A Book's Always Better the Second Time Around (I Hope)

Middlesex was a strange book for me, in that I was bored by the first half but absolutely loved the second half.  I didn't care much about Desdemona and Lefty (in fact, I got really sick of Desdemona), but enjoyed their story.  It was around Milton and Tessie's story that I got antsy for Callie to be born.  Once she was, and when she got to her relationship with The Object was when I started really enjoying the book.  It was really interesting seeing the world from Callie's point of view, from her self-consciousness in that what she was feeling was wrong, through when she had her transformation.
When we discussed the book in class though, being assigned to book 1 gave me a better appreciation for the first half of the book.  I hadn't noticed how much went into it, and how much symbolism there was there.  All the connections between Desdemona's life and Cal's life amaze me.  I really admire authors that are able to put that much work and connections into their writing.  Now that we've discussed it, I want to reread it, though I can't right now because I'm busy preparing for Deathly Hallows by rereading the entire Harry Potter series :)

Yeah, They're Off to See the Wizard...but What Else?

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy makes it very clear where she's going - she's "off to see the wizard."  But why was she really going there?
The Quester: Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion
A Place to Go: The Emerald City, to see the Wizard
A Stated Reason to Go There: So Dorothy can get home
Challenges and Trials en Route:  The antagonist of the story is The Wicked Witch.  Dorothy has the Witch's sister's shoes, and she wants them back.  So she flies around Dorothy, throwing fireballs at the Scarecrow.  She sets flying monkeys on Dorothy, trapping her in a dungeon-type room.  She makes them walk through a field off poppies that put them to sleep.  And there are also the creepy trees that throw apples at Dorothy.  It's really a miracle she makes it to the Wizard.  And then, once she's there, he just makes her go face the Witch again to get her broom. It's a bit unfair.
A Real Reason to Go There: So Dorothy can discover that "there's no place like home."  Her whole life, she had dreamed of leaving the farm, of going "over the rainbow."  Then when she did actually get there (dream or not), she had an awful time for the most part and just missed Auntie Em and wanted to go home.

No Matter How Much You Travel in Time, You Can't Avoid Violence

One of my favorite books is The Time Traveler's Wife (even with Rachel McAdams, who's simply amazing, the movie was pretty bad.  Just read the book.)  When Henry, the time traveler, is 5, his mom gets killed in a car accident.  He would have died as well, but he traveled in time forward just about 5 minutes and landed outside the car, avoiding the crash.  This violence was caused by the author, not one of the characters.  It obviously dramatically affects Henry and Henry's father (who becomes an alcoholic)'s lives.  Fortunately, Henry's able to travel back in time and talk to his mom, though he can't control where he goes.  He also frequently visits the crash, but is never able to change what happens.
Henry provides some violence himself.  At one point, when he's 32 and is visiting Clare (his wife) when she's 16, he badly beats up someone.  Clare was at a party, and the guy wouldn't leave Clare alone.  Henry got really pissed off and destroyed the guy.  This had different effects - Henry eventually went back to his present (8 years later, married to Clare) and got away with it.  Clare's reputation was totally changed, however.  She had always ignored guys at her school (she had known Henry since she was 6 had  pretty much loved him since then), and it was revealed here that she had what appeared to be a (much older) boyfriend.  You can only imagine how people in her school would react to her having a 32 year old man no one knows beat  up a guy from her school.

Jesus Can Fly, Too!

If you've only seen the original Superman movies, it may seem like a stretch for me to be comparing Superman to Christ.  But in Superman Returns, the symbolism is pretty obvious.  When it starts, Superman and Clark Kent have both been missing for 5 years (seriously, how did Lois never figure it out?).  Turns out, he's been hovering above the Earth hibernating or something.  Lois writes an article about why the world doesn't need Superman, even using the word "savior." But then Superman decides to pay her a visit.  He says to her that he hears people crying for a savior.
Superman's been in contact with his father, Jal-El says he's sent his son down to show them the way.  Sound a bit familiar?
At one point, Lex Luthor badly beats of Superman, sticking a piece of Kryptonite into his back.  When Lois pulls it out, Superman  rises above the clouds to absorb some sun rays and heal himself.  There's your ascension.
Lex has made some big evil plan that I don't really remember, and Superman managed to destroy it by throwing it out into space.  But it exhausted him so much that he collapses and slowly falls back to earth, in a very crucification-like pose.  He gets rushed to the hospital, but dies.  Then of course, a couple days later, he comes back to life.
Sounds a lot like a Christ figure to me.

Firebolts, Hippogriffs, and Dolorians

Harry Potter flies a lot.  Obviously, he flies on his broom.  The first time he ever flew was during his first week at Hogwarts.  He had lived with his terrible aunt, uncle, and cousin for 10 years before, staying in the cupboard under the stairs.  He hated his life -- he had no friends, and was constantly beaten up by his cousin.  When he was rescued by Hagrid, he instantly felt freer.  However, it wasn't until he went to a flying lesson that he really felt free. When he was on the broom chasing Malfoy around, he knew flying was for him.  He felt completely safe and at ease in the air.
In the second book, flying literally was freedom for Harry.  He had been locked in the bedroom, with a dogflap on the door for food and bars on his window.  He was there for about a week before Ron and the twins showed up to save him.  They took him away in the flying car, where he literally was given freedom from his family.
And of course, Buckbeak did a lot of flying too.  When Harry was forced to ride him at the lesson, he totally forgot about his studies and that Sirius was apparently out to kill him.  He could just breathe the air and relax and be free.  And at the end of the book, Harry and Hermione went back in time to save Sirius, and they flew him away on Buckbeak, saving him from the Death Eaters.  It also was literally freedom.
I could go on about Harry Potter forever, but I'll stop here.


I also wanted to write about how in Back to the Future, Marty and the Doc have to find a lot of road for them to be able to reach 88 mph, but then when Doc comes back from 2015, he's made the car be able to fly (I'm still expecting flying cars 5 years from now.  It's gonna happen.), and they no longer have to worry about space, and are free from the road.
Yeah.