Post B #3

Dear Orson Scott Card,

I am now officially in love with your books. I recently checked out Ender's game from the library and, although I have already read it, read over two hundred pages of it in the past two days, and those were busy days... Anyways, Ender at this point in your book Speaker For The Dead seems so in control of the situation that it is almost unnerving. Ender knows how to gain the support of Novinah's family, force Grego into submission, and make Novinah start to like him, all withing about two hours. This is mostly amazing because the bishop had told the colony that this speaker was the devil and that nobody should go near him, let alone talk or help him. But, although Ender is uber smart and amazingly convincing, I find it funny how he can also be ruthless.

When he went to go see the autopsy of Marcos "Cao" Ribeira, he was forced to threaten an inquisition unless he was offered everything he needed. This, of course, scared the bishop very badly and only made him want to get rid of Ender more. Mr. Card, I also admire how you have given Ender detective-like though at certain points throughout the novel. When Ender sits down and goes over what he needs to achieve during his visit to Lusitania, he makes an exquisite list that seems perfect. I do not comprehend how he can be so good a detective if he spends so much time in space and was a fleet commander for the first twenty years of his life.

Finally, I believe that since Ender is so wise for his age, that he should have taken a position of power. I know that if he ran for president today, he would certainly be elected by a landslide just because it seems that everyone running for office is so scrutinized by their opponents that they all seem inadequate for the job. I think our presidential candidates are a joke really, there must be something more to it. In the past election, I am going to examine the candidates according to my views. Bush was a joke, not very good during his first term so why elect him again. But.... then if we examine Kerry, he is even worse and has no idea what is going on. So in the end, everyone is a joke and if someone like Silas ran for office, they would totally get in; or Ender for that matter....

Post A #3

Vocab

1. Idiom: a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people. n (105).
   
2. imperturbable: incapable of being upset or agitated; not easily excited; calm: imperturbable composure. adj (129).
   

Figurative Language

1. "A moment later, a sleepy girl with tousled hair and sleepy eyes came into the room" (110). This is an example of personification because the girl's eyes are not people and cannot be sleepy.
   
2. "Nothing is too deep for you Jane. Do us a favor, don't cut me off at the knees" (102). This is an example of figurative language because Ender does not literally mean to cut his legs off, so it is something that is said that means something else.
3. "This man was unknotting the nets of my family, and stringing them whole again; but in the process he would find many secrets (133). This is an example of symbolism because there are no true nets in a family, but it is as if he is undoing what holds them together; i.e. nets.
   

Quote

1. "Now his tears washed Ender's neck as hotly as, a moment before, his urine had soaked Ender's thighs" (121). This is an important quote because it shows the early relationship between Ender, and essentially the entire Riveira family.
   

Theme

1. The present theme of this book is disunion because the colony is disunionized, along with the Riveira family and Ender.
   

Post B #2

Dear Orson Scott Card,

Your novel is extremely good at this point. Your writing is so full of twists and turns that I cannot put it down. The piggies seem to be this terrible race, but I know Ender won't let them be killed as a repeat of the mistake he made three thousand years earlier. I still find it funny how the Starways Council feels threatened by such a small, seemingly harmless and unsophisticated race. Even in another three thousand years, they probably still won't have starflight. The piggies don't seem dumb or anything, they just don't have the means to do it.

Your imagination truely has created a wonderful story. You must have put months of thought into writing this novel because it is so detailed, yet to alien. You have created many aspects of this book from scratch and to do so to such an extent that the book is this amazing requires great talent from yourself. I personally think you deserve a Pulitzer prize or something, because this and Ender's Game are fantastic books that not only allow one to put oneself into a different world, but allow for reflection on human nature and why we do what we do.

I wasn't very old when this book was released, but I doubt that it received much media coverage since it only received science fiction awards. But if it had been publicized better, I should think that it could have easily made the New York Times bestsellers list. Besides, the different species in your novel somewhat relate to different peoples throughout the world. The buggers could be Asia, while the humans are Europe and the piggies are America in 1900. The buggers have been defeated by the humans for some time and the piggies are still an up and coming species. Oh well, maybe not the best comparison, but I'm sure that if I spent ANOTHER hour working on this post, I could find a way in which they relate.

Post A #2

Vocab

1. Subterfuge: an artifice or expedient used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc. n (73).
   
2. Overtone: an additional, usually subsidiary and implicit meaning or quality: an aesthetic theory with definite political overtones. n (87).

Figurative Language

1. "He had dreamed once of a star winking out every time a starship made the Park shift" (86). This is an example of personification because a star cannot truly "wink", but the phrase winking out means that it is destroyed or dies.
   
2. "But father was too recently dead for him to be spoken now. His tentacles still reached out of the grave and sucked at their hearts" (92). This is an example of a symbol because the father was abusive and disliked, and even though he is dead, he still seems to suck the happiness out of the family.
3. "He had long since given up feeling odd about the incongruity of storing the future of a magnificent race in a duffel under his bed" (97). This is an example of irony because not only is he storing the future of this race under his bed, but it is a race that he himself utterly annihilated; all except this last remaining hive queen.

Quote

1. The piggies will have a public relations problem, and the new anthropologer is only a boy" (59). This is an important quote because it sets up the chapter. The piggies seem barbaric to humans and since the new xenologer is only a boy, this is made even worse. At this time, the future of the piggies seems questionable at best.

Theme

1. The theme of this section of the book is acceptance of agnostics among catholics because of Ender's visit to Lusitania.
   

Post B #1

Dear Orson Scott Card,

Your novel is truly amazing. I very much enjoyed Ender's game since it was a good mix of action, thoughtfulness, and genus. But Speaker For The Dead is possibly even better. It continues the story very well, even though it takes place 3000 years later. Ender is a very remarkable character in that he was unknowingly forced to destroy an entire species, the Buggers, but is now trying to redeem himself through a penance in which he spends his life speaking truths about others and searching for a world habitable by the Hive Queen he found on the Bugger's home world after its destruction. Ender, since he was tricked into destroying a species now has decided to help another, the piggies, and I find that remarkable. He seems to speak with such authority around anyone. I also find it a little funny how he has been getting interest on his funds for 3000 years and is now the richest man in the universe by far, and has unlimited access to the ansible system as well as some of the most hidden files in existence.

Although Ender committed an unforgivable act in Ender's Game, we need more people like him today. People willing to give their lives for what they believe in and help others in order to better the world. Ender is not a destroyer at heart, he killed because of trickery. Ender is a brilliant, compassionate, and suave man that has been changing lives throughout the galaxy with his speaking. I'm sure the liberal media would love to cover his story.... To finish up, I hope that Ender is able to help the people of Lusitania through enhancing their understanding of the piggies.

Post A #1 3rd Quarter Outside Reading

Vocab

1. Xenology: the scientific study of extraterrestrials, esp. their biology. (3). n
2. Hegemon: a person, nation, etc., that has or exercises hegemony. (17). n
   
3. Hegemony (to clarify above word): leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation. n

Figurative Language

1. Personification: "Don't sit on Chair! It's her time of month again" (22). This is an example of personification because obviously a chair cannot have a period, and since an inanimate object is being given human characteristics, it is personification.
2. Simile: "Piggies are like animals! How could they murder one of their own kind?" (27). This is a simile because it is comparing piggies and animals using the word like.
3. Metaphor: "Marcao is a dog. He is a big brutish abusive husband" (45). This is an example of a metaphor because Marcao is not really a dog, but he is described as one.

Quote

1. "His students had no idea that their speaker for the dead, who was surely no older than thirty-five, had very clear memories of events 3000 years before, that in fact those events seemed scarcely twenty years ago to him, only half his lifetime" (37). This quote is significant because it shows how special Ender really is. He is 3000 years old, and nobody even knows it!

Theme

1. The current theme in the novel is the piggies. They are the only known alien race to be alive after the bugger xenocide.
   

Blogging Requirements

The Blogging (aka the good stuff!)

You must post twice a week (for our purposes a week is from Wednesday to Wednesday or from silent reading in class to next week's silent reading in class). I've explained below what should go in each of the posts per week. You can do them in any order, but EACH WEEK YOU NEED TWO POSTS. ONE SHOULD LOOK LIKE POST A AND ONE SHOULD RESEMBLE POST B. You should have 14 posts in total, i.e., 7 weeks of posting. Posts are due Wednesdays in the am (i.e. before school) on 2/13, 2/20, 2/27, 3/5, 3/12, 3/19, and 3/26.

Post A

2 vocabulary words that you found in the book (with page numbers). Define them in the blog.

3 examples of figurative language (irony, personification, imagery, metaphor, symbol, simile, onomatopoeia, etc.) and how you know it is that literary element. P

ick a quote from the reading and explain its significance (include page number).

Write a sentence in which you describe one emerging theme of the book.

Post B

A thoughtful response to the book of approximately 250 words. You must cite the page you're referring to as well. Some possible ways to respond to literature include: pick a quote and comment on its significance make connections to the book (self, text, world, media), analyze the protagonist (or author if it’s nonfiction), pretend you're writing a letter to the author or main character, etc. There are many many ways you can do this.

Athena: Pursuit of The Vikings by Amon Amarth

Athena seems to be a very interesting character in The Odyssey. She is both wise and powerful, helpful and respecting. Athena also seems very mysterious, going about disguised as others and taking interest in the lives of mere mortals. I find this very interesting in that no other Greek Gods seem to care at all about humans, let alone help and interact with them.
Athena has done a couple things that have struck me. In book 3, Athena aids Telemachus to collect a crew and sail to Sparta in order to help him find his father. In addition, Athena takes a peculiar interest in Odysseus. She is either "fighting" with Poseidon, or she really likes Odysseus, although I cannot yet decide which. All of these things seem rather odd to me.
I picked Pursuit of The Vikings by Amon Amarth because it contains many descriptions that would apply to Athena. The Norse god Odin and Athena are very alike. Although Odin is the Zeus of the Norse, the things that he is god of are the same. They are both gods of war and wisdom.
The lyrics:
"Odin! Guide our ships
Our axes, spears and swords
Guide us through storms that whip
And in brutal war" exemplify what Athena stands for. Odin and Athena are somewhat alike, being gods of equivalent things. Athena is a god of war and would possibly guide soldier's axes. She is also a god that would help someone such as Odysseus (because of his cunning and whit) to make it home safe.