This week we finished the This I Believe presentations. It was really cool to see everyone's beliefs, and I was surprised to find out how little I know about most of my classmates. It also made me wish that I had shared a super personal story or something, because everyone else's videos were fantastic and mine was average. But I guess that's not really the point of the project, and I'm content with how my video turned out.
The other thing that we did this week is start our Independent Reading Projects. I'm really enjoying mine. I read the books 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, and if I finish The Handmaid's Tale by next week I'll add that into my project. I really enjoyed all of the books that I read this trimester. All of them were very entertaining and provided some very biting critic of society, that I will try and integrate into my PechaKucha. I think that it is that critic and meaning that makes reading literature so enjoyable. The feeling of pride that comes from analyzing a classic makes it enjoyable; when I was reading 1984 I just felt "smart". Literature is enjoyable because it makes you feel like you found meaning in life. But after I finish, I have to remind myself that the book was supposed to make me feel this way. The book was written to convey a message to me, and I'm not a genius for receiving it. It's also important to take books with a grain of salt, because no matter how well it is written or how clearly evil the antagonist is, the entire book is a fantasy world, and conveys the opinion of one author. It would be stupid to use 1984 to argue against Totalitarianism and Communism, because the whole book was made up. Big Brother doesn't represent all dictators, he is an idea brought up by Orwell to say that dictators are evil. Anyone can conjure a fantasy world to argue their beliefs, and it doesn't mean they're right. Literature can't be used as a logical argument for anything because, at the end of the day, it's fiction.
The other thing that we did this week is start our Independent Reading Projects. I'm really enjoying mine. I read the books 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, and if I finish The Handmaid's Tale by next week I'll add that into my project. I really enjoyed all of the books that I read this trimester. All of them were very entertaining and provided some very biting critic of society, that I will try and integrate into my PechaKucha. I think that it is that critic and meaning that makes reading literature so enjoyable. The feeling of pride that comes from analyzing a classic makes it enjoyable; when I was reading 1984 I just felt "smart". Literature is enjoyable because it makes you feel like you found meaning in life. But after I finish, I have to remind myself that the book was supposed to make me feel this way. The book was written to convey a message to me, and I'm not a genius for receiving it. It's also important to take books with a grain of salt, because no matter how well it is written or how clearly evil the antagonist is, the entire book is a fantasy world, and conveys the opinion of one author. It would be stupid to use 1984 to argue against Totalitarianism and Communism, because the whole book was made up. Big Brother doesn't represent all dictators, he is an idea brought up by Orwell to say that dictators are evil. Anyone can conjure a fantasy world to argue their beliefs, and it doesn't mean they're right. Literature can't be used as a logical argument for anything because, at the end of the day, it's fiction.