[CLASS] Lit. Class V2 {Part two up!}

[elvyralani]

((Holly will be joining this class!))  

[Kaze Taco]

((Alwine will be joining this class))  

[alpha lyrae]

(( a question!

do we just edit our join posts with the homework or would you prefer we do a new post altogether? ))  

[Roxy_roxanna2]

Sin walked into the class quietly, she was still contemplating if she should hand in her homework or not. She had been so absorbed in the assignment that she had written personal things, things she wasn't sure she should share. Slowly she took her seat and pulled out her paper laying it facedown on her desk and pushing back an errant lock of hair.

Sin's HW

Sin Err
Year 1
Professor Alabaster

The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux is by far one of my favorite novels, while not quite the story of my life I have found some parts relatable. The tale begins with Christine Daaé a poor demon girl with a sirens voice. She believes all the fanciful tales her father tells her about the Reaper of Music. A a child she is friends with the rich demon Raoul, but when her father passes away she is left orphaned and sent away.

Christine manages to receive a position in the Opera House and one night she hears the most beautiful voice singing to her. Night after night she listens until she is convinced by the voice that it is the Reaper of Music. The voice guides her and schools her in the use of her own voice from then on.

However the voice does not belong to the Reaper of Music but rather to Erik a poor ghost trapped in the Opera House and haunting it constantly. He uses his disruptive haunting to extort what he needs from the dense monster managers. Over time however Erik falls in love with Christine and becomes determined to make her his bride.

On the even of the old monster managers retirement Christine sings at a gala and triumphantly wins fame, thanks to Erik's vocal coaching. Raoul however is also present and upon hearing Christine and seeing her grown falls in love with her remembering all their childhood fun. A short time later the Opera House performs the tale of Faust and Carlotta a demon prima donna demands the lead. Erik demands a private box and when he is denied Carlotta loses her voice and Erik looses the chandelier into the audience.

As the chandelier falls Erik snatches up Christine and takes her down below the Opera House into the dark cellars where he dwells. He plans to keep her with him until she falls in love with him, as he has fallen for her. Christine begins to fall in love with Erik only to be horrified by his disfigured face when she unmasks him. Erik decides to keep her prisoner and sings to her of his love and despair, but after weeks of begging he finally releases her. Erik makes Christine promise to wear his ring and be faithful to him even while she is away.

Christine then meets Raoul on the roof of the Opera house and tells him about Erik and the cellars below. Raoul demands Christine come away with him to safety where Erik can never reach her. Feeling badly Christine agrees with Raoul but resolves to go and sing for Erik one last time before she leaves. Erik meanwhile has heard of all Christine and Raoul's plans and infuriated by the betrayal he is driven into a jealous violent rage against any who would stand between him and Christine.

The next night Erik kidnaps Christine and begs her to marry him, when she refuses he threatens to destroy the opera house and everyone in it including themselves. Christine still refuses until she realized Raoul has been trapped in one of Erik's torture chambers while trying to save her. Christine then agrees that in exchange for Raoul's safety and that of everyone in the opera house she will marry Erik. Christine kisses Erik and stuns him completely, for never before had he been kissed, even by his own mother. He releases Raoul and Christine telling her he understands that she loves him and to wed him and be happy. Christine and Raoul leave and Erik is left alone and later presumed dead.

I feel very badly for Erik during the entire novel, his love compels his every action. I can relate to Christine's feelings as she rises, her hopes for a better life. I can even understand her renewed love with her childhood friend. Raoul is rich and attractive and so Christine cannot seem to help but love him more then she could ever love Erik. I think if I were faced with the same choice I too would choose Raoul, but I would hate it. A part of me deep down inside thinks that Christine is an ingrate and superficial, and vain. I suppose these are just reflections of how I see myself since I know that the choices Christine makes are so similar to those I would make.

Erik has done everything for Christine, trained her voice to make her a star. He has comforted her in all her time at the Opera House and been a steadfast guide. He is disfigured and lives in a dark cellar, but neither are conditions he could help. If Christine had only looked beyond that and seen all that Erik had done for her, the choice she should have made was to honor her promise and stay with him. Christine was too blind to see that Erik would do anything for her and Raoul hadn't thought of her until he saw her grown and beautiful in the spotlight. One must wonder if Erik hadn't helped Christine to be a star if Raoul would ever have noticed her as a mere background dancer or singer.

At least Christine has a moment of redemption in that she considers Erik and wishes to sing for him one last time before betraying and leaving him. In the end the story is beautiful and yet tragic somehow in thinking that Erik's supposed death was simply the cause of a broken heart. I must wonder after reading such a tale how many hearts are broken by ghouls who never realize how special a boil is, and never look back to consider them.

She gave a quick glance around her eyes trying to pick out who else was in class. Hopefully she had a friendly partner, and maybe she could just focus on their paper and not let them read hers. She placed her hand over her paper, even if it was facedown she still felt oddly vulnerable. What had compelled her to write so honestly?  

[Reeshie Hack]

Julian walked into class and chose the seat he had taken the last class. He took his essay out and looked it over again. He was torn with it, but there was no going back now. He couldn't just leave, he liked literature. The only problem is that he had put so many... personal things in his essay. And yet it was true. He did relate to the main character so much more than anything else he had read. Should he have shared that in this essay? It was going to be reviewed by a classmate.

Crap...

Quote:

Julian Thanatos
1/25/11
Literature, Dr. Alabaster

I cannot really remember the first time I read The Neverending Nightmare, I have read so many books since I first started reading that it just melded in there. But of everything I have read, I feel that it is one of my top favorites, one that I can relate most to. It is a novel about a reaper boil named Balthazar who finds a book called The Neverending Nightmare and is drawn into the story of a human boy who has to find the cure to a plague that is spreading over the human world. He human boy goes on a grand adventure, meeting wisemen and aviators and being chased by an assassin who's immune to the plague. And in the end, it turns out that the reaper boil is the key to curing the plague. He is then drawn into the world of the story and has more adventures, helping him grow as a person.

I know it is more difficult to relate to someone unlike yourself when reading, especially young readers. Normally I did read about young demons. But when I was little, I always used to feel like Balthazar, even though he was a reaper. I did not have problems with my family like he did, but I did get bullied a lot by other demons that lived in our neighborhood. I was smaller and more than a little awkward, so I was an easy target. Probably the easiest target around. I had older brothers who could help me, and often did, but that did not change the fact that I decided I would rather stay inside and lose myself in my books rather than venture outside and face the other kids, like Balthazar. So many times, I have felt like I can close my eyes and find myself in the book, riding across plains with the human or flying on a magic carpet or being the hero and saving the ghoul from a stupid knight or exorcist. It helps me forget about being awkward or shy, to forget worrying about someone taking my books or tossing me into a lake.

Fiction helps me escape from the world around me. It makes me want to someday write novels like The Neverending Nightmare for other boils and ghouls who need an escape, just like I did.

 

[Dragain]

YES PLZ! Lizzy had been waiting for this!  

[Selalusia]

((Ithilethiel will be joining?))  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

((Nyyrikki will be joining this class!))  

[Sosiqui]

Malodore could write essays, it just preferred not to - unless, of course, it was a treatise on medical or surgical technique. It had briefly considered doing its essay on one of its medical tomes, except none of those had a proper narrative... or characters, for that matter.

So. A different old favorite it was! It had always admired the clinical mind of a particular literary hero...

Malodore's Essay

Thoughts on The Adventures of Sherlock Bones
by L.C. Malodore

The classic stories of the skeletal Sherlock Bones and his plague doctor assistant, Doctor John Whetstone, are some of my favorites. I have always admired the clinical and logical mind of Sherlock Bones, and of course Doctor Whetstone has always been easy for me to identify with. Their sharp minds and keen intuition, not to mention their skills, mark them as heroes for the ages.

All of the stories involve crime in some way, and Bones works with the bogeymen to bring criminals to justice. My favorite Sherlock Bones story is The Hounds of the Baskervilles, in which Bones and Whetstone must assist a clan of barghests in reclaiming human souls long promised to them. The brief forays into the Human World are fascinating (although given my recent, very different experience in the Human World, I think the author was exaggerating quite a bit).

There are not a lot of classic literary works that feature undead as the main characters on the side of good. In a literary canon filled with tales of demons and monsters, finding the stories of Sherlock Bones was a revelation. They inspired me to value logic and deductive reasoning, as well as the value of thinking for myself rather than settling for what other people say are the only true facts. If it had not been for these stories, I might not be here at Amityville today.

Someday, I would like to be able to use deductive reasoning as skillfully as Sherlock Bones, as well as tend to others medically as well as Doctor Whetstone. To me, both of them are the epitome of professional thinkers: intelligent, creative, and knowledgeable without tipping into mad scientist territory. (Much.)

 

[Nio Love]

Riley had spent very little time writing her essay the night before - this was because she had been so passionate about the topic, that it flowed out of her like water. She hadn't realized how much she was gushing until she neared the end, and reigned herself in. One must show restraint when dealing with works of fiction, after all.

Riley's Essay

Riley
Year 1
Literature Class

The Rise of Trapolion Boilaparte - by Ghoulbert Gasprey

This book is the first in a series of fiction written around a wonderful character whose name is featured in the title. The books are rumored to be loosely based on actual history, but I am hard pressed to believe this is the case simply because of the tragic and unfair ending to our main protagonist. Someone of such high standards would have obviously triumphed in his goals and would still be in power today.
Trapolion Boilaparte was a charismatic leader who used his great military skill and strong conviction to trailblaze a path across Halloweentown in it's darkest hour. Once our beloved Jack had finally stepped down from his place at the head of our great abode, Halloweentown attempted a feeble self-governmental policy. Chaos quickly fell as the establishment failed, and it was Trapolion Boilparte who took the reigns of supreme power and brought Halloweentown back to it's former glory. Once he had secured the stable foundations of a town that would begin to thrive under his tutelage, he set his sights on the other holiday towns as well. Through a series of intricate alliances, he began to form powerful connections that would eventually lead him to win several battles against warring holidays. At the height of his reign, Trapolion had Christmastown and Thanksgiving under his thumb, and had nearly brought Eastertown to it's knees in defeat. I can only assume, had he succeeded in obtaining complete power to all holidays, he would have then ventured to the human world. Alas, it is not for us to know of his intentions, as he is later banished, imprisoned, and eventually poisoned in the third installment of the book series, The Fall of Trapolion Boilaparte.

This first installment is one of my favorite books to read. I have read it countless number of times, and I feel the tale of Trapolion Boilaparte is a hero's tale with a tragic ending. Even though this a work of fiction, I find myself strongly connected with the protagonist, and hope to one day make my stamp in the world as great as he would have, if he had been real. His solitary goal was to bring together all of the separated pieces of our society, and it was a lofty, but well-intentioned goal indeed. It is only with the charisma and grace of a true leader, as well as the intelligence of a military specialist and genius such as Trapolion Boilaparte, that such a goal could ever become a reality. I should hope to be even half of the leader these books make him out to be, one day.

 

[alpha lyrae]

Tsetsiliya moved quietly into class, her fingers enclosed around her paper. Spotting an open seat near the back, she followed the wall and slid into the chair. After a moment of compulsively straightening the wrinkles on her essay, she took out a small, thick book on grammar and gave her essay a last-minute perusal.

She was not an essay writer, nor much of a reader. Reading was too idle for her taste, as she always preferred to be doing something with her hands. However she did have one book that she particularly enjoyed (even if she could only get through the whole novel once). She had spent days (off and on, really) working on the paper, pouring over her grammar book to correct her commonly-misplaced phrases thanks to language problems. The poludnica was adamant in putting her best foot forward in every class!

But staring at this paper, Tsetsiliya still didn't think it was very good. It didn't help that she had written her name in the wrong language. She scratched it out, rewriting how it was commonly written. Well, this was a great start to her essay.

Tsetsiliya's Essay

Цецилия Па́влова Tsetsiliya Pavlova
Year 1
Literature Class, Dr. Alabaster

Jane Eerie

When I am called upon to choose my favorite book, no book comes to mind as much as Jane Eerie by Charlotte Hauntë. I admit that I am not much of a reader, and this book was one I needed to stop and re-start several times before completing it, but it was very much worth the effort. Jane is a heroine that is very relatable to young Halloweeners as an example of how to deal with issues that come your way. As demonstrated by the part of the book telling of her adolescence at the Rawwood School, whatever issues you cannot surmount easily can be bared through by keeping your head down and waiting for the right time. She shows that despite being a demon, she is not immune to bad circumstances and has them just as everyone else does.

The character of Rockhester, I think relates to the temptations of mystery. Many young ghouls are drawn to these mysterious types, but I believe his character is there as a note of caution as well - that nothing should be done in haste. The fact that he has been keeping a secret wife from Jane proves him as a cautionary tale, and it affirms one's right to be wary of being too open with newcomers, no matter how charming they may seem. In the end, he is forgiven for keeping his dark secrets to bring things to a satisfying conclusion, but I believe the point is still valid. No issue can be put off forever or hidden away, and that one can only deal with their problems by themselves.

Characters like Jane are encouraging to those who are easy prey to the uneasy patches of life. To make it through these patches feeling alright and ready to surmount the next, it is not impossible. Jane Eerie encourages me to be aware of the people around me, to be on my guard but open to new possibilities. It teaches me that one can only let fate push things so far before taking matters into their own hands.

 

[Manda]

The lightning dragon wandered into the classroom muttering under his breath to himself. Why did he have to take this stupid class? He didn't see the point of books and reading and all that. If you wanted to find something out, you should just go DO it, not look it up in some book. Why trust someone else's word in the first place? And fiction . . .? Reading about fake people doing fake things mystified him even more. What made that enjoyable?

Huffing softly, he slid out a single sheet of paper without very much writing on it and put it down in front of him.

Aksaja's Report

Aksaja
Year 1
Professor Alabaster

Dragon's Halloween

I don't really have a favorite book. At all. Don't really read that much sorry. So I just went looking for stuff about dragons cause I figured that might be cool. Didn't realize this book was some stupid kid's story. But too late to go get something else now, so here goes.

This is a book about some idiot dragon - who doesn't even LOOK like a dragon by the way. I mean, he has no wings!! Anyway this dragon is all worried because it's Halloween and he doesn't have a pumpkin to carve up. So he goes to try and find one but all the good ones are gone. Stupid, should've gone earlier. But hey I'm lazy too so I guess I can kinda relate.

He also has some sort of . . . nightmare I guess about weird costumes people are wearing. It's a pretty silly book.

The end.

 

[MoonKitsune]

It was another glorious day in Alabater's class, and as eager as eve, the kelpie took his seat dead center and to the front. It had the best view of the professors desk if, say, he wanted to just sit there and grade papers all day. Calder wouldn't mind. He could just STARE into those dreamy eyes and admire the were-unicorn's perfectly trimmed goatee. To prepare for anything, he scooted his desk 3 inches forward, as usual, and set his homework down. Out of all his classes, the homework for this class was crisp, clean, and written with the most care and attention. Out of all his homework he would hastily write and complete before class for other professors, Calder spent far too much time thinking about and writing out his homework for Alabaster. It was his only way to dazzle him.

Oh, but he still that tender memory of them in the bookstore, and he sighed to himself. To think he wasn't allowed off campus anymore stabbed him inside, and he knew he would probably be crushed to see his beloved when he knew he wouldn't work on a second date. He had to find a way!!!

For now, he just had to settle on waiting patiently and treasuring each second in Literature class. He could only hope that his Alabaster would spend a little more time frowning at his paper than any other student. The more he wrote on his page in the margins, the more Calder would be pleased.

Calder's homework that had been rewritten a million times to be painstakingly gorgeous just for his darlings eyes!

Calder
Year 1
Literature Class
Dr. Alabaster

The Crimson Letter

The story is about Hellster Pins, a nymphet that has to wear a big letter 'L'' on her placed by all the other monsters in her community for being involved in going to the pumpkin patch with some unknown person at a really early age. Her parents are all the way back at home so they don't know what has happened, but everyone in her community ignores her and sends her off to the woods to live out her days. The poor banshee is left with a pumpkin child of her own, a nymphet like her which is lucky because if it looked like the other creature, everyone would know!

The other parent is actually a faun who lives with the nymphets that said he would be their protector and promised never to chase any of them down or to go the pumpkin patch with. He never once showed any interest in them until he fell in love with Hellster. The guardian, a faun named Aglar Gloomsdale, and he can't tell anyone what he's done because it would jeopardize his job. They both agree that they can't tell, but Hellster is waiting for him to tell the truth so that they can have a family. Of course, this can't be done because everyone would know and Aglar would get in a lot of trouble.

Hellster then waits in the woods, watching her lover and waiting for the day they can be together and have a family. She knows that she can't go telling everyone and will even hold the burden of the child with her even if it means suffering.

There was a lot more after that, but this is the part I liket he best before it gets too dark and dreary. Then it moves away from being romantic and just gets dark as her ex-boilfriend shows up and tries to hurt Aglar. I know if I was there, and I was Hellster, I would have hurt him good for touching my boil!

What's important is that Aglar is a passionate yet sensitive man who has to put a front to the entire nymphet community because he is their guardian, and he speaks to them with such passion yet holds so much hurt inside. Hurt that only Hellster can understand, and they go through such lengths to keep their secret love from being discovered even though Hellster REALLY WISHES they could just run off together.

I feel for Hellster, and that is why this story touches me deeply.

The Kelpie waited patiently for the class to begin, wondering with some small dread that word got back to the Lit. Professor about the kelpie's poor conduct. He certainly hoped not!  

[Ary Keeyara]

Why in Jack's name was Coralie in this class? She couldn't figure it out for the life of her. The homework alone had put her to sleep, not to mention the last class, and she really felt like it was a big waste of time. It was one thing if she was bored and learning something (which she still hated by the way), but it was entirely different to think that she felt like she was losing parts of her brain thinking about the class and then realizing she wasn't getting anything form it either.

So when she'd found out she had to write an essay, well, her heart wasn't in it to say the least. Her brain probably wasn't in it either, because it came out a bunch of rabble and she didn't really seem to care. She didn't even bother or organize the thing, she just wrote what she remembered and what she thought and went "there", because it being done was an accomplishment in her mind, considering how boring it was.

Quote:

Coralie Bahest
Year 1
Obviously your class if you're reading this Literature Class

The Curious Case of Benjamin Patchwork

This book is about a strange patchwork baby that comes out of a pumpkin all old and brittle like an old man and slowly ages backwards. It goes through his life with his odd condition, mostly in regard to some ghoul he meets and ends up with. I guess its supposed to be tragic or something, maybe ironic, because he dies by basically becoming a baby and then nothing. I think I was supposed to feel sorry for his wife, but she was honestly annoying and uninteresting in most of the parts of the book so I really didn't care about her all too much. What I did care about was why Benjamin aged the wrong way. I mean, come on, the title suggests this is a really interesting thing, and it is! But the book is never about that, really, and it certainly never explains it. This is completely stupid, because what is the point of leading on readers and then just being like 'haha I guess you'll never know, glad I wasted your time' or what have you?! Anyway, I only read interesting things, and this was interesting, but in the wrong way; stupid book never delivered on its promises.

Oh, I forgot to write about me in relation to the book. Well obviously I don't age backwards and don't know anyone who does so this is kind of non-applicable in my opinion. But now if I do meet someone who ages backwards I'll be sure not to marry them or die young.

 

[elvyralani]

Another class she didn't care much for but still signed up for? Awesome. Well it made for being interesting and Holly reminded herself she needed to expand what she knew. Growing up as a fox you really don't get exposure to these types of things... But here they had to write a paper thing? Anyway she had picked up a random book and got through the paper. Getting to class she added it to the pile.

Quote:

Holly
Lit. Class

Lord of the Rings

I haven't read anything ever until this assignment. So I hope this sounds okay because I have no idea what you want.

The book I read was about a poor misunderstood Lord. He was going to rule all of his land but then he lost his ring. I guess that let him rule. Really it was stolen right off his finger. Jerk, I'd have gone after him myself but I guess he needed to fix his finger.

Anyway. He sends out some of his followers to get it back from the gnome that has it now. But for some reason the powerful beasts cannot find him. To help enforce his power he destroys a lot of people. I wish there was more description on the death.

Well the gnome seems to keep with the hiding but more people die. Some other stuff happened too, it was a long book. But near the end the dark lord attacks a city and almost claims it. Though while that happened the gnome snuck in to the lord's place. You think it would have been guarded better? Gnome almost destroys ring but the lord gets it in the end.

Everyone else dies in the end. It was good. Took a little long to get to the end, I think he should have tried to find the gnome earlier.

Um. I didn't really feel all that connected. I'd probably had been more ruthless. How hard is it to find a ring. Or really was it that easy to loose? I learned some good strategies though and some things to never do.