Things Fall Apart Ch 23

After the egwugwu destroy the Christian church in Umuofia, Okonkwo regains a little bit of respect for his clansmen. Indeed, he seems positive that life could be on the track to becoming normal again for him and for the clan. But when the District Commissioner imprisons and beats the leaders of Umuofia, including Okonkwo, for the burning of the church, the white men cross a significant line of confrontation. The court messengers treat the leaders like filth. The messengers and the District Commissioner threaten to hang the leaders if a fine is not payed quickly. As a demonstration of the white man’s greed, the court messengers increase the fine so they can get more for themselves. Umuofia springs to collect the cowries, and the leaders are freed.

How has the white man’s treatment of the Ibo changed since the leaving of Mr. Brown? What reaction do these tactics bring out in the people of Umuofia?

Things Fall Apart Chapter 14

Part Two of the novel truly is the beginning of a different life for Okonkwo and his family. It is interesting that Achebe presents us as readers very little information about the crime Okonkwo committed; we are told simply that his gun accidentally kills a boy, and he is banished for it. Effectively, everything falls apart for Okonkwo. In Mbanta, his motherland, Okonkwo and his family are given land to construct an obi, three huts, and farmland. They arrive at Mbanta right at the beginning of the planting season, but work seems to have taken on a new light in Okonkwo’s mind. Indeed, in being banished, he appears to have lost a significant amount of motivation. Okonkwo once longed to become a lord of the clan. He had been close, but “everything had been broken.” Achebe makes the connection that Okonkwo’s failure is due to the fatalistic destiny of his chi. Uchendu, Okonkwo’s uncle, picks up on his nephew’s dispair. He recounts the tales of a select few who have suffered more than Okonkwo has and drives home the point that all is not lost.

At the end of the chapter, Uchendu, in his lecture to Okonkwo, brings up two interesting points about women in their culture: women are always buried with their relatives, not the relatives of the husband, and a child beaten by his father always seeks shelter in his mother’s hut. Okonwko has come to seek shelter in the motherland after being banished by his village. This is a striking connection.

How do Uchendu’s points contrast with the perception of women of previous chapters? If women are indeed this important, why does Okonkwo have such an aversion to anything feminine?

One Day in the Life of Jason McLaughlin

The beeping of the alarm broke the silence. Jason McLaughlin stirred from his sleep. He placed the alarm just out of reach so that getting up was a necessity, but Jason knew that if he did not get up in about two minutes, he would be late for school. He threw off the covers and slapped the alarm. Here we go again, Jason thought slumped down the stairs to breakfast.
His mom had prepared him a small bagel with cream cheese. He sat quietly, savoring his food, and tried to open his eyes completely. He had been up late again last night. He began thinking about what would go on at school that day. One test and a presentation awaited him. Great, he thought.
Feeling more awake now, Jason climbed slowly up the carpeted stairs again and took a shower. He picked out a good shirt and some shorts. It was going to be hot again today. Jason, now fully dressed, packed up his backpack, glancing at some notes for a few classes. You never know when you might have a reading quiz, he thought. He then hoisted his backpack onto his shoulders and—more briskly this time—walked down the stairs. His mom was down at the breakfast table having a cup of coffee before work
“Bye, Mom. Have a good day,” Jason said.
“Ok, Jason you too. Don’t forget to feed the dog when you get home, alright?”
“Got in mom, I’ll see you later.” Jason strode out the door and loaded his books into his trunk. Friends from other schools said he had the heaviest backpack they had ever seen. It felt no different for him than it did three years ago. Jason stepped into the driver seat and drove off to school.
Once in the parking lot, Jason put his backpack on his shoulders again and walked towards school. He locked his car deliberately, listening for the subsequent beeping. His friends Luke and Amanda met his path at the sidewalk.
“Hi, Jason,” said a smiling Amanda. Jason smiled back, exchanging greetings. He loved his friends because they helped ease the stress of attending the school that must not be named. The three students walked into the quad and set their backpacks down in their normal spot. The talked briefly about homework and the previous night’s TV shows for five minutes, and then the bell rang.
Jason sat through four classes before lunch without a free period. His second period test was very hard, but he felt a huge feeling of relief after he finished it. By the time the bell rang for lunch in his fourth period class, he was anxious to go eat. He met up with Luke, Amanda, and three others in the quad. They decided to go to Chipotle.
There was no question that lunch was Jason’s favorite part of the day. He got to relax his mind and chat with his friends, all of whom were the same year as he was. They talked briefly about what had happened in the first four periods of class in the car ride over, but then the conversations turned to sports, then a little bit of gossip, then TV, and then some more sports. Jason began to feel a little drowsy towards the end of lunch, which was completely normal for him. He longed to take a nap, but he had two more periods to get through.
Once back at school, Jason and his friends mingled in the quad for a little while, but the bell rang once again. Jason walked with Luke to where he put his backpack before lunch. Luke had a free, so he was in a good mood.
“You ready for soccer practice tonight? I think we’re doing a whole lot of fitness.” Luke and Jason played together on a club team. Soccer was their passion, but it took up a lot of time.
“Yeah, I’m ready. I just hope I have enough time to get ready for my history presentation on Friday. That’s the only other big assignment I have left this week,” said Jason. They talked for about a minute longer before Jason had to leave to not be late for class. He had been late to history already twice this week; it always met the period after lunch. But Jason did not want a detention, so he walked quickly across the quad to the class.
Jason took three and a half pages of notes in history, and then completed a biology lab on the behavior of pill bugs. At last, it was the end of the day. He could go home.
Jason walked to his car. It was hot. He remembered his mom saying it would be 105 again today. He put his bag in the trunk and drove back home. Once he arrived, he put his books on his desk, grabbed a snack, and took a 30-minute nap. The nap was a necessity—he would not be able to make it through three hours of homework and two hours of soccer practice without it. After he woke up from his nap, Jason completed his daily calculus homework, finished a reading for english, and did some research on his history presentation. He became so caught up in his studies that he did not notice the time: 5:00 PM. Time to go to soccer, he realized. Jason put on his soccer stuff and bounded down the stairs. He nearly ran into his mother.
“Watch out, Jason! You nearly ran me over honey. Um, what would you like for dinner when you get home? Salmon sound ok?”
“Yeah, sorry mom. I’m running late. Salmon sounds fine. I’ll see you in a little while.”
“Be careful. It’s rush hour.” Jason kissed her goodbye, reassuring her that he’d be careful. He then entered the garage and pulled out. He made it to soccer practice just in time to start warming up. He loved soccer practice. It was another way to forget about everything else going on and just play. He loved it so much that he was a little angry every time it ended, except when the team had to do running. Jason made it threw the practice without injuries. He played very well and ensured his starting spot for the weekend game: it was a successful practice.
Jason then drove back home. He gobbled down his plate of salmon, a dish in which he ate at least twice a week. He knew he had at least one more hour left of homework, but he would still eat his fill. He talked with his mom and dad about the school day and soccer practice. They shared a few gripes about their bosses and the mysterious goings-on of the working world. He paid some attention to them, but he knew it was time to get back on his homework.
After he finished his biology lab report and his spanish worksheet, Jason had a little bit of time to relax before bed. He surfed the internet for a little while, checked sports stats, and had short text conversations with his friends. He needed sleep though. It had been another long day. Maybe tomorrow the teachers would cancel all the tests for the remainder of the year. Yeah, right. Guess I’ll just have to suck it up, he thought. He then got ready for bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. (1239)

The Flame Resistant Pieces of Human Identity

It is in the essence of human nature to be flawed. As human beings, we all have our habits and unique personality traits. But sometimes these characteristics seem to be detrimental yet impossible to change. Indeed, it is extremely difficult to get rid of the fundamental parts of one’s identity.
People would most like to reinvent their identity under harsh criticism, extreme monotony, or when faced with difficult decisions. Because it is the most habitual traits that are the most ingrained and thus become almost instinctual, it takes criticism from others to bring the characteristic to light for you. We live in a highly social society in which everyone is striving to be perfect, but everyone is fundamentally flawed. It is no secret that those visible flaws of one’s character get called out by others at some point. In the case of Spiderman in James Hall’s poem “Maybe dats your pwoblem too,” it is sheer monotony that drives the super hero to the point of wanting to give it all up for a new identity. Hall is essentially demonstrating that even super heroes, who are supposed to be perfect, possess flaws detrimental enough to warrant a reinvention of identity. When life stops being meaningful, as being a super hero becomes for Spiderman, we start to question our own identities. In reality, monotony in the workplace or monotony in personality may cause this effect. In other words, one may become bored of seeing life through the same lens everyday, especially if the lens does not work right. This is why reading and movies are such popular activities for our society: it is truly a novel experience to see life through the viewpoint of someone with a completely different personality.
If I could reinvent myself and take on a new identity, I would become more talkative and less introverted. I am tired of not knowing what to say and remaining quiet in a group of people I have never met before. I am tired of being afraid of what people will think of my every word instead of just expressing my thoughts. However, it would be extremely hard to simply become an extrovert because introversion has become an integral part of my identity and my personality. I may be able to become more talkative, but it will still be my instinct to be hesitant until I have something important to say because I have lived with that personality characteristic my whole life. Even if I wanted to change, it would take years of practice to completely change just one aspect of my personality. Just because I think being an extrovert would make life more interesting doesn’t mean I can just become one at will. Indeed, introversion has become so much a part of me as Spiderman’s suit that both are completely “fwame wesistant.” Try as I might to get rid of the introvert in me, I will never be able to completely burn it out of me, just as Spiderman is never able to destroy his suit (505).

The Detrimental Power of Excessive Pride

For centuries, we as humans have considered the consequences of being over-confident. For the Greeks, hubris brought downfall and suffering. In Sophocles’ Antigone, an extremely self-centered king named Creon causes the suicide three people, two of whom were his wife and his son. It is only after he has been reduced to a shadow of his former self that Creon realizes his inherent flaw of hubris.
I believe that it is in human nature to be greedy, to want to procure the most material that ensures appeasement and survival. This greed, in turn, leads to a common feeling of pride and invincibility in those who have so much that their values become convoluted into a twisted mess of nonsense. That is not to say that wealth and power lead automatically to egoism; it is just that those with the most power and wealth seem to be more self-centered than those with less. I also would not say that pride leads to suffering and pain. One must possess a certain amount of pride to function in a life filled with hardship and adversity. But excessive pride can cloud one’s vision and warp the mind to become amoral and lowly.
Human life in general would be better if some weren’t so snobby, but there are countless examples of the rich and famous donating billions of dollars to charity. It is these people that I tend to pay attention too, not those who keep most for themselves and seem not to care at all about the world around them. I would say that the chorus’s statement at the end of the play is correct in that for those who are too self-centered, it takes a series of detrimental events to bring them back to earth. Thus, they are taught that humility is a valuable trait to have in a world in which anyone can fall. Does this happen too often though? The ideal would be for it not to happen at all.
One of the areas in which pride leads to failure is the workplace. There are countless people who complain that they have to go to work everyday with others who cannot take any criticism and thus are incapable of leading or maintaining the favor of their more humble co-workers. If these proud people could just realize that others may have better ideas, then a significantly greater amount of work would get done on account of less arguing. In this sense, it is clear that inordinate amounts of pride are detrimental to the functioning of an individual, especially a worker. It may even take a firing or a meeting held to call out this individual before he or she realizes that over-confidence is a significant personal problem. Nearly once a week I hear about a co-worker that my parents disapprove of because of rash decision making and failure to hear others’ ideas.
All in all, I think the world would become a more peaceful, moral place if all humans realized their place within the order, thus downplaying feelings of invincibility or all-encompassing power. In our human society as it is, there are self-centered individuals who realize their personality flaws in time to make a significant difference. It is these people who are promising. But, as long as greed and materialism persist in humanity, excessive pride will continue.

The Memorable 12

1. Gods and Generals, by Jeff Shaara. Because this was my I.D. Paper Book, I don’t think I have read anything else in such detail.

2. The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. This book was memorable because it opened my eyes to the amazing history surrounding the Civil War.

3. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. This is a book different from any others I have ever read because of the power of its survival story and moving fiction.

4. Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini. This book I remember for the very annoying cliffhanger at the end.

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, by J.K. Rowling. As the final book in the Harry Potter series, this book pulled everything together.

6. American Slavery, American Freedom, by Edmund S. Morgan. This book was memorable because of how difficult it was to read and because it was the first historical analysis book I’ve ever read.

7. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. This was the book I read at the hospital when I had pneumonia in junior year.

8. 1984, by George Orwell. A very interesting book that opened by eyes to the horror of living under an over-bearing government.

9. The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown. This highly interesting book was what got me through long chemo days spent at Phoenix Children’s.

10. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. I simply could not put this book down; it was a definite page-turner.

11. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card. This is one of the best science fiction books I have ever read.

12. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. This was the last book I can remember made me laugh out loud.

Summer Reading: Life of Pi

Ever since I finished reading Life of Pi, my mind has been kindled with a burning fire as I have been struck with a philosophical question that requires immense introspective—does God really exist? Indeed, Life of Pi is a metaphorical representation of the ongoing intellectual battle between the believers of different religions, the agnostics, and the atheists. Yann Martel, the book’s author, does not fault atheists in any way; however, he does call out the agnostics basically for not taking the time to look into themselves and go one way or the other. All in all, the book revolves around this age-old debate, but Martel doesn’t pass up the chance to get in his side of the argument, which I believe he does brilliantly through the metaphorical power of fiction.

In Life of Pi, Martel begins by shaping his main character as a human being with an excessively strong interest in religion. Piscine Molitor Patel (or Pi for short) is a young boy who becomes involved with Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Although I had felt the first part of the book was somewhat boring and monotonous, after finishing the novel, I saw how important Pi’s character is to understanding the thematic value of the final pages.

To me, the most important parts of the first section of the book are the interaction between Pi’s three religious mentors and between Mr. and Mr. Kumar. I will begin by stating my thoughts on Mr. and Mr. Kumar. Indeed, I believe Martel is pointing to something important by having and atheistic biology teacher scarred by childhood polio have just as much influence on a deeply religious boy as a poor, deeply religious baker. I find it even more striking that Martel chose the same name for this pair. Thus, Martel could be subtly making an observation about the similarities between the atheistic and the pious; both are strong in their belief system and have obviously come to some climactic decision within themselves to answer the question. Pi may be religious, but he is also heavily interested in biology, so he does not ignore the teachings of his atheistic mentor. The second important scene occurs when the three religious teachers—who find Pi so devoted to their respective faiths—meet Pi at the same time. The predictable spat that follows is both hilarious and thematically important as a satirical representation of the conflict between religions. The idea that came to my mind after reading this scene was that immediate conflict arises out of minor disparities between religions, and Martel makes it seem somewhat ridiculous here. When Mr. and Mr. Kumar meet at the zoo, however, there is no argument or conflict between them – both just seem in awe of the natural world, and both are good people. I had never really though of the similarities between the atheistic and the pious in this way, and I must admit that Martel’s portrayal of these two characters piqued my philosophical interest

The last two things that I will touch upon are the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker, and the final dialogue between Pi and the two Japanese men. The interaction between Piscine and Richard Parker the gigantic Bengal tiger is very fantastical and inspiring. It seemed to me when reading over the diary entries of Pi’s journey that the atheists reading the book could find some value in the relationship, and the fantastic aura certainly suites those religious folk as well, but what about the agnostics? The story of Pi’s taming of Richard Parker can be taken three ways: 1-as absolutely ridiculous; 2-as seemingly possible and a demonstration of the power of the human mind and animal evolution; and 3-as awe-inspiring. To me, it seems like the agnostics might not find anything in this, or Martel could be using the story as a balance system to help the agnostics choose an answer for themselves. I believe it is clear that the message of the book is to find within yourself a belief system and cement in place. But it is not until the book reaches the final pages that the real philosophic bashing begins. Indeed, Martel uses a startling metaphor that hit me with wonder once I figured it all out. After Pi makes it to land in Mexico, he is interrogated by Japanese men who want to know what happened to his boat. Pi tells them his story of taming Richard Parker, getting stuck on a floating, carnivorous island filled with meerkats, and talking to a blind Frenchmen before listening to him get eaten by Richard Parker. The Japanese men, quite frankly, cannot believe Pi because he has no proof of the story. In response, Pi tells a horrific story replacing all the animals and the island with humans, and the Japanese men are repulsed. Pi acknowledges that he has no proof but asks the men which story they prefer. The both preferred the one with animals. That was when I began to realize where Martel was going with the dialogue format. These final pages were a metaphorical representation of the dilemma with religion—there is no proof that there is a God, and there is no proof that there isn’t. Still, Martel is saying that the religious story, at least for him, seems more heart-warming and inspiring than reality without a God. (890)