Sofia's Virtual Bookshelf
1. A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket
This is the first series I ever really got into. My mother would read it to me constantly in addition to me reading it myself. Even though I had a mother, I grew up without a father so I felt I could identify with the Baudelaire children in the sense of missing parental influence. Of course, my living situation was not as horrifying as their constantly changing one. It was especially fulfilling to see Violet Baudelaire as this powerful older sister who cared for her siblings. She was able to get them out of countless sticky situations to escape the intentions of Count Olaf. Each kid has their own role/special skill that gives them this creative individuality. This was my first encounter with a work that really highlighted children. I now have a baby sister that is 12 years younger than me, so more than ever the relationship between the sisters applies. Over the series, one can see the siblings grow as individuals, and because of this, I now watch my sister very closely. I can see every way she is always changing. The book connects to some overall ideas we talked about in this course. For example the theme of trauma we talked about in Beloved through Sethe. The Baudelaire children went through a similar trauma with the loss of their parents. This book started the interest with strong female characters as well, thanks to Violet.
2. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games continued my connection to female leads who had to overcome their challenging situations. This one I read when I was a bit older and so it was the first series I really was able to get into on my own. This was also the real first book collection I ever read that basically revolved around a female character. Furthermore, Katniss is a character that portrays an incredible amount of emotional and physical strength. So much so, that it is the type of strength that is always given to male characters. She is so different than how many female characters have been portrayed which gives her this element of individuality that I admire. Perhaps that is why Suzanne Collins wrote the Hunger Games, to give an identity to such a strong female character. I know as an individual that Katniss has inspired me and made it known that the world for women may change as we know it. In class, we read Beloved, which I feel portrays a strong female lead as well. Despite how much the death of Beloved controlled Sethe's life, she still continued to live. In a way, her decision to take her child's life shows just how strong she was, in the sense that she wasn't going to let a horrible world dictate her child's future. As a female, I love to read literature that sheds light on what women can really accomplish.
3. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
This is a book that was assigned to us as summer reading. Like all students, I loathed having to spend my free summertime reading. That changed when I picked up Invisible Man. This time, not a female lead, but a black man who lives in the south during the early 1900s. I was inspired by this nameless character who traveled from the south to Harlem where he was able to eventually take a low-wage job. As somebody who aspires to work in a field that requires a lot of public speaking, I connected with the narrator, who holds the gift of gathering attention. He was able to rally crowds to work with him and inspire people. Ralph Emerson himself said that the narrator was a spokesman for African Americans during this time. When considering the question of 'why write literature?', Emerson was writing a book of protest. One that commented on the political atmosphere regarding African Americans. Despite being a man of the people, one who represents them, he is socially invisible. Is this because at this time African Americans were socially invisible? That is the type of question that would always keep me reading further. I am very interested in politics of this present era as well as the past, and so, this novel mixed political atmosphere with a storyline and that kept me very interested.
4. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
Continuing with the theme of political commentaries, Animal Farm was something I actually encountered at a young age. Perhaps it was my first political commentary. Animal Farm portrays a farm in which there is a boar who shares his dream with the other animals of a world free of human control. Some younger pigs take over this plan after the boar's passing and they form a philosophy called Animalism. Moving forward, eventually, the pigs began to take on many of the human characteristics that were once viewed as evil. More so, this single-party system of pigs running the farm fails them. This is Orwell's not so subtle way of criticising communism, of which he was a strong advocate against. He was against the ruling of a totalitarian regime, and so, wrote Animal Farm to critique totalitarian communism. I have learned to enjoy this novel by reading it a second time, as when I was younger many of the concepts flew over my head. As I became more interested in politics as well as history everything clicked. I feel like as an individual this novel as made me more open to other's ideas that are different from my own. Instead of thinking my one-way mind is always right I am eager to cooperate and find a solution that helps the most people possible when it comes to nearly any issue. This novel also reminds me a lot of when we talk about why authors write, and how often times their own experiences or beliefs mold their works.
5. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Reading Beloved in this class was not my first encounter with the novel. I read it in high school and got way less out of it than the second time around. Every time I come across that text I find more and more themes and motifs. But beyond the literary devices, I love this work. Before reading this, I didn't experience something that really described life after slavery. Reading about a woman who experienced the extreme horrors of slavery, only to not be able to escape it after freedom was very dark. In another way, reading this novel was eye-opening. Realizing that Beloved could be a representation of the horrors that all slaves witnessed really emphasized to me the tragedy of slavery. Instead of getting statistics as to who was affected, we got the face of a child who died in order to escape slavery. In addition, we got a mother who still suffers from the trauma. Toni Morrison wrote this to depict the horrors of slavery and the wide span of people that it has affected and still does to this day. This novel was an experience like no other for me as now I consider how past traumas stay with people for a very long time.
