To Kill A Mockingbird #2

Final Thoughts

To Kill a Mockingbird is a great book. The characters are fantastic and the plot wraps up nicely in the end. This book helps further our insight into the topic of secret lives. Some questions the class asked included, do we truly know the people around us and why do people live secret lives. The novel helps to answer these questions. We don’t know the people around us. The people around us could be hiding many secrets that make them who they are. The people we see around us are just the masks they wear to hide and protect themselves from society. We live these secret lives for protection. We protect others from bearing the burden of truth, much like how Mrs. Dubose knew she was close to death, but kept it a secret. We also protect ourselves from the harshness of society, much like how Boo Radley prefers to live in solitude. People hide their true selves from society, and you cant really know them until you step into their skin and walk around. Throughout the novel, there is one character who does not live a secret life and can see straight through the masks of other people: Atticus. Atticus understands people. He understands their thoughts, beliefs, and motives. As a father, he tries to teach Jem and Scout how to understand people, and at the end of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout steps into Boo Radley’s shoes and walks around.

Character

The character my group focused on was Jem. During our literature circles, we talk a bit about Jem and what kind of character he is. We discussed how annoying Jem can be sometimes due to his inconsistency. One moment, Jem is a loving brother to Scout who likes to spend time with her, and the next moment, he hates her and tells her to go away. The only explanation provided is that Jem is going through a different phase of life, but this doesn’t satisfy my group. However, there is a part of the novel where Jem’s color shows. After Tom Robinson is declared guilty in court, Jem is devastated. He was confident that Atticus was going to win the court case, and his reaction shows something: Jem cares about people. Unfortunately, Jem doesn’t get the chance to show how he cares and make a difference in society. He is forced to accept the way things are.

 

 

*Note: I acknowledge the fact this this is very rough. It will be improved in the near future.

Haroun Blog Post #3

Spoiler Warning! (Duh)

Thoughts on the Ending

By now, you should be familiar with Haroun and the Sea of Stories, but if not, go read my other blog posts about it, or read this. My thoughts on the ending have not changed much. I still think everything was too convenient. Haroun, by the power of believing, defied physics, and suddenly turned an entire moon. He then finishes his journey by travelling through the Sea of Stories, back to Gup, when his bird breaks down. Next, his two minor friends from earlier in the book show up out of nowhere to tow Haroun back to Gup. That was the only purpose those fish served in the book. They use their fishy instincts to find Haroun when he needs help. Lastly, the final event is when Haroun’s mother comes back home to live with Rashid again. The book never explained where Haroun’s mother was, or how she came back. It was just a convenient ending.

Purpose Came From Here

Final Discussion

In class, we had our final discussion on Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and it went well as always. One topic that was heavily discussed was if the events in the story were actually real. Some of my classmates thought the story could have been a dream Haroun had, while he was in a coma. I disagreed, because the lake, from the beginning of the story, that changed with mood, was real. If that was a story Rashid told, but it was real, who’s to say Kahani isn’t also real? This is a concept similar to what Haroun experienced at the end of the book. Haroun ponders the happiness in his city, because, “it isn’t real. It’s just something the Eggheads got out of a bottle. It’s all fake,” (Rushdie, 208). This brings up the question, is anything real? Is there a civilization that controls our feelings? The answer is yes, things are real. It doesn’t matter if there is or isn’t a civilization controlling us, because the happiness you feel after winning the lottery is the same happiness an all-powerful being could give you. It’s all the same; a chemical in the brain that makes you feel happy. The happiness at the end of the book was real, because the people felt it was real.

Image Came From Here

Conclusion

Before reading this story again, my class was asked if fictional stories are morally good lies. Haroun and the Sea of Stories answers that question. Fictional stories are not morally good lies, because, according to the book, fictional stories are not fiction; they are actual events. Many of the events on Kahani allude to other stories, making those stories real. Besides answering the question about stories, the book left me disappointed. The plot seemed very cliche. A hero from a different world finds himself in the middle of an oncoming war. He must volunteer to save the day with his magical sidekick, and animal companion/transportation. The Hero saves the day by believing he can and trying really hard. He returns home to find everything has fixed itself. This book had to potential to be a lot better. It just needed to explain things more.

Allusion Came From Here

Haroun Blog Post #2

Slight Spoiler Warning (Duh!)

Story Thoughts

Compared to my first impressions of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, from the last blog post, my thoughts on the story have not changed much. I still do not enjoy the book, and I think there are too many underdeveloped characters. The characters seem too convenient to the plot, and this makes the story feel incomplete. The story would be more complete if it explained how the characters are able to do what they do. For example, the story would be better if it explained how Goopy and Bagha find Haroun in the Sea of Stories at the end. Now that I know how the story ends, It is easier to pick out the characters that are just convenient to the plot. However, I am noticing more of the allusions in the story, since I am specifically looking for them.

Plentimaw fish came from here

Literary Lens

My group and I were tasked with analyzing the allusions in Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Haroun, in chapter 7, page 113, manages to pack many allusions in one single line; “Here’s another Princess Rescue Story I’m getting mixed up in.” This line alludes to many Disney stories and fairy tales, such as Sleeping Beauty. It also references many video games, like the Mario franchise, where an Italian plumber saves a princess from a turtle-dinosaur hybrid. I found this quote interesting, because it is as if Haroun is acknowledging how cliché his own story is. Haroun travels to a distant world, gets caught up in a major crisis, volunteers to be the hero, and, by the power of believing, saves the day. This entire story is one big cliché, and this quote proves that.

Image came from here

What’s the Point of Telling Stories That Aren’t Even True?

In the beginning of the book, Haroun asked this question, and now he is the one who volunteered to save the Sea of Stories.  The book is beginning to answer this question. The answer to the question is that we tell stories because we enjoy it. We enjoy telling stories, becasue stories are a beautiful thing, in Haroun’s words. On page 137, as Haroun volunteers to save the ocean, he says, “… now that I’ve actually come to Kahani and seen with my own eyes how beautiful the Ocean is, with its Story Streams in colors whose names I don’t even know…” The Ocean is made of stories and for Haroun to say the Ocean is made of stories is to say the stories themselves are beautiful. This is why we tell stories that aren’t true.

Image came from here

Class Discussion

The class discussion went well again. Many good topics were discussed, and there weren’t too many long periods of silence. One of the interesting topics discussed was how Khattam-Shud is an allegory to Adolf Hitler. Khattam-Shud came to power in a difficult time, much like how Hitler came to power while Germany was doing poorly, and they both wanted to get rid of something that they think caused the downfall of their nations. Khattam-Shud wanted to destroy the stories because the people of Gup put Chup in eternal darkness. I thought this was interesting because it made me think about how this has become a bit of a cliché villain backstory.