Draft - What happens when you cross potatoes and satellites?

What happens when you cross potatoes and satellites?

Note: This is just a draft. It is a mess and includes many notes to myself. It is also inccomplete and needs to be refined.

“’This,’ he said beaming, ‘is the Spudnik!’” [pg. 49]

• Satellite for potatos
• Sputnik = Russian satellite, first ever satellite, major key in cold war, helped start space race

“It had the unmistakable shape of a Winebago, boxy and inelegant, but the body of the vehicle was covered with pop-riveted patches of tin and aluminum, like scales, while its roof had been shingled with some sort of dark, rectangular paneling.” [pg. 47-48]

What is in a name? What importance does a name have? According to the Oxford Online Dictionary a name is “A word or set of words by which a person, animal, place, or thing is known, addressed, or referred to”. Naming things is just a human construct meant to allow us to differentiate one thing from another in the least amount of words, so why are names so important? Names symbolize things. Names represent identity.

In “All Over Creation” by Ruth Ozeki names play a key role in the identity of the forces at play [? characters and organizations ?]. Many of the characters names could be discussed in detail and how it represents them. But one of the most justly named things in the book is the Spudnik. [messy, refine]

The Spudnik “had the unmistakable shape of a Winebago, boxy and inelegant, but the body of the vehicle was covered with pop-riveted patches of tin and aluminum, like scales, while its roof had been shingled with some sort of dark, rectangular paneling” (Ozeki 47). Its looks represented the people inside: different, unique, and with something about them that one could not name. The Spudnik was the transportation/home for some members of the environmental activism organization the Seeds of Resistance. [“it felt exactly the way Frankie imagined a home should feel” (Ozeki 51).] In the story, the Spudnik seems almost obsolete but the symbolism behind its journey and its name symbolizes much more.

First, the name. The name ‘Spudnik’ is very similar to the first human-made satellite, ‘Sputnik’. The only difference is a ‘d’ instead of a ‘t’, but by replacing the ‘t’ with a ‘d’, the first section of the name becomes ‘Spud’. Spud is a slang term for potato. Now, this may look like a whole load of incoherent nonsense but it means a lot.

Starting with spud. As stated before, spud is a slang term for potato. The whole book is centered around potatoes. Most of the book even takes place on a potato farm. In “All Over Creation” the main thing the Seeds of Resistance is fighting against is genetically modified potatoes (GMO potatoes). Before GMO potatoes are even revealed as the enemy, the name Spudnik is said by Geek. Foreshadowing the incoming fight against the GMO potatoes. [needs a lot of clean up to make coherent since]

As for the relationship to the Sputnik satellite, the Sputnik was the first man-made satellite. When the Russians launched it in 1957, they became the first nation to do so, beating the Americans. “That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race” (NASA). The Spudnik and the Seeds of Resistance helped start (in “All Over Creation” at least) the anti-GMO Potato Movement. It also, played a key role in stopping the corporations from producing “Terminator” potatoes. [quote about Terminator meaning?][quote about corporations?] Just like how “The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard.” The Spudnik and the Seeds of Resistance did that to GMO-potatoes in the US. [really need to work on sentence coherency and understandability, strengthen sentences to increases point]

***[Need to figure out how to continue. Does this have a path????? Talk about Spudnik explosion and the impact that had on the characters and what it represented (end of old age, start of new?; end of what was and forces people to move on). Find a strong thesis statement and really figure out where going with this. Refine everything… Write strong conclusion, theses can be in conclusion if need.***

“a jolt followed by a violent tremor, and then the sound reached them – a deafening clap and boom of thunder, only she knew it couldn’t be thunder…” [pg. 378]

“the inferno that was now the Spudnik.” [pg. 378]

“Whorls of flame rocketed up into the darkness with each new explosion as, one by one, the tanks blew.” [pg. 378]

Pg. 255-260 = pie

• NASA: http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/
  • “That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.”
  • “The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard.”