The Things They Carried

Melinda Rubenau
2/26/08
Eng.387
Paper #1

Fact and Fiction of “The Things They Carried”

There is much conflict in America about the Vietnam War and if it was a necessary evil or a war against a people who were looking for a better way of life. Feelings of exile sprouted within the troops fighting in Vietnam because the enemy had the advantage of knowing the terrain and the Americans were not used to the environment or the warfare used by the Viet Cong. The constant reminder that they were not wanted in Vietnam form the Vietnamese and their fellow Americans back home, gave way to more awkward feelings of fighting a war with an unclear purpose. The American troops ended up fighting for their sanity and their lives as they tried to compete against the Viet Cong’s use of guerilla warfare and ambush tactics. When the troops returned to America, adjusting to civilian life after years of constant violence and having to stay alert gave way to new feelings of exile. They couldn’t fit in with their old way of life after the experiences they had endured. Tim O’Brien depicts the use of warfare and the feelings involved with mentally dealing with the war experience in his novel The Things They Carried, as he attempts to recreate how these young men fought to survive in the jungles and mine fields of Vietnam, in a way that one who hasn’t experienced war might understand.
Even though the stories are either fictional or exaggerated, O’Brien explains that “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” (71 O’Brien) O’Brien uses these stories in order to convey; not the exact accounts of what happened historically, but the true emotions that he, and soldiers like him felt in the jungles of Vietnam.
It is impossible to remember every fact of a past memory, especially when multiple years have passed and the unused memory has faded into a person’s subconscious. By utilizing the stories however, O’Brien is able to recreate his own Vietnam so his readers can grasp the true emotional impact of loss, confusion and paranoia felt by the soldiers fighting. His story on the death of Curt Lemon while he plays chicken with his friend and comrade Rat Kiley brings the reality of sudden and unexpected death of these young, inexperienced soldiers to a light that a person who has never experienced war would have known:
The angles of vision are skewed. When
A booby trap explodes, you close your eyes and duck and
Float outside yourself. When a guy dies, like Curt Lemon,
You look away and then you look back for a moment and then
Look away again. The pictures get jumbled; you tend
To miss a lot. And then afterward, when you go to tell about
It, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes
the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the
hard and exact truth as it seemed. (71 O’Brien)

The story of Curt Lemon quickly turns form two young men goofing around to the death of a young man that was entirely unexpected, given the atmosphere conveyed. O’Brien attempts to recreate how suddenly an ambush could occur in the jungles, and how every step could be a soldier’s last if they fell victim, as Curt Lemon did, to one of the multitudes of buried mines: “’Mines and booby traps have been employed so often and effectively by the Viet Cong that the war has often been referred to as the ‘War of Mines and Booby Traps’ Mines had a major influence in the way the ground war was fought,” (www.hrw.org) Mines were not only deadly but maiming as well, which added to the apprehensions of the soldiers.
Along with mines, which were buried in Vietnam by both sides; guerilla warfare was utilized to its full extent by the Viet Cong. Due to their small numbers, compared to the U.S. troops, the Vietnamese took to ambush tactics as well as blending in with the local villagers. O’Brien’s exaggerated stories of the platoon reflect larger, historical problems of the Vietnam War and its troops. Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen, both men in the same platoon, have an altercation over a stolen “jackknife”. During the fistfight that ensues, Jensen breaks Strunk’s nose. When Strunk returns form medical, Jensen is so paranoid that he wants revenge that he ends up breaking his own nose to make things even “No safe ground: enemies everywhere. No front or rear. At night he had trouble sleeping-a skittish feeling-always on guard, hearing strange noises in the dark, imagining a grenade rolling into his foxhole or the tickle of a knife against his ear. The distinction between good guys and bad guys disappeared for him.” (63 O’Brien) Jensen’s complex of a lack of enemy distinction is a common, historical issue of the war as well.
The N. Vietnamese used ambush attacks in the majority of the battles with U.S. soldiers, because of this there was no sure way for the military to know when or where the enemy would attack “The highly unusual nature of the communist force structure with its regulars, guerillas, part time village defense forces, and subversive apparatus, made it difficult to agree on a valid picture of the whole communist lineup.” (4 Thayer) With O’Brien’s depiction of two comrades, on the same side, distrusting each other is his way of showing how an ambush could be waiting around any path taken, a quiet village could have Viet Cong forces lurking and the troops wouldn’t know until it was too late.
Returning soldiers faced adjustment problems due to the environment differences that surrounded them, however they also felt displaced due to the changes in their personal lives as well. Veterans of Vietnam were forced to cope with losses of loved ones, girlfriends who married other men while they were overseas and jobs that could no longer hold their attention: “More often we think we know our motives without being aware of the real motives. That is, quite frequently we are attempting to gratify motives of which we are not even aware of.” (Rogers 10) Norman Bowker commits suicide, after recieveing a copy of Tim O’Brien’s “Speaking of Courage.” It seems as if Bowker’s suicide is directly related to the story O’Brien wrote due to his “somewhat bitter” letter he wrote about it: ““It’s not terrible,” he wrote me “but you left out Vietnam. Where’s Kiowa? Where’s the shit? “Eight months later he hanged himself.” (O’Brien) The story is not the reason for Bowker’s suicide though, it is the underlying problems, the social changes that have passed the men who served in Vietnam by.
The lack of understanding form the Americans who did not witness Vietnam firsthand leaves the soldiers without anyone to relate to except other exiled veterans like themselves. “A good war story, he thought, but it was not a war for war stories, nor for talk of valor, and nobody in town wanted to know about the terrible stink. They wanted good intentions and good deeds. But the town was not to blame, really. It was a nice little town, very prosperous, with neat houses and all the sanitary conveniences.” (O’Brien 150) Civilians don’t want to hear gory details, they’d rather hear about acts of courage however, the problem faced by many soldiers is that their so called courageous acts were inspired by fear and the intense want to stay alive.
Exile felt by the troops after the war was a huge factor in many soldiers returning from Vietnam. Since they were use to the constant violence surrounding them, returning to civilian life was difficult “”The thing is,” he wrote, “There’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean, It’s almost like I got killed over in Nam.” (O’Brien 156). For years the soldiers have been fighting in a foreign jungle with the only purpose being to survive. Returning to civilian life is a sharp curve from struggling to live everyday in distant jungles: “That he has shown unquestioned courage under fire does not alter the fact that facing civilian life is a frightening experience and involves many decisions that he hardly feels ready to make.” (2 Ragers). For men like Norman Bowker, and others in O’Brien’s platoon, civilian life was a huge contast to life in Vietnam. The men have fought in unfamiliar territory only to return to an old life they can no longer relate to.
O’Brien explains throughout his stories that truth is not as important as the reality that the story depicts “A thing may happen and be a total lie, another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.”(83 O’Brien) Although his stories may not be entirely true, what matters is what he tries to convey while telling the story. O’Brien’s fictional stories recreate events that happened and the impact it had on those who were involved:
“You can tell a true war story if it embarrasses you. If
You don’t care for obscenity, you don’t care for the truth; If
You don’t care for the truth, watch how you vote. Send
Guys to war, they come home talking dirty.
Listen to Rat: “Jesus Christ, man, I write this beautiful fuckin’ letter, I slave over it, and what happens? The dumb
Cooze never writes back. (O’Brien 69)

What is being conveyed is the psychological change that occurred among the soldiers of Vietnam. The war forces boys to become men and to survive on their own. To cope they harden themselves and hide their pain with words that make them feel brave, however they are just masking pain and hurt with apathy and jokes.
The fact that there is no moral to any of the stories shows the frustration of a war with no point. Numerous times in the text the soldiers will ask their listeners if they want to know the moral, and when told yes the answer they give is either too obscure to make sense or that there was no moral to begin with “For some Americans who served in Vietnam, however, events were distinguished by their senselessness. The phrase ‘It don’t mean nothin’ was commonly used by American soldiers to express their alienation from their surroundings and from the acts they performed and witnessed.” (1 Taylor) The young men of O’Brien’s platoon used apathy and jokes to get through a war that had no moral. The truth, therefore, lies with the feeling received from the story and not the story itself.
Although O’Brien’s stories are fabricated, the reality emitting from them is the true emotional impact of the war that he aims to reveal to the reader. The stories get the reader to understand how Vietnam truly affected soldiers and what they had to go through as the country fought over whether the war should even continue. O’Brien uses these fictional stories to get to the reality of the alienation, hopelessness and fear felt by these young men who have been forced to leave their innocence behind because of the violence of reality they have witnessed.

Injustice

Poems From Guantanamo is a depressing story of individuals who were just contained because of their ethnic background in my opinion. The people who were held captive from 2002 were not just ordinary people. Some of them were recognized figures like Ustad Badruzzaman Badr, who has a Master's Degree in English. There were some people unlike Ustad, who did not have a degree like Abdullah Thani Faris Al Anazi, who was an ordinary worker in Afghanistan. That is until the U.S. came and basically took away his freedom. Its like what Peggy said, you believe that everything the U.S. has done is right. I thought racism no longer existed but from the actions taken by the U.S. Government since 2002, we should be considered the bad guys.


To My Father by Abdullah Thani Faris Anazi is a poem dedicated to his father letting know that he is alive to say the least. He wishes to send his regards to his whole family, since he is unable to communicate with them. Al Anazi considers the custody as an injustice by the U.S. He explains that though the U.S. wants to make him guily, he will not let that happen because no crime was committed. To tell a lie is something that he will not do because nothing was done wrong, but the U.S. Government feels that is not the case.

Reading Bhaba's Arrivals and Departures made me think of a newspaper article I once read concerning a man's avatar and his avatar "wife". Since this man was married in real life, the author of the article questioned whether he was being unfaithful to his real wife when he spent time with the avatar. He had created a world for himself, with a job, friends, everything. It seems that he had become addicted to another reality which existed primarily in his mind. So was he in exile in the sense that Bhaba means? An online connection is something forced upon people these days, and according to Bhaba, an essential component of exile is the feeling of being forced.
The online communities that exist today have more or less requirents, but it is always separate from the physical world-- messages get lost in translation, and people are free to present themselves differently. Since we need it so today, it seems that our online world is a world of exile.

The Detainees Speak

I am sorry, my brother.
The shackles bind my hands
And iron is circling the place where I sleep.

I am sorry, my brother,
That I cannot help the elderly or the widow or the little child

Do not weigh the death of a man as a sign of defeat.
The only shame is in betraying your ideals
And failing to stand by your beliefs.

- "I Am Sorry, My Brother," by Abdulraheem Mohammad


This novel was so touching. People are so quick to send others to jail, but we never hear their story and what they are going through. Reading these poems reminded me of my sister, who was imprisoned for three years. Whenever we would speak to her about what she went through in prison, her stories are unbearable. These detainees were exiled from the only place they call home to be tortured and mistreated. Falkoff really made us see their views and open our eyes.

Wow, I had no idea

For the First time in my life I’m ashamed to be seen as an American. I remember being in elementary school and singing the song from September to June for at lest eight years every morning, I stood inside a classroom with my right hand over my heart pledging to a flag, to a country… that is not even sure what it stands for. Reading poems from Guantanamo, I kept rereading the text to make sure I was seeing the United States of America and not some other far off land in our world. Guantanamo, Guantanamo, probably three hours from New York, right under our noses. When we say “one nation, under God, for liberty and justice for all” does it only apply to the fifty states and Canada? I was just so shocked and angered at this situation, what got me really boiling was the fact that there was no reason why theses people were being heal other then suspicion. These were not uneducated people: they were University graduates, authors, journalist, magazine editors, parents, and amputees for God’s sake! One the stories that really struck me way the story of: Ustad Badruzzaman Badar (27)…he’s an essayist with an MA in English. I kept thinking that could have been me, which is not far fetched seeing as someone was detained for the brand of the watch he was wearing (49). These prisoners’ writings are so filled with pain, hurt, and confusion, they are held from all outside contact from their family and only given heavily censored letters, no news and no regular use of pens. One man can only make out the words “I love you” from the letter/poem that his daughter sent him. Many of the author’s in exile that we read at least had the ability to write, to communicate their emotions, their individual thoughts. Even the prisoners that were released were not given all of their works. I remember one man asking why was he given a pen if they were just going to take it away…because poetry can be a potential risk!
The poem I decided to do my close reading on was “They fight for peace” (20) by Aamer.

The poem is divided into four stanza’s. I choose this one because it made me think of the war in Iraq that we are fighting for peace.
The poem begins with questions about peace of mind or earth, questioning exactly what kind of peace which leads into the next stanza. The second and stanza is what he observes from the soldiers who are “fighting for peace” and is again questioning what kind of peace they were looking for. The last stanza he comes up with the idea, or revelation that they are fighting for peace. What’s interesting is that he never defines what peace is, perhaps that is because he never witnesses peace in the detainment center.
There is so much to say about this book I haven’t the slightest idea where to being. I read
This book thinking it was merely a book of collected poetry. It left me questioning who I am and what kind of a mark am I leaving in the world. Because these poems are translated and edited I could only imagine what more they have to say…the words and thoughts that we will never read the struggle that we will never fully understand. Instead I’m sitting her giving my armature opinion about something I know nothing about, but at least I’m writing.

For the First time in my life I

For the First time in my life I

Poems from Guantanamo

Poems from Guantanamo, I felt was a great source for seeing exile, which is what the course is all about. Each and every poet in this book, writes about their exile from their homeland, because of there being a slim chance of them being terrorists (when they have no link to anything at all). The particular thing I want to look out is the bond they all share with God. There is a lot of religious over tone, everywhere in every poem. Of course this is partially expected due to the fact that when you are held against your will in a foreign place, you will turn to God. Through out each poem, you can see them blamming their religion for why they are detained but at the same time saying no matter what they won't give out hope because salvation will be given to them by God.

The poem that interested me the most was Homeward Bound. Of course this particular poem doesn't have much of a religious overtone. The reason I particularly love this poem is not only because of the meaning and power of the poem, but the meter and rhyme scheme. The meter and rhyme scheme are simplistic and memorable. The poem itself is great. It is written by Moazzam Begg, and throughout the poem you can hear the loss of dreams and hopes as he is stuck in limbo in this prison slowly losing himself to despair. Then he finally comes out and says No i still have hope I want to be Homeward Bound. It reminds me of Etheridge Knight, who is a great poet who also wrote from jail, mostly about how he wants to be home with his family.

The Reality of Guantanamo

Guantanamo Reality

To be exiled from reason, from family, from everything you’ve ever known and form everyone. To know that the only peace you will have form the atrocities that will befall you is the stone walls and floor that enclose you. Most of the authors that we have read about know why they can’t return home or know why they don’t fit in socially. The people of Guantanamo Bay are kept alone; their life is simply another form of death. A death where your cell is the grave and your warm flesh and pulsing blood is the coffin. Most don’t know why they’re there, they haven’t been charged with anything, but they are still facing the torture of a capture terrorist. With no rights and no encouragement, some have found an escape through poetry, but once the writing is over, their nightmare still exists.
Shaikh Abdurraheem Muslim Dost was a religious scholar, poet and journalist who was arrested twice, the second time he was never heard from again. Shaikh’s poem “They Cannot Help” stuck out from the rest. An educated man subjected to treatment not even befitting an animal touches upon human nature and how people act differently depending on what they believe and follow. A man accused of horrible, but un clarified atrocities has written a touching poem about the good and evil of people. Those who are charitable and honest will devote their lives, at all costs, to help others even of this means exile or worse. However, those who oppress others will have to answer for their sins eventually. Even though hope is bleak for Shaikh, he still believes that justice will prevail in the end and that everyone gets their just desserts in the end, due to the prevalence of integrity and honesty.

Guilty until proven innocent?

What is happening to our society nowadays? We are not only allowing the distribution and diffusion of false propaganda about a religion that only promotes pacifism, but now we are also allowing (if not promoting)the barbaric and unhmane treatment of people, who have to prove that they are innocent. Reading Poems from Guantanamo left me with so much despair and sadness, I honestly could not believe that our nation is recurring to a methodology similar to that of "terrorists" who not only commit atrocities but they commit them towards innocents. Two of the poems that really got me thinking and feeling the anguish of the terrible situation of the detainees were "Death Poem" by Jumah Aldosari "To My Father" by Abdullah Thani Faris Anazi.
In "Death Poem" I felt the irony, and loneliness, the pride of remaining integer and to stand by one's beliefs and to have the courage to die for them. I also felt the importance of showing this to the world before it becomes a bigger horror and we will have to apologize forever (As it usually the case in History, Slavery, Camps during World War II).
In "To My Father" I also saw integrity and faithfulness and the importance of faith when in despair, and sadness.
In addition, the article "Arrivals and Departures" really suits the poems well, it shows the problematic of "these world news" that spread like an unstoppable virus and half of the time are not true

MY HEART SANK INTO MY STOMACH.

Poems from Guantanamo THE DETAINEES SPEAK edited by Marc Falkoff made my heart sink into my stomach. These poems really had a striking impact on me. It made me feel like starting a movement, fighting for the rightful justice for these detainees. Over emotional? Yes, I would agree but these accounts came from the individuals who experienced what exile really meant, being away from family, mistreated, abused, this book embodied the true meaning of the silent killer we know as Exile. Reading about innocent, well-educated, respected citizens of various backgrounds being held in these iron cages just shows how unfair the justice system can be, even in present day 2008! It is just unrealistic, and really disturbing. All the poems in this compliation had its relavence, and importance, and it was very difficult for me to choose one and discuss it part by part. Many stood out to me, but I closed my eyes and imagined myself as a detainee, as one of them, and said to myself what would I write. The poem that I chose to examine closely is, IS IT TRUE? By Osama Abu Kabir, the water truck driver from Jordan. This poem appealed to me because it was straight forward, and it addressed all the important topics: Home, Family, and the man who makes the decisions, the Judge. This poem clearly shows that the detainee longs to be with his family, and in his homeland. He begs for his rightful freedom, but sadly Kabir remains at Guantanamo even till this day. Above all, I guess you left the best for last professor. I really enjoyed this class, and it really opened my eyes on a whole other level. Before taking this class, I went around taking things for granted, but after being a part of this class I learned to appreciate the simple things in my life. Thank you Professor Kijowski.

Hope

A common thread within the Poems From Guantanamo- The Detainees Speak seems to be this ever hopefulness for redemption and release from oppression and exile. According to Forms of Suffering in Muslim Prison Poetry, Flagg Miller states that "an old Arabic saying goes...poetry is born of suffering" (Falkoff 7). Arabic poetry comes from a long line of oppression, poetry being the voice of oppression. The poets in this book speak of a similar exile/oppression common within their history of poetry, and express a glint of hope in the publication of this book in obtaining freedom.

The author Jumah Al Dossari has been held in Guantanamo for half a decade, attempting suicide nearly a dozen times. His poem entitled "Death Poem" doesn't display hope for his existence and possible release from prison, but hope that his dead body will be used to present to the world "this soul that has suffered at the hands of the "protectors of peace" (Falkoff 32). He proclaims the displaying of his tortured soul to "the people of conscience" (Falkoff 32).

Another poem by poet Emad Abdullah Hassan is still held in captivity even though there isn't any clear proof or suspicion that he did anything wrong. The attraction in this poem is the allurment in the first stanza, which begins as
"Inscribe your letters in laurel trees
From the cave all the way to the city of the chosen.

It was here that Destiny stood wondering.
Oh Night, are these lights that I see real" (Hassan Ln. 1-4)?

Hassan proclaims oppression, but hope in his devout religion that the "youths" Mohammed have suffered but their endurance is a test of belief in God that keeps them from faltering in these extreme conditions. The lines above describe light which is obviously symbolic of goodness, whereas, dark is evil. Similar to Jumah Al Dossari's poem, Hassan also shares hope in the publication of this book, such as "My song will expose the damned oppression,/ And bring the system collapse" (Hassan Ln. 15-16).

Free=New York

What I found interesting about the novel was the relationship between Edwidge and her care taker/ Uncle Joseph. I suppose because of modern times I thought the relationship was going to be similar to the one in “Lolita” but it was different and poor Uncle Joseph dies. I agree with Sara when she says that the story is very realistic because it’s very common. I can see how she experienced a form of personal exile being isolated from the only home she’d ever known and the person she sees as he father. Interestingly enough, she joins her parents in New York for a better life but she doesn’t see it that was because she loves Haiti and misses her family. At one point the doctor instructs them to take their medications for tuberculosis and promises them the pills will bring them “closer to New York” (p 101). That idea aliens with the constant motif of finding freedom in New York. I think the novel was an easy read and very easy to understand.

Edwidge Danticat on Memory and Language

An amazing recount of her family past and present, with her memories being what the reader sees even though a lot of what she remembers is from what her family members that can’t speak for themselves anymore have told her. She starts with the present, or what is considered the present in the book. Introducing her Haitian family the only way she can, by describing the experiences they face day to day.
The doctor the beginning who tells her that her father is going to die, without even thinking about how her father will feel about his daughter knowing. This depicts the lack of attention her father can receive do to his economic status and being an illegal immigrant in the United States. The doctor, almost casually tells her that he is not getting better and will never get better.
Memory is important to her, and she describes two different types of her memory that she is recounting as she writes this novel: Her own, and what she remembers her family members telling her about her past and their own. Many times she will tell the reader before she finishes a story that the person couldn’t remember a certain event, but they can remember a fine detail like when her father tells her about when “Papa Doc” went into office and he saw his brother crying but can’t remember what he was doing. This lapse in memory can either be looked at as doubtful recollection or a loving memory that a brother has for his pained sibling.
She speaks a lot about understanding Language. She is a writer so her close bonds with her father through his letters when she is a child come at no surprise. However the detail she writes in makes the reader feel the bond she felt as she studied her father’s lettering and modest phrases and wording. The way she can tell what a person’s feeling by imagining the contexts in which they are trying to speak. Language barriers such as her Uncle’s inability to speak and her mother’s use of their old Creole language are also predominant features that show up in her writing. The need to understand and the ability to decipher the literal meaning of words encoded in vague writing and hand gestures shows her point that words don’t always get a point across, that one must feel what that person is feeling and see what they see in order to completely understand what is gong on.

Brother, I'm Dying

In the novel Brother, I am Dying displays an immeasurable account of exile and strife inflicted upon a seemingly 'good' family, told through the eyes of Edwidge Danticat. In Danticat's story there are three main points of exile presented, one being in Danticat's separation from her Uncle Joseph in Haiti when she left to be reunited with her parents and brothers. Before her departure from Haiti she had been living with her Uncle, a man that became a father to her for the ten years she was without her parents. This book instills upon the reader the personal levels of exile that exist within families. It reminded me of a close family friend who came to America at the age 17 from Cuba, and to this day, approaching her 88rd birthday she has not seen her brother who remains Cuba, unable to leave. Another point of exile exists in her Uncle's cancer that hindered his speech and ultimate source of communication between himself and Danticat. This is a bodily exile, a person exiled from his own voice, and then Danticat's feeling of exile toward her Uncle's inability.The third example of exile appears in the Uncle's exile from his beloved homeland; Joseph chose to stay in Haiti, whereas his brother and family chose to leave, therefore at the point of being kicked out into a land not of his own [America], and dying in captivity is absolutely horrible. I was not expecting the story Danticat told in Brother, I am Dying, it was truly heart breaking.

Exile in Life and Death

The plight of Edwidge Danticat's uncle Joseph provides perhaps the most compelling example of exile that we have seen so far. Due to political instability leading to threatening conditions in Haiti, the 81 year old man is more or less forced out of his homeland for his own safety. What he finds in America is clearly no safe haven. He is treated like an unwanted refugee at the detention center he arrived at. When he becomes sick, he is accused of faking his illness, and is not given proper medical attention. His family is not allowed to visit him, and he ultimately dies alone. It is a depressing tale of exile: being forced out of the only home you know in search of safety, only to be practically left for dead.
Even in death, Joseph can be viewed as being in a state of exile. Rather than being buried in Haiti with his wife, his body is buried in Queens. Exile transcends livelihood; one must wonder if Joseph's spirit can truly be at peace when he remains locked out of his own home.

Brother, I'm Dying a most heartbreaking and realistic memoir

When I started reading Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Dandicat I honestly felt like I was reading a seventh or eighth grade book, which kind of made me feel that the book was not going to have an outstanding and memorable storyline, but as I got deeper into the memoir I realize that I was leaning towards the wrong assumption.
This story is not only very realistic (I know someone that has been through the same ordeal as the uncle) but well told, I mean the simple language and smooth chronological flashbacks allow for a better and more humane feeling ( in the reader) and at the same time provide a greater spotlight for the things that need to be highlighted. The generic but detailed language that Edwidge makes use of, makes the horrific events stand for themselves, without having to be glorified with superfluous writing.
The narrative style is so touchy, especially at the end, that I really did not want to get to the end because everything got so pictographic, scary and sad that I felt a knot in my throat and expected worse than what i had already read (which was terrible).

Dying Yet Again In Another Novel

Death seems to occur in some our readings, "Brother I'm Dying" is no exception. A family from Haiti comes to America to have a better life, with the exception of Uncle Joseph, who stays in Bel-Air, Haiti. Danticat has the unfortunate situation of her father dying, and unexpectingly being pregnant all at the same time.
The reason for Uncle Joseph staying in Haiti was because he did not want to leave. He was very much a big influence on the people there and did not want to abandon his fellow people. He was a rather popular preacher and lfted the lives of people there. It was a shame that his exile from the country was through death.
From the novel and my knowledge of the country, Haiti has gone through tough times even after its independence in 1804. From having presidents, one of which was exiled in three weeks. It is a heartbreak story of a family from Haiti fleeing to America to seek freedom. Its almost the same story as Elian Gonzalez, and how he and his mother came to America.

Her king/ Olga

Poem:
Her Kind by Sexton

I have gone out, a possessed witch,

haunting the black air, braver at night;

dreaming evil, I have done my hitch

over the plain houses, light by light:

lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.

A woman like that is not a woman, quite.

I have been her kind.



I have found the warm caves in the woods,

filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,

closets, silks, innumerable goods;

fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:

whining, rearranging the disaligned.

A woman like that is misunderstood.

I have been her kind.



I have ridden in your cart, driver,

waved my nude arms at villages going by,

learning the last bright routes, survivor

where your flames still bite my thigh

and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.

A woman like that is not ashamed to die.

I have been her kind.

Exile Through Heartbreak

In Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown, the reader is given a glimspe at a form of exile primarily instigated by heartbreak. Shalimar's love for Bhoonyi makes her betrayal that much more difficult to endure. Maxmillian's affair is the ultimate catalyst. Shalimar's exile comes in a violent form, as he becomes an assassin and ultimately murders Maxmillian. With the intense political backdrop, it is interesting that Shalimar's exile is arguably brought about because of his own feelings. I guess that Shalimar can be most closely related to Nabokov's Humbert Humbert in this regard, although his feelings were not nearly as unconventional, and his actions proved dangerous on a different level. The motivations for the exile of the characters we have examined is truly astonishing, since there can be such a broad range of factors.

Memory & Exile

“And memory was not madness was it, not even when the remembeed past piled up so high inside you that you feared the files of your yesterdays would become visible in the whites of your eyes. Memory was a gift. Is was a positive. It was a professional resource” (122) remarked Coloel. The first mention of the Coloel’s memory is described as “exceptional” (96). Later, his feelings regarding his memory progress until it is seen as a possible mental problem, which he refuses to seek help for fearing it will end his career. I find it interesting that Rashdie decided to use memory as a curse and a gift being that many of the books we read referred to exile and memory collaboratively.

Olga Volga

After reading Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, I feel that there is a strong sense of Exile in the novel. I must admit that this novel was not one of my favorite, mainly due to the writing style. I found it to be long, and really drawn out. The thoughts of Olga Volga really stood out to me, she said 'I live today neither in this world nor the last, neither in America nor Astrakhan. Also I would add neither in this world nor the next. A woman like me, she lives some place in between. Between the memories and the daily stuff. Between yesterday and tomorrow, in the country of lost happiness and peace, the place of mislaid calm. This is our fate. This I now don't feel. Consequently however I have no fear of death" (p.9) This excerpt brings up many important themes in the novel, including the aspect of death, a type of nomadic stream and that of being a woman. This passage brings up a wide range of topics to discuss.

Shalimar the Clown

The most poignant moment in the book, for me, comes from Olga Volga the potato witch. "As to myself," she says, "I live today neither in this world nor the last, neither in America nor Astrakhan" (9). Seemingly irrelevant, this conversation with Olga Volga is tinted with loss, with exile. She goes on to say that she lives "in the country of lost happiness and peace, the place of mislaid calm." Rushdie seems to have taken special care when crafting these few short lines. It seems almost as if he is speaking in his own voice. Rushdie himself is no stranger to exile, both personally and politically. He has walked around with a death sentence hanging over his head since the late 80's and is the given reason for the British breaking political ties with the Iranians.

-- Ian Herman

Agha Shahid Ali

As a prelude book Shalimar the Clown the author Salman Rushdie placed a poem by Agha Shahid Ali that emphasizes a similar strain of exilement that appears throughout the entirety of the novel.

“I am being rowed through Paradise on a river of Hell:
Exquisite ghost, it is night.
The paddle is a heart; it breaks the porcelain waves…

I’m everything you lost. You won’t forgive me.
My memory keeps getting in the way of your history.
There is nothing to forgive. You won’t forgive me.
I hid my pain even from myself; I revealed my pain only to myself.
There is everything to forgive. You can’t forgive me.
If only somehow you could’ve been mine,
What would not have been possible in the world”?
-Agha Shahid Ali

When I first read this poem, I initially thought of India, and her exile from both of her parents. Which could certainly be true, for there is a reason why Rushdie placed this particular poem at the beginning of the novel. It set the mood for the mood for this dreary, complex narrative, full of different people suffering and enduring life.

The beginning of the poem reminds me of the beginning of the book, where India’s sleep-talk is explained, which could be a psychological effect of her mother’s death/abandonment. Especially the line: “My memory keeps getting in the way of your history” (5) which crosses with her India’s own life and her mother’s death.

This poem also relates to Shalimar’s love for Bhoonyi, and the betrayal he felt for Max when he stole her away from him. It is filled with a certain angst, hopefulness and nostalgia, but deep and dark. The last two lines: “If only somehow you could’ve been mine, /What would not have been possible in the world”? emphasize Shalimar’s loss, and exile, as he is left to endure a dirty betrayal, and lost love one.

Rushdie somehow blends "reality fiction" and fantasy and makes them both believable-- even when they are components of the same story. Each major character in the story has a unique, personal exile, existing in a world that is all his or her own. It is interesting that the very art of fantasy-writing entails "creating" a world, and that is just what Rushdie has done-- created realities for different characters in different formats.
Perception plays an important role in Shalimar the Clown, and the message within the complex madness of the tale seems to be that the world is made up of perceptions. Each of us has a unique set, and can never fully relate to anyone else's. It is fascinating to enter into the universe constructed by Rushdie and to see how the views of different characters overlap or clash. The results of each interaction end up making the story, and part of the joy in reading Rushdie's work was chronicling each step and example.

Significance to 9/11

One of the most difficult readings I have ever read. Very difficult to get into until the midpart of the book. As mention by Sara, this plot has been used in several of today's mainstream books, person is heart broken and then seeks revenge on others. Also the book can be made with reference to 9/11 because Shalimar wanted to get revenge on others, similar to how 9/11 occur because of possible jealousy.
Doing some background information on Rushdie, he was under police protection for several years because of the books that he wrote which had references to terrorism. I find it unique that Rushdie would write about such a topic that at the time of the novel released would most likely to criticized with relation to India.

Below there is a link with connection to Shalimar The Clown which I found rather interesting about the life of Rushdie.
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/amsterdamforum/20060730af

Shalimar the Clown and a different style of writing

Honestly out of all the books that we have read in class, and that I have read in other classes or independently, the main plot (apart from the historical background) of The book Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, did not impress me much, it seemed a little played out and predictable . The guy that was once great, innocent and wonderful and then is betrayed by a beautiful woman, and kills the man with whom she had an affair (as a means of revenge) or viceversa. However, the writing style presents an interesting challenge to one as a reader. It is so complex and poetic that it is almost impossible to follow, it seems to be mostly written in the passive voice (which is not very common) and it contains so many adjectives that constantly throw one off the main story, and enhance the character's integrity and/or rationality. Also, it presents an amazing imagery and metaphoric language that intensify the emotions of Shalimar as a young man. Rushdie is so successful in his narration that it makes the feelings become almost personal "Standing before him, oiled of skin and with wildflowers scenting the carefully braided hair [...] was the girl he loved, waiting for him to make her a woman and in doing so make himself a man" (Rushdie 60). I thought this specific moment is so enticing, it displays the climax of the innocent and naive love story between Shalimar and Boonyi Kaul, and it places the reader in this mood of expectancy that when she tells him "if that was it" (Salman 61) it is just heartbreaking.

Reading Lolita In Tehran

I can't imagine waking up in a country where there is no freedom for women. In Reading Lolita In Tehran, Nafisi shows how the women in her "book club" were in exile in their own home involuntarily. When Nafisi went through a day in the life of one of the girls in the group (Sanaz-pg26), I was shocked. These women were forced to sit on the back of buses and be so fearful for their lives. The novel showed an internal exile because the women can't express their true identities and really accomplish whatever they want to put their minds to.

Dry
After reading Nabokov’s “Lolita”, Nafisi’s”reading Lolita in Tehran” was unable to keep my interest. i understood that it was a memoir but because of the title I figured that it would have much more to do with Nabokov’s “Lolita”. Overall I got the feeling that the book was more about women/feminist empowerment, more then the decision of the book “Lolita”. Even so, "Lolita" was not the only forbidden book that was read. In some ways Nafisi sets this up by defining the living room where she held her classes as a symbol of her “nomadic and borrowed life”. She also speaks of how Nobokov is a hero because he “refuses to be like the rest of us”. I think the goal of the author was to focus more on what Nabokov accomplished in writing Lolita,more then the novel itself. At any rate this was disappointing because I imagining their decisions and opinions to be more interesting. I'm not sure how this book was suppose to be read.

Her Veil

After reading the book: Reading Lolita in Tehran, through the eyes of an American, I realized the great lengths of Azar Nafisi's restriction and exile. I wonder however, how this would look in the eyes of an ardent Iranian...possibly inhumane? As it did, because her betrayal of Iranian culture, and refusal to wear a veil in the classroom dismayed and horrified others, and her exile from teaching was her lesson learned. I can't imagine being restricted to wearing certain clothes, or being a certain way, which is a very American belief, Nafisi risked her life, and the lives of those young girl to teach them classic western literature. Her exile remains in this secretive life she endures, and her exile from her former University. Disgrace in the Iranian culture: her request that she does not wear a veil while teaching seems so minor, because in America death has to occur before anybody does anything. (Embellished to make a point). Nafisi's courage and ultimate refusal of her veil, exiled her.

Appreciation for Literature

Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books instilled in me a great sense of appreciation for literature and the ability to freely read and discuss great works. Sometimes we take it for granted that our society permits us to study the work of authors like Austen, Fitzgerald and Nabokov. Just last week we read Lolita and some portions seemed shocking even to us. For a novel like this to be read during the Iranian Revolution, while it was "banned Western literature" is truly remarkable.
I also found it the relationship between Nafisi and her students to be fascinating. The sheer range of topics they explore together is what made this read so interesting. They don't only focus on the classic Western novels, but their personal lives as well. I felt like this was an intriguing dimension that Nafisi included.

What this is not

I find Nafisi's statement at the beginning of chapter 10 about how to relate her story to Lolita intriguing. She writes, "I want to emphasize once more that we were not Lolita, the Ayatollah was not Humbert and this republic was not what Humbert called his princedom by the sea" (35).
I find this statement particularly interesting because she is so adamant about it. It seems logical to relate Nabokov's story to this memoir in this way. Why should Nafisi feel so strongly that this not occur? It seems counterintuitive for an author to tell their reader that they should not read a text in one specific, and especially obvious, way.

Literature As An Escape

After reading the novel entitled Reading Lolita in Tehran I acknowledge how lucky I am because I can be an independent, educated, opinionated young woman. I have the freedom to express myself in whatever manner I wish, I can dress according to my individual choice, and I can do whatever a man can do, who knows maybe even better. This memoir really opened my eyes to the sad, but realistic lives, and challenges women in Tehran. In my opinion, these women turned to literature as an escape from society, and its unfair rules and regulations. If I was living in Iran I would have been one of these students, sneaking out and secretly attending the Thursday mornings session. By reading many different works of literature, I believe that they found it to be an escape, or some sort of familiarity. At some point in the novel it states, "...the most central of which was how these great works of imagination could help us in our present trapped situation as women. We were not looking for blue-prints, for an easy solution, but we did hope to find a link between the open spaces the novel provided and the closed ones we were confined to" (p.19). But as it is said, where there is a will, there is a way. This group of yound women, came together and worked together as a team in their fight against their repression, and the rise to their liberation.

Nafisi's Tale

This story is a certain example of exile because Nafisi was forever banned from teaching and her friend explained “You are aware….that you are more and more withdrawing into yourself, and now that you have cut your relations with the university, your whole contact with the outside world will be mainly restricted to one room” (11). Nafisi did resign from teaching on her own because of the unfair treatment of the university to teach her own lessons. Iran, where the story took place, is seen as a dictatorship because students as well as professors were reprimanded if rules were not followed.
It is sad to see that in this stage at life that people are still unable to do whatever they please. To have to undermine higher school officials and read forbidden topics is something that is still common in certain parts of the world. Countries like Iran should leave it up to the discretion of the professor to decide what should be read.

Reading Lolita in Tehran and the lack of Colors

Reading Lolita in Tehran is deeper than just the mere act of reading lolita, it is the act of creating a parallel dimension under the name of literature. It is a memoir of the creation of colors in a moment and place in time in which everything seems clear. Nafisi mentions her fascination about the idea of creating colors of from dreams she says: The color of my dreams, I repeated to myself [...]I liked that. How many people get a chance to paint colors of their dreams?(11). What she does not seem to realize is that, that is exactly what she creates for herself and the girls through the exploration of various literary works and their colorful characters.
Furthermore, this book is about exile,but not just any exile, the exile of a woman in her own country "This is Tehran for me: Its absences were more real than its presences." (Nafisi 5). Nafisi establishes the fact that being in tehran was the lack and nostalgia for what she remembered of her native country, as if returning to her homeland in 1979 was the same as destroying every single one of the memories that she had ever created.

Internal & External Exile

In Lolita, Humbert experiences two types of exiles: an internal exile and an external exile. His internal exile comes from his sick views of love and lust. Humbert believes that there is nothing wrong with loving his underage "nymphets", but we all know that it's not the norm. His internal desire for young girls causes an exile which he is subconsious to: an exile of normality. Humbert is out of reality, internally trapped by his lust for the wrong type of women. He has become so detached from normal society that he doesn't realize how rash his actions are. His voluntary external exile occurs when he comes from Europe to America, and becomes nomadic, moving constantly and not belonging to one fixed place.

Annabel

One of the more fascinating aspects of Lolita was actually getting a sense of why Humbert turned out the way he did, and why he developed such disturbing thoughts about young girls. His relationship with Annabel and the lack of closure that he received had a signigificant impact on Humbert as he grew older. Humbert was never able to consummate the relationship with his young, first lover. This had reprecussions on his character for years to come. When Annabel dies it is as though there is a void in Humbert's mind, which can only be filled by someone he can compare her to. He developed such strong feelings about Annabel, or perhaps the idea of Annabel, that he starts to become obsessed with "nymphets" like Lolita The problem is that he continued to grow older and older, his feelings remained toward young girls, even when he was able to have relationships with adults. This in no way rationalizes Humbert's feelings or his actions, but it does give a little bit of insight as to why he behaves in such a sick way. This also made me think about why people become exiles, and how often a traumatic experience can play a major part in making someone an exile. It is important to try and understand the psychology of an exile in order to determine why they do what they do, and why they have become isolated from social norms because of it.

One of the finest English professors I've ever had explained to my class that writing creatively means creating sensations through expression. In her own words, "if you try to describe a homeless person on the streets of New York, I want to be able to smell him." It may sound a bit theatrical, but that is because very few writers are capable of producing such an effect on the reader. Only a master can elevate language to the point of transcending mere communication or even eloquent description. In Nabokov's Lolita, he succeeds in establishing himself not only as a 'writer in exile', but as one of the finest American authors of this century.
More than anything, I believe Lolita shows that the content of a novel-- and in this case, I found the topic very disturbing-- has little to do with the craft of writing. Nabokov chose an "untouchable" subject matter, one that conventionally is viewed with disgust. To many, pedophilia is seen as a more repulsive crime even than murder. The storyline has all the elements of a twisted, dark, and sordid tale even by today's standards, yet was hailed as a masterwork, which it is. Reading Lolita was a profoundly moving experience, but not because the story or the characters are inspiring or pretty. Rather, the quality of the writing and the boldness of the narrator in revealing his life's deepest secrets transforms the book into a journey. If the reader commits to the book, he commits to entering a life, a forbidden world that Nabokov bravely created.

Attraction

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita depicts the psychologically disturbed narrator, in exile as he hopelessly attempts alluring a young teenager. Meanwhile, throughout the narrative, the reader is in distrust of the narrator Humbert for he is conveying Lolita's lust for him as factual, when his reality may be derailed by his pedophilia desires.
While there may be many levels of exile contained within this book, the most concerning form is found within the character Humbert, and his desire for younger girls. It isn't perfectly clear whether or not Lolita lusts/loves Humbert...for she is only a teenager. As in: "She was not pretty, she was a nymphet...The pale child noticed my gaze (which was really quite casual and debonair), and being ridiculously self conscious, lost countenance completely" (Nabokov 126). Lolita isn't taken for what she is, she's a young girl who just might be attracted to Humbert's charms, and active infatuation, but all in all, she's unable to make a decision. And even if she were to decide, Humbert would be in the wrong anyway because he should know better than to pursue a young girl. Humbert however presents his exile by means of his blatant attraction and inability to contain a desire that is not kindly viewed in society.

Lolita as a form of Exile

The novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov can be seen from two different perspectives one as a man who has been deeply hurt due to a frustrated love and therefore, has gone mad and committed a great number of immoral and unethical acts; or two, as a man who has deeply fallen in love with a GIRL and cannot see beyond that point, and cannot measure the degree of his acts, and ultimately learns his lesson and receives what he deserves, or better yet what he has generated from the beginning. However, in both perspectives Lolita seems to be Humbert's way of exile from a painful world in which he cannot seem to fit in, either because of his terrible and frustrated love for Annabel, or the constant appearance or encountering with "nymphets" that are provoking him.
What is most outstanding of the novel though is that at the beginning Humbert seems completely mad and just out of all his senses, but as the novel progresses he seems to reach closer to serenity and understanding. When he starts making his case and defense, he can only talk about the nymphets, but at the end he seems to realize that his behavior is damaging, and Lolita's ultimate fate is only the result of his misdoings to her, and that perhaps she deserves to be away from him.

Eyes on Both Ends of the "Exile Spectrum"

After reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov I realized that there is a strong theme of exile flowing through the novel. Two of the main characters, Humbert and Lolita are exiles but what sets them apart from eachother is the fact that one of the character's exile is voluntary, while the other is involuntary. This is where Nabokov allows the reader to examine both ends of the "Exile Spectrum". Humbert chooses his exile willingly when he leaves Europe, and journeys to America. Lolita on the other hand is forced into exile when Charlotte dies, leaving her behind with Humbert. They are alienated from the societies which they are familiar, and they find themselves in ambiguious moral territory where the old rules do not tend to apply. Humbert and Lolita are so disconnected from odinary society that they can acknowledge how immoral their actions become, Humbert can see the claws he sprouted, and Lolita maintains the role of a silent lamb. Tqwards the end, both Humbert and Lolita experience the ultimate blow from exile's thunderous fist, Lolita held by Dick Schiller, and Humbert held by the iron cage in prison. Exile in this novel is final, there is no way out, no mobility. Here we see the both ends of the spectrum, but when it all boils down, for these characters Exile is not a bed of roses, but a harsh and brutal way of life.

Lolita Starts a Trend That is Unfortunately Followed

The story of Lolita reminds me of how today’s society is when it comes to adults having sexual relations with young adults specifically under 18. Today in our society, it has happened and people condemn things like that. Maybe Humbert felt that it was the norm. Though it was wrong for Humbert to have feelings for Lolita in that way, you can’t help but feel sympathy for him because he wanted to fill that void of extra space with companionship. What was wrong about the whole situation is that he married Charlotte to get to Lolita, which was wrong because she had hoped that he was the man of her dreams. Sadly this was not the case.
Humbert did what he did because he missed Annabel and wanted to recapture that moment in time, when he was thirteen. The only problem is that he waited until he was a lot older and fell in love with a girl the same age as Annabel. It’s a sad ending to a rather unique love story, but received criticism because of its plot. Age is nothing but a number but when it is thirteen, then it becomes wrong whatever way you think of it.

Lolita- The View of a Pedophile

Lolita , a beautifully written novel by Vladimir Nabovok is also an eerie tale of a pedophile and his obsession. Humbert begins his memoiré by recounting his childhood and his first sexual experiences. Ironically the first sexual experiences he can remember are with a young American boy in the rose garden talking of “purely theoretical…pubertal surprises” (p11) After recounting these he goes on to his first love Annabel who was twelve when he was thirteen. He explains his sexual encounter with her in graphic, however beautiful detail. In the end though, Annabel and Hunmbert can’t finish their sexual experiences and 4 months later Annabel dies of Typhus.
Humbert becomes a pedophile after this, watching little girls and referring to those who catch his attention as “nymphets”. The referral to magic and spells is to discredit the psychological field and steers the explanation of Humbert away from being considered a pedophile and instead into that of a bewitched man. This is a frivolous attempt on Humbert’s side to clean up his image.
These “nymphets” that infatuate him are in fact 9-14 year old girls. He falls in love with Lolita, also known as Doris while taking a trip to America. His trip to America is his willful journey into exile. Humbert marry’s Lolita’s mother in order to stay close to Lolita, and when her mother dies he takes Lolita on a road trip where they become nomadic. Humbert and Lolita willfully exile themselves from any specific home.
Humbert is obsessed with these "nymphets" because of his unrequited love for Annabel, and he is still in the mind-frame of her twelve year old figure. He makes frivolous attempts at love but no woman can compare to Annabel, and until Lolita, his nymphets couldn’t fill his memory of her either.
Memory is another important aspect of the novel, Humbert recalls two types of memory and attributes the general memory to Annabel where he can “skillfully recreate an image in the laboratory” of his mind, and the more passionate, vivid memory is attributed to Lolita which is an “absolutely optical replica of a beloved face”.
Nevertheless, the novel captures the inner workings of a select pedophile’s mind and then shows how this man, H.H. justifies his feelings for young girls.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

In Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov we take a look at Humbert Humbert's obsession with "nymphets" in particuarly Dolores Haze. Throughout the novel is apparent that because of his obession with adolescent girls, Humbert feels exiled. We see him rationalize this obession multiple times, including illusion to historical figures, like Dante or Petrarch whom both fell in love with their lovers when their lovers were young. This shows an exile in time period. Humbert feels like he is exiled by his time period because as he even mentioned in 1840 over 1940 it was acceptable for a young girl to be married off to a man. He is exiled by his time period because he sees no problem with this obession of "nymphets". One could call it his rationalization of a morally unacceptable obsession, but he defends himself throughout the whole book. He constantly mentions other cultures that are still around in which it is socially acceptable to marry young girls. Humbert's exile is one of time, and place. In America and Europe it is unacceptable for him to have any form of relation with a young girl, when 100 years earlier or in a different country he very well could. He feels that the normal standards for living are not what he believes in. This exile of time and place I feel is the most important in the novel, because even when he is finally able to have his Lolita any time he wants, he still has to hide it from everyone around him because it is not socially acceptable, when he sees no problem with it. Throughout the novel we also see a small exile on Humbert for being European. We see that Charlotte and other people considered him a European man due to his accent, and mysteriousness. Dolores even teases him at one point for his polite European way of asking for directions. He could tell that other people would tease him to, because he does do what she imitates. This exile due to his descent is important for Humbert's exile from the place he is currently in. Due to his descent is exiled from America just like his obsession with nymphets.

Exile in Suicide

In the book: "Things Fall Apart" the author Chinua Achebe presents the ultimate downfall of the Ibo tribe as they are forced into the 'white world.' One of the main characters Okonkwo, a devout presence in society, feared by many due to the fact that he cruelly beat his wives. In the core of Okonkwo's being is a sincere and dreadful form of exile that exposes itself the moment he decided to commit suicide.

Throughout the novel the reader was given many different descriptions of gods and ceremonies engendering the sacredness of this tribe. Their beliefs and holy commitment definitely infiltrated itself on every day life, even when their tribe was slowly heading toward extinction. Okonkwo, a brute was affected greatly by this change the Ibo tribe faced...rather than having to succumb to customs not of his own he hung himself, ultimately exiling himself from his Ibo tribe. Suicide is highly condemned, and a refusal of burial is enforced to those who commit the ultimate sin. A painful moment in the book would be toward the end when members of the tribe ask the 'white men' to bury Okonkwo for they cannot, it is against their beliefs. The reader is able to see the connection between these tribal members, and even though Okonkwo went against the tribal rules they still wanted him buried.

Things Fall Apart

Things fall Apart:
Perhaps the most interesting thing about "Things Fall Apart" is Achebe's character: Okonkwo and Hemingway's Cohn. Both authors start off describing these characters strongest points and how thoses pionts make them week, both of them want to be liked or excepted but fail. Okonkwo does this by making it his personal goal not to display any of the qualities that were like his fathers. Because of this he was a rich man with several wives and was well know throughout all the villages. Cohn was admired for his ability to stay calm and not fight although he was a boxer, the same way in which Okonkwo was admired for his display "manliness". Unfortunately, Cohn snapped one day by beating up the bull fighter and that display of anger became his down fall, the same way in which Okonkwo's need to be ultra manly leads to his distruction at the end of the novel.

Achebe's Exile

I have read this novel before and remember being struck by the same question: how personal is this story? Does any one character in the novel represent Achebe? I do not know for sure but if I were to guess I would think that it is Nwoye. Nwoye leaves his family and all things familiar in search of something new. This seems similar to Achebe's writing of the novel and exile from Nigeria. Achebe clearly has very mixed feelings about tribal life and very strong feelings about the colonization of Nigeria. Perhaps however, he is not a character in the novel but rather in the novel itself.

Language in "Things Fall Apart"

This novel reminded me of the Analzuda passage we read, where the author wrote in both English and Spanish as a representation of her mixed cultures. Achebe does the same in "Things Fall Apart". I found myself skipping over some of the words and names of the African dialect because they were so difficult. By keeping certain words in the Igbo language, he shows that they are too complex to be translated. It gave the novel a real effect to me, even though I had to use "context clues" to figure out what was being said.

Nwoye's exile

Long before Okonkwo is forced to take his family into exile to atone, there is a complex parallel of exile to be seen with his true son, Nwoye. Okonkwo finds Nwoye to be lazy and isn't very proud of his son. He harbors this attitude because he is afraid Nwoye could end up like his father, Unoka. He is more or less ashamed of Unoka's behavior while he was alive, especially his cowardly actions and his struggles with owing money. Since Okonkwo makes the comparison from Nwoye to his father, he ultimately seems to reject him and leave him isolated and lonely. When Okonkwo takes charge of Ikemefuna, he seems to look at him as an ideal son. Nwoye forms a bond with Ikemefuna as well, but his own father Okonkwo never seems to embrace his real son. He is happy with the notion of Nwoye developing a more masculine character, which largely comes about because of Ikemefuna's influence. Ikemefuna, in many ways, is not only an "older brother" to Nwoye, but a father figure as well. Okonkow's neglect for his son may reveal a lot about how his own father treated him. Nwoye cries when he finds out Ikemefuna is leaving, and eventually realizes that he is dead. He has, in a sense, been exiled from his father, and has instead taken comfort in his relationship with Ikemefuna. Once Ikemefuna is also taken from him, he is being further driven away from filial ties.

Some Things Never Change

After reading the novel entitled Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, I realized that some things never change especially the domination of women by a male figure. The protagonist, Okonkwo strives to be the epitomy of masculinity by being really ignorant and selfish in my opinion. We learn that their are many influences in his life that make him act the way he acts, but his opinions seems to be misguided, and chavinistic. His relationship with his father caused his violent behavior because many a times he was not able to put food on the table for Okonkwo, and siblings. Okonkwo saw this as being weak and feminine. What!?! This reason is just unbelievable, and unacceptable. Give a woman a chance, and you'll see she would definitely have something on the table at the end of the day. Then the narrator goes further by saying that a man who has not taken any of the expensive, prestige-indicating title is called a agbala, which means woman. Honestly, this inferiority of woman is driving me nuts, thank God I'm not living in this clan, and I am in a society where Kimora Lee is the owner of the huge BabyPhat business empire, and Hilary Clinton, a woman maybe the next President. In addition, Okonkwo associated masculinty with being abusive to his wives, and children, and often blocks off his sentiments. In my opinion, look at Tom Cruise, he professed his love for Katie Holmes on national television by jumping on the sofa on Oprah's talk show, and this didn't make him less of a man. And luckily there wasn't any child care services back then because Oknokwo,"the big MAN on campus" would have been in a lot of legal troubles for assaulting his kids. Above all, this just goes to show that Okonkwo has a notion that men are stronger than women, which in my opinion (pisses me off), really irritates me.

Falling Apart of Government

Some parts of this story relates to “The Lottery,” because the fact that in both stories, a person is sacrificed for the sake of the people. In this Things Fall Apart, two people were sacrificed, which were a virgin to become a future wife, and a boy that was later killed. This was to prevent a war from creating. This novel also changed the perception I had of Africa, in that I never imagined Nigeria had a Democratic government in that the town decided what to do in certain situations, like whether to decide to go to war or not. After reading such books like Heart of Darkness, one would have the perception of Africa as a savage area, most notably in the late 1800s.
During the story, I noticed that Okonkwo was a very aggressive person, probably because he wanted to be taken seriously and not be like his father Unoka. Because of his aggression, this may have led him to his demise because he killed the court messenger boy.

The Exile of "Destruction"

As I first started reading Things Fall Apart by, Chinua Achebe I was honestly astonished and a bit in shock of the traditional customs and practices of the clan, but as the story and the great fall started to develop, I felt not only sympathetic towards Okonkwo (I didn't really like his character at the beginning), but perhaps as angry and frustrated as he felt. I could not understand how people did not see what Okonkwo pointed out to them, and the fact that they were erasing an entire culture and exiling themselves from what they had known throughout their entire life. Furthermore, I realize that this too was a culture that had rules, norms and hierarchies, and most important a logical system of life. The part that made this point the most obvious to me was:
"You carve a piece of wood[...] and you call it a god. [...] It is indeed a piece of wood. The tree from which it came was made by Chukwu, as indeed all minor gods were. But He made them for His messengers so the we could approach Him through them. (Achebe 179).

One can derive that this book shows a clear aspect of exile, an exile that seems harsh and almost unbelievable, an exile that is human made and is the result of the destruction of a culture. It feels as if the protagonist's end is perhaps his last resource to preserve what he knew (his ideal tribe), before he is destructed or "converted" and gives in to deleting all his traditions, beliefs and memories. Furthermore, the fact that the Great Fall is so realistic and still happening (Iraqi War) makes the Fall a lot more difficult and rough on the reader.

Projected Memory:

I find it interesting the way in which imagery is used to convey ideas constantly throughout the text. When speaking of Novack and the way in which she represents herself as “branded by the harrowing memory of Nazi genocide” (p 266) she could be taken quite literally because she body is “inscribed with the story of those other children”. By doing this the children loses their physical boundaries and “merge with one another”. I think this shows the way in which no one child stands alone but each one can be a representation for the other, “the faces are stripped of individuality” (p 271). The text goes on to say that by simply looking at the image, “we enter its space, the visual space of postmemory”. Postmemory is described as a powerful form of memory because of its connection with objects. Perhaps this gives readers some insight as to why or even how people in general and those in holocaust can be attached to objects even after something tragic has taken place. Postmemory is further described as “The relationship of children of survivors of cultural or collective trauma to the experiences of their parents, experiences that they 'remember' only as the stories and images with which they grew up, but are so powerful, so monumental, as to constitute memories in their own right"(267). This reminds me of the discussion we had in class about the younger generations of Jews not fully understanding what the experience of the Holocaust was like. I think that its important that this generation continue to use imagery as we have been in museums and galleries to serve as our own form of post memory.

What constitutes memory? This is primarily the question being asked by Marianne Hirsch in Projected Memories-- and it's a very complicated one. What struck me most when reading the piece was the idea that memory is not composed of snapshot images, but of an intricate blend of emotions, thoughts, and powerful impressions--- the whole experience of life contributes to the way our memories are formed.
I couldn't help but think of some of the most moving and disturbing pictures I've seen from events which took place (or are taking place) during my lifetime--- the 9/11 attacks, the genocide in Darfur, or the terror attacks which wreak havoc in Israel on a too-frequent basis. I may not have seen the buildings fall, but I felt the panic and grief of the situation in a major way. The emotions associated with that day have always been a part of my "human experience", but the images accompanying my own perceptions made it even more profoundly personal for me. Now there are dust-covered faces running across a bridge (faces that could have been mine or my family member's), whereas before there was a blank, to be filled with faceless horror. The images make my own memories of the terrible event that much sharper. It is interesting that merely seeing pictures of people I don't know changes the way I remember that day, especially since I didn't see those pictures until months later. However, I know that they do, and that the change is meaningful.
For me, Projected Memories was illuminating and revealing--- I know I will never look at a photographic image, either of myself or of other people or things, without considering it, even on an unconscious level, as part of a vast temporal, spatial, and creative way of producing memories.

My "Projected Memory: Holocaust Photographs"

1. Maydonik: The hole where the Zyklon B (gas) was dropped in.

2. Maydonik: Inside a gas chamber.

3. Maydonik: Inside a shower.

4. Birkenau: Toilets

5. Birkenau: Water-filled pit where bodies were burnt and buried (many while still alive) when the ovens were unable to keep up.

6. Maydonik: A small fraction of the many many (literally) tons of shoes confiscated from prisoners of the camp.

7. Maydonik: A row of “barracks”.

8. Maydonik: “…The three-story plank beds held the average of 500 people…”

9. Maydonik: Inside a “barrack”.

10. Maydonik: A row of ovens in one of the crematoriums.

11. Maydonik: An oven.

--Ian Herman

A Picture Is Worth A Million Words.

After reading Projected Memories by Marianne Hirsch, I realsize that pictures weigh more heavily than mere words. There is a saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt", this stresses the point that the verbal, and written stories of many personal accounts of individuals who experienced the Holocaust somehow delivers less of the pain, and hardships these people endured, but the sight of a picture of an individual during this time would speak volumes. Today, many of us have prior knowledge of the Holocaust story, but when we come across a photo of someone who experienced this cruel act, the image allows our imagination, and emotions to run wild. Many of the photographs featured in this article seem to have a common theme flowing through, they all include pictures of children. When one looks at these children you can visualize the difficulties they encountered, by the way they were dressed, by their bittersweet smiles, and this leads us to think about the struggles their parents had to put up with inorder to maintain their well-being. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a million words. Then, this pushes me to ask the questions, "why do these picture surface?", "why would anyone want to see such horrible, difficult times?","by showing these pictures to the second generation, does it help in their understanding, or does it intensify the situation?"
Well, this is where Hirsch goes on to explore the notion of Postmemory is described as "the relationship of children of surviviors of cultural or collective trauma to the experiences of their parents, experiences that they 'remember' only as the stories and images with which they grew up, but are so powerful, so monumental, as to constitute memories in their own right"(267). From this quote, we see that the second generation Jews do not fully understand the horiffic event of the Holocaust, and the dangers their ancestors faced at that time. This is the exact experience Artie from the last reading, Maus encountered, he retold the story of his father's Holocaust experience, as a form of closure for himself. Above all, pictures, comic sketches, photographs, stories, and written volumes all forms in which light is being shed on the horrendous, and unforgettable time of the Holocaust. An attempt for some individuals to get closure, for some to relive the experience, and for some a way to connect to someone or something, and feel like you belong, and less of an outsider in society.

Memories

After reading Maus, and understanding the exile Vladek suffered, the article: Projected Memories by Marianne Hirsch was easily connected. Both Vladek and the people in Hirsch’s article seemingly find it difficult fitting into the contemporary world, coming from a past that was completely excruciating and inhumane. Hirsch presents many different holocaust stories, and after having discussed the horrors of the holocaust in class and different types of exile a person like Vladek suffered, Hirsch’s readings seemed just as surreal- all facing many different realities between past and present that plague their lives.
In the quote: “The child who lives is crowded out by the children who were killed, the mother who lives, by the mother who was executed; their lives must take their shape in relation to the murderous breaks in these other, past, lives” (Hirsch 266). The exile felt between Lorie and her mother are because of their past that distorts their reality. Hirsch also explains the cultural memory that combines personal memory of a person with a shared history- so not only do these survivors of the holocaust remember their own suffering, the wide world of so many other person’s pasts become apart of theirs too, exiling them even further.

Images of Children

Marianne Hirsch's provocative article "Projected Memory: Holocaust Photographs" offers many insightful ways to look at images and the messages that they convey. I was particularly interested in Hirsch's discussion of images of children. She poses the question "Why are such a large number of the archival images uses in the texts documenting and memorializing the Holocaust images of children?" (269), citing the boy from Warsaw and Anne Frank among others. My initial internal response was that images of children would undoubtedly evoke even more sympathy from those that view the photographs, drawing attention to their innocence and to the evil they were forced to endure. Hirsch relays Lucy Dawidowicz' response to the question, which is to "bring home the utter senselessness of Holocaust destruction," (271). I found it startling tht only 11 percent of Jewish children survived the "unforgiving ferocity of the Nazi death machine," (271). Hirsch continues to examine the issue by exploring the facets of our culture that make it conducive to being affected by such images: "As recent controversies suggest, our culture has a great deal invested in children's innocence and vulnerability--and at the same time, in their eroticism and knowledge," (272). All of this contributes to why the usage of children in images depicting the horrors of the Holocaust has been so widespread and so effective in conveying emotion.
On a related note, Hirsch contemplates an issue that we had discussed in class, regarding the photographs that appeared in Maus, particularly the inclusion of the photo of Richieu at the beginning of Volume II. According to Hirsch, such an image serves to "haunt us with its strange lifelike presence," and "acts like a ghostly apparition, materially recalling Richieu's absence," (271). Since we had talked about why Spiegelman had decided to include photographs amongst his drawings, I felt this was particularly relevant.

Exile at home?

The article "Projected Memories", by Marianne Hirsch touches on a very specific and real aspect of the exile lived by those who have family members that, went through the holocaust and/or were part of the holocaust themselves but can not remember its atrocity. These individuals can neither live in the past nor the present. They are constantly haunted by a past that they cannot relate to, and they live their present trying to understand what was it, that, happened in the past, so that their life and their family's life would become "public history". It seems like, their place in society, history and most importantly at home is constantly blurred by external memories that are untouchable to them.
When reading this article all that came to my mind was that, even though their families wanted to make them feel at home, and society wanted to acknowledge them (and their family immense struggle) they only drove them further away, and isolated them more than ever; Like in Maus.

Personal and Historical Memories

Personal and Private Memories

Hirsch’s essay is almost directly related to Art Spiegelman’s in Maus. In Maus the main character is trying to write a graphic novel about his father’s experiences during the Holocaust, however he can never truly understand what it was like in those conditions.
Hirsch notices that there are certain photographs that are shown everywhere to represent a particularly harsh event, such as the Holocaust. Photographs of children are predominantly used in order to project a feeling of sadness and hopelessness. To see an innocent child suffering under conditions that adults didn’t survive is heartbreaking, not only for those who were directly effected, but for everyone.
The photographs show a history of a people that follows the next generations of this culture. Even though the photos and writings are personal and can evoke high emotions to certain images, It is still not enough to truly experience what happened. This is the problem of the second-generation, they know that their history was horrible, however they can never experience or truly understand the violence and discrimination felt against their ancestors.

Consistency of Postmemory with link to Maus.

During the reading, the consistency of postmemory is used in this story. In my opinion, some memories of the past, particulary those of the Halocaust should be left as a memory, simply because of the effect it had on a particular ethnic group. The reason being is that no one wants to recall these experiences. However in Hirsch's story, pictures are the primary use for the rememberance of the Halocaust. Also childhood experiences of the Halocaust are discussed. Hirsch seems to be basing her ideas of postmemory from the pictures that still remain of the 1940s and 50s.
With reference to what Jason said, it does in fact relate to Maus. The importance of memory is used as well in Spiegelman's story to create the story of Maus and to relive the experience. All of Hirsch's life is on factural memory of her past, and the interest she takes on defining the term postmemory.

Projected Memories and Maus

While reading Hirsch's Projected Memories Hirsch explores Postmemory. She explains Postmemory as stories a certain group of people or person can only remember based upon images and the stories of others who experiences it first hand. In Hirsch's essay she describes the feelings of second generation Jewish who do not fully understand the dangers their parents or other children went through during the Holocaust. This idea of Postmemory connected to Maus in many ways. In Maus Artie tries to use postmemory to draw his father's story and make other people get an idea of it. He also tries constantly to connect to his father by seeing what his father or other Jewish people went through during Nazi control of Europe. Arties uses postmemory by looking at images, pictures, having his father explain in detail, and by listening to his father's story. Hirsch describes part of postmemory as a traumatic experience that happened to the generation before them that effects them either way. In the case of Artie it is the Holocaust because he never witnessed the Holocaust but it effected his father and therefore effected him. It effected how outsiders think of him and his father. A lot of what has to do with Artie is because of his father's insane habits that is what Hirsch is trying to explain about Postmemory. That the next generations are effected by something they never witnessed. They also can never really understand it, and Artie proves that multiple times during the graphic novel. I use Maus as an example because I think the whole novel is about Postmemory. Artie is trying to build a story about his father that effects him based upon something he's never witnessed, or can fathom. Especially since Postmemory relys so much on pictures, and the graphic novel format used by Maus gave pictures of everything, although they were pictures of mice, and cats, and things you still saw pictures and were given Vladek's explanation of each picture. This made the novel that much stronger because it used postmemory to get Vladek's story out and help you understand just a little bit the struggle that people went through. This is what Hirsch is trying to say about postmemory I feel. It is a tool for people to use to help them easier connect to someone or something.