Author Archives: EUNICE OJEDELE

“And of Clay are We Created” is a story about a volcano eruption that had happened and how it brought about the connection of the reporter Rolf Carle and the young girl Azucena. We can connect this disaster the ongoing pandemic which has instilled fear in the hearts of many. Like in the text, a lot of people have died, and a lot of people are struggling for their lives at the moment like Azucena. Another way we can come to terms of Azucena’s situation can be by comparing ourselves to her. Azucena was trapped and she came in terms with the fact that it was nothing she could do about it and just waited for what was next. We have been subjected to staying at home, and at the beginning, it was really hard but now to an extent we have come to terms with the situation and we are doing our best to stay sane.  Screens in my opinion has caused more harm than good in the whole pandemic. When you turn on the TV, its hardly anything positive news about the virus, we hardly see reports about people recovering from it, but we most definitely see reports of people who have died from the virus which just puts fear in our minds, and makes us wonder what is next. The government has responded pretty well to the whole pandemic by shutting down almost every establishment to curb the spread of this virus, they have also put some resources in place to make sure that people are provided with the basic essentials they need in these difficult times.

I personally have gotten in terms with the whole situation and I have played my part in ensuring the virus doesn’t spread further by staying at home, and not having physical contact with anyone except my family who I live with. The whole pandemic has just made me imagine how life will be after the whole thing is over. I feel like it will always remain at the back of our minds and we might never be able to fully recover from it.

1.   The moment where race came into the picture for me was early in the story in the first page. It was the instant where Twyla tells us that her mother told her “they never washed their hair and they smelled funny” At this moment, I got a sketchy feel of who was who because of this is a stereotype placed on white people. I also think that this was an example of breaking racial codes. Toni Morrison was trying to expose these different stereotypes.
2.  I have not really had close personal relationship with people of other races, so I do not have personal experience when it comes to differences. However, I have relationships with people of my race, who have different cultures and it has honestly been amazing and educative. Rather than navigating differences, I feel like genuinely being interested in learning people’s culture is a better way to go, and every type of complication will be avoided.

I found this text very interesting because of the turn it took. When I started reading the text, I tried to predict the way it will end in my head, thinking that maybe due to the quarrels that both wives constantly had, that they will end up killing themselves or something of that sort, but that wasn’t the case. This for me is why the text really interested me, because due to the shift it took, as Dukhiram ends up being the one that killed his wife, the real character of everyone in the household was exposed, especially that of Chidam which added more substance to the text. It gave it a different rhythm. Although I feel like this is what makes this work great, I feel this play is a great work of art for various other reasons too.

Another reason is how it tells a story of what we see going on in the society, and it tells it in a very clear to understand way. Reading the text honestly made me feel bad, because even if I understand that he Chidam was trying to save his brother, probably with the mindset that “Blood is thicker than water”, he shouldn’t have done it at the expense of somebody else’s life which in this text was actually his wife. This text just goes to show me that we should not fully trust anybody at all, because anyone can betray you, and if I had something to say back to the text, it will be that Chandara should have stood up for herself and shouldn’t have taken the blame for something she didn’t do. Now I understand that her silence was still a response, and was probably a way for her to make Chidam feel bad about what he did, I still feel that it made her look weak because everyone that didn’t know the situation looked at her bad. Reading this text just made me think of people in the real world, who have been accused and actually paid the consequences of crimes that they did not commit simply because they were trying to cover up for someone, or they were being set up like Chandara was. This text really just taught me not to trust people and put myself first sometimes.

3. Describe an example of dehumanization in the text.  What about this moment made a particularly strong impression on you? Why?

Throughout the text, we see how these prisoners are dehumanized, one of those sad instances in the text like we discussed in class was at the very beginning of the text where the narrator says; “All of us walk around naked” This goes to show how they were dehumanized, because there’s a close relationship between nakedness and a sense of shame. They are left naked and force to work under unbearable conditions.

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

The instance with the old woman and what she whispered to the narrator made me feel like she felt sympathy towards the narrator. This is probably because she knew that he was doing his “job” and had no other option. She understood that he was helpless and was trying to stay alive himself, if he had the option, he probably wouldn’t be part of such dehumanizing acts. We can see that after she says that to him, he still thinks about the situation where he even had to ask Henri if they were good people.

5. “Are we good people?” asks our narrator.  What is this exchange about? What do you think?

I think the narrator asked this question to get a type of reassurance even if he knew that what he was doing was wrong. He needed someone to tell him that it wasn’t wrong just so he can feel a little peace within himself. I feel this question rose at the time it did because of what the grey-haired lady had whispered to him. He knew how terrible what he was doing was, but had decided to turn cold towards it, but after what she said, those human emotions he had been hiding came right out. He proceeds to say; “I feel no pity. I am not sorry they’re going to the gas chamber” but deep down I just know that he’s not happy with himself because of the evil he’s being forced to do which he has no control over.

Do you think that Gregor is more powerful BEFORE or AFTER his metamorphosis?  Explain your response.

Before Gregor’s metamorphosis, we understand that he was the breadwinner of the family. He was a traveling salesman who earned a pretty decent amount of money and he was responsible for feeding the family and paying off the debt that his father owed. The text says; “at the time Gregor had bent all his endeavors to helping the family to get over the commercial catastrophe, which had plunged them all into complete despair, as quickly as possible.” (223) This alone signifies how much power he had, because there a type of respect that come with being the provider in the family. After his metamorphosis, he is helpless and cannot work anymore, and he expresses this when he says; “Such—in his present predicament—perfectly useless thoughts crowded his head, while he stuck to the door in an upright position, listening.”(224)  The smallest things had to be done for him now, like cleaning his room which makes me conclude that he was definitely more powerful before his metamorphosis.

Look at the final paragraph of the story. How does it shape or alter our understanding of the text?

In the last paragraph, we see that they felt relieved that Gregor had died and was no longer a “burden” to them. The text says; “Sitting back comfortably in their seats, they discussed the prospects for the future;” (241) They moved on so fast, and did not care to mourn the death of Gregor, and it was almost as if he didn’t exist or wasn’t human at a time. Reading the text, it was evident that his father was cold to him as he was mean to him from the very beginning of his metamorphosis. His sister on the other hand was young, and her kindness towards him was bound to change because her parents who she looked up to were not really bothered about Gregor’s condition so why would she care so much. After reading the final paragraph, it made me question if the family really loved Gregor as family member before his metamorphosis, or if he was just the means by which they survived to them.

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.

Although it’s hard to pin-point a theme in this play, I’ll say that in relation to the central focus of this story, which is basically a conversation between old friends, who were old classmates and colleagues, they both were revisiting their hometown, and we can see that the length and direction of the conversation is solely tied to their revisit. Wei Fu focuses on what he had been up to since he returned to the Southeast, and not necessarily what he had been doing in the 10 years that he had been away, although he briefly talks about it. We also see them reminiscing about old times which is also tied to revisiting. Wei Fu says; “Yes, I still remember the time when we went together to the Tutelary God’s Temple to pull off the images’ beards, how all day long we used to discuss methods of revolutionizing China until we even came to blows.”

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

An instance of filial piety in the story will be when Wei Fu’s mother told him to buy artificial red flowers for Ah Shun, recalling that she wanted it so much when she was a little girl. On getting to her house, he finds out that she passed, and instead of telling his mother the truth about her death, he goes ahead to give the flowers to her sister Ah Chao. He says; “and I have only to tell my mother that Ah Shun was delighted with them, and that will be that” His main focus was making his mother happy, and this is similar to the other incident with his brother’s grave. All he wanted was for her mind to be at rest even if it meant him lying to her. I feel like he did all of this because he felt like he had not achieved all what he wanted in life that will make his mother very proud of him, like a good paying job as he mentions that he earned $@0 a month which is really on the low side, so he tried to make sure that he makes her happy in the little way he could by doing everything she wanted “right.”

For I have known them all already, known them all:

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

When I got to this passage, the first thing that came to my mind was that J. Alfred Prufrock was probably stressed about something, and now he was just over it. However, what it was that he was stressed about wasn’t really clear to me. From the passage, we can tell that he feels isolated and did not have anyone around him. He says; For I have known them all already, known them all: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons….” I feel like for you to get to this point, where the time of the day doesn’t mean much, it either, either something is serving as an hindrance, or we have tried so much, and now we can’t anymore. tired.

I chose this passage, because it goes back to our present situation where we are under compulsory lock-down because of the pandemic, and there’s nothing we can do for now. Right now, most of us feel tired and are not motivated to do anything because we feel stuck at home, and like him, most of us have known them all already, known them all: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons…” The time of the day doesn’t hold much value to us as it should, and most of us spend our time doing what we can do, and not exactly what we love to do.

T.S. Elliot uses symbolism in this work when he says; I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;”. That in my opinion just goes to show how little he thinks his existence has meant and how small in value it is. We could also say he uses metaphor when he says he measures his life with a coffee spoon as if though his life was coffee, bitter in taste. T.S Elliot also uses rhyme schemes in this passage and throughout the play. I believe he does this to make the poem have a smooth and interesting feel, that makes you want to continue reading despite its complexity.  He also repeats words in this passage like the word “I”, “Known”, and “Have”, which to me was his way of making it known to us the readers that it was really personal.

From what I personally observed from reading this piece, and after I did my research, I could say that this piece is about the inner monologue of Prufrock, who is plagued by feelings of alienation and inadequacy and is unable to take decisive action (Poem Analysis). The lines in this passage, further elaborate on how plagued he was by his feeling of alienation which connects back to the central concerns of the poem. He felt so bad that it didn’t matter what time of the day it was, it all felt the same, lonely.

https://poemanalysis.com/t-s-eliot/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock

Rabindranath Tagore’s “Punishment” and Feng Menglong’s “Du Tenth Stinks the Jewel Box in Anger” are both centered around the theme of betrayal, and the tone and reaction of some of the characters in both texts are very similar. Both stories are about women (Du Tenth and Chandara Rui) who were in love but ended up being betrayed by the one they loved. In Du Tenth Stinks the Jewel Box in Anger, Du Tenth loved Li Jia and was ready to start a new life with him, but along the line, he betrayed her as he gives her away to another man for money, and to save his image in front of his father.  Similarly, in the text Punishment, Chidam Rui blames the murder of Dukhiram Rui on Chandara just to save his brother who committed the crime. We see in both text that the betrayal came as a result of family interest.

In both texts, we could see that the betrayers (Jai Li and Chidam) both carry out their betrayal in a manipulative way. In Du Tenth Stinks the Jewel Box in Anger, when Jai Li has the conversation with Du Tenth, he says; “With that thousand taels I will have a pretext on which to call my parents, and you, my dear benefactress, will also have someone to rely on. But I cannot bear to give up the affection I feel for you. It is the reason that I am grieved and weep.” Similarly, in Punishment, Chidam tells Chandara; “Don’t worry—if you do what I tell you, you’ll be quite safe.” We can see that they both made it seem like they loved these women and were betraying them because they were helpless.

Again, in both texts, both ladies reaction to this betrayal was very alike. In Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger when Jai Li tells Du Tenth about him giving her away, Du Tenth replies to Jai Li saying; “The man who devised this plan for you is truly a great hero. The fortune of the thousand taels will enable you to restore your position in your family, and I will go to another man so as not to be a burden to you.” In Punishment, the text tells us that after Chidam asked Chandara to admit to the murder, “she stared at him, stunned; her black eyes burnt him like fire . Then she shrank back, as if to escape his devilish clutches. She turned her heart and soul away from him. “You’ve nothing to fear,” said Chidam.” They were both broken and replied sarcastically because they could not believe what was happening to them. What was supposed to complete them, ended up betraying and killing them.

They both took the bold step of removing themselves from the situation in a very brutal way. They were both broken and preferred to die than making any type of amends. They decided to take the situation for what it was, and not try to “reason” with their betrayers in any way because they had seen what needed to be seen.

During this whole COVID-19 pandemic, I have been able to learn a lot about the value of time and life itself.  The reading of Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich further serves as a great reason or example on why we should make sure that we are living life to the fullest, and not spending on chasing the glamorous things only. Throughout this text, we are taken through the struggle of a brilliant and determined man Ivan Ilyich who was attracted to the beautiful things of life and forgot to actually enjoy it. The text says; “… but from early youth was by nature attracted to people of high station as a fly is drawn to the light, assimilating their ways and views of life and establishing friendly relations with them.” He wanted a good life for himself, and from a young age sought to achieve. During his search for this perfect life, he excelled in his field of career, moving higher and higher in position, and in all of this, he met his wife. His marriage to her, was not primarily because he loved her but primarily because “it was considered the right thing by the most highly placed of his associates,” She fit his class and status because she was well connected and owned property. However, as we go further into the text, this marriage could be said to be the beginning of his misfortune. He got into constant fights with his wife, and this pulled him even closer to his job than before, and this took majority of his time in life than it was supposed to.

His sickness soon begins, and this is when he realizes that he has not lived his life to the fullest. The text says; “But strange to say none of those best moments of his pleasant life now seemed at all what they had then seemed—none of them except the first recollections of childhood.” He realizes that everything he worked for and everything he yearned for was vanity, but it was sadly too late for him. This takes me back to the humbling experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nobody expected it just like Ivan Ilyich who would have never dreamed that he will become so ill that he will be a liability to himself and those around him. Like all of his “friends”, who when they received the news of his death were thankful it was at least not them in his situation, and were not really moved by his passing, I could link that to the behavior of some people that still choose to be outside in this pandemic even when it’s not necessary, “It has not hit close to home, so I might as well be outside for the fun of it”.

This pandemic has made me realize that the small things we take for granted or do not really appreciate could be taken away from us by death. One part that struck me was on page 767 where the text says; “Whether it was morning or evening, Friday or Sunday, made no difference, it was all just the same….” I was able to relate it to how we are living now and how some of us have lost count of the days, because the whole world is on standstill. One thing I found really important and I was able to take from this text, reading at a time like this will be that when we are eventually given a second chance (being free from COVID, and allowed to be outside again), we should take life slowly and make sure we feel every bit of it. Aspire to be the best, but make sure when we look back, we have memories that will make us smile and also be satisfied with the life we lived/ are living.

Reading Hedda Galber, I particularly liked the character of Hedda, and I was very excited to see how the film will be able to bring to life her characters mischievousness. I was curious to see how her character will be acted without making it seem like she was trying hard, but her mischievousness was really her personality. I was however impressed with its execution. In the film of Hedda Galber, right from when Hedda steps in, you could see her sassiness and poise as the reading had portrayed.  The scene I was looking forward to the most was the hat incident with Aunty Juliane, and the facial expression and body language of George, and how he was trying his best to explain to Hedda that the hat was for Aunty Juliane so she could stop talking, just brought the scene brought it to life for me. I also like how the relationship between Aunty Juliane and Berta was played out. It feel like it had more strength in the film than in the text.

The filmmaker made sure to bring the story to light by not adding unnecessary things to the play, he focuses on the story and does not go off track, but he however altered some words which made the play more believable and natural. For example, the conversation between Berta and Aunty Juliane was semi-formal in the text, but in the film, the conversation is somehow informal, but it did not drift away from the original, rather it added more life to it. Also, I felt like the connection between George and Aunty Juliane was stronger in the film as opposed to the text. There was a lot of body contact which the text did not emphasis. For example, in page 783 when George walks in, the text says he shakes her hand, but in the film he hugs her.  This is just like how Aunty Juliane and Berta’s relationship is brought to life more, it just made it more natural. One thing that I feel was not really implemented well in the film was the elegance of the house. The house didn’t look as glamorous as the text explained it to be. In general, the filmmaker did a great job with the execution of Ibsen’s Hedda Galber.