Journal Post #6

      Barbie stated, that "he was having a bad reality, and that was something from which you could not wake." This exemplifies the fact that Barbie feels like the dome will never go away and he knows that he is unable to escape it. He is comparing his reality to a bad dream, but a bad dream ends when sleep ends. Reality though, continues to be like a nightmare.

      This book parallels William Goldings, "Lord of the Flies". For instance, the boys in Lord of the Files are unexpectedly isolated on an island. Similarily, Under the Dome hostages only have what the town limites have when the dome strikes down. As well, leadership forms but eventually there are two groups that seperate and attempt to live on theit own. This does not work well in the end because thwe two groups fight and do not see eye-to-eye.

Journal Post #5

      An interesting quote is said by Big Jim, he states that "denial gives way to acceptance; acceptance breeds dependence" p.739. This is an important life quote because it is the truth. When people are going through tough times, such as the lost of a family member, they are in denial to start with. Eventually they will accept what happened and move on with their life. This is a very truthful statement and not only relates to the book, but also to life.

      When Barbie got taken into custody for four murders, he more or less knew that it was coming but still did not have much of a reaction. He went peacefully, and did not try to restrain arrest. This surprised me because the people that were arresting him showed utter brutality and he did not even flinch. It is crazy that he did not even flinch. If I was in that position, I would have been so angry especially because I know that I did not kill the four people and that I'm fact it was the people that was in charge of town and his son.

Journal Post #4

 

 

Stephen King suggests, “[t]he ends sometimes justify the means” (p.256). This is appealing to me because it has deep meaning and is interlaced with how some people are.  It describes that if someone does something morally wrong, it is okay as long as the resulting outcome is right. The novel and life are parallels to this quote; each contains situations when someone may to something immoral but it is forgotten because of the positive outcome. This is significant to me because I don’t completely agree with it but there are situations in which its context is used.

When Rennie and his son killed the pastor, I felt a great sorrow come over me. Especially because they felt no remorse and decided to just pin it on Barbie, yet again. This caused me to think about what type of person could do such a thing. I know that I never could.

A connection I found when Junior (Rennie’s son) killed Angie, Dodee, and helped kill the pastor was with William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This is because Macbeth killed many people throughout the play and he really didn’t care or feel remorse from that. Although he started getting hallucinations, that was much after the kills. Junior feels nothing, a cold-hearted killer.



Journal Post #3

 

 

 

Stephen King’s writing style added more depth to this novel. He describes the sky as if “it was like looking through a porthole into hell” (p.251). This created a vivid image in my mind of a small circle, the sun, and how the color of red it looked made it look like hell. This is important to the novel because it reveals how the Barbie thinks of the Dome, as if it is hell and outside is the regular world.  Also, the Dome is beginning to collect dust which adds to the illusion but as long as it stays in place, the dust and pollutants in which it collects is only going to get increasingly worse. This is significant to me because it adds to the suspense in the novel and makes me want to continue reading to see what happens.

There are some similarities but many differences between character foils Big Jim Rennie and Barbie. For instance, Barbie wants the best for the town and he believes that if he takes it over, that would be fulfilled. On the other hand, Rennie believes that by stealing resources and locking Barbie in jail for no apparent reason would be best. Furthermore, Barbie believes in telling the truth with the occasional lie. However, Rennie lies a considerate amount more than telling the truth.

What would you do if you were placed in a situation that you cannot escape? Not necessarily a dome but anything.

 



Journal Post #2

Emerging from this book is a very significant theme and that is working together to get to a main goal which is staying alive. The townspeople need to try and stick together and not use all the power, share, and not go off and do things that weren’t agreed upon. Although, this doesn’t happen because everyone has their own plans and the towns officials are stealing from the town’s supply of propane.

Barbie has been put into a situation between his past and the present. Before moving to Chester Mill, he worked for the military and was successful at his job. Once there, he was beaten up by a group of the town official’s sons but the story was twisted to make it sound like he was the instigator. His new problem is that the president has told him he must take over the town but such a task in merely impossible due to his situation. He deals with this problem by using the local newspaper and one of the few town officials that don’t hate him. Using confrontation, he talks to Rennie and explains himself. Although Barbie doesn’t know that Rennie has other ideas for him, he believes he might actually have a chance.

Stephen King declares that “an idea is like a cold germ: sooner or later someone always catches it” (p.206). I thought this quote was appealing because it is true not only to this book but also to life in general. This quote shows importance because there are many ideas being thrown around by the town officials about what to do about the main problem and trying to find a way to destroy the Dome. This is significant to me because I can relate to it because someone comes up with an idea of some kind and then everybody agrees with it and thinks it was their idea.

Journal Post #1

How would you deal with being cut out from the outside world? Nothing goes in or out and there is no running away. This book begins with a regular, small hick town in the middle of America, yet tragedy strikes and even though the setting is yet to change, it has been drastically. This is due to a “dome” shaped thing that has encompassed the little town. The setting in many ways is important due to the town being 4 miles wide; there is much reason for the townspeople to be needing assistance from other neighbouring communities.

When Junior killed Angie, his first killing, it exposed his personality and showed how he can overreact very quickly and lose hold of the situation. If I was in his position, I definitely wouldn’t have killed her. I could never picture myself killing anyone. Even having a killing headache and seeing her ugly teeth, that wouldn’t be enough to trigger myself to kill. 

Stephen King insists “[i]t [is] time to fight the power” (p. 181).  This is significant because it not only dealt with the worries of the town officials but reminds me of how simple it is for one man to corrupt a town. Furthermore, I related this to the present day where there are many protesters and people wanting to “fight the power” which is the government.

 

 

 

Written by Stephen King

Published by Scribner

Copyright 2009

1072 pages

 

     Choosing this novel was in some ways difficult because I had no idea what type of books I am into or what type of books I enjoy reading. Not only had the title of this book but also the cover caught my eye. Many questions arose in my mind, not only making it more captivating, but leaving me in suspense of what would happen in the story. A city surrounded by a dome: nothing coming in or out, no utilities… How will these people survive? I want to learn to what extent people will do to survive but also how a town can come together to get through a situation such as this. I am looking forward to a captivating read with twists and turns including cliff hangers and suspense.