Blog Post #4

Incarceron     page 15, paragraph 4

"From this height she could see the whole estate; the kitchen garden, glasshouses, and orangery, the gnarled apple trees in the orchard, the barns where the dances were held in winter. She could see the long green lawns that sloped down to the lake and the beechwoods hiding the lane to Hithercross. Farther to the west the chimneys of Altan Farm smoked, and the old church steeple crowned Harmer Hill, its weathercock glinting in the sun. Beyond, for miles and miles, the countryside of the Wardenry lay open before her, meadows and villages and lanes, a blue-green patchwork smudged with mist above the rivers."

This passage enhances the reading experience because this is the first time that the reader is experiencing the outside world. The story begins in the dreadful prison that is Incarceron. The prison makes the Outside look like heaven, with all of the horrors and the darkness in the prison, and the purity and freedom of the Outside. For the rest of the story, the reader will experience the clash between the two extremes in settings; the terrible prison Incarceron and the peaceful Outside. Finn tells his tale from inside Incarceron, and Claudia tells her side of the story from the Outside. This passage shows the peaceful nature of the Outside world, and provides the reader with a more vivid visual of the Outside, considering the stark contrast between Incarceron and the Outside.


                                  VS.


If the two main characters in Incarceron were transported to the world I live in today (Finn and Claudia), they would probably look around, and would be in awe of all of the technology in the world that we live in, since their world in the book has very little in terms of technology, even though it is a futuristic novel. They would probably look at my computer screen and would have no idea what i'm doing, and what the contraption that I am using is. Claudia would probably remember computers from her history lessons but Finn would have no clue as to what i'm doing. Then, when I enlighten them on the pressures and trials of the life that I lead, that would probably laugh at me since it is nothing compared to the near-death experiences that they have had in the book Incarceron. Claudia and Finn would then procede to handle whatever is in store for my future with ease, and would prove to be good surrogates for me in my life.

Blog Post #3

Incarceron is a dystopia. (dystopia: n. a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. - Dictionary.com) Incarceron is a prison that is a cruel world to its prisoners. After the Years of Rage that tore apart society and the world, society in the book has been put back together, thanks in large part to throwing a large portion of the trouble-making population into the prison that is Incarceron. Incarceron is monitered and controlled by a person of power in the outside world by an official who is called the Warden. In the story, the Warden happens to be Claudia's cold-hearted father.

A book that has recently been made into a wildly successful movie that is about a dystopian world is The Hunger Games. In the Hunger Games' world, society has been rebuilt under a powerful and repressive government that holds 12 provinces/villages in check through sacrificing two teenagers each year to an "entertainment" tournament where each competitor fights with the others to the death in a created battle arena. The last one alive wins.

So? What's the point in comparing these two books you ask? Well I thought that it would be interesting to compare two popular books that I have read and enjoyed and then use my intellectual capacity to compare these two stories in ways that no one would ever dream of. Well, actually, Mr. Costello requested that his English 11 students relate their characters, people, or events in their independent reading books to ones in other books, movies, or TV shows. But doesn't the former reflect so much more positively on me?

But I digress. In both Incarceron and The Hunger Games, the main characters (Claudia in the former and Katniss in the latter) rebel against the rulers of the dystopias and take matters into their own hands to change their flawed societies. They each also find support for their rebellious actions from both friends and their peers. Blood is shed in each of the books as Claudia and Katniss both fight for what they believe in, or in some ways, their very survival. By the end of both Incarceron and The Hunger Games, both Claudia and Katniss have left deep impacts on their societies and have ignited changes in both of their worlds.

Blog Post #2

Half way through Incarceron, a few things stand out to me, there are two main characters (switching back and forth between them gets tiring), and that the cooler characters are their "sidekicks", not the main characters themselves. Keiro is Finn's (Finn is the protagonist that is in the prison, Incarceron) oathbrother, and is always there for Finn. Jared is Claudia's tutor Outside (Claudia is the protagonist Outside Incarceron). But Keiro is the character with more depth, but who is also pretty awesome. Every time Finn needs help or blacks out, Keiro takes care of him. Keiro is also a fighter, albeit, much more of a doer than a thinker. When Keiro, Finn, and Gildas begin their journey to escape from Incarceron, they are caught trying to leave their clan, the Comitatus, the clan's brutal and fiersome leader Jormanric catches them in the act. The fleeing group of three are trapped and surrounded by the rest of their clan, but Keiro summons up some courage and challenges Jormanric to a duel to be leader of the clan. This is the last hope for Finn and his group but Keiro stepped up to the plate. Against all odds, Keiro defeats Jormanric and Finn can escape with his friends and the key.

This picture symbolizes the fight between Keiro and Jormanric because of how they both used to be on the same side, but they end up fighting eachother when their paths go in separate directions. Obviously, this storyline is much cooler in Star Wars episode 3,  when Obi-Wan and Anakin fight eachother, but it correlates to Keiro and Jormanric in Incarceron as well.

There are some endearing qualities about Keiro, but in the end, if he saw a 100 dollar bill on the ground, he would pick it up and stuff it into his pocket immediately. In Incarceron, Finn lets on how he knows that Keiro takes inn's share of the bounty and loot after each raid, but Finn won't let on that he knows. Keiro is selfish quite often, and can't help thinking about himself more often than not.

But come on, if you found a 100 dollar bill on the ground, in today's economy...would you really turn it into the authorities?

Blog Post #1

It's always a process choosing a book. I was told to pick out a book, any book, for an independent reading assignment. Now, our library isn't huge, but still, finding a good book without any guidelines or structure is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I wandered around the library reading room, picking up a book here and there if i saw a title or cover that caught my attention. Many of my fellow classmates had already chosen a book after awhile, but a few stragglers and I remained, undecided. I finally picked up a book with a cover that had a key that shimmered when light reflected off of it. The name of the book by Catherine Fisher was also different, it was a single word:

Incarceron. It had a nice ring to it. I read the inside cover and I was intrigued by what I had read. It is a fantasy book, one of my favorite genres. Next to where I grabbed the book from, was the book's sequel Sapphique. Apparently the first book was popular enough to warrant a sequel. I was sold. I signed out the book. Two days later, here I am, writing my first ever blog post.

I'm already deep into the book, and enjoying the story.

Apparently you can judge a book by its cover.