HTRLLAP: The Garden Party

What does the story signify?
"The Garden Party" focuses on social classes. Laura's class throws lavish parties as members of poorer classes perish outside. Her class sends scraps to members of that poorer class, looking condescendingly on them as if they were dogs. Is it the thought that counts? Laura faces this gap between her life and the lives of others, not quite understanding how to handle it. The story shows one debutante's coming into glory, though she often has second thoughts.

How does it signify?
Laura's discomfort with her social situation is shown mainly through dialogue. She hopes to stop the party to honor the dead man, but her counterparts laugh this idea off as improper. The proper socialites seem to be given bird-like qualities: Jose is called "the butterfly," Laura goes to meet the workers and "away she flew," then she "skimmed" back to the house. Birds do resonate in society as elegant and graceful, flying above all else. Perhaps Laura's mother is the mother bird pushing her chicks out of the nest and into the socialite world around them. That woman and Laura's sisters were a bit flighty. (Haha! Yes!) Laura's slight disconnect from her world is shown multiple times in her appreciation of nature. She comments on the beautiful day and the lovely air. She admires the work man who stops to smell the lavender. On the other hand, her family only worries about material things like the marque while Laura worries about the trees it will cover up.

So, I thought I did pretty well! I picked up on the meaning of the story, and sort of got how the author did it. My response was very similar to the examples.

Foster points out the similarities between Laura and Persephone. Those similarities are very, very close. I was pretty amazed. It added a new understanding to Laura's character and a timeless feel to the story. I personally am not up on my Greek myth knowledge, so I didn't recognize the similarity myself.

HTRLLAP: Chapter 21- Marked for Greatness

(You all know what book I'm going to pick for this)

The Phantom of the Opera. Love. Passion. Operas. Masks. As soon as I read this chapter about physical imperfections, Gaston Leroux's classic novel flooded my mind. Following musicals, movies, and sequels also feature the main character with a physical imperfection, but we need to go to the original. The original Phantom (his name is actually Erik) wears a full black face mask. Erik has deep, deep set yellow eyes that can only be seen in the dark giving him the look of a person with no eyes. His skin is pale, deathly white and slightly translucent. His lips are paper thin as though they are not there at all. Creepiest of all, the cartilage of his nose is absent leaving only two holes in his face. The same situation applies to his ears. He has about three long hairs sprouting from his otherwise bald head. Not quite the sunburn-looking, not that bad, forgettable next to Gerard Butler's beauty deformities of the 2004 movie. Anyway, Erik was born with his deformities, causing his mother to cast him aside and society to reject him. That's what led him to the Paris Opera House and the catacombs underneath.

Not only do his deformities cause his living situation, but, as previously suggested, they alter his relationships. Those who seem his are frightened. Those who are not frightened become his only allies. When his falls in love with the young Christene Daae, she is initially drawn to his lies about being an angel and his voice. Once she realizes what he looks like, she tries to run. Still, she's drawn to his musical power and deep sadness. But the Phantom is frightening, and Christene is naive and scared. Trouble ensues as the Phantom becomes obsessed with the girl who cannot stay away.

Marred from birth, the Phantom was cursed to a lonely existance. His story is troubling and depressing. All I want to do is give him a hug. The sad part is, I don't know if I could.

HTRLLAP: Interlude- One Story

Once again visiting the concept that no stories are wholly original, Foster throws in the word archetype. An archetype appears over and over in literary works. It is a basic "story component" (pg 191) that simply cannot be put to rest. They excite or interest us so much, that even archetypes found in modern books can provide the same desired reaction.

Here's am example: a race against time to save to world/human race/someone in danger. Our hero battles something or someone with a time limit, be it a bomb or a serial killer waiting to strike or a meteor heading towards earth. If he or she doesn't win, people die. The story creates suspense and that squirmy feeling readers get when they know this will end well but can't help doubt.

Surely countless works and stories are popping into your head. One I can remember? Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. In this first installment in the chronicles of Robert Langdon, the college professor/sybologist/adventurer must help the Swiss Guard find a small canister of anti-matter that simply awaits detonation. When the battery pack for the canister runs out, the anti-matter will hit the side of the canister and blow Vatican City and surrounding Rome off of the map. For the next 500 pages, Robert runs around the Vatican reading clues from ancient artwork and literature. The suspense is intense (That rhymed. Unintentional.) and readers are taken on a roller coaster journey. This is just one modern example of an ancient archetype.

HTRLLAP: Chapter 15- Flights of Fancy

*Caution: Spoilers...? I think.*

In chapter 15, Foster elaborates on the effect of human flight in literature. He does leave out on category of character: characters that not only have wings, but are full-blown birds. Why would an author choose a bird as his main character? Or in the case of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, (What can I say? It's very symbolic and such.) why would the author choose a seagull, the most boring of birds?

I don't know much about seagulls, but from this novel, I learned that seagulls don't do much crazy, impressive flying. They just fly low in order to capture food. So, Jonathan Livingston's special flight isn't just a spurt of uneasy flying. His achievement consists of beautiful, majestic flight: high, fast, and dangerous. He uses it to metaphorically break free of the restrictions usually placed on low-flying seagulls and to literally break free of his binding bird clan when they exile him for being ridiculous.

Even when exiled, Jonathan Livingston continues to experiment with flight and the mental freedom he feels during it. This leads him to a fall from a great height to a rocky death. But then, Jonathan Livingston finds himself in a new dimension of higher existance where he can teleport. Each level of existance allows him to shed earthly boundaries and to experience greater freedom. Pretty trippy, right?

HTRLLAP: Chapter 10- It's More Than Just Rain or Snow

In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, (I don't know what my deal is with Narnia books right now...) young Lucy Pevensie becomes the first character to discover the magical world of Narnia by crawling through a wardrobe. When she reaches the land, snow covers the terrain. Now, Narnia is huge. The landscape varies: covered in snow, forest, and fields. So why did C. S. Lewis choose to thrust Lucy into the snow?

From reading chapter 10, I realized just how many characteristics of snow also characterize Narnia. By creating a snowy, Narnian vision in the reader's mind, Lewis gives Narnia traits without flat-out saying them.

Go back in time a bit to when you were about, say, seven. One single snowflake hits the ground, and, all of the sudden, you are thrown into a frenzy. Snow is magical for children and adults alike. Narnia also flows with magic. It is, after all, a land hidden behind a wardrobe with talking animals. Snow invokes feelings of fascination and wonder, which Lucy feels as she travels through her new discovery. A landscape coated with snow seems new and quite different from the original landscape. Similarly, Narnia is a new and fresh landscape to Miss Pevensie.

On the other hand, snow can be cold and dangerous. When the White Witch is introduced to the reader, she is coated in white furs and pulled by polar bears. Lewis clearly wanted to associate her with snow as well. The White Witch, is not fresh and quiet, but is instead icy and cruel. As much fun as snow can provide, we often forget how we would die if left alone in it. Snow can be unforgiving, just like the White Witch that tempts Lucy's brother Edmond.

HTRLLAP: Chapter 5- Now Where Have I Seen Her Before?

According to Foster, texts are linked in a system called intertexuality. This cements the relationship between characters, plots, and themes in literature. That being said, the same basic characters and character types appear in multiple works. Forster says, in all bold print, "there's no such thing as a wholly original work of literature."

Two matching characters that I have encountered live in the pages of Anthem by Ayn Rand and Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. The main character of Anthem, later self-named Prometheus, lives in a world where all forms of individualism and knowledge have been eradicated. Prometheus eventually finds a tunnel left from the old world, which leads him to discovering electric light. He presents his findings to the great Council, and they banish him from the town, leaving him to fend for himself in the wilderness. Always the explorer, Prometheus finds a home left behind that is filled with modern marvels and books. He uses these tools to develop a new society that includes the words "I" and "me" and reaches a higher state of enlightenment than that of his previous mates.

Now on to the next one. The main character of Jonathan Livingston Seagull is called Jonathan Livingston and is, wait for it, a seagull. How constricting could the life of a seagull be? Apparently, very. Jonathan Livingston loves to fly. Not normal seagull flying: shallow, short, and only for eating. No, Jonathan Livingston loves to really soar. He practices flying as high as he can and making sharp, fast nose dives. This ridiculous seagull behavior gets his thrown out of his colony. Jonathan Livingston, once exiled, just keeps experimenting. He finds the deep emotional state of serenity in flying, and one event sends him on his way to enlightenment.

See the similarities? Both characters love to search for knowledge in worlds where such things are frowned upon. Both get thrown out of their communites. Both use that to reach higher states of happiness. Both can teach us lessons about reaching our own potentials.

HTRLLAP: Chapter 1 - Every Trip is a Quest...

Zombies. Brain-eating, slow-walking, groaning and grunting zombies. A large portion of zombie movies lack any substance at all: zombies just aren't as scary as other horror movie fiends, and directors use that to make brain-numbingly dumb movies. Ahhh! Zombies, Pot Zombies, and Zombies, Zombies, Zombies: Strippers vs. Zombies show the bar that has been set for this genre of film.

But then, from a golden glowing cloud, comes a different breed: Zombieland! Maybe I'm far-reaching. Maybe I'm just too in love with this movie. But the point is, even Zombieland has just a little to give. That is, it tells the epic story of a quest of two characters in particular. So... Here we go.

1. Our quester(s): Two sisters, Wichita and Little Rock, surviving in the zombie-infested United States. When everyone they knew turned into zombies, they knew that they must stick with each other to get by. However, they shy away from creating bonds with other survivors they meet.
   


2. A place to go: The two sisters are found by our other two heroes, Columbus and Tallahassee, in a super market where they try to trick the boys to get their supplies. When the lovely ladies finally decide to band together with the dashing boys, they tell us that they are headed for an amusement park in Los Angeles, an amusement park that is supposedly a zombie-free haven.



3. A stated reason to go there: Little Rock, the younger sister, is searching for the Garden of Eden in their "Zombieland" USA. She wants to find a place where she can lose her fears. Wichita, however, secretly knows that the zombie-free rumors are bogus. She just wants to please her sister, afraid to tell her otherwise.



4. Challenges and trials: Travelling with Tallahassee and Columbus, the sisters must first and foremost face hoardes of zombies. They learn Columbus's rules to surviving a zombie apocalypse. Wichita, always looking out for her little sister, faces the decision between being loners or joining this zombie-fighting pack permanently. Along the way, the sisters try to run off multiple times, but always seem to go back.



5. The real reason to go: After fighting a hive of zombies attracted to the sudden activity in the amusement park, Wichita and Little Rock realize that without Columbus and Tallahassee, they are alone in this zombie-world. On the road to LA, they faced the constant pull to have other human community. Still, they continued to run from it. The realizations at the amusement park showed them that they loved their companions, and they genuinely shared a love with them. Not to mention a zombie-killing group of four is way better than two. The quest showed them the importance of family, even if that family is a Twinkie-crazy, gun-happy cowboy and a paranoid, clown-fearing nerd.