Poem Submition

I submitted this Poem to Teen Ink recently. Since it is still pending for approval, I will post the poem itself below:

~Roaming~

a Terza Rima Sonnet



My simple life is lacking honest pleasure.

My soul says to explore the world and travel,

To walk this Earth, to learn things at my leisure.

Whether my shoes be filled with dust or gravel,

I will let my instincts alone take the lead,

Allowing my true colors to unravel.

The only thing I ask for, I truly need.

I am cooped up in this cramped and boring cage,

Always searching for a way I can be freed.

All I can do here is sit and wait to age.

My patience is weak; not rock, but soft sea foam.

If the world brings problems, I will turn the page.

From London to Sri Lanka to Seoul I’ll roam,

And until I’ve seen it all, I won’t come home.



The Bell Jar ~ Week 2

My chosen book is continuously forming into a slightly creepier story the more I read.  I'm not too surprised, considering I was warned of its ability to have strange effects on people.  However, I do still fear my ability to withstand the emotions that are so sharply thrust into the face of the reader (that would be me, in this case).  I was discussing the book with my friend this morning whilst drinking a chai latte with my creative writing class when she brought up an interesting thought. She said that "The Bell Jar" most likely decreased her thoughts of suicide due to the scary nature of Esther's (the main character) life. I found this quite interesting because of its truth. My life is nothing like Esther's rich, spoiled, seemingly flawless life. It's times like these I thank the higher beings for granting me a birth into a middle-class family. Amen.
The more I read, the more I wonder whether the author liked her beef steak as raw as her stories.  She has absolutely no issue in bringing up the topic of virginity, childbirth (in DEEP detail), or really just uncomfortable topics in general that leave me feeling squeamish.  I guess books that leave a large mark on you, no matter what they use to accomplish this, are more appreciated by readers in the long run. Now I see why "The Bell Jar" is such a classic. If Sylvia Plath had simply written a book that censored all controversial topics and simply dropped a suicide attempt in here and there to add some shock factor, readers would bulge their eyes at some parts and yawn through the rest of it. It would be like driving through a corn field covered countryside and seeing a cow peak its nose out every seventeen miles. What a bore.  Because of Plath's willingness to strip the countryside of its drowsy and familiar corn fields and allow us to see all of the cows, the book is now seen as a classic. Consider its fame: deciphered. 
I impatiently sneak up on the first suicide attempt, which I have been apprehending since the very beginning of the book. For now, I'll look at some more cows. Moo.
Sayonara!

The Bell Jar ~ Week 1

The book I chose to read for my end-of-the-year book report is "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath. I began reading it a few weeks ago and I thought it would be perfect for my report.
The reason I think this book would be a great book to do is because it is an American classic. It is memorable for the author's ability to portray the very real process of becoming insane, despite the unlikeliness of such a serene character losing her mind. I think the idea of the explanation behind such a strange person's thoughts is so fascinating and I would jump at any opportunity to look at it in a deeper way, as this book report is allowing me to do.
I am slightly afraid of digging too deep into the book, as it has been known for evoking thoughts of suicide in readers due to its purely depressing tone and layering of events. This is especially scary because the visual that I am using as an accompaniment to my report requires every ounce of my ability to become the depressed main character. I will have to find a way to portray the woman's emotions in her dystopic life without harming my own view of the world and its qualities. Fingers crossed, everyone.
Sayonara!

TEOGROMITMM ~ Week 2

At first look, the play that we just read and Macbeth seem to have absolutely no similarities whatsoever.  However, when one looks deeper into the characters and situations, the two plays mirror each other in multiple ways.  Of course, they definitely have their differences, as well.  Both plays have a sense of a looming ans sinister spirit around everyone's heads, though the characters manage to both push it aside and use it as an advantage.  The rage that many characters feel helps to drive their ambitions, whether they be good or bad.
Marigolds and Macbeth differ in many, many ways.  First of all, their place and time are very different.  Marigolds takes place in the 1900s (most likely in America), while Macbeth takes place in Scotland many centuries ago.  In Marigolds, most of the characters are women, while Macbeth only has two female characters in whole, one of which is quite insignificant.  No characters in Macbeth have the honest drive to kill humans, though they mention it at points and a rabbit is killed.  The people in Macbeth have no other wish than to gain power through murdering those who sit above them in society.  The goals of the main characters in Macbeth are much more effective and powerful than the less-apparent goals of the women in Marigolds.  Marigolds ends on a stronger and more hopeful note than Macbeth.  Instead of the death and darkness that Macbeth consumes the reader with at its end, Marigolds wraps up the story with an enigma, one that contains a small and glowing light in a dark room.  Overall, Marigolds contains much more hope and light than the gruesomely dark story of Macbeth.
Macbeth and Marigolds are also very similar, especially in the character formation.  Beatrice and Lady Macbeth have multiple traits that mirror each other.  They are driven by the abilities and disabilities of those who are close to them, thought the outcomes of such emotion are not quite as good as they could be.  They have the feeling that things can be better when certain parts in their lives are instantly eliminated, hence their actions of murdering the rabbit/powerful human beings. 
Ruth and Tillie both resemble Macbeth in different ways.  Tillie's innocence and content with her less than perfect life resemble Macbeth's wish to remain in a safe position no matter how low down it may be.  However, Tillie and Macbeth accept opportunities to become more well-known and powerful, even if they feel reluctant in doing so.  Ruth resembles Macbeth after he receives more power, becoming more cocky.  Ruth is the eldest child and therefore tends to act more pompous knowing that she has I higher throne than her younger sister.  Macbeth, after being told that his defeat was impossible, acted more pompous in the knowing that he is stronger than all men born of women. 
Marigolds and Macbeth have similarities and differences throughout their stories and within their deeper meanings.

TEOGROMITMM ~ Week 1

At first, I had a difficult time relating to this play, or even understanding why it is so highly acclaimed.  I have, however, managed to find a few connections between me and the play.
Like Ruth and Tillie, I have one other sibling.  His name is Peter and he can be embarrassing, just as Ruth is sometimes embarrassed by her little sister.  I also have a relationship with my mother that wavers.  We usually get along just fine, but we can disagree on many things at different times, sometimes to a point where I can't even stand to speak to her.  I do love her unconditionally, though, as Ruth and Tillie always love their mother. 
The part where Tillie places in the Science Fair reminded me of my participation in Science Olympiad.  I work very hard to do well while enjoying my studies.  Like Tillie, my hard work pays off in the end, as it has in the past few months when I have placed four times in two competitions, three of those being 1st place.  I love science much like Tillie, and take great pride in my accomplishments.  My family supports me like Ruth supports Tillie.  Beatrice could be compared to my brother, who is proud of me on the inside but prefers to be at home as opposed to sitting in the bleachers at a school and watching the Nerd Clan scream at unfathomable pitches.  Personally, I don't blame him.
I'm sure I will continue to find connections within the play that relate to my life, but for now these are the few that I have come across.
Sayonara!

Macbeth ~ Overview

I genuinely enjoyed reading Macbeth, this being my sixth Shakespeare play. Though I prefer comedies to tragedies and Macbeth is an extremely dark work, I discovered a theme that really stood out to me. Because at the time of Shakespeare's play productions a powerful and theatre-loving queen was on the throne, Shakespeare worked to incorporate significant female characters in his plays. In Macbeth, especially, a female played a very import role in keeping the play both interesting and memorable. There are only two female characters in the entire work, the most important being Lady Macbeth, wife of Macbeth. She represents the power of women all throughout the play, moving within her emotional margin without changing her mindset.
Lady Macbeth, for the most part, is an overall stronger character than her power-granted husband. She serves as his advisor, cheerleader and humbler. She pushes him to constantly raise his status in society, like in the beginning when she convinces him to be better than Thane of Cawdor, his current position at the time. Furthermore, she divides a plan for the pair of them to kill King Duncan in order to make Macbeth king of Scotland. The only thing that holds her back from carrying out the dirty deed herself is the fact that emotions overcame her when Duncan's sleeping figure resemble her father. This goes to show that personal emotions are her only obstacle in her goal to "unsex" herself in the sight of men.
Lady Macbeth proves her determination once again when convincing her husband to send murderers to kill Banquo, a man she sees as the only other man who can hold her husband back from being his best. By this action, we can see that she is doing anything she can to give her husband power because she herself, being a woman, has no chance if being as powerful as any man. Other characters such as the three hags stress the weakness of women through the quote "no man born of woman shell defeat you", meaning that anyone who has been associated with a woman and has been touched by the emotions of females is ultimately a weakling. Lady Macbeth is aware if this view of gender-determined weakness, doing anything she can to be the strong, masculine person that she wishes to be, achieving this goal through her own unstable husband.
Though Lady Macbeth's determination and keen mind are admirable, her goal proves harmful to more than just her enemies in the end. The guilt that she suppressed in daylight shone brightest at night, as her acquaintances continuously witnessed her sleepwalking and ringing her hands, the motion of trying to wash blood off if her guilty palms. Not long after her sleepwalking sessions, Lady Macbeth committed suicide not in her sleep, but in broad daylight. To be honest, it was not all that surprising, considering most sane human beings would have done the same FAR before she chose to do so after the terrible crimes she committed alongside her husband.
Overall, Shakespeare did an excellent job presenting the audience with a powerful female character through Lady Macbeth.

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail ~ Week 2

It was difficult to recognize ironic conversations or situations in the play because Thoreau is such an ironic person in general.  They irony was practically right under my nose; I just had to "hunt for the huckleberries." ;) Anyway, one ironic conversation was when Lydian and Henry were discussing Henry's possible marriage to a woman.  He continuously refused the very thought of living with another person.  I found this very strange because the one who is very alone in life, Henry, wishes to forever be left to himself, while the one with seemingly everything, Lydian, does not feel loved by anyone.  This is the opposite mindset from what we expect from certain types of people.  Another ironic conversation in the play is between Waldo and Henry.  Henry seems to be the one preaching ideas that are worth hearing to Waldo, while lecturing and philosophising is Waldo's job, not Henry's.
I would not sat that Henry's protest proved successful because of the fact that the map changed course and still did not reach its exact destination.  It's one thing if you reach the same goal but take a different path to get there, but Thoreau did not do so.  His ultimate goal was to make a difference by protesting the law, which did not happen at the time.  He may have changed the ideas of a small few, but his point of view was not seen from until many many years later.  He did not stop the war with his protest, which may not have been his ultimate goal.  But he barely made a scratch on the surface of change in the government with his actions (and non-actions) during his lifetime.  Therefore, I would say that the protests of Thoreau did not prove successful in the end.
This should be very fun, since I love the entertainment business.  The actors I have chosen for each role and my reasoning for each are as follows:

#1- Henry David Thoreau-- Jamie Bell
I picture Thoreau as a young man who looks old from experience and wise thoughts.  Jamie Bell would be able to pull off this look quite well because he can easily transform from a youngster to a man, as Henry does quite often in the play.  I also see Thoreau as a nimble man who can almost float through the fields he studies, as well as he floats through life.  Jamie Bell used to be an avid dancer (as he showed us in Billy Elliot) and could play a frolicking teacher as well as a serious inmate (as he was in Defiance).
#2- Ralph Waldo Emerson-- Dustin Hoffman
Emerson is a brilliant theorist who never fails to express his unique ideas, whether in a lecture or in everyday life.  This characteristic fits almost PERFECTLY with Dustin Hoffman's character in the movie "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium."  Hoffman seems to match the look of a mad scientist (or in this case, lecturer) which is a vital advantage.  Their random yet brilliant personalities and thoughts go together like a pair of my grandma's knitted socks; perfectly.
#3- Bailey-- Dax Shepard
Bailey, to me, has the look of a man that has great potential, but just needs a bath and some education to realize it.  Dax could fit this look because he has that cut-edge look of someone who just needs a shave, but you can tell that he has a great talent from the way he speaks and carries himself.  Dax could fit the part of someone who is uneducated at first, but molds into someone who begins to recognize how much they can do and strives to learn, as Bailey does.

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail ~ Week 1

So far I am enjoying the play a lot.  My favorite character is Waldo, because he looks at everything from such a strange perspective that I cannot help but laugh at.  It is very different from any other play I have read, considering I usually only read Shakespeare plays.  This one is a bit easier to follow along with and visualize.  To be honest, I don't completely understand the idea of Transcendentalist thought.  However, many specific quotes from the play envelop the overall principle of this form of philosophy.  The quote I chose was: "Henry: Our own school, John.  No buildings.  Break out of the classroom prison.  All we need is the sky!" (24).  This quote sums up Henry's opinion on the value of knowledge and thought over the value of materialistic things.  He wishes to break free from the modern ideas about what learning should look like, as he believes the most valuable knowledge cannot be learned from other mere human beings.  Nature is the most knowledgeable teacher there is out there, and people often do not realize it.  Society feels that brick buildings that house mortal teachers who know little more than most people, if any at all.  Thoreau knew that the truest information is located outside of man-made walls, and among the beauty of nature.  In nature, everyone walks away with different information and different thoughts, which is much different from a classroom where each student learns the same thing.  Thoreau's way of expressing his opinion on the importance of Transcendentalism is by putting the power of nature into the daily lives of everyday children.
A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a very strange story.  I liked it at first, because the conversation between the mother and daughter reminded me of the random conversations I find myself in when I talk on the phone with my own mother.  I did see comparisons between characters in this short story and those of Catcher in the Rye.  Muriel, the girl at the beginning had similar qualities to Holden.  They both had a somewhat awkward and distant relationship with their parents.  They also seem to spend all of their time productively, according to their own definitions of "productive."  Sybil reminds me of Phoebe in her curiosity and affection towards people.  Muriel's mother reminds me of Holden's teacher who had him over before he left from Pencey, due to their concern for those who are close to them.  Seymour, who I had a hard time connecting to anyone on this planet, reminds me a bit of Holden's old teacher who housed him right before he decided to go home, because they both had strange affections towards children, especially.  Those are the multiple connections I made between the characters in Bananafish and those in Catcher.  That's all for this week!
Sayonara!

Catcher in the Rye ~ Week 2

To start off, I would like to say that I can feel this book is just getting better and better as it goes along. It is impossible for me to get bored reading this, as Holden is a character that grips my attention at every moment.
Holden is a character that I am still trying to figure out as a person. I am usually quite good at being able to read people and their personalities in a matter of minutes, but I guess reading about a person is more difficult. Because of my difficulty in understanding him, it is hard to predict what he will do next. This keeps me on my toes as I read along. This also makes it very difficult to put myself in his shoes. If I were to be kicked out of school as myself, I would be too ashamed to show my face to anyone I knew. I would feel like a complete failure and beg my parents for mercy, not expecting to receive any. This is because school is very important to me, as well as my overall success in life. However, being a rich teenage boy with no real interest in school, being expelled would be the last thing I would be worried about. I would do the same thing as Holden, going off to crash on a friends couch for a few days or take a vacation before returning home. For a kid who doesn't quite have his priorities straight, home is not the top place on his list of importance, nor is school.
I would really appreciate having Jane introduced into the story sometime soon, as a real person rather than just a memory. I feel that if I met her in person, I would not be a big fan of her. She seems extremely moody and stuck-up. On the other hand, this IS a parallel to Holden's character, so I can see why he likes her. I can appreciate Holden's unannounced love for Jane. When someone goes out of their way to notice every little detail about a person and doesn't even realize the attention they are paying to that person, THAT is when you know there is love in the air. It sounds terribly cheesy, but it is absolutely true! When Holden rambled on to Stradlater about how she made certain moves in checkers and how she smiles a certain way, that is when I really knew he loved her. I hope she realized how much he felt for her, because he deserved to be loved back after all he went through to keep her in his thoughts. Even a simple action like remembering is a huge gesture of love towards another person.
When Holden states that people are always ruining things for him, I could understand why. His life as a whole has not gone so smoothly, with one brother dying and another becoming a prostitute. He had a terrible group of boys living around him, negatively influencing him all the time. The interactions he has had with people have not been necessarily successful ones, which leads to his belief that his life's falls are due to the actions if other people. I myself have to disagree with his statement that people are "always" ruining things. I choose to blame myself for the tolls taken on my happiness each day. This may be because I have been very self-judgmental since I was in lower elementary school, especially when it came to education. How you grasp the day is up to you; enjoy the decent things that happen to you or point out the bad things. Coming from a family that seemingly had everything, I can see why Holden blames others when something bad happens, because he believes he must not have had anything to do with it. In general, Holden tends to show his pessimist side to the reader.
A time when someone "ruined" something for me was when I was showing off a project that I had been working on for a long time to my friends. One of my friends pointed out a flaw I had made and that I would get marked down on my grade because of that flaw. Though it was true that I had made a small mistake that defied the grading rubric, I spent the entire day prior to handing it in only worrying about that one small problem. Instead of focusing on how great the rest if the project was and appreciating how much work I had put into it, I turned the project in angry with myself for messing up. I look back on it now and realize that I could have accepted the slightly reduced grade and been proud of my work, ignoring the pressure my friends had put on me for messing up.
That's all for this week!
Sayonara!

Catcher in the Rye ~ Week 1

From the first 6 chapters of Catcher in the Rye, I can tell that this should be a very interesting book.  I appreciate how straight forward it is, and the teenager language is one that I can understand easily, as if someone were talking to me.  Unfortunately, the rough teen dialect comes with an excess of foul language, which I hear in the house from my relatives on more than one occasion (don't tell my mother I said that).  I can, however, get over the frequent "goddam"s and whatnot.
Uniqueness is becoming a very important theme in the book, mostly because of the extreme lack of it.  Holden is surrounded by an extreme about of unintelligent jocks (from what I have observed) and seems to not be too upset about flunking out.  We can easily blame part of these stone feelings on the fact that he was expecting the grades he got, but I also believe that he strives to just get out of Pencey Prep, like any sensible young man would.  Though he may not have realized his true intentions yet, I can tell that inside he wants to go off into a world that does not have boundaries made of dorm room walls or campus sidewalks.  His head doesn't know what to think, but his heart is pulling him towards "the Jungle" of mystery, where he can find himself, his individuality.  Being unique is standing aside from others, being able to say why you can be observed as an individual. 
This quality of individuality seems to fade in the adult world.  Not disappear completely, just fade.  One could argue that people going off and finding careers of their own is an example of a person finding a job that fits them individually.  However, in our economy, choices are often reduced, and people are pushed into living a life that doesn't quite match their personality.  I have noticed that Holden has the opportunity, because he is not an adult quite yet, to find both individuality AND adulthood.  His case probably does not apply to many people his age, because he is forced to grow up in a matter of three days, or however long this book lasts.  I do believe, however, that teenagers have the opportunity to build character in their journey to adulthood, whether they take that opportunity or not. 
I would say that my favorite person (that I know) would be my best friend, Sarah.  She is always fun to be around, no matter what kind of crazy mood we are in.  She is my most loyal friend and is simply there to catch me when I fall (figuratively, of course).  She is open to my slightly insane ideas and sometimes accepts them.  For example, she has taken my love for opera and Korean pop music and made it her own.  Overall, I am thankful to have a person like her around, and I couldn't ask for a better friend. 
Holden's relationship with his little brother was one that touched my heart.  They were loyal and always picked out the best in each other.  Even after Allie was gone, Holden remembered him for the great little boy he once was.  Allie was always able to make Holden laugh, just as Sarah can send me into a giggle fit with just one facial expression.  The only thing keeping Sarah and I from having as strong a friendship as Holden does with Allie is the fact that we aren't family members and neither one of us is passed away.  We do, however, trust each other the way that the brothers did. I can only hope that Sarah and I have as strong a friendship as we do now later on in our life, when we eventually part ways.
That's all for this week,
Sayonara!

Frankenstein ~ Week 4

It is honestly quite difficult to sum up my feelings on the last part of the book. I was shocked as to how much emotion the monster shows In the end. He goes on a wild killing spree due to Victor's refusal to make a female version of the monster. First, Clerval is killed. Then Elizabeth is killed on their wedding day; it's terribly sad. Worst of all, the monster regrets killing those closest to Victor only AFTER Victor has died, eliminating the chance for anyone to apologize. I wish Victor had done one of two things when he had the opportunity to: kill the monster, or follow through with female monster. This way, there would be some peace when there was able to be.
Another moment of emotion that shook me was when the monster appeared on Victor's deathbed with tears spilling from his eyes. This made me wonder, was the monster really running away from his creator, or was it leading him on? If it were truly running away, you would thing he would not dare to return to his master's whereabouts. This could be observed more closely, but that is not entirely what I was focusing on. I was honestly (and still am) disturbed by the rampage of death that the monster went on, taking no consideration of the emotions of others, only the pain of his creator. And what was all if this murdering for? Victor's dropping if a promise to make the monster a female counterpart. How foolish. I understand, a creature so lonesome and original in the world longs only for someone to be able to connect with. But such a creation requires years and years of work, a research that might last longer than Victor's own life. A punishment involving the murder of a lore and a best friend is far more painful than any such punishment should be.
The actions if both the monster and Victor have unfailingly upset me, and I am not quite happy with the book's ending, which continues to resemble "Hamlet" immensely. In the well-known Shakespeare play, the final scene is a fantastic performance of revenge and squalor which ends in a flourish of death. By the very end, every major character in the play is dead, except for Hamlet's servant and Prince Fortinbras. it us quite an unfortunate ending, but an unforgettable one, no less.
These are my feelings about the end if Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".
Sayonara!

Frankenstein ~ Week 3

Though these next few chapters began quite uneventfully, I continue to be surprised by the monster's intelligence.  He admits that he learned to read, which in such a short amount of time is quite shocking.  I was amazed to see him talking about his self-discovery of becoming a monster, and how he now sees him self as an isolated creature in society.  It is quite sad, as the monster has so much potential that is now lost to his truthful sorrow.  This tells me that humans often let themselves down and ignore their own potential due to appearance and social status. 
I see Mary Shelley's over all story as both interesting and unrealistic.  I admit, it is hard to make a story that IS realistic while attention-grabbing, but I had higher expectations for this book.  It is the same with the scene of the monster rising from the dead; the scene was literally approximately five sentences in length.  I was thinking the whole time, how blunt. 
The monster's human-like features continue to support the idea of "nature vs. nurture" through his learning process.  He simply observes the villagers and learns about emotions like joy and despair.  I found it almost humorous when he read Paradise Lost in belief that it was a historical record.  I am impressed that he could comprehend such a work of literature, as I am working up the courage to attack the exact same work.
I took some time to reflect on the event of the monster finding Victor's journal papers and reading his thoughts on his creation.  It made me think about the pain he must have felt from this, learning that your own maker despises the very thought of you.  That would be like my mother wrinkling her nose up in disgust every time I approached her being or her mind.  How awful.  But then I saw it from Victor's perspective, as the creator.  My thoughts on this are that one thing is worse than having a deep hate for something or someone.  And that thing is the pain you feel when the person or thing finds out about the hate you have for it.  I have experienced this pain before, I'm sorry to say.  This happens to be the part of the book that I have connected the most with so far, and it is a wonderful part, despite its sadness.
Well, those are all of my feelings so far on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Sayonara!

Frankenstein ~ Week 2

This part of the book simply amazed me. It is honestly true that you can not judge a book until you have read it, as proven in Frankenstein. Victor seems to resemble Shakespeare's character, Hamlet, in one of his most popular tragedies. Victor contemplates the idea of suicide (with Hamlet reciting the infamous quote, "To be, or not to be") but turns away with the reminder of his relatives. Hamlet also shuns suicide with the thought of his lover, Ophelia, whom later ironically commits a questionable suicide, herself. Anyway, Victor and Hamlet find themselves with little to cling to, but those who are dead and gone.
The part that really shocked me was when Victor and his creation have an almost pleasant conversation with each other. Now, I am well aware that a talk with a grotesque creature in a freezing ice cave is far from a tea-with-granny kind of pleasant, but they actually held a reasonable conversation. The fact that the creature is so naive yet intelligent (contradictory description, there?) is unbelievable. We picture in our minds a tall green monster who simply moans and walks about with no reasoning at all. But rather, this mysterious person/invention teaches both Victor, and the reader, that we look at life the wrong way. It tells it's creator that humans work so hard in life to receive simple material things of physical value, yet no one is truly happy in the long run.
This book has opened my eyes to the theme of spawn teaching master, not master teaching spawn. Life is about taking pride in accomplishments, rather than taking short-lived pride in what's in your pocket. The book in itself can show us that viewing something stereotypically is not the correct way to go about doing things. Frankenstein is in fact an odd character of great wisdom, not a lime-colored killer.
Well, that is all I've taken out of the book so far, and I can't wait to read more.
Sayonara!

Frankenstein ~ Week 1

Invade you were wondering, I am reading Frankenstein with Melanie due to the fact that I am currently quite cozy with The Odyssey.

I was very excited to be reading Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein.". This is mostly because I am always looking for excuses to read the classics. My excitement was somewhat reduced when my mother insisted that she read the book as well in order to have discussions about it. Not to worry, she can never uphold goals that don't require her humdrum career in marketing. Besides that, I dove into Frankenstein with great enthusiasm.
I was quite surprised to see that the first chunk of the story had absolutely nothing to do with the tall green monster, as I had anticipated. Instead, the first bit is a collection of letters written by a Captain Robert Walton to his beloved sister in England. Through these letters, I learned that Walton wishes to make scientific discoveries in the North Pole. He finds himself longing for a friend, and later befriends his vessel's crew.
I find that this book is not quite scary, but would be more accurately described as "haunting." The event if seeing a strange, giant figure in the distance, where no human should be, is nerve-racking. Though this scene foreshadows the monster part of the story, events tend to move slowly, leaving the reader in wonder for dozens if pages.
I question why the later-introduced Dr. Frankenstein goes into so much detail about his childhood. I understand that certain parts of it connect to his creepy creation, but other details are somewhat unnecessary.
In later chapters, the story does begin to fit the description of a horror story, when the monster is created, but that us not exactly what I chose to focus on as the reader.
I am more interested in the fact that Dr. Frankenstein obsessed over something for so long that he blocked out every other aspect of his life. However, when his much-anticipated creation was made, he was afraid of the appearance of his hard work. I find this almost symbolic as to what we consider worthy if praise and what to be ashamed of. Dr. F. shunned his project after seeing that it did not fit his complete expectations for such a difficult achievement. It is almost like a parent birthing a child and seeing that it had many uncomfortable physical flaws, then casting it off in their minds. I may be looking at this from an incorrect angle, but that is how I see it.
I also wish that people would appreciate this book for its brilliant take on science and technology, rather than a playful ghost story. Very few books manage to hold an interesting surface story while concealing an impressive theme on the underbelly of the book. Many people neglect the scientific part of Frankenstein and focus solely on the scary part. I'm glad that I have the opportunity to read this book for myself, in order to observe this concealed theme.

Sayonara!

The Odyssey ~ Book 2

I am glad to see the plot forming more as we dive deeper into the story. I have noticed something in Telemachus that I have not observed before: a kind of selfishness. My observations of rulers have shown that the best kings and queens are the ones who do not grieve on a personal note, but rather for the people as a whole. Telemachus mentions that he strictly wishes to depart for the good of himself, his mother and his father, while the crew have family who died alongside Odysseus. I would have advised him to verbally consider the lost (or not lost) ones of others in Ithaca.
The suitors, as expected, become even more reckless than usual. I would think that in the amount of time they stay at Ithaca's palace, the supplies used by the maids and whatnot would be entirely gone. You would think that the sheep would die out after one is cooked almost every day. If I were Tele, I would straight up kick them out on their tooshies. A considerate son would do so.
I honestly would like to drop kick the maid who told the suitors about Penelope's secret with unpicking the loom. Foolish young girls and their idle minds. Someone tell me if I ever get that ignorant, please. Because of that maid, Penelope's marriage is in grave danger, as is Telemachus.
I am sorry to even agree with the suitors at any point in this epic, but I manage to find reason in the theory if Ody dying in a distant country. In all honesty, if a goddess had not appeared to me and told me that Ody was still alive, the arrows would point to his death.
I don't believe I mentioned this last time, but I found it peculiar that all names of characters are followed by "son/daughter of...". For example: Leiocritus, son of Evenor. Or, Nestor, son of Neleus. Why don't I start calling myself "Hannah, daughter of Geoffrey." And my father would be "Geoffrey, son if Douglas," and so on and so forth. It is interesting, but can definitely get annoying.
Most of all, I wish the story would just begin to follow Odysseus' story, rather than Telemachus'. Ody, by far, has a much more interesting story ahead of him, traveling to Hell and back in attempt to get home.
Well, that's all for now.
Sayonara!

The Odyssey ~ Book 1

When I was told that we were going to be reading The Odyssey, I was both excited and surprised.  I have read Homer's masterpiece before, along with The Iliad, and had no problem reading it the first time.  I was even more surprised to see how few others had read either one of Homer's most renowned works of literature.  Because I have read The Odyssey before, I found myself needing very little preparation to read.  I simply picked up the book knowing who each character was, how they corresponded with each other and how the plot was lain out.  I did realize very quickly that I have read a different version from the one I just recently received.  There are many differences between the two versions that almost get on my nerves.  Many of the main characters have different names, such as Athena's alternative name, Minerva.  The most irritating difference is how this version uses the name "Ulysses" for the main character, while the first version I read used "Odysseus."  Personally, I find that Odysseus makes more sense, as it corresponds with the title. 
My habit in active reading is to write the "dumbed down" version of the text in the margin.  As I do this, I use abbreviations of names and places, such as "Tele" for Telemachus and "Ith" for Ithaca.  Being the stubborn reader I am, I refuse to stop writing "Ody" for Ulysses, no matter what version I am reading. 
Regarding my opinions on the story itself, I find The Odyssey to be my favorite of the epic poems I have read.  The fact that this 174 page booklet is actually classified as a poem blows my mind.  I see The Odyssey as an ancient adventure, like the hundreds of years old version of Star wars, or something like that.  By reading about Odysseus and his adventures through the Mediterranean area of the world, I have gained a great amount of knowledge about that area of the world during that time period.  For example, Ithaca is a thin island south of Italy now known as Crete (I believe?).  We learn about geography, culture, government and religious beliefs through a story that is referred to (on the surface) as a poem about a war general trying to return home.
I find Homer works to be easier to read than Shakespeare, especially when read in this version.  The first version I read was slightly more prose and verse, where this one is in more of a sentence-y form.  It may the fact that The Odyssey was translated fairly recently, where Shakespeare was written during the Renaissance, making the language of Homer more understandable for us.
Regarding the plot of Book 1, it has hardly begun to dig in.  The image of the story is just beginning to settle!  Most characters have barely been introduced, like Penelope, Telemachus, the suitors and even Odysseus. 
There's not much else to say other than that the story is going to get MUCH better after Book 1. 
Sayonara!