Literary Nonsense

It's literary nonsense month so I thought i'd dust off my 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' novel and re-read my favourite chapters:

Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole
Whilst Alice is sitting on the riverbank with her sister feeling bored as hell, she notices a talking white rabbit with a pocket watch. She follows it down a rabbit hole and then she falls a very long way into Underland and lands in a big hall that has a loads of locked doors of all different sizes. She then finds a small key to a door that is too small for her to fit through, then later on discovers a bottle on a table labelled "drink me" (the liquid makes her shrink too small to reach the key which she accidentally left on the table so she eats a piece of cake with "eat me" on it that makes her grow too much).

Chapter 6: Pig and Pepper
The Cheshire Cat appears in a tree and directs Alice to the crazy March Hare's house. He disappears but his grin remains and floats on its own in the air prompting Alice to say that she has often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat.

Chapter 7: A Mad Tea-Party
Alice becomes a guest at a "mad" tea party along with the March Hare, the Hatter, and a doormouse (who falls asleep frequently only to always be woken by the March Hare and the Hatter). The guests of the tea party give Alice many riddles and stories (such as "why is a raven like a writing desk?"). The Hatter reveals that they have tea all day because "time" has punished him by eternally standing still at 6pm (tea time).

Chapter 8: The Queen's Croquet Ground
Alice finds a garden where there are three living playing cards painting white roses on a rose tree red because The Queen of Hearts hates white roses. A bunch of more cards, kings and queens and even the White Rabbit enter the garden. Alice then meets the King and Queen of Hearts. The Queen of Hearts (a difficult person) introduces her trademark phrase "off with his head!" that she utters at the slightest dissatisfaction. Alice is then ordered to play a game of croquet with the Queen of Hearts (and the rest of her subjects) where live flamingos are used as mallets and hedgehogs as balls, and Alice once again meets the Cheshire Cat. The Queen of Hearts then orders the cat to be beheaded, only to have her executioner complain that this is impossible since the head is all that can be seen of him.

"The Dana Taylor Syndrome"

'So, how far does this little game go in that sordid mind of yours?'

He smiled a slow, sexy, dimpled smile. 'You really want to know?'

Not in the cold light of day she wouldn't. But she was currently in the realms of fantasyland. The thing was, could she live with the inevitable consequences of this one night when the sun came up again? Guilt, recrimination, regret?

I think everyone has a side where they are depressed and unhappy. Some people ignore it. Some people try to change it. Some people completely show it. And some people, they deal with it.

Viktor Krum

Been re-reading some of my favourite chapters of the Harry Potter books, and y'know who my favourite character is?

Viktor Krum.

Because he was surrounded by dark magic and bad influences, treated like royalty (even without his famed seeker status), was pure-blood, never treated anyone as lesser, liked muggle born Hermione for her mind AND physical beauty, thought Harry was a great quidditch player (and never once compared Harry to his own skills because he’s humble), was genuinely flattered that Ron wanted his autograph, liked Cedric and made a point to tell Harry, was an ally in the fight against Voldermort, the list could go on...

Also...

Viktor was obviously deeply in love with Hermione... 

Remember the fact that he took her to prom, knowing that he could’ve chosen any other girl? Remember how he forgot about everyone and danced with her all night? Remember how he looked at her while saying "write to me, please"? Remember how a few years later at Fleur’s wedding, he danced with her one more time - probably being conscious that her heart already belonged to Ron?

Viktor Krum. The most underrated character in the whole Harry Potter series.

I don't trust you as much as I used to.

There... I said it.

It's not the act itself that you did. I've forgiven that. It was nothing. It's the fact that you did it whilst we were not talking to each other. Exactly what Haiden did to me. That's why it hurts so much. I didn't expect it from you.

Now I don't know how to bring it back. Now i'm struggling to...

I feel like i'm back to being that emotional wreck I was at the beginning. I'm not sure if I can handle it any more.

Besides, you're doing great without me anyway.

Yet more thoughts on this story... Might as well document my whole thoughts on it.

I like the idea of there being spirit guides more than the idea of there being elders. They're so much more parental and gentle - nudging you you softly into the next lifetime, rather than the elders ordering you to do something. It's strange to think that such a heavenly place has beings who dictate what you can and can't do. I would have liked to think that at some point in existence we wouldn't be controlled and be...free.

It is quite like a dictatorship - potentially what the elders say goes and if you disagree...well, they threatened to wipe his soul of all memories pertaining to his soulmate. I literally can't even perceive this as a punishment because it is so immoral. Terrible.

What started out as this amazing idea of reincarnation has vastly turned into Erubus -- hell. I mean, you spend lifetimes being reincarnated where you find your soulmate and learn all about the essence of life and what not, blissfully ignorant of the elders who at a whim can yank you out of the cycle and place you in an absurd place in the universe away from everything and everyone you know without your choice in the matter. Talk about a question for the would you rather game: would you rather not see the woman you loved for a thousand years or have all memories of her wiped from your mind?

I guess it's a little hit and miss for me. If you take away the elders and their seemingly useless role than this idea of reincarnation is intriguing. One aspect that I like the most is that when the soul gets reincarnated, they take on human form again, but the soul becomes unconscious - almost silent - and the human mind is a clean slate meaning that they have to go about re-discovering their soulmate and other souls they are fond of. Knowing that their are souls on Earth who you're close to, even if you're a lonely human, is quite comforting.

As the story moves on to chapter five, Zarad's spirit guide not only confesses the barbaric memory wipe the elders threatened but his own secretive thoughts on whether or not he trusts the elders - something fishy is going on. I'm also super excited that his guide said he would break the rules and help him get into contact with his soulmate and his soul friends when he's cast away.

As far as my thoughts on reincarnation go, this is the last of them! I'm just going to enjoy the story now.

I'm sorry for mentioning this story again but I really need to write about this author's ideas modern day reincarnation.

Being torn away from his soulmate, he is questing to discover the reason for it and has a chat with the elders* and they are vicious to say the least. They preach that love is a weakness and only younger souls should still possess it, except one of the female elders who scorns them by telling them not to discount the role of love in the eternal cycle.

"You must experience a break from this attachment in order to experience personal growth," explains the nice elder. But he completely rebels against the order. He has no desire to be parted from his soulmate. The nice elder tries to reassure him that he will be reunited with her and that they will be stronger than ever. Is that sort of like saying distance makes the heart grow fonder? Because I have a lot of thoughts about that.

If that wasn't bad enough, the black sheep of the flock of elders laughs in his face - his arrogance made me curse his character out loud. Apparently, it is a great honour to be taught this lesson. Can someone tell me how exactly being forced apart from your soulmate is an honour?

Then he realises the bigger picture: they are grooming him to become a guide and then an elder... Would you give up love for success? Even if he would be reunited with her...he would have to spend not one lifetime away from her but ten - a whole millennium apart from her!

Jealousy breaks out as he imagined his soulmate living a ten lifetimes with a new man obtaining her affections. Yet more suffering that he has to endure...

The author then decides, after the harsh words spoken by the elders, that it is his choice whether or not to go ahead with the change. I dislike when writers do this: make the reader believe that the character is being forced into something and then gives them a choice. Trickery.

*Is that a reference to Charmed? I just realised that the name and role of the characters are the same as what they are in Charmed...