Kaitlin Monier

How do you eat a porcupine?

Take out the pine and eat the pork!

Third blog portfolio for EL 150 Intro to Literary Study: Course Website

Coverage

Ender's Games are as Real as Ender

Ender's Ending Could Not Have Been Better!


Timeliness

Humor in Tragedy: It Does Exist


Interaction

Ender's Experiences Are Our Experiences


Depth

Narrative Pace & Goldilocks: Too Hot, Too Cold- Just Right

Scanning Is Important After All


Discussion

Maddie's Blog: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MadelynGillespie/2008/04/mirror_mirror_on_the_walli_am.html

Angelica's Blog: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AngelicaGuzzo/2008/04/free_verse_is_great.html

Erica's Blog: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/EricaGearhart/2008/04/scifi_is_actually_real.html


Other Blogs

Sideshow Kangaroo

Urban Dictionary Terms

Trial and Error in Paper Writing

Freedom in Sonnets

Prose = Free Verse, Free Verse = Prose

Trouble Rhyming?

CLICK HERE  for a website which helps when rhyming words!

Jason: Thyroid, diabetes, cancer?

Vivian: No- cancer, yes.

Jason: When?

Vivian: Now. (Wit 24)

 

Vivian: This is much easier.  I just hold still and look cancerous.  It requires less acting every time. (Wit 37)

 

 

Although this play is emotional and dramtic, there is still an element of humor.  I chose a couple of quotes that literally made me laugh out loud.  When I looked over the desciption of the play, I felt like I was going to start reading something that would depress me.  Yes, it is depressing at the end, especially when she is suffering from a large amount of pain.  It reminds me of how some peoplebelieve that it is not the end of a journey that matters, it's getting there that's worth while.  The end is tragic, but the journey itself was amusing with irony, humor, and real life lessons. 

 

Just a side note of something that bothered me:

(Susie returns with an orange two-stick Popsicle.  Vivian unwraps it and breaks it in half.)

It is really hard to break a Popsicle after unwrapping it because my hands get sticky or it doesn't break right.  It's easier to break the Popsicles while they are still wrapped.  That way, when they are unwrapped, they are broken well and there is no mess.

"What distinguishes free verse from prose?  One of its main features is the deliberate division of the lines, which may consist of very long units or of single words, and which may be divided in mid-sentence or even in mid-word." (Hamilton 239)


Prose can be free verse and free verse can be prose, according to Hamilton.  Splitting the lines of a prose work turns it into a free verse.  However, combining a free verse turns it into prose.  Right?  Who knows.  This explanation of the difference between prose and free verse is not very clear.

"And always Ender carried with him a dry white cocoon, looking for the world where the hive-queen could awaken and thrive in peace.  He looked a long time." (Ender's Game 324)


There could not have been a better end to this book.  I was amazed, it ended differently than I would have expected and was great.  When I first began to read this, I was a little irritated because I thought that after reading this book, I would then have to read the others in the series (this was a problem because I already have an elephant long list of books I want to read).  After finishing this book, I decided that the sequels were not necessary to read.  The ending was so perfect that I felt no need to read more books. 

"The rhyme scheme of the octave is usually fixed- abba abba, but that of the sestet may vary: cde cde, or cdc cdc, or cdc dcd."  (Hamilton 231)


Yes, sonnets are limiting- but at least there is a variety in the selection of rhyme.  I like sonnet because there is a pattern to follow and I find them easier to write.  However, I still like to have the freedom of choice, and the different possibilities of a rhyme scheme give me that choice.

"He made his way down underground, through the tunnels, to the cliff ledge overlooking the beautiful forest.  Again he threw himself down, and again a cloud caught him and carried him into the castle turret room."  (Ender's Game 117)


It is almost unbelievable to me how real Ender's world and video games are.  I feel like they are real whenever I read about his video game world.  It contains imagery and is clearly described.  During this story, I continue to find myself looking forward to reading about his video games.

"'I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one.  Or at least as close as we're going to get.'
    'That's what you said about the brother.'
    'The brother tested out impossible.  For other reasons.  Nothing to do with his ability.'
    'Same with the sister.  And there are doubts about him.  He's too malleable.  Too willing to submerge himself in someone else's will.'" (Ender's Game page 1)


Since I like science fiction, I was excited to read Ender's Game and decided to read it over Christmas break.  My favorite parts of this book are in the beginning and in the end (especially the end).  How everything was introduced in the first couple of chapters impressed me.  I love it when novels begin by throwing the reader into a situation they are unaware of.  Ender's Game begins with dialogue between two mysterious people.   Who are these people?  Why isn't the author allowing us to know their names?  What are they even talking about?  As the story continues, the characters mention random things in the future that are unknown to the reader.  Slowly, the reader learns what those things are and what the purpose is for those things.  It gives the audience a good reason to keep reading. 

The next question to ask is why Card is setting his novel up this way?  As Ender starts his journey, he does not know what is happening and the reasoning behind what he is doing.   The reader feels a sense of confusion and ignorance as well as a desire to ask questions, just as Ender does.  As he learns things, so does the reader.  Card has planned his novel this way to allow the reader to continue through the story with Ender.

• You start with one idea, you test it, and you hit on something better.
• You might end up somewhere unexpected. If so, that's good -- it means you learned something.

This happens to me a lot.  I will start writing about one thing, but my finished paper will have gone in a completely different idea.  It seems like trial and error.  If I start with one topic, I usually find I do not have enough evidence to support the claim, so I change the topic.  By this point, I have done enough research to know which direction to go.  Eventually I will find a topic that I can write about and support.


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