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.