Things Fall Apart: Internal vs External

The issues that arise as the chapters continue to the eighteenth are ones that can be debated on whether or not Okonkwo brought them about himself and whether or not the punishment he recieved was considered fair or unfair. For example, I came across a confrontation of whether or not his exile was just being that his actions were accidental, however it seemed to be metaphorically correct. Okonkwo was always seen as a great warrior and brutal man but was also known for not having the aim of a sharp shooter, as well as a walking mystery among his neighbors. Finally, this village which he protected was also the same village that sought economic and domestic turmoil at the hands of this man. Then as the story continues, he is later exiled because he accidentally kills Ikemefuna and is then sent back to his motherland while it is being invaded by the Protestants that come in and try to convince the villagers that their beliefs and traditions had no meaning in what they explained to be the real God in the heavens above them.

This seems to have a very interesting connection because although Okonkwo was not great shooter, he was able to kill one his own when he was not able to do so in other occasions against those he needed that stray of luck. Also, another and final coincidence that I found to be very interesting was that he had been seen as a hero before his exile and he was also a difficult man to deal with among all the people who respected him so much that once he lost it, he lost himself. After being exiled to his motherland, Okonkwo began losing everything around him, the foudation which he had fought so hard to keep together. His family, which he struggled with to bring up with a specific mindset and goal, was now shattering directly in front of him at the hands of people unlike him. At this point, he was no longer losing his family, but he was losing his fan base and the respect that he had gained within his village, which then drove him to lose his sanity.

Things Fall Apart

The beginning chapters of this book, Things Fall Apart, is very interesting to me and sort of reminds me of the poem “Father Forgets.” There are many characteristics that we are immediately presented with when it comes to the main character Okonkwo and his reputation among the village in which he protects with his praised warrior skills. He is seen as a hero for his village and a very respectable man. Even with all the debt that he was in, his neighbors had no choice but to praise this man.

However, it seems as though in many instances, Okonkwo becomes the foil of himself as the story unfolds because he is ultimately a villian within a hero. For example, even though people do consider this man honorable and admirable, he does beat his many wives in the face of disappointment and does not seem merciful when raising his hand against these women. Also, even though Okonkwo fought vivaciously to be nothing similar to his father, he did however emotionally abuse his children and set them on paths that they might no have chosen themselves but what he felt would mature them into the opposite of anything similar to his father. Finally, even though Okonkwo did not find his father to be a manly figure whatsoever, being that he was a coward and did not have the reputation that Okonkwo strove for, he did however borrowed money from the neighbors within this village and the fact that he never repaid them actually portrays him as a character much worst than his father was. Although his father may have not been the man who Okonkwo respected, Okonkwo did not make many attempts to avoid being considered a man similar to those that he did not respect himself. Many people consider a hero with these traits to have a character flaw. I however, feel the Okonkwo is just a hypocrite.

Billy and the Marinar

The connection between Billy Budd and the Ancient Marinar is one that flip-flops about throughout the progression of both. Although there are some similarities between the two, they are both completely different in their pursuits of their journeys as well as the way in which they view the world. Another similarity and difference between the two are their similarities in how their pasts were both somewhat tragic but different in the sense of how they each dealt with their obstacles.

One main example of a similarity between Budd and the Marinar is the fact that they are both sailors, completely surrounded by water and somewhat isolated from society. This then allows us to believe that because they live in similar environments, they must share similar experiences and thus think similarly about the worlds in which they live. However, this turns out to be the complete opposite because as we all learned from these stories, a fisherman does not always think like a fisherman.

The main difference between these two is the way in which they took their tragic pasts and were able to manipulate them in to benefit themselves. The Marinar, although not entirely his fault, chose to do evil things with in spite of all the evil done to him and was not able to resist the urge to exploit his situation. Budd however was able to be the heroic character he is made out to be and uses his past to condemn those who do evil and spread peace among the world. I personally feel that this is a subliminal gesture at the opposing forces of ignorance and the ability to relate to one another. Budd is able to think clearly and thus understand that his demons are no one other than his and no one should have to pay for them. This is obviously not the case or could ever be with the Marinar who, again, exploits the destiny he was handed.

Tragic Flaw in Billy Budd v. Claggart

The differences between the two characters of Billy Budd and John Claggart are ones that cannot be overlooked when thinking about their relationship and the ultimate finale between the two. Being that Budd was more of an idealized character as opposed to Claggart made the dynamic of their relationship that much more black and white, which in turn made the ending of their relationship that much more gray.

The relationship between Budd and Claggart is similar to that of Beowulf and Grendal, as well as his mother. The struggle between the good that Beowulf is bringing upon the city of Danes and the evil of Grendal and his mother are those that are clouded by the hero’s tragic flaw of being a virtuous man and wanting to gain legendary success. Ultimately, the struggle that Budd must face is the reality that he must do unto Claggart as Claggart would to unto others. This then becomes his tragic flaw because he is forced to go against what he believes to be the sole issue with Claggart, the evilness deep within his heart. This is definitely an issue that was also faced by the Ancient Marinar because due to his incapabilities of control for the situation at hand, he was also an enabler of evil among the world.

Although I did feel as though Billy Budd did triumph as a character, overall the evil in this story triumphed as well seeing as although Budd was trying to rid the world of Claggarts unthinkable ways, he did manage to do so in a way that only Claggart would do any of his own enemies. That would be through murder and even in the poem of Beowulf, even the protagonist must lose at the end for his virtues got the best of him. Although ultimately good was brought upon societies in which evil once walked on, it took evil methods to get to a place of peace.

Crime.

The main character Raskolnikov is an interesting one in that he begins his missions with one intention and always ends them with another, usually making a transition from sanity to insanity, good to bad. With this behavior comes the company of a questionable persepective for the character and what his real motives actually are. This in then forces him to push all types of people away, those he not only dislikes, but the people he likes as well and even loves. One example in the book of how Raskolnikov forces to the people around him to question his actions are when he meets with his mother and sister, along with her fiancee at the time and they discuss towards the end of their meal the family business. All seems to be going well until Raskolnikov tells them he cannot be around them any more.

This example is one of many in this book that demonstrates the theme of guilty within the main character and how he is unable to control his consciousness so much to the point that when he thinks he nearly gets away with acting innocent, he always makes a mistake that pushes the people around him to believe that there is either something wrong with him or that he is in fact guilty somehow of something.

The article that Raskolnikov writes on crime is one demonstration of how he allowed his guilty conscious to further put him under the light of suspician because although his main attempt was to explain a society in which there are many differenct groups, classes, and races of people and each think differently, he ends up talking ultimately about himself. He mainly does this by not focusing his attention on the crime that all different classes tend to commit but only those that refer to a class similar to one that he could easily be categorized into. He then goes on to discuss the criminal capabilities of people similar to him, forcing those who know him or know some things about him and his recent odd behavior to suspect him of the murders. The symbolism of the guilty conscious he demonstrates in his article and throughout most of the book reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart, where although the main character could have gotten away with the murders, his mind secretly tells on him about his own crimes. The incapability to control one’s conscious seems to be a big portion of this entire book.

Diary of a Madman, China vs. Russia

Diary of a Madman was an eye-opening experience to read, so much so that it forced me to do further research on it and to my surprise my interpretation of the short story was very different from what scholars explain as their point of view, especially as I fed myself deeper information about the author himself.

My initial perspective of the story was nothing other than the story of a mentally ill man who suffered dementia and paranoia. As the story progressed, not only did the Madman’s actions become more and more confusing for me but the reasons behind the way he perceived the world never entirely made logical sense. However, there is the realization the many people do suffer from mental illnesses. The idea of cannibalism in this story to me really demonstrated the paranoia he was going through but did conflict with his belief that he was the ultimate heir to a throne that did not exist for him. I kept questioning myself how is it possible that someone can make themselves believe that they are rightfully deserving of a society in which they live in constant fear of their neighbor.

That is when I thought back to the times in which Stalin ruled over the Soviet Union between the 1940’s and 1950’s. Stalin became so paranoid of someone taking him out of power that he began to kill members of his own entourage. This then allowed me to process the connection that scholars have made between the Chinese and Russian relationship during the time in which the story was written. All occupying one another’s country, accusing each other of being spies, yet both fighting on the same Communist team, how can this possibly work together? The term cannibalism in this case symbolizes the distrust that China and Russia had towards one another and the expectancy of the other turning against the opposite force. At the same time, both believing that they would be the heir to the throne had the Soviet Union would have gotten their way, thus symbolized by the dementia the Madman demonstrated in the story.

a dolls house

The play “A Doll’s House”, to my understandings is viewed as a typical gender role. For example, Nora is a typical house wife who buys materials for the family. As for her husband Helmer, he is a typical man who has to provide for the family. Helmer has to work to provide food, shelter, and money for he’s family.

I also noticed that the play has to deal mostly about money. How important money can be for a family and also for an individual. unfortunately, Nora, personally through my understandings, has an addiction to money. She can’t stop thinking about money. The play basically opens up with her begging her husband to give her money to continue shopping. It seemed as if she was with her husband Helmer only for the money and not for love. Meanwhile, Mrs. Linde had to work to maintain her mother and her brothers all by herself since her mother couldn’t support herself and her brothers were to young to work. Now she trying to find a job to be able to support herself since her mother had passed away and her brothers had grown up to the point where they are able to support themselves.

young goodman brown

After reading this story, it left me confused as to what really happened. Was it all a dream? Or was it real? Also why did Goodman just walk past Faith when he saw her? This story captured my attention because Goodman wanted to go back to Faith, but when he saw her, he just walked past her. Also the journey he had was interesting.
I found the end a little bit confusing as to what happened with the couple. I wondered if the journey or dream changed their relationship. Towards the end I was able to grasp that Goodman died but had no one not even writing on he’s tombstone. Faith was the only company he had, but she had died before he did.

My thoughts towards William’s poems

The poem “Resolution and Independence” made me view nature as a continuous cycle that never has an end. All four seasons are all repeated once a year without a fail. Nature will stay the same as from the cycle of water to the cycle of life. Meanwhile, a human starts as a baby which is delicate and within years the baby become an adult. Once the baby is an adult, the adult is able to outcome any obstacles that are presented. At the end, the adult becomes a senior and at this stage of life, the human becomes fragile. Humans were all babies and humans eventually died of old age, in other words we are born fragile, and we will die fragile.

This paragraph is just a thought I had when I read the Williams poem named “The Borders”. It made me think of the people who try to cross the border from mexico to the USA. The people crossing the border suffer great amount and they go through harsh moments with nature. This subject has been around for numerous generations and one of quotes that stood out to me which was, “We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed”. Once I read this quote it brought up to my understanding that humans would think about themselves and won’t realize what they are doing that can affect their surroundings.