Escape from Furnace (Solitary) 2

         This is my second blog post on the book Solitary by author Alexander Gordon Smith. Since last I posted however, a lot of new themes and issues have appeared. After Alex, the main character, has freed himself of the prison, and is struggling to find a way out of the underground tunnels, he meets the rats. Huge monsters that stalk the bottom of the prison. However, Alex finds a way around them with the help of a mysterious friend who guides Alex and his friend Zee, to the exit. The two are taking the route that was pointed out to them, giddy with excitement over the prospect of being free, when they end up unfortunately running into the warden of the prison, and his black suit guards. To Alex and Zees great dismay, they are sentenced to a month in solitary confinement, a small cell where it is rumored among the inmates that your own fears brought forth by the isolation can bring you to insanity and even death. At the beginning of their sentence, Alex sees visions in the dark, and is haunted by his own nightmares, the work of the truly powerful "Hole" as Solitary has been nicknamed. But knowing that he must keep his mind busy in order to stay sane, Alex decides to try ripping off this grate covering he found in the corner of the room. After quite a bit of work, he manages to release it from it's tough hinges and to his astonishment, hears tapping through  the hole that he has created. It turns out that the tapping is coming from Zees neighboring hole cell. Quickly, the two inmates design a form of code system through taps, betting the system in confinement that has drawn so many crazy.
          After about a week of tapping out messages to each other, and eating the gray mush that is feed to them, also called mush, Alex is take in from his cell by an unfamiliar, person. Thinking that he is one of the wardens evil beings, Alex attempts to beat the thing, but finds that the creature is tough and can easily withstand Alex's feeble assault. Once Alex is brought into an abandoned storage cell. The creature tells Alex that the warden is setting up a sort of system in furnace, where the inmates are transformed into monsters and other bizarre creatures so as to research by. But to the wardens dismay, some of his own creations have turned on him, and he is having to fight them in a war, beneath the prison floors. The creature, says that he is one of the wardens creations, and that he is willing to free Alex so he can have help from to find a way out for him and some of the other beings that are fighting the warden. Alex agrees, and they begin to form a plan.
          The portion of the book Solitary that I have included in this blog post has really made me think about the hope that keeps people alive. In the story, Alex discovers a way to communicate with Zee in the hole, by doing so, he beats the hole. The hole can no longer drive all the humanity and saneness from him, for with communication and sound comes reality of the mind and senses. And since the whole purpose of Solitary is to take such reality away, it can no longer do so with Alex's and Zees ingenious form to contact each other. The same goes for real life, we must keep our eyes on the goals we want to achieve in life, for that is what gives us the will to survive.