the Titan's Curse

The third installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Titan’s Curse, by Rick Riordan, follows Percy as he hunts for the trapped goddess Artemis, as well as his best friend Annabeth Chase. In the Titan’s Curse many characters try to search for freedom, and escape responsibilities, which sometimes may seem selfish.

                One example of this is Bianca di Angelo, a young girl brought into the world from another time period. Bianca is a sweet young girl, who has spent her life caring for her younger brother Nico, a task that has become a burden to her. While Bianca loves Nico, it is hard for her to continually protect him because it restricts her from having her own life. When Bianca is offered a spot in the elite group, the Hunters of Artemis, she gleefully accepts, leaving her brother and responsibilities behind. “I wanted my own life and friends. I love Nico- don’t get me wrong- I just needed to find out what it would be like not to be a big sister 24 hours a day”. While I know she is doing this for her own good, something I greatly admire, it strikes me as selfish. She really hurts Nico when she leaves him behind, and doesn’t leave much of an explanation as to why. By escaping her responsibilities she shows a more selfish side of her, which eventually eats her up with guilt and, SPOILER ALERT, (if you haven’t already read the book, which I highly doubt, because it’s one of the most awesome series ever!!!) she dies trying to rectify her guilt.

                An example of a good cause to escape responsibilities is Thalia. Thalia is the daughter of Zeus, and being fifteen, almost sixteen, the Great Prophecy could very well be about her. However, Thalia doesn’t want that responsibility on her shoulders, because she’s afraid she could go rogue and turn on the gods if such power were to be put in her hands. Thalia instead, lets the prophecy fall on her close friend, and main character of the book, Percy. “I will not turn sixteen tomorrow. I will never turn sixteen. I won’t let this prophecy be mine.” While I think this is a very brave and sensible thing to do, I think she does not think about how much this will affect Percy. The prophecy being put on him, puts him in even more danger than he already is, and trust me, it’s A LOT. By basically giving up the prophecy and dumping the problem on Percy, Thalia forces something major and life altering on him. (And yes, I realize this was just a clever plot decoy to get Thalia out of the way. Smart one, Mr. Riordan. May I call you Rick?) Thalia shows that she can escape responsibility by pinning it on someone else.

                In the Titan’s Curse, characters desperately try to find their destiny, pushing away the responsibilities destiny may carry. Sometimes, like in Bianca’s case, it can be a bit selfish. Or like Thalia, it’s a noble cause, but it still does not bode well for someone else. Both ways, responsibilities are escaped, and there is always a negative side, whether it’s for the character who tries to escape them or not. Personally, I think that you should accept responsibility head on, because I find it’s easier to deal with problems when you have fully accepted that they are yours. You shouldn’t escape responsibility but face it head on.

Lillian Cheever, The Fault in Our Stars

Lillian's amazing blog post!

                After skimming through numerous blog posts, I managed to find one exceptionally great. This post was by Lillian Cheever, and I believe it was titled, “The Fault in Our Stars.” Now, a couple months back, I had read The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green as my YA book for the beginning of the year, and had absolutely loved it, so I was interested to see what someone else’s opinions on the book were.

                Lillian’s views on The Fault in Our Stars broadened my mind to idea’s I had thought about, but hadn’t really taken much time to think about. One idea focused on the book inside The Fault in Our Stars, An Imperial Affliction, which focuses on a cancer ridden teen like Hazel, Anna. “Although she never mentions feeling close to Anna, you can tell by the way she talks about the book and its characters that she does feel close to her. Most importantly, you can tell that she does care, mostly about the people around her.” Lillian says that she knows Hazel cares about her friends and family because, “she is so obsessed with figuring out what happens to Anna’s parents after she dies.” I hadn’t thought about it in those terms.  In my mind, they had kind of been two separate things that joined at a different point. An Imperial Affliction, or AIA as it is sometimes known, helped Hazel see that not all cancer kids had to do the typical ‘help me raise funds for cancer research’ thing, but instead could look at cancer in a more sadistic humor the way Hazel did.  I never really viewed it as a way Hazel could feel validation for leaving her family and friends behind. However, Lillian changed my insight on this point, and it made more sense to me afterwards. “She claims she did this because she really likes the book, but I think she made this effort because (since she connected with Anna so deeply) she thinks that figuring out what happens to Anna’s family will tell her what will happen to hers.”

                Another point that Lillian made, was in her conclusion. The whole concept of The Fault in Our Stars centers on what happens after you die, and living life to the fullest. B.A. or before Augustus (her amazing friend who opens her eyes to a whole new way of living life) Hazel tried to distance herself from everyone and everything, so as not to hurt as many people when she “kicks the bucket”. Lillian’s point on this is, “I believe that when you pass, people are glad to have known you, and yes, they will be sad, but it is part of human nature is to miss people or things, without that we would be much more heartless and careless.” While I think this is a valid point, part of me wants to disagree. And it’s the stubborn part that wants to block out feelings. I’m one of those people who are absolutely terrified by death, and when I was eight I watched my Grandpa die. I watch my mom sometimes, still be sad, and this big part of me wishes he hadn’t died just so that she wouldn’t be sad. I see Hazel’s point for secluding yourself so you don’t hurt many others, because I don’t want someone walking around for the rest of their lives with the weight of my death on their shoulders.

                I really enjoyed reading Lillian’s blog post, it helped me expand on my ideas on The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. Rereading this article made me remember how much I loved it, and I think I’d like to reread it again with this new perspective.

Emma by Jane Austen

                The novel Emma, by Jane Austen tells the tale of a young woman, Emma Woodhouse, as she finds her way through maidenhood in the early eighteen hundreds.  Much of this book centers around assumptions, and most of them are quick jump to conclusion moments. All of these showing that while Emma may think she knows everything, she isn’t always right, and her first intuition on the subject may not always be the correct one.

                One of the best examples of this is towards the beginning of the book. Emma befriends a young lady named Harriet. Her parents were never known to her, and she was raised in a boarding school where she was taught to be ladylike. Emma decides to take Harriet under her wing and teach her to be the very example of a proper young woman. Emma wants to first, heighten Harriet’s ways of life, by raising them to the standards of Emma’s. And secondly, the more important part of the plot, find Harriet a suitable husband. Emma settles for Mr. Elton, a man of high standing, though Emma thinks he is not high enough quality to turn down Harriet. Emma invites him over to her abode many days, making sure Harriet spends as much time with Mr. Elton as she can. She pushes Harriet on him so hard, that she does not realize that Mr. Elton does not find Harriet at all an interesting suitor, and instead Mr. Elton tried to pursue Emma.  When Emma realized her mistake she did not blame it on herself, but Mr. Elton for not realizing, “Encouragement! I give you encouragement! Sir, you have been entirely mistaken in supposing it. I have seen you only as the admirer of my friend. In no other light could you have been more to me than a common acquaintance.”

                Emma never seems to really grasp how bad her assumptions hurt not just herself but others as well. When pushing Harriet on Mr. Elton, she pushes Harriet away from another suitor. A kind young man who seems to be very taken with Harriet, and whom Harriet seems to be very fond of herself. But Emma pushes these thoughts away from Harriet, and makes Harriet fixate on a man who will never love her.

                Emma’s quick assumptions not only harm herself, but her friends as well. She hurt Mr. Elton in her rejections, Harriet in Harriet’s rejection as well as the fact that Harriet lost a man that she wanted to marry. Emma’s thoughts of trying to help others blindsides her from people’s true wants. Sometimes seeing things for what you want, and convincing others of it isn’t the right thing to do because it can hurt people in the end. Emma’s selfish wants prevailed in this situation, and instead of helping people as she intended, she ended up hurting them.

the Deception of ADHD

            “The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder” by Alan Schwartz exposes the use of media and advertisements to sell products, and promote disorders to get more money.

Kids with A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. were once known as disruptive kids in the classroom, and were often punished for their disorder, but fifty years later teachers are extremely excepting of the once called ‘problem’ children, and instead help attend to their needs. And teacher’s attitudes aren’t the only thing that has improved; medicine to help the neurological problem has become more advanced as well. Pills such as Concerta and Adderall are commonly given to children to temper the traits of A.D.H.D.

Although the awareness of A.D.H.D has gone up, scientists aren’t as ecstatic as they should be, tests from the Center for Disease Control, or CDC, show that patients diagnosed with A.D.H.D. “had been made in 15 percent of high school-age children, and that the number of children on medication for the disorder had soared to 3.5 million from 600,000 in 1990. He questioned the rising rates of diagnosis and called them “a national disaster of dangerous proportions.” Dr. Conner’s, of Duke University added, “The numbers make it look like an epidemic. Well it’s not. It’s preposterous. This is a concoction to justify the giving of medication and unjustifiable levels.”

The rise of A.D.H.D. and prescription drugs have risen as doctors and pharmaceutical companies promote pills to parents, kids, and their educators. Companies use normal childlike behavior, such as carelessness, impatience, etc. to diagnose unwitting children.

This is a perfect example of America exploiting innocent people just for profit. This is similar to smoking e-cigarettes, in the sense that companies say it’s what’s needed or good for you but that’s just a cover up. E-cigarettes may be better than cigarettes but they’re still bad for you. It’s the same way with A.D.H.D advertisers. They tell you that you have it because of symptoms most restless children have at a young age, convince you to get their product, and continue buying it for a long time –to the rest of your life.

Catching Fire

                In honor of the movie release of Catching Fire I decided to reread one of my favorite series. Specifically the middle book, Catching Fire. After Katniss Everdeen came back from the Hunger Games with fellow victor Peeta, life has changed back in district twelve. For starters she’s living in the Victors Village, instead of the Seam, Gale’s relationship with Katniss has become cold, and there have been reported uprisings in the other Districts. But at least she herself won’t be competing in the games anymore. Wrong. In honor of the 75^th Quarter Quell Katniss, and 23 other tributes from the existing pool of Victors from each district, will be returning to the games to fight to the death. The games aren’t over, they’ve just begun.

          The annual Hunger Games requires 24 tributes, 2 from each of the twelve districts, to fight to the death in a bloody battle. There can only be one victor. And despite all odds not one, but two victors made it home from measly, little District Twelve. And all of this because Katniss held out night lock berries, so that instead of one victor the Capitol would have none.  Her punishment, going back into the games she was promised she wouldn’t have to relive. This is unjust to the other victors, who played the brutal games as they were meant to be played. And because of Katniss they are all back in.

          However the Victors don’t blame Katniss, instead they blame their real punisher, the Capitol. To be more specific, President Snow. “Up and down the row, the victor’s hands begin to join. Some right away, like the morphing’s, or Wiress and Betee. Others unsure but caught up in the demands of those around them, like Brutus and Enobaria. By the time the anthem plays its final strains, all twenty-four of us stand in one unbroken line in what must be the first public show of unity among the districts since the Dark Days.” The unity between the Victors represents the victors unwillingness to go back into the games without a fight.

          Unfortunately they are still forced back to play the games. In one heart wrenching scene, after Katniss has just heard everyone she loves screaming for her in the arena, Johanna Mason speaks out, “They can’t hurt me. I’m not like the rest of you. There’s no one else I love.” This shows that the capitol has ruined all their lives, and they can’t do anything about it. As much as Katniss has made it worse for their lives, they see her act of giving out the berries as hope and rebellion. They put aside their feelings for her, and focus on the main enemy Snow and the capitol.

          Catching Fire is about a nation on the edge of rebellion, finally ready to break through the chains of injustice that have been going on for the past 75 years. The only way to stop the injustice is to rebel and to finally stop the games, the death, and get the nation to a state of peace where everyone is not in a state of poverty. Catching Fire is a perfect example of looking past differences and uniting to stop one injustice.

A Brave New Worl by Alexander Huxley

                The book A Brave New World by Alexander Huxley, is a dystopian novel set in futuristic London. In this future, people are free to live their lives frivolously. From small children, they are sleep conditioned to have certain ideas and fragments of knowledge that teach them to turn away from things that discourage fun and happiness. These include things like books, mending clothes, anything that isn’t seen as ‘enjoyable’. People are instead taught to rely on the government. From very young ages children are trained to have different social class rankings which will follow them throughout life. “And Delta Children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I’m so glad I’m a Beta.” In this futuristic world, people are encouraged to live freely, and be happy all the time. In fact one of the biggest ways they are carried out is through taking Soma tablets, which let you escape to another world for a period of time. These tablets are encouraged to be taken whenever you feel an emotion other than happiness. And lastly, and perhaps one of the biggest problems is the fact that “everyone belongs to everyone else.”

            “Everyone belongs to everyone else,” the motto of our brave, new world, means that people are not tied down to any, one person. People are not supposed to have committed relationships to each other. In our current world, it is frowned upon to be having romantic relations with more than one person, however theirs is the exact opposite. In fact, they are frowned upon if they do not have more than one suitor at a time. One of the main characters, Lenina Crowne, a perfect example of a young woman under the influence of her dystopian society, decides to confide in her best friend Fanny Crowne (of no relation) that she has been ‘having’ Mr. Henry Foster for over four months without anybody else. Due to their conditioning, Lenina is scolded by Fanny, who encourages her to take up somebody else. “But seriously,” Fanny said, “I really do think you ought to be careful. It’s such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man.” “And after all,” Fanny’s tone was coaxing, “it’s not as though there were anything painful or disagreeable about having one or two men besides Henry. And seeing that you ought to be a little more promiscuous…”

            I think that it’s nice that people can live more freely, and without worry in this world. However, I believe that their ideas, and especially their motto, “everyone belongs to everyone else,” have a negative effect. Men and women end up being treated like meat. The idea of ‘having people’, just the word having sounds wrong, and goes against every idea that we believe in nowadays. Lenina Crowne?” said Henry Foster, echoing the Assistant Predestination’s question as he zipped up his trousers. “Oh, she’s a splendid girl. Wonderfully pneumatic. I’m surprised you haven’t had her.” “I can’t think how it is I haven’t’,” said the Assistant Predestinator. “I certainly will. At the first opportunity.” From his place on the opposite side of the changing room aisle, Bernard Marx overheard what they were saying and turned pale.” The men, Henry Foster and the Assistant Predestinater talk about women, specifically Lenina, in a degrading way, all because society has trained them to do so. They refer to sleeping with one another as ‘having’ each other, the way you would a piece of meat, or cheese. When you say things like ‘try her’ like they’re sampling something not sleeping with a person, it sets back evolution, and promotes sexism.

            Overall, I think the themes in this book are interesting, and I am interested to see how they affect the rest of the book. I think that because there are ‘no strings attached’ it deprives you of a closeness you get in a real relationship. In modern times, people strive to find a person to whom they can feel a close bond to, and I believe that because people living in this new word don’t even know that this idea of ‘love’ exists, they can never have a chance to feel it. I know that these people don’t miss it, they’ve never felt it, but I think that’s what makes humans, human. Their ability to have emotions and wants. When you take soma, or you are trained against feeling that closeness with someone else, it takes away part of being human.

The Debate Over YA Fiction

Once again, the freedom to read whatever you want has been challenged. This time, in the form of YA Fiction. YA Fiction (or young adult fiction) has more recently ventured into rather gruesome territory. These topics include, but are not limited to abuse, drugs, sex, and teen suicide. For some parents, teachers, and other well concerned citizens, these types of books should not be accessible to their young readers. Solutions such as banning books, and adding age limits have been suggested. However children deserve to choose the books they read because as human beings they have the right to make their own decisions. Young Adult readers should continue to choose books that are being challenged.

                We raise kids to believe in fairy tales, that there are always happy endings, and princes coming to the rescue. We raise kids to believe that at the end of the day, the glass slipper is going to fit. But the reality is there isn’t always a happy ending. There are poison apples in the world. Life is much more complicated; it’s got plot twists and turns, and bumps in the road. At some point, we have to wake up our kids, and slap them in the face with reality. The question is how do you show them the dangers without overexposing them? By handing them a novel, they can learn important life lessons in a controlled environment. In the article Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings? by Husna Haq, Patrick Ness says, quote, “If you’re not addressing it in your Fiction, they you’re abandoning them to face it themselves.” Now, you could definitely argue that some of these books are far too traumatizing. Books like Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler are far too graphic, and inappropriate for young teens. These books are traumatizing and by reading about this they might become more afraid then when they started out. And what’s more, some of these books don’t even depict a true version of real life. Except that part of educating your kids is talking to them discussing what they read, and listening to their opinions on whether or not they can handle it. And now that kids know problems such as self-abuse (cutting, etc.) exists they’re a bit more educated, even if your child can’t handle it, they know what’s out there. The first step is to stop sheltering, and to start educating. As Mary Elizabeth Williams says in the article Has Young Adult Fiction Become too Dark? “Darkness isn’t the enemy, but ignorance always is.”

                Then, there are the readers who’ve already been exposed to these topics, and deserve to continue to have access to these books. In fact, most readers know about real world issues at the Young Adult reading age. Books featuring darker subjects can help readers who have experienced drug use, rape, abuse, etc. cope. Books addressing pressing issues can show people that they are not alone, and that there are others out there who’ve dealt with the same problems. It can give them hope, and show that they can overcome their issues. However, for teenagers who’ve read these books that are meant to inspire, it could be too close to home. “I’d finished reading and immediately reached for my blade,” said Jess, a teenager and recovering cutter. After reading powerful books, with powerful messages, fragile people could get the wrong ideas and restart into depression states. (The Sick-lit Books Aimed At Children: It’s a Disturbing Phenomenon. Tales of Cancer, Self-Harm and Suicide by Tanith Carey) However, author Sherman Alexie, writer of The Abusolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian wrote, “I have yet to receive a letter from a child somehow debilitated by the domestic violence, drug abuse, racism, poverty, sexuality, and murder contained in my book. To the contrary, kids as young as ten have sent me autobiographical letters written in crayon, complete with drawing ispired by my book, that are just as dark, terrifying, and redemptive as anything I’ve ever read. It’s too late to protect children, the best we can do is give them verbal weapons and hope they can battle their monsters on their own.

                After we give children the knowledge and power to deal with these topics, it is left up to the teens reading YA books to be mature enough to hand dark topics. Teenagers know what they want to read. “They know what they can read and they know what they want to read, and if you don’t give it to them, they’ll find it somehow.” (Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings, Husna Haq, paragraph 11.) Kids know better than to be so heavily influenced by what they read. And to those who still think teenagers are not mature enough, think about this: by eighteen kids can vote, drive, and even go to war. If they can do things that adults do, why not pick out their own books? (Why the Best Books are Written in Blood, Sherman Alexie) As one teen said in the article Has Young Adult Fiction Become too Dark? “they’re called Young Adult. Adult.” Perhaps it isn’t that they aren’t mature, it’s that parents aren’t ready to accept their maturity and adulthood.

                Teenagers should not have their book selection be limited because someone else decides it’s subject matter is too dark. Children deserve to be educated about what goes on in the world around them, they also should use these books as inspiration to get better in their lives, should they need the motivation. And finally, yes teenagers are mature enough to pick out their own books. And if parents still feel uncomfortable letting their kids read about issues, than have a conversation about the books they’re reading.