Beloved

I liked this book very much. It was a very interesting read. I found myself able to connect to several of the characters in this book. As a mother I could see why Sethe felt she had to kill her children. I don't think I could do it myself, but I have never been in a position where I felt that was the only way to save my children from something much worse. I believe that Sethe felt this way when the Schoolteacher came to get her and her children. She was a runaway slave that had nowhere to run to and no escape for her children either. I believe that if I had lived the life that she did I might make the same choice.
I feel a connection to Denver because no matter what she did her mother did not notice her. She was a very scared and lonely child, her brothers ran away and left her with a mother that showed no affection. I am the oldest of four children and I am the one my mother relies on to get things done. However I am the one that gets treated like a piece of furniture when nice things are handed out. Like Denver, when Sethe realizes that Beloved is her daughter come back, I am given the smaller portions that are left after the "baby" gets her fill.
I wonder what would have happened if the townsfolk would have warned the people at Baby Suggs, could they have hidden the children and Sethe? I feel if they would not have been so self-righteous there would have been a chance for Beloved to live. If they had not decided that Sethe was too full of pride, maybe they would have been able to help Sethe and Denver before it got as bad as it did. They called themselves good people, but could not handle a black woman having "too much pride."
I hope to share this book with others to see what they can get from this book. I understand why Toni Morrison has received so many awards. I plan to read more of her writings.

Who is the Indian Killer

I am not sure who or what the Indian Killer is. At first I was sure it was John Smith; however by the end of the book I had changed my mind. I am at a place where I am not sure of who it was, but I have two strong possibilities. The first possibility is Reggie, he had the violent childhood, he does not trust white men, and he has worked to learn more about his Indian background. Reggie was beaten by his white father, who wanted him to be more white than Indian, if he did not study and answer the "pop quizzes" he was given. Then when he went to college Professor Mathers lied time and time again, it showed him that white men cannot be trusted. When he attended college he learned more about his heritage because that was expected of him by others.
I also thought that it could be the spirits of Indians that have been repressed and mistreated since the white man came to this land. I could see this being true because nobody ever saw the killer. He was able to take the little boy out of and into his home and stand over the mother with no one knowing he was there. When the police questioned him the boy called the killer an it not a he and described his kidnapper as having feathers. The real killer is left in shadow even in the last pages of the book. I don't think we were given enough information to come to a conclusive decision on who the true Indian Killer is.

Acts of Discrimination

I try to avoid people that commit acts of discrimination; however it is not possible to stay free of all forms of discrimination. I have seen people cross to the other side of the road to avoid waling near a person of a different race. There have been times that a friend would lock their car doors just because they were in what was considered a "black" neighborhood. Some people would say that these acts were not acts of discrimination. I feel that these are some of the worst types of discrimination. There are the "jokes" that paint a certain group of minorities that are also very bad and disrespectful.
I dated an African-American guy when I was younger. Up to that time I had no problem when a guy I was dating and I would hold hands, hug, or kiss each other. One night we were out with another couple we were all shooting pool and having a couple of drinks, he and I were kissing and hugging, when the bartender came over and asked us to either quit with the public displays of affection or leave. We were told that our kissing was making the other patrons uncomfortable. I was so shocked that I didn't know what to do, the other couple were just as shocked; however my date just shook his head and told us that things like this had happened before to him. So we just left. That relationship did not work out, but I still refuse to go to that establishment ever again. I feel that they were very disrespectful to everyone in our group.

Reader response Indian Killer

I found the Indian Killer to be an interesting book. I liked how easy it was to follow; the characters were very real and relatable.I see the discrimination that Sherman Alexie was trying to show us; however I also saw unreasonable fear of something or someone different. In his book the whites are afraid of the Indians and the Indians are afraid of the whites. It is that kind of unreasoning fear the can and usually does turn into hatred and prejudice. I believe that it is this kind of fear and hatred that helped spark some of the violence in this book. This fear and hatred is not limited to being between races, Indians hate and distrust between the different tribes. The Crow hate the Apache, the Apache distrust the Hopi, and it just keeps going. Indians tend to be forced to choose between being "Indian" and receiving an education that can improve their lives. If they go to school and try to succeed in the "white" world they are treated as less than the ones that drop out of school and learn and live by the old ways. You can see this in more than just the Indian culture; it happens in almost every there is. The ones that try to blend are pushed out by their own race and the ones that hold on to and follow their heritage are treated badly by general society. Hatred is also driven by desire. The desire to be something you are not because you think they have it better. The Indians in this book thought it was easier to be white and the whites thought that is was better to be Indian with their history and sense of self.
I think that there were really two killers in this book; there was John Smith and then there was the spirit of the repressed Indians. John was the vessel that the spirit used to do the job in Seattle, and will now move on to another vessel.

Reader Response- Fear and Loathing

I struggled with this book, I had a very difficult time following the story line. I am an avid reader and it is hard for me to admit that a book is beyond my grasp; however that is how I felt while reading this book. While listening to the discussion in class I found that I had comprehended more that I had thought at first. I knew that I was grateful for never getting into the drug scene, but I now understand that I got more than that from the book. I realized that by using Las Vegas as a model he was telling us what was going on in a larger arena. There are the rags to riches American Dream winners, then there are the people who gamble on a dream and loose. They are the ones you find in North Vegas in the book, in the larger world they are the ones that are used up and left behind.
I did not care for this book and the reason for that is something that I can not fully explain. I think part of the reason is because I have never understood the urge to use drugs. When this book first came out as a movie I tried to watch it and left the room after about ten minutes. It just makes no sense to me. I can pull bits and pieces out that make some kind of sense but not much.

The Quintessential 21st Century American

I feel that the average 21st century American can be called technology addicts. We have become dependent on technology for almost everything. Instead of going out to see our friends and family, we call them or go online. Almost everyone carries a cell phone. Most people have a computer, with internet access, either at home or a laptop that is carried with them. These devices tend to limit the amount of face to face interactions. We can even attend college via the internet and never even see the teacher.We used to have to learn how to write a sentence, using correct punctuation and grammar; in today's world we have word processing programs that tell us when we have a sentence fragment or something similar. Spelling is corrected automatically or with spell check. I myself am guilty of doing this; I am not a very proficient speller and use the spell check quite often. Our youth spend more time playing video games and texting then they do with their families. There is an epidemic of obesity in the children of today's society, a lot of which is due to the reliance of electronic devices to be babysitters.

What is the American Dream?

I believe that for most of us the American Dream is the same as it has always been. We want a family, a home, and a stable income. In today's world all of these are harder to come by. There are too many turn to divorce or infidelity instead of taking the time to work on the problems in the marriage. With all the problems with the economy these days, a stable job is hard to come by which makes owning a home a harder dream to make come true. For some people the American Dream is more abstract; a feeling of safety, peace, or freedom. The ability to be who and what they have always wanted. For these people the right to pursue what makes them happy is the dream, not the acquiring material items. This is what I think of when thinking of the American Dream, the freedom to follow our dreams and being protected while doing it. I am taking advantage of that freedom now in my own life, I have returned to school after 17 years. I am pursuing my dream of becoming a teacher.