After working diligently on the book for days, I have finally finished Wool! YAY! But there's still so much about it I need to say, which is why I'm writing this blog post right now. Earlier I talked about how Juliette is like the ancient Greek and Roman heroes, but this time, I'm here to talk about how she's unlike them.
The one that I find the most important is how she seems to reject Fate. Now, for the Greek and Romans, Fate was something that was so powerful that nobody, not even the gods, could stop. Sure, the gods could screw with the heroes on their journey, but they don't have the power to stop or change the outcome. It looked like Aeneas' Fate was not to settle in Carthage so he moved on and left behind Dido (an excellent decision, in hindsight. She was really crazy...I mean, killing yourself because he's leaving you? Isn't that overkill? Ha...get it? Kill...sorry, rambling...) and continued to sail. Juliette is different though. When it seemed that she was fated to die in the poisonous gasses in the air, she didn't just let that happen! She tried to get into silo 17, away from the nasty air, away from the dead all around outside, away from the Bernard. I mean, sure, arguably you could say it wasn't her fate to die from the poison but it sure seemed like it at the moment, didn't it? At least, it did to me, and this is my blog post so you'll have to deal with it. Or not, you don't have to read this if you don't want to. Your choice.
Anyways, back on topic. Another huge different between Juliette and heroes like Achilles, Aeneas, Odysseus, etc., is that we can see her grow as a character. In modern hero stories we're used to seeing characters develop and stuff but in the old epics, they didn't really do that. It's just said that Aeneas was super pious and a good person, Odysseus just started in the story being super smart, super loyal, and super heroic, and Achilles was just pretty much perfect, even though he cross dressed...well other than his pathetic defeat because he probably could have just worn sandals that covered and protected his heel.
These differences aren't really that major, because even with these differences, all the characters mentioned are still considered heroes. These differences are just because of different expectations of characters in books now. Today, we want to start at the very beginning of the story (though the beginning is just super boring most of the time) while the ancient epic poems would start in media res (IT'S MEDIA, NOT MEDIAS, JUST GOTTA PUT THAT OUT THERE) so we wouldn't be able to get the beginning of the amazing story. But like I said, these differences aren't really that major, because either way, Juliette is just as much of a hero as Aeneas and Odysseus and Achilles.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
We're Here At Tofu...I mean, "WHAT"
So, it's been a while since I wrote one of these blog posts and I'm not sure what to really say. I guess I could go with what I see as heroic qualities of Juliette, but I'm not sure if that alone would be enough because I'm not sure if I've read enough of the book to have a grasp on all the heroic qualities. I mean, for the record, I'm pretty close to finishing the book, I probably will tonight, but I'm not sure if the author will kill off another hero. At this point I doubt that would happen, but I'm not sure at this point...
I'm rambling though. Back to Juliette and her heroic qualities. I mean, yeah, she's portrayed as good looking, which is helpful because most people like to have a hero that's good looking. And yes, she's really resourceful and is a good person, which again, people like to see in heroes. But she's not a very willing hero, is she? I mean, she didn't want to become sheriff when she was offered the position, and from the little tidbit I've had spoiled to me in class discussions, she doesn't want to become mayor. To me, a hero has always been somebody who's willing to step up to fight the oppression and all that good stuff, so maybe my view is skewed by Disney and superhero movies.
Again, rambling, sorry about that...Juliette is also super lucky and helped by others, a bit like the Greek and Roman heroes. She's helped by her friends for the cleaning suit, the Greek/Roman heroes are helped by the gods. She was lucky enough to not die in the poisonous air and stuff and to be able to get into the silo, the Greek/Roman heroes are lucky enough not to die during these terrible journeys full of monsters and beasts and poisonous everything. These qualities, I think, are important and have been used repeatedly for all heroes.
The next quality ties in a lot with the Roman and Greek epics. Juliette has a kind of homecoming story, where she goes on a journey and ends up getting her revenge on Bernard (I mean, I haven't gotten to this part yet, but people in class said it's true so I'm just going to go with it). In the Aeneid, Aeneas, the hero of the epic, goes on a journey in order to find a new place to call home. He goes on an epic journey full of love, loss, boring traveling, and a creepy stalker lady (Dido). In the end he fights a huge battle against Turnus, who also wants to rule the land. In this battle, Turnus kills Aeneas' close friend which just pisses off Aeneas who more or less turns into the Hulk and kills Turnus brutally. I mean, I don't think Juliette is the type that would brutally kill someone, but deep down it's the same thing of getting revenge at the person/people that have wronged the hero.
Overall, Juliette probably is a hero, just not the one I'm used to watching or reading about. She has the good qualities, such as not being ugly, being lucky, having good allies, and having a homecoming story, but at the same time, she doesn't really look like she's willing to be seen as a hero (which would probably also make her appear really humble, another good quality of a hero). I've heard a hero described as one who will do what's needed when others are too frightened to. With this definition in mind, I think Juliette is both a hero like those in ancient epics, and a hero that we can see in life outside of books and movies.
I'm rambling though. Back to Juliette and her heroic qualities. I mean, yeah, she's portrayed as good looking, which is helpful because most people like to have a hero that's good looking. And yes, she's really resourceful and is a good person, which again, people like to see in heroes. But she's not a very willing hero, is she? I mean, she didn't want to become sheriff when she was offered the position, and from the little tidbit I've had spoiled to me in class discussions, she doesn't want to become mayor. To me, a hero has always been somebody who's willing to step up to fight the oppression and all that good stuff, so maybe my view is skewed by Disney and superhero movies.
Again, rambling, sorry about that...Juliette is also super lucky and helped by others, a bit like the Greek and Roman heroes. She's helped by her friends for the cleaning suit, the Greek/Roman heroes are helped by the gods. She was lucky enough to not die in the poisonous air and stuff and to be able to get into the silo, the Greek/Roman heroes are lucky enough not to die during these terrible journeys full of monsters and beasts and poisonous everything. These qualities, I think, are important and have been used repeatedly for all heroes.
The next quality ties in a lot with the Roman and Greek epics. Juliette has a kind of homecoming story, where she goes on a journey and ends up getting her revenge on Bernard (I mean, I haven't gotten to this part yet, but people in class said it's true so I'm just going to go with it). In the Aeneid, Aeneas, the hero of the epic, goes on a journey in order to find a new place to call home. He goes on an epic journey full of love, loss, boring traveling, and a creepy stalker lady (Dido). In the end he fights a huge battle against Turnus, who also wants to rule the land. In this battle, Turnus kills Aeneas' close friend which just pisses off Aeneas who more or less turns into the Hulk and kills Turnus brutally. I mean, I don't think Juliette is the type that would brutally kill someone, but deep down it's the same thing of getting revenge at the person/people that have wronged the hero.
Overall, Juliette probably is a hero, just not the one I'm used to watching or reading about. She has the good qualities, such as not being ugly, being lucky, having good allies, and having a homecoming story, but at the same time, she doesn't really look like she's willing to be seen as a hero (which would probably also make her appear really humble, another good quality of a hero). I've heard a hero described as one who will do what's needed when others are too frightened to. With this definition in mind, I think Juliette is both a hero like those in ancient epics, and a hero that we can see in life outside of books and movies.
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