7/17/11

Day 7: AtU Read Along Ch. 37-42



July 17 Day Seven: Chapters 37-42

37: Amy:
Amy states she never packed anything. She has no idea what is in her trunk. Elder gives her all 3 trunks. The first one is her moms. She thinks she can smell her moms perfume and realizes it was only a memory. There are numerous pictures in the trunk.  Amy finds a cross necklace that belonged to her grandmother in her mom’s trunk. Elder asks Amy is she seriously believed in those “fairy tales”. Amy responds that the ship is named GODSPEED. Elder says it only means luck, Amy disagrees. Her Dad’s trunk is filled with books, notebook & pencils. Amy finds her teddy bear in her dad’s closet.

1.       What is the name of Amy’s teddy bear?
2.       What is so significant about Amy’s trunk being empty?

38: Elder:

Amy chooses a few items from her parent’s trunks. She chooses her teddy bear and a photo. Elder is trying to convince Amy that she has all she needs on the ship. Amy then hears a noise and starts running, telling Elder and Harley to hurry up. She finds a frozen female #63. Elder wi com’s Doc to get him to the Cryo lab ASAP. Amy wants them to refreeze her. She does not want her to wake up and be alone.  Elder is upset that Amy still feels like she is alone. Doc gets there and determines that the frozen lady has not been out very long. He plugs in his floppy. He frowns. He then switches it back to green & puts it back into the wall. He states that she is fine & they caught her in time. Harley has walked down aisle on the other side. Doc asks how they knew about this woman. Amy explained that she heard it open. Harley keeps hollering at them to come to the 20s row. They find a man that has been removed and he is no longer frozen. They are too late.  He is dead.

1.       Who do you think is pulling the frozens out and leaving them for dead?



39: Amy:
Mr Kennedy used to work with Amy’s mom. She knew him. He was a pervert.  . Doc thinks he was pulled out during the night. Amy feels guilty for running in the rain and taking a hot shower while Mr Kennedy was drowning. Doc pulls up his information on the floppy. Mr Kennedy, weapons specialist. Amy wonders how many more frozens will be removed and left to drown, just like her but she survived.

1.       Even though Amy did not like Mr Kennedy, seeing his dead in the box had to be very hard on her. How do you think she was feeling during this time?

40: Elder
Harley and Elder dumps the body out of the hatch. Harley stares at the stars and all Elder sees is Mr Kennedy’s bloated body. Elder has a vision of Harley jumping out of the hatch, after Mr Kennedy’s bloated body. Doc tells Amy, Elder & Harley to keep this all a secret. Do not tell anyone else about the level, the bodies or the hatch. He goes to the wi com and Edler stops him from calling Eldest. Elder makes Doc look up to him. Doc says “You are the Elder” meaning he will have to answer to Eldest. Edler discourages Doc from calling Eldest and states that he has the authority to do so. He then takes Docs floppy from him. He is secretly looking so no one can see him. He is looking to see who has accessed the cryo level during the timeframe. Only one person on the cryo level besides them, Eldest.

1. do you think it is a good idea to allow Eldest and Harley to dispose of the body? Do you feel this dehumanitizes the deceased frozen one?

41: Amy:
Amy nows sees Elder as the leader he is meant to be. He has started standing up straighter and has changed his whole attitude. Amy thinks it must be strange for Elder to be the youngest on the ship and expect people to look at him like a leader. Amy asks Harley to take her to the Garden that Elder showed her.  Harley is puzzled as he thinks Amy should be concerned about herself, as she is like a fish out of water. They walk into the garden and smell the sweaty, musty scent of sex. Harley says FREX as a nearly naked couple bumps into him. They decide to just go back in. After being frozen, Amy is seriously claustrophobic. Harley goes to get his paints and Amy decides to run. Everyone is so occupied she does not feel like it would be a problem. She is disturbed by all the people having sex all around her I the wide open. She hears a voice “It’s her” and she knows it is her they are speaking of. Feeders, but she does not know them. She recognizes the 3rd one as Luthe. He yells “Hey freak” at her and she starts walking faster. Luthe states he wants a freak. Amy panics and full blown runs. She trips over a couple making love. She tries to get up but one of the large men is on top of her, pinning her to the ground. The other feeder grabs her wrists. Luthe approaches her body. She tries to yell HELP ME to the couple having sex right beside her. They do not help her. Luthe rips off her shirt and undershirt. She is exposed and terrified. Luthe buries his face in her chest. All three men are groping her and touching her. Amy starts to cry and sees the blank look in the eyes of the feeders. Luthe is smiling showing all his teeth. He knows fully well what he is doing and he likes it. The man holding her ankle starts to pull down her pants and she kicks him in the face. Luthe then starts to pull at her pants too. The man holding her hands starts to kiss her and she bites him & screams! “Little Fish, Amy” Harley yells. Amy yells back. Harley attacks the feeders. Two run away but Luthe stays to fight. He hits first but Harley hits harder. Harley grabs Amy’s hand and they run and run. They are being chased by Luthe. Pretty soon, Amy no longer hears Luthe’s footsteps but clings to Harley like he is a rope.

1. Did you expect this to happen to Amy?
2. Why is Luthe different than the rest of the feeders according to what Amy observes?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
42: Elder:
Orion told Elder the only way to get around Eldest is to be sneaky. He has never had to before. He checks Harley’s records. He sees that Elder/Eldest is showing as being on the floor when Elder was not. Elder goes into Doc’s other lab. He sees these gelatinous globs. Doc states they are embryos and when they land, they will breed them. They are different animals as they did not know what they would find on the new planet so they brought them from Sol Earth.  Eldest and Doc  then explain how they need to monitor The Season not only to prevent incest and birth defects but to also make sure that they have talent built into the genetic pool. Eldest and Doc explain to Elder that when he becomes Eldest, he will also have to be responsible for making sure that the ship has all the correct genetics in the people on the ship. Elder worries that when they injected him with the leadership goo, they didn’t inject enough. He does not have the confidence in himself that Eldest seems to have now.

1. Does this chapter make you see Doc and Eldest in a new light? Do you wonder why they are hiding things from Elder?

Stay tuned for Chapters 43-48



7 comments:

Unknown said...

Chapter 37

Amy's bears name is Amber.
Her dad thought that she would not go with them, he must have anticpated that Amy wouldnt travel with them. I find it a tad heart wrenching that her father new she may not go and still took the trunk Id say for her mothers benefit mabye? Mabye Amy feels more alone now ? her dad was still going to travel with or without her !!


Chapter 38

Hmmm unsure mabye it is Eldest, he doesnt seem to like the fact that they are here to help in the future >> Or maybe that guy in the ward that creeps Amy out !! Or maybe the dead Elders friend - family ?

Chapter 39

Sad as she knew he died a painful death, she remembers how she felt when she was awoken the pain and the choking, it would have felt this way right till the end with no one to help him. She is feeling scared ! this could have been her.
guilty as she was running - having a hot shower while he was drowning


Chapter 40

I think that the boys have learnt to desensatize to most situations, it seems like a careless gesure On my behalf just dump him out in the sky ! I think it does dehumanitizes the dead, but really in a place like this with no loved ones to bury him, they dont have much choice do they? They dont belive in god, so no prayers would be said .. A tad uncaring this process.

Chapter 41

I did expect something to come from Luthe, he seemed way to infactuated with her from the start, but No I didnt think that the ship would allow this behaviour I thought they were like programmed to mate ? have sex ?

Luthe doesnt act like an animal like the rest, he is not acting at all he knows what he is doing and he likes it ..

hapter 42

Doc seems to know something thats going on an is letting elder take rein. Giving him leway to be a leader and make decissions. Eldest seems to be very confident that ELder can be a good leader, it seems to be that Eldest may have injected Elder with the right genes so he assumes that he will be perfect ?
Eldest seems a bit more caring in this part, maybe its just me .. Giving Elder a compliment and assuring him he will be fine he has confidence in Elder.
Im not sure what they are hiding from Elder,, it seems that Elder is findng alot out for himself aka the frozen room the lab.. Mabye they hadnt planned on telling him just yet, so it all seems suss to Elder ?

My thoughts, maybe Eldest is ridding the ship of the scientists, ? and creating his own ? hmmm Im worried about the fallback on Harley for helping Amy..

Kat
kittee_cat@bigpond.com

Melissa/welachild said...

Ch.37
Amy's Teddy bear is named 
I thought it was kinda sad that Amy's dad didn't pack her anything. I realize it was because he thought she would stay behind but just in case she did go with them, I think he should have packed some things from Earth. Even just some magazines.
Ch.38
I still don't know for certain who is pulling frozens out. I'm gonna stick with my wild theory that the other Elder isn't dead, just because Doc and Eldest are always saying he is like they are trying to convince themselves it's true.
Ch.39
When she sees Kennedy, dead and floating in his goo, I think she is most afraid this could happen to her parents next.
Ch.40
Of course they have to dispose the body. They could save it but why. It doesn't sound like anyone else got frozen with their families, so no one would be around to object to them not having some sort of burial. I don't think you can be any more dehumanized than being frozen in a locker like meat, which is something Amy thinks.
Ch.41
Okay, this chapter made me want to puke. It was really bad of those guys to want to force themselves on Amy, it was even worse that Luthe knew exactly what he was doing, but it made me sick to my stomach and angry that the couple next to them didn't respond to Amy's cry for help. And when the girl tells Amy it only hurts the first time, I wanted to jump into the book and punch her in the face. 
Ch.42
Doc isn't in Ch.42, it's just Elder and Eldest. Eldest explains to Elder about the embryos and the needles. This scene just confirms to me that Eldest and Doc are playing God. They truly believe that they are creating and maintaining a perfect society. The Godspeed needs a revolution!

Unknown said...

LOVE Your insight ladies! You are brilliant!!!

Michele said...

ch37: TO be honest, I totally can't remember what the bear's name is!!

I think AMy's fathr really thought that she would change her mind and stay on sol-earth...that's why he didn't pack anything for her...he wanted her to be happy.

ch38: I know...can't spoil!!

ch39: I think she is scared...scared that the same thing will happen to her parents...

ch40: I think it was risky for them to do it because they really don't know that much about the mechanics of the ship...and I also felt it was harsh to just dispose of him in that cruel way, without any kind of funeral, but I guess they didn't really have much of a choice.

CH41: I don't think the feeders have any control over their bodies during the season...they are acting in an animal sense way.
I think Luthe is "normal" because he lives in the ward and he knows completely what he is doing..

ch42: oh definately see them in a new light...totall control there...they don't want Elder to know, but doen't he have to if hes' going to be eldest someday? I dont understand why they keep things from him..

Sophie said...

37. I think the bear's name is Amber.
Amy realizes that her dad thought that she would decide to stay on Earth and leave her parents. She realized that her father had given her so much responsibility. I felt sad for her--it meant that her dad was sure Amy wouldn't go with them. If he had any glimmer of hope that she would, he definitely would have packed her something. AHHH, Some things are super difficult to put into words :)
Also, I think Amy is sad because her dad brought the bear probably to remember her by--proving he didn't think she would come.

38. Can't say!

39. I think that she was afraid it would happen to her parents or other people she knew. I think she's also sad because she knows how it felt to (almost) drown in the liquid and she realizes how scared and upset Mr. Kennedy must have been.

40. I feel like they could've kept him until the ship landed so that there could've been a proper burial/funeral. But, as Michele said, they didn't really have a choice.

41. I never expected this to happen to Amy. I knew some struggle would happen with Luthe but nothing to this scale. It was disgusting. Especially the fact that Luthe knew exactly what was going on, and the fact that the couple did too and still did nothing to help.

42. Absolutely. They are keeping many things from both Elder and the people on the ship--it isn't right.

IdentitySeeker said...

C37: Her teddy bear’s name is Amber, if memory serves me right. I think the fact that her trunk eas empty proves that her dad did not think that she would go with them and that she might back out at the last minute. The reason he kept her teddy, though, could be so that he has something to remember her by.
C38: It’s hard to tell at this point, but I think we can safely rule out Harley, Doc and Elder.
C39: I suppose she feels terrible for hating him while he was alive because, even though he was a pervert while alive, it is hard not to pity a person in death, especially one who has been forced to endure such a terrible death.
C40: I do think that it dehumanizes the deceased form and it would, therefore, not be entirely right for them to dispose of the body in such a manner. However, living in an enclosed environment, on board a space ship leaves very few dignified burial options and, especially since they couldn’t remove the body from that level without a great many questions being asked, they had to dispose of the body in that manner to avoid any unnecessary attention being drawn.
C41: 1. I certainly did not expect an attempted rape to take place at any time in the book, so I was shocked that such a thing could take place on a ship that seems to be so tightly controlled.
2.Amy notices that Luthe is actually aware of what he’s doing and obviously intends to hurt her, whereas the Feeders are just blindly following through, partly on instinct and partly on command.
C42: Eldest and Doc always appeared to be co-conspirators, so this chapter did not make me see them in a new light. However, I was just shocked at the magnitude of their deceit and I expect that there are many more surprises that they will throw our way as the story progresses. I think that they are keeping things from Elder because they feel he is not prepared to hear them and will vehemently oppose their decisions to act a certain way. However, being the future leader of the ship, Elder has to find out all the well-kept secrets at some point and Eldest is just reluctant to relinquish complete control of the ship after ruling for so long, hence, the secrecy.

Sarah

Litza said...

Ch 37 - Amber! I like that her dad packed all those books & Amy's old teddy bear. Though he didn't believe she'd be going on the journey (& that's why her trunk is empty...), he still wanted to take a little bit of her with him. I'm glad her mum thought to pack pictures, enabling Amy to have mementos of her family. I also think it's interesting that Elder views belief in God as a fairytale... hmm...

Ch 38 - I know this answer already so I can't speculate... :)

Ch 39 - Frightened. That makes 2 dead bodies and 2 close calls. She's probably also even more worried that something will happen to her parents... I know I would be.

Ch 40 - That's an interesting question. I think it does dehumanize, but what else are they supposed to do with the body? There would likely be heaps of questions and they wouldn't be able to answer them. Not to mention that a dead body does start to stink after a while. There really was no better option.

Ch 41 - No, and it terrified me to death. That whole scene was traumatizing and made me sick. I can't believe nobody tried to help her. Again, another example of how something is just not right.

Luthe is very much aware of what he's doing... and he lives in the hospital, so he probably takes the inhibitor meds too. He's a sicko rapist & gives me the creeps. I'm so glad Harley rescues Amy from those guys.

42 - Doc isn't in the lab when Elder goes in, just Eldest. Right? The scene in the lab makes me uneasy, though. I can understand trying to protect against birth defects from incest, but purposefully changing DNA to engineer scientists, artists & whatnot? That's dangerous & immoral, in my opinion. I like that Eldest is showing some confidence in Elder, but I still don't believe what he's doing is right.