With a partner or two, discuss the reading guide questions. Choose 3 of the questions and post a very insightful comment with your partner for classwork credit.
Answers to classwork BSF Quiz #3 Ch. 17-24:
Chapter 17 and 18
1. c. 2. a. 3. d. 4. b. 5. d. 6. c. 7. d. 8. c. 9. c. 10. c. 11. c. 12. b.
Part 2, Nesting: Chapter 19, Jody's Delicate Condition and Chapter 20, Angel
1. b. 2. d. 3. d. 4. a. 5. b. 6. d. 7. b. 8. c. 9. b. 10. b. 11. d. 12. c.
Part 2, Nesting: Chapter 21, Angel Dust and Chapter 22, A Nod to the Queen of the Damned
1. c. 2. d. 3. b. 4. b. 5. a. 6. c. 7. b. 8. d. 9. a. 10. d. 11. a. 12. b.
Part 2, Nesting: Chapter 23, Mom and Terrapin Pie and Chapter 24, The Return of Breakfast
1. a. 2. b. 3. b. 4. d. 5. a. 6. d. 7. b. 8. a. 9. b. 10. b. 11. b. 12. c.
If you have not done the last two quizzes for classwork, be sure to pick up a copy and complete it on your own now that you have (we hope) finished reading the book!
We will be picking up Rita dove's Selected Poems today.
Continue to work on your stories for Bloodsucking Fiends--DUE Monday, HALLOWEEN!
Work on contest entries for contests that are due NOV. 1--Bennington, Hollins, etc.
RPO Poems (Bolero) due at end of week. PLEASE, please try to do this. EXTRA CREDIT AVAILABLE!!!
Gabriela and Harrison
ReplyDelete1. Jody's transformation into a vampire differs from the usual transformation of vampires because she is left alone after she is bitten. When most vampires are bitten, they have a mentor/student relationship with the vampire that bit them. Instead, Jody is confused and unaware of what she is suppose to do, while other vampires have someone that is usually there to teach them.
2. We don't believe Jody and Tommy's relationship was love at first sight. After a week, they are just getting to know each other and getting used to their new lifestyle. At this point in time, Jody already has to cope with being new vampire, therefore I do not believe their love was intentional. Instead she used him for her own benefits, like running errands, doing laundry, picking up her car, etc.
3. The religious connotations were very intentional. Vampires are often associated with Christianity. Vampires are the epitome of Christian sin. Their characters are dead, but in neither heaven nor hell. They're epicurean, seeking the blood of humans rather than the blood of Christ. They are also full of lust. Christian images pervade vampire fiction because the vampire itself is inexplicably tied to Christianity.
2. Jody and Tommy's relationship moves at an alarming pace. Due to their character development and situation, I would say that this is because of need and necessity, rather than actual affection toward each other - at least at first. After realizing that she is a vampire, Jody recognizes that she needs to find someone to "room" with who can run errands for her during daylight. Tommy is just on the look out for a relationship now that he's in a big city. When they find each other, it does not seem like love at first sight, or even love at first bite. Jody doesn't find Tommy attractive and Tommy admits to not knowing very much about Jody. Their relationship does develop by the end of the novel where it can be believed that they do have strong feelings for each other, but the love that they say they feel withing weeks of their meeting is because of need for one another, not because of true love.
ReplyDelete4. This idea of euthanasia creates an image of vampire that is different than the traditional stereotype. Similar to how Stephanie Meyer creates "vegetarian" vampires, Christopher Moore creates vampires who don't kill just anyone - only those who are sick or limited in their lifespan. Moore does this to make the reader see the vampires as individuals, not killers, which is imperative for the plot to be successful. In this novel, the vampires do have an ethical standard. Even Jody, who is a new vampire, does not kill just anyone.
5. Jody blames Simon's death on Elijah Ben Sapir. This motivates Tommy to help Jody in catching Elijah - not only to save Jody, but so that Simon's death would not be in vain. However, even after Elijah is restrained, Jody does not admit to being Simon's true killer. This is because Tommy will not forgive her if she does. I don't think that he would've been able to accept and believe that Simon was dying, and he would not have seen the justification in his death the same way that Jody did.
9. I would say that Jody's heightened sense would be the best ability for her to have picked up in the novel. I believe this because now that she is a vampire and she is also new to it Jody should be aware of what can be potentially dangerous or beneficial to her. Jody's other two abilities that she gained are not bad at all but her senses being strengthened would definitely seem to do the most justice.
ReplyDelete10. I like the fact that Jody is still a human in a way because it really adds to the story itself. Even though an invincible vampire with no problems or emotion might seem cool, it would possibly get boring unless that vampire is some sort of super hero. By allowing Jody to keep her human characteristics it raised the interest level in her as well as the novel. It's as if she does not mind still having emotions and balancing her life as a vampire. Even knowing that she can be in love makes her more of an eye catcher rather than just being a killer vampire roaming the streets.
11. I would hope that they would become a couple and stop messing around. That way both of them would potentially be happy seeing as how they are so similar as people. I would only question how will they live? As in where does it go from there? If Jody does not turn him then they may just stay opposites and he will try to accept her life of darkness, which would seem pretty difficult.
Ashley, Shannon, Erin
ReplyDelete2. It probably wasn’t love at first sight for Jody and Tommy’s. From the beginning, Jody had alternative motives and was looking for someone to handle her business because she couldn’t go out during the day. Love at first sight isn’t possible because you can’t truly love somebody unless you know them, their personality and important things about them. I think it may have been “love at first bite” for Jody because she saw Tommy as a weak-willed person willing to please and she took advantage of that for her own good. I think that they connected so instantly because Jody wanted it to work so Tommy could do her work, Tommy longed for a girlfriend, and he was willing to please Jody.
4. Mercy killings are justified if someone suffering or in a lot of pain want to be killed. If they are already in pain then they should have the choice to continue living in that condition or to die. To a certain extent, vampires have ethical standards. For example, one of the vampires, Elijah Ben Sapir who creates other vampires participates in mercy killings. In a way that shows they have feeling and emotions and want to help people that are suffering. But it’s not anybody’s place to take the life of somebody else.
5. The relationship that Jody and Tommy had at the beginning of the novel isn’t as strong as it is at the end. Throughout everything they’ve been through together: her changing into a vampire, the killings, and the whole change itself, their relationship developed and the bond they had strengthened. Jody killed Simon because he was sick with AIDS and felt bad for him. Also he kidnapped her and she had no choice but to defend herself. However, she blamed the killing on Elijah, the other vampire, and never admitted to Tommy that she was the one who actually murdered him. She doesn’t confess because she knows that Tommy will never see it the way she does. She justifies her killing of Simon because he was sick, but Tommy would see it as her killing his best friend. Jody knows that this situation could critically hurt their relationship, and therefore decides not to tell Tommy the truth.
MY MADDY CASS
ReplyDelete2. Love at first sight, in real life, is not possible. Even in Bloodsucking Fiends, the two are attracted to each other physically (and for their own means) at first. However, because both exhibit vulnerabilities (Jody shares her secret of being a vampire, Tommy is a new resident of San Fransisco), they bond quickly. As they become dependent on each other, dedicated to keeping Jody's secret, they bond even further. Love at first "bite" is not possible, but if two people become vulnerable to each other and take risks, they have a chance to connect much faster, as Jody and Tommy do.
9. Jody's most valuable superpower is, in our opinions, is her ability to detect body heat. With this power, she is able to figure out her enemies (vampires give off no body heat). She can also see those who are close to death (including those who are terminally ill). This helps her to find victims, though these victims are generally "mercy killings."
1. Traditional fledglings were formed either willingly through lust or romance or were tricked (like Jody's transformation). These mutations take place over a long period of time, with victims blacking out--this holds true with Jody's case. However, Jody's transformation was also different from traditional vampire metamorphoses. This is evident from her being stuck under a dumpster, with her arm purposely left in the sun (which burned). Additionally, Jody did not know her attacker was a vampire--she thought she had been mugged.
1. Jody's transformation into a vampire did differ from most vampire transformations. When she was bitten she didn't immediately realize what had happened. In most vampire transformations the new vampires are left with a mentor or older vampire that not only explains to them what happened, but also offers them guidance, explaining the changes that happened, and what their new lifestyle will be like. Jody was left completely alone, with no one to help her, or explain to her what happened.
ReplyDelete7. At the end of the novel Cavuto and Rivera begin to believe in the supernatural, and that vampires could exist. In reality the supernatural is hard to really believe in. However, this isn't to say that it's not necessarily fun and possibly exciting to believe in such supernatural beings as vampires, ghosts or psychics. Sometimes the altogether too real natural world around us feels like it needs a bit of magic, maybe even some supernatural affairs. As Albert Einstein once said, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."
9. Jody's most needed new ability is her heightened sense because with this, all of her other abilities can thrive. With a heightened sense of everything around her she's able to be more in touch with her environment and her surroundings and enter into a sort of very much present consciousness. This also gives her the capability to protect both Tommy and her.
Gus, Gracie
Angela Rollins and Carolyn Walker
ReplyDelete2. Love at first sight is not possible. It is called lust, and in the case of Tommy and Jody their instant attachments came from need and loneliness. Tommy was Jody's only hope, and Jody was Tommy's only option. The two characters come to depend on one another very quickly, but after they first have sex they almost immediately are more detached. Tommy acts differently and Jody seems to have less interest. Eventually, though, since both stick around they come to love each other, more because neither of them have ever felt loved and now both do. Their relationship moves quickly because they both are very desperate for love and for company. This is not love at first sight, more love based on need.
4. The older vampire of the novel kills only those who are already dying. I think this was a good way to develop vampires, and it gave them more humanity. Mercy killing is a difficult topic, but ultimately it is an understandable decision. If this person is terminally ill and will die in a very painful manner, it would be better to help them die with ease. Of course there are always exceptions, but if someone wants to die and will die, we have to let them go. In the case of the vampires, they depend on blood and instincts to kill. It at least is a pleasant way to die for the victim. This is much better than vampires killing the young or the innocent. So yes, these vampires have ethical standards.
6. Jody and Tommy are set up because the older vampire wants to force Jody to join him. By framing Tommy and Jody, he puts Tommy in a very difficult situation, and Jody in an even worse situation. Ultimately it would make it so Jody would have to abandon Tommy, and her only other possible companion would be the vampire who created her to be his company. The older vampire could have let the bodies turn to dust, but that would have been less fun and wouldn't have stressed out Jody and Tommy.
Briyanna Brinkley
ReplyDelete1. From watching Blade and Twilight I thought that the transformation was always a painful one but in this book it was kind of like waking up new. In most other vampire books the new vampire has a coven or a group of vampires that they could rely on through the first stages but Jody was left alone. The only similarity was that they all had to adjust to their new way of life.
2. I personally don’t believe in love at first sight but I do believe that after a certain amount of time you can have real feelings for someone. I think that due to their amount of trust for each other kind of made it easier for them to have that connection. They basically had to depend on one another to survive and that’s why I think this made it easier for them to “fall for each other.”
7. I don’t believe in ghosts or anything like that but my mother is big on superstitions. She always makes a big deal over splitting poles, spilling salt and sweeping over your feet with a broom. Being raised in the south that was just an everyday way of life, I can remember times when I accidently swept the broom over my mom feet. It all happened so fast, next thing I know she’s spitting on the broom.
Mariah Gonzalez
ReplyDelete9.) In my opinion, I believe that Jody’s most needed new super ability is her heightened senses. Even though all of her new senses give her an advantage over human beings, this specific sense let’s her see who is already dying. This contributes in helping Jody feel less guilty when she is forced to kill people in order to maintain her strength as a vampire. Rather than kill someone who still has a full and vibrant life ahead of them, Jody is killing someone who is already on their death bed. Therefore she is only putting them out of their misery, instead of ending and individual’s life that still has years to look forward to. Her new ability of heightened senses is also Jody’s most needed because it allows her to be more aware of her surroundings. This is incredibly important, since she is constantly in danger from the older vampire that created her. Without heightened senses, Jody wouldn’t be fully aware of the environment around her, making her vulnerable.
7.) Although I do not believe in vampires, werewolves or fictional characters like them, I do believe in ghosts and paranormal activity. My mother and other family members having witnessed activity and seen ghosts of deceased loved ones, I can’t help but to believe that they do exist. Oddly enough, I also believe in ultra-terrestrial life. (Aliens) This belief only goes to a certain extent though and is not as strong as my belief in ghosts. Apart from actual supernatural beings, I don’t tend to believe in fortune tellers or people involved in similar work. I do take an interest in palm readings and tarot cards, and find it fun/ entertaining to participate in such events I can never seem to actually take the results or process seriously.
1.) (On the back) I personally would not be willing to give up my normal life in order to become a vampire. Sure, having all of the powers that come with being a vampire would be pretty awesome, but it would come at a huge cost. This cost would include not being able to be the same around my friends and family due to the extreme urge to want to feed on them, not having a normal intimate relationship with the person I love (The same way Jody and Tommy are unable to be a normal couple), giving up human activities, only being able to go outside at night, no longer being able to consume human food/liquid and overall not fitting in. The price that super abilities and immortality would come at would not be worth giving up all of these things especially the part in which I would be an outcast in society. No one likes feeling as though they don’t fit in, no matter the reason.