Author Archives: SHAWN BENDECK

         “And of Clay are We Created” shows the relationship between a news reporter and young girl as he attempts to free her from the mud she is stuck on in. He stays with her for days up until her unfortunate death. Today, we go through a pandemic ourselves and the hundreds of thousands of people facing the corona virus in our country as it is televised every single day. We connect to suffering far away literally by social distancing. By social distancing we want to prevent suffering and stop the spread of the virus. We have doctors and nurses working countless hours putting their lives on the line. We have every single news channel known to man updating us on the virus every single day. Either we receive positive news that less people are dying and things are starting to open back up, or we hear news of more and more lives being taken and we remain on PAUSE. The roles of these reporting stations also add their input on whether they agree or not with the decisions being made by the governors and the president of the United States. As people continue to die it’s easy to put the blame on these people saying they may not be doing enough or that their decisions are leading to more and more people catching the virus. Politicians and governors have had huge roles in the pandemic as we rely on them hoping they make the best decisions in attempt to slow and moderate the spread of the virus. We ourselves also contribute to the pandemic when we social distance. I myself always wear a mask and gloves wherever I go. There are those out there who don’t have the young strong immune system that I have so I must respect that. With also taking care of myself I always sanitize and wash my hands whenever the opportunity arises. As of anxiety its just the fact of not knowing. No one knows when we will be outside living life to the fullest with those who we love. Everyone will most definitely cherish life a million times more and take nothing for granted. I myself as strange as it may sound can’t wait to get back to face to face classes. Online services are just difficult to cope with and it could be hard to motivate yourself to get up and do the assigned work. Either way I can wait to go to concerts, social settings, and to just see the world again. The media can not go a day without discussing the virus, but it has helped in spreading awareness and assist in donating to the cause. Our fight with corona virus is almost done I feel but it’s not over as we must continue to fight the virus and take huge precautions. Life as we know it will be back to the way it was in no time

               1. Choose a moment in “Recitatif” in which you see the issue of race enter into Twyla and Roberta’s story. Describe the moment, and explain what you think seems to be going on. What issues seem to divide the two characters? Can you identify their racial identities? How?

            The issue and theme of race arises throughout several points throughout the text. Right from the beginning of the text the issue of race arises immediately. Twyla is discomforted of the idea of sharing a room with Roberta. Twyla hadn’t even met Roberta and their relationship couldn’t even start before acknowledging the fact that she had to share a room with a girl from another race. She states that even the thought of sharing a room with someone from another race made her sick to her stomach. Even her mother had her in belief that the race of Robertas people she had smelled funny and never washed their hair. Who knows if Twyla had even met someone of Roberta’s race and she is most definitely pre judging her as she doesn’t even know her at this point of the book. The issue of race divide the two characters at first because they are young and have just met each other and have been previously been told negative things about the other. I feel that Roberta had been black and Twyla white. I could feel the uneasiness of Twyla once is comes to black people, but she is only learning more and more as the book progresses through the different time periods.

2. Toni Morrison’s story explores the challenges of navigating racial/cultural/and socio-economic differences in our personal relationships.  Reflect upon an experience in your own life when you have had to navigate differences of this sort.   Describe the experience. What issues or complications arose?  How were they resolved?

         Growing up my family wasn’t always the wealthiest bunch of people. I moved to queens and attended a high school on a football scholarship. The thing is that this school was a catholic with very rich Caucasian’s. It had been difficult to fit in with my classmates due to the way they carried themselves. We just didn’t relate or have the same luxuries. Kids would bring their expensive backpacks, shoes, and accessories to school. I hadn’t had much where I could just bring to school to show off for a school day. My job was to come to school play football and receive an excellent education. Imagine going to a million sweet 16s and these females expect a gift from you. Its difficult to just offer $50 just for your grand occasion. I was always that kid with $5 on me while my classmates rely on family wealth and money is never an issue. However, I did meet great people and created memories that will last forever but attending this catholic school really showed me what high class people really look like and wealthy individuals and who wouldn’t want that one day for themselves as it also motivates me to be successful as I can for my children so they could live their happiest lives.

Upon the conclusion of my first semester at Baruch we have came across some exciting texts as well as many great works. Although this course wasn’t completely what I imagined in distant learning and literally being trapped in my house, I have made the most of it and gotten as much as I could from these texts, and also have gained knowledge I hadn’t previously had and can incorporate it in my future learning days at Baruch, but also my everyday life. We have read many great works throughout course, but the great work which I will discuss is, “The Metamorphosis.” I do feel this is a great work and let me tell you why. Metamorphosis deals with several factors such as a sudden change in life, but dealing with these circumstances and adjusting to them. As weird as relating to a large roach may sound, we ourselves can relate and we don’t even know. One day we woke up and found out our daily lives have been changed and completely on pause. We are told we can’t go to school, go outside, see our friends, and worst of all we can’t even get a haircut. This relates to Gregor and his new change in life as he wakes up one morning and is a whole large bug. However, although life doesn’t seem to be the fullest as his family could even bare to look at him he makes adjustments. He learns to live the live as a roach such as sticking to walls, enjoying eating garbage, and hiding in dark places which make him comfortable. This is just like us as we have adjusted to distant learning, and I feel we all have definitely learned more about ourselves and others and the things we enjoy. We  all go through times tough times such as Gregor, but it is in human nature to adjust to circumstances given even if you just so happen so turn in to a bug one day. The text also shows me how people can help one another in times of need, and you can always have that one person we can always fall back and lean on. We have doctors and nurses doing their best to help moderate and heal the virus working countless hours to ensure that our country can get back to what we used to be. For Gregor once he turned in a roach his sister instantly was there for him. She learned to understand him and his tendencies and learn more about him. She fed him and rearranged his room to his comfort. She understood that her brother was going through a pretty tough time in this bug life, but she hadn’t fainted and ran away. She cared for him and was there for him understanding that in reality the true form of that bug was her brother. The bond between really made me feel happy about humanity and showed me that there will always be someone therefore you no matter how drastically life changes for you. We should all look at this text and relate it to our current world situation. Nowadays all you repeatedly here is, “Times are tough, but people are tougher” but honestly it couldn’t be more true.

         What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?

        Prior to reading this text I had been informed of the tortuous ways of the Nazi concentration camps. I remember potentially in high being educated in high of the train carts and how packed the trains had been as well as the unsanitary conditions in these carts. What I wasn’t aware of was the fact that infants had been involved as well. As the people are being exited from the carts we can notice the dead infants along with the others along the train dead as well. I didn’t know that the heartlessness of the Nazi guards to go as far as a lack of care of infants. To have no care for new live seems a bit extreme. Could you even imagine new life instantly being thrown into a gas chamber only to live for so shortly. Any life presented upon in that train was not safe. No matter who came out of that train it seems your life was instantly on the line and survival is unlikely. 

A tall, grey-haired woman who has just arrived on the “transport” whispers, “My poor boy,” to our narrator.  What does she mean?

            The tall grey haired woman understands the narrators circumstances. The narrator had been a political prisoner doing simply what he is told to. The narrator goes through gruesome scenes coming across dead bodies as well as those soon to be exposed to the gas chambers. If the narrator wants any chance of survival he must do as he is told or he’ll end up like those he comes across in the camp. The woman feels for him and likely feels for the rest of the prisoners as a they are all living through a horrific time period. He could be feeling sorry for her as well as he knows her time could be coming to an end as well. 

    Explain the significance of the story’s title. “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman.” What seems strange about it?

      This way to gas is obviously discussing the narrator talking about those coming off the transport or at the camp inevitably be led to theirs death. They are lead to the gas chambers where their lives are instantly taken from them. What comes off as strange about the title is it seems uplifting in kind of a sarcastic way. Obviously the narrator deals with millions of emotions seeing people die left and right so their may be times he doesn’t really know how to deal with them. Saying this way to the gas ladies and gentlemen made me think they are being led to maybe somewhere a little more promising.

          Tagore’s “Punishment” and Hedda Gabler build a strong connection after reading both texts. Both I feel involve main characters living life in lies. Dukhiram Rui and Chidam Rui, both follow through will their lies to the very end regarding the murder of Durkhiram’s wife. It didn’t take them to confess the truth till the very end but it had been too late. Hedda had been living her own relationship in lies I feel as she doesn’t truly love her husband or even the house that she resides in.  Both texts to involve hiding the secret of being responsible for someone’s death. Hedda knew she had accounted for Loevborgs death. Both Dukhiram and Hedda hadn’t really been in the correct state of mind as well. Dukhiram has become infuriated with his wife’s nagging, and by the point Hedda hands the gun over we can slowly see she is slowly losing it throughout the text as she even used the gun prior just to shoot around recklessly. Both texts involve females being so unhappy with their current situations that they preferred death than living. In Punishment Chandara couldn’t even give any final words to her husband before being sent away. She preferred death than to be with someone who has given her up in order to save himself and his brother. At this point life isn’t worth living to her. Hedda may not hate her husband as much as Chandara, but he isn’t someone she truly lusts over or truly wants to be with. Both of these characters come to the end of the play really feel that they have nothing left to live for. The only happiness they can find now is by death, and they become perfectly ok with that. Men in both texts effect the feelings and emotions of these woman, but these woman rather be dead than deal with these men or their current life situations.

Why does Hedda give Loevborg the pistol? What does she mean when she urges him, “Can you see to it that – that when you do it, you bathe it in beauty?” How does that work out?

Hedda takes notice of Loevborg’s latest interest in killing himself. She follows by lending him her pistol, the pistol she previously had been playing around with shooting around recklessly. She gives him this pistol noticing that he feels lifeless and has nothing to live for. I feel this is when Hedda Gabler may relate to Loevborg. She herself doesn’t seem to enjoy the life she is living. By giving him the gun she is allowing him to do what she feels she really wants to do. She understands Loevborg non desire to live life. She may be putting herself in his shoes. If she had the opportunity to commit suicide she would too. When she says, “Can you see to it that – that when you do it, you bathe it in beauty?”, I feel she means that the beauty would be dying peacefully in your own way. She hopes that he goes out on his own terms the way he desires to. This eventually doesn’t workout as he accidentally kills himself with getting shot in the stomach. This could be a further foreshadow of Hedda having a child as it is still unknown throughout the play whether she is pregnant or not. Hedda did however get to go out the way she wanted to finally pulling the trigger on herself.

Question # 2

Gregor has emerged from his sleep and wakes up to an actual nightmare. The man who was once and traveling salesman has now become into this disgusting bug. The transformation of course has been very impactful on his own life, but we notice a transformation in his family as well. For starters his his family starts to get jobs. Gregor had been worried about the financial standing of his family, but realizes that they are doing not as bad as he had imagined. His family has become slightly distant from him. It takes time for them to adjust to life as Gregor as a bug. I feel the father never really accepts his son as this new creature. He attacks him on a few occasions leading to injury. His mother I feel wants to help Gregor, but just even seeing him in plain sight leads to her passing out. His sister learns to take care of her brother. She’s the only one who learns to understand him, his tendencies, and his preferences. Overall the family tries to keep life moving as usual with Gregor mostly trapped in his room for the most part. The family grows among themselves not needing reliance on Gregor. When his sister is the one to say we need to get rid of Gregor, this is when we learn they don’t care for him no more. The family learns to live life without Gregor, and the bug only seems to cause problems so getting rid of him is just one less of a large problem. 

Question # 7

Gregor finally lays out and dies just as if a normal bug would at some point in it’s life.  Gregor didn’t die for no apparent reason. Gregor up to this point had been hungry and pretty under the weather. One man can only stand being a bug for so long. Him and his sister have a pretty close connection. She’s the one who looks after him and accepts him. She moves furniture so he could live life better as a bug. His admiration and connection with is sister is probably what he felt all he had left. After getting caught admiring his sisters music leading to the men wanting to leave, she feels that is the last straw. So once his sister the one he felt really felt close with finally gives up on him, he finally feels there is not much to live for. Days just have become darker and darker for the bug. He possibly feels that he does in fact need to go as he is drawing all these issues with his family was he may only just simply be a burden to them. For the family to grow and be the best not only financially but as human beings, Gregor needed to go so he did.

1. The story’s narrator is revisiting a place he once lived.  Explain the significance that this “revisiting” has in relation to the themes of the story.

In search of fellow colleagues and later realizing that the school once taught at hadn’t looked the same no more or even had the same name to it, the narrator has come face to face with change. In hopes of potentially fulfilling some type of nostalgia the narrator is clearly let down once analyzing the small town and his current surroundings. Imagine coming back to the neighborhood in which you had grown up your whole life after a period in time only to feel like a stranger in your own home. When you revisit a place you wouldn’t revisit somewhere you hadn’t bad experiences with so when the narrator is displeased with what he is seeing this comes as a shock to them. Revisiting and not expecting what you though you were going to expect also relates to the old friend the narrator meets when he goes to give the flowers only to find out that the girl had been dead. The man also resisted the boy only to find out his body had been washed away. In revisiting you don’t come with a negative mindset as this man only wanted to do good for the young girl and boy only to find out times have changed significantly. 

3)   Describe an instance of Filial Piety in the story. What is its significance?

An instance in where Filial Piety is displayed in the text is when Weifu returns to move his brothers grave and purchased a small coffin for the once living three year old. His mother had been upset of the grave becoming swamped so to make his mother happier he wanted to rebury his brother. Of course he was later disappointed to find everything gone. He still ordered the men to continue digging at this point not only wanting to please his mother but himself as all he wanted to do was just see his little brother. I really feel for this man and the scenarios he has been through, but times do change drastically as we get older sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. 

    And would it have been worth it, after all,

Would it have been worth while,

After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,

After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—

And this, and so much more?—

It is impossible to say just what I mean!

(Lines 99-104)

           Throughout the poem Prufrock says he has this overwhelming question on his mind. He seems to really need to get something off his chest but just doesn’t seem able to do so. The poem discusses his thin self and and loss of hair. Maybe he realizes these characteristics of himself and just isn’t confident to approach whoever he has this question for. His biggest fear is most definitely rejection. I felt when he mentioned the woman had been talking of Michael Angelo he may see Michael Angelo as a man woman care about and talk highly about.  He himself doesn’t even come close to comparing to Michael Angelo so why would these women ever talk about him. The passage chosen could potentially relate to me possibly explaining my reasoning for choosing it. As a man rejection of a fear of myself. I would never want to be turned down by a woman. Imagine building up the confidence and courage to talk to a woman simply to be denied. Your confidence is destroyed and could be almost embarrassing. However, Prufrock understands the cons of delivering such an impactful question but he does understand that of everything goes as planned the reward is definitely worth it. Thinking about life and the biggest what if’s can have ur brain thinking and turning all day. What if you did this instead of this. What if you took a certain path in life would you be in a better position than you are currently. The way I look at it for Prufrock is it is better to try than to never know. You never want to regret never doing something and look back at it everyday. Although his biggest question would’ve potentially  ended badly at least he has tried. At the end of the day you only live life once so why not do what you desire to do. If all goes well the reward will most definitely be worth it as the future could be bright. But if he holds that question to himself it will remain on his mind for the rest of his days. After the sunsets, teacups, and so much more shows that he can see the pros and a bright future ahead. He’s thinking of better and happier days. He just shows himself that it will in fact be worth it. When he says it is impossible to say just what I mean. Maybe he’s dealing with love and sometimes when dealing with love you don’t really know what you do mean or how you feel. It could be hard for him to get off his chest what he is trying to say. Or maybe he does know what he is trying to say yet again lacks the confidence to say it.  I myself wish I could’ve pepped talk him into building such confidence after all it IS worth it to find happiness .

               Roughly a month or so ago, CUNY along with pretty much every university throughout the country announced that in class learning will no long resume. Distant learning had immediately been put into effect. Bars have closed, restaurants, and pretty much every store you may desire to attend. Professional sports have all been cancelled and is still to this day questionable to return. Millions of Americans simply want an answer as to when they’ll be able to go back to school or work and just get back to life as usual. Today I would’ve attended class today but instead I checked all my assignments and emails and just stayed home on a Wednesday. It may feel unusual for all of us to not do anything with ourselves as we are usually are productive most days of our lives. I myself work hard everyday academically in order to have that higher social class I seek to live for when I’m older. When tiring myself out and going through the everyday motions I may be blinded by the finer things in life. Ivan seemed to neglect his family chasing his personal priorities. He wasn’t there for his family when his family needed him. Now as we can see his family is not there for him and he comes to find it to be a shock although it should be what he should have reciprocated. Without love and happiness you could desire to be as wealthy or higher up in social class but in the end you are lonely and completely lost. We are routine to hearing that there are hundreds of new cases each and everyday whether up or down and that may or may not emotionally effect you at all. Ivans wife and kids didn’t seem to show the love or care for him as he is on his death bed showing in that reality he is truly lonely. This is a time for us to get to know ourselves as well as our family. This pandemic has been a clear message to never take anything for granted. I am truly excited to live futures days outside with the company of friends and family, and am very excited to see my classmates once again in the fall.