The Most Deserving

                   Is it always the most deserving that gets what they want? In the memoir The Glass Castle, that statement is true. This is because the writer, a woman who now lives in her house in New York State, was once a homeless girl living with a drunk father and an uninspired mother. It's stories like these that make you feel good about your life. The writer, Jeannette Walls, grew up in a family that loved to move around and avoid the law. Her father was not only a drunk but also a hustler; and when he didn't hustle enough money for alcohol, he'd take it from his kids. This made for a bad relationship between the kids and the father and in the period of two years, all four kids had left for New York leaving their parents behind. But the surprising things is that all the kids become successful. They do not become homeless like their parents. Jeannette becomes a writer. Lori becomes an artist. Brian becomes a detective. Maureen moves to California and lives a decent life. These kids, the children of a union between two people that loved poverty somehow became successful people. I think this is a rare example of how the people that truly deserved to have a good life, had a good life. This does not often happen in life. Sometimes it is the truly undeserving that has the lucky break. But what set the Walls siblings apart from other deserving people is their hard work. 

                     Hard work is underrated. Many people think that they can become successful by getting lucky or having rich parents. But the most consistent way to become successful is hard work. That is why, Jeannette Walls, a girl who had never gone to college and never finished high school managed to become a journalist for a newspaper in New York City. And when one thing led to another, she managed to settle down on Park Avenue. There may have been some luck involved. But if Jeannette hadn't worked hard, she wouldn't have been able to to both get to New York, and land a good job. It's hard to be successful in life when you grow up with parents who do not care for riches or luxury. Many people are influenced by their parents and it's hard to live a life very different than your parents. That's why Jeannette had to work to leave the lives of her parents. If she wanted to become somebody in life she had to leave the principles of her parents behind. 

                        I take growing up in New York City as a given. That's just who I am. But like I mentioned in a previous blog post, reading books about childhoods filled with dreaming of living in a city like New York make me wonder about what I take for granted in this world. If I become successful, am I ruining the dreams of a girl who grew up in poverty? I don't think people should be held down by what their parents are. That's why after reading The Glass Castle, I felt privileged. I grew up in New York City with parents that I can look up to. I was born given a headstart in the race of life because my family is not in poverty. I don't think this is fair. Nobody should be given a headstart. It should be a fair race.

Someone up There

Who controls what actions of humans?

       Is there a person up in the sky that controls all of our lives? That is a question that has been asked a huge amount of times. Kurt Vonnegut, being the dark humor writer that he is has created a world in which the Earth and the Human Race was only created so that a part of the species that created the Earth who is stranded on a planet can receive the part he needs for his spaceship. Everything that occurs in life is merely so that one being can relive their life. This is obviously ridiculous and untrue. But what I am curious about is the meaning of this bold statement that Vonnegut states in his book The Sirens of Titan. What if the human race was created just for a very small part of a much bigger thing. The human race acts like we rule the entire universe, but how can we be sure we aren't just Pawns. I think that's what Kurt Vonnegut wants people to think about. He wants people to feel unsure about human superiority in life. He wants us to wonder about why we are really living in this world. 
    
           In the book the main character is very lucky. There is something about him that makes him successful no matter what terrible thing he does. Whenever anybody asks about his extraordinary luck, he will just shrug his shoulders and say, "I guess somebody up there likes me." This struck me as an interesting comment. It is very vague, Vonnegut does not specify that their is a God that likes Malachi (the main character). I think that that is a good way to look at life. Somebody, something is controlling what happens to me. 

         I like to think about life as if it is a improvisation play. You have a theme, but you can do what you like within that theme. But The Sirens of Titan made me wonder if people have no control over their lives. Maybe somebody is making me write this right now. Maybe it's not a improvisation play, maybe it's a scripted play. Maybe when you go off book you die. I know this all seems very random to you, but these were just thoughts I had after reading this book. 

Who Is The Fox?

                 A children's book can be just as archaic as any other book you read. Behind the simple words and pictures of a children book is a message that some adults can't decipher. In class we read three children books. They were all very different and they put out different messages. The book Fox is about a dog and a magpie who have a great relationship. The dog is blind in one eye and the magpie cannot fly. So the dog is the magpie's wings and the magpie is the dog's eye. But a fox comes along and offers Magpie a better flying experience. Most people who are offered something better than what they have will be tempted to take the person up on their offer. Magpie gives in to her temptation and agrees to leave with the Fox. The Fox leaves Magpie and his last words to her are "now you will truly know what it is like to be alone." Who is the Fox? Who would do that to another being? he must be evil. But the Fox is not evil, he's lonely. 

                 This story has animals represent a type of person or a type of emotion. The dog is the loyal and loving, the magpie is curiosity. She loved dog, she was his eye and he was her wings. But curiosity killed the cat. And curiosity made Magpie yearn for better things. So who is the Fox? Is he evil? Is he hate?  I didn't think so, I thought of the fox as the lonely member of humanity who wants others to know how to feels to go through what he's gone through. The Fox has no experience in dealing with fellow beings and he cannot feel sympathy for the Magpie. I think that a message that the author is trying to get around to in this story is that nobody is all bad. The Fox may have done something that hurt the Magpie, but he has been lonely all his life and he wants others to feel the way he did. The Fox is not evil. 

                  The message that an author in a childrens book is always hard to find. But for me, I found messages hidden within the story that I doubt the author meant to have. The reason some books are good is you can find hidden meanings inside a book. In Fox, I got caught up in trying to find hidden messages. but now I realize that there's no just one hidden message in a book.