nonfiction macroblog #2

Hello fellers. It's me, Ellie, your resident massive wimp and extinction expert.

What can I say? I love extinction.
(that was a joke please don't kill me elizabeth koone and every environmental protection organization)

Anyways, enough fun. You know that this blog is for Serious Matters Only, and I dedicate my life to preserving maturity and extreme professionalism.

So let's talk about this super cool and neat book about extinction!

If you're new here, The Sixth Extinction is a book by Elizabeth Koone that focuses on how we are on the brink of a sixth mass extinction, due to human beings being the absolute worst. 

I have to start of strong and say that Koone's writing style is wonderful. It really makes me feel a little less down about our rapidly decaying planet. We could kill off, like, millions of species by the year 2050. Think about that. God.

But seriously, Koone has incredibly vivid descriptions which go a long way to accentuate the beauties and tragedies of nature. Take this wonderful image:

"... The carnage had grown even more grotesque; many of the bat carcasses had been crushed, and now there was blood oozing out of them" (210)

Yeah, that's... absolutely disgusting, but here we go! The tragedies of nature. But these descriptions go beyond gore and yucky stuff- she's also more than capable of describing a lush tropical forest and a thriving underwater ecosystem. It's like you're reading a nonfiction book with the joys of some magical, fiction-like imagery. It completely discredited my once firmly-held belief that nonfiction is destined to be boring, as it lacks most of the cool symbolism and analyzing capabilities that fiction is known for. 

For someone going in with that impression on nonfiction, I also greatly appreciate how relaxed her tone is. See, one of my greatest fears upon picking this book up was that it'd be nothing but completely confusing jargon, and that I wouldn't understand anything she's talking about. As I have limited experience with natural science and biology and everything else this book focuses on, it was a risky choice to pick up The Sixth Extinction.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Koole's tone was very informal, yet professional, unlike many of the other super serious nonfiction books I read that speak in long, extensive, tiring sentences that bewilder me with profusions of language and cornucopias of methodical balderdash. Think of getting a lecture from cool teacher like Mr. Perlman (please give me an A), and that's what reading this book is like. It's fun. She implements a few intelligent jokes and overall makes this book feel friendly.

"Only in a place where the rules of the game remain fixed is there time for butterflies to evolve to feed on the shit of birds that evolved to follow ants. Yes, I was disappointed that we hadn't found the ants. But I figured I had nothing on the birds" (192)

Doesn't that intrigue you? She said the s-word and made a joke where she compared her disappointment to birds. I'm having so much fun. Maybe the joke isn't fully understandable here, but you had to be there. I promise. Her tone is funny, it's very unique and pleasurable to read, which is definitely where she gets the most points from me.

i am a 10 year old

I'm probably making this book sound like a profoundly beautiful, perfect in every way kind of thing. That's because it's a phenomenal book that I highly recommend to literally anyone who is at least slightly interested in our planet. 

However, I will admit there are a few parts of this book that are pretty boring. For example, the parts where she talks about actual science. Haha. Just kidding. I love me some good science, but some points of the story just seemed to drag on forever and I had to force myself to get through it. It probably isn't Koone's fault entirely that some parts of science are just boring. 

Listen, guys, I like trees and all, but reading a chapter about them when you just finished a super cool chapter about golden frogs is just extremely unfavorable. Maybe Koone had no decent way to make trees cool, and trees are important, so it's not like she could just forget about it. I like how I'm dissing the one chapter that talks about the BDFFP (Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project), which is apparently "the most important ecological experiment ever done." God, I'm the worst. Maybe I'm just too childish.

The most entertaining and worthwhile parts of the book are where Koone describes her own personal experiences with nature and our rapidly depleting world. She's a wonderful observer- it's like I'm there, doing her science stuff.

I mentioned it before, but Koone has such an intelligent and beautiful way of composing her sentences and writing in a way that makes it sound unbelievably genuine, as if you're having a conversation with her. The ocean-related chapters are to die for, honestly (get it? extinction). She definitely brings the wonders of her travels into her descriptions of Earth's beautiful ecosystems. Koone appeals to every sense, though, not just sight. It's great.

Take some of these examples from one of my personal favorite chapters, "The Sea Around Us";

"It is a raw, gray day, and we are thumping along in a fishing boat that's been converted into a research vessel..."

"... a whitish band of barnacles runs all the way around the base of the island, except above the vents, where the barnacles are missing"

"Streams of jellyfish waft by, just a shade paler than the sea"

"The water is frigid. Hall-Spencer is carrying a knife. He pries some sea urchins from a rock and holds them out to me. Their spines are an inky black" 

"... I start to see bubbles rising from the sea floor, like beads of quicksilver. Beds of seagrass wave beneath us. The blades are a peculiarly vivid green. This, I later learn, is because the tiny organisms that usually coat them, dulling their color, are missing"

I think you get the point. What can I say? I love this chapter.

But I won't just focus on her writing style, I appreciate her organization as well. She doesn't just say "we suck!" and end it at that, she goes through the history of extinction as a concept. She goes all the way back to Darwin and Cuvier, which is a greatly appreciated detail that helps you to understand the magnitude of what a darn extinction is. 

That sounds goofy, I know. Of course an extinction is bad, Ellie, you big fool. But it's still interesting to learn about the history of extinction and how it came to be a widely-recognized scientific topic. Koone goes into the pioneers of extinction, the disbelievers, and how we developed the meteor-dinosaur theory. It's fascinating. She doesn't limit it to one chapter, though, she blends it in with chapters even further into the book, making a nice constant as you read.

It's that supplementary information that adds to the experience of reading her book- she doesn't rely on our basic general ideas and understanding of extinction. For me, I find it hard to understand concepts that are as catastrophic as extinctions. It's hard to believe that millions of species could just die out. Plus, my general knowledge of extinction is that it killed the dinosaurs once. But Koone reveals that we've had five prior extinctions, each with death counts in the absolute billions. She explains how much we've truly lost over the course 500 million years. 

Koone dives into the science behind the science. It's a lot of science, but she makes it work. 

I've said "extinction" so many times. Geez. 

Cuvier, the scientist behind the extinction theory, actually opposed evolution. These are the things you learn when you read The Sixth Extinction, which truly deserves the Pulitzer Prize, even if the known Pulitzer prize standards are unnecessarily vague. 

Her chapters are easy to follow- each one closes nicely, and creates a swell transition between each. There are very few unanswered questions or miscellaneous cliffhangers. Each chapter specializes in one main topic, like trees or penguins or frogs. This specialization aids in realizing the magnitude of extinction but also, obviously, assists the understanding of each topic. I just appreciate her organization of chapters, which may sound a little goofy, but it's pretty important. 

At the end of this book, I was satisfied, y'know? It was an eye-opening story that put a lot of things into perspective. I'm aware of what's going on now. I'm an environmental activist. Anyways, my rating of this book is a good 9.3/10. 

Thanks for following the blog.

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Ellie A

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nonfiction microblog #4

I'm gonna do it, guys. I'm going to write some literary criticism.

I don't know if "literary criticism" fits, though. "Criticism" is too harsh of a word for me, Ellie, small-town pacifist and mild salsa man.

me, solemnly tending to my humble wheat crops

Maybe it's a... literary evaluation. Or a fun literary discussion. Me giving my opinions about a book.

Okay, yeah, literary evaluation is fine.

I truly enjoyed this book, my friends. What can I say? I'll have a hard time picking out some flaws that aren't attributed to me being a big dingus who doesn't know what some words and phrases mean.

I guess the real flaw...

is... me.

Haha. Enough goofs. Let's talk about something else.

One of the most interesting things I read about was the bat crisis. Bats are kinda dying, which sucks. We should talk about bats more. They're good animals.

good ol' brown bat

The bats have a deadly fungus that thrives in cold climates, which is where bats tend to hibernate. We got that fungus from Europe (or so they hypothesize), so I guess Europe is cancelled.

Anyways, that's today's fun disaster blog.

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Ellie A

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nonfiction microblog #3

This microblog is inspired by a comment left on my one macroblog.

Anna Yats (hi Anna) wrote a nice message, and ended it with this: 

It's funny, because when I made my blog URL I immediately hated myself because I forgot we had to read another book, and the chances of me finding a nonfiction book that could tie into "A Confederacy of Dunces" is pretty slim, from my experience. 

But, hey, maybe my audience doesn't have to know that. Maybe I can think of some kinda complicated, pretty stupid explanation for my URL and how it relates to both book.

Let's see what we're working with: 

• I am a dunce 

Nice! I guess that's our answer. Maybe my lack of awareness towards our rapidly dying planet is what makes me such a dunce. That's super cool and fun.

Ah well. I guess my blog URL is just a classic mildly self-depreciating jest. Cool.

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Ellie A

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nonfiction macroblog #1

Alright, let's try something different this time. I haven't been painting at all lately and I'm not going to break my record now. Haha. God.

As I mentioned in my previous microblog, I'd like to possibly do some literary criticism for this book. I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'd like to focus on one of my favorite passages of the book, which is as follows:

"The reason this book is being written by a hairy biped, rather than a scaly one, has more to do with dinosaurian misfortune than with any particular mammalian virtue. 'There's nothing ammonites were doing wrong,' Landman told me as we packed up the last fossils from the creek and prepared to head back to New York. 'Their hatchlings would have been like plankton, which for all of their existence would have been terrific. What better way to get around and distribute the species? Yet here, in the end, it may well have been their undoing.'"

Here's some context to that. You see, The Sixth Extinction deals with, well extinction. In this chapter, Kolbert specifically discusses the extinction of ammonites during the late Cretaceous period.

So that brings us to the fun part. Why did ammonites die off during this specific extinction, and not nautiluses, another cephalopod that's closely related to the ammonite. There are theories regarding habitat or egg size, but overall the fates of each creature roughly lies in the fact that the ammonites were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Nautiluses didn't have any special apocalypse-deterring traits- they just happened to live in parts of the ocean where the extinction atmosphere was much less toxic than it was where the ammonites dwelled. 

(This video doesn't really help anything, just look at how freaky a nautilus is. Imagine swimming in the ocean, living your best life, and seeing this giant piece of cappelletti pasta coming at you. It really keeps me up at night. I miss the ammonites.)

See, when dealing with mass extinction, Kolbert says that Darwinism basically goes out the window- how could any species evolve to adapt to such an extreme, once-in-a-million-years event like extinction? When an extinction happens, it basically turns evolutionary history on its head. It abruptly changes the "rules" of the survival game. And as Kolbert writes, "There's nothing ammonites were doing wrong." But look where we are now. 

Basically, everything has a good chance of being screwed and there's nothing evolution can do to help. Nice!

If you read my first microblog for this book, you would know that I am what some people call a massive wimp. I don't want to read about the fact that our world is dying, global warming exists, ocean acidity is rapidly increasing, and the Great Barrier Reef is dying. Naturally, I wasn't pumped to read that we're pretty helpless to the forces of nature. 

This passage, though, was the one that got me- especially the first sentence. We're mammals, on Earth, right now, because some other guys just couldn't survive a mass extinction. The butterfly effect and "everything happens for a reason" are two fairly similar things that contribute to one common goal- messing me up. 

me, in another timeline

So I guess the main thing about this passage, and why it's my favorite, is that it truly made me think the most out of every other passage in the book. The first sentence that Kolbert uses is an incredibly effective way of putting the reader into a new perspective, which is a massive strength in her writing. 

It's difficult to imagine the effects of mass extinctions. It's terrifying to understand that we're basically at the mercy of the universe. At the same time, though, I like facing that fear. The idea of Darwinism being the basis of life except for these few mass extinctions is absolutely insane- it just makes you think what we're doing here and why we're doing it. I'm not sure how existential this book is supposed to make you feel, but it's really making me feel a lot. 

In this passage, though, Kolbert and the quote from her colleague (Landman) truly highlights this mysterious helplessness. Ammonites were more well-equipped for survival, and yet succumbed to the late-Cretaceous extinction. 

And what an ending sentence! "Yet here, in the end, it may well have been their undoing." That's such a powerful, "make-you-think" moment.

Kolbert's purpose, as I have gathered from what I have read so far, is to address the future impacts of mass extinction. In the part I am currently reading, she is focusing on ocean acidity and how by the year 2100 our oceans will have a severely decreased biodiversity- most creatures would have gone extinct, just like the ammonites, if they're unfortunate enough to be incapable of dealing with the acidity. That's terrifying. But the thing is that it didn't happen yet, and I'd say that some of us just have this feeling that it's a problem for the next few generations, and it's a problem that we shouldn't have to worry about. 

say goodbye to these guys

And I bet, had we been alive during the late-Cretaceous, we would have thought the same thing. But look at us now. Ammonites are gone and we're mammals. Does that make sense? Does that have anything to do with anything? I don't know.

I guess a good feeling for this passage is... hopelessness. Ammonites were more than well equipped for surviving! They had small, plankton-like eggs for survival and distribution. But it didn't matter. What's the point of anything, then? We built shelters that provide us with warmth and comfort and we're doing pretty well in these ecosystems but what's the point if a giant catastrophe could just happen. Where am I? A strong suit in Kolbert's writing truly is her ability to make feelings felt. It's a nonfiction book, which I would argue is usually synonymous with boring or lame, but I truly am experiencing a wide range of joy and tragedy from this story. It's enjoyable. 

This passage demonstrates a technique that proves to be popular in Kolbert's writing- ending specific sections and chapters with an open ended, "blunt" ending. Take, for example, the passage I am citing here- Kolbert ends with a sentence that provides none of her personal insight. This method of providing a simple, powerful sentence is repeated in (basically) every chapter, which is incredibly effective in giving the reader a chance to fully process what Kolbert is attempting to say. 

The threat of a mass extinction is something that people have yet to fully realize and acknowledge- I know I had no idea we were in such a doomed state of existence. Kolbert's writing is powerful. I may not know how exactly Pulitzer books are determined (see microblog 2), but I know for a fact that she deserves it for this eye-opening, amazing story. 

Thanks, guys.

 

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Ellie A

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nonfiction microblog #2

Well, I'm more than halfway through the book by now. That's good!
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy it. It's wonderfully written, and I'm thinking of actually doing some literary criticism for this macroblog.
I'm definitely having more fun with this book that I did with Confederacy, which is surprising considering I don't read a lot of nonfiction and didn't expect to be so invested in, well, a nonfiction book.
Both of my books are Pulitzer prize winners, which got me thinking about how Pulitzer prizes are awarded. As I was reading both of these books, one of them was much better than the other (in my opinion). I don't think I could ever award Pulitzer prizes. It seems so stressful. How do you judge a book? I'm getting overwhelmed just thinking about it.
So I visited www.pulitzer.org for my Pulitzer-related question.

Cool! That doesn't help.
Seriously, that's probably the worst answer they could have given me. By the way, the "How to Enter" and "Administration" page really didn't help, either. It just gave the deadlines for submissions and stuff like that. Thanks, Pulitzer Prize Board.
Ah well. I guess while we're here we can check out some of the other burning Pulitzer prize related questions.

This question haunts me. What it's telling me is that there's just so many people wondering if former president Barack Obama won a Pulitzer Prize that that very question made it to the "Frequently Asked Questions" page of the Pulitzer website. I guess I'm curious, too. Or I was, until I read the answer. But still. What a specific yet intriguing question. Maybe I'm missing something. Was there an Obama Pulitzer Prize thing going on? Pulitzergate?
I looked it up, and someone did win a Pulitzer for a photo of Obama, but I'm not seeing much else.

Cool.
This was a fruitless journey. I am disappointed. I'm disappointed in the Pulitzer Prize Board. I'm disappointed in myself. I'm just. Disappointed.

Well, thanks for staying tuned to this microblog, I guess. It's a downer. Ah well.

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Ellie A

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nonfiction microblog #1

Another book! Let's go.

I'll start this off by saying that I'm reading The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. 

Choosing this book was strange for me, because of a few main things: 

1. I have never expressed interest in a sooner-than-you-think mass apocalypse
2. My original plan was to read a book about computers or art history or something
3. I like to live in blissful ignorance regarding our own mortality and the possibility of an unstoppable extinction
4. See point 3

And yet I chose to read this. For some reason. 

This book basically addresses how we are probably in the midst of the sixth extinction (in case you were confused, that means there have only been about FIVE mass extinctions in the last few half billion years). According to the summary, "This time, the cataclysm is us." What the hell, Elizabeth Kolbert? It talks 

Actually, I do know the reason- I want make myself aware. I don't completely know what this book has in store for me, but if it's the crushing existential fear that I think it is, then I am on board with that, because I want to look the possibility of death in the eyes and say "That's bad, but... Not as bad as I thought." Or maybe it will be as bad as I thought- or worse- and I'll end up crying in the next Fun Microblog Post. 

Okay, maybe it doesn't exclusively talk about the fall of humanity, but that's not very helpful, either. We're killing all of these animal species which can throw off everything until you and I are dead. 

Extinction is so bizarre. I hate how that's a thing that can happen and has been happening. God. 

Either way, though, I think it'll be a good outcome for myself. I want to push myself to read and learn about things outside of my comfort zone. 

This is way out of my comfort zone, okay? I like to live in peace and ignore all of the awful things that can and apparently probably will happen someday. But I like to stay optimistic! 

Hey, the cover was pretty! That's fun, right? Right? 

Who knows, maybe this book won't be that bad. Maybe I'll find joy. 

Stay tuned for the next episode of Me, Screaming. 

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Ellie A

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fiction macroblog #2

You won't believe what I did for this macroblog.

It's time for another visual thing, buddies.

So for this one I chose to do the artistic interpretation, because I love freedom and open-ended prompts.

I decided to take advantage of my struggles with analyzing this book, and instead focus on how goofy and ridiculous it is (because that's the cause of my turmoil). From my imagery post, you may recall that this book has a ton of silly metaphors, similes, and just describes things in the strangest way possible. I wanted to highlight this, as it's a massive contributor to the overall tone of the book.

Most of these wacky comparisons are made either by or in reference to Ignatius- and I wanted to show his perspective on the world. This is because a big part of the book is that Ignatius has a very different way of seeing things, due to his arrogance and relatively higher education. He has a much more extensive vocabulary than the rest of the people in New Orleans, leading to a bunch of fascinating descriptions of people, places, and things. Ignatius is a goofy, unlikable character. His main "thing" is how unlikable he is- he is, after all, the genius that the dunces are in confederacy against.

That brings me to setting, too- New Orleans is a crazy city, perfect for the crazy characters that are met throughout the course of the story.

So I thought to myself, "how can I include all of these goofy metaphors in a way that can be fun and also showcase Ignatius's character and setting or whatever?"

But then I got an idea.

There's this one painting that I like a lot- it's called Netherlandish Proverbs and was painted in 1559 by Pieter Bruegel (the Elder). It's just a big painting that illustrates a bunch of Dutch proverbs in a super literal way. It highlights the ridiculousness of language and how humans portray the world.

For example, one Dutch proverb is "To be unable to see the sun shine in the water," which basically means that you can't see the value in someone else's successes.

Bruegel painted a man who literally could not see the sun in water.

Perfect.

And thus I painted a slightly less-great, less-extensive and less-detailed version of this painting, using nothing but the descriptions provided to me by John Kennedy Toole.

It seemed to be a nice way to capture many things.

1. Ignatius is a wild character, whose great intelligence leads to him perceiving the world and people around him very differently. 
2. New Orleans, as a setting, is wacky. Maybe it doesn't have snake-haired people, but it's still a perfect home for characters that are just as crazy. 
3. The book is funny and ridiculous!
4. The descriptions contribute to the overall aesthetic of goof that this book provides
5. (goof is a fun word)

Try to find each metaphor/comparison in the picture. Some are easier to see than others. Well, most of them are pretty easy to find, and if they aren't then it's probably just because of the way that I drew/depicted it. I'm sorry. 

Here it is:

The things illustrated are (in no particular order):

• "... He was waiting in the warm water in which he wallowed like a pink hippopotamus" (175)
• "This, I should have known, was too much for his literal and sausage-like mind" (228)
• "Like a hen sitting on one particularly large egg" (232) 
• "The Gibraltar of wallflowers..." (323)
• "Her lacquered curls turned into snakes" (275)
• "... sharp Midwestern accents which assailed my delicate eardrums like the sounds of a wheat thresher..." (231)
• "... a depraved specimens of mankind who regularly bowl their way to oblivion" (101)
• "... Those aquamarine fingernails poised like talons" (372)
• "He filled with gas, the sealed valve trapping it just as one pinches the mouth of a balloon" (379)

That's all, really. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, do not regret reading it, and would recommend it to those of you who are interested in some good, lighthearted goofs. 

Thank you. 

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Ellie A

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fiction microblog #4

Hey guys.
Let's talk about my book, huh? How do you feel about that? Good? Cool, thanks.
Since I've been raving about this book so much, why don't I mix it up a bit with some bitter hatred and anger.
I'll be honest, I've been struggling to actually analyze this book. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I feel as if the comedic tone doesn't go to hide a lot of secrets or deeper meanings- maybe I'm just not an intellectual like Ignatius. I tried to look for symbolism, and I got some in his vast appreciation/hatred for movies, as well as the smoke, but it's been difficult trying to find something that ties into a greater theme.
It's a comedic book, but I'm not saying that excuses its lack of depth. I know it makes some interesting commentary about Ignatius's role in society, as a "genius" in a world of dunces, as well as the parallels between his physical and mental "greatness," but it's not like a Catcher where everything is deep or whatever. I'm in pain.

There's definitely a lot of motifs- the valve, movies, sexuality, etc, but maybe I'm just not seeing something that everyone else can see. 

I think it's an interesting story, of course- I've had fun with that. I like his letters with Myrna and his journal entries, where a seemingly calmer Ignatius is seen, as opposed to the harshness of his character in the real world. I hated Ignatius at first, and I still kinda do, but now I'm starting to root for him a bit. 

Maybe a theme ties into how Ignatius's over-inflated sense of superiority creates an unlikable character, or something like that. Or how people who are "geniuses" can actually be big dunces. Or have a.... confederacy of dunces against them. Something like that. I don't know.

He's still a jerk to his mom, though. That's frustrating. 

It's a funny book- maybe it's not meant to be deeply understood. Maybe it's just burping and cursing and stuff. 

I'm just an egg, I guess. We'll keep trying.

Oh, and another thing, there's so many characters. This is probably just a me thing, but I just can't remember that many people. I'm not that bright. There's so much happening at once, y'know? That's just a minor complaint. It's really not that bad.

me trying to remember a character that's been absent from the plot for like eight chapters

Anyways, that's the blog.

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Ellie A

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fiction microblog #3

“The home was as sensually comfortable as the human womb supposedly is” (94)

A Confederacy of Dunces is a humorous, “comedic” novel, which is evident through its choice of comparison in this passage. While no one (I think) can directly recall their experiences of being in the womb, it is a fairly universally recognized fact that the womb is pretty comfortable. Rather than just saying “it was a cozy home,” using the womb as the grounds for making this comparison gives a new sense of comfort, and gives a more abstract, yet more effective feeling than just using “cozy” or “nice.” It influences the feeling of the home being comfortable, and helps the reader to understand the setting in a new way that immerses them into it. It's a fun experience!

b i r t h

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Ellie A

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fiction macroblog #1

I'm halfway into A Confederacy of Dunces by now, and I have to say I'm enjoying it.

The problem is that the cover is generally unappealing to me, so guess what I did for my blog project? 

That's right. I remade the cover. What can I say, I'm predictable!

Here's the original cover: 

To me, a cover should exemplify the book- its themes, symbols, events, etc- in a way that's interesting and eye-catching.

This is what I did: 

Let's start with color. I decided to stick with a blue, darker color scheme. This was done in reference to Ignatius Reilly's blue and yellow eyes (the yellow came off as a green, but that makes it look better in my opinion), but it was mainly geared towards the frequent mentions of smoke (even better- "blue smoke" is referenced several times as well). Throughout reading this book, though, it becomes apparent that "smoke" is primarily used in alliance with those who are hardworking in Confederacy. Take the most obvious example, Jones, a poor man who has been forced into working for a very low wage, in order to avoid being arrested. Whenever Jones is in a scene, the word "smoke" is mentioned at least once. He's even characterized as "a cloud of smoke," and serves as a symbol for poor, underpaid workers in the story. Another example of smoke is in Mr. Gonzalez, a worker at Levy Pants, one of Ignatius's temporary jobs. He smokes around ten cigarettes per day, whereas his coworker, Miss Trixie, does not smoke at all. One of the main differences in these two characters that the book provides is that Miss Trixie is old and senile, rarely doing work, whereas Gonzalez has been carrying their workload for the duration of his employment. Smoke can also be seen in the Levy Pants factory, with "smokestacks... discharged smoke of a very sickly shade." Of course, since this is a factory, workers are operating within it. A major motif and idea in the book is that the working world is brutal, and the idea of working and getting a job is seen in almost every character's plot line. The overall tone of the colors chosen is meant to show some sort of melancholy feeling, similar to what would be felt by a stressed-out businessman or underpaid worker.

There were two main symbols I chose for the next part of the design process, which is actually filling the scene with content. I can't just make it a blue-grey square. Well, I can, but that wouldn't go too well for me. The main things to note are the bottles in the background and the pot, both of which tie into the major plot points and ideas of the book. I decided that the more tangible items should be more recognizable, since it is only the cover and therefore provides a more "surface level" depiction of the book. The truer meaning behind the symbols would become more apparent upon reading the book and analyzing its contents. That's the beauty of a symbol- it can come off as meaningless, but holds much more depth. I took some inspiration from the cover of The Catcher In The Rye (please give me an A), which showed a horse symbol whose meaning may not be obvious to someone who hasn't read the book before. I enjoyed that cover. 

The pot focuses on a scene of the book that I found particularly interesting, which was when Ignatius receives a letter from his ex-girlfriend, Myrna, that essentially just insults him (all of these insults are reasonable). In disgust, Ignatius throws it into the fire that sits under the stew his mother prepared for him (Ignatius is an adult who lives with his mother). The complexity of this scene was pretty neat to me- Ignatius responds to the criticisms with simple, one-word declarations of disgust. This part stood out because of how well it describes Ignatius as a person. He lives in a delusional, selfish world, where he is perfect and "above" everyone. He calls Myrna "offensive" and seems to care very little about these apparent faults in his personality, despite Myrna pointing out obvious truths about Ignatius and how he attempts to "explain away [his] failures".

The pot, as well, is a reference to his mother- the stew inside represents Ignatius as the house-dwelling cretin he is, relying on the labors of his mother in order to get through life. Reading the scenes where his mother begs him to get a job is extremely painful. 

Ignatius is an interesting character- he constantly cites his "valve" as a source of laziness, and since the valve in question refers to a valve in his stomach, I decided that a pot would be a subtler way of addressing this (and honestly, this meaning would probably be overlooked) while also depicting another, more obvious scene. The valve is used for Ignatius to excuse his laziness- when he can't or does not want to do something, he credits it to his valve being closed. He even threatens others with his valve potentially closing- he's very dramatic. Overall, though, the pot depicts Ignatius as the lazy, foolish character he is, who uses excuses to ignore the problems and responsibilities of his existence. 

The alcohol is there too- this one's more obvious. It's the bar, another, secondary plot line to Ignatius's adventures. It's in the back because those scenes are not as prominent as those that involve Ignatius (at least they aren't yet). The bottles are knocked over and messy to represent disorder- similar to the disorder of a bar setting. The bar is the home to conflict and tense situations, whether it's Jones asking Miss Lee for a better salary or the bartender trying to ignore Ignatius and his mother. Alcohol and drinking is frequently addressed in this story, which goes hand-in-hand with the aforementioned smoking. Both are dangerous and deadly. Fun!

Stylistically, I wanted to keep the sketchier, simple coloring style that the original cover had- it was nice and tied into the goofiness of the book. Looking back I wish the smoke came out better (because I hate how it turned out), and that I used brighter colors, but I reached the point of no return. The perspective is off, too- it's my way of bringing more foolishness and zany qualities into this dull, dark scene. Plus, playing with composition is a lot of fun. 

I hope you enjoyed that. Thanks, everyone.

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Ellie A

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fiction microblog #2

Hello!
So I'm well into the book by now- about 1/4 of the way through, I guess, and this is a great time to reflect on how ruined my reading abilities are.
I swear I used to be better at this whole reading thing. But I have to admit that I haven't touched or read a book (that wasn't mandatory) in a few months. I've been trying to get through another book on my own time, but it took me a while to just get halfway through, because of time commitments and me not feeling any urgency to read a book. I know, I'm sorry!
And now I have the opportunity to read, and it helps that I'm on a deadline, so I can actually finish it this time... woo-hoo!
Jumping right into reading wasn't super easy- I've heard these problems expressed by my peers before, so I'm sure at least someone here can relate. There I was, reading my book, getting easily distracted by everything. That wasn't very fun. As mentioned before, I did get fairly into the book, and I'm sure that I'll be more than halfway through by the 24th, but it was a struggle.
I found myself reading entire pages but not actually remembering or comprehending anything that I read, which sucked, and then I had to just reread everything. That was a hassle. Something about reading felt boring at first. I'm sorry!
I am a big fool who decided to put on music while I read, because I was so used to listening to music while I do things, but that was just a terrible idea. I can't believe how disconnected I am from something as simple as reading.
But as I read more I got into the hang of it. It truly felt nice to be able to read for "fun" again, even if this was still reading for school. I got fully invested into the plot and the characters and formed my own opinions about what was happening in the story... it was nice! I must admit. It's been rainy lately, which led to many happy after-school times where I sat in my room with the blinds on my windows open to let in some light. I should invest in an armchair.
Reading a book is so rewarding. I forgot about it. It's such a wholesome way to spend time. I've achieved true nirvana.

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Ellie A

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fiction microblog #1

I thought I would start of this blog by looking into the book I'm reading. I'll do some of that in my actual, larger post, but for now let's just delve deeper into what's going on. For now, I'm specifically focusing on the author and his story, because apparently this book has an interesting history (haha, his story, history). We usually look into this stuff for the curriculum books, and I love being a good student.

I decided to read A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. After getting that choice out of the way, I proceeded to do some preliminary research about the author and what's going on. Keep in mind that, as of writing this (2/20/18), I have yet to finish the book. Sorry. So avoiding spoilers while doing said research was a nightmare. The Internet is an eternal hellscape. Nothing is sacred. 

Anyways, let's talk about John Kennedy Toole for a bit. He's from New Orleans. 

Here he is!

He committed suicide when he was 31- part of the reason being that his work was frequently rejected by publishers. 

So A Confederacy of Dunces was published after he died. His mother, Thelma, made it her life's work to showcase her son's talent and get the manuscript for Confederacy published. It was rejected, still, several times over the five years she pushed for publication. Thelma decided to absolutely barrage a local author, Walker Percy, pushing him to read John Toole's writing. Percy, for the most part, ignored this, but occasionally complained about Thelma's constant presence. 

Thelma wouldn't take the ignorance any longer, and pushed her way into Percy's office and pretty much forced him to read it. The good news is that Percy loved it! But it would take about three more years until it was actually published. Percy even has his own little "introduction" in the book about this whole Thelma scenario and how much he loved the book (in my version of it, at least).

But hey, once it was published it got a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction! So things really worked out for John in the end. 

One more interesting thing about this book- people have tried several times to turn this book into a movie, but all of the actors who were going to (or were supposed to) play the lead died. So that's pretty spooky. There's a curse now about it now. Seriously. Look it up if you don't believe me.

So now I can reflect on the fact that this book was an underdog in the publishing world, I guess. Which is pretty neat.
Thank god for Thelma Toole!

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Ellie A

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