Aniruddha Joshi
English 1102
Dr Reynolds
March 31, 2009
Blog #8
This was indeed a very interesting novel and I have not read a book like this before. It is a novel which portrays a utopia at a time in the future. The book is organized into letters which Gabriel writes to his brother. I found it a very effective way of narrating the story in first person. There are some key aspects of the book which jumped out at me which I felt the need to address.
At first, in chapter one , the reader pictures a perfect utopia with the description of New York which Gabriel portrays in his letter to his brother. Future New York is shown as a perfect place to live with its technology, its size and it being simply the pinnacle of human society. However, as one progresses into the book, future New York is shown as a dystopia of sorts. New York gets worse through the chapters as more is revealed on the political problems of the city.
The book holds a lot of political references in my opinion which may or may not be intended by the author. First of all, Africa is portrayed to be still a third world sort of place even if it is substantially better off than it is now. It is a dystopia in the future world portrayed. African countries seem much more organized though. This could be something the author intended for the reader to think about. Jews are noted to be the wealthiest and the noblest of the people in New York. I am not saying that the Donelly is making a statement of the future but I was just posed the question why he chose to specify this on multiple occasions in the book.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Blog #7
Aniruddha Joshi
English 1102
Dr Reynolds
March 10, 2009
The novel “Whitechapel Gods” immediately confused me as I was reading the first few chapters. S.M. Peters writes in a very disconnected way I felt. Between each chapter the book jumped from one scene to another very abruptly in my opinion. I was for the most part unable to make certain links between what the characters were doing and what the true identity of the characters was. Oliver, Tommy and Missy were the first characters which I actually followed as sort of the ‘main characters’ and as I kept reading, I became interested in what kind of people they were. However, I was very confused and really couldn’t keep up with the things going on with them. This did not bother me though. In all honesty, this actually made me keep reading the book to see what was really going on. There were also many plot twists and turns in the book and I felt that the book was indeed fast paced. The identity of Aaron was in particular quite surprising to me.
Another thing which interested me about the book was the image that Peters produced of Whitechapel. The city of Whitechapel was a section of London during Victorian times and is portrayed in the book as a very vile place to live. First, there is no freedom as it is ruled by these machines which Bailey and the other men are rebelling against. The city is blocked off by the gods and there is no free movement. Secondly, Peters describes the general aura of the city to be so polluted and dull due to the dominance of the factories and machines which spat out waste and smoke in the air. This may sound farfetched but I do think that Peters may be making a claim on the future of mankind.
English 1102
Dr Reynolds
March 10, 2009
The novel “Whitechapel Gods” immediately confused me as I was reading the first few chapters. S.M. Peters writes in a very disconnected way I felt. Between each chapter the book jumped from one scene to another very abruptly in my opinion. I was for the most part unable to make certain links between what the characters were doing and what the true identity of the characters was. Oliver, Tommy and Missy were the first characters which I actually followed as sort of the ‘main characters’ and as I kept reading, I became interested in what kind of people they were. However, I was very confused and really couldn’t keep up with the things going on with them. This did not bother me though. In all honesty, this actually made me keep reading the book to see what was really going on. There were also many plot twists and turns in the book and I felt that the book was indeed fast paced. The identity of Aaron was in particular quite surprising to me.
Another thing which interested me about the book was the image that Peters produced of Whitechapel. The city of Whitechapel was a section of London during Victorian times and is portrayed in the book as a very vile place to live. First, there is no freedom as it is ruled by these machines which Bailey and the other men are rebelling against. The city is blocked off by the gods and there is no free movement. Secondly, Peters describes the general aura of the city to be so polluted and dull due to the dominance of the factories and machines which spat out waste and smoke in the air. This may sound farfetched but I do think that Peters may be making a claim on the future of mankind.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Blog #6
Aniruddha Joshi
English 1102
Dr Reynolds
March 3, 2009
I quite enjoyed the movie “The Prestige” and it was my first time watching that movie. I did find some aspects of it mysterious and mind boggling. In terms of the death of the wife of Angier, I found it quite sudden and I felt that one minute underwater is not quite enough to kill someone. Could the movie be creating an effect that life is quite fickle. The incident also sparked the rivalry of the two main characters. I felt that the rivalry erupted between the two so suddenly.
Another aspect of the movie which I felt was interesting was the way in which they portrayed the rivalry between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. At Tesla’s display of his electrical invention, people are shown to panic and leave the building. This was due to the influence of Edison who declared that Tesla’s alternating current was dangerous and it was very interesting that the movie chose to address this. There are more instances which depict this rivalry such as when Angier threatens Tesla that he would go to Edison and also when the innkeeper informs Angier that Edison’s men are outside the hotel.
Angier and to some extent Boldon go to such lengths to get back at each other and for the sake of magic. Both men become so obsessed with the stage and with tricks that they compromise anything to achieve their goals. Angier drowns himself on every performance and recreates himself. This is in my opinion a very horrendous thing to do. Could the movie be suggesting that humans are selfish and competitive by nature? I did feel that the movie portrayed the dark side of humans to show the true character of people.
English 1102
Dr Reynolds
March 3, 2009
I quite enjoyed the movie “The Prestige” and it was my first time watching that movie. I did find some aspects of it mysterious and mind boggling. In terms of the death of the wife of Angier, I found it quite sudden and I felt that one minute underwater is not quite enough to kill someone. Could the movie be creating an effect that life is quite fickle. The incident also sparked the rivalry of the two main characters. I felt that the rivalry erupted between the two so suddenly.
Another aspect of the movie which I felt was interesting was the way in which they portrayed the rivalry between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. At Tesla’s display of his electrical invention, people are shown to panic and leave the building. This was due to the influence of Edison who declared that Tesla’s alternating current was dangerous and it was very interesting that the movie chose to address this. There are more instances which depict this rivalry such as when Angier threatens Tesla that he would go to Edison and also when the innkeeper informs Angier that Edison’s men are outside the hotel.
Angier and to some extent Boldon go to such lengths to get back at each other and for the sake of magic. Both men become so obsessed with the stage and with tricks that they compromise anything to achieve their goals. Angier drowns himself on every performance and recreates himself. This is in my opinion a very horrendous thing to do. Could the movie be suggesting that humans are selfish and competitive by nature? I did feel that the movie portrayed the dark side of humans to show the true character of people.
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