The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn

     For the YA book we had to read earlier in the year, I read The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn. The book is set in the future, in the year 2025. It's about how there is a bar code one can get tattooed and all their info is on that bar code. It's like a credit card that's permanently tattooed on you. Kayla Reed, the main character, and other people are against the bar code and for that they are basically targets of the government, or otherwise known as Global-1.
     There were quite a few symbols in this book. But I think one of the stronger symbols is the bar code tattoo.
     I think the bar code tattoo is a symbol for Global-1, the name for the government that basically has control over everything. Literally everything: food, money, schools, the mail,etc.
     The reason I think the bar code represents Global-1 is because in the book, the bar code is represented as it was something evil. It was because of the bar code that two people died anyways: Kayla's dad and a Global-1 postal service worker. The reason Kayla's dad died (he committed suicide) was because he had gotten depressed over the tattoo. The postal service worker got killed by the police (run by Global-1) because he claimed that the tattoo was dangerous. So basically, the bar code tattoo is evil.
     Global-1 is also evil. They are in control of everything and have access to everything and know everything about you. In the year 2025, privacy was not a right because Global-1 could tell what food you last ate since they own all the food in the world; the last clothing item you brought; your medical records, family history,etc.
     So clearly the bar code tattoo is evil because it ends up being the reason many people die, it must represent Global-1, the government, as a symbol because they are also very evil.
      Overall, this was a great read. I recommend to all.

Teen Fiction Plots Are Darker and Starker by William Porter

        In the article "Teen Fiction Plots Are Darker and Starker" by William Porter, it discusses about how YA literature (teen fiction) has become darker and darker. It also discusses how these dark books have become increasingly popular and wonders who should be in charge of what teens read: parents, librarians or teens themselves. A way the author describes the genre is: "The stories range from grim to ghastly." and continues with examples of some stories.
         Beginning right off with the first paragraph, the reader is uncertain of the YA genre. This is so because the description being used is detailed and straight to the point that YA fiction is dark: A boy returns to school from a mental hospital years after setting his playmate on fire. An anorexic girl watches her friend die from the same illness. A sexually abusive dad is turned in by his daughter's classmate". Furthermore, the author describes in a list the topics that YA literature is mainly about, and putting out there that the genre is popular enough that "Teen hardbacks cost $15 to $17, about $10 less than adult fiction".
      Where the article included that YA "Topics include suicide, disfigurement, mental illness, violence and terrorism", not all YA fiction is like that. Where some YA literature can be really dark, not all of it is. My view on YA fiction is not really changed at all, after reading this article because there are some things in life that are really dark, and I think one should get use to them, instead of reading books that are just happy and bright.

Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People and War by Yukio Tsuchiya

        The story Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya is a touching story. This story is about how three elephants, John, Tonky and Wanly, as well as all the other zoo animals are forced to decease during war. This was all because of the command the army made because they did not want wild zoo animals running around.
        In Ueno Zoo, before the war, everything was assumingly quite fine. Until, all the wild zoo animals had to die. This is proven in the story: "by command of the Army, all of the lions, tigers, leopards, bears and big snakes were poisoned to death". My first response to this was 'but they are only animals! Animals don't deserve to be poisoned to death, no not at all'. It was at this point that I concluded that the military basically controlled everything, at least in this story (the military has control over the zoo keepers, zoo trainers, etc.)The zoo keepers, trainers, etc. have no choice but to somehow kill these animals by whatever means: poison, murder, starvation, etc.
        The first elephant who died was John. I believe a symbol to represent John is the syringe. This is so because in Faithful Elephants the elephant keepers tried and tried to kill John many times. Fist by poison food, then poison directly injected, then starvation. Overall, the process to kill John the Elephant took quite some time. With the syringe, a tool the elephant keepers tried to kill John with, the needle kept breaking and breaking and breaking because the skin of John the Elephant was really tough. So clearly, in my opinion, the syringe must represent John.
        After John, Tonky and Wanly were the next victims (that were elephants) to die. To further prove what I mentioned above that the military controls everything is the following from the passage: "The zoo keepers wanted so much to keep Tonky and Wanly  alive that they thought of sending them to Sendai, far north of Tokyo." However, they could send Tonky and Wanly to Sendai because the elephants could have escaped and run freely in Sendai. So the elephant keepers and the elephant trainers had to kill the innocent elephants by whatever means. Furthermore, one can tell that the elephant keepers and trainers do not want to kill Tonky and Wanly but have no choice. The passage proves this: "The trainer could stand it no longer.... dashed to the food shed. He carried food and pails of water to them.... No one was supposed to give them water. But everyone was hoping and praying... if the elephants could survive only one more day then war might be over and the elephants would be saved". Unfortunately, Tonky and Wanly starved to death.
        To conclude, the military in the passage Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya had control over basically everything (the elephants and other animals, trainers, etc.). If not for the army, John, Tonky and Wanly, as well as all the other wild zoo animals would have not been forced to be killed by their own trainers and the zookeepers themselves.