Innocence #3

I'm still reading Innocence and they're still running around all over the place and Addison still has basically no idea what's going on but he's just going with the flow. I think that another emerging theme is that books are good to read and stuff, but doing the real thing is much, much better and a better experience. I think this is a theme in this book because it is constantly said in different ways in Addison's thoughts. I think this theme also applies to technology.

It applies to technology because yes, technology can be a good source of information. But the problem comes when we replace our lives with technology and consider it the same. I think everyone would agree, going to the Grand Canyon or Niagra Falls or some other place would be infinitely better than seeing a bunch of pictures of them.

So how do we change our lives so that we're living our life in the present and not technology? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Just turn off your phone or your computer, and go do something. Play a game of pickup basketball. Throw a ball in the backyard. Addison lived most of his life sheltered from society because he couldn't be seen by anyone. He had to try to replace his life with books, and what is he learning while he's being chased by people and chasing people with Gwyneth?

It's not the same as a book.

It's really not. Learning how to play baseball works better in a yard than on a book or phone. The same is true of your classes. You'd learn Spanish a lot faster if it was constantly spoken to you instead of learning it out of a textbook. So put down the phone and do the real thing for awhile every day.

Innocence Dean Koontz

I'm still reading Innocence  by Dean Koontz and nothing has really been cleared up that much. He's friends now with that Goth person he met in the library, and weird stuff is happening and he really doesn't have any control in his life anymore.

I think that Dean Koontz is having this chaotic plotline to show us that we have very little control in our own lives, and what we can decide wh should put at the top priority because that's what makes us different from the next person, because most of us have a similar lifestyle: Wake up, get ready, go to work/school, come home, maybe work some more, eat, maybe go out and do something, and go back to sleep. That's not really special. What makes us who we are is what we do during all of those times. So don't just go through the motions at school or work just to look forward to something else. Look forward to everything that you're going to do so you can be a happy person.

On the characterization part of the story, I think Dean Koontz is emphasizing the point I said above with the way the characters act and how they look. For example, Addison (the main guy) always wears a hood and a mask because people are repulsed by how he looks. This can relate to us because we all have weird fears or phobias that really don't make sense but it's there anyways. An example of this is if you're scared of spiders. Now, we all know that a regular spider in your house can't really hurt you or do anything, but lots of people freak out when they see one. Addison is taken to a house with people in it and he's only met like 5 people in his life so this really freaks him out so he just looks down all the time and doesn't look at anyone that he's "meeting".