Saturday, February 20, 2010

AP lang books

It’s beautiful outside and apparently I have the choice of running a few miles or washing the car. I hate washing the car. This is one of those situations, such as in As I Lay Dying, where I am letting the “universe” make the decision for me. If Savannah decides to come over by 1130 I will wash the car, as long as I can persuade her to help me. If 1130 comes and I’m still typing this, I will go outside and run. The only problem with this plan is that my phone is in my room, and there is someone else in my room so I’m not too fond of going there while there is someone else in there. Mmhmm.
My sister made me cinnamon buns for breakfast this morning. It was awesome. I also had an amazing dinner tonight so I feel very well fed. This is different than during the week when my meals consist of bad sandwiches. It’s truly unfortunate, I know. But hey, last night’s dinner made up for it and then some. Tomorrow I’m likely to get a free pizza so this will tide me over for perhaps the next week!
So apparently everyone hates The Great Gatsby and as I Lay Dying. I will admit, I tend to skim As I Lay Dying because it is just SO RIDICULOUSLY TERRIBE, but I enjoy The Great Gatsby. I guess I like it because it’s kind of interesting. I think the style of narration was a good pick because Gatsby, while the main character, needs to be mysterious because otherwise the point of the novel would be lost. Narrating from Nick Carraway’s point of view allows the reader to feel the same sort of confusion and suspiciousness about Gatsby’s origination as nearly every character does. If we were to see Gatsby through his own eyes, the thrill and excitement of his lifestyle would be gone, and the story would turn into a bland monologue about hope and implausible dreams.
As I Lay Dying, however, is a waste of my time. If we wanted to read something including stream of consciousness why didn’t we just read The Bell Jar (a ridiculous, but not terrible book) or One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (which everyone likes because it’s just fantastic). Either of these books would be infinitely better than that excuse of a novel Faulkner calls As I Lay Dying.
Actually, you know what we should read if you want to shock us with hard to understand language of a different time and place? A Clockwork Orange. Doesn’t that sound like an absolutely fantastic book to read to a bunch of 17 year olds? And then, after we finish it, we could watch the movie. Now that movie will be liked and appreciated by all. Isn’t that just a wonderful idea? Won’t papers on that novel just be filled with interesting insights and colorful comparisons? Yes, absolutely.

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