Blog post #11 Random Sample

In Random Sample, the point T.P. Caravan was trying to portray is that humans get everything handed to them. Us as beings seem to only try really hard unless your getting something out of it. It seemed as though the little girl in to story only tries unless she got a piece of candy. I feel this is supposed to show that humans are very greedy. From when her and her brother johnny were killing the ants, they had no feelings for them. They didn't care about the life they were living, they just liked to watch what happened when they would do certain evil things to them. They didn't care at all about anything but themselves. When the spaceship came down they treated them with disrespect as well. It seemed like anything that was different from them didn't have any feelings or nerves. When the aliens were giving her a test, it seemed like they were testing her on her violence. When she took the books and started to hit them, that just proved a point that us as humans are selfish. But in the end, when everything is hot and the little girl is upset. Its almost like the boy who cried wolf. She begged and whined, but when she was in trouble like the ants were, she expected for everyone to help her and bow down to her. This story went well with The King of the Beasts. Creating species that will be sure to survive is a good idea but it is unfair to all the other species. Humans using selfishness to help their own personal success. It was ironic when the biologist was reporting creating a man, just like an animal. How can you both be the same species yet one can treat another a different way. It goes along with the xenophobia unit. We are all so afraid of things being different from us, we try to protect ourselves before anything happens by caging things up and creating clones to we can manipulate them to think, act and feel the way we want them to feel. Our world is so focused on creating something better we don't ever understand that we have a variety of living beings around us that we could correspond with but no, we always want whats different. The grass is always greener on the other side. But really its not. It can be green on this side if you look at from a different perspective.

Planet of the Apes blog post 10

In Planet of the Apes there was a lot of xenophobia that went on during the film. To begin when the space travelers first landed, they saw some sort of scar crow that were lined along the mountains. This makes me think that they are trying to scare some sort of creature away. Something that the apes didn't want to encounter. When Taylor got captured, they treated him like an animal. Even when he started to show signs of intelligence, they shunned him away thinking that he was still dumb. It seemed like the apes became afraid of what humans would do to them because they knew that humans once walked the Earth far before them. The lead ape didn't want anything to do with these "animals" and thought they were born to kill. I also think there was some discrimination between apes as well. You could tell what apes were higher up and had the ability to give orders. Some seemed to just be a guard all their life. It was almost as if there were apes inside that didn't get treated fairly as well. Its unfair that where ever your born into, is the life that is chosen for you. The apes didn't seem like they had a decision for who would be the lead ape. He seemed as though he crowned himself that because he knew so much about humans. When he told Taylor that he knew about the humans, why would he then treat man still the way he did. Obviously the apes weren't as intelligent as man because they seemed to feel no remorse for torture either. They could spray man with fierce water and starve them without feeling a bit bad because that's how they were born. The only ape that seemed to show true feelings was the woman ape doctor. She cared about Taylor and what he had to say to them. She knew that there were more intellectual beings out there but her civilization wouldn't allow her to study that topic more into detail. I feel that there really wasn't any hope for the ape civilization because without being able to learn the history of their planet. Things don't make sense. You cant live in a society that restricts you from expanding your knowledge and that's exactly what the apes were doing.

Ender's Game Final Chapters

I really did enjoy Ender's Game when I got to the end. I thought it was awesome that the whole solution all along was communication. People don't understand that fighting doesn't solve anything, you can see it in our world today, when Ender killed, and when Ender finally understood what the story was with the buggers. People are so quick to judge others, so we put up defence and hope that you are the greater being. But the truth is, everyone is just trying to survive in the place they were birthed. If everyone understood that no matter what kind of beings are out there, everything has a story . If the only way Earth was trying to communicate with the buggers was through violence, then of course the buggers are going to fight back. They wanted to survive just as much as the people on Earth. Ender understood that it shouldn't have been a race to be the best and defeat the buggers. Throughout Enders life he was manipulated to live a certain way and think a certain way. The school completely changed his approaches to situations. But many times Ender didn't like the way it made him, he seemed more angry and lonely than he ever felt when he was alone with Valentine. The school seemed to be a program made for people to figure out the survival of the fittest among young children. Those conditions are not meant for children. But through it all, Ender came out becoming the bigger person. He seemed to live a lot happier and healthier than Peter, who always seemed to be struggling to be on top his whole life. Through teasing Ender from the time he was a kid, as well as Valentine. He died knowing that he had made many mistakes though some good. Overall, the book was really good and I think that the ending was one of the best that I have had in my years of reading.

Blog Chapter 10-12

With Ender being commander I think it is hard for him to start to give orders to others and be the person he really didn't like in the beginning. Even though he tries to be their friend too he now has a leadership roll that he has to fulfill. He also realizes he is acting a lot like Gaff when he picks on Bean. He know Bean is good. But Ender being commander really shows his true leadership skills because when you have respect for your toons they have respect for you. Even though many other Army's are starting to not like him, they all know that he is something else. When Bonzo gets killed by Ender it seems to have promoted him to war. I feel they felt that he was able to kill and not feel any regret towards it even though Ender didn't know he killed either boys. That is what they look for in a leader is the task of taking control of the situation no matter what it in tails. Personally this book disturbers me in how young the kids are and how mean they treat them. The commanders of the school seem to use the kids as game pieces to find the strongest and weakest. It is true xenophobia at its best. The ones that don't live up to their standards end up just staying in one position and not going where they want to go.

Blog #9 Monsters are Due on Maple Street and Muse

In Monsters are due on Maple Street there was a lot of xenophobia. As soon as the word spread that one of the neighbors on the street could be an Alian, they all turned against another. The fact that one could be different from the rest of the crew meant everyone was afraid of everyone. The way they treated each other when they thought everyone was guilty was messed up. People that they had known for years they would turn on in a matter of seconds. But that was the aliens reasoning for coming to maple street. They knew that because of the fear of xenophobia that everyone would turn on each other and that's how they could take over the world. One maple street at a time. If everyone on the street didn't have a fear of something different then there wouldn't be any chaos on the street. The people were so quick to judge that it caused their own demise. We are our own worst enemy when it comes to xenophobia. If you have it you will be more septet to cause your own destruction than for someone who doesn't have xenophobia. You are your own worst enemy when it comes to different things or beings.

Muse: In the story muse it reminded me a lot of the world we live in now. When Leo had Icky on his back he felt like he could do anything. Icky gave him confidence especially with his music. When he wrote songs Icky would help him generate ideas and words that Leo didn't know how to say out loud. As the story went on it seemed as though Icky was more and more of a drug for Leo. He felt empty when Icky wasn't on him and he felt he couldn't be the musician he wanted to be when he wasn't there either. But for Leo's father, Icky was a problem for him. It seemed like his father planned an intervention for Leo to get Icky off. Just because Icky was different and helped Leo out, meant that that was wrong for the society to his father. He could not have the embarrassment from his son to have something like "it" on his back. But for Leo it was a different story. Without Icky in the end he seemed to go a little crazy. Icky was there for his support like no one else could. It was all in his head though. I think he could have easily composed his songs without Icky but he had it in his head that he couldn't do anything without Icky. I think that's why his father tried to help him because he wanted him to get used to being normal and creating things with his own head not Icky's.

Enders Game Blog #2

Throughout these chapters Ender finds himself realizing he is more and more like Peter. Even though Ender is not one to want pain on people he uses killing as a way to get through his adventures in his desk. Though Ender does not want to be like Peter, he realizes that Peter actually helped him. Ender doesn't want to show any tears or weakness and he believes Peter helped him become strong. Peter is also in the picture with Valentine. Their brains together are planning something. Valentine knows that Peter is strong and will do anything to get what he wants so she thinks its a good idea to work with him. Valentine is still in Enders head and I dont think that she is going away soon. Her celebrating Ender's 8th birthday proves she still misses him in ways that they told Ender wouldn't happen. Being away from his family really seems to get to Ender but when he battles that all seems to go away. Ender keeps showing he is a leader because he keeps proving his classmates wrong. They underestimate what he can do and when they see it, they seem to get off his back. I think that Ender shows great intelligence in these chapters. Being able to count doubles throughout his head to unheard of numbers, and figuring out how to get through situations in his game that were supposed to be impossible. The others see how smart he is and I think they will soon realize they want him as a leader. All of the students in the school seem to have xenophobia whenever someone new comes into the picture. They want to be mean and torment them especially Ender because they know he will soon surpass their intelligence. In all I think that in the end Ender getting a letter from his sister will help him in this mind game he is in. Having Valentine as a support system will get him though struggles he will have to come to.

Enders Game Blog Post #1

I really enjoyed the first couple chapters of Ender's Game. The life that they live really interests me about only having two kids and how the third was looked down upon. I thought it was interesting how they had signed Ender away from the time he was conceived. It seemed really unfair to the kids that have to go through this program. I think that the teachers in the book know that Ender is going to be someone that is going to make a big impact on their school. Especially when Ender gets called out for being the smartest and best. Even though the kids think that he knows everything and pick on him, the others will come to understand how Ender works and he really isn't set out to hurt anyone. In these chapters there was a lot of xenophobia. When it came to the school and who was picked xenophobia seemed to be a big impact. They didn't want anyone who couldn't hold their ground. It also seems that the take all the thirds in the family. Also Ender seems so different from his family and they know it. Ender is told that his presence is a disrupting to his family and how they life. I think that could be possible but they will miss him and see how much he has learned when they finally get to see him after all his training.