Dreams With Sharp Teeth: Week of 12/19/13

**Usually a reader imagines the places being described in the story. Draw a picture of the image you have from this story. What do you usually see when reading a story?
Pages read: 649-693   (Short Stories: "How's The Night Life On Cissalda?" & "Flop Sweat")


Usually when I read a story, I picture the characters in my head, the setting, or both like a movie. "Flop Sweat" featured more setting and character description than the other story I read, so this post will be on FS. Just like usual, I saw the characters and setting once they had been described and the words began to form a sort of movie in my head. FS happens to be about a talk show host for a radio show in LA. The host's name is Terri and she's interviewing a devil worshipper the particular night the story takes place during. The interview also takes place during a time when there was a string of murders in LA, all believed to be connected. So, at this point, the hostess had been described, so I had a pretty clear picture of her in my head. The devil worshipper, Michael, on the other hand, was wearing a domino mask, so the only things the reader knows about him is that he has green eyes, a soft voice, and wears all black with the mask. Also, pretty much the whole story takes place in the radio show's booth, so it wasn't hard to get an idea of what that looked like.

When the murders are first mentioned, they don't seem very important, but that soon changes when Terri begins taking calls for the show. The first call and every call after that come from a person who claims to be the killer of all the victims. At first, the people on the show don't believe him/her (the gender is not specified, as the story says the voice sounded like a male and a female at the same time), but the caller provides them with information about the murders that only the murderer would know. This information was that the victims all had the same pentagram-symbol cut into the soles of their left feet. Since it was such a simple thing to visualize, I regrettably pictured a foot with the bloody symbol cut into the sole. Along with the visualization of the foot, I also pictured a sort of map of the US. When the call by the killer was cut off by the radio show, they get even more calls from him/her, but they were strange. All the calls were coming from different parts of LA, meaning the killer was somehow in multiple places, pretty much everywhere. Because of this, a dark map of the US appeared in my head. I visualized little yellow dots appearing on the map, since I thought it was kind of like the country lighting up with the calls.

Dreams With Sharp Teeth: Week of 12/12/13

** Describe your least favorite character and explain why. Describe your favorite character and explain why.

Pages read: 563-649  (Short stories: "The Deathbird", "Mortal Dreads", & "Jeffty Is Five")

The short stories this week all seemed to have likeable characters-- even the ones that were antagonists or didn't make a very long appearance. That's exactly why it's hard for me to choose a character I disliked and to name one my favorite this week! I tried to make a list of characters from all three stories, eventually hoping to pick a favorite and least favorite from all of them. From that, I managed to count out three characters from my possible favorites: both characters from "Mortal Dreads" and a dog. The dog, that was in a short story inside the short story "The Deathbird", was called Ahbhu and was accompanied by a sad story based on the author's actual dog named Ahbhu. Of course because of this, I had to put the dog back on my favorites list. And guess who's my favorite character after all? If you thought Ahbhu, you thought right.

The main reason for Ahbhu being my favorite character is that he (and his story) actually made me pretty sad. I felt like the story was full of very genuine feeling, which was justified when I found out that Ellison's dog was of the same name and passed away the same way as the dog in the story. I also really liked the dog because of how I was able to connect to him and the story. The main character in Ahbhu's short story is the narrator, so near the end of the story when Ahbhu has to be put down in the vet's room, there was a line that really got me. He had thought, "Ahbhu looked at me and I know he was just a dog, but if he could have spoken with human tongue he could not have said more eloquently than he did with a look, don't leave me with strangers.".  This had been one of the things that made me sad, since it had reminded me of when my family had to put our dog down and I felt like a pretty horrible person when we had to because I wasn't there with her. On a more positive note, Ahbhu was a pretty awesome character since he added joy to the main character's life and the description of Ahbhu while he was alive and healthy was just really heartwarming.

The character, or rather characters, that managed to become my least favorite characters came from the story "Jeffty Is Five". John and Leona Kinzer are the parents of Jeffty, a 22-year old five-year old. He's supposed to be 22 years old, but he hasn't aged since he turned five. He's not a 22 year old stuck in a five year old's body-- he still acts the same, talks the same, but gets treated differently. Over the years of being five, the people of his neighborhood become afraid of him, the kids won't play with him (as they are afraid of him and hate him as well), and his parents have developed a pure hatred for him. Jeffty's only friend is 22-year old Donny, the narrator. One day when Donny had sent Jeffty to the movie theater to buy some movie tickets for the two of them, Jeffty gets beat to a pulp by two teenagers. This is the reason I ended up choosing the parents as my least favorite characters, because they didn't really care about Jeffty, even in his near death state. In fact, before he had been beaten, the mother had said "Sometimes I wish he had been a stillborn." This is a pretty horrible thing to say, even if she did really hate her son. The parents also end up being the reason for Jeffty's ending at the end of the story. The reader isn't told exactly what happens, but it's pretty easy to get an idea of what happens from the mother's dialogue and Donny's thoughts. And since Jeffty was a really likeable character, the fact that the parents had reacted so coldly when presented with their dying son was just pretty bad.

The Giver: Week of 12/5/13

** Describe the important ideas in this story.
Pages read: Finished

A very important and obvious idea in The Giver is the importance of memories. The book's titles is even based on memories, since the Giver's job is to release the memories to the Receiver and to keep the memories from the past away from the people in the community. Just from that, I think it's easy to tell how important memories are in this story, especially as you read on more. Further on, Jonas' perspective on things changes as he receives the memories of pain and other feelings from the Giver. It was almost like the memories almost made a totally new Jonas since he now wanted to change the way the community worked. He wanted to show them and explain to them the feelings he was feeling, the colors he was seeing, and especially the memories he was experiencing. So, memories are an important part of this book because they're a sort of part of Jonas and the memories he receives really help move the book along with an interesting flow.

An important idea in this book that kind of goes along with the importance of memories are feelings. Jonas gets new feelings like love from the memories he receives from the Giver and they really have an affect on him. Just like the memories themselves, the feelings he received from the memories also cause him to change as a person as the story goes on. When he learns about the feeling of love, he wants to experience the feeling in person with his family unit. When he asks them if they love him and they pretty much give a yes/no answer, he starts to want to make the community a bit more like the memories he was seeing. More full of feelings and color so that everyone could feel the happiness he was experiencing during the memories of love and just happiness.

Another important idea that ties in with the importance of feelings is the idea of perfection that the community has, but doesn't really achieve. The community had everything in sameness, and this was a perfect utopia in their opinion, but they didn't have anything to compare it to. Jonas, once learning of feelings, realizes that what the community has is not perfection since they don't really feel. They feel, and they discuss their feelings at dinner, but they feel very basically, not even feeling the love than Jonas really wanted. And so once Jonas realizes this, a lot of the book is spent showing how the community was trying to grasp perfection with sameness but is far away from it. It's a very important idea because it's an idea throughout a lot of the book. Before Jonas even notices that the community is not perfect, the reader can compare the community to our society and notice that their perfect sameness isn't a world we'd all like.

The Giver: Week of 11/28/13

** Draw 4 objects that represent your reading. Write a sentence for each, telling what each item says about what you’ve been reading.
Pages read: 108 - End   (Blog is only on pages 130-162)

I drew a bush with a kid peeking through the leaves because in chapter 17, kids are playing a game that Jonas realizes is not a good game to play since it's making a joke of death and war.

This showed how sheltered the people of the community are except for The Receiver and Jonas.




I drew two hand prints, one bigger than the other,           to represent Rosemary and The Giver - the larger hand print belongs to The Giver and the smaller print is Rosemary's.

I drew this because really left a mark on The Giver and made him think about how he regretted giving her painful memories and how it might be better if the whole community shared the memories.

I drew a syringe because in chapter 19, Jonas learns about the way people are released (including Rosemary), which is by being injected with a syringe.

This shows the darker side of the community that only people in certain jobs know of. This was also a reason for Jonas wanting to change the community.

I drew the note Jonas left for his parents to find so he could leave/escape the community, following the plan he made with The Giver.

This showed how vain the people in the community could be. Even though Jonas wouldn't return in time for the ceremony, he knew his parents wouldn't say anything because he knew they wouldn't want to be embarrassed like that, even if their son was missing.

The Giver: Week of 11/21/13

**  Explain what kind of reader would like this book most.

Pages read: 1-108

When I first began to read the first two chapters of The Giver, I can't say I found it very interesting. In the first two chapters, I wasn't very motivated to move onto the next chapter but this changed as I moved onto the third chapter and so on. From that part of the book, the book is filled with cliff hangers, mysteries, and every detail provided seems to add to the suspense of the overall book. So, I think this book would be really good for people that like cliff hangers and things to keep you wondering. When I say wondering, I don't mean just wondering about the book. In the world the book takes place in, it's a Utopia in some ways. Well, in a bad way more than a good way. Anyway, the utopian world gets you wondering about how or world would be like if we lived in such a state. Would we like it? Would it be better? And so on.

Personally, I'm not a very eager reader and I don't have as much time for reading as I would sometimes like or need. The good thing about The Giver is that it's a rather short (but satisfactory) read. In the past two or three days, I've already read more than half, but it feels like I've gotten much more out of this than some much longer books I've read. Even though I don't like reading that much, I really like this book because of the fact that it's a quick read. I spend a lot of time at clubs and doing homework, so reading is pushed out of my day sometimes. In this book, the chapters are shorter and the book isn't very long, so I think I get a lot more reading into my day with this book. So, I think this book and other shorter books like it would be great for people that don't have a lot of reading time in their day. It may be short, but it has just as much entertainment as any larger book!

In the sci-fi genre, there are quite a few books or short stories that present a much different world to the reader. In this book, the fact that the utopia is very different from our world is very obvious. People that like to read about these different worlds would definitely enjoy this book because of the utopia and the rules/laws it has created. I'm one of those people that likes to read about this different worlds because they give you an idea on how our world could have turned out had something been different-- for the better or the worse. In this case, it can be considered horrible or great depending on how the reader feels about it. The book gives you a lot of differences between the utopia and our world, so it's more thinking for the reader to do on how they would feel about this place if it existed today. Overall, I think it'd be hard to find a person who didn't enjoy this book. I mean, there are a lot of things that could appeal to different people all in one book. You have the characters, the place, the plot, and so many other things! Even though I'm only a bit more than halfway through, I think I can say that this is going to be one of my favorite books.

Dreams With Sharp Teeth: Week of 11/14/13

** List the personality characteristics of the main character (feelings, interests,

behaviors, etc.)

Pages read: 538-563  (Short stories: "Adrift  Just Off The Islets Of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13 " W")

 

The character of the short story "Adrift" is Lawrence Talbot, a man who cannot die. For some reason not explained, Ellison refers to Talbot as Moby Dick in the first few pages into the story, but then switches to Talbot suddenly. The first sentence happens to be, "When Moby Dick awoke one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed of kelp into a monstrous Ahab."  A few pages later, Moby Dick becomes Lawrence Talbot and we move onto the rest of the story about a man looking for a way to die. In the beginning, I got the picture that Talbot was a very sad and miserable man because of the way he and his actions are described. Somehow, every action Talbot is described as making just comes off as horribly painful and not worth it, but that changed later on in the story.

 

A bit further in, Talbot makes a deal with a man that promises to give Talbot a way to die. Or rather, a map with the coordinates to Talbot's soul on it. With that, Talbot figures he could find his soul and maybe die a peaceful death from there. The reader of this story can tell that Talbot was pretty desperate to get his soul because he contacts an old scientist friend of his to hopefully help him out. It turns out, they don't really talk anymore and the scientist, Victor, kind of hates Talbot. When I read the part featuring Victor's and Talbot's conversation, I didn't really understand why Talbot was trying so hard to convince Victor to help him since you're not provided with a lot of information on why Talbot can't die or how long he's been alive, so his actions aren't as clear as I wish they were at times.

 

Victor actually agrees to help Talbot finally rest, so a large portion of the story takes place in Victor's high-tech lab in Serbia. While in the lab, the reader is introduced to another rather mysterious character called Nadja. As soon as Talbot sees her, a bunch of memories come crashing down on him and he is filled with pain. He calls the now frightened woman mother, so she asks for Victor's permission to leave, as she is one of his staff. Talbot is now in tears because he's pretty sure it's his mom, but he doesn't understand how it could be her. This makes Nadja kind of mysterious because the reader (again) isn't provided with information about Talbot's mother and his history with her. She appears later in the story and is part of a plot twist, so I won't bring up her second appearance! When you're sort introduced to Nadja, Victor is already pretty far into solving Talbot's problem-- meaning he knows how to get to the coordinates provided to Talbot. Another way the reader knows that Talbot is eager to die is the fact that he decides to carry on even when he finds out where the coordinates lead to.

 

Since Victor is a high-tech scientist, he assures Talbot that he will be able to get him to the coordinates and that Talbot can definitely end his life if he still decides to. It just so happens that the coordinates lead to Talbot's pancreas, and Victor has the perfect way to get Talbot there. Since this was a longer story and since it was a really good read, I'm not going to reveal any of the ending, but Talbot does end up in his pancreas. After that, there's a lot of describing of his inner body (which is described as a dry cave) and then the pretty cool plot twist with Nadja and another new character. Other than that, I thought it was pretty interesting to notice how Talbot changed from a depressing person at the beginning of the story to a pretty eager and actually kind of happy person at the end. Even though I think this is the longest story in this book so far, it was really worth it and I might even read it again!

 

                                              The story ended up winning a Hugo award

                                                     and getting published in this book.

Dreams With Sharp Teeth: Week of 11/7/13

**Discuss why you like or dislike what you are reading.

Pages read: 501-538  (Short stories: "Rockgod" and half of: "Adrift  Just Off The Islets Of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13 " W" That is literally the title.)

If I was asked if I enjoyed the book Dreams With Sharp Teeth and then asked if I liked the particular stories I read this week, the answers would be different. I am definitely enjoying the book in general, but there are some stories (like a story this week) that I really don't like. I'd like to say that it's kind of hard to answer the question of  "Are you enjoying this book?" because the book is just short stories. So when I have to answer that question, I have to think to myself, "Am I enjoying these stories?". This is another difficult question for me because then I have to wonder, "Which stories? Which stories from which book?". In any case, I'm enjoying almost all of these stories, so I am enjoying this book!

The stories I'm not taking a liking to all seem to have one thing in common, and it bothers me as soon as I notice this one thing starting to form in a short story I begin to read. Sometimes, it's like he isn't really going anywhere with his story. For example, he'll have his wonderful introduction and first few pages, but then it goes downhill from there. It'll start to not make sense and before you know it, the character is hundreds of years in the future, in a dream-like dimension, experiencing dreams and fears, and going from dimension to dimension or from world to world all in the space of about one page. That pretty much happened in one story. Of course, not all of his stories are like this. I'd say only about three or four Harlan's stories have been like that and left me thinking, "Well what was the point of that?".

Although, one of the stories I read this week was like this. The story "Rockgod" wasn't as confusing as the story I described was, but it was pretty close. It took the place in the lives of multiple people, in multiple time periods, all with different everything. So it got pretty confusing and I felt barely any joy or point in reading it. The other story that I read with the super long title was pretty good though. It's a longer story, so I've only read a bit more than half of it right now, but it's really interesting so far. I'm going to call this story "Langerhans" since writing the whole title is so inconvenient. Anyway, the plot so far of "Langerhans" is really interesting and I can't wait to read the rest. It deals with the problem of a man who wants to die but being unable to. He talks to a person that promises he can find a way for this man to die however and whenever he wants as long as he signs a contract. So far, they haven't revealed what the deal was or how he can die, but he knows. He goes to a friend and discusses this problem with him. That's how far I've gotten right now, and I'm really liking it!