Percy Jackson - The Lightning Thief

First impression

This week’s theme was fantasy and we had three books to choose from, the Hobbit, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the Lighting Thief. Many years ago I started reading The Hobbit but I never finished it, I did not really like it, but maybe I was too young and it was just too difficult (because I almost always finish a book when I start reading it), however, this book did not appeal to me now. The second book we could choose was one of the Narnia books. I have once seen one of the movies which I liked, but it did seem a bit childish to me, therefore I decided to read the book I knew nothing about yet, the Lighting Thief. I borrowed my mom’s e-reader, downloaded the book and finished the book in no time. At first I saw a bit too many similarities with Harry Potter (being the weird kid, strange things happening, no parents, special camp), but the main story eventually was quite different and I liked it a lot. So after this test week I will download the other books about Percy Jackson.

Age suitability-theory

In the notes from class I see that the class would recommend this book 14-16 year olds or even cross over, but I disagree. This book is written in a very uncomplicated way. The language used is not difficult and the story is not either. Things that happen are explained in quite some detail and very vividly. This all makes it very accessible to kids. Besides that, it is written in the first person point of view, therefore the reader can effortlessly identify with the main character and his feelings. This can also lead to ‘experience-taking’, which means that in the right situation it may temporarily transform the way readers view the world, themselves and other social groups (Christine Hsu, 2012). This can be very positive for kids that, just like Percy are dyslexic, have ADHD and feel they fail in everything. Suddenly they see this ‘loser boy’ becoming a hero and saving the world! Who knows, maybe they will be a hero some day as well. Even when children do not know a lot about mythology, they can still enjoy the adventures. Very sensitive twelve-year-olds might want to wait a year or two to read this book as sometimes it can be a bit scary with monsters attacking Percy or his mom dying, but that depends on the child (focusonthefamily.com).

Class discussion/theory

As I could not make it to class last week I received last week’s notes from my classmates. I looked at the element of fiction and I felt stupid, how come I never realized? The Call, The Journey, The Obstacles, A Final Ordeal and eventually Achieving the Goal, it is the same formula in every book L. No wonder I recognized Harry Potter in this book! Even when looking how a hero is formed, there are only minor differences. The unusual circumstances of birth (Percy does not know for a long time that his father is a Greek god), he leaves his family and goes to live in a camp, there he gets his special quest with his magical pen-sword and the help of his special friends, and so on. It kind of ruined the magic in fantasy books for me for a moment.  But looking back, it is the same in action or love stories, but that is just not that detailed. Thinking of Harry Potter, the formula is not that obvious, because those books are very well written and it would be hard to write a fantasy book in a different way. I do not believe every author has these ‘guidelines’ lying beside him when writing a fantasy book, it just forms itself this way naturally. In the notes I did not read anything about Percy Jackson, but comparing the outcome of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with The Lighting Thief, the formula of the story is the same again.

All fiction requires a balance between elements of the strange and the familiar. If all the elements of fantasy are fitted to their purposes and used to create a moving story set in a convincing world, then the story has the potential to be a good story (Austen, 2002) . The Lightning Thief combines these two elements; there are monsters, swords, the gods and fights as the fictive elements and next to that we also have friends, family,  rivalry, smelly step dads, bus rides and school to keep our two feet on the ground.

The theory of Gardner on multiple intelligences was also discussed in class. I had not heard of this before so I looked it up. Gardner states that people have a unique blend of intelligences and that the big challenge facing the use of human resources is how to best take advantage of this uniqueness confer (Smith, 2008). I am definitely going to look further into these different intelligences because it makes so much sense and I am sure applying this theory into my lessons will improve my way of teaching!  

Interesting to know

There is a huge difference in characteristics of the hero, depending whether the author is male or female (Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 2010).

Sources

Alec Austin. Retrieved 26^th of October from http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020624/epic_fantasy.shtml

Christine Hsu, Science-tech. Retrieved 26^th of October from http://www.medicaldaily.com/psychologists-discover-how-people-subconsciously-become-their-favorite-fictional-characters-240435

Focus on the family. Retrieved 26^th of October from http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/protecting_your_family/book-reviews/l/lightning-thief.aspx

Mark K. Smith. Retrieved 26^th of October from http://infed.org/mobi/howard-gardner-multiple-intelligences-and-education/

Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology. Retrieved 26^th of October from http://137.140.1.71/jsec/articles/volume4/issue4/IngallsVol4Iss4.pdf

The Cather in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye

First impression and background book

My first impression? Well, I would describe the book as slow, depressing, boring and repetitive, but then I might sound a bit like the protagonist, superficial and recalcitrant, so I won’t. I really wanted to read this book, I heard about it in high school and I saw it reappear in every top-whatever-list on best youth literature. I did not have a clue what the book was about, so I dived into it open-minded. At the end of the first page I was already annoyed by his use of language. He swears a lot and uses expressions like ‘and all’ too often. The book is mostly about his thoughts and these are not go very deep and very much the same. He thinks everybody is phony and depressing, when actually, he himself is the one that is phony and depressing. He talks tough, but undertakes nothing when push comes to shove.

On the other hand, this book was written more than half a century ago and therefore is a kind of relic that also shows us the historical background of America in the 1950’s. Surprisingly, it stíll portraits issues relevant to today’s young boys (Levity, n.d.). Dr Graham of Leicester University says that before the 1950’s the teenager years were not seen as a particular kind of identity and that is why it also became very popular, it speaks to the moment when the teenager emerged as a sociable recognizable group (bbc, 2013)

Thát I did find interesting, to look into a teen boy’s thoughts. And maybe it is me being too old or a woman, or the combination. But I do not understand him and maybe that is just the thing I should remind myself of now and again; I can try, but I will not understand the thoughts and feelings of a sixteen year old boy. In the end I am glad that I have read the book though, because it is a classic and I can underpin my opinion about it.

In class / theory

In class we talked again about Erikson’s stage five ‘identity vs role confusion’ (Allpsych, 2011), but this time we discussed the different types of role confusions, which were new to me. There are four types (moratorium, foreclosure, negative identity, false identity), that we projected on this week’s books.

Moratorium: you keep on experimenting with roles but you do not commit to a certain type of identity. Our protagonist, Holden, was definitely experimenting. He tried to be cool by inviting the singer in the bar for a drink and drinking a lot himself (but he obviously could not hold his liquor). He tried to be a gentleman on his date with Sally (which failed). He was the comforting big brother to Phoebe, who said it was all going to be okay. He was the nonchalant student at college, who did not care, but he felt really bad about it and did not want to confront his parents, because he did not want to disappoint them again.

Foreclosure: The exact opposite of the above. You do not explore, but you immediately commit. Holden was still a long way from committing and getting mature.

Negative identity: you define yourself by what you are not. Holden points out all the negative things in others all the time, things he despises and he does not want to be associated with: ‘she is phony, he is depressing, he only talks about sex, he does not have any friends, he is not interesting, she is still a kid’. But what we realize, is that he is all those things himself. The story of Tracy Baker also had negative identity, but in a different way.  Tracy was not smart, not lovable, not popular and she was made to believe this by the outside world, whereas Holden determined this for himself.

False identity: you integrate all the different types of roles. Holden’s identity is not false, it just has not settled yet.

The Wasp Factory is a very strong example of foreclosure and false identity as it is about a girl being raised as a boy. This topic was the spark for a real interesting ‘discussion’ about baby boys and girls being treated differently from the day they are born and people undergoing sex changes. Like Annabel said: “children reading this book might think ‘I am not going to complain anymore because my life is not that bad after all”, and that is more or less what I felt like hearing about what people go through when trapped in the wrong body…

Furthermore we discussed narcissism, where secondary narcissism means that a person’s gratification comes from what they have achieved, so from the outside world (branded clothes, number of friends, etc.). We all agreed that these people are kind of annoying, but that we actually should feel for them because most of them are very insecure, as teenagers are, as our students are, as Holden is. In our group we concluded that Holden looks in the mirror a lot, he cares about what he looks like and what people think of him… although he pretends he does not give a goddamn thing.

Age suitability

No matter how much I disliked the book, the more I learn about it, the more I would recommend it to my students (16 year old boys). When I read the book, all I thought was ‘Holden: grow up!’ and that is exactly what this book is about, a young boy growing up! This book shows us what it is like to be a teenager. Holden feels isolated, lonely, confused, depressed, sarcastic, directionless, confused and scared. (bbc, 2013). And as I said before, it still reflects matters that are relevant to the youth of today (levity). It is exactly what teenagers go through when they are trying to find their identity, their own role in life.

Although the intended audience was not teenagers, adults still give it to teenagers hoping that it will make them see that the thoughts and feelings they have are normal, to reassure them. (bbc, 2013) Looking at feedback from readers, there are a lot of people who say they related to Holden and that they felt understood.

Thinking of my own students I especially recognize moratorium and negative identity. The experimenting I think is natural, the negative identity unfortunately in most cases are not, a lot of them are dyslectic and have heard they will never understand, they cannot study and mbo is the best they can do. Therefore I think many of them will feel the book, will like the book.

Nice to know

The book has been banned from libraries, stores and schools because of its profanity, sexual subject matters and because it rejects some traditional American ideals (Levity, n.d.).

Salinger did not want his book being made into a movie (Collider, 2013) 

Sources:

Allpsych. Retrieved the 11^th of October from http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/erikson.html

BBC. Retrieved the 11th of October from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8084931.stm

Collider. Retrieved the 11th of October from http://collider.com/catcher-in-the-rye-movie-rejection-jd-salinger/

Levity. Retrieved the 11^th of October from http://www.levity.com/corduroy/salinger1.htm

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/2/4795966/jd-salinger-didnt-hate-all-film

Twilight

Twilight

First impression:

Yeeeey! Our theme this week: ‘First Love’. Throughout this course I have realized I am still an adolescent myself; as I can still blame others if they make me feel bad, I still do not really know what I really want to do with my life, and I can still fall in love with movie stars. That is probably the reason why I already read all three books when they came out and many others alike.

The book starts with the death of the protagonist and this is described in such a way that you want to keep on reading. I did not read that part of the story until I read the last book, but by then I had already forgotten that that’s why I started reading at the first place. I now wanted to know everything that was going to happen and, of course, I was madly in love with Edward…

First impression vs. class discussion: 

This is the kind of love that every girl dreams of, to have a boy who would ‘kill’ to protect you, somebody you would ‘die’ for, figuratively speaking of course. But the ‘of course’ is not that obvious in this story and that is what actually came up in class. This kind of shocked me because I never looked at the story in this way. Yes, my first impression indeed was that it is a super romantic story, when we looked deeper into the story, there is a different layer in the story, with a total different feeling to it. Bella and Edward are hopelessly in love with each other. Their feelings become so strong that they almost appear to be obsessed with each other, they completely loose themselves in one another and cannot seem to think realistic anymore. This is what attracts teenagers, going through puberty they feel everything very intensely and two things stick out, their interest in love and in darkness, and that is exactly why these kind of stories appeal to them that much (Scheller, 2012). They understand these feelings, because they have them as well, in real life maybe, but in their fantasies for sure.

Class discussion / theory:

We discussed a lot of theory in class, most of  which sprouted from the theories of Erikson. Erikson describes the phase which the main characters are in as stage five, Identity vs. Role Confusion. In this stage adolescents are discovering how they fit in and what they want to do with their lives. (symplypsychology.org). Piaget says that, whilst thinking about these matters, adolescents will start to consider possible outcomes and consequences of (their) actions (About.com, n.d.). Naturally these two aspects bring along pressure and therefore it is a very insecure and confusing period in a teenager’s life. They believe all their thoughts and feelings and problems to be unique and they believe they have to face all their problems alone. This is what you see in Twighlight as well, Bella has nobody she can confine in, because nobody understands her. There is role confusion, Bella is desperately in love with Edward and does the craziest things for him, but she also wants to be a good daughter, it is very hard to be both. This is what teenagers encounter daily, they want to do good in school, but that is not cool. They want to be the cool football player, but they also want that particular girl to see that they can be sweet. How to be all? What do they really want, and what is merely pressure from the outside? In this stage they struggle with questions like what is good and what is bad. This is literally one of the themes in Twilight, the forbidden fruit (hence the apple on the cover), is it good or is it bad (Stephenie Meyer, n.d.)

Age suitability / theory:

Looking at the theory above you can see why this book could be suitable for children age thirteen to eighteen (or in my case, thirty-four). They encounter the same problems in life. They develop a sense of self (psychology about.com). Personally I would recommend this book to students, but to girls, because it just obviously is a girlish book, seen from a girlish perspective. For a girl it is easy to imagine she is Bella, as the only thing we know about her is that she has brown hair, is clumsy and insecure. Not every girls has brown hair, but, especially at that age, they all feel clumsy and insecure.

As said above, adolescents are very sensitive in this phase of their lives, they experience every emotion very intense. They can have the feeling their heart can explode when everything comes together at the right time at the right place with the right people, but at the same time they can feel extremely lonely, sad and insecure. That is why Twilight will appeal to this age group that much.

Teens are obsessed with romantic relationships, but because a lot of teenagers do not have their own personal experiences yet, they read stories that tell them about it. They get sucked into it and experience the whole story as if it were their own. Besides that, they often feel insecure in their own lives, a bit trapped and helpless, they do not have the feeling they are in control and through these stories they are, they suddenly have the power to do as they like and what feels right. Around this age children start to explore the dark side of their personalities, they might for example get ‘interested’ in things like suicide and the less colorful sides of humanity. Bad things might happen around them (friend gets pregnant, loved ones die) which make them realize they have to deal with these happenings, this is reality. So these children love to read about love, but they are very well aware of the fact that the world around them isn’t all rainbows and unicorns and they like to see that reflected in the stories they read. This way they feel like they are not alone and somebody more or less goes through the same as they do (Scheller, 2012). This of course is the story in Twilight as well, there are so many obstacles Bella and Edward have to overcome and they feel like the whole world is against them. These are the same feelings a lot of adolescents have to deal with.

Nowadays, a lot of young adult literature is edgy, it pushes the limits of socially acceptable content in teen books, especially regarding drug and alcohol use, violence, abuse, suicide and social norms in human sexuality (Morrissette, n.d.). Obviously Twilight touches a lot of these subjects (the abuse, violence, sexuality) and challenges these boundaries. 

In class we discussed three important elements for a book to be attractive to this target: identification, realism and thinking. 

Identification: as opposed to the theme of the imperfect world, the plot is subordinate to the unfolding of the characters, which we see in the book. There is an intense emotional involvement, you can see the inner struggles they have. The attraction to each other is the impossible love, which is one of the strongest. They are trying everything to stop it… and they will do anything to see each other. Life is so hard and we are feeling every moment of their pain.

Realism: it is real enough, even with vampires and werewolves. The reader must be able to relate to the characters and I believe a lot of girls can relate to Bella, being clumsy, feeling ugly and being in love with the most handsome guy in the world. Life in the book is not fair, just like the average adolescent’s life. Bad things happen, wrong decisions are made and the characters struggle, just like the readers do.

Thinking: Girls reading this book will recognize the feelings Bella has, utterly-and-totally-head-over-heels-scale5plus in looooove. They will understand most of the decisions Bella takes, even if they are wrong, but on some occasions they will realize that they would have reacted differently. Besides that they will start thinking about why certain things happen, but unfortunately they will not get all the answers in the end.

Some people might say this week’s books are not suitable for children of this age. We discussed in class that “Cal” for example had a love with a big age difference and a lot of violence in it. “Forever” was very controversial for its time and may still be with its detailed descriptions of sex. Twilight might be seen as controversial, because of the age difference between Bella and Edward. Besides that, the vampires and werewolves might stir people who are religious. Apparently there is a lot more controversy to be found in Twilight, like pedophilia, the abusive relationship between Edward and Bella, women having no choice in life, sex being bad and abortion being worse. (sarahgetscritical, 2012). I can agree on some things, but personally I think if you look hard enough you can even find controversial things in Sesame Street. 

Nice to know:

Stephanie Meyer based her novel on a dream she had about a girl and a vampire falling in love. Choosing a name for them took them ages, but she named Bella after the daughter she never had, Isabella. She actually googled for the most rainy place in the States and a small town named Fork came up, with a beautiful rainforest nearby. When writing the story she just could not stop and therefore, could not sleep. Edward and Bella were in her thoughts (and actually having conversations) 24/7. In the end, from dream to print, it only took a total of six months (Stephenie Meyer, n.d.).

(Quinault Rain Forest)

Sources:

About.com. Psychology. Retrieved 4^th of October from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial_2.htm

About.com. Psychology. Retrieved 4^th of October from http://psychology.about.com/od/piagetstheory/p/formaloperation.htm

Francine Morrissette. Retrieved the 27th of October from http://suite101.com/a/what-is-young-adult-fiction-a135786

Rachel Scheller. Retrieved the 27^th of October from http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/writing-for-the-young-adult-audience

Sarah gets critical. Retrieved 4^th of October from http://sarahgetscritical.com/2012/11/13/a-feminist-critique-of-twilight-emotional-abuse-child-grooming-and-pro-choice-plots/

Simply Psychology. Social. Retrieved 4^th of October from http://www.simplypsychology.org/self-concept.html

Stepheny Meyer. Twilight. Retrieved 4^th of October from http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html