Second Quarter Reading

For my second outside reading book, I have chosen The Long Valley, a collection of short stories by John Steinbeck. I chose this book because I like John Steinbeck as an author and because I thought that short stories would be more fun to read than a novel. Other books by Steinbeck that I liked are The Pastures of Heaven, Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, The Log from the Sea of Cortez, and The Winter of Our Discontent.

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Works Cited:

Ethan "erber". Animals Rule. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. .

Getty Images. gettyimages. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. .

Maine CDC. Maine.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. .

War Chancellor, Nachttoter. †Bl00D† Clan. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. .

The Writerly Voice of Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller's voice in Catch-22 is satirical and comical. For example, in chapter 11 he writes, "The more loyalty oaths a person signed, the more loyal he was; to Captain Black it was as simple as that, and he had Corporal Kolodny sign hundreds with his name each day so that he could always probe he was more loyal than anyone else"(113). No person would ever think that they could prove themselves more loyal than someone else by signing hundreds of loyalty oaths and no one would actually sign hundreds of loyalty oaths either. People do sign loyalty oaths, but do they really mean anything? Does signing your name on a piece of paper prevent you in any way from acting against what you just signed? Joseph Heller is making fun of the idea that a signature has the power to keep someone loyal. His satirical voice comes out when he suggests with hyperbole that someone would sign hundreds of pieces of paper, and he uses it to criticize society's naïveté in thinking that a name of a piece of paper has any real power.

Heller's voice is not only satirical, but colloquial as well. His liberal use of commas and semicolons in the text demonstrates how he writes the way that people speak. Especially in dialog, the colloquial voice he uses is educated, yet familiar. It is evocative of the type of person who would use proper grammar, so someone who is older than a teenager, but someone who speaks with a modern tongue. The colloquial yet educated qualities of Heller's voice integrate well with the military atmosphere of his novel to create a consistent and appealing world.

Heller rarely breaks out of his satirical voice, even when making a serious comment on society such as when he writes, "Yossarian, on the other hand, knew exactly who Mudd was. Mudd was the unknown soldier who had never had a chance, for that was the only thing anyone ever did know about all the unknown soldiers—they never had a chance. They had to be dead"(108). Even when discussing seriously how society sweeps the unfortunate under the rug, Heller has a satirical voice. The name "Mudd" when turned phonetically backward is "dumb". In this passage it represents how society looks down on the unfortunate as poor saps, blaming them as responsible for their own situations, when in reality people don't want to admit that those "Mudd"s could be them; other than not looking at them, people find false difference between themselves and the unfortunate in order to convince themselves that they will never end up with no money, no teeth, or dead. Heller's satirical tone is thusly very effective, allowing him to discuss serious topics with an audience that might otherwise stay away from thicker books.

Oprah special guest: from the grave, Mr. Joseph Heller

Oprah Winfrey: Please welcome to the show Mr. Joseph Heller! [applause]

Joseph Heller: Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

OW: I want to start out by saying how much I loved your book Catch-22. As a humorous descriptions of life as an American soldier in World War Two, it captivated my attention and tickled my funny bone. I especially liked the satirical voice that you achieved. For example, when Colonel Cargill tells his officers that he would never order them to attend the U.S.O. show in the second chapter and then in the same sentence tells them to go to the show and adds "that's an order!"

JH: [laughs] Yes, I suppose I do have an almost overly satirical style.

OW: Mr. Heller--

JH: You can call me Joseph.

OW: --Joseph, Joe, [mimicking an Italian mobster à la George Carlin] Joey, how you doin'--[JH laughs] Joseph, what is the goal of your voice in writing? Why did you write this novel the way you did?

JH: Well, I was trying to, I guess, poke fun at the military, and at life; I was trying to show the lighter side of it. For a small example, see chapter four. Doc Daneeka's temperature is reported at 96.8.

OW: Yes, normal human core temperature.

JH: Well, actually, no. Normal human temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Most people would read through that sentence and see nothing wrong. They would see those three digits and recognize it as correct. But it is a joke for those individuals who do recognize it.

OW: It is very enlightening, talking to you. I've been living my whole life believing that 96.8 degrees is correct. I guess you learn something new every day. [audience laughs]

JH: Thank you.

OW: Mr. Heller--Joe--if it would please you, will you read a bit from your book for us, any part that you specifically like?

JH: My pleasure. From chapter four, again: "Yossarian would persuade McWatt to enter Doc Daneeka's name on his flight log for training missions or trips to Rome. 'You know how it is,' Doc Daneeka had wheedled, with a sly, conspiratorial wink. 'Why take chances when I don't have to?' 'Sure,' Yossarian agreed. 'What difference does it make to anyone if I'm in the plane or not?' 'No difference.' 'Sure, that's what I mean,' Doc Daneeka said. 'A little grease is what makes this world go round. One hand washes the other. Know what I mean? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.' Yossarian knew what he meant. 'That's not what I meant,' Doc Daneeka said as Yossarian began scratching his back. 'I'm talking about cooperation. Favors. You do a favor for me, I'll do one for you. Get it?' 'Do one for me,' Yossarian requested. 'Not a chance,' Doc Daneeka answered."

OW: Brilliant! The interplay between the two character, it really brings out your voice. The way that. . .two characters fail to understand each other, like we often fail to understand each other, in our lives, but in the most comical way--

JH: Yes. I know that we often think of the military type as someone who thinks they're so tough and is. . .is looking out for only themselves. Yossarian plays dumb, because he'd never agree to Doc's proposition. He doesn't want to wash the other hand, he only looks out for himself.

OW: Thank you very much for being here today. Joseph Heller, everyone! You can pick up his book Catch-22 in book stores everywhere! You won't need to, though. Look under your seats. I like Mr. Heller's literary voice so much that I'm giving each of you a copy of his most famous novel! [audience cheers]

JH: It was my pleasure.

[cue music as the show cuts to a commercial.]

Summer Reading

This Summer I spent my days hiking through Tilden Park, going geocaching, and mastering board games. I also read two books by John Steinbeck, Cannery Row and Log from the Sea of Cortez.

I chose to read two books by Steinbeck because I have found myself to enjoy all of his books that I read. I started with him with Of Mice and Men in ninth grade, and I read The Pastures of Heaven and The Winter of Our Discontent in tenth grade. Steinbeck's work has a style that flows well despite going off on tangents to explain important minutia. His plots are engaging and the themes and literary devices he uses an eleventh grade can relate to. His writing is straightforward to read and easy to understand.

Of the two books I read this summer in particular, Cannery Row is more appropriate to add to eleventh grade curriculum because it is shorter to read and therefore more time can be spent on analyzing it. Also, as fiction it is easier to understand the themes because it has been fully created by Steinbeck, rather than the non-fiction of Log from the Sea of Cortez, whose themes are harder to understand because Steinbeck can only more subtly suggest ideas.

Overall, I would recommend both books I read over the Summer for the eleventh grade curriculum if you feel that students need to read more of Steinbeck's work than Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath, if you want to teach books with themes relating to human morality, and if you want students to like reading the books you assign.