Last Reading Letter

One of the things I noticed about Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is the theme is emasculation that the narrator feels. Very frequently the narrator will talk about how men are roped into buying things and being a certain way all in the name of “masculinity” that in order to be masculine you must have this watch or this certain TV. I think the reason that the Narrator started fight club is to get away from this type of thinking and to strip away the extra things from their lives.

I really enjoyed the honors program this year. A lot of the books that I read, I probably would have never ended up reading without the extra push from honors and I am very glad that happened. I found a lot of my new favorite authors out of this experience, such as Sylvia Plath and John Steinbeck.

I thought the pacing was practical and a good pace for me. I could usually read half of the book if not a little bit more each time that a post was due. Sometimes with a harder book I would cut very close but usually my books were set up so that I would have a longer book and then a shorter book so that way I could stay on top of the reading. I think that I will probably make sure the rest of my reading lists are set up like that from now on.

I also really like edublogs. In previous years, I have had teachers make us write and submit blog posts and it was very complicated. I liked that edublogs was very simple and easy to use. I like to be able to preview my post before I submit and I also like that I am able to get feedback right there on my blog.

I think the amount of feedback I get is fine.  I like when I can get someone else’s opinion on what I thought about a book. I think the amount of feedback I get is very effective in helping me get someone else opinion and also the general corrections of mistakes or things I may have misunderstood. I genuinely enjoy when you ask me questions about what might happen before I finish the book and I keep them in the back of my head while finishing it and then answer it as I read and finish the book. I am then usually able to use that answer to your question in my next reading letter on the book.

Fight Club- Letter 1

In the novel, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, I initially thought that the antagonist was Tyler and the protagonist was the narrator. My reason being, Tyler was the one that instigated fight club and was just a bad person.  Then when I finally figured out that Tyler and the mysterious narrator are the same person, it became very confusing as to whom the antagonist was because technically they are the same person.  I think that even though Tyler and the narrator are infact the same person Tyler is still the antagonist because they are still two different personalities.

In the beginning of the book when Tyler and the narrator are standing at the top of the building and are talking about what is going on below them, the narrator references frequently that Tyler and the narrator are the same person but I did not understand this initially. The narrator quite frequently uses the line or a line similar to, “I know this because Tyler knows this” ( Palahniuk, 12). Obviously Palahniuk was giving us a clue at the beginning of the novel that Tyler and narrator are infact the same person. The narrator also uses “we” a lot when talking about the two which is just another example of how they are the same person. Tyler and the narrator being the same person though also contributed to why the love triangle between Marla, the narrator, and Tyler was so confusing and when eventually  I found  out that they are the same person I sat there and then tried to figure out the love triangle before reading further. I still do not understand whether or not Marla new that he had these two different personalities.

Marla was a very confusing character. For example, I understand why the narrator went to the different support groups but could never understand why Marla went to them. She did not have insomnia. I think she was just bored and had nothing better to do with herself so she would go to these support groups to pass the time.One major theme of this book was how everyone today is ruled by consumerism and how living your life being obsessed with getting the new technology or buying useless things that are not necessary, it is just a huge waste of time in your life. They even go so far as to create “project mayhem” to try to take down this type of world.  Obviously the narrator has physiological issues and this is why he takes it so far with project mayhem.

Overall this book had a lot of hard concepts to grasp and had to eventually resort to talking about the book with my dad and trying to figure out the different themes. I thought it was a really interesting book and I have never read one before with the slit personalities that this book was and I thought it was really cool.

The Help- Letter 2

In, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Stockett writes with a southern dialect that really helps you place yourself in the setting of 1960’s Mississippi. I think Stockett did an exceptional job with writing in this dialect considering she is a white women living in present times.

Toilets and bathrooms were a very big theme in this novel. You can hardly find a page in the entire book that does not have a reference to them. I think that the reference to toilets and bathrooms symbolizes all of the lies used to make segregation seem ok.  The white people in this book know that they cannot get a disease from using a toilet that a black person has used. They lie to themselves about this the same way they lie to themselves about racism being ok.

There is not only racial discrimination though in this novel. You also see a lot of class discrimination, especially with Celia. The other women do not except her because she did not come from the same upbringing as them. This is just one of the many types of discrimination shown in this novel.

I think Skeeter was such a dynamic and inspiring character. I would even consider her a female hero. It was very unlikely and looked down upon when a woman even finished college so for Skeeter to finish college and support herself with a job is a big deal. Not only did the maids take a huge risk helping write this novel but so did Skeeter. She would also have been punished if anyone had found out she was writing this book. Skeeter was not the only powerful female character in this book though. All of the maids that helped out, Celia, and many other characters were just as important and show how hard it was being a woman during this time, colored or not.

One aspect of this book that I could not understand was how Hilly could be such an awful person to Skeeter and the help yet is a good mother also.  I think it shows that even though everyone is imperfect and has their own flaws they can still be a good mother or parent or even still a good person. I think this might be another major theme of the book, the struggle between having flaws yet still being a good person. It’s a part of being a human being.  Another character that struggles with this is Stuart. Stuart is not a bad guy in any way just a spineless one.  He would rather give up a chance of love than displease his parents.

The Help: Letter 1

Today I will be discussing, The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This book is set in 1960’s Jackson Mississippi were things for maids like Aibileen and Minnie were not the best and it was time when only white people like Skeeter got any respect.  This story is told through their points of view. I thought it was really cool to see all their perspectives of everything that was going on during the book from all the different perspectives because even though Skeeter was against racial discrimination her point of view was still different than Minney and Aibileen’s because they are the actual maids who work behind the scenes. I think it would have been interesting though to have seen a point of view from someone like Hilly. I also really like what Kathryn Stockett did with changing the perspective after every second chapter because it gave you more time with each of the characters opposed to only getting a characters point of view for a chapter at time. This is just one of many books that I have read where the point of view changes throughout the book and this is the first year i’ve ever really read a lot of books like that and I really like that kind of style of writing.

A major theme in this book is obviously race. I really thought a lot about the differences between different women of color and white women. While white women in the novel are not supposed to do any type of work other than help with charity events and make sure the help are doing their jobs, women of color are expected to basically raise the children, cook the meals, and maintain the household for the white women. The justice system for the two races was also very different. Where Minney was beaten by her husband and no justice was given to her that would have never been acceptable in the white upper class community.

I also thought it was interesting how even though the white women had a better education than women of color they still did not know about current events or liked education and reading as much. White women only went to college to find a husband and were considered “failures” if you were like Skeeter and did not find one during your college days. Women of color enjoyed their little education they got and surpasses their white employers.

My favorite character was probably Minney because she always spoke her mind even if that costed her job she was working. She always stuck up for herself and what was right except for her abusive relationship. I feel a lot of sympathy for Minney and I think that Minney could have been a real big success in the world in different circumstances.

Of Mice and Men- Letter 1

In this reading letter I will be discussing, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. The first thing I would like to talk about is the relationship between George and Lennie.  George relies on Lennie like a child relies on their parent. He looks up to Lennie and see’s him as an example. On the other hand, Lennie thinks that George is a nuisance and that he would have a much better life without him, even though you know that George loves Lennie just as much as Lennie love George.  I think it was just hard to George to admit he loved Lennie out loud. Obviously he wanted to make George happy and showed him his love through telling him stories about the farm they would own and how they would have rabbits just for Lennie.  I think this is why some of the ranchers did not understand why George was so upset after he killed Lennie because he never made public how he actually felt about Lennie.

There was a lot of foreshadowing in this book. Almost everything foreshadowed something else in this book. A major example would be in the very beginning when we find out that Lennie likes to stroke things like mice because they are soft but usually ends up killing them, which is exactly what happens to Curley’s wife.  I also saw the connection between Candy’s devotion to his dog and not wanting to put him to rest and George’s devotion to taking care of Lennie. So after Lennie is killed I realized that Candy’s dog’s death had foreshadowed Lennie’s death.

Once again, like in East of Eden, I saw that there were very descriptive paragraphs at the beginnings of different sections which I thought was really interesting and it really helped put you in that scene of the book and give you a good description of the setting. It also took place in the Salina’s valley like other Steinbeck books.

I think one of the major themes throughout this book was loneliness. George is the first one to admit it when he talks about a rancher’s life and how lonely it is. Almost all of the characters admit to feeling lonely though and will confide in strangers about how they feel. O I think George defiantly had hope of not being lonely with Lennie but all of that hope vanished when he killed Lennie.

One character that I found interesting was Curley’s wife. At first I wasn’t sure whether I felt sorry for her or was annoyed by her. In the beginning of the book she is just a flirty nuisance that I did not like but as I read on I began to feel sorry for her and began to understand that she is lonely and is extremely unhappy with her marriage. On average though Steinbeck portrays her to be a pretty annoying character.

Works Cited

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men.Covici Friede Inc, 1937. Print.

In Cold Blood- Letter 3

I think Perry was the one that carried out all four murders.  I want to believe that it was dick because like I said before he seemed much more of a generic hardened criminal but like you said Dick was obviously psychotic.  I feel like the need for them to prove themselves almost to one another was what drove them to murder the Clutters.  Especially Perry, If he hadn’t felt the need to show to Dick that he was masculine I don’t think he could have gone through with the murders.

One thing that I found confusing was how Perry had this horrible childhood full of abuse but Dick did not have anything even like that. You can contribute Perry going to the house to kill the Clutter’s was because he was psychotic and was physcotic because he had such a bad childhood, but Dick did not have anything of the sort . I think that Dick only went to that house to rob it and rape Nancy.

So since I didn’t really comment it being written in “nouveau nonfiction novel” thought I’d talk about that a little bit. For the most part Capote stayed completely out of the narrative and just gave facts but I defiantly could see in some places like when he was talking about Perry and the executions where he would maybe exaggerate some things or show compassion. It was sort of like reading something from a newspaper for the most part except the very few places Capote was present. When you read an article in the newspaper they give you the facts for the most part and never really add opinion. This book reminded me of a newspaper article.  I have never read anything like this before and it was really interesting. I think this style of writing must have been very hard for Capote to use. Another example of how it seemed more like journalism was that he took notes in lots of notebooks and then formed the book after.

Work Cited

Capote, Truman . In Cold Blood. Random House Inc., 1965. Print.

In Cold Blood- Letter 2

Like you said, I defiantly saw more of a compassionate tone with the chapter that described Perry’s childhood than in probably any of the other chapters.  For one, it was defiantly the longest chapter and also the most detailed. I can defiantly see where Capote made out Dick to be a very just generic criminal but made out Perry to where you felt sorry for him. At least it started to seem that way to me. Especially the days leading up to the execution and the actual execution. Where Dick was smoking on cigars, drinking, and reading like nothing had happened and he was very casual about it all, Perry was starving himself to death and acting like he was extremely remorseful. I think Capote didn’t like Dick at all. One, because he was a bad person (a murderer) and also because he says that he understood why he was being put to death and wasn’t against the death penalty because he understands the need for revenge. The exact opposite would reason I think is one of the reasons I feel Capote obviously liked Perry better, because he agreed with Capote that the death sentence was wrong.

After I finished the book I started researching this murder and the novel. Apparently Capote became an Insomniac after writing this book and was very troubled. I defiantly saw comparisons between Capote and Officer Dewey.  They both were extremely invested in this case. I think that Officer Dewey symbolically represents Capote.

I defiantly think the climax of the book was the confessions and when they finally tell you about the murders from the point of view of the murderers.  It was extremely long and detailed but obviously the two stories were different.  Dick says Perry is the cause where Perry says that Dick wanted to rape Nancy. Later on though Perry says he is the one that killed all of them. I still wonder why he went back and changed his confession.

I noticed that neither Dick nor Perry have a tolerance for religion. Perry is briefly converted it seems by wily- jay but I don’t think he can let go of his feelings and hatred towards the nuns who beat him. I think maybe that they hate religion because they both want to be educated or good people with stability but because of their actions and who they are the church say that they are not and never will be.

I also noticed that both men were extremely image conscious and would look for traits in both men that would make the other seem more masculine. I think they both had a lot of self esteem issues especially Perry because of their childhood.

In Cold Blood- Letter 1

In this reading letter I will be talking about, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. It was really hard for me to actually accept that this book is non fiction novel because of how it reads. For example, all of the foreshadowing of the Clutters murder is just so ominous and seems as if almost made up.

Capote also put in things about the family that made me start really getting attached to the characters. For example, when Capote was talking about Kenyon and how he is very awkward I really started to like him. The Clutter family were just such good and moral people that it’s very hard not to like them.

I like how the perspective switched from victim to murder and back and forth. So far it is really helping me get a sense of both sides. The fact that the chapters are so short really helps you switch back and forth easily and it helps build suspense for me.

The story so far has been completely third person omniscient. I think Capote is doing this so that I can form my own opinions about the murders. At least that is what I have been doing. This is very easily done since the narrator has given facts up to this point.

I was rather disappointed that I did not find out anything about the actual murder. When I turned the page from when Dick and Perry are pulling up in their car I was bracing myself for something gruesome and I did get a little bit of it from when they first find the bodies but nothing extreme. Also because of how Capote shows none of his own emotions in the text I wasn’t on edge or really upset during the finding of the bodies. Usually what really makes me feel as if I’m there is the characters descriptions and feelings towards the murders and I got none of that so it did not have that affect.

I also tried to decide who the protagonist of this novel was and had a difficult time.  At first I thought that the protagonist was Herb Clutter because of the first chapters but obviously after his murder he is no longer the protagonist. I then came to the conclusion that there are multiple protagonists of the book.

So far I am enjoying this book and cannot wait to find out more about Dick and Perry.

Work Cited

Capote, Truman . In Cold Blood. Random House Inc., 1965. Print.

East of Eden: Letter 2

I thought how the first chapter of every part of the book was just all the narrator and his thoughts and descriptions of different things were really cool. I have never seen a book setup like that and it was really interesting. Like I said before, it really made me feel like Steinbeck was sitting right there describing the mountains or his view of things going on in the book.

            I defiantly see a lot of traces of the hero cycle in this book. For example under the initiation I think that maybe Adam and Charles fight was maybe a dragon battle or a brother battle. The atonement with the father could when Adam realizes that he never really loved his father but just respected him.

            I didn’t think the vocabulary was extremely hard but it defiantly was challenging. The vocabulary also helped me see what time period it was in and where they were living too though so that really helped. For example, some of the farm words really helped my picture and understand what it all looked like.

            I also noticed another biblical reference in the story. Cyrus Trask’s sin of stealing all the money that Charles and Adam inherited is like the original sin that Cain and Able have because of their parent’s actions. This is obviously tied in with Tim shell and how that you can choose to be evil like your father or you can be good.

            Another thing I thought about this book was whether or not the character of Cathy and the devil are somehow related. In the book Cathy is obviously the most horrendous and downright evil person in the book. She is so feared that she scares an ex-convict like Joe Valery.

She is extremely persuasive, cunning, and has no feelings. These are all things that are usually associated with a devil figure.

            Another thing I noticed in this book is the theme truth and how it really drove the book. For example, Cyrus lies about his part he played in the civil war and how he came by the money, Charles lies to Adam about what he and Cathy did, Cal doesn’t tell his father about his business plans, and Adam keeps the truth about their mother from Cal and Aron. All of these lies are what drive the plot. However truth also affects the plot in the way that it helps the characters along by setting them free. Like when Adam finally understands what kind of person Cathy is it sets him free and he is relived.

            Abra was probably my favorite character out of all of them because I think she was probably the most truthful. She would always say what was on her mid and would always tell you the truth. She was extremely intelligent too. I also kind of agreed with her on how Aron didn’t really love her anymore but had made her up into something she wasn’t but unlike Cathy who Adam did the same this too, Abra didn’t u se that power for evil use.

Work Cited

Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: Viking, 1952. Print

East of Eden

For my fifth reading letter I will be writing about East of Eden by John Steinbeck. The first thing that crossed my mind when I finished the book was how important of a character Lee was. At first I kind of just thought of lee as a minor character but as the novel progressed he became the only character who was constantly reasonable and was really who helped me see the main themes in the book which made him a key character in the book. He really helped all the characters see who they really were and understand that (like in Cal’s case) just because you come from something evil does not mean you are evil.  I also found Lee’s reason for why he spoke pidgin really fascinating. It really got me thinking about racial prejudice and how just because he was Chinese people would not listen to him unless he talked in pidgin.

Obviously there was a lot of biblical symbolism in this book. One example being Cain and Able and Cal and Aron. As I was reading I began comparing the characters of Cain and Able to Cal and Aron. I found that Cal and Cain were similar in the ways that they were both, dark, brooding, both felt shadowed by their brother, and both longed for love from their father or in Cain’s case, God and other people. The similarities between Able and Aron were that, they both were perceived as good hearted and more angelic of the brothers. I also compared Charles and Adam to Cain and Able. The difference between Charles and Cal to Cain though is that they did not end up killing Adam or Aron like Able was killed, even though Adam was almost killed by Charles and Able was kind of killed indirectly by Cal.

I think that the narrator of the novel was essentially Steinbeck’s own thoughts and Ideas. It made me feel almost as if Steinbeck was sitting with me reading it. I also think Steinbeck used his voice sometimes in Lee.  

I also saw the connection between the scar on Charles forehead and Cain’s mark from god and understood that it reinforced the connection of Cain and Able between Charles and Adam but began wondering if Cathy’s scar on her forehead which also grew darker and resembled Charles had anything to do with the connection and how. I still am trying to figure out what the connection is there.

The idea of Timshell or “Thou Mayest” was a really big theme in this book because it means that you have a choice and the characters in the book have the choice between good and evil which is essentially the main conflict of the book the fight between good and evil. Cal really conquers Timshell I think because he sees that just because he comes from such an evil person he has a choice between good and evil and he cans still be good.

You also see this theme of good and evil in the landscape in the beginning of the book when the narrator is describing the two mountains. The land also shows the characteristics of the two families, the Hamiltons and the Trasks. The Hamiltions lived on very dry land but they produced nine children but, the Trasks lived on land with plenty of water but it was never able to be farmed.

Work Cited

Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. New York: Viking, 1952. Print