer is against social media in general. Soon after Mae starts working at the Circle, she and Mercer get into a big fight about social media. Mercer claims that Mae is willingly giving herself and her personality to the Circle (which she is). Mercer also cuts off contact with Mae, and attempts to go underground, away from the Circle. Towards the end of the book, Mae helps to test out a new Circle service that makes it possible to find anyone in the world using the power of Circle users all over the globe. She asks for Mercer Medeiros. People all around the world begin to search for Mercer, and he is located in the woods in Oregon. He tries to drive away, but he's chased by drones with cameras onto a bridge. Mercer drives his truck off of the bridge to avoid being caught. The Circle - or rather, the people of the Circle, caused him to kill himself.
The Circle is in complete power in this text, and not many seem to know that. Not even one of the heads of the Circle understands how completely it has taken over the world. After Mercer's death, he remarks to Mae, "I know this is tangential... but really: there'd be no chance of that happening if Mercer was in a self-driving vehicle." He truly believes that the Circle's endeavors are making the world a better place, and so does Mae.
(Edit 12/3/13: My dad read this post, and his first comment was that I had better never date anybody named Mercer.)
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Advertisements
Today on the train, I noticed something weird about one of the advertisements. It was one of the New York Lottery ads with the tagline "What will you think about when you don't have to think about money?" It showed a person sitting alone on a ski lift, thinking: "If you run fully clothed across a nude beach, is it still considered streaking?"
This immediately struck me as one of the most poorly written sentences I'd ever seen. It would be a perfectly fine sentence, except for the word 'still.' If it were "If you run fully clothed across a nude beach, is it considered streaking?", the sentence would be correct. If it were "If you run naked across a nude beach, is it still considered streaking?", the sentence would be correct. The problem with the word 'still' is that it implies that whatever is happening usually happens. In this case, it would imply that streaking is usually done fully clothed.
When I pointed this out to my mother, she laughed at me.
This immediately struck me as one of the most poorly written sentences I'd ever seen. It would be a perfectly fine sentence, except for the word 'still.' If it were "If you run fully clothed across a nude beach, is it considered streaking?", the sentence would be correct. If it were "If you run naked across a nude beach, is it still considered streaking?", the sentence would be correct. The problem with the word 'still' is that it implies that whatever is happening usually happens. In this case, it would imply that streaking is usually done fully clothed.
When I pointed this out to my mother, she laughed at me.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
My Childhood Love
My family was always into movies. I mean, we were into books too- any kind of entertainment was big when I was little. But my parents love movies, and they wanted me to love movies. So, naturally, one of my first loves was Disney movies. Namely? Mulan.
I have a dear friend whose opinions differs from mine in many ways, and this is a big one. She's told me that Disney movies give children the wrong ideas about life and romance, and teach young girls that they should want to be princesses, doing nothing and being doted on. But I don't think so.
Mulan is a beautiful movie, and probably my favorite of all time. Mulan is strong and brave and does everything she does for her family. She stands up for what's right, even if she is afraid. She risks her life for what she believes in. And guess what? She is not a princess. If I had to pick a role model out of all the Disney girls, it would, without a doubt, be her.
When I was little, I watched this movie so often that I still have all the ads from the DVD memorized (I think they were as much a part of my childhood as the movie itself, if a little less meaningful). I still watch it pretty often. It makes me happy and it inspires me to be strong.
Disney movie trivia!
10 points if you know who wrote Toy Story.
10 points if you recognize Mulan's speaking voice from someone on a new ABC show.
I have a dear friend whose opinions differs from mine in many ways, and this is a big one. She's told me that Disney movies give children the wrong ideas about life and romance, and teach young girls that they should want to be princesses, doing nothing and being doted on. But I don't think so.
Mulan is a beautiful movie, and probably my favorite of all time. Mulan is strong and brave and does everything she does for her family. She stands up for what's right, even if she is afraid. She risks her life for what she believes in. And guess what? She is not a princess. If I had to pick a role model out of all the Disney girls, it would, without a doubt, be her.
When I was little, I watched this movie so often that I still have all the ads from the DVD memorized (I think they were as much a part of my childhood as the movie itself, if a little less meaningful). I still watch it pretty often. It makes me happy and it inspires me to be strong.
Disney movie trivia!
10 points if you know who wrote Toy Story.
10 points if you recognize Mulan's speaking voice from someone on a new ABC show.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
2nd Draft of Argument Essay
All over the country (and the world), people are trying to keep teenagers from
reading about real issues. So I read a banned book to see what I thought, and I
think that Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson should not be banned from
middle school libraries because it discusses a real issue and teaches an
important lesson to teenagers – that bad things happen, but they don’t have to
consume you.
Speak is a book about rape- a real issue for teenage girls (and boys too). The main character, Melinda, is a high school freshman. The summer before her freshman year, she is raped at a party by a senior named Andy Evans, who continues to taunt and terrify her throughout the school year. When you think about it, she's barely any older than us. And another thing- Melinda doesn't just let her assault overtake her. She knows that “[Andy] hurt me. It wasn't my fault. And I'm not going to let it kill me. I can grow" (Anderson 198). This shows that Melinda isn't just rolling over, letting this horrible thing that happened trick her into thinking she is nothing. Melinda is strong, and she shows readers that they can be too.
Some parents believe that Speak is too explicit for middle schoolers to read. They think that the rape and depression of a young teenager is something that other teens shouldn't read about. According to the article 'Darkness too Visible" by Sharon Gurdon, Speak is some of the "awful stuff" being directed at teens. Also according to Gurdon, almost all young adult books today are "images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality, and losses of the most horrendous kinds" (1). This is only part of the story.
People who want to ban Speak are only seeing some of the picture. The rest of it? Well, for one thing, Speak isn't actually all that explicit. There is one (sort of) sex scene and it's Melinda freaking out - "NO! -- I'm not really here, I'm definitely back at Rachel's, crimping hair and gluing on fake nails, and he smells like beer and mean..." - and nothing actually explicit. For another thing, the "joy and beauty" Gurdon was wondering about? It's not all that common in real life either. Years twelve to eighteen are not all sunshine and roses, much to some adults' surprise. This brings me directly to my next point. Speak teaches readers a lesson- that bad things do happen, yes, but they don't have to consume you. You can be strong. I think this is an incredibly important lesson, not just for teenagers, but for people in general.
Speak needs to stay in middle school libraries. It has a lesson that teenagers can’t afford to miss. It seems to me that the people pushing to ban Speak don’t want their children to learn about rape. But why keep children uninformed about real dangers like rape? Why risk real physical and mental pain due to cluelessness? We see the stories on the news about young girls being abducted and abused and we think “Oh, it could never happen to me,” but what if it does?
Speak is a book about rape- a real issue for teenage girls (and boys too). The main character, Melinda, is a high school freshman. The summer before her freshman year, she is raped at a party by a senior named Andy Evans, who continues to taunt and terrify her throughout the school year. When you think about it, she's barely any older than us. And another thing- Melinda doesn't just let her assault overtake her. She knows that “[Andy] hurt me. It wasn't my fault. And I'm not going to let it kill me. I can grow" (Anderson 198). This shows that Melinda isn't just rolling over, letting this horrible thing that happened trick her into thinking she is nothing. Melinda is strong, and she shows readers that they can be too.
Some parents believe that Speak is too explicit for middle schoolers to read. They think that the rape and depression of a young teenager is something that other teens shouldn't read about. According to the article 'Darkness too Visible" by Sharon Gurdon, Speak is some of the "awful stuff" being directed at teens. Also according to Gurdon, almost all young adult books today are "images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality, and losses of the most horrendous kinds" (1). This is only part of the story.
People who want to ban Speak are only seeing some of the picture. The rest of it? Well, for one thing, Speak isn't actually all that explicit. There is one (sort of) sex scene and it's Melinda freaking out - "NO! -- I'm not really here, I'm definitely back at Rachel's, crimping hair and gluing on fake nails, and he smells like beer and mean..." - and nothing actually explicit. For another thing, the "joy and beauty" Gurdon was wondering about? It's not all that common in real life either. Years twelve to eighteen are not all sunshine and roses, much to some adults' surprise. This brings me directly to my next point. Speak teaches readers a lesson- that bad things do happen, yes, but they don't have to consume you. You can be strong. I think this is an incredibly important lesson, not just for teenagers, but for people in general.
Speak needs to stay in middle school libraries. It has a lesson that teenagers can’t afford to miss. It seems to me that the people pushing to ban Speak don’t want their children to learn about rape. But why keep children uninformed about real dangers like rape? Why risk real physical and mental pain due to cluelessness? We see the stories on the news about young girls being abducted and abused and we think “Oh, it could never happen to me,” but what if it does?
Works Cited
Anderson, Laurie Halse.
Speak. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999. Print.
Gurdon, Meghan Cox.
"Darkness Too Visible" Wall Street Journal. Wall Street
Journal, 4 June 2011. Web. 9 Nov. 2013.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
1st Draft of Argument Essay
All over the country (and the world), banning books is a controversial issue. So I read a banned book to see what I thought, and I think that Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson should not be banned from middle school libraries because it discusses a real issue and teaches an important lesson to teenagers.
Speak is a book about rape- a real issue for teenage girls (and boys too). The main character, Melinda, is a high school freshman. When you think about it, that's barely any older than us. And another thing- Melinda doesn't just let her assault overtake her. Take this quote, from the very end of the book: "He hurt me. It wasn't my fault. And I'm not going to let it kill me. I can grow." This shows that Melinda isn't just rolling over, letting this horrible thing that happened trick her into thinking she is nothing. Melinda is strong, and she shows readers that they can be too.
Some parents believe that Speak is too explicit for middle schoolers to read. They think that the rape and depression of a young teenager is something that other teens shouldn't read about. According to the article 'Darkness too Visible" by Sharon Gurdon, Speak is some of the "awful stuff" being directed at teens. Also according to Gurdon, almost all young adult books today are "images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality, and losses of the most horrendous kinds." This is only part of the story.
People who want to ban Speak are only seeing some of the picture. The rest of it? Well, for one thing, Speak isn't actually all that explicit. There is one (sort of) sex scene and it's Melinda freaking out - "NO!-- I'm not really here, I'm definitely back at Rachel's, crimping hair and gluing on fake nails, and he smells like beer and mean..." - and nothing actually explicit. For another thing, the "joy and beauty" Gurdon was wondering about? It's not all that common in real life either. Years twelve to eighteen are not all sunshine and roses, much to some adults' surprise. This brings me directly to my next point. Speak teaches readers a lesson- that bad things do happen, yes, but they don't have to consume you. You can be strong. I think this is an incredibly important lesson, not just for teenagers, but for people in general.
Banning Speak, and any book really, from school libraries, is just a bad idea. It's controlling and a bit nosy- if you don't want your kid to read it, that's your opinion, but that doesn't mean nobody's kid should read it! The whole idea of book banning is against my religion - or would be, if I had one.
Speak is a book about rape- a real issue for teenage girls (and boys too). The main character, Melinda, is a high school freshman. When you think about it, that's barely any older than us. And another thing- Melinda doesn't just let her assault overtake her. Take this quote, from the very end of the book: "He hurt me. It wasn't my fault. And I'm not going to let it kill me. I can grow." This shows that Melinda isn't just rolling over, letting this horrible thing that happened trick her into thinking she is nothing. Melinda is strong, and she shows readers that they can be too.
Some parents believe that Speak is too explicit for middle schoolers to read. They think that the rape and depression of a young teenager is something that other teens shouldn't read about. According to the article 'Darkness too Visible" by Sharon Gurdon, Speak is some of the "awful stuff" being directed at teens. Also according to Gurdon, almost all young adult books today are "images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality, and losses of the most horrendous kinds." This is only part of the story.
People who want to ban Speak are only seeing some of the picture. The rest of it? Well, for one thing, Speak isn't actually all that explicit. There is one (sort of) sex scene and it's Melinda freaking out - "NO!-- I'm not really here, I'm definitely back at Rachel's, crimping hair and gluing on fake nails, and he smells like beer and mean..." - and nothing actually explicit. For another thing, the "joy and beauty" Gurdon was wondering about? It's not all that common in real life either. Years twelve to eighteen are not all sunshine and roses, much to some adults' surprise. This brings me directly to my next point. Speak teaches readers a lesson- that bad things do happen, yes, but they don't have to consume you. You can be strong. I think this is an incredibly important lesson, not just for teenagers, but for people in general.
Banning Speak, and any book really, from school libraries, is just a bad idea. It's controlling and a bit nosy- if you don't want your kid to read it, that's your opinion, but that doesn't mean nobody's kid should read it! The whole idea of book banning is against my religion - or would be, if I had one.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Electric guitars
You know Katy Perry, Lana Del Rey, Tegan and Sara
I bet you don't know Squeeze
They're old
You know "Cups," "Get Lucky," "Little Talks"
I bet you haven't heard "Up the Junction"
It's old
Thirteen years
Listening to the same thousand rock songs
Squeeze
The Beatles
The Clash
The Pogues
(my mom has a thing for UK artists)
My first favorite song was
"Love Me Do"
Singing in the car
Blaring
"Electric Trains" "Lost In the Supermarket"
They talked about sad childhoods
Being unknown. unnoticed
can't quite relate
but I could appreciate the guitars
Stories. Always stories
Love stories sad stories true stories stories based on books
Haven't heard "Fairytale of New York" in three years
still one of my all time favorite songs
The woman died in a boating accident
what are the lyrics what are the lyrics what are the lyrics
I bet you don't know Squeeze
They're old
You know "Cups," "Get Lucky," "Little Talks"
I bet you haven't heard "Up the Junction"
It's old
Thirteen years
Listening to the same thousand rock songs
Squeeze
The Beatles
The Clash
The Pogues
(my mom has a thing for UK artists)
My first favorite song was
"Love Me Do"
Singing in the car
Blaring
"Electric Trains" "Lost In the Supermarket"
They talked about sad childhoods
Being unknown. unnoticed
can't quite relate
but I could appreciate the guitars
Stories. Always stories
Love stories sad stories true stories stories based on books
Haven't heard "Fairytale of New York" in three years
still one of my all time favorite songs
The woman died in a boating accident
what are the lyrics what are the lyrics what are the lyrics
Friday, October 4, 2013
Theme in Looking for Alaska
SPOILER ALERT
I think I have a great idea for how Looking for Alaska, by John Green, would start as a movie. Picture this: A shot of a white flower. A shot of a car (Alaska's, although the audience doesn't know that). A shot of a police cruiser on a highway near an overturned truck. The screen goes black.
CRUNCH.
The book starts with the words "a hundred and thirty six days before." Before is before Alaska Young died in a car crash. She was bringing flowers to her mom's grave.
The theme of Looking for Alaska is that mistakes you make, even ones that aren't really your fault, can haunt you forever. When Alaska was a little girl, her mother died because Alaska didn't know to call 911. Almost ten years after her mother died, Alaska realized she had forgotten to bring flowers to her mother's grave and drove out to buy them at three in the morning, drunk out of her mind. She slammed into a cop car.
The question left unanswered about Alaska's death was: did she kill herself? She drove straight into the cop car and didn't swerve once. It's possible that she saw the car and, wracked with guilt about not only 'killing' her mom, but forgetting to bring her flowers, thought "screw it, I'm doing this" and didn't try to swerve. It's also possible she was so drunk she thought she could fit next to the car.
If Alaska did mean to crash, this shows how much she was haunted by the mistake she made when she was little, a mistake that wasn't entirely her fault, how intensely guilty she felt about being responsible, in her eyes at least, for her mother's death. Even a while before she died, she seemed guilty, though she usually tried to make her sadness funny. Take this remark to her friends Chip and Miles: "Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die." She's joking. Sort of. Her guilt is always there.
Just before Alaska died, she told Chip and Miles that she had to go somewhere and that she would be back. They did not attempt to stop her or accompany her. Miles will likely get over feeling responsible for her death, but poor Chip will likely spend a long time feeling guilty about not keeping her from her death. His mistake will haunt him too.
I think I have a great idea for how Looking for Alaska, by John Green, would start as a movie. Picture this: A shot of a white flower. A shot of a car (Alaska's, although the audience doesn't know that). A shot of a police cruiser on a highway near an overturned truck. The screen goes black.
CRUNCH.
The book starts with the words "a hundred and thirty six days before." Before is before Alaska Young died in a car crash. She was bringing flowers to her mom's grave.
The theme of Looking for Alaska is that mistakes you make, even ones that aren't really your fault, can haunt you forever. When Alaska was a little girl, her mother died because Alaska didn't know to call 911. Almost ten years after her mother died, Alaska realized she had forgotten to bring flowers to her mother's grave and drove out to buy them at three in the morning, drunk out of her mind. She slammed into a cop car.
The question left unanswered about Alaska's death was: did she kill herself? She drove straight into the cop car and didn't swerve once. It's possible that she saw the car and, wracked with guilt about not only 'killing' her mom, but forgetting to bring her flowers, thought "screw it, I'm doing this" and didn't try to swerve. It's also possible she was so drunk she thought she could fit next to the car.
If Alaska did mean to crash, this shows how much she was haunted by the mistake she made when she was little, a mistake that wasn't entirely her fault, how intensely guilty she felt about being responsible, in her eyes at least, for her mother's death. Even a while before she died, she seemed guilty, though she usually tried to make her sadness funny. Take this remark to her friends Chip and Miles: "Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die." She's joking. Sort of. Her guilt is always there.
Just before Alaska died, she told Chip and Miles that she had to go somewhere and that she would be back. They did not attempt to stop her or accompany her. Miles will likely get over feeling responsible for her death, but poor Chip will likely spend a long time feeling guilty about not keeping her from her death. His mistake will haunt him too.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Who is the Protagonist of Game of Thrones?
SPOILER ALERT
At the end of last year and over the summer, I read the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire (I will be referring to it as Game of Thrones to save time), by George R.R. Martin. About halfway through the middle of book 5, A Dance with Dragons, I began to wonder something: who exactly is the protagonist of this series? Is there one, or more?
Of course, I suppose I could go to Wikipedia and see what the Game of Thrones page has to say. But I think I would rather guess first. The thing about the series is that it is from several different points of view per book, and the cast of characters who are even alive to narrate is constantly changing (I bet if Ned Stark hadn't died early on I wouldn't be posting this). And because you are seeing events from the eyes of many different people, you find yourself sympathizing with characters who are considered bad guys by other characters.
You could argue that the protagonist changes, depending on the storyline, such as Jon Snow being the protagonist of the storyline in the North. You could argue that Cersei Lannister is the protagonist, because even though she makes some very stupid decisions and is basically responsible for starting the War of Five Kings, she is only trying to protect her children and keep her place in power. You could argue that her little brother Tyrion is the protagonist- he is overlooked and stepped on and denied his right to his home, and he is constantly working against his sister to try to restore peace to the Seven Kingdoms.
However, I think that the protagonist of the series is Danaerys Targaryen. She is at the center (figuratively, if not geographically- she is still in the East at the end of book five) of the story. The entire story began with her father, the Mad King Aerys, who Jaime Lannister killed before the story started. The Iron Throne is hers by right. She has DRAGONS, for goodness' sake. As of book five, there are three separate parties making their way east to help her, and one huge party on its way to kill her. No matter what, I personally kept rooting for her. I want her to come out on top. Of course, we won't know who it really is until the end of the series, but until such time as The Winds of Winter tells me otherwise, I will want Danaerys to end up on the Iron Throne.
I know this isn’t exactly what I am supposed to do for this post- I read this book a few weeks ago- but I am curious. Anyone else have any ideas?
Thursday, September 12, 2013
A Dance with Dragons
SPOILER ALERT
This summer I read A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. It's the fifth and most recent book in his series A Song of Ice and Fire. This book actually takes place at the same time as the previous book, A Feast for Crows, does. This did lead to some confusion, but it wasn't too bad.
The first half of A Dance with Dragons focused on things that happened in the North and the East. We caught up with a lot of characters we hadn't seen much or at all in the last book, including Danaerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and Jon Snow. We see these characters undergo some big changes- Jon has to adapt to being Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and things go from bad to worse to unbearable to frightening beyond belief for poor Dany. Around the second half of the book we start to see chapters from the perspectives of people we saw a lot in A Feast for Crows, such as Cersei Lannister. Boy, is Cersei in trouble.
I don't want to give away everything, even with the spoiler alert. Let's just say that on the one thing not a lot of good things happen, but on the other hand, it isn't like the end of book three. For anyone keeping up with the TV show (I'm not), the end of book three has already begun. RIP Robb Stark. I enjoyed this book, but not much really happened that made me want to keep reading until the very end. I wasn't excited. Of course, the epilogue made me want to keep reading straight away. I am excited to read The Winds of Winter.
This summer I read A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. It's the fifth and most recent book in his series A Song of Ice and Fire. This book actually takes place at the same time as the previous book, A Feast for Crows, does. This did lead to some confusion, but it wasn't too bad.
The first half of A Dance with Dragons focused on things that happened in the North and the East. We caught up with a lot of characters we hadn't seen much or at all in the last book, including Danaerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and Jon Snow. We see these characters undergo some big changes- Jon has to adapt to being Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and things go from bad to worse to unbearable to frightening beyond belief for poor Dany. Around the second half of the book we start to see chapters from the perspectives of people we saw a lot in A Feast for Crows, such as Cersei Lannister. Boy, is Cersei in trouble.
I don't want to give away everything, even with the spoiler alert. Let's just say that on the one thing not a lot of good things happen, but on the other hand, it isn't like the end of book three. For anyone keeping up with the TV show (I'm not), the end of book three has already begun. RIP Robb Stark. I enjoyed this book, but not much really happened that made me want to keep reading until the very end. I wasn't excited. Of course, the epilogue made me want to keep reading straight away. I am excited to read The Winds of Winter.
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