The Activist and Calvino

The second part of Renee Gladman's novel, "The Activist," was still pretty confusing to me, but that is also why I was so intrigued by it. The way in which she wrote the novel drew me in right away because it was written in a format that I have never seen in a novel before and it made it an interesting and compelling way to write the story she was trying to tell. It was interesting to see the way in which the novel turned by the end of the story as well because the activists turn away from their war on the administration to turning inward and creating a war with each other. While reading this I felt as though what Gladman was doing with her novel was illustrating a metaphor of the current situation in the U.S, while also taking a look at situations in which a government has their own agenda and civil liberties are at stake. While reading the Calvino excerpt, “Right and Wrong Political Uses of Literature," he talks about the relationship between literature and politics. This was interesting to me because I never really thought of those two things going together but after reading "The Activist," it should how complex of a relationship they can have because literature represents a form of free speech and expression to me. It gives a voice to those that never chose to speak up or are never heard. Gladman illustrated this in her novel by allowing everyone in the book to have a voice, which in away was confusing but looking more closely at it I noticed that it really just illustrates our world today and all of the different opinions and beliefs that arise everyday in different situations.