Identity

In Jumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, she writes of a Bengali-American boy, Gogol, and his journey of navigating the many challenges to retain his identity. As a human being, everybody tries to do things in an attempt to make themselves stand out, or identifiable, but Gogol does not like the way he is being identified. As Mr. Lawson talks about the history of Nikolai Gogol in Gogol's English class, Lahiri writes, "'He then pronounced a death sentence on himself, and proceeded to commit slow suicide by starvation.' 'Gross,' someone says from the back of the classroom"(91). Because of this "smart" person in the back of the room saying gross, Gogol feels a major insecurity from sharing the same name as this "gross" person. He feels that because the person who he is named after is seen as gross, he too will be seen as gross. In turn, he no longer wants to be called Gogol. This challenge that Gogol faces is extremely important to note while reading Lahiri's novel because later on in the novel we see that in these circumstances, he simply over-analyzes what other people might be thinking about him, when in reality people aren't thinking about him at all. This gives the reader another point to look at. It may be that the only person challenging Gogol's identity is himself. It is simply his own insecurity and his own hyper-consciousness that leads him to change his name. In the end, it is important for everyone to try and hold on to their identities and not let their own insecurities stop them.

TFA 1-7

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinuah Achebe, Achebe tells the "One Story" of Nigeria in a casual tone assuming that the reader already knows all the background information and is already used to the norm, and also makes sure that the reader knows important themes. After Okonkwo finds the banana tree that he thinks is dead, Achebe writes, "Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food and she said so. Without further argument Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her and her only daughter weeping,"(38). Achebe writes this as if the reader already knows it is the norm for a man to beat her wife for doing something he doesn't approve of. This adds a sort of casual sense that the story is told by, it also doesn't leave time for someone to dwell on that incident. After the beating is finished, Achebe adds, "Neither of the other wives dared to interfere beyond an occasional and tentative, 'It is enough Okonkwo', pleaded from a reasonable distance,"(38). It is simply not enough for Achebe to leave the story when Okonkwo is finished beating his wife, it is also important to note that the other wives also fear him. This is an important theme in the story and Achebe makes sure to let the reader know this. Achebe successfully tells the story in a way that the reader is sure to remember using these strategies.

"Final" Paragraph

Stoppard's quotation involving the meaning of tragedy is also supported by the short story "Once Upon a Time" in which Nadine Gordimer creates an innocent character who ends up unlucky. A young boy is created in this short story as too adolescent to understand the whole of reality. Gordimer shows the young boy's innocence when she writes, “He pretended to be the Prince who braves the terrible thicket of thorns to enter the palace and kiss the Sleeping Beauty back to life.”(235). The fact that this boy is pretending makes the outcome so much more tragic and himself much more innocent because he only wants to play a game and is not out to hurt anyone. He also wants to kiss the Sleeping Beauty making him a hero showing that he is only trying to follow his dream of becoming a hero. As the young boy continues on his adventure, it is cut short when Gordimer writes, “With the first fixing of its razor teeth in his knees and hands and head he screamed”(235). It truly is unlucky for him to have died this way because he is so unaware of the reality that he was just thrust into shown by his screaming. Because of this unlucky end for an innocent boy who was trying to do good, Stoppard’s essence of tragedy is reinforced yet again. Not only does the little boy reflect Stoppard essence of tragedy, but another pair of characters from the same short story show the other end of the spectrum.

Service Learning Visit #2

Today, I went to a charter school called El Sol for my second teaching experience through service learning. It was a very interesting experience to say the least. When we got there, I led an exercise similar to the introductory one we did last visit, but this time it went along with the theme of family. In this exercise we got the kids to talk about traits that their parents or siblings have. It was good to see some people come out of their shells and talk a bit about something we haven't really touched upon thus far. We then got on to going over some of the answers from the questionnaire, and rewriting a questionnaire in one student's case. After that, we got to writing the paragraph about family. This was a very big challenge because it is not necessarily the most entertaining thing for the students. Because they were not entertained with the assignment, the students decided to pick on me instead of actually writing. While I try to work on the paragraph with each child individually, the other two would be distracted because they were too busy picking on me too actually get work done. After many, "Get back to work"'s, they finally finished writing the paragraph. As a group, we managed to get through the rest of the activities we planned quite easily which could be considered a victory, but personally, I don't think the kids really got the complete message from the lesson plan today. Next time, I am going to try to utilize my partner more, because they tend to listen to her more than they do to me. If we can manage to keep the kids focused and on task, we could really make an impact on the kids' view on English, and the themes that we teach.

Hurdles of Humiliation

In Act III, Scene 1 of the Shakespearean play Hamlet, Hamlet gives an interesting soliloquy about whether it is better to be alive and suffer all the hardships, or to commit suicide. One moment, where Hamlet mentions his fear of death is particularly important, "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." (3.1.85-87). This idea that the only reason people still live is because they fear what happens after death. Hamlet's idea that our conscience makes us all cowards essentially means that our mind is the only thing stopping us. This idea is very agreeable and has a great amount of reason to it. Personally, I think it is true that the fear of what happens after death is very real, however his reasoning to why people would kill themselves may be very different in our society today. When Hamlet says, "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time." (3.1.71), he basically means that life has too many humiliations to actually live peacefully. In my mind, it is very true that life has many humiliations, however those humiliations make us who we are today. We learn from our mistakes and find solace in that. There are also many good things to life to get to after jumping over those hurdles of humiliation. And even if those hurdles are tough, that is no excuse to kill ourselves over. As a human being, most of us can all somewhat relate to the experience that Hamlet is going through at this point, but we know that we should not give up because what lies ahead is most definitely better than now.

To be, or not to be? That is the question—

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—

No more—and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished! To die, to sleep.

To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There’s the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th' oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveler returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.—Soft you now,

The fair Ophelia!—Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remembered.

Polonius

In the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character Polonius distinguishes himself as a very unorthodox father figure. First of all, when imparting some last minute advice to Laertes before he leaves, Polonius says, "This above all: to thine own self be true" (1.3.84). In this line, he has more of a compassionate tone towards Laertes, because he wants Laertes to listen and follow the advice in order to uphold the family name. It's not as if Polonius just wants Laertes to have good morals, its just in self interest. While talking to Ophelia about her relations with Hamlet, Polonius says, "Affection, puh! You speak like a green girl unsifted in such perilous circumstance" (1.3.110-111). His tone in this situation is much more offensive and mocking. It is almost as if he has no respect for Ophelia and her feelings whatsoever and that her affection is stupid. This shows that Polonius is not a very supportive father. So what do we have about Polonius? He is selfish, not supportive, and only cares about his reputation. This doesn't sound like a very good father to me. If I had him as a father, I know that I wouldn't be the same kind of person I am today. If there is anything to learn from Polonius's role in the family, it is that I am grateful for the father that I have and am glad that my father thinks about the entire family as opposed to just himself.

Losing and "Harrison Bergeron"

After reading the short story, "Harrison Bergeron", by Kurt Vonnegut and the article, "Losing is Good for You" by Ashley Merryman, I noticed one particular thing that makes humans humans. That thing is that humans are meant to lose. It's in history, it's in modern society all around us, it's even in literature. The point that both Merryman and Vonnegut are trying to make is that society in general would be a very lazy, and dis inspirational place if everybody won. For instance, in the short story, George is depicted to be a very smart person, he probably tries hard and works hard to gain his knowledge. Hazel, on the other hand is not a very bright person, and probably doesn't work as hard to gain her knowledge. Giving the handicap is the same thing as giving a trophy to everyone. The hard workers get it, and the not so hard workers get it. Then the people who work hard and put dedication into their passion, begin to believe that they don't have to work hard to win or succeed. If everyone felt this way, we would have no Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, who worked their butts off to get to their position. Because, "if the person who slacks is being treated the same way I am, whats stopping me from slacking off too?". The main point I am trying to make with this post is not that people who work hard and succeed should not get acknowledged, but it is that the people who don't work hard and fail shouldn't get acknowledged.

"Losing is Good for You" article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/opinion/losing-is-good-for-you.html?_r=1&