Lozo's Blog

 One thing I noticed while reading The Catcher in the Rye was how many contradictions Holden makes. There are so many examples of this hypocrisy throughout the book, and it slowly gets worse and worse, showing how his mental state is declining. For example, he says "boy" all the time,  but when Mr. Spencer calls him "boy", he gets angry. At the beginning, he didn't say anything of the sort, but once Mr. Spencer starts getting on his nerves, he changes his narrating style and gets angrier.  Another example is on page 136. He is talking about how girls say that boys have inferiority complexes, even when they don't. However, he then continues to say "he really had an inferiority complex". Even though the girl he is talking about is correct, he wants to restate it himself, and, while doing so, is hypocritical.

The Harry Potter series is known everywhere as being one of the best fictional stories ever written (the best, in my opinion). They are also a coming of age story. In my opinion, the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,  is the culmination of Harry's coming of age.  The first big coming of age aspect of this novel is the romantic relationship that Harry forms with Ginny Weasley. He starts to develop feelings for her, and they end up together. He has never experienced anything like this before, and romantic relationships are a very big part of "growing up". He also shows his growth as a teenager through jealousy of Dean Thomas, Ginny's boyfriend at the beginning of the book. Again, he's never felt this way before, so this is a very big part of coming of age. The second way Harry comes of age is by mourning a loss. Even though he is an orphan, he has never grieved for anyone before. This changes in the Half-blood Prince. Harry's godfather, Sirius ...

When reading this book, there was one thing that struck me very strongly: the similarity between what is going on in The Plague and what is going on with Covid-19 in our world. I'm sure many people will be writing about this, but I just can't pass on this opportunity.  One thing that was very similar to me was on page 114: "But he also noted that peppermint lozenges had vanished from the drugstores, because there was a popular belief that when sucking them you were proof against contagion." This is exactly like the many rumors that have circulated since the beginning of the pandemic about certain things that could potentially protect you. (Maybe it can also be compared to Trump telling people to inject bleach?) A second place that I found a similarity was on page 119: "'In spite of the growing shortage of paper, which has compelled some dailies to reduce their pages, a new paper has been launched: the Plague Chronicle ...' Actually this newspaper very soo...

In class, we discussed the last interaction of Brett and Jake in the novel: "'Oh, Jake,' Brett said, 'we could have had such a damned good time together.' Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. he raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.  'Yes,' I said. 'Isn't it pretty to think so?'" To me, this passage is a summary of how Jake feels towards Brett's mistreatment of him. His "Isn't it pretty to think so" comes off as sarcastic, as he is saying that he has been feeling this all along and that it's about time that she comes to this conclusion also. He seems to have come to terms with the fact that he will never be in a relationship with her, and is a little annoyed by Brett's delayed reaction. This also has to do with Brett's constant manipulation of Jake, and his realization of this. When he decides to come all the way to Madrid to help her, he makes the statement: ...

 While reading The Sun Also Rises, I found that Brett is definitely represented as stereotypically manly and assertive. For example, her use of the word "chap" throughout to describe both herself and other people. "Chap" is usually a word that is used to refer to a man, and her use of it for herself shows how she may relate more to men. Also, her hanging out around gay men may reveal that she might be more comfortable around men than women. These gay men aren't attracted to her, so there is no possible tension or anything like that, but she can just hang out with them. This also happens on page 63, when the text says: "'Where should I have him put it, sir?' asked the count. 'In the kitchen,' Brett said.". While the count is asking a man (probably Jake in this context) with the word "sir", Brett is the one who responds without a second thought. She also takes control of the conversation whenever she's talking, which is in c...

 One thing that was very interesting in this book was the portrayal of Dr. Holmes and how he represents society dealing with mental health in this time. From the beginning, we can tell that he is completely ignoring Septimus' problems and obvious illness and is saying that it can be cured with "bed rest". I think that with Virginia Woolf's personal experiences with mental illness throughout her life definitely makes her more than adequate to make this commentary on how people have dealed with this problem throughout history. An especially traumatizing touch on this is how Holmes is the one who eventually drives Septimus to commit suicide. When Septimus realizes that he is here, that is when he starts going crazy, which eventually culminates with him killing himself. The actual words that she uses to describe this are very scary in themselves: "But it was too late now. Holmes was coming.". It makes me feel like I am reading some kind of horror movie instead o...

 One thing I saw when I was reading Mrs. Dalloway were the subtle hints that Mrs. Dalloway makes about her happiness. For example, whenever she talks about her husband Richard, she almost always does it in a critiquing manner. Very rarely does she say good things about him. She says that she is comfortable with him (financially) and that he gives her a good life, but the passion is missing. She talks about other love interests in a way that shows that she doesn't love Richard in a true way. She isn't truly happy with Richard.      Another example was when Peter Walsh asks her if she is happy and, just by "coincidence", Elizabeth walks in and interrupts the conversation before she can answer. This is a very interesting touch because that way we don't actually get a definite "yes or no", and we can continue to wonder if she is truly happy. Another place in the book where we see a little hint of this is on page 36, where she says- "She had just broken ...