Critical Analysis for Cat Sense by John Bradshaw

     Cat Sense by John Bradshaw is an interesting book about cats, their behavior, and their relationship with other cats, and people. For example, the author writes "Cats come to realize that human beings do not aways pay attention to them, and so often need to be alerted with a meow. They learn that purring has a calming effect on most of us..." This example is of how cats interact with their owner. A second example of this is when the author writes "Family life provides oppurtunities for cats to learn from one another, rather than working everything out for themselves". In this example, the author is explaining how cats are involved in family life. This example shows how the author writes about cat behavior and family relationships. A final example is when the author talks about how cats were originally domesticated, tracking back to ancient times. Overall, the author provides a lot of information about cats and their relationships with other animals in the text.

I think the author wants you to think about what your cat (if you have one) does compared to the actions the book says cats often do, and lets you feel how you normally feel about cats. The author uses some craft moves to explain some actions and things that cats do. One thing the author uses is a textbox. In this textbox, which talks about a topic similar to that being discussed in the normal text, but in higher detail, the author is able to talk about certain things in detail. For example, one textbox, labeled "The Rumble: How Cats Purr", is about how cats purr, and what it means. In the textbox, the author says "Purring is an unusual sound for animals to make; although it appears to come from the region of the vioce box, it is (almost) continuous". In this example, the author goes into great detail to explain what the purr is, and how it is made. This is one example of how the textboxes help explain things about cats. Another tool used by the author is pictures with captions. These are extremely beneficial when trying to show something somewhat complex to explain in just text. The captions help to explain the picture, making it easier overall. One good example of this is a picture of kittens in several "play" stances, the captions describing the name of each stance and what is happening. This helps show the reader what each stance looks like, rather than describing all of them in the text, which could be confusing and hard to understand. The tools used by the author help you think about how your idea of a cat, or your pet cat, compares to the actions shown in the book because the author can use more detail about certain actions in textboxes and describe actions in imagery with pictures and captions. Overall, these tools help make the reader think and feel certain things more effectively.

When I read this book, I compared my cat to the cat actions described in the book. I thought about if my cat did some of these things. Also, the book had tips on things cats like more, like talking to them in a higher-pitched voice, for example, so I tried to see how much my cat liked those things.

Literary Essay Blog Post

The Return of The King, the third book in the Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R Tolkien is a book about how Frodo, a hobbit, and his companions (The Fellowship of the Ring), destroyed the evil power of Mordor, and the One Ring of Power that helped create Mordor. In this book, justice is served to those who do wrong, but is not perfect, nor is it simple. This is very similar to how justice has worked in the real world.

In the book, justice is destroying Mordor so that others may live peacefully, and it is served by the Fellowship of the Ring. To achieve justice, Mordor must be destroyed, because they are threatening the well-being of everyone else. In the text, it says "and to them Mordor had been from childhood a name of evil... a legend that had no part in their simple life"(Tolkien 886). This means that Mordor had always been something evil and threatening, even when they were young, and it affected them even when they lived simple lives. Justice is served to Mordor by the Fellowship of the Ring, and this is done by destroying the One Ring in Mount Doom, the volcano in which the Ring was formed. This would bring about the destruction of Mordor. In the text, the author says "He held aloft the ring... he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, then with a shriek he fell"(Tolkien 946). This is the Ring being destroyed, as it fell into Mount Doom. The effects of this are later described by the author: "The Towers of the Teeth swayed, tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled... 'The relam of Sauron is ended!' said Gandalf"(Tolkien 949). This text shows that because the Ring was cast into Mount Doom, Mordor was destroyed, and justice was served, because Mordor was gone. The Fellowship needed to serve justice to preserve the well being of others, and did so by casting the One Ring into Mount Doom, destroying Mordor.

Although necessary, justice in The Return of The King is cruel to everyone and imperfect. In the book, to achieve justice being served, the characters go through enormous physical and mental struggles. It isn't easy to serve the justice, and it takes its toll on everyone. In the text, the author writes "His white fangs gleamed, then snapped as he bit. Frodo gave a cry... but Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, finger still thrust within its circle"(Tolkein 946). This shows how justice is cruel because it doesn't just affect those it was meant to- Frodo was physically injured trying to serve justice. This shows that justice was cruel to everyone, but it was still necessary. Secondly, justice in the book is imperfect. It doesn't turn out as well as it could have. For example, the the text says "But many others were hurt or maimed or dead upon the field. The axes hewed Forlong as he fought alone and unhorsed; and both Duilin of Morthond and his brother were trampled to death... the full count of it no tale has told"(Tolkien 849). This part of the text shows how imperfect the justice was. Trying to serve the justice cost an untold number of lives, and many others wounded. This means that the justice was not simply served, it took many casualties to allow it to happen, meaning it was certainly imperfect, but necessary to occur. In the book, justice cost many lives, and affected many people physically and mentally, so justice was not perfect, but was cruel.

Justice in The Return of The King can be compared to real-world events in which justice was served. There are many similarities. In the The Return of The King, justice is cruel, imperfect, and hard to achieve, yet completely necessary. It took difficult events and many lives to achieve, but it was done for a good cause. In the text it says "there rose a huge shape of shadow... terrible but impotent: for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed"(Tolkien 949). This shows the end of Mordor, and the shadow which was above it moving away, signifying the evil being destroyed and not there anymore. In the real world, justice is often served as well. One example of this is World War Two (WWII). In WWII, the Allied Powers were serving justice to the Axis powers, something necessary to do to prevent thousands of Jewish people from being killed, and protecting the well-being of conquered nations such as France. These two are similar because they both involve dealing justice to protect people- Conquered countries and other people in WWII, and everyone else in The Return of The King, and in both, it was cruel: The extermination of Jews in WWII, and the physical and mental effects on the people, both important and unimportant, in The Return of The King. Finally, they were both imperfect. Millions upon millions of people died in WWII, many of them innocent, along with the destruction of cities and the economical and political effects after the war, and in The Return of The King, many people died to allow justice to be served. In both, the task was complicated- Fighting through France and the Pacific Islands in WWII, and going through Mordor in the book. All in all, there were many similarities between this real-world event, and the events described in the book.

In conclusion, the book shows examples of serving justice, and how that can be cruel and imperfect, and the justice in the book is very similar to how justice in the real world sometimes works. The Return of The King is a great example of how justice can work- and it shows that it isn't perfect and pretty, which helps readers in the real world, when many things are imperfect, and have to be dealt with.

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