Final Reflections on College Lit.

Overall college lit was a great class. It was a lot of reading some nights, but that was just part of preparing us for the college level literature classes. My favorite book that we read would have to be my choice book I am the Messenger. This book had a lot of action, was interesting to read, and had a very clear moral of the story. The Catcher in the Rye would have to be my favorite required book. I liked this book because Holden as a character was interesting, the motifs were easy to pick up on, and it was very open-ended and could be interpreted in many different ways. I learned the most from the book Persepolis. Before reading Persepolis I knew very little about Iran, but know I feel much more knowledgeable about their culture and history. In the end this class was very worth while, fun, and interesting.

Persepolis-- The Movie

As many of you know, Persepolis was made into a movie. I think this is a very cool idea because Marjane Satrapi has lived a very interesting life and people will learn a lot about Iranian culture by watching it. Here is the trailer for the movie Persepolis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PXHeKuBzPY

After watching the trailer I was surprised how they kept the characters animated. I thought that they would have hired big name actors and put in tons of explosions and special effects, but they kept it in the same format as the book. I like how they did this after reading the book, but if I hadn't read the book I would prefer real actors. This movie looks pretty good and I will have to watch it sometime.

Persepolis

Persepolis is very different from any book I've read before. It is a graphic novel, about Islamic history, and it is an autobiography. I really have no experience with comics except I have read a few from the paper. Before I started the book I thought the pictures would just slow me down but now I realize that they really add to the book. Also I had very little knowledge of the Islamic revolution so I feel like I am learning something by reading this book. I think that it is very cool that the author wrote an autobiography in the form of a graphic novel. The pictures help with the humor and the emotions that she was feeling at the time.

Choice Book

For my choice book I read I am the Messenger. This book turned out to be one of my all time favorite books. For those of you that haven't read the book here is a little preview of what it is about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gyw0TUsRaE
(There wasn't actually a movie made about, but I think it would make a cool movie)

I liked this book because of the moral of the story. In the end the author wanted us to help other people and accomplish something with our lives. Helping people will make us feel good and give us a sense of accomplishment.

Jane Eyre Final Reflections

1. If I were in Jane's shoes I would also leave Mr. Rochester. Even though she did love him, has no money at all, and really has no where to go, I would still leave him. I would leave him because he did not tell her that he was married for the year that they were together and I would find it hard to trust him again. Also being married to another woman is kind of a big deal, even if she is insane.

2. In the end, I thought this book was just alright. I didn't hate it, like many of my friends did, but it was also pretty hard for me to read. The part that I really did not like about Jane Eyre is how in depth she goes with each description. It really slowed down the reading and made it pretty boring for me. The aspect of the book that I did like was the suspense. When I first started reading the book I would have never guessed that she would fall in love with a rich man that already has an insane wife.

3.I think that this book should be taught in college lit because it will prepare us for college. I didn't particularly like the book, but it wasn't that bad and it gives us the college experience in high school.

I agree with Sydney Cook's argument. She gave a lot of great examples that supported her argument enough to get my approval. I like how she told us about the superficial rites of passage in other places and then how we in America do not hold the same spiritual, ceremonial, and life changing values that those of other cultures have. I also agree with her view of the three main secular rites of passage-- turning 16, turning 18, and turning 21. Rites of passages need to be about more than money, booze, and cars.

One of the main rites of passages I have gone through is getting my drivers license. This is a positive rite of passage because it is kind of like I am one step closer to becoming an adult. After I got my drivers license I had a lot more freedom and responsibility.

My Favorite Part of Jane Eyre so far

My favorite part of Jane Eyre so far is the scene where the fire is started in Mr. Rochester's room. Here is the scene from the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS5SLdPiDUg. This is my favorite part because it leaves so many unanswered questions. Who started the fire? Was it Grace Pool? Why didn't  Mr. Rochester wake up? Why didn't Mr. Rochester fire Grace Pool? and why did he leave so suddenly the next morning? All of these questions make me want to read further into the book, unlike some of the other scenes where all Jane does is describe a room or the weather. I am excited to find out some of the answeres to these questions later on in the book.

Cultural Refernces to the Catcher in the Rye

After browsing the web looking for a topic to blog on, I found some cool facts and other works that the Catcher in the Rye has inspired.

• One of the most famous incidents associated with the Catcher in the Rye is the murder of John Lennon.  Mark David Chapman is the murderer and he was so obsessed with the character Holden Caulfield that he tried to change his name to Holden Caulfield. Also on the night that Chapman shot John Lennon he was found with a copy of the Catcher in the Rye and he had written "This is my statement" and signed his name as Holden Caulfield. While he was in court he read a passage from the book as his defence and some say he shot John Lennon to preserve his innocence much like Holden wanted to preserve children's innocence.
• If you have ever seen the movie The Shining one of the main characters, Wendy, is seen reading The Catcher in the Rye, which is a foreshadow to the loneliness similar to that of Holden.
• One of the South Park episodes pokes fun at how controversial the book is. In the episode Butters is  brainwashed into killing John Lennon and Ronald Reagan after reading it.
• In the comic strip "Fox Trot" one of the characters is seen reading "The Pitcher in the Wheat." 
• There were a ton of songs that had references to the Catcher in the Rye but some that stood out to me were: The Aesop Rock song Save Yourself and it contained the line  "Naw man it wasn't me, it was Holden Caulfield, brother / I just read and pulled the trigger." , The Beastie Boys song Shadrach and it contained the line  "Got more stories than J. D. got Salinger, I hold the title and you are the challenger.", and also even the Jonas Bros had a reference with the song Six Minutes which contained the line "Sometimes I feel like I'm a catcher in the rye / Sometimes I just wanna catch her eye."

Before this class I had never even heard of the book The Catcher in the Rye, but after reading it I can understand a lot of references. I defiantly feel this book was worth my time to read.

Song about Holden Caulfield- Green Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQVmudGLKXo

After doing a little bit of research on Holden I stumbled upon a song by Green Day called "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield". Because Billie Joe is extremely hard to understand here are the lyrics.

A thought burst in my head and I need to tell you
It's news that I for thought
Was it just a dream that happened long ago?
I think that I just forgot


Well it hasn't been the first time
And it sure does drive me mad


There's a boy who fogs his world and now he's getting lazy
There's no motivation and frustration makes him crazy
He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting.
Someone help him up or he's gonna end up quitting


I shuffle through my mind
To see if I can find
The words I left behind
Was it just a dream that happened long ago?
Oh well...
Never mind.


Well it hasn't been the first time
And it sure does drive me mad


There's a boy who fogs his world and now he's getting lazy
There's no motivation and frustration makes him crazy
He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting.
Someone help him up or he's gonna end up quitting


There's a boy who fogs his world and now he's getting lazy
There's no motivation and frustration makes him crazy
He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting.
Someone help him up or he's gonna end up quitting


There's a boy who fogs his world and now he's getting lazy
There's no motivation and frustration makes him crazy
He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting.
Someone help him up or he's gonna end up quitting


What I understand from these lyrics is that there is a boy, Holden, that wants to do something meaningful with his life but the lack of motivation and frustration keeps pulling him down. It also shows that we all need a little help sometimes or else we might end up "quitting". This song really portrays the apathy that caused Holden to fail out of school, it even applies to a lot of people I know and even myself sometimes.

Bloggin' on Holden

"All of a sudden, this lady got on at Trenton and sat down next to me. Practically the whole car was empty, because it was pretty late and all, but she sat down next to me, instead of an empty seat." This is the scene where one of the moms of a Pencey Prep student talks to Holden on the train.

I chose this scene because it shows Holden as a hypocrite. Throughout the book Holden is always explaining how he hates phonies and liars, but then he repeatedly lies to this mom about her son. He even told her that her son would have won class president, but that he was just too shy.

This scene leaves us with the question is Holden a reliable narrator? If he is always saying one thing and doing another car we trust him?

Visions of Childhood

In the four short stories I have read the move from childhood to adulthood has been a common theme. In these stories there are many similarities and differences in how the transition is depicted. In the story "The Sutton Pie Safe" childhood is depicted as ignorance. Cates has an idea of what is going on, but can't put together the pieces to see the whole picture. In "Every Little Hurricane" childhood is defined as learning to become independent. Victor was in a bad situation and forced to mature faster than most children his age. In the story "Bottle Caps" childhood can be viewed as not caring what other people think. The main character in this story goes around in alleys looking for bottlecaps, not caring what people think. In the story "For Esme- With love and squalor" childhood is defined as maturity. In the story Esme gave the watch of her dead father to a stranger that she met in a resteraunt. In these short stories the transition from childhood to adulthood have some differences, but all carry the common theme of being forced to grow up and mature in life.

The TV show "That 70's Show" depicts childhood in an interesting mannar. It really shows the fun part of childhood and how people should really enjoy it while they can. This TV show is most similar to the short story "Bottle Caps" because it shows people having fun and doing what they love.

Childhood Memory

One of my most vivid childhood memories is when I broke my hand. I was playing football in the winter with Isaac Dahl, Patrick Vallon, Max Kelley, and Brian Call. On the play that I broke my hand Isaac fumbled the football, I dove on top of it, and then everybody dove on top of me. As soon as Brian got on the pile I felt my hand snap and I knew it was broken. This  forced my to grow up because I had to act like it didn't hurt and I was tough, but in reality it really hurt and i probably wanted to cry.

Intro Blog

Hi my name is Alex McLimans. I like to play tennis, snowboard, hang out with friends, and listen to music. After highschool I plan to attend college, either Madison or La Crosse. I like a wide variety of music including MGMT, Bright eyes, Tupac, Atmosphere, and Phoenix.