Week Seven: The Novel of Spiritual Education

When you are really young, I feel there’s a drive to explore and a passion to learn new things. One of the greatest outlets for this desire is the world of fiction. But how does one guide children through learning complicated ideas such as religion, morality and death? Today, there is a wonderful selection of stories that are enjoyable for all ages because they take such ideals and breaks them down into a fun and exciting way that’s easy to understand.

            One of these series is the Narnia series, which I personally grew up reading. My older brother always loved fiction adventure stories, and I would often steal his collections off his shelves. One of his favorite book collections was Narnia. I started to read the first book, The Magician’s Nephew (in the book set, not written chronologically) when I was in second grade. I remember being fascinated by the idea of multiple planes of reality and the ability to use the ring to travel between them. I also was amazed how the main characters learned about the consequences they could cause by bringing the “witch” Jadis with them.

            Revisiting this novel so many years later has really opened my eyes to the Christian imagery that lies within the pages. Being raised in a Catholic household, I am used to such imagery as the fruit of knowledge and the garden of Eden. The book uses such a different and imaginative way to explain these concepts in a different way: i.e. the fruit of knowledge grant’s their heart’s desire but not in a way they would enjoy. The story covers resisting temptation of eating the apple and stresses the importance of kindness and honesty. These traits are excellent for any child to learn.

            Another thing that has amazed me not that I’ve returned to it is the way that C. S. Lewis describes Aslan creating the new world. I mean, what an achievement to try and describe something so vague and imaginative. Even the Bible, which I am assuming C.S. Lewis is basing it off of, is fairly vague on the mere magnitude of creation. It’s just a really interesting thing to read and I recommend it to anyone interested in a Child’s fantasy. Although, I do agree that this story is a prequel and should not be read first, even though that is the way C.S Lewis wanted it so be placed. Some of the things in this story just don’t make sense or seem a bit out of place because they tie into later books I.e. the tree and the wardrobe or even who the witch is. It explores this relatable side to the witch which is not really conflicting unless you know what she is to become in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Week Six: A Rich Fantasy Life

For this week, I wanted to talk about another kind of classical Fantasy, romantic fantasy. In particular, I wanted to talk about some of my favorite guilty pleasure stories, the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Specifically, I took a look again at the first book, Outlander (I got this entire series for Christmas this year, so I have been very eager to read it again).

I was first introduced to this book in the back of my mother's car three years ago when she had to read it for her book club. I felt the plot looked interesting, so I decided to read it. It became a real way for me to bond with my mother through literature and fantasy. It is about a woman from the WWII era travels back in time through a circle of magic stones into the 17th century.

First of all, there's a lot to love about this book. Not only is it a fairly accurate historical fiction, it's also a magic fantasy with witch hunting, sword fights, and even the loch ness monster (though that part is completely random). The author went through great lengths to understand what life was like in 18th century Ireland, and it shines in the work. It even covers things like camber pots and clothes making.

Another amazing part of this novel is the protagonist. She is incredibly independent and intelligent. She is a retired WWII nurse with a passion for herbalism, so she spends most of the book running around saving everyone. It's really fun to read such a powerful character, and as a woman, I completely relate to her.

Now I do not recommend this story for everyone. After all, it is a love story, and many people find that genre to be off-putting. The men in this story are also completely just female wish fulfillment. Jamie, the hero, is just so perfect and respectful of the protagonist's feelings and wishes. I see it so much more clearly three years later how unrealistic the mens actions are. In a way, I feel like its almost a bit of payback to the years of badly unrealistically written women I've had to put up with over the years.

Another strange thing about this romance is that instead of multiple suitors for the protagonist, like most romance novel plot devices, so many people in this book instead go after Jamie. There are at least five people, three of them men, that go after Jamie as a romantic partner. Jamie also must be the most beat up character I have ever read, because he's an inch from his life too many times to count. It helps that the protagonist is always there with her doctor skills to save him.

Overall, this book is a great different kind of fantasy and wish fulfillment. Although not realistic, it is surprising historically accurate and I greatly enjoyed it.

Week Five: Witches

        

    It bothers me that in modern connotations between people of magic in gender are so different. Wizards are associated with wisdom and knowledge. Witches, the female version, are ugly women who are evil. This comes from centuries of oppression and society, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. The novel that I looked at this week, Equal Rites, looks a bit into the differences between men and women in a quirky satire.

            Terry Pratchett’s Diskworld series thrives on using satire and a fictional world of magic to comment on issues of his day that are still relevant today. The world itself is quirky and nonsensical like the stories itself with a continent that’s a flat disk held up by four elephants riding on a giant turtle through the cosmos. The idea is just so crazy it becomes fun and inventive. It sets the mood for the story that comes.

            The story itself is about a girl who is mistakenly bequeathed the power of a wizard, which was typically reserved for men. It follows the troubles of a girl who does not understand her gifts and faces challenges in a world that does not want to accept her. This is a struggle that women have been struggling for a long time such as women in fields of sciences and math. It makes this story really relatable for me, and it is surrounded by this whimsical sense of humor that reminds the reader not to take anything too seriously.

            This book, despite being the third in the series, is an excellent read for a gender satire. It has a wonderful message of acceptance and fitting in the world. It recognizes that women and men are different from each other, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work to understand each other. It also emphasizes that having great power and not using it is sometimes more powerful than any magic. Having the power to destroy a country doesn’t mean you should, which is still incredibly relevant in today’s world.

Week Four: The New Weird

      

      After roughly 200 years after the rise of the Gothic genre, new stories have become strained. “Classic” horror has been done hundreds of times and it takes a lot more elements are needed to keep audience attention. There needs to be another layer of cleverness to capture an audience or make them feel scared. This has lead to some truly unique piece of literature because to stand out from the body of existing work, there must be a hook.

            This week, I looked at some of Three Moments of an Explosion’s short stories. Personally, I did not find them to be particularly terrifying, but rather just fascinating to read. Most the the stories have interesting concepts and open endings that let he reader infer whatever they please from the stories. Sometimes that can be even more terrifying than clearly explained stories.

            In “The Condition of New Death”, the story embodies the fear of the unknown and change. It involves a concept that people find unpleasant that is hard to understand, such as death, and adds a new supernatural element to it. This acts as a sort of exploration into how people react to change and ends on a dark hint of how humans must overcome it. This leaves the reader on a threatened note that may cause the reader to remember the story long after they read it, and carry it with them through their day which is the goal of most horror literature.

            In another story, The 9^th Technique, where the main character messes with magic that goes wrong. This story’s theme explores the idea of magic that should not be touched or magic that is misused. It is written is a confusing manor that is hard to understand, but it ends with the magic chrysalis growing endlessly and never hatching. I kind of think of this as embodying the fear of how ignoring one’s problems can lead them to consume you.