Riesselman,+Wes

BLOG #6 December 17 Page 174-205 The last two chapters were full of action and quick travel. Billy travels to see the aliens several times and starts to lose track of his family. His wife dies without his knowing, and he becomes almost consumed with telling people about the aliens. They are not a figment of his imagination, but real things that he encounters in his travels. One of the cool things at the very end of the book is when they are looking back at the Dresden site, and Billy finds what he had left there, back in time. What makes this scene so important is that it proves that everything that happened in the time travels, is real and has meaning. I somewhat enjoyed reading this book because I am a fan of science fiction and World War II writings. This book was not at all how I expected it to be, but still had some entertainment value. One thing I did not like is the way the author transitioned form place to place. I found that there was no explanation for this and the way he did it was somewhat lame. Most of the time he just fell asleep and he woke up someplace else, which got a little old. It was a good book but not at all how I expected it to be.

BLOG #5 November 29,2011 Page 130-174 The next three chapters seem to be some of the most hectic times for Billy and his group. He still time travels none stop, and every time the story says he lays down for rest, I know he is going to wake up in some random spot. He start to recognize what is going to happen before it happens, such as the plane crash, and who will die. (Which would make life very depressing) One of the best parts in this section is when he holds still for a time, and I get to hear about the actual Slaughterhouse. He describes himself as starving and working in a syrup factory stealing bit of syrup to feed himself. This captured what a Nazi POW camp was really like and is what I have been wanting to hear about. This was by far the best three chapters of the book in all aspects. He finally holds still for a bit and actually goes though what I have been wanting to hear about. Also I found that the time travel is starting to take a toll on him, in that he can now predict the terrible things that happen in the future. This is a power I think he wants to live without. The last thing I want to talk about is his weird future that he saw. The USA was split apart and we were being invaded by the Nazis. I did not see that future prediction coming at all. BLOG #4 November 29, 2011 Page 50-130 In these three long chapters there are several times that Billy jumped back and forth in time. The times are to many to count. He actually finds out what he is happening to him. He can now predict when he will be picked up by the aliens which was pretty interesting for me to hear. During one of his trips back to the alien planet he is launched back in time to a boxcar in World War II. For a time he stays in Germany where he is in one of the camps. Luckily he does not jump or teleport for a while. He explains how the Germans do experiments on them and do animalistic things to learn I am starting to get a sense that the aliens are not real and that he is telling us that the Germans are the aliens. He is using the aliens as a tool to tell how different the Germans are compared to the rest of the world. I do not know if that is the message that the author and narrator are trying to get across but that is what I am picking up. I also learned that through his time travel and encounters with aliens, that he has no free will. It makes sense that if he is able to travel forward in time he does not have the ability to control himself because in the future he has already made a choice. Im starting to find that finding the meaning is more interesting than reading the book.

BLOG #3 November 16, 2011 Page 22-50 In these next two chapeters things take a very weird turn. The narrator tells us about someone named Billy that apparently time travels to different points in his life. It begins with him leaving the military after a nervous breakdown and then plane crash. He then jumps to a point in his life were he was abducted abducted by aliens and he tells the world about his encounters with them. Then it jumps back to a point were he is in a World War II battle were he is left behind and then dreams of a time he was forced to swim or drown in a pool. After this point he is captured and then brought to a camp with other American captives. Im the middle of this whole thing he jumps back to America and to sleep. To top it all off at the very end he is recaptured by the aliens called the Tralfamadorians. This book is very interesting and not at all like what I thought it would be. Billy apparently has the power of time travel, in World War II, and to teleport. As I reread my summary of this book I think that I sound like a small child that is making up a story as I go along. This book is interesting but I have a feeling it will be harder to follow than what I once thought.

BLOG #2 November 8, 2011 Page 1-22 The first section of the book is pretty uneventful. The author is explaining what life was like after he got out of the prison. He tells a cab driver what it was like living in Dresden. He explains how they were treated and they seem to be treated very well. Although Dresden was the area that they were being held, it was destroyed by the time they were freed. This book is less gory through the first section and much easier to read. I believe that the author will go in to detail about the happenings of his stay in the prison. The author gives an interesting perspective in that he stats at the end or after all the events happen. I am excited to hear all of the events that lead up to him being back in America.

October 31, 2011 The book I chose to read is //Slaughterhouse Five// by Kurt Vonnegut. I chose to read this book because of its references to World War II. I have always been interested in that topic and actually wanted to read this book first quarter but never had the chance. Also in the description I there is a reference to science fiction which I also enjoy. I have a feeling that I will enjoy this book much more than the book that I read for the first quarter. It has several topics that I enjoy, and I believe that this book will be very interesting because the author of the book has first had experience of the events that will occur. Rarely you have an author that also has first hand experience in this type of situation, this will be an interesting perspective see. Last I believe this will be a good book because there will be a somewhat happy ending, based on that the author of the book is alive in the end. The view of this book is anti-war and I assume that it will explain horrible situations, like //The Jungle//, to get its point across
 * BLOG #1 of the 2nd Quarter**

The Jungle Podcast

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BLOG#6 October 18, 2011 290-340 This final section of the book took one final dive before the hopeful side of things in brought out. Marija was fine, for being a prostitute was paid by Jurgis with his final dollars yet she tells him that she is going to remain a prostitute due to the fact that she gets a supply of morphine from her job. She has become addicted to it. Jurgis storms off and in his anger beats up a man on the street which sends him back to jail. When he gets out he again meets with a socialist group which explains to him the benefits of it. He is persuaded to become part of the socialist movement to help himself and others get jobs. My prediction about the story taking an upside was wrong. The book gets worse until the very end and there is only a glimmer of hope. The story has little to know upside at the end. I also believe that this was also another point in the story that the author expressed his views on socialism and why he believes that it is a good thing. He also brought in the idea of labor unions without actually calling them that. My final thoughts on this book is that it is a very depressing book all the way until the end. There is nearly no signs of hope and there is a cliff hanger at the end. It conveys its message very well but I did not enjoy the lack of "good feelings" in the story.

BLOG #5 October 11, 2011 229-290 In this section there is a greater focus on Jurgis. His family nearly none existent to him and he becomes more alone. He starts to drink heavily with the little money that he gets from his low paying jobs. The drinking was digging him deeper until he met a rich drunk man at a bar that gave him $100. (I saw this as the point he climbs out of misery) Sadly when he attempts to use the money he is thrown in jail because of how suspicious it looks. Another idea from this section that I saw as a very powerful one is that he learns that the best way to live in poverty is to become a criminal and live in a life of crime. The life of crime gets him into a higher standing because of how he helped rig an election. The most important thing that happened though was that Jurgis had found his family back though the political scheme. Sadly Marija is working at at brothel to make ends meat. This was the least disturbing section of them all. Things are starting to look up for Jurgis and his family because they are starting to find each other again. Also politics are starting to play a role in the story, which is big because from studying this book before I know that this has a political message for the people. Jurgis' first experience with a positive political party is a reflection on what the author thinks is best. The author wants a political party for the people as a whole, not for the rich and well off people.

BLOG #4 October 3, 2011, 162-229 As I said in the several blogs before this, the book I am reading constantly gets worse. Jurgis gets out of jail which would seem like a good thing but he is jobless and homeless. He travels around attempting to get meals as he finds small jobs at farmers homes. He later gets a job at a steel mill but he can only come home one the weekends because of the long walk from his work to his new home. Another depressing thing that happens is that a child dies in one of the most horrific ways possible, being drowned in mud. Jurgis found out about the incident when he came home on of the weekends. I am starting to get the sense that this book is over Jurgis' experience not the families experiences. Jurgis is isolated through much of the past several chapters. As the book gets worse and worse I start to have the feeling that Jurgis is going to lose everything and thats when he will hit rock bottom. He still has things to lose and that why I think the book will still get worse.

BLOG #3 September 27, 2011 Page 76-162 This story just keeps getting more and more depressing. One of the main points that I found is that after the company owners get workers, they cut their wages to near nothing. This is effecting house payments and putting more and more stress on the family. Marija goes to withdraw more money from the bank to help pay for the costs of living and Jurgis hurts his ankle and cannot work for several months. Meanwhile this is all happening in the winter time so the work is colder and makes every motion a living heck. Another significant item that happened in this section is that Teta's young child dies from eating bad meat. The author specifies that is was meat due to his view on the packing plants. I believe that this book is becoming more and more extreme as each chapter goes on. I know I say that every blog but its true. At first things were going good because Jurgis had a job. Next the book tells the extreme conditions that the workers go through. Now they are dealing with the terrible work conditions and the death of a child, due to the meat. As I said earlier, this book is depressing.

BLOG #2 September 19, 2011 Page 35-76 A brief summary of this section is Jurgis gets a job working at Durham, a meat packing plant in Chicago. The first part in this section is full of what working in the meat packing plant is like. It describes in detail how thousands of pigs and cows are butchered and gutted. The narrator describes how pigs are chained by the foot and then drug into another room where you couldn't see what was going on, but you could only hear the sounds of the pig's squeals. Another important event that happened is that Jurgis and his family are talked into buying a house instead of renting a house. What I found in this section is the extremely graphic detail on how the animals are killed. The amount of time spent on this part of the section was excessive. Also, I noticed that the author is trying to covey a mood by calling certain objects "killing fields" and "killing beds". From studying the book in the past, I know that the author is trying to tell the reader how horrible the meat packing plants really are.

BLOG #1 September 13, 2011 Page 1-35 Entry 1. The author that I will be studying is Upton Sinclair. The novel that I have been reading is //The Jungle.// A brief summary of what has happened so far is a celebration. Some of the main characters such as Jurgis, Marija, Teta, Ona, and aunt Elizabeth are attending a wedding party full of other immigrants. The party seems to be going fine until near the end. People are not paying for what they used and money is becoming tight. Jurgis says that he will find a way to pay for the wedding at all costs. I noticed that this book starts off as a happy time full of fun and without worries. As the book goes on more worries start to arise, such as the lack of money. the lack of a job, and the fact that they are new to this country. One thing that I find a little difficult about this book is the number of characters and the uniqueness of there names. They are difficult to follow. Based on my past knowledge of the book I predict that Jurgis will get a job at a meat packing and see how truly awful the job is, and how the meat packing plant adds another burden to the family.