The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Overall, what kind of a feeling did you have after reading a few paragraphs of this work? midway? after finishing the work?
Well for a person who wasn't really excited about reading this, I was pleasantly surprised that I developed an appreciate for John Green's writing. As a teacher, I definitely saw how this could be used in the classroom and there were really great parts that could become teachable moments or used as a mentor text. As a reader, I still have a lot of issues with the novel and in all honesty, this book doesn't motivate me to read Paper Towns or any of his other novels. I really hated the cheesiness of how the Hazel and Augustus meet because Augustus was cliche in my opinion with his over flirtation upon first site. BUT I realize that this mimics Romeo and Juliet. I can see its value in the classroom especially for teaching Romeo and Juliet, but I still haven't been converted to a John Green follower; perhaps after I finish the novel! One of the things I enjoyed was how he kind of talks about literature through these characters and makes comments about the big "L" versus the little "l". I was look at it through the lens of a teacher and saw some of the things I could use as a mentor text for discussions on canonical texts. I also liked how John Green approached cancer. I watched my mom battle cancer and even though I feel like my family dynamics were not even close the one in the book, I still felt that he got some things right. Some of his lines really were poignant for this tackling this subject; however, he does put in a lot of humor which is nice for both young and old readers. Side note: I've never seen the movie so I wonder how accurate they made it. I'm interested in seeing how the book ends, seeing that these two are "star crossed lovers."
Monday, October 26, 2015
Monday, October 19, 2015
Brave New World #2
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, chapter 4
Thoughts and Ideas: Did the text give you any ideas or cause you to think about anything in particular? Explain briefly what thoughts it led you to.
Chapter four caused me to think about the social hierarchy of Bernard and Helmholtz's world, which made me reflect on today's social hierarchy especially for young adolescents. Due to Bernard's deformity, he is outcasted by others and not as regarded from the classes underneath him. He knows that he is different, not just physically, but mentally. He doesn't think like the others and his contemplation of them and himself was very fascinating to me. "The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by high physical defects. Which in turn increased his sense of being alien and alone"(65). This made me think about how some people are casted as a certain type of person such as the "troubled" or "bad" kid in school and therefore they continue to act like they are suppose to. We are taught to redefine those roles for those students, which can be hard because yes they may act out at times and be disruptive, but we must make sure that we are not perpetuating or casting the same projection upon those students because they do follow our lead. I realize that Huxley did not intend for the reader to think about adolescents and teaching, but I think Bernard's self-consciousness and role within that society reflects the power dynamics or psyche of the individual with regards to how other's treat or see them.
Thoughts and Ideas: Did the text give you any ideas or cause you to think about anything in particular? Explain briefly what thoughts it led you to.
Chapter four caused me to think about the social hierarchy of Bernard and Helmholtz's world, which made me reflect on today's social hierarchy especially for young adolescents. Due to Bernard's deformity, he is outcasted by others and not as regarded from the classes underneath him. He knows that he is different, not just physically, but mentally. He doesn't think like the others and his contemplation of them and himself was very fascinating to me. "The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by high physical defects. Which in turn increased his sense of being alien and alone"(65). This made me think about how some people are casted as a certain type of person such as the "troubled" or "bad" kid in school and therefore they continue to act like they are suppose to. We are taught to redefine those roles for those students, which can be hard because yes they may act out at times and be disruptive, but we must make sure that we are not perpetuating or casting the same projection upon those students because they do follow our lead. I realize that Huxley did not intend for the reader to think about adolescents and teaching, but I think Bernard's self-consciousness and role within that society reflects the power dynamics or psyche of the individual with regards to how other's treat or see them.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Brave New World
Chapter 3, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Question: What do you feel is the most important word, phrase, passage, or paragraph in this work? Explain why it is important.
Well this chapter had plenty of important and significant passages, words, or phrases in it which made it hard to pin point it to only one! I think anyone could pick any sentence out of this chapter and show the significance it has in the book as well as its relevance in todays society. This chapter is also somewhat confusing because of all the disjointed conversation going back and forth. One of the passages that stood out to me was when Mustapha Mond states, "the Controllers realized that force was no good. The slower but infinitely surer methods of ectogenesis, neo-Pavlovian conditioning and hypnopaedia..."(pg 50). I thought this passage was important because Mustapha explains the reasoning behind the design of this new society. Forcing the people with bloodshed didn't work; however, subtle coercion would produced results and this is definitely relevant to the book and todays society. A lot of people notice things that are blatantly forced on them; however, it is in the subtle ways that larger institutions inflict their control over the mass population. Things like Soma all are subtle ways to control the population and I think Huxley is trying to shed light on the fact that the people who are in control are not doing it in ways that are obvious, yet it is the subtle or slower changes that produce the results they want. Part of my fascination with chapter three is how Huxley shows the progression of this new world versus the one we know now and how that mass control will be come from change over time or generations to where we suddenly have woken up in our own new brave world.
Question: What do you feel is the most important word, phrase, passage, or paragraph in this work? Explain why it is important.
Well this chapter had plenty of important and significant passages, words, or phrases in it which made it hard to pin point it to only one! I think anyone could pick any sentence out of this chapter and show the significance it has in the book as well as its relevance in todays society. This chapter is also somewhat confusing because of all the disjointed conversation going back and forth. One of the passages that stood out to me was when Mustapha Mond states, "the Controllers realized that force was no good. The slower but infinitely surer methods of ectogenesis, neo-Pavlovian conditioning and hypnopaedia..."(pg 50). I thought this passage was important because Mustapha explains the reasoning behind the design of this new society. Forcing the people with bloodshed didn't work; however, subtle coercion would produced results and this is definitely relevant to the book and todays society. A lot of people notice things that are blatantly forced on them; however, it is in the subtle ways that larger institutions inflict their control over the mass population. Things like Soma all are subtle ways to control the population and I think Huxley is trying to shed light on the fact that the people who are in control are not doing it in ways that are obvious, yet it is the subtle or slower changes that produce the results they want. Part of my fascination with chapter three is how Huxley shows the progression of this new world versus the one we know now and how that mass control will be come from change over time or generations to where we suddenly have woken up in our own new brave world.
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