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.

vs 

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.