BP #5- Social Issues

                                              Hall, Allan. Monster. England: Penguin Groups, 2008. Print.

A social issue present in Monster is abuse. To fully explain why, I have to give  a short synopsis of the story.

Monster is the true story of Josef Fritzl. In 1984, Fritzl drugged his daughter Elisabeth and locked her in a soundproof dungeon he had spent years creating. Over the next 24 years, Fritzl would physically and sexually abuse her on a regular basis. Over the course of the 24 years, Fritzl would impregnate Elisabeth 7 times. 3 of the 7 children would not be let out of the cellar Elisabeth was trapped in.

My proof that this exists is a short excerpt from the story:

"...Fritzl asked Elisabeth to go with him into the cellar to 'help me fix something'. This invitation must have been scary, to say the least. She had been abused by him for years and now he wanted her to go to the domain that had always been strictly out of bounds to all - to tenants and family alike." (Hall, 93)

The purpose this social issue serves is the whole basis of the novel. If Fritzl hadn't done what he did, this novel wouldn't exist.

BP #2- Identify and Sort

                                  King, Stephen. 11/22/63.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011
1. Suspense- This book has suspense throughout the story. For example, the wormhole takes you back to 1958, so Jake has to live in the past for 5 years before JFK's assassination, so there is an overall feeling of suspense as it gets closer and closer to the date of the assassination.2. Author- I have always been a fan of Stephen King, so when I heard about this book, I knew I would have to read it.
3. Characters- The main character, Jake Epping is a well-written character. He has his goal, which is to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK, but he often has moments of self doubt, which makes him a well rounded human, making him seem believable.
4. History- I've always been interested in history. JFK's assassination is a rich piece of history for several reasons; It was the most famous U.S. President assassinated (except for maybe President Lincoln) and the other main reason is that there's so many theories of JFK's assassination, whether or not Oswald did it or not actually commit the murder.
5. Humour- Jake Epping has a humourous look on the 1950's and 60's and his sarcastic side comments add a bit of relaxation to the extremely intense story.

"He nodded in the direction of the house on the other side of the hedge. "I knew it the minute his name jumped out of your mouth."
"How could you? This town is full of Dunnings, you said so yourself."
"Yeah, but only one I care about." He raised the hand holding the bayonet and wiped sweat off his brow with his sleeve. I think I could have taken him right then, but I was afraid the sound the scuffle might attract attention. And if the gun went off, I'd probably be the one to take the bullet.
Also, I was curious.
"He must have done you a hell of a good turn somewhere along the way to turn you into his guardian angel." I said.
He voiced a humorless yap of a laugh. "That's a hot one, bub, but in a way its true. I guess I am sort of his guardian angel. At least for now."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean he's mine, Amberson. That son of a bitch killed my little sister, and if anyone puts a bullet in him...or a blade"-he brandished the bayonet in front of his pale, grim face- "its going to be me."" (King, 11/22/63, 195)

I chose this quotation because this whole section of the story was quite suspenseful because the main character Jake Epping (he goes under the alias George Amberson) has been staking out Frank Dunning's house, waiting for him to come home so he can kill him. Because if Jake doesn't, Dunning will kill his entire family with a sledgehammer, except for one of his sons, who will escape the incident with a broken leg. But while Jake/George is staking out the house, 'No Suspenders' shows up (a nickname Jake/George gave the man because he does not know his name) with the same goal of killing Dunning. I just found the whole section with No Suspenders and Jake/George extremely intense.

BP #1-Identify

 

King, Stephen. 11/22/63. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011

Three main qualities I like in my books are: Humour, a decent plot line and good characters. What I mean by a decent plot line  is that everything ties to together and makes sense. For example, something like "Timmy fell down the well then the cat fell off the pickup truck" is not something I'd be interested in because of the serious lack of relevance. As in for good characters, there's always stock characters in the book. The hero, the sacrificial lamb, the comedic relief, the muscle, the brains, etc.

The books I have read so far this year (It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini and 11/22/63 by Stephen King) have demonstrated a few of these qualities. 

It's Kind of a Funny Story offered a depressing, yet humourous read. The story is about New York teen Craig Gilner, who struggles with severe depression. Things get worse, until one night, he nearly kills himself. He checks himself into a hospital, where he is admitted into "Six North" (the adult psychiatric ward), where he interacts with the other patients in the ward. The humourous part of the story is that Craig's view of life is extremely sarcastic, which makes the story funny and sad at the same time.

11/22/63 is the book I'm currently reading, which is about a man who discovers a wormhole back to 1958 and has the idea to live in the past until JFK's assassination, which he believes he can stop. I liked this book not for any of those three qualities, but for the heavy historical references of the story.