Starting A New Road

Being it the beginning of a new year, and the end of summer reading, we started a new book. We are now reading the famous 2006 The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, which has been turned into a major motion picture. The Road is about a man and his son moving along the post-apocalyptic United States.

Until now, it has been a bit repetitive, as the man wakes up every morning, looks at his child, takes a blanket and some food from his cart, prepares a meal, and eats with his child. They then start moving along the road towards an unknown location, supporting each other and talking a little along the way. Not much detail is revealed about the two main characters, except the fact that they are child and father, and that the child is young, based on his constant fear of the outside world. Anyway, the relationship between the boy and his dad is very good, and you as a reader can distinguish the confidence that the child has bestowed upon his father.

About the context of the story, we know that some buildings and structures are still standing, but there has been no contact with any other human yet. We know there might be other humans, but judging from the man's constant worry of being followed in the road, they might not be on their side. McCarthy gives us a mental image of the setting somewhat like this:

Yeah... Not very exciting.

With all the boredom and the monotonousness that the author so vividly describes through his writing, the man can't help but think of his old life, when there were more people. He remembers a summer with his cousins, getting wet in a lake and having fun. In a specific scene, the boy and the man go into an old house, which used to be the man's childhood home, but the boy is so scared that he pleads until his dad accepts to get out.

The man has to be strong for his child, but readers can definitely see how he is scared and doubtful about his future too. The child has already asked if they are going to die, and the father answers reassuringly, but inside he was worrying too. "Mostly he worried about their shoes. That and food. Always food." (p. 9)

One of the moments I liked the most was when the man gave a Coca Cola to his son for the first time. "He leaned his nose to the slight fizz coming from the can and then handed it to the boy." (p. 11) I think it was a more important moment for the man himself than for the boy, as it probably reminded his of happier days. Also, I don't know much of the preservation of soda on a can, but I think that if it still has air bubbles, it can't be that old, meaning that the apocalypse didn't happen that long ago.


The last thing I read was about the earthquake that occurred one night, and the boy was so scared, he cried against his chest. Even though the beginning of the book could be considered monotonous, there is a certain curiosity that leads the reader to keep on reading, because what happens after and apocalypse will always be a mystery to us. Or at least that's what we think.

Keep It Jazzy

Coming through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje has a very unique style. The whole story is about this guy who is awesome playing jazz and whose whole life revolves around jazz. Incredibly, the structure and form of the book correctly mirrors the style in which jazz is played.

Ondaatje starts writing a story that we might think will continue that way for the rest of the book, but suddenly, he changes into another story in a completely different chronological order for about 2 pages, then starts telling yet another story and finally coming back to the original one. He continues to do this, and inserting new and seemingly unrelated stories all the time.

Just like in jazz, in the moment of reading the book you might not understand why Ondaatje decides to write each thing the way he did, or where a piece came from, but later when you think about it everything makes sense and leaves the reader with the feelings that the author wanted them to feel.

Coming through Slaughter doesn't have a specific structure, which allows the reader to never know what Ondaatje will be talking about in each page. There is no way of predicting what will come next. The same thing happens when you are listening to jazz music. There are ups and downs and even the tone of the book changes all the time. There are with anecdotes, some pieces of conversations, poems, songs, and images given for the reader to get the whole picture, but in a very choppy way. The structure of the book can also be seen as a representation of Buddy Bolden's personality, and his bipolar way of being and later schizophrenia.

Ondaatje's book is structured in a very fragmented way, which may lead the reader to believe temporarily that the vignettes used are unrelated to each other. That, however, is not the case. There are many small vignettes swimming in a pool of stories, but they all make part of Buddy's life story and help explain why he is who he is.

All the vignettes are designated to achieve the same goal: present Buddy to the readers in a very unique way. It uses the personal experiences and knowledge of Bellocq, Webb, Picket, Nora, the Louisiana Hospital, etc. to give a very unbiased and subjective idea of who Buddy Bolden was. It is without a doubt the best biography of jazz player Buddy Bolden that anyone has written yet.

Be It Where Engines and People Drink

Buddy Bolden had some weird ideas in life, which might be the reason why he died of madness in a hospital in Louisiana. Let's ask him what he wants to be in life:

“I had wanted to be the reservoir where engines and people drank, blood sperm music pouring out and getting hooked in someone’s ear. The way flowers were still and fed bees. And we took from the others too this way, music that was nothing till Mumford and Lewis and Johnson and I joined Cornish and made him furious because we wouldn’t let him even finish the song before we changed it to our blood. Cornish who played the same note the same way every time who was our frame, our diving board that we leapt off, the one we sacrificed so he could remain the overlooked metronome.” (112)

When Buddy came back, he wanted to help people, be a source of happiness, knowledge, and the discovery of music in a completely different way. He wanted to be seen as an endless supply of melody, like a music reservoir, and to touch people and make them forever remember the way he played jazz. He wanted to be himself, and without doing anything out of the ordinary, always being there for people with his music, just "[t]he way flowers were still and fed bees." (112).

The same thing is being said about other people, about how Buddy and his friends used Cornish as a personal music source by transforming it into what they thought it represented in their lives even before he had finished the song.

Even though Buddy wanted to be (or at least said he did) someone who others could lean on for support, according to him it ended up being Cornish who set a pace and a routine to follow in order to maintain their rationality. Cornish would "play the same note the same way every time," bringing all his band members back to reality every night, making sure they still knew why they did what they did.

Cornish also served as a major boost for the band every night, helping them jump out into their imaginations but making sure they would come safely down to their feet. His personal development was "sacrificed" in order for them to be able to live their life to the fullest without the fear of getting lost in the way.

This quote is a very stable thing to say, and from it we could infer that Buddy Bolden has a great, down-to-earth future in which he spends his last days playing jazz and taking care of his kids. However, that is not the case. The urge for being good and "hooking people" into his music, as well as Cornish's sacrifice were all for nothing, taking into account that Buddy ended up schizophrenic.

Anyway, from this quote we can see that the most important thing for Buddy Bolden was his jazz, all the music, and he wanted the rest of the world to appreciate it as much as he did. He knew he wouldn't change who he truly was, but he had his hopes up that being who he is, he would infect people with his music and raise a passionate love for what he did in other people. He could only rest calmly knowing that Cornish was up to the same goal, and was being successful.

Even though Buddy went crazy and had a rollercoaster of a life, he did know what his priorities were, and he put music above it all, which allowed him to become the amazing jazz player he now is known to be.

Buddy Who?

 Even though Buddy is seen as a person in control at the beginning of the book, we don't take much time to find out that he has completely lost the control of his own life. As we can see in Coming Through Slaughter, 

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1. He found himself in the Brewitts' lawn. 2. She opened the door. 3. For a moment he looked right through her, almost forgot to recognize her. 4. Started shaking, from his stomach up to his mouth, he could not hold his jaws together, he wanted to get the words to Robin or Jaelin clearly. 5. Whichever one answered the door. 6. But it was her. 7. Her hand wiping the hair off her face. 8. He saw that, he saw her hand taking her hair and moving it. 9. His hands were in his coat pockets. 10. He wanted to burn the coat it stank so much. 11. Can I burn this coat here? 12. That was not what he wanted to say. 13. Come in Buddy. 14. That was not what he wanted to say. 15. His whole body started to shake. 16. He was looking at one of her eyes. 17. But he couldn't hold it there because of the shake. 18. She started to move towards him he had to say it before she reached him or touched him or smelled him had to say it. 19. Help me. 20. Come in Buddy. 21. Help me. 22. Come in Buddy. 23. Help me. 24. He was shaking. (Ondaajte, 45)

1. The words "found himself" make it seem as if he wasn't in control of his life, he was just following a path laid out for him which led to the Brewitts' lawn.
2. The fact that she opened the door doesn't give Buddy any emotion yet.
3. Buddy is starting to show signs of being out of it, as he is starting to have trouble with such automatic things as trying to recognize a person.
4. There was something affecting him inside that he had to tell either Robin or Jaelin, but it was hard. There is little control from him of his body.
5. - 6. It was more important to deliver the information fast, than to a specific person.
7. She doesn't know what he is trying to tell him.
8. He may be looking at her intensely, trying to decipher any sign of understanding in her, noticing her every movement.
9. It was cold, but that was not the most important reason why his hands were in his coat pockets. He didn't feel comfortable with his body.
10. He had probably used the coat many times in order for it to stink. He couldn't keep his mind on the matter to be discussed; he wanted to change the topic but knew he couldn't.
11. The necessity to burn the coat - not just get rid of it - was so big that he wanted it done immediately. He was still not concentrating.
12. He knew what he wanted to say; knew he couldn't just let it go.
13. The girl who opened the door knew him before and wanted to know why he was there and what he had to say.
14. Still couldn't get it out. Uneasy and nervous, Buddy had to repeat things to himself in order to stay calm and try to believe them.
15. The idea of having to talk about it with this girl was unnerving for him, and he continued to lose control of his body's reaction.
16. He was trying very hard to concentrate, and to maintain his stare directed at her.
17. It didn't work. He was just so nervous and so out of it that he couldn't stop shaking, couldn't control what he was doing, and couldn't bring himself to say what he had to say.
18. He was nervous to say it, and couldn't waste any time. He could either be scared of her or wanted her to know what he had to say before she did anything else. This opens the possibility that what he has to say might change her opinion of him, and changes the fact that she wanted to touch him or smell him.
19. Buddy is vulnerable, and accepts the fact that he needs help. He trusts her.
20. - 23. The repetition of these lines shows a lack of understanding between both people. Buddy really needs her help, but doesn't want to do what she tells him too. She is worried about him and wants him to come in; to calm down. He seems like a crazy person with issues. He truly does need help, and in more ways that he is aware.
24. Still shaking, the author stops the chapter there to symbolize the continuation of Buddy's word repetition and emotional lack of control. It gives more importance to the symptoms he is experiencing than to what he had to say.

Buddy Bolden isn't in control of his life, the emotions he feels, and his body's response to them. His mind, as well as his body, is "out of it," and he seems to have issues keeping his concentration and staying on a subject, even when it is extremely important. He isn't very comfortable with himself, and can get very nervous and uneasy when talking about it. Buddy can also be very vulnerable, and can maybe open himself to the help of others when he really needs it. All his actions lead to him becoming crazy and schizophrenic. He is just not normal.

It's All About the Great Guy

The Great Gatsby is filled with symbolism and allusions to the American society as it was in the 1920's. Even though many of them are objects, like the green light, Gatsby himself could be considered the most important symbol.

Jay Gatsby (originally James Gatz), is first introduced to the reader resembling a celebrity. All we know is mostly rumors heard by the narrator, Nick, and he just seems to be an unreachable character with an enviable life. As the book progresses, Gatsby is personally presented as a vulnerable guy who had to go through criminal activities in order to become as rich as he now appears, and it all happened because of love and ambition.

It can be said that Gatsby and the whole book itself is a representation of the Americans, and how their ambition and corruption ruined the true American Dream. It is all overestimated, like Gatsby's love of Daisy. His view of his future with Daisy is deferred, and he is relying on the completion of an unrealistic dream that might never happen. His whole life is based on bringing back Daisy and making her fall in love with him again, but it will never be as good as he imagines it in his head. The same thing happens with the American Dream.

Gatsby had to rely on criminal activities to gain his wealth and recover what he lost when Daisy wouldn't accept him for his lack of money. The author, Scott Fitzgerald, uses this to show how ambition, greed, and desire for pleasure pushes people to use any means to pursue their goals, no matter how immoral they become.

Even though Nick says that Gatsby represents everything he hates, he also once mentions how he is "worth more than the rest of them." Even the way how outsiders view the corruption of dreams and the greedy struggle to the top has changed into acceptance, just like Nick accepted Gatsby's ways and even considered him better than anyone else he knew.

The world in which all the characters of The Great Gatsby live in symbolizes America and the corruption of the American Dream, and Jay Gatsby is the typical American who disposed of his morals in order to achieve monetary goals. The search for materialistic satisfaction has led to decay in the original values in the pursuing of the American Dream.

Hello!

This is the first post of my AP Literature and Composition blog :)