Post three: Theme

Theme:

This weeks stories were definitely both very interesting, and each had a theme that stuck out right away. The topic for this week is theme and after reading each story, “Take Your Choice” caught my attention the most. Although it took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on, once I realized what door he had chosen, it blew my mind. As we discussed in class the meaning/definition of “theme” is known to be a repeated purpose in the main story, or a subject or topic throughout. In “Take Your Choice” there seem to be multiple themes to choose from, but what fits best, would have to be the importance of decision making. I still don’t understand why he wouldn’t choose option one or two, when both lead to peace and happiness.  I do know that some people are risk takers and like to know what else is out there. If the main character didn’t choose option three, the short story wouldn’t have come together.  The man didn’t seem happy with his life to begin with, and was searching for something to make it exciting or interesting. Making a not so smart decision lead him to this scam where he would be able to see what the future had to hold. Every choice/decision we make has a consequence, unfortunately his lead to destruction. Yes, it gave him insight to the future and what was to come, but he had to holocaust and an empty city, is that really what he wanted?

            The reason I believe decision-making fits best for this stories theme is because we don’t just make one decision. Throughout the story, he had to make ample amounts of decisions to get where he was to begin with. Choosing option three may not have been the best, but he still got to see a glimpse of what the future had to hold. Every choice we make is a lesson learned, and has a bit of risk every step of the way.

            Its hard to read stories like this because you want the character to choose the right choice so bad, but obviously to make the point of the story they cant. I chose to do this one over “Second Variety” because it was easy to predict, I felt like I knew what was going to happen after reading a few pages.  They both portray great themes and morals and I like being able to pinpoint specifics while reading.

P.S ( Im not sure if I fixed the time template problem but this was posted at 2:55, haha sorry! just thought id let ya know (: )

Post Two: Conflict

Conflict: 

Conflict is a major factor in a story, and can tell a lot about a character. Before class I was definitely one to think that conflict was more about the plot, but it makes more sense no how it deals with more of the characterization. Each character in the stories we read had a conflict but the one the reached me the most was Elena. When you want something bad enough, some people will take extraordinary measures to get there. For Elena it was a child of her own. The conflict begins when Elena loses her newborn child, and finds out shortly after that she is unable to have any more children. I would consider the fact that she is unable to have any more children a “block “ to her desire. She is this woman who is madly in love with children and would live her life around them. This is when she decides to make dolls to resemble real life babies. At this point in time Elena is losing touch with what is real and what is not. She feels as if she has not felt pain, and that’s all she wants to find. She starts drifting from her husband, the real world, and herself. The making of these dolls has created Elena to pretty much become delusional and has lost touch with what’s human and what’s mechanical. Another block to her desire would be when she becomes suicidal, because at this point there is no going back, she has hit rock bottom. The resolution to the conflict is she thinks everything is an algorithm, and that her life is over. In my opinion if she would have just mourned over her child and tried to move on and live a happy life with her husband, her life would have been just fine.  She took the worst route and ended up destroying her life. Her character definitely produced a good conflict for the story.

            It will be interesting to read more stories and be able to know that the conflict doesn’t just have to do with the plot of the story, that it’s the character and its desires that make the conflict. I like how now when I read I actually think more about it and don’t just blow the important facts of a story off.  I like being able to point out key facts, and to describe the conflict in other ways than before.

Post one: What science fiction means to me?

Sci- Fi and You:

When I think about science fiction, the first thing that comes to mind would have to be how unrealistic it is. You have to use your imagination in so many ways, because it seems unreal to us. Its not like our modern day, with what we know is real. Science fiction portrays, futuristic technology, crossed with your imagination of outrageous ideas. If we didn't have sci-fi as an avenue for expanding our technology some of our modern day convinces may not have been invented. Sci-fi over the years has become more popular, and has moved from, movies and shows to computers and all different kinds of game devices.

I have never really watched or read anything a long the lines of science fiction, therefore all of this is new to me. I am glad I am in this class to help broaden my understanding of the sci-fi world. Looking at all of the different movies and shows that were on the screen the other day, helped me realize that there are a large amount of science fiction movies and shows out there. That shows I thought could be real, actually aren't. The thing with sci-fi is that it’s like its own little bubble, because you have sci-fi and then inside of it you have fiction or non-fiction. I think I will enjoy learning more about science fiction and actually know the meaning. 

I do enjoy reading, and taking this class is showing me that, there are other good books out there besides romance or mystery novels. After reading the short story “Liar!” I found that I enjoyed it, and wanted to read more. It held my interest and was easy to understand. It did a good job of going between the fake world and real life situations. All in all I think this class will help have a greater appreciation for the more imaginary futuristic realm.