Sunday, November 16, 2014

Connection Captain- Round 6- Mari Hopp

Anthem by Ayn Rand
Connection Captain
Parts 11 & 12

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      After finishing reading Anthem, I noticed that it reminds me of the book Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, that we read in seventh grade. Both of these books have many things in common. To start off, they are both dystopian novels that are inferences, by the author's perspective, of what the future could hold. They both start pretty good with everything going well, but, at that note, Anthem takes a faster road to the part where things go bad because the protagonist is the one that causes the problem for himself. Yet, in uglies, the Protagonist's best friend, Shay, is the one that causes the trouble. In both of the books, there is a type of government that rules over everyone of that community/society. This government hides information and knowledge about the world out there for years because they thought that that would was really bad for the people, and that there were too many problems with it. Also, the government has modeled the community's minds into thinking that their world now is the best, and that their world then was the worst. They do that so the people don't have any interest into going back to what the days were like in that place; although, it doesn't work with everyone in the society, and that is how the conflicts of both of these stories evolve from.
      Another similarity I can see in both of these novels, is that they both discover new things, and decide to keep it that way. For example, when they ran away, either by someone else forcing them or by their own will, they discovered many new things that were so different to them, yet they didn't want to let go of the new ways of living. In Anthem, they discover that the sacred word is "EGO", and they learn how to use the pronoun "I". After acquiring the new knowledge, they wanted to keep it with them in order to live in a new lifestyle. In Uglies, Tally has to leave in a quest to find her best friend Shay that ran away so she wouldn't become a pretty, all of that she did because they forced her or else Tally wouldn't become a Pretty(which was her lifelong dream). When she got there, se saw how great their life was, and how better her life could be. She falls in love, and decides that she wants to stay there, but things go wrong while trying to abandon her previous life. All this was also in order to live in a new life style.
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4 comments:

  1. Mari,

    I liked how the connection tried to take a different road. At thing that caught my mind was the fact that you said that one difference between Uglies and Anthem was the characters' choices. In detail, you said that in the book Uglies, Shay was the one who caused trouble. In Anthem, you stated that the protagonist caused the problem himself. However, I don't really agree with you about Uglies because, from what I understood, Tally was the one who started everything. On the other hand, it is really just depending on the reader, yet I did notice that Tally made most of the commencing mistakes. For example, she accepted on spying on her friends and betray their shelter. Therefore, she was the one who created the main problem. As in for Equality 7-2521, he was a fool and wouldn't know what kinds of problems he would create. In conclusion, I would wonder if it was only Prometheus' fault of all of his problems, or was it society overall.

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  2. Mari,
    I have never read the book Uglies before, so it was really interesting to know that it is a similar book to Anthem. Out of those two books which one is your favourite? After you connecting these two books, I kind of want to read the Uglies. Especially if it is similar to Anthem because I enjoyed it, because it was very interesting and it really made me push my thinking to another level. Also, I really liked the second picture you choose. The quote is really awesome too. And I defiantly agreed with it.
    Overall, really nice post Mari. :)

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  3. Mari,
    Your post shows great connections, as I have read this book, and so forth the Second Book; Pretties.

    I can see the connection between Uglies and Anthem, as you said, that they are both are dystopian novels which the protagonist does not conform to the society. As they might show a glimpse to our future, we do not know. Both society's are demanding, as both need to follow strict rules and how to live. As shown in your post, Tally, the main character from Uglies, is forced to find her best friend Shay, as her friend escapes. Equality 7-2521, on the other hand, follows his ambition and desire.

    As both novels have differences, on the contrary both have similarities. I can relate Anthem to many other dystopian novels, like, Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Giver and so forth. As dystopian novels are wildly popular, they are commonly found as a genre.

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  4. Mari,
    Great job! I really liked your post and how you connected it to a great book we read last year. These two books connect in various ways, and are very similar. Yet I think that in Uglies, there is more of an individual aspect to it. For example, when someone becomes a pretty, they have their full attention on themselves; looks, fun and comfort. In addition, in Anthem everybody is equal, but in Uglies this is different. Pretties have a higher level of beauty, as well as wealth and essentially, life style. On the other hand, Uglies live with many others, and don't have as many benefits. What do you think?
    Thanks,
    Lucas

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