Independent Reading Project

     Not much has changed about All Quiet on the Western Front  since my last post. It retains the same grim mood and discusses the same issues with the horrors of war. As a result, I don't have too much new to say. There has been a new development in the novel (SPOILER ALERT) in which Baumer visits his home on leave and finds it challenging to fit into any sort of normal life. He is still haunted by the things he has witnessed and can't seem to fit in with a non-military life anymore. I actually am pretty glad that I chose this book in particular because it fits in well with the current history lessons. McDaniels' lesson today on poetry was pretty depressing so it was nice to come back to this book and feel even more depressed.     I think I'll be doing a video talk for my next major post in which I compare All Quiet on the Western Front  to other pieces of media about war such as Saving Private Ryan  (one of my favorite movies). The thing that m...

All Quiet on the Western Front  cover redesign BEFORE READING: See my  previous micro-blog  for some context on the book. Analysis: Each section of this diagram of the human brain is in a different color. The blue section is the frontal lobe, responsible for voluntary movement and expression. The purple section is the parietal lobe, responsible for physical senses. The orange-yellow section is the temporal lobe, partially responsible for memory. The green section is the occipital lobe, responsible for vision. The red section is the cerebellum, responsible for balance.      I used dialogue within each section of the diagram to convey war's harmful effects on every section of the mind. The only dialogue used is simple, and consists of almost entirely single-word sentences. The primitive thoughts used here are meant to symbolize the degradation of one's mind in war, and the utter destruction of the psyche. Frontal lobe (blue): The use of military customs in t...

     I'll be honest here, a WWI book written in 1929 didn't seem super exciting, but it was recommended to me and I really didn't have any better ideas. So far, All Quiet on the Western Front  hasn't subverted those expectations, and remains pretty unexciting. However, it doesn't seem like this book is trying to be exciting. It's trying to be a gritty, realistic depiction of war and the hell that its witnesses must endure. The author, Erich Maria Remarque, served Germany in WWI and witnessed the horrors of war firsthand. As a result, this novel tries to be particularly real . No over-the-top action, no snarky one-liners. Just hell. All Quiet on the Western Front  exhibits war as much less of a physical hell than a psychological one. Though the physical brutality of war is certainly depicted, Remarque uses a first-person POV to throw the reader straight into the war from the perspective of Paul Baumer. Baumer's pain resonates with the reader as he uses tactfu...

  The Autobiography of Malcolm X literary critique and analysis: Chapter Seventeen, Mecca BEFORE READING: See my previous micro-blog  for context on the Hajj. Though the vast majority of The Autobiography of Malcolm X is universally enjoyable and insightful, there are some sections that may overwhelm the reader with repetitive preachiness, into which Malcolm occasionally spirals. For those unaware, Malcolm became a member of the Islamic faith during his time in prison from 1946-1952. Malcolm’s view on his own faith and how it relates to the world around him is brimming with intricacy. However, certain readers may be annoyed, or perhaps even dreadful at the thought of listening to religious ramblings for a solid twenty or so pages. Unfortunately for those readers, that is exactly what the seventeenth chapter, Mecca , is. I will not argue that this chapter did not bother me at all, because it was a pain to get through. However, I will argue that despite the boredom I endur...

    I'm currently 334 pages in to The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Right now, the book is focusing on Malcolm's Hajj, which is an obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca for all orthodox Muslims. The religious aspect of this book has been pretty boring for me, but I can still appreciate the message Malcolm tries to communicate. He talks about religion as a uniting force of brotherhood, which is a nice message, despite its delivery being a bit bland to me. I would warn anyone thinking about reading this book that it does start to lean pretty heavily into religion, which not everyone is going to enjoy. However, the book is still very enjoyable simply as a study of Malcolm's philosophy and it provides an interesting perspective. Solid book overall, 9/10.

Context: The first few chapters of The Autobiography of Malcolm X , one of which this scene is based off of, primarily discuss Malcolm’s interactions with white people as a child. Malcolm recollects others casually referring to him with the use of the n-word, which he never found particularly bothersome, considering those people did not mean it in an offensive manner. The word had been so common in casual conversation that it had lost all its meaning, including to Malcolm. However, after a trip to Boston with his half-sister, Ella, where Malcolm spends more time with fellow black people as opposed to the white people he is accustomed to, he begins to feel uncomfortable with the way white people treat him. This scene takes place when Malcolm discusses his future with a teacher, from the teacher’s point of view. Malcolm describes the teacher as a kind man who meant well, but was simply too deep in the culture of casual racism. The majority of dialogue used here is taken directly from the...