Ted Talk Response

The central issue of this ted talk is a worldwide factor that has happened to everyone more than once. Her example on the “one-sided story” is one affecting a whole culture, a whole country; in fact, even a whole continent. What really worries me about the issue presented by Chimamanda Adichie is that it is a common issue that everybody is guilty of making at least once.

The most prominent example is Chimamanda Adichie herself. Even though she has been a victim of a one-side story, she has also been a guilty of at least believing a one-side story. She could not believe that the family of the poor boy could make anything, she “only saw them as being poor.” But a one-side story is not only something that affects masses in general, it can be very specific, like listening to a gossip and already judging the person with out really knowing them. It does not matter how many people are affected by the story, and the magnitude of the effects. What really matters is that it can be degrading, and have negative effects on people.   

In the Name of Kurtz

Towards the end of the novel, Marlow personally encounters Kurtz, but before that he had a very interesting conversation with the Russian guy. Like many others in the novel, the Russian did not view Kurtz as a normal man, but rather a remarkable one. In his opinion Kurtz was an example, a warrior, a great man, and he believed every one thought of him that way. All this glorifying resembled Kurtz as a god-like figure, but really, Kurtz was the complete opposite.

On man´s opinion does not make a man´s reputation, but many others shared the Russian´s thoughts about Mr. Kurtz. He described Kurtz´ arrival as coming with “thunder and lighting,” two things associated with the greatest God of the Olympians: Zeus, who was known for being the God of lighting, and ruling the skies. Kurtz was described with such honors.

Also, through out the book, the people who thought highly of Kurtz always said that it was difficult not to love him. As a catholic, I can say that we love God. This is what we are taught since little and this is exactly what the father talked about in yesterday´s mass. He stated repetitively that nothing could exist without love. That we humans cannot live without God´s love; it is a necessity for us but not for him. This is exactly why Kurtz is not a God, even though many thought of him as more than a normal man. He is the opposite of God. God loves of but does not demand love in return. Kurtz, on the other hand wanted all the attention and wealth to himself and did not think about others. The Russian told Marlow “he [Kurtz] declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory,” (pg. 104) even though the Russian had been a good friend, who had kept him company and had even cured him twice.

The author described the Russian as “Kurtz last disciple” (pg. 109) and by no means was he equivocal. He was the last man standing in the heart of darkness who still worshipped Kurtz. He talked about him like there was no other important man in the universe, but him being the perfect disciple did not make Kurtz a God.

Every body has a different perception of God, but there are similarities between everybody´s opinion. One of the most common could be that God always put everybody before himself, and Kurtz did not do this. He was so consumed about getting wealthy with ivory that he forgot about every thing else. Also, God never acts to prove others right or wrong and it seemed that “Kurtz wanted and audience:” (pg. 102) an audience to watch him conquest an impossible task. Something, that at the end he could not accomplish. He died trying to accomplish his own task. He died alone, with nothing but a stranger by his side.

"Restraint!"

“Was it superstition, disgust, patience, fear –or some kind of primitive honour? No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, and disgust simply does not exist where hunger is…” (Pg 76) Marlow recalls that they (the cannibals) have been starving, but he doesn’t understand why the didn´t eat the non-cannibals on board. “Restraint,” is one of the possibilities, but why restrain to their way of life? Further more, it is very difficult to act rationally when hunger is present. 

By hungry, I don´t mean being hungry between meals. No. It is to go by days with out eating, because there is no way to get a hold of food. Unfortunately, this is a problem in Colombia and a factor seen world wide, especially in third-world countries, where the poor people are miserable. They can´t carry a decent life, because in this competing world, they have lost. Many don´t even have the opportunities to succeed, and end up working underpaid jobs, or not working at all. And then we see the consequences of not having a decent pay. Most people that are considered “poor” don´t even have enough money to buy food, water, a living space, which are they necessities of life.

Most of the time, this leads people to the wrong places. Driven by hunger and desperation, people go to extremes to be able to cease the pain. Some could steal, but others could even kill to make the pain go away. When hunger strikes, people loose all of their essence, and focus only on their existence. It is during this state that we see the human nature of surviving: the “survival of the fittest.” 

So why didn´t the cannibals eat the people on board? If we compare them to poor people, we can say that the poor know better. They live within a society that educates them on how to act. Cannibals are isolated from society because they are different form everybody else. People would think that it is more probable that cannibals strike before the poor, but in the book it does not happen. Maybe there is something about cannibals that we are not aware, some sort of humanity obscured by the fact that they eat their own races. We may be blinded and not see that cannibals are still humans. 

Darkness Gone Loose

The place where Marlow voyaged to was the place of his dreams. He says so himself. When he was little, from the first moment he saw that place on the map, he was fascinated. But as an adult, he travelled there and expected the disappointed. Even though the place charmed him, he knew “it had become a place of darkness.” (Pg 10.)

The light illusion is key when deciphering exactly why this place is a place of darkness. No one associates darkness with happiness. It is the complete opposite. Often, depressed people say, “I am in a dark place,” so this darkness has to be bad, very bad. The transformation that occurred to that place was negative. Something occurred to this, light full place that marveled Marlow that all the light was sucked out. The British came and destroyed a culture, exploited the natives, and took all the richness and happiness.

During his travels, he can´t believe that these people that their ribs were visible and “the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope” (25) could be considered criminals and even enemies. The start of his voyage is like the entrance of Dante´s Inferno, and Marlow just “stepped into the gloomy circle of some Inferno.” This place of darkness is hell. In Inferno, the only source of light is fire, which is very gloomy and negative. The same happens with this place. Also, in each circle, there are specific people, but they live half dead, scattered around. When Marlow goes up the mountain, the population is close to nil, except the occasional slaves, that look exactly like hell´s prisoners: you can see the unhappiness in the bodies and eyes.

This place of darkness is a real place. A territory used inhabited by it´s natives, until the British took over. From then on, hell broke loose. The same happened all over the world. When Europe colonized Africa and America, they saw the natives as an inferior race. Thy thought they had the liberty to come and exploit the natives and steal their richness. Some even had religious and other motives and thought they were doing them a favor by making them more civilized them.  The natives and Europeans were very different, but no favor was done. They turned many parts of the world, into places of darkness, very similar to hell. 

Well, this is...

What examples from the song are ironic?  How can you tell?  What examples are not ironic?  How can you tell?

This song has different example of irony but also there are some parts which are straight forward.

A line that is ironic and is present multiple times is "the great nations of europe..." because even though this nations did have a lot of power and wealth, they were not really great. They expect to be great by conquering all the indians and having a sense of superiority but there is nothing great about destroying cultures and killing people, which is what the song is describing. 

When the author sates that "now they´re gone, they´re gone, they´re really gone./You never seen anyone so gone,"  this is not entirely true. He is exaggerating the situation to make the "great nations of europe" look worst, but when the europeans came, the indians did not disappear from thin air. Many resisted and were around many years to continue the suffering. 

Also there is a continuity to the line "the great nations of europe," which goes: "[they] were quite holy in their way." Again, mismatch information. Mentioned above that line are the "holy" ways of the Europeans when they torn indians apart with dogs. The word does not fit  the situations, even though they backed their means with religious ends.  

A part of the song that is not ironic is when the author mentions Columbus´ arrival to Salvador and mentions that "they got t.b. and typhoid and athletes foot and diphtheria and the flu..." This were some of the main causes of death among the people in the new world, because their bodies had never been exposed to such diseases. 

The Correct Guidance

To change is something very difficult to do.  Dictionary.com gives the following definition:

“to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone”

In other words, it´s to make the nature of something different to what it was. Change could be good or bad, but it is commonly searched for, when things are bad and people want to turn them into good. One of the most difficult things to change is one personality. No body is perfect. A person may have a lot of qualities, but there is always room for improvement; change.

This happens in our daily life, and with the Chief, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo´s nest. Putting aside the mental health of the Chief, he was a good person. He rarely had any bad intentions, and he was a really easy-going man. Never the less there were a lot of things that could be different. For starters, he never spoke. People even believed that he was deaf and mute, and even stupid. Also he never stood up for himself. We read the story from his perspective, and he shared his thoughts with the audience. Multiple times, he planned things in his mid but never did them, simply because he was afraid of change. He did not feel the necessity, and thought that things were better as they were. There fore he used to hide in the “fog” all of time. Living in the shadows of the people that depreciated him. But change did come. It arrived in the form of a living man. Ladies and gentlemen, McMurphy. His intentions were questioned, but he did many good things for many patients, especially the Chief. In the book, he is the first that talks with the Chief. He, more or less, makes him go on the fishing trip, were he had a blast. McMurphy never told the chief that he had to change, but how he acted, inspired the Chief to do so. When they are up in the disturbed ward, “It´s fogging a little, but I [the Chief] won´t slip off and hide in it. No…never…again.” (Pp. 248) Also, in the beginning of the book, it is clear that the Chief is scared of the Nurse, and the power of the combine but towards the end he concludes that “Maybe the Combine wasn´t all-powerful.” (Pp. 263) 

The Chief went from being this dumb, deaf, and mute Chronic, to a guy that had the guts to escape from the ward.  But he could not have done it with out the arrival of McMurphy. He saw in him, as well as many others, the guidance they needed; the man who was able to fight the Combine and almost beat the system. He believed in him so much that even after McMurphy was operated he refused to believe that that was he.

Change is not something that is easy to do. Many times I have changed, but not alone. I have needed the help form some one to tell me what´s wrong. It is very hard to see the defects that one has, so that’s why it is so important to have some one to guide you. Fortunately, the Chief had McMurphy. It did not end well for McMurphy, because the Combine finally beat him, but it did end well for the Chief.

The Big [small] Nurse

The importance of a character does not lie in his or her appearance through out the text. Sometimes it does, but other it doesn´t. Take, for example, the women in One Flew Over the Cuckoo´s Nest. How many women have appeared until know? The answer is simple: very few. Really few compared to the male characters. If you count all the patients, plus the boys, plus the doctor, you get a high number. Women, I can recall three: the Big Nurse, one of the other nurses and Harding´s wife, Vera. 

So, if there are only three women, why can they be important? By character (in the first sentence) I was referring to women, not only just a female character specifically. The Big Nurse appears constantly through the book, imposing her power and strength over the men, not only the sick but also the healthy. But she is the only woman that is really part of the story. The other two appear briefly, and only of one there is a description.

Between the Big Nurse´s description (made through out the whole book) and Vera´s concise one, there is a significant similarity. In both, there is a portrayal of  the women’s´ physique, especially their breast. Are women only important because of that? There is also a part where McMurphy mentions that the Big Nurse´s breasts are in a way, a form of weakness. Why would he say something like that, when he knows it is not true?

By such portrayal of the women, one might think that women are not important, but it is the complete opposite. McMurphy may feel superior to the Big Nurse, but she is one step ahead of him.  It is shown in the way he reacts to his know-it-all attitude. If it weren´t for the Big Nurse, the hospital would not function correctly.

 So, what is the author trying to show us through the Big Nurse?

In the literal level of the book, she may be just a nurse, but going beyond that, she could represent the importance of the women in a society full of impulsive men, like McMurphy. The fact that a single woman carries that whole representation made me think about The Stranger, and Mersault´s mother. She rarely appears, but is vital to the understanding of the story and character. The same happens with the Big Nurse. She may only be a simple Nurse, but behind her character, actions and personality, lies much more.

The Mad Fog

The mental hospital where the Chief and the other patients are seems to be in a way peculiar and in others, very similar to what I have seen of mental hospitals. Thankfully, I have no personal connection to such hospitals, but what I know is what I have seen in movies. For example, the movie Shutter Island, even though it´s more like a prison, I feel it has some sort of connection. The Combine, just like Shutter Island, seems creepy and scary for many patients, because they get beaten up. The treaty they sometimes receive, especially from the three black boys is very harsh.

 The peculiar thing that I see in it is the patients. All have their own special madness. For example, Ellis has a weird condition that they “nailed him against the wall.” (Pg. 15) Also, Rucky does nothing but stare at a picture that he holds in front of him. Then there is the Chief. At first I thought that he had no madness, but it was impossible. In a way, the fog is his madness.

He describes the fog when he is getting his hair cut, but it is something that follows him around. At the moment of the description, the fog is literal. It can be the excess of cream, or water vapor, but when that is gone, the fog is still there. It follows him around as if the fog were his madness. All day, he stares at every body else and comments on what he sees, but never does he talk. Al the accumulated silence could be the reason for the fog. He is not deaf, for he listens to every thing, but could de be mute? I don´t think so. Instead he could be speechless. He could be so caught up in his world, that he distorts every thing he sees and can never comment on any thing. He looks to be normal, but maybe the people that seem the most normal, are the most crazy.

The same can happen with McMurphy. When he is admitted, first impression is he is completely normal, but he is there for a reason. Not only is he crazy but I believe he is going to break hell loose in the institution. For know he seems okay, but the author uses foreshadow to give us hints of what he could be in the future. “…you can never tell when just that certain one might come in who´s free enough to foul things right and left, really make a hell of a mess and constitute a threat to the whole smoothness of the outfit.” (Pg 37)

Maybe being top gun and creating disorder is McMurphy´s fog. 

What We See

The opening scene of Waiting For Godot pops many thoughts in my mind. Since the beginning, the audience can determine that Vladimir and Estragon are poor. Their clothes have holes and they show no possessions, but the clothes they wear. Also, ‘Gogo, ’ as Vladimir calls him, talks about being beaten up by some guys. Surely he has to walk through scary and insecure places. If they are poor, we don´t know for sure, but many aspects support that decision, even the place were they are. Waiting for Godot, in the middle of nowhere, and not even a horse in site. For sure they had to walk there. Estragon does not even have proper walking shoes. His feet hurt, for his boots are too small.

Never the less, being poor does no make them inferior. It can even make them more. They don´t have commodities in life, and they have had to suffer. This leads to experience, which many could consider knowledge. When I think of these two men, I think about the home less people in Bogota. Every day, I see them trying to make a living out of selling candies or asking for money. Many even have a scary, crazy look. But I can`t help but think if that craziness can be consider intelligence. They have seen the world in it´s purest form. They have suffered. Does this make them know more?

Of their intelligence, I am not sure, since Estragon makes a comment about the bible that confuses me. When Vladimir asks him if he has read it, he has but looks at it very superficially. He describes the places of the stories, but not the meaning of them. Many could consider this ignorance, but I just see it as some one who does not believe in God. Why think of the bible as a sacred book, if one does no believe in God. Yet again, they are waiting for Godot. Maybe Vladimir is, but Estragon is there because he has no place to be. 

The Virtue of Patience

In the woods, day after, Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot. Never are we tolled, but Vladimir seems to know why they are waiting for Godot. The one that never seems to remember anything is Estragon: “What do we do know? / Wait for Godot. / Ah!”(Pg. 70) This conversation can be found multiple times, and Estragon is the one that always makes the question. Even though he asks the question a lot, Vladimir always answers patiently. This is how I felt with my great grand father, in his last years. He was a very intelligent man but with the years people change. At the end, his mind was not as brilliant as it was before and he used to repeat things a lot, and to me, a story in particular. Every time I went to visit he would tell the story of how he founded his company. He would always start by saying that now-a-days it was a huge factory with more than 6,000 workers, but it all started in his garage, with just 6 workers and the production of a single bus. I knew he story be heart, but –instead of complaining- I listen attentively and made remarks of surprised. He liked telling that story, and since I loved him I would act as if I had never heard it. The love I felt for him is parallel to the affection and friendship Estragon and Vladimir have. Even though his friend has very bad memory, he is so fond of him that he is very patient. 

No Reason? A Sufficient Reason

When the time comes, there are glimpses of fear in Mersault. It is normal to be scared of death because nobody knows what happens after, but this non-existentialist moment does not last long. A short time after, Mersault simply accepts the fact that he is going to die: “…I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.” (pg 222) There is nothing to do, the world is indifferent to the fact that he is going to die and so is he. He doesn’t care. Death is not important because life is not important, there fore existence does not have a reason to be. But then, why live? For Mersault, the existence of the human being is illogical, because life has no meaning. He just lives in the know, doesn’t expect anything from the future and gives no importance to the paste, but I don’t agree with this. Our existence does have a reason. Some people believe in fate and that everything is written. This could be considered the opposite, but I believe that life alone is a reason to live. Being surrounded by the people you love, making other people life, sharing moments and adventures, give reason to our existence. It does not have to be written, but it is there. 

Behind it All

Monsieur Mersault is a strange character. He pays attention to unrelated things, and very often makes comments about the surroundings and not what is happening. When he killed the Arab, it could be argued that he did to defend himself; the man had a knife towards him. Also, there are facts that prove the crime as intended, but there is never an explanation of why he killed the man. One way or the other, Mersault rarely has the opportunity to give his opinion. Maybe he does not want to or other times he is not allowed: “Despite everything that was on my mind, I felt like intervening every now and then…” but then again, he “didn´t have anything to say.” There is sufficient information about the course of the crime, but not the true feelings and intentions behind it.

Since Albert Camus is considered an existentialist, the crime could be considered unpremeditated. But the facts contradict this statement. It is hard to know what was on Mersault´s mind at that time and even before. He says that he wrote the letter because he did not have any reason not to write it (pg 32) but why did he write it? We will never be able to understand the true intentions of the crime, and the strange guy behind it. 

no future...no past..just present

Even though Camus refused to be called an existentialist, his book portrayed other wise. Since the first sentence of the book, remarks of this philosophy are present:

            “Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don´t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn´t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.” Pg1

The death of some one, more importantly a mother, is a very shocking experience for most human beings. After reading the sentence, we can infer that the meaning of the death of the mother was just that. A woman stopped existing and so did the importance of her. This has no relevance or importance in the present because it is something that happened in the past. It has no importance in the future because only the present matter. Existentialists live in the now, the past is in the past, and the future, when it becomes present, it will be important.  Another example of the book that backs up this philosophy is the following:

            “As I was waking up, it came to me why my boss had seemed annoyed when I asked him for two days off: today is Saturday.” Pg 19

Monsieur Meursault asked for two days off because his present situation demanded it. He did not know that it would to a 4 day weekend because even if he knew that in two days it would be Saturday, since it was in the future, it did not have any relevance to what was happening.

All through out the book, there are descriptions of what is happening. The past is rarely spoken of, and the future is rarely mentioned. The present is the only thing that matter, end of story. 

Colorless

“It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night…” (Pg. 113)

The vital piece of information to be able to understand the quote is the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. Right now, their romance is at it´s highest point. Daisy visits very often, and as a preventing reason, Gatsby fired all of his servants, afraid that they would gossip. Rather than the color, the importance comes in the lack of color. The traditional Saturday parties, where not happening. Even though Gatsby seemed happy with Daisy by his side, there was something missing. Just as we discussed last class, Daisy is a person that seeks to be the center of attention. She needs to be the only person who radiates light, the only one illuminating a room. Just like the flower, all white outside, she manages to do that, by turning off everybody´s light. She never tolled Gatsby to stops illuminating the entire East Egg, but Gatsby indirectly, she forced him to do it.