Blog Post number #5

I believe that she wrote this to prove a point about society. She wanted people to realize how stupid some of our traditions are. None of the ones we have are as outlandish as in "The Lottery", but the point is still clear. Why do something when the meaning of it is unclear? People do things just because they have been done for a long time. They might think that these traditions are wrong but they do them anyway just to conform to society. Old Man Warner is a represntation of the older generation in today's society. A majority of this group does not like change. They want things to stay the way they have been for the past 30 years. The changes that our younger generation has been making and the trends we have going do not please them. Tessie is similar to the people that stand up for what they believe in but get shot down by society.  She wanted to change but the rest of society wanted to stay the same.

Blog post #4

 In both the novel Into the Wild and the film Fantastic Mr. Fox, the characters display a very adventurous lifestyle. Neither of the two main characters can sit still for very long. They display a deep urge to keep active. Chris McCandless needs to keep on the move and venture through the different parts of the country. Mr. Fox craves the thrill of of the chase when he steals for a living. He promises his wife that he will give it up, but ultimately he cannot stay away for long.

On page 39 in the novel Chris says, "It's a good place to spend the winter and might finally settle down and abandon my tramping life, for good." He was seriously thinking about staying in Bullhead and living there. He was loving the town and actually had a steady job. But ultimately, the urge to keep moving was just to great and he left. Chris just had the spirit of an adventurer and couldn't stay still for too long or he started to feel like he would explode. Mr. Fox was the same way, he couldn't be tied down either. When he and his wife were captured and he found out she was pregnant he promised that he would be done. He stayed true to his word for many years but eventually gave in. He couldn't stay away from that lifestyle. His excuse for it was that he is a wild animal. It's just his nature to act like that.

Mr. Fox and Chris McCandless are two birds of a feather. It is not simply that they like having adventures, rather, it is a necessity for them. No matter how great the pressure is to settle down and have a normal life they just can't give in, no matter how badly they want to. They are destined not to live like everyone around them. That is not who they are, or who they want to be. The enjoy the life they live and anyone who tries to tell them differently is wrong.

Into the wild #3

Chris is a misguided young man who thinks he can do more than he actually can. He is foolish for thinking he can survive with little supplies. In his ambition to live alone and tramp around there is nothing wrong, but how he goes about that is seriously flawed. This is my understanding of Chris and it hasnt changed throughout the novel. The motivation that Chris has for completing his adventure is that he loves being free to do what he wants. This is exampled on page 108 when it says, "Chris loved those trips the longer the better. There was always a little wanderlust in the family, and it was clear early on that Chris had inherited it." This was an example from when he was out in the wilderness with his grandpa as a young boy, clearly this love of nature and freedom carried into his adult life. On page 114 it states that; "It's somewhat surprising that Chris ceded to pressure from Walt and Billie about attending college when he refused to listen to them about so many other things". This shows how indepedent he loved to be. The fact that him actually listening to his parents is surprising proves that he is super independent and loves doing things on his own with no help from anyone.

into the wild #2

Chris McCandless and John Mallon Waterman we alike in many ways. The first and most obvious was that they both grew up in the same Washington suburb. Both of them attended college but then after graduation didnt use the education they had gotten. Neither of them liked civilization very much and spent a lot of time away from it. Chris on his adventures and John mountain climbing. Another similarity was they both were into politics for a while. Chris went so far as to create a Republican club in college and John even ran for president. Both of them kind of realized they wouldnt be coming back from their last trip and said their goodbyes ahead of time Cris could have been influenced by people like John becasue he saw all of their failures and thought he could outdo them and succeed. He also saw how far they had gotten and knew that if they could get that far then he could too. Chris is very overconfident in his abilities that he becomes foolish at times. He wanted to be the best at everything and to prove to himself that he was better than these other people he needed to do what they did and make it harder. The one thing he didn't learn from them was how to survive and when enough was enough.

Into the wild #1

What do characters emotions and behaviors reveal about personality and psychological states?
In chapters 1-3, the fact that he isn't scared to go into the wild shows he is fearless. He will accept what happens but is confident in his abilities to survive. "He was determined. Real gung ho. The word that comes to mind is excited." He also might have been foolish not to be more prepared.
In chapters 4-6, he questions whether he is the same person who started out on the journey or not. The fact that he isn't eating enough and has lost 25 pounds, yet his spirit is still soaring shows that he is so concerned with external things that he fails to take care of himself internally. Part of his personality is not worrying about himself, he assumes that everything will be all taken care of for him somehow.
In chapters 7-9, when he refuses to forget about his father's past, it shows that he holds a grudge. He can't let it go. When most other people make mistakes he lets it go, but he holds his father to a much higher standard than everyone else. This could be because he was so close to his father that he just excepted better from him and when he learned the truth it shocked him so badly he couldn't forget it.