Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Alice In Wonderland: Down the Rabbit Hole

I read this chapter a couple of days ago and didn't have time to blog about it. Seeing as I'm avoiding both my homework and my grading, I figured now would be the perfect time.

The chapter opens and Alice is lounging outside with her sister, who is reading a book that is thoroughly displeasing to Alice as it has neither pictures nor dialogue. The rabbit runs by, she thinks she hears it talking, all the while mentioning that the heat outside is making her "very sleepy and stupid" (1). Out of curiousity, this genius follows the rabbit down the hole then falls ever so

s
l
0
w
l
y.

Slow enough to examine the contents of the shelves along the sides of the hole, pick things up, examine those things, and place them back on other shelves. She then lands on her bum without so much a scratch. There's something rather surreal about this, and I know that I'm supposed to reasonably suspend disbelief, but there's a point where situations become incredibly ridiculous.

Cakes, and potions and poisons, oh, my. Who taught this girl her decision making skills? She says, let me look at this bottle and see if it's marked poison, because if someone wanted to kill me, they'd be sure to mark the bottle containing said elixer, "poison." Genius! And to add to her applicaition for Mensa, she left the key to the door she was shrinking to get to on the table. Agh!

Stay tuned next time for Attack of the Giant Alice.

Friday, February 1, 2008

The End of IT, (or IT Part II)

I have to admit, when my friend told me that the end of the film disappointed him, I was skeptical. I thought, "Usually the book is better than the movie, anyway, so it doesn't matter." Well, while the build-up to the end of the book was fabulous, (no extraneous information, all the details drove the plot along), I felt like the heroes' triumph over the antagonist was, while well deserved, a little juvenile. Yes, they had to revert to their childish selves to "beat the devil" as the last chapter was so aptly named, but a spider? Or a shape roughly resembling a spider? Not only does King contribute to people's fear of clowns, but the fear of spiders as well.

I can't decide whether or not I was set up to be disappointed. If I hadn't discussed the end of the novel with someone else, would I feel the same way I do about the way it ended? Or at least about the defeat of the monster.

I thought how Bill Denborough used Silver to revive his wife was interesting. But then, Big Bill always knew what to do to make things right. Using the bike in the way King did eliminated the red herring I thought the bike was going to be. And just think. At that point in his life, he probably actually fit on it. But what are the odds that bike would have been in that shop after twenty seven years?