Maps to Anywhere 2.0

From Maps to Anywhere this week we were asked to read several sections. My favorite out of those assigned was "The house of the future" it not only told the story of how people thought of things in this time period when it came to houses, but also of a dying boy. The way Cooper incorporates his brother succumbing to his illness with describing the house they were living in, blows me away; It is in a very straight forward but in an emotionally filled manner.

Cooper also incorporates his love of architecture/disdain for nature while describing the house of the future. The house had all of the elements a family would ever need, a self running kitchen, extra wings to the home and more! His love for preserved things and all things that would never be found in nature was polar and completely opposite of the love his brother had of nature. There were several emotional parts to the story, for example he had spent all of the time  hoping a dreaming of his brother getting better only to find out that he was getting worse. From experience with family having illnesses that will only ever get worse I connected with him on a more personal level here. When his brother got to the point they all knew it was over, and they had put on a play for him I couldn't help but connect.

In the short section dog house, I found it very strange yet understandable that he wanted to kiss and touch his brother in the manner he had dreamed of. I understand that not only as a sibling or in a state of loss you begin to think about people in a different way, occasionally in a romantic or sexual way. I feel like every child that has a sibling goes through a short and natural curiosity about their siblings and what it would be like to have a relation with them. I also found it odd that this dreaming didn't arise until his brother was near death. Why not when he was healthy and thriving? What made the desire so strong in a time where he could do nothing?

The story in itself has a very personal touch to it, yet it sounds as though he is detached about the whole situation. It is if he is speaking about it from an outside perspective. The essay as a whole brings together elements from the rest of the book, tying in characters and plot lines. The placement of the essay within the book was particularly ironic, he waits until the end to bring up his brothers death. It as if he was telling about his brother from beginning to end but used his brothers death in order to end the book more or less.