Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins Blog Post

English Language Arts

Jitterbug Perfume is not your average love story. Neither is it your average adventure tale.

The book, while tugging readers along with Alobar and Kudra through the ages, doesn’t seize life by the throat and demand to understand its meaning, but, quite on the contrary, the book, with the help of its characters and their accomplishments, allows life to approach it, and to inquire for what reason it does what it does.  

Jitterbug Perfume unearths the truth of the art of immortality, and how, as seen with Alobar and Kudra, true immortality is not the essence of longevity, and not of how long one can remain in one’s body, because, as Robbins repeatedly explains, everything living must, eventually, die. In Jitterbug Perfume, the two main characters meet a dying, yes, dying god who, up too his last moments of existence, joins them on their journey. Robbins describes how, as gods are immortal to things that kill those who are mortal, such as disease and bad habits, they’re only alive as long as people believe in them. So, simply put, it is belief and ideals that bring true immortality, not resistance to “death.” Continuing on this thought, through Alobar’s millennia-or-so long life, he realizes that he has accomplished, relatively speaking, nothing of substance, not including beating death at his/her own game (but for what?), while men and women who live to be a mere 60 years old have accomplishments that are as immortal as his body, yet their ideas are recognized for their great feats, while he (to those that have heard his tale) frightens those who are mortal with the unknown. With this, after his millennia of living, Alobar discovers that the true essence of immortality does not lie with the body, but with the mind.

Revised Blog Post Literary Essay 2

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is about a boy named Jonas who’s different. He sees everything differently. He thinks differently. He believes for a difference. But he wasn’t always like this. Not until he met the Giver –not until he was chosen to be the next Receiver of Memory. Even though he can “See Beyond,” or see color in a bleak world, his ideas didn’t start until he had the knowledge to understand his world. The Receiver of Memory advises the Community, and then when the Receiver gets old, a new one is chosen. The Giver, the previous receiver, must pass on memories to Jonas. With that, Jonas realizes the truth, and knows that he must leave the community with a new child to find a new place to live, so that he and those who can see beyond can experience life – the way it should be. In Lowry’s book, she discusses the essence of humanity and, after the community submits their diversity with “sameness,” an idea where there is no love, no hate, and everything is the same, do they lose their humanity as well? Lowry uses Jonas’ quest throughout the novel to answer her own questions.

At the beginning of the story, Jonas is a scared 12 year old, who has been singled out in the ceremony where everyone’s jobs are chosen. He doesn’t understand why this is happening to him. He is afraid that something bad is happening to him, and, in a way, it is. He’s forcibly taking on all the pain and suffering of the community and the world in general. In the text, it says, “Earlier that day, dressing in his own dwelling, he had practiced the kind of jaunty, self-assured walk that he hoped he could make to the stage when his turn came. All of that was forgotten now. He simply willed himself to stand, to move his feet that felt weighted and clumsy, and to go forward, up the steps and across the platform until he stood at her side.”

As the story progresses, Jonas starts to uncover the truth of his bleak community, and how the true meaning of life had been stolen from them all. The Giver allows him to live to the fullest, as he does, unlike the rest of the community. The Giver teaches him to see beyond, and see the colors for what they are. He teaches Jonas love, he teaches him joy, and pure-happiness as well – but he also teaches him pain. Jonas questions his world for what it is and why it exists, and why people are denied the wonders he is granted through memory. In the text, Jonas asks his parents if they love him, and his parents chuckle, saying how he needs to remember precision of language. “’Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it’s become obsolete,’ his mother carefully explained. Jonas stared at them. Meaningless? He had never before felt anything as meaningful as the memory.”

At the end of the book, Jonas and the Giver realize how they must make a change in their people. If they were to leave, their memories would be released into the community, and then the people would have to bear them themselves – but Jonas and the Giver are not trying to ruin the people of the community, they’re trying to help them. So Jonas decides to leave so that the community will get his memories, and the Giver would stay behind to help the community deal with them, so that they could become wiser and stronger – so that everyone could know the true meaning of life with their emotions back. Emotions, along with brain capacity, are what mainly differentiates humans from other animals. Without true emotions, due to sameness as in The Giver, humans don’t have culture, they don’t have love, they don’t have happiness, and they don’t have hatred, so where does that leave them? What do we become when stripped of our emotions? We are stripped of the thing that makes us human.  

The Giver, by Lois Lowry is a story that uncovers the true meaning of life, what it’s like without it, and the measures people will take to achieve it – or, in Jonas and the Giver’s case, share it with others and do what’s right. Lowry gives the world an idea of what life without emotions could look like – bleak, boring, and asking to be defied because, as we witnessed in The Giver, a world of such would go against human nature. The book gives Lowry’s perspective to what life would be like in such a society, where there is no pain or choices, but more importantly, no freedoms, self-control, or life.

Revised Blog Post Literary Essay

In the book Divergent, written by Veronica Roth, the author paints a picture of a corrupt world rigidly defined by strict categories, and describes the negative effects of this structure and how it can lead to injustice in society. In addition, she offers some suggestions about how these types of injustices can be remedied. Roth approaches the topic of social injustice and class systems by presenting the readers with an almost-totalitarian society that is divided by different factions, or groups of people, each with a specialized trait. The goal of the creation of the factions was to eradicate harmful genes such as cruelty, selfishness, dishonesty, cowardice, and ignorance. The reader later finds out that people with these pure genes, known as the divergent, are being hunted down and killed by the government because of the fact that the way they think ensures that they can’t be controlled by the rigid class systems. The minds of the divergent can’t be confined to one way of thinking, and therefore they can’t be confined to one class, or faction, and controlled.  Tris and Tobias, two of the main characters, are part of the small amount of people with divergence. Throughout Divergent, Roth alludes to the social injustices that exist in our world today, and illustrates the importance of what it means to be part of something and truly belong.

 

According to Wikipedia, social injustice is defined as “a relative concept about the claimed unfairness or injustice of a society in its divisions of rewards and burdens and other incidental inequalities based on the user's worldview of humanity.” While Roth, on the surface, focuses on Tris and her emotions, she also plants underlying examples of social injustice that by the end blossom into large scale issues. In addition, she also demonstrates the differences in rewards and burdens that result from a highly structured society, and hints at the social injustices in our world today by comparing contemporary issues such as the current American class system, with the faction system in the book. For example, in Divergent, there are people known as the factionless, who live in poverty, don’t have anything, work the jobs no one else wants to do, and there’s nothing they can do at all to change their situations. On the other hand, there are people who control the factions – the Faction Leaders – who live in extraordinary wealth and can do just about anything they want. In the book Jeanine Matthews, the leader of the faction that cures ignorance, tries to take over the city by controlling the police force and the guards with a mind control serum – one that is only allowed to her because of her special rank. By comparing the lives of the faction leaders and the factionless, Roth illustrates the profound sense hopeless misery that these people living in poverty have to deal with every day.

  

The author also portrays how alienating totalitarian societies can be, by showing the process that Tris Prior goes through to find her place in her world. In the beginning, Tris feels like she’s out of place and doesn’t belong in her birth faction – the one that cures selfishness. Whenever she does something that any other one of her faction members would have done as second nature, for her at least, it feels forced and unnatural. While she loves her family and her fellow faction-members, she feels like she doesn’t belong among their selfless ranks. For example, at the beginning of the book, Tris thinks while looking at her brother, “He also fully inherited my mother’s talent for selflessness, while I barely did. He gave his seat to a surly Candor man on the bus without a second of thought.” Actions like these aren’t such that come naturally, and instead she feels like she needs to push herself and become something else to belong in her birth faction, but deep down, she just wants to be herself.  

 

I believe Roth’s book, Divergent, was written as cautionary tale about the negative effects of class structure and to illustrate the social injustices that result. These injustices exist in many cultures across the world, including the United States.  There are valuable lessons in it for kids, because, as the future of the world, kids will be the people who can bring change to our society in the future. Roth wanted kids to become aware of the negative effects of a societal class system. While the American economy can be extremely proficient at what it’s designed to do, it also negatively affects many people, offering some opportunities of a lifetime, and pushing others deeper and deeper.

 

Link

http://casadeliam.blogspot.com/2015/02/blog-post-febuary-1st-divergent-by.html

 

 

BLOG POST FEBUARY 1ST (Divergent by Veronica Roth)

Divergent

The book Divergent, by Veronica Roth, approaches the topic of social injustice and class systems by presenting the readers with an almost-totalitarian society that is divided by different factions, or groups of people, each with a specialized trait. The goal of the creation of the factions was to eradicate harmful genes such as cruelty, selfishness, dishonesty, cowardice, and ignorance. The reader later finds out that people with these pure genes, known as the divergent, are being hunted down and killed by people with damaged genes. Tris and Tobias, two of the main characters, are part of the small amount of people with divergence. Throughout Divergent, Roth hints to social injustice in our world today and describes what it means to be part of something and truly belong.

All the way throughout Divergent, Roth, the author, hints to social injustices in our world today by comparing contemporary issues such as the current American class system, with the faction system in the book. For example, in Divergent, there are people known as the factionless, who live in poverty, don’t have anything, work the jobs no one else wants to do, and there’s nothing they can do at all to change their situations. While, on the other hand, there are people who control the factions – the Faction Leaders – who live in extraordinary wealth and can do just about anything they want. In the book Jeanine Matthews, the leader of the faction that cures ignorance, tries to take over the city by controlling the police force and the guards with a mind control serum – one that is only allowed to her because of her special rank.

The book Divergent is also about how Tris Prior finds her place in her world. In the beginning, Tris feels like she’s out of place and doesn’t belong in her birth faction – the one that cures selfishness. Whenever she does something that any other one of her faction members would have done as second nature, for her at least, it feels forced and unnatural. While she loves her family and her fellow faction-members, she feels like she doesn’t belong among their selfless ranks. For example, at the beginning of the book, Tris thinks while looking at her brother, “He also fully inherited my mother’s talent for selflessness, while I barely did. He gave his seat to a surly Candor man on the bus without a second of thought.” That’s something that Tris would have to remind herself to do, instead of it just happening, like breathing.

I believe Roth’s book, Divergent, was writing as an allegory about the negative effects of class structure and to illustrate the social injustices that result. These injustices exist in many cultures across the world, including the United States.  There are valuable lessons in it for kids, because, as the future of the world, kids will be the people who can bring change to our society in the future. Roth wanted kids to become aware of the negative effects of a societal class system. While the American economy can be extremely proficient at what it’s designed to do, it also negatively affects many people, offering some opportunities of a lifetime, and pushing others deeper and deeper.   

Blog Review

For my blog review, I chose to read and respond to Toby’s Non-Fiction book, “Billionaire’s Ball.” This book, by Linda McQuaig, discusses the current state of the US economy, and how it affects society. As of now, it’s much like it was in the “roaring twenties,” just before the market crash and the Great Depression. Toby’s response to this book caught my eye because of the fact that I’ve read other books on a similar topic, of which I find very interesting, and because of the possibility and likelihood of another country-wide depression, maybe not on a scale as massive as that of the Great Depression, but one none the less.

I was drawn in to this post, not only from the topic, but also from Toby’s word choice and personal way of engaging readers with facts and statements that hook the reader, allowing them to be drawn in as I was and becoming concerned with the topic, as I became concerned. I have read books about the Great Depression, and if, as “Billionaire’s Ball” implies, we are soon to be heading down the road as the economy was in the 20s, where there are people who have acquired unheard of amounts of money, and then there are people who are living in the lowest reaches of poverty, making one single dollar a year to certain CEO’s $17,000.

Impending events, such as what may be the future for American’s as shown in this book, should be a huge concern of everyone, and, as I believe Toby and McQuaig have attempted to do with their writings, need to be recognized and taken heed of. McQuaig most likely wrote her Non-Fiction novel to bring awareness to America’s misfortunes during the Great Depression, and also to open the eyes of the public, (and most importantly the people who have attained these large sums of wealth) so that citizens will be able to stifle the new depression before it begins, and instead of being broken, again, by events such as country-wide economy drops, becoming ever so stronger.

The Culture of Beauty Non-Fiction Critical Analysis

The Culture of Beauty, by Gale Cengage Learning, in the Opposing Viewpoints Series, talks about how the media has been influencing and pushing teens, among people of all ages, in the pursuit of unreachable beauty. Beauty is increasingly becoming more and more important, beginning in the 1980s period, to now. “Since then, stories such as Cinderella and other ‘transformation narratives’ are increasingly being woven through popular culture, consumer advertising, media images, and television shows… illustrate, for many main-stream American women, Cinderella- like transformations.” The media sets unreachable standards every day, that so many people attempt to reach, and this ends up ruining so many lives, with stress and permanent additions to one’s life, for example, plastic surgery. On tv and in magazines, often, unreachable standards of beauty are portrayed, but with the help of photo shop, filters, and other photo-changing and enhancing computer affects. As computer programs’ boundaries are raised, so are the beauty standards. These standards, that aren’t surpassed or even reached by anyone, are what cause huge amounts of stress and ruin lives. Many people spend hours each day “preparing themselves,” as if they’re not good enough without styling their hair or applying make-up.

While, on the other hand, the book describes how the pursuit for beauty is what causes people to want to get to know you, and that “just because a woman would make a sandwich for a homeless person doesn’t make a man fall for her.” While who you are and your character are important, that’s only part of it. In the wild, animals release odors or exhibit colorful feathers or emit calls to attract and appeal to each other, when selecting a mate. This can be compared to humans, where we strive for media standards of beauty, such as styling our hair, wearing make-up – adding or changing ourselves to appeal to each other.

Striving for beauty can’t be considered bad, but it can’t really be considered good, either, mainly due to the fact that it’s a natural thing and there are always going to be “better looking people” and “worse looking people,” because the world can’t tie with itself. There are always people on top, and at the bottom. Equality and Life living in harmony is impossible, because in order to live you cannot just breathe, eat, and sleep – you must experience.

Social Action Reading Response

 
12/14/14

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, is about a young boy, named Connor, whose mother is struggling with terminal cancer. A monster, unlike the one in his nightmare where his mother is taken by the monster that seems to be made of pure terror, comes to help him through his troubles. This monster is made of a yew tree, just like the tree in his backyard. The tree monster tells him stories every night about situations the tree went through in the past and how he, the tree, that is, handled them. The monster makes Connor tell his own story, too, consisting of Connor’s truth. Justice is served in this book, but not necessarily how most thought it would be, and not for who seems to be in need of it most. Justice is served for Connor, by the monster, by helping him uncover his own truth. Once Connor realizes his truth, and the true cause of his suffering, as well as his mother’s, he understands why he must let his mother go, no matter how much initial pain it causes them both.

          Justice is served in A Monster Calls. This is done by the Monster who helps Connor. The Cancer is what is upsetting the balance of justice. The Cancer enters Connor’s mother’s life, changing it forever - changing her and her son. Connor realizes that his truth is, with help of the monster, that he doesn’t want to see his mother suffer anymore. Every day he wakes up and sees how frail and tired she looks, even though she isn’t even close to an elderly age. For example, Connor repeatedly thinks how, “exposed and soft” he head looks without her scarf covering it, implying that almost whenever he sees her, it hurts him. Ness, the author, also shows how all of this hurts his mother. He mentions how it hurts her every day, knowing she won’t be around much longer for her son.

          Justice could have been served in another way, if that was possible. The point of serving Justice, is to make things right and the way they should be, and to end undeserved suffering. This could have been done by curing Connor’s mother’s cancer. Then, things would have been back to the way they were before the terminal cancer struck, and there wouldn’t be the agony every day for Connor and his mother, of watching a loved one suffer. But, realistically, this could not have happened. As of now, there is no cure for terminal cancer - only a treatment that may work for a fleeting moment – so how would a Yew tree be able to save someone? The only way to serve justice, in this case, was to end the source of suffering and move on.

          Connor’s truth, as he soon learns, is that he suffers because his mother suffers – because it hurts him to see her suffer. He knows she’s going to, eventually, die, and she knows it too, but he doesn’t know when, and neither does she. He realizes he just wants to get it over with, no matter how dark that may seem. As much as he doesn’t want her to die, he accepts that she will, and that is what he, the monster, is looking for as his truth, in order for justice to be served. The monster walks to help Connor, but in reality, it’s only Connor’s imagination helping himself, when no one else will.