It's like 10,000 thoughts, when all you need is a blog....

While on the computer, packing for Reno, and maintaining my fantasy baseball team, I thought, well, why not blog? But what to blog about? The what seemed like 100 hero books we read? Or the 10 women books that we read that just never seemed to end? Or those soul-crushing soul-selling books? Why not talk about irony? Too many questions? Hmmm. Anyway, let's talk about every single book we have read throughout our high school career. They all seem to mesh together with tragedies, heroes, women, plot twists, framing, motifs, themes, and symbols. But it's the books that really stick out in my mind like: Animal Farm, To Kill A Mockingbird, Julius Caesar, The Power of One, The Fountainhead, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. These books are what I believe make up just about every theme we've talked about. These are the classics they ask about throughout our entire lives and we've had these amazing teachers make us analyze and read these books so that we can understand literature. Animal Farm is one of my favorite books even before I knew it was an allegory to the Communist Revolution. Either way, the book is totally B.A. To be honest, I have never really liked English as a subject, I am and always will be a history buff, and that's why I will becoming a history education major. But the books that have historical context to them, such as Animal Farm, really spark my interest in learning. But now that I've rambled on to the point of being crazy, or am I? Or was this all the insane ramblings of those that the narrator in The Tell Tale Heart did? OH! BAM! Gotcha Mrs. Burnett. I bet you think that I'm crazy, just like the narrator. Being focused only on one thing, books, just like he was with the eye. Everyday I have these ramblings in class and I am just as insane on concentrating on one subject just as he was, except I don't plan on killing anybody, just watching Terminator 2 like 10,000 times. So before you give this blog a 0, just remember the similarities the narrator and I have in our ramblings. In all seriousness I really enjoy blogging, I really enjoyed this year's class, and I really enjoy going to lunch immediately afterwards. (Just kidding, but seriously I do love lunch.) It's been a blast, I'm super psyched to pass the AP test which you have more than prepared us for, :) and I hope to be a great teacher just as you are. PS: This is not some lame attempt to suck up. ;)

"You were hot shit back in Hickville...."

First and foremost, Big Fish is my favorite movie and I know that may surprise you. I saw the movie around the time that it came out on DVD and instantly fell in love. The stories, the characters, and not to mention my love for Ewan McGregor and Danny DeVito (whom I met :) ). But it wasn't until I read the connections that Edward Bloom wanted to be immortalized just as others did in the books that we read. The thought of that never crossed my mind in the 100s of times I have seen Big Fish. The thought of it kind of left a taste in my mouth and I thought of what Amos Calloway said, "Sure I do! You were hot shit back in Hickville, but here in the real world, you got squat! You don't have a plan, you don't have a job, you don't have anything except the clothes on your back." So Edward Bloom made himself immortalized in his stories that would be passed on by his family members. His different and exciting life filled with all sorts of adventures is exactly how he would be known. Not by extreme beauty or his magical abilities (or whatever happened in The Stranger), but by his family. And I think that mainly this is a masculine thing, to be remembered by future generations. They erect buildings or want their names on the side of a plane (Up in the Air) so that people will remember them when they're gone. And honestly, I would like the same thing to happen, to be remembered. And the transition that high school students are going to make this fall from a small pond to the ocean is frightening. I know that I can be seen as a somewhat big fish and that people will remember me for some years, but how long will that last? How can I immortalize myself in such a way that people will remember me? The whole thought scares me, because in college I want to be known. Not as the kid who sits in the classroom and sneezes to loud, but as someone that my classmate will remember. Oxford can be seen as a "Hickville," but I know that I'm going into the ocean, and I don't want to drown.......

A Thousand Splendid Sons....

So far A Thousand Splendid Suns had been my favorite book to read this year. But if was not my favorite book to get, shelling out approximately $16.00 for it, even though I work at a bookstore. This book raises a lot of questions that Americans wouldn't be able to answer. Do people really live like this? Are women that oppressed? Is gender equality that far off from our society? And the answer is yes to all questions. The unfairness that Mariam, Laila, and all the other women in Afghanistan had to face each day was so harsh. When Laila went to visit Aziza at the orphanage, she was whipped along the way, because she needed a male escort everywhere she went. The whole idea of not being able to leave the house without a man is so unorthodox. Where would American women be if a terrorist group took over the country? Or what if it were women that took over and men, for once, were oppressed? It would be so difficult to imagine because we are in a sheltered life. I see this book as an eye opener, mainly because I get somewhat understand the situation is because I can see it on the news. Other books like The Awakening and A Doll's House showed what it was like for women at the time, but the idea was a little confusing in my mind. A Thousand Splendid Suns let me know what they are like for present day women and see that they still do live like this. Which is sad. :( But an overall good book.

The Awakening: Beaten to Death (Get It?)

Given the circumstances that we talked about The Awakening all week, one more time wouldn't hurt. But then, I was at work reading A Thousand Splendid Suns when a lady approached me and said, "Wow that is such a great book, I read it in one sitting. It makes me feel great that I am a woman in America." And I thought to myself, that is a true statement. But I compared what it was like for Edna and what it was like for Mariam and Laila. Aren't they the same? As stated in class, it was always, "Well in Edna's situation.... And in Edna's society..... In Edna's time period....." But the things that Edna faced are still faced today. The whole thought process between the women characters in these novels really makes me angry. Because it is unfortunate that we live a sheltered life in Oxford where everyone lives in the (almost) ideal lifestyle, where men and women are equal. But that's not how things work in the world and literature. But characters such as Edna, Laila, Mariam, and Nora live lives that are so unbearable that they have to change their entire lives. They have these drastic changes that men don't have to change, which is unfair to them. I cannot stand inequality between genders and it infuriates me reading these novels where women live in these backwords societies. When women are put into situations like Laila was, where she was rescued, then forced into marriage, it really stinks that they have no other options in Afghanistan. Even if these situations are fictional, they really happen in all across the globe. It can be very difficult for women to move up in society whether it be through a dominant husband who doesn't allow her to work, or a country that doesn't allow women to be alone in public. These novels can be a real eye opener. Thank you for letting/making me read them.

Things to think about while watching Glee.....

On a cold winter's night, while watching "Glee," the thought of my monthly connection blog entered my mind. Cultural relativism is a thought that can even be demonstrated through the shallowness of "Glee." The whole idea of accepting one's lifestyle is shown in a high school setting with the different cliques. While one person sees singing as lame or stupid, the other student will see someone who plays football as being a neanderthal. The whole idea of accepting one's culture seems too perfect in my mind. You may see cultural boundaries as something bad, but without them what differs between two groups of people, other than geography. The subtle differences between cultures such as: clothing, music, heritage, and lifestyles, change who we are and how we grow up. With everyone alike, there would be nothing to set us apart from one another. The differences follow into the animal kingdom, such as the leopard and the puma. One genetic variation changes the entire coat, speed, and habitat of the feline. The differences in culture relate to the differences in Things Fall Apart because of how each tribe lives their lives, as well as the natives to the Europeans. An example being, the idea of suicide, is the worst possible thing in the minds of the tribesman and they would not even touch the body of Okonkwo. The European men didn't this act of taking one's life to be that bad. The idea of accepting one's culture in the novel goes with the idea of accepting Christianity. While you may want to be polytheistic, Christians would like to convert you to Christianity. In my mind, keeping cultural differences is a good thing, something that should be remembered. Heritage as well is something to embrace by the next in line. (I'm definitely watching "Glee" with Karen because I'm not gay(She told me to say that). I would much rather being playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2).

Going Back to Beowulf. (Baiowulf)

Looking back on Beowulf, vocalizing the last words of the poem are deemed to be very important. Ethics are looked at universally and would not only apply to us, but to all creatures. Through other readings it has "made the poet, the audience, and modern reader part of Christian community separated from the pagan actors within the poem." This demonstrates how people have separated the true meanings of Beowulf to what they see the poem as in modern society. The good are praised and the bad are punished in society, but the other side is not seen by the good. Black and white images are broadcasted in the good people's mind, because bad is bad and there is nothing else to see. This takes away from the elements of Beowulf, even if Beowulf is praised for his doings against evil. These values taken in by society are the basic structure that it is founded upon. The idea of "praising" and "worshipping" the good is what society does. This is why in every movie seen, the good guy always win (Except in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Which is why it is so badass)). The whole idea of "darkness" or "dark thoughts" frightens those in society which is why Grendel is such a scary figure to the readers of Beowulf. "The heroic world is a world of action and of public recognition for deeds performed, not of brooding and soul searching." This can be seen as a "brawn over brains" situation where people are more interested in action rather than talking. With everything in consideration, honor is always at stake among Beowulf, Grendel, Grendel's Mothers, and the Dragon.

(Insert Hero Here) vs. (Insert Hero's Arch Enemy Here)

As seen by Beowulf, there are different qualities of a hero and qualities of a villain. I see this as a character or literary hero because of the context in the poem. It always seems as though a hero has the means to stop the villain and the villain always has the hero's weakness on hand. This situation is not in Beowulf until it seems like Beowulf's weakness is his age when he fights the dragon. Beowulf shows that a hero is chivalrous, respectable, modest, and always does what is right. In Beowulf, he demonstrates that he wants to do the right thing by fighting Grendel with his bare hands. This actually helped Beowulf because no weapons could hurt Grendel and this made Beowulf able to defeat him. Through Beowulf's honest actions that he as a hero posses, he was able to do what his overall goal was to do, kill Grendel. On the other hand, a villain holds the opposite qualities of a hero. A villain appears to be evil, dishonest, harmful, and always doing something wrong in the eyes of the public. The villains of Grendel, Grendel's Mother, and the Dragon are all seen as the villains in this poem and hold the quality of harming others. When it comes up between the two, the hero will win because that's what the reader would like to read. But also brought up in class, the hero and the villain are in the eyes of the beholder. The qualtities of either side can be flip-flopped between each other by the reader or a spectator. That's why the qualities of heroes and villains can be so difficult to see.