The Giver

For Jonas in The Giver, the extreme control that the leaders of his community have taken begins to feel stifling when he starts to receive the memories of life before the "sameness" was created. The leaders of the community, in an effort to protect their people from the negative and harmful aspects of life, created a completely controlled and non-varying society. Though Jonas sees both the positive things about the old way of life such as color, music and love and the negative things like pain and war (that were the aspects of life that caused the leaders to make their community the way it was) Jonas decides that the good outweighs the bad and his way of life needs to change.

For that reason he leaves the community and allows all of his memories of the old world out into his community so that everyone is forced to deal with them instead of being shielded from them. Jonas escapes his controlling world and finds his way finally, by way of sled, to a world that resembles our modern society. In a very bildungsroman fashion, Jonas breaks out of his shell of protection and chooses to become an individual. The dystopian society in which Jonas dwelt shows this concept on a grander scale because it shows an entire community that is shielded or protected or controlled that has the potential to become independent. The young adult literature genre is a perfect place for this type of story because adolescents are very concerned with the gaining of independence. This type of story allows them to experience this while also making a safe commentary about modern society’s possible path.

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese is the first Graphic Novel I've ever read. Actually, I never even got into comic books so it was really my first experience with this style of writing. Once I figured out which order to read the blocks (which was constantly changing) I was fine.

I really enjoyed the story. The three narratives were very interesting as separate entities but were made even more interesting when they came together as a kind of modern mythological tale. By the end, the characters and the reader have gotten a moral lesson from the story. I liked the blending of the "ancient" Chinese Monkey King myth with the modern struggle to fit in in the American society. It shows how these old stories and old ideas are still relevant today. The comic medium itself also helps to give the story a modern feel as it is a rather modern style.

The look of the book really helped it. It was colorful and straightforward. It made it a visual joy to look at and the constant shifting of the blocks kept it from getting mundane.

The character Chin-kee was probably the most interesting character because of the exaggerated stereotypical aspects of him. This makes him a rather controversial character. I just thought he was funny. But when we find out that he is the Monkey King who had struggled for so long with his identity it makes his lesson to Danny (Jin) so much more powerful.

Feed

M.T. Anderson's Feed took me a while to get into but once I did it really got me emotionally involved. At first, the exaggerated teenage slang turned me off to the book but I eventually got used to it and soon it was just funny hearing about how "meg cool" things were instead of being kind of annoying.

It was a very interesting look at the possible, perhaps even probable, outcome of human's actions on earth. Anderson takes some very current mindsets and situations, both socially and politically, and shows a futuristic outcome that seems to lead to the end of human civilization. The actions of the U.S. for instance, around the world but especially now in Iraq are very poignant in this story. Many people believe that the country is doing things that are wrong for their own self interest and not paying attention to the fact that the rest of the world can't stand us. At one point in the book, the U.N type international group chastises America and the government responds by throwing back an obviously weightless threat full of "ummms" and "ahhhhhs." In this case, even the public faces of the government have stopped trying to at least look like they know what they are doing and have things under control. Another political thing that caught me was the fact that some countries had closed their boarders to Americans. I think that this is a very strong possibility. I did some traveling in the middle east and going across borders with an American passport was not very comfortable, I was obviously not liked or wanted in some places. Even in Egypt, I had a little bit of a hard time. Though that may have been because I had traveled in Israel. These political elements seemed to be a comment on the nation's actions today put in a safer medium and hidden by the fantastical futuristic elements.

The social and commercial elements are at the heart of the story however. The "feed" that is connected to most people's brains exaggerates our current dependency on commercial products. Some aspects are humorous in the book like the fact that clouds and school are the property of companies and have to have the trademark symbol after them. But other aspects are not really funny at all. Companies have direct links to your brain. They can see what you want, what you have, what you have spent, what you have not spent, etc... In this world our privacy has been voluntarily given up for the ease of shopping. There are other things the feed does like allow you to look things up and basically always have an encyclopedia in your head but even this seems to have negative effects. People no longer have the need to think, they can just look things up whenever they want. The people in the story, consequently, don't ever think about things and when they are met with opportunities to, they shun them because it is too difficult. Even most of the parents do this.

Like the political commentary, this acts as a social commentary about today. Companies and their marketing are gaining more and more influence in our lives. People are very much moved by what is valued or not valued in the marketplace. For instance, everyone has to have an Ipod, but they are one of the worst mp3 players out there. But I have one too. Brand name clothes and products of that nature hold so much sway and actually create what is fashionable and what is not. This way fashion is always changing and people are always buying. This is seen in an extreme way in the story when styles change literally every week.

The powerful effect of the control the companies have taken is really seen when the characters don't even seem bothered that the feeds have created lesions on their bodies. They allow even their health to be forfeited for the ability to be hooked up to the market. The TV stars start getting lesions, so they became in fashion and cool. Its crazy to a reader now, but I'm not sure that it's that far fetched. We get our ideas of fashion and "cool" from some pretty strange places. Baggy pants for instance, comes straight from prison as if thats a "cool" place.


The heartlessness of the companies is shown when Violet is denied financial aid to repair her feed. The feed that the company put in her brain is killing her and nobody will help her. Its amazing to think about but how many times are people denied healthcare? Again, it may not be that far fetched.

To get away from the commentary on modern society I want to talk a little about the emotional relationship between Titus and Violet. I was tremendously moved by the book when Titus began separating himself from Violet. Anderson wrote the emotions really powerfully. So powerfully in fact that while reading that section I began to feel a separation between my fiance and I; even though nothing was wrong. Violet's desperation to have someone to share her last days alive with and Titus' struggle to separate himself from emotions that he found impossible to deal with was very powerful. These emotions are hard for anyone, even today, but in a world where nobody is expected to deal with these issues and nobody gets any sympathy it becomes unbearable. I had to sympathize with Titus even while I was terribly angry at him for not being there for Violet. In a similar situation as Violet's, I could see myself pulling away from people and not wanting them to be burdened but Violet went all out to have someone to share her life with. This pulled me both ways, of course she craves human connection but it is a lot to ask of a person. To fall in love with someone that is going to die. A lot to ask.

Monster

Walter Dean Myers' YA novel Monster is a great story about a young man on trial for being an accomplice to a robbery that resulted in the death of a store clerk. What is most interesting is that the narrator writes the story as a screenplay in script form. I haven't had a lot of experience reading scripts so I was unsure about the style at first but it ended up being a very vivid way to experience the story.

The style made the story read easily and quickly. It was, of course, heavy on the dialogue which made the story really intense (like a movie). The stage and camera directions also made the images come alive. It helped me, as the reader, to really visualize the story. I could see the jail cell and hear the prisoners crying at night, and I could sense the tension and suspense in the court room.

It would be interesting to see this adapted for the screen, not much work would have to be done. But, the courtroom drama has been overdone and the title Monster has been taken by that crazy movie that destroyed my idea of Charlize Theron.

The ending, like a movie, was happy which added to the effect of the script but the part that was really interesting was the reaction of the lawyer O'brien at the end of the trial. Steve moves to hug her and she grabs her stuff and leaves. Throughout the story it us unclear what she thinks about Steve. She never says that she believes him and this action at the end makes me think that she might be upset about the outcome. Or, perhaps she just tries to keep an emotional distance from her cases and therefore doesn't want to hug her client. I often wonder how defense lawyers deal with these kind of cases. Do they know when their clients are guilty and defend them anyway? It's certainly a moral issue that I wouldn't want to deal with.

Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this book.

Ender's Game

One of the most interesting elements of Ender's Game is its treatment of children as opposed to adults. In the study of children's and adolescent literature we begin with a time when the child sphere of existence as we view it today didnt really exist. Children were seen merely as small versions of adults with no other seperating attributes. For this reason, they were not treated differently than adults and were not catered to in literature seperately than adults.

Ender's Game, in many ways, harkens back to that mindset. Children are expected to handle many challenges, both physical and emotional, that would be considered difficult even for adults in today's society. The "games" that the students at the battle school partake in become so serious that they are not really games at all. On an intellectual level, children in the story are expected to perform at an even higher level than adults.

At the same time, children are not nurtured at all by the adults in this story. Indeed, the opposite is true. Ender is specifically and purposefull kept from any kind of nurturing behavior from adults so that he may learn to wholly and completely rely on himself. The idea of self reliance is a common element of YA but in Ender's Game, it is taken to the extreme.

The children are also capable of evil acts, as we see most clearly in Peter, but also in Bonzo and even in Ender. The Romanticized innocent little angel is nowhere to be found in Ender's world. Children are not innocent, they are not protected by adults and they are not treated any differently than adults.

Keesha's House

Keesha's House gives a very interesting perspective into some issues that young people face. I think that it works to give adult readers an insight into the thoughts and emotions of young people that might otherwise be overlooked as hoodlums. At the same time, when it switches to the adult's perspectives, it gives young readers a look at adults and their feelings about kids. These aspects allow the two sides to perhaps hear something that they wouldn't say or hear in other circumstances.

I think casting the home owner Joe as a male character is also interesting. A man letting a bunch of teenage girls live in his home could certainly be interpreted less than innocently. But Joe is completely noble in his desire to help these kids and he stands in stark contrast to most of the other adult male characters in the story. There is Keesha's drunk of a father, Harris' homophobic bigot father, and one of the other father's, whose name I can't remember right now, is in jail. So, getting a positive male role model in the form of Joe becomes a very powerful tool in this story. Especially since males are not generally the more nourishing sex. I suppose that what Joe does isn't necessarily nourishing, it could be seen more as protection and providing, which would be his sex's socially excepted role. Hmmmm.

Keesha, on the other hand, functions as the opposite of most the adult female characters who are weak, with the exception perhaps, of Laura (Stephie's mother). Keesha decides that she will be strong and find a way to survive. She finds Joe's house and declares that she won't let anyone else decide what happens with her body. Meanwhile, the adult female characters allow their husbands to abuse their children or stand by while their husband disowns a child because he is gay. Again, as in the other books discussed here, the parents in this story are terrible adult and parental role models.

The way the characters all connect by the end is made interesting by the poetic style that Frost utilizes. The characters start using the last line of the previous poem to begin their poem. This, obviously, illustrates how the issues that each one of the characters are facing connects them. Knowing that other people are going through similar things can give them some comfort and even help them realize that there are ways for things to get better. Besides this aspect however, the poetic form of the story didn't add much for me. Hearing the individual voices added to the characterization but the story didn't need poetry to do that necessarily.

The Chocolate War

I just finished reading Cormier's The Chocolate War and I'm more than a little frustrated. Jerry Renault is all set up to "disturb the universe" and rebel against his injust and oppresive private catholic school (in four posts I have already had to attack catholics twice mind you) but, instead, he just takes an ass whoopin and says "I should have sold the damn chocolates." (In not so many words, or maybe a few more).

This is such a morbid look at adolescent males. None of them have any emotional connections, they all beat off in the bathroom, and almost all of them are sadistic, evil bastards. If this is a realistic look at the world then life sucks. At least Jerry could have continued to rebel and leave us with some sense of justice beyond what Brother Jaques may or may not do to Archie. And on that note, who thought Archie would pick the damn white marble? Raise your hand. Give us something Cormier.

And there is no way that any school would let the students have a private "pep rally" on the football field.

The mob mentality of the students really got me too. These people are so sick that nobody tries to stop what is happening? And what the hell was Goober doing just sitting there too afraid to act? I wanted to reach in the book and give a virtual back-hand to that guy. I guess I just have an overwhelming sense of depression stemming from this book. I think I'm gonna sit in my room with the latest Hawthorne Heights album and slit my wrists with an unwound paper clip.

An interesting similarity between this story and Speak (to change the subject) are the parents. They are completely unable to connect with their children on any emotional level. What is YA trying to say by having all these types of parents? Have they really lost all ability to love and care for their children? Certainly the institution of the family has been cracked and all but destroyed in these books. There is no caring base of "home" where the adolescent can feel safe. Instead they are emotionally void places where the main characters only find more hostility. Certainly, there is a change in the family dynamics in this age but how drastic is it? It seems very drastic in these books and all around as well, even in the 70's when The Chocolate War was written.

Kids these days...

Speak: Mel's web of seclusion

In Speak, Melinda creates an extremely vast and complicated web of seclusion. She keeps her self alienated from everyone in many ways that I think even she is not aware of.

I found it interesting in that Mel closes herself off to all but the most superficial of people.

Her friend Heather I suppose is a "safe" choice for a friend because she is too shallow to pry into anything deeper than Mel's surface. With her, Mel won't have to worry about the subject of her rape or her behavior coming up and forcing her to confront it.

I think Mel uses her stereotypical nicknames for people to keep her relationships with under control as well. She may have to converse and relate to teachers but instead she diminishes them to the status of exaggerated body parts. (Mr. Neck, Hairwoman, etc...) In this way she keeps her teachers at a safe distance. She never takes them seriously for who they are or what she might gain from them. In a way, she really dehuminizes them so that she won't feel pressure to relate to them in any uncomfortable or emotional way.

This is really an amazing and powerfully complex system that Mel has come up with to shield her from dealing with her rape and the issues that stemmed from it. Anderson has really tapped into it and layered it so heavily that it becomes very poignant and powerful. So, when Mel finally comes out of it and defends herself (and "speaks") it becomes even more powerful and emotional for the reader.

In the intereview at the end of the Platinum Edition of the novel Anderson says: "I don't send messages. I try to tell good stories."

I wonder if she was completely aware of the levels of complexity that she was creating when she was writing this novel.

I always get a kick out of Religious controversy, so when I heard about the Christian attacks on Phillip Pulman's His Dark Materials trilogy sparked by the new movie I went out and bought the trilogy. I have to laugh at interest groups like these that make a big stink about things which in turn, ends up publicizing them even more. I, for one, had never heard of the books before I heard about the controversy but now I'm a fan. It seems that any publicity truly is good publicity. Perhaps if these interest groups shut their damn mouths about things fewer people would hear about them and movies like The Golden Compass would drift off into obscurity.

Anyway, this is what they are saying:

"These books denigrate Christianity, thrash the Catholic Church and sell the virtues of atheism," said Bill Donohue, president and CEO of the Catholic League.
This is from a Foxnews.com article By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

While the books certainly do attack established Christianity as an establishment. Many of the points of the book require a profound belief in God and in the stories of the Bible. lord Asriel's war against "The Authority," for instance, is a continuation of war that Satan began against Heaven. Though the idea of overthrowing Heaven is certainly controversial, it cannot be called "atheist" as it assumes the truth of the original biblical story.

The book also upholds many "Christian" values and only attacks the aspects of the church that Pulman finds controlling and contradictory. Lyra learns to be honest and keep promises when she vows not to ask the Alethiometer specific questions about Will. And the big "Love" value becomes the central theme of the story by the end as it is Lyra and Will's love that stops the Dust from flowing out of the world. He attacks however, the church's role in censoring "heretical" ideas and discoveries and their use of torture to accomplish that task. Both of which are things the Catholic Church did by the way.

Let me know what you think!

Isn't this an awesome picture?

Also the Prince Caspain movie looks just about as bad ass as Disney could make it!