Childhood

You want it to be done when its going on
But you want it back by the time it is gone
Its makes you what you are today
What you were
What you weren't
What you should've been
What you could've been
Its obliviousness, selfishness In its purity
and
Yet for some reason we want it
The Tea Parties
The Stuffed Animals
Doing nothing all day long to have fun
Waiting for a fat man
that is a hundred years old
has a red nose
can travel at the speed of light
and gives you what you wanted
Why
Because he gave you hope
Something Fairies can't give to anyone older than older than ten
Their hope is one of the best kinds
Were we stronger back then able to make worlds in our heads
Worlds that all eventually become words and words in stacks of paper in books
or
Nothing but memories that maybe weren't even memories
Maybe they were just things that people said about how we were
That weren't fully true
A picture is worth a thousand words
but
A memory is worth ten bazillion
And childhood itself is worth all the stars you counted when you tried to count them all
But if you saw the worth of childhood while it ran its course
It would have been worth nothing at all
A beautifully endless paradox
and
The only way to make sense of it is to look back
And see
It wasn't about the sense in it for there was no sense at all
Childhood

The Theme of "Lord of the Flies"

"Lord of the Flies", a piece of classic literature by William Golding about a bunch of boys that are abandoned on an uninhabited island and slowly dessert all hope of being rescued as they descend into savagery. The book expresses the theme of civilization versus wilderness very clearly throughout.

One way this is expressed throughout the book is that the children eventually form sides. One side with an elected leader,  builds shelters and makes sure to try and signal passing boats. The other side has a self-declared leader and takes prisoners of the other side that are then killed and tortured. This shows how simply these sides are portrayed.

A quote that supports the theme of wilderness versus civilization is when they are finally rescued. An officer says "-you're all British aren't you-would have been able to put up a better show than that". This proves that this conflict is present in all cultures even societies seen as being advanced.

Even though it is clear to me that the theme of this book is the conflict between society and wilderness, I am not sure exactly which side "won"in the mind of the author. The more savage children kill almost all of the other children, but they are rescued and taken back to society. In the end, it isn't clear to me which side side is superior. 

Review of "Half Brother" by Kenneth Oppel

     In order to teach a newborn child its first language, that language must be spoken around them all the time. The same principle works when teaching a baby chimpanzee sign language. In "Half Brother" by Kenneth Oppel   the Tomlin Family adopts a newborn chimpanzee named Zan to conduct a scientific study about raising a chimpanzee like a human and teaching him sign language. I think a theme of "Half Brother" is what it means to be a family.


     One example of the this theme is when Zan's Human Father decides to make Zan's learning sessions more productive by strapping him into a metal chair for hours. Normal parents wouldn't do that to a teenager, let alone a baby. The father isn't treating Zan like he's really part of his family.


     Another example of this theme is when Zan is having a fit and biting some of the volunteers (chimpanzees are dangerous and can seriously injure someone that they bite)  and his father bites him on the ear to make him behave. This must be really confusing for Zan. Half the time they are rasing him like a chimp and half the time they are raising him like human. 

 SPOILER ALERT

     My final example has to do with his relationship with his older brother and mother and how they treat him more like a human. For example, he ends up in a sanctuary when he gets too strong for the family to take care of. They specified for him not to be given to a lab but they weren't able to get the agreement on paper. They end up stealing him from a sanctuary before he can be given away to a research facility. This act of courage shows their love for Zan that their father seems devoid of.



     In conclusion,  in "Half Brother" the Tomlin Family isn't exactly your average Canadian Family with their chimpanzee son and their father who treats everything like an experiment. To me, they still seem like a family though. Also according to the google definition of a family "A group consisting of parents and children living together in a household" they do  count as a family, up until Zan leaves them. But, in some ways I think they are still a family long after Zan leaves them.

To Kill a Mockingbird

     This summer I read To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a classic American novel about a lawyer, Atticus Finch, defending a black man charged with the rape of a white girl in the deep south. The story is told from the perspective of a young girl, Scout, Atticus Finch's daughter. This is a work of historical fiction dealing with issues of race and social inequality and injustice. I like that this book has a child narrator for a book of adult issues. There aren't many books like it. It gives a young child a voice to express thoughts about important issues that effect her, something that is unusual. People who like books about social problems and like historical fiction books would like this book. Fans of books about children and fans of classics would like this book. This is a book that makes the reader think.