Fahrenheit #3

Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

There were two main characters in the dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 415. These were the antagonist and protagonist, Guy Montag and Captain Beatty. They were both unique characters and revealed a lot of truth about humans. Guy Montag was an average Joe who made living as a fireman. This particular job is very unique, yet very ordinary in the dystopian world. The purpose of this job is to destroy book because of the illegalization of owning books. The two characters were on both sides of the rule. Beatty refused the idea of books, while Guy was reading books and trying to learn them, when it was illegal. Personally, I like Guy better because of my nature of being comfortable with good. Guy’s curiosity lead him to books and love of learning it. People like him brings hope because of one’s passion. Without passion, one cannot accomplish. In a world like the world in Fahrenheit, it is hard to accomplish for books. He revealed that curiosity is very natural and that it can lead a person to search the solution. The solution is hard to find but curiosity is what gives it an extra push.

The other main character is the antagonist. Even though he knew a lot about books and literature, his choice was bad for our world. Yes, like Guy, his curiosity lead to books and reading books. He found the solution, but what he didn’t find is the purpose of books and the benefit of it. In fact, he decided to discourage the people who had that curiosity. He was also a very confusing character. He didn’t reveal much about himself, but the amount he revealed made me think he was a bad influence to the “light”, which is Guy. Captain Beatty didn’t reveal from his saying, but his symbolizing the people who are the discouragers. These people are the people who always lead the weak ones into what is bad. It can be directly or indirectly. Peer pressure to make a friend start smoking is like Captain Beatty. They are discouragers of what is wrong and not good.

Fahrenheit #2

This book is a great choice for people who cares for books and literary alike. Books like these are very attractive because it is made from pure imagination. Imagination is what lead the author to this world where books are abandoned and is illegalized from society. However, a guy named Guy decides to search his curiosity and tries to keep books. This is what brought him the trouble, but for people today, this world doesn’t sound right. That is because we are different and right. Since there is no right or wrong themes, there is always a theme that is most close to. Therefore, I came up with this theme statement: Literature is such a big thing in people’s world that it is part of one’s growth of intelligence, thus separates us from animals. I thought about this statement very hard and decided this is as much as I can go close to the “perfect” theme for the novel. People has some story of exterminating certain books like the Holy Bible and Buddhist books, etc. The reason is from the idea that these books are the cause of such conflicts.

Personally I believe that exterminating certain books is ok, because some books are just very inappropriate and has no moral in it. I can’t give an example because I’ve never read one. However, I don’t agree with the fact that people should illegalize books and banned them.

It is important for the teens living in 2008 because teens grow in a very fast rate. And it is adults duty to use this speed of growth for the good, and one critical way is reading and teaching books, so that they can grow intellectually. Books are one way to grow and let their minds learn about the very world they live in. Even if it’s fictional, there is morals or symbols that will teach the teenagers about life.

Fahrenheit post #1

Are there any settings in the novel which you have found to be beautiful? Or disturbing? Or memorable? Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

There was a lot of different settings that one could choose to be significant, but most of them were places that we can all see in this world. Therefore, most of the settings in the book related to me, so you can say that I had hard time finding the setting. I found the fire station very beautiful to me. There were a lot of things that I liked about this place, before Guy found out about books and decided to change his mind. It said that Guy worked as a fireman for ten years in that fire station. During those ten years, he worked in the fire station, and mostly he socialized with his friends playing poker and chatting. The main reason why I chose this setting is because I, as a teenager, love socializing with peers and having fun. For Guy, it was to play poker. Maybe the poker represents what peers do for their “fun” time. However, just having fun is not the only reason. Other reasons, such as when Guy made his job more fun by making that poker table with his peers—that’s such an important and beautiful scene: being able to make your job more fun by thinking out of the box.
Personally, my job is to study and be a student. I made my “job” or my student years, fun by joining certain clubs and joining the varsity team. That is how I made my “job” fun. When it came to doing school work, I made it exciting like Guy, by being part of the work and just having fun. By having fun, I don’t mean by sleeping and being inappropriate. Fun, I mean by making something fun out of it. These days, people do their jobs and works as if they have to do it. They never do it from their hearts, and do it with a sigh. What they have to realize is that they can make the job more fun by making something creative and fun out of it. This should be applied to people around the world. World is a big place, which means you can do big things. All you got to do is find the things that will push you. For me it was making fun things out my student life, and for Guy Montag, it was playing poker with his peers. It wasn’t hurting anyone, so its ok to do it.

please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you.

why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries

and comment on what you think about the passage.

There were a lot of events that represented universal truths. One of the most significant events is when Ender finds the larva of the queen. In addition to that, instead of killing that last chance of the buggers’ survival, Ender decides to take care of it and searches for a suitable territory. This event symbolizes that it is not too late to bring peace back. By deciding to save this last hope of an entire race, he showed the perfect victory by pursuing peace.

Peace can be a hard thing to achieve in this world, because of many things such as misunderstandings. Misunderstanding was why there was a war between humans and the buggers, and Ender knew that. This whole book is about the war and how humans can use Ender to destroy them. Therefore, Ender knew that it was misunderstand that lead to this terrible destruction, and he knew that by saving this last larva, it was the only and perfect way of gaining victory and the only and perfect way of paying back what he has already done wrong. Life has a way of giving and taking away. He has already what was taken away, and now he is paying back by looking for a suitable and good territories for the larva to colonize, and if there is a chance bring up the whole race of buggers back to life.

Are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? or disturbing? or memorable? describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

Well, the settings are the home world, the Battle School, the homeland of the buggers, and the Command School. All of them seemed amazing to me, because places like homeland of the buggers, and Command School doesn’t exist, because it seems like it is impossible to build those places in space. If I had to choose a setting, then I would choose the Battle School, especially the battle room. Well, as you see, the Battle School is like a dormitory, and the specific army barracks are like different dorms. This is very relating to me, because I live in a dormitory, and I know how it feels for Ender. When he desired to go back home, I knew how it felt, because I DID feel like that myself. I was homesick, because stuff like dormitory is hard to live for people who are used to “home”. Like Ender, I overcame that fear by fighting that sickness. I tried to make my self busy, like Ender, and had to go through some “long” nights.

As I said, the battle room was the coolest thing for me. It is meaningful to me, because the whole battle room is like a video game, but in real life. When I was younger and still love the idea of making game real, a great example is the battle room. The battle room is a place, where there is no gravity, and is like a real war, but when one is shot they get “frozen,” not die. As you see, the battle room is a dream for most 21^st century kids, because it’s a game that has space war principles. For Ender, it was not a game anymore, because he was preparing himself for the Third Invasion, therefore, he took all the battles seriously and thought the battles as a real war. That has inspired me, because we, teenagers, ought to prepare ourselves for the future and get serious with life as we age.

What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

As you know, Ender’s Game is a very interesting book and brings the reader in to the world of science fiction. There are a lot of stresses, conflicts and surprises in the book. In my opinion, there can be two climax, but I decided to choose the climax where Ender discovers that he was actually fighting the buggers, and was not playing the game. This has brought great surprise and there was no turning back, because he has already killed all the buggers. This is a BIG irony for me, because this 12 year old kid destroys the whole race of buggers with his little fleet. And it wasn’t like any fair war, because the buggers were thousands time more than Ender’s army.

As I was thinking of the climax, another cllimax-could-be popped out. When Ender chose to fight the buggers, it WAS a point of no return and Ender knew it, because he had to leave his home for a looooooong time. However, I found the “ironic” climax more like a climax, because what had to be done was done. If you read the book from the beginning to the end, the events are very science fictional. There are words that truly desribes the novel such as interesting, full of conflicts, struggles, surprising, and competitive, because of the games in the Battle School.

Some of the significant events are when Ender wins the fight with Bonzo and also when he discovers the larva of the queen, because its like the only hope for the buggers. You might be thinking that a significant event can be when Ender wins all the battles in the Battle School, but as you see it was very expecting. In fact, isn’t he the chosen one? Winning is pretty much expected from the “chosen ones” One big example is Christ. Christ one them all!!!

Entry #3

Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

The main characters are Peter, Valentine, and Ender. Even though, it seems like Ender is the “main guy,” Peter and Valentine takes a strong role in this novel. All three characters are from one mother, but acts and thinks as if they were different people. All their actions and thoughts are like adults and what I call “genius” All of them were smart, but they all chose different ways, thus affecting the world in a way.
I like Ender the most. You might be thinking, “of course, because he is the main character.” For me, he is more than a main character in this novel. His personality and actions are different from most kids. He acts like an adult. But most importantly, he chose to use his talents not for himself, but for the good of others. This fact inspired me, and I hope that it inspired other reader as well. The next person I like is Valentine. She represents the people who affect this world by what they can do. She is similar to Ender, but she is more like indecisive and unconfident, while Ender has a determined personality.
Peter is the least favorite character among others. Even though, he is one of the Wiggin genius, unlike his siblings, he chose to use his talents for himself, which was to rule this world. Like Ender, he is very determined and achieves his goal through his determination. I believe that he would be the ideal person and could have become a better commander than Ender could if he had a good heart. Peter was a murderer in the heart and Ender, and Valentine knew it. These three Wiggins reveal, “Every one has a certain talent. The question is that how will one use it. For the good of the world or for themselves?”

Entry #2

Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolves or “fixed”?

As you see, Ender became the “legendary commander” because of the war between humans and buggers. If there was no war, there would be no Ender’s Game. The point is that Ender’s Game and the real life relates through war. War has brought grief to both the novel and the real world. It relates when Ender destroyed the whole race of buggers, and he found the only queen left and tried to bring gain victory again. But this time, when he tried to gain the second victory, he did it through peace. I believe the only weapon to gain the perfect victory is peace. Peace can bring wars and conflicts under control. However, it is hard to find the peace to stop the conflicts. Ender found it by killing the whole race of buggers and leaving only a queen. He could’ve beaten the buggers by killing the queen and could’ve won, but he knew that it was not too late to resolve the conflict and bring peace.

When Ender came to the home land of the buggers, as I said, he found the only hope of the buggers: larva of the queen. The “novel shed a light” when Ender takes care of the larva instead of killing it. He took the larva around the galaxy, trying to find the perfect habitation. This action of Ender’s shows that he regrets crippling the race and symbolizes that he is paying back what he has done to the race of buggers. As I said, this can be same to this world. It is not too late to stop all the wars in the world and do what Christ was trying to say: forgiveness. However, I’m afraid that this world will understand and stop by repeating Ender’s dilemma. Through forgiveness, we can achieve the world that Christ was trying to make.

What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

It was hard to find a specific theme for this novel, because books like these are for entertainment and enjoyment. However, I did get a main message from this book, while I enjoyed the breathtaking imagination of Orson Scott Card. “If we put effort, our age doesn’t matter the fact that we can do the impossible.” I came up with this statement while I was wondering what the author was trying to tell me. Ender Wiggin became the “greatest military commander” at the age of 12. AT THE AGE OF 12!!! But according to what Mr. Card is trying to say, Valentine, Peter, and Ender’s ages are not a barrier to their achievements they have done.

This theme is a huge impact to teenagers living in 2007/08. Teenagers think that they can not do certain things in this world, just because of their age. If teenagers focus on their goals hard enough, they can do something impossible. A year ago, I used to think that I can never beat Mr. Ted (a soccer coach)’s speed. As weeks passed, I was still slower than him. So, one day I decided that my age is not an obstacle and applied the theme. I started working hard day and night, trying to develop my muscles. The result was that I beat him in my speed and several other so called fast people. The point is that it took me just little amount of effort to achieve my goal. This story of mine made this theme more true to me. I wondered how much I can achieve to this world if I try hard. That made me imagine how this world can be a better world if we apply this theme and put effort into it.

All three kids of Wiggin family is a great example for this theme. The three kids made something impossible for their age, and it was in different ways. Peter chose the wrong way, while Valentine and Ender overcame their age barrier to compose a better world. “If we put effort, our age doesn’t matter the fact that we can do the impossible.”