It's the end of the beginning

For this image I thought 'Something new but familiar in something well known'
How do I look at literature differently? Yeah I definitely look at it differently than I did before. I always knew that people would read classics and rip them apart word for word to find every meaning behind every word. I never did that. I would consume the book for the story. So reading these books, looking for the meanings and the messages behind the story was new and different. I actually like it sometimes. I see now what people think of the world around them and how they put it into their stories. 1984; George Orwell was describing the world around them, the issues with the government. In that case I believe everyone knew what was going on, but in other cases the people might not; for example the Hunger Games. I read that story last semester and I loved it. I still do. Yet reading it through a second time and being asked different questions about how it compares with to our society made me think about it more. Survivor and other such reality TV shows how are those different from the Hunger Games? The Hunger Games are (for the most part) there to provide amusement for the audience. The audience could help influence the outcome of the games as well. American Idol, Survivor, aren’t these shows the same? Yet the first time I read that book I never made those connections, but the second time around looking for things like that I noticed it. It’s scary to think that we are doing almost the same thing, yet does our world care? Just like those watching the Hunger Games. I’m looking at the media and the world a little differently seeing these connections. The same with Feed and Fahrenheit 451, will we be like them one day? Is the road we are taking today lead us there? Where we talk about nothing, where we don’t understand what real knowledge is and how to use it for the better. Will we backtrack and be worse off because we gained knowledge? It’s hard to say. People are always saying the younger generation is horrible and they aren’t learning as much etc. I wonder about all these things, then I think of all the other novels that I haven’t looked at for their underlying messages. Then I think ‘Oh man, we are going to all die in a nuclear explosion.’ But I’m excited to reread novels and try to make comparisons and find out what their messages are. What else do all these great stories have to say other than their amazing outer shells.

No Books. *cry*

I would cry if I could never read another book in my entire life. I would be bored out of my mind with out books. My summers have been spent reading one to two books a week. That is all I do; read, read, and read. Not to mention what the world would be like without books. History, Science, Math, knowledge in general is all kept in books. Everything would be lost. Our governments could do whatever they want. We would be blind to everything around us. With books and literacy comes the free will and thought of the people. Just look at our history. When the poor started to become literate, they overthrew their old governments and set into motion a fair government.
I'm really not fully certain exactly how we "burn books" everyday. Some books are censored. Many popular books have been censored from grade schools. Some of these include Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, Twilight, and other stories. I read a book in 6th grade called "The Confessions of Charlotte Doyle". There were very violent parts in that book about rape and it freaked me out. So my mom tried to get the school to not entirely remove the book, but just only let older kids be able to read it. I understand age limits on certain books, especially in elementary or middle school. But banning books from High School or from everyone is a completely different scenario.

Hunger Games

I loved the Hunger Games. It was a great book and well written. I was constantly on edge wondering what was going to happen. The main character never dies especially if there is another book, but how she survives is what kept my attention drawn. This novel is similar to the other novels we've read because it's attacking the government and going against what they say or demand. My reaction to the love triangle of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale was really intense. I say that her and Gale should be together. I liked Peeta, but her and Gale have been closer a lot longer. Also at the end with the turn of events saying that only one person would now win, I couldn't imagine Katniss or Peeta turning on each other. I was sure that something else would kill one or the other, like one of the dogs or something like that. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.