Reaction of Into Thin Air

I am writing this blog post as a reaction to the personal recollection by author John Krakaeur of a disasterous event that took place on Mount Everest. I am more so reflecting the desire, pride, and grit of the individuals that took to this extreme endeavor. Of course, as we now know, it turned out to be one of the worst things to ever occur on Mount Everest. But, when the set off on this excursion led by the legendary mountain climber Rob Hall, they all had the same goal. To succesful climb to the summit and back of the tallest mountain in the entire world. This is a lot easier said than done. Hours upon hours of training and preparation go into this kind of trip, and this is something that these people all felt they could accomplish. Before I ever read this book I never thought too much on how difficult, life threatning, scary, and intimidating climbing these mountains are but after reading this book and watching the movie, Filling the Void, I learned these people who set out to do this are the real deal to say the least. They risk everything, losing there family, their life, their limbs, anything. All for the accomplishment to say that they conquered something that most people only see on TV. Something that most people don't even dream to set out and climb these extreme mountains. These are a rare breed of people who are willing to risk everything to accomplish what they feel is life consuming the amount of time and thought they think about it.

Nick

Into Thin Air: Rob Hall

Rob Hall

   I thought that this post would be appropriate if it was about Rob Hall because in the chapters we read you learn a lot about Hall's personality. Rob was born January 14th in 1961, growing up in New Zealand he was instantly attracted and exposed to mountain climbing. In 1988 Rob Hall met his climbing partner and best friend Gary Ball. Soon after they met they decided that they were going to climb the seven summits, but they were going to do it in seven months or less. They started with Mount Everest in May of 1990 and climbed their final peak, Vinson Massif, in December just hours before the deadline. Following their success both me saw that there was no way to continue to get sponsorships so they quit professional climbing and opened Adventure Consultants. The first year of the companies opening they successfully guided 6 people to the top of Everest. Tragically in 1993 during a high altitude climb Gary Ball developed cerebral edema and passed away. Hall continued to run the company following Ball's death and since the opening of Adventure Consultants had successfully guided 39 climbers to the top of Everest. Unfortunately for all the great things that Hall accomplished, to the outside world he was best known for the 1996 disaster on Everest that we are reading about in Into Thin Air. To the climbing community he was a well respected man for his climbing abilities but also for his decision making in times of hardship.

         In the three chapters that I read you can see that Rob Hall is more concerned with his team getting down safely rather than himself. Base camp keeps radioing to Hall telling him to leave Doug Hansen and descend on his own but Rob will not do that. Also the book talks about how not very many people can survive a night in the open on Everest, but Hall did. While he was confused and cold he seemed fairly normal up until his last words to his wife where he assured her not to worry so much. My take on this disaster is somebody didn't follow their job. If the whole team had turned around at the designated time they may have been able to reach camp 4 before the storm became "hurricane like". I think Hall is partially to blame because he wanted Hansen to summit so badly that he actually put him on his back and carried him to the top. This string of unfortunate events was severely unlucky for Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants because I honestly believe that they could have made it out alive if everyone had stuck to the plan.

Into Thin Air Ch. 10-14

             Chapters 10 through 14 of Into Thin Air, dont really deal with our topics of race, ethnicity and religion. However, throughout the book there is mention of a number of different nations that attempt or have attempted Everest. In Krakauer's group there are the native, Nepal Sherpas aalong with the New Zealanders such as Rob Hall and Andy Harris. Mike Groom is from Australia, Yasuko Namba is a Japanese woman, Dr. Stuart Hutchinson is Canadian and Jon Krakauer is one of a few Americans on the Adventure Consultants Expedition. There are seperate expeditions from the nations of Taiwan and South Africa, New Zealand and Malaysia. There are smaller expeditions from Sweden, Norway, Tibet, India and Japan. Other individuals that went for the summit in 1996 represent the nations of Russia, Spain, France, Austria, Great Britain, Australia, China, Denmark and Finland. I found on this website, http://www.factmonster.com/spot/everest2.html, that more than 4,500 people have summited Everest and more than 80 nations have had a representative reach the top.
               I think this great variety of different races that share this same goal says a lot about people in general. People have this desire to climb Everest for different reasons. The Sherpas view the mountain as more a religous monument. They place their  flags at the summit and their ability to reach this is based on their Gods and how pleased they are. Other countries, such as Great Britain, climbed Everest to claim the mountain as a source of national pride. The flag they placed on the summit was not one which represented their religon, but their pride in their country. Although the reasons for the climb vary, it seems that all of these nations view Everest as a great challenge to be conquered. I think this shows the way people view the Earth. In some ways, it seems that people, no matter what race, view Earth as a set of obstacles put here for humans to try and conquer. I think it shows the self center of humanity in the way that they view nature as there own personal jungle gym. This is obviously not the case for all humans, because many of the characters in this book show true respect for the mountain. I may have strayed from the topic a bit, but I think this is an important thing to recognize. If every nation and race fails to view nature with the respect that it deserves, there is an obvious problem with humanity.

-Jordan

Into Thin Air- Chapters 8 & 9

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            In chapters 8 and 9 of Into Thin Air, I decided to focus my attention on the culture of the Sherpas. The definition of Sherpa is “a member of the Himalayan people living in Nepal and Tibet who are famous for their skill as mountaineers.” On page 108, we are introduced to Ang Dorje, the well-respected sirdar (head Sherpa) of the Adventure Consultants expedition. Krakauer says that Rob Hall “considered Ang Dorje’s role crucial to the success of our expedition” (110).

            Krakauer makes it very clear that the Sherpas play a very important role in climbing Mount Everest, but it seems like they are not always treated so. Hall makes a comment about Fischer’s consideration for Ngawang’s illness in which he says, “If it had been one of Scott’s clients who was this sick, instead of a Sherpa, I don’t think he would have been treated so haphazardly” (117). Not only did Fischer not make a great effort to save his life, but Ngawang himself resisted treatment.

            Ngawang’s refusal to accept his own dire situation was interesting to me, but it is just the way of the Sherpa culture. Krakauer explains this by saying, “But there is an element of machismo in the Sherpa culture that makes many men extremely reluctant to acknowledge physical infirmities. Sherpas aren’t supposed to get altitude illness…Those who do become sick and openly acknowledge it, moreover, will often be blacklisted from future employment on expeditions” (113). What do you guys think? Are the Sherpas willing to risk their lives because it is part of their culture? Or is it that moreover they feel pressure to secure their jobs with Western society?

-Amanda

Into Thin Air Chapters 6 and 7

Like Shane talked about in the last post, neither race, ethnicity, and religion are common themes or issues throughout this text. But in trying to relate big overarching themes of some of these categories, what Krakeaur and his team led by Rob Hall, experiences in their excursion fall into them. One of the themes that relates with religion along with something that was an issue when they prepare to climb the mountain is faith. Faith is probably one of the most important things to posses when one is going to experience an extreme feat, and during chapter 6, Krakeaur seems to have been lacking faith. He is climbing with people who he is unfamiliar with, and when he sees that some of the climbers put on new and unused boots in begining to climb it he loses a lot of faith as well, and before the reader even gets to the part where everything goes bad, the lack of faith he has plays a huge foreshadow of things to come. Faith is one of the key aspects of religion, if one has faith in a religion, it means that it is their guide in life, if one doesn't have faith, then it has no role in their life. Faith is not something that one can just create, it is what they truely believe. The lack of faith that was seen by Krakeaur may not have been the exact reason why their trek went "into thin air", but it certainly played a role in it and also in the development of the book, it shows a grim foreshadow of things to come. 

Nick

Into Thin Air: Free Climbing

Free Climbing

         After reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer I knew that my blog post was probably not going to have anything to do with race, ethnicity, or religion. While I am sure that there is a way that you could twist the story and relate it to some sort of religious views, I decided to take Professor Heaney's idea and just post about something in the reading. With that being said I decided to do my post about free climbing. Free climbing is is a type of rock climbing in which the climber uses only hands, feet and other parts of the body to ascend. I remember watching a 60 minutes on free climbing and it has always been something that has interested me ever since.

      Solo climbing is not the same as free climbing because you can solo climb with safety gear while free climbing is generally done with nothing but hands and feet. I say generally because some people implement ropes in their climb in case they fall, but I'm willing to bet that that is considered cheating in the free climbing community. It has to be one of the most physically challenging feats in the world. While im sure they take the time to plan out their routes up to the top there is no way it could ever be classified as "easy", except for maybe the people who do it. I watched one video with Alex Honnold in Yosemite where he solo free climbs the Regular NW face of Half-Dome. It is incredible to think that he made this climb of over 2000 feet in under 3 hours with no safety gear or anything. After watching all these videos I heard something in one of them that really makes you understand why they do this. One free climber named Dan Osman would always be asked by reporters if he had a death wish; his response was simply "No I have a life wish". In the book Jon was a climber but he was not a free climber. I can say that he connects with the people in a way that shows that he lives for that feeling of freedom. While he does not dedicate his life to being an accomplished climber it seems that he lives for that feeling he gets while he is climbing. After hearing that It makes me realize that these people who many would consider maniacs for what they do are nothing more than a person who is looking for those moments in life that take their breathe away, and this is how they accomplish that.

- Shane Wilson

Reminder to Professor Heaney-

Just a reminder that we had a week off from blogging, which included "The Yellow Wallpaper". Thanks!

Grizzly Man

Werner Herzog’s, Grizzly Man, is a documentary about Timothy Treadwell, an eccentric individual who became famous and controversial for his annual trips to Alaska where he interacted with the wildlife; Grizzly Bears in particular. The film analyzes Treadwell’s character along with his struggle to understand life. A very apparent part of his struggle relates with one of our topics, religion.

Treadwell’s biggest struggle dealt with his misunderstanding of why the world is the way it is. He had problems with human civilization and felt there was an unfair balance in the circle of life. His comfort in the wild was a result of his discomfort with society. “I'm in love with my animal friends! In love with my animal friends. I'm very, very troubled. It's very emotional. It's probably not cool even looking like this. I'm so in love with them, and they're so f-ed over, which so sucks.” This quote shows how he couldn’t understand why humans were this way, or even why the world was this way, “f-ing over” the animals. In one part, there is a draught that is affecting the wildlife, and Treadwell looks to a higher power for help. “I want rain. I want, if there's a God, to kick some ass down here. Let's have some water! Jesus boy! Let's have some water! Christ man or Allah or Hindu floaty thing! Let's have some fucking water for these animals!” In this quote he reveals his struggle to find answers. He doesn’t appear to actually believe in any god. This is most likely the result from his belief that no god would allow the world to be this way. Eventually, it does rain and Treadwell reacts. “I am the Lord's humble servant. I am Allah's disciple. I am the Floaty Thing's go-for boy. There has been a miracle here. There has been an absolute miracle. It has rained 1.65 inches of rain today!” Treadwell’s sarcastic tone again hints that he is unsure of what to believe. His feelings about the human world influence his thoughts about a higher power. His struggle to live in this world makes him skeptical that there is a god “looking over” the world. I think this shows the way a person’s religious beliefs are greatly influenced by the life that they live.  

-Jordan

"The Fall of the House of Usher"

             “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe is a gothic story that deals with the issue of mortality. Essentially, the plot involves a woman who dies, is buried, and then rises from her grave. It’s unclear whether or not the woman actually dies. At the end of the story Usher yells, “We have put her living in the tomb!” (324). While this certainly does not appear to me as a religious story, the similarity between the woman rising after death and Jesus rising from the dead is certainly there. She may just be a zombie, but I was interested in the religion of Edgar Allen Poe and how it may influence his stories, because I think that the manner in which authors write about death must be greatly influenced by their religion.

            I found a website that discusses Edgar Allen Poe’s connection to religion. http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poerelig.htm It is somewhat unclear what his views were, but the author concludes by saying, “The most realistic view is that Poe’s religious inclinations changed greatly back and forth during his lifetime, but were never seriously abandoned.” He certainly had some ties to Christianity, which may or may not have surpassed his childhood. However, Dr. John Moran testified that Poe’s last words were “Lord, help my poor soul.”

            What do you guys think? Was this story related in some way to religion, or was Poe simply an atheist writing a dark story

-Amanda

Bartleby, the Scrivner

Bartleby, the Scrivener, written by the very famous and popular Herman Melville, is basically in short about a lawyer hiring a couple scriveners, or someone who copies documents, but mainly revolves around one named Bartleby. Bartleby comes off as one of the most productive scriveners, but as the reader sees, Bartleby is an odd character. The lawyer will ask him a simple task or even a simple personal question and a common reply from Bartlby would be "I would prefer not to." I believe this can be compared to issues surrounding religion. Religion is a preference and something anyone can choose, choose to not do, choose to listen about, choose to read about, choose basically anything around it. And Bartleby chooses not to comply with his boss even by doing any sort of task. He is polite about his refusal, but it is still stubborn nontheless. I think this has to do with religion in that Bartleby is given a choice to follow some set of rules given to him by his boss, and chooses not to. And it ties into religion where an individual who is religious does choose to abide by the rules set forth, but these rules come from the higher power that is different given the religion. But at the end, they are both matters of choice; one can choose to follow the rules given to them by a boss or authoritive figure or not, and one can choose to be religious and follow the rules of their religion or they can choose not to be religious and not follow any sort of rules surrounding religion.


Nick Riselli

What is "Real"?

       Real

  As I read the essay They All Just Went Away  by Joyce Carol Oates (http://www.usfca.edu/jco/) , I scanned the text over and over looking for a message that could relate to our blog and the topics we have chosen to cover. The piece by Oates was one that could be interpreted in many different views, but in essence I believe that is what separates a good author from a great one. On page 158 of our reading packet and 555 of Oates essay there was a line that caught my eye. " But the 'real' -- what assaults the eye before the eye begins its work of selection -- is never on the verge of dissolution, still less of appropriation". This line stood out to me because it can be applied to more than what she references in the text.
          My first connection that came to mind was with the word real in that sentence. This idea of "real" has been debated by many different religions and cultures since there has been different views on something. For example, today there are many people who do not believe in Christianity. These people dont believe that what they are being told has actually happened or is even real. That being said the people who follow Christianity more than likely don't believe in what the skeptical person has for their religious views. Oates goes on to say, " The real is arbitrary" (555). http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arbitrary . I have linked the definition of the word arbitrary because I feel that what Oates has said strongly backs up my view point. Arbitrary is depending on individual discretion (as of a judge) and not fixed by law, and that is why religion is one of the things that can be so heavily disputed. There is no fixed law saying that one must follow a certain religion and most religions were concepts that we thought up by people of power to widen their following.
         In sum this idea of "Real" that Oates talks about in her piece is quite a debated subject. She clearly shows her view point on how she feels about it in her story but the beauty of English is being able to interpret things in your own views and decide for yourself what is real and what is not.

-- Shane Wilson

On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City

On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City, by Sherman Alexie, has a great look into race and ethnicity. This is an interesting poem, because it provides a new outlook on our country as it is today, from a Native American.

                The tone of this poem is very negative and angry. It is from the point of view of the author, who is from an Indian tribe out west, who is riding the train on the east coast. He has conversations with other passengers, including an older white woman who gives him a brief history of the city as they pass landmarks. From the very beginning of the poem, the author refers to this woman by the color of her skin. Her comment about the age of some buildings frustrates him, because he knows his people have architecture “15000 years older than the corners of the house that sits museumed on the hill” (57). She tells him about Walden Pond, which bothers him even more. At this point he begins to get angry in the poem and expresses the way he feels about other races. He reveals his anger in the quote, “I don’t give a shit about Walden” (57). He also reveals that he thinks whites are the problem of the country. When he talks about hearing how Don Henley saved Walden, he says, “If Don Henley’s brothers and sisters and mothers and father hadn’t come here in the first place then nothing would need to be saved” (57). Sherman Alexie appears to wish other races would leave his country.  He refers to all other races as, “the enemy” (58) and believes his biggest challenge every day is simply dealing with “the enemy.” The explanation for these harsh feelings has to be due to all that happened to the Native Americans in the past, and the way Alexie believes his people were treated. What do you guys think?

-Jordan

Dance of the Letters

I really enjoyed the poem “Dance of the Letters” by Vince Gotera, which about his father’s strong ambitions. Through the images of his father teaching him to read at an early age, it is clear to me that his father places a lot of importance on education. Gotera says, “Not yet four, I read newspaper headlines” (53). His father trained Gotera for great things, and had a law degree himself.

The issue in the poem is that they are Filipino, and because of this the father’s law degree is “useless”.  I was somewhat confused as to what was meant when Gotera said, “A rule to keep American citizens from practicing law in the Philippines” (53). I did a little bit of research, and found Gotera’s personal blog in which he discusses this. http://vincegotera.blogspot.com/2009/04/c-chased-by-d.html

His father was from the Philippines, but became a naturalized US citizen and got his law degree here. However, his father could not practice law in the Philippines because there are laws preventing American citizens to practice law. Also, he could not practice in America unless he went back to school, which he felt was below him.

Instead, we see Gotera’s father working in a print shop, an position that he considered below himself. Clearly angry at his unfortunate circumstances, his father shouts “Some land of opportunity” (53). This poem does a great job highlighting the struggles of many immigrants in America. Fortunately, in the blog posted above, Gotera explains that his father does eventually find an occupation that he feels is more suitable for his ambitions. 

-Amanda

Mother Tounge

In Amy Tan's 'Mother Touge" there is a lot of comments on race and ethnicity.  Tan’s mother goes through a lot because of the way she talks.  In the story Tan refers to different English's to which she uses on different crowds.  When she is talking to a group of people at a press conference or an interview she is using correct grammar no slang and is very clear.  However, when she talks to her mother she talks in a way that her and her mother both understand what each other are saying and kind of sound the same.  When she realizes she does this she notices that no one else including her husband has a really noticed it.  To me I think that Tan was trying to make her mother feel comfortable with her accent by talking to her with improper English.  Maybe Tan feels that if she talks this way her mother will have more if a home feeling and an easier time in America.  One thing that I found interesting was how certain people can understand half of what her mom says, most of what she says or none of what she says.  I think that this comes with the background of people.  America is a country with many different races so some people may have family members who do not speak proper English and have this improper English so they are used to what they mean.  In the story Tan has to pretend to be her mom for a phone call with a stock broker.  The stock broker get s her mother angry and she ends up going to New York.  When they go to New York her mother is yelling at this man in her improper English. No one really knows how much of this the man actually understand and if he really cared that he was being yelled at, and I feel that he was also trying to take advantage of the mother since he knew of her race.

-Alex Lopes

Shimmer ch. 1

It took me a while to figure out the context of the play Shimmer. I did not understand what the deal was with this Juvinille facility, because according to the protaganist, most of the characters did not commit any crimes, and were actually innocent kids who have never broken the law. Throughout the first chapter, it is basically about how the kids banded together. They create their own way of communication, as they are not allowed to talk to eachother and it is called "Shimmers". Issues with race, ethnicity, and religion are not too prevelent in the play, but, some of the struggles that come with being part of a minority race can be seen and how they deal with it. They all band together strongly, doing everything in their power to get around the system and disobey. This mutual bonding, through the struggles experienced, is such a common theme with minority races. It is seen in almost every movement involving prejudice and mistreatment of a group of people. In the Civil Rights movement, African Americans banded together to take on the majority, and through this banding together through mutual struggle, they took on the oppressers and succeded. When a group of people is segregated, although maybe it may not be the case of segregation in this case, but they are certainly oppresed and not treated fairly, it is vital and so important to band together and fight against the system. To back down, except their unjust "punishment", not even being able to communicate, they will never succeed and defeat the powerful oppresers. Eventually they try to make a plan to escape the oppressors, this is like the succeeding of the Civil Rights movement in that they eventually fought and got their freedom, free of segregation and oppression, and eventually, in Shimmer, they successfully escape via careful planning. Race, ethnicity, and religion may not be directly related to this text, but the prices that go hand and hand with it like oppression, is what makes this play relatable.

Nick

English 110 Reflection

Prompt: How are you finding the reading assignments and reading load so far for the course? How are you creating space in your schedule to complete readings and journal entries on time? If you are not, what can you change? What have you most enjoyed reading? What has been difficult for you and how might you overcome these difficulties?


So far the reading assignments have been very interesting. Many of them, like Fun Home was quite controversial, which helps a little bit to keep a reader interested. The reading load is more extensive than any class I have ever taken, but I think that it will help me in the long run. I never used to read outside of class and school, but this class almost forces you to keep your brain fresh by reading almost every day. This class is one of the hardest classes I am taking so its easy for me to make time because its one of my top priorities. Sometimes blogging get interfered with and forgotten but eventually it gets completed. There is not much that I would change because I think that what I am doing is working very well for me. The piece that I enjoyed reading most so far was probably Martin Luther King Jr's letter from Birmingham Jail. I tend to be more of historical reader and I enjoy things with historical values behind them. The only thing that has been really difficult for me is writing the papers. I'm not exactly a world class writer but I do what I can to make it acceptable. More practice writing woud probably help improve my writing skills.

-- Shane Wilson

Chapter 7 Fun Home

The final chapter of Fun Home, really doesn't focus on race, ethnicity or religion too much. The lack of these topics in the ending of her book, I think, reveals Alison Bechdel's views towards them. The ideas of them are hinted at through her father's need for their family to appear as the typical, white, Catholic, American family. By keeping race, ethnicity and religion out of the end of the book, when her story is concluded, Bechdel is showing how unimportant these things really are. The bulk of the last chapter deals with Alison attempting to connect with her father, and have him really come out to her. Her desires have nothing to with the outside appearance of race, ethnicity or religion, but rather with the true thoughts and feelings of her father. This desire to really know her father is shown on page 225 she reveals the truest moment of bonding with her father while they are playing the piano. "It was unusual, and we were close. But not close enough" (225).
On page 220, Bechdel shows one her most profound memories of her father, when they are driving in the car. This is the first, and only real time her father opens up and tells the truth to Alison. This truth is not brought on by any of our topics; a share of beliefs or outward connection, but is rather brought on by what Alison really believes is important. She shows how important human connection and sharing feelings, especially with family, really is to her.
What I concluded from this book, based on our topic, is that Bechdel strongly believes that who a person is is based on their inner self. She makes this comparison to her father's way of thinking, which was basically opposite of Alison's (or at least based on his actions). Our topic was not very prevalent throughout this book, but what did you guys take from Fun Home in relation to race, ethnicity and religion?
-Jordan

Fun Home Chapter 6

While reading Fun Home, I try to keep in the back of my mind that the Bechdel family is supposed to be a practicing Catholic family. This is very ironic because of the numerous sins that they commit, especially Alison and her father. In chapter 6, Alison begins to masturbate (170), which is yet another sin. I don’t get a very clear sense of how Alison regards religion in the book. Although she clearly doesn’t practice Catholicism, she has not really shown any ill feelings towards it either.

The only main character that seems to be a devout Catholic is the mother, which has helped to explain her character for me so far. We know that she does not agree with Alison’s homosexuality due to religious beliefs, but she is not entirely cold either. I’m actually unsure of exactly how to describe Alison’s relationship with her mother.

When Alison finally tells her mother about starting her period, the reaction she receives is, “Oh” (185). You could take this as the mother being unsupportive towards Alison. However, it could also be a form of respect that the mother is showing towards Alison, because Alison is probably not the type of girl that would want a big deal made out of her menstrual cycle. To Alison, this is one step further away from being masculine like she desires, and it’s possible that the mother reacts in the manner that she does because she understands this. What do you guys think?                                                                                                                                                                                                             -Amanda

Chapter 5

In chapter five of the fun home you finally see Bechdel and her family, minus her father, going to church.  I think that Bechdel and her family were Christian.  The reason I think of this is because on page 140 her father gave her a diary and she said, “A curious Memento Mori” (140).  Memento Mori is a Latin phrase which means “remember death” or “remember your morality” It was used by many religions such as Christianity and puritans.  It was a phrase that the tried using to make sure that people were doing the right thing.  It was also a big art movement which also ties with how the medieval times with paintings usually showing death, skulls or things that related to the bubonic plague.  The main meaning behind this phrase was to be modest but live your life for the moment.  This is how the romans used to use the phrase when their generals would parade down the street after a great battle and they would have a slave whisper Memento Mori in their ear.  This also ties really well with the icarus story and how icarus thought highly of himself and flew to close to the sun and hi wings melted.  This also connects with her father and how he got killed form the truck and how in the beginning of the chapter she talks about how her father had this radiance to him, a grace, and in the very beginning of the chapter Bechdal talks about her dream and connects this radiance that describes her father with the sun in that dream.  Finally, one last imagery is the sun itself in her dream because he father always loved the sunset and all the colors in it but when he finally reaches the top of the hill the sun has set behind the horizon which can be used to also describe him falling from grace and Memento Mori.

-Alex Lopes

Chapter 4

In chapter four there doesn't seem to be much talk about Race, Religion, or Ethnicity.  The only thing that u found interesting was when they arrived to Greenwich village there was what appeared to be an African American in the park on page 104.  This is the firs time in the book where you can clearly see someone who is a minority.  This makes me question if Bechdel did this on purpose or did she just accidentally draw a minority in this part.  After this I started thinking of her town because it seems to have none or very few minorities in it.  This made me do some research on Bechdel which led me to research her town where she grew up, which is Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.   I found that in 2010 there was over 90% of the population to be white.http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4244128.html  With this information I can kind of see how there was not a lot of minorities in the 1960’s-70’s.

-Alex Lopes

Ch. 3 Fun Home Nick

Although Ch. 3 contains basically no issues with race, ethnicity, or religion, some aspects that go hand and hand with racism are issues regarding sexual orientation. And this book contains a lot of issues with sexual orientation. In the begining of the chapter, the reader sees issues with sexual orientation when Bechdel comes out. She finds out that her father is gay, and has been having affairs with other men. "I'd been upstaged, demoted from protagonist in my own drama to comic relief in my parents tragedy"(58). This makes her feel so insufficient and coming out for gay people is no easy thing and is actually one of the hardest things they have to do because of how a lot of people aren't accepting of it. But in Bechdel's case, its not even seen as a big deal. No one even cares. This reminds me of the issues Precious faces in the novel Precious, by Sapphire. This reminds me of that because throughout the whole book Precious is viewed as a nobody by society. Almost to the point where she is "invisible". Precious' struggles remind me of a less severe version of the struggles Bechdel faces coming out. It's not even as if she isn't getting acceptance, but it is basically insignificant to her family.

Fun Home Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of Fun Home

By: Shane Wilson

The second chapter of Fun Home contains almost no information pertaining to race, ethnicity or religion. One of the few things that is in the chapter that is even relatable to the subject would be her fathers "suicide". Technically it was not a suicide because her father had been hit by a truck, and their was no way to prove that he had actually done it too himself. Bechdel was fairly convinced that it was in fact a suicide that her father committed  On page 47 in the third box down there is an underlined statement from The Myth of Sisyphus that reads, " The subject of this essay is precisely this relationship between the absurd and suicide is a solution to the absurd". Bechdel goes on to explain that this could not have been a motive for her father because he was such an in depth reader that he would have understood that the books was saying that suicide was illogical. But based on the information that we already have her father and the entire family was very religious, and as you know suicide is a large sin in the Roman Catholic community  Based on that you can determine that her father did not commit suicide, he just happened to set in front of a truck and it happened to kill him. He knew that killing himself would result in non acceptance to heaven, so he basically staged a way to kill himself without it being labeled a suicide. While I was reading many references were made to an author by the name of Albert Camus, after further research (found at this link http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1957/camus-bio.html) I discovered that he was the second youngest recipient of the Noble Prize in literature. Another part that I found to be interesting was when her grandmother tells the story of her father. It shows her father in a light in which we have yet to see him. In the story he is an innocent kid who wanders off and gets stuck in the mud. So far we have seen him in a light that makes the reader not want to sympathize with him, but after this story it shows that he was not always the way he was. After reading this piece one big question I have is how much of the story of her father is still left too explain, because clearly we do not have the whole story.

Chapter 1 New Home

New Home and the last few graphic essays have been the first comic style stories I've ever really read. The more I read the more I like this style. You get a much deeper look into the mind of the author and new messages are revealed through the illustrations combined with the captions.
The first chapter of New Home focuses mostly on the home life of the main character (Alison Bechdel) and her family, mainly her father. This first chapter doesn't focus too much on race, ethnicity and religion, but it focuses a lot on the importance of outside appearance, which can relate directly to these. Bechdel stresses throughout the chapter how obsessed her father is with the appearance of their home. He has a great talent with his hands and a knack for design. She compares her father to Daedalus, the father of Icarus, who flew to close to the sun. Like Daedalus, Bechdel's is a master engineer. However, her father is expressed as a slightly different version of Daedalus. Her father is taken over by his version of the wax wings, his house. She speaks of this on page 12 when she says "Then there are those wax wings. Was Daedalus really stricken with grief when Icarus fell into the sea? Or just disappointed with the design failure?"(12). This refers to her father and stresses once again his care for his home and seemingly lack of care for his family. On page 13 this idea is brought up again. "Or at least , the air of authenticity we lent to his exhibit. A sort of still life with children" (13). This shows how her father views the family not as the people he loves, but the people who live in the home that he built. He is obsessed with the appearance of his family and his life. "He used his skillful artifice not to make things, but to make things appear to be what they were not" (16). This quote can directly relate to outside appearance and the desire of her father to appear as the ideal, white American family. Anything else is unacceptable. Often times, children grow up to be similar to their parents.A question I have for this chapter is will Bechdel grow up to be similar to her father, or strive for difference because of the way she views her father? 
-Jordan

"Common Scents"

            In high school, I had to read the graphic novel Persepolis for an English class. This reading style was very different than what I was accustomed to, so it took me quite some time to get into the book. However, once I got used to reading graphic novels, I actually enjoyed the book a lot. I think this is a fun and different way to tell stories, which is why I was happy to see a few graphic essay readings for this class.

            The graphic essay that most interested me was “Common Scents” by Lynda Barry. The essence of this piece is that every household has a unique smell. Your own scent is familiar to you, so oftentimes your own house is the one that you cannot smell. The narrator describes this by saying, “Of course the biggest mystery of all was my own house. I couldn’t smell it at all. I didn’t think it had a smell” (104). To me, this rings very true. I can remember one day in middle school when a group of my friends somehow brought up how they all thought my house and my clothing smelled great. This was news to me, because even as I sniffed my shirt I could smell nothing. Their houses, on the other hand, I knew to have very distinct smells.

            The narrator of “Common Scents” also discusses the households that attempt to use air fresheners to cover up odors. According to her grandmother, “It is not God’s way” (106). In the essay, trying to disguise a house’s naturally occurring scent is unnatural. Barry is very comedic when she describes the results of mixing these smells, and some examples include “cherry pop-up fried liver” and “tropical passion aroma therapy cat box” (107).

            While some people try to disguise the smells of their houses, the narrator loves the scent of her house. She says, “Our house smelled like grease and fish and cigs…And if they could get that into a spray can, I’d buy it” (107). The smell your house should be something to be proud of, and it cannot be bought. This scent is that makes the narrator’s house her home.

-Amanda

Letter to Birmingham

In the "Letter to Birmingham" by Martin Luther King jr., King adresses criticisms from other religious leaders while he is in jail.  One point the King brings up that I found was very interesting is that these leaders and criticizing King for what he did to get arrested even though one of the points he is standing up for is the fact that churches and homes were bombed and no action was taken afterwords.  This made me look into how churches were segregated during the 1960's which led me to find this  article http://academic.udayton.edu/race/06hrights/waronterrorism/churchburn01a.htm.  The author of this article talked about many african american churches that were burned by racial groups such as the KKK to send a message.  One thing that really surprised me was that churches were really segregated even after school were integrated in 1954.  This made me thing that maybe people do not want to leave their comfort zones or they would not feel safe going into a different church.
I later realized that most churches are for a community and if communities were segregated then churches would be which makes a circle the contradicts itself.  King indirectly talks about this when he talks to the white Christians and Jews about how he is disappointed in the white moderate.  He also makes an interesting connection to the Jews when he says, "We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was 'legal'" (pg. 3).  King also continues stating, "It was 'illegal' to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal"  King also answers to why he can break certain laws and obey others.  when he explained this it made perfect sense to me because he mentioned, that St. Augustine said, "An unjust law is not a law at all" (pg.3).
King also comments saying, "I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say 'wait.'" (pg. 2). King is saying that others have been favored because of their ethnicity's and since they have been favored they do not know the pain of not receiving the rights that they feel they should have.
Overall, the main thing that this text has made me realize is that even to this day there is some sort of segregation among churches which I feel should be the last place where segregation should be.  I wonder if anyone else has noticed about this unspoken rule of churches and communities and how they do help one another but what they also reject.
-Alex L.

The Ethics of Living Jim Crowe

The Ethics of Living Jim Crowe starts off strong with the reader seeing the image of a race gang war, and the main character getting a milk bottle thrown at his head and gashing it by a rival gang. He is then scolded by his mother to hide when he is under attack, and to never get into something as foolish as a gang skirmish again. The short essay is about the "Jim Crow" rules of working he went by. He is faced with a lot of racism and mistreatment in his working experiences. The first time, he was working at a factory at a job he got by saying all the right things to the boss, being polite. But one slip up, he asked one of the workers to learn about the mechanics of grinding lenses. Then came the mistreatment. One day while he was working, "Morrie came over, blocking the narrow passage between the benches. He folded his arms, staring at me solemnly. I looked from one to the other, sensing that something was coming. 'Yes sir,' I said for the third time. Pease looked up and spoke very slowly. 'Richard, Mr. Morrie here tells me you called me Pease.' I stiffened. A void seemed to open up in me. I knew this was the show-down". This stuck out to me because it shows the amount of racism in this story. They ended up making him leave after beating him, but all he did was call one of the people that he worked with by their last name with no title in front of it, and basically they all ganged up on him and hazed him until he was forced to leave for his own safety. And it was all because he was black. This essay basically shows that the issues of racism in the work place made it absolutely miserable for them to say the least and something needed to change.

Life Stories

Life Stories: Class Book

Shane Wilson

The final portion of Precious concludes with a compiling of stories and poems written by Precious and her classmates. Each one is different and special to each individual author but at the same time each person faces many hardships growing up. Its interesting to learn about what Precious's classmates endured because until now you only knew their names. Race is quite apparent in each story and throughout this novel as a whole. One of the lines in Rita's story My Life is very subtle but if you dissect it, it becomes one of her more powerful lines throughout her entire story. Rita is talking about her apartment with her parents and says, "The shades is drawn. Whats inside is prettier, outside is just a brick wall." This quote said to me that Rita feels whats inside is much prettier than what is outside, like a personality of someone. Also the fact that she says the outside is a brick wall says to me that Rita is tough on the outside but it also says to me that Rita feels like just another brick wall and almost so generic to her surroundings . I think this is important because Rita has a feeling of just being like a " Brick Wall" on the outside but everything on the inside is much prettier.
Another topic that is discussed is religion in Jermaine's story. It talks about how how her mother is left with very little but the bible and her kids. Jermaine's mother preaches to the people on the train " Hell you are all going to hell! Unless you accept the word of gods only son JEEZUSS!!" If you are preaching this hard about the bible and its preachings than you must be quite the advocate of it in which case Jermaine's mother cannot be fine with her being a lesbian. You can see here that Jermaine's mother does not approve of this sinister act, " when she walks in on me and Mary-Mae fucking. Can't she see that we're in love? no, she can't. She starts foaming at the mouth screaming curses in the name of god". Race, ethnicity and religion are very touchy subjects in many families because in some cases, like that of Jermaines, religion is all they have left. It is tough to ever say that beatings, rapes and mistreatments of minorities by minorities will ever change, but is it still possible that it could?

chapter 4

Throughout chapter four of Precious, there is to be an important change going on in Precious’ life dealing with her views on race and ethnicity. Her way of thinking and acting are changing with her new lifestyle. In the beginning of this chapter her old views on skin are present and clear in her thoughts. While in school, Ms. Rain asks the students to write about the fantasy of themselves. Precious shows her belief that light skinned people are better off. “I tell you one thing right now, I would be light skinned, thereby treated right and loved by boyz” (pg 113).  Because Precious has been treated poorly and her family’s life was so bad, she assumed it was because of her dark skin color. All the people living the same, hard life as her were black people she saw living in Harlem. Media influences then gave Precious the idea that all the beautiful, rich people in the world were light skinned. She believes this up until the point when she attends her first Survivors of Incest meeting. A pretty, light skinned woman, who is the idealistic picture of beauty in Precious’ mind, stands up and talks about being the victim of incest. This clearly shocks Precious. “My mouth fall open. Someone like that” (pg 129). This quote is a turning point in the way Precious sees the world. Up to this point, she had always assumed that light skinned people had a perfect life. When she realizes this is not true, her thoughts on skin color begin to change. She can now see that the outside isn’t so important and this can help her start to accept herself for who she is. “I see flying. Feel flying. Am flying. Far up, but my body down in circle. Precious is bird” (pg 129). This shows great realization Precious has come to I’ve just explained. My only question is can Precious keep positive like this and really turn her life around? 

-Jordan

Chapter Three

            After reading just the first line of Precious, I could tell I was in for a culture shock. Based in Harlem, only a six hour car ride from where I live, it is upsetting to me that people’s lives in America can be so drastically different from my own, so much so that they are barely recognizable. This book is offering me fresh insight into the thought processes of others, specifically Precious.

            As I read, I wonder why Farrakhan is brought up so much. Precious seems to agree with whatever Farrakhan says, so I did some minor research on his character.

http://www.adl.org/special_reports/farrakhan_own_words2/farrakhan_own_words.asp If he is racist towards whites, Jews, and homosexuals, why does Precious look up to him? Reading chapter three, this question is in the back of my mind.

            Precious is African American, illiterate, and overweight, but apparently she harbors some racist beliefs of her own. When the possibility of moving to Queens is brought up, Precious says, “What I know about Queens?! They got Arabs, Koreans, Jews, and Jamaicans- all kinda shit me and Abdul don’t need to be bothered with” (79). Precious harbors some prejudice naturally, stemming from both Farrakhan and her mother. Her mother feels especially negative towards white people. They represent the higher educated people in society, and for individuals like her, they seem to cause nothing but trouble.

            While Precious may occasionally make a comment that may paint her as racist, I, as the reader, know that she is extremely kind-hearted. When it comes to white people, Precious admits that she thinks they are nice. She feels like a social inferior to them, however. On page 87 she asks herself, “Why I not born a light-skin dream?”, as if this would solve all of her troubles. Precious associates color with social standing, which is apparent when she discusses the skin colors of her fellow classmates. According to Precious, Consuelo is “bent outta shape ‘cause she darker like nigger instead of white” (95).

            As a white individual, it is very eye-opening to hear Precious talking about skin color in a manner that I have never had to think about. This chapter does mark a turning point for Precious. She takes responsibility for her life, and becomes independent from her mother. It is my hope that she will also separate herself from Farrakhan’s views, and begin to think on her own. I believe this starts to happen on page 81, when she finds out that Ms. Rain is a homosexual. Precious says, “I was shocked as shit. Then I jus’ shut up.” According to Farrakhan, Precious should dislike Ms. Rain for being homosexual, which forces Precious to question him for the first time.

            To my dismay, Precious brings up Farrakhan once again at the closing of the chapter. Why hasn’t she given up on his views yet? Precious then answers my question, and says that he  “help me like being black” (96). I decide that it is better for Precious to believe in something, as opposed to nothing.

Amanda