What did you learn? Personally? Academically?

Out of the course of this semester I have gained so much knowledge and appreciation for books, people, and education. I found out that sometimes being more academically advanced does not always get you farther in life and that is why I feel like I grew so much as a person by taking this class. I was able to interact and discuss topics with classmates that I may never had with this whole school year without taking this class. I enjoyed every minute of this class and have been truly inspired by each and every one of my classmates.
On an academic level I was able to advance my writing skills, deep thinking, and collaborating my thoughts and ideas into actual projects that hopefully inspired others. I also learned the power of communication and the power of words. My classmates and my blog affected so many and for the first time I realized how powerful communication is and that we (as students) have the ability to voice our opinions anywhere and have it found by anyone. Not only did I advance in those areas, but I learned things on my own and had to work through problems and adjust to new things. One of the many great parts of this class was that I was able to interact with many people several of them being my parents. Never have I been so excited to communicate with my parents about school until this class. I wanted to share what I was doing with them, and I wanted to share the amazing work of my classmates. The ability to share those things with my parents and others has truly been an academic and personal growth for me as well as I think my parents also.
On a personal level I learned so much I am not sure where to start. One of the best parts of this class was Mrs. Olson's continuous help, inspiration, and drive she gave to each of us students. Her constant motivation and wisdom helped me to realize I wanted to change my major. If I had never taken Novels I may not have realized how much I enjoyed writing, thus not choosing this major in the first place. Another great example of why I enjoyed this class so much was the amazing lesson I learned. I feel everyone should learn this and I know if we all did there would be world peace. I learned the valuable lesson of not judging a book by its cover. I was in a class full of all different people, some who I never thought I would ever associate with. By the end of this class, these students became closer to me and I realized how much I cared for them. Their ideas inspired me and made me want to inspire others. I cannot thank you all enough for the time I was given to get to know all of you and be inspired by all of your creative minds. All in all, thank you for the past two years that I was blessed with to get to know all of you.

Snowee White and The Seven Chicks // Characterization

Characterization 

Although there were many characters to make up this comedy one act, the characters that really made this one act were Snowee White and Amy.

Snowee White: Snowee White is a not a very successful singer who is facing the downfall of his career and becoming poor. He is faced with a dilemma when his deceased uncle gives him a large sum of money, but with there is a catch. He must marry one of the seven women his uncle has selected for him. This obviously would not be a big problem if he already was planning on marrying his girlfriend Amy.

Amy: Amy has been dating Snowee White for quite some time and is planning on marrying him soon, once they get enough money of course... When Snowee is faced with this dilemma, she immediately leaves Snowee knowing how much he needs the money and will choose that over her.

There are seven women that Snowee ends up choosing from and as each woman comes in to meet Snowee, the progression of his dislike is felt throughout the one act. As each woman meets Snowee he realizes that the money isn't for him and neither are the women. They want to change him into someone he's not and he knows deep down that Amy never wanted that for him and loved him for who he is. Overall the characters really made this one act. The plot was good, but without the characters and their personalities the plot would have never worked. In the end the characters made the message and gave the message and moral of the whole story. When you think you will be happier with something because you will be gaining money or fame and end up leaving someone or something for it, in the end you will only be disappointed and saddened. Juliet Garver (writer) did a good job at setting up a plot and characters that portrayed the ending message.

Anthem // Why Read?

Perhaps there are many reasons why people should read Anthem, but perhaps there are none. Anthem will make readers contemplate the way our world is run. We know from history how corrupt governments and people have been, so what would lead us to believe that it will be any different in the future..or even now? Can we trust everything the media, government, and even our closest friends throw at us? Anthem will give you a whole new perspective on individuality and how important it is and that we do not take it for granted. It allows us to see the effects of brainwashing by a powerful “government” per say. It allows us to appreciate our individuality and that, “we” comes second behind “I.” It allows us to make sure we never let people in power overtake our minds into thinking not only that we do not have individuality, but that we do not have the choice to make decisions on our own. Anthem is a necessary read, not only  to appreciate individuality, but to recognize the sometimes over extensive power governments hold in our world today.

Anthem // Style

Ayn Rand used an interesting style while writing Anthem by using short, non-descriptive words, and as I stated before she has almost a robotic way of telling her story. For example:

“We stopped when we felt hunger. We saw birds in the tree branches, and flying from under our footsteps. We picked a stone and we sent it as an arrow at a bird. It fell before us. We made a fire, we cooked the bird, and we ate it,...” p. 79

Although Rand leaves us as readers with little detail on her characters and setting, she does use a unique language, such as “the night of the ages.” p. 59 or “And the roads of the world will become as veins which will carry the best of the world’s blood to my threshold.” p104. 

Although her writing seems vague and indistinct, her writing gives off an air of powerful simplicity that ends up giving us as readers the chance to develop more of a picture in our brains as we read. I noticed as I read that it was confusing and quite vague, but rereading certain passages made me realize much of her writing leaves you with a very unique and powerful aura after finishing a sentence or paragraph. 

Anthem // Setting

The setting in Anthem reminds me much of the setting of the place where Katniss lives in the Hunger Games. The city is gloomy, dark, and behind the times of other places around the world. The part we do not know in Anthem is whether the city that Equality 7-2521 lives in is the only city in the world or if it is the only city that is living in a so-called Utopian society. 

The city in Anthem is definitely behind times because Equality 7-2521 ends up inventing electricity all over again. Instead of using light bulbs, the city only uses candles. They also assign the people of the city to certain jobs such as a “street sweeper.” If the city were more modernized, they would not need street sweepers. I believe the way Rand describes the setting helps to describe the city even more. The subtle hints of the way people act and how the city is run gives us readers an idea of how much the city is behind times. Not only does the setting of the book give us a visual, but it also leads us to questions. Why is that the city has not modernized? Why (if the setting is futuristic) has the city gone backwards? These questions can be brought up due to the way Rand has described the setting of the novella. 

Anthem // Periphrastically

“I am. I think. I will.” is the most important passage in Anthem because at last Equality 7-2521 has found the word “I.” He has not only discovered the word but for all that it means and represents. It now offers him and others the meaning of individuality. No one has to go about saying the word “we” to identify themselves. Equality 7-2521 now can spread think on his own and share the word “I” with the Golden One. He can now think, feel, and make decisions on his own without including everyone else because he is an individual; his own self. I felt a big transition in the novella when Equality 7-2521 discovered the word “I.” Everything became more positive and brighter once he found the word. I compare this to the enlightenment of when the people came out of the cave for the first time in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” It resembled Plato’s story due to the fact of finding out something so important and how it completely changes your life.

Anthem // Affectively

Affectively

While reading Anthem I felt quite intrigued, yet hollow. Ayn Rand gave characteristics to her characters that resembled robots. They had no emotions, nothing that made them stick out from anyone else in the city except for the actions of Equality 7-2521 and The Golden One. I believe that Rand wrote this book to display the effects of when someone in power is given too much power and we (citizens) in turn are brainwashed and end up destructing our own identity. I believe that our own government, media, and celebrities have the ability to destroy people’s identity. They have a way of manipulating our thoughts, opinions, values, and morals by what they say, how they dress, what they sing, and what they express. In turn, it is our own choice on whether or not we follow their ways or stand up for everything we believe in. This, of course, is my take on Rand’s message of Anthem, but there are many different ways you can look at this novella.