Monday, April 30, 2012

6. Serena D'Angelo- Outside Reading #1

Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space:


During our discussion of  The Space Trilogy, we talked about how solitude in nature can bring peace. For me however, it brings up questions of a mental connection found through nature as well. Is the reality of the vastness of Space that we are but small pieces connected to a larger plan? Our world and reality is as Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space describes, "a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. On [the Earth], every human being who ever was lived out their lives." Our self-importance is trivialized by Sagan's idea that even the greatest of our leaders are only "momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." Sagan sees Earth's inhabitants as temporary, but I think that while their time on Earth is temporary and that is indeed trivial, the souls of Earth's inhabitants can live on.

Though Sagan is well-known as an atheist, his interpretations of the cosmos are similar to Lewis's ideas of creation and duty in nature. We discussed in class how everything in our natural world is good and has value, and talked of the belief in Christianity that because humans have dominion over things, they have a responsibility to care for these things. I think that Sagan is saying something similar to this; as a piece of the vastness of the cosmos, we have a duty to rule and care for our world, saying our "imagined self-importance underscores our responsibility to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot."  Though Sagan says this duty comes from our imagined self-importance, we can also see how this idea comes from a higher reasoning of keeping balance and order to our world, to find peace in the big picture.

5. Serena D'Angelo- The Space Trilogy #1

 Beauty of Nature and Solitude in The Space Trilogy:

Lewis uses the presense of natural beauty within the isolated nature of the planets (in the setting in Out of the Silent Planet from Lewis's Space Trilogy) to explain how solitude in a natural landscape can bring about solitude in the form of a mental state rather than a solely physical state; where we can find peace within ourselves after connecting with beauty in nature, separate from negative feelings of loneliness. As Ransom travels through Space, where virtually "all was silence," he compares his old perspective of Space as "the black, cold vacuity, the utter deadness, which was supposed to separate the worlds," to what he sees as truth now from his new perspective in the spaceship. Though they are alone in space, he sees the setting as a place that "he could not call it 'dead'; he felt life pouring into him from it every moment."  I like this idea of life in space, because I feel there is a sense of community in nature that can transcend place. When I look at the moon, I know that it is the same moon that friends and family far from me are looking at too. Though we may be physically alone, our connection to nature with the shared experience of the celestial moon can bring us together mentally and spiritually.

4. Serena D'Angelo- Till We Have Faces #2

God's Love:

Reading Till We have Faces immediately brought back memories of my days as an active member of my highschool youth group at a non-denominational community church, and memories of my youth pastor, who had the Hebrew words for God's unconditional love and our love for God tattooed on his wrists. He explained the meaning behind his tattoos as something that can't be translated into proper English, the Hebrew words translating a feeling we can not properly organize into thought. It's a love so powerful that it can not be expressed in words, only in feeling and faith. This idea of unconditional love stood out to me, and now I can see how it is like being a part of the Four Loves that Lewis makes sense of in Till We Have Faces--affection, friendship, romance, and unconditional love because as this love isn't based on any grounds of reason. You don't have to perform to meet any standards in order to get God's love.

In Christianity, this kind of love is preformed through Jesus's self-sacrifice. In Till We Have Faces,  Psyche experiences this unconditional love when she is alone on top of the Grey Mountain after the community had condemned her as a human sacrifice. "Thing only thing that did me any good was quite different," Pysche says to Orual on pg. 109 of Till We Have Faces, "It was hardly a thought, and very hard to put into words," (Faces 109). She is unable to clearly explain a metaphor about sacrifice and its relations to health of the crops, and says that there was a gladness that "seemed to come from somewhere deep inside of me....It was shapeless, but you could just hold onto it;or just let it hold onto you," (Faces 110).  I can relate this to holding on to the feelings of gladness and love that God gives you, and letting God's love for you wash over and embrace you at the same time. Shapeless, but powerful.

2/3. Serena D'Angelo- Narnia #2, Till We Have Faces #1

Friendship in Narnia and Till We Have Faces:

Shasta and Bree from The Horse and his Boy of Chronicles of Narnia show an example of Friendship at its finest. The story follows the duo as they escape to Narnia together, showing a relationship where they need each other, and push each other on their journey. "This is the chance for both of us" (Narnia 11), Bree says to Shasta at their first meeting. Alone, they would surely fail, but as a team, the pair could quickly escape without suspect of foul play. After reading Till We Have Faces, I made the connection to the kind of friendship Lewis uses in his stories that Aristotle also describes as mutual appreciation, where true friendship relies on both parties ability to see the intrinsic value of good in the other, and also to push and promote the good doings of their partner in friendship.
In Till We Have Faces, Orual and Bardia share a similar mutual appreciation for each other, like Shasta and Bree's relationship with each other in The Horse and His Boy. Orual and Bardia go on a mystic quest together, similarly on horseback and through a landscape of wilderness, to find Physche's remains on top of the Grey Mountain. Orual was still recovering from her illness, and Bardia was able to provide her with support in lieu of a horse and helping her regain her strength with sword fighting lessons, while on their journey. Bardia, being noble and representing someone pure, thinks going to the Grey Mountain to retrieve Pysche's bones is a great idea, saying that he is "ashamed I have not done it myself"(Faces 92), and his moral duty is what drives him to go with Orual on the journey, using her as an excuse for going himself. Their friendship grows stronger as they travel up the mountain together, another example of Lewis creating characters who display Friendship at its finest.




*I am using this blog post as two entries. One for Narnia and one for Till We Have Faces

1. Serena D'Angelo- Narnia #1

Reflection on trees:

In "What Lucy Saw," from Prince Caspian of Chronicles of Narnia, Lucy is awake in the forest after a long day of travel while her companions sleep. Lewis depicts her in a "dreamish kind of wakefulness"(Narnia 121). She wanders/wonders through the forest where she is led by a nightingale's song to a clearing. Once there, Lucy feels "a great longing for the old days when the trees could talk" (Narnia 122). She begins to imagine what the the trees would be like in human form, creating complexity within the myth. I thought this was a great example of Sehnsucht, because she longs for something greater than what is around her, and then she goes even further to make her imagination a reality when the trees truly do come alive! Like the inklings, I think that trees are a symbolic tie to the life cycle found in nature, seen in common metaphors like the tree of life. I see the tree as the ultimate nurturer that dies and comes back to life as the seasons change.

Molly Ransone Post 15 Outside reading


(#15) Outside Reading: The Uglies

I just recently finished a book called Uglies, written by Scott Westerfeld, and it reminded me of the Orual from Till We Have Faces. In Uglies there is a world full of two types of people. People are either pretty or uglies. When you become sixteen you are allowed to undergo plastic surgery to become a pretty or you can remain how you look and live with all the uglies. The main character Tally struggles over if she wants to remain the same or if she will become pretty. After I finished reading this book I thought of Orual. Throughout Till We Have Faces, Orual is constantly reminded of how ugly she is. Orual’s father the King constantly reminds her that she is not attractive. Orual eventually hides her face from everyone and wears a veil to cover her ugliness. If Orual was given the chance to undergo plastic surgery to turn into a pretty I wonder if she would do it. I believe that Orual’s veil became a source of power for her when she became Queen. The veil made her mysterious, which I believe made others afraid of her. If Orual lost the veil and became a pretty I wonder if she would be as powerful of a Queen? If Orual was turned into a pretty I bet she would have been married off and her husband would have ruled. I really liked both of these books and I think it would be very interesting to see how different Orual would have been if she had been pretty! 

Molly Ransone Post#14 Outside Reading



(#14) Outside Reading: The Hobbit

Over Christmas break I read The Hobbit. This was my first Tolkien novel, and I really enjoyed this book. I loved The Lord of the Rings films and when I found out that The Hobbit was coming out I was very excited. I wanted to read The Hobbit so that I knew what would happen once the movie comes out in December. I am glad that I decided to read it because I loved it! In class we talked a lot about how Lewis and Tolkien were friends. After reading Out of The Silent Planet I can see how these two authors were friends. Even though these books are completely different, both of the main characters embark on a journey. In The Hobbit, Bilbo helps the dwarves recover the treasure that is guarded by a dragon. Bilbo is a homebody and has no intentions of going on this perilous journey but Gandalf kind of forces him into. In Out of The Silent Planet, Ransom had no intention of wandering through the planet called Malacandra but Weston and Devine kidnap him so he did not have a choice either. Ransom does not have a laid out journey like Bilbo did, but I consider it a journey because he meets the hrossa, then he wanders to meet Augray the sorn, and then Augray and Ransom travel to see Oyarsa. I think overall that liked The Hobbit better because it was more adventurous and had a lot more action compared to Out of The Silent Planet. The only thing that I did not like about The Hobbit was that the dragon Smaug, was not killed by Bilbo or the dwarves. The men that lived on the lake killed Smaug and I really wanted Smaug and Bilbo to have a battle. I am really excited for the movie to come out! I also just bought The Lord of the Rings to read this summer, because I enjoyed The Hobbit so much!

Molly Ransone Post#13 Outside Reading


(#13) Outside Reading: The Hunger Games

Last November I had shoulder reconstruction and during my recovery I read The Hunger Games trilogy. I could not put these books down once I started reading them! I think I really liked these books because they were different. I love books that make your heart race from all the action, and this is why I loved this series. The Hunger Games is about a post- apocalyptic world called Panem. Panem is made up of twelve districts and its ruling Capitol. The Capitol is an extremely oppressive to the other districts. The people of the Capitol live very lavish lifestyles, which is in stark contrast to the starving districts. The districts that are closer the capitol are wealthier compared to the outlying, poorer districts. At one point in time all the districts were fed up with the Capitol’s unfair treatment so they revolted. The Capitol, with all their wealth, put down the revolt quickly. As a punishment for this revolt they decided to give the districts a horrible punishment so that they would never revolt again. The punishment was called the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games makes one boy and one girl from each district, between the ages of twelve and eighteen; enter into an arena where they fight to the death. The participants of the Hunger Games must kill each other until there is only one participant left. Whoever wins the games is crowned victor and their districts wins fame and more food for a year. In the Capitol the Hunger Games is a source of entertainment, and it is televised for the nation to see.
            After reading the Chronicles of Narnia I thought that one of the books in the series reminded me of The Hunger Games. This book was Prince Caspian. In The Chronicles of Narnia, many of the books explore the idea of good vs. evil, but I picked Prince Caspian because I thought that it was terrible for Caspian and his uncle to fight with each other. These books reminded me of each other because in both stories there is a battle over good vs. evil. In The Hunger Games the Capitol is evil and in Prince Caspian Miraz and his army are evil. The 12 districts, Prince Caspian, and the Pevensies children represent the good side in the books. In both books there is a battle with good vs. evil. The final battle takes place in the last book of The Hunger Games (sorry for the spoiler). The good side prevails over evil in both of the books. Our culture loves for stories to have happy endings, which is why so many of the books that are written explore the notion of good vs. evil.


Molly Ransone Post #12 Outside Reading


(#12) Outside Reading: Harry Potter  
There are so many people that are against the Harry Potter series because magic is frowned upon in the Christian world. My aunt is really against Harry Potter because she thinks that it is anti-Christian. I am obsessed with Harry Potter and I get so angry every time I am around my aunt because I have tried to explain to her several times that Harry Potter is a Christ figure. Lewis and Tolkien heavily influenced J. K. Rowling. In the Chronicles of Narnia novels, The Lord of the Rings, and in the Harry Potter series there is a Christ figure that sacrifices himself for the good of others. In the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan is a Christ figure because he is resurrected after he sacrificed himself for Edmund. In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf is seen also seen as a Christ figure because he comes back from the dead after fighting off the balrog in the mines so that the others could escape. At the end of the seventh novel in the Harry Potter series, Harry sacrifices himself to Lord Voldemort so that the battle would stop. All three novels have a character that is resurrected after sacrificing himself so that his friends and family were protected. As both a Christian and a fan on Harry Potter I wish everyone could see how Harry represents Christ. 

Molly Ransone Post #11: Outside Reading


(#11) Outside Reading: Mere Christianity
Before taking this class I had only ever read The Magicians Nephew. I read this book in high school and had to write a paper about all the hidden Christian symbolism that it possesses. After writing a paper about this book in tenth grade I just assumed that all of C.S Lewis’s books were about Christianity. After taking this class I found Lewis to be a very interesting person and I wanted to read more of his books. I ordered his book called Mere Christianity. I was shocked to discover that Lewis once was an atheist. This was so shocking for me because I knew that The Chronicles of Narnia had hidden Christian symbolism in it. Lewis converted to Christianity because of all the terrible things he saw that happened during WWI and WWII. The book explores morality and ethics of Christianity. I really enjoyed learning about how Lewis views Christianity, because it gave me a greater appreciation for the hidden Christian symbolism in The Chronicles of Narnia

Molly Ransone Post #10


(Post #10) Student’s Choosing: Wicked
I am obsessed with the musical Wicked. I have seen it twice on Broadway and once on a national tour. After seeing the musical so many times I decided that I had to read the book that inspired the musical. George Maguire wrote Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire did this book as a spinoff of the Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum. I was expecting this book to be exactly like the musical but I was shocked because it is very different. The book is very dark compared to the uplifting catchy songs of the musical. I really like the musical better because I found the book too depressing for my taste. The musical Wicked reminds me a little of Lewis’s book Till We Have Faces. In the musical Elphaba has a sister named Nessarose. Elphaba is very protective of Nessarose, because Nessarose is handicapped. Elphaba is a very gifted witch and is sent to go meet the famous Wizard of Oz. Elphaba discovers that the Wizard is a terrible man and he was responsible for silencing the talking Animals of Oz. Elphaba goes into hiding to help the Animals. At the end of the musical the Wizard of Oz is trying to arrest Elphaba for defying him. He does this by getting his assistant to drop a house on Elphaba’s sister.  Elphaba’s love for her sister drives her to become wicked. The Wizard uses Elphaba’s sisterly love against her. In Till We Have Faces, the main character Orual uses her love for her sister Psyche as a coercion tactic. My favorite lines from Till We Have Faces are, “I was wrong to weep and beg and try to force you by your love. Love is not a thing to be so used” (Lewis, 204). Both the Wizard of Oz and Orual use love as a way to get what they want, but this is wrong. Love is not a bargaining tool!

Molly Ransone Post 9


(Post # 9) Student’s Choosing: Originality 

After reading all the books that were required for class one thing really stood out to me about Lewis’s writing. This thing that stood out to me was how different and original all of the books were. If I did not know that Lewis was the author of The Space Trilogy, Till We Have Faces, and The Chronicles of Narnia, I never would have guessed that all these completely different books were by the same author. I feel like a lot of the time authors tend to write about similar things but not Lewis. I even found a quote that Lewis said about originality. Lewis stated,  “Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it”. The fact that Lewis can write about completely different things, really speaks to how amazing of an author he was. It is a shame that his brother burned all his papers after he died because I bet that there were hundreds of stories that were all completely different from each other. 

Molly Ransone Post #8


(Post #8) Student’s Choosing: Lewis’s Narnia vs. Disney’s Narnia
In class we talked about how Lewis did not want Disney to make The Chronicles of Narnia into movies. Well Lewis was right in wanting this. I enjoyed the first movie because I thought overall it was similar to the book. My biggest pet peeve is when books are completely changed when they are converted into movies (cough cough Twilight). I thought that Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader were terrible once they were converted into films. I honestly do not understand how The Voyage of the Dawn Treader can even be named after the book because it is so different. In the movie they leave out half the islands they go to and there is this crazy green gas following them around. One thing I also did not understand was why they skipped so many of the books and only chose to make three of them. I do not understand why they did not film the movies consecutively like they did for Harry Potter and for Lord of the Rings. Maybe they did not have the money to do all of them but I wish they would have respected Lewis’s wishes and not made them into movies if they could not afford to make all of them. Books give you imagination and I felt like the world of Narnia, in the movies, fell short of the world I created in my head. Lewis’s books are amazing so I do not understand why the scriptwriters deviated so far from the original source. I think Disney should have stuck with the motto, “If you can’t do it right, then don’t do it at all!” 

Jackie Lentz: Till We Have Faces-Writing Assignment


Journal #5
April 30, 2012
            I am, Pistia, Goddess of Trust and Faith. Among my brothers and sisters I am thought of little because they are all believed in by human beings; whereas I, instead, must be content to just be. However, I delve into the world of men and leave what I believe to be hope, what I had thought before I answered your cries.  You, Oural of Glome, have taught me more about mankind than I could have ever wanted to know. I watched as you wailed for your sister’s loss, I understood your pain because it did not seem fair, but then when I brought you happiness to you, you looked on it with disdain. Read back the record: “I did not know then, however, as I do now, the strongest reason for distrust. The gods never send us this invitation to delight so readily or so strongly as when they are preparing some new agony.” So, because I send you beauty, you would turn your back on it for the bitterness to come? Life is bitterness, when all you do is ignore the wonder that is sent to you. I tried, when you called to send you a sign, a glimpse of your sister’s home and instead you balled it inside your mind, hid it from the world. How dare you? How dare you take my gifts and squander them, when all I wanted to do was help you? You stand there berating my siblings, but yet you expect to take none of the blame? Your sister got everything she wanted and more and you, you have nothing because you had such little faith. I stand before you now, with anger no longer; instead I can only look upon you with pity. You are a sad creature, Oural of Glome, because you have failed to have faith.

Jackie Lentz: Outside Reading-4


Journal #4
April 30, 2012
            When I was younger the only constellation I could recognize in the sky was Orion. I read a myth about Orion, in which he was a young hunter who became a favored friend of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, and favored friend totally meant “man candy” but I didn’t know that when I was younger; but Apollo, her twin brother did not approve. So one day Apollo tricks Artemis into killing Orion, and Artemis becomes so sad that Zeus puts him up into the stars so that he may live forever. I thought this story was so tragic and yet lovely. I recently looked up the myth to write about and discovered that there are several versions to the myth of Orion. One in particular is rather heinous considering, Orion is a vile rapist who attempts to steal women away from their families through violence; which is the reason he is next to the constellation of the Scorpion, as he is meant to be forever running from the scorpion for all eternity. It is odd how in myths things can be distorted, and yet when a phrase can be mutilated within a matter of minutes in today’s society it doesn’t seem that weird after all. C.S. Lewis writes about the way myths are distorted in Till We Have Faces and I think he does a wonderful job of explaining how sad it would be for Orion to find out that his story was treated, or how he is viewed to some. I think anger on Oural’s part is not out of character and he does a good job of letting the reader feel the horribleness of that moment when she discovers that her story has been changed so tragically.

Jackie Lentz: Outside Reading-3


Journal #3
April 30, 2012

            I liked this quote because I feel like it is something Aslan would say, and that just culminates what I think of C.S. Lewis. He has a way of explaining life’s lessons without making you feel stupid, or believing you’ve lived your whole life the wrong way. He writes them not as someone teaching someone else, but rather as someone realizing these lessons and just saying them out loud. This particular lesson about humility, “humility is not thinking less of yourself,” speaks of experience, like he’s trying to explain to himself that in the past I’ve thought of myself as less than everyone else and I thought was what being humble meant. Then he goes on to say, “but thinking of yourself less,” not as some grand revelation but rather as a life lesson that he’s almost stumbled upon. Even as you discover that you have spent all this time hiding the greatness within you, you’ve been thinking about yourself. Instead change that by living in the moment, stop thinking about you and your actions and attitude will speak for themselves. Your humility will come from people speaking your praise and you just living your life. That’s beautiful in a way that I could never even think of being. I love talking about myself, and perhaps there is still a place for Lewis’ definition of humility in my life, but so far I haven’t found it. #braggingtilIdie