A Look Back

Coming into this class, I was not very excited about having to take a literature class.  I really do not enjoy reading unless it is a book I stumble across that looks enjoyable (namely John Grisham books).  However, this class was nothing like I had expected it to be.  The class discussions were really fun to have, and it was interesting to hear everyones take or side from each reading we were assigned.  There was one smaller reading that really kind of annoyed me and sort of angered me too.

The one article that called us the dumbest generation actually kind of got under my skin.  The author has no idea what our generation knows considering we are just now getting into the workforce.  Having all this information literally in the palm of our hand with cell phones we can always find out something.  Information does fall right into our lap with laptops, and this does not make us lazy in my mind, it makes us efficient.  Why spend hours upon hours looking through encyclopedias when all the information or answers we need is only a mouse click away.  How does not knowing classical music, old art painting makes us dumb?  That stuff has no relevance in our life.  We don't read as many novels either, who cares that stuff is fictional, when i read articles on yahoo, espn, penn live which are actually taking place and have some kind of impact on my life.

In my own personal opinion this does not make us lazy or stupid, its just our way of life.  The author does not understand that because he grew up in another time period from us.  We will probably thing the generation below us is dumber then us since we are not accustomed to their style of living.  This will go on forever, but attacking the generation and calling us the dumbest generation ever is actually very offensive.  All I would have to say to him is I'm about to get my college degree, the same thing he got back in his "genius generation."

To close it out I would like to say thanks to everyone for making this a fun class, and to my group you guys made it fun to come to class and enjoyed how we could joke around and yet still get all our work done and have great discussions.  Good luck in the future to all of you!

"Burning Book"

At first thought when I would think about a world without book, I really did not think too much of it.  Honestly in the short run I do not think it would affect me much.  However, the more I think about it the more I think the world would be a worse place without any books.  For starters our education is very important when it comes to books.  People who read books usually have a stronger vocabulary since they see the different words in the books that they read.  Secondly, reading keeps your mind sharper then just watching TV.  When watching TV you just go into a trance sometimes and you stay in that trance even after you stop watching the TV.  When reading a book, you have to process what is written to what you imagine it looks like.  This keeps your mind constantly working and keeping it sharp and keeps you alert in general.  Right now I do not think I would miss books, but when I have been out of school for a little bit and books are no longer a requirement to read and do not appear to be a chore for me to do I think I would miss them.  I personally can never see books ever being outlawed.

We burn books everyday by instead of reading the books we just spend 2 hours to watch a movie that is depicted from a director's imagination which is not your own.  I admit that I am definitely guilty of "burning books", because I would much rather watch the movie instead of reading the book.  Also, back to the reality TV topic is a way of burning books.  They provide us with not literate knowledge, or even educational lessons that books can teach us.  So instead of reading a book that is meaningful, we watch a fake "reality" TV show.  Also, these reality stars have a horrible  vocabulary, and watching them may actually hurt our IQ.  So instead of watching them, we should read books to extend our vocabulary and trigger our imagination to keep our brains sharp and full of meaningful knowledge.  I know I contradict myself a lot when talking about this since I next to never read books, and always watch TV, but some day I really would like to change that.  In my honest opinion once I get out of school and no longer see books as "work" I think I will enjoy them more.

Hunger Games

In Hunger Games my response kind of varied throughout the book.  At first it was kind of like the lottery in like why would a civilization have something like this in place.  Sure I understand that it is supposed to keep the districts in line and keeping the civilians from rising up and rebelling.  However, as the book went along the more I could see the connection to modern day reality TV.  How the tributes acted different in front of the camera and how the viewers watched it and got attached to certain tributes.  They played up the romantic situation between Katniss and Peeta makes me think about either Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, Ronnie and Sammie in the Jersey Shore.  Finally, it was very similar to Survivor (minus the killing) since they teamed up with other tributes to try to keep themselves alive and use the skills and resources to succeed in the Hunger Games.

I kind of connected with Peeta, because deep down inside he was not a killer at all.  He even stated that he wanted to die like himself, which proves to me he would not be a good reality TV star.  I myself do not think I would be either since I do not change just when a camera is in front of me.  He was also kind of smart on how he picked the tributes to team up with, and was smart to confess his love for Katniss.  Overall, he has a very high like ability factors, which makes me think of why I connected with him the most in the book.

This song by Sugarland called Take Me as I am is kind of like the love affair going on between Peeta and Katniss.  He said before the Hunger Games that he liked Katniss ("If you want it come get it").  Finally, the line "Take Me As I Am" is like saying I am who I am and I am not changing for the camera of reality TV.