week 7 new book.. yay

I just finished reading Catcher in the Rye, all i can say about the ending is that i did not like it. It feels like it just left me hanging there with very little of an idea as to what happened next in his life. It was kind of a bummer for me because i got so into this character and everything Holden Caulfield was so it is disappointing to get an ending like that. Besides the disappointing ending though, i thought it was a good book and i would even go back and re-read a little bit of it again. Probably just the first half of the book though, that was my favorite part because it felt most interesting.

Even though i liked Catcher in the Rye, it is a bit of a relief to go on to another book. Holdens character was getting repetitive and, although funny, slightly annoying. It is kind of nice to move on to some new characters and not the stay on the same one which was focused on for a whole book. Now i am reading about the world of Winston Smith in the book "1984" by George Orwell.

I like the book so far, it is very interesting imagining a world that is completely censored because i live in the United States, one of the most free countries there is. Although it is interesting, it can be very depressing sometimes. The scenes described in this book always seem dark, worn away, and cold. So this can make it a little hard to read.

The beginning starts off with the main character writing in a book about basically nothing, except for a few flashbacks which make you understand who the character is and what he believes a little more. Once you find out using a book is illegal you find out he is against the government (Big Brother) which seeks to control every citizen under its area.

Everything is so watched in the city that the character even says "Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull." This is scary to me, i dont know about other people, but i wouldn't want to be monitored all the time in everything i do. That would make me go crazy or something. Scary stuff, i hope that Winston breaks out of this control and finds others who want to rebel against it.

In the story there are supposed to be many other people that are secretly against Big Brother but Winston doesn't know anything besides that people are caught everyday for conspiring against the government. Maybe Winston will find some people and work along with them. Or maybe he will make his own anti-government group. I will keep reading and let you know what happens next week.

Week 6

Well I finished 1984 by George Orwell.  I was a good book but I was a little put off by the ending.  Winston and Julia are captured by the ministry of love and are tortured both physically and mentally.  Winston is told by a torturer named O’Brien "Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living -- We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves".  Winston and Julia had thought that the government could never take away there love, in the end they are proven wrong.  When Winston gets back to his boring life he betrays his love of Julia to Big Brother.  This is a sad part because it proves to the readers that government can control you.  I think the book had to end like this though for George Orwell to prove his point.  He shows how overboard the government can go and heeds the warning.  I wish the book would have went the way I wanted it to, I had wanted Winston and Julia to start a rebellion, to get rid of this crazy world they live in but they were basically brainwashed.  I am starting a new book now called The Hobbit.  I think I will like this book more than 1984.  I watched all of the Lord of the Ring movies and read most of the books and enjoyed them all. I have been told that The Hobbit is what happens before the Lord of the Rings has officially started.  They also made a movie called The Hobbit based on this book so once I am done reading I will get to watch the movie and see how closely they followed the story line.  I am hoping I get to see Gandalf and what happens to make his character, him.  I have not started this book yet because the librarians still hate me because I keep forgetting to bring my book back so I avoid the library at all costs.  The blonde one knows m name and I see her twice a day, speaking of which she walked into the classroom as I was typing this.  I plan on going to the public library sometime this weekend and getting it then I get more than two weeks plus I won’t have to deal with the bratty librarians.  The other day I was in the library and the brown haired one started screaming at two girls who were at the wrong computers, then made them move and pushed the rolly chairs away as hard as she cold.  I would’ve been slightly scared , buut she is an old lady, not too intimidating.  Well It looks like this is the end of the blog, sorry about the rant on the librarians, a majority of them need an attitude check.  Maybe we just need nicer librarians, like cute old grandmas! Not these rude ladies. So that is all for this blog so see you later my modern literature blog.

week 6 The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien starts out in a village full of hobbits. There about half the size of anormal human and live very simple, avoiding any kind of war or fighting. Gandolf, a wizard, comes to visit his hobbit friend Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is the main character and he is a wealthy, standard hobbit who's never really traveled and lives a low key life in his home thats built into a hill. Gandolf is a very powerful wizard with a pointy hat. The two talk and have tea and Gandolf leaves. When Gandolf leaves he puts a mark on the door without Bilbo knowing. At this point i'm wondering where the stories going and figured that the mark has to mean something.

The next day, twelve dwarfes pile into Bilbos house like they own the place competley unannonced asking for food and drink. Dwarfes are shorter than humans but taller than hobbits but are very thick and heavy and they have long beards. I figured out by now that Gandolf had something to do with this and the mark on the door was to tell the dwarfes where to go. After a bit, Gandolf comes in and the explantion as to the dwarfes are there comes out. Without telling Bilbo, Gandolf told the dwarfes that Bilbo was an expert burgular and would go on their journey with them. The dwarfes journey was to go back the mountain that dwarfes used to live and take back their kindom and treasure from a dragon that had taken it from the dwarfes ancestors. Here i'm confused because why would they need a burglar and why Bilbo considering he's not burgalar. After much barginning and a promise of the treasure, Bilbo reluctanly agrees to go on their journey. I can tell that Bilbo is more adventurous then what he seems being that he agrees to go on a long, dangerous journey with 12 strangers on 1 day notice. So the 14 of them set out on the journey.

At first, it was easy going, they had plenty of food and were riding ponies. But the further they went the further into the wild it was and their high spirits were quickly dying. After a while, they ran out of food and it started to rain very hard. All Bilbo thought was being back at his hobbit hole by the fire with plenty of food to eat. When he's decribing that, it reminds me of when i'm out hunting. Some days when your cold and your feet are wet and you aren't having any luck all you think of is being back at home.

Blog 6- It's Getting Better

Since my last blog, I’ve started to enjoy my book, The Postman Always Rings Twice, more than before. It had an upbeat pace from the beginning, but I just wasn’t really understanding or feeling for the characters yet. I left off in my last blog at the part where Frank is deciding whether or not he should work for the Greek again. He decides to, and he and Cora basically pick up where they left off. They form another plan to kill the Greek with a “fake” car accident. This time, they succeed, but they are still taken to court because of suspicions. They eventually are sentenced “not guilty,” and they go back to live together at the restaurant. However, since Frank is a “bum,” as Cora calls him, he doesn’t like to stay in one place for long, so he wants her to go away with him to live somewhere else. He claims that it’s because everything around the restaurant reminds him of the Greek, and he wants to get away from it all. However, Cora doesn’t want to move; the restaurant is doing well, and she doesn’t like to “roam around.” Then, Cora gets a call saying that her mother is sick, so she goes away for a week. Frank meets a girl named Marge, who has wild jungle cats as pets, outside the restaurant, and he decides to go away with her for a week. While he’s with her, he tells her he’s willing to help her catch some jungle cats just because she asked him if he would. When I read that, it came as a complete shock to me. Here, he acted like he was “so in love” with Cora, but then he goes away with some girl he just met while Cora’s at her mother’s funeral. I was quite angry, actually. I don’t care for Cora that much either, but I still feel terrible for her. Cain doesn’t write if Frank and Marge had sex, so I don’t think that they did, but either way, it’s still very inappropriate. I mean, it’s inappropriate that Cora and Frank are together at all because they killed her husband, but it’s even worse that Frank might be cheating on Cora now. I’m at the part where Frank does tell Cora that he went away while she was gone, and Cora doesn’t care, but he hasn’t told her any details yet. I’m curious to see if he will, or if he’s going to keep this from her. Honestly, I don’t think Cora would be that surprised, just because it’s so something Frank would do, but if my boyfriend even hung out with another girl alone without telling me about it, and I found out, I’d be pretty upset. Maybe if he told me about it beforehand and explained the situation, I would understand, but if I had to find out from someone else, I don’t think the relationship would last very long. I’m a lot more interested in the book now, but I’m still hoping that the ending is good. I’m almost done with it; I just hope the end isn’t disappointing.

1984

I finished 1984! Overall I did enjoy the read. It was not too difficult of a book to read or understand. I am a very picky reader, in order to keep up with reading a book I need to like it a lot.  At first I really didn’t enjoy reading 1984, but once everything started coming together and opening up I began to like it more. One of the most interesting things for me about the book was how it is about the future government. Lately, government and war have been popular topics all around the world. This book kind of opened my eyes.  If we don’t start doing something about all of the changes, in my opinion, something like 1984 could very well happen to the United States of America. This would not be good.

Now for the big question what in the world happened at the end? Initially I really did think that Winston died, and his physical existence was forever forgotten. But then I reread it and reread it, and thought about it. It was very surprising, and confusing too. It’s all over no more rebelling, hiding his true thoughts and feelings. He has fallen into the rut, and the one thing he didnt want to happen, happened. This is SO disappointing. I wanted Winston to change something. And make a difference, which he may have a little yes, but not in the way I was hoping for. Winston, in a sense, gives up.  I think Orwell had it end this way to make the readers think. To make them think how there is no escape when something this powerful develops. In the book Animal Farms one theme is power corrupts, I got a similar feeling while reading 1984. Not in the sense that is corrupts it leader, because Big Brother had to be evil already, but that is corrupts even the people that leader is controlling. They get so much shoved into there head that is pure crap, that they just start to believe it and live a lie subconsciously knowing it is wrong. (If that makes any sense at all) So much power to one particular area or person is not good and not much good can come from it.

Living in the world that Orwell created in 1984 would be terribly hard. Not being able to think freely, hiding your thoughts, it is hardly imaginable. Winston had a lot of guts to stand up for what he believed was the right way to live, but in the end was not as succesful as i had hoped for.  It is a downer. I expected the ending to be much different.  I expected Winston to die standing up for what he believed in and die fighting.  There is no escaping Big Brother now.

Overall this was an educational book. I enjoyed when it started to get more exciting. It was an eye opener to what could really be out there, and what can really happen in this world.

East of Eden week 6

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Week 6

And so continues this slow, but interesting book. What I am actually going to do it stop the story of Charles and Adam here for now and introduce you all to a….”special” character named Cathy. Such an innocent name, what could possibly go wrong? Surely with Adam and Charles’ life continuing to be rocky shouldn’t there be a character to help raise up the two young men to a straighter and healthier path?

Haha, no.

Cathy is a sadistic, witch who was born beautiful, but flawed. She was born without the ability to give or receive any form of love or kindness. So Cathy goes around her whole life just twisting and exploiting people for her own personal gain without any inkling of remorse.

                To start off this retched tale, Cathy manipulated her school teacher into loving her and there for receiving the perfect grades for sexual favors and such. Cathy realizing this was getting out of her hands and would eventually turn out badly for her dropped the teacher and let him fall into a deep state of depression, so deep in fact that he goes to her home late at night and the  one to answer the door is her father who turns him away not knowing why in the world the teacher would be on his front porch. The school teacher that same night went to the town church and committed suicide at the alter.

Cathy’s father had a growing business at the house, she learned the trade and helped often with the work, and once she knew financing inside, outside, and upside down, she decided the perfect way to get the deposit money on the company without causing any bout of alarm or more importantly, suspicion from the townsfolk. Drum rolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll……………..SHE STAGED THE DEATH OF HER AND HER PARENTS. But she actually killed her parents. And burned down the house. And burned the company building right next door. And made it look all like a murder that she did not commit.

Cathy is smart, so smart that she goes to a whoremaster and gets hired, and starts work far from her birth home.   She has over $4,000 in her pocket from the business deposit from the bank, she is locked, loaded, and out of the prying eyes of good townspeople.

She actually eventually seduces the whoremaster, and conveniently gets a whole house to herself out in the woods far, again, from prying eyes. The perfect setting for a murderess.

But, how do Cathy, Adam, and Charles link together? This doesn’t make any sense. You may be wondering, but further into the book and deeper into the details, and at a later date, one will soon realize how the nasty Cathy and our innocent men come to meet. Trust me. It is absolutely not a pretty sight. When I read it I first thought that Cathy deserved everything that she was dealt, but then, she was given a second chance she was absolutely unworthy of. Rawr.

Week 6

A Farewell to Arms by: Ernest Hemingway
Dylan Hatzenbuhler

   In chapter XI Henry is still wounded chilling in his bunker looking out the windows.  When sitting their the priest comes inside and greets Henry.  He sees if Henry is feeling better and Henry sees the priest is tired to.  (which isn't normal)  The priest hands Henry some packages and in the package was a mosquito netting, Vermouth, and a folder with a newspaper called "The News of the World."  Henry loves knowing the things around the world.  I think its great that the priest would take care of Henry when getting wounded in the war.  Its also great that he takes care of his crew to when they lost one of their own. 

   Through out the chapter the doctor asks him if they can ship him to a American hospital for further treatment.  All the doctors are eager to get people out to get the beds ready for the attack that's about to happen.  The men get so drunk before heading to the American hospital in Milan where Catherine is working at.  Henry sets off for Milan; He's so drunk before heading to the hospital that he vomits all over the floor.  I think its awful that you'd put your body through all that booze when you wounded and all you need is your rest.  Two days later Henry shows up in Milan, two ambulance drivers carry him in to the hospital.(which the two men carrying him cause him a lot of pain).  Henry orders for a lot of things, but can't get the doctors to get it for him.  By the end of the night his nurse Miss. Van Campensends him a glass of eggnog spiked with sherry for a peace offering.  When being at this hospital you cannot drink things that the doctor has prescribed, so the next chapter starts out with the nurse finding the bottle of Vermouth under his bed.  Henry thinks he's going to get into trouble, but instead the nurse wanted to drink too.

   Later that day a barber comes into shave Henry and begins to threaten him rudely thinking he is an Austrian soldier and was close to cutting his throat.  After they leave Catherine shows up and Henry pulls her onto his bed and finally makes love with her.  
  
 Henry meets a new doctor later that day and he begins examining him and taking the shrapnel from his leg, which makes him very exhausted from the operation.  Than the doc sends Henry for x-rays.  Later three doctors show up to conduct on the case.  They agree that six months before have an operation.  Two hours later another doctor shows up, Dr. Valentini.  He is a cheerful, energetic, and competent.  He hands Henry a drink and agrees to perform any operation in the morning. 

  That morning Catherine is cleaning him getting him ready for his operation while she asks, "tell me, how many people have you loved?"  With a reply "nobody."  Catherine spends the night with Henry; Henry is worried that they might get into trouble , but Catherine believes everyone is sleeping.  After the operation Henry gets very sick as he recovers.  While recovering three men come into the hospital sick, two of the men have Malaria and the other was trying to unscrew the fuse cap from an explosive for a souvenir.   (why would you even wanna try to take the time to take the fuse cap off, I would run and get the heck out of there.)

During the summer, Henry learns to walk again but with crutches and can't stop loving Catherine.  They pretend to themselves that they are married but Henry has other things to worry about instead of getting married.