Too Much Love

My emotional response to Beloved is mixed because I can not decide whether I believe Sethe's actions are okay or not. I think Sethe had the right intentions in protecting her children from slavery. She could have chose to hide her children rather than murdering them. I think that it's hard to put yourself in her situation because its hard to imagine what that would be like. It would be so scary to live in constant fear of losing a loved one because of the evil actions of a few people. I think Sethe's love for her children is over bearing and ridiculous. She guarded Denver from the outside world and she basically cannot function in social situations. Often times today parents are still overprotective at times. A common bond though is that that it is all out of love. Too much love can be bad because it leads to being overprotective. A great parent knows when to back off and let their child live the way they want to live and they need to let go at the right time. It's hard for me to imagine having that much love for someone and allowing myself to act in such that way. I think Sethe crossed the line when she killed her child. Out of all of her options she chose to take away the most precious gift, which is life. Life can never be given back and it's a shame that Sethe was so selfish to take that away from her daughter.

My Future

It's really strange to think about the future. I spend a lot of time daydreaming about what my life will look like 5 or 10 years from now. I have come to the conclusion that right now, I have the ability to take literally any path in life. I could become a doctor, a lawyer, or a politician. I have the power to control what my life will be like, to some extent. Right now I can choose what school to go to, what to major in, and how much time I invest in studying. It's exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. I can choose to take the easy path or to take the hard path. I can choose who I hang out with and who I invest my love in. It's all my choice and it's all up to me. I think it's great to have a set path in life and most people have that, but I find it much more interesting to live on the edge, so to say. Many high school students have everything through college planned out, like what sorority they want to be in, what they want to major in, what state they will be living in, and who they will associate themselves with. Personally, I think that this closes them off from discovering who they want to be later in life. I think that the first year of college should all be about finding who you are. If you go into college, or any situation with it all mapped out, you may not make the mistakes or fortunes that shape you and make you who you are. I think that I will go into college with an open mind and open heart to soak up anything, good or bad, that comes my way.

Beloved

Beloved is a very interesting book to read. I think that the topic is very strong and it is written with a lot of passion, but I just have a really hard time connecting with the characters and the plot. I find the whole thing with the ghost baby strange. I also find that Denver acts really strange for her age. I guess Denver acts this way because she has been isolated so long from society. I have know idea when there is flashbacks or when it is just normal present tense. I find the language hard to understand because it is written like a poem and I don't really get poems. I cannot connect with Denver even though we are the same age because I think she is too closed off. It took her a while to accept Paul D. and I find that strange because he provides her mom with happiness. Usually when someone close to you is happy, you become happy just because they are happy. I don't know when this story will connect to the newspaper article, but I know it has some connection. I really enjoyed The Road compared to this story because even though it was full of literary connections, they made sense and made the story full of depth.

First Outside Reading Book

For my first outside reading book, I chose to read Heart of Darkness. It was written in 1902 and it's only 72 pages long. Let’s just say the font size was probably size 5. It felt like I was reading a 300 page book. The actual story was hard to follow because of the language. I selected travel as my topic for this project and this book kind of matched up. It was long and I'm not quite sure if I completely followed the plot. The main character Marlow sets out on a journey down the Congo River. Marlow's journeys led to him discover himself and others around him. I predicted that he would grow due to his exposure to a new land, and he did. His travel experience was not exactly pleasant, though. He describes his journey as being dark. He longed for companionship, which was interesting to me. I always suspected that when a person travels, they have a person that tags along for the journey. I never really thought about having to travel alone and how lonely that must be. Marlow was traveling on a steamboat with "pilgrims" or basically people who practiced cannibalism. He had a partner with him, but still he felt so alone. I think it's easy to sympathize with Marlow on his trip. He set out to find Kurtz the ivory owner in Africa, and when he got there he was disappointed. Kurtz didn't end up being the great person he thought he would be. It's easy to relate to because often people set out on a journey with high hopes for a great time, and sometimes that works out, but sometimes people let you down. Even though this book was long and boring at times, the message is clear, even after a hundred and eleven years.

The Road Contrast

The Road is the first type of apocalyptic story I've read. I don't usually read science fiction so I don't have anything really to compare it to. Even though I've never read anything in the same setting, many things crossover in other stories. The man and son's relationship is one with bumps, but they ultimately love one another a lot. Many stories have a tight relationship in it whether that be a love story or not. The main characters are also on a journey. Their journey is long and tough, but their perseverance and determination makes up for that. Maybe it's not always a literal journey a character takes, but most often a character experiences some kind of change. When a character changes internally it makes the story interesting to read. Just because I don't have anything to compare The Road to, it's overall story line had many similarities with other books.

To switch gears, I'd figure I would give my feed back on the seminar today. I love that we incorporated technology into the lesson. We all love to tweet so it was cool to give feedback on our phones. I also really liked the open debate. I would definitely suggest to do it again!

The Road pt. 2

The Road recently has gotten really exciting. I've enjoyed reading about the journey the father and son embark on together. I've learned a lot about self motivation and the motives behind it. The father is prolonging his and his son's death when they could be put out of their misery. When I first found out what the mother did, I thought it was ridiculous and insane. I see her reasoning now. The two of them are just walking through darkness hoping for a better life once they reach the shore. They reached the shore, but nothing was new. It was still dark and freezing. I wonder why McCarthy wrote about hopelessness for 200 some odd pages. I realize that the relationship between the boy and father was special, but the darkness dragged on. I'm not sure how it ends, but I have trouble seeing it as a happy one. The way McCarthy wrote his thoughts on the pages was interesting. At times I had no idea what he was saying, yet at others it seemed like poetry. I love the way the dialogue was written because it seems so much more natural without all the punctuation. I'm eager to find out the way it ends, good or bad. This book is a good read for AP English because it is a high enough literary level, yet it grabs your attention and does not give it back.

The Road

When I first picked up The Road I was immediately hit with the feeling of isolation and loneliness. McCarthy so far has done a great job in setting the mood of darkness. I think he has described darkness and ashes in as many ways a person possibly could. I actually really enjoy his writing style and the way he writes the dialogue. Even though I can’t understand half of his thoughts and passages, I like the way it seems so natural. He writes as though he went into the character's minds to hear their thoughts. In the beginning everything seemed confusing and scrambled. As McCarthy revealed details of their journey, I began to grasp a better understanding for what was going on. Everything seemed to click when the father dreamt of the mother. She is used as a parallel between their past life and where their future may go. She reveals what the father is actually thinking about death and how it may be a better option. It is interesting that she provides so much insight into the father's character. The boy has only ever grown up in this apocalypse setting. I think he portrayed as being too scared and vulnerable because this has been all he's been exposed to. The book became very interesting when the father found the food. Until this point everything was depressing and it all sounded the same. I really enjoy this book and I can’t wait to see what will happen next.