Round Table #4

Link to the 4th round table
http://soundcloud.com/theunaltered/round-table-4

Casey Character Comparing

Matt and Vincent, they are both the main characters that are in somewhat similar societies and situations. Although they are complete opposites in how they were created and what is acceptable as in how you were created in their societies they are both outcasts and invalids in their societies. Matt faces adversity his entire life being a clone. He is made fun of, stomped or completely ignored when around others who hate him because of his creation rather than his personality. This is the same for Vincent, except that he is naturally engineered rather than in a lab. I think that they are most similar in the sense of their position in society. They are also both aspiring to be something that should be impossible. Vincent wants to be a part of Gattaca but only the prefect Valids can do that making it seem impossible for that to happen. Matt wants to be the ruler of Opium, but everyone else knows that he is tone used for parts and will be trashed once he is used again making his dream impossible in the minds of everyone else. Despite this both of them believe in themselves, although doubt crosses their minds, both have the drive to succeed. Neither give up when someone tells them that they will never succeed.

Another thing that I realized when watching and reading that the two have in common is in who helps them. Matt and Vincent both have one person who helps them dramatically and then one person who helps them at the end of their run to success. For Matt Tam Lin helps him dramatically. Tam Lin teaches him, shows him nature, acts like a father and most importantly saves him from being killed when he brings Matt to the mountains and gives him a story and escape route. Maria is the one who helps Matt less at the end. This is because when Matt reaches the hospital to see Chacho, Maria finds him and tells her Mom, Esperanza, and has him saved from the Keepers who are also there and has him brought to Opium to run the state. Jerome is Vincent's Tam Lin. Jerome gives everything that Vincent needs that he doesn't have to be a part of Gattaca. He gives blood, heart rate, urine, hair, and skin samples so that Vincent can be a part of Gattaca, without Jerome Vincent would never have succeeded at his goal. The urine tester was the one who helped Vincent succeed at the end when he let him through knowing that he was an invalid. Both Matt and Vincent needed these people to succeed and both were every thankful and appreciative which is why both felt bad when their, "miracle worker," willing died. Jerome killed himself meanwhile Tam Lin drank the poison even though he knew that it would kill him.

Ryan's Character Comparison

Based on the description from the book and the visuals in the movie, Vincent and Matt seem like similar characters. They both seem to be similar looking although Matt may look a little darker than Vincent. They both live in very similar environments, Vincent in his non-genetically enhanced human hating world and Matt in his clone hating world. They both try so hard to fit in but in the end they both realize that they will never fit in to the place where they live. The one difference is that at the beginning Matt is not trying to hide the fact that he is a clone whereas Vincent manages to hide the fact that he is not a genetically altered human by taking over the life of a man named Jerome. Both characters seem to try and avoid conversation about what they really are and if they do have to talk about it, it generally doesn't last very long. In Gattaca since most people don't know about Vincent's true identity, most people talk highly of him or at the least respects him, however in House of the Scorpion, majority of people know that Matt is a clone and therefore seem to have an automatic hatred. When Matt goes into Aztlan though, no one really knows that Matt is in fact a clone, but most people still hate him due to the fact that he is an "Aristocrat" which makes everyone hate him anyways. Some moments where both characters show some of their true colours is when Vincent has a swimming competition with his brother which shows that he always strives to keep up with the genetically altered humans. A moment for Matt is when he and Maria are hiding in the secret passage and listening in on Felicia and Tom as they say some disturbing things. When it comes out that Felicia killed Furball and not Matt, Maria gets upset and Matt tries to comfort her which shows that he is a caring person. Overall I think that the characters are very similar but have a few differences.

Ryan's fourth blog post

So far I haven't really cared too much for the book but its not as bad as I first thought at the beginning. The beginning really started out too slow in my opinion and I found it hard to get into. I absolutely hate books that start off with slow or stupid beginning which this book had elements of both. After the chapter "El Patron" (Farmer 52) It started to slightly pick up but I still found it boring. So far I'm just hoping to get to the ending soon because its really just becoming a hassle to read now. I actually love the actual idea behind the story but the way Farmer wrote it is, how can I say this, awful? It really is not a very interesting book and it could've been a much better book if it had a slightly faster pace and also some chapters of the book are just boring like the first 4 chapters, sure they're important but they're make me want my mind to imploded. Those are my thoughts so far on this book.

Casey Blog 4

I think that the book is kind of slow up to this point. So far there has been a lot of events but none have been overly exciting. The most action that has happened is the part where El Patron gets sick and Matt has to be hidden by Maria in chapter 22 and then into chapter 24 where Matt has to leave so that he isn't killed. The first few chapters where Matt is in, "The little red house in the poppy fields," (Farmer 5) is the most boring part of the book as Matt is alone and nothing good happens whatsoever. It's a horrible way to start a book because there is nothing intriguing to hold your interest, quite honesty if I were not forced to continue reading I would have stopped because of how boring it was. The book did get gradually more exciting as I have previously stated, although it has never really taken off. I'm still hoping for some exciting events to happen in, "The New Life."(Farmer Table of Contents) Hopefully the new life means a new life for the story or any life really. Now that Matt is under the fake identity of, "Matt Ortega," (farmer 260) and a fake identity, things might be able to get interesting if people find out who he really is. With a new setting, name, identity and goal, I am hoping that one of those things will spark excitement in the pages of the novel to come.

Casey Blog 3

http://www.chron.com/news/article/32-illegal-immigrants-found-in-Texas-stash-house-3410250.php

Why would someone risk their life to escape their home? To me the sad reality of why someone would risk their life to illegally escape to another country is because where there are, their life is not worth living. The way I see it, people will take the risk of death because they would rather die trying to escape then live a horrible where they are. With brutal living conditions, intense labour and nothing to provide happiness of any means, escape with the risk of death is high is more appealing than living in the conditions you are in. If they succeed without being caught then it was worth it and if not Im sure many are happier than if they had never tried. I think that it is sad that death has to be more appealing than living in the conditions that some have live in. It is especially sad that to the people caught living in the house decried in the article, living in the conditions that they were living in when in the stash house were better than in Mexico. No electricity or furnishings and 32 people sounds like a horrible place to be in, so if that was better than life in their countries, I can't imagine what they had to live in before. I understand the Government not accepting these people and deporting them, but when they see how these people are living they must feel some emotion for these people especially after seeing how they were living once they got to America.

Ryan's Third Blog Post

The real life equivalent of the Farm Patrol in my opinion would be the border patrol along the Mexican/U.S. border. Bother patrol along their designated area's and make sure no people try to cross the border illegally. But the question is, why would you even try to cross the border? My guess is mainly to find a better life. Its just like in the book, when Celia is explaining her past, she seems to go on about how much better she heard life was in the U.S. then it was in Aztlan. The same applies in current times where the U.S. has a much better quality of life than Mexico which is basically Aztlan's equivalent. Most people don't illegally move to U.S. for no reason, the main reason is for a better life or to get back to family. Here is an article on American's and Mexican's illegally immigrating to either Mexico (American's) or the U.S. (Mexicans). Border hopping article