Thursday, September 30, 2010

Harrison Bergeron

Title and author: Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Biography:   Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 11, 1922. He was born to Kurt Vonnegut Sr. and Edith Lieber, both second generation German-American.  He eventually joined the army in world war two, where he was captured during the battle of the bulge.He also witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden, where he was named leader of the POW's because he spoke German. Until he told them what he was going to do to them when the Russians arrived. When the war was over he recieved the purple heart award for what he called a ludicrously negligible wound. Some of his works include Harrison Bergeron, Breakfast of Champions and Timequake.
 Kurt Vonnegut died in New York City on April 11, 2007.

Symbol:   http://www.dog-online.co.uk/images/cage1_03.jpg This picture represents the state of the world in this story. Everyone is completely equal. But they are trapped.  Those who have more skills, are smarter or better looking are punished with masks, chains and things to cage peoples talents. Nobody can truly be who they could be. If you try to break free of these things, you are punished again, by death or by being put in jail. No matter what you do in this world, you are trapped.

Response: 2. What parts of the story are exaggerated? What do you think was the author's purpose in using exaggeration so extensively? 
 I believe that the most exaggerated parts of this story are the handicaps. Such as the handicaps for Harrison himself. Earmuffs made to give him headaches along with glasses that make him half blind, helping with the headaches. Not only is there that, but he also has enough weight on him to stop any normal man in his tracks. And nearly everyone has a handicap! The weight some of these people are forced to wear would seem impossible for the average human being to be able to take now.
        3. What do George's and Hazel's reactions at the end of the story reveal about the quality of life in their society?
 The end of this story reveals that these people have a very low quality of life. Even the emotions of people must seemingly be equal. No one may be sad while someone else is happy. They are made to forget the whole ordeal. As if it had never happened. Or maybe it's just that people have grown so accustomed to seeing these terrible things happen on t.v that humans have developed a way to simply block out the bad memories.
      4. a) What is the situational irony in the story? What would you suspect a society to be like where everyone is equal?
  I would expect a society where everyone is equal to be almost a paradise. There would be no need for war, crime or anything terrible. There would never be any greed, or famine or hate. There would be no reason to hate because everyone is equal. There wouldn't be any world hunger because everyone would have the same amount of money, food, light and heat. Instead, it's forcing people into depression. Punishing those who have anything better, making them suffer.
          b) What point do you think the author is making through the irony?
  Not everything in the idea of equality is great.  And even though we think it may be great now, what will we think when it actually happens? We will simply accept it and move on? Or will we fight to keep things the way they are. People are competitive by nature, and if everyone is the same,  nobody can win in the competition.
   5.  What are some other books/ movies you know of about planned utopias that turned out to be the opposite? If you could create a utopia, what would it be like?
  The island is seemingly a paradise for many people, or so they think. They then discover that the people in the island are just clones, made for organs, children and blood for their real human counterparts.  In my ideal utopia, not everyone would be completely equal in the sense of the story Harrison Bergeron.  Everyone would be equal as a person, but people who have advantages on other would be able to keep those. They wouldn't suffer for being better.   Competitions would still be held, people would be able to train for things as much as they want, and get as good as they want. There wouldn't be any hunger or homelessness because everyone would have a home, and food!

      i) Why do you think the author wrote the text?
       I think the author wrote the text to make us think about what the world might be if everyone were equal. There are many different views of a world of equality. And this just represents one of them.
      ii) What does the author want you to think about?
       The author wants us to think about what a future utopia may be like. Some people may see it as a terrible thing, where people live depressed and suffering because of their advantages over other people. Then again, some people see it as the perfect place. The latter would be better.
      iii) Do you belong to any of the groups in the text?
      I would probably belong with the handicapped people. I wouldn't want to be handicapped, I'd hate it and would want to fight it. But would I really fight? I'd probably to scared of what might happen to me if I joined Harrison. But not only to me, but also the people I know.
      iv) Does the story remind you of a real-life event (your own or others)?  
      It does not remind me of anything.
      v) Does the story remind you of another book or movie on a similar topic?
      Again, this reminds me of the island. A seemingly perfect utopia, until people get called to the island, and are killed for the benefit of others.
      vi) How does the story help you think about social issues and social justice?
          It helps me think about social issues because in society we need people to have different talents to make society function! If we didn't have some genius's, we'd never have gotten to where we are today with technology. We shouldn't handicap someone who has talents to make them the same as others.
        vii) What action might you take from what you have learned?
               I can't really think of how this would apply to the things happening today but, if we were to come to earth being a world like this one, I would be on Harrison Bergeron's side. Fighting against the injustice. 
        viii) What big question has this text left you with?
         Is this really what the world could end up being like? Are we all going to end up being controlled like this?

    Wednesday, September 29, 2010

    The Metaphor

    Title and Author: The Metaphor by Budge Wilson

    Biography:  Budge Wilson was born and raised in Nova Scotia. She attended Dalhousie  University and graduated with a B.A in philosophy and psychology.  Since her first book was published in 1984 , she has successfully written and published another 33 books. Some of which have gotten awards such as 23 Canadian children's books "our choice" awards, a city of Dartmouth book award, and countless others. She is a very highly acclaimed Canadian author.  Her most recent work as of now, is her prequel Before Green Gables.

    Symbol:   http://www.pievscake.com/images/cake-8inch.jpg  This cake represents Miss Hancock. A cake with frosted with unschooled cake decoration skills.

    Response:   3. Is Charlotte right in blaming herself for Miss Hancock's death? Would being more friendly to Miss Hancock at senior high have made any difference?
      I do not believe that Charlotte was right in blaming herself for the death of Miss Hancock. Though many times when someone very close to us dies we may blame ourselves. If we had been neglecting or not acknowledging the recently deceased when they still breathed, we see it as if we killed them by our actions. Even if Charlotte had absolutely nothing to do with her teacher's death , she still believes that she could have stopped it from happening if she had only payed more attention to miss Hancock. Maybe just smiled at her every so often. I don't believe that her being friendly would have averted this tragedy. She did not commit suicide, she didn't die from depression. She died because of an accident. An occurrence that could have happened to absolutely anyone. It just happened to happen to someone Charlotte cared about.
                1. a) Why do you think Miss Hancock got along so well in junior high school, but had so much difficulty in senior high?
      In my opinion, Miss Hancock had a much easier time teaching the junior high students, simply for the fat that they were younger. They didn't care who they impressed or what they did to get a laugh. They had found a teacher that they loved to learn from, and who made all this learning seem so much funner that some teacher might make it seem. Senior High becomes a much different story.  The older we get, the more unruly we may become. Sure, some teenagers may become more mature, but appearance and what people think of you become more and more important. People may start acting out in class, doing stupid things for a cheap laugh. Miss Hancock was totally unprepared for this kind of behavior. She didn't know how to react to kids who didn't share the same excitement for English as she did.
                 b) In your experience, what were some of the differences you noticed between your teachers in grades 7-9 and your teachers at grades 10 - 12?
          I personally haven't noticed much difference in the teachers I had from grade nine to ten, but there have been some changes. It seems to me that as I got older, teachers started to treat me with more respect, if I had earned it. They seem to treat you more like a young adult rather than an immature teenager. Unless of course you acted like one.  Which brings me to the point of me saying, teachers become much more strict every year. Some not as much. It probably has something to do preparing us for adulthood, and working for someone who may be that strict.
               5.  What do you think was the author's main purpose for writing this story?  One of the purposes for this story, in my opinion, is to show how much high school can change us. Charlotte used to be a young girl who didn't really care about what people thought of her. She loved to write metaphor's and just play with words for hours on end. She was totally innocent, only hanging with friends she liked, and enjoying school to the fullest. And then she went to high school. She seemed to changed quite a bit. She had a self-centered and self-conscious sophistication about her that wasn't there when she was younger. She still loved literature and all that, but wasn't willing to speak out about it. Instead of trying to help Miss Hancock, or even just speak with her about the things that had been happening, she decided to ignore her. She sat quietly, snickering at the jokes of her fellow classmates.   High school can change you in many ways,  and not all of them are good.
          4. How were the metaphorical descriptions similar to the actual characters of Charlotte's mother? And Miss Hancock?   The metaphors for Charlotte's mother and miss Hancock are different in the sense of, her mother is something rigid, but always seems to be hidden behind something. Whether it be a bush or some other means of hiding, while Miss Hancock is something very vibrant and big. They are similar because they both have something hidden in them. While miss Hancock had many layers to her, hidden throughout the cake, her mother is also hidden behind something, but in a different way.
       Critical Thinking:
           
                        i) Why do you think the author wrote the text?
                          I believe that the author wrote this story to show kids that they are not the only ones having a difficult time transitioning from elementary or junior high to senior high. Teachers are feeling just as out of place as us.

          ii) What does the author want you to think?
          The author wants us to think about how the person on the opposite end feels. Think about how a teacher may feel coming to a new school for she or he has absolutely no respect.
          iii) Do you belong to any of the groups in the text?
             I would belong with Charlotte's group in the sense that I feel a little uncomfortable being a new kid at my school. So I could also belong to miss Hancock's group. It's never easy to be going to a new school no matter how old you are.
          iv) Does the story remind you of a real-life event (your own or others)?  
               This does not remind me of any real life event.
          v) Does the story remind you of another book or movie on a similar topic?
           To my knowledge there is no book or movie on a similar topic.
          vi) How does the story help you think about social issues and social justice?
               One of the social issues that I believe this story tackles is people ignoring their teachers and new students. Charlotte seemed to be ignored at first, but she in turn totally ignored her teacher.  This had made me think that teachers probably feel the exactly the same way as us. Even substitute teachers would have difficulties like this, a lack of respect. Reading this makes you understand how they may feel. Exactly like you as a new student.
          vii) What action might you take from what you have learned?
            I would definetly treat any future substitute better than I have to date. Acknowledge them more, treat them with the respect they deserve. They've earned if they have the courage to come in and teach us when the teacher had enough of us for a day.
          viii) What big question has this text left you with?
                 Would Charlotte acknowledging actually have changed the fact that Miss Hancock died. I don't believe that it would have made much of a difference, but it makes you wonder.