Lost City of Z
Non-Fiction Literature Circle by Aidan Morrow Author: explained in presentation Audience: This book was written for an older audience of anyone who would love a good tale of adventure. This is because of the novel’s length and due to the fact of the death and sadness that finds its self in this book. Argument: A cautionary tale about over reaching ones personal limits, very much like the story of Icarus. Evidence: The evidence of the books truths are strewn upon the last 80 pages of the book.
This novel has an extensive bibliography on many important facts in this novel. What’s left out: The rubber boom should have been explained more. It was the reason for most of the Indians death and would have played a part of the background story of the Indians. Most compelling quote: “Starvation sounds almost unbelievable in forest country, and yet it is only too likely to happen. – Percy Harrison Fawcett” Implications of your learning: Now after hearing this story of Percy I care about finding him and the lost city of El Dorado (lost city of Z).
With modern medicine and modern technology there must be a way to solve all the unanswered questions left by this book. Connections to other readings: One of the main connections to other readings I found was the story of Icarus. Icarus’s father Daedalus, a talented and remarkable Athenian craftsman. Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Daedalus tried his wings first, but before taking off from the island, warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea, but to follow his path of flight.
Overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared through the sky curiously, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which melted the wax. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realized that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms, and so Icarus fell into the sea in the area which today bears his name, the Icarian Sea near Icaria, an island southwest of Samos. A question for discussion: Do you believe that Percy could have found the lost city if he had Alexander Rice Jr. ’s funds for his exhibition?
