Welcome FHS students! Please check your FHS gmail! We'll use this blog to talk about our summer readings. Sign into Google with your Fairview Schools login. Speak, Never Fall Down, and The Age of Miracles discussion questions are all on this page. Scroll down to find each novel's questions. Then, click on Comment link following the questions you wish to answer. Click on the page links on the left to access additional information.
Discussion Questions for All Novels
Saturday, June 15, 2013
The Age of Miracles 10: How do you feel about the way the book ends?
10. How do you feel about the way the book ends? What do you think lies ahead for Julia, for her
parents and for the world?
I don’t like the way the book ends. I think that it is unrealistic. The possibility that the earth was able to last for so many years with the slowing and that humanity was able to last along with the planet just doesn’t make sense to me. Also, the days seemed to stretch so much faster. In a few months after the slowing, the days seemed to get up to forty-eight hours and at the end of the book Julia said the days had just surpassed seventy-two hours. I just don’t believe that the slowing “slowed down” so much. There was no evidence of this a few months after the slowing. I don’t know how people were able to stand it either. Not being able to go out into the sun, and when sunlight lasted for so long. Not being able to feel the sun. I really don’t think that much lies ahead for Julia or her parents or anyone. I feel like the world will just keep slowing to a point where it can’t sustain humanity. I think scientists will try to find some way to colonize Mars or some other planet. Until then, I think humanity will just keep on suffering. I really don’t think there is any hope left for our planet. Humanity should try looking to the stars.
I agree with Steven when he says he doesn’t like the way the book ends. He mentions that it is unrealistic, which I agree with completely. The idea of creating a disc that is able to contain the smell of high grass in high summer or the taste of oranges seems so profound. How do you incorporate smells and tastes into a disc? The idea of the world ending is something which makes sense, but a disc containing those things isn’t. Steven also mentions the fact that the days had just surpassed seventy-two hours, and in the book Julia says “... our days have stretched to the length of weeks, and it’s hard to say which times are most hazardous now: the weeks of freezing darkness or the light.” Our author does not portray how much time has passed at the end of the book, so we can not determine if this is accurate or not. I dislike how the book has such a sudden ending too. I can understand how Walker wanted us to make our own assumption about the end of the book, but I feel it just stops abruptly. Lastly, Steven mentions how he didn’t understand how humans could survive without sunlight as it lasted for so long before. Every living thing needs the sun to live, so not having sunlight seems unrealistic and unscientific as well. Agreeing with Steven, I feel like the book ends poorly.
I agree with Steven and Colleen on how the book doesn't end in an unrealistic way. However the book does end in the way that keeps you thinking on what will happen in the future. You know the book ends well when you spend the next hours thinking about it. So many questions popped up in my head after I read the last page, and quite frankly those are the kinda books I want to read.
At the end of the book we learn that the slowing has never stopped and that plans were made to preserve the memory of Earth and the human race. For the entire world I think this means that it is the end, for at least human life, because they have given up on trying to survive and have started trying to find ways they would never be forgotten. In the final chapter Julia is saying over and over about how experts have given them only a few years to live, and how she wonders which time it is more dangerous to be outside showing that even the average person has given up hope that they will survive to live normal life.
Julia and her parents are slowly running out of activities to keep them active. At one point the hospital that Julia’s father works at will close down and all they will have left to do is remember the past which at one point will drive them insane. It could drive them into a deep depression at the memories of the world that was before the slowing. Already she says “My mother says i spend too much time thinking about the past.” This is showing that she needs to find ways to move on from what has happened.
I like the way the book ends because it gives us more to imagine. Even though the chances are slim it can give you hope that the world would survive if that were to actually happen. Since the author didn’t say that human life on Earth ended we try and put ourselves in taht situation to see how we would feel about how the world was affected.
I do not like the way the book ends. There are too many unknown facts. We have no idea if the slowing will all of a sudden stop or if it will keep slowing and keep increasing the number of hours in a day. I also do not like the fact that we have no idea about what happened to Seth Moreno or his father. I think the slowing will eventually stop and that Julia will stop focusing on the past and will start to think about the future. I think she will find just the right university for herself, and she will become a doctor just like her dad. She will eventually find Seth Moreno in Mexico after many years of looking and many hours spent on the computer trying to locate him. They will get married and live happily ever after. As for Julia’s mom, I think that once the slowing stops all the symptoms of her illness will go away. Then she will go back to teaching every day just like she used to. As for her dad, he never will see Sylvia again and will go to work every day. I think that their marriage will be just as good, maybe even better, than it ever was since they aren’t living with the stress of the slowing and his wife’s sickness. Since I believe the slowing will eventually stop then the world can return to its normal way. It might take several years for it to get back to the way it was, but it eventually will. The birds will be back to flying high in the sky and the whales will be returned to the waters. Everything will be back to how it was before the slowing began.
Although there is no definite and clear ending to The Age of Miracles, and anybody’s guess is as good as the next person’s, I think that Kara’s prediction is completely unrealistic. There is no sign or indication at any time in the book of the slowing ever stopping or reversing itself; in fact, scientists had already put an expiration date on the human population, giving them only a few more years to live at the end of the book. Even if the slowing did miraculously stop after more than 10 years, as said by Julia on page 267, “Though the pace of the slowing had slackened over the years...the damage had been done.” Kara said that she believes the earth eventually will return to its state before the slowing, but there is no possible way for the earth to go back to normal after all the destruction the slowing had caused. The whole population of birds had gone extinct, and there is no way for them to come back. The damage to the farmlands and crops were far past recovery. Also, it had been far too long since the whales were beached for them to safely return to the waters; any whales beached by the slowing were dead for 10 years by the time the book ended. Another aspect of Earth that could not possibly return to its normal state if the slowing stopped is the magnetic field. Seth told Julia how the slowing had decayed the magnetic field, which was what caused the whales to become beached. The withering magnetic field also allowed harmful radiation in the atmosphere, making it dangerous for humans to go outside during the daylight. If the slowing did stop, the magnetic field would still remain decayed and would not be able to repair itself, meaning that it would never be safe for humans to go out during the daylight.
As for Kara’s prediction about Seth and Julia, it is almost impossible that they would meet again in their lives. When Seth moved away, he was so sick that he could barely walk. Although we can’t know for certain if Seth was dead, it can logically be assumed that he was because of his degree of illness when he left and the fact that he never wrote Julia any letters back. Julia even states on page 265, “I never heard from Seth Moreno again.” I do not think that Julia's mother will ever work again; the school where she was employed closed due to a lack of children attending, and it is doubtful that her mom will find a job of the same profession elsewhere, especially with the end of the world near.
Like Stephanie and Bryce, I found Kara’s prediction about the world’s future a bit too optimistic. Though I’d like to think that this conclusion of the book were true, I too believe that it was unrealistic. Like Stephanie said, the slowing showed no sign of reversal. Nobody ever found out the cause of the slowing, but it was thought to have been caused somehow by humans. If humans happened to be the cause, I believe the slowing would only have a chance of reversing itself long after all of the humans are gone. Similarly to Bryce, I cannot think of a cause of the slowing, let alone how humans could have caused it. Physically, it would take a tremendous amount of energy to slow down the Earth’s rotation, an amount of energy impossible for humans to produce. Also, if the slowing reversed and started to get back to normal day times, what would exist to ensure that the days stopped at twenty-four hours? They could continue to get shorter until they caused problems for being too short. Bryce points out that if the slowing did eventually reverse and get back to normal, the Earth would never be able to recover completely. I agree with this statement to a certain extent. I agree that for thousands of years the Earth would be desolate and very unlike it is today, but it would eventually recover. After a while, evolution would cause the formation of new species and the world would “start over.” Yes, most likely it won’t be anything similar to what it is now, but the Earth would once again be a life-filled place. When Stephanie says that the Earth’s magnetic field is damaged beyond repair, I would have to disagree with her. Since the Earth’s magnetic field is caused by the motion of iron inside the Earth, if the slowing reversed and went back to normal, the iron in the Earth would move again, and the magnetic field would be restored. I also really liked how Karen Thompson Walker ended the story. Like Bryce, I found it interesting how she went against the grain and wrote a story that didn’t have a perfect, happy ending. When Kara says “There are too many unknown facts,” I must disagree. If Karen Thompson Walker added more to the book to tie up these unknown facts, the story would have been too drawn out. The vagueness of Seth’s fate, the potential ending or continuation of humanity, and other unknown aspects of the story allow readers to speculate and discuss the book. On the other hand, if she didn’t write as much as she did, most readers would have been unhappy with the amount of unanswered questions as Kara is currently. I personally think that Karen Thompson Walker ended the story at the perfect point.
As I read the last pages of The Age of Miracles, a sense of hopelessness and contempt griped me. These are two very odd feelings to be paired together, but both were definitely present. The hopelessness came when I realized that Julia and the rest of the entire living world carried the same fate: imminent extinction. This feeling was obvious, but the contempt that I felt was what I thought was truly intriguing. Although there is a massive dark side to the end of The Age of Miracles, Julia’s way of coping with it made me feel contempt. Nearing the end of the book Julia describes an unmanned spacecraft called the Explorer. This spacecraft carried a disc which contained the history of humanity. In describing the Explorer’s purpose the author, Karen Thompson Walker, conveys Julia’s view of The Slowing and humanity’s fate: “But perhaps the disc will also convey that we carried on. We persisted even as most experts gave us only a few more years to live. We told stories and we fell in love. We fought and we forgave. Some still hoped the world would right itself. Babies continued to be born.” (Walker 268) Julia’s view is so proud and hopeful in a time that where the future is bleak. To me this is incredible. As I was reading the book I found myself imagining what I would do in Julia’s situation. I do not know if I could have been as strong and hopeful as Julia. Her belief that happiness is still existent in the world is what made me feel contempt. I both loved and hated the end of The Age of Miracles. The future would be different for every person on Earth in this book. Some would be hopeful and continue living their lives like Julia; others would be drawn closer by their grievances such as Julia’s parents. The list goes on of different ways people would deal with The Slowing, but Julia’s view of hope is the view that I believe is the ultimate connection of spirit and mind.
I do not like the way the book ends because if the world kept going on at the pace the slowing is already going, then it would mean that our whole existence would be a waste. Even if they send a spaceship into deep space with records of our existence, then how would we know what would happen to it. It could possibly travel on forever and maybe crash into something and never be discovered. Although, sending out the spaceship could possibly mean that we could preserve our history forever if it were to be found. As for the fate of the Earth, all life would be meaningless and without purpose if the slowing could never be stopped. The ending of the book is a disappointment because it is basically telling us as the readers there is no hope for anyone left on Earth. As for Julia and her family, they will probably live up until the point where the world is uninhabitable due to every resource being depleted that is necessary to live. The world will just continue slowing down until the point where it stops. This would then most likely send the Earth closer and closer to the sun because the rotation of the Earth is necessary to keep it in the position in the solar system that it is currently in. If the world stops spinning, then the sun’s gravitational pull will send the Earth hurtling out of it current path around the sun into a collision course with the sun. Also, if the Earth moves closer to the sun, then it moves out of what is known as the “life zone” or area in which a planet can be to support life. Once it moves out of this area, no life can be supported on Earth and then our planet would just disappear over time and vanish with only a spaceship soaring through space with the only known records of our existence. The book ends with a slight glimmer of hope that the world might survive but ultimately won’t due to the fact that the Earth will most likely never be hospitable again. The only thing that made it not a terrible ended was that at least it showed that humans could possibly have made the right decision in sending a record of our existence into space to possible be found by a race as intelligent as ours. Although the likelihood of this is fairly slim and most unlikely. Therefore, the ending wasn’t my favorite by far.
I don't agree with Cole when he says that the ending of the book leaves us with no hope for humanity. The ship that they send out is proof that everything that humans have done will be remembered and that our existence wasn't for nothing. Even though the Earth might not exist in the future we will always be remembered. Even records of our life on Earth would be preserved such as monuments like the Washington monument and the great wall of China.
Also Julia and Sth did their own way of being remembered by putting their hand prints in the cement allowing them to know that at some point they were on Earth and they did exist.
I don’t like the way the book ends because it is not a very hopeful view on the future of humanity. It seems that at the end, Julia has given up hope in the future and instead chooses to just dwindle on the past. I believe that to be a very pessimistic and negative way of looking at life in general, as she has absolutely no faith in her own future. Sure, she does try to move on, but she finds herself unable to let go of her past. Another problem I had with the ending was what was going on for everyone else. It would seem that humanity will not survive this disaster and will soon die off. I seriously doubt that humanity will not have somehow adapted to this new environment. The Age of Miracles did not really leave me emotionally satisfied as the characters never really found a way to coup with their new problems, and it may seem that they may die in the near future. I also did not feel any real comfort in what Julia and Seth wrote on the sidewalk, as this would mean nothing to any alien race that may come upon it. I disagreed with this book’s outlook on life, as I feel that there is always hope that humanity may endure any disaster that they face. Even as Julia prepares to become a doctor, she thinks that her future is very limited. I believe that the future is a bright place as long as you endure, which it doesn’t seem that Julia or her family will do. The book also effectively crushes any hope we have of humanity finding a new home as they say that even though humanity has found an inhabitable planet, it is too far so therefore it doesn’t do us any good. I also didn’t like it when the astronauts were killed off, making escape to another planet or saving humanity even less likely. I thought that Julia should have been less nostalgic and sad and more optimistic and enduring. I overall didn’t like the ending.
I feel like the book ended like the author probably intended it to end, to leave you thinking. You know the book ends well when you spend the next hours thinking about it.So many questions popped into my head on what layes in store for the characters and the world in this book. I came to the conclusion for Julia, I feel she will continue her life as a wallflower, probably being as successful as the world will let her. Her parents will try as hard as they can to live a normal life, attempting to look happy, but inside they are just trying to get through. I feel the world will probably just keep inventing little things that will keep the world going as long as they can.
I don’t like the way the book ends. I think that it is unrealistic. The possibility that the earth was able to last for so many years with the slowing and that humanity was able to last along with the planet just doesn’t make sense to me. Also, the days seemed to stretch so much faster. In a few months after the slowing, the days seemed to get up to forty-eight hours and at the end of the book Julia said the days had just surpassed seventy-two hours. I just don’t believe that the slowing “slowed down” so much. There was no evidence of this a few months after the slowing. I don’t know how people were able to stand it either. Not being able to go out into the sun, and when sunlight lasted for so long. Not being able to feel the sun. I really don’t think that much lies ahead for Julia or her parents or anyone. I feel like the world will just keep slowing to a point where it can’t sustain humanity. I think scientists will try to find some way to colonize Mars or some other planet. Until then, I think humanity will just keep on suffering. I really don’t think there is any hope left for our planet. Humanity should try looking to the stars.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Steven when he says he doesn’t like the way the book ends. He mentions that it is unrealistic, which I agree with completely. The idea of creating a disc that is able to contain the smell of high grass in high summer or the taste of oranges seems so profound. How do you incorporate smells and tastes into a disc? The idea of the world ending is something which makes sense, but a disc containing those things isn’t. Steven also mentions the fact that the days had just surpassed seventy-two hours, and in the book Julia says “... our days have stretched to the length of weeks, and it’s hard to say which times are most hazardous now: the weeks of freezing darkness or the light.” Our author does not portray how much time has passed at the end of the book, so we can not determine if this is accurate or not. I dislike how the book has such a sudden ending too. I can understand how Walker wanted us to make our own assumption about the end of the book, but I feel it just stops abruptly. Lastly, Steven mentions how he didn’t understand how humans could survive without sunlight as it lasted for so long before. Every living thing needs the sun to live, so not having sunlight seems unrealistic and unscientific as well. Agreeing with Steven, I feel like the book ends poorly.
DeleteI agree with Steven and Colleen on how the book doesn't end in an unrealistic way. However the book does end in the way that keeps you thinking on what will happen in the future. You know the book ends well when you spend the next hours thinking about it. So many questions popped up in my head after I read the last page, and quite frankly those are the kinda books I want to read.
DeleteAt the end of the book we learn that the slowing has never stopped and that plans were made to preserve the memory of Earth and the human race. For the entire world I think this means that it is the end, for at least human life, because they have given up on trying to survive and have started trying to find ways they would never be forgotten. In the final chapter Julia is saying over and over about how experts have given them only a few years to live, and how she wonders which time it is more dangerous to be outside showing that even the average person has given up hope that they will survive to live normal life.
ReplyDeleteJulia and her parents are slowly running out of activities to keep them active. At one point the hospital that Julia’s father works at will close down and all they will have left to do is remember the past which at one point will drive them insane. It could drive them into a deep depression at the memories of the world that was before the slowing. Already she says “My mother says i spend too much time thinking about the past.” This is showing that she needs to find ways to move on from what has happened.
I like the way the book ends because it gives us more to imagine. Even though the chances are slim it can give you hope that the world would survive if that were to actually happen. Since the author didn’t say that human life on Earth ended we try and put ourselves in taht situation to see how we would feel about how the world was affected.
I do not like the way the book ends. There are too many unknown facts. We have no idea if the slowing will all of a sudden stop or if it will keep slowing and keep increasing the number of hours in a day. I also do not like the fact that we have no idea about what happened to Seth Moreno or his father.
ReplyDeleteI think the slowing will eventually stop and that Julia will stop focusing on the past and will start to think about the future. I think she will find just the right university for herself, and she will become a doctor just like her dad. She will eventually find Seth Moreno in Mexico after many years of looking and many hours spent on the computer trying to locate him. They will get married and live happily ever after.
As for Julia’s mom, I think that once the slowing stops all the symptoms of her illness will go away. Then she will go back to teaching every day just like she used to. As for her dad, he never will see Sylvia again and will go to work every day. I think that their marriage will be just as good, maybe even better, than it ever was since they aren’t living with the stress of the slowing and his wife’s sickness.
Since I believe the slowing will eventually stop then the world can return to its normal way. It might take several years for it to get back to the way it was, but it eventually will. The birds will be back to flying high in the sky and the whales will be returned to the waters. Everything will be back to how it was before the slowing began.
Although there is no definite and clear ending to The Age of Miracles, and anybody’s guess is as good as the next person’s, I think that Kara’s prediction is completely unrealistic. There is no sign or indication at any time in the book of the slowing ever stopping or reversing itself; in fact, scientists had already put an expiration date on the human population, giving them only a few more years to live at the end of the book. Even if the slowing did miraculously stop after more than 10 years, as said by Julia on page 267, “Though the pace of the slowing had slackened over the years...the damage had been done.” Kara said that she believes the earth eventually will return to its state before the slowing, but there is no possible way for the earth to go back to normal after all the destruction the slowing had caused. The whole population of birds had gone extinct, and there is no way for them to come back. The damage to the farmlands and crops were far past recovery. Also, it had been far too long since the whales were beached for them to safely return to the waters; any whales beached by the slowing were dead for 10 years by the time the book ended. Another aspect of Earth that could not possibly return to its normal state if the slowing stopped is the magnetic field. Seth told Julia how the slowing had decayed the magnetic field, which was what caused the whales to become beached. The withering magnetic field also allowed harmful radiation in the atmosphere, making it dangerous for humans to go outside during the daylight. If the slowing did stop, the magnetic field would still remain decayed and would not be able to repair itself, meaning that it would never be safe for humans to go out during the daylight.
DeleteAs for Kara’s prediction about Seth and Julia, it is almost impossible that they would meet again in their lives. When Seth moved away, he was so sick that he could barely walk. Although we can’t know for certain if Seth was dead, it can logically be assumed that he was because of his degree of illness when he left and the fact that he never wrote Julia any letters back. Julia even states on page 265, “I never heard from Seth Moreno again.” I do not think that Julia's mother will ever work again; the school where she was employed closed due to a lack of children attending, and it is doubtful that her mom will find a job of the same profession elsewhere, especially with the end of the world near.
In most literature that we are exposed to today, the dashing protagonists overcomes impossible undertakings against all odds and saves the day, winning the girl in the process. It seems almost illegal to end a story without the cliché “and they lived happily ever after”. In contrast to Kara, I admire Karen Thompson Walker’s audacity to end a book in such an uncertain state. She risked facing critiques with the same point of view as Kara by ending the book in a nontraditional style.
DeleteThe book ends, as Kara points out, in disarray. The slowing has not stopped, she does not know what happened to Seth, she is uncertain of her future, and it seems as though nothing will get better. The ending is actually a realistic outcome for an imaginary chain of events. I am hesitant to tear apart Kara’s fantasy ending, but I find her version of events to be rather a stretch. Millions of people were affected by the slowing, and with Seth’s condition worsening, it is highly likely that he died just like probably thousands of others who were heavily affected. Even if he did live, finding him would be far more complicated than doing a few Internet searches. What with the whole world falling apart, I can’t imagine that simple luxuries like Facebook would be reliable.
Another factor to take into consideration is that the slowing may not stop until the Earth has stopped turning all together. No one can explain why it started slowing, and I personally can’t think of a reason for the process to stop. Unfortunately, if the world does find a constant speed, the sickness may not be affected at all. Earth’s gravity and magnetic field would still be almost incomparable to its state before the slowing. To return to normal, the earth would have to begin the process of speeding up, which may cause as many problems as the slowing did.
If by some miracle the slowing process was reversed and the world went back to the common twenty-four hour day, chances are that it would be unable to fully recover. There are no animals left besides humans and those that humans have supported. There are no birds to repopulate the earth; there are no wild plants to support life. The only thing left is the humans and the plants and animals that technology has helped to keep alive. The days may return to normal, but the Earth would never be as it once was.
Now, why would she even write the book if the end would be so hopeless? It is Julia’s outlook at the end of the story that truly makes the book worth reading. In the face of all of the hopeless facts I have stated above, the human race still has hope. Their hope is not quite as dramatic as Kara’s, but they still face their situation with the belief that it is worth it to keep trying. Julia hopes to study and have a profession one day. Life continued even though the world was falling apart. The point of the story lies in the ending with the idea that even in the darkest times, human kind does not give up. Life is always worth living.
Like Stephanie and Bryce, I found Kara’s prediction about the world’s future a bit too optimistic. Though I’d like to think that this conclusion of the book were true, I too believe that it was unrealistic. Like Stephanie said, the slowing showed no sign of reversal. Nobody ever found out the cause of the slowing, but it was thought to have been caused somehow by humans. If humans happened to be the cause, I believe the slowing would only have a chance of reversing itself long after all of the humans are gone. Similarly to Bryce, I cannot think of a cause of the slowing, let alone how humans could have caused it. Physically, it would take a tremendous amount of energy to slow down the Earth’s rotation, an amount of energy impossible for humans to produce. Also, if the slowing reversed and started to get back to normal day times, what would exist to ensure that the days stopped at twenty-four hours? They could continue to get shorter until they caused problems for being too short. Bryce points out that if the slowing did eventually reverse and get back to normal, the Earth would never be able to recover completely. I agree with this statement to a certain extent. I agree that for thousands of years the Earth would be desolate and very unlike it is today, but it would eventually recover. After a while, evolution would cause the formation of new species and the world would “start over.” Yes, most likely it won’t be anything similar to what it is now, but the Earth would once again be a life-filled place. When Stephanie says that the Earth’s magnetic field is damaged beyond repair, I would have to disagree with her. Since the Earth’s magnetic field is caused by the motion of iron inside the Earth, if the slowing reversed and went back to normal, the iron in the Earth would move again, and the magnetic field would be restored.
DeleteI also really liked how Karen Thompson Walker ended the story. Like Bryce, I found it interesting how she went against the grain and wrote a story that didn’t have a perfect, happy ending. When Kara says “There are too many unknown facts,” I must disagree. If Karen Thompson Walker added more to the book to tie up these unknown facts, the story would have been too drawn out. The vagueness of Seth’s fate, the potential ending or continuation of humanity, and other unknown aspects of the story allow readers to speculate and discuss the book. On the other hand, if she didn’t write as much as she did, most readers would have been unhappy with the amount of unanswered questions as Kara is currently. I personally think that Karen Thompson Walker ended the story at the perfect point.
As I read the last pages of The Age of Miracles, a sense of hopelessness and contempt griped me. These are two very odd feelings to be paired together, but both were definitely present. The hopelessness came when I realized that Julia and the rest of the entire living world carried the same fate: imminent extinction. This feeling was obvious, but the contempt that I felt was what I thought was truly intriguing.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there is a massive dark side to the end of The Age of Miracles, Julia’s way of coping with it made me feel contempt. Nearing the end of the book Julia describes an unmanned spacecraft called the Explorer. This spacecraft carried a disc which contained the history of humanity. In describing the Explorer’s purpose the author, Karen Thompson Walker, conveys Julia’s view of The Slowing and humanity’s fate:
“But perhaps the disc will also convey that we carried on. We persisted even as most experts gave us only a few more years to live. We told stories and we fell in love. We fought and we forgave. Some still hoped the world would right itself. Babies continued to be born.” (Walker 268)
Julia’s view is so proud and hopeful in a time that where the future is bleak. To me this is incredible. As I was reading the book I found myself imagining what I would do in Julia’s situation. I do not know if I could have been as strong and hopeful as Julia. Her belief that happiness is still existent in the world is what made me feel contempt. I both loved and hated the end of The Age of Miracles.
The future would be different for every person on Earth in this book. Some would be hopeful and continue living their lives like Julia; others would be drawn closer by their grievances such as Julia’s parents. The list goes on of different ways people would deal with The Slowing, but Julia’s view of hope is the view that I believe is the ultimate connection of spirit and mind.
I do not like the way the book ends because if the world kept going on at the pace the slowing is already going, then it would mean that our whole existence would be a waste. Even if they send a spaceship into deep space with records of our existence, then how would we know what would happen to it. It could possibly travel on forever and maybe crash into something and never be discovered. Although, sending out the spaceship could possibly mean that we could preserve our history forever if it were to be found. As for the fate of the Earth, all life would be meaningless and without purpose if the slowing could never be stopped.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of the book is a disappointment because it is basically telling us as the readers there is no hope for anyone left on Earth. As for Julia and her family, they will probably live up until the point where the world is uninhabitable due to every resource being depleted that is necessary to live. The world will just continue slowing down until the point where it stops. This would then most likely send the Earth closer and closer to the sun because the rotation of the Earth is necessary to keep it in the position in the solar system that it is currently in. If the world stops spinning, then the sun’s gravitational pull will send the Earth hurtling out of it current path around the sun into a collision course with the sun. Also, if the Earth moves closer to the sun, then it moves out of what is known as the “life zone” or area in which a planet can be to support life. Once it moves out of this area, no life can be supported on Earth and then our planet would just disappear over time and vanish with only a spaceship soaring through space with the only known records of our existence. The book ends with a slight glimmer of hope that the world might survive but ultimately won’t due to the fact that the Earth will most likely never be hospitable again. The only thing that made it not a terrible ended was that at least it showed that humans could possibly have made the right decision in sending a record of our existence into space to possible be found by a race as intelligent as ours. Although the likelihood of this is fairly slim and most unlikely. Therefore, the ending wasn’t my favorite by far.
I don't agree with Cole when he says that the ending of the book leaves us with no hope for humanity. The ship that they send out is proof that everything that humans have done will be remembered and that our existence wasn't for nothing. Even though the Earth might not exist in the future we will always be remembered. Even records of our life on Earth would be preserved such as monuments like the Washington monument and the great wall of China.
DeleteAlso Julia and Sth did their own way of being remembered by putting their hand prints in the cement allowing them to know that at some point they were on Earth and they did exist.
I don’t like the way the book ends because it is not a very hopeful view on the future of humanity. It seems that at the end, Julia has given up hope in the future and instead chooses to just dwindle on the past. I believe that to be a very pessimistic and negative way of looking at life in general, as she has absolutely no faith in her own future. Sure, she does try to move on, but she finds herself unable to let go of her past.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem I had with the ending was what was going on for everyone else. It would seem that humanity will not survive this disaster and will soon die off. I seriously doubt that humanity will not have somehow adapted to this new environment. The Age of Miracles did not really leave me emotionally satisfied as the characters never really found a way to coup with their new problems, and it may seem that they may die in the near future. I also did not feel any real comfort in what Julia and Seth wrote on the sidewalk, as this would mean nothing to any alien race that may come upon it.
I disagreed with this book’s outlook on life, as I feel that there is always hope that humanity may endure any disaster that they face. Even as Julia prepares to become a doctor, she thinks that her future is very limited. I believe that the future is a bright place as long as you endure, which it doesn’t seem that Julia or her family will do.
The book also effectively crushes any hope we have of humanity finding a new home as they say that even though humanity has found an inhabitable planet, it is too far so therefore it doesn’t do us any good. I also didn’t like it when the astronauts were killed off, making escape to another planet or saving humanity even less likely.
I thought that Julia should have been less nostalgic and sad and more optimistic and enduring. I overall didn’t like the ending.
I feel like the book ended like the author probably intended it to end, to leave you thinking. You know the book ends well when you spend the next hours thinking about it.So many questions popped into my head on what layes in store for the characters and the world in this book. I came to the conclusion for Julia, I feel she will continue her life as a wallflower, probably being as successful as the world will let her. Her parents will try as hard as they can to live a normal life, attempting to look happy, but inside they are just trying to get through. I feel the world will probably just keep inventing little things that will keep the world going as long as they can.
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