After reading the "White Savior Industrial Complex", I deeply reconsidered what it means to be supporting a cause. In this day and age, I am constantly reminded that the media never tells you the full truth and that you can never have enough information about things going on outside our homes. No widely known about organization or company can do anything major without getting criticism. Although, Teju Cole's criticism is very accurate and does bring up good points, it's makes you think if anything will every be good enough for the world. Cole's argument that white people like to pretend... Continue reading

Pilate has very clear opinions on death. While talking to Ruth about death, Pilate stated: "Some folks live forever. Some don't. I believe they decide on it anyway. People die when they want to. Don't nobody have to die fi they don't wont to." (140). I think this is an interesting idea. It seems that every single character in this book who died did somehow choose to die. Mr. Smith, the insurance agent, choose to jump of the building. After hearing this comment, Ruth thinks to herself that she did believe that her father wanted to die when he did.... Continue reading

One of the ideas that goes along with Milkman is the idea that he is facing and moving in the opposite direction from everyone else. Milkman walks the opposite way of everyone on the street after he hits his father. Later in the story, when Milkman is arguing with Guitar, Guitar snaps back at Milkman with the line: "looks like everybody's going in the wrong direction but you, doesnt it?" (106) I am still confused to the meaning of this idea. It could show that Milkman has a different view than everyone else in life. That he holds more or... Continue reading

After reading the article and listening to the Radio Show, my first impression was one of disgust. When I think of the times of Imperialism in the late 1800's, I like to think that these things were allowed to occur for so long because people did not realize what was really going on. I assume naively that many of the Europeans did not realize the complete brutality and animosity of the treatment of the Africans and if they did know, they would have immediately made changes. I would assume today, in a world that is becoming smaller and more transparent... Continue reading

While traveling farther into the center of the Congo, Marlow describes the landscape as "Paths, paths, everywhere: a stamped network of paths spreading over the empty land, through long grass, through burnt grass, through thickets, down and up chilly ravines, up and down stony hills ablaze with heat; and a solitude, no body, not a hut" (p. 28) This description provides an interesting contrast to the beliefs of Marlow's Aunt. While she believed that Europeans should travel to Africa to create civilizations and show the Africans how they should be living, the Europeans had been doing completely the opposite. They... Continue reading

Edgar is by far the most innocent character in King Lear. Edgar not only trusted every word his brother Edmund told him but also able to give up everything he once had to run away instead of confronting his enemies. His speech at the end of scene six of Act three shows the extent of his goodness. He states: When we our betters see bearing our woes, We scarcely think our miseries our foes. Who alone suffers, suffers most i' th' mind, Leaving free things and happy shows behind. But then the mind much sufferance doth o'erskip When grief hath... Continue reading

A overwhelming majority of the conversations between King Lear and Goneril and Regan are about his King Lear's one hundred knights. While King Lear is desperate to keep his knights, Goneril is determined to get rid of them. My question is, in this time, either the Elizabethan era or when King Lear was actually alive, how many knights did a retired king really need? Who really has the rational opinion in this argument? King Lear might be crazy, and is also determined to hold tight to any power he might have left, thus his opinion might not be the rational... Continue reading

I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell! They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog To tell your name the livelong day To an admiring bog! -Emily Dickinson The fact that Emily Dickinson spent most of her life cooped up in the same house she grew up in has always intrigued me. This reflects her disdain for being in public. She did not want to be famous and she was perfectly okay with her poetry staying private. She spent most of her... Continue reading

In the Awakening, while talking to Ms. Pontillier, Madame Ratignolle states " In some way you seem like a child, Edna. You seem to act without certain amount of reflection which is necessary in this life." (96) I completely agree with Madame Ratignolle. Edna Pontillier is a child. She has never had to take the responsibillites required of an adult, and thus has never grown up. She has somehow gotten into the life she has, but did not have any say in it. i think her childish qualities are what allowed to her to have the realization that the life... Continue reading

When Lena leaves her home in Mississippi, she has no idea where she is going. Lucas Burch/Joe Brown could be anywhere in the world and see just sets out with blind faith that she will find him. She bases her traveling completely on word of mouth, following guesses by complete strangers to where Burch might be. She doesn't have her own transportation, and has to rely on the fact that every ride she picks up will somehow get her closer to Burch. And finally when she gets to a random town with a man named Bunch, she happens to find... Continue reading

Christmas seems to lead his life constantly asking himself about his identity. He is not able to find a balance between black and white society, and seems to feel alienated from both. From the instance with the dietician, he has identified himself as having a black parent. But, when Ms. Burden directly asked Christmas how he knows one of his parents was black, Christmas responds first with "I don't know it." and later with "If I'm not, damned If I haven't wasted a lot of time" (Faulkner, 254). It seems crazy that Christmas has not questioned this before. Sure his... Continue reading

At one point when Byron Bunch and Hightower were talking, Bunch mentions that Hightower stated, "They are good people. They must believe what they must believe, especially as it was I who was at one time both master and servant of their believing. And so it is not for me to outrage their believing nor for Byron Bunch to say that they are wrong. Because all that any man can hope for is to be permitted to live quietly among his fellows." (Faulkner, 75) when talking about the town. Even after the town had Hightower removed from his position, started... Continue reading

I, just like Meursault, have always imagined the guillotine as a romanticized instrument that plays a vital part in history, especially the French Revolution. Robespierre, Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI, and many more vital figures of history were killed by it. But Meursault gives a new spin on it. Just by focusing on the small fact that there is no scaffold brings into a different setting. Its no longer part of a tale, but part of real life. Camus wrote " you always get exaggerated notions of things you dont know anything about. I was made to see that contrary... Continue reading

It seems that in every major event that happens to Meursault in this book, the main things that Merusault notices and focuses all his attention on is the heat and sun. During the walk to the Funeral, the only things Meursault observed where the heat, the place of the sun in the sky, and Perez's lack of ability to keep up. When Meursault is walking along the beach, the intensity of the sun was all he could focus on. He states " I could feel my forehead swelling under the sun. All that heat was pressing down on me and... Continue reading

I find that the most intriguing part of the Stranger is the Meursault. Meursault's indifference to the events going on around him not only give an interesting point of view but force the reader to interpret the events exactly how they appear. Although his indifference and lack of feeling for life is intriguing, it is also hard to grasp. The only clue to how Meursault became this way was when he was talking to his boss about france. "Then he asked me if I was interested in a change of life. I said that people never change their lives, that... Continue reading