That's All Folks

I want to start this (FINAL YAY!!) blog by saying that at the beginning of this semster I signed up for Intro to Lit because I needed to finish off the last of my gen eds and heard it was an easy A. In no way has this class been "an easy A", and after looking back on how much I've learned I'm glad it wasn't. I feel that I got so much more out of this class then I have in some of my course classes even. Now I'm not going to say I've completely changed how I act and what I think because of this class, but it has made a difference in my life.


Through the issues we discussed this semester, such as Consumerism, Plentitude, Voyeurism, Censorship, ect... I now find myself thinking about and considering things that I hadn't before. Now when I'm shopping I try to think if I really need what it is I'm about to buy or if it's just a waste of money. I find myself trying to be more careful of what I put online because I'm not sure who is looking at the information.

I really enjoyed (most of) the nonfiction we read in this class. Although I had already purchased The Hunger Games over the winter and had planned on reading it once I finished my current series, I never would have read Feed. Even though it was an easy read, I feel that The Hunger Games was a great book. I finished the other two within the same week as the first. I noticed that I was thinking about the themes more analytically because of the dicussions we had in class and I was trying to figure out if the author had a hidden message or warning. And the rest of the material, even if I didn't like it as much, definitely taught me a lot and exposed me to topics I wouldn't have exposed myself to.

Thank you to everyone that contributed to my learning, and especially to Dr. Smith.

(And since I'm such an advocate of The Hunger Games now here is a clip I found)

Burn Baby Burn

The question asked in this blog could be viewed differently depending on the approach taken. If I consider a world without books, where books never existed, then I don't think anyone would notice the difference. But right now, if all of our books were taken away, I think it would have a huge impact on the world. All the written and shared knowledge that we share would cease to exist. The trend that each generation's IQ level increases over the previous would probably reverse, refer to the Flynn Effect. I know I personally would miss them because I enjoy reading a good book from time to time instead of always watching a movie or TV. The last part of the blog prompt took some consideration. Although we don't actually burn books everyday, we might as well. The number of people that actually use books for entertainment or to learn from seems to decrease with each generation. It seems that we ignore the opportunities that are right in front of us to be able to better ourselves and make the world a better place to be.

The Hunger Games: Survival of the Fittest

From the first word that I read from The Hunger Games I was hooked. I couldn't put the book down. It was funny because it was a book that I had purchased over the summer, intending to read once I got some free time. Now, after finishing the second book and starting the third I still can't stop reading. I finished the first two books in a matter of days and am on track to finish the third within a day. I absolutely became engrossed in the book and the story. I thought the story was easy to get caught up in and the characters were easy to become attached to. At numerous points through the first book I found myself hoping that events would turn on way even though I knew they wouldn't. Such as when Rue died, I was almost morning as much as Katniss. I felt like I knew the characters in the book as if they were my friends and felt the pain as each one of them died. 

Something that I immediately thought of when I found out what the Hunger Games actually were was the show Spartacus. In this show the gladiators have to fight each other, normally to the death, in an area with everyone watching. This just made me think of how the tributes had to kill one another with all of Panem watching. I won't give anything away, because I highly recommend reading the 2nd and 3rd books as they are just as good if not better than the fist, but especially in the 2nd book with everyone hanging on their every movement. Below is a clip from Spartacus: Gods of the Arena which was actually the unplanned prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The show received such high ratings in its first season that the producers couldn't help but make more episodes. This also reflects to how the people of Penam, even though troubled by the games, couldn't help but watch.