Reflections of College Literature

I decided that my one of my last blog posts should probably be a reflection of this class, college literature. Though I haven't completely finished the class, I feel that I have made it though enough to really state my opinions and reflections about this class.
First off, my parents couldn't be happier to see me reading on the couch at night. I think that alone might have made this class worth it for me (or at least for them), because they were so overjoyed. Not that I don't ever read, but reading has become very low on my priority list. But also, I realized I do miss reading frequently. I like thinking about the stories that I'm reading about during the day without even realizing it. I spent many car rides and showers thinking about the characters and plots of The Book Thief, I'll admit.
One thing I didn't like was how much reading was assigned per night. I managed without too much of a problem because of a block study hall, but I know that many of my classmates had a hard time keeping up, as I felt occasionally.
One cool thing about this class is how it has a theme. Not many classes I've taken has had a theme throughout the quarter. Also, it's nice because we can all relate to it. Coming of age is something that we all are, or will experience very soon. We got to relate to numerous characters, and even learn from their experiences. I enjoyed this aspect of the class.
I feel like I have many more things to say about this class; however, the badgers are losing to Butler and I feel they need my full attention in order to win. Goodbye fellow bloggers :)

Persepolis & The Book Thief

When going from book to book, I like to find similarities between the literature I read. In the books Persepolis and The Book Thief, I found that both main characters told their stories while their home country was in a time of war. 


In Persepolis, the main character Marjane Satrapi lives during the time of the Iranian Revolution (1979). The revolution started by the events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy (Pahlavi dynasty) under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of this revolution.


In The Book Thief, the main character Liesel Meminger lives during World War II. This obviously as many of you know was a global military conflict during the years of 1939-1945. Liesel lives in Germany where Hilter rules supremely over the land. The citizens follow his lead by becoming Nazis and hating the Jewish, disabled and homosexuals. The holocaust victimized between 11 to 17 million people. 

The Book Thief & Defiance

The Book Thief is an extremely interesting story, and one of the main reasons of that is the setting. The story takes place in Molching, Germany during the Holocaust. Times are tough for all, but specifically the people of Jewish decent. The character Max and his story really reminded me of a movie that I saw last year. It is called Defiance and tells the tale of a group of Jewish people fleeing Hitler and his Nazi regime. It tells their story of triumphs and failures, and ultimately how they desperately tried to survive. It was a fantastic movie, and I highly recommend it. (trailer below)

Wrongs of Passage

I agree with Sydney's argument concerning the wrongs of passage. Our society has taken the wrong path on the rights of passage. These steps of adulthood have been blown out of proportion. And she used the perfect example of Cher and her sweet sixteen car. I actually saw this episode and thought that this girl was ridiculous. But that is what our generation sees and is influenced by.

I suppose a right of passage I have experienced was getting my driver's license and receiving my car. I always knew I would get a car when I got my license because my sister's old car was just sitting in the driveway awaiting a new owner. This was a positive experience for me because I felt like I had earned responsibility by getting this new privilege of having the ability to drive. My parents did put restrictions on me, but I still felt I had moved a little closer to adulthood with this new responsibility.

da blogs thoughts on The Book Thief

So far this book is actually kind of interesting. At first I was extremely upset that I chose thee longest book possible and would have to do so much reading. But after two days, I'm already 120 pages in. I can't believe I've actually read this much. But the book is a good read and you really do fly through it.

It's really different having the narrator of the story but the grim reaper or the voice of death. At first I was really confused and didn't understand who was telling the story. And then I finally figured it out. I kind of like how he always describes specific colors that are involved in the scenes. I feel like that is a theme in the story and will definitely come up later when we discuss the book.

Reflections on Jane Eyre

1) I actually thought this exact question when I finished reading this section. Would I, if i were in Jane's shoes, stay and be with Rochester? Could I still love a man who is married ( and LIED to me about being married)? I think it would be an extremely difficult decision, but I believe I would leave. Jane is smart and daring, I don't think being out on her own scares her. And even though she has a wonderful love, her love is already taken. I believe that things happen for a reason, and maybe Rochester being married was meant to be, and a sign that Jane should move on with her life.
2) I really didn't get into the book very much until the romance between Jane and Rochester sparked. The read was just so long and boring, it was very hard to become interested in. But once their love affair began the reading was much more enjoyable, and I actually wanted to read to find out what will happen. So the romance worked for me, but the troublesome childhood and lengthy description paragraphs did not.
3) This is a tough question. I am really not sure. I believe the book does have great literature values, and should be taught. But I also understand that this book may not be exciting to everyone, and may be a bad match for some people. Then again, everyone knows going into a literature class you won't always like the books you read. So I do believe this book should be read, it has great symbolism and a lot of detailed description that every writer can learn something from.

Wedding Bells?

I can't believe that Mr. Rochester and Jane are going to be married! I actually got excited when I read this section in the book. Which means I'm actually starting to get interested in the story line, which I didn't think would happen. Anyways, I kept reading and the wedding day finally comes and Jane and Rochester seem to be very excited! :) But when they get to the church, the ceremony is abruptly interrupted by Mr. Mason & company. I really wanted to keep reading but I ran out of time!

This section was so intriguing! What is going to happen? Who is this other wife of Mr. Rochester, and will he be able to marry Jane? I guess there is a lot left in the book so I guess I'll have to wait and see. I really do hope Jane and Rochester are married, I like them together. :)

Jane and Jane

I'm not sure if anyone else picked up on this, but there has been a character named Jane in both of the books we have read/are reading in class! First in Catcher in the Rye, Holden has a mild obsession with a girl named Jane Gallagher. We learn lots of tid-bits about this girl (like she always keeps her kings in the back row in chess, she might have given Strandlater the time in Ed Bankey's car, and that she may or may not be on Christmas vacation) but for the most part we do not meet or learn much more about Jane. We just know that Holden really likes this girl and thinks about calling her maybe every 3 pages.
In Jane Eyre, Jane is the main character of the story. Because we are not extremely far into the book we do not an exceeding amount of information about Jane. We do know that she is an orphan and was raised in a hostile environment with the Reed Family (Mrs. Reed was her aunt, and the children were her cousins). She then went on to Lowood school to become a strong young woman. Currently she is becoming a governess.
This may seem like a pointless post, but I thought it was a little interesting how we have a couple characters named Jane coming up in our class.

Jane Eyre & Ever After

When I started to read Jane Eyre I felt like I had seen something very similar to this story. Many people in class pointed out that the tale of Jane Eyre had a very Cinderella-like feel. I had to agree, but I had a little different take on it. I'm not sure if anyone has seen the movie Ever After, but I feel that Jane Eyre's upbringing was very similar to the main character, Danielle de Barbarac's. 
This is a fantastic movie starring Drew Barrymore in one of her best roles, as a servant girl in a house of wicked relatives. She like Cinderella and Jane Eyre were orphaned at a young age and were forced to live with unpleasant (to say the least) family members. They were shunned and forced to work as servants instead of being welcomed as part of their wealthy families. Their aunt figure in all the stories was just absolutely horrible to the girls, and even the cousins would join in on the treachery. Thought I have no knowledge of the ending of Jane Eyre, if it is anything like Ever After or Cinderella, the young tortured girl turns into a strong young women & things work out for the better. If you haven't seen the movie Ever After, I would recommend it highly. I might go watch it right now! :)

Catcher in the Big Apple

Now that we have finished Catcher in the Rye, I've had time to reflect on my feelings about this book. Holden was an ass, but an enjoyable character for the most part. I felt like the story didn't really go anywhere and nothing really happened; however, the ending was actually kind of sweet. My favorite part of this start was the setting, New York City.

New York City is one of my favorite places to go in the whole wide world. I feel like every time I go I find a million more things I love about the city. Reading this book and hearing him talk about the different places he goes really enhanced my reading experience. I especially loved that he talked about Central Park. Even though if I remember correctly he was quite intoxicated when he stumbled through there. Central park is absolutely beautiful and a real gem in midst of the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple.

It is also very interesting that the sight of John Lennon's murder was right across the street from Central Park outside the Dakota Apartments. We all know from class that the man who murdered Lennon, Mark David Chapman had a great obsession with the Catcher in the Rye.

da blogs views on Holden

Page 73: (I realize that we are suppose to pick a quote from the first 66 pages, but I read ahead & liked this one a lot so sorry for not completely following the given instructions.)

"That's the thing about girls. Every time they doing something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can."

I chose this excerpt because honestly, it made me laugh reading it. Men always talk about how confusing women are and what not, and most of the time I just do not get why. Also, it showed more depth into the character of Holden. The fact that he might be one of those guys that is not particularly kind to women, but also that he women  have the ability to absolutely sweep him off his feet. I thought this section showed a lot of voice for Holden's character.

I think this section was written in order to develop Holden's character, his thoughts about women and to show of the author's ability to create this fantastic teenage boy voice in his writing. After reading this, I wondered what kinds of things made Holden half fall in love with Jane.

Childhood Memory

One cold december morning my sister and I were getting ready for school. We both woke up extra early to win the first warm shower of the day. We both arrived at the bathroom door at the same time and started fighting immediatly. It first started out as just arguing, which lead to yelling, and finished with some good ol' physical beat down. My mom storms in, and is angry as all get out. We both start loudly stating our sides of the situation, trying to convince our poor mother who was right and have her figure it out. And oh she didn't like that very much at all. She told us that she had had it with out morning behaviors, and that we needed to figure out how to act civil towards each other, and we needed to figure it out for ourselves. She sent us outside on the porch and told us that we may not come back inside until we come to an agreement that we both contributed to (let me remind you, this was a freezing moring during a usual brutal winter in Wisconsin). So Emery and I stepped out into the cold, discussed our problems and came to a resolution that solved all of our morning squabbles. That day I figured out you can't always rely on other people to solve yours problems and fight your battles for you, you have to do things for yourself.

Introduction!

Hello fellow bloggers, my name is Logan. I feel extremely awkward blogging about myself, but here we go. I love my family and friends, and couldn't live without them. I enjoy swimming, skiing, singing, and occasionally spending a full days wrapped in mounds of blankets watching crime shows and chick flicks. I'm quite undecided about my future plans, but most likely I will be ending up at any of these universities: UW-LaCrosse, UW-Madison, Minnesota, or Marquette. At least, that is what I'm thinking currently, but only time will tell. I never really can think of my favorite movies, books, or artists cause I enjoy so many. But currently I am loving the book, I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert. I've also recently become addicted to the crime show, Castle. Well, I think that is enough about me. If you've got any questions, comment away.