1/31/2019 5 Comments Laura RestrepoLaura Restrepo August 9, 1950 Bogotá, Colombia
Laura Restrepo typical themes are surrounded around one's mental ability being able to keep sane in an unstable society/country. She makes her themes angled around one alienation in a nonfiction environment. Summary: Delirium by Laura Restrepo is a novel concerning main characters Aguilar, an unemployed literate professur who now resortes his occupation to selling canned dog food. And his wife Agustina who when Aguilar returned from his trip encounters his once sane wife terribly mad, in a state of insanity. The story progresses as a almost detective story of Aguilar trying to uncover the reasoning behind this wifes madness. Darker and darker secrets come to surface as we take a look into Augustinas unknown past. We discovr along the stories progression other characters such as Midas, a drug trafficking money enthuses ex-lover. As well as Nicolás, Agustinstas grandfather, we continue the story uncovering more and more reason behind the unsettling truth on Agustina insanity. Analysis of Main Characters: Agustina: beautiful upper-class women, driven from a Colombian family Aguilar: husband of Austina, unemployed literature professor who now sells dog food Midas: Drug-trafficker, money-launderer, Augustinas former lover Nicolás: Augustinas grandfather Theme: The theme portrayed within Delirium is how one's experience can affect your mental stability. She portrays these themes through a unstable environment a character has been in, and displays how they can affect a character. At the age of 16, Laura Restrepo was a sophomore in college, working as a literature teacher in a public school for boys. This experience allowed for Laura to be able to first hand learn the disturbing truth about students within her school, all of which was apart of the lower-class spectrum, and experienced and knew more than she did. This experience ended up changing her perspective for the better, she stated how, "beyond the nuclear family and the land of wonders that is high culture, there lay a whole universe to be explored that was broad and remote, fierce and exciting." Shortly after, Restrepo took it upon herself to learn more about her country, as well as about the violence and poverty aspects of the societal downfalls in Columbia. Her experience allowed for her to tie these concepting within her writing, she incorporated these struggles within her stories. Poverty is something that she elaborated her knowledge on. She incorporated this knowledge within Delirium by setting that tone of the story through an “unemployed literate professor, who is now selling dog food”. This not only gave the setting a more normalized vibe, being that the characters are not rolling in stacks of unnecessary amounts of money. It set the tone of typical individuals within Columbia at the time period as well. Work Cited: "Restrepo, Laura: 1950—: Journalist, Political Activist, Novelist.". “Restrepo, Laura: 1950-: Journalist, Political Activist, Novelist.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed, Encyclopedia.com, 2019, By: Sharaia K.
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1/28/2019 8 Comments Cixin LiuCixin Liu June 23 1963-Present Shanxi, China
Major Works: Novels: China 2185 (中国2185) (1989) The Devil's Bricks (魔鬼积木) (2002) The Era of Supernova (超新星纪元) (2003) Ball Lightning (球状闪电) (2004) The Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy (published in English by Tor Books): The Three-Body Problem (三体) (2007) The Dark Forest (黑暗森林) (2008) Death's End (死神永生) (2010) Short Stories: The Longest Fall (地球大炮) (1998) The Micro-Age (微纪元) (1998) The Whale's song (鲸歌) (1999) With Her Eyes (带上她的眼睛) (1999; republished 2004) Inferno (地火) (2000) The Wandering Earth (流浪地球) (2000) The Rural Teacher (乡村教师) (2001) Full Spectrum Barrage Jamming (全频带阻塞干扰) (2001) Devourer (吞食者) (2002) The Glory and the Dream (光荣与梦想) (2003) Of Ants and Dinosaurs (白垩纪往事) (2003) The Wages of Humanity (赡养人类) (2005) Mountain (山) (2006) Migration across Time (时间移民) (2014) 2018 (2014) Sea of Dreams(梦之海) (2015) Weight Of Memories (2016) Major Themes: Exploration/human curiosity Don’t become too engrossed with one idea or problem, it might take over your life Scientific discovery Novel Choice Plot Summary: The novel I chose is The Three Body Problem This book switches back and forth from the perspectives of the two main characters, Ye Wenje and Wang Miao. The book begins from the perspective of Ye Wenje, an astrophysics student, during the chinese cultural revolution in the 1960’s. She witnesses the death of her father, supported by her sister and mother.She is marked as a traitor and forced to join a labor force. She gets into trouble for supposedly co-authoring a letter written by journalist that criticises the government, when all she did was write down what he wanted to say because his hands were injured. She is almost sent to prison, but is rescued by Yang Weining and Lei Zhicheng and brought to Red Coast base, a project for using microwaves/ radio waves to attempt to contact aliens. She discovers that radio waves can be amplified by bouncing them off of the sun and sends a message. Several years later, she finally receives a message back. At this point, she had become so obsessed with the idea of aliens becoming the solution to humanity's problems that she cannot see past Yang and Lei’s warnings and responds to the message. She later kills both Yang and Lei to keep the message and her conversations a secret. After leaving Red Coast and becoming a college professor, Ye meets Mike Evans, who shares her beliefs that aliens can help humanity, and they create an organization of scientists and world leaders who share their ideas. The aliens agree to assist them, in exchange for the lives of their descendants when the aliens finally reach earth. In present time, Wang Miao, a nanotechnology professor, is asked to work with a group of government officials and other scientists to solve the mysterious deaths/suicides of several scientists within the last few months- including Ye Wenjie’s daughter, Yang Dong.He begins to hallucinate a countdown clock over his vision and is introduced to the virtual reality game Three Body. The environment of the Three Body game randomly switches between stable eras of peaceful weather, and Chaotic eras of extreme heat or cold. Wang discovers that the seemingly random changes are caused by the planets three suns, and that the planet is being randomly pulled into the gravity of the three suns. Wang Miao eventually discovers what Ye did, and she is arrested. They discover that the aliens possess a type of computer that could forever change humanity, and begin to prepare for the aliens to arrive on earth. Because this book is the first in a trilogy, the story continues in the next book and does not yet reach a conclusion. Analysis of Main Characters: Ye Wenjie: Ye Wenjie is the reason that Earth is now facing an alien invasion, but she had her reasons for contacting them.She grew up during the Chinese cultural revolution, a time period where anyone who held “opposing” views (like her father) could be killed. It was an extremely violent period, and extremely young children could be convinced to take part in the fighting. Wenjie’s younger sister, a high school student, was supportive of her father's murder and was killed in the fighting. Her mother, after witnessing her father’s death, loses her sanity. Many of her other friends also died. Having experienced some of the worst sides of humanity at such a young age left her angry and frustrated with humanity. By the time she reaches Red Coast, she can think of nothing other than finding these aliens and finding a solution to humanities issues, so much that she killed her close friends to keep the message a secret and seems very unbothered by her daughter’s death. Wang Miao: Wang Miao is suddenly thrown into the mystery of dead scientists and strange radio signals. After begrudgingly participating in the first few days, he becomes obsessed with solving this problem. Despite this, Wang Miao has lots of growth through the novel. He goes from caring very little about the state of the world and just trying to go about his job, to becoming key to defending earth from incoming aliens and attempting to save humanity. Theme: The main theme of this novel is to find a balance between doing things for yourself and doing things for the good of the world. Ye Wenjie can see only the future and humanity as a whole, and she dooms her descendants and the descendants of her fellow scientists to suffer while only thinking about the big picture. She doesn't care at all about a few lives if it means that her obsession of improving humanity is achieved. Wang Miao realises that he is too self centered and attempts to undo the mistakes of the past by assisting humanity. He attempts to help humanity while also bettering himself. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) The biggest ways that Cixin Liu’s life influenced his novel is through the setting of Ye Wenjie’s story. Cixin Liu was born in Yangquan, Shanxi, China, in 1963 during the cultural revolution and was eventually sent to live with his grandparents to escape the violence. His experiences during this time shaped the way that he portrays Ye Wengie's life and possibly, the way she thinks. Before he became a writer, Cixin Liu was an engineer, and worked in a similar type of job as Wang Miao. His background as an engineer is also what led him to write science fiction and to explore space and scientific ideas and research in his work. Works Cited: Works Cited Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, blogs.nature.com/futureconditional/2016/08/19/the-three-body-problem-and-beyond-a-qa-with-liu-cixin/. “Liu Cixin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Cixin. Liu, Cixin, and Ken Liu. The Three-Body Problem. Tor Books, 2014. By: Hannah O. 1/28/2019 4 Comments Lewis CarrolAuthor’s Name Dates Alive Location
“Lewis Carroll” Jan 27 1832 - Jan 14 1898 Oxford, UK Major Works:
Major Themes: Familiarity
Curiosity
Novel Choice Plot Summary: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a about 7-year-old girl (Alice) who, “burning with curiosity”, follows a White Rabbit with a pocket watch down a hole into an underground world. Alice becomes entangled in a series of comical and odd situations, where she encounters a diverse cast of humorous and eccentric characters throughout the book. Her goal is to find and enter a beautiful garden. Analysis of Main Characters: Alice - Main protagonist of the story. She's a 7-year-old with a “burning curiosity”. She's characterized as the only “normal” person compared to the other creatures. Mad Hatter - Physical embodiment of how creativity in “madness” should be something to be curious of. He's seen along with the March Hare and Dormouse at a tea-party. They all tell riddles and squabble making little sense. Theme: Creativity in “madness” isn't something to be feared, but to be explored. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Lewis Carroll established the first of his great friendships with children. In fact, becoming an entertainer of girls and boys and a photographer was his favorite time to unwind. One of these girls, Alice Liddell, inspired him to become an author. Dodgson (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is his real name) would always take the girls out to walk through the town to Folly Bridge and rent a boat to row up or down the River Isis. One day, he introduced an introductory poem to Alice in Wonderland to the children while they were having a picnic. Alice Liddell begged him to write the tale down for her. Her pleading persuaded Dodgson to write the tale as he began to work on it the next day. Works Cited: Lewis Carroll in Wonderland The Life and Times of Alice and Her Creator by Stephanie Stoffel By: Sasha V. 1/28/2019 3 Comments Douglas AdamsDouglas Adams 1952 - 2001 Cambridge, UK
Major Works: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series (1996) The Long Dark Tea- Time of the Soul (1989) Last Chance to See (1991) The Salmon of Doubt (2002) Major Themes: Alienation, Purpose of Life Novel Choice Plot Summary: Arthur is a normal human on the normal planet Earth, that is, until it is destroyed to make room for an intergalactic highway. Arthur manages to escape the planet, due to a man named Ford, who seemed like he was from Earth, but was really a space hitchhiker working of the “Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”. Arthur and Ford eventually meet up with the “Was” president of the universe, Zaphod, who stole a spacecraft capable of insane travel distances, faster than light. The gang ends up on an alien planet, which had been abandoned by an ancient race which had pretty much ruled the economy before they fell into a state of depression. Arthur meets one of these people, who tells him that the aliens asked a computer to find the meaning of life for them. The computer said it would take 7 million years to do so, so most of the race froze themselves until the computer had the answer. After that time, the computer had the answer “42”. It claimed that the race had asked the wrong question, and needed a bigger computer to find out what the question was. The race had built planet Earth, a gigantic supercomputer, to figure out the question, but since it had been destroyed, the aliens fell into a bigger state of depression. Then the gang leaves the and goes to a restaurant. Yeah, the ending is like ramming into a brick wall Analysis of Main Characters: Arthur is a normal human being to us. When forced to adapt to space life however, when Earth is blown up, he’s some stupid primitive being who happens to hold the question for the answer of the meaning of life, so he also looks like an object to many space faring races. Arthur has pretty much become dehumanized throughout the entire book. People speak to him like we would to a dog. He’s excluded from conversations. Other intelligent life have straight up requested for his brain. Arthur also keeps many of his negative feelings suppressed inside, which can sort of show in some scenes in the book, where he comes pretty close to snapping and losing his mind. To summarize it all up, Arthur wants to be a part of all of this cool space stuff, but because of his human heritage, is seen as a dumb, primitive being that people will take advantage of for their own gain. Theme: The book Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy explores themes of alienation through the main character, Arthur. He is the last remaining Earthling after his homeworld was destroyed and is now thrown into a chaotic space age filled with super-intelligent life. Arthur is seen as a primitive being by many, and even given the label “Mostly Harmless”. There is also a theme of the purpose of life, because this race of aliens becomes depressed and wants to know what it means to be alive, so they ask a computer, which takes millions of years to find an answer, but it makes no sense to the aliens, so they fall into an even deeper depression. This could mean Douglas wants the reader to define their meaning of life, and not let other things decide it for you. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Douglas Adams had always loved reading and science when he was young, and his passion for these topics would stay with him for the rest of his life. Douglas then come to Hitchhike across Europe from Western Europe to Istanbul, Turkey for raise funds for school. He took many odd jobs while doing so. One job that he stuck with for a while was being a writer for the British TV show, Doctor Who. He wrote the plot and scripts for a couple of episodes, and after he left the team, he started a radio show with someone named Simon Brett called The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Europe is a very diverse place. It’s filled with many different types of people, ethnic groups, languages, architecture, religion, etc. While hitchhiking, Douglas must have felt like he stood out to everyone as an outsider, or an alien. I feel like Douglas took his experience of hitchhiking and made it into a book. The book has many different types of races, who are all very technologically advanced, and the main character, Arthur, just came off of Earth and feels like an outsider to these space age peoples. There’s also a character in the book, Ford, who acts sort of like a friend to Arthur. Although he hauls from space, he was stuck on earth for 15 years, and is able to explain to Arthur what goes on and is like a personal guide. This Ford character could represent Simon Brett, who was a friend of Douglas’. Works Cited: https://www.famousauthors.org/douglas-adams (for various books he’s written) “Douglas Adams.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams. (Information on his life and works) “Douglas Adams.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm0010930/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm. (Information on his life) **NOTICE THAT I did not use any quotes from sources. I may have used information from some pages for research and use some in my article, but I did not copy anything word for word, and my thoughts are my own. If this seems like an excuse to get out of doing citations because I’m bad at doing quotes, it is not (although i am bad at doing quotes :D) By: Alex W. 1/28/2019 3 Comments Tahereh MafiAuthor’s Name: Tahereh Mafi Dates Alive: 1988-Present Location:Santa Monica, California
Major Works:
Major Themes:
Novel Choice Plot Summary: Juliette is a seventeen year old girl who was born with the power to take the life from anyone she touches, which lands her in a mental asylum for manslaughter after an accident. Her ability captures the attention of the newly formed struggling government called The Reestablishment, the global form of leadership after climate change and natural disasters doomed humanity and its inhabitants. They want to use her abilities to torture and murder rebels or unwilling citizens who commit crimes such as disloyalty against their order. Juliette sees how the world changed after almost a year in solitary, and how its people have changed. She is forced to either partake with the will of the government she is summoned to, or beleive in the hope for a better society and fight with the rebels. All while battling her own crippling mental state trying to regain control of herself and possibly her abilities potential. Analysis of Main Characters: Juliette Ferrar: Locked in a mental asylum for over 264 days for involuntary manslaughter of a little boy. The public only knows of the stigma of her caused by misleading rumors of her supernatural abilities of being able to take the life from whomever she touches. Being in solitary confinement, her mind is starting to shape her into the monster the public labels her as and she is trying to fight back and remain what she was born to be, a human with emotions. It is very interesting to see how Juliette battles her mental state with the use of crossed out thought lines in the book. Through her perspective, the reader sees the smaller, more finer details in a setting that would often be overlooked because Juliette was trained in the habit of noticing everything since she was deprived of everything for almost a year. For example, she counts the seconds between words spoken of a character or counts the number of steps they take. It is indeed an interesting way to analyze the mood in a room but over time it can get repetitive. Adam Kent: As an 18 year old soldier for the Reestablishment, he was brought to Juliettes cell with the intent to see if she was sane enough to be recruited for the Reestablishments’ purpose. He used to go to public school with Juliette and therefore was seen as the perfect candidate for the experiment. Over time, it’s revealed that Adam is in love with her and is immune to her touch. The use of the emotion love does explain why Adam was willing to do dangerous things for Juliette such as get shot in the leg for her, or even point a gun at his commanding officer. However, there is no reason for him to have such a strong feeling of any emotion towards her. He never spoke to her and developed an infatuation with the way she handled herself. Love takes time and effort, but he hasn’t even seen her for years until they were locked in a cell together. Simply, he is mistaking his curiosity and infatuation with her mysterious aura for love. Love is an overused tool to provide reasoning for character action in this story. But, it does provide a calming period between scenes of action. Aaron Warner: Aaron is the 19 year old son of the leader of the Reestablishment and is the commanding officer of Sector 45, therefore of Adam Warner. Now Warner later in the story believes to have fallen in love with Juliette and confesses this to her, after he forcibly removes her from her residence and keeps her trapped against her will, which was stated earlier to be theoretically impossible. But, he has the excuse of not being mentally stable. Warner is mad with power and will do anything to keep it in his grasp. Such as torturing Juliette emotionally and physically. So, manipulating a vulnerable girl to fall in love with him is something he’d take pleasure in. In fact, he isn’t in love with Juliette, he has a greed for her powers. Warner is well aware that with Juliette’s power by his side, he’d be unstoppable in command. Which entices him to become entranced with the possibility of absolute power. Later he finds out he too is immune to Juliette’s power and that just makes him want her more. So in a sense, he’s drunk in love. Warner’s insanity is really what drives the plot as it draws him to make irrational decisions which are the catalyst for the rebel group uprising and attacks. Theme: The most significant theme of the novel Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is that ones oddities are what make them powerful. The story is about a 17-year old girl by the name of Juliette who was born with the power to take the energy from other people, resulting in their death. Juliette struggles with how she perceives her power; it shifts from being a blessing to a curse. She also struggles with her own control of her supernatural ability. But, Juliette realizes that her power can be a gift, to help save and protect others instead of hurt them. The hand with a lightning bolt represents how Juliette has control over her power and how she perceives it. The thing that is considered peculiar, destructive, or cursed is actually what makes her powerful, beautiful, and a savior to a dying humanity. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) The author’s life influenced her writing in this novel by incorporating present-day issues into the plotline. Tahereh Mafi is outspoken when it comes to sexual assault crimes, immigration, climate change, and ethnicity related issues. Multiple posts on her various social media pages voice her opinion on some of these topics. In Shatter Me, climate change is the catalyst to the plotline due to the fact the humans polluted the ground, water, and air so much that the world began to die. Plants, animals and crops became scarce as chemical dumping ruined the earth beneath them. Water became acidic and polluted to the point that fish and drinking water became unsafe to consume. Greenhouse gases such as CO2 were so abundant that the seasons no longer exist as chaos became the new order for weather patterns. This prompted the Reestablishment to come into power to promise a new future and provide order for a withering humanity. Their solution was genetically modified foods, population control, and monitoring of food import and export. Mafi wrote this book in 2011, during this time many worried how the polar ice caps were melting due to climate change and would cause coastal cities to become completely submerged in water. Although in 2019 this has yet to happen, climate change is still posing as a massive threat to future generations, which Mafi knows. Genetically modified foods due to the rise in CO2 causing inadequate produce was also beginning to become a new industry during this time. Many people started to question openly how the diet would affect public health and future generations. Mafi was amists all the chaos which inspired her to incorporate it in her writing. Another way that Tahereh Mafi’s life influenced her writing in this novel was how she was often treated differently because her lifestyle was considered peculiar to different people. In the novel, Juliette is treated as less than human due to her ability and its uniqueness. People are afraid of her because they don’t understand her capabilities or fear the unknown which causes them to get angry or upset. Tahereh Mafi being a Muslim and an Iranian-American faced similar judgement from members of society while growing up and even in present day. She wears a headscarf in public due to personal religious reasons, this invites the part of the public who disagrees with her lifestyle choice to have an excuse to shame or just be rude in general to her. Mafi used personal experiences and emotions to write how Juliette would think, act, and react to people’s perceptions of her and her abilities. Often times authors see themselves in their protagonist and base their problems and personalities off of their own experience; which is just what Mafi did. Later in the story, Juliette finds validation for herself when she falls in love with Adam. To be specific, his love of her and loving her complete identity is what persuaded her to accept herself. Tahereh Mafi May have wrote that to symbolize her own experience with her marriage to Ransom Riggs. Riggs is the author to the series Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and is known for being intrigued with what others find creepy or odd. So, the acceptance of his wife and her religion was nothing short of easy for him to understand and love. Just like how in the novel, Adam does not fear her ability and instead loves her more for it. Lastly, Mafi is politically outspoken when it comes to types of government rulings. In the novel, the Reestablishment can be described as an oppressive dictatorship for many reasons. This includes control of media, monitoring and limiting of basic necessities, one absolute ruler, and oppressive laws enforced to the public by military or private police. The book also makes a point to mention that immigration is strictly prohibited. Tahereh Mafi is actually the daughter of immigrants who moved to the United States from Iran in hopes of a better future for their family. By writing how immigration is prohibited, Mafi was probably dramatizing the feeling of not receiving acceptance from society as her parents were immigrants. Mafi also makes a point to disagree with President Trump when it comes to laws on immigration. On her public Instagram page, she has a post dedicated to speaking out against children in detention centers along the Mexican border, exposing her political views. Tahereh Mafi makes a point in her writing to convey how she feels about the American government by portraying it as how she fears it will become, hence the Reestablishment. The Reestablishment also is trying to have an end goal of one universal language, while burning books of the past. Trump is notorious in the sense that he publicly shames people of color for speaking in their native language, which Mafi most likely took inspiration from. She used real-life political issues and traumas to birth the Shatter Me worlds own government. Works Cited “Author Details.” Biography | Epic Reads, www.epicreads.com/authors/105588/tahereh-mafi/. Kellogg, Carolyn. “Ransom Riggs and Tahereh Mafi's Home for Bestselling Authors.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2014, articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/09/entertainment/la-ca-jc-ransom-riggs-tahereh-mafi-20140112. “Not Just for Kids: Author Tahereh Mafi Discusses 'Shatter Me'.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/11/shatter-me.html. “Tahereh Mafi.” Shatter Me, www.taherehbooks.com/#!the-author. By: Isabella L. 1/25/2019 2 Comments Jean RhysAuthors Name: Jean Rhys
Dates Alive: 1890-1979 Location: British West Indies Major Works: ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ and ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ Major Themes: The complexity of racial identity- Whites born in England are distinguished from the white creoles, descendants of Europeans who have lived in the West Indies for generations. Complicating the social structure even more is the population of the black ex-slaves (some were also from Martinique) There is a large mixed-race population, as white slave owners were notorious for raping and impregnating female slaves. Even though they are all white, each character in the story has different roots that set them apart from others. Novel Choice Plot Summary: Antoinette and her family do not fit in with the white people in Spanish town. According to Christophine, the Jamaican ladies do not approve of Antoinette’s mother, Annette, because she comes from Martinique (which was a French colony, whereas Jamaica was an English colony.) Analysis of Main Character: Antoinette- She is the daughter of ex-slave owners who live on a run down plantation called Coulibri Estate. Left to her own devices as a child, she finds that the world can be both peaceful and terrifying. In the first part of the book, we see a delicate girl who finds refuge in her isolated life. She is an exile within her own family and a “white cockroach” to her servants. How did author's life influence writing in the Novel? Rhys’ mother’s family were Creoles, born and naturalised in the West Indies. However, Creoles were not English. They were born and bred on an island in the Caribbean noted for its vivid tropical beauty, mountains and dense rain forest but also for violent hurricanes, heat and poverty. They were a small group; even in Jean Rhys’ childhood the ratio was around 300 whites to a total population of 30,000, most of whom were black. White people spoke English, black people spoke patois, a dialect with connections to French. The effects of this divided society on cultural identity and a sense of belonging is one of the themes of Wide Sargasso Sea. Jean Rhys explores it in relation to Antoinette, her native-born Creole heroine and the newly arrived English planter, bent on the economic exploitation of his new estates, who becomes her husband. Works Cited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Rhys By: Isabella W. 1/25/2019 3 Comments Stephen King 1Stephen King September 21st, 1947 Bangor, Maine
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Novel Choice Plot Summary: In Stephen King’s novel, IT, there is a series of mysterious murders in the town of Derry. People of the town are taken in and tried for murder and in each of the cases, proven guilty. The suspects know that they are certainly not guilty and when they bring up the fact that they saw some figure kill the victims, police call them insane and disregard it. This is all taking place when the six main characters of the story are kids and have never encountered this before. They all come together in school due to their vast differences from everyone else in the town. They call themselves the Losers Club and will go on to stick together through adulthood. As children, the antagonist in the form of a clown named Pennywise, attacks each one of them personally with their greatest fears based on their personalities and backgrounds. They go on to fend off Pennywise and believe that they have scared him away forever but that is only half of the story. Twenty-seven years later, the issues pop up again which drags the Losers Club back together as they have to once and for all kill this clown. The clown has odd abilities and remembers that when the six characters were together as kids, they took a blood oath to stick together then hints to them that he is back as adults by making all of their hands bleed. This kicks up the plot again and begins their run to kill Pennywise the evil clown. Analysis of Main Characters:
Theme: The main themes of IT are friendship, good vs evil, strength in numbers, and overcoming fears with age. Friendship is shown with the main characters as part of the Losers Club joining together to eventually defeat the Derry town threat, Pennywise Good vs evil is evident throughout King’s writing with a probing antagonist vs a group of manipulated protagonists Strength in numbers is shown because all bad things that happen to the main characters of the book occur when they are alone but successfully fight when they are together Overcoming the fears with age shows how they were finally able to kill Pennywise 27 years after he first attached Derry How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Stephen King is always into writing things that creep people out. He said that he does not want to scare people but that he brings out common fears in people and exploits them as books. Stephen King had and still has a sheer love for writing and that is is only drive to write what he does. He was seen as a weak writer when he first started and was disregarded by many people who ignored his immersive books. Critics wrote badly about him so his books never caught on until years later. This may not tie directly into his horror books but is important when looking at how his legacy has turned out. Stephen King sees books as a magical portal to open up the mind to new, crazy ideas which could be why he chose such unordinary topics as is writing, he wants people to surround themselves in inspiring fears and show just what people are scared of. Another big reason as to why King May write about common fears is the fact that he grew up in the 40’s and 50’s during the time of WWII which was an extremely stressful time for the US. This may have helped him to express his own fears of the war and the country’s decision-making into his writing. Although this book was written in the 80’s this was a large part of American’s lives and could have a show a deeper importance to King. Works Cited: King, Stephen. IT. New York, NY: Viking Press, 1986. [Novel] King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. New York, NY: Scribner, 2000. [Nonfiction] By: Terrell W. 1/25/2019 3 Comments Mitch AlbomAuthor’s Name: Mitch Albom Dates Alive: May 23, 1958- Now Location: New Jersey
Major Works: Tuesdays With Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Major Themes: Choices, Friendships, and Spirituality. Novel Choice Plot Summary: The novel Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom is a true story about the author, Mitch Alboms life. While Mitch Albom was in college, he had a unique professor named Morrie Schwartz who he always seemed to connect with. Once he graduated, he figured that would be the last he’d see of this professor. However Mitch turned out to be entirely wrong. Jumping forward, Mitch sees his former professor on the news one day. Morrie had become fairly famous and well known for his unique perspective in life despite the fact that he had been diagnosed with a fatal disease, ALS. Mitch decided to go visit Morrie, and mind the fact that at this point of Mitch’s life he was a very unhappy man who dreaded his life and they way it was going. However, from the first time he visited Morrie, he has started seeing this whole new perspective on life itself. Soon enough, his 1visit to Morrie turned into visiting him every Tuesday, hence the title. Overtime Mitch’s perspective and thoughts on life were very influenced by Morrie, Mitch had started to greatly appreciate his life which he hadn’t done much of previously to reconnecting with Morrie. Analysis of Main Characters: Morrie: Morrie Schwartz is a character based on a real professor and his story. He had always been a upbeat, unique person overall including through this teaching years at the college in which he worked at. Later on in his life, Morrie had been diagnosed with a disease called ALS. He received much support, however this disease slowly started to diminish and immobilize him completely. Though, even through learning that his life was slipping away from his slowly, Morrie still held a unbelievably positive attitude. He became very well known as the dying man with a unique perspective on life. Even though he was losing his, he encouraged others to appreciate life while they still have the time. One thing Morrie had said was “you can’t learn how to live until you learn how to die” this shows that Morrie believes that learning your time is limited acts as a major wake up call, and teaches you a lot. He was featured in many news outlets and impacted many, one of which was his former student whom he was very fond of, Mitch Albom. Mitch: Mitch Albom was just an ordinary, boring guy at the beginning of the book. He was very bored and unhappy with most aspects of his life. During college he had a professor named Morrie Schwartz who he learned a lot from. Later on in the book we learn about Mitch’s journey with Morrie and how when they were reconnected through Morrie’s illness Mitch started to change for the better. He was greatly impacted by Morrie’s view on life, and all the thoughts and life lessons he had to offer. Mitch started to understand how truly precious life was thanks to his former professors help. And as we reached the end of the book, everything he learned from Morrie seemed to stick with him. These lessons changed Mitch’s life completely, in the best way. He had been happy, and appreciative of his life, and that was the greatest lesson that Morrie had left with him by the time he passed away. Theme: Appreciation of life How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Earlier on in Mitch Albom’s life, he had worked for a sports magazine. He was surrounded by celebrities but were never mesmerized by them as he saw everyone else around him was. His life had influenced his writing in this novel because the entire novel itself is solely based on a big chunk of Mitch’s life itself. It portrayed a journey that Mitch had actually gone through, with his college professor Morrie. He wanted to share the ideas and words Morrie had to offer with the whole world as he felt they could help and benefit others as it greatly helped him in several ways. Once the book launched, it had an overwhelming reaction. Morrie’s words were spread, and potentially could have changed many lives just like they did for Mitch. Works Cited “Author, Journalist, Philanthropist.” Mitch Albom, www.mitchalbom.com/. “Download Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson Audiobook.” The Power of Kindness 10th Anniversary Edition - Audiobook | Listen Instantly!, Recorded Books: Gildan Audio, audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/tuesdays-with-morrie.aspx. “Mitch Albom (Author of Tuesdays with Morrie).” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/author/show/2331.Mitch_Albom. By: Elsa S. 1/25/2019 0 Comments Phillip HoosePhillip Hoose May 31, 1947- present Indiana,USA
Major Works: Non-fiction
Major Themes: The Boys Who Challenged Hitler explores these themes: Survival there’s seven boys in the era of world war 2 Patriotism standing up against the Nazi’s Courage to stand up for their country Novel Choice Plot Summary: The Pederson brothers [Knuds&Jens] are two young men that are from Denmark. They attend school at the Cathedral School in Aalborg, Denmark. The brothers live in Odense, Denmark. As they begin to see their country being claimed and destroyed by the Nazi’s. The young men get very angry and sad to see their homeland get invaded, so they come up with a plan to form a RAF club to demolish and ruin the Germans supplies and base. The boys realize that if they want to accomplish their goal, they’re going to need help. The boys ask many people from their school to help stand against the Nazi’s and 10 members joined. The two brothers later on came up with the club name “Churchill club”. The youngsters only attacked in the day because many of the members parents wouldn’t their let their children out at night. The members. They were just normal teens living a normal life but they also had the same idea as Knud. They also wanted to do something about their homeland being taken over by Nazi’s. When they heard about the idea Knud had they immediately wanted to take part in Knud’s club. By doing so they all knew that consequences came along with the plan even . The consequences were obvious, seeing many supplies and vehicles destroyed. Analysis of Main Characters: Knud Pederson: A young 15 year old boy that attended school at Cathedral School in Aalborg, Denmark. He sees that his homeland is being invaded by the Nazi’s. His arms didn’t stay crossed knowing that his country is being ruined by Nazi’s so he comes up with a plan to form a club with his friends and classmates from school. Knud and his brother included were part of the club called “Church Hill”. Knud came up with the plan that they should only attack the Germans during the day since the other Church Hill members parents didn’t let their children late out at night. My favorite character was Knud Pederson for how brave he was to stand up against a who military force full of weapons and soldiers. While all he had was his Church Hill club. A club made up friends and classmates. Teens that were not trained for combat but still gave their everything in order to stand up for their country. When I say everything, I say everything. Eventually they got caught and were sent to Germany were they were held in a prison sentenced to 2-5 years in jail. By the time Knud had got out he had lost 3 years of his teen life. I don’t know one single person that would like to experience their teen life in a prison although Knud being brave knew that consequences were going to be serious of course. Theme: Patriotism: Phillip Hoose’s novel, The Boys Who Challenged Hitler. A young group of teens think because their country will not fight against the Germans, they need to step in to preserve their nation’s patriotism. The boys are disappointed and angry in their country unwillingness to stand up for the Nazi’s. Denmark their homeland was attacked and then later on it falls under the Germans hand because nothing was done to go against the Germans. In attempt to make up for their country weakness they form a club by asking their classmates to join their club to demolish the Germans supplies and base. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Phillip Hoose was inspired by his daughters to write. His goal was to write a book about Claudette Colvin and to change the people’s thoughts on Montgomery bus protest. He brought the situation to the spotlight to make people realize that this young 15 year old black girl risked everything when she made a choice to decline to give up her seat. A young [black] girl made contributions to human rights in the USA in the 1950’s which was something very difficult to do. In the book The Boys who Challenged Hitler it’s obvious that Phillip Hoose wanted to do something similar. He wanted to give the Church Hill members(teens) recognition for what they had done against the Nazi’s. Phillip describes how much the courage the teens had. Young boys also risked their lives to “save” their country. Works Cited “Phillip Hoose | Authors | Macmillan.” US Macmillan, us.macmillan.com/author/philliphoose/. “Phillip Hoose.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Hoose. “Phillip Hoose-Biography - Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.” Google Sites, sites.google.com/a/mail.fresnostate.edu/claudette-colvin-twice-toward-justice/phillip-hoose-biography. “Phillip Hoose.” Biblio - Uncommonly Good Books Found Here., CRC Press, www.biblio.com/phillip-hoose/author/46614. By Marlon Y. 1/25/2019 4 Comments Chesley B. Sullenberger lllAuthor’s Name- Chesley B. Sullenberger lll
Dates Alive- January 23, 1951 to present Location- San Francisco Bay Area Major Works: Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters Major Themes: The major theme that my author explores is survival and heroism. My author writes about the story of how he successfully landed a commercial plane in the Hudson River after the plane hits a flock of geese and loses both engines. Heroism appears because Sully saves all 155 people on board and also waits on the sinking plane letting all 155 passengers and crew go before him not caring the the plane was going to sink with him on it. Novel Choice Plot Summary: This book explores the story of Chesley B. Sullenberger and the story of the crash in the Hudson River. The story starts talking about Sully's first flying lessons and the first time he took a solo flight. It later talks about him being a commercial airline pilot and then the famous United Airways flight 1549. On January 15, 2009 Sullenber was on a flight from LaGuardia airport in New York heading to Seattle airport when it struck a flock of large Canadian geese. Sullenberger is forced to make a decision to either attempt to return to LaGuardia or Teterboro, or if he will have to make a crash landing. Sully decides that the plane is too low and he does not want to rist the plane crashing somewhere in New York City so he makes the decision to land the plane in the Hudson, saving all passenger and crew on board. Sullenber later attends a meeting held by the aviation board as they were saying that he could have been able to safely return the plane to one of the airports and not having to land in the river. As the meeting progresses a simulation of two pilots attempting the same flight and conditions as sullenberger did they successfully land the plane at an airport. Sullenberger argues that the human factor was not accounted for in these simulations and that it also took the pilots multiple attempts before having a successful landing. The meeting is closed and Sullenberger is now know as a hero in aviation. Analysis of Main Characters: Chesley Sullenberger is a person who likes to put people before himself. Growing up in Denison Texas Sullenberger took flight lessons from a pilot that lived in his town. He then joins the Air Force as a flight leader and training officer becoming a caption in the Air Force. He always showed a great interest in planes and was very inspired by them. He had a lot of dedication as a young child and pursued his dream of being a pilot. He was the type of person that would put people before himself. When the planet crashed he made sure that every person made it off the plane before he did and even though the plane was sinking in the freeing water stayed onboard to help everyone off. I see Sullenberger as the type of person who is always putting people before himself and is more caring about other people than the well-being of himself. Theme: Some main themes of this book includes survival, courage and heroism. This book tells the story of how Chesley Sullenberger successfully landed a plane with two engine failures in the Hudson River and how he saved the lives of all 155 passengers and crew members on board. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) My author's life influenced his writing in many different ways. My author grew up in Denison Texas where he expressed his love for planes. The interest in planes that my author had as a child is how my authors writing came started. When my author was young he had a very great interest in planes. He studied them, made model planes and always was reading about planes. He flew planes with a local pilot and that is how he began his path to be a commercial airline pilot. As he furthered his life as a pilot he joined the airforce. He flew Phantom F-4 ll jets and became a flight leader and training officer. After 7 years in the air force he became a commercial airline pilot for Pacific Airlines which later became US airways. Sullenberger was not just a pilot, he was a flight instructor and the Air Line Pilots Association chairman. After years of safety air line instruction the work finally paid off. Leading to the famous flight on January 15, 2009 when Sullenberger's plane hit a flock of geese and he had to land the plane in the Hudson River. Works Cited: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biography.com/.amp/people/chesley-sullenberger-20851353 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549 By Logan L. 1/25/2019 2 Comments Haruki Murakami 2Haruki Murakami January 12, 1949 - Present Kyoto, Japan
Murakami’s first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won the Gunzou Literature Prize in 1979. The book was followed by two sequels, Pinball and A Wild Sheep Chase, which completed “The Trilogy of the Rat.” His more well-known novels include Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Norwegian Wood, Dance Dance Dance, South of the Border, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, West of the Sun, Sputnik Sweetheart, and many others. Major Themes:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Toru Okada is a simple man who lives a simple life. He lives in a small, simple house in the suburbs of Tokyo with his wife Kumiko, and her cat that has mysteriously disappeared. He recently lost his job and doesn’t have the most notable social life, which keeps him locked up in his house like a prisoner. Somehow, he manages to busy himself by cleaning the house, picking up the dry cleaning and talking to the eccentric May Kasahara from down the street. These habits soon become the norm for Toru. As dismal as it may seem, Toru sees no flaw in his doings and if anything, enjoys the primitiveness. This newfound simplicity soon comes to a screeching halt when Kumiko doesn’t return home after work. Toru is suspicious and immediately jumps to all sorts of conclusions to justify her whereabouts. Days go by and he still hasn’t heard from her. He reaches out to her office, which was useless, and the drycleaners. He learns that she picked up her dry cleaning the morning of the day she vanished. In the midst of all the madness, Toru becomes acquainted with two sisters that are known by Creta and Malta Kano. They both are interested in helping him, but their reasoning remains unclear. Malta orchestrates a meeting for Toru and Kumiko’s brother Noburo. Noburo is not the brightest of people. Although he is very well educated and talented, he can be extremely pessimistic and obscene. Unfortunately enough, these qualities have allowed him to become a well-known political figure. He holds a great amount of power and wealth which supports his expanding superiority. Noburo is adamant about getting Toru to sign divorce papers. Toru refuses to until Kumiko confirms that she left because she slept with another man-as Noburo claims. Turo experiences a variety of things all in lieu of Kumiko’s actions. Loneliness is the largest apparition. Without Kumiko and the cat, he is all alone, with the exception of a few distant acquaintances. He begins a long journey of self discovery that travels the length of the book. He becomes a different person in the end than he was in the beginning. He rediscovers himself and even reinvents his place in society. Analysis of Main Characters: Kumiko is the wife and best friend of Toru. She is very sophisticated and well dressed. She comes from a respectable, monarchy of a family that lacks the title of “family.” Despite her destitute upbringing, she is a positive person. She is helpful and honest in times of importance. She has a set of distinct morals which come into play in the novel. Some might say that her character is “boring” or “insufficient” to the story. The titles do fit. I personally didn’t like her character very much because she acted as a ghost. She had a very small personality. Quiet, observant, non-confrontational and the “other” Wataya child. These qualities are not bad, but boring. Her actions were acceptable, considering the mental state she was in. Noboru Wataya is Kumiko’s older brother. He is not the nicest of people and makes a clear effort to speak the truth, even when it hurts. This quality makes him one of my favorite characters, even though he can be a real pain! He fits the description of “Child Prodigy” and because of this, has stolen the spotlight in the Wataya household, leaving Kumiko in the dust. Some would say he doesn’t know when to quit. Between hounding Turo for signed divorce papers and throwing false accusations at him, this quality of his proven true. You could say that his conniving tendencies stem from childhood. Kumiko once saw him pleasuring himself while holding a picture of his deceased older sister. In addition to that, he sexually abused Creta Kano when she was hired as an escort. Could his feverish actions be the result of an unfettered alter ego? Being praised 24/7 for all of his accomplishments would teach him to expect praise, even when it’s not necessary. Suffering a great loss at that young and in that mindset would cause malicious things to happen….as we can see, it has worked. Theme: The most significant theme in my novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami is that your identity is what determines if people see you as who you are or what they want you to be. In the novel, the main character experiences a great loss which makes him question everything about himself. Beyond his journey of self discovery, an array of characters are introduced. Some of them look to Toru as a friend or a friendly acquaintance, while others see him as inadequate scum. It seems as though distinct characters are introduced at specific points of the story, in order to affect him in a certain way to make his journey more meaningful/accomplishing. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? Haruki Murakami is known primarily for reproducing himself in the form of the main character in his books. The main characters are occasionally named Turo and are all dealing with a personal struggle, either at work or with a significant other. The characters are different in many aspects, but all seem to live a simple life. In quotes and interviews, Murakami stated that he has always wanted to live a simple life. This statement clearly transcends within his works. He has also stated that his lifelong dream is to sit at the bottom of a well because he can think. If you have read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, you’ll know why this statement is so pertinent. Wells have a very strong role in the novel. They’re mentioned multiple times and Turo even climbs down one! He sits down there for days contemplating his life. Sound familiar? Works Cited: “Author.” Haruki Murakami, www.harukimurakami.com/author. Bausells, Marta. “Haruki Murakami: 'My Lifetime Dream Is to Be Sitting at the Bottom of a Well'.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 24 Aug. 2014, www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/aug/24/haruki-murakami-my-lifetime-dream-is-to-be-sitting-at-the-bottom-of-a-well. “Haruki Murakami Quotes (Author of Norwegian Wood).” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3354.Haruki_Murakami. Wray, John. “Haruki Murakami, The Art of Fiction No. 182.” The Paris Review, 30 Nov. 2018, www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2/haruki-murakami-the-art-of-fiction-no-182-haruki-murakami. By: Rachael T. 1/25/2019 3 Comments Haruki Murakami 1Author’s Name: Haruki Murakami Dates Alive: January 12, 1949 - Present Location: Kyoto, Japan
Major Works: Fiction: A Wild Sheep Chase, 1982 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, 1994 Hard-Boiled Wonder and the End of the World, 1985 1Q84, 2009 Hear the Wind Sing, 1979 Non Fiction: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, 2007 Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Psyche, 2000 Major Themes: Isolating yourself for a day or two from the real world is ok (it’s just like a mental health day I think lol) and it’s problems isn’t always a bad thing but it’s never good to isolate yourself from something that you can let go without isolating yourself. Companionship with friends how you spend time and care for eachother. Novel Choice Plot Summary: My novel is Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami In the novel Tsukuru Tazaki had four close friends while he was in high school. There names were Ao, Aka, Shiro, and Kuro. Every single one of them had a color in their name and unfortunately Tsukuru was the only one that didn’t have a color in his name. This was significant because he was the only member of the group that was colorless. His friends didn’t feel that way but he didn’t know that for years. When it was time to graduate high school and to move on to college, Tsukuru was the only one who wanted to go far for school. He wanted to be a engineer so he can work on trains. The college was in Tokyo and he moved to the city to attend the college. He was planning on returning home to visit his friends as often as he could. They were always happy to see him. But then one time when he was planning on going home his friends never answered or returned any of his calls that he made to them. But when he finally talked to one of the group members he was told he wasn’t apart of the group anymore and should stop bothering them with all of these phone calls. Tsukuru was in pain for months because of this. He almost died or wanted to kill himself because he struggled with the fact that he has no comfort of his friends anymore and the fact that he has no friends at all now. But time went on and he was finally over everything and started to become the engineer that he always wanted to be. As time passed he made eventually made a new friend, a young college student but unfortunately that friend also disappeared for no given reason. Years passed and it really hasn’t been that good for Tsukuru. He tried getting a girlfriends but it really didn’t so well. But until he meets this girl named Sara. Tsukuru and Sara start dating and eventually they do some things but Tsukuru is unable to do it. And Sara understands. He finally realizes that Sara is the right girl and she also helps him track down his friends that hurt him. Analysis of Main Characters: Tsukuru Tazaki - A fresh newbie college student who is very intelligent and caring young adult who thought his life was colorless, he was just normal and thought he had no meaning to him. This feeling came along when his four friends started to dis include him in everything and never returned his calls. He saw all of his friends like they belonged somewhere because their names all had a color and a meaning to it. Tsukuru’s name didn’t have a name to it so he didn’t feel any importance to him. And this is important because it took apart of his personality. Tsukuru is one of three children of a modern wealthy family with good fortunes. At a young age Tsukurus father had passed away, he really can’t remember any memories with his father. His father was a businessman and he was the one maintaining all the families wealth and beings. Tsukuru wanted to go to college in Tokyo and his friends wanted to go to college near home because they wanted to relax and to be lazy. He goes to college but then realizes that his friends haven’t been returning or answering his calls at all. He gets a hold of their parents and asks them if they can call back when they get home and they sounded like they didn’t care. It was like his friends were standing behind there parents telling them what to say. Days and months went by while he was at college and he grew to be really weak, underweight, depressed and not motivated at all. He tries to get motivated to get back in shape and he does. What he went through was because of his friends leaving/abandoning him in such little time. Theme: In the book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami the themes that are explored throughout this book is isolation and companionship. Tsukuru had companionship with his friends throughout the begging and with his girlfriend and other friends towards the middle and end of the novel. He trusted his friends, Ao, Aka, Kuro, and Shiro they had some things in common but Tsukuru thought he was kind of the outcast of the group. He was living off of companionship of his friends but he almost died from it when he lost the connection with his friends in the beginning of the novel. But he had gained it back when he started getting some more friends and also his girlfriend Sara helped a lot with gaining it back too. Isolation was the other theme explored in this novel because Tsukuru felt isolated when his friends never returned any of his calls or never wanted to hang out with him. It all started to happen before college started. Along with the companionship, isolation nearly killed him too. This is how he had gotten really weak is because he had shut himself down from the real world and never communicated with anyone after his friends shut him down. But after sometime he finally got out of his isolation and started going places. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Haruki Murakami writes about family in the first person narrative and it’s a significant topic in Japanese literature. But by learning about Murakami I see how this novel has influenced him while writing it. I’ve noticed that the main character Tsukuru Tazaki has gone to college in Tokyo and so did Murakami. They both went to college to study something they both loved and wanted to do. As I read the book I see a few other examples on why Murakami was so influenced to write this book. Murakami depends on his wife too just as Tsukuru depend on Sara for being there for him all the time. Another one is that Tsukuru is a intelligent young man and grew up having a very good life with a good family and so did Murakami. It seems like Haruki Murakami took some aspects of his life and put them into the novel. As you read, you can tell that Murakami has put in a lot of creativity and a deep thought while writing this novel. And it almost makes you think that this was a life story from someone and they smacked it onto pages with loads and loads of detail. That's how good this novel was. Works Cited: Works Cited Haruki Murakami, www.harukimurakami.com/. Study.com, Study.com, study.com/. “Haruki Murakami.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami. Murakami, Haruki. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki. 2013 By: Alexa M. 1/25/2019 5 Comments Tsi Tsi Dangarembga“My mother said being black was a burden because it made you poor, but Babamukuru was not poor. My mother said being a woman was a burden because you had to bear children and look after them and the husband. But I did not think this was true.” Nervous Conditions, 1988 Author’s Name: Tsi Tsi Dangarembga
Dates Alive: February 4th, 1959-present day Location: Lived between Zimbabwe, London, and Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) Major Works:
Major Themes: Some major themes explored in the writing of Dangarembga are gender inequality, perseverance, influence of colonialism, tradition versus progress, coming of age, identity in existence, and traditional identity versus personal identity. Novel Choice Plot Summary: “Nervous Conditions”, has a variety of themes executed throughout the novel, but the most prominent being the portrayal of identity. Although the novel is a fiction story, it was common for girls in lower-developed African countries to face the same obstacles as Tambudzai, the main character. Tambu was an ambitious and determined preteen living in post colonial Zimbabwe, Rhodesia, with her parents and her brother. One of the many themes throughout the novel was the idea of gender inequality, where Tambu and her mother were expected to work at home and not to be educated. Despite what was expected of Tambu, she had a desire to go to school and would do anything to have that opportunity. Since Tambu’s parents could only afford to send one of their children to missionary school, they chose to send their eldest son, Nhamo. Before Nhamo gets the opportunity to attend the school, he suddenly dies. The beginning of the novel stresses some of Tambu’s remminitance on the events that lead up to her brother’s death. One of them being her growing and selling corn in attempts to raise enough money for her tuition, so both her and her brother could attend the missionary. After a family reunion for Tambu’s immediate and extended family, her very wealthy uncle, Babamukuru, offers to send one member of each family to his missionary school (different from the one Nhamo was sent to) and since Nhamo had passes, Tambu was offered in his place. Tambu was unbelievably excited to embark on something she had wanted for so long, and began her journey by moving in with Babamukuru and his family: Maiguru, his wife, Nyasha, his daughter, and Chido, his son. After some awkward encounters with her cousin Nyasha, Tambu starts to build a relationship with her cousin. Simultaneously, Tambu becomes absorbed in her studies, in hope for success. One key relationship within the novel is the relationship between Nyasha and her father, Babamukuru. Tambu notices the frequent fights and dismay within their relationship, the first time she’s witnessed an extremely toxic relationship that she was not involved in. During a school dance both Tambu and Nyasha attended, Babamukuru and Nyasha had a very violent argument, where Babamukuru accuses Nyasha of lewd behavior and Nyasha strikes her father in the face. During school vacation, Tambu and her family return to the homestead to visit her parents. Babamukuru was distraught to see that his relatives, Lucia and Takesure, were still living in the homestead and were expecting a baby. Babamukuru decides to allow the relationship since he saw a larger issue on hand. Tambu’s parents have conceived both their children out of wedlock and never had the desire to get married. To Babamukuru, that was unacceptable and he ordered that they be married. After Tambu’s extended family and parents return to the mission, her mother gives birth to a baby boy, soon followed by her aunt, Lucia. Tambu is completely against Babamukuru’s irrational decision in forcing her parents to get married since it was a change she didn’t feel was necessary. When she refuses to attend the wedding, Babamukuru punishes her by lashing her and forcing her to do the maid’s chores for 2 weeks. As the girls are preparing for finals, nuns arrive and conduct a test. Tambu is then offered a position in a convent school. Babamukuru didn’t like the idea initially, but quickly came around to the idea. When Tambu returned home for the holidays, her mother was sick, but Lucia was able to nurse her back to health. As Tambu is getting ready to leave for the convent, she is in search for Nyasha and cannot find her anywhere. When she does find her, Nyasha is very harsh with Tambu, since her best friend was now leaving her. Once Tambu leaves for the convent, she is seemingly discriminated against when she was told to stay in the dorm with a surplus of other African girls. Tambu loses touch with Nyasha since she was busy with her studies. When she returns, she finds nyasha to be frighteningly thin, suffering from an eating disorder. One night, Nyasha seems to have some sort of psychotic episode. Nyasha begins to regain her mental health after seeing a psychiatrist, while Tambu is worried that she has let the influences of the colonialism surrounding her consume her. Analysis of Main Characters: Tambudzai: Tambu is the protagonist of the novel. She is portrayed as extremely hard-working and ambitious, with many goals she plans to achieve, thus making her very perseverante. Throughout the novel, we see that Tambu is slightly naive, but not by choice. She had only been exposed to so much growing up on the homestead, so when she arrives to her uncle’s home and is welcomed with a feast and two fancy dresses, it is extremely foreign to her. Despite her not-knowing of many things other than what she’s known, she does know what her beliefs are, and refuses to let anyone take them away from her. Tambu mentions how she wasn’t sorry about the passing of her brother Nhamo. This was because of the poor way he treated her. Nhamo had expressed how he wanted to replicate the successes of Babamukuru, one of which was the promise he had made to take care of his siblings. Tambu had confronted Nhamo about that, and how he does nothing but make her life miserable. His response was “I am busy. You know that.” There have been many sexist comments that both Nhamo and her Father had made towards her, specifically around idea of education. She does not let these words stop her from being educated, so, she perseveres. Babamukuru: Babamukuru is expressed as very strict and one-track minded, yet very successful as well. This comment was made by Tambu on page 199: “Babamukuru was still and would always be the closest thing a human being could get to God.” In the eyes of Tambu’s family, Babamukuru was someone everyone wanted to be when they grew up, even the adults. The author makes it so that the reader understands the things Babamukuru says or does, but not necessarily so that the reader agrees with him. Nyasha: Nyasha is depicted as very smart, bright, kind, and contentious. Her studies are vital to her, and so are her looks. Nyasha has many issues with her father, most of the time surrounding but the different ways they view things. For example, forcing Tambu’s parents to be married didn’t just bother Tambu. Nyasha was also in disagreement with the marriage but was obviously in a different position than Tambu, so felt as though it wasn’t her place. Although Tambu and Nyasha have been best friends for the majority of the book, they differ in one major way: Tambu’s determination is truly due to her ignoring the expectations that have been set for her, while Nyasha has a difficult time walking away from unrealistic ideals, but more so becomes consumed by them. On page 196, Nyasha says this about her classmates: “I find it more and more difficult to speak with the girls at school.(...) They don’t like my language, my English, because it is authentic and my Shona because it is not!” During Nyasha’s psychotic episode, she says many things about “them” taking over her life and the lives of others and it is inferred she is talking about her European classmates. Theme: There are many themes within the novel, some of which are more obvious than others. One of the main themes being the influence of colonialism. In the story, Tambu’s uncle, Babamukuru, is very different from her immediate family, which lives in an impoverished homestead. Babamukuru also lives in Zimbabwe, which at the time was under British minor rule. However, he differed in that he was much more “modern” than the rest of Tambu’s family. His wife, Maiguru, was highly educated, which was very foreign to Tambu since no woman she had ever known went to school. Babamukuru was the headmaster of the missionary school Tambu would be attending, meaning both of her cousins, Nyasha and Chido, went to school since early age. This had many beneficial effects on Babamukuru and his family, they were financially stable, were all educated, and had very detailed futures when that was not common for the area in which Tambu was born and raised. However, the colonialism of Zimbabwe did also have some negative impacts as well. At the end of the novel, Tambu makes the difficult decision to attend the convent missionary school she had been offered out of her academic abilities, and lost touch with her cousins. When she returned, Nyasha had seemed to be suffering from bulimia, making her extremely thin and unrecognizable. One night, Nyasha, having drained all her vitals and been vigorously studying to pass her exams, had what seemed to have been a psychotic episode. There are a few quotes alluding to the (white) students at her missionary causing her distress: “ ‘They’ve trapped us. They’ve trapped us. But I won’t be trapped. I’m not a good girl, I won’t be trapped.’ Then as the raged passes. ‘I don’t hate you daddy,’ she said softly. ‘They want me to, but I don’t’.” Although it is not confirmed that this traumatizing event in Nyasha’s life was due to the European peers of hers, she did mention “not being enough” for her classmates on page 196. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Since Nervous Conditions identifies in the historical fiction category, Dangarembga was able to influence her life and the life of many others through the novel. In a 2013 “Brick” interview, Dangarembga says : “There was so much invested during the Rhodesian era in educating Africans only up to a certain level and for certain tasks. An illusion had to be created, however, that there was some sort of mobility and fairness in the system. People like Tambudzai were swept up in that illusion. She had to find her own painful way out of it.” She says that Tambudzai views herself as a “superwoman” kind of character, which was important to Dangarembga seen as imperialists have put limitations on many indigenous citizens of Rhodesia, so she wanted to make Tambu limitless. Aside from creating Tambu as the representative for all Rhodesian peoples, Dangarembga also had a different hope for Tambu’s character. In a 2015 interview with “Makosi Today”, Dangarembga expresses how growing up, all the literature she was exposed to had European girls as the main protagonist. She wanted to change that. She says that she had never seen a colored girl be the hero in the story, so she decided to make her own. Tsitsi Dangarembga is an amazing author and writer. I feel as though she is a very complex human with many layers and many things to say, but maybe since she is not well-known in the U.S, there isn’t much information about her. I’ve been trying to find a way to reach her (email, social media, anything) to ask her some of the following questions I’ve generated while doing my author study:
Works Cited:
1/25/2019 5 Comments Vladimir NabokovAuthor’s Name: Vladimir Nabokov
Dates Alive: April 22, 1899 to July 2, 1977 Location: First being born in St. Petersburg, Russia, he soon fled to Berlin in 1922 to escape the growing communist state in Russia, as his father was a leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party. In Berlin, his father was shot and killed because of his beliefs, and Nazi tension was growing, then leading him to flee to France. He then in 1940 fled to the U.S. with his Jewish wife Vera Nabokov and son Dmitri Nabokov, as the Nazis began to invade France. Major Works: Vladimir Nabokov wrote many very popular books in his life, most popularly Lolita(1955), but he also wrote Pale Fire(1962), Pnin(1957), and many more. His work became especially famous when he began translating his work into english. Major Themes: The major themes of Vladimir Nabokov’s work are: Exploration of untraditional situations The Power of Language Difference between European and American culture. Novel Choice Plot Summary: The novel starts off with the main character and narrator, Humbert Humbert, explaining that as a 12 year old boy, he fell deeply in love with a 13 year old girl named Annabel. Only within four month, Annabel died of typhus, completely destroying Humbert. This lead him to live the rest of his life only attracted to 13 year old girls. So, when Humbert grows up, he travels to America, in search of 13 year old girls, and eventually finds one, named Lolita. Humbert kills Lolita’s mother, and travels the country with Lolita, developing their relationship. Soon, Lolita is kidnapped from Humbert, leaving him searching for her for the next 5 years. Eventually, Humbert finds Lolita when she is 19 years old, and he is no longer attracted to her. Though he is still upset, so he tracks down her kidnapper, who is a porn director, and murders him, leading Humbert to serve the rest of his life in prison. Analysis of Main Characters: Humbert- Humbert is the main character of the story, who you could consider the protagonist or the antagonist. Ultimately, Humbert is a pedophile, who literally traveled across the planet to find 13 year old girls to prey on. Obviously, there is nothing good about Humberts actions, but this is not the typical story. Here, are put into Humberts mind and know all of his thoughts, which leads the reader to form a sort of bond with him, like we typically do to the main character. In the end, Humbert does realize that he destroyed Lolita’s childhood, showing that he is somewhat conscious of his actions. Lolita- Lolita is described as flirtatious and seductive with Humbert in the beginning, but was it true? It may have seemed true to Humbert, but Lolita didn’t feel real love. At 13 years old, Lolita was still physically and mentally developing, along with the fact that she had never been in a relationship before and was going through puberty at the time, so she really was not capable of truly loving such an older man at the time, it was simply her being manipulated. Hence the reason why pedophilia is a crime. Theme: The most significant theme in Lolita is that love is a powerful for force that control our thoughts and actions, for the better and the worse. In the case of Lolita, it is definitely for the worse. As a twelve year old boy, the main character Humbert fell deeply in love with a girl named Annabel Leigh, who died of typhus only four months into their relationship. This destroyed and tormented Humbert, causing him to be forever attracted to girls of Annabel's age. Humbert would then go on to travel to the U.S. to find thirteen year old girls to form a sexual relationship with, eventually meeting, and manipulating Lolita, a twelve year old girl. Because of his one romantic encounter at a young age, Humbert had become a pedophile, honestly believing that the love he had for young girls was correct. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Much of Nabokov’s life in Europe was of influence to his writing and the common themes in most of his novels. Usually when reading a novel of this detailed, you would think that it may be personal to the author's real life, but that is not the truth in this situation. Nabokov’s writing is do to the fact that he was educated in Russian, English, and French, and highly valued words and literature. In addition, Nabokov grew his ideas from the political and cultural atmospheres at the time. Everywhere he went, governments and society were oppressing thoughts and eliminating freedom of speech and expression. In Russia, Nabokov and his family had to flee do to their political values. Then to Germany, where the Nazis and Hitler eliminated any aspect of society that they saw opposed their rein, including jews, blacks, foreigners, and anyone with traditional values. Nabokov felt strongly against this, and is where he got his ideas from. Like with Lolita, Nabokov did not agree with pedophilia, but he also did not agree that we should pretend that it is not a thing. Instead of completing blinding people from these situations, Nabokov felt that it was important for everyone to be informed about the truth of these untraditional or looked down upon aspects in life, to form their own opinions for themselves. Works Cited: Albert, Melissa, and Andrew Field. “Vladimir Nabokov.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3 Oct. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-Nabokov. “Home.” FAMOUS AUTHORS, www.famousauthors.org/vladimir-nabokov. By: Matt M. 1/25/2019 12 Comments Cornelia FunkeAuthor’s Name: Cornelia Funke
Dates: 1900-1950 (My guess) Alive: Yes (?) Location: Venice, Italy Major Works: Dragon Rider, The Thief Lord, Inkheart series, Reckless Major Themes: Family, Trust, Faith, Supernatural, Deceit, Choice, Youth, Being able to choose your family Novel Choice Plot Summary: After their mother dies and their aunt Esther wants to separate them, brothers Prosper and Bo run away to Venice, believing it to be a beautiful and wondrous place from all the stories their mother spun. They meet another orphan girl named Hornet, who brings the brothers into an orphan group of thieves, consisting of her, Mosca, Riccio, and their leader Scipio; the Thief Lord. Esther won’t give up on taking Bo back and sending Prosper away to a boarding school, so she manages to track them to Venice and hires a detective, Victor, to finish the job. The bonds of their friendship are tested when everything falls apart and the Thief Lord’s mask finally falls. Analysis of Main Characters: Prosper: Prosper is about 12 and tries to be a good big brother to Bo, and sometimes has to put his foot down for Bo’s safety. Prosper is shown to be stubborn and persistent, being able to put a stoic front against the also stubborn yet cheap shop owner, Barbarossa. Prosper didn’t need to survive off stealing unlike the rest of the orphans and is old enough to know it’s not right,(but has no qualms against the other orphans pickpocketing) he prefers to take the money they get from selling valuables and going to shops. He’s also logical and protective, willing to take Bo and leave his friends to throw off the tail of the detective that was close behind them. Bo: Bo is only about 5-6 years old and has been passed down the same stubbornness from Prosper. Bo loves adventure and has a wonderful imagination, as he loved listening to his mother’s stories of Venice. Bo always wants to go on escapades and help the Thief Lord steal things, but is never allowed to and throws fits. He’s also too young to understand the dangerous and scary situation he’s in and forgets to be cautious when talking to strangers. He told a complete stranger basically everything about them, including their whereabouts and about some of the things that have been stolen, and the stranger turned out to be the detective. (Yeah, you’re going to be annoyed with Bo a lot.) Scipio: Scipio, also known as the Thief Lord, is about 13 years old and is pretty mysterious, as none of the other kids know who he really is. However, he is incredibly generous and found them all a warm and dry place to sleep. He also steals valuables from people’s homes and has the kids pawn off the valuables for cash, helping pay for substantial meals and clothes. Not much is known about him around the beginning of the book (no spoilers), but he isn’t who he says he is. Riccio, Hornet, and Mosca: Riccio, Hornet, and Mosca are the three orphans Scipio first found and brought to an abandoned movie theatre. They are about 12-13 years old. Hornet and Riccio are excellent actors and pick-pocketers. Mosca enjoys the canals of Venice and fixing things like his boat and radio. Theme: The most important theme of this book is having the ability to choose your family. “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Cornelia Funke was tired of illustrating for other author’s boring books and wanted to illustrate and write her own with believable and realistic fantasy and supernatural elements. When Cornelia was in Venice, she remembered her love of Peter Pan and the idea that instead of children wanting to stay children, one wishes to grow up instead. There isn’t much else to say; Cornelia is inspired by every book she reads. Works Cited: The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/cornelia-funke39s-interview-transcript/ By: Chelsea M. 1/25/2019 7 Comments Alexandre DumasAuthor’s Name: Alexandre Dumas Dates Alive: July 24, 1802 - December 5, 1870
Location: Paris, France Major Works: Plays-
Major Themes:
d'Artagnan is 18 years old is now leaving his family to become a musketeer. With him he has a horse, his letter to d’tréville 15 écus, his father's wisdom, and a recipe for an ointment that can heal any cut or wound except for ones that reach the heart. On his way he sells his pony for more money after getting in a duel with the man putting the horses in the inn stable and proceeds to buy a room at an inn. He asks a musketeer for directions to m. d’Trévilles house. When he arrives he makes his was past multiple musketeers and eventually encounters the 3 musketeers Athos. Porthos, Aramis while trying to get a word with Tréville. During all of this a thief steals his letter to tréville. He ends up accepting duels to all 3 musketeers trying to catch a man who stole his letter. Later on the cardinal guards catch the musketeers and d’Artagnan about to duel and attempt to arrest them. In return the the musketeers and d’Artagnan take on the guards defeating them. M. d’tréville hears of this and gives him some reward money. Now d’Artagnan and the musketeers work together to stop the cardinal and his attempts to gain more power than the king. Ultimately the Cardinal fails to take over when the musketeers and d’Artagnan defeat the cardinals agent milady(who ends up causing the death of the french queens best friend madame Bonacieux and the Duke of Buckingham). Milady also has a letter defending her from any crimes made during her mission. d’Artagnan acquires the letter and uses it to prevent himself from being arrested by the Cardinal. In the end the the Cardinal decides d’Artagnan is a true musketeer. Analysis of Main Characters: d'Artagnan: born a gascon, at the age of 18 sets off to become a musketeer. While being very perseverant and smart, he easily falls in love with basically any girl he meets. Our first real part of the book takes place because M. Bonacieux wife(Madame Bonacieux is one of the Queen's trusted messengers) is kidnapped and he and the musketeers save her when she is ganged up on by a whole bunch of Cardinal guards in her house(madame Bonacieux ended up escaping her kidnapper's and goes back home first). d'Artagnan sees her and instantly falls in love. Throughout the book d'Artagnan d'Artagnan helps to preserve the king's power. Like one instance when a shard of a diamond brooch is stolen from the Duke of Buckingham (Queen gave it to him as a sign of affection) and he goes to Britain to retrieve it before the king notices. In the end d'Artagnan becomes a true musketeer during his trial where he avoids all trouble for his crime with a letter that Milady had. This letter written by the Cardinal makes him void of any punishment for any crimes committed. He finally gets what he spent the whole book working for. Milady: The main villain of the book, we meet her around the beginning of the book after d'Artagnan fights the man putting the horses in the stable. Throughout the book Milady works for the Cardinal trying to sabotage the queen so the Cardinal will have more power than the King. In the end she kills Madame Bonacieux and when the Musketeers, d’Artagnan, and Lord de Winter arrest her but when Athos finds out she was his long lost wife and she kills herself. Theme: My biggest theme in The Three Musketeers is loyalty, passion, and friendship make for the strongest friendship team. In the novel Athos, Porthos, Arimes, and d’Artagnan duel the cardinals agents and d'Artagnan fights Lord de Winter. Instead of killing him he spares him. This creates bond between Lord de Winter and d’Artagnan which is later used to help stop a plot against the king. After learning Milady’s (who is trying to underthrow The king so the Cardinal can rule France) plan d’Artagnan tells Lord de Winter about her plans and how she also is plotting to kill him to gain her brothers power. Lord de Winter knows (because of the duel) he can trust d’Artagnan and Milady gets arrested on the way back to England. This successfully protects the king from future harm at the moment. This set of only can take place due to the passion and loyalty for the king and his friends and the friendship (trust gained after the duel) from Lord de Winter. Also a famous quote In the the book is “All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall”. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) d’Artagnan is allot like Alexandre Dumas and his father. In the beginning of the book d'Artagnan is told by his dad he is a gascon he must live up to his name. d’Artagnan was always inspire by his father's word and valued it more worth than anything else he was given before his journey. Alexandre Dumas's father died when he was very young. This was be because he was a great French general and was captured on his way back home. He was imprisoned and when he finally left he was sick and Malnourished. When he started growing up he had to decide whether to take his father's last name. Alexandre felt entitled and honored to live to his father's name. Alexandre and d'Artagnan are both very passionate about their lineage and the value of their name. Before Alexandre Dumas started his career he was invited to see a play by his friend Adolphe de Leuven . He had loved the show started collaborating with Adolphe de Leuven to take historic events and turn them into shows. This sparked his career and eventually would lead to the Three Musketeers which is based off of tire tales from musketeers. Works Cited: “Alexandre Dumas.” Biography, Biography, www-biography-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.biography.com/.amp/people/alexandre-dumas-9280725?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.biography.com%2Fpeople%2Falexandre-dumas-9280725. DUMAS, ALEXANDRE. THREE MUSKETEERS. PEGASUS Books, 2019. Maurois André, and Jack Palmer White. Alexandre Dumas; a Great Life in Brief. Place of Publication Not Identified, 1955. “Alexandre Dumas.” Book Series in Order, 19 Mar. 2016, www.bookseriesinorder.com/alexandre-dumas/. By: Ian M. 1/25/2019 4 Comments H.G. WellsAuthor’s Name: Herbert George Wells
Dates Alive: 1866-1946 (79 years old) Location: He was born in Bromley, United Kingdom Major Works: Some of him most popular books are: The Time Machine The War of the worlds The Island Of Doctor Moreau. Major Themes: Excessive greed can have unwanted consequences The human race as a whole doesnt like charge Don’t take things for granted Progress for the sake of progress The upper class takes things for granted Novel Choice Plot Summary: The story starts with the main character(The Time Traveler) talking to some of his friends and telling them about how he almost finished the time machine and it works with smaller objects but he hasn't tried it himself yet. The next day he trys it and goes into the future to year 802,701 AD. He finds himself in a kind of paradise world where these people called Eloi who give him fruit. The Eloi are small and pretty stupid, they also speak a different language, which the Time Traveler tries to decode. After the Time Traveller goes for a walk to explore the new world, he comes back to find his time machine is missing. He panicked and starts to freak out. After looking for a few days he passes a group of Eloi playing to river, he sees one Eloi drowning and no one helping her, he rushes in the river and saves her. All the Eloi thank the Time Traveller and the girl he saved “Weena” follows him everywhere. The Time Traveller finds a well with smoke coming out, he thinks it might hold the white ghostly creatures he sees at night called Morlocks. He decides to go down it to look for his time machine, Weena gets very scared when he goes down. After climbing down a very long ladder its pitch black and the Time Traveller starts walking down a hallway where he hears loud machines, he sees a pile of meat in the corner and after walking a little he starts to feel little hands grab him all over his body. He lits a match and they all run away. He runs back out the well but ends up using all the matches and finds that the Morlocks are afraid of light, which is why they only come up at night. After taking weena and trying to find a safer place, he acidentaly sets a forest on fire whaile he was having a war with the Morklocks, this turns the Morlocks blind and lets The Time Traveller escape, but he lost Weena and doesnt know where she is. He makes his way back to his original starting point and sees this pedistal and finds that it had been pride open and his time machine is sitting inside. As he walking into the pedistal the door closes behing him and he can hear the little laughs of Morlocks around him. After fixing the time machine while fighting off Morlocks he finnaly gets away and goes some more into the future where he finds giant crabs, huge flying butterfly like creatures, and everntually nothing but a “maybe” moving black rock, with the sky bitch black. The Time Traveller them returnes home and tells his story to his dinner geusts. Analysis of Main Characters: The biggest main character in “The Time Machine” is the Time Traveller, Wells never says a name for him and simply calls him “The Time Traveller” throughout the book. Wells doesnt say the names for most characters. For example during the introduction of the book all the people the Time Traveller is meeting with don’t have names, only titles, like the “Money man” and “Psychollogist”, the “Filby”, and the “Mayor”. The next biggest character is Weena who is an Eloi that The Time Traveller meets and she follows him throughout the book, she comes with him to look for his machine but ends up losing her on the way. Theme: The biggest theme I found in “The Time Machine” is that humans don’t like change. The time traveler traveled almost 1 millions years into the future and we had the same social classes as today just enhanced How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) H.G. Wells life influenced his writing of this novel because the time he grew up in was filled with lots of time being put into working for other people by the lower class and the upper class was sitting around not really putting in any work. Wells was part of the struggling lower class and he saw his family go through lots of hard times. I think he wanted to write about what the future would be like with the same social ladder as when he was alive, and he figured out what it would most likely be if we didn't change the upper class and lower class, and he thought that the Eoli would become useless to everything and would loss all knowledge because they wouldn't need it. But the Morlocks were smart enough to know how to trap The Time Traveller so they showed some smarts. But it makes sense that they would have kept their smarts because they still have to make clothes and shoes and keep the upper class alive because that's what they have always done. Works Cited: “H.G. Wells.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017, www.biography.com/people/hg-wells-39224. By: Madison L. 1/25/2019 4 Comments Mark HaddonMark Haddon October 28, 1962-Present in Northampton
Major Works:
Major Themes: Trust Fear Novel Choice Plot Summary: One of the many novels Mark Haddon wrote I chose to read, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The book first starts out with the main character, Christopher, finding his neighbor's dog, Wellington, dead. Christopher lives with his dad. His mom is supposedly dead. While trying to figure out who killed Wellington, he finds out his dad lied about his mom's death. Now he has trust issues with his dad and then later also finds out his dad killed Wellington. He gets scared of his dad and runs away to London to find his mom. When Christopher finds his mom he also finds she is living with some guy called Mr. Shears. Then Christopher goes back to his father's house and rebuilds his relationship. Analysis of Main Characters: Christopher: Struggles with a form of Autism. He wants to solve the mystery of the murder of who killed Wellington the dog. Ed Boone: Christopher's dad. Single dad. Killed Wellington the dog. Judy: Christophers mom. Having an affair with Mr. Shears. Mrs. Shears: “mom” to Wellington the dog. Neighbor to Christopher and Mr. Boone. Theme: The most significant theme in my book is, give trust to those who earn it. I believe this is the biggest theme because Christophers trust is tested so many times. Even his father lies to him. Not small lies, like big lies. For example he lied to Christopher about his mother being alive and about the dog’s death. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) In Mark Haddon's free time he spent a lot of time with people that had mental and physical disabilities. This inspired the main character in the novel. He also remembers reading mysteries when he was young. This inspired him to write many of his books. Works Cited: “GCSE English Literature - Plot Summary - Revision 1.” BBC News, BBC, www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zqwq7ty/revision/1. “Mark Haddon.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Haddon. By: Kaitlyn K. 1/25/2019 5 Comments Lisa JewellLisa Jewell July 19, 1968 London, UK
Major Works:
Jewell has a few major themes which can be seen throughout her books:
Novel Choice Plot Summary: Analysis of Main Characters: Laurel Mack- Laurel Mack is the main character of this story. She is the mother of Ellie Mack, who disappeared 10 years ago from when the story takes place. Laurel is a strong, intelligent, and determined woman who loves her daughter more than anything in the world. She would do anything for her family as long as they are happy, something any good mother would do. Laurel often puts her needs on hold if that means her children, ex husband, boyfriend, or granddaughter is happy. Although many people think Laurel is crazy for holding onto the true reason behind Ellie’s disappearance, she keeps hope that she knew her daughter as much as she thought she did, knowing Ellie did not just run away. Laurel’s determination is what drives this story as she investigates on her own about Ellie’s disappearance, even after the police stop searching. One flaw she does have is not letting herself move on past Ellie. Laurel feels the need to not feel happiness and grieve over her death forever, which is not healthy. Once she meets Floyd, who later turns out to be Noelle’s ex lover and Poppy’s “father,” Laurel realizes that’s it okay to feel happiness again, though still missing her daughter, and not feel guilty about it. Laurel’s character seems to reflect who Lisa Jewell is as a person, from the information about the author available online. In the end, Laurel turns from a distant, somber woman to a bright, jubilant mother who is happy to raise her granddaughter Poppy, while keeping Ellie in mind, remembering that her happiness is all Ellie could want for her. Floyd- Floyd is a middle age man who endured a very challenging life as a kid. After being left at the steps of a hospital when he was born and moving from country to country during his school years, Floyd is a reserved, yet charming man. When he meets Laurel in a coffee shop one morning, he has no intention to fall in love with the grandmother of his “child.” Floyd always tried to be a good man - he raised a girl he knew should not exist and treated her like she was his own, showed kindness and love towards Laurel and her family, and always tried to do the right thing even when it was the hardest decision to make. When Floyd invited Noelle into his home one evening, we never expected to form a relationship with her, let alone make her insane enough to kidnap Ellie so that she would have a baby Noelle would claim as “theirs.” Floyd was only trying to be a good man by making Noelle happy for one night. Floyd’s kindness is a blessing and a curse as he tries to make everyone happy, sometimes forgetting about his own happiness. After raising Poppy for 9 years, as he was too scared to go to the police to return her to the Mack family, he finally realizes Ellie is her mother and that Poppy belongs to Laurel. It kills Floyd to give her up, and yes, it literally does kill him, though he wants Laurel and Poppy to be as happy as they possibly could be, even if it means giving up the girl he raised. Theme: Although there are many themes in the novel, I think the most prominent theme is that it’s normal to remember the heartbreak that one has enured, but everyone has a different way of grieving, and it’s okay to move on past it afterwards. In the novel, Laurel Mack loses her daughter Ellie one day after she goes to the library to study for a big test, and never returns, after making a stop into her old tutor, Noelle Donnelly’s home. Laurel spends the next 10 years of her life grieving over her loss, while her family and friends have all moved on with their lives, including her husband, who is in a serious relationship with a new girl. She believes they have been too hasty with their decision to move on and thinks that they do not love and care about Ellie as much as she does. Though, Laurel meets a man named Floyd, and daughter Poppy, who brings back all the love into her life, which also uncovers many secrets about Ellie and her tutor Noelle. Being with Floyd and Poppy helps her realize that it’s alright to move on past a heartbreak and not feel guilty for it anymore, though a part of Laurel will always be a little bit broken, and that’s okay. In the end of novel when Floyd takes his own life, leaving Poppy with her, Laurel has finally moved on and is content with her life once more as she’s realized that everyone has their own coping method to grief and it is possible to stop feeling the heartbreak if you have the right motivations to do so. Poppy is Laurel’s motivation to become happy again and move on past her daughter’s death once and for all. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) Lisa Jewell is a middle-aged women who is one of London’s best selling authors. She has been writing books ever since she won a bet against her friends, after being made redundant from her job as a receptionist. Jewell is a very creative writer who loves to get her audanicane thinking about unfortunate things that could happen to the everyday person, regardless of how good they might be to others. For example, Jewell often has her main characters made redundant from work, even if they are hardworking individuals, just like she was. Although she incorporates small facts about herself into her writing, she tends to intertwine more complicated lessons that she has learned throughout her life into her novels. When Jewell was 23, she got married to the boy she thought she loved. After their marriage day, things turned south between the two as he criticized everything that she did, and made her feel like she was never good enough. In Then She Was Gone, Ellie Mack falls in love with a boy named Theo who later marries her sister after she has died. Theo was the smartest boy in school, and Ellie felt like she needed a tutor to keep up with him, even though she was already very intelligent. With this, she hired a crazy women who ended up kidnapping Ellie so that way she could have a baby for her. Although the chances of this happening to you if you fall in love at a young age are extremely slim, Jewell does have her readers questioning what may happen if your first love doesn't work out. Chances are they’ll turn into a person you never knew could exist, like I have personally experienced, and not persuade you to get a tutor who has a desire for kidnapping. Finally, Jewell tends to incorporate her personality and morals into her main characters. She loves her family more than anything and is always willing to put their needs first. After reading how Laurel Mack developed as a character, it was clear to me that she is the fictional version of Lisa Jewell. Laurel does not stop giving up hope about Ellie’s whereabouts, because her family is what is most important to her. As a mother, Jewell knows the importance of making everyone happy, and that is exactly what Laurel does in the novel before she begins to focus on her own happiness. In an interview, Jewell states that it’s every mother’s nightmare to lose a child, and the thought is a heavy one to bare. Having Laurel, a mother like Jewell, lose her child, the story has clear signs of believable emotions and ideas if this were to ever happen to a mother. Works Cited: 2017, 2 August. “10 Things I'd Like My Readers To Know About Me By Lisa Jewell.” Female First, 2 Aug. 2017, www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/lisa-jewell-then-she-was-gone-1078825.html. “Biography: Lisa Jewell.” Lisa Jewell: Biography, Webiography, 2015, www.webbiography.com/biographies/lisa-jewell. “Lisa Jewell.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Dec. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Jewell. “Lisa Jewell.” Simon & Schuster, Scribner, 2019, www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Lisa-Jewell/75656043. Lisa Jewell. “Missing Girls: Our Deepest Fears Drive Our Reading - 7 Modern Classics of a Timeless, Tragic Story.” CrimeReads, 17 Apr. 2018, crimereads.com/missing-girls-our-deepest-fears-drive-our-reading/. Marsh, Sarah. “Lisa Jewell: ‘Getting Married Young Was the Worst Experience of My.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 7 Feb. 2012, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/lisa-jewell-getting-married-young-was-the-worst-experience-of-my-life-6298381.html. By: Elena S. 1/25/2019 6 Comments Louise GornallLouise Gornall
September 4, 1985 - Present The United Kingdom Major Works: Under Rose-Tainted Skies Major Themes: Never give up hope, believe in yourself, and be yourself Novel Choice Plot Summary: There's a 17-year-old girl, Norah, who fears everything from inland tsunamis to odd numbers which are irrational. These fears of hers are from her mental illnesses, agoraphobia, and OCD. Her fears keep her housebound; she has been living in her home for four years since the beginning of her mental illness. There was an accident that happened to her at school to create this mental illness of hers. She lost all her friends to this illness since she never left the house. Then one day a new neighbor arrives, Luke. He wants to become her friend ever since the day he came to the neighborhood on Triangle Crescent. He comes by often, either leaving little notes to her or just talking to her through the door. She starts to fall in love with him. She's scared to love him and afraid that they shouldn't love each other. She thinks he deserves a girlfriend who isn't so screwed up and has a “normal” life. Throughout the book is her learning to control her mental illness and learning to love someone. She learns to accept herself and try to get better. She now had a purpose to try and help with her illness. She wanted to get better for Luke. Analysis of Main Characters:
Theme: There were many themes throughout the book like don’t judge a book by its cover, because the person may have personal problems or illnesses that they can’t control. Never give up on yourself or others and believe you can achieve anything even if it takes you years to accomplish it. Keep hope and never let go of it. The main theme to me throughout the book was, be yourself through it all even if you have a personal problem or illness. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs): Louise Gornall influenced her life within the writing in the novel Under Rose-Tainted Skies by writing about the mental illness that Norah goes through/has. Louise Gornal has agoraphobic. Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed. Most people who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, causing them to worry about having another attack and avoid the places where it may happen again. Norah, the main character, developed her mental illness by an accident that occurred in her life. Norah is afraid of going outside after that accident occurred. Louise Gornall wants people to know how mental illness works and how people feel throughout the whole situation. She wants people to know how to handle a situation. She doesn’t want anyone to feel alone or scared so she expresses it through her writing. Works Cited:“Louise Gornall (Author of Under Rose-Tainted Skies).” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/author/show/3140554.Louise_Gornall.“Agoraphobia.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 18 Nov. 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/agoraphobia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355987.Randolph, Samantha. “5 Ways Louise Gornall's Under Rose-Tainted Skies Will Wreck Your Soul.” The B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, Barnes & Noble Reads, 4 Jan. 2017, www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/teen/5-ways-louise-gornalls-rose-tainted-skies-will-wreck-soul/. By: Kiley M. 1/25/2019 1 Comment Stephen King 2Stephen King September 21, 1947- Present Maine, USA
Major Works: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iqhGmRYtoESfw_0KpxiHF0o7z9Js3wQTy62j_nkzEUs/edit#heading=h.bh90h1qscybz Major Themes: Stephen King explores the following themes in his novels… -loss of innocence -abuse -battle between good and evil -ordinary people, when they come together can achieve big things against overwhelming odds *-The greatest evil that people do is victimization of the weak by the strong -how we easily let our childhood/adult fears rule our lives Novel Choice Plot Summary: My novel is called “Carrie”. This book is about a teenage girl named Carrie White who suddenly discovers her power of telekinetic abilities. Carrie was raised and lived alone with her religious mother named Margaret White. Carrie was abused severely emotionally and physically throughout her whole life. This is how Carrie discovers her powers and decides she will use them to make anyone who wronged her pay. And she does.. Carrie was raised by her mother and severely abused by her. Throughout her whole life she was treated poorly by her mother. Her mother was very religious and made her pray for her sins by locking her in a closet under the stairs. This closet plays a big role in (I believe) why she was so messed up. Carrie was also bullied badly at school. Ever since she started school. But when Carrie was seventeen she got her period in the girls locker room shower at her high school. All the girls surrounded carrie and laughed and threw tampons and pads telling her to “plug it up”. Carrie didn't know what was happening, she thought she was bleeding to death. Her mother never informed her of what a menstrual cycle was. After getting her first period Carrie started to notice that she could make things happen. SUch as moving things or turning a light on and off with her mind. As she uses her ability more and more it gets stronger. ANd she decides to use it to stop her mother's abuse towards her. There is a school prom coming up and one of the girls that was making fun of carrie in the locker room, named Sue Snell feels bad about what she did. To make it up to Carrie she convinces her boyfriend Tommy Ross to ask her to Prom. Carrie accepts Toms invitation and goes to prom. Unfortunately at prom one of Carrie's school enemies named Chris --- Decides to play a prank on carrie. Carrie, thinking it had been a thick from the front she uses her telekinetic powers to lock everyone in prom and starts to kill everyone inside. A she heads home killing everyone in her path. Her mother is waiting at home with a knife to “kill the demon possessing her daughter”. SHe manages to stab carrie. But before carrie dies she uses her powers to kill her mother. Carrie dies in the arms of Sue snell. A state investigation ( Board Of Maine) reports after an analysis of the Carrie white telekinetic attacks states that it was an isolated incident that wouldn't happen again. Analysis of Main Characters: Carrie White: Carrieta also known as Carrie is a shy, teenage girl who is sheltered and abused by her very religious mother named Margaret White. She is abused by her mother in a “unstable religious fanatic”. She is portrayed as a high school outcast who is bullied by her peers at school. When she turns seventeen she gets her first menstrual period in the girls locker room showers during school. This triggers and starts her to realize her telekinetic abilities. One of the girls who bullied carrie at the showers decides to right her wrong by asking her boyfriend to give carrie a date to prom. She accepts. After being embarrassed in front of the entire school during the prom, in a prank involving pigs blood, triggers carrie to use her powers to kill all her classmates and the town. Sue Snell: Sue is my favorite character in carrie because she does the right thing and she does things that you wouldn’t think a teenage girl would do. She is out of the ordinary. Sue is a popular teenage girl dating a boy named Tommy Ross. After bullying Carrie is the girls locker room she begins to feel bad and guilty about what she did. To make it up to Carrie. Or make herself feel better about what she did to carrie. She asks Tommy Ross to ask Carrie to the prom to help make carrie feel accepted. In that she does not attend the prom and she is a survivor of the Carrie White telekinetic attack. Theme: The theme of the novel “Carrie” is Need for love. Throughout the whole novel you will see that carrie is in desperate need of love and attention. When carrie uses her powers and hurts people she doesn’t seek out to hurt people but uses it as a way of protection. She did get any love or protection from her own mother, not at school by her classmates and teachers either. The only person that had a positive feeling for carrie I feel would be Tommy Ross. That may be why Tom's death is what worsened carries feelings and after he died she started to use her telekinetic powers to kill everyone around her. Even after Carries own mother tried to kill her she still loved her because she was so alone and desperate for love. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) The author of my book is named Stephen King. Carrie is actually the first book he got published so this book had a big influence on his life too. I may have mistaken but, in the introduction of Carrie it talks about how he (Stephen) was haunted by ghosts at the time he was writing Carrie and they said for him to write it and he had said the 2 ghosts combined to become Carrie. Confusing. I think the “Hauntings” of these ghosts are what made this story really gruesome and is what made the book the way it is. For his inspiration of Carrie while King went to college he worked as a janitor at a high school. He cleaned the showers in the locker rooms and imagined this scene where a girl got her period in the shower and everyone laughed at her. And boom! That's a life influences that inspired the book he wrote. I still think it’s pretty crazy that a small thought can turn into such a big thing. Works Cited: “Stephen King.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 16 Jan. 2019, www.biography.com/people/stephen-king-9365136. “Stephen King Bibliography.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King_bibliography. Stobbart, Dawn. “Stephen King: a Master of Horror Who Finds Terror in the Everyday.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 17 Sept. 2018, theconversation.com/stephen-king-a-master-of-horror-who-finds-terror-in-the-everyday-83758. Writing, Freelance. “The Writing Style of Stephen King.” FreelanceWriting, 2 Aug. 2016, www.freelancewriting.com/creative-writing/the-writing-style-of-stephen-king/. BookRags, BookRags, www.bookrags.com/. By: Bev E. 1/25/2019 1 Comment Nicholas SparksNIcholas sparks December 31, 1965 Omaha, NE
Books by Nicholas Sparks -Every breath (2018) -The notebook (1996) -See me (2015) -The choice (2007) -The longest ride (2013) -The last song (2009) Ext… Major themes of my book.. Some of the major themes in my book are forgiveness, Don't judge someone by what they look like or who you think you they are, and the last theme is love. The last song Plot Summary In this book the last song Ronnie and her brother Jonah go to visit there dad for the summer. Jonah is very excited to go see his dad but Ronnie isn't. She has been mad at her dad since her mom and him got divorced but, her mom Kim makes her go. There dad lives and North carolina right on the beach. When Ronnie gets there she goes straight to the boardwalk to ignore her dad. She is walking on the beach when she gets hit by a boy playing volleyball. He introduces himself as Will Blakelee. Ronnie puts on he mean face and walks away she ignores this “Handsome Volleyball boy” . She later runs into him again and keeps running into him they finally sit down together and talk. Later in the book he takes her to the aquarium were he works and shows her how he can swim with the fish. After a few weeks into the summer Ronnie starts to forgive her dad and they become more connected than ever. Ronnie and Will keep hanging out and start to fall for eachother. Until… Ronnie and Jonah's dad is diagnosed with cancer Will helps Ronnie and Jonah get through this hard time but later in the book Greg (there dad) passes away. Jonah and Ronnie later go back home but Ronnie and Will continue to date throughout collage. And now Liam hemsworth (Will) and Miley cyrus (Ronnie) are now married in real life so a pretty great book and story overall. Character Analysis Veronica “Ronnie”- Ronnie puts on a facade that she is all tough and mean and doesn't care about anything but really when she meets Will she puts down the “mask” and shows her true self. A loving, silly, happy teenage girl. In this book Ronnie really lets her true colors shine and she becomes a much more loving character by the end of the book. Jonah Miller- Jonah is a loving brother who is always happy. Jonah always wants what's best for his sister and is really happy when she starts dating Will because her old true self comes back to life. When Jonah's dad is diagnosed with cancer he becomes really mad and sad because he doesn't want to lose his dad. But when his dad passes away Ronnie and Will help him through the grieving process. Will Blakelee- Will is a popular loving character who at first seems kind of like an “f boy” but turns out to be very caring of other people. Will is very fun and loving and he fights for what he wants because Ronnie didn't like Will at first but then he fought for her and showed he who he really is. This shows us that Will is willing to fight for what he thinks is right and he won't let other people get in the way of that. Theme The main theme of this book is love. Ronnie learns to forgive and love her dad for who he is. She also loves her brother and Will. But mainly she learns to love herself. In the beginning of the book ronnie was mad at almost everything and didn't like who she was but after she put down the mask she learned to love herself for who she is. Work cited https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1294226/fullcredits https://www.biography.com/people/nicholas-sparks-562686 By: Rachel K. 1/24/2019 8 Comments George Orwell 3Author’s Name Dates Alive: 25 June 1903 – 21 January 195 George Orwell (orig. Eric Arthur Blair) Location: Great Britian
Major Works: 1984, Animal Farm Major Themes: totalitarianism, society wins, socialism Novel Choice Plot Summary: The main character, Winston Smith is living in a totalitarian hierarchy society that completely oppresses its people, he begins to realize what the government is really doing and begins to write down in a journal, the hatred he has. Eventually he works up the courage to try and join “the brotherhood,” a resistance force that is told doesn’t exist. But it does. Soon after he meets a girl named Julia who he falls in love with and together they join the resistance (Julia also hates the government or INGSOC). Soon after, they are betrayed by the person who inducted them into the brotherhood and are tortured and abused, mentally and physically until they betray each other (something that was they said would never happen) succumbing to the same government that suppressed them, thereafter a realization is made that they both love big brother. (the god-like leader of the regime). Analysis of Main Characters: Winston Smith: the main protagonist, he begins to realize how horrible the world he lives in is and joins a secret society to try and change it. Ultimately he fails and succumbs to the regime. Julia: Another protagonist, she falls in love with Winston and together, they join the resistance. They are both subsequently captured, tortured, and brainwashed until they betray each other ending their relationship. Mr. Charrington: the person who betrays Winston and Julia to the “thought” police. Mr. O’brien: The man who inducts Winston and Julia into the secret society, he is also their captor and torturer. Theme: Danger of Totalitarianism How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) George Orwell was a very pessimistic man, he did not approve of the western democracies of Britain and France (thinking of them as exploiters of the poor masses) nor did he approve of the home grown Fascism of Germany and Italy. He despised communism and was an anti-totalitarian. He believed in a socialist society that wasn’t utopian, but a society that, in his mind worked better than anything else. Putting his odd political views aside, George’s (or should I say Eric’s) book had a lot to do with the war in Europe especially relations between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. He imagined a world where the world was under control by stalinist ideology. Much of the book’s details are based off of the Soviet union’s practices as well as Imperial Japan’s. The “thought police” based off of the NKVD (soviet secret police) and the idea of a “thought crime” based off of the Japanese secret police who arrested citizens who weren’t “patriotic” enough. His works after 1939 (the spanish civil war) were mainly to show the dangers of a totalitarian society that controls the world. Many parallels can be drawn between 1984 and Stalin's Russia such as what I mentioned before, the secret police who arrested anyone for anything. Other similarities such as the division of society (a small number of rich elite and a large number of poor masses) and the heavy censorship of the press are easily identifiable. The past altering job the Winston has in 1984 is also based in reality, Stalin edited multiple pictures to “get rid of” people in them who had gone against the party. Even Emmanuel Goldstein who is the number one enemy of the state is based off of a person from real life. He is based off of Leon Trotsky who became the enemy of the state. There was always a fear that Trotsky would throw a coup and overthrow Stalin, this is exemplified in the book as there is always the fear that the “enemy” Emmanuel goldstein would return and destroy everything that is loved. The secret “brotherhood” is based on the resistance in the soviet union as people valiantly fought against the regime that was controlling them. George Orwell’s famous book 1984 was mainly based upon his ideas of politics as well as the war raging in Europe only miles away. He feared a takeover from a communist or fascist regime and this is exemplified in the book that many feared would bring about the end of the free society all of us know and take for granted. Works Cited: “George Orwell.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Dec. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell. Google Search, Google, www.google.com/search?q=1984&safe=active&rlz=1CAIXET_enUS832&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih8_npm_DfAhVOTd8KHbr5DEEQ_AUIDygC&biw=1366&bih=641#imgrc=k7iRq0B2eVw6OM: By: Jason Z. 1/24/2019 3 Comments George Orwell 2Author’s Name: George Orwell
Dates Alive: 1903-1950 Location: Primarily London, England Major Works: 1984, Animal Farm, Homage to Catalonia, Burmese Days Major Themes: Civilians vs tyranny (totalianarism), war, love in the face of tyranny, the average man Novel Choice Plot Summary: The book is set in a future dystopian world taking place in London, England or, in the book, London, Oceania. The main character of the book is Winston Smith. He lives a drab and boring life consisting of nothing but going to work and partaking in community events such as hikes or lynchings of prisoners of war. However, he is not totally brainwashed by the government. He is convinced that certain things don’t line up, one thing being that he remembers the country being at war with Eurasia, but the government specifically claims that they were never at war with Eurasia, only Eastasia. He began to write his thoughts down in a diary, which is a crime punishable by death. He continued to live his day to day life until he has a strange encounter with a women at his work named Julia. Discreetly, she slipped him a note saying “I love you.” They arranged for a place to meet and began to have a love affair, another crime. Winston soon becomes convinced that an inner party member named O’Brien is part of an organization against Big Brother, the government leader. He and Julia meet with him and discus wanting to join the rebellion. O'brien gives Winston a book on the rebellion and they part ways. However, as soon as Winston began reading the book, the thought police raided into his room. They arrested both him and Julia for the several crimes they had been committing. It turns out O'brian was a member of the thought police, not the rebellion. O'brien tortured Winston until Winston no longer had any emotion and was completely malleable to the government. The book ends with Winston telling Big Brother “I love you.” Analysis of Main Characters: Winston - Winston is the main character of the book. He is an average man with basic looks and a boring personality. Yet, even though he is written as nothing extraordinary, he commits several acts of rebellion, such as writing, having an affair, remembering, and ultimately going against Big Brother. Even after Winston is caught by the thought police, it takes a very long time for them to break him to the point where he no longer loves or remembers anything. He has enough willpower to endure long days of torture without breaking his love for Julia. I think he was supposed to embody the typical person, nothing extraordinary, yet he has the natural urge for freedom. Julia - Julia is the pure embodiment of rebellion. She is the main love interest of the book and instigated the affair herself. She is very intelligent. In order to keep her cover, she would act very involved in the party from things such as extra praising for Big Brother during two minutes hate to filling almost her entire schedule with community activities. She has strong opinions against the party, especially the innerparty, but also carries around a hopelessness with her about it. Though later in the book she attempts to join the rebellion, she was always adamant that things were the way they were and that would never change. She doesn’t carry the freedom belief that Winston has. Theme: The theme of the book is the dangers of a tyrannical government or totalitarianism. In the book, the government has perfect control. Citizens are force fed propaganda, history is modified, emotions are non existent, there is no free time to think, and the government even went as far to turn the children into spies who report any and all thought crime they witness, even if it’s their own parents. There are no flaws in the system. If a thought crime is discovered, the perpetrator is tortured until their loyalties lie within the government again. This is what happens to our main character, Winston. We witness in horror as he is turned into a shell of his old self after days upon days of torture. The book was meant to be a wake up call on what may happen to us, and that we must do everything in our power to not have the same fate as Oceania. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) George Orwell was born into an upper middle class family in the early 1900s. He attended boarding school from a young age and was constantly surrounded by those of his social class. This starvation of ordinary life is what later drove him to leave England and move to France and become a poor writer. During this time, he held menial jobs and studied the lives of the people around him. He saw how the average person lived from day to day and was fascinated. This later drove average people to become the forefront of his writing in almost all of his books. Orwell was also born during the threat of World War II. He himself fought in the republican army against the Nazis and worked in the imperial police force in Burma. During his time of service and working as a police officer, Orwell developed several opinions on the ideal government. Most noticeably, he developed a strong hatred of totalianarism. At the time, British people were looking at a quick fix to all of their problems and some leaned toward the idea of authoritarianism, just like several neighboring European countries. The thought of this disgusted Orwell, and drove him to write 1984, an example of extreme totalianarism. It was meant to be a wake up call to those around him and to expose them to what he witnessed and gathered throughout his life. Works Cited: Orwell, George. 1984. Propyläen-Verl., 1984 Crick, Bernard R., et al. George Orwell. Flammarion, 2008. “George Orwell.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell. By: Kylie L. 1/24/2019 0 Comments George Orwell 1Author’s Name Dates Alive Location
George Orwell 1903-1950 England Major Works: 1984 Animal Farm Shooting an Elephant Homage to Catalonia Burmese Days Coming Up For Air Major Themes: Psychological manipulation, Dangers of a Dystopia, importance of thought and emotion Novel Choice Plot Summary: Winston is a citizen of Oceania. He is a low ranking member of the ruling party. In Oceania people are ordered around very strictly by Big Brother. Big Brother and the government watches Winston on screens at hi own home. Things like having thoughts and love are illegal. One day Winston starts to write an Illegal Diary. In this diary he writes a plan to rebel against the big brother. His next move is to join the secret Brotherhood and go up a against Big Brother and the government. Analysis of Main Characters: Winston: Winston is a low end member of a political party in Oceania. He is watched 24/7 by the face of the government, Big Brother. After a while he begins to think that the rules are unfair. He decides to by a diary and to rebel. He is a very odd character for he is the main character but is isolated from almost all of the other characters. He doesn’t make many interactions with many characters. He is also a very caring person. H wanted to change the government not just for his benefit but for all of the Oceania citizens. Another odd thing about Winston is his happiness. In the book Winston is never truly happy. He only shows signs of happiness for short stints. Theme: The importance of thought and emotion. How did the author’s life influence his writing in this novel? (2-3 paragraphs) During George Orwell's life many communist ideas were being thrown around in England. This is why it is not surprising that he had written about a communist government in his book. In George Orwell's life he strong opinions about the dangers communism. He then wrote about them in his book in scenarios where the communism goes seriously wrong. It is also a scenario where the communist government is not good because of human greed. The factor of human greed was one of the major points in why George Orwell thought that communism was not a good government system. In George Orwell's childhood he was a very shy kid. He did not have many friends and did not participate in many school functions or activities. He mostly kept to himself quietly. Later in life he wrote a paper about why he writes. He said that he writes because he wanted to make up for everything he missed out on as a kid and in high school. I think that he based Winston off of himself. Winston used to just go along and just go with the government but eventually did the right thing and tried to rebel. It is similar to how George Orwell kept to himself when he was young but proceeded to write books as he got older. Works Cited: Colls, Robert. George Orwell: English Rebel. Oxford University Press, 2015. Dag, O. “George Orwell.” George Orwell: Shooting an Elephant, orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiw. Orwell, George. 1984. New American Library, 1955. “Welcome to George-Orwell.org ; George Orwell.” George Orwell - Complete Works, Biography, Quotes, Essays, george-orwell.org/. By: Jack C. |