Christian Sheherlis, Period 5, 5/10/2021, Day B

Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or non-fiction covered in class.

 The particular piece of literature I'd want to talk about is the book that we are currently (at the time of writing this blog post) reading, Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. The book takes us through the life of a vampire named Louis in the form of an interview with a young, mortal boy. It's Louis' character, however, that makes the book most interesting for me. Louis isn't your stereotypical vampire, instead carrying around the weight of his human emotions. Louis has to attempt to balance his life between his human emotions and his vampire instincts. It's this gross oversimplification of Louis' character that leaves me wanting to find out more about this world that he's in. Louis is a vampire, there is no denying this, though he may think and act like a human. Perhaps the most interesting part of this is him being a vampire by choice and yet still unable to fully face the challenges of vampirism. Being a vampire is a curse to Louis, a punishment, even, damning him to a life of eternal suffering. Anne Rice does a fantastic job conveying his struggles (not trying to give away too much,)  having each answer bring with it even more questions and challenges. The book no longer becomes a story of a vampire, but of someone who is trying to chase after a purpose in life, to find some shimmer of light in this cage they are stuck in. This journey, among other reasons, is why I would easily recommend this book to others.

Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

The main thing I've learned in class is to challenge my initial perspective of something or someone. Take a well known hero like Hercules, for example. Hercules is probably who most people picture when they're asked to think of a Greek hero, strong, brave, all around exceptional, of course except for being dumb as a brick and destructive to everyone around him. Now this isn't saying Hercules was a bad person, he was a hero by all means, what I simply mean to say is that there's always something deeper than what you expect. The world isn't in black and white and neither is literature. Every character, every circumstance, there's something deeper than what you would initially assume. Sometimes it won't be as clear as reading more about Hercules, you may need to connect the situation you're reading about to the real world, the current year or the author's situation. There's always more information to be gathered, taking something at the surface level will never benefit us. Even being able to see the perspective of others helps us to formulate a deeper thought, there's more information everywhere around us, you just need to look for it.

How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you? 

A large theme we've discussed in English class is this idea of life going on, despite whatever conflicts one may face. In Norse Mythology we see this in the idea of Ragnarok, an unavoidable apocalypse that will end the world. Except that it doesn't. Ragnarok has survivors, they go on to rebuild the world. In Grendel, Beowulf tells Grendel that despite all the damage he's caused, the world will go on to heal itself. But this all seems simple, right? This cycle of destruction and creation, if the world has already gone through literal extinction events why is this important? I like to think it's all based in this idea that we, as humans, can persevere. We're less in danger of destroying the world than we are in danger of destroying ourselves. Take a major crisis like global warming. We constantly talk about how we're destroying the world, but the world is fine, the world will push through. We, as humans, are what will be lost. We, as humans, are the Grendel of this life. We are causing destruction wherever we go for our own personal gain. Our greed is pushing us to our own destruction, not the world's. So yeah, maybe this cycle of destruction and creation may seem simple to us, but if we neglect to look at the entire picture, we will lead to our own downfall.