Post 10

For my final post, I have begun reading The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D. Salinger. Written in a first person point-of-view, this book characterizes the life of Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old boy who (from the first couple chapters) has a somewhat pessimistic view on life. The first few chapters basically establish the narrator's personality and fail to address anything about Holden's past life. Holden begins the story by mentioning that he had flunked out of school...again. Mr. Spencer, Holden's previous history teacher, is also introduced in the novel as a boring old man who deliberately tries to explain to Holden why he was being flunked out. As Mr. Spencer continues talking, Holden gets bored and leaves. In general, Holden has a very pessimistic view on life, which could possibly interfere with his life in one way or another. Moving on, the next chapters establish the way Holden interacts with his peers. His roommate, Ackley, as well as Stradlater, act as Holden's immediate contrasts. Specifically, he disliked them since they are phonies, as well as most of the other kids that went to his school. In general, the reader's first impression of Holden is one of confusion. The author manages to write in Holden's adolescent view, which proves to be a very pessimistic one. These chapters leave me thinking if something catastrophic could have happened in Holden's life.

Post Nine

There are a couple of themes that come to pass in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I thought the themes of absurdity and insignificance were the most recognizable and in response I will talk about them.
As mentioned earlier, the theme of absurdity is common through the book. Most of the chapters seem to be randomly put together in one way or another. However, Adams manages to create a rather smooth plot. The author is also able to tie loose ends in the resolution of the novel and slow down the turn of events in the falling action. I found this to be very creative; the unique way Adams uses a random order of events to tell a story.
Another theme found throughout the book is insignificance. I only realized this theme after I had finished the book. Beginning the novel, Earth is illustrated as a planet of no importance whatsoever. On the very first page, Adams describes our planet as "an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet" orbiting around "a small unregarded yellow sun." This version of Earth conveys the galaxy's open opinion of what once was and will be soon again our planet. Later on in the novel, the author conveys that the universe itself is of no significance as well. Maybe the author made everything insignificant as a comical relief. Since most of the novel involved humor, this theme of insignificance could only be there for humor. Thus, making it insignificant as well.

Post Eight/Ocho

As I continued reading the last chapters of the novel, I realized that this book was generally over much too soon. Douglas Adams’ idea as well as description of a possible galaxy out there could make up an inexhaustible amount of stories. His specific story however, about a humanoid named Arthur Dent, could continue on to boundless adventures and events. Thus, the ending to the book left me confused. Why wouldn’t Adams carry on writing about the adventures of Arthur Dent? Fortunately, my question was solved by the names of all his other novels. Getting back to the final three chapters of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, and Trillion are all able to escape from the planet Magrathea in time. This is because the vast galactic police had finally tracked Zaphod Beeblebox down and were trying to arrest him and all the others. Furthermore, their escape from the planet was the accidental combination of a clinically depressed robot and an old man. This event (as most of all the other events in the novel) occurred completely by chance. Although the novel becomes more and more confusing in the midst of all of the events in the resolution, the author did an exceptional job at connecting loose ends and coming up with an end to a never-ending story. However, I found the end to be somewhat predictable and unreasonable. All of the characters survived and were off to fulfill more adventures. This ending could have also been a basis to Adams’ other novels. Overall, I enjoyed most of the author’s book and will probably read more of the hitchhiker adventures in the future.

Post Seven/Siete

Over break, I was able to keep reading more of Adams’ novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which had a very strange turn of events in the plot. Arthur continues using the Sens-O-Tape to observe the events leading to the creation of planet Earth. As stated earlier, an unexpected answer to life, the universe and everything was going to be given by the greatest computer on the galaxy. However, this computer had to make an even better computer in order to answer the question. Thus Earth was formed as the “modern computer”. Now on the legendary planet of Magrathea, through a series of complicated events, Arthur Dent was supposed to come up with the answer. However, this would only happen if the Earthman’s brain was taken out and speculated, which Arthur was not willing to do for obvious reasons. Out in the galaxy, however, the galactic police was making its way toward Magrathea, and the whole planet was facing disaster. The chaos inevitably begins between Arthur, the Magratheans, (a couple of mice), Zaphod and the rest of the characters, and the galactic police. As the fights and arguments continue, the main characters are found to be in a tight spot. They are cornered with only a handful of options left. This part of the story had me immensely confused; not only did the story shift from the past to the present, but so much was added in that the storyline was hard to follow. Alternatively, I felt that the author was putting pieces of the plot together for the final resolution of the book. I also felt that the book had lost its previous sense of humor. The novel’s comedy was lacking in these ending chapters, and I was contemplating if this was done on purpose.