Author Archives: SUMI PAUL

When reading this story, I connected the situation of being quarantined to Rolf Carle’s epiphany towards the end of the story. Being quarantined, we are stuck at home only to fill the void with our thoughts. Me personally, with the time I have I tend to overthink situations from the past and think about how things could have been different. Thoughts would come to my head about situations that I forgot even happened. When Rolf was with Azucena, he felt like he was stuck metaphorically like how Azucena was stuck literally. That feeling of being stuck allowed him to remember things from his past that he wanted to forget and not think about. With this time we have, being in quarantine, it allows us to have the time to self reflect and use this time to better ourselves. 

Media was highly examined in the story because that is where the narrator is able to learn about what is happening with the little girl and her boyfriend. Even though she was not physically there, through the media broadcasting what was happening, she felt as if she was there. The story talks about the media in a negative and a positive aspect. In the story, the narrator had portrayed to the readers how the media was able to bring all these equipment with them, but were not able to help transport a pump needed to help the little girl. The media was only there to broadcast the little girl because she would bring more views. However, the media is not all bad because it does allow us to learn what is happening around us. It keeps us informed of things, even if it may be tragic. Especially during this time we are living in, when we turn on the news, all they talk about is the virus, how many people have the virus, how many died, and what the government is doing to “help” the country. Although the screens do not show us the full picture, they give us a glimpse just to keep us aware of the situation. They allow us to be informed but also causes us to worry and stress. During this time of the pandemic, it is useful to have the media keep us informed about the virus, however too much of it causes us to worry because it makes us think if it is possible for things to get better and if we could soon resume normalcy. In the story, the president had come to see Azucena and promised to bring a pump, however, he never did. He was only there for the media to show to the public that he cares. This is like how the president is during this pandemic. He does not care for the people or he would have taken precautions early on. He shows the media that he is working with other officials to help stagnate this pandemic in the country but he is not doing anything to help. He does not wear a mask in public, he does not social distance and when asked questions he brushes them off as if this pandemic is not that serious. As president, he should take more charge to help the public. However, the only government official we see working diligently to help the public is Andrew Cuomo. The media broadcasts him often to allow the public to be more calm and not panic. 

Dealing with this pandemic is very difficult for me. When my parents got sick, I kept remembering about how I saw on the news the number of deaths kept rising. It did not give me any peace of mind and kept making me think negatively. I eventually stopped listening to the news but I would still see things about it on social media. When my parents started to feel better, I still worried because I would see how there could be a second wave of the pandemic and that just because someone gets the virus once does not mean they will not get it again. This fear and worry is still there. I feel as though even if I don’t watch the news on TV, I would still be informed about it through social media. The time we live in, media is everywhere and we cannot really escape it. As of now, I try to keep myself informed about possible vaccines and about the projected time frame of when things can begin to look normal. 

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?

• Throughout the story it is hard to depict which character is black and which is white. This was the purpose of the story. Toni Morrison purposely did not make it obvious which character is what race. She wanted their differences to be illuminated by their experiences. When reading the story, I kept going back and forth trying to figure out if Twyla or Roberta was black or white. In some parts of the story I felt that Roberta was black. For example when the two girls encountered each other at the Howard Johnson’s, Roberta had told her that she was going to see Jimi Hendrix, who is a black musician. The two men rolled their eyes at her for not knowing who he was and Roberta tried to explain who he was to Twyla but said “Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix, asshole. He’s only the biggest – Oh wow. Forget it.” Since Roberta was going to see a black musician, I assumed she was black. Twyla also described Roberta’s hair at the restaurant. She said that “Her own hair was so big and wild I could hardly see her face.” With this description, I assumed that Roberta had her hair in an afro which is a common hair style for blacks. However when I thought about when I read the part of the story where they meet at the store, Twyla said “…how she got from Jimi Hendrix to Annandale, a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives. Easy, I thought. Everything is so easy for them. They think they own the world.” Here I thought maybe Twyla is actually black because she was envious of Roberta who was living in a rich neighborhood. She felt that things come easy to those who are white. A part of the story where race comes as an issue was actually in the beginning of the story when the girls first get introduced to each other. When the Bozo introduced them to each other, Twyla said “My mother won’t like you putting me in here.” She was saying her mother would be mad about her child being put in a room with someone of a different race. She knew life during that time was whites and blacks did not associate with each other, which is why she knew her mother would get mad about having her child associate with a girl of another race. The issue of racial differences as a child did not impact them, however as they grew older race came into play. As a child they got along and did not care that one was black and the other was white. They still stayed together in the orphanage. However, as they got older, race became a clear difference because due to their race they began to live different lives. One living in Annandale and the other living in Newburg and one having their child ride the bus to go to school and the other protesting against it.

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?

• Being Bengali but born in America, I notice differences within myself. The way I act at home is different from how I act when I am outside surrounded by people of different cultures and races. When I am home, I talk in Bengali to my parents and eat bengali food. However, when I am outside, I talk in English and adapt to the American culture. When I leave my house, my mother looks at the other I wear and always says that I am becoming too American. She says that just because I was born here does not mean I am American. Whenever she brings this up, I always tell her that I am American but I am also Bengali. I tell her that I was born and raised in a country that is very different from where she grew up. I tell her that I appreciate my Bengali culture but I cannot just forget my American side. I grew up in America where kids only spoke English, wore jeans, shorts, and tanktops, and hung out with their friends at the movies, parks, museums, and restaurants. Even though this issue is not resolved between my mother and I, it is not an issue with me internally because I know that I am both. I am Bengali-American. 

In my opinion, I believe the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot is a great work of literature because it is a work of literature that delivers a message to its readers. Reading this poem was confusing at first, however after reading it a second time, I was able to understand the message T.S Eliot wanted to tell his readers. Throughout the poem, Prufrock keeps procrastinating and questioning himself. He wants to speak to a potential lover; however, thoughts of insecurities flood his mind. This causes him to not take action and lose more time. Instead, he spends his time being indecisive, preparing himself to meet people, and even to decide if he should eat a peach. With this poem, it allows us to see ourselves in Prufrock. We waste our time overthinking and being indecisive. We keep being overly cautious about what others may think about us if we do a certain thing in a certain way. We flood our thoughts with how others view us. We waste our time thinking about all those irrelevant things instead of just taking charge and doing what we want to. In the poem, Prufrock was too afraid to go up to a woman he found attractive and talk to her because he kept thinking about how others might see him as. He feared people would think he was too old or unattractive. Reading this poem made me realize that I think too much about messing up and embarrassing myself in front of others. It made me realize that having this fear of what others might say or think about me will only hold me back and prevent me from doing the things that I want. This poem made me realize that I do not want to be like Prufrock because he does not accomplish anything. He is trapped in his own thoughts of insecurities that he is unable to take action. This is how the modern-day human is. They are trapped in their own thoughts of insecurities that they just say, “forget it” and give up. They compare themselves to others and believe they are not good enough. We look at pictures on social media and compare ourselves to the “beauty standards” and think that we could never be that, so we just give up. This poem has made me realize that we should just be ourselves and not flood our minds with other people’s opinions and do what we want and feel is right for ourselves. This poem evoked courage in me and helped me understand that fear of failing is only going to prevent me from accomplishing the things I want to do.

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

• I believe when the old woman tells the narrator “My poor boy” she is expressing compassion. She understands that it was not his choice to be a part of this monstrous act, but was merely following orders. I believe she knows that death is awaiting her at the gas chambers and knows that he is not to blame for leading her to her death. She feels bad that him being such a young man has to experience this tragedy and take part in it. She knows that he is only following orders.

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

• I believe the narrator questions if they are good people because he understands that what he is doing is wrong but he cannot help but feel glad that it is the jews going to the chambers instead of him. He feels angry at the Jews and blames them for being the reason that he has to work in these cruel circumstances. He says “I am not sorry they are going to the gas chamber. Damn them all!” He questions why he is feeling so much hatred towards the Jews. However, Henri reassures him that it is normal to point fingers on the weaker individuals. As opposed to the Jews, they have a little more power because they are not the ones going to the gas chambers. By questioning if they are good people, he is conflicted in his feelings because on one hand he knows that the Jews should not be killed, but on the other hand he is glad it is not him that is being killed. 

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

• The title is strange because it seems very light and friendly by saying ladies and gentlemen even though they are being led to their death. It is welcoming the Jews but only to their death. It seems as though they are being led to a place where they can begin a new life, however that is clearly not true, from reading the story. The Jews bring luggages filled with their belongings in hopes of starting life elsewhere, because they did not really know where the trains were leasing them to. In the story, the narrator tells us “People… inhumanly crammed, buried under incredible heaps of luggage, suitcases, trunks, packages, crates, bundles of every description (everything that had been their past and was to start their future).” The Jews thought they were being sent somewhere to start a new life, but little did they know they were being sent to a gas chamber to end their life. The title gives off a sense of welcome, which is ironic because the Jews were clearly not welcomed in their own country.

Link to project by Sumi Paul, Ali Zandani, and Huashan Ji

https://prezi.com/p/_clnf-o1gn_b/?present=1

“This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” by Tadeusz Borowski is about a man imprisoned in a camp in Auschwitz. His job at the camp was to unload prisoners at the train station and sort through their belongings. In the story, he describes the children being separated from their parents. He described a moment during his shift where a little boy was running after a woman crying out for his mother. This reading of course can have a text to world connection to the Holocaust. However, during the time we are living in now, history is repeating itself. In the United States, undocumented immigrants are sent to detention camps until they are deported back to their mother country. When ICE detains them, they are separated from their family and their children. These children who were born in America but their parents were not, are separated from each other. While their parents are sent to camps to be sent back to their mother country, the children are sent to the foster care system. The conditions in these camp sites can be compared to those in the concentration camps during the holocaust. In the prose, Borowski describes the conditions of the transport. He describes how they were “Monstrously squeezed together, they have fainted from heat, suffocated, crushed one another.” He described how the prisoners were pleading for air and water. These harsh conditions are similar to what the undocumented immigrants are facing at the detention camps today. They are cramped in cages with no access to soap, showers, and even beds to sleep on. They are expected to sleep on concrete floors or stay standing because of lack of space. They are treated with the harshest conditions only because of them being undocumented. They face abuse and question what will happen to them and their family. In the story, Borowski talks about how the Jews from the train ask the guards what is going to happen to them and describes them as anxious and worn-out. The undocumented immigrants are constantly in fear while in these detention camps, just like the Jews during the Holocaust. The fact that America is doing this to other human beings because they are not American shows we have not learned from history.

Discuss the theme of food and eating. What role does it play in “The Metamorphosis”?

The theme of food is often discussed throughout the story. When Gregor first transformed into a bug, his sister whom he is closest to in the family had left him milk, since it was his favorite as a human. Her actions show that although he does not look the same, she still cares for him because she still considers him to be family. When she noticed he did not drink the milk, she goes as far as leaving different types of food to see what his transformed self likes now. She goes out of her way to show that she cares for him. However, this changes as the story continues, when Gregor noticed the family caring less for him. His family had put less effort in providing food for him. Gregor even notices how the tenants were being fed by his mother and sister whereas he was not being treated the same. Gregor said “The way those tenants fill their boots, while I’m left to starve!” The role of food in this story represents care. As Gregor was being fed less, it showed how his family had lost interest in caring for him. He felt as though they were resenting him and by showing more care to others who were not family. 

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

In the final paragraph of the story, the family went to a park. They felt as though they finally got a break from Gregor. The fact that Gregor was a son and brother to them, we would expect them to at least mourn over his death. Instead, they were “Sitting back comfortably in their seats, they discussed the prospects for the future…” They discussed how they would buy a new home and begin their life without Gregor. This last paragraph shows how they detached themselves from Gregor completely. This is why it was so easy for them to move forward and plan for their future. They had already come to the understanding that he was going to die, which is why they cared less for him and easily moved on after his death. The final paragraph allows us to realize that his worth in the family was nothing more than a means for providing for the family. 

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 the story, the narrator comes back to the place where he once lived. He comes to realize that everything is different and he feels like a stranger. When he passed by his old school, he noticed the name had changed. He felt like everything was different as though he was in a place he no longer knew. He says “In less than two hours my enthusiasm had waned, and I rather reproached myself for coming.” He felt like he should not have come back because this place he once knew was nothing like how he left it. This theme of revisiting is significant because it shows how things are always changing in life and nothing is going to stay still. We have to keep up and adapt to these changes. I feel that this is important to learn for the narrator because he is going back to teaching confucianism, but when growing up he wanted to teach things that were to bring change to the way people learned. Instead of moving forward towards change, he goes backwards to the old ways. 

Describe an instance of filial piety in the story.  What is its significance?

An instance of filial piety was when he came to rebury his brother because his mother had told him to do so. However, this moment in the story was even more significant because when he went to the grave, he saw nothing there. There was no body and no remains of anything that would show a dead body was buried there. However, he still reburied an empty casket next to his father to keep his mother at peace. He says “As soon as my mother knew this, she became very upset, and couldn’t sleep for several nights—she can read letters by herself, you know. But what could I do? I had no money, no time: there was nothing that could be done.” He knew how upset his mother felt when she found out that her son’s grave was going to be swamped. Knowing he could do nothing else to make her happy, he took his opportunity to keep her at peace and rebury him. He did not really know his brother and even said that he has forgotten how he looks, which shows that rebutting his brother has no significance to him. He is only doing this because of his mother, which is why this is a significant example of filial piety in the story. 

“And indeed there will be time/ To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”/ Time to turn back and descend the stair,/ With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-/ (They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)” (Lines 37-41)

I chose these lines from the poem because I believe they provide the central concept and purpose of this poem. These lines explain how Prufrock is always questioning himself and that causes him to not do anything. He procrastinates by saying there will be time to do this later, and too much time passes and he ends up not doing it. This is what causes him to grow his insecurities. As time passes, he gets older and his looks fade, which makes him think that other people will find him unattractive. He wants to talk to the pretty girls but feels as though he is not good looking, which is why he does not take any actions. He allows his subconscious mind to take over by allowing his fears to stop him from doing what he wants. The repetition of the words “Do I dare” explains how he doubts himself and that causes him to refrain from actually taking the chance. These lines of the poem show how someone’s subconsciousness can really affect them. His subconscious made him think he was unworthy of love from a woman. When his subconscious came to light, it made him think about how others might see him. He thought they would view him as unattractive and old. This fear is what prevented him from making his move and meeting a woman. What still confuses me about these lines from the poem is if it is ever too late for him to take the chance and finally do what he has been wanting to do throughout the poem. Usually I procrastinate until the deadline is near. But when is Prufrock’s deadline? 

Reading the short story “Punishment” by Rabindranath Tagore, I noticed some similarities to the story “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger” by Feng Menglong. In both these short stories, women are affected by the men’s actions. In “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”, Li Jia and Du Tenth fell in love. However, due to concerns about money, Li Jia risked his relationship. They had promised each other loyalty and love to one another but Li Jia broke his promise. He betrayed her when he was willing to take money from a stranger in exchange for her. This is similar to “Punishment” because in this story, Chidam betrayed his wife, Chandara. Being married means they must have had vows to each other. However, Chidam had betrayed his wife when he put the blame of the murder of his sister-in-law on her.  He said “Thakur, if I lose my wife I can get another, but if my brother is hanged, how can I replace him?” He put his family first before his wife and she felt betrayed. Tagore describes the moment of her feeling of betrayal when he says “When her husband asked her to admit to the murder, Chandara stared at him, stunned; her black eyes burnt him like fire. Then she shrank back, as if to escape his devilish clutches.” She throws her life away because she realized how her husband, the man she loves, betrayed her and did not feel remorse for telling her to take the blame. This is why when she was questioned, she agreed to the murder. This is similar to what happened in “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”, when Du Tenth threw the jewel box and then killed herself by plunging into the water. She tells Li Jia “You have abandoned me at midjourney and betrayed my earnest heart.” In both these stories, the women are betrayed by their male partners and they end their life as a result of the betrayal.