Elated Lawsuit Authoritarians.........(Take 5? Take 6?) Justice League! Yeah.

     The Hunger Games shows a classic case of revenge and self-preservation. In her futuristic world, The twelve existing Districts in North America once rebelled against their dictatorship, the Capitol, and were put down again to a servile state. Now, to constantly remind them that they shouldn't rebel and that the Capitol is in power, each District must choose one boy and one girl to compete in a gruesome fight with the other children from the other Districts.
     This just shows how horrible revenge can be. For any little transgression or misdemeanor, people always take pleasure in turning it right back to who they recieved it from. For instance - (And I'm not pointing fingers.) The U.S. decided to establish democracy in Iraq, sending in thousands upon thousands of troops to enfoce this new concept. Then revenge comes into play. Iraqi people decide to commit acts of violence against the U.S. and U.S. soldiers, and we find ourselves in a vicious cycle of revenge. If any of these Iraqi people are caught, then they are put to our idea of justice, which would be a loooong visit to a prison cell. But let's say one of our U.S. soldiers was kidnapped. The people in Iraq probably believe that we are who should be locked up, since we're enforcing something they didn't ask for in the first place, and strolling around their houses with loaded weapons. However, this concocts many more problems in the world when everyone is hunting everyone else to enforce justice, or exact revenge, and then violence is running rampant and the world is a terrible place.
    Self-preservation also comes into play with society, as people always like to act in their best interests or do what pleases them. People don't always look out for each other, little children. When I get off the bus each day, I may have a dollar-ish in my pocket left over to buy a cookie/candy bar, etc. I usually see one homeless man in the same place each day. Today, I compromised. I gave the man half of my money, but I also acted in my best interests. I saved the other 50 cents to buy a rainbow cookie down the street. I love those cookies, but felt rather guilty today. This isn't exactly self-preservation, but many people wouldn't hesitate to put someone else down to move higher up in their career, in monetary standings, in their social life, or elsewhere.
    

Elated Lawsuit Authoritarians...........(Take 5)

    In "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime", there are many social issues. First of all, there's the most obvious. in the beginning of the book, Mrs. Shears' dog is murdered with a garden fork. Her neighbor Christopher decides that he'll find out who committed the crime. The second most obvious issue is that Christopher is an autistic child who hates yellow and brown, hates being touched, and can multiply 251 times 864 mentally within seconds. Although he's great at math, Christopher has difficulty in common situations, and cannot tell lies. Christopher's mother is dead, so he is living alone with his father at the time, which is another issue, but they manage to limp along with everyday life.
    Later in the book, Christopher snoops around and discovers that his mother is not dead, and has been sending him letters for years. His father has kept this secret all along. Christopher's father also confesses that he killed Mrs. Shears' dog.
    All of the above social issues fall into the category of "Facing your fears". Christopher's dad strictly forbids him to investigate the murder of Mrs. Shears' dog, yet he does. Christopher, once he finds out his father killed the dog, is so scared for his own safety that he runs away to live with his mother in London. However, Christopher is still very afraid of normal things, and doesn't know much about how to get to London. But he soldiers onward, and asks a stranger for directions, buys a train ticket, takes the subway, is touched, and ventures out alone all by himself, and forces himself to do all of these fears of his.

Halcyonic Days......

     Ah, the school day. The work day as well. Waking up at six 'o' clock, walking sixteen blocks, taking the bus for thirty minutes......bliss. The noise of the man behind me humming loudly and out-of-tune, the women gossiping in another language at the top of their lungs, the small children running everywhere and yelling about everything and annoying everyone.......
    School. Shouting, jostling, running, eating, sneezing, jumping, singing, yelling, screaming, learning, listening, sitting, standing, crouching, answering, praising, dozing. And then lunchtime strolls along, and everything is peaceful once more. Birds twitter as you search for $2 dumplings, but no avail. You trudge meekly back into the building, all your bravado and impudence punctured.
    Then the rest of the day meanders on, and you suddenly discover that it is time to leave. But no, you must stay for "Test Prep". (Think chains and manacles).
    5:30 arrives after hours of meaningless torture, and you are released from servitude. You proceed to the bus, and wait for another half an hour for it to come. You then ride home.
    You step off the bus, only to be greeted by yelling and shouting and waving from the man on the corner, who then proceeds to scrutinize every cigarette butt, shredded leaf, and discarded napkin on ever curb. Then you walk another ten or so blocks, dodging screaming children, runners, and hunched-over old Italian ladies all the while. You are so hungry you are forced to enter supermarkets and devour all of the samples. You exit the supermarket, and start to swing your umbrella. A woman walks briskly up to you and says "You know, you could hit someone doing that.". She was quite grumpy. You trudge the remaining blocks home, fueled by your annoyance, only to be greeted by an hour of the vexatious, bothersome, irritating little thing they call homework.

Elated Lawsuit Authoritarians.........(Take 4)

     "The Giver". Classic book, most people should read it. English class. Re-reading. Annotating. Blogging. Anyways, "The Conveyor" is a classic case of the archetype "The Loss of Innocence". Throughout "The Dispensor," Jonas changes from a small, inexperienced, green little sprout into a real man. He questions society. He feels real pain, not just a finger that's been smooshed in a door frame. He experiences snow, and sledding, and hills and war and guns and elephants and colors and skin tones. He decides to become a lumberjack. (Just making sure you're still reading.) He feels set apart from his peers and his elders. He also sort of falls into the hero-type archetype, as he rides his bicycle to freedom to save the community, breaking several rules in the process.
     And "The Transmitter" strictly falls into "The Mentor" archetype, with his wispy beard and cryptic replies, his creepy bare-tunic-memory-bestowing.......(This book really is quite alarming). He teaches Jonas how the world used to be, or still is outside of their little bubble of self-proclaimed utopia. He also helps Jonas a lot, by lavishing him with profuse amounts of memories of strength and courage and other masculine qualities. "The Supplier" really plays it up, with all sorts of lines along the lines of "You could change the world" and "It's all down to you" and "Her name was Rosemary". This is histrionic stuff, people.
     Anyways, Jonas turns from a callow, inept, naive fledgling into a tested, knowledgeable kid who saves the community and hears music for the first time. Hooray.

(Time for some pierogies. I love pierogies.)