Winter Break Reading

Over the 2 week break, I started to read Moby Dick.  My goal was to read about halfway through it, but I came nowhere close to reaching this goal.

The Shining and The Waste Lands - Isolation

      The Shining is a story of isolation.  Not only physical isolation, but complete, desolate mental and communicational isolation.  The characters are physically in extremely close proximity with one another, but in terms of mental status and understanding; they couldn't be further apart.  The family of three spoke without communicating, and didn't share their concerns or issues.  This mental isolation, more so than the physical isolation caused the intense scenes in The Overlook Hotel.  Much of The Waste Lands tells a story of two isolated individuals, who are psychologically connected.  Their differences in mental state from those around them caused these individuals to stay in complete isolation, despite being in close proximity with others physically.  Their lack of communication with others delays their reunion.  Although it was not the main theme of the book, this isolation creates tension and suspense for the first half of The Waste Lands.

The Crucible and Wizard and Glass - Honor

    One of the major driving forces behind the themes of both The Crucible and Wizard and Glass are the protagonists' feelings of honor and dignity.  His honor is what drives John Proctor, from The Crucible, to tell the truth and face being hanged for it.  The same follows for many other citizens of Salem who kept their integrity, but not their life.  Roland and Susan, in Wizard and Glass, balance between honor and fate.  Ultimately, honor drives them to do jobs they are required to do, costing themselves much in the way of other issues.  Both books place a high price on dignity, while exploring the sacrifices one must make in order to preserve it.  Characters in The Crucible face a simple choice: lose honor, or die.  In Wizard and Glass, the stakes are less dire, and the situation more complicated.  Both protagonists break their integrity to follow the whims of fate, while protagonists of The Crucible hold steadfast to their morals.