[2] blog #3

Q. Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

Many characters are important in the novel, but I think the main characters are Peter Wiggin, Ender Wiggin and Valentine Wiggin. Ender Wiggin is the third child of the Wiggin (genius) family and Valentine is the 2nd child of the Wiggin family. Valentine is a caring, loving, thoughtful, and amicable person. Ender is an outcast, as he is a third, and he is smart and witty. He is a round character. Lastly, Peter is the 1st child and he is belligerent and cruel. I like both of Ender and Valentine because they're younger than me, but still smarter. Also, they take responsibilities in their actions. However, Peter does not. He only thinks of hurting or killing others, so I'm afraid to put my trust in him. That's why I dislike him. For example, after Ender finds out that he wiped out the Buggers' race, he feels terrible and tries to remake it. Even though it was out of guilt, he still takes responsibility and becomes the governer of the buggers. Valentine, I like her because she loves everyone despite of how harsh or mean they are. For example, although Peter even threatened Ender's life, the one Valentine loves the most, Valentine still loves Peter. I think she's kind of dumb, but the fact that she doesn't give up is, in my opinion, somewhat brave. The special things about them is obvious in the novel: they are geniuses. Valentine reveals the loving part of humans, Peter reveals the sinful and belligerent nature of humans, and Ender reveals the guilt and denying nature of humans.

[2] blog #2

Q. Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed anylight on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?

Well, there are many situations in the world like in the novel Ender's Game. I mean, there isn't a war between human race and the "Buggers," but there are wars extant in the world. For example, there is the Iraq War. The intentions of the wars are different, but the relevant fact is that two different countries (races in Ender's Game's case) are fighting each other. In the novel, it says that Ender, in the end, loves his enemy, the Buggers, after understanding them. Therefore, I think the novel is saying that to stop a war, the countries in the war must understand each other until they love each other. I think conception is wrong, though. I do not understand Ender. The reason is because I don't get how a person can love someone else just by understanding the other. I mean, if you think about it, what if the other person has this set of habits you just dislike? Will understanding the personality you hate and the habits you hate make you love that person? I think not. For me, it will just make me hate the other one. Similarly, just because one understands the other in a war, doesn't simply stop the war immedietly. If it was that simple, people would have already used that method to stop wars, don't you think?

[2] blog #1

Q. What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

I think there are more than one themes in the novel, Ender's Game. In fact, I think there are several. First of all, I think one of the themes is that the world consistently tries to balance itself. As in the Wiggins, hey all have intelligent brains, but Peter is too belligerous and Valentine is too caring. As a third, he is balanced of sometimes being belligerous, but also being amicable. Graff sees Ender as a "balanced" Wiggin. Also, as Ender improves and gets higher in status, Peter and Bonzo declines. Second of all, I think another theme could be "being ignorant is better." Some evidences are when Ender was ignorant of the "game," which was actually the war, he was okay, but then he turned angry when he finds out that it wasn't a game. Also, when Graff tries to do everything "necessary" to make Ender a better commander and a perfect savior of humanity, it was better for Ender to be ignorant of the fact that Graff was trying to help. Lastly, Ender's miserable life ultimately began because of his intelligence--knowing or having the potential of knowing too many things. Only if he had not had the smart brain, he would just have had an ordinary life, like he wants. Last of all, there is the most evident theme, manipulation. As most of the chapters begin with the "high" people like Graff talking about how they should control or what they should do about Ender, it is obvious of their manipulation. The beginning conversations are like foreshadows for the readers. Besides these, there are also racism and sinful nature of humans. This complex book with numerous themes intrigued me and gave me joy reading it.

ATHENA BLOG 3

Entry #3: What qualities would you like to have as a Greek god or goddess?

If I could be a Greek god with any powers, I would choose to have an ability of copying an ability of another god. As there are numerous and uncountable gods already in the Greek Mythology, those gods all have special and unique abilities each. It would be awesome to have all their strengths. Thus, I will gain power and status, possibly more than Zeus. Since I already have an eternal life, I can do whatever I want. With all the powers I have, and an eternal life, I have complete freedom and absolutely no responsiblity since I'm the strongest. Even though I am a god, I would like my physical appearance to be like a normal human. This way, I could play pranks on them and have fun. Well, I do want my body to be muscular, balanced, handsome, good-looking, and so on. However, since I am a god, I can change my physical appearance however I want as some gods have that ability like Athena. This ability is the ultimately strongest ability any god can have. Therefore, I would like this quality if I can be a Greek god.

ATHENA BLOG 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Medusa.jpg

Entry #2: Greek monsters
Medusa used to be a beautiful, one of the Gorgon sisters. However, after having a relationship, or being raped by the god of sea, Poseidon in the temple of Athena, Athena got furious and cursed Medusa. The consequence was cruel as Medusa's lower body changed and had hair of snakes that whoever sees it, turns into a rock. In the Greek Mythology, she was shown as a character like a monster. Then, a hero named Perseus came up and used a mirror in a shield, given by Athena and reflected Medusa's image back to her. This made herself turn into a rock. As Perseus cut off her head, two flying horses were born as children of Poseidon and herself: Pegasus and Chrysaor. Medusa's neck was attatched to Athena's armor as a decoration and her head was given to a temple in Rome as a work of art. As it is obvious from her curse, people feared her of her face as it turns people into rocks and kills them.

ATHENA BLOG 1

"Athēna." Naver. ⓒ EnCyber & EnCyber.com. 9 Mar 2008 .

Entry #1: Greek god or goddess (*Research)

ATHENA

Atehna is Zeus and Mētis' daughter. Gaia, one of the goddesses, predicted that when Metis was pregnant, the child was going to overthrow Zeus. Zeus, afraid, swallowed Metis when she was still pregnant. However, when it was about time for Metis to give birth, Zeus had intense head aches and asked Prometheus to open up his head with an ax. As Zeus head was opened up, there was Athena roaring, and surprisingly wearing an armor. Since Athena was born between a god and a goddess, she was automatically a goddess too from birth. Athena and Hercules share the same Father, Zeus. However, Hercules was appreciated for his mighty strength, but Athena was feared by her power and abilities. Their difference is that Hercules, at the end, became a human being, and Athena became one of the "12" gods. Their nature of personalities are similar as they both try to judge for the fairest. However, Athena, in my opinion, is more cruel to people who made mistakes. For example, when Medusa was raped by Poseidon in Athena's temple, even though it wasn't Medusa's fault, Athena punished Medusa to have hair of snakes. On the other hand, Hercules have more mercy as he forgives many people like his girlfriend when she betrayed him. Therefore, I think their intentions of helping the poor and judging for the right and best are similar, but their emotions within those judgements are different.

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6

Entry of your choice: What was the major flaw of the rebellion in the novel?

The ultimate reason for the downfall in the Animal Farm was created by the leaders. The initial idea of the rebellion against humans was to get what they deserve. However, years after they’ve won Mr. Jones was continuous hard labors and less food to the animals only except for the pigs, who needs food for their brain and the dogs, who protect the pigs. The pigs’ infinite greed made them want to use their intelligence to manipulate the ignorant and dumb ones. The major flaw of the rebellion was actually in the animals themselves as they had not have enough knowledge for themselves to decide which is good and which is bad. If they have educated themselves, they would have survived from the dreadful labors and had the reality of their ideal world. However, since they had not have knowledge, the pigs manipulated them for pigs’ uses. I think this is true to any situations in human beings also. For example, when people con others, they manipulate the others by using their knowledge, in which the others do not have. As a result, the major flaw of the rebellion in Animal Farm was the lack of knowledge of the animals within.

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What is the climax of this novel? What happen? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

I think the climax of this novel is at the very end of the novella. It says that the other animals could not identify which one between Napoleon and man. I thought this was very intriguing because the pig has finally become one of the humans as it was approaching to be. This is the ultimately ironic part of the novella as the rebellion ends resulting with worse conditions. It is ironic because the rebellion initially began with the idea of an ideal world for the animals: earning what they deserve. Therefore, the animals chased Mr. Jones out of the farm and built the Animal Farm. However, there was no difference as it shows at the end here because the wise pig, Napoleon has become another “human.” This even made me feel sick because of the fact that we have infinite greed. We, as in our nature, will never stop desiring and wanting things. I think the ultimate goal of Eric Blaire in this novel was to eventually show that humans are capable of doing anything to get what they want. Thus, he used pigs to exemplify the greediness of humans as pigs continuously desire of eating and being lazy. This final event saddens me for this fact.