Rag and Bone

I think that it was very significant for me to read this novel. While I do have a best friend that is gay, I didn't have a real grasp for the problems and the inner struggles that many people of different sexual orientations go through. I think understanding the history behind the AIDS epidemic really opened my eyes as to how exactly AIDS is stereotyped in the gay community, and the effects that has on the people that get stigmatized. Most importantly, I think this book was good to read because so many people in Oklahoma have a close-minded view of homosexuality. So many think that "those people" need to find God, as though their sexual orientation completely eliminates any possibility that they might in fact have a religious set of beliefs. I think that Elena is the perfect example in the book; she has her way of life, and yet she has made her peace with God so that she does not feel like a hypocrite or is turning against her religion.

Less Than Zero

This novel, as someone put it, "sounds like the rantings of a spoiled rich kid." Sad as it is for me to say, I must agree. I see this so often in the schools and my education classes that this topic really interested me about the novel. I would say that the main character probably suffered from being what we deem in the education lingo as a latchkey kid. Those would be the students that go home on their own, and do not have parental supervision until the parents get home later from work. Latchkey kids are deemed high risk students, because from 3 om when they get home from school until 6 pm or later when their parents arrive home is the time frame when the most risk-taking behavior takes place for teens. It is also the time frame where most teenage pregnancies are consummated. I think this could explain the main character's drug behaviors. He has been seduced into the drug world because he had little else to do in his time, and lacked the parental involvement to really make his see the consequences for his actions.

Paradise

I touched on this a little in one of my posts, but I thought it almost ironic how the "cultlike" description of Ruby, Oklahoma is still spot-on stereotypical of some small Oklahoma towns today.

When my fiance and I were house hunting, we got lost looking for a lisitng out i nthe boonies. We thought it was in Sand Springs, but it ended up being way far out, almost to Lake Keystone, in the backwoods of Oklahoma. We're talking donkeys tied up next to your pre-fab trailer. As we drove in, the people of the town glared at us. Sitting at the one and only stoplight was uncomfortable. It was almost as if they were hyper-aware that there were outsiders in town. As we were leaving, there were trucks parked across the road, blocking the way we came. It was almost as if they were yelling at us, "We don't want you here, get out!" We had to find an alternative route home that didn't go straight through their small town (thank you TomTom).

The point of this story is that I cannot BEGIN to imagine what it was like for those women living in that convent. They were the outsiders, not just for a few uncomfortable minutes, but their entire stay in the town of Ruby. I can only imagine what must have been done to them to make them feel unwelcome, awkward, and as if they had committed some unspeakable wrong.

Fear of Flying

Erica Jong's Fear of Flying was probably my favorite book the entire semester! While I didn't necessarily agree with Isadora Wing's lifestyle of promiscuity, I could identify with some of her feelings. Since I am getting married in a few months, I thought that some of her marriage perspectives were very interesting. One of my largest concerns is that I would lose part of myself after I became a Mrs. Wing seems to feel that same loss of identity, which was interesting. I think it is very common for women to lose sight of their goals once they become married, and end up falling into Wing's category of women needing to be rescued...but from what we are unsure of. It's as though we get so panicked not "knowing" ourselves that in that moment we are in desperate need of saving by a man. I want to be able to keep who I am and what I want, AND be married. Unlike Isadora, I don't think that is impossible. In the 70s it was very common to give up and become the housewife. I feel like in 2008 I am presented with more opportunities. It was nice to see a piece of myself reflected in a character....the worries and the options that I have.

On the Road

In the discussion of On the Road, I liked how someone (maybe Dr. H) brought up the question of male friendships versus female friendships, and which ones last more. I think that it can be seen in this novel that while men may stay "friends," or as I like to think of it, acquaintances, for a long time, you lose that sense of closeness. The two lead characters considered themselves friends, but realized that the friendship really was not a mutually beneficial one where both parties gained positive feelings from the other party. I think that females have a tendency to have fewer long-lasting friends, but the one or two that they have will be deep in meaning and in value. I think it would have been interesting to have more female characters in this novel to see if those assumptions are correct.