Twilight

No wonder my tuition kid can't put this book down when i'm teaching. Its hilarious really - She'll sulk and ask for breaks and tell me not to teach so that she can read her book. Its' the first time that had ever happened to me, I was at a loss to impose my decree to continue with math or let her carry on with her fascination with the written word.

I would think one of the main draws of the abovementioned novel is that it reads like a classic romance...... girl meets boy, girl finds something wierd about boy....... they undergo several hardships, but eventually live happily ever after. Of course, the main character being female, the book has obvious attractions to the average female student. It doesn't help that the prose is peppered with liberal sprinklings of how "his shirt could not hide his chiselled chest" and "the slabs of muscle on his arms flexed in a raw display of power" and all that. Oh, how my heart is a-flutter. The author does go about it rather discreetly though, drawing the potrait of love without the usual physical hangups.

The pacing of the novel is not bad, although it spends the majority of it's time exploring the growing relationship between the two lead characters. It almost felt as if the antagonist of the latter half of the story was thrown in as an afterthought. Of course, their star-crossed love would face difficulties throughout the course of the novel, but it is hardly noticeable. And of course it's so exciting to do something that everyone disapproves of... Stirs up the rebel in everyone.

Overall, it was unputdownable. Whilst i know most people would tell me thats not a word, but i beg to differ. No other word comes close to describing the zest and vim of a novel that keeps the reader sufficiently entertained from cover to cover. I had a test today, so I HAD to put it down last night before sleeping. Today i had no such excuse, and finished it off thoroughly and satisfactorily.

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Now, because i have a bad habit of doing other things when i should be doing my work, let's take a look into an analysis of "Twilight" in the framework of the monomyth (The Hero's Journey)

Can anyone identify the 17 Stages of the Monomyth?

1. Departure

a. Call to Adventure

b. Refusal of the call

c. Supernatural aid

d. The crossing of the first threshold

e. Belly of the whale

2. Initiation

a. The road of trials

b. Mother as Goddess

c. Woman(man in this case) as temptress

d. Atonement with the Father

e. Apotheosis

f. The Ultimate Boon

3. Return

a. Refusal of the Return

b. The Magic Flight

c. Rescue from without

d. The crossing of the return threshold

e. Master of Two Worlds

f. Freedom to Live

This is taken liberally from the wikipedia article on the monomyth.

I know what homework someone is getting next week....... muahahahahhaha.

The littlest mango

Once upon a time, there was a mango tree.

It had many little mangoes. Green ones, yellow ones, small ones, big ones. Mangoes of all shapes and sizes.

These mangoes had been together for a very long time. They were all friends with each other, happy and contented.

Except for one. One day, there came a mango so small, so tiny, that the others marveled that he was able to seed at all. They watched, amazed at his growth, and how he survived the passing of the years.

But he was still small, and the others always made fun of him for that.

Lets call him Little.

One day, the mangoes were disturbing Little. They did not want him around. They wanted him to go, to stop being such a disgrace to the mango population.

So they decided to shake and shake themselves, until the poor Little could not hang onto the branch no longer, and fell, plunging to the earth.

It was a long fall, and Little had a long time to plan his revenge.

When Little struck the ground, he landed in soft mud. He heard a rustling sound around him. "oh no," he thought. "Someone's gonna eat me..."

A man came into the clearing. He looked at Little, lying there on the floor.

"Hey, that looks like a mango."

The man picked him up.

"Hey, that SMELLS like a mango."

Then he looked at Little in a funny way.

"Nah, its too small to be a mango. Its probably not worth the effort eating."

Little was overjoyed. "Look above," he whispered. "Look at all the big, pretty looking mangoes in the tree. Don't you want some of those? Don't you want to sink your teeth into that bright yellow succulent flesh?"

"Mmmmm." The man thought. "Tasty tasty mangoes."

The man looked up, at the rich, full fruits hanging up on the tree. "Go on," said the littlest mango. "Go and take your fill. Its just here, right here just for you..."

When the man reached the crown of the mango tree, all the mangos were suprised. "What is this man doing here?" They thought. Their innocent thoughts soon changed however.

The man reached for the largest, most juicy looking mango. "What is he doing to me," the mango cried. He ripped the mango from the branch, and looking at it tastily, took out his trusty hunting knife. "No!" screamed the mango. He carved a little x at the tip of the mango, taking care to pierce the skin, but not too deeply. "No!!!" wailed the mango in pain and agony. Soon, the man began to take excruciating care in peeling off the skin of the mango, slowly pulling it off bit by bit. Inch by juicy inch. The other mangoes were shocked into silence by the screams of pain the juiciest mango felt. And terrified that they would be next. Whilst below, the little mango cried in happiness, enjoying the screams of those that had made fun of him and cast him down.

Soon, one by one, the mango peels came floating down, littering the floor with the remnants and carcasses of the once living mangoes. The little mango laughed to see them, in such a pitiful state.

The tree was empty, full with the sound of silence. The man was satiated. And the little mango was finally happy.

The End.