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The in novel The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway weaves subtle threads of religion into the partying plot line. Jake Barnes, the main character, carries around the physiological scars of fighting in World War I and he represents a typical member of the Lost Generation. The Catholic church has a tradition of a stoic response to suffering, and this is reflected in Jake’s character throughout the novel. He is a silent suffer. However, it is evident that Jakes no longer identifies as apart of the Catholic church; when he was on the train to Spain, a group of Catholic pilgrims took over the first four rounds of lunch. Even though Jake could have easily joined he choose not too, demonstrating that he does not want to have part in the Catholic Church. Jake does not recognize himself as much of a Catholic, but there are times where he acknowledges the religion: “I was a little ashamed, and regretted that I was such a rotten Catholic, but realized there was nothing I could do about it” (103). Jakes goes on to wonder into a Cathedral in Pamplona, Spain, kneels in a pew and prays. This is one of the first larger insights the reader has into Jakes religious life. However, his prayer is a representation of how religious he is; he starts off praying for everyone around him then his train of thought leads him to praying to make money. Jake has a continuous battle with turning to God because in Jake’s eyes, God has done very little for him. He is feeling extremely hopeless in his relationships with other people and tends to be almost floating through life. I think it will be very interesting to see if Jakes position on the Catholic Church changes over the course of the novel.

Wang Lung as a character, has many complexities. On one hand, he really powerless, grasped under his fathers rules and regulations on every aspect of his life. The one other relationship it seems that he should have power in, is his relationship with his wife who he bought from a prestigious family in China, but even then, it seems that his wife has the undermining control. Wang Lung wants to see himself as someone to be feared and respected, when in reality, he is a pushover in many aspects of his life. Except for one. When Wang Lungs uncle and 2 other bank men come to try and buy his land, Wang Lung refuses, denying their continued offers to take it off his hands. In order to keep his land, Wang Lung had to sell everything else he knows. Every piece of furniture in his house, the crops they grew out of their own harvest, and all his farming tools. But he refused to sell his land. This points to a bigger idea of the theme of legacy and family history. This land was once his fathers, whos fathers father owned it and it goes back for centuries in this family.Wang Lung, being the current caretaker, wanted to pass it on to his boys someday as well. Wang Lungs dedication goes so far, he even says “Big by bit I will dig up the fields and feed the earth itself to the children and when they die I will bury them in the land, and I and my wife and my old father, even he, we will die on the land that has given us birth!”. This shows that Wang Lungs dedication to his land goes far beyond his own needs, but that his family legacy will forever be with this land.

McCarthy has a very unique way of writing that I believe presents his writing in a compelling and interesting way that makes the reader focus more on the story, rather than other aspects of things that could distract a reader. In The Road, McCarthy chooses to have weak grammar, as in his other novels, and have no chapters. While many may think this is a poor way to tell a story, I believe it makes the reader more focused on the story, as well as fits the summary of the novel because the man and the boy are stripped of everything to survive. They are stripped of their past lives, family, food, shelter, and McCarthy doesn’t give them names. I believe McCarthy’s writing techniques in this novel highlights the characters in the novel and the way they fight for their survival and sanity. 

Another aspect of his writing style that is different from other authors, is that he breaks up his paragraphs and pages in a way to single out certain paragraphs and sentences that he wants to highlight to the readers and get them to think about the significance. For example, on page 32 McCarthy divides the page into five parts. He breaks up the text in those different paragraphs to signify different parts of the plot and make the reader think of different parts throughout the story using flashbacks and dreams. One sentence from the page is “Query: How does the never to differ from what never was?” This sentence is highlighted more than any other sentence on the page and makes the reader stop in their tracks and think about what he just said, and how it relates to the story and even the reader’s own reality. 

In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes Of Wrath, family and sense of community play a large role in the lives of the Joads as well as other families and people that they encounter. The Joads cling to one another during their journey for a sense of belonging and peace of mind. We can see throughout the novel that individuals like Jim Casey, who did not belong to a big family, hold on to this sense of community. Although some family members, like Noah, leave the family, Ma aims to keep the family together. It is human nature to strive for a sense of community and this characteristic is especially pertinent during times of struggle. Occasionally, when some people are faced with hardships, they isolate themselves and break from their community such as Noah and Connie. Apart from this, most people do want this sense of community and people that they are able to lean on. A great example of creating a sense of community is the dance in the camp. Although they are struggling, people are able to come together and create an enjoyable event that allows them to feel normal again and part of a larger community. This part of humanity is brought to life when people are facing hardships.

In Nathanael West’s “Day of the Locust”, it seems that almost every male character’s ultimate goal is to end up with Faye. Fights broke out over her, and hearts are broken because of her. Tod, the character who most seems to want her, has an obsession so great that he might even want to hurt her in some way. Faye doesn’t have much to offer to these men, almost as boring of a character as Homer but because she is beautiful, it makes up for her lack of other skills in the eyes of these characters. Being a naturally flirty and outgoing person, men misunderstand her intentions, believing that she wants them when in reality, she has no intention of ending up with them. Tod struggles with this especially when his feelings for her start to become violent, especially when he feels that he could even rape her. Tod sees her as self-absorbed and focused solely on her own goals, a common conception of people living in Hollywood, a place where people go to obtain their own selfish dreams, without a care for other peoples goals. Homer, who also is pining for Faye, is the most boring and uneventful character in this book. By the end of the book, I was very caught off guard by the violent outbreak that took place during the cockfight. Faye, a symbol of the misunderstood norms of Hollywood, is also misunderstood herself. Men want her, but not for her, only for what she can give them.

So far in the book, one of the main themes is what the main character refers to as “the Search”. The search in this novel is trying to figure out for the main character Binx Bolling his role in the world and his search for more meaning. In the book so far he hasnt said exactly what hes looking for, but you can infer that its to do with his purpose, religion and more philosophical meanings. On page 13 he says “What is the nature of the search? you ask. Really it is very simple, at least for a fellow like me; so simple that it is very easily overlooked”. So far in the book this search is the driving factor that pushes the plot forward. So far for religion, he talks about this search as he feels many people havent looked deep enough into there own beliefs or just follow others. He does this by referring to a poll he found where it said 98% of Americans believed in God, while 2% were Atheist. He felt like this is misleading because what is the % for people who are searching, or has everyone found something he hasn’t. This is an interesting concept because although Binx is searching for something more in life, he does still say he just wants a plain life, a good job, getting married and having kids. It seems like for this book the search will be one of the major themes and the driving point for the plot. I feel like this search will also get explained deeper, and more philosophical and religious beliefs will be portrayed throughout he book.

Throughout the beginning chapters of the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” the ownership of animals as pets is implied to be among the most important aspects of life on post World War Terminus Earth. The obvious deep meaning behind caring for an animal is mentioned early on when Rick (the protagonist) is talking to his neighbor about their animals. In conversation, his neighbor mentions that people consider it immoral and anti-empathetic to not take care of an animal, even though it is no longer mandated by the government, as it was in the immediate aftermath of WWT. That of course begs the question, why was this policy put into place, and does it fully explain the connection the earthlings have with animals, or is the connection deeper?

Prior to their conversation, when introducing Rick’s electric sheep, the narrator states that “To say, “Is your sheep genuine?” would be a worse breach of manners than to inquire whether a citizen’s teeth, hair, or internal organs would test out authentic.” This implies that people’s pets are beyond companions, but they have become integral to their lives and something that people can’t live without.

Despite this obvious need to own animals, it seems as though the animals serve no purpose. When Rick walks up on his apartment building rooftop to see his sheep, all the animals are simply tethered in place, or grazing on grass. There is clearly something missing in this equation, some explanation for why these animals are seen as being of the utmost importance, yet also seemingly not, based on how they are left alone by their owners. I’m sure more will be revealed upon continuing my reading.

A quote I found quite interesting in my novel the Jungle by Upton Sinclair is about one of our main characters Jurgis Rudkis. “He did not drink or fight , because he was thinking all the time of Ona; and for the rest, he was a quiet, steady man, who did what he was told to, did not lose his temper often, and when he did lose it made the offender anxious that he should not lose it again. When they paid him off he dodged the company gamblers and dramstops, and so if they tried to kill him; but he escaped, and tramped it home, working at odd jobs, and sleeping with one eye open.” (page 26) This little excerpt here from the book just gave us a fantastic incite on one of the few main characters in the book, Jurgis. We learn Jurgis is quiet, rather chill guy and he respects what people tell him. He doesn’t really complain he just does what he’s asked. The part that really caught my eye in this quote was when they said when he lost his temper he was told not to lose it again. That shows discipline and we are shown early this Jurgis guys is a very disciplined man. The author is intending to portray this man throughout the book as the reliable guy that does his job and tries not to mess with anyone (or maybe not.) We will learn a lot more about him as this story goes on but so far he is a good guy that doesn’t drink or fight.

I chose Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 as my Great American Choice Novel. I don’t know what a “Catch 22” is, so I decided to read Catch 22 to learn what a “Catch 22” is. Four “Catch 22s” two sentences, yeah that’s right. Anyways, the story is set during the second world war, and the main character of the novel seems to be a guy named Yossarian, who is a captain in the Air Force flying bombing runs in Italy. Yossarian, like many of the characters so far in Catch 22 is not eager to participate in the war. In fact, Yossarian prolongs a hospital stay by faking a liver condition (which at one point was real) and taking advantage of his naturally high body temperature. But more importantly, Yossarian is a hack. Yossarian enjoys messing with people. Take this interaction between Yossarian and fellow soldier Milo Minderbender for example:

“Let it trouble me [Yossarian]. You see, I don’t really have a liver condition. I’ve just got the symptoms. I have a Garnett-Fleischaker syndrome.’

‘I see,’ said Milo. ‘And what is a Garnett-Fleischaker syndrome?’

‘A liver condition.’

‘I see,’ said Milo, and began massaging his black eyebrows together wearily with an expression of interior pain, as though waiting for some stinging discomfort he was experiencing to go away. ‘In that case,’ he continued finally, ‘I suppose you do have to be very careful about what you eat, don’t you?.

‘Very careful indeed,’ Yossarian told him. ‘A good Garnett-Fleischaker syndrome isn’t easy to come by, and I don’t want to ruin mine. That’s why I never eat any fruit.’

‘Now I do see,’ said Milo. ‘Fruit is bad for your liver?’

‘No, fruit is good for my liver. That’s why I never eat any.’

‘Then what do you do with it?’ demanded Milo, plodding along doggedly through his mounting confusion to fling out the question burning on his lips. ‘Do you sell it?’

‘I give it away.’

‘To who?’ cried Milo, in a voice cracking with dismay.

‘To anyone who wants it,’ Yossarian shouted back.”

For clarification, Yossarian gets free fruit from the military in order to treat his “liver condition.” Instead, Yossarian uses the fruit for his own personal gain. Yossarian could’ve easily just explained his cheat to Minderbender, who also makes shady profits through the war, but instead he creates a befuddling train of logic about his liver health in order to bewilder Milo. This interaction, from what I know so far, encapsulates Yossarian. It seems as though Yossarian copes with the intensity and horror of the war by messing with his fellow soldiers. It’ll be interesting to see how this changes or affects other characters through the rest of the novel.

Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn begins in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Contemplating a word to describe it, Smith decides that “Serene was the only word for it; especially on a Saturday afternoon in summer”. This sets the tone for the pages to follow. An eleven-year-old girl, Francie Nolan, is introduced with a fitting description of her house and yard. Smith illustrates the one tree in her yard that had “pointed leaves which grew along green switches which radiated from the bough and made a tree which looked like a lot of opened green umbrellas. Some people called it the Tree of Heaven”. Smith goes on to say that the tree “liked poor people” and grew in only neighborhoods that they lived. With this at the start of the novel, it infers that wealth and class will mater throughout the novel. You can see another hint at this theme when children would yell “Rag picker! Rag picker!” at other children despite their similar upbringing and economic status.

Smith describes a typical Saturday for Francie and the other children in her neighborhood. Francie and her brother, Neeley, spent their walks home from school collecting an assortment of trash and kept it in the cellar until Saturday mornings. They would bring the stuff to Carney who would pay them for it and would give girls an extra “pinching penny” if they let him pinch their cheek. Following this, Smith says that Francie would turn the money over to Neeley even though he was a year younger than her because “he was the boy; he handled the money”. Shortly after, the siblings go the candy store, Cheap Charlie’s, and only Neeley goes inside because “by an unwritten law, it was a boy’s store”. This sets up for the role that gender will play and the different treatment of Francie and Neeley.