Maus

This panel, from page 32 of Maus, was my favorite panel because it was the first time that I realized this wasn't going to be a normal story about the life of a family of mice. Up until this point, it was easy to identify with what the mice were going through because I had read stories about and seen people get married and have children before. However, although I have read about the Holocaust, that does not come close to being able to say I know what the people who went through the Holocaust had to deal with. I felt really bad when I read this panel because the mice seem intrigued by the swastika and what the Nazi's are doing to their town, but they have no idea about the horror that awaits them. When I read this panel, I wanted to be able to tell the mice to run away because I knew what all of the Nazis would do the Jews, but they did not know. The mice are all looking out the window like the flag is some kind of tourist attraction, but they have no idea what awaits them. It made me realize that none of the people in the Holocaust had any idea what would happen to them and that makes me feel very sad because they had no way of escaping it if they didn't know they needed to escape.

Differences Between Fight Club Movie and Book

I thought that the movie was much more easier to understand than the book, Fight Club. Although there were plot differences between the movie and book, I do not think that the movie ruined the book, however, by being different. Often times when books are made into movies and the plot is changed even a little bit, the movie will be awful. However, with Fight Club, I do not think this is the case. The movie works really well and that is probably why it is such a cult classic. The movie is probably easier to understand because you can actually see what is going through the narrator's head, instead of trying to figure it out on your own. The movie seemed to be more psychological than other movies. It wasn't just about plot. You had to pay attention to things like the scenes with Marla and the narrator arguing in the kitchen to really understand what was going on. It was a movie that you have to think about when watching, and I thought that was awesome.

Marla and the Romantic Triangle

The romantic triangle between Marla, the narrator, and Tyler is confusing because although it's a triangle, there's really only two people involved- Marla and the narrator/Tyler. I've seen countless tv shows and movies and read numerous books with love triangles, but never one where two people were really one person, so this was really interesting to see. I think it's the mystery that surrounds the narrator that makes him attractive to Marla. He goes around acting strangely, which is better seen in the movie because you can see Marla talking to the narrator and Tyler like they're the same person (because they are the same person), but they both have completely different reactions to Marla, and this is confusing both to Marla and to anyone who does not yet realize that Tyler and the narrator are the same person. I think Marla still cares about the narrator because she spent so much time being alone and going to support groups alone, and then came the narrator. She finally had a friend that she could cling to, even if they acted like they hated each other.

General Response to Fight Club

I thought Fight Club was pretty cool. It was my first Chuck Palahniuk book and I have always wanted to read some of his books and I probably will read more now that I've read and liked Fight Club. I wasn't sure if I would like Fight Club because I thought it would just be about fighting and would be really boring, but it wasn't. I thought it was cool how Palahniuk included more than just the Fight Club and talked about the narrator's sleeping habits and how he went to different support groups. It was interesting to read about the different support groups and how they affected Tyler, but I'm glad it didn't drag on like some books do. By introducing Marla, the plot had to move on because she stole Tyler's support groups and he no longer gained anything from them. It was cool how the addition of characters changed the plot, rather than just having random things happen. For example, the introduction of Marla ceased the end of the support groups and the introduction of Tyler began the Fight Clubs. Overall, Fight Club was a pretty good book and I would recommend it to other people, even if they have seen the movie.