Incarceron: Very Interesting Book

In Incarceron the plot follows the life of one who lives within the prison and the struggles that come with living in Incarceron.  Incarceron is not a typical prison that one would think of today.  This prison is like its own world, containing run down cities and wilderness.  What is makes this prison even more different than prisons today is that it's alive.  With these circumstances escape seems impossible to any inhabitant of Incarceron except for one.  This character is Finn who awakes within the prison with no recollection of the past and thinks he comes from Outside.  He is utterly determined to escape this hell he lives in even with the little evidence that escape is possible.

The prison's back story is it was originally designed by scientists with the intent for it to hold a thousand people.  This prison was meant to be a utopia, but became the exact opposite.  This prison originally designed to be peaceful takes pleasure in death and destruction.  When it was made it was sealed so that there couldn't be any escape.  An interesting aspect of the prison was that animal are bionic.  The prison was unable to produce flesh for these animals.  Every living cell is recycled by the prison and nothing is wasted.  The trees are no longer wood but made of silver and the apples grown on the trees are made of gold.  The reason this prison became this way is that it began to gain intelligence and outsmarted the scientists that created it.

This book had a very unique setting that I would've never imagined.  This was what gave it most of its appeal.  A prison is usually seen as a confined area, which Incarceron was, but Incarceron defied the definition by making it seem as it was its own world with its own unique characteristics that made it seem otherworldly.  As the characters struggled to find an escape it made you wonder if Incarceron truly was its own unescapable world which made the read even more intense.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been I was very disturbed by the characters and their actions that they chose.  First off the main character Connie was a girl that was indulged in herself, but there was a lot more to her than just that one defining characteristic.  In the story she was described as being two sided about how she acted inside her house and outside her house, "Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home."  From here on we can see her as not being a typical teenage girl.  Another example of her not being typical was that she had an affinity with music.  At the drive in theater her joy wasn't due to being with Eddie or at the drive in; it might have been the music.  Connie is a very interesting character that I liked during the story.  What I didn't like about her was her unreasonable action to stay with those strange boys that seemed pretty ominous.  If any other girl were in that situation they would have left.  Her actions could have been caused by her not being like normal girls.

The story itself was very interesting due to its mystery and unanswered questions it left you with.  For example who was Arnold Friend and why was he there.  Why didn't Connie leave when she was getting bad vibes from the two boys.  All these questions are left unanswered in the end of the story.  Also the story gave underlying hints that the two boys might rape Connie.  In the beginning of the story in the drive in Arnold says "Gonna get you baby."  This phrase alone crept me out because if any stranger said that to me I would get as far away from him/her as possible.  Also the fact that he ended up showing up at the house where Connie lived crept me out even more.  What was the most creepy was Arnold's friend looking like a 40 year old baby.  This story was very eerie and left me quite unsettled by some of the characters.

Arnold Friend, or the biggest stalker alive is a very creepy character in this story.  His companion isn't any less creepy either because he is described as a 40 year old baby.  This creeper arrives at Connie's house without even asking Connie for her address.  To Connie, this man is a total stranger she saw at a drive in that said "Gonna get you baby," to her.  If this man arrived at my house mysteriously I would have the cops here in a heartbeat.  Oates does a great job at showing this man is not ordinary because Connie can't seem to leave his presence.  Also this man knew things about Connie that no stranger should know.  All these little details Oates gave this young man lets the reader know that they should feel worried for Connie's safety.  Arnold started to get even crazier towards the end by saying "Yes, I'm your lover. You don't know what that is but you will."  This is what led me to believe rape was going to occur in this story.  This man may be weird and violent but Connie still goes out to him in the end because he offers to take her away from her unhappy life.  This character intrigued me the most while leaving me with a sense that he was a very sick man.

His Dark Materials Essay- Daemons represent their owners

In His Dark Materials Daemons are the embodiment of the owners soul.  When the daemon takes its form for good it can no longer change.  This identity is fixed and most likely represents an attribute of the owner.  Take witches into consideration because their daemons are usually birds that can fly.  Witches can also fly so the relation in flight is established.  The daemon as a dog is usually owned by a servant of some sort.  This dog represents the loyalty it has to its master.  The servant's only job is to be loyal to its master and a dogs job is the same so the loyalty relation is established.  Mrs. Asriel's daemon is a monkey this monkey doesn't represent her job but her personality.  Mrs. Asriel was lovely in appearance, but cruel and deceptive on the inside.  Lord Asriel's daemon is a snow leopard to represent his power.  The two main characters have daemons fitting to their nature as well.  Lyra's becomes a pine marten which shows how unique her character is and shows how she is really how she looks.  Pine martens look wild but are really sleek, graceful, and self- contained.  Will's daemon becomes a cat which shows how wise and independent he is.  The characters all have daemons representing them but to realize it you just have to look at the similar qualities of the daemon and its partner.

His Dark Materials

The ideals in this book were a little too critical of the Christian religion in my opinion.  Its plot was very good and the depth was pretty accurate but I don't think a single religion should be singled out and criticized or any religion as a matter of fact.  In this respect I don't agree with the ideals of the book.  But I do believe in the ideas presented by the Asriel side in regards to everyone having free will.  The idea of taking away free will will always be seen as the bad side in any book.  The oppressor is always the villain.  This book comes down to very simply oppressor versus liberator.  The liberator will always be seen as a hero in his or her own universe.  The liberator was a hero yes, but I did not like that Pullman made this hero one that glorified atheism.  Atheism isn't a horrible concept, but being religious doesn't make you ignorant as the book has hinted.  Overall a good book, but the author should leave his Atheistic views out of it.

His Dark Materials

The books His Dark Materials makes many allusions to the Christian faith.  They first off use the word Church, but it is also known as the Magesterium.  This Church holds back the free will of the people which is the complete opposite of the Church in our universe and I don't know what Pullman was trying to say about it.  (Actually, I just read that Pullman is atheist, this book just became a lot more clear to me...)  Well other than that he references the story of Adam and Eve bringing back up his thoughts on how sexual encounters result in free will because apparently Adam and Eve had a sexual encounter at the Tree of knowledge leading to their free will.  From that moment on knowledge and sexual encounters have become intertwined.  Pullman also says indirectly that the Church is trying to make us ignorant.  I actually was kind of offended that Pullman feels this way towards our Church and if he didn't, then he didn't do a very good job at hiding his dislike for the Christian belief.  These allusions were mostly used to give reference to another idea mentioned in the story such as the sexual interactions leading to knowledge.

His Dark Materials

The Golden Compass was a very fun read.  It brought back the feeling of when I was back in middle school reading books like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and many other fantasy literary novels.  But now that I am in high school I've learned something that will go along with me forever which is to look at the book deeper than its plot.  The plot surprising the least interesting thing about a book for me now.  A good example of this was shown when I was reading The Golden Compass.  A thing that was very interesting was in the theme of destiny throughout the whole story.  You had two opposing sides going against each other that literally represented destiny (the Church) and free will (Lord Asriel).  These two sides clashed because Lord Asriel hated destiny and thought that all people should be able to control their own lives. On the other side you had the Church trying to control people's lives.  A way the Church was trying to control people's free will was by preventing sexual interaction between one another.  They believed that sexual interaction would lead people to be mature and independent figures.  A way that the main character (Lyra) defies the Church is by having a sexual encounter with Will.  I think the boys name being Will was kind of interesting because I think it referenced her going towards free will over destiny.  Also an interesting thing I saw was that Dust meant consciousness or knowledge.  I thought of it as when you become an adult you attract dust as an object would as it sits their or ages so as you age you gain knowledge.  I found that very interesting as a concept and that is what I thought the thought process behind it was.  Overall this book goes to many deeper levels as many other books do and you will not understand them when you are a middle schooler like I didn't until I reread it in high school.