Romeo and Julliet

Friar Lawrence was trying to convince himself that Romeo and Juliet were truly in love.  He believed that their love would bring peace to The Capulets and The Montagues, thus bringing peace to Verona.  He thought that marrying the two may not be a moral act, in it of itself, it was for the greater good.  In summation, the ends justified the means.  Despite himself Friar Lawrence compromised his morality for the sake of others.

In 2.3.65-67 Friar Lawrence exclaims, “Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken?”  This is showing the ambivalence he has in marrying Romeo and Juliet.  He is not sure whether or not he is doing the right thing.  His comment about Romeo’s ex-lover, Rosaline, may have been to try and convince Romeo not to marry Juliet.  He does not want to be directly responsible for the decision he makes.

I believe that Friar Lawrence made the right decision by marrying Romeo and Juliet.  First off, it would help many people affected by the long running feud.  Secondly, he does not have the right to judge people on whether or not they are in love.  This is something that only the two lovers can know.  Friar Lawrence made the morally correct decision to perform the marriage.

Zeitoun

Isaac King 803

My book, Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, involved many social action themes.  Zeitoun is the true story of a man, Zeitoun, who stayed behind when Katrina hit New Orleans.  He put his canoe in his yard just in case the water got high enough.  When the levees broke he realized his potential to save lives.  The next day he went out in his canoe and saved many lives. Later on, he found friends who had also stayed through the storm.  Together his band of four went around saving dozens of lives.  That is until they were wrongfully imprisoned.  They were arrested for looting and suspected terrorism.  The latter was for the sole reason of their Arabic descent.  “Zeitoun” is a book that exposes the social disaster that occurred in post Katrina New Orleans.

One of the social action themes presented by Dave Eggers was the neglect of the citizens of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  In multiple scenes in the book, Zeitoun and his friends were completely ignored by military vehicles.  This is the reason that they had to take matters into their own hands. Another social action theme is the racially based arrest of Zeitouns group.  They were illegally jailed essentially only for being Arabic.  Zeitoun was in jail for one month, but others in his group were imprisoned for up to 6 months.

Dave Eggers depicts the story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun within social context.  He shows what was wrong with the post Katrina society in New Orleans.  The corrupt and racist nature of the police and the neglect of citizens in peril.  

Ender's Game

Isaac King 803

Symbolism is very prevalent in Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.  For example, Stilson, his initial enemy, was prevalent throughout the story as his enemy.  He was referenced when he got into a fight with his ex commander, Bonzo Madrid.  He was also referenced whenever Ender got into a difficult situation.  Another example, is Peter, his brother.  Peter represents the mental scarring that Ender has experienced throughout.  

  A metaphor that is used in Ender’s Game is General Graff.  General Graff symbolises the family he lost.  He was essentially the father figure that Ender lost.  He represents Peter in the way he abused him.  He also represented Valentine in the way that he cared for him.  

Ender’s Game is chocked full of masterful symbolism and craft.  Ender experienced huge amounts of pain that was depicted through metaphors.  He had multiple father figures that nearly always abandoned him.  He also experienced many enemies.  Orson Scott Card’s craft was worth emulation.

The Khmer Rouge

Isaac King 803

Never Fall Down

While reading “Never Fall Down” by Patricia McCormick written about Arn Chorn-Pond I learned about the genocide in Cambodia caused by the “Khmer Rouge.”  In the book a boy, Arn, goes through countless traumas while living under the reign of the Khmer Rouge.  Khmer Rouge translates to Red Cambodia.  Arn does despicable things in the name of survival and eventually runs away to Thailand and a refugee camp.  From there he is adopted by an American, Peter Pond.  He then went to highschool in New Hampshire.  Arn’s story is one of pain, misery, and against all likelihood survival.

The Khmer Rouge were a revolutionary party in Cambodia that ruled from 1965-1969.  When they invaded Arn was only 11 years old.  He was separated from his family and forced to do hard labor in rice fields, until he was given the opportunity to play in a band for the Khmer Rouge.  He jumped at the chance for salvation.    Arn, who didn’t actually know how to play any instrument, was given one week to learn to play the flute expertly.  He did this with the help of an “old man,” as  described by the book.  This man quickly became a father figure to Arn.  Sadly, he was killed immediately after Arn learned to play. Arn, being very resourceful, jumped at any chance to entertain the Khmer Rouge.

I feel that the fact that this young boy had to worry about his survival is despicable.  The Khmer Rouge, who are often compared to the Nazi party who were responsible for 12,000,000 deaths in World War Two, were a regime that traumatized an entire generation of Cambodians.  Before reading this book I had never heard mention of the Khmer Rouge.  This is disgusting as they must be recognized for the sake of all the people killed or hurt by them.  Just because this was not on a global scale does not mean it does not deserve recognition.

Communism

Isaac King 803

Post Communist States

The Berlin Wall fell but happiness did not rise.  My article, “The Legacy of Fear” by David Brooks, he talks about post communist states.  He shows how badly most of them have done.  He also shows that most of these countries were expected to come back to what they had been.  Communism left a lasting negative mark on every communist country.  

In, “The Legacy of Fear”, David Brooks states, “In the bottom group are

basket-case nations that haven’t even recovered the level of real income they had in

1990, as measured by real G.D.P. per capita.”  This shows how dramatic this was.  The

author also mentions that “To put it another way, only 10 percent of the people living in

post-communist nations are living in a place that successfully made the transition to

capitalism. Ninety percent are living under failed transitions of one sort or another.”

This really proves that communism is an awful thing that leaves an awful mark.

I believe that The United States must help out these countries.  While we do not

believe in communism we should celebrate their removal of it from their countries. We

also think of them as people.  People that desperately need our help.  In summation, communism is wrecking countries in its wake but we must help them.

MCG

Isaac King 803

MCG

In the article “Darkness Too Visible” by Megan Cox Gurdon, MCG wants the reader to know how drastically dark and disturbing young adult literature has become.  This is important for parents understand as it may be worthy of strong consideration into what books teens can and can’t read.  It shows that these books may negatively affect teens.  It also gives points from the other side of the argument that it may actually positively affect teens.  It offers many strong ideas as to why these books are too dark.

The author wants the reader to feel as though these books are overly sullen.  She really portrays this by using the word “dark” three times in one paragraph.  This really shows how absolutely serious she is.  Almost as serious as the books themselves.  MCG really sobers the reader up by using powerful vocabulary.

I personally strongly disagree with her.  I feel that teens should get to choose what they want to read and are ready to.  Nobody knows what a free thinking individual is ready for except them as no one can read minds.  The idea that teenagers cannot pick books for themselves is ridiculous.  There is a paradigm set up that kids from age 13-18 can handle enormous amounts of stress yet still can’t decide what they can and can’t read and frankly that is crazy.  The idea of censoring books for teens is obscenely awful and repulses me.  

Summer Reading; Slaughter House 5

        My favorite book that I read this summer is "Slaughter House 5" by Kurt Vonnegut.  I thought it was extremely clever and interesting.  It's the story of a man, Billy Pilgrim, who was abducted by aliens then came "unstuck in time" and his experiences .  The majority of these take place in Dresden, Germany during WW2.  Dresden was destroyed by a fire storm as a result of British and American bombing.         

        One thing I really enjoyed in the book was the Tralfamadorians, the fictional aliens mentioned in the book, idea of time.  Their idea is that all time happens constantly and that you can only focus on the good times.  For example, if somebody died one could focus on that they are still alive in many moments despite being dead in one.  Speaking of death I also really appreciated Vonnegut's idea of death.  Death to him is just "a violet color and a slight humming noise" they also mentioned that no one is there not even the deceased person.  Overall this was a fantastic book full of humor, insight, and beautiful writing.