Sunday, March 24, 2019

Space Opera and the New Frontier

While reading The Martian, the obvious elements in that story that we've covered before is  isolation and fear. Mark Watney was alone for two years, his only friend for a short time was a mars rover. Just like any horror story/film that we covered, being somewhere so unknown and literally out of your normal element and far from your home can send anyone into an endless state of fear. Mark does have something to kinda help him though which is his humor. He might not have anyone to share it with but it does keep him happy for the most part. In comparison to the other horror stories that have a strong isolation element to them, this is whole new level of loneliness for someone to face.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Spiritual Education

Since the beginning of the "The Night's Circus", the two children, Celia and Marco, are raised from a young age to keep their minds on the competition and build their strength and magic abilities to win. As they grew older and met for the first time, the two had a strong connection with each other. The complex moral issue shown in this story is how two people who are supposed to be against each other and fall in love against their teachers wishes. The two are feel heartbroken when they realize the competition can't be stopped and someone needs to be killed in order for someone to win. In their response, as Marco is about to commit suicide, Celia jumps into that same pillar of flame to be with him. This sends the two into what seems like a limbo world deeper into the circus, where they are neither dead or alive. But they're together. 

Sometimes going against your parents wishes can turn out to be a positive or negative thing. This issue seemed to be a neutral. The two stay together and love each other, while Marco's father-figure, Mr. A-H, helped officially end the competition between the two.