Burning Questions

    I have finished The Firm and moved on to Gone With The Wind.  I don't want to spoil the book for those of  you ambitious enough to have it on your reading lists, so I won't go into detail concerning the plot.  I do need, however, need to inform you about the two main characters. Scarlett O'Hara is a ruthless Southern belle who will stop at nothing to protect Tara, her family's plantation.  Rhett Butler is a dashing but immoral blockade runner who used the war to get rich.

Q:  Why did Rhett at last decide to join the army?   

A:  When he saw the man pick up the boy, something moved him.  Maybe he realized how much he was needed, or finally respected the men who fought.  Perhaps a factor was guilt--he did, after all, abandon his own people.  Even the most selfish and conscience-dulled people have regrets.  Maybe he simply did it, like most of the things he does, just because he could.  One thing is certain:  he didn't do it for the sake of his reputation. 

Q:  How has Scarlett changed?  What about her character has stayed the same?

A:  Scarlett began the story as an ignorant, pampered child.  She didn't have to face the realities of life; she could waste her time chasing pleasure.  She was fearless, unaware of danger or troubles.  She loved her pristine reputation and fiercely protected her mother's view of her.  By the middle of the book, she has become a hardened, strong woman that is capable of accomplishing just about anything she puts her mind to.  She fears only hunger, poverty, and the loss of Tara.  Her reputation means nothing to her.  Despite these drastic changes, she is still stubborn, selfish, and a master of manipulation.  It's still painful to read certain pages when she is obviously doing something that will cause a lot of pain and embarrassment for both herself and others.

Q:  Is it a bad thing that everything has gone with the wind?

A:  This book presents the antebellum South as a paradise with few problems.  It also vividly portrays two very good reasons why the Confederacy's defeat was a blessing.  Throughout the book, Africans are described as unintelligent and inferior.  Attitudes like this are still present today, but we have come a long way.  The fall of the South was necessary for this progress.  Scarlett is a symbol of the South, loved by many readers, but before the war she also embodies the oppression of women.  She is a "lady," pretending she is incapable of using her brain and expecting a future that is totally dependent upon her husband's generosity.  We may regret the violence and inhumane treatment that the South suffered and mourn the destruction of cities and farms, but it is untruthful and short-sighted to label all the changes brought by the storm as negative.       

Total hours read:  27.75  Books read:  2.5  Hours read this week:  I'm genuinely sorry--I have no idea when the week technically started.                                                                            

Catch-22 Cover Craziness

     I can remember only three books that I have given up on after reading more than the first chapter.  This is one of them.  I thought I was could read past the X-rated stuff, but I eventually figured out that it would continue the length of the book.  It was especially hard to give up on this book because it is very well-written, and I like the style.  The tone of the book is sickening.  It shows what war is truly like through the calloused eyes of Yossarian, the main character.   

     The cover has an airplane on it because this book is about American pilots stationed off the coast of Italy during World War II.  The red figure is a man parachuting without a parachute.  This symbolizes how the troops are stranded in Italy, suspended and dangling with no one looking out for their welfare.  In the book, the officers with desk jobs care only about themselves and their careers; they view the fighting men as pawns in a game of military promotions.  Every time a pilot completes enough missions to be sent home, the colonel raises the number needed so that no one can escape from Italy.  The men are trapped in the air force and losing their sanity.  They are broken men, unable to function or think clearly.  The war has changed all of them.  The man is red because the book portrays the pain, emotional and physical, experienced by all soldiers.
     The cover is very plain.  It shows things as they are, looking past the details and masks.  That's also how the book is written.  It exposes the characters' motives and states cold, hard facts with no sugar-coating.  Yossarian, the main character, sees things in one dimension, not affected by others' perspectives.
     With that said, I quit about halfway through this book and read Cosbyology, which doesn't need describing.  It's Cosby.  He's funnier when you can see his faces and hear his voice, but I still enjoyed the book.  I am now planning to move on to John Grisham's The Firm.
         Total time read so far:  8 hours
         Total books:  1.5

Goals for the Reading Project

     My goal is to read over 25 hours and more than 7 books.  I am planning to read a wide variety of books, from a Sherlock short story to a futuristic novel to a few SI magazines,  the only textbooks I'll ever have to fight my brothers to read.  I also want to read one or two books that will challenge me, possibly including Catch-22 and Gone With the Wind.