Allyssa Ellis

For this week I read The Star by Arthur C Clarke from 1956. One thing that I found interesting about this short story that I believe to be a theme in other pieces of the genre, is the acknowledgment of existential crisis. Everyone that is alive, thinks about how and when they will die. This usually is in accordance with "deep" thinking, outside of what we perceive and think of every day. This can and usually includes thinking about space and other civilizations beyond our own. This comes up in The Star as well. Although, in this situation, all of these mere speculations are true and can be seen through the character's eyes. We see that there is proof of other civilizations when they discover the monolith left behind by beings from another planet. We also are a part of the main character's thinking, in which he questions existence as well as his faith in God. We see that this scientist, astronomer, has a hard time separating scientific facts and proof with the belief i...

For this week I read Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane . I really enjoyed this short novel and the underlying themes that went along with it. Some of the things I noticed were the revealing of reality and how it is never as it seems, comparison of adulthood versus childhood, and the idea of other universes. The one theme that I want to mention and expand on is the idea that every person or being has a different side to them, that is not outwardly visible. In the father's case, it seemed that he was being controlled by the "flea" Ursula Monkton and almost drowned his son in the bathtub. This makes you wonder - did the evil person/creature make him do this or was there something evil and resenting in him the entire time? With the main antagonist, Ursula Monkton, she is an evil creature from another world that entered the world that we know it, disguised as a human. This provides some interesting perspective, that sometimes the evilest traits and experiences...

The reading for this week, under the category of the Heroic Journey, was The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkein. The most memorable aspect of this novel is the mythical creatures. Every part of this novel is filled to the brim of interesting and unusual characters, including hobbits, dwarves, goblins, gollums, and many other talking animals as well as shape-shifting creatures. Each creature has it's own set of interesting characteristics in the way they, talk, act, and think. The main character, the hobbit, for example, is very nervous-minded and is constantly comparing his situation to how it would be more comfortable at home. The wizard, Gandolf, is depicted as wise and stern in his manner, and purely set on his one objective of guiding the troop of dwarves and Bilbo. The goblins are depicted as nasty creatures that rule part of the land, and hunt ferociously. These descriptions are what lead the story, keeping you interested in what creature might appear next along their journey. Particular...