Coltin – English 10.5 (4th block)

To belong is to want to be where you are and to be wanted where you are, it is important for humans to have a place where they belong because without it their self worth would deteriorate and loneliness would eat away at them until nothing is left.

Hysteria; “a state of extreme excitement, fear or anger in which a person, or a group of people, loses control of their emotions and starts to cry, laugh, etc.” or “a nervous disorder marked by excitability of the emotions or unmanageable fear or outburst of emotion.” (Oxford and Webster definitions). Either way, hysteria plays a major role in what happened at Limetown, the people being hysterical led to destruction of property then riots, then the whole experiment going out with a bang. Mass hysteria, a state at which a group of people’s extreme emotion is echoing off of each other and growing as it does so, led to a riot that ended in the lead researcher Oscar Totem being burned alive, which caused the Limetown experiment to be shut down.

The book I’m reading is The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey, there are a few good quotes and moments in the book, but a quote that really sticks out is “They took a child and turned her into an IED.” This quote stands out because it demonstrates the harshness of the world this book takes place in, whilst also showing off excellent writing with foreshadowing to this moment earlier in the book, and in the book before it in the series.

Something that confused me in the book was a moment where a few of the characters needed to bread out of a military base, so they spoke in a code of tapping (not like morse code, but something made up by them) except they never actually communicated to each other what that code was or that they were talking in the first place and that drives me mad!

DO NOT LOOK AT THE TOE NAILS OR FINGERS

The theme “revenge is a double edged sword” fits the book Flight like a glove. Revenge is a core element of the book, in most – if not all – of Zits transformations have revenge and its downsides as a major part of the lesson being taught to Zits and the reader, “Does this little white soldier deserve to die because one of his fellow soldiers slashed my throat? If I kill him, do I deserve to be killed by this white soldier’s family and friends? Is revenge a circle inside of a circle inside of a circle?” (Alexie 77). Around the middle of the book, Zits starts to realize that war and revenge is an endless cycle; death on one side followed by death on the other side, rinse and repeat, a double edged sword. Another major theme of flight can be attributed and explained using this quote. “There are no winners in war,” it has a similar meaning to the first theme, but a different target. Instead of focusing on revenge specifically, it targets the general back and forths of war instead of just revenge. Back and forths such as; the American slashing the Indian boy’s throat and the Indians slaughtering and dismembering the Americans- followed by the Americans doing the same, or the attack on the American village, followed by the attack on the Indian village, followed by more war, then followed by even more war. If nothing more, Flight is a book that teaches us that war and revenge are endless cycles not to get lost in.

(I have had this done for a week and just forgot to turn it into a blog)

Too far is when we reach a point where technology has stripped us of our humanity, its too far once we’ve hit a point where our social lives crumble and our work lives become nonexistent, when we don’t have to leave the house for anything. Yes, we are too reliant on technology – or at least we will be, self driving vehicles (especially big rigs) machine automation for everything, ai writing essays and speeches, and making art, all of these things would have been considered a normal part of being human just 5 or 10 years ago.

Most of the time in Flight, fathers are depicted as cruel or abusive, or negligent, we see this with the mute Indian kids father, Zits’ father, and Zits’ grandfather, along with multiple of the foster fathers. During the birth of Zits, his father is recalling being screamed at by Zits’ grandfather, he recalls this because its exactly what he doesn’t want to happen to Zits, not wanting this is what (likely) leads him to abandoning Zits, because he thinks it will protect him.

Censorship seems to have exploded around the same time that all of the lgbtq unnatural sexualities started gaining momentum in the public’s eye. This is likely because most people didn’t want these ideas influencing children.

Note the change in reasoning for most books being restricted around the same time censorship blew up

I don’t know how many books that I have read that have been challenged, but I would assume that most, if not all books have been challenged by someone, whether it be for stereotypes, sexually explicit content, or frankly, whatever anyone can have a problem with.

The top reasons books may be challenged is most likely violence or sexual content as people tend to be fairly sensitive when it comes to these topics.

Flight could be challenged for a few reasons, racism towards Indians, racism towards white people, slurs, references to 9/11, extreme violence, and so much more.

Racism is a big one, so is gun violence along with loneliness and depression, all of which are covered in varying levels of detail in Flight.

Chapter 9: “And then I remember: a white soldier cut my throat.” page 75

Chapter 10: “There was the body of a little girl, blond, blue-eyed, pretty even in death.”

Chapter 11: “I don’t kill anybody, But I ride with killers, so that makes me a killer.” page 90

What do all of these have in common? War, not only war but the notion that war is a Double-Edged Sword.

[Zits TIQA Paragraphs Link is here]

Similarities

rEBELLING/LASHING OUT – “Yeah, like that’s a real threat. Yeah, like I haven’t been hungry before. Yeah, like I care. ‘Good morning,’ the foster father says. ‘Fuck you,’ I say – ‘I didn’t punch that foster mom. I pushed her. Look in the dictionary. There’s a big difference between punch and push (Alexie, pg 15-18).” “Testing authority. It’s part of growing up; it’s also linked to developmental changes in the brain that will eventually help them become analytical adults.” Zits is still developing, his rebellious nature are a part of his maturing.

Loneliness and low self-esteem – “I’m dying of about ninety-nine kinds of shame (pages 2 and 4).” “Being criticized by a parent can be emotionally challenging, especially if it is done in a harsh or demeaning manner. Critical comments can erode a child’s self-esteem and sense of worth and can cause feelings of sadness, anger, or frustration.” One of Zits’s foster parents – Edgar – was like this, and he wasn’t the only one, through Zits’s 20 foster homes.

Emotion/anger – “‘You call me Hank one more time.’ I say, ‘and I’m going to kick your ass’,” “Add to the ongoing stresses that can give adolescents a short fuse: The ongoing fight against racial injustice, fears about climate change, and uncertainty about what the future holds.” Zits’s whole ark throughout the book is about fighting against racial injustices on top of other issues similar to these,

Differences

rEBELLING/LASHING OUT – Zits is very different from the stereotypical teen though, unlike most people Zits has lost things like his mother and father and his attitude is his way of grieving even if he barely knew either of them.

Loneliness and low self-esteem – the article doesn’t cover a few of the other reasons; the way he looks, having lost his parents, never staying in one place for too long, and so many more.

Emotion/anger – however, the document does not cover the further circumstances Zits has to deal with, such as; the loss of parents, abuse from foster parents, improper raising, and having nothing to his name.