Anthem: A Brief Summary of My Thoughts

My Longest Post Yet!

Yeah, I know that this post is a wee bit late, but i just figured out that I can upload past documents onto blogger. Enjoy!

In the book Anthem, the children are forced to recite a pledge every day. The pledge reads, ‘We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist by, through, and for our brothers who are the state. Amen.’ This doctrine strips away everyone’s individuality, and forces them to believe in only one thing, which all of their ‘brothers’ believe; that their lives are worthless, that they don’t matter, and that the only thing that matters is the welfare of their brothers. They believe this whole-heartedly throughout their lives, because they are taught this belief from their birth. Since they have no other source of information off of which to form their own, individual opinions and beliefs other than what is provided them, which is bias one-sided junk, it is impossible for them to have their own beliefs, morals, and personality. To me, this pledge is almost like communist doctrine, since everything they have is shared, and no one man can work for his own individual profits. The only thing that matters to them is the welfare of their country, or state, as it is in Anthem, where the only thing that matters in their society is the welfare of their brothers, who are the state. I think that when a child is taught from his birth to his death that he is worthless and useless, that really takes away his sense of personality and individuality with which a normal child is born, and takes for granted. Of course, in the book, the children don’t even have a glimpse of anything beyond their small, bias world, so they don’t know that they have completely lost their personality. However, to an outsider, like us reading the book, it is tragic that the children have been completely deprived of any freedom or sense of belonging and a personality. While the other children are all the same, with no individuality, Equality 7-2521 has his own personality, and knows that he is different from all of the other children. His main difference is in his intellectual capacity. He is much smarter and brighter than all of the other children, which causes him to be scrutinized upon by the teachers, because in his world, to be different than any of your brothers is a heinous crime. Equality tries to hide his intelligence by trying to act dumb, but his act doesn’t work. He is always different, and always looked down upon by everyone around him. Another one of Equality’s differences is his looks. Naturally, he is taller and stronger than anyone else, but really feels pride about that, along with his intelligence. Another one of his differences is that he actually has preference. For example, when all of the other children felt no preference whatsoever about what profession they were given, Equality strongly hoped to be put into the council of scholars, where he could use his intelligence beneficially. He also preferred the Golden One over any other woman, and thought that she was more beautiful than any other woman. He feels pride about his differences, and is motivated to change based on his differences, mostly because of curiosity. He wants to know what else is out there besides what he knows in his world, and acts to find out, using his curiosity and intelligence. Everyone else in the story is completely unmotivated to further advance their own knowledge or well-being, because to them, all that matters is the welfare of their state. They have no self-esteem, no self-confidence, no individuality, and absolutely no personality. The city in which Equality lives is governed by a council, which gives out jobs to the children when they are old enough. Once you receive your job, there is no question, and you can’t be transferred to another area of work. It is ironic, however, because one’s individual talents and skills are counteractive in the decision as to what job one receives. For example, Equality is very intelligent, and expects to be assigned to the council of scholars, where he could use his intelligence for the good of his brothers, but instead is assigned to be a street sweeper, where intelligence has nothing to do with his assignment. Likewise, if someone is a very talented artist, he will be assigned to a job like sewage management, where his skills have nothing to do with his job. The reason the distribution of jobs is so ironic is because the government doesn’t want any one person to be better at their task, so they put the smartest people in the jobs that require the least amount of intelligence, and the dumbest people in the jobs that require the most amount of intelligence. That way, no one can be better than anyone else, and all are equal. The children in Anthem are raised exactly equal, and live in plain, white rooms with one hundred beds in every room. There is no personal space, no privacy, and no mirrors. Also, the children never meet their biological parents, and never even know who their parents are. This cruel way to raise children may seem very counter-productive and flat out dumb, but there are some advantages to it. For one, since the children are raised exactly alike, and all are equal, there can be no favoritism by the instructors. Also, there are no behavioral issues, because if there are very strict punishments to anyone who breaks the law. There are no problems with theft, because everything is communal, nobody has anything that they can call their own, and basically, there is nothing to steal. However, one of the disadvantages is that no child can learn at their own pace. The slowest and dumbest child’s learning pace is everyone’s learning pace. This minimizes the amount that any one child can learn, keeping them all uneducated.
Equality has a happiness that nobody else has. His unique happiness lies in the simple fact that he is alive. His happiness to be alive is caused by the fact that he is different than everybody else, that he is superior to everybody else, and the Golden One also cause his happiness. He loves the Golden One, even though he does not yet know what love really is. He is curious, and he wants to live another day to answer all of his questions about life. The Golden One is a woman that he met in the fields while he was a street sweeper, and from the moment he laid his eyes on her, he knew that she was beautiful. He loved her, and wanted to protect her from any pain, such as in the House of Mating. This is a problem because if anybody finds out that they have been associating with each other, Equality and the Golden One would get punished severely. Equality’s feelings towards the Golden One are also a problem because she is now in grave danger, and an obligation to Equality if he is ever captured or found out after he runs away. When Equality shares his discovery, electricity, with the World Council of Scholars, the members of the council are at first terrified of this new power, but then are enraged. They try to think of the worst possible punishment for Equality, and are about to capture him when he suddenly runs towards the window with his box, shouting, ‘You fools, you fools! You thrice damned fools!’ Equality then breaks the window and jumps out of it, and runs into the Uncharted Forest with his box. Equality’s days in the Uncharted Forest were wonderful, but lonely. He spent his time wandering, hunting, but most of all, trying to test the limits of his body. Where he used to live, the people were not allowed to do anything that was not beneficial for their brothers, but in the forest, Equality spent hours running, climbing, spinning, and doing practically anything he wanted to do. The reason Equality was not pursued or captured was because the people would not dare to enter the Uncharted Forest, because they were very superstitious, and believed that the forest would kill anyone when they went inside it. Freedom is a completely new thing to Equality, because he had lived for all of his life under absolute rule, and had no freedom whatsoever. At first he is overwhelmed, but he soon realizes that this is the way the world should work, and these are the freedoms that everyone alive should have. We can’t really know what Equality felt when he was free, because since we live in America, we take our freedom for granted, and don’t realize the true value of freedom. When he sees his reflection in the pool of water, he is shocked, because there are no mirrors in his old world, and nobody had ever seen their face before. After he finds the Golden One, they walk through the mountains until they find a house that was left from the Unmentionable Times, and inside, equality finds many books. He carefully reads them all, and finds one word that he had never heard or seen before. The word was ‘I’. Since, until then, Equality had only used the word ‘we’ when describing himself, he did not know of this word. He soon finds out that this ‘forbidden word’ describes an individual, which had never existed before.
The main conflict in this story is obviously man versus society, because Equality and the society struggle with views and opinions, and are very different from each other. Equality believes that everyone should be free, be an individual, and have the freedom to prefer something over another thing. Society does not even know what freedom is, and wants everyone to be equal. If someone is different from any of their brothers, they are looked down upon and punished. Equality wants to advance his society with his knowledge and differences, but after he runs away, does not care at all about his brothers. He learns the ‘sacred word’ ego, and develops a great one. In his eyes, the only person after whom someone should be obliged to look is themselves, and they should have the freedom to pick their own friends and what they want to believe in. Another conflict is man versus nature, because Equality had to live off of the land while in the Uncharted Forest, which proved to be relatively easy due to his intelligence.
The whole theme of the book was freedom. In the world in which Equality first lived, there was no freedom at all; people were not even able to choose what meal they ate, much less what they believed in. Equality’s ‘sacred word’ was ‘ego’, and this related to the theme in saying that man needs a little ego to be profitable. The society was sort of like a very extreme form of communism; nobody could choose what they wanted, they had no freedom, and everything that they produced was for their society, and they did not get to keep any of what they produced. That was one of the reasons that the Communist Soviet Union fell. Since there was no motivation to work harder, nobody did. If you were a farmer, and you spent an extra three hours harvesting your crops so as to produce more goods, you wouldn’t get any of what you produced; it was all distributed evenly. The question people were asking was, ‘Why should I work any harder just so some poor man who doesn’t work as hard as I do can receive the money I earned?’ There was no motivation to work, so nobody did, and the government fell. Also, like Communism, the government distributed jobs, and there were no questions asked. The point that Ayn Rand was trying to make was that a free society works much better and is much more profitable than that of a Communist society, where the government controls everything. Just look at North Korea compared to South Korea. While North Koreans are still using oil lamps and oxen to plow their fields, South Korea is a very advanced country, bustling with commerce. It is because the citizens have freedom, and their economy is capitalist. It’s like in Anthem, where it took the Council of Scholars over one hundred years with as many resources they wanted to invent the candle, while it took about five years for Equality, with virtually no resources and only two hours per day to work, to invent the light-bulb.
A society without freedom cannot possibly be productive, because there is no motivation or drive to work harder and produce more goods. Since everything is shared equally, and all is for the ‘good of the state’, there is no reason to try to be more productive than what can provide for yourself, because you don’t get any of what you produce. A society that is free, on the other hand, is very productive, and advances much more rapidly than a society that is not free. If I receive what I produce, I will be motivated to produce as much as I possibly can, because I benefit from my work directly, instead of some poor person whom I’ve never met getting my money and goods. It’s stupid to think that someone will work solely for the benefit of his brothers. It is human nature, man’s ego, to work for his own direct benefits, because he rightfully believes that he deserves the goods that he produces. In communism, there is no ‘corporate ladder’ to climb up, no motivation to work harder in a company in order to receive a raise, and get a larger salary. In a free society, there is that ego; that drive to work harder in order to advance one’s own well-being.
In my opinion, a moral and just society is one in which no one person has absolute power, and the people vote on the course of action that they want their country to take. It would be a democracy, in which everyone was free, and had basic rights as citizens. Everyone would have the freedom of religion, the right to free speech, the right to a fair trial in which the defendant argues his own case before a jury of randomly selected citizens, and other rights. Citizens would be able to choose their own line of profession, and would get to keep all of their income except for a small tax for government costs. There would be one leader, but he would have a very limited amount of power, because every main course of action that the government takes would be voted upon by the citizens, and the majority rules. Punishment for criminals depends on the severity of their crime, but the basic principle would be, ‘An eye for an eye.’ What that means is, if you murder a man, you receive the death penalty. If you steal from a man, you must reimburse him for all of the money that you took from him. An exception might be if you tortured and killed a man, you would only be killed. There would be no cruel and unusual punishment, and a prisoner is allowed to repeal his death sentence, as well as to receive another fair trial if his original trial was voted unfair. This description does not nearly scratch the surface of a whole working government, but is a brief summary of my idea of a just government.

Basher 5-2: The Story of Scott O'Grady

Basher 5-2: The True Story of Scott O'Grady

With me is Scott O’Grady, an F-16 pilot who was shot down and forced to survive for six days in enemy controlled Bosnia. This incident, known as the Mrkonjić Grad incident, occurred on June 2nd, 1995, when Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady was flying wingman in his F-16, patrolling the ‘No-Fly Zone’ in Bosnia. O’Grady was stationed in Aviano Air Base, a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) airbase in Italy, and volunteered to fly a sortie (mission) over the No-Fly Zone in Bosnia. Their mission, codenamed Operation Deny Flight, was to prevent planes from any faction, the Bosnian-Serbs, Croatians, and Muslims, from bombing each other. The three factions were fighting over control of Bosnian territory, and NATO sent peace-keeping forces, including fighter jets, to try to limit the violence and provide aid in Bosnia. About two hours into his flight, his flight buddy’s radar warning went off, but the pair dismissed it as a false alarm. About two minutes later, O’Grady’s own radar signal ‘spiked’, and he radioed to ‘Magic’, NATO’s air intelligence center. Magic radioed him back, and told him that there was a Soviet SAM missile launcher almost directly underneath them. Seconds later, a radar-guided SAM missile whizzed directly in between the two pilots, and blew up. Moments later, O’Grady collided directly with a missile, sending his jet plummeting towards the Earth.

Before his brain could take over, O’Grady instantly pulled the ejection lever, sending him rocketing out of the plane. It took nearly a half hour for him to reach the ground, floating down slowly, suspended by his parachute. By then, he could see Military convoy truck was headed for him on a road just outside the town of Mrkonjić Grad, but gust of wind carried him out of their reach. When he landed, he took his survival pack, which consisted of a radio, a compass, water, and a topo map of Bosnia, among other things, and ran. Hiding in a bush, Serbian paramilitary patrols passed within five feet of him, and throughout the next six days, O’Grady survived on grass, leaves, and the water from his survival kit. Moving only at night, he was eventually able to make it to the top of a hill, where he desperately tried his radio before the batteries were nearly depleted. He had tried the radio many times before, but got nothing but the faintest transmission back. The survival radio worked on two frequencies: The Guard channel and the Alpha channel. The Guard channel broadcasted a signal to all radio frequencies, including the Serbians’ radios. This greatly increased his chance of being heard by NATO, but it also proved risky because the Serbs could pick up his signal and pinpoint his location. Up until the fifth night, the radio had not worked. But then, as an F-16 pilot of a small patrol sent into the No-Fly Zone to patrol for O’Grady was flying on fumes, the pilot heard a faint signal from below. He heard O’Grady read out his call sign: Basher 5-2, this is Basher 5-2. Is anyone there? The following conversation was one of emotion, as the pilot relayed O’Grady’s coordinates back to Magic. Their conversation was brief, but restored O’Grady’s hopes that he would once again see his family.
Back at NATO, commanders were already assembling a task force to rescue O’Grady. It consisted of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, who were stationed on the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Bosnia. The unit could either operate more safely under the cover of darkness the next day, or do a day-time rescue immediately, which would prove much more risky. NATO commanders decided to risk a day-time assault, and rescue O’Grady as soon as possible. About two hours later, O’Grady heard the hum of two Super Cobra Helicopter gunships, followed by three Marine Corps Super Stallion Helicopters. The whole mission consisted of over 16 aircraft; NATO took no chances.

O’Grady boarded a Super Stallion in an emotional moment; his six days of surviving in enemy territory had taken a toll on his body and mind. The helicopters took light enemy fire, but safely returned to the USS Kearsarge. From there, he was flown to Aviano Air Base, and eventually back to Washington, D.C. O’Grady was welcomed home as a national hero, although he didn’t think of himself as one. He only took pride in the fact that he served his country and that he was there to defend the United States of America.

I am here to interview Scott O’Grady about his experiences in Bosnia.

Q- Mr. O’Grady, how did you manage to survive; what was the driving force that kept you going?

A- There were three things that got me through the whole experience: My faith in God, the love of my family, and the love of my country. Without those things, I would have had nothing left to fight for.

Q- Do you consider yourself a hero?

A- Absolutely not; I only consider myself a man who served his country and served it well. If anyone should be recognized as heroes, it should be the young Marines of the 24th Expeditionary Unit who rescued me, as well as the pilot who stayed out flying on fumes to look for me. They are the real heroes; not me.

Q- If you could have stopped the shoot-down from happening, would you have?

A- Well, nobody enjoys being shot down and having to eat grass for six days, so all I can say is that the experience strengthened my relationship with God, my family, and renewed the pride that I have for my country.

Q- If you were offered the chance, would you go back to Aviano and fly the same missions as you flew when you were shot down?

A- Absolutely, I love flying F-16s, and I take great pride in serving my country. If that was what I was called upon to do, then I would willingly go to serve my country.

Q- What advice do you have for anyone who is put in such a survival situation as you were?

A- As I told you before, the things that really kept me alive throughout the whole ordeal were my faith, my family’s love, and the love of my great country. As long as you can keep these values, your will to survive will be very strong, as mine was. Also, I’m no survival expert, but failure to prepare is preparation to fail.

Thank you, Mr. O’Grady. As you have seen, this pilot’s will to survive was infinitely stronger than anything and everything that nature or his enemies could throw at him. He is a true American hero, and will always be remembered.

Peace Like a River: A Brief Summary

Warning: This Post Contains Information Concerning or Regarding Future Pages of Peace Like a River.

Despite some people's opinions, I think that this is a wonderful book, and a real reflection of classic Westerns and modern day fiction. Leif Enger brings us a literary masterpiece about a boy on the search for his fugitive brother; his hardships, triumphs, and sacrifices.

The story takes place in a small Midwestern town called Roofing, where Jeremiah, Reuben, and Swede Land live. Reuben narrates the story, and from the first moment of his life, struggled to do such a simple thing as breath. He is severely asthmatic, and has to breath steam to even take a breath sometimes. His father, the school janitor, is a very different man. He works miracles of God through his hands. Reuben believes that he was put into this world for one main purpose: To be a witness to his father's miracles. The first of Jeremiah's miracles was when Reuben was born. For twelve minutes, Reuben couldn't breath, but Jeremiah said, 'Reuben Land, in the name of the living God, I am commanding you to breath!' And Reuben took his first breath.

The next miracle happenes about 11 years later, when the Lands are up at their friends', August and Birdie Schultz's, house. They are curled up sleeping in the barn after hunting, where Reuben had shot his first goose. Reuben wakes up, having to go to the bathroom, which was an outhouse about 100 feet from the barn. As Reuben heads for it, he hears footsteps outside, which turn out to be his father pacing on the bed of a dilapidated pickup truck. Jeremiah was praying, as he often did, praying about his 16 year old son's current situation.

A few days ago, the town bullies, Israel Finch and Tommy Basca, were caught by Mr. Land beating up on Davy's girlfriend in the locker room. Mr. Land whacked them around a good deal with his broom stick, but Davy thought that that wasn't enough punishment for them. Also, they had actually made threats against the Land family, so Davy was on edge.

Anyway, as Jeremiah was pacing, he walks to the edge of the truck, about three feet off the ground. Normally, one would have turned back, so as to not walk off the edge, but he kept walking. Walking on air, that is. Here is 11 year old Reuben Land witnessing his own father walking on air. Pretty amazing, huh?

Israel and Tommy struck first. That is, they kidnapped nine year old Swede right out of her own house while Reuben and Jeremiah were at church, and Davy occupied. Immediately after they discover Swede is missing, Jeremiah calls the local sheriff, who insists that it is merely mischief. Davy, afterwards, comments, 'How many times does a dog have to bite you before you put him down?', reffering to Israel and Tommy.

Swede is brought back, but doesn't want to talk about her ordeal. Instead, she chooses to talk through her writing. An avid writer and poet, Swede often relays her emotions through her

poetry, especially through Sunny Sundown. Swede is captivated by the Old West, and writes about a vigilante named Sunny Sundown and his quest to capture the evil bandit King Valdez...

Did Forks Evolve From Spoons?

On the contrary, I vehemently believe that spoons actually evolved from forks. They probably, after years of evolution, adapted to their soup-rich environment, growing webbing in between their prongs. After the fork was invented, man consumed meats, lasagna, and other forky items on the menu. later, however, man started to lean towards stews, soups, and applesauce, foods that would just not be acceptable to eat with a fork. Eventually, the fork family of utensils adapted to their environment, growing webbing in between their meat-friendly prongs. The liwuid soup would slip right through the fork, losing all eating efficiency. In the process of utensil evolution, the spork was created, and adopted by the Taco Bell chain of Mexican food restaurants, one of my favorite fast food restaurants; my fondness for this restaurant is only bolstered by the wonderful, inviting spork.

I would like to hear your opinions on this topic, so feel free to leave comments.

October Sky: A Brief Summary

The book October Sky, also called Rocket Boys, was written by Homer 'Sonny' Hickam, a now famous rocket scientist at NASA. It is an autobiography of Sonny's teenage life, where he and a group of friends build and launch off their own rockets.
The story takes place in Coalwood, West Virginia, a small mining town built directly on top of the most profitable coal mine in West Virginia. Homer Hickam lives with his brother, mother, and father, who is the mine's superintendent. At the time, Sputnik I had just been launched by the Russians, gripping America with fear of the Soviets' intentions. However, Sonny Hickam was not afraid by Sputnik, but transfixed by it. He dreamed of building rockets and working for his hero, Wernher von Braun.
At his first attempt at building and launching a rocket, he took a hollow flashlight tube, filled it with gunpowder, and succeeded in blowing up his mother's fence.

He later realized that if he and his friends were to successfully to build and launch rockets, they would need some help.

Sonny approahces and quickly befriends the school 'nerd', who helped him design and build more advanced rockets. They soon dub their group, 'The Rocket Boys of Big Creek Missile Agency'.

Sonny's father never really supported him with anything he did in life;but favored his older so, who was a star football player at Big Creek High School. People said that the only thing Big Creek High School produced were coal miners and football players. However, Sonny had no aspirations to be either one of those. He wanted to build and launch rockets and work for Wernher von Braun.

After launching off a few rockets, they accidently hit the coal mine, because they are too close to the town. Finally, Sonny's father lets them have a large, empty slack field, which has nothing but usless left over coal dust. It was the perfect place to lauch off their rockets. They soon built their own lauch platform with cement, and a safehouse from which they launch their rockets.

Sonny's father told him that to keep his rocket field, he would never launch another rocket into Coalwood again. That accidentally happens a few months later, and Sonny's father is angry. The company tears apart the safehouse and closes off the property with barbed wire.

The locals are outraged, and help rebuild the launch site.

A lot of things happen that I am leaving out, but people have expressed to me that my notorious summaries are far too long and monotonous, so I will jump to the point.

Later, Sonny and his team enter the science fair, win, go to county, win, go to state, win, and are contestants in the national science fair. Sonny goes there, and wins.

Shortly after, his high school science teacher dies, and Sonny launches his last rocket in remembrance of her, Miss. Riley.

Sonny goes to college, and later gets a job at NASA, where he is a successful rocket scientist.

His brother, Jim, gets a football scholarship, graduates college, and later becomes a high school football coach.

The other members of the Big Creek Missile Agency all graduated from college.

I know, it was a crappy summary; I'm sorry.

Support the Troops:

The troops who are currently overseas are risking their lives every single day to defend our country's freedom, and I personally believe that they are not receiving enough credit for what they do. The Bush administration has recently fallen under attack by the public, and especially by the media. Almost every major news channel nowadays openly critiques our president, especially about the war in Iraq. I'm not saying that we have gotten ourselves into the best war, however, we entered this campaign to ensure the safety and freedom of the American public, and these troops are literally giving their lives to serve their country. It is the biggest and most honorable sacrifice that they can make for their country, however, people who are safe inside America's borders don't support their own troops, and don't credit them for the true sacrifices that they make overseas every day. They are voluntarily risking their lives so that we can live in safety, in comfort, and remain free inside America, however, we go on with life like these troops don't even exist. Even if you don't support the Bush administration, and you want him out of the presidency, you can at least support the troops who serve to maintain our right to free speech, religion, and the freedom to vote for whomever we want to lead our country. All I'm asking is that we give credit where credit is due, and right now, that credit is due to the men and women who are serving in the United States Military; the true American heroes.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: My Thoughts

TLTWTW was a tremendous literary masterpiece by C.S. Lewis, but also held a deeper meaning. As you probably know, C.S. Lewis was a Christian , and a strong believer in Jesus Christ. He wrote the book to tell the story of Jesus's Crucifixion and His sacrifice to mankind, but wrote it in a subtle way so that when people read it, they did not feel like they were being preached to.
In the story, the Pevensie children represent mankind, hence the name the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve; the first humans to exist on Earth. Edmund, the child who is tempted and deceived by the White Witch, represents sin in the world. The White Witch deceives Edmund, so she represents Satan, or the proverbial serpent in the Garden of Eden, tricking Edmund into eating the 'fruit', or more subtly, Turkish delight. Ergo, Edmund's initial meeting with the White Witch represents the fall of man.
While Satan is depicted by the White Witch, Aslan represents Jesus, or the King of all Kings. He comes into Narnia, and battles evil, eventually sacrificing His own life on the Stone Table, or the cross on Calvary, where He is slain because He took the punishment for Edmund, or mankind, so that Edmund could have a second chance. That is exactly what Jesus did; He came down onto Earth from Heaven, and eventually was crucified for our sins, so that we could have a second chance.
However, in the story, Aslan comes back to life, and is resurrected from the dead, just as Jesus was. He defied all belief, and came back to life, ascending into Heaven. His ascension into Heaven is depicted by Aslan's mysterious disappearance.
TLTWTW has a much deeper meaning than it seems to, and cleverly depicts the story of Jesus's Crucifixion, Resurrection, and battle against Satan.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: A Brief Summary:

Alright, I know the title is obnoxiously long, so I'm just going to call it TLTWTW.
Anyhow, TLTWTW was written by C. S. Lewis, who was a strong Christian, so the book has a subtle Christian theme. This may scare away some readers, but if you don't want to delve into the theme of the book, it is also a great fantasy read for all ages.

The book is about a family of four children, the Pevensies, whose father is fighting in World War Two, and their London home is bombed by the Germans. Their mother sends them off to live with their wealthy Uncle, Professor Kirke, who lives on a large countryside estate. While playing a game of hide and go seek, Lucy, the youngest child, hides in and innocent-looking wardrobe.

While she is hiding, she stumbles into a magical land called Narnia. There, she meets a fawn named Mr. Tumnus, and goes to have tea with him. (In Narnia, animals can talk and function like humans.) There, he seduces her with music, and is going to report her existence to the evil and corrupt queen of Narnia. Instead, he breaks down in tears, and confesses that he is an agent of the Witch, and was enlisted to capture Humans. The White Witch is the self-imposed Queen of Narnia, and uses her magic to make it perpetual Winter, but never Christmas. She is hunting for Humans because if the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve sit in the four thrones at the Castle Cair Paravel, she will be slain, and her power ousted. She wants to kill all Humans who enter her domain, so that she will not be ousted from her power. Mr. Tumnus then lets her go, but is a great risk of being found out be the Queen's secret police, and being turned to stone for fraternizing with the enemy and treason.
When Lucy comes out of the wardrobe, she is ecstatic, and tells everyone about her excursion in Narnia that 'lasted for hours', but is surprised to find out that she was only gone for a few seconds in real time. When she tells her siblings, they don't believe her, and check out the wardrobe only to find a vile-smelling and plain wardrobe. Her nasty older brother, Edmund, teases her mercilessly regarding her story.
The next night, Edmund follows Lucy into the Wardrobe, and while Lucy visits with Mr. Tumnus, Edmund has a very different experience. He runs into the White Witch, and she is delighted. She knows that she can use Edmund to bring back all of the Pevensies, so that she can kill them. First, she uses flattery and then candy to bribe him, and makes him promise to bring back all of his siblings, using his gluttony and insatiable desire for the Turkish Delight to her advantage.
On his way back to the real world, Edmund runs into Lucy, and she is overjoyed that she will have someone to back her story. She also tells him about the evil White Witch, but Edmund denies the fact that the Witch and the Queen are the same, blinded by his gluttony. However, when they return and Lucy shares her experiences, expecting Edmund to do the same, he maintains that it's a silly game they played together, breaking her down to tears. Worried, Peter and Susan go to see the Professor, who surprisingly argues that Lucy is telling the truth!
The next day, the children are goofing around, and break a window, when they hear the uptight housekeeper, Mrs. Mcreedy, coming, so they hurriedly dash to the nearest room, and by chance hide in the wardrobe.
Startled, all four stumble into Narnia. Peter and Susan apologize to Lucy for not believing her, as does Edmund, reluctantly. Lucy leads the way to Mr. Tumnus's house, only to find it ransacked with a note saying that Mr. Tumnus was arrested for high treason and fraternization with the enemy.
Crushed, the children are guided by a sparrow to meet Mr. Beaver, who in turn leads them to his home. The children tell him that they want to rescue Mr. Tumnus, but he tells them that the only one who can help them is Aslan, the ancient Lion king of Narnia. Edmund hears that they have plans of meeting Aslan, and disappears to warn the witch. When he gets there, she is furious, and imprisons Edmund, sending out a team of her secret police to find and kill the humans.
The Beavers along with Peter, Susan, and Lucy, rush to the Stone Table as the seasons change from Winter to Spring. Meanwhile, the Witch tries to use her sleigh to reach the Stone Table before the humans, but the melting snow doesn't allow her to.

On the way to meet Aslan, the protagonists meet Father Christmas, or Santa Claus. He gives each of the children their own gift; Peter, a sword and shield, Susan, a bow and quiver of arrows that rarely miss their target, as well as a horn that will summon help to wherever it is blown, and Lucy, a flask of potion that will heal nearly any wound, as well as a small dagger.

When they meet Aslan, they are instantly in love with him, despite their awe. He promises to do anything possible to save Edmund. While Aslan is talking with Peter, Susan sounds her horn, and Peter shows up to stab an attacking wolf to death.

Meanwhile, the Witch prepares to kill Edmund, but he is rescued and taken to Aslan's camp, where he apologizes and accepts that the Witch is evil. Later, Aslan speaks with the Witch, who correctly states that, according to the deep magic, any traitor is her's to sacrifice. Secretly, Aslan makes a barter for Edmund's life, sacrificing himself to the Witch. She is delighted, while Aslan is pensive and quiet.

That night, Susan and Lucy awaken, and walk with Aslan, unaware that he will soon die. When they walk to a thicket near the Stone Table, Aslan tells them to turn back, and continues on. However, the girls follow.

What they see shocks them, as they witness Aslan being stabbed to death by the Witch herself. Aslan had sacrificed himself for the life of Edmund. They stay with Aslan's body all night, and as they turn back, they hear the Stone Table crack, and turn to see that Aslan is gone. Aslan had risen from the dead! He quickly carried the girls on his back to the Witch's castle, where he brings to life every creature who had been turned to stone, including Mr. Tumnus. he rallies an army out of them, and they run to the battleground, where Peter's army is being crushed. However, when reinforcements arrive, Aslan quickly slays the Witch, and her evil minions are also defeated.

The four children take the thrones at Cair Paravel, where they rule over Narnia for many years. When they are adults, they stumble upon the lampost, the entrance to the real world, while on a stag hunt. They then return to Professor's house, still children, because hardly any time had lapsed. They tell the Professor about their adventure, who states that they will probably one day go back to Narnia.

Anthem: A Brief Summary

The book Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, is a very strange book, but a real literary masterpiece. It is about a boy, Equality 7-2521, who lives in a society with no freedom, and nobody has any individuality or personality. The word 'I' is forbidden; if you say it, you are burned at the stake after your tongue is cut off. Everyone uses 'we' to describe themselves, because they are taught that they are nothing, and the only thing that matters is the welfare of their brothers. Jobs are distributed by the council,and there are no questions asked; it is impossible to switch jobs. Equality is different than his brothers; he is much more intelligent, much taller and stronger, and has preference. Equality is the smartest of his brothers, but is given the simple job of street sweeper. He soon finds a metal grate, removes it, and crawls down into an old subway tunnel from the 'unmentionable times'. He spends two hours every night in secrecy in his tunnel; if anyone found out that he was missing, he would be punished severely. He discovers the unknown power of electricity, and decides to share it with the world Council of Scholars, who would be there in a couple of months. Until then,the society had used only candles for light, and it took over 100 years for the Council of Scholars to invent it. The day before the Council comes, he is caught, and taken to the Palace of Corrective Detention,where he is lashed. No matter how much they torture him, he does not tell about his tunnel, and soon escapes. He grabs his electric box, and runs to the Council. When he shows them his electricity, they are at first petrified, but then furious, trying to think of the worst possible punishment for Equality. He grabs his box, breaks the window,and escapes, yelling,'You fools, you fools! You thrice damned fools!' He escapes into the Uncharted Forest, and wanders for days. Nobody tries to find him, because they believe that anyone who enters the Forest will die. After a few days of wandering, he finds the Golden One, the woman he loves, and they walk together. After many days, they find a house from the 'Unmentionable Times', where they live. In the house, there are many books, and Equality reads them all. In the books, he finds out what the forbidden word is, and uses the word 'I'. He finally knows what freedom is about, and cherishes it. He also names himself and the Golden One. He named himself after the Greek God Prometheus, and his wife after the maiden Gaea. He then vows to return to the society, and free the prisoners.