I did not know that this poem was interesting until I read the link provided by the instructor.
Any kind of war is related to the death of people and when people die the population reduces. During the war people do not have time to procreate because they are fighting for their lives, liberty, etc. The war also bring some sides effects on the birth of new creature. A lot of them are born with defects, others with diseases. The substances such as DU (depleted uranium) have had drastic effects on the born of children everywhere they have been used.
The fact that the author is focusing on the idea of sperm banks and procreation is because a lot soldiers who faced conflict in the Gulf did freeze their sperms in sperm banks so that they can prevent their future children from being born with diseases caused by the radioactive material used in war.
It is important that the Iraqui soldier talk to to a poet because he thinks that poet could find the exact words to explain and describe his situation.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Ursula LeGuin’s “She Unnames Them” (CR 166-168),
I had a really hard time trying to figure out what the story was about but at the end I realized that it is from the beginning of time when everything was created and then there was a time to give names to the existing creatures. The lady in the story frees animals of their names and according to the story a lot animals were not in agreement with that because they claimed that their names were very important to them. The animals did not understand that the lady wanted to feel closer to them so she gave them names that maybe mean something to her. We usually give nicknames to those special people and things and I guess that was the lady's intention. The story is fiction but there is a important moral behind.
T.S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi” (CR 364-366),
Honestly this poem has to be read more then for times to really understand what is about. I read it twice and still couldn't fully catch the real meaning of the story.
But anyways according to the way I understood it, the poem is about things situations we face in life, good moments and bad moments. The journey doesn't seem pleasant for this people. They had a really hard time traveling on winter with camels with no shelter. I don't know if the objective and the destination of the journey were told in the story. So after I read the story my personal question became where are they going and who are they.
I had a really hard time trying to figure out what the story was about but at the end I realized that it is from the beginning of time when everything was created and then there was a time to give names to the existing creatures. The lady in the story frees animals of their names and according to the story a lot animals were not in agreement with that because they claimed that their names were very important to them. The animals did not understand that the lady wanted to feel closer to them so she gave them names that maybe mean something to her. We usually give nicknames to those special people and things and I guess that was the lady's intention. The story is fiction but there is a important moral behind.
T.S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi” (CR 364-366),
Honestly this poem has to be read more then for times to really understand what is about. I read it twice and still couldn't fully catch the real meaning of the story.
But anyways according to the way I understood it, the poem is about things situations we face in life, good moments and bad moments. The journey doesn't seem pleasant for this people. They had a really hard time traveling on winter with camels with no shelter. I don't know if the objective and the destination of the journey were told in the story. So after I read the story my personal question became where are they going and who are they.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song”
This poem was really interesting to read. It was difficult for me to figure out what the author meant by sirens in the poem but when I looked up the information on Greek elements as the instructor said, I was able to break down what the author meant by that. I actually sirens are mythical figures whose enchanting voices lure sailors to their death. In this poem, Margaret Atwood uses sirens to draw a comparison between the myths and normal (modern) life. Men have always been victims of sirens in Greek myths the same way they are for women in the real life. So the role of the sirens in Greek myths is played in real life by women. In the Greek myths every man wants to hear the irresistible song sang by sirens the same way every man wants to have a woman in a real life.
The poem was interesting though because I could see the way Greek people interpret their myths.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses
Honestly that was a hard story to analyze. Even with the help of the research of Greek elements I was not able to figure out what was this story about. It uses some weird words that I have never heard before and it makes the story really difficult to interpret.
But anyways all I did catch is that Ulysses was great King who married an aged woman. he became unsatisfied with his life as a king of Ithaca; I wonder how come a king be unsatisfied.
He fought the Trojans for years and tried to return home after the battle (I guess that is the main point of the story).He completed his journey back home but still felt like he wanted to get back to his life.
He felt like he is in duty with his country because he wanted to die as an hero instead of as a king.
William Butler Yeats’s “Leda and the Swan”
This poem is about a young lady called Leda who is being raped by a big bird (swan). According to the Geek myths, the God Zeus, now in form of a big swan t raped Leda. Actually he did because he wanted to finish with one are. In the end she hatched three eggs, the broken wall, the burning roof and tower and Agamemnon. This three eggs represent the three opponents of the Trojan's war, Clytemnestra and Helen and the war-gods Castor and Polydeuces.
What I saw in this three poem is that they are connected with the Greek myths. It was appealing to see the way things were interpret in the past mainly in the Greek's culture.
This poem was really interesting to read. It was difficult for me to figure out what the author meant by sirens in the poem but when I looked up the information on Greek elements as the instructor said, I was able to break down what the author meant by that. I actually sirens are mythical figures whose enchanting voices lure sailors to their death. In this poem, Margaret Atwood uses sirens to draw a comparison between the myths and normal (modern) life. Men have always been victims of sirens in Greek myths the same way they are for women in the real life. So the role of the sirens in Greek myths is played in real life by women. In the Greek myths every man wants to hear the irresistible song sang by sirens the same way every man wants to have a woman in a real life.
The poem was interesting though because I could see the way Greek people interpret their myths.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses
Honestly that was a hard story to analyze. Even with the help of the research of Greek elements I was not able to figure out what was this story about. It uses some weird words that I have never heard before and it makes the story really difficult to interpret.
But anyways all I did catch is that Ulysses was great King who married an aged woman. he became unsatisfied with his life as a king of Ithaca; I wonder how come a king be unsatisfied.
He fought the Trojans for years and tried to return home after the battle (I guess that is the main point of the story).He completed his journey back home but still felt like he wanted to get back to his life.
He felt like he is in duty with his country because he wanted to die as an hero instead of as a king.
William Butler Yeats’s “Leda and the Swan”
This poem is about a young lady called Leda who is being raped by a big bird (swan). According to the Geek myths, the God Zeus, now in form of a big swan t raped Leda. Actually he did because he wanted to finish with one are. In the end she hatched three eggs, the broken wall, the burning roof and tower and Agamemnon. This three eggs represent the three opponents of the Trojan's war, Clytemnestra and Helen and the war-gods Castor and Polydeuces.
What I saw in this three poem is that they are connected with the Greek myths. It was appealing to see the way things were interpret in the past mainly in the Greek's culture.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Mauricio Mbomio
Annotated Bibliographies
English 102 Section 066 Spring 2008
Instructor Anna Mikhalova
08 April 2008
CIVIL PEACE BY CHINUA ACHEBE
Uchendu, Egobi. “recollections of childhood experiences during the nigerian civil war”
Academic Search Premier 2007
http://web.ebscohost.compallas.2tcl.sc.edu/ehost/delivery
This article explains the way children were treated during and after the Nigerian civil war.
During the three years following the Nigerian civil war, little attention was given to the children of that West African country. The country was devastated by the civil war and folks just focused on how to end the situation and go back to their normal lives. The issue of taking care of children was underestimated and therefore anybody who grew up as a children in that period of time experienced crises in their childhood.
Since Jonathan has five children, I’m going to use the information I find in this article to see how Jonathan’s children experienced crises in their childhood and to identify what was the difference between children’s lives during and after the civil war.
How, Russell Worren. “Nigeria's Civil War.”
Academic Search Premier Sept 16, 1967.
https://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http
In this article Russell Worren cites the possible reasons that lead to the civil war in Nigeria. Before the Nigeria’s civil war there were several events that showed racial antagonism existing in many West African countries.
I will use information from this article to know the caused of the civil war in Nigeria and if possible identify one or more of its cultural aspect in the Nigerian society.
McKenna, Joseph C.” Elements of a Nigeria peace.”
Academic Search Premier. July 1969.
https://pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login?url=http
This article enumerates the factors that should be considerate in negotiating a peace settlement in Nigeria. The Nigerian citizens felt obliged to seek for solutions to end the war. Many were the set of issues they had to face in order to put an end to the conflict. One of those issues was to convince one of the parties (either Gowon or Ojukwu to cease the fire.
This article will help me understand how people in Nigeria dealt with issue of their civil war and how they put an end to it. I will be able to know what factors put the war to an end and how they achieved it.
Home page. http://chinua-achebe.com/chenua-achebe-profile.htm.
This is the entire biography of the author of the Civil Peace, Chinua achebe. The home page described Achibe as Africa’s most Acclaim and fluent writer of the English language. It shows the influence the Nigeria’s civil war had in Achebe’s life and how it lead him write a short story about it.
Information found in this home page will be used to establish between the author and the period of time the civil war took place. I will also use it to keep track on the author’s background to notice some of the aspects that let him to write the story.
Feuser, Wilfried F. “Anomy and beyond. Nigeria's civil war in literature”
Historical Abstracts. 1984
The article discuss the impact of the Nigeria-Biafra war, 1967 -1970, on Nigeria literature and how literature of other countries illustrate the international impact of the war.
Many people believe that after the civil, the Nigeria literature changed dramatically. Because of the impact of the war, many others inclined they literary work to persuade people to achieve peace and get back to their lives. Many other authors around the continent wrote on the issue of international impact of the war.
I’m going to use information available in this article to establish the difference between the literature before and after war. Questions on how literature changes based on social events will also be answered.
Obiora Uzokwe, Alfred. “Surviving in Biafra. The Story of the Nigerian.” 2003
In this book, Uzokwe tells his own story as child survivor in the Biafra war.
In the book, Uzokwe narrates how it was like to be from the eastern side of Nigeria in those moments. He gives step by step details how the conflict began and how they started to move he and his family from the capital Lagos where they were settled to the eastern side where they belonged to.
By using information from this book I will compare the story told by Achenua and the one told by Uzokwe to verify the credibility of the story I’m writing about. Since Uzokwe is telling the story in first person and he is from the same area where the war took place, the two stories will have to have a lot in common even if one is about a survival soldier and the other is about survival child. But in overall these two people have something in common, they both survived a civil war therefore the two stories will have to match in one way or the other.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Mauricio Mbomio
Anna Mikhalova
English 102 section 066 Spring 2008
April 8, 2008
Extra Credit: Introduction to the Essay #3
The life after the civil war in Nigeria
The Nigerian civil war, unlike other wars across the international boundaries, was a war of unification, a war of reintegration. The effects of the civil war were eminent mainly in the region where it took place (the eastern side known commonly as Biafra.)
In this short story, Chinua Achebe described the most dramatic events that took place the years after the war. He narrates the life of a soldier who survived in the civil war conflict. As it known, the minds of people that have been in war never remain the same. The effects of the war are always fatal. Even if the war was over as it was declared on January 30, 1970, innocent people were still attacked by rebels to take their money away, there was still a potential danger for the civilians. The biggest task was not only reconstruct the areas devastated by the war and to put the country together as it was intended to, but also to change the people of the eastern side’s mindset.
Mauricio Mbomio
Instructor Anna Mikhalova
English 102 section 066 Spring 2008
April 8, 2008
TOPIC PROPOSAL FOR ESSAY #3
The short story I have chosen for essay 3 is Civil Peace by Chinua Achebe.
The short story is connected to the civil war in Nigeria in the late sixty’s. When I read a few articles about that civil war, I was able to know a lot of things that were not mentioned in the short story. For example, the articles helped me know what originated the war and what was one of it consequences. Also by searching the author’s background, I realized that he or part of his family might have been involved in the war conflict since he belongs to one of the tribes that were actively involved in the war. The theme of the work is a soldier (Jonathan) whose life, in my opinion, exemplifies the kind of life people lived the years after war. The war itself was over but people were still attacked by thieves and groups of bandits who wanted to take their money and possessions away and I guess those actions have to do a lot with the title of the story, Civil Peace. It looks like folks are used those actions because in the end it does not seem to bather Jonathan at all, instead, he said it was nothing for him because everything else had gone with the war as well.
Of course there are aspects of the poem that are not clear to me. For instance, the Biafran money, what role did it play during the war? Obviously people wanted to get rid of it for some reasons. Also my assumption about Jonathan’s life representing the way folks lived after war might not be credible if we consider that he was a soldier therefore, a potential target for thieves and rebels. So I would like to investigate the kind of life that normal people (not soldiers) lived after the civil war whether they were attacked as well.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
TRIFLES vs. A JURY OF HER PEERS:
I think the two version are talking about the same story. The first big difference I noticed is the form in which they both are written. Trifles is written in a way that you can draw pictures of the scenes, indicating what the speaker is doing when while they are talking which could lead to more understanding of the situation and therefore connect to some cultural/historical background(advantage). The jury of her peers written kind of in a full story form, with an introduction which gives you some glues of what is going to happen in the story
I really liked the play form and I do think that it can lead you to some cultural/historical background. See, the way the play is set up gives you evidence on how things look like in the scene. From the way the men criticize Mrs Wright's kitchen you can see that they implied she was not a good housekeeper which means that at that period of time women's job was keeping and keeping the house/kitchen messy at those moment was not part of the culture.
I think the two version are talking about the same story. The first big difference I noticed is the form in which they both are written. Trifles is written in a way that you can draw pictures of the scenes, indicating what the speaker is doing when while they are talking which could lead to more understanding of the situation and therefore connect to some cultural/historical background(advantage). The jury of her peers written kind of in a full story form, with an introduction which gives you some glues of what is going to happen in the story
I really liked the play form and I do think that it can lead you to some cultural/historical background. See, the way the play is set up gives you evidence on how things look like in the scene. From the way the men criticize Mrs Wright's kitchen you can see that they implied she was not a good housekeeper which means that at that period of time women's job was keeping and keeping the house/kitchen messy at those moment was not part of the culture.
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