Interpretive Fiction or Escapist Fiction

Interpretive Literature or Escapist Fiction -- which should be studied in the English classroom?  Today is your chance to express your thoughts.  We have looked at two novels now -- one a modern classic and the other... modern.  Which type of novel should we be studying?  Which type of novel do students get the most from?  Is there any merit to the idea of "cultural literacy"?  You be the judge.
Escapist Fiction is what I prefer compared to Interpretive Fiction. Escapist fiction focuses on stories that help the mind escape from everyday thoughts by immersing them into exotic situations or activities. Where as, interpretive fiction refers to parable or fables which usually is a short story that conveys a moral lesson by using fictitious narrative to illustrate one or more practical truths. Reading escapist fiction relieves my headaches and stress which is caused due to everyday problems in my life. While reading escapist fiction I am no longer in my own world instead I feel like I'm in another world, relieved and relaxed from all problems.

An example of Escapist Fiction that I read in English is Leslie's Journal by Allan Stratton. The novel is about a teenage girl, Leslie who's life is a mess

Assignment #1

If I had the ability to transport myself to any time in history, it would defiantly have to be during the hiding of Anne Frank. If Anne had never written a diary, today we wouldn’t know what had happen to her and her family during the Holocaust. Anne Frank has become a symbol for the lost promise of the children who dies in the Holocaust.

Born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. By nationality, she was officially considered a German until 1941, when she lost her nationality owing to the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany. In her diary she wrote about her experiences in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War 2.
The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the same year as the Nazis gained power in Germany. By the beginning of 1940 they were trapped in Amsterdam due to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in the hidden rooms of her father, Otto Frank's, office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps.
 
On 3 September 1944, the group was deported on what would be the last transport from Westerbork to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and arrived after a three-day journey. In the chaos that marked the unloading of the trains, the men were forcibly separated from the women and children, and Otto Frank was wrenched from his family. Of the 1,019 passengers, 549—including all children younger than fifteen—were sent directly to the gas chambers. Frank had turned fifteen three months earlier and was one of the youngest people to be spared from her transport. She was soon made aware that most people were gassed upon arrival, and never learned that the entire group from the Achterhuis had survived this selection. She reasoned that her father, in his mid-fifties and not particularly robust, had been killed immediately after they were separated.

With the other females not selected for immediate death, Frank was forced to strip naked to be disinfected, had her head shaved and was tattooed with an identifying number on her arm. By day, the women were used as slave labor and Frank was forced to haul rocks and dig rolls of sod; by night, they were crammed into overcrowded barracks. Some witnesses later testified Frank became withdrawn and tearful when she saw children being led to the gas chambers, others reported that more often she displayed strength and courage, and her gregarious and confident nature allowed her to obtain extra bread rations for her mother, sister and herself. Disease was rampant and before long, Frank's skin became badly infected by scabies. The Frank sisters were moved into an infirmary, which was in a state of constant darkness, and infested with rats and mice. Edith Frank stopped eating, saving every morsel of food for her daughters and passing her rations to them, through a hole she made at the bottom of the infirmary wall. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where they both died of typhus in March 1945. Anne Frank did not get to live for 16^th birthday due to typhus which had killed approximately 17,000 prisoners.

The story of Anne Frank shows how Jews were treated during the Holocaust, forced to wear yellow stars as an identity, which was all done on the saying of Hitler in order to get rid of all the Jews. Without the help of Anne Frank we would have never found out what Anne had gone through.   

My Top 3 Indian Foods

For my top 3, I have chosen to pick out my three favorite East-Indian Dishes/Snacks. my all time favorite East Indian foods are butter chicken with basmati rice ranking at number 1, samosas ranking at number 2, and at number 3 is pani-puri also known as golgappe. The criteria I have chosen to rank these delicious foods are by the aroma, taste and texture.

At number 1 is butter chicken with basmati rice and naan, which is a dish that is loved by many people around the world. It is dressed chicken with or without bones is marinated overnight in a yogurt and spice mixture usually including garam masala, ginger, garlic paste, lemon or lime, pepper, coriander, cumin, turmeric and chili. The chicken is then grilled, roasted or pan fried, depending on convenience or the chef's preference. Makhani, the sauce, is made by heating and mixing butter, tomato puree, and various spices, often including cumin, cloves, cinnamon, coriander, pepper, fenugreek and fresh cream. Cashew paste can also be added, and will make the gravy thicker. Of all the spices added to the dish it is dried fenugreek leaves Hindi kasuri methi that makes the greatest contribution to the characteristic flavour of the dish. Once the sauce is prepared, the prepared chicken is chopped and cooked till the gravy and chicken have blended. The dish may be garnished with white butter, fresh cream, sliced green chillies and crushed fenugreek leaves. When it is done it's usually really orange or sometimes even has a hint of red in it, it all depends on how much turmeric you put into the dish. Butter chicken is usually served with naan, roti, or basmati rice. When butter chicken is cooking, it’s hard to resist from eating all of it. The texture of butter chicken is smooth and creamy.

At number 2 is samosas with sweet chutney. Samosa is another very interesting and favorite street food. There are 2 different types of samosas, a vegetarian and meat type. I prefer the vegetarian type because they are tastier than the ones with meat. Again the stuffing inside the triangle cone shaped tortilla wrap is varied depending on the people's choice. As for the spiciness of the samosas depending all on the person, but most people like it spicy. One basic ingredient however remains the same, which is the Potato. Other ingredients that are enclosed in a samosa are peas, onion, ginger, green chili, fresh coriander, and contains cumin seeds in both the wrap and the stuffing. It is a perfect combination of flavor and texture. The wonderful aroma of mixed spices that you cannot forget. It is a street food which is famous all across the country.

Last but not least, at number 3 is pani-puri also known as golgappe. Puris are basically small hard hollow balls which are made from wheat flour and are popped up into the mouth as a single piece one at a time. Each puri is size of the mouth therefore is easy to eat in one go. Pani is flavourful water and is prepared adding extract of tamarind along with mint and coriander leaves and even some black salt is added to the water. Depending on the level of spice you can digest, the pani is accordingly made sweet or hot. The filing inside the puri also varies from region to region, in the northern part a small piece of mashed potato is added whereas in the western region people prefer hot boiled chickpeas stuffed inside the puri. Usually people add chutney and homemade yogurt”dannon” to make it taste even better. When you pop these into your mouth all the flavors mix and leave you craving for more.

Well there you have my top 3 ranked Indian foods/ snacks. Hope you try them one day like them as much I do. Once you try all these foods you will always carve for them.