AP Literature: Everything is Illuminated discussion

I know that this might sound wierd and I honestly thing that I am going to be juged for this but am I the only one that feels atractted to the character of Alex on the book??? I really dont know why but I fined his atittud soo dam atractive!!!! But once you see the movie there is a complete disapointment.

Mari do you feel attracted to Jonathan’s grandfather’s dead arm too? Haha, that’s like so you. I can picture you in Trachimbrod falling in love with Safran and loving his dead arm, like a widow! hahaha

APB2
Valentina Balcazar

Mari, I also feel attracted to Alex so much!! Haha Valen but not to Jonathan's gradfather´s dead arm.. do you? Alex is kind of a bad boy but also very funny, and in my mind he's so sexy! When I thought he had been with all those women, I was completely disgusted by him, because he treated them as if they were toys. But when he finally tells the truth to Jonathan, that he's a virgin, I feel happy for me, but sorry for him. Why is it that he needs to pretend as if he was a player and that he supposedly spends fortunes in nightclubs when really these are just lies? Is it only to prove his father and little Igor that he's able to do whatever he wants with girls? He loves writing because he can make a parallel life to his own, adding or deleting things of his real life. This is what he says, but does this show us that he truly doesn't like being himself? I think this accentuates the fact that he would prefer living another person's life, like when we learn at the beginning of the book that he changed his name to Jonathan.
MARIANA VELÁSQUEZ TORO

I think that that was one of the purposes that the author had . I think that the fact that Alex is such a bad boy and that he is always trying to show off makes us feel attracted to him.I also think that he is attractive because he makes us want to know more and he make us want to figure out why he is that way. I think that It is funny how Alex is always doing ironical comments and I like that way that he idolized america. I think that he is a bit egocentrically and that at the beginning of the book he is very dependent on what his father tells him but at the end we see how he overpasses this and leaves.I also think that he is the character that has evolved the most.
Daniela Arango

Probably the strangest discussion I've read.

I think alex is atractive but like in a dorky kind of way. His obsession with America is very funny and the way he speaks english gives his character a unique charm. I think the author wanted to contrast the two characters given the fact that Alex is really imprudent and sort of a bad boy while Jonathan is really shy and reserved. Also regarding what Mariana said about Alex lying when he made himself seem like a player, I think that may have something to do with his father being abusive. Maybe he feels he has something to prove and then realizes it doesnt have to be that way.

I agree with Mr. Goodman in that this is a very strange discussion, specially since I don't find Alex attractive at all and I certainly don't think that it's the author's purpose to depict him that way. On the other hand, I feel that the author is actually criticizing Alex's behavior. First, through a self-description of Alex's character, he makes the reader believe that he is actually interesting and creates a false image of what Alex looks and behaves like. BUT I think that the author is actually mocking Alex's character and every person that acts in a similar way, bragging about how awesome they are and making up stories about their awesome adventures, when they can be classified more accurately into a category of 'pathetically useless' (until he finds JSF, that is, or I least that's what I think). Alex is not attractive at all, he's just too desperate to be. But I must admit I do think he is very straightforward and decisive and I find that amusing and comical.
-Manuela Navarro APB1

Manuela wrote: "I agree with Mr. Goodman in that this is a very strange discussion, specially since I don't find Alex attractive at all and I certainly don't think that it's the author's purpose to depict him that..."

I agree with manu but want to add that the author want the readers to realise their own flaws and analyze how they perceive themselfs. In many occasions we think of ourselfs as perfect and this is never true. In other occasions we are so insecure or unhappy with who we are that we create a new personaly or become someone different. Even if its only in our minds we invision how the perfect person would react to the situation we are living. Alex is the epiphany of this trait which is present in most of us. He is a reflexion of our own insecurities and our own desires. He has (in his mind) become the perfect man. That is the reason why mariana and other girls find him atractive.
Maria Luisa Angel APB3