English 2850 Spring 2021: Great Works II

After Reading ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich,’ I was reinforced with the idea that nothing we gain in this life through money, wealth, or status, will go with us once we die. After reading about Ivan’s struggle to accept death, I noticed his focus was so much on how he will not be able to live life as he once enjoyed. He has to get used to and anticipate a new experience, for example not having people over as much to his house, not having the physical strength to do things as he once did, and the most daunting anticipation of all, death. During the pandemic, I have seen many people go through the same process of getting used to new ways of living and even anticipating death. For me though, in this new era of life when the entire world has to live through a pandemic like this, I have realized that although everything that we cherish in this life does bring comfort and joy, we must all also anticipate and expect even, the few things common to all human beings, and one of the only few things that do not discriminate; change and death. Throughout this entire pandemic, personally, I have gotten used to the trend of change and the news of death. Although I never experienced death in my immediate family, since the beginning of the pandemic I have witnessed relentless news reports of the mass deaths due to the coronavirus. I have also witnessed and experienced tremendous change due to this pandemic. Change is also one of those things that everyone must experience, by choice or not. Having to stay home all the time not, not being able to visit family members as frequently, seeing so many establishments closed, have all been changes we all had to face in this pandemic. In this way, this idea that every human being is going to experience and even has to prepare for these things is reinforced after reading the Death of Ivan Ilyich. Ivan, although a fortunate and wealthy man, could not escape change nor death, nor can any of his friends or family members escape those things, and neither can we.

1. What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?
   I learned that even children were not spared from being dehumanized, and from the horrors of the Holocaust. There were many extremely disturbing scenes in the text, but the most striking and painstaking was reading about children being brutalized.
2. Are we good people?” asks our narrator.  What is this exchange about? What do you think?

I believe this exchange was the process of the narrator being desensitized to the horrors of killing people. The fact that I’m the text, the narrator said he wanted the people to hurry up and be killed off in the gas chambers so he could go rest was a signal that he was not completely emotionally connected to the lives of the people that were being stripped away, and their suffering. Him asking this question was a realization of this disconnection, and he asked in order to see if this feeling resonated with Henri. I believe this was just one step in the process of the narrator being desensitized to human suffering and death.

After reading Isabel Allende’s story “And of Clay We Are Created,” I noticed specific elements in Rolf’s partner’s character that I could relate really to. In the story, as she watches on the television Rolf helplessly trying to save the trapped girl from the muddy, dangerous debris from the volcanic eruption, I could sense her having a feeling of earnest yet obsolete desire to help them, but she is not able to, since they are in completely different locations. This same desire resonated with me, because it reminds me of all the times in my life where I watched helplessly as a person whom I really want to help does not receive the aid they need due to their situations, and my help is also rendered obsolete, because we are in completely different places in the world. One such occasion that comes to mind are the countless infomercials that show how millions of African children have to suffer from thirst, starvation, and even death, because they don’t have the provisional resources to keep them healthy. I remember watching the African children, thin to the point where their bones poke through their skin, oftentimes covered in flies. I remember watching them cry for attention, for food and water, many of them also in need of serious medical attention, to which they may not receive. During these times, I feel that like I need to help these children, but at the same time, I realize how far away I am from helping them; both physically through distance, and financially, since I am not financially stable enough to donate any impactful amount of money. In these times, as I watch these suffering children on the television screen, I can closely relate to Rolf’s partner, in her futile desire to help those in need, since they are opposite sides of the world.

In the wake of the recent rise of attacks on the Asian American Community, I felt as if I had watched too many incidents now to the point I have become desensitized. At first, my grandparents were instructed to try to stay at home. But now it is uncomfortably common in the news where I have to admit to myself, it’s shocking me less and less, it almost feels like a norm. Even my grandparents, prime targets for being a victim have disregarded their potential har. It also does not feel real to me since all I have been doing is reading about it, but I know it’s real and it’s happening all around me. But because even though it is in my community, the screen I have been reading it from has enhanced my distance to any single event. I know that if it were to happen to me or my family, I would feel a different way about it. If I had experienced these incidents first hand, perhaps I can truly understand what’s happening to the victim and their family. I also want to note that while media is important to spread awareness, I cannot help think that media also helped enhance the problem. Putting Asian hate crime in the spotlight might give the potential perpetrator the green light to also do it. But the silver lining in this rise of these events is that politicians and government have acted swiftly following it. This is where it differs from “And of Clay We Create”, in the text the politicians have acted for selfish needs, going to the volcanic site just to show their face on television but not doing anything to save the dying people. In contrast, the recent administration has acknowledged the problem and has acted upon it, passing bills and executive orders.

The one I’m most closely associated with is COVID-19. Especially when it first broke out in China, it caught everyone off guard. Because my family was all in China, I was very worried about their health. Thanks to the strong quarantine measures taken by the Chinese government, my family is all right and not infected. It wasn’t until the outbreak reached New York that I began to realize the danger was around me. At that time, the situation was reversed. My family called me every day to check on me. Everything is fine for me, but the situation around me is getting worse. The first thing to get up every day is to turn on the phone to check the number of new infections and deaths today. But only rising numbers. When I started wearing a mask, the media and people around me felt that I was making a fuss. COVID-19 was just the flu. I wanted to refute but no one believed me. Until New York announced to lock down the city, my roommate’s bubble milk tea shop in Chinatown was also forced to shut down. I’m also lost my part-time job which is work in a restaurant. Throughout 2020, I feel like I can’t do anything. I can only watch the disaster happen but I can’t do much.

For my life experience I do not have that experience, however there is a thing going on right now, I think this is the most similar experience with Isabel Allende. It is the Covid- 19. When this happened first in China, I did not feel anything about this, I still do whatever I do usually, going to school, go to work, however I do not know is this happened in one second, the school was shut down, everyone wear mask, that make me feel suddenly in one second, I try to buy a ticket to go back to China, since when United Stated more people died in one day, I decided to go back to China, but there is no ticket for me to go back to China, I feel so hopeless, one week only one fly, and during tat period, the mask was so expensive than usually, I feel everything was shut down. Even during that period the China seen more control than United Stated, but right now the vaccination is for now is faster than in China, I try to call my family member in China, they did not even have any news that they can get the vaccine, compare to China, I think United Stated have more resource can let the people get the vaccine as soon as possible, even China get control early than United Stated. During the pandemic period, the news I saw the people died increase everyday, the news report everyday to people. Everyone is concern about how many people died in one day, when the first happened in China, no on is thinking how terrible is the disease, they did not think about this result, everyone is afraid of this disease, also included me, I think this is the most similar thing happened during my life experience with Isabel Allende was a terrible experience.

The story “And of Clay are We Created” made me remember about an Earthquake that occurred at Nepal in 2015. I was in New York at the time and I got a call from my aunt at 4A.M and I was shocked to find out that it was one of the strongest one and the buildings near my houses were collapsed. We tried contacting our relatives and friends back in Nepal but we couldn’t reach them due to poor connections and it was terrifying to see historic monuments being collapsed and the news terrified us even more. In the story, the narrator tries her best to contact political leaders to locate the pump and makes appeal to the media, however, there’s no result. After the earthquake, there were many damages, people lost homes, jobs, relatives and the political leaders weren’t really available to provide any help. In fact, many countries had donated money and supplies for the people but the money didn’t reach innocent people who actually needed it. The role of politicians during these crisis weren’t helpful. This crisis made me connect to my own country in a very different way. I was away from home and when I saw the buildings being destroyed and heard the stories from my relatives and friends back home, it made me realize how much I missed and loved Nepal. When I went back after few years, things had changed a lot and there were still many buildings which weren’t repaired and it shows how politicians  don’t usually do anything in some countries.