The End of The Novel

At the end of the novel Joe realizes that he is the future. He is the future because the war is going to continue to produce people like him. People who are so close to death, and are severely injured. The gun is being pointed at the masters of the war. The gun is being pointed at them because they are the ones that are causing the deaths in the war. They are the ones that should be held reponsibile. They are telling the soldiers who to kill and what to do and yet they are not killing anyone themselves. I thought it was a good ending, but slightly depressing. I was definitely expecting him to die by the end of the novel, I'm surprised that he lived for years with a hole in his side, and barely a body. I thought the book was pretty good, Trumbo does an amazing job of writing something that seems so realistic and is so detailed. This is not the kind of book that I ever would have read on my own, so I'm glad that we read this book for class and the discussions that we had really helped explain the book to me, and made me understand and realize things that I never would have on my own.

Joe's desires

I kind of talked about Joe's desires in my last blog. What he wants more than anything is to have his limbs back. He wants to get out of the hospital and to feel the fresh air. He wants to be around people again. He is very lonely. And he wants to go out and show the world what war can do. If I were in Joe's position, I would only want some of the things that he wants. I would want out of the hospital for sure. I think I would feel like a prisoner just like Joe does. And of course I would want my limbs back. I cannot imagine having to live like he does. I think I would go crazy not being able to communicate, that would be so frustrating. I do not think that I would want to go around showing people what war is really like. I think it is important for people to see it, but I do not know if I would actually want to go around and do it. But I don't know it's hard to know how I would feel in his situation. I completely understand why Joe does not want Kareen or his mother to come and see him in the hospital because he is ashamed. It's really sad, but I think I would feel that way too. I know that it would cause a lot of pain for my family to see me in the state that he is in, and I would not be able to communicate with them or even see them and I just think that would be incredibly hard and cause a lot of emotional pain.

What Joe Wants...

What Joe wants more than anything is to get out of the hospital. And he wants his arms, legs, face and hearing back. He feels that he is imprisoned within the hospital and he is there for the wrong reasons, he thinks that he is being kept alive as an experiment. He wants out of the hospital so he can be around people again. Joe wants to be a display to show people the horrors of the war. The problem is the hospital will not let him out because he is evidence of what the war is really like. They do not want the citizens to see what is happening.

It's really brave of Joe to think about becoming a display for people to look at. But of course he would not be able to see the people are hear what they are saying. Although it is really important for people to understand just how horrible the war is. This will never happen though because he cannot even see and has no way to leave.

Joe's injuries

Joe is very badly injured. He no longer has his arms and legs, his face, we can assume, is scabbed over, he's deaf and he has a hole in his side which is leaking something. His injuries matter a lot because he wishes that he was dead. He says that he is envious of his friend Bill Harper, who died in the war. The only thing that Joe has left is his mind. He tries to communicate by wrinkling his forehead and tapping, but people do not understand. Like we talked about in class, he is as close to death as you can get. His state is extremely depressing to him, he talks about how he never thought this would happen to him. He talks about the ring that Kareen gave him and how now it is on a rotting arm. This book is extremely well written and it has made me tear up a couple times so far. I have enjoyed reading it even though it can be quite depressing at times.

"Once Upon A Mattress"

This musical portrayed women in one of the two most stereotypical ways. The Queen mother was overbearing, controlling, shrill and obssessed with her son and finding the "perfect" woman for him. Women are usually portrayed as being submissive and docile or they are the complete opposite and are like the Queen was in the play. She was portrayed as the bad character, she was preventing her son from marrying, she only cared about herself and no one in the kingdom seemed to like her. This kind of woman character has been portrayed in modern films as well like in Monster-in-Law and to a lesser extent in the movie Family Stone. What is interesting about this play is that the males are more like what women usually are. The son is a "momma's boy" and never stands up to her even when she is unfair and the King is a mute. I really enjoyed the play, the actors all did a great job and I laughed a lot! Good job you guys!