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Mr. Cooper

Throughout much of the first half of the novel, Mr. Cooper is merely set aside. Although his existence is made known, his presence is in the background. Most of what we see during the first half of the novel is Benji Cooper and his friends’ antics where they discuss the silliest of topics, such as the ethnicity of their ice cream boss. This part of the novel sets a somewhat light-hearted mood, although still with some darker undertones. But once the dad comes home in “To Prevent Flare-Ups”, we see a much different side of Benji Cooper and his family. All of a sudden, Benji becomes hyper aware of every sound that goes on around the house. The story’s tone takes a more serious turn as we learn about how neglective and borderline abusive Mr. Cooper is. Because of his alcoholism problem, he is always on the line of flaring-up, and Benji is extremely careful not to push him over the line. Although his dad isn’t a great person at all, Benji still wishes for his dad’s affection. In the novel,
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Societal Pressure in Black Swan Green

        In my opinion, Jason Taylor is the most child-like character that we have read in the class so far, and I think part of the reason for that is because of his deeply rooted insecurities. It’s very understandable why he has them, given that he becomes relentlessly bullied after letting out his stammer. As a result of societal pressure, Jason wears a mask for all of the novel to pretend he is someone he is not. As someone who is forced to deal with my parents’ friends’ kids every so often, I can attest to the accuracy of Mitchell’s depiction of a 13 year old boy. Jason's constant usage of slang and attempts to come across as “cool” is painfully true to life. But underneath the façade, Jason becomes more interesting. Throughout his life, he attempts to hide his speech impediments and writes poems under a pseudonym. But he tries to hide these parts about himself because they would be seen as “uncool”. In addition, he also faces pressure from his parents to succeed academically
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Bechdel’s Use of Visual Storytelling

         I’ve read many novels in English classes throughout my years at Uni, but I don’t recall ever reading a graphic novel. I do remember purchasing V for Vendetta for a class, but we never got around to reading it. So, if memory serves correct, Fun Home by Bechdel is the first graphic novel that I’ve read in a Uni High English class. That’s why I wanted to dive a little bit more into why Bechdel chose to use a visual format instead of a purely textual narrative. Generally speaking, I think any form of visual storytelling can open up many new possibilities that traditional novels just simply can’t do. For example, it can set a sort of mood or tone to a story. The first thing I noticed about Fun Home was the odd color choice. There are a lot of muted blues which I honestly didn’t like much at first, but I think it started to sense the more I read the novel. I think it ended up setting a sort of gloomy setting, which fits given that one of the novel’s main themes is the reflection u
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Mental Institutions in the Bell Jar

The Bell Jar deals with the theme of depression and mental illness in an incredibly honest and straightforward way, providing an insight into the issue of mental health which still resonates with readers decades later. In particular, one way the novel dealt with these themes is by covering the state of mental institutions in the 1950s. Our protagonist, Esther, spends much of her time at mental institutions, receiving various forms of treatments. Some things worked… and other things didn’t. In the process, the novel critiques the treatment of mental illnesses in her time period.               Esther starts out as an aspiring poet. But event after event, her mental health deteriorates. She travels to New York to work as a guest editor at a magazine, but finds the overall experience deadening. She then discovers that her boyfriend, Buddy, had cheated on her. And, she gets rejected from a writing class that she had planned to take. She also feels peer pressure to stop pursuing poetry and i
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The "Catcher in the Rye" in the Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield is a deeply troubled character who may appear hateful of the world, but deep down inside, he remains a compassionate character. His desire to be the “catcher in the rye”, saving others from the worries of adulthood, is one of the main themes of the novel and shows Holden’s caring but flawed attitude towards others. Throughout the novel, Holden tells the reader about his struggles and his alienation from the rest of the world. He considers others to be phonies and makes fun of them by acting similarly phony. And when he is given good advice, he doesn’t seem to take it to heart. But it’s not necessarily as though he hates these people. It’s simply as though he is distrustful of the world and that (almost) nobody can understand his true feelings. This distrust of the world can be traced back to his childhood. He still struggles to get over his brother’s death, which leads to him shutting himself off from the rest of the world. This makes him unable to connect with oth
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