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Author Archives: ivy.ly
Posts: 5 (archived below)
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Asian Literature
Women in Afghanistan are looking to escape the cruelty of their family, but there is just one way of escaping and that is to a brutal and unimaginable act. These women are constantly abused by her in laws and husbands, and have no reaction to this except to burn themselves to death. Afghan women have limited choices and are believed to serve her husband’s family but this results to a disaster. The NY Times article states “Their family is their fate. There is little chance for education, little choice about whom a woman marries, no choice at all about her role in her own house.” With this being said, we can see that these women cannot fight back to their family.
This article is similar to “The Pillowbook”, Sei Shonagon has many thoughts but are only kept to herself. She does not tell anyone how she feels nor does she expect her book to be made public. Sei Shonagon includes much of what she sees and feels in her book and most importantly as she states “…when I have a good deal of time to myself and thought no one would notice what I was doing.” (p 258) Clearly, she does not want anyone to know how she feels. Sei Shonagon states “Since much of it might appear malicious and even harmful to other people, I was careful to keep my book hidden.” (p 258)
Women in Afghanistan setting themselves on fire is a way of expressing how they feel about their life and Sei Shongagon writing in her book is lettings all her thoughts out privately. Both of these acts display how women are oppressed in various countries and that they are not heard from by their words, but by their actions.
Posted in Asian Literature
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Thousand and One Nights
NY Times article Google Sees Rules Violations in Limits on Internet Access closely relates to our readings of The Thousand and One Nights. Governments in many countries now are starting to limit users’ access to internet. China is one of the main countries that is being affected by this issue. Google has recently released a policy that states countries that limiting users’ access goes against their World Trade Organization. Though Google doesn’t specifically point out that it is the Chinese government who is limiting access to internet, there are many clues that Google is directing this policy towards them. Google’s public policy director, Bob Boorstin states “In addition to infringing human rights, governments that block the free flow of information on the Internet are also blocking trade and economic growth.” Here, Boorstin starts saying how the limited access of internet will affect free trade. China is still being investigated to see if they have violated the World Trade Organization.
Similarly, in The Thousand and One Nights, King Shahrayar’s is cheated on. Shahrayar’s wife sleeps with another man before Shahzaman’s own eyes. After acknowledging this, Shahrayar kills his wife and all the slave girls as well. Shahrayar states “There is not a single chaste woman anywhere on the entire face of the earth.” The twenty slave-girls that Shahzaman saw were deceiving because only half of them were girls and the rest were men. The government of China limiting users’ internet access is in comparison to the “girls” that were dressed behind veils. Though the reading doesn’t state the ban of veils, but clearly we can see how many people take advantage of the veil itself because their identities are sealed and are not identified by anyone. This concept relates to the ten black slaves who were dressed in the same clothing as the girls. China may have many users’ taking advantage of the internet in that their identities are not confirmed which can cause an issue.
Though there are many unconfirmed identities behind internet access and the unidentified men behind the girl’s clothing in Thousand and One Nights, the ban of either one is still controversial.
Posted in The Thousand and One Nights
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Throne of Blood
Critic Charles Isherwood says all the negativity of Ping Chong’s “Throne of Blood” He obviously didn’t enjoy the play and even states “…would be as boring look at as it is to listen to.” Isherwood states that Chong failed to reproduce the same intensity as Kurosawa did in the adaptation of “Macbeth” Throughout his whole review of the play, Isherwood negatively comments from Chong leaving out Shakespeare to having a dull stage. He states “It essentially boils down to a lot of men charging back and forth across a mostly dark and bare stage in fancy samurai getups.” From this being said, he only liked one thing about the play and that was the costumes. I agree with Isherwood on the costumes because it was very eye catching and went well with the scenery. Overall, I thought that the play was confusing and failed to understand some parts of it.
http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/theater/reviews/12throne.html
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The Odyssey/Blog #5
In the Odyssey, Odysseus constantly faces many hardships on his plan for returning home after ten years of war. He is captivated on Calypso’s island for seven years and is finally released after Athena persuades Zeus to send Hermes to allow this decision. Being that Odysseus’ boats were destroyed previously, Calypso helps him build a raft to only be destroyed by his enemy, Poseidon. Poseidon creates a storm to wreck Odysseus’ boat because of the release Odysseus during his absence. Odysseus and his men later on are captured by Cyclops Polyphemus and manage to escape after blinding him. After escaping the land of Cyclops, he travels to Aeolus, the ruler of the winds for help. Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag of winds directing him and his men the way home. On the boat as Odysseus is asleep, the sailors open the bag thinking it contains gold and all the wind flies out stirring in with the storm. Odysseus then sails back to Aeolus’ island seeking for help, but only for Aeolus telling him to get out of his island. He states “Crawling back like this- it proves the immortals hate you! Out-get out!” (p. 372) Odysseus then leaves in despair, but still filled with hopes.
A similar article in the NY Times that closely relates to the situation of Odysseus is called Trapped 68 Days, First Chilean Miners Taste Freedom. These miners were trapped half a mile underground for more than two months and managed to survive through the obstacles. Being underground, it was dark and had barely any food for them. The drilling in order to save the miners required many people to take part in this action including NASA and many drilling experts. Even before the rescue, many people believed that the miners would survive and endure this challenge. Mr. Piñera states “I had a strong conviction, very deep inside of me, that they were alive, and that was a strong support for my actions.” As one victim is saved, his father states “I’m so overcome with emotion now, as if I’ve been touched by God.” This shows the happiness of the miners and their family being able to reunite.
This article resemble Odysseus’ sequence of adventures as he battles to go home. He doesn’t give up his hopes and even if his hopes are deceived, he still insists on returning home to reunite with his wife and son where he finally does at the end after engaging in an archery competition with the suitors. The nurse tells Penelope “Follow me down! So now, after all the years of grief, you two can embark, loving hearts, along the road to joy.” (p. 533) This shows how happy Penelope should be that her husband is back and awaiting for their reunion. Both the Odyssey and Chile miners endured such a long journey just to see their family again.
Posted in The Odyssey
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Gilgamesh 2
The Epic of Gilgamesh correlates to an article in the New York Times called “U.S Debates Karzai’s Place in Fighting Corruption.” This article states that the US wants to keep Karzai in power, but the risk of this may add on. Karzai’s previous acts are the debate on whether or not he should take a major part in rooting out corruption. US want to restrain Karzai from too much given power, but at the same time, want to battle the Taliban with him. In the Epic, Gilgamesh is the most powerful and he oppresses all the citizens. The Gods want Gilgamesh to remain in power, but there is a major issue if they continue letting him do so. Therefore, Enkidu is sent to prevent Gilgamesh from his wrong-doings and together they take on a journey to fight Humbaba and even kill the Bull of Heaven. This is very much alike the article in the New York Times, even though there is a suspicion of corruption, US and Karzai are still working together to fight Taliban. “The discussion on corruption, in essence, is really a discussion about our relationship with Karzai,” said one senior Obama administration official. With this being said, Karzai is basically Gilgamesh who is oppressing the citizens of Uruk. Both Karzai and Gilgamesh comes close with others to defeat one main enemy.
Posted in Gilgamesh
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