Ready Player One Book Review

February 1, 2014
System Overload
By: Julia Seck
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
348 Pages


     Ernest Cline’s thrilling dystopia novel Ready Player One is a plot twisting sci-fi drama which takes place in the year 2044 when the world’s economy and government are in ruins. The only slight comfort is OASIS, a massive multi-player online video game in which all individuals take refuge in and shelter themselves from the destruction that has overtaken civilization.

     James Halliday, the creator of OASIS, died a multi-billionaire. In his last will and testament he left all claims to his fortune and rights to OASIS to the first player who could complete the quest he designed within the virtual world. The objective was simple, collect three different keys in order to unlock a series of gates, before reaching the final stage and in the process outlasting all other players in the game. The novel begins several years after the Halliday’s death, where the reader is introduced to the main character known as, Wade Owen, who is the first player to ever obtain one of the three keys needed. Wade soon finds himself competing against the clock as many other players quickly discover the hidden clues. With others who will stop at nothing to retrieve the ultimate prize, Wade is conflicted with who to trust, hoping to unlock the secrets Halliday left behind before his enemies overtake him.

     As the story progresses it becomes apparent, the lengths to which one will go in order to retrieve what one desires. This brings up the question does the end justify the means? As the pressure for wealth increases greed and corruption play a large role in the demise of many. The theme of the story illustrated by Cline revolves around these motifs. They portray the idea that there is no end to what one will overcome if they desire something enough. When pressured with harsh conditions, one is willing to overlook their own morality to obtain it. This causes the reader to think about their own morals and to what lengths they might go when pressured. This theme is timeless making this novel relevant to any period allowing the audience to connect and engage with its characters. Because of this the novel is much more exciting and realistic.

     Personally I found this to be a thrilling adventure story. The plot is unexpected and one is always left hanging at the end of each chapter. Honestly, this was one of those books you could never put down. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy sci-fi themed novels and who is also familiar with many common video game characters which the e story incorporates. One does not need know every computer game but knowing some of the basic games one’s help with some of the terminology used within the novel. l. Another issue I found is that the novel uses harsh language in several chapters and therefore I would not recommend it to young readers. Overall, the book is very easy to read and understand. It is exciting, dramatic, and possesses an overall sense of adventure.

Who Is the Tragic Hero?

    Based on the description of a tragic hero, I believe that Antigone herself is the tragic hero within the play. According to Aristotle, one quality that concludes whom the tragic hero might be, is the emotions such as pity and fear for the character a reader possess. A. tragic hero is also to be considered a member of  royalty with a tragic flaw such as a character weakness. Antigone possesses all these qualities. Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus therefore being considered a princes and a member of royalty. Furthermore, Antigone's brother, Polyneices, who fought against Thebes, in the war, died in battle. Creon, the king of Thebes," sworn no one shall bury him, no one will mourn him, but his body must lie in the fields" (20- 21) as he was a traitor to his country. Antigone is beside herself with rage as this action is disrespectful toward the dead as well as her brother. Knowing fully well of the consequences of burying and disregarding Creon’s wishes such as death, she with her own stubbornness decides to bury her brother. After getting caught in action, she is sentenced to death. The audience's response is to feel pity toward Antigone as the penalty for her actions exceed the crime, and she gets more than she deserves. As the guard takes her away the reader also feels a scene of fear for her as we understand that the hero is better than us in a way and will still be punished. We also hope for their safety and fear for the future, furthermore developing the idea that Antigone is a tragic hero. Lastly, her fatal flaw could be her own stubbornness. Although sentenced to die, Creon desperately tries to change his fate in the end, deciding to save her. Arriving at the tomb he discovers, in his grief, that she hung herself. Antigone, accepted her fate, allowed death to arrive. However she had still not been sentenced at this time meaning she believed very strongly in her ideas and was too stubborn to back down from her opinions. All these ideas conclude that Antigone is the tragic hero is the play. 

"The Great Gatsby" Book Review

December 10, 2013

The Uncontrollable Desire 

By Julia Seck

The Great Gatsby

By  F. Scott Fitzgerald 

180 page

     Fitzgerald classic fiction novel "The Great Gatsby", is a plot twisting, romantic drama taken place in Long Island, New York. Fitzgerald captures America in the roaring 1920's  and does and excellent job of portraying the setting, where business is booming and everything is larger than life it self.  However, he  focusing on the negative aspects of this time period such as corruption, greed, and vanity with in, portraying these idea through the character Jay Gatsby.

     The story is told by the character, Nick Carraway,  a young Yale graduate who moves to New York in search of business. Shortly after renting a house in Long Island, he realizes his neighbor to  be a wealthy, but mysterious man by the name of Jay Gatsby, a man whom no one has ever laid eyes on. Invited to one of the man's grand parties, Nick is determined to find the mysterious host and is quick to learn of the many rumors about Gatsby.  As the night progresses, Nick discovers Gatsbys  and learns of his love for, Daisy, Nick's cousin. Agreeing shortly after to help rekindle the old flame between the two, Nick  uncovers Gatsby's true identity and his many hidden  secrets. As the story develops, Nick becomes unsure with whom to trust realizing not everyone is as charming on the outside as they appear. The novel captures the ugly truth  that everyone has a price in which they can be bought as Nick struggles with his own morality and those around him due to desire  of wealth and power through greed, corruption and vanity. 

     The fact that the theme, everyone can be bought nor anything is perfect is understood even in today's society making the novel a classic. People struggle with their own morality, constantly pushing their own boundaries, wondering  how far they are willing to go to get something they desire. The question "does the end justify with the means" is portrayed through out the novel allowing the reader to reflect on their own self and morality. This question is still replicated in every day, today.  The book its self is even filled with motifs such as desire, vanity, and corruption which are presented also  within our own society today. The fact that Fitzgerald wrote the book 88 years ago in 1925 and the themes are still relevant concludes this book is timeless and therefore a classic, as this book is relevant for any given audience in a modern period.

     Personally I enjoyed the book as the plot was unpredictable and thicken as the book developed. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy dramatic and romantic books but also enjoy a mystery element as well. Personally I found the book to be a bit challenging to read. The book is narrated in first person by Nick Carraway and is structured so his thoughts jump around the page as well as the vocabulary being slightly sophisticated. For this reason I would not recommend this book to a younger audience. However, I believe the author has done a wonderful job in capturing the setting and his characters. The book is interesting and exciting, and overall very enjoyable. I highly recommend it and worth reading. 

Greek Mask Research

Research


     Today in class we were asked to research the use of masks in Greek Theater, and to replicate our own. In order to get a better understanding of our task, I did some online research to help understand the concept and ideas more so than before. In Greek theater, actors would need to play multiple roles. To save time and costumes, masks were created to help aide the actors by allowing them to change their roles and characters much more easily (Vovolis and Zamboulakis).There were typically three actors and all were men (Karayannakos). The masks were claimed to have let the audience focus on the actors actions, rather than on their physical features (Karayannakos). The masks however, would not have been distorted but realistic and proportional to a civilian's face. The mask would have three openings, two for the eyes and one for the mouth. The mask was then worn with a wig made out of animal or human hair (Karayannakos). All the masks were made out of a light weight linen, leather, or wood material (McManus). A stone face was used for a mold to make the masks (Karayannakos). However, one detail that struck me was that each mask portrayed similar characteristics having certain features replicated. A better way of explaining it is there would be no random masks. Characters classified within the same age division or gender all had the same aspects included within the masks (McManus). Therefore, one could not just design any mask of their choice as it would have to include multiple traits. For instance, male masks had yellow or brown skin color, while female masks had white skin color. Women would have long haired wigs typically, however half length represent women in mourning and very short wigs represented a woman being a slave (McManus). Facial hair was also very important within masks, as it indicated certain personalities of characters for the audience. All men had short hair, the length of their beard represented how old they were (Vovolis and Zamboulakis). Young men were left beardless, men in their prime were fully bearded and had yellow or brown hair. Old men had grey bearded and were left bald (McManus). Overall, masks played a huge part in Greek theater. As time went on, masks would spark the development of theater for generations to come, transforming into costumes and props.Without masks, Greek theater or even today's modern arts and drama would not been as they are. Masks have helped develop and transformed theater into a revolutionary art and tradition.




Work Sited




Karayannakos, Elias. "Masks in Ancient Greek Theatre" ["Masks in Ancient Greek
Theatrel"]. Greek Theater. N.p., 2007. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. <http://www.greektheatre.gr/greek_theater_masks.html>.


McManus, Barbara F. "Staging, Actors, Masks" ["Staging, Actors, Masks"].
Staging, Actors, Masks. CLS 267 Topics Page, Sept. 1999. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. <http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/tragedy_staging.html>


Vovolis, Thanos, and Giorgos Zamboulakis. "The Acoustical Mask of Greek Tragedy" ["The Acoustical Mask of Greek Tragedy"]. Didaskalia. Randolph Collage, 1994. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. <http://www.didaskalia.net/issues/vol7no1/
vovolis_zamboulakis.html>.

Diction and Mood In The Catcher In The Rye

         In chapter 25 in The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger creates an emotional piece for the reader, as Holden describes his actions when he walks down Fifth Avenue. As he approaches the street and crosses the block, he is encountered with a fear that he would never make it to the other side, and rather fall away or disappear all together. Every time he got this feeling, Holden would ask his brother Allie not to let him slip away. When Holden made it to the other side of the block, he would thank his brother, reliving the fear again each time he tried to cross the street. Due to the diction and connotation within the passage, a disparaging and negative mood is created. Furthermore, such a bleak and harsh mood and tone is created when Holden uses harsh language such as "goddamn" and "bastard" (197). These words show that Holden no longer cares about his overall image and is defeated and angry. These words also could mean his is exasperated, overall creating an negative and hopeless atmosphere. Similarly, Salinger  uses words like "spooky", "scared", and "afraid" within the text (198) which are again associated with a dark or unfortunate  tone which, overall, creates tension and senescence for the reader, as they wonder what will become of Holden. With in the scene Holden appears to have hit rock bottom. This is due to the use of syntax and repetition of the words "down" and "disappearing" (198) which concludes Holden is feeling about as alone and isolated as he has ever was. This idea with the use  of words associated with dark or negative images create a depressing and bleak atmosphere for the reader. Over all, the mood of the sense is disparaging, suspenseful, and scaring, as Holden feels as tough is he slipping away and being forgotten.

Descriptive Item

        I have a lot of fond childhood memories, most of them in Canada hanging out with my cousins in our cottage. I am not really the person to hold onto or cherish objects which hold memories of the past, or even one of those people who like to post picture of friends and family around their room. I think that stuff is sort of depressing in a way. It's like a moment frozen in time, eventually forgot and something you can never relive. Anyway that's not the point. The point is, despite my opinions on the matter, I do have one object that I have kept over those years to remind myself of those happy memories. When I was younger about seven years ago, my cousin Jess and I, were pretty creative at the time got really bored. I don't remember why, but we started looking through my parents closet, probably playing dungeons and dragons or something like that. Anyway, we started going through my dad's clothes and found this old pair of odd socks that my mum probably forgot to throw away. We thought it was a shame to waste still perfectly usable socks so, we grabbed some thread and needles and stitched our own sock monkeys.

        To others, my monkey probably looked like something out of a horror movie, but to my cousin and I, our sock monkeys were our prized possessions. My monkey is disproportional, its head being way to large for its body and its arms twice the size of its legs, making it look like a bobble head. His eyes are made out of these two black buttons, but we could never find a pair that matched so one eye is  the size of a penny the other twice the size, giving him a goofy appearance that makes me laugh. Although seven years old, the eyes are still polished shiny raven black, that make it appear as those his eyes are twinkling. My dad has huge feet, so the sock monkey is about the size of my arm but the cotton has thinned over time and no longer a pure white, but a grey worn out body. Because of this, I have had to constantly stitch and patch its fur together, making it resemble a rainbow. It might seem tacky, but I think it brings life and character to him. Despite the fact that the monkey looks worn out, the smile is still intact. A huge bright cherry red arch stitched on, as if someone decided to freeze time the exact moment someone told a really funny joke.

      It is probably the most odd thing in the world and very childish, but the monkey represents my youth and childhood memories. When ever I have one of those bad days where everything goes wrong, I like to hug my monkey and remember the good times I had playing with it and creating it with my cousin. Those moments are probably the happiest memories of my life so far. All the things people might find weird about my stuff toy is why I treasure it so much, it reminds me all the happy memory and good things in life, and most importantly makes me smile.

Diction Within The Cather In The Rye

          In the first three chapters of The Catcher In The Rye diction is used frequently to help characterize several of the characters. For example the repetition of the words "dame" ( Salinger 12) "hell" ( Salinger 12) and "crap" (Salinger 1) characterizes Holden as a bitter, angry or disdainful person as all three words are associated with negative connotation.These words are also considered "slang" and could characterize Holden as having a lousy vocabulary or unintelligent. Another example of diction is presented when Ackley presents words such as "willya" (Salinger 23) and "lemme" (Salinger 23) with in his dialog. These words are also considered slang and could characterize Ackely and unintelligent, but lazy in the sense he does not wish to represent him self as proper or educated. The connotation that comes with this slang words suggest he he put little effort into his physical image allowing him to seem ignorant and unintelligent and overall having a negative image. This idea is also presented through the physical description that Holden provides as Ackley is an unhygienic and dirty looking kid. This further enhances the idea that Ackley is portrayed as a lazy and unintelligent character. However, this is the opposite case for Mr. Spencer. Holden referrers to his teacher as "sir" (Salinger 11). The word sir is often associated with the idea of respect. This characterizes Spencer as wise and a respectable teacher who's vocabulary is much richer than that of Holden's or Ackley suggesting he is intelligent creating a positive image. However,the physical description of Mr. Spencer is the opposite of what he acts like as his is old and shabby. This suggests that although educated, Mr. Spencer like Holden and Ackley is lazy and antagonistic. Lastly, Stradlater could be characterized similarly to Spencer as intelligent and positive. Spencer within his dialog does not use slang suggesting he is educated more so than Holden or Ackley however toward the end of the chapter he does use the word "crap" (Salinger 25) which shows that he uses similar vocabulary to boys of his age (Holdan and Ackley) This could also characterize him as flippant. However, although associated with a negative image form the use of the word he is still to be considered more educated rather than Holden and Ackley as he does not use slang word but proper phrases. Over all, the use of diction and connotation allows the reader to help characterize these four characters. Without them we would struggle to see the characters personalities.