S Adolphson's Contemporary Lit. Blog

Starting this term, I began reading Roxy by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman. Though not very far in, I’m already starting to find a lot out. The main characters include brother Isaac and sister Ivy Ramey and Roxy and Addison. Issac is the younger of the two, only a year behind, and he tries his best to keep Ivy out of trouble, even going so far as to bring her home from a party after she snuck out. Ivy is the party head. She’s constantly trying different things out and rebelling against their parents. Roxy and Addison are the humanized adaptations of two drugs, Oxycodone and Adderall.

The most memorable scene so far is the prologue of the book, titled Naloxone, gives us a mystery look into the potential future for one of the Ramey kids. We are currently being talked to by the personified version of the drug Naloxone, a drug that is supposed to help with overdose. The scene is in a run-down house, a crack den of sorts. We aren’t told much, only that the victim underdosed, their toe tag reading Ramey, I. meaning either of them will fall to Roxy and/or Addison.

So far, the book is good. All the characters we meet have quirks and flaws, accurately showing that no one is perfect. Not even Issac’s girlfriend, Shelby. The character I despise the most is Ivy’s boyfriend, Craig. He’s a no-good, drug-fueled asshole. (Sorry for the language). He’s only fueling Ivy’s addiction, getting her into deeper trouble. When Issac comes to get Ivy from the party, Craig beats Issac up, ruining his (Issac’s) ankle. Issac then thinks he has to hide his injury, otherwise he could risk losing his soccer scholarship.

I believe that Issac will be the one to “join the party”. It just seems like the most obvious plot point, and it would give Ivy a new arc to overcome life without her brother. It would bring to ideal of a dystopia more into the book.

Lennie & George-

These two travel together, have been for years. They are the best example of polar opposites working together. They rely on each other for the not-so-simple task of survival.

Candy & His Dog-

Candy has had his dog for years, since the thing was just a pup. They are inseparable. Candy always mentions how his dog used to be this great herding dog, but now it has a sliver of life left in it. They neither really seem to hugely benefit except for the idea of loneliness.

Overall- Lennie and George and Candy and his old dog are similar. Both relationships are respected by the partnership and have lasted for several years. Both work or have worked side by side for these years and share mutual feelings, at least for the most part. They both seem to be made up of a “dumb” and a “smart”, a “big” and a “small”, an “irresponsible” and a “reasonable”. Both partnerships seem to be something in which if one were to go, the other wouldn’t know what to do or how to move on.

Personally, I don’t really know what it means to belong. I have been through trials of my own and no matter how much I try, I can not find my people. I feel extremely outcasted by my peers because of ignorance and other factors…

Belonging is important to people, especially in today’s world, where everyone looks for approval. It helps them feel wanted and loved. Everyone should have somewhere they belong in every place they go: home, school, work. People rely on each other. They look for acceptance, care, and open arms. The light in the dark. If one can’t find the light, they can become distant from others or reality, causing them to hide away or never open up to people they normally would because others have outcasted them.

The best place for justice to be determined is in a court of law. – This is a very true statement, people you typically find in a courtroom are experienced in these judgment calls. They know what the process is, they have most likely seen similar cases in the past. I gave this a 10 for these reasons, the common citizen shouldn’t have the right to beat a man to death because he touched a small child (without knowing if it was his or not).

Women today are more often treated by men as equals rather than objects. – This is a somewhat true statement, many women aren’t oppressed and stuff like that at least not as they were in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Unfortunately, men still make women the lesser of the two genders. They abuse women, joke about taking their rights away (something I’ve experienced myself as a woman.), or just flat out make fun of things they do to try and impress men like wearing makeup and fake nails and getting surgeries to look like a man’s dream come true… I rated this statement a 3 because quite a few men have changed, but most men aren’t with the times.

Hysteria is shown in episode 5 of Limetown through Deirdre’s explanation of the events of the panic. Starting with Spence discovering she had the tech, him pulling her hair back to reveal the scar. Then the rest of the Old School banded together to destroy everything – Limetown, the tech, and Oscar Totem himself. Just overall causing chaos and terror.

The Old School caused this surge of fear and intensity by first destroying the supply of the supplement, destroying homes and families by breaking in and beating those inside. Finally dragging people to the center of town to watch Oscar Totem burn, or as the transcript reads: “Oscar must die so that we all will die, over and over again.” In the sense of ending the tech forever.

I believe that technology has gone too far when it starts to automate human thoughts like the process of determining decision-making and more advanced thought processes that humans should be learning as they grow. When you have a person who isn’t thinking for themselves it can cause issues and discrepancies when evaluating an individual and how well they understand, process, and retain information in their day-to-day lives.

Similarly, another point to discuss is job automation. Job automation is when certain jobs are taken from people and automated by machines, robots, or AI created by other humans. For example, when you try to call or message a company or services support system/chat. First, you are met with either a robot voice with instructions or a pre-generated question, sometimes you are stuck waiting while the computer processes your request and puts you on a waiting list, and then maybe just maybe you are matched with another human being whose trying their very best to deal with so many issues of others and trying to understand your struggles.

This brings me to my next point, human interaction and the usage of technology to communicate. Most people have cell phones, tablets, laptops, or other means of communication. This means that most people can access others and information anytime. People every day are texting, messaging, sharing, posting, and calling. This is what we rely on, technology to share our lives with friends, family, and even complete strangers, but maybe that reliance is too heavy, maybe we can take a step back. Now I’m not saying break out the paper and quill, I just believe that we as a society need to be able to talk more face to face and lay off on the internet connection. Just food for thought.

Chapter 18 tells us that fathers can have a huge impact in their child/children’s lives, helping them develop themselves and giving them a chance to learn. Zits’ father had the memory because he was at a stressful point in his life, he was going to become a father himself. He didn’t want to be the same type of father that his father was to him so instead he left Zits and his mother to not have a chance of abusing Zits the way he was abused. Sadly, Zits still has a lot of his father and the fathers of those fathers deep inside as he’s still a violent soul, he still drinks like them, still gets in trouble, and hangs out on the streets. Thankfully, Zits seems to be changing and pulling away from that cycle like his father tried to do before him.

I feel I’ve read several books that have been challenged or banned even as I’m an avid reader and my collection is extensive. I’ve even read books that were controversial in the past, like The Jungle by Upton Sinclair or Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. People may challenge books for many reasons: disagreement on the topic or the opinions and contents, overall disgust of specific authors or their works, or how certain topics or ideas are brought to the different age groups or generations of people.

Flight could be listed as controversial due to the excessive violence and obscenities, the hard topics like depression and suicide or the thought of having sex, and even just the fact of Zits as an individual due to individuals and their thoughts of racism. Zits could be quite the controversial person himself through his ideals, choices, and even just his identity. These topics with Zits can be heavily controversial depending solely on the individual reading the book and their mindset or thoughts of Zits from the outside.

TIQA Paragraphs about Zits’ identity, self-reflection, and behavior

Topic 1- Appearance & Identity

Teen Identity: Figuring out who you are

“Teens are starting to figure out who they are. They are thinking about how others see them and how they want to see themselves. Teens work out who they are by trying on new identities and experimenting with different appearances or new interests.” 

Teens are trying and struggling to find and accept their identity and who they are or will be soon. Zits relates to this by struggling to identify himself with the people around him especially not having his parents around to help him learn who he is, but instead has a bunch of different foster parents who never relate to him. The article also states things about teens “trying on” new identities such as new groups of people and behaviors or identifiers like hair color changes, or changes in clothing style.

Dangers of Teenage Stereotypes

“Clearly not all teenagers are the same. Some sleep in more than others, some love social media, some don’t. But rather than dismiss them as teenage things, we need to look beyond the behaviour. What’s going on in their lives? How can we be there for them?”

Teens are just trying to live their lives just like everyone else, meaning they shouldn’t be defined by one little thing like sleeping or their struggles with anger. Zits is a prime example because he constantly gets defined by his violent and rage-filled actions when he’s sad or stressed. He struggles to express himself healthily due to his past, its strong trauma, and the horrible memories that stick with him. Everyone has their moments and shouldn’t be judged for the negatives or the one thing that makes them different but instead, talk to them and help them out if needed.

Topic 2- Anger & Behavior

Destruction of Innocence-

If there is one topic in the book Flight that is most prevalent in chapters 9 through 12 it has to be the looming misery of the destruction of innocence. Several children in the book are exposed to things that destroy their innocence of youth.

“I’m only twelve or thirteen. This body is only twelve or thirteen. I am only a child. I stare at the white soldier in front of me. He’s probably eighteen. Or younger. He’s seventeen or sixteen or fifteen. He’s a child and I’m a child and I’m supposed to slash his throat,” (Alexie 78).

“There was the body of a little girl, blond, blue-eyed, pretty even in death. She was still wearing her little blue gingham dress. She was the only person still wearing her clothes. The Indians had shown her that much respect: They murdered her, but they didn’t strip her naked. They let her die as an innocent. Three arrows in her stomach. She was still clutching a rag doll,” (Alexie 86).

“A soldier dismounts and chases down a woman and her little daughter. He shoots the woman in the back. She falls. The daughter drops to her knees beside her mother. Daughter wails. The soldier shoots at the daughter. But his gun jams. He pulls the trigger again. Nothing. So he grabs the barrel of his rifle, still so hot that it burns his hands. But he doesn’t feel the pain, not yet, as he smashes the gun down on the girl’s skull. He hits her again and again. Keeps hitting her until his rifle breaks in half,” (Alexie 90-91).

These chunks of text from the book all perform a similar scene in which a child is ripped of their innocence and forced to see the reality of the world around them.