English+Assignment

Term 2 2012 English Assignment

-Kim's Book Review The Forgotten Generations A book review on ‘0.4’ --From time to time, there have been countless generations in the human history. Living in the present world, no one would think that there are still some ape-men living in our community or running around us every day, but for the first time in my life, there is a book that makes me wonder if the past generations still exist, if they are just right next to usand this book is a science fiction called ‘0.4’, written by Mike Lancaster. --This mysterious story is set in the future, starting with Kyle Straker, who volunteers to be hypnotised by his friend Danny at a talent competition with three other people, Lilly, Mrs O’Donnell and Mr Peterson. During the time when these four people are hypnotised, they experience the weird feelings that they have never felt beforethe feeling when you are hearing sounds around you but not actually being able to listen to them, the feeling of emptiness, the feeling when you are being totally controlled by someone else……and many other strange things that can’t even be described with words. When the four of them are finally awaken from the darkness, instead of feeling relieved, they becomes extremely horrifiedit seems like it’s actually the rest of the people in this town who have been hypnotised, not them! Things are normal except all the people are unnaturally frozen, they aren’t moving at all, not even giggling or blinking. Kyle, Lilly, Mrs O’Donnell and Mr Peterson wonder what has happened to them and the town, they wonder if the whole world is hypnotised except them. Soon after, the town seems to be back to normal again, people start moving and act like nothing happened. The four volunteers think it’s the end of this terrible experience at first, but they soon realise it’s only the beginning of itthe people Kyle used to love have changed completely in their personalities, he can’t recognise his parents and bother anymore even though they still have the same faces as before, and the same situation for Lilly, too. They also find out that the computers and phones no longer work for them, lots of weird hieroglyphics appear on the screens, people start calling them the nought-point-four, there are disgusting filaments stretching out from people’s skin……Finally there’s one day, other people can never notice their presence again, the four of them become invisible and forgotten for other people ever after, they’re going to live in loneliness for the rest of their lives. Wanting to be remembered, Kyle records a tape narrating all the things that happens to him. --All the characters in this book are human, but most of them do seem to possess extraordinary powers. It’s a story about an upgrade of the human system, the four main characters Kyle, Lilly, Mrs O’Donnell and Mr Peterson accidentally miss out on the upgrade because they are hypnotised during the upgrade, but the majority of other people are ‘upgraded’ and are transformed into the so-called ‘more advanced human beings’. In other words, those who miss the upgrade will be permanently ‘expired’ and forgotten, just like an expired software program in your computer. After the magnificent upgrade, the majority of people become very different and strange; sometimes they move in an unnaturally neat formation: utterly silent and perfectly organised; they don’t argue with others anymore. The whole world seems a lot more organised than ever before, they have better technology, even the language has been upgraded to some kind of computer code. Some people might find it better than our world today, but an unnaturally organised community makes people alien, they no longer have human nature or personal differences. Though the main characters don't want to become one of the majorities, considering they’ll be invisible and alone forever, they hesitate for a while, but it’s good for them that none of them join the alien human beings at last. --'0.4' is a very special book in every way, I love this book not only because the interesting story, but also the way how the author writes it in the upgraded human beings’ point of view. The book is like an analysis of Kyle’s recorded tape, the author imagines himself as someone in the future who has listened to Kyle’s tape and finds Kyle’s story very astonishing, so he decides to write Kyle’s narrative into a book, adding some notes occasionally in an upgraded human’s point of view. This way of writing makes the story sounds extremely true, meanwhile making the readers think that they are the upgraded human beings as well. It’s very hard to understand this idea of writing at first, but as soon as you get into the story you will find it truly amazing. It seems that this book belongs to a brand new generation of science fiction, the story is set in the future but it makes me think I’m looking back to the past, it seems to be a hard sci-fi but soft as well, this smart collision of the past, the present and the future worlds gives me lots of thoughts and even makes me doubt if everything we know about the history is a lie. For the first time in my life, the book makes me imagine that all the past human generations are still alive, we’re all living together but they’re just invisible to us, and someday we’ll be forgotten as well and become invisible to the next generation. I even talk to the air to check if there’s any answer from people in the past. I always believe that if a book makes you wonder, it must be a good book, and now I find this book the most wonderful science fiction I’ve ever read. --'Our world is the world that exists in the cracks of yours. We can look out through those cracks and see you, but you see us only rarely, out of the corner of your eye, for the briefest of instants, and then we’re gone.' This is my favourite paragraph of the book. If this is really the message from the past generations, I hope they can now hear me saying that I remember them, they are not forgotten but they are truly important!

-Kim's Poem I Wish I Were Strong A leaf’s aspiration  Darkened, broken It all happened in a sudden The sun is never risen <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">The world has been forgotten <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">In the wind I fall <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Dancing along with her flowing song <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">In the wind I fall <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Rustling to pretend I’m not alone <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">With all the stories I’ve come across <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">I wish I were strong <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">I loved singing on my heavenly tree <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">With kids running all around me <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">A couple planning a vacation to the sea <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Their dogs chasing the summer breeze <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">These memories stay <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">These memories die <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Tears dry <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Clearing my eyes <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">With all the pain on my mind <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">I wish I were strong <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">I wish I were strong to carry on <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">And I beg with all my soul <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Please heal our world