The Metamorphosis (41-82)

Gregor's parents could not bring themselves to visit him in his room for the first two weeks or so. However, they demonstrated their love for him by waiting for his sister outside of his room each day when she delivered his food. After she was out of the room, they stood there curious to hear what he had eaten, his behaviour, and if there was any nuance of improvement. Gregor's mother requested to come into his room but her husband, Gregor's father protested against the idea. Gregor's sister, on the other hand, noticed how much he loved climbing up the walls. She then arranged with her mother that when father was not home, they would carefully remove the furniture from Gregor's room. One day, when the father was not home, Gregor's sister and mother went to remove his furniture. Gregor was astonished with great dismay because he watched as his memories and the things that mean so much to him being removed from his room. He has already lost himself, at least his outward appearance and gradually he is losing his senses. Therefore, the fact that they are removing more things which he identifies with dumbfounds him. Gregor sees a painting on the wall of a woman standing in fur and he greatly admires the painting. He tries to save the painting which leaves his sister unhappy. The sister is shocked as she is staring eye to eye with her brother who is now a bug so all she simply says is "Oh my God". Those are the only words she has told him for the past two months. Meanwhile, the mother is behind her and she faints. Gregor's sister gets both herself and the mother out of the room and locks Gregor out, leaving him trapped in his room.

Gregor's father comes home after a long, tiring day. He notices his wife had fainted at the sight of seeing their son and states that he is not surprised because he warned the females in the house against seeing Gregor. He then loads some apples in his pockets and aims them at Gregor. Gregor, who is now in pain, cannot defend himself. A few days later, the apple marks are still visible on his skin and are a constant reminder that he is an outsider in his family. Gregor's house is becoming smaller as they are in constant need for money. For one, they let their household maid go and replaced her with an elderly woman who would work for less pay. Then, they were thinking about moving out of their apartment into a smaller one but that wold be impossible seeing that there would be no way to transport Gregor out. They have also been selling their jewelry to obtain more money to pay for their rent and other necessities.

One day, Gregor's sister, who happens to be talented in playing the violin, is playing the instrument. Her audience is her mother, father, and a guest who does not live with them. Intrigued, Gregor listens to the soft, melodic music from the premises of his room. At times, he moves nearer to his sister and only wishes she would play the same exact way while he is resting in his room. The guest notices a bug (Gregor) and points to it. He is extremely frightened and rushes out of their apartment. Gregor's sister expresses her frustration with the whole thing and thinks that the family has to get rid of "it" (referring to Gregor) and thinks they should stop believing that Gregor has not changed. She sobs while her parents think of the next step. The father says he wishes he could explain to Gregor why they need him to leave their household but his daughter objects saying that if it truly was Gregor in his normal senses, he would have already left a long time ago. Gregor goes back to his room feeling the whole world on his shoulders. He remains motionless/still while thinking of how to leave. He then dies by the next morning when their elderly maid goes into his room and sees him lying there and not moving even when she touches him. She notices that he is very fragile and has become extremely skinny from not eating the food.

The family is now satisfied and feel as if they can move forth with their new lives without Gregor. They fire the elderly maid, they do not feel as if they will be needing her services any longer. They take a stroll on the trolley and begin to enjoy the life that they have always dreamt of. They move into a smaller apartment in an even better location. Suddenly, Gregor's parents notice that their daughter has emerged into a beautiful young lady and her body has matured even through the stress of dealing with her troublesome brother. The next step for them now is to find her a suitable, decent husband.

"Was he an animal that music so captivated him?  For him it was as if the way to the unknown nourishment he craved was revealing itself." (Kafka 68)

"We must try to get rid of it...It is killing you both. I see it coming. When people have to work as hard as we all do, they cannot also tolerate this endless torment at home. I just can't go on anymore." (Kafka 71)

I find the first quote very interesting because it shows that Gregor is not the animal his family is envisaging him as. He is very much human, as he is still very much captivated and attracted to music. At other parts of the novella, he is climbing his wall, racing, and doing very animal-like actions. This is a nice shift from his animal actions and shows the human-like qualities that he still happens to possess although his family begs to differ.

In the second quote, the speaker is Gregor's sister. It's quite surprising that she was the one who was saying that they should get rid of Gregor. I found it very interesting that she referred to her brother Gregor as "it". It demonstrates that Gregor is no longer her brother and she has accepted him as the bug that he is outwardly. Secondly, it is a little bit of betrayal because initially, she was the only one in her family who was supporting him by bringing him food and attempting to see things from his perspective. Now, she is the one in her family requesting to get rid of her brother. I felt very compassionate for Gregor because his family has completely lost their faith in him, especially his biggest supporter. But then again, I understand where the sister is coming from. The sight of Gregor and seeing him chase away all their friends and family, it must be very scary. It must be scary seeing people run away from your son or your brother. I understand why the sister succumbed to her parents' mentality. I just wish she had given it more time to see if she can get herself to completely accept her brother for who he is now.

*Why has the family not tried to put themselves in Gregor's shoes?

*Don't they realize that it is equally as difficult for Gregor to see himself in a new body while losing all his friends and family?

*How could they not feel even a minuscule of sympathy when their brother/son had died?

The Metamorphosis (1-41)

The novella begins with Gregor Samsa waking up like any regular day from an anxious dream only to discover that his body had been transformed into a monstrous bug. Initially, he's thinking that it is some crazy dream but looks around and what he is seeing through his beetle eyes are very familiar - it is the same ole four walls that he is used to seeing. He then thinks that as a traveling salesman, he should probably get back to sleep in order to have the proper rest that his body needs. Gregor then tries to get on his right side, which is the side he is used to sleeping on, but his body keeps springing back straight. He realizes that he has time because the next train leaves at 5 so he goes back to sleep. He then wakes up at quarter to six and realizes that he has missed his train. At that point, he is oblivious pertaining to how he did not hear the alarm because his alarm is very loud and always shakes the furniture. He then considers either quickly rushing to make the seven o'clock train or to just call off sick. However, if he does call off sick, his boss would question it because Gregor had never been sick throughout the five years he had been working for his boss and saying that one is sick is a common excuse most of the employees for this particular boss uses. While he is thinking about what to do, his thoughts are interrupted by loud knocks by his mother, then his father, then finally his sister. He wants to tell them his reason for not being able to wake up and open the door but notices that his voice has changed into a bug-like type of voice.

A few minutes later, he makes the decision that he must rightfully get up and get on with his day. He realizes that he now has small limbs and no longer arms to impel him forward. He then starts with his lower body, attempting to get out of bed but notices that it happens to be very painful for him. Gregor then tries a different strategy and tries to use his upper body to get out of bed but it is not working out for him either. Finally he concludes that he cannot get himself to get up therefore there is no point in trying. After moments of thinking, he makes a deal with himself to get up before quarter past seven. He begins thinking that if someone were there to help him up, he probably would be able to get up. Perhaps his father or the servant girl could help out but he knows that he would have to call out for help and is not satisfied with the idea.

Gregor's manager furiously shows up to his apartment, wondering what is going on and why he had missed the train, something Gregor had never been doing previously. His mother starts making up excuses for him like he is sick because the manager is threatening that Gregor might lose his job. As Gregor is listening in on the conversation, he manages to get himself up from bed, forgetting about his lower body which had been hurting him excessively before. The manager starts complaining and begins to accuse Gregor of being the one who stole the company's money. The manager also becomes a little furious towards Gregor's family which leads Gregor to tell him to keep his family out of this matter. Gregor is able to open the door at least and when the manager sees that he is now a gigantic bug, he backs away in fear and hurries off. Meanwhile, his mother faints and his father starts crying at his sight. While the manager is backing off, Gregor tries to contemplate with him to make up an excuse for him to the ultimate boss. As soon as the manager has hurried off and Gregor is not able to catch up to the manager, his father shoves him back into his room. Gregor's feet is caught up in the door and he injures himself once again.

Later that day, Gregor falls asleep and wakes up in the evening. He sees a bowl of milk and bread near the door of his room and knows that it must have been his sister that left it there. He is excited because he loves milk but once he tastes it, he realizes that he no longer likes the taste. He then leaves the food there.  His sister comes back later on and sets down a newspaper then sets a variety of food Gregor can choose from to eat. The routine continues and his sister proves to be the only member of the family who cares for him. He begins to listen to his parent's conversations through the door and is now aware that his family is having financial problems and it might not be possible for them to get the money - his parents are old and his sister is too young to supply the money. Meanwhile, Gregor is slowly adapting to his life as a human-sized bug. His sister is afraid of the sight of looking at him and so are his parents but they still managed to help him out. He starts playing around with his body and develops a keen interest in climbing the wall. When his mother and sister observes that interest, they remove a few furnitures from his room to help him adjust to this new life.

"By the door he first noticed what had really lured him there: it was the smell of something to eat. A bowl stood there, filled with sweetened milk, in which swam tiny pieces of white bread. He almost laughed with joy, for he now had a much greater hunger than in the morning, and he immediately dipped his head almost up to and over his eyes down into the milk. But he soon drew it back again in disappointment..." (Kafka 27)

Although it is not revealed in the quote, the reader knows from other context that it was Gregor's sister who had brought him the milk and bread. I find that interesting how, after the sister has witnessed with her own eyes her brother's transformation into a gigantic insect, she still managed to bring him milk and bread - which had been his favourite mean when he was a human. This goes to show that his sister has not fully accepted him as a bug and is still thinking of her brother as a regular human being. Perhaps she is trying to convince herself that nothing has changed or maybe she is bewildered as to how to solve this situation. Regardless, it's still interesting how she believes that his interest in food has remained the same even with the transformation. By bringing him milk, though, I feel that his sister begins to learn about her brother's current state. She sees that Gregor no longer likes the milk and begins to accept him that way. As he is undergoing his mental and physical transformation as a bug, she is also forced to transform the way she perceives him. Therefore, after this, when she delivers him a variety of food to choose from, it is a stepping stone for her. When she notices that her brother is behaving in a bug-like manner based on the fact that he now likes crawling up the wall and such, she takes the step by moving out the furniture from his room to give him space. That definitely differentiates her from the other members of the family because she proves that she still sees him the same way, and even when she does not at times and still becomes frightened by the fact that he is a bug, she is still willing to accept him for who he is now.

The Accidental Billionaires(224-272)

Eduardo has finally moved in with Mark and everyone else in California. He notices computers everywhere in the room. When he finally gets back to Harvard, it is his final year in university so he reduces his class in order to focus on Facebook. Mark seems a bit angry with Eduardo because of the fact that Eduardo froze the bank account. Mark then retaliates by proceeding with the investor meetings that were against Eduardo's wishes. Right now, Facebook is at almost a million users (750, 000 specifically) and Mark thinks that Eduardo should back off  a little while he also contributes to the business aspect of Facebook. While Eduardo was in New York and Mark in California (Mark has dropped out of Harvard and now lives in California), Eduardo had added some special features like a "wall" where people would communicate with one another. There were also groups for people to join and create, an idea suggested to Mark by Eduardo.
Eduardo is in front of Facebook's lawyers who have presented him a deal that they wish for him to sign. The document supposedly curtailed Mark's ownership of Facebook, down to 51% while Eduardo owns 34% and Sean Park would have 6.47% while Dustin would have 6.81%. Eduardo thinks that he is being included especially when Mark invites him to a party that will be held in California when Facebook has reached a million users. Soon after, Eduardo receives an email from Mark requesting for him to come down to California for an important meeting and to train someone who would help with the business aspect of the company. In the email, it states that Dustin is selling a part of his share and Sean Parker had received 2 million dollars profit from Facebook. Bewildered, Eduardo goes to California with the intentions to ask Mark how it's possible Dustin and Sean are doing all of this when they are not a big part of the company. When he comes, he meets with Mark and lawyers. The lawyer basically tell him that he would be expunged from Facebook and he has almost no shares. He feels extremely betrayed by Mark as he is also told that Sean is now the new vice president of Facebook.
Meanwhile, Sean Parker takes Mark to an important meeting but requests that he acts like a "diva". He tells Mark to show up to the meeting 15 minutes late while wearing pajamas and to act like he doesn't care because he runs the show and everyone wants to be a part of it. Eduardo is back at Harvard - graduating and he could not be more proud of all of success both in high school and at the university. After graduation day, Eduardo begins planning out where to go from there/what to do with his life. First, he starts off by hiring lawyers, sending out letters, and making his intentions clear to Mark that he wanted to sue them for depriving him of what rightfully is also his. He hated the fact that he will go against his friend in court but he felt that he needed to do what he needed to do.
Sean is at an undergraduate party where there is drinking and tons of craziness and illegal acts going on. The police come to stop the party then they arrest him. He is not sure if he has been set-up or simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time but he knows that Mark will get very angry with him. Likewise, Mark fires him from being a part of Facebook because it will give the company a bad reputation/name to say that their vice president, who is 26 was at an undergraduate party flirting with girls and drinking with people who are underage. Back in Boston, the bacchanalian Eduardo sees one of the twins at a party. He simply approaches him and the book ends with him telling the twin that Mark had betrayed and screwed him up, too.

"Then full realization hit him like a gunshot to the chest, shattering him from the inside out, destroying a part of him that he knew he'd never get back." (Mezrich 239)
"To Eduardo, this was betrayal, pure and simple. Mark had betrayed him, destroyed him, taking it all away. It was all right there, in the papers in his hands, as clear as the pitch-black letters imprinted on those ivory-white pages." (Mezrich 239)

I love the imagery that Mezrich used to describe the sensation that was going through Eduardo's mind as he just realizes that he has been betrayed by his best friend. The imagery used is that of a gunshot and he also uses simile to compare the realization to the gunshot at the chest. Gunshots are meant to destroy/injure and likewise, betrayal serves the same purpose. In this first quote, he makes the use of "showing, not telling" which I like because I can picture it more while in the second quote on the same page, he sort-of explains it by saying that Mark had betrayed him and destroyed him. I then admire and love when he said the "pitch-black letters imprinted on those ivory-white pages." I mean, can he truly get more descriptive than that? I love the description of the ivory-white pages, it's not often that I see paper being described that way especially the pitch-black letters that are striking out to him. In addition, he once again makes use of simile with the use of "as". One technique that I think Mezrich used to make it even more descriptive is the fact that he described the adjective. He says "pitch-black". Most people would just say black but he added the pitch to make it clear that it's extremely dark. Besides, there are more than one shades of black...the pitch/really dark black, off-black, etc. Then with the white page description, he says "ivory-white". To me, that makes it more fun to read and adds more details to description.
For me, I felt the emotion Mezrich was evoking as he stated Eduardo's state of mind as he is being betrayed. Therefore, the quote serves its purpose to me by reaching out to me - the reader, and forcing an emotion out of me as I am reading. I feel that it was very malicious of Mark to do that to his friend but then again, there must have been a misunderstanding somewhere. I'm sure if one was to ask the two of them, they would both tell their tale of the story and it may very well be two opposite things. Eduardo felt that he contributed to the making of Facebook, he did, at least financially, while Mark felt that Eduardo betrayed/was seeking to destroy Facebook by freezing the account and a few other things. To me, Eduardo cared about Facebook, about Mark, and about everyone's well-being. It is truly a shame that their friendship had to be destroyed and Eduardo cannot share in the jubilation of Facebook.
I very much enjoyed reading this book. I don't believe that I was ever bored or found myself sleeping to the book. It is a melodramatic book so there was always excitement that I was eager to continue reading. Prior to reading it, I watched the Social Network which I later on discovered after some chapters that the movie is based off on it, as there are several striking similarities. It was definitely a fun read and I was not expecting a "history" book to be like that. Usually, I envisage history books to be those that you would just have to force me to read and one that I would simply fall asleep to. However, this was not the case. I have witnessed other people say the book was boring at parts but I really liked it. For a history book especially, I would have to say that it was pretty darn good :)

****I absolutely loveeee and admire Ben Mezrich's rich grammar and vocabulary in the novel. Omg, I learned countless numbers of new words and techniques in my writing so I have to give him tremendous props for that. I'm a big fan.

The Accidental Billionaires(169-224)

The chapter begins with the twins and their friend Divya launching their website, ConnectU. They got an Indian computer nerd to help them do it and although they are excited that it is being launched for the first time, they are very pissed off. They are still angry because they believe that Mark stole their idea and their franchise. If he had not had done that, it would be their names in the media and their website that everyone nationally would be talking about. Therefore, they think that although the website is out there in the public, Mark has stole their thunder and their website probably will not be as successful. They are not angry at the idea that Mark might possibly make a huge profit out of the website because their families are rich but they're angry at the fact that he is getting fame out of what is rightfully theirs. In addition, it is unfair and frustrating.
In California, Mark and his friends spot Sean Parker as he is walking down the streets around his girlfriend's house. Initially, he does not recognize them and finds it strange that college guys were in this neighbourhood because the environment, overall, is for wealthy older people. He is then happy to be seeing them and sees it as fate had brought them together once again. Sean is living at his girlfriend's parents house and will be homeless in a few days. Mark then makes a gesture that he can come live with them and Sean takes the invitation. Throughout the time that Mark is talking, Sean finds it very strange that Eduardo is not there to contribute and is even thinking that maybe he is not part of the equation anymore. The next few days, Sean begins to realize how passionate Mark is and how much of a genius he truly is. At times, Mark is working from 12 noon until 5 AM to expand thefacebook into a bigger project. Sean starts excluding Edardo from his mind because the fact that he is not here means that he does not want to be here so now knows the way for him to make a huge profit is to work with these four guys in front of him. In Sean's mind, in order to create a social network website, you have to be social. So he is going to try to eradicate Mark's social awkwardness and will introduce him to a world of partying, drinking and girls. As for Eduardo, he thinks that it is simply unfortunate he will not be a part of the journey.
Eduardo is tired of missing the big meetings and the big parties the rest of the guys have been attending. Eventually he changes his mind and quits his internship. He then travels down to California and Mark & the guys are supposed to pick him up from the airport. When they come, he notices that Sean is not with them. Rather, he is at a party. Later on, the guys meet up with Sean at the party where they are invited up to the VIP section with Sean. Sean then pours them a glass of very expensive vodka. At the VIP section, Sean is blabbing on about a time where he was at a party/event for Paypal. Eduardo, on the other hand, is not paying attention because the table next to his is the table of four Victoria Secrets models. One of them begin talking to Mark and after small talk, the next thing Eduardo sees is the model and Mark walking out of the party.
The next day, Eduardo feels his phone vibrate. The person calling is Kelly and suddenly he feels guilty because he has not called her for a while since being in California. Note that Kelly is a very jealous girlfriend  who is constantly assuming and accusing Eduardo of cheating. When he picks up the phone, she is sobbing because she had set the present he left for her and his clothes on fire. The fire department had to come set the fire off and were even considering arresting her.
Tyler and Cameron attend a crew meet in England. Although they raced very hard, they are beaten by the Dutch team by two seconds. Afterwards, a man comes to talk to them because his daughter had taken pictures of them racing. When the man says that the daughter can send the pictures to them via thefacebook, both Cameron and Tyler are outraged because they had not realized that the website is becoming an international affair. Their idea is being turned into this exorbitant thing that everyone is talking about.
The next chapter is about Eduardo and his thoughts. He feels extremely excluded from thefacebook because Mark is attending all these meetings set up by Sean with top executives without consulting him. He has been sending Mark numerous messages in the hopes of getting connected with thefacebook. He is also very aware that the company is going to be needing more money as more people join the site. To get his message across, the decides to freeze the account so that neither Mark nor Sean will be able to take money out of the account.
Sean and Mark continue on with their lives. They attend a huge meeting with Peter Thiel, a big business man, who is always looking for the next big thing. Within a span of 15 minutes, he offers them a done deal of $500, 000 to work with them on thefacebook. After careful deliberation, they agree to the deal, agree to drop "thefacebook" to just "Facebook" and agree to letting Mr. Thiel have 7% of the profit. From the perspective of Sean, he thinks that they are better off without Eduardo He thinks that Eduardo betrayed them by leaving at the most crucial time for Facebook, freezing the account, threatening them, and most importantly, threatening Facebook. For that reason, he thinks that Eduardo's 30% profit from the company should be lowered because he is not really offering them anything no longer. Despite that, he is excited to be working towards a company that he knows has so much potential and pleased to be working with Mark Zuckerberg who he knows will do anything for his creation.

"He still had that college girlfriend whom he saw about once a week, and he liked to take long drives when he got tired of the computer-but otherwise he was a coding machine. He lived, breathed, and ate the company he had created." (Mezrich 210)

This quote demonstrates the dedication and hard work Mark had put in before and while creating Facebook. A person once advised me not to text and do other frivolous things because the time that I am taking to do those things are the times where I could be coming up with or implementing on a killer idea. Mark clearly lives by this standard that I was once advised. He only saw his girlfriend once a week (practically was too busy and did not have time for her) and everything he did was dedicated to making Facebook the grande network that it is today. Occasionally, of course, because he is human, he took breaks but those breaks were to take long drives. He did not spend time watching TV or other activities that a copious amount of twenty year olds enjoyed. Rather, he spent time chasing his dreams. My parents always advice me not to watch TV and to find a passion that will get me somewhere in life. They always tell me that TV will always be there after I become successful and it is always best to work towards success now and to enjoy these little things after I have reached the apex. Therefore, this quote allowed me to think in retrospect of many words of wisdom that I grew up listening to and it really shows me the efforts geniuses put in becoming great.
I also like the subtle imagery the author put (if that is imagery) about Mark living, breathing, and eating the company. Ultimately, it shows that that is what he spent his entire time doing because he was dedicated.

The Accidental Billionaires(108-169)

In this section of the novel, both Eduardo and Mark attend a presentation where Bill Gates is making a speech. Bill Gates, according to the novel, shares some similar inward and outward characteristics as that of Mark. They are both lanky/awkward, pale, not very gregarious, and are not good public speakers. However, their presence, although it may be ungraceful, is still very inspiring. Bill Gates tells the Harvard students about his experiences as a student at Harvard. He had a habit of cutting classes then eventually he dropped out of college to pursue his goal of creating his own business. He also mentions that there very well could possibly be the next Bill Gates in this very room he is speaking in. He also says that if anyone has any ideas and they need to drop out of school, they will be able to come back to Harvard at any time. To Eduardo, dropping out is not a possibility he is even considering. He has worked hard to get himself where he is - at Harvard and continued working hard to maintain good grades. His father would also strongly prevent him from dropping out. Also, Eduardo thinks that entrepreneurship is successful if there is risk-taking involved but the risk-taking only has to be to a certain degree.
At the event, there are these two Asian girls who catches the eyes of Eduardo. Eduardo begins talking to the girls, however, they are more interested about talking to Mark. Recently, Mark has become an instant celebrity on campus and everyone knows who he is and what he looks like. The Crimson newspaper has also published articles about him several times so that has also accumulated to his publicity. Eduardo begins coming up with ideas of how to make Facebook even greater - to him, Facebook is just a successful novelty which has the potentials of expanding much further. He then plans of convincing Mark about showing ads on Facebook because that would enable them to make tons of money off of it. In Mark's mind, he just wants Facebook to be for fun, not necessarily to make money off of it. Eduardo is beginning to feel nervous about the whole thing because as the website is gaining more members, the cost of the server (which he is paying for) is going up. When he meets up with Mark to discuss his plans, both Mark and he read an email sent by Cameron Winklevoss. The email states that Tyler, Cameron, and Divya are all advising Mark to take down the website he created otherwise they will consider taking some legal and ethnic actions. They believe that Mark stole the idea from them and if Mark himself does not take the website down, the next step for them will be to sue.
Both Mark and Eduardo recruit some of their other friends to help out with Facebook. Their friend Dustin will handle the other computer stuff that Mark won't have time to handle while Chris will be in charge of the publicity and getting the name known further elsewhere. The four of them together will all take the site to the next level. They all structure/divide up their works and responsibilities. Mark is the CEO/master/commander and will get 65% of the profit when they add advertisements. Eduardo is the CFO and will handle the business aspect of Facebook. He will get 30% of the profit. Dustin is the vice president and the head of programming and will get around 5% of the company while Chris is the director of publicity and will also get whatever is left. Mark suggests that they expand Facebook onto other schools but only to the elite schools for now. Yale, Columbia, and Stanford will have full access to the website. Still the schools will need too have a school e-mail address to log into the site.
Soon, Mark and Eduardo begin to adhere to the publicity they are receiving from Facebook. After all, the Asians girls they met the other night were interesting in talking to them because of their admiration for the website. Eduardo takes out the Asian girl that he likes and goes to the bathroom with her after their dinner. They both play around and have a little fun. A few minutes later, Eduardo witnesses some moaning sounds coming from the bathroom stall next to him. He then hears Mark's voice and realizes that Mark has more things in common than he thought. They both like to have fun and never realized that a website could get them girls they never thought they would have in a life time.
A few days later, the twins go visit the President of Harvard. They had booked an appointment with him and wanted to discuss with him the idea stolen from them by Mark. They had written a 10-page complaint prior to the meeting. When they meet the president, they begin to become frustrated because the president is making it seem as if their case isn't a big deal. He tells them that he does not see what the big issue is. Still, the twins persist and say according to the Harvard student rule book, what Mark did is an offense and he should be reprimanded for it. He also tells them that it is not a university issue and the dispute should be handled between the people involved. Basically, there is nothing he can do about it and they are on their own.
The next chapter begins with a guy called Sean Parker. He is living nearby the Stanford University campus and has access to a lot of the college girls out there. Sean has a lot of success on his behalf. He is the creator of a website called Napster, which is a music downloading website. His website had got shut down so he created another one with his friend called Plaxo.  Soon after Plaxo was created, the website also ended up badly. He now has nothing doing in his life. By the girls on campus and people everywhere, he is seen as a bad boy because he parties, sleeps with a lot of girls, and there are rumours that he does drugs. Throughout this time that Sean has been idle, he has been looking for a big opportunity to get his life back together. He has been searching for the next big thing that he will be a part of. He had heard about Friendster and Myspace but neither of the two were things he wanted too be part of.
Sean Parker then encounters the website "TheFacebook". He loves the idea of it being a social network website. He then looks to pursue the business - hoping that it will be his number 3 career venture after Napster and Plaxo. He schedules to meet up with Eduardo, Eduardo's girlfriend, and Mark at a Chinese restaurant in New York. They discuss a bit about how big the website can get if it is taken the right direction and Eduardo can see by Mark's expressions that he idolizes Sean. Eduardo and Mark had been attending various meetings with different companies to see if they can use the companies' advertisements on the website. Prior to Sean's interest in their website, no other company or businessmen had been interested in them.
Mark and his friends drop a bombshell to Eduardo. They opened up a new website and they will be going to California for the summer to see how that will work out. In addition, Mark will be hiring two interns to assist them. Meanwhile, Eduardo will be taking on an internship at one of his father's company and will also be attending a few meetings for Facebook. He is a bit nervous about being away from Mark for the summer but thinks that they can work on the website from different states. He also agrees to fund Mark's trip and everything else that involves money. Perhaps the separation will give them space to strengthen their business and of course, not much could possibly go wrong within a time span of three months.

"Sean reached across the table, going right for Mark-and Eduardo saw it, then and there-the look on Mark's face, the sudden flush in his cheeks and the brightness in his eyes. Pure idol worship." (Mezrich 155)

This quote shows me what it means to be great. Even the greatest/most successful people have idols that they look up to because that person has accomplished what s/he aspires to accomplish. Here, Mark is idolizing Sean Parker who is a successful programmer himself. Sean is the founder of Napster and Plaxo which were both successful before they got shut down. Sean comprehends Mark more than pretty much anyone does because he has done what Mark is doing. Therefore, he probably knows the best and can probably advice Mark on what to do better than anyone else, of course, if he has good intentions for Mark. I also like the way Mezrich described the idolization process that Mark is going through then lets the readers actually know what is happening. He is using the writing method "show, not tell". He describes the flush of Mark's cheeks and how his eyes lights up while conversing with Sean. However, I think that Mark should be aware of Sean. The first thing Sean does when reaching the table is making contact with Mark only even though Eduardo is next to Mark. If Sean has good intentions and wants to strengthen the company, I would think that he would also want to build up a good relationship with Eduardo as well. Maybe he figures that Mark is more gullible and if he wants to take advantage of someone connected with Facebook, Mark would be the guy. Still, I think that it is good to have idols but when you come up with a brilliant idea, there are going to be plenty of people out there seeking to be part of the idea and betray you. Hence, the title of the book, "The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal." Perhaps Sean gains Mark's trust and somehow ends up betraying him...

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The Accidental Billionaires (1-54)

Summary

Ben Mezrich's novel, The Accidental Billionaires, starts off with a young man called Eduardo who appears to be heavily drunk (he had three drinks). The room which he is in presently is intimidating to it because it has a crystal chandelier handing from the ceiling, a very red carpet, nice staircases throughout the many floors, and lovely windowpanes. It is intimidating to him because although he is not a poor kid, he has never been exposed to this type of wealth in his life. Most of his life, he grew up in a standard middle-class structure both in Brazil and Miami before relocating to Boston - to attend Harvard University. At this point, Eduardo is reminiscing the first time he came to Harvard University wondering what he was doing here and if he will fit in with everyone. Now, he is also questioning what he is doing in this room and how he could possibly belong here. He is looking around the room where there are about two hundred males dressed similarly. They are all dressed in dark blazers and slacks.They are all sophomores but there was something similar about them all. They all had a smile full of confidence and they weren't used to proving themselves, unlike Eduardo. He realizes that he's at a party. There, he meets four young men. He takes interest in one of them because of his tie. Based on one's tie, one can find out everything he or she may need to know. The guy he meets is called Darron. Darron is part of Phoenix-S K which is a club that is hosting the event. Eduardo then tells Darron that his last name is "Saverin". Based on his last name, Darron asks if he's the one with a hedge fund. He then says yes, although it isn't true, he had previously made money investing with his brother during the summer. 

However, he continues on with the story in order to impress this Phoenix-S K member before his eyes.

Eduardo then gives a description about what it means to be a Phoenix member - instant connections, access to parties, reputation, etc. Soon after he goes on describing about the hedge fund, he realizes that he only reason why he is at the party and Darron is talking to him is because he has a reputation of being a businessman. Eduardo goes into detail about the process of becoming a Phoenix member. They give two hundred young men of Harvard University an invitation to be a member of their club. There, they send out another invitation to a little less people and so forth. To him, being granted the opportunity to be a member would be life changing and as thrilling as getting into Harvard. 

At the party, Eduardo recognizes a kid with very curly hair in the corner of the room, isolated. When he first saw the kid, he feels bad for him because he seems awkward and is very sure that the kid won't get into Phoenix. Now, Eduardo is spending time thinking about ways to chase his dreams rather than thinking about the kid with the curly hair in the corner. At this period, he has no idea that the kid with the curly hair would one day design one of the biggest social networks ever or change his life forever.

Eduardo then attends another event. There are less people at this event with about three girls. He then breaks into a smaller group and begins talking to four different guys in the group. Although they are all different builds and height, they are all geeks and lanky in the group. One of the guys he meets in the group is Mark Zuckerbeg who had grown up as a upper-middle class child. He had attended Phillips Exeter school where he was seen as a master genius because he very much knew how to hack. At Harvard, he also had a good reputation as a guy studying computer science living in the Eliot House and who designed a software program. There was a rumour in school that Microsoft offered Mark two million to work for them which he turned down. Eduardo states that he knows very little about computers but someone turning down over a million dollars is extremely fascinating to him. Eduardo then observes Mark's personality. He realizes that something was very different about him. He was very smart, didn't fit in among his own kind - geeks who had the same interests as him and who would make algorithms on Friday nights. The two get to know each other more and even leave the event to go to a different party. They have small talk there then Eduardo talks about the after-party for Phoenix. He will have to bring a date to it (the invitation said so). He had heard from an outside source that the prettier the girl he brings, the likelihood of him getting into the club increases because they will judge the females. He asks the most attractive female he knows, a female named Marsha and she, to his surprise, accepts.

The next chapter talks about a rowing meet in Charles River featuring the six foot five identical twins, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. The two are very talented rowers, rowing for Harvard, maintaining good grades and aspiring to make it unto the Olympics team. Currently, they are inventing something secret from the rest of Harvard. They have been inventing this for the past two years. They created the idea with their friend, Divya but before the plan can be well executed, they need a programmer. They plan on creating a website called the Harvard Connection which would change everyone'e life on campus. First, they would need someone to write the computer code. They plan on having two sections on the website: dating and connecting. Since the two twins are always so busy, they thought of the website to enable them to keep up with the females on campus during their spare time. They saw the website as progressing further into other Ivy Leagues.

The following days in class, Eduardo attends a class where he spots Mark there. However, when he sees Mark, Mark is sleeping. He grins from ear to ear since Mark and he have gotten close in the recent weeks. Soon, Mark wakes up and sees the chicken Eduardo has been carrying. Eduardo is required to carry the chicken with him everywhere as part of the club's initiations. His task is to keep the chicken alive. Eduardo feeds the chicken some chicken, assuming that the chicken would be hungry. Later on he sees Harvard Crimson, the newspaper, stating that Eduardo had fed the chicken chicken. 

One day, Mark goes back to his dorm angry and drunk because a girl had rejected him. He goes on a blog where he starts swearing and becoming made because of the girl. He then decides to create a website called FaceMash. He would get girls from all over the campus, put their faces next to each other and guys would vote to see which one was prettier. Although he is drunk, he manages to design the website, knowing that it would end up being a huge success.

Quote

"Sophomores, mostly; a mix of races, but there was something very similar about all the faces-the smiles that seems so much easier than Eduardo's, the confidence in those two hundred pairs of eyes-these kids weren't used to having to prove themselves. They belonged. For most of them, this party-this place-was just a formality." (Mezrich 6)

Reaction
When I was reading this quote, I found it a bit amusing. I thought that Harvard would be a school where it would be packed with nerds who all get very good grades and who really do nothing else each Friday night than reading/studying. However, this quote proved me wrong. I realized that Harvard is also similar to high school where there are all sorts of people and cliques, in a way. Some people are nerds and receive exceptional grades in school. Others, however, flunk and don't do so well...(how did they get in anyways if that is the case?) At Harvard, there are also jocks who excel in sports, similar to high school. The only difference is that the jocks are Harvard usually are intelligent and get good grades. At Harvard, where stereotypically, everyone is assumed to be smart, there are cliques. There are outcasts, for one, like Eduardo. At the party, Eduardo looked around everywhere and saw everyone. It all seemed like they belonged and he was the newbie so he was sort-of the odd one out. All the kids had confidence, had money, and it was all like a regular thing to them. He, however, has to go out of his way to prove himself to the members of Phoenix and to everyone else who aspires to be a member of the club. Similarly, in high school, new kids usually try to fit in and aspire to fit in. At the moment, they are the outcasts, however, eventually they will turn to assimilate to be like everyone else. Then, there will be another new kid and so forth.

So far, I am enjoying reading this book. I had previously assumed that since it is a history book, I will fall asleep from reading it because it isn't fiction which is a type of book that I usually enjoy reading. However, quotes like this draw me in to having further interest in what Eduardo is going through. The fact is that everyone at the party is just like high school for me in the sense that everyone is similar and share a lot of commonalities. I am also like Eduardo in the sense that I haven't been at this high school for too long and I'm not necessarily a part of everyone because I haven't yet conformed to a lot of the trends of people at school. I also like the fact that the quote reminded me of what my mother tells me frequently. She tells me that I am in America for education and opportunities, not necessarily to become an American. She tells me that I don't need to conform to the ideas of everyone else and I don't need to be accepted. Yes, I may frequently want to go out of my way to fit in but the reality is it's not going to work out well. For everyone at school, for example, wearing sneakers and such is a trend and it is what everyone pretty much does. Myself, on the other hand, is not used to that trend and has not assimilated to it yet. Perhaps I may eventually and perhaps Eduardo will fit in and become acquainted with attending parties with everyone else and becoming one of them.  In addition, this quote also reminds me of something my father told me. He told me that in life, the outcasts or people who don't particularly belong to whatever society in question are usually the people who stand out and who go on to doing greater things in life. The quote also reminds be of reading Night by Eliezer Wiesel because I remember the class discussion of talking about Us versus Them. In this case, it is just Eduardo solitary against everyone at the party because he is so different.

Questions
*Eduardo wants to fit in with everyone else. Is he going to be himself in the process or actually go out of his way to become like them?
*Was he ever ashamed to be around Mark? Whether it was when they first started talking (everyone thinks of Mark as the nerd) to the period where Mark is accused of stealing an idea?
*What is the benefit of Mezrich writing in third person rather than first? Wouldn't it be more powerful to write in the first tense? It might engage the readers more about certain events that take place.
Or....if the book had been written in first person, wouldn't that mean that Eduardo or Mark would need to write it themselves/the book will become fiction because the "I" that would be representing Mark/Eduardo can't be told through the writing of Mezrich?

The Accidental Billionaires (50-108)

Summary
As Mark is creating FaceMash, he is trying to convince himself that what he is doing is not wrong. After all, compared to what he really is capable of doing, it really is nothing at all. In his mind, he is convinced that he is doing the greater good for everyone because information and pictures are meant to be shared amongst people. Three days later, Mark began to notice the effect of what he had already done. Many reporters show up to his school asking him questions about the website he created. He also notices that his laptop had frozen because it is serving as a server for the site. He had previously forwarded the website to his friends but his friends had also obviously forwarded it to other people, making it a sensation, and causing his computer to freeze. People from different clubs and backgrounds at Harvard are interested in his website because they can vote between two girls to see who is prettier. Within a matter of thirty minutes, three hundred kids had signed up for FaceMash. He hadn't intended for it to be this way - he only wanted to show it to his friends and they could give their suggestions and feedback about how it could be made better. Mark then realizes that he could be in big trouble because of the ingrowing- popularity of FaceSmash so he decides to take down the website.

Tyler and Cameron hear about the website from their friend Divya. They become very interested in Mark because he could potentially help them with their own idea about the Harvard Connection. They are in great need of a highly skilled programmer which Mark obviously is. Mark gets called to the ad-board meeting to decide what his punishment would be for posting some of the websites. On his way to the meeting, a lot of girls are being judgmental of him because he hurt their feelings because of the rankings on the website. This is discussed in the meeting where they give Mark a probation rather than an expulsion. They tell him to stay out of trouble for the next two years or "or else".Because he is comparing girls to other girls and was considering comparing girls to farm animals, it did flair up the interest of a lot of people. It pissed off girls, feminist groups, and so many different types of other organizations.

Soon after the ad-board meeting, he receives an email from the twins and Divya. The email says that they are in need of a programmer because of a new project they are working on. Eduardo advices Mark to forget about it but in Mark's opinion, it could be interesting. Therefore, he decides to pursue it. He meets up with the twins who present to him their idea. Mark is apparently very excited about it but is also curious about what would be his benefits. They say that he would be a part business owner, make money out of it, and would have the opportunity of clearing his name. Mark then sees it as an easy task because the twins had already done most of the work. The next day, Mark meets up with Eduardo at an Italian Restaurant. Eduardo tells Mark that he has been initiated into Phoenix after the hard work he has put in so far. Mark then tells Eduardo about a website he is thinking of. It is going to be a social network site where people can invite their friends, put up a profile with pictures, connect, and it would be like their social circle similar to the ones they have in real life.Eduardo, after hearing the idea, thinks it's a pretty good one. He notices that Mark must have planned everything in his mind and must have even combined his ideas with the previous programming work he had already done in the past. He will call the website "The Facebook". Eduardo tells Mark that he wants to be a part of the project. Mark tells him he will need his help - financial wise, as well as advice. He would be made the CFO and would be the one who makes the business decisions since that is his major anyways. They both then agree to split it up 70-30. Mark will obtain 70% if the profit while Eduardo gets 30%.

The twins are raged with fury that Mark has not been working with them. Each time they agree to meet up, Mark makes up some excuse that he has a paper to do or some school work to work on. Over time, Mark begins to make up other excuses like the faults of their website. He starts off by saying that the server isn't properly working and the website isn't functioning properly. Later on, the tells them that the website itself is just simply boring. The twins, however, hate the fact that they're waiting for Mark to finish up. The rest of the website will need about ten hours to complete but he keeps on stalling. They then decide to leave him alone for a few weeks, hoping that he will be back to his regular self. Soon, Divya shows up with the Crimson newsletter which features a story about "The Facebook" and an interview with Mark. As soon as they all see this, they are very stunned and raged because the idea is their's and although there are some differences, the concept of having a website where only Harvard students can connect through is the same. This causes the twin to call their multi-millionaire father who understands their perspective. They then come to the conclusion that they will need a lawyer - a good lawyer to make things right and get everything back to order.

Quote
"Every time Tyler glanced toward them, and saw that blue-bordered screen, his cheeks heated up, and fire sparked behind his eyes. This wasn't right, damn it. This wasn't fair." (Mezrich 107)

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This quote makes me question a lot of things. It makes me question, for one, if business men who have been successful in their endeavours are actually geniuses or they simply took the idea of someone else and renovated it. To me, it seems as if Mark so enjoyed the idea and knew it would get him profit that he decided to pursue the idea. That explains why he previously avoided them and created excuses to avoid interacting with them. Besides that, I like the way Mezrich describes the emotion going through Tyler's mind. I like the fact that he uses "blue-bordered screen" to describe Facebook. That's actually cool and better than just saying "Every time Tyler glanced toward them, and say that website, his cheeks heated up..." It shows the success of Facebook because by writing "blue-bordered screen", I automatically knew what he meant. Therefore, he makes use of common knowledge. With the description, I can feel the intensity of Tyler's emotion with his use of language. He says that his cheeks heated up and fire also heated up behind his eyes meaning that his eyes have a lot of emotions behind them, he is, of course, clearly angered by what he witnessing before his eyes.

I can understand Tyler when he feels as if it isn't fair and it isn't right. With this instance, he probably learns the lesson that life isn't fair and although there might be a killer idea someone thinks of, the person who enforces the idea will end up being the successful one. It also teaches Tyler and the reader also that this is a world of competition. It really is the survival of the fittest. If you have an idea, you must act upon it otherwise someone is going to steal the idea and make it their own. I do appreciate the fact, however, that Tyler is stepping up and making sure Mark is reprimanded for stealing what clearly is his. The only mistake that I think Tyler made was to not work create Facebook between himself, his brother, or Divya or at least work with someone he knows really well. Since his father is a very prosperous and wealthy guy, he must have some great connections.

This quote helped me learn that if I have a killer idea that I know is going to change the world, I definitely should act upon it and very quickly. It's also not morally right to take someone else's work and claim it as your own - I, personally, have to avoid that with essays that I have to do frequently. In conclusion, although Mark may be some kind of "genius", doing this to the brothers and their friend was very wrong and demonstrated in this quote, Tyler's anger is very much understandable. I don't blame him. I, too, would be very angry if I had an idea worth over a billion dollars and the kid who stole the idea is making all the money.

Questions:
*Would they make more money if they sue him or if they decided to partner up with him (only having a small percentage of the company's profit)?
*Without the idea of the twin, could Mark have made his way to opening Facebook anyways since he created FaceMash and other websites?
*How much really is an idea worth? Is it possible to get a large chuck of money for suggesting what the name of a website/company will be?