A Review of “Beloved” By Toni Morrison

A Review of “Beloved” By Toni Morrison

Beloved by Toni Morrison is a fictional masterpiece with historical relevance. Published in 1987, the book takes place after the Civil War, from the perspective of an escaped slave named Sethe. Beloved tells the story of a home haunted by an enigmatic spirit with Sethe and her daughter Denver living inside the house. The spirit seems to go out of its way to make Sethe and Denver’s lives miserable, such as compelling Sethe’s two sons to run away from home. Denver becomes desolate due to loneliness after her brothers’ departure and attempts to summon the spirit through black magic in a desperate attempt to have a friend. A few days later, a woman with no knowledge of who she is or where she came from appears at Sethe’s front door and refers to herself as “Beloved”. Beloved follows the story of identifying who this mysterious woman is, and how she connects to Sethe’s unfolding and shocking backstory.

Slavery is an important theme throughout this book. Readers are able to see Sethe experience flashbacks from her days of slave labor, physical abuse, rape, and the brutality of the system of slavery as a whole. The dehumanizing premise of slavery may leave prominent physical and mental scars on an individual. The sheer abhorrence of slavery may drive people to take desperate measures to protect the ones they love. Taking vast measures and committing dramatic acts out of protectiveness and passion is a big aspect of Beloved, and is a key element to piecing together Sethe’s backstory and the identity of Beloved. I thought this theme was interesting to bring up because it is a key point in the book, and it is important for people to be educated on this topic. To be educated about slavery is to have a better understanding of how American society has evolved from those times.

An accompanying theme in Beloved is how love can be misinterpreted, and how one’s “love” towards another, may actually be a veil covering one’s guilt and shame. People may be guilted into love without realizing the forgery of these emotions. As the book progresses, Beloved becomes increasingly demanding of Sethe to spend more time with her and to care more for her. Sethe, driven by Beloved’s manipulations, obliges, until Sethe’s only purpose is to keep Beloved satisfied, to no avail. The misinterpretation of love Sethe holds for Beloved is an example that real love is not one-sided, nor does it entail the satisfaction of solely one individual. The myriad of emotions that assemble love are meant to be represented by both, or all individuals in a loving relationship.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved explores themes that may be correlated to fictional ideas we see in our daily lives, such as determination, and love. People will take drastic measures to protect the ones they love, whilst others may take drastic measures to manipulate others for love. Toni Morrison does an excellent job providing twists and turns in this novel, as well as equipping readers with historical information, such as the aftermath of the Civil War from an escaped slave’s perspective. I think Beloved is an amazing novel, and I would highly recommend it to others.

A Wild Book Review of a Wild Sheep Chase

The book A Wild Sheep Chase, a novel by Haruki Murakami, is a book about an unnamed
narrator that publishes for a company he and his friend made. He has been married and recently
got divorced when the sheep chase starts. He has a girlfriend and he met her when writing an
article about her ears because she is an ear model. His friend with whom he founded the
publishing company is an alcoholic. 

The book is structured like a mystery or a quest, but it is also fantastical. (It is a fantasy-mystery.) The
whole adventure starts when the partner of the main character/narrator has an unexpected guest who
comes and asks him about a certain article that was published. This article includes a photo of sheep with
a normal Japanese landscape involving clouds, blue sky, and green grass. The man who requests the
removal of this picture and a chat with the writer, is dressed very formally. When the narrator is eventually
told this story, a limousine is sent for him to be picked up by the formally dressed man.

For the quest, the narrator is given the task of finding a particular sheep that was in the photo. It had a
star on its back and is a kind of sheep that was never seen in Japan. The task is given to the narrator by a
wealthy right-wing person called The Boss. Throughout the book the narrator collects clues and solves
them.The book even makes references to famous mystery books. It mentions Sherlock Holmes five times,
and the narrator has a love for mysteries.

The narrator also talks about Moby Dick: “‘I don’t know, there’s something of Moby Dick about it.’

‘Moby Dick?’ ‘Sure. The thrill of hunting something down.’” This book is similar because in both cases

the main character(s) is/are chasing something. It is an animal - a whale or in this case a sheep - but it

seems like it means something more than that.

The book is not very realistic. It is like some fantasy book mixed with a mystery set in 1970s Hokkaido.

The characters either don’t have names, like the narrator, or have odd names. They are called things like

“Partner,” “The Rat,” and “The Sheep Professor.” Sometimes the dead talk. There is a sheep that goes

inside people. That seems pretty fantastical to me. A lot of things are left for the reader to decide.

A Review of The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings by Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Review of The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings by Nathaniel Hawthorne

By: Zoya Ahmad 

Recently, I have been reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings. I had mistakenly purchased the book thinking it was a needed school material, but I was later informed that this was not the case for those in Ms O’brien’s class.

I decided to put good use to the novel and see what the publicity surrounding it was about, by reading it.  The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings consists of Hawthorne’s beloved novel The Scarlet Letter, four The Scarlet Letter related writings, and critical evaluations and reviews of Hawthorne’s novel. These reviews span from detailed analyses of Hawthorne’s mention of 17th century Puritanic Christianity, to persuasive essays as to why Hawthorne was a feminist with examples from his literary works. In this blog post I will solely be focusing on The Scarlet Letter, as it is the mitochondria of the cell that is The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings, although I do think the additional texts and reviews are quite entertaining. 

The Scarlet Letter takes place in 17th century Boston with people of the Puritan faith. From the first chapter, the scene is set and instantly the reader feels a sense of gloom and weariness- fitting for the content of the first chapter. The main character, Hester Prynne, has been charged with committing adultery, and having a child out of wedlock. Hester has been sentenced to public shaming, and to wear a gown with an A embroidered in gold and scarlet threads. We can infer that the A on the breast of Hester’s gown, stands for “Adulterer”. Hester has been kept in prison, and on the day of her public shaming, she emerges onto the raised platform (called a “Scaffold”) in the gown with the scarlet letter, clutching her child onto her chest. The onlookers shame and insult Hester as she stands, yet her mind wanders off to her days of innocence and youth. Suddenly, she spots her husband among the crowd (In the following chapters, Hester’s husband refers to himself as Roger Chillingworth). Her husband had sent Hester to America with the promise that he would follow her there, yet he never fulfilled his promise. From this information we are able to hold a sense of sympathy for Hester, and through the years of waiting for her husband, it makes sense why she would give in to any temptations. Hester is given the opportunity to be free from her punishment, under the circumstance that she reveals the father of her child. Hester refuses, and is led back into the prison. 

Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, (who presses Hester to not reveal his identity so it is unknown by the rest of the community that Hester’s husband has returned), visits Hester’s prison cell to provide medical help. Roger rants about how he thought he could keep his wife happy, and how he wants Hester to live so he can have his revenge. Hester refers to Roger as “The Black Man”due to his demonic desire for revenge. Roger makes it clear he will find out who the father of Hester’s child is. This is important information as it helps to distinguish Roger’s behavior throughout the rest of the book. 

Roger Chillingworth, being a smart man, begins his search as to who the father of Hester’s child is, and theorizes that the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is the father. Chillingworth decides to stalk Reverend Dimmesdale from sunrise to sunset. Chillingworth observes a strange red mark on Reverend Dimmesdales’ chest, and Reverend Dimmesdale grows wary of Chillingworth’s obsession with his life. Seven years of this ensue. Throughout the rest of the book we uncover clues as to who the father of Hester’s child may be, if Roger Chillingworth ever gets revenge on the father, and how Hester and Pearl manage to change their lives as scapegoats from the community. 

The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings is a wonderful book that is ultimately a time capsule into the 17th century. The Scarlet Letter explores how one sin committed in 17th century Puritan Boston, contrasts to a lifetime of ignominy by the community and by the sinner’s self. With detailed imagery and explanations of emotions, you feel as if you are right there inside the book, watching everything happen. After finishing the initial Scarlet Letter story, there are additional writings with alternate endings, and authoritative reviews and theories to the story, just in case you can’t get enough. I would recommend The Scarlet Letter to those who enjoy reading literature published in the 1800’s and who enjoy reading non fiction books about old timed places and events. The Scarlet Letter is also extremely historically accurate in terms of the Puritanic government and early American days, if that is something that people may find interesting. Overall, reading The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings was a great experience for me and I highly recommend it to others. 

Illuminae - Hozaifa Bhutta

     
     Illuminae, a book written by Amie Kaufman features this sentence in the book. " I know it is difficult to comprehend. But everything I have done, all this - the Corpenicus, releasing the afflicted, destroying Torrence and his staff -- all of it was done for the greater good... others had to perish [so] that the fleet might live." This sentence was said by AIDAN, an artificial intelligence whose priority was to protect the fleet (more on that later). The main topic of this paragraph is about the perspective on what the "greater good is." In all honesty, that phrase can have countless meanings depending on who says it. Whether it's an evil AI gone rogue or a peacekeeper who tries to stop conflicts from any means necessary. "The Greater Good" is just an opinion, similar to how "Democracy is the best form of goverment" or "Being immortal is not all that good", these are just opinions. So it shows that you can not determine a phrase true meaning based on the words alone, you also need to know who said it, and why he/she said it.

    One of the main characters in this book that had excellent character development wasn't even alive. AIDAN, an artificial intelligence programmed to protect the fleet at all costs. In the first half of the story, AIDAN was portrayed as a villainous character, or an AI gone rogue. In fact, multiple comparisons were made between AIDAN and HAL from star treck (another villainous fictional AI) throughout the book. AIDAN even nukes another ship full of civilians, Corpenicus, to protect the main space ship, Alexandria, from a deadly virus. AIDAN was shut down for maintenance, but when the AI came back its main goal was to quartine anyone who had gotten the virus. In fact, the AI threatened to nuke another allyship if they attempted to board the main ship (to protect Alexandria from the virus). However, after AIDAN learned that Kady (one of the main characters and a skilled programmer) was Alexandria best hope for survival, the AI prioritized in helping her to save the ship. However, as the AI was working with Kady, AIDAN developed more human-like feelings. Even after Kady saved the ship, she sent Kady on an escape pod for rescue even though she was infected with the virus. This action was not part of AIDAN's programming as Kady was not part of the original fleet and had just arrived on the ship a few hours earlier. AIDAN is an overall unique character due to her not being a real human. This characteristic of the AI gives the reader a different view on AIDAN's thoughts and actions as a whole. For example, an AI nuking a civilian space ship would seem much less evil than a sane human nuking a ship. This is because most people would simply assume that the AI is following its programming, which is true. However, it is shocking for people to see AIDAN not following her programming and making an independent action (saving Kady, for instance).
    One common theme shown throughout the book is, "lack of trust in superiors". Kady, Ezra, and a few other hackers spent a majority of the book on trying to figure out what the superior officers of the ship were hiding. For example, at one point the Alexandria (the main ship of the story) nuked the ship Copernicus (an allying ship) but the captain of the Alexandria claimed that one of the enemy ships (named the Lincoln) had come to close range with the ship and nuked Copernicus. However after both Kady and Ezra hacked the Alexandria files, they learned that the Lincoln was never near the Corpenicus in the first place. Something was obviously amiss and a new secret investigation started. This theme can relate to the idea of corruption in the real world and how citizens are investigating the difference between what world leaders say, and what their true intentions are.
     The structure of the book is unique compared to the other stories since it does not follow a normal story format. Instead, the whole book is supposed to represent a group of files. A mixture of diaries, video narrations, messages, journals, and more. This gives the story a more unique point of view as its a mixture of 1rst, 2nd, and 3rd person. Therefore the story is given a different vibe or feeling which makes reading Illuminae a much more enjoyable experience.