Formal Diction

On Wednesday of this week, I attended my martial arts class, conforming to my conventional hebdomadal schedule. My friend, who ordinarily would accompany me, had succumbed to a seasonal indisposition, and so I comprised the entirety of adolescence in the building for the duration of the session. At the time of my arrival, namely 6 hours in following to the apex of the day, I noted that the usual instructor was lacking in physical presence, as a deputy was acting in substitution. The antecedent class also finished in an unpunctual fashion, allowing me a plethora of time in which to prepare.

As commencement to the practice session, the instructor briefly reviewed several of the techniques that had been covered previously. This served to help ameliorate my understanding of the necessary forms and motions. At the culmination of this activity, we practiced various defenses against shorter bladed weapons, such as the knife. Antecedently, I had not acquired an abundance of experience in this area, and so was grateful for this opportunity. A multitude of the techniques were additionally absent to my personal repertoire.

However, the technical aspect of my learning was of inferior preponderance to the admonition delivered by the instructor. He spoke of how to utilize practicality in our defenses, and how we should refrain from the usage of strength in our practice. There was an extravagance of inspiration in his disquisition, which conveyed to me a newer and more sophisticated view on the martial art. Consequently, the happenings of the session had definite, beneficial, and lasting impact to my interpretation.

Outside Reading Novel

For my outside novel, I am currently reading Slaughterhouse 5, by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a greatly different literary experience to most of the books that I have read in the past, especially in terms of plot and style. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, frequently becomes "unstuck in time", and as a result, the events of the book do not correspond in chronological order to the events of his life. In this way, the story visits many situations from Billy's past and future out of order, including his infancy, death, and abduction to the planet Tralfamadore. Due to this, I sometimes find the storyline difficult to follow closely. In addition, I find the author's style and voice to be atypical to most of literature; his writing is much more casual and matter of fact than most novels. Ordinary phrases such as "so it goes" are also used to a great extent.

The incorporation of time travel greatly affects the progression of the plot, as well as its elements. Because the reader is informed of multiple future events in Billy's life at different times during the book, circumstances that would be ordinarily suspenseful seem more factual and background material. Furthermore, the story does not conform to a typical plot line, as I do not notice any real presence of rising action, a climax, or falling action. Many of the later events in the book are mentioned earlier on, and elaborated on as the story progresses.

The only other novel that I can compare it to is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Though both deal with elements of space and alien species, they are most similar in the casual style that they written. I do not feel much sense of suspense or anticipation in the reading of either book, as a result of this style. Also, both contain a great deal of additional information and detail that is not directly related to the story, which sometimes distracts from the plot.

For a creative project, I will most likely create a poster that represents time as seen by the extraterrestrial Tralfamadorians. It is described by Kurt Vonnegut as that "the Universe does not look like a lot of bright dots to the creatures from Tralfamadore. The creatures can see where each star has been and where it is going, so the heavens are filled with rarefied, luminous spaghetti. And Tralfamadorians don't see human beings as two-legged creatures, either. They seem them as great millipedes—'with babies' legs at one end and old people's legs at the other.." (Vonnegut, 62). Possibly, I could pair this concept with the storyline of the book in my artwork. I could also allude to other symbolic elements that I might encounter later in my reading.

My Experience with To Kill A Mockingbird

In the past, I have read a number books that have provided me with a meaningful, thought-inducing literary experience, including A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and Watership Down, by Richard Adams. Though most of them felt slow and dull at the beginning, there came a point when I became deeply absorbed in the story and began to connect personally to the characters. To Kill A Mockingbird did all these things for me as a reader. It caused me to contemplate and think more deeply about the themes and lessons that it was conveying, both during and after my reading, as well as to admire the characters for their actions and personalities.

Though I have read books that discuss serious topics like racism and discrimination, they have not been from the perspective of a character as young as Scout. This offered me a new view on how strange and confusing they would be to a child. I had not given much about these issues beyond their definition and history before. The point of view also enhanced and gave depth to other subjects and subplots, like Boo Radley, which seemed more mysterious and curious when told by Scout. Additionally, I found that Harper Lee constructed the world of Maycomb in a very effective way. The society seemed very complete and realistic, mostly due to the great number of minor characters and subplots woven into the main story. This helped me to better appreciate the town's events and conflicts.

By the end of the book, I had accumulated considerable admiration and respect for both Atticus and Boo Radley. I had read about and gotten to know these characters, and found their actions to define them as extremely kind and honorable people. In the case of Atticus, I appreciated not only his sense of true justice, but how he was able to act righteously and sensibly in difficult situations. I recognized him as a hero, in both a literary and moral sense. With Boo Radley, I was surprised and yet grateful when he came to the defense of Jem and Scout, as I realized his background and protective presence to the children throughout the book; I understood him too to be a hero of a different kind.