Edward Said "States"

Edward Said in “States” reflects on the way the Palestinian view has been forgotten and receives hardly any historical recognition. He explains how the ongoing conflict between Islam and Palestine is slowly deteriorating the nation and emotionally depleting the Palestinian people as a whole. What really conveys Said’s points and helps his expressed situations come to life are pictures inserted in his essay which he calls “a series of portraits without names, without contexts.” Said’s portraits deeply display the emotions of the people which helps to strongly connect to them to the audience, as if we are there and can feel their pain. Said connects each picture with a description, by  viewing them one can experience a genuine view of exactly how wretched the Palestinians are, in a way words cannot describe. A particular picture that stood out to me was one of two children who appeared to be living out of in a beaten up, old, and abandoned car. It is heart-breaking to see that children are suffering from the conflicts and poverty in Palestine. In addition to the poverty, little to no prosperity is evident in the lives of Palestinians just as depicted in a particular picture portraying a tourist shop in which “customers are rare.” A great sense of identity by the people and you can see into their emotions that they yearn for change or to just be acknowledged.

Edward Said’s “States,” is a very culturally eye-opening essay to the troubles of the Palestinian society. I believe the argument Said is trying to make is that our society is too self-centered to acknowledge the poverty and hardships of others. Palestine is suffering in ways unimaginable to the majority of Americans. We live in a world where the thought of a lost identity of the question of “do I belong here?” Doesn’t even cross our minds. My question then is: How will we make these hardships well known in our culture, and how can we show compassion towards other hurting societies to help? 

Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk,”

In Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk,” he explains the striving in the souls of black folk and expresses the equality and freedom they yearn for in an age of such harsh prejudice treatment. He first addresses the question of how it feels to “Be a problem.” For that is how the white men view his culture, as menaces to society. He says he has never known life as not being the “problem,” for the first noticed this difference and racism in his childhood. The negative effects subsequently, only intensified as he grew older, and “dazzling opportunities were theirs, not mine.” Du Bois however, claims that he told himself he would somehow, someday, take this mandate and underserving racial upper hand from them. Du Bois goes on to explain how the Africans view themselves through the eyes of others. Thus, they see them self as the world around them sees Africans: in contempt and pity. He explains how tough it is to feel the “two-ness” of being on one hand an independent American, while on the other a culturally diverse African; along with his ethnicities longing to merge the two into being a better and truer self. Du Bois then goes on to explain how these days are more of a “second slavery.” For in the days of bondage, the actual captivity was thought to be the root of evil and problem; for is slavery was taken away, all racial dilemmas would be resolved. This however, was clearly not the case. For even the centuries after emancipation, the nation has not yet found peace between the two races, and discrimination has yet to improve. The Africans must not give up however but they must still strive for “physical freedom, and political power, trainging of the brains, and training of the hands” and if all these ideals are attained and fused together, then Du bois claims, their dreams of a new world with freedom and equality will be true. In short, all these things, (work, culture, and liberty) are the tools that will eventually save them from the second slavery. Both races currently however, are so poor in these qualities that in order for this true America to come about, both races must strive for and attain such qualities to live in harmony.

“The Souls of Black Folk,” is a very passionate and argumentative essay. Du Bois vividly paints a picture of racism in society and conveys the feeling of discrimination, and the hopelessness the African-Americans feel in an ongoing struggle to be equal and free. The essay lays out the points on which the Africans are oppressed and how they must overcome this for the betterment of America. In explaining that if both races can master work, culture, and liberty on even levels and peace, then America will be successful. I agree that for in order for America to excel, the two races must harmoniously work together. For a nation that is divided will not progress or succeed, yet continue to internally crumble.

Kipling's "The White Man's Burden"

Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden,” claims that the Caucasian people were the guardians of the earth under God, and that it was their obligation to guide others towards the ideals of democracy. The poem consists of seven stanza’s all of which begin with “Take up the white man’s burden-“ and essentially claims that white men are the “best breed” whom must carry the labor in this world to rule with right, and successful mandate. The white men must lead their peers with wisdom toward the light.

Kipling shares a bias and somewhat racist outlook of the world, in which non-European cultures are viewed as childlike and demonic. Therefore, this view suggests that white men subsequently have duties to rule over, and encourage the cultural advancement of people from other races and ethnic backgrounds, to adopt Western culture so they may too get on with and live a “normal” acceptable lifestyle. Kipling communicates that it is the white people’s responsibility to help to poor people with contrasting ethnic backgrounds to help “better” themselves and lifestyle whether they want to or not. My questions for Kipling would simply be, why change the other cultures? If they have been getting along just fine and not interfering with the advancing culture of the Western world, why medal with other perfectly functional societies?

Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat"

Just off the coast of Florida, four surviving men struggle to survive and aimlessly seek help while rowing a dinghy after their ship was overturned. The correspondent and the oiler both split the labor of rowing, while the cook scrambles on the floor, bailing water. The men follow orders from the captain, who was wounded in the shipwreck and sits pitifully in the bow. The men battling hopelessly against the vicious current are careful to make no extreme movement as to capsize the small dinghy. So much so, that they will not even swat at a pestering gull perched on the captains head. After the captain finally shoos the bird and they continue rowing until they spot a lighthouse in the distance. The cook warns that the lighthouse has been abandoned for more than a year, but nonetheless the men begin to embrace the idea that they are near reaching land and survival. Their grimly moods are overturned into optimism for a brief period until they realize they are unable to navigate through the choppy surf, and help isn’t coming. When nightfall approaches, the men forget about being saved and continue on their gruesome journey, taking turns rowing and keeping the boat afloat. While rowing alongside a frighteningly, large shark, the correspondent reflects on a poem he heard in his youth about a soldier dying in a foreign land, never to return home. When dawn breaks, the captain proposes that they try to route the surf with what energy remains. They take the boat as close as possible to sore before it goes under and then begin to tread the wintery water to shore. Finally when the group is saved and reaches land, the correspondent floats in and out of consciousness, but as he recoups, he perceives many people on shore with rescue equipment. Finally he discovers, only the cook and captain survived with him as the oiler did not survive the swim.


Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat,” fully captures the moment and feelings of the surviving crew’s gruesome voyage at sea. Its overall vibe and points are very naturalistic in the sense that life is just an on-going suffering, struggling race to death. Just as the story went for the oiler; in the dinghy he fought and rowed with all his might to just keep surviving for no real purpose but to live a few moments longer. 

Yellow Wallpaper

In the Yellow wallpaper the narrator begins her journal by admiring at the greatness of the house in which her and her husband vacation. She then goes into a in-depth description of her illness. She explains she is suffering from “nervous depression” and of her marriage. She complains that her husband, as well as doctor, John pays little attention to her and says her treatment requires little to no activity and especially forbids her from reading and writing. She obviously rebels against this as she does a good job of hiding her journal from him. Aside from irritably rambling on about her husband, the narrator often describes the room she is isolated in and particularly the yellow wallpaper. She is at first disturbed by the wallpaper with its “strange, formless pattern it is rebellious.” She later on however, begins to see it as not only ugly, but strangely provoking. The narrator notes that John is worried about her becoming too obsessive and fixed on it, and also that he refrains from repapering the just to prove he won’t give in to her anxious fears. More time passes, and as the narrator appears to be making no sort of progress in recovery, John impends to send her away to a real-care physician. The narrator is isolated nearly always she has grown to appreciate the wallpaper and that struggling to decipher its pattern has become her main entertainment. As her fixation increases, the patterns in the wallpaper become more and more distinct. It begins to look like a woman creeping behind the foremost pattern, which looks like the bars of a cage. Soon the wallpaper controls the narrator’s mind. She identifies with it so clearly now, and is determined to figure it out on her own. The yellow wallpaper’s pattern now visibly is a woman who is trying to escape from behind the main pattern. The narrator however, suspects that John is well aware of her obsession, and she decides to finally destroy the paper at night. By the end, the narrator is despairingly insane, persuaded that there are several creeping women around and that she is in fact the trapped woman resembled in the wallpaper and has escaped. When John finally breaks into the locked room he is shocked at the apparent situation and faints in the doorway.

The Yellow Wallpaper is written in such a descending way that it actually made me feel as though I could identify with her spiral into insanity. It was very feminist and seemed to recommend that woman at this age were very oppressed and ignored by those in authority, or just men in general. As the narrator and her husband were clearly having marital problems, John decided to treat her as a doctor, and not husband. The story poses an argument that if roles are reversed or distorted, disaster occurs. I would agree with this, as the narrator was treated medically for marital problems, isolated alone, driven to insanity taking comfort in wallpaper, and eventually (as the text suggests) kills herself. When roles are treated wrong, whether it be the overpowering of man over women in the wrong situations disaster may occur, and things won’t function properly as they were meant to be.

            

Howell's “Criticism and Fiction”

In William Dean Howell’s excerpt from “Criticism and Fiction,” he opens essentially praising the work of Jane Austen, claiming her creativity makes her the first and last true realist of English literature. Realism is “material with entire truthfulness.” He expresses that it is because of her honesty that make her work so great, and therefore, beautiful. Howell from here however, then goes on to criticize numerous English writers such as Bulwer, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Thackeray, and even George Eliot. Due to the Romanticism era, he explains that these great writers could not escape the “taint of their time.” Thus, they could seldom write unbiased truth without shaping the subject in a self-pleasing way. On a more positive note however, he does compliment the quality of these writers. Yet he again proclaims that it doesn’t matter how well a piece is written if the idea it is conveying holds no truth. The one author, besides Austen that Howells slightly commends is Anthony Trollope. He says his “simple honesty and instinctive truth” made him great however, when he allowed his opinion to get in the way it would warp his wholesome idea, and thereby beauty surpassed him. Howell ends by claiming that if truth were a fad, perhaps society would seek it more in our writings; however we will have to wait until civilization advances to that point.

                Howell was very bold in criticizing so many well respected writers in “Criticism and Fiction.” I would agree with him in saying that the wholesome truth that lies in writing does in fact make it beautiful as truth is so untainted, and all together perfect in its nature. However,  I do still believe that it is not solely truth that makes a piece of work beautiful. And although some people may alter truth accordingly to what they see as beautiful, that is very well acceptable and in many cases what makes a writer unique and great. 

Franzen

Franzen’s essay “Liking is for Cowards. Go for what Hurts.” Mainly deals with the concept of liking versus loving, as well as our infatuation with consumer technologies such as BlackBerrys, and Facebook. He clarifies why our infatuation with technology delivers an easy alternate for love. “The striking thing about all consumer products – and none more so than electronic devices and applications – is that they are designed to be immensely likeable.” Franzen boldly claims that this is “the definition of a consumer product.” If considered in human terms, he relates this to people who can be defined by their desperation to be liked. These people go to extreme measures to present them self in a likeable pose. They are narcissists and cannot bear the thought of their image not being accepted, desired, or just plain liked. Franzen’s core claim could arguably be that highly apprehensive and self-absorbed  people are solely concerned with being liked, acknowledged, and approved. They have no integrity, and will soon become obsessed with satisfying what others’ want to see in them despite what it actually is. Today’s electronic devices and applications are so popular among these people, and for that fact, the majority of today’s society, because they are all targeted around and have access to the means of achieving these hopes that these people have of being accepted and desired. Technologies like these, such as Facebook, allow you to create a profile that defines you within the boundaries of a few quotations and photos; they enable you to associate yourself with what’s popular and socially acceptable. They hope to increase their appeal to others via these technologies and since attaining that satisfaction is so desired it really is what so strongly sells these websites and electronic tools the vast majority of today’s self-obsessive and concerned society.

                In Franzen’s essay he essentially criticizes society of what we are all truly guilty for; the strong, desperate desire to be liked and accepted. He explains how today’s technology are majorly used as social tools to enhance our social life, appeal, and popularity. I would definitely agree with Franzen. Even I myself, and I can think of many, many others who fall into this category at one measure or another of desiring so strongly to be liked. It is deep down something that is so desired in us and an obsession that these social applications are just feeding. In that light, are these technologies considered good, or sef-harming? How much more will we become dependent on Facebook, and these type of medias for our social stature; and to what level is it considered superficial?