Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

In the book, Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, Heinlein tells the story of the unique relationship of Gillian Boardman and Valentine Michael Smith, with human ancestry but originating from Mars. Throughout the book, Heinlein covers very abstract and alien themes and ideas. However, although these concepts are seemingly unlike all earthly issues, they symbolize and uncover multifaceted social and political issues in our society.  One of these Martian concepts is “grokking.” Grokking is from Mike’s Martian language, but he teaches his “water brothers” all of its meanings.

One of the meanings of “to grok” is to drink. Mike often says the phrase, “may you always drink deep and never be thirsty,” this shows how although grokking can mean drinking, drinking has a deeper meaning. The action of drinking and sharing water is often used as a “growing closer.” In Martian culture, sharing water makes two people water brothers. Jill says that becoming water brothers “means you trust us and we trust you… we can tell you anything and you can tell us anything… and that we are partners, now and forever.” Since Jill and Mike basically share a mind by this point in the story, this shows how seriously Martians take the act of sharing water. Sharing water in modern culture would be like making a personal contract to show complete companionship. Also, Mike often claims that he doesn’t grok love. However, I disagree because Mike’s concept of water brethren is almost identical to love.

Another way that the characters in Stranger In A Strange Land use the word “grok,” is as a synonym for understand. Mike comes to the realization that he groks god and is now human. He has a few realization moments- grokking laughter, grokking love, and grokking growing closer. Mike sometimes goes into a hibernation mode- at the bottom of a pool or curled up in a ball- in order to grok something to its fullest. I think that it is intriguing how much effort Mike puts into understanding something, because it shows how much he cares for his water brothers.

Grokking relates to other themes in the book because Mike is always trying to grok growing closer- both on Earth and Mars- and this shows through inn his personality. Mike and Jill have an incredible relationship; they are incredibly dedicated to each other and have a telepathic connection due to their bond. Although this seems slightly alien, their telepathy is immensely human in character and it is only because they grok each other so well. In Stranger In A Strange Land, characters often throw around the word grok and develop I into their own personal meaning. This shows how comprehension can be interpreted so differently. 

Literary Essay revision of "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss post

The History Of Love by Nicole Krauss tells the stories of Leo Gurskey and Alma Singer, whose fates coincide due to a book Leo wrote, “The History Of Love”.  Alma Singer is a fourteen year old girl searching to find a new love for her mother in order to raise her from the depression she has retreated to after Alma’s father died of cancer a few years ago. Alma decides to recruit one of her mother's clients, and while doing so decides to uncover the author of the book her mother’s client is having her translate.

This author happens to be Leo Gurskey, an Israeli immigrant living in New York with his childhood friend, Bruno. Leo constantly thinks about Alma Singer's namesake, and his own love who he left upon her request many years ago. Alma Singer is living proof of one of the themes in the book; that words, stories, and books keep people alive. However, a smaller theme contrived from this is that stories not only keep people alive, but in doing so bring them together to recover from losses. This is a less notable theme in the book and relates more to the idea of starting anew, with a fresh start, than dwelling in the past on loved ones already lost.

     When Leo's son dies at age sixty, Leo is shocked with Isaac's death after a lifetime of no direct contact with his son. When he attends the public funeral, he is forced into contact with many old memories of Isaac's mother. "Only at the very end did I see her again. I snuck into her room in the hospital and sat with her every day," writes Klauss. This not only shows how devoted Leo was to Alma, but also how Isaac's death forces him to remember his capability to love both Isaac and Alma. By forcing Leo to relive these memories, Isaac’s funeral also forces Leo to move on with his life. After the funeral, Leo becomes vividly aware of how Alma is dead and gone- but the author doesn’t portray this in a negative way, going back to the theme of not dwelling in the past or mourning for too long.

Leo often considers his own death, and Krauss describes him making an effort to be seen in public and noticed every day. "All I want is not to die on a day when I went unseen." This shows how dependent Leo is on his relationships with other people, and how although the author focuses on starting fresh and moving on, there still is incredible loss in death. Leo often also uses the phrase "And yet" as its own sentence, as a transition between thoughts and ideas. This symbolizes all of the thin lines drawn in the book- how there are always thin lines between mourning and living in the past, and the differences between starting over and pushing away old feelings that are still there.

     Alma Singer is also dealing with loss in her life, because her father died of cancer when Alma was 7 years old, leaving her, her younger brother Bird, and her lonesome mother to support themselves. Alma's mother receives a letter from a man asking her to translate “The History Of Love” from Spanish to English as a personal copy. Alma has the idea that since her mother and this man share the common devotion to this book, they would be perfect together. Alma even writes a letter to her mother's client pretending to be her mother, because her mother's reply was not romantic enough. This shows how Alma is still dwelling in the past of her father’s death seven years ago, because once she realizes he isn’t coming back, she tries to find someone to replace him. By the end of the book, Alma meets Leo, and she realizes that she doesn’t need another fatherly figure as long as she is loved.

     Alma’s little brother, Bird, is also dealing with their father’s death by trying to find a fatherly figure to replace him. Bird does this by seeking refuge in religion and God, and making himself feel loved by calling himself one of God’s “Chosen Ones” even though he only became religious in order to feel appreciated. When Alma begins to pay more attention to Bird once her problems are being resolved, Bird becomes less reserved.

     Overall, this book is beautifully written with many unique writing techniques and styles. I thought it was really interesting to compare Krauss’s technique with that of another one of my favorite authors, Jonathan Safran Foer, who is Krauss’s husband. They used the same parallel character’s stories and beautiful tone. Before I knew they had anything to do with each other, I noticed the extreme similarities between their writings. I also especially enjoyed the excerpts from Leo Gurskey’s “The History Of Love,” because they really highlight the themes of living in the moment.

link to unrevised post

Critical Analysis of "Inside a Mental Hospital Called Jail" by Nicholas Kristof

In the article written by Nicholas Kristof, "Inside a Mental Hospital Called Jail, "the author uses many techniques to persuade readers of his claim. Kristof states that the only way for mentally disturbed people to get help is "....a jail. The only way to get treatment is to be arrested." This statement is part of Kristof's claim, that mentally ill people should not be placed in jail because it is unjust, is a bad use of taxes, and is a disturbance for the inmates. Kristof wants to inform his readers of the maltreatment given to the mentally ill by the United States. Kristof, like most New York Times authors, has a structure in his writing of becoming more and more specific as the text progresses. For example, Kristof starts off by stating his claim, then goes into some facts about the jailing of the mentally ill. Kristof supports those facts with emotional stories and quotes from some inmates, and then smoothly transitions into how taxes effect jails. Kristof ties the piece together with a direct author-to-reader-question,"Do we really want to go back two centuries? Doesn’t that seem not only inhumane but also deluded — on our part?" This adds on to the effect discussing taxes has on making the issue feel personal to the aimed audience, as well as sums up his main idea in a vague way that could be interpreted differently. 

One way the author tugs on his readers' emotions is by using strong quotes and anecdotes. Kristof tells four people's stories, along with a quote from each of them. Kristof tells the stories bluntly and openly, letting the quotes add on feeling to support their backgrounds. What I feel is the strongest example of this technique is Kristof's discussing Russel, a 46 year old suffering from severe depression who self medicates with alcohol. 

"Most of his adult life has been spent behind bars for one offense after another, and he said he became aware of his mental health problems when he was being clubbed by a thug with a baseball bat and realized that he was enjoying it.

‘I just want to be normal,’ he said as we spoke in a large dormitory room for inmates with psychiatric problems. ‘I want to have a job. I’ve never had a job. I want to be able to say hi to a co-worker.’ He stopped, and there were tears in his eyes." This quote shows the subtlety but impact of Kristof’s style, from word choice to organization.

            Although I know that the New York Times is aimed at an adult, tax-paying audience who would relate more to some of Kristof’s evidence, his writing and use of quotes really made me see his perspective clearly.  I thought that Kristof picked an extremely interesting issue and addressed it well, adding the right amount of creativity to a nonfiction piece.

"Since They Lost Sammy" By N.R Kleinfield

The New York Times article, "Since They Lost Sammy," by N.R Kleinfield is mainly about what Amy   

Cohen and Gary Eckstein have been doing to improve traffic safety in New York City. This article is roughly organized into four sections.

First, Kleinfield begins the article with a description of Amy Cohen recording car speeds and other statistics, and how she and Gary Eckstein are doing as much as they possibly can in order to dissolve traffic casualties. In the first section, the author also gives a brief background on how Sammy's family is doing.

In the second section, Kleinfield develops on how Sammy's death has made an impact on so many people. Kleinfield writes, "Mourners wondered what they could do. Sammy’s parents told them to write their representatives and urge traffic-safety measures." This relates back to Kleinfield’s main point of Sammy’s parents trying to make a difference in traffic conditions.

In the next section, Kleinfield focuses on Sammy’s death and how, on a personal level, it effected Amy and Gary’s campaign. “The ritual gave Ms. Cohen the idea to print a compact booklet of pictures depicting Sammy’s short life — on a swing, swimming, picking pumpkins — with an inscription exhorting action to make streets safer. This became their calling card.” This also relates back to Kleinfield’s main idea.

The final section is solely about Amy Cohen and Gary Eckstein trying to improve traffic conditions so that no one else gets hurt.

 Although Kleinfield is seemingly non-opinionated throughout the article, his use of examples and word choice, as well as his perspective on Sammy’s death turn the article into something like a red flag, saying that something has to be done about the traffic conditions in New York. The author also often pulls away from his main idea in order to write a brief anecdote about Sammy’s family and how they are dealing with their loss. This adds a personal feel to the story for the reader.

The structure in this article of the four sections helps organize the reader and helps keep the author’s main idea relevant. As Kleinfield progresses in his article, he also becomes more and more specific to his main idea.

Blog Review: "The Sneetches, By Dr. Suess" by Julia Frankel

     Julia Frankel's post, "The Sneetches, by Dr. Suess" not only observes and analyzed The Sneetches, but also examines Dr. Suess's life and reasons for writing the book. Julia took risks with her ideas, but still supported them with enough reasoning. The post is well written and formal, and seemingly more researched than her other posts. Julia seems to really put creative and artistic thought into her writing, such as when she wrote her post about Malala Yousafzai and included a poem as her opening paragraph. I think that Julia is a very stylized writer and this shows through in her posts, especially in her post on Dr. Suess.

     In Julia's post, she mentions that Dr. Seuss was a german immigrant. She theorizes that the yellow stars on the star bellied sneetches symbolize the armbands Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust, that the book was not about vague discrimination but about anti-Semitism. I find this to be an extremely interesting and creative theory, and Julia elaborates on it enough and supports it with evidence in order to show how reasonable the theory actually is. I love how Julia thinks analytically about this children's book and then takes it a step further by relating the story's symbolism to the author's own life. The more I think about Julia's ideas on the post, the more I relate them to the book and see the connections. 
     Not only does Julia acknowledge the social issue, but she also relates to it. She writes that, "Being a jew myself, it is particularly difficult to look back at that time period and learn about the basis of which people were judged and treated." She shows simple text-to-self connections which push her post to a higher level. 
     Julia's theory on the yellow stars symbolizing the armbands shows in depth thinking, but also helped me think about the picture book with a fresh mind, both implanting my own new theories on the book, and causing me to wonder what deep messages Dr. Seuss has imbedded in his other books. The entire idea of an authors own experience influencing a picture book is incredibly interesting. It caused me to relate back to Dr. Seuss's book, The Lorax, and how Dr. Seuss experience may effect this book. The Lorax was published August 12, 1971. During this time, global warming ideas were just forming, and pollution is a recurring theme in his book.
     All in all, Julia is a strong writer and this shows through in her posts. This post especially showed creative theories with a large amount of insight and observation. Her ideas have influenced my own view of The Sneetches.

http://onwords1.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-grass-is-always-greener-on-other.html

The History Of Love By Nicole Krauss

     The History Of Love by Nicole Krauss tells the stories of Alma Singer and Leo Gurskey. Alma Singer, a fourteen year old searching to find a new love for her mother after her father died of cancer a few years ago and decides to recruit one of her mother's clients. Leo Gurskey is an israeli immigrant living in New York with his childhood friend, Bruno. Leo constantly thinks about Alma Singer's namesake, and his own love who he left upon request many years ago. The book seems to center around the idea of bringing people together over past love and through mourning, as both Alma Singer and Leo have suffered tremendous losses.
     When Leo's son dies at age sixty, Leo is shocked with Isaac's death after a lifetime of virtually no contact with his son. When he attends the public funeral, he is forced into contact with many old memories of Isaac's mother. "Only at the very end did I see her again. I snuck into her room in the hospital ad sat with her every day." This not only shows how devoted Leo was to Alma, but also how Isaac's death forces him to remember his capability to love both Isaac and Alma. Leo often considers his own death, and Krauss describes him making an effort to be seen in public and noticed every day. "All I want is not to die on a day when I went unseen." Leo often also uses the phrase "And yet" as its own sentence, as a transition between thoughts and ideas. This symbolizes the irony in Leo's life, from him telling Alma that he will never love anyone else even if she dies, to him writing a book called "the History Of Love" which changes the life of Alma Singer. 
     Alma Singer's father died when she was 7 years old, leaving her, her younger brother Bird, and her lonesome mother to support themselves. Alma's mother receives a letter from a man asking her to translate The History Of Love from Hebrew to English as a personal copy. Alma has the idea that since her mother and this man share the common interest of this book, they would be perfect together. Alma even writes a letter to her mother's client pretending to be her mother, because her mother's reply was not romantic enough. I think that it is interesting how the author contrasts a lethargic old man with an energetic young girl, because it highlights their similarities.
     All in all, I really love this book so far, especially the excerpts from Leo's own. I really like how it is written, and the style reminds me a little bit of Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close.I love the way the author strings all of the stories together so that they build off of each other, and I will definitely reread it once I finish so that I understand it better.

Critical Analysis of "Teen 2.0," Epstein

           In the book, "Teen 2.0, Saving Our Children And Families From The Torment Of Adolescence," Robert Epstein wants readers to be introduced to the idea that teenagers are being kept from meeting their true potential because they are still treated like children. Epstein discusses how childhood has been artificially extended, how capable young people truly are, and how "we" must change. Epstein seems to intend the audience for this book to be parents or at least adults who interact with kids pretty often.  Epstein is a renowned psychologist, and obviously put an incredible amount of research into writing the book.

          Epstein wants readers to think that teens are just as capable as adults, and need to be given responsibilities. One example of this is that Epstein created a test on how "adult" the test taker is.  Epstein then gave the test to a large group of both teenagers and legal adults. He included the results in the book, saying that teens tested extremely similarly to adults and that this proved their equality. Epstein uses choice vocabulary, such as calling teenagers "young people," and saying that everyone, including teenagers has specific "rights." By using this word, Epstein emphasizes a necessity on a few opinionated beliefs. Epstein also includes extremely negative quotes from adults, making the reader think that teens' negative behavior is the direct result of adults' misjudgment. Epstein also often mentions that his own son is a teenager and is more mature than even himself. However, Epstein is slightly biased towards his son's maturity.

    All in all, this book proved some ideas I had already begun to formulate or already had developed completely, before I read this book, to be right, with evidence. When reading it cover to cover, I was slightly agitated at the preposterousness of a few ideas in the book. Some of these ideas included that school should not be mandatory, and that a thirteen year old should be allowed to drive a car. However, this book was eye opening to some statistics of the capabilities to certain individuals, and was about an interesting issue.