Parallelism between homosexuals and aliens

The Host by Stephanie Meyer makes a valid point when it comes to a major discussion in America: if a human and an alien can fall in love and it is accepted by their community, than why can’t gay couples be allowed to legally marry one another? It is a far fetch from directly portraying each other, but is the same theory: an unusual couple that does not meet up to society’s norms. This was obviously not Meyer’s point of creating the novel but the correlation still exists. In the book, Ian the human is made fun of by his cave community and even made into an outcast just because he is obviously falling in love with Wanda, the alien stuck in a human’s body. The human body makes no difference to Ian or the community, because they all consciously know that Wanda is purely a soul who took over the girl’s body. This is why their love could be considered forbidden. Yet, the community has never encountered this type of situation before which may be why they don’t whole-heartedly accept the relationship. Is this why America cannot allow gay marriage to be legal, because of their fear of the unknown? Or is it because they are purely mean, such as Ian’s brother, Kyle? (Hence, why Kyle tries to kill Wanda multiple times.) Yet, in the end of the book, Kyle also falls in love with an alien and finally accepts Wanda and Ian’s relationship. Maybe this is what America needs to do to: experience falling head over heels with their own sex than be tortured by their society, their family, and their friends. I wonder how they would feel then. Probably like loners, depressed, furious with America, and a variety of other emotions. Exactly the way Wanda and Ian felt when their relationship was exposed to the rest of the members of their community. This is why America should legalize gay marriage instead of downgrading the people who mean no harm. And The Host’s love story is just one step closer to doing just that. 

Yay for Elderly Ladies

Within the book Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the main character Ethan has a mentor who guides him throughout his troubling life. This character is very similar to the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. Both of these characters are elderly ladies who have been with the family for an infinite amount of time. Amma, from the Beautiful Creatures series, is not even related to Ethan, she is simply just the housekeeper. Nana Mama is at least Alex Cross’ grandmother who acts as the housekeeper. Both of these mentors have the same duties: take care of the children, cook the meals, and try to clean up the house. But their most important job is giving the main protagonist(s) advice, that may or may not be taken seriously.  If it wasn’t for their stubborn beliefs and their want of stating their opinions, the main characters may have veered off in a different direction. For example, in Beautiful Creatures, Amma scolds Ethan for not having listened to her earlier when warning him to stay away from the new girl, who is apparently a witch. Obviously Ethan did not follow Amma’s directions because he is a hormonal teenager who would subconsciously want to be with the new girl more since it is forbidden. If Ethan did follow Amma’s advice though, there may have never been a plot and the new girl would have turned toward the “dark” witches. So even though Amma is not a major character within the story, her impact has indirect costs within the storyline. This is the same situation with Nana Mama except Alex Cross actually obeys his grandmother’s counseling. Since the Alex Cross series has at least twelve books, it is hard to provide an exact example of the impact of Nana Mama’s advice but she appears in every single dilemma, encouraging Alex Cross to do the right thing. It usually has to do with a situation between Alex Cross’ children or at his detective job for the Washington D.C. police/FBI. The point is that both of these New York Best-Sellers books have minor elderly characters whose advice has a major impact on the protagonists and the solution to the complication.  

Going for the Gold

So while I was in Germany this past quarter of school, I finally read Divergent by Veronica Roth. The main character Tris, has to undergo a serious initiation process to get into her societal faction: the Dauntless. This process testes a person's endurance, their physical aptitude, and their psychological strength. Throughout the entire book, I soaked up every detail. Not because it was so good (it actually was a good read) but because it reminded me exactly of the military. The thing is that I decided to join the United States Air Force around the same time. So I used this remarkable book as a sneak-peek of how this upcoming summer will be for me during boot camp. For example, toward the beginning of the book, Tris’ initiation friend Christina, was forced to hold onto the side of the railing for two terrifying minutes while an enormous waterfall was stumbling on top of her. Can you imagine the fear? Or the mustered strength that Christina had to face? Physically and psychologically, Christina told herself to hold on tight otherwise her life would come to a tragic end. Another event in the book includes Tris’ very first test to be a Dauntless: jumping off the roof to who knows where. Tris purposely volunteered to be the first initiate to prove her worth. After gathering up her nerves and racing to leap off of that skyscraper building, Tris was deemed as the most courageous of that group.  I need to be labeled that way too because Tris and I are both such tiny people compared to most of the troops. This is how it is going to be for me for a long six weeks: torture of my muscles and of my mental state; late nights and early mornings of instructors screaming in my face for no good reason; pointless workouts that are structured to make me quit. Who would want that? Apparently Tris, Christina, the other initiations, and I all do. The fact is at the end of the day, when there is finally a moment of peace, you realize how much stronger you are and you’re just proud of yourself. You do it; you’re still in the running to be a soldier for something that you believe in. It’s only a few weeks of strenuous endurance and then it is all over for a lifetime. Tris and I both must experience something difficult before we are able to obtain the grand treat. And the best feeling in the world is acknowledging the fact that you worked hard to earn your precious spot. Either in the Dauntless faction or in the USAF.