--Chekov, in Roberts, pg 385

Really? I couldn't believe what I was reading. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. She's gotta be insane. I can understand mourning for the loss of a loved one, but vowing to never see the light of day again? Come on, let's get serious now. I don't know of anyone who loves me who would actually condone this sort of behavior while they are still alive, so what makes it okay to do it after they die?

She needs a reality check. She's really hurting the image of her husband by vowing to never get over his death, because even though he was cruel to here, if he really loved her, he'd want her to be happy--he'd want her to move on.

EL 237

--Roberst, pg.120

Thank you Roberts! Finally a text book that I agree with me. In high school, nothing drove me crazier than my teachers' incessant pestering over finding the theme of a story. I'm not saying that it's not important to find theme, but sometimes it's nice to just read the book as it is and enjoy the characters without digging too deeply. I guess this is why I'm a journalism major and not an English Lit major (Of course, I'm also a journalism major because I love writing articles and all that jazz, but you get what I mean). Like Roberts said, some writers don't write their stories with an ideal theme in mind. We, the readers, discover them later on. I can't remember who it was--I'll link to it later, but earlier in the semester, one of my peers talked about how once a piece of literature is released into the wild, it is now property of the readers, not the author. I feel like way too much emphasis is placed on finding the theme. I know that sometimes I end up really frustrated when I can't think up a theme within a reasonable amount of time. It makes me feel like I'm a failure as an English major because I can't figure out a theme that's staring at me, smacking me in the face. Or, sometimes, I'll feel like I'm making completely ridiculous and off-the-wall assumptions in order to form a theme.

EL237

On wired.com, I found myself drawn to the article about Assassin's Creed II. In this article, the author of the review blended links into the story. One was a previous review of the original Assassin's Creed. Another was a link to a character analysis of the protagonist of the original game, Altair. For a gamer like me, I really appreciate the links, especially because I'm familiar with the game. However, those who haven't played Assassin's Creed before, these links are also very useful. The first link shows why the first game failed. Maybe I'm just partial, because I love videogames, but I really enjoyed this article, and thought the use of links really added to the content of the review.

EL 227

The multimedia presenation about recycling was pretty interesting. I liked that the arizona star blended different types of multimedia. They didn't rely solely on video--they offered literature as well. Furthermore, they gave a few links to read further into the subject if necessary. I'll admit that I don't normally recycle--I'm lazy I guess, but for people like me, who really don't pay much attention to recycling, these short videos were very useful. However, I as a little annoyed that they didn't have a link to return to the main menu where users origially chose to either follow the path of garbage or the path of recycled material. It makes me think back to EL236--Writing for the Internet. In that class, I learned the importance of giving my users all of the links necessary to successfully navigate through a website. Like I said, I thought this multimedia presentation was useful, but still lacked in its mobility.

EL227

--John Henry Days, 262

Everyone has a John Henry. I really liked this part of the book, because Pamela finally had an epiphany and understands why her father was so crazy about John Henry. He was more than a steel-driving man. I blogged earlier that I love folklore, but I have to say that Whitehead's discription here really was perfect. What separates John Henry from, say, Paul Bunyon is that a black man pounding steal is a lot more realistic than a giant man with a blue ox who endlessly chops down forests. 

Who would believe that a giant man and a giant blue ox existed? Children. But, the story of John Henry really could've happened. When I began reading this book, I asked my mom if she thought that John Henry really existed--she didn't give me much of an answer. But, I guess he's kind of like a Black version of King Arthur. There's no proof that Arthur existed either, but his legend has lasted for centuries.

 People do not have to be Black in order to identify with John Henry--everyone has a struggle in their lives at some point. Like Karyssa said in Resistance is Futile, John Henry does serve as a metaphor for mankind's fight with technology, but I think you could further this to say that he struggled with more than just that. He struggled with equality as well.

I'm not saying that John Henry has to be everyone's hero, but he serves as a great example of what people need to encourage themselves. People hear the story of a man, not larger than life, but large all the same who defeats the undefeatable. He does the impossible, and because of that, he gives everyone courage to take risks in life, to have determination.

For more on part 4 of John Henry Days, click here.