Author Archives: MINAHIL IMTIAZ

I might not have faced an incident like Isabel Allende but the closest thing to it is the Covid-19 pandemic. Most people around the world take disasters or incidents like these differently, some countries are well developed and equipped to deal with situations like these and then some countries do not have enough resources but then there is the United States of America where there despite being enough resources and being well-developed, we could handle the situation as good as Europe did. Instead, we panicked and made the situation even worse for one another. Buying paper towels in bulk and what not and emptying the shelves of grocery stores, God forbid we become a little thoughtful for other people. The Internet helped a lot, instead of going through whole broadcasts, there were websites that kept me aware of what the situation was like, was it changing for the better or the worse but that might not have been the case for Colombia at the time, Wi-Fi was not a thing then or phones that had internet. If they got trapped, all they could do is scream for help until someone hears them. Although many people go on their phones and see that the numbers are going down, they start feeling as if everything has gone to normal even if it hasn’t and start ignoring the SOPs. Politicians and governments all play a very crucial role in handling situations like these and most around the world failed to do so, they took the threat very lightly despite being warned. Most of the media, in my opinion, terrifies people even more and is the main reason why people were panicking and not leaving basic or essential stuff for day-to-day lives in the supermarkets.

Explain your understanding of Gregor’s death.  How/why does he ultimately die?

-He died mainly because of fasting but there were many other reasons as well. His family instead of understanding the situation and understanding that it is not his fault that he turned into a bug. They pushed him away. He would have to wait for his mother. His father would not treat him nicely. They even wanted to get rid of him. His sister says, “we have to try to get rid of it. We did as much as humanly possible to try and look after it and tolerate it.” (237) They fail to understand that underneath the body of an insect, it is still her brother and their son. They started treating him and kept on calling him a monster. All this upset him so much that he stopped eating, eventually he died because of it. Her sister even jabbed him with a broom. “She grew irritable, and jabbed Gregor with the broom.” (239)

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

I think Gregor was more powerful before he transformed into a bug because he was the one his family depended on but when he became a bug, he was a nuisance to his family. He was unable to speak and stand up to his family when they called him a monster or when his sister jabbed him with a broom. He could not even tell his mother how much he missed her and how much he would appreciate if she came to see him. He might not have been financially stable but at least he could express how he felt. Everyone called him names like it says, “Come here, your old dung-beetle!” (234)

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me.” (Line 124, 125)

Prufrock portrays himself as a middle-aged man by telling us that he has bald spots in his hair. Although he is not young, he still knows how to carry himself elegantly. It appears that he is attracted to a beautiful woman, but his insecurities that have gotten the better of him are holding him back from expressing his feelings to her. I feel like the ‘Mermaids’ are being used to depict a fantasy or imaginary world he has in which he can appreciate them from afar, but he fears that even if he gathers to get close to them, they will see him how he sees himself. The ‘Mermaids’ are like that woman, he fears that if he tells her how he feels about her, she will reject him, so he admires her from a distance.

https://youtu.be/gnLjdtreu1k  (4:18-4:40)

As I was reading “Punishment” by Rabindranath Tagore I realized how similar the story of Chandara was to Hedda in “Hedda Gabler” by Henrick Ibsen.  Chandara in “Punishment” was portrayed as a very strong woman who was well kept than Radha. She never seemed to fear anyone including her own husband, even when he threatened to break all the bones in her body if he ever catches her going to the ghat alone, yet she was fearless and responded back telling him that “the bones will mend”.  When Chandara’s husband asked her to take blame for Radha’s muder even though it was done by his brother, she accepted it quietly without saying a word, she chose to remain silent about what happened until the end when she was told that her husband would like to see her, but her response was “to hell with him”.  Similarly, to Chandara Hedda was described as a well maintained, elegant woman who was also stubborn till the very end of her story. After finding out that Eilert was murdered using one of Hedda’s pistols, the judge made sure Hedda knew that he was doing her a favor by keeping silent. Towards the end, the judge tried to practice his command over her “Oh, we’re going to have some good times together, the two of us” that’s when Hedda took one of her pistols and shot herself. Both were controlled by men and wanted freedom from their lives. Miserable as their life was, they both achieved freedom by death.

Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a bitter reminder for us that life is too short to be attached to materialistic things and how we are constantly chasing things that do not truly matter. Ivan was constantly worried about how he is representing himself to the society, he worked hard to attain things not to enjoy them but to show other people his achievements. He was too occupied showing everyone what he could accomplish that it never occurred to him how important building emotional and intimate connection with people around him really was and I feel like that is something that we commonly get to see around us on a daily basis now. Our motivational drive too often is not how having something would make our lives comfortable but what it would make others think of us. Tolstoy shows us that seeking everyone’s approval will lead you nowhere looking for happiness within yourself rather than materialistic things is what will make your life fulfilling. Life is so unpredictable considering the time we are going though right now during these times of uncertainty we should make sure we spend time with our family and friends rather than only focusing on our careers as our time in this world is not infinite. I felt sorry for Ivan when no one took his illness seriously because he was weak and that is when he required everyone’s support and care the most. Reading this novella made me shift my focus of how temporary and unpredictable our life really  is , we plan our lives and our future as if we are going to live forever rather than living in the present.

When I read the text of “Hedda Gabbler” and then watched the film version I realized how characters were represented differently. The text gives many minor details of the setting by describing the furniture, the curtains, and the walls whereas the film version shows everything giving the audience a clear picture. I feel like one of the major differences is the representation of Hedda’s character, she is shown as a self-absorbed woman who looks down upon everyone and the film makes it easier to get an understanding of her nature by looking at her facial expressions, body language and gestures. Moreover, the text represents the relationship between Hedda and Aunt Julie, it is not great the film version of it makes it more transparent and sets a tone as to how Hedda does not care about anyone. Even though the text describes how George and Aunt Julie shared a genuine and loving relationship the film represents it to a greater extent by showing how she is willing to do anything for his happiness. While reading the text, the reader takes a while to imagine as to what is happening and how while the film version just gives a representation of relationships between characters which makes it easier and quicker to get an understanding of the events taking place.

-Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglas and Incidents in the life of a slave Girl, both talk about slavery in their own manner. Even though Jacobs and Douglas had been physically and mentally abused severely Harriet Jacobs went through a different kind of trauma that is incomparable. Jacobs being a woman had to suffer physical abuse, her innocence being taken away from her soon enough she realized the harsh realities of the world at a very tender age. Douglas stood up to his master for freedom whereas Jacobs had to live inside a dark small hole for several years just to survive. Imagining her surviving conditions; not enough room to turn over, no light or even fresh air makes me wonder how motherhood can be so strengthening as the only reason that kept her in the hiding for so many years was the laugh of her child. I think Jacobs suffered more than Douglas in every possible way and was affected by the effects of it all her life.

– Despite being well hidden slavery still exists in this modern era of time, it is necessary to be acknowledged so that it can be put to an end. Human Trafficking is one of the major forms of slavery, not only women are being target for it as it does not only include sexual trafficking but also forced labor and many people are still being affected by it. It never occurred to me how our day-to-day life choices are making us a victim of trafficking, being bribed with money forced to accept job offers. Debt is a new form of slavery; many people are put in situations where they are burdened under it and spend their entire lives trying to pay it off yet often fail to do so a great example of this could be student loans. Child slavery is yet a big issue, presently more than quarter of the slaves from the world population are children. Poorer and overly populated countries have the most child labors as families do not have enough mean to earn, another reason is the money saving idea people hire children and pay them less than an adult worker would take for the same amount of work.

Reading this Narrative made me extremely sad and lose faith in humanity. It never occurred to me that in those times slaves were treated this cruelly more like animals by their fellow humans. As Fedrick Douglass tells us that he was deprived of one of the purest forms of love, his mother at a very tender age. It appears that slaves never got to experience any form of emotions or affection but only knew what punishments were, pleasing their masters were all they had known. As I skimmed through the chapters, the series of awful events witnessed by Fedrick spoke to me making me realize how important it was to put a stop to slavery. On page 11 the paragraph “…very many of their sleeping hours are consumed in preparing for the field the coming day; and when this is done, old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed, — the cold, damp floor, — each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver’s horn. At the sound of this, all must rise, and be off to the field. There must be no halting; every one must be at his or her post; and woe betides them who hear not this morning summons to the field; for if they are not awakened by the sense of hearing, they are by the sense of feeling: no age nor sex finds any favor. Mr. Severe, the overseer, used to stand by the door of the quarter, armed with a large hickory stick and heavy cowskin, ready to whip any one who was so unfortunate as not to hear, or, from any other cause, was prevented from being ready to start for the field at the sound of the horn.” After reading this paragraph I imaged what it would be like for us to be in their place and just by simply thinking about it I realized how they had to endure everything without saying a word. In these lines Fedrick drew a transparent picture of the struggles they had to go through, even after a long day of slavery they were still expected to set aside their own necessary chores like cooking and laundry to prepare for the upcoming day. There was no destined place for them to sleep on, they had to sleep on the hard floor even with all those bleeding bruises and sore bodies. They were treated as robots and expected to behave as such, dare if they may say, do or take a break they would be punished severely. Fedrick’s literacy style and syntax enhances the experience of its readers and makes them wonder what it might would have been like, drawing attention to struggles that have been overshadowed.

I chose “The Chimney sweepers” by William Blake, the image gives a representation of how hard and depressive the lives of children were. I saw this image and it helped me understand the poem completely, a little boy is shown walking alone as to how his mother died and the father sold him as told in the first stanza of the poem. As a kid he could barely say “weep” and now he cries in the rain, so no one witnesses, because to him his tears held no value as he wasn’t heard as a child and was unwillingly forced into being a sweeper and the image portrays that. Cleaning chimney’s all day, they would get covered in soot and the image represents how the soot is being fallen everywhere. In the fourth stanza tom dreams about the angel coming and setting them free and, in the image, shows how the little boy is looking towards the sky waiting for the angel to come so that he can be set free, now everyday he goes to work looking at the sky wondering if the angels would come for his rescue.