Thursday, September 6, 2012

My Life and "The Destructors"




Hello again, denizens of the Internet! Life keeps on trundling on for me. All the usual things are on my mind: homework, scouts, music, that one episode of DS9, et cetera. I've been cast as Grimsby in Dunbar's production of The Little Mermaid (Jr.). That's something, I suppose. I'm just having a lot of trouble being motivated about things right now. Now that the initial "back-to-school excitement" has faded, I've fallen back into blase attitude about academia, much to my dismay. I know it's Senior year and that I'm supposed to be yukking it up with my friends while I can, but I can't even do that. I guess you could say I'm depressed. I've often wondered if I have Clinical Depression, but I feel like it would be a lot more noticeable if this was the case. 


Anyways, it was recently assigned that my AP Literature class read a short story called The Destructors. During class, we discussed who the protagonist of the story was, their respective antagonist, their conflict, and what the correct interpretation was. While we had all come up with various ideas, Mr. Mullins had told us that none of us had hit the "accepted" interpretation. One of the things mentioned once or twice was how the gang was filled with a bunch of snot-nosed brats. I think this is putting it a bit lightly. These kids in this gang were in their developmental years during the war; because of the destruction The Blitz wrought, the children in turn became destructive. They were entropic, to say the least. This new generation of children attacked a kindly old man and destroyed his house. Mr. Thomas (aka "Old Misery") had kept his house in very nice condition, considering it was at least two hundred years old. T. says he doesn't hate the Mr. Thomas, but he continues to light the bank notes on fire as he says this. They, in a sense, aren't lashing out against Mr. Thomas, but the old generation as a whole because they no longer feel connected to it and want to create something new. After all, if you think about it, creation is a form of destruction.


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Literature I'm reading:

  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

Stuff I want to read:

  • Journey to the West (abridged, also known as Monkey King) by Wu Cheng'en 
                - One of these days, I'll get to it! I swear!

  • Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein
  • The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick