Ketchup... err, Catch-up
What is the monster in Things Fall Apart?
In Things Fall Apart, the monster is the white man. Well, that’s the way that Achebe depicts it. And really, on the surface I can see his point. The encroaching Europeans are arrogant and narrow-minded… but that’s a 21st century viewpoint. And do we see the atrocities that we commit every day in dealing with foreign cultures? So, perhaps the solution isn’t to blame anyone or anything. Maybe it’s just best to understand how messed up we were back then, and realize humans haven’t evolved much since then.
What are you being educated for?
When I first entered college, I thought I was being educated so that I could do something that I liked doing for the rest of my life, ostensibly. Turns out, the things I want to do and the paths the university want me to take to get a degree in that area are more divergent that I imagined. Multivariable calculus? Shoot me. Just gives me a headache. Sometimes I think that most of the bums downtown were really math and science majors but just cracked under the pressure. And maybe I’m heading that way…
What exemplifies strength in your culture?
Strength? Strength is GI Joe. I mean, look at him. Muscles bulging, jawbone of steel, AK-47 on his back. At least, that’s one kind of strength. But I think that this alpha-male image is perhaps more rooted in our death fear, because we don’t know what the “other side” is, and if there even is one. This is why people like Lance Armstrong are celebrated even more than just for being a winner. He survived cancer and got to run this rat race for a few more years, which I guess is what most people would choose to do. Would I? I guess so, as long as I got to win the Tour de France.
Is violence ever a good idea?
Violence is great entertainment. Gladiators, professional athletes, movie stars, and hell even religion has benefited from this aspect of human behavior. Plus, I don’t believe that things can really be black and white, at least not in this subject. “Good idea”? Well maybe robbing a liquor store seems like a good idea at the time. Running from the cops might change a person’s perception of good/bad. Basically, I choose to live with the knowledge that I am free to do just about anything… but so is my neighbor, or the person whom my actions offend or injure. It’s impossible for one set of principles to govern everyone at every time. So for now, I’ll sit back and watch the show.
List the privileges you share with McIntosh? What disadvantages do you experience?
“8. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege” LOL. Being a little presumptuous, are we? I guess she did get it published, but it’s still kind of mind-blowing. Anyway, yeah I guess by McIntosh’s standards I’m an over privileged whitey, but then again I really agree with what Tara said from my class: that the issue of race has become so mired in economic status that the two issues can’t be neatly separated in the way that politicians and civil rights groups act like it is. And the problem with this simplification is that people use it as a tool to prejudge both up the ladder and down. For example, I am a broke college student. I have some money in savings, but on the whole I don’t think I can really “expect” to move into a pleasant neighborhood. And actually I am called to speak on behalf of other gay people more than you could ever freakin imagine. So, I don’t really agree with McIntosh on a personal level, but I’m sure that her list applies to many other people like herself.
Evaluate how Satrapi's use of the form of the graphic novel effects how you receive her narrative or point of view.
Satrapi’s graphic style (har har) was, in my opinion, more entertaining than informative or dynamic. It gave me some impetus to research Iranian history, but not any sort of reverence for her struggle. Call me callous. She was lucky enough to escape the strife within Iran because she had parents who could afford a plane ticket and to send her to boarding school. Her dad was sweet but also idealistic to a fault, not willing to believe that the theocracy could and would put a stranglehold on the country. And because of the pictures, it made everything cuter.
Compare Satrapi's relationship with her family and nation/s to Moraga's relationship with her family and nation/s.
Satrapi v. Moraga… one’s an Iranian ex-pat who now writes cute graphic novels, and the other’s a Chicana lesbian feminist who likes “dark women”. What could they have in common? Both experiment in ways that go against the cultures they were raised with. Satrapi smokes pot, drinks, has premarital sex, ect., and Moraga realizes that she’s more attracted to women than men. Maybe Moraga did some of the stuff Satrapi did, too. But basically, both women did things that their culture abhors, or claims to, and wrote/philosophized about it. Also, they’re both considered “minorities” in the US, which complicates the issue of personal identity so much that Moraga asks for a divorce of sorts from the traditional US Fem movement. Moraga often talks about betraying the "Latino male", as she sees her culture as always catering to the man, over the woman.
Thanks.
-Alex Carian
In Things Fall Apart, the monster is the white man. Well, that’s the way that Achebe depicts it. And really, on the surface I can see his point. The encroaching Europeans are arrogant and narrow-minded… but that’s a 21st century viewpoint. And do we see the atrocities that we commit every day in dealing with foreign cultures? So, perhaps the solution isn’t to blame anyone or anything. Maybe it’s just best to understand how messed up we were back then, and realize humans haven’t evolved much since then.
What are you being educated for?
When I first entered college, I thought I was being educated so that I could do something that I liked doing for the rest of my life, ostensibly. Turns out, the things I want to do and the paths the university want me to take to get a degree in that area are more divergent that I imagined. Multivariable calculus? Shoot me. Just gives me a headache. Sometimes I think that most of the bums downtown were really math and science majors but just cracked under the pressure. And maybe I’m heading that way…
What exemplifies strength in your culture?
Strength? Strength is GI Joe. I mean, look at him. Muscles bulging, jawbone of steel, AK-47 on his back. At least, that’s one kind of strength. But I think that this alpha-male image is perhaps more rooted in our death fear, because we don’t know what the “other side” is, and if there even is one. This is why people like Lance Armstrong are celebrated even more than just for being a winner. He survived cancer and got to run this rat race for a few more years, which I guess is what most people would choose to do. Would I? I guess so, as long as I got to win the Tour de France.
Is violence ever a good idea?
Violence is great entertainment. Gladiators, professional athletes, movie stars, and hell even religion has benefited from this aspect of human behavior. Plus, I don’t believe that things can really be black and white, at least not in this subject. “Good idea”? Well maybe robbing a liquor store seems like a good idea at the time. Running from the cops might change a person’s perception of good/bad. Basically, I choose to live with the knowledge that I am free to do just about anything… but so is my neighbor, or the person whom my actions offend or injure. It’s impossible for one set of principles to govern everyone at every time. So for now, I’ll sit back and watch the show.
List the privileges you share with McIntosh? What disadvantages do you experience?
“8. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege” LOL. Being a little presumptuous, are we? I guess she did get it published, but it’s still kind of mind-blowing. Anyway, yeah I guess by McIntosh’s standards I’m an over privileged whitey, but then again I really agree with what Tara said from my class: that the issue of race has become so mired in economic status that the two issues can’t be neatly separated in the way that politicians and civil rights groups act like it is. And the problem with this simplification is that people use it as a tool to prejudge both up the ladder and down. For example, I am a broke college student. I have some money in savings, but on the whole I don’t think I can really “expect” to move into a pleasant neighborhood. And actually I am called to speak on behalf of other gay people more than you could ever freakin imagine. So, I don’t really agree with McIntosh on a personal level, but I’m sure that her list applies to many other people like herself.
Evaluate how Satrapi's use of the form of the graphic novel effects how you receive her narrative or point of view.
Satrapi’s graphic style (har har) was, in my opinion, more entertaining than informative or dynamic. It gave me some impetus to research Iranian history, but not any sort of reverence for her struggle. Call me callous. She was lucky enough to escape the strife within Iran because she had parents who could afford a plane ticket and to send her to boarding school. Her dad was sweet but also idealistic to a fault, not willing to believe that the theocracy could and would put a stranglehold on the country. And because of the pictures, it made everything cuter.
Compare Satrapi's relationship with her family and nation/s to Moraga's relationship with her family and nation/s.
Satrapi v. Moraga… one’s an Iranian ex-pat who now writes cute graphic novels, and the other’s a Chicana lesbian feminist who likes “dark women”. What could they have in common? Both experiment in ways that go against the cultures they were raised with. Satrapi smokes pot, drinks, has premarital sex, ect., and Moraga realizes that she’s more attracted to women than men. Maybe Moraga did some of the stuff Satrapi did, too. But basically, both women did things that their culture abhors, or claims to, and wrote/philosophized about it. Also, they’re both considered “minorities” in the US, which complicates the issue of personal identity so much that Moraga asks for a divorce of sorts from the traditional US Fem movement. Moraga often talks about betraying the "Latino male", as she sees her culture as always catering to the man, over the woman.
Thanks.
-Alex Carian
posted by Alex C at 8:20 PM
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