"Three Ways of Going Wrong": A Connection Between Kurtz and The Magistrate

In Douglas Kerr's article, there is a connection brought up about the growth and changing of the old Magistrate and Kurtz throughout each respective character's novel. This article really helped me see how the characters grew in their novels. Slowly, but surely, Kurtz started to become much more accepting of the Africans and their ways because of how familiar he became with them in Heart of Darkness. The same thing also happened with the old Magistrate because of how much time he spent on the frontier with the barbarians in Waiting for the Barbarians. The fact that he was also involved with a barbarian led to the Magistrate becoming understanding and accepting of these people. This is interesting because a lot of characters in both novels did not view either Africans or barbarians as true human beings. Because of Kurtz's and the Magistrate's differing views, their peers and fellow imperialists or white men lost a lot of respect for them. With respect being loss, things kept getting worse. The Magistrate was treated as if he were a barbarian in Waiting for the Barbarians. There were extensive torture scenes that would be quite scarring for anybody who experienced or witnessed these. As these two characters became closer to the unknown "species" that was feared by everybody else, they both became ostracized from their society, especially the Magistrate. The Magistrate is shunned or ignored by many soldiers and figures of authority, but some women are able to sympathize with him in the novel. The women who sympathize with the Magistrate can be compared to Marlow listening to Kurtz's story in Heart of Darkness. Marlow starts to believe in Kurtz's ideals and really feels the way that Kurtz might have felt at the time while Marlow listens to his story. Before listening to Kurtz, Marlow was not comparable to Colonel Joll in his cruelty towards the barbarians, or in his case Africans, but Marlow was biased and had very little feelings of sympathy for the Africans. After spending time with Kurtz and getting a better understanding for the evils of imperialism and the nature of the Africans, Marlow really changes his view on the way things currently are at the setting of Heart of Darkness. Through Kerr's article, Heart of Darkness, and Waiting for the Barbarians, I have learned that multiple opinons, viewpoints, or stories must be experienced or heard to make judgements on people. Clearly Kurtz and the Magistrate are the two least-biased and most open characters of both novels that we read in the past month.

The Evil Barbarians

Passage from page 120:

"The barbarians come out at night. Before darkness falls the last goat must be brought in, the gates barred, a watch set in every lookout to call the hours. All night it is said, the barbarians prowl about bent on murder and rapine. Children in their dreams see the shutters part and fierce barbarian faces leer through. 'The barbarians are here!' the children scream, and cannot be comforted. Clothing disappears from washing-lines, food from larders, however tightly locked. The barbarians have dug a tunnel under the walls, people say; they come and go as they please, take what they like; no one is safe any longer."

This passage shows how there is a constant fear of the barbarians in the civilization that Waiting For the Barbarians takes place in. This passage goes beyond normal paranoia, as it is mentioned that the barbarians have dug a tunnel under the walls. This is an extremely unrealistic idea, and just serves as a symbol of the people's constant fear of the barbarians. The barbarians are not completely understood by the people in this civilization, and they hear many different stories about what is going on in the war against the barbarians, so a certain amount of fear is understandable. The majority of people in this novel takes its fear of the barbarians too far, and just considers them to be ugly, non-human creatures. The old magistrate seems to understand the barbarians better than every body else does in the civilization (partially because of his involvement with the barbarian girl). At one point in section five, he even makes the soldiers sound barbaric in the way that they steal things from stores, set brush-fires, and enact their violent imperialistic attitude in ways of war. After the magistrate's downfall, he sees more clearly than before that the barbarians are not that bad, and the soldiers are unneccesarily violent.

Would a life changing event need to occur for people in this civilization to change their view of the barbarians?

Initial Impressions of WFTB

At first while reading Waiting For the Barbarians, I noticed that most of the characters have a lack of names. I find this quite interesting, especially since I am so accustomed to recognizing characters by names. With this novel, I must recognize characters by their titles or characteristics. This is a unique way to write a novel, and it forces the reader to be much more absorbed in the way he or she reads.

Another aspect of the novel that stood out to me was the varying views of the barbarians, especially from the old Magistrate. At times the old Magistrate appears to be sympathetic with the barbarians, but at other times he does not show any respect and does not even view the barbarians as human. These differing views show the old Magistrate's uncertainty on his own views and characteristics; therefore, we have an afflicted character.

Reasons to Read "Heart of Darkness"

- A lot of critics believe that this novella is racist and sexist, and this can turn people off from reading Conrad's work

- One way to read this novel is the way that a lot of critics read it. You can read it as something that "might do harm, for example if it is read as straightforwardly endorsing Eurocentric, racist, and sexist ideologies.

- The other way to read this novel is as a "powerful exemplary revelation of the ideology of capitalist imperialism, including its racism and sexism, as that ideology is consonant with a certain definition of literature..."

- People must read this novel and make their own decision on it. It is worth reading so that readers don't just believe the same thing as the critics. Readers can make their own decisions.

- As opposed to a piece of history, this is a literary book. It has two imaginary narrators, irony, common usage of similes, and great personifying language describing what "darkness" really is.

- An example of the irony is Kurtz's pamphlet "The Suppression of Savage Customs" with the phrase at the bottom "Exterminate All the Brutes." This is referring to the Africans.

- Overall, this book is worth reading, if it is read with an open mind that wants to read literature.

Reasons to Read "Heart of Darkness"

- A lot of critics believe that this novella is racist and sexist, and this can turn people off from reading Conrad's work

- People must read this novel and make their own decision on it. It is worth reading so that readers don't just believe the same thing as the critics. Readers can make their own decisions.

- As opposed to a piece of history, this is a literary book. It has two imaginary narrators, irony, common usage of similes, and great personifying language describing what "darkness" really is.

Different Views of Benjy

Almost Human: Indeterminate Children and Dogs in Flush and The Sound and the Fury by Jacqui Griffiths,University of London

"How often have you heard a dog-lover refer to a particular dog as almost human? Couple this with the nurturing relationship many people have with their dogs, and that human quality becomes decidedly infantile. Now, try something else. Imagine the reaction you would get if you told somebody that his or her child was almost a dog: not a favorable one, I suspect."

In this article, Benjy is compared to that dog that you love so much that its almost human. I do somewhat agree with this because of how he is treated by Luster, the other servants, and his family. Of course everybody in the family loves Benjy. He is seen as a shame to the family though. He's like that bad dog that misbehaves in public, so he can never leave the house. I do not think Luster, the servants, and the family should treat and view Benjy the way they do, but that is the way it is in Faulkner's story. Faulkner wrote it so that the readers could see how the Compson family views him. This is not necessarily the most moral or humanitary way to treat Benjy. Caddy is the one member of the family who actually loves Benjy in an unshameful way. She does not view him as that dog that is almost human because of how much she loves him. She loves him as a human, as her loving, caring brother. Because of how Caddy treats Benjy like he is a human rather than an animal, I really like and respect her character.

Different From the Rest of the Family

In the third section of the novel, Jason's cynicism and bitterness towards the rest of his family is visible even in the first few pages of April 6, 1928. Benjy, Caddy, and Quentin (the older brother who committed suicide) all appeared to be very close and loving with each other through the way in which they showed a lot of concern and sensitivity. In pages 185 to 189, Jason shows no kindness and appears to have no sensitivity for Miss Quentin's feelings (Caddy's Daughter). He threatens her with the line "you do a thing like that again and I'll make you sorry you ever drew breath" (188). Clearly, Jason does care for his family because he chooses to support them economically. He also wants to make sure Quentin isn't ditching school to be "slipping up and down back alleys with one of those dam squirts" (188). Jason does not want Quentin to make the same promiscuous mistakes as her mother Caddy did. Why does Jason show his love for his family in such a cynical, not sensitive matter? Has he taken on his mother's attributes as opposed to his father's attributes because of how she favored him while he was a child?

Short Story Update

Sorry Mr. Coon. I accidentally did the wrong blog assignment this weekend. Here is the short story update.
Reading George Saunders' "Puppy" was completely different from reading other short stories that we have read during this unit. The fact that there were so many modern objects and ongoings surprised me. I was not used to reading about a gameboy during a short story. This game boy represents how Josh is capable of disrespecting his mother, just how many kids do these days. I was also surprised to hear a Lexus being mentioned. Two different classes of families are mentioned in this story. For these two families, a puppy is seen as different things. For Marie's family, a puppy is something that is used as pet, and a playful object for the family. In Callie's family, a puppy is a way to make money. A puppy is just another unfortunate burden for Callie's family. Callie even has a son leashed up outside. This boy could be viewed as a puppy to Callie also, because of the way she treats him like a dog. Another thing I found interesting about this short story is how informal the narration seems. Many "ha ha's" are thrown into the story. Most of this story is narration, although there is a fair amount of dialogue, none of which is too long or extensive. This is an enjoyable short story, and shows struggles of two different classes. The upper class family seems to have a very happy life in general, which is not always true. The lower class family, or Callie's family, is not nearly as happy. Callie seems to concerned with herself and her own image to help with Bo. It appears that Bo is just another burden to Callie, just as the puppy is. I also found it interesting that Josh understood the horrible way that Callie was treating Bo, and it would not be proper to buy or take the puppy.

What It Is To Be "Bad"

In “Greasy Lake,” a group of teenagers finds out that they do not have what it takes to be “bad.” This group of teens has “bad” attitudes, looks, characteristics, and interests. They are even convinced they are “bad,” although there is a little thought in their heads saying that they are not living up to the ideal image of themselves. Until this story and this particular night, the badness of these teens has never been put to the test. Once it does get put to the test, it is quite clear that this group of young men is truly not “bad.” People’s true characteristics and personality come out when the going gets hard. The times became tough on this particular night, and the teens appeared anything but “bad.” After the fact that they are not living up to their ideal images dawned on the boys, they refused to even go party with a girl who offered them drugs. I felt that the real personalities and qualities of the boys would come out after this night. No longer would they be “fake” or “posers” anymore; instead, they would be who they really were and not put on some unrealistic image of themselves. They were caught up in trying to impress not only themselves, but also other people including girls and their friends. That is the worst part about what they were doing. These boys just wanted to look “bad” in the eyes of other people. In trying to obtain this goal, they boys just ended up getting into extremely dangerous situations. In these dangerous situations, their attitudes completely changed and did not act “bad” anymore. Instead they ran away. If they were what they pretended to be, they would not have run away and would have stayed to fight. Of course, since these boys were just teenagers, they have a lot of maturing to do still, and this phase of being trying to be “bad,” probably was just a simple phase. By realizing that they were not meant to be “bad,” these teens started on their maturing process. Looking back, when all of these teens have turned into normal adults, they will realize that this night led to the beginning of their maturation process. At the time this night probably seemed to be quite a setback, but truly it was a good thing that it happened. This night served as a wakeup call. If this had not happened, these teens might be adults who are still trying to be “bad,” even though they will never truly be “bad.”

More Than A Battle

One would think, that if you were to be humiliated as much as the narrator was in "Battle Royal," you would just leave the boxing ring and get out of the building too get away from this intimidating crowd. If the narrator had left, he would not have been able to give his speech to the white folks, proving that he and other African American people can be just as smart as white people. The narrator is not necessarily revolting against these people, although he does have a slip about social equality, which he quickly corrects. The narrIn Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal," the narrator is fighting for more than just money and the prize of being the last man in the ring. This young African American man, while being humiliated in front of this snobby, obnoxious, degrading, and at times horrifying crowd, constantly thinks about whether or not he will be able to deliver his electrifying speech to this rowdy crowd of racist white upperclass men. Even while he takes blows and jabs from his massive opponent in the one versus one battle, he constantly thinks about just being able to give his speech. After hearing the final words of his grandpa, the narrator is slightly confused about how he should act towards white people, but he wants to prove that African Americans are capable of doing everything whites can do.
ator most likely wanted to say "social equality" deep down inside, even though he did not want to do it in order to upset the rowdy white crowd. After giving this speech, the narrator is rewarded with a scholarship to an all black school and given a very nice briefcase. Now the narrator thinks he has finally overcome the final words of his grandpa, but this is not true.
The narrator feels as if he has overcome the last words of his grandpa, which seemed very scarring at first. Once these words are seemingly overcome, the narrator sees a bright future where maybe "social equality" will occur one day thanks to himself and other great black people. When he hears his grandpa laughing in his dreams, things change, and a bright future does not look apparent to the narrator. Now he does not know which words of his grandpa's to listen to, or whether or not he will ever break through in having social equality.

The Pleasure of Meanness

The Misfit is a religiously troubled character in Flannery O’Connor’s story of “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” He doubts the legitimacy of Christianity, because Christ never showed any physical proof of His existence. The Misfit is the way he is because of his uncertainty relating to the actual existence of Christ. He even admits that “if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn’t be like I am now.” (137) This horrific murderer decides that he doesn’t want to serve a leader that does not have an absolute existence in his mind, so he enjoys life “by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.” (135) He has absolutely no problem brutally killing a whole family, including women and young children. One moment this man seems extremely calm, but the next his troubled psychological and emotional features shoot out at the reader. Killing and evil are the only pleasures of this man’s life, and he makes sure he enjoys these “pleasures.” He surely is a “different breed of dog” from the rest of society.
This different “dog” says he comes from the “finest people in the world.” (90) The way the Misfit describes how his daddy was a “card himself” but always avoided getting into trouble with the authorities shows how something evil runs in his blood. Unlike his daddy, the Misfit did get into trouble with the authorities, as his arrest and time in prison shows. According to the officials, he killed his father. The Misfit disagrees with this fact, but does not remember why he went to jail. His attitude is that “sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.” (124) The Misfit clearly earned his nickname because he does not fit into society. He does not want any help, especially not from Jesus Christ. He says he deems himself the Misfit “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment.” (130) The Misfit feels as though he should never have been punished as much as he was because his punishment does not match up with what he had done. Clearly, this psychotic killer deserves to be punished by the existing God, whether he believes in His existence or not.
O’Connor is very unusual in her deep Christian faith as opposed to other modern American writers. Through this story she demonstrates her belief that the world is declining in moralist and spiritualist values. The Misfit has no moralist or spiritual values at all, as his only pleasure in life is killing people. In doing so he also refuses to serve Christ because he does not have physical evidence of his existence. O’Connor constantly gets the point across in her short story that nobody in the world is trustworthy through not only the actions of the Misfit, but also the conversation between the grandma and Red Sammy Butts. As Red Sammy said, “everything is getting terrible.” (44). The grandma agrees with this, even though she is quite morally unsound herself. When the Misfit is on the verge of killing everybody in the family, the grandma just keeps selfishly begging for her own life. At the same time, she does represent the way O’Connor wants characters to be spiritually. The grandma keeps saying “If you would pray, Jesus would help you.” (117) Even John Wesley and June Star show little respect and morality in their attitudes towards their grandma and parents. When they do not get to see the non-existent house in Georgia, they cry and whine to their parents until Bailey finally gives in to their demands. The grandma does not help in this situation either by pushing the parents to let their kids see the house. In general, throughout the short story nobody shows good moralistic and spiritual values, because nobody is trustworthy anymore in these days.
O’Connor and her characters demonstrate the downfall of society in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Through this extreme example of violence and viciousness, she stirs her readers’ attention to the fact that the place we live in is a morally and spiritually declining world. In O’Connor’s view, without a firm belief in God and Jesus, moral values will keep declining until the Misfit becomes a common day man.

1.Is there a possible reason for the Misfit not believing in Jesus? Do you think something needs physical existence and proof to make it true?
2.Did the Misfit actually kill his dad? Does he choose not to remember killing his dad and other wrongs he has committed?

A Teenage Life Wasted

In Teenage Wasteland, Donny is a trouble adolescent, who just needs some guidance to push him through in order for him take on responsibilities and oblige by the rules. Some stricter guidelines in the house, and some more support from his parents would help. His mother, Daisy, makes the right choice by sending him to see a psychologist and possibly diagnose a problem. The problem does not start to grow when Donny is sent to Cal. The situation emerges into a crisis once Daisy and her husband let Donny become so involved at the Teenage Wasteland, also known as Cal's house. The insecurity and laziness of Daisy lead to the eventual dissapearance of Donny. She put her own's sons problems into the hands of another man. Donny did not abandon Daisy. Daisy abandoned Donny by not reaching out to him more often.

When Daisy decides to let Donny go over to Cal's "Teenage Wasteland" all the time, without knowing what is going on over there, she is pushing Donny away from her. A parent's job is to take care of his or her child. Daisy dumps this duty onto Cal, a man who is clearly not fit to take care of a child and teach him responsibilities. Cal had trouble taking care of himself and couldn't even keep his marriage together. In general Cal reflects the stereotypical hippie of the 1960's and 1970's. He has a lackidaisical attitude and this rubs off on all of his "students," including Donny. Cal tells Donny that he does not have to worry about grades, and should just have a relaxed attitude. Cal is acts as if he were an apathetic 15 year old. When Donny gets kicked out of school for having beer and cigarettes in his locker, Cal agrees with Donny and says the school framed him. Daisy put her child's life and future into the hands of the wrong person. Donny's future should have been in the hands of Daisy and her husband the whole time.

Even when Daisy does try to become more involved in improving Donny's attitude, behavior, and grades, she is only concerned with herself. While sitting in the principals office to talk about Donny, she can only think about how fat she looks, and how raggy her husband looks. She even tucks her belly in when she leaves the office. Daisy is incapable of focusing on her son's problems; instead, she acts like an self-centered, insecure 15 year old. Daisy does not want to cause Donny to run away, but she needs to put more of an effort into helping her own son with his problems. When she actually does help Donny with his homework, his grades start to rise. She does not want to help Donny with his homework, clearly, because of the fact that she sends Donny to be "tutored" by the psychologist-recommended Cal. Another mistake of Daisy is not being able to make up her own mind. She listens to everybody other than herself on how to handle Donny's situation. Being a parent is a huge responsibility that Daisy does not live up to fully.

With the right guidance and proper care from his parents, Donny would not have run away. Of course it is incredibly harsh to blame this all on Daisy (which I have mainly done throughout this blog). Cal had a large influence on Donny and made his attitude even worse and more lackadaisical. The school in general, did a good job of calling Daisy and giving her updates on Donny. Daisy should have listened to these updates more. Still, the main reason of Donny's running away is his mother's inability to monitor his problems and secure his situation.

My Most Memorable Book

1. Holes by Louis Sachar. It took a normal boy and put him into an incredibly tough situation where he has to rely on any friends he has to make it through his hard times.

2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This novel takes the relationship between a father and a son to the next level in order to survive.

3. 1984 by George Orwell. I appreciate how this novel questions the government and how much the citizens can really trust their leaders.

4. Animal Farm by George Orwell. I was able to understand the relationship between Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky thanks to this novel.

5. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. This war novel showed the true hardships of war for soldiers even when they aren't on the battle field. I learned a lot about the lost generation.

6. Lord of the Flies by William Golding. While reading this book I was put into a whole other world that I could never imagine living in as a child.

7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I learned how hard it could be to live through a low economic time from this book.

8. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Through this book I see the life of a teenager in a different magical world filled with wizards.

9. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. I was able to understand a lot about leaders of government and their weaknesses through this book.

10. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. This book brings a new experience to Earth through aliens and I found it very interesting to think about.

Summer Reading

Books Read This Summer:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I have never had a book trigger my emotions as much as Cormac McCarthy's The Road did. Weeks after finishing the book, I could still see the poor young boy crying over his father's dead body. I could never imagine losing my father in my current life, but I would have nothing if my father died in the gruesome apocalyptic world of The Road. The boy and the father have a such an incredibly loving and important bond in the novel, leading to their survival throughout their considerably hopeless journey to the coast, and a more emotional conclusion to the story when the father dies.

A father and son always have a close bond. The father teaches the son how to play catch. The son feels an amazing amount of affection for his father. But, in The Road, its more than learning how to play catch. The father must teach his son how to survive, while his son does whatever his father asks him to do in order to survive. Even when the boy does not want to do everything his father asks him to do, he ends up doing it. Not only to survive, but to keep his father with him, the only person who he knows and loves in his whole hell-ish world. The boy will go through anything with his father because his father is always there to assure him that everything will be okay, whether it's in the good or the bad times.

Throughout The Road, the father and his son go through an incredible amount of experiences. Some of these experiences are terrifying and extremely gruesome showing the epitome of the apocalyptic world they live in. To make it in this ash-filled, lonely world, the two must put all of their trust into each other. When they hear the "bad people" coming down the road, the father and the boy must hide their cart and find a safe hiding place. The father is just as petrified as his son in these situations, but he keeps calm under pressure because his love for his son drives him to come through in these important situations. When the boy and the father come out of these situations unharmed and are able to find a mass amount of food and goods, it is the sweetest victory in their god forsaken world. The fact that the two make it through horrifying events together to reach the goal of finding food for themselves makes their bond even stronger. They realize that all they have is themselves and their love for each other.

When the father starts to get sick after his wound from being shot by an arrow, the future looks very grim for both himself and the boy. After reading most of the novel, I felt that if the boy lost his father, not only would it be impossible for him to survive because he would not be sure how to make it through the day in the gruesome world of The Road, but also his reason and motivation for living would be gone: the love and connection he and his father shared on their journey. When the dad dies in the book, I felt that there was no hope left for the boy. Not only did I think he would not be able to survive, but I believed that he would not want to survive now that his dad was not on the journey with him. When the boy goes with the new man at the end of the novel, I realized that the boy would not be the same person without his father. A father can not be simply replaced by another man who wants to help a child survive. I still think of the boy walking away from his father's corpse with this new stranger, and I'm assured that he left all of his love back with his father's dead body.