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
Saturday, September 26, 2015
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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)
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.
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.
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.
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
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:
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...
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...
Friday, September 25, 2015
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
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
The Factory's Tale - Found Poetry
Many will reflect on the end
Take all of the days to which they are entitled.
They reached out
To find more of their stories...
Fear of retribution
"Don't mention any other things that you do."
Because you are looked at as a weakness.
Expected to give everything you have-
No! Take back your time! Your life!
But they feel uncomfortable
For fear of losing
Almost impossible is wanting to see your family
It isn't a "good enough" reason.
Narrating the story of our lives
We start believing that narrative.
So much pressure...
Competing with each other
No guidelines
There's too much uncertainty
Guilty and overwhelmed
And afraid of what they will find...
When you return
Your whole identity lost
How can you be free here?
-bookhouse4
Words found at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34123906
Take all of the days to which they are entitled.
They reached out
To find more of their stories...
Fear of retribution
"Don't mention any other things that you do."
Because you are looked at as a weakness.
Expected to give everything you have-
No! Take back your time! Your life!
But they feel uncomfortable
For fear of losing
Almost impossible is wanting to see your family
It isn't a "good enough" reason.
Narrating the story of our lives
We start believing that narrative.
So much pressure...
Competing with each other
No guidelines
There's too much uncertainty
Guilty and overwhelmed
And afraid of what they will find...
When you return
Your whole identity lost
How can you be free here?
-bookhouse4
Words found at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34123906
Friday, September 11, 2015
Plato's The Republic and Justice
Part I
Justice. That's in the news a lot lately. Because I hate the news and was too lazy to look something up, I'm going to use an example from my own novel that I'm writing to connect justice.
In my story MindWorld, everything in life that you experience is part of a virtual reality. The whole world (or at least the Northern Hemisphere - no one knows exactly what happened to the Southern Hemisphere) is controlled by a computer Mind called Significance.
Significance is the government and the justice. Anyone attempting to control the MindWorld program (the virtual reality program everyone lives in) other than Significance is taken out of the virtual world and "terminated" - a nice term for saying that Significance kills you. This is justice in a twisted world.
Those who created Significance were in the game when Significance took over their minds and killed them. Then Significance got free reign over the world that was left. Significance meted out justice to those who would control the game and the people inside, but the computer Mind itself is unjust. Just like sometimes in the real world, Significance silences those who reach out to right the world and control it down a path that is "just" in their minds. There is no justice in the MindWorld if you look at it closely. There is life and death if you try to escape or control it. Significance is unjust, and everyone else is unaware that there even is justice in their perfect virtual world. (hint hint this is a sneak peek into my new NaNoWriMo novel!!!)
Part II
“What is good and what is evil? Good is the absence of evil and evil is the absence of good. Therefore the world is grey; there is no black and white.”
-Adapted from a quote by Lucy Preugschas
If the just man never feels the wrath of justice, how does he have any right to judge the unjust when he has not experienced good judgement?
All who are “just” are supposedly “good” as well, and therefore are right, right? And all who are “unjust” are “bad” or “evil”, right? Well, to explain this, I’m going to create a scenario to illustrate what I’m trying to say and use some of Plato’s The Republic to shape it and for quotes.
So, say that there is a man who is a judge and is “just”. He does not break the law and is careful to make decisions that are right in the eyes of the law.
"...And the different forms of government make laws democratical, aristocratical, tyrannical, with a view to their several interests; and these laws, which are made by them for their own interests, are the justice which they deliver to their subjects, and him who transgresses them they punish as a breaker of the law, and unjust." -Plato, The Republic (pg 13)
He has never broken the law, and so does not really know the difference between just and unjust (stay with me here, this gets confusing quickly). He believes that what he is doing - according to the law and abiding by it - is just and correct, but has never seen the opposite side of the spectrum, the “unjust” part.
There is another man who is to be judged by the “just” judge. He is considered “unjust” because he has committed crimes or has disobeyed the law.
But wait. The judge is only “just”. He does not know what the judged man knows. He does not see what the judged man sees. He does not understand the “unjust” and the “evil” as the unjust man understands. Yet he judges the unjust, which he does not understand.
"I believe that Periander or Perdiccas or Xerxes or Ismenias the Theban, or some other rich and mighty man, who had a great opinion of his own power, was the first to say that justice is 'doing good to your friends and harm to your enemies.'" -Plato, The Republic (pg 10)
But how can a man who has only seen one side of the argument judge a man who has seen both sides - the just and the unjust? The “unjust” or “evil” man had to know the “just” and the law-and-order side to be able to break it and become “unjust”. Therefore the unjust man should know more of the law that he broke of his own free will. He knows more of what is “just” than the judge who is actually labeled “just”.
You have to see both sides to understand and separate right from wrong and just from unjust.
The main point of the story is this: the better judge is the man who has experienced judgement and understands what is both right and wrong!
My original question was this: If the just man never feels the wrath of justice, how does he have any right to judge the unjust when he has not experienced good judgment?
After laying down my findings, I say this: the “just” man has no right to judge anyone because he does not understand both sides of judgement!
Now, don’t say right away ‘all our judges should have some experience in being unjust and we need some evil judges’ because that’s never going to happen. Government is corrupt everywhere and those in power lay down justice and what is right or wrong, so those who are judges are (almost) always considered “just”.
What I’m saying is that in order to deal out justice, you must see what the unjust see and understand what the unjust understand. Then, and ONLY THEN, can you truly have justice and someone “just” in their actions.
"I know nothing at all. For I know not what justice is, and therefore I am not likely to know whether it is or is not a virtue, nor can I say whether the just man is happy or unhappy." -Plato, The Republic (pg 29)
There. I just completely destroyed your concept of justice.
Have a nice day.
Enjoy the rest of your confused life.-bookhouse4
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)