Dearly Beloved.

Beloved is one of the more confusing novels I've read. I can understand how it's won the Pulitzer Prize, which is only given to American authors. It's so complex that the people should feel pride if they completely understand it after reading it once. One of the biggest mysteries that I discovered was that it's also a supernatural fiction novel. Yes, I'm sure we discussed this in class at some point, but I don't remember recall that, and so, it took me a decent amount of thinking to realize that this is also a mildly supernatural novel. I even wrote a reading journal about how Sethe should have discovered that Beloved is clearly an illusion. There's no way she's real, because she's supposed to be dead! And now...almost 24 hours later, I realize that I'm totally wrong. I feel sheepish.













But really, I'm not sure how I feel about Beloved. It might be that it's so confusing, that it's confused me on how I feel about it.

Secrets secrets are no fun...

Today in zero hour, we watched a video about this man who had a website dedicated to people mailing in secrets that they were keeping. They were kept anonymous obviously, so no one would be offended. They weren't all bad secrets, there were actually some pretty funny ones. One that we saw, was sent in on half of a Starbucks cup. It read: When customers are rude to me, I give them decaf. I may never know who that person has, but they have my undying respect.
But what really made me think was how people were unafraid to send them to this website.Sure, no one will find out that you sent it in, but you'll  know. And from my experience, knowing I did something that I probably shouldn't have is worse than someone else knowing. If you break something cheap, people might say, "Oh, just forget about it." But if you broke it, ran for it, and got away, then only you know what happened. I don't know about other people, but I get this feeling of guilt, that I should've stayed and apologized. Basically, I shouldn't have run away. So, when I'm telling someone a secret, I feel like I shouldn't have. They trusted me, and I'm just holding it out for the world to see. Alternatively, they could be exposing their own secrets instead of other people's, but I think most people would find that too personal to do.

All-State Orchestra and College

Perhaps one of the most exciting events of the school year for me, All-State Orchestra is a mash of music and friends, two of my favorite things. Practically three days of fun and sound, All-State has always been a fun learning experience for me. It has been difficult, but that's just part of the challenge. My excitement is somewhat larger than when I first auditioned successfully for All-State. After all, last year, I failed to make it. Since it's going to be my last time, I know I'll greatly miss attending this event.

Anyways, in my quest to go to college, I've had a fair amount of interview, and being completely honest, I've come to enjoy them. They're intimidiating at first, but I always end up relaxing after introductions are made,, probably because I intensely dislike introductions. I think they are stilted and stiff, but I suppose that's the nature of the interviews.

First Independent Reading Book

One the most interesting books I've read this year, Dune's an interesting mix of science fiction and religion. Of course it's not a real religion (Judaism, Christianity etc.). Dune concentrates on how most religions began, with a single person/idea. A boy named Paul (which I think is a really generic name) ends up becoming some sort of prophet for an entire universe. The Dune storyline doesn't end there, but this book is something like a prequel. What I really enjoy about this book is how it sucked me in. And that it's based off things that sound plausible (as long as you don't think too hard about them). But the story is a very powerful one. Although it does follow a commercial fiction story, there are surprises that break away from the trend. Most commercial fiction stories involve a person who has everything, loses everything, and then manages to get everything back with interest. And yes, that's what happens here, but even at the end, the main characters loses some things. For example, most endings have the hero living with their romantic partner (if they get one) for the rest of their lives. Dune? He has to marry a stranger in order to preserve order. Dune is just a book I would recommend for everyone. You might not like science fiction, or even plain fiction, but at least give this book a try.

The end of The Road

It's been a long road, fighting off bad guys, starvation, and disease. And now the boy and man have finished their journey.All this time, I've been saying that The Road  is a terribly dull novel, and isn't worth reading. I take back about half of everything bad I've said about it. I find most of the novel to be rather uninteresting, but the last little part of this story makes it worth reading entirely. The sheer sadness from the man's passing is touching. I Yeah, so that sounds a little strange, but what I'm trying to say is that the death of the man was so touching that people should read it. It's probably more than a little morbid, but I think it's an unexplainable part of human nature. The analogy I can think of is bad, but it might help explain how I feel about reading The Road's final section. Baseball games, football games, and basketball games are all a part of American society. Practically everyone watches at least one of these, and if not, they watch something else, like tennis or swimming. But when you watch them, people aren't really doing anything. Actually, they're probably eating unhealthy foods and creating a mess (sadly, I'm guilty of this). But if someone were to ask why, the most probably answer would be something like "just because" or "it's something you do". The reason why I think people should read The Road, or at least the ending, is exactly that. Because everyone should.

And...today in class, I checked the wrong box by accident. I said I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I'd like to take that back.

Fire

The Road's world has strong ties to fire. Modern society was completely destroyed by fire, and it is often used in the new world to hurt other people or in a terrible way. Take the Blood Cults, they often use fire to cook their meat, generally the flesh of other human beings. Or, people use to destroy buildings, homes, etc etc.. But for the man and boy, fire is something totally different.Fire serves as a protector; it keeps them warm, kills poison and whatnot that's in the canned food they heat, and at night, often helps keep the boy from becoming too scared.

But fire also is something different for the duo. The man often tells the boy that they're "carrying the fire." And from what I can see, they really are. Greek myth says that Prometheus carried fire down from Mt. Olympus and gave it to mankind. And then he got punished blah blah blah. That's not the important part. In a way, that's what the man and boy are doing in The Road. They're carrying a metaphorical fire. They're carrying hope (or basically any other positive feeling). The two are the only "good" people that are present in the story.

The Road

The Road is completely about the man and his son, and how they are always walking down a road. While the act of walking down a road may be mildly dull, there are dark ideas that really make a person think. Look at the man's love for his son. He can be seen as one of the best fathers in the world: gives his son everything, protects him, and looks out for him. No matter what, the man's priority is always his son. He ended up shooting a person because he threatened his son, and he abandoned another child because the man knew he couldn't look after two kids.
At the same time though, his love is slightly obsessive. The man frequently thinks about how the boy is the only thing in his life that keeps him going. The boy even asks his father what he would do if the boy died, and the constant reply is he'd die too. They even have a plan worked out. The gun is intended to allow a quick end in case the pair ever gives up. Whenever the man has to leave the boy behind, he gives him the gun with the words "You know what to do." Aka. Avoid being captured by the bad guys. The man may not want to leave his son to be left behind. There might not be much to live for, but society can always rebuild, and with so few people left on Earth, every single person becomes important.