The Rabbi's Cat

In the end of the novel “The Rabbi’s Cat” the Rabbi starts to question the intensity of his faith. The cat then starts to question if his lack of faith is what he really wants. This grabbed me because it shows religion as tradition vs. modernity, which is loss of religion.  At the begging of the graphic novel I thought I was more like the cat. I would consider myself less religious, than more religious, but through the character of the Rabbi, I quickly learned I was really more like the Rabbi and his faith. The Rabbi showed me that religion and faith is not all about technicalities and following the rules set right to a t. The Rabbi taught me that faith and religion is about trusting in what you believe. The Rabbi loves his tradition and his religion, but in the end understands they will still be there, even if he doesn’t completely live his life around them. The cat loves modernity, but believes in tradition, so at least a small amount of religion must be present as well. “The Rabbi’s Cat” showed me the good that can come from questioning faith.

I absolutely love reading graphic novels. The mix of picture and text makes for an interesting read that keeps me entertained all the way till the end. The short about of text with the detailed about of pictures is a strength of a graphic novel. The information is more compact and is not an overabundance of words to sift through to find the true meaning live a novel. A graphic novel is definitely and upgrade from reading a regular novel.

Nervous Conditions

Nervous Conditions by Tsiti Dangarembga so far has been extremely interesting. I think it is very interesting to read about African culture. I am not sure about my other classmates, but for me this novel was a lot different than I expected. The novel taught me a lot about how important school is for children in Africa, something I believe as Americans we often take for granted. The novel also showed me the connection as a family they have. The way their family interacted with one another is a lot different than I think families in America are today. The main reason the family interacted with each other was through work. They did not have much of personal relationships with one another, unlike my mother and I who are best friends. On the other hand tradition is something that I believe is largely cherished in African culture. My family personally doesn’t respect the thought and beliefs in tradition like Tambu and her family do.

               The largest connection I felt with this novel was when Tambu speaks about her cousin Nyasha being a victim of her femaleness. She speaks about have being a victim is universal and I agree with her completely. She speaks about how she thought a lack of education or poverty were the reasons why women were discriminated against. She also believed that only certain men did this. After what Babamukuru did to Nyasha though she knew this was wrong. I loved the last two lines in the paragraph it states, “What I didn’t like was the way all the conflicts came back to this question of femaleness. Femaleness as opposed and inferior to maleness.”

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o

Out of all of the authors we have read this quarter, Ngugi has been the hardest for me to personally connect with. Throughout his stories I have learned that language shapes thoughts and how having a colonized name changed your appearance. Ngugi’s stories taught me about the colonization of Africa I was not previously familiar with. I was fascinated by the change colonization caused in people, and how truly confusing the people must have felt. I also learned that Christianity was a huge role in colonization.

Out of all three stories I connected most with Minutes of Glory. In this story gender bias plays the largest role. Beatrice believes she is ugly and does not like who she is, while Nyaguthu is beautiful. Beatrice spends the whole story wanting to be like Nyaguthu, but finds in the end Nyguthu wants to be like her. I feel this happens commonly in today’s society. I often look at other and believe if I looked like her, or was as smart as another girl, my life would be better. It is like the old saying grass is greener on the other side. When in all actuality my life would not be better if I was those other girls. In fact, those other girls probably see things in me that they would like for themselves.  The only thing I did not like was how Ngugi portrayed women’s power as sexual attraction. I believe many people probably believe that, but I disagree. I think women contain power by how smart and independent they are, not involving the opposite sex.

Nadine Gordimer

I really enjoyed the work of Nadine Gordimer this past week. Out of the three stories we read, I most enjoyed “Amnesty.” I loved the angle “Amnesty” was written in. Many people often forget how much the role of the home plays life. During this time South Africa was facing Apartheid. Often in Apartheid stories the point of view of the story is from the man’s point of view. In “Amnesty” you see the side of the women. You see the women waiting for her child’s father to return over and over again. You see the women continue on with life without him, raising her child and supporting herself financially. Gordimer explains in “Amnesty” how women care about the future of the country and their children just as much as men do. This story personally connected with me because I feel that women often do not receive the gratitude they deserve. I enjoyed the story itself, although the unreliable narrator at times made the story confusing. My personal views were not challenged by this story. I completely agree with both the man and women in the story. They both individually want to make the country a better place for everyone, but if it was not for the woman or women of this time there would be no country for the men to save. The women keep the country moving and the future children growing.

I also loved the story “Six Feet of the Country.” This story was easier for me to connect with personally because of the characters. The husband in the story is careless, in human, but very common. The man cares more about pride, then the families that work on his farm. I think in today’s society you often find people like this. You find business men who care more about their own personal gain then the people who work under them. The husband in the story seemed so un-human, because he truly did not care if Petrus got his brother’s body back. This had a large effect on me because I felt for the family in wanting closer. It made me think of the families who do not receive the bodies of fallen soldiers overseas. Not allowing the families that closer is a disgrace.  “Six Feet of the Country” also connects with Apartheid and shows how no person has power. Apartheid created a system where no one can truly win, even the people in charge.  These two stores by Nadine Gordimer were extremely eye opening to reality.

Chinua Achebe

I though Achebe’s writing was very interesting. I connect most with the story "Girls at War." I though the text grabbed my attention immediately because of its irony. I feel irony is something that truly does happen in day to day life. My views and opinions were not highly challenged by this text because I connected with it so well. In the story Nwankwo makes a profit off of the war, but he doesn’t fully agree with it. The story goes along with how everything Achebe writes is not what he believes. The end of the story grabbed my attention the most because Gladdy and the solider were killed. At first I just could not understand why Achebe would do that. Why would he kill of that solider? But I quickly learned the irony in that. Both of the good characters were killed off and the selfish business man survives. I feel situations like this happen often.

I also liked Achebe’s story "The Madman." I also had a lot of personal connections with story as well. "The Madman" showed how much society and the public’s perspective of you play a role in your life. The man becomes "crazy" because he is treated crazy. I feel in today’s society a lot of girls do things because of what they see in magazines or on television. Then after they do what they see everyone else is doing, they are ridiculed by society. I very much enjoyed Achebe’s stories and thought they were very entertaining and relatable for his audience even thought it was written in in a different time and place.

The Stranglehold of English Lit.

I thought the poem "The Stranglehold of English Lit." had a very interesting layout the caught my eye first off. By making the words stand, stab, jab, and gore all on separate lines going down from one another show the disgust the writer has. The poem showed how some Africans disagreed with the teachings of American literature in their education. Although this poem was hard for me to connect to personally, I understand how they could see the readings of Jane Austen as an insult. I believe the Africans feel that the reading of these novels does not in any way reflect or link to their type of society. They also were being pushed away from their own personal rights and beliefs. In other ways I disagree with their thoughts. As a high school student I learned Spanish, which involved literature, movies and learning how to speak. For example, now in college I am taking World Literature classes where I am learning about different culture through literature. Although the Africans feel that Jane Austin’s work does not connect with them personally, they are wrong. Although the piece of literature might be written in a different time, or from a different area of the world, there is one thing I have learned in World Literature is that in one way or another every piece of literature connects with you somehow. I personally am not a huge fan of poetry, but I did enjoy this piece because I felt that it had a much deeper meaning than what was shown.

Like Water for Chocolate

            I really enjoyed the novel Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel. While listening to my classmates during discussion it seemed that most students could not understand why Tita did not leave her mother’s house to be with Pedro, but I do. I understand how important tradition is to families, even if they are not fair. I felt bad for Tita because of the way here mother treated her, but I understand why she stayed. Tradition is sometimes the only thing a family really has together. Family tradition and honor is something my family takes very seriously and really believes in. The novel to a certain extent clashes with my views of the world because it was written in a different time period. The idea of modesty is still around in today’s society, but not nearly in the same manner as then. I know I was shocked by the modesty blanket that Rosaura used during intimacy with Pedro. The novel is about the good and bad things about Mexican culture. Many believe some of the traditions are ridiculous but its culture. Food and passion play a huge role in Mexican culture. I think incorporating the recipes in each chapter was brilliant. Each recipe was a metaphor for Tita or one of her family members. I also think the title Like Water for Chocolate was brilliant. I totally believe with the metaphor of life needing to boil up a few times. There is a difference between being a live and really living each day to the fullest. I think to live a full life, like Tita did, you must face trials and tribulations. I think Like Water for Chocolate was a great choice for a title. I loved how the novel was female based. I have not read many novels, especially ones involving magical realism, where most characters and the plot were based on a women’s life. I thought that was wonderful! At last, I understand how it is hard for many to understand the novel, but deciphering between the literal and metaphorical takes time, but if you give this novel a true chance and take it as it is you will definitely enjoy it!