Rant #8

Rant had been carrying the rabies virus with him the whole time he was in the city.  Also, Rant found a way to continue his odd habit of getting bit purposely by animals to find a rush.  Working in pest control, he encountered many poisonous animals that could give him the rush he desired.  This led to his pre-existing rabies to evolve into a new strain that couldn't be cured.

"Phoebe Truffeau, Ph.D. (Epidemiologist): The only two untreatable rabies-type viruses were the African strains Mokola and Duvenhage, prior to the identification of the Rant serotype."

Finally the circle story shown at the beginning is starting to make sense.  Rant had unintentionally created a super strain of rabies that oddly enough became popular amongst teens.  The early symptoms of rabies were that of a stereotypical rebellious teenager; anger, rebellion, hyperactivity, and hypersensitivity.

"Toni Wiedlin: Without exception, every kid swears she or he was infected by Rant Casey or Echo Lawrence.  Everyone wants to feel special-attain a special status among their peers"

This shows how rabies had become popular.  With this new information i as the reader was left to make the choice whether Rant Casey was a odd genius, or a villain.  Personally, i like the odd genius.  Some of the ideas that Rant thinks of are just plain brilliant, like the easter egg stink bombs.

ps: west, all my quotes are spread out between Rant #8 -Rant #1

Rant #7

While playing his new found game, Rant gets into some trouble that he puts himself in.  Rant is at a gas station with his team and they are filling up on snacks.  He secretly sneaks out and poors gasoline on the car then drives off without his team.  Breaking though barricades Rant catches the attention of the police and in the heat of driving a spark lands on the car and it bursts into flames, killing Rant.  A man gives a interesting note on the affect of Rants death.

"Field Notes of Green Taylor Simms: Not to be overly moralistic, but sometimes the death of one person can justify the death of an entire culture."

In this case the culture is the underground driving game called "party crashing".  This lesson is important because it is just like the saying "bite the head off the snake...".  With the death of Rant all his fellow city friends stop the possibly dangerous game, potentially saving their life.  But it doesn't only apply to games.  The same result can be seen when looking at Hitler (learned about him today in A.P world so fresh in my mind).  He was the leader of the entire anti-jewish movements and also against others as well.  This statement is a very important/true analysis to the book and life.

Whoopie for School

I guess i lied in my last post that we were done with All The Pretty Horses.  We had a passage analysis today that was very easy.  I just connected the theme of "coming of age" with other passages and it was all good!  i am worried about my short story though.  My idea for the story keeps switching everyday and i'm going to have to write it all tonight :(  But at least I will have the weekend to touch up the story.  I am really wondering what the next book we are going to read is because the Odyssey was great, All The Pretty Horses sucked, so the next book is open.

Rant #6

As i continued to read Rant, the book got very different.  Rant moves to the city with only a suitcase full of old coins he found.  As he wanders the city, a girl named Echo Lawrence picks him up in a car and he is suddenly thrown into a underground game.  The goal of the game is to bump other cars in the bumper.  During his time playing the game with Echo, he begins to like her.  In effort to woe her, he decides to buy her a car by cashing in his old coins.

"Todd Rutz (Coin Dealer): The deal ended up, i paid the kid fifteen thousand out of petty cash. . . Fifteen grand for the 1933 gold twenty, the 1933 gold ten, and the 1879 four-dollar piece. . . My point being, just that 1933 gold Saint Gaudens Double Eagle, that's an eight-million-dollar coin."

This passage from the book shows how people cannot be trusted, and that the nature of man is evil.  I believe this is one of the thematic ideas that Chuck was looking for when he wrote the book because it also reoccurs in the book many times.  Like when Echo's so called best friend tries to scare Rant away from her.  

Class Time In Minnesota

Class has been interesting this week.  I fell behind on my reading for All The Pretty Horses, so i was a little clueless during the discussions.  After just sucking it up and catching up in the book i had quite a few questions that i'm sure had already been asked while I was behind.  The end of the book really threw me off as well, because i didn't understand the whole hostage situation with John Grady. But then we did the over view today and i was delighted because all of my questions were answered!  The test was a breeze and we are finally done with the book.  In my view, the book was a very slow read.  It didn't very at all from the textbook cowboy idea and was not entertaining to read.  But o well, at least it's behind us now!

Rant #5

Rant has now turned down a odd path.  He is getting a "rush" from animal bites.  He purposely sticks his arms and legs into holes and cracks to hopefully get bitten by a animal.  With many many bites, he started to become immune to a few of the diseases that animals carry while still hosting the disease in his body.  An example in the book talks of how he has rabies for over two years, but never feels any other the symptoms because he is immune so he continues to spread the disease to others.

"Phoebe Truffeau, Ph.D.: What 'Typhoid Mary' Mallon was to typhoid, what Gaetan Dugas was to AIDS, and Liu Jian- lun was to SARS, Buster (Rant) Casey would become for rabies."

The quote lists the who's who of "superspreaders" and then puts Rant in the list as well.  I think this is a serious foreshadowing of what's to come.  In the beginning the book talks of Rant spreading a disease killing millions.  I think this spreading of rabies is suppose to be a warning that Rant is dangerous and is going to kill many people.

Class Time

Today we officially started to work on our short stories.  To be honest, I'm a little worried.  First of all, my week is jam packed full of sports and music so i don't have time to write the story.  Secondly, i am a weak writer.  Thirdly, i can't seem to think of a good enough story.  Every idea that i think of just plain sucks.  I had one or two good ideas, but when i tried to apply the hero quest pattern to them they just didn't work.  I know that only the rough draft is due on Friday, but i am worried that if i don't get a good start now on this paper my grade is really going to suffer for it.