Much Ado about Nothing

Monday, May 21st 2012

Blog # 11  

      
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        We are reading a book called Much ado about nothing by Shakespeare. We also saw a movie about that book. As a class, we had a long discussion about the movie that we saw. We were told to write blog # 11 out of three questions. I have chosen Question # 2. This is the first book by Shakespeare that I have ever read, and I really enjoyed reading this book.
     
         In my thoughts, match making (arranged) marriage was very common in the past. Even in this modern time, Asian countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have parents that choose the bride/groom for their children. They look at the family background and financial stability like Leonato sees for her daughter. I don't think Claudio genuinely loves Hero. He just sees Hero's background more importantly. When he was asking Don Pedro: "Hath Leonato any son, my lord?" (1.1.234). This dialouge clearly shows that if Hero is only child to Leonato, She will get all the assets of Leonato. If he can marry Hero, he will have all the property in the future. His idea of love is that, she is pretty and virgin. He does not love her truly, thats why he could not protest his love against John Pedro. He just gets angry. I dont think Hero loves Claudio nor does she hate him. Since she is an obident doughter, she just followes her fathers decision. In my opinion as an Asian woman, it does not matter if they love each other or not before marriage. They can fall in love after they spend time together.

     


       
     

Blog # 10
Saturday, May 12th, 2012

          It is really hard for me to choose one blog that I am most proud of, because I think, I am proud of every blog that I have done so far. Though, if I had to choose, I'd choose blog number nine. In that blog, I was able to look back in Kindred to deeply analyze the heroism of Sarah, Alice and Dana. They all sacrificed their lives in different aspects. While reading about Dana, I have learned a very important lesson. She had taught me to help others in spite of fear.

        Kindred is the first book that I had really liked. It was a very emotional book. The quizzes on Kindred were very helpful for me. I understood the chapters very well. The brainstorming in class discussion helped me a lot as well. I was able to write my blogs  as clearly as possible.

        While reading my house mates blogs, I saw that they were talking about the slavery connection from the 1800's and the present time. One of my house mates talked about the domestic violence. She/he wrote, "Women who are abused are either embarrassed or afraid to get the abuser in trouble because they love them." That is so true. As a women, I had realized that we sacrifice our lives for our loved ones.

Heroism

Blog # 9

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

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According to Fowler, endurance and sacrifice are in fact, the characteristics of the hero. Sarah, Alice, and Dana are forced to endure constant exploitation and degradation to survive and to allow others to survive. 

In the novel Sarah works in Tom Weylin’s house as a cook, who endures all the humiliation to survive. Tom Weylin took away her three children out of four. The only one left with her is Carrie, who is unable to talk. Sarah is like a mother to other slaves. She is the one they come for advice when they needed it. She also gives them the left over food that the Weylin family didn't eat. 

Alice is also a hero in the book. She could not stay with her beloved husband because of Rufus. Rufus is obsessed with her. He wants Alice anyhow. Finally he bought her with all his money. Rufus rapes her so many times and made her pregnant with two kids. She wants to run away from him but could not do it thinking of her children's safety. When Rufus takes her kids away, she could not tolerate that and eventually hangs herself. Dana also a hero in the book. Even though she is a smart and educated young girl, she had to put up all the bad things that Weylin and his wife did to her.

According to the Rogets 21^st Century Thesaurus, hero means a person who redeems,aids in time of difficulty. To me Dana is the most heroic character in the book, who saves Rufus's life so many times when he is about to die. The first time when she had her dizzy spell, found herself in a green place. She has no clue what was going on. When she sees a boy in trouble. “Before me was a wide tranquil river, and near the middle of that river was a child splashing, screaming….Drowning! I reached to the child in trouble. Later I could ask questions, try to find out where I was, what had happened. Now I went to help the child.” (Butler 13) Without thinking of the consequences of the unknown place she saves the little boy from drowning. The second time when Dana had her dizzy spell she found herself in Rufus's house. When Rufus put up the fire in drapery. She put out the fire as quickly as possible. She saves Rufus as well as his family. As they were talking, Rufus called her nigger and Dana does not like that. “I helped you, I put the fire out, Didn’t I ?” “ yeah.” All right then, you do me the courtesy of calling me what I want to be called.” (Butler 25) Dana expects him to treat her with more respect.

            

                                                        

"The Storm," "The Rope," "The Epilouge"
Blog # 8
Tuesday, may 8th 2012

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We have to write blog # 8 after reading "The Storm," "The Rope," and "The Epilouge". We were told to choose one question out of three.

In Kindred the author did not talk much about domestic abuse. He showed the domestic violence with slavery. As I read the prologue I knew that Kevin did not do anything to Dana, but the police still thinks that Kevin is the reason of Dana's loss of the arm. Since Dana is a black women and Kevin is a white man, people think black and white people don't get along with each other even in 19th century. Stereotyping is the biggest issues between Dana and Kevin's relationship. "I never thought you would be a fool enough to let a man beat you." Says Dana's cousin to her when Dana returns to the present all bruised after being whipped by Tom Weylin.

The reasons why abused partners stay in an abusive relationship back in the old times (1800's) was because women used to stay home and take care of their children. They were not allowed to work or get education. So even though they were abuse by their husband or master they had no choice but to stay in an abusive relationship.
I am from Bangladesh, and from my personal experiences even in the modern time I saw so many women still staying in an abusive relationship, only because they don't have enough education or stereotyped as women who only give birth and stay home.

"The Fight"

Wednesday, 25th April 2012
Blog # 7

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        We are reading the book Kindred by Octavia Butler. After finishing chapter "The fight" in class we were told to choose one question out of four and write on it.

        I have finished reading the book Kindred by Octavia Butler. As i read the book I noticed that Rufus simply an alteration of his father for so many reasons. Tom Weylin is the owner of thirty eight slaves on his plantation. He is very cruel with his slaves. He whips them if they do a little mistake and never sees them as a human being. He sells slaves to pay off his depts. He does not allow the slaves to learn how to read and write. As a white man, he is less educated. He does not want black people to get educated. In that way he would feel inferior to black people. He is even so cruel to his own son. He whips his own son like a slave.
       
         I don't think if there any major evidence of Dana's influence on the young Rufus in his adult character. Dana tries enough to make Rufus into a good man but still he does what he wants. He imitates his father towards the slaves and even Dana. He whips her, sends her to the field to teach her a lesson and even attempts to rape her at the end. He whips the slaves like his father and also sells them to pay off his debts.

        Because of his father's influence Dana could not change Rufus behaviors towards the slaves.

The Fall

Monday 23, 2012
Blog # 6
                                           

                                   

                                         Wikipedia

        In class, professor Ximena Gallardo is teaching us how it was to be a slave in the old times. To get a better idea of the slavery, we are reading a book called Kindred by Octavia Butler. The assignment was to choose one question out of three. I chose to write about the ways Dana was dangerous to the way of life in the Weylin household.

        Dana is dangerous to Tom Weylin in many ways. She is a smart black women who can read and write. As a white man, Tom Weylin is less educated than Dana. So, he feels inferior to her and acts weird. The Weyland plantation in Maryland education for the slaves were prohibited. The white people did not want their slaves to know how to read and write. They were scared that if they learn how to read and write, they would be able to rebel against their owners. Weylin tried to convince Kevin that she is too smart and educated as a slave and told him to sell her before she ran away. Since she was an educated slave, she could teach the other slaves how to read and write. She could also teach them how to write freedom passes which would help the slaves to set free.

        She is also dangerous for his household because he thinks that not only slaves can be educated by her, but Dana can also educate Rufus as a different white man. Then he might see the slaves from a different view point. It was like a red signal to Tom Weylin.

Blog # 5

Monday April 16th 2012
Slavery in the United states

                                                   
                         Image from Weallbe.blogspot.com

        This week in class we are learning how it was to be a slave in the old times. To get a better idea of the way slavery worked, we are reading a book called Kindred by Octavia Buttler.

        Long ago, blacks and whites were treated differently. Blacks were slaves to the whites. The basic punishments of slaves for the usual crimes such as theft and absence from work were a ring around the ankle, imprisonment in the dungeon, an iron crook around the neck and sometimes the breaking of bones. Harriet Jacobs had a book called Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl. She explained how there was a planter in the country who had 600 slaves. He treated them like they were nothing. A favorite punishment was to tie a rope around the slaves body and suspend them from the floor. A fire used to set above slaves and it was cooking a piece of fat pork. As it cooked, the immensely hot drops of fat repeatedly fell on their flesh. Another house slave Lewis Clark in Kentucy described some punishing methods in his autobiography. Overseers would use anything to beat slaves, including brooms, tongs, shovels, and even the heel of the slippers.

        The law didn't protect the slaves and that way, the overseers were able to do as they wished to their slaves. The overseers even bullied the slaves into increasing productivity. If they thought they were lacking activity, they would use the whip as a way for punishing the slaves. The acts of the overseers scared the slaves to not rebel against their owners.