Reader Response to Suburban Gospel (Annie B)

First, I encourage all of you to read Mr. May-Beaver’s book, Suburban Gospel. It is hilarious. However, I also encourage you to picture someone else as the author as it talks a lot about his sex life and desires as a kid. Because I knew him before, I found it a little odd, but still laughed at almost every page of the book. One of the main themes of this book is Mr. MB’s faith. He grew up as an evangelical Christian who was taught that sinning would send him to hell unless he was baptized. He was forced to balance his faith with his non-Christian like desires. His book tells the story of how he dealt with these struggles. Though I never kissed anybody at church camp or watched people change through a telescope, I too have had to balance my faith with my un-Christ like desires. I grew up in a Christian home where we went to church every Sunday, small group every Wednesday, and worked with special needs kids every other week. Once my brother and sister graduated, we started going to church less and less. I had to learn to balance my relationship with my friends and my relationship with God. These are the same feelings that Mr. MB discussed in his memoir. I think kids who grow up being forced going to church often try and rebel later in life. I went through this stage, and Mr. MB did as well. Faith is not something that can be forced, and Mr. MB did a great job of showing how your relationship with God is truly an individual relationship. He shows that only you and God can decide what’s right and wrong for you. The humor that Mr. MB used throughout the book made me be able to laugh at how he and so many other kids go through these struggles. He used satire to display a serious issue which makes it easier to read, but also shows genuine struggles that so many of us have gone through. My question to y’all is did y’all go through any issues when trying to balance your faith and your social life? How did you figure it out?

 

Again, I so recommend this book; I honestly loved every page.

 

A Reader’s Response to After You from Annie Battle

It seems like every book that I’ve read in my life has been about true love. Love is such a universal topic that everybody thinks about. Characters in Shakespeare, for example, always find their one true love. Nicholas Sparks books are all about finding your soulmate. Well, Me Before You introduced Louisa Clark’s soulmate, Will Traynor, but Will died at the beginning of their relationship. In this book, we saw their true love and how pure and real it was. It was a typical love story (which I loved by the way) where a boy and a girl are clearly meant to be. Well the sequel, After You introduces a new love interest for Louisa. After such a fulfilling relationship with Will, it was hard for me to like this new interest, Sam. I wanted Louisa to be happy again, but even I felt as though she was cheating on Will. I guess my question is, do you think every person has one soul mate, and is it possible to have the passion that Will and Louisa had with more than one person? So many people get divorced and remarried, but do they have the same feeling they did before? Also, in Louisa’s case, her love was perfect, but illness got in the way. Do you think it’s possible for her to feel the same way as she did with Will? One example of someone finding their soulmate is the Notebook. Allie and Noah has such true and pure love, but Allie was able to find happiness with another man. She truly would have had a great life without Noah, but their love brought them back together. Is this idea of love realistic, or is it a romanticized view in which author’s like to taunt us with unrealistic ideas? After You introduces this new character, Sam, who we like, but not as much Will. Again, do y’all think it’s possible to have the same love for two different people, or that everybody has one true soulmate?

 

Bombshell like Marilyn? A reader’s response to the Wife of Bath

The Wife of Bath is one of the most interesting characters who we have read about. She is very different than the rest of the women we have seen because she actually holds power, and she holds it with her sexuality. Though this power does come from an objectifying subject, she still has power and is able to get people to do what she wants. This is why she reminds me of Marilyn Monroe.

A very popular sex symbol int he 1950’s, Marilyn Monroe was a famous actress. She had a tough childhood, but started modeling at a young age. She then started her acting career and became famous very quickly. Most of her films emphasized her sexuality and sexual appeal. The image that made her seem like a “dumb blonde” and very ditzy was created by Marilyn, herself. She used her sexuality to make herself more desirable to men. This is very similar to what the Wife of Bath does. She controls men with her sex appeal. Like the Wife of Bath who was married five times, Marilyn was married three times, and they all ended in divorce. Marilyn was thought to have had affairs with both Kennedy brothers (JFK and Robert), which only further proves how she used her sexuality. Marilyn and the Wife of Bath are so similar because they both manipulated men by using this objectifying feature of their sexual appeal.

However, both Marilyn Monroe and the Wife of Bath are still very famous today and many people even praise them. So my question is, why are these sex symbols seen as idols and important characters in our history? Today we seem to look down on people who use their sexiness to gain attraction, but why are we still idolizing these characters? I think it is because, despite how they achieved this, they both were able to have power over men.

In the Wife of Bath’s tale, the queen clearly has some power because she is able to persuade her husband to spare the rapist’s life. She also wants the rapist to find what women desire most. Even in this tale, he finds that women desire most control over their husbands. One of Marilyn Monroe’s most famous quotes is, “I don’t mind living in a man’s world, as long as I can be a woman in it”. I think this is a great quote that Marilyn and  the Wife of Bath believed. They are not upset that men had/have a lot of power, but they both used men’s weaknesses to control them. Women today want control as well. We may not admit it, but if we could control situations and make them what we wanted them, we would 100% do it. Society admires these women because they were able to have control, even if it was not how men gained their control. Marilyn Monroe and the Wife of Bath are two very similar characters who used their sexuality to manipulate and to take advantage of their husbands and other men.

In conclusion, I would like to ask if you agree that they are similar, and why/should we, as a society, praise these sexual idols? Are these women against feminism, or are they feminist who use they sexuality as they platform?

 

Catherine Linton/The Worst Character in the Book: A Reader’s Response to Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is quite a depressing book. It started out as a typical love story, but by the end, everyone is dead or alone or depressed. And who are you supposed to cheer for? Rachel and Kit made excellent points on how there is no protagonist in this story. I thought a lot about that while reading, but I was also thinking about who the antagonist was. For a while I thought everybody in the book did something wrong, which is true. However, looking back at the book and further analyzing the characters, Catherine Linton is the worst character in the whole book. She obviously loves Heathcliff more than anyone in the world. Their love is pure and true and something that so many people hope their whole lives to found. She was so happy and innocent when they were together. Catherine chooses to give up this love for money. I don’t think this in any way lessens her love for Heathcliff, but completely lessens my respect for her. Catherine made this decision completely on her own. It wasn’t the pressure of her family or friends trying to make her marry for money, but her own selfish ways. Her father loved Heathcliff more than he loved his own son. After Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights with fortune, Catherine then decides he is worthy, and completely disrespects her husband. I understand that a woman shouldn’t have to report to her husband, but they are married and vowed to stay faithful to each other. Yes, Linton and Heathcliff made mistakes throughout this story, but Catherine seems to be the reason for all of their angry outbursts or other wrongdoings. Catherine has two men who love her with all of their heart, and all she cares about is money and status. Catherine Linton started out as an innocent child deeply in love with Heathcliff, but as the book when on, she became a money obsessed snob who robbed two men of a happy life. Before she died, she became sick when her husband asked her to choose between him and Heathcliff. This is just another example of how she was able to get out of a tough situation. She always chose the easy way out, and never thought about other people’s feelings, or long term consequences of her actions. Overall, Catherine was lazy and selfish, and caused most of the tragedy in this book.