On Writing #2

      Hello! I continued reading On Writing today (which doesn't seem to be on writing, but more on King's life). My reading started off with the story of Dave's Rag, which brings back my early childhood memories. It reminds me of when I was about 9 years old and my best friend, Danielle, and I set up a lemonade stand using lemons from my backyard. Well, anyway, Dave created his own newspaper, highlighting all the local news. They(Dave and Stephen) used something called a hectograph, which they hated. But fortunately, the Rag entered a "golden age" when they bought a drum printing press. King also mentioned the times he got in trouble, the many times. He sold The Pit and the Pendulum, an original, to his classmates and got in trouble  because a) it was trash and b) because he turned the school into a market. Then, he created a newspaper in high school called The Village Vomit, which had a mean nickname for all the teachers. He wasn't exactly what you'd call a teacher's pet. One day, he was called into the principal's office, by the guidance counselor, to write the Weekly Enterprise. Here, he learned more than he did in college about writing, by the counselor, John Gould...in 10 minutes.haha. He corrected him and gave him great advice.
      Why haven't I ever heard of those magazines that offer money for good stories? In King's young days, it seems like they were more common or something. Or maybe it's just because it's open mainly to writers. Well, I don't know but he got $200 from one story,The Graveyard Shift! And then, he got $500 from Sometimes They Come Back. He met his future wife(Tabby, as he called her) behind his university's bookstore one day. They grew closer at a poetry gathering. I guess poetry can help people bond! I think she was a big inspiration to him because when he was going to toss out his draft, she saved it and it turned into Carrie, a novel.
      I like the book. King kinda cusses too much and he's kinda awkward, though. But he's not boring, at least. I was looking through the book and I noticed that there's a page that says,"On Writing", which is weird because it seems like the real book starts there and everything prior to it is like a little biography. I never ran into a book like that. It's interesting though. I'll be back soon!!!

On Writing

      Today, I started reading On Writing, by Stephen King. I like King's style of writing because he speaks to you like he's in a simple conversation; it's colloquial and funny. I didn't realize that this was going to be a biography-like book. I thought it was a teaching book for how to write but, it's probably both once I read further. He's a really funny guy. He brought up one of his many babysitters,  Eula-Beulah, who used to, well....fart on him. That's mean and gross!!! I mean, he's just a helpless little kid, who couldn't do anything about it(at least she was fired). But the funny part was that he turned it into a positive by saying that she prepared him for literary criticism.
      And then there was that horrifying story of the ear doctor(or otiologist). When King was in the first grade, he missed a lot of the school year. He got a lot of health issues: measles, ear infections, fevers, and a lot of cases of strep throat. Once, he and his mother took a cab to the ear doctor, who did something to solve his ear infection. He poked his ear drum with a sterilized needle!!! Oh my gosh!!!!! I can't imagine the pain. I can't even begin to imagine it. It happened more than once, too. Of course, the doctor said, "it's not gonna hurt." But it does. Another mishap when he was young was his case of poison ivy. When he was with his brother, Dave, one day, he had to use the bathroom. Dave told him to do it in the wild, like the cowboys. He did, and used leaves to clean up; it turned out to be poison ivy that he used. Isn't that terrible?
      I think King's mom inspired him to be a writer. When he was little, he made a little book(using the words of another comic book) and showed it to her. She seemed shocked and amazed that he had been smart enough to make that but soon realized that it wasn't all his work. She told him to make another one, because she believed he could make one better than the actual comic book. He want to work, making another 4. They were about 4 magic animals who helped people. Their leader was Mr.Rabbit Trick(pretty cute). He kept submitting his unique stories to magazines, but they were all soon rejected. One day at age 16, he rewrote "The Night of the Tiger", his own original. The magazine bought it. The moral of my blog is "never give up". Well, I like this book a lot, so far. I'll return soon!

Into the Wild #6

       I finished Into the Wild today! yay. woohoo! But, the story was a really sad one. I feel terrible for the McCandless family, who will never get over this loss. Today, the reading started off with Krakauer's visit to the Stampede Trail in Alaska where Chris died. He lived in Fairbanks bus 142, an old, weathered bus on the Sushana River. Krakauer took two Alaskans with him, Roman Dial and Dan Solie, as well as Andrew Liske. They tried to discover how Chris died. When they arrived, they met the 2 men who saw his dead body. They made a fool of Chris for shooting a caribou, which he recorded as a moose. Krakauer discovered that it was a moose though!! Althogh Chris wrote in his diary mainly about the food he hunted, doesn't mean he didn't appreciate nature, as some belived. I mean, he risked his life to live somewhere he loved, nature. How could he not appreicaite it? I dislike how people make fun of him without knowing enough of his life's story.
       There were some weird things put out there about McCandless: he had "short man's complex"(an insecurity), which led him to want to show the world that he could survive in the wild and that he was manly. Um, I don't think that's the case but anyway, when Krakauer visited the bus, he investigated what may have killed him. In his Alaskan plant encyclopedia, Tanaina Plantlore, potato seeds are said to be poisonous. This struck Krakauer because according to Wayne Westerberg, he may have purchased potato seeds in South Dakota, in hopes of having a small garden. A kind of wild potato, H. alpinum, grows in the bus's region. The book also says that a wild sweet pea, H. Mackenzii, could be easily mixed up(which is poisonous) with it because the only thing that distinguishes them is the structure of veins under the leaves. At first, Krakauer thought that he mixed them up, but he didn't. He sent samples of the wild potato seeds to a professor, who examined them. They didn't contain any alkaloids. He was baffled(and so was I!). He stumbled across an article about deadly fungus, which rang a bell. He realized that he didn't die from the seeds, per se; rather, he died from the R. leguminicola(fungus) that grew on them, since Chris kept them in a damp Ziplock bag. What a sad ending. This evil fungus inhibits an enzyme necessary for metabolism, so no matter how much Chris ate, he would've starved. I really liked this book but, it was very sad and unfortunate. The epilogue was pretty sad too, but his mother stayed strong during her visit to Fairbanks bus 142. Until next time!
     

Into the Wild #5

      "The Stikine Ice Cap" was a really interesting chapter(well, there's 2 of 'em). It's about Krakauer's journey to climb to the summit of the treacherous Devils Thumb in Alaska. This is probably why he was so interested in McCandless's case: because he knows the feeling, why he wanted to journey out into the wild, alone. He shares the same logic, going out to the wild to escape the unfitting society and to achieve his goal with strong determination. He wanted to be able to tell himself that he could do it, despite the danger.
      While reading, I picked up a few similarities between Chris and Jon. They both ventured into Alaska when they were youngsters,  they both abandoned their cars in the middle of nowhere(Jon couldn't afford a plane ticket so, he drove to Washington and then abandoned it), share determination, courage, and and both have shaky relationships with their fathers. Also, they were inspired to love nature by their family members(Chris by his grandfather, Loren Johnson and Jon by his father, Lewis Krakauer).Their lives are actually pretty similar. Similar enough for Krakauer to write a 200 page book about a man he never met, Chris J. McCandless. Well anyway, today Krakauer told about his twenty-day Alaskan adventure. He was determined to climb to the never-before climbed top of the Devils Thumb. He left from Boulder with a salmon seine to Petersburg. From there, he got a ride from some tree planters, who took him to a the head of Thomas Bay. He began to plod all the way to the mountain. When he was there, he almost starved, suffered through blinding storms, and even burned part of his new tent. At one point, he was going to quit because he kept hitting rock, not ice when he was climbing. But, he wanted to fulfill his goal so, he went back when the weather cleared and made it. He went to the top of the Devils Thumb. Wow.
      Back to their similarities. Both their fathers pushed them to be successful and go to college and both sons hated that. They were pushed to excel academically, which caused bad relationships, along with the discovery of their faults: Jon realized that his dad was only human and Chris realized that his father had two women in his life. In "The Alaska Interior"(ch. 16), Krakauer explains Chris "Alaskan Odyssey." I was kinda confused in the beginning of the story because it started in the middle of the full story. He cleared it for me. Chris left Carthage, South Dakota and came upon Liard River Hotsprings. Then a truck driver, Gaylord Stuckey, gave him a ride to Alaska. He drove him to the University of Alaska campus, where he got a book of Alaskan plants. He then walked along the highway leading to the Stampede Trail, where he met Jim Gallien(who was mentioned in the  beginning). Chris reached the Teklanika River, which he couldn't cross when he planned on returning home. He was forced to go back into the wild.

Into the Wild #4

      I really like this book. But, it just keeps getting sadder and sadder. I felt so bad for his parents, Billie(which I learned today is not her real name!) and Walt, and especially bad for Carine, his beloved little sister. When Chris Fish, her husband broke the bad news to her, she started balling nonstop and gradually lost 10 pounds. Poor girl. I felt he was her best friend, not just her brother. And I just wish that Chris was a little more considerate and appreciative of his parents, who started from nothing and worked day and night to send him to a great college. But, I really think Chris is good person. He was the kind that loved to help the less fortunate and he didn't fit in with the capitalist society because he thought money was corrupt and a bad thing to have too much of. I admire him for having this outlook, because money isn't everything and sometimes it becomes peoples' idols. We should appreciate nature more and the good stuff in life. I can't believe he dedicated some days to buying meals for homeless people that could've been a harm to him. He doesn't care though; he's a helper.
      Well, today I read like thirty pages and it started off with "fairbanks", where Gallien, the man the book started off with driving "Alex", recognized who the dead man was in The New York Times: Alex (I like how Krakauer started the book with a character we don't know but will be later introduced).Westerberg did too and gave his Social Security number. His family was crushed when they found out. They really loved him; his poor mom lost 8 pounds, being already petite. Chris's grandpa, Loren Johnson, was a great influence in his life; he was a man who loved animals and had a great interest in the wild. He had a great impact in his life. In a way, I wish they never met, even though he really adored his grandfather. I don't think he'd be inspired to trek to Alaska on his own had he met an adventurer like his grandfather. I also wish that Chris took his beloved dog, Buckley, before he went journeying after high school. He wouldn't take the risks he did with him, because he wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him. He was a dear friend of his. I feel bad for Chris when he found out that Walt was married previously, to Marcia. It left him mad deep inside for quite a while. I would be hurt and frustrated too. He barely contacted his parents after he left, he just sent a few postcards. He kept them worried and terrified. Well, I hope it doesn't get even sadder!

Into the Wild #3

      Into the Wild is so interesting to me, mainly because the author switches between time periods throughout the book. In chapter eight, the author says that many people thought McCandless's death was foolish. Of course, it wasn't very smart of him to venture into danger-filled Alaska with hardly enough supplies but, I admire him for his determination, his passion for pursuing the life he longs, and the courage he had to go to Alaska, alone on top of that. I don't really like how the author started talking about other people who went to dangerous places and died, such as John Waterman and Everett Ruess. I think the story should be focused on Chris's life.
      Anyway, the author brought up a man, Gene Rosellini, who designed an anthropological experiment to see if  it's possible to live independent of technology. His hypothesis was that "man could become a Stone Age native." He learned that it's not possible, though. I thought that this was kind of ironic when you compare his mentality to McCandless's; they're complete opposites. John Waterman, a man who died on his journey, reminded me of Chris because they both were courageous and did what they wanted. Carl McCunn also reminds me of him; they were both fascinated with the harsh side of nature. The author then talks about  Everett Ruess, a 20 year-old who walked into the desert and never came out. After he got his diploma, he was out on the road, like McCandless. Ruess's letters are so similar to Chris's. They both talk about how they can't stand life how we live it and they go on and on and on about the beauty and freedom of nature. They feel the same way about life: it should be lived to the fullest, in beautiful nature where there are no rules or laws. McCunn, McCandless and Ruess really have a lot in common. Both Chris and Everett gave themselves new names: "Alexander Supertramp" and "Lan Rameau"(which changed to Evert Rulan and then back to his real name), suggesting that they wanted to start new lives. And lastly, they can both be compared to the Papar, people from Ireland who moved to the island of Papos in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. They were courageous people who risked their lives for better lives. Until next time!

Into the Wild #2

I like Into the Wild a lot, even though it's kind of sad. It's a little confusing how the author switches from different time periods throughout the book. For example, McCandless's death was mentioned in the beginning of the story and then as you read on, it talks about his journey to Alaska. It's okay though because it makes it more interesting that way. Well, anyway, I read three chapters today. Sometime after he went to Las Vegas, he went to Bullhead City, Arizona. He got a job at McDonald's and on a few pages, his manager and assistant manager talk about him: he was a little strange, but he was a reliable, good boy. In chapter 6, Chris meets Ronald Franz, an eighty year-old who really grew attached to him. The chapter starts off with a letter sent from him asking for a copy of the Outside magazine that talks about Chris's death. Then, the chapter talks about how they met and so on. I like how the author kind of fast-forwards and then starts with the beginning of the story. It catches your attention. One day at the bajada, Chris meets Franz, who offers a ride. He accepts and tells him to go past Oh-My-God Hot Springs(strange name, there). Franz gets really close to him, teaches him how to work with leather, and gives him a ride to San Diego, just because he wants to be with him. While they were driving, he asked Chris if he could adopt him as his grandson but, he kind of ignored it. This was really sad to me because Franz really liked him, enough to fill the gap of his dead son. Chris didn't want to have anything to do with relationships and human intimacy, though. Franz even took his advice to live a new life similar to Chris's new life, a free life on the road full of adventure.When he found out he died in Alaska, he was so crushed. :( Chris later returned to Westerberg in Carthage for work, to earn money for his "great Alaskan odyssey". It seems everyone was fascinated by him: Borah, Westerberg, Franz, Bob and Jan Burres, and even Mrs. Westerberg, who wasn't fond of any of her son's employees; he was special. On April 27, 1992, Chris sent letters to Westerberg and Jan and Bob Burres that this would be the last time they'd communicate. He now walks into the wild.

Into the Wild

Today, I began reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, and I really like it so far. It's a really interesting story about a 24 year old man who journeys into Alaska. I've never read a story similar to it and I think it's pretty unique. So, Chris McCandless, or "Alex" ventures into Alaska basically to invent a new life, a non-materialistic, free one. He escapes federal law and "things." He gives $25,000 to OXFAM, a charity, and burns the rest of it. The story starts off with Jim Gallien's discovery of "Alex" and picks him up in his Ford. Near the Stampede Trail, a bus has been left, in which 3 men get into. Later on, they find a note from Chris and his body, dead in the bus. This kinda surprised me, that the death came so early into the book. Well anyway, in Carthage, he met Wayne Westerberg at a bar, who took him to his friend's home, whose wife cooked him a nice meal.They became fond of each of other and he gave Chris a job, until he was arrested. So, he left and headed for a nomadic life. In  Detrital Wash, Chris crossed the "do not enter sign" or whatever it said with his yellow Datsun and it got stuck in a flash flood. He decided to just leave it there(the park rangers made good use of it). I got to the part-chapter 5- where Chris got a ride from some men to El Golfo de Santa Clara, where he dragged his found canoe to the ocean, followed by the beach. He's now in Las Vegas. I really like the author's style of writing because he doesn't try to write all "fancy" with a lot profound words. You feel like  he's talking with you or something. I planned to read a certain amount of pages today but it was so interesting that I kept going! Well, anyway I looked up some words. congenial-(adj.) agreeable, suitable, or pleasing contumacious-(adj.) stubbornly perverse or rebellious enigmatic-(adj.) perplexing, mysterious convivial-(adj.) friendly, agreeable. See you later, blog!

Awesome Ending

Today, I finished How To Read Literature Like a Professor! I liked chapter 25, "Don't Read With Your Eyes." I was kind of puzzled when I first read the title but, once you read on, it becomes clear what he means. He means that you shouldn't read with your eyes and your eyes only; you should look at things with different perspectives. In Homer's The Iliad, Achilles throws a fit because his slave has been taken from him and he slaughters every Trojan in his sight. We would see this as evil, terrible, unjust and just plain bad. But to an ancient Greek, this would appear different. You can't look at things in one way. In chapter 26, Foster talks about irony. Once again, he says' "Irony trumps everything." A nice example of irony: in Waiting For Godot, two men are stranded in a desolate country and they have the option to travel a road near them. But they don't. They choose not to, even though they can escape their desolation by going. Pretty ironic, I'd say. In the last chapter, ch. 27(my favorite), Foster gave us a test case, "The Garden Party", by Katherine Mansfield, a short story to analyze. I really liked it. The Sheridans are having a garden party that starts off with a marquee being placed in their beautiful garden full of karaka-trees, lavender, and fruit clusters. They're quite wealthy and have a cook, who prepared 15 kinds of sandwiches. yummy. Out of nowhere, Laura sees Sadie, cook, and the Godber's man staring at something in shock. At what? A dead man! Out of the blue. It was a man from the cottages below their home who had been killed. Laura told Jose that the party must be thrown off but she, along with her mother, thought that it was unnecessary. It seems like Laura is the only one with a heart; no one else cared. When the party ended, Laura had the idea of giving the leftovers and lilies to the family of the lost man. When she went on over with her gift basket, a woman answered the door and told her to walk in, ordered her to. She saw the "beautiful", in her words, dead man laying in bed. She let out a loud sob and when leaving, saw Laurie.
So, what does this story signify?
My answer: I think that Mansfield is trying to say that you shouldn't take things for granted. Laura comes from a wealthy family, as seen by the hundreds of fancy lilies, a personal cook, and their satin hats. When Laura goes over to the family of the dead man, she sees how other peoples' lives can be. They are poor and the cottages they live in are known for being filthy. There's a big difference between the quality of living of rich and poor. I believe that's why she cried in their home. She said to Laurie when she returned, "Isn't life-" and couldn't finish. I don't know what she wanted to say but you could tell that she was sad and didn't know how to express it.
Foster asked 3 people the same thing and I came pretty close to 2.(I'm kinda proud of myself :) ). The college major said that it signifies the indifference of the dominant class of people to the suffering of others and the other said pretty much the same. The 3rd compared it to birds and flight. Amazing analysis. I really liked the ending and it got me thinking like a professor. Bye!

There's Only One Story!

How To Read Literature Like a Professor

Seasons matter. We always associate seasons with decline. mid age, tiredness, yet harvest. That's why poets use seasons, either obviously or subtly, to bring ideas we're familiar with to our minds. For example, poet W.H. Auden uses the gloomy connotations  of winter to describe the death of dearly missed W.B Yeats. Or in Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, he talks about the season's coming of end, but the poem's really about his coming of old age. Pay attention to seasons! My favorite chapter is "One Story" because it's so fascinating. Foster says "There's only one story". I never realized it: there really is only one story, if you think about it a certain way. Yes, One. The number 1. That's it. When poets write something, they either talk about us-and-the-world or us-in-the-world. There's a connection between everything; no story is fully original. John Barth complains that all the stories have been used. Funny! But really, it's true in a way. When writers write, they are, whether they're aware or not, influenced by what they have read in their lifetimes. History of the things we read never leaves us. It's a part of us. This even falls into movies. Example: Movie westerns are inspired by other movie westerns that have been influenced by you guessed  it, other movie westerns. It rattles my mind because it's so true. Foster says himself in this chapter, "The movies you have seen were created by men and women who had seen others, and so on, until every movie connects with every other movie ever made." Couldn't have said it better myself. In the next chapter, he says that a physical deformity shouldn't be looked over because it means something. Just think of Harry Potter's scar and you'll believe it. Oh, and "It's never just heart disease." Nope. Think about what the heart symbolizes. Love, passion, stuff like that. So if a guy has heart disease, he might have had(metaphorically speaking) bad love, cruelty, or loneliness in his life. In "The Man of Adamant"(1837), the man, with a stone heart, thinks all people are sinners and avoids human contact by living in a limestone cave. Because of the calcium in the water, his heart literally turns to stone. Well, I found these chapters to be really relate-able to and interesting. Bye!!

Why, Hello There, Blog!

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

I'm sorry, I'm going to be frank and say it flatly. I don't like this book very much. Foster keeps using examples from books I've never even heard of and it's hard to relate to him because I'm not familiar with the stories. But, I still think he is pretty funny. Anyway, I read a lot today. Woohoo! So, in chapter 18, he got my attention by asking' "I'm walking down the road and suddenly I fall into a pond. What happens?" Then he said,"I mean, if you drown, you drown. If you get out, maybe all it means is you can swim." I thought that whole discussion was kinda funny. Well, he kept on going and started to talk about the significance of surviving a fall in water. Basically, when someone falls in water and makes it, it's baptism. That kind of shocked me for a moment because well, that's an analysis I wouldn't ever think about. It sounds weird, but why else would an author throw in a random drowning scene. In Ordinary People (1976), 2 brothers sail on Lake Michigan. They start to drown. One makes it and the other sadly, doesn't. Everyone thought it was weird that the "stronger", older brother didn't make it, while the younger did. Anyway, the younger one hung on the boat and survived. So what, you ask? Well, symbolically, he was reborn (that's the baptism part). He came back as a new person with a new position in the world, because of his missing brother. I thought that was a really good example to convince me. Another example: in The Horse Dealer's Daughter (1922), Mabel is rescued by a local doctor when she's drowning. When she's out of the water, she's covered in some fluid, naked and is then cleaned by the doctor. Does that ring a bell? It's like being born again. Baptism. Kinda weird stuff but I think Foster used good examples to prove his point. I think it's really cool how little things in stories can take on such huge meanings. It makes me want to analyze everything I read now. Just in case. Oh and also, I learned that geography can play a big part in setting mood and in character development. That is all. Bye!  
Vocab:    
Traverse-(v.) to make one's way through, across, or over Sordid-(adj.) not clean
Dalliance-(n.) activity engaged to amuse oneself Serendipity-(n.) luck, good fortune Umpteen-(adj.) innumerable, many

Almost There!

How to Read Literature Like a Professor 

"It's All Political." Foster discussed how lit can sometimes mention politics. He found connections to politics in the Christmas Carol(he uses A LOT of examples to help prove his point). He pointed out that the story attacks the way we look at our social responsibilities, by using grumpy old Scrooge. Weird, huh. I wouldn't have thought of it. In my opinion, Political lit is pretty interesting because it involves current world issues and stuff going on now. And in "Rip Van Winkle, there's a political meaning behind it, even though it just seems like a weird, pointless story. After he sleeps for 20 years (weird), he wakes up and arrives home to his dead wife and different hotel signs. It turns out though that the American Revolution has taken place when he was asleep. The hotel sign that once had a picture of King George now has a picture of pres. George Washington. Once again, I NEVER would've guessed. Yep, Foster is really analytical. Even though this book is kinda hard to understand, Foster is pretty funny. "I took just enough physics in high school to master one significant fact: human beings cannot fly." and "If it isn't human, it flies." and "But a Christ figure doesn't need to resemble Christ in every way,  otherwise......he'd be Christ." I like how he doesn't speak very formally, he says some jokes and little funny things, kind of like in a conversation. Here's another of his sayings: flight is freedom. Oh, and irony trumps everything. Now, chapter 16 was um, well.....awkward. Real awkward. Let's just say it's about a subject that's inappropriate. Yeah, we'll leave it at that. Anyway, I'll be back soon!  :)

Reading, Reading, Reading

 How to Read Literature Like a Professor

I thought it was really funny when the author said, "It's never just rain." It's much more special than just droplets of water falling from the sky; there's some meaning to it. Foster said that at times, Noah is what it signifies. Ya know, plenty of rain, the flood, the giant ark and of course, the peaceful rainbow at the end. There can be a biblical parallel when you find a rain scene. Rain sets a mood of scariness and mysteriousness. I mean, when haven't you wanted to start off a scary story with "It was a dark and stormy night"? That's the first line that pops up in my mind. Rain can  be cleansing, symbolically. In A Farewell of Arms(1929), the grieving protagonist walks out of the hospital into pouring rain. Rain's associated with life-giving in the the spring, not with death. That's strangely ironic. Well, as you can see, rain can be used for a lot of different reasons. He also talks about what's so special about fog, snow, and rainbows. Rainbows symbolize peace between heaven and earth. So, next time I read literature and spot a rainbow, I'll advance past the pot of gold and leprechauns and try to find the underlying message. I think Foster thinks of some pretty strange analyzes, but they're funny and really get you thinking about different ways to look at things. Not just simply reading, but reading in between the lines. If a symbol can be reduced to only one meaning, it's not symbolism, it's allegory. Symbols can have many meanings, however you interpret it.

Vocab!!!

1. Malicious- (adj.) having a desire to cause harm to someone
2. Verisimilitude- (n.) the quality of depicting realism
3. Bludgeoning- (n.) a hit with heavy impact
4. Indignant- (adj.) feeling or showing anger because of something unjust
5. Grandeur- (n.) magnificence