Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift

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Gulliver’s travels is a novel written by Jonathan Swift.

This novel is divided into four parts who tells about four travels of the character, Gulliver.

Before the first part, in the preamble, he gives us a short outline of his life and his love for travel. So, after a shipwreck, Gulliver is on the Island of Lilliput, and finds himself prisoner of a race of little people, less than 6 inches tall. After giving assurances of his good behavior, he had a residence and become the favorite of the court then he helps the Lilliput’s people to subdue their neighbors, the Blefuscudians, by stealing their fleet. But after, Gulliver refuses to reduce the Island of Blefuscu to a privince of Lilliput, so he is accused of treason, he finds an abandoned boat and sails to be rescued by a passing ship.

In the second part, after sailing, he finds a farmer who is 72 feet tall, the farmer brings him to Gulliver’s Home and cares by his daughter. But Gulliver is too small for using their hugs chairs, tables. So the Queen commissions a small house for him. Then, his house is seized by a giant eagle which drops Gulliver and his house in a sea where he is found by some sailors who returns him to England.

In the third part, Gulliver’s boat was attacked by pirates and he was desert in an island near India. Fortunately, he is rescued by the flying Island of Laputa and then taken to Balnibarbi for wait a trader who can drive him to Japan. After he go to the Island of Glubbdubdrib, where he visits a magician’s house and discusses with him. Then, he finally arrives to Japan by asking to the Emperor to « excuse my performing the ceremony imposed upon my countrymen of trampling upon the crucifix ». So he go home determined to stay ther for the rest of his days.

In spite of his intention to stay at home, Gulliver returns to the sea but must finds new addition to his crew because he thinks to have turned the rest of his crew against him. But he is abandoned in a boat which sails him in an Island who people are save humanoid creatures, the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver admires their lifestyle, but they thinks Gulliver is an danger to their civilizations and expels him. Then he is rescued by a Portuguese ship and returns to England, at his home. He is unable to live like his family and think all the day about the Houyhnhnms up to be crazy.

Black Beauty : The Autobiography of a Horse

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Black Beauty is a novel published in 1877. It’s the only novel of Anna Sewell. It’s a story narrated by the horse Black Beauty who describes her life. We follow her life since her beginning, when Black Beauty was a foal to his death.                                                   Black Beauty is going to have several masters during his life : good master who cares about her horse and bad master who ill-threat her horse.
Thanks to the novel written in the first person, we can feel the emotions of Black Beauty. The novel touching us because the story show how the human can be cruel with animals and how we must working all your life for hope to be reward.

The lord of the Ring, written by Tolkien

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J. R Tolkien wrote a lot of books as The Hobbit and I love particularly The Lord of the Ring (The Fellowship of the Ring) : it’s a fantasy story and there are beautiful images in the adaptation made by Peter Jackson.

It’s a film starring  Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, Ian MacKellen, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom and others…

I am going to tell you about the sypnosis of this film :  The scene takes place in the Middle Earth during an unkwonly era. Hobbits were living in peace, when one of them owned the only ring which fabulous powers. Sauron uses the Bad Powers to resume it.

This film Is our family film because when my parents were expected my older sister my father was reading this book and it is why she Is called Galadriel, as the elves queen.

The Hobbit by Tolkien

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In all the work we saw in class, I prefer The Hobbit, written by Tolkien. I appreciate fantasy and
the world he created for his story is in rich in magic places, surnatural characters and incredible events.
In my opinion it’s a great representation of fantasy, as Harry Potter, written by J.K. Rowling, or The Lord of the Ring, written by Tolkien too. The descriptions of the differents places are complete and we see the scene as if we were.
I’m interested in the way he decribes Bilbo. I like the idea that an anti-hero becomes with the time an hero.
The epic story is ones style of writting I adore, and I would like to read all the book.

The Hobbit, Tolkien

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Among studies subjects seen in class, I prefered The Hobbit. The extract studied belong of the fantasy like the novel entirely.
I appreciate this kind of story and the magical atmosphere. This atmosphere is represented by the magical ring and the sword that Bilbo, the main character, uses.
In the story, Bilbo doesn’t fit the image of the traditional hero because he is described with negatives features (he is grumpy and cowardly). So I think that it’s interesting because it changes from usually hero. But during the intrigue Bilbo become more and more a hero because he find the strenght to fight against a threat for his life.
I don’t read the novel The Hobbit but I’ve seen the film and I like the universe of The Lord of The Rings.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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I’ve decided to talk about The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a book of Robert Louis Stevenson and the cinematographic adaptation of Frederic March and particularly in the ape-like appearance.

(link of the movie extract :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbg5oXpq42Y ).

The director of the film, Fredric March had decided to underline the dopplegänger of Dr Jekyll. In this movie Mr Hyde play at hyde and seek with Dr Jekyll, he had tried to be face-full with the mind representation of a monkey with a part of wereworf. The monkey can’t control his basic instincts like the bad part of a human. The monkey was perhaps choose by the director because it capture well the mind conception of a free slave body, who explode with wide movement at every single time which wake him up, and who his very expressive at the screen. Dr Jekyll is the scapegoat of Mr Hyde in this novella.

Last but not least The free slave body in Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus of Mary Shelley also catch my attention for the same reason. 

Hate List

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Hate List is a novel written by Jennifer Brown and published in 2009. I have read it last summer and I really enjoyed this book !

It’s the storie of Valerie, an american teenager who, after a shooting incident in her school made by her dead boyfriend (Nick), try to rebuild herself and her life.

Valerie and Nick wrote a Hate List, a list of people they hate. Valerie thought it was just a joke but Nick was serious. When he brought a gun to school and started shooting people, Valerie put herself in front of a victim and her leg was hurt.

It deals with themes of hatred, bullying, family tension and suicide. The narrator is Valerie, she tells us the events before the shooting incident and what is happen in her actual life. One chapter is about the past, another is about the present etc… Sometimes the storie is broken by newspapers articles about the shooting incident.

I think this novel is very interresting because we always want to know if Valerie will manage to leave her problems and thanks to chapter about the past, the reader is eager to know how are the characters in the present, how Valerie’s friends think about her now etc…

So, it’s a very good book for teenagers, you should read it !

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novella written by Robert L. Stevenson and published in 1886. This story relate an investigation directed by a london lawyer, Gabriel Utterson, on Edward Hyde. He suspects him of blackmailing his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, but the truth is worse than he could have imagined.

This novel belongs to Gothic literature. I appreciated this story because on the one hand, I like to be frightened by different elements (weird atmosphere, strange events, …) . Moreover, the theme of duality reinforces the fear, especially during the transformation scene, when Dr. Jekyll wants to separate the good side and the evil side. On the other hand, I enjoyed this story because I like very much Robert L. Stevenson. He was a great author and his novel, Treasure Island is a classical in literature.

In Gothic literature, I am also interested in The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde because I would be explore an another environment but I always want to be frightened and surprised by literary genre.

The Hobbit or The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ?

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The Hobbit proves that courage and strength (of mind) are most stronger than worry and fear.
But, the transformation of Dr. Jekyll is my favorite part because it confirm that two parts (the good and the darkness) exist on ourselves. Then, we can seperate them and become kind. Why not?
These texts are a morality who explain that we can fight our faults.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Stevenson

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I am interested in gothic literature it’s why I enjoy Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Stevenson create a weird atmosphere, suspensful, and insert feelings of anxiety. We are eager, we are impatient to see Dr Jekyll’s new appearance, so Mr Hyde. I have liked comparate two film versions of this story that I didn’t know before. I appreciate this original story and her mysterious atmosphere..