tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post5306981762284286894..comments2024-03-26T22:47:45.276-07:00Comments on Intro to Critical Reading: Skills for SurvivalAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-43920774453438995432020-08-26T15:19:18.519-07:002020-08-26T15:19:18.519-07:00I loved all of these explanations so much. My take...I loved all of these explanations so much. My take on it at first was instantly drawn to Joanne's betrayal. I love the addition of the Oliver part. It was a very new perspective that I had not thought about before. I think this quote is throughout the entire book, taking the stretch that its much easier to teach a person to swim rather than save them yourself. This relates to Lauren the most to me. Especially with her hyperempathy. She is constantly trying to save people yet hurting herself, dying over and over again to protect those she loves. Even when she doesn't have to help, she is adamant about saving everyone. I think this also relates how she, herself, is drowning. However, I cannot think of how she is fighting her rescuers, to relate her completely to the quote. But at the same time, she is activly fighting herself the entire book. She battles this hyperemathy. Instead of hiding away to stop it, she goes out shooting and helps fighting. She even takes in these two hurt girls who she KNOWS are going to trigger her hyperempathy but still takes them in. It disables her, aka drowning her, but she is fighting agaist herself, who in turn should be saving her, but refuses, thus hurting/killing herself. Maybe this is quite a stretch but I can tell throughout the book that she is drowning. Dying over and over, feeling emmence pain that she cannot control. Yet she kills people to survive and help her partners. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15347765875226610626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-43386797744234571552011-01-23T23:37:23.587-08:002011-01-23T23:37:23.587-08:00Karin,
Your essay did a very nice job of breaking...Karin,<br /><br />Your essay did a very nice job of breaking apart and dissecting this multifaceted verse. Of course the most obvious connection is Joann betraying Lauren; in fact, it follows right after the verse, so it only makes sense that the two are strongly connected.<br /><br />However, I think the verse has a robust undertone throughout the whole chapter - even the entire book - and you could have added other examples. You could have added the advice Lauren's dad gave to her, about how "it's better to teach people than to scare them" (Butler 65). Just like it's more beneficial to teach a person to swim than rescue them when they're in their most frightened state, it would be better to prepare the community for disaster rather than scare them with hypothetical scenarios. That might be pushing the metaphor a bit, but it's a start.<br /><br />Basically, I see the verse as an allusion to a person that unwisely sacrifices oneself for the sake of another. So, if the community is the party drowning and Lauren is the rescuer, is it beneficial for Lauren to rescue it? Maybe it would be more advantageous for Lauren to let the community deteriorate on its own; that way she won’t have to be dragged down with it.<br /><br />-AnthonyAnthonyGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08096911317519025111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-36797066552031528182011-01-22T17:17:47.337-08:002011-01-22T17:17:47.337-08:00I like the verse, and the focus which the verse br...I like the verse, and the focus which the verse brings. I basically like what's here, precisely because it's focused, but I do have a substantial criticism - the problem is what <i>isn't</i> here. This essay is short by a couple hundred words - and my point isn't that slavishly following the word/page count I've laid out is important. My point is that you were starting to do something interesting, and once you had things nicely set up, in order to explore some more challenging material, you just stop.<br /><br />What "challenging material" am I referring to? You begin with the literalistic observation that Lauren believes Joann, and the community who she represents at this moment, to be drowning. You do a fine job of elaborating that point. But you ignore the role of Joann within the novel: she, in fact, goes to where survival skills are "irrelevant" by moving to Olivar.<br /><br />The point here is probably obvious: for Olamina, Olivar is another form of drowning, another form of denial, another form of death. But it's a challening, complicated moment, precisely because Joann isn't trying to survive off the land, nor is she there when the community burns - she has gone to Olivar instead.<br /><br />The evaluation of her in this chapter - that she, for rejecting Olamina's teachings and going to Olivar instead of running North (note Harry's vehement disagreement with Joann!!!), is choosing to drown - isn't something we'd all agree with.<br /><br />So - is Lauren right, and is Joann choosing to drown by going to Olivar? Or is Olivar an alternative which Olamani cannot, for some reason, understand? This is an example of the questions you can ask, and the problems you can explore, after setting up a firm foundation (which you have done).Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.com