Tasha's Blog

Title: The Catcher In the Rye
Author: J. D. Salinger
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reading Experience: slow at the start, but then gets interesting
Rating: ****

The Catcher In the Rye was a really good coming of age book, that I believe held much symbolism behind it. It was set mostly in New York, about a guy growing up who is faced with many problems as he works his way through life. He was thrown out of every school he attended, and failed all of his classes because he just doesn’t care, not because he is unable. I actually learned a few things from the book about not caring in life, and where it gets you. I enjoyed reading it and did not find it boring. (Tasha Gaudet, 9).

Title: Grendel
Author: Gardner
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Experience: boring at times, but overall good read
Rating: ***

Grendel was a very different and insightful book. What was different about it was that the protagonist was an animal, and also the antagonist in Beowulf. It told the story of an animal that had to fend for itself and protect it’s mother. This included I’m tearing up villages and eating some people in the process. I didn’t like how it was assumed that the reader knew he was an animal though, it took me a while to catch on. I also didn’t like the talk of cannibalism throughout the book. (Tasha Gaudet, 9).

Title: The Time Machine
Author: Wells
Genre: Science Fiction
Reading Experience: short and an easy read
Rating: ****

The Time Machine was a very quick and easy read for me about a guy who really believes he can build a time machine, and goes for it. He is successful, but no one else knows because he gets stuck in the future one day and just never shows up for dinner. No one ever believed he could actually do it. Some of the stories he told about his adventures were a bit boring, but as a whole the book was interesting. I would definitely recommend it someone. (Tasha Gaudet, 9).

Title: Breakfast At Tiffany’s
Author: Truman Capote
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reading Experience: excellent read, a classic, not boring at all
Rating: *****

Breakfast Tiffany’s was an excellent book I have been wanting to read for a long time ever since I have been a fan of the movie starring Audrey Hepburn. It was about a young girl, who can have anything she wants in life, and eventually goes for it. She has the looks and personality, but doesn’t go for it until she gets help from the narrator, to move to Africa. This book has evidence of a few themes, the main one being a female’s role in society. I thought this was a good enjoyable book, funny and interesting, and had many points to analyze. I would definitely recommend this to anyone. (Tasha Gaudet, 9).

Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Author: Wilde
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Experience: funny at times, intriguing
Rating: *****

The Picture of Dorian Gray was also an excellent book. In it, the narrator became friends with the protagonist of the story, and influenced him greatly. The protagonist, Dorian Gray, changed his whole views on life, and when his good friend paints a portrait of him, he gets jealous of it and wishes it to get old and him to stay the same. Little did he know, that wish came true. I like this book a lot and would definitely recommend it to others. (Tasha Gaudet, 9).

Dear Ms. Westfall,

I just finished reading Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. It was actually very enlightening, and touched on many themes and aspects of life. The protagonist, Dorian Gray, had two best friends: Basil Hallward and Lord Henry. After meeting Lord Henry, Dorian was forever influenced by his theories. Lord Henry talked using many paradoxes, confusing to both the reader and the other characters. This was one of the things that confused Dorian Gray, who began to see and understand Lord Henry’s views. After meeting him, a chain events led the protagonist of the story to his demise. When he learned about his views on women, Dorian began to appreciate beauty immensely, and immediately fell in love with an actress. Dorian Gray was young, only about 19, and scolded her one night when she didn’t perform to her best because she was trying to leave her acting career so they could be together. That night she killed herself over it, but Dorian felt unchained, which was strange to him. A huge discovery led him to believe that a painting made by Basil changed daily to reflect his sins or bad deeds while he himself never changed. This made him feel superior, and then he murdered Basil because he hated him for creating the painting. So all of the misfortunes that came over him were because of a stupid wish on a painting when he took for granted his beauty.
The theme of age and immortality is a constant presence throughout the novel. Beauty is also another strong theme that goes hand in hand with the age and immortality. The lesson that would be learned is that you should never take beauty for granted; you should appreciate it but not be vain about it. When Lord Henry opened Dorian’s eyes to his beauty, he took it too far and even became jealous of a painting since it would never change or grow old. His consequence was that he would get what he wished for, and not understand the problem with it until the very end. Then the only solution was to destroy the painting, and in the process stab himself in the heart.
The immortality and beauty theme also makes the reader question Dorian Gray’s sanity. He has been driven crazy with his inability to look at a portrait of him. He thinks he can get away with any wrong and have all of the consequences happen to the picture instead of him. When he is forty, he still looks like he is eighteen. Is it possible for Dorian to still be perfectly sane? He is probably more of an unreliable narrator towards the end of the book.
I have read about this recurring theme of immortality in other novels though I forget which ones. However I have seen it in many places, even in books like Harry Potter. Immortality is important to Lord Voldemort, which is why he does this by hiding a piece of his soul away in seven different objects, making it very hard to kill him. This theme has been common for a long time, even back to the biblical stories, such as the story of Adam and Eve. People are greedy, and have a notion of living forever, but as pointed out in Wilde’s novel, no one truly means it when they say they wish to be immortal.

Sincerely,
Tasha Gaudet
Work Cited
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Filiquarian Publishing, New York: 2007. Print.

Dear Ms. Westfall,
I just started reading Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. So far it has been very different and inspiring. Lord Henry Wotton is the narrator, but Dorian Gray is the actual protagonist. Both of these men are good friends with Basil Hallward, a wonderful artist. When Basil met Dorian Gray at a party, he was immediately inspired, and thought that he must paint his portrait. According to Wilde, he had a very “youthful look,” that must be painted. Dorian Gray continued to be the subject of Basil’s portraits, and also his obsession. When Lord Henry met Dorian, Dorian was fascinated by him, since he is very comedic, and has a strong influence on people he meets. Even Basil had warned Dorian that he would be influenced by Lord Henry, but they still wanted to meet.
Of course, Dorian Gray was influenced and changed afterward. Basil had painted many portraits of him before, but this one had a lot of his personality in particular, the expression on his face was so unique, since Lord Henry had been talking to him when it was created. Everyone fell in love with the painting as soon as it was done, but Basil refused to show it to anyone which was strange.
There is a huge theme relating age and beauty, to immortality. In talking to Lord Henry, Dorian quickly realizes that his painting will stay happy and beautiful; immortal. He, however, will change and start to grow old every second, until he eventually dies. The prospect of beauty is one that changes, you are never as beautiful as you are when you are young, In The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Dorian is very jealous of the picture, because of it’s beauty. No one can be young or beautiful forever, but Dorian Gray decides that he must be, and so he becomes immortal.
I have found this novel by Wilde to be very inspiring and full of hope because of this one major important theme. I think the novel is meant to inspire the reader to be young as long as they can. While Dorian Gray becomes very self conscious and can’t even look at the portrait at one point, the reader is supposed to feel like they will grow old, but it is a good thing, not a bad thing. They also shouldn’t envy material items that have immortality, but instead should just concentrate on enjoying life as it comes when you are still young and beautiful. Dorian Gray just throws his life away, wasting time being envious of something that could never be his in the first place. In this novel, the antagonist is actually age, but the message the author is trying to convey, is that the antagonist is envy of immortality, because it slowly eats at Dorian Gray’s soul.
I am really enjoying this book, and will finish it soon to find out what exactly will be the consequence for his jealousy, and do my last letter on it.
Sincerely,
Tasha Gaudet

Work Cited
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Filiquarian Publishing, New York: 2007. Print.

And sorry it’s a day late, I got home late and my internet wasn’t working

Dear Ms. Westfall,
Truman Capote’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s was a very good read in my opinion. I enjoyed the many themes occurring, and also the point of view. The narrator, a writer, chose to write about a friend he had when he was much younger, a girl named Holly Golighty. The protagonist lived in New York, and was actually very smart, though she didn’t choose to do much with her life, until later on. Towards the end of the book, the reader finds out through the narrator, that Holly was actually married when she was fourteen, and ran away a few years later. Her current life, and her life for the majority of the story, and her life married, are all very different, which even makes me wonder how reliable the narrator is, since sometimes the events are very far fetched. Apparently Holly lives in an apartment in New York, after she ran away from her older husband and kids who are older than her. Then when her husband came for her and she wouldn’t leave with him, she decided to go to Brazil, since she had been about to marry a Brazilian. Even though he broke up with her, she still had the plane ticket, and decided to move there. This is all very confusing for the narrator, because he’s learned many things about Holly, and even has figured out that he loves her in a unique way.
Breakfast At Tiffany’s shows many things about the female’s role in society, then and now. Since this book was set during the time period of World War II, a woman’s role back then was to get married very young and have children. Holly and her brother had run away when they were very young, because they had had a terrible childhood. Many things held influence over her for the rest of her life, starting at this time. Holly actually doesn’t let go of her childhood until the middle of Capote’s novel, when she buys the narrator an expensive cage. She has always hated cages, and doesn’t like to see things caged up. This is also a symbol of her, how she is really wild at heart. Holly had a bad childhood, and in a sense that was her cage for years, and then she was happy when she first got married, until she decided it was necessary for her to run away, to “flee from yet another cage,” even though her life with him was supposed to be happy. That was one thing I didn’t fully understand, the husband stresses that their life was great, and that everything was done for her, and she had freedom, so maybe she as just way too young.
In the end of the book, I had expected Holly to stay without he narrator in New York, or at least have some kind of closure. I didn’t expect her, however, to still go on the plane ride to Brazil, and only send one letter, when she didn’t even know her own address. She had said she was looking for a rich guy, which was also surprising, since I thought she had changed. I really did love the book though.

Sincerely,
Tasha Gaudet

Dear Ms. Westfall,

I am halfway through Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and I really like it. The protagonist is a girl named Holly Golighty, who is very different from other girls her age. The novel starts in the present, when they are all old, but then the rest of the book is a flashback to when they were young. I like this style because then it gives an interesting perspective on the events happening, because the reader knows the characters as both their older and younger personalities. For the majority of the book, Holly is only about nineteen years old. Holly lives in the same apartment complex as the narrator, and the story is told about their time together. She is very different because she has money, but doesn’t use her money for anything really useful. She is gorgeous, and has what it takes to be a model or an actress if she chose, but never had the time. Holly is always busy, out, and even on dates. She had even trained herself to like older guys, even in their sixties, when she is still under twenty which I found a bit odd. No one really fully understands her, except for the narrator, who starts to get to know her better towered the middle.
I actually have noticed a few reoccurring themes in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, one being a female’s role in society. Holly Golightly has money and great looks, yet she lives in an apartment not doing nothing productive. Everyone she meets knows that she could be a famous rich celebrity, acting on Broadway, or being a model, but instead she spends her life at parties, on dates, and even forgetting her apartment key. Maybe she feels that as a woman, her role in society isn’t to do much, or to become someone famous and rich. She might feel like that is what is expected of her at her age, considering the time period.
Breakfast At Tiffany’s occurs during World War II. Capote mentions Hitler and the Nazis as being a current thing, and even one line makes a joke about her marrying Hitler, since she is so beautiful. So the setting of the book takes place in the middle of the twentieth century in New York City. There was still some sexist feelings towards women then, especially with the war going on. Holly was special, but still the narrator forgot about her. He actually had to be reminded by one of his friends, about the girl he hadn’t seen in years.
Also, there is the whole topic of Tiffany’s. In the book, Tiffany’s has been made up to be heaven for every woman. Holly thinks that nothing bad could ever happen there, as if it were a shield from the rest of the world. She even mentions many times that she longs to go there and have breakfast. I like how this concept ties into the tile of Capote’s novel, it’s very creative.
This is definitely one of my top favorite honors books I have read so far, I like the characters, and e personality of Holly Golighty. I saw the movie with Audrey Hwpburn, and have always want to read the book. I will soon be done with it.

Sincerely,
Tasha Gaudet

Work Cited
Capote, Truman. Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Vintage Books, New York: 1986. Print.

Ms. Westfall,

I also wanted to add sorry for the last letter not being that good, I submitted it on my iPad which was changing my words in pages but I fixed the issue, so thats why so many words were misspelled or replaced.

Dear Ms. Westfall,

I just finished reading the novel The Time Traveler, by H.G. Wells. It is about a guy known as the Time Traveler, who builds his own time machine. When he finally finishes his time machine, that took him forever to make, he decides to test it out by traveling forward in time, to the future. He stops in the year 802,701. The time traveler expects to find a huge advanced civilization, where everyone is smart and are very attractive. Instead, he finds a group of people called the Morlocks. These people are very much like children, they act like children and have the attention span of children. They are also small. The time traveler even befriends a woman named Weena. After arriving, and viewing their houses, the time trailer stays the night and then goes back out in the morning to find his time traveling machine. When it want where he left it, he spends many daydream worrying over it, thinking that maybe he just moved it somewhere else. After many adventures and obstacles in his way, the time traveler comes across his time machine underground, hidden by the Morlocks. AbLe to defeat the trap set for him by them, he takes his time machine and leaves, going further into the future. When in the future he is tortured by crab like creatures, he decides just to return home. The next day however, he sets off again in his machine, except this time he never comes back.
I actually enjoyed this book. It was written very old fashionably, and was very creative. It is easy to question the time traveler’s sanity, he was very unreliable. The time traveler claimed that time was the fourth dimension, and when he went into the future, he noted that everything else around him seemed to speed up and zoom around. A snail moved at the pace of a cheetah for him, which would seem to drive someone crazy.
I do think that Wells is challenging our modern society and the way that we live. It seems that parallels are made with the story and real life. Maybe the author is trying t point out that our way of living is not as modern or as great as it could be. Maybe we have the ability, but are not doing as much good as we can wit our new modernized knowledge considering the world still has a lot of problems. There is still poverty and hunger, and homeless people, so Wells could be saying that he would expect most of these problems to already be solved.

Work Cited
Wells, H. G. The Time Machine. William Heinneman A. Knopf, New York: 1895. Print.

Dear Ms. Westfall,

The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells, is a very different book. I have found it very confusing so far actually.  The protagonist, known as The Time Traveller, is convinced that there is a way for real time traveling. He meets with a few other guys, and tells him Bout his time traveling experiences. In the first few chapters the time traveler goes into detail about the science behind time traveling, and how it is actually possible. It is confusing when Wells goes into the details, and explains his time traveling machine. No one else really believes him when he tells them where he’s been and what he’s been doing there. Most people think that he is crazy when he tells them these stories.

I am really confused right now, the book actually  isn’t making much sense to me.   The time traveler knows that he can travel and explains it in detail to the reader through Wells, but it still doesn’t make much sense. It actually kind of seems like he is truly crazy. Part of the story makes the reader believe in time traveling, and that the man has actually done it, and part makes you not believe him, especially from other peoples reactions to his journeys. He says that when he goes back in time, he can see himself and the oppress of the people, however, everyone is moving around way to fast for him to alter anything. That makes sense, that you can go back in time, but can’t change anything of the past.

Wells’ novel reminds me a bit of The Time Traveler’s Wife. In both stories, the time traveler had no control of events when he was sucked into time itself. The difference I found was that in The Time Machine, the time traveler gets to decide when he wants to travel in time, in his time machine, while in The Time Traveler’s Wife, the protagonist has no control over his actions involving time traveling.

I’m only around halfway through, so I hope The Time Machine begins to make more sense to me.

Sincerely,

Tasha Gaudet

Work Cited

Wells, H. G. The Time Machine. William Heinneman A. Knopf, New York: 1895. Print.

Dear Ms. Westfall,

I just finished reading the book, Grendel, by John Gardner. I found it very interesting, and different from what I expected. Grendel, the main character, has many animal-like qualities. He lives in the forest, and even hunts like an animal. A long time ago, Grendel was hunting, and got himself stuck in between two trees. Soldiers of the king came and rescued him,and planned on killing him. He was able to escape, but vowed to take his revenge on the king, Hrothgar, someday. He took to spying on the king, and all the events that happened. Occasionally, the attacked the soldiers. At one point, he became a cannibal, which surprised me. He would eat some of the soldiers he killed. Grendel was definitely an unreliable protagonist, he was insane, his mother lived in a cave with him, also insane. She paced back and forth constantly ANC mumbled strange words. Later on in the story Grendel went and visited a dragon, who placed a charm on him where no sword could kill him, so he was now invincible. At the end of the novel, Grendel goes into Hrothgar’s bedroom, planning n taking his life. But much to his surprise, the king was up and awake. The king was triumphant in warding off his attack, and killed him slowly, tearing his limbs off.

This book was very weird and strange. I was expecting Grendel to succeed in killing Hrothgar, and I expected him to change afterwards and experience some sort of ritual death. Grendel would have a hero cycle, if he had changed in some way. If he had realized all of his mistakes and change his ways then he could be forgiven and considered a hero. This would be sort of like Hercules when he killed his wife and kids and then had to seek forgiveness, except Hercules was successful. They both had the characteristic of insanity, and their call to adventure had todo with death. Grendel acted young and immature, and like an animal. He sounded like a rebellious teenage boy, except for the fact that he also acted like an animal,

I’m glad I read this book, even though parts of it shocked me. I thought I knew what was going to happen with Grendel, but I was wrong, so it made the book more interesting and fun to read. I think its cool that two books have been written, in each the protagonists are the antagonists of the other. I would like to read Beowulf, just to see the other side of the story.

Sincerely,

Tasha Gaudet

Work Cited

Gardner, John. Grendel. Alfred A. Knopf, New York: 1987. Print.

Dear Ms. Westfall,

            Grendel, by John Gardner is a very interesting story. It refers to a guy, who lives a life similar to that of a nomad a long time ago. He hunts animals for food, and has learned to fend for himself. Grendel is a boy who is used to being on the run, he has killed rams and bulls many times before, he kills cows and pigs for food. He and his mother live with some sort of tribe, that Grendel hates, and soon runs into the forest and stays longer than he had originally planned to. This is when he has to fight off the ram, and defeat it’s twisted horns. He has many obstacles, one of which is when he gets his foot stuck in between two trees, and is sure he is going to die. When a bull charges at him, he misses, and instead cracks one of the trees releasing Grendel from it’s grip.  His mother then finds him, after the bull has continued to charge at him while he attempted to run. Grendel encounters ore humans from other areas, but doesn’t know what they are since they are so foreign. They speak a language similar to his own but look and act very differently from him.

            I know that Grendel is one of the main antagonists in Beowulf.  In this book however, he is the protagonist. I’ve noticed many uses of personification, how Grendel treats all of the animals he encounters, good or bad, as if they are the same animal as him. He seems to sense them, and speak their language, especially when he is in danger. Gardner’s style of writing almost makes it seem like Grendel himself is an animal, he talks as if he is friends with them, and even describes his mother with some animal-like qualities. 

            Grendel knows how to hunt, and how to survive in the forest. When the bull had charged him and injured him, he had fallen asleep. When his mother came, she was just in time because many other humans had gathered, and were debating what to do about him. They didn’t know what to make of him, and had decided that he was some sort of spirit since he was up in a tree. His mother then came and saved him from the mysterious people. Hrothgar, was one of the people gathered there around him, actually he was the leader. Pretty soon, Grendel made vows to personally kill him someday.

            I am enjoying this book, I have heard a lot about Beowulf, even though I have never read it. It’s interesting to read this book, knowing that the antagonist in that book, is the protagonist in this book. The character Grendel is very complicated and hard to identify with, since he has so many animal-like qualities.

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                           Tasha Gaudet

Work Cited

Gardner, John. Grendel. Alfred A. Knopf, New York: 1987. Print

Dear Ms. Westfall,

I am mostly through with J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye. It was a very confusing book, yet very interesting. The protagonist, Holden Caufield, is seventeen years old, and has been kicked out of four different schools in the past few years. Holden is currently at a boarding school in New York, and is about to change schools since he was kicked out again. Where I am in the book, he went on his vacation to a different part of New York for a few days, so that he can wait to break the news that he was kicked out to his parents. Holden stays in a hotel, and tries to escape his past for a few days.

Salinger’s style is very important to the flow of the plot line.  Salinger writes very descriptively, providing many details. The many details let the reader experience each scene of the story through Holden’s eyes, and it lets the reader know every opinion Holden has. The reader gets the full story, including Holden’s opinions. Salinger writes with language that you can imagine a typical teenage boy living in New York at that time period would use. Slang especially is often apparent in the writing. This makes it easier for the reader to connect with the protagonist, and gives the reader a better time in understanding each part of the story.

The setting of the book is in New York City, where Holden begins his adventure to find himself. There is a huge theme of letting go of the past and finding yourself, because Holden is always trying to forget that he doesn’t do well in school, or that he hasn’t been the nicest person. He runs away from his fears, instead of facing his parents, or the old school, or even trying to find a new life at a new school. The reader can tell that Holden is actually very smart, it’s just that he doesn’t apply himself very well in school because he doesn’t care. Instead of bothering to care and pay attention to his teachers and the lectures that they give, he just ignores them and is ok with failing out of his classes.

This book is very confusing to me. One thing that I have been wondering is what the title of the book actually means. The Catcher in the Rye is a very weird and confusing title to try to interpret.  I don’t really understand the meaning of the book yet, but I am still working on finding that out. However, I am still enjoying this book very much since it is very different and unique.

Sincerely,

Tasha Gaudet

Work Cited

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, 1945. Print.