Since I am kind of already on a roll and I have read more than one of the books already, I figured I might as well make post number two right away! For your reading pleasure, of course!
So, with that being said, The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, presents a lot of great concepts and ideas. But what I would like to do, rather than boast about all of the great things, is discuss some of the things that had me questioning the book.
1) The issue of religion: Let me preface by saying that I am a Catholic and I do not, in any way, feel that writing religion into a novel is a bad thing. In fact, I feel that presenting religion in the faset that Carson did allows for a non-confrontational view and borders on the theme of coexisting in a world of all different types of religions. However, my concern here is related to the accuracy of the story-telling. Unless I am mistaken, a clear picture of setting is never explicitly stated. Therefore from my own deduction and the clues presented in the book, I can only assume that the story is based in a country somewhere along the lines of Saudi Arabia or Israel (given the description of lots of sand). Therefore, I question why Carson presented a front of Christianity (given the bible quotes) when the primary religion in these parts is Muslim. I wonder, if with a book so focused on the journey and on the religion, why she would contradict the two with differing settings. Any thoughts people might have on this, I would love to here it.
2) While I am always a sucker for the heroin who is reluctant to do something she was born to do, I kind of get tired of feeling out the same old plot line. Girl is destined. Girl is reluctant to take her place. Girl falls into the hands of 'evil'. Girl saves the day. The story just seems a bit tired to me. I am not saying that the story was not captivating and that it didn't keep my attention. In fact, there were several points within the plot where things happened in which I was not expecting, but I wonder when or even why we don't see someone who fights valiantly, but fails. Or someone who refuses to accept their destiny, just something different.
I think you bring up to very good points. I have not read this book yet and I was planning to, but I am tempted to maybe read a different book in its place after hearing about "the same old plot line" you mentioned. When I was younger I am not sure if it's just how my parents raised me, the shows I watched or the books I read but I used to be upset when there wasn't a happy ending or a definitive conclusion. Now that I am older and have experienced life, I have realized that it is unrealistic to always have a happy, definitive ending to a story or a chapter in one's life. Even though these books are fictional in nature, I think they should portray real life; sometimes presenting an ending that is not always what you are rooting for or expecting to happen. If a character you really like unexpectedly dies or ends the book in misery, then that in my opinion is a better ending than the happy ending you expected or were hoping for. I don't think any critical thinking occurs when books end the way you think they should. However, I think you will be more likely to think critically about a book where you are caught off guard about the next turn of events. You will be pushed to consider why or how the book reached that point.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I did not read this book so I might be off on my input on the religion aspect of the book, but I will try anyways. From my understanding Christianity, Islam (Muslim) and Judaism are all different religions, but all three also contain many similarities. The author might have brought Christianity into the bible to show that the two religions have more commonalities than differences. This might have been done to help show people that we are more alike than we may think and we should not be so prejudiced against one another.
Mm, what good thoughts! In response to your second point about the same old plot line, I feel like I'm sitting in a slightly different boat. I completely agree with you that so many books have the same plot just manifest through characters that captivate and intrigue us differently each time. It's a similar story each time, just different ways of getting there. It's exactly that which intrigues me: the how.
ReplyDeleteI also really appreciated Matt's comment that critical thinking happens when books don't end the way you think they should. There's something within us that says "this doesn't fit my patterns of thinking" that is refreshing to me. This is exactly what I would hope to achieve with my students:challenge their ways of thinking and expand the box from which they think. So, while I'm interested in the small details of how similar stories set themselves apart, I'm also hoping to balance them with many novels that shatter expectations and cause students to consider possibilities.