Non-Fiction Critical Analysis 3: The Professor and the Madman

            In the “Professor and the Madman” by Simon Winchester, Winchester wants readers to know that people are complex, and multifaceted, and therefore, can be both professor and madman. One way he conveys this is by telling the story of Dr. William Minor. For example, he tells us how Dr. Minor was a very smart man who contributed greatly to the Oxford English Dictionary, yet he was also in an insane asylum for murdering someone. Also, Winchester delves deep into the life of Dr. Minor before he killed someone and was put into the insane asylum. Finally, he looks into the lives and reactions of the people in Dr. Minor’s life.  All of this shows how complex people really are.

            Winchester wants readers to realize how people have many layers, so it’s perfectly possible for someone to be both sane and insane. One technique Winchester uses is to quote from the log book in the insane asylum and numerous letters. For example, one such quote is “'At 10.55 am Dr. Minor came out to the bottom gate, which was locked, and he called out: 'You had better send for the Medical Officer at once! I have injured myself!''” This quote not only gives the reader insight into Dr. Minor, a man so calm even though he’d just inflicted shocking bodily harm to himself, but it also gives us insight into the reactions of the people around him, such as the man who wrote this note in shaky pencil, obviously shocked and scared. Another technique that Winchester does is use suspense. One example of this is when Winchester relates a fantastical story, written in a newspaper, about how Dr. Minor and Murray, the editor of the Oxford English dictionary, met. After a brief pause Winchester says “The story of this first meeting is, however, no more than an amusing and romantic fiction.” This suspense not only keeps readers intrigued, but also allows Winchester to reveal surprising realities about people, such as the fact that journalists, who we rely on for the truth, lie.

            All in all, I agree with Winchester that people are multi-layered and complex. For one, Dr. Minor himself is proof of this. A man who can kill someone they didn’t even know at one moment, and then contribute extensively to the Oxford English dictionary is certainly more complex than he appears. Also, for people who heard about Dr. Minor, their reactions prove this as well.  For someone to accept Dr. Minor as a friend, ignoring the fact that he murdered someone, shows true complexity. As you can see, people are truly complex creatures.

Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Blog Post Revision

Link to original Blog Post: http://aroseanothername.blogspot.com/2015/02/mr-penumbras-24-hour-bookstore-blog-post.html
            How does old technology such as books fair in today's world, which is consumed by new technology, such as phones or computers?  Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan is a book about a young man named Clay Jannon who deals with questions such as that.  He starts working at a bookstore only to discover a secret society called the Unbroken Spine.  The society is bent on cracking a code about the secret to living forever that was left in a book by an old book printer.  Clay teams up with his friends to crack the code using technology, technology which the secret society refuses to use.  At the same time they are trying to save Mr. Penumbra and his bookstore, which the society wants to close.  In this book, Robin Sloan uses themes of Old Knowledge such as what is in books vs. New Knowledge such as the internet to convey to readers that it is time to forgo this Old Knowledge and to embrace New Knowledge.

            Robin Sloan uses themes of Old Knowledge such as the knowledge contained in books or knowledge which is passed down through word of mouth throughout his story to tell readers that it is time to move on, and accept New Knowledge, such as the internet.  In the book, Clay is talking to Rosemary Lapin, a very old lady who is a novice in the Unbroken Spine about a code which leads to a connect the dots picture of the founder of the society.  As he looks at her work drawn out on an old scroll, he observes, “But it is incomplete; in fact, it’s barely started.  You can see the curve of the chin and the hook of the nose, but nothing else… How long, I wonder, has Lapin been working on this?”  This is meant to show readers, that working by hand without use of new tech takes a very long time, much longer than if you used a computer to do the work for you.  All of this is meant to show readers that even though books and your brain are very good, sometimes you need technology to speed things along. 

            In the book, Robin Sloan uses themes of New Knowledge such as information found using technology or the internet throughout the book to tell his readers to accept New Knowledge, and to give up Old Knowledge.  At one point in the book, Clay is talking to Mr. Penumbra about the connect-the-dots code set up by the Unbroken Spine which he solved.  He says, “ ‘I borrowed an old log book, and we scanned it…because Google has this machine, it’s super fast…Anyways, the point is, we just pulled out the data automatically.’ ” As previously seen this code has taken Rosemary Lapin several years, and she had barely started it.  While on the other hand, it had taken Clay only a day to start and complete it with the help of technology.  This is all to show readers that New Knowledge is very helpful and it is not something to be taken lightly.  It may very well lead to some great discoveries. 

            All in all, Robin Sloan wants to tell his readers that while books and ancient codes may all be well and good, it is technology and the internet that will help us in the end, or in other words, “move over Old Knowledge, here comes New Knowledge”.  The age of pens and papers is ending and the age of the internet and all its wonders is beginning.  And while it may be hard to let go, we all need to accept it.

The Sandman: Volume 4: Season of Mists Synthesis Page

Revised Blog Post "V for Vendetta"

            Link to my original blog post: http://aroseanothername.blogspot.com/2015/02/v-for-vendetta-reading-response.html   
              In today's world, Everyone is concerned about our own, and other countries, justice system, and afraid of anarchy taking over.  V for Vendetta deals with this fear and concern in the book.  V for Vendetta,  written by Alan Moore and drawn by David Lloyd, is a graphic novel which takes place in England about a dystopian future in which people are watched constantly and everything is filtered.  One person wants to change this totalitarian government.  His name is V and the government calls him a terrorist.  The book centers on V and Evey Hammond, a would-be prostitute whom V rescues.  In V for Vendetta, the book revolves around two main concepts, justice and anarchy, both of which are very instrumental in shaping the plot.  V for Vendetta uses these two themes to make a comment on not only the society in the book, but our society as well. 

            In V for Vendetta, the theme of justice is used to talk about our own justice systems as well.  The book debates on what justice means and what its limits are.  For example, in the beginning of the book, the police, or Fingermen as they are called, have found out that Evey is trying to prostitute herself.  This scene takes place before V rescues her and shows readers just how far freedom and justice can be taken, not just in the world of V for Vendetta, but in our own, as well.  One of the Fingermen says, “You know the laws on prostitution, that’s a class-H offence.  That means we get to decide what happens to you…. You’ll do anything we want and then we’ll kill you.”  The bringers of justice in this society get to decide your fate.  This is the same in our world, only, it is the makers of justice, and not the bringers who decide our fate.  In this case in V for Vendetta, they want to rape and kill her.  That would be allowed in their society because that’s their justice.  The price of prostituting is getting your self killed.  Is this right, is this justice?  Does prostitution equal rape and death in the eyes of the law, and moreover, in the eyes of justice?  It does there.  Justice in our world can be misused like this as well.  people are allowed to decide someone else's fate on a jury in court, and they can be prejudiced.  Their opinion is not always right or fair.  This shows how justice can be taken to the extreme and can be mistaken for allowing law keepers to do whatever they want, not only in the book, but in our world as well.  At another point in the book, V talks about how the justice of the world of V for Vendetta had been transformed.  V says, “The justice that I loved was gone; who had such kindly eyes; who took such small and careful steps…Transformed, she glared through narrow slits and ground good men beneath her vicious heel.”  This shows readers how, in their society, justice had morphed into something that is more like injustice in disguise.  This is another way that Moore and Lloyd try to convey to us that this can also be the case sometimes in our world.  Justice in our world is supposed to help find the truth and give people the treatment that they deserve, yet it can sometimes be twisted or biased.  Justice in the world of V for Vendetta oppresses citizens and rises up those who shouldn't be put upon a pedestal.  Is it justice to rape and kill someone who’s only guilty of prostitution?  Is it justice to oppress innocent and good people? In our world, it is not considered so.   This book tells us how justice is easily abused and misused.

            Justice is not the only theme that is used to convey feelings about our world, anarchy is used to talk about how our own fears of anarchy are somewhat misplaced.  The book focuses on what anarchy really is and how it connects to the other theme of justice.  Most people think of anarchy as something with no laws or order to keep people in check.  But, while talking with Evey about anarchy and how it is different from chaos, V says, “Anarchy means ‘without leaders’; not ‘without order.’ With anarchy comes an age of… true order, which is to say voluntary order.  This age…will begin when the mad and incoherent cycle… has run its course.”  Most people mistake anarchy for chaos, just as Evey does in the book, which is why we are afraid of anarchy in our world.  This anarchy that V wants is not chaos, but uncontrolled order.  This type of anarchy is meant to balance out the chaos that their government’s justice has brought about, and to bring about a true kind of justice.  This justice from anarchy would be the people’s self-appointed justice, not their totalitarian government’s justice.  This is supposed to convey how our government is not as controlling and formidable as it says it is.  Moore and Lloyd are drawing a parallel here from our government to the book's in ow they have both brought about a kind of controlled chaos into the world.  V also talks about the different versions of anarchy: chaos and order.  As V describes anarchy he explains, “Anarchy wears two faces: both creator and destroyer.  Thus, destroyers topple empires; make a canvas of clean rubble where creators can then build a better world.”  In this way, this shows how V believes that in order to make this society better, he must first destroy it.  This is also V’s way of saying that in order to get justice, there must be anarchy.  It is also Moore and Lloyd's way of telling us that our own world needs a bit of anarchy to make it a better place.  Our world needs to destroy a bit to rebuild something better.  All of this shows that the book is trying to say that anarchy is not always as noxious as we think that it is.

            As you can see, the two major themes of this book are justice and anarchy.  The book’s focus is on how these two themes interact, and subliminally, how we can incorporate them into our lives.  V for Vendetta wants us to realize that our own justice systems aren't perfect, and that anarchy is not something to fear.  Anarchy isn't chaos, but un-ruled order, and justice should be finding the truth dealing out punishments fairly.  As V says, “justice is meaningless without freedom.”  This freedom can be our own type of anarchy, our own liberating order, that may even help us with justice.  What V for Vendetta is really trying to teach us is that justice and anarchy can coexist.