Final Blog

When I first started this class, I did not think I would enjoy it one bit. I usually hate reading assigned books in class, but when we read Feed, I quickly realized this was not going to be a normal literature class. I actually liked the topics we would talk about it in class and read about, so it was not hard to participate and engage in conversation during class. The book I enjoyed the most during this course was Hunger Games. I couldn't put it down when I read it and I might even read the rest in the series. Hunger Games and the Lottery definitely made me think about our culture and just how far we would go for entertainment.
The documentary on the most hated family in America really triggered my emotions. I couldn't understand why those people would do that to the soldiers defending our country. It was very upsetting to watch. This course has also made me think about topics that I would normally not think twice about; such as, the "dumbest generation," book burning, and censorship. It never really bothered me before that everything we see and hear and even read is usually censored, but now that we have talked about, it does bother me a little bit.
One thing I have definitely started doing is responding to literature. Not just for this class, but my others too. I find myself comparing my reading to other things I have read for that class, just like we had to do for this class. So, I guess it worked!
I really enjoyed this class and working with my group. I was not looking forward to taking this because I thought it would be all boring literature, but I was completely wrong. I think I can sum up the semester with one picture..

A World without Books

Without books, the world would be a lot different. I think that we would definitely be the "dumbest generation" if we could not read books. There are so many different books on many different topics, reading makes people smarter. I don't know if I would necessarily miss books right away, but it would be a new experience being forbidden to read them. I think after time, I would miss reading. None of us would be where we are today without books. For each and every one of our classes, we are required to read and a lot of our education has been based on the books we read, especially this class. I don't usually read leisurely because I don't really have the time during school, but I enjoy reading in the summer, so it would be crazy to have that privilege taken away.

Metaphorically, I guess you can say we burn books every day. By using the internet to look up information we are burning books. I wonder when the last time someone went out to buy a dictionary or a thesaurus. I know that every time I need to look up the definition of a word, I go to dictionary.com or just simply google it. Also, by using Kindle and other types of online books, you could say we are burning books. Maybe in the future, we won't even have real books. Maybe all of our books will be on the internet. It would not surprise me, considering the amount of things that are already on the internet. I think this is because our generation is lazy. We don't want to look up words in the dictionary, we need answers at the snap of our fingers and that is exactly what the internet does.

The Hunger Games

I really enjoyed the novel The Hunger Games. I like reading books that keep my interest and once I started Hunger Games, I couldn’t put it down. I finished it in one day. It was definitely my favorite novel we’ve read so far. This novel relates to the conversations we have been having in class about reality TV and the viewers. Reality TV is just for entertainment and we all have no idea why we love it so much, and that is kind of how the Games are portrayed in the novel. Everyone watches their own families being killed, and yet no one does anything about it. Obviously, we don’t watch people killing each other on reality TV, but they certainly do some pretty dumb things.

While I was reading the novel, I felt like I was one of the viewers of the game. Haymitch was fabricating the whole Katniss and Peeta relationship, but I wanted them to really be together and that is exactly how he wanted people to react when they watched, so I thought that was pretty interesting. It just shows how much people enjoy watching love stories or other types of drama.

Last week, I was flipping through the channels and stumbled upon the movie “Death Race.” I think it is very similar to The Hunger Games because in the movie, the characters are all prisoners that want their freedom. To do this, they must enter a car race, and fight to the death. There is only one winner, and it is controlled entirely by the people operating the prison. These matches are also televised, like the Games, and they even say that they have more viewers than the superbowl. Here is a preview of the movie, starring Jason Statham:

Also... I was reading E!News and Hunger Games is actually being made into a movie right now! Jennifer Lawrence will be playing Katniss, but they are still casting for Peeta.