TFA Chapter 19

In this chapter the main theme is that of kinship. Okonkwo has almost finished his sentence of exile, and he has a great feast where everyone from the tribe is invited. I believe Okonkwo has the feast not only because he wanted to pay the village back for taking him in, but he also makes the feast superb by flaunting his wealth and showing how successful he has been. In the end of this chapter one of the elders says that he "fears for the young because they do not understand how strong the bond of kinship" is. What does this closing paragraph foreshadow? What are some examples of the young people not understanding the strength of kinship?

Okonkwo Just Another Father

In thius chapter not only are we reminded of how great a warrior Okonkwo is, but also that he is a father. Prior to this chapter Ezinma had been taken by Chielo to see Agbala. At first it had seemed as if Okonkwo was not worried for his daughter, but we are later informed that he had made not just one, but four trips to the shrine where he expected Ezinma and Chielo to be. He made "manly intervals" to the shrine because he was "gravely worried" for his daughter like any father would be. In the marriage celebration we are reminded numerously of Okonkwo's greatness as a warrior. Do you think society plays a part in why Okonkwo has to act so "manly," since his reputation is of a great warrior?

Chapter of Wonder by David Selvala

In the beginning of chapter 4 Okonkwo is given the custody of a young boy named Ikemefuna. At first the boy is scared and dislikes living in Okonkwo's house but grows to like it. Okonkwo grows fond of the boy, but he does not show it. Okonkwo never shows emotion because he believes showing affection is a sign of weakness. His desire to be strong and masculine causes him to believe he is greater than he is and he is obsessed with proving his masculinity. Later in the chapter Okonkwo beats his wife Ojiugo. He does this during the week of peace and one of the clan's elders stands up to him and forces him to make a large sacrifice. Okonkwo follows his commands and makes the sacrifice. This shows how even though Okonkwo thinks he is mighty and powerful the clan is still able to keep him in check.
"Inwardly, he was repentant. But he was not the man to go abut telling his neighbors that he was in error." (p. 31)

One Day in the Life Baluba Charles

He heard his alarm phone ring for the third time. He knew it was time to get up, but his body would not respond. "Time to get up Baluba," screamed his father. He was able to get enough energy to get up and put his shoes on. That is all the energy he was willing to muster, for he was not about to waste energy in trying to look nice for just another common day. He brushed his teeth and headed for the exit. No breakfast again today. No shower because he had taken one the night before. Walking as slow as a sloth out the door, not fire burning inside his body.

Baluba makes it to his amazing luxury vehicle, a beamer. He gets in still half asleep and ignites the engine. Baluba was driving, but he was mentally not there. To him it was just one more time to experience the road. It was twenty minutes after he entered the car that he arrived at school. He pulled up to his parking place and turned off the big machine. He was more awake than when he had left his house. He gets his bag pack on and heads for school.

There was no time to waste for Baluba was going to be late. He had just realized this and in a blink of an eye his legs had more energy than in the entire day so far. Baluba could not be late to class, and fortunately for him, he was not. It was AP Calculus this morning. He sat down in his usual seat. He got out his working materials, a pencil, a pen, and a binder. This is all he would need to make it through the day. He started to jot down the notes his teacher Mr. Dueppen had put on the board. Class went by smoothly. They went over the homework, learned a new section of the book and started to work on the homework due the next day. Class was almost over when Mr. Duepppen started to give back the test they had taken earlier that week. Baluba was nervous to get his test back, but at the same time he was excited for he knew he had done well on this test. “Thump”. The test landed on Baluba’s desk. He slowly picked it up, making sure no one else other than he could see his grade. It was time to unravel the grade mystery. Baluba knew he would not be disappointed; he had studied so hard to do so well on is test. He turned the test around slowly and saw a ninety-two as his grade. A smile the size of a watermelon slice appeared on his face, he was obviously pleased. “RIIING, RIIING,” the bell went off, and everyone ran out the door. “On to the next class,” Baluba said to himself.

It was AP Biology next. It was lab today and so Baluba knew class would go by fast. Today they were going to experiment with pill bugs. Baluba was thrilled. As soon as Ms. Niewold was done with her lecture on how to carry out the experiment, Baluba transformed himself into a dark and evil scientist. He quickly walked to where the pill bugs were located. He picked up his spoon and went right to work. Baluba would not be satisfied with the small pill bugs and so he went for the juicy ones. After the momentary war with the pill bugs he went back returned to his lab partner and the torturous experiment commenced. It was time to encapsulate the pill bugs in different trays and see how they react to their new hostile environment. They finished their experiment swiftly and it was time for the next class. There was no bell this time. “Always seem to be off,” said Baluba to his colleague. Time for AP Statistics, the day was almost over for he had triple free after lunch.

Baluba stayed in the same class for that is where AP statistics would take place. Baluba did not take any notes; he figured he could just read the book later on that day. Baluba’s eyes were always on the clock, counting down how much class time was left. Eventually after countless seconds class was over and so was Baluba’s day.

It was easy street from here. He went down to lunch for he was broke at the moment. He returned and would have gone home but the rules of the school impeded him to do so. He would have to be here for activities period and he was not going to go home and then have to come back. Baluba relaxed the rest of the day speaking to friends and going from place to place not finding to do with himself.

The day soon came to an end and that was it for Baluba. He went home to do his homework, which took up most of his day and then went into hibernation for tomorrow was going to be an even longer day.

My Own Fwame Wesistent Suit

What would I buin of myself? Would it be something external or internal? Or would I like to stay completely the same? I would love to make some changes to my fwame wesistant suit. I wish I could buin away those annoying characteristics that get to me every once in awhile. Even though I always try to buin them they never become flames.

I hope to one day buin my procrastination away. I would want to do assignments within reasonable time. Be free from all the stress that comes with doing assignments the night before. Have my heart beat at a regular pace, unlike the times the nights grow old and my heart beat with it. I wish my suit wouldn’t be so wesistant to my commands. I wish it would obey like a tamed tiger. I hope that one day this part of my fwame wesistant suit would disappear.

Being part of the famous INTROVERT group does get old. I sometimes wish to scream out and make everyone else hear what I have to say, because my sponge does get heavy with everything that I take in. Sometimes I wish to make my sponge less heavy by throwing some of my ideas out too. But my fwame wesistant suit will not burn. My sponge cannot easily release all the thoughts it has acquired.

What else would I buin of my suit? I would buin my height. I would buin it and make myself taller. I wanted to reach at least 5’ 10”. Unfortunately I fell a bit short from my goal. Buinin this characteristic is much harder than buinin my personality suit, for these types of characteristics come from our genes, DNA material that humans cannot yet manipulate. My height suit is highly buin wesistant and I don’t think I will ever be able to buin.

We all have characteristics that we would like to change or alter, which is understandable because we are in no way perfect. If we were perfect there would be no need to buin our suits. For a moment lets pretend that we are perfect, that by some miraculous reason we were able to become perfect beings. Would our pwoblems be solved? No, they would not because like SPIDERMAN we would want our hearts to beat at a different wate.

SPIDERMAN speaks of another one of is pwoblems and that is tat he can never stop being SPIDERMAN. He will always be the one whom people look up to, to help stop crime. All of us have this type of pwoblem too. Society or ourselves have expectations of each of us that we must fulfill.

We are capable of buinin our suits, in the sense that we can change who we are, but this is a challenge. We are capable of personality change, but it does require great effort. We do have fwame wesistant suits, but nothing is ever permanent. We are who we ant to be. (493)

Pride and Pain: Follow Up to Antigone

In life, one needs to have pride, pride in oneself and pride in what one does, but there is such a thing as having too much pride. One can have too much pride in him or her, which makes one ignorant of what other people may think. The Chorus in the play titled Antigone, by Sophocles, suggests that pride leads to suffering and pain, and to some extent, this is true, but it is excessive pride that leads to pain and suffering.

Antigone has pride, but it is not excessive. She takes pride in burying her brother, Polynices. She gives him a proper burial, conscientiously knowing that she is going against Creon’s law. She also has enough self-respect as to not break when Creon tells her that what she has done is wrong. She argues her point even though it is futile. Although she does end up dead at the end of the story, she does not die in vain. She teaches Creon a lesson in life. He was too full of himself to let Antigone have her own way.

One of the lessons Sophocles want to teach is what having too much pride may bring, for at the end of the book Creon loses his most loved ones'. Creon is not willing to back down from his original rule because his pride will be hurt if he did. He feels his pride would be severely hurt if he lets Antigone bury her brother, especially because she is a female. He says in line 759 that it is “better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hand of a man—never be rated inferior to a woman, never.” Creon believes his power among the people will fall if he were to allow Antigone go against his rules; therefore, he cannot lose face. It is at the end of the story that Creon changes his mind about what to do with Antigone, by then it is too late, just like the chorus suggests at the end of the play.

In the story it is not only the Chorus whom point out that pride will return in blows of wisdom but also Tiresias, the blind prophet gives the same warning. In line 137 Tiresias tells Creon that “pride is a crime.” Before this Creon is too into himself to be able to listen to Antigone’s and his son’s pleas. It is until the end that Creon decides to change his mind because he has gained the wisdom necessary to understand his folly.

The Chorus does suggest that wisdom and humility come too late to do any good, but this is not always the case. It is true in this play because everyone is too scared to give Creon the wisdom he requires to correct his wrong. Creon’s humility is also too late; for in the end he loses is son, wife, and his soon to be daughter-in-law. He is left with pain and suffers. This is not the case in all the stories.

It is good to have pride and other qualities, but one should not let these certain qualities go over-board for they may bring suffering and pain, like in the play. Because we are humans it is inevitable to avoid doing mistakes, but because we are humans we are also able to correct our wrongdoings. (558)

Books That Have Stuck With Me

1. The Trumpet of the Swan-This book has made a big impression on me because it is a tale of hardship for a swan. Even though the swan has a disability e is able to obtain success in his life.
2.Cajas de Cartón- I will never forget this Spanish autobiography because it is a story of how a family struggles to survive. I identify with the author and is story.
3.Dance of Death- This book reminded me of how fun a book can be. How a book can take you to another world. It reminded me of the power of imagination.
4. Uncle Tom's Cabin- A book tat reminded me of reality. That there is not always a happy ending, but yet there are still positive tings in every situation.
5. Oh the Places You'll Go- I like this book because it is a reminder of everything that is out there.
6. White Fang- A story about a dog and the hardships he endures. Best book i have read about a dog.
7.Holes- A book I read when I was at a young age. Like it because of the story. The one that endures wins.
8.Huck Everlasting- Book that made me realize that somethings humans desire are better left alone, such as immortality.
9.Frankenstein- Taught me that as humans we do have our own limits.

The Secret Life of Bees

When I bought this book, it was the only book the store had that was on my list of options. Once I finished reading it though, I was more than happy that it was the book I ended up reading. Not only did the author teach me some new writing techniques but she also shared with me one of the most memorable stories I have ever read.

At first, I thought this book was going to be another one of the summer reading books that we all read because we have to. I was in for a surprise. I could not put the book down because I wanted to know what Lily Owens would do next. I wanted to make sure that everything would turn out fine. I was keeping an eye on her.

The book even made me mad at some points of te story. The first time I remember being mad was when Rosaleen poured her tobacco spit on the white men's shoes when she was on her way to register herself for voting. I was mad at her, just like Lily was. I wanted to yell at Rosaleen, telling her it was ridiculous of her to do such a thing. That she should apologize before they ripped the life out of her. Sue Monk Kidd was able to take me to 1964 and help me experience the life of this young girl.

 Another thing I remember liking about this book is the quotes it had in the beginning of every chapter. I was always pondering what Kidd was trying to tell us by writing these quotes for every chapter. It is in the very first chapter that I began to like reading these quotes. Kidd starts with, "The queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence." I like this very quote, because I connect it to the importance of family. As the quote says the queen is the "unifying force," she is the cement that holds a family together. Without the mother things begin to fall apart. It is until the "workers," or family members, realize that they must survive on their own. They begin to take some of the queen's roles. The workers will attempt to glue the family back together but there is no stronger force than a mother's love. It will never be the same way without the queen. This is why T. Ray is unable to glue his family back together. This is why I believe that Lily has to go to a house where there are women all around her, women that love each other. This is where Lily finds her new hive.

The book even inspired me to go against the odds and become the change I want to see, just like te character Zach. It taught me that believing in something, even having a little faith is important, because at the end of day we all need some sort of believe that everything will be okay. Just like Lily needed the black Virgin Mary, we need hope

I have to admit this is not a book I would normally choose out to read. It is not a mystery book, but it does a have a very important story tat talks about the importance of family, love, religion, strength and hope.