Holes- Dig It

I'm not blogging this week, but I thought I would share the D Tent rap "Dig It" from the movie. I really love this song haha! It's Stanley, Zig-Zag, X-Ray, Armpit and Zero. Enjoy!

MC Higgins

So, this is not really part of my blog for this week, but I had an interesting experience while reading MC Higgins concerning what imaginative literature is, so I thought I would share it. If you are not at all interested, skip down to paragraph 3 to read my actual blog for today.

I work as a cart girl at a golf course, and I often take books to read while I'm stopped waiting for the golfers to hit. Sometimes I take leisurely books, other times I take text books or novels I have to read for homework. This weekend, I took MC Higgins, and while I was reading, I noticed something interesting happening. Even though I didn't feel that this text engaged me as much as some of the other texts we have read, when I had to suddenly stop reading because a golfer was pulling up, I noticed that it would take me a few seconds to snap out of a trance. It was almost like the voice in my head that was reading was far off in this other world and when I had to come back to reality the voice would have to slowly but abruptly fade out. I've never noticed this before because when I read at home, I have no interruptions and I can take my time coming out of the world. But at the golf course I am forced to leave the world sometimes and it presents a sharp contrast between the world of what I'm reading and reality. I had never had this experience before when I was reading a text book at work. I find it easy to stop what I'm reading and it has no effect on me. I was beginning to think that this has something to do with elements of imaginative fiction. I believe that imaginative fiction is something that sucks you so completely out of your world and into the world of the book. I think maybe some of us don't realize how much a piece of imaginative literature can suck us in, unless we have the sharp and sudden contrasts between the two worlds. I think the fact that MC Higgins is able to do this, even without a deep connection to the book, and text books can't says something about the nature of imaginative literature.

Whew! Sorry that was a bit lengthy. For this blog, I wanted to focus on the flashbacks that MC has of Sarah. One of the passages I marked as difficult and confusing is the one on page 26-27 where MC is thinking about is Mama and Daddy being in the ground "Dead a long time." Then he starts thinking of how Sarah is buried in the yard and how she first came to the mountain. I thought this passage was really strange and disjointed. It reminded me of a story I read called "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," which is a stream of consciousness story. I remember reading Granny Weatherall and thinking it was so confusing because it follows Granny's thoughts (or stream of consciousness), which, like all human beings, are all over the place.

After reading this passage I began to think that perhaps some form of stream of consciousness is used in MC Higgins. This could be one of the things that makes the text difficult. When I was thinking about this and taking a closer look at the text, I noticed that in some places there seems to be a shifting of view points. For example on page 3 of the text it says:

Bet I haven't caught a single rabbit, just like on Thursday and Saturday, too.

He had to check all three of his rabbit traps and then get home to wait for this new dude to arrive.

One sentence we are inside MC's head, and the next we are outside. This occurs in many places throughout the text. I think this is one of the things that makes the text difficult, but I also think it can contribute nicely to our understanding of MC maturation. It's definitely a different way of looking at a story and of getting inside the protagonist's skin.

Since another element of confusion in the text was the pole, I thought I would post a picture that I found. This is another cover of the book, but I think it might be a better representation of the pole because it actually has the tricycle wheels on it. However, this does not make me feel better about the pole, it still seems exceptionally dangerous!!

Parental Figures in A Single Shard

With this unit, we have been focusing on what it means to be a child without parents. While I was reading A Single Shard, I thought of another question. I began to think that the authors were questioning what exactly a parent was and what constituted being a parent. Is it biological, or is it something to do with the people who take care of you and look after your well being?

This thought came to me because I felt such a deep connection with Crane-Man. When I found out he had died, I literally had to take a five minute break from reading to control my tears. I wasn't sure why, but I was really upset by this and

I imagine Tree-Ear would have felt some of the same emotions. When I thought more, I realized that Crane-Man meant so much to me because he was like a father to Tree-Ear. He gave him advice, made him sandals, and sometimes cooked for him. This is when I started to realize that maybe Tree-Ear wasn't so parentless after all. Not only did he have Crane-Man but he also had Ajima and even Min served as a parent figure. Ajima and Min even take Tree-Ear in at the end, and give him a new name that is similar to their biological son's name. We know that Crane-Man was important to Tree-Ear because we are led to believe that Tree-Ear makes a very famous vase in the end, called "The Thousand Cranes" vase. We can also see the how important Tree-Ear is to Crane-Man because when his body is found, they discover he was clutching the celadon monkey that Tree-Ear had made him in his hand.

After I thought about the parental figures in A Single Shard, I started thinking about the other books we have read in this unit. All except Pippi Longstocking have had some sort of parental figure. Lyra has a whole slew of parental figures that look after her well-being, even though she finds out her biological parents are still alive, it is the people who care for and nurture her that seem to be the real parents. Saaski has Yanno, Anwara and Old Bess, and even though these are more like adoptive parents, they still take care of Saaski and protect her from the villagers.

This leads me to conclude that the authors of these books are perhaps saying something more about the role of a parent and what it means to be a parent and a family, especially since there is no "norm" for how a family is structured.

So I googled Thousand Cranes Vase and came up with a few pictures of it, and also some other celadon pottery I thought was cool.

Peter Pan Through a Child's Eyes

Today in class we were talking a lot about what this novel was saying about what it means to be a child and what it means to be an adult. When Shawn (Sean?) said that Peter Pan is a child, an ideal child, that boys want to be like, it made me think about the differences in the way children and adults view this novel. Perhaps, in order to fully understand and appreciate this novel, the view of a child is needed.

I think it is interesting to note that for the first showing of the play of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie invited children from an orphanage to come view the play. He spread their seats out in the theatre so that they were mixed in with adults. The movie, Finding Neverland depicts this scene, and it becomes clear that the adults were only able to laugh at Nana when they saw the play through the children's eyes. Having the children there helps to remind the adults what it is like to be a child and also helps them to know how a child sees things. Here is a link to a (rather long) clip from the movie that shows this scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR_nJAHVq-U&feature=related

After hearing Shawn and Mary's commentary on the novel, I feel like the same might be true for the novel as the play. A child's perspective is needed because an adult will not be able to fully understand the story of Peter Pan without the help of a child. If just an adult were looking at this text, he might see Peter as a brat or a troublemaker, whereas a child would see him as a heroic adventurer who is everything they wish they could be. Adults have to rely on the innocence and imagination of children to understand this story. Barrie could be using this technique to make adults realize that there are some parts of childhood that they should not let go of.

A Wizard of Earthsea

As I was leaving class today, I was thinking about why it was so difficult for me, and I’m sure some of you, to call Ged a hero. If you go through all the tropes of a hero in high fantasy novels, Ged would be considered a hero. However, there is still a part of me that has a hard time accepting him as a hero. I couldn’t really grasp why I felt so torn about this, until Sarah said she doesn’t think Ged is a hero and that she doesn’t like him.
This made me consider that maybe a part of what we think of as being a hero means being a likable character, like Harry Potter. Harry is a character that is likeable, a character whom the reader can feel close to. Harry has several good friends, including Ron and Hermione, who we also feel close to. I feel so close to these characters in this story that I feel like I’m on the journey with them. I’m not just a reader peering into this world from above, but I’m an active part in it.
I did not feel this way at all toward Ged or any of the other characters in this book. I did not find Ged to be a character that I liked and wanted to spend more time with. I thought A Wizard of Earthsea was entertaining but I’m not absolutely dying to read the next books to find out what happens to Ged. I was simply reading about his journey, not actually there with him experiencing it, like I was with Harry.
I think the likeability of the character has a lot to do with whether or not we see them as heroic. A lot of people brought up questions about Ged’s heroism because his hero’s journey is set in motion only because he commits a selfish act. It seems as though everything Ged does, he does for himself. However, Harry is not very different from Ged in this sense. Harry did not create Lord Voldemort and set him loose on the Earth; but two of his main reasons for standing up against him are to get revenge for his parents death and because if Harry doesn’t kill Lord Voldemort, Lord Voldemort will kill Harry. However, I would say without question that Harry is a true hero.
In Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, I struggled a little with Harry. He was really moody and angry through most of the novel and I almost stopped reading it because it was getting on my nerves. This is the same way I felt about Ged. I was half hoping the shadow would defeat Ged and put us both out of our misery. If Harry had been moody like he was in the fifth book from the beginning, I would not have liked the series and I would have had a hard time accepting him as a hero, even if he did defeat Lord Voldemort.
It's obvious that Le Guin did not try to make Ged a very likeable character. You can tell even by the cover of the book in comparison with Harry Potter that the heroes are different. Harry is smiling, warm and open to the reader. Ged has his back to the reader and we can't see his face; he is not inviting or friendly at all. I think Le Guin may be questioning why we have to have a hero that we love and adore and we look past his faults. Why can't it be someone who is not as likeable, but not any less of a hero than someone like Harry?



Pictures of the Book Covers

Intro to me

Hello!

I'm Stephanie Allen and I'm from Arlington, Texas. I'm an advertising/public relations major but when I graduate I want to pursue a career in teaching. I love to read! I also have to admit that I am a HUGE fan of the Twilight saga. I went to the Twilight convention this summer and it was a blast!

My favorite children's book(s) now are the Harry Potter books (I can't pick a favorite). When I was much younger I really liked to read the American Girl books and The Bailey School Kids books.