Brooding Bennie

Dear Diary,

I am so excited! This is my very first diary entry! Hot dog! I decided to start this because it seems like a lot of fun! I plan to fill this notebook up with pages and pages of entries so that when I become a renowned doctor, it will be worth a lot!

While I am this excited, today, Asagai came over and gave me “some records and the colorful robes of a Nigerian woman”. They are so beautiful! Asaigai even had them brought all the way from Africa! Isn’t that just the most thoughtful thing ever? Even George has never done anything like this, though he has enough money to buy all the robes in Nigeria probably. Anyway, Asagai helped me put a robe on and said that I look like a “queen of the Nile”! But then he had to mention that I have “mutilated hair”. It’s only because I have my hair fixed to look more presentable. I mean, I can’t have my hair looking like a rat’s nest! Though now that I think about it, this is a form of assimilation. Oh no! I can’t have him thinking I’m an assimilationist; that would be horrible! Maybe later I’ll cut my hair to look more natural. Then Asagai will have to approve of me! I can’t stand it when he makes fun of me. I really want to impress him and connect with my African roots. In fact, I’m going to go cut my hair right now! I will talk to you later, Diary!

Sincerely,

Bennie

Corruption as Big as the Ritz

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a very unrealistic story about a family whose undeniable corruption is brought on by materialism. The Washington family comes from a long line of depraved people that goes back almost as far as Moses (or rather, George Washington) as a result of their accidental immense wealth. In fact, Braddock Washington claims that “Water is not good for certain races-except as a beverage” (Fitzgerald 93). Clearly, he believes that he is from a much superior race than other people. This story, much like most other “once upon a time” fairytales, portrays an improbable situation to convey its theme: everyone has a perverted perspective on life when it’s all about the money and wealth. The reality of having a diamond as large as the Ritz hotel is very unlikely, much like pink elephants, but it serves as a hyperbole to today’s corrupted wealth. Even though this story was published in 1922, it is still relevant today. Fitzgerald’s use of rhetoric like allusion allows us to point out the flaws of society; people may be able to obtain luxury, but their demoralization will ultimately lead to their demise. In this case, Kismine and Jasmine, who have lived their whole lives in a home where men are kept in a “large cavity in the earth” (93), are doomed to live in the city of Hades, which alludes to the underworld where everything is bleak and poor. Instead of the usual diamonds and servants, they will have to succumb to rhinestones and working.

This is the Ritz. Imagine a diamond as big as it.

Is it true that we spend too much of our lives convincing others that we are someone we are not?

Unfortunately, people tend to spend a lot of their time to pretend to be something they’re not. This is not so much a problem for younger children as when they get older. Society has molded people to believe that it’s okay to pretend, and that it’s a normal thing to do. Ever since they learn to walk and talk, children always play pretend. They play house, acting as a mom or baby, or pretend to be Hollywood celebrities. But when people are younger, these things are just temporary. As we get older, though, we are all affected by the media by news of ideal people. This affects how we all see ourselves, and many people feel inferior to the perfect celebrities in magazines and movies. Everybody idolizes famous people and everything that they do. Other people then want to be admired the same way, so they will change their appearances and attitudes to be similar to popular people. It’s really quite sad, as most people don’t realize that many people like them for themselves. Gatsby, for example, doesn’t realize that Daisy would still love him if he was “penniless” (Fitzgerald 160). She would still love him even if he wasn’t an “’Oxford man’” (136) with a metal “For Valour Extraordinary” (71) from Montenegro. After all, she was “so engrossed in” (80) him because of his personality, not even because he had a “chest of rubies” (71) or anything. People take unnecessary time to recreate themselves when they should really just focus on being themselves. If everybody tries to act like the same superstars, everybody would be the same: fake and stiff. We need more unique people in our lives who will be different and spontaneous in their actions.

This is Lindsay Lohan when she was younger and just being herself. But then, she changed into what she thought most celebrities were like. Now, she has realized that she has made some bad decisions and is making her herself again. With the help of Oprah, she has a docu-series about putting her life back on track.

An Adult Life

I’m really glad that somebody has brought up a way for everybody to live better lives. In a 2005 graduation speech, David Foster Wallace addresses a hidden issue in everybody’s lives that makes them feel “stupid makes everything seem “stupid”, “infuriating”, and basically just like “death”. Especially in today’s hectic world, I think it’s important that people change their ways of thinking to live out more respectable days. Wallace reveals that people are very selfish; since they only think of themselves, they want everything in the world to happen in their favor. Of course, this is impossible, as nature’s laws allow randomness and entropy. By only paying attention to themselves, people are unconsciously “imperially alone day in and day out”. It leads to a life of “boredom, routine and petty frustration”. However, Wallace brings up the point that this sort of behavior is a “large [part] of adult American life”. When people become adults, though, they actually become less self-absorbed as they begin to form a family that they will take care of and think about instead. People have friends, family, and pets that they will give attention to all the time.  For instance, my wonderful parents, I am sure, must have some bad days. Sometimes I can tell when they’re tired and busy and want nothing more than a few moments of silence and rest. But since I’m in their lives, they can’t worry about solely their own problems. Even during their most exhausted days, they will still find the time and energy to help me with homework, drive me around wherever I need to go, and just talk to me about my day. They always put my needs before theirs, and I love them for that. Contrary to what Wallace says, I don’t believe that everybody will always have a “dreary, annoying, seemingly meaningless routine” “day after week after month after year”. These things shouldn’t and will not be permanent, because there can always be more people and factors in your life that will be more important than just you.  So “care about other people” because that it how you can achieve “freedom” to give things in life meaning.

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Punctuation Rules!

Claim: Punctuation rules are necessary for the conveyance of credible, reliable works.

The correct use of punctuation is vital for clear understanding of communication. Scientists and researchers, the workers who help us make advances in the world, must follow the rules for punctuation to make their records intelligible. William James, who wrote “Semicolons: A Love Story”, is an American philosopher, psychologist, and physician. His writing is “divided and subdivided” and “intricately structured” with the use of punctuation. Having a well-structured report would allow him to appear more credible to other philosophers, psychologists, and physicians. Having correct punctuation usage would show that James is careful in his work and can be a reliable partner for future research collaborations. I find it quit unbelievable that a person like Lewis Thomas, who attended Harvard Medical School and Princeton University, would stand for a decreased usage of punctuation. He should know all about the importance of punctuation, as he has experienced being a physician, poet, etymologist, essayist, administrator, educator, policy advisor, and researcher, all of which need punctuation to convey thoughts. His essay “Notes on Punctuation” serves to prove that misuse of punctuation can be very confusing, difficult, and (dare I say) annoying to read. This is why we have rules. If everybody followed rules, there would be no struggle to read a sentence with 12 parentheses. Having 12 parentheses is very jejune, and shows poor organization skills. With more followers of punctuation rules comes more trust between workers, which can lead to more collaborations that can help bring geniuses together to make the world a much better place for everybody to live in.

A Productive Introduction About a Barren Situation

I love this intro:

“Quiet as it's kept, there were no marigolds in the fall 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father's baby that the marigolds did not grow. A little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout; nobody's did. Not even the gardens fronting the lake showed marigolds that year. But so deeply concerned were we with the health and safe delivery of Pecola's baby we could think of nothing but our own magic: if we planted the seeds, and said the right words over them, they would blossom, and everything would be all right.

It was a long time before my sister and I admitted to ourselves that no green was going to spring from our seeds. Once we knew, our guilt was relieved only by fights and mutual accusations about who was to blame. For years I thought my sister was right: it was my fault. I had planted them too far down in the earth. It never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. We had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as Pecola's father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt. Our innocence and faith were no more productive than his lust or despair. What is clear now is that of all of that hope, fear, lust, love, and grief, nothing remains but Pecola and the unyielding earth. Cholly Breedlove is dead; our innocence too. The seeds shriveled and died; her baby too.

There is really nothing more to say--except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.”

Upon reading it, I thought that perhaps this was symbolism for what happened with Pecola, and it is. The “seeds” represent Pecola’s baby. They all shriveled up and died, because the “unyielding earth” and the harshness of society acting on Pecola did not allow fruit to be produced. Marigolds are supposed to represent a renewal of nature, but this year, no marigolds bloomed, and Pecola’s cycle was perverted by her father’s actions. The seeds mentioned in this passage represent a loss of innocence. Once Cholly dropped his seeds, Claudia and Frieda’s “innocence and faith” had been corrupted. In the last chapter of the story, we can finally understand the full meaning of the prologue. Seeds had literally been planted in exchange for Pecola’s baby to live. The unyielding earth is the black community that disproves of Pecola‘s baby staying alive because they look down on her and complications with incest. There are surely some complications with having a baby by people in the same family that caused Pecola’s baby to die. It is revealed that the reason why the seeds are the sole determining factor in whether Pecola’s baby lives is because Claudia and Frieda make a bet with God, and the blossoming marigolds would guarantee that everything would be okay. Alas, nothing was okay and the marigolds were planted “much, much, much too late” to be of any good.

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By the way, that second picture is marigold seeds.

Why It's So Difficult to Read "The Bluest Eye"

Reading The Bluest Eye is so difficult for me to read, because it is so passionate and vivid in conveying its ideas.  It makes the characters very unlikeable, but it is so tough to dislike any of them (except for Maureen) because they have all had problematic pasts.

I wanted to scream at Pauline Breedlove for yanking her daughter “up by the arm” (Morrison 109) and slapping her when Pecola accidentally knocked a pie over. I mean, seriously, it’s just a pie. She “abused Pecola directly” (109) because of a pie. Pauline can always “’make another pie’” (109). Later on, though, I forgive her a little because she was taken to the north with Cholly where even the colored folks were “no better than whites for meanness” (117) and she was lonely all the time with only arrogant people who disregarded her. I also felt sorry for her when she couldn’t get money for her work and Cholly would stay away from her whenever he got a chance. But then some of my dislike came back when she began to neglect her “ugly” (126) family and admired the life of a “well-to-do family” (127).

I wanted to strangle Geraldine for putting the cat “first in her affections” (86) before her child. It is not healthy for a child to grow up with a mother who will “not talk to him, coo to him, or indulge him in kissing bouts” (86). Junior was her first child born out of her own flesh and blood, and she just ignores that. After our class discussion, I understood that she was sexually abused by her husband, but that still isn’t a very good reason to hate her own child. He still is a part of her, and she should take care of her own offspring.

Anyway, no matter how much I dislike the characters or forgive the characters, I still have to continue reading this book. It’s a good moral for life also, with not judging people before you know their story. Everybody has a background that makes them act a certain way.

This is a blue eye. I have no idea why this book is called The Bluest Eye and not The Bluest Eyes because quite frankly, only having one blue eye is a bit strange.

Barbie: Good or Bad?

Barbie. Everybody seems to despise her, with her unproportional body and seemingly flawless life. Growing up in the 2000s, Barbie was my life. I would play with her every day and act out scenes with my friends. Looking at her now, I can understand why she would be picked on as a “weapon” (Prager 354) against females. However, when I was younger, I never felt inferior to Barbie with her "giant breasts and high-heeled feet" (354). I would admire her, yes, but only because she was so successful and could do whatever she wanted to. Barbie has had over 150 jobs in the last 50 years. She ran for president in the 90s and even became an astronaut 4 years before Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. If anything, Barbie should be considered a role model for young girls! She has shown girls that they can be anything they want to be, and that gender doesn’t matter. I feel like Barbie can have a positive influence on young children, who are too young to feel insecure about their bodies anyway. Everybody has heard Barbie’s “I Can Be Anything I Want to Be” slogan, so is it so wrong that she is promoting the idea that little girls can do anything they set their mind to? Barbie has created many opportunities for children to explore what they would love to do in the future, and I think that that is admirable of her. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnYwAxgAmUQ

WWJD- What Was Jefferson Doing?

In our seminar this week, there was a lot of dispute about Jefferson’s document, Stanton’s argument, and Douglass’s speech. I don’t believe that there is any one document that is the most correct and should be the most respected. But since the Declaration of Independence got the most hate, I will do my best to defend it. First of all, Jefferson’s main purpose in creating the Declaration of Independence is to help the United States get out of the tyrannical rule of the kind in Great Britain, not to make all American citizens have all equal rights in regards to skin color or gender. He does say "that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", but this means that no one person should have unlimited power over a body of people, such as the king. In a way, he did help everybody become equal by getting rid of the tyrant. I guess Stanton and Douglass thought that this would resolve all inequality everywhere. They have to understand, though, that this document is because the United States should be “Free and Independent States…Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown”. That is the purpose of this document. Stanton says that “He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she has no voice”, but that can change. If the Declaration of Independence had not been created, women would have fewer rights in this tyranny, and a more difficult chance to change the government, as the government was ruled overseas. Furthermore, Douglass should not be degrading the Fourth of July. He said so himself that “The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men”, and that event was a very huge turning point in American history. Yes, this does seem unfair for slaves, as they are still not quite free, but they are one step closer to getting their rights with a more fair democratic government. So don’t hate on Jefferson, because he made everybody’s lives much easier by helping us separate from Great Britain.

The End?

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like the ending to The Scarlet Letter is unfair. It doesn't seem right that Dimmesdale just dies because he finally told everybody the truth. Meanwhile, Hester and Pearl have been living with public ignominy for over seven years. Pearl has to grow up without a father figure in her life now. Plus, she and her mother have to endure the disgust and disappointment brought on by the townspeople who think that it is their faults that they have "corrupted" Dimmesdale and caused him to die. This makes Hester and Pearl seem much stronger than Dimmesdale. They are tough, like the thorns of a rosebush, whereas Dimmesdale is the delicate petal. For the majority of the story, Dimmesdale is always associated with his “bodily weakness” and “faintness of heart” (Hawthorne 250), as he is basically “destroyed” (155) by this whole “A” situation. Hester, on the other hand, has “strength” and “power” (158). It’s a bit ironic because it’s usually the male who is portrayed as being the tough guy who can handle everything. This kind of reminds me of Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games, because Katniss is the strong, quick archer, and Peeta is known as a baker’s son who can lift bags of flour. Just like in The Scarlet Letter, the male, Peeta, is wounded along their journey and the female, Katniss restores his spirit and passion to fight through everything.

 

Women, Men, and WoMEN

Deborah Tannen’s essay “There Is No Unmarked Woman” shows that women are often treated differently than men. Women are constantly marked by their appearances, choices, and actions whereas men are all uniform. People can label women as being “sensible”, “stylish”, “sexy”, etc. However, all men are just categorized as “male” (Tannen 389). Tannen proves that women are deemed lesser than men because they are labeled based upon the male’s status. They usually take their husband’s name and are “more identified by [their] husband’s identity” (391). Then, Tannen shows that, in nature, it is the female population that dominates the males.  Professor Ralph Fasold notes that it is the male who is marked nature, as males often rely on a queen bee to carry out their duties. He mentions that there are even species that only produce females, like the whiptail lizard, and none that produce only males. I don’t think that people should look too deeply into these sciences. In the end, everybody must rely on each other, regardless of gender. At a recent United Nations conference, Emma Watson launches her HeForShe Campaign. It revolves around gender equality. Being a feminist, Watson claims that feminism isn’t supposed to bring men down so that women can rise in power, but “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities”.  There isn’t any one gender that is dominant over the other; everybody needs to work together equally so that our world can flourish.

The Scarlet Letter is Like...

After reading the introduction of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter, I immediately thought of a certain character, Carrie. The horror movie Carrie came out last year based on the book by Stephen King and is about a "devil child" teenage girl with supernatural abilities. Carrie’s mother is a devoutly religious, and always punishes Carrie for doing normal activities that are deemed inappropriate by the mother. However, it is revealed that Carrie’s mother gave birth to Carrie out of wedlock; hence she is a “devil” born out of sin. One time, when beaten by her mother, Carrie screams that it isn’t her who is the sinner, but it is her mother who has done the sinning. Her mom accuses Carrie of being a “slut”, “whore girl”, and “jezebel” when Carrie wants to dress like normal girls at school instead of the long dresses and shirts she is always forced to wear by her mother. Carrie also has telekinetic abilities that her mother believes are traits only of the devil. Similarly, Pearl in The Scarlet Letter was born out of wedlock. Also, she is described as moving “by her ordinary freakishness, or because an evil spirit prompted her” (Hawthorne 95). Both girls have religious mothers who have sinned, causing their sin to be passed down to their children, who are devil- children and have strange devilish abilities. What a coincidence, though I wouldn't say they look quite so similar...
 

Why the labels? Why the stereotyping?

“Since you’re Asian, have you gotten plastic surgery to have double eyelids?”

Believe it or not, but I have received this question multiple times in my lifetime. There is something about our society today that urges people to be placed into certain categories based on how they appear. It is believed that all teenagers are troublemakers, everyone who wears glasses is a nerd, and that all Asians don’t do anything except study. To go with that last point, one well-known Chinese person, Jeremy Lin, fit the usual description of “nerdy, bookwormy Asian male” from Harvard, as quoted from a Berkeley blog. However, he has defied many racial stereotypes including the belief that all Asian people are short and un-athletic. Becoming a professional basketball player caused quite a stir amongst the public. An Asian NBA player was practically unheard of, and there had never been a player before Jeremy of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.  In fact, “Both fans and competitors hurled racist slurs at him”, says biography.com. I don’t understand what the huge deal is with this. All the other basketball players had never had this sort of issue. There shouldn’t be anything different about a Chinese person than, say, a Caucasian player. At the end of the day, everybody is playing the same game with the same goal in mind. No single person can be defined by a label. There is so much more to everyone than just “that person who is like everybody else”. People are much more complex than what their outward appearances show. Labels are superficial and unnecessary in today’s world. We can’t call people something that they’re not.

The Bond Between Siblings

In The Glass Castle, there are many relationships among people in the family and friends. However, the strongest bond is the sibling bond between Jeannette and Brian. They are very close in age and are always there for each other. Whenever Jeannette is in trouble, Brian always races to her rescue.  Every time the dad comes home drunk late at night, there is some mention of Brian making his way to him to try to prevent his dad from hurting anyone. One time, Jeannette and Lori "were sitting at Grandma's old upright piano trying to teach each other to play" when Rex stumbled in and "pulled over Grandma's china closet, sending her fine bone china crashing to the floor". Immediately, "Brian came running in. He tried to grab Dad's leg, but Dad kicked him off" (Walls 122). He is so caring about his siblings and makes sure that they’re protected. In fact, he later went on to become a part of the police force, to protect anybody from danger. However, this sort of behavior is not just because Brian is brave; According to studies by Dr. Björn Brembs, siblings have a coefficient relatedness of 50% in their genes, thus promoting altruistic behavior- when people act in a certain manner that may be risky for themselves but will benefit someone else. Since Brian and Jeannette are siblings, it would make sense that they would make sacrifices for each other. Jeffrey Kluger, the author of the book The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us, has done some research about siblings and their relationships as well. He has concluded that conflicts with parents, including parental abuse, will strengthen siblings' relationships with each other. Kluger mentions in an interview, "When your parents, who are the anchors you're counting on the most, are falling down on the job, siblings look to each other and find ways to pull together, because the last thing you can afford to see fractured at that point is the unit among yourselves." Jeannette and Brian have both suffered through their parents' crazy habits and abusive behavior, and it has made their relationship all the more stronger. Siblings will always be there for each other. There isn't anything they wouldn't do for the other. Jeannette and Brian are no exception to this correlation; they have, and will always be, right there for one another.