The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry moved me and gave me second thoughts about utopias and dystopias. In particular, I took joy in Jonas' emotions and his dissimilarity to the rest of the community. I also enjoyed the theme of this story.
In The Giver, Jonas is the main character and the new Receiver of Memories. Jonas is picked out from the other forty-nine children in his generation for a special duty, to receive memories from the Giver. During times when the Giver gives Jonas memories, Jonas experiences emotions which no one in the community has ever experienced. Jonas begins to see color and the blanket of Sameness is lifted form Jonas. How Jonas deals with these emotions is very intriguing because in our world, we would not have thought that anyone could not have experienced these feelings (warmth, cold, the pain of a sunburn). This newly developed recognition of everything around Jonas sets him apart from the rest of the community. An example would be when Jonas recognizes that an apple is red colored and he tries to tell his friend that the apple is red. His friend does not recognize that the apple is red because of Sameness and thinks Jonas is acting strange. One physical difference of Jonas and the Giver from the rest of the community is that both are said to have "light colored eyes".
The theme of The Giver is a very deep one. What exactly is a utopia and can you have one without a dystopia? The community of The Giver is obviously supposed to be one of a utopia. One can argue that this so called perfect community is, in fact a severely flawed community. For example, if there are twins born, one must be Released while the other goes to the nurturing center. If there is no wrong, is there a right? What's to base off of that tells what is right when there is nothing wrong? This may lead many to think that a utopia cannot exist without there being some sort of dystopia.
I enjoyed The Giver and would recommend this book to anyone who likes almost-modern day sci-fi or to anyone studying utopias and dystopias.

Animal Farm: Thoughts on Orwell's use of animals as characters

This is just my opinion, so people may disagree or see differently than I do, which is awesome.

George Orwell's Animal Farm is a very thought provoking story of the fictional revolution of animals on a farm. George Orwell uses animals as the characters in his story instead of humans, which I thought was odd when I first began to read this story.

This use of animals is effective in helping me to understand how this society is similar to a utopia/dystopia. In my mind, the different animals of Animal Farm are similar to people born with different characteristics such as Boxer seeming to be born into manuel labor and the pigs being more clever and smarter by who they are (as in pigs). Animal Farm is a parallel (is that the right word?) to Joseph Stalin's Soviet Russia during and around World War 2. The animals other than the pigs and dogs can be compared to the proletariat of Soviet Russia during that time. The separation of the animals by species greatly helps to represent who they were, such as the sheep and ducks, who were much less intelligent than Boxer. This separation by species seems close to the separation by a different kind of person/people. This is somewhat hard to describe unless you know what I'm thinking or talking about.

Cross Examination

A: So, what're you doing?
T: Homework.
A: That doesn't look like homework.
T: I mean I was doing homework, but I'm taking a break.
A: So can I see what you were doing for homework?
T: Well, uhh.. I already closed it.
A: Can't you just open it open again?
T: That would take too long, plus I'm busy.
A: But you would only have to make a couple clicks.
T: Well, I'm doing research now.
A: That's Youtube.
T: Yea, I'm doing research on Youtube.
A: What assignment is this?
T: It's the Research-Youtube-by-looking-at-videos-assignment, now get off my case.
A: There's no such assignment.
T: Yea there is..
A: I just looked at the assignment and there's nothing about Youtube on there.
T:Well... umm.... ALRIGHT, I'M NOT ACTUALLY DOING HOMEWORK.
A: I could of told you that.
T: Gaaah!! Look! I'm doing homework now, happy?
A: Wasn't that due three days ago.
T: *throws up his hands and leaves the building*

Finding Hope

they may seem dark at first

billowing a surging

overwhelming

and overpowering

but look closely

you might see it

that edge of silver

at the edge of the cloud

Celebrate

"For what can you celebrate?" I think that I could celebrate being alive. Without being alive, you couldn't really do anything. Every good (and bad) memory you have is due to your aliveness (that doesn't sound phrased right...). At times being alive may seem difficult to celebrate but if you just take a second to think, you may find hope in your situation.

Rain

Here's a blog post that I thought was very interesting. The topic is on one of my most favorite phenomenon of our planet Earth... and that would be rain. I love everything about it. Many times there aren't even words to describe how I feel when rain is pouring outside. I agree with this person's thoughts (though I don't know the songs that he speaks of). Follow my lead.

The Mask I Wear

--->(no sense intended here, so I guess you could call it a rant)

Outside never seems right,
Contained so others won't see.

I wear the mask lightly,

but not tightly.

My haven is safe;
I open up to myself there.

Keeping to myself is what I do,
As solemn as I keep myself.

Truly I'm a virtuous person;
Altruism is what seems to ring out.