Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm very impressed with the articles I ended up bookmarking - especially the ones that I randomly just added because the article's title sounded like it applied. Some of them even provide information backing up some of the ideas I came up with on my own with the Message Box I had to do for the project. biggrin So glad that I now have evidence to back it up.

I'm heading off. Later.

*sighs* For my Young Adult Literature class, we recently had to start posting an electronic copy of our text analysis responses on our school forum website thingy called Angel. But the thing is... I don't know if we're allowed to respond to people's papers or not.

I only bring it up because I was looking at the newest papers that have been posted. Normally I just briefly glance over them and say okay - since it's not required for us to read them. But there was this one particular response that caught my eye, especially when the person's last few words was saying that they found the book boring. That intrigued me. So I decided to read it. After reading it, I suddenly had an urge to respond to it.

But then I chose not to finish my response to it, because I wasn't sure if we were allowed to comment on people's papers or not. And I also thought about how some of my classmates are very debatable, and just by the tone of the person's paper, I had a feeling they were one of those folks that just love to debate. That is just not something I want to get involved in. I don't mind friendly debates, but when it gets to the heated debates where people just want to debate to debate, then I get annoyed with it - mostly because it starts sounding more like arguments than a debate.

First off, the book this response is about is: Charles and Emma: Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.

Okay... now for my comments on the things that he said.

And yes, there was tons of epidemics going on across the country ((Note that England is part of Europe, lol... so there's one amusing aspect)). But there's been epidemics going on in present day as well - like the Swine Flu. Just because there's an epidemic going on doesn't mean that people are suddenly going to become unemotional. People are still going to cry and be depressed by the loss. There's been countless accounts of that.

So what is this "modern" aspect he's talking about? I really don't understand that.

And how do you know, fellow classmate, on what Darwin's true feelings are? Have you seen all of the letters that were written that the author looked at? Probably not.

This brings me to the letter aspect. Many letters were missing or destroyed, so the only accounts of most events came from outside letters from family and friends or very brief notes in journals. With that being said, the author may have had to take her own interpretation of events as she pieced bits and parts together. So, yeah, there is a likelihood of false portrayal. But this novel seems more like a non-fictional biography than a strict, hard-core biography. With that being said, there might be some fictional spin to it.

This book is meant for young adult readers. Most of them are just learning about evolution. If they were suggested to read this book, they would want something to enjoy reading. Not a typical boring history or science book that they read in school.

Also, there is absolutely no way that the author is going to incorporate every single detail into this small novel. The goal of this book was to portray the relationship between Charles and Emma (and family). Not another summarized version of Charles' theory - even though it is mentioned. But it's only mentioned because his family is involved - Emma reads the drafts, the kids become observation experiments, the family gets involved with the worm observation, etc. If you want all of the facts, just read the actual Origin of Species book!

Having doubts about his own theories is concept that isn't too hard to grasp? For us older folks who have gone through countless educational classes - yeah, it's not too hard to grasp. But what about these Young Adults? We're not just talking about high schoolers here. We're also talking about middle schoolers. The concept might be a bit harder to understand. Especially when they live in a different world that Darwin did. Darwin had to live in fear of going against the religion, because that was the time. Now a days... you can go against the religion all you want and have no major consequences... well, for the U.S. and Europe mostly. Other countries might not be so acceptive - but that's beside the point.

Finally, what is the importance of this peacock? Is it really important that the author include that tidbit? I ask even more - did Emma or any of Darwin's family take part in it? Ah... there's the point that should be really addressed. Remember, fellow classmate, this book is about Charles and Emma's relationship. So unless there is some evidence that the family, especially Emma, was involved in this peacock observation or whatever, then I see no reason to include it.

Blah... I am so glad I'm done with that. *shakes head* I can just feel the heated debater aura coming from the words. I don't like it. *fans hands at the words* Go away you tainted thing! Go away!

Anyway... I hope you got a sense of what I was thinking about when I read his paper.