I think that in the way they react to the primer; shows how
they want to act like they do in the primer but the larger society doesn’t
allow them to, Elisabeth’s family is to rich and bratty; Fiona’s is to angry
and dysfunctional. It seems like that the experiences in the primer are
changing them but then they are caught up in what their society wants. Nell
grew up suppressed and the book taught her what she need to know, she didn’t
know it was right or wrong until she got to school. The primer is what she knows;
she doesn’t get caught up in society because society wasn’t there for her
before so she doesn’t have to unlearn anything. The other two have to unlearn
which is usually more difficult than learning in the first place. Making the
reactions reasonable because they are caught in-between, where Nell, even with
her frustrations, knows where she stands.
So even with all the complications, and hoops Nell and the
others have to jump through, I still think the primer would be the coolest gift
ever. What about y’all? Is the primer for you?
I think that one of the reasons that Nell responds so much better to the Primer to the other girls is no matter how imperfect the other girl's parents are, they are more of a parent than Tequila was. Nell's connection to the Primer seems to be that she has NO parental contact outside of the Primer, perhaps that is why she learns the most. For example, she has Harv, but he is more of a protector rather than a parent (although protection is part of parenting). He is more than willing to kill someone for hurting her and to encourage her to defend herself, but when it comes to teaching and education and spelling, he doesn't seem to be the model "parent." The other girls, on the other hand, seem to have somewhat functional parents.
ReplyDeleteI think I would love the Primer as a gift, but on one hand I can't force myself to buy a Nook or a Kindle because I love my actual books so much. I think that is one thing that Elizabeth hates so much about the Primer is that she has to work. She comes from parents who never had to work for anything a day in their life, so she probably looks at it like "why does she?" If he parents got away with doing nothing why does she have to be so smart and make something of herself?
When I first started reading about the primer I wanted it so bad! But then after thinking and reading more about it, I wasn’t so sure if I wanted it anymore. I felt like everything with the primer came too easily. I feel like the reason I want to learn and go to school is because it is a challenge. If I could just sit down and read from a book and it would tell me everything I need to know where is the fun behind that? I like the idea of going out into the world and discovering knowledge on my own instead of just having it handed to me.
ReplyDeleteI also feel like the way each girl reacted to the primer related greatly to how each individual reacts to technology today. While Nell could handle the primer the other two girls were not able to as well. I think this relates a little to video game usage today. While everyone can play video games, not everyone can handle the addictiveness of them. On a side note one of my favorite parts about this book is that it finds sneaky little ways to incorporate our world with its technologically crazed world. It made the book a lot more fun and exciting to read!
I don’t think I could handle having the Primer as gift or just in general. Of course it seems cool and all at first but, I might get weirded out playing with it. Too virtual I guess. I have issues with 3D movies, so something tells me I wouldn’t enjoy using the Primer. I am glad, however, that it works out great for Nell though. Without Harv being around, she has someone/thing to rely on. Even though she is going to school and learning more, she still uses the Primer to teach her stuff outside of that. Like the scene when she took the ruler from the teacher, she learned how to do that from Dojo, in the Primer.
ReplyDeleteI also think that I wouldn’t want it to take away from stuff I could learn from other people or how I socialize with people. If I had a gift like that I would only want to use it and not spend time with other people. Why would I when I could ride unicorns and fight bad guys? Society seems almost too demanding of the girls in book. Like, too old fashioned. Such as, not twirling your hair or scratching your nose. Yikes! Over all, it works out well for some and not for others. Like everything else in the world.