Hopeful In Fear: Stories of the Value of Hope and Fear

Hope.  The light at the end of the tunnel.  Lots of people think that hope is just another word, like what we've made love into.  It's meaningless.  All is meaningless.  "Love" is just a word in the English language.  In Greek there are six different words for love - they all mean different things.  The different words are eros, philia, ludus, agape, pragma, and philautia.  Love in our language is just a word.

Hope shouldn't be just a word.  Hope is so much more.  I'll begin by telling a story, because that is what I love to do.  Stories can be more powerful than articles, which are what most blog posts are.  This is different.

Disclaimer: I made these stories up to illustrate a point.  Some of the following stories are based off of historical occurrences, and some stories may be based off of current events.  Don't take them seriously.  They are not facts.  They are just ideas.

Story #1 - Based off the Graphic Novel MAUS (I and II)

Pain ends pain ends pain ends, the terrified woman thought to herself.  It was the time that people would later refer to as World War II, and the young woman was trapped in a concentration camp called Auschwitz.  The Auschwitz motto over the gate was "ARBIET MACHT FREI" or "work makes one free".  It was a lie.  Every day the woman lived in constant fear of everything that might happen to her.  There was the fear that if she didn't stand right, then the Nazis would kill her, and there were many more fears like it.  It was a horrible existence.  She didn't know whether she would live or die.  The only hope she held was of escaping the camp - that and the fact that her husband was in the other Auschwitz camp.  He was waiting for the war to end.  He had planned to get transferred to her camp as a worker, so they could see each other (Spiegelman 56)

It was love, but yet something about it made it seem like it was obligatory.  That the love was to prove something to the world.  It was beginning to feel fake.  The woman didn't want it to be, but there was no mistaking it.  This was a fear she carried with her, or at least she thought it was fear...

What she actually felt was anxiety.  An overwhelming, crushing thing that wanted to destroy her.  Anxiety is the worrying about something that is just a rumor or that may happen, but is not guaranteed.  Fear in the Auschwitz camp is fear, because the Jews knew the consequences for doing something that the Nazis had "outlawed", but the fear of thinking that your husband doesn't truly love you is anxiety because it might not be true.  You just worry that it is true (Godin 1).

As told in MAUS, Vladek Spiegelman and Anja, his wife, are struggling to keep a relationship and each other alive so that they can be together after the war.  They seem to have such a great relationship, but it seems a bit overdone, and Anja doesn't accept all of the food that Vladek sneaks to her.  Soon after they see each other for the first time since they were transferred to the concentration camps, Vladek is beaten because he spoke to Anja.  This became a fear for him - that he would be beaten again or that Anja would get beaten but wouldn't survive (Spiegelman 56).

Story #2 - Based off The Lady or the Tiger

You stand in an arena, surrounded by the subjects of the kingdom.  You stand charged of loving the daughter of the king.  He has devised a test to figure out how to punish people who are charged of doing wrong.  Behind you are two doors.  One has behind it a lady, whom you will marry if you pick her door.  The other has an enraged, starved tiger behind it.  If you pick that door, then you will be dead in an instant.  You stare up at the king and his daughter.  The king is about to announce that you need to pick a door.  Everyone knows the procedure, but the king wants to reiterate it just in case anyone happened to miss it, and also for formality.  Your eyes turn toward your lover.  You know that they know which door the lady and the tiger stand behind - they probably found out as soon as it was announced that you were to stand trial.

They point a finger, very casually and secretively, to the right.  Not a trace of doubt clouds your vision as you turn and walk to the door on the right to open it.  You know that your lover chose for both of you what was best, and even though you don't know what is behind the door, you know that your lover made the right decision.  As you open the door, something shifts in the shadows...
But what was behind the door?  Were you killed in an instant, or were you married?  There is no storybook ending to this, where the lady behind the door is really the princess, who disguised herself and tied up the lady that was supposed to be there.  And the tiger is not tamed.  The doors and the rooms behind them are filled - that you know for sure.  There is no chance of the tiger's room being empty, and there is no chance that neither of them are filled.
What did they choose?  This question haunts your steps as you walk.  Your lover just decided your fate.  What did they choose?  It echoes in your mind as your hand closes on the handle to the door on the right.  It is agonizing to wait in suspense.

And what did you want them to choose?  Death by the tiger so that you didn't have to marry the woman, or the woman so that you did not have to die?
In the story The Lady or the Tiger, this scenario is played out.  There is fear on both sides - for both you and your lover.  The princess is afraid for losing her would-have-been husband - whether it be by the marriage of you to another lady (whom the princess is jealous of and hates), or through death by tiger - and you are terrified that they made the decision that you didn't want.  But first you have to figure out this: what did the man want, in the story?  Death, or marriage and life?
There is hope that the princess chose life for you, and there is fear that they chose death.  Everyone is afraid of death, until they are in a situation where they will inevitably die.  Frank Richard Stockton says this in the story: Every heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eye fixed immovably upon that man.  Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right, and opened it (7).

Hope is powerful, and fear is powerful.  Sometimes they seem like almost the same thing.  You cannot have hope without fear.  Fear controls you until you believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and there is a way out.  Sometimes it seems like you have to sacrifice more to win that hope, but there are always sacrifices.  As Kurt Vonnegut explains in All the King's Horses, "Necessity, like a child counting eeny, meeny miney, moe around a circle, pointed its finger at the one chessman who could be sacrificed.  There was only one" (16).

Story #3 - from All the King's Horses by Kurt Vonnegut

In the story, an American Colonel is forced to play a game of chess against the Asian warlord Pi Ying - but his chess pieces are his own men, and when they are captured by the warlord, they are immediately killed.  Soon there are only a few of the Colonel's men left, as well as his wife and twin boys.  Suddenly the Colonel sees that the only way he can win the game and put Pi Ying in check is to offer a sacrifice to bait the warlord.
Colonel Kelly begins to think of the one person to be sacrificed as only x in a "mathematical proposition", and then sees the hope - he may get out alive, with everyone else, if he sacrifices that one person.  He no longer feels fear of losing the one, but the hope of getting the rest of them out alive.
Margaret, the Colonel's wife, feels something entirely different.  She is consumed by the fear of losing her sons, and so her actions, had she been in the place of Kelly, would have killed them all and left them no hope of escape.  I don't know exactly what I'm trying to say here, but the two emotions are powerful.  They can be hard to define, but fear and hope are two of the most powerful emotions in the world (in my opinion, the other three are faith, love and courage/bravery.  Feel free to dispute the connection between the last two words, I am not going to go there).

Story #4 - based off of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Prisoners of war, trapped in Japan, face fears every day.  The fear of being beaten.  The fear of a psycho camp commander.  All these fears raise anxiety to a point that is unbearable.  Yet some POWs were able to stand and have courage in the face of death, danger, and fears.

In Unbroken, Mutsuhiro Watanabe (or "the Bird") terrifies all the prisoners with his unexpected outbursts.  Suddenly they have fears that if they do something, the corporal will beat them or even kill them.  This leads to anxiety about everything, which may be how some soldiers who fought in wars end up with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).  Those soldiers who have it are scarred and constantly wary.

During World War II, there was a Japanese corporal who was very abusive and would lash out for no reason at all against the Prisoners of War in his camp.  One time, a man mentioned the word "gangway!" to clear his men out of the corporal's way, and was then beaten.  Then Watanabe had a change of heart and apologized, but then changed his mind yet again.  "After Bush went to bed, Watanabe returned and forced him to his knees.  For three hours, Watanabe besieged Bush, kicking him and hacking off his hair with his sword.  He left for two hours, then returned again.  Bush expected to be murdered.  Instead, Watanabe took him to his office, hugged him, and gave him beer and handfuls of candy and cigarettes.  Through tears, he apologized and promised never to mistreat another POW.  His resolution didn't last.  Later that night, he picked up a kendo stick...and ran shrieking into a barracks, clubbing every man he saw" (Hillenbrand, 158).

Fear can control us, but hope can reach past it, even though hope isn't always a good thing (as illustrated in All the King's Horses).  You can't have hope without fear, and you cannot have fear without hope for something better.  When you have fear, you look for hope, but when you have hope, you do not look for fear.  You are still hopeful and do not want to leave.

These emotions can be powerful, but hope and fear can be a choice as well.  They can be instincts, or things that nag at the back of your mind, but they are still powerful.

  

-bookhouse4

Sources

• the Bible
• http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/the-ancient-greeks-6-words-for-love-and-why-knowing-them-can-change-your-life
• MAUS II (and I - I read both)
• All the King's Horses, by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Lady or the Tiger, by Frank Richard Stockton
• Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
• Fear and Anxiety by Seth Godin

A Cave, Luxury, and Justice Today

"And now," I said, "let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened: -Behold! human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they can not move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.

"Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show puppets..." (Plato, Book VII The Republic pg 177)

Here's what that kind of looks like:

Allegory of the Cave: Greatest, most repeated idea ever.  People in cave, looking at shadows that they think are real, then someone comes in and frees someone and shows them the light outside the cave, and then...AAAAAAUUUGGGGHHH I'M BLINDED BY THE TRUTH LIGHT!  SOMEONE HELP ME!!!

That's just my summary of it.  If you really want to know what the 'Allegory of the Cave' is, then go here to see more of what it's about and what I'm going to be talking about (this is to anyone who just happens to stumble upon this blog post).

I think that there is a parallel between the Allegory of the Cave and how our education system works.  The Cave is where we are when we enter school and learn the shadows of things along with everyone else.  We aren't told the whole truth, but we are all given shadows of truth to watch.  When we enter Quest, that all changes.  Suddenly we see things that weren't there before, like the truth behind who Christopher Columbus really was (horrible guy - why does he have his own day?), and what justice truly is (I'll get to this later in this post).  In Quest, we are advanced, and so the world of our knowledge and understanding that we thought was expanding is actually changing from darkness and shadows into light.  We go from knowing shadows of things to seeing the light outside the Cave - sometimes so brightly that it hurts our eyes, our heads, AND challenges our hearts.

It is then that we realize that we were not told everything, and we try to go back into the Cave to bring others out.  Sometimes we just scare and confuse them, but sometimes what we say catches their interest, and they want to understand what we understand.  Then we can bring those people into the light and show them the truth, and they become "Quest", even if they are technically not in the Quest class.

Quest can be the guardians going into the Cave to save others, but we need to approach the others - who are left in the Cave - the right way.  This is difficult, because we often feel the temptation to ridicule and insult and "win" over the other side, which just pushes them away from our point of view and pulls them closer to their shadowy point of view.

The Cave is only one subject that is hard to understand.  The other that I am choosing to talk about is the idea of luxury.  In The Republic, Glaucon dislikes Socrates' state (called the city of pigs), because everyone in it gets the bare essentials and only works for what they need to survive every day.  Glaucon wants the people to have more than enough food and materials so that they can have luxury items like those brought from other states.  Luxury can be good - it can up self esteem and the wealth of the city, but luxury also makes justice really hard because everyone has a different level of luxury.

Not everyone is on the same plain.  Some people have more than the standard, and some have less.  Luxury means that in order to keep fights from breaking out between those with more and those with less, there must be justice to say what is right and wrong.  Luxury without justice is dangerous.

In our society, there must be justice so that we know when someone has overstepped their "place" in society.  Those who are poor cannot become rich by stealing from the greater people, and those who are rich cannot steal from the poor to increase their riches and wealth, because that is unjust and against the law.  Sometimes they cannot even give away their money to help certain causes because the causes are unjust, or people say "why are you giving money to that cause when you could be helping this cause?" or something like that.

Justice brings the possibility of bad justice to come about, though, which adds another layer of complexity to the already-complex idea of justice.

What more people need to understand is this: justice is impossible.  No one can be truly just.  It's just too hard to be "just", and when you are, you do not live a happy life.  You cannot have perfect justice - ever.  People will always be faced with hard decisions (people who are supposed to be 'just'), and they will never be able to make the perfect decision that is completely just and that every person will accept.  Even if we did retaliate every time there was a murder of someone of another race, we have to understand that justice will never be fully served.  Leaders cannot please everyone.  Not everyone will always be happy with decisions, but it is (sometimes) impossible to change those decisions.  We can protest, but if the government and their "justice" doesn't agree with what you are doing, then you will have to live with their decision.  They may even label YOU "unjust", but there is nothing you can do.

Justice can never be perfect.  That is what people need to understand so that the world can be a better place.

-bookhouse4

Sources:

• The Republic  by Plato
• Class discussions
• Something that I'm currently blanking on - sorry

When Things Fall Apart and Traditions are Forgotten - A Blog Post on the Book by Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart is a book illustrating change.  At first I couldn't figure out what the title meant, and then I thought it might be that Okonkwo's life is falling apart, but now I realize that the title shows two things: a tradition-based culture falling apart, and the beliefs of one man destroyed and breaking down.

What not a lot of people realize is that traditions are important, even on the brink of change (be it dramatic or not).  Traditions can lend meaning to things that people do not entirely understand, and explain to a specific group of people why certain things happen, or the role(s) of those things in our lives.

In Things Fall Apart, traditions help to settle disputes and keep everyone peaceful during one week, as well as explain the "supernatural" happenings around them (such as ogbanje).
During the Week of Peace in Umofia (Achebe 29-31), beating your wife is not allowed, nor is any other sort of violence.  When that tradition is broken, there are punishments:

Okonkwo's neighbors heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter...It was unheard of to beat somebody during the sacred week.  Before it was dusk Ezeani, who was the priest of the earth goddess, Ani, called on Okonkwo in his obi..."The evil you have done can ruin the whole clan...The earth goddess...may refuse to give us her increase, and we shall all perish." His tone now changed from anger to command. "You will bring to the shrine of Ani tomorrow one she-goat, one hen, a length of cloth and a hundred cowries" (Achebe 30-31).

 That occurrence was the first time in many years that someones had broken the sacred peace.  The traditions demanded that Okonkwo pay for his disregard for traditions, and also sought to reveal why others should not follow in his footsteps and why they should refrain from breaking the peace.
Another place that traditions are helpful in protecting and holding together a culture is when it is time for the "spirits" of the nine tribes come to settle lawsuits and prevent fights from breaking out between clansmen and between relatives.  The "spirits" are part of the tradition of the culture in Umofia, and can sometimes get through to people who would not accept anyone else's opinion or rebuke -

"I don't know why such a trifle should come before the egwugwu," said one elder to another.   

"Don't you know what kind of man Uzowulu is?  He will not listen to any other decision," replied the other (Achebe 94).

Some men in the clan (like Obeirika) do not understand why some traditions are necessary, such as throwing twins into the forest to die.  Obeirika wonders what crime they committed that they had to be killed.  He wonders why the accidental killing of a clansmen by Okonkwo warrants such a harsh punishment of seven years in exile.

Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently?  But although he thought for a long time...He was merely led into greater complexities.  He remembered his wife's twin children, whom he had thrown away.  What crime had they committed? (Achebe 125).

Crimes against their gods and/or goddesses are those offenses that warrant punishment in their culture.  Rules and laws dictated by years of their specific culture, through specific rituals, are those that must be followed.  When a tradition is not followed, as mentioned before, there are punishments.
The reason why those traditions are not so easily changed is the fact that most everyone accepts them.  The whole village scorns other teaching, and is fully devoted to the following of their gods.  Attempting to change a way of thinking is really hard do do, and so the traditions and rules must continue to be followed, no matter what someone else thinks.

On the verge of change, traditions offer some comfort to those who are seeing the change as "bad" or as something needing to be destroyed and struck down.  The culture of Umofia dictated that kinsmen must band together, as in the feast Okonkwo prepares for his kinsmen right before he is to return to Umofia.  One of the oldest members of the umunna said this about kinship:

"As for me, I have only a short while to live, and so have Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefo.  But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship.  You do not know what it is to speak with one voice.  And what is the result?  An abominable religion has settled among you.  A man can now leave his father and his brothers.  He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors...[to Okonkwo] Thank you for calling us together" (Achebe 167).

These people in Mbanta don't understand how a village as strong as Umofia could fall to a foreign religion, but they take comfort in the fact that they are unmoving, and they have a place to hide from the "abominable" religion.

For those who have seen the new religion as something more, their old beliefs are something to compare their new beliefs to.  They can look back at their culture, see what they have done and what doesn't fit, and then embrace wholeheartedly the new religion, with no doubts about their choice.
Nwoye makes the decision to fully and completely leave his family, because he does not like the way his father is allowed to treat him in his house (Achebe 152).  Okonwko's older traditions and culture actually drive a huge rift between him and his first-born son, while Nwoye embraces the new religion, as well as a new Father and new sisters and brothers in the faith.  He sees the traditions as wrong, ever since he learned that his father killed Ikemefuna (Achebe 62), and maybe even before that.

For people kind of right in between in the choice of changing or refusing to change, their known culture helps them to ease into a new culture, with new traditions.  They see that the new religion is not being destroyed, even though it is planted in the Evil Forest, and they check themselves against their culture and the new one, to see where they got it wrong.

Those who decide to change, change slowly - easing into the new culture in a comfortable way.  Once in, they accept the change and leave their old culture behind.
Those who cannot decide stay where they are - not fully accepting their old culture, but not ready to choose a new culture and its traditions.

As I was reading this, I also happened to be reading Divergent for the first time.  I started making some connections.  In Divergent, there is also a culture and a way of life on the verge of change.  Erudite is targeting the leadership, and trying to control the rest of the factions.  In Things Fall Apart, the change is not so violent, and actually comes peacefully through the pastor Mr. Brown.

When the world of Divergent starts to change and things "fall apart", the main character, Tris, starts to worry about her life.  She will be factionless if she does not join Erudite.  This new culture and traditions seems scary at first, just as Christianity looks scary and odd when it first comes to Umofia.
After a while, though, Tris discovers other Divergent like her and begins to place herself into a new "faction" - the Divergent.  The old ideas of "factions" may be falling apart, but Tris finds a way to ease into it by creating her own personal faction, and mentally adding other Divergent to it.

Last summer I read the amazing book Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge.  That book sets down a place with a very interesting culture: there are hundreds and hundreds of "little gods" called the Beloved.  Each Beloved has a job, be it keeping "snarps" from stealing children, or controlling the flies...and each person chooses a Beloved to worship.  If you're born on a certain day at a certain hour, you're named for the Beloved of that hour.  The main character was named for the Beloved Goodman Palpitattle, He Who Keeps Flies Out of Jams and Butter Churns.  There are actually two main characters: Mosca Mye (the one named for Goodman Palpitattle) and Eponymous Clent.
Near the end of the story, when Mosca is finally given the chance to be free and to know how to read, she is able to read some things of her father's: things that showed him to be an atheist.

"My father's book was much better...all the men praying for the Beloved's advice felt a great wind about them...They run out of the cathedral with Beloved swarming all over them, like bees over a beekeeper, all buzzin' their wishes at once...When the men was almost goin' mad with the sound of thousands of voices, they covered their ears and yelled for the Beloved to leave 'em to decide everythin' for themselves.  The Beloved said they were needed there to keep the moon-blot beetles out of the lanterns, an' peel the skin from the milk, an' stop the snarps stealin' children.  But the men told 'em to leave the world anyway...an' the Beloved did.  And nothin' changed at all, 'cause there never were any Beloved, just people making their voices up in their heads..." 

"That is a very charming story, Mosca.  Never tell it again."  (Hardinge 476-477)

Mosca goes on to say that her father didn't believe in the Beloved, and Clent explains that they need to let the clerics and scholars decide whether or not they need the Beloved.  Then they walk past a shrine, with citizens walking past and leaving an offering for each of the Beloved.  Mosca realizes that the Beloved were needed to give people something to believe in, or there would be confusion, and no one would know what to think (Hardinge 478).

Mosca is ready to embrace a world without beloved, and Clent is not.  He wants to stick to his beliefs in the Beloved, like the people of Umofia to their culture that is so unlike what Christianity teaches.
People need something to believe in, until they are ready to take a step into the unknown and change their traditions as their culture changes.

-bookhouse4

Sources:

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge
• McCallum 

Why a Pattern? Women now compared to women in Hamlet

I think that women are being viewed in the play as weak and easily controlled.  They are thought of as worthless or of lesser value because they are "weaker" than men, even though certain characters (like Ophelia), to me, were worth more than the male characters in the story.  When Ophelia is insane, she is speaking truth about Gertrude and Claudius' treachery, without being blamed for it because she is actually insane.

Other than that, most other women characters (there was like two total) are considered weak, and women in general are considered weak.  Hamlet says: "Frailty, thy name is woman!" (1.2.146b).

And then, before he battles Laertes, he is feeling anxiety, and a strange feeling that something will go wrong in his fencing match.  At that time, he says this: "It is but foolery, but it is such a kind of gain-giving as would/perhaps trouble a woman" (5.2. 203-04).

Hamlet obviously believes in the superiority of men, and also that he has the "right" to try and control a woman, like he tries to use Ophelia to further the extent of his fake insanity (that I believe eventually turns into insanity). [Ophelia] " 'My lord,...Lord Hamlet,...with a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors -- he comes before me.' [Polonius] 'Mad for thy love?' [Ophelia] 'My lord, I do not know.  But truly, I do fear it.' [Polonius] 'What said he?' [Ophelia] 'He took me by the wrist and held me hard...And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face As he would draw it.  Long stayed he so...That done, he lets me go, And, with his head over his shoulder turned, He seemed to find his way without his eyes, For out o' doors he went without their helps, And to the last bended their light on me' "(2.1.77-100)

I believe that this scene was a scene to show how Hamlet uses his love for Ophelia to help shape part of his fake insanity.  He is trying to use her, yet still love her.  At the same time.  GREAT IDEA HAMLET.  WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, HOW ABOUT GETTING A LIFE OTHER THAN INSANITY?

Hamlet also says something about how all women are seductive and trick men into choosing them for their beauty: [Hamlet] " ' Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.  To a nunnery, go, and quickly too.  Farewell.' " (3.1.138-39).
 Hamlet is telling Ophelia that all women are seductive, and cannot be trusted.  And also that their love is false and blows away, like Hamlet's mother's love for Hamlet's real father: [Hamlet] " 'Is this the prologue or the posy of a ring?' [Ophelia] ' 'Tis brief, my lord.' [Hamlet] 'As woman's love.' " (3.2.137-39).

Last point: Hamlet also mentions, near the end of the play, that no makeup can save a woman from death: " 'Alas, poor Yorik!...Not one now to mock your own grinning?  Quite cheapfallen?  Now get you to my lady's chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to  this favor she must come.  Make her laugh at that.' " (5.1.start at line 168, then 175-77).
I think that this is a metaphor for treachery.  No matter how much you try to cover up what has been done, that cover cannot hide your treachery.  No veil can cover your shame.

There is lots of similarity between the ideas portrayed in Hamlet and the ideas about women in the modern world.  Today, women are still kind of thought of as the "weaker sex" - not as strong as men at everything.

We're getting better at having strong female characters - in books, in movies, and in video games (characters like Chell from Portal; Kitana, Sonya Blade, and Mileena from the Mortal Combat Series; and Irileth from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), but we are also making women the "seductive" sex as well, with those same books, movies, and video games (games such as  League of Legends, which is targeted at males and features many female characters dressed immodestly).

Many movies have a love interest, where the male likes the female, or the female uses her beauty to seduce the male into doing something for her (this is usually when she's working for the bad guys).  There are even lots of women characters that are on the "bad side" or the "dark side" or the "evil side".  I think that in those stories, women are being portrayed as the dark side, and men are the poor guys who are preyed on by those "dark side" females.

And there are still people who say (and I am guilty of this as well) "you scream like a girl!" or "come on, don't be a girl." or even "fight like a man!"; "man up!".  That's mainly the guys talking (most girls usually say "c'mon and fight like a girl!").  Or even in Big Hero 6, when GoGo Tomago says "Stop whining.  Woman up." to Hiro - we're trying to fit people into a category.  If they're a guy, then they are "supposed" to be masculine or fit into a preset "code" of what men are supposed to be.  And sometimes we try to fit women into that code, too - except they don't fit, and so apparently they are not worth as much because they don't fit the "one size fits all" template for men.

We still act like there is one pattern that everyone should fit - either one for men and one for women, or one for everyone to try to fit into.

-bookhouse4

Sources:

• http://nfs.sparknotes.com/hamlet/ (No Fear Shakespeare)
• http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Women_Characters_in_Video_Games
• My personal experience with "personalized" ads from League of Legends  and watching my cousin play it.
• Big Hero 6
• The original play
• Shakespeare
• Other people
• Stuff

I Am From...

*Don't mistake this poem for a horribly done piece; I purposely wrote it so that not everything rhymes or goes together.*

I'm from family trips and sleepless nights,
From perfectionists and "try-hards".
From the climbing tree within our sight,
And from the north star in the cold.

I'm from "Thank you, Father" and running behind,
From the digital pictures of sunsets.
From the hugs of Grandma,
And from the already-known jokes of Grandpa.

I'm from Buffalo and Minnesota,
From Germany and Ireland.
From "Land of the Free",
And from orchestra and even band.

I'm from paw prints in the snow,
From black against the cold.
From love before anything else,
And from gone before I knew.

I'm from "Jesus loves me",
From pearly gates.
From memory verses,
And from "patiently watch and wait".

I'm from Amy and Chris,
From eleven aunts and uncles.
From football on Thanksgiving,
And from innumerous cousins.

I'm from mice and frogs,
From watching the stars.
From running down the hill,
And from fear of driving cars.

I'm from squishing anthills,
From saving the forest.
From wishing for Australia,
And from talking in a British accent.

I'm from silly pointless videos,
From thousands and thousands of photos.
From birthdays without presents,
And from hiking to another waterfall.

I'm from many groups of friends,
From minimums and over achievers.
From jumper cables,
And from fruit ninjas.

I'm from poetry and writing,
From millions of words.
From challenging the limits,
And from learning new chords.

I'm from acting out stories,
From singing to myself.
From crying under the covers,
And from missing friends lost.

I'm from hating evolution,
From the Truth and not the Lie,
I'm from trusting in the Cross,
And from having no fear if I die.

I'm from debating sometimes losing,
From people-rejected ideas,
From persevering on,
And from succeeding in the end.

I'm from Max Mortingham,
From Heretida and Circeryn,
From Kamani and Aero,
And from more of their kin.

I'm from myself and my life,
From my days and my times,
From choosing my own path,
And from living beyond time.

-bookhouse4

I HATE HAMLET AND THIS IS A DIFFICULT BLOG TO WRITE BECAUSE I CAN'T BE CREATIVE IN IT - Essential Question #6

How are women viewed in the play and how are some of those ideas and perceptions resonating today?

I HATE THIS STUPID BLOG.  DIE DIE DIE HAMLET STUPID HAMLET YOU DESERVE YOUR DEATH.  FORTINBRAS WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN YOU.

Okay.  Done ranting.

Let me first start this off with this: I am not the greatest fan of Hamlet.  I liked The Tragedy of Julius Caesar  better.  But that's just me.

I am also really bored and frustrated with this blog, because you told me what to write.  I hate that.  I also hate having many constraints on blogs.  (450 words < blog; 3 quotes from book; 4-8 OTHER REFERENCES to other things that "support my answer"; strong thesis or claim; etc.)

Anyway, here's my blog:

[STRONG THESIS OR CLAIM]
I think that women are being viewed in the play as weak and easily controlled.  They are thought of as worthless or of lesser value because they are "weaker" than men, even though certain characters (like Ophelia), to me, were worth more than the male characters in the story.  When Ophelia is insane, she is speaking truth about Gertrude and Claudius' treachery, without being blamed for it because she is insane.

Other than that, most other women characters (there was like two total) are considered weak, and women in general are considered weak.  Hamlet says:
[QUOTE #1 FROM PLAY]

"Frailty, thy name is woman!" (1.2.146b).

 And then, before he battles Laertes, he is feeling anxiety, and a strange feeling that something will go wrong in his fencing match.  At that time, he says this:
[QUOTE #2 FROM PLAY]

"It is but foolery, but it is such a kind of gain-giving as would/perhaps trouble a woman" (5.2. 203-04).

Hamlet obviously believes in the superiority of men, and also that he has the "right" to try and control a woman, like he tries to use Ophelia to further the extent of his fake insanity (that I believe eventually turns into insanity).
[QUOTE #3 FROM PLAY]

[Ophelia] " 'My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings fouled, Ungartered, and down-gyved to his ankle; Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors -- he comes before me.' [Polonius] 'Mad for thy love?' [Ophelia] 'My lord, I do not know.  But truly, I do fear it.' [Polonius] 'What said he?' [Ophelia] 'He took me by the wrist and held me hard.  Then goes he to the length of all his arm, And, with his other hand thus [<-450th WORD]o'er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face As he would draw it.  Long stayed he so.  At last, a little shaking of mine arm And thrice his head thus waving up and down, He raised a sigh so piteous and profound As it did seem to shatter all his bulk And end his being.  That done, he lets me go, And, with his head over his shoulder turned, He seemed to find his way without his eyes, For out o' doors he went without their helps, And to the last bended their light on me' "(2.1.77-100)

I believe that this scene was a scene to show how Hamlet uses his love for Ophelia to help shape part of his fake insanity.  He is trying to use her, yet still love her.  At the same time.  GREAT IDEA HAMLET.  WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, HOW ABOUT GETTING A LIFE OTHER THAN INSANITY?

Hamlet also says something about how all women are seductive and trick men into choosing them for their beauty.
[QUOTE #4 FROM PLAY]

[Hamlet] " ' Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.  To a nunnery, go, and quickly too.  Farewell.' " (3.1.138-39).

 Hamlet is telling Ophelia that all women are seductive, and cannot be trusted.  And also that their love is false and blows away, like Hamlet's mother's love for Hamlet's real father.
[QUOTE #5 FROM PLAY]

[Hamlet] " 'Is this the prologue or the posy of a ring?' [Ophelia] ' 'Tis brief, my lord.' [Hamlet] 'As woman's love.' " (3.2.137-39).

Last point: Hamlet also mentions, near the end of the play, that no makeup can save a woman from death.
[QUOTE #6 FROM PLAY]

" 'Alas, poor Yorik!...Not one now to mock your own grinning?  Quite cheapfallen?  Now get you to my lady's chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to  this favor she must come.  Make her laugh at that.' " (5.1.start at line 168, then 175-77).

I think that this is a metaphor for treachery.  No matter how much you try to cover up what has been done, that cover cannot hide your treachery.  No veil can cover your shame.

In the modern day, there is a lot of similarity in thought to what is believed in the characters in Hamlet.  In the modern world, women are still kind of thought of as the "weaker sex" - not as strong as men at everything.

[REFERENCES TO OTHER STUFF THAT APPARENTLY IS SUPPOSED TO SUPPORT MY POINT.  I'M TOO LAZY TO MARK THEM ALL WITH MY SARCASTIC BRACKETS.]
We're getting better at having strong female characters - in books, in movies, and in video games (characters like Chell from Portal; Kitana, Sonya Blade, and Mileena from the Mortal Combat Series; and Irileth from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), but we are also making women the "seductive" sex as well, with those same books, movies, and video games (games such as  League of Legends, which is targeted at males and features many female characters dressed immodestly).

Many movies have a love interest, where the male likes the female, or the female uses her beauty to seduce the male into doing something for her (this is usually when she's working for the bad guys).  There are even lots of women characters that are on the "bad side" or the "dark side" or the "evil side".  I think that in those stories, women are being portrayed as the dark side, and men are the poor guys who are preyed on by those "dark side" females.

And there are still people who say (and I am guilty of this as well) "you scream like a girl!" or "come on, don't be a girl." or even "fight like a man!"; "man up!".  That's mainly the guys talking (most girls usually say "c'mon and fight like a girl!").

I don't really know how to end this, and I have way more than enough words, but lets just say that I think I got everything, and this post has become my absolute least favorite blog post of them all.  It's just dragging on for me, and so I'm ending it.

Bye.

-bookhouse4

Sources:

• http://nfs.sparknotes.com/hamlet/ (No Fear Shakespeare)
• http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Women_Characters_in_Video_Games
• My personal experience with "personalized" ads from League of Legends  and watching my cousin play it.
• The original play
• Shakespeare
• Other people
• Stuff

A Wrinkle In Time-Part 2 [Blog post #4 {FINAL} from 7th grade Quest English]

I'm back with more from A Wrinkle In Time!  I left off with Camazotz, didn't I?  Well, after that the children and Mr. Murry (Meg's father) have to leave and go to Ixchel and leave Charles Wallace behind because they cannot overcome and fight IT.  When Meg goes through the Black Thing, she gets frozen and everyone thinks that she is dead.  She is then taken care of by creatures that are fuzzy and have tentacles, but cannot hear or see or smell because they have no faces.

They were the same dull gray color as the flowers.  If they hadn't walked upright they would have seemed like animals.  They moved directly toward the three human beings.  They had four arms and far more than five fingers to each hand, and the fingers were not fingers, but long waving tentacles.  They had heads, and they had faces.  but where the faces of the creatures on Uriel had seemed far more than human faces, these seemed far less.  Where the features would normally be there were several indentations, and in place of ears and hair there were more tentacles.  They were tall, meg realized as they came closer, far taller than any man.  They had no eyes, just soft indentations.

After reading this section about the creatures and the pain Meg is in from being frozen and going through the Black Thing, and Meg's father's disappearance, the trauma lens could also be applied.  Meg is really impacted by the disappearance of her father, and that could be considered as trauma because she is picked on and beat up by the kids at school.  She forms a closer relationship with Charles Wallace for support and also because she cares for him, but when they have to leave him behind on Camazotz when they escape from IT, she freaks out and is really unreasonable, taking it out on her father, even though she has missed him and loves him.  Meg feels like her father doesn't care for her, but when Charles Wallace was with her on Camazotz, and has become a part of IT, she feels so helpless and stressed because she cannot bring Charles Wallace back to her.  Charles Wallace is being mean to her newly found father and to Calvin and Meg.  It seems hopeless, but then Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which come to tesser the children back to Camazotz to finish their mission: to destroy IT and bring back the variation and differences in the people who live there.  Mrs. Which gives her the gift of her faults, and Meg goes back alone.

Yyou hhave ssomethhinngg thatt ITT hhass nnott.

But Meg doesn't understand what she means, and to know what she has that IT does not is the way she will triumph.

"You have nothing that IT hasn't got," Charles Wallace said coldly.  "How nice to have you back, dear sister.  We have been waiting for you.  We knew that Mrs. Whatsit would send you.  She is our friend, you know."  For an appalling moment Meg believed, and in that moment she felt her brain being gathered into IT.
"No!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.  "No!  You lie!"  For a moment she was free from ITs clutches again.  As long as I stay angry enough IT can't get me.  Is that what I have that IT doesn't have?
"Nonsense," Charles Wallace said.  "You have nothing that it doesn't have."
"You're lying," she replied, and she felt only anger toward this boy who was not Charles Wallace at all.  No, it was not anger, it was loathing; it was hatred, sheer and unadulterated, and as she became lost in hatred she also began to be lost in IT.  The red miasma swam before her eyes; her stomach churned in ITs rhythm.  Her body trembled with the strength of her hatred and the strength of IT.  With the last vestige of consciousness she jerked her mind and body.  Hate was nothing that IT didn't have.  IT knew all about hate.
"You are lying about that, and you were lying about Mrs. Whatsit!" she screamed.
"Mrs. Whatsit hates you," Charles Wallace said.  And that was where IT made ITs fatal mistake, for as Meg said, automatically, "Mrs. Whatsit loves me; that's what she told me, that she loves me," suddenly she knew.  She knew!  Love.  That was what IT did not have.

Meg saves her brother and destroys IT in the process.  She is brought back home, along with Calvin, Charles Wallace, and her father by Mrs. Whatsit.  What a feeling of relief Meg probably felt after she was home and safe, after saving a planet, her brother AND her father.  She also must have been happy, now that everyone is safe and her father is home again.  They show a unique kind of family love, one where no one is afraid to show their emotions for another family member, and they demonstrate that by the greetings and the hugging that progresses from the time that Meg and Charles Wallace touch down in the twins' vegetable garden.  Then, when Mrs. Whatsit, Who and Which turn up, and Meg feels even happier.

"Meg knew all at once that Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which must be near, because all through her she felt a flooding of joy and of love that was even greater and deeper than the joy and love which were already there.

The family, though, never gets to learn what it was that Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which had to do, because a gust of wind blows them away, and the three disappear.

>bookhouse4

A Wrinkle In Time-Part 1 [Blog post #3 from 7th grade Quest English]

A Wrinkle In Time expresses a lot of things many people are experiencing in life right now, including bullying, rejection, and the press of evil.  I connect to the main character Meg because I have also felt rejected, and people often think that there is something wrong with me, just like they did Meg and how they think of Charles Wallace.  I don't get beat up, and I don't really shout back and try to fight, but on the inside, when people talk behind my back and do other mean things, I am raging, like Meg.

And on the way home from school, walking up the road with her arms full of books, one of the boys had said something about her "dumb baby brother."  At this she'd thrown the books on the side of the road and tackled him with every ounce of strength she had, and arrived home with her blouse torn and a big bruise under one eye.

Meg has both physical and emotional conflict and stress in this story, as well as mental conflict, by way of her father missing and presumed dead, and her mother seems to be hiding something from Meg, Sandy, Dennys and Charles Wallace.  Meg's physical stresses and conflicts lie in her failing grades in school and her desire to strike back at the people who make her life miserable, causing her to get into even more trouble.  The failing grades and downgradement she receives from the other students add to her emotional stress and the conflicts in her life.

During lunch she'd rough-housed to make herself feel better, and one of the girls said scornfully, "After all, Meg, we aren't grammar-school kids any more.  Why do you always act like such a baby?"

I don't think that any other critical lens other than the Reader Response Theory would fit with this story, except maybe Structural Theory.  Throughout the book, I noticed that Meg's father is mentioned several times, and Meg's mother seems to avoid the subject of Meg's father every time.  Meg and her family also try to avoid mentioning Meg's father, and Meg gets angry every time someone asks after her father.

The postmistress must know that it was almost a year now since the last letter, and heaven knows how many people she'd told, or what unkind guesses she'd made about the reason for the long silence.  Mr. Jenkins waited for an answer, but Meg only shrugged."Just what was your father's line of business?" Mr. Jenkins asked.  "Some kind of scientist, wasn't he?""He is a physicist."  Meg bared her teeth to reveal the two ferocious lines of braces."Meg, don't you think you'd make a better adjustment to life if you faced facts?""I do face facts," Meg said.  "They're lots easier to face than people, I can tell you.""Then why don't you face facts about your father?""You leave my father out of it!" Meg shouted.

Her mother keeps trying to contact Mr. Murry, Meg's father, not wanting to give up on him, showing a kind of inner strength that only a few people have, but even she is getting discouraged.

"And you don't know where your father was sent?""No.  At first we got lots of letters.  Mother and Father always wrote each other every day.  I think Mother still writes him every night.  Every once in a while the postmistress makes some kind of a crack about all her letters.""I suppose they think she's pursuing him or something." Calvin said, rather bitterly.  "They can't understand plain, ordinary love when they see it.  Well, go on.  What happened next?""Nothing happened," Meg said.  "That's the trouble.""Well, what about your father's letters?""They just stopped coming.""You haven't heard anything at all?""No," Meg said.  "Nothing."  Her voice was heavy with misery.

Another thing I noticed was that Calvin is very insightful on many things, like love, for instance, as he said above about "plain, ordinary love" and what people think when they see it.  Charles Wallace also seems to be very bright and has almost a soul connection with everyone, because he knows what his sister Meg and his mother are doing, all the time.  He also says that he only listens to certain people, and some are harder to listen to than others.

The Structural Theory also makes this easier to understand.  It is told from Meg's side of story and what she is experiencing at any given moment (not first person), giving this story a more personal feel and makes you really want to help Meg find her father.  Meg does have a flashback at the beginning, reflecting on her father and what he had said to her about Meg and Charles Wallace being special and not like Sandy and Dennys.

"Don't worry about Charles Wallace, Meg," her father had once told her.  Meg remembered it very clearly because it was shortly before he went away.  "There's noting the matter with his mind.  He just does things in his own way and in his own time."

"I don't want him to grow up to be dumb like me," Meg had said. 

"Oh, my darling, you're not dumb," her father answered.  "You're like Charles Wallace.  Your development has to go at its own pace.  It just doesn't happen to be the usual pace." 

...

"IQ tests, you mean?" 

"Yes, some of them.""Is my IQ okay?" 

"More than okay." 

"What is it?" 

"That I'm not going to tell you.  But it assures me that both you and Charles Wallace will be able to do pretty much whatever you like when you grow up to yourselves.  You just wait till Charles Wallace starts to talk.  You'll see."

There is something about Meg and Charles Wallace that is different from Sandy and Dennys, who are both normal kids.  Meg and Charles Wallace are like me in the sense that they both don't go at the "normal" pace, just like me.  Ever since I was little, I have been kind of the "top" of my class gradewise.  I learned to read before Kindergarten.  Then I got into Quest, and now I am still ahead of other "normal" seventh graders.

In the book, it talks about a "Black Thing" that is covering all the worlds, and is overpowering some of them.  The Black Thing is equated to Darkness, and the light that fights it off as God.  At this point in the book I thought that it was very spiritual, and this is a great representation not only of the Christian faith, but also of the world we live in today.  We are all fighting against evil and darkness in our lives.  Power really does corrupt.

I liked it when the Murry's are all reunited in the end, and Meg's father is freed.  The tesseract that he first went into had accidentally sent him to the wrong place, and the people working with him were meddling with time, but they didn't know the correct way to use it, not like Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Which, who have lived for years and years and are very good at tessering.

Part of this story (when the children land on Camazotz) could be classified as dystopian, because the world is controlled by IT, a giant brain, who makes everything equal and in sync.  IT even offers to let them join IT on Camazotz and become equal like everyone else, and ensnares Charles Wallace.  For IT, Camazotz is a utopia because everyone is under IT's control, with no say in the ruling of Camazotz whatsoever.

Look for part 2...

>bookhouse4

Animal Farm [Blog post #2 from 7th grade Quest English]

In the first part of Animal Farm, the future Old Major envisions is a beautiful one, where all animals are equal, and there is no master.  He also promises that the animals will be able to keep the fruits of their labor, instead of giving them up to the humans.

"Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours?  Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.  We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end, we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty."

Old Major also believes that after the fall of man, when the beasts of England take over, there will be leisure and prosperity, with enough food for everyone.  Then Old Major teaches the animals the song "Beasts of England" and three days later, dies in his sleep.  Soon after, the Rebellion happens, and Old Major's dream is realized, but I noticed that starting before the Rebellion, the pigs Napoleon and Snowball seem to be the ones in charge.  I also noticed that Old Major makes all the animals promise that they will not adopt the ways of men, but after the Rebellion, it is discovered that the pigs have learned to read, which is a human action (page 9)
When it comes time to harvest and work in the fields, the pigs stand on the sides and direct the other animals, instead of working, as seen on page 11.  

The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others.  With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership.  Boxer and Clover would harness themselves to the cutter or the horse-rake (no bits or reins were needed in these days, of course) and tramp steadily round and round the field with a pig walking behind and calling out 'Gee up, comrade!' or 'Woah back, comrade!' as the case might be.

Also, commandment number 7 says that "All animals are equal" (found on page 9) is similar to the American words of "All men are created equal".  I think that this is somehow connected to how we today do not act like all men are equal, but we are supposed to, and I think that the animals will start acting like a certain animal is better than other animals.  Soon the animals have a flag, and the pigs are starting to learn blacksmithing and carpentry, which are human arts.  I don't understand why the animals (especially the pigs) are starting to lean more towards the human ways, and not long after the Rebellion, too!  The pigs start to teach reading and writing, and eventually shorten the seven commandments to one maxim, that being FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD.  I think that the pigs shortened the commandments so that they could get away with breaking the other "less important" commandments, and the smarter animals won't notice.  But what I think is ironic is that Napoleon and Snowball are the ones who created the Commandments, but they are the only ones breaking them.

After much thought Snowball declared that the Seven Commandments could in effect be reduced to a single maxim, namely: 'Four legs good, two legs bad.'  This, he said, contained the essential principle of Animalism.  Whoever had thoroughly grasped it would be safe from human influences.

 Napoleon then takes the puppies from their mother, just like Jones did.  He says that he was going to take it upon himself to train them (page 14).

It happened that Jessie and Bluebell had both whelped soon after the hay harvest, giving birth between them to nine sturdy puppies.  As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for their education.  He took them up into a loft which could only be reached by a ladder from the harness-room, and there kept them in such seclusion that the rest of the farm soon forgot their existence.

Then the pigs take all the windfall apples and milk for themselves, cutting the food supply down, claiming that they need to stay healthy or Jones will come back to the farm.  They are slowly taking all the food for themselves, like Jones did at one point.
When the men come to try and take back Animal Farm, the animals have an organized battle, like men.  Then, when Boxer strikes down a man, he feels regret, which is odd, and says that he does not wish to take life, even a human one (page 17)

"I have no wish to take life, not even human life," repeated Boxer, and his eyes were filled with tears.

Then Snowball suggests that the animals build a windmill, which is almost against all the principles of Animalism, and is chased out by the puppies that Napoleon trained.  The dogs wag their tails to Napoleon, as if he is their master, like the dogs used to do to Jones.  Napoleon starts to become the center of everything, which I believe is completely unfair to the other animals on the farm.  At this point, I think that it is unavoidable that the pigs take control and start to "rule" the other animals.
When Napoleon spreads the rumor that Snowball is coming in the night and causing mischief, he calls all the animals to him and kills anyone who is even slightly suspected of working with Snowball.  

These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when Old Major first stirred them to rebellion.

Napoleon has broken another commandment of Animalism.  I believe that Napoleon wants all the animals to believe that Snowball is behind everything so that he can get away with other things, such as sleeping in beds, and changing the commandments to his specifications.  Only Clover the horse and Benjamin the donkey seem to think that anything is wrong on the farm.
When Boxer even once questions Squealer, Squealer looks at him with an ugly look, one that I think could be a look of hate.  And then Napoleon outlaws the singing of Beasts of England, having a new song made about him.  He is no longer 'Comrade Napoleon,' he is 'Napoleon, Our Leader,' making him the most powerful animal on the farm.  

Friend of fatherless!  Fountain of happiness!  Lord of the swill-bucket!  Oh how my soul is on Fire when I gaze at thy Calm and commanding eye, Like the sun in the sky, Comrade Napoleon!  Thou are the giver of All that thy creatures love, Full belly twice a day, clean straw to roll upon; Every beast great or small Sleeps at peace within his stall, Thou watchest over all, Comrade Napoleon!  Had I a sucking-pig, Ere he had grown as big Even as a pint bottle or a rolling-pin, He should have learned to be, Faithful and true to thee, Yes, his first squeak should be "Comrade Napoleon!"

The song is even inscribed on the opposite side of the barn from the Seven Commandments.  Napoleon has even started trading with the humans, forcing the hens to give up their eggs as "sacrifice," and also selling some of the hay and animal feed that is needed, even though all the animals on the farm are starving except the pigs.
Soon after, the men from neighboring farms come to attack again, and they destroy the windmill that the animals worked two years on.
Then the pigs find a case of whiskey in the basement of Jones' house, and apparently drink it, for there is rowdiness, and another of the Seven Commandments is broken.  Then Snowball is found on the ground with a smashed ladder by the Seven Commandments and a can of paint with brush.  Benjamin realizes that the pigs are changing the commandments, but doesn't say a word.

But a few days later Muriel, reading over the Seven Commandments to herself, noticed that there was yet another of them which the animals had remembered wrong.  They had thought the Fifth Commandment was 'No animal shall drink alcohol,' but there were two words that they had forgotten.  Actually the Commandment said 'No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.

The pigs are really changing the way the animal life is to be carried out at Animal Farm, and only Benjamin really understands what is going on.  The food is very short, and rations keep getting cut, except for the pigs rations.  Boxer is about retiring age, and he wants to get the windmill underway before he retires, but his hoof is paining him.  Soon all the barley is reserved for the pigs, cutting food really low.  But another thing that angers me is that all the animals dismiss the fact of Squealer and the ladder as Squealer just falling off, and don't question what Squealer was really doing.  

About this time there occurred a strange incident which hardly anyone was able to understand.  One night at about twelve o'clock there was a loud crash in the yard, and all the animals rushed out of their stalls.  It was a moonlit night.  At the foot  of the end wall of the big barn, where the Seven Commandments were written, there lay a ladder broken in two pieces.

Only Benjamin has understood from the beginning what is happening, but he doesn't leave.  Maybe because he knows that if other Animal Farms take root, wherever he goes he will be exposed to the same thing that is happening on his own farm.
Tragedy strikes!  Boxer, when he is working on dragging stone for a new windmill, falls and can't get up.  The pigs say that they will send him to a hospital managed my humans, but when the van comes, it has the name of a knacker's on it, and only Benjamin and Clover realize this, for the rest of the animals are reassured by Squealer.  Then Squealer tells them that Boxer died at the hospital.  I think that Squealer was part of the decision to send Boxer to the knackers, because Boxer doubted him that one time.  This reminds me of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, because Black Beauty sees a hunting horse shot and carried off, and I believe that the horse was taken to the knacker's.
After years, there are only the pigs, Clover, and Benjamin left who remember the Rebellion and Jones, though barely (page 49).  Soon Squealer takes all the sheep to an abandoned and overgrown area of the farm, and the sheep stay there for a week.  When they come back, Squealer is walking on his hind legs, and all the pigs can walk on their hind legs.  Napoleon carries a whip, and the sheep have a new maxim.  'Four legs good, two legs better!'  Then Clover leads Benjamin over to the wall with the Seven Commandments, which is only one commandment now, and reads 

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

This is now what the pigs practice daily, coming out to the fields where the other animals are working, they all carry whips, and they subscribe to newspapers and magazines.  They also want to install a telephone in the farmhouse.  None of the animals think it is strange when the pigs raid Jones' wardrobe and wear his clothes around the farm, except Benjamin and Clover.  Then Napoleon invites neighboring farms to come and inspect the farm, and all the farms are impressed, but the animals working do not know to be more afraid of the pigs or of the humans (page 52).  Then the pigs invite the farmers in to drink a toast and play cards, but no one notices the animals gathered at the windows looking in.  Then Napoleon reveals that Animal Farm was to be called Manor Farm again, and that the flag has been made back into a blank green flag.  He tells the farmers that he will keep all the animals under his strict control, like slaves, as Jones once did.  He also agrees to live peacefully with the other farms around Animal Farm.  When the animals try to pick out the pigs from the humans, though, no one can tell which is which, meaning that the pigs have become like humans, completely against what Old Major wanted when he first told all the animals on Manor Farm about Beasts of England and his thoughts on the Rebellion.  I really do not like this ending, and I think that it is very sad.  You could kind of tell that this was what would happen to Animal Farm from the beginning of the book.  This type of ending seems familiar, but I can't remember what this ending is like.

>bookhouse4

A Pail of Air [Blog post #1 from 7th grade Quest English]

Dystopia Journal Prompt Responses:

Q: Is the world (or this country) getting better or worse?  Why or how?
-Were things, in general, better 50 years ago?  How will things change over the next 50?
-Why do you think dystopian novels and post-apocalyptic stories are so popular right now?

A: The world gets worse for a while, and then it improves just a little bit.  The same goes for the United States.  For us it is mainly the economy and the people, but then something big happens, good or bad, and everything goes in that direction for a while, then turns around and goes right back to where it started.  There's global warming, terrorists, then the fiscal cliff and the President of the United States, and wars, and sometimes the world can get really messed up. That includes the United States.

- 50 years ago it was a little better, but it still was kind of like it is now.  In the next 50 years, I don't think that it will really change, unless world peace or something else happens that brings all the world together.

- I think that dystopian novels are popular probably because they are what people think are the closest to the future and want an idea of what will happen, even though no one really knows what will happen in the future.  Plus, people want something more besides boring life, where everyone lives with their phone or device as their prime focus and their home. People live half their lives on their phones and social media rather than in the moment.  Also, the dystopian stories are about young people standing up for themselves and others, and fighting back against the rules and regulations that surround their world.


Welcome to my reading blog!  I'll be posting about a few dystopian books/stories on this site, but mainly I'll be focusing on another genre.  Today I'll be posting on a story called A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber.

This story really reminds me of Astronomy class and what we are learning about stars and everything else.  I remember learning that eventually the Sun would grow into a Red Giant and consume Earth and all the close-up planets, and that the Earth would either die in Fire or Ice, but that it was more likely that the Earth would die in Fire.  A Pail of Air turns that around and makes it seem as though a Black Dwarf star would come out of nowhere and steal the Earth away from the heat and warmth of the Sun, and we would be left in ice, with violent earthquakes and ice so thick and so cold that almost everyone is frozen, and you have to boil air to breathe.

I think that the author is trying to make a statement in writing this story.  They are trying to make it known that we need to be more prepared for what is coming next - the Future.  But also, he is saying that the human race is too stubborn to give up right away, and that we will fight until we can't do anything more, and then fight some more until everything is gone and there is nothing left.  That is one of the things I detected in this story.  For example:  

"So I asked myself then," he said, "what's the use of going on?  What's the use of dragging it out for a few years?  Why prolong a doomed existence of hard work and cold and loneliness?  The human race is done.  The Earth is done.  Why not give up, I asked myself - and all of a sudden I got the answer...Life's always been a business of working hard and fighting the cold," Pa was saying.  "The Earth's always been a lonely place, millions of miles from the next planet.  And no matter how long the human race might have lived, the end would have come some night.  Those things don't matter.  What matters is that life is good...It makes everything else worthwhile.  And that's as true for the last man as the first."

In this section Pa is saying that he needed a reason to hold on to life and keep the human race alive, and he found that in the fact that "life is good," no matter how cliche that is, it is true in some aspects.  I personally thought that the beginning of the story is a little bit creepy and horror-story beginning, and this was not my favorite story, but it had an interesting twist at the end, when it is realized that the Nest is not the only human existence on Earth.  The story is set in an era unpredicted by scientists and astronomers, when the Earth is pulled into darkness and cold, and not devoured by a Red Giant star.

I am personally not really interested in the dystopian genre, as it usually makes me feel depressed and hopeless, but that's just me.  Other than that, the story was well written, and could really get you to imagine what everything looked like and how it happened, even if the beginning was kind of creepy.

Signing off,
bookhouse4

> My next post will be on the book Animal Farm by George Orwell...

The Interview

What I got out of Plato  (At least, what I ended up thinking about it afterward)

[regular text is the part of Socrates - in my words]

hi.

hello.

can I help you?

possibly.

would you like help?

if you can help me.

if you tell me what it is I can help you.

but if you don't know what it is, can you help me?

no.

then if you don't know, you can’t help me.

correct.

therefore if I don't tell you what it is, you can't help me.

precisely.

but if I want help I have to tell you what it is.

yes.

what if I don't want help?

everyone needs some help.

what if I don't?

then you are a fool - everyone needs help.

but I'm trying to tell you that I don't need help.

where is this conversation going?

I'm explaining to you a fundamental principle.

what point are you trying to make?

that your ideas are quite odd.  not everyone needs help.

but that is the point I'm trying to bring across - that everyone needs help.

and I am trying to refute that point.

I don't understand you.

neither I, you.

repeat your point.

are you Siri?

possibly.

you talk in circles.

are you comparing me to someone?

maybe.

you do not understand me and I do not understand you.

shall we go our separate ways?

that would be to our benefit.

then I say goodbye.

farewell stranger.

the cereal must come too.

put it in a bag.

oookaaaaay.

-bookhouse4