I want to use this quote from White Fang, “White Fang knew the law well: to oppress the weak and obey the strong.” 

I think this is a very important quote to the book because it carries on throughout his life. He learns who’s weak and how to defeat the weak. He knows who he follows and who he can defeat. A perfect example of to oppress the weak is when he was a sled dog he knew the other dogs were weaker than him and if any dog showed any sign of that White Fang would take their food. The other dogs caught onto this and would eat quicker because of it. An example of to obey the strong was when Wolf Fang obtained a new human master that showed dominance over him. He knew he was to obey them. I think it’s really interesting how London made this narrative through the wolf’s eyes so spot on. He really makes it seem as a dog would see things and react. I would be interested to see how correct London was as to how a dog/wolf thinks. I really hope in the future someone creates technology to see inside a dog’s mind.

I want to use this blog for a little reflection on our world right now. It’s crazy because it’s basically The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games combined. I know it’s not as extreme but there’s a correlation between the two with disease and survival/uprising. In The Maze Runner there’s a disease that took over the world leading to many other things but the main takeaway is a disease outbreak across the globe. Then you have The Hunger Games where it started with uprisings in the country and obviously led to other things as well, but like The Maze Runner there’s a main takeaway, the uprisings. In our world today, 2020, we’re met with a collision of the two worlds. We have a disease outbreak that everyone seems to have forgotten about, and an uprising through our country leading to other countries now. In my years of fantasizing of living in those two series I don’t know if I like it. I miss how it was a few months ago, I miss civilization, I miss my memories. Now I’m left looking at pictures of people in masks and the chaos that has arisen in the streets. I will say I do agree with this movement, just not the best timing with a worldwide epidemic.

Overall I enjoyed this class and most of the books we read in it.  I signed up for this class at the end of my junior year not really knowing what to expect and I signed up for second semester senior year not really expecting to be trying.  I actually really miss this class because I felt as if this class was a nice break from the school day where you just read and talk about the books with friends.  I like the freedom that Mrs. Joseph gave us in the class to either go get food or just talk about stuff not related to that class during work time.  This definitely wasn’t an ideal way for our senior year to end so that kind of sucks but hey what can you do.  My favorite book during my time in this class has to be The Grapes of Wrath.  I liked the plot line in this book and the history we learned about the great depression by reading.  Even though most the books were pretty good my least favorite was by far the Day of the Locust, I just didn’t find it very interesting at all and hard to follow.

            The Klondike Gold Rush otherwise known as the Yukon Gold Rush was a historical event in United States history that took place during the 1890s and early 1900s.  It all started on August 16^th, 1896 when prospectors George Carmack, Jim Mason, and Dawson Charlie discovered “Yukon gold” on a river in the Klondike.  This started the migration of about one hundred thousand prospectors traveling to the Klondike region in search of gold.  Only about thirty thousand prospectors made it out of the one hundred thousand people.  The conditions to the Klondike were extremely harsh and rough and many died, or went home.

            Another interesting thing about the Klondike gold rush I found was about the dead horse trail.  It was a narrow trail and very muddy which caused it to be extremely slippery.  Many of the animals that went on this trail died because they got stuck in the mud.  About three thousand horses died during this trail.  The risk associated with traveling to the Klondike was massive but nonetheless a lot of people still went there.  Most prospectors left empty handed but few went there extremely poor and struck it rich and left very wealthy.

            The Call of The Wild trailer seems pretty similar to the novel written by Jack London.  The trailer is narrated by Harrison Ford who plays John Thornton.  In the trailer, we see Buck living spoiled and lavishly in the south and we also see him get kidnapped and brought to the north in order to be a sled dog.  This corresponds very well with the book and follows that timeline pretty closely it seems.  In this trailer, we also see Buck’s bravery and courage that is displayed throughout the book.  A lady falls through the ice in the trailer and Buck witnesses what is happening and jumps into the hole see fell through in order to try and save her.

            We also see Buck’s call to the wild near the end of trailer when he changes direction while John is mushing him just to follow this black wolf he saw.  We also see bears, birds, and elk at the end of trailer.  Buck stands up to a big brown bear which is another example of Bucks courage.  After watching the trailer, I would say so far that the trailer and the book correlate pretty closely.  After reading the book and watching the trailer I think the next step is watching the movie to really get a reading of how close they are.

This semester in Great American Novels, my expectations weren’t super high, as it was senior year second semester. I didn’t plan on learning much and I was focused on summer. However, once the coronavirus ended our in-class school year, I kinda realized how much senior year second semester mattered to me. I wasn’t ready for summer just yet and I wanted to be back in school. I’d never thought I would say those words, but truth be told, that is how I felt.

Now, while we only read a couple of books in class, I will miss the time we had in class discussing the books or watching Ms. Joseph present. This wasn’t anything but ideal on how our school year ended, so that just shows that you have to make the most of what you get even if it is senior year second semester because you don’t know when that might end.

Each novel that we read was somewhat good, and there wasn’t one terrible novel that stood out from the rest. I learned a lot about some history from these GAN books, and I also gained knowledge on how different authors write and their styles of writing. I wish this semester could’ve ended better, and I’m glad that I took the class Great American Novels.

“Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry n’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there. See? God, I’m talkin’ like Casy. Comes of thinkin’ about him so much. Seems like I can see him sometimes.”

This quote is a turning point in the novel for Tom Joad. Tom’s mindset is now changed to vengeance for Casy, as when Casy was killed, that just set Tom over the edge. Tom ending up killing those two men once Casy was killed, and even though it was on accident, it just showed that Tom has no limits. He ends up saying that he is talking like Casy, and he can see him because he is thinking about him so much which shows how much Casy meant to Tom. Now, it is like Tom is a completely new person, and killing those two men just helped prove the point that Tom is like a completely new person.

#3- The Awakening

The Awakening comes in at number three for me just because I thought it was a very well written novel, and I felt different emotions throughout the novel especially at the end. I usually don’t have feelings in a novel or book that I read, but this novel made me have some empathy for Edna and her family. Even though Edna made some mistakes in her life, I still had empathy for her when it came down to it in the end of the novel. The writing style was easy to read and follow along, so this is why The Awakening comes in at number three for me.

#2- The Wolf of Wall Street (Choice Reading Unit)

This book was very tough to read in terms of explicit content, choices made in the story, and unexpected outcomes, but the story told was just so good, that it outweighed all of these negative factors. This book teaches some very good lessons to young adults, and it shows you how you should not live your life and the consequences that will happen if you decided to live like Jordan Belfort. The story of Jordan Belfort was just very interesting to me, and it always made me want to keep on reading. I had a great time reading this book minus the explicit content, so for that, The Wolf of Wall Street comes in at number two for me.

#1- The Grapes of Wrath

I think The Grapes of Wrath is a clear number one choice, as almost everyone in our class liked this novel. We covered the Grapes of Wrath so well in class, that every tiny little detail in this novel made sense to me. I understood everything about this novel since the writing of this novel was perfect for me. The language and style was easy for me to understand, and I liked how this novel was written. The plot was also great, as it was an interesting story about a family during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. I learned a lot from this novel, so for that, The Grapes of Wrath comes in at number one for me.

#6- A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms was about two lovers and their love story, and it ended in one of the lovers dying in the end. The war was the only part of the novel that I was interested in, and the novel mainly focused on the love story, so it didn’t draw in my attention when I was reading about their love. This novel was also hard to read, as the style of writing was very complex and the language was confusing.

#5- Day of the Locust

I like the setting about this novel how it takes place in Hollywood back in the 1930’s, and each character is interesting as they each have their own backstory. However, I don’t really like the plot in this novel, so that makes me rank it at #5. The ending of this novel is also very confusing, and to me, it is not an appropriate way to end a novel. I ranked it ahead of A Farewell to Arms, since I could comprehend the reading and understand the text in the novel.

#4- No Country For Old Men

This novel is drastically better than the previous two novels I ranked, due to the fact that both the plot, setting, and characters are interesting. I am very interested in this novel, and the constant action helps me focus on the novel and not get bored. This novel also has you wondering what is going to happen next, so it makes you want to continue reading. This was very close to my #3 choice, but I feel like the three books ahead are more Great American Novel content.

The gap between generations has been a continuous source of conflict between us citizens in real life. It’s no different in No Country for Old Men in which Sheriff Bell struggles to understand the younger generation. The psyche of people such as Chigurh completely allude him and he always is a step behind. Drug related deaths have been on the rise since long before No Country for Old Men was written and has risen greatly since. Sheriff Bell seemed to place the blame of the issue of drugs and the great violence that came with it on this new generation that he cannot understand. However, how accurate is it that the new generation Bell was confused by is leading to more drugs, violence and crimes. Though drug deaths have gone up, the rate at which crime as a whole has gone down considerably. It may not seem like it due to the amount of media attention on crime (well, at least before coronavirus became the main thing we were concerned about), but the rate of violent crimes is completely dwarfed compared to what it was when this novel was written. Overall I feel like Bell simply couldn’t understand that the new generation thinks much differently from the older generation (even if they’re not pyschos like Chigurh). Even though Chigurh may not think like any normal person, the main problem is that he can’t adapt to a new form of thinking and try to put himself in Chigurh’s shoes. That is ultimately why Bell fails, he cannot understand the thought process of someone from the new generation.