Map of the plot of The House in the Cerulean Sea:
Here is a map of important plot points in the book, The House in the Cerulean Sea. I have mapped them by their positive and negative charges in regard to the plot and themes of the book.
Linus’s supervisor approaches Linus, gives him demerits, and sends him to EUM perhaps to be fired (-)
EUM gives Linus a classified assignment (+)
Linus discovers he must leave his home for said assignment for 1 month (-)
Linus reads the classified papers given to him by Extremely Upper Management and passes out in fear of the magical children he will be assessing (-)
Linus meets the children and is fearful of their immediate responses to his presence (-)
Linus meets Theodore, and gives him a button (+)
Linus scares Sal by speaking too loudly, causing Sal to turn into a pomeranian (-)
Linus meets Arthur Parnassas, the head of the orphanage (+)
Linus is spectacle of Arthur’s ability to run the orphanage full of dangerous magical youths (-)
Linus writes the first Case Report but has not changed enough as a person to see that the children are special (-)
Linus sits in on a class discussion and begins to see the children for who they are (+)
Arthur offers Linus to see a one on one session with Lucy and he is terrified that it will end in his demise (-)
Linus bonds with Lucy over their mutual love of music during the one on one session (+)
Linus goes on an adventure with the children, Arthur, and Zoe, and bonds with them (+)
Linus writes the second case report (+)
Linus bonds with Sal and finally has the chance to inspect his room (+)
Lucy gives Linus a gift (a record player and some music) (+)
Linus and Arthur have a misunderstanding (-)
Linus and Arthur get on the same page, and start to see that there are feelings between them (+)
Linus writes the third case report and starts to come around to the children instead of doing his job by the book as he had done previously (+)
Linus wakes up to his bed floating in the air (-)
Linus rushes to the main house to find that Lucy is having a nightmare (-)
Linus watches as Arthur calms Lucy down and comforts him (+)
Arthur and Linus have a moment (+)
Arthur agrees to take the children on an outing to the mainland (+)
Lucy pushes a man against a wall who was trying to exercise him for being the antichrist (-)
A shop owner refuses to serve the children just because they are magical creatures (-)
The mayor of the town comes in and serves them instead, apologizing for the rude man (+)
Linus gets a key to the basement of the house (+)
Linus decides to explore the basement and is caught by Arthur Parnassas (-)
Linus becomes aware that Arthur is a magical being himself, the rarest of them all, and he was abused as a child right in that very basement (-)
The village people begin to protest at the dock because they don’t want the children near them (-)
Arthur, Linus and the Mayor stop them (+)
The children throw a party for Linus since he will be leaving soon (+)
Linus leaves the island to return to his job and turn in his final report (-)
Linus turns in his final report and tells off Extremely Upper Management, simultaneously sticking up for the children and the orphanage (+)
Linus gets the update back and finds out that the orphanage will stay open because of his efforts (+)
Linus makes his way back to the island because now it is his home too (+)
Arthur and Linus have their first kiss and live happily ever after at the orphanage with the children and Zoe (+)
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Part 1
Summary:
The House in the Cerulean Sea, written by TJ Klune, is a book I thoroughly enjoyed. I was expecting a light read, with themes of conquering fear and submitting to love being the obvious answer, and was met with these themes being explored, but I was also given so much more. I absolutely adored the characters and how different they were from anything I had read before. This book is considered part of the fantasy fiction genre but also has been listed as humorous fiction, which is what I felt most comfortable with, as a reader. I haven’t read much fantasy, but I often read books that are considered to be a part of the humorous fiction genre. This definitely prepared me as the reader of this book. I think I easily submitted to the text, becoming the ideal narrative audience for this book, because of its genre, themes of love and loss (which I find myself drawn to in literature, and in life, unfortunately), and its powerful hidden meanings that draw on what our society is like today.
After a conversation with Dr. Kopp, it has come to my attention that what I was reading for still was unclear to me. After digging through my brain, finding out what I like to read, and thinking about what that genre has in store for its reader, it has become more clear what kind of reader I am, and what I search for when I read. I tend to live a pretty routine life. As someone who deals with anxiety and depression, it’s important to have some sort of structure in my life, which keeps me in check but also gets boring as hell. I found that my escape is rooted in what I read. Though I live my life on a set schedule, I don’t want to see characters and plot lines that do this. I want things that will shock me, confuse me, make me gasp out loud. One of the reasons that I think I was able to submit to this text has to do with a similarity between myself and Linus, the protagonist, at the beginning of the book. However, this similarity was short lived. About a third of the way through the book, though, a gap between us emerged and it grew bigger and bigger as the plot progressed. Linus was thrown out of his normal routine and into utter chaos. This definitely brought the factor that I was looking for, and gave me a real reason to enjoy the text in front of me.
While reading through the text for the second time, I searched for clues that would lead me to a possible premise for the book. McKee describes the premise of a book as “an open-ended question” (112), and the narrative is itself a possible answer to that question. Let’s look first at the narrative, and then perhaps we might see the question it is attempting to answer. The House in the Cerulean Sea follows the life of a man, Linus Baker, who chooses to live by the rules set in place by the narrative world and the society inhabiting that world. He is employed by The Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY) and doesn’t question their tyrannical hold over magical beings. He simply does his job and goes home to his quaint and uninteresting life; “He turned right down a smaller street, and there, sitting on the left, was 86 Hermes Way. Home” (Klune 27). This led me to what I believe to be the premise for this book: What would happen if life were dictated by a bureaucratic system that utterly lacked compassion and humanity?
Such a life wouldn’t be worth living, would it? And yet, this is what Linus, and the audience following him, discovers. As a by-the-book kind of guy, Linus follows the rules and regulations, the guidelines set in place by his employers. His entire life is turned around when he is chosen for a classified assignment. He meets with Extremely Upper Management who plan to uproot his life as he has come to know it, for one month, while he stays on Marsyas Island to decide upon the fate of an orphanage. He begins the long journey there the next day, with few belongings and his cat, Calliope. What he finds when he gets there, though, changes his life. He meets six children, an island sprite, and the master of the orphanage. The first child he meets, Talia, is a garden gnome, the second, Theodore, a wyvern, the third, Sal, a pomeranian/boy, the fourth, Chauncey, a creature that no one can really pin down (though I imagine him as the book describes: a green blob with two eyes on sticks coming out of his head), the fifth, Phee, a sprite, and lastly, Lucy, the literal antichrist. He begins to lose sight of the rules and how things are supposed to be as he gets to know the children and the two others on the island, Arthur Parnassus, the head of the orphanage, and Zoe, a sprite who has lived on the island well before the orphanage was established. Linus decides he will fight for the orphanage to stay open, regardless of what Extremely Upper Management wanted him to do.
Along the way, Linus finds out that the village is paid off by DICOMY to deal with the magical creatures living nearby. He is appalled that people would be so concerned with children, whether they are magical or not. Though a few altercations break out between Arthur and Linus and eventually, the village and Linus, it all comes to a happy conclusion. The orphanage is allowed to stay open due to Linus’ bravery in confronting Extremely Upper Management, and the village becomes more tolerable of the magical youth, and some of its inhabitants even begin to love the children on the nearby island. Linus, who left to make sure all of the reports went through and to fight for the children on the island’s rights to stay there, returns to the island to live out the rest of his life with his new family.
Inside of this heart-warming plot, lay two important ideas proposed by McKee; the controlling and counter ideas that structure the story and thus give it meaning in the form of the aesthetic emotions the audience experiences. McKee describes the controlling idea as “one coherent sentence that expresses a story’s irreducible meaning” (115). Based on the plot I have described above, this is what I believe to be the controlling idea of this book: An individual who follows the rules of a corrupt bureaucratic system can change himself and the system in which he resides and this will cause those oppressed by the bureaucratic system to experience less discrimination. Because Linus decides to break from the rules he so rigidly followed before, he can stand for something he believes in and live a life he is deserving of. It also allows for those he has grown to care for so much
As for the counter idea, I believe it is something like this: Subordinating oneself to an unjust and corrupt bureaucracy will lead to the oppression of others and oneself and dominating ways of thinking leads to a person’s unhappiness and alienation. This is evident to me because of the way Linus Baker was characterized in the beginning of the book. He did not have any friends at work, he did not have a spouse, and he did not get along with his neighbor. He wanted to live a simple and boring life, because he felt that he was doing the right thing by following the rules, even though they sometimes felt wrong to him. It is only when he began to question the rules and why they were the way they were, that he became unsatisfied with his job and his lonely way of life. Ultimately, we see that the controlling idea wins over in this book, as Linus breaks free from the grasp the government has over him and pushes for change in the system that governs magical beings.
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Part 2
Close Readings of Genre and Form:
The genre this book falls under, as stated before, is Fantasy fiction. I think it’s also important to note that this book falls under the category of LGBT fantasy fiction and LGBT humorous fiction. I think it’s safe to say that most people that this novel was written for, had a hard time stepping out of the story and focusing specifically on the narrative and the specific devices used. When reading this book, I found myself going back to re-read specific passages, trying to look at them through a different lens. I think it was really easy to overlook codes and genre specifics for this book because it was so lighthearted and engaging. Once I trained myself out of this, (which took me about 200 pages of the book to do so), I found it easier to locate the semic code and pieces of text that led me to believe the genre of this book is LGBT fantasy/humorous fiction.
According to Jane Gallop iIn “The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters,” Jane Gallop explains that “Those things which conform to our expectations are things which resemble what we have read before, things where we have learned what to expect. English teachers call this similarity ‘genre’” (10-11). I would like to attribute a specific line to my close friend, Scott, who has exponentially more experience in regard to the fantasy genre, pointing out that; “From my knowledge of fantasy fiction, “this means that the book will have magical or other supernatural elements as well as magical creatures that are presented throughout the setting and plot. Luckily for me, The House in the Cerulean Sea follows this genre trait expertly,” (Scott MacLean). As stated before, the book follows the main character, Linus, who is sent to investigate an orphanage that is home to six ‘dangerous’ magical youths. Within the fantasy genre, it’s very common that good out-performs evil, which rings true in this book. Linus, who starts off as a very static character, unwilling to think of things in a more complex way, is touched by the magical youth, causing him to undergo a complete lifestyle change. I think it’s important to note here that Linus transforms significantly from the start of the book.
When once he was terrified to even visit Extremely Upper Management, he is seen at the end of the novel bursting through the doors in order to fight for what he now knows is right. Even though the reader can still see a hint of fear in Linus when he approaches his superiors, he throws fear and anxiety aside to voice his opinion even though it completely contradicts the rules and regulations he so rigidly followed just a month before.
Now that it’s apparent that the genre has been established for this book, it’s time to delve into the semic code snaked into this book. I say snaked, for a very specific reason; the semic code camouflages itself easily into the plot of this book. Only after multiple re-reads of passages, was I able to find instances where the semic code was present. According to Kaja Silverman in “Re-Writing the Classic Text,” chapter six of The Subject of Semiotics, the semic code “represents the major device for thematizing persons, objects, or places. It operates by grouping a number of signifiers around either a proper name or another signifier which functions temporarily as if it were a proper name” (251).
One of the most obvious examples of the semic code comes early in the book, when the narrator describes Linus’ supervisor, Ms. Jenkins. Several times throughout the second chapter, we see Ms. Jenkins through Linus’ perspective; “She was a stern woman, hair pulled back so severely that it brought her unibrow up to the middle of her forehead. He wondered every now and then if she had ever smiled in her life. He thought not. Ms. Jenkins was a dour woman with the disposition of an ornery snake,” (Klune 17). A few pages later, Linus again characterizes Ms. Jenkins; “she appeared to have applied her makeup rather liberally in the dark without the benefit of a mirror. The heavy rouge on her cheeks was magenta, and her lipstick looked like blood,” (Klune 19). If this wasn’t enough to understand just how evil Ms. Jenkins is, Linus gives yet another example:; “Her fingernails were painted black, and she tapped them against the wood. It sounded like the rattling of bones” (Klune 22). By now, the reader has a clear image of who Ms. Jenkins is; the cruel and malicious supervisor who works for the equally cruel and malicious organization, DICOMY.
As noted throughout discussions, Linus seems to have a shadow talining him throughout the majority of the book. And I mean ‘shadow,’ literally and figuratively. Klune expertly hides the semic code with something we can all equate to a lack of knowledge or understanding. When things are seen in literature with darkness surrounding them as opposed to lit up by the sun or artificial light or some kind, we can infer that there is something more at play literary-device-wise. In this particular book, shadows and darkness are connected to character’s who don’t seem to have specific knowledge that other character’s do. This is true for the characters who are seen with proper light surrounding them, as well. Only these characters have the information that the ones depicted outside of the light do not.
One of the first examples of this theme at play is right at the beginning of the novel. We are introduced to Linus, first and foremost, then the location at which he resides. The reader can quickly pick up on the fact that it is always raining and gloomy in the city where Linus lives, as he is always mentioning that he has forgotten his umbrella. Klune juxtaposes this sad life Linus is living with the bright and loving atmosphere of Marsyas Island. After spending a month on the island, being exposed to the light (information about who these magical youth really are, and not just the files he was given by DICOMY), he finds that city life is absolutely unbearable. Though Linus didn’t particularly like his life in the city at the beginning of the book, he tolerated it because he could see no other way to live. By the end of the book, the reader can tell that Linus cannot seem to forget his time on the island, making it completely unbearable to live in the city any longer.
To further develop the semic code, light versus dark, I wanted to take some time now to discuss specific interactions that occurred between Linus, who lacked knowledge, and other characters he comes into contact with, that hold the knowledge he seeks. When Linus visits the fourth floor, where Extremely Upper Management is located, to receive instructions for his assignment, he is shown walking through, then standing in darkness. Directly opposite to this is the members of Extremely Upper Management; “then, as if a switch had been flipped, more lights began to glow above him, shining up into the faces of four people” (Klune 39). The reader finds out later, that these four characters hid information from Linus, letting him go to the island with only the information provided in the case files (which was sparse) for each child.
When Linus begins to struggle with the secretive nature of his employers, we see a key scene, expressing the light versus dark, or knowledge versus lack of knowledge, in full throttle with Arthur Parnassus, the master of the orphanage. One particular moment between Arthur and Linus sticks out in my mind; “Arthur turned his face toward the canopy of the forest. A shaft of sunlight had pierced the leaves and limbs, and illuminated his face. He looked ethereal. ‘Human experts,’ he repeated. ‘Not a single magical person had any say in the creation of that tome. Every word came from the hand and mind of a human,’” (Klune 177).
Klune made specific decisions to include elements like light versus darkness and specific character traits for good characters and evil characters, in an effort to develop the book’s semic code and inclusion to the specific genre. I found that this book had many treasures hidden within it; all it took was a little extra digging and an entirely new light was shed upon the depth of this story.
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Part 3
Close Readings using the Intertextual Codes:
The House in the Cerulean Sea uncovers some serious issues that plague our society today. While on the surface, the book seems like a sweet story about a man who finds love in unexpected places, the underlying themes of this book take this book to a whole new level. I had to shift my understanding of the book to a new lens to understand how this book used cultural codes to form it’s plot.
Kaja Silverman writes that cultural codes “speak the familiar truths” of the existing cultural order, repeating what has “always been already read, seen, done, experienced (Silverman, 242).” It’s obvious to the reader that there are certain prejudices against magically inclined people. They are seen as a minority group in Klune’s novel. The majority of people living in this world are those people who are deemed ‘normal,’ lacking anything that would make them magically extraordinary.
While at first, Linus feeds into this fear of people unlike him, we see a monumental change in him when he experiences the closeness with Arthur Parnassus and the other magical inhabitants of the island. The reader witnesses the change in Linus for the better as he fights against the cultural code to fear those who aren’t like you. It is most evident that Linus is having a change of heart as he writes his weekly reports to DICOMY. In the first few that he writes, he is apprehensive about the children and the structure that they have been given by Arthur. He fears the freedom that the children have been given. Arthur calls this free time, their “personal pursuits,” and though Linus is immediately shocked that magical children would be given alone time to do as they please, he quickly learns that the children are just like other ‘normal’ children. They need time to experience things for themselves and this becomes evident as Linus writes his last two reports to DICOMY.
One line in particular from the fourth case report; “It is my recommendation that the Marsyas Orphanage remain open, and that the children therein continue under the tutelage of Arthur Panrasus,” (Klune 355). While this seems very much like a sophisticated line from a case report, Linus has loaded the words to mean more than they appear on the page. He is immediately questioned by his employer about this, considering that it is the only line from his final report. They are obviously upset with him, but Linus breaks the cultural code set in place, discrimination against those who are different from the norm, and fights head on against the unfairness. Linus realizes that he was picked for this case for a reason. Extremely Upper Management profiled him as someone who they could push around to ultimately get what they wanted; the orphanage shut down and the children dispersed from the island.
To their surprise, Linus breaks from the prejudices against magical people and fights for what he now knows is the right thing. From the beginning to the end of Klune’s book, prejudices and preconceived ideas of people are prevalent in DICOMY and the main character, Linus. Although prejudice is not comp[letley eradicated from the world Klune created, there are significant changes made to the system set in place. The book ends on a note that feels hopeful. The world is giving its best fighting chance to right the wrongs DICOMY has set in place as the ‘norms’ for living with magical people. It is through this ending that one can see its ties to our world and our own cultural codes.
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Part 4
Close Readings of the narrator, addressee and reader relationships:
It occurred to me that I am the exact kind of person that the author wrote this book for. It became clear to me as I read for intertextual codes, my second read of the book, that this book is deeper than it seems on the surface. As I mentioned previously, this book deals with topics that can be seen in our own society. While this book discusses systematic changes in terms of making the world more equal for magical people, I read this theme and placed my own words into its meaning. To me, and other readers like me, I think this book was easily seen as a representation of the way our society is today. We see racism, sexism, and homophobia at the forefront of our societal problems. It has come to the attention of the general public that these are serious problems. People who are different from the ‘norm,’ in other words, cis-het-white males, are discriminated against.
Because I read the book with this in mind, I came to the conclusion that people who would be interested in this book want to see a change made to our society. They want to see systematic changes within our own world where people can be treated fairly. Obviously being a magical being is not something that these people can just change. It seems that this is something that directly correlates with our own society. People who are transgender, gay, bisexual, black, asian, indian, and so on, cannot and might I add, should not, need to change who they are in order to fit the rigid qualifications of importance that our world has put on the term normalcy.
According to Peter J. Rabinowitz in “Truth in Fiction: A Reexamination of Audiences,” there are four audiences at play in any given narrative: the actual audience, the authorial audience, the narrative audience, and the ideal narrative audience. This is important to think about when considering who the narrator is talking to, and who we must become as readers to understand what the narrator is relaying to us. When thinking about this, my first assumption was that Linus was addressing someone who already had knowledge about the world and magical beings. Obviously, our world does not have an institution set in place to handle magical beings. Though as I thought more deeply about this, I found that we do in fact have an institution that deals with people outside the norm. As a society, and America, to be specific, our government gives out green cards to people who are deemed worthy of citizenship. In the book, all magical beings are required to be registered through DICOMY, as a means of tracking them. This is similar to people who must register with the U.S, government. Those who come here ‘illegally’ are like those magical creatures in the book who do not register themselves. Though this is obviously wrong, it seems as though there are some commonalities between our society and the one Klune has created.
With this in mind, I thought more on who Linus was addressing in the text. It came to me that it’s possible that Linus is addressing someone who knows about these rules, including the text given by DICOMY, the rules and regulations. This led me to believe that Linus is addressing someone within this world, who has knowledge of the society and the prejudices weaved into it. It seems to me that the narratee is addressing a case worker or someone in the higher end of management of DICOMY.
As Scott points out, this becomes even clearer when one thinks about the astonishment Linus experiences when he learns more about the children. I would assume that another caseworker in this world would also be astonished and maybe even fearful of the abilities that the magical children on this island have. It’s also important to note that the narratee becomes more confident as Linus becomes more confident. Though at first, he tries his best to keep his feelings out of the case and work under the prejudices set in place against the magical youth, it becomes clear to him that the system he is living under is completely broken. Not only does he come to this realization, but he does everything in his power to fight against the rules set in place, and bring change to the world around him. To conform to this role I was given, I had to think in terms of a case worker working under a broken system, and change as Linus did; simultaneously learning and uncovering the preconceived ideas of magical people and rebel against those ideas in order to live in a society with less (and hopefully eventually no) prejudices.
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Part 5
Reflection:
At the beginning of this course, we were asked to write down every book we have ever read. While I felt that I had a wide variety of genres and a good grip on what kind of books I like to read, and those I simply tolerate, I found that I had a lot of room to grow. Even though I had many genres included in my initial assignment for this class, it became obvious to me that I’ve been doing nothing other than reading these books. I found that through the different texts in this course, I learned more about reading, and who I was as a reader.
When before, I would read things at face value, I find that reading is more of a task, and not in a negative way. Instead of reading what is on the page and nothing more, I find that I take time to think about the words placed in front of me. Why are they there? Is there an underlying meaning to them? Is there a cultural code set in place in this book that comes to life in the world around me? Am I submitting to the text or rejecting it? How can I better submit to the text? What kind of reader did the author write this book for? Can I become that kind of reader?
These questions would never have crossed my mind just a few months ago. I think up until about a monmouth ago, I was setting a block up in my mind against the readings in this class. I wasn’t ready and wasn’t willing to change the way I read. I was actively free reading with these blocks up. It wasn’t until I let my guard down that I realized the questions were coming into my mind as I read books on my own time. I think I was trying to leave this kind of reading as something done in the classroom, keeping it away from my time reading books for leisure. I thought it was too much to be thinking about these things when I’m meant to be unwinding and relaxing.
It seems more clear to me now that these questions aren;t just meant for the classroom and required texts. They deserve more recognition than I was initially willing to give them. Honestly, it feels beneficial as a writer, to be asking myself these kinds of questions as I read. Though I was quite skeptical of this class and the methods, I find I have let that skepticism go so that I could become a better reader and writer.
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Part 6
Comments to Blogs Throughout the Semester:
Book 1 “The Alchemist”:
(Blog 1) I would like to propose a counter idea, which bears a slightly different meaning to the reader. As you said in your blog, “The Counter-Idea of The Alchemist must be that avoiding your Personal Legend and settling on a different path is the safest way to live.” I’d like to further elaborate on your take of the controlling idea. Santiago pursues his personal legend in order to fully understand the universal language and ultimately, obtain the treasure he is told of. Through pieces of the text, especially his encounter with the crystal merchant, the counter idea becomes apparent to the reader. Instead of pursuing his own personal legend (the pilgrimage to mecca), the crystal merchant chooses to stay where he is most comfortable, with his personal legend just out of reach. The boy notes this, and at one point, thinks he will do the same. This led me to believe that the counter idea of The Alchemist would be, Choosing not to pursue one’s Personal Legend will cause them to lead a life that they will find unsatisfactory. I think it’s also important to note the conversation Santiago had with the alchemist, which can be found on pages 123-124. If the boy chose not to pursue his Personal Legend, it would be buried forever and in the alchemist’s words, “You’ll spend the rest of your days knowing that you didn’t pursue your Personal Legend, and that now it’s too late,” (Coelho 124). The author says a version of what could be considered the counter idea through these few lines, which I took, to say it bluntly, at face value.
(Blog 2) I wanted to talk a little about the hero’s journey that was developed in this book. It follows the main characteristics of the hero’s journey, almost to a T; the ordinary world, the call to adventure, the refusal of the call, meeting the mentor, crossing the first threshold, tests allies and enemies, approach to the inmost cave, the ordeal, reward, the road back, resurrection, and finally, the return with the elixir. As I went back through the book and tracked what events matched each piece of the hero’s journey, I found that they did fit almost every aspect of it. Most specifically, the story followed the characteristics of the hero’s journey perfectly for the first few steps. Santiago, the main character is seen in his ordinary world, taking care of his sheep. The call to adventure comes to Santiago in the form of a dream. Santiago refuses this call when Santiago hits a bump in the road; someone steals all of his money when he is distracted. The story follows these steps as the story progresses, making it a commonly known book across the globe, and a perfect example of a book that follows the hero’s journey.
(Blog 3) I wanted to dive in further to a topic you talked about in the beginning of your post. The Alchemist talks heavily of omens and this sparked a curiosity in the origins of the word. I decided to do some research, thinking maybe I could uncover something relating to the codes present in this post. According to wikipedia, an omen is described as, “a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. People in ancient times believed that omens bring a divine message from their gods,” (wikipedia). This is pretty spot on to what the narrator experiences through his ‘personal’ omens. I also found out that the origin of the word omen is unknown. The word omen, is most likely contributed to the latin word, audire, which means “to hear.” I thought that this was very interesting when you take into ctext the omens that Santiago receives in the book. It is explained through the novel that omens make up parts of the universal language of the world. In a way, the book reiterates that omens really are something you hear. Whether you are seeing them, feeling them, or actually hearing them, through the universal language, you will hear them all.
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Book 2 “The Majesties”:
(Blog 1) I wanted to touch on the concept that you bring up in the third paragraph of this blog post. Although it seems clear to me that this story was told in the form of flashbacks, I wanted to note that the story itself feels as though it’s happening as it is being told. I think this pulls on what you had said previously about being drawn into the plot so intensely that you forget what is bound to happen by the end of the story. I also wanted to expand on the narratives of the two sisters, Gwendolyn and Estella. In regard to security versus freedom, it is easy for the reader to distinguish which sister represents which of these values. While Estella finds herself restrained to the idea of family, always keeping quiet when it comes to judgement of the family, it is clear that this is not how Gwendolyn sees things. In direct opposition of her sister’s ideals, Gwendolyn sought out freedom from her familial ties. Although she still stays tied to the family in some ways, only because of her sister, Estella, she has completely separated her work life from the family’s tycoon tendencies.
(Blog 2) Paige, I wanted to elaborate further on the fact that this novel poses itself first as a mystery novel, but then reveals itself to be a psychological thriller. I think that if someone read half of this book, and never chose to finish it, they would bring it up in conversation as a mystery novel. The other person, who we can assume finished the book and maybe went back to piece in the parts that deceptively disguise themselves as clues in the never ending mystery behind Estella’s life, would look at them and say, “How could this be a mystery with what we know by the end of the book?” I think it’s very interesting that to understand that this book is part of the psychological thriller genre, one would have to read the entire book. Furthermore, it’s equally interesting that the book can be read up until a certain point as a mystery novel.
(Blog 4) Scott, I wanted to make note of a specific line from your blog; “In “A rhetoric of reading,” James Seitz claims that reading is similar to a social interaction: a conversation taking place between the author and the reader.” After reading this, I thought back to what kind of reader I was being for this particular book. I found that I could not always submit to what the author was saying, because I had a hard time understanding the situation that the character’s were in. For example, the narrator discusses part of her company, which was confusing to me to begin with, but I have never owned a really successful business that’s been premiered on runways, etc., so I had a hard time getting into the text in these parts. Also, I felt there was a ‘gap of understanding’ for me in regard to what it is like to have a very very wealthy family. This is something that I have never had experience with, and this made it difficult for me to understand what was going on some of the time.
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Book 3 “The Wrong Mr. Darcy”:
(Blog 1– blog has not been posted to site by author yet) I think that some evidence that really backs up your proposed premise: Would you abandon the opportunity of a lifetime in favor of helping someone else?, is the fact that Hara had to make an extremely hard choice that could have potentially halted her career as a sports journalist. There was a point in the book, specifically, where Hara had to choose Derek or her career. Although we see that this is resolved by the end of the story, and she can have the best of both worlds (as Hannah Montana says), this was the main idea behind the action involved in this book. I think that this premise is one that most people would reach in regard to this book. Though, for the sake of argument purposes, I think you could even mend it a bit to coincide with the dramatic ending of this book: What would happen if a ‘normal’ small town girl, fell in love with a well-known basketball player, and potentially halt her career for his sake?” Though this is similar to the premise you proposed, I feel like it just goes further into depth identifying the types of characters we see at play in this book.
(Blog 3) I want to expand upon a point that you touched on within your blog; the concept of rich versus poor within this story. The class divide between the character in this novel is quite clear to see. Lozada specifically includes information about characters that helps the readers to determine for themselves which socially developed category to fit each character into. For example, the basketball players are seen as rich. This is because of the houses they and their parents live in, the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, and of course their occupation. To take it a step further in terms of wealth, the team owner and others who work closely with the team are characterized as even richer than those who play on the team. They are seen at lavish parties with beautiful gowns and suits and their houses are large and fancy. The divide between rich and poor is seen with characters like Hara, who comes from a small town and works tirelessly at a news station to afford to pay her bills. This concept of rich and poor is something that is ingrained into our heads through the constant reminder of celebrities and CEO’s. Whether we idolize them or despise them for what they have, it is clear that some of us don’t have what they have, and we want it.
(Blog 4- blog has not been posted to site by author yet) When I was thinking about the Rabinowitz reading in accordance with The Wrong Mr. Darcy, I tried to mold myself into the person being addressed by the third person narrator. I found that the book also bounced between Hara and Derek’s perspective. This made it even more difficult for me to conform to their wants for me as the audience. I found that when Derek was addressing the addressee, I had to pretend like I knew something about basketball and what it’s like to be in the spotlight. With Hara, I found it easier to conform. As an ex-journalism major, I found that I was easily stepping into the role of the addressee that Hara wanted me to be, understanding the ins and outs of how difficult it is to make it in the field, finally getting that big break, etc.
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Book 4 “The House in the Cerulean Sea”:
(Blog 2) I wanted to take time to further develop one of the genre tags this book is defined as: LGBT Humorous Fiction. When I bought this book, I didn’t think much about the humorous factors that would be included. I was more interested in the fact that the book was fantasy and included LGBT representation. I was looking for a light hearted story but found so much more through this book. I had never read any book before this one that was considered part of the humorous genre (I know right, isn’t that weird?!). To my surprise, the humor included was a lot of self deprecation on the main character, Linus’ part. This is the type of humor I find myself most drawn to, making the book even more enjoyable for me as a reader. One phrase, repeated throughout the book by Linus, forced a chuckle out of me almost every time it was said, “Oh dear,” (Klune 26). Linus often uses this phrase to bring to light the anxiety he is feeling about a situation. There is something about the bluntness of this phrase that makes me laugh along with Linus as he struggles through the hardest days of his horrible job.
(Blog 3- blog has not been posted to site by author yet) I think it’s really interesting how this book can be used as a lens into many different situations throughout history. I personally drew on the current social injustice movement, BLM. I immediately pinned the angry and hateful townspeople as those in our society who are racist. I saw that the magical people in Klune’s book could be seamlessly transitioned into our world as black citizens. I think this topic that Klune tackled, where people who are seen as ‘the norm’ have a certain prejudice against those who don’t fit their preferred ideals, is a topic that can be translated easily into our society. Throughout history we have seen the hatefulness of people towards a minority group, i.e. the holocaust, the trail of tears, and the civil rights movement.
(Blog 4) I think the part that sealed the deal for me, as a submissive reader, was when Linus wrote the third case report (pg. 235). This is when we really see how Linus has changed as a character into someone who has given up the rigid lifestyle of following rules and feels more compassionate to us as readers. “I find it fascinating, the bond he’s created with the children. They care for him greatly, and I believe they see him as a father figure,” (pg. 236). It was quite interesting to see Linus develop from a ‘by the book case worker,’ to a loving and seemingly father figure to the magical children he was meant to be investigating on his case.
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Part 7
Sources for comments and blogs:
Butler, Robert Olen., and Janet Burroway. “Cinema of the Mind.” From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction. New York: Grove, 2005. 63-84.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces.. Second ed. Princeton: University Press, 1972.
Klune, TJ. The House in the Cerulean Sea. Tom Doherty Associates, New York, 2020.
Gallop, Jane. “The Ethics of Reading: Close Encounters.” Journal of Curriculum Theorizing (Fall, 2000): 7-17.
Kopp, Andrew. How Writers Read, 2020, howwritersread.weebly.com/.
McKee, Robert. “Structure and Meaning.” Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York: Regan, 1997. 110-131.
Porter, James. “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community.” Rhetoric Review. 5.1 (1986): 34-47.
Rabinowitz, Peter. “Truth In Fiction: A Reexamination of Audiences.” Critical Inquiry. 4.1 (1977): 121-141.
Seitz, James E. “A Rhetoric of Reading.” Rebirth of Rhetoric: Essays in Language, Culture, and Education. By Richard Andrews. London: Routledge, 1992. 141-55. Silverman, Kaja. The Subject of Semiotics. New York: Oxford UP, 1983.
All You Read is Love 