A Little Literature @juliestudent0809-blog - Tumblr Blog

In this class I learned a lot about different kinds of novels. Before, I had no knowledge about dystopian or utopian. I think professor Clark choose some good novels for us to read. However, some of the novels and short stories were horrifying. I mean eating babies? Who does that? I would take my own life before eating an innocent child. I love how we discussed the books in great detail in class. Overall, professor Clark is awesome and teaches great classes. I had her for 1102 as well so I know she is passionate about her career. My favorite book was Fahrenheit 451. It kept my attention the best.

juliestudent0809-blog

I am with you! I also learned a lot in this class. I have not even discusses the elements of fiction in a class since Middle School. (Mostly because they only teach standardized testing now not grammar and literature and anything useful.) So that being said, this class was very useful to me. I also knew little about dystopian nor Utopian until this class. The novels we read were very good examples of this though I can see how they are horrifying. However if you take a history class, it becomes even more horrifying and that stuff really happened. It seems the more I learn the more horrified and curious I become at the same time. Is that weird? Maybe I’m weird. Who knows.

Final Words

I have to say I might actually miss this class. This is probably the only class that i got to read enjoyable books. From this point on (for me anyways) its going to be some real dry technical reading and long drawn out term papers and thesis papers. So at least I had this enjoyable class to lighten the mood before all that stuff comes up.

I do think that out of the four books we read 1984 was my favorite. (Im probably the only one who thinks this.) I think it is because of the psychology used in that book. There to different techniques and subtle messages that I picked up on that Im not sure others did. This, to me, made the book more realistic than the others because I see the the same techniques and subtle messages occurring currently.

I also do not think I will ever have another class where tumblr is an assignment. I really love tumblr and pintrest... I may have a problem,... But none the less I still get work done!! So that is all the matters,... a little procrastination never hurts anyone. Right? No? Oh well, but yeah this was probably one of the best classes that I have ever taken.

ahouse1010-blog

I expected the film to be much different. The book expressed so much detail in every apact. I expected the bunker to be much different though. In the book, he had to dig through the ‘stores’ and I imagined it to be slightly bigger. The bathroom soon was different than I expected. I just imagined the bathroom different than it was presented. For some reason I didn’t expect them to have that much hair when they were cutting their hair. The book described everything so well. I even had to read some parts twice to get the picture.

juliestudent0809-blog

I agree with you. The book was way different than the movie and I assumed the movie was to be similar. I pictured that the house of the mother and father and boy to have been destroyed or at least have damage but the movie made it look pretty nice. Actually the movie made a lot of the world look nicer than the book made it sound. I also pictured a lot of snow when reading the book but the movie did not seem to show that much snow, only some on the ground here or there. I also dont think the movie really depicted how cold it was like the book described. Yes i know it is hard to depict cold but i think it could have been done better than that.

The Road

I enjoyed the book better than the movie (like most people when it comes to books vs. movies) The reason why the movie bothered me is because the boy acted way to young for the way he looked. Now I understand that he had no other children to base it off of and this was all he knew growing up. But the boy looked like a preteen or a young teenager and acted like he was four or five. It didn't match up. I also understand that it was a director decision because of the audience’s reason if a four or five year old were to be left alone to fend off the world. But at least make him act the age he looks.

Also in the movie the man never lost the lighter, in the book he did. I feel as though that took out a large emotion piece to the story. In the book it was a symbol as a loss of hope for a moment. The boy became so scared and there was no fire. They had to search for flint to start a fire. In the movie the lighter was there the whole time. I feel that took out something that would have made the movie better.

However i did like the voice-over done by the man the express the thoughts he had in the book. That was clever.

notericclapton-blog

“The Road”, a tale of gray ash.

I really enjoyed this book. Now, it may be because I watched the movie a few years back and always wondered what the movie left out. I have to admit, the book was anticlimactic in the traditional sense, but I think it was intentional. The way I like to look at the book is the climax happened before the book starts. So, whatever cataclysm that brought on the ash and set the world in peril and destruction was the climax of the book. The rest of the book is falling action and the resolution. Like Professor Clark stated in class, the apocalypse or whatever you would call it, was left out so that way it would not be the main focus of the book. The story was written so the questions of humanity would be the main focus and not the environmental factors. I believe McCarthy wanted us to ponder things like how there could still be “good guys”, the lengths at which someone would go to protect someone they love, or even how someone being raised in a world where compassion and empathy will almost certainly get you killed and yet compassion is the only thing they know. It doesn’t matter whether it was nuclear fallout, volcanic eruptions, or a comet striking the Earth, McCarthy wanted the reader to focus on humans and their interactions with one another after such an event.

juliestudent0809-blog

It is very interesting how this literature class correlates with my western civilization conversations so much. In my western civ. class we were asked what percent of people we thought would go out stealing, raping, killing, etc if there were no laws or forces to keep people from doing it. Based on the class’ answers it ranged from 15%-90%. It really does make you think though. How many people would/could do whatever means are necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones alive? But like we discussed in class sure it would be easy to say we would not eat a person now but what would we say when we are starving, cold, and delusional? I hope I will never be in a situation where I have to find out because I could assure you, I would be the first to die. No survival skills here what so ever.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed the book The Road. Although it was not my absolute favorite book in the world, it was very descent. The ending is what really got to me. The boy just lost his papa and sees a figure coming towards him. He has to remember everything he has learned from his papa in order to survive whatever is coming. The figure turns out to be a man that asks the boy where to other person he was with was. The boy then had to explain that his father had passed. The new man told the boy that he should come with them. The boy needs to know if he was a good guy or a bad guy, in order to have a satisfactory answer the boy asks “Do you carry the fire?”

I think that is a very strong question not only for the book but in real life in a way. It makes me ask myself do I carry the fire? Do I have the will to go on no matter what the circumstances are. If i were to be asked that question three to four years ago the answer would have been “no.” But now I can say “yes” because I know there is so much more worth living for and so much to experience. It kind of makes me want to start asking people if they carry the fire just to see how they would answer and see what it means to them,

In correlation to "The Road" here is my road, I got hitched!!!

artislifeslr261-blog

Pain

The boy wanted to save the other child and the dog, he questioned if they would eat people too because of how hungry they are, he lost an innocence after digging up the large box (I’m just calling it a box). He is cold, hungry, scared. A world like this is no world for a child to endure. To hand him a pistol and say “make it quick” to imagine taking his life in case the bad people found them. I feel so much pain for this child. Enduring the cold and the brutality of the environment, I know I wouldn’t have lasted. To see the people in that room would have made me sick to my stomach (luckily he didn’t see). To lose your mother because she couldn’t handle this life. I would have held the lantern instead of the gun myself. That house was a savior to them (I think it was a house? He said store a lot too) I like to imagine that they get to stay there for a long period of time without interruption. #4-5-16

juliestudent0809-blog

But the thing is the boy knows no other world. At least the father remembers a time before. This is all the boy knows. How scary is that to think about? To only know cold, pain, sorrow for your entire life. To not know when your next meal will be or who you will run into that may rape, kill, then eat you. To not even understand what is going on or how to deal with it. The boy asks a lot of questions because he wants reassurance,... but of what? Safety? There is no safety. The scariest part to me would be not knowing anything. I wouldn't be able to handle the cold and the hunger. But when you think about it, so many people in this world experience this. There are so many homeless that battle this same battle of not knowing, being cold, being hungry. Its sad. Everything is sad. (We need a happy time)

Death is not a lover

I don’t tend to speak up much to anyone about my past, but this book as made me think about it again. The scene where the mother is talking to the father about dying instead of facing the world broke my heart. I understand that. I understand the grief and the low that she had to have been feeling. As a person who deals with borderline personality disorder and anxiety and depression, ii personally KNOW this feeling all to well. But what really got to me is what the father said to the mother. “Death is not a lover.” I wish someone had told that to me a few years ago when I continuously tried to end it all. When you feel so unwanted and so unloved that death is appealing as a lover. Because death would take the pain away and would not ignore you. But death is not a lover, because it kills the people you leave behind. It kills the ones who loves you and chances the lives of everyone you know. I know it is a different situation in the book (i mean its post apocalyptic for goodness sake) but that single line hit me so hard. In the past two years I have changed so much and overcame so many of my problems. But the phrase “Death is not a lover” will stick with me in a positive way probably for the rest of my life.

jeffery-williams

Just why?

We spoke in class about how in the book the “Handmaids Tale” how the women are not allowed anything during child birth because they are supposed to suffer. Why is this such a common theme? Thinking about it I guess it all stems from religion, from Adam and Eve? Anyways, this is not the first time I’ve heard the idea that Women are meant to suffer, but I just cannot understand why. I believe women have it rough, having to go through their womanly cycles, the judgement of society, child baring, and you want to deny them pain medication during child birth? As a guy, which it is funny to me that most of the time whole idea of women suffering being a good thing stems from men, we have it easy. All we have to do is provide, care, and not be a jerk….. I just cannot imagine why anyone would deny a woman anything to ease pain when they already go through so much, but then again I guess it comes down to blindly following traditions without question.

juliestudent0809-blog

I just had this conversation with a friend of mine. We were watching greys anatomy and a lady had a neck and spnial cord injury from a car wreck that happened on the way to the hospital to deliver her baby. So the doctors had to do the compression brace so she wouldnt become paralyzed. Thus she wasnt able to move at all. Turned out she had to deliver her baby without moving or else she would probably become paralyzed. My friend jlhad her baby a year ago and she said there was no way she could have stayed still durinh child birth. I then mentioned this book and we started discussing the religions that STILL do things like that. It is a stigma mostly started by religion that women are ment to suffer but still is talked about regularly. It is weird.

Makes me mad

I have finished the book Handmaids tale and I can honestly say the ending made me so mad. I havent really done much reading for fun in years and I think its because the endings always made me so mad. I cant stamd clifthangers being the end of a book with no sequel or anything. I guess that is why fan fiction is so popular. Anyway I did find it interesting how the author chose to write the last chaptwe of the book. Although it was a rather dry read It was indeed a thought turning read. It also makes the book more realistic to the reader and I found it to be a good literay device.

artislifeslr261-blog

Some in the moment thoughts

I can’t imagine coming home from work after being fired for being a woman and on top of that I am not allowed to have my own finances. The feeling of complete loss of partnership due to the forced dependency to my significant other is almost impossible to attempt. To feel like I am not in control of my life and someone else is, to be of value to someone and forced to live a certain way that I do not wish to live. To be forbidden from looking someone in the eye and to live with people I do not know and be forced to conceive their child. Offred is much stronger than I am. I don’t know if I would have lasted as long as she has. I would have had an emotional breakdown and would have probably been sent away to a mental institution. In the center, I would have kept my mouth shut or contradicted everything the aunts would have said and been beaten. I would have run off the day I lost my job to somewhere else. Living in a world like that would be unbearable. When Luke had to kill the cat I cried. I am a pet lover especially cats. Just putting them down when they’re so I’ll they cannot even eat tears me apart. I know, because I went through that last November. The sacrifices she made. Moira is so strong and courageous. She would have been my hope, too. #3-23-16

juliestudent0809-blog

I know I wouldnt have lasted as long as offres did. However I do not think I would be able to be a moira either. If I was in this book I wouod probably be sent to the colonies for becoming an emotional wreck who cant handle anything. Or maybe I would be killed off because of the treatments for the "wondering womb" (I think is what it was called) Anyway I would go crazy no doubt. I hate relying on anyone for anything especially when I know I am capable of doing it. I do believe, such as you, moira would be my hope if I were in this book. But then again so would luke and her daughter because although she doesnt technically know they are okay she doesn't technically know they're dead either. There is hope in this book. Therefore there is hope in the world because nothing is in this book that hasnt already happened according to tue author anyways.

Wont know anything different

As I am reading this book I cant help but to think back on the video of the interview we watched. She said that everything she wrote in this book was something that has already happened. At first im thinking "if all of this has happened then where was I because I dont remember any of this." However I didn't take into consideration the rest of the world. Somewhere in this world, these events have taken place and it's scary because im not thinking a out it at all. And I really didnt realize these thkngs happened until we were shown the photos of the arab women befote they were forced to wear the full body dress. I didn't think about the protest or the careers they may have had. When I see photos of them now, I always thought that was how it always was. That makes me fall into the category the Aunts were talkimg about in the book. "One day it wont be so hard because no one will know of anything different. " Obviously that has already happened too because I didnt know anything different in my example because it occurred before I was born. Scary thoughts...

just-shower-thoughts

If our criminal justice system worked properly then ex-convicts would not be regarded as “dangerous” or “unqualified to work” instead as enlightened members of society who have learned an important life lesson

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Amber alert

After sitting in Best Buy when a amber alert got pushed through. It made me think of Fahrenheit 451 when they were looking for Montag. The part of the book when the government told everyone to go look out side and see if they see a man on the run. Could our government do that now? They send out theses Amber alerts to people in a certain area. So if they wanted to they could send in out to everyone in the areas around wear the person on the run would be right? But I mean do you really pay attention to it? Who would actually look for this person and if they saw him or her would they really turn them in. In my opinion I doubt it, but what do you think?

juliestudent0809-blog

As i read your post I am quite terrified because I get amber alerts all the time and what do I do?... I ignore them. Most the time I just try to get my phone to stop making that horrible noise so I can get back to whatever I was doing. The government probably could do exactly what happened in Fahrenheit 451 but like you said, I doubt that anyone would look for them. Currently many people are too caught up with themselves (guilty as charged at times) to really pay attention to what all is going on around them. So i wonder how well a distopia would work in current society because many people only want to be concerned with themselves. It is kind of hard to foresee something turning everyone in the same direction.

I found this picture while scrolling through Instagram and it made me think about the many discussions we have had on distopias. The image represents that books show you the worst. It kind of makes me think of “knowledge is bad” or something to that effect because books allow you to see that not everything is as peachy as some people make it out to be. Sometimes the truth doesn’t come out until a book is written. Or sometimes someone publishes their personal experience of horror and only then do people realize what really was going on. Examples being dairies of people from the Holocaust or people from the wars.

Also when I look at this image I think of “people who don’t read never get the truth.” Maybe the image of the flowers is a wallpaper that is blocking the true view of the world. “Ignorance is bliss” in a way.

I personally believe that Knowledge is Power and that the lack of knowledge will be what ends us. Many of the books we have been reading are considered a warning. And those whom read them will be the only one prepared to deal with the things that are to come.

In all, I thought this image was very interesting and made me think a lot more than normal when scrolling through Instagram.

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