The Things They Carried

The book "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien is an interesting combination of a memoir, vignettes, and historical fiction. The part of the novel that stood out at first was the style of prose that O'Brien uses. It is very clean and concise without the clutter of complicated syntax and large words. This is done intentionally to place the reader in the minds of the soldiers, showing their honest thoughts and emotions. The narrator of the novel is revealed to be O'Brien himself on page 36 so I assume that there are autobiographical aspects in it drawn from his Vietnam war experiences. What struck a cord with me was the way that O'Brien was able to sculpt other stories around his core experience in Vietnam and the network of emotion connecting them all. He openly admits his youthful naivete in the short story "On the Rainy River". This story was particularly powerful when I read it, because O'Brien actually reaches out to the reader by using the pronoun "you". When he is contemplating whether or not to jump off of Elroy's boat and swim to Canadian soil, he states, "What would you do? Would you jump? Would you feel pity for yourself?". With this question, O'Brien beckons the reader to think through the moral dilemma that he was working through at the time and truly place oneself in his situation. The way that O'Brien conveys the different emotions that he felt in Vietnam and what he observed in his fellow platoon mates is so incredibly believable and accessible to digest. So far, I really do enjoy the novel and I'm glad that I've chosen this to write my paper on.

Hamlet Blog

Shakespeare, arguably one of the most important playwrights in history, has created a character that is just as famous. Hamlet, from Hamlet, is full of rich emotions and presents the audience a multi-layered perspective on a nervous and unstable young man. Hamlet, and other notable characters from Shakespeare's works, display a genuine sense of thought and sentience that is not common in many plays. Hamlet in particular shows the depth and complexity of his subconscious in his "To be, or not to be". In it, Hamlet contemplates whether or not he should commit suicide to end his suffering. This is not explicitly states though, since his emotions and thought in the soliloquy are found in the metaphors and imagery. At first, Hamlet views suicide as favorable. He compares death to a similar state to sleep, but later adds the idea of dreams.

One of the most significant parts of Hamlet's soliloquy is also the aspect of the afterlife, or what he calls, "something after death". There is a sense of menace and uncertainty that surrounds the afterlife.

Oedipus the Boss

Initially, Oedipus appears to be a confident, valiant hero. This is alluded to at the beginning of the play when Priest recalls the time when Oedipus saved Thebes from the evil reign of the Sphinx. He answered her riddle with complete knowledge of the desire outcome had he failed. A tragedy typically introduces the main character as one with a grand sense of self-esteem and bravery. In the first chorus of the play, which represents the unified voice of the Thebans, they pray to the Gods to alleviate a new affliction that plagues their city. Immediately after this, Oedipus states, “Is this your prayer? It may be answered. Come” (p. 1291, l. 51). This demonstrates a sense of hubris that is a common aspect in many classical tragedies. Oedipus also becomes informed of a new fate of his foretold by the blind seer Teiresias. Oedipus will only learn about his true fate once he discovers the truth to his father’s murder. Only after he solves the mystery of Laios’ murder will Thebes be purged of the plague that has stricken the city.

Oedipus' character quickly changes to a man in denial-a man more like a tyrant than a king-as he begins to solve the new riddle of Laios' death. A mounting paranoia grips Oedipus when Jocasta, his mother, recounts the story of her husband's murder, leading the king to suspect his own past actions. Oedipus still retains a high level of hubris since he refuses to place blame on himself for the plague. He shifts the blame onto others as he continues the investigation of his father’s murder. This is evident when Oedipus goes on the defensive when Teiresias accuses Oedipus of being the murderer. Oedipus goes on the counter-offensive and tries placing blame on Teiresias. As the play progresses, it is the truth that Oedipus faces that changes who he is and the reality that he has grown comfortable with.

"White Lies" by Natasha Trethewey

Natasha Trethewey’s poem “White Lies” revolves around a young girl struggling to acknowledge her true identity as being half-white and half-black. She lives her daily life under the façade of a pure white girl. The inclusion of certain key colors in the poem provides the reader with vivid imagery as well as a significant underlying message. The colors also paint a portrait of a young girl untrue to herself and the sad yet honest proclamation of her betrayal towards her heritage.

In order to fully grasp the meaning of the poem, it is important to understand Trethewey’s upbringing. Threthewey was born in Mississippi in 1966 to a black mother and a white father. At the time, interracial marriage was illegal in Mississippi and was viewed with a great deal of shame by the “race-sensitive” society. Based off of these facts, a reasonable inference can be made that the speaker in the poem is indeed Trethewey. The taboo of an interracial marriage at the time only reinforced the unfortunate stigma that Tretheway felt as a half-black half-white girl living in the South.

In the first stanza, the colors “light-bright, near-white, [and] high-yellow” are all obviously very light and to the speaker, pure. These bright colors stand in the mind of the speaker as tones of skin that are racially superior. In her eyes, and the sad reality of the time period, acceptance in society was dependent on one’s skin color. If gaining privileges in her community meant lying about her skin color to others, than a small “white lie” like that couldn’t do much harm, or could it? In the second stanza, the speaker establishes her desire to gain acceptance into white society in the form of lies. The first lie that she states, “I could easily tell the white folks/that we lived uptown” illustrates her ability to hide her socio-economic position and feign her identity as a well-off white girl. This relates closely to her second lie describing how she “could act/like [her] homemade dresses/came straight out of the window/of Maison Blanche”. The dress that she made clearly displays some fine craftsmanship, but it would only be assumed by others that it was from a luxury store if it was worn by a white girl. Her final “lie” in the stanza is arguable the worst. The speaker retains her white identity by remaining silent in the presence of a white girl in her class. The white girl in the class said, “Now/we have three of us in the class”. The speaker refuses to speak up when the other girl in her class assumes that she is white. She has sacrificed her true identity for one that is a false image of herself. She has silenced her black-side and prevented it from surfacing. With each lie that she tells, she is slowly losing a grip on her black background and whole-heartedly dismissing it.

The final stanza , also the saddest, depicts the final turning point in the young girl’s life when she abandons the black side of her character. In the stanza, the speaker explains the punishment that she received from her mother for deceiving others. The speaker’s mouth is purged of her sinful lying by a bar of “Ivory soap”. The mother states that it “is to purify/and cleanse, your lying tongue.” The speaker swallowed the suds “thinking they’d work/from the inside out.” At this moment in the poem, the speaker looses any piece of her identity that she has kept. She is embracing her white side by having the suds wash out any black left inside of her. A choice like this that she is committing to is not one that can be easily reversed. Although contrasting colors, her white and black sides could have provided her with a sense of balance unique to her identity. This is forfeited though when acceptance into the white community became an overpowering desire in her life. The “white lies" are not the lies Trethewey told throughout the poem but rather, the “white lies" she created within herself.

WTB vs. HOD

Both the novels Heart of Darkness and Waiting for the Barbarians share a lot of similarities in both the main characters and the “western world’s” reaction towards “uncivilized” people. Both the main characters deal with a connection with an imperial empire that has operations dealing with barbarian tribes people. The setting for Darkness takes place in Africa, but Barbarians takes place in an unknown territory of a nameless empire. Both novels approach issues involving barbarism and what it is truly defines as. Both of the imperial powers in the novels view themselves and more civilized than the barbarians that they have power over, but in reality it is the western powers that inherently more less moral.

Both the narrators of the stories, Marlow for Darkness and the magistrate from Barbarians, view the western powers that they work for with a level of awareness absent in the other white people in the novels. The magistrate originally started off as a dutiful servant of the empire for many years, but eventually, enlightened himself to the wrongdoings surrounding his work. Both characters follow a path of truth and eventual form a new perspective on the actions of the western world. The pursuit of truth becomes a core value in each of the two characters.

Although one could argue that Kurtz also grew a connection with the uncivilized tribes in Africa, his intentions were brought on by “his own greed” (Kerr 23). Kurtz brought the worst the worst vices from imperial Europe and unleashed them on the tribes people. In Darkness, Marlow came to realize that Kurtz’s nature was actually more savage than the natives. Kurtz brought his avarice into Africa by creating conflicts between tribes so that he could obtain ivory. The magistrate in Barbarians grows closer to the tribes people as well but without a personal gain in mind.

The method that each of the author’s presents the depiction of savagery is also varying. Conrad uses a more subtle approach to convey the evil actions of the white men visiting Africa. Since colonization of Africa was still happening when the novel was written, a less explicit approach was deliberate and thoughtful. Coetzee exposes the white-man’s savagery in a much more graphic manner. This is due to its debut at a much later time. The evils of imperialism had already been exposed to the world and didn’t need to be expressed in a softer tone.

WTB Initial Reaction

The setting of the novel Waiting for the Barbarians is ambiguous and never explicitly stated. This deliberate choice allows the story to be allegorical and applied to other similar situations. The main character, who goes unnamed other that being simply "the magistrate", has been working for the empire for a while. This frontier town has apparently been plagued by "barbarian" attacks. Rumors claim that traders and officials are attacked while traveling. He has not actually seen this barbarian army and has no reason to believe in the potential uprising that is presumed to occur. The magistrate is a very curious individual who seeks the truth and does not believe everything for its face value.

The narrator's initial thoughts point towards a more critical perspective on the empire. He feels a sense a frustration when Colonel Joll comes to town, because of his aggressive tactics. The Colonel believes that the use of torture on a captured barbarian is justified if it produces the truth. According to Joll, a person telling the truth inflects their speech slightly. Many lies precede truth only until a certain amount of pressure is applies, breaking the individual into submission. This concept is quite applicable in today's world in regards to the ethics of torture. The father of the boy was killed in the interrogation room leaving the boy alone in the small hut where he was held captive. The magistrate visits the boy at night to comfort him and gives the guard on duty orders to tie the rope back on his hands but looser and to leave his father's body in the yard. The magistrate shows a level of dignity toward the barbarians not evident in the Colonel's actions or on a larger scale, the Empire's.

Heart of Darkness Articles

"Are Humans One Race or Many?" by Alfred Russell Wallace

• Published in 1870 and based on the science of natural selection at the time.
• Two contrasting arguments over the diversity of mankind.
• One believes that no race is "homogeneous"- there is a tendency to vary. Environmental changes are responsible for the differences in races.
• Opposing view argues within its own group that the race should have specific organization, whether it is a race of a hundred people or simply race based nations that spring into existence.
• Natural selection powerfully effects animals due to their "self-dependence and individual isolation" (219).
• Animals perish because of a simple injury or illness. In the animal kingdom, there is no mutual assistance between adults. Each animal is essentially on their own.
• Mankind's "natural selection" is evaluated very differently. Even in "the rudest tribes" the sick are at least assisted with food.
• Natural selection is therefore balanced. People with physical disadvantages do not face such an extreme penalty such as death.
• Mental and moral qualities are more influential on the human race.
• Mankind's intelligence has taken away nature's power to change humans based on external influences.
• Extreme changes in nature that affect animals don't have the same modifying power that it wields on humans.
• The mind is what changes based off of nature, not the body.
• The inhabitants of a temperate region are mentally superior to those in hotter climates.
• Invasions and displacements of races has always been from North to South. i.e. European colonization in Africa.
• Human features became fixed because the success of mankind is contingent upon the strength of its mental faculties. Physical abilities are of lesser importance.
  

"The Comparative Worth of Different Races" by Francis Galton

• Galton believes that in the future, civilization will lose its superficiality and overspread the globe.
• This is destined to happen because "civilization is the necessary fruit of high intelligence when found in a social animal" (224).
• Animals with a higher intelligence are at a greater advantage to those with physical strength. The most intelligent variety will "prevail in the battle of life" (224).
• The most social race of intelligent animals will also be the most successful.
• Galton established a system to measure the cognitive intelligence of different races into sixteen classes. (A-G) for those above the average, (a-g) below the average, and X for a genius and x for an "imbecile".
• Comparison based on the letter system between the Negro race and Anglo-Saxons, without accounting for the "social disabilities" of the Negroes.
• There are a few main observations that take place:

1. The negro race rarely produces class F individuals such as Toussaint l'Ouverture, the leader of a slave rebellion in Haiti.
2. The negro race is capable of having men who become "thriving merchants" and "good factors" or others above the average of white, but struggle with this since their intellectual standard is about two grades below.
3. A white traveler meeting a black chief will usually feel as if he was the better man because he can hold his own in their presence. The chief has knowledge that pertains to the tribe, but the traveler has knowledge "current in civilized lands" (226).
4. "The number among the negroes of those whom we should call half-witted men is very large". Mistakes that negroes make are often childish and simpleton-like.