I think these are good questions to combine because I think they go together nicely. Times have changed a lot over the years. This has caused to a change in what the American Dream is and what we would consider a 21st Century American. It is not coming home to the white picket fence and a home cooked meal prepared by your wife who is happily awaiting your arrival. While this would be very nice, that is not the way most Americans live nowadays. Nowadays, many women work outside of he home and in some cases are the bread winner of the family.
Americans nowadays are always on the move, stressed out, eating fast food, and never have enough time to get done what they need to get done. It's sad, but that is how most Americans live their day-to-day lives. Also, many 21st Century Americans live in this virtual world. All we see now, is people talking on the phone, texting, on the laptop, iPod, iPad, iPhone, iWhatever, or playing video games. I think the biggest problem when it comes to child obesity is how much our children sit inside on their ass and watch T.V. or play video games. I think if this was cut out and outside activity was better reinforced, we would see this problem level out a little bit.
As for the American Dream, people want a lot of what they cannot have. I still think their is that pursuit of happiness, if you will. People want to have nice things and want to be happy and financially stable. But, in these times, that is hard to do. People nowadays are just looking for any type of employment opposed to the career of their liking. Like I said earlier, the American Dream has changed from the white picket fence to the new Blackberry or iPhone 4. Many of the things we want in our live and for our kids are of the electronic type. The thing is, I only see our lives becoming more driven by electronics. But, I guess time will tell.
Eric
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Woman Warrior
I actually liked this book. I thought it was one of the better ones that we read this semester. At first, I didn't think I was going to like it because I thought it was just going to jump around quite a bit and be confusing. But, I liked how each chapter was kind of its own story. The first chapter, was a little disturbing. The girl had become pregnant outside of marriage, which was and probably is frowned upon in Chinese culture. I think it is horrible that she felt like she had to kill herself as well as her child because people would not except her. Kingston made it out like the mother killer her child because she thought it was going to be a girl, which would have been useless to society. It is so sad that women were seen as useless to Chinese society. I suppose this is still the case somewhat currently, due to Chinese people wanting a boy to carry on the family name.
I also liked the second chapter, Two White Tigers. I thought it was cool how Kingston dreamed of being a woman warrior. This chapter reminded me so much of the Disney movie, Mulan. I liked that movie, so maybe that is why I liked this chapter too? I'm not really sure. I just like how she would have done just about anything to become a woman warrior. I think she wanted to do it more just to prove to people that women can do what is perceived to be a "man's job."
I did not care for the last three chapters quite as much. I am just not big into stories when ghosts are in the picture. But, then I started to think.. Are the people that the Chinese women are calling ghosts, all the American people that treat them differently? That is kinda what I took from it. I thought it was horrible that Moon Orchid's husband came to America and found some other woman and told Moon that he wanted nothing to do with her and could get in trouble over their marriage.
Overall, I found The Woman Warrior to be pretty interesting and a pretty easy read. I think it is horrible how women were treated in China. However, I think that a lot of this still goes on not only in China, but around the world. Even in the United States, there is discrimination against females. While I wish this could stop world wide, that is just not realistic. But, I think Kingston did a good job portraying Chinese society/culture from a woman's point of view.
Eric
I also liked the second chapter, Two White Tigers. I thought it was cool how Kingston dreamed of being a woman warrior. This chapter reminded me so much of the Disney movie, Mulan. I liked that movie, so maybe that is why I liked this chapter too? I'm not really sure. I just like how she would have done just about anything to become a woman warrior. I think she wanted to do it more just to prove to people that women can do what is perceived to be a "man's job."
I did not care for the last three chapters quite as much. I am just not big into stories when ghosts are in the picture. But, then I started to think.. Are the people that the Chinese women are calling ghosts, all the American people that treat them differently? That is kinda what I took from it. I thought it was horrible that Moon Orchid's husband came to America and found some other woman and told Moon that he wanted nothing to do with her and could get in trouble over their marriage.
Overall, I found The Woman Warrior to be pretty interesting and a pretty easy read. I think it is horrible how women were treated in China. However, I think that a lot of this still goes on not only in China, but around the world. Even in the United States, there is discrimination against females. While I wish this could stop world wide, that is just not realistic. But, I think Kingston did a good job portraying Chinese society/culture from a woman's point of view.
Eric
Monday, July 12, 2010
Hmmm...?
For some reason my Beloved reader response posted twice. Anyways, they are both the same post, so take your pick at which one you comment at.
Beloved Reader Response
Overall, I thought Beloved was worth reading. I thought that the story was very slow going and dry throughout almost all of the book. It was pretty hard for me to get into the book, and I often found myself going back and rereading pages. Maybe it is just the fact that summer session is harder to get motivated, but I really thought this book was hard to get into. There was very little action throughout this novel which was one of the main factors that made it hard for me to get into. I also thought that this story was a little hard to follow at times. In some chapters, there seemed to be so many pronouns being used, that I was not sure which character the pronoun was referring to.
However, I did think that there was a lot of great history presented in this book. I learned quite a bit about slavery in the past. It is very sad that slavery even existed, but even sadder about how slaves were treated. They couldn't get married, they couldn't be with their families, which amounted them to being nothing more than property. In the book, they talked about Paul D, Paul A, and Paul F. They were all brothers, but their owners decided to call them by these names instead of by their actual names. Another graphic part was when Paul D had to wear the iron bit. Doing this to someone is completely inhumane. The sad part to me is, the owners of the slaves that were doing these things, did not see anything wrong with what they were doing. I guess it is hard for me to picture slavery nowadays or even think about what it would be like, for that matter.
Does everyone think that Beloved is Sethe's daughter that she killed? That is really what I thought throughout the book. However, I was reading some background on this book on Sparknotes.com, and they suggest that that Beloved could also be the ghost of Sethe's mother? Remember, Sethe's mother did hang herself (If I remember right?), so it could be her coming back as well. I just thought I would bring up this question to see what everyone else thinks. I still do think that Beloved is the ghost of the daughter that Sethe killed.
I am glad that I read this book. It opened my eyes about slavery even more. I would really like to see this movie, now that I have read the book. I also would have liked to have seen the biography presentation prior to reading the novel. I really don't know much about Toni Morrison, so it would have been nice to know some about her background before diving into this novel. While it was a slow and somewhat boring read, I am glad that I read it.
Eric
However, I did think that there was a lot of great history presented in this book. I learned quite a bit about slavery in the past. It is very sad that slavery even existed, but even sadder about how slaves were treated. They couldn't get married, they couldn't be with their families, which amounted them to being nothing more than property. In the book, they talked about Paul D, Paul A, and Paul F. They were all brothers, but their owners decided to call them by these names instead of by their actual names. Another graphic part was when Paul D had to wear the iron bit. Doing this to someone is completely inhumane. The sad part to me is, the owners of the slaves that were doing these things, did not see anything wrong with what they were doing. I guess it is hard for me to picture slavery nowadays or even think about what it would be like, for that matter.
Does everyone think that Beloved is Sethe's daughter that she killed? That is really what I thought throughout the book. However, I was reading some background on this book on Sparknotes.com, and they suggest that that Beloved could also be the ghost of Sethe's mother? Remember, Sethe's mother did hang herself (If I remember right?), so it could be her coming back as well. I just thought I would bring up this question to see what everyone else thinks. I still do think that Beloved is the ghost of the daughter that Sethe killed.
I am glad that I read this book. It opened my eyes about slavery even more. I would really like to see this movie, now that I have read the book. I also would have liked to have seen the biography presentation prior to reading the novel. I really don't know much about Toni Morrison, so it would have been nice to know some about her background before diving into this novel. While it was a slow and somewhat boring read, I am glad that I read it.
Eric
Beloved
Overall, I thought Beloved was worth reading. I thought that the story was very slow going and dry throughout almost all of the book. It was pretty hard for me to get into the book, and I often found myself going back and rereading pages. Maybe it is just the fact that summer session is harder to get motivated, but I really thought this book was hard to get into. There was very little action throughout this novel which was one of the main factors that made it hard for me to get into. I also thought that this story was a little hard to follow at times. In some chapters, there seemed to be so many pronouns being used, that I was not sure which character the pronoun was referring to.
However, I did think that there was a lot of great history presented in this book. I learned quite a bit about slavery in the past. It is very sad that slavery even existed, but even sadder about how slaves were treated. They couldn't get married, they couldn't be with their families, which amounted them to being nothing more than property. In the book, they talked about Paul D, Paul A, and Paul F. They were all brothers, but their owners decided to call them by these names instead of by their actual names. Another graphic part was when Paul D had to wear the iron bit. Doing this to someone is completely inhumane. The sad part to me is, the owners of the slaves that were doing these things, did not see anything wrong with what they were doing. I guess it is hard for me to picture slavery nowadays or even think about what it would be like, for that matter.
Does everyone think that Beloved is Sethe's daughter that she killed? That is really what I thought throughout the book. However, I was reading some background on this book on Sparknotes.com, and they suggest that that Beloved could also be the ghost of Sethe's mother? Remember, Sethe's mother did hang herself (If I remember right?), so it could be her coming back as well. I just thought I would bring up this question to see what everyone else thinks. I still do think that Beloved is the ghost of the daughter that Sethe killed.
I am glad that I read this book. It opened my eyes about slavery even more. I would really like to see this movie, now that I have read the book. I also would have liked to have seen the biography presentation prior to reading the novel. I really don't know much about Toni Morrison, so it would have been nice to know some about her background before diving into this novel. While it was a slow and somewhat boring read, I am glad that I read it.
Eric
Thursday, July 8, 2010
A Bit of Frustration
This post has nothing to do with our literature class, but I think it is something worth reading because it really frustrated me today:
Today, I was going to Chase Bank on Dirksen. As I got to the bank, I noticed a two vehicle accident about a block down the road on Dirksen. So, I drove down there to find both cars blocking lanes of traffic. One person was out of the car and there was an elderly female entrapped in the other car.
I turned around and stopped to see what was going on. The man in the one car was fine and was on the phone with someone, I was assuming 911. The elderly female could not get out of her car and said she was not injured. She spilled hot coffee in her lap, so he had very minor burns. Therefore, I crawled into the car to help this lady out. She was shaking and very upset about what had happend. She told me that she had been sitting in the car for 20 minutes, so I asked if anyone had called 911, and come to find out, no one had. 20 minutes, and no one called 911. Unbelievable. Everyone assumed someone else did. So I called and talked to the dispatcher and they started police our way. The female climbed out the passenger side of the car and ended up being alright. Police showed up, and told me I was free to go and thanks for stopping.
The hard thing to believe was, when I asked the other man if he was okay, he said yes. Then I asked if he called 911 and he said yes, but only told them it was a car accident with damage only. I asked why he didn't check the other person to see if she was okay. His response was, the bitch hit me. I said, I am not the police, and I am not here to figure out who caused the accident, I just wanted to know if he checked on the other person. I found it unbelievable that this man did not even check the other car to see if she was okay.
I guess the moral of this story, is don't assume 911 has been called with the proper information. It never hurts to call again.
Luckily, this lady was not injured too bad, but if she had been, it would have been even longer before the proper care got there to help her. Remember, you never know when it might be you that needs the help.
Eric
Today, I was going to Chase Bank on Dirksen. As I got to the bank, I noticed a two vehicle accident about a block down the road on Dirksen. So, I drove down there to find both cars blocking lanes of traffic. One person was out of the car and there was an elderly female entrapped in the other car.
I turned around and stopped to see what was going on. The man in the one car was fine and was on the phone with someone, I was assuming 911. The elderly female could not get out of her car and said she was not injured. She spilled hot coffee in her lap, so he had very minor burns. Therefore, I crawled into the car to help this lady out. She was shaking and very upset about what had happend. She told me that she had been sitting in the car for 20 minutes, so I asked if anyone had called 911, and come to find out, no one had. 20 minutes, and no one called 911. Unbelievable. Everyone assumed someone else did. So I called and talked to the dispatcher and they started police our way. The female climbed out the passenger side of the car and ended up being alright. Police showed up, and told me I was free to go and thanks for stopping.
The hard thing to believe was, when I asked the other man if he was okay, he said yes. Then I asked if he called 911 and he said yes, but only told them it was a car accident with damage only. I asked why he didn't check the other person to see if she was okay. His response was, the bitch hit me. I said, I am not the police, and I am not here to figure out who caused the accident, I just wanted to know if he checked on the other person. I found it unbelievable that this man did not even check the other car to see if she was okay.
I guess the moral of this story, is don't assume 911 has been called with the proper information. It never hurts to call again.
Luckily, this lady was not injured too bad, but if she had been, it would have been even longer before the proper care got there to help her. Remember, you never know when it might be you that needs the help.
Eric
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Who is the Indian Killer?
Who is the Indian Killer? This is a fantastic question. All through the novel, I kept asking myself, who is the Indian Killer. At times I would become frustrated that I didn't know who exactly the killer was. I thought it could have been a few different people, but I was not really sure. By the time I got to the end of the book, I decided that Alexie wrote the book so that the identity of the Indian Killer is up in the air. I think he wanted to second guess themselves about who the Indian Killer actually is. He knows that different people will make different determinations on who the killer is. I think he did this because he wanted it to be opened ended. Alexie wanted his novel to be even more of a mystery than it already was. Tiffany said in class that Indian Killer was Alexie's least favorite book that he wrote. So maybe he said fuck it, I am done writing this, my audience can decide for themselves who the actual killer is.
Personally, I think John was the killer. I know that it does not say that anywhere in the book, but it also does not say that he was not the killer. I think Alexie set John's character up from the beginning to be the assumed killer. John was adopted, he didn't live on the reservation, he was a social outcast, and was just not happy with his life. In addition, he also seemed to suffer from some sort of mental illness. All of this leads me to believe that he was the Indian Killer. He had seen how hard life was for Native American's so along with all his hardships growing up, I think he decided to take matters into his own hands. This is just what I personally thought when I read the book, so feel free to argue with me!
When thinking about what he represented, I think the Indian Killer wanted peace in the end. I know killing isn't exactly taking it the right way, but I think he wanted everyone to be happy. The Indian Killer has seen how Native American's were treated and how they were outcasts to society. I think he or she wanted to make people realize that Native American's are just like any other humans and should be treated the same way.
Eric
Personally, I think John was the killer. I know that it does not say that anywhere in the book, but it also does not say that he was not the killer. I think Alexie set John's character up from the beginning to be the assumed killer. John was adopted, he didn't live on the reservation, he was a social outcast, and was just not happy with his life. In addition, he also seemed to suffer from some sort of mental illness. All of this leads me to believe that he was the Indian Killer. He had seen how hard life was for Native American's so along with all his hardships growing up, I think he decided to take matters into his own hands. This is just what I personally thought when I read the book, so feel free to argue with me!
When thinking about what he represented, I think the Indian Killer wanted peace in the end. I know killing isn't exactly taking it the right way, but I think he wanted everyone to be happy. The Indian Killer has seen how Native American's were treated and how they were outcasts to society. I think he or she wanted to make people realize that Native American's are just like any other humans and should be treated the same way.
Eric
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