Monthly Archives: April 2016

Two Sisters with Different Perspectives

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When reading Ama Ato Aidoo’s “Two Sisters,” what really stood out were the transitions between different perspectives. The piece starts off with a third person point of view but occasionally briefly switches to Connie’s point of view. Examples of this are when we get glimpses of Connie’s inner thoughts when she realizes that Mercy has a new pair of shoes despite her financial problems and when she questions Mercy’s choice in seeing a man who had many affairs already by thinking, “You said yourself a little while ago that you wanted a man of your own. That man belongs to so many women already…” (Aidoo 998). From these two instances, it seems as though Connie is the voice of reason or morality in the piece. She criticizes Mercy’s choices of going after a man who already had many other women already and of using him for her financial benefit. These tiny moments of revelation are important in questioning the choices that Mercy makes, especially at the end of the piece when she starts seeing a man who already has a family. However, there is one part in the piece that seems to contradict this. When Mensar-Arthur bought her a gift in an attempt to appease her, she accepted it. This weakened moment raises the question of whether Connie was truly representative of morality in the piece. If she was, then why would the author decide to include Connie’s act of hypocrisy?

The difference between the two sisters can also represent different views of society and life. Mercy has a more modern take because she seems to stray from traditional views and ideas. Instead of marrying and settling down with a husband and a child like Connie, Mercy goes around dating men who are in controversial circumstances and are beneficial to her materialistic self. She even says, “…it’s just that women allow them to behave the way they do instead of seizing some freedom themselves” (Aidoo 997). From this, we can see that Mercy’s view of gender roles in society is that she believes that women should take things upon themselves at making decisions and that women are able to be manipulative and controlling. In contrast to that, Connie simply leans back and waits for change. For example, when there was the coup, although she  wanted Mensar-Arthur out of Mercy’s life, she didn’t do anything except for pray for that to happen. After the coup, “…the one who greeted the new order with undisguised relief was Connie. She is not really a demonstrative person but it was obvious from her eyes that she was happy” (Aidoo 1002). This supports the idea that Connie takes a more traditional standpoint in society where she doesn’t proactively stand out. Instead, she portrays the image of the woman who stays at home taking care of the child while waiting for the husband to return home from work and expected to stay with him regardless of whether he had an affair or not.

Chike’s School Days

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Chilke’s school Day is mainly talking about a African boy who go to school and live in combination society. The society have two different culture and religious(Osu and Igbo). Osu is superior religion in the society because all the believers are mainly white men. Oppositely, Igbo is degrade religion in society because all the believers are mainly Africans. Chilke family is the Igbo believers. Chilke’s father was a while men and Osu religious believers. But, he married Chilke’s mother and birthed Chike. it made Chilke background became different than the other. The different background offer Chilke a special view in the society.

Chike received three names in his baptism, which was John, Chilke and Obiajulu. In the article, Chike mention the meaning in his name. First, John is a typical while men name and lots of while men are still using it right now. Also, Chilke family wish Chilke can easier fit in the while men society with the familiar name. Second, Obiajulu is a typical African name. Being one of Africans, Chilke at least need one original Africa name. Therefore, Chilke family give Chilke one Africa name even they want him to fit in while men society. Obiajulu also mean “The mind at last is at rest”. Chilke family hope him to be brave with the environment and careless about the bias in the society. Because no matter how the people dislike him, his mind will be at rest. Lastly, Chilke is the only name which can represent himself.

In the middle of story, Chiinua Achebe mention that one Osu kid would so inevitable to reject the food from Igbo African. It represent the hostility between two religious. This circumstances is familiar to the early century in British colonial. I believe the hostility will vanish gradually because British finally accepted Africans in the end of the day.

All Because of the White Man’s Religion

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While reading Chinua Achebe’s short story, I noticed the frequent digressions in “Chike’s School Days.” The most important tangent to understanding how Chike was raised was the backstory of Amos and Sarah’s marriage. This union, which was socially forbidden, portrayed Chike’s complex dual identity as a Christian and an Osu, an untouchable in the Igbo class system. Within this digression, Achebe illustrated the differences between the kinds of education and knowledge Chike will eventually learn. The two main differences pertinent to the digression is the character development of Mr. Brown and Elizabeth.

The white missionary, Mr. Brown, was the only person to support Amos in his seemingly “mad marriage venture.” Interesting to note that the only reason Mr. Brown was a respected figure in the town was due to the medication he provided and NOT because of his religious sermons. This further displayed the cultural divide in Nigeria, as the townspeople did not accept Mr. Brown or “the white man’s religion” but instead needed the dispensary and medical treatment.

Elizabeth, Amos’s mother, resorts to divination, which is considered an African sacred science, after pleading with Amos to call off the marriage. Using snail shells as a device for fortune telling, the diviner is described as “a man of great power and wisdom.” Achebe immediately illustrates a culturally traditional Igbo scene, where the diviner procures a ritual for Elizabeth to perform to prevent the marriage of Amos and Sarah. Elizabeth, a recent Christian convert, renounced Christianity and returned to the faith of the Igbo people.

Although the ritual the diviner set forth for Elizabeth was unsuccessful, this digression was important to the story overall because readers were able to gauge the cultural differences occurring in Nigeria at the time (1960) and better understand why Chike has three different names. I also thought it was interesting that all the characters had English names except for Chike…

Virginia Woolf “A Room of One’s Own”

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“… a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”

Virginia Woolf presents this as her thesis as a way to shed light on the plethora of restrictions placed on the minds of women by society. By using a fictional narrator and a hypothetical situation, Woolf is able to draw attention to the societal norms and ignorance which hinder women’s abilities to express themselves through writing. A common occurrence from the very get-go is the presence of constant distractions during the narrator’s train of thought. From seeing a cat with no tail to being escorted out from a male-only area of the Oxbridge campus, the narrator makes it evident that it is essentially impossible for her to reflect on her ideas and thus spark the creativity that it is inside her. These distractions are representative of the persistent reminders of the ineptitude of females, which shape their minds into actually thinking that they are not as intelligent as men.
In order to further highlight the vast discrepancies in terms of privileges for both sexes, Woolf paints a compelling picture of William Shakespeare and his “sister” Judith. She states that similarly to her brother, Judith sought to explore her creative side and express herself through writing. Unfortunately, “She had no chance of learning grammar and logic, let alone of reading Horace and Virgil.” As William Shakespeare was mastering his craft in the theaters of London, Judith was subjected to cooking and cleaning in the Shakespeare household. As readers, we feel the anguish of Judith and are taken aback when she commits suicide, with no work of literature to leave behind. Despite being an exaggerated hypothetical situation, the case of Judith Shakespeare is striking because of its underlying truth. We see two siblings of the same household who grow up to be vastly different from one another due to the confines placed on females in society. A formal education is essential to furthering the genius and free-thinking ability of females and denying that is detrimental to the brilliant minds of females who yearn to do so.
Woolf supports her thesis by stating that men are both materially and socially privileged from the day that they are born. “A Room of One’s Own” was written over eighty five years ago and this statement still holds some truth to it. Since 1929, women have been appointed to the Supreme Court, entered space, and lead multi billion dollar companies. While this may all be true, the majority of women currently face issues in the workplace, politics, and other facets of modern day America. Suffragists are constantly advocating for equal treatment and the words of Virginia Woolf from generations ago serve as a reminder of the uphill battle that women still struggle with to this day.

Alice Walker “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”

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Alice Walker argues and proves the artistic abilities of oppressed Black American mothers, grandmothers and daughters during their enslavement and also within her own community growing up. Alice uses a lot of imagery within her text to prove the artistic ability of the slaves, and also what held them back from it. The abuse the women of the time endured, “…forced to bear children who were more often than not sold away from her-eight, ten, fifteen, twenty children” in addition to the lashing and rape, Alice asks the question of how? How could it be that the after all of this the Black American woman survived, to show her strength and artistic ability? Alice uses Phillis Wheatley as an example. She briefs us on her life, and the very few free years she had to express her poetic gift without a white man dictating what she did. Instead her priorities must be elsewhere, with her children. Even though, at the time her work was not considered great by any means, Alice proves “Its is not so much what you sang, as that you kept alive, in so many of our ancestors, the notion of song.”

Alice related her own life with her mothers duties within and outside of their home to that of the life of a slave. She doesn’t do it directly but there is a comparison that she is trying to make. Her mother worked long hours, made sure her children went to school and “made all the clothes we wore, even my brothers’ overalls.” This is her moms ways of not letting the world and others oppress her. “In the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., there hangs a quilt unlike another in the world. …it portrays the story of crucifixion. It is considered rare, beyond price. Though it follows no known pattern of quilt making…it is obviously the work of a person of powerful imagination and deep spiritual feeling…a not that says it was made by “an anonymous Black woman in Alabama, a hundred years ago”” This here explained that even with the little to no support and even materials she had she still expressed the artistic ability she had, just the same as Alice’s mother did. This, the power of courage and spirt, was what kept the poetry, song and artistic ability alive in the Black American woman after all this time. Well, that, and hope, hope that someday things would change, and there would be a way to express themselves for who they were.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufroc

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In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock we hear the internal dialogue of a man who is seeking and hoping for the possibility of one day finding love.  The poem explores the depth of the man with all of his insecurities and shortcomings while he journeys through what he imagines love to be.   Although, this poem is not about a perfect man, nor a certain woman he’s speaking of, this is truly a modern love song, one with the reality of the struggles and imperfections of a modern man.The poem begins with him addressing a woman, as he imagines what it would be like to have someone in his life in the most simple of ways.  “Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels/And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells.” He then begins to show his self-doubt with the first showing of repetition “In the room the Women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo.”  In this repetition he is describing what he believes women want which is far from who he knows himself to be.  Not only does he know that he is not a talent like Michelangelo, he’s also not like one of his paintings or sculptures.  His self-consciousness shows with his inability to even speak to a woman, “To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”/Time to turn back and descend the stair.”  He continues with his second repetition with “For I have known them all already, known them all-.”  Stating that understands the wants of women and understands that he is a man of imperfections. This is, although still a love song.  Not about two people who have found love but of a man who wants it.  He is humble and self-critical throughout but in very cultured and educated ways. He says “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;” Throughout his criticism he gives examples of Greek poetry, Biblical references and Shakespeare.   Although neurotic, “Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;” and Almost, at times, the Fool.” Throughout the poem his character very humbly and honesty shows how willing and able he would be to love another.

 

The tragedy of J. Alfred Prufrock

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As stated in the footnotes, the quote used in the beginning of the poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” comes from Dante’s Inferno. Before I could even begin reading the poem I had to understand what these 6 lines meant and why T. S. Elliot thought it was essential to the poem. I explicated that the quote is used to inform the reader that the narrator, for whatever reason, feels doomed. The narrator, presumably Prufrock, believes that his love song is between himself and it’s intended reader, therefore, it should be regarded as the truth.

I believe that Prufrock could be addressing myself as the reader, a beloved person, or even himself. Regardless of who he is speaking to, I believe he is admitting that he cannot approach a woman because he is afraid. Although he is completely aware of time passing by—he cannot get himself to make a move. His obsession with time used throughout the poem reveals his constant emotions of fear and ultimately dying alone.

In the fourth stanza, Prufrock echoes a poem titled, To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell when he assures the reader (For the sake of the argument, I will assume that he is speaking to the reader), “And indeed there will be time.” In short, Marvell’s poem is essentially a man convincing his lover that life is short, and that there is not enough time in the world for all the things he wishes to to do with her (like take her on a couple dates or take things slow)—and so they should not waste time and just have sex already! Prufrock is alluding that there will be plenty of time for him to meet this woman, take her out on dates, get to know her, and eventually have sex. But why is he stressing so much that, “There will be time, there will be time.?”

In the sixth stanza, Prufrock reveals that there is plenty of time for him to wonder, “And indeed there will be time / To wonder, ‘Do I dare?’ and, ‘Do I dare?’” Prufrock’s repetition of time seems ironic at this point. It is as though he is trying to convince either himself or the reader that he has plenty of time to express his love for this woman. In the next lines Prufrock tell us that he’s not going to do anything and that it is, “Time to turn back and descend the stair,” but also, “With a bald spot in the middle of [his] hair.” It is apparent that Prufrock is fearful of approaching his beloved and not because he has plenty of time to do so (after all he has waited so long that he is know losing his hair).

Towards the end of the poem Prufrock begins to admit that he knows he is being a “chicken” about approaching his beloved. In lines 48 and 49 he states, “In a minute there is time / For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.” In other words, he is aware that he is thinking to much and that is is causing for him not to act. This is very similar to Shakespeare’s famous protagonist, Hamlet. Prufrock already knows this, stating, “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor meant to be;” he tells us that he is completely aware of time passing by and that he is still too scared to make a move. Apparently, the tragedy in which Hamlet realizes the question of life when it is already too late, “To be, or not to be,” is not strong enough to convince Prufrock to be a man.

Prufrock thinks too much
Prufrock thinks too much

The Importance of Time

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In “The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Eliot, there are a lot of references that are made which play an important role in the poem. The idea of “time” is very important in this poem. One question that I had while reading and analyzing the poem is how does the reference to time fit into the whole context of poem?

Eliot mentions the idea of time in a couple of instances in the poem, most notably in the middle of the poem. Eliot makes this reference at the beginning of two paragraphs near the middle of the poem. This is important because it shows that Eliot intended to use time as a main idea. Eliot starts both of the paragraphs with references of time with the sentence “And indeed there will be a time”. As noted in the footnotes this is a reference to a love poem by Andrew Marvell titled “To His Coy Mistress”. The paragraphs that follow this line go into detail about the inner thoughts of the narrator. He uses the reference of time in order to frame what he is thinking. For example the lines”There will be time, there will be time/To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet.” (542 line 26-27) and “Time for you and time for me, And time yet for a hundred indecisions” (542 line 31-32) help show us exactly what the author is trying to convey through his thoughts. The reference to time also shows that the narrator has a strong intent to complete his thoughts. These ideas are something that he really wants to pursue and achieve. This also shows that the narrator is very passionate about his thoughts.

The references to time are very important in this passage because they help the reader understand what the narrator is trying to say. Time helps put these ideas into context. The narrator’s ideas are ideas that he wants to accomplish as he uses the different time frames to lay out his thoughts. Throughout the poem, we see the many different feelings that the narrator is feeling, and time is just one of the many references that the narrator uses in order to convey what he is feeling.

Cannibals, Sleepers, And Awakened One

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When I read Lu Xun’s “Diary Of a Madman”, I have a question in my mind. Is this madman  really paranoid and insane or is he the only one awakened? From the madman’s diary, we can see that he feels everybody is malicious toward him and wants to eat him. Crew of people look at him with their “smiling green faces and protruding fangs”(Lu,251) makes him feel dire. He feels his elder brother, doctor, people in the street talk about him are all cannibals.  Although he thinks all of them are cannibals, but he can tell they are not all think in the same way. He feels that “some are thought it’s always been like this and that they really should eat human flesh. Others knew they shouldn’t but went right on doing it anyway.”(251) I think the previous one is the real Cannibals and the latter one is what I called sleepers.

The difference between cannibals and sleepers is sleepers are the oppressed and cannibals are the oppressors. From the madman’s diary, he knows those people in the street, “some have worn the cangue on the district magistrate’s order, some have had their faces slapped by the gentry, some have had their wives ravished by yamen clerks, some have had their dads and moms dunned to death by creditors”.(245)The district magistrate order, the gentry, the yamen clerks, and the creditors are the real cannicals. And the people who suffered are the victims, but the “expression on their faces were never as frightened or as savage”(245)when these terrible things happened. These people’s attitudes toward these terrible things take place on them and their families are just submissive and apathetic. They are sleepers. They have no feelings about injustice, they will not fight and they just accept their miserable fate. Using kant’s word to say is these people don’t use their reason.

Madman is the only awakened on in this article.In part 3, the madman reads a history book, he finds every page are the words “BENEVOLENCE, RIGHTOUSNESS, and MORALITY”.(246) But the single phase he makes out is ”EAT PEOPLE”.(246) And in the part 10, we can figure out what makes him to think that way. Though out the history, cannibalism always exist. There are ruthless exploitation and persecution. But these books use righteousness and morality to hide the truth. And part 11, his elder brother used to tell him that when parents ill, a son should slice off his own flesh and feed his parents to be count as a good. This is what feudal society tells people about morality and rightousness. Feudalism contains decadent ideas and  misleading informations, and it makes people benighted. In “Medicine”, the father believes the rumor that if his son who has T.B. eats the mantou that contain human blood will get better. But his son still died after he eats the mantou. The madman is different with these benighted, ignorant, and submissive sleepers. He questions these traditional concepts and morality. He questions these sleepers that they “couldn’t do much to prevent [cannibalism], but why did you have to go and join them[cannibals]?”(251) They can fight and change the society, but why they are so obedient, indifferent and apathetic. These sleepers are reptiles, they can become human if they  change, and they will be eradicated by real human in the future if they don’t change. Feudalism is eating people, if there have no changes, then there is no humanism.

Luxun wanted to be a doctor to treat people’s physical illness. Then, he realized what people really need  is their mental treatment. So, he started to write articles to wake people up.  Below is the woodblock print that made by Zhao YanNian. I think it shows the “smiling green  faces and protruding fangs” look.

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Medicine for sick society

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In Medicine, Lu Xun uses symbolism to criticize feudalism in China. There are two themes in the story: First, Little bolt’s parents spend a bundle of money to buy a mantou with blood of executed man to cure his tuberculosis. Second, revolutionist Xia Yu is executed and his blood is used to make medicine (mantou with blood) to cure little bolt.

Little bolt symbolizes a sick society where people believe “mantou soaked in human blood is a guaranteed cure for any kind of T.B” (256).  When Little bolt is eating mantou in tea shop, crowds keep saying “Guaranteed cure! Guaranteed!” but Little bolt is getting worse and died at the end. Tuberculosis is incurable during that time period, it represents the society is very sick and incurable. People in feudal society are benighted and superstitious.

On the left side of Little bolt’s graveyard lie the body of Xia Yu, a revolutionist who has been executed. He died for the benefits of public, but ironically, his blood was used as medicine to cure the diseases. Moreover, his story becomes hot topic in the tea shop, people don’t understand him rather making fun at him, saying his words “The Great Manchu Empire belongs to all of us” (257) is crazy talk. The whole story reflects people’s ignorance and incomprehension of the importance of revolution.

One thing I noticed about two characters in Medicine is that putting together Little bolts’ last name “Hua” and Xia Yu’s last name “Xia” can form a word “Huaxia”, which is an ancient name for China. I believe this represents Lu Xun’s idea and support of revolution of China in 20th century.

One question is raised when I was reading the story is that who put flowers on Xia Yu’s mound?