Rites of Passage

Rites of Passage was written by William Golding, who is best known for his book "Lord of the Flies". Rites shares many of the same themes as Lord of the Flies - its a story of what happens when a group of people are isolated from societal norms and how they struggle as a group.

The premise of the novel is that Edmund Talbot (interestingly enough, on my recent trip to England, I saw the Talbot estate - they're kind of a big deal) is sailing to Austrialia to begin a job, which has been secured for him by his godfather. His elderly godfather asks that he keeps a journal of the voyage and mail it back to him as it will be of great entertainment to him.

There were several reasons that I liked this book. The first of which is that Golding didn't just write a novel. He actually wrote a journal (Ph, what style of writing is this?). The chapters are misnumbered, Edmund soon realizes that the dates are of no relevance while aboard, and there is a chapter titled "Omega" about halfway through the book, when poor Edmund thinks that he is just about to wrap up his account of the voyage. It sort of reminds me of how my journal looks. The dates are approximate, sometimes when I write, I note the time and location, other times I do not. If I am trying a squeeze into a certain bridesmaid dress on November 9th, I jot down my weight to keep myself motivated. Othertimes things are just sort of random and illogical.

There are a lot of different things that happen in the book, and Edmund soons comes to realize that the social confines that he operates under on a daily basis in the real world, don't mean much while on the ship. He tries to maintain a sense of normalcy and still thinks himself a "true gentleman", however, in light of some incidents between the Captian of the ship and a Parson traveling, Edmund is put to the test. The book gets really interesting about halfway through, as Edmund realizes what really happened to the Parson and is prompted by the other characters to take action.

Like Lord of the Flies, the passengers are left to fend for themselves under social norms that they aren't used to. The characters struggle to maintain a sense of proper society, but at the same time, continously find themselves in challenging situations, all of which is documented by Edmund. The character development is very sneaky - at first I didn't think much of the characters or that they were highly developed, but then as the novel progressed, I realized that the key characters were highly complex individuals with extremely different motivations.

At the end of the novel, Edmund states as a grand conclusion, "With a lack of sleep and too much understanding, I grow a little crazy, I think, like all men at sea who live too close to each other and too close thereby to all that is monstrous under sun and moon"

Moral of the Story: "When going to Austrailia, consider taking a flight"

The Old Man And The Sea

While the premise of this story sounds exceedingly boring, I have to admit that I actually enjoyed it. A man, going out fishing for however many pages, b to the oring. Really. It was good. Really. It didn't have too much of Hemmingway's typical misogynistic perspective. Now, this may have been because there were no female characters to speak of, but that's fine. There was no need for female characters. It's about a man...an old man, some might say. And the sea. And of course the fish.

It is actually interesting to see what fishermen deal with. See how much work it takes to reel in a marlin. The amount of respect that fisherman has for the fish that he is hunting is incredible. It's actually a beautifully written tale. I can easily see why this is considered one of the 1001 books. It was good. You could see the marlin as it jumped into the air. You could see the flash of color on its side.

Ultimately this story is about not giving up. Plain and simple. The fish drags this man out like two days from shore, and the man has to drag the fish back two days to shore strapped to the side of his boat because of its immense size. It's an interesting story that balances between the man fighting against nature and the man fighting against himself.

And it is relatively short, so even if you don't like it, it's over pretty quick, though there are no chapters or anything like, so you might as well do it all in one sitting.

Moral of the Story: Don't give up, or you won't get the fish. Oh, and don't go out into the ocean for two days without enough water.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

As Luke so perfectly worded it "between [Brave New World] and 1984 they are the classic anti-totalitarian mantras". Nineteen Eighty-Four is a story set in, well 1984, in London. Unfortunately, it is a sick and twisted 1984 that, thankfully did not come to be. You know that phrase "Big Brother is watching you"? Well, here is where it comes from. Essentially the entire world is caught into thinking one thought. People are raised to report their neighbors, family, friends, any time they hear anything that might be against "Big Brother", an omniscent being that has strangely been alive and in office for like 60 years or something.

Now, this idea that everyone is thought to think the same thing is okay, as long as you are not one of the people that think against the majority. The other minor problem is that you're always bound to think something out of the ordinary or majority...which, could cause a problem. This is a world where only three countries, all totalitarian in nature, though they'll call themselves different, exist: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. These superstates are each in a war with one another indefinitely because they disagree with the other regime. Ingsoc, or English Socialism, is used in Oceania, Neo-Bolshevism in Eurasia and Obliteration of the Self in Eastasia. Essentially they are all the same and all ruled by a leader similar to Big Brother. So we're set in the world where no one does anything out of the ordinary...except our main character Winston Smith.

So here's the basics of the story. Take an entire world where no one can think differently, do anything out of the ordinary, can't even speak in sleep because a telescreen will report everything that happens back to Big Brother. And as Winston points out, thoughtcrime (just as it says, crime against what the state wants you to think) "does not entail death. Thoughtcrime IS death." It's a powerful and disturbing story that, sadly, seems more and more propethic than many people would be willing to recognize. Given, we've not reached the point where I can't type this without being taken in and tortured, but sadly it doesn't seem an impossible nightmare anymore.

The book chronicles Winston's journey from questioning to doubting to the outright disobeying of Big Brother. The story then goes into great detail of the "reprogramming" of Winston once he is captured. I found that the story left little to the imagination and even less to hope for the characters. It has, however, served as a wonderful cautionary tale. It was truly a fantastic novel and I found myself drawn in and fascinated through the entire novel.

Moral of the Story: Don't the government take everything over. Stand up, clear your throat, and exercise your voice and rights.