Reality Check

When I first signed up for this class, I was absolutely dreading it...all I thought to myself was, I just need to get through my last Gen Ed. However, I am now glad I “had” to take this class. I never thought I would admit that I actually enjoyed most of the material, especially since I don’t enjoy reading whatsoever. I liked Professor Mortimore’s spin of literature. I thought it was going to be a boring semester reading classical literature, but she quickly proved me wrong. I have learned so much over the course of the semester. I don’t even know where to begin… we have covered so many themes throughout this semester that directly relate to our society today. We have covered mass advertising, consumerism, technology, voyeurism, dystopias, censorship, etc. 

Some ideas that have helped activate, motivate, and inspire in some way was the whole idea of consumerism and what our society has come to. We started off the semester with Culture Jam, which was a big eye opener. I learned how influenced we as it pertains to consumerism and how we are “controlled.” Our society has gotten to the point where young children cannot identify a cross, but can easily identify the yellow arches for McDonalds. What are we doing wrong in our society and how can we stop it? We no longer know what to do in nature without our technology.. it’s sad, it really is. Culture Jam was a harsh reality and it really disturbed me. 

The second novel we read was Feed, which was my second favorite novel we read this semester. I liked how it took place in the future and gave a sneak preview of what the future could look like if we continued on the path we are on. The concept of a “feed” blew me away—it was basically a network where you could communicate with your friends, watch programming, and see advertisements. To me, it incorporates all of our technology driven needs. Then I liked how in the end it showed how someone’s feed could malfunction and completely shut down their whole body. I thought this symbolized how bad things are bound to happen if people are that dependent on something. In both of these novels, the consumerism and dependence on technology was the theme. 

The third novel we read was 1984. I had never read 1984 before, unlike other members in our class. I found it to be pretty interesting how the Party and Big Brother controlled every aspect of their civilization. It was easy to relate it to other countries in the world. It’s scary to think that in this society they could not write or talk about their feelings. They lived in constant fear because the Party watched and scrutinized every single moment in their lives. I could not even begin to imagine what it would be like if someone watched every single second of my life. The fourth novel we read was Hunger Games and was by far the best book we read in this class. I got sucked right into it! In this novel too, there was a clear controlling factor. The Capitol controlled every District and reminded them that through the Hunger Games. They also controlled the rules of the game, when the tributes would receive things from their sponsors, and when to create action. The last and final novel we read was Fahrenheit 451. This was my least favorite novel. I found a lot of similarities between this novel and 1984. In both novels there was a clear theme of censorship. The whole idea of censorship and tight control of a society really bothered and angered me. I would HATE to have to live in fear and not be able to express my opinions and views. We have the ability to read what we want, write what we want, and to express whatever views we want. Utilize the privilege!

Since I never read books on my own, I never really found myself responding to literature. The books chosen for class, along with all the other readings, really sparked my interest. I like how each of the novels was chosen for a reason and how all the themes tie into each other. If I were to read a novel on my own, I would probably choose a murder novel or something because I like to play “detective” and guess who did it. In those kind of novels, I never really find myself responding to anything.. I have now learned to really read in depth, beyond the words and to think about the contents. The issues we have encountered and discussed in class have solidified some of my own beliefs and have helped me build new beliefs. I knew our society was in trouble as far as consumerism goes, but after reading Baurerlein’s article along with documentaries, it really sent me over the edge. We have a problem in our society. I can’t stop thinking about the concept of plentitude… we ALWAYS do want more. 

I could go on and on about what I learned in this class and how the material shaped how I feel about certain things. In a way, this class provided me with some sort of reality check. We need to really think about what we value and if these things are even worth valuing. We care about the little things in life and constantly are not satisfied with our lives. We need to look around and realize what we have—most freedoms and rights, a society for the most part without censorship (compared to other places in the world), people around us, and our possessions. We have so much, but think it’s so little. After this semester, I have come to terms with what I should be thankful for and ways in my life I need to change. 

“A home without books is a body without soul.” --Marcus Tullius Cicero

The world without books would be mass chaos. Even though, I, myself, don’t really read for pleasure, everyone reads to learn. If we didn’t have books, how would we know what people tell us is true? If there is no written record, couldn’t someone simply just make something up and tell others it’s the truth? How would anyone be able to challenge this “truth”? We rely heavily on books as far as education is concerned. We begin to recognize letters and numbers at a young age, and begin to read in first grade. If books didn’t exist, it would be it difficult to learn these simply things. We wouldn’t have books, but would we be able to write and recognize words? While reading, people often build their vocabulary by seeing a word they are not familiar with and looking it up. If books didn’t exist, I believe we would be “dumbing down” our society. For one, as mentioned, it would make teaching nearly impossible, it would be hard to reference things, and our vocabulary wouldn’t be as broad as it is with books.

Personally, I wouldn’t miss books, but as a mentioned in one of my peers’ blog, in the future, I feel like it will be a hobby I will pick up. However, I have enjoyed reading Feed and Hunger Games, but if they weren’t required in our reading, I can’t say I would pick up either of the books and read it in my spare time. On the other hand, if we didn’t have text books for college, I would be completely lost. I like to read before lecture so I know exactly what the professor is talking about and I like to be able to reference the material. At this point in my life, I can’t really see myself “breaking” the law to try and get my hands on a book if all books were banned. 

In today’s society we do “burn books” everyday. We burn them by reading SparkNotes and by watching the movie counterpart to the book. I’m sure everyone has used SparkNotes at some point throughout their education career. I used to SparkNote everything in middle school and even in high school. For me, it was much easier to spend the time reading the summaries, the plot, and the character analyses, rather than spending the time to actually read the novel. I discovered that even though I spent the time reading the material on Spark Notes, it would have been more beneficial to actually have read the novel. So once I started college, I began to read everything and said good-bye to SparkNotes. Another way we burn books is by watching movies that are based off the book. A lot of people would rather watch a movie instead of reading the actual book. The problem with this is that sometimes things are eliminated in the film that happened in the novel and sometimes the movies are much different than the books. For example, I actually read My Sister’s Keeper and then the film came out a few months after I read the book (this is one of the rare exceptions that I read a book for fun!). Since I had already read the book, I knew exactly what was going to happen….until the end. In the film they “killed off” the other sister! They completely changed the whole ending and who died. I was outraged! 

As you can see, books (even if we don’t want to admit it) do play an important role in our society. They record important things regarding laws, and government documents, educational material, entertainment (reading in spare time), etc. It would be hard to determine what was actually true in society because everything would be verbally passed down. And we all know from playing the telephone game, that when the secret gets to the end, the statement that was made in the beginning is often changed drastically. We need to stop “burning books” in our society, and take advantage of the opportunity that some other places do not get the privilege to have.