The Crucible

               This book, "the crucible", was very interesting.  But it had a lot of lackluster for me, by the way that it was written and presented.  I know that it was suppose to be that way, but i feel that if this was just presented as a regular novel, it would have had the chance to be more exciting and suspenseful that it already did. The actual content of the story kept it going, though. I do have to give it credit for being in a play-type format though, because that made reading it a lot more unique and different.  The story did not apply as much symbolism as I would have liked, as i look for things like that while reading to make the story form a bigger picture for me.   One of the most outlandish themes that I found in "The Crucible", is that of rumors being spread, and a very very high amount of finger pointing.  If there was no finger pointing in this story, due to either religious beliefs, accusations of being a witch, or love-affairs, there would not have been a major theme, or a good story.

                "The Crucible", as a whole highly reminded me of our last novel we had read, "The Scarlett Letter."  Due to the old timely - religious (if you dont believe in god, you are the devil) kind of stuff.  Both books had adultery as a theme, being that of Proctor and Abigail, and the obvious in The Scarlett Letter.  But, "The Crucible" packs a bigger punch with the whole, "Salem witch trials" and "pointing finger" aspects.  Both novels have gossip as a theme, but the Crucible goes very far, with people dieing of these accusations of becoming witches.  Setting was not a very important theme, but also it was i guess, because it was happening in Salem, now historically known for its witch trials. (yes i know i just contradicted myself) I dislike the character "Abigail" for obvious reasons, but much like Daisy (the great Gatsby) I loved to hate her. She made the story what it is today, and added all the drama  and despair that makes a great novel.

             When I first started to read this book, well actually before I started, I though that it was going to be made up characters going through a true story.  But as i continued reading, names started sounding very familiar to me, for example Abigail Williams.  A light bulb went off in my head, when I saw the mentioning of Bridget Bishop, who was accused of witchcraft.  I had remembered  that last year in Mr.Escalera's class, we had to big someone from the witch trials and I had done a report on her, and it struck me, THESE WERE REAL PEOPLE! dun dun dun.  Anyways, this put the story in a completely different perspective for me and made the story all the more real.  Another thing that made this story realistic is that, stuff like this goes on all the time. In my life, in your life, in everyones life.  In a way we are all Mary, being accused of rumors, being Abigail, being a bully, and so forth. This made the story a lot more easy to read as it sort of related to my life. (no i am not a witch. just saying, but maybe my Mom is... she is from Oregon.) 

                 AHH! Overall the book kind of interested me, and yet again Im glad I read it because I never would have before. Five down, one to go! -Maxwell

 

The Scarlet Letter

                  This novel, "The Scarlet Letter", was actually an interesting book, and for that time, I found it to be very racy.  Things like adultry "cheating" these days, are not a big deal honestly.  It is now a very personal and private thing, unless you are some sort of a celebrity.  But back then,  in very religous times it was a huge deal, and women, like Hester.  This gave women like this a kind of infamy, and there affairs and the children they had were open to the public for critizism.  Throughout the story, a huge theme that I had found was that of Sin, and Guilt.  In those times, the people who believed in God as a high power were good, and those who didnt were evil.  They deemed those who dont follow the ways of god sinners, and the acts that they did that god would not want us to do were sins.  To me, the main sin of the story was of course that of Hester and Dismadale, but also, the revenge of Chillingworth was a great sin.  He did not feel the immense guilt that haunted Dismadale though, because he was the ministor was was suppose to be a higher power connected to god.  The entire plot and theme of the book revolve around his sins, and the guilt that strikes him until the very end when he reveals his "scarlett letter" that he shared with Hester.

                    The most interesting relashionship that i found throughout the book is that of Pearl and her mother.  Even though she is a child of sin and made her life so difficult and full of hate, Hester loves her child and early on in the book when she is threatend to have Pearl taken away from her, she is worried and confronts the governeor about it.  I beilive that the reason Hester loved Pearl so much is because in a sense she was all she had at that time, and needed someone.  I also belive that Hester never thought of Pearl to be a demon child like the rest of the town did.  The beginning of the novel was very realisitc, where the narrorator begins to find things leading him to writing the story, but the story was not realisitc, and had a sense of fairytale and witchcraft, like for example when the sun does not light of Hester before she takes of her scarlett letter.

               I found alot of Symbolism in the story, and i believe this book has had more than in any other book that we have read so far.  The biggest symbol i found, was the acutal scarlet letter.  It represented a huge theme in the novel, as i said before, sin.  Other symbols that i found relevant to the story were the Meteor,  being a letter "A", but i was surpised that the town took it as a good omen.  The theme of sin also has a symobl in the story, i found that to be Pearl.  I havnt encounterd a lot of actual characters being symbols, but it makes since because she is the spawn of a sin, and is a living breathing thing that is present throughout the story.

         Overall,  the novel was interesting and was actually a favorable book that I have read.  I though that most of the books we had to read this summer were ones that I was not going to like.  I liked the book because it made you think, but not in the way that the Great Gatsby did.  Unlike the Great Gatsby, which makes you wonder what is going to happen in the future, this book makes you wonder what is going to happen right now to the characters, and when the book ends, the characters are at a greater peace, the main characters are in fact of the highest form of peace, which is death.

                                I cant believe summer reading is almost over! This book was a good one, and the Crucible looks very interesting. Hmm.... Be back next week.  - Maxwell

               

The Great Gatsby

When I first started reading this book, within the first couple chapters I could tell I was going to like it. There was alot going on, and after finishing it I can it is my favorite book so far from are summer reading list. The book always has something new happening, whether it a new love trianngle, death, party. The story and the characters kept me interested the entire time, and I found myself finishing the entire book in only two days, since I didnt really want to put it down. It was not too long, but for such a small book it packed a great story. Also, i loved the way the author paced and wrote the novel.

The whole book reminded me of now could be a modern dramatic tv show, and the whole thing keeps going until the final resolution, whether good or tragic, in the end. I dislike the character Daisy, since she is so superfiacal, although, without her the story wouldnt have been half as intersesting. The setting is importrant because the characters act different, and it depends which egg they are in, as Nick desribes early on. I htink the relashionship between Nick and Tom is intersting because Nick is more nice and quiet, while Tom is an arrogant racist who likes to start promblems.

The theme that I saw the most in the book, and that carried most of the story until the dramatic climax, was do not hold on to the past. Gatbsy wanted Daisy so bad he changed his whole life, started throwing parties. If I were Gatsby at this point, I wouldv'e probably started to realize Dasiy is superficail and has chosen Tom over me, and wouldve let go. His incapibility of letting go results in his demise. In the end, his love her and his lavish life eventually got him killed. I think the point of the story is to move forward and let go of the past, much like Nick does and the very end of the novel by moving back to the midwest, leaving all the drama of West & East Egg behind, while also leaving his love Jordan behind. I also found irony when Myrtle is struck by the car by Daisy, making her kill Tom's lover, and Daisy and tom being togehter in the end.

As you can tell i gave this book a positive review, I dont know if i will say the same thing for The Scarlett Letter, as it seems very difficult. We'll see....

The Grapes of Wrath

Within first glance of the book, I could see that it was going to be challenging. After finishing, I can say that my assumption is correct. I thought I would not like the book, but I actually found myself interested in the story, although the was slow paced, and in a sense, tragic. I really like books that make me use my mind, and this book did, due to the constant misfortunes of the Joad family, and the bigger picture, the struggle between the tentant farmers, & landowners. The book provides alot of symbolism, which at first, I did not realize. After thinking about it, in Chapter 3, the turtle sets the theme for the whole story, struggling to get through a busy street, and after almost dieing, gets back up and continues its journey. The Joad family does this nearly the entire story.

Setting in the story is very important, because, it it constantly changing. The changing setting allowed the novel to be more interesting and vast. This is similar to are last book, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. There are 3 characters that I admire the most in the story, because I could not choose just one. The first is Tom, because at the end he chooses to become the legacy of his now died freind Jim, and becomes a sort of Advocate of peace & good. The second is Ma Joad, because i noticed that she tries to keep the family together the entire novel, and at the end, is sort of a leader of her family. The last, of course has to be Rose of Sharon, because of her selfless act of helping the man at the last moments of the novel. She was always about herself, and now after her horrifying experience of a stillborn baby, finds it in herself to help a starving man. I found this somewhat remarkible, and that is the reason I admire her.

As i said earlier, the book has alot of symbolism and the story is very tragic at points. In the end, to me, alot of the symbolism was foreshadowing to tragic events. Another big symbol was the death of the family dog by a rich person in the car, being killed and not looked at twice. Also, i found it tragic that alot of the members did not make it to the end of story, being together. Although i dont know if this is nessicarly bad, since the book does not end with the Joad family being at peace. I found the ending very dissapointing at that the family that journeyed so far and so long, looking for work, food, and a better opportunity deserved better than being left at a barn not knowing what is coming next.

Even though there was a dissapoiting ending, the story was overall well written, challenging, and made me think. I wonder what the next book will have in store. -Maxwell