Adolescent Fiction: Lifes quests towards finding your identity

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Lifes quests towards finding your identity

Throughout the book The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Sybel is trying to find her identity. Sybel, the main character, lives a peaceful and stress-free life. Her and her animals reside in a very comfortable location and are isolated from the world.
Sybels world gets turned upside down when a young child named Tam is sent to her for her care. She accepts the child, only wanting him to be loved and cared for. She grows attached to this child over time and starts to feel love for Tam. We can relate to this in real life. For instance, a girl who is impregnated may not want the child at first, but when she holds the child for the first time, her mindset starts to change as the love and affection for the child come into play. Sybel was not used feeling affection towards humans at the beginning of the book but we see that change throughout the book. Yes, she loved her animals, but we see her start to show more human emotion when that love tides over to loving other humans.
Sybel really comes to develop as a person throughout this book. Not only does she learn to love, but also accepts hate, jealousy, and pure human feelings into her life. No one is perfect as they develop as a human being. Sybel shows us that. The more she starts to let her human-side get the better of her(as the book proceeds), the more we get pulled into what her next move is. Everybody in this world accepts letting their emotions get the better of them. Its human nature. That's why the readers are so intrigued by her character. We see going out, failure, coming back, and re-acceptance all in this book, all with Sybels character. This draws the reader in. Every reader has had its ups and downs and can relate to the storyline. Some of peoples favorite movies are about the fall and the rise of a certain character because we love to see them succeed and be the "good person" at the end. It makes you feel good and it inspires you because you're not the only one having these problems and you, like the character(Sybel) can overcome lifes obstacles.

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Post #9 Shakespeare Bats Cleanup (due MONDAY, 4/30 by class time)

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup explores a number of themes, among them grief, identity, coming of age (Bildungsroman), friendship, love, and others. Kevin, our adolescent narrator, shares his story with us as a poetic narrative which includes poems written in conventional forms and free-form poems. Choose one theme which the book develops, and show its development through the text. As you do so, be sure to consider and articulate how the book's structure (as poems) affects whatever theme you discuss.

Post #7 Warriors Don't Cry (due Sunday 4/15 by 8 pm)

Choices for responses:

1. The title of this text refers to warriors. How are the characters warriors? Are you comfortable with that depiction? Why or why not? Be sure to offer specific description as you explore characterization.

2. While it could certainly be argued that the author of our last novel does place himself in the text, that book is fiction. This text is not; rather, it's a memoir. How does knowing that the book is non-fiction shape your reading of it? Does it cause you to respond differently? If so, how? If not, why not? Consider characters, events, and the historical context carefully as you respond.

Post #6 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (due Sunday, 3/25 by 8 pm)

Post #5 Annie on My Mind (part 2) due Sun 3/11 by 8 pm

You have several different options for your response:

1. How is social transgression framed and treated in the novel? Do you as a reader find that the characters are affirmed or punished for stepping outside of social conventions?

2. We've talked a bit about parallel spaces in texts, spaces in which characters encounter very different experiences. After reading this novel, can we argue that those parallel spaces never intersect? What function might those separate (or not so separate) spaces serve?

3. The story is written in the epistolary (letter writing) tradition. How does that framing affect your reading? Your interaction with characters? Your response?

Post #3 Due by Monday's class (2/20)

For this post, you have three options:

1. Respond to some theme you identify in the novel. Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the book.

2. Apply the article's claims to the novel. Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the article and the book.

3. Examine the novel as science fiction. How is it both utopic and dystopic in its function? What might it be warning us as a society against? Be sure that you make a claim and support it using specific examples from the text.

Post #1 Due by Thursday's class (1/26)

Ellen Raskin's novel The Westing Game is a detective novel, yes, but we can tease out many themes as we examine the text. A few we introduced and explored briefly in class today:

the Cinderella effect

the roles of women

identity construction

gaming and strategy

trust (as it relates to other themes or on its own)

oppressive/repressive (think Trites) parents

Choose from a theme on this list or choose a theme you've noted in the text, and write about the way the theme is introduced and developed through the novel. As you show how the theme works throughout the book, be sure to offer specific examples to support your ideas.