It’s really unfortunate that it seems that everything, including the issue in Uganda, is throw into senseless information about what a celebrity or what the next new scandal is. I constantly see this happen. Often times when I come home, my mother has Access Hollywood on, last week they had something about what a celebrity wore or something totally senseless and then they turned to the KONY 2012 campaign as their central news, and they showed the clips of the video in a flashy, zooming into a Ugandan child’s face or sudden shots of children with guns in their hands... Continue reading

It seems to me that there is this obvious dominance in characters that are females within Milkman's life. My paper actually touched on this idea on who the parental figures were and how gender plays into it. It seemed to me that though Macon had some influence on Milkman, he gained most of his views and influence from Pilate and others along the way such as Sing, his own mother, and in some ways Hagar. I say this because I feel like any real influence he gained from Macon was that he wished to be nothing like him. With Pilate,... Continue reading

When I was looking again at the study questions we went over on Thursday, I could not help, but be perplexed, but also understanding of Guitar’s logic of the Seven Days. I have no idea what it’s like to be constantly judged by your race in a negative light, but I can only imagine how angry and saddening it must be. Despite Guitar’s reasoning in killing whites due to the killing of blacks, just seems so futile. While we were discussing Guitar and his perception, someone mentioned that Seven Days group has almost brain washed Guitar into believing what he... Continue reading

As I was reading Chapter 2, the scene with Guitar and Milkman visiting Pilate was strange. I think what most stood out was the fact that she did not have a navel. Milkman and Pilate were so intrigued to know whether she had a navel or not. Pilate tells them that she does not have a navel it “beats [her]” as to why she does not have one. I wonder whether this means something or not? My first thought was that she is missing this connection to her parents and possibly to the family in general. The sheer fact that... Continue reading

Out of the article and the comedy skit, the most striking thing to me was when the comedian was interviewing one of the workers who had formally worked on the iPad, but had never seen one on and thought it to be magic. Immediately it reminded me of Heart of Darkness. I thought of the large connection between Steve Jobs and Kurtz. As we all know Steve Jobs passed away recently and many people were devastated by the news. Though it may not be exactly the same as Kurtz, he too was praised by not only Europe, but by some... Continue reading

I believe Marlow's premise of the story is to peal away what is meant to be thought and what he truly senses and how they conflict and creat confusion. He has these constant moments in which he refers to the Congoleze as being savage and these distant creatures, but has trouble making them out be completely inhuman. It seems that in the beginning of part 1, he had no trouble in referring to them as "black fellows," which though it is not neccessarilly a term of endearment, but it is not neccessarilly demeaning. He then suddenly refers to them as... Continue reading

I had been speaking with my sister this past week and she mentioned one of Tyler Perry’s latest movies, For Colored Girls, I was intrigued to find out about this movie because I have always liked Perry’s movies. As I researched it, I found that it had originally been a compilation of poems by Ntozake Shange. The original name was For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. As I read a synopsis of the movie and the book, I found the topics, of accounts about black women who are raped, verbally abused, beaten and other... Continue reading

It seems that throughout the play, there is this constant shift of power over people who seemed to be respected and in a position of power and yet the upper hand is with those who are power hungry and ruthless. I actually think a really good connection to this whole situation is when the Fool states, “When priests are more in word than matter, When brewers mar their malt with water, When nobles are their tailors’ suitors, When every case in law is right, No squire in debt, nor no poor knight, When slanders do not live in tongues, Nor... Continue reading

King Lear is honestly blinded by the idea from the very beginning over his power. He believes that by handing over the kingdom to his two daughters that are seemingly submissive, but don’t care about his well being at all, shows not only his bad judge of character, but his delusional state of believing he attains power over Goneril and Regan. Cordelia on the other hand, does not want anything to do with telling him what he expects to hear, but rather tells him about how she respects him, but cannot accept his dowry and finds that “yet so, since... Continue reading

Men call you fair, and you do credit it, For that yourself you daily such do see: But the true fair, that is the gentle wit And virtuous mind, is much more praised of me. For all the rest, however fair it be, Shall turn to naught and lose that glorious hue: But only that is permanent and free From frail corruption that doth flesh ensue, That is true beauty; that doth argue you To be divine and born of heavenly seed; Derived from that fair spirit, from whom all true And perfect beauty did at first proceed: He only... Continue reading

I can’t help thinking what if Robert had not left Edna with such a brief and harsh goodbye because he was scared of the consequences society might have made for him otherwise? This would have changed the novel, I believe dramatically. I feel that if Robert had asked Edna to run away with her, she would have gone, but what does that mean for the meaning or message of the novel? I feel that the deep restriction that society has on the two characters would become a lot less meaningful. Though I feel there would have been some satisfaction in... Continue reading

Within Light in August, one of the largest binaries is by far black and white. There are characters that remain within the confines of these categories and then there is Joe Christmas. Joe Christmas is the most defiant character of this concept. He by sheer nature is neither black nor white and by mentality. Most people of Mottstown believed he was in fact white. As we gradually start to unveil his past, we start to realize he has never been what he appears. Even as a child growing up in an orphanage, he was not just known as a mischievous... Continue reading

Christmas, within Chapter 14 seems to be at his wit's end. To begin he keeps ending around other blacks who still believe he is white. He himself, though technically "like" them is so far away from their own real culture, that he is confused to find that blacks are not as he percieved. On top of this revelation, he is being hunted down by a number of white men that wish to basically kill/capture him. Joe, seeming to run away for most of the chapter, hits a breaking point. After running for several days, the sherriff is quickly on his... Continue reading

Within Trust, the two main characters Maria and Matthew have an interesting relationship. I feel from a shallow viewpoint one can see a creepy thirty year old man desperate for a woman. He needs someone to commit to him because he feels it is the time to marry in his life and would take a depressed and fragile seventeen year old to fill this position. If we were to look at it in almost deeper sense, there is the hope that this plot was not the director's intentions. Matthew can parallel Mersault in the sense of pushing the boundaries of... Continue reading

Within the movie Trust, it seems patenting or the idea of parents becomes a central motif. Even in the very opening of the movie, there is this deep disconnection between the mother and father's opinions over their child being pregnant and kicked out of school. After Maria kills her father, her mother kicks her out. As the story progresses though, it seems that her mother has less and less of a hold on happiness and good look on life. She tries to forcefully put her older daughter with Matthew, she says she stopped truly loving her own husband, and just... Continue reading

Maria's mother is clearly very controling, but she has depth to her role within the movie. To begin, even when she learns of Maria's pregnancy, she is still very strict about what Maria should do. After her husband dies, though she seems to audience to be devastated, we later learn that she was almost releaved that she did not have deal with her husband anymore, she felt that he had "poisoned [her] life for twenty years." When we first see her though, she is wearing black and mourning over her husband and kicks out Maria. It almost seems that her... Continue reading

Within the movie Trust, the main character Maria at first seems to express a selfish and careless teenager. As the story continues though she seems to change. She goes from this shallow and materialistic girl to someone who wishes to almost start a new life. I think this is due to the burden of feeling that she has failed herself. Despite the fact that she has realized becoming pregnant and dropping out of school are probably not productive things to do, she stills seems to avoid them until she meets Matthew. From there it seems as if she just starts... Continue reading

Mersault, towards the ending of the novel is sentenced to death for the killing of the Arab. Though he contemplated and almost seemed to show an essence of weakness, in the end, he realized that the inevatble would come and in almost a sense felt got what he deserved. When he speaks of the newspaper for example, he states that the killer had gotten what he deserved. Because he in fact committed a murder, we can conclude that he felt too that he should be punished. Now, after his death, there is still the question of whether his death was... Continue reading

Within the final part of the Stranger, Mersault, after mercilessly killing an Arab, is given a chance to repent for the crime he has committed. Instead, he refuses to abide by the rules of sin and guilt. Does this in fact make him a person with no soul, or rather a person who chooses to make decisions in his life through reasoning and lack of apprehension? There is truth I believe in Mersault's abiltity to create his own ideals rather than attest to the words of the lord. For one, when the priest is waving a cross around his face... Continue reading

To comment on the post concerning Meursault having foils, though I have never looked at the story from this angle, it seems very intriguing. To begin, the idea of the old woman crying being an almost replacement seems to make perfect sense due to the idea that she embodies what society sees as a proper emotion to the death of a "loved" one. I say "loved" I mean to say that we do not even know by the tell tale signs of rather the lack of emotion from Meursault. I believe that's why the idea of the old woman crying... Continue reading

What I am not clear on is how Meursault is able to convey this calm and collected manor throughout most of the book and then it seems that once with Marie? He describes her with detail in all her movements and actions. For example, when he is on the boat with Marie he found it pleasant when "her hair was in her eyes and when she was laughing…..It was nice,..." (20). This simple yet constructive sentence not only blatantly says how "nice" he found her actions, but also seems to allude some sort of human connection. Though Meursault, by society's... Continue reading