In comparing The House of the Scorpion to the other works we have read this semester, the obvious theme to me that has connected them all is the question over what exactly makes one human, and just who can be considered human. What differentiates The House of the Scorpion is that it is the only […]
November 29, 2011
November 22, 2011
Pag’s savior?
It started out like any other day. I went to the playground to play alone. I had only one friend, Siri, but I couldn’t even trust him anymore. That’s the story of my life, I’m so much of a freak that the only person who would hang out with me became an even bigger freak. […]
November 17, 2011
“Species Don’t Go Extinct. Now they go on hiatus.”
This quote from Deborah Maclennan on p. 357 perfectly captures a major theme of Blind Sight. This quote could really be applied to anything we have read so far as a class. These seemingly simple sentences can be very thought provoking. In the context of Blind Sight, this quote clearly applies to the vampires, which […]
November 1, 2011
Dear Akin
It is impossible for me to express in words the joy I feel in anticipating your arrival in this world. Looking back at my life, I cannot believe it has been over 250 years since my birth. I can barely remember the life I had before the war. It has been a struggle, but I […]
October 27, 2011
Consent and Agency
As we discussed in class on Tuesday, on of the most prevalent issues in Octavia Butler’s Dawn is the concept of consent, and whether Lilith ever could truly consent to what the Ooloi wanted her to do. I noticed this theme became even more dominant in the second half of the story. I believe this […]
October 18, 2011
Roseanne’s Parrot
Page 19 struck me as one of the memorable scenes of WE3. Here, the first scene with Roseanne comes to a close as she’s getting ready to leave her home, trying to get her parrot, Charlie, to talk. After one last effort to get Charlie to talk, Roseanne leaves before she can hear Charlie say […]
September 29, 2011
Confusion in Neuromancer
I’ve enjoyed reading the first 12 chapters of Neuromancer, but I do find myself having to reread several pages and having difficulty visualizing certain parts. In the first chapters, this was mainly due to the Japanese references as we had discussed in class. Moving to chapters 7-12, my confusion continued. First, when the team traveled […]
September 20, 2011
Race relations in The Comet
More so than most other science fiction I have read, there is an obvious deeper message present in The Comet beyond the comet itself. Rather, the themes of racism and race relations seemed to dominant The Comet, something that I did not find surprising given that the author, W.E.B Du Bois, is best known for […]
September 15, 2011
Frankenstein’s monster
My first post touched on my expectations when I started the novel, and how the novel differed. Continuing with that theme, the depiction of the monster itself and its relationship to Victor also struck me. Beginning with the monster’s physical appearance, the focus on the yellow eyes, with no mention of the typical tall, clumsy […]
September 5, 2011
Frankenstein- Volume 1
Volume one of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was not quite the novel I expected it to be. In the first volume, Shelley provided deep insights into the character of Victor Frankenstein’s early life, going back to his early childhood all the way through his experiences studying science at Ingolstadt. Shelley also introduces us to family members […]