Class blog 8/28

Eli Pardue
8/28/08
Brit Lit
Ms. Pfanschmidt

He is tall and thin, with trusting blue eyes and flat, shoulder length blonde hair. He dresses unprofessionally. Ripped blue jeans and a black flannel shirt. He is leaving her because he is restless, which has strained their relationship from the beginning. He cannot stay in one place with one life with many commitments, it stifles his roaming spirit. He has threatened to leave before, and now that he is, she is hysterical. She is glad he is leaving, it is a burden off of her chest, yet at the same time, she knows not what to do without him. Although he is bound to ramble, something about having a home (to him, a home is stability) comforts him. This is why he wants the child. It gives him a connection to the life he loves, yet cannot live in. In their passion, the child becomes the manifestation of their love. Neither can do without the love, and so they scramble for the child. For a moment, the fragile nature of a newborn is forgotten, replaced with a desparation to hold on to something neither wants to leave behind. For a moment, the child embodies their love, and in the final second the love becomes too strained, and snaps. They each now hold half of what used to be, their love, and their child. Both are gone forever.

High Fidelity Chap. 1-6

Eli Pardue
8/25/08
Brit Lit
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

My initial impression of Rob was surprisingly familiar, because Rob reminds me of myself in many ways. His condescending obsession with music (there is only one good taste in music: his), his frustration with relationships, and his slacker demeanor evoke images of myself.
His obsession with music and pop culture is Rob's most interesting quality. I feel as if Rob's obsession with music is a dieing down part of who he used to be during the time of his numerous splits. With his relationship problems, music was the only part of his life that remained constant. And for that reason, he defended his opinion of music and culture fervently. As he has aged, however, he is just as fervent in his passion for music, but is not as hostile towards others who's tastes differ from his. I believe this shows that Rob has become slowly resigned to the fact that he will not find someone permanent in his life. His top ten lists serve the same purpose as his obsessio nwith music. They keep things in his life attached to him in a way that many other things, such as relationships, are not. By keeping the things around him structured in lists, he attempts to keep his life structured around them.
I think Rob continual breakups tell us that he is exactly what he thinks himself to be: particularly mediocre. Rob figures that his only particularty good quality is his taste in music. Women are content with Rob, but know that they could do better. Rob realizes this as well, and struggles with accepting it in the first few chapters.
I certainly sympathize with Rob. His disgust with the formalities and stuggles of relationships and medicrity are feelings that all young men can sympathize with in some way. I like Rob because of his simplicity, his honesty, and the fact that I can easily relate to him.

Hornby's How to Read Books

Eli Pardue
8/18/08
Brit Lit
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

Nick Hornby has a philosophy on reading much akin to my own. He believes that reading should be a recreational activity in the same way that television is. When you watch television, if you do not like the program you arre watching, you change the channel. A paradox that Hornby notices is that many people force themselves to read large, critically acclaimed books that they absolutlely despise. Because of this, people have begun to identify reading as a menial, boring, mentally exhausting (rather than stimulating) activity. At the same time, people are frightened to read books that are ridiculed for being low on the intelectual scale (Hornby references The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown). In responce to this observation, Hornby makes the point that it does not matter what you read, just that you do read. Reading at any intellectual level provides more of the intellectual stimulation quickly dwindling from our society. So, Nick Hornby suggests a wildly abstract idea to help people enjoy reading: pick books you know you will like. Personally, I pick books that are fantastical and exciting because i like being deposited in another realme when I read. I would not enjoy reading a 20th century politician's biography, and so I choose not to. Hornby argues that reading is entertaining, people just need to remeber how to make it so.