Week 10: The Fiction of Ideas

Week 10: The Fiction of Ideas 

The novel I chose to read this week is Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delaney.
Babel 17 is about the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, a theory that individual’s thoughts and actions are determined by the language that the individual speaks.  It states that all human thoughts and actions are bound by restraints, shaping our behavior.  The books starts out where the Alliance military comes across a new code (by the invaders) from a radio transmission that they cannot crack.  They hire Rydra Wong, a top poet, cryptologist and top linguist to crack the code.  She informs them this is not a code at all, but an actual language and agrees to crack itProtagonist Wong assembles a crew and studies the data, which the Alliance calls Babel-17.  The crew is truly an unusual group.  She recruits discorporates, triplings and cosmetically surgerized team members. 

She discovers that this language is used to cause a human host to be against the Alliance and try and sabotage it.  She improves the language and shifts the power to the Alliance.  Babel-17 is really a thought experiment and cultural awareness together.  Some of these ideas are very similar to some cultural language we hear today.  For instance, when someone says, “I’m from a Third World country.”  That could imply they are less-educated.  What do most people visualize when they hear that.  We need to be more diverse and open-minded.  I find the author of this book, Samuel R. Delaney was way beyond his time, 1966.  The main character/hero is a woman and multi-cultural as well.  I feel he is attempting to stretch cultural understanding to a higher level.

Week 9: Space Opera

Week 9: Space Opera

The Martian is a humorous sci-fi opera.  A typical freak Martian dust storm (reminiscent of the movie “Mission to Mars with Gary Sinese) suddenly hits astronauts/botanists on a mission while on Mars. 

The main character, Mark Whatney, gets blown away and stuck in his side with an antenna and left for dead by his fellow crewmates.  His suit is damaged, so no vital signs are detected.  Mark realizes his dilemma, alone and stranded, and goes into survival mode.

The Martian uses his brain “I am going to have to science the heck out of this” to survive.  Mark uses his training in botany and engineering to come up with several ways to survive.  He grows potatoes out of his own “waste” and invents water by passing leftover hydrazine, rocket fuel over a catalyst.

He is a brain geek and survivalist bringing the “Nerd Thriller” genre into the Mainstream.  This is hyper-technical meets Robinson Crusoe times two!  What helps this novel be so technical is the author is an actual software engineer.  I found the humor genre in this book as well like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  The humor cuts the tension of a very grim situation.  The dialogue undermines the bleak setting. 

It gets interesting once we read the people back on Earth realize his is alive, thanks to satellite photos that show the equipment on Mars being moved.  You really want this character to survive.

What is coincidental is this book is about the nerd that is the hero, very much like how I always thought Spock was the hero in Star Trek – even though others all made Kirk out to be the Golden Boy.  Scotty was also one of my favorite Star Trek characters as well.

Week 8: Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

Week 8: Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

As prior to discussing Neil Gaiman stories in my class, I read Coraline and it follows a young girl who recently moved into a strange  old house. I think this is perfect for this week because it follows contemporary urban fantasy quite well.

The chapter begins and the first sentence talks about how she discovered a strange little door before even introducing the house itself. I thought this was pretty interesting to start us off as readers. The first chapter is just an introductory to Coraline, her family, her neighbors, and the very strange door that open to a brick wall. By the end of the chapter we realize that this might not be the case with the black shapes as shadows messing with her that night.

The following chapter is her just exploring. Coraline is a character that loves to explore just like most main characters centered around Urban Fantasy. This is probably why these characters are in these situations in the first place they want adventure and they want danger. While visiting her neighbors she gets a warning from the old man’s mice telling her to not go through the door. Forcible and April reading her future in the tea leaves reading her future that she’s in danger. In which Coraline thinks about maybe danger wouldn’t be such a bad thing, she couldn’t have been more wrong about that statement. After sometime she went through the door everyone told her to stay away from. Where she runs into her “Other Mother” I noticed that this was happening around lunchtime rather than dinnertime like it was in the movie. No song was played by the dad either upon meeting. In the other world, everyone is different and Coraline is treated like she’s the center of the world, this is including all the material possessions she’s given and food. Everyone is a lot interesting than they are back at her home, with constant performances. Of course, it must’ve felt weird to Caroline to have another universe where seemingly everyone cares about her more than her original world. And when I read more into the story, the more and more it became clear to me exactly what this all was saying to children.

 

 It all ends with the fact that in normal childhood life your parents won’t always be around to entertain you or show you love all the time. They won’t have everything perfect. That just because some strangers who seem awfully nice and pretend to be close to us doesn’t mean that they are. Coraline is probably the best example of Urban Fantasy because so many kids and people can relate to how she is feeling.

Week 7: The Tale of Spiritual Education

Week 7: The Tale of Spiritual Education

For this week I decided to try to read both PDFs listed on the resource page, I started off by reading the Harry Potter Prequel  because I was interested in reading it as a Harry Potter fan myself.  I enjoyed the little short story ending with the little bit on Sirius and James.   


The second one I read through was by Eric Morgenstern, Night Circus.  A very interesting read, the story itself was stronger and more world building more than the actual characters in ways I feel.  Overall, it was alright. I feel as though like other novels in this genre it’s not as morally centered like others. It seemed more dissociated or almost like it wasn’t even making a statement. (At least relating to this week’s topic.) I feel like they spent way too much time on parts of the novel that weren’t interesting at all.

I think literature about magic in general can play a role in captivating young adult readers, usually in stories with a younger character going through challenges in their life that are normal.  School issues or problems with others with magic added onto it. Of course, Harry potter has these elements although the character goes through deciding if he’s good or bad, and sometimes it’s about their romantic interest but with more added onto it. Like deadly tournaments and battles.