Rhetorical Reflection, Notable Moment and Analysis of The Bad Beginning

I love love love this book. The first time I read this was in sixth grade. My best friend was reading them at the same as me. She would get the book and read it in a few days and then pass it on to me. Even though the last book came out when we were about 15, we still continued to read them religiously. My brother and sister read them as well. I thought they were hysterical and the story was fascinating. I did see the movie, but I do not really like Jim Carey that much and therefore the movie is not one of my favorites. I was excited to reread the first one, because I have not read it in so long although I though that I remember all that happened.

It turned out that I did remember much of the book and enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first. One of my favorite parts of the story, that continues throughout the series, is how Sunny's baby babble is interpreted into long, complicated thoughts. I think it is not only really hysterical but adds a certain fantastical element to the story. The idea that only Violet and Klaus can understand her makes Sunny a type of magical creature for other her brother and sister to enjoy.

The dark humor that is in the book I think makes it more accessible to a larger audience. A young child can enjoy this book just as much as their parent or teacher. And the absurdity of the dark humor makes the story much less awful than it really is. Lemony Snickett finds a way to take different aspects of children's literature and twist them in new and exciting ways to create an unique style of writing that is rarely seen in children's literature today. And I think he is very successful.

Analysis - James and the Giant Peach

As I said in my anticipating post, I was not excited to read this book. I had seen the movie and it had just turned me off completely. And I must say that I did not really enjoy the story. I don't really like bugs and the thought of being trapped on a giant, sticky peach with them is not very appealing. I will say, however, that there was one aspect of the story that I really enjoyed. The rhymes.

We have seen rhymes before in other stories that we have read such as The Hobbit, Redwall and a little in Harry Potter. But I found myself wanting to read these out loud because of their nursery rhyme quality. My favorite was on pages 93 and 94 where the Centipede is reciting one about Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. This part especially: 

So she said, 'I must make myself flat.
I must make myself sleek as a cat.
I shall do without dinner
To make myself thinner.'
But along came the peach!
Oh, the beautiful peach!
And made her far thinner than that!

These poems reminded me of the Shel Silverstein poems, which I was a big fan of growing up. Those poems were always about really sad or rude things but it was done in such a sing-song innocent way that they were enjoyable and funny. The epitome of dark humor.

While I did not enjoy the story, these poems made the book fun and added a little twist.

Notable Moment - James and the Giant Peach

In Chapter 21, James first shows he roll as the leader of the group. The peach is being attacked by sharks and all of the insects are worried that they are going to sink into the ocean to be eaten by the sharks. They all look to James for help. Although he is only a 7 year old boy, James is able to come up with a quite brilliant plan to save the peach. It involves using the Earthworm as bait to capture the seagulls so that they will pull the peach up to safety.

Clearly, the insects think of James as their leader. James easily takes on that role and proves to be successful at it. This moment is the first time that James has to put his leadership skills to work and he proves to be very successful. All of the children in the books that we have read so far seem to possess a maturity that is beyond their years and James is no exception. I for one think that his plan is very ingenious and I do not know if I would have thought of something like that. But then again, that is the magic of the fantasy.

Anticipating James and the Giant Peach

This is the first book on our list that I am not excited about reading. I read the book when I was in elementary school and I have seen the movie. I did not like either. I always thought the movie was a little creepy, probably because of the bugs. While it is similar to The Phoenix and the Carpet as far as magical things happening ordinary children, this is the most unrealistic book to me. The idea of riding around in a giant, sticky fruit with a bunch of life size talking bugs is very unappealing to me.

I have a read a few other of Roald Dahl books including The BFG, The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and George's Marvelous Medicine. I liked all of those books. There is just something about this book that does not appeal to me. Maybe reading it again, I'll change my mind.

Analysis - City of Ember

Of all the dystopian books we have read, I think this was my least favorite. I am very partial to The Giver, it has always been one of my favorites. While unknown to me before this course, Among the Hidden was very interesting to me and I really enjoyed it. And while I am not a fan of animal books, I even liked Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM more than The City of Ember. Now, my attitude towards this book may be because I saw the movie before I read the book so I knew what was going to happen, but nevertheless I had a really hard time getting through it. My attitude could also reflect my long held hatred and fear of caves. For as long as I can remember I have hated caves and been frightened of getting stuck in one. So maybe that is effecting my attitude towards the book.

One aspect of the book that was different from the other dystopian novels we read, was how the city functions. In The Giver, children also receive their jobs at age 12, but the jobs are carefully selected by the Elders. But in Ember, it is the luck of the draw and if you do not like your job, then too bad or hope someone will switch with you. Even in today's world, people get a say in what jobs they do, but not in Ember. One would think that things could be more organized, but their system seems to work and no one really complains.

There is also the fear of running out of everything. It seems like the city was not very well planned. While they were only supposed to be underground for two hundred years, and the directions got lost along the way, the initial planning of the city does not seem to be very well thought out. It some ways this makes it more similar to Among the Hidden and Luke's family, where the people are living without luxury. It seems to me that the Builders could have thought through things a little more.

Notable Moment - City of Ember

Then the door behind her burst open, and a huge guard with a bushy black beard was suddenly running toward her. "Halt!" he shouted, though she wasn't going anywhere. He grabbed her by the arm. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just curious," said Lina, in her most innocent voice. "I wanted to see the city from the roof." She read the guard's name badge. It said, "Redge Stabmark, Chief Guard."
"Curiosity leads to trouble," said Redge Stabmark. He peered down a the crowd. "You have caused a commotion."
pg. 37

This scene is important to the story for a couple of reasons. First is that it foreshadows a lot! It foreshadows that there is going to be some curiosity from Lina that will get her into trouble. It is very obvious to the reader that Lina is the kind of girl who will push her limits in order to satisfy her curiosity. This will later help her discover the way out of Ember but it will also lead to her getting into trouble with the government.

The reader also first glimpses the corruption of the government. Redge Stabmark makes it clear that the government does not like people looking into things that question their leadership. When Lina tries to tell the mayor about her secret note, she is surprised that the mayor will not listen to her. Lina's naive faith in the government gets her into trouble. It was frustrating to me that Lina thought the mayor and the guards were on her side when it was clear from this scene early on in the book that they were not to be trusted. This is illustrated again later when Doon and Lina discover the secret store room in the pipe works. But they still try and have faith in the government. And then Lina and Doon try and tell the mayor about the way out of Ember, Lina is chased around the city and almost arrested.

This scene set the attitude of the government for the rest of the book for me. It was at this moment that I knew that the government was going to be no help and that Lina and Doon would have to do everything on their own.

Anticipating The City of Ember

This is the second book of the course that I have not read. I know that it is the first book in a series and was made into a movie a few years ago. By brother and sister both read the book, and my sister may have actually read more of the series. I did see the movie on a plane one time. I remember being skeptical of the movie but actually enjoying it a little. However, knowing the state of Hollywood and their reputation for correctly interpreting books into movie, I'm assuming that the book is not like the movie. But consequently I know the story line and know that it follows a girl in a dying dystopian world. I am curious to see how this novel relates to the other dystopian stories we have read.

Response to Among the Hidden

Because we don't have any official post for this book, I decided to do just a response post. When I first started reading this book, the main thing I noticed was that it was not very well written. The story line seemed to drag a little at first and I was confused for the first several chapters. Once the story picked up, however, I was able to follow it better. I liked the discovery of Jen from a plot standpoint, but her immediate pompous attitude and sass annoyed me. And while she was very informative as to the world Luke lived in, I felt like she raised more questions than answers. I must admit her death shocked me a little. And then suddenly, there was her father who was part of the Population Police. Overall, the plot seemed to lag in some places and felt rushed in others.

Now saying on this, while I did enjoy the book, it definitely screamed Children's Book! to me. And, I feel like it is the first one that did. I have to be honest, I'm not really sure how I felt about the book. When I finished it last night, I was still fairly confused about what was the truth about the population crisis. I may have to go back and reread it to see if I missed something or if the book ever fully explains exactly what happened.

In comparison to The Giver, I definitely enjoyed The Giver more. While both had similar issues: death, isolation, governmental control, I feel like The Giver was much more well written and addressed the issues better. While the death of the twin was much more graphic, I think the death of Jen was much more traumatic because she is a peer. However, I would argue that Among the Hidden is much more age appropriate. Reading Among the Hidden when you're 12 is not quite as traumatic as reading The Giver when you're 12. Both books put different perspectives on the dystopian world: both disturbing, shocking and fairly believable.