Mini-Reviews (2)

May 4th, 2011 by · 1 Comment · English Honors

Title: Burr

Author: Gore Vidal

Genre: historical fiction

Reading experience: quite long, but very interesting

Rating: ** ½

Burr is narrated by a fictional young writer named Charles Schuyler who is being paid to write an exposé on the infamous and controversial Aaron Burr.  Burr is best known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel.  Charles’ editor, Leggett, urges him to prove that presidential candidate Martin van Buren is the illegitimate son of Burr to hurt his presidential campaign.  As Charles spends time with Burr he learns many things, not only about Burr but about himself. (Gelderman, 12)

 

Title: Executioner’s Song

Author: Norman Mailer

Genre: historical fiction

Reading experience: very long, but worth it

Rating: ***

The main character of the story, Gary Gilmore, was a convicted felon in Provo, Utah.  After his last release, his family attempted to rehabilitate him but he went into a downward spiral and ended up back in jail for murdering two people.  Gary then became famous for refusing to appeal the execution sentence he received during his trial.  Executioner’s Song is the story of not only Gary’s life, but of the lives of all of the people affected by his actions. (Gelderman, 12)

 

Title: Good Omens

Author: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Genre: science fiction

Reading experience:

Rating: *****

This story follows several different storylines that all come together at the end on Saturday, the planned day of Armageddon.  In preparation for this day an angel, Aziraphale, and a demon, Crowley attempt to locate the devil’s spawn, Adam Young in Lower Tadfield.  Several other characters intervene along the way. (Gelderman, 12)

 

Title: Into the Wild

Author: Jon Krakauer

Genre: nonfiction

Reading experience: found the main character to be annoying until the last few paragraphs

Rating: **

It is the nonfiction account of a young man named Chris McCandless who ventured into the wilderness of Alaska and never returned.  His goal was to spend a summer living off of the land and he almost succeeded.  In this story, Krakauer attempts to find the meaning behind this expedition and Chris’ life. (Gelderman, 12)

Tags: ····

Executioner’s Song (4)

April 12th, 2011 by · 1 Comment · English Honors

Ms. Westfall,

            I have just finished reading The Executioner’s Song by Normal Mailer.  It is the “true life story” of Gary Gilmore, a murderer who became famous for refusing to appeal his sentence of execution.  After a nine-month-long battle with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Gilmore was finally executed by a shooting squad.  This book follows Gary’s and other secondary characters’ lives starting from Gary’s last release from prison until his funeral.

            Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  Yes, it was very long and sometimes tedious, but I really came to appreciate how masterful a piece of writing it is.  The amount of detail put into the book is incredible, so much so that I wondered why it is categorized under fiction.  In the “Afterword” I read that while it comes as close to the truth as possible, it cannot be officially called nonfiction because it comes solely from second-hand accounts and states them as a truth.  Mailer never interviewed Gilmore himself, but did interview hundreds of other secondary characters and victims of the collateral damage Gary invoked.  Mailer said that the transcripts of all of the interviews could easily add up to 15,000 pages.  The problem was that sources would often times disagree or the timelines people provided didn’t match up, so Mailer would just pick whatever sounded most likely.  So, for this reason, the book is called fiction.  On a side note about the afterword, I had mentioned in my last letter that Mailer did a really good job of not glorifying Gary’s situation or favoring him in any way.  This comes out in the afterword in which he thanks and acknowledges all of the important people in the story.  He doesn’t mention Gary once.

            As I also mentioned in my last letter, this book really showcases how involved the media can become in matters such as this.  It seemed clear that Gary and Nicole wanted to keep somewhat private about their affairs, but the media persisted.  Gary wrote in a letter to Nicole, “Before I die I’m going to destroy your letters.  The reason is that they are simply not for publication.  Not for the public” (785).  Yet, one of Nicole’s letters shows up four pages later in the book.  Obviously, his wish wasn’t granted.  It is kind of sad how many people tried to get close to Gary just to squeeze a story out of him.  In the days leading up to his death, several people seemed frantic to talk to him.  One would think that this was because they wanted to have their last moments with Gary before he was gone forever, but most just wanted to get an interview.  For instance, Mailer writes of one person’s thoughts, “there were only two days left and all kinds of valuable material to get” (868).  The hysteria people were feeling was mainly because they wanted to have their shot at talking to him for their story.

            An interesting aspect of this story is that no one ever really seemed to get to the bottom of why Gary did what he did.  Several people thought that he had issues with his mother which is supported by the fact that his mother was one of the only members of his family to never go and visit him.  This theory is also backed up when he remarked that he didn’t believe that Nicole held any responsibility to her children and that no parent really does.  These factors led several people to believe that there were some underlying issues with his mother that made him act out, but he insisted several times that he loved his mother very much and thought she was great woman.  The theory that I believe most is that Gary was a pedophile and committed murder as an alternate way to exorcise his inner demons.  Many facts support this theory.  For instance, Gary once kissed a young boy in prison, had a fling with a very young girl, and Nicole had a very childish figure that he commented on a lot.  He called her his “little elf.”  The theory is that after he broke up with Nicole (his tool to satisfy his pedophilia) he had no way to act upon his desires.  Rather than commit a crime against a child, he decided to go on a murdering rampage.  This may seem like a far stretch, but it is widely known among prisoners that being in prisoner as a pedophile is the worst possible situation.  Other prisoners put pedophiles at the bottom of the food chain and often times beat them up or even kill them.  It is considered the most disgusting of crimes among other criminals.  So, it makes some amount of logical sense that Gary would choose to commit murder over sexually assaulting a child.  This theory may seem far-fetched, but after reading the whole book, it does seem pretty plausible.

            After learning about all the struggles Truman Capote went through in writing the end of In Cold Blood I was really curious to see how Mailer would end this book.  Of course, the execution is the paramount scene of the book.  The execution itself was a media circus.  Mailer writes that there were over 40 people there who didn’t even know Gary.  Gary lived up to what he said and faced his death with dignity.  He didn’t even flinch or seem tense as the warden counted down for the shooting squad.  Mailer goes on to describe the scene after the execution and explains where all of the secondary characters were when they heard of his death and includes their reactions to it.  A sort of surprising part of the book is when Mailer describes the process of organ harvesting Gary’s body and goes into pretty graphic detail about it.  The last scene of the book is Gary’s funeral in which several family members tearfully speak about him.  Mailer began the book with a prison song and he ends the book with the same song, but adds the last and very chilling stanza to the end.  I believe he ended the book perfectly.  It was important for him to continue the story after the execution because it turned out that the book was about a lot more than just Gary.  It was also about all of the people he affected.

            Although it was a somewhat difficult process, I’m glad that I read this book. It gave me another look at the nonfiction novel and more context in my study of Truman Capote.  I’m also always glad to read a Pulitzer Prize winning novel.  I will definitely never forget this book.

 

Work Cited

Mailer, Norman. The Executioner’s Song. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979. Print.

Tags: ··

Executioner’s Song (3)

April 11th, 2011 by · 1 Comment · English Honors

Ms. Westfall,
I am three quarters of the way through The Executioner’s Song by Normal Mailer. It is the mostly true story of Gary Gilmore, a murderer who became famous for refusing to appeal his execution sentence. Gary went through several lawyers and legal battles to demand that his execution be followed through with. His grounds were that he wanted to do the honorable thing and pay for what he had done. Just recently in the story, Gary and his girflriend Nicole made a suicide attempt after he was granted a stay of execution. After this failed Gary tried yet again a few months later. Right now in the book, Gary is in talks with Lawrence Schiller, a film producer who is interested in buying Gary’s life rights.
It has been really difficult while reading this book to decide whose side I am on. I do think that it is somewhat honorable that Gary was trying to take his sentence with dignity, buu then again he tried to kill himself twice, which kind of takes away from his claim of honorability. Also, I’m not even sure that I agree with the death sentence at all. I’m not convinced that “an eye for an eye” is really just. I tend to think that living your entire life in prison is sufficient punishment, but of course my opinion isn’t necessarily well-informed. I can see why the American Civil Liberties Union tried to appeal his sentence, especially since his suicide attempts point to the fact that he was possibiy insane or mentally unstable. But in the end, if the death penalty is legal and given as a sentence to a criminal, I think that it is their right to decide whether or not to appeal. So, i guess that would put me on Gary’s side, althougth it is a very complicated matter.
This story really showcases the brutality of journalism and Hollywood. It seems like Gary and Nicole couldn’t trust anyone to maintain their privacy. Journalists and reporters were doing anything to get information from them or from thier close friends to write a story. Gary dealt with several lawers who ended up betraying him and going to the press or trying to sell information. Not only is it disgusting that people were trying to exploit them, but it’s even worse that they are two people who I believe didn’t really deserve attention. Yes, I think that Gary’s story might have made an interesting article or two, but it seems like people were really quick to romanticize his situation and paint it as a story of two lovers torn apart, when really this was a murdered who deserved to be alone in prison. Yet, at the same time, i’m reading a book by one of those poeple. It may seem that I’m feeing into this by reading this book, but I think Mailer does a good job of not favoring Gilmore in any way. He spares no embarrassing detail about Gary and in no way tries to paint him as innocent and misunderstood.
I tried going into this book having no prior knowlege of the true events in order to maintain the suspense of the story. I wanted to see if it would still read like complete fiction, but unfortunately, knowing that it is mostly true has ruinied a few suspenseful moments. For instance, when Nicole attempts suicide Mailer describes in detail the thougths that were going through her head as she swallowed the pills. By reading this it was obvious that she wasn’t going to die. The fact that Mailer knew her thoughts meant that she lived to tell them. This was a moment when the nonfiction side of the book really did compromise its fiction side. Maybe it would have been better if I had gone ino this not only without knowing the true story, but aslo without knowing it was true at all. This seems like it would be the only way to attain true suspense. But I guess the suspense of the novel isn’t really meant to be its best attribute anyway.
I’m very excited that I’m in the home stretch of this book. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything this long before. I can’t wait to see how Mailer concludes this book! As I’ve learned from reading In Cold Blood and studying it as well, it is very difficult to end a book written in this way

The Executioner’s Song (2)

March 23rd, 2011 by · 1 Comment · English Honors

Ms. Westfall,

                I am half-way through reading The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer.  This “true life novel” follows the troubled criminal past of Gary Gilmore, a man who spent most of his life in jail and finally received the death sentence after murdering two men on separate occasions.  The book begins with Gary’s last release from prison.  Following his release his family takes him in and attempts to rehabilitate him but no amount of rehabilitation seems to be able to work for Gary.  Right now in the book, Gary has just been sentenced to death and his lawyers are beginning to advise him to appeal.

                I definitely believe that this is a quality piece of writing, but it is beginning to wear on me a bit.  One thousand pages is very long.  As I mentioned in my previous response, the short paragraphs and chapters do make it fairly easy and quick to read, but it is still a bit tedious to read through ever last detail Mailer includes.  I think what is wearing on me most is Gary Gilmore.  I don’t particularly like him, so it’s difficult to get invested in what happens to him.  His behavior and demeanors are so erratic that it’s hard to cling onto him.  What I mean is, I can’t really get a sense of his true personality (even after 500 pages) so it’s hard to judge whether I like him or not.   One moment he is good-natured, seemingly sweet, and very artistic and emotional.  The next, he is a cold-hearted murderer who writes extremely obscene and graphic letters to his girlfriend, which kind of make me uncomfortable to read (it’s worse than Answered Prayers).  I must say though, that in his moments of clarity, Gilmore can be an admirable person.  Right after he is brought in for murder he says, “I hope they execute me for it.  I ought to die for what I did” (296).  It is noble of him to admit to his crime and be willing to pay the price for it, but not long after he begins to make attempts to break out of jail or to insist that he’s insane and therefore can’t be sentenced.  Yet shortly after the sentence he states “I’ve killed two men… I want to be executed on schedule… I want absolutely no notoriety” (484). These drastic changes make it difficult for me to get a feel for his character, but I guess this inconsistency is what made him a killer.  Mailer’s goal was clearly to express that Gary was a very complex person and he succeeded in doing so.

                Another thing I find a bit confusing about a book of this length is that I start to lose a sense of time.  As I read the beginning section about his time out of prison I couldn’t tell what amount of time was going by.  It seemed like it would have been years considering how intense Gary and Nicole’s relationship was.  Mailer also describes various events and inserts so much detail that it seems like it would be a long stretch of time, but in one of Gary’s letters to Nicole he writes, “We were together only two months” (329).  This completely blindsided me.  I had no idea that the first 300 pages spanned over such a short length of time.  This is not to say I don’t like this feature of the book though.  I think it’s kind of nice to get so lost and immersed in the plot that you don’t really know how much time has passed.

                Although there have been many events in this book and several interesting sections, the best part came on page 456 when Truman Capote and In Cold Blood were mentioned.  Gary’s mother’s friend Grace, remarks that the first time she met Gary’s younger brother they had a conversation about Truman Capote.  I was very excited to see this.  Even though Truman somewhat badmouthed Mailer, it seems that he didn’t really hold a grudge.  He wasn’t angry enough to leave him out of the book.  Writers at the time just must have been used to the catty competition.

                I feel like I am nearing the end of the story, but then I remember I have 500 pages left, so I’m very curious as to what is coming next in the story.  Hopefully, my curiosity will fuel me to read the next quarter quickly.

 

Work Cited

Mailer, Norman. The Executioner’s Song. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979. Print.

Tags: ·

The Executioner’s Song (1)

March 14th, 2011 by · 1 Comment · English Honors

Ms. Westfall,

                I am a quarter of the way through The Executioner’s Song by Normal Mailer.  It is what he calls a “true life novel.”  The main character of the novel is Gary Gilmore, a recently released convict who ultimately failed at rejoining society.  After leaving prison he had a good start by acquiring a job and a home, but once alcohol and women entered his life, his rehabilitation went downhill.  He entered into a toxic relationship with an extremely promiscuous woman named Nicole and once it fell apart he spiraled out of control.  So far, I’ve read that he randomly killed and robbed two people presumably to get money to pay for a new car.

                One interesting attribute of this novel is Mailer’s language.  He uses a very casual vernacular in his writing, not only in the dialogue, but in his own prose.  For instance, he writes, “It was like two in the morning” (114).  Normally, “like” only appears in speech or in extremely informal settings like e-mails or text messages (neither of which were around in 1979 when this was published).  It’s very strange to see this colloquial filler inserted into a novel by an acclaimed author.  Furthermore he often times adds “super” as a prefix to adjectives.  He’ll describe things as “supergross” (141) or “supergood” (64).  These aren’t technically words, but are sometimes used in conversation.  I think that Mailer uses this type of language to convey the culture and ways of the people and community he describes in this novel.  They are lower class citizens who are very informal and live simply.  Therefore, the vocabulary in this book isn’t very advanced or difficult to understand.

                Although this book is over one thousand pages long, it reads very quickly.  Some of this has to do with Mailer’s speech, described above, but a lot of it has to do with its short chapters and page spacing.  As I’ve explained in several reading letters, I find it easier to read books with short chapters because it feels like you’re blowing through the book.  But along with having short chapters, The Executioner’s Song has a lot of spacing on its pages.  Not only are the paragraphs very short, but in between each there is an extra space.  It can sometimes be daunting to turn the page to see two pages full of text all the way down both sides, especially with a book so tall and wide.  In this book, the pages go by faster and don’t look as intimidating.

                I originally decided to read this novel to look for its similarities to In Cold Blood and there are many.  The two books are alike in that neither author is a character in the book.  Both stay omniscient, rather than editorial.  Capote did seem to have an opinion on the matters of his story, but kept them pretty restrained.  Another big way the two relate is in the way both Capote and Mailer clearly inferred some of the facts presented in the books.  Just as Capote described the thoughts of Herb Clutter, Mailer describes Ben Bushnell’s.  Since both were dead by the time the two began research, it is impossible that they could write exactly what they were thinking.  Yet, both seem to have used the known facts presented to them to make very educated guesses about their characters.  In both books, what they guess seems to be very plausible and maybe even completely true.

There are quite a few similarities between the books, but there are also some core differences.  For instance, in In Cold Blood, the murders happen within the first ten pages.  I am a quarter of the way through The Executioner’s Song (on page 260) and Gary has only just now murdered two people.  Mailer gives an in depth description of Gary’s life after prison.  It’s amazingly detailed down to the name of the cop who arrested Gary’s girlfriend’s ex-husband.  After 250 pages, it does get a little bit old though.  Then again, I think that it’s necessary to give a detailed background in order to get the full effect of the story and of Gary’s character.  This is another way that the two books differ.  While The Executioner’s Song basically goes in chronological order and is told as a series of events, Capote begins In Cold Blood with the murders and backtracks by fleshing out the backgrounds of the two killers.  I look forward to continuing the book and looking for further similarities and differences.

 

Work Cited

Mailer, Norman. The Executioner’s Song. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979. Print.

Tags: ··

Into the Wild (2)

February 24th, 2011 by · 1 Comment · English Honors

Ms. Westfall,

                I have just finished reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.  It is the nonfiction account of a young man named Chris McCandless who ventured into the wilderness of Alaska and never returned.  His goal was to spend a summer living off of the land and he almost succeeded.  He made a fatal mistake in crossing a river that rose to dangerous levels by the end of the summer leaving him trapped.  It is also possible that he may have been poisoned by mold or some type of potato seed.  Whatever the cause, Chris eventually perished of starvation probably on August 18, 1992.

                Overall, I enjoyed this book.  Although I didn’t like the character for the majority of it, I still found it interesting and easy to read.  Normally, I am not a fan of nonfiction, but Krakauer wrote it in a way that it seems more like a narrative than just an article or stale report.  He did this by gathering a tremendous amount of information on Chris and his journey as well as information on other hikers and climbers who shared things in common wiht Chris.  Much of his information was gathered from Chris’ journals and photographs and also from interviews with people he encountered along the way.  He also interviewed members of the McCandless family.  The book appears to be very accurate although Krakauer must have speculated on several instances when describing Chris’ feelings and what he was thinking at the time.  Krakauer’s techniques reminded me of Capote’s in In Cold Blood (besides the fact that Krakauer appears as a character in his own story).  Capote also speculated when explaining what was going through the minds of his various characters.  Although Krakauer and Capote could not have been fully accurate when they recreated the thoughts of their characters, it is highly likely that they were considering the amount of research they both did.

                In the last twenty or so pages, Krakauer begins to allude to the fact that Chris had learned from his experience, now valued human connection, and was ready to return to civilization.  While this can only be assumed, Krakauer backs it up with several clues.  He points out that Chris underlined a passage in Doctor Zhivago that spoke of loving one’s neighbor, hinting that he may have begun to value the company of other people (187).  This is truly understood when Krakauer writes that Chris wrote in the margins of one of his books, “Happiness is only real when shared” (189).  So, while one can’t say for sure that Chris had a change of heart, it seems extremely likely that this was the case when reviewing these facts.

                As I read the book, I went along with Krakauer’s assumptions and speculations, so by the end of it I suddenly felt compassion for a character I initially disliked immensely.  I still believe that Chris was a bit fool-hardy and selfish for leaving his family in the way he did, but Krakauer wrote the book in such a way that I felt for Chris in the end.  It seems tragic that such a young man, who seemed to have an epiphany, lost his life due to a few small, but fatal errors.  Although I never would have expected it from the way I felt toward Chris at the beginning of the book, I must say that I “teared” up a little bit reading the last page.  Needless to say, I think Krakauer ended this book very effectively.  In the final words of the novel he describes Chris’s last self-portrait that he took within days of his death, when he certainly must have known the end was near.  He writes:

But if he pitied himself in those last difficult hours—because he was so young, because he was alone, because his body had betrayed him and his will had let him down—it’s not apparent from the photograph.  He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God (199)

I think that this is the perfect ending for this book.  After all of the facts, figures, conjectures, hypotheses, and long narratives describing the wilderness, it is nice to end with one simple but very powerful image.  Looking back at the novel, I still don’t agree with or completely identify with what Chris did but in these last few pages Krakauer’s words drew me in and made me compassionate for Chris.  I don’t know what could be more effective than causing a reader to go from disliking a character to nearly crying about their death.

                Into the Wild was definitely an interesting read and even though I had some major issues with some of the principles and ideas presented in it, I am glad that I read it.  I enjoyed reading most of it and also now feel that I can see the movie.  It is not my favorite book, but I can see why it is so popular.  The subject matter is rather fascinating regardless of whether the reader agrees with it or not.

 

Work Cited

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1996. Print.

Tags:

Into the Wild (1)

February 14th, 2011 by · 1 Comment · English Honors

Ms. Westfall,

            I have just started reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.  It is an account of a young man named Chris McCandless who, in an attempt to live simplistically, gave away almost all of his possessions, burned his social security card, and walked out into the wild to live on the land.  As the reader knows from the beginning of the book, McCandless eventually died in Alaska of starvation.  Krakauer used McCandless’ journals, letters, and photos and interviews with some of his McCandless’ acquaintances to piece together this story of Chris’ journey.

            Although I’m really trying to get into the spirit of the book and understand why someone would do what Chris did, I’m having a very difficult time with it.  I think that his philosophy is noble, but I think he carried it out the wrong way.  He left his family behind without telling them where he was going or what his plans were for the future.  When the family went to visit him in Atlanta, they arrived to an empty apartment that he had left months ago.  They even hired a private investigator to find their son, but to no avail.  I can’t imagine what it would feel like to hear this story about your son or brother and feel like he didn’t care about you at all or for that matter, that you didn’t know him at all.  It is explained that Chris did not exactly get along with his parents, but the situation doesn’t seem bad enough to cut them out of his life completely.  I know I could never do something like that, but then again I guess I could never know what exactly he was going through with his family.

            While his attempt to live a free and simple lifestyle is inspiring, there are certain aspects of it that I don’t agree with.  Krakauer points out that Chris felt that human connections could not play a part in a truly free and spontaneous lifestyle.   This sentiment reminds me a lot of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and there is even a quote from the novel at the beginning of the seventh chapter.  Huck goes on a quest to attain freedom to make his own decisions and live by a moral code just as Chris did.  While Huck is on the river he is far from society and alone except for one companion, a runaway slave named Jim.  Only on the river is he able to live with absolute freedom.  Every time he goes to shore and has human interactions, his journey goes off course and he loses a little bit of his freedom.  Similarly, Chris felt that he couldn’t have any close relationships if he wanted to have his free lifestyle.  For instance, Krakauer writes of Chris’ thoughts after leaving Ron: “He was relieved as well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it” (55).  It is true that obligations to others can hinder freedom, but I would personally prefer human relationships to being free and alone.  Like I said, I admire Chris’ attempt to live a simplistic life, but I do not admire his evasion of human connection.  I believe that the human connection is what drives people in life.  I don’t believe that we’re meant to be alone.

            I also find Chris to be somewhat condescending by nature.  He constantly tried to convince people around him that his way of life was the only right way and that all others must live the same way.  He once wrote to a friend named Ron and expressed to him that he would be very disappointed in him if he didn’t begin to live the simplistic life (57).  Ron actually heeded his advice and awaited the day of Chris’ return, eager to make him proud, but Chris died and never returned.  In another letter to a friend, Chris wrote, “Wayne, you really should read War and Peace… That is a very powerful and highly symbolic book.  It has things in it that I think you will understand.  Things that escape most people” (33).  To me, this seems like he is talking down to Wayne.  He is a bit high and mighty about his education and superior knowledge.

I realize that I’m beating up on Chris a lot when what he did was pretty remarkable, but for some reason he rubs me the wrong way.  I think he was a very intelligent, driven, and steadfast person, but I also find him to be somewhat selfish and a little snobbish.  Maybe as I read I will learn to like him or maybe Krakauer will reveal some reasoning for his actions, but so far I can’t quite understand or feel any compassion for Chris McCandless.

 

Work Cited

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1996. Print.

Tags: ·

Burr (2)

February 3rd, 2011 by · 1 Comment · English Honors

Ms. Westfall,

            I have just finished reading Gore Vidal’s historical fiction novel, Burr.  It is narrated by a young writer named Charles Schuyler who is being paid to write an exposé on the infamous and controversial Aaron Burr.  Burr is best known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel.  Charles’ editor, Leggett, urges him to prove that presidential candidate Martin van Buren is the illegitimate son of Burr to hurt his presidential campaign.  As Charles spends time with Burr he learns many things, not only about Burr but about himself.

            I’m glad that I read this book, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy it.  There were some parts that I really liked, but I found that it was very difficult to pay attention and keep track of the characters in certain sections of the book.  The parts of the book that I liked best were from Charles’ perspective as he told his own story.  These sections were what made this book a novel.  I didn’t much enjoy the dictations of Burr’s memoirs (the historical parts).  Unfortunately, that is the majority of the book.  I’m not a big fan of early American history, so I should have known from the beginning that this book wasn’t really for me.  I grew tired of the time period, but at times I found interest in the way some famous historical figures were depicted.  For instance Burr describes George Washington as a very unlikable man who was quite ignorant and dull.  From what I knew about Washington before reading this, I would have thought he was an upstanding and well-liked man.  I also enjoyed learning more about Aaron Burr and his relationship with Alexander Hamilton.  At one point, Burr points out that he and Hamilton were actually quite good friends, but were simply very competitive (54).  Later it is revealed that Burr ultimately killed Hamilton when he accused Burr of being lovers with his daughter, Theodosia (272).  I already knew a few facts about Burr, but I liked learning a bit more about how he was viewed by his countrymen and what exactly led to his downfall.  Washington Irving states, Burr was “the sprightly skeleton in many a celebrated closet” (73).  Many people were ashamed to have been associated with him after his fall from grace on account of Hamilton’s death and his arrest for treason.  It is why Leggett is so intent on connecting him with his political rival, “Matty” Van Buren.

            I noticed a few slightly humorous instances of history repeating itself, so to speak.  For instance, one character McDougall calls Congress “the worst men in the country” (97).  Currently, that is the feeling of several Americans who are frustrated with the gridlock on Capitol Hill.  The approval rating of Congress is very low as it seems might have been the case in the 1800s as well.  Later in the book Charles observes a fire and remarks of it “Wall Street in flames.  A freezing wind full of fire—an anomaly” (293).  This reminded me of how Wall Street is in a state of distress right now as well.  Of course, Vidal was not referring to the financial crisis I’m thinking of, but this statement still caught my attention and reminded me of the ways in which history really does repeat itself.

            I think the best part of this book is its ending.  Charles goes through a lot to gather all of the information he needs to write a book about Aaron Burr and hopefully expose that Van Buren is his son.  After a long and drawn out series of challenges and issues Charles must overcome, he finds some evidence that Burr is Van Buren’s father, but it is not conclusive.  On the final page of the entire novel Charles sees an old friend at a party who begins to talk about Burr, who has just passed away.  He says, “’Why shouldn’t Matty look after young Charlie?’ the Colonel [Burr] said to me.  ‘After all, he’s his big brother.’” (428).  And so it is revealed at the last possible moment that not only is Martin Van Buren definitely Burr’s son, but the main character, Charles is as well.  When I read this I was extremely surprised.  Somehow, I did not see that ending coming at all.  I find it somewhat hilarious that after all of the trouble Charles goes through researching Burr such an important fact is revealed to him in such a nonchalant manner.  The man who tells him assumes he already knew and mentions it in passing.

            Although, this wasn’t my favorite book in the world, I do greatly admire Vidal’s writing.  In the “Afterword,” Vidal explains that all of the characters are real and that, for the most part, they all do things that they actually did in the right places and at the right times.  The only fictional character is Charles Schuyler.  Of course, the dialogue between characters is largely fictionalized but Vidal stays true to the essence of the story, much like Capote did with In Cold Blood.  This was a rather long and drawn-out story, but I would recommend it to anyone interested in early American history.

 

Work Cited

Vidal, Gore. Burr. New York: Random House, 1973. Print.

Tags: ··

“US democracy has little to teach China”

February 1st, 2011 by · No Comments · Comp Govt

While Fukuyama’s article was certainly interesting and has several good points, on the whole I disagree that the Chinese have no reason to look up to the US.  While we are having devastating economic problems right now and it is true that there is enormous gridlock on Capitol Hill, sometimes this is the price a nation has to pay for having individual freedoms and liberties.  I would much rather live in a country where the government is held accountable to the people and liberates them rather than suppresses them.  The US certainly has its problems, but our degree of democracy is admirable.  While the US could learn from China’s economic system, until its government takes responsibility for all of its people and recognizes their civil liberties, China’s authoritarianism is not something to be admired.

Tunisia and Facebook

January 25th, 2011 by · 1 Comment · Comp Govt

For some time, there has been political unrest in Tunisia. Its people are dissatisfied with high prices, high rates of unemployment, and corruption within the government. On December 17, 2010, the tensions between the government and its people caused a physical struggle between a young vegetable peddler (Bouazizi) and a policewoman (Hamdy). The event received no news coverage or publicity. A few days later Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest in front of the governor’s office. Suddenly, a group of revolutionaries came together, but miraculously without a leader. The forum for their revolution was Facebook. It only took 28 days for the outspoken youths on the site to cause complete insurrection. After 23 years in power, their dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country, giving up his position. What is now known as the “Jasmine Revolution” is a symbol of the power of Facebook. Under an Arab regime, revolution is difficult because dictators will censor interest groups and put them down, but there is no way for a government to censor Facebook. It served as a place where revolutionaries could essentially meet and share their ideas. Ben Ali is the first dictator of an Arab regime to flee from power and it is no coincidence that the revolution that caused it involved Facebook.
The Jasmine Revolution shows other people under such regimes that they too have power and possess the ability to overthrow their government. This sends out a warning to other leaders that they should be ready for social and political unrest. Protests have already begun in Egypt with the help of Facebook. The leader of these protests has been using Twitter as well. Smaller protests have also begun in Jordan and Yemen. The people of Tunisia have successfully started a political revolution that goes beyond their borders.

Tags: ···