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.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

          The book, The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green is about a seventeen year old, cancer ridden teenager named Hazel. Hazel’s life has always had a clear ending to it. But with a new medicine buying her a few extra years Hazel’s chance to live a little bit more. Hazel though, has no point in life, most of her friends have abandoned her, and the friends she does, she distances from so as not to hurt them when the time does come… That is until she begrudgingly goes to one of her stupid support group meetings. Enter Augustus Waters, the most gorgeous, compelling boy Hazel’s ever met. Something about him draws her in, and makes her want to open up. And suddenly, her life is on a roller coaster that only goes up.

          At the first meeting that Augustus goes to, having been dragged there by his friend Isaac, who is blind in one eye, Augustus explains that he had osteosarcoma about a year and a half ago, but for now he’s in remission. Augustus or Gus is asked to share what he fears most to which he replies bluntly oblivion. Oblivion then becomes one of the biggest ideas in the book, the idea of what happens after death, and the mark that you leave on earth.

          When Augustus replies that he fears oblivion, the support group leader, Patrick asks if anyone else can relate to Gus’s fear. To which Hazel, who never raises her hand, says, “There will come a time, when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe this time is coming soon, and maybe its millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was a time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be a time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. Go knows everyone else does.  

          This whole paragraph includes many metaphors and meanings. The second line, “There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything.” This line means that one day Earth will be empty and there will be no record of our existence. The next line is, “no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you.” This sentence means that when the world is empty there will be no record of the important people. And if they don’t even have a record of the significant figures in history, then why would anybody be able to remember you? The rest of the monologue goes on to state that people, events, none of it matter in the end. Life will end; life will go on without you. And nobody dares to pay enough attention because they’re to self-involved or scared to face the reality.

          This quote and the whole idea of oblivion really spoke to me because one of my biggest fears is of death and not being remembered. A month ago, I feared that no one would ever know I felt this way. I mean, my thoughts from 2 minutes ago are gone already, what about a hundred years from now? Reading that quote from The Fault in Our Stars made me feel like somebody understood my fear. I guess that’s good, isn’t it the thing you want? To feel like somebody gets it, to feel like your thoughts have been heard. This quote also made me think that I have to be more than just some nobody that will be forgotten easily. I have to do something memorable, and get my thoughts heard. I’m really glad I read The Fault in Our Stars, on top of it being humorous, and compelling, depressing, and even sometimes gut wrenching, it also made me stop and think for a couple minutes. I mean really think long, and hard.  

the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood by Sherman Alexie

          After reading critic Megan Cox Gurdon’s article on YA Fiction, about how Young Adult Fiction has changed over the years into these dark, disturbing, ghastly pieces filled with rape, drugs, abuse, and self-harm, I was curious to see the reactions of the authors to which she criticized. One author, to whom she went more into depth about, was Sherman Alexie, author of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” Fortunately for me I found a response to Gurdon’s article called “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood,” in which Alexie picks apart Gurdon’s attack using personal experiences of himself as well as those around him.

          Megan Cox Gurdon argues that YA Fiction exposes children to a darkness that they’ve never experienced, and shouldn’t ever read about. Sherman Alexie brings his own personal experience to the table, arguing that most teens are already exposed to these dark topics. “I have yet received 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 drawings inspired by my book, that are just as dark, terrifying, and redemptive as anything I’ve ever read.” To summarize Alexie’s words, children just barely the age of young adult fiction can relate to these mature topics because they themselves have lived through them. Children are exposed to topics that we often don’t want to believe that they know at such a young age, authors with a more personal experience seem to realize this.

          Sherman Alexie notices that the adults in his life, while growing up “wanted to protect me from evil.” He says, quote, they “tried to rescue me.” All adults want is to protect their children from the dangers and cruelness of life for as long as they can. But Alexie argues that a young man who’d he’d met, was destined to become a soldier, by his father’s demands. “He was old enough to die and kill for his country. And old enough to experience the infinite horrors of war. But according to Ms. Gurdon, he might be too young to read a YA novel that vividly portrays these same horrors.” As Americans we have age limits on things like voting, driving, going to war, and yet these young men and women who are at the ages of sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen would be restricted from reading books showing the same horrors they were meant to face. “I don’t write to protect them,” Alexie writes. “ It’s far too late for that.”

          Gurdon writes, that YA novels are written with “depravity and hideously distorted,” portrayals of Young Adult Fiction literature. Alexie also writes about his experience as a teenager living with the abuse he dealt with in his books. Alexie discusses that sometimes the best thing for somebody who is going through the same issues as characters in novels, is to read these books. It’s nice to know that somebody else out there, even if it’s a fictionalized character, understands their pain, and goes through the same things. It makes you feel less alone. “They read because they believe, despite the callow protestations of certain adults, that the books-especially the dark and dangerous ones-will save them.” Books that address serious topics can even inspire kids to help themselves in their own lives. “I read books about monsters and monstrous things, often written with monstrous language, because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.” Gurdon doesn’t understand that sometimes reading can comfort you.

          After reading the battle between Gurdon and her suppression of dark YA books, contrasting with the beliefs of author Sherman Alexie, I decided that it was really up to the person. Often, YA books are going to be very dark, and perhaps too dark for most. And maybe parents will feel uncomfortable, allowing their children to read these books. But there are some kids out there who need these books. “I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.” Some kids need the comfort of knowing others have bled, and picked up the pieces. We need to seek comfort in books, and know things will get better. If you aren’t comfortable with it, don’t read it. But people have a right to know what’s out there. We shouldn’t be banning these books that show the lives of gruesome teens, but embrace the fact that these are real things that happen, and we need to educate and comfort those around us. Children don’t deserve to be sheltered before they’re thrust out into the real world.

 

Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya

Mei Li Francis 807

    

   

 

The story Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People by Yukio Tsuchiya, tells the story of three elephants, Tonky, John, and Wanly who have to be put to death during World War II. In this children’s picture book, the setting has a deeper meaning then it appears.

    The beginning of the story is depicted as a picturesque spring day, at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan. “The cherry blossoms are in full bloom” and, “Their petals are falling in the soft breeze and sparkling in the sun.” I believe that the cherry blossoms play a large part in the story. Towards the start of the story they represent new life after a long winter. Cherry blossoms are like spring itself, so lively and magnificent, still full of innocence.

    As the story progresses, we are introduced to one of the employees at the zoo. The zoo keeper is, “tenderly polishing” the gravestone of three elephants who died during the war. Immediately we are taken into a time of war. It’s a time of depression and so, the setting becomes bleak. “Bombs were dropped on Tokyo every day and night, like falling rain.” I think the bombs are compared to falling rain because while sometimes rain is needed to rehydrate things like plants, it can also be destructive and falling relentlessly.

    As the elephants begin to starve to death, I personally create an imagery of wilting cherry blossoms. The whole story actually begins to wilt as the people start to lose their hope. “The once big, strong elephants had become a sad shape.” This can be compared to a cherry blossom because in the beginning of the story it was in full bloom, full of life, strong. However towards the middle it begins to wilt, the life quickly leaving these poor blossoms. Their once innocent beauty shrinks to a much wiser sadness and despair.

    Finally, as the elephants die, clinging to their cages, we are taken back to the tearful zoo keeper, still polishing the grave stone. The area where the graves are, once described as, “quiet and peaceful, here, and the sun warms every corner,” doesn’t seem as sunny. Instead it seems lonely, gloomy, and empty. “The cherry blossoms fell on the grave, like snowflakes.” I think that this line represents the death of the elephants. The cherry blossoms only fall when they die. And snow represents winter.  Everything dies in the winter months because the frigid air kills everything.

    Overall I think that the setting in Faithful Elephants plays a huge role in the stories conflict and some of its metaphors, like the cherry blossom resonate deeper than just setting.

The Grapes of Wrath Review

Mei Li Francis

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The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

               Over the summer I read the book The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath centers around the Joad family living in Oklahoma in the 1930’s around the time of the Dust Bowl. The Joad’s like many other families living on small farms during the Depression weren’t making any money. This was because in the time of the Dust Bowl, there were lots of severe dust storms that ruined crops, and overtime made the land barren and dry. Finally the bank gives them notice that they will have to move off of the farm their family has owned for generations. And so the Joads take off like hundreds of thousands of other families do, to go to California. They make the long journey to what they’ve heard as of a prosperous state, only to find out that it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. First of all, there aren’t enough jobs for the thousands of families who are in desperate need to feed their families. In fact there are so many people in desperate need of jobs that the displaced Okies agree to work for lower and lower wages; some agree to work only for food. Many end up dying of starvation. They are so poor, angry, and depressed that the native Californians start to think that there will be riots, and that these poor farm folk will overtake them. This leads them to treating the Okies terribly. They try to arrest them for doing nothing, burn their campsites to the ground, and beat people to death. The Joad family has to deal with this and more, as their family is starting to grow bigger. Tom Joad rejoins the family after serving time at McAlister Prison, joining sad Uncle John, the pregnant Rosasharn, her husband Connie.  The family also includes Grandma and Grandpa Joad, Pa Joad, Ma Joad, and the two youngest, Ruthie and Winnfield. But they’re generous people and along the way pick up friends like Reverend Casy, who’s desperate not to be a minister anymore. The Joads have to learn to adjust to this new life in California, and deal with what life hands them.

                While I found this book a bit slow going at first, I also found the writing fascinatingly beautiful.  Steinbeck describes the land in a stunning writing style, making you feel gritty, hot, sweaty, and dry. There is nothing picturesque about this book. He opens the novel with this vivid description, “To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.” He immediately draws you in, and makes you feel as if you are there.

                For the first few chapters, it describes Tom Joad’s journey back to his farm. He’s just been released on parole from prison at McAlister for killing a man accidentally. On the way home he meets a man he once knew, Reverend Casy. Reverend Casy is the preacher who baptized Tom and his father. At one time Reverend Casy was full of the Holy Spirit. Except now, he isn’t quite sure anymore, “there ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do. It’s all part of the same thing. And some of the things folks do is nice, and some ain’t nice, but that’s as far as any man got a right to say.” I think that Reverend Casy’s role in the Grapes of Wrath was to question what was seen as ideal. He may not have been a preacher anymore, but it didn’t stop him from thinking a lot. And mostly what he thought about was that things in California aren’t right. He is one of the men who realize they need to stand up for what they believe in if they want better pay. I think his influence on Tom is especially strong, because Tom is seen as the “man of the house” to the reader, and he doesn’t always want to be. Sometimes he just wants to listen to somebody else’s opinions.

                In terms of major character roles I think that each character represented something different. For example Rosasharn, represented vulnerability, although pregnant, she was scared to really grow up. She knew that she wanted the best for her child, but she was also in a fragile state. She really wasn’t ready, but she tried. She was very vulnerable throughout the book, even the slightest things setting her off. I believe that Grandpa Joad represented the love of the land. Because after Grandpa Joad was forced off his land, his spirit died and he was no longer enthusiastic about life. He died a couple of days later.

                The marvelous thing about Steinbeck’s book is that he is able to take the stories of many different people living under the same house as a family, and weave each of their own tales into one, well put together novel.