Last Outside Reading Post! Horray!

I think I'll give a little summarization of the last blog and beginning of this one. Murtagh and Eragon had recently traveled the vast Hadaric Desert. When they reached the other end they encountered the gargantuan Beor Mountains which facinated both of them. Then they decided to head toward the Varden after hearing Arya's (the elf) condition was sever and she had to reach the Varden soon. They barely escaped the kull, the elite urgals and headed into the Varden's sanctuary. Unfortunately Murtagh was imprissoned, ""I'm not surprised by your choice, though I had hoped otherwise....Guards!"" (405). Now Eragon and Saphira have their own private room near the top of the mountain and have just eaten a very pleasurable dinner.

One would not think that Eragon would encounter more conflicts and struggles in the Varden... but it is true. It is very political and everyone seems to be wanting a piece of him. Most of the dwarves do not trust him which just adds to the mess. Luckily Hrothgar, the king of the dwarves trusts him. The Varden's leader, Ajihad is the most trustworthy and openly admits to Eragon what he will face in the Varden. These however are not the least of his social struggles. The twins are by far the worst. They are magic users and have tried to steal ancient words from Eragon and to learn of his abilities. He despises them, however they are still powerfull allies in times of trouble. Eragon has learned that he has to be very wise to be able to survive in this enviroment, and now knows he must become an individual.

Unfortunately the Varden are now faced with a fatal threat. The kull have found them. There is a vast army of them that approach Farthern Dur, " "He was bleeding and nearly incoherent but he had enough sense left to tell the dwarves what was pursuing him:an army of Urgals maybe day's march from here" " (468). There is a huge scale battle against the kull. Even with a strong defensive there seems little hope for the Varden. The kull's numbers are large and their blows devastating. Not to mention their 8 foot tall size. Eragon then discovers it is the Shade who is leading them and they fight. Eragon gains a terrible slice down his entire back. As he looks up he sees Saphira flying down breathing fire. Then the shade begins to cast a spell and Eragon uses his last energy to get up ignite his flame with magic and stab the shade through the heart. He then passed out. When he woke up, three days later, he was told that when the shade died the urgals scattered and fought eachother. He was then proclaimed Eragon Shade Slayer, and was now considered an individual in the world of the Varden.

As one can see, this is similar to ELIC. It ends with an overall happy ending by killing the shade and winning the battle. In ELIC Oskar and his mom get over their bad times and love eachother again, and Oskar realizes that he has to let go of his Dad's death.

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4th Outside Reading Post up to pg. 413

After starving himself for days, escaping a huge city Gil'ead, and shooting a shade in the head with his arrow....... Eragon still has conflicts. Its hard to believe how much Eragon is going through, its just incomprehensible. After escaping Gil'ead with the help of Murtagh they have decided to head to the Hadarac desert. Now think of all of the land Eragon has covered already. Months of travel. Now imagine this, searing heat, no water besides the few oasises guarded by bandits, and 4 times that distance. Thats about the size of the Hadarac. Luckily for Eragon he can use magic to bring water up through the sand, and both him and Murtagh are only crossing a small section of the desert which should take around a month. Oh yeah, I forgot their being constantly chased by Imperial Guards and the Ra'zzac. The last thing Eragon and Murtagh need right now is internal conflict between themselves. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens, " "Of course. Murtagh the pack animal. Murtagh the horse leader..." "Whats wrong with you? I'm grateful for what you did..... Don't touch me," he growled. "I said, don't touch me!" Murtagh doubled over, swearing. Then he yelled and launched himself at Eragon" (342). Murtagh had actually been upset because Eragon wanted to go to the Varden. Murtagh later tells Eragon why he does not want to go there, "He paused, then said with a tortured voice, "You have a right to know. I... I am the son of Morzan, first and last of the Forsworn." Eragon was extremely surprised and utterly speechless. However, Murtagh explained that he hated his father, and the Empire and was on Eragon's side. He didn't want to go the Varden though, since they would not be so convinced. When they headed to the Varden from what the elf had told them, and they encountered kull. Kull are the elite of the Urgals, atleast eight feet tall and have the strength of five men. It seemed like they were heading to the Varden to start a war with them and now they are following Eragon and Murtagh. They both barely reach the Varden and escape the kull. When they reach it they meet the Varden's leader and Murtagh's true heritage is discovered and he is put in the jail cell. Eragon has learned through these experiences to be more calm in his thinking and to expect anything. He has also toughened himself even more through his rigorous experiences.

As I have said many times now... sigh... this book is similar to all of the books we have read because of the struggles. Murtagh and Eragon's conflict against eachother also relates to ELIC's conflict between Oskar and his mother. Nothing else to say...

3rd Outside Reading Post -pg 332

Eragon is one tough dude, "When lunch was delivered, he pushed it out the window after his breakfast... Even so, Thoughts of drinking cool water tortured him as each breath dried his breath and throat a bit more. Even so, he forced himself to ignore the pitcher." (Paloni 296). Eragon hasn't eaten or drinken for about two days now and yet he still forces himself not to, to avoid the drugs effects. This guy is extremely motivated, obviously Eragon is the one you look up to to save the world. Unfortunately Brom has died from the Ra'Zac from being stabbed through the ribs. Unbelievably, Brom was a dragon rider like Eragon and explained to him in his last moments, "There on Brom's palm was the gedwey ignasia. "You're a Rider?" he asked incredulously. A painful smile flicered on Brom's face. "Once upon a time that was true... but no more" (Paloni 274). There is also now a new character, Murtagh. Murtagh came into the picture when Eragon and Brom were captives of the Ra'Zac, and saved them from them. He is a about a year older than Eragon and a little taller. However, they have very similar personalities and both are equal in their mastery in swordsmanship. Neither can win against eachother.

Because Brom has died Eragon as had a tough time coping with the loss, as well as Saphira. He had taught him all the ways of how to be a Rider and was infact one himself. Eragon has mostly gotten over it now over the past months, but still remembers Brom. Also, my previous quote about Eragon's hunger was when he was in the jail of Gil'ead. He went through conflict in there having to survive without no food and water, and had to fight a shade before Saphira rescued both him Murtagh and the captured elf. The elf was a woman Eragon had somehow been able to dream about which supposedly is impossible. Also, Eragon has got the hots for her.

As I have said in my previous posts this is similar to Black Boy and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Not exactly too much to discuss. Just the typical conflicts and struggles except in a much different manner. And obviously not realistic like in Black Boy and ELIC.

Memoir Mystery

Both of these ideas partially tie into themselves, so you may see me repeating things I have previously said. Also since this isn't a really long topic this blog will be quite short. Why do people write memoirs? One reason I believe people write memoirs for is to reflect their life, and discover who they are. Another reason is to obviously tell a story to the reader. Lastly, they write them to help people learn from their mistakes.

What power is there in telling our own stories? Well its not like fiction, because this is real. It is something that actually happened in history which makes it powerful. Especially if it is an extraodinary story, like of WWII or being kidnapped by a UFO... Another reason our own stories have power is because it tells someone their life. They can then learn from their mistakes, and it might even inspire them to write themselves. Ok, short blog, I know, but I can't think of anything else to write.

Outside Reading Blog #2 (107-223)

Eragon has proven himself to be very brave and somewhat reckless so far in this book. He has fought Urgals, grotesque like creatures who tower above the average human, and has tried to scale a rock wall by himself. This is Eragon.

Just kidding, but the cliff probably looked something like this. This shows his reckless yet brave behavior, since he gets stuck on the wall, "He gave up and said, "I could use some help..." "All right! I made a mistake. Now can you please get me out of here? he pleaded" (Paolini 190). Brom has also gave some more insight into his personal life to Eragon. It is now known that he is a member of the Varden the resistance against the empire. Brom also killed an evil rider showing that he has great power, and has admitted to Eragon that he helped steal the dragon egg from the Empire which is Saphira.

Eragon is going through many new struggles and conflicts. He has been sparring with Brom and getting badly beaten. Yet he has improved near the end of these hundred pages and has learned that he is a very good swordsman. Also he is faced with magic, a power natural to Riders however very hard to learn and use. One of the major burdens of magic is if you cast a spell to powerful for your amount of energy it will kill you instantaneously... Great! Also Eragon is learning it in about a ten times shorter time frame then what the Riders used to learn it in. To add even more struggling to Eragon's burdened life he has to learn how to read. Eragon is also conflicting with Brom in these chapters and has a thirst for knowledge. Brom is quite stubborn and doesn't tell Eragon until near the end of these pages, Eragon now understands why Brom didn't tell him until later and has learned from these experiences to be more patient. From all of these experiences Eragon has toughened, "His arms became corded, and his tanned skin rippled with lean muscles. "Everything about me is turning hard," he thought dryly" (Paolini 171). Through Eragon's multiple mental exersizes he was able to think more clearly and be more patient.

This Novel partially relates to Black Boy. One way in which it relates is from its struggling and harsh enviroments. However, both of the main characters in each book have matured as well. In one way it does relate to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Both characters go through conflicts and stuggles, however their personalities are extremely different.

This book rox! Read it!