Before I explain how this relates to the book... Let me just give a quick definition.
Flash Mobs:
Flash Mobs are a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place to perform unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless acts for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment and/or satire.
For example: I could start a flash mob right now. Who wants to go downtown and start a food fight?
That's how pointless flash mobs are. In fact a few years ago a large-scale pillowfight ran in Toronto. Flash mobs don't form together to prove a point... They form to have fun or make fun of current events.
So how does this relate to the book?
Trudy Doo hosts the concert for Don't trust anyone over 25! This would be considered a flash mob. Most of the time (if the mob is not rioting), they will be given a warning to stop. However, in LB, the flash mob is broken by pepper spray, beatings and threats (which sounds pretty cool to use against hermit hipsters).
Now to the "fun" part... Torture:
Torture, is any act that includes physical/mental pain or suffering in order to recieve information or a confession. Throughout history, torture has been used (example throwing a "witch" in the lake), espeically when they didn't know it was a bad thing. Torture is not only down right low, for some it's sadistic...ew.
Luckly, the Geneva Convention and Amnesty international forbids the use of torture. It doesn't mean the world stops doing it.
So finally, how does this relate to the book?
When Marcus is sent to Alcatraz he and his friends undergo a strange mental torture. Even though they are fed, clothed and kept in good shelter, they feel threated and feel their rights have been taken from them. Daryl, (after they find him) obviously had some sort of physical/emotional torture inflicted upon him. I mean, do you think he ripped off his paper gown, crawled into the corner and sported the fetal position for fun? Yeah, I didn't think so either...
Overall, the themes of Flash Mobs and Torture are used in the novel Little Brother.
I love how descriptive your definitions were and how much voice the overall written piece contained; it was most enjoyable. Your simplistic choice of vocabulary also created an easy flow in reading. Even though it is always effective in placing the definitions of the focused words(ones that the context revolves around) because they provide an instant understandable introduction, I think that your extensive amount of focus on this decreased the impact of the WHY in the blog. In other words, why was this introduced and how did they relate to the book? You had more focus on the defintions than the reasoning. It would've helped if your reasoning was larger and more in depth. Other than that, the concept was very clever and entertaining.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I just like your writing style in general. :) It made this interesting to read. I also liked how you gave examples so people could better understand the concepts. For next time, I would talk about how the ideas of flash mobs and torture related to each other throughout the book. Anyways, I really liked it :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the complete turn around from people joining together and everything sounding happy, to torture. However it somehow didnt seem like one blog, but two seperate ones. The way you explained each part was really good it helped me to understand both of the different sections. I also liked how you brought all the different parts togather at the end to relate it to the book.
ReplyDeleteWhen I woke up this morning I knew nothing about flash mobs, now I know everything I will ever need to know, thanks to your post. In all honesty though the use of headers and fonts made this feel much more organized and readable compared to others. The only problem I can find really is the lack of a picture of a cat. I mean, it's late, I had to rush out a blog post and comments, a picture of a cat really would of made my day. But no, you have to go and ruin everything. Great blog post, hope to read more!
ReplyDeleteLoved how you set this up! You made it easy to fallow, all the while making sure we understood then topic you were talking bout. And honestly, there isn't anything I didn't like :P
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the comment! Crtisism is key!
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