You Shall Know Our Velocity

You Shall Know Our Velocity and Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name are the two books we read this year in English 112. There is a common theme in both books, which is the main character leaving home to escape events in life in his/her life that they do not want to face. In You Shall Know Our Velocity, Will, the main character thinks that by traveling around the country and giving money away, it will help him forget about his best friend who died. Giving the money away symbolizes him trying to shed his past because he thinks he is helping others by giving them money, but really he is doing it for himself.

I can relate to trying to escape from things in life that are not easy. It is simply easier to take the easy way out of situations and avoid our problems. However, as seen through real life experiences, I always end up having to face my problems eventually. In You Shall Know our velocity, Will ends up realizing that the money he gives away and the people he meets can not take the place of his friend who died and the guys who beat him up at the gas station.

Besides symbolism in You Shall Know our Velocity, there is symbolism in music. Many rap songs have dirty meanings behind their words. For example, "kiss me through the phone" by Flo Rider is about phone sex. The lyrics "all the boys and all the girls are begging to if you seek amy" by Britney Spears really means all the boys and all the girls want to 'F.U.C.K ME'. These artists know what they want the song to be about, so they figure out creative ways to clean the lyrics up. 

intertextuality

Intertextuality is defined by the dictionary as a relationship between two ore more texts that quote from one another, allude to one another or otherwise connect. 

One example of intertextuality between a play and a movie is Hamlet and the Lion King. The Lion King, created by Disney, is the loose version of Hamlet's plot. The texts are about revenge and murder.

Hamlet, written by Shakespeare is about Prince Hamlet getting revenge on his uncle Cladius, who murdered his father so that he could become King and marry the queen. In the Lion King, which was created 300 years later, has the same plot. Scar, wants to kill his brother Mufasa, the King and his nephew, Simba who is next in line for the throne. By killing them, he will become king, just like Claudius did in Hamlet. The reoccurring theme of these two texts is the circle of life. In Hamlet, no one survives and in the Lion King, Simba ends up defeating Scar which results in Scar's death. 

There are many examples of intertextuality between Disney Movies. While these might be considered remakes, each movie has the same plot and theme of Cinedrella, having a death of a parent and a child who is treated poorly by the step parent and step sibblings. Ever After and Another Cinderalla story are examples that allude to the original Cinderella.

blue highways

So far, I am having a hard time getting into this book. I often find my self zoning out and having to re-read sections so I actually process the text. I got more into it towards the end, but I did not history of the towns. I am hoping to get more into the book as I get to know the narrator and more characters. I enjoyed reading about the monks and why they decided to live in a monastery. I did not know anything about monks before, and it made me understand their lifestyle and beliefs. I think the main character is starting to realize how alone he is, and that he is kind of like a monk in a sense because he is living alone and not dependent on other people. However, the spiritual life is missing.

I do not get the purpose of his travel. The book starts out with him having a rough day, and then all of the sudden he decides to pick up and leave. Just like Clarissa did in Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name. I think the main character in this book did it because he was bored and wanted to see what else was out there in the world. However, I think it is really cool that he visits theses very small, random towns and only takes small roads to get there. I had never heard of any of the small towns: Remote, Simplicity, New Freedom, New Hope, Why, Igo, Why-not, Ono or Nameless. When I drive to Oxford, I always take back-roads that sometimes do not have street names. This reminded me of the main characters journey. 

I do not really understand his interest in finding a six calendar diner/restaurant. I enjoy reading about the conversations he has with people at these restaurants because the people are always different, depending on what town he is near. I like when he takes pictures of the people he meets, because I am a visual learner. I wish that he would also take pictures of the places, because that would help me understand the area. 

Over break I went to New York City. I have been there a few times, but I went with my sister who had never been there so we did some sightseeing. One of the places we went to was ground zero. I saw a picture of the new "ground zero" and the beginning construction. Being up close to it made it very real and made me remember 911 and how I was only in 6th grade. There was a list of all the firefighters and lieutenants killed on 911 trying to help others. The list had hundreds of names, and it really showed their devotion to their job and country. 

Thoughts after finishing LTNLEYN

At the end of this book, I was surprised and angry. When Clarissa had first got to her mothers cabin, I was excited for her because her quest for her mother was coming to an end. She was excited about finally finding her mother, which got me excited. However, when Clarissa told her mother that she was her daughter I got so angry when her mother replied with, "I don't have anything to say to you. If I had, I could have written you a letter." If I were Clarissa, I would want to slap her. After leaving your daughter and not giving an explanation and then seeing her for the first time, you think she would give her a hug or at least try to be friendly. I did not understand Olivia when she said, "That was not my life. I had every reason to seek something else." Clarissa was her life, she gave birth to her, so that statement does not make sense. I can understand that she wanted to escape the rape and did not want to have to face it every day, but Clarissa is a part of her past, and even if it is a past that she does not want to revisit, it is still her past. However, Clarissa proves that she can get beyond her past and live in the future. She Remarries and raises the baby in a new world, and even though the child has a mother who was born out of rape, she can still lead a normal life.

In terms of Clarissa and Olivia being alike, I would say they are alike in some ways. After things did not go the way she expected with her mother, she chose not to go back to New York for Pankaj because she did not want to be reminded she was born because of rape and her birth father was a mad man. She is escaping her past, just like her mother did. She said that she can understand why her mother left but she will never forgive her. I think that Clarissa and Olivia are more alike that Clarissa thinks. Even when she arrived at her mothers house she made a comment about her mother probably trying to escape from her, which shows that her view of her mother has not changed. I was surprised that Clarissa wanted to follow in her mothers footsteps in terms of leaving the man they love, and they both did so for the same reasons. Clarissa seems to be happy in the new life she created for herself, just like Olivia is. 

Overall, I really liked this book. I think that it is so much more enjoyable to read when you are reading something that you like reading. This book was a quick read and was hard to put it down. The plot had a lot of twists and turns that I did not expect, which made it kind of like mystery book. My predictions of the book were not correct, but that is okay.

For my paper, I am not sure exactly what I want to write about, but I do want to do the first question, which is a close reading. I enjoyed doing that in class and I like finding symbolism in objects and ideas. I think that I will do some research and see what I come up with to help guide me. I am curious if the Sami people are as complex as Clarissa and Olivia are, and I am not sure if I would be able to find that through research or not. 

"LTNLEYN" thoughts

I have many thoughts about the book, Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Vida. Although I have only read up to page 76, I have enjoyed this book so far. Usually, teachers assign books that are confusing and complicated and then we tear it apart and find symbolism every day in class. However, I feel that I have a good understanding of the plot. There are a few gaps/borders that I have already come across. It is hard for me to understand where Clarissa is coming from when she talks about her mom abandoning her at the mall and never coming back. My mother has never left my family, not even for a night. I felt it was childish for her to run away, because she is doing exactly what her mom did to her, to her fiance. Not telling anyone where she is going seems stupid because her finance will probably file a missing person report. I liked how the author included the flashback of when she was younger and her mom was still around because it helped me understand how she got to where she is today. I lost my grandfather to cancer last year, so I share her pain when she had the "funeral" for her mother. Funerals are sad, but it does bring closure to the relationship. 

I identified with her when she was traveling alone for a long period of time. I fly by myself a lot to go home over breaks and visit my friends who have moved. Traveling can make for a long and boring day and it has made me grumpy. I can understand why she got mad when she thought she was going to have to share a sleeper with the men who were smoking. I would have been mad in her situation too, because when you are traveling, all you want to do is sleep and get to your destination. When she got to where her birth dad lives and visited his church, it made me anxious. I wanted everything to work out for her, since she seems to have had a lot of obstacles in her life. After she said her name, he knew exactly who she was, and it made me want to keep reading to find out. You know a book is good when you want to keep reading and not put it down. 

Reading Inventory

In class we defined text not just as a book, but as something written that conveys language. This can be verbal, music, film or anything that offers interpretation. Whether it’s reading or watching a movie, they both have a plot and dialogue which makes it interesting. I do enjoy reading, but I have found it hard to read during the school year because I have textbooks and other novels to read for my classes and I don’t like starting a book then not finishing for months because I forget what is going on. During spring and summer break is when I get my reading in, because I find it very relaxing to read at the pool or beach. My favorite book is “Keeping Faith” by Jodi Picoult. This book really spoke to me and I enjoyed it because it made me think about my own relationships and faith. It had a very complex story plot and I read this book within a few days because I did not want to put it down. Although I have not had time yet to read other Jodi Picoult books, I do own three more, which I hope to read during my upcoming vacations. I like to read books that I am interested in, not always books that I am assigned. I like being able to start and finish a book on my own time and not have to worry about how many pages I have to read each night so that I can go to class prepared. In school, teachers assign books and they have not always been books that I have enjoyed. However, there have been some that I have loved. In high school, we read several books that I enjoyed. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger was one of my favorite books we read in school. I also enjoyed the Scarlet Letter because we tore that book apart and found every possible symbolism in the novel, which really made me appreciate the text. Every English teacher that I had during high school made us annotate the books we read. While it doubles the amount of time spent reading because you would have to underline, highlight, make symbols and write in the margins, I found it helpful for when I would try to find something later on for a class discussion or paper. I mastered the way of annotating where it was not too much, but not too little. Usually, my teacher would give us the writing assignment before we would start reading the book, so I would create symbols in the margins if I liked a quote or idea and thought it would be useful in my paper. I am glad that my teachers made us annotate our texts because it has helped me understand the book better and I know that having annotating skills will be useful in this class and when I am out of college and have full time job.Since I graduated from high school, I do not think my reading has changed. Last semester I took English 111, which did not require much reading. We read short essays, but they were no longer then six pages. I have been doing a lot of textbook reading, but I have not been able to annotate in the textbooks so I take notes on my computer or in a notebook.I sometimes have a hard time remembering what I am reading so I have come up with a few ways to solve this problem. If possible, I like to read out loud because when I listen to myself talking it stays in my mind. I do not like reading with a group because everyone reads at a different pace. In the past when I have read with a group, instead of listening to people read out loud, I have read in my head and then gotten ahead of that reader. I would consider myself a fast reader, but sometimes I read so fast that I skip words, which makes me then have to go back and read the entire sentence again.