Visiting Blogs

i read aaron, sam, and cristen's blogs. They basically said the same thing idea. They understood the whole east and west side of the world thing, but they both said it was kinda boring to listen to. Aaron said he would never be able to take a lecture course, and I am right there with him. I liked how cristen tied in what Mr. Farrell was explaining in class about believing what god looks like, and where he is. I also agree with her about how our lives are just a small part of the universe.

Mythology of Hinduism #3

Well first of all, I hate sitting around and listening to one person talk for that long, so it was boring for me. I didn't really understand half of what he was saying at first. I understood the whole western and eastern world thing. The west thinks that they were created by one God a long time ago, and the east thinks that God is still creating today. It was pretty hard to sit here and listen 100% to what he was saying and talking about. I like when we talk about the religion more in class. It helps me understand it a lot better.

COMMON THEME

I think the commom theme of all of these stories is being rude and selfish. In The Life You Save May be Your Own the old woman and Mr. Shifftlet were selfish. The old woman was not even thinking about who her daughter wanted to be with, but who she thought was right for her daughter. She shouldn't have forced her into a marriage. Mr. Shiffltlet was only thinking of himself when he stole the car and when he left Lucynell at the diner. He was just trying to get something out of it, and that is why he agreed to marry Lucynell. In Teenage Wasteland Donnie doesn't even think about where is going in life or his future. He just gives up at school and doesn't care. Donnie makes his parents find him a tutor. He can't even do it himself. In Rules of The Game Waverly's mother wants to show her off so she looks good. This is completly rude on her part. She didn't accomplish any goals, her daughter did. Waverly should be getting the attention for it, not her mother. In Book of the Dead Ms. Bienaime's father was selfish and rude for lieing to his daugher. He didn't want her to get angry with him about the torture thing so he made up a lie. He was too busy thinking about what his daughter would think of him if he told her the truth. I would be mad that my father told me a lie. It is not big deal if he made a mistake of torturing people, but only if he didn't lie about it. All of these characters in these stories were just thinking of themselves in a way. It is wrong to act that rude and selfish.

Book of the Dead

Ok i did not like this story mainly because I think the father was very stupid on his part. I understand his is ashamed of what he has lied about, but he shouldn't have lied about it in the first place, especially to his daughter. I don't feel sorry for him, because I am sure he knows this would hurt his relationship with his daughter. He should have thought about that before he lied about the wrong thing. I just think it is pathetic that he thinks he can lie to his own child and get away with it. Sure he got away with it for a long time, but sooner or later his daughter would have found out. I think it is rediculous that he goes and and steals her statue. Obviously she looked up to him and people looked up to her artwork, then he just goes and takes it from her. I thought that was very wrong of him to do. It seems to me like I am looking down on the parents in these stories. They are just getting to be worse and worse. I don't even know what else to say about this story, because I know if it was my dad i would be ashamed.

Rules of the Game

For the record, I did not like this story. It was about chess and I hate chess, but anyways.. It started off pretty cut and dry. The family of 5 lives in San Fransisco's Chinatown. The description of the famil's house seemed very nice. It seemed like it was going to be a happy, laid back story, which it pretty much was. The main character, Waverly Place Long, was the main character. I thought it was interesting that she was named after her street. I mean I've heard of people being named after famous people and stuff, but not streets. The story began talking about Christmas and what all the children got as gifts. One day, Waverly's brother, Vincent, got a chess set. This didn't excite me at all, because like I said, i don't like chess. Aparently Waverly did though. She became so good at it that she started entering tournamnets. This seemed amazing to me, because she was so young. I don't like I know any kids that young that like to play chess. I honestly didn't think Waverly would end up turning out to be that good. She got so many trophys from the tournaments, probably more than i'll ever have. I thought it was pretty sweet she became a National Chess Champion at the age of 9. At the beginning of the story, her mother seemed like an ok mom. After Waverly began getting involved in chess tournaments I think her mom's switch flipped. She became selfish, and all she wanted to do was show her daughter off. I would be so embarassed if my mother walked around holding my hand saying that I was her daughter. In the end I am happy for Waverly, because she stand up for herself by telling her mom how it was and running away. At least Waverly still had her pride. This story was ok. I am just happy that Waverly ended up standing up for herself in the end instead of letting her mom push her around.

Teenage Wasteland

Donny is basically just like any other normal teenage kid. He is lazy. I know I am lazy sometimes when it comes to school, but I am not as bad as he is. I don't understand how you could be that disruptive and have no drive to do anything at all. Obviously if my parents were worrying that much about me, then i would take into consideration what they said, but Donnie does not seem to care at all. There are times I do bad in one class, but I always ask if I don't understand. That is why I didn't like Donnie. I dislike people that just give up. If he gives up at school, he'll end up giving up o nthe rest of his life. Later in the story Donnie does end up letting his parents get him a tutor, which is a huge mistake. I don't see how you can be a tutor and think it is actually helping the kid out if you have so many distractions like that going on. There was just too much going on around Donnie at one time. I know if there were kids being loud and playing music around me when I was trying to get help I would probably flip out. The tutors house kind of freaked me out. It was like all the kids were being possesed to go there or something. It seemed ok at first, but if you think about it it is just weird. Donnie's parents end up making him leave, which is best for him, but then I get the feeling that he goes back.

The Life You Save May be Your Own

Ok at the beginning of the story Mr. Shifftlet is introduced. He is described as a man that has half an arm, wears a black suit, a brown felt hat, and carries a toolbox. At first I didn't really know what to think about Mr. Shifftlet. He kind of scared me. He seemed mysterious like he was hiding something. Mr. Shifftlet did not tell them where he lived at first, so that made me wonder about him more. He did seem nice, but also strange. When he goes to the old woman's home I think they were kind of startled to see him. I am not too sure how old the woman is but it says that she had no teeth, so I am guessing she was pretty old. Lucynell was the daughter's name. I think this name describes her pretty well. After a while Mr. Shifftlet explains all the jobs he used to have, and where he was from, but he also said he could have been lieing, so I am still wondering if he was lieing or if he wasn't. Mr. Shifftlet must have grown on the old woman, because she ended up giving him food for work. I thought it was rude for her to make him sleep in an old car. The least she could have done was give him a good place to sleep at night. As far as the daughter goes, i felt bad that she was "special", but Mr. Shifftlet ends up helping her pronounce a few words. The old woman starts to like Mr. Shifftlet, because she ends up thinking that Mr. Shifftlet could be "the one" for her daughter. I thought this was very odd. I would not want my mother to pick out who I am going to marry. Plus, he is still a stranger. When Mr. Shifftlet fixes the old womans car it made me happy, because I knew she wanted it to be fixed after her husbands death. It turns out in the end Lucynell and Mr. Shifftlet get married. Then when the went to town, he just left her at a resturaunt. I thought that was so mean of him, and my feelings about him completely changed. I thought he became a nice man, and it turns out he was just a rude one. The ending with Mr. Shifftlet and the kid didn't really make sense to me. I don't see how it was supposed to be a good ending? The story was kind of boring in my opinion.

TFA Chapter 25

The next day the district commissioner went to Okonkwo's compound. He asked where he was and the men told him that he was not here but they could take him to Okonkwo. Whenever i read this i thought it might be a trap to kill the commissioner. Obierika took five or six men with him to Okonkwo. Obierka took him to a bush behind the compound. Then on a tree the commissioner and his men saw Okonkwo's body hanging there dead. Obierika asked the commissioner if he could take Okonkwo's body down, because his body is evil now and none of them want to be buried beside him. Only strangers can touch his body. Obierika was furous at the men because he accused them of driving Okonkwo to kill himself. I think part of this is true. I mean if he was really a strong man I don't think he would have done it but apparently he wasn't. I think he was just too caught up in everything that he couldn't handle it anymore. To be honest the end of this book really surprised me. I thought that they would end up fighting. Never in a million years did I think Okonkwo was going to kill himself. He seemed so steady even if he was rude and messed up. I had no idea that any of this was going to happen. I wonder what happened to him family? Or if the town built another church? ..

TFA Chapter 24

Chapter 24 starts out with saying that Okonkwo and the five others were realeased as soon as they paid the fine. I still think they should have suffered a little more but whatever. For Okonkwo's return Ezinma made him a meal. He only ate to please her and everyone noticed the marks on his back from being whipped. I have noticed that as the story goes on his daughter Ezinma become closer and closer to him. They might not talk very much, but I think she starts respecting her dad a lot more, which is sad to me. Later that night the village crier said that there was going to be another meeting the next day. Okonkwo lays in bed that night and mentions war. The next day everyone meets at the marketplace as soon as the sun rose. The meeting was held mainly because the people in the village was not happy. They explained that their "gods" were not happy either. Then Okonkwo drew his machete at the messenger and killed him. The meeting was then stopped and Okonkwo thought to himself that Umuofia would not go to war. He said this because they had let the other messengers escape. I didn't really understand what killing only one man would have to do with not going to war? I wonder if they will go to war or what will happen? There is only one chapter left so i hope a few things get explained in the last chapter.

TFA Chapter 23

Well things are starting to get back to normal. Everyone is once again following Okonkwo's lead, which is pathetic. I don't think he deserves to have anyone follow his commands. A few days after the church burnt down the District Commissioner came back. He invited Okonkwo and five other guys to the headquarters. Okonkwo warned everyone to be fully armed. He brought them there to hear their side of the story about the church being burnt down. The commissioner also brought in his men to make sure the village people were not lieing. I thought this was a smart idea. Ogbuefi Ekwueme explained that Enoch murdered an egwugwa. Immediately the six men were arrested. The commissioner said that they will not be hurt unless they do not cooperate. The men were also charged with a fine of 200 bags of coweries. I didn't think this was a very good punishment. I mean they burnt down a church. I think they should just be locked up for a while. The six men were locked up for a couple days until they agreed to the fine. One of them spoke and said that they should have killed the white man. A messenger came in and hit them on top of the head with a stick. The headman later said that if they do not pay the fine then they will be hanged in Umuru. Rumors also went around that their families would be included in the hanging. If this was to happen then i would disagreed. Their families had no involvement in their actions. The next day the men of Umofia met in the marketplace and collected 250 bags coweries. Im sure they added another 50 just to suck up to the white men.

TFA Chapter 22

This chapter goes into the passed before Mr. Brown visited the village. his successor was Reverend James Smith. Mr. Smith suspended a young woman from the church for pouring new wine into old wine bottles. I thought that was a pretty stupid thing for getting suspended for. But whatever. Then it goes back to the present. It explains that the night before the Mother of the Spirits walks the earth that it is a terrible night. They hear strange fearful sounds. The next day the masked egwugwu goes to the marketplace. It talks about a man named Enoch, who is the son of the man that supposedly killed the sacred snake. The egwugwu was furious so they ran towards the church, planning on burning it down. There they found Mr. Smith and his interpreter Okeke. They tried to get the men to return home, but they didn't listen. They burnt the church down to ashes. I thought this was very rude. It is like not believing in God. I thought it was soo sooo wrong of them to burn the church down. All he was doing was helping the people of the village. I think there are a lot of messed up people in this story. They have problems, and none of them can think for themself.

TFA Chapter 21

Chapter 21 starts off by saying that basically there were people that disagreed with Okonkwo as far as not liking the Christians. It introduces a man named Mr. Brown that a lot of people in the village start becoming faund of, because he isn't trying to intrude on anyone or upset anyone in the town. In this chapter Mr. Brown is trying to explain to Akunna that there is only one God and that he believes in false gods. Akunna doesn't believe him. Mr. Brown also explains that in the future the leaders of the land will be men and women that know how to read and write. If they do not then other people will come and take over their land. I agree with him 100%. I think reading and writing is a major deal in these towns. They have to know how to communicate if other people show up. He started encouraging people to come to his school and listen to what he would say. Many of them would become teachers, court messengers, or even a court clerk. It was kind of drepessing when Okonkwo returned because it was like no one even noticed that he was gone. I kind of felt bad for him at this point.

TFA Chapter 20

Okonkwo begins talking about how when he returns he is going to build a bigger barn and two new huts for his wives. I think he is pretty disappointed, because in those years he was gone he could have been a great leader in his clan. Okonkwo calls into his hut his five sons. He told them that if any of them turn against him when he has passed away he will come back and break their necks. I thought this was a pretty harsh thing to say considering his youngest son was four year old! I just don't think it was very appropriate. The chapter than describes how Umofia has changed in the last seven years. The white men had built a church, and also a government.. or a court i guess. I thought this was a pretty good outcome of the white people coming into the towns. Instead of killing everyone and desctroying the village they decided to help them by letting them know that there was only one God. The white men also whiped out Abame. I don't know if that was wrong or not? In a way I do, because they should want people to look up to them and try to get people to like them and I'm not sure that they would now if the Christians decided to whipe out another clan.