Blevins?? :'(

Well, this novel was going nice and steadily, with some nice romance and other things, until the boys were kidnapped and made prisoners! It doesn't seem right that a character like Blevins, young and full of life, should have to be tortured and have his feet mangled. But to have him killed? I know that he killed a man when he was trying to escape, which was wrong of him, but he was not the killer and theif that he was accused of being. And now John Grady and Rawlins, who took no part in Blevin's actions, have to bear some punishment and accusion themselves. Perhaps the death of Blevins symbolizes the end of the Western hero, and perhaps John Grady will now have to change to adjust to his changing, more modern world.

Thoughts on stuff

Here are some quotes that I really like:

"Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it."
Max Frisch
"The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers."  ~Sydney J. Harris

“I am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly.” - Richard Fuller

     “To sin is a human business, to justify sins is a devilish business.”

Response to: “The Obligation to Be Happy” by Linda Pastan

            The metaphorical imagery of struggling in “The Obligation to Be Happy” by Linda Pastan highlights the speaker’s fated attempts to achieve happiness. The speaker, who seems to be a woman because of the references to “housework” and “narrow shoulders,” notes how “onerous” it is for her to be happy, even more so than maintaining her “beauty” and “love.” She talks about how it is “expected” of her, even when the conditions are not ideal. And because of these expectations, she smiles to please others, “as if [her] own fidelity to sadness were a hidden vice,” revealing her constant connection with sadness, as if it were binding and degrading her.  The speaker continues trying to achieve happiness again, trying “to hoist it on [her] narrow shoulders again.” She compares her plight to carrying a “knapsack heavy with gold coins,” and “stumbling” through the house and through life.

Listen to Blog list

Love in the air (APH)

I have to say I like where this book is going. I enjoy reading the simplistic style of life that these boys get to live. They are exposed to open country and beautiful horses on a daily basis. And this novel seems different from others I have read because of its plot. It is not very complicated. One does not have to worry about every little thing mentioned and try to read between the lines, because most of what the novel is portraying is spelled out flatly in the novel. I also like the fact that it is turning into a romance novel. The romance may be cliche in a way, because of the love-at-first-sight feeling that seems to be what drives John Grady towards Alejandra, but it is still wonderful to read. I can't wait to see where this novel goes next.

20 Q about those pretty horsies

1. How does the continuous description of the beautiful scenery affect the feel of the story?
2. What is the effect of Blevins being both quiet and awkward in some ways but heroic in others?
3. How could the boy's run away with so little worries?
4. What does the lack of many in depth conversations between the characters have on their development?
5. What did the men want to buy Blevins for?
6. Why do the boys think of Blevins as a nuisance?
7. Has there been any support so far that John G may be a Christ figure?
8. Is anything learned about Blevins when he is drunk and suddenly talks a lot?
9. How does this novel follow the 'Western Myth' so far?
10. How does the style of the novel, with its constant use of 'they' as in "they rode," "they ate," and "they watched, affect the flow of the story?
11. In what ways is John Grady more of a Western Hero character than Rawlins or Blevins?
12. Where did Blevins even get that horse in the first place?
14. Even though they are runaways, in what ways can these boys be considered heroic?
15. How do Rawlins and Grady act differently toward Blevins?
16. Although they do not get along, in what ways are Blevins and Rawlins alike?
17. Why do JG and Rawlins doubt that 'Blevins' is his real name?
18. What is the point of not using any quotation marks?
19. What happened to Blevins? Did he escape?
20. How will the girl rider be important in the future?

Look at the pretty horsies

Well I have to say that this novel gets more interesting every time I read a section. I like the style of it, and that the storyline is easy to follow now. It's a wonder that the boy's do not have more concern for what is happening back home, but I do enjoy reading about their cowboy lifestyle. I have to admit that I laughed when I read the scene when the boys were "funnin" about shooting the Rawlins boy just like the supposed others they shot. I think that Rawlins, even though the boy's seem to want to get away from him, is going to become a more significant character, especially of his awesome skills with his gun. And I cannot complete this post without mentioning that I love reading the occasional Spanish that pops up every now and then in the novel.

Please don't ignore it

Some people say that they don't like to think about the things that are happening in the world because there are so many tragedies and awful things. But I think the greatest tragedy is when someone sees the things that happen in the world and ignores them; no one tries to change anything.

How can you see what goes on in the world and not try to change it?

Example: Human Trafficking- the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor: a modern-day form of slavery.

-There are around 27 million people in slavery today, and about half of them are children.
-An estimated 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year.
-Human trafficking, especially for sex, is a big problem for the United States. (Not only because it goes on behind closed doors in the US, but because a lot of the sex tourism in places like Thailand is supported by many American tourists, who see nothing wrong with using these people for commercial sex).

But most people seem to ignore this problem, because it causes them discomfort to think about it.
Well, I am one of those people who gets discomfort from ignoring it. Hopefully you are too.

Pretty Horses 1

I prefer not to give my official opinion on a book until I have read more than one quarter of it, because one does not get the true feel for a story until they have read a good portion of it. But so far, All the Pretty Horses seems like it is not difficult to read, and is actually very interesting. There hasn't been a lot of plot development yet, but the story still captures my attention. I am intrigued by the fact that the spoken words of the story are not marked by punctuation, and one has to figure out when the words are being spoken. And there are hardly any description or tone words. But this style gives a unique feel to the story. The reader has to interpret the scene more on their own. For example, in one instance between the boy and his father, when they are at a diner, the father's actions and words are written, but there is little description of how they occur. So the reader is left to interpret the scene. It says that "his father nodded" and then "he smoked," and then they watch "two horsemen" pass by outside. The reader knows what is happening, but there are almost no tone words in the passage. It is left up to interpretation whether the father smoked with a depressed look, or perhaps a contemplating one. And when the horsemen pass by, it does not say if they ride majestically or even clumsily, they just pass by. This lack of description may seem like a loss to some readers, but I think that it is actually an advantage. It allows the imagination to take over and really forces the reader to pay attention to the setting and context to figure out how the scene should be.

My First Post

This is really exciting, because it is my very first post on my new blog. I couldn't decide what to blog about first, so I'm just blogging about blogs. They seem like a cool way to share ideas. Now I have to go think of stuff to make posts about. :-)