Akata Witch Response

     Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Witch is often compared to Harry Potter.  While there are similarities, writing Akata Witch off as just “the Nigerian Harry Potter” is an unfair and overgeneralized analysis of Okafor’s novel.  Both books do share similarities.  The protagonists are both children who walk into a world of magic.  They both have physical traits that differentiate them from the rest of the charactersー in Harry Potter it’s the scar, and in Akata Witch it’s the fact that Sunny is albino.  The friend dynamic in both novels is also similar, with a group of three characters going on adventures and defeating some evil.
    Despite these similarities, it is unfair to label Akata Witch as nothing more than “the Nigerian Harry Potter.”  Akata Witch is a unique fantasy novel based in a culture that doesn’t normally receive a lot of attention in the fantasy genre.
     Akata Witch also focuses a lot on Sunny's identity.  Throughout the entire novel Sunny struggles with “otherness.” Her albinism makes her stand out and prevents her from playing soccer int he sun, moving from another country separates her from the people who have lived there their whole lives, and learning she has magical abilities separates her even more.  The novel explores Sunny’s journey to discover herself, and to realize that being herself is essential to her fulfilling her destiny.
     All of the central characters in Akata Witch exist to support the idea of staying true to yourself.  All of them are in some way “others.” Orlu is ashamed of his dyslexia, Chichi and Sasha both accept their “otherness” but must learn to respond to it differently to become their best selves.  Okorafor uses all of her characters to support her theme of self discovery and accepting yourself to become the best version of yourself.

Annihilation Response

    Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation was interesting in its exploration of the weird and the events that happen in Area X.  It has an interesting exploration of sanity as well.  The way the book is written makes it seem as though the protagonists are entirely sane, but then continues to become dreamier and weirder.  It seems like the place could just be too strange to rationalize sanely, which leads to us wondering if they are still a sane, rational observer of the area.
     The lack of description of the creatures also helps buy into the weird and the devolving sanity.  It would be difficult to create a creature that wasn’t based on some level of human experience with some recognizable trait.  By keeping descriptions minimal, Annihilation manages to maintain the “weird” and lets the readers imagination take over and fill in the gaps.
     Annihilation creates an experience that urges the reader to continue reading.  The reader is meant to be affected by the visit to Area X the same way the team is, and their interpretation of what they read is based upon their preexisting beliefs and feelings.  Annihilation as a standalone book captures a weird experience without answering many questions.  While I haven’t read the next two books, I’ve read that they answer some of those questions.  I believe keeping Annihilation as just a weird experience is just as valuable and compelling.

A Wild Sheep Chase Response

Isolation and self alienation are prime themes in Murakami’s A Wild Sheep Chase.  Multiple characters chose a life of self isolation.  The main character isolates himself to avoid true emotional connections to the outside world through an entirely self centered existence.  This theme of isolation is seen in the Sheep Professor as well, whose obsession with sheep lead him to be cut off from the world.  Thee themes all seem to center around some idea of identity as relating to the characters themselves and the people around them.
    The plot of A Wild Sheep Chase is unique in multiple ways, including it’s ability to be interpreted in so many different ways.  The plot takes many unexpected turns, but still follows a fairly standard plot structure.  It begins with life as normal, then devolves into ambiguous, odd occurrences and plot points.
    Even though the idea of a hero on a quest to retrieve some valuable item has been seen time and time again, Murakami manages to undermine every heroic aspect of his story.  Having a sheep be the object of pursuit rather than some valuable artifact or treasure is an example of this.  Murakami undermines our idea of a hero as well by making the protagonist passive as well, rather than having him take initiative.

Interview with the Vampire Response

    Anne Rice pairs a number of different ideas in Interview with the Vampire. One of the most obvious is immortality, which is a common theme in vampire novels.  The pros and cons of immortality are all touched upon in Rice’s novel, and immortality is interestingly paired with the fear of destruction.  Despite not having to fear death in a traditional sense, the vampires are still in constant fear of destruction.  Claudia has to endure remaining a child forever, showing another negative to immortality and a trade off for power.  Rice uses this pairing to show how death is a necessity, and that mortality and humanity is a relief over being an immortal all powerful being.
    Rice also compares human nature with a more supernatural nature of the vampires.  Creating this pairing allows her to emphasize parts of humanity that we would otherwise take for granted.  Louis worries that being a vampire makes him inherently evil despite his actions.  He refuses to feed on human blood for a while, and instead survives on small animals.  Pairing this supernatural set of morals with our idea of humanity allows Rice to emphasize certain elements of humanity.
    Rice shows the difficulty of living up to a human moral code when you exist as something that isn’t quite human.  Louis doesn’t view himself as a human with flaws any more, but instead believes he cannot commit any bad deeds.  Armand explains to him how if all good deeds are not equivalent, than all bad deeds can’t be equivalent either.  Rice manages to use the contrast between vampirism and humanity to explain more aspects of human life.